September 27, 2017

What is a Non-Scale Victory?

September 27, 2017

I threw out my scale back when we moved this summer and I have never been happier. Actually, I stopped weighing myself somewhere around the New Year. That number held so much power over me for so long, I realize that now. I was fixated on it saying a certain thing. You know, THAT weight that means you have done it. Lost the baby weight, conquered your younger self’s fears, proved something to yourself that you could do it.

Somewhere in between changing my workout routine last year and really pushing myself, and realizing that my self-worth is not rolled up in a number, I figured it out. What I could DO with my body and how far I could push it began to mean much more than what I weighed. More that a arbitrary number, more than a feeling of dismay over a couple of pounds up after a vacation. I. Am. More. Than. That. Slowly I began to see that the actual number is NOT who I am. Who I am (and who your are), is so much more than that.

You’re ten more pounds on a barbel even if you’re tired.

You’re saying yes to careful eating as much as you can, and saying yes to wine and bread and olive oil as well (because life is too short.)

You’re a dress size up, but feeling stronger daily.

You’re telling yourself, “I am strong over” and over again, even when you want to quit.

You’re doing at 37 what I couldn’t fathom at 27. Or 17.

You’re showing your kids what it means to take care of yourself, inside and out. They are watching.

These are victories that no scale can tell me. I honestly feel that anyone that dedicates a little time each day to their physical and mental health will feel 100% better. Just a little bit helps. Prove to yourself that YOU are worth it, that you can do hard things and that you can accomplish anything you want. Conquering hard things boosts your self-esteem, because you have proven that you can, even when things are hard and inconvenient and NOT doing them sounds easier, you did it anyway. That is a non scale victory.

Tell me, what is a non scale victory YOU have accomplished lately?

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April 13, 2017

How to lose five pounds before summer

April 13, 2017

“How can I lose five pounds before summer?”

This was a comment I got on an instagram post of mine last week that I KNEW deserved a blog post of its own, because it is something I feel really passionately about.

You see, since I started Kayla Itsines Bikini Beachbody Guide eight months ago (which is so much more than the title eludes to), I’ve learned a lot about myself. I’ve learned that the number on the scale has nothing to do with who I am, yet it used to define everything. I would weigh myself daily, and what the number said that day told me how I could feel about myself and what I could (or could not) eat. I obsessed over “goal weights.” My personal goal weight was twofold, there was the elusive college weight where I was sickly thin from little money for food and too much stress, and there was my pre-baby weight. The first weight would never happen again, but that pre baby weight was a number I could shoot for. I mean, if I could get to that weight it would mean I had won, right?

Wrong.

I’ve reached that weight periodically in the nine years since I had my first baby. I was thin, yet unhealthy. “Skinny/fat”, if you will. Where you do all the cardio and eat next to nothing of real substance, yet feel proud because you have had two kids and reached that pre baby goal weight.

Fast forward to now. I eat more than I ever have in my life, because I eat to fuel myself. I count my macros and make sure I am getting the protein, carbs, and fat I need to sustain myself and my goals. I work out about 5 days a week and I am currently working on adding muscle. My scale is broken, so I weigh myself at the gym about once a month to make sure my macros are working the way they should be, and I take progress photos to see how I am doing physically. My weight is NOT that magical pre baby number, it’s actually about 8-10 pounds over that. Yet I have never felt better. I am stronger than ever and feel better about myself, inside, than I ever have.

This is what I think about when someone asks me “how to lose five pounds” before summer. You see, it is never about those five pounds. It is always about the preconceived notion about this weight you think you need to be to be happy. It’s about knowing that you need to eat better and work out consistently to feel better on the inside, and that is how you will love the way to look on the outside, no matter what you weigh. Doing this year round is how you get where you need to be no matter what time of year it is. You have to make health and wellness a priority all the time, no matter what, and that is what will bring you happiness inside and not have you panic every year for “bathing suit season.”

