Baby Steps to Better Health

I've been meaning to do this one for awhile. I know when I started changing my lifestyle I floundered a bit. "Where do I start?" is a big question. It's hard to know how to get started STRONG without inviting burnout.

If you go through and toss every junk food in your house, replace it with healthy food, and tell yourself you'll NEVER EAT BAD FOOD AGAIN you'll probably do fine for a few days. Some of you will do fine for a week or two. Eventually, though, you'll resent not being able to eat your favorite foods. You'll binge, feel like you failed, and give up for a few weeks only to do it all over again. It's common!

So here are a few baby steps to get you started!

1) Food Journal. When you start out don't worry about calories. This is more for volume and type of food. Put times on here. You may realize that your "weak spot" is in the evening (it is for me) or that you eat most of your calories at dinner after barely eating all day. Track for 1 week and put "bites" in there. 1 bite of a cookie throughout the day isn't a big deal...10 bites throughout the day is a serving of cookies and a bigger deal.

2) Choose Water. You can have your coffee but try to avoid fancy coffeehouse drinks. Those are LOADED with fat and calories and you should only have them if you work it into your plan for the day. (They're TREATS for me) Making your coffee at home will also save you money! Stop drinking sodas and juice! No one NEEDS juice! If you want a serving of fruit have an actual piece of fruit! You should be drinking 1oz per pound of body weight in water. Yep, that's a lot! You can add lemon/lime/cucumber to it for flavoring but try to ONLY drink water.

3) Protein Breakfast. Eat breakfast! This was the HARDEST for me. Try to eat close to 400 calories for breakfast and make them mostly protein. When I first started out I had to eat in shifts. I would make breakfast, eat half of it, wait an hour, and eat the other half. Now I devour breakfast! This is going to jumpstart your metabolism for the day!

4) Make Smart Swaps! Click on that to get 10 things you can swap to make healthier choices!

5) Get Sneaky. Top 10 Ways to Sneak in Exercise.


Those are 5 things to get you started this week! Next week we'll do "Toddler Steps To Better Health!"

Come on over to Kas Fitness and check in with us! Do you need advice or motivation? We're there for you!!
https://www.facebook.com/KasFitness

Goal Setting 101

Every now and then I'll ask my Kas Fitness fans to share their goals. 

This is met with a variety of results. Some people aim high, some aim lower, some ignore me all together (Ha!), and some seem to get a bit down about goals.

What is it about goal setting that makes people feel prickly? Is it stepping out of their comfort zone? Is it realizing that they don't HAVE goals? Or is it deeper than that?

Sometimes I get upset with goals because it reminds me of all the past goals I missed. I suddenly remember that time I set a goal to lose 5lbs and gained 10. Or the time I decided to increase my fitness level and didn't actually work for it. That's when I waffle on current goals...when my brain starts to say to me

What if you fail?

You know what? Your brain (and mine) needs to shut up. 

Set a goal that is reasonable. If you KNOW that you can only lose 2lbs this month THEN SET THAT GOAL. Don't say to yourself, "Well, I don't have much to lose and 2lbs would be a good goal...but I'm going to push for 10 instead." At the end of the month when you've lost 3lbs you won't be happy that you surpassed that original 2; you'll be depressed that it wasn't the 10.

Don't worry about other people's goals. Always remember this: Your "before" is someone's "after" and your "after" is someone's "before." If you're carrying around an extra 20lbs don't get discouraged by the person only carrying around an extra 10lbs...because somewhere out there someone carrying around an extra 50lbs is seeing your "before" and WANTING TO LOOK LIKE YOU.

Set short term goals. It's fine to say "I want to lose 50lbs this year" but don't leave it at that. Break it down. How many pounds is that a week? There are 52 weeks in a year so to lose 50lbs in a year you need to lose about 1lb a week...or 4lbs a month. 4lbs is a lot easier to see in the future than 50lbs.

Be mindful of phrasing. Someone once set a "goal" on KF to "not get any fatter." That's a fine goal IF you phrase it in a positive way. A better way to phrase that goal would be to "maintain current weight."

So I want you to head over to Kas Fitness and share your goals with us. We'll be checking back at the end of the month to see what you accomplished! Go get it!





Linking up

Bonding over Health

When my husband and I got our first apartment our diet was terrible...LOTS of processed foods. One thing we LOVED was chips and dip. We got caught in, what I call, the "chip-dip-cycle." That's the one where you  run out of chips but have dip leftover so you buy more chips so the dip doesn't go to waste. You finish the dip but have chips left so you buy more dip...and so on.

