Charles Barkley's Tips to Working Out Like a Pro!

I love getting information that will help me along my journey! I can either apply it to my journey or not...I came across these tips yesterday and thought I would share! There are a few things that I may add from my journey too.. :o)

Rule 1. Success isn't just about eating! Sure, eating is he most important thing when you're trying to lose weight. But you're gonna have to do something to speed up your metabolism if you're going to comsistently lose weight--it doesn't matter whether you ride a bike, do the elliptical, or go on the treadmill. (It's me :o) You don't have to spend money on a gym membership to exercise! Find something you enjoy doing...walking at the park or around your neighborhood..swimming etc. but have fun!)

Rule 2. Change it up! If you want to lose weight, you have to change your worou all the time because your body is so smart, it adjusts to what you are doing. Trainers I've worked with say "every week, do something different" And they're right. One of the big reasons people can't lose weight is that they're doing the same thing all the time. Try a different piece of equipment or at least go at a different intensity or for longer than usual. (It's me again... this can be as simple as going the opposite direction on the walking path or trail that you are walking on or pick a different walk to take. If you are on the treadmill..try a different incline.)

Rule 3. Do what you can! Right now, I'm not at the point where I think I can run yet, so I'm doing the elliptical and the bike. But when I lose another 20 pounds, I would like to run. When I played basketball, I loved to run because being outside frees you up. You get sick of the gym. (Yep...me again...One neat app that I have on my phone is runkeeper. It is free and it will keep track of your distance, miles..etc.. It will also let you know when you have set a new record for yourself such as distance, speed, or consistency! Set a goal for yourself and do it!)

Rule 4. Do what gives you juice! When I'm working out, I listen to music or turn on the TV. When I put on a TV show or sporting event, and I'm on the elliptical or the bike, i could go all day and never even look at the time. I go for at least an hour, hour and a half.

For Music, I'm a hip hop guy. When I played basketball, I would always listen to hip hop on the way to the gae just to get myself juiced up. I wouldn't say I have a favorite rapper, but if i did, I would say Tupac Shakur. I love Jay-Z, love Eminem, love T.I.,love Kanye. Hip hop just gives me energy when I want to workout. (Yep me again...I don't really like hip hop or rap...but I do find music that has a good, steady beat that will keep my pace up..especially when I do my 5K's! It really does help pass the time away to have music going or you get to watching a show or even a movie on TV!)

Rule 5. Work with your schedule! I don't get to do kettlebells or cross training a lot when I'm traveling all the time. But when the playoffs are on, and I'm in the same city for something like two months, i can do those two or three times a week. That's an exciting part of my workout, but I can't always get into that routine when I'm traveling so I do other things. (Yep...me again...I have really had to learn how to incorporate exercise in my traveling!! If you have a favorite DVD and a lap top that plays DVD's..take those with you when you travel and do those in your room! If at all possible, see if the hotel you are staying in has a fitness room and use it! If not, go out and walk in the parking lot or take the stairs in the hotel. If they have a pool, that is a fun way to get some exercise in!!..just use what you have!)

Rule 6. Get in the game. There's only two type of guys: Those who play sport, and those who want to play sports. And if you can't play it you want to watch it because sports are really cool. But it's even cooler to play. ( Yes..me again...do something fun..playing volleyball with your friends or kids outside. Play frisbee with your family....just get some activity in!)

Rule 7. Work it. What made me get to the top of my game? Well, I think number one is just having God-given ability. But you have to work hard. There's no way you can be lazy and play sports. (yep me...I spent a lot of my time saying there is no way I couldn't do anything athletic. So I would sit and watch or just not participate! Then I would be upset with myself that I couldn't lose weight. I have, in the last year or so since I have become more active in my walking, jogging and other exercise that I am losing weight more consistently! So just get moving and do something for yourself!)

Keep on keeping on!!!

Summer Time! Summer Time!!!

I have to say that I love summer time a lot!!! Seems like you want to do more things!!! One question I have though is this: Do you change the types of food that you keep in your house when your children are home on summer break from school?

I was attending my weight watchers meeting yesterday and we were discussing the difficulties of summer. Vacations, wedding, camping, kids home from school, etc... One of the people there stated that she was having a difficult time because her kids were home so she had to buy all of the sugary drinks and junk food snacks. So it was very difficult to eat healthy! I made the comment to the group that I don't change the types of food that I keep in my home when my kids are home...and this person said "Your poor kids!" I want to teach my children to make better choices while they are younger because I don't want them to struggle with the problems that I have struggled with just about my entire life! For that reason we don't keep soda, chips, cookies, candy etc...in our home. We try to keep fruits and veggies just about all of the time! We also don't have a buffett going at our house! When we fix meals, we fix 1 meal...not 5!!!