So that’s it. To lose five pounds before summer you need to forget about those five pounds. Put your scale in a hard to reach place. Donate the “someday” clothes (those were my size 2 work pants that I knew would never fit again…) Take 90 days (to start, this is a FOR LIFE kinda thing…) to consistently hit the gym, doing weight training and some cardio (how to get started HERE), and don’t give excuses that it is too hard or you don’t have time. MAKE TIME. Go at 4am or 10pm, do it in a gym or at home with canned soup for weights. Make modifications. KEEP GOING. You will be sore and tired, but push on. Take the time to find foods that fuel you in the right ways. Eat more lean meats, unprocessed carbs, vegetables, drink less wine, and make better choices. It’s hard, but just say no. Have one cheat meal a week and get back into it. BE CONSISTENT. Use My Fitness Pal to log your food, or write it down in a journal. You can do all of this. Trust me, the more you do it, the easier it will get. You’ll see results and it will fire you up to keep going. The results take time, but don’t quit. Soon those five pounds may or may not fall off, but you won’t care. You may even gain weight with new muscle growth, but you STILL won’t care. You will do this for you and those that are meant to support you will cheer you on.

JUST DON’T STOP. Motivation is a fickle thing. I am NOT always motivated to work out and eat well. I do it anyway.

Don’t let anything be an excuse to be unhappy with yourself. You can bring your kids to the gym daycare, or work out when they napping, or work out with them strapped to your body. They make it harder, sure, but they aren’t a good enough excuse. I’ve seen many people work 60-70+ hours a week and still work out consistently. I have friends with 4+ kids that still find the time. You can do it. While my body is different from it was before I had kids, it isn’t worse. Things change and shift, stretch marks and cellulite happen (I have tons of both!) Children will crawl on your back while you plank and your cat will walk right where you are doing burpees. People will bring cake into work and it will look DAMN GOOD. Practice saying no to unhealthy choices and yes to being the best you can be.

Trust, me, it is EVERYTHING to be happy with yourself deep inside your soul. Forget those five pounds and remember that life is about making healthy choices 80% of the time. Make yourself a priority and you’ll never, ever regret it.

December 29, 2016

My health goals for 2017

December 29, 2016

Victoria Secret Sport sports bra (under $20) and high waisted leggings (the BEST!)

Happy {almost} New Year, friends! I love, love, LOVE the start of a new year, it just means a fresh start and renewed goals and makes my goal driven soul happy. I post a lot more often on my blog Facebook page and Instagram account, so if you follow me there you most likely see that I have been on a renewed health quest for the past 4 months or so. I’ve written about my progress during the first 12 weeks of Kayla Itsines BBG before, but I have bigger plans for myself in this area, so I thought I’d share. Let’s do this!

1) First of all, I am on week 19 (out of 24) of Kayla’s Beachbody Guide, (BBG) so I am going to finish with that! I see continued progress with each week I complete and feel so strong. I will do a recap and progress photos when I finish week 24 so that I can update you. My biggest pride is the abs I’m building and how many push ups I can do (a ton!) Love getting stronger.

2) My ab goals include getting that super cut line down the center of my abs, working on it!

3) When it comes to eating, I’ve been counting my macros for the past 6 months or so and I’ve loved that. I work on eating a ton of protein and I really want to gain muscle as I lift heavier weights. This past month I’ve been working on eating more instinctively, basically not logging in what I eat via Fitness Pal and just going on how I feel. I have a pretty good knowledge of how much I should eat in a day and the portion sizes I need, as well as what I need for protein and where to get that. It has been nice letting that go, but also scary? There is something very soothing to me about keeping track of what I eat, but it is also really controlling and takes away from enjoying what I eat. Something I love about getting healthier is enjoying food a bit more and not stressing as much. I eat clean when I can and have treats when I want (using portion control!) I’ve stopped feeling guilty about indulging and really listened to my gut and what it tells me.

4) I will continue to work on increasing my weights as I progress through the next 5 or so weeks of the BBG program and gaining strength. This is hard with the amount of reps you do in each circuit, but I am slowing it down a bit and using more weight and hope to build more muscle.

