The Control Food Can Have Over Your Life!

I recently confirmed something in my own heart that I have known for a while... and of course I must share it.

It's not super profound.

And you probably already know it.

 Food, good or bad, can control your life. 


I told you it wasn't profound. 


But here's how I came to this conclusion...


You see, I've been nagging requesting for some time now that my husband do the Paleo Whole30 with me.  I've been eating Paleo (not exclusively) for almost a year now.  By not exclusively I mean that I really try to reserve my carbs for early in the day, and I make Paleo meals at night.  I have a weird stomach and it tends to be sensitive to a lot of things.  I feel the best when I am eating Paleo, so at this point that is my number 1 reason for trying to eat this way.

The Whole30 is just 30 days of strictly paleo. And by strict I mean strict. Zero carbs, zero sugars of ANY KIND!  I'm not going to get into what we couldn't eat but if you are interested you can check out this website: The Whole30 Program.

So I've been eating really good for a couple years now.  Very clean, but enjoying treats every now and then. I thought the Whole30 sounded like a great idea and would be very easy for me.  I will be completely honest with you... by day 7 I wanted to buy and eat a whole gallon of ice cream!  All of a sudden I had no idea why in the world I was doing this! Seth on the other hand was doing amazingly well.  I pretty much felt like I turned into the cookie monster... hashtag num num num num num (hahaha, couldn't help myself!). 

So I went from a healthy, 80/20 (80% good foods, 20% not so good foods) way of living, to a very restricted certain foods are bad, and I'm bad if I eat them kind of living.

Okay, here it is.  Plain and Simple.  While what I was trying to do was good, eat clean and eat mindfully, I was letting it control me.  It wasn't really so much about being healthy anymore (although, I didn't really lose that completely) but I started to feel bad if I wanted to eat certain things. Or I would make myself feel guilty. 

I lost my whole reason behind why I eat healthy in the first place. 

You have to decide for yourself the WHY.  Why do you eat the way you do?

Is it out of habit?  Is it to drown out a bigger issue?  Maybe it's an addiction (which I truly believe we have all suffered from!).  Maybe you eat for performance, or to be lean?  Do enough of us eat just to be healthy?

I have to ask myself why am I devouring this piece of cake right now (I'm not really eating cake right now, but all this talk of cake and cookies is making me hungry!).  Am I eating it because I've been eating a whole lot more sweets lately and my brain is telling me that I want sweets, or is it because I just had a killer week of working out and eating clean, and I'm at my sisters friends wedding and I just want a darn piece of cake for goodness sake. 

See the difference? 

What's your why?

My why sometimes gets cloudy.  I want to be healthy first and foremost.  But sometimes I get side tracked and start thinking that I need to look like a fitness model and then I get in my crazy mode in which I'm never satisfied with the way I look.  That's when I have to pull myself back down to reality and remember my why is to feed my body with the best foods I can so I can perform the way I want to.

Now I'm not going to sit here and tell you I think Paleo is bad or tell you I think you should eat strictly Paleo.  I will tell you I think that carbs should be eaten in moderation and at certain times of the day.  I also think most people do not consume enough protein in one day.  Beyond that you have to decide what foods are best for YOUR body.  Like I said, my stomach just doesn't like certain foods and that is my real reason for staying away from a lot of foods. 

But maybe you aren't like me and you have a rock solid stomach, and you can eat whatever you want (I'm secretly hating you right now!).  In the end you still have to decide your why behind how and what you eat. 

If you are struggling to lose weight right now you might have to remind yourself of the why more often.  You might even need to remind yourself before each meal.  Why am I choosing to have a salad instead of a double bacon cheese burger?  Oh, that's right I have chosen to fill my insides with good things because I'm tried of feeling like crap all the time.  I'm tired of looking in the mirror and hating what I see (am I touching home a little). 

It's time to stop letting food control us! 

Okay, so here's the encouragement.  Because I can't let a blog like this be written without some encouragement (it's what I do!). 

You CAN overcome this!  Each day is a new day, and you can only take it one step at a time.  Sometimes it feels like 1 step forward and 2 back.  But guess what, your not dead yet.  Don't quit.  I wrote a blog not too long ago where I said as long as you have breath in you don't quit!  When the Going get tough.... Quit

I leave with a song by Mandisa.  Side note:  I've decided Mandisa and I could be best friends. :) 

 Stay Simply Healthy everyone!

~Heather

When The Going Get Tough.... Quit!

When The Going Get Tough.... Quit!

Yep, you heard me right....  Just quit.

Because that's what everyone expects don't they?

How many times in life does something get really, really difficult and instead of sticking to it through the end we just quit.

Am I hitting home a little?????

The world convinces us that we have too much on our plate. That we deserve to be happy... and we should do anything possible to create that happiness (even if that means indulging on some things a little too often!)

After all, our comfort and happiness is more important than the alternative.... right!?!


If you feel like you have been hit in the head with a bag of warm hammers this message is for you. Don’t give up. Just don’t. Not while you have a breath of air in your lungs. Everyone quits. Everyone blows it. Most people give up. Cry if you need to but please understand that you are not helpless.

There WILL be bad days... hard days... and even harder days.  You can be sure of that.  There will be days when you want to quit SO badly.  You will start to forget the whole reason you started this journey. 

Maybe it was to lose weight? 

To feel better about yourself? 

To do something that you didn't think you could do? 

Maybe you are doing it for loved ones? 

But now, all those reasons have escaped your brain because it's gotten a little hard.  But I want you to pull way down deep and think about this question for a minute.

