Learn These Habits, Lose Weight!

Which Do You Choose?!

I seriously love learning all about nutrition and fitness, it has quickly become my new addiction! I wanted to talk to y'all a little bit today about some EASY habits that you can start NOW to start helping you along your own fitness journeys!!

1. WATER!

This one has always and honestly probably always will be my hardest task of every single day! Drink your water people!! The rule of thumb is to take your weight, divide it in half, and drink that many ounces. So for me, my weight is 115, SO 115/2=57.5. I should aim to drink about 58 oz of water every day. Why? Because its excellent at flushing out your system and it makes your skin pretty :) (Also I promise the urge to relieve your bladder every 2 seconds will regulate itself!)

2. SLEEP

Sleep is AMAZING!! So to hear that you should actually sleep about 8 hours a night. The more you sleep the more energy you have to burn extra calories. Psht, you ain't gotta tell me twice. Can you let my kid know that too??

3. EAT BREAKFAST

Think about it this way, all night long when you are sleeping you body is basically in hunger strike mode. You are burning off a TON of calories from the day before so when you wake up you need to refuel yourself at least within an hour of waking up with something nutritious (unfortunately those fruit loops don't count). If you don't eat breakfast you can seriously KILL your metabolism and you will start storing fat because your body doesn't know when it will get its next meal and try to hold on to everything you eat the rest of the day. If you don't have time for breakfast HELLLLLO Shakeology! Chocolate for breakfast? I'm down with that!

4. SNACKS

Eating snacks in between your meals is going to keep those pesky cravings at bay as well as add fuel to your metabolism fire to keep it burning all day long. Now also note, a snack does not mean a meal from Taco Bell, we are talking maybe an apple with some PB, or a handful of almonds, something that's not too heavy but will keep you satisfied!

How to Vacation Without Guilt

Fall Weather Outfit

So as you all know, or maybe you don't, I just got back from a spending a long weekend in Minnesota (hello Fall and chilly weather!) to celebrate one of my favorite friends getting married! As we all know, vacations usually mean KILLING any sense of clean eating and exercise! So I'm going to give y'all a little run down of how I did my best to stay on track!

Breakfast on the Plane!

Please keep in mind that I was definitely on vacation so I indulged a little here and there (mmm just a little beer and hibachi), but I also did a lot better job keeping on track than I ever have on vacation before! So exhibit A: Shakeology packets. These things literally saved my life! Our flight out was at 7:30 am and being the true procrastinator that I am I was up until about 2am or 3am packing and finishing up some homework so the idea of getting up to make breakfast before we left was not even about to happen. So to keep me from engulfing a bagel or McMuffin from the McDonalds across the terminal I just got a water bottle and whipped out my trusty chocolate Shakeo and it did the trick! 

When we got there after some car trouble took place I called up my best friend who lives up there and begged her to let me go to the gym with her! Alright, she actually called and invited me along but I was super pumped to go! So I headed over to the LifeTime Fitness she is a member of and got a guest pass. The good news about this is that you don't have to have a member to get a guest pass! You can just go up there and let them know you are in town for a few days and you are interested in joining the one in your area. They will most likely let you check out their facility for a couple of days! So I got a nice two mile run in (WOWZERS!) and some ab work done!

Vacation Workout

Next was the wedding, not going to lie, I had some slip ups with a few beers and some of the delicious food that was being served! BUT most of my drinks I stuck to vodka tonics with a bit of lime juice in there! It's a nice drink without all the crazy sugar and calories that most have! Here is a lovely picture of me and my pretty darn cute date! 

So the next day I decided it was a good idea to burn off some of those crazy wedding calories and since it was so BEAUTIFUL up in Minnesota this time of the year we went on a walk/jog around one of the lakes right by the house we were staying at: 

Wedding Date

Post Wedding Burn

Then of course when we got back I refueled with some of my yummy chocolaty Shakeo drink! It was also SUPER handy to have at the restaurant we went to the next day so I didn't have to feel the guilt of eating the chicken wings laying around later!

After Workout Shakeo

Dining Out Shakeo

Another great tip I could give you is go grocery shopping! If you are staying in a hotel, most have mini fridges you can store some fruits and veggies in there for quick on the go options! We were lucky enough to be staying at Adam's aunt's house and she had some yummy healthy snacks to choose from!!

Healthy Vacation Treat

Of course, if you are anything like me, you need your coffee!!! I would recommend stashing away some Stevia packets in your purse for emergencies! Most coffee places will have sweet and low and that's about it! So keeping these on hand will fantastic when you grabbing your coffee and don't want to load up on the artificial stuff!

Coffee Addict

All in all, it's really NOT that hard to make some healthier choices along the way! Will you have some indulgences along the way? Of course! That's what makes it fun!! But you also don't have to completely wreck all you hard work along the way! Vacation isn't about losing weight, its about maintaining the work you've already done!! Happy vacationing guys!

How to Drink Water Like a #Boss

I have made it no secret that I am horrible at remembering to drink my water. Its not even that I would rather drink other things instead of my water. My problem is I have a hard time remembering to drink any kinds of fluids all day long! I guess I just don't get thirsty. Weird I know. So I decided to give myself a challenge! 

Introducing the Gallon of Water a Day Challenge!

Gallon a Day Challenge

For Ryken's birthday we bought a TON of gallons of sweet tea from Chicken Express. So we had some extras laying around and I didn't want to consume all that sweet tea (I LOVE SWEET TEA) so I dumped them out. But I saved one of the gallon bottles stuck it in the dishwasher to wash it out and set to work!

I made dashes down the side: 8am, 9am, 11am, 1pm, 3pm, 5pm, 7pm, and 9pm. I got a little creative with my decorations to make it fun! My goal is to drink my water level down to the dash corresponding with the time of day. For example by 1pm my water level should be down to the 1pm mark. Now let me be clear, I did not stress about making them perfectly exactly spaced out. I just eyeballed it. Guess what, I made it through the whole day yesterday not missing a time! I was so excited haha (little things). I guess for me giving myself a challenge really worked out well!

If you are like me and have an issue getting all the water you need in I really suggest giving this a try!! Let me know how it turns out!