Bucket List

Back in  2007 the movie The Bucket List was released. In a nut shell it's about two men dying of cancer going on a road trip together to fulfill their list of things they want to do before they "kick the bucket." After the release of the movie there was a big craze for everyone to start a bucket list of their own.

I was browsing through my old documents on my computer the other day and discovered one that I came up with a few years ago. I decided to re-create it and focus on the things I want to accomplish in the near future, more specifically in my twenties.

I'm a very goal oriented person. I am more likely to achieve something if I write it down. I always have ideas floating around in my head of what I'd like to do but never really write them down and go after it.

For me it's not all about  possessions, travel, money, etc. Granted, you will see half of my list will contain places I want to travel to.  It's ultimately about what makes me happy at the end of the day. I know the moment I pay off my student loans wherever you are in the world you will be able to hear me scream from a mountain top. Life is all what you make of it and if you ask me it goes too quickly.

Here it goes...

1. Run a marathon
2. Run a marathon in Hawaii
3. Run the NYC marathon
4. Take my dad on a deep sea fishing trip
5. See the cherry blossoms in DC
6. Speak fluent spanish
7. Back pack through Europe for 1 month
8. Complete a 365 day photo challenge
9. Buy a home (boo to renting!!)
10. Master's Degree
11.Become a spokesperson for nutrition/fitness orgainization
12. Go to Australia
13. Live in a big city on my own (about to move to Chicago in 1 week!)
14. Go swimming with dolphins
15. Learn to whistle
16.Learn to drive stick shift
17. Go on a cruise
18. Complete a half iron man
19. Re-connect with a long lost friend
20. Pay off student loans
21. Buy a plane ticket from the airport without a plan of where to go

Question of the day: What are some things that are on your bucket list?

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Going The Distance- First Half Marathon

Training for a marathon is just as much mental as it is physical. When you're heading out for a long run, the thought that it could suck and you could end up in pain crosses your mind. For me, talking through it helps me face what I'm about to take on.  One of the greatest gifts I have gotten from running is confidence. In that I am capable of anything I tell myself I can do. As long as I have my head in the game, it will get done. I'm going to talk a little more about my my first half marathon.

It's said that a half marathon is something you'll either do one and you're done or you'll keep doing  it over and over to try to break your own records. If you would have asked me a few minutes after my first half if I would ever do it again my answer would have been "hell no" or even if I would do a marathon it would be " there's no way I would double what I just did".

Then time goes by and you realize that the feeling after completing something you worked so hard at for months the best feeling you've ever had. It almost trumps college graduation.  Not a day has gone by that I haven't thought about what it means to me and what was going on in my head through the whole 13.1 miles.  


So what was going on in my head?


 Well a lot goes through your head when you're running for 2 hours. Some of my thoughts during the race were:


-Did I train enough?
-Did I get enough sleep?
- Did I eat one too many bananas this morning?
- I wonder if I will see my parents on the sideline
-I wonder what Giliana Rancic and Molly from the bachelor will finish in and if I will beat them
- I don't know if I can ever do this again
- I'm dying of thirst where the F is the next water station?

Giliana Rancic before the Chicago Half Marathon 

But after a while all those negative thoughts that come to your head just zap right back out. Now that's not saying my legs didn't fee like bricks after mile 8.  It's just that none of that seemed to bother me, I was able to force out all negative thoughts and just focus on putting one foot ahead of another and enjoy the moment.

I signed up to run a half marathon to prove to myself that I could survive some of the toughest moments of my life. If I can run 13.1 miles, I can do anything. It gave me distraction, a daily high and made me feel stronger than I've ever felt. Which is what I guess lead me to train for the upcoming Chicago Marathon this October. 

Most people say to me:"You're running a marathon? I could never do that!


It drove me a bit nuts. The fact of the matter is, yes you can. You can pretty much do anything as long as you realize that you have the strength; you've always had the strength, you just need to find it. This pertains to anything you want to do. Want to learn rock climbing but think you're too weak or afraid of heights? Go to the gym, build that strength and face that fear. Want to write a book but don't know where to start? Start at the beginning, do the research, make a plan and take it one step at a time. Sure you'll have your good days & then there will be the ones when you want to just give up. But if you want it bad enough, don't give up because you can make it happen.


I'll leave you with my one of my favorite running clips of all time .


Until next time Run and live fearless,
Becky

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Finding Time to Workout

A question I get just about every other day is how do I fit time in to work out?

Yes I’m a busy person, yes I’m traveling a lot for work and you better believe I’m still working out.

I stopped making excuses for myself once I hit rock bottom.

I was there about a year and a half ago. Once you hit rock bottom you don’t ever want to go back. Keeping that in the back of my mind is what keeps me moving each and every day. I look at the pile of clothes stacked up outside of my closet that I can’t fit into anymore because they are about four sizes too big. I’d like to keep it that way. I know what happens when I let myself eat whatever I’d like and seldomly workout. I don’t want to go back to that place.

