The Power of a Text.

I am training for a big race in October and this weekend I had a step down week.  Ran 12 last weekend and this weekend I was gearing up for "only" 9.  Believe me, step downs are nice to have, especially for what my mind went through this weekend.  Anyway, here is my weekend conversation I had with myself about this 9 mile run.

Friday night:  Ok, I teach 2 TRX classes in the morning so I'll get up at 6am, run for an hour and a half and teach the classes.

Saturday morning:  Ummmm...no.  I'm sleeping in til 7, then I'll just run Sunday morning.  Heck, I teach 2 classes and one of them I'm doing the workout anyway, so that counts for something, right?

Sunday morning:  I wake up 3 minutes before my 7am wake up call to run my 9.  NOT!  This bed feels so good and heck, I'll just do it when I get up around 8.  I crawl out of bed at 8:45 and I'm not feeling it.  I'll just do it after my class tomorrow at 11:00am.  It'll be hot, but jeepers, it's been HOT all summer so that's not that big of a deal.

Sunday afternoon:  We drive to a graduation party and on the way there, I talk to my friend, Jen.  She says she's going to run that evening.  I tell her I still have to get my run in so I'll go with her.  We agree to an early evening run.  Meanwhile, at the graduation party, I absolutely gorge myself with all sorts of great food including mac 'n cheese, fried chicken, cole slaw, appetizers, and desserts which I eat way too much of.  I will post my food journal later.  So we leave the party and I tell my husband there is no way I can run because I just ate way too much.  This is what ensues.

We run and I finish 8 miles.  Only puked a little in my mouth once:)

Thanks, friend.  If it wasn't for you, I would've run in the midday heat and regretted that I didn't do it the day before.  Now that's the power of a friend and text messaging.

A little thing I do to make peanut butter a bit healthier.

I left you after I finished up lunch on Tuesday.

Dinner:  My family was gone and I was by myself (how sweet it is!), so I got home around 4:30 and I was going to lay around and make myself a turkey burger.  YUM!  HOWEVER, I get a text from my friend who cuts my hair at 5:10 asking if my haircut was 5 or 5:30 that day.  CRAP!  She rescheduled that morning and I told her I'd be there by 5:00.  UGH!  The George Foreman was a fired up with my turkey burger ready to be cooked up.  No can do now.  Worse yet, I had a class to teach at 6:30 so it was prepare something now, or starve during class.  I made myself a PB&J and headed out for the much needed haircut.  I hate when I don't put appointments on my phone calendar...and also forget to set the alert.  I mean...I did just reschedule this appointment that same morning.  Short term memory loss for sure!

I taught a Tabata Boot Camp after the haircut, and I brought the group outside because it was under 95 degrees.  Who would've thought that would've seemed cool?  There was a breeze and made it feel 90.  Woohoo!

Evening Snacks:  I mixed peaches in lite syrup with nonfat cottage cheese when I got home and then also made some popcorn later.  Throughout the day, I drank lots of my water concoction - sparkling key lime water with coconut La Croix.  So good!

Wednesday, July 25th

Breakfast:  I had a few squares of Frosted Mini Wheats left, so I mixed that with Special K with Berries Cereal.  Added some frozen blueberries to keep the Almond Milk cold, not to mention the added benefit of the blueberries.  The blueberries have 3 huge benefits:  super healthy, super yummy, and keep the milk super cold.  Now I cringe when I eat cereal without them because I feel like I'm eating luke warm cereal.  I also had coffee with the Cinnabon creamer.

Lunch:  A turkey and cojack cheese sandwich with Brownberry Wheat bread with a light layer of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spread.  I also cooked up some baby spinach in a bit of olive oil.  I'll be honest, I don't know if I would've made the spinach if I wasn't keeping this journal.  Also, when you cook spinach, grab about twice what you think you need.  SERIOUSLY, that stuff cooks up and it looks like nothing when you're done.  Water.

Snack:  Oatmeal Raisin Granola Bar and some watermelon

Workout:  After my snack I went to workout.  I ran 4 miles on the treadmill, and then headed to the free weights.  I love free weights!  They are way more functional than sitting on a machine, and they force your body to work several muscle groups, not just one.

3 sets of everything and I always practice active recovery.  You'll never see me sitting around doing nothing.  When I complete a set of anything, I'll go right into another set of something else while the muscle group I worked on before is resting.  ACTIVE RECOVERY = TIME MANAGEMENT!  You'll get out of the gym much quicker when you practice active recovery.  Who has time to give yourself 15-30 seconds between sets?  I don't!

