My jeans are finally fitting better.

I haven’t made an effort to lose weight since I trained for my RKC weekend. I’m generally pretty comfortable in my body (most of the time) but over the last year as we traveled I ate more calories than than I burned. Pretty simple.  I wasn’t fat…not by a long shot…but I got to a point to where my jeans weren’t fitting.

It happens.

I had to make the choice to buy new jeans or lose some weight.

So I decided to eat a little less and move a little more. I also decided I wasn’t going to do anything extreme or follow any kind of “plan”.

No offense to those who follow Paleo. There is some solid science behind Paleo. I just thought it was funny. :-)

No cutting carbs.

No eliminating food groups.

I was just going to eat what I wanted but keep an eye on portions/calories.

And something amazing happened.

By moving more and eating a little less (I can pound a serious amount of food) I’ve been losing about a pound a week.

I haven’t felt deprived once.

The majority of my food has been whole real food because nourishing my body is a priority regardless of my weight but I’ve been reminding myself a serving a almond butter isn’t half the jar.

Although I’ll confess, up until a few days ago, I was even eating cookies, cake, and candy. (We wont’ talk about the hot doughnut shop that’s a short walk from the ski resort parking lot.) Keeping a food journal, an eye on calories, and having an accountability partner has helped me to eat those things in *GASP* moderation. It’s no small miracle because moderation is my strong suit.

Then few days ago, I decided I needed a “reset” because I was eating some sugar every day and decided to pass on sweets for the rest of this month. The sweets didn’t seem to be slowing down my weight loss but considering my past sugar addiction I was fearful things would spiral out of control. I don’t want to go there again.

Of course, the day I decided to pass on sweets (I like the word “pass” because it implies a choice and my choice puts me in the powerful position not the food.) a guy on the bus opened a box of Girl Scout Thin Mints and offered me one. When I said, “No thanks.” He offered me three. Punk. I decided to pass because February is short but the satisfaction of the cookies is even shorter.

There has been no extreme exercising either. Although unlike my tendency to try extreme diets, extreme exercising has never been an issue. I just decided to get up off my butt and move more. I go snowboarding a few afternoons a week, do short full body workouts 2/3x a week, and walk an average of 8,400 every day thanks to the motivation my Fitbit provides. It’s more than manageable. It’s been fun.

All this to say (once again)

It’s consistency that counts not perfection.

And

There isn’t a magic plan.

I’ve skipped workouts. I have had hot doughnuts.

But the difference is I didn’t say, “Forget it. I messed up.” Then blow off the rest of my workouts for the week and eat two dozen cookies a day.

I just made an effort to move more and eat thoughtfully consistently.

And it’s working.

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

Keep up with my kettlebell workouts, real food recipes, and more in one of three ways! 1. Sign up to have posts emailed to your inbox. 2. Subscribe to the RSS Feed or 3. “like” Girl Heroes on Facebook. Simple dimple!

Journey with our family on the road at Newschool Nomads as we travel fulltime in RV through the United States!

The post Consistency or Cutting Carbs? appeared first on Girl Heroes.

We’ve been having a ton of fun visiting with my family. I just love being here and wish so much Indiana had mountains and an ocean like California. It’s hard living far away from family but now we live in an RV we regularly get to see friends and family all over the country.

Being with family does have it’s challenges, though. Like my dad’s sliders on King Hawaiian rolls. Or my mom’s pickle dip, a childhood favorite.

I’ll just say my food choices haven’t been something to brag about.

But let’s focus on the positive shall we…

Monday, Brent and I did a light strength based kettlebell workout together in my parent’s backyard. We finished with some sprints races.

These guys were our audience.

I intended to workout again on Wednesday but didn’t get to it until Thursday when I did medium strength based workout with lots of clean and presses, pull ups, push ups.

Friday, I did some conditioning with my Ultimate Sandbag.

I finished my workouts for the week Saturday with a heavy strength workout followed by some swings. Even though my parents have a nice home gym set up inside their house, I still find myself wanting to workout outside.

There were also fun activities last week like a family bike ride.

Feeling bad ass with a mustache.

And playing with mustaches. We  had waaaay to much fun wearing mustaches. Life is too short to take yourself too seriously.

