Connect the Dots Ginger | Becky Allen: September 2015

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Upper Body Lovin'!


(Last weekend we got to visit my Grandpa in DC who was flown out by the Honor Flight in UT honoring WWII vets!)

I don't really believe in spot training. It just doesn't really work. You want to workout your whole body out evenly and honestly you are going to lose weight evenly anyways. But I want my upper body to be stronger. Better. LESS FLABBY! You know, that wobble from the backside of your arms. I WANT THAT GONE! Looking at pictures of me I see my arms and I want them smaller. And the only way I can think of besides losing fat is to increase the muscle. Look at the picture above. I was really happy with it because you can totally tell that my stomach is getting smaller, YEA! but I don't know if it is just cause my arms are so WHITE but that is what jumps out at me is how big my arms are. They are 14.75 inches around. Not happy with that at all!

My arms and shoulders are sooooo weak too! My shoulders pop and crack whenever I am doing arm exercises (same with my hip flexers!) I have a hard time lifting anything more than 5 pounds when it involves my shoulders. But no more. I am adding in some extra upper body workout to help me out. Can't wait to try these workouts by Sia Cooper from Diary Of A Fit Mommy! Have you seen her arms! Girl has been working hard on her guns! So along with my 21 Day Fix I will be doing her upper, lower and core workouts to just get more awesome! And with cleaning up my diet this week...I will get the body that I want! you can count on that!

Need more help and want a challenge? Check out this upper body 28 day challenge! Who wants to do a monthly challenge together??

And, of course, be sure to like our FACEBOOK page and follow us on PINTEREST for motivation, clean eating tips, and healthy lifestyle resources.

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

October 28 Day Push Up Challenge

Say bye-bye to that arm jiggle! Seriously! Wanna try a 28 day push up challenge? Great way to help build up your upper body strength! My goal is to be able to do more than 20 pushups in 2 minutes. I did that so many years ago in a ROTC class. I want to beat it. Who's with me? Check out the calendar below!
Want more workouts ideas? Click HERE!

And, of course, be sure to like our 
FACEBOOK page and follow us on PINTEREST for motivation, clean eating tips, and healthy lifestyle resources.

Monday, September 28, 2015

My Journey

It has taken me a while to finally finish and get the courage up to post this video, but I AM DOING IT! I'm not trying to brag about what I have accomplished. I am not trying to make anyone feel badly. I am doing it to show you that you can start at any time to take back your life. You don't have to wait until you are at the lowest of the lows. If you feel that little urge telling you, that you need to change something. Just do it. Your body knows when it is ready. Your heart knows too. Sometimes your head will agree with it too, but often our own insecurities about past performances is what holds us back.

Done a diet and weight loss plan before but it didn't work? That's ok. I bet you learned something from that experience. Try changing your routine, but quickly fell into the same habits from before? That's ok, all you need is someone to help support you and give you motivation. I have been there. Felt like I have done it all but the one thing that changed it all, was support and motivation and finally believing in me that I could do it! Send me an email and we can talk about your goals and what has worked before and what hasn't! You don't have to go through this alone! We can do it together, and before you know it you are going to have a pretty amazing journey too!

Check out my video below to watch my journey!


And, of course, be sure to like our FACEBOOK page and follow us on PINTEREST for motivation, clean eating tips, and healthy lifestyle resources.

Friday, September 25, 2015

Active Recovery Yoga

Oh I love my Sundays because after church we come home and the kids go down for a late afternoon nap, I usually catch an hour or two of a good nap and that evening I choose to do my yoga.  I used to not workout on Sundays at all as a true day of rest, but since I started to incorporate yoga on Sunday I have felt more rested and relaxed on Monday for the start of my working out for the week, and overall I am so much more limber. So now I use Sundays and Wednesday as an active rest day. (Pilates on Wednesday)

Why are rest days so important? The entire purpose of recovery is to allow the muscle to repair itself and to engage muscles that are tired and sore from previous days of exercise. To keep your body working at it's peak, you can choose to do an active rest day which is just remain active without pushing yourself as hard as you were a day or two before. Low intensity is what you want to aim for. Running at a slower speed, or doing less amount of exercise or a more slow paced exercise like yoga or pilates!

These are not easy routines I do for my yoga or pilates, they still require me to work, but I focus my mind and breathing to help clean me mentally and also using deep cleansing breaths. It really does work!

