Summer-The time of beaches and swimming!

I have a new found love for swimming, not really laps per se-but fun swimming with friends and family! I consider it a mini workout! Close enough for me! Anyway, I was just reading the new issue of SHAPE and there was a pole of summer swim wear almost half the people said bikini while 1% more people (13%) said they never get in a swimsuit while 12% said they wear a one piece!

Now, maybe its the peace and love I've found during my happyweight journey, or just being tired of wearing a one piece and hating it-I now wear a bikini when ever possible!!!! Yes my abs are flatter and I'm skinnier and ya ya. But just last week I watched Sam Brown on the Travel Channel, she was in Brazil! Hello their biggest exports are gorgeous models and actors/actresses but still, EVERYONE (except Grandmas, said the tour guide lady) wears a bikini! And that even elevated my 2-piece liberation. Hell yes I wear a bikini and I think everyone should! At least a tankini that shows a sliver of skin. Seriously hiding under a one piece (okay they do have the ones with cutouts that can be very sexy so those don't count as one-pieces really) is HIDING your body, the one you work hard for, you work out and work at eating healthy-show it off and LOVE IT! No matter what it looks like!

Thats my 2 cents for summer fashion! lol

Do what you love, love what you do- The Life Is Good company slogan! I say AMEN!

I might sound crazy, but keep reading!

The reason for sounding crazy, or crazier than usual, would be because I've recently picked up a copy of "The Secret" and watched the movie online. There is a chapter about loosing weight. You really SHOULD read it, trust me it all sounds crazy and new-aged at 1st but give it a chance and you'll be floored! I promise!

I know this 1st hand, because last night before I went to bed I decided I was going to weigh my self this morning, before I ate like normal. Only I decided I was going to weigh 156! That's right I decided 10 hours before I actually weighed myself what I was going to weigh!!! I pictured myself at my happy weight, I pictured a bunch of different scales with 156 on it and I felt success and happiness for the weight lost and fitness gained! TA-DA! I actually worked! And trust me I haven't been at my healthiest lately. Yesterday I ate a bunch of onion rings and chocolate!

But I do have a theory as to this whole thing. I think picturing yourself at your happy weight, feeling strong, powerful, sexy and successful, and believing in yourself, makes healthy habits more automatic. The key is to believe your already there, fit and healthy. The book actually says don't weight yourself, believe you have already lost the weight and always, always think positively! Well I can't not weigh myself, for one I wanted the proof it works, and for two I think it still plays a role in being healthy, even though I love feeling awesome more! Even though I've been eating not so great stuff, I have gone for runs, even if I didn't get to them in the morning! Like today, I didn't go for a run till 1 or 2 in the afternoon, I planned on going as early as possible! Ha! But hey it still happened! That's the important thing, it makes you think like a fit health and strong person, you don't feel "fat and ugly". So you don't feel the need to drown your sorrows in ice cream and crap!

I sound crazy more often than not, but trust me on this! Give it a try for a few weeks, read the book and/or watch the movie. You can even youtube it! If you try it send me some updates!

"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase." -Martin Luther King, Jr.


Love,
Ash!

My Summer Challenge & Goals!

Its JUNE! Which means summer is right around the corner! Actually its pretty much here, but technically around the corner. Anyway-I forgot about the Jump Start Diet thing until yesterday so I'm 2 days behind, I've been so busy and it just doesn't feel like its June already! But I really love the old Jump Start, its so simple but it really works, last time I can't remember if I made it to the end, all I know is it worked but I fell into my old habits, actually worse habits! :S Speaking of good habits, I'll list some of my new ones that I'm celebrating today!

