Tag Archives: friday fitness

Fitness Fridays – A Slightly New Direction

Posted on August 1 by Jillian416 • 2 Comments

Fitness Fridays is BACK!!

Last week, I took a very short hiatus from Fitness Fridays. I decided to take the time to regroup and refocus on what I wanted out of these posts, because what I previously had wasn’t really working. Well, it was working, but it wasn’t what I had in mind when I decided to revive these from the dead.

I find my Fitness Friday posts to be very motivational and inspirational because I am forced to come here and report to the internet at large, what my goals are and whether I met them. There is nothing that holds me more accountable than not wanting to report a failure to my readers (or anyone, really).

I decided to keep these weekly posts light on the advice (with the occasional advice post, when I have something I really want to share) and heavy on how the week went for me, what worked, what didn’t, etc. I don’t want that to be relegated to the very bottom of the post. For me, the whole purpose of this is to be like an online journal where I share my trials and tribulations, keep myself motivated and maybe inspire someone else in the process.

So, I’m hoping you’ll join me on this new and improved expedition!! There won’t be a link-up at this time, but I’ll re-evaluate that as time marches on.

For now, I hope that you can except my brutal honesty towards myself and support me as I do so. Ready? Set… GO!

Fitness Fridays…… Renewed!

Week of 7/26/14 – 8/1/14

This was a hell of a week! It was my first full week back since being on vacation and I wasn’t happy about that, so I was really caught up in the emotions of work and not really paying attention to my eating or exercise. However, I did manage to keep my nutrition to at least a 7 (out of 10), for the majority of the week.

I got back into drinking my Shakeology, which keeps a lot of my cravings at bay, but I was still wanting salty / carby foods, thanks to PMS. I did manage to eat lots of veggies all week long, which helped keep me full and away from the junk. I didn’t weigh-in this week, because I just didn’t want to face the music AND I’m considering taking the scale out of my life, at least for the near future, (more to come on this in future posts).

But, while my eating was around a 7 all week, my exercise was a big FAT 0. 🙁 I felt low in energy all week, and just couldn’t find the get up and go to get a workout done. I did walk with Emmett a lot, but no intense sweat sessions. I do realize, that if I had worked out, that low energy probably would have gone away, I’d have felt amaze-balls (yes! I did just say that). 🙂

I do want to say one thing, and it is a REALLY important thing. I refuse to beat myself up any more, for anything. Whether it be a lack of motivation to workout, or the way I naturally react to a situation. I’m sick and tired of always hating the way I am, or the way I look. In order to overcome that I need to change my mindset, and realize that I am okay the way I am. I’m not saying no to self-improvement, but I am saying no to beating myself up for not being 100% amazing RIGHT NOW.

Fitness / Food Goals for the next week:

Complete the 3 Day Refresh! I start on Monday! I’m kind of nervous, but I can do anything for 3 days, right!?
Workout 4 times. Beachbody recommends that you do light to no exercise during the refresh, due to the lower number of calories you’re taking in, because of this, I am aiming for 4 workouts, instead of 6 or 7.
I will keep my nutrition at a 7 out of 10.

Your turn!

What do you think of the new (again) format of Fitness Fridays?

Share one or all of your goals in the comments below, let’s hold each other accountable!!

Have you heard of theSkimm? No?! You need to! It’s an online, daily email newspaper, that shares all the important stories from the previous day. It’s free to sign-up, and you’ll start receiving the newsletters daily (Monday-Friday). You can check them out, and see what they’re all about by clicking here.

Filed Under: All About Me, Food & Fitness

A Couple Things

Posted on July 25 by Jillian416 • 7 Comments

Hey everybody! It’s been a little while since I’ve done one of my “couple things” posts. I thought I’d take this opportunity to do just that.

1. Fitness Fridays – They’re going to be a little different around here. Kathy, my co-host has decided to take a break from writing on her blog for a “to be determined length of time.” If you were an avid reader or visitor of her blog, be sure to stop on over and wish her well!!

