Happy

"You are a one-of-a-kind blessing of Joy." Zephaniah 3:17

In August 2015, I started a new job. Little did I know the immense amount of growing I was about to do emotionally, spiritually, and mentally. And this was only the beginning.

Although I was super excited about my new job, I needed to find a little happiness and encouragement. I was in the midst of fighting all my ailments and feeling pretty poor about myself. I was about to be the small fish in a big pond! Nervous was kind of an understatement. 

One of my favorite things to do is go to the grocery store. CRAZY.... I know. I am so my mothers daughter! But really, I love to take a drive down to Tallahassee and go to Whole Foods or Trader Joes.  

I was searching for answers to why I felt so bad all the time. Why wasn't I more proud of myself for all the hard work that got me to this moment? When was I going to find contentment, let alone joy and happiness?

So, to ease my nerves, I made a trip down to Whole Foods, and of course Starbucks, the weekend before my first Monday in the new studio. As I've stated before, I am not much of a shopper. For some reason, I parked in a totally different spot in the parking lot then usual; making me walk past some of the cute boutiques that neighbor the grocery store.

As I walk down the sidewalk, a shirt catches my eye in the store window:

happy

It was perfect. It was like God reached down, and gave me a giant hug. For the moment, all my fears and worries melted away. It then struck me that I had been given this amazing opportunity to grow in my career, learn from one of the best, and they picked me! Why was I being so hard on myself when there were blessing all around me?

Life is always going to throw curve balls your way. It is possible to find happiness in the smallest places. The key is to always be open to finding and accepting happiness in all forms. Being happy, even when times are hard, brings joy. You are one of a kind, and blessed. Appreciate what you have. Be confident in yourself, acknowledge all the little blessing, and open your eyes to gifts around you. 

The Journey

It has officially been two and half years since I last posted. My last two years have been tough. Mentally and physically.

I have suffered from sever food allergies, my whole life. As the years have gone by, I felt like my health just kept taking turns for the worst. More food groups seemed to bother me, along with other "strange symptoms" like rashes, migraines, and some other stuff you don't want to know... haha!

I kept thinking, "how can I be writing a blog about health and fitness when I feel like crap?!" Nothing seemed to help me feel better.

Not only was I embarrassed to admit I didn't feel well, I was ashamed. How could I call myself a fitness professional when I didn't want to and couldn't find the energy to work out. People look up to me to be their example, cheerleader, and inspiration. I could barely put a smile on my face somedays.

I started eating an Auto-Immune Paleo (AIP) diet last January, in search of answers and healing. I even got the point where coffee made me feel bad, that was not the day you wanted to be around me! I LOVE coffee... and chocolate.

The diet and research did make me feel better. Slightly. But, the AIP research all said, do not work out! WHAT? My mind and soul craved for me to suck it up and sweat it out. But my heart and body told me no.

Well, after many tired, sick, and emotional days... I finally sought help. Janine is her name. She is my life saver. I am a "rare case" she tells me. Haha! I kept asking her, "How can someone who has taken such good care of their body be so dang sick?!" She says, "the human body is an amazing machine, and I should feel blessed that I listened to and acknowledge my symptoms."

After one year of seeing her, I am soooo much better than I was, but it is still a heavy and constant battle. I think we sometimes we do it all wrong. You have to take care of yourself from the inside out.

I am not seeing her anymore, but am very into taking supplements and listening to my body. I will dive into what I am doing now that has changed my life in blogs to come. But first, here are a couple valuable lessons I've learned and would like to share with you:

1. It is OK to be vulnerable to yourself.
2. A journey of health and fitness come in many different forms.
3. Listen to your body.
4. Find peace with reality.

I have changed my whole attitude towards Health and Fitness. Being happy in your own skin, feeding your soul, feeling good about yourself, that's what is important.

Don't worry too much, I have many more recipes, tips, thoughts, and work outs coming your way again!

