You Overate... Now What?

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

With the drinks and the sweets, you'll for sure overeat,

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

That's how the song goes... right?

I hate how every time I go to a party and I see all the amazing appetizers and desserts and drinks, I act like this is the last time in my life I'll ever see food again.  Not only do I regret it in the short term with the stomach ache and the bloat, making stuffing my face a habit over the holiday season means I'm also going to regret what my body looks like in the mirror over the long term.

What's a food lover and binger to do?

Tip 1:  All is not lost!  Personally, I do really good when I don't have any slip ups.  The second I eat that unplanned treat, I figure, well I've had one cookie, I might as well have the other 11 in the pack.  WRONG.  That's like saying it doesn't matter whether you choose a 200 calorie piece of pie or a 2000 calorie piece of pie!  Enjoy your treat, and continue on with your day and your healthy choices.

Tip 2:  Forgive yourself!  Stop being so hard on yourself!  It may actually be a whole year before you get to have your favorite Christmas cookies again!  So just have one!  No one is perfect, even the people you see on social media.  So forgive yourself and move on.

Tip 3:  After you forgive yourself, make a plan!  So you had a few treats and maybe things got out of hand.  Tomorrow is a new day.  Grab a pen and a piece of paper and meal plan for tomorrow.  When can you fit in a workout?  What do you have to do tomorrow to make sure you get back and stay on track?  Do you need to tell a friend to keep you accountable?

Tip 4:  Take action!  Implement that plan from yesterday.  To make yourself feel better, sweat it out for about 45 minutes.  Finish with 10-15 minutes of stretching.  It's the best way to start your day off on the right foot and continue with a meal plan full of veggies, healthy fats and whole grain carbs.  Increase digestion by increasing your fiber, limiting your meat intake, and drinking lot of water!

Tip 5:  Stop eating an hour earlier than you normally do.  Brush your teeth, drink more water, and even go to bed earlier!  Whatever you have to do!

A Food Dilemma: Poison or Pleasure?

I've been struggling lately.  I feel like a lot of people have.  I can feel it in the air.  I don't know if it the changing of the seasons or the start of school, but it seems like everyone around me is fighting their own personal battles.

I would've never been able to resist at Hogwarts

Mine, is food.

Last year, I got a real handle on my eating.  I wasn't heavy by any means, but I lost a good amount of fat that I was carrying around my middle and in my thighs.  I was eating more, eating cleaner, and lifting heavy.  I was drinking very little alcohol because I was exhausted every night from renovating my new home.  I felt strong both mentally and physically.

This year is proving to be a different story.  I have started training for my first marathon, a HUGE bucket list item that I never thought would be possible after my knee surgery.  And I know that one of the main struggles for runners can be eating TOO much... especially too much carbs.

So, I've been watching what I eat... at least, I think I have.  And I've been working out, hard, every day.  And yet, the pounds, and the fat, have been creeping back.

This makes me angry and frustrated!  Meanwhile, my good friend Bethany over at Living Between Labels is struggling with her own autoimmune issues.  She has been forced to cut out MAJOR foods, like tomatoes and wheat, because they cause her body to, essentially, attack itself.  The two of us, along with many of our other friends in the health and fitness world, talk daily about what we should be eating, what we shouldn't be eating, how much to eat, when to eat it.  And then we have to help our challengers navigate these same questions and struggles.  And that just goes for people with no food allergies or health issues!

It's exhausting.  And the struggle to constantly make the right choices is real for a lot of people.  My friend and coach Kristin can't eat gluten or dairy, and for her, she says it's simple:  these foods are poison.  If you think about it like you're eating poison, it's very easy to say no.

But then, food is an addiction for many.  Just like cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana and cocaine are all poisons, people still put them in their bodies every day.  And while many people die from them, many don't.

Food gives me joy.  Pizza and chocolate and ice cream and pasta and chips and grapes and cheese and wine.  I feel good when I drink my Shakeology and eat my salad for lunch and my lightly sweetened greek yogurt and my cauliflower and my turkey meatballs for dinner.  But those are not what I want.  But even when I do eat those consistently, sometimes it's not enough.  I want a treat.  Those are healthy in moderation.  But what is moderation?  One small portion a day?  One large portion a week?  You only live once, you know... what's wrong with having a glass of wine at dinner.

So here I sit, fighting with myself and my desires.  Do I want wine or do I want rock hard abs?  Do I want the guilt of eating a piece of chocolate or the agony of turning it down?  What is REALLY going to make me happy?  Food or 5% body fat?

You know what?  I'm not sure yet.  Whenever I think I know, I change my mind.