• Drinking TONS of water! (Makes me feel SO good!)
• Eating slowly and consciously, it really really works! I've found a way to enjoy one square of dark chocolate for a good 4-5 mins, its like meditating! Only better! Try it, trust me!
• I'm back to working out in the mornings! Lights my spark for the day.
• I'm currently doing a food log, but I don't write it down ASAP I'll do it at night so it's a little less stressful, I'll usually watch a comedy or listen to music while I'm writing it down too.
• Doing hard core (literally!) and arms and going a little lighter on my bottom half since I'm a pear shape! Thank you Fitness mag for that! Actually I just started this one today, but its a good idea I'm going to stick with for the month, or maybe summer!

I'm also reading the book Why French Women Don't Get Fat its really great, sound advice for the most part. Similar to the Paul McKinna stuff with recipes and french humor and stories. Its inspiring as well, the author has a good story behind her weight struggles. (at least I think its cool!) But the book is helping me remember the mindful eating stuff, only it doesn't talk about workouts, only walking a lot. This summer I do plan on walking to as many of my destinations as possible, but lately its been raining hard, with some thunder storms thrown in. Not great walking conditions!

I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances. -Martha Washington

Good Luck & Happy Summer!

Even with all the craziness....

I'm thinking things with calm down after this week, or maybe next week! I've got a plan for this summer-including walking almost everywhere (healthy and ecofriendly!), eating really fresh foods, and cooking more, a goal is to have very active weekends so I don't have to do a straight up workout. I can burn calories w/o feeling the workout drag, definitly not cool on weekends right?! Also drink tons of water!!!! Thats been a huge help this week, I think its really worked good for my body. I haven't weight myself but I feel great and I noticed my energy sinks when I haven't had a lot of water that day! Also I'm going to do the Self Jump Start diet! The one with the calender and something new to try every day. I did it last winter and lost a few pounds so it definitly works. I may do the old one that I tried last year, and the 2.0 version from this year! One after the other I could loose around 16 pounds over the summer, I'm ALL FOR THAT!

In a nut shell, this summer I want to be a little greener and way more active! My hopes are that adding in activity when ever I can will help keep me healthy and help me find (and then stay at) my happy weight. And trying the day-by-day tips of the Jump Start diet(s) will help me get even healthier diet wise, also I'm going to make up more recipies!!!! Like the southwestern bean, corn, and chicken soup I threw together the other day! :D

The greatest wealth is health. ~Virgil

Good Luck guys!

My summer goals!

Things have been so crazy with school work piling up, track heated up quite a bit, and crazy family and friend time!!!! But this summer I have a built in healthy step to take (literally) I'm planning on walking to work, to friend houses, to stores, and anywhere else I can walk within reason! Now I haven't really tested this, so I may not walk everyday! I'm planning on it for 2 reasons though! 1. Hello-mini workout! A mile here and there will seriously add up! Because I will find summery ways to stay in fab shape! I'm excited to start kickboxing on a regular bases after tracks over!!! YAY! and 2. I'm definitely not a tree hugger, but I am concerned about the environment, and walking/biking (maybe) to places I'd normally drive will be my 2 cents for the environment! That and recycling as much as possible, which I do already!

I am really excited for summer! I'm going to try to swim for some of my workouts, and hike! I love to hike so working that in my summer shape up will be a treat! Maybe even some beach volleyball or Frisbee! Who knows! Its summer! But the most important thing for me is to finally find my happy weight and have a VERY funny summer! I am really really looking forward to fun in the sun, while getting in even better shape for sports next year! :D Wow! I was having a stressful night, but thinking of summer made me smile too much!

How many charming talents have been spoiled by the instilled desire to do 'important' work! Some people are born to lift heavy weights. Some are born to juggle with golden balls. -Max Beerbohm (I enjoy this, it touches on a lot that's been going on lately!)

Live, Laugh, Love! Summers coming!

My Health Epiphany!

I believe this has been a long time coming, at least for the last few months! But this weekend (after reading this months SELF!) it all finally clicked; the whole happy weight thing. Lately I've been worried that when I have kids, I'll try to count their calories & start a bad cycle with them! That actually freaked me out quite a bit! I can't really think of a way to describe my realization! I'll try to make a list of my new healthy strategies! Maybe that'll help....

