Fitting Exercise Into Your Busy Schedule

I know this is something that a lot of people struggle with. Time! How do we find time??? Look, we all have lives right? We work, we go to school, we have our kids to take care of, etc. And sometimes it’s just not feasible in the season that we’re in to hit the gym as much as we’d like. So I sat down and thought about some tips I would give someone who is busy but wants to fit exercise into their schedule.

1. Decide if you’re an AM or PM workout person

I’d call this the first step. This is key because when you figure out what you like, you’re that much more likely to do your workout. If you don’t know, try both. I’ve found myself doing both at different times. It’s just whatever season I am in at the moment. Let’s face it, if you have all your energy in the mornings, but you try to continually workout after work at 5PM you will crash and burn every time. Get to know your body.

2. Next, PLAN

Prepare your gym bag ahead of time. Every night before I go to bed I make a penciled list of everything I have to/want to accomplish the next day. I then write down the times for everything I have to do and then write in times for things I want to do. That was I can prioritize.

3. So make it a priority

Once you decide if fitting a workout into your day is important to you, make it a priority. If you’re an AM exerciser, get that booty up early enough before work. If you’re a PM exerciser, go straight to the gym after class/work. If someone says “hey let’s go to dinner tonight” make sure to schedule dinner at a time that you can get your workout/shower/and change beforehand. Make it a priority.

4. Motivate yourself

If you like to workout in the AM, wear your gym clothes to bed. If you like to workout in the PM, plan a healthy and yummy dinner in the crockpot so you can look forward to that afterwards. Buy some new gym clothes. Get new gym gear. Download some new music that you’ll be excited to listen to. Find something that you like and learn to motivate yourself with it.

5. Get an accountability partner

It’s important to have accountability partners in all aspects of your life…spiritually, emotionally, etc. so why would your fitness life be any different? There’s strength in numbers, my friends. If you have a class or workout set up with your friend to both be at you are less likely to skip it.

6. Use those lunch breaks

For real. Take a walk during your lunch break. It’ll get you outside with some fresh air and it will get your heart rate up. After sitting down most of the day, your body will really appreciate it. You need a break anyways.

7. KISS

Keep it short, stupid. No i’m not calling you stupid. Instead of “Keep it simple, stupid”…keep it short! Just because you’re not working out for a long time doesn’t mean you won’t see benefits from exercise. Do some HIIT for 30 minutes, walk around your neighborhood, follow a quick yoga DVD, do some squats in your office for a break during your work day. Try some moves I showed in my stability ball video. Just get moving.

8. Multi-task

You all have seen my pictures before…I read while I walk the streets of my neighborhood. I know, some of you are thinking about how unsafe that is and some of you are wondering how you could be coordinated enough to do that. Well, I’m really not that coordinated! You’ve also seen pictures of me studying for exams while walking the treadmill. Hold some planks while you’re scrolling through Instagram. I do them all. I love them all. I love to exercise while I am doing something else.

So these are just a few tips I have…there’s definitely more where that came from. Now share: what do you like to do??

Inside My Gym Bag

My gym bag…otherwise known as my purse. But seriously, it is. I carry my gym bag more than I carry my purse!

I’m an organization junkie and I feel like I have mastered some “tricks” to keeping my bag organized and effective. So I thought we could talk about that today.

Now, I usually go dressed and ready to the gym, but this is what I take with me every time.

All the necessities, right in my Lululemon bag, this is a similar one. I got mine for Christmas a couple of years ago and it still holds up nicely. It’s super sturdy which is needed because sometimes my bag gets heavy after my wallet, water bottle, and yoga mat are all thrown in there.

I love a clear bag! Right here is a cute 3-pack of clear toiletry bags for a great price. These might have to be my next investment!

It’s so much easier being able to see what’s inside to make sure I have everything. In this bag I keep my body wash and washcloth, chapstick, lotion, all toiletries (including make-up removing wipes), along with extra hair ties and headbands. I always, always keep multiples of those because that’s the worst if you get to the gym and realize you don’t have them!

This little bag came with my Lululemon bag and it’s where I keep a change of clothes. I keep separate bags because I always hated when I would throw everything inside my main bag and then it was a maze trying to find what I was looking for. This process is so much easier!

It holds my gym clothes (for when I used to workout after work), or it will hold my school clothes (if I workout before I go to classes for the day).

I always keep an extra pair of socks, underwear, and a sports bra in here as well. Those are also things you don’t want to forget about!

The side zipper pocket holds my yoga mat cleaner, body wipes for if I just need to wipe sweat off my face real quick, and the female necessities. You never know when you need these and I keep them in the zipper pocket so they don’t fall out/are seen. Nobody cares to see that stuff!

The other side of the bag is more pockets without the zipper. I keep my workout watch, headphones, my keys, and my phone on this side. This makes it easier to reach those things without having to dig to the bottom of my bag. I learned that the hard way when it took me 5 minutes to find my keys one time after just throwing them in my bag.

At the very bottom of my bag I keep all of my “workout specific items”…you know, socks for Barre class or wraps for boxing class. I don’t always need them, but when you do, you do. You know what i’m saying?

A few more things to note:

1. I keep a beach towel in my bag…but always a lightweight one. I don’t know about you, but we have lightweight and heavy beach towels. I always use the lightweight ones because they are easier to stuff and they aren’t as bulky and heavy. I will usually use this as my towel if I shower at the gym , or to towel off from the sauna, or a towel to wipe off sweat during my workouts.

2. If I am going to yoga, that towel is usually replaced with my yoga mat, unless I am just carrying it by hand.

3. I always keep a cheap ol’ pair of flip flops at the bottom of my bag for if I am showering, or using the sauna after a workout, or if I want to let my feet breathe after a sweaty workout.

4. I “re-stock” my small extra clothes bag first thing when I get home if they were used so I don’t forget. You don’t want to end up having to sit in some sweaty clothes because you forgot your extra pair.

