The Strength

Monday, October 17, 2011

Motivation Monday

Top 10 Diet Saboteurs:

1 Yourself: Negative thoughts about you and your efforts to change will surely sink your battleship.

2 Friends: People want you to be successful, bun not more successful than they are!

3 Family: There are the most dangerous because love blinds both you and them, so you won't see the sabotage coming.

4 Spouse/partner: Believe it or not, your life partner can be destructive to any physique renovation plan. Change is not a good thing in their minds.

5 Overweight friends: They think you are a traitor leaving their eating circle.

6 Buffets: Easy to go crazy when it's all there in front of you and no one is looking.

7 Special events: At celebratory events, the temptation to indulge is enormous. It's a party, after all!

8 Reduced fat/Healthy Choice/Sugar-free products: You will relax your standards with these foods due to the seductive weight management claims on the packaging.

9 The Grocery Store: It's all food, right!

10 Carbonated beverages and sporting drinks: Loaded with sugar and salt.

source; Oxygen Magazine

Not to have control over the senses is like sailing in a rudderless ship, bound to break to pieces on coming in contact with the very first rock.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Side Effects of Artificial Sweetners

For the past 2 months I have felt "weird". I was very fatigued, my joints ached, I had headaches, bruised easily,I had chest pain, and was light headed and dizzy when I exercised! I went to my Doctors office, she ran the regular blood tests, they showed nothing. She said that she thought that I possibly had an autoimmune disease...Lupus! So she sent me to a Rhumatologist. He ran a boat load of tests, X rays, Blood tests and asked an hours worth of questions. Well, 12 viles of blood, 5 X rays and two weeks later. My tests came back "pristine"! So...Why do I feel like crap? The Doctor asked what, if anything, have I done different over the past year. Well I have been chewing sugar free gum like crazy! It was my vice, my sugar fix! He said that artificial sweeteners can have an Autoimmune disease effect in some people! ME!

Here is a list of what is in my gum:
Acesulfame-K: Animal studies have linked the chemical to lung and breast tumors and thyroid problems.

Aspartame: The FDA has received thousands of complaints due mostly to neurological symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, memory loss, and in rare cases, epileptic seizures. Many studies have shown aspartame to be completely harmless, while others indicate that the additive might be responsible for a range of cancers.

Mannitol: Because sugar alcohols are not fully digested, they can cause intestinal discomfort, gas, bloating, flatulence, and diarrhea.

Sorbitol: Like other sugar alcohols, it can cause intestinal discomfort, gas, bloating, flatulence and diarrhea.

Yellow #6: Several studies have linked this dye to learning and concentration disorders in children, and there are piles of animal studies demonstrating potential risks such as kidney and intestinal tumors.

Do yourself and your family a favor and google "side effects of artificial sweeteners" You will be amazed!

Put the artificial sugar down and pick up agave, stevia or real organic sugar!

You've got to say, I think that if I keep working at this and want it badly enough I can have it. It's called perseverance.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Exercising When Traveling

If you are looking for an exercise to perform while on the road, (or at lunch break!) stair climbing is a great choice. If your hotel has at least a couple stories of height, you can get this workout in and not have to wait until the fitness center is open

You can perform steady endurance work in some quick intervals or work in some quick bursts up the stairs and come down at a more moderate pace. Another variation is to change the stride up the steps. A longer stride targets the thighs and glutes; a shorter stride works more on the calves and thighs. The only equipment you need is a watch to time your workout and you're set.

Since most people take the easy way out via the elevator, the stairs are usually empty and available for when ever you want to work out.

The first and the best victory is to conquer self.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Motivation Monday!

Meet my friend Heidi Keefer!

I never had a real issue with my weight before, was always in the “normal” range for my height. I’ve always been active and into playing sports, especially football with my guy friends & the youth group kids from my church. I got pregnant while training for a half marathon in July 2010, and completed the race (morning sickness and all) in September, when I was 2 months along. I continued working out in an attempt to not gain as much weight as I did with my first pregnancy, which was 40 pounds. My goal was to not exceed a 25 pound weight gain. I was on track until January came. That's when my older brother suddenly passed away. I took a couple weeks off the gym to be with family and deal with a lot of emotions. Then I spent most of February in pain with kidney stones. I kinda lost focus there for awhile and started eating a lot of junk food. Once life settled down I started back at the gym, but was still stuffing my face at home. So by the time I gave birth to my daughter in April I had gained 43 pounds. So much for gaining less this time, huh?? Even though I started working out again about 4 weeks postpartum, I also started smoking again. Yep, after 9 months without a cigarette, I let the stress of life get to me. Then in June I decided I wanted to start studying to be a personal trainer. The further I was getting into my books I realized the cigarettes had to go, once and for all. And so did my bad eating habits. That’s when the last of my baby weight finally melted off. And by early September, I was back at my pre pregnancy weight, 125. I am currently 2 pounds under that weight and am the strongest I have ever been in my life. I still have a little way to go, but at least I know what I need to do now. Eating clean is not always easy, but it makes sense. There should be no other way of eating. As Tammy always says, we should know what were putting in our bodies - read the labels!! I give so much credit to Tammy for always being motivating and so willing to share all her knowledge about working out and eating right.

