I wish I could have given you 31 “secrets” to a better body.

The thing is there are no secrets.

There are only choices.

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Every day we make choices that either move toward our goals.

Every workout is a choice.

Every meal is a choice.

Every thought is a choice.

We choose whether we want to spend a life “dieting” or a life “nourishing” our bodies.

We choose to make that 30 minute workout count or sluggishly walk on a treadmill while reading a magazine.

We choose to love and the accept the body we have or waste energy wishing the genetic lottery would have been different.

We choose to stop looking for the next best thing or to get lost under a pile of false promises.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”  – Mark Twain

Amen to that!!!

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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

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The post 31 Days to a Better Body: Day 31- Choices (They are all yours) appeared first on Girl Heroes.

When I began I had a list of 31 things I wanted to write about but as the days passed new ideas would pop up that I wanted to include in the series.  Now I’m sitting here looking at the list of ideas that didn’t get included: sugar, carbohydrate timing, meal planning, protein, supersets and circuits….

As you know, I’m all about keeping things simple so I tried to keep the list focused on the basics.  If you challenge your body by lifting heavy stuff regularly, moving a little more, sleeping, and nourishin your body with real food  (The importance of real food nutrition cannot be overstated unless of course  you don’t want to drive people crazy.) you will have a better body inside and out.

Now the most important part…

“Own It”

This has been key to maintaining my weight loss for over 3 years. It was also key to overcoming my excessive consumption of candy and cookies.  It is key to working out consistently despite naturally gravitating towards more sendentary activities.

As a child, I was the kid who ate multiple bowls of sweetened cereal.  (Cookie Crisp was my favorite.) In high school, I was the vegetarian whose staples included pasta and Little Debbies. In college, I was the student who lived off of bagels and cereal with the occasional salad. As a young newlywed, I was a mixture of my old habits, my husband’s habits, and things new things I picked up along the way. As time went on I found my path and today…

I am a person who nourishing my body with real food and exercises regularly. This is just what I do. It’s part of who I am.

This is not all that I am but it is part of who I am. It’s not my only identity but it is part of it. We all find indentity  in certain things in our lives be it our job, our faith, our hobbies, our social circle, etc.

On the other side of the coin is “who I am not”. I’m not someone who regularly buys my family junk food. I’m also not someone who sits in front of the tv on a daily basis. I am not someone who eats candy.

When I started owning “this is who I am”  and “this is who I am not” making beneficial choices became so. much. easier. Exercising is easier. Meal planning is easier. Go out to eat is easier. Grocery shopping is easier. When I pass the Hawaii sized end cap of King Hawaiian bread at the grocery story,  I ask myself, “Who am I?”. I am no longer the girl who buys a loaf to eat all by herself.

“Owning it”  didn’t make me perfect. I still eat junk food but it’s no longer on a consistent basis. I still spent more time on the internet than I probably should but it doesn’t consume me. Some weeks I’ll get in 4 or 5 workouts and other weeks it’s just 2 but it’s rare that a week goes by without any exercise.

I am many things. I’m a child of God, a wife, a mother, a friend, a trainer, a dreamer, and a “health nut”.

This is not to say I don’t have room for improvement.  Goodness knows, I need to own being someone who gets enough sleep.

I know I’m preaching to the choir.  In fact, to some of you this may sound silly and childish but for me it has been life changing.

Who are you?  And who are you not?

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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

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The post 31 Days to a Better Body: Day 30 – Own It appeared first on Girl Heroes.

This is something I probably should have wrote about in the beginning of this series.

Journaling.

Food journaling, workout journaling, and good old fashioned “diary” type journaling.  They all serve their purpose but that doesn’t mean we need to do each one all the time. They are important  tools to have in the tool box if you need them.

The one I use the most regularly is workout journaling.  It’s quick, easy, and the benefits far outweigh the effort.

Benefits to Keeping  Workout Journal

1. A concrete way to track progress.

2. Confidence builder.  It reminds you of how far you have come, i.e., how much stronger you have gotten.

3. Provides motivation outside the scale or a pair of jeans.  (The most important reason to me.)

4. Saves time at the gym (if you write out the plan ahead of time).

5. Build a reference library of workouts.

My workout journals are super simple.  They are  cheap spiral bound notebooks that include the date, day of the week, exercises, reps, weight lifted, and if applicable the time it took to complete the workout.  I may also jot down how I was feeling or any ideas I have for new workouts or blog posts.  

A friend just gave me these notebooks for my birthday last week.  Love them!  I think it may be time to upgrade from my spiral bound notebooks.  There is something to be said about making the mundane less mundane by adding a bit of beauty.

