kick it to the Carb!

I had my two week check in today and I am still rocking this challenge! I also noticed something this week.  Though I am pretty good with being consistent I usually have at least one unplanned snack or meal when I am trying to win a competition or hit a goal. It is one the reasons why I can get close to my goal but never quite there UNTIL NOW! This week I had several changes to eat kitchen mess ups, homemade cookies and birthday cake and each time it was an easy no! I think this is for two reasons. 1. I really want to win that trip to Cabo so anytime I was tempted I would just tell myself I could indulge now or I could stay consistent for 28 days and win a kick ass vacation. My reason why for doing this challenge is helping me say no but it's two fold. 2. I have accountability. I am sharing my goal like crazy with my friends, co-workers, family, social media followers and even random strangers. If I don't go all in I won't win. I mean how cool will it...

I am officially seven days into my 28 day challenge. I miss understood directions on day one and thought my post workout meal counted as breakfast since I workout in the mornings and spent most of the day so hungry I thought I was going to throw up. Day two was so much easier though because I got more food, so even though I am still adjusting to not snacking the hunger is way more tolerable than it was on day one. Silver lining! I also accidently went to hard with the workout on Monday. I haven't been lifting heavy these past few months and instead doing a lot of HIIT and silly me thought I could just jump back in and my old high weights. So after several days of not being able to move my neck due to pain from my shoulders up to my head I am ready to get back into the gym and go all in this week!! I am super excited about my week one progress and can't wait to see how far I can do this challenge. I am in it to win the grand prize of a trip to CABO!!!

Monday I shared my before pictures for my competition. The grand prize is a trip to Cabo and I am all in for that vacation! Almost eight years ago I started a journey simply to be able to fit in my clothes again. Little did I know that simple journey would change the entire trajectory of my life. My original goal was to be able to wear all my clothes again but after smashing that goal I started to focus on building muscle and getting fit.  I set my next goal to be 19% body fat. Sometimes I get close but I always fall back on old habits and derail my progress. This year I said no more! So I have been focused (minus that New Orleans trip) and I am currently at 23.7% and I am committed to following the 28 Day program with 100% accuracy BUT I also know myself and I know my usual trip ups and so I did what any former crisis communication major would do and brainstormed all of my potential downfalls and what I will do when faced with them. I won't go over all of them because they ...

Today  kicks off the 28 Day Metabolic Switch and I am so excited to get started but also super excited for these pictures. I have had a hard time getting back into routine these past weeks as some things transitioned for me and when Zack (my boyfriend) handed my phone back after helping me take these I was floored at the progress I had made since my horrible weigh out from the Body Transformation Challenge. I have never had a before picture that I was excited about (They are called befo r e pictures for a reason right?) but now I am even more excited for this challenge and the next Body Transformation Challenge, because if I love my current results I can imagine what comes next! I will posting a more detailed account of my journey on Instagram so if you want a detailed account find me on the gram! @stevie_the_girl

I am a health coach. I help others lead a healthy, active lifestyle that fits around their goals and obligations. I workout, lead fitness classes, eat healthy but I am not perfect. The internet shows us one side of life. I look like I have it all together but life happens to me to. I frequently pack my schedule to full and end up missing quality time with my friends and family. Some days my anxiety takes over and it is a struggle to get through the day. Sometimes all this compounds and I feel like I am letting everyone down. Mental health is an important part of any health journey. You can eat all the right foods and do all the right exercises but you have to get your head right because it won't always be easy. Life happens to everyone. Unexpected things pop up and you have to be in a good head space to handle them and not let it wreck you. I do mental training with all my clients. I help them brainstorm obstacles that may come up in their journey and help them pre-plan s...

I talk to a lot of people about their nutrition habits and the number one thing almost every single one of them is doing wrong is that they aren't eating enough. Somehow amongst the crazy diet trends we got fixated on a number and decided that number was the holy grail of calories to eat in a day and get AMAZING results.  If you've been around the block you probably already know what that number is, but if you don't it is 1200. Sounds easy enough, eat 1200 calories a day and lose weight but there is a major flaw in this way of thinking. We are all different, we have different calorie needs, different activity levels and different metabolic rates. So for most people 1200 isn't enough calories and you don't lose weight because your body isn't getting enough fuel so it holds on to everything! It always amazes people when I tell them to eat more and they suddenly start dropping pounds. I am not going to make this all sciency for you, because if you're read...

I may have gone a little overkill for my 30th birthday. I wanted all my favorite things and that included my five favorite cakes. So me, miss healthy eating, ate five cakes at one time spanning three plates. Don't believe me see exhibit A. Birthdays, social events, cookouts etc... always leave those on a "diet" or who are trying to eat better a bit stumped because you want to indulge and have fun but you also don't want to wreck your progress, am I right? Life is about balance and that includes learning how to survive these functions maintaining a balance between having fun and stopping that little bully voice inside you from making you feel bad about your choices. So here are some survival tips for all those fun eating events you have coming up. 1. EARNED meals, not cheat meals because it is NOT cheating if you stayed the course and planned ahead. I plan my earned meals. I take a look at my calendar for the month and see what events I have coming up and if I ...

Your friend Sally (I made up this name I don't really know your friend) is getting crazy results on her diet. You tried it and all you got was a rash. Your friend Adam is doing something super crazy, you signed up. You almost died and got zero results. So you go looking for the next thing. I am here to tell you what it is and guarantee it's not what you're thinking. Firstly, all these diets you see your friends getting fantastic results with work....for them. This is the key part here. We are all different. Have different bodies, different dietary needs, different lifestyles, different goals etc... So while all these diets work, they may not work for you. The trick is finding the one that does. Some things to consider: Are there certain foods that cause you problems? Are there certain types of food you can't give up? Are there certain foods you need to avoid? Do you see yourself maintaining these kinds of changes long term? Diets are temporary, lasting re...

I am always a little confused when someone tells me they don't eat carbs, because fruits and vegetables are a key source of vitamins and minerals. Usually after several questions I find they mean they don't eat grains which while still a carb is not the sole inhabitant of the name carb. I am here to clear up the confusion. First some background. I remember when we had a food pyramid. I may be dating myself but this is important. The food pyramid created a hierarchy of food and a misconception about how much of each food group we should be eating. The Base of the pyramid was grains (bread, pasta,rice etc) and we were told 6-11 servings of these a day aka the bulk of your diet. Next up was fruits (2-4 servings) and vegetables (3-5 servings) topped  by meat, beans eggs and nuts (2-3 servings) and dairy (2-3 servings) and at the very top was fats, oils and sweets with the suggested serving of sparingly. What this pyramid did was give us a very confusing way to create our ...

Every time I ate something "unhealthy" a little voice inside of me would tear me down. You know that voice. It is the one that tells you that earned meal will derail all your progress, that dress does make you look fat and yes everyone notices that tiny patch of hair you forgot to shave off your leg. That voice...man did I hate it. She is defiantly a bully and one I have a very hard time ignoring. She seems to forget we lost 40 pounds, that we can run miles now instead of dying after two side walk squares and that we can lift all those heavy things. I knew something had to change and I had to get myself out of the diet mindset, because every time I strayed from my plan she ripped into me and made me feel awful. So how did I do it?  Stay tuned....