Work out you can do at home.

I know some people that don't work out because they don't have a gym membership. What a lame excuse people! ;) I also know of some people who don't work out because they feel if they can't put in 110% effort whats the point? So they sit on the couch with their McDonald's and watch reruns of Biggest Loser wishing they had that kind of time to work out. ;) If you are busy busy busy and don't have a lot to time to work out then just do 10 minutes 3 or 4 times a day. That makes a big difference at the end of the day. Do a bunch of push ups, then do a bunch of ab work, then do a bunch of lunges, etc... You get my point. If you are watching a TV show, work out during commercials. So now you have NO excuse for not working out. ;)
Here is a work out you can do at home. It does require more than 10 minutes. This is a work out for anyone who doesn't have a gym membership and doesn't have much equipment at home. If you want to do this workout and only have 20 minutes just do one set. Better than nothing. All you need is a resistance band. If you have Dumbells, great! If not, no worries. Just use the band and that is great too! This is a circuit train which means do one set of one exercise and move to next without stopping. When you finish, rest for a minute and do it again. Depending on your fitness level and time you would do it 1-3 times total. Circuit train is great if you are in a time crunch but it's also great because you are burning more calories. Your heart rate is elevated longer which means you are burning more calories and will blast fat fast! Ok enough talking! Here it is:

1- Do 20 push ups (yes you can do girl push ups BUT do as many regular as you can. If you can't do girl push ups because you haven't workout in so long, start by doing them against the wall and work your way to regular push ups.)
2- Seated back row with a resistance band 20 reps- Sit on the floor and wrap the band around your feet. Start with the band on the front of your feet and wrap it around at the balls of your feet. Sit up start and pull the band squeezing your shoulder blades together. Sit up so your back is flat. Have the band wrapped up enough times around your feet so when you pull there is resistance. Keep your elbows in close. Band should be even on both sides. I hope that makes sense. If not, let me know. I'll try to explain it better. Oh also, keep your knees slightly bent through the whole move.
3-Shoulder press with resistance band 20 reps. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart standing on the middle/center part of the band. Keep knees slightly bent. Stand up straight and have your arms out to the side with your elbows bent to a 90 degree angle. Now just do a shoulder press bringing your arms straight above your head and then lower back to a 90 degree angle. Can't do both arms together? No problem. Do one arm at a time giving yourself a little more give with the band so its not as hard.
4-Lunges 20 each leg- Just do a stationary lunge 20 times and switch legs. Make sure and come down so your knees are at a 90 degree angle and keep your upper body straight and aligned with your hips. Don't lean forward. Keep the weight in the heel of the foot not the ball. Too easy with out weight? Try doing more of a split squat. Put your back leg on a chair or bench and do the same movement. Do 20 reps and then 20 pulses.
5- Bicep curls with band 20 reps- Same position as shoulder press but arms are down to your side. Extend your elbows and keep them in close by your hips. Bring arms up just past a 90 degree angle. Don't come all the way because you are relaxing the muscle. Then come all the way back down extending elbows. Not enough resistance? Wrap band around your hands until there is.
6- Dips 10-20 reps. This can be a hard one so work up to 20. Just make sure you keep your back straight and close to the bench or chair or whatever you are using. Keep elbows close to your back and come down so your elbows come to a 90 degree angle. If its too hard keep your knees bent to a 90 degree angle as well but keep the weight on your triceps and not your legs.
7- Pelvic thrust (one of my fav's!) 20 reps each leg. Lay down so your glutes are right close to a step. Just use your stairs. Dig your right heel into the first step with your left leg straight up in the air. Arms are out to the side. Lift your torso up so your hips are straight up digging your heel in the step. Can't do 20? Do as many as you can working up to 20. Still too hard? Do both legs at the same time. Right and left heel digging in to step.
8- Wall sits. Work up to 1 minute. Squat, leaning against the wall. Squat down to a 90 degree angle. Keep the weight in your heels and make sure your knees stay behind your toes. Keep your back flat against the wall. Hold it as long as you can.
9- Planks. Oh my fav! Otherwise known as forearm bridges. Lay down on your stomach. Now balance on your forearms. They should be in a 90 degree angle. Come up on your toes so your body is flat and you are balancing on your forearms and toes. Keep your back flat. Don't sink down and keep your neck neutral. Keep your core tight.Hold this as long as you can! Might only be 20 seconds. Every time you do this add a few seconds. You will be able to do up to 4 minutes eventually if you keep at it. This is an amazing workout for your abs and lower back for all you ladies out there who have kids and have lost those muscles. This is also an amazing move for your upper body. Every muscle.

