Shauna's Thoughts: A guide to a Summer BBQ

 

Would you believe that it is already July?  Summer will be gone before we know it.  Not only is
Independence day quickly approaching, it is on a Saturday of all days.  I don't know about you but Saturday's I usually reserve for my cheat meal day. Yes it sometimes turns into an entire day, but I have goals you see, and I can't just keep taking cheat days. It is a delicate balance of life that I am trying to achieve.  I feel as thought every weekend since May has been loaded with events, family get together, catching up with friends, carnivals, parades, BBQ's and birthdays.  Have I maintained a steady results with my progress so far? Yes. Could I have achieved more if I would have tightened up the reigns a bit? Yes. So you see, I have to go into this Saturday with a plan of attack in order for me to stay on track.  I have created a list of tips for myself to help me make good choices for the 4th, while still being able to enjoy the festivities and company of friends and family.

 

Before I get to my list, I have a few things I really wanted to share!  First I want to officially announce that Jenni and I were asked to be Coaches for the Summer Session at our Farrell's location!  I will be coaching 4:30, and Jenni will be coaching 5:30.  Jenni and I are so excited to start, we have already started planning challenges, and trying to incorporate challenges between our class times!  I am personally  honored and blessed to be given the opportunity to lead a new group of 10 weekers.  Again, I have to thank my husband for pushing me into this journey.  I have been able to turn myself into a butterfly, not only physically, but mentally as well.  If it weren't for that push I wouldn't have found something I am truly passionate about.  Now I get to further my journey at FXB and spread my enthusiasm, passion, and help someone else grow into a butterfly! So get ready 4:30 we have big things  planned for the Summer Session.

The Second thing I wanted to share was my progress pictures thus far.  

I cannot wait to see what the next 10 weeks brings.  

 

 

 Here are 5 tips I am going to use this 4th of July weekend to help me stay on track.

 

1) Exercise:  I am going to get my fitness on in the morning to start my day off right.  Do at least 30 - 45 min of Cardio to get that body off to a good start.  Even if its just talking  a walk around the neighborhood, do something!  Get up and get that body moving!

 

 

2) Hydration: Water, water, water... drink up buttercups.  If you plan to have a few alcoholic beverages later on in the day, you will want to add some extra ounces of water to your daily intake.

3) Food: The hardest thing for me to do on the weekends is log my food.  Have a plan for the day and log it out. That way you will know where you might be able to spare a few carbs/proteins here and there to incorporate your special holiday meal.

 

4) Portion Size:  I love BBQ's because there are always tons of different foods that I don't eat very often.  My first instinct is to load my plate up with as much as I can.  Think SMALLER PORTIONS!  By getting smaller portions of all the goodies, you will be able to try more of them without feeling bloated and guilty for overindulging.  

 

 
 
 
 
 

 

5) Alcohol:  Know what you are drinking.  There are so many hidden calories, carbs, and sugars in those yummy delicious alcoholic beverages. This is why planning ahead and logging your food will help determine a good option for your day. Another good tip is to drink water between your alcoholic beverage choice.  It will help you stay hydrated, keep you full, and slow the drinking down! 

I hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July weekend! Make memories, share stories, have fun, fuel your bodies, and be safe.  Leave a comment and share some tips that you do to keep yourself on track during a holiday get together, I would love more ideas. 

 

Keep Inspiring ~Shauna~

Excuses are like ...

