Rest days aren’t suggested..THEY’RE REQUIRED!!!

I’m all about hammering it out in the gym for as long as it takes me to exhaust every seed of energy that I have in my being. I will lift until my arms are too weak to even lift my water bottle. I’ll crunch until a small chuckle will send pain shooting thru me so bad that I will avoid being around anyone or anything funny. Yes, that’s how I roll when I workout. I do that because I know that at some point I’m going to do the most important thing that I can do for my body. Give it a rest..

Please ~ Please ~ PLEASE, for your own safety,  take time where you do ZERO exercise. On your rest day (s) I recommend scheduling some sort of deep tissue massage, and or soaking in the tub with your favorite relaxing bath salt. Or, hit the whirlpool at your gym.  Really pamper your body because, if you’re on your work out game like you SHOULD be, then you’ve put it thru HELL. Let your rest days be your extra push to really “bring it” in the gym (or however you exercise). I teach Zumba and it’s very taxing on my feet so at least once a week, I have an appointment to have reflexology done on my feet and I even use some extra relaxing socks and foot lotions! You can get some really good deals  at local massage schools by the students who need people to practice on. My goodness I have had some of my BEST massages from students! When I was in PT school, the other part of the building housed a massage therapist program and I was ALWAYS volunteering for them to practice some new technique!

DO NOT feel guilty on your rest day if you have stuck to your exercise schedule. You have earned it and your body needs the rest and pampering. Recovery is probably more important than the exercise itself because over exertion WILL set you up for an injury. If you get hurt then guess what? You can’t exercise. If you can’t exercise then guess what? It’s going to be that much harder, if not impossible, to maintain your hard work thus far. Is it worth the risk to NOT rest? I don’t think so.

Your rest day should NOT be your cheat day. You won’t be doing anything to help offset the extra calories you will consume from your cheat (s) Instead, this needs to be a day when you make extra sure to eat nutritious foods and drink lots of plain water. Give your muscles a rest and your stomach a break if you’ve fallen off the wagon a time or 2 or 3….

Do not fool yourself into thinking that skipping your rest days is giving you some kind of a bonus in your exercise routine. At some point, the lack of rest will catch up to you. You DO NOT want to see that point…

How often you rest, depends on how often you exercise to begin with. I’m a machine lately so I only rest 1 day a week but when my studio opens I’m sure I’ll increase the rest days so as not to wind up in someone’s ER. In the beginning, I think it’s a good idea to rest every other day until your body shows that it can handle fewer rest days. If you are feeling pain and or sheer exhaustion please take time to fully recover. Your body knows better than you what it needs so please listen to it.

Having a banging body is not the biz if all you can do is rock a hospital gown...

Chill out so you can work out!

~Mizcardio4lyf~

Schedule your workouts~

Many of us are on the constant go, go, GO! We work, we have kids in afterschool and or weekend activities, choir rehearsal, spouses who need our time and attention... Maybe you’re working OT right now or all of the above at the same time? Amidst all of these “to dos” we find ourselves not getting our workouts “to done” and the easiest way to remedy this gap in the schedule is to actually schedule time to work out.  Yes, you need to make an appointment to get some sweat time in or it probably won’t happen. You know how you have that standing hair appointment? You’re dead tired from working all week, the kids done got on your LAST nerve, every bill in the house is past due with a shut off notice and you got payment arrangements on the payment arrangements. You and your spouse or significant other are on the verge of splitsville, BUT!!!!! thru all of this, you manage to squeeze out the moolah and the time to get that hair DID. I’m not knocking getting the doo done, I’m just saying, you should have that same tenacity about getting fit as well. Your workout time needs to be a “deal breaker” time just like back in the day when momma-nem was watching their “stories” I know yall remember that. You were all but banned from the house until the program went off. I don’t care if a tornado was ripping down your street, you better not come in that house making no noise when the stories were on! You feel that shutter while I was telling the story? Yeah, that’s how your family (especially your children) and friends need to feel when you are working out.

