A Journey to Fit & Fast

2016 Has proven to be a difficult year for many, many people. A lot of folks I know said final goodbyes, and many continue to see loved ones fight or begin fights with illnesses. It seems it's just been a tough year to be a human in our country, to be fair. If you add in life's events and occurances, it's easy to see how people can be ready to get 2016 in the past. It made me think about my year at the very least. 2016 was fairly uneventful in a lot of ways. I tried to give of myself and be of support to those fighting some big battles. I learned the importance of taking care of myself, and that it is not selfish to put yourself first. I continue to struggle to find balance within myself sometimes, and fight off old habits that threaten to sneak back into my life (mainly controlling things as a means to be comfortable and perfectionism). Luckily, I have a partner that keeps me honest and even though I don't like hearing them, tells me things to keep me in check.  We h...

I sit here tonight blogging after a particularly trying few weeks. We've had lots of stress from outside sources, stress from inside our family, and stress between us (because we have lofty financial goals and with that a coinciding lack of time together, because of time spent at other jobs). We've had A LOT on our plates, we've had kid activities up to three nights each week and normal every day life on top of it all. Just life stuff, really. Somewhere in the mix of the last few weeks, I've let my joy slide. And by that I mean I've let my happy, typically positive self give way to A LOT of negative. A LOT. I almost feel bad for my partner, because quite literally every day I've had a negative comment/attitude/overall being. My language has been negative, the look on my face has been negative. And all this because life is happening. Now, granted....I've had a fair share of annoying things happening (falling down, hurting myself, miscellaneous random litt...

My life the last few weeks (probably 3-4 would be a solid estimate) has been an interesting adventure. It is no surprise that Eli and I have a blended family, and we also have an extra special element of fun being a blended family with a member of the family having special needs. Anyone who has a family member with unique or increased needs can certainly understand what that adds to the mix, and when you add in a blended family dynamic on it, it really just spells 'fun times.' It means trying to instill understanding of challenges and uniqueness in someone who wasn't raised from birth with their new sibling. It means some rough times. It means awesome times. It means short fuses sometimes, and it means frustration for everyone sometimes. It also means lots of giggles and silliness. It means abounding love and joy. My day/weekend/life is literally a mixed bag. It could be all the above mentioned things in a 30 minute time period. The last two weeks have just been extra chall...

 This weekend I had an interesting adventure with sugar. Each week, I get a free meal day where I eat whatever I may want. This weekend I wanted something I hadn't had in 6 weeks: candy packed with sugar and artificial colors. What did I choose you ask? Runts. It was available, and it looked inticing. So, I ate some pizza and said runts. Within 6 hours of eating this concoction, I had a looming headache. Now, part of the free meal system is that you get the one meal and carry on with your normal eating plan otherwise. So, I did. Just assuming my headache was a fluke and would go away. WRONG! The next day was even worse. I had the sugar detox symptoms from the beginning of my program that I had sworn I would never go through again. Now, the ironic thing is that at Transform U (our Yoli meeting with lots of amazing people and experiences), Dr Street, a chiropractor and a hallmark of the Yoli family spoke on this exact topic. Except he called it 'Dietary Crack.' And it is ex...

Recently, I had been challenged to think about my 'why?' I mean in the context of my health, what keeps me choosing health over laziness and the gym over beers? I have thought about it for the last few days and finally put it all together. My why: because if I don't, the family history of everything will ensure illness and a young death. Because that fact alone is unacceptable, as I plan to see and live out  so much more of life. Why? Because it is not acceptable to not be able to keep up with my kids or partner. Why? Because hip pain that could be crippling is unacceptable at 31. Why? Because being in the best shape of my life is just around the corner. Why? Because abounding energy and amazing health were a blessing dropped into my lap. Why? Because health something only I can model for my children, and I am going to do it right. Is it easy to make choices each day to get to my goal? Yes? Why? Because I have it in my head to do it, and I am going to do it right. Why? Be...

