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Friday, February 28, 2014

Compliment People.

I sluggishly pull myself into the elevator this morning holding my purse, two bags, a Kroger bag {stuffed to the brim filled with healthy treats I might add!}, coffee, and cell phone {of course!}.
Minding my own business and I hear a voice that sounds like an Angel from heaven...
Okay that's a tad bit dramatic but she did have a sweet little voice.
She proceeded to compliment on how good my hair was looking.
This lady and I are elevator friends.
That tends to happen when you have been at the same job for the past six years.
Yes, you make elevator friends.
Sadly I don't know her name but I feel like I want to call her Margie.
Anyways...
After doing a happy dance and damn nearly dropping all my bags and spilling my beloved coffee I almost cried.
I proceeded to tell her about my hell cut and how I hadn't cut it in over a year because I was so traumatized by the last cut.
Moral of the story is:
COMPLIMENT PEOPLE.
If it's nice and it's on your mind say it.
You never know just by one simple comment how you can change somebody's day!
That is the problem with so many people.
We just simply aren't nice enough.
I am going to make sure that I go out of my way to be better about this.


In other unrelated news it is my fellow HOT MAMAS birthday today!
Make sure you tell her HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
SERIOUSLY GORGEOUS.
Not to mention she is basically kicking ass and taking names in the weight loss/getting fit department!
She is starting a 300/30 Day Ab Challenge tomorrow and I think y'all should do it!
I am!!!
Ready to get those abs for some serious summer fun!
I AM DEFUCKINGTERMINED TO ROCK A BATHING SUIT THIS SUMMER.
I have longed for so many years just to feel confident in one.

I have come a long way since last July and I can't wait to see where I am THIS July!
1.  Yes, I know like I look like I a. want to eat somebody in the first before picture and b.  look like I in fact COULD eat somebody in the first before picture.
2.  Am in fact the co-founder and ceo of the #ittybittytittycommittee.
3.  Have the most ragged and nasty looking white bra you have seen this side of the Mississippi BUT I prefer to spend all my monies on sports bras and fun workout tanks.  #beastmodeproblems
That my friends is a 30 pound difference and so much more confidence than I ever realized I would have.
LIFT.ALL.THAT.HEAVY.SHIT.
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Thursday, February 27, 2014

Every damn day... Just DO it.

People ask me all the time how I stay motivated...
HOW DO YOU DO IT?!
All.The.Time.
At least a couple times a day.
And I am okay with the questions I truly am!
I love your questions, your heart to heart emails, etc.

When I weighed in at 265 pounds the day I delivered Payton that truly was my own personal rock bottom...
I knew from that moment that I no longer wanted to be this unhealthy person for myself or for my family.
So I started small.
Baby steps...
I watched what I ate and I started to drink more water.
The first 50 came off pretty easily and I was feeling really well!
Obviously when you see results and you see them quickly it's easy to keep your head in the game.
I even managed to lose weight during the holidays for the first time ever.
And then the feared plateau crept up on my after January of last year.
I hit my 100 pounds lost and then it stalled.
I could not lose anymore and decided I guess it was time I get on the fit train and start working out.
So I joined the gym at work.
And then I stalled...
I was still going to the gym BUT I was eating all things craptastic.
All the time.
And wondering why I gained 20 pounds back in just a short couple of months.
And then in July I entered a weight loss competition and decided that I was done doing the yo yo thing and I had worked entirely to hard thus far to give up.
So when I started in July I weighed 182...
When I finished in September I weighed 167.
More than the weight though I managed to gain a confidence I never knew I had, found a true love for the gym, and was eating so much better.

This morning I had a Reese Egg for breakfast...
But I truly believe that everything in moderation here people.
Depriving myself of things I truly enjoy will and would never work for me.
Not all agree.
I eat 80/90 percent clean and I am working out at least five days a week.
I have found a love for lifting weights and I cannot believe how much a difference I already notice in my body.
my queenmy queen
I stay motivated for myself so that I can truly be the best version of me all the time.
I stay motivated for my Husband because he deserves a strong, confident, and sexy wife...
{Fun Fact:  I am in better shape and over thirty pounds lighter now than when we first met}
I do it for my girls to set a healthy example of the lives I hope they want to aspire to lead.
I stay motivated for all of you, yes you!
Y'all have no idea how amazing you truly are and there have been many days where I just haven't felt like it ya know?
But then I think to myself...
If they are getting up and doing it then so can I!

