What I am greatful for...

I love the challenges set by Karena and Katrina during the annual bikini challenge and I try to keep up as best as I can, even though we get them a day behind here (we get Saturdays challenge on a Sunday, etc).

On Friday they asked us to write down something we are greatful for every hour, on the hour so here's what I came up with. I really like that they are asking us to reflect on what we have rathe than the whole focus being on what we want and how we want to be in the future. It's great to have a vision and future goals but it's just as important to live in the moment and enjoy all the blessings we have right now!

I am thankful for:

1. Finding Tone It Up two years ago when I was looking for a new and healthier direction - those girls are amazing!
2. My lovely boyfriend who can always find a way to make me laugh
3. My family and the fun we have together dispite sometimes getting on each others nerves
4. My good health
5. My new found love of a healthy lifestyle and the energy I have now
6. Larabars - those things are amazing!
7. My friends who always help me to lighten up when I am starting to take things just a bit too seriously
8. The girls I now know as the TIU Team - so much inspiration and motivation whenever I need a kick to get going
9. My cat Milo who always shows so much unconditional love
10. Working out - the best stress relief around

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend, what are you most greatful for?

Sunday Plan/Prep Day

One of my favourite things to do on a Sunday is take a few minutes out of the day to plan the week ahead and prepare as much as I can for it. I have mentioned this before but I really notice the difference that spending a few minutes refocusing on my goals for the week and planning my meals and workouts can make to my hectic life. We all get busy and have days where we're rushed off our feet, so I like to sit down with my diary and work out when I can fit workouts around whatever is happening that week.

I also use this time to go through the fridge and cupboards and write a grocery list and to prepare as much of my food for the week as I can. Often it can just take running out of something to knock me off track for that meal so I like to make sure I have everything I need before I head into a new week. I'll fill my water bottles, premix my Meta-D or Bombshell Spell and pre-cut fruit and portion it into containers.
I'll work out which meals I will be home for that week and plan healthy dinners and enough for leftovers for the nights I need to grab something on the go.

Here's some of what I got up to tonight:

My Tankini, Bombshell Spell and One-pieces all ready to go for the week!

How do you like to prepare for the week ahead?

Friends with Benefits Saturday

After spending so long sitting in the car of Friday I couldn't wait to stretch my legs on Saturday. My friend and I headed off on a walking track up the hill with some beautiful views along the way. The walk took us about an hour and was quite steep in parts. It had been looking like it would rain all morning and I was happy it held off until we were safely back in our car at the bottom. It felt so good to do something active in the fresh air while we could!

The view from the top of the hill.

 Did you do something nice with a friend this weekend?

Road trip snacks

Friday morning we headed off driving nice and early (4am). We were heading interstate for a friends engagement party and had about an 8 hour drive so I made sure to pack lots of healthy drinks and snacks.

Here's what I took along:

• Organic Salted Popcorn (with just a sprinkle of sea salt)
• Peanut Butter Cookie Larabars (this is the first time I have picked up this flavour but like all the other larabars, I am loving them)
• Small packets of mixed nuts (almonds, walnuts and cashews)
• Stevia packets in case I want to add them to coffee we buy while whe're away
• Coconut water (guava and pineapple)
• 100% Natural Crunchy Peanut Butter (to dip celery sticks in, this is one of the few healthy snacks I can get my partner to eat over chocolate bars!)
• Container of pre-cut celery sticks
• 2x 1.5 litre bottles of water (not picured as they had already been packed)

What are your favourite snacks for road trips?

My Vision Board

I love vision boards! I think it comes from being a very visual person (I work as a Graphic Designer) and seeing my goals is a really effective way of keeping myself on the right track. I have created a few variations of my vision board and I like to revisit them and update them from time to time.
The one above I started at the beginning of 2012 to represent all the things I wanted to achieve throughout the year. I've stuck it into the first spread of my MiGoals Diary and I see it daily when I make any plans.

