Time to take it UP several notches!

What's up people? Yea. I owe another apology for not blogging like a good girl - but I did take some time off, on purpose and well, yes. I was crazy busy end of last week and early this week. It's now Thursday and it's my first relatively normal day all week.

That said, I promised to do a post that shared with you all what my "program" was the past 90 days-- my workouts, my eats, my supplements-- and then share with you the goals for THIS quarter because IT'S ON.

So. Here's the thing. It feels AWESOME to be so proud. I am psyched. I am proud. I am ready to build on what I've started. I have to tell you all-- DON'T THINK THAT YOU CAN'T. I just turned 44 and I am really feeling better about myself NOW than I have in probably my whole adult life. THAT IS AMAZING.

DISCLOSURE: I am not a doctor. I am not a certified personal trainer or a dietitian. I am only sharing what I have been doing to get the results that work for me-- I am not recommending or telling any of you to do anything or buy anything or try anything that you haven't researched on your own. This is just me sharing my journey-- NOT me prescribing anything! (sorry, have to be clear)

Supplements:

I use GNC Vitapaks. Although I loathe the process of taking vitamins, I do it daily. The packs make it just so simple.

I use BSN Lean Dessert protein powder to make protein pancakes. It is the best protein powder I've tried for those purposes. I use PB2 to make a sauce for the top-- OMG to die for.

And then y'all know how much I love my Genetix HD -- Prosculpt in the morning before my workout then pills with my post-meal vitamins.

I use the GNC AMP protein for all protein shakes and for making Zucchini Protein Bread NOM NOM. ;-)  What do I eat typically?

1. Meal One-- 1/2 cup oats plus 1 spoon of PB2, scrambled egg whites, Coffee with coconut oil, cinnamon and heavy cream. 
2. Meal Two -- usually some kind of protein (turkey meatloaf 5oz or tilapia or chicken or salmon burger) with a salad and roasted veggies and hummus. Or a salad version of this.
3. Meal Three, Four and Five tend to be strictly protein. I have almonds for snacks or some PB2 if I feel I need something carby-tasting.
4. Not doing fruit right now. But if and when I do it'll be morning/early afternoon and one serving.
5. Lots of water-- was bad on that last month, getting back to drinking a LOT of it.
6. One diet soda a day ;-(

This honestly has NOT been difficult for me. People I did not have ONE cheat day for I think 2 months. No joke. I kicked ass. Oh--- I have sashimi when I go out and seaweed salad. Also do shrimp cocktail in the evenings too. YUMMY.

Workout Plan:

1. Cardio every morning on empty tummy. Was 1/2 hour now more like 45-60 because I enjoy it and am amping it up. Last quarter I did MOST cardio at home-- Les Mills Combat and Turbo Fire (IN LOVE and yes I'd say that has a lot to do with my arms getting as good as they are getting-- sooooooooo much punching and using your arms, it's sick. In a good way.) Also do cardio at night before bed or if I do weight training say at 4pm, I'd do cardio after that for 30 minutes.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Les Mills. And then Chalene's Turbo Fire has blown me away how fun it is. Seriously-- SO FUN, GREAT KICKASS MUSIC AND sweatfest galore like 200000 workouts in this advanced set:

And of course, one of my all time favorites on the planet is CATHE. Um, where do I start, I have about 20 DVDs now, just got XTrain, and now she has 7 new DVDS coming out. And Michael and I were just talking about how annoying it is that we feel like the gym- and when it's crowded or not crowded how that determines our workout SCHEDULE and we hate it. I'm favoring getting back to more workouts at home and inevitably getting a kick butt GYM in my own home when I move. Seriously.

Honestly, I don't know how she does it but Cathe keeps amping up new workouts and they ALL - seriously all of them are incredible. Weight training, step, kickboxing, abs, cardio, circuits, boot camps etc. I will tell you this- get you some Cathe. You will not regret it. 

Workout Plan Contd:

1. Weight Training - isolation type heavy weight training 3-4x a week minimum. Always going hard and heavy and KILLING IT. 

Goals for workout this next quarter. Still doing cardio first thing in the morning. Now the goal is to hit the stairs at the gym 3x a week and run 2-3x a week-- so MIXING IT UP a bit more. I'll do stairs, my home DVDs, and running. Weight training will be hard isolation training mixed in with a couple rapid fire circuit style training days. Just mixing it up every week. Also-- definitely back to doing yoga 2-3x per week and sometimes that would be a cardio #2 option. 

So. I worked. I focused. I honestly was not losing my mind on the "diet" and now we do cheat meals once a week. But I'm not sitting around obsessing about food. REALLY. And....when you get the results, it lights your fire to do more. 

I have lost 15lbs so far!! And I also have gotten over my ridiculous fear of sharing my weight with anyone. Last November when I weighed myself I was significantly MORE than I thought. TYPICAL-- we all think "oh I need to lose 10lbs or so...." when really it's more like 25-30 or a lot more. I was at 155lbs (I'm 5'5 if that helps) -- and that was the weight I'd gained during perimenopause-- where I'd been stuck for 2 years or more. I am now right about 140 but let me tell you-- the changes in my body have been outrageous. The lowest weight I recall myself being was 125lbs -- but back then I did not have the muscle I have now. I'll say this-- ladies.....it sucks a bit......I've gone down an entire bra size. My boobs have like GONE AWAY!! But y'all know that I've wanted a boob job since I was 20 so that's gonna happen this summer. (Judge me if you will. I like fake, immobile boobs)

So-- my goal is to AIM for 125 but frankly, I don't care what the weight is after I've lost the rest of the fat. Most of my fat loss needs to happen in my core area-- clearly I've lost it in my BOOBS, lost a lot in my legs- my butt has become quite lovely I must say-- my arms have leaned out but yea, the area that is last to lean out is my core and that's where women gain weight hormonally later on. LADIES PAY ATTENTION!! 

Dang! Have to put up two vlogs today. Because I am a blogger slacker this week. ;-) Below is me talking about the progress from this past quarter etc. Please let me know in the comments what questions you have for me. And.....let's do this together! COME ON!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!

Disclosure: GNC and BSN are clients of my company, FitFluential. I am also an independent Beachbody Consultant so if you purchase products from my site I will earn a commission. All opinions shared here are my own.

Negative Reinforcement. Yes or No?

Happy Hump Day people. Sorry for not blogging the past 2 days-- I had some ISSUES to deal with. NOT gonna go into them but I'm better. Suffice it to say had some family concerns and an injury. Mostly all better now. Oh, and a massive snowstorm in Chicago yesterday.

So anyway, the title of my post today is about NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT. A lot of my vlogs lately have been addressing the changes I've made most recently that are enabling me to succeed in a big way where I haven't in the past couple of years. And a lot of you are asking me, "How do you get/stay motivated?" - well, I use a combination of both positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement. Some people think ONLY positive thinking and positive reinforcement works. For me, it's a combo.

