Tips for Staying Healthy On Vacation & While Dining Out!

Why do vacations and trips always scare us to death when we think about staying on track for our lifestyle? Because it's a completely different atmosphere! You're on a different schedule, different foods are around you, and not to mention you're off your gym plan too!

But don't worry, follow these tips and the vacation will do as little damage to your progress as possible :) If you want to view my YouTube video on some tips, click here!

1. Portion sizes: You know I'm all about moderation not deprivation, but make sure it's MODERATION. You don't need the whole pizza, but maybe a slice or two are fine! Don't feel like you HAVE to finish your plate when you go out to eat at restaurants. Doggy bags are you friends and leftovers are sooooo tasty the next day. Ways you can watch your portion sizes are
1. Share your plate with a friend
2. Ask the waiter to split your dish in half! Serve you one half now, and save half in a to go box!
3. Don't order with your eyes! Sometimes our eyes are bigger than our stomachs, so try and order a smaller dish. If afterwards, you're still hungry, then you can always order another side.
2. Save on the calories: there are soooo many sneaky calories in dishes when you eat out! Try and lessen the calorie overload by:

1. Getting sauces on the side
2. Get grilled, baked, steamed dishes instead of fried, buttered, or creamy
3. Don't fill up on the table munchies (biscuits, breads, nuts, etc)
3. Allocate!  I'm always allocating my proteins, fats, and carbs!
1. Have open faced sandwiches or burgers! You don't need both buns for the taste! So just take one out and eat it open style!
2. If you're having a carby meal at night, lessen the carbs throughout the day! If you're having a fatty meal later, lessen the fats throughout the day
4. "I regret wasting calories on things that didn't taste as good as I hoped"

1. Don't waste your calories! If you don't like the food, don't eat it!
2. If you're at a buffet, look at everything before piling it all on your plate! Pick out the things you know you'll like instead of just filling yourself up with food you'll just regret later
5. Be annoying to the waiter! Ask how dishes are prepared, ask for no seasoning, ask for additional lemon, for steamed instead of fried, sauce on the side, etc etc. This is your life, who cares if one person gets annoyed!
6. KEEP ACTIVE 
1. Have a buffer for those additional calories! Add in activities like swimming, walking everywhere, going to amusement parks, etc. Keep active so that you don't have the DOUBLE negative of eating too much AND not working out! Add in some exercise/be active to help lessen the impact the additional food will have
7. Alcohol: Always aim for the less calorically dense choices. Don't go with the mixes with soda or juice because that's a lot of unnecessary sugars! Try vodka and water, vodka diet sodas, vodka sugar free redbull, or lightened up versions of your favorite drinks! Ask for mojitos with less sugar!

AND IT'S VACATION! Don't forget to enjoy yourself. Don't revolve your days around food or stressing about it all. If you're having a great time, food shouldn't be the center of attention! Spending time with your friends, family, loved ones SHOULD be! So have fun, relax, make smart choices, and you'll do great!

Tips on Stopping the Binge/Overeating

I've been reading the book "Intuitive Eating" (HIGHLY recommend this book if you've had problems dieting/yoyoing/want to learn more about listening to your body's biological hunger cues etc) and felt like sharing my favorite tips from the book AND my personal experience on how to control your eating, whether you overeat or BINGE, try out some of these tips to control your eating.

Tips on Stopping the Binge/Overeating

Vacation Victories: IIFYM/IE Update & My Goal for the Future

Hello fit fam!
If you didn't know, I've been on vacation for around 10 days in wonderful Florida!... Even if it did rain almost every day I was there. Below are some tasty foods I ate while on vacation and an update on how I ate. And how I actually LOST weight on vacation! Even though we shouldn't care about weight ;]

"My last cheat I SWEAR" Approach: How I Stopped Binging

How many times have you used THAT line huh?

From Layne Norton's Instagram

"Oh snap, I'm getting SERIOUS tomorrow... sooooo I might as well eat all the bad stuff I can now because I won't have any for a while..."

