What's the way?

Life is always so crazy.  And just when you think you have it all figured out, life throws something at you.  It usually isn't too big, just enough to slow you down just a tad.  Life is going good, and Hey!!! Where did that speed bump come in.  Right?

I am learning every day that as much as I think I have it together, there will be something that pops up.  And that is normal.  The house is clean-but i turn around, and it's a mess again.  The dishes are done.  No sooner are they put away and the sink is full again.  Time and time again, I tell myself, it isn't going to happen like this anymore.  Then I wake up the next morning and the cycle repeats itself.  Its the fun of being a full time working single parent to a busy little 6 yr old.  I try to keep her busy doing something rather than sitting in front of  the television-that usually means leaving the house a mess since we aren't in it to clean it up. How it gets messy under these circumstances still boggles my mind, but I guess that is meant for another post.

I started a new "diet"-or lifestyle-as I like to call it.  I have attempted a more Paleo/Primal way of eating.  Cutting out the grains and eliminating as much unnecessary sugars as possible.  What it comes down to is I am not eating the processed foods that I have gotten so use to.  From a lot of the reading that I have been doing, it has truly messed with my head.  As much as I have craved it over the last couple of days, I have been able to push past it.  My body is feeling better because of it as I enter in to the 3rd day here.  I did suffer from a headache (that I don't suffer from very often) that put a damper on my workouts that I had planned for last night and this morning, but I suppose that is normal when you rid your body of the junk, or so  I understand.   It's not really hard to understand that eating more natural diet is better for your body.  It's what it was designed for....not the potato chips we all dig in to at the family BBQ's.  Food today isn't what it use to be and it's actually kind of scary when you look at what you are actually eating when you think you are being good...even the low fat "healthier" version.  

I got off on a tangent there.  I wanted to share that, but also note that it take some time to plan out your meals.  Overall...fairly simple task, but it's not as easy normally as taking out the frozen dinner and popping it in the microwave or stopping for fast food on the way home.  

Life is about planning. You can't expect it just to fall in to place as much as you would like it to.  What are you willing to sacrifice in order to get what you want done? It certainly would be wonderful if the laundry got done , the floor vacuumed, or the house picked up and put away at the snap of the finger. My suggestion to you is:

1.)  Make a list of what you want? (clean home, financially stable future, new car)

2.)  Why is it important to you? 

3.)  Decide what you are willing to let go of in order to get you there?

It's the real world...we need to make it work the best we can.  It will. It always works out in the end.....or we likely wouldn't be here.

For now I can live with the cluttered unorganized home in order to get me where I want to be.  I am working towards a more financially secure future by working my Beachbody business in order to spend more time with my baby girl.  There will always be time later to get that stuff done, but my daughter will only be this age once, and before you know it....it's gone.

The Guilt

I did try to keep up daily with my blog.  I swear I did.  And now I feel guilty because I didn't follow through.

 It's hard trying to work 2 jobs, work to push forward with my Beachbody business, raise a kid, fit in my workouts, and all the other good stuff that goes along with life.

I have been doing ChaLEAN Extreme-with some Turbo Fire, and some running to keep up the cardio aspect.  I hit the gym for the elliptical if I can't do anything else.  In the 4 weeks or so that I have been doing it, I have gotten sick, which took me out of commission for a couple of weeks.  And now, do I move on to the next phase, or stick with the Burn phase one more week.   Some times my work & sleep schedule don't give me a ton of time to get some things done.  I still manage to do them, just not at the schedule I would like.

Here we are at the 3rd of April.  Am I where I want to be physically?  No.  Am I working on that?  Yup.  Could I be working harder, most definitely.  But lets face it, I have to sleep sometime-and wouldn't you know I feel guilty about that.  Stupid I know....but I do.  There are plenty of other things that could make me feel guilty, and to tell you the truth, they do. But, I am learning that sometimes what makes me feel guilty sometimes is what makes me a stronger person.  Give me something to think about.  Do I always make the right decision based on guilt.  Absolutely not.  At least not all of the time.  But it always does give me food for thought.  Something to build on to help me make a better decision.

