Five Things Helping Me Meet My Fitness/Nutrition Goals

Patting myself on the back. I'm seeing results, slowly but surely with my fitness and nutrition lifestyle changes (no dieting here). It's exciting!

This morning, after my 5am sweat session which included 45 minutes of inclined training on my treadmill and some running on a lower incline, I was sweating like a wh*re in church. Which I LOVE, the sweating part that is. I feel accomplished when the sweat is dripping off my face, neck, chest and the rest of me.

Here are FIVE things that have been working for me that I thought I would share you:

1. 5am workouts: This has been what is most successful for me, when I'm consistent. 5am workouts once a week won't do anything. 5am workouts 5-6 days a week and I'm seeing changes after only a week.  Working out in the evening for me is pretty impossible.  With a toddler in tote, I rush home from work, pick him up from "day care," get him home, feed him dinner while I eat dinner, take him to the park (or do something else "active" with him), bathe him, give him a bottle, we cuddle and read a book together or chase each other around the house until he's ready for bed.  I usually curl up with him in bed and let him sleep with me until he's completely knocked out which is when I usually move him into his crib.  It's 9pm by that time, which means I'm pooped and not going to work out after that. IF I do, it’s usually while we're at the park, or if he falls asleep really early, but basically it’s an extra work out. The 5am workouts are doing wonders for me! I need to remember that the mornings where I snooze and don't get out of bed.

2. Treadmill at home: Best purchase recently, for sure.  I was leaving my house at 4:30am to drive to 24 hour fitness to work out at 5am.  Sometimes I wouldn't leave until almost 5, which means my workout would have to be cut short to allow me enough time to drive home and shower, get ready for work, etc.  The drive time (even if it was only 10 minutes each way), plus parking, getting into the gym, on a machine, etc. was just too much wasted time. So a couple months ago, I bought a used treadmill and I'm so happy with it. Now I crawl out of bed at 4:45-ish, brush my teeth, put my contacts on, throw my hair in some half assed pony-tail, some gym clothes and bam, into the living room I go. I put on some morning news with closed captions so I can peak at what's going on while I jam to Pandora for an hour. It's great!

3. Eating lean, green and often: Yes, often.  I didn’t want to diet. That doesn’t work for me. I wanted to change my LIFESTYLE so I could set a good example for my son, who is my world.  That is incredibly important to me and I’m proud that he prefers fruits over candy and crap.  With the healthy choices I’ve been making, my metabolism is on super charge right now so I'm hungry every 2-4 hours.  I usually start out in the morning with my post-workout protein shake, but lately I've moved that to about 9:30am.  I make it in the morning before I leave home but save it for my mid-morning meal at work. I started making a quick egg white and veggie scramble for breakfast. Takes the same time as it does to blend my shake together and it tastes delish! I use egg whites, usually zucchini, mushrooms and tomatoes but I always change up the veggies.  After my mid-morning shake, I usually have a chicken and spinach salad for lunch.  I love a colorful salad, so I often include a few olives, garbanzo beans, beets, carrots, craisins, mushrooms, and 1/2 an avocado + shredded chicken breast with a little dressing.  Yum! Then I have a mid-afternoon snack (usually fruit or granola bar) and then I head home where I have dinner, which I have been prepping on Sundays for the work-week (more on that below).

4. Prepping and Preparing: Prepping and preparing my meals is a HUGE part of what's helping me.  On Sundays, I bake chicken breast or salmon to last me til about Wednesday.  On Wednesday, I'll re-bake some to last me Thursday and Friday.  I cut up veggies and stick them in Tupperware so they're easy to grill up before re-heating my chicken breast or salmon in the evening.  It tastes good and is good for me. Plus, I can’t use the excuse that I’m too tired to cook and end up eating something quick and crappy. Avin received a promotion at work which requires him to work longer hours.  As much as he loves to cook, he hasn’t been able to for a while and since I’m determined to meet my fitness goals, prepping and preparing my dinners in advance is great for this busy Mom’s lifestyle. I don't plan on doing this forever as I miss having carbs as sides, but for now, it is working and I plan on sticking to it. 

5. Great family and friends: Having supportive family and friends who eat healthy and work out make a HUGE difference.  I've been bogged down by people whose goals are not in line with mine and I'm glad that the friends I currently have aren't influencing me to be lazy and to eat like crap. Thank you.

I'm not at a point where I'm going to start posting pix of my body. That would be overzealous of me since the change isn’t significant at this point.   But I can definitely see the change in my face. My cheeks aren't as chubby - yay!

This was me this morning, feeling great!