JAG Happy Labor Day

I don't know why people always ask me if I have the day off on a holiday... Doesn't everyone know that Fitness doesn't sleep:-)???? 

I love my job and the opportunity to better people's lives no matter what the day!

 So here's a quick work out for you on your holiday! I want to dedicate this work out to all the men and women who have and do fight for the freedom of this wonderful country. God Bless the USA!!

Labor Day 2014 JAG

25 minutes Stairmaster (omit this if you are on a time crunch)

Lateral squat jumps on BOSU Ball - 15 R/L

Kettlebell Swings - 30

BOSU Single Leg Jackhammers - 15 R/L

Repeat three rounds with 1 min rest between rounds

Pull Ups - 10

Plank DB row althernating - 10 R/L

Russian Twists using one DB from previous exercise - 15 R/L

Repeat 3 rounds with 1 minutes rest between rounds

Stretch/Foam Roller

August 21 JAG!

So, I have worked 57 hours this week... but there should be no excuses!! It's about time I'm getting a good work out up for y'all!!!

This is an awesome combination of cardio and muscular endurance!! If you do not know what an exercise is on the TRX, youtube and watch a video:-)

August 21 JAG:

5 minutes StairMaster- start at medium level for 2 minutes and go up to high level for 3 minutes
1 minutes row machine sprint
:30 TRX Squat
:30 TRX Low Row
:30 TRX Biceps Curl
:30 TRX Atomic Push Up
Repeat bold exercises 3-4 times
5 minutes StairMaster- finish hard at a high level

Done. Feel the burn and let the sweat roll.....  Enjoy:-)

Work it!

First of all I want to apologize for the minimal amount of posts I've been writing.

My fellow trainer and I are revamping our fitness, rehab, and nutrition program at our gym. Lots of work and computer time in the office... I would rather be with all my wonderful clients! BUT... the program design is like none you have ever seen before and it is going to ROCK!!! 

We can't wait to really implement our hard work, please pray for success and support. 

Back to it! I found this awesome work out online the other day and decided to try it yesterday after my StairMaster climb:-) This, ladies and gentlemen is an awesome, hard, and quick work out. My booty is sore today!

Here is the link to the video:

Butt Blaster Leg Complex

Here is the sequence written down and the set/reps I did:

Single Leg Hip Thrust: 10 per leg

Bulgarian Squat: 10 per leg

Reaching Lunge: 10 per leg alternating

Split Squat: 10 per leg = 20 total

Band Rotation: 20 per side

Pull Throughs: 20 

Fast Hands: 10 per hand = 20 total

Repeat 2-3 times -- I ran out of time so I only did two rounds, next time I'm doing 3 or 4:-)

Here is a snap shot of my Heart Rate and summary of calories burned etc. during the whole work out. The first long high spike was 20 minutes on the StairMaster. The two high spikes in a row are the two sets of the above work out. Isn't that awesome! I love my VivoFit... which will be in a post very soon, so stay tuned. I forgot to take my heart rate monitor off after I left the gym, that's why it's so long for such a long period of time afterwards.

I hope you try to work out on your own! The best thing about it, you don't need to be in a gym at all. Only piece of equipment needed is a band, but you can always improvise and change the core exercise to something like Russian Twists to work your obliques.

Live a Fit, Fabulous, and Healthy life:-)

Hunger Signs

How many of you can honestly say you have never eaten food out of boredom? Or anxiety, stress, loneliness, being in social setting, frustration.... Or because the TV was on and you didn't even realize the whole bag was gone until you reached in for more?!

Remember, eating out of any of these reasons is never a good habit to develop or support. It will not help or change any of these situations. The only thing that will change is your waist line! 

Developing a habit of responding to feelings with food is a dangerous, life long uphill journey you do not want to go down. Most people end up beating themselves up after an indulging moment like this too... And that hill will just feel like it's getting steeper and longer. 

There are two different types of hunger: Mind Hunger and Body Hunger. 