The next day comes around. You do fine for a few days... or one.... and then you mess up a tinyyy tiny bit... and that sets you off. You eat one cookie, which turns to 2, and then before you know it you've eaten the whole box!

"Ah crud.... messed up... OK starting fresh TOMORROW.... but since I already messed up, I should finish off that peanut butter too, and then tomorrow I'll start fresh..."

And repeat.

Sound familiar to you?

Happy 4th of July! Tips on Dining Out & Bearded Brothers Energy Bar Reviews

HAPPY 4th of July! Independence Day!

Hope everyone has a wonderful day spent with their loved ones, happiness, laughter, and good food! OH NOOOO what happens when you have to go dine out or are put in an environment with different foods that aren't normal to your "clean eating". 

Here are some tips to dining out! 

Why Crash/Quick Diets Suck - Metabolic Damage

OMG It's JUNE
And It's soooooo close to SUMMER TIME
Time to get thin real quick, not eat anything, workout for 10 hours a day, become mooody and weak and tired, YAY!..... uhm.. NO

Trust me.
I've been there.
Always looking for the fastest and quickest way to get slim and lean.

But guess what I was doing to myself and my metabolism?
SELF SABOTAGE - that's what.

Junk Food Confessions & The Maintainable Lifestyle Rules

So I uploaded a new YouTube video HERE on my Junk Food Confessions, based off of Jenna Marbles video HERE!
Hope to make you all feel a little less guilty about your slip ups! <3
And at the end I kinda babble about the lifestyle and binging.

Soooo here's just a short little list of things I'm incorporating into MY own lifestyle to make it comfortable and maintainable!

• workout at least 4x a week
• have a treat when needed, but savor the taste and never have more than you need
• make sure your workout makes up for the treat
• broaden social activities to keep busy
• more family and friends time
• eat clean 80-90% of the time
• NO restricting [no no carbs, no fats, no protein, etc]
• no starvation
• eat when you're hungry, don't when you're not
• make sure to learn "head hunger" from "stomach hunger" - are you just bored or actually hungry?
• tips: drink water - then see if you're hungry
• get yourself busy with an activity
• if you're actually hungry, then eat!
• compliment yourself at least 1x/day and love yourself
• eat nutrient dense food over empty calories
• ex: if you're eating a treat, instead of a pure bar of sugar, eat something with whole nuts in it for some dietary fats and protein
• ENJOY THE LIFESTYLE

Truth and #confessiontime...

Soooo now that I have different forms of social media, ill explain what I'll be using each for!

Blog: itsvmfitness.blogspot.com
I’ll be using my blog to update with longer posts and updates! More informational updates or fitness and health related things!


YouTube: YouTube.com/user/thevmfitness
I'll be using my YouTube for random vlogs about my bikini competition journey, and other things like q&a’s, workouts, reviews, cooking, etc!


Tumblr: vmfitness.tumblr.com
Ill use this tumblr to post everything I post on my INSTAGRAM (instagram.com/vmfitness) for those of you who donlt have Instagram! PLUS other daily things, more quotes, maybe random updates on foods I eat, workouts, etc! More of a daily blog than my blogspot blog!!


Twitter: twitter.com/vmfitness
This will be where all my random rantings and thoughts will be :P

Thanks for following my lifestyle journey fitfam! I love you ALL! <3

----------------------------------

If you follow me on my instagram, then you probably saw this post:

"Confession time: been pretty slacking this past week with foods and workouts... I've kinda lost my own motivation! Sorry to let you all down but I'm not always on point either! School was stressful with tests and reviews so I missed workouts (no excuse I know), this ebook is making me taste all these clean treats (still no excuse), and I've just been slackingggg. I've been giving myself excuses and reasons for slacking and thinking its ok.. Like "I have 14 more weeks left" or "eh it won't affect me thatttt much" etc etc. but in all honesty, I gotta take my own advice!! Stop getting in the habit of puttin things off, stop thinking that these little things WILL add up over time... A #randomthoughts of Josie this morning! I even thought of backing out of my bikini competition because of certain things (LENGTHY: but ill put the reasons why in a blog post this week!) however I'm still going to do it and go for it! Just needed to post this pic today, I CAN DO IT! YOU can do it!! You have to BELIEVE in your power to change and get motivated and go out there and kick some serious fat in the a$$! Even when you have days/weeks/times of low motivation, and slacking in the lifestyle, you have to pick yourself up, KNOW YOU CAN DO THIS, WANT to do it, and then simple, DO IT!  again, you don't fail until you completely give up. DONT DO IT. Also, the dessert volume of my ebook may have to be finished early.. There aren't as many recipes as I had hoped butttt if I keep making any more tasty desserts and eating them(been baking like 2-3 a day!) ill blow up like a whale! "