Make it reasonable and consistent so that it’s easy to stick to. If you know you can barely drag yourself out the bed after you’ve hit the snooze an HOUR after the time you were supposed to get up, please don’t schedule AM workouts.  And don’t be feeling guilty because sister/brother so-in-so is up at dawn practicing Yoga for an hour. That’s THEIR thing, you have to find YOURS. There is nothing written in stone that says an AM or a PM workout is any better than the other. Yes, there are benefits to both but you have to get it in when you know you can and WILL stick with the program.

I’m not kidding when I say write it down either. I LITERALLY mean, go buy a big ole’ calendar or dry erase board that is ONLY for your workouts. Use colorful pens or markers and chart the days and times that you will work out and if you miss an appointment write that too. People are naturally driven by charts and graphs, I don’t know why but they are. If you can SEE what the plan is, it tends to help you stick with it. Also make sure to post the schedule in a high traffic area so that you have a constant reminder of your workout appointments. It’s also a good idea to keep a journal of what you eat for a period of time. Chances are, you'll discover that you eat stuff and don’t even realize you’ve eaten it. A food journal will help put things in perspective for you and will give you a starting point to clean up your diet as you start to exercise more regularly. I had to keep a food journal when I was in PT school and it blew me away! I got to the point where I didn’t want to eat ANYTHING bad (even on my allowed cheat day) because I didn’t want to have to write it down. It’s like a big note telling on you and nobody likes getting notes sent home right?

I want to see some calendars popping up in some homes real soon. You can do it! Just write the vision.and make it sweat~ *yall get the picture*

Mizcardio4lyf…

"But I can't help it" ~ oh yes you can!!

Today's post is going to be short and sweet. Stop it with the excuses to yourself. The one thing in this world that you DO have complete power over is the choices you make in your day to day. Yes there are always circumstances that tempt, and even challenge, but at the end of the day, the FINAL decision is
Y-O-U-R-S...can you hear me now? YOU, and YOU alone are in control.

"But it was food day at work" Did somebody put an oozie to your head and make you eat the junk food?

"But I fogot my breakfast/lunch at home and it was all they had" I don't know an office cafe in this world that doesn't have at least a salad bar.

"But I didn't have time to pack my lunch last night" But you had time to be up at all hours of the night watching TV?

I'm not very good with people's excuses when it comes to losing weight. Remember, I too have traveled along the dreaded weight loss road and it was not easy for me. I started out wearing a tight size 18-20 and in the end I was rocking a very comfortable size 7-8. I am a mother of 3 and at the time, my youngest was under the age of 1. I worked fulltime, was in PT school and the things I was studying was hard. I had tests every Monday and insane chapters to read in between. I had EVERY reason in the world to backslide but it was my CHOICE to stay the course. If you're waiting for your life to become perfect so that you can "focus" and lose the weight then you have just sentenced yourself to a life of obesity; and THAT my friend may be shorter than you think given the many dangerous illnesses linked to being overweight. Just stop it already with the excuses because that's what they are...EXCUSES.

Get inside of your own head and understand exactly why you eat the things that you do. Are you afraid of something? Are you upset about something? Are you bored? There is always a reason for doing the things that you do and if you want to break the cycle of bad eating you gotta face yourself and REALLY know what you're dealing with. Pray about it, ask GOD to give you the strength to take better care of the body he has blessed you with. If you really think about it, after you eat junk that you eat to make you "feel better" you really don't. I usually feel physically bad and then the guilt sets in to compoud the physical bad feelings.

Commit to yourself today to stop with the excuses and do something about your weightloss and health as a whole. Only YOU can make the changes but you have to be strong and face yourself, no matter what it is, with GOD, you can overcome all!

