Do I make you thirsty baby?

So, over what we call our ‘Southern Fried’ vacation, I had the pleasure of running on this gorgeous beach front, hiking in the following back country on Cumberland Island, and running through the bustling town of Helen, GA during their annual Southern Worthersee car show.  Sounds amazing right?  Even if your summer vacation isn’t as elaborate as mine was, or even if it is more elaborate, it’s so important to find the time to get that extra run, jog, or even brisk walk in. So be sure to pack your sneakers wherever you head off to! The other advice I have, and I cannot stress this enough (only because I find myself guilty more times than not) is to hydrate hydrate hydrate!!! More than half of our body is made of water, and we sweat out a lot of that water just by going outside on a hot day! You need to re hydrate your body always, especially when involved in any sort of activity or exercise. I can’t tell you how many trips I took to one of the only drinking fountains on the island just to make sure I had enough water with me for our all day trek through sand, bushes, wetland, forest, etc. Water is essential for breaking down the foods we eat and carrying their nutrients throughout our bodies. Girls, ever gotten a UTI and wondered how it ever came about? We can get those from being dehydrated!! If you are guilty of drinking a lot of coffee every day, this too can dehydrate your body so it’s important to refuel with more even more water after guzzling the caffiene. I have found in my daily handful of supplements, that L-Glutamine (Which I have blogged about before) assists in making the onset of a urinary tract infection a bit better. That’s probably true because it increases the amount of absorption within the bodies cells and is an essential amino to our bodies! It maintains hydration and aids in the effects of muscle breakdown in stressful situations. Here’s a link if you’d like to read more….

Well, I wanted to keep this short and simple since it’s Memorial Day and all!!! Go enjoy your grilled burgers, steaks, and corn on the cob!! And of course…. Watermelon!!!! (Another great way to keep hydrated out there!!) But don’t think this is a substitute for not drinking water!!

If you haven’t already, be sure to “like” my facebook page at Fitness Sprinkles to follow the latest and greatest, along with recipes and random tips.  (Simply follow the link below)

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And in case you didn’t notice, some of the photos I posted in today’s blog are from my photography page Dollface Images! Here is a link to “like” and follow me there also Dollface Imaging

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Aaaannnnd, If I haven’t said enough in concluding this week’s blog post, I am now selling Fitness Sprinkles stickers!!! They are $1 each. Simply paypal me $1.46 (.46 for postage and handling) to chrissycakes227@gmail.com and I will send one to the address you have provided. If you have any questions, just ask!! 🙂

