Hello March!

A new month brings a new fitness and diet challenge! Let me hear you say YAY! (:

I really hope that you are all participating in our challenges, because they are pretty awesome. It is amazing to see how much stronger you get after such a short amount of time.

120 sit ups? NO BIG DEAL.

For this month, we will be Marching our hearts out for our fitness challenge. Print out your calendar and stick it wherever you will see it most, whether that is your motivation board, fridge, or bathroom mirror. Whatever works for you! If you have a question about how to perform any of the moves on the calendars, just type it into YouTube and watch some videos!
We are going to do our diet challenge a little differently this month. Since Lent is coming up on Wednesday, we have decided to let you pick what you are giving up this month. So pick one (or even more) things that you are wanting out of your diet and stick with it for the entire month. If you want to share what you have chosen, we would love to hear. If you would rather keep it more personal, that is great too!

Still to come..

-Motivation boards

-Weigh-in Wednesdays

-Tiny Tea

-Perfect Fit

-500 mile run
-Cafe Rio Chicken

I Am Awesome

Can you believe that February is already coming to and end?  As much as I hate how quickly time flies, it means we are that much closer to warm weather and fun summertime activities!  I CAN'T WAIT!

I hope you have been joining Hannah and I on the February challenges and have grown in your love for yourself over the past couple of weeks.  On that same topic, I wanted to share a few thoughts that have  been rolling around in my head over the past couple of months.  Like pretty much every woman out there, I occasionally struggle with inward thoughts of negativity and self-doubt.  I start to compare my self to all of the other women around me and make myself feel small and inadequate when I don't quite measure up.  I question all of the things that I once felt secure about. I forget the good things about myself and get stuck in a spiral of insecurity.  Sometimes the thoughts even linger for a few days or longer.  Anyone relate to this? Thought so!!

A few months ago, I heard a talk (can't remember who or when or anything but it seems like it was from General Conference) and the speaker said something to the effect of remembering how God sees you and that God would never want you to feel that way about yourself.  I was then reminded of another conference talk from a year or so ago about what an amazing gift we were given from God to be on this earth and to have physical bodies.  That is the biggest thing that Satan and his followers missed out on.  They did not get a chance to come to earth, have a body, and experience all of the beautiful things this life has to offer.  Because of that, Satan does everything possible to use our physical bodies against us.  He tempts us with sexual sin, drugs, alcohol, food, laziness, selfishness, and thoughts of hatred towards our selves and our bodies.  He takes all of the blessings of having a physical body and twists them to improper use of our bodies.  

I know it sounds simple but for some reason it struck me pretty hard. This was one of those "a-ha" moments that Oprah speaks of.  Suddenly I had a new desire to rid myself of those thoughts and moments of self doubt and make the best of ever day I have on this earth in this amazing body that God gave me--even if it is for no other reason than to show Satan that I am in charge and he has no power over me.

In my efforts to keep my head in the game, so to speak, I stumbled across a few things that really help me when I feel those negative thoughts creeping in.  The first is this simple reminder of the difference between thoughts and feelings that are sent from God and those coming from Satan.  It reminds me to trust my instincts and follow the impressions I get from the Spirit.

The second thing I found and love is this video on YouTube.  I love the words and message shared in this video (although the "guy is weird", according to Hannah). I love the reminder to disregard all of the things we feel make us less than we are and to remember that we have an amazing power to change the world, if we choose to do it. This is true for me and it's true for you.  I'll leave you with the video and the challenge to really ponder and use the greatness that lies inside of you, because "[you] are awesome. And please, don't you forget it." 

Tone It Up

Good Afternoon ladies!

I have been really excited to write this post. I want to introduce you guys to Karena and Katrina, two best friends who started Tone It Up.

