Guest Blogger: Being Your Best Self

Are you your best self? If you're anything like me, you have great intentions, but get bogged down in the daily grind - work, kids, extra-curricular activities, planning holidays, yard work, yadda, yadda, yadda...  So how do you set yourself up to be your best self?  You team up.

Today we're teaming up with Lisa from Healthy Way Fitness.  She is chock full of ideas, strategies, inspiration, and encouragement. Laila and I are also very proud to call her a close friend, so she was a natural choice for a guest blogger.  She is a fitness instructor and personal trainer who has actually walked the walk and follows her own advice while teaching by example.  We think she is fabulous and we know you will, too!

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When Heather and Laila asked me to guest blog for Authentic Thursday I was thrilled! And then a little overwhelmed. I just feel like I have so much to say!

As a fitness instructor I get to help people every single day to become the best version of themselves through diet and exercise. I have lost over 90 lbs but most importantly, I have really become the person I was always meant to be. Losing weight and getting healthy can be difficult and often a little discouraging (especially when we don’t see results quickly). But it can be done!

Setting up a fitness and healthy eating plan can seem very daunting at first, but it doesn’t have to be!

You need to do a few things before you get started to make sure you will be successful:

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You need to set realistic goals! Not someone else's goals, but your goals. If they are for weight loss, then set a specific number and create small goals that will help you reach your overall goal.

1. Set up a small area in your house designated specifically for exercise. You should have a yoga mat, one or two sets of dumbbells (3-8lbs is a good range), and a skipping rope. Those are the basic essentials for your new home gym!

I am a big believer in doing things that you like. You may not like to exercise at first but the more you do it the more you will like it. Try different types of exercise like riding your bike, walking or running, or try one of my home workouts that can be done without any equipment at all.

Here are two simple (but challenging!) workouts for you to try at home!

1. Complete 3 rounds of the following as fast as you can, resting when needed:

• 10 squats (stand with feet shoulder width apart, slowly lower down and back as if you are sitting onto a chair and slowly raise back up)
• 10 push ups (start on your hands and feet and go to your knees if you need to)
• 30 seconds of jump rope (with or without a skipping rope)

2. Complete 3 rounds of the following as fast as you can, resting when needed:

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• 30 second plank (in a push up position)
• 10 burpees (start standing, place hands on the floor near your feet, jump your feet back to a push up position, jump your feet back to your hands and jump straight up, repeat)
• 10 alternating front lunges per leg (start standing and step one foot forward bending both knees, so your front knee is at a 90 degree angle and step back to standing.  Repeat with other leg, then alternate and repeat)

We all know how to eat properly, but we are surrounded by easy, fast and usually unhealthy choices. The best thing you can do to see results is to get rid of packaged, processed foods. No more chips, cookies, mac’n’cheese, and sidekicks meals. Go back to basics, including one food from each of the four major food groups in every meal and at least two food groups in each snack. Here is a good example for a typical day of really healthy eating:

Breakfast: 3 egg whites plus 1 whole egg scrambled with ½ cup diced vegetables (peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes), 1 tbsp shredded cheese, 1 slice whole grain toast with 1 tsp margarine, 1 small plum

Morning snack: 1 apple with 1 tbsp natural peanut butter

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Lunch: 1 small grilled chicken breast, 1 cup spinach, 1 cup chopped vegetables (cucumbers, onions, peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, ect) 1 tbsp vinegarette dressing, 1 cup mixed berries

Afternoon snack: ¼ cup hummus, unlimited celery and carrot sticks

Dinner: 1 small (4 oz) steak (grilled), topped with 1 tbsp bbq sauce, ½ baked potato topped with 1 tsp shredded cheese, 1 tsp sour cream, 1 cup steamed asparagus

Evening snack: ¼ cup raw almonds, ½ orange

These sample workouts and meal plan will help get you on your way to your best self! IF you want more meal ideas or home workouts, check out my website for more healthy living ideas!

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Don't forget to check out Lisa's Facebook Page for more great tips!


 

An Inspirational Challenge That Feeds Your Spirit...

Who inspires you? How do you keep your head up and a smile on your face when all you want to do is hide under the covers and shut the world out? How do you feed the spirit and soul of others for the pure and simple joy of knowing you made someone smile and feel good?

One person who inspires me is my good friend Lisa. Lisa is one of the most beautiful people I know, inside and out. To say that she is inspiring, motivating and uplifting would be a complete understatement. She is amazing and the strength of her spirit never ceases to astound me.

Lisa started off two years ago determined to get back in shape. Like many of us after a couple of kids and days with good intentions but not great food choices and little physical activity, the road ahead was long. I remember her first Facebook post when she started and she was cheering herself for taking a run around the block and how she could really only run, literally, for less than 5 minutes and going around the block was as far as she could go. She was her own cheerleader and she was good at it! :D

Most of us, would feel down on ourselves, thinking that going 5 minutes around the block wasn't good enough to share with the world, because sadly, that is what we are led to believe - we live in a culture that is all about big! and dramatic! 

Lisa was so thrilled with herself and posted every accomplishment on her Facebook status. Her milestones  were small to start off with and eventually over the months they got bigger and led to a status update on completing a Mini Triathalon and starting her own fitness company ("Healthy Way Fitness - Medicine Hat"). Lisa knew and still knows, that it is the little things that add up to something big and wonderful and she has re-inforced that over the last couple of years to hundreds of people. If ever there was a girl with tenacity, determination and patience, it is her.

