Last week, I ended my blog with a reference to the word scale.  Scales and measurements seem to carry negativity with their titles.  Scales, measuring tapes, body fat devices, accounting reports, and statistics are brutally honest tools that allow you to track your progress.  Progress needs to be tracked!  How will you ever know where you are going or how to improve?  Progress, or lack thereof, needs to be brutally honest in fitness, nutrition, sports, careers and relationships.

Apply this advice to all areas of your life.  Life is a challenge with many benchmarks and milestones on your scale.  What happens once you reach a specific goal?  Is the season over?  Are you finished?  You are just beginning my friends.  Track your progress, be honest, and stay focused. Just don’t allow your focus to crowd out new ideas.  After all, who creates your scale?  YOU do.

Do you leave the house without a map on a road trip? Do you return report cards to school without opening the envelope?  Do you avoid the scoreboard at a sporting event?  Do you expect to get a raise without a performance evaluation?  You know the answer.

Schedule your evaluation today, track your progress, pay attention to the scale that YOU set, and enjoy your success.

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Today as I was sitting at my office, I realized that it is a year now since I have joined Ellipse!  When I reflect back to a year ago, there are so many things that I have learned.  I remember walking in the doors of Ellipse thinking that I was going to take a Zumba class and that would be the end of my Ellipse experience.  Boy was I wrong!!!  After attending one regular E-fit class, I rushed to the counter (about knocking Lisa over) and signed myself up.  I really believe that this is where my TRUE story begins.  It wasn’t until I was introduced to the E-Fit workout and Ellipse Nutrition Program that I really began to understand how to eat healthy and enjoy my workouts.  The days of me running like a hamster on a wheel and guessing what is healthy to eat were OVER!!! 

Never in a million years would I have guessed that I would go from sitting on the couch watching hours of TV and eating bags of chips to working out and instructing exercises classes within a year’s time.  You see….anything is possible.  However, when you want to achieve a goal and make a change, you have to shift your paradigm to ensure that you are ready to succeed.  Are YOU ready to succeed?  Are YOU ready to put YOUR plan to action?  Are YOU ready to commit?  Only you know the answer to those questions.

Now….let’s get down to it.  Yup….weight loss is hard, but as you all know….maintenance is equally as difficult.  There are days when I could literally go into my pantry, shut the door, and not come out until everything is gone!  I am human and have cravings too!  However, this year of “learning” has taught me countless lessons about how to control these cravings and/or get back on the wagon when I fall off.  Here are some tips that have kept me on track:

1.        I always work out at the same time every day.  It keeps me consistent and in a routine!

2.       Eat breakfast every day without fail.  A healthy breakfast sets the tone for the rest of my day.

3.       Plan…Plan…Plan!  Planning your daily eating journal each day is essential to make sure that you follow the plan for the day!

4.       I have a hard time opening a bag of chips or crackers and not eating the whole box.  That makes me a 100 calorie pack/snack pack type of girl!  If you know this is a hurdle….don’t buy numerous bags of something!

5.       Soda just makes me crave more food, so I limit myself to 1 a week!

6.       Oh….yeah….coffee!  COFFEE!!!  I now love coffee!  Mmmmmm!!!   When in doubt…drink coffee!

7.       Plan ahead for a “fun (aka: cheat)” meal so that I thoroughly enjoy it and look at it as a treat and not a normality in my diet!

8.       If I have a bad day, I do not go down the slippery slope of saying “I blew it…what’s the big deal at this point”!  We have all been there, right?  Nope….back in the saddle and making better choices the next day!

9.       Invest time into yourself!  It is amazing how refreshed you feel when you spend a little time on your health and wellness.  Others enjoy being around you when you are in a better frame of mind as well!

10.   Finally – calories in….calories out…..it’s the name of the game!  If you over-eat…..you must exercise more.  It’s just science.  Probably why I was overweight…I didn’t really like science….LOL!

There is no better time than the present to make a commitment to yourself to take charge of your life and make the most of the years to come.  You’ll be amazed at how many lives you’ll change when YOU start making good choices!!

Tiffany’s Tip:  PLAN, PLAN, PLAN!  Do not wait until 6:00 PM when you arrive home from work to decide what is for dinner!  Have a plan of what is for dinner before you leave the house in the morning.  This will eliminate you going out to eat because of a lack of a plan or eating a “boxed” meal out of the cupboard that is loaded with fat, preservatives, and sodium!

2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries

2 cups non-fat plain Greek yogurt

2 packets Splenda

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Puree raspberries, yogurt and Splenda to taste until smooth.  Divide mixture among freezer pop molds (or in paper cups); about 4-6 molds.  Evenly divide chocolate chips among molds.  Insert sticks and freeze for about 6 hours.  Little less than 80 calories a pop.

What scares you? Rattles you to the core? Fear of putting yourself in unfamiliar/uncomfortable situations (yes!), fear of vulnerability (yes!), or fear of failure (YES!)? Ok, so I could continue to list fears all day, but these are some of mine.. So the reason why I have chosen this as a topic this week is because I have been doing some thinking about my accomplishments and goals and the fears I have overcome and fears I face daily.

Fear of unfamiliar/uncomfortable- Through this journey I have come to realize that if I am not putting myself out there in uncomfortable or unfamiliar situations how am I going to grow as a person or achieve what I want? Case and point.. The first day I walked into Ellipse.. I did not know a single face, knew NOTHING about kickboxing, or thought I could do it, but I took the first step, it was scary sure, but look how far I have come! Amp’d- Yeah, that was also scary, but I accomplished it. I have the internal struggle all of the time- my fear of getting out there and my knowledge of my ability to get out there and conquer.

Fear of vulnerability- This goes along the same lines as above, I put myself out there to either succeed or fail, and that fear of not knowing is terrifying.. But knowing I have some control of the outcome by how hard I am willing to work or far I am willing to push myself helps to lessen the fear.

Fear of failure- Ok, so I am pretty confidant that everyone has this fear.. especially when it comes to goals that never before seemed achievable. I never thought that I would be this close to goal, never thought I was capable of what I have done. I can be very hard on myself and I tend to have high expectations of myself and when I don’t succeed in my alloted time frame I get irritated. Granted that is not “failure”, but it still sets me back and forces me to re-evaluate my goals, which also irritates me.. But it helps me continue to strive for more.. It is the fear of failure that keeps me going.

With the summer months upon us, I have been doing some thinking about my fears and all of the things I missed out on in the past because of my fears and I have realized that I’m going to go out there everyday and put myself in an uncomfortable situation, kick butt, and enjoy my life.

1 1/2 cup Hi-Protein Cereal

2 scoops Any Whey Protein Powder

1/4 cup dried fruit

1/2 cup mini marshmallows

3 TBS honey

2 TBS peanut butter

Spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray.  Mix cereal, dried fruit, and protein powder.  Heat marshmallows, honey and peanut butter in a non-stick sauce pan over low heat, stirring constantly until smooth.  Pour mixture over cereal and mix all ingredients until evenly coated.  Wet your hands and shape in to 24 small balls.  Place on baking sheet and let set.

Four balls throughout the day make a great snack: 130 calories, 3g fat, 10g carbs, 10g protein.