Time?? To be a Fit Mom?? Whaaaaaaaat?!?!

Ok, so if you’re reading this, you’re probably a mother, right? Even if you’re not, you have probably struggled with (and/or continue to struggle with) time management, motivation, and accountability! We all do!

Being a mother, wife, homeowner, employee, family member, whatever the case may be, taking time for ourselves can be a struggle! So, how do you balance it all?? It’s so simple to do, yet so simple not to do….

Here’s the situation. We’ve all got things that have to be done—no doubt about it, life or death, home or homelessness, feast or famine, however you need to think about it. So these things might include, taking care of little ones, going to work every day, cleaning our house (sometimes less often and/or thoroughly as we’d like…), paying bills, buying groceries, cooking, and taking care of our general hygiene. Does that about sum up most of the daily “must do’s”???

AND…… we are supposed to factor in workouts and a healthy meal plan for our entire family into all of this, right?? YES! You can! So here’s my story:

I have always been a workout kind of girl, loving to lift weights, doing plyometrics, high impact cardio, rock climbing, doing yoga, whatever! I have quite the eclectic preferences when it comes to exercise, and I’ll try just about anything, at least once (except distance running…just the thought makes me want to take a nap…). I was very active in high school, playing volleyball and throwing in track, and kept that going throughout college by becoming a very dedicated gym rat (the college boy eye candy didn’t hurt!). Fast forward to graduation, then grad school, then marriage and two babies! So here I am now working fulltime, in a job that I absolutely adore, with a 17 month old girl and a 4 ½ year old boy…yikes. I knew I had to find a way to get back to the workout lifestyle that I have loved for so long, while planning healthy and nutritious meals for my family! Here comes the good part—I’m at a lighter weight than before I got pregnant with my first baby, and I’m more toned and defined than I have been in a looooooong time! So how does all of this work?!?!

Basically, it’s extremely SIMPLE. So simple, once you figure it out, your entire outlook on your health and fitness will change! Hell, you’ll wonder what took you so long, why you have lived with regret for so long, and you might even start to encourage others to follow your lead! So, how do you do it? Start by taking a good hard look at your day and what you’re spending your time doing.

1.       How much time do you spend scrolling through Facebook, Instagram, or other social media?

2.       How much time to you spend watching TV or reading?

3.       How much time do you spend reading the newspaper, watching the news, or listening to the news on the radio?

After reading this article, please consider these tasks A.WASTE.OF.TIME. That is, until you’ve got your priorities straight! Point blank, period. Now, you might be thinking, but I love to read! I’m addicted to social media!! I need to know what’s going on in the world!!! You can STILL do these things, trust me! BUT, if you want to become dedicated to your health and fitness, if you want to nix the excuse of “I don’t have time to…blah blah blah”, then you will need to make these things the very last thing on your list of things you need to get done. How simple is that?! It’s literally that easy…no joke. If you were to write down how much time you spent on these activities per day, I’m willing to bet you would have time to exercise, plan meals, and do so with ease, maybe even a few times per day! Don’t believe me? Just try it for one day, and I truly believe you will be SHOCKED at how much time you actually have!

So here’s what a typical day looks like for me:

5:30-6:30am—give or take, this is usually my workout time! Yes, I know that seems VERY early, BUT I know that this is my only time to get my workout in. I have never been a morning person, but, let’s face it…having kids doesn’t really give you the option! So you get used to it after awhile, and why not use it to your advantage, right??

6:30-8am--getting ready for work, checking in with my challenge groups on Facebook, checking messages, posting on social media about my workout and health related plans for the day, and hoping to inspire others to make this change for themselves!

8am-5pm—by this time, I’ve taken the kids to and from day care, put in a full work day, and we are back at home, ready for dinner.

5-8pm—this is family time, with dinner, baths, and spending time with the kids before they go to bed!

The rest of the evening is spent winding down and here’s where my social media, reading, watching TV, comes into play! I’ve gotten the hard part out of the way, and sometimes before the sun even comes up!

I try to do my grocery shopping and meal planning on the weekends so that I am prepped and ready to go for the week. I also try to schedule my workouts, so I know what I’m doing each morning—it’s like an appointment I keep with myself.