So yeah, basically the past week following my spring break [which ALSO was a bad week with workouts and eating] didn't go so well... that makes 2 weeks in a row of not doing so well... but you know what? IT'S OK! It already happened... it's in the past. Nothing I can do about it now! My excuses were weak too... just busy with school, and trying to get this ebook out to you all, made me bake a LOT, and therefor eat and taste a lot haha [guiltyyyy]. 

Time to MOVE ON. I'm holding tons of water weight and I do feel puffy! But nothing that getting back to routine can't fix right?! 

Oh yeah, I mentioned that I was thinking about backing out of my bikini competition journey... 

Ahhh sighhh I had soooo many reasons for doing this competition and prep, lots and lots of reasons, but the main one that I'll share with you here is because I really wanted to get control of my eating habits, aka 

BINGING.

I thought 

"Hey, if I can get through this prep and hard tough journey, then YEAH I can do anything! I can refuse junk food, stop at 1 cookie, not eat the whole box of [insert delicious naughty food of choice]"

Unfortunately though, it seems that this hasn't happened... I'm still struggling with binging... During spring break I found myself going back to old ways, eating everything I could get my hands on.. and now back at school, I'm still having hard times with control. So I thought,

"Is this comp really helping me achieve that goal I set for myself? Or is it just making me crave MORE because I'm restricting and is it completely making me do what I'm trying NOT to do?"

And while it is true, that it is NOT helping as of now.... I think I'm still going to go through with it... Ah I don't know... it's such a mental struggle... I honestly don't know what to do... That's right guys

I ADMIT I AM WEAK

I AM HUMAN

I am torn now.... 1 of any of these things could happen:

1. Continue this journey hoping that I can find this control that I crave and yearn for, hoping that I'll reach my goal...
2. Continue this journey and find myself binging again..
3. Decide not to compete and just enjoy the healthy lifestyle...

I'm also TERRIFIED of post competition, when it's all over and I get to eat normal healthy lifestyle again... so many horror stories of ladies just BINGING until they're swollen and gain back alll the lost weight again.... and I feel like that will most definitely happen to me...

I know so many of you support me on this ride to my first bikini competition, and I don't want to let any of YOU down.. but I do have to decide what's best for ME. Well it's all in the air right now.. not sure what I'll do.... Will be thinking it over the next few days/weeks etc....

But as of now, I AM STARTING FRESH. Back on the clean eating train after the past few weeks of slacking. I'm just going to continue healthy eating, working out, and see what I decide and where I'm at with the bikini competition journey...


To be continued....


Josie

Make A Come Back!

Have you been slacking on your healthy lifestyle change?? 

Well GET BACK TO IT!!  

Do these simple effective steps!! 

