Get it together ash.

shew.

Ok. So i've not posted much lately... mostly because i've been busy but that is still no excuse. I will tell on myself though. One day I'm a rockstar with my food choices and the next I'll eat Cookout and a cupcake. No bueno ya'll.... I have however been going to zumba every chance I get and doing it at home as well. I went to the gym in McKee as well this week and I plan on going back. I really want to start incorporating weights into my exercising. But all the weights and zumba in the world wont help me if I dont CONISTENTLY eat well! I'm still at a 5lb weight loss as well so i'm glad i've not gained any! So now its time to really challenge myself and step up my game!

Peace out -ash.

Weigh In Wednesday.

My first one back! I'm going to try my best to do this every single week. I know some people that weigh themselves every single day. Not my thing. I like surprises. What i've learned from Weigh In Wednesday is every surprise isn't a good one. So lets just take surprises that aren't good and make them a "learning experience" isnt that what we classify everything in life that we don't like lol It's true though.

This is my first weigh in since I began a week and a half ago. Here are my results!

I lost 5lbs

I lost 2 inches in my chest and an 1 1/2 iches in my stomach!

Today was a good surprise!

Gotta keep going! Hows your week going???

Inspiration=Motivation

I got a lot of motivation from being inspired by different people and seeing REAL changes. From normal people. Those who have had kids, have stretch marks, lost 100 lbs. Someone who was a total couch potato and now runs marathons, or someone who never ate one healthy thing now eats a clean diet. Just normal people that have jobs, take care of their kids, go to school, or lead busy lifestyles but find the time to work in exercise and prep healthy lunches and meals. I'm not that inspired by celebrities that make a total transformation. A lot of them have their food prepped for them and their trainers come to them. I like to find these people who have to literally MAKE the time to make it happen. Two blogs I follow regularly are Mama Laughlin and Skinny Meg. Both are huge inspirations to me!! Follow them on instagram and some of their progress pics and before and afters are amazing! Skinny Meg is 30 weeks preg. and goes to the gym daily! Whaaaaat??? 

I think after a while as conceited as it sounds you start to inspire yourself. You start seeing changes in your body, your mood, your energy level, your clothes, I could go on and on... But the more changes you start seeing and feeling the more you want to challenge yourself. I know before I slacked off I just had the energy and and zeal to try so much. Started slacking off and it was all I could do to get ready and keep my house straightened up, let alone add something new to the mix.

I guess I have an obsessive personality... if I take something on such as a healthy lifestyle then I want to know everything. I'm always reading and studying about foods or exercises, whats really good and what really isn't and so on. So I want to constantly be intrigued by what i'm doing. Whether its being healthy or re-decorating my house. 

Couldn't be inspired without the Lord. He's who is giving me this zeal and the strength to keep this up and i'm so thankful!

Just find something that can keep you going. 

I posted this on Instagram yesterday and I live everything about it.

Peace out- ash.

1 Week In.

So I've got an entire week behind me with this "lifestyle" change. I. Am. Loving. It. I feel so back to "myself" and my energy level is up beyond. Seriously it was getting bad. It was all I could do to make it until 4:00 just to get home and take a nap, wake up, do VERY LITTLE, and then go back to bed. I have stayed pretty busy lately but the exhaustion and draggy feeling was getting out of control! Until you actually switch all of your food up you just have no idea how bad you felt until you realize how good your feeling now. So try it ya'll!

Moving on.

So with my changes in my diet I have stayed so full. I keep up with my food on my fitness pal. You can add me - ashleighryan628@hotmail.com and It gives you a pie graph with your goal. Right now my goals are 50% carbs, 20% Protein, and 30% fat, those fats being "healthy fat" of course. And i've actually stayed within range really well. I also started pouring some chia seeds on pretty much everything I eat. The health benefits from everything i've read is beyond wonderful! They expand in your stomach and make you feel fuller longer. You should seriously try them! To me personally a bag of them is a bit expensive ranging on the brand its anywhere from $6-11.00 but a bag will seriously last for months. So its worth a shot!

My goal has been to drink 100oz. of water a day. Yeah.

Not been going so well.....

At all...

It is the absolute most hardest struggle!! I've been trying different things to help me get it down but I just don't know. So its definitely going to be a challenge!

