How to Make Time for a Healthy Lifestyle

Phew! Thank goodness the weekend got here ok! This week has been absolutely CRAZY, I didn't get much more than 2 hours of sleep any night last week. So here is a little background on myself, I am a full time college student, I work full time, and I am dedicated to a healthy lifestyle. Yes I know that 2 hours of sleep a night is not good, but I definitely made it up this weekend, so it balances out. Right?

So I survived this because of a few habits that I wanted to share with you today.

Food Prep
Every week I go grocery shopping and get fresh produce. Here Is generally what I get:

• Bananas
• Kale
• Spinach
• Lettuce
• Potatoes
• Yogurt
• Broccoli & Cauliflower
• Strawberries 
• Apples
• Onion
• Garlic
• Meat & Poutlry (I usually buy in bulk from Costco and freeze)
• Juices
• Oranges
• Gapes
• Tomatoes 
• Bell Peppers

All of these things might not be just want you want/need for the week, but I recommend making a solid list to take with you to the grocery store. If I don't make a list I end up spending a lot of money on extra things that I don't really need.  A list is also a great idea if in weeks where you are particularity busy and you have a significant other who is willing to help out with the shopping. :D

After going to the grocery store, as soon as I get home I start my meal prepping. That translates into rinsing the produce, cutting up fruit to store in 1 serving size containers, and making a few meals that can be frozen. My go to prep meal for a busy week is soup. I make it in a crock pot and then freeze half of it, and put the other half in the fridge. Most soups can last about 3 days in the fridge and 10-15 in the freezer. Once I finish what is in the fridge I pull out the other half from the freezer.




Other than making soups, I also prep for meals that I plan on making, like my favorite enchilada recipe among others. It is something that is heavy with prep work (cutting up the bell peppers and chicken) but then once that is done the actual meal only takes 5 minutes to cook.

Here is my favorite soup recipe:
                                                             Chicken Potato Soup

INGREDIENTS

• 2 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
• 2 Potatoes
• 1/2 Onion
• 3/2 tbsp Garlic Salt
• 1/2 tbsp Rosemary
• 1/2 tbsp Italian Seasoning

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Sear chicken breasts till outer edge is firm. Slice chicken into bite-sized pieces.
2. Chop or cube potatoes and onion.
3. Put chicken, potatoes, onion, and seasonings into crock pot.
4. Fill crock pot with water until all ingredients are covered.
5. Cook on high heat for 4 hour 

 Overall the success of  eating healthy during a super busy week depends on how much and how you prep. Even with the best laid plans sometimes you don't have many options. Once last week I didn't have any food and I ended up getting suck on campus later than I was hoping. My choices were limited to a few fast food restaurants on campus, in this case I had a plan, while I don't support eating out a fast food restaurants my choices were Chickfila, Subway, and McDonalds. I figured that this was going to happen at least once this semester and I had a plan! I would go to Subway and get some apple slices and chocolate milk, and that while it wasn't the idea situation I would be able to still stay with my healthy eating habits. In my personal opinion having a contingency plan for the worst case scenario helps you stay on track in those worst situations.

Exercising

A disappointment that I have about this past week is that I only did my normal 3 runs and 1 cross-training day. I was going on two weeks of running consistently. The best advice I can give about getting your workout in is to know what you are going to do, when you are going to do it, and plan accordingly.

This past week all of my workouts were preplanned. I usually plan from race to race so this wasn't a problem, but some people like to plan on a weekly basis, which also works. I love working out in the middle of the day or at night but when things get really busy I find that working out first thing in the morning makes me more productive the rest of the day. The biggest problem that occurs for me when I try to workout in the evening is that I tend to make excuses and thus never workout that day, especially if I am tired.

Well those are my two cents about exercising and eating healthy when life gets busier than usual. What helps you stay on track when you get busy? Please leave a comment and let me know.

