Starting a workout plan - "You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great!"

So how's the change in diet going? Are you finding ways to make changes and finding new things to try?? Hopefully you are and your body is starting to adjust to the difference! 

So about two weeks into my calorie counting, I decided to start implementing some workouts. There are obviously a TON of things you can do for fitness! While running is now my passion, I didn't start out doing that and honestly, it wasn't even my goal when I started out! Things to consider when choosing something to do: pick something that works for your schedule, pick something you won't hate (this is a big mistake people make - they start exercising by running, but they really hate running so they don't end up succeeding at it), pick something that you have access to do. Terry Crews was on Ellen DeGeneres on 1/29 and he made a point about exercise that I have been telling everybody who asks me for advice! I highly recommend you watch the clip of what he has to say! I whole-heartedly agree with him! (It's towards the end of the video where he talks about it - if I was more technologically savy, I'd just post that little part of the video!)

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YH0jaGoLD7k

My exercise of choice was incline walking on the treadmill. This was something that I could do in my basement, I could catch up on some TV shows while I did it, and I could even do it with my girls around! I just started out by walking on the treadmill at an incline of 1 for 30-45 minutes and I probably did this for about a week. Working out for 30 minutes 3 days/week is a great starting goal!  Then every week or two, I'd just increase my incline a little. When my incline started getting pretty steep, I started only increasing it every 1.5-2 weeks. I also started increasing how many days a week I was working out too! So start out with something that you can ease into and work your intensity up as your fitness increases! You know your body and what will work for you so set yourself up to SUCCEED!!! 

I came across a few new things this week that I've found to be pretty yummy! One would be these packets of quinoa that have about two servings in them! I haven't cooked much with quinoa and my family isn't all that interested in trying it so when I found theses little gems at costco, I was delighted! They're perfect for combining with veggies or beans or whatever else you can think of! 

I also tried these reduced-guilt brownies from Trader Joe's that are made by adding yogurt and they were super yummy!!

I also tried a new recipe this week, skinny chicken enchilada bake, which I got from this website:

http://inspiredreamer.com/chicken-enchilada-casserole/

It was pretty tasty too! I added cilantro to it, which is a favorite herb in the Shea house! I might try changing it up a little the next time I make it, but it will definitely be made again! 

On a side note, my husband and I are celebrating 7 years of marriage this week so we decided to go ice skating! 

 So now it's time to get moving! Remember that the results aren't going to be instantaneous, but you will start seeing them over time and it will be soooo worth it!

Kelly Shea

"Keeping running the race that is set before you with endurance." - Hebrews 12:1

The Healthy Life - "It's not just about losing the weight; it's about losing the lifestyle and mindset that got you there."-Dr. Steve Maraboli

So I think our family is finally getting back into our routines after the Christmas break and a couple of "cold weather" days where they cancelled school! It was starting to feel like they were never going to go back to school! ;) 

Hopefully the initiation of counting calories is underway and you've found a way to document them that works for you! Again, it's all about tailoring this process to work for you! 

My emphasis was definitely on counting calories when I started out, but I also worked on reading labels and trying to maximize the nutritional value of what I was eating. This table is a nice comparison of the importance of choosing your calories wisely: 

Reading labels can be very overwhelming and I am by no means an expert at it, but a few helpful tips might provide you some focus when you're starting out. I would highly recommend doing some reading to help you learn more about reading labels. One thing that would be good to focus on sooner than later would be protein content. Protein provides many benefits, including keeping you feeling full for longer periods of time. Foods that are good sources of protein are seafood, meats, dairy products (including yogurt with Greek yogurt having more than regular), eggs, beans, and nuts. Forty-six grams of protein per day is what's recommended for adult women and 56 grams is recommended for adult men. This amount can vary depending on health conditions, how much you workout, etc.

Portion control is a huge part of this. When I started out, I counted and measured everything I ate. I know this seems tedious, but for me, my serving sizes were a bit off! There are many foods that provide you lots of benefits, but only in moderation (nuts, hummus, edemame, avocado, etc). I found it to be easiest to plan my food the night before, especially with having to be at work early in the mornings. So the night before, I would plan out my meals and snacks for the next day. I would get all my food measured and counted so all I had to do was put the refrigerated stuff in my lunch bag. (This also helped me stay on track since I didn't even have to think about it.) Measuring and counting food is not something you'll have to do for ever. After a while, you'll be able to gestimate your serving sizes! 