The above picture can illustrate a bit of what I'm talking about-- as you begin or amp up your fitness goals and workouts/diet, you will likely run into doubters, skeptics and those that want to impede your progress (consciously or unconsciously). You'll hear things like, "Who wants to live that way eating grilled chicken and salads?? Life is too short!" or, "Don't you think you DESERVE a break today?" or "Come ON! One Beer isn't going to kill you!"--- You have to get used to responding to those people but it's those haters and doubters that I often think about when I'm in the middle of a sweatfest. I think of how annoying they are and how they don't believe all this hard work will pay off OR that they think I won't last or will quit......that's NEGATIVE reinforcement and it works for me.

Like I said, I firmly believe that my success NOW is happening primarily because of all the work I've done IN MY HEAD. I've always loved working out. I've never complained about "oh do I have to carve out two hours for this???". I like most of the healthy food I eat so "dieting" isn't as difficult. But--- it's all about how you get your mind to direct your actions.

YOUR MIND, YOUR ATTITUDE directs your actions. When you are in the middle of a killer leg set and your quads are screaming, it is your mind that will tell you that you CAN DO IT. (Or your trainer as well!) When you wake up at dark o'clock and it's cardio time and you don't feel like it-- IT'S ONLY YOUR MIND that will get you up. Now-- what is going to motivate you? Does putting your shoes and workout gear out on the counter in your bathroom help?? YES. Does that alone MOTIVATE YOU?? I doubt it. What motivates me?? When I get up so early and want to stay in bed, I have TRAINED MY MIND to think of ---frankly--- what pisses me off about the past. I think of my favorite pair of jeans and having muffin top instead of NO muffin top. That's NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT. I think of sitting in my bikini on the beach and either having tummy bulge or no tummy bulge. So I have come to associate NOT DOING THE WORK with the bad things I want to avoid. Yes, I think of the good things-- but frankly those come later. What PROPELS me first is usually the negative motivation. When I'm sweating my butt off and I can FEEL how much more LIGHT AND LEAN my body is-- when I can see myself in my workout clothes and see how my body is changing-- that's the positive reinforcement. When I post my pictures and my caloric burn and get high fives online from my BFFs, that is positive reinforcement. You know what else is a negative reinforcement in a way?? You might laugh. The scale. I do not define my success by that number but--- knowing that I get on the scale every day-- that sure is an accountability factor and affects what I eat or don't eat. Seriously.

So sorry, we are slowly but surely getting caught up on publishing my blasted vlogs.

Now-- here is a quick summary of what my workout and diet has been like lately and is currently. Every day I get up and start the day with Genetix HD by GNC- ProSculpt. 

Then I do empty tummy cardio for about 30 minutes (sometimes 45 depending on what workout I choose). I've shared before but what I am LOVING for my cardio workouts are:

Les Mills Combat. Whoa. I still have yet to do all of them, but I absolutely love the crew, the music is great and I enjoy every workout -- there are some that are strictly cardio and then some that use weights but I am obsessed. OF COURSE you can buy your set at my Beachbody website by CLICKING HERE. 

I AM BEYOND in love with TurboFire. OMG. Chalene is a friend of mine but holy hell I had no idea how awesome these workouts are and HOW FUN--- and the music is awesome and I think the advanced set I got has like 24 workouts. All from 10 minutes long to 60 minutes. KILLER  and you have to get yours. CLICK HERE.

Seriously? Do you see what I Mean?? And check it out for Les Mills and you know why I am in love.

And yea I am LOVING Cathe's XTrain DVD with about 200million different workout combos on it. Seriously. The TABATA IS AMAZING. And I haven't even gotten to half of the workouts.....but you all know how much I love this woman and every single thing she does gets better. 

She is amazing. Now-- for weight training I'd say I focus on at least 3 hard/heavy sessions at the gym-- then when I workout at home, I'll do a hard/advanced workout like Cathe's, which is nice to mix it up. Regardless of what I do, I am doing cardio either right after weights or if I didn't do weights that day, I do another cardio session at night- never exceeding 90 minutes, (for the whole day total) usually more like 60-70. Yea, it's a solid significant training program but we are on the way to GOALS. I will not be doing cardio 2x a day forever. For sure. When I do weights, I go HEAVY heavy heavy. No colored dumbbells here. 

My diet is focused on lo-carb. I shoot for having all my carbs earlier in the day and later meals are more protein only focused. I usually have coffee plus oats plus either egg whites or protein pancake for breakfast, then a protein shake (with spinach etc.) or another meal with veggies or some fruit. Then every few hours eating with protein at each meal. LOTS of water. Only one soda a day. ;-( Supplements are still GNC Genetix HD and then pre-post workout supplementation and Vitapaks.

Geez. Long blog post. I must run my darlings-- let me know in the comments if you have specific questions for me and I'll answer in my post tomorrow. Sound good?

DISCLOSURE: GNC is a client of my company, FitFluential, LLC. I am an independent Beachbody Coach and will earn a commission if you purchase items from my website. Cathe Friedrich is on the BOARD OF ADVISORS OF FITFLUENTIAL LLC but for those of you that know me, I've been a fan of hers for 5+ years. All opinions expressed are my own.

What's Different.

Happy Friday people!! Are you freaking out that you are getting two blog posts in one day? Good grief I've been such a bad blogger lately- so inconsistent, it's a wonder I have any readers left! LOL but I think this year --- because I am putting things in place in my life (like at least one getaway trip per quarter for mental sanity!!), everything will be different.

You shall see right? ;-)

Salmon. Sashimi. YUM. It's a good thing I like it because OMG I have been eating a lot of of fish lately, especially this week. Michael has put me on some extreme test of character diet alteration for one week that consists of mostly FISH FISH FISH FISH FISH. Seriously I told him the other night I think I'm starting to smell like fish. More details on what this week has been like later-- I'm doing one week of this experiment, partially because I think that Michael enjoys watching me squirm and wince and say "When am I having my next cheeseburger?" LOL

I think I have mentioned previously that I was sent some of Designer Whey's Protein 2Go drink mix.....I used it on my NYC trip and kind of became OBSESSED with it. So each packet as you can see is 50 calories and 10g of protein. And you mix with water and it's kind of fizzy/juicy tasting vs. a protein shake taste. I AM IN LOVE. So easy. So great tasting and flavored with Stevia for those of you that appreciate that. This is a nice segue into the title of my blog post- "What's Different"-- but now, I make sure when I'm on the road or even not traveling, to plan for a mini-meal or meals on the go and I am ADDICTED to this stuff. I just love the flavors, the taste, it mixes well, it isn't another PROTEIN SHAKE- it's like mix up your day you know-- having something more like FIZZY JUICE, I don't know. I really like it.

So-- a TON of you have been writing asking what I'm doing different or what's changed etc. After all, I've changed my body more from even January 1 to now-- in 2 months, than I did all last year and the past 2 years. YES much of it is from specific things like a diet plan that is right for your body/age/goals-- and a workout plan that is balanced and that you stick to (as well as the diet) --- but honestly, I think that the biggest change has been in my MIND. You've heard me talking about in my vlogs lately-- rambling on about all the bad habits I've recognized in myself and now am changing....I truly believe that this is why I am now succeeding so much. THAT'S NOT IT ALONE. The accountability of blogging and being active in social media- that's huge. Having Michael as my in-life coach and nagger I mean gentle reminder- that's huge. STICKING TO YOUR DIET AND WORKOUT PLAN = that's huge. But if your MIND Is in the wrong place, your attitude won't propel you forward. 

