1 tip to losing weight: Drinking Water.

How many of us have heard growing up that we should be drinking at least 8 cups of water a day? How many of us actually listen to that and take that advice? Water is so important to the body, fun fact: Muscles contain 75% of water, brain: 90% water, bone: 22%, and blood: 83%. Basically we are made from water. It is important to drink water in order to keep your body regulating, keeping you from becoming dehydrated, and giving you energy to get through your day. If this doesn't motivate you maybe these fun facts will. You can lose weight just from drinking water. The water flushes down by products of breaking down your fat. Sometimes people will mistake dehydration for hunger. Before you eat always drink a glass of water. When you are dehydrated your body will sometimes think that you are hungry instead, by drinking water before your meal you may satisfy some of your hunger and as a result not eat as big of a portion of food. By drinking water you will not only be able to think more clearly (because your brain is mostly made up of water), but you will also be able to get a better workout in. Water regulates body temperature which will allow you to workout longer and harder before you become fatigued. It will regulate your body by flushing out toxins leaving you feeling healthier and more confident.

So how much water should you drink a day? They say men should be drinking around 13 cups a day and women should drink about 9 cups a day. This may vary depending on activity level, health, and body size. This number is just an average number.

Let's start with a 5k

I would have to say that a 5k run is the most common and the most reached for goal for many people. My challenge is for you to find a 5k coming up that is closest to you and get your friends and family to join you in signing up for it. 5k's come across as a lot more intimidating than they actually are. A 5k is a 3.1 mile run, very doable. The hardest part to running and training is getting past the mental barrier, your mind wants to quite before the body is tired. The quote mind over matter is so true when it comes to running, if you can tell yourself that you can keep going you can, simple as that. The first step is getting out and to start being active. It is important to make small goals that add up to making your final goal. Make your first goal to run a mile, then 1.5 miles, then 2 miles, then being able to run 2 miles without walking, etc etc. Different small goals like that, that will help you reach the goal of a 5k.

Lets get started!

In order to see where you are as far as running, go out, whether it is on a track, outside, treadmill whatever, I want you to go out and see how far you can run without stopping. Don't feel bad if you can run for only about 2-3 min., it's okay. But try to track how far you go, that way you have a starting point. The first goal is to make it 1 mile running strait. In order to get to that lets work on the simple walk/run routine. Warm up for about 5 min to get your body going (a simple walk will work) then run for 3 min, walk for 2 min. Speed doesn't really matter at this point, I want you to be able to get your body used to the distance. Repeat this cycle for 20-30 min. depending on how you are feeling. As you become more used to this routine and it is becoming easier I want you to shorten the walk periods so 4 min. running, and 1 min. walking for at least 15 min. then if you are getting tired go ahead and do the run 3 walk 2 for the remaining time. I want you to get to the point that you can go the 3.1 mile distance doing this cycle. Remember "mind over matter".  I would recommend running at least 3x a week. Everyone is different so the runs may be longer or shorter depending on the person. The nice thing is is you control your workout, you have the ability to make it as hard as you want or as easy as you want, I recommend to push yourself. You become stronger as you do hard things. On the days you aren't running feel free to do some other cardio, cycling, bleachers, jump rope, swimming, zumba, aerobics, etc. This will keep your body from plateauing and will allow you a variety in your workout to keep it fun.

If you want a more personalized workout schedule for running a 5k please leave your email on my blog and I will send you your own 5k running schedule to get you going. 

Motivational story of the day!

I want to introduce you to one of my clients, Hayley Marshall. She is one of the nicest people I know. I met Hayley about 2 years ago when she signed up for the Biggest Winner program on campus and I had the opportunity to be one of her trainers. Hayley has always had the dream to run a 5k but has always hated running. When I first started training her we would go run on the track (it's a smaller track so 5.75 laps is a mile) and after about 2 laps she would be done and tired. I began to work with her on running and she never really enjoyed it. It was something that she wanted to avoid. This past year I really buckled down with her and told her we were running a 5k. I got her on the treadmill running and she started running. I told her I wanted her to run 1.5 miles strait (she had been training for a few weeks at this point on running). I told her once she got to 1.5 miles it was up to her when she would stop. 1.5 miles came and she kept going, she made it to 2 miles, I looked at her and told her that today was the day she would run 3.1 miles. She agreed and kept going. She didn't give up. Hayley ended up running 3.1 miles because she pushed herself past that mental barrier. The following week we ran in a Turkey trot 5k put on by the school, the next weekend she ran a Thanksgiving 5k in Salt Lake with her family, the following week after that she ran another 5k put on by one of my classes. Hayley set a goal that she had been reaching for and followed through with it. She has learned to enjoy running and at this point is able to run 5 miles. It amazes me what we can do when we push ourselves. Hayley is an example of someone who doesn't give up, I have enjoyed training her and appreciate her hard work and dedication. "Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence." -Helen Keller