• CHUG WATER LIKE NO TOMORROW! 1-2 gallons a day! Get rid of that extra water weight and flush out the toxins from your bod!  
• START AT YOUR NEXT MEAL! STOP PUTTING IT OFF! The more you do, the easier it'll be to keep putting it off!! Suck it up buttercup and start NOW.  
• Get back to your regular exercise routine! Lift weights, do some cardio! ANYTHING that gets that heart rate up and gets you to sweatin!  
• Eat healthy and don't restrict! Lots of people do this, end up feeling deprived, and then go crazy and get back to where they started. DON'T DO IT! Just eat HEALTHY! Baby steps! Cut things out gradually instead of cold turkey if you have to! Don't restrict like no carbs Or no fats. Eat a well balanced whole natural food diet!  
• Set achievable goals to strive for! Don't set yourself up for failure by aiming for "I'm gonna lose 10 pounds this week!" NO! If you set unrealistic goals, and then don't achieve them, you'll just be discouraged! So set goals like "no cheats this week!" Or "limit to 1 soda a week" or "lose 3 pounds by the end of this month!" All realistic!  
• Now that you have your goals, make a PLAN and strategy for how you'll achieve them!!! And then put the plan in action! Get to work!!  
• Lastly, don't be hard on yourself for your slip and setback!! It's the worst when you beat yourself up and feel guilty! Accept it, learn from it, move on, and know how to prevent it from happening again in the future!! Follow all these steps and you're on your way to your healthiest fit year ever!

Bounce Back from the Binge

Hey beautiful people! Sorry for my lack of updates! Been SUPER DUPER busy with school and comp prep and life in general! But I thought I'd update withhh another binge post.

Since my STOP THE BINGE post was so popular with you all, I decided to write this post on:

BOUNCING BACK FROM THE BINGE

Many of you have come to me either through e-mail or on instagram saying around the same thing:

Josie, I had a horrible binge, what do I do?

or

I had a horrible binge, and I can't seem to stop! I've done it ___ times this week! Help!

and so many other variations of the above.

YOU ARE NOT ALONE! 

Many of us have been through the same thing! I know that for me and others, it really WAS a binge eating disorder, but for some others it could just be a food control problem, which also needs to be fixed ASAP!

Here's what I USED TO DO after I had binged, that never EVER worked because they set me up for failure and just primed me to binge again, so DON'T DO THESE:

• Fasted the next day/ skipped meals to make up for all the food you had the day(s) prior
• Went VERY strict on clean eating
• Worked out for hours to combat the extra calories
• Felt Guilty & Beat myself up about it

And you know what happened after I did all that?

BINGED AGAIN.

Why? Because I was freaking restricting my body!

So, what CAN I do to set myself up for SUCCESS? And to NOT binge more in the future??

Here are a few things that I've found work in helping me stay in control after a binge:

• Go back to healthy clean eating the next day [no restrictions, no counting calories, just start the day new, fresh, and healthy!]
• Drink water like a fish! Water naturally purifies your body, so get all those toxins out!
• Drink some kombucha or probiotic drinks to reset your pH levels, or some dandelion tea to help out that liver of yours detox
• Exercise! But don't go CRAZY! Do some weights mixed with cardio to flush out the negatives and give yourself some happy endorphins! 
• DON'T RESTRICT - make healthier alternatives, find clean eating substitutions, don't cut out whole food groups
• MODERATION, NOT DEPRIVATION 
• CHANGE YOUR MINDSET

It's a LIFESTYLE change people! You think you can live your whole life without carbs or without fats or on low calories of around 600 a day? NO. Your body will end up KILLING itself, craving ALL this craziness that you've been depriving it of, your mind will go crazy and then you'll just KEEP REPEATING THE CYCLE OVER AND OVER AGAIN.

The main thing I learned was to NOT cut out foods completely. If you have a craving, try and resist. If you seriously can't, then have a taste! But DON'T have the whole box!

Don't say:

I CAN'T EAT THIS

because your mind will be like 

"OH SNAP, then maybe I should eat it all before I start over tomorrow!"

Instead, Say:

"I CAN have it, I just choose NOT to because it's not good for my body, it won't help me reach my goals, and I CHOOSE to not have it!"

BOOM.
Change your ways of thinking, and you can change a LOT of your actions!

BOUNCE BACK and STOP THE BINGE! 

I'll be filming a video soon for my YOUTUBE channel on more tips to Control Cravings/ Stop Binging/Mindless Snacking! So STAY TUNED!

Cleanse & Juicing

Hello everybodyyy.

How is everyone doing this fine day? Staying on track? Eating clean? Training mean? I hope so!

Remember to tag any fitness or health related things #VMFITYEAR on Instagram so that we can all keep track of each others progress, get food ideas, and learn great new tips or workouts from each other!

