Back in Action! Rockin’ Your New Year’s Resolutions

January 12, 2014
Posted by ashleymichelle

**I have three addictions.**

Shoes.

Statement necklaces.

And SMOOTHIES…

I swear — I’ll never get bored with a single one of them as long as I’m experimenting with the latest trends (YES. Smoothies can be trendy. And NO I will not be giving up any of these three things for a New Year’s resolution. You can’t make me).

Shoes and jewelry exciting? Sure! I’d bet most of you are on board with that. But smoothies? You’re probably thinking that they can be pretty boring– but I beg to differ! In fact, this past fall I did a 30-day smoothie challenge and wasn’t bored one bit! It all started when I kept Instagramming pictures of my tasty smoothie concoctions day after day. Finally, a friend asked if I was doing some sort of smoothie challenge. When I told her I wasn’t, she demanded I create little a project out of this thing in the form of a 30-day challenge. It sounded pretty fun to me so I obliged.

Besides.

**I never turn down a challenge.**

For 30 days I had a healthy vegan smoothie for lunch and/or dinner (sometimes breakfast too!) and experimented with different ways to keep them interesting. And you know what? I enjoyed whipping up tasty recipes so much that I extended challenge well beyond the 30 days. You may think I’m crazy, but allow me to let you in on a little secret….

If you do something over and over again, it becomes HABIT! (Promise).

Eventually that habit will become routine, and routine ultimately shapes your life. Once you truly put your mind to something and get in a groove, it becomes much easier for you to implement change into your daily life. Some people say it takes 21 days to create a new habit, but I don’t exactly believe that’s true (and neither do scientists). The reason? Everyone’s brain is different. For instance, it usually takes me three or four days before I can get into a new routine, but it may take someone else longer– and that’s okay! Change is never easy, but it does get easier over time (you know it’s the truth!).

And what better time for change than now?!

Can I get a “Happy New Year?!”

Credit: brit.co

Now that it’s officially 2014, the resolution season is upon us (over a week upon us at that!)…and you know what that means– everyone and their roommate, sister, brother, mother, boyfriend, uncle (etc…) is promising to exercise more, eat right, start a cleanse, and lose those stubborn pounds. First of all, I applaud you for wanting to take charge of your health– there’s absolutely nothing wrong with resolving to be a healthier, happier, better version of YOU. However, moderation is key and tackling your resolutions in a healthy, mindful way will make all the difference in the world when it comes to resolution success.

While I can’t exactly be there in person cheering you on at the gym, cooking up your dinner, and reminding you to put down the pint of ice cream (I swear I would if I could!), I can help to get you on the right track. I’ll be here posting healthy recipes, ideas, and motivating tips to keep you inspired along the way–feel free to Instagram, tweet, comment, and Facebook me with your progress! I love to hear from my prettyfitlifers (P.S. WATCH OUT WORLD! I just got a Ninja blender over the holidays so keep an eye out for all my tips and tricks for building a better smoothie!).

And don’t worry if you haven’t set any healthy goals yet– you have the ability to start now! But to get you started off on the right foot, I thought I’d share a few of my tried and true tips for success first:

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Ashley’s Tips for Success:

1.) Be realistic:

That list you made with 20 different resolutions? Guess what. You’re biting off more than you can chew, and that’s a recipe for failure. Try to pick the resolutions that mean the most to you (stick to one to five, although even five is a bit generous) and focus all of your energy there. After all, there’s no need to overwhelm yourself before you’ve even started! Set yourself up for success, and success will be yours. REMEMBER: A New Year’s resolution doesn’t need to start the minute the clock strikes midnight on January 1st. You can start today, or you can start tomorrow or the day after that. JUST REMEMBER– YOU NEED TO START .

2.) Be specific:

Do you want to eat healthier? Do you want a toned, energetic body? Do you want to try a vegetarian/vegan/gluten-free diet? Rather than just saying these things, PLAN out how you are going to accomplish these goals. Your focus should be on making lifestyle changes that you can carry over from year to year rather than starting crazy crash diets and cleanses that will keep you on track for a week only to make you irritable, starving, and ready raid the cabinets for a decent snack. Instead, plan out a specific approach. For example, start eating healthier by packing a healthy, veggie-filled lunch the night before so you aren’t tempted to hit the vending machines or unhealthy cafeteria food at work. Get a healthy, toned, energized bod by cutting out processed foods and sugar and make a point to sweat it out (almost) every day (yes, walking and yoga can count! Just crank up the intensity ladies). Try a plant-based diet, but taper off slowly. Swap regular milk for almond milk in your oatmeal or smoothies and commit to eating fish/meat only three (mayyybe four) times a week. As you get more comfortable with creating hearty, plant-based recipes, you can reduce meat consumption further (i.e. eat organic meat just 1-2 times per week, cut out cheese and dairy etc…).

3.) Write it down!

Once you know the direction you’re headed…WRITE IT DOWN! Buy yourself a pretty little notebook and create a contract for yourself based upon the plans you’ve devised above. Use the notebook to keep track of your successes, and yes, even failures. A slip up doesn’t mean you’ve blown the rest of 2014…after all, you have the whole entire year ahead of you to make up for it! Write down the mistake, accept that it happened, and move forward. Having to write down that you didn’t do something is often motivation enough to get you back on track and working even harder than before.

4.) Hold yourself accountable:

Tell people your plans! I don’t mean you have to broadcast all over Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, but if that’s your thing…go for it. Tell your best friend, your boyfriend, your roommate, you mom and let them know how motivated you are to keep up your healthy New Year’s habits. Have them to check in with you or ask you how it’s going. If those who are close to you know your plans and feel as though they are a part of them, they just might cut you some slack when you ask if you can host a healthy dinner party at your place instead of heading out for game-day pizza and beer .

5.) Be positive:

I can’t stress this one enough. BE POSITIVE, BE POSITIVE, BE POSITIVE! Change takes time– it isn’t going to happen overnight. But you are going to hit your goals much faster if you are positive during the process. Negative energy is crippling– believe in yourself and have faith. If you want change badly enough, you will get there. You’ve already committed…that’s the hardest part of all. Now sit back and enjoy the ride!

6.) Reward yourself with love and happy things:

Okay, this sounds a bit fluffier than it really is but hear me out. Changing your lifestyle, being healthy, and keeping New Year’s resolutions are hard! be sure to love and honor yourself throughout the process. Meditate, buy yourself a nice book, take a bubble bath, get a manicure, buy new workout clothes, get a massage, take a nap, bake a healthy treat (don’t reward yourself with naughty food!)….the option is yours! Set some goals for yourself in that little notebook of yours