5. Keep travel sized toiletries in your bag. They are easier to handle and cheaper to purchase too.

Now let’s go hit the gym with our organized bags! And then we can jump in the pool afterwards? 😉

Tell us about your gym bag! Am I missing anything?!

A little update…

Whew! Well hey, happy Thursday!

Things are busy over here if you can’t tell by my lack of blogging last Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and yesterday. I’ve had presentations on papers on finals and all of that FUN COLLEGE STUFF. But the good news is that I am done with 3 of my 5 classes this semester!! Boo to the yah!

One of the very best parts about blogging is not only the fact that I get to write about my life, experiences, and other random things that interest me…but also that I get to meet people I normally wouldn’t if it weren’t for blog world.

YOU GUYS.

Cheers to y’all!

So as some of you already know I’ve decided to change directions with my career (also what I have been wrapped up with). I decided that I want to go into the health and fitness industry…in particular, I am in the process of becoming a health and wellness coach. Earlier this week I got my pre-approval to sit for my health coach certification. So once I do that…i’ll be a certified health coach and officially starting my own business.

While I willl create my own website for that business, my personal blog might change a tiny bit. It’ll still be a lot of my personal life, but I am going to start gearing my posts more towards health and fitness. Sooooooooo….with that said:

What do y’all want me to post about? Is there anything in particular?

I mean whatever it is…chia seeds, recipes, workout regimens, my routines, a certain kind of spice to cook with? You name it. Anything health, fitness, and wellness related!

Also, because of the fact that I will be starting my own business and marketing myself I’m trying to grow my network. Please follow me on all social media so I can follow you back!

Instagram: @mollymiddleton01
Facebook: Colors of Life
Pinterest: mollymiddleton1
Follow my blog via e-mail (on the sidebar).
Follow me on Bloglovin’.

And for the person who shares the most of my posts on social media (Pinterest, Bloglovin’, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.) and can get their friends to like and follow my pages will be sent something very nice in the mail next week!!!!!

Health Goals: Month 6

I decided this month that I wanted to change my fitness goals to be my health goals. These goals don’t always have to do with fitness, working out, exercising, etc. Sometimes they’re geared towards my mental and emotional health too. And because I want to continue working at making myself the healthiest version of me, it was just fitting that I changed them.

So these pictures were taken (about) a year apart.

Pink sports bra was March 29, 2015 and blue sports bra was March 12, 2016.

Am I exactly where I want to be? Nope.
Are these the most amazing “transformation pictures” I have ever seen? Nope.
Was I hoping to have more muscle tone? Yep.
But have I improved? Yep.

The thing is…I haven’t been as strict on myself as I should be. I’ve binged, I’ve eaten containers of ice-cream, I’ve skipped workouts, etc. But instead of being upset about that, I’m accepting that those are choices I have made and I need to thank my body for what it has done for me in the past year.

While I decided on March 6, 2015 that I wanted to start incorporating fitness and exercise back into my life, I wasn’t serious about it. I didn’t consistently workout and I didn’t start watching my food intake. So it’s taken me extra long to see improvement. And because of that, I have gotten frustrated. But look, this is why it’s a health “journey”!

I started getting serious about it in November when I began my search for a gym.

I’ve lost inches. And some weight actually. And started feeling better. That’s what it’s all been about for me…feeling better, feeling confident, and being happy again. (Although my second pics don’t look like that. Don’t judge it was early in the AM ;))

I’m really working at these fitness goals so that I can hopefully see more progress within the next couple months. I’d love to get stronger and tone up some more. There’s only going up from here, right??

A look back at month 5 Fitness Goals:

For 3.9.16-4.9.16 I planned to…

• Finish up the sugar detox. Read about it here.
• Research IBS. I’ve got along of good pins recently. Follow me on Pinterest to see. I’m still debating whether or not i’m going to alter my diet for it, so we will see.
• Test out essential oils. I have been Pinteresting all kinds of information about essentials oils. I bought some yesterday, and I will be reviewing them soon!!
• ENJOY Spring Break. 🙂 Read about it all right here.

 

Month 6 Fitness Goals:

4.10.16-5.10.16

• 2 rest days a week. It’s funny because I used to have to make goals TO workout and now i’m making a goal NOT TO workout. Y’all, I have this thing where I start feeling really really guilty if I don’t work out. But my body is getting so tired. I can feel it. I spoke with a personal trainer and she said I really need to take 2 rest days a week.
• Be in bed by 11:00PM. I still think this is probably a late time, but being the night owl I am, I am going to start here. I have been exhausted, fatigued, tired, etc. etc. etc. lately. And with getting up at the time I do and doing everything during the day, I need to get more sleep. So this month, i’m really working at accomplishing this.
• Write down a time that I’ve been proud of myself for something health related. I need to start appreciating myself more.
• Set aside 10 minutes each morning for “quiet time”. No electronics, no nothing. I’m going to start small with 10 minutes and try to work up…I have got to be better about this.

WOOOHOOOO! Let’s do this month 6!

Okay. So tell me what you know. Anything health and fitness related? Anything non-related? How was your weekend? It feels like it’s been a while!! Let’s talk!

Oh, and for posts on month’s passed…

Month 1 Fitness Goals
Month 2 Fitness Goals
Month 3 Fitness Goals
Month 4 Fitness Goals
Month 5 Fitness Goals

The Sugar Detox

Hello! I told you this post would be coming eventually 🙂

As y’all know, I did a sugar detox from February 28 – March 11. I originally planned on doing a 21 day detox, but I chose to stop my detox before I went to Omaha last week. I decided to not worry about sugar because I knew it would be too difficult with eating out and the recipes my family was making. I really just didn’t want to inconvenience anyone.

