How You Really Lose Weight

Shared this message in my EXCLUSIVE GROUP! How many of you think of exercise as the ONLY WAY to lose weight? To change your lifestyle you must first chance how you think of food and exercise! So many people believe that they must exercise to lose weight but that really isn't true. Exercise is GREAT and we do need it. But to truly lose weight, you MUST change what you are eating! 

Food is the way to lose weight. Not exercise. Exercise is to help define, lean and strengthen your body. 

Yes, exercise allows you to burn calories and we know that you must burn 3500 calories to lose 1 pound. But most of us don't count calories every single day. Or live a calorie in calorie out lifestyle. You have to REALIZE that you can not OUT-EXERCISE A BAD DIET! If you learn to eat the right kinds of foods, the right portion of foods then you will lose weight.

Exercise is what allows you to be stronger, defined and lean and really shows off the work of what you have been eating! And it is important.

Too often I hear people kicking butt in their workouts. Getting them in daily and that they want to change. But they don't make the changes necessary to what they are eating to make a big difference. Yes they lose a little weight and some inches but to get the results you really want...start with what you are eating!

I did that for years! Even with my personal trainer. He kicked my butt in the gym, and I worked so hard. I only lost inches but didn't lose any weight. And it was so frustrating. But I honestly didn't change what I was eating enough to make a difference. When I finally did change what I ate, tracked it and kept a food log, the weight literally fell off of me! If you want to lose weight start with what you are eating! Every time! 

Need help with where to start??? Send me an EMAIL. Let's chat about your goals and get you started! I would love to help you achieve your goals!

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! Don't forget to follow me on INSTAGRAM and FACEBOOK!

Tips For Traveling With A Baby

This past weekend Elyse and I traveled to Utah for my grandfather's funeral. It was a last minute trip, and a very short trip. We left Friday evening at 6:10pm. Arrived in Utah at 11pm local time (so 1am our time). Funeral and family time was the next day. Then flew out of Utah at 6:10am on Sunday morning.

It was such a short trip and I was concerned about flying with a baby so small. Mason's first flight, he was 9 months old. Collin, he was 5 months. Elyse, 3 months. Here are some tips to help you feel a little more comfortable traveling with your little one.

1) Feed during take off and landing. Each flight I actually didn't feed Elyse until that little "ding, ding" happened overhead. That meant, Elyse was SCREAMING at me to feed her from when we sat down in our seat and for a good 10 minutes of loading and taxi time. And I am sure she scared the CRAP out of every passenger on the plane around us. Don't feel bad about this. My thought process was, let her scream now and then once we get going she will sleep! And it worked!

2) Don't feel bad about nursing your baby. 2 out of the 4 flights, I actually had a seat between me and the other passenger, or even the whole row to myself. That was nice. But the other 2 flights, I was next to at least one person. My last flight. I was sandwiched between two older males. And I personally don't cover to nurse. It is uncomfortable for the baby and I like being able to see her. Next to the men I did put a blanket over my shoulder to create a barrier for privacy to cover any "side boob" but that was it. I tried to be as modest as possible. Let your neighbors know that a nursing mom and leave it at that. You can always ask the flight attendants for a window seat if you want and they can ask if a passenger is willing to trade. I asked for the last flight because I knew I had a middle seat and was told another seat prior to boarding but that seat was actually taken and I didn't care at that point. Don't feel ashamed for having to nurse your baby or feel required to cover to nurse. You have a right to feed in public any way you choose. 

3) DO NOT APOLOGIZE or feel guilty for having your baby on the plane. You and your baby have every right to be on that plane flight as anyone else. Keep in mind that the travel time is only just a fraction of why people are on that flight anyways. It is just for a few hours. People can suck it up!

4) Crying and/or fussiness happens. Just like adults. No one likes to feel confined for long periods of time. Babies are just the same. Staring at the back of a chair or a small area is no fun for anyone. Get creative. I use the sun to refract light through my right and made "sparkles" for Elyse to enjoy! She loved it! Try to entertain as best as you can.

5) Don't get frustrated, because when you get frustrated your baby will feed off of your emotions which can cause them to get more upset. Again, travel time is just a short amount of time for the real reason why you are traveling.

6) Get up and walk around. If you are on a long flight. It is ok to get up and walk down the aisle. Especially if the baby is fussy, this might be the way to calm them down. Change of scenery for the baby might be what they need.

7) Depending on the length of your trip try to stick to your baby's schedule. If you are going on a longer trip. Keep your baby on their schedule, but in the new time zone. So if baby usually naps at 11:30am, do the nap at 11:30 per the time zone you are in. If it is a short trip like ours was. Don't. I let her sleep when she could. She was quite popular with family and got to meet a lot of them. And she put on a beautiful smile for everyone. She was awake more than she usually is. Today already, she is sleeping a lot to recover.

