Morbid to Fit

Life has been SO hectic these days! Watching what I eat and getting moving is a daily activity. The more I do it, the less of a chore it becomes. #Brightside School started this week for the twins and they LOVE their teachers! #AnsweredPrayers We were given the option to make a request for a teacher for this year and I did not exercise that option. My reasoning behind that was that by putting my children with the people that best suit their personalities, they are not learning how to deal with people that do not fit into their personalities. One daughter got a teacher that does fit into her personality and the other did not. I foresee some challenges, but nothing that can't be over come. You know what they say:  "What doesn't challenge you ... doesn't change you!" Which brings me to the NEXT big change, well the beginning of this process anyway. Next week my husband and I will start attending the 10 week mandatory training classes to begin the process of...

One of the ways I stay motivated is to participate in and conduct challenge groups. One of the members of a challenge group I am participating in currently posted the following message the other day: "I have to admit defeat... I let it control me I feel like a failure I am planning to be back on track but I'm feeling sabotaged & feel worse than when I started having to back to the beginning sorry to let you down..." My immediate response was to encourage her to cancel the negative internal dialogue. We tend to be SO hard on ourselves! Especially when it comes to making some improvement to our lives like eating better, getting regular exercise, or taking time for yourself (especially if you are a primary care-giver).  We all make mistakes, forgiveness is very freeing. By forgiving ourselves, as we would want others to forgive us, we free ourselves to be open for the greatness that is within each and every one of us! July is almost over... the year is more than ha...

One day at a time, that is really all we can do... Each day we are faced with choices. Each of those choices bring their own set of consequences. I feel really good about yesterday! I made good choices and walked through the day with a level of awareness that had been previously absent. While at my Mother-in-laws house, lunch was "mystery meat" hot dogs and chips. I ate peaches (they were the size of a golf ball) and an apple. #Boom In the past I would have downed 2 dogs and vowed to do better next time... Well, my fridge is stocked with salads that I prepared, yogurt, carrots, celery, and fruit. Today I will spend a good part of the day preparing my daughters' favorite meals... Here's to making the best choices for the results I want to receive tomorrow! 'Til Next time

I try to be very aware of what I say about my weight loss journey in front of my daughters. They are at that age when they have a lot of influences in their lives that I have no control over. So many young girls have negative body images from the media and magazines pushing impossible standards. The average size of the American woman is size 12-14, and models are size zero.... ZERO! When I talk about my journey, I don't talk about losing weight, I talk about becoming more fit. They see me workout and know that I follow the modifier in the video. My goal is to be able to do the moves in the video, with good form, and with intensity. I may over think some things, but this is something that is very important to me: my daughters' self image. They have a cousin that is very thin, who called them fat. It upsets me, but I try to help them reason through the hurtful things people say to them and acknowledge their feelings. One of my daughters has made a change in some of ...

It is always important to take some time and look at your goals and determine if what you are doing is going to help you reach them or be the beginning of another excuse why you didn't reach them... I have fallen into the excuse category... Head first, down to my ankles, in a muck and mire of... bad choices. I can't even bring my self to call them excuses or reasons. I am an adult and I have made some bad choices. I thought I needed to work for someone else, I interviewed and received 2 job offers, I accepted the part time job because I was attracted to the schedule. What I didn't consider what the work was not a good fit for me in my life right now. I just didn't not have the multi-tasking ability to move successfully through the program at the speed the company expected. (Even if those expectations where not fully clear to me at the time.) I was heart broken when they thanked me for my time and offered to provide a good reference for me for a future opportunity with...

Goal setting is SO important! Something I am working on is breaking my long journey into smaller manageable pieces, 99 days until my twins turn 8 and 293 days until my 40th birthday! Lets see what I can get done! I've recently complete a cycle of T25, I Loved it! Shaun T speaks to me in each and every video! I am currently on day 2 of the 21 day fix, which has a simple to follow meal plan and a dynamic selection of work-outs, I've enjoyed it so far. This journey has made me think very carefully about how I present this process to my children. Girls have such a hard time in our society with body image especially with the prolific photo-shopping of images in the media. I focus on making positive changes in our routines and meal options, not on losing weight. I see losing weight as a by product of getting fit. Join me if you are interested! http://www.beachbodycoach.com/coachnikkia

Each Sunday, our church offers up a variety of treats after Mass to encourage everyone to sit, eat, and fellowship with each other. More often than not, that includes cakes, cookies, doughnuts, and the occasional fruit, cheese, and bagels. This Sunday was no different in that regard, what was different was me... This Sunday I wasn't even interested in the confections, I was drawn to the fruit, as was our youngest daughter. She was given a chocolate covered pretzel and immediately discarded it when she saw the fruit. That was a proud Mama moment for me! Having children changes you, at least it should! It changed me! I am such a different person than I was pre-children. I have a level of patience that I would not have known was possible. Tomorrow starts another week, busy with something happening each weekday. My lunch is planned and ready to go into my lunch box in the morning. My video is ready for me to push play... Early to bed, early to rise! 'Til next time!

This is my current physical goal, to no longer be considered Obese. Obese is such an ugly word. The images that word conjures are of sloven people over indulging in every possible avenue of food and not caring about his or her appearance or health. Today, I am probably one of the healthiest obese people you will ever meet. I am not a diabetic, I do not have high blood pressure, I do not take any medications whatsoever on a regular basis to manage any chronic illness or for the prevention of a chronic illness. I am just morbidly obese, I currently have 200 lbs to lose to reach what most of the medical community would consider a healthy weight. 200 lbs! I have been over weight for as long as I can remember, the girl with the "cute face" ugh, that was the bane of my existence growing up. Always the big girl with the cute face that would be "So pretty if you lost a little weight.". Admittedly, I have had some self esteem issues. We all have our moments, mine lasted a fe...