So staying on track with your eating & planning ahead all starts with ORGANIZATION.  Being organized is the key to success. Let's start with kitchen organization.  How many of you have clean cupboards? Fridge? Freezer? Pantry?  Get out your label maker, your containers, your pretty contact paper and your creativity and start organizing.  Here is what you can do:

First you must empty EVERYTHING out of your cupboards

Next you containerize and label & reload
I put all of my oatmeal, nuts, flour, cereal...in labeled containers
I got another basket (walmart) with a handle for baking supplies like pancake mix

This pantry below is for pasta, quinoa, brown rice, nuts, cooking stuff (I love using lazy susan's for organizing, it makes everything easier)

I have since put all of my oils into a nice basket - will capture a picture of that and add it in
kids snacks are in a basket (now labeled) so they can help themselves

These can organizers are great, you can find them at Homegoods, Marshalls or TJMaxx

Snack baskets are great!

Kids shelf pulls out and has everything easily accessible!

I got so tired of searching for tops that fit my tupperware so I donated everything to Goodwill and started over. I went to BB&B with my 20% coupon and bought the big box of OXO tupperware - I LOVE IT!  Now everything has a lid and a place of it's own!

This is my mudroom, I had a pantry built to house my extra's and it's so pretty it gives me incentive to keep it clean.  I lined the shelves with contact paper I found at Marshalls and just made it appealing to the eye.

I have since re-organized this corner cabinet with a few lazy susan's - new picture to come

Fridge door - I put my milk & juice in glass containers to keep it fresh longer, now each shelf is labeled. Starting out a new clean eating plan with a CLEAN & ORGANIZED fridge makes ALL the difference~

LOVE this quote:

"Long after people forget what you said and did, they remember how you made them feel."
                                                                                                                                      R. Fredig

So I meant to post yesterday about my great 5 am spin class with Cathe - not live but close enough, I did Pedal Power - love the music on that DVD!  After this I went to my friend's gym and did a Centergy workout.  It was a combination of yoga & pilates and it was FAB! I was actually a ting sore afterwards! My husband came home with 5 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies - oh no!!! But they are so small ;-p

This morning I got up at 4:45 am and started cleaning - I have issues - then I did Cathe's TABATACISE, I did the whole workout - I really love that one, it's a great kickstart to my day and it's quick!!!  I absolutely love the ABS section, unique and powerful.  After dropping my kids off at preschool I did a KICK class at a local gym I'm going to be teaching at, it's a new place for me but a great fit for this time in my life. I fell immediately in love with the class and am determined to get certified to teach it.  My day has been crazy.  I had  just an hour to drive 20 minutes away and return my daughter's new eye glasses and get her some birthday presents for her BIG 5 year birthday, pick my kids up at school, run home and let the dogs out, get my kids to gymnastics on time (doesn't always happen) and get my 3 year old home for a nap, clean the house, make dinner, go out to dinner...  Long day, but so far so good.  It really helped having the workouts behind me and they gave me the added boost I needed to make it through my day!

I love having my home gym to use every day.  With the weather being so ridiculously cold this winter, it is so nice to be able to wake up & go into my basement to workout without having to get in my car and drive to a gym.  It is nice to have the option of going to the gym but many people don't have that option, so my advice is to get the workouts you know you will love and use often.  For me it's Spinnervals workouts because I can do them on my spin bike or my trainer and get an incredible workout on both.  I also love any of Cathe's workouts, they never get old for me but I am partial to the shorter one's lately.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10203417405660906&set=a.10201916600301710.1073741825.1385246577&type=1&theater

IDK why I can't get this picture to come up, but this Tea?! Can we talk? Is DEVINE.  I'm addicted, it's like a party in your mouth.  It just may get me off of wine! LOL well, we'll see about that, but so good, and no caffeine! I can't do caffeine so this tea is a winner for me!

