Girl Power

Hi guys! This week has been a really good one (despite our refrigerator crapping out on us and me pulling a muscle in my back).  I nailed my diet all week long (minus the moment of weakness involving cookie dough-- no regrets), started a new workout routine (that I can FEEL is working), and my overall outlook on myself right now is peachy keen. I've been amazed at how constant and on track I've been lately and I realized it's because I'm surrounding myself with people, food, websites, workouts, and even clothes that INSPIRE me to keep going. And to narrow that down even more, I'd have to say that people have a huge impact on me. I've felt really inspired by several people in particular this week, who have totally helped me to reach my goals once again just by watching how they simply LIVE. Check out some of the people I've been following and get inspired!



CHEYENNE GIL

Cheyenne is an amazing boudoir photographer/self love guru and I LOVE how she shines her light when she talks about not only herSELF but other women. She is confident, stunning, and makes gorgeously inspiring art with the women who come as they are. Honestly she has been one of my biggest inspirations in teaching myself to embrace my body. It sounds so cheesy but seriously, without a doubt, every single time one of her posts hits my news feed I just feel like all is right in the world and any doubt I had against myself just poofs away. Follow Cheyenne. She rocks:  

** https://www.instagram.com/cheyennegil/ **

PS- Cheyenne, you've inspired me to start taking more selfies! Not sure why I used to be so scared of workout/tummy photos. Learning not to fear the process of reaching your goals. It's a beautiful thing.

*

*

*

ANNA VICTORIA
I started following Anna on Instagram about 2 weeks ago and was immediately inspired by her enthusiasm, positivity, encouragement, and FOOD pictures ahhh *_*  hehe. Not to mention she has a TON of super cute, fun workout gear that I love and inspired me to go shopping. YES, shopping. If you love the clothes you're wearing you're more likely to get excited to workout (true story). So I've been treating myself to some fun new gear (like my pink galaxy pants seen above).
She posts a lot of great short videos showing how she does her workouts too, which I love... and she's taught me to stop focusing on just cardio and get my weight training on! I see her posts and I feel pumped, ready, and excited for my evening workout. Follow Anna! :

** https://www.instagram.com/annavictoria/ **

*

*

*

BRIE COOL

Brie is a good friend of mine as well as an amazing dancer, and mommy. She is so knowledgable when it comes to health, I always admire the facts she knows about nutrition-- not just how to work out or how to eat, but HOW our bodies work and WHY we should do things and how they benefit our bodies for the best. Brie has specifically inspired me to DRINK MY H20, GUYS!! I've gone from drinking maybe 1 cup a day to at least 5-- Thanks Brie! She has an amazingly inspiring weight loss story, as well as lots of knowledge to share which is why I'm so excited that she has finally started a blog: http://amommysfitnessjourney.blogspot.com/ You can also follow Brie on Insta:

**https://www.instagram.com/danzagirl016/**

Dear Julie, How Have You Been Doing?

Dear Me,

The last few days has been tough. Last week I was feeling on top of the world with my fitness goals, eating habits, and scheduled workouts. I was doing great and going strong. It's been 5 weeks (going on 6) and I was feeling awesome until 'comparison'. It's so true when they say comparison is the thief of joy. I follow a really great fitness enthusiast on Insta (really, she is great and very inspiring). She posts pictures of her female followers amazing progress and I was specifically looking at the ones that were 1-4 weeks of progress and wondering why *I* was not seeing that much progress in myself after the same amount of time. I poured over her instagram for at least 40 minutes taking it all in and by the end I felt worse about myself than uplifted. I started looking at my 1-4 week pictures and saying how they were nothing to be proud of, and that there was nothing really even different. This was thursday. Friday I hurt my back and after saying I was going to go to the gym all day anyway, I decided against it at the last minute because that just wasn't a good idea. Saturday was the blizzard, so no gym, a healing back, and cookiessss!! Yay! But in the end it just resulted in me feeling unsatisfied and unaccomplished. I hate that feeling. It's the worst, especially when you KNOW in your heart you are doing a great job but your head tells you that you're failing. After a quick pep talk with my best friend, I feel a bit better. She started her fitness journey about the same time I did so at the end of every week we have been asking each other how we are doing, as a time to spill our thoughts, ideas, excitements and let downs. I love that. It always makes me feel great and helps me get back on track after feeling like I've fallen. It helps me realign my mind with truths, and consider my goals for the week. My goals this week are to:

1.) STOP COMPARING. I'm staying away from my favorite Insta-fit accounts this week and focusing on my own progress.

2.) KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK EATING NUTRITIOUS MEALS. I'm about to roll out of bed and prep my meal for this week: Stuffed red peppers with chicken, rice, black beans, corn, tomatoes, and mushrooms, with a side of carrots and homemade hummus.

3.) DO MORE ABB STRENGH TRAINING. During my pep talks with Tal she asked me to consider where I really want to improve specifically. I'd like to tone my belly and I need to be working more on strength and stop focusing most of my effort on cardio.

