Is Your Nutrition Keeping You From Getting the Results You Want?

Did you know that March is National Nutrition Month?  I only recently discovered this, and since I have been talking with my clients a lot about nutrition I decided to write about one of my favorite topics...Nutrition.  I know I have said this a million times before, you can workout all you want, but until your nutrition is correct you will not see the results you are working so hard for in the gym.  This is something that I had to learn the hard way, and honestly sometimes I still struggle with (I am human).  Last summer I got certified through NASM as a Fitness Nutrition Specialist which helped me to learn more about how what we eat affects our bodies and our performance.  Have you ever had an amazing workout, only to blow it with a night out eating and drinking?  This may be fine when you are young and your metabolism is running high, but over time your habits will catch up with you and your metabolism will slow down.  I am at that point where I am trying to find balance everyday between eating the right nutrition to fuel my body and my workouts.  I notice when I eat something that is not a clean food, I don't feel as well the next day.  Take yesterday for example, I had an awesome workout, I did chest and arms followed by Jillian Michaels Kickboxing.  Then...dun, dun, dun...I ate pizza!  After I felt so sluggish and tired it reminded me why I choose not to eat that stuff.  To top it all off I had a stomach ache this morning, because I have a gluten intolerance, and was grumpy when I woke up.  So, this only re-enforces why I choose to eat clean foods on a daily basis.  It is okay to have a cheat treat or meal once a week to keep you sane, but choose something that will not derail your whole day or week.  

Here are 5 ways that your nutrition may be keeping you from getting the results you want!

1. You are eating too much!  You may be eating the right things, but even too much of a good thing can add up.  Make sure you are weighing and measuring your portions.  Over time you will be able to eyeball what a serving of quinoa looks like or how much 4 ounces of chicken is, but when you are starting out grab that scale and measuring cup.
2. You are eating too many processed foods/carbohydrates.  Processed food is not recognized by your body and do not contain the nutrients that whole foods do.  You may think that eating whole grain crackers daily is healthy, however they are still highly processed.  You would be better off eating a serving of quinoa or whole grain brown rice (not instant).  Your body knows what to do with those whole foods.  The whole grains that are in most "whole grain" foods are very processed.  Look for whole grain products with one or two ingredients.
3. You are not eating enough!  Okay, you may think I am crazy...didn't I just say you may be eating too much?1?  Yes, but on the flip side if you don't give your body enough of the right kinds of whole clean food, your metabolism is going to slow down to preserve energy.  Once or twice of being under your calorie goal won't harm you, but doing so on a daily basis will!  Your body's main goal is to keep you alive, so if it thinks it is starving it will hold on to fat and any time you do eat it stores more fat to prepare for more "starving".  Focus on eating whole real nutrient dense food and you will be on your way to fueling properly with enough of the right clean calories.  Also, be sure to eat 3 meals and 2 snacks daily to ensure you are keeping your metabolism running all day.
4. You are not drinking enough water.  Do you know how much water you should be drinking daily?  Half your body weight in ounces, at least!  So a 150 pound person needs at least 75 ounces daily.  If you are exercising you need to add at least 8 more ounces per hour of exercise.  Keep your water plain and cold!  If you need a little flavor try adding fresh squeezed lemon juice to it.  Water helps to move toxins from your body.  Stay well hydrated!
5. You eat out too often.  Unless you know exactly how the food is prepared, eating out can have lots of hidden extra calories that can add up if you are eating out daily.  It is best to cook your own food and have a fridge full of healthy meals that you prepped for yourself.  However, when you do eat out, because hey, we all do, there are a few things you can do to save on extra calories.  Order your dressing on the side of your salad or better yet ask for oil and vinegar.  Ask for your chicken/fish/steak to be grilled plain, and your veggies to be steamed with no added butter.  

I hope that this has been helpful for you.  It is a work in progress to live a healthy life and each day we make choices that will get us closer to or further from our goals.  Don't beat yourself up over a bad day, do better the next day.  Choose one small goal per week and before you know it, you will be consistent with your healthy habits!

I am excited to announce that I am now a Pretty Fit Athletics Ambassador!  I will be sharing some of their awesome motivational workout gear in upcoming posts.  Head over to the website and check out the cute stuff, because if we have to workout at least we can look cute doing it!

Have a healthy and fit day, 

Angelena 

 *Today I am linking up with Fit, Foodie Runs Linky Party, head over and find some new great blogs to follow!  Tell them On Fire Fitness Healthy Living sent you!*

Feature Fridays: Michelle Tucker

Happy Friday!  Today's Feature Fridays comes from Michelle Tucker from Baby Blues to Running shoes, which a great name and suits her journey perfectly.  She was able to overcome her postpartum depression and regain her health with running.  Now she is a healthy mama and marathoner!  Read on for more about her journey!