So today's post is about

Detox & Juicing

I've been looking into great juice recipes after watching "Hungry for Change" on Netflix, and I wrote a bit about it on some instagram posts in the past! Great info, tons of knowledge, I HIGHLY recommend you watch this great documentary!

After the holidays, I'm sure we all need a pretty good detox! I don't mean starving yourself for a week, drinking only water and tea, and all those other crazy fad diets where you supposedly lose 10 pounds in 5 days, etc etc. I mean detox by totally eating clean good whole foods found from nature, exercising to get rid of those toxins, and STOP letting new toxins enter the body! So no more processed, artificial foods!

Why Detox? Because it helps in burning off fat!!!

"As you burn off body fat, you must also detoxify, because most chemicals are lipophilic (fat-loving) and are lodged in fat cells. If you don't do something to remove these toxins from your body while losing weight, toxins can be reabsorbed into your bloodstream and potentially cause health problems.
Fortunately, your body will detoxify itself if there is no toxicity coming in. Chlorophyll-rich foods such as organic green vegetables, gelatinous plant foods like aloe and chia seeds, seaweeds, chlorella, cilantro and parsley can help with this. Make sure to drink plenty of pure water, as this is essential to your body's cleansing processes. Juicing may also be of benefit. Avoid all chemicals, additives, and preservatives. If a product's shelf life is longer than your life, don't eat it!"
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/03/24/hungry-for-change.aspx

Why exactly is juicing good for us?

• Juicing allows us to take in a large serving of vegetables and fruits at one time and can be the key to giving you a radiant, energetic life and truly optimal health. Dr Mercola typically buys up to 20 pounds of raw vegetables per week and juices a few pounds per day. Some people may find eating that many vegetables difficult, but it can be easily accomplished with a quick glass of vegetable juice.

• Juicing is an easy way to absorb all the nutrients from the vegetables. This is important because most of us have impaired digestion as a result of making less-than-optimal food choices over many years. This limits your body's ability to absorb all the nutrients in an optimal way. Juices go straight to your blood stream which in turn carries all the nutrients to where they are needed the most by the body without further delay as in digestion. 

• Juicing can help you add a wider variety of vegetables in your diet. Many people eat the same vegetable salads every day. This goes against the principle of regular food rotation and increases your chance of developing an allergy to a certain food. But with juicing, you can juice a wide variety of vegetables that you may not normally enjoy eating whole.

• Juicing is also an incredibly effective way to cleanse the body, especially green juices! Green juices contain high levels of chlorophyll a powerful phytonutrient which attaches to toxins and heavy metals and helps remove them from your body. It also increases your blood's oxygen-carrying capacity by stimulating red blood cell production.
• http://www.hungryforchange.tv/juicing

BOOM.
So detoxifying = easier fat loss
Clean foods, healthy nutritious foods, juicing = detoxifying the body

After the holidays I most CERTAINLY need to get rid of some [ok a LOT] of toxic foods I have floating around my body!
NO, I am not fasting for 3 days, no I'm not doing a strict juice cleanse for 3,5,7 days. I'm simply eating clean, but most importantly, I'm going to have a super detox drink first thing in the morning.
In the mornings our bodies are primed to absorb the first thing we consume.

So my daily routine will look like:

Wake up
1. Ginger, lemon juice, Apple cider vinegar, warm water, pinch of cinnamon and cayenne
This drink will be consumed every morning! Ginger has great healing properties, lemon will boost that metabolism, apple cider vinegar is great at detoxing by controlling the bowels and it also controls blood sugar levels and blood pressure along with sooo many other benefits!, water is always great, cinnamon controls blood sugar, and cayenne helps speed up metabolism and targets fat burning!

2. Juice - 4-8 oz
Just bought myself a juicer for a pretty great price at an Asian Market and have been LOVINGGG it!
So many different recipes! And since this is one of the first things you consume in the morning, alll those nutrients are being soaked up and absorbed by your hungry hungry cells! MM LOVING IT
The ingredients may change around but no matter what, it will alwaysss contain PARSLEY and CILANTRO! Why? Because these herbs ESPECIALLY target the removal of heavy toxic metals from your system! I may also add some chia seeds or psyllium husks so that the gelatinous part of it can attach to any toxins floating around inside my body after my longggg [hopefully] 7-8 hour sleep the night before.