~NO MORE EXCUSES~

Small Changes add up to big results~

When you set your mind to lose weight you’ve also got to set your mind to begin eating differently than you already are; permanently. Exercise without changing your eating habits will make it very difficult, if not impossible, to lose the weight. Personally, I think people over think their meals. Yes, you want to plan ahead and even prepackage your meals and snacks but this should not be a long drawn out process. We live in a “microwave” age. We want things fast, cheap, and convenient so trust me when I say that weighing yourself down with heavy thoughts about complicated meals is NOT the way you want to go when trying to lose weight. Keep it simple and you will be able to go the distance and see your way through to achieve your weight loss goals. You don’t need a degree in dietary science to plan your meals and you certainly do not have to pay the high prices of the meal home delivery plans. Disclaimer: It is NOT my intention to speak against anyone who has chosen to hire a dietician or pay for the meal home delivery plans. I just think you’d be happier losing weight au natural and using THAT money to pay for your new wardrobe of smaller sizes once you start shrinking.  =)

One last note-you can’t make your meals so boring and bland that you don’t look forward to eating. Unless you are super disciplined to the maxx, good ole’ “baked chicken and broccoli” is only going to last for so long. Make an effort when preparing your better food choices. Good for you, should also taste goods to you!

Okay so let me offer some suggestions because I get a lot of emails asking me what to eat INSTEAD of the bad stuff.

Instead of: A big bag of movie theatre butter microwave popcorn

Try: Plain popcorn, then spray on some of that zero calorie butter spray and season your kernels with sea salt or parmesan cheese (The kind in the can), & a little pepper. You'll love it I promise...

Instead of: A salad drowned in ranch dressing and cheese piled so high you will need a glass of prune juice later. (and don’t act brand new because yall know we like that ranch and cheese on our salads!)

Try: Using a teeny bit of blue cheese instead of American or cheddar (it doesn’t take much of the stuff to flavor a salad) add cranberries, sunflower seeds and ditch the ranch dressing for some olive oil instead. Yummy!!!  

Instead of: Snickers bar for a snack

Try: Almond or peanut butter and organic applesßand yes I mean organic. Have some fruit minus all the chemicals that remain after your 2 second rinse under the tap.

Instead of : A cheeseburger and fries

Try: A veggie burger & seasoned sweet potato fries you will wanna slap somebody because it tastes so darn good!

Instead of: A cold bottle of soda

Try: A cold bottle of water with a sugar free drink packet added to it. Lipton and Wyler’s are my two favorite and they both have some slamming flavors!

Instead of: A heavy dinner-whatever that may be.

Try: A bowl of high fiber cereal with soy milk

Instead of: Homogenized milk

Try: Soy or Almond milk- I’ve been anti-cow’s milk for a few years now but I’ll let you do your own research as to why you may want to consider NOT drinking it.

And my personal favorite~

Take your favorite fast food dish and before you take one bite, put half of it up for the next day. You simply MUST allow a cheat day but you don’t want to destroy a week’s worth of great eating with one day of maniac eating. Long John Silver’s is my cheat just so you know. Also, on my cheat day, I make sure to get a good workout in and I drink a little extra water than normal for me. It kind of helps to balance things out in my opinion.

C’mon people, let’s make time to eat some decent food. Yes, organic food does cost more. But I’m sorry, it’s not like you’re getting a bargain when you refill all of that high costing blood pressure medication that you have to take because you’re overweight and your poor heart is straining to move blood through your body. Organic food even tastes better! Try my suggestions for 30 days and see if this stuff doesn’t work!  

Until my next post..

LOVE ~ PEACE ~ & YUMMINESS!

Your tredmill; the remix~

You know the drill. You decide to finally commit to losing weight so you rush out and buy a treadmill with all the bells and whistles on it. You change your eating, buy a cool water bottle and for a few weeks you and your treddie are one! Ahhhh but the inevitable happens, day by day "things" pop up and you spend less and less time on your beloved cardio machine until the day comes when it is reduced to a holding place for the clothes you don't feel like hanging up. Soooooooooooo many people say that treadmills are boring. Well I say....NONSENSE! Your treadmill is what you make it. if you get on it and simply walk at the same old pace for any length of time, well YEAH...it will be boring. I would like to share a few things that I do to keep boredom at bay.