 (OK, just read this over to edit and noticed I wrote "everything", "nothing", "anything", and "something" in a total of 3 sentences, and I'm not fixing it cause I think it's funny.)

Concentrated Bicep Curls
Calf Raises
Tricep Dips

Chest Flys
Squats with dumbbell wood chops
Plank with dumbbell back rows

Finished up with a bunch of core action that concentrated on every single core muscle.

Workout lasted about an hour and 10 minutes.

Dinner:  Another PB&J...I needed something quick because I had to get out of the house to teach TRX and Dude's Training.  I really like Costco's Kirkland All Natural Peanut Butter.  When you open a new jar, you'll see oil sitting at the top that you're supposed to mix up.  I use a spoon and get it out.  Yes, by the time you get to the bottom of the jar, it's not very moist, but I'm guessing I got a heck of a lot of fat and calories out of the jar by taking that first step.  Plus, it tastes just as good in my opinion.

After work, I went home to change and head to a friend's house.  I had some watermelon and ate a white peach on the way there.  While there I had 2 1/2 Coors Lights while enjoying great conversation with friends I hadn't been able to hang out with in a while.  So nice:)

Thursday, July 26th

Breakfast:  Special K with Berries, Almond Milk, and Frozen Blueberries.  Coffee with Cinnabon creamer.

Lunch:  Lettuce salad with ham, cheese, and strawberry/balsamic vinaigrette dressing and a banana.

Snack:  Chocolate Chip Cherry Torte LaraBar - Wow!  So good!

Dinner:  I went to Pizza di Pazzi in Elmhurst for a delicious meal with great company.  They had $5 dollar Martini's so OF COURSE I HAD TO HAVE 2 extra dirty Ketel One Martinis with 2 blue cheese olives.  I had 2 pieces of bread with Parmesan and olive oil, and I split the Orto salad with a friend and also split a chicken dish with her as well.  The meal was fabulous!

Post-Dinner Fun:  After dinner we headed across the street to Pints.  There I had a Oberon Sky Beer and a Miller Lite.

Then the dreaded I'M-HUNGRY-SO-I MAKE-A-BAD-DECISION-WHEN-I-GET-HOME-SNACK!!!! - I made s'mores!  What?!  Well, they were good and all you gotta do is soften the marshmallows in the microwave.  Ugh!!!

Food Journaling for 4 more weeks...Why???

Here I go again.  A client wants to lose those nasty last 10 lbs, and what did I say?  I said, "You should try food journaling!"  Then, without even thinking about it, my statement was followed with, "I'll do it with you for 4 weeks!"  So...here I go again, and can't wait to do this with a client who is determined to make her goal.

Typically, the average person can lose 1-3 pounds per week and that depends on several factors.  They include:  How much you need to lose.  How much you already weigh in relationship to your height. Go to http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/bmi-calculator/NU00597/ to figure out your body mass index (BMI).  By figuring out your BMI, you can get a better indication on what you'd like (or need) to lose. How much are you willing to exercise.  And finally, how will you track your food intake.  Notice these are not questions...rather statements.  All four of these factor in on how you will succeed.  Think about this first before turning those statements into questions for yourself.

Each person is different, and remember...slow and steady weight loss is a heck of a lot better than rapid weight loss.  Studies have shown that slow and steady weight loss will keep the weight off longer and hopefully forever.  Rapid weight loss tends to not be as effective since most will put on pounds after they lose the weight.  Why????  Because they are hungry and never really taught themselves how to eat right.

What I learned from food journaling from January to March this past year is this...
1.  I was able to put myself on a eating schedule.  No more mindless eating!
2.  I gave up all soda!
3.  I gave up artificial sweeteners (except those found in gum).
4.  I learned to recognize the difference between biological hunger and emotional hunger.
5.  Can't forget social hunger!  That can be tricky.  You're not actually hungry, but the awesome food is EVERYWHERE and it's SO GOOD!
6.  I'm still able to eat everything in moderation.  That is nice.
7.  Lastly, I learned how powerful I was from the experience.

Who's in?  Feel free to join me in this 4 week food journaling experience.  Why not?

I start today, Tuesday, July 24th and this will continue on until August 21st.

Tuesday, July 24th

Breakfast:  Frosted Mini Wheats, Frozen Blueberries, and Almond Milk; Coffee with Cinnabon creamer.  Yummy and filling!

Lunch:  1 egg and 2 egg white scrambled eggs with onion, ham, spinach, and cheese.  A piece of Brownberry Wheat toast with margarine and grape jelly.  A big glass of Key Lime Sparkling water.

The rest will be included in my next post.

Happy Journaling!  Let me know if you'll be joining me!