It’s not easy to find a hole in your busy schedule everyday to workout.  But you absolutely need to find a time each day (allow yourself at least one rest day a week though) to get sweaty for at least 30 minutes.

You will  find yourself reaping the benefits of working out not only in the way you look and feel but also getting things done faster and more efficiently in all areas of your life. 

Below I will list a few things that have worked for me and will hopefully work for you as well.

1. Set expectations for yourself. Have a concrete goal in mind as to what you want to achieve. So if you want to loose weight, set a number of pounds you’d like to loose and by when.  If you want to shape up and loose a little belly fat before a vacation, picture exactly what you want to look like. Flip through some old pictures of yourself or find a celebrity body type you’d like to strive towards and hang it up on your fridge or somewhere you will see a lot.

2. Set up a workout schedule- This allows you to mentally prepare yourself for your workouts. Think about a time where you rocked a presentation or project at school or work. You probably spent some time preparing for it. You knew you would do well because you took the time to think it through. The same goes for working out, set up a schedule for yourself at the beginning of each week mapping out your workouts for the week so you can visualize success.

3. Hold yourself accountable to your schedule. I get it, life gets in the way.  Your meeting ran late so now you can’t get to your spinning class on time like you had scheduled. Or your child got sick at daycare and you have to leave to pick him up.  That doesn’t mean you can’t still workout. You will need to improvise. You can still go to the gym and get a workout in or or lace up some running shoes and go for a run. Another option is to do a exercise video at home.

4. Timing. Find the best time of day that is going to work for you to workout. For some it’s the morning. The hardest part is peeling yourself out of your warm and comfortable bed but I promise you will get more energy from a workout than a venti cup of coffee. Maybe morning workouts aren’t you’re thing and you like to do it after work. Whenever it is, find the time of day that works best for you to get sweaty and stick to it. Eventually it will become a habit and a part of your daily routine and you won't even think twice about it.

5.  Fun. Last but not least have fun with it. Tag your friends along with you to the gym for a zumba or spinning class. Make friends with people at the gym. If you look at working out in a positive light you will get positive results in return.

Hope this helps! Please let me know if there are any topics you’d like me to touch on.

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Eating Healthy On the Road

I'm back in action! This is my 4th official week of training for the Chicago Marathon in October and I thought it was time to make a post to the blog again. I'm going to try to post more frequently.

I’ve been put on a special assignment for work for a few months that involves a lot of traveling. I always get a little nervous about nutrition when I’m not at home and able to prepare all of my food. I used to be an all bets are off kind of a girl when it came to dinning out. I have to be extremely careful not to fall into that hole again.

Typically finding healthy food options while traveling can be very challenging. We are surrounded by a world full of fast food, salty and sugary snacks which are filled with endless amount of empty calories. With effort and willpower you can navigate your way around the trap and make sure you are eating foods that will give you nutrition and proper fuel throughout your day.

 Preparation

 Make a trip to the grocery store before you leave town. Stock up on some healthy snacks that you can carry with you while you travel like apples, bananas, almonds, protein bars, string cheese, carrots and water. This will come in handy when you get a burst of hunger and will prevent you from grabbing a salty or sugary snack.

Restaurant

When dinning at a restaurant for lunch or dinner always start with a side salad or light soup. This will cause you to fill up faster and avoid you from eating too much of a heavy calorie meal. Load up on the water. I always strive for at least 3 re-fills of my water while eating out.

Select foods that are prepared with healthier, low-fat methods. This is obvious but avoid fried foods.

Ask for the kitchen to skip butter and oil.

Skip the bread basket. If they ask if you want it tell them no, if they bring it out without asking simply ask them to take it away.

When I go out to eat I turn straight to the seafood section of the menu.  Nine times out of ten I will order shrimp, salmon, tilapia or any other type of fish with a side of veggies. If it comes with a startch, skip it and ask for another serving of veggies. If you don’t like fish chicken will be your best friend.

Always, Always Always skip desert! If you have a sweet tooth order some fruit.

I always jump for joy when I spot a Subway or Panera because I always know I will get a healthy meal on the go in minutes.

Convenience Store

So it’s about half way through the week and you went through all of your healthy snacks already and you are starving and the only place that is open is a convenience store.  Head straight to the cold vault and grab yourself some water (preferably Aquafina..hint hint). Then look around and see if they have any fruit,  veggies, cottage cheese, string cheese, yogurt available. Be careful with yogurt though make sure you read the label and make sure there isn’t 25g of sugar.  If there is greek yogurt available always choose that before regular yogurt.

Also almonds are your best friend, they are packed with protein and one serving size will keep your satisfied for at least an hour.

