Let’s Stop Comparing.

Did anyone else watch the NYC Marathon on TV this past Sunday? I watched bits of it and was so inspired. I know I will never-ever-ever run as fast as the top female finisher! She ran 26.2 miles in 02:25:07. Amazing! To put things into perspective, I’m hoping to finish my first half marathon, 13.1 miles, in around 2:30. Of course, running is her life, not a hobby. She’s an elite athlete and to compare myself to her, for any one of us to compare ourselves to her, would be wrong. It’s unrealistic and not healthy. So, why do we still do it? We may not compare ourselves to top athletes, but we compare ourselves to other women. We’re bombarded by stories on social media about all these amazing success stories and we start to feel bad about ourselves. We start to second guess ourselves, second guess our own progress. I know it happens to me. I’ll be like, “It only took her 3 months to lose 30 lbs, it took me a year! What’s wrong with me?” “She can do how many pull ups? I just want to do 1!” I could go on and on, but you get the point.

Let’s stop comparing ourselves to others. The only person we should compare ourselves to, is ourselves. Let’s focus on becoming better than we were, not better than so and so. We are all at different stages in our lives and journeys, so why compare our middle, with someone else’s end. How do I know what it took for that lady to lose 30 lbs in 3 months! Maybe it was hard for her, maybe it was easy for her. I don’t know. I only know that it was her journey, her story, her moment. Not mine. It took me over a year to lose 30 lbs and I’m ok with that. Why? Because it’s my story, my journey.

Let’s look back at who we were last year, last month, last week, and be proud of the progress we’ve made, the goals we’ve reach, and the hurdles we’ve overcome. Not just in fitness, but in life too. That is much more rewarding and much more realistic. Let’s be happy with ourselves. Let’s live our life fully and wholeheartedly. Let’s promise to stop comparing ourselves to others and focus on ourselves this week! Write down 5 things you’ve done this year that you are proud of and start feeling good about yourself. Deal? Deal!

Let's stop this and start living our own life! — Let’s stop this and start living our own life!

My Fitness Bucket List

I love lists. Like seriously! I have lists for just about everything in my life, from vacation bucket lists to grocery lists. I’ve got quite a few list apps on my iphone! I had a 101 things to do in 1001 days. I got about halfway with that! One of my favorite lists right now is our Summer Bucket List! It’s fun for the whole family. Last Monday I even posted about some of my Fitness Goals & Making Lists.

Anyhow, I’ve been keeping a mental fitness wish list since I started on my fitness journey, but I thought this would be fun place to share what’s on the list right now and add a few new things too! I’m hoping this will keep me accountable and motivated to reaching these goals. Do you have a fitness wish list or bucket list? I’d love to hear what’s on it. Don’t be shy 😉

MY FITNESS BUCKET LIST

Do a pull-up (yup, just one for now)
Complete a half marathon (signed up for one in November)
Run a 10K
Complete a Super Spartan race
Move up to 10 lb. dumbbells during P.I.T. class
Do 3 one-handed push-ups
2 minute plank
Learn to ride a bike (Don’t judge me)
Complete a triathlon (hence, the above item)
Bench press my own weight
Lululemon outfit (does this count? a girl can dream!)
Learn to rock climb

Now, it’s your turn? Leave a comment below and let me know what’s on your list!

xo,

Jessie

Happy Friday | The Challenges of the Weekend

The weekend is almost here and we are looking forward to crossing a few more things off our Summer Bucket List these next 2 days! I’m looking forward to spending time with my family and doing some fun stuff together. Do you have any fun plans for your weekend?

I’m a wedding photographer and lots of weekends are spent away from the kiddos, so we really try to make the weekends we have with them special! As much as I enjoy having weekends off and spending them with my family, I do worry about how I’m going to eat healthy and stay on track while we’re eating most of our meals out of the house. I’ll do really well all week. I’ll workout every day and cook and eat healthy meals. Then the weekend gets here, we’ll be at the park or running around at stores and then BAM it’s time for dinner. Your options are limited and you aren’t going to go home and cook (it’s Saturday, after all). You decide on a place to eat, vow to find something healthy on the menu, and then the bacon blue cheese burger and fries catches your eye….Is this scenario familiar to you? Do you give in to the burger or make a sensible choice instead?

Let’s not let the weekend ruin all our hard work this week! Here are 3 easy steps we can take this weekend when we’re met with temptation while eating out!

1. Tell your family or friends you’re out with that you’re going to have a healthy meal! Just saying it out loud to others will help keep you accountable and when you start drooling over those chicken nachos, they can hopefully help steer you away 🙂

2. Plan a quick morning workout. You can find some on my Pinterest workout motivation board. Anything from 15-30 mins. should do it. Something simple you can do in your home that will help get your blood flowing & heart rate up. I find that taking just a small amount of time for myself before starting the weekend helps me stay on track. It reminds me of what’s more important and I feel stronger when faced with temptation during the day. I’m like, “I worked hard this morning and don’t want to ruin it!”

3. Have fun. Don’t be too hard on yourself. If you give yourself a cheat day or a cheat meal once a week, then go ahead and use it on the weekend when you plan to eat out. Enjoy the time with your family and friends. Don’t be so focused on counting calories or not eating carbs that you forget to live in the moment. Eating healthy and exercising is a way of life, but it shouldn’t consume your entire life.

Have a great weekend and enjoy your messy life!

xo,

Jessie

Exercising for a Good Mood

I’d heard that exercising gave you energy and even helped put you in a good mood . Now, let me be the first to tell you, I was a skeptic. I could not in a million years image how something that was so dreadful and loathsome could make you feel good. Yes, that is how I honestly felt about working out and don’t even get me started on what I thought about the gym!

So, is it true? Does working out give you energy & put you in a good mood? Well, duh! I mean, the scientific facts do not lie. However, I don’t think it really gives the full picture. You see, just because I popped in a cardio DVD every once in awhile did not put me in a good mood. As a matter of fact, if I’m going to be really honest about it, it sometimes (read: usually) it put me in a bad mood. Why? Because it reminded me that I was out of shape, having to use my rescue inhaler 10 minutes into the DVD. Because I worked out from home and ended up being tripped, stepped on, or interrupted by my kiddos. Because if I waited until they napped, they would inevitably wake up early or would refuse to nap all together. And,let’s face it, nobody can properly workout with a crying toddler in the next room.

Ok so are wondering when the motivational part is coming? Here it is. I gave up. Yup, I gave up trying to workout at home and joined a gym. I joined the Las Vegas Athletic Club out of desperation and it was one of the best decisions I have made! You see, it turns out that I needed “my time” more than I care to admit! Although terrified to walk into the big intimidating building, here are a few things that helped me get started. 1) I worked out with a friend or my husband until I got brave enough to go on my own. 2) I tried lots of different classes until I found a few I really liked and Zumba was not it! 3) I put it on my schedule. In time working out became part of the routine. It did take a good amount of time, maybe 4 months or more for me to figure all this out, but once it became a habit, a regular part of my day, I started to see results. Not only in weight loss, but in my energy levels and mood. I noticed that I was able to wake up earlier and tackle some work before the rest of my family woke up. I also realized that on the times I couldn’t make it to the gym, I was cranky by the end of the day. I had less patience and really needed a drink (yikes! Did I just admit that to everyone?!?)

Of course, I’m not saying that everyone needs to go join the gym right now. I’m just sharing my story and what worked for me personally. The point is that you can’t give up. Exercise and a proper diet will give you the results you want. You just have to be willing to make some adjustments, commit to it, and find something you enjoy. It will take time to find what works for you, but once you find it, you’ll know. I’d love to hear what you’re doing to get regular exercise into your routine? Don’t be shy 🙂

xo,

Jessie

Let’s Get Started….

I do not claim to know it all, because well, I know I don’t know it all. I’m no fitness guru and definitely not the perfect mom, hence the title to this shiny new blog, “I’t’s a Messy Life”. Yes, my life is messy and I’m pretty sure yours is too. And if it’s not, why haven’t you shared your secrets with the rest of us?

I started to make some life changes in February 2012 and you can read more about my story HERE. It was a rough start, with no direction, no clue what I was doing, and definitely no plan. I tried every class at the gym, I thought if I worked out I could eat more because I was burning more calories (ha, reality check, that is not the case!). Slowly but surely I found a routine, I started changing my eating habits, and the weight started to come off. But the best thing was that I started to FEEL better! I actually enjoyed working out because it put me in a better mood and gave more energy. You working moms know how much energy is needed to get through the day, right?!?

There has been no magic pill, no easy way out, just lots of sweat (literally) and determination. It didn’t hurt that I’d signed up for Tough Mudder and was scared to death about….well, dying. Thankfully, I didn’t die. I got my orange headband and free XX beer and found a new me in the process.

This new girl takes pictures of her Paleo (and sometimes not Paleo) food on Instagram, checks in every time at the gym, and even poses flexing her biceps. Who am I? Yup, my old friends don’t recognize me and my husband says he has a new wife (I don’t think he’s complaining, though).

This journey is just beginning. I am just now starting to see and feel the benefits of healthy eating and exercising. I’m not perfect. My life is messy. There are days I’ll eat those nachos, I’ll work too much, stress out, and feel like a horrible parent. That’s where this blog comes in. I’m hoping this will be the place I can share my stories, ideas, challenges, failures, and dreams! I’ve got big plans for this little blog and I hope you’ll stick around and join me in the ups and downs of life, fitness, Paleo eating, and parenting.

xo,

Jessie

And because I'm just putting it all out there today, here's a comparison of where I was and where I am now. Yikes! — And because I’m just putting it all out there today, here’s a comparison of where I was and where I am now. Yikes!