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Starting a Revolt

May 4, 2013 by Leave a Comment

kettlebells

Disclosure: I was given a free membership to Revolt Fitness. No other compensation was received and all opinions are my own.

This week, I started a new fitness program, Revolt with Nichole Huntsman. I knew if I wanted to make this a lifestyle change, I was going to have to combine clean eating with dedicated exercise. I am proud to say I have worked out everyday this week except one (that was a mandatory rest day) and my diet has been pretty good. What has appealed to me about the Revolt program is the exercise videos, how active Nichole is with the Facebook groups and her energy. She makes you want to get in shape and stay that way.

Technically, today is a cheat day and I can eat whatever I want, but I’m not planning to do that. For breakfast, I had fish and half a baked potato. That is what I had a taste for instead of waffles with syrup. Now that I just wrote that, I would not mind a really good belgian waffle…homemade!

So far I am down three pounds and I can tell my body is changing. I am also participating in a daily yoga challenge on Instagram, hashtagged, #maytheforcebewithyogis . No lie, the poses are a challenge and they are showing me where I have weaknesses strength-wise., but I keep practicing. I figure if I keep it up, I will reach my goal weight before the end of the summer. That is pretty darn exciting and I am looking forward to the challenge.

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If You Don’t Rest Now, You May Be Dead Later

April 12, 2013 by 4 Comments

My last post about breaking down resonated with a few people this week. A friend contacted me privately to say this was something she needed to read and thanked me for being so transparent. Another said she was going through a similar situation and she thought she was alone. I want to make it clear, there was not one single thing that contributed to my body giving out on me last week, it was multiple things. A lack of sleep, no time to recover from long periods of work and activities, trying to bring extra money into my household and raising three children as a single mother takes its toll on the body both mentally and physically. I was lying whenever I was asked how I was doing. I gave the standard, expected answer of, “I’m fine,” because when it comes down to it, most people really don’t care how you are doing. It is one of those questions not meant to be answered…truthfully.

We need to give each other permission to not have to lie.

We need to stop making people feel like they are not team players when they put themselves, their health or their family first. What has happened to respecting a person’t boundaries? I understand obligations and I believe in being true to what you have committed to doing, but I also believe we have become so busy being busy, people no longer know how to disconnect and reconnect with their family or themselves.

Sucking it up does not make you stronger.

While I was experiencing all that pain last week, I thought about pushing through it. I thought about sucking it up and going into work and denying I felt as bad as I did. Then, I thought about my kids and what would happen to them if I allowed stress to take me out. Nothing is worth losing your health over. And, we can not preach being healthy to our children when we are not being healthy.

Make restoration a priority in your life.

We are more than we seem. We are human. We require rest, stimulation, challenge and love to be whole beings. Promise me this, you will take time in the next week to disconnect and just be. Spend time with people who are important to you. Tell a family member, a friend or a co-worker you appreciate them. Do not assume they know. You tell them!

Question: What is the one thing you are going to do today to reconnect with yourself and someone who is important to you?
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Starting a 30 Day Home Yoga Practice

March 11, 2013 by 2 Comments

One of my commitments to myself this year is to improve my health and wellness. It seems when life starts to get busy and more demands are made on our time, the first thing we let go of is taking care of ourselves. We start to eat poorly, we stop exercising, we work too many hours and neglect our families all for the sake of being busy. To me, nothing about those things leads to or fosters a good or quality life.

Home Yoga Practice

A couple of years ago, I started a yoga practice with the help of Marianne Elliott’s 30 Days of Yoga for Beginners class. I enjoyed being able to do the classes at home and doing them at my own pace. It was not as easy for me to make the excuse I did not have time when all I had to do was give up a little TV time to take better care of myself. During the 30 days, I learned how to relax and let go of the stresses of the day. My kids even joined in and we have practiced yoga together as a family.

30 Days of Yoga for Busy People

Earlier this month, Marianne re-launched her yoga classes with a new website and I am excited about starting my own yoga practice again. This time around, I signed up for the 30 Days of Yoga for Busy People. I am really looking forward to this class, because of the variety of short yoga practices ranging in duration from one to twenty minutes. They include grounding, breathing and short simple sequences of poses specifically designed for: energizing; relaxing; and undoing the damage from spending too much time at a computer. I need that! I spend many hours during the day in front of the computer and I am looking forward to winding down at the end of the day with a great yoga practice.

If you would like to check out Marianne’s teaching style, give her Easy Breezy Do it in a Chair yoga lesson a listen. If you are looking to revive your yoga practice or start one, consider joining me and many others in cultivating a yoga practice. You will be glad you did.

*There are affiliate links for the 30 Days of Yoga program in this post.

Filed Under: Embrace the Everyday, Kindred Spirits Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Setting Yourself Up for Success in 2013 with Projects Instead of Resolutions

January 1, 2013 by 16 Comments

Happy New Year, 2013!

Happy New Year, my friends! I wish you blessings and much prosperity as we start off 2013. I used to start each new year with a crazy list of resolutions only to dismiss them before the end of the month. A couple of years ago, I stopped making resolutions and instead set goals. That worked a little while longer than the resolutions route, but those too quickly went by the way side as life started to amp up. This year, I am doing something different. I am set up monthly projects to work on and I am limiting myself to no more than five at a time.

365 Self Portrait Project

I have participated in 365 photo-a-day projects before and I used to do one for self-portraits ages ago. This year, I will be shooting a self-portrait each day for the next 365 days. If you would like to participate, I would love to have you join my self-portrait group on Flickr. I want to stretch myself with my photography and see if I can be more creative with how I play with the light and use the various features of my camera.

Health and Fitness Project

This year, my overall health and fitness is one of my top priorities. I started using the LeanMoms.com fitness program a couple of weeks ago. The first day I worked out my legs and I was sore for four days. It was awesome! I purposely did not start this project in January because I wanted to already be well on my way to establishing new eating and fitness habits. I also wanted to set myself up for success instead of failure. I am noticing changes in my body and my energy level. Most likely, this health and fitness plan will end up being one of my monthly projects for the rest of the year.

Good Life e-Book

I have been intending to write this e-book for about six months and I simply have not made it a priority. This month, it is. My goal is to have the e-book ready to share within the next couple of weeks and start planning for my next e-book in February. No more talking about it, it is time to execute!

Good Life Newsletter

This year, I am going to start a newsletter for my new blog. I love connecting with people and this is a great way to share more than I normally would with my blog. I have had quite a few new people sign up to receive it and I plan to have the first one ready to go the week. Make sure you sign up with the link above.

#MailLove2013

Starting the first week of this month, I will be mailing out postcards to anyone who signs up. When I was a teenager and well into 20′s, I had many penpals I shared letters with on a weekly basis. I would come home to at least three to five letters each week from people I wrote to all over the world. I don’t know about you, but I love going to the mailbox and finding an actual real piece of handwritten mail amongst the bills. This project is really important to me, because I believe people have forgotten how important offline connections really are. I hope you will sign up to receive a postcard from me or at least take the time to send someone else a little mail love in 2013.

What types of projects are you planning to tackle this year? I would love to know.

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