Destined to Make a Difference..

I swear I will eventually make a point in this entry...and bring it back around to fitness....I just had such an "Oprah Ah-ha" moment today....Like things are really starting to "click" in my world lately,make sense,and come together after being undone for so long...And I must say it is an amazing feeling...I have spent most of my adult life in a state of panic not knowing what direction I was heading,what my purpose was,what I am meant to be/do,etc....But today it kinda hit me in a moment when I was talking to my sister about life and situations,etc...I know my purpose is to influence others and empower them on body image,self esteem through fitness.I struggled with my own body, self esteem for so long.It never made sense why I spent all of my teen years feeling uncertain and bad about my appearance...I was never "ugly"....but I HATED my body...I didn't work out and my level activity consisted of cheer leading...which is VERY active but also made me feel even more insecure because I felt I needed to be perfect (whatever that was)...Hence lead me into at least a five year battle with eating disorders....which lasted through college cheer leading...multiple personal relationships where I never felt secure,affected my sex life,and just really had me spiraling out of control....Then I found the gym...Don't get me wrong I didn't take it serious at first...I didn't know what I was doing, what I SHOULD be doing...nothing...I just went....I dated a gym rat, who got me even more involved in the gym and taught me a lot.....in years to come I have had trainers and I have learned from them...Now I know, years later, what to do,how to do it,how to achieve certain results in the gym, and I am passionate about it...As I look back all these experiences make sense...they contributed to me finding my TRUE purpose..what I am meant to do and it will be more meaningful because I have a story to go along with my journey that lead to this moment....I have always said the ultimate would be to train celebrities....When I look in magazines and I see celebs rollercoastering with their weight too (because they are people),read their tips,etc,see how media scrutinizes,kicks them when they are down,watch as they try to rebuild a career (ex.my FAV Britney Spears),I think I would LOVE to train them....and after talking with my sister tonight who is working on her music career and hearing her dreams,etc I am reminded that anything is possible and I am truly feeling that the sky is the limit.....

On a different note: Sunday is usually my off day but this week I did lift...I did 2 sets of a total body circuit and approx 200 crunches (upper,lower,and obliques) and finished in 35 min:)

My workout today

I'm not really in the mood to blog today so I thought I would keep it simple by sharing my workout of the day....so far I have done 90 minutes on the treadmill...And I am getting ready to return to the gym for about 30 minutes more of cardio and then I plan to take a bodypump class which is an hour long training each body part totalling of 120 reps per body part. And I will attempt to do approximated 300 crunches.I know this is a boring, basic blog but I am just having one of those days...............

You are only cheating YOURSELF

Although this phrase can apply to many areas in life I am specifically referring to eating habits and exercise habits.....This phrase was also used at one of my exercise classes recently regarding completing the exercise set with all the reps,full out and NOT tapping out or half assing it....Basically she barked that if we half stepped it, or stopped at 10 reps instead of the ordered 12, we are ultimately only cheating ourselves not her....True. And the other day I was speaking to my friend (I call my "gay husband"), trying to enocurage him to go to the gym and to stop eating poorly...and he responded," How do you know I am eating poorly??" I mean besides your multiple fb status updates which reference pancakes,taquitos,etc???!!!!Well, instead of calling him out on these status updates I simply responded with, "because I am your friend and in the end whether you are honest about going to the gym or not,eating healthy or not....you are only cheating yourself...Not going to the gym or eating fast food every day or even most days won't affect me." This is so true..You can lie to the world...because it doesn't affect the world..it only affects yourself...So go to the gym...or not..make smart eating choices...or not....Go to the gym and then follow it with a trip to the drive thru....Go to the gym but NOT be focused and skimp on your reps/sets/intensity....but know in the end you are only cheating yourself...not me:) (That was my Jillian Michaels soapbox speech of the day...)

Eating My Emotions............

This seems to be the thing I struggle with the most, as you will quickly come to figure out...I have zero problem going to the gym,I know just what it takes to get results from working out,I am open to trying new classes,etc...But food is my weakness..I can be so disciplined, but the minute I stop it is like a downward slop that quickly spirals out of control..Some people "can't eat" when they are upset...Gotta love them!!Me? I eat EVERYTHING!!I fully support the concept that you can't deprive yourself of ANYTHING or else you will want EVERYTHING!!!So my system usually consists of eating sensible for 6 days out of the week and allow myself one free day,cheat day, free-for-all.And it works...or it worked up until about Thanksgiving of this year..That is when six days sensible,turned into MOST days, turned into I don't know....Now almost two months later I am struggling to find my food discipline again..My only saving grace is that I have kept up with the gym, 6-7 days a week..I am not trying to go back to my strictest eating habits but I definitely need to cut out fast food and take it back to one free day and start making better choices...

Momentum is NOT Muscle

This was the phrase that was so perfectly worded in my bodypump class last night...And I have always said this in various ways, have commented multiple times about other gym goers and the way they lift, and am a firm believer that yes momentum is NOT muscle...Meaning you must to the work to see the results.You cant rely on "swinging" movements to lift a weight because the you will not see benefits.Trust me I have spent enough time working out the wrong way to speak on the right way!So slow down,focus on the movement and muscle that you are working out and really feel the contraction of the muscle...Do this with EVERY exercise and you will see a difference:)

New Journey....

So I created this blog to keep myself on track with my own fitness goals,career goals,maybe life goals,to inspire people,motivate people,possibly educate people....This officially begins mt new journey...This blog will be totally devoted to fitness and health....I have spent several years now not really knowing where I was going with my life. I was never the girl growing up thinking, "I wanna be a..." No way...I was more like the girl that had no idea what I wanted to be, changed my mind constantly (total Libra), wanted to be whatever my friends wanted to be,etc....I went to college got my bachelors in education and by the time I was done with it didn't want to work in that field...Took some time off...Took a few psych classes and somewhere in all of that got really into fitness...or so I thought...Meaning I had barely just scratched the surface back then..So I found a master's program in the fitness realm and got my masters in Kinesiology...Finished and still had no clue what I was doing with my life...By that time I was working out religiously but didn't know exactly what I was doing....Had tried almost every diet,most weight loss trends, struggled with an eating disorder(yes I will admit that)...Didn't know if I wanted to be skinny or buff,lean or thick...I was lost....I had body image and self esteem issues for so long...In school, with cheer leading, when I looked at the media and all the "beautiful" women sending out wrong and mixed messages I was a mess.....Now fast forward some years, I have been on a roller coaster ride when it comes to body image,self esteem,what I want to do with my life, where I am going, what my purpose is,etc...I now feel like I am in a place where things are starting to click and come together...It is now making sense....and I have a better understanding of why I went through all these things...It was to bring me here.....This year I am working on my ACE certification,continuing to reshape my body, doing a couple of runs (5mile and possibly half marathon), plan on taking a variety of fitness classes to learn more,experience more, and become even more well rounded, learn to cook more....So this blog will be an inside look at all of this...It will keep track of my progress,setbacks,my emotions,experiences and my successes..I am so happy to finally be in this place and excited about what the future has in store for me.....