Yoga can be done by all shapes and sizes. If you are a more curvy girl, like me, you will have to modify some moves and that is ok! Listen to your instructor and do what you can and over time you will be able to do more and more! The stretching though is so good and feels amazing! For years I felt so scared to do yoga. I didn't think I could because I wasn't a skinny twig of a girl! I started yoga when I was pregnant with Collin and loved it every week that I went, all the way through 39 weeks pregnant. It was amazing. And helped so much, especially since I was running during most of my pregnancy. Even in the last few months I have struggled with Bow Pose. I couldn't not get it. But I kept trying, often just holding one leg at a time and switching halfway through. Then one day, I did it. It just worked! So keep going at it and you will be amazing at what you can accomplish!

This Sunday I challenge you to try out some of these poses. Or Hulu, Amazon they have FREE yoga workouts you can watch. Follow along. Focus on your breathing and allowing your body to release tension. Comment below if you are going to try this, this weekend! I would love to hear from you!

And, of course, be sure to like our FACEBOOK page and follow us on PINTEREST for motivation, clean eating tips, and healthy lifestyle resources.

Thursday, September 24, 2015

You Are Not Weak For Crying


Yesterday was a really powerful day for me. It started as any normal day. Getting up and getting Mason ready for preschool and breakfast made. I needed onions for my breakfast and started cutting into a nice huge onion. And then that familiar burning and stinging and crying happened from the onion. I finished chopping, washed my hands and just felt empty and hallow. And the tears kept coming and coming. I just felt drained. On the way home from dropping Mason off at school again I felt empty and hallow. I was grieving knowing that my due date was any day and it wasn't going to happen.

I knew this day was going to happen. At some point. I didn't know when or how or anything but I knew I would have a breakdown day. The tears kept coming and coming. Those hot and heavy tears full of sorrow and pain. I called Matt and told him I was having a bad day and I couldn't stop crying. 20 minutes later he walked in the door with a flower, strawberries and of course chocolate! (I have done pretty good though not eating the chocolate!)

He held me as I continued to cry. Normally when I am in pain or sad or crying I push everyone away. But not today. I let him hold me. Counseling has helped. I am letting people in! The tears didn't stop. I just kept crying. Anytime I thought I would be done I wasn't.

Matt picked Mason up from lunch and we had lunch. Kids went down for a nap and Matt sent me up for one too! Thankfully it was a Wednesday and I had my weekly counseling session. I didn't get ready. I didn't change clothes. I just went puffy swollen face and all. Talked through it. And felt lighter and so much better. I finally stopped crying uncontrollably after my session. Matt and I talked about my session and we just grieved together yesterday.

So thankful to my husband for just dropping what he was doing to take care of me. His work is so important but he still took care of me. I also realized that yesterday that I hadn't let all my feelings out. That I was still bottling them in and they just exploded yesterday. and it is okay!

Crying is not a sign of weakness. And for years I always thought it had. For me it just meant that I was holding too many things in at once and something had to give!

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

No Room For Excuses

In March and April I had a hard time just climbing the stairs without feeling dizzy or winded during my recovery from the miscarriage. Making new blood and filling my body back up with blood was HARD WORK! For months after I have had a hard time with pushing myself to where my heart rate accelerated too much. I have been afraid that I am going to pass out, because I was getting just as winded as I was during my recovery. (thanks to PTSD!) 
Now I can finally run up and down my stairs without being winded, just dizzy cause they turn a lot! But I am working on me everyday. Pushing myself as hard as I can because it is important to me. Eating clean, and just spending 30 minutes working on my body making it as fit as possible. I have decided that I am worth it and I can not stop what I enjoy doing just because I have a little bit of fear creeping inside of me anytime I try to better myself! I am worth more and so are you! 
I have seen too many excuses. Too many times. Heck, I made those excuses too! I am too fat. I haven't exercised in forever. I can't do it because it is hard. I can't breath. I'm too sore. I'm too slow. I'm too this and I'm too that. I love chocolate too much. I can't do that. I want to but... Enough with excuses. You want to change. You have to decide that you want to and DO IT! That is all it takes. You want to lose 20 pounds so you can get pregnant, then decide why you want to do it and think about that why when you have one of those pesky excuses enter into your head.