In the meantime, I am planning on continuing with Fitness Fridays, with a break today because I wanted to cover a couple things. 🙂 I also will be doing some brainstorming on how to make it bigger. I don’t want anything huge, but I’d like to reach more blogs, get more people to link-up or get involved. If you’re interested in teaming-up, feel free to comment below or email me at jillianokeefe1022@gmail.com

2. TheSkimm – I am deeply in love with TheSkimm. Every morning, Monday-Friday, I get an email in my inbox, BRIGHT AND EARLY, with a rundown on the day’s news. Now, you’re probably wondering why you would want to sign-up for something new when you have the internet at your disposal. Well here’s the answer, #1 TheSkimm is free to sign-up for and #2, the news descriptions they provide are brief, to the point and explained in a manner that anyone can understand. I have felt tremendously more educated about the world’s events since joining them. Below is a snapshot of what their daily email looks like.

3. Beachbody – I am slowly but surely working and learning the ropes of the Beachbody community. It’s a lot of fun and I’m learning SO much. I actually just ordered the 3 Day Refresh and PiYO. I can’t wait to receive them!! I also have a 13 day clean eating challenge beginning on August 4th. If you’re interested in learning more about it, please comment below or email me. I’d be happy to send along the information, I just need commitment by July 28th.

4. A GIVEAWAY! Yay! My final update for today is that I’m joining Logan from Logan Can… in celebrating her 2 year blogaversary! She’s hosting a really great giveaway that you NEED to be a part of. Enter using the Rafflecopter widget below and be sure to stop over to her blog and say HAPPY BLOGAVERSARY, Logan!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Your turn!

What are a couple things from your world?

What was the best part of your week?

Filed Under: All About Me

Fitness Friday – A Brand New Link-Up

Posted on June 13 by Jillian416 • 0 Comments

Let’s get ready to PARTY! It’s Friday and that means it’s Fitness Friday time!

Guys! I’m super duper excited because a friend of mine and I have decided to join forces and create a brand-spankin-new fitness/health focused link-up. This is going to be so much fun, and it will be recurring post, happening on Fridays!

Introductions

I’d like to introduce you to Kathy from The Panda Post. Her blog is focused on leading a healthy life, through healthy eating and exercise. She is super active and willing to try just about any workout, which really inspires me to try something new and different (something I struggle with). You can also check her out on Facebook, by clicking here.

Our link-up is going to be a bit different than some link-ups because our posts will not be exactly the same. We will have a common theme between blogs, but what we write about will be entirely different (or possibly the same, if we feel similarly). This week, we decided our theme would be (drum roll please)….

How to fit in workouts while traveling

I honestly don’t travel a lot, hardly ever, actually. Except to my parents for the day, but the few times that I did stay overnight in a hotel, the easiest way for me to get in a workout, was to bring workout DVDs from home. They’re compact (so they pack easily), they don’t require you to leave your hotel room and go workout in the hotel gym (not that there’s anything wrong with doing that), and it requires very little motivation to get started. The most you need to do is convince yourself to get off the couch and put the DVD in. 😉

There are loads of places to get workout DVDs, but my current personal favorite would have to be the Beachbody site. I realize you probably think I’m just saying that because I’m now a Beachbody coach, but I assure you that is not even remotely why. The workouts available through Beachbody consist of P90x, TurboFire, Insanity, 21 day FIX (my current workout, more on this in a second) and plenty more are freakin amazing! They’ve changed people’s lives, made stronger more confident individuals and I’m truly happy to be a part of that bunch.

So yes, I’m a Beachbody coach, but that doesn’t mean that I am biased. I know a good workout, I used to be in amazing shape and the workouts I’ve done through Beachbody are some serious muscle building workouts!

If you’re traveling, there are a few other sites that you can check-out for DVDs, but you can also stream a lot of workouts on your iPad or other tablet, and even some hotels (or if you’re staying with relatives) have ways you can stream them right through their wifi and TV.

One thing I will say, is that you should not let vacations derail any progress that you’ve made!

Onto the Goals

Amount of Weight Lost

I stayed exactly the same as last week, but I am not even remotely upset. I know I worked hard, ate well – so the weight will eventually come up!

Exercise Goals

Last week, I stated that I wanted to complete 7 days of 30 minute workouts, following the 21 day FIX schedule. Well…Success!! I didn’t do 7 days, but that’s simply because I started on Monday, but I’ve worked out every single day since then. I feel amazing, I’m so sore (a good sore), but my mood is soaring!

This week, I’d like to continue to focus on my 21 day FIX workouts and do the scheduled video each night. 30 minute workouts may not seem like much, but when they are as intense as these are, 30 minutes is plenty. Seriously! Such an amazing workout!