If you haven't prepped your mind to anticipate your own internal objections ("I don't feel like it....") and the objections/doubts/skepticism of others (Oh come ON, you have worked out enough!" or "Oh come on, one cookie won't hurt!") - -- you might not succeed.

What's different? I'd say for today's post I will focus most heavily on that-- getting your mind in the right place. Analyzing yourself and seeing yourself and your bad habits for what they really are. NOT making excuses. Being willing to see where you are NOW and that your results won't happen overnight or in two weeks and that you have NO IDEA OF KNOWING WHEN YOU WILL START TO LIKE WHAT YOU SEE IN THE MIRROR. When you are strong in your mind-- all the rest will follow. When you are weak, you are screwed.

You have to make the commitment in your head to START. And not quit. I'm going to make this a series over the next few weeks and divide up all the little sub-categories of what I have done-- as far as behavioral change-- and share with you on this "What's Different" theme. Sound good? Below is Part THREE of the Home Workout DVDs tour that you had all asked for (part one and two are in my previous post CLICK HERE.)

DO YOU WORKOUT AT HOME OR GYM OR BOTH??

TGIF

Pretty simple. Right? But yet so many of us in our personal lives, professional lives and fitness lives let the opinions of others RULE our actions.

STOP. STOP ALLOWING THAT.

You all are asking me a lot lately-- and I am happy to share-- what has changed in me? Why am I having success now? It didn't happen all at once people but the big changes were in my MIND-- in my attitude and my belief in myself. And one HUGE HUGE HUGE thing is to -- especially if you are blogging, YouTubing etc--- you will get MORE OPINIONS on what you do or don't do than you ever imagined.

IGNORE. Just nod your head and say THANKS FOR STOPPING BY.

DO YOUR OWN THING. Move in a way that you like. Workout as often as you like. Eat a plan or follow an approach that works for you. The people that pop in and comment and critique you-- NEED TO GET OUT MORE.

Decide right now to IGNORE those that criticize your approach. Decide now. Because it won't stop. THIS change will help you so much, I cannot even tell you how much....until you experience it.

Step one. GO YOUR OWN WAY. Put your virtual ear plugs in and just DO YOUR THING. And then watch how much you accomplish while all these tools out there that want to critique others spend their days getting more flabby and lethargic and bitter. NOT pretty.

Gotta run-more later-- vacation is imminent and I have to prepare! ;-)

Light it UP.

One of the questions I've been getting recently-- and in the past of course, but most specifically very recently-- is about MOTIVATION or energy to keep with the path. "How do you find the energy when you don't like your results?" or "I have so much weight to lose but I can't get motivated to DO ANYTHING about it....." or "I've tried EVERYTHING in the past and I KNOW I need to change but how- how do get started and not give up?"

There is no one answer. If you've been following my blog for a while you know that the years of 2009/2010 and 2011--- those were 3 glory years of hormonal change hell for me. I didn't know it at the time but I was entering into early-onset perimenopause which gifted me first with serious internal temperature change (HOT all the time) then this ridiculously painful and not nice-looking skin condition that no one could diagnose for over TWO YEARS (NOT A TYPO) and then weight gain-- all in places I'd never had it before.

Good Times.

Anyway-- I did a whole lot of whining, feeling sorry for myself-- deluding myself into thinking I was still operating at full capacity- still being consistent in my workouts and in keeping a healthy diet, when in reality- for most of those 2-3 years, I was going from doctor to doctor, getting WORSE and just laying around my house hiding out from the world- embarrassed about what was happening to me. I was also in the midst of horrible other STUFF going on- losing my job, I was unemployed for 14+ months--- lots of drama personally and professionally--- yea, lots of "character growth" times.

All that said, I finally started to snap out of this by the end of 2011-- or started to at least realize I had to ACCEPT MYSELF and stop punishing myself every day. And I had to get real with myself in seeing where I was and admitting that in addition to the physical "condition" I have now, I had also DROPPED THE BALL. I stopped PLAYING. And I was out of practice.....to say the least. I had been thrown a curve ball and instead of adjusting, I let it hit me in the head and knock me out.

This is so true and it's not just some cheesy Whitney Houston love song. You have to start looking at yourself like you are the kickass prize that you ARE. NOW. Not when you are perfect- because likely, let's get REAL-- you will never think you are there, right?? Let's get REAL. Like yourself NOW. Tell yourself you won't beat yourself up every day and look for the bad in your body. Tell yourself you are CAPABLE AND UNSTOPPABLE. And commit to treating yourself to a killer journey. 

I've talked about this a lot-- my problem the past few years was researching the elusive PERFECT WORKOUT AND DIET PLAN. So I wanted to KNOW-- to absolutely KNOW that if I started Monday, by X days later, I would be X weight GUARANTEED. And I'd read new books or magazines or research on YouTube or blogs HOURS AND HOURS-- and of course all that time NOT WORKING OUT and probably many nights going to Burger King because 'I'm starting on Monday!' (cough cough)---- if I had just STARTED back then as I have end of last year and now--- OOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHH MYYYYYYYYYYYY LORRRRRRRRRRRDDDDDDDDDD. What a bunch of TIME WASTED.  Stop waiting for your body to be perfect before you workout- DUH. Stop waiting for Monday. Stop waiting for a new outfit or a gym membership. USE WHAT YOU HAVE AND START NOW. 

Once you start--- TELL YOURSELF IT WILL TAKE ALL YEAR. Commit to a year- long journey. Don't be an idiot and commit to 12 weeks. Maybe to start sure but stop putting deadlines on it. DO THE WORK and don't stop no matter what-- keep reminding yourself how hard you are working and that it WILL PAY OFF.

Because it will.

I'll be sharing a LOT of the mind-control lessons if you will that I've learned and conquered to finally turn MY ship around.....so stay tuned. Here's one of last week's ramble-on-a-thons:

The top I'm wearing in the vlog above is from the new Yoga line by Tara Stiles at REEBOK: (click to head to the product page on Reebok.com).

Here's a little peek at a video about the goods-- and I might add I'm heading back to my favorite hot yoga studio this weekend yayayayay!!

Now. Tonight I'm off to meet Michael for LEG SLAUGHTER I mean workout. I love me some LEG DAY. What's your favorite body part to train? Are you doing Yoga-- hot or no?

I did Cathe's Tabatacise workout today -- ONLY TABATA ONE people (there are 5 total on one DVD and 5 different workout levels obviously-- I did Tabata One and did it 3x, burned 350 calories and was cursing her the whole time. Seriously this woman is a genius.

She is a MACHINE AND I LOVE HER. 

Um, also obsessed after hopping on the PB2 train. HOLY cow-- you make a syrup for your protein pancakes (for pancakes I use BSN Lean Dessert) or apparently some gals are adding that to protein shakes-- which I need to do next (for shakes, I use GNC AMP and am loving their cookie dough flavor yesss plus it's low carb too) Gosh I have so much to tell you but I have to get to the gym. 

