A Frumpy, Fit, Fab Welcome

Hi all,

Welcome to my blog! I’m sure everyone starts off their blog that way so I figure why break the mold? Now, why is my blog different from the rest? There are plenty of blogs and YouTube videos about fitness, losing weight, eating, and healthy lifestyles. My goal of this is to offer a different perspective. I’m frumpy, I’m fit, and I try to be fabulous. Over the next few months I’m going to document my life as a slightly larger than average person who likes to be super active in sport-like activities and my social life. Hopefully, at the end of this blog I’ll meet my weight and muscle mass goal, and inspire others who are in my same situation to meet their goals.

Now, how did this all start? Marriage. I feel like whenever a girl announces they are engaged it’s followed by months of getting in shape for the wedding. #sweatingforthewedding #fitbride Needless to say I was one of those girls. I dieted and worked out for a year. Eventually I got to my ‘high school weight’. Then the wedding came; I married my husband, Brenton, in January at a beautiful spot in Cancun. My whole family couldn’t go so we decided to have a reception in April. After those two events, my diet and exercise routine took a beating. I crashed. Hard. Now, I’m back to my pre-engagement weight. I knew I needed to kickstart and get my booty in shape again if I wanted to maintain good health.

Brenton and I in Mexico at my high school weight of 185-190.

How does one start (or restart in this case) this journey? I figured that I might as well get the whole story. I went to a local nutrition store to get a total body composition analysis. This machine is great. You have a pin number that you can enter so it remembers your history and tracks your progress. I want to be totally transparent so you can fully understand my situation. See below for the results:

*This image is hard to read, but to sum it up I have 78.8 lbs of body fat mass. My BMI is 31.2 and my Percent Body Fat is 37.3. It is recommended that I lose 39.2 lbs.

It’s terrible to say, but when I saw this I thought “Oh, that’s not that bad. I only gained 15 pounds.” Seriously…15 pounds?! I should not be so chill with that. What took me all year to lose, only took me 5 months to gain. Wow. So here I am, writing this blog to maybe inspire others, but more so to hold me accountable!

Summary: I’m not an expert in fitness or nutrition. I’m just an normal gal, like you, who wants to lose some weight. I LOVE food, playing sports, and socializing with my friends. I’m here to give you a little taste with posts on fitness and alternatives (I don’t mind finding ways to skip the gym), healthy recipes and modifications to my favorite dishes, and how to do this with a super active schedule.

Please follow me, the frumpy, fit, and fabulous gal. We can do this together!

“Girl Power”

In my defense I started this in early December and finished it in the first week of January. . .just forgot to post it! Enjoy!

As the year draws to a close and the self-reflection, which comes with the start of the New Year, begins, Nina has been gracious enough to let me share a story. At the beginning of this year (2017), I was really having a hard time with life as a whole. Recovering from a series of bad relationships, finishing my degree after putting it off for four plus years, and starting a new job that I knew would offer no real fulfillment but it paid better. Among a cluster of other things, I was grasping for anything that could get me through 2017 or at least January. I can’t remember which random link I was flipping through on Facebook but I came across a horoscope (yah I know) that told me to focus on my relationships with women throughout the coming year. A novel idea, one I would never would have considered for myself based on past experiences but it was a challenge I needed. . .

So the first thing that came out of this New Year’s challenge was actually super negative. As I’m sure we’ve all realized at some point, some people are just garbage monsters! After sharing my focus for the year with a couple of people it came back to me that it meant I was a lesbian now (insert eye roll Emoji here). I took issue with this for two reasons. First was the obvious, that rumors are the most ridiculous things and SO common in female relationships. The second was that people are so narrow minded that the only “relationships” that could possibly exist are sexual or romantic. It really brought to light that people, including myself, don’t value enough the most important relationships we have, like being a friend, a sister, an aunt, a god mother, and even the relationship we have with ourselves. It did however make it VERY easy to know which people I didn’t need to have around!