I also created this I use as a background on my iPhone and iPad. I often find id afternoon I am struggling and feel like bailing on my afternoon workout so it helps to have something right within my reach that inspires me. I always use my phone to check the time so now each time I see workout time approaching I am inspired!

In other news, I'm really loving the Tone It Up Bikini Challenge so far. I know we're only a few days in but I feel so ready for the changes I am starting to see. Even just the last few days I've been sleeping better and have more energy throughout the day from my extra workouts.
Let's do this! :-)

Goals for the Tone It Up Annual Bikini Challenge

Our first task for the TIU bikini challenge was sent through last night and it was to write a list of what we hope to have achieved by the end of the 8 weeks. For me these were a more refined version of the goals I set for myself at the start of the year. It was the perfect timing as I really needed to refocus.

Here's my goals:
1. Finally reach my goal weight (55kgs)
2. Tone up and loose the last of my muffin top
3. Run a 5k without stopping
4. Compliment someone daily
5. Work out at least 5 times a week
6. Feel confident rocking my bikini

Bring it on! So excited and ready get to where I finally want to be - happy and healthy and the best version of myself! Happy Motivation Monday!

Happy Motivation Monday!

I have recently been reading '5 Minutes a Day' by the wonderful Michelle Bridges from the Biggest Loser and I am really loving this book. It's full of little quotes and short statements to get you motivated and out the door.
I adore Michelle, I think she is such an inspiration and I love her no-nonsense approach to weight-loss and fitness. She looks amazing too so what better way to get motivation when I'm feeling a bit lazy or sluggish!

One of the quotes from her book really stood out to me so I thought I'd share it for a little bit of extra motivation on a Monday morning:

"Motivation is like a bad boyfriend... never there when you need him. Get over it! Turn up and be consistent!"  

- Michelle Bridges

I love this quote. Too often we wait for the elusive "motivation" to give us the extra kick in the pants we need to start eating right and working out. It's all too easy to blame a lack of "motivation" for slacking off.

Don't let motivation be another excuse for not starting on the right track right now!

Hope you all have a good week, will definitely be trying to check in more this week after a hectic few weeks now hopefully behind me. :-)

Tone It Up 2nd Annual Bikini Challenge

So I woke up super early this morning for no apparent reason and couldn't get back to sleep. I was checking through websites on my phone as I lay in the darkness and what did I see? Tone It Up had posted the sign up page for the 2012 Bikini Challenge! I must've subconsciously known and that's why I needed to wake up! Haha...

I love these girls so much and since finding them on YouTube a few years ago I am such a better version of myself. Cliche but true. Last year I found it hard to keep up with the challenge just because we are a day ahead here in Australia and were often getting most of the emails in the middle of the night! It made it hard to work from when instructions for what to do on a certain day were a day late but I loved seeing the results everyone got from participating and it was fun to get constant motivation. This year I have decided I am fully on board, I will just make it work even if our days/times are out of sync with the US.

The challenge incorporates both workouts and diets and I am determined to win one of the gorgeous bikinis the girls are wearing! Or just buy myself one when I look like them after the challenge! :-) They recently sent out the Beach Babe Edition of their nutrition plan and I was so happy to see so many recipies incorporated my favorite food - summer fruit. We are heading into winter here so summer fruits are becoming harder to find and more expensive but I still think it's an investment in my health and better than spending my money on junk. I also ordered the Beach Babe DVD which was just released and I will be stalking the postie like crazy until it arrives!

I've actually been loving hitting the gym lately. I never thought I would love it, for me it has always been a bit of a chore but I put my headphones on and pump music or watch YouTube videos and time passes so quickly. I have been trying for 40min of cardio on the elliptical and today for the first time I felt like I could go longer without too much trouble (and actually would've if I wasn't in a massive rush)! The past few weeks there has been a point around the 25min mark where I hit a wall and the last 15 mins have I've really had to push through. Not even that it's been physically hard, just that I start to find excuses or decide I'm done... I get so annoyed at myself but it's like I loose interest half way through. This morning I didn't have any resistance at all! So please to have passed that (mental) hurdle!