Hayley's first official 5k

Hayley and her family running in a Thanksgiving day Turkey Trot

Here is a link for 5k races coming up this year, this one is in Utah but this site has them for anywhere in the U.S.http://www.runningintheusa.com/race/List.aspx?Rank=All&State=UT
http://www.runningintheusa.com/race/List.aspx?Rank=All&State=UT

A Little Bit About me

I decided to create this blog to not only motivate myself but to also motivate others. Growing up I lacked in self confidence, I was made fun of because I was bigger than the other kids. I remember as a kid playing out on the play ground being called fat, and laughed at. Luckily when jr. high came along I had a good group of friends that I would rely on. For lunch in Jr. High I would eat a pretzel with nacho cheese, and a large sugar cookie. If I wasn't feeling that I would eat pizza. I vividly remember in both jr. high and high school when I would have to do the mile run in P.E., I wouldn't sleep the night before because I would be so nervous. I would think of every possible excuse to avoid running the next day. Exercise scared me.

I did however, find one sport that I did enjoy and was actually pretty decent at, tennis. I started tennis when I was about 12 years old with my best friend. Tennis became my passion. As I started getting better at tennis my confidence began to grow. It hit me that I became happy when I was out being active and doing something I was good at. That is when things started to change. My junior year of high school I started taking lessons from a new tennis coach, he explained to me that in order for me to improve in tennis I would need to become more active and to lose some weight. He told me to start jump roping every morning and night, he said to start by doing 500 jumps twice a day. I remember I would go out in my garage, turn on some music, and start jump roping. I would only make it to about 30 then have to take a break. I would do that every morning and night. I noticed that I became more confident in myself as I started improving on jump roping, I was able to get up to 200 jumps before I needed a rest and then next thing I knew I was able to do the jumps in less and less time. However, high school and my social life started getting in the way of my motivation to jump rope. My diet was poor consisting of cookies, ramen noodles for lunch everyday, and I would drink a lot of soda. My mom was good to make healthy meals for breakfast and dinner, but somehow I always would find someway to eat something unhealthy.

After graduating high school, I got accepted to BYU-Idaho and decided to move up and start my college career in Eastern Idaho. This is when I really changed. My first semester at school I made a goal to start eating healthier, I made small changes to my diet. I cut out ramen, soda, and junk food. I switched from eating white to wheat and went from drinking 1% milk to skim. For breakfast I turned to oatmeal and fruit and controlled my snacking. I started going to the gym on campus everyday. My goal was to improve in running. I figured if I got over my fear of running I could get over anything. I remember my first day running at the school gym, I remember the treadmill I was running on. My goal was to stay on the treadmill for 20 min. I would run at about a 6mph speed and only last about 5 min then have to stop and start over. My goal was to first run for 10 min. strait. After pushing and motivating myself I made it to 10 min, then 15 min, then the full 20 min. From there it became easier to push myself. I was talking to my sister in law one day on the phone and she explained how she had just run 6 miles and that I should try to get to 6 miles. I went to the gym and began to push myself. I have never pushed myself so hard. I had to get up to 6 miles. After a couple of weeks of pushing myself I made it 6 miles. Who would have thought that I could run 6 miles!! In that moment I had never felt so good about myself and so accomplished. That was the turning point to where I am now. It is when we push ourselves to our limits that we feel the most success. I decided that if I want to major in Exercise Physiology I needed to practice what I would be learning. I was at the gym every single day working to improve in my wellness, I began to lose the weight and began to gain my confidence. My third semester at school I applied to be a personal consultant for the school. I got the position and was able to train and motivate others to help reach their goals, from there I became a training manager for a new program on campus called Biggest Winner (similar to the Biggest Loser on TV). From there I became an events coordinator for campus which put me in charge of putting together all the events on campus (5ks, triathlons, x-fit games, power lifting competition etc..). I then became the director of the events as well as all of the fitness classes on campus. I did my internship as the manager of the BYU-Idaho Fitness Center and spent most of my time in there. I am still training and working with a couple of clients helping them lose weight and to reach their goals. I was able to run my first half marathon last year (2012) in Las Vegas. I am in the process of getting ready to do my first full marathon as well as starting to train for an Iron Man Triathlon. As of today my total weight loss has been about 45 lbs. On average my running includes about 9-12 miles 3x a week and 3-6 miles the other days along with lifting and other cardio mixed in. It is amazing what the body can do if you push yourself. It is hard for me to imagine that back in jr. high and high school I couldn't run 1 mile. I share this to motivate others to let them know that it is possible to reach your goals and get over your fears. "I don't believe you have to be better than everybody else, I believe you have to be better than you ever thought you could be." Ken Venturi

I am going to post my workouts as well as other workout ideas, I want to post success stories for motivation and some healthy recipes.