I've also been taking different vitamins. I started taking magnesium and biotin. I take fish oil and I still take Catalyst and ThermoPlus which are from Advocare. I did the Advocare cleanse back in the spring and I loved it. From what i've studied out about it and the reviews I've read It seems  to be a safe program. I'm usually VERY hesitant about any type of supplements but I trust these and they aren't promised to be some type of "miracle" that does the work for you. They're an aid and you have to put the work into it. Check out those links! If you need any more info about Advocare and the challenge I'll help to the best I can or I can get someone for you!

So on Monday I started out with all of the healthy food and staying on track but I just wasn't feeling the exercise. Until I went back to Zumba on Thursday. If you've never read my blog then let me update you I use to regularly go to zumba, Its on Monday and Thursday from 6:30-7:30 at Gray Hawk Reformed Church and Ashley Judd is the instructor. It's wonderful, she's wonderful, and you should seriously come! If your thinking "oh i'll look crazy I can't do that, I'm too embarrassed" then stop thinking that. There is absolutely no time for anyone to be watching you because all everyone else is thinking is "I need water and I need to breath" So try zumba!! Going back thurs. was just the motivation I needed so now i'm pumped! My advice to anyone is to try zumba its really fun, fast paced and you will burn a TON of calories! When I'm at home I find some zumba on YouTube and do an hour or so by myself. I've found a lot of different ones and some are fun but they are actual professional dancers so it's a bit difficult to keep up with. I like to do these at home zumba routines at home you can watch them here and here. 1 hour of zumba can burn anywhere from 600-900 calories. Do I need to keep going on???

I'm not going to weigh or measure myself until Wed. Regardless of what the measuring tape or scale says, I already feel so wonderful! I'm just happy to be getting back into a healthy routine. YOU CAN DO THIS! Just start!

Peace out. -ash

2013 Recap.

WHAT! How did we get here? Time is going by so fast! With that said though I really, really , really enjoyed 2013!

I decided to lose some weight as usual. Thats my plan every January but for some reason this past January I dove in head first and accomplished it!. I lost 35 pounds and started running!! Not well, nor fast, or for a long period of a time but I still ran! I could walk up the V-School hill without stopping and carry a conversation from bottom to top and back down, twice. Never ever thought I could do such. I really put out an effort and accomplished some goals!

I went on my first real vacation past Tennessee. No offense TN I love ya and all but Tybee Island was amazing! I'm already planning our next vacation.

I didn't actually do a great deal of things during the summer I thought I would but I stayed really active, if that makes sense. I continually push mowed my yard, I went on a lot of runs/walks, I got tan!! I spent more money then I should have ever friday going shopping with Kayla and Michelle (aka Kbz and Meeshellz, thats what I call them) I just stayed on the go and very rarely stayed inside unless I had to. I loved that! Usually I hate really hot weather, heats ok to a degree but you mix in some humidity and i'm done! For whatever reason it didn't bother me I just stayed outside all of the time!

My sweet friend Jess got married!! We've been best friends since 2nd Grade. I love her so much!

Then My sweet Heather got married! We've been best friends since 4th grade! Love her so much!

Ryan and I decided to get extra jobs. Which isn't as bad as I thought, I kinda like having an extra job.

The holidays went well I got to spend time with family but not enough. I'm thankful for what time I get to be with them but it never seems like enough. Its always run to this house, leave early, rush to this house, leave early rush home change clothes go to work... I must be getting old.

2012 was a really hard year so it was refreshing to have a year like 2013 where I could just "heal."

Of course I have some lists and goals for this year. I like how at the beginning of each year everyone is eager to change things about their life and get everything together. Even if most of us are a mess by January 15th it doesn't matter at least for a while we had good intentions and sometimes the plans we hoped that would stick actually do. Happy 2014 everyone! I hope its our best year yet!

All the Groceries.

I'm one of those odd people who actually love going to the Grocery store. It makes me sad to hear people tell about their hatred of going. This past trip was hurtful though. I spent sooooooo much money. I tried to buy up a lot of my "staple" foods and plus Ryan decided he wants to start eating healthier as well. We both have hectic schedules that are usually opposite of one another so I rarely buy many groceries. I usually just pick up some snacks and MAYBE once a week we would cook a meal that both of us get to sit at the same time and eat. So my grocery bill was never very high but with that means we have been eating out a lot. So that has definately had to change. So I made sure I bought PLENTY of different things to keep our meals and snacks switched up. Plus I have a huge goal of getting creative with some of my ingredients so that nothing gets wasted. I hate when I have to pretty much just throw my money in the garbage! Here are some of my favorites and some newbies!