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! Don't forget to follow me on INSTAGRAM and FACEBOOK!

Love Yourself Fit

This month I opened up my EXCLUSIVE health and fitness support group to ANYONE that wanted to join and get that support and motivation they needed to stick with their resolution. Now it is time to turn up the dial and kick it into overdrive. My group will go back to being exclusive to continuing customers only beginning in February. And I INVITE YOU to join us!

Did you know that the Beachbody On Demand Annual All Access Pass not only gives you unlimited streaming to EVERY SINGLE WORKOUT ever created by Beachbody, but also all the nutrition guides, recipes, calendars and to the exclusive BOD content PLUS access to any new workout released? For just $99! And when you get the Beachbody On Demand All Access Annual Membership you also get lifetime access to my group. So you get access to me and all my tools that I have created to HELP YOU SUCCEED!

February's group is going to be focused on Self Love. We are going to learn Love Ourselves Fit! For years I did not love myself. I would cringe when I looked in the mirror, or avoid the mirror if I could. I would tear myself down by nit picking any part of my body that I thought was awful (too many stretch marks, big butt, big belly, my calves can't even fit in knee high boots!) Destructive. negative, self loathing that is so harmful to us mentally. 

It wasn't until I finally started to love myself. Learn to love myself. That I saw the good in me. And turned all my negative thoughts into positive ones. My stretch marks tell a story, my butt is amazing! my belly carried 3 babies full term, my calves are strong and I rock booties! I want to help you see you for as you are. Your beauty. Your inner light. And let it SHINE! Because you are beautiful. You are unique. There is no one like you on this earth. 

If you are ready to start your journey filled with love, friendship, kindness and still work hard to eat right every day, and exercise and get your "me time" in everyday, then I WANT YOU in my group! I am rocking my weight loss transformation right now and I want you to join me and REACH YOUR GOALS! Send me an EMAIL, and let me know you are ready to join me. I have a goal, that I said yesterday in my goal board, to help at least 50 women start their journey, work with them on their journey and see what they can achieve over this year. Are you ready to join me yet? 

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! Don't forget to follow me on INSTAGRAM and FACEBOOK!

2017 Goal Setting

HELLO 2017! Man, 2016 was a rough year for Hollywood. For me, not so bad. We had a surprise pregnancy. I was able to maintain a healthy and fit pregnancy. Delivered a very healthy and beautiful baby girl and then started my weight loss journey with a BANG! So for me, yeah, 2016 was pretty amazing!

What can I do to make 2017 even better? Well, I have plans. I have lots of plans! I have goals, HUGE GOALS! And I can't wait to share them with you. A lot of them have to do with this blog and the direction I want to take my journey to.

For the first time, I have actually made a goal boar. I have had these goals stewing in the back of my head for the past few months actually. So I already knew what I wanted to achieve for this year. I even came up with my own timeline on when I was going to do things, how I was going to accomplish them and so forth.

Some big goals for me:
1) Rebranding my blog. Getting a professional logo made with other social media content to use to make my blog more professional and cohesive. Rolling out in the spring.

2) Getting my Personal Training Certification. This is HUGE for me! I originally thought about it in 2010. Then over the past year, I have been deciding when I was going to do it. That is this summer.

3) Lowering my body fat %. GOAL: 24% BF. I started in November at 41%. And honestly I don't know if 24% is doable while nursing but I really want to be much lower in my BF%. That means building muscle to burn my fat. And really watching what I eat. And in 2 months I have lost 1 percent. Slow and steady. Goal: November.

4) Professional Fitness Photos. I CAN NOT WAIT FOR THIS! This is my reward for reaching my BF% Goal. WHY NOT?!? When I get my body healthy, why not show it off. So I am really looking forward to those! Timeline. November.

5) Getting out of credit card debt, staying out of debt and building our savings. Plus saving for 2 BIG trips. One this summer to New Orleans for the Beachbody coach summit and beach for Mason's birthday. And saving to take the family to Disney World in a year from now! I really want to run the Dopey. and still debating but...I will be running one race next year at least. First we have to get out of debt which is scheduled to be by March. Then we start saving for New Orleans, then Disney.

Couple of things when you are setting goals is to follow the SMART system. When you do you are more likely to achieve your goals because you are making a plan. Check out the SMART Goal making below!

S- Specific- Be super specific when making your goals. Write down what you really want to accomplish, not just the overall goal but if you want to lose 20 pounds then write it down, instead of just "lose weight".

M- Measurable- How are you going to measure your success? Do you have an app that you can put your info in and the app will keep track for you? Make a spread sheet or have some sort of way you can track and measure how you are progressing. (lose 20 pounds by using a scale and using my iHealth app on my phone.)

A- Attainable- Be realistic in your goals. 100 pounds in 2 months is not going to happen. Make real smart goals based on what you know you are capable of, and maybe push yourself just a little bit. Also don't under value yourself either. And how are you going to do it, being specific again. (lose 20 pounds by March 31st by eating clean, exercising 6 days a week and allowing myself 1 meal a week that is an indulgent meal.)

