My Fit Friday

Hey there!
Today I feel so much better than I did  yesterday! I've already gotten 2 of my workouts in, drank half my water for the day and eaten two healthy meals. Good days, and bad days alike, are just part of the journey.

Today I wanted to show you my workout area in my house.
My livingroom is a great room. You know the type where it is so big that it should be a dining room and living room all in one. Well we have a big enough kitchen that the space where the dining room should be was always empty or piled with junk. So we cleaned up our livingroom and flopped it. Our livingroom portion is in the dining room area and in the livingroom portion is my workout room. See:

Its pretty loaded with all sorts of stuff I use for various types of training.

See my weight training area (the tv will go away soon. I've switched to doing everything on my laptop for now)

I don't use this often, but it has these resistance bands in them and it works on your inner thights, hips, and rear. Its good for workouts and I use it when I'm being pretty lazy and working out.

This is the view from the livingroom side.

This is from my very first 5k It was the best feeling ever.

Here is my treadmil :)

This chair is perfect for chair dips and other workouts that require me to sit.

This is my schedule. LOL Yep I hang it on the wall above the weights area and near my yoga mat.

These are the workouts I'm currently doing.

Weights.

I left the shoes out after this mornings workout.

I need to clean up my area :)

This is my bike. It currently has my workout bag hanging on it b/c I've got a workout this afternoon that I need to pack it for.

 

 

So thats my workout are and having it smack dab in the middle of the house, in the living room, next to my bedroom is PERFECT for me! I've had people who've walked into my house and say "I think your obsessed." and I always respond. Nope just dedicated.

If I had a gym remotely close I'd probably not have as much at my house, but I don't so I have to create one for myself. It isn't cheap but its worth the investment!

Why I'm not giving up.

So I've been having some not good eating days, and today was one of them.
I also then follow up with beating myself up about my eating.
Eating clean is very important for a healthy lifestyle, but as I said in my eating clean post, it is just as important to modify your diet SLOWLY!! The slower the better. You've got to give your body some time to adjust to the changes.
I read a post on facebook that said that your diet is more important than anything else. If you can't do both diet and exercise then give up on exercise and focus on your diet.
I disagree. I don't want to slow down or make my metabolism sluggish. Therefore I will persevere. I'm going to have a bad eating day. My goal is to just have LESS of them each week. To succeed is to fail over and over and over again and then FINALLY find the way to get it right.
So I feel like on my days I've over eaten or chosen an unhealthy choice, that I'm still going forward in a positive manner.
Today I ate a cupcake, a chocolate chip cookie, & 3 peanut butter cookies. Each was a full serving, but they totaled a whopping 800 calories. Yup DISGUSTING for me that would be 2 hours of workouts to burn that off.
However everything else was on target, in my calorie goal, clean, and healthy.
I also drank my goal in water and am still drinking another bottle right now.
I did an exceptional workout and lifted very heavy weights (and I felt so strong doing it).
So should I give up?
NO!
I need to keep going. Tomorrow I will remember the FB comment about giving up and I'll remember why I don't. Some day I'll have it all wrapped up in a nice pretty package full of abs and bulging arm muscles.
Right now, I'll accept who I am and realize that not every battle is won some of them are just fought hard and the end result will come later.
Until tomorrow, just do your best and good luck!

Why I lift weights!

So I am very new at lifting weights. When I first started it wasn't anything I enjoyed or wanted to do. I did it because someone TOLD me to do it. Someone said you'll never lose all of the inches you want to lose if you don't lift weights.

I've always focused really heavily on the scale and after a year of struggling to lose 10 pounds I decided it was time to lift weights. AND you know what, I LOOOVE them. I'm not losing weight (yet) but I am dropping inches. I went from a 10-12 to an 8-10 depending on brands. I'm wearing more 8s than 10s and have been able to buy smalls!! SOOO super excited.

Why? well I'M LOSING INCHES.
Thats a big deal!! Now eating right and getting your heart rate up are very important, but lifting weights a few days a week has been a huge motivator for me.
I started with kettlebells and after about 2 weeks, I fell in love with weight lifting.
I soon picked a weight lifting workout routine and have been following it for about 3 weeks, yup only 3 weeks.
Here are the weights I have on hand!

I love my weights!!

I love being able to lift different sizes for different workouts. I lift only what is on the rack now. Everything else I use as "warm-up" weights. They help get the muscles warm and then I lift heavier sets.

There are many schools of thought on lifting.

I do 10-12 reps of each workout at the heaviest weight I can handle. If I can't do a full 10 then they are too heavy. If I can make it to 12 I try to go up a weight. Sometimes I have to use two different sizes and run through the same routine twice.

It doesn't matter as long as you're doing your best.

I'm excited about these workouts and CAN'T wait to see the results of my hard work.

I'll keep you posted as well :)

Q & A: What does it mean to eat clean?