If you don't have time to do this whole thing do as much as you can. Like I said before, something is better than nothing.
Want to take it up a notch? After every 2 exercises add in some sort of interval. This is great to burn more calories and for those of you who need more of a challenge. Here are some interval ideas. You will do this a total of 4 times in one circuit train so do something different each time:
1- Jump rope for one minute
2- Jumping jacks for 1 min.
3- Plyo jump up and down on a step. Use your stairs and with both feet at once jump up on the step and down. 1 min.
4- Just stand in the same spot and jump as high as you can come down in a squat and jump up and down. 1 min.
5- Lunge, squat and leap forward. Then lunge on the other leg, squat and leap forward for 1 min.
6- Mountain climb. In push up position bring your right knee into your chest then extend it back to starting position. Now do it with your left knee. Now go fast like you are climbing a mountain fast for 1 min.
7- I call this speed skating move. Jump laterally to the right so your left leg kind of comes behind your right leg. Right leg is bent. Now bend over to the right and touch your left hand to your right foot. Now repeat to the other side. Go fast for 1 minute.
I hope I make sense in this post. I hope it is helpful to any of you wanting to work out but don't have a gym membership and not sure what to do with little equipment at home. Do this work out 2-3 times in a week. The other 2 or 3 days do your cardio for 20-40 minutes. Whatever you have time for. Do any kind of cardio that gets your heart rate up for that amount of time. Even if you only have 10 minutes. Run up and down the stairs, jump rope, go walk around the block, anything.
Please let me know if you do decide to do this work out and have questions with it. Good luck! :)

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! -Tips to help you not gain weight this holiday

I love Thanksgiving! It is one of my absolute favorite Holidays. It's so fun to sit around and eat delicious food, hang out and just be together with family. Plus it gets me so excited for Christmas. I just love holidays and traditions.
I also love to eat and eat on this day. Haha! I'm sure most of us do! So I wanted to post a few tricks I have that help with this problem.
1- Work out that day. Get it in some how even if you are super busy that day. It's really important to do it this day above any other day since we eat too much. Don't just do Cardio either. Lift! Cardio is good but you only burn calories for at most 4 hours after. Lifting will burn calories up to 4 days after! I either like to lift legs that day or full body. Do a circuit train and burn tons of calories!
2- Eat smaller portions more often. The good thing about this is you can eat your favorite foods a couple of times that day. Not stuff it all in in one meal and be sick!
3- Don't eat your pie alone. It will spike your blood sugar levels. You don't want that. Eat your meal. 3 hours later have some pie with a little protein. Have a little turkey and then eat some pie.
4- Don't skip breakfast because you are 'saving your calories'. What this does is make you store every last calorie of Thanksgiving dinner as fat because your body will think you are starving yourself. Get up, eat breakfast and eat every 3 hours. :)

Summary: Burn some calories by lifting that day and eat every 3 hours.

I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving and happy eating!

What's for dinner?

I've been eating this dinner this week and it's really good! I know you'll love it too and it is really easy to make. Even for you 'none cookers' out there.

HEALTHY SPAGHETTI:

1 lb. Ground Turkey
Cook this like you would meet in a pan and season with taco seasoning

2-3 zucchini's and 1 onion (or more) slice veggies up and cook in a pan. I do this with Pam spray and a little garlic. I also cook the onions for a bit before adding the zucchini- I use a whole zucchini just for one serving so add as many as you want. Don't skip out. Great way to get your veggies in. ;)

Whole wheat pasta. I use the Healthy Harvest Ronzoni all natural whole grain pasta (extra wide noodle style) Cook as directed

1/2- 1 jar pasta sauce. I use the Silver Palate Home style Marinara Sauce.

(side note: When looking for a healthy pasta sauce look at the ingredients. That goes with anything you buy. The less ingredients, the better. Look for ones that don't have a ton of added junk to it. This is natural and is the best natural sauce I've tasted. I get it at Harmon's.)