Sweet Inspiration

Ever wake up while on vacation and say, “well, I messed up my diet already….might as well just start again when I get home.” Don’t let it take you off track! So you had a piece of chocolate cake, a bowl of macaroni and cheese, or a drink. Let that be your cheat and begin making healthier choices as soon as you finish your goody. Honestly, if you have been eating great and exercising up until vacationing, the one high calorie, high sugar treat won’t be the end of you. Just drink lots of water and make sure to get in a workout. Working out on a break or vacation can also seem tough sometimes. Make sure you’ve got someone or something in place to keep you motivated. A significant other or friend works great. Be sure it’s someone with a positive attitude, and not someone who thinks negatively of what you are doing for yourself. Negativity can be the downfall of anyone’s diet/workout routine and it sucks that it’s all around us. Remember why you are doing what you are doing. It should be for yourself and no one else. 🙂 I would now like to share with you, an inspirational story to which I was unaware until it was brought to my attention the other day. “I wanted to send you a quick message to let you know that your success and the things you blog about have inspired me greatly in the past few weeks. As you know, I have always struggled with my weight and to add to that I have had 4 kids in the past 7 years which has not helped! A few years back my husband and I lead a pretty unhealthy lifestyle until one day my husband woke up at 365lbs and realized, we have kids and living the way we do he won’t be around in 10 years to take care of them. I am incredibly proud to say he now sits at 185lbs, runs daily, mountain bikes, and is a huge advocate for raising our kids to live healthy. He is the type of person who can stay motivated and has the drive that keeps him going. I, on the other hand, struggle a lot with that. I had my last and final baby in January of 2012 and topped out at 230 in March. We had the vacation coming up last August to Erie and I wanted to try and lose what I could by then. I was able to lose about 40lbs by the time we traveled and was feeling good about how things were going. After vacation I fell back a little, lost my motivation and even gained a few pounds back. However, recently I have been feeling very unhappy, sluggish and self conscious. I started thinking about how we have a family history of heart problems and carrying extra weight is not going to help with that in the future. I dont know if you were aware but my mom had heart surgery about 2 years ago and she is having a horrible time recovering and in part its due to the fact that she is very very heavy. So right about the time I was at my most unhappy period I started reading your fitness blog. You give great advice! I have to admit a lot of it is similar advice my husband gives me but its way easier to read and take from you than him ha ha. But I came to realize no one can change this situation but myself. Every day that passes is another day I am unhappy and unhealthy. My brother recently had a realization as well about weight and has lost about 25lbs in 3 months. He his the gym daily and watches what he eats. So I set a challenge for myself, I signed Mark and I up for a 5K in July to give myself a push..something to work for. On Monday I weighed myself, I was at 200.4lbs. I downloaded the app you suggested to track my daily food and have been running daily on my basement treadmill. (I will throw in that its difficult with 4 kids, a husband and a night job to find the time but I gotta!) Today is Thursday and I jumped on the scale just to see (even though we decided my weight checks should be Mon and Fri) and I was 195.2. So those simple changes have amounted in 5lbs over just a few days. I know it will fluctuate but wow, it can be done 🙂 So I just wanted to thank you for that added push..or as you call it, that kick in the sprinkles 🙂 I appreciate your advice, and the things you post! You look amazing by the way!”
So there it is…the reason I do all this! I was so thrilled to read a success story and to know that I had something to do with it!
My cousin Davey also is doing something fantastic for himself! Here he is a while ago, and then again 11 months after using advocare and beginning the paleo diet!

He is doing great and works hard at a crossfit gym! If you’ve never looked into it, crossfit excercises are a wicked great way to get the heart rate up and body toned and into shape. It may seem like it’s pretty advanced but a lot of the workouts are just basic movements with lots of repetition.

Hehe. 😉

Gas stations are for fuel, not food.

It’s mommies day!!!

I’ll start my blog by saying I have a wonderful mommy who has done nothing but support me in everything I have ever wanted to do.  She has never gotten mad at me (Cuz I am perfect?) and has always wanted me to be happy!  Happy mommies day to my mom Jane!  

This weekend, we will be packing up and cleaning up the car for our vacation down south!!! 😀 If you haven’t heard about it already, we will be heading to Southern Worthersee (maybe I mentioned it in an older blog post) After the car show ends, we will be continuing on south for some more fun in the sun! So maybe you too are planning a big summer vacation. The entire trip doesn’t have to be filled with random gas station stops for snacks…(we all know nothing healthy can be found at rest stops or from a vending machine) Every high fructose, extra fat, related food item is now disguised to look “healthy” with eye catching statements on the packaging like “Now with calcium!” or “2 grams of protien!” It’s crucial to ignore these statements and look at the nutrition facts to really see what you are getting into. Sure that breakfast bar might have a “whopping” 2 grams of protien….but check the amount of calories you are eating! One of the many snacks I recommend is Quest bars
Not only do they have 20 grams of protien per bar, with only 2 grams of sugar, but they are even gluten free!
If the vacation you are going on will require a cooler, stock it with fresh fruit and veggies. Save time and hassle on arrival by having foods like strawberries and pineapple already cut up. Then it can not only be enjoyed on arrival but also on the trip there! It might even get you to where you are going faster since a gas station stop will only be used to fuel up. If you normally take vitamins and supplements, don’t just forget to bring them along because you are vacationing! Vacations don’t mean slacking with health.
Make the time special and enjoy your surroundings as well as the local food but make a “meal” a cheat and not the entire day-week. By eating bad the entire trip, you won’t get the real satisfaction of having that one extra special night out at a restaurant where the chocolate cake is make by a world renown chef…whatever it may be. Also, take advise from someone who takes photos of everything she comes in contact with on a daily basis…take photos of your awesome sauce meal!!! It’s something you want to remember!!! You will feel better about it once you get home too! If you take a lot of road trips, invest in some really nice tupperware.  I have had a lot of success with the glass ziploc containers.  But if you want to stick with plastic, I recommend any of the ones that lock shut (with a rubber seal).  We have sterilite containers.  They are microwave safe and even include a vent on the lids.  From experience, I’ve found the glad 9.5 oz round containers to work very well for snack sized items.  I’ve put grapes, applesauce, strawberries, granola, green beans, nuts, rice…etc in these.  They are perfect for portioning!  🙂

The main thing to remember when getting ready for a road trip, is to plan ahead.  Prep everything!