• I've said this before, but try to leave a few bites on your plate! Even if the food isn't very healthy, every little bit counts!
• MOVE! Working out is important, but I've learned from experience that working out too much can make you eat more. Totally counter intuitive! Cutting back on the feel the burn, make you sweat kinda workouts can help, its important to work movement into your life. Walk to work, to the store, start taking nightly walks or bike rides with friends and family! ALWAYS take the stairs. You get the idea.
• Work fruits and veggies in as much as possible, ideally at every meal.
• When eating out try to take off part of the bun to your sandwhich/burger, or pick mayo OR cheese, go diet or better yet good old h20! Try making easy changes to your favorite fast food orders, eat slowly & enjoy!
• I've also talked about eating slowly, I found it really hard to do until I read an article in the new SELF about mindfulness! That did the trick for me so check it out!

That's what I'm working with now, hopefully combining all that will help me find my happy weight! No more counting calories or anything crazy diet wise. Actually I'm banning the word diet! The word itself makes me cringe now. If you have any tips & tricks PLEASE let me know! I really want to hear from readers!!!!

"When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us." -Helen Keller

Good luck guys,

Ash

old school workouts!

Think old school when it comes to workouts!

-frisbee (ultimate maybe?)
-softball/wiffle ball
-kickball
-hop scotch
-jumping rope
-bball
-tag

The great thing about old school workouts is FUN! And a workout! Hello! Killing 2 birds with one stone has never been this awesome! And most of these are or can be played with others, so you can also get in plenty of friend time! Or if you have kids, or are around kids a lot try some of these to help keep you all healthy!

"The grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for." -Allan K. Chalmers

Ashlee!

Frustrastion times a million!

I am exasperated with myself! For the past few days I have been eating crappily.....eating nothing but fast food on sunday (gone ALL day) didnt help at ALL! And we also have 2 left over bday cakes, which I have attacked consitantly with a fork, and even a spoon yesterday! And my workouts have been anything but! I just tried to do the elliptical, didn't happen! Not even close, something is way wrong, I just kept stopping, after every 30-60secs! Thats crazy because I've gotten really good @ the ellip. 10mins is nothing now! Used to kill me which is sad considering how much I run during track! :S Anyway....I'm stressed, tired, and slightly pissed at myself for all this unhealthy stuff the last few days! And I weight myself this am (after breakfast so it only half counts!) I weighed almost 160! :O NOT COOL! I think now I'm going to try to salavage some workout time, since I have at least 2 hours of homework to do! And tom. night I'll be getting home late....maybe if I dance around/kickbox/jump rope/do push-ups and some random jazz I can get some of a workout in! Then its bed! Sadly I'm 17 and staying up till 11 watching Wildfire & October Road last night was too much, but I did have a sleepless weekend, so not that sad I guess! Hope you're all having better luck today! :)

"Here is the test to find whether your mission on Earth is finished: if you're alive, it isn't." ~Richard Bach

Ash!
Ash!

YAY! 2 lbs GONE!

Yesterday, I weighed myself like normal, well, okay sometimes my mornings are too hectic to remember! BUT yesterday I remembered, and I'm very glad I did because I LOST 2 lbs!!!! Thank God! I've been at my "plateau" of only losing 2lbs since jan 1st...since jan 8th maybe!?!? :S Although I did kinda give up, or not really give up just take a break from working majorly hard at losing the weight! So now I'm back on track!

Today I only got in one workout this morning, but I have started trying to squeeze in more strength and cardio bursts (like pretending to jump rope or some stairs) for just a few mins, and I've done some of that this afternoon! And I limited myself to ONE piece of pizza tonight! Very good for me! I def. want to encourage you to try the cardio and strength "snacks" :D throughout your day, I'm hoping all the calories I burn doing those will offset some of my snacking cals!

