You Are What You Eat

Today, I came across this picture online:

The picture caught my attention because growing up, I always heard the saying "you are what you eat," but I never quite understood what it meant. When I saw this photo today, the meaning of this phrase became very clear to me. Your overall health is a reflection of your eating habits. If the majority of your diet consists of fast, cheap, easy meals with highly processed foods and low nutrient density, your body will suffer the consequences of the poor quality of your diet. In contrast, if you eat pure, high-quality, nutritious foods, you will begin to see and feel positive changes in your health.

With that being said, eating healthy 100% of the time is easier said than done in the fast-paced, busy lives we all lead. However, the journey to healthy living and healthy eating begins with just one small step in the right direction. If you gradually improve your diet with small changes and continue to change your lifestyle one step at a time, it is easy to transform good habits into long-term lifestyle changes. Although the occasional "slip-up" or "cheat day" is inevitable (and perfectly fine in moderation), clean eating will improve your overall health and well-being.

I don't know about you, but if you truly are what you eat, I'd rather be pure, healthy, and wholesome than cheap, easy, and fake!

Check out this easy guide for simple food swaps that can improve your diet and jumpstart your journey to better health!

Source: http://www.nhs.uk/change4life/Pages/low-sugar-healthy-snacks.aspx

Avoiding "Workout Negotiating"

My Top Five Favorite Workouts For the Workout Negotiator

Often when I go to the gym, I am guilty of being a "workout negotiator." I approach on a piece of cardio equipment, determined to meet a certain goal. Then, as soon as I start exercising, I immediately find myself internally negotiating, thinking maybe I don't need to complete my full time goal, and that maybe just fifteen, or ten, or even five minutes would suffice. I enjoy exercising, but monotonous workouts often make me lose interest quickly. Over time, I have searched for new workout plans or activities that keep me entertained while also helping me maintain the right level of intensity in my workout. Here are the top five workouts that keep me from negotiating my way out of exercising:

1. HIIT/Tobata Workouts

      

One of my favorite boredom-busting workouts is High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). HIIT workouts involve short bursts of high-energy cardio or weight exercises with brief rest periods in between. These workouts allow you to incorporate a variety of different activities into one workout and keep you entertained while still providing a challenging workout plan. Another great thing about HIIT workouts is that they are customizable and allow you to choose the intensity level you want to exert in your exercises.

Here's an example of a short HIIT cardio workout plan:

2. TRX/Suspension Training

I started using the TRX suspension ropes during my workouts when I was training with Kristen and Micah at ENP, and I still enjoy using the TRX to change up my workouts. TRX training is a great way to build strength without using weights. There are also so many ways to use the TRX suspension ropes that it is easy to create a full-body strength workout using the TRX alone!

Here is a TRX workout plan that provides some helpful images for beginners:

3. Trade the Treadmill for an Outdoor Workout

An especially easy way to change up your workouts and make them more entertaining is moving your workouts outside! Now that it's spring and the weather is (usually) beautiful, it's a great time to incorporate outdoor workouts. Move your run from the treadmill to a running path outside, run the stairs of a nearby building, or even walk outside in the evenings to maintain your cardiovascular endurance in a more entertaining way!

Aren't these beautiful State House steps just asking you to come run them?

4. Partner Workouts

One of the best ways to avoid workout negotiating is to bring a workout buddy to the gym with you for accountability and motivation. Partner workouts are entertaining and fun, and even allow you to create some healthy competition with your workout partner. The only thing better than seeing results is sharing your progress with a friend!

If this doesn't build friendship, I don't know what does!

5. Group Exercise Classes

Participating in group exercise classes like Boot Camp, Yoga, and Spin Class helps you change up your workout routine and try new exercise styles. The instructor will help you stay motivated, and the group class environment will help you work hard throughout the class. GX classes are also a great way to try new exercises for free (group exercise classes are typically included with your gym membership).

Group exercise classes are a great way to stay motivated and avoid negotiation during your workout!

Progress Report

Progress Report

After two and a half months with Elite Nutrition and Performance, I am happy to report my progress thus far!

Since I became a sponsored athlete, I have lost four pounds and 3% body fat! This may not sound like much, but I can definitely notice a difference in the way my body looks. I am very happy with the changes I've made during my time with ENP.

I wasn't going to include this, but I received a little encouragement from Kristen and decided to post these...here's a "before" picture:

With some tweaks to my diet and exercise, and some new workout techniques....

Here's my progress!

(forgive the flaming football tattoo on my arm, it was temporary)

I'm proud of the changes I've made to my diet and exercise and excited to see how my body continues to change and improve as I continue with this process. I am forever grateful to Sam and Kristen at ENP for their generosity and support throughout my sponsorship. I only have a few more weeks with ENP, which is bittersweet, but Kristen and Sam have equipped me with healthy lifestyle skills that I can use for the rest of my life.

Thanks, ENP! Y'all rock!

The Lunch Box

The Lunch Box

When I first started my journey with ENP, I struggled with finding ways to keep food available throughout the day for my morning snack, afternoon snack, and meals. I found that when I was away from the kitchen all day, I would miss important snacks simply because I didn't have the proper foods available to me on-the-go.

Enter The Lunch Box.

The Lunch Box became the solution to my problem. I began to pack The Lunch Box with various snacks and meals every morning and carry The Lunch Box around with me wherever I went. I became an expert at packing and storing food to keep it fresh throughout the day. Carrying The Lunch Box around relieved a great deal of stress associated with finding the right food to eat at the right time and kept me on track with my snacking and meals.

As beneficial as The Lunch Box (and still is) was to my busy lifestyle, I nonetheless encountered "lunch box haters" who thought it was amusing that a nineteen year old college student carries around a lunch box all day, every day.