Here is the thing. EVERYONE has excuses. Arnold Schwarzenegger probably had an excuse as to why he didn't want to lift that day, but he didn't listen to those excuses. He did what he had to. Even moms. You can make an excuse as to why you aren't going to make lunch for your child that day, but you want your kids to eat healthy foods and they need a lunch so your motivation to make the lunch is greater than your excuse. Don't be ruled by your excuses. Stomp them down and stick with what you know you need to do! It really is that easy!

If it is important to you, you will find a way. If not, you will have excuse after excuse as to why you can't do something! Fight those excuses and show them who is boss! You have it in you! You can do it!

Monday, September 21, 2015

Hope

This past Saturday I finished my fourth piano solo composition. Bet you didn't know that I have actually dabbled in writing music? I am not a mastermind at music composition but I just write what comes to me and take it from there. Sometimes I hear a melody and I can get swept up in it and write a decent amount of music in a day, or sitting and that is really what happened with this one. It has been on my mind almost every day since I started it. I started writing again, a brand new song, on the 30th of August. And now less than 30 days I have completed it.

I have titled it Hope, or A Mother's Hope (still deciding). It really is about my roller coaster of a ride with having babies. All the struggles and joys I have experienced.

I was inspired to finish it when my sister in law had her baby. A red headed little girl. Which is what I always imagined my baby girl would be. I am not going to lie. I am jealous, I am sad. My due date was actually this coming Saturday on the 26th. My sis-in-law and I were both expecting at the same time. And it is hard knowing that she has her little girl and I don't... yet. I know this might seem petty, and I am not writing this to get pity or make my sister in law feel upset for having her baby, or anyone else for that matter. I am saying this because it is normal and natural to experiences these feelings of jealousy, anger, frustration, and sadness. It is ok to feel these things. And don't let anyone tell you different! It is also about how we express those feelings. Being angry at our family or anyone because they have something you don't is not the best right. The feelings need to be talked about, expressed and released. I needed to get those feelings out and I did it through my music. I was bawling my eyes out when my music took a turn I wasn't expecting. Mimicking the sadness and grief I felt when I lost her. But the end is so hopeful. I know that someday when the time is right she will join our family. This is not in my control. I am on God's timeline and at this point, I am hopeful that someday she will be with us. When that will be? I have no idea but I have hope that she will be here when it is her right time.

I am thankful that I have the talent to be able to play my feelings out. Holding them in is the last thing I want to do. I have to let them out. In any way I can. Music, art, dancing anything creative that you can do to help you express those feelings so that you can feel free, lifted and just at peace with what is being thrown your way. Trust in yourself and in God that you can get through this and you will. I am so happy for my sister in law and her family for her little girl making it safely here. Babies are a miracle no matter what! It is hard work making a baby!

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Food Volume Matters!

Why are we encouraged to eat veggies and fruits with our meals? Yes we all know that eating our veggies is good for us because they contain vitamins and minerals in them that might not be found as easily or easy for our bodies to process but there is a whole other reason to it too! VOLUME! Veggies fill up our stomach and trigger that signal in our brains that tells us "HEY YOU'RE FULL! STOP EATING!"

The whole point to adding veggies, a cup or two at a time, with our meals is to add volume to our meal. Check out the picture below to see what I am talking about! Think about it. When you eat the "recommended" serving size of pasta you are still hungry and want more. Why? Because the pasta alone is not enough to fill you up. (Anytime we went to Olive Garden I would always get the salad for me and eat half the bowl and I could barely eat any of my actual pasta dish. This is why. I didn't realize what I was doing at the time but this is why.) Or sometimes with meats I still feel hungry. Yes the meat is a heavy thing to eat but I also tended to over eat on the amount. 
When you are making a sandwich, don't just add lettuce. Top it with bell peppers or have them on the side. Get more veggies in your diets so that your body will trigger that I'm full signal and you will feel satisfied longer and more sustained until your next meal! 

A typical breakfast that I have is 2 egg whites (now whites to clean up my nutrition) and 1 whole egg. And 1 cup (or 1 green container for all you fixers out there) of bell peppers and onions. Plus I have 1/2 cup of oatmeal (2 yellows) with 1 tablespoon flaxseed (blue) (and just a
touch of honey to help with allergies), and an apple (purple). VOLUME! I am satisfied to full when I eat my breakfast!