R- Relevant- Is is worthwhile? Does it fit in with your overall long term plans? (Double my daily page views on my blog by June 2016.) Find your why on why you want to accomplish it and make it worthwhile. This will help you stick with it more when you are having a hard time!

What are you big goals for this year? Drop them in the comments below! 

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! Don't forget to follow me on INSTAGRAM and FACEBOOK!

Homemade German Chocolate Cake

For my husband's birthday I make him a german chocolate cake from scratch. It is a tradition that his mom started when he was younger and one that I continued and have continued for the last 14 years. I will say that the main killer ingredient that has to be made homemade, in my humble opinion, is the frosting. Yeah, the canned variety is great, but I have found that I LOVE the homemade frosting so much more! So regardless if I use a box for the cake, because some years I just haven't had the time or the willpower to make a homemade chocolate cake, I will always make the frosting by hand.

This year I did something different though. I didn't have any evaporated milk on hand. I thought I did but when I got home. I didn't. And I could have gone to the store to get it, but after researching how easy it was to make, although a little time consuming, I knew I could do it myself. Plus, one thing I learned is that the shelf life on the canned evaporated milk is YEARS! However, homemade evap milk is only a day or two, in the fridge, only. It made me think...what the heck makes the canned version last so long? I get it. It is sealed in a can but still, it didn't sit right with me for whatever reason yesterday so...I made the evaporated milk myself! Yes, I am crazy but, when I indulge in foods, I want them to be AMAZING and still as healthy and clean (no preservatives) as possible.

WAIT!!! I thought I came here for healthy eating and not junk food...Well, a healthy lifestyle is all about balance. Or at least allowing yourself to still have indulgences. I firmly believe in eating clean and healthy 80% of the time and allow myself to enjoy other types of foods, that I don't eat very often 20% of the time.

Foods I eat less of / less often: sweets, treats like ice cream, cake, doughnuts, even pasta with cream sauce.

Foods I eat more of / more often: veggies, fruit, brown rice, lean protein, oatmeal.

Foods I avoid: processed foods, preservative laden foods.

General rule of thumb is to have an indulgent meal a week, or every other week, or once a month. It depends on how you want to think about it so that you can still enjoy life and avoid having major binge episodes. Think about it, in the past when you denied yourself having treats or whatnot, the diet didn't last long and often would end in a binge episode. Since I am not on a diet, but a lifestyle change, I need to allow myself those treats so that I don't deprive myself of the things that my mind wants or those fun meals with my family. My goal, to usually have an indulgent meal once a month for a birthday, Valentine's day. Holiday, family get together. If you can use those days as the day that you indulge and enjoy foods you don't have very often you are more likely to succeed and reach your healthy natural weight. Healthy living is not about depriving yourself. It is about creating healthy habits!

HOMEMADE GERMAN CHOCOLATE CAKE

CHOCOLATE CAKE: 

Ingredients: 
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup coco powder plus 1 tablespoons more for pans
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 extra large eggs (or 3 large eggs) at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Butter 2 8-inch round cake pans. Spray with cooking spray then dust the pans with coco powder. shaking it all over the pans to coat.
Sift flour, sugar, coco, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer with whisk attachment. mix on low speed until combined.
In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla.
with mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry until just combined. Scape the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
Pour the batter into the prepared pans, dividing equally.
Bake for 35-40 minutes until cake tester or toothpick comes out clean
Cool in pans.
Frost as desired.

COCONUT PECAN FROSTING

Ingredients:
12 ounces of homemade evaporated milk
1 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups (6 ounces) sweetened flaked coconut
1 1/2 cup (6 ounces) pecans

Directions: 
In a large pot combine evaporated milk, brown sugar and butter and bring to a boil.
Once at a boil remove from heat.
Add salt, coconut and pecans and stir
once evenly coated, transfer to a medium bowl and let cool before frosting.

HOMEMADE EVAPORATED MILK
makes 12 ounces (equal to 1 can) of evaporated milk

Ingredients: 
30 ounces whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions: 
in a large saucepan over medium heat. Bring milk to a simmer, stirring frequently (do not let boil, because it will boil over very quickly and make a HUGE mess)

Once simmering lower temperature to medium low heat and now the waiting begins. Stir with a spatula every 5 minutes for about 40 minutes to break up the skim on the top to allow the milk to steam / evaporate the water in the milk and also to help avoid burning the milk on the bottom of the pan. Make sure you scrape the bottom of the pan with every pass.

Using a strainer over your measuring cup, be sure to strain the milk before use. You may have to measure a couple times to make sure you have the desired amount of 12 ounces.

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! Don't forget to follow me on INSTAGRAM and FACEBOOK!