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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

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The post 31 Days to a Better Body: Day 29 – Journal appeared first on Girl Heroes.

We have many choices available in this country.

Take vaccum shopping for example. Do I want upright, cannister, robotic, bagless, windtunnel, HEPA filter, wet/dry, cordless, or handheld?  All I want is something that will consistently clean my floor.  Guess what?  Most vacuums will give me what I want…if I use it.

The same with strength training.

There are so many choices walk into any big box gym and you’ll see rows and rows of contraptions.  Then there is the question of programming.  Do I do straight sets, drop sets, supersets, descending/ascending ladders, timed sets, speed sets, pyramids, etc.

Here’s my advice pick up heavy stuff and use good form.  The only way to get stronger is to challenge your body and it doesn’t have to be flashy. The truth is the flashier it is the less effective it probably is. You don’t need (and, for the most part, shouldn’t use) fancy machines and flashy programs. A banged up kettlebell or a rusty barbell will do.  It may not be as exciting as the shiny new program you just saw on TV but if used consistently those boring old dumbbells will work.

And success is never boring.

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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

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The post 31 Days to a Better Body: Day 27 – It’s Okay to be Boring appeared first on Girl Heroes.

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Guilt is an useless emotion.

I feel guilty…

…about eating _____.

…about not eating _____.

….about skipping a workout.

….about working out.

…about spending time with ____.

….about spending not enough time with ____.

….about watching too much TV.

…about not getting pop culture references.

…about not eating organic.

…about spending too much eating organic.

…about doing ____.

….about not doing ____.

The guilt list some of us carry around is absurd.

Stop it.

Guilt gets us no where and even if we do need to cultivate some healthier habits.  It’s better to acknowledge where we could improve and make steps in that direction even if there are a lot of falls along the way.

I repeat.

Guilt is an useless emotion.

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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

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The post 31 Days to a Better Body: Day 26 – No Guilt appeared first on Girl Heroes.

I don’t eat out very often so when I do I typically make it a “free meal” (what I’ve referred to as sane meal in the past) and order whatever I want.  Sometimes this is a salad and sometimes it’s fish and chips with tarter sauce and ranch.  However, when I’m eating out multiple times in a week such as vacation or when I have family in town, I am selective about my choices.

The boys and I at Outback Steakhouse.

This happens to be one of those weeks.  Right now I am at the Perform Better 3 Day Functional Fitness Summit in Long Beach.  I’m staying at a hotel with my grandparents and we are going out to eat for every meal.   If I eat whatever I want for four days without paying attention, I’ll easily end up gaining 5 or more pounds and, more importantly, feeling like crud.  Sunday is my birthday and that’s not my gift of choice so I’ll make some choices based on my priorities.

I just noticed this week that every restaurant I have been to has calorie counts right next to the items making it much easier to choose.  Anyone know if this is a new law in California?  Probably, we can’t sneeze here without getting a permit.

Tips for Eating Out

(that I use only when I’m eating out multiple times a week)

1. If possible, glance at the calorie counts ahead of time.  Even if it’s not 100% accurate I’m sure a 500 calorie grilled salmon dinner is still less than a 1200 calorie trough of pasta with cream sauce.

I recently noticed this week that every restaurant I have been to has calorie counts right next to the items making it much easier to choose.  Anyone know if this is a new law in California?  Probably, we can’t sneeze here without getting a permit.

2. Order a protein and vegetables.  Fish, chicken, steak,…ect.  I love this sort of simple food so it’s really not a big deal.

2. Bread – The bread basket is dangerous thing for me.  It’s easier for me to make a decision to just not have any bread.  However, often times I make that decision then end up having a piece or two.  It’s life.  If I’m with just Brent sometimes we’ll ask that they don’t bring bread.  That doesn’t usually work in a group setting though.

3. Chips and salsa are my favorite junk food of all time.  Whenever, I go to a Mexican restaurant I simple decide it’s going to be a free meal or it’s not.  Since I don’t go out to eat very often, it’s usually a free meal.  It’s a rare meal where I’ll daintly munch on 5-10 chips and call it a night.  If’ it’s not going to be a free meal, it’s easier to just say no and order a chicken taco salad drowned in pico de gallo.  (Which, btw,  is one of my favorite lean eating meals.) Otherwise, if I choose to have chips I”ll have as many as I want and I won’t feel guilty.

4. Order water or unsweetened tea.  Occasionally, I’ll have a glass a wine but most of the time I prefer not to drink my calories.

