Back In the Saddle - Or ReMotivation Monday!

I feel like I am starting all over today.  First day back to work after vacation, so work was basically catching up with email.  It's also the first day back on the eating and exercise plan.

We were talking last night about how we ate while on vacation... I came to this conclusion:  I do not feel emotionally bad, like I am not guilty for eating basically whatever I wanted on vacation.  But I do feel physically bad.  I can certainly tell that we ate some serious junk, but I also have come to the conclusion that my mind has been changed through all of this.

In prior attempts to get healthy, I would have just given up and decided to eat whatever I wanted.  But today, I woke up knowing I was going to eat better.  I didn't quit just because I took a vacation last week.

I am back on track, today was tough... but I am back on track!  I am not ready to quit, at least not yet!

Have you quit?  Think about your main reason for starting in the first place.  Keep that image in your mind, and get back on track.  Take it one day at a time, and do 1 thing at a time.

What are you doing to get back on track?

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What do you think so far??  Feel free to go to the Contact Shanna page and shoot me an email!

Do you have questions?  Suggestions?  Topics?  People to talk to/about?

Happy Monday!

Excuses, excuses

I shouldn't use our being on vacation as an excuse, but we are on vacation so things are a little...um... not on target.

I haven't gone super overboard or anything, but Sunday is cheat day right?  Well, Monday by the time we left the gym we realized that nothing was open that was healthy and we hadn't set anything out to thaw... and so... I had taco bell.

I felt terrible about it after eating, and honestly I didn't feel that great anyway.  My stomach hurt, I felt heavy, and I just knew I didn't want anymore.  At least I feel like I have made progress.

Brandon and I were talking about reasons vs. excuses.  What do you consider a reason, and what do you consider an excuse?  While I don't think that being on vacation is a good reason to purposefully eat off plan and not do what is necessary, I do feel that its a relaxing time for me.  It's my vacation, I want to relax and not have to stress.  About anything.

So, is this an excuse? Is it a reason?  If it's a reason, is it a good one?  If it's an excuse, is it a bad one?

I feel horrible that my eating plan hasn't been on par.  I feel horrible that we haven't been to the gym every night while on vacation.  But what I absolutely do NOT feel horrible about is spending quality time with my husband.

Today, Wednesday, has been the only day on vacation that we haven't spent too much time together.  I had to go with my mom to her doctor appointment, and he chose to work on his car - which he is still doing.

What is a good reason to you?  What is a bad excuse?  Are you finding reasons not to get to work on yourself?  Are you letting excuses hold you back?

One thing I know for sure, I am not quitting.  I am not giving up... I am on vacation.

Unstructured Much??

Today is a beautiful day!  A little windy, but the sun is out!  We slept in a little bit today, to the tune of 10am, which means my entire time structure is completely off!  But, not to worry... I am still keeping with the same idea of the structure, just adjusting to the time.

For example, we ate breakfast (2 egg, no cheese omelet with fresh veggies and wheat toast!) around 11:30, which pushes my lunch back to about... NOW!  3:30 :)  Which is normally my snack time.

We are going to see Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice tonight at 7:30, which would be my snack time... The trick is going to be staying on plan at the theater.  It's all about choices!

The theater has these new-fangled machines that you get to serve yourself with basically whatever soda concoction your creative mind can come up with!  BUT, it also has water options.  We usually get the carbonated no calorie flavored water.  Not sure who it is by (since its a coke machine, let's assume Dasani... but I am not sure) At first, I was a little nervous to try it.  But now, it's my go to!  

Let's face it, movies are NOT movies without popcorn and soda.  So, what choices can we make to keep on track and still enjoy ourselves?

My solution?  A small popcorn, no butter or salt, and a medium water like I described earlier.  Is that THE best choice?  Some might say Nope.  But here is the thing... I have worked hard ALL WEEK, and I am passing up the candy, sugary soda, salt, and butter.  My breakfast is on plan, my lunch will be on plan (turkey on wheat with mustard and possibly a salad if I get to it!) And when we go out to dinner after, I will also eat on plan!  

I won't lie, the struggle is real on Saturdays... I am not at work, so my time isn't as structured.  Sometimes we sleep in, sometimes we get up early.  Sometimes we have things going on, and sometimes we don't.  

This week is going to be a little bit crazy... Since we are on Staycation, my structure is going to be thrown off!  BUT what I refuse to do is go off plan, just because of timing.  I can still eat the foods on my eating plan, and still in the structured timing: Breakfast, 3 hours then lunch, 3 hours then snack, gym, and dinner.  It just won't be at the same time!  I have a feeling we will be staying up later, so it will all work out.  I am a total night owl.

Coming up in some future posts, I have the privilege to sit down with "Rowdy" Reagan Johnson, who is going to be competing in the 2016 Junior Olympics in Judo.  She trains at The Hit Squad with us!  If you have any questions, please comment below or email me!  That way, we can talk about what you guys are interested in! 

