Should I Eat Before An Early Morning Workout?

Studying Sister

Last week flew by.

I have a lot on my plate and I’m not stopping. The study book is thick but I’m getting through it right on pace. Even with watching the kids, running a business, being president of the young alumni board, and preparing to teach this two week course at the end of the summer here at the university.

What’s my secret?

Definitely have found that going in a different location (study lounge at the end of the hall) and being away from all distractions in my house or a coffee shop/store has helped me make the most of the study time.

2 hours…twice a week. That’s what I’ve got. I finish what I have to do in that time.

Stick to your plan, keep your phone/iPad/tv/radio/pictures/Facebook/Twitter all locked up. Haha, well maybe not locked up, but out of plain sight.

Focus on the one task at hand.

What do you have to get done?

I have found success at doing one thing at a time in small increments helps me cross off items on my to-do list much quicker.

My First Shakeology Share!

This was me a year ago. Liz and I are both still drinking Shakeology today, along with a whole bunch of family and friends.

It’s curbed our cravings, given us energy to LIVE life with our toddler boys, and tastes great.

Talk about an easy way to get all your veggies for the day in one serving!

There are tons of recipes and a new flavor was just introduced at our coach summit this week.

Liz looks even more amazing now then she did then.

Send me a note if you have any questions!

Happy Friday! (As I enjoy my chocolate-y all natural breakfast today…)

I’m a Believer…a Tomorrow Leader…and this is My Chance

Being away from my little Anthony for 4 days was enough for me.

I’m a mom…and I live and breathe for our son and my husband.

I have really looked inward this past year and realized the importance of writing goals and achieving them.

Prioritizing has been HUGE for me.

I don’t like to say no to people. I’m a giver. You ask, and I’ll do.

I’ve realized over the course of the last year that sometimes, that’s hurtful to the people closest to us.

Are you like that? A giver?

We give and give and give and give. What’s left for our family? Ourselves?

Seeing Anthony come into our room in the middle of the night and snuggle into my neck was the best feeling ever. He was so happy and content that crazy mommy was back….right where she belonged.

I learned a lot at my conference and am super glad my husband gave me the opportunity to go.

Priorities were to get home Saturday night so as to be with my two favorite people all day yesterday for Fathers Day.

Sure, I missed a few presentations, but I was with my family. Priority number 1.

If my actions are not in line with my priorities, I’m not happy.

Stomach aches and stress are really a thing of the past.

Living and loving life.

Own It…great song by the Black Eyed Peas. My friend Christine Dwyer played it at the conference this weekend. Check it out and take a listen to the lyrics.

Follow your heart!

I’ll be following mine. 🙂

Exercise While Sitting! My Mom’s Dream Come True! :)

Thanks to my mom for her insights!

Thanks to Anthony for providing both entertainment and scaring the bageebees out of his mama!

Insanity, The Asylum: DONE!

Put it in the books, my friends. Insanity Asylum is over and completed.

I’ve sent it home with my Uncle who’s in the last phase of P90X down in Indianapolis. He will bump up his cardio big time with this workout!

So, let me give you the pros and the cons to this workout.

Cons:
1. It’s just not fun to me! I like to workout, but I like to have fun when possible.

2. It’s not for the average person looking to exercise. If you are just starting out, don’t even think about it.

3. There isn’t a lot of demonstrating and guidance. I guessed on what dumbbells to use in the strength workout. (I used 10 lbs.)

4. Not much modification. There is a person who does each workout with a jump rope when one is needed, but not really any modifications for knee or joint problems.

Pros:

1. Short and intense. As a stay at home mom working my business and watching our neighbor’s children, I’m in need of a workout I can do at home and within a 45 minute period. The only workout that was longer was “Game Day” which only happened 3 times in the month.

2. Pushed me beyond my limits. I was comfortable with the workouts I was doing and really needed a challenge. This was it baby!

3. It’s only 30 days! Anyone can do something for 30 days! Just push play and get it done.

4. Team Sports. I really liked that he incorporated swimming, baseball, basketball, tennis, track, wrestling, distance running, football, and soccer (maybe even more?) into these workouts. I felt like I was on my college softball team again!

Do I recommend this workout for you?

Depends…if you are an elite athlete or you have trained with intense workouts and don’t have joint issues…then YES! Go for the push and do this! Such a feeling of accomplishment seeing myself improve on the Fit Test on day 30!

If you are looking for a fun workout or something a little less intense, I’d be happy to suggest some other options that I have found fun!

Next up….another round of Chalean Extreme, but this time in a hybrid with TurboFire. I’m excited to combine them!

A Balancing Act

Writer’s block got the best of me last night. I couldn’t decide what I wanted to write about today.

My friend over on Twitter, @Techyturner suggested I write about balancing work, social media, personal hobbies, and family life to be the best person you can be.

How can you be the best _________________ (insert occupation) possible?

Biggest thing that’s helped me: write out a daily plan and stick to it.