You are doing a great job, and I am so proud of you for picking goals and sticking with them. Your hard work WILL pay off! You are beautiful and ambitious, and I am so excited to see where your journey keeps on taking you. Have a great, fun, positive day today! I love you!
Love,
Me

Ps- Here are some photos of yourself from 2011. They will inspire you in a cheesy way. You will know what I mean. I love these photos.

Stay Inspired

Things that are visually *inspiring* me to reach my goals today!! I feel motivated and happy and ready to keep on keepin on!

Me in 2011, trim and fit! ^_^ I love that I can use pictures of myself to get inspired! 

My new hoodie! "Motivation to reach new heights" I love it, and I love how every time I look in the mirror I am encouraged to keep going. Already seeing changes after 4 weeks and it just makes me even more excited to keep pushing forward to see where I am in a few more weeks! 

.

.

.

SOURCES:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/annaborges/blackmail-yourself-tbh?bffbmain&utm_term=.uswdrkjvG#.lbwBzpxZ1

2.) http://www.buzzfeed.com/annaborges/blackmail-yourself-tbh?bffbmain&utm_term=.uswdrkjvG#.lbwBzpxZ1

http://fitgirlsdiary.com/2015/07/16/the-best-motivational-water-bottles-sports-eater-bottle/

http://www.hellowonderful.co/post/EASY-KID-SNACK--STRAWBERRY-YOGURT-BARK#_a5y_p=3627548
http://damndelicious.net/2014/06/04/zucchini-pizza-bites/
http://www.budgetbytes.com/2012/05/roasted-garlic-pasta-salad/

https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/i-can-read-367118/photo-2735330605

It's Monday! What's in Your Fridge?

It's Monday. The start of a new week, and a fresh opportunity to keep going, start over, or begin. Yesterday I was busy making sure that today would be a great day for myself and my goals. I spent about two hours grocery shopping, and prepping 5 days worth of healthy meals and snacks for myself. I love being able to choose what kind of food is coming into our house. The power is all in my hands to decide wether we are eating mac&cheese and cookies, or yummy fruits and healthy homemade snacks. What's in your fridge this week?

I started meal prepping last week and I absolutely love it. Especially with my busy schedule, I am out of the house for about 12 hours at a time with work and then the gym. By the time I get home, the last thing I want to do is think about cooking or packing a lunch for the next work day. So on Sunday I decide what I want to eat this week and I go out, get the ingredients, and cook up 5 days worth of whatever I choose to eat this week. 

This week I am having overnight oats with blackberries, strawberries, and blueberries for breakfast. It is so easy and so good! I just pop the jar in the microwave for a minute and a half in the morning and have a really easy, yummy, nutritious breakfast already made. You can use regular rolled oats or steel cut. We use both. 

For snack I have an apple cut up, with a homemade yogurt dip.
Mix 2 small containers of plain greek yogurt, 1/3 cup peanut butter, and a Tbs of honey. It's so so good. I swear I could just eat it with a spoon it's that good. 

For lunch I'm having avocado chicken salad with pomegranate seeds, (go light on the mayo as the avocado works really well as a mayo substitute), and a whole raw cut up red pepper on the side. *Tip: If you are cooking something with chicken for your week long meal, it would be a good idea to freeze your 5th day to ensure freshness and take it out the night before. 

I have a cheese stick and a clementine for my afternoon snack before the gym, and then for dinner I'm usually happy with something simple like a bowl of cereal or scrambled eggs. Then I have a cup of sleepy time tea with honey before bed, and wake up and do it all over again the next day.

It might seem kind of monotonous, especially for someone like me who isn't a big fan of routine and predictability, but it 100% ensures that I will be getting all my fruits and veggies every single day and eating a healthy balanced meal. When you are hungry, it's so easy to grab the first thing you see because you don't feel like cooking. But when it's already made and packaged up for you, eating healthy really is a breeze. 

Mental Health: Being at Peace With Yourself

I just got done a really rejuvenating meditation after not really feeling myself today. Yesterday was great, but about a half hour before bed I just felt really angry for no explainable reason. I went to bed and woke up feeling fine today but just couldn't shake the feeling that I was not at peace with myself for some reason. A friend posted an article this morning on mental health that I really loved (and will share further in this blog post) and it inspired me. I've been keeping a list for some time now of things that make me feel richer/fuller/happier-- how I feel more at peace with myself. So I felt today was a good time to finally share those thoughts. After all, fitness is a world more than just getting a good workout in at the gym. A healthy, sound mind is just as important.


