No Pain no Gain!!

Silly me focused so much on trying to press 85 pounds I let the bar drop too fast and landed on my collar bone! Didn’t hurt at the time since I had so much adrenaline going, but it sure is sore today! This past week bengay has been my best friend!! I think this week I’m cheating and moving onto ice!! I’m not used to such high intensity workouts and heavy weight movements and you feel like your muscles are jello by the end of it, but for some crazy reason you always want more! It’s not for everyone I must say, but for those who are looking for a challenge, this is a great one! Lesson learned- Don’t lose focus until the barbell is on the floor!!!

Believe = Achieve

If you believe you can achieve!!!

 I have recently started on the crossfit journey. If you haven’t heard of this before just you-tube crossfit games. It is high intensity weight training and cardio combined. Let me tell you I have never been so sore, yet felt so empowered in my life! I am not affiliated with crossfit in any sort of way, just a little ole newbie member. I have tried to stay somewhat active, always had a gym membership and loved to run or bike, but when I didn’t work out I noticed I would start to feel down and depressed and it became of vicious cycle of not wanting to go to the gym because I was depressed but depressed because I was gaining weight. I was also diagnosed with lupus and not knowing for years, I just thought I was always sick and my body hated me? So since then I have really tried to improve my health a great deal not only because I want to look and feel good but because I have to for my life.

So when you leave the gym after working out pretty hard, you feel pretty good right? You know you burned off some extra calories to make up for the cake you had the day before and you feel accomplished.

But there is nothing like when you complete a WOD (workout of the Day) with Crossfit.

Last night I  had the  WOD mission of the ‘Thruster Ladder’. It’s hard to explain but the ‘thruster’ is when you have a weighted barbell, mine was 35lbs and you snatch it up to your chest, go down in to a squat and press it over your head and back down, which counts and 1 rep. The ‘ladder’ portion is when every minute equals a round and that increases and equals to how many reps you do per minute. So you start out on your first minute, you only have to do one thruster in that minute, the second round you complete two thrusters in that minute and so on until you can’t complete the required reps in a minute. Sounds easy right? Not so fast, that weight feels like a ton of bricks after just a few rounds.

I completed 16 rounds of this and on my 17^th could only do 12 so that equals to 146 total thrusters with 35lb weights. (Now in crossfit world this actually isn’t a lot, but for my first time I feel very accomplished)

By the time I was on my 10^th everyone else had already bailed and it was just me and the clock. But since everyone had finished I had the entire gym routing me on. It is an awesome moment when you have people you don’t even know cheering you on and motivating you to push yourself to a place you’ve never been before. Not only do you feel like the world believes in you but you believe in yourself. I am so excited to see what else I have in store and where my mind and body can take me. Bring it on, because I believe and I know I can achieve.

November Competition!!

The first monthly Competition is up for Sweatsassy.com

It's 20 pushups! Any variation!! (On your knee's, against the wall, military etc)

Entry: Free

Requirements:

ONLY Women can participate

Must be a member of sweatsassy.com which is FREE

You must wear some visible form of Sweat Sassy gear during the pushups.
The video must be sent in via e-mail (You can send the link to your youtube) competitions@sweatsassy.com

PRIZE: $50 GNC

Location: Global! Videos can be sent in from anywhere!

www.sweatsassy.com

The surrounding Temptation!!

So you've been eating good for just two weeks, but already you're feeling great! You have more energy and you're over that hump of constantly craving sweets and carbs! You've even been working out quite often and last night you really pushed it and know you burned a ton of calories! So you walk into to work the next day and "don don don" it's ANOTHER office birthday!!! Holy cow how many birthdays are there?? The center office table filled with goodies jumps out at you and does one of those screeches from a scary movie "ERR ERR ERR"! And of course the goodie table has to be placed RIGHT NEXT to the fax machine so you have no choice but to walk by and have a stare down with a cookie ever hour!!! How are you supposed to maintain your healthy eating with all this temptation around you? You almost feel like your co-workers are conspiring against you!!

