Being Healthy is TOUGH

I was reading somewhere that Gwen Stefani said that being skinny and fit is torture. I truly think that it can be and I 100% agree with her. Losing weight and eating healthy is something that we don't all learn to do right. So we have to change everything about us and we don't exactly know important eating is in our life. I mean we eat 3-6 times a day some even more. Eating is the center of our lives we do it ALL the time.

If you have never exercised either it can also be a foreign. I mean who REALLY wants to get up and run if when you start you are going to be huffing and puffing and not being able to make it down the street. Or you had the intention of running and all you can do is walk. It makes you feel like a failure or it can bring out the famous BEAST mode! I know though that even if BEAST mode is turned on there is a little bit of doubt in regards to failure.

That the thing though, it's so EASY to gain weight all you have to do is eat and eat and eat. It requires no real effort just hand to mouth and that's it. It's easy to do the easy right? Well the easy is unhealthy and will lead you to a ton of health problems.

So here is something that I always heard from different successful people. In order to do something and be successful at it you have to be uncomfortable. That means running until you are huffing and puffing and then walking and knowing that every single day that goes by you are going to get better, you are going to do better and you will BE better. You HAVE to make yourself uncomfortable to ensure that you will NEVER go back to the place that you were in. You have to torture yourself ok not really but you have to be in pain, you have to talk about what is bothering you and come to terms as to why you have gotten yourself to where you have good or bad, recognize it and own it. Move forward and don't move backward. Change is uncomfortable but eventually like anythin you will get used it, and will have to make yourself uncomfortable again.

Brazil Butt Lift Challenge Group!

Helping people is one of the things that I love to do. There is nothing like the feeling that you have CHANGED yourself in a way that YOU can change. There is nothing in the world like confidence and pride especially when you have done something as drastic as changing your whole body. For that reason I am going to host another BOMBSHELL Brazil Butt Lift Challenge!On 9/10.

It will be 60 days in length for you to finish it and along the way you will receive a private Facebook group for motivation, a meal plan that is made to the foods that you enjoy, and a killer body when you are done your transformation! If you live in the Cape Cod area I will also give my challengers a free BOMBSHELL photo shoot after the 60 day challenge!

Support is what is always missing when one is trying to lose weight and that is what I want to provide and more. It isn't going to be easy but it is totally going to be WORTH IT! I look forward to hearing from you so that together we can make your dreams come true! 

Email me if you would like more information or would like to sign up!I only have 5 spots and they always go FAST as I post my challenges on facebook too!

Take care of you!!!!!

sessiemomma@gmail.com

Playing outside

Yesterday was a really beautiful day so before the weekend ended all I wanted to do was to take some pictures of my kiddo. We spent a majority of the day in church we went to the service and then to the new comers class that the church hosted. It was really great! I found my church home! Every thing that the pastor talked about I was totally into. God has answered my prayers that's for sure! I am totally happy that the church search is over and we can go and enjoy what we will now call our "home." 

I wanted to take pictures for some time, we drove around the Cape but the light was too harsh and I would have been disappointed with my shots so I eagerly waited to go home! There they are :) I hope they you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Weary about the Beachbody Challenge?

So many people have NO IDEA what the Beachbody Challenge is and I am going to explain it.

There are many people out there that can lose weight on their own no issues, they just get it done. Others need support and someone to be accountable to. They need affirmations and they need to know that them losing weight is the BEST thing for them. You see, when people start losing weight it is usually a one man Army. A family of four and Mommy wants to lose a few pounds. Family starts to criticize the dinners she is making or the fact that she eats rice cakes. She then feels bad and embarassed and stops and maybe gains even more weight than previously thought.

This is where the challenge group comes in. I will have 1-5 people in a group setting with a provate Facebook group led by me and the challenge team members. WE WILL BE ACCOUNTABLE every single day of the journey. Everyone can do the same workout or do one of their own. The only thing is you need to do three things.

1.) Buy or wipe the dust off your Beachbody workout.
2.) Drink Shakeology every day!
3.) Be present in the facebook group and push play every day!

I will be there to moderate give advice on meal planning, grocery shopping and proper exercise form with most of all SUPPORT to you individually and as a group! This is the part that I feel is missing when one is losing weight. The support and a place to vent your frustrations and feelings!

I MEAN another PLUS you get to make NEW FRIENDS!

The video above provides testimonials of people going through and that have completed their transformations! Take a peek and let me know what you think! Email me or comment if you would like more information!

Forgiveness

Well today I didn't go to church I decided to stay home because the traffic at the Cape was going to be crazy long and I didn't want to spend a few hours commuting back and forth to church so church at home it was. I was listening to Joyce Meyer this morning. I am doing one of her devotionals on my Bible App on my iPad and I was flipping through channels before that and I caught her Battlefield of the Mind Series. I recorded it but later watched it on my ipad as well to get an hour of His Word and teaching this morning. 