Cook everything separate and add together. It is really good! I hope you love it as much as I do.

*For those of you who are watching your starches at night, do it without the pasta. It's still really good! Enjoy!

Now I'm off to watch last nights Biggest Loser. I love this show! Love it! But don't love so much Heba and Vicki. Really I don't! ;)

2nd Rule of Nutrition

Sorry it's been awhile since I've posted nutrition facts. The second rule of nutrition (and I'm not doing these in any particular order) is to drink your water. You already know this but do you do it? Drinking water is one of the most important things you can do when it comes to taking care of your body.
Drinking water actually boosts up your metabolism. How cool is that? When you first wake up drink 2 glasses. You have dehydrated your body all night so you are hydrating yourself and it'll boost your metabolism. Also, it can wake up a lazy stool. Another great reason to drink water is because it's pulling toxins out of your body. The more water you drink= the more toxins your body gets rid of. The more toxins you have in your body, the harder it is to be healthy. Which makes it hard to maintain a healthy weight. When you have too many toxins in your system it doesn't allow your body to get the oxygen it needs. The more oxygen you get= the more you lose weight, less stressed you are and the happier you'll be. :)
When you don't drink enough water you are creating so much havoc on your system. It will cause headaches, create more toxins, cause your organs to overwork (especially your kidneys) slow your metabolism, etc....The best way to tell if you are drinking enough is by checking your urine. What color is it? If its darker than the color of lemonade, you are dehydrated.
So how much water should you drink? AT LEAST 8 glasses a day. I don't really like that number because that is the minimum you should drink just to get by. I say closer to a gallon. I drink a gallon a day and it makes such a difference. If you aren't drinking even 8, work up to a gallon. It's hard a first but your body adjusts to it.
A question I get a lot is if any liquid is ok. Some people hate water. What is wrong with you?! ;) Water is the best way to go. Juice has a lot of sugar in it, soda makes you more dehydrated. Water is the best way to go. Try putting lemon in it. And none of this flavored water stuff. It has ingredients that are not good for you. Such as fake sugar. Did you know when you consume fake sugar your body creates more fat around your organs to protect them. It also makes you crave more sugar. Not good! So stick to water to hydrate yourself. Suck it up people! Suck it up! ;)
Hope this motivates you to drink more water! Good luck!

Salad Recipe

Lately I've been getting sick of salads and getting bored with vegetables in general. I came up with this salad last week to get my veggies in and actually enjoy them. I thought I would post it because it's my new favorite salad. I'm sure you will love it too. I just kind of put whatever together. Add or take out what sounds good to you.

For 1 Serving:
- 3 oz.Ground turkey cooked with onions and taco seasoning.
3-4 cups chopped romaine lettuce
1 plum tomato chopped
chopped red, yellow, and green peppers
about 1 tbsp or so of avocado
sliced cucumbers
mix in a bowl and put salsa on it. Sometimes I drizzle a little low fat ranch too but it's great just with the salsa.
I haven't done this but would also be good with some corn and black beans. Alan and I love this salad. I hope you do to.

1st rule of nutrition

I'm glad you guys are interested in some health posts because it's motivating to me as well. I'm going to post some basic nutrition rules. I will do one at a time. I figured no one wants to read a novel. It's better to read a little here and there. Hope these tips help. Do these and you will be one sexy lady! (Or guy.)

EAT EVERY 2-3 HOURS. NO EXCUSES!!!

This even means if you ate a bit too much at breakfast and want to skip lunch because the calories will cancel out. BIG MISTAKE! What this does is slow your metabolism. When you eat again your body stores it as fat. Who wants that? The best thing to do in a situation like that is to eat a small snack. NEVER NEVER skip a meal! Every 2-3 hours. No excuse. Plan ahead. Plan what you will eat that day and have snacks on hand. No excuses! I even packed snacks on my wedding day and ate while we were taking pictures. Haha! This will use your calories as fuel and burn it off for energy. It's like putting gas in your car. If you are out of gas, you will ruin your car if you keep fuel in it, it will run great for you! Plus, you'll have more energy and feel better. You feel tired if you don't eat this way. You gain weight easier. Your blood sugar levels are all over the place. If you haven't eaten this way before, you'll start to notice how hungry you are for your meals. This is a good thing. This means your metabolism is working. Plus, by doing this, you will burn fat because you are speeding up your metabolism. So eating= burning fat. How great is that?!