Except not this glamorous looking...

We would sit and watch "TV" (our computer) and eat chips and dip...it's how we bonded. We worked at the same place but didn't spend a lot of time together during the day so we would bond over House MD, LOST, Heroes, etc...and chips and dip.

Bonding...right?

We gained weight. We felt awful most of the time.

Now we know better!

Today we start RevAbs TOGETHER! We're going to bond through exercise. We've worked out together before and I love it. He pushes me to work harder, to finish out a set, and to keep pushing when I think I'm done. Yes, there's a bit of competition there! It's a healthy competition that pushes us each to be our best.

I want that for you!!

I want YOU and your significant other to BOND OVER HEALTH.

Which is why I'm starting a Couples Only Challenge Group on July 9th!

Get healthy with your main squeeze

If you want to get healthy together message me NOW https://www.facebook.com/kasondra.morin  Spots for this kind of thing fill up FAST!

Motivation for today

Quick Fix and Fad Diets!

In Shape to Workout?

I was always one of those people that felt like you had to be in shape to go to the gym. There was a day in college, after not working out AT ALL, I jumped on the treadmill and attempted to run. You can imagine how well that went...I was going to stick with it until one of the dance girls jumped on the one next to me and took off running with ease. I quit and walked off.

But it's a common thought...

When I share about Beachbody with people I occasionally get a despondent, "Oh no, I'm not in shape. I can't [insert exercise here]."

Do you know where *I* started? 10-15mins of cardio videos online. A walk around the hills in my neighborhood.

I did NOT start with P90X or RUNNING in my neighborhood.

I remember the first time I finished one of the videos online. It's my favorite cardio video. It's 30mins long and pretty high energy. The first time I FINISHED it (that's with breaks during) I was ecstatic. When I cut back on how many breaks I took it was awesome. The first time I did it with NO breaks? It was magical.

What CAN you do? 10 mins of that exercise video? A quick walk around the block? 10 situps?

Do THAT. Tomorrow, do it again. The day after, push a bit harder. Before you know it you'll be up to 15mins of that video or 2 laps around the block.

I Don't Wanna!!

I did NOT want to workout today. I was crampy. It was in my lower back so there wasn't a "perfect" position to relieve them. (If they're in the front you can curl up in the fetal position)

This was totally me

I posted on Facebook asking for people to give me motivation to workout. I KNEW that it would help with my cramps. I KNEW that it would help with my energy level. I KNEW it would help with my mood.
..
..
..
..
..
 But I didn't want to do it.

I did it anyway. I picked one of the free videos I used to do online (back in July when I started working out again). It's 30mins long. I changed into my workout clothes, had a small spoon of honey (too boost my energy a teeny bit), and pressed PLAY.

I only got through 26 minutes of it before my asthma hit me.

I did notice something positive.

I could keep up. Up until the asthma I was following the video.

All of a sudden I had another sign of how far I've come...


Have you reached a milestone lately? Have you accomplished something? Tell us about it!!!

It'll Free Your Soul

So I'm trying this new thing lately...it's called BELIEVING.

I heard a quote on the TV Show Once Upon A Time and it resonated with me...

So I made a motivational photo

Seriously though...don't we all do this at one point or another?

We CAN'T do something because we don't BELIEVE we can. We don't want to believe in the magic inside of us all. (No, I'm not talking slight of hand or witchcraft...stay with me)

The first time I ran a mile it was slow and steady...I think it took me 15mins...but it was a magical moment. The first time I broke 11mins it was magical. The first time I did it in 10mins? Yep, MAGICAL. When I realized I was a size 6 after over 3 years I felt like I could take on the world at that moment.

You can make MAGIC happen. You can take your unfit or barely fit body and make it fit and healthy. Isn't that all magic does? Takes something and transforms it into something else? DO IT!

What magical thing do you want to accomplish in the month of April? Tell me below or come like me on Facebook!

Are you ready to take that BIG STEP? Sign up for a FREE account and let me coach you!!

Confessions of Failure

This week as been terrible. I'll get the excuses out of the way...

- My baby hasn't been sleeping well so I'm sleep deprived.
- My knee aches.
- My hip might be turning out again and I can't afford the chiro.
- It turns out baby has a nasty outer ear infection (it was oozing) so I've been taking care of that.
- I. Just. Didn't. Want. To...


