I set my own goal on February 4th… to get stronger and fitter by my 30th birthday (Today March 9th). When I asked myself why I wanted to get stronger, the answer was for “myself.” Not for anyone else. I haven’t shared this with anyone, not even Marc. So there you go Marc. There’s my goal and my secret

I asked myself WHY?? Why do I want to get stronger? My main reason was that I wanted to prove to myself that I could finish this program. I know I probably sound super corny when I say this but I was excited for this challenge!!! Every time I began one of the beachbody programs in the past, something happened (injury/pregnancy). I kind of felt like I was jinx.

For the first time in 4 years I have been able to kick my own A$$ without an injury or a pregnancy sidelining me. If you are curious what went on in the past few years, here goes: 4 years ago I had hip surgery… it took a full year to recover. Even after I recovered and I was cleared for everything, I was afraid to push 100% because I was scared of re-injury. Then I got pregnant, and although I exercised I didn’t do intense exercise. 8 weeks after I had Ava I broke my collar-bone. That was a little over a year ago and you know what?? I am the strongest I have been in 5 years. I am so happy I can say that out loud.

In the last month I have seen progress in my core strength and I can see changes in my arms, specifically my triceps. This took all my guts to post these pictures. I am a pretty private person. Yes I have a blog but the purpose of my blog is to help people and motivate people to be healthy besides that, I am shy, reserved and I keep to myself. So basically thank you for letting me share this with you!! I don’t know if you can see the change but I sure do and I feel it.

To be able to share with you my progress is sort of like a weight lifted off of my shoulders because I put myself out there to better myself and to let you know its okay to be vulnerable. It actually feels good.

I’ve reached my 30th Bday today and seeing physical changes and strength gains was ALL I needed to keep pushing forward. I am mentally in this and it feels good. Being a part of a challenge has helped me stay on track and has given me a positive energy that I can’t really explain. You will know the energy I am talking about when you are 100% committed to something.

Sure there have been days when I didn’t want to work out or my energy was low but I looked over some motivational quotes and they helped me to push through and work hard. Even trainers/instructors need a little kick start every once in a while. I think back on the past month and there were several days where I didn’t work out (I was sick or my body said NO and I listened)  but then there were good days when I worked 110% and even did a double workout! I will thank my fitness classes for the doubles!

I have to thank Shakeology for curbing my sweet tooth on numerous occasions. My diet was on point I’d say 90-95% of the time. I treated myself here and there with wine, lava cakes, 1/2 cup of ice cream, or a slice of pizza but I think I have found a great balance! 

You have to enjoy life too right?!??!

What is something about your body you want to change and WHY?

 What can you do to change your mind to focus?

of course I am pumped it’s Friday. I think Fridays are my favorite day. What about you?

I have a few things to share with you before I start talking about my Insanity workouts.

Last night after Boot Camp I came home and whipped up a Shake with PB2 powder, Chocolate Shakeology, almond milk and some ice. It was pretty amazing and I call it my Reese’s Shake.

Literally I came home from class and we had a giant bowl of mini Reese’s staring at me from Valentine’s day. They were a treat for Marc from my mom.

I said to Marc man I would love a Reese’s!! So I made my own, it was a lot healthier and it hit the spot!! Who doesn’t like a chocolate & peanut butter combo

This week I have gotten in some awesome workouts. They were by no means easy but I worked hard. I’m happy that I have a couple rest days lined up this weekend.

I wanted to chat with you a little about my Insanity Max30 progress. It’s been about 21 days since I started which is nuts because I feel like it was yesterday.. but after 3 weeks I can honestly say I am stronger. My pushups are better and my cardio endurance has bumped up. I don’t get hit as soon with my Max out zone as I did the first week. It just goes to show you that you can get stronger and you can improve if you put the time in!

So far the 30 minute workouts have been plenty. When I do them I have to make sure Ava is occupied or someone is watching her, or maybe she’s napping! It’s great if you are short on time and you want to drip sweat.

As far as the moves, they are similar to what I do with my Boot Camp class but the workout is structured a little different.

Here are a couple of the exercises I did yesterday:

Shoulder Pushups or “V-Pushups”

They are a total upper body toner.

Plank Knee-Taps

I like these a lot. You need full body strength and good balance to do these!

Okay I gotta run.. time to head to the YMCA for some training!

I can’t wait for our weekend to start. Tomorrow morning we will be heading to Rhode Island to visit family. I am excited to get away for the weekend. It’s always relaxing and stress free when we are there and I know Ava will be super pumped to play with her cousin Natalie!

Have a great weekend!

Do you have any fun plans lined up for the weekend?

Have you ever committed to a program like insanity? 

]]> http://thefitskool.com/?feed=rss2&p=5798 0 http://thefitskool.com/?p=5525 http://thefitskool.com/?p=5525#comments Mon, 09 Feb 2015 12:39:16 +0000 http://thefitskool.com/?p=5525 Continue reading →]]> I hope you all had a great weekend! Mine was great, it actually felt like a long weekend and it didn’t fly by too much. Maybe it is also because we have a delayed start (with fitness classes) at the Y this morning.

One thing that stuck out to me about this weekend was that we didn’t eat out once. Every meal was home cooked and it felt great to eat clean & healthy.

Here are a few snapshots of some of my meals!

Friday was blackened salmon.

Saturday I had lunch at my friends house she made salads and mini sandwiches.

Ava had so much fun!

Saturday night Marc cooked me steak when I got home!

If you didn’t already know I started my Insanity Max30 program last week and I also have recently became a Beachbody coach.

I already help people with fitness on a daily basis but I am super excited to add in this type of coaching to help people reach their goals. We all need support when trying to lose weight or get fit and this is an awesome way for me to encourage and motivate others!

A week from today I will be hosting a FREE 5-day clean eating challenge (I will talk more about that later this week). I have been following it myself this past week and I feel GREAT. Even though I eat healthy and I’m fit, just like you I have areas of my body that I want to change.

My main struggle over the last year has been tightening my core. For all you women out there with babies you know that “the struggle is real when it comes to belly fat and having a little extra something under you belly button area!”

I eat healthy 90% of the time, but clearly that wasn’t cutting it. On occasion I enjoy a slice of pizza, a small bowl of ice cream, or a glass of wine. I really wanted to see changes and I knew for that to happen, I needed to work on that last 1o%.  I had to give 100% effort, make a commitment and stick to it. When I say I’ve seen a difference in only 1 WEEK,  I absolutely mean it; BELIEVE ME!  All of my meals for 5 days were clean & healthy and I worked out every day.

It was yesterday that I woke up and felt the difference. The little bulge that has been driving me nuts has gone down. I actually should say its tighter. That’s what I wanted!!! It was never about the number on the scale for me, it was about feeling more confident. It is mind boggling to me that I didn’t focus this hard sooner.

The other crazy thing is that I have never been open about this with you. If you could ask Marc, he would tell you too, I’m very insecure when it comes to certain things. Although I may seem positive a lot of the time, I still have my areas of weakness too and my stomach was one of them. I was SO nervous to share with you guys and I can’t say I’m even sure why I was fearful, but Marc convinced me and I am glad I did. If I don’t share my journey with you, then how can you learn or how can I help you change?

Anyways, I will stop rambling and I don’t even know if this all came out clear… but I can honestly say I feel great today and I hope I can help you feel the same!

Without a morning class to teach I am going to jump right into my Insanity MAX workout!

What is the most difficult part for you when it comes to losing weight (Diet or nutrition)?

What is your driving factor to look and feel great?

]]> http://thefitskool.com/?feed=rss2&p=5525 2