Back in June of 2015, I did a 10 day sugar detox. But I didn’t really do it. A couple times I would get sugar free pumps of vanilla in my coffee and I would put 1/4 of a cup of sugar in my brownies and justified it by saying I was cutting down. NO! That didn’t do anything!

This time I decided to get real and take the detox seriously. I wanted to really see how it maximized all of my fitness efforts as well as how it made me feel.

Some things I learned:

1. YOU MUST READ LABELS.
2. If you aren’t sure of a specific ingredient from a label, google it or just skip the product.
3. Freaking pickles have high fructose corn syrup in them. Wtf?
4. Spices have sugar.
5. Ketchup (and many condiments) have sugar.
6. Peanut butter has sugar.
7. My protein powder has sugar.
8. Vanilla extract has sugar.
9. No breads (you’ll have to make your own…no worries there are plenty of recipes online!). Follow me on Pinterest to see some I pinned.
10. I started craving carbs because I wasn’t getting sugars. And carbs are a sugar. I also found myself craving salty foods too.
11. If you look up sugar detoxes on the internet, they all say different things. Some say you can’t have fruit, some can. Some say you can have a limited amount of artificial sweeteners and some don’t. I say yes to fruit and no to artificial sweeteners.
12. The sugar detox aligns with whole 30 if that’s something you’re interested in.
13. Grapes became dessert for me. They are SO SWEET now and so refreshing to me!
14. Just because it’s fruit doesn’t mean you can have it. Dried fruit is made with sugars so you need to read labels!

So how did I get some sugar/sweetness?

Date paste is what I used when a recipe called for sugar and I felt like it was needed. It’s super simple, you soak dates in water for 10 minutes, throw them in the food processor, and process until it’s a paste. I love it. I keep this in my refrigerator at all times now.

What did I do about condiments?

I made my own ketchup and stored it in a mason jar (it wasn’t pink like this picture makes it look like, I promise it’s red haha). I love this ketchup better than normal ketchup. I’ll never go back to buying ketchup again. It tastes so artificial and fake now!

I made my own BBQ sauce, too. 🙂

I also made my own mayonnaise and ranch dressing but I made it wrong so they didn’t taste good.

What did I eat?

These plantain chips became my best friend. Like I ate half of the container one night with salsa. Because guess what…some chips have sugar and these don’t!

I made turkey nachos. It’s ground turkey with taco seasoning on top of plantain chips with tomatoes, cheese, lettuce and some salsa. To die for.

Another thing that I ate was a lot of these when I needed some sort of sweetness…

I highly, highly, highly recommend Larabars. They are healthy and satisfying. Do you remember when I did the protein bar test last August? Well, it was then that I found my love for Quest Bars. I used to take them everywhere with me and snack on them for dessert, but now thinking back…they bloated me like crazy! And i’m thinking it was due to the erythritol and other artificial sweeteners. Now I don’t buy quest bars; I only get Larabars. Because they are made out of dates (the natural sugar) and can be used as dessert.

La Croix is the only other thing I drink besides black coffee and water. You can drink unsweetened teas, unsweetened almond milk, and coconut milk too.

I made some pulled pork and threw it on top of lettuce with cheese and DILL pickles (because those don’t have high fructose corn syrup) and some of my homemade BBQ sauce. Again, labels people!

I made almond butter cookies. They really weren’t that good but when you’re craving a cookie, but can’t have sugar, it will totally do.

I made my own blueberry chia seed jam.

This was good on my favorite pancakes…

with almond butter. I lived off of almond butter during this detox. You have to be sure to read the label..some have sugar and some don’t. This was a good brand that I found.

And with that almond butter, I also ate a lot of these almond butter banana waffles.

I am so thankful that sweet potatoes weren’t off limits (they are on some sugar detoxes) because I lived off of sweet potatoes too. Baked sweet potato fries, sautéed veggies, and a turkey burger with homemade ketchup. Notice the La Croix in the background 😉

More sweet potato fries and homemade chicken fingers. This has been my go-to meal lately!

And for dessert I would make a probiotic bowl. I diced up some fresh strawberries and banana (or whatever fruit you like) and poured some Green Valley Kefir to get probiotics in my body!

Doing this detox gave me a lot of reason to get creative in the kitchen, which just happens to be one of my favorite things!

You know, when you’re in the actual process it really doesn’t feel like you’re seeing any difference unless it’s super obvious one day, but now that i’ve introduced it back into my diet and haven’t been as strict on myself…i’ve definitely noticed how much it really did affect me. And because of that…I decided to do another detox starting yesterday. I want to get rid of all those toxins in my body from the processed foods and sugars i’ve allowed recently.

^^This is super helpful for label reading!

When I posted about bloating a while ago, I mentioned that I wanted to see if sugar had anything to do with it based off of what my cousin was telling me happened to her when she did Whole 30. Sooo, with that said, I would recommend doing this for anyone struggling with bloating and cannot figure out why…I absolutely noticed a difference this time around.

Let me know if you have any questions about the detox so I can answer! I want to help!

Ps. Follow me on Pinterest. I find lots of good things for the sugar detox (and well, all things healthy that I can). I’ll follow you back!! 🙂

Fitness Goals: Month 4 Complete

So right now, i’m 16 weeks into my real fitness goals. My oh my! I say real because I’ve been writing down some fitness related goals in my monthly goals for a year now. I remember March 6, 2015 being the day that I started to be active again. I tried my first Kayla Itsines’ workout and I WAS SO SORE. It ended up being a long battle with myself all of Spring and Summer because I did not like what I was doing. I figured out home workouts were not for me.

I truly got serious about it in November when I started trying out gyms to get a membership. It has been challenging, but so fun at the same time. I’m never going back! It’s my lifestyle now.

As you may recall, last month I took a little blogging time out. I kind of put a halt to everything for close to 2 weeks. And everything included my fitness goals, which means there’s really not much to report this month.

