I hope everyone had a very happy new year and is looking forward to a fantastic 2014! I know I am — as I told my fiancé Rene last Tuesday night when the ball dropped, this is our year!
As did most people with the start of a new year, I made some resolutions I plan on keeping.
1. Lose another 40 pounds.
2. Get healthier.
3. Save money.
4. Take more time to enjoy life.
5. Smile more.
I've made these resolutions before, but I've never kept them, which is what happens to most of us. The difference this year is that I’m already half way there, and once you see results and have your heart set on the end prize, there is no turning back. My success so far in the past seven months helps me trust that I will meet my goals and resolutions — and you can, too. If you put your mind to it, and you don’t let anything or anyone get in your way, it can happen. I hope this helps motivate you to achieve your resolutions this year, because it really is possible, no matter what the resolution is.
While on the treadmill last week, I decided I was going to increase my workouts for the month of January. This morning, I woke up at 4:30 instead of 5 (crazy, I know), and did 30 minutes on the treadmill before my 30 minute spin class, burning tons of calories before I even started my day!
I also plan to focus more on my strength training and make sure I get in the routine from my trainer, Bonne Marcus, three times each week. Another change I am going to make for the month of January is removing starch from my diet Monday through Friday. This includes any type of breads, wheat, beans, rice, or dairy. My goal is to focus on eating lean proteins, fruits, and vegetables for my meals. I know that is going to be a hard change to my diet, but I also know it will be worthwhile — and it’s only 30 days! After the holiday eating funk I was in, now is the perfect time to make these small changes.
Although my diet hasn’t been the greatest since Christmas, Rene and I have been keeping up with our workouts. Last Sunday, we trained with Bonne for the first time in three weeks, and she killed us! I knew it was going to be a tough one when she texted me the day before and told me to get ready for a big workout. She gave us a routine that consisted of leg, arm, and ab workouts with four segments that we had to do two times through. Some leg exercises were side lunges, knee downs with a bicep curl or row, squats, and lunges with the gliders. The arm exercises were bicep curls, tricep extensions, rows, chest presses, and many more, and the ab exercises were mountain climbs, pull-over crunches and reverse crunches.
She added a new ab exercise — holding a plank position and then kicking each leg out to the side. It looked so much easier than it was. That is definitely something I need to work on this week, but it kills your abs, so I recommend trying it! At the end of the workout, I was already sore. Rene and I got coffee after, and I could barely get out of the car, so the next few days were rough. Finally, on Wednesday morning, I woke up and could get out of bed without struggling like I was 90 years old. I guess that’s what happens when you slack on your strength training!
One awesome meal we made last week was shrimp stir-fry, and it’s so easy. I cut up red peppers, onion, carrots, and sliced mushrooms, added sugar snap peas, and sautéed everything with a little bit of olive oil. I then added the shrimp until everything was cooked. I tossed it all with a little bit of low-sodium soy sauce, salt, pepper, and olive oil, put it over ½ cup of brown rice, and it was fantastic! It’s a perfect healthy and quick meal for those nights you just don’t have time to slave in the kitchen. It also makes great leftovers.
Cheers to a New Year, and good luck to everyone with resolutions!
—Jennifer Crow
- adminbg's blog
- Log in or register to post comments