I want to live a long, happy, healthy life.  What's the recipe for that?

Vacation Plan-- How to workout and eat right even while you're on vacation!

As a teacher, vacation has somewhat of a different meaning to me.  It's true that I don't have to go to work for a solid three months out of the year, but for me, having an entire day to my self means I'm cleaning the house, running errands, getting caught up on business stuff, and the list goes on.  If you really want to talk vacation with me, it means I'm not in my own house and most likely, also have a wonky internet connection.  Those two things for me = vacation.  Those two things also mean it's going to be hard for me to a) stick to my meal plan and b) workout.

But for me, I LOVE eating well because it makes me feel good and healthy.  I LOVE working out because it energizes me and gives me an outlet for my stress.  And so for me, when I take a vacation, a real vacation, I don't actually want to stop doing those two things!  But none the less, as I said before, taking a vacation does make those things difficult.  So, I wanted to talk about my tips and tricks to eating, working out and work your business even while you're on vacation!

Food is Fuel.

Everybody's vacations look different.  Some people are with their families and young kids, some are with friends, some are laying by the beach and pool all day napping and reading, some are walking around theme parks (me!), some are on amazing adventures like hiking and biking and rock climbing!  Whatever the case is, vacations almost always involve... RESTAURANTS.  People love not having to cook for themselves.  Seriously, if I didn't have to cook for the rest of my life, I would be a happy woman.  It's not that I don't like the actual cooking per say, but everything that goes along with it:  the meal planning, the shopping, the prep, the clean up.  Check please!

So what are some DOs and DON'Ts of restaurant dining if you're trying to stay on track?

DO eat all the fruits and veggies that come with your meal.  All of them.
DON'T eat the bread that comes before the meal!  Even though it is delicious.
DO save half of your meal as leftovers.  Restaurants almost always give inappropriate serving sizes.
DON'T order alcohol (or, order only one, and NOT the super sugary ones with the umbrellas in them!)
DO drink as much water as you can!
DON'T order meat and bread heavy options at every meal if you are eating out for multiple meals of the day.
DO skip dessert.

Everyone deserves a treat.  It will not be a treat if you are away for 10 days and eat whatever you want.  Trust me.  #allthepoop


Some other helpful tips for eating right while on vacation:

• Keep some easy to keep and carry fruits and veggies in your hotel room/vacation space.  You can easily pack a banana, apple, or some baby carrots to munch on while your on the boat or taking a break from Space Mountain (woohoo!)
• Don't go out for breakfast.  Instead, buy a box of cereal and eat it in your hotel room!  You can even keep little cartons of milk in the hotel fridge!
• Remember that most places will sell you bottled water, but they will fill up a cup of water for free.  If you're not nervous about where the water is coming from, take advantage of that!
• Did you know that with just 8 oz of water, you can shake up a serving of Shakeology and know that you are getting almost all of your necessarily vitamins and minerals for the day?  And covering a snack or meal?  And doing it for less than $4.66 a serving.  That's less than a water bottle at most vacation spots!

Wake Up and Work Out.

Getting motivated to workout during vacation is hard.  I get it!  The allure of sleeping in and cuddling with your significant other/kids/pillow is strong when it is a rarity on days when you have to go to work.  But instead of thinking of exercise as something that cuts in to or takes away from your vacation, think of it as something that adds to and enhances your vacation!



Take advantage of where you are and turn your surroundings into exercise.  Do yoga on the beach or take a bike ride on the boardwalk.  Do laps in the bay.  Jog through the woods or even through the city!   If it's a rainy day, grab a partner and head to the hotel gym or pool.  Vacations should also be about spending time with people that you... love to spend time with!  Imagine that!  So spend some time working up a good sweat and talking about what you're going to do that day or even how much fun you had the night before!

Regardless, just get up and move around.  If you spend all day walking around an amusement park, don't feel guilty about counting that as your exercise for the day.  But, if you're going to nap and drink mojitos all day long, a sunrise, exploratory jog might be just the ticket!


Are you looking for some accountability during your upcoming August vacation?  Or are you just looking for the motivation to get up and get moving?  What about daily posts and reminders to make good food choices?  How about the advantage of having ONE totally and completely healthy and guilt-free delicious meal that you can make at home or take on the go?

My Operation Vacation Challenge Group is starting on August 16, just three days before I leave on my own vacation to Disney World... and I would LOVE to have you join me (in the group... although if you want to come to Disney World with me, let's do it!)!   Just fill out the form below to apply!

Fill out my online form.

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When Should You Rest?