WHY!?!

Why are you trying to lose weight?  Why are you trying to get healthy?  What is your motivation? 

Is it so that you can fit in at the gym?  Is it because all your other friends are doing it so it seemed like a good idea?  Or maybe it's just because you wanted to be healthy and live a long life for all the loved ones you have in your life.

Okay, so you have the reason in your brain right? 

Chew on it for a little bit. 

Digest it.  

Own it!

Because until it becomes apart of who you are, when it does get hard, you WILL quit.  And I KNOW you are not a quitter! 

So, it's a choice.  It's a daily choice.  Every day for the rest of your life you will have to make this choice.  Yes, that does seem a little cumbersome doesn't it.  But doesn't making the choice to not be healthy seem just as hard!?!

The most important thing you need to know is that it doesn’t matter!   You don’t have to be the fastest or the strongest or the best. “Your only objective is to keep going.”

I want to jump through this screen right now and hug you and cry with you and say no, life isn't fair.  In fact it sucks a lot of the time. 

It sucks that every time you are going to start your diet you get sick. 

It sucks that you never get time to yourself and when you do working out is not top of your list (all you want to do is take a break!). 

It sucks that your husband is always gone and while you are thankful he works so hard putting food on the table, you are worn out. 

It sucks!  I agree with you!

Now we've gotten that out!  We've cried, we've agreed that life sometimes sucks, and now we are going to move on. 

We aren't going to live in our self pity any longer. 

We aren't going to wake up every day and say poor me.  But instead we are going to say Thank you God I still have breath in my lungs! 

I don't know about you, but this life is short, and I don't want to live each day with regrets, with negativity, with self pity.  I want to use this body, the ONLY body that I've been given, as a vessel to do the work that God has called me to do.  I don't want to be healthy to fit in.  I don't want to be healthy to look like everyone else.  I don't want to be healthy so that I can complete the triathlons that I love so dearly.  I want to be healthy so that each and every day I can say "God, use me and my abilities to further your kingdom." 

Please dig deep today and decide which direction you are going to take.  It's never too late.  If you still have breath in your lungs then I am talking to you!!

1 life. 

1 Choice. 

Choose wisely!

My deepest love to you all!  Stay Simply Healthy everyone!

~Heather

Pre-Race Day Jitters!

If you've ever done a "first" race before you understand the jitters it can bring. 

The first time doing anything can be a little nerve wrecking right!?  I remember my first race and how I was nervous just about the unknown.  Oh how glad I am to now have dozens of races under my belt.  However, that doesn't always stop my nerves!  Today it's a good nervous.  It's just enough to get me all pumped up but not enough to keep me in the bathroom all day (haha!). 

You see, tomorrow I will be embarking on yet another adventure on my Ironman journey!  It's really just the second step, but I'm moving in the right direction.  Tomorrow I will be doing an Olympic Triathlon.  Just having the word Olympic in there sounds impressive doesn't it?  No, I am not trying to qualify to be in the Olympics.  I may have the heart, but I'm really not that good!

So an Olympic Tri is double the distance of a Sprint Tri.  Sprint's are all I've done up till now.  I'm pretty excited about putting another notch on my racing belt. 

Olympic Distance:
1 Mile Swim
24 Mile Bike (this varies depending on the course)
6.2 mile run (10K)

So this week I've really taken it easy on working out.  Which, as you might suspect is very hard for me.  I like to push myself, I like to sweat and I like to do it everyday!  :)  It's been kind of nice to be honest.  Not having that pressure of working out.  None the less, it's been weird!  I just want to make sure I have a fresh body and a fresh mind tomorrow.

Speaking of your mind... so much of training and racing is mental (well working out in general).  I can guarantee you (and I mean this wholeheartedly) that EVERY SINGLE PERSON I know could do a Sprint Tri.  If you can will your mind to do it, you can do it.  Now I'm not saying there isn't something to training.  There is.  It would be foolish of me to not train and show up on race day saying "But my mind said I could do it".  Now we don't want injuries or anything... But I have seen first hand the power of the mind.

I've said it before, and I don't want to beat a dead horse (where did that saying come from anyways!?!) but if you have already convinced yourself you can't do something, you can't.  You might as well give up before you even try. 

Now I'm not saying there aren't going to be discouraging days.  There absolutely will be.  I have had many training days that just don't feel right, or I'm not up to par.  But those days keep me going and shooting for the really good days.  The good days may seem few and far between when you first start out.  Then as you get your mind focused, and your nutrition in line your good days start becoming more and more frequent.  Then when you do have those bad days, it just makes you mad and you want to try harder instead of give up!

I feel like sometimes I'm a broken record.  Saying the same thing to the same people.  But I hope not.  I hope someone new is reading this for the first time and for the first time in a long time you are finally convinced that you CAN do it (start exercising, run your first race, run your first marathon or triathlon).  I may not know you personally, but I do already know you can do it. 

So I'm headed out on a light run to calm my nerves!  I can do this... I can do this... I can do this!  :)

I pretty much just want to encourage you to continue to pursue your dreams.  Don't let your mind tell you that you can't do something.  You absolutely can!

The Journey Is the Reward

We are all on a journey.  We can't predict this journey.  Although we can set our own course, we must be prepared for it to change.

While we really don't know what is going to happen on this journey, there are two things you can be sure of...

1. Your journey will not look like anyone else's.

2. Your journey can (and probably will) change along the way.

I decided 5 years ago that someday I would do the Ironman.  Someday really felt like a million years away at that time.  And in the grand scheme of things, and all that life has thrown me, a million years is a pretty accurate description. 