I'm pretty much the meal planner in my family so I try to plan meals for about two weeks at a time. Cooking for my family and trying to incorporate healthy substitutions deemed to be a bit challenging for me. My family consists of my amazing, wonderful husband, my 17 year old stepson, my 13 year old stepdaughter, my 6 year old daughter, and my 3 year old daughter. As you can imagine, they were not 100% on board with all my healthful implentations (although they are great supporters of me, especially my husband - did I mention he's amazing??); however, I was able to find a few healthier options that they were ok with (or at least they don't know any better)! Some of those include: switching from regular pepperoni to turkey pepperoni, switching from regular fries to sweet potato fries, using fiber enriched pasta (they have no idea when I do this), reduced fat shredded cheeses, etc. I also found it useful to make this menu board (thank you Pinterest) to help with my meal planning:

This is a good reminder of any prep work that needs to be done for the meal. It's easy to forget to lay out meat to thaw and then fall back on ordering pizza. 

I had to train myself to eat snacks through out the day. It's highly recommended that you eat smaller amounts all through out the day to curb getting overly hungry for meal time and to rev up your metabolism. It didn't take me long to start doing it like clockwork and it always helped that I had my snacks for the whole day planned out (and measured out) for me. There wasn't any rummaging through the cabinets! I kept my snacks between 100 and 200 calories and had one around mid morning and again in the afternoon. Here are some things that I like to have as snacks:

Fruits and veggies are always good snack options as well! Veggies with hummus or guacamole is very tasty! Other options would be yogurt, edamame, rice cakes, pistachios, turkey pepperonis (usually with cheese), trailmix (you can even get crazy and make your own), or cucumbers marinated in light Italian dressing. I try to change up what I keep in my pantry for snacks so I don't get burned out on things. I also keep an extra nutrition or granola bar in my purse in case I forget a snack! Pinterest has lots of ideas for snacks, including some pretty creative ones. It's also nice to just go to the grocery store and browse around for different things to try (yes, I have kids and yes, I know how ridiculous that sounds)! 

Although eating at home tends to be healthier than eating out, avoiding eating out entirely is pretty unrealistic. The best thing I can recommend for this: look at the menu and nutritional information before you go! I didn't come across a single restaurant that didn't have nutritional info posted online. (Is that a requirement for them now??) When I got to the restaurant, I didn't even open the menu so I wouldn't get deterred from my original plan! If you're not going out to eat very often and you want to splurge a little, feel free! But remember to still record your calories (make yourself be accountable even when you're not right on track) and try to only eat half your meal, as servings are very large at most restaurants. Some people like to pack half their meal in a to-go box before they even get started so they won't over indulge. I also don't recommend starving yourself all day so you can "eat more" for a certain meal! That usually ends up in you eating even more calories for the day because you're SOOOOO hungry and you end up being miserable!! 

In order to maintain a healthy diet, you're likely going to have to go out of your comfort zone a little bit and try new things! Have fun finding and experimenting with new healthy options! 

Kelly Shea

"Keep running the race that is before you with endurance." Hebrews 12:1

Getting started - "Some quit because of slow progress, not realizing that slow progress is still progress"

So I'm thinking the best thing to do to get this blog rolling is to share with you all how I got started on my journey to fitness. No matter what I post though, it's important to remember that you have to find a routine that works best for you! That's the only way you'll be successful with this! The next best thing I can tell you is that this is a SLOW process! Becoming fit and losing weight does not happen overnight. I've read things that say it takes FOUR weeks for YOU to notice a difference with your body, EIGHT weeks for friends and family to notice, and TWELVE weeks for strangers to notice and based on my experience, this seemed to be a pretty accurate time frame. So the moral of the story: don't be discouraged about how much time it takes; be encouraged that you're making progress! 

The next thing that's important to consider is that this is a lifestyle change. It's not something you're doing for a few weeks to lose weight, but rather it's a long term commitment to a healthier way of living. I had people asking me "Are you on a diet?" I would always answer them with a no, because being "on a diet" implies that it is temporary and this was not temporary for me. Don't let it be temporary for you either! 

I've heard some people have success having a "cheat day" and this didn't work for my mindset. My mentality about it was kind of similar to weight watchers - I really focused on counting calories and portion control. Figuring out how many calories to take in can be tricky. I was fortunate enough to do a health screen through my employer around the time I was making the change  and they used a fancy machine to calculate that my body burned just under 1600 calories/day with just regular activities. So in order to lose weight, I knew I needed to create a deficit from this amount. I started recording my calories in a food journal to find out how much I was eating. You can either do this by hand in a notebook or there are many apps out there that you can use and if you're like me, that's an easy option since my phone is pretty much always with me! I really liked using the the myfitnesspal app! It has a HUGE food data base, including many restaurant dishes, it allows you to scan barcodes of foods for easy recording, you can add your own recipes, and friends can follow you and vice versa! 