In terms of health and fitness, the fitness part has always come easy for me.  I have always been easily motivated to workout.  In college, I used to wake up at 6 am (the time when most kids were just going to bed) and walk in the dark, through the city to the other dorm gym where it was only ever me and the one other person insane enough to wake up "that early".  I loved it.

Now that it's summer and I'm working less, I try to squeeze in two-a-days.  Because, why not.  I love it and it makes me happy.

On the other end of the spectrum are people who HATE working out.  They can't get motivated and they can't find an activity that they enjoy.  Maybe, they're (gasp!) lazy.

Whichever is the case for you, everyone needs rest days.  The struggle for me is reminding myself why they are important and not feeling guilty about taking them.  The struggle for the other half is not making up excuses to rest and being able to differentiate between a rest day and excuses.

HOW DO YOU KNOW if it's time for a rest day?

1.  Be able to identify pain vs. soreness.  You may be feeling muscle soreness... but is it painful in a way that you know is not right?   PiYo is actually a fantastic workout to do when your sore because of the stretching (even though the strengthening also makes you sore!).  The more you work out, the more you will know when the pain is not right.

2. Is your resting heart rate high? Do you wake up in the morning and feel like your body is rushing and you're not well-rested?  An elevated resting heart rate is a sign of stress.  While working out can be an emotional stress reliever, it is not a physical stress reliever.  If your body and heart are feeling stress, it's time to take a day to rest (ha that sort of rhymed).

3. Are you having multiple nights with bad sleep? Many things can cause a poor night's sleep, but when you have a few in a row, your body isn't repairing your muscles the way that it should, so a break is probably needed.  Obviously, stress can cause a bad night's sleep but so can overtraining.  Normally, working out and eating healthy should actually improve your sleep because your body is finally functioning as it should.  Your insides aren't working overtime to try to digest substances (processed foods) that shouldn't be in your body. However, when you're overtraining, the opposite happens.

4. Be able to tell the difference between being run down and being lazy (or just wanting to snuggle back in bed!). Being run down is an exhaustion that you can feel in your entire body. You're too tired to focus or breathe.  This is another time you really have to rely on knowing yourself.  If you haven't done anything strenuous in a while (physically, mentally or emotionally), you probably aren't run down.  

5. You're sick. I have heard that if you have a head cold, carry on with your workout, but if it's a chest cold, you need to let it ride. AGAIN, listen to your body. Usually when I'm just stuffy in the head, a workout really clears me out.  Actually, even when I'm not stuffy, I use a butt-ton of tissues when I work out.  But sometimes, a headache can be so bad, you just need to lie alone in the dark.  Sometimes, when you're coughing so much, you can breathe and everything is strained.

It may be worth it to try to start your workout and see how it goes.  Even on my worst days, a few minutes into my workout I feel great.  But there have been times when I've started and then stopped because I know I needed to.

WHY SHOULD YOU REST?

1. Rest prevents injury by preventing overuse.  

2. Your muscles need rest days to repair.  When you use your muscles, the tiny fibers actually start to tear.  As those little fibers repair, they actually become stronger than they were before.  If you don't give them time to repair (work the same muscles every day or don't take rest days), they will continue to tear and you won't see much improvement.

3. Your immune system needs a break!  Part of what helps those little fibers repair themselves is your immune system.  If it is working in overdrive to repair the muscles you're working, it's not able to fully do it's job to make sure you don't get sick! Overtraining can actually weaken your immune system and make you sick!

4. You don't want to retain water.  If you are just starting to work out or starting a new program, the shock to your body could actually cause you to retain water (this is why you shouldn't weigh yourself in the first few days of a new workout regimen).  A rest day will allow you to release some of that water you've been unnecessarily holding on to.  Retention of water in your joints can also inhibit them from moving and working properly.  The fluid build up can cause unnecessary stress on your joints and cause injury.

5. This is your life. If you're not doing things you enjoy, what is it all for? Take a day off and spend it with your kids, your cat, or take a nap! We'll all understand and make sure you're back at it tomorrow!

PiYo Infomercial Part 1: You are the Chosen One

It's hard to know where to begin with this one.  I know you've all come to hear my big announcement.  And I am SO excited to tell you.  I have been holding it in for weeks and so OF COURSE I am excited to tell you.  But the more I sit on this secret of mine, the more it spins in my brain and the more I reflect on it, the more I realize that it wasn't the OPPORTUNITY that was amazing necessarily (although don't get me wrong, the opportunity was friggin awesome), it was the fact that I actually did it.  I put myself out there, more than ever before.  I took a financial risk that many thought unwise.  I fought through the anxiety of the WHAT IF I AM MAKING THE WRONG DECISION? and just. fucking. did. it.  And you know what happened?  I realized that I am a badass.