Month 4 Fitness Goals:

My goals for 2.8.16-3.8.16 were broken down by weeks.

• Week 1 of Month 4 – No sugar and stay under macros every day this week.
• Week 2 of Month 4 – No sugar and meal plan for the week. Have the day already pre-planned. This will be a lot of work, but I think very much worth it.
• Week 3 of Month 4 – No sugar and no eating within 2 hours of a meal.
• Week 4 of Month 4 – Don’t do anything. Don’t track food on My Fitness Pal, eat sugar if you want, don’t meal plan. Just relax and enjoy life this week.

Like I said, I really didn’t follow any of these except for my no sugar rule and that was even at the end of the month. I was really just trying to get by. Now that I look back at these though, I attempted all of them subconsciously…minus the “don’t do anything”. I did enjoy that time off of blogging that I mentioned earlier, so that should count for something!! 😉

Month 5 Fitness Goals:

3.9.16-4.9.16

Ummmm, how crazy is it that it’s going to be APRIL when this month is done? Like 1/3 of 2016 will be over. WHAT?!

This month i’m going to…

• Finish up the sugar detox. Don’t worry, yes I will blog about it!
• Research IBS. Sooooooo I don’t know if I shared before, but (one of the many) gastroenterologists I went to actually diagnosed me with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. We never really thought anything of it/believed her because she said it was just something they diagnose people with when there is nothing else. But this month I decided i’m going to take it serious, do my research, and possibly test out what doctors recommend for something with IBS.
• Test out essential oils. I have seen excessive talk and research about essential oils floating around. And everyone has been raving about them. This is the one thing on my Christmas list that I did not get, so I think this month I want to maybe get one or two and try ’em. Let me know your thoughts if you’ve used them before!
  PS…follow me on Pinterest to see all the info i’ve been pinning about IBS & Oils lately.
• ENJOY Spring Break. T-minus 2 days until i’m headed north for spring break. Bring. It. On. I’m ready to enjoy the week off and get out of my routine. It’s good to take a break and boy am I ready for one right about now!

^^Haha!

Okay. So tell me what you know.

Essential Oils?

IBS?

Fitness Goals?

Is it going to be JoJo or Lauren? < Been on my mind allllll week!

Let’s just talk!

Fitness Goals: Month 3 Complete

I can’t believe that it’s been 3 months that I’ve been writing fitness goals and working out as much as I have. It’s a good thing. And now it’s become part of my day. Surely you’ve seen this on Pinterest:

And it’s true. I have definitely seen changes. Am I exactly where I want to be? Nope, but that’s the fun part because I still have something i’m working for.

So like I said in my month 2 completed goals, this year instead of my monthly goals, i’m doing fitness goals because it’s something I decided I really wanted to focus on this year.

Month 3 Fitness Goals:

These were my fitness goals from 1.7.16 – 2.7.16.

• Follow the physical goals on my 2016 bucket list. My physical goals for my bucket list in 2016 are:

*Be able to look at myself in the mirror and be proud of what I see. Yeah…
*Get my group exercise certification. I’m still contemplating this one.
*Work out 5 times/week no matter what is going on. I actually went to a health consultation offered at my gym and when I explained what I was doing/what my workout and food plans are she said I really needed to take 2 rest days. So, i’ll have to change this to 4 (maybe 5) days. 🙂
*Finally get a gym membership. DONE!

• Stay under macros 5 days a week. Over the month, I was under macros 14 days, but I was over at least one of my macros 18 days. This is something i’m really working on, but I don’t know if i’m becoming too obsessed with it or what. If you have experience with this let me know!
• Research/find out what’s causing me to be bloated. I researched this and found a lot of information. Be looking out for a blog post about bloating soon. And I will be asking for you all’s opinions!!
• Cut sweets out 1 day a week. I started the 21 day detox last Monday. Update: I have sucked at these 21 days. So I might be starting it over because it’s pretty pathetic how bad I’ve been about this.

One thing I’ve really learned this past month is…

Going to the gym has become part of my routine now. I have a hard time NOT going. I’m so happy I’ve gotten to this point in my fitness life. 🙂

Month 4 Fitness Goals:

My goals for 2.8.16-3.8.16.

I decided to break this month down to separate goals every week. I’m hoping that this will help me complete everything!

• Week 1 of Month 4 – No sugar and stay under macros every day this week.
• Week 2 of Month 4 – No sugar and meal plan for the week. Have the day already pre-planned. This will be a lot of work, but I think very much worth it.
• Week 3 of Month 4 – No sugar and no eating within 2 hours of a meal.
• Week 4 of Month 4 – Don’t do anything. Don’t track food on My Fitness Pal, eat sugar if you want, don’t meal plan. Just relax and enjoy life this week.

Let’s do it to it!

My Fitness Routine

Morning, y’all!

Today’s post is one that I was actually surprised I hadn’t written before. I searched my own blog for this post and realized I had never made one…say what???

Update: I found a post that I did on my spring workout routine last year. It’s funny how we forget out own posts 🙂

Incorporating fitness into my daily routine is something that comes naturally to me. It doesn’t come naturally to everyone and I totally understand that. But it always has for me.

Growing up, I was always involved in sports.

I’m pretty sure the first sport I ever played was t-ball.
In elementary, I played lots of soccer, I tried out gymnastics, I took dance classes (but that didn’t last long), I took golf and tennis lessons, and was on the swim team.
In middle school, I went from volleyball season, to track and field season, to soccer season.
In high school, I started off the year in volleyball and ended the year in softball. I joined a dodgeball team with some friends as well. And of course, I was always in attendance at baseball games (even though I didn’t play).
I took a martial arts class once too…that was FUN!

I mean, my life has always revolved around sports and some form of exercising. When I went to college and no longer played sports I found myself really missing it. I missed the competition, the goofing around at practices with friends, the being hard on myself to do better…but mostly just being active. I really missed being active.