I truly love this blog.
I truly love where my life is going.
I never thought I would truly be living my dream and that is to inspire others.
To truly help them see the most awesome parts of themselves and get them to where a place they only once dreamed of being.
I feel like I am a good motivation for others because I have been there and done that.
All of it.
I have binged, I have starved myself, I have purged, I have emotionally ate, I have tried every diet pill/drink/device you can think of.
I CAN RELATE!
But I know this...
If I can work full time, be married, have three girls, a fur pup, and still find time for me to workout/eat right/etc. then YOU can, too!
It sounds so simple and it really is...
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Wednesday, February 26, 2014

There is much beauty found outside of your comfort zone...

Weigh In Wednesday

These weeks seem to be flying right on by as of late.
Which I am okay with because I am seeing one more snow flake away from a break down.
Guess I will have a break down because we are supposed to get another big storm coming through Sunday into Monday.
I.AM.OVER.IT.
Bring me sunshine, flip flops, and Summer Shandy puh-lease!

I am serious.
This winter has done a dandy on me.
I don't know what it is?
Age?
The fact that we have been spoiled with the previous couple of winters.
It is just depressing and I am really lacking the good ol' {healthy} Vitamin D.
I want to feel the pavement under my feet for a good long run.
I want to get outside and play with my kiddos.
I feel trapped and I don't like that, not one little bit!

Anyways...
Enough of the bitching about Mother Nature who I think could really use a drink right now.
No, that bitch isn't drunk, she is deprived.
I weighed 155 on Saturday and have not stepped on the scale since.
Honestly with as good as I felt I don't want to.
I will be doing my final weigh in, in 5 days for the Diet Bet I participated in.
It is what it is.
Who knows.
I could be up or I could be down.
I have been watching what I eat carefully trying to really behave and I have been working my ass off in the gym.
Today is cardio-schmardio.
A Great life to my days!
I have my first 5k in three weeks.
To be perfectly honest I am not 100% ready but I am not at all scared.
I am not going to be too hard on myself right now because I have really dedicated to more strength training than running.
I love the feel of getting stronger and lifting weights has really helped me feel that way.
:) how was your day guys!? Well I want to start doing cardio in the morning too, but I'm definitely not a morning person haha any tips?
I am just going to run until I can't run anymore today.
Slowing down when I need to, upping the speed and incline when I am feeling it, all with a smile on my face.
Even when it's hard...
You know why?
Because I am alive, I am healthy, and because I can!
*This difference is from May of 2013 to present =)
I am telling you I have worked hard for this. 30 pound difference. End of May to now. My weight had crept up (rather easily I might add) after I had been in the gym still but eating straight CRAP! I still didn't realize how big of a difference until just now. Eat right (but still enjoy the things you love in moderation because ain't nobody going to tell me I can't have my morning coffee or my beloved beer or pasta or pizza or Red Velvet anything, etc. etc. etc.), drink the H2izz0, work out and I don't mean just getting on the treadmill for cardio. I used to think it should just be all cardio all the time. WRONG. I can't even tell you just within the last week or so the difference I feel from strength training/lifting all da weights yo'! GAME CHANGER PEOPLE. I have never felt more uncomfortable in the gym as I did when I first started lifting. I was TERRIFIED of the bench press... but I can also tell you that since stepping out of my comfort zone, off the treadmill, and into the "weight lifting area" of the gym I have now never felt more confident. I walk in there with my head held high... Confident AND strong. Nobody even pays attention to me while I am flexing in the mirror... Nobody cares. We are all there for the same reason. TO GET HEALTHY AND BE A BETTER VERSION OF OURSELVES! So step on out of your comfort area you might just be surprised at what you discover... and let me tell you something... from my end it's absolutely beautiful!!!!!


{There is much beauty found outside of your comfort zone}
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Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Hard work.

{Disclosure:  This post is a scatter brained mess and might not make sense.  Sorry.  Just what I am feeling at the heat of the moment}

Most days I like to keep it light an airy around here.
Throw a few F bombs around to add character, etc.
I am not an angry person and I love to laugh until I feel like I could pee my pants.
Sometimes I do, in fact, pee said pants.
A situation came up yesterday that really left me just feeling horrible.
Without getting into the detail of it but still letting you in somebody was basically questioning me.
Questioning what I do with my time.
Questioning how hard I work.
At least that is how I took it.