And I am not talking about adding a salad to your dinner or lunch. I really dislike salads! They make me feel like I am dieting too much. I am talking adding in bell peppers to dip in hummus, or adding in caramelized onions on top of or with your chicken. Roasted butternut squash as a side sprinkled with cinnamon. Check out these Apple Cider Brussels Sprouts by Chef Chloe! These look awesome! Need helpful side dishes to get more veggies. PINTEREST is the best! Just go looking and you will find it! 
(Chef Chole's Apple Cider Brussels Sprouts)

Want more daily motivation and inspiration? Click here get free daily advice, support, motivation, encouragement + a free copy of my Clean Eating guide to help you get started on your health and fitness journey! Are you following my INSTAGRAM yet? Check out my stories and feed to see how I fit a healthy lifestyle into my busy mom life!

Monday, September 14, 2015

Morning Workout

Wanna start your morning out right! Just as you get out of bed and before that first cup of joe bust out this little morning workout to help you feel awake, energized and ready to take on the day! 

And, of course, be sure to like our FACEBOOK page and follow us on PINTEREST for motivation, clean eating tips, and healthy lifestyle resources.

Friday, September 11, 2015

You Never Know Who You Are Inspiring!


I hate to admit it but I am kinda of digging my new morning schedule. I am 4 for 4 this week on getting my workouts done early in the morning. I am waking up at 6am. Rolling out of bed by 6:30 and busting out my workouts first thing. 

Mason says every morning now, "I wanna workout with you mommy!" Music to my ears! Today though, he was holding my legs during one of my ab exercises (ouch!) and I asked him to stop. He said no. I said, "Do you want mommy to be healthy?" He said, "YEP!" and let go of my legs and sat on the couch and watched me. This kid wants his momma to be a healthy mom and I think he sees the importance of if! 


Never give up. Workout, exercise, eat clean in front of your kids. You never, ever know who you are inspiring!

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Potty Training Tips For Preschool

Well the day is here! Mason has started school! And HE LOVES IT! Everyday since the first day of school he has come running up to me thanking me for taking him to preschool and that he loves me so much! It just melts my heart!

Yesterday he did have a little trouble getting his jean shorts pulled up after the potty. They had just had play time at the playground and he was all hot and sweaty, but just in case, I ran out and got him some elastic waist band shorts to make it easier on him and the teachers.

So one of the rules at this preschool is that he has to be completely and totally potty trained to attend. That is he do it all on his own. EVERYTHING! We worked all summer for this. Mason knew to go to pre school he had to be able to do it all. And when he finally did start using the potty full time after he did he would ask, "Can I go to preschool now!" and here we are. AT PRESCHOOL!

Here is what we did to help potty train Mason over the summer.

We have been trying since 2.5 years to potty train him. Started with just letting him walk naked and tell us if he needs to go potty. Didn't work. I set a timer to go off every 20 minutes to sit on the potty. That didn't work. We gave up a few times. Then tried again. Gave up and tried again. Fast forward to February when I told him he had to go on the potty. He still didn't want to. By May he was wearing underwear (or naked) and would go pee on the potty. But when he had a diaper on for mommy quiet time or night he would go poo! He was holding his poop for the diaper!

The end of June I had enough of that and just let the chips fall where they were. I told him "NO MORE DIAPERS!" And I hid his diapers. I told him that he is in underwear all the time and that we couldn't buy more diapers. He would respond. "The super market has more diapers!" Smarty pants!!! Finally just a few weeks before his 4th birthday he couldn't hold his poop any more and I saw it in his eyes. (cause they about bugged out of his face! He had to go poo!) He ran into the potty and went poop on the potty for the very first time! He then knew he was ready to go to preschool! We have been in underwear 24X7 since the beginning of July! And we are saving money not having to buy him diapers anymore! YEA!

So...
1. Bribing didn't work.
2. Sticker charts didn't work.
3. Songs didn't work.
4. Happy dances didn't work.
5. Apps didn't work.
6. Reading didn't work.

Telling him (fibbing) we had no more diapers and just not putting him in them any more worked! Mental note has been made for child #2, but Collin is not as strong willed as Mason is! (speaking of child #2 I keep asking for my phone so I can get a picture for this post off of it and he keeps fake handing it to me and runs away! LITTLE STINKER! Oh yeah, I just totally made him cry!)

