Motivation Monday: FASTer Way 5K in Kailua, Hawaii

We moved to Hawaii over a year ago and I am still in awe over how beautiful it is. One of the first thoughts I had was, how amazing would it be to run here!

While it is a bummer that my knee can no longer handle running, that is not stopping me from logging the miles and enjoying the scenery. In fact, we have gotten into the habit of walking almost daily to the beach which is about 3 1/2 miles round trip!

For Motivation Monday, I am taking us back to November. Back in November, we officially walked a virtual 5K with the FASTer Way community for our traditional Thanksgiving Day activity. We looked for a local event to join, but there really wasn't any planned for the actual day and sadly, the ones that were did not have a walk option.

So we planned our own!

It was always so important to pick out the right run outfit, so just for fun, the night before I laid out my 5K outfit.

In true 5K fashion, we headed out early, took #walkfies along the way and logged our walk route. It was perfect!

The FASter Way 5K was part of a challenge in the FASTer Way to Fat Loss VIP community. For 5 weeks the VIP community trained together, motivated each other and supported each other. I loved that we did this as a community. The veteran runners were able to go out and do their thing, the new runners leaned on each other through the training days and for those of us that walked, we were 100% embraced and recognized for our accomplishments, too.

One thing that I have learned through all this is that you have to keep moving forward. Even when there is change or injury or whatever road block might be put in front of you, you just have to do what you can, when you can. Feel good about that. Embrace that. Focus on what you CAN do, rather than what you can't. No excuses!

Happy Monday!!

Join the 30 Days of Planking Challenge

Over Lent, my husband and I planked every day for one minute and spent that minute thinking about what we are grateful for. Normally, we give up something for 40 days, but this year we decided to add something positive to our daily lives.

Some days we forgot, so we doubled up the next day and sometimes we planked before crawling into bed. It wasn't a perfect 40 days (although we didn't take any Mulligans either), but we enjoyed it so much that we decided to keep it going. We bumped up our time and have continued to plank every day.

But now we want you to join us.

I am thrilled to announce that I have opened a FREE plank challenge to help you build a stronger core. This is a trying time for everyone who is stuck at home, shut out of their gyms, missing their normal workouts and I want to help. This FUN 30-day challenge can easily be done at home and added to your existing workout routine. The plank exercises will progressively challenge ALL of your core muscles day to day, week to week.

Are you in?

Join me for the 30 Days of Planking Challenge! This is what you'll get:

Achievable and challenging daily plank exercises

Weekend bonuses

Private Facebook Community

Daily encouragement and more!

You get all of this FREE!! 

This 30-day challenge starts with basic planking to get the key muscle groups working together in your core. (Can’t do a plank yet? Start by doing it on your knees, not your toes) Then, you’ll add to the challenge by doing different plank exercises each day. Each week will engage more muscles getting progressively harder.

We will be doing a different plank exercise every day and each week will get progressively more challenging. On the weekends you will be given on optional bonus exercise to do. 

The point is to challenge yourself mentally and physically and to get out of your comfort zone.

Join today by requesting access to the private plank challenge group ---> here.

Comment below with your answers:
Do you prefer to plank or do sit-ups?
How long can you hold a plank?
What is harder, standard plank or forearm plank?

Our HEALTH is NOT Quarantined

Happy Fitness Friday!

Today I want to talk about health and wellness. Shocker! But seriously, I found out this week that the stay at home order in Hawaii has been extended until the end of May. It was supposed to expire at the end of April and I was really looking forward to things returning back to normal.

You may be getting similar news where you are. Are you?

While this is a difficult time, it doesn't mean that we should stop focusing on our health and wellness. Our HEALTH is not quarantined.

Things happen to us, they always have and always will. Things that are out of our control. Things that make our lives more complicated and challenging.

We can choose how to respond. We can decide what actions we are going to take when things happen to us.

Right now, we can still focus on out nutrition, exercise, self-care and positive mindset. Just because our daily routine has changed, does not mean that our health and wellness is less important. It is actually, even more important to focus on how we are going to stay healthy.