 My past isn't something of glamor for a period of my life. I was married to someone and he hurt me physically, emotionally, and verbally. Don't you feel bad for me because I was no saint in that marriage either. Back to the point, I walked away from that marriage defeated, exhausted, and ANGRY. Oh man was I am angry ugly ugly human being. I got into counseling and that helped me to a degree but I needed more so long story short to a few months ago when I was talking to my Senior Chief about how I was doing. We got into the topic of B and I broke down and started crying and the angry ugly Jeannette came out (I was trying to walk in my walk with God so I was a "baby" again). I came out and my Senior Chief told me that I needed to forgive him. HA NO FREAKING WAY HE HURT ME, HE TOOK B AWAY FROM ME, HE ABUUUUUSED ME! ME ME ME ME ME! Here I am married to another man with another child and still living through those dark years of my life. I didn't know how to forgive I didn't know what spiritually that MEANT. Ok I can say I forgive him Jesus can we be done yet? (NOPE) 

 This is the part that I was missing......it wasn't about him the bad one, the mean one. It was about me being able to move on and that is what I learned today. I remember driving home from work a few days after I talked to my Senior Chief....God please help me understand what this forgiveness thing is all about because I have no clue. I am so MAD, it was so UGLY. How do I forgive someone that tormented my brain for so many years? Does it mean that I have to talk to him again? WHAT on Earth does that mean? He didn't even say SORRY! I was the bad guy, I was the one who was a bad Mom etc. etc. Low and behold guess what? I got a phone call a few months later right before I moved and it was HIM the evil one, the one that was so mean to ME. He told me that he did things that were not right in our marriage and that he will always care for me because I am B's Mother, and that he was sorry and it was tormenting him too and he was happy but couldn't move on. 

Here we are miles and miles away from each other probably going through the same things in our mind.......it's amazing how he works and how he gave me everything that I wanted and how today I am able to close the chapter and how the anger is just GONE I swear it's disappeared......Life is truly a blessing and it is better to be happy in your walk on this Earth along side God but also to forgive!

The "Dieters Plalette"

There are so many diets and fads that are out there that it can be SUPER DUPER confusing as far as what the heck diet am I going to do and how the heck am I going to get healthy or lose this weight.

It may look something like this.....

Well I can tell you that eating healthy is something that you just don't KNOW the first time that you go at it. I would really suggest trying the don't eat this eat that type of approach to your healthy LIFESTYLE. Your palette isn't accustomed to yummy goodness that comes from the Earth it is used to things that come in a box.

So as I previously suggested try a salad so that you can learn to use different vegetables. I sometimes add shredded carrots to my tomato sauce just to get some good ol' vitamin C. I also try one vegetable at a time. There is no way in the world that FOR ME I would have eaten Spinach and a first choice to a vegetable. I kept to the basics. Celery, Cauliflower, tomato, cucumber, lettuce (romaine) carrots, and broccoli. That is where I stayed for awhile until I NEEDED something new so that's when I ventured out and tried things but I looked up recipes first. Skinnytaste.com is a wonderful resource to keep flavor into your food and keeping the fat and calories to a minimum :D I am on that website at lease once a week and I recommend it as much as I can and no I am not getting paid or anything I found her blog on Pinterest and fell in love! You'll see if you try it.

I digress.... Keep in mind that healthy eating isn't something that comes natural to most of us and it is something that has to be taught. So here are some healthier alternatives for you to try!

Low sodium chicken stock
Light Mayo
Reduced fat cheese
spray butter for your vegetable I swear it tastes the same.
Brown rice (try the 10 minute rice)
Beans are an awesome source of protein.
reduced fat salad dressings or make your own vinagrette.

and finally cut back on the bread, pasta, cakes, juices, and candy. Making small swaps over time will train your palette and keep the healthy coming!

Turbo Kick Instructor

So I have this thing about giving a crap of what other people think of me, then only to realize that well......it doesn't matter what they think really it only matters what I think because it is MY life. At the end of the day I have to live with the choices that I make and look back at my life and hopefully have no regrets.

I can't say that I have conquered that fear but I know that I really want to live a life with no regrets but also one where I am doing the right thing. Often times it is "thought" that people live with no regrets are those that do DARING things or things like partying hard or something of that nature. While I certainly don't want to jump out of a plane or anything like that I do know that I have a love for fitness and recently I have been trusted by people that have asked me to help them along their weight loss journey! I couldn't be more proud that they asked ME to help them and of course I said yes.