5) One of the biggest blessings from this program has been letting go of weighing myself. I only weigh myself about once a month or so and it is so freeing! I used to have bad eating weekends and weigh myself after and feel bad, or diet myself and weigh myself and be discouraged by a slow moving number, or get stuck on being a certain weight (because I mistakenly thought that happiness lay in one number on a scale.) Whenever I weigh myself, it is at the same time I do my progress pictures. I can see how my body has changed for the better even if the scale itself hasn’t changed as much. I am not in a weight loss mode right now and don’t envision being in one, so the scale and the number it says doesn’t mean much to me. I feel great on the inside and that is what counts for me.

6) After I finish this second round of BBG I am either going to restart round 1 again (with heavier weights and more challenges), OR I will get the Sweat with Kayla app. I love the challenge of these workouts, as well as the variations, and having a set plan going forward energizes me.

7) I’ve been documenting my fitness journey on Instagram and I love the community of like minded women I have met. One of my goals is to continue posting and connecting and hopefully help others who would like to join in. I’m a busy, 36 year old mama of two, and I think there are others like me looking on that would like to do this with me. I’m pumped to continue meeting those of you that follow along!

Target sweatshirt (wearing a large for slouchiness); Victoria Secret Sport high waisted capris; Nike sneakers.

That’s it, for now anyway;) I’m so excited to see where 2017 leads me, health wise, and I’m pumped to share it all here with you. What are some of your health goals for the new year?

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November 17, 2016

The eating plan I follow to go along with my BBG workouts

November 17, 2016

VS Sport top, sports bra, and workout tights (obsessed, the best ones I’ve tried yet!)

I promised you after posting my first round BBG results last week that I would also disclose my eating plan and how I’ve tweaked my daily habits to support my new workout routine! I’m excited.

A little back story: last Spring I kept reading about counting your macros and the IIFYM eating plan and I was intrigued. I’ve always been pretty decent about what I am eating, but I tended to make choices that weren’t giving me energy (lower calorie meals and snacks with little protein), or I would just stop tracking all together and ignore portion sizes. The result was not a huge weight gain or anything, but my body was not where I wanted it to be with regards to how hard I was keeping track of my eating via Fitness Pal, and my workouts were not giving me results. Cue counting my macros.

I googled how to get the macros I needed (basically you keep track of your protein, carbs, and fat intake), and came up with the numbers I thought I needed to start. Obviously everyone’s numbers are different, but I just plugged my goals into an online tracker and it told me what to do. I then upgraded my FitnessPal app on my phone so it would keep track of my macros and I could begin. My biggest goal was to up my protein so I could build muscle. MY personal protein goal right now is 129 grams a day (this is highly changeable from person to person, your goal would be different!) This is hard! I tried to go even higher, bun honestly? Protein fills you up so much and I just could not do it.

Below are some tips and a sample meal plan that work for me!

-The first thing you need to do is buy a food scale that does grams and ounces. I bought mine at the grocery store for under $10 and I love it. You will need to weigh almost everything you eat, and there is a learning curve to hitting your macros daily. On the first day I did it I was so off from where I should have been it was CRAZY! Now I have a better idea of what I need to eat and how much so I can hit my goals. Measuring everything can sound daunting, but it seriously takes 2 seconds and it helps you keep track of how much you are eating. I even measure my ounces of wine in a glass before drinking (because mama can pour herself a big ‘ol glass of that;)

-Once you have your macros you need to find the combination of foods you need to hit these goals. I looked around for high protein foods and filled in the rest. I eat a lot of plain Greek yogurt (mixed with chocolate protein powder and Pb2), protein shakes (with almond milk and protein powder), ground turkey, chicken, and fish. In the summer I ate tuna mixed with avocado almost daily for lunch with salad, now I tend to eat ground turkey with marinara sauce and veggies that I typically roast the night before. Carbs tend to add up fast, I indulge in flavored coffee creamer in my morning coffee (measured out to the TB so I don’t overdo it!), a small bit of chocolate chips after dinner, or a glass of wine. Quinoa works as a protein and carb, and if my family is eating pasta I measure out a 1/2 cup to eat with them. It all comes down to measuring, portion sizes, and logging it into My Fitness Pal. I find a lot of recipes off of Skinnytaste.com, and I modify what I eat when I cook for my family (I’ll hold off on the roasted potatoes, and load up on veggies instead.)