If you've been following my IG, You saw one juice I made the other day! I'll post more up when I find better recipes hehe :]

And then from there I'll continue my day as normal! Clean eats, exercise, all that good stuff!

Try incorporating a juice a day! I bet your body will thank you for it!

MUSCLE and Bulking

 Importance of Building Muscle

So if you all read my 2013 plan, then you know that I'm doing a mini-ish 5 week bulk! 
I feel I've gained quite a bit of fat over the past few months from my not so strict diet :/ eek sorry! Now I'm determined to turn that fat into STRONG MUSCLE. 
Why do I want muscle? What are the benefits?

• better athletic performance: power, strength, energy, stamina
• can inhibit sarcopenia, the age related loss of muscle
• muscle burns more calories than fat - more muscle = more fat burn
• increases metabolism, even at rest! 
• when building muscle, it increases oxygen flow to the body - which means healthier heart and lungs!
• muscles protect the joints and bones
• better posture
• the same weight of muscle takes up less space than fat. even if the scale says you weigh the same, you'll look tighter, more firm, and toned    

 Having muscle is a prettyyyyy good thing to have don't you think?? Now  
how exactly am I changing my diets and workouts for this bulk?
 Specifically during these next few weeks I'll be:

• increasing CARBS!!! YESSSSS :D
• I'll be having them in my breakfast, immediate post workout with my protein shake, and then in my post workout meal for the first 2 weeks, and the 3 weeks after I'll cut it to just post workout shake and post workout meal. 
• GOOD carbs though! Complex carbs like oats, brown rice, sweet potato, brown rice cakes. Why?
• carbs will give me energy to build my muscles! The carbs will get stored in my muscles [glycogen] and that's where they'll be getting their energy! This means more intense workouts, heavier weights, more reps = building that muscle! If I don't get enough carbs, it may try to get energy by breaking down protein, which is NOT what I want! I want to keep my muscles, not break them down
• help muscle recovery! This is especiallyyy important to build up those muscles! Carbs get the protein we eat to go to our muscles! This is especially important POST workout because our muscles are primed to absorb what we eat! So we include carbs to shuttle the nutrients to our muscles to repair and build the muscle  

• doing only short low intensity cardio either in the morning or post workout. I don't want tooo much cardio at this time so that I can build my muscles! About 20 minutes or so of cardio!  
• speed walk, incline walk, light jog
• Check out that 2013 plan to see what my actual workout days will be looking like!
• increase of calories - your body won't grow if you're in a deficit of calories! So I'll be aiming to have around 1800-2000 or so calories a day, except for rest days where it'll probably be around 1400-1500
• PROTEIN PROTEIN PROTEIN! Protein's made up of amino acids, which are the building blocks of muscle! You should have AT LEAST 1 gram per pound of weight
• HEAVIER weights, shorter reps! I want to give my muscles that nice pump! I'll probably be doing 4 sets of 6-8 reps! So that means lets say I'll do 6-8 squats heavy, then a brief rest, and repeat that for 4 times total! I really want to build my GLUTES, so I'll be incorporating 2 leg days in my plan!

So that's my mini-bulk plan! Now obviously it's not going to build TOO much muscle, some people take MONTHS to build the amount they want, but I'm not competing, so I'm just doing this little mini 5 week plan to just build a little more, and then start shedding the fat off! Now if I do this wrong, have TOO many cals or TOO much carbs, I may put on fat! But that's ok for now, because my next phases will be dedicated to leaning out! I'll do another post during that time to give you an overview of how I plan on doing that!

Gym Tips

Gym Tips

Here I've gathered some tips to navigate the gym! Sometime people are worried about walking into the gym or weight room because they don't know what they're doing, what to do, or too embarrassed because they don't know "gym protocol". If that's you, read on to find out how to maneuver around a gym!