Jill

Two births, sexy ladies, and a voting request...

WHOA...long time.  I think it's fair to say that I've been extremely busy these past few months, but crazy busy for sure over the past 2 months.  Let's see...

F.I.T.T. began in 2009 by my partner, Jen, and the name was amended to FITT-RX  in 2012.  It's birth was, well, very long and well worth the wait!  To make it even more amazing and exciting was that another birth happened as well with the birth of my biz partner's baby boy on Friday, May 4th.  UMMM...can you say crazy timing?  And also the fact that she had that little bundle of joy just 5 hours after co-teaching a TRX class at the studio?  Yes, we believe the suspended plank she held got the ball rolling.  No one in class wanted to lose that plank contest to a woman 40 weeks prego!

What else has been happening?  Well, we are marketing, advertising, teaching classes, feeding our families, keeping ourselves fit(t), going to dance recitals, preschool graduations, graduate school graduations, birthday parties, hockey games and practices, t-ball, soccer...AHHHHH!!!!  These are just to name a few, but we continue on in pursuit of making Elmhurst and its surrounding areas healthy, active, and keeping it fun all at the same time.

FITT-RX has been a part of several charity events since late-April.  We have donated several classes to help several schools and non-for-profit organizations make money to help those in need.  It's a win-win!  Person wins the raffle or silent auction prize and gets fit, then the organization at the same time raises money to help others!

Finally, business-wise Jen and I have applied for this awesome $250,000 grant sponsored by Chase Bank and LivingSocial.  We've sent in our application, answered super thought-provoking essay questions, and now need one more thing to take us to the next level.  VOTES!  If we get these votes, the rest is up to the panel of judges who decide what small businesses are worthy of such a fantastic grant.  We've told them what we'd do with it, which would include adding childcare (this is huge and our biggest obstacle right now), spin classes, locker rooms, showers, nutritional counseling, and many, many more opportunities would be available to us with such a fantastic opportunity. 

So click on the super important word below.  I don't care if you don't live near me...still do it.  You can only vote if you're a facebook user.  Do it, share it...and then send emails to everyone you know and ask them to vote too.  It's easy and takes less than a minute.  Thank you!!!!!!!!!

VOTE!

OK, so how does one be so busy and still get time to think about my food ingestion and exercise?  Well, it's not easy.  You have absolutely no idea how many people think I exercise all day long.  Ah man...I wish it was that EASY!  But the truth to the matter is that I need to find time to exercise.  I do not work out during my boot camps.  Instead, I teach proper form and create an organized workout so people don't have to walk around a gym scratching there head thinking to themselves, "Boy, I wish Jill was here telling me what to do."  Yes, I have heard this...not making it up.  Back to the topic...one way I know I will get my exercise in is by setting goals.  I (and RMFAO) accomplished a goal this weekend, and I have another goal to accomplish in a couple weeks.  First RMFAO....

RMFAO RAGNAR RELAY

MADISON TO CHICAGO 2012

198 MILES, BABY!

Yes, we were sexy and we knew it!

12 freakin' awesome girls, 2 white 15 passenger vans all decked out, 85 to 92 degree temps, and 198 miles to run from Madison, WI to beautiful Chicago, IL.  This is the picture after we crossed the finish line.  We are smiling and SOOOOO flippin' excited to be done.  AND, yes, we look forward to #3.  Too see a RAGNAR video and what it's all about, check this out.

http://www.youtube.com/ragnarrelay

The second goal this summer is to complete the first Chicago all women's half marathon on June 24th.  Looking forward to another exciting time with friends.  You girls all ROCK!

OK, last but not least fo sho...FOOD!

No soda of any kind - check

3 meals, plus 2 snacks a day - check

lots of water - check

staying with only healthy choices - well, this is tough, but I do continue to stay on track (for the most part).  Sooooooo......half a check:)

Alright...this is long enough!  See ya soon!

STAY FITT PEEPS!  Jill

Figuring out why my runs are feeling so much better!!!

Friday's Food Journal

Breakfast:  Kashi Go Lean Crunch with frozen blueberries and almond milk.  Coffee with Cinnabon creamer (so good!)

Lunch:  1 piece of homemade poppy seed bread, a handful of blackberries, and we took our soon-to-be FITT-RX staff out for lunch to get to know each other.  What a great crew!  I enjoyed a chopped chicken cobb salad and ice tea.