I think that mental strength has really been my failure so many times. I'm healthy and quite fit, but i've always only seen things through half way. I work out, but then cave in to that chocolate bar. I eat well, but convince myself I'm too tired to work out. I'll start again tomorrow/next week/on Monday.

For the first time I've reached a place where I feel like I'm past that. I'm totally comfortable with doing what I need to to be fit, healthy and strong and I love this feeling!

So the TIU Bikini Challenge couldn't come at a better time - I am ready to rock this! :-)

Back to it!

 So I know I've been a bit slack with keeping up blogging but I'm making the decision to devote more time here in the future. That's not to say I haven't been eating (fairly) well and working out but with the Tone It Up bikini challenge coming up shortly it's time I refocused again. In my defence, I have been far more active on twitter lately which I've found an amazing support and a great place to ask fitness or diet questions - I'd be lost without the wonderful TIU team!

Good news though – last Sunday morning I decided it was time to step back on the scales and I was down to my lowest weight since high school! This was so exciting for me as I didn't have the best week food wise last week and over the last few months I have seemed to hit a bit of a plateau. Sunday was a lovely sunny day which I was so excited to see before we head into winter so off I went on a long walk in the fresh air.

I really like getting outdoor exercise when I can, there's something so reenergizing about breathing in fresh air and hopefully seeing some sunshine. I work in an office during the week and while I am lucky enough to have huge glass windows, looking outside is not he same as enjoying it!

We’re heading into winter here in Australia now so I often like to get out for a walk at lunchtime; by the time I leave for the night it’s starting to get too dark to walk and I leave quite early in the morning for work so don’t always have time to get a walk in then.

Can’t wait for summer to be back although this weekend is supposed to be lovely!

What will you be doing outdoors this weekend?

Migoals 2012 Diary

So I realise this is getting a bit late in the year but it was too brilliant not to share! I heard the lovely Jesinta Campell raving about her MiGoals Diary and notebooks. I know she is really big on goal setting and motivation so I had to find out more!

Here’s the lowdown:

MiGoals is a Melbourne (woohoo!) based company that has only been running since 2010 but they make the most fabulous products for setting goals and keeping track of your dreams and inspirations.

Ever since I can remember I have been obsessed with writing lists of things I wanted to accomplish, inspirational quotes and ‘living my best life’ as Oprah would say! So this was right up my alley. I remember growing up I would spend hours finding my favourite quotes and rewriting them into little notebooks and in my school diary I would write a quote for the week at the top of each page and look back at it daily to keep me on track.

So when I went online and saw MiGoals had put a quote in each week for me I was impressed – had they seriously glimpsed inside my school diaries?

Each year I spend hours searching for my perfect diary and usually end up buying about 3 before I eventually get into the routine of using the best one. So yes, MiGoals 2012 Diary was my second diary purchase for the year but I am happy to report I haven’t looked back and plan on buying just one diary for 2013 (MiGoals obviously)! 

The diary is broken up into three sections; the front section has space to evaluate what you want to achieve for the year and list 10 goals and steps to achieving them. The main section is a week-to-a-page planner with a space to list 5 weekly habits (mine usually consist of work out, eat well etc.) and weekly goals. The final section, and it could be said to be the one I need the most, is a budgeting one with space to track monthly income and expenditure. It also features hints and tips for planning your goals and sticking to them so it’s prefect even if this is a new thing to you.

I wanted to use this for a few weeks at least before I shared my thoughts and I’m really happy. My favourite feature is the space for listing your weekly habits, as it has a spot to tick that you have done each of these each day of the week. I find it really helps me see what I have done exercise and diet wise and lots of ticks makes me feel very accomplished indeed!

If you’re keep to try this out they are half price online now as they clear out the last of the stock for 2012 and I’m so excited to see what they bring out for 2013! My suggestions? A pink version (yep, I’m obsessed) and also possibly a clasp to seal the diary shut - I like to keep papers in my diary to remind me to pay bills, payslips, gym class timetables and other bits and pieces.

Have you tried any of the MiGoals or similar products? What helps you stay on track?