Yep, its true! Excuses are like a@&holes, everyone has one. I know, I know, its sounds harsh, but its so true. I, however, am proclaiming myself the queen of excuses! Really! I can come up with some pretty good ones.  I was talking with a coworker the other day about all the excuses I have come up with and I have heard to not eat healthy, to not go to the gym, to not find a fitness program.  Honestly, most the "excuses" are pretty good and valid.  When I invite someone to the try out my program and they tell me the list of things they have going on that day I don't judge them one bit, infact I get exhausted for them.  I completely get it! I think I mentioned in my first post I finally got fed up with myself, I got mad! I finally decided I wasn't going to let myself make one more excuse as to why I chose the large value meal at the fast food joint vs. the chicken breast (without the bread) and a salad. I wanted to feel better more than I wanted the French fries. I wasn't going to let working a 12 hour day stop me from finding time to go to the gym because I was tired.  I wanted to feel better more than I wanted to sleep an extra hour.  I got mad.  I got determined. 
My typical day starts at 3:30am. I get up and get ready for my day (yes, hair and makeup before the gym. Crazy, I know, but makes my morning a bit easier.  Still trying to figure out the best way with all that). My husband and I are at the gym by 4:45am for the 5am class. (Our older son is home with the younger ones while we are gone, in that way we are very lucky that we can do this together)  Our class lasts 45min.  Afterwards, I stay at the gym and try to clean myself up enough to go to work while my husband goes home and gets all our kids up and ready for school.  (God Bless Him, He's pretty great!) I then head to work at 7am for a 12 hour day at the hospital.  I get home about 7:30ish pm.  (I'll talk about my meals at work here in a second) I spend some time catching up with my kids about their day, get them ready for bed and tuck them in.  Then my husband and I do our meal planning for the next day together, pack our lunches up. I shower and go to bed.  I do this routine three times a week (I work 3 - 12's). On the days I don't work obviously my schedule is way easier. No, its not ideal, but it is necessary.  There are so many times I would love to sleep just a bit longer, but I know, for me, if I get out of a routine of going to the gym every day then I will eventually miss two days, then three, then won't go at all.  For now, since this is all still new to me, I guess I just go everyday until I can trust myself to maybe go 5 days a week or even 4.  I don't know.  For now, I make this work.  So, I guess when someone says to me.  I have no time to go to the gym.  I have to take the kids here and there, I have work, I have this commitment and that commitment.  I completely understand (remember I have 4 kids running different directions as well).  There are several 24 hour gyms.  (some I'm not so sure I'd recommend, but they are better than nothing) So when someone says I just don't have time, I always ask, well what are you doing at 4:00am? There really is time. If you want it enough. There is time.  I promise :)
Ok so food... I often get asked what do you eat? I always say "a lot" ,cause seriously I do.  The program that I do suggests that you eat 6 small meals a day.  And so far this has really worked for me.  I seriously am never hungry. I have more energy than I ever have, and I feel great all day long (and some days its a really long day). I know I have a lot of improving to do on my food.  I hate that I am such a picky eater.  I wish that I liked more foods than I do, but I am really trying to change that.  My goal through out my day is to eat as healthy and clean as I can.  The less ingredients on a package the better... The other thing I do is plan my meals.  A lot of my "fit" friends will plan out their week, I sadly, haven't gotten that good yet.  I do mine daily.  Every night, my husband and I figure out our meals for the next day.  What we plan, is what we eat. No more. No less. Farrell's has some crazy scientific formula that individually calculates how much protein and carbs a meal you should have.  I don't know what that formula is, or how they came up with it, or really how even scientific it is, but it works for me and gives me a good guideline.  So, for me, each of my meals contain 35g of carbs and 20g of protein.  I try really hard to eat every 3 to 3 and 1/2 hours (with work it can be tricky sometimes). I do use whey protein shakes and a protein bar almost daily, but my husband doesn't use either.  So, that is pretty much it.  I can get detailed about every meal if you'd like and I have to honest I eat pretty much the same things every day.  Its pretty boring.  But as I said in my first post I now look at food as fuel, not as pleasure.  With this thinking I have found that things taste so much better, because when I do have "cheat" meal (which of course I do) I savor and love each and every bite of that meal.  It tastes so much better and I appreciate it way more than I ever did before because I know it will be awhile before I taste it again. ;)
So, its not easy.  Especially with how crazy life is daily.  But, it is possible to be healthy.  You have to start somewhere.  Shauna sent out a quote one time that said  "Its not easy, Its going to hurt, You are going to want to give up, but you wont! NOT THIS TIME, you are a FIGHTER" I love that.  It is so true.  :)

Welcome to our Blog!

                                                        

Welcome to our blog!  My name is Shauna, I am 29 years old, Married, and I have a handsome 3 year old (soon to be 4!)... oh and 2 Fur babies.  Jenni and I wanted to start this blog as a way to share our weight loss journeys, exchange delicious recipes, work-outs, and maybe just share our thoughts. 