Dinner:  1 piece of Wonder Smart White bread topped with sloppy joe's.  This was a bit of a free for all at our house, so with that sloppy joe, I had a few handfuls of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.  Dinner of champions for sure!  Not my most proud-of dinner:)

Evening snack:  Leine's summer shandy and some popcorn

Exercise:
I did not get my long run in this weekend.  I sent my hubby off to the studio to install his amazing custom-made desk.  Him, and my partner's husband, or as we like to call them our Chief Marketing Officers, did an amazing job getting it all together.  Wow, I can't wait to work behind it!  Anyway, because of that, I was carting children off to several sporting events.  The following day, we again drove to a sporting event and I got to load up my car with about 900 lbs. of equipment.  If you see a SUV looking like it's ass is sagging, it's me:)  Tomorrow, it'll all be delivered!!!!!

OK, back to exercise.  I polished off 8 miles lickety split.  Seriously, these runs have been amazing this time around.  I truly owe it to HIIT Training and Tabatas.  Wow!  My endurance levels have soared and I'm so happy about that.

I BECAME A CHEATER!

Back to some journaling.  Thank goodness I enjoyed it, otherwise, I'd be in deep doodoo.  Wait...I was in deep doodoo this morning.  First poopy toilet overflow all over the bathroom floor.  Nice. And no, I won't share who the culprit was.

Let me just start off by saying, I've kept MOST of my habits intact since I stopped blogging to the world my list of foods consumed.  No diet coke (many, many, many countless thanks to Dr. Kelly at Tree of Life!), artificial sweetener, and food scheduling.  However...what I have started doing again is snacking while making dinner around 5:00pm.  So, no more!  Oh yeah, I've also started sneaking in chocolate and some sugary foods a few times too.  I blame the Easter Bunny.

Saturday, April 21st
I woke up at 6am to get my run in for the day.  I signed up for the Chicago Women's Half-Marathon on June 24th.  This is my 3rd week of training, and I am enjoying the runs.  It's been since November since I ran my last half in Savannah, GA, so getting back to a running routine has been nice.  Ran 8 miles.

Breakfast:
After I returned from my run, I consumed a bowl of Special K Red Berries Cereal with a banana, frozen wild blueberries, and almond milk.  Big surprise!  I had a 12oz. mug of a Chai Latte to top off my breakfast.

Lunch:
GREEN MONSTER!

Snack:
Lemon Bar Larabar - yums!

Dinner:
Yes, this is where I become a CHEATER!  While the turkey burgers are on the grill and sweet potato fries are baking, I consume Simply Naked Pita Chips topped with Classic Olive Muffalata both from Costco.  Sidebar:  Today I checked out the grade these chips get on my fooducate app. and they received a D+.  Tossed the rest of the bag in the garbage.  Kept the Muffalata though.  There's a lot of uses for that stuff.  It's good!

OK, dinner:  Turkey burger on a bun, sweet potato fries, spinach salad topped with sweet peppers and creamy balsamic dressing.

I went to a concert this evening and while there, I drank 2-10oz glasses of Miller Lite.  There's no way those glasses were more than 10oz. and at $7 a pop!  Seriously?

Evening Snack:  When I got home from the concert, I had a Mini Babybell Light cheese round.  These are really good, and they're the light variety.  Sometimes, light cheese tastes funky.  These don't.  I buy them at Costco.

It's good to be back!  Studio's coming along very well, and today I wrote my last Elmhurst Boot Camp newsletter.  Looking forward to trudging along to things I love...

Is it going to easy? Maybe not. Worth it? Absoflippinlutely!

Last week, I was on the treadmill at the gym watching the highlights of the Master's tournament.  Bubba Watson was being interviewed, and I couldn't help but bring a tear to my eye.  Seriously, this guy is awesome!  Winning the Master's is a dream come true to many young golfers all over the world, and his emotional interviews encompassed what this truly meant to him. 

GOALS - He had goals.

Hours on the driving range.  Hours on the putting green.  Hours on the course.  All added up to reaching his lifelong dream.

So, I put this into perspective for me.  I run.  I don't LOVE running, but I LOVE reaching goals.  A couple times a year, I make a goal to run 2 half marathons.  I enjoy the training, but NOTHING compares to crossing that finish line after weeks of long, hard work.  Think about it...why train for something if it was easy.  It's not...at least for me.  And then I think about a quote I came across on Pinterest.  It read...

 "I'm not telling you it's going to be easy.  I'm telling you it's going to be worth it."

This is my go-to quote for those I work with.  I'm there for them 110%.  I'll help them reach their goals.  BUT - I'll tell ya, you have to work for what you get.  You work hard, and I guarantee, the prize in the end will all be worth it!

Go, BUBBA!  Thanks for showing the world whatcha got!  You definitely inspired this girl!