More to follow tomorrow. But til then- KICK SOME BUTT -- START NOW!!!!!!!!!!!

Quit WHINING. Start WINNING.

What's UP people?? Happy Sunday! I hope you people on the EAST coast of the U.S. are ok. We got snow but not too much and today it's starting to melt. Yea, we got snow the day I was supposed to be going to MIAMI for my vacation. BOO. ;-0

I'm over it.

So the title of today's post is QUIT WHINING- START WINNING. And the picture above speaks to this theme as well. I get a little tired of hearing so many people WHINE about their bodies and they DO NOTHING. I get tired of hearing people act as if those of us that DO workout and eat right have taken some magic pill or we have special skills that make it EASIER for us to DO THE WORK.

NOT. TRUE.

It never gets easier necessarily-- you have to continually challenge yourself in your workouts and yes, most people have to ALWAYS focus on their diet to some degree if you want to stay healthy and fit. Period. Get over it. IF that's what you want-- to be fit and healthy- well, embrace the fact that as you get older, every day, every month, every year, you have to keep taking it up a notch. What's the alternative? Being lazy, getting heavier and more out of shape and unhealthy. Doesn't appeal to me. I'm willing to do the work.

YOU NEED TO DECIDE TO DO THE WORK. Understand that -- probably every day-- there will be a point when you WON'T FEEL LIKE IT. Recognize that thought and that it is your inner evil person trying to sabotage your results. That inner evil person (Remember my mantra-- if you hate it then you need to put a name on it?? Put a name on this inner evil person-- call it the same name as your ex girlfriend or ex husband or your boss or whoever gets on your last nerve-- that will make you want to defeat them even more.) wants to push you BACK into the comfort zone.

WHERE NOTHING GOOD HAPPENS. EXCEPT GETTING COMFORTABLE. AND MUSHY.

I didn't FEEL like doing my cardio this morning. I've been sick all week. Aunt Flo arrived today. I slept in. My brain was on full-blast telling me to NOT workout and to BE A SLOTH. But I recognized it and instead ran to the kitchen for some of my favorite BLUE:

Typically once I have some of this, there is no way I'm not working out. It just gets me GOING. Then I put on my POLAR HRM and once I get the heart-beat in there, IT'S ON:

Please note-- IF YOU DON'T HAVE A HRM -- GET ONE. Do you see above--- that's a one hour workout time to burn 374 calories. I've talked about this before how infomercials and sometimes gyms will advertise classes as "BURNS OVER 1000 CALORIES IN AN HOUR!!!" -- and then people believe that. And they do a class and eat accordingly- as if they burned 1000 calories. I don't know that I have EVER burned 1000 calories in an hour in my life and I KILL IT when I workout. Also-- the machines at the gym-- um yea, sorry to tell you- they are also just GUESSING at what you burned and are usually WAY higher. Give yourself a break and get a good HRM, I have been using Polar for years. Highly recommend.

OMG. I swear to GOD if any more technology fails me......the above video for some reason this blasted SQUARESPACE blog cannot seem to recognize the URL. Why? Not a problem with YouTube? Just today--MORE PROBLEMS FROM THIS RIDICULOUSLY ABSURD NON-INTUITIVE NEW BLOG PLATFORM. Yes, the moment I can, I will switch to Wordpress at this point, which I dread-I absolutely dread because I don't like it. I have loved Squarespace for YEARS and years but since upgrading to this version 6-- I want to cut myself. NOTHING WORKS. And everything is soooo counterintuitive.

I have to go. ;-) Writing this blog is putting me into a bad mood.

But I am still a LITTLE sick today so I am NOT leaving the house -----I promise!! I WILL be better tomorrow. I WILL BE BETTER TOMORROW!! ;-)

I am now obsessed with PB2. Holy Cow. Where has this been all my life??

Please Forgive this Unscheduled Interruption.

Happy Friday people. I'll explain why later but suffice it to say I've had MAJOR TECHNOLOGY TRANSITION ISSUES THIS WEEK. OMG. I literally spent the better part of the day on SUNDAY, MONDAY, TUESDAY AND some of WEDNESDAY dealing with backtracking to retrieve data etc. Will explain later.

Off to the gym. ;-) I'm crushing it y'all. 

So thankful to Dr. Mike and Todd for creating a kick butt plan and for believing in me and pushing me. Cuz now it's not even a question. IT'S HAPPENING. In fact, FYI I've lost 2.6 pounds this week. BAM! 

I promised on Instagram that I'd share this recipe I am addicted to- originally from Gina Allioti's DVD. 

So easy. I make it almost every day for one meal. 

Grab a bowl. Add 1/2 cup oats. Add a handful of shredded zucchini (big handful, I use food processor to shred a lot at a time and keep the rest in my fridge for the next day), add 4 egg whites, add 1 Tsp Baking Soda, Cinnamon and sweetener if you wish. Add 1 to 1.5 scoops protein powder, (I'm currently using GNC AMP 60 Vanilla). Mix up. Add to greased pan-- I adjusted baking time for my oven, I bake at 360 for 50 minutes. Originally called for 375 at 50-55 but mine was getting overdone. 

One meal = one loaf.

OMG old favorite. It's back in my life. LOVE IT. 

Now here's my vlog from earlier-- I will be back with you this weekend with updates now that I'm all up to date with WORKING COMPUTERS AND SUCH! OY

How has your week been??? Are you off to a kick butt start to 2013??? ;-))

It Gets Harder. And Easier At the Same Time.

Snap Crackle POP!

I have no idea why I just typed that. Is it because I'm thinking of carbs and Rice Krispy Treats popped into my head? Who knows? Do you really need a reason? There really doesn't need to be a logical train of thought in this world.

But suffice it to say, today was another GREAT day. Busy, but I got stuff DONE. 

Workout in the morning? OH YEA. 

Vitamins and Supplements? Check.

Did I order more groceries to match my diet needs? CHECK. Gotta love Peapod:

And then I made an old favorite with the above ingredients from Gina Allioti's DVD:

Yes. Zucchini Protein Bread. Isn't very sexy looking but it will make you sexy if you eat it and workout and keep the rest of your diet clean. ;-) 

Here's my BABBLE-ON-A-THON about USING A HEART RATE MONITOR and why ----- it's important and more important, why if you are just getting started, you cannot CANNOT CANNOT count on the machines at the gym or the announcement outside of a class that "This class burns 700 calories in an hour!"

Lots of things were delivered today. Seriously. My doorbell was ringing every 5 minutes it seemed.

Yummy. I cannot wait to do these. ;-)

I also got this with my Peapod order, which all my FitFluential besties seem to rave about for sprinkling on food:

I will do a video tour perhaps of my fridge and you'll see how badass preparing-chick I am now. And--- my blog title today, "It gets harder and easier at the same time". What do I mean? My workouts are getting harder. They are supposed to. So is my muscle. WOOT! Yes I said that. And the "diet" is believe it or not getting easier, although with each day I'm getting more "strict" in sticking to it and TAKING CARE OF ME and fueling my body and not looking at it like a chore. 

MY BODY DESERVES THE BEST FUEL. 