On to the positive . . . the most valuable parts of this experience were that I began to pay closer attention to the strength, resilience, and excellence of women in my life and became aware of the effects of having this energy around had on my own life. Being surrounded by positive and motivated energy, you only have one choice . . . to be the same! Having people around you who, day in and day out, work hard, remain optimistic, and don’t settle for mediocrity, naturally ups your game. I have a friend that a year ago was engaged but now has two roommates to make ends meet to care for her daughter but still makes time to volunteer and donate to several organizations. Another friend who married right out of college, 6ish years ago and over this last year has embraced her identity as queer but maintains a friendship with her husband as they plan out their divorce, all while becoming extremely successful in her career. I could go on and on about the women in my life and their continued greatness through Cancer and illness, weight gain, loss of loved ones, unfulfilling careers, etc. but for the sake of time I’ll just say ALL of these women are amazing!

I think I wanted to write this blog as first, an expression of gratitude to these wonderful women and second, as a prompt to find a new goal for 2018. Something that is more specific than the standard “eat better, do better, be better”. I have a lot of small goals like read/listen to two books a month, lose 30lbs, show my artwork in at least three business or shows, but I need something new! Something, like last year’s goal, I would never pick for myself! So if any of you readers out there have any suggestions please, feel free, share! Happy New Year!

Balance

Hi all! I’m the “good company” Nina mentioned in her last blog. So far Nina and I have been working out for a solid week and a half, consistently! We have both tried a lot of different diets, workouts, supplements, etc. and I think we both have reluctantly come to the realization that eating right, working out, and not depriving yourself is the best option. You might call it BALANCE, a simply concept but really hard to find.

A lot of our work outs have been us trying to figure out what works for both of us. It seems that HIIT/ circuit workouts combine the right amount of strength training and cardio that benefit us both. This workout I’m sharing was the first workout we both agreed challenged us the most. It’s about 45minutes to an hour, start to finish (we repeated each set twice) and is super easy to modify to your body, skill level, and availability. Ex. I forgot to bring the bands to the gym so we did the warm up without them and did a higher number of reps than we would have with the bands. And instead of “Banded Glute Bridge” we did “Single Leg Glute Bridge”. Simple changes but still challenging!

Well that’s the gist! As we pick up steam I’ll probably upload a week’s worth of work outs at once and most likely bore you with my meal plan! But more importantly I’ll be sure to fill you in on all the challenges. Because as you will come to find out, my favorite things are booze and food! Until next time, Megan.

 

Friendship

I find it so true that you are the company you keep. This affects your attitude, mood, habits, etc. This summer I started off strong with the blog, working out, eating right only to lead to playing volleyball 3-4 times a week, starting night class, and not having time to exercise and eat healthy. While I was excelling mentally with work and school, I was not leaving time for my physicality. Along with my activities I was regularly stressed and took that out on food and not working out.

Alright, for the company I keep, my habits and mannerisms start to infuse with my friends. I feel like most people do. The point is that if one friend sluffs on working out or starts eating whatever they want, the other friend will follow. Every weekend consisted of eating whatever and drinking whatever. Volleyball was fun, but I was consuming WAY more calories that I was working off. Here I am damn near 2018 and I have officially gained back all the weight I lost last year. How am I going to get back on track? My friendship consisted of unhealthy habits.

Simple. Change yours and your friend’s bad habits into good ones! Genesis Healthy Club was offering a buddy pass for $15 a month. What a good way to kick things into gear and start working on fitness, eating, and REVAMPING the blog. I realized that having a friend by your side can make this easier.

To kick off this blog, again, my buddy Megan and I are going to be sharing the space. We both have common goals: Eat Healthy, Workout, and ultimately be Fabulous in our skin! We will be blogging about a variety of topics such as food, workouts, clothes. I mean who wouldn’t want to talk about that?!? We are hoping to make this a fun and motivating environment that can not only motivate ourselves but others too. Megan will be writing the next blog so stayed tuned!

Routine

Good things come to those who…plan ahead. Screw waiting. You cannot succeed if you wait for things to happen. You have to take control. I’ve been thinking a lot about why it’s so hard for me to lose weight. What did I do 5 years ago that I am not doing now (besides a having a few less drinks). Planning. I used to have a very regimented diet and exercise schedule. Every week I’d go to the grocery store, buy frozen veggies, chicken breast, and things to prepare a salad. For lunch I would have a salad with no dressing! I used to have frozen veggies and chicken breast for dinner. Now, my taste buds would hate me if I did that. I love food and have evolved my cooking as such. I used to go to the gym 5 times a week religiously. So what happened?

