Let the blandness commence!

Starting March 1st, my household will once again begin our "get ready for the beach" diet and fitness regime. Pretty much clean eating and lots of exercise. I've also started upping my mileage for training purposes to around 25 miles a week which, in turn, makes me super hungry!! I find, personally, eating more lean protein keeps my sugar monster at bay during training so I'll have to keep up with that. I'll keep everyone posted as to how this goes. I've taken a "before" pic so we'll see how I progress!

Killed It!

Today was a 6 miler day. I'm not sure what happend but it flew by like nothing. It must have been the perfect combo of great workout songs, pre-workout breakfast and coffee and taking off yesterday. (I actually should have ran yesterday...ah well.) I had planned on running outside today but we got hit with a little bit of snow and colder temps so I decided to hit the gym. Oh, maybe this good run could have also succeeded so well because my daughter got up every hour last night and I was completely delirious...maybe?? ha ha. Perhaps I just had no clue what the heck was going on but whatever the case, I killed it! This is me in my post run glory. Hard Core! Now, the wee ones are napping and I'm lounging on the couch about to watch some "Colbert Report" on Hulu. I freakin love the weekends!!

Bounce back after Baby!

Alot of woman have babies, gain weight and then think that there's nothing they can do to get their body back after pregnancy. I had two pregnancies, each time I gained around 50lbs. No joke!

Stress

We all have stress. Many events that happen to you and around you -- and many things that you do yourself -- put stress on your body. You can experience stress from your environment, your body, and your thoughts. Consider the following:

• Forty-three percent of all adults suffer adverse health effects from stress.
• Seventy-five percent to 90% of all doctor's office visits are for stress-related ailments and complaints.
• Stress can play a part in problems such as headaches, high blood pressure, heart problems, diabetes, skin conditions, asthma, arthritis, depression, and anxiety.
• The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) declared stress a hazard of the workplace. Stress costs American industry more than $300 billion annually.
• The lifetime prevalence of an emotional disorder is more than 50%, often due to chronic, untreated stress reactions.

 Exercising is an amazing stress reliever. Virtually any form of exercise, from aerobics to weightlifting, can act as a stress reliever. If you're not an athlete or even if you're downright out of shape, you can still make a little exercise go a long way toward stress management. I find that when I run, my mind literally goes somewhere out in the ozone and I forget about any issues or problems and just enjoy running or weight training. Even a simple 15 minute walk can help relieve stress. Understandably, a trip to Aruba would be a GREAT stress reliever but exercise is something that we can do on a daily basis...in between trips to Aruba :-)