Middle school started my days of running with being on the track team, but college is where I began really working on my running and enjoying it. Lately, I haven’t enjoyed it as much. It started feeling more like a chore to me than anything else so I stopped.

So that’s when I started to try various forms of exercise over the past 4 years…

…I ran on the treadmill…

…I ran outside…

…I started attending yoga class at Lululemon on Sunday mornings…

…I tried workout videos…

…I’ve tried following along with Kayla Itsines’ workouts…

…I tried just going to lift weights…

…and I lost interest in all of these things.

Back in November when I started my Fitness Goals, I decided to do something different exercise-wise.

I decided I wanted to join a gym. I used to go to Emily‘s gym with her and attend group exercise classes there and really loved it. I’m sure it’s the teammate in me (after playing all those team sports) and being surrounded by like-minded people looking to achieve the same goals as me. I just loved every part of it! So November is when I began testing gyms out to get serious about joining. I started with a couple of yoga studios. And I found one that I really really liked. However, it was all yoga classes. While I love yoga, I didn’t want to limit myself by that being the only form of exercise I could do. So I started trying out different gyms, you know the normal 24 Hour Fitness, Lifetime, etc. And i’ve finally found one.

Now, group exercise is it for me. It’s my preferred form of exercise. Maybe that’ll change, maybe it won’t. We’ll see since i’m difficult to satisfy 🙂

What does a normal week look like for me?

Well, I try to attend one yoga class, one strength training class, one HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training), and then the rest I usually hit are cardio classes. I do take 1 day as a rest day and sometimes depending on what’s going on for the week i’ll take 2 rest days.

Monday‘s have really brought me to get up at 8AM for BodyCombat. I love this class. I mentioned it before, but it’s a martial arts mixture with Muay Thai, Boxing, and Kickboxing.

Tuesday‘s  have found their way to become my rest days because of classes, but now that i’ve changed my schedule I can fix it by fitting a class in my school schedule.

Wednesday is another cardio day where i’m going to a TurboKick (kickboxing has become one of my favorite hobbies lately) or Insanity. Or that’s my strength training day with BodyPump.

Thursday is usually dance day. I’ve been to a couple CIZE dance classes and a U-JAM class.

Friday has been another rest day or else i’ll go to Pop Pilates.

Saturday is my HIIT. This class will surely work you and I would totally recommend you trying to incorporate some HIIT into your exercise regimen. It will boost your metabolism as well as increase your after burn rate (calories you burn while just sitting around).

Sunday is either my TurboKick class or a yoga class at Lululemon.

Really it depends on what is going on that day. I love these classes for so many reasons but also the fact that I go in, I do what the teacher says, and i’m out in an hour. That’s it. That’s all. Then i’m healthy. Haha well, that and of course the foods I put into my body…but that’s another post for a different day. 😉

So you want to incorporate regular exercise into your daily routine? Here are some of my tips.

Find YOUR time.

Sometimes finding a time to workout is hard. I usually keep my gym’s group X schedule open in my safari to refer to when i’m looking at tomorrow. I like to figure out my schedule of things I HAVE to do and then i’ll decide whether or not I can hit the gym in the morning or the afternoon. Which is often times why you’ll find me there first thing in the morning. I get ‘er done and get going with my day! Some days it doesn’t always fit into what I have going on and i’ve been known to stress about that. That leads me to…

Don’t let it consume you.

Now that i’ve found a gym I like, classes I like, instructors I like…I have a hard time NOT going (more on that later). But do I want the gym to run my life and keep me from enjoying my family and friends? No. In fact, I sacrificed my Monday class yesterday to spend time with my dad at Starbucks. Did it stress me out a little bit? Sure did. But when my dad’s not here one day for me to get a coffee with am I going to still be mad about missing that workout class one Monday morning? Absolutely not.

Try different things.

Like the different types of exercising I previously mentioned, I had to find out what suited me the best and what I enjoyed the best. And you should too. It’s not so much of a “workout” when you’re enjoying what you’re doing. Just like a job. It’s not a job if you’re enjoying what you’re doing. No matter what it is!

Test different gyms, classes, and teachers.

There’s one teacher that I absolutely enjoy!! Therefore, I want to continue going back to her class. Finding a teacher that you look at and say “yeah, i’d want to look like her” is so much more motivating too. You feel like since she’s looking like this after teaching these class I ought to at some point! As for testing different gyms, there were some that I just did not like one bit. How much would I have regretted getting a membership before trying it out???

Eat when your body needs it.

I think there is a lot of confusion with this. Personally, I usually don’t eat before I go to morning workout classes. I get up and go, which is what i’ve always done since my morning volleyball practice days. There’s nothing to prove that a fasting workout is bad for your body, or eating before a workout is good for your body. This is a personal preference. So make sure you do what your body needs! All day for that matter…don’t eat when you’re not hungry. Don’t starve yourself when you are hungry. Find a healthy balance! I know i’m still working on this too.

Drink yo water.

You’re getting tired of hearing that now, aren’t you? There is so much research around this topic that if I received a dollar for every article saying how important water was, I wouldn’t have to work the rest of my life 😉 Find a cute water bottle and carry it with you! Do not leave your house without one!!!

Trust the process.

One day you will thank yourself for waking up early and hitting the gym…or squeezing in a workout class before plans out with friends that night. One reason I love working out is that it just makes me feel so much better about myself too. Am I exactly where I want to be in my fitness journey right now? No…but I am getting there and trusting that the process will get me there. Just don’t give up!!! Trust me, I have multiple times and it just makes it even more difficult for me.

So that’s me and my fitness routine. What does yours look like? What would you tell people who want to start incorporating a fitness routine into their schedule?

Fitness Goals: Month 2 Complete

You might have seen my 2016 bucket list in my introduction post on Tuesday. Well, at the end of that post I broke my 2016 bucket list up into what I think are the 4 most important categories…Physical, Mental, Spiritual, Social.