1.) MEDITATE 
What I do during my meditation is I find a place I am comfortable like my bed or my yoga mat on the floor in a dimly lit room. I put on my "Calm Meditation Radio" station on Pandora (highly suggest it), and I lay on my back with my eyes closed. This is a time to relax my mind and body and think ONLY positive thoughts. I start by just laying there for about 5 minutes. I imagine a place I'd like to be and I contemplate every beautiful detail of the serene location. Today I imagined walking through a golden field of wheat, and eventually moved onto sitting onto a beach next to my love. I image I am there and I think about how I feel in that place. I continue to think good thoughts about myself; things I am good at, why I am beautiful, how amazing my body is because it lets me live, breathe, dance, make art. I close my mind off to everyday thoughts about what I am doing today or something I am stressed about-- those thoughts are not allowed to cross my mind during meditation. If you are a spiritual being, I'd suggest meditating on a psalm while you are doing this too. I also stretch. Nothing crazy, just soothing. I think about my muscles, my breathing, and become very self aware of my body and thoughts. While stretching I think about snippets of my life where I felt alive. Today I thought about the time I walked through the forest in Germany alone at night-- it was a full moon and florence and the machine's Cosmic Love was playing on my ipod, and I had no fear of the darkness, the wild boars, or rumors of the child spirits. I thought about the time we went camping and it was pouring, and we all took our shoes off and tiptoed through the overflowing streams scattered amongst the woods like lines on a map-- and peeking through the trees we saw a man standing deep in the water fishing, surrounded by ripples from rain drops. After I am done stretching, and thinking beautiful thoughts, I lay on my back again-- breathing out any bad feelings like anger, anxiety, stress, and breathing IN peace, love, happiness. I end in prayer, open my eyes, and feel immediately different and completely at peace with myself.

2.) CREATE YOUR ATMOSPHERE 

 Decorate! Create a space that inspires you. Hang positive wall hangings, or create a nest of soft pillows. Drape a canopy around your bed, light candles, make your space feel like YOU. One thing that really changes my attitude/mood is twinkle lights so we have them here and there throughout our house around the perimeter of the ceiling. Seriously, twinkle lights change everything so if you don't have any, get some.

3.) COLOR OR MAKE ART
Paint, draw, knit, photograph, whatever it is you do, do it! I've recently joined the realm of adult coloring books and I love them. They're so great and there's lots of different ones. I love them because, 1.) coloring is fun, duh. But also because it is something I am in total control of. If I want a purple frog and red trees, you better believe no one is stopping me from coloring a purple frog and red trees.

4.) KEEP A WALL OF ENCOURAGEMENT
We have a wall in our kitchen where I hang all the thank you cards and sweet notes from friends and clients. They are filled with so many nice, appreciative thoughts about me and it fills me with so much happiness when I walk by and catch glances of their beautiful words.

5.) MAINTAIN A HEALTHY DIET AND EXCERCISE
Seriously, sometimes I feel like a great workout does more good for my emotional state than my own physical body. Wether it's a normal hour long workout routine or a brisk walk, it does wonders to get me out of a moody funk. Same goes for the food you put in your body. Everyone knows the feeling after you down a baconator, fries, and soda from Wendys. Yea, not fun. Less junk, more goodness from the earth.

6.) CLEAN YOUR HOUSE OR DECLUTTER
You can even ask my husband about this one... Every single time I am stressed or feel unaccomplished or unhappy with myself, I clean. Subconsciously it is like a purging of all the bad thoughts I feel. Even if it's just 1 room or 10 minutes, try it. Go through your clothes and get rid of old things you don't wear. Get rid of clutter laying around the house. Throw stuff out. Chuck the old tomatoes sitting on your kitchen table into the road across the street (haha yes, you can also ask my hunny about this too. It's a regular routine for me when produce goes bad)

7.) SPEAK YOUR MIND
This one's pretty self explanatory. Don't bottle your feels.

8.) CREATE A LIST OF THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF/THINGS YOU'RE GOOD AT
Even if you just do it in your head. When you start to feel the negative thoughts coming on, list of all the things you're good at. I can paint, draw, photograph, dance, sing, cook, bake, home decorate, and write. Think about your favorite things about yourself. I love my hair, my freckles, my lips, cheek bones, and my legs. Your turn!

9.) GET OFF SOCIAL MEDIA
When I spend too much time on Facebook, I get what I call: swamp brain. Yucky, slow, over opinionated, negative, boring, unadventurous, swamp brain. Today I made it my goal to check facebook less, scroll less, procrastinate less, and spend more time just *being* without a phone or social device.

10.) DRESS UP FOR YOURSELF
With my nanny job and working out every day, I spend so much time in sweats, hoodies and workout gear, sometimes I feel like I forget how nice it is to put on a dress with my favorite boots and a nice scarf. Even if it's Saturday and you're not going anywhere, put on your favorite outfit and dress up for YOU. It's crazy how different you'll feel by simply sprucing up a bit.

*If you're interested in reading the article i had mentioned that my friend shared this morning, here it is. There's a lot of other great ideas here for mental health:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/annaborges/may-your-2016-be-mentally-chill#.efngEkrQo