But here I am, at 30, feeling like it's closer than ever!  When I say close, I still mean probably 2 years away.  But I've got a date set and I am finally working towards my goals of getting to that 140.6 mile distance than I ever have before!

This got me thinking... After it's all said and done this goal will have taken me 7 years of my short 30 year life to accomplish.  Wow, that's an incredibly long time.  But you know what???  I could not have rushed it or I would have missed out on this journey of reaching that goal. 

I definitely am a goal setter.  I function best when I have set these goals.  I think some of that is my competitive nature in that I feel accomplished when I have set a goal and complete it.  Because of my natural desire to challenge myself I have learned to enjoy the journey of reaching my goals.  I think you could ask any runner that half the "fun" of training (any distance race) is the journey to get there.  How much less sweet would my first marathon have been if I had rushed through training and just showed up on race day?  Well for one that would have totally sucked and I probably would have died (literally! haha!).  But I would have missed those hours of training, and learning about my body and my nutrition. 

You see we live in a world that is all about instant gratification.  We want what we want and we want it NOW!  I am totally like that.  Ask my husband.  When I decide something I want to do it that very second.  It is so very hard to wait.  Sometimes I don't think I'm very good at being patient! However, patience is the most powerful weapon that I can carry with me in my journey of life.

When you set a goal to lose weight you don't want it taking months, we want the weight off right now.  If you are impatient and wish time to fly by, it's likely that you will struggle with reaching goals. Accumulation of hard work leads to great performances. Life, work, sports...even if you work hard but are impatient you will find yourself trying to take short-cuts or too many risks to try to progress too quickly.

When people want results yesterday, it's no surprise that something that can be accomplished quickly is much more fulfilling than something that takes time to achieve. 

Some progress is better than no progress. But if you have a goal and don't see extreme results in a week or two, how long will it take you to forget your goal and move on to another method to see if "that way" will be faster. Bouncing around from attempt after attempt is nothing more than feeling defeated by a challenge without realizing your true potential to achieve success.

There are no short cuts in life.  I've learned that over the 5 years it's taken me to get to the place I am. I would not go back and choose to skip it for anything. I love the journey!  Despite that it sometimes can get sticky and slow I have learned the true value of patience.  Hard work in both sport and life will pay off but you can't expect results tomorrow if you haven't put in the time to learn lessons, to overcome obstacles, to feel defeat and perhaps, become someone who you never imagined you could be.

So that's where I am at!  Anticipating the journey of the Ironman!  I don't want to rush it!  I don't know if it will be the only one I do, or if I'll be crazy enough to do more.  So rather than rush the next 2 years I'm going to be patient with my progress, learn all that I can, pick myself up when I fall down, and hopefully I will be able to encourage others along the way to be patient in their journey.

The Journey really is the reward!

No Expectations, No Disappointments!

I just completed my 6th Sprint Triathlon.

I did tell myself that I wasn't going to be so competitive at this race.  For one, I've never done this course, and two sometimes I tend to be so competitive and have such high expectations for myself that I am not ever happy with my results.

I did that to myself at last years Tri for the Cure. Even though I beat my time (well by 1 second) I was not happy with that.  So I will continually work on being pleased with every outcome as long as I know that I have tried my hardest!

So I raced on Sunday with no expectations, and had the time of my life!

In life there are two sets of people (ah shoot, there are probably WAY more but I'm only going to reference these two).  First there are people who are always making excuses.  Too tired, too much to do, conditions are not perfect... you get the idea. 

Then there are people who won't let excuses stop them.  Those same people have the same bad days as the first group, the same amount of stuff to get done, the same non-perfect conditions.  It's just that they have told themselves from the beginning that they WILL do it.  They WILL succeed, no matter the cost. 

Conditions were far from perfect on Sunday.  Rain and cold do not make for an awesome race.  My bike squeaked the whole ride, and my back tire was getting flat (so a few bikers told me along the way).  The hills were hard... VERY hard.  But no excuses.  I trained, I raced and I'm proud of myself.  I did not beat any personal record.  In fact it will probably be the slowest tri I've ever done.  But I walked in with no expectations and I walk out with no disappointments!

So, I bet you are curious how I finished (or not!)  :)  For those of you who care, here it is.

198 Overall out of 260 - Eh, not that great!  But in my defense there were some really fast guys out there!
67th Female - That's a little better I guess!  Unless there were only 70 women!  hahaha!
11th Age group  - Darn 11th.  I seem to always come in 11th place!  Come on top 10!

Swim - 18:10 - For the life of me I can't beat 18 minutes! 
T1 - 3 minutes.  So I chose not to have help with my wet suit.  Mistake!  When in doubt, ask for help!  I could not get my wet suit off and it added a ton of time!
Bike - 1:04:55 - Almost embarrassed by this!  You can clearly tell what I spend the least amount of time on.  Now, it was uphill most of the way.  But I was hoping for closer to 45 min.  Oh well!
T2 - 0:54 - I had to take my jacket off so it added some time.
Run - 25:31 with a pace of 8:14.  I'm pretty happy with that!  Seeing as 3/4 of the first mile was all uphill.  My goal is to get in that 24 minute range someday!

While I may not even be close to being first, I sure do have the passion and the drive to do it.  I can't help but first thank my body for staying strong and allowing me to push it to the max all the time, and I thank the Lord for allowing me to do something I love so much.  I won't ever take it for granted!