Here are some tips of how this works for me:

1. Write down on paper the night before what you WILL accomplish the next day. Limit it to five things. The five most important things that will make you feel accomplished at the end of the day. Scratch them off as you complete them the next day.

2. Determine your priorities, and write them down on paper. What’s most important to you? Writing it down helps you stay committed to them.

3. Determine whether you are a morning person or a night owl. Now make the best of that. I value being a stay at home mom, and that is my number one priority. How can I get everything done then if I’m focused on the Anthony? I know I’m a morning person. I set the alarm for 5, and I get up. I work for an hour until he wakes up at 6. Uninterrupted. Make the most of nap times and after bedtime too.

4. One thing at a time. We all want to be known as great multitaskers, but the brain can’t function that way. Set a time limit for a certain project/task and give it all your attention. For example, going to be working on social media? Shut off your email, shut off the tv, put down the book, and set a timer (or keep your eyes on the clock). Work on social media for the hour, and then shut it off and begin the next task.

5. Never stop learning! All of us have more to learn! Constantly be a student of your area of expertise, but also read books that will help you in your personal development. Check out my post about great books to read.

How do you do it all?

What tips would you add to my list?

Positive Speaking Breeds Positive Results

Our brains understand the positive.

They block out the “negative” words such as don’t, can’t, stop.

So it’s important to speak to ourselves, and our children in positive words.

Try this:

“Don’t move your feet.”

What’s the first thing you thought of? Moving your feet, right? 🙂

Check this out…see how it relates to little man Anthony, and all of us.

Insanity Asylum, Day 19 – Game Day and Overtime

This was the second time that Game Day came up in the 30 day schedule.

I’m a former athlete. I played basketball and softball in high school and softball in college.

Drills and hard work are normal for me. I’m accustomed to that.

THIS workout takes it to a whole new level.

I’m not going to tell you it was “no big deal” or that it “wasn’t bad”.

In my opinion, it was KILLER.

The Game Day workout is 60 minutes long. It starts with a short warm up with the agility ladder (honestly, I’ve never done such intense warm ups before, lol).

Next comes a 6 minute mile run which consists of some high knees, kick backs on the butt, one arm down in a plank-like position while running “up hill”, and a sprint at the end. Don’t get tired yet!

Shaun T also includes, soccer kicking drills that build like a pyramid, tennis drills with the agility ladder, basketball lay up drills that also include a little bit of shot faking in the triple threat stance, basketball jump shot drills, swimming drills on the floor, wrestling moves, football drills with the agility ladder, long jumps with the agility ladder, speed skating drills (DANG), a few 100 meter dashes, and some pitching and hitting drills at the end with mountain climbers and vertical jumps incorporated into them.

I’m not kidding around, and Shaun T isn’t either. He tells you that from the beginning.

You know how on most workouts you can skip past the warning in the beginning? This one won’t let you!

I really enjoy this workout. It’s a great sweat, calorie burning workout.

If you are use to INTENSE workouts, give this one a try. It’s incredible. I can’t believe what it’s especially done for my core and my shoulders already.

Have you done the Asylum? What are your thoughts?

Pieces of the Pie (Percentages and the Nutrition Facts Label)

You know that little label on the back of all packaged foods?

The nutrition facts label.

Funny, most of the times I’m all over it. Trying to figure out how many carbs, cals, protein, fiber grams.

Within the last 2 years, because of all of Anthony’s allergies, I am looking at it in a new way. Always looking underneath it too to see what types of allergens are in it or processed in the same plant.

There are times though that I try not to look at it. Especially when I was working as a teacher. Meals were rough. I was in grad school, hubby worked late, and so a frozen pizza or TGIFriday’s spinach dip from the freezer were common comforting meals at 9pm when we were home and finally eating dinner.

I didn’t even want to know what was on those labels at that point.

shared from: http://www.simpleeasydiets.com

One part always confused me….those percentages. You know after it tells you how many grams of fat, etc. are in a serving it shows a percent value too?

Well, what the heck. It says on the bottom that it’s based off of a 2000 calorie diet. I never should have or should now be eating a 2000 calorie diet…so I have to do the math in the store and figure it out?

I just need a ballpark figure. So thinking…ok, if a serving of this is 20% of my daily value, but I can’t eat as much…let’s figure its 30%….so out of 5 small meals a day…is that ok?

I learned that anything lower than 5% is a low amount and 20% or more is high.

Now that freaked me out a bit. 20% sounds like a low number…1/5 of daily intake. But, actually it’s considered high.

So be sure to check out not only fat, fiber, calories, protein, and carbs. Check out the percent values of the vitamins.

That in itself was an eye opener…keeping in mind the whole 5% and 20% fact above.

Are you getting enough vitamins?

What are some foods that you consume on a daily basis to up your vitamin intake while staying within your caloric intake for the day as well as staying within the proper amounts of percentages for carbs, protein, fat, and fiber?