I hope you got your workouts in last week. If not this week is a new week so get to it!!! Sharing workout pictures has been a great way for me to stay accountable. Maybe I should start sharing food pictures.

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

Keep up with my kettlebell workouts, real food recipes, and more in one of three ways! 1. Sign up to have posts emailed to your inbox. 2. Subscribe to the RSS Feed or 3. “like” Girl Heroes on Facebook. Simple dimple!

Journey with our family on the road at New School Nomads as we travel fulltime in RV through the United States!

The post Move It Monday appeared first on Girl Heroes.

May is the last full month of spring before summer “officially” kicks off with Memorial Day.

Longer days make summer the perfect time for evening strolls.

If you are like me (and most Americans) you could use a little more movement. This month in anticipation of my summer strolls (and if I’m honest, swimsuit season), I’m focusing on the most basic form of movement— walking. I’m taking on a personal 10,000 steps, the number most experts recommend, a day challenge.

Movement Matters May – A 10,000 steps a day challenge

A few years ago, I discovered just how love walking and its importance to my overall calorie burn. According to my Bodybugg, I burned way more calories on days I walked a lot than on the days I worked out but was otherwise sedentary. What I got what movement of all kinds, even the humble walk, matters. Walking has many benefits other than burning calories.

Health Benefits of Walking

• Our bodies are designed to walk
• Low impact – walking puts very little stress on the body
• Improves or maintains cardiovascular health
• Helps or maintains weight loss which results in a long list of health benefits.
• Reduces likelihood of some diseases such as diabetes
• Increases longevity
• Great stress reliever
• Improves mood
• Encourages mental clarity
• Can be meditative

And while this isn’t necessarily a “health” benefit, walking doesn’t require any fancy equipment. This month for my 10,000 steps challenge I’m going to be using a simple pedometer. I use the Omron HJ-203 Pedometer with Activity Tracker. It’s fairly inexpensive and seems to be accurate.

While walking boasts many benefits and is easy, I still often find myself putting it on the back burner in place of “more important” tasks at hand. You know things like Facebook.

Not this month.

10,000 steps a day.

Why walk? Why not do the 10,000 kettlebell swing challenge again?

While I enjoy more extreme challenges, I’m also trying to slow down, simplify, get honest with myself, and get back to the basics. Nothing is more basic than walking. Plus there are all those benefits I mentioned.

But…. but… but….

What if 10,000 steps is too much? Don’t fret! One study showed that “individuals achieving > or = 5000 steps had a substantially lower prevalence of adverse cardiometabolic health indicators than those obtaining fewer steps.” So if 10,000 steps seems like too many…start where you are. Try working up to 5000 first and then go from there. Eventually you will reach 10,00 steps.

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

If you enjoyed this post you can follow one of three ways! 1. Subscribe to the RSS Feed 2. “like” Girl Heroes on Facebook, or 3. Sign up to have posts emailed to your inbox. Simple dimple!

Check out our family’s adventures being inspired to follow you dreams at New School Nomads as we take a year long RV road trip through the United States!

The post Movement Matters May – 10,000 Steps a Day Movement Challenge and the Health Benefits of Walking appeared first on Girl Heroes.

A kettlebell workout on the beach!

I’m home.

Except I’m not. I’m in Mississippi or I was in Mississippi. Twice. We stopped in Meridian, Mississippi where I got to meet a lovely reader, Missy. Missy from Mississippi. How cute is that! It makes me want to change my name to Calli so I can be Calli from California except it just doesn’t have the same ring.

After Mississippi, we went to Louisiana and I filmed a kettlebell workout in front of the New Orleans skyline. Then, en route to Alabama, we passed through Mississippi again and I realized I hadn’t filmed a workout. The boys needed a rest stop so we stopped at the beach to play and workout. You know kettlebells are so much fun that a workout feels like play. Almost.

We didn’t have a lot of time because we had plans to meet a friend in Fairhope, AL that evening so I did a really simple “as many rounds as possible” style workout. These workouts are good as long as it’s AMRAP-WGF, as many rounds as possible with good form. The problem with AMRAP workouts is so often people focus the on the “as many rounds as possible” without any consideration for technique. That can lead to injuries but every once in a while I love me a good AMRAP workout especially when I don’t have a lot of time to workout  as was the case during our brief rest stop.