I bought a bag of natural almonds, pistachios, and vanilla blueberry granola clusters. Ryan went through each bag and seperated them all out in to snack size bags so everything is a serving size and really quick to just grab and go! Wheat thins are my fave and I love the sandwich slims sometimes i'm just over wheat bread.

I've never bought coconut oil before and i'm still a little confused on what to do with it. I cook with extra virgin olive oil or just use some canola oil spray so I might just use the coconut oil for my hair... lol I love honey peanut butter! Of course brown rice I usually always cook a little bit extra and just keep it in the fridge that way its done and I can just throw it into whatever fast lunch or dinner i'm making. I'm just now starting out with whey protein... I made a smoothie with it and it was actually pretty good.

If your going to have pasta go with whole grain! Quinoa is a wonderful food to have on hand. Its still sort of strange to me but its super healthy! I got some Special K hot cereal cups for monings I don't have time to make break fast.

Of course fresh fruit, I also have bags of frozen fruit. I love cheese and all though I could just buy a block and cut it up into little pieces like these cow pals I just prefer to buy them.

Protein bars for on the go... Almond milk is the bomb... and some people are different about canned food but I myself love them. Keep diced tomatoes and crushed tomatoes on hand and you can make really yummy homemade sauces that are really easy and quick and much healthier! I keep a lot of canned corn, green beans, beans of all sorts, and Rotel. Easy to make recipes with all of those!

My new thing is Chia seeds. I've been putting them in everything. They are so healthy!! You cant taste them they're wonderful way to sneak extra goodness into your diet!

I also keep veggies stocked in the fridge, sliced and diced onion, carrots, celery, tomatoes, etc. I keep bags of frozen broccoli and cauliflower. Turkey lunch meat and chicken breast and I like turkey smoked sausage. So with all of this there is plenty of variety! Just have to switch a few things out. 

Lucky for me Ryan will eat whatever healthy things I cook and if he wants some type of snack he will just go get it. So I don't have to keep snacks that are bad for me in the house. BUT if you have to keep things for your spouse or kids it really helps if you meal plan and meal prep. So that when they're snacking and you want to as well just go grab something you have ready. Its time consuming to an extent but it gets better! Hope this helps!

Is your plan to lose weight this year?

 So just like every year I made a plan to lose weight and be HEALTHY this year. I mean lets not get carried away here I wanna be skinny but I want to be healthy getting there. So if you made a resolution to lose weight take some time to study it out! Don't do these crazy fad diets or weird expensive "plans" study it out. Find out a good healthy plan for yourself and start out small. I remember last year when I first started I was trying to do a work out video and I thought for sure I was going to die! I felt so bad and out of breath it was awful! I called Ryan in a complete panic and crying and was like when will this ever get easier!?? All he said was it's going to take a few weeks. So for the next few weeks I struggled. I chugged water and sat in front of the fan when I thought I was going to die until one day I realized I was doing over half of the video without even stopping for water. I could even do the whole video without running to the fan!

I'm saying all of that to say this, CELEBRATE your little victories! Losing weight and eating healthy can be hard. So if your goal was to lose 10 lbs. in a certain amount of time and you get on the scale and find out you only lost 7, PLEASE don't get discouraged! You lost 7 lbs! You probably lost a couple inches in your stomach and I bet your 20 minute mile is 15 or you can double the jumping jacks and sit ups from a month ago! Keep record of everything your doing and measure yourself! You wouldn't believe the difference it makes. We get to caught up on the "pounds lost" (myself included) so lets take off on this year with not so much of a concern as the actual pound but more about I've went down 2 pant sizes. Or I can run a mile without stopping, or I can eat my salad and drink my water for lunch and I actually enjoy it.

That was weird for me by the way. As much as I love junk food and comfort food I found myself craving my healthy food!

So let's make this a successful year of not just pounds lost but over all differences in every aspect of our health! Find a friend to keep in contact with daily! If you don't have one then let me know! I love texting people at 6:00 am about my work out!