Well this is a very good question, its quite easy to just not buy the junk food when you go grocery shopping but you can't control what others do, specially in your office! One thing you can do is motivate others in your office to eat healthy like you! Tell them about your journey and your goals and how you feel so much better by eating the right foods! This may encourage your co-workers to get rid of that "Secretary Spread" and bring in some healthier options instead of the junk!

Another option is to share the love! Most likely when people bring in goodies, they bring in enough to feed an entire army!! Therefore, when everyone has had their first serving, if it's possible, share what's left over with other departments! This eliminates the leftovers sitting there all day while you give in and sneak a second or third serving!! Hey there's nothing wrong with A cookie or cupcake, it's the second, third and forth that stick to those hips!!

I speak from experience! This wasn't even an occasion, someone just brought 50 cookies and cider just because...can you imagine what our birthdays looks like? Getting my office to eat right has definitely been a challenge!! Oye-vey!

 

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Also a Swavorski Crystal option!

Go to: www.sweatsassy.com
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Encourage those around you!

One of the best things you can do when you’re starting to change your eating habits is get everyone around you involved! Make sure your family is on board with healthy eating. The last thing you want to do after a long day of work and stress is to have to cook 2 separate meals! When you think of eating healthy do you picture yourself eating a boring salad for dinner, while watching everyone else eating fried chicken and cheesy macaroni casserole?? Well it doesn’t have to be that way! You can easily create tasty meals that are healthy and that the whole family will enjoy. Again this is Healthy and Happy not healthy and miserable! Checkout my recipes; here is one that I got someone to eat fish and loved it (who has refused to eat fish in the past)!!

Baked Lemon Breaded Tilapia

with Brown Rice and Broccoli

Ingredients:

1/8 cup Bread Crumps

Flaxseed(Optional)

2 Tilapia Filets

Lemon Pepper, Italian Seasoning, Parsley, Garlic, Onion Powder

Broccoli Florets

Minute Bag Brown Rice

Preheat Oven to 350 degrees. Fill pot with hot water and set on high heat to boil. Pour the bread crumbs on a plate and mix the flax seed and seasonings to your liking and mix thoroughly. Dip the Tilapia in the bread crumbs until it is covered on both sides. Cut up Broccoli and place in boiling water. Place the breaded tilapia filets on a non-stick pan and bake for 15minutes. Microwave or boil Minute Brown Rice.

So I ran out of brown rice and had to use white rice :/

And of course when I say I got someone to eat fish, of course he had to ruin it with ketchup and cheese!! yuck:( But to each his own!!

5 easy ways to cut useless calories

 

 

1. Stop the sodas! If you are stuck on the sugary goodness wean off with diet soda and eventually cut it out together. I'm sure you've heard it over an over but soda's diet or not are useless for your body, and leave you feeling even more hungry because of the sugars! Besides the 8oz or more of water you should drink, try drinking skim or 1% milk, 50 Cal Tropicana, or teas. These drinks have vitamins and minerals that are good for your body and help subside your hunger. Bonus: Have a tea after a large meal, it will help along your digestion and just start your metabolism.

2. Replace those whites with wheat's! Another group of empty calories or those white breads, replace them with wheat!  Not only loafs of bread but anything made with bleached flour, pizza dough, pasta and rice. I know there's nothing like good o'le pizza or pasta but try them with wheat, or they now make 'smart taste' which has less carbs and more vitamins and you can't really taste the difference!

3. Lean out your meats! Do you love your beef and steaks? You can still eat them, but find leaner options! You might spend a little more, but chose leaner steaks such as filet mignon, and look for those extra lean beefs and pork tenderloins.

4. Watch your additives! Are you eating salads everyday for dinner and not seeing the weight melt off? Well it could be your dressing! Dressing has a whole lot more calories than people realize, not to mention the fat content!

5. Limit those Drinks! Many alcoholic drinks pack on the calories, carbs and surgars and do nothing good for your body, they leave you dehydrated and thins your blood slowing your metabolism. Try to chose lower caloried drinks such as light beer or the new skinny girl drinks which have under 150calories!

Bonus: When grocery shopping before you put anything in your shopping cart be sure to check the nutrition facts, you'd be surprised on some of the things you belived to be healthy are in fact loaded with high carbs and sugars.