Plans For Summer: Goals & How To Achieve Them

Summer is finally here (WOOO!!), well after my one exam Tuesday I will officially be done for the semester. This summer will be dedicated to getting healthy and fit. I will try and post every week or month what workouts I am doing and what I’m eating. This will also help me stay on track for the summer because I really want to see a change.

 

Summer gives me more time to focus on my fitness goals

 

I don’t think I’m fat or anything like that but it’s just time for me to be the best I can be. I do want to try to lose 5-10 pounds though. I feel like that will boost my energy significantly while I’m on the tennis court or running or doing anything! I play tennis and will be transferring in the Fall to a new university and I definitely want to show I deserve to be there. Being on a diet is different than trying to be healthy. I love my sweets but I need to cut back on these and eat a lot more of what’s good for my body.

This is so true

This past semester I developed a different outlook on eating. I don’t eat the healthiest but I DO EAT. I realized I was still starving my body. Starving it of nutrients and vitamins. If you don’t eat foods that your body will use and just eat empty calories (like cake, cookies, chips, soda,etc.) your body is still starving. You want to feed your body with vitamin-rich foods that will help you live a better and healthier life.

Eat Clean

You can write to me with questions or ask me for  workout advice. I will try and post more regularly on health topics, workouts, and motivation to keep you moving forward towards whatever goals you have set for yourself.

Best Thing Ever!

Set goals:

Main Goal:  I want to get in top shape for tennis. I’m going to try and play 6 times a week. I want to improve my game to feel confident that I have what it takes to be a top player.

To achieve this:

1. Run a little bit every day. I want to get into the habit of running at least a 2 – 3 mile cool down after every time I play tennis.

2.  Eat clean and eat smart.

3. Lift 3 times a week. Do some free weight workouts.

4. Jump rope and do footwork drills to improve my speed on the court.

5. Standup paddle board more. I finally went yesterday after a 2 month break and I need to do it more. It’s a great workout. It makes every large muscle group work.

Everyone should write their goals down and include a plan on how to achieve them. This is the first step to making it happen.

 

Good Bye 2012! Here’s to a New Year!

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

About 55,000 tourists visit Liechtenstein every year. This blog was viewed about 240,000 times in 2012. If it were Liechtenstein, it would take about 4 years for that many people to see it. Your blog had more visits than a small country in Europe!

Click here to see the complete report.

Just For My Followers: A Free Gift For You!

Here is a special holiday gift for all my followers. If you are looking for a little something that will help you achieve your New Year’s Resolution to get healthy and fit, here is a gift for you!

All you have to do is pay shipping to receive a box of goodies of your favorite items! It will contain anything from a protein bar to athletic gear to an organic beverage.  Each box is different so I can’t give exact items, but it will have 8-12 items and over $100 in value. This is great for men AND women so everyone can enjoy!

This is a FREE code to help you start the New Year off with a kick! Go to this link:

http://www.klutchclub.com/best-of-box/

And enter:

FITBODY

Choose Men or Women’s and press add to cart. Then, enter the code. It will remove the price of the box and just leave the price of the shipping. It’s as simple as that!

HAPPY HOLIDAY’S EVERYONE!

 

The Skinny on Soda

Diet?

Doesn’t matter if it’s regular or diet soda, soda is still soda. There is a lot of uncertainty with what exactly soda does to our bodies. There are so many variables and everyone’s body’s are different so it’s hard to say. We all have our own opinions but I think of drinking soda like smoking cigarettes. Neither of these activities have health benefits and they both seem rather pointless. I didn’t perform the studies that indicate diet soda being bad for you but all I have to say is I don’t see how it can be any good. I would just stop drinking it. If you want something with zero calories just drink water. Also, diet may say zero calories but it can still make you overweight. Even if you have always been drinking soda and it has never made you gain weight, you should just step back and think. It could still be hurting your insides and everything you can’t see. Here are some thoughts on soda and why you should avoid it altogether.

1. Obesity. Soda is full of sugar and regular soda adds calories without making a person feel full. Soda is just calories with no nutrients. I think of it as liquid candy. For example, gummy bears in a drink form. Diet soda may not have any calories but it still triggers appetite, which is definitely something you don’t want while dieting. Some say that artificial sweeteners trigger appetite and prevent brain cells sending a signal establishing that you are full. Also, if you don’t want to feel fat, stay away from soda because it bloats you and makes your waistline bigger.

2. Kidney Issues. Soda contains a lot of phosphoric acid which has been linked to kidney stones. I just don’t want anyone to have to deal with this so to make sure, let’s just stay away from soda!

3. Reproductive Issues. Soda is often found in plastic bottles. Plastic bottles contain BPA(bisphenyl-A) which is a cancer causing chemical that can cause premature puberty and reproductive abnormalities. I guess this isn’t the soda’s fault but bottles aren’t good for the environment anyways. So another reason to stay away from soda.