It's like when you eat that cookie you know you shouldn't have eaten.  It makes you feel guilty. Right?  You worked so hard to push through that workout this morning, and poof-if you are me-you feel like it was all for nothing.  But I learn from that mistake, that guilty pleasure, and try to move past that, and remember that feeling for next time.  Is it really worth it?

Some of those things that make you feel guilty you have to remember are what help to keep you sane...that extra hour of sleep or that alone time (when you feel like you should be doing something else.)    Will I try to do a better job and keep this up....I am certainly going to try (and likely feel guilty when I get lax.)

The key is REMEMBER how you feel.  Was it worth it?

Do You Have the Power?

Thursday:  ChaLEAN Extreme Burn Circuit 3 (oh yah-I felt it)
                 Jogging-5 MPH: 30 minutes

Friday:  Turbo Fire 30

Bet you thought I forgot.

I didn't.  Put the kid to bed last night and "POOF"-fell asleep myself, for a much needed nights sleep, on the couch.  Not the best place to lay at night...to close to the kitchen on my way to bed. And its always for the sweets! So here in lies my next question.....how much will power do you have?

Some days-I'm all about the will power.  Unfortunately, some days, I am not.  The mornings/early afternoon are the best for me.  I can power past the donuts and all the sweets that they may have sitting around the office.   Once I hit about 3:00-4:00 in the afternoon, it starts to dwindle.  Certainly don't like it....but it is something I really do need to learn to come to terms with, otherwise, all the hard work I put in to my work outs and the beginning of the day are truly for nothing.

The concept of weight loss is simple:  What you take in needs to be less than what you put out.

I hear time and time again that people who sleep more weigh less.  And while that statistic may be true, I live in the real world, where time is a precious thing.  I work 2 jobs, I am an online coach with Beachbody, (something I truly believe in by the way) and I am a full time single mom.  If I tried to get the recommended 8 hours, there is a lot that won't get done in my life and in my home.

So, back to the initial problem, how do you fight the late night cravings?

Here are things I am willing to give a try (and I need to throw thanks to my friends that have helped with these-you know who you are.)
1.  A bowl of oatmeal
2.  Lots of Water
3.  Bowl of Multigrain Cheerios (the Peanut Butter are my new fave)
4.  Greek Yogurt-with some honey or agave and cinnamon
5.  A small dish of fruit
6.  Small portion of pretzels and Nutella (oh yum!!)
7.  Hot tea (Love a good peppermint or chamomile)
8. Frozen Bananas Slices (you'd be surprised how good that can be-and you can use them in a smoothie)
9.  A smoothie (low cal of course)

I also keep telling myself that perhaps a little late night yoga would be helpful in curbing those thoughts of snacking.  It's always high on the list until I get home and finally have that quiet time to relax and do nothing for a few minutes.

So-to all of you out there with the same problem, I would love to hear what you do.  And in the mean time-thanks for keeping me accountable.   This is something I am sure that  I get back on when I can finally win that will power battle.

What's Your Excuse?

Blah Blah Blah.

We all have our excuses as to why we don't follow through.  The one I like to use the most is that "I don't have the time."  I can legitimize that one in so many ways.  I have 2 jobs.  I work long hours.  I am a single mother.  I have to much other stuff going on.

While those are all true, the things that I have chosen to let consume my life, and give me the excuses that I use, are all about other people or things.  Granted, as a single mom, my family is and should be my number one priority.  The others, however, shouldn't be what I put before myself.  When did I stop becoming so important to me.  If I fall apart, everything I work so hard to do everyday will fall apart to.  Plain and simple, right?  But most of us fail to follow through with what we want to do.  It truly is a sad thing.

When did we stop being important to ourselves?

I saw something posted on Facebook yesterday.  A one hour workout is 4% of our day.  What is so hard about taking that little bit of time in order to become a healthier person?  Puts it into perspective.  I know that I have started on a change in my life-but I still am working to hurdle over the excuses stage, primarily in the morning when I can't drag my tired butt out of bed.