I hope you are enjoying your Saturday!

Does Anybody Know What Time It Is?!

Time… oh my!  We all know there are only 525,600 minutes in a year (thank you Rent!) And boy do those minutes FLY!!  While I would LOVE to follow the suggestion of the song “Seasons of Love” and measure in love, I can’t exactly get love to schedule life!

Before we go any further, can I just say that music can be used for anything?  I reference music all the time!! And just to clear the air… we can’t be friends if you can’t use lyrics randomly in the middle of conversation… Just sayin!

Let me walk you through my typical day.  To make things easy, let me start with Monday.  Most people call Monday the hardest day of the week, so let’s just get it out of the way!

Monday, Monday (bah dah, bah dah dah dah! – You know you sang it too!)

7:45ish AM – Wake up and get moving for the day

8:20 AM – Out the door and start my 35 minute drive to work, should traffic cooperate

9:00 AM – Start work

And this is where the day starts to get a little tricky…  I try my best to eat at the designated times, but sometimes it just doesn’t happen.  And I am a creature of habit, so the more structured the better!

9:30 – Take a minute and make breakfast and eat

Noon – 1 hour lunch

3:00 – Take a break, and eat a snack

5:00 – Start to 1 hour trek home in St. Louis rush hour traffic

6:00 – Get stuff together to go to the gym for Muay Thai

7:00 – Muay Thai training

8:30 – Usually when we get home to start and eat dinner

10:00 – Get the hubs on out to work, since he works midnights, and get myself in the shower

10:30 – Bed

Now, please hear my when I say “bed” does NOT mean sleep… Depending on the day, it can take anywhere from 5 minutes to 4 hours for me to fall asleep.  Yes, I am aware that my training could be potentially keeping me awake, but there are no classes early in the morning.  Besides, I am NOT a morning person.  Even if I sleep for 12 hours, waking me up before 10am just causes a grump to wake up.  I am also aware that my shower could be keeping me awake, but again… do I shower before bed and sleep clean?  Or sleep icky and wake up earlier?!  I choose clean sleeping!

My days are usually pretty much the same until 5:00. 

Tuesday and Thursday is Judo, which starts at 6:00.  Thanks to traffic, which always seems to be so wonderfully AWEFUL on these days, I am usually sliding into class by the skin of my teeth.  Tying the white belt of my gi as I am running from the locker room. 

But, for the most part, this is my typical day!  Saturdays and Sundays aren’t as structured.  But for the most part, my entire week is structured almost to the hour.

The worst part about ALL of this… somewhere, my husband and I are supposed to have Family Time, we both like to play video games, we both have a fairly active social life, AND both sides of our families enjoy spending time with us!  And somewhere in this time we are also supposed to go to the store (grocery, big box, farmers market…) get laundry done, and keep a house together.

It’s exhausting.  I won’t lie!  Training, getting healthy, eating better… it all takes scheduling.  It takes amazing time management skills.  It also takes understanding from those around you.  If you AREN’T the person trying to get healthy, cut your family member/friend/spouse some slack!  Thankfully, my husband trains on Monday and Wednesday are along with me.  We count that as family time, because we both really enjoy the time.  And fortunately for us, our families understand our goals.  They sometimes think we are crazy for training Muay Thai and other various MMA aspects, but they love us anyway.

If you are getting healthy, you will have to make sacrifices.  You will have to sacrifice time with friends, you will have to sacrifice that show you watch on certain nights, and you will definitely HAVE to sacrifice the foods that you love that are bad for you!  My food sacrifice was McDonald’s… I love that place… but I also know that it is slowly killing me.

If you are NOT getting healthy, but someone near and dear to you is… please don’t take it personally if they choose to go to the gym rather than sit on the couch eating a bag of chips or other various diet killing foods.  Cut them some slack if they choose NOT to indulge in dessert on a day that may not be cheat day for them.  Try not to be too selfish if they say “sorry, I have gym time that night or day” I promise you, they are not changing their entire lives to hurt or upset you. 

Instead, ask them about their goals!  Encourage them when they choose a large salad instead of the cheeseburger during a late night Denny’s run.  Keep giving them high fives when they share a new achievement!  They work hard to get where they are!

From experience, the first time I was able to go 3 minutes with my Muay Thai coach and all we did was hit pads.  But as soon as I realized I was able to go a full 3 minutes, you would have thought I had just won the lottery!  I was so excited!!  And I am STILL excited!  Not everyone can do what we do.  But I can promise you that if you put in the work, you can ALSO do this!

Schedule your time; it really makes everything so much easier!

Much love!  And leave me a comment with questions or feedback.  This only works if we are ALL engaged!

Happy Monday!