Other

To be honest sometimes I don’t even find a restaurant I want to go to. In those cases I head to the grocery store and opt for the salad bar and load up on some veggies or pick around for some healthy eats around the perimeter of the store.

You have to think fast and have a plan. When traveling (especially on business) you are so busy that you don’t have a lot of time to think about eating healthy. You have to be prepared and go into it with confidence.

Following these tips will ensure you don’t come back home with a couple of new friends named LBS. Make sure you are getting plenty of rest and try to get exercise in.

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What Inspires You?

Here's a list of things that inspire me to be a bigger, better, stronger person tomorrow than I was yesterday.


1. The word  "No"  Whenever someone tells me something can't be done or I have some kind of limitation, I immediately start thinking about how it will be done. 


2. My Mom  She always puts everyone before herself. She inspires me to stick up for myself when the times get tough. She is one of the many people I have to thank for motivating me to make 2010 my year of change.


3. My best friend Not a lot of people can say they've had the same best friend for 14 years. Let alone to have that best friend have your back through thick and thin. She was my rock through 2010 and without her I wouldn't have the motivation to do a half marathon. I guess I can thank her for making me a crazy running girl. Thank you for challenging me, not judging me and being someone I can always depend on.


4.  Dailymile. One of the first things I do after a workout is post it on dailymile.com. It's a community of runners, walkers, bicylists, etc that share their training with friends. Everyone in the community is so positive and provide so much support.  I'm so thankful for my dailymile friends and their ability to relate to what I go through. Sometimes I feel guilty for talking to my non- dailymile friends about running and exercising.  I ALWAYS  think twice before posting something about it on facebook. Exercise is such a big part of my life it's hard not to talk about it and get shunned from the haters. 


5. Biggest Loser. I didn't get into this show until 2 seasons ago. The time I was converting to a healthy life style. The contestant's  trials and tribulations really hit home for me and inspire me to do more. If a 400 pound man can run at 12mph then why can't I?! Everytime I watch an episode it's a constant reminder to myself to not wuss out during my workouts and tell myself I can't do the last set.


Thank you to all of my friends, instructors, trainer (Toni) and everyone else that  motivate me during the times I forget what the human spirit is capable of. 

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10 Minute Meal

Sometimes after a long day of work the last thing I want to do is slave away in the kitchen. When I just want to put something together quick I grab whatever veggies I have in the fridge and throw them together in a pan and satuee them. Usually it's a mix of spinach, onions, mushrooms, asparagus, carrots, broccoli, green pepper, zuccini and whatever else I decide to pick up at the store.

This takes 5 minutes TOPS and meanwhile I chop up and cook either a chicken breast, shrimp, or a piece of fish. Afterward I throw it all into a low carb tortilla and voila you have yourself a healthy dinner. It also covers all your basics: carb, protein, fat and veggie.

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Don't take the easy way out...it does't work.

It seems to be the time of the year everyone is starting to think about shaping up for bikini season. It always amazes me when I see facebook statuses and overhear people talk about doing cleanses, fasts or those crazy grapefruit, cookie or south beach diets that never work. Just face it people the only thing that has and ever will work is diet and exercise. Here's a quick and healthy 7 step process to living a healthier life style. 

#1) Drink water everyday At least 8 glasses a day.

#2) Eat fresh fruit .  Fruit is a miracle food. It is full of vitamins,minerals and nutrients. It fills you up and keeps you away from processed carbs.

#3) Eat fresh veggies. Eat 5-6 servings of veggies a day. Sneak it in throughout the day. For an example in the morning I make 2 egg whites with mushrooms and onions. As a snack I'll have a sandwhich bag full of carrots to munch on. For lunch I make sure to include spinach, mushrooms and onions with anything I pre-make.

#4) Limit grains, dairy and meat. If you consume them, make sure they are whole grains, grass fed and organic. I used to drink skim milk but it contains too much sugar in it. I recently switched to coconut milk and love it. 

#5) Get sweaty daily.  Run, walk, hike, shovel snow, wash windows, dance, ride a bike, yoga, spinning classes, group exercise classes, life weights. Just do something to get your butt off the couch for at least an hour a day and sweat it OUT!!! Start changing the the way you view going to the gym. Instead think of it as going to your job or office and doing work...just get it done!

#6) No processed food or sugar. If it comes in a package, put it back. If it has the word “corn syrup” or the “high fructose corn syrup” run fast and far. A good rule of thumb is to not eat anything over 8g of sugar.

#7) Personal Cleanse Be swift to love, slow to get angry, quick to help others, flee from temptation, avoid judgement, be happy and always be kind to all.

Stop making excuses today.  Here's to you and your journey of self discovery. Get to know yourself today through hard work and sweat. Stop with all your "tomorrow" talk and get after it already.

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