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Sexy Side Butt

Time to work the BUTT! Side butt that is. No more saddle bags. This is a great routine to follow to help you slim down your butt! 
Want more daily motivation and inspiration? Click here get free advice, support and encouragement + a free copy of my Clean Eating guide to help you get started on your health and fitness journey! 

Monday, September 7, 2015

13 LUCKY Years!


This past Saturday the hubs and I celebrated our 13th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY! Crazy huh! 13 years I have been with this guy and I love him more than the day we married. It is totally possible to find bliss and happiness! 


We have had an amazing roller coaster of a marriage! We have had great years and years that were not so great but we got through all of them together and stronger. We had so many years, and still dealing with it, the whole kid thing. We were ok with having kids right as we got married but when it didn't happen, and a year went by, then 2, 3 and up to 8 we struggled. I pestered Matt. It was what I wanted but we didn't know what to do because it just wasn't happening. 3 fertility doctors, 54 shots in my belly and 2 IUI's and we finally got Mason. Now we are dealing with miscarriages that have been so hard on me mentally and stronger. But we are doing this together. Matt is there for me and has been there for me every step of the way. I love though that during those years we were able to still travel and spend time together! We had 9 years to get to know each other and build a strong relationship and a great friendship!


Marriage takes work. Even though you love someone you can still get mad at them. But you have to take that effort to talk through it. Forgive and work through any struggles that you might be having. If you are having an argument just holding hands while talking through it helps to not stay mad at them. It helps you stay connected it helps you forgive! It is worth it. At one point in time you fell in love with your partner. Just remember why you did! Check out this awesome video of Chalene Johnson giving relationship advice. It is pretty funny and so true! Check it out. Comment below what you think about it. What you took away from the video! 




I am one lucky lady who married such a great role model for his boys who is strong in his faith, devoted to his family and dedicated to his work!

Thanks hubs for picking me and for going on this crazy life journey with me. 13 years out of forever is pretty sweet!

Friday, September 4, 2015

What Is It Like?


I am so blessed that I can be a stay at home mom. We don't get the adult interactions that we need, start talking like a baby (Mason's tablet is called a tabby!) dishes piling up, laundry to do. We have all been there. Thanks to coaching I feel like I get to leave the world of babies and cleaning behind for just a little bit every day. I spend a little time every day working on me. Physically and mentally. I get to chat with friends, old and new. And why do I do this? BECAUSE I LOVE IT! This has been the best decision I have ever made. I get to work one on one with amazing people and I am helping them change their lives! And now I wanted to extend this to you!

I am hosting a totally exclusive 5 day sneak peek into what I do as a health and fitness motivator along with personally mentoring those who are ready to help others be the best versions of themselves! - my coaching is free, but you will be expected to work with me. 

The sneak peek will include:
~ Why I became a coach, 
~ What I do as a mentor and coach to my challengers and to my team
~ How I work to be my best version of me both inside and out
~What coaching is in a nutshell
~ Social Media and networking tips
~ How to earn money


You do not need to have a rock hard body, you do not need to be a business owner - you need to have a great attitude and want to learn and we will do this together.

Remember I am a stay at home mom - I am in the middle of my journey and have lost 15 pounds in just a few months, and I work part time as a music teacher too - I had to get it together to do this. I will help you do the same.

THIS IS A NO OBLIGATION, NO NONSENSE OPPORTUNITY....Are you curious about what I do? Let's do it! Let me know if you want to join us?

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

September's Book Club


Every month now, I try to pick out a new book every month that I need to read and that I want to read to help me continue to learn to love my life, gain more self confidence and to just better my self. These books are often called "self help." But they are so much more than that to me. I call them my personal development to help me develop myself to be better. And since I started reading these kinds of books in May, the way I see my life and the lives of those around me have totally changed.

So what's on my reading list for this month? Book #1


52 Ways To Live A Kick Ass Life: BS-Free Wisdom to Ignite Your Inner Badass and Live the Life You Deserve  By Andrea Owen. I love her podcasts and she really is about giving it to you straight and making you really think about how to look at life. I am so excited. Oh and it is for FREE on Kindle Unlimited! Yeah Baby!

Book #2 for when I finish 52 Ways:



BrenÉ Brown: Rising Strong: If you are brave enough, often you will fail. This is a book about what it takes to get back up.  This is a book that was recommended by Andrea Owen on one of her podcasts and when she talked about it and reading the brief little summary it is something that I totally need right now and can't wait to start reading! 
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