I finished up my day today with a 90-Minute Massage at Life Time Fitness. (my gym). Remember. I told you, I- and several other Fitfluential peeps and friends have all said they've found the best massage therapists at their Life Time Fitness. You all know I've been getting massages for years so I am very very picky. AMAZING---- THE ONLY THING MORE AMAZING ARE THE SICK PRICES! The most reasonable massage prices I've EVER seen. Oh-- and if you aren't a member, you can get a massage AND get free childcare for 2 hours AND use the gym for that day. HELLO.

And with this I say, HELLZ YEA. Goodnight. 

DISCLOSURE: GNC, Life Time Fitness, Polar USA - all clients of my company, FitFluential. All opinions here are my own. 

Time to Dive In.

Is this a goal for you? No, not necessarily to look like Arnold, but hey, you boys- that's all good for you if that's your goal.

I MEAN, DO YOU WANT TO WORK SO HARD AND PUSH AND PUSH AND REACH TOWARD YOUR HIGHEST POTENTIAL EVERY DAY SO YOU CAN HAVE THIS FEELING---this feeling of-- THAT'S RIGHT. I DID THIS. I DID IT! AND IT FEELS AMAZING.

I'm gonna tell you- you better watch out, because the statement above is going to ring true here, on my blog, in my life, more than EVER. I'm taking what I've started with FitFluential- with founding a company, facing my doubts and fears and diving in, leaving the comfort zone behind-- putting myself OUT THERE, and conquering and continuing to do so every damn day--- 

AND NOW IT'S TIME TO GIVE THAT TO MYSELF.

I cannot describe how that Rude Awakening was just the prologue I needed personally to start this new book, the new chapter in my life. I SAW THE PAST. I saw all my fears and doubts and everything I haven't done and why. Sometimes you can see it a million times before you really throw caution to the wind and do it.

Carla said something to me yesterday -- and I love how she said it. She said, "You have your pit crew all ready to support you. You will own this and you will be so proud." -- 

Photo source: 

I'm being bold. I'm not being secret about my goals. I have the BEST EXPERTS in the biz in my personal pit crew, including Dr. Mike Roussell for my "diet" guidance and Todd Bumgardner designing my weekly workout plan. I am giddy with delight at the Week One plan that starts tomorrow. Carla ALWAYS has my back. You should stay tuned in the next week or so for something BIG coming from her. This woman lost 35+ pounds over 15 years ago if I'm correct-- she is a buff chiseled machine and she has kept it off. She illustrates WALKING THE WALK every dang day.

I'm putting my goals and my training and my diet out there and BOLDLY proclaiming I WILL. For the first time in months and months, probably in over a year, I am committing- but now finally knowing I have the people and pit crew in place to support my INTENTIONS and help ensure I KEEP THEM ACTIVE ---and the COMMITMENT will become a reality.

A couple people saw my photos below and wrote me saying "Wow KO you are really making progress!"-- and that made my day, but here is what is funny. And this is why I am SO EXCITED. The past three weeks my workouts- not so much. My eating- you watched my videos- BAD PLANNING, sporadic, etc. If I've made progress this year.....and I have, but all while VERY RANDOMLY working out and being your typical overworked startup freak and NOT eating when I should---- IMAGINE WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN NOW. 

I'm being bold. I'm saying YOU WILL NOT BELEIVE THE CHANGE YOU WILL SEE IN ME. 

And I'm here to tell you YOU CAN DO THE SAME. I don't care where you are or how far you are from your goal. NO EXCUSES. WE ALL CAN DO IT. We all can be UNSTOPPABLE. 

Now. I have several things I need to share with you. First of all, last night I was starting to feel a cold coming on. It's like my BFF Dutch way up in Boston SENT ME HIS COLD. ;-) So I told myself I was going to go to bed EARLY and sleep in. No getting up and rushing, even to church. And.....truth be told, I had just gotten my new TECHNOGEL mattress delivered. If you recall, they sent me a PILLOW a while back and I shot this vlog since my hormonally imbalanced, forever HOT person just LOVED that the pillow stays COOL. Heaven:

Now. Let's enter an entire mattress made of this stuff. Underneath my pretty bed:

(notice how HIGH UP it is now too? Might need a ladder! LOL)

is this bad-boy from Technogel.

It's GEL. GEL. 

My BFF and "Diet Guide Spirit Master of all things nutrition Jedi" Dr. Mike Roussell also got one. His came like 4 days before mine. He said that he was DYING at how comfortable it was. I'm gonna be honest with you all. I knew it would be nice but to think a mattress of any kind could be like earth shattering-- was NOT in my brain. I was wrong. And y'all know me. I would not OVERWHELMINGLY rave about something, I don't need to- if it wasn't true. I knew I'd have good things to say about it but PEOPLE-- I SLEPT IN UNTIL 11AM TODAY. I don't think I've done that since college. This bed is like YOU DO NOT WANT TO GET OUT OF IT. No idea how to describe the comfort. And--- also to be honest, when I FIRST climbed on it, it felt very FIRM. I told Mike I didn't think it was soft enough for me. STUPID KELLY. 

If you want to learn more about the technology-- CLICK HERE FOR THEIR WEBSITE. 

Color me wanting to live in my bed now. OMG. 

I may have also mentioned-- because I told you guys, how sleep evades me. I have serious problems falling asleep because of my MIND going a million miles an hour. Dr. Mike and I were part of several FitFluential peeps that got to try out Gaiam TV and they have SO MUCH MORE on the site than I thought. For me, in particular- they have MEDITATION, GUIDED MEDITATION videos in addition to yoga, fitness, cool movies, documentaries and just awesomeness. If you are into that-- if you like discovery channel stuff but more about wellness, inner peace, yoga, holistic healing and all that jazz, this is your place. Seriously. You can check it out totally free for 10 days if you don't believe me-- no credit card or auto billing happens. Seriously. Go there. See below. It gives me some Zen. Which clearly I need. 

Now. It is Sunday. I am off to enjoy the day and NOT WORK. That's right. NOT WORK! And I have some more cool stuff to share this week- my workouts, my "diet" and all that goodness.

And for those of you all writing me asking about my previously featured REEBOK shoes, oh snap. Here's a $20 OFF coupon code for you to use-- valid through the end of the year. 

Enjoy. 

Now what's your GO BIG OR GO HOME goals for NOW and for 2013?

**Disclosure: Reebok, GNC, GaiamTV, and Technogel are clients of my company, FitFluential. All opinions expressed here are solely my own.**

;-)

Yes. I'd Like a 48 Hour Day, 10 Assistants and a Vacation.

It is horrifying to me when I finally sit down for 10 minutes to blog and see that the last time I blogged was TWO WEEKS AGO! Perhaps that can tell you how insane my life has become. LOL

In all seriousness, when I last posted, I had just arrived in Boston-- I was there that ENTIRE WEEK and it was JAM-PACKED full of meetings and BAD TRAFFIC. But-- I'll say this, I am so proud of myself for GETTING IT DONE while out of town! BOOYA! I don't have a ton of time right now but I will give you some fast and furious updates.....