Like many people, I have battled with my weight for years.  I have been a size 4 to a size 18 and everywhere in between. I have starved myself, been on crash diets, fad diets, binged, done it the healthy way, and rode this roller coaster all over again.  Why wasn't anything permanent? Well you see I have (had) an unhealthy relationship with food.  It probably doesn't help that I am a General Manager of a Restaurant.  I have loads of burgers, fried foods, and ice cream at my finger tips.  Sure eating this kind of food every once in a while is fine, but I ate this food every day, multiple times a day. 

December 2014 I was tired of this stupid cycle I was putting myself through.  Looking back to 2013 I had lost 30 lbs. and I was in the best shape that I had been in for a really long time... and I fell off the wagon...again...how many times was I going to do this to myself? So my lovely husband, who, I will mention is a personal trainer...yes I know how crazy that sounds, signed me up for Farrell's Extreme Body Shaping starting January 2015. Farrell's is a 10 week program where you commit yourself to work out for 45 minutes 6 days a week, while keeping your nutrition on point! The person with the best over all before and after picture wins $1,000.00!  Honestly, when he told me this my first reaction was what?! First, how will I be able to go 6 days a week and commit to the same time every day to do so? Second, anything I knew or heard about Farrell's seemed like a crazy group of people trying to get you into this weird fitness cult. I wanted to change though, and I  was ready to anything at this point...even if it meant joining a cult. 

       I could write an entire book on my first 10 week experience at Farrell's, but we still have to get to Jenni's introduction :) so we will save that for another time.  To sum it up, I went to my 4:30 class 6 days a week for 10 weeks, I did ever extra credit challenge my coach told me to do, I ran the mile before class as often as I could (it was winter). I used my 10 week student book and even turned it into a scrap book. I made forever friendships with my fellow 4:30 team, I gained confidence in myself and it helped me with my social anxiety. I pushed myself out of my comfort zone over and over again. I ate to fuel my body (and still had my cheat day).  I wanted to prove to everyone and myself that I wasn't going to give up this time. When we had our 10 week "graduation" party, I went to cheer on my fellow team in hopes one of us would be the lucky winners of that $1,000.00 prize. We all worked so hard, lots of sweat, tears, and transformations happened to all of us in that first 10 weeks. Guess what? I won....I won the $1,000.00 prize.  I was so shocked I froze and started crying.  All the hard work paid off.

 

                                     

         So that's my story in a nut shell.  I drank the Farrell's Kool-aide and I am a lifer. I couldn't imagine my day with out going to my 4:30 class and seeing all of my friends.  It is my drug, my therapy, my competition, and my play time.  Here are my before and after photos from my first 10 weeks.  The thing is, I found what works for me and I found a balance in my nutrition (which is the most important thing of this entire journey).  I started believing in me.  So I hope you like our blog, and yes we will probably talk a lot about Farrell's.  We want to reach out to as many people as possible and inspire others to take a hold of their lives and to start believing that you CAN do it no matter what! Ok enough about me here's the beautiful Jennifer to tell you a little about her!