-When it comes to indulging and avoiding temptation, I really try to say no to a lot of what is offered. If you think about it, “special occasions” pop up all the time. Dinners out with friends, the cookies in the work lunch room, treats at the movie theater, coffee with friends, etc. If I said yes to all that is offered with the thought that it was a special occasion, I would feel yucky. Here’s the deal: I say no more than I want to. I say no to the treats at work, no to the bread on the table at a restaurant, no to the movie theater popcorn (I grab a handful from my husband, or bring my own), no to excessive appetizers and desserts, no to A LOT. I do indulge sometimes, but mostly I really just save my treats for the REALLY special occasions (like that piece of pie on Thanksgiving!) I order protein heavy meals and eat only half the rice or carbs they add with it, or eat a small bite of an appetizer or dessert. It is personally easier for me to say to to something than to have a tiny bit, so no it is. I DO give myself one meal a week that I can have fun with and not track, but even then I tend to not go TOO crazy. We went to Buffalo Wild Wings last weekend and I ordered a snack size boneless wings basket and my stomach kind of hurt the whole night after. I think once you start eating well and seeing results, the temptations aren’t as rewarding. I don’t think it is okay to stop your life and not go out to eat or out with friends, it is just about making different choices and being accountable. You also find that by tracking your macros, that Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks isn’t worth blowing your carbs and sugar over…cue sobbing face emoji.

-On what I eat during a typical day: I am a very routine person. I am very okay eating the same things over and over, and that helps not only in hitting my macro goals, but all my foods are saved in my phone and I can quick add them. It is pretty simple.

Breakfast: I am not a big breakfast person, I usually have to force myself to eat something. I love two cups of coffee with 2 TB of creamer in each cup, that is a huge happiness factor for me! I am bad and buy the garbage flavored creamers, but after two years of not, I find it is worth it. If I have little treats I feel better. My coffee is my treat;) I do try to have either one cup of Greek yogurt with protein powder and Pb2 mixed in, or a protein shake, with chocolate protein powder, Pb2, and unsweeted almond milk.

Lunch: I will either have ground turkey with 1/2 a cup of marinara sauce, or smoked turkey lunch meat with a slice or two of low fat cheese and Kashi crackers, or whatever protein I have on hand with vegetables.

Snack: I am not a huge snacker, I like more food at meals and fill up with protein, so I am tyically not hungry for snacks. If I have something it is often a cheese stick, or I make an ice coffee and drop a scoop of chocolate protein powder in it.

Dinner: This meal varies, as I cook for my husband and kids. I modify some things, like when I make Turkey Taco Spaghetti Squash Boats I buy taco shells for them, or if I make Turkey Meatball Strogananoff I measure out 1/2 cup of pasta and the 5 meatballs in the suggested serving size, and give them extra. The biggest thing is, I need a protein source and I need to watch my portion sizes. I am rarely hungry when I hit all my macros. Roasted chicken and vegetables is a standard meal around here, as is this Turkey Chili.

Dessert: I DO like something sweet at night, if I have leftover calories or macros! I enjoy a glass of wine, or a small handful of chocolate chips and a chai latte made on my Keurig. I typically don’t indulge more than that, though, and limit my alcohol to just a few days a week (mostly;)

-On to weight and my personal goals! Here’s the thing, when I took the picture above on the left (taken in June) I was not that far off weight wise from the picture on the right. I’m not completely sure what I did weigh, but it was around 5 lbs more. I kept my macros at the same level until I started round one of Kayla Itsines BBG in August, then I actually upped my calories and protein quota and that is when I saw my body change the most. I credit the workouts for how I have leaned out more, but I think increasing my protein and increasing my muscle mass has helped, too. My body is slowly changing week by week and I am now really addicted to seeing what I can accomplish and how I can improve.