1) Turn off the TV~ unless you have some kind of a video of a super exciting moving landscape, you'll be more focused on the movie and less on burning calories. Focusing on the movie will usually equal a slower walking/running pace. That is so NOT the plan!

2) Move your treddie near a window. There is just something about staring out the window, even on a cloudy day, that motivates me on my treadmill. No matter what the weather is like, there is always something going on out there and the "goings on" will more times than not, get YOU going! Ditch the corner and get near a window.

3) Put together a great play list of some up tempo music. Everybody has those few songs that when you hear them you're like, "ooooooooooo that's my jam!" and you start moving to the beat. Once you get a "to die for" play list set up, get some good headphones; this is NOT the time to hit the dollar store people! You want your music to sound GOOD-turn up the volume and let the music drive you! I'll share one of my play lists with yall at the end of this post. Yes-I have more than one play list. I'm a very busy fitchik.

4) Change the incline more than once during your workout. There is no law that says that once you set the incline to a certain level, it has to stay there for the duration of your workout. I like to move the incline up and down several times during a session on my treddie. I refuse to allow my body a chance to get used to a certain level and it also doesn't allow me a chance to get bored with the level either.

5) Change the pace more than once during your workout. see #4

6) Walk backwards on a slight incline. It will feel awkward at first so keep your pace slow and allow time to get comfortable walking this way. Don't look down, look straight ahead, with your stomach pulled in and DO NOT hold the rails of your treadmill. Focus on your walking form. You should dig your heels in as you walk and push off with your toes. You have NEVER had a lower body workout like this trust me when I tell you! All I can say is, try it for a while and tell me if you don't see some results.

7) I hope I have been able to breathe some newness in your treddie workouts. You spent good money on the equiptment so you might as well get your money's worh out of it right?
I promised yall a peek into one of my playlists. Well here are a few songs that get my blood boiling-

S&M- Rihanna
Tambourine- Eve feat Swizz Beatz
Phenomenon - LL Cool J
Temperature- Sean Paul
Tightrope- Janelle Monet
B.O.B.- Outkast
Don't Stop the Music- Rihanna
Carry Out-Justin Timberland feat. Justin Timberlake
Hoodie-Omarion
Gimme That-Ciara
Buttons- Pussycat Dolls
Deja Vu-Beyonce
Move Your Body-Beyonce ft. Swizz Beatz

Enjoy!

~now put your clothes away

and

go show your treadmill some love~

Getting more sleep~

Back in the day I had tons of me time. Time to shop, time to hang out with my friends, time to watch TV, or just to simply sit in solitude and gather my thoughts. Ahhhhh but alas…I got married, popped out 3 kids and the days of “ME” time are few and far in between and when I do manage to get some me time it usually comes at the expense of sleep. The only time I can get that time for DEZ is usually late at night after the kids are in bed and then comes time for my “wifely duties” ßgrown folks talk! Nighttime is  my absolute favorite time of the day because it’s quiet-and living in Kentucky, it’s even more quite than when I was in Michigan. It’s not just quiet out here, it’s really peaceful and pretty! I’m ready to go home but I’m going to miss the peacefulness of the blue grass state. I love to snuggle up in bed and watch a good movie. BUT!!! Doing so usually makes me want to snack and veggies just ain’t the same as microwave popcorn and a soda; I’m just being honest here. Not only that, my days are jam packed nowadays. I’m still working full time and it’s SUPER stressed at my current job for more reasons that just the work itself. When I get off work, I have 2 boys to attend to, then there’s my Zumba rehearsals, and research for my business. I’ve got calls to return because I’m not allowed to have my cell phone on during business hours. I miss a TON of important calls because of this and by the time I get off work, most of the places are closed! REALLY????

So I decided to go old school like momma used to do; I can only stay up late on Friday night. Saturday is optional because I hate being sleepy for church on Sunday. I’m past the whole “gotta go out on Saturdays” thing; been there, done that. Shoot, even when I call myself trying to hang out, I’m sleepy by 10 pm so I might as well stay home. *LOL* My plan was tough at first because the day I decided to take my butt to bed at a decent hour, I promise you, every great movie that ever was created was on TV that night. I set the DVR and took my butt to bed anyway. By the third day I felt so much better in general; happier even!

