Shake what your mama gave you!

Are you tired of the way you look? Is your weight one of your biggest insecurities? Today I am going to use my experiences and knowledge to help you work on overcoming that. I myself have these same insecurities about my body and fight them daily. I admit, it isn't an easy battle and I am not going to even try to say it is either. Nor am I going to try to sugar coat it and say that it will be when we both know it isn't. I am not like that. I want you all to be healthy just like I want to make sure me and my family are getting healthy as well. That is why in this post, I will tell you all things that I have done to help me and my family. Will it help you? It may but it may not. Everyone is different and what works for some may not work for others. 

Caring for yourself is the best thing you can do for yourself.  As you have read in the last paragraph I got to the point I quit caring about myself because of all the negativity that was going on around me.  Once I hit the rock bottom and quit letting his insecurities affect me so much, I started feeling a lot better. Yes, people still made fun of me for working out by saying comments like “I was wondering where the earthquake was coming from” and “you look like beached whale with all that blubber flapping about.” I refused to let it stop me. I was going to be here for my kids and I wasn’t going to let him stop me. My husband, family and strangers harsh words were my triggers to my insecurities and as soon as I got strong enough to fight it, I became free. I am using my testimony to possibly help anyone else that may be going through the same things I have and may need help. I have been down a very rough road. From abuse of all kinds to fighting the after effects of it and the turmoil that I still fight inside of my head because of it.  I let someone who I trusted break me down and make me feel worthless. So I know how it is to hear negativity all the time to the point, you start doing it to yourself. I have fought to overcome it and so can you.

Taking care of your mental health and your physical health are extremely important.  Until you get the all clear from your doctor, physical activity is not recommended because you don’t want to hurt yourself. Once you start loving yourself and battling those inner voices in your head that are telling you negative things, you will start being able to enjoy life and all it has to offer. Taking care of yourself means learning to eat right, not listen to your insecurities and getting active for a better you.  The level of activity you can do all depends on your body. If you are not use to being active, don’t expect to be able to run a marathon within a week. Start small and work your way up to where you want to be. If that means you have been sedentary for most of the day and are not use to walking, then take a short 5-10 minute walk around the block or taking the stairs instead of the elevator at work. Little changes will help you more than you know. This is why I chose to write this week’s posts. To help by giving tips that I have used myself to in turn help you guys as well.

Incentives are a great way to get you motivated to be active. When I talk about incentives I am talking about little rewards that you give yourself for being active. My favorite one that I have used is the rewards jar. The rewards jar is actually a 2 jar system that helps you stay on your goal by having you fill the jars every time to do something negative or positive. To make these jars, you will need 2 mason jars or any kind of jar with a lid on it. For every time you are active, put a bead in the good jar. For every time you slip up and don’t work out, you take 2 out of the good jar and put it in the negative jar. Your goal is to fill us the positive jar without cheating.  If you cheat, it defeats the purpose of the jars. If you don’t have any beads, a good thing to use is money. For every day you work out, put $1 in the good jar. For every day you skip, you have to put $2 in the negative jar. You can earn those in the negative jar back for working out. So basically you will have to work out 2 days to equal the 1 bad day you had. This will give you the incentive to work out. After the good jar is full, you can exchange it for bigger bills and continue going for 3-6 months or you can use that time to treat yourself with something you would like.  I like to use the beads because then once my jars are full, I get to get one thing I really want. It is great way due to how tight money is and it keeps others in my home from robbing the jar for things they want.