Giveaway Winner 
 
The winner of the giveaway is Carrie C.! Carrie we look forward to hearing from you, please send us your information so we can send you your EnergyBits sample.

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EnergyBits Review and Giveaway!

Let's Talk EnergyBits!

EnergyBits are 100% Spirulina algae that are in pill form. You take 30 tabs at a time before your workout.

So, my philosophy is that I will try any supplement once (but never on race day! Haha). The first time I used EnergyBits it had to get me through a run of a 3 miles, a weight training class, hours of class, and a full day of work, and it worked out wonderfully.

Taking EnergyBits: Taste and Smell
Each serving of EnergyBits is 30 tabs and I usually swallow them like pills. Don't smell them, seriously. Personally I think they smell like seafood, and I'm not a fan of seafood. When I take them as pills the smell doesn't bother me at all. I usually take the 30 tabs in two swallows of 15 tabs. The first time I took them I was nervous about how they would settle in my stomach, but hours later my stomach didn't have any negative reactions. This is impressive especially since my stomach is sensitive to almost everything. A lot of traditional energy supplements like Gu's and Sport Beans don't really settle well, so I am super excited to finally find a pre-workout energy supplement that I don't mind taking and doesn't bother my stomach.

Performance
Let me tell you that EnergyBits are AMAZING!!! I took them at 8:45 (15 minutes before I started my run) with water and I felt rejuvenated. The effects lasted well into the day for me and I was awake and alert even at 3:00 which is when I usually am the most tired. Unlike other energy supplements there was no crash afterward!

Other Benefits of EnergyBits
Now, I know I have been using the term "supplements" to describe EnergyBits but that word doesn't do them justice. EnergyBits are food, pure and simple. Here is a chart with the vitamins in EnergyBits and how EnergyBit compares with other ways to get those vitamins in your day.

Overall
After my first time trying EnergyBits I just couldn't go back to any other way to fuel my runs, P90X3, Iron Bombshell workouts, and races! I used EnergyBits to fuel my Hot Chocolate 5k and it went wonderfully. Thankfully you can try some EnergyBits too! Jonathan over at EnergyBits is going to send one of my readers a sample!!You can also purchase a full bag here.

*Only U.S. residents over the age of 18 can apply.
*The EnergyBits samples were provided to me at no cost by EnergyBits. All opinions and comments are my own. I was not compensated for this post.

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Hot Choloate 15k/5k Race Recap!

The day of our RACE!!!! I've been waiting to do this since I found out about it months ago and it's finally here! YAY! The wait is coming to an end!

Before I start, did you know what's great having best friend doing a race together? We switch of driving to the race/expo and it's my turn to drive. Lindsay and I live only 5 minutes for each other and we start the they off by leaving the neighborhood by 4:20 A.M. Then I went to pick up one of my friends, Josh, who I asked to join us.

Lindsay, Lisa, and Josh

Let me tell you when we got out of the car to walk where the tents are, it was so freaking COLD!!!! It's seem like my fingers and toes was about to fall off. I think everyone of else was wearing three layers of tops. Guess what we did when we got to the tents, we found where the heater was located. Haha!!

Keeping ourselves nice and toasty!

There was a schedule Zumba at 6:30 before the line up of the corral. So we left the tent to join in to the Zumba fun!!! It was a lot of fun and it warm up our muscle. After that we lined up in our corral. Lindsay and I were assigned to Corral F but we moved back to Corral I. It took a while for each corral to go and all that warm up we did with Zumba was gone, by just standing around.

When its was our turn to run pass the start line, Lindsay and I split up. She want to walk most of the way and I want to run. So Josh and I left to run together....but that doesn't last very long. We got separated up on a bridge when there were a few people who had fallen down. Josh went to ask if one of the ladies who had fallen was ok and I didn't know at that time and I can't stop for long or I would get pushed. There was a crazy amount  of people. I wish I could have taken more pictures along my race but if I would have my fingers would have fallen off!