Now enough dillydallying!  I have some hardcore training I need to be doing to be ready for my Olympic tri in 4 weeks!  This is where the passion and the drive come into play because I can't even tell you how nervous I am to do this! 

Stay Simply Healthy everyone!

My Journey to an Ironman

So, I'm doing my typical browsing on facebook and I click on a fitness link.

Looks interesting enough and I can't get enough of this kind of stuff.

I start reading and my heart starts pounding out of my chest.

No joke, but every time I read something like this I get excited and nervous and even tearful.  And I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is something I HAVE to do.

An Ironman!

I have not always had this huge love for fitness, nor the desire to do triathlons.  It just started with 1 mile...

1 horrible mile I might add.

Thought I was going to throw up after that first mile.

Glad I didn't quit right then.  I would have missed this incredible journey of health and fitness that I have been on.

Then one day, after I went on a short run (I was still building my mileage at that point) I decided I felt good enough to go on a bike ride too. 

So I did.

That's when I got the crazy idea to do a Tri.  I'm not going to lie... There were a few people who laughed at me!

My first Tri was equally as awful as my first run.  I came down with some type of the flu the night before.  I ended up throwing up a few times and my fever broke sometime in the night.  I had trained so hard for this that there was no way I couldn't NOT complete it.  But I was a hot mess!

It's amazing what you can make your body do when you have the determination.  It was the worst/best race ever and I have done 4 more Tri's since that awful day (1 more will be added to that number in a couple weeks!)  :)

So while the Ironman is still years away (I'm hoping to do one in 2015!) I've decided I want to document my journey from Sprint Tri, to Olympic Tri, to Half Ironman and then on to the Ironman.

Sprint - .5 mile swim, 12 mile bike, 3.1 mile run
Olympic - 1.5 mile swim, 25 mile bike, 6.2 mile run
Half Ironman - 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run
Ironman - 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run


This documented journey really is more for myself than anyone else.  To remember all the ups and downs (because there will be plenty of those).  But in the process I hope it helps and inspires you to dream big and go for those dreams!  Because every accomplishments starts with the decision to try!

6 Things That Will Stop Sugar Cravings

The number one reason that people crave sweets is that their insulin is high, and when it starts to fall we want the sugar to spike it  back up again. It’s a vicious cycle, that leads to feeling tired, and fatigued. Here are some really good tips that will get you back on track to being healthy and feeling energetic again.

1. Increase your protein intake: Often times our body feels like it wants sugar when it’s really craving protein. Try starting with an egg, or something that is high in protein.

2. Remove the temptations: If you don’t have them around the house it’s harder to indulge. If it’s at work that you’re having a hard time. Do what you can to remove the temptation BEFORE the craving hits. If you keep a jar of jelly beans on your desk. Get rid of them, but bring something healthy to eat when you are ready for a snack.

3. Eat frequently: Cravings are the worst when we’ve either skipped a meal, or we’ve had a drop in our blood sugar. By eating every few hours we avoid that drop in blood sugar. Eating 3 good meals a day with a snack in between will keep you feeling good without getting so hungry that you grab whatever you can find to get your blood sugar up.

4. Avoid artificial sweeteners:  Artificial sweeteners, like Saccharin or Aspartame, make us have more cravings for sweets, and may present a higher risk of cancer.

5. Better to Cut sweets cold turkey then indulge in small amounts: Because our insulin is so used to being high, the first 3 days are the hardest. If you can eliminate sweets completely until your body has had a chance to let your insulin come down, you won’t crave them like you did. Then you’ll be able to be satisfied with small amounts.

6. Drink Lemon Water: Lemon water can help reset your taste buds and stop that sugar craving.  You can also put cayenne pepper in the water (as much as you can handle). 

The times that I limit my sugar I feel so much better. It really is true that after you cut out sugar you don't crave it as much, and just little doses will do the trick!

Hopefully these tips can help you feel better and be healthier.

Weight-Loss Tips: Helpful tips to losing weight

Losing weight can be H.A.R.D (no that's not an acronym for something... I'm just emphasizing how hard it really can be!)  For some reason (especially with women) our fat likes to cling on for dear life. I'd like to tell fat this:  I know we are pretty awesome, so I understand why you'd be attracted to us but we'd be happier if you weren't there.  Please don't take it personally!

So there can be many reasons why you are not losing weight.  I can't tell you exact reasons without looking first at your diet and your lifestyle.  But here are a few tips to help you.

1. Don't be too hard on yourself.  Whatever weight you have put on probably took some time to get there.  So it's not going to fall off overnight. Be patient and keep working at it!

2. Don't Think Diet - Instead of thinking that you are on a diet, think of it as a lifestyle change.  Diets do not last, but lifestyles do.

2. Keep track of what you consume. Start writing down what you consume on an average day.  You'll probably figure out 1 of 2 things.  You are either consuming too much in 1 day (or too much at one meal) or you are actually not consuming enough, which believe it or not does happen.

3. Enlist the help of family and friends. It's all about accountability!  Find a friend, family member or group to help keep you accountable and motivated!

4. Pay attention to portions. Something inside our brains says we must eat everything on our plates (maybe we get that from childhood when our parents told us we had to!)  Start with a smaller portion than you might think, drink more water and let your food settle.  You'll be surprised what fills you up!

5. Clean out your pantry and refrigerator. Get rid of the temptation!  If it's there I guarantee you it'll be even harder to stay away from it.  Just remove it!  It's best for everyone!

6.  Avoid Hunger!!! Try to eat every 2.5-3 hours.  If you wait too long to eat you will be more tempted to eat too much and probably eat the wrong things. 