(And apparently someone else agrees!)

You also probably know that in 2015 I kept up with monthly goals, but i’m not doing that this year. This year, i’m continuing my fitness goals in place of monthly goals.

Because like I said in my 2016 bucket list, this year i’m focusing on fitness. In 12 months, when my phone is showing January 1, 2017…I want to be able to check these 4 fitness-related goals off my list.

*Be able to look at myself in the mirror and be proud of what I see.
*Get my group exercise certification. I’m still contemplating this one to be honest, it’s been on my mind a lot lately, but i’m not sure if i’m wanting to put in the time and work for it yet.
*Work out 5 times/week no matter what is going on. I think this goal and healthy eating will help my fitness goals and i’ll be able to take progress pictures. Hopefully, then i’ll achieve physical goal #1 above.
*Finally get a gym membership. For the past couple months i’ve been testing out gyms across our area to see which one fits me the best. I think I have found one, so I need to sign up!

Month 2 Fitness Goals:

These were my fitness goals for 12.6.15-1.6.16.

• No eating within an hour of a meal. I cut down on this A LOT, but I feel like there’s still room for improvement.
• No QuestBars or Larabars more than 2 days in a row. At the beginning of this month, this goal was very hard. But now…I think I burned myself out on them. I don’t crave them as much as I used to, in fact I almost feel sick when I look at Larabars now. I’m still into QuestBars, but usually as dessert at night….heat them up for about 12 seconds and they get gooey. Next to a class of milk or water and YUM!
• Continue working out 5 days a week. Around the Holidays, when the gym was closing there was about 3 days in a row I didn’t go. Other than that, i’ve been very proud of how often i’ve been hitting the gym.
• Be in bed by 11:00. Nope, I always make getting to bed early a goal and it’s so hard for me. It’s on my bucket list this year so maybe i’ll be able to at some point.

Month 3 Fitness Goals:

Month 3 will be my goals from 1.7.16 – 2.7.16. I cannot believe it will be February by the time these goals are done. So crazy!

• Follow the physical goals on my 2016 bucket list. Just look above, I want to work towards those goals so this month I want to do things that will help that. 🙂
• Stay under macros 5 days a week. I’ve been using the My Fitness Pal app to track for the most part what i’m eating. It shows the macros of everything i’m eating when I log it and my goal is to stay under in the Fat, Carbohydrates, and Sugar (yes I know that’s a carb but the app measures it and I still don’t want to go over) categories. I never go over on protein haha so I don’t have to worry about that one!
• Research/find out what’s causing me to be bloated. I thought I had this figured out for a while but lately it’s been a problem again so this month I want to research what could be causing that!
• Cut sweets out 1 day a week. Listen, I have something sweet every single day of the week…whatever it is. I wonder what would happen if just one day of the seven days in a week I didn’t have a piece of chocolate, or ice-cream, or whatever??

I truly do feel as though how i’m feeling physically affects the rest of my life. I don’t know if that’s good or bad but the only way to fix that…is to do something about it. I’m hoping with my fitness goals this year it will make things a little easier on me/for me and in turn make me a happier person.

Thursday Favorites: Christmas On The Mind Edition

Well, tomorrow i’ll be elsewhere (come back to find out where!) so today i’m posting my Friday Thursday FAVORITES.

…with Erika, Narci, and Andrea of course.

And actually that brings me to number 1 today. A couple of weeks ago when Erika guest blogged for me on her love of online shopping, I didn’t really understand fully what she was talking about. I’d online shopped before, but not that much. After I ordered one thing in the mail this Christmas season, I just kept ordering because I AM OBSESSED WITH online shopping now. I mean, it’s my FAVORITE. This is me on Christmas morning last year and I can only imagine what this year will be like since I hardly had to go anywhere!! Which may or may not have meant more shopping and more gifts 😉

Speaking of deliveries and going places, I put this little gift together last night. I actually found this on Pinterest so I can’t take credit for it. After looking at it, I decided it was perfect and had to do one for our mail carrier. For $3.50, you can easily make their day. It’s not anything huge, but it’s something to let them know we are thinking about them during the holidays too. Making people feel special is one of my FAVORITES.

And speaking of the holidays…this week we attempted our Christmas card picture. The brothers hate, hate, haaaaattteee taking these pictures. Me, any pictures are my FAVORITE so it doesn’t bother me and Morgan doesn’t care either way. This is usually a huge ordeal because the brothers don’t cooperate and it takes hours, so finally my mom just started snapping pictures…

…she obviously has a gift for the flattering pictures…

…but we ended up with one that nobody hated so we called it a winner, and were done no more than 5 minutes later!

Merry Christmas from the Middletons!

Speaking of Christmas, I went out with my mom and aunt last night to do some shopping and they take a sweet forever just to go through the aisles of the dollar store. So when we finally made it to Target I was about to keel over, naturally I hopped in the cart like the mature adult that I am.

Notice the fuzzy socks, leggings, and house shoes. #FAVORITE #it’smyuniform

Month 2 Fitness Goals: Week 2 Update

Having goals is one of my very FAVORITE way to keep me accountable. Now, how did I do this week you ask?

• No eating within an hour of a meal. I did surprisingly well with this goal. I think part of the time I was conscious about it, but most of the time I was just listening to my body so if I wasn’t super hungry I didn’t eat. I’ve really found how much listening to your body makes a difference.
• No QuestBars or Larabars more than 2 days in a row.  I actually did this one!! I think without even realizing it though. Although some days I did have one and a half, and some days I had some dark chocolate bark things or others in place. But at least i’m cutting back on these!
• Continue working out 5 days a week. Yep, check! I’ve worked out every day except for yesterday this week. And I probably would have had I not talked myself into taking a break…it’s so needed!
• Be in bed by 11:00. Nope. In fact, i’m finishing typing this up at 1:00AM. You guys, I told you this was going to be a real deal for me! My uncle even called me out on it when he saw I had texted him late the other night…oops.