Food Goals

Last week I said I wanted to follow the 21 day FIX meal plan, once again, I can report SUCCESS! Man is it fun coming on here and reporting successes.

I ate so well for the entire week, I was drinking my Shakeology, feeling fueled and not stuffed (which is a great feeling), and my cravings were minimal. I can’t wait to continue with this same goal, next week!

Alright, folks, since we’re still hammering out the details on how this blog hop will work, for now, feel free to link-up any of your fitness related posts. You should absolutely try following your hosts on their social media, but also check-out some of the other blogs linked up. Nothing says party, like mingling! 🙂

Kathy at The Panda Post|Bloglovin’|Facebook|Twitter|Instagram

Your turn!

What are the best ways you fit in exercise when you’re traveling for work or pleasure?

An InLinkz Link-up

Filed Under: All About Me, Food & Fitness

Friday Fitness – Restart

Posted on June 6 by Jillian416 • 1 Comment

Happy Friday!

I don’t know about you, but I am SO thrilled to be here again. It has been one heck of a week and I’m really excited for the weekend. A certain someone special in my life has a birthday on Saturday (Seamus), so we’ll be celebrating that, otherwise we’ll be doing some stuff around the house and some major relaxing.

Friday Fitness

I’ve been thinking, and I decided that my blog needs a new (old) series. For those of you who have been reading since I started, you may remember when I had a post that I did every Friday where I talked about my fitness goals, the weight I lost or didn’t lose, whether I was tracking my food, etc (you can read all of the old Friday Fitness posts, here). It kept me accountable, until it didn’t, and the reason it didn’t was because I began making excuses and then just decided to cancel the series because I hated sharing my failures each week.

I’m at a point now, where I truly believe that I am ready to lose the weight and that my mind is too. I’ve had a few different instances over the last week, where I was craving junk food (Tim Bits to be exact), and after really thinking about it, I realized I didn’t want them and that I didn’t want to feel like crap after eating them. It was easy for me to turn away! I hope this means that I am beginning my road to recovery.

Steps to Better Health

I’ve begun taking steps to better health, I recently signed-up to be a Beachbody Coach, I’m really excited about this and will be sharing more as time goes on. Since I signed-up as a coach, I chose my first Beachbody program and went with the 21 day FIX. If you’re interested in learning more about Beachbody and their workouts and having me as your coach (for free – your only cost is that of the challenge pack) or are interested in becoming a coach for yourself (again more details on this in a few days), you can visit my page by clicking here.

Goals

So, how this is going to work, is that I will be sharing my weekly goals and in future weeks, I’ll be sharing my success/failure from the past week. My goal is not to cop out after a few weeks, even if I fail. Failure is a part of getting into shape, especially when you are as out of shape and overweight as I am, I want you guys to know me as a real person. So I will be sharing the good, the bad and the ugly!

Exercise Goals

I will be working out 7 days a week for 30 minutes, following the 21 day FIX schedule. I can do anything for 30 minutes!

Food Goals

I will also be following the 21 day FIX food plan, which I will share more in detail in future posts.

Here’s to a really great week of workouts!

Your turn!

I’d love to hear what your goals are, or what workouts you’re doing?

Has anyone ever done a Beachbody workout before? What are your thoughts?

If you want to start your Monday off on a generous foot and want to support cancer research, donate to my ride. I’m riding for Roswell Park Cancer Institute and their Ride for Roswell. Anything will help me reach my goal, and further advance cancer research. Just click HERE to donate.

Filed Under: All About Me, Food & Fitness

Friday Fitness

Posted on December 8 by Jillian416 • 0 Comments

Hi everyone! Sorry I’ve been MIA the past few days, it’s been a rough week (I’ll explain in another post) but I’m back and feeling better!

Amount Lost:

Maintained

Maintaining is better than gaining but man, if I’d just get my ass in gear, then I’d consistently lose.

Amount Remaining to Lose:

123.2

Goals for 11/30/12 – 12/6/12:

Food Goals:

Continued consistent tracking

This I can actually say I’ve done. Even on the worst of days, I tracked. I’m hoping to just make this automatic and a constant habit.

EAT MORE VEGETABLES!

I didn’t necessarily eat MORE vegetables but I ate a decent amount. I had my usual carrots with lunch, my tomato (yes technically it’s a fruit) with my cottage cheese and usually some form of a veggie with dinner.