Mind Hunger is the dangerous one out of the two, it's that time you sat with a group of friends and ate the whole basket of french fries, all the chicken fingers, two drinks, and a desert without even tasting the food! 

Body Hunger is when you eat because your body is naturally telling you to eat out of true physical hunger. You can eat with no distractions, taste the food, and recognize the signs of being full even if the plate is not empty yet.

KNOW THE SIGNS: Which one are you doing?

Body Hunger:

• Satisfied for three or four hours after eating
• Aware of the smell, tastes, and texture of the food(s) being eaten
• Able to consciously plan to eat and make an effort to find something filling

Mind Hunger:

• Temporarily satisfied- shortly after eating, even five minutes later, you feel hunger again
• Surprised at what they ate because they did it automatically- all of a sudden the ice cream was gone
• Didn't remember what they ate - taste, texture - who knows?

So how do we break the habit of Mind Hunger and let our bodies eat out of Body Hunger?

We need to find out why we are eating out of Mind Hunger.  Loneliness? Stress? Boredom? Why are you eating when you aren't hungry? 

There are many things we can do to stop these bad eating habits and focus on the "Why":

• Realize that eating is not a solution to a problem or bad feeling (it will only create more)
• Seek professional counseling (there may be some underlining issues you need to address)
• Stop eating in front of the TV, book, computer, or magazine
• Get yourself up and moving!
• Join a gym, walking group, fitness class
• Find a buddy, motivate each other to stay on track

Remember, there is just as much damage done when you under eat too... do not mistake being healthy as the fewer the calories the better.

Search deep when you find yourself in these situations. Find out the "Why" before you indulge.

(All of my information is from the course I am studying called: Weight Management for Teens, A Non-Diet Approach to Health and Fitness by Linda Omichinski, RD. It is through ACE. )

Our Daily Bread

Everyone is always asking me, "What do you eat?"

For some CRAZY reason, they think because I (try my best) to eat clean and healthy, there are no options and the food is bland and boring! Let me tell you, since I changed my eating habits when I was about 24 years old, food has never tasted better. 

I went from gluten free, but still eating stuff made out of corn, rice, and potato... to now mostly a paleo type of eating lifestyle. Meaning I rarely eat any kind of grain or starch. I still enjoy my sweet potatoes and full fat dairy's:-) I won't deny myself a gluten free pizza when the time calls. 

My wonderful husband is not a picky eater at all, thank god! But I do try to make him some rice, potatoes, or pasta every once and a while. The key to keeping him happy is Texas Toast!  I won't always eat this, but every once and a while I'll snag a couple bites of potatoes!

Now if you take me to a Chipotle, which I LOVE....... then you will definitely see me ordering the brown rice AND the corn salsa:-)

Anyways, I thought I would give an example of "the day in the life of Stephanie"! Here is what is on the menu for today:

Breakfast: Smoothie

1 cup spinach

1/2 avocado

1/2 banana

2 tbs raw cacao

1 tbs chia seeds

1tbs ground flaxseed

1 tsp xylitol (or stevia)

1 scoop About Time protein

8 oz unsweetened almond milk

I have a NutriBullet which is awesome!

Snack:

1 c Cabot Greek Yogurt- Full Fat

1/2 c Blueberries

1 tbs Hemp Seeds

(you can add some stevia to this to sweetened if you want)

Lunch:

Egg Bake with tomatoes, sweet potato, and black olives

1/4 Roasted Cabbage with bacon (see recipe)

Snack:

I will drink some more About Time protein with water after my work out this afternoon

Dinner:

Chicken Stir Fry with Zucchini noodles, carrots, edamame, and water chestnuts ( by the way I have no recipe for this, it just sounds good and I made it up this morning! I'll take picture and let you know how it goes.)

I hope this helps inspire you and give you some good ideas on a healthy, clean, nourishing day of eating. Take care of your bodies, love on yourself. Have a wonderful weekend!