Spring Cleaning!

Hello Lovelies!

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Spring is here and I am excited!  Why, you might ask.....well it is a refreshing time of year.  During this time of year "Spring" cleaning takes place.  Well, it doesn't have to be spring in order for you to take part in cleaning, but this is giving me the opportunity to bring this action to your attention.

It's time to cleanse/clean yourself, your house, your car, your LIFE!  Yes! It is time to do some much needed cleansing and cleaning.  Once you clean out the junk, the clutter, the unnecessary items, and cleanse your mind you will have space to receive newness.

Why you would want to pile the newness on old things; junk?  Prepare your storage, your closet, your mind and your life for the new things that are on the horizon.  Clean up.  Cleanse your spirit and your mind.  You might wonder, well how do I go about doing that?  Well you have to change the way you think.  You have to change the way you see yourself; your life.  I have given you examples of things that you can clean or cleanse, but for the purpose of this post I want to talk about getting your spirit/mind cleansed.

What is it that you really want out of this life that you are only going to live ONCE?  Before you answer that, you need to really think about it.  Search deep within.  What hurt are you holding on to?  What is that one thing that is lingering around that is keeping your from moving to the next level?  How does it make you feel?  What is your daily language like when you get into that HURTFUL, UNCOMFORTABLE, UNBEARABLE place?

See, you have to get to the root of the problem.  Many people stay on the surface and down play what is really bothering them.  Now, do you think that you deserve what it is that you want?  Let me tell you that you do deserve to be HAPPY, DEBT FREE, SAVED, FULFILLED, JOYFUL, PAID IN FULL, SINGLE, MARRIED, etc.  You deserve to get what you want out of life.  It all starts with you mindset.  You have to change the way that you think because THOUGHTS ARE THINGS.  They are.  You become what you think about.

I challenge you to become aware of your thoughts and your words.  This is very important.  Anytime a negative thought arises, replace it with a positive one.  It can be for the simplest of thoughts.  Think before you speak.

So let's get busy with cleansing our minds of destructive and negative thoughts.

This week I would like for you to take notes on your thoughts that are negative, destructive, hurtful, harmful......  I urge you to do this and at the end of the week you will be surprised at what goes through your mind.  This is going to help you with your mind awareness.  Fix it by replacing those thought with new and positive thoughts.

You can do it.  Believe in yourself!

Until Next Time,

Eviction Notice is Served

Happy Monday Lovelies!

I come to you today bearing inspirational food for thought.  Enjoy!

The greatness about an eviction is that you are forced to see the "New" you.  You are forced to take all of your belongings and either get rid of them (baggage) or take them with you.  Eviction causes you to slim down i.e. get rid of things, people, problems etc.  Eviction may as well have the adverse effects....stress, depression, unhealthy weight gain/loss, self-esteem issues and more.  It is up to you to navigate to a place of HAPPINESS before, during, and after an eviction.


What or who are you being evicted from?  You don't have to look far or take a long time to figure why or what is the cause of your eviction.  Allow yourself to be evicted from toxic relationships.  Allow yourself to be evicted from debt.  Allow yourself to be evicted from past hurts. Allow yourself to be evicted from wrong doings.  Allow yourself to be evicted from YOU.  Wow!  Yes, you.  Your mind can hold your future hostage. You tell yourself "I can't" when in essence you can do ALL things through Christ that strengthens you.  

Control your thoughts.  You become what you think about.  Take self-inventory and monitor your thoughts today.  I challenge you to replace every negative thought with a positive one.  Even if it is about your self, your job, your spouse, your parents, your care whatever it may be.  Replace that though with a positive one and mean it.

You do know that you have the power to do that, don't you?  SPEAK life.  SPEAK positively. SPEAK the things you want into existence and BELIEVE that those things WILL manifest. Put ACTIONS behind your SPEAKING.  Act as if you already have what you have spoken.  FEEL it in your soul.  If you want more self-love, begin by taking care of yourself. Get a checkup. Eat healthier.  Do nice things for yourself. Care about your appearance.  Your body is a temple.  It is sacred.

Feed you mind and spirit by meditating, listening to motivators on topics that interest you, reading the Bible and inspirational books and articles.

Let go of the past and move ahead into your future.  Faith without WORKS is dead.  SPEAK it. BELIEVE it. WORK it.


Until Next Time,

Financially Fit in 2014

Happy New Year Lovelies!!

I hope that your holidays were AWESOME!  You know, now is the time of year where people focus on goal setting and change.  Everyone focuses on different aspects of their lives depending on how well or not so well the progress was in the previous year.   Of course I will be helping you all get physically fit and healthy, but I wanted to take the time to provide you with a tool to assist you in becoming financially fit.  

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It is very important that you are financially fit, because it provides you a way of life which includes food, shelter, leisure, entertainment. etc.  I am by no means a consultant, accountant, or financial analyst.  I am providing you this information from my own research and personal experience. There are key ingredients to consider when focusing on getting fit. They include:

1. Being HONEST
2. Setting your BUDGET
3. Assessing your progress
4. Adjusting your BUDGET

You have to write out all of your expenses down to how much you spend at the vending machine.  Just be honest.  You can even take your monthly bank statement and find out where all of your money is going. Some banks even provide you with a summary of your spending.  Use this if it is available to you.  Next, set a budget after you have reviewed your expenses.  Write down how much you want to save per week or per month and then work from there.  Once you set your budget, abide by it for a month and then assess your budgeting for the month.  If changes need to be made, make those adjustments and follow the new budget for the next month.  Once you have a sustainable budget in place, FOLLOW IT.

You have to hold yourself accountable.

Here is an example of a monthly tool you can download and use.  There are plenty out there including daily and weekly tracking tools as well.    