7. Hydrate before meals. Drink lots of water before a meal to fill yourself up.  Sometimes our body is telling us we are hungry when really it is just thirst.  Drink a lot at meals and you will fill up much quicker and end up eating less.

8. Drink Lemon water.  Lemon water can be a great way to remove that sugar craving you might be having.  Trust me it really works at resetting your taste buds. 

9. After 8 is too late.  Or is it?  It's not so much about indulging after dark as it is about how much and what you are consuming.  Truth be told getting most of your calories during the day is ideal.  However, many of us don't go to sleep right after dinner so feeling a little hungry closer to bedtime is completely natural. So is raiding the fridge really that bad? Not if you limit your intake to less than 150 calories. Don't go for the ice cream or cake either. Go for something unprocessed like fruit or cereal.  I prefer a handful of nuts to curb my appetite.  And water!  Lots of water!  (great for late night peeing!)  :)

10. Treat yourself occasionally. You will be less likely to completely go off the food deep end if you allow yourself some treats on occasion.  I mean come on.  You have been working hard, you deserve it!  But really make sure to limit that to certain occasions.  Desert right after diner because it's been a rough day is probably not the best occasion.  If you can learn how to treat yourself occasionally you will find, down the road, that a little is really all you need to curb that sweet tooth!

11. Get plenty of sleep. This is the hardest for me but so important!  When you sleep, your brain catalogues the previous day's experiences, primes your memory, and triggers the release of hormones regulating energy, mood, and mental acuity. To complete its work, the brain needs 7 to 8 hours of sleep. When it gets less, your concentration, creativity, mood regulation, and productivity all take a hit.

12. Cut out liquid calories. When you drink liquid calories (soda, juice, alcohol, etc) it is so much easier to go over your daily calorie intake because they don't make you full (nor do they have any nutrition in them).  Just like treats try to keep these at occasional.

13.  Keep produce on hand.  Eat regular meals and snacks. Make sure you have some protein foods such as yogurt, tuna, beans or chicken for most meals. Research suggests that protein helps you feel full longer.

15. Reward yourself!  This goes without saying! 

For even more great tips (some already mentioned) go to Dr. Oz's 100 Weight Loss Tips http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/dr-ozs-100-weight-loss-tips

We ARE the Bad Mudders!

You really didn't think I wouldn't write a blog about the Tough Mudder now did you!?!  :)

So pretty much any race, any obstacle, anything that pushes me out of my comfort zone I LOVE!

I know it's a sickness, but the harder the better!  I mean seriously, what is more rewarding than pushing your body to the absolute limit and accomplishing something mentally and physically challenging?

So, 9 months ago my husband and I signed up to do the Tough Mudder.

The pure fact that Seth wanted to do something like this with me was reason enough to be excited (you see, he's never done a race with me before).

Before I go on, the Tough Mudder is not a race (right Zack!).  It is a challenge.... But who am I kidding...  Everything is a race to me!

Right away we started recruiting people for our team.  Team Bad Mudders!

Here's our team... Zack and Nicole, TJ and Julie, Nate and Cheryl and Seth and I.  And that dude on the upper left is not a creeper that's our good buddy Shaun who was apart of a different team.

 So if you don't know anything about the Tough Mudder it is a 10 mile obstacle course with 20 different challenges throughout the course.  Not to mention the hills that we had to climb all throughout.

Just one of the MANY hills!









Here are a few pictures to give you a good idea of all the obstacles we had to go through.  I took all of these off Tough Mudder website, so you won't see us in any of the pictures.  However, we did get some sweet picture and video on a go pro, so hopefully I'll be able to share those soon!

First obstacle, mud, water and barbwire!


Followed by water and electric shock!


Third was the wall climb.

 Other obstacles were wall scaling, drop the plank (eeek!), rings, and half pipe!

Lots more climbing, and crawling through tubes and water.



















More barbwire and mud (lots and lots of mud!), and of course more electric shock!

And finally monkey bars, snow, logs and ice!


Take a look at the picture on the bottom left.  That's a dumpster filled with water and ice.  Throughout the day they are constantly adding ice. 

This was the coldest water I have ever been in.  I guarantee you that the majority of the participants had a look of pure terror as they jumped in and swam through!  I know our whole team did!

So proud of my team.  It was an incredible day!  Slightly bummed that it is over and I have to wait until next year to do it again (oh, you better believe I'm doing it next year!). 

Love these girls!

And these goofy guys!














I made this little image to show how incredibly proud I am of my teammates!  We really could not have done it without each other!  Until next year Bad Mudders!

Let's Talk Food! The Best Paleo Meatballs You've Ever Had!

First off this is NOT my recipe.  But I just HAVE to share it!  I want to eat these every single night of my life.  Okay, maybe not I'll get sick of them if I do! 

I could have easily posted the site where I got the recipe, but I modified mine so much that I thought I'd share the blog where I got it, but also my version.  Because seriously, that's what I do best.  Take a recipe and add or change it to fit to my liking!  Seriously the only way to cook.  It's not fun following the rules!  :)

When I cook a lot of times I have an idea in mind of what I want to make (I knew I wanted to make meatballs with almond flour in them, cause I LOVE almond flour) and when I googled that this recipe came up.  I tweaked a little, and added a little.  Seriously, you will love these!  If you don't have almond flour I'm sure you can leave it out, but I don't think it will be the same. 

ENJOY!

Picture from Betty Rocker blog 

You can view the original recipe here: Betty Rocker

Paleo Turkey Meatballs
Yield: 16 meatballs - I would recommend making a double batch.  That's what I did and I was SO happy to have leftovers! 

