Thursday, August 27, 2015

Healthy Snacking After the Workout





It is such a trap.  That feeling you get after a workout when you are hungry and you know you need to refuel your body.  You just finished a workout and you know that you burned a bunch of calories.  You have a choice to make. What do you want to snack on?!

There are two paths you can take at this point. You can choose to grab a healthy snack or you can choose to grab that sugar-filled, unhealthy treat.  You just worked out, right?  So it is easy to think that you can just munch on that unhealthy treat because of all those burned calories.  No.  Don't do it!!

There are some great options when it comes to post workout snacks.  The list of snacks that can replenish the calories while refueling your body is long, you just have to know what some good choices are.

Here are some that work great when you finish that sweat session:

A banana.

Whole wheat bread or bagel with peanut butter

Almonds

Sweet potato

Steel cut oatmeal

Greek yogurt


There are awesome resources out there to find the best post workout snacks.  I've found some good ones through these websites:

Nuts.com where they have a large variety of healthy snacks that you can take anywhere.
Pinterest, is there anything that you can't find on there?!
Blogs, there are so many that I have found to be very resourceful while getting to know other great fitness and health nuts like myself. :)

What are your favorite go-to healthy snacks?  Do you tend to crave certain ones after your workouts?



Disclaimer: I was not prompted or compensated for this post, the links and sites are posted at my discretion and I did not have a script to follow. All opinions are my own. 

Monday, August 17, 2015

That Time Already




Every year around this time, we all say the same thing...."where has the summer gone?" 

The days fly by as we plug away at the daily grind with the best intentions of doing fun, fabulous things all summer long.  Then we don't actually do those things because time escaped us as we are filling our weekends with parties, picnics and yard work. 

It is sad.  I always want to do so many things every summer and yet again, here we are mid-August with that long list still sitting there with nothing checked off. Sad panda.

The kids have their schedules and teacher assignments already, we've gotten the bus schedule so we know what time to be standing out there waiting for the big yellow bus. School supplies have been purchased and soon enough, we will be taking those first day of school pictures of our kids all spiffed up and ready for another year.  

I can't decide if I am excited for school to be back in session or not.  Usually I am so ready for the routine to be back in place and for my grocery bill to go down. I don't feel excitement or dread, I guess I am just sort of rolling with the punches so it is what it is. 

I am hopeful for a great school year for all of my kids.  I hope Lincoln enjoys his new teacher, this will be his first time having a male teacher so it will be interesting to see how he responds to him because he is used to the caring, motherly type teachers. The older kids will be adjusting to their schedules and getting used to having a class together....that has never happened before! 

I love summer and I am still hoping to get a few fun things in before the weather turns to colder temps and pumpkin flavored everything. 

Sometimes I swear I need a rewind button on life.

Friday, August 7, 2015

Calling All Ladies Looking for Fun and Community

There are a few online communities that I belong to that I absolutely love. One of the reasons why is because they are for women and the main goal is to encourage, support and uplift each other.

That is also one reason why I was so excited to sign up for the Muddarella challenge run.  The core goal of this event is to:

leave everything else in the mud
“Own Your Strong” is about empowering women to take pride in their strength – inside and out.



You can check out what they are all about here.


I LOVE that.  The organization is the same one that puts out the Tough Mudder challenges.  However, this one is to help women, specifically, find their strong and exude their confidence in their abilities, no matter what those are.

I am really looking forward to spending the time with my friends, having fun, getting dirty and conquering the obstacles before us.

If you have an event that is local to you, I suggest you do it.  Find out what strength means to you.  I can bet that when you cross that finish line, you are going to feel pretty darn amazing.

I have been training for this challenge and I know that I am getting stronger in doing so.  That makes me so happy to know that my body is changing to allow me to do things that I couldn't do before.  What a great way to get healthier and share in this experience.

Do you want to do this challenge but are nervous?  Don't be!! I promise you that you CAN do it and it is within you to push yourself to achieve your goals!

I will be at the Pittsburgh event and I really hope to see some familiar faces (other than those on my team haha) so that I can see the confidence and strength of others around me.

The obstacles look like so much fun and a good challenge to test yourself and prove to yourself just how strong you really are.

You don't have to be a fitness guru to do this event, I certainly am not a guru.  Go on, check it out and sign up today! You won't be sorry!!

You can find the event locations here.