You have to start somewhere.  Go ahead and get started today.  There isn't a better time for you to begin.  Start NOW.


Until Next Time,

90 Day Challenge Requirements

Happy Thankful Tuesday!!
You have a lot to be thankful and grateful for!

Today, I want to go over some items that you will need while on this challenge.  We will begin this challenge on Monday April 29th!!! You will have the remainder of this week and the weekend to get your grocery shopping completed and to write out your plan for the next 90 days.

First things first; get your head in the game.  You have to have a new mindset in order to accomplish what might seem impossible to you.   Remove the word CAN'T from your vocabulary. 

Next you are going to have to EAT.  Stop starving yourself and depriving your body of the nutrients it needs.

Then, you have to get to MOVING.  You don't have to spend hours in the gym or even go to a gym.  You can use what you have at home i.e. stairs, your back yard, your garage, your living room etc.  It all depends on what your goal is at this point.  I will send you weekly workouts to do each day.  To some it might seem like it is not enough and to others it might seem crazy.  But, think about it this way.  Are you even doing any of this right now?  Do you even take 30 minutes out of your day to focus on creating a HEALTHY body for yourself?  Now is the best time as ever to get on board.  We are all going to encourage each other and hold one another accountable.  Your body is going to respond to these changes if you carry them out properly.

Requirements: 

• A Positive and Can Do Attitude
• A Current Photo:  Take a picture of your body as it is right now.  Look at it and focus on what you want to change in that picture.  Tuck it away so that you can use it later for a comparison.
• Food: Write out your grocery list.  There will be a video posted tomorrow showing you all my groceries for this week.
• DO NOT CALL THIS A DIET.  This is taking control of your diet/nutrition, but you are not dieting.  When you diet, you only do something for a period of time, and then you return to your old eating habits once you are finished.  We want to make this a part of our lifestyle.  Believe me; you will not be eating salads everyday all day.  You need more than that anyway :-).
• Get your Body by Vi Shakes on order.  Contact me and I will get you signed up.

Take the remainder of this week to get your mind in order and to get all of the items that you will need.  Make this fun for the entire family!  Please don't hesitate to ask questions.  Let's go!!

Until Next Time,

How to Obtain a Flat Stomach

Hello Loves!
Today I want to talk about the most popular question that I have been receiving. How did you lose your belly fat? What is the secret to flattening your abs?  Well folks, there isn't a magic wand that you can wave and have that flattened midsection appear.  The key to getting your abs flat is your nutrition in conjunction with a form of cardio.   I am telling you this from what I have experienced with my own transormation. 

 Think about this for a moment.  Hypothetically speaking, you perform 100 crunches, 50 leg lifts, and 5 sets of 60 second plank holds for 5 days a week for 4 weeks and you still end up with the same "stomach" that you had 1 month ago.  What seems to be the problem you ask?  Well, if you do all of that work and do not change your eating habits, then you will be only MAINTAINING or even GAINING more body fat.  You have to change your diet/nutrition/eating habits.  You should couple that change with some form of cardio.  This will help increase your heart rate and get your metabolism kicked into gear to burn fat. 

I will tell you what I did to achieve my goals in 3 months, but you have to remember that I was training for my first figure competition and I was working out 6 days a week with 2 cardio sessions per day.  I began my day by first praying to God to sustain me throughout the entire process of changing my body.  I then proceeded to get on my elliptical machine for 45min to an hour on an empty stomach early in the morning.  This is what some call "Fasted Cardio".  Since I had been asleep for the past 6-8 hours, my body did not have any "Food Fuel"  to pull from in order to assist me with my cardio session.  Therefore, my body had to tap into my "Fat" storage to fuel my workout.  Once my morning cardio session was completed, I followed it up with a hearty breakfast that consisted of an egg white omelet that I coupled with spinach and oatmeal.  Since I wasn't adding any sugar to my oatmeal, I added my serving of oatmeal and spinach to the egg whites then proceeded cook my omelet as usual.   Sometimes the omelet turned into scrambled egg whites :-).   Believe it or not, this is a very tasty "entree".   I rarely use salt which is why I have fallen in love with Mrs. Dash Seasonings.  I also add a little salsa to my omelet for more flavor.

For the duration of my day, I eat a total of 5 to 6 meals.  This is key in keeping your metabolism in a "Fat Burning" mode.  There is more to come on the balance of my meals.

Start your day off right and give your body the energy to work in high gear for the remainder of the day.  You have to fuel your body with the proper nutrition.  There is so much that I have to share with you all but I can't do it all in one post.  Be on the look out for recipes, meal preparation tips, workouts that you can do at home, and more. 

Don't wait until tomorrow to begin. START NOW.  Remember this; consistent small changes will equate to big accomplishments.

Until Next Time,

Weightloss Journey and Figure Competition

Hello Loves!
I have been up to lots of great things!  I am very excited and kind of afraid to share my latest fitness results with you all. But, in order for me to be an inspiration and encouragement to others, I have to share where I have been, where I am now and where I am planning to go.

I have always wanted to compete in a figure competition and I made my mind up late last year to do so.  I began training at the beginning of January 2013 and I competed in my first figure competition on April 13, 2013.  I have never experienced anything like it before.  I had an amazing time and I learned a great deal of information!!  I didn't place but I met my goal of getting into enough shape to hit the stage.  I plan on competing again in August and I am working to WIN!

I will be sharing some tips and nutrition information that helped me attain my goal.  In order to continue to improve my body, I have to set a new goal which is to be in a position to win in my next competition.  Please let me know if you have any questions.  Your goal might not be the same as mine, but whatever it is strive for it!  I did it and you can too!!

 

 

 

 

Until Next Time