Whew! And now this time next week it will be Christmas Eve…can you even believe that?! Ahhhh, I hope the rest of my online shopping arrives by then or things could get #awkward around here 😉

Have a great day!

Friday Favorites: Thanksgiving Tradition + Fitness Goals Update

I mean, honestly. Can you believe that it’s already the SECOND Friday of DECEMBER?!

As usual, i’m linking up with Erika, Andrea, and Narci for Friday Favorites. It’s Friday Favorites…Thanksgiving in December style?

I forgot to include this in my Thanksgiving post, but i’m probably going to have to go back and add it. A couple years ago I cam up with a fun Thanksgiving tradition. Don’t get me wrong, I love the food that the Holiday brings, but I love the Holiday for just what it stands for. A couple of weeks before Thanksgiving, everyone draws one name (secretly) of another person in the family. For the person that you draw, you have to write them a letter of why you’re thankful for them and then we get that person a little gift. Nothing big, just a little gift.

This year, Morgan had me…and she did awesome. This was my gift from my sissy and she picked it to personally match my office (from a year ago) because she knows how much I love my yellow and grey together.

This year, we started another tradition. Mom came up with the idea of everyone writing something about each other, then crumbling up the paper and sticking it in their glass. After dinner and gift exchange, the person to our right read each note and you had to guess who it was.

I saved my little papers from everyone to tape to my home “desk”…so I can look at it when I need to smile 🙂

Dad said: Molly’s perseverance
Mom said: Focused on health and fitness
Morgan said: I’m thankful your worms (inside joke, she’s referring to my health issues) didn’t kill you and you started cooking more for all of us.
Rick said: I’m thankful you let me pick on you and still be nice to me.
Ryan said: I love your room because you share it with me.

Well, since mom mentioned health and fitness above, i’m going to roll with that.

Month 2 Fitness Goals: Week 1 Update

Wow this week pretty much got away from me and I didn’t even remember that I had fitness goals that I was working on!

• No eating within an hour of a meal. I started keeping a food journal if I didn’t already mention that, and as i’m looking back on it now i’m seeing that there was only 1 day that I didn’t stick to this goal.
• No QuestBars or Larabars more than 2 days in a row. Boo. I didn’t accomplish this goal this week. Sometimes a bite of one of these bars just sounds sooooooo good. Every day. Sigh.
• Continue working out 5 days a week. Yep, check! I’ve worked out every day except for Monday this week.
• Be in bed by 11:00. Oh, yeah. Well like I said this week snuck away from me. I feel like i’m trying to fit a lot of things/accomplish a lot in a short amount of time, so there were a couple nights I was still up and about after 11:00.

Yesterday morning I was running some errands and stopped at Starbucks to pick up a gift card. I have cut back SO MUCH this fall on my coffee intake, which is probably a good thing. In the last month and a half i’ve only had 8 cups of coffee. And usually when I do I get an Americano with soy or a Blonde Roast Misto with coconut milk.

But yesterday I decided I deserved a 1 pump iced mocha with soy. It was the best. Give in to your cravings every once in a while…it’s good for the soul!

Online Bible Study is starting on SUNDAY!!!!!! Wahoo!

Those of you signed up: You should be receiving an e-mail from me today.

Those of you not signed up: You will get a glimpse of what it’s going to be like. If nothing else, just pray for all of us joining in on this journey together. And I hope you’ll consider be part of it next time. 🙂

Annddd last thing today, if you’ve missed any other posts on the blog this week, check them out.

Monday: Month 2 Fitness Goals
Tuesday: Show and Tell: Christmas Decorations
Wednesday: December Goals (A recap of 2015 goals and everything accomplished.)
Thursday: Guest Blogger! Lauren talked about why she loves traveling, and we can too.

Aaaahh, enjoy your second weekend of December!

Fitness Goals: Month 1 Complete

So on November 6th, I posted about my fitness goals for Friday Favorites.

And then for my Friday Favorites in between that time  from 11.5.15 to 12.5.15, I updated you (well really myself) on my progress and thoughts each week.

Today, i’m done with Month 1…and here are my thoughts!

• No eating after 8:00 p.m. As you would have seen in my progress posts I didn’t do this every week. Here’s why: I think the big hype surrounding this goal for most people is 1. when you go to sleep, your metabolism slows. Therefore, eating close to bedtime means that the food will sit in your stomach while you’re sleeping. And 2. A lot of people just eat to eat, not because they’re hungry so adding that along with your slowing metabolism creates weight gain. But sometimes I didn’t have dinner if I was at Church or an exercise class…so I was hungry after 8:00. Some days I followed this goal, others I didn’t.
• Meal prep every Sunday for the week ahead following the 21 day fix plan. I found this goal difficult because making food for just one person is hard. I always have so much left over and I don’t want it to go to waste. I’ve been making recipes sporadically throughout the week if I run out of something, so i’ll take leftovers to work for lunch or eat whatever my mom has made for dinner that night.
• Eat 5 small meals without snacking in between those. You know, I decided to go with this goal because i’ve been told we need food every 3ish hours.  But y’all, sometimes I don’t get hungry every 3 hours. So with this goal, I ate when I was hungry. However, I really tried to stay within the lines of 5 small meals a day.
• Work-out 5 days a week. I nailed this one. I used this month to try out different yoga studios/gyms. I used those free week passes that most clubs give out. I did everything from hot yoga (read Lindsay’s post on hot yoga here), HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training), hot pilates, Turbo Kick, U-Jam, Cize Dance, Les Mills’ BodyPump, etc. You name it, I tried it. This was fun because I got to try a lot of different gyms/instructors and figure out what I really like.
• Cut down on the carbs. Soo cutting out carbs. I actually learned a lot this month. I re-downloaded the “My Fitness Pal” app. I was very iffy about getting this app again, but I trust myself to use it healthfully. I wanted to see what foods had what nutrition added to them. And really I found what I was looking for…I found that I was getting close/going over the amount of sugar, fat, and carbs my body should intake in a day. If nothing else, i’m more conscious about what i’m putting in my body.