Venture out a bit and get out of your comfort zone. I love trying new things and it helps keep my body guessing so I lose more weight and gain more muscles, which is my goal. There is another saying that I follow because it is absolutely the truth. The saying goes “your comfort zone is a nice place but nothing ever grows there.”  To me this means that if you venture out of what you are used to, that is where you will start seeing results. If you are not use to being active and you start, even if it is walking from one side of your house to the other in between commercials, you will start noticing the difference. It will not be overnight but you will start seeing it become a lot easier. Before you know it, that little bit you are walking will be so easy you will want to do more. When it does get easy, that is the time you extend it. Meaning if all you could do is walk around your house with every commercial for a short distance and you notice you can do it with ease and then try walking to the street and back. You need to be active at least 30 min a day.  If you can already walk or jog like 3 miles try extending it to 6 miles. You will thank me later for it. If you don’t like to walk or run but like to lift weights then take this time to up your limit. I am not saying that if you are used to lifting 30 pounds that you need to go try 100. I am saying however if you are used to lifting 30, try lifting 35 or even do higher repetitions. For example instead of your 5 reps you have been doing, try doing 10 or 12. Your body will feel fatigued and even sore for the next few days but you will be glad you decided to take that extra push.

 Excuses will get you nowhere. I say this because excuses won’t get you to where you want to go any faster.  I use to be that girl that would have an excuse for anything so I know all too well all about them. It took that reality to knock some since into me.  I have given lots of excuses and have heard my fair share as well. There is no magic pill or miracle product that is going to help you lose weight or get you to where you want to get. I have had to learn this the hard way and I swear if my mentors had a club, they would beat me over the head because of how many times they have said this to me.  Being active is not only going to improve your physical fitness, but it will also help with depression and many other illnesses/diseases as well. It is great for your cardiovascular system, your joints, and even your respiratory system. Their are so many benefits of being active and outweigh the risks.  Their are so many diseases that can be prevented by just being active and eating a balanced meal plan. NO! I will not use diet as I feel diets are meant to fail. A lifestyle change however is more likely to stick around for the long run. Look at it this way, getting active may also help you get into those jeans you have always wanted to get into as well.

That is why I have become a fitness and race ambassador. I am currently a fitness ambassador for Girls Gone Sporty, Sweat Pink, and Strong Figure. I am a race ambassador for Pretty Muddy, Hot Chocolate 15k/5k, The Color Run, Color Up 5k, Color Me Rad and recently Shape Diva Dash. I have talked a bit about the others so I will take this time to talk to you about the Shape Diva Dash. If you are looking for a women's only race that you can walk or run with other women who have been where you are, then take a look into doing the Shape Diva Dash. Shape diva dash is a woman’s only 5k obstacle race It is designed to bring out the Diva in any woman with 3 miles of trail, sand and pavement and 10-12 obstacles designed to test your strength, agility, and balance.  If you are scared to do any of their obstacles, they offer an easier option or even give you the choice to skip it all together. This is NOT a mud run. There is something for everyone to bring out your inner Diva. If you have done this race before, you will still be guessing this year because every race is different. No 2 are the same.  The one thing I am looking forward to is their maze because I have heard so much about it and to me it honestly sounds fun.

Because I am a new ambassador for the Diva dash, I have something awesome to share with all of my readers. I have a promotion code available for $10 off your registration. Currently the code is active for the following races:

Dallas TX– March 22, 2014

Austin TX - April, 12, 2014

Chicago, IL- August 02, 2014

Washington, DC – August 16, 2014

The other races they have are:

Boulder, CO – May 10, 2014

Twin Cities, MN – May 31, 2014

Charlotte, NC – June 21, 2014

Boston, MA – September 06, 2014

Philadelphia, PA – September 13, 2014

New York, NY- October 11, 2014

If you would like to participate in one of the bottom 6 races feel free to message me here or hit me up on my Facebook page and I will get the code active for you. The code to use for the $10 off is AXAPHBLS. Below is a poster made by me for the AUSTIN race.  Now I get to do the most fun part of the pre-race activities…… picking out a costume. I have a few running through my head but none that have become concrete.  The ideas I have thought of are tutus, which to me everyone does; Super heroes or going all Pink Ninja Style.

What costume ideas do you like? 

Is there a costume Idea you would like to see me wear? 

If you could participate in this race, which city would you do it in?