healthy by CHOICE

Each day is a choice.

   If you start the day off with healthy options and a NO QUIT attitude chances are, the positive attitude with stick throughout the day.  Surprisingly one healthy choice leads to many more...

For instance, if you fill your pantry and refrigerator with healthy choices you are more likely to make better decisions when it comes to breakfast.  It will need to be quick because let's face it, life is busy.  

   Now you've made that one, positive choice for breakfast.  Not so hard, right?  You've hopefully fueled your body with high fiber and protein, so you will feel fuller longer and on your drive to school, work, errands, etc you are now armed with the choice of saying no to the fast food restaurants on every corner.  

   Let's face it, we can choose not to stop regardless but with our bodies being nourished the right way, we won't want it.  If you are like me, there are triggers in life that we must CHOOSE to avoid.  They are put in front of us daily.  Some of us have a sweet tooth, when the challenge presents itself and we aren't prepared, we'll fail.  For others it's simple carbs(this is me) breads and crackers.  I want to eat just a few but usually after 2-3 minutes, I lose control.  I have the choice to not keep those things in our home and then for my special treats, I'll buy a small portion and indulge every once in a while. It's what works for me.  

I think with healthy goals, losing weight, etc we all begin with good intentions.  Don't you? The hard part is staying with it and not allowing one of the following to take place,

Example 1:  You are rushing to work, running late as usual, whoops-you forget breakfast.  So you fuel up on coffee, thinking it'll hold you over until lunch.  WRONG.  You walk into the break room, office lounge and yep, there's a dozen donuts, some body's leftover birthday cake and it's all calling YOUR name.  Am I onto something?  Your body is hungry, so you figure one piece won't hurt.  Uh Oh, now that ONE bad choice has probably messed up the day, wouldn't ya say?  You figure one piece of chocolate can't be bad since you already blew it with the piece of stale, office cake.  And downward spiral here we come.  Another attempt failed.  

Example 2:  You are restricting yourself to every temptation that there is, so your breakfast is 1/2 cup of some odd-looking form of "diet" food.  You manage to keep your cool and stay focused.  Lunch arrives and you've got rabbit food consisting of carrots and celery, no protein and not near enough for one human being but you say, it's okay I can do this.  An hour after lunch you'd eat your hand if it was physically possible.  You are STARVING.  You will reach for ANYTHING that will fit into your mouth.  You tell yourself you'll eat 12 potato chips just to hold you over until you can get some good food and get your calories back in order but your good intentions of 12 become 55 and 55 become dumping the crumbs from the bag into your hand.  *This would be where I failed most times which is why I'm able to elaborate so well :(

  The point is, you can't expect to starve yourself and make positive choices too.  If you nourish and feed your body correctly, you will not become near as vulnerable when you are around things that trigger your temptations.  If you choose to start the day off positively, those choices will STICK.  A healthy, balanced breakfast turns into a great lunch and then after work, it turns into wanting a great workout whether it's a simple walk through the neighborhood, taking the stairs in your office or pushing yourself beyond your limits and having one of those memorable workouts. The choice is always ours to make.  

Don't let yourself slip by being unprepared.  It's a domino effect either way.  You choose which way you want them to fall.  So many times people set themselves up to fail before they've started.  

Be Prepared.

 My breakfast for today was thought of and written down before I woke up.  This way I walked into the kitchen on a mission.  Grabbed the Plain Greek yogurt, my granola and a handful of frozen blueberries!  
Whew, one positive choice...check.  


And a few of yesterday's eats, 

Day 12 and I'm down 8lbs.  

Green Smoothie #12

2 c spinach

1/2 c kale, both mixed with water first.

1 scoop vanilla protein powder

1/2 banana

almond milk 

10 blueberries

You see, I love working out and was eating semi-healthy but not CLEAN.  Those trigger carbs that are so hard for me to control were slipping back into my life really quickly and too often.  If it's a choice I have a hard time taking control of, I need to limit it and keep it under control by adding more protein, vegetables and fruit.  

*By preparing all of these into single servings ahead of time, I make the healthy choice every time.  It's in there to grab and go when I'm hungry so there's no room for error.  


Bob Harper kicked my booty yesterday with his Ultimate Cardio Body Extreme Weight Loss!   I was drenched and loved the strength training, cardio intervals in this workout!  I suggest trying it and don't be intimidated.  Do what you can and set small goals for what you want out of the workout.
Thumbs Up, Bob.  

Yesterday's lunch. This was all prepared and portioned on Monday so I grabbed a portion of the turkey mixture, warmed it up a separate bowl.  I dumped the portioned lettuce, kale, carrots and broccoli slaw into the other dish, dumped the turkey mix on top and enjoyed a salad that satisfied!