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Girl I see you. You be up in the gym just working on your fitness! Fergie will always have our backs when it comes to a good workout song. Anyway, I know many of us put on our New Year bucket list that we would up our fitness game. And although, I had a little bit of a slow start, I have finally got my routine in full motion. Since we are in this together, I figured I would share what I have been doing recently to get myself sweating again! But before we jump into the workout regimen, I have to start with diet. Because that is truly where it all begins.

I can't remember if I have shared this story on the blog or not yet, but I am going to tell it again away! About 6 years ago, when my mother was pregnant with her ninth child (yes, you read that correctly. I am the oldest of nine kids) she had to seriously alter her diet due to a diabetic pregnancy. During that time, my mother had to make a lot of sacrifices in order to keep the baby healthy. I decided to join her in her new diet so that she could have someone to lean on and keep her motivated. At the time, I was definitely overweight, but had no intention of trying to loose weight. I truly just wanted to be there for my mom. Long story short, I actually ended up loosing about 17 lbs strictly through diet and no exercise. Since then, I have had an ongoing journey toward health and nutrition. Since then, I have actually lost an additional 15 lbs. My point to this is that diet is EVERYTHING!

Exercise is important in the sense that our bodies need it, but I do not rely on it strictly for weight loss. I exercise in a way that is fun and keeps me healthy and strong. I don't think you should have to kill yourself everyday at the gym to be fit. With a few small changes you can feel great too!

Diet

Breakfast

I start my day with either a cup of tea or warm water with lemon. If I am feely extra tired, I will have a cup of coffee, but I recently cut it out of my diet. If I am really hungry, I will usually choose between gluten free oats with cinnamon, coconut sugar, and fresh berries or a veggie egg scramble with gluten free toast. I also try to fit in my green smoothie in the morning, but I don't end up making it every single day. Here is the recipe

Kale, spinach, half a banana, a few pieces of frozen pineapple, a piece of ginger, 1/4 a cucumber, 1 stalk of celery, half a lemon, and a dash of cinnamon.

This makes one serving. I would suggest doubling it if you have a big blender or are making some for your partner.

Snack

I almost always have a snack before lunch. And it will usually consist of a Health Warrior bar or to be honest I will often have some of my first grader's snack of the day like animal crackers! I am trying to get in the habit of bringing raw nuts or fruit so I am not as tempted to eat what they are eating!

Lunch

This varies daily. I will sometimes have left over dinner, or make a veggie salad with black beans or garbanzo beans. One of my favorite things to do is make a huge batch of soup and eat it throughout the week at work for lunch.

Dinner

I am a huge Mexican lover. So I will often make vegetarian fajitas, enchiladas, or quesadillas. I do have salmon and asparagus once a week. But one of my resolutions was to start meal planning, and so far it is going really well. I like these two cook books for planning out my meals, Oh She Glows and Minimalist Baker's Everyday Cooking .

Exercise

I will be completely honest and say before January 1st, I had not worked out in a month, if not longer! After the long school day, it was hard to find the motivation to workout. But I discovered that the secret to get my butt moving was to have a small routine. That way I didn't feel overwhelmed. All I have been doing recently is working out 3-4 times a week. Here is my current routine.

I will throw on one of my Tracy Anderson Workout DVDs and do the leg and arm portion. The poses in this post are from some of her DVDs. I actually used her program before my wedding to get my arms nice and toned for my strapless dress. But if I don't want to do a video, I will go for a run. And a couple days ago, I actually tried Yoga! That was another item on my bucket list, and I have been watching Youtube videos to get me started!

That's it! I keep it super simple. Eventually, I might up my workout routine but I needed something easy to get me motivated again. Let me know what you have been doing to kick start the new year!

Thanks for stopping by. Talk soon.