What does it mean to eat clean?
   Good question. It seems to be defined differently from person to person. I take it to mean fresh or has a mother. Meaning you can grow it in one way shape or form. Fruits, vegetables, beef, chicken, pork, ect.
Now others break this down into another category as well. This being "organic" or without all of those long worded ingredients added to it.
How do I get around all of that? I live on a farm. We grow our own beef and chicken. Therefore we have fresh eggs. We also produce a great garden and at times have rabbit, duck, goat, and pig.
I had a successful garden last year, but I didn't learn how to can. This summer I plan to learn how to can.
So what have I done during the winter months? Shop at my local grocer. (and buy from a local amish green house yum!)
So at the store I am not so good at numbers and I know that different chemicals have been used, but I buy it anyway. Reason being, it is an improvement from my OLD self and I will eat what I can possibly eat healthily.
Before I shop I will look up what fruits and veggies are in season. I normally google it or look at one of my favorite blogs (one of those is Eve was partially right).
Then I make a list using my store's flyer.
I try to buy FRESH if at all possible. If not I buy frozen or dried. YEP dried. Its more expensive that way, but at least I have what I need.
Now I don't like eating the same foods over and over so I kinda make a list of meals I want to cook. AND then I'll add a few "bonus" meals for if we have company and I need to make something special.
I like to spend around $70.00 but don't forget I grow my own beef & chicken constantly. :)

This week's grocery list contains
Spinach
Broccoli
spaghetti squash
sweet potatoes
green pepper
tomato
onion
Avacado
Mrs. Dash Original
Cilantro
velveeta shred's original shredded cheese
greek yogurt
frozen strawberries
frozen blueberries
bag of pinto beans
bag of black beans
box of chicken broth
Hodges Mill Oat flour
Fat Free Skim Milk
And I know I'll add a few things as I think of them.
I eat "clean" about 80% of the time. What this means is my GOAL is to eat clean and when I am "out" with friends I will enjoy my time with them and not stress it. I'll have a soda every now and then and sometimes I want to have a cookie. Its ok.
Just do your best.
If you eat frozen pizza's and boxed dinners eating clean 1 meal a day is a HUGE improvement.
It takes baby steps to succeed. Don't throw your entire way of life out the window all at once. That all or nothing mentality WILL cause it to back fire. By doing one thing at a time you begin to create habits and soon you are full of energy, have a fast metabolism, ect.
Good luck!
If you have a question you can email it to mydailyfitandfat@gmail.com OR you can check out my facebook page @ https://www.facebook.com/mydailyfitandfab

Fit and Fab

How can I say fit and fab. Isn't that what someone would say when they REACH their goal? NO!!
How you talk to yourself during your journey is what sets you up to win or to fail.
I may not be as fit as you or as fit as some awesome model, ect, but I am more fit than I was yesterday, stronger than I was 6 months ago and continuing to advance in that area. And fabulous, what can I say about that.... I feel fabulous because I find myself to be an important person. Maybe not to you, or the world, but I am to me.

I started this journey based on what God was telling me. Yep, God spoke and I listened. What did he say you wonder..."Your a GLUTTON." I remember the moment very clearly today. I was sitting at the table after my husband and the kids had left after dinner and I was finishing what was on the plates so as not to "waste" it. Well it was going straight to my waist! So it was wasted anyway LOL
I thought about what god was saying as I spooned another serving of Mac n cheese into my mouth and I though, "I can't do this, I'm not strong enough, I don't have a very supportive family." Ect. The excuses went on and on.
Now I can't say I've always done a great job since that day, but I have improved and will continue to improve.
The most important part of any diet and exercise is your inner monologue.
You will NOT succeed if you tell yourself that you can't. The fact of the matter is YOU CAN. You are worth it and no one else is going to want it for you, YOU have to want it for yourself.
Meet your needs. Start small. 30 minutes a day. Go for a walk, stop eating after 7pm.
A single small change at a time is what it takes. You do one change this week. Get it going enjoy it and then next week you keep that one up and add another. You don't have to go gung ho and know all of the macro nutrients of your diet, workout for 2 hours in a day or be able to run a mile in 8 minutes. Those are things that come (some of them anyway) as you proceed.

I've also learned that not every diet fad or fitness regimine is right for me. Be willing to try new things you never know what your going to like or how its going to affect your mood.
First step get up and try something new!

Tell me what you try, I'd love your feedback!

I am a blogger

Yes. Its time. I've blogged over the years about the farm, my refashes, my career as a teacher, and my fitness. Each blog only gets a small snippet of my time because my focus switches.
Well why not a blog that journals ME. Not snippets but ALL of me. My Daily FitandFab on FB focusses mainly on the ME in the health and fitness rhelm, but focuses on who I am BECOMING. This blog will cover that as well and MUCH MUCH MUCH MORE!

I am excited to include my fitness, healthy living on the farm, refashions, and teaching in one spot. Each of these make up who I am. Each area, being non specific will not out weigh the other because they are all me.

Will you like my posts? I will honestly point out that I'm a major fitness nut and most of my posts will be about that. If your not into that, then I can't promise you'll like it.
But I hope you do :)

If you want to follow souly fitness related posts then please follow me @ https://www.facebook.com/mydailyfitandfab This is my entirely fitness related page on FB. Now as for the others I've closed all of those blogs. They'll all be here. In the summers when my garden is at its best I know my healthy foods and recipes will be as well.
If you want to hear more about a specific area, please email me @ mydailyfitandfab@gmail.com Thank you everyone for reviewing my blog!!