Sure, it may be a little odd that I carry The Lunch Box wherever I go. But, it's convenient to have access to the food that I need throughout the day it and helps me feel healthier and more energetic. So, despite the "lunch box haters," I will continue to carry my lunch box with pride.

PS- I got my ENP Tank this week and I love it! Check it out:

Recruitment is Fun!

Recruitment is Fun!

This week, I have been participating in my sorority's Spirit Week (a week of practice for formal sorority recruitment). My sisters and I have had plenty of time to bond every day, sunrise to sunset, over sorority cheers and team building exercises. This week has been a wonderful experience for my sisters and me. However, some challenges have arisen during Spirit Week and Recruitment with my diet and exercise plans.

Because Spirit Week has been an all-day commitment, I have been exercising with Kristen early in the morning before practice. This has been a little more challenging than I anticipated, since I typically finish my workout and go straight to practice for six to eight hours. This process sometimes feels like a day-long workout. However, thanks to the diet changes I've made during my time with ENP, I haven't felt nutritionally depleted, despite the demands of my Spirit Week and Recruitment schedule.

An unexpected positive aspect of my time with my sorority sisters during Spirit Week is the encouragement they give me to stick to my workouts and diet plan, despite any temptations to "cheat" on my workouts or meals. They have been reading my blog posts and following my journey this summer, and they want me to succeed in my endeavors. They have been nothing but supportive of my lifestyle changes throughout Spirit Week, which is very uplifting.

I still have one more week of Formal Recruitment, which will bring new challenges and successes. However, I am looking forward to receiving continued support from ENP and my sisters throughout the week.

Here's a picture of my sorority sisters on Bid Day last year! Love them so much!

A Soliloquy on Weight

A Soliloquy on Weight

Now that I've been training with ENP for a little over a month, people I see who know about my training often ask about my progress. Usually, the question sounds something like, "How much weight have you lost?" or "Can you tell if you've lost weight?"

The answer I give usually perplexes them, because the truth is, I haven't really lost any weight since I started training with ENP. There hasn't been a radical drop in the scale or pressure to make a certain weight during weekly "weigh ins" with my trainers. The number that flashes on the scale in front of me is not significantly lower than it was when it started. In fact, I have been told that my goal during this journey is to gain weight.

When I was told that I needed to gain weight to meet my goals, every idea of weight gain and loss that society has fed me over the past 19 years made me very doubtful that weight gain could be a good idea.  All the commercials, movies, weight-loss wonder pills, and miracle weight-loss workouts I have been exposed to my entire life had led me (and many other young women) to believe that weight gain was to be avoided at all costs. How in the world could weight gain be a positive thing?

I needed a reality check. 

I needed to learn that weight really is just a number.

Really.

Here are some things I learned when I researched what my weight really means:

1. Your weight is a fluctuating number that is influenced by many factors in your life. Some factors, like your diet and exercise, are under your control. Other factors, like water retention and cortisol levels, are not always under your control.

2. No one knows how much you weigh unless you tell them. The number on the scale is your business, not the world's business. If you feel healthy and proud of the way you look, your weight should not matter to you or any of your peers.

3. You can gain weight and lose inches (seriously). Muscle weighs more than fat, so if you lose fat and gain muscle, you can look great and still gain weight.

So, next time I step on the scale, the number in front of me will not matter. If I gain weight through this journey, I will not fret or question my lifestyle changes. I will take pride in the way my body feels and the strength I'm beginning to gain. I am not gaining unhealthy weight, I'm gaining strength and muscle. I know that I'm making choices that benefit my body, and as long as I'm proud of the way I look, the number flashing on the scale in front of me is irrelevant. Weight is just a number. Really. I refuse to let societal pressures tell me otherwise.

Following The Plan

The Importance of Following The Plan

This week, I learned the importance of giving complete trust to the experts who tell you how to eat and work out properly. When I first started this sponsorship experience, I trusted and respected the expertise of Kristen and Sam. However, I was a little nervous about placing my diet and exercise plans in their hands because I had never worked with a company like ENP before.

As I continue on this journey, I have learned that Kristen and Sam are more than worthy of any client’s complete trust in their diet and exercise plans. In the past three weeks, my diet changes have given me more energy, helped me avoid “bonking out” during my workouts, and made me feel healthier overall.

However, when the plan is not followed properly, complications sometimes arise. Even though I’ve only changed my diet for three weeks, I notice that any deviation from the plan (eating foods with more sugar, fat, caffeine, etc. than I am now accustomed to) causes an immediate change in the way I feel. When I eat foods that are more processed or have added sugar, I have noticed that I now feel sluggish and sick to my stomach, which serves as further motivation to stick to my diet plan.

Example: The Chick-Fil-A Chicken Mini

Last Friday, my Dad went to Chick-Fil-A (formerly one of my favorite fast food restaurants) for breakfast and picked up Chicken Minis (formerly one of my favorite fast food breakfast items). As I previously mentioned, I used to believe that God himself had personally placed Chicken Minis on this earth for the enjoyment of Chick-Fil-A lovers nationwide. So, when I saw the Chicken Minis on the kitchen table, I decided to try one, thinking that just one wouldn’t hurt.

I was wrong.

That single Chicken Mini promptly ripped itself through my system like a chainsaw down a waterslide. Not fun at all. At that moment, Chick-Fil-A and Chicken Minis were off my list for good and I decided that sticking to my plan would be the best option for my new lifestyle. It really is a win-win to eat healthier foods and feel better overall.

No hard feelings Chick-Fil-A, I’m hoping this will be a civilized breakup.