Ok, Happy March everyone.  Let's get those fitness goals written down and start planning our meals and start moving!!! Spring is just around the corner and don't you want to wear those CAbi Ivy League Shorts (lol), blaine tube top and Grecian sandals?!

Let's start the month off right.

I just did 60 mins on my treadmill while I was returning emails on my iPad - love the multitasking, but I was on an incline and kept a nice pace of 4.0 mph the whole time.  Now some tea and a shower and my day is starting off grrreat!

Boxing Workout

I did the most fun boxing workout with my girlfriend today at a gym she teaches at with a great trainer. It was fast, fun and fantastic!

We started out warming up our lower body with lateral lunges, then we loosened up our hips (I'll be showing this all in a video clip, coming soon) on our toes moving side to side and up and down, if you think of going high and low i.e., how low can you go!  That's the idea.  Then we each had one minute of:

20 lb KB around the head - 30 secs to the right and 30 to the left
Plank lateral walks through a latter (on the floor) for one minute
Bosu pushups using gliding discs

Then we put on our gloves and while one person was doing punching work with the trainer, the other was hitting the heavy bag - upper cuts for 1 min - we did three round of this

Next we jump rope for 1 min, jab/cross on the heavy bag for 1 min x 3

Next we sparred with the trainer while the other person did side to side pushups on Bosu for 30 seconds and then KB OH Presses - ouch! x 3

Super Fun & different, loved it!

Kids & Healthy Habits

Eating healthy starts early.  My mom was a nurse and was always cognizant of what she fed us.  It was always a balanced diet.  She never bought dessert, she'd always make it from scratch.  There were five of us, so it couldn't have been easy!  With just two little ones at home and food allergies (not my kids, but kids at school) you have to be careful what you are feeding your kids.  Here is a sample of what I put in their lunch boxes for pre-school.

So, what is the "key" to looking like this:

PLANNING! Food prep.  What happens when you have the best of intentions to start new and eat well, you are gung ho and ready to go but you don't have your food prepared? You eat breakfast and then a couple of hours later you are hungry but you ignore it and then lunch time comes and goes and by the time you know it, it's time for dinner, you go home and you eat EVERYTHING in site - sound familiar?  If you had prepared your meals ahead of time and had them with you, all you would need to do was eat what you had prepared and you would be good to go.  So make a list and take it with you to the grocery store.  Never shop on an empty stomach!  Pick one day during the week (Sunday's work best for me) and prep all of your food for the week.  Then all you have to do is eat what you have prepared and you will be happy and healthy!  That's it, it's not rocket science, go give it a try ;-)

Happy 2014!  It's been way too long! I'm back, oh boy am I back! Well, what is new with me?!
I have a 3 year old and soon to be 5 year old that are keeping me soooooooooo busy!  I have neglected this blog and I do regret it, so here is hoping that I can start posting on a continual basis with some great information that will help you all achieve your exercise and fitness goals!  Here's a little photo summery of my year in 2013...

Now onto fitness!  I had hip surgery this past fall so I froze my gym membership and have been working out at home ever since.  I have to say, I'm LOVING it!  It is SO nice to wake up early (5 am) and get my workout over with and still have time to feed the kids/dogs, shower and drive them to pre-school. That leaves me with a few hours to do housework and grocery shop and do the things I need to do alone - so nice!  So am I missing driving to the gym every morning and spending nearly two hours there - not so much!  I miss my trainer and my friends but I see my friends every week and this is a nice break for me.  I have been able to focus on healthy eating and doing the workouts I enjoy which consist of:
Spinnervals The Pain Cave
Spinnervals Hillacious
Spinnervals Sweating Buckets
Cathe's Pedal Power
Cathe's STS
Cathe's X10
Susan Chung's Rapid Fire
and many, many more!

Am I doing my own dvds you ask?  No, but tomorrow I plan on doing Cardio Kickbox Challenge and I'm really looking forward to it!

So what is the secret to staying healthy and keeping the pounds off?  Come back tomorrow and I'll share ;-)