4. Heart Disease. Soda is loaded with sugar. Making you have a sugar overload whenever you drink it. This is definitely something no one should do. These drinks may be influencing heart disease risk factors even if people don’t gain weight. Daily blasts of too-high blood sugar can disrupt metabolism in several ways. High sugar levels increase triglycerides, lower good cholesterol and prompt the body to make an especially damaging, smaller molecule of bad cholesterol. Too much sugar also raises levels of inflammation, another risk factor heart disease.

5. Increased Risk for Diabetes. I actually think that diet soda isn’t singly increasing your risk for diabetes. Many people who drink soda are already overweight so they drink more diet soda so they feel like they are doing better for themselves by not drinking the regular soda. Soda isn’t the determining factor in causing diabetes but if you are overweight, you are more likely to develop diabetes. So I suggest exercising, rather then saving some calories by drinking diet soda. Just stay away from the artificial sweeteners. Pick up a water.

Just a chart on what soda may be doing to you

There’s a lot of controversy over if any of this is really true but I never drink soda so that makes it easy on me because now I don’t have to worry about it. I like to get benefits from what I’m eating or drinking so I choose water, juice or milk whenever I get thirsty. It takes 21 days to make a habit so if you are up for the challenge, try going 21 days without soda. If you feel the need to go back to drinking it because you MUST HAVE SODA in your life then I guess go back to drinking it. I can’t make you do anything. All I want you to do is just remember some of the things mentioned above.

How to get your Body HOT… and Sweaty

Feel the heat and feel the burn! I sure did! HOT YOGA kicked my butt today. It was my first time experiencing all that hot yoga had to offer and it only cost me 5 dollars, which is a phenomenal price. By the end of the 90 minute session in up to 100 degree Fahrenheit heat, my towel, clothes, and headband could be wrung out. I sweat a lot usually, but no complaining… I love it! It makes me feel like I’m making my body really work, which is what I want. 

At the Pure Yoga & Fitness class, I was the only newbie out of roughly 20 people. It was a little intimidating at first but once I got passed the warm-up, the moves got a lot more complicated so no one was focusing on me. The focus was on themselves. The class had everything you could ask for in a workout session: sweat, increased heart rate, shaking, relaxing, stretching, challenges, rest, and a great after feeling!

10 minutes into class I already had my heart rate up, the sweat was starting to rapidly roll down my body, and I was facing challenging poses. I have done some yoga before but nothing like this. My body was not used to bending or staying in some positions for very long. But if I happen to not me able to perform a move… there was always a modification I could do. Some poses we had to hold for what seemed like an eternity because my body was shaking so much. But that’s good! That means my body was working hard so all my muscles were getting worked out, which is how the body tones itself. I want those tone arms! Also, I hear you can burn roughly 600 calories a class. That would take over an hour and fifteen minutes running at around a 6.0 pace! Hot yoga gets it all done! It’s a cardio workout, a stretch workout, a challenging workout and a breathing workout. All at the same time.

 

Shine like a star

The first class was tough for me. But challenging your body and seeing what you can do and how much you can improve is one of the greatest feelings. I’m so excited to go again. After class, my body felt so relaxed. I definitely drank my fair share of water during and after. I recommend hot yoga for everyone, both men and women. The class also had a very large age group, ages ranged from teenagers to people in their 60′s. It was great motivation to see some of the older participants in class because they were really good at it! If you have done hot yoga before, share your experiences! I would love to know more about it and I highly recommend it for people who have never done it.

Keep Going… and DON’T LOOK BACK

I just signed up for a 5k! Woo! I’m excited. My goal is to just beat my last 5k time of 22:40. In order to do this I must start training. The race is on March 30, 2012. So I was surfing the web, hoping to find doable training schedules and I came across this awesome website!  It has different races you are training for(5k, half marathon, etc.), what level you are at(novice, Intermediate, advance, etc) and it tells you what to do every day. It’s perfect! If you plane on signing up for a race and are new to running I suggest looking at this website. Running is great. I feel like I am getting into the best shape of my life. I feel more energetic. And I feel just overall healthier.

Running has changed my life. It’s new to me, which I love. I feel like I needed a change up. I control everything while running and all I have to tell myself is KEEP GOING. Thats all the motivation I need. You need to keep moving in order to get anywhere in life. It’s simple to. And I like simple. There’s no need to make things complicated. Also, here’s the 5k I’m running if you want to check it out. It’s through trails on a nature preserve. And what I like most is its at dusk. For some reason I have a hard time running in the mornings. It takes my body awhile to wake up… so 8 am – 9 am start times really kill me before the race even begins.