If you yourself are struggling with making healthy choices, why not try to incorporate healthy eating habits with in your entire household. Summer time is one of the best times ever to get AMAZING fruits and veggies!!! Look up local farmer's markets in your area or in the area that you happen to be vacationing in and go shop there. You will be supporting the local farmers as well as getting WONDERFUL fresh fruits and veggies! Find a berry patch that has "Pick your Own" and spend time one day picking fresh berries!!


One thing I might suggest is that when you come home with your fruits and veggies, wash them and that way they will be ready to dive into when you are ready for a snack!


Take time this summer to let your children see what types of wonderful fruits and veggies that they can enjoy this summer! It is ok to have an occassional treat but not restock your entire pantry or freezer with junk food just because the children are out of school. You are not only hurting yourself by having those foods in your house, but you are also hurting your children by enabling them to have things that aren't really good for them. If they aren't good for you, then why in the world would you stock your house full because your children are home?

Take time to enjoy all the wonderful fresh fruits and veggies this summer!!

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

Summer Time is usually full of fun adventures!! Swimming pools, Amusement Parks, cookouts and just fun in general! I LOVE drinking lemonade with friends and family sitting around talking!

In looking for more healthy options to sweets, I found this yummy recipe on one of my new favorite websites! www.skinnytaste.com It is a fun website with lots of wonderful ideas for all kinds of recipes! Hope you enjoy!

Pink Lemonade Confetti Cupcakes
You will need: 1 box confetti cake mix (I used Duncan Hines)
2 1/2 tsp powdered sugar-free pink lemonade mix
1 cup water
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
lemon zest from half of a lemon
2 drops pink food coloring (optional)
confetti Sprinkles,(optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake tins with paper liners. Stir together the water and pink lemonade powder. Combine the cake mix, pink lemonade mixture, applesauce, lemon zest, food coloring and oil in a large bowl with an electric mixer, mix until all the ingredients are thoroughly combined. Pout the batter into the prepared cupcake pans. Add sprinkles if using and bake in the oven for 22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcakes comes out clean. Cool completely on wire racks before serving. We didn't use any icing.

Nutrition Info: Servings: 24 1 cupcake Weight Watchers Points Plus: 3 Calories: 97.4 Fat: 2.3g Carbs 17.3g Fiber: 0g Protein: 1.0 g. Sugar 9.8 Sodium 103.7

Motivation along the Way!

I know for myself that there are days that I just need a "booster shot" to my motivation.
I may fall off the exercise wagon or have a blackout and not make healthy food choices and will have to get my focus back into view! Just so you know, it is OK to treat yourself every once and awhile---it keeps you from having an uncontrollable binge!

For instance, my daughter had a free coupon for one of our local ice cream places for reading so many books during the school year....so off we went after dinner and I enjoyed a wonderful scoop of Snickerdoodle ice cream! Did I feel guilty? No...why? Because I had planned for that in my day! I knew we were planning to go get ice cream after dinner so I planned throughout the day to make better choices so that I wouldn't feel guilty about having ice cream with my family.

How'w the working out going? Make sure you are doing some type of movement each day! It can be a walk outside around the block or at a park, a bike ride, a swim or any type of activity that gets your heart rate up.

Weight Watchers is doing a Life Life Active Challenge for the next 6 weeks and each week if you have logged activity they will send you different things to help motivate you to keep going! Week 2 has been my favorite so far!!! Lots of great information in there! So I thought I would share it with you....just in case your desire to exercise was lacking some umph!

Top 10 Reasons to Work Out Today!:
Today's workout can:
1. Make me feel great, and leave me feeling more energized and happier than the recliner ever does.
2. Earn Activity Points (Weight Watcher term for more points) -Basically saying-Good Bye too tight pants!
3. Reduce the risk of major diseases. That includes diabetes, heart disease, colon cancer and breast cancer.
4. Makes me smarter! Cardio boosts memory and the ability to focus. Plus at the office, fit people do more work with less effort than their peers!
5. Help me feel more confident! Workouts boost self-esteem and so do their results!
6. Make me strong, and keep my bones in good shape.
7. Help me fall asleep faster.
8. Stop ______________________ (fill in name or thing) from getting under my skin. Workouts relieve stress fast.
9. Prevent "What Fits Today?" stress. When my clothes fit better, my day starts better.
10. Get me what I want. Working out is worth it to me because I want my mind/body/energy to be ________________ (fill in the blank)

EXERCISE BUSTERS!!!! The Next time your inner couch potato is telling you to take a load off, silence that slacker with these simple truths:
1. By the time I get through complaining about my workout, I could be done and showered!
2. I don't have to run a marathon in sub-arctic temperatures. I just have to do a short workout!
3. I don't have to love brushing my teeth in order to do it. Same with exercise! I just need to get it done!
4. If I have time to post facebook updates and add to my "Vacation Ideas" Pintrest board, I have time to do my workout!
I hope these help you! They really have encouraged me this week!!!