There are definitely many options out there so maybe you'll find one you like even better! Once I was ready to start my food journal, I slowly titrated down my total calorie intake. I found that before I got started, I was taking in ~2000 calories/day (it was very eye opening to see how many calories were in things and how distorted my portion control was). I started by decreasing my calories to 1500/day and then once I had done this for a week, I then decreased to 1200 calories/day and I maintained this consistently. I still to this day eat between 1200 and 1500 calories most days. These are just numbers to give you an idea of how to do it, but you'll have to see what is appropriate for you and you may need to decrease your calories more slowly depending on how the transition goes. 

I also found success with starting by focusing on my diet before I started implementing a workout routine. I concentrated on diet for 2 weeks before I started adding in workouts. 

My final thought for getting you started - STAY AWAY FROM THE SCALE!! First of all, we already talked about how this is a slow process so weighing yourself every other day is just going to drive yourself insane. I had a friend who has fabulously changed her lifestyle to a healthier one who had to have her husband hide her scale so she wouldn't weigh herself too often. If this is what you have to do, DO IT! Nothing is more discouraging than getting on the scale and not seeing a change, and if you're doing this every other day, it's not likely you will see much change. I would only weigh myself every 3 weeks. Shoot for this if you think you can, but if not, I highly recommend a 2 week minimum between weigh-ins!

So I'm thinking my health blog isn't official until I've posted a side-by-side before and after pic so here it is (thanks to my amazing friend, Reanna, for suggesting):

I had to search a little to find a full body "before" pic. I think I deleted a lot of them and I also think I did a pretty good job of subconsciously avoiding the camera! 

I also thought I'd share this little pic that my dear friend, Taylar, posted on my fb page:

She knows me pretty well and my passion for sparkle! She's also been my partner on some of the fun runs I've done! We work together and we've recruited a running team that participates in different runs in the Des Moines area! I'm sure there will be more about that later! 

So to sum up the way to get started:

1. Get in the mindset of this being a lifestyle change that will take time

2. Find a way to record your calorie intake and figure out how many calories you're currently eating

3. Now figure how many calories would be a little less than what you're currently eating and cut back to this for a short time

4. Next decrease your daily calories to a sustainable amount

5. HIDE YOUR SCALE - figure out how often you want to weigh yourself (no less than every two weeks) and mark your weigh-in days on your calendar

5. Finally, make sure your plan works for you and is something you can be committed to :) 

So go ahead and get started and let me know how it goes! 

Kelly Shea

"Keep running the race that is before you with endurance." Hebrews 12:1

Can you handle all this sparkle?

So I'm turning 30 this year and I decided I wanted to start a blog because I don't already have enough on my plate with working full time, being a mom of four (my husband and I have 2 together and we have 2 that are from his first marriage), maintaining a running/training schedule, and trying to keep up with other projects that fulfill my life! Riiiight!! Actually around this time 2 years ago, I began a quest to get my body back after my pregnancies and since then, I have lost 60 lbs and become an avid runner, having completed 3 half marathons, as well as a variety of other races! At that point, I decided I wanted to start a blog sharing my story with others to try and inspire others to find a healthier self. I also thought this would be a great way to network with others that have things to share! Finding inspiration is an on going process no matter what goals you have set! 

The idea to title my blog "The Good Morning Runner" came to me on a run (shocking, right). When I first started running on the fabulous trails that we have here in Iowa (which are currently snow covered -boooo), I couldn't figure out if or how I should greet others on the trails. It didn't take me long to discover that I enjoyed giving a "hello" to others almost as much as I enjoyed receiving one back! We're all out there with the same goal in mind - to get fit - so why not share a little greeting along the way? I know people can be focused while they're exercising, but I think everyone's capable of a little head nod and smile at the very least! And if they aren't because they're really struggling, then hopefully my "howdy" will put a smile on their face and help them out a little! So I've basically been on a mission to encourage others to share a "hello" of some kind while they're on the trails! I say some sort of greeting to everyone I meet and my favorite is "good morning" because, honestly, what morning isn't good if you're able to be enjoying some fitness outdoors?? 

While I want my fitness to be a part of this blog, I am by NO means an expert on the topic and have much to learn along the way and I feel like I have many other interests that are relatable to many groups of people so I'm hoping to include things related to scrapbooking, reading, fashion, cooking, parenting, and any other random hobby I might undertake! 

Im sure throughout the blog it will become very apparent that I have a real attraction to sparkle! I'm pretty well-known for my bedazzling skills and have even earned the nickname " The Bedazzler" from some! Christmas time, with all its sparkle and shine, is a taste of heaven to me! Since I'll be taking down my Christmas things over the next few days, I thought I'd start this blog with some pix of my Christmas decor this year! 

So hopefully I have something useful to offer you and you'll enjoy following me on my continued journey through this crazy life of mine!