Instead of buying an expensive nut or trail mix, consider buying the same nuts in the bulk section and then simply roast them at home with your own spices!  (Recipe coming soon on this one since I am doing it) Then combine them all in a ziploc bag.  Perfect for hiking/camping trips!!

In other news….
My butt is out there literally now!! If you haven’t seen it yet, (not sure how, as I have been posting this everywhere) this is what my gym has displayed up on their walls for all to see!! It shows and explains my complete journey into the competitive world of fitness, even measurements!! I can’t wait to get at it again this summer in preparation for more shows. 🙂 Plus I’ll be including you all in every second of my next journey!!

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Count it!

First of all….it’s 8:45 pm and my kitchen clock reads 4:45.  Looks like I will be dining late yet again!! Ever find that it’s hard to get into a nice eating/sleeping routine?  I can’t say I am all that great at it myself.  Half of the time we eat dinner at or around 10-11 pm.  It’s terrible.   So how is it we keep anything straight? One thing I’ve learned right from the start is…write everything that goes in your pie hole down.  EVERYTHING.  This includes drinks, supplements, vitamins, meat, veggies, and even that tiny little cookie you shoved down at work and thought no one would notice.  Something like a handful of M&M’s might seem oh so insignificant but in the grand scheme of your day, too many or not enough of calories are being consumed.

Or maybe you are snubbing your nose at this post and saying “Hmph, I eat just the right amount of calories” Understanding they simply aren’t JUST calories is important also.  It’s important to know where these nutrients and food particles are derived from.  Check to see how many calories from fat are in a snickers bar…. half!

Even if 296 calories is somehow thrown into your day and you made it fit…check the sugar content.  26.2 grams.  Now, you may notice this falls under the carb category.  Mainly because it’s made of simple carbs, which break down to sugar.

The paleo diet frowns on carbs.  This doesn’t mean someone who eats paleo isn’t getting any carbs….they are simply getting the right kinds.  Complex carbs.  Complex carbs are essential for the body and are found in a lot of veggies!  Read up.

So now you are wondering how on earth you will remember to bring a trapper keeper filled with notebook paper with you everywhere you go, when you cannot even dream of fitting another tube of lipstick or even a pen in your purse.  For this, I recommend MY FITNESS PAL.  You can download the app on pretty much any mobile device, in addition to logging in on your laptop when your mobile is charging.  My Fitness pal can be used to keep track of everything to diet, calorie counts, recipes, workouts, etc…. You can scan foods in to your day using the bar code the packaging, or search for it in the loaded database!  It then will subtract calories from your day and add more when you’ve logged gym time!  Whatever, just download it.  I’m not giving it justice here…

So, on my flight back from AZ over the weekend, I had the pleasure of meeting a healthy chocolate distributor!! (Read on if you like dark chocolate) I overheard her talking to some other passengers she was seated with about her healthy lifestyle.  She has celiac disease and must stay gluten free.  I’ve checked out the website and have found the company provides a little slice of chocolate for just about every lifestyle.  I received some freebies….

I’ll be sure to throw up some comments once I savor these tasty looking bits of dark chocolate.  For more info in the meantime go to….http://www.xocai.com/  If you didn’t already know, dark chocolate has many great health benefits. Some of it is even paleo friendly!

Well, here I sit again…at 10:30….finishing up my dinner.  Maybe I need to get into a set routine before I start telling others how to be healthy.  Sleeping is one of those essential things we all need.  So goodnight!

Stay tuned for Fitness Sprinkle stickers!!! (They should arrive tomorrow!) Eeeeeee!!!!   🙂