Keep on keeping on and stay hydrated!!!

What Kind of Adventures Are You Headed on This Summer?

Well here we are one of the most exciting times of the year: SUM SUM SUM SUMMER TIME!!! The time when cookouts and time spent with family and friends abound! Vacations and staycations are on the calendars! This summer for me is a little... OK a LOT slower for me than last summer! Last summer was 6 straight weeks on the road!This summer...not so much travel. Traveling can be a hazard to your eating habits! There are the infamous fast food stops because a sit down place takes up to much time and we just have to get there like yesterday! Can I challenge to you make wise choices in your stops along the way? A couple of our favorite places to stop on our journeys are Chick Fil A and Cracker Barrel. Cracker Barrel always has a WIDE variety of choices and plenty of veggies to choose from. Chick Fil A offers a great grilled chicken sandwich and a wonderful fresh fruit option for your side instead of fries (although..I do splurge at times and get the fries) When you make stops at rest areas make sure you give your body a break as well as your bladder! Take a little bit of time and walk around. There are times that we will "race" back to the car with the kids. It gives your body a little bit of movement after riding for so long in the car! Make sure that the hotels that you are staying in have a pool and a fitness room! The pool is a great way to get some wonderful low impact exercise in!! I love to get in the pool and do water walking, swim some laps. If you happen to have a noodle...those are great to do crunches with and a wide variety of exercises with. Every summer the girls in my family go on a vacation together. When we arrive at our condo, there are a few of us that will look and see if the complex that we are staying at has a water aerobics group. We have at times been the youngest ones there...but really enjoy getting our exercise in!!! This year, I plan on taking my exercise DVD's, hand weights, and yoga mat with me and exercise first thing in the mornings. Make sure to get your water in as well! That will help keep you hydrated! Do your best to get some exercise in and make wise choices with your food so that you can either maintain or surprise yourself and loose weight on vacation! Just remember...it is OK to splurge every so often while on vacation...but not EVERY meal EVERY day! Have a wonderful summer...Take care of yourself..because you are the only you there is! Keep on keeping on!

Routine Maintenance Along the Way!

Every one knows (or at least I hope that everyone knows) when driving a vehicle, you have to perform routine maintenance on your vehicle to make sure that it is running in proper order! The same goes for your body as well! That means going and having regularly scheduled checkups/physicals etc. Well I have started the annual checkups and have heard that all of the lifestyle changes that I am making are really making a difference! Recently I went for my yearly vision test. I told my eye doctor that my newer glasses just hadn't been working right and that I could see better out of glasses that were a few years old. She ran all of the tests and was excited to tell me that my vision had improved! That is something that NEVER happens with me! My eyesight has progressively gotten worse over the years to where we were going to have to consider bi-focal lenses soon. I wasn't too happy about that thought. So I was able to go back to a prescription from like 3-4 years ago which was amazing to me! Today I went for my annual mammogram. One of the ladies in the room asked if there had been any changes in my weight in the last year. The other lady in the room, Susan, smiled when I said yes. Because Susan has seen a majority of my transformation to getting healthy because she has been assisting with my mammograms the last three years. I was able to talk with them about how much better I'm feeling and how much weight that I had lost etc. It was the most enjoyable visit (if a mammogram can be enjoyable :o) )that I had! As I was leaving, the lady told me that I was truly an inspiration to her and that I was just an inspiration. That was hard for me to hear because this was the Breast Cancer Center and I see people there that are battling breast cancer every time that I am there. She then told me to keep on going and continue to keep getting healthy! No matter if you are just thinking about trying to get healthy or you have been, like me, on this journey for several years, make sure that you are having regular doctor visits. That is a huge indicator and such an exciting thing to see as numbers that were once border line high or high dropping down into the normal ranges! Make sure you are taking care of yourself! You are the only you there is and this world would be lonely without you! Keep on keeping on!

Delicious Oreo Cheesecake

OK...so now I have a working computer...makes like a little easier!!! For meals sometimes, I like to encourage my children to take part in helping plan and prepare what we will be eating. My middle son (14) LOVES to cook and help in the kitchen was very eager to jump on the Easter dinner bandwagon!! He wanted to make the dessert!! So this is the recipe that he used. He had gotten this recipe from a fellow student at his school doing a "How To" speech in English. I did ask him ways that he could modify the ingredients to make it a bit more healthy! So he was up for the challenge!!!

2 cups Cool-Whip Free
1 package of Jell-0 Oreo pudding mix
1 bar of fat free cream cheese
2 cups of skim milk
12 individual graham cracker mini tart pans

Mix cool whip and cream cheese in a blender. Add whole box of pudding and milk to the blender. Blend ingredients in blender until desired look. Pour mixture in to pie crusts. Place in refrigerator for at least an hour.

For those that are doing Weight Watchers= 5 points plus

Enjoy!!!!