Anyway back when I was living in Alaska I kind of stalked Chalene Johnson (ok not really) and found that she taught Turbo Kick which is a group class. Well I wasn't able ok no better said I did not make the resources available for me to go and get certified to take the class and guess what?!?!? There is one here close to Boston! AHHHHHH ok so I kind of pooped my pants because I was like well CRAP (here goes) WHAT if people don't want to take my class and WHAT IF I totally mess up? See I told you I am my worst enemy maybe I need to rephrase my fear to GET OVER YOURSELF you'll do JUST FINE! ha ha! Well, here it is right in my face and I am going to take the class! I am going to try and make this thing work and make it something that I am going to stick to not something that I am going to try for a few weeks just to see what happens.

Anyway! I have a confession to make......I ditched Chalean Extreme so that I could focus on the format of Turbo so I started doing TurboFire so that I could get accustomed to the form.......and I AM GOING TO COMPLETE the 90 days so with that said I have been doing it for a week now so I have 11 weeks to go!

Sleep and weight

I have been thinking of things to blog about and for awhile I have come to a blank slate....writers block I guess.

I started trying to get up at 4:50 in the morning to get my workouts in because now I am getting half of it done at lunch and the other half hour done right after I get home from work or all of it when I get home from work because sometimes 1/2 an hour is not enough time. The Mother in me feels guilty because I am missing out on time with my baby boy and then dinner happens, clean up and bloop it's time for showers and bed time. So that half an hour feels like a lot on the grand scheme of things when really I know that it's not THAT big of a deal. Well, my days are pretty much packed (I know this is an excuse) Here is my day...

5:30 5:45 - wake up and wash up
5:45 - 6:30 - cook C's grilled cheese, make my b-fast and sometimes lunch.
6:30-6:45 - feed C, maybe give him a bath if he peed in bed and get him dressed.
6:50 - 7:30 - Get C to school and get hubs and I to work
7:30-11:30 work
11:30-1:00 Lunch and 30 minute workout
1:00 - 4:00 Work
4:00-4:30 travel home and get C
4:45 get home, change 30 minute workout dinner shower bath for C then have him off to bed at 8:00.
8-10 chillax time sometimes bed by 9:30

So anyway, I started reading up on sleep and weight loss/gain to try and justify my not wanting to wake up in the mornings.

Here is what I read in summary.....

If you don't sleep well you get lazy and being lazy and sleepy causes you to do a number of things including;

getting sugary snacks, drinking more coffee, skipping a workout because you are too tired, getting take out because you don't FEEL like cooking etc.

“It’s not so much that if you sleep, you will lose weight, but if you are sleep-deprived, meaning that you are not getting enough minutes of sleep or good quality sleep, your metabolism will not function properly,” (Web M. D.)

This seems to be me. Sleepy = lazy in my life and that is not how I want to be. Thinking about it now I am super energetic and more patient after I have completed my afternoon workout....so while I feel a little bit guilty, having a little bit of me time in the afternoon seems to work in my favor.

I think that for now (even though I don't want to lose any weight) I will keep to my 1/2 and 1/2 workouts because I would rather give up half an hour than to be an unproductive lethargic Mom to my kiddo and husband they deserve to see the best in me as often as they can and I owe that to myself as well.

One day soon I will find balance with everything and it will all fall into place, but for now the more I think about it this is what seems to work for me.

Instagram!

I have totally 100% have fallen in love with Instagram! I love taking pictures as it is so this was the best way to document my day through pictures. Sometimes with Facebook I think too much into a post and either don't post it or ask myself why am I posting this......? Do you ever find yourself doing that? I don't know. Anyway here are some of the things that I have been into the past few days! You can also follow me on Instagram my name is prettynena  

Cooking Cajun Chicken Pasta. YUM!

DIY Canvas painting totally inspired by my buddy Kati.

That's a lot of sweat for a bum bum workout!

I made my own headband! YAY! I should go on Etsy! :D

**FREE** at home workout

So I have been talking so much about Beachbody workouts because I love them so much and they really work. I was running this morning for our Workout Wednesday that we do at the unit and I thought that maybe I should talk about **free** workouts.

I prefer to workout at home because I enjoy the fact that no one is watching me and judging me, I don't have to wait for machines, and I certainly can make all the noises I want to and not compromise on what workout I want to do because I have to wait for the weight or machine I want etc.

So here it is an at home workout that you can do for FREE without weights :)

Run/Walk 2 miles (20-30 min)

3 sets of 10 push-ups
2 sets of 10 chair dips
25 walking lunges
25 squats
30 calf raises
2 30 second plank holds
40 bicycle crunches

That could probably take someone 45-60 minutes total including the run to complete.


** here is a tid bit that I read today that I found weirdly motivating**

DON'T FEEL SORRY FOR YOURSELF FOR YOU ARE RIGHT WHERE YOU SHOULD BE.

If you want change you have to create it. If you hated your life or your situation yesterday and did nothing to change it today than yes....you are right where you should be.

Create Change!