1 lb ground turkey (I buy my turkey from Sam's and the packages are 2lbs so that's why I doubled)
1/2 cup almond flour (YUM!!!!!!!!!!!!)
2 Egg Whites
1 small red onion (because that's what I had!)
1/2 cup baby carrots, grated
Garlic Salt - I just threw it in there.  I used that because I didn't have garlic
Dried Parsley and Basil - I did not have fresh.  I just threw a bunch in there!
Fresh black pepper to taste
Turkey Bacon - The recipe did not call for turkey bacon, but it sounded soooo good.  So I went out on a limb!

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Chop up the veggies and throw them in your blender. 
3. Add everything into a bowl (because I'm too impatient to add the ingredients separately!  Just throw it all in there!)
4. Use your hands to mix everything together
5. Form meat mixture into meatballs with your hands and place on a cookie sheet that you have sprayed
6. Cut your strips of thawed turkey bacon in half and put 1 half on top of each meatball
7. Bake for 35-40 minutes.

You will be drooling the whole time it is cooking because it smells to delicious!  Seriously, I can't wait to make these again.  We ate them with salad and it was perfect!

Hope you like them!

Running for Life: Motivation to start!

It should come as no surprise to you when I say I love running.  Well unless you are reading this blog for the first time.  To which I have to tell you, I love running. 

But want to know something else I love (Oh, I know you do!).  I love helping others find their love for running!  I realize that not everyone wants to be a marathon runner.  Some people would be content to never run more than 3 miles.  That's fine!  But I just love helping others find that exhilarating feeling that running can give.  That moment when you push yourself beyond what you thought possible and you can't help but smile because it was oh so sweet (and exhausting at the same time!).  If you haven't experienced that with running before I can't explain it to you, but I would love for each and every one of you to experience it!

I think there are two big reasons why people don't start (and this applies to a number of things in life).

1. It is easier not to start than it is to fail.

Okay, I get that.... No one likes to fail (Me especially!).  But how do you know you'll fail if you don't even try!?!

2. It's just plain hard to start!  The hardest step is the first step out the door. 

So, because of these reasons I have decided to start a running clinic.  The goal of the clinic is to get you (yes, you!) to be able to run a 5k.... Without stopping AND without dying at the end (well really the goal is always to not die at the end!)  :)  I realize that sometimes all it takes it just a little motivation.  I want to coach and encourage you the whole step of the way, and help you see the potential that you have, when maybe you can't see that potential yourself.

So how is this going to work?  Well... it really depends on the interest I get.  But here is the general idea.  For 12 weeks, starting the week of June 24th,  I am going to put on 1 running clinic once every two weeks.  The location will change every time we meet (or we may rotate back and forth).  We will start off doing track work and build up to the longer runs.  We'll practice interval training, hill training, and do some shorter run/walks.  The workout will be designed for your running level so don't worry if you aren't at the same level as anyone else.  During the times we aren't meeting I'll have "homework" for you to do (running homework that is!). I will also be encouraging you and passing along fitness and nutrition tips.  Basically I'm going to be that inner voice that continually tells you that you can do it!  :)

But here's the best part about this whole thing (well in my opinion!!!).  After the 12 weeks is up we will be running in The Blue Shoe Run for Prostate Cancer on September 15th in Denver.  I picked this race because my father in law had prostate cancer and it's definitely something worth running for!  We can also register and run as a team which will be very fun!

The cost for the 12 weeks, which also includes the entry to the race is $55.  

So, who is this for you?  Good question!  This is for the beginner runners who have never ran in their life.  This is for the occasional runners that want to push themselves a little harder.  This is for the fitness enthusiasts that want continued health and this is also for that long time runner who wants to just improve their PR. So... that's pretty much everyone!  :)

So like I said the details will depend on the interest. If I get enough people to sign up I will do a clinic in Bailey and a clinic in Denver.  If you want to be included but just can't make it work, or maybe don't even live in Colorado, message me and we'll see what we can do!

So... Let me know if you are interested!  I will be sending a formal invitation soon, so if I don't have your email address and you want to join in the fun message me that too!

And lastly I leave you with this thought...

You know my passion for fitness.  I want to convey to you that it runs far deeper than just being able to run 3 miles.  Anyone who puts their mind to it can do that.  This is so much more than that!  This is about living your life to the absolute fullest. We only get 1 shot at this life...

"Do you not know that your body is a temple for the Holy Spirit... you are not your own, you were bought at a price.  Therefore honor God with your body."

                                                                                            ~1 Corinthians6:19-20

What do I want to be when I grow up!?!

I never thought at 30 years old that I would just now decide what to do with my life!  Now don't get me wrong, I've been doing exactly what I have wanted to do for the last 10 years.  I've been a mom.  I don't say that lightly.  I think it is one of the most important jobs and it's one I'll continue to have for the rest of my life.  I have been blessed to have a stay at home job so I could also be a stay at home mom.  I have had ZERO desire over the years to pursue anything else. 

So here I am... Just 30 years old.  My kids will all be in school in August (can I get a holla!!!!!) and I have a good 30+ years left of working left to do.  I'm not sure I'd be content working for Homeaway.com for the next 30 years.  It's a great company to work and I feel completely blessed to have had this job now for 8 years, but 30 more years????

So this weekend I was given the most amazing opportunity to attend the Shape Magazine, Oakley Progression Session and then run in the Diva Dash the next day.  What the Progression Session included was:

* Mass Boot Camp
* Yoga Class
* Nutrition Seminar with Recipe Demo
* Access to a pop-up Oakley Store to see the latest products
* Product giveaways, photo opps, delicious lunch and more!  