Bring lunch from home and cook dinner at night

I always give myself Friday to eat out and I stuck to that plan. Thursday, I really really wanted to eat out but I sucked it up and ate my planned out lunch.

Fitness Goals:

WORKOUT!

Ugh. I seriously suck when it comes to fitness right now. I don’t even have a real excuse, so I won’t give any.

Earn 10,000 steps on at least 3 days

I earned 7,000 on at least 3 days. It isn’t the 10,000 I aimed for but 7 grand isn’t bad.

Go to the JCC and swim at least once.

Yeah, this didn’t happen. 🙁

“Dad can I wear your sweatshirt?”

Goals for 12/7/2012 – 12/13/2012:

Food Goals:

Continue consistent tracking for all meals
Measure or weigh out all food so that I’m eating only 1 serving of foods
Pack and bring lunch everyday except Friday

Fitness Goals:

Earn 10,000 steps on at least 3 days
Do at last 3 other workouts
Swim at least once

Filed Under: All About Me

Friday Fitness

Posted on November 30 by Jillian416 • 0 Comments

Amount Lost:

0 – gained 2 lbs.

I’m very disappointed in myself. The week of Thanksgiving really threw me off and unfortunately I let it spiral into this week. No excuses, just getting back on track!

Amount Remaining to Lose:

123.2

Goals for 11/16/2012 – 11/22/2012:

Food Goals:

Continued consistent tracking

This was actually not a problem. I tracked 6 out of 7 days, my problem came with what I was eating.

Eat sensibly on Thanksgiving.

I definitely ate sensibly. I had only one helping and didn’t pig out! This was easy to do because I’m not the biggest fan of Thanksgiving, I prefer Christmas food.

Increase my veggie by 2 additional servings a day, this will put me at 5 a day.

I struggled here. I got maybe 2 servings of veggies most days and 1 serving of fruit, no where near enough.

Fitness Goals:

I all around sucked at my goals for fitness. I did continue to park further away at work and take the extra walk to get water from the cafeteria but I didn’t do any additional workouts nor did I ever hit 10,000 steps. The closest I got was 7,000, not bad but that was only one day, not all week.

“Mommy, I’ll keep your seat warm for you.”

Goals for 11/30/12 – 12/6/12:

Food Goals:

Keep the consistent tracking going
EAT MORE VEGETABLES!
Bring lunch from home and cook dinner at night

Fitness Goals:

WORKOUT!

Seriously stop making excuses and get off your butt and do something!! I’m so sick of reporting laziness.

Earn 10,000 steps on at least 3 days
Go to the JCC and swim at least once.

I need some tough love because I really am sick of posting this talking about how lazy I am. I want to write about successes and possibly inspire someone else who may be struggling.

Let’s help each other work towards our goals!

Filed Under: All About Me

Friday Fitness

Posted on November 16 by Jillian416 • 0 Comments

Amount Lost:

-1.4

Another fantastic Weigh-in!!

Amount Remaining to Lose:

121.2

Food Goals:

Continue to track all meals!

Tracked everyday except for today and that is because I give myself the day off from tracking once a week so that I do not become overwhelmed with “writing down” everything thing I eat.

Find a new recipe to make with Seamus

We found a new recipe but we are holding off on making it until after Thanksgiving because it is a Thanksgiving-like crock-pot meal. I’ll share it after we make it.

Continue to slowly make the switch from processed foods to whole foods

I made a very conscious effort to buy more vegetables and to actually eat them and I plan on rolling that into next week. I still struggle with cutting out frozen lunches because I have so little time to make a lunch that I go for something low fat and and fast but I don’t want to beat myself up too much over this. I’m making the journey slowly but surely.

Fitness Goals:

Get in extra steps!

I’ve been parking farther away from the door at work and when I go to stores. I’ve been take the extra walk during the day to fill my water bottle in the cafeteria instead of just the nearby water fountain. It feels great to get up and move more during the day.

Complete at least 3 workouts.

I only did 1 “official” workout over my steps. I need to start working harder at this goal.

Find time to do some stretching breaks throughout the day. It feels good and assists in the recovery of sore muscles.

I can check this one off! I have a great stretching routine that I am doing at least twice during the day. I do it right after I finish pumping before I walk back to my desk. It’s really perking me up and putting an extra pep in my step.