Heidi's favorite quote:
Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Lori's AFTER Photo!!

I felt so bad that this did not post! I'd like to blame my computer...but I believe it was just ME!

Isn't she smokin!!

Pumpkin Spice Latte

I love fall! Especially when Starbucks brings back their Pumpkin Spice Latte! Until I found out how many calories it had! Crap ;(

So that got me thinking...I'll make my own!

10 oz coffee
1/2 cup hot Unsweetened Almond milk
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp Agave

Nutritional info:
Starbucks                             My Way
Cals: 260                                 40
Fat: 0                                     1.75
Carbs: 50                                   6
Fiber:  0                                    .5
Protein: 14                               .5

Not only did I save 220 calories...I saved 5 bucks!! Go on, try my coffee! Great with a walk in the woods watching the leaves change!

"It takes a strong fish to swim against the current. Even a dead one can float with it." - John Crowe

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Whole Wheat

Are you buying "whole wheat" bread, wraps, and pasta?

Marketing guru's are at it again! The word "multigrain" makes you think that you're getting unprocessed grains, but if the first word you read is "enriched", those grains have been refined. And now that they know we've figured this out, they are back to their tricks again. If the ingredient list says "wheat flour", your brain says "whole wheat flour", but that's not the case unless it says so. Look for the word "whole" to ensure that the nutrient rich germ and bran are intact.

The good Lord gave you a body that can stand most anything. It's your mind you have to convince.

Motivational Quotes

You must act as if it is impossible to fail.
Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself!
Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same.
Whether you think you can or you think you can't, your probably right!
If you are sick of starting over, you have to stop quitting
You won't fail if you're not perfect, you'll fail if you're not committed to improving yourself slightly each day.
We can reverse years of damage to our bodies by deciding to raise our standards for ourselves, then living differently. Old wounds heal, injuries repair, and the whole system improves with just a few changes in what we put into our bodies and how we move them.
Failure is not fatal; failing to change will be."
Food for Thought: The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Strengthen Your Desire! Weak desires bring weak results, just as a small amount of fire makes a small amount of heat.
Success is not a race, be patient.
It's not about how good you are, but how bad you want it!
Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go..."
"Never trade what you want the most for what you want at the moment"
"Success is not a place that we aspire to, it is a process in which we live by. Often the only ingredient being the ability to not quit"
Be specific in what you want, and use specific words. Empower yourself, and become the person you dream about
That which we persist in doing becomes easier to do; not that the nature of the thing itself is changed, but that our power to do is increased."
The odds of hitting a target go up dramatically when you aim at it." ~Mal Pancoast
At the beginning of any task, more than anything else, your attitude will affect it's successful outcome.
Do or do not. There is no try.~Yoda
Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means, effort, pain, difficulty.
Focus on where you want to go, not on what you fear."
There is no one giant step that does it. It's a lot of little steps."
Start doing what's necessary, then do what's possible, and suddenly you'll be doing the impossible!
"My life tomorrow will be the result of my attitudes and the choices I make today."
People often say that motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing, that's why we recommend it daily. Zig Ziglar
"Clear your mind of can't." ~Dr. Samuel Johnson
"Any experience can be transformed into something of value. Everything depends on the way you look at things. You cannot have the success without the failures.
What are stumbling blocks and defeat before you, can be stepping stones to victory if you remain determined.
Listen closely: the only time it's too late to change yourself is when you're dead. Until then, you're simply making excuses or lying to yourself.
If you keep doing what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got!
"Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently". ~Henry Ford
What we think or what we know or what we believe is, in the end, of little consequence. The only consequence is what we do. ~ John Ruskin
Your goals, minus your doubts, equal your reality." ~Ralph Marston
One definition of insanity is: Doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different result.
"If we defend our habits, we have no intentions of quitting them."
Your past does not equal, nor does it dictate, your future
Do you choose to simply know the path, or do you choose to walk it?
Your body keeps an accurate journal regardless of what you write down...
When one approach is not working to reach the desired goal, that's not a reason to abandon the goal. Instead, it is time to devise another approach."------Ralph Marston
Discipline is remembering what you want.
Knowing is not enough, you must apply.
Make the decision, then do something - no matter how small - toward accomplishing what you want.
Don’t live down to expectations. Go out there and do something remarkable. ~Wendy Wasserstein
Food for Thought: The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Strengthen Your Desire! Weak desires bring weak results, just as a small amount of fire makes a small amount of heat.