PLUS, the opportunity to interview to become an Oakley Ambassador.  

So I brought my friend Gretchen with me Friday and she snapped this picture of me interviewing.  You can tell I'm pretty into it!  :)  Come on, I was trying to sell my charm!

Don't they look completely engaged!?!  hahaaha!  :)

 

Great group of women!

So I didn't win as Oakley Ambassador.  But I did walk away with some awesome Oakley stuff!

How's that for advertisement Oakley!?!  Should have picked me for Ambassador!  I would have been awesome!  :)  (note: the towel is dirty from the bootcamp we did in the mud!  Yep, hard core!)

We also learned some awesome yoga moves as well!

Gretchen and I were pretty beat after Friday with all of the fun in the sun!  But we were up and at em early Saturday morning to race it up!

Oh yay, we are always ready!

Before I go on, I must tell you that Gretchen has never ran a 5k...... Let me rephrase that.  Gretchen has never ran 3 miles in her life ever.  Yes, that's how hard core she is!  Never ran ever, and she's out here running with this crazy!  That's why I love this lady!

The day could not have been more perfect!  The obstacles were a blast and I felt nice and strong for each one.  The run however.... My legs wanted to give out halfway through.  Probably because I haven't been running a whole lot lately and probably because of the crazy day we had on Friday.  But either way, every race is a fun race!

I shared this on facebook.  This was on the Diva Dash facebook page!  Pretty cool huh!?!  :) 

Then Gretchen's husband Matt took these other photos.  Yep, that's totally my butt in the first one!  hahah!

 

Awesome weekend in deed... But it's left me really wondering what I want to do with my life.  I mean what I really wanted was to win as Oakley Ambassador.   But as Lysa Terkurst said "I can rest in the assurance that if something is meant to be, it isn’t up to me. It’s up to God. I give what I can give. And then wait for Him to give what only He can give."  So I'm at the stage of giving what I can give, and waiting for what only He can give!

I stumbled upon this quote this morning.  All day long I think about encouraging others to continue on their fitness journey's.  That all it really takes is a choice... A choice to be what you want and go for it.  And that does not mean it is without pain and it isn't always fun.  But it's always worth it.  I decided I needed to start taking my own advice for once in the area of my life and my future!

I don't know yet what the future has in store for me.  But I do know that I can sit on my butt and wait for something to happen, or I can go for it.  I decide.....

 

Fitness Pet Peeves: Number 1 on my list!

I'm not going to beat around the bush.... I have a pet peeve and I'm betting I'm not the only one!

First off, I for one am very big into fitness, weight loss, getting healthy and feeling great about your body.  In fact I encourage it and try to motivate as much as I can.  I realize that when you work hard you want to show off your body.  I first want to explain that I get that, and I too have experienced the feeling of wanting to show off especially when you've worked hard. It is hard work and it's nice to be recognized for your accomplishments.  I get it! 

But as I read article after article, find motivational quotes, and research the snot out of this I am finding there are two types of women on these covers.  Model looking women who I swear never have to work out (in fact it's probably in their contract that they don't) but they have these thin little bodies.  Then there are the fitness women with six packs that I drool over (yes, muscle makes me drool... haha!).  You can clearly tell they have worked their butts off.  There's no denying it.  You can not just wake up one day and look like that. 

Now I don't want to diminish the hard work that either of these groups have put in to looking like that, but honestly, not every women can look like that.

This picture is exactly what I'm talking about. 

It's NOT just about losing weight.  It's about Gaining Strength and confidence.

I agree with that statement.  But this picture does not represent that well.  I'm looking at the flattest stomach a person can have.  Don't tell me that it's not just about losing weight and then show me this picture. 

Here's the deal... I am a mom.  Of three girls.  Wait, let me pull my mom card out and show you my beautiful daughters (sorry, I just can't help myself!)

My belly has been stretched far beyond what I even thought humanly possible... 3 different times!  I have extra skin on my belly that will never go away. Granted, it's not a lot but it's there.  I have a few stretch marks unfortunately that will also never go away.  Now I am not complaining.  I actually know that I don't have it as bad as some women.  I will still wear a bikini to the beach gosh darn it!  But if we are being realistic here, then saying everyone can look like those two types of people is not gonna happen. 

You see we all should have different fitness goals, and they will probably change over time.  For that mom who just had a baby her goal might be to just fit into her jeans again.  That's it.  For some of you it's just a goal of working out 3 times a week, eating right and maintaining the body you have.  And for others it's a little more extreme because you want to drop your body fat percentage and increase your performance.  I firmly believe you should set your goals to be achievable.  Once you achieve them, set new achievable goals.  If you can't achieve them, then you are probably going to just give up!

So my question for you is, when you see the super ripped fitness pictures does it make you not even want to try?  I want honest opinions here.  For example, I've been asking my friends to bootcamp for the last year.  Now I realize I'm somewhat of an extreme person when it comes to fitness.  Like I said, everyone has goals and my goals are pretty high.  But I noticed time after time people turning me down.  Almost like they can't keep up with me so why would they even want to try?  Do you fall under this category?  I'm really not offended by the fact that my friends tell me no.  I'm going to keep asking, and one way or another I WILL get them there (muahhahahahaha, insert evil laugh here)!