She is one of those changes people wish to see in the world. ♥

This week, Lisa started a challenge on her blog called "30 Days of Challenges" and that is what we are sharing with our readers today. She is at Day 4 of the challenge, but I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun and no problem catching up! 

So, here are the first 4 days of Lisa's challenge from her site "Healthy-Way-Fitness.com" or if you rather, you can find the challenges on her Facebook Group. But either way, they are a lot of fun, so inspiring and just another reminder for something else I am grateful for - Lisa, her friendship and the way she is truly making a difference in the world with her beautiful spirit and positive outlook. ♥

Here are the challenges thus far:

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30 Days of Challenges

by Lisa Simchison

Founder of Healthy Way Fitness - Medicine Hat, Alberta

Hi everyone! I have been working on something new and exciting!  I am putting together a fantastic 30 day challenge for you all to try!  Every day I will post one new challenge. Some will be physical challenges and some will be things you can do in your day to think and act more positively about yourself and others.

 
Check back every day to see what the challenge of the day is!!  See if you can accomplish them ALL!!

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Day 1:

Smile!  I want you to smile every single time you see your reflection and every time you make eye contact with someone else today.  This is a very powerful thing to do, trust me!!  Most of the time we spend looking at ourselves, we are examining the parts we don't like and making frowny faces at all the things we want to change, but NOT today!  Today you need to smile at yourself and others. You will feel silly at first but it will get easier and it will start to feel natural, so go now and look at yourself and smile!


Day 2:

Get out a pen and some sticky notes for this one!!  Today's challenge is borrowed from the wonderful creators of Operation Beautiful (if you have never checked out their amazing website you need to).

Today you are going to leave random notes or messages for people telling them how beautiful or wonderful or kind they are, including yourself! 

The first one should be on your mirror in your bathroom or somewhere that you will see it.  Write something about yourself that will make you feel great every time you read it and then leave it there ALL day!  Post something on someone's Facebook wall or send them a private message, tell someone you know how great they are.   Then when you are at work or the mall or somewhere public, leave a sticky note somewhere where people will see it!  The note should say something nice like “Smile, you are beautiful” or “you are PERFECT just the way are!” -  those are just a few ideas to get you started!  This is a wonderful way to pay it forward and it will make every person who reads your note feel great all day long (and you will too)!!  If you want I would love to see a picture of your note!  You can email it to me and I will add it to the page!!  What a great way to send out some positivity!! :)

Here is my note that I have on my mirror for the morning:

Photo Courtesy of Lisa Simchison

Day 3: 

I am very excited about day 3!  Today I want you to do something completely random and kind for a stranger.  This is called Random Acts of Kindness.

There are many, many websites out there with wonderful ideas and stories about the great types of Random Acts of Kindness!  A few good ideas are buying a coffee for the person behind you in the drive thru, leaving a little gift certificate (even just for $1) for a coffee on someone's windshield in a parking lot, you can also leave a note for your mail carrier thanking them for their hard work!  The possibilities are literally endless! 

Here is a link to some random acts of kindness cards that you can print out and leave with your little act of kindness!  This will help the person understand why they are getting the nice surprise and will hopefully encourage them to keep the kindness going (you can also make your own cards too if you like).  I really hope that you will try this one out.  Just try one random act of kindness today, one will become two and two will become many!  It is kind of addictive, because it feels soooo good to be nice to people and to make someone’s day!  Please let me know how you do with this challenge!! :)

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Day 4: 

Today’s challenge is a very hard one!  We all have things that we love about ourselves and things that we really don't love about ourselves. 

Today I want you to get out your camera (or your cell phone camera) and take two pictures. The first picture will be of something that you love about yourself, like your eyes or your hair, whatever it is that you love about yourself.  The second picture will be of something that you dislike about yourself.  No one else has to see the pictures unless you want to share them.  They are for you to look at. 

I want you to really look at them, and write down at least 3 reasons why you love that feature and at least 3 reasons why you dislike the other feature.  This may sound silly but it is very self-reflecting, most of the time the things we don't like are not as bad as we see them.  After you have written down the 3 reasons for each trait, you need to post the picture of the thing you love most about yourself (and the 3 reasons) on your fridge for you to see every day!  Then you need to destroy the picture of the thing you dislike the most about yourself (and the 3 reasons).  You really need to destroy the picture (it is very therapeutic!). Step on it, tear it up, cut it with scissors, or crunch it up and toss it in the garbage, whatever you choose make it dramatic. We often put too much merit on the negative things about ourselves and not nearly enough on the great things about us! 

This exercise will help focus on the positive things and forget the negative ones! 

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And that my friends is just the beginning of Lisa's wonderful and uplifting 30 Days of Challenges! Aren't they great? Just simple things, that can have a significant impact - I love them! Again, this is not a challenge Heather and I are putting on, the above was copied and pasted directly from our friend Lisa's website, Healthy-Way-Fitness.com. To keep up with the daily challenges you must pop over to Lisa's website or join her Facebook Group so you get them in your newsfeed each day. We would love to hear how you are doing and will keep you updated over the next 30 days on how we are doing with them as well!




Have a fabulous weekend everyone!


With love and light ♥,