Tip of the Week: Prep Your Food

Hello again!

I decided that in order to motivate me to blog I have to have themes for days. Mondays will be Tip of the Week. A tip that will help you live healthier that week. That way you can focus on one thing at a time until it becomes a habit. 

This week's tip is Prep Your Food. 

                                   

                                                       My Fridge Snack Center

Whenever you go grocery shopping you need to get your food ready for the week. It might take more time the day of shopping, but it will save you time (and excuses) when you cook during the week. Some people go all out with food prep, they get everything ready so all they have to do is put things in a pot and it is ready. Others like myself just do enough to make life a little easier. 

The first step in Food Prep is to plan your meals for the week. Decide what you're going to need when so you can buy all the ingredients you need up front. Some of you might be saying, but I always change my mind or don't want what I planned to make. That is ok. I'm the same way. It does save gas and money if you buy ahead of time, but going to the grocery store the day of is much better than going to McDonald's because you decided that you didn't want what you bought. 

Step two is to prep your snacks. Buying in bulk is a great way to save money here, but it is also a great way for you to eat to much in one sitting. Yes you got a bag of almonds that are super healthy for you, but they aren't if you eat half the bag in one sitting. So if you can't afford to buy snack packs, you make your own! This is my favorite thing to do. We go to Costco or even just the grocery store and then I take my bulk bag and I divide it into portion sizes. Generally it will tell you on the bag what a serving is. If you don't know, you can look it up online. I count out my portions and I put them into ziploc snack bags. That way I don't overeat, and my snacks stay fresher longer.

Step three. Prep your fruits and Veggies. I know that you might have been taught as I was that you don't wash your fruit or veggies until you are ready to eat them, but then you end up not eating them because they aren't washed and then they go bad anyway. What do you do? Wash your fruits and veggies and cut them up so they are ready to grab and go. Put them into snack packs again, and then when it is time to prepare your lunches you can just grab a little baggie and go.

The last step is to create a snack center! Put it at eye level both in your fridge and in your pantry. You eat what is most easily accessable and most visible. Don't hide your fruits and veggies in the little crisper drawers. Put them in the top of your fridge in CLEAR containers. Bed Bath and Beyond makes little drawers you can use for your fridge and I use mine for my pantry too. 

So there you have it! Your tip of the week. If you use this tip you will eat healther all week! Happy Monday!! 

Running

                                      
Running is something I thought I would never enjoy. Now I want everyone to see the amazingness that is running. Let's start at the beginning.

I think when I was little I loved running. I remember running the mile in elementary school. They gave us popsicle sticks to count our laps. I thought it was so cool. I would put them in between my fingers and pretend I was a raptor or something. It was freeing, and it wasn't hard. We just went outside and ran around the track for 4 laps. If we were timed, I don't remember it.

Fast forward to middle school. This is where running lost its appeal. You see, I grew up in Houston, TX and school started in the beginning of August. It was hot and humid. I'm probably exaggerating, but it was at least 95 degrees and 100% humidity. We didn't run on the track because it got so hot. We would go across the street to this fitness trail in the park because it was shaded. We had to do it. And we were timed. I was never the slowest, but I was far from the fastest. And I hated it. I just stopped enjoying running...

Now High School different states, half in VA half in MA. In VA my friends hated running too, so I never really cared. In MA however, my closest friends all ran cross country. They tried to convince me running was fun. But I held my ground. I did let one of them convince me that if I just got in shape and ran I would learn to love it. I believed her because of the way she talked about running. She loved running in the rain, and she didn't care how fast or how far she was going. She just went. So I went running with her a few times. I don't think it was more than a mile. I died. I couldn't breathe and my lungs hurt. (I'm pretty sure I have exercise induced asthma, although I have never been diagnosed) So I gave up and continued along with my life doing other fitness and cardio activities.

As I said in my first post, I always did active things. Just none of them included running. Then one day in the middle of ChaLEAN Extreme! (review on that later) I decided that if I really wanted to be a fit person, I needed to start running. I did it begrudgingly. Why would I suddenly enjoy something I so adamantly opposed before? So I talked to my sister-in-law and she convinced me to try a race. She said she would run it with me, and if I didn't like running after that then I could stop. So we signed up for the Beat the New Year 5k by the Salt Lake City Running club, and I started training.

I fell in love. It was cold and bitter and miserable, but I loved it. I love running!! I never thought I would ever say that but I do. I have now only run 3 races (the first 5k, my Thelma and Louise Half, and the Color Run) and I am signed up to run another Half with one of my Blondes. I am spreading the love of running!

So the moral of the story is: Don't let one bad experience (or a lifetime of PE) ruin running for you. Try it out. Sign up for a race and train for it. It is freeing and meditative. Your body is built for running like nothing else. I count my breaths while I run. In for 3 out for 2. It relaxes me and it helps me think through my problems, or it helps me not think at all.  So GO! It is free. All you need are some sneakers and a road. Also, my friend from High School was right. Running in the rain is the best feeling in the world.