Now, this schedule may be vastly different from yours, and this may not work for you at all! You may love, and have the time for, an awesome evening workout most days of the week! BUT, whatever your schedule looks like, are you being real with yourself about your TIME?? Or are you making excuses as to why you can’t ?? I encourage you to take an active role in managing your time and make a healthy lifestyle WORK for you!! My schedule is VERY busy, with working full time, have two very small kiddos, and a husband who often works 10-12 hour days! If I can do it, you can too!

Take a second to think about the importance of living a healthy life, both for you and for your family. Fueling your body with good food, keeping your energy levels up with quality workouts, and staying as healthy and active as possible for you and your loved ones should be at the very top of your priority list! You get one chance, one life, to set that strong and healthy example, and to be living life to its fullest for years to come!

 

Motivation--What Motivates You?

What motivates you?

There are many, many things in life that require little to no motivation or encouragement to complete. For instance, think back to when you were younger, getting ready to graduate from high school. You had the world at your fingertips! You could go to college, move out on your own, get a job, and basically do whatever you chose to do at that time!

So let’s say you chose to go to college, and then you graduate with your degree and get a job in your field. No one was there to tell you, “now make sure you go to class”, and “make sure you apply for jobs”, and “make sure you go to work”. You knew that if you didn’t do these things, you would not be getting satisfactory grades in order to graduate, to get that degree, to get that job. Then once you got that job, you knew you had to actually GO to work every day, or you’d be fired! These are some obvious, in-your-face type of consequences that no one really had to TELL you about! They were a “given”, right?

Welp, I think it’s safe to say that most people don’t think of their health and fitness as a “given”.  At times, the consequences of not taking care of ourselves are not immediately obvious! Most times we think, “well, I can eat this way now and I’ll make up for it later”.  Or “I’ll work out tomorrow.” Then the next thing you know, you haven’t worked out for months, and you eat like crap more often than not. This ultimately leads to steady weight gain, unhealthy habits, and a sedentary lifestyle, right? Things can really escalate quickly, to the point where some might just give up all together and think it’s too late to do anything about these unhealthy habits. That can’t be further from the truth!

Treating our health and wellness like our lives depended on it should be EXACTLY what we are doing as much as possible, because, let’s face it--our lives DO depend on it! Just because we cannot see the direct effect of these unhealthy habits immediately or very quickly, in the same way we might see the direct effect of say, not paying our bills on time, these effects are THERE!! They can be working against you as we speak if you don’t get them under control. Now, I’m not saying that means you must adopt ALL healthy habits NOW, or you’ll DIE!

No, creating healthy habits and sticking to them as much as possible, and creating balance in your life, is setting the stage for us to enjoy our time here on earth with our loved ones for as long as possible. There are so many uncertainties in life, and things OUT of our control, that focusing our efforts on what we CAN control, setting goals for ourselves, and educating ourselves on things related to nutrition, exercise, and longevity helps aide us in living our lives to their fullest, and never looking back on what might have been.

The Power of Change

Change—what sparks a person to change? Change careers, change homes, change spouses?? Something in them, somewhere—whether it’s deep down in their core, or right on the surface—says, “I’m not happy in this area, and I’m going to do something about it—NOW.”

But, before that happens, let’s talk about what it took for that person to GET to that point. Is it a happy road with lots of intrinsic reward, satisfaction and happiness? NO! It’s usually full of pain or heartbreak, regret, or dissatisfaction. We don’t change a given situation that we are happy and content with. We change those that are making us miserable, making us feel like we are missing something, or making us just say, “hmmm….I wonder what it would be like to….(fill in the blank)??”

So, what trait is it in someone who takes that leap of faith as opposed to someone who remains in the job that they hate, or in the home that is too small for them, or with the spouse that their relationship is not working out with? Get ready…It’s FEAR! Change is a scary, scary, scary thing for most people, right? BUT, the person who takes that leap of faith and says, “hmmmm….wonder what would happen if I….(fill in the blank)?” is also punching fear right in its ugly mug and saying, “What’s the worst that could happen?”

