The Road to Be Fit...

Happy Friday everyone! I hope your week has been awesome!!!

This week has been a pretty amazing week for me in that I have some new adventures that I'm excited about starting in my own life!

For starters, I again want to thank you all for the support of reading my blog and reaching out to me letting me know you are reading and gaining some form of knowledge or inspiration! Over the past two weeks, I've had a few people reach out and have inquired about things they can do in their own lives to live a more healthier lifestyle. One of my goals is to inspire and help others! However, I have to remember that some of the things I'm doing, might not be feasible for someone else to just jump into and be successful in this journey to being fit for life.  With that being said, I have changed my perspective on how I solicit fitness and nutrition advice to friends who reach out to me.

I had to realize that I haven't always been a clean eater. In fact, I will confess that in October, I was arguing my case with a sorority sister about how I should be able to get fries from McDonald's and it should be nothing wrong with it as she discouraged me from doing it.  Well...I had a Monopoly piece to redeem a free medium fry and I was getting my free fry!! Oh and please believe, against her admonishment, I got it, ate it, and enjoyed it! In the beginning of January, my sister offered me a Healthy Choice frozen dish to eat before I got on the plane to head back to Virginia, and I turned it down to accept a 2 piece fried chicken meal at Popeye's in the Memphis airport.

I also remember times when I tried to eat something healthy, and the taste was bland or just straight gross!  Or I just "knew" in my own mind that I wouldn't like something, yet I had never even tried it before. There were also other foods that in my mind, I saw them as healthy, but a seasoned health fanatic would have told me "actually Ashley, that packaged oatmeal really isn't as healthy as you think it is"! I also refused to embrace the whole 80/20 rule believing my way of putting in hours upon hours at the gym would yield me great results as I felt good about working out on a consistent basis and still enjoyed all the foods that I wanted to eat.

I was also the one who would work out really hard with a specific event in mind that I wanted to look physically good for (i.e. a vacation, wedding I was in, high school reunion, birthday, etc.)  Then after the event was over, I'd fall off the bandwagon and go right back to my old ways. I wasn't consistent at all.

So everyone starts from somewhere and everyone finally decides they are going to do what it takes to get serious about getting healthy and fit for life. With that being said, I am truly encouraged to help others so I have decided that I will meet people where they are and we can work together from there! I have a friend who just e-mailed me about help, and I asked her first "where are you in life when it comes to eating healthy and working out"? Do you enjoy healthy foods or do you not know what a good healthy dish is? How often do you work out? Knowing where someone is will help them more than telling them what I do because I might be at a different place than they are. Everyone has to go at their own pace and gradually get to where they want to be! Consistency is key and progress is slow, but it all pays off when you just keep going! Take it one day at a time and embrace this as a lifestyle and not preparation for just a specific event in your life!

If you have any questions or need some help, I'm more than willing to help! I am not an expert, but I know a little something and we can do this together!! I find it highly effective when you have someone encouraging or motivating you along the way! E-mail me at road2bfit@gmail.com!

Have an awesome and safe weekend!!

Workout and Worship Wednesday!

I decided I wanted to start a new segment to my blog that would be themed and inspiring! I first want to say thank you to all of you for reading and for commenting whether here on the blog or just when you talk to me! You being inspired by me truly inspires me!! It's a cycle of inspiration!!

So this morning, I was doing some thinking and was trying to figure out what I could do for a themed segment. A few days ago, I figured I wanted to do a Workout Wednesday.  I then thought about how I also want to keep God incorporated in everything I do since my relationship with him has molded and shaped me to be the inspiring person that I am today!

Workout and Worship Wednesday will focus on a new workout for you guys to attempt, an encouraging scripture, and a song of worship that I believe will minister to your soul!!

Today's scripture is from Isaiah 26:3 and it says "you will keep in perfect peace all who's mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you".  This scripture is basically declaring that all who keep their mind on God will have peace.  When you truly trust in God, you are at peace knowing he will take care of you and that you don't have to worry anymore.  You give it all to God to handle and take care of (1 Peter 5:7)!

The song of worship that I would like to share is called Never be bound again by Bishop Paul Morton. Click on the link to take a listen on YouTube. This song truly ministered to my soul! With working out and trying to eat right, we will face some challenges.  We may even struggle, stumble, fall, fail, want to give up, etc. This song is so encouraging! I feel like it can be applied to any area of your life! Be freed from obesity.  Be freed from health problems. Be freed from being an emotional eater. Be freed from laziness.  Be freed from lack of motivation!

Today's workout is going to focus on your back! This workout can help women and men. It's time to get our back defined!! It also helps with posture! No more back fat ladies!! Oooooh the dreaded back fat and "bra fat".  Yikes!! If you find this workout to be too easy, just increase the amount of weight you're using.  If you don't have the equipment at home already, just do what you can with your own body weight. Something is better than nothing!!! Don't ever think if you can't do a lot, you shouldn't do it at all! Let's get active and preserve our temple!!!

Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone!!! Leave a comment and let me know how you liked the workout!!

I surrender all

Today I made the decision to finally join a church in the town that I live in. I have lived here for almost 3 years and it had been tugging on my heart to get serious about finding a place to worship and call home.

In 2012, one of my new years resolutions was to find a church home in my town.  Although I had set this to be a goal/resolution of mine for the year, I really didn't have my heart 100% in this goal.  It was an interest of mine, but I found out very soon that I didn't commit to this task at all.  I tried out a few churches then got frustrated because I didn't feel like I was being spiritually fed.  I took recommendations from coworkers, friends who are from this area, and just stumbled across a few on my own and still, I remained unmoved.  

Towards the end of 2012, I looked back over my resolutions and my vision board that I had put together in the beginning of the year to evaluate my progress.  "Finding a church" was written down and staring at me. This was an item that had yet to be checked off the list. 

It's now February 2013 and I still hadn't made a decision to join a church.  What was I waiting for? I wanted to get involved in a ministry and really let God use me to be a blessing to others! This morning, I went to a  church that I have visited in the past and really liked. I finally stepped out into that aisle and joined!! It was a very exciting experience for me! The message was right on time with me making my decision.  It talked about Noah and how he was obedient to God. He did exactly what God told him to do.  God has been speaking to me for some time about joining a church and I have ignored it...brushed it off even. I also made the choice to be baptized today.  I am so excited about what God is doing in my life! I get so emotional just thinking about how far I've come, how much my life has changed for the better and how much better it will be for the rest of my life!! 

As I stood in front of the congregation, the minister said "I pray that you will be a blessing to us as we bless you".  I knew I had made the right decision because that is just what I pray about constantly...being a blessing to others! I am overjoyed right now and feel like I am Cloud 9!!!!

This is a rebirth for me!!! I don't take this experience lightly and am ready to continue committing my life to Christ while being used as a vessel of blessing to others! 

Weekend Killer Cardio routine

While at the gym this morning, I saw this workout posted on the wall and figured I'd share it with all of you!

Switching up your workout routine is really important because you don't want your body to get used to doing the same workout all the time.  You want to challenge your muscles and your body so it will always be in "work" mode while working out!

So here is the work out:

Do each exercise as fast as you can, then rest for 30 seconds where it says rest.  When you finish and get down to the part where it says to do as many burpees as you can, rest for another 30 seconds then repeat the whole circuit for a total of 3 times.  Commit to doing this workout at least 3 times this week and I'll have something else to try out for the following week!

If you're not sure what each of these exercises look like, here is a list of them with a YouTube video showing you how to do it.

Mountain Climbers

Star Jumps

Burpees

Speed Skaters

Plank Jacks

Bicycles (although she says you need a weight, if you don't have one, you don't need one)

Tuck Jumps

This workout doesn't require any equipment and you can do it at home!! 

"Clean eating"...I don't even know what that means...

...no one knows what it means....it's provocative...it gets the bloggers GOING!!

Just kidding!!!  A little Saturday morning humor for you :)

Lately I've been asked what exactly is clean eating and what does it entail? I'm glad you guys are giving me feed back by asking questions.  Questions means I need to clarify a little more! Also, asking me questions is great for me too because I might not know the answer, but research is becoming my best friend so I'm up for the challenge of finding out! Knowledge truly is power in this thing. This whole eating clean and working out healthy lifestyle can seem overwhelming, but taking it one day at a time and gathering information as you go definitely makes it easier to comprehend.  

So you might be thinking clean eating looks like this...

or maybe you're thinking more like this and only this...

Well that is part of it.....wait no...just eating lettuce is ridiculous and people that joke about that's how they are eating aren't funny.  You can't sustain life on just lettuce! Eating clean does not mean starving.

According to Clean Eating Magazine, clean eating is consuming food in it's most natural state or as close to it as possible. It means eating 5-6 meals a day (remember portion control while doing this), drinking lots of water, reading and understanding ingredient labels (the shorter the list the better....if there are several things in the list that you can't even pronounce, that's not clean), avoiding processed and refined foods, but this does not mean avoiding carbs all together. Complex carbs like whole grains are clean and acceptable. It means eating organic as often as you can (it's expensive to eat all organic, but do what you can).  Meat, eggs, and dairy should be eaten organically if your budget allows. My budget doesn't always allow this, but I do try to eat organic as often as possible.  It means consuming healthy fats (all fats are not bad...olive oil, avocado, nuts, etc are examples of good fats that our bodies need).  

Like I said in the last post, I got my start on understanding all of this after I read Tosca Reno's book The Eat Clean Diet.  Here is a link to it on Amazon if your local library doesn't carry it. The Eat Clean Diet. Now Tosca has several books out, but I would just start with this one to get the basics. If you want to look into reading more of her books, by all means, check her out!