The best example I have for this was last night watch Biggest Loser. I love this show! One of the guys was not dropping weight. He was talking to his trainer about it and his trainer figured out he wasn't eating very much. The guy told him it was because he wasn't that hungry so why eat if he's not hungry. He wasn't hungry because his metabolism was slowing down. He started eating again that week and had a 13lb lose! Believe it people! Eating= losing weight! Got it?!

Tips:

1- Cook extra chicken (or whatever). This way, you have something on hand.

2- If you work full time, pack your food the night before. It only takes a few minutes and it's worth it.

3- Meal replacement bars aren't the best for you but they are better than nothing. Keep one in your purse for an emergency.

4- Fail to plan, plan to fail. I can't emphasize this enough. On Sunday, plan your food for the week or at least your basic foods you'll have on hand. This way, when it's been 3 hours and you are starving it'll be easier to go for what you've already planned than for something unhealthy. Keep raw almonds, string cheese, crackers, yogurt, etc...

Need a new workout?

I've decided to start posting some workout/ nutrition info and some of my favorite workouts and meals. I get some questions from you guys and thought this would be a great way to answer your questions and to also give you new ideas. It will either answer questions you have or just help motivate those of you who are slacking right now.
This is one of my favorite work outs. I heard somewhere once that if you aren't a little scared of your workout that day, you aren't working hard enough. I love that and I try to live by that. There are days I go to the gym, not really thinking about it and I come home feeling like I've wasted a day at the gym because I wasn't really scared that day. I ask myself every day when I go to the gym if I'm a little nervous. When I ask that on the day I'm doing this work, the answer is always YES! If you try this and don't get tried, you aren't lifting hard enough. Really think about how much you are lifting. If you aren't lifting more and more with each workout or even every few weeks, then you need to pick up a heavier weight! You aren't going to get big and bulky. The only way that would happen is if you are eating away too much food (especially junk!) and not doing cardio. But buy eating a good diet, doing your cardio and lifting the right amount, you aren't going to get big. Quite the opposite. You will get smaller and look amazing! And the best part is, you will be able eat more because your metabolism will be on fire!
You have to lift heavy enough in order to tear down the muscle tissue to build it back up. If you are picking up the 5lb weight and can't figure out why you aren't seeing results it's because 5 lbs is not going to tear down your muscle tissue. So here is my challenge for those of you who work out and feeling in a rut. Start keeping a journal of how much weight you are lifting and how many reps and sets you are doing. This will keep you in check. A little trick I do when I can pick up one weight but the next size up is just too much I pick up the heavier weight and do as many as I can. Even if it's only 4 or 5 reps. Then I pick up the lighter one and finish my set. Another trick is SLOW DOWN! I can almost guarantee you are going to fast. If you aren't, most people do. Look around you next time you are at the gym. My favorite is when I see these big muscle heads (no offense :)) Lifting a weight that is much too heavy for them and they are going really fast, not thinking and not getting a full range of motion. Try counting 4 seconds on the eccentric motion (the release) and 2 seconds on the concentric motion. That will kill! The hardest part is going slow on the eccentric part but believe me, this is the most important part. This is what will get you stronger and tear that tissue down. Trust me! Try it next time you are working out.
Ok, enough about that. Here is the work out!
Do 6 sets of 8-10 reps. This is a circuit train. Rest no more than 1 minute between sets. Use a barbell, the same one, the whole time.

1- Bent over rows
2- Upright rows
3- Military press
4- Good mornings
5- Split squats ( I do lunges because of my bad knees. I also drop the barbell and pick up dumbbell's because by this exercise, I feel like my traps are going to fall off.)
6- Clean and jerk (this is a tough exercise to master. If you aren't comfortable doing this, just do a plyo jump. I use a Bosu ball to save my knees, but you can use a step.)
7- Dead lifts
8- Push ups

Make ya nervous? It should! The key is not to stop. Keep going one exercise to the next. If you can't make it through 6 sets, start with 3 and work your way up. If you don't know what an exercise is, google it and look at a picture. Good luck and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE ask me if you have any questions about this work out or nutrition and exercise in general. Good luck!