   Although my weight loss journey started quite sometime ago.  My "fit" journey really just began in January 2015.  The words, don't give up...Not this time... Were said at orientation day at the new fitness program I was about to begin.  A program that would change my life.  A program that I wouldn't give up on... Not this time. 
     So, Let me start from the beginning. First off my name is Jenni, I am a wife and mother of 4 pretty amazing kids. I'm not that gal that has had to deal with weight issues my WHOLE life, but I have been overweight for most of my adult life.  When I was younger I was a gymnast. I wasn't the small boxy things that you see at the Olympics.  I was tall and skinny (yes, 5'5 is tall in the gymnastics world) I wasn't very limber, doing splits and bending crazy ways wasn't my thing either, but I was a powerhouse trickster. I could flip and flop all over the place.  Eventually I realized that no matter how hard I tried I would not be the next Mary Lou Retton.  Plus at 16 there were now more important things in life, like boys! I had always been able to eat whatever I wanted and still maintain my size 3 or 5 and then...came the babies.  I was 20 when I had my first son Dylan, after having him I was pretty shocked at how huge I had become. So I went to eating nothing and exercising several times a day to get back into my skinny jeans.  I finally did it! But by the time I was 23 I was wearing a size 16...and so it began...My struggle to love my body, to love myself.  As I got older and the more children I had the bigger and bigger I became.  Sure I did a few crash diets, fad diets, and starving myself diets here and there, and sure they worked for a few months here and there, but I always went back to my old bad habits (or I just started eating again.).
     In 2014 I really began to get disgusted with myself and how I felt and looked, and even how I was eating. I really really wanted to make a change, but wanted to do it the permanent way.  I wanted to be skinny once and for all, forever. The day that I put my size 20 pants on and busted the zipper out of them was the day I finally got mad enough to do something about it...well kind of.. I went and visited a bariatric surgeon.  At this time I weighed in at 288lbs. (I'm not sure I have ever told anyone that number agh!) We discussed my options.  Came up with a game plan and decided to move forward.  Now with my insurance they required that I have six months of "physician guided" weight loss.  Basically, I need to go see my PCP, step on the scale, lie to him for six months and tell him I have been doing all I can to lose weight but nothing is working.  I did that for the first month.  The second month I decided I would try to lose a pound or two.  I went to what I know worked before, starving myself and moving my body.  Of course it worked. I would only eat 500-1000 calories a day and whatever I ate, I made sure I burned almost all that at the gym.  The weight seemed to melt off.  It was great.  Never mind the fact that I was tired, hungry and grumpy ALL the time. After loosing about 65lbs, the weight stopped coming off. I knew I had to figure something out.  Something different, but wasn't sure what. 
     In January, my beautiful friend Shanon asked me to do this intense 10 week program, Farrells, with her.  It was a bit costly and didn't seem like the type of thing I would be into, but I needed to do something. I was not going back to those size 20 jeans again.  Plus, the 10 week program was a competition. I am super competitive. person.  Like steal candy from a baby competitive.  Bowl you over competitive.  I HATE losing.  Plus it had a $1000 prize! I was in.  We started at the end of January (2015) and I was a little taken back at first.  The program consisted of going to workout 6 days a week for 45 minutes.  3 days a week would be a cardio/kickboxing day.  The other 3 would be strength training (alternating lower and upper body).  Plus I was given how many carbs I could consume per meal and how many proteins I needed to consume per meal. and oh I forgot to mention I had to eat..6...yes...6 meals a day.  So I went from eating hardly anything to 6 meals a day... Ummm no.... I didn't want to gain the weight I had just lost.  Have these people lost their mind.  It totally didn't make any sense how this was going to help me get those rock hard abs.  After two weeks of working out and doing my own nutrition, my way I went in and talked with the managed and my coach about the food.  And in that small crowded office it finally hit me... I finally got it... They threw out phrases like "food is fuel" "food is not the enemy" "food builds muscles"...WHAT??!!! How did I not realize this till now? From that day forward I started paying attention to the ingredients on the packages of things I bought vs. the calorie number.  I started paying attention to how great and clean I was feeling vs. the number that the scale was flashing at me.  My life changed.  I was not only losing weight, and inches, but feeling stronger than I had ever felt before.  I have more energy, I feel good about the food I eat and about the example I am setting for my kids, and friends. 
     Since I began my journey, or I should say since people started seeing a physical change in me they have been asking "what are you doing","what do you eat" "do you ever eat fast food" "do you ever cheat" How do find time"... all those and a tons more and the crazy thing is Shauna and I have found the answer to all these questions.  Farrell's Extreme Body Shaping isn't a magic pill, or fad. They are a life line, they show people how to live.  Had someone told me years ago how great being healthy feels, and how obtainable it is.  I would of done it years ago.  Now both Shauna and I want to shout it from the mountains how great we feel, and that you can feel that way too.  I hope you will find a little hope and inspiration in our stories.  Because, truly if I could do it, so can you, so can anyone.  I had/have the cards stacked against me but with determination, drive and faith I blew that stack of cards over.  I didn't give up... not this time. :)
Jenni