So-here I put forth this afternoon-

1.  I will  get up and work out every morning.  I won't be the one to use the excuse-I was to tired.

2.  I will blog about it to keep myself accountable.

This is the start to my accountability. Now, whats yours?

Week 1 My Beachbody Challenge

Well, here we are at the end of week 1.  And it's been a hectic week.  I did start it Tuesday morning as promised.  I have chosen to incoporate the ChaLEAN Extreme with the Turbo Fire.  This body can feel it for sure.  I have also started drinking Shakeology every day.  I love it.  I love the fact that it tastes great, how can you beat chocolate.  I also love the fact that I don't have to take my daily vitamin, and with all the minerals and extra goodies in it, it really is the best thing you could put in your body all day.

I chose to be part of the company because I want to be able to help end the trend of obesity in this world.  I fought with my weight since I was a child.  It was tough growing up that.  The older I got, the more weight I would put on.  I moved out and lived on my own, and it got worse.  I remember as a child being criticized about my weight by family members.  As a kid, it doesn't help you.  I was never taught how to eat healthy.  Not that it was intentional, but I was never taught to eat more veggies, go easy on the butter, and all the other good stuff.  When I was about 15-16 my parents had me join one of those diet places where all the food is prepackaged and you go in every week for a weigh in and some one talks to you.  Their heart was in the right place, and I actually did lose some weight, but as soon as I was off of it, I gained the weight back, and then some.  A diet like that, while convenient, does not teach you how to eat.

After that, my weight kept going up and up and up.  I know I topped somewhere around 240.  Could have been more, I wasn't to fond of the scale at the time, so not really sure where I started.  That has since changed and I took control.  I have lost 100 pounds on my own, and recently just found Beachbody and fell in love with the concept.  They want to help people lose weight and keep it off.  And they want to pass it on and on and on.

I am proud to be part of that now.  If I can pass it on to someone and they can be successful like I was, and will continue to be as I lose the last 30 pounds I have been struggling with, then I have done my part.  I want to give this to everyone.  So, if you think its time and you are ready to make that change, please, check out my Beachbody site, take me up on a challenge, and take control of your life.

beachbodycoach.com/kimlesperance

Here's to being fit for the rest of ouri lives!!

Time for A Change

We are over a month and a half into the new year.  I made it through the birthdays and the holidays.  I made it through the PF Changs Half Marathon with a time of 2:50.  I was pleased considering it was my first.  I trained.  I ran.  It was great an looking forward to doing it again next year.

Once all that training was over and said and done, my weight has remained at a constant.  I'm not sure if that was a good or bad thing.  The unfortunate thing that I have been dealing with is a major lack of energy.  Not sure if its a nutritional thing, but I have been learning that most of the issues that I have usually are associated to a bit of everything.  I have been struggling to get out of bed in the morning.  At first I was anxious to get up at 5:00 in the morning and get in my workout, looked forward to them.  Now, its like a battle just to get past the snooze alarm.  Some nights I struggle to get past putting my daughter to bed.  My housework some days seems not to get done because I fall asleep before I can get to it, and waking up to just barely get the little one and myself ready to head out for the day.

  I had been doing the TurboFire workout and was really enjoying it. I still do....just not sure why I let myself fall out of that.  I think part of my problem was that I haven't been seeing the results I wanted to see.  The workouts were great-but when it came down to it, the weight didn't go down like I wanted to see.  Another part of the equation I believe was that my eating habits could have been a bit better.  You can't under eat, and think that making it up with a binge of bad foods on another day are going to garner you any loss on the scale.

Here we are at today.  I have decided to take control of my life in different ways.  I have decided to take on the strength training workout Chalene Extreme.  It will be at my door on Monday, along with Shakeology.  On that note, I have also decided to join the Beachbody team as a coach, starting with one of their challenges.  So, starting Tuesday, please ride along with me on this journey.  I would love to have all of you follow me as I start this positive change to my life.  And if you would like to do more than follow by joining along side of me with a challenge, I would love to help you along on that road too.

Here's to the new me and perhaps, maybe, a new you!!!