*Note! My current goal is not about weight loss. I weigh myself very rarely (about once a month if I think of it), and I may stop that as well. I want to add muscle, be stronger, and feel good inside. And I do! I feel better now, in my skin, than I ever have, and I credit the BBG program and watching my macros. My goal is not a number on the scale, a pants size, or to just look “skinny”. My goal is strength and being the best I can be.

Another thought on this picture collage above! I am really scared to post it, as I actually took them both privately and never intended to share (the one on the left is in a dressing room….I texted my husband to ask him if it was too much for a day at the beach with the kids…he said it was, ha.) The one on the right I took last weekend, we were about to hop into the hot tub and I put this suit on and I took the pic, because I knew I had taken one before and I wanted to see the difference. I was actually pretty surprised my how different the suit fit and looked. I think progress photos are really important, because they help you see what is often hard to notice in ourselves. I never felt bad in that before pic, I felt good! I still think I look good in both, but internally better in the “after” version, and I look forward to adding muscle definition and adding strength.

VS Sport top, Nike sneakers. Lusting after THESE sneakers next!

That’s it! Sorry this was so long, but I know a few of you have been asking for this post and I wanted to include as much as I could;) If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments below, or email me. I love talking about fitness and health (it’s a side passion of mine), and if I can help you I will.

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November 5, 2016

Kayla Itsines’ BBG weeks 1-12 results!

November 5, 2016

I just officially finished week 12 of Kayla Itsines Beachbody Guide and I am so excited to talk a little bit about it here. I took all the requisite photos to show the results, but I also wanted to chat a bit about the internal shift that has occurred while working this program.

*just a little program overview. There are 3 days of targeted circuits (abs, legs, arms), where you repeat 2 circuits as many times as you can for 7 minutes straight. The whole workout is 28 minutes long and kicks your butt. Seriously. Then there are recommend cardio days (2-3), where you either do steady cardio or HIIT workouts. I group those onto my circuit days, as I don’t do the gym more than 3 days, but it is recommended you don’t. I will say, there are some days I only do the circuits and they are a killer, so you CAN get away with just those!

First off, I purchased this program because I was getting bored at the gym and wasn’t really seeing any results despite working out consistently. I had heard a lot of people loved this program, so late this summer I decided to buy it. I started in mid August and began to see results pretty quickly. (Yay!) I didn’t start out needing to lose any weight, but I wanted to tone up and gain some muscle definition. I also wanted to get away from worrying about the scale and the numbers that tend to go up and down on occasion.

I weigh myself every four weeks as Kayla advises (the same day I take the progress photos) and that is it. I love how freeing that is! I DID end up losing about 2 pounds, but I don’t really care about that, to tell you the truth. I love that because I feel strong and have a purpose at the gym, the number on the scale means nothing to me. I have weighted less and I have weighed more, but I have never felt this good in my skin. That has been my biggest takeaway from this program.

Week 1, 4, 8 and 12 from left to right.

Week 1 and 12.

It’s funny, when you look at my progress photos there isn’t a HUGE difference from weeks 1-12, but I feel so much better in my skin as I’ve worked my way through these 12 weeks. (The ab photo below does show a more dramatic muscle definition difference. It was taken at the same time, just better lighting!) I saw the biggest difference in my stomach (I did no ab work before this), and my legs and arms have more muscle definition. I do a ton of pushups and burpees, so my back has finally gotten some definition as well! I’m going to try to do better photos for my 2nd round of this program to help capture the increased muscle definition a little better. Mirror selfies just don’t show what I want to show, you know? Ha.

Week 1,4,8 and 12 from left to right.

This side view is a little bit more dramatic, my stomach is obviously flatter (I am sucking it in in that first photo, too!), and I can tell by the way my bathing suit bottoms fit that my legs and butt are getting better. I feel like my legs are a lot stronger and I am hoping in weeks 13-24 that I see further improvement here (I’ve always hated my butt, ha.) All in all, I AM pleased with the changes I see and feel and it makes me so excited to start week 13 next week.

I have been loving the increased muscles I’ve been building and how strong I feel! I truly enjoy pushing myself and doing better each workout I do. I try my best to push it each time and to keep going even when I feel like I’m going to die. Lol.