I’m not sure if you’ve ever heard the term, but I call it comfy cow syndrome. You find a man, you start making plans to hang out, and all of a sudden your diet and exercise are out the window. Also, it doesn’t help that he can keep his defined abs, barely workout, and eat whatever he wants. Ugh. Anyway, back to my point, planning. When I reflected back on what I have been doing differently, I realized I am a whole lot busier that I was when I first moved to Omaha. There’s lots to do and plenty of people to see. Now that I have defined the issue what am I going to do about it?

PLAN! Create a routine! Say no to things that hinder it. Sure, I’m probably not going to be 100% perfect, but how can you succeed if you don’t try to mapped it out? Like some well known quotes say: “A goal without a plan is just a wish” or “By failing to plan, you are planning to fail.”

This isn’t new stuff guys and gals. I’ve just been too lazy to plan, and obviously not caring too much about this weight loss as a result. How can I expect to lose weight and get more toned if I don’t put in 100% effort? You can’t get what you want without a cost.

Anyway, rant over. We all have our down weeks, but I want to learn and take something away from this. I’m going to continue being active. This weekend I’m going up to Minnesota with a gal pal of mine to visit some college friends. It’s always a real good time that comes packed with a whole lotta calories. My goal: to be disciplined. Here’s the plan; stick to the paleo food theme. Do NOT munch in between meals. Only eat until you are full. DRINK WATER! Wait in between drinks. Ok, so these should not be hard things to follow, but I have to keep reminding myself. It’s so easy to slip.

I’ll post later about my escapades. This month is going to be jammed packed with weekend trips! Minnesota this weekend, Kansas City the next, and Denver the last weekend of the month. I’m excited to hit the road, catch up with some good friends, and explore the area. More to come friends.

Until then,

Follow me, your frumpyfit gal, on Instagram @frumpyfitfabulous

 

Six Ways to Incorporate Exercise into a busy Routine

Hey guys! It’s been a busy few weeks at work and I’ve had a hard time keeping up with life. Just as I was getting into a healthy routine, work was extremely busy and my workout routine suffered. Except for the past few weeks I’ve been going to the gym during the lunch hour. It’s a perfect break to the work day and allows me to let loose and clear my mind. Sadly, I’ve been working over the lunch hour so I had to figure out what to do during my daily routine to get some extra steps in. Here’s my list of things that I did last week to put some pep in my step:

1. Park far away

A lot of empty parking stalls, and lot of extra steps

Parking far away in the huge mall parking lot allows you to get extra steps. It’s a small impact that doesn’t add too much time to your trip. Heck, when it’s cold out I sometimes jog into the store. Now that’s a quick way to elevate your heart rate.

2. Take the stairs!

Sounds simple enough right? Too often are we given easy, convenient shortcuts. I went to the mall and immediately saw the escalators. I must admit I had to search for the stairs. Hey it was only one flight of stairs, but making the decision to be healthy made me feel better. Plus, I generally get a lot of steps at the mall anyway running to the stores I need to visit.

3. Drinks lots of water…from a smaller cup.

I generally try to drink 80-100 ounces of water a day. I have a 30 oz cup that I fill 3-4  times a day. Instead of using that cup I downsized to my 20 ounce cup. Additionally, I tried to drink an extra cup or water last week. To make it simple: Smaller cup equals more trips to the water fountain. Increasing your water intake will make you take more trips to the bathroom. Also, I tend to munch on food at my desk. Drinking water makes me fuller and satisfies my need to intake substances.

4. Spend the weekend doing your favorite activity

My ‘Merica Themed Volleyball Team

This weekend I actually had some spare time and didn’t have to leave town! It was amazing! What does one do when they have spare time? Clean house or have a jammed packed sports weekend?? If you guessed cleaning house you and my house are sadly mistaken. Exercise over cleaning house any day…or at least this weekend. I played in a volleyball tournament Saturday and Sunday. I didn’t win either, but it was a good way to socialize with my volleyball people and have some fun in the sun. It’s actually kind of neat; there’s a whole volleyball community and you tend to see the same faces at every tourney. Saturday night Brenton and I went to the College World Series game where Florida Gators overtook TCU. Anyway, the point is after an all-day volleyball tournament I still found the energy to walk the many steps to the stadium and walk up the stairs.