Seriously.

I found something that I enjoy, I pursued it, amazing things happened, and then I didn't make excuses. I went out and I lived my life.  I did something crazy.  Something that just a YEAR ago would have sent my nerves into a tailspin.

You know what sucks?  Regret.  I have always held true to the mantra:  Forget regret, or life is yours to miss.  And that has really worked for me.  Because my life has been filled with overanalyzing and pros and cons lists and endless conversations consulting everyone for their advice.  I have never put myself in a situation that could allow for regret.  And I am ok with that.  And I will probably continue to live most of my life that way.  I like safety and security.  I like that my savings account has money and that I brush my teeth twice a day and that I don't jump out of airplanes.  BUT for the first time in my life, I took a chance in which the outcome was unforeseen.  In which my decision was cautioned by my parents.  In which I had to spend a lot of money.  Forget regret, right?  I knew.  I knew that if I didn't take this chance, THAT regret would be worse than the regret of not doing every damn thing I needed to do to get there.  So that's what I did.

I applied, was chosen, and attended the invitation-only taping of the brand new infomercial for Chalene Johnson's and Beachbody's workout program PiYo.

You remember PiYo?  My soul workout.  The workout that saved my life.  The workout that rehabilitated my knee, my body, and my mindset.  The workout that taught me that I didn't have to run to stay in shape and be worth something, but that helped me get back into running anyway.  The only Beachbody workout that I've complete twice.  The workout that I got certified to instruct.

It all started when Beachbody posted on Facebook that they were looking for people to submit their pictures and their stories for a chance to be selected to be in the PiYo infomercial.  You had to be available to be in Irvine, California on the day of the taping.  Many people commented, "Oh man, I would love to do this, but I live far away!"  "PiYo changed my life, but I just can't spend the money to get there!"  "There is nothing I would rather do, but I just can't get out of work!"  There were a lot of "buts" in those comments.  So when one friend tagged me in the comments, and then another, and then another, I thought, "Well, why the hell not?"  I already had my story.  I already had my transformation photos.  All I needed was a video of myself doing some of the moves.  So, at 10:30 pm after a long, gluttonous Memorial Day Weekend at the beach, my husband taped some of my most impressive PiYo moves.

Everything was due to be emailed by noon on Tuesday, May 26.  I wasn't entirely sure if that meant noon PST or not, so I did it in the morning just to be safe and went about my day...

...looking up red-eyes to and from Los Angeles.  I don't even know why.  Something told me that I should be prepared. Now, I'm not going to tell you I was walking around saying, "I've got this in the bag, no problem," but I wasn't walking around saying, "This was stupid there's no way they're going to pick me," either.

The ad to apply for the infomercial stated that the people chosen would be informed on Friday, May 29.  So imagine my paralyzing shock when this happened:

I never pick up numbers I don't know.  If it's important, they can leave a message.  But you can bet your ass I picked this up.

Yup.  It was Beachbody.

They wanted to know where I was from.  My area code must not have rung a bell as being local.  When I told them NJ, they asked, should I be chosen, would I be willing and able to be in Irvine, California on the day of the shoot.  I believe what I told them was, "I would WALK to California if you picked me to be in this shoot."

"Great, we'll let you know on Friday."

Cue me texting everyone I knew.  I mean, they wouldn't call me if they weren't seriously considering me, right?  How was I going to wait until Friday to find out?

Apparently, I didn't have to.  Less than 24 hours later, this happened:

I was officially invited to the PiYo infomercial shoot.  It would be an all-day affair in Irvine, California.  Of course, Chalene herself would be there.  More specific information about location and dress code would follow.

WTF.  Cue frantic screaming phone calls.  I was going to meet Chalene.

I was, as you would expect, ecstatic.  And then, terrified.  I must be crazy.  I was going to go to LA and back, for less than 48 hours total, rent a car, find somewhere to stay, put myself in a situation where I didn't know anyone, all by myself and on my dime?!  Many people I talked to felt the same way.

"Wait, you have to pay for this yourself?  Is that a wise financial decision?  Didn't you just buy a house? Why would you do that?"

"Yes.  Probably not.  Yes.  Well..."

Because.  Because WHO applies to be in an infomercial for a product they TRULY believe in, let alone gets CHOSEN to be in it?  Because this "Beachbody workout hobby" of mine has changed my life, and this is a chance to show the world.  Because life is only life if you live a little.  Because it would make me HAPPY.

That's why.


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