If I’m not working I can go to the gym my regular days (typically M/W/F), and can do an hour or so of the circuits and cardio with some stretching at the end. If I am working (I sub at my kids’ school!), I wake up and go to the Y at 6 am and just do the circuits and stretching. I have tried going after work, but I do best when I workout right away, and despite the fact that getting up at 5:30 HURTS, I’d rather get my workout done early rather than later.

My favorite low impact cardio is walking on the treadmill at an incline (about 10-14%) for 15 minutes, and my favorite HIIT workout is running intervals for 15 minutes (run at a 7.5-8 mph pace for 1 minute, hop on the side for 30 seconds of rest, and repeat.) I am hoping to add one more cardio day to my routine for the next 12 weeks, just to see what the results can be.

Week 1 and 12 ab progress. (The week 12 photo above shows my muscle definition so much better than the frontal collage above… lighting DOES makes a difference;)

I think I have seen the most progress in my abs. I didn’t really do any ab work before this, and while I was pretty happy with my stomach before, I am really excited to see some definition here. There is something really empowering about feeling like you can have two kids and then get yourself back together after and be better than ever. I was thin before I got pregnant, but my stomach looks way better than it ever did before children, and I love how awesome that feels.

The whole point of this for me has been to do my personal best and see what my body can do. I want my kids to see their mama working hard to be as healthy as she can be, and that I care about myself enough to better myself. If I am happy, they are happy! Again, while I have really liked seeing physical results from these past 12 weeks, I feel like I have felt a more drastic inner change. I feel more confident and in charge of my body and what it can do. I feel really good in my own skin, for the first time in a long time, and I love that.

I’m thinking of doing a post about how I eat for my next fitness installment! (I follow the IIFYM guidelines.) Thoughts?!

November 5, 2012

Pump it

November 5, 2012

(photo from Instagram…follow me @meagan_rigney) I saw this post here the other day and it inspired me to share a little but about what I do to stay fit and be healthy. I am fascinated by what other people do for exercise, what they eat, how they live. You may say I’m nosy.Or curious. First, a (small) confession. Up until I was 20 or so I was a solid girl. Not big, not small, but husky you could say I liked to eat. And not work out. Every day my senior year of high school I ate two breakfast pizza’s and a large pretzel. For breakfast. I wasn’t into sports, or being fit. I wanted to be thinner, but lacked the motivation to do it. Then off to college I went and ~~drank~~ ate my way through two years before I decided to go home for the summer. I dropped fifteen pounds. From not drinking as much. Yikes. Gross, I know. When I went back to school I joined the gym there and have been working out ever since. Usually at home with my elliptical and some weights and videos, sometimes outside. This worked well for me until I had kids. Have you ever tried to do an exercise video with kids at home? It is impossible. I had two babies at home and ten extra baby weight pounds that wouldn’t budge. One day out of the blue I decided to join the YMCA. What drew me in was the amazing childcare area. It was like a preschool in there! Crafts! Games! Toys! And a place for me to have an hour or so to myself. I started taking classes. Bodypump and Body Sculpt were my favorites. My whole entire body changed in about two months. I had muscle! I looked good in a bikini! The Y became a place where I looked forward to going. I found I liked working out, liked the feeling of pushing myself harder than I thought I could. I could make it through boot camp and be one of the strongest. It shocked me how much this former I hate physical activity girl could enjoy exercise. In the winter I go to the Y about three days a week. I do a day of straight cardio (probably 45 minutes) and two days of weight classes (an hour each with 20 extra minutes of cardio if I have time.) In the summer I go more since my kids are out of pre-school and ~~I would go~~ ~~crazy if we were stuck at home~~ I like having routine of going somewhere in the mornings. I watch my eating, too. I love food. I have the appetite of a 300 pound man, but as this girl told me, it is more important to eat well as that is what holds your body back from shedding fat. I try to watch how much sugar I eat and make healthier choices. Less processed, less sugar, less carbs. I don’t always achieve it, but I do have to work at looking the way I want to look. I’m not as obsessed with weight, if I feel good I am okay with weighing a little more. Tell me, what do you do to feel better about yourself?