Michelle's story
I wasn't always overweight.  I had a pretty average childhood and was pretty active with softball so when I started gaining weight my senior year of high school I had no clue what to do.  The weight gain continued through college and my 20s.  By the time I got married and pregnant several months later I was 219 pounds and 29 years old.  I took "eating for two" literally.  My son was born in December of 2008 and that is really where my story begins.  I struggled with postpartum depression from about the time Colton was 2 months old.  I didn't care about anything unless it involved my son.  The last thing I cared about was myself or my health.  I probably weighed around 250 pounds.  My husband was desperate to help.  He had been a runner and suggest I try running.

The first time we went out together to run I couldn't make it from one mailbox to the next.  But, the next day I tried again and made it to the next mailbox.  I'll never forget the first time I ran a mile in our neighborhood.  I felt unstoppable!  I signed up for a 5k and loved every second of it. but most importantly every day I was feeling more and more like myself.  I felt like I was literally running away from my depression.

Along the way I noticed that I was starting to lose weight .  As I noticed the changes I began to make other small changes in my daily habits.  I would drink more water, or cut out fast food and slowly the weight came off.  I have now lost 70 pounds and have about 10 left to my goal weight.  I've ran many half marathons and ran my first marathon this past November.  That was by far my proudest moment in this whole journey!

Running keeps me motivated to maintain my weight loss.  I know if i fill my body with junk I will feel absolutely horrible when I go out to run!  If I eat healthy and stay on track then I feel amazing when I run.  Exercise has been a huge part of staying motivated for me.  Running helped me with my postpartum depression and it still helps me live a healthy lifestyle.

Michelle's Tips:
My biggest tip would be to start out small.  If you are looking to start a weight loss journey decide that this week you will drink more water or eat a healthy breakfast.  It becomes so overwhelming when we try to do everything all at once.  Weight loss is a lot like running.  You can't start running and run a marathon the next day.  They both take training.  If you break a healthy lifestyle into small manageable steps then it is much easier to succeed.

About Michelle:
I am a 35 year old stay at home mom.  I've been married to my amazing husband for 6 years and we have a 5 year old son.  I spend most of my free time training for my next race and I love being outdoors with my family!

Connect with Michelle:
Blog 
Facebook 
Instagram
Twitter
Pinterest

I want to thank Michelle for sharing her personal story with us today.  It is so inspiring to see a mom over come postpartum depression with exercise.  Please make sure to stop by her pages and like and follow!  Also, hop on over to her blog and stay motivated while she shares her training journey!  She is a awesome example of how eating healthy and exercise can change your life.

Have a healthy and fit day friends, 

Angelena

Consistency + Balance = A Healthy Lifestyle (From the Archives)

Hello!  I hope that you are having a wonderful week!  I am getting excited because my brother and sister in law are having their baby soon and my mom, younger brother, Ariana and I are road tripping to be there for the birth!  I am packing a cooler with healthy food to have on hand and will bring my P90X3 workouts and my DVD player to stay on track. 

Today's post is from the archives, but is one that I feel strongly about, creating a healthy lifestyle.  Enjoy!

Since I my mission is to inspire you to live a healthy lifestyle, I want to share some tips on what it means and how you can start making changes to move toward a healthy lifestyle.  Over the next few weeks I will post some of the things I do in my life and also share with my clients.  I would love to hear any things that you do to live a healthy lifestyle.

When it comes to losing weight and keeping it off there is no quick fix, one size fits all, magic pill that will get you to your goals. There are however things that you can do that will help you to be successful in not only losing the weight but being able to keep it off for good. You have to set goals that are realistic and achievable, and set short term and long term goals. This will help to ensure that you are working toward a goal with a purpose. This is important because it helps to keep you motivated when you need it. Weight loss and living a healthy life is a journey, you have to embark on it mentally ready to stick with it even when things are not always going your way. This is where consistency comes into play.

Consistency is important when you are making healthy lifestyle changes. When I say consistency, I mean having a plan and sticking to it. You will be making a commitment to working out and eating healthy, not just until you reach your goal, but for the rest of your life. In this consistency you also need to plan in some cheat meals, one a week should help you stay on track and give you a meal to look forward to. When you start to have consistency in your day, eventually it just becomes habit. Working out is now a part of your day, it is no longer will I work out today, but when am I going to make the time to exercise today? When you start to have the mentality that this is how I live my life, it no longer feels like you are “on a diet”, it is just how you live. You become a strong person who is goal driven and makes time to take care of yourself. You deserve every second that you spend making yourself a better person, mentally and physically.