This is the hill I ran several times while in Boston. BUT....IN ADDITION TO RUNNING I GOT MY WEIGHT TRAINING IN! WOOT! THAT'S RIGHT KITTENS! Remember I've been saying I've been bad, and I so enjoy going for a run, but I realized in my frazzled state of mind and being distracted and blah blah blah blah blah blah blah -- I was primarily running and no weight training getting done. 

DUMB. 

NEW FOCUS IS ON HEAVY WEIGHTS. HEAVY. WEIGHTS. BIG TIME. WAIT TIL YOU SEE WHAT'S COMING.

But my immediate goals are, and they are IN PROGRESS!!!!

• Wake up earlier. I'm not gonna go from waking up at 8:30-9am (because I've been going to bed at 1am, yes. I cannot lie!) to 6am immediately. I'm transitioning to earlier each week. Last week I did 8am, this week I'm at 7:30am/7am and next week or so hope to hit 6:30am with an ultimate bed-time of 10pm. 
• Workouts in the morning. Optional extras at night.
• MUST HAVE 4-5 DAYS OF WEIGHTS.
• Not limiting my running but no LONG LONG runs (LOL not that I've ever really done more than 4 miles ever!) and always incorporating sprints or intervals etc. 
• DOWN TIME. 
• EAT!!! FREAKING EAT LIKE A NORMAL PERSON FUELING THEIR WORKOUTS KELLY. Dang. People I hate that I'm THAT PERSON-- that work person that is like forgetting to plan. This will stop. I'm getting better. 
• TAKE VITAMINS/SUPPLEMENTS RELIGIOUSLY

I packed my Vitapaks from GNC, My protein powder, my BCAAs, my Pro-Sculpt and my shaker bottle. ;-)

These are the new Zig Kicks from Reebok. I talk about them-- for weight training and running in the babble-on-a-thons below:

Part TWO:

And that top that I'm wearing in the vlogs is SERIOUSLY THE BOMB. MY FAVORITE TOP SO FAR EVER FROM REEBOK. Loud love for that. CLICK HERE if you want to get yourself one and OH SNAP TODAY THEY ARE 40% OFF!! BOOYA. I seriously didn't even plan that.

Lastly, here's a little snapshot of my crew and THE AMAZING CREW AT REEBOK CROSSFIT ONE-- they hosted us (FitFluential) and took our Ambassadors through a cool Crossfit WOD:

Photo Courtesy of REEBOK. 

Here are some peeks at the WOD:

And MORE:

And more:

One last one:

Yes, that sassy little lady is 76 years old and Crossfitting like a boss. What's your excuse? Right? I think of her every time I want to be lame. 

I'm off for tonight. Working on balance peeps and having time to blog again. My goodness.

DISCLOSURE: Reebok and GNC are both clients of my company, FitFluential. All opinions are my own but many of the products I mention here were provided for me by these organizations at no cost. 

You've GOT THIS.

It's on. As I've been sitting here at my desk, mapping out ON PAPER my big goals, then the sub-goals, then the sub-goals of those goals, and then applying this strategy to my business goals/to-do list, I realize (WATCH OUT, NERD ALERT COMING UP)-- this is cool. This is nerdily fun. When you get detail oriented and make yourself, your goals, a project that is simply a matter of DETAILS and equations of activity done toward the final goal...yea, it becomes quite fun. 

I'm actually getting excited about how different THIS week will be with my nerdy new focus on writing every single component of my goal and my journey down and MAKING IT HAPPEN instead of spending more time DREAMING ABOUT IT, HOPING FOR IT, WISHING ON IT, THINKING ABOUT HOW TO START IT, WHINING ABOUT WHY I HAVEN'T DONE ALL OF THIS BEFORE, WISHING I HAD DONE IT EARLIER. 

Love this saying and also love that this picture is perfect for me because my main vanity goal is to get my blasted core back to where it was. This is where my remaining inches are to blast off. And it will be so nice to be proud of my core again. 

Miss Valerie Waters will be guiding my training-- with a new focus on my workouts in the GYM. And I'm heading to Miami soon and will be doing some getting my ass kicked working out with JAY again! WOOOO. That's right, Jay is my first trainer ever, the one I met up HERE at Life Time Fitness in Chicago-- now he trains at Boca. And thus I will go to Jay. He's that good. Not to mention the gym at Life Time clearly has the goods; check it out:

No doubt about that. I love the free-motion machines. 

So. What's your story. Do you have your goals written out yet? Have you been like me and thought, "I know what I need to do and I'm on it..."?? Was that really getting you there? 

Here is my ramble-on-a-thon from earlier today. Cheers to the start of great things people. 

How was your weekend?

See you tomorrow!

Give me 2 Snaps, A Twist and Kiss.

That's right- why? Because I am kicking a** and taking names y'all! This picture is just....GOAL. That's a thing of beauty and I will tell you this, my back is starting to take shape nicely. OH I live for the day when I've lost the fat I want to because I have glorious muscle underneath. 

Don't let THAT happen.

It's really exciting to be in this place in my life where finally I know that all the work I'm doing is RIGHT. I'm not scrambling or panicking or giving up and starting over. The new habits are permanent and I'm more CALM in my head about things. It's just SUCH a great feeling to know that I've left behind the destructive habits I had in the past. By no means do I want to suggest I don't have work to do - I will be a work in progress for the rest of my life. But I can tell you this, my head is in the right place. I'm not hiding anymore. I've faced my fears, my doubts, my everything. 

Everything is new and everything is better. I just can't describe it. 

Ever since my insane weekend, forgive me, I've been bad blogger girl but-- here's the latest addition to my fitness life this week. I'm running again.

I ran Tuesday night and I ran today at Lifetime Fitness on the treadmill:

Once Val told me she'd like me to do running for my cardio I was all like UM YES PLEASE. For some reason I was thinking she would prefer PLYO. Not so much. Go figure. I trust her and she says Plyo could bulk my legs which build muscle VERY EASILY and since I've lost an inch already on both thighs, I'm gonna keep going with this. ;-) Plus, I enjoy running and this time, I'm just doing it my way. No intense right away pressure on myself to do a 1/2 marathon immediately although I'm pretty sure that's on the 2012 Fitness Bucket List. *ahem*

I chugged my bright red Genetix HD Pro-Sculpt prior to my workout-- this is week 2 on the stuff and I dig it. All I can is people- today I put on my jean shorts. I haven't put on my jean shorts in 2 years. That tells you things are changing in this house. See this?

We. Are. Getting. There. 

I grabbed my Saucony shoes (when I last bought my running shoes, I bought 2 pair. One Saucony and one Asics. I have to say I have tended to wear the Saucony more and they feel like AIR.) I did about 3 minutes of a warmup then did 5mph for most of the time, I wanted to do 3 miles, like I did on Tuesday. I only had to stop a few times and when I did stop I did so for maybe 1 minute. At the end I did a bit of 3.5mph for 30 seconds then 5mph, then 4mph then 6 mph, then 5mph then 7 mph. That was fun. Total Sweatfest. And I felt GREAT. 

Gotta run y'all. What is something you have as your new goal for this summer? What are you going to do differently, better, more challenging?

TGIF.