Kettlebell Workout – Mississippi

1. Double Kettlebell Clean and Press – 5
2. Double Kettlebell Squats – 5
3. Double Kettlebell Swings  – 10
4. Alternating Kettlebell Rows – 10 each arm (20 total)

Repeat as many rounds as possible with good form in 11 minutes.
(It could totally be 10 minutes but I had to tie in the number of letters in Mississippi somehow.)

One more thing. I found out someone nominated my blog on Crabby McSlacker’s Best Weight Loss Blog Poll. I’m always shocked to find out that people other than my family read my blog. I’m probably the worst blogger out there when it comes to networking and “getting myself out there”. I’d actually like to improve in those areas  instead of just waiting for blog fairies to bring me traffic since I put a fair amount of time into creating content. However, it’s been almost 4 years and I still haven’t found the motivation. Oh well. Anyway, I wanted to say thank you to whoever mentioned me and let you know about the list. There are some really great blogs on there!

I also wanted to say thank you to anyone who has ever linked to or shared my blog. I only check my google analytics when I have to (I’d rather step on the scale than open up analytics any day!) so I usually miss when someone links or shares my blog.

Hope you are having a great week!

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

If you enjoyed this post you can follow one of three ways! 1. Subscribe to the RSS Feed 2. “like” Girl Heroes on Facebook, or 3. Sign up to have posts emailed to your inbox. Simple dimple!

Check out our family’s adventures being inspired to follow you dreams at New School Nomads as we take a year long RV road trip through the United States!

The post Full Body Kettlebell Workout – Mississippi appeared first on Girl Heroes.

Good thing my locations are change each week because my outfits don’t. I could only bring so many clothes with me in the RV.

I want to say right off hand that I call these Tabata intervals but since there are 4 of them I didn’t go all out each set so they aren’t true Tabata. Nevertheless this workout kicked my butt and I felt it for days. Days.

Despite the chilly weather, this was a great place to workout. The campground was nearly empty, the sound of the stream was relaxing, and my kids played on the hillside. After we filmed my workout Brent did the workout himself.

Arkansas

Interval #1
1. Push Press
2. Jump Squats

Interval #2
1. KB Toss
2.  Swings

Interval #3
1. Hot Potatoes
2. Split Lunges

Interval #4
1. Mountain Climbers
2. Russian Twist

– Each interval is 4 minutes long divided into 20 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest which means each exercise is repeated 4 times (8 total work periods). All four intervals add up to a 16 minutes workout. I’m a math genius.  

– For the interval #1 I started with my left arm push presses and the second interval (after squats) I switched to my right arm so each side did 2 intervals each. This was plenty of work. I had considered making it double push presses but halfway through I was glad I stuck with singles.\

We were in Arkansas in December and have finally made it to warmer weather. I’m hoping this will help me get back into a workout routine as they have been…errrr…a bit spotty. That New Year’s 5X5 Challenge? Out the door. I should have made it a 3×3 challenge or skipped it altogether. At this point, I don’t need any more “challenges” in my life. Figuring out life in an RV with two kids, two dogs, and a cat is challenge enough right now.

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

If you enjoyed this post you can follow one of three ways! 1. Subscribe to the RSS Feed 2. “like” Girl Heroes on Facebook, or 3. Sign up to have posts emailed to your inbox. Simple dimple!

Check out our family’s adventures at New School Nomads as we take a year long RV road trip through the United States!

The post “Arkansas” Full Body (Tabata) Kettlebell Workout appeared first on Girl Heroes.

(Source)

Hope you had a great weekend and for those who are mothers a fantastic Mother’s Day.  I bought myself a little present that I’ll tell you about later this week   but first I want to finish my Climbing the Ladder:  Fun Workout Tools series.

Here are links to the earlier posts if you want to check back.

Climbing the Ladder Part 1
Basic Rep Ladders
Climbing the Ladder Part 2
Weight and Time Ladders
Climbing the Ladder Part 3
Reverse Rep Ladders, Reverse Weight Ladders, Reverse Time Ladders, and Pyramids

This week I’m throwing out a quick overview of drop sets, super sets, giant sets, and timed sets.