Come With a Plan
I know for me personally, if I don't have a workout planned, I'm like a lost child at the amusement park. Crazy machinery all around me and I have no idea where to go first or what exercises I have planned! So I like to write up my workout and bring it with me so I stay on track during my workout! Usually includes the exercises and the number of sets and reps! I also write in if I want to do any cardio that day!

Return Your Weights
Don't leave plates on a barbell or the squat rack or the leg press, NO. I always hate that because I waste so much time lugging off plates from others who have left them there! When you're done, put all plates and free weights back where you found them.

Your sweaty mess is for you only.
BAM! What an awesome set! I really nailed those and gave it my all! Killed those bench presses! Now I'm just gonna get up and do something else. WAIT! No one wants to lay in your nasty [although awesome because you really pushed it] sweat!
Use the disinfecting spray/wipes!!!
Nothing's worse than sitting on a piece of equipment or using something that feels like it's been showered on...

Be comfortable
Wear something you're confident and comfortable in! Something that moves easily with your workout, that won't ride up, and also won't flash anyone in the weight room! If you don't want to dress up in fancy workout gear, don't! Just wear that old T and some shorts or pants! No need to get all dolled up for the gym!

Sharing is Caring!
Don't hog any equipment for too long by having super long rests! Try to share the equipment by letting someone work in while you're resting.
This goes for cardio machines too! I know at my school gym there is a limited number of machines, and some girls stay on for like hours at a time! Be caring and spread the cardio love! Try out some HIIT to get a just as effective sweat in a shorter amount of time! 

Technology
I know for some, it may be annoying when someone next to you is jabbering away on their phone. Please try and keep phone calls to a minimum.. or none! Also, you want to have a bombin workout right?!? Don't waste your fit time on a call! Get to work, get that heart rate up, and get sweating!

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Stay tuned! On January 1st, I'll be posting my 2013 Plan with a quick overview of my workout split and of my meal plan.

My Thyroid

Hello beautiful people! 

Here's a post about the Thyroid.

Some posts to look out for in the future:

Tis the Season to be Jolly Post on Secret Santas 

More Quest Product Reviews + Total Body Workout

My General Outline of My 2013 Fit Semester Plan

Stubborn Fat Burning Cardio

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Thyroid

Here's some background on the thyroid: 

Your thyroid is a gland located at the base of your neck, just below your Adam’s apple. It is shaped like a butterfly – each wing, or lobe of your thyroid lies on either side of your windpipe.

The purpose of your thyroid gland is to make, store, and release thyroid hormones into your blood. These hormones, which are also referred to as T3 (liothyronine) and T4 (levothyroxine), affect almost every cell in your body, and help control your body’s functions. If you have too little thyroid hormone in your blood, your body slows down. This condition is called hypothyroidism. If you have too much thyroid hormone in your blood, your body speeds up. This condition is called hyperthyroidism.

What controls the amount of thyroid hormone produced?
The amount of thyroid hormone made by your thyroid gland is adjusted by a gland in the brain called the pituitary. Another part of your brain, the hypothalamus, helps the pituitary. The hypothalamus sends information to the pituitary gland, the pituitary in turn controls the thyroid gland.
The thyroid gland, pituitary gland, and hypothalamus all work together to control the amount of thyroid hormone in your body. With the pituitary controlling most of the action, these organs work similarly to the way a thermostat controls temperature in a room.
For example, just as the thermometer in a thermostat senses the temperature of a room, your pituitary gland constantly senses the amount of thyroid hormone in your blood. If there is not enough thyroid hormone, your pituitary senses the need to “turn on the heat”. It does this by releasing more thyroid-stimulating hormone (or TSH), which signals your thyroid to make more thyroid hormone. Your thyroid gland then makes and releases the hormone directly into your bloodstream.
Your pituitary gland then senses that there is just the right amount of thyroid hormone in your body. With your thyroid hormone levels now restored to a normal level, your pituitary slows its production of TSH back down to normal.