5. If I order a salad I look at the ingredients and decide if there is anything high calorie that I really won’t miss.  For example last night at Outback Steakhouse, I ordered a seared Ahi salad and decided I really wouldn’t miss the fried wontons asked if they could leave those off.  I didn’t miss them at all.   I prefer my salads tossed with dressings so most of the time I ask if they can “go light” on the dressings and for a side if I need more.

You may notice that I don’t have dessert on here. When it comes to sweets if they aren’t homemade and made with unrefined sugars I don’t eat them.  I haven’t had a dessert in a restaurant for almost 4 years.  I don’t feel like I’m missing out, at all.  I don’t get upset or feel deprived when others eat them.  I’m guessing it might be similar to the way some vegetarians feel about meat.

Eating out is really about giving and taking.  I don’t have any hard and fast “rules” about eating out.  I do know that I can’t reasonably expect to eat it all, all the time, and maintain a relatively lean body mass.  So I pick and choose from the things I really love.  If I really love one thing I’ll not have something else.  It usually balances out and I end up enjoying my food and maintaining my weight.

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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

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The post 31 Days to a Better Body: Day 24 – Tips for Eating Out appeared first on Girl Heroes.

This morning I’m leaving for the Perform Better Functional Fitness Summit!   The list of presenters is impressive (I’m going to an all day Functional Movement Screen seminar with Gray Cook today!). After years of reading many of their articles and books (Hello Alwyn and Rachel Cosgrove!!!), listening to them in person is going to a real treat!

Since for the next 4 days I’m going to be immersed in functional fitness, I thought it would be appropriate to do a post on, the poor man’s massage, foam rolling.

I find foam rolling to be a little like flossing my teeth.  It’s takes time and the payoffs aren’t always obvious.  At first it can be downright painful but like flossing someday you will be glad you did.

When you workout hard and effectively you get micro tears in your muscles.  This is what you want  because each time your muscles repair themselves they get a little stronger.  Over time these small tears build up scar tissue.  Going back to the flossing analogy it’s sort of like plaque.  Like flossing reduces plaque, foam rolling breaks soft tissue adhesions and scar tissue.  It can also relieve pain, improve flexibility, and movement.  Plus it just feels really good.

I *try* to foam roll after every workout for 5-10 minutes.  I start with my quads and do about 10 “rolls”.  Then I shift to my abbductors, then hamstrings and glutes, and make my way around to the other side of my leg.  I also try to do my calves, shins, adductors (inner thigh), back, and I often contort to get my shoulders or arms.

Here are some of my favorites in the order I do them.

(Insert rolling the other side of my leg.)

Please ignore, our messy house.  We are in the middle of getting rid of tons of stuff because……guess what….WE FOUND OUR RV!!!  I can’t believe it!  It’s been a busy busy month and our trip is becoming more real everyday!!!

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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

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

The post 31 Days to a Better Body: Day 23 – Foam Roll appeared first on Girl Heroes.

Switch to low or no calorie drinks.

In my experience, switching to low or no calorie drinks has been one of the easiest ways to cut calories.  For many people cutting out or just cutting down on calorie laden drinks that have little to zero nutritional benefit could, over time, lead to drastically healthy changes in body composition.

Sodas

I’m convinced that sodas are going to be the cigarettes of tomorrow.  There is no beneficial reason to drink conventional soda regularly.  Shocking, I know.  Enjoying one every now and then will most likely do nothing to harm your body.  I know this is going to sound nuts but if someone is going to have soda I personally think it’s better choice to have a regular over diet if they are after “insane” health.  Fake sweeteners are just too risky.  I’ve read of people with serious soda habits to have overcome their addiction by drinking kombucha. I like kombucha but I love water kefir.  It tastes like my favorite…vanilla soda!  Whenever I have a soda craving I pour myself a cup and not only does it satisfy my soda craving, my body gets a dose of probiotics.  A win-win for sure!  Think about this all too common scenario.  Someone who drinks 2 cans of soda (about 300 calories) a day is drinking about 109,500 empty calories year.  By switching to water or unsweetened tea they could lose over 31 pounds in a year.

Juice

Juice is deceiving.  At first it seems like it must be full of healthy vitmins and minerals.  The truth is that most commercial juice is really nothing more than liquid sugar as most of the fiber is stripped during processing and the beneficial living enzymes are killed during pasteurization.  A cup of ordinary orange juice is really not much more than 11o calories of sugar.  You are much better off eating the fruit itself or juicing fresh juices that still have their living enzymes and have their natural vitamins and minerals.