I get up most days between 5:30 and 6:00.
I side eye my phone and all of my bazillion Gram and Facebook notifications from the night before.
Scroll through a handful of emails and finally peel myself out of bed.
I go to the bathroom and brush my teeth.
I open the girls room and turn on their light slowly waking them out of their peaceful slumbers.
I let the dog out and make sure she has food and water.
I then go back into my room where I proceed to scan my closet for the days outfit choice.
Sometimes this is an easy feet and sometimes it is not.
I call into the girls room to make sure that they are getting dressed.
Yelling back again to make sure they brush their teeth and have their socks and shoes on before they ever leave their room.
I apply my makeup why typically yelling back and forth from room to room to make sure they are staying on task.
I fix my hair while I am running around trying to get myself dressed, still make sure they are doing what they are supposed to be doing, and making beds etc.
I get all the kids into the living room and scan them to make sure they don't have any left over toothpaste clung to the side of their mouths or crusties in their eyes.
I run out and put all my bazillion four bags in the car and start it, scanning to make sure I haven't forgotten anything for the day.
I brush and fix their hair while Payton is clawing at me for attention.
She is not a fan of anybody messing with her Momma these days other than her.
I then change her diaper and get her shoes on.
I get Abbie set up and make sure she has everything she needs for her day at home.
I go down and put wood in our wood stove and come back up to typically three crazy kids running around the house.
I take my meds and vitamins.
Take a quick gander around the house to make sure things are tidy and put away, put the dog up, and then get all the kids rounded up to leave.
We are typically out of the house by 6:45.
I drop the kids off and I am usually on my way to work right around 7:00.
I stop for my free coffee at my Hubby's work and I am usually peeling into work between 7:45 and 7:55 {have to be here by 8:00} depending on traffic.
I do my work thing.
I sit here and do everything that is asked of me and almost always with a smile on my face.
I try my hardest to be thankful for this job and not complain.
Lunch comes around and I go to the gym.
I spend the next 35 to 40 minutes giving it my all.
Literally.
I have never left that gym without sweat.
Ever.
I work hard.
I allow myself enough time to shower, reapply some powder/blush/lipstick, and then I am straight back to work.
Some days sure I might be between five to ten minutes late but regardless I am ALWAYS making that up either by getting to work early or staying later.
No matter what though I spend those 35 to 40 minutes at the gym.
I am going to better myself.
I am not out eating 1000 calorie lunches or shopping, etc.
I am going to the gym and regaining my health.
I finish my day and leave work by 5:00.
I fight rush hour traffic and am usually home right before 6:00.
I spend the next couple hours turning into the "human tornado" as my Husband so lovingly refers to me.
Basically I clean like a crazy person and I hardly ever sit down before 8:00 or so.
"If there is time to lean, there is time to clean!"
Most days yes, by the time my head hits the pillow, I am absolutely exhausted.
There are many mornings I don't want to get up.
There are a handful of days where I don't workout.
But guess what?
Hard work was the only thing that got me from here...
To this...

I have a Husband, three girls, a fur pup, friends, family, a full time job yet I still make time to better myself.
To get healthy so I can see my babies grow up, get married, have children of their own, etc.
It's not easy.
I have NEVER stated it was easy.
I still struggle on the regular.
But...
Hard work. Dedication. Determination.
Those three things go me from there to here.
I don't take that lightly.
I don't like to be questioned on it.

So...
For all of you reading this that have ever questioned me.
Just know this...
I do work hard and at the end of the day shouldn't you be worried about yourself.
Shouldn't you be worried about what you do with your time and how you can possibly be bettering yourself?
Life is too short to worry about others...
Live your life for YOU and be the best version you can possibly be!

Phew!
I seriously already feel better just having gotten that off my chest.

In other news it's Chest, Shoulders, and Tricep day!
~5 minute incline treadmill warm-up
Chest/Shoulders/Triceps Workout
~Cool down with remaining time.

Now if I could just keep my hand out of the Reese Peanut Butter Eggs {which so far I have!} all will be well =)

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