Josh finish the race first, he passed me and I didn't know it, and I met up with him so we can wait for Lindsay before we picked up our FINISHERS CUP!!!!

Let me tell you about the Finisher Cup. We got a cup of hot chocolate and a side of hot fudge. We also had a banana, wafer, rice crispy treat, and a bag of pretzels so we could dip it into the chocolate. It was yummy!!! Lindsay and I were so hungry that we finished eating our before we remember we needed to take a picture. Thankfully, our friend Josh did remember to take the picture.

Overall the race was a lot of fun and I can't wait for next year's Hot Chocolate Race. I know what to expect next year. If the Hot Chocolate 5k/15k are going to be in your area, I would recommend doing it.  :)

What is your “why” for being active in fitness?

So I was filling out an application for an ambassador program and I kind of went overboard with my response. So I shortened my response and saved the long post for you guys. This is the origin story of my love for fitness!

One day last year I looked into the mirror and decided that where I was physically was not a good place to be, I was a 20 year old and I weighed 260 pounds. It shocked me how unhealthy I was and all I had to do was make a choice to change that. I decided to start to eliminate junk food and processed food and start to replace it with more fruits, vegetables, and clean food. I also found a passion in running and that has since lead me to lifting. I have kept to my plan and have since lost 50 pounds!

Lisa and I started this page to create an open, safe environment for everyone to be honest and have a support. I just wanted to share a little bit about my fitness journey. If you are out there running, lifting, being active that is AMAZING! If you are running, even if it is a mixture of walking and running like me, you are a runner! If you have reached the point where you run without walking, like Lisa, YOU are a runner! Whether you are lifting 5 pounds or 50 you are getting out there and that is what matters. I want to make this place a safe place for everyone, beginners and veterans in the fitness world. I will post about my fitness life but I want to make sure that everyone is welcome to our page.

Please post about your fitness accomplishments, achievements, journey, and pictures! We really want to get to know more of our followers. And please like this post so more of our followers can see this post! We <3 everyone!

Hot Chocolate 15k/5k Expo and Volunteering Recap & Giveaway Winner!

Volunteering at the Hot Chocolate 15k/5k Prep

Saturday morning Lisa and I reported to Turner Field to help with preparations for the race! The first thing that happened when we got to the volunteer site was get our AWESOME sweatshirts that say "Will Volunteer for Chocolate," and at 20 degrees when we got there we sure did need the extra layers!

Our job as volunteers was to assemble the finishers mugs. Each mug had to have a bag of pretzels, wafers, a rice crispy treat, and a hand sanitizer wipe. We also had to make about 20,000 of these! There were about 50 volunteers there during our shift and we broke into smaller groups and made an assembly line putting the finishers cups! This lasted about 5 hours and then we were off to the expo!

The Expo!

The race expo was located at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, and for those who haven't been there it is HUGE! This was our first expo which was really exciting, so we spent a few hours there. 

The expo was one large room in the World Congress Center filled with booths for other races and companies like Skirt Sport. For some reason we didn't think that there would be booths with clothes and shoes so we did not expect to go and spend money! There were some amazing deals there on our favorite running gear, like 50% off shoes, Skirt Sport clothes, Sweaty Bands headbands, ect. So we browsed and walked around the expo looking at all of the items that we wanted but didn't buy since we weren't expecting to spend money. 

As you can image that only lasted so long. Lisa and I purchased race entries to the 80's Rad Retro Run, which is on May 10 (the day after my 21st birthday!). The expo also had music, chocolate covered marshmallows, and hot chocolate of course!

Below is the goodie bag that we got with packet pickup. I also got a free coffee mug (with a coupon from another blogger when I signed up)

Giveaway Winner

The winner of the giveaway is Tara! Tara if you would send us an email with your information to claim your prize, it will be on its way to you soon!

The race recap will be up soon so be sure to check back for that! (The blog post after that will have a giveaway too!)