I haven't worked out all week long. My eating as been terrible. (I got stressed and ate like a piggy and then didn't make an effort to get back on top)


I don't want you to feel sorry for me. Truly. I want you to know that I'm human. I slip up too. I had a friend that I'm "coaching" tell me "Oh no! Now you know I'm eating cake!!" I don't care if you eat cake. Really. If I tried to monitor everyone's eating habits I'd go crazy.


Starting today I vow to do better. Do you?

Motivation

Will Your Resolutions Fail?

Recently there was an article at Cracked.com (For Mature Audiences. The language and topics tend to be racy) that discussed the common reasons for failure in New Year's Resolutions. Did yours fail last year? See how many of these resemble you...

Mistake: Setting Vague Goals
I think everyone I've seen on Facebook has done this one year or another. Things like "eat healthier" or "lose weight" or "start exercising more" are in this list. I'm going to look at "start exercising more." What is "more" to you? Are you not exercising at all right now? Do you count taking the stairs instead of the elevator at work exercise? Are you going to exercise 10mins once a month? (That's "more" if you're not doing anything at all right now) 20mins a week? 30mins a day?

Remedy: Set a Concrete Goal
Using the above "goal" as a reference, a better goal would be "I resolve to exercise 10mins a day, 3 days a week." Now you have a time goal and a day goal.


Mistake: Trapping Others in Your Resolution
I'm guilty of this one. The goal of "eat healthier" carries into this one if you have a family because you know you're going to purge the house of all the JUNK. If you vow to never drink soda again (a great goal by the way) your family should be in on the decision so they don't come home with a 6-pack of Coke and torture you by drinking it in front of you.

Remedy: Make the Decision Together.
You're more likely to keep one of these resolutions if you make the decision as a family. Does everyone want to travel? Great! Make a list and choose a few places. Does everyone need to get healthy? It's time to get honest about the pitfalls in your diet and exercise and change TOGETHER.


Mistake: Not Doing Homework First
How much weight is healthy to lose in a week? Answer: 1-2lbs. Seriously. If you're obese you will probably lose more initially but it will taper off. You can't expect to pull "Biggest Loser" numbers here in the real world. And you shouldn't get discouraged when you don't!

Remedy: Do Your Research
Set a goal like "Lose 4lbs each month" and you're set. That's a healthy loss (1lb a week) and you'll still have lost over 50lbs by the end of the year. If you have more weight to lose you can double it and lose 100 POUNDS by Dec 31, 2012. Yep, I'm totally serious.


Mistake: Going All Out
I'm all for being gung-ho and excited. But if you start a marathon running at top speed you won't make it very far. If you jump up on January 1st and decide you're going to start running that's fine...but if you're not in peak physical condition you may need to start with intervals. You've heard me talk about P90X on this blog before. I love the program. But I'll be the first one to tell you that it is NOT a beginner program. Yes, you can modify, but it's not the best program for someone just starting to exercise. What happens to a lot of people is they start a new INTENSE exercise program and find that they can't keep up. Maybe they don't have time to workout an hour each day, maybe they wake up sore too often and give up, or maybe they just don't like whatever workout they think they're "supposed" to do. (I hear this about running...)

Remedy: Baby Steps!
Is your goal to exercise? Start with 10mins a day a few days a week. When that gets easy you can up it to more days or more time. Want to eat healthy? Try a new recipe with a new veggie. If you make small changes you can be a new person by the end of the year!


Mistake: Failing to Know Yourself
One of the mistakes that *I* made with P90X is under this heading. I thought "I'll do it at night after the kids go to bed." Yeah, that lasted 3 weeks. Several nights I didn't get into bed until 11pm (Hey, that's late for me) because the baby wouldn't sleep and I still had an hour long workout to do. When I tried to do it during the day I had kids running off with my weights. (Or, in one case, dropping them on me...) It just wasn't for me.

Remedy: Plan Better
This year I'm beginning the year with Slim in 6. It's a 6 week program with intense 30min workouts. THAT I can do!


So what are your resolutions? Remember: "He who fails to plan is planning to fail" ~ Winston Churchill

Motivation, Musings, Monday

I know, I'm so clever with my titles...

Source: writeclickscrapbook.com via Kasondra on Pinterest

I love that thought!


- Sometimes I want to take a Facebook break...but I end up with 20 notifications when I'm gone 2 hours (seriously)

- My youngest son is having a growth spurt. I wrote about it here.

- My diet and exercise have been SERIOUSLY lacking...and I've gained 5lbs.

- Did you see where Rockin' Body is 65% off? That's the price of a SINGLE workout DVD...but you'd get a huge SET.