Round of Applause

If you're going to blog, you're going to commit yourself to a looooot of people (perhaps, even ones you don't know). 

You're personal, and honest. Well...most of the time ;)

Two of my good friends (here and here) recently started blogging about their weight loss goals and I'm so proud of them. I think along with being very personal, it takes great courage to lay it all on the line for everyone to see.

This goes for all bloggers.

Blogging seriously makes you accountable for your success or failure (which I hope is not the case).

Bringing me back to my favourite category: goals.

My two lovely friends made their blogs to keep them accountable but to also reach their goals.

Here's what I learned (and some relearned) about setting goals:

• You should get a notebook and each morning when you wake...I repeat each morning when you wake up, write down your goals...
• What are my goals?  These should be 8-10 goals you wish to achieve in the next 12 months that you will write in this notebook everyday
• By writing everyday, you are convincing your subconscious of these goals
• Always write your goals in the present, without negativity

Example: I am a non-smoker vs. I don't smoke, I weigh X amount of pounds by: __________

So get writing and get reaching your goals!!!

Here's a clip from a great, great motivational speaker, Brian Tracy, who makes goal setting easy and shows you how it can be successful.

If you haven't thought about setting goals lately, what are some that you can think of off the top of your head?

Would you be willing to write down your goals everyday if it meant you achieving them?

Brian Tracy: If You Could Achieve One Goal in 24 Hours

It's A New Day

Have you ever heard this song by will.i.am? It's great! If you haven't heard it...then listen!! I think we should treat everyday like it's a new day! This song sticks out to me for 2 reasons:

1) We have to appreciate everyday...even when we think the day 'can't get any worse';
2) After Tyler and I were pronounced husband and wife, we had this song played.



Just make sure you take the time to stop...take a deep breath...and be happy you're here.

On that note, it may be a new day, but it's not a nice new day here. In all honesty, it hasn't been nice here for the past few days. So I took it upon myself to make chili a few nights ago. I decided to just go at it, add whatever and hope that it resembled chili. Guess what...it did!!! Loved every bite of it (and so did the hubby). Because I almost never have a camera available to me (Tyler takes it to work everyday to video golf swings), I make do with what I have -- my BlackBerry camera! Keep in mind: the chili tastes better than it looks (I have a whole new appreciation for good cameras. Man, can they make anything look good!)

Not So Chilly, Chili

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time:  30 minutes

Ingredients:

Spices:

• 1/4 tsp oregano


• 1/2 tsp cumin


• 1/2 tsp curry powder


• 1 tsp cayenne pepper


• 4-6 tbsp chili powder

Other remaining ingredients:

• 5 tomatoes, diced (you can remove peels if you like, I kept them on, but they will roll off on their own in chili)


• 1/2 sweet onion, diced


• 2 small carrots, diced


• 1 small zucchini, diced


• 1 medium sweet potato, diced (once again, your decision for skin on or off)


• 1 cob of corn, kernels removed


• 1 med green pepper, diced


• 1 stalk of celery, diced


• 2 cloves of garlic, minced


• 1/4 to 1/2 cup of vegetable or chicken stock/broth


• 1 jalapeno pepper, diced


• 1 can each of red kidney beans, black beans and pinto beans, rinsed and drained


• Fresh cilantro, chopped for garnish


• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1) In a large pot, add tomatoes and oregano. Cook over med-high heat for 5-10 minutes (or until tomatoes are tender and juices run)

2) Reduce heat to medium, add to pot: onions, carrots, celery, sweet potato, jalapeno, and garlic, and cook for another 5-10 minutes.

3) Add remaining vegetables (zucchini, corn, green pepper) along with remaining spices (the four C's: cumin, curry, cayenne and chili poweder),  cook for another 4-5 mins; at this time, if consistency is getting too thick with all the veggies, start adding broth/stock according to how runny or thick you want your chili to be

4) Add the beans to pot, continuing to cook until everything is well-heated.

5) Add salt and pepper to taste

6) Move to a serving bowl and top with fresh cilantro

This really is hearty and makes you feel good with all the veggies you get to enjoy in it. I had leftovers for a few days after. It's a great recipe to make if you do want leftovers, then there's plenty to freeze and save for another day!

I've been thinking a lot about goals, which is why I even made a tab for them, and how important it is to stick to them!

One of my goals was to cook with a new fruit or vegetable each week, and this week, I have decided to use fennel!

Do you know any good recipes that use this ingredient?

Know what your goals are. Write them somewhere, where you can look at them everyday. The only way to make them happen is to be consistent with them, by keeping them fresh in your mind and vision. Happy Sunday!

What are your goals for the week? Month? Year?

Challenge & Realization

So today I did the thing that all women try to avoid...taking pictures in a bathing suit. These were not your usual 'at the beach' photos though, these were an attempt at 'before' pictures.

The good thing about 'before' pictures:
-motivation to improve!
-realization that your body isn't as good as you thought it was (this is good, because you NEED that realization to get your ass in gear)
-when change is successful, you can look back and laugh at it, and appreciate how hard you worked

The bad thing about 'before' pictures:
-wow, you're gross!
-you realize that, that is what you truly look like (camera's don't lie!)
-you've probably been in denial for upwards of 6 months
-until the change starts happening, this is what you will continue to look like!

Taking the pictures was the right move though, it has honestly encouraged me to workout hard! It's my challenge. My challenge because I want to take picture in a few months time and say, "wow, look how far I've come along." This was my first time ever taking 'before' pictures (I always thought they were a bit tacky, since they are always shown on the baaaad infomercials), but I just decided to do it, because it holds myself accountable to improving those images - unless I could find an identical (skinny) twin to pose for me haha!

Depending on how the tone-up goes, maybe once complete, I'll post the before AND after pic (since the 'before' won't be as embarrassing if there's an amazing 'after' to follow)...just maybe. Actually, I WILL post them once I have successfully gotten to the place I want to be...this is me being positive and convincing myself that I will be successful. Your mind is a powerful thing and can really determine how things turn out. But, I'll save that for another post!!

Happy working out everyone! I hope that you are successful as well.

PS- To see what I'm doing to get in shape, click here! It is sooo intense.

Disappointment

I feel like lately I haven't been true to myself and what I actually believe!

Here's what I believe:
-proper nutrition is VERY important
-working out or getting exercise (at least 30 mins a day) in order to stay active and fit
-trying new and healthy recipes to incorporate new fresh foods that you would normally not use
-allow yourself some splurges - you cannot completely deprive yourself of the 'bad' stuff
-be true to yourself

And here's what I've been doing instead:
-not enjoying proper nutrition that I know I need AND want
-not getting enough exercise due to poor decision making (such as drinking or eating bad foods)
-not experimenting with new foods and new ways to cook these foods
-splurging waaaaaay too much on the bad foods for the body
-not being true to myself

I can't say I hate myself, but sometimes I feel very close to it. Why? Because if I really wanted the body that I desire and picture in my head, then why I am taking all these wrong steps and doing all these bad things, which put me further away from my goal? This is a cycle that goes on continuously for me. Will this finally be my realization that something needs to change? I know I created this blog specifically for that purpose; to explain about all the benefits of food and fitness, now I just need to listen to myself! Also, I need to stop limiting myself by saying what I shouldn't be doing or how I should be looking - this is where 'acceptance' comes into place. I need to learn to accept who I am today and make decisions for the future. Every decision I make can either benefit me or put me further away from my goal...the choice is mine.

So in reality I should be taking 'disappointment' and doing this to it: disappointment. I just need to start NOW to make those decisions that will ultimately lead to a better me, and provide the right grounds for this amazing blog!