Tests
While there are a wide variety of blood tests that can be used in the evaluation of thyroid disease, thyroid function testing usually refers to measurement of both TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) and thyroid hormone (usually T4) in the blood stream. If the thyroid is functioning normally, the T4 and the TSH are in the normal range. If the thyroid becomes underactive (hypothyroidism) the T4 declines and the TSH rises in an attempt to make the thyroid gland make some more T4. Conversely, if the thyroid gland is overactive (hyperthyroidism), the elevated T4 is sensed by the pituitary and TSH production is decreased in an effort to try to slow down the thyroid.

What can go wrong?
Diseases of the thyroid are often classified into problems primarily involving the structure of the thyroid gland (changes in size or the development of thyroid nodules) or function of the thyroid gland (over active or underactive).
Structural problems can include an enlarged thyroid gland (goiter), a small thyroid gland (atrophic) or the development of either single nodules (solitary thyroid nodule) or multiple thyroid nodules (multinodular gland). The evaluation of structural problems of the thyroid is usually done with a thyroid ultrasound.
Functional problems of the thyroid are initially evaluated with thyroid function tests which are used to determine if the thyroid is functioning normally, over active or underactive. Often times a thyroid gland can have both a structural problem and a functional problem at the same time. So the evaluation of a thyroid condition includes careful evaluation of both the structure and function of the thyroid gland

http://www.checkyourneck.com/about-thyroid-cancer/about-the-thyroid-gland

So why am I talking to you about the thyroid? Because a few years ago I was diagnosed with Hyperthyroidism [or Graves Disease]. My symptoms were the usual for those with hyperthyroidism:

• increased appetite & increased food intake with steady weight
• rapid heartbeat [tachycardia] and irregular heartbeat with palpitations
• tremors of the hands
• sweating and hot all the time
• sensitive to heat
• irregular menstrual patterns
• frequent bowel movements [sorry, tmi??]
• enlarged thyroid - goiter 
• fatigue and muscle weakness
• difficulty in sleep
• brittle hair and hair loss
• discomfort in the eyes, light sensitivity, blurred vision, inflammation

Basically my body was on full throttle ALL the time. Everything full speed, hyper hyper active. Well this winter break, yesterday to be more precise, the 21st of December, I got radioactive iodine treatment to kill off my thyroid. The radioactive iodine is going to gradually shrink my thyroid over time and then ultimately destroy the gland, which will make me then hypothyroid. Here are the symptoms I've read for that:

• fatigue
• increased sensitivity to cold
• constipation
• dry skin
• unexplained weight gain ---- D:
• puffy face
• hoarseness
• muscle weakness
• elevated blood cholesterol levels
• muscle aches, tenderness and stiffness
• pain, stiffness or swelling of joints
• heavier than normal/ irregular menstrual periods
• thinning hair
• slow heart rate
• depression
• impaired memory and forgetfulness
• poor muscle tone
• excessive sleepiness

Dunno if you could tell from my instagram post today asking for advice on post radioactive iodine/hypothyroid tips, I'm a bit freaked out by all of this. Everyone keeps saying as long as I take the meds, the synthetic hormones, then I should be able to function like everyone else and not experience these symptoms so badly. 

I'm most scared about the weight gain part! And I've heard it's SOOOO difficult to lose! That some have gained between 15 - 30 pounds, and now it's harder than ever to lose weight, even with restricted calories to 1300 and exercise 6x a week! Eek.... :O... But even though everyone says I should be fine once I find the right dosage of synthetic hormones and level out, I hear it takes a while for that to happen. It's not automatic. It might take a few months, if not years, to find the "perfect" level for my body. Ahhh this is giving me such bad anxiety!

The best thing I can do as of now though is keep monitoring it closely, listen to my body, keep getting my blood checked to find out my current levels so that my endocrinologist can prescribe me the right medication! As long as I continue to eat well and exercise, I'm seriously hoping for the best, and trying to stay positive!   

If any of you are experiencing the above symptoms, I highlyyy suggest you go get a blood test to see where your thyroid hormone levels are! Better safe than sorry in the long run!