Think about your life for a minute and any areas that you want to change or that you WISH were different. What stops you from making the changes necessary to break that mold and move forward? Is it fear of rejection? Failure? Loneliness? Finances? All of these things (and these are some heavy duty things) can be boiled down to FEAR! Eliminate that, and you can eliminate remaining where you don’t want to be!

When I decided to change my life, I’m really not sure what happened, but something in me SNAPPED, a lightbulb went off, the planets aligned, whatever you want to call it. I and I took a look at my life and thought, “I want to be a part of something bigger, something different. I want to help people, but I also want to help myself.” I wanted to take control of my health and fitness, of my mind and body, and of my finances,  and lead a different lifestyle.

This is the EXACT point that I decided to take the CHANGE plunge and became a Beachbody coach! I really couldn’t afford my first challenge pack of Insanity Max 30 and Shakeology, right before Christmas, but I did it anyway! I researched the very top coach in Beachbody, Melanie Mitro, messaged her, and told her I wanted to be a part of her team…and she said YES! And I’ve never looked back.

I have a lot of success, even more struggles, lots of times that I think, “I just don’t know about this”. BUT, I know that this is the lifestyle that I want and I’m not stopping until I get there—therefore, quitting is not an option, not CHANGING, is not an option. When you seek CHANGE, go GET it. It will NOT come to you on its own, it will however, challenge the hell out of you, make you doubt your gut, head, heart, etc. until you beat it down, time and time again! Then suddenly, POOF!!! There you are, RIGHT where you want to be.

Get out of your own way and don’t think for one minute that you can’t achieve your goals. There are so many clichés out there on this, but most of them are TRUE! Take control, once and for all, and set your sights as high as you can see!

About Me

Hello! And thanks so much for taking the time to learn about me!

 

Let me start off with a bit about myself. I am a 32 year old mother of two, a 4 year old boy named Brooks, and a 15 month girl named Ryla. If you are a mother, my story may be similar to yours in that after my second baby, I was ready to get back to my pre-baby weight, and back to feeling like myself again.

 

Now, I have always participated in Beachbody programs and have always loved them! I started out with the original P90X in order to get in shape for our wedding and I felt great on the big day! Then, as time went on, a little bit of "Happy Fat" started to creep on and I decided to give Insanity a try...again, fell in love all over again! At this time, I became pregnant with Brooks and was so elated, I decided to drop everything I knew about health and fitness! I ate whatever was in sight, and didn't workout AT ALL! Not. Cool.

 

Needless to say, I gained a cool 54 lbs with Brooks...However, I reverted back to my tried and true Beachbody programs was able to take that weight back off. Then, ironically enough, at my exact same "pre-Brooks" weight, I became pregnant with Ryla....and guess what?! I gained that 54 lbs right back! So. Not. Cool.

 

Fast forward to December of 2014, and my Ryla girl is now 10 months old. I have gotten all but about 20 lbs  of that weight off (again), and I'm really feeling like a need a kick start! So, I perusing through Pinterest (which can easily take up 6-8 hours of a woman's day...) and stumbled upon Beachbody coaching...

 

Now, I knew from participating in Beachbody Programs that coaches EXISTED, I just didn't know what they DID. So I started researching, and reading, and messaging, and finally, I thought, "I'm doing this! I'm going to the top, and I'm doing this!" So, I researched the #1 coach in Beachbody and found her! Enter the lovely, Melanie Mitro, top ranking coach in the company! I found her blog, messaged and her and completed her coaching application, and the rest is history! I bought my first challenge pack of Insanity Max 30, complete with a 30 supply of Shakeology. I am now at a lighter weight than I was with my FIRST child, and haven't felt so good since I was in high school! 

 

Coaching has absolutely changed my perspective on not only my own health and fitness, but also my entire perspective on so many things! I can't even begin to explain how positive and hopeful I have become because of coaching. I look at the top leaders and role models in this company, and aspire to follow in their footsteps. There is nothing I have ever enjoyed more than helping people, and my heart and soul are filled to the brim with gratitude! If you are searching for your place in this world, want to take on a new direction, want to fulfill your financial hopes and dreams while living a life without limits, I strongly suggest you become a Beachbody coach. You won't be disappointed :)