'I've had an insane week. OMG. Insane Friday. Just finished. I am off to do some ENJOY. Here is my sweaty vlog from yesterday talking about Valerie Waters and her asskicking workout. OMG> Today I did Ibiza and again was crying for mommy. Seriously. This BUTT is getting worked!! And I also used my Ultimate Dip Machine thingy. Don't make me look up the actual name of it:

And this is me on the floor gasping for air but smiling it was over today:

Also-- as you know, GNC sent me some NON-WHEY protein powders and I am sooo happy. 

I've now used the Vega Sport, the Egg Protein and the Soy 95 today:

Honestly, they are all GREAT. I was nervous about trying the Egg Protein, thinking it would taste EGGY but it is as stellar as the best chocolate protein powder out there! Bonus!! And the Soy95 is NON-GMO Soy!! (PS Tune in next Wednesday night for our #FitFluential Twitter chat with Solae-- we'll be discussing SOY and providing information/education on the benefits and correcting a lot of misinformation out there on soy.--See FitFluential.com for more details.)

So. It's Friday. I'm kicking but on Valerie's workouts. Sticking to the diet plan. Taking my vitamins. Taking Melatonin at night instead of Excedrin PM. It's beautiful. ;-) 

What are your plans for this weekend?

Disclosure: GNC is a client of my company FitFluential. They provided the protein powders you see mentioned here to me at no cost. All opinions are my own. Valerie Waters is an Ambassador of FitFluential, my company and a dear friend. I am not being paid to do her program or paid to promote it and I earn no compensation for referring people to her program. I simply believe in her and she rocks. 

Happy Hump Day!

Happy Hump Day Y'all! Just got home from a LONG-OVERDUE Hot Stone Massage. Kelly is in a happy place right now. And Kelly is now talking in third person. ;-0

Today I took  as my day OFF from a workout, since I've kicked so much a** this week. Still ate right on target today. Oats/protein for breakfast, I was on the run for lunch so I had a bit of a compromise--- had the roast beef only from a sandwich, then had a protein bar, then had some almonds/mozz cheese for a snack, now I have some roasted veggies in the oven to put on top of a hujazz salad with some Tilapia on the side. Protein shake before bed. BOOM! 

Try to stop this. I'm kissing the belly blues buh bye. (and the belly of course)

Back tomorrow. 

Here's my #PROOF from yesterday:

Truth. 

;-)

This train didn't stop today!

Is this freaking you out? The extent to which the KO Comeback is ON and in your face? That's how I roll now peeps. I am unstoppable now. 

BTW this picture above illustrates what I'm doing at home in some of my workouts with my UGI Fit ball. Very fun. Gets the heart rate UP. ;-)

Here's my post-workout vlog from last night. Yea.    OWNED IT.

You heard me talk about #PROOF in this vlog. And we'll be doing a write-up on this on the FitFluential blog early next week. But, we invite you to join all of us in sharing our "PROOF" of activity every day on Twitter (of course you can tag it anywhere (instagram, Facebook, your blog, YouTube, etc.) by using #FitFluential #PROOF. HINT-- there will be weekly and monthly prizes in the near future for this. ;-)

Found this on Tumblr today. Everything I'm doing, I'm focusing on carving up that core. Not JUST for looks but also for STRENGTH. The more you realize how your core is involved in every movement the body makes, the more you realize how critical core strength is for us as we age. And I'm AGING y'all. ;-)

On a side note, a ton of you have written me asking about FitFluential- who can be a member, etc. Here are the answers. ANYONE that is interested in Fitness and in future exclusive discounts, deals and announcements of regional fun fitness events should join. You can join as an Enthusiast (which means you don't have to be a blogger or YouTuber) by CLICKING HERE.

You can join us if you are a blogger, YouTuber or are active in social media with a good audience by becoming an Influencer. CLICK HERE.

You can apply to become an Ambassador if you are a blogger and/or YouTuber with a solid audience and experience. You MUST be on Twitter and it helps if you are on Pinterest already. We review each applicant individually and the approval process takes 2-4 weeks at least. If you are rejected, we tell you exactly what you must do/change in order to be approved next time, so it's all good. CLICK HERE TO APPLY. 

Common Questions arise-- NO there are no fees to membership. NO being an Ambassador is not a "JOB" where you are required to do anything on a monthly or weekly basis, you are simply presented with paid opportunities that you can opt in for or out of etc. We have BIG HUGE things coming up this year and I will tell you this. You are crazy to not join my FitFluential Family. We have 3000 members and reach more than 60 Million people each month. Join us and join the fun. You won't regret it.

Now. I must go get in some cardio and core tonight. Taking my GenetixHD first to torch my calories. WOOOT! Love this stuff. For Realz. Take a peek at my new BFF Will in this commercial. And you'll be hearing a lot more from him very soon through FitFluential. This guy knows his stuff. 

 Last night I did a killer legs/glutes workout. OWNED IT. What's your plan for today? 

How to make a comeback.

BOOM! Did I scare ya? Yea, that's right. I'm BACK. And- no pun intended kind of-- today I did Back and Biceps baby! WOOOO. And I'm blogging like I said I would! Watch me now. Just watch me in my comeback story. OK?

Today's eats so far (and FYI, remember, I'm only sharing for accountability not to set up myself as an example or to tell anyone what to eat. I'm doing what works for me, you should do the same.):

• Breakfast: Oats + Protein Shake (NO COFFEE OMG!!)
• Meal 2: Tuna Salad (albacore + Lo-Fat Miracle Whip yes I love the MW) and a Banana
• Meal 3: Two meatballs and marinara from Portillos, Diet Coke
• Meal 4: Pre-Workout Protein Bar 30g protein
• Meal 5: Tilapia, Veggies, Salad (using hummus + water for dressing)
• Meal 6: Protein Shake + Fish Oil
• Tomorrow I will be back 100% on the GNC GenetixHD supplement stack as well.*

Also I'm at my house tonight and since the water situation isn't resolved until tomorrow morning, I am purposely NOT drinking a lot of water right now. *Ahem*. (NOT getting stressed about it.....Zen Zen Zen)

Here's a great video (until I shoot videos again starting tomorrow) from Monica Brandt for shoulders-- killer tips in here:

Did I mention also that I'm a bit annoyed by this but I discovered that broccoli and cauliflower GIVE ME A STOMACH ACHE!!! WTH?? Apparently this is common but it upsets me greatly as I was digging roasted broccoli and cauliflower. So last night I adapted and used: peppers, brussel sprouts, asparagus and zucchini and.....no bloat. No tummy ache. My body is such a diva. 

I'll cater to my stomach so that I can be showing it off again this summer. Dang straight. Kelly's Comeback is ON. Day 2. Check. 

What's YOUR Plan of Attack this week? 

*Disclosure: GNC is a client of my company, FitFluential. All opinions are my own. 

Just do SOMETHING. Every day!

New Motto.

I love it. Today- I am sore. And I am loving it! WOOT! So excited. In fact so excited I shot this vlog tonight after I did an impromptu workout at night!! Check it:

I feel really good about getting back to good habits. I'm taking my vitamins every day at lunch-time, in addition to the GNC Genetix HD supplement stack I've shared in the past. Call me crazy, but I feel like I see some leaning out in myself. Probably too early to tell but we'll see. 