5. Find alternative transportation methods

Luckily I live a few miles from both volleyball venues where I play. Instead of taking my car I took an extra 15 minutes to ride my bike too and from the volleyball courts. My neighborhood happens to be very hilly so I huff and puff slowly up the hills and reap the benefit of the downhill coast. It was also a good warmup before my games.

6. Make more trips when doing tasks at home

This is pretty self explanatory, but sometimes I tend to leave things out of place knowing that I can take them upstairs the next time I go. Instead of putting off housecleaning, I did smaller tasks immediately. Having a clean house makes me feel happy (it’s just not as often as I would like).

I’m sure there are more ways to get steps in, but these are the ones that were easy for me to incorporate into my busy routine last week. I’m off to a terrible start this week as far as going to the gym. I’m going to try to go Tuesday-Friday this week. I miss my lunch break workout and the fun group of gals that come with it.

Kickstart to Paleo

I love food. I enjoy trying out new restaurants, giving recommendations on my favorites places, and attending local events. Last week’s adventure took me to Evolve Paleo Chef. It’s a franchise that focuses on – you guessed it- the Paleo diet. I’ve been thinking a lot about how I can kickstart this healthier eating to go along with my exercise. What a great time for me to hear about this restaurant. Now, I’m not an expert on Paleo, but I think they sum it up easily: No soy, No dairy, No gluten. I’ve also heard it called ‘caveman’s diet’ or all fruits, veggies, and meats.

This place offers delicious food and juices. To start my new eating habits, I decided to splurge on a cleanse. Before purchasing, I was able to try a ‘juice flight’ so I could find which ones I liked. I decided to go with The Anti, Pucker Up Granny, Pineapple Fennel, Orange, Carrot Apple Squared(green and red apples), and Spicy Greens.   I’ve tried juicing in the passed; I’ve even tried Beyonce’s maple syrup, cayenne, and lemon juice cleanse, but I’ve never had something so tasty. The fruits were so sweet and delicious. My very favorite was Spicy Greens. This drink was the spiciness I need in my life! Wow! This juice had kale, parsley, green apple, celery, lime, and jalapeño.

My one day Juice Cleanse

Doing the cleanse had me feeling so great! I think it was more the satisfaction from achieving my goal without cheating. So many days do I make excuses to eat unhealthy or sneak in chocolates between meals. Surprisingly, at the end of the day, I wasn’t hungry from not eating solid foods. I felt so good about the one day cleanse that I did a half day cleanse on day 2 and 3. I limited myself to veggies for either lunch or dinner. Now for the best part, this cleanse definitely started me on my Paleo journey, but I was so excited to end the cleanse 9 pounds down!

Today was the first day off the cleanse and I decided to recreate one of Evolve Paleo Chef dishes: Philly Cheesesteak loaded fries.

Ingredients:

• Red Bell Pepper
• Yellow Bell Pepper
• Half a White Onion
• 3/4 lb Skirt Steak
• 2 medium sized Sweet Potatoes
• 10 oz Heidi Ho – Creamy Chia Cheeze
• Olive Oil

Makes 4 servings. Use a drizzle of olive oil to cook peppers and onion. I seasoned the veggies lightly with sea salt and pepper. Once veggies are cooked throughly, set aside. Cut steak into cubes and cooked to your desired level. I cooked the french fry style sweet potatoes in my air fryer until they were crisp. You can drizzle them with olive oil and broil in the oven until they are soft enough also. Once everything is cooked, comes the assembly. The bottom layer is the sweet potatoes. Top with potatoes with peppers, onion, and steak. Warm up the plant-based cheese in the microwave until softened like nacho cheese. Top the dish with cheese. Now you’re ready to enjoy your guiltless comfort food. Enjoy!

P.S. I’m not getting paid, but I wanted to share Evolve Paleo Chef because I loved their product so much!