Holiday Advent Recipes...

I've created a holiday advent photo calandar on my facebook page that I thought I'd share here too!!! It's the same idea as the chocolate advent calandar, but it gives you a cleaned up holiday favorite recipe everyday instead of unhealthy cheap chocolate to eat! HAHA

Best to share it before the big day in case you want to use any of the recipes :) The link below will take you to the folder on my facebook page :) Please enjoy!!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.294484170672740.71362.260315207422970&type=1#!/media/set/?set=a.294484170672740.71362.260315207422970&type=3

Progress Pics for week 17...a little late!

Progress Pics for Week 17

Here are my progress pics for Dec 17th. This week I was eating 2100 Calories a day as a last month effort to gain some muscle and strength!! If I don't gain weight I'll continue to raise my calories till mid January when I'll start the cutting process!!! I'm feeling a bit bloated and soft, which I don't like, but my strength is going up which I LOVE!!!

I'm still doing the circuit style workout , no cardio, and doing a 40/30/30 macro split! I'm thinking of raising the carbs a little in the next couple of weeks!!!

Currently 5'5" 123.4lbs and 20.8%bodyfat. Since there wasn't too much change in weight, I'm increasing my calories next week to 2150. Just a little raise this week, as I don't want to put on too much bodyfat!! We'll see how it goes!!!:)

Let's Talk About Goal Setting!!!!

GOAL SETTING

 

 

by Road to Eating Clean and Living Lean on Friday, November 23, 2012 at 9:25pm ·

I wanted to talk a little bit about goal setting...I used to work at Lululemon and they were HUGE advocators of goal setting. We chose BHAD goals (big, hairy, audatious, goals, lol) and set out ways to make it there. We chose five year goals first, then worked backwards and set three year goals and one yr goals to make it to that end picture. I found it really hard to pinpoint where I wanted to be in fives years, but I'm definitly using it for my current goals!!
My BHAD goal at this point is stepping on stage in MAY....but in order to make it there I have lots of little short term goals within that big goal, and I try to stick to them as close as possible!!! Planning, and sticking to that plan is KEY!!

My Monthly Goals are:
1. Research all the things I will need to get prepared for within the next 5-6 months...Posing, walking in heels, tan, suit selection, makeup, hair, cutting weight those final weeks, carb cycling, etc. And start rotating the practicing of all these things into my weekly and daily goals as time goes on and I know what need more or less work!
2. Go through all my journaling, and decide what's working, what's not, and decide how I need to change my plan to keep seeing progress.
3. Buying something I'll need or paying registration fees one month at a time, so it's not overwhelming in those last couple of months. I've already purchased shoes, and bikini bite. This month, I'm going to pay for the membership fee and entrance fee for the first competition in May...In december, I'm going to start looking into a suit selection...etc

My weekly goals are:
1. to make a plan for diet (making a couple daily meal plans that fit into my predetermined macronutrient breakdown i.e. Pro/Carb/Fat) I record my meals BEFORE I actually have them and only eat what I have planned...rather than recording what I eat. This keeps me from taking extra snacks here and there.
Those extra calories add up!!
2. Cook meals in advance every three days. (It gives me food on hand so I'm not reaching for junk, but it's not sitting in the fridge too long, and tasting stale) Eating before I go to get togethers so I don't fall off my diet because I'm famished.
3. Plan my workouts ahead of time, and check them off while I go! Recording all sets and weights so I can see improvment or lack thereof!!!
4. Take Pictures every Monday to judge how my progress is going. (recording what happened in my diet and workouts that week so I can see how that affects the way I look with the pictures. :)

My daily goals are:
 1. to eat every two to three hours
2. drink a gallon of water a day
3. Make every rep count in the gym
4. Get as much sleep as I can
I'm sure I'm missing a lot of stuff in these lists, but at least you get the gist of what I'm doing!!!

REMEMBER!!! - Make sure your goals are SMART goals

Specific ,Measureable, Attainable,Realistic,Timely I hear a lot of people saying they don't have a SPECIFIC goal, they just want to be healthier...if that's working for them, that's great! I know from my own experience though, until I made this VERY specific goal, I was just coasting along, being somewhat healthy, but never feeling like I was REALLY making any progress. I never REALLY set my mind to it because I wasn't keeping myself accountable in any way and wasn't working toward anything SPECIFIC! TIMELY is one of the aspects that I find is the most important...If I don't give myself a timeline for my goals, I don't take myself seriously.
So there you have it! Make a big goal, it can be anything....
Run/walk a 10K, Enter a triathalon, Doing unassisted chinups, Compete in a mud run, learn an extreme sport, start your own business, buy your dream house or car, earn a degree, take a dream vacation......whatever you put your mind to, and plan for it!! Decide what you need to do to achieve that goal. Break it down into "baby step" goals to get you there! Trust me, it works!!!!! :)
PS, Last but not least, tell people about your goals....having people know what you are planning to do, makes you more likely to follow through!

I WON!

I recently posted in my notes section on FB how I go about setting goals for myself!! If you read it, you’ll remember that I set a BIG goal (competeing) but in order to get there I also set smaller goals along the way to help me achieve that ultimate outcome!! )

Well, the past two months I have been working on a short term goal to keep me motivated! It was Daria McDermott ‘s get transformed challenge!! I figured if I’m doing all this work, why not try to win some prizes!!! HAHA Well, I won!!! Wohoo!! What a nice surprise!!

Do you guys have a fitness goal to reach?? I highly recommend joining a challenge like this for more motivation along the way!! It’s fun, and ultimately if it helps get you closer to the big picture, you’re a winner either way!!!

http://dariamcdermott.com/welcome/2012/12/6/our-get-transformed-contest-winners

Here’s the writeup on Daria’s Page. It tells my story the past few months, and also of the runner up!! Some of the prizes were perishable, so I donated to the US runner up!! This was such a great surprise today!!

I Signed Up!!

I promised all my fb followers that I would sign up for my fitness competition by the end of November….well….its the last day of November and I’m a woman of my word!
I have officially signed up for the
NPAA competition in Calgary May 19th. I’m scared as you can possibly imagine, but as excited as can be at the same time!
It’s go time! Full force till the end! I have a lot of work to do!

Introducing the PowerTeam!!!

With December right around the corner I’ve very happy and honored to introduce the Power Team!! I have been lucky enough to be selected to be a part of this team of AMAZING ladies, all with different interests and areas of expertise!! In a…

nutshell, we are collaborating behind the scenes on ways to bring the “fit life” mainsteam!! We’ve dedicated December as #fitmas!!! Lets all learn ways to stay fit over the holidays!! I’m going to be concentrating on staying on track at holiday gatherings (healthy potluck recipes to bring along….and maybe a nice CLEAN holiday dinner that won’t leave you missing the old standbys!! These are all incredible women that I am so happy to have met! Check out their profiles, fb pages, blogs and websites! There’s a lot to learn from them all!! #mompowerteam #fitmas #eatingclean