Fancy Coffee Drinks

Coffee itself is a mixed bag with it’s lovers and haters each equally passionate that it will extend or shorten their life.  Coffee itself is a zero calorie drink.  The problem is most people don’t drink coffee by itself.  Instead, they drink coffee drinks.  A tall caffe latte has 150 calories and grande Frappuccino has 240 calories.

Alcohol

A 5 oz. glass of  wine is about 115 calories.  A bottle beer is about 150 calories.  Most mixed drinks like Margaritas and daiquiris are 300+ calories.  Not only does alcohol have a lot of calories, excessive alcohol consumption is hard on your liver, skin, and messes with your hormones.  Speaking from experience, when I drink too much I also eat too much.  I stop listening to what my body and decide to eat whatever and as much as I want.  For me, it’s best to limit drinking to special occasions.

Calories aren’t the only problem

There is nothing wrong with calories.  Calories are simply a measure of energy (Did I say that right, science people?) and our bodies need energy.  The real problem with all these drinks is that they have little to no nutritional value.  I don’t mind a higher calorie content if I’m my body is getting nourishment. I drink whole raw milk and while it may have 150 calories per cup it is also full of healthy enzymes, vitamins, and minerals.

Imagine this

Every week a person drinks a modest amount of calories in the form of 4 glasses of orange juice, a venti Frappucino, 2 glasses of wine, and two sodas.  By just switching to water or unsweeted tea this person could lose over a pound and half in a month.  That would be over 20 pounds in a year and that’s is without any other dietary changes or physical effort.  Think about someone who starts every day with juice, drink Big Gulp or two during the day, and have beer every night.  Switching to no or low calorie drinks could have an enormous impact on their weight and their health.

What do you think about drinking calories?  What are you favorite zero or low calorie drinks?

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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

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

The post 31 Days to a Better Body: Day 22 – The Easiest Way Cut Calories appeared first on Girl Heroes.

Keep It Simple Superhero!

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There is so much to be said for simplicity in all areas of life.  In regards to health, the simpler my workouts, my food, and my routine the easier it is to stick with it all.

I create simple workouts using exercises that give me the most bang for my buck.  For me, the more complicated a routine the harder it is to stick with it.  I like to “get er done” and move on my with life.  I workout at home or at parks near my house.  I use minimal equipment.  I make it interesting by giving myself simple challenges such as how many reps can I get done in a set time.

I love a gourmet meal as much as the next person but for day-to-day dinners we keep it simple.  Grilled or roasted meats, veggies, and fruits make up the majority of our diet.  I always keep a variety of seasonings and dressings on hand for variety.  I have about 14 favorite meals that I rotate through most nights of the week and one or two nights I experiment with new recipes.  If I make a more complicated main dish I’ll have a simple side dish or vice versa.

Life is complicated enough on it’s own without having to make complex dinners or keep up with hard to follow exercise programs.

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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

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

The post 31 Days to a Better Body: Day 21 – KISS: Keep It Simple Superhero appeared first on Girl Heroes.

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Or in the very least reduce it.

Besides being a passive use of time, it’s a total kill joy.   According to most commercials, I need more money, clearer skin, stronger cleaning products, a nicer house, a thinner body, nicer clothes, a newer car, shinier hair, longer thicker eyelashes, softer toilet paper, more absorbent paper towels, better insurance, more effective drugs, and a happier family. Don’t even get me started on the news.

Whatever.

Don’t get me wrong there are some fantastic products out there, some good news stories, some clever ads, and good shows but the really good stuff  I’ll find out about by word of mouth.

I’m certain that not having TV has improved my self esteem, saved me money, and given me more time for the internet days of life that might have been spent watching others live life.  I looked up The 2011 Statical Abstract of the United States and saw that in 2009 the average American watched 1721 hours a television a year.  What?!?!  That’s almost 72 days a year. Couple that with the standard American diet of processed crap food and the incessant message that we aren’t good enough and it’s easy to see why we are facing a health crisis.

Just think about what those people could do with those 71.7 days!  Imagine how different those people swapped out just 15 of those days (1 hour a day) for some exercise.

Disclaimer: We do have a television and have been longtime subscribers to Netflix. We watch about 1 or 2 movies a month.  What can I say I’m an internet girl.   Aside for the year of 2001, I haven’t had any TV programming since 1996 and I don’t miss it.  Truly.

What about you?  Do you have a television?  Do you watch it?  Anyone else totally annoyed you now have to pay two separate Netflix fees?  We are canceling the DVD delivery and going with online streaming only.

Hugs and High Fives,
Jenn

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

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

The post 31 Days to a Better Body: Day 20 – Trash the TV (or internet) appeared first on Girl Heroes.