Happy Health,
Ash!

Weeks Goals

On sunday I came up with my 2 goals for the week! Goal 1= At least 200+ mins of cardio and 100+ mins of strength, weights, pilates, yoga, etc! I think I'm already at 130mins total! Pretty good! (100 of that is cardio! Half way there and its TUES! YAY!) And Goal 2 has a story! I was in my local grocery store looking at its VERY small meal replacement and protein bar section, when I looked up at a shelf I've seen one hundred times before!?!? And noticed low fat chocolate soy milk in a box thingy! So I decided to try it!!!!! I LOVED regular chocolate soy milk, but gave it up shortly after giving up coffee this fall. Mostly because I put it in my coffee, and it was high in cals & sugar. Now I'm back to coffee and soy milk! Only I don't have 1+ cups EVERY morning, more like a few times a week, and I only put about 1/2 teaspoon of sugar in it, almost BLACK! :) And My GOAL this week was to trade my treats for a cup of soy milk. Since it's only 70 cals and has protein in it, I figured it would be more filling than a square (or 4) of dark chocolate, maybe, at least it would be chocolate with less cals, and still kinda healthy. Well....I forgot about it till last night, and I also temp. forgot this afternoon after my pre-workout fruit parfait thing! oops!

Updates on workouts!
Sunday: about 20 mins of kickboxing (a dvd)
Monday: Am before school-20 mins of elliptical
After School- nice out so I went for a run about 30mins
Today: Am-Pilates about 25-30mins
After School-started out with a kickboxing dvd (recorded from tv! lol) but realized I'd done it too many times, and it was too easy! So stopped and did my own workout :S so about 30 mins of kickboxing and some ab work on my stability ball.
I now need to get a new kickboxing dvd (any suggestions?) And get some sleep! I think I might be fighting off a cold, I'm pooped and I only stayed up till 10 last night, which is earlier than last week, and usually normal for me! I just realized monday night that 9 should be my new "bed time"! I feel tons better in the morning!

Good Luck,
Ash!

One too many splurges!

Last night it all started with pizza, I had 4 pieces of a small pizza, which was at least one too many, if not 2 too many! Not good! And then today, I spent some time with my fam, and also some cookies, an ice cream cone thing, baked beans which I'm sure had sugar & other not that healthy things in them! And then tonight I had homemade chicken soup-pretty healthy, but then I had a small slice of my dads bday ice cream cake, even a small slice was probably too much since I'd already had cookies & ice cream! Ohh well! This morning I jumped rope & did some strength moves from SELF mag, for about 30 mins, about 300 cals, so over all I don't think my sugary overload today did a lot of damage! I want to keep up the jumping rope, its good cardio, good for speed, I think?, and burns a lot of cals! But I am NOT good at it....at all! In fact, I theorize my elementary school gym teacher hated me because I couldn't jump rope and was too scared to try most of her gymnastic routines! :S lol Tomorrow I'm going to spread my 4 meals out a little better, with less, WAY less sugar and chocolate! I know my weekend will prob. be crazy, so I'll cut back tomorrow. And hopefully make it outside for a run, even though snow is in the forecast! Good Luck guys! Don't forget to comment!

Happy Weight

Recently I've read a few magazines, including Self & Glamour, talking about finding your happy weight. That really jumped out at me. To me my happy weight will be the weight where I feel great 98% of the time, where athletics is easier for me on a fitness & strength level, where my clothes fit & I don't have the fitting room meltdown EVERYTIME I go shopping, just occasionaly! lol There my weight and health won't be in issue for me in everyday life, I won't worry about it as much. Where I won't have to workout for 3 hours everday, and count EVERY calorie. I'll be able to have treats almost everyday, and fit workouts into my schedule, workouts I LOVE! If you're with me, let me know! Leave me a comment & the link to your site if you have one! Hey, we can be in the together!

Live, Laugh, Love
Ash!