Brazil Butt Lift

My very first adventure with a fit lifestyle was Leandro Carvahal's Brazil Butt Lift. As I mentioned in my last post, it was the video that we did in our Fit Club at UVU. Anna convinced me that I needed to keep working out so she invited me to join her challenge group and drink Shakeology.

I picked Brazil Butt Lift  (BBL) because it was only 60 days and it was only 30 mins of working out a day to start out with. I knew that if I could get in the habit of setting aside 30 mins at the beginning, once it started asking for 2 workouts in one day I would be set because I would already be in the habit. I also knew it would be fun because I got to try it out in that Fit Club, and because of that same Fit Club, I knew it worked because when I ordered it 4 days after working out with it, I was still sore. I was worried about the length of the program because I had tried P90X before and only completed Phase 1 which is 30 days. I knew if I could last 60 days, I would be set for life. Not to mention, right in the middle of my program I was going to Disney World. If I could do a workout on vacation, I knew I finally had a fit lifestyle. BBL is also one of the cheaper programs that Beachbody offers, so I saved up the money and bought it.

The best part of BBL is Leandro! He is so funny, and energetic. He says the craziest things that just make you laugh while you are doing a squat. "Are you warm? Because I am so Warm!" "Is all about the angles!" "Hip hip all de way aroun!" "Squeeze dat bum bum (pronounced boom boom)" "Bum bum, is a cute way to call your tooshy." He has a Brazilian accent that just makes everything he says so cute and fun. He is also really motivating, and when your bum bum is screaming to stop doing that leg lift he says "All De way! Give it all you got!" and you just have to because he is so cute when he says it.

BBL also works really well. Out of all the workout programs I've done it is probably my favorite. I never get tired of it. I even got BBL Master Series which I am doing now.

It also introduced me to at home workouts. I decided I like them a lot more than going to the gym because I can just pop in a DVD and sweat and be ugly. Beachbody also leaves nothing to chance and outlines a meal plan along with a workout schedule so you don't have to worry about what you do when. I love having a schedule all lined up for me. It is like having a personal trainer in my house. And it is super easy to keep doing on vacation. All I needed was my DVDs, ankle weights, booty band and resistance band. It didn't add hardly any weight to my baggage and It was really easy to do in the morning.

I highly recommend BBL to anyone looking to start working out. It is fun, dancey, and easy to do. It has low impact modifications, and beginner modifications. I have never met anyone who did not have a blast doing BBL. It is an awesome LGN program. (Ask me what LGN means later)

So Check out My Store (Link on the side) if you're interested in trying it out. I will help you incorperate it into your life and keep you accountable until you too have a High & Tight Bum Bum!!

My Fitness Journey

Well, really my journey to a Fit lifestyle began a few months before I got married. I went on a hike to Timpanogos Cave in Utah. It is not that hard of a hike. The trail is paved into the cave, it is just long and has a lot of switchbacks. I was fine going up and all through the cave, it was the journey down that got me.

Me on the way down from Timp

 My legs felt like they were on FIRE. Like all the blood had rushed to them and I felt like they were going to burn off. It was really disconcerting. I made it down and was fine after I put my legs up, but that incident made me realize what had happened to me. I was no longer just automatically fit.

All growing up I was a pretty active kid. I never thought about exercising except in gym class, and then for Jr. Miss pageant. But even for that I didn't really have to work hard. I just had to do some push-ups and I went on the elliptical a few times. I despised running until very recently. I think that was from early childhood experiences of being forced to run the mile in Houston with 95 degree weather and almost 100% humidity. I danced and I did gymnastics and I rode my bike around.

Even in college I was generally just active. I took dance classes for fun and Aerobics and figure skating. I got a knee injury from a car accident that forced me to do physical therapy so it didn't hurt all the time, and I had a bike that I rode around campus. It was way cute and had an awesome basket.

Me and my old bike before the basket

So what I'm getting at is I didn't start out as a 500 lbs person. This fitness journey started because I started to actually take classes for my major, I stopped dancing, and got a desk job after graduation.  My life came to a halt physically. I just felt like I didn't have time to do active things anymore. I wanted to hang out with my new husband more. Don't worry, this is where I tell you the good part.

I went to some more school to train to be an ASL interpreter at Utah Valley University after graduating from BYU. I met an amazing person, Anna. She showed me how even small, naturally skinny people need exercise. I was like, huh, really? So I joined her fit club, and we did Brazil Butt Lift by Beachbody. I could not walk down the stairs after the workout. My butt hurt SO bad. And it hurt for DAYS after. So of course I told her I needed it. She had me join a challenge group and start drinking Shakeology, and she changed my life. I'll talk more about each video I've done since then and have a post just about Shakeology, but for now you just have to know that even skinny people have a before picture and a beginning to fitness.

May 2012

I'll show you guys my progress later, but here you have it. My weight hasn't changed at all since I began, but I am stronger, healthier and happier. I have run a half marathon, and I live more healthy. What is most important though is that I inspire others to be healthy. So there you have the beginning of Coach Miche. Feel free to contact me.