GOAL. 

I'm just looking back at the last few months of 2011, well September- December so a bit more, but seeing what was wrong. It was all WORK and no rest, so I'm putting boundaries in place and re-establishing habits. I can't be all things to all people or I'm no good to anyone! I have to put me first. And now I am. You'll see a difference.

Random QUESTION OF THE DAY: When do you go to bed, and when do you wake up?? 

Yes! Feeling Better and Better!

Isn't that the truth? Seriously. I do find that what tends to work with me and my life and my goals RIGHT NOW for simply getting back into my habit where a daily workout was not negotiable, it was part of my day just like brushing my teeth every morning and night-- a big part of what works for me in this endeavor is just mentally reminding myself of what I want. 

I want to get back to the point where I can walk in my closet and wear anything that's in there. 

Sometimes, yea, it's about superficial things. Big deal. 

I'm heading out to a dinner meeting so I don't have a lot of time but wanted to update y'all that yes I am finally starting to feel better. I did my first workout yesterday- first workout in more than ten days of sickness hell. I didn't overdo it, I did Taebo Amped and some core work and burned 625 calories. Today I did most of my Ilaria Bodystrikes DVD and I have my TRX in my hotel room (I'm downtown Chicago for a conference) for some upper body after dinner. Yea, I'm gonna do it. 

Last night was the first night in 10+ days that I went to sleep with NO COUGH DROPS. What a beautiful thing. Here is my vlog from that morning, where I still sound a bit like a man, sorry. My voice is much better today. ;-)

I also started using the GNC Genetix HD this week which I dig. I'll shoot a vlog later this week or maybe later tonight showing the 3 different products. I love the taste of the pre-workout drink even though in the jar it smells nasty. ;-) 

Hope you guys are having a great week....more later!! WOOT!

YES, I'm alive.

Hello Kittens. Yes, I'm alive, but HOT DANG I've had the cold/flu from hell! Seriously! It's like it is the never-ending cold! I believe I woke up like at 3am Thursday morning with that horrible sore throat- you know the kind, where it hurts to swallow, and you know how much it hurts to swallow, so you don't want to swallow but inevitably you have to and then it feels like you have a vice on your throat. That kind. Then I proceeded to get the migraine, the fever, the dry scratchy throat and overall "Woe is me" sick feeling. I knew without a doubt that this was the result of me still working too much, too late, too intensely without a break, being too hard on myself, rushing everywhere, and not -- STILL --- not eating right, not taking my vitamins not getting enough sleep and even just enough OFF TIME. 

I almost feel like - I've been talking about this for several months now. I've recognized that I'm doing it and yet, I keep doing it. I keep working too much. I keep putting my health and well being last. I feel like God is saying SERIOUSLY KELLY-- slow down. STOP WORKING once in a while. This isn't a race. Enjoy life along the way.

I have been on my couch, under a blankie watching my Alias DVDs for 5 days. And I'm not even joking, even last night I was up all night long with a dry throat from hell (I do think part of this is that my condo needs a humidifier vaporizer thingy) and a bloody nose. I am one sexy biotch today I'llSo tell you that kittens. ;-) 

Instead of being upset and whining that "OH now I'm another week of no workouts behind!!!" I'm going to realize that this horrible flu happened for a reason. My body needs a break and my mind needs a break and I need to walk the talk. Meaning, I know what I've been doing wrong. Shutup and put the things back in place that need to be in place.

Without a doubt:

• I am back to taking my vitamins every day. Yes vitamins smell funny. But I will tell you this, when I regularly take vitamins I do not get sick. Period. I'm taking the GNC Vita-Paks which make it about as easy and convenient as pie. 
• Water. Duh.
• Sleep. More of it. Duh.
• NOT OPENING MY OUTLOOK IN THE MORNING UNTIL AFTER MY WORKOUTS. Yes, I've still been going into my office and then the morning escapes me! NO MORE!
• Be more proactive about eating. More protein, less convenience food. PLAN. PLAN PLAN. 

I saw this on Tumblr tonight and I was like HOLY Heck that is awesome. FYI I am in NYC today, flying home on Friday. Stay tuned for more on why I'm here- brought my camcorder!!

Question of the day: Do you get the flu shot?? Do you take vitamins daily? 

Disclosure: GNC is a client of my company, FitFluential. All opinions here are my own.

HOLLA!!

Good Morning Kittens! How is your weekend going? Mine- um, has already zipped by. Seriously. I was so all going into this weekend thinking, "GREAT I'm gonna use this weekend to have no distractions and get caught up...." YEA NOT SO MUCH. 

I did do the dreaded Take-The-Christmas-Decorations-Down-Day yesterday. I despise that day. It's so painstakingly LONG and messy. UGH. Next year I hope to pay someone to do it for me. Anyway, that took up a good portion of yesterday then last night I babysat for a friend. Yea, welcome to Kelly O's wild and crazy Saturday nights hahaha. Now today it is Sunday, I got to bed very late, I slept in until 8:30am (CRAZY!!!!!) and woke up with a splitting headache....Now I'm getting ready to squeeze in a quick circuit workout before I head to a birthday party. 

I am going with a yoga theme today because....this week I'm going back to Hot Yoga. AMEN. I cannot tell y'all how much I have missed doing hot yoga. If you are new to this blog- I have not been able to do upper body weights or hot yoga for like 2 months because of a shoulder injury which thanks to my FitFluential friends, in particular, Steve Pfiester, my shoulder is MUCH BETTER and ready to kick butt. 

Werd. Up.

Here is an epic vlog from Kelly O. Why epic? Because it's the shortest vlog EVER- under 5 minutes OMG!! But it's showing you the cute new VSX Victoria's Secret Bras I've been digging. There are 3 styles that I got and two of them rock my face off. Haven't tried the 3rd one yet but stay tuned.

I'm having so much fun with new STUFF in 2012 already. Another thing that has been making me feel uber-cool and in the know is CHIA. I clearly was like one of the last bloggers on the planet not have tried Chia Seeds- I'd been seeing recipes with Chia Oats, Chia Smoothies and Protein Shakes and more for over a year but it wasn't until FitFluential started working with GNC (#client) that I started trying the Chia. And I dig it. I'm a bit lame and have ONLY made a protein shake with it but stay tuned because I will link y'all over to a ton of fun Chia recipes from my FitFuential Ambassadors, who know how to throw it DOWN in Chia-land. 

EXHIBIT A: Check out my new BFF and FitFluential Ambassador PowerCakes! She is amazing. She made CHIA JAM. Also every breakfast she makes looks like the cover of a fitness food magazine. For realz.

And if you are wanting to make your smoothies and protein shakes at work or on the road, hello and welcome to your very cool blender solution from GNC. 

So many of you have asked about this. It is bada** and much better than the to-go blender I bought from another brand that didn't blend well, was a pain to clean up and kind of sucked. Seriously.

Must go run !!

Question of the Day: Do you pack healthy foods for the office, if you work in an office?

*Disclosure: GNC is a client of my company, FitFluential. All opinions shared on this blog are my own.*