 

Month 2 Fitness Goals:

Below are my fitness goals for 12.6.15-1.6.16. These goals are tailored more towards myself, my body, what i’ve learned, and what I think is reasonable.

• No eating within an hour of a meal. Sometimes i’ll eat something, and then 20 minutes later i’m like “i’m hungry, I want more food.” I think the truth of the matter for me is that I thought of something that i’d like (usually a QuestBar or a Larabar) so I just crave it. Unless my stomach is growling at me…which I highly doubt…I need to wait at least an hour. Which leads me to…
• No QuestBars or Larabars more than 2 days in a row. I love these little bars. Both brands I could go to town on. While i’ve never had more than 1 a day, i’ve reallllly wanted to. I believe all things in moderation, but i’m also not going to deprive myself because the Larabars especially are made of good ingredients. I think after having a bar for 2 days in a row, I need a day to take a break.
• Continue working out 5 days a week. This month i’m planning on trying a few more gyms. Once I try about 4 more, i’m picking one to become a member of. After going to all these classes i’ve just realized how much I miss working out with a group of people, even if they are all strangers. We all have at least one thing in common!
• Be in bed by 11:00. This sounds late to some of you, but this will be a challenge for me. I’m a night owl, remember? Lately i’ve been falling asleep around 12/1ish every night and waking up around 7. I need more sleep. I know it will benefit me mentally, physically, and emotionally. Sleep is so important! So it’s a goal this month.

I obviously didn’t go to fitness school (seeing as I don’t even know what it’s called) but, i’m teaching myself a lot with these goals, so use them if you want!! Do you have goals for yourself??

Oh…ONE MORE THING that I know you’ve allllll have been waiting for. Our giveaway winner. A big ol’ congratulations is in order for…

Tara Sparks!!!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Shoot me an e-mail at colorsoflifeblog@gmail.com within 24 hours to claim your prize, Tara!

As for everyone else, thank you for entering. We had over 300 entries…so exciting!! If you didn’t win this time don’t worry, more giveaways will be in the future for Colors of Life readers. Love you all! XOXO.

Fitness Goals (for Friday Favorites)

My favorites this Friday are going to be a little different.

You know, close to once a month I end up texting Jonathan about his fitness goals and then ask him how I can do it too. I know i’m not overweight by any means, but this is just something I want to do for myself. And for this reason right here…

It’s the truth. I am dying to see that day where I can stand in front of the mirror and be happy with what i’m looking at. Like I said, it’s just something I want to do for me. To prove that I can do it. And not only that, but one of my guilty pleasures is looking through people’s health and fitness posts/pictures/stories…I just get so much joy from people seeing their goals have been reached. And I find it interesting too because you can really learn a lot!

Jonathan and I met in middle school and he still wanted to be my friend through all of my awkward phases. You can’t get rid of those people 😉 Well i’m always texting him about what i’m doing wrong fitness wise, what he’s done that works, what some good pointers are, etc. Jonathan is really into cross-fit and I think if anyone asked him he would say it’s changed his life.

I’m tired of texting him complaining about whatever and i’m sure he’s tired of it too. If I want change, I have to make it happen. I’m young and I need to take care of my body too. On Wednesday, we were texting about fitness goals and we both came to the conclusion that I should write down my fitness goals just like I do my monthly goals and make it a blog post. So starting yesterday, 11/5/15 these are the 5 goals I want to accomplish in one month. On 12/5/15 (well that’s Saturday so actually 12/4/15) I am going to re-post these goals with my progress. And what i’ve learned through the process.

1. No eating after 8:00 p.m. I have been trying to follow this goal for a while now, but sometimes it’s not always easy depending on what I have going on that day. Like Wednesdays, I volunteer right in the middle of dinner time. So what do I do? I researched this yesterday and studies have shown that it’s not necessarily eating late at night as much as it is what those people are eating that late. If it’s not an every day thing I don’t think it’s a huge issue.
2. Meal prep every Sunday for the week ahead following the 21 day fix plan. The 21 day fix has a set amount of each food group to eat in a day depending upon your calorie intake. I want to really focus on that and divide out the right amount of fruits, veggies, proteins, and carbs in a day.
3. Eat 5 small meals without snacking in between those. Every 2.5 to 3 hours I need to fuel my body with some type of food (including eating breakfast!!). What I mean by no snacking in between is not eating right after I finish a meal. Maybe a meal is a snack (like a Quest Bar or LaraBar or some yogurt), but I have a tendency to eat right after breakfast if I still feel hungry when i’m really probably not.
4. Work-out 5 days a week. I go back and forth with this one. I want to work out to get toned, but I don’t want to gain a ton of muscle because I don’t want my legs getting huge and making my pants tight. You know what I mean? But I think switching up my workouts and using light weights will be okay.
5. Cut down on the carbs. To be honest, I don’t eat many carbs as it is because of my gluten issue. But sometimes I make a loaf of homemade bread, or some pancakes, or i’ll eat some cookie dough, etc. I eat a ton of fruits, but it is high in sugar. I just need to be mindful about what i’m putting into my body in a given day. This is why i’m saying don’t cut them out, just cut back on my intake.

I know it takes longer than a month to really get/see changes, but if I set the goal for 3 months out (which i’ve done for a 12 week program) it just seems so far away that I lose interest. I think a month is very attainable.

Wish me luck!!! Ha, just kidding. Have a great weekend!

And don’t forget to link-up with Andrea, Erika, and Narci fellow bloggers 🙂