 K&K are both trainers and fitness enthusiasts who decided to start a company where they could share their love for fitness, food, how they got into AMAZING shape and make it motivational and extremely fun. I actually found the Tone It Up site through Pinterest about 2 years ago. I visited the site and thought it was awesome, so I signed up for their newsletter. What I didn't know was that all of the amazing emails full of recipes, fitness routines and motivation were going straight to my junk folder. Honestly though, I am smart enough to check that, but I really wasn't completely in the game to change my lifestyle. I am SO disappointed that I did not give Tone It Up the time I should have because it is life changing!

Karena and Katrina have developed the Tone It Up nutrition plan with 5 different versions; regular, vegetarian, gluten-free, vegan and pescetarian. However, the plan costs $150. I know, you're saying YIKES right about now. But here is the thing, with the purchase of the plan you get a LIFETIME membership. So when they put out their new editions of the plan you get it right away. The plan consists of over 200 recipes, workout routines that are not featured on their site, their complete nutrition philosophy as well as full access to the members only group on their community (which is a lot like Facebook, but full of women just like YOU trying to do exactly what you are doing!), Members only emails, members only coupons, etc. I have been reading a lot of reviews on the plan and every single one has said it is completely worth the ONE TIME $150. Think about how much it would cost for you to go to a nutritionist and have him/her tell you what to eat and when to eat, etc. Think about how much you have to pay to be a part of Weight Watchers each month. If you were to add up an entire year of going to WW's, I guarantee it would be more than $150. I have not bought the plan yet, but I am very close to having saved enough money!  Honestly, I am so anxious and excited to get it. SO now that I have hopefully sold you on their nutrition plan, let's move on to all of they other amazing aspects of Tone It Up.

Each year K&K do several Tone It Up challenges, starting with the Love Your Body Series. It is a challenge that goes from January 1st to Valentine's, and it is exactly what it sounds like. You are Loving Your Body by Valentine's day. Candy and I have been doing it this year and I think I can speak for both of us when I say it is awesome.

On top of putting out this awesome nutrition plan, Karena and Katrina have developed their own Perfect Fit Protein powder and protein bars. We both bought samples of them and like everything else Tone It Up, they are amazing. They have so many different recipes to use Perfect Fit in, smoothies, pancakes, waffles, cake, muffins, the list goes on and on. I made the famous Perfect Fit waffles (they were delicious) and a yummy Chocolate, Banana, Peanut Butter smoothie and it was out of this world amazing and kept me full for hours. They have also produced their own workout DVD's, which I do not have but have heard are amazing, swimsuits, clothing, jewelry and more. AND they just finished their first season of Toned Up on Bravo.

Okay, I think I have gone on enough about Tone It Up. I really hope that you can tell how passionate I am about it. It truly is an amazing community full of motivating women just like you and me. I love K&K's program and everything they stand for. It is something that I am striving to do for the rest of my life. 

Check out their site and sign up, you will not regret it!

www.toneitup.com
XO Hannah

Share the Love

Hey Fitsters!! 

Hope you are enjoying the blog so far :)

As we are rounding the corner to February, I've been thinking a bit about why I love this time of year.  I know it sounds strange coming from this "Single Lady" when normally singles (such as myself) dread the inevitable reminder that comes this time of year that you are, in fact, incredibly single.  But I actually really love that we all take a moment and celebrate the people we love in our lives.  

In the spirit of our blog and bringing out our inner goddesses, I though this would be a great opportunity to celebrate the things we love about ourselves. Because, when it comes down to it, you're stuck with yourself for the rest of your life and if you don't like yourself then life can be pretty darn miserable.  

Along with our monthly fitness challenge, I want to challenge each of us to take a moment every day and write down one thing we love about ourselves.  I think we will all find that it may be really difficult and probably even a little uncomfortable at times because we are women and that's just how we roll (humble...right?).  But how awesome will it be at the end of the month to look back and see a list of 28 things that make us so amazing? I am hoping that at the end of the month we will all find a greater appreciation of ourselves and more motivated to make our lives what we want them to be.

So hop to it! Write it in your journal, keep it close by, and refer to it as often as you need it.