Alright, my rant is over.  I just really don't want all you people out there giving up because you look at those pictures and think, "there's no way I could look like that."  You are NOT that person in the picture.  You do not have the same body as them.  Your fitness walk is going to look different than theirs.  Your goals may be completely different as well.  Don't get discouraged by how far you might have to go.  Be encouraged by your opportunity to change the way you look and feel about yourself.  You have the opportunity to show your kids what healthy living looks like!  You are setting the stage for them.  Remember, they will learn from you.  The good and the bad.   And remember, it's not always going to be an easy road.  But we were never promised that it would be easy.  We were just promised that it would be worth it!

Ignorance is Bliss... Or is it!?!

Ever wonder, when you are hammering down a piece of pizza (and you all know no one can stop at just 1 piece!), how many burpees you will have to do to make up those calories!?!   Alright, let's be real.  Ignorance is bliss right?  Sometimes it's easier to not know the amount of calories in your food or the amount of burpees you will need to do to make those up.  But the problem with our society is too many people live in that ignorance is bliss state of mind.  I know I sure did for a long time!  

No more ignorance okay!?! 

So we are talking about pizza here.  How many burpees do you think it takes to burn off 1 piece of pizza?   

 I found this website with Burpee Equivalents for the everyday food we eat (By Spartan).  Yay, go burpees! 

For 1 slice of pizza it's 260 calories.  For someone who weighs 130lbs they would have to do 272 burpees to burn those calories off.  If you weigh 180lbs that 182 burpees.  Yes, that's a whole lot of burpees. 

Read the full article Here to understand the logic behind that.

So remember this...

 You can have your cake and eat it too, but be ready to pay in Burpees!

You know... You have to start somewhere!

I've been blogging now for a few years on my Simply Happy blog, but I felt like it was time to create a Simply Healthy blog. I just envision people opening my Simply Happy blog, seeing that it was a fitness post and quickly closing it!  So it's time to separate the two....

It should not come as any surprise to you that I'm a little a lot into fitness.  Even if you are reading my blog for the first time and know nothing about me you have to assume I am, just based on the fact that I started this blog.  But more than that I'm pretty passionate about encouraging others to get fit and healthy.  It's almost like I've experienced this life that is so incredibly amazing (when you put together a healthy body, mind and spirit!) and I can't stop until I share that with everyone I know! 

But it hasn't always been like this.  A little background for you new readers (for those who have been following me for a while I apologize for the redundancy!).  I didn't start working out till my 3rd daughter was born.  I mean yeah, I worked out here and there but never like I do now.  I mean when you are having kids it's not exactly the ideal time to start working out.  I've been very lucky that my body bounced back to "normal" after each kid.  But after my third daughter was born I was pretty motivated to lose the weight.  So I'm 5 foot tall  short, and have always been around 120 lbs.  When I had my third daughter I believe I weighed 155lbs.  On this 5 foot short girl that's a lot!  Well motivation goes a long way and I lost all the weight and here we are today!

Did I mention that my husband lost 100 lbs!  Look at what a hottie he is (it's okay, you can agree with me)  :)

So here I am, 4 years later, feeling better than I've ever felt and I've got this passion inside of me that is screaming at me to motivate people to do the same.  Hense the Simply Healthy facebook page and now this blog.  I pray that it develops into so much more, but I'm just taking it one day at a time!

So where are you right now?  Maybe you are the heaviest you've been in your entire life.  And if you are I get that.  Life is tough... There are a whole lot of reasons that we are in the places that we are at.  Maybe you are just doing okay.  You eat okay most of the time, you exercise when you have time (which isn't very often!) but your probably more over weight than you think, it's just easier not to think about it.  Or maybe you are that person that really doesn't have much weight to lose at all, but you know you aren't eating the healthiest and you want to change that.  So think about that for a minute...

I want to show you another before and after of a friend of mine.  This is real life people.  This is Melanie.  I've know Melanie for a few years now.  She had just had a baby when I met her.  Well just this winter she decided to take her life back and get healthy.  She was motivated by a competition at her husbands work (I love when competition motivates people because I too am motivated by competition!).  Well Melanie worked hard, ate right and lost 42lbs and over 30 inches!  In the first picture she is a size 14 and now she is a size 7/8.  I am soooooo proud of her and all her hard work!  Doesn't she look stunning!?!

Melanie's a stay at home mom of 2 little girls.  But she made the choice to get healthy.  She did what it took, sacrificed what she needed to, and look at her end results.  I guarantee you she is saying that she feels the best she's ever felt!  And while she may still want to lose more weight, and get more tone she's committed for life.  The journey never stops, it just starts to look different.

Well...  With all that said, I am really here to say whatever place you are at in life, whatever your story is, there is no better time than now to get healthy.  And I'm not talking about fitness model healthy.  I am talking about the kind of healthy that allows you to do all the extra curricular activities that you want to do.  The kind of healthy that starts from the inside and starts shining on the outside... 

The kind of healthy that inspires others around you to do the same thing.  We aren't trying to all get to a size 2 here.  Now if that's the end result of hard work, awesome!  But you have to ask yourself why am I doing this?  Is it to be able to stand in your bikini in front of judges and show off your muscle (which yes, that is some people's goals and I say go for it!) or is it to be the best you that you can be?  To look in that mirror and say, for once in your life, I am beautiful and I am worth it.  To be a role model for your kids so that in 10 years they too are living a healthy lifestyle.  We are only given ths one life... this one body.  My choice has been to live it to the fullest!  But I don't want to stop there.  I have chosen to take this God given passion and share it with the world.  Because I want you to experience what I've experienced!

So, the choice is yours... what will you choose?