Drop sets

Drop sets are a popular among bodybuilders.  To perform a drop you do a set of an exercise to failure (or almost failure) then “drop” that weight and immediately pick up a lighter weight for more reps.  You reach failure and repeat usually for 2-3 sets total.  Drop sets are a good way to increase in muscle size (hypertrophy) but shouldn’t be overused.  Read Creative Dropsetting by Ton Venuto if you want more detailed information on drops sets.

Super Sets

Super sets are two exercises preformed back to back with little to rest and are a great tool to shave time off of your workout.  There are three different combinations of supersets.

Same Muscle Super Sets – Use the same muscle groups for both sets.  Example bench press and dumbbell fly.

Antagonist Muscle Super Sets – Two exercises using opposing muscle groups are preformed back to back.  For instance biceps and triceps.

Upper/Lower Super Sets – Just like it sounds an upper body exercise followed by a lower body exercise or vice versa.

Giant Sets

Giant sets are 3 or more exercises performed back to back with little to no rest.  Like super sets, different combinations can be used.

Timed Sets

In time sets, your goal is to work for a set time rather than for a number or reps or weights.  For instance, 30 seconds of  swings followed by 30 seconds of rest. Tabata training is also an example of a high intensity timed set.  If you are not familiar with tabata I highly suggest you become acquainted. Mooowahaahaahaa!

As you probably know by now I’m a big fan of the basics (squats, swings, lunges, presses, ect.) because they work.  However, 3 sets of 12 can get pretty boring.  By using a combination of tools to build my workouts I keep things interesting and effective.

What tools do you use to keep your strength training workouts interesting?

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

If you enjoyed this this post please Subscribe to the RSS Feed.

or

Sign up for up to have posts emailed to your inbox.

The post Climbing the Ladder Part 4: Fun Workout Tools appeared first on Girl Heroes.

20 Minute Strength Workout

Warm up with 5 minutes of cardio.

Lunges – 15 each leg
Bent over rows – 12
Repeat as many times as possible in 10 minutes while keeping good form.  Rest only as needed.

Rest 2 minutes.

Squats – 15
Push Ups  – 10
Repeat at many times as possible in 10 minutes while keeping good form.  Rest only as needed.

Write down how many sets your preform in your journal and try to do better the following week or next time you do the workout.

I posted this quote a few weeks ago but but like it so much I want to mention it again.

“The principle is competing against yourself. It’s about self improvement, about being better than you were the day before.” – Steve Young

xoxo
j

The post 20 Minute Full Body Strength Workout appeared first on Girl Heroes.

Full Body Workout

A. Pull Ups & Negatives* – 10 (I do as many pull ups as possible then finish off the 10 with negatives, i.e. 2 pull ups and 8 negatives)
B. Single Leg Deadlifts – 12 each leg (Doing these unweighted as long as I do them slow and use full range of motion makes my bum so sore.)
C. Push Ups – To Failure (Right now it’s about 17-20)

Do A-C without resting only if you have to between sets.  Rest 1-2 minutes after C before repeating for a total of 3 sets of each.

A. Arnold Press – 12  reps
B. Jump Squats – To Failure (For me right now it’s about 20-24 & I don’t swing my arms like him b/c I’d fall over backwards.)
C. Lat Pull Down – 12 reps 

Do A-C without resting between sets.  Rest 1-2 minutes after C before repeating for a total of 3 sets of each.

Don’t forget to pay tribute to Gumbi and stretch.

The best part of this workout is that it only takes me about 25 minutes.  

*If you can’t do a pull up or don’t know what negatives are watch this video.  It’s super helpful.  

Happy Monday.  I’m trying.

xoxo
j

The post A Favorite Full Body Workout appeared first on Girl Heroes.

Plus, I’m not done. I look at my body as an art project of sorts. I still want to build my upper body. I want sculpt some shoulder caps, a wider back, and more definition in my arms. I wouldn’t mind slimming down my legs a bit more either but it feels like I’m hitting a genetic block there. So my plan of attack for the next few months is to continue to eat clean but not competition clean. I’ll be giving myself 1 or 2 planned free meals a week. The rest of my meals will consist of unlimited veggies, fruit before 3 pm, small servings of whole grains with most meals, healthy fats, and protein 4-5 times a day. I’ve allowed dairy back into my diet which makes getting protein a bit more convenient. I’m working on some full body workouts that I’m going to switch to in a few weeks (that I’m excited to share with you all) but in the meantime I’ve lowered my reps for my upper body even more. Now I’m doing drop sets of 8, 6 and 4, lifting HEAVY without sacrificing form. For my lower body I’m going to continue to mix things up using high reps and lower weight. I’m going to stick with HIIT cardio 3-4 times a week.