Your body needs sleep plain and simple. Sleep is time for your body to recharge and heal from the day’s events and if you’ve had an extremely taxing day you might need to go down a little earlier. You know how you can tell that a child is sleepy because he/she is acting up and after the nap all is better?? Well adults are the same way! Get more sleep and watch your blood pressure go down. Get more sleep and watch the numbers on the scale go down. Get more sleep and see how much better you feel in general.

It all starts with a bedtime ritual that you must adhere to no matter what, and give yourself a definite bedtime too.! I stop eating, turn off the TV, and all my electronic devices at least an hour before I go to bed and I also shower or bathe with some kind of chamomile shower gel or soap to help set the sleep mood. Reading is also a great way to unwind and relax your mind; ok my Nook is the electronic exception to this rule =)

Spray your sheets with calming bed spray, light calming scented candles, and dim the lights. Routine is EVERYTHING and just like we use stimulants to rev us up in the morning i.e. coffee, we need things to calm us back down at night. One more note to my married peeps; get your “relations” in a little earlier as well. It might sound funky but if you’re well rested then you’ll have the energy to handle your bizness and that’s better than half doing things in the middle of the night because you’re beyond exhausted and stressed! I hope this post helps somebody in one way or another because it sure has done marvtastic things for me!  

~@^_^@~  Sweet dreams to all  ~@^_^@~

I got some help~

I have been MIA for far too long, this I know. I’ve been beyond busy with getting things in order with my fitness studio but also I’ve been stagnant with my vegetarianism. No, I haven’t caved and resumed eating meat, but I’ve done the very thing that I caution many of my clients not to do. I’ve been skipping meals!!! *GAAASSSSPPP!!* There I said it. I’m so proud of my choice to consumer more veggies and nothing that has flesh or parents but the fact of the matter is, I have no clue how to go about this for the long haul and because I’m the only one in my family doing it I’m on my own to get help. Yesterday I did some research and found some on-line support and by the day’s end I was getting advice from other folks who have traveled along the road I’m going down this very minute. I’m a HUGE fan of on-line websites because as long as I have my Evo, I can take it with me everywhere I go. I feel so much better. I went grocery shopping last night and really took my time with buying food to eat. I bought small quantities of everything because I know I get tired of eating the same thing really quickly. I’m also happy to say that I am now liking fruit! Specifically apples. I’ve never been a big fruit eater so I’m looking forward to seeing if the “nature’s candy” can tame my sometimes, ferocious sweet tooth.

As for my exercise, I’ve had to pull back on my Zumba a bit because I live in an upstairs apartment and I’m sure my poor neighbors want to strangle me when I’m practicing in the wee hours of the day & night. So I have gone back to the complex gym to work out. It’s great because the weather has spiked and everyone is outdoors walking & running and I get the equipment all to myself! *YAY* I’m still doing Zumba but just not as much or as intense as I want to out of respect for my lower level peeps. No one has complained, but I’d like to keep it that way =)

My business is coming along just fine. Everything is in order, I’ve set up my business account, and I’m meeting with an awesome CPA in a few weeks! I have decided to find a different embroiderer to do my shirts because the lady who I was working with isn’t good with deadlines and dang it, my time and my business is valuable!!! I’m not asking anybody to do anything for me for free and if I’m paying my money then I want a decent turnaround. So I’m on the prowl for somebody new. *sniff* I really liked her work too. *sniff*

My website is also done but I’m not ready to release the link because I don’t have my building secured. I’m really kind of mad at myself because with my calculations, my site will be live for a good 60 days prior to me even having a building and I don’t know if that is really a good thing or not? It looks awesome though! My team did a really great job on it! I’ve got some other great news about my business brewing but I’m not ready to release those goods just yet. Ahhhh but on June 6^th another MAJOR step is being taken so stay tuned people…