Another very helpful resource that I've used and highly recommend is the Gracious Pantry.  Their website has a segment called Clean Eating 101 that I think you all should check out! It's pretty awesome! I totally think you can find anything you're looking for with this resource! Clean Eating 101

After you start understanding what clean eating is all about, you will soon understand that it looks more like this....

And it's rather delicious and you won't feel like you're missing out or sacrificing taste!! All of these pictures were taken from Instagram pages of people I follow who eat clean and have provided a recipe for the following dishes.  The first 3 pics came from fitmencook and the last one came from bgg2wl.  Check them out on IG!! 

The goal is to be fit, not skinny and that's a big dag gone difference!

Today was a very important day for me!! I was so excited, I could barely sleep!! Today I finished Jillian Michaels' Ripped in 30 DVD!! Like I said in an earlier post, I have had this DVD for at least 2 years and I've never finished the whole thing! I'm very proud of myself and I'm even more excited about the results that I'm seeing!

Here is a picture of me on the day that I joined the gym on the left and a picture of me from this morning on the right.

I've never been really "big" per se, but I am definitely loving the results I'm seeing here! Now let me be clear, my results are not all attributed to doing Ripped in 30! The picture on the left is from October 31, 2012 and the right is from today, Feb 1, 2013.  Clearly that is longer than 30 days.  The first two months after I joined the gym, I was still eating relatively all that I wanted to eat.  I was doing better with food choices, but I still enjoyed a cupcake here and there and I still drank alcohol whenever I pleased.  I read food labels, but mainly the nutrition label and I would glance at the ingredients just to see how long the list was.  After I started eating clean, I started to slim down! 

My goal is to be fit and ripped...not skinny and there's a big dag gone difference between the two! As for right now, I appear to be much thinner, but I have a lot more work to go! I want to get stronger and I want to get leaner.  The biggest "problem" area on my body has always been my stomach.  I am truly trying to tone that up more and hopefully will see some abs shining through! Since it's only been a month of clean eating, I'm excited to see what I'll look like this summer! 

10 things to know about me and my journey:

1. I'm doing this all the natural way....clean diet and exercise

2. I'm not taking any type of pills to achieve results.  The only supplements I take are: protein shakes (mine just consist of protein powder and water), fish oil, and calcium with iron. I don't use the protein shakes as meal replacements.  

3. I'm not on a diet.  In the realms of clean eating, I eat what I want! This is a lifestyle change...diets usually last for a little bit of time then you're right back to your old eating habits. I used to have a huge sweet tooth, so I've been getting my sweet tooth satisfied through various foods that are considered "clean". Fruit has probably been my biggest form of satisfaction! I eat a piece of fruit with almost every meal.  

4. I work out 6 days/week.

5. I'm not starving myself at all. In fact, I got so excited about buying food last month that I would have preferred to buy groceries over spending my money on anything else. 

6. I eat 5-6 times/day.  I also eat ever 2-3 hours.  Before I started all of this, I called myself eating 5-6 times/day, but I found out that I was actually snacking pretty much all day! I was eating like every hour! 

7. I drink a gallon of water every day! Staying hydrated is very important! When I first started, I had a hard time getting the whole thing down. Not that I didn't like water, but it was just difficult to drink a whole gallon.  I started pacing myself too because getting up all night long to use the bathroom was annoying. Bed pan please!!!! 

8. I stopped drinking alcohol! Yes...that's right...gone! I will admit that I did have a glass of red wine while out with friends.  Basically if I do decide to drink, it'll probably just be red wine.  The empty calories and the dehydration were counterproductive to achieving my goals.  

9. I stopped eating fast food! The last time I had fast food was when I was in the airport flying home from Memphis (January 4th was the exact date).  I always prepare food to take with me from now on because I have to be prepared or else I'll resort to eating fast food due to the fact that I'm starving and desperate.  Again, counterproductive to my goals.

10. Progress is slow, but consistency wins all the time!!! If you're in the process of trying to reach your fitness goals, keep going, stay consistent, and progress will come!! Stay motivated and encouraged!! 

Using Instagram as a resource

                                                   


In case you haven't noticed, Instagram is more than just people posting random, pointless pictures of "selfies", their kids, shoes, clothes/outfits of the day, etc. Now don't get me wrong, these things happen! I mean it's an app that is basically a time line of pictures posted by people you choose to follow.  After getting home from the gym tonight, I happened to be scrolling through my time line and came across a person who is really into fitness who recommended another user that we all should follow.  I clicked on their page and sure enough, there was TONS of motivating pictures and people that the user recommended I follow.

I then realized how much of a resource Instagram really is! It's just as resourceful as Pinterest!!

Here are a few people on the gram that I have enjoyed following for fitness inspiration:

funkygym (this page has tons of other people that they recommend you follow)

bgg2wl (this stands for Black Girls Guide to Weight Loss...she also has a very inspiring blog that I recommend)

strongerthanyourexcuses (great motivational quotes and sometimes they post great exercises that you can do to target certain areas)


What are some pages you follow that you have found to be inspiring?