I will start this post by stating that I am not 'quitting' anything. I say this because I had to convince myself of this as much as lanything else. For the last several years my identity has been 'distance runner.' It's how my journey of health began-I ate healthfully and ran. It was that simple truly. I had an epiphany on a training run with my running partner a few weeks ago: I don't have anything to prove in running. I've already proved I can run 13.1, and have the dedication to train for and run 26.2. I realized on my 4 mile run down familiar trails that I needed to give myself permission to not pursue another 13.1, and not do distance. I needed to give myself permission to instead to what my body loves: swim, bike and run shorter distances, and try new things like strength work and sprints on treadmills.  I just needed to listen to what my body was saying. I wasn't enjoying the experience of distance running anymore, and that is 100% ok. I love ...

I've had an interesting revelation throughout the last few days (granted, I've been sick and had a lot of time to think), but I digress. My body, when well nourished, does not crave crap. When it is optimally nourished, fed appropriately, loved and given attention, does not crave the taste of foods that are less than ideal for it's performance. For example: I made a pizza and chocolate chip cookies for my family yesterday (because they like it as an occasional treat, and why not?). Not only did I not eat any of any of it, I literally sat there thinking "It does not even sound good, and even if it did, is it worth going through the detox phase of this journey?" What an amazing thing to realize and be living! My body continues to reward me for me being kind to it. What do I mean by that? I am putting whole, awesome, nutrient rich food into it. I am helping to to be alkaline, and I'm losing pounds and inches and all the while feeling amazing. Even being sick at...

A few weeks ago, I made a decision. I decided to part ways with Weight Watchers, and investigate a total body health and nutrition program called Yoli.  I felt like I was not thriving in my Weight Watchers journey, and all because of me. I needed some more structure. I set an appointment to meet with an acquaintance at the time, who I knew was a Yoli consultant. As soon as I heard about it, I knew it was 100% me. The seller? Having your body be in a neutral state, without inflammation. Having your body in this state decreases drastically illness, and creates an environment that things like illness and cancer cannot thrive in. Not to mention having it in its ideal state helps the weight and inches fall off! So, here I am a week later enjoying all the benefits. After a 4 day detox from sugar (remembering that feeling makes me not crave sugar but instead appreciate the natural sugars in life), I feel like a million  dollars. I have no more pain in my hip (though I have a labr...

I've put a lot of my journey around health and fitness out there. And intentionally so. I like the accountability of having others know my progress, and having the ability to potentially inspire others. However, I believe in being real. Facebook and social media is kind of the 'highlight reel' of life. It shows the positives mostly. It shows the awesome, and minimizes the not so great. So, this is a recap of the 'real life me.' I have made a lot of progress in recent months with losing weight and being active. I lost around 20-ish pounds from the end of the summer. I competed in a Diet Bet and blew my goal out of the water. I've made a lot of important changes, and mentally was 110% into it all. But, the past week I struggled a little bit. I'm not sure what the challenge was, aside from not making time to get to the gym and choosing more treats than I should be. But this week I face the music.  I weigh in tomorrow, and I will take that number and use it to...

I belong to a couple fitness and weight loss related groups on Facebook, and a lot of the posts today have got me to thinking. Our economy and our culture THRIVES on making people feel like they are less than, not good enough, broken, too heavy, and making people be self loathing.  A lot of people were talking about their habits over the weekend and often referred to their eating habits as 'bad' or foods as 'bad.' We put so much emotion or many characteristics on inanimate objects or choices. There is no emotion in those things. There are choices that make us feel proud of our choices, and make our bodies feel nourished, and then there are choices that make us feel less proud of our choices and make our bodies feel less nourished and sometimes even sick.  That's it. Simply. I think back to when I wanted to be 'thin' (which was a rather significant portion of my life). I came from a place of not honoring my body for all that it has done. I came from a pla...

I have never been a fan of 'resolutions.' I think they are often made in haste, and tend to be easier to let slide as the year's stresses and important events happen.  I am, however, a fan of goals. I tend to be 'Miss Accomplish Goals with vigor,' so I sat this morning and thought about my goals for 2016. Following my knee injury from the marathon (an overuse injury, no doubt), I have not put much mileage in, but instead have done shorter distances of running with my triathlons (so incorporating swimming and biking for the extra endurance). I love the sport of triathlon and want to go after that this year without a doubt. I also have physical goals that I want to accomplish to be healthier also.  So, without further ado, my physical goals for 2016: 1) Get down to my goal weight (my goal is essentially to be in the healthy range at Weight Watchers and for my BMI). It isn't a magic number, but a healthy range where I feel comfortable. 2) Complete Dam to Dam ...