Balance comes in to play when you are making lifestyle changes, because it is important to keep everything in balance if you want to keep on track to reaching your goals. When you start out on your journey, it is quite easy to be excited and go all in, but if you are not taking rest days and are not eating the right foods to keep your body fueled you will burn out. Make sure that you plan out your week and take your rest days, you need it to feel refreshed and for your body to rest and for your muscles to repair. I also want you to have balance with your meals, in a few aspects. The first is not depriving yourself of all your favorite foods, you can either work in these in one cheat meal a week, or by making a healthy version of your favorite foods. If you can eat a little of something that you love, ie. chocolate, and stop after one or two pieces then it is okay to have a little a few times a week. However, if one or two pieces are going to make you go into a landslide, then take it out completely. You have to know yourself when it comes to these types of food choices. On your journey you will start to learn about your eating habits and why you are doing some of the things that you are doing. Make sure to keep notes in your food journal, these will come in handy. The second is to eat balanced meals throughout the day. Make sure you are eating enough protein, healthy fats, complex carbs, fruits and veggies. This will help to keep you full and satisfied.

Consistency + balance= Healthy lifestyle

This post originally posted on October 25, 2013.

Have a wonderful and fit day friends! 

Angelena

What's Been Cooking in My Kitchen!

Happy Monday!  I am feeling under the weather today, so I am taking the time to write some meal plans for clients, updating my blog and getting some rest.  I am super bummed that I can't get my workout in, but I know my body needs the rest so I can get back to kicking P90X3's butt!  I have been in an awesome groove with my nutrition and I am feeling amazing.  My metabolism is revving back up because I am getting hungry every 2-3 hours and fueling my body with whole foods.  After vacation, and eating gluten, I have cut it back out and really focused on getting my 3 liters of water in every day. I even bought a glass pitcher that is 1.75 liters and keep it in my fridge, I drink 2 a day and hit my goal with ease, one of the benefits of being at home all day!  I have been doing all my own cooking and I love coming up with new things to try.  I will share what has been going on in my kitchen with some pics and recipes.  Share your favorite recipes with us too!  I love to find new things to try.

Proper nutrition is vital to reaching your goals.  You can workout as much as you want, but until your nutrition matches you are not going to get the results you want.  I have learned this the hard way.  I have dedicated March to no cheats.  Now, this is short term, I am pushing myself to do something I haven't done before.  If you know me, or read any previous posts, you know how much I talk about balance and eating "treats" in moderation.  I love my pizza, red wine and chocolate, but right now for my first month of P90X3 I am going cold turkey on these vices.  I will add them back in eventually, in moderation, but I am pushing myself out of my comfort zone and challenging myself to eat real whole food.  Mind over matter...I know I can do it!

I created this meal out of my love for hummus!  I bought some ground turkey, and thought the two would be great together.  I cut up carrots, celery and cucumbers to dip in the hummus and then cooked up some feta turkey burgers, and asparagus drizzled with a little balsamic vinegar.  I made enough for 4 meals, but next time I think I'll do more so I can have more meals, they were delicious.  Here is the recipe:

Clean Eating Turkey Burgers:
1 package Organic Ground Turkey
1 egg
2 ounces feta cheese
1 tbsp. garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
salt and pepper to taste

Combine ingredients in bowl and mix well with hands, form into patties.  Cook in a little olive oil on medium heat until cooked through.

Last night I made this because I had a craving for Cashew Chicken, but I didn't want to eat at a Chinese restaurant so I whipped this baby up.  It was so good.  If you like cashew chicken give this one a try.  I used Bragg's Aminos instead of soy sauce, since I am not eating gluten and soy sauce has wheat).  It was great!  You can always make quinoa to eat as well, I was eating a little late in the evening so I skipped the carbs.  The cashews gave it a great crunch and the different veggies were yummy as well, feel free to add your own veggies in your creation!  This made 4 meals as well.

Clean Eating Cashew Chicken
1.5 lbs of Organic chicken breast cut into chunks
2 heads of broccoli
5 celery stalks
3 large carrots
1 tbsp garlic powder
 2 tsp powdered ginger
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup cashews (unsalted)
2-3 Tbsp Bragg's Aminos (You can add this to your taste preference)
Organic Canola oil for cooking

Cook chicken in a wok (or large pan) with organic canola oil, add seasonings to chicken while it is cooking.  Stir and cook all the way though, put on a plate.
Add veggies and a little organic canola oil in the wok, add a little seasoning to these as well.  Cook to preferred doneness ( I like mine a little crunchy).  Put chicken in with veggies and toss together with Bragg's Aminos, taste and add more if you like) and cashews.  Serve and enjoy!  Save extras for lunch the next day!

I hope that you like the recipes, and give them a try.  Each of these meals took less than an hour to prepare and cook, so clean eating can truly be easy.  I was also able to get 4 meals out of each recipe, which means a healthy lunch the next day too!  I will share a few more I made later this week.  If you have any great ones share with us or send me an e-mail, if you have a blog, I will give you a shout out!

Have a healthy and fit day,
Angelena