So there it is, my short term plan of attack. Right now I’m working toward my goals, one meal at a time. Right now my goal is NOT to go eat a bowl of peanut butter. Alright. I’m off to eat some chicken and hummus.

xoxo
j

The post Reaching goals. One meal at a time. appeared first on Girl Heroes.

I worked up the courage to step on the scale yesterday morning. I had gained 3 pounds. As I said the other day, under “normal circumstances” this would be okay. No big deal. But with the competition coming up it is a big deal. My body fat is or WAS around 14-15% and the lower your body fat % the more you are going to see 3 pounds. I’m already a little nervous about how much fat is going to show under the stage lights. But clearly not nervous enough, seeing, I couldn’t keep myself from chomping on bagels while on vacation last week.

Anyway. I started to feel really down. I had originally planned on competing in October but decided to put it off another few weeks so I could lean down a little slower at what I considered to be a more reasonable pace. Now here I am in the same boat. Realizing this Garbage Girl took the opportunity to make me feel worse. Garbage Girl is my negative self talk and she loves nothing more than for me to feel bad about myself. Garbage Girl said I should quit. She called me a fool to think I could ever do this. She told me I’ll never be able to finish anything because I’m a quitter. She lied and said I was fat. I wanted to punch Garbage Girl in the face (and she thought that would be swell) but I decided it would hurt. So instead, I whined to a friend through email. My friend is competing in the show with me and knows a little too much about my eating habits. This was her response.

“We are NOT quitting. Suck it up and get moving. Tough love day. You have lost and you will continue to lose. It’s not about the judges or anyone else. It’s about a journey. So let’s kill these last 4 weeks with NO what if’s. Ok?”

I love it. Seriously. She put Garbage Girl in her place. You know what else I love, having good friends. Friends who remind you of who you are, who you want to be and, just as important, from where you have come. Friends who care enough about you to be honest without being hurtful. My friend reminded me of a number of things in this short little email. One, I want to change my habit of quitting things as soon as they get rough. Two, I have come a long way. I just have to look at my pictures. I have done what I set out to do…LOSE! And more importantly, I’ve had a mental overhaul. It’s been months since I’ve had a day where I couldn’t get out of bed because I was too depressed. Lastly, she reminded me that it’s the journey not the destination that matters. Something I really believe strongly in but Garbage Girl was yapping too loud for me to remember it.

Destinations can be fun and often rewarding but if we are only thinking of the reaching the destination we can miss the journey along the way. This includes reaching a specific weight on Evil Scale. There is a lot more to losing weight then numbers. It’s really more about losing old habits and thought patterns that keep us stuck. It’s important to learn about why we ended up where we are so we can look for the signs and have tools to cope when they appear. If we are so focused on the numbers and the cardio and the weights and the food…but unable to internalize the journey of how we got there…then I think we’ve missed out. And our chances of maintaining our health are lower. It’s easy to know what to do…but how to pass on cake at your co-workers going away party is a little more difficult. These are the things we learn on the journey.

This concept goes beyond weight loss. If we miss the journey then we’ve missed out on a lot of important lessons, opportunities to grow, chances to explore, relationships and well…life. I really believe life is about the journey and not the destination. If it was about the destination then why were we even born. Unless of course you think we are here by chance, in that case, I respect your opinion but it’s not mine. I think we all have a purpose and our purpose is not found in the destination it’s found in the journey. It’s taken me a while to internalize this and still I find myself wanting to define myself by my accomplishments or want to accomplish more in an attempt to define myself. But when Garbage Girl shuts up, which is rare, who I am is enough. A voyager made by God. This is a wonderful place to be and for a moment my friend helped me remember this and internalize it a little more.

Someday it will stick. I hope.

xoxo
j

The post I almost punched her in the face. appeared first on Girl Heroes.