You can choose to eat whole foods that are going to help you naturally detox your body and system.
You can choose to move and exercise for 30 minutes each day.
You can choose to stay committed to a routine so that you get enough sleep and take time to relax.
You can choose to look at the situation with positive thoughts.

Our thoughts become words and our words become actions. We control how we respond. Our health is not quarantined.

If working on your healthy living is something you are interested in, but you feel lost as to where or how to begin, I can help you with that. I help women and men escape the frustration of not knowing what to do to get healthy, fight disease and feel engerized by coaching them through the FASTer Way program (learn more about my next round here).

My clients are THRIVING right now because they know what to do. They are focused on their nutrition, exercise, self-care and mindset. You can to!

How are you focusing on your health and wellness? Share in the comments.

Super Simple Chicken Tacos

You may or may not know this about me, but I DO NOT MEAL PREP, not usually. I do not chop and pre-portion and freeze at my house. I might batch cook or use the cook once, eat twice method, but that is about as elaborate as my meal prep gets.

I one hundred percent consider grocery shopping a major part of my meal prep and by that I mean that I'm going to take full advantage of what I can find already prepped for me at the grocery.

Yesterday, we spent the morning paddle boarding (you might have seen what happened to us in my IG stories) and then made our weekly trip to the grocery. It's probably the same for you right now ---> grab your cart and disinfect, wait in line because the store is capping the number of people who can be inside, put on your face mask and then try to shop while staying 6 feet away from everyone else. It's a lot more time consuming!

For dinner, neither one of us felt like spending a bunch of time in the kitchen, on top of the fact that we had not thawed any protein. Enter Super Simple Chicken Tacos and I mean simple! 

One of my best tips for staying on track with your wellness goals while also keeping it simple so you don’t have to spend hours in the kitchen (unless you want to) is to buy pre-cooked protein. I buy pre-cooked shredded chicken for the days when I don’t feel like cooking (or when I forget to thaw the chicken 🤪). *be sure to check the ingredients to make sure nothing has been added (like sugar) that you don't need

Heat up the chicken in a skillet in under 10 minutes, add the taco seasoning and bam! Choose your toppings and serve how you like. I had lettuce cups and mrC had wraps. Super simple and simply delicious!

My recipe for two:

8oz pre-cooked frozen chicken
1 packet taco seasoning
1/2 cup water

Options for toppings: tomato, onions and green chiles (or keep it simple with salsa), (dairy free) cheese, avocado...
Options for serving: romaine lettuce leaves, wraps, hard shells...

Following a healthy lifestyle, like the FASTer Way, does require you to be a chef or make magic happen in the kitchen. To be successful, your meal planning and food prep needs to work with your family routine. It doesn't matter how you do it, as long as you DO IT because failure to plan = planning to fail.

Have questions or want to know more about FASTer Way.
Leave a comment, send me a message or click here!

What does your meal prep look like?

3 Things I Love About Carb Cycling

Carb cycling is the intentional variation of carb intake. When you cycle, you alternate between high carb and low carb days. If you are following the recommended daily nutrition, 45-50% of your calories should come from carbohydrates. On a low carb day, this might drop down to 10-15%.

I know a lot of people are following low carb diets, but many find that it is not sustainable. In this video I talk about why I think carb cycling is better than low carb dieting.

When being strategic about how and when you eat your carbs, you will find that you have more energy and get better results from your workouts. By carb cycling, my clients continue to see fat loss and improvements to their overall body composition, all without sabotaging their hormones and metabolism. ⁣

Here are three reasons I love carb cycling:

1. I get the full benefit of the low carb days without worrying that I will damage my body.

2. I enjoy all the carbs, like fruit, sweet potatoes, quinoa and rice, knowing that what I eat is rebuilding my energy stores so that I can get through my day, my workout and more.

3. The pattern of carb cycling is easy to follow and sustainable because it gives me food freedom. I never feel deprived because low carb days are temporary.

Carb Cycling is one of the strategies that we use in the FASTer Way to Fat Loss program to promote natural fat burning and muscle growth.

Are you fed up with Keto and READY to carb cycle the FASTer Way? Let’s go! Join my next round of FASTer Way ---> click here for the latest info.