NOW WHAT!?!

If you are reading this...chances are that you are just wrapping up our 50 day strength and nutrition challenge.  If you are like me, it may have you wondering how the heck you'll ease back into your "normal" life, or foods you want to splurge on now that the restrictions are over.  Here's a good approach on how to re-introduce foods back into your diet.

* If you were avoiding certain foods (such as gluten, dairy, etc.),  then you will need to very slowly put them back into your diet.. Here's what you need to do:

* Choose the food you want to eat and enjoy.
* How do you feel now that you've changed the way you eat?
*How did the food you missed make you feel after eating it?
*Did you over eat?
*How is your energy level? 
*Are you still feeling full between meals?
*How are you sleeping?

That being said, I finished up my 50 days on Saturday. With the exception of a few minor cheats, I followed Paleo pretty strict..  Totally excited to be finished with the challenge, I ate a cheese quesadilla w/ sour cream at lunch.  By 2 pm my gut felt horrible...I just brushed it off thinking I ate too much.  At dinner I ate cheesecake.  I spiked my bood sugar so high that when it crashed about an hour or two later, I crashed....seriously!  It was that intense. 
That was the first time I really have been able to feel the difference of eating better and fueling my body with healthy food.  I have slept better....I've not had food on my mind 24/7 (like most of us do during a diet)....I have felt better all day long and have more energy.   I am going to make every effort to continue eating to fuel my body.  That doesn't mean I wil be so strict that I can't enjoy foods I love... but it does mean I will use moderation in the foods I eat.
 SO......here we are...done with our 50 day Challenge.  Our challenge wod, "Victoria" will be this Friday.  We will be doing our 1RM of Squat Snatch or Clean&Jerk during this week.  After pics will be taken Mon, Tues, Wed.  We will announce winners on Monday, March 4th. 
I am super proud of all of you who took this challenge on.  I have seen alot of changes, I hope you have too!

For the last part of the challenge, go through the questions Tami gave  to record in your food log.  How do your answers compare to the first time you answered them  We would love to hear from you!!!

10 Ways To Stay MOTIVATED!

Sometimes, regardless of the fact that you know you should workout an deat right, you just somehow can’t convince yourself to. In fact, you have pretty much become a pro at convincing yourself otherwise. You are able to justify exactly why you don’t have to work out and why it’s ok for you to eat that entire bag of Oreos — until the next am when you regret that decision. Here are 10 ways to motivate yourself to stay on your strength and nutrition plan.

1. Psych Yourself Up!:
Pretend you’re a boxer, a maratrhon runner, a competetive crossfit athlete, be a fast running gazelle — it sounds corny, but it works. Get yourself in that mindset, be the boxer, get yourself pumped up, channel Rocky if you want. See it, feel it, see the environment you would be in. The point is to get your head in the game and out of your “I don’t feel like working out” head.

2. No-More Piggy Bank:
Every time I REALLY don’t want to work out, but do anyway, or every time I SO BADLY want a brownie but eat a handful of veggies instead, I put $1 in my No-More Piggy Bank.” Once it adds up a bit, I get to spend it anyway I want! Then when I’m strutting around with my new sexy stilettos, I’ll be able to think “my workouts and healthy mindset bought this for me…”

3. Photo at your Heaviest:
If you have an old pic at your heaviest, place it where you will remind yourself to get fit. So, if food is your issue: put it in the kitchen...on your fridge, in your pantry, in your freezer, in your car... wherever you are going to see it before eating foods that you know you don’t need to eat. If your issue is exercise, put that pic on your closet door to remind you to grab your workout clothes, put it next to your alarm clock so that when you go to hit “snooze” you see it and decide to get up and workout instead.

4. Photo at your Thinnest:
Same idea, but reversed. Yes, this is a serious glamour shot, a picture of you flexing your muscles or looking sexy in a bathing suit. Why? Because some people are driven by the positive, and others are driven by the negative. What type are you?

5. Accountability Chart:
Create a chart, writing down your weekly diet and workout plan, tape it to your refrigerator and every time you workout, check it off!  Your excercise log or food journal will work great for this too!

6. Tester Jeans:
If I’m on the verge of eating this or that or not working out when I know I need to, I just try on my tester jeans. They are my scale alternative when it comes to gauging my body size. For me it’s less how much I weigh and more about how I feel and how big/small I am. I know that the scale stresses me out and I obsess over the number. If I feel like my testers a little tight, I don’t even hesitate... I put that cookie down... I tie on my reebocks and head out to the box

7. Skinny Jeans in the Kitchen:
Literally hang your skinny jeans in your kitchen or pantry so that every time you walk in to “see what’s new in the fridge” or do some emotional eating in hopes of making yourself feel better (which will ultimately make yourself feel worse) you see those skinny jeans hanging there and realize that, while those 10 seconds of taste -bud -bliss as you down that bag of chips will be heavenly... But if you avoid that daily bag for a month, you will be slipping, as opposed to squeezing, into your skinny jeans. And in the end, nothing tastes as good as thin feels. (And yes... it may cause a few neighbors to ask why your pants are hanging in the kitchen....)

8. Post-Its in the Pantry:
Find yourself opening the refrigerator door and eyeballing everything (as if you don’t already know what it’s stocked with), riffling through the freezer and pantry, even when you’re still full from dinner? I do. Waaaaaay too often. I am great at late-night self-convincing that enjoying a few (or a heaping handful) of M&Ms is “okay” and that, "no... I won’t regret it in the morning." Instead, I place Post-It notes with little reminders of why I shouldn’t eat that cookie, alternatives to eating that cookie, and, worst case — the result of eating that cookie: body fat.

9. Strip!:
If you’re having a hard time motivating, strip down to your skivvies and face yourself in the mirror. It’s not about looking for flaws, it’s about looking at where you stand right now and being honest about it. Yes, I could use a run right now. No, I really don’t want to paste that cookie to the side of my thighs…

10. Say It Out Loud!:
Yes, if you are about to mindlessly snack,  take it out of your mind and make the announcement: “I am now eating this entire bowl of leftover pasta because I’m bored, not hungry, even though I know it will go right to my butt.” If not working out is your issue. Say “I am not going to work out right now because I would prefer be lazy and not address the fact that I need to get healthy. I am making the decision to prolong and even worsen my health and make my weight loss journey take even longer.” Chances are your statement will make you think better of it.

JUST FOR FUN!

After listening to some bedtime stories, Alex, a little boy, said to his father,

'Snow White was poisoned by an apple,

Jack found a giant on a beanstalk,

and just look what happened to Alice when she ate the mushroom.

And you wonder why I won't eat fruit and vegetables.'

Two Weeks and Counting!

I have to say I am seeing some great changes at the box!  You may not see them, but I assure you great things are happening.  Keep it up!  The end is in sight, but hopefully just for the competition, not for all the amazing changes you have made in your life.

If we haven't checked your food log will you please drop it off at the box.  Thanks!

THESE ARE THE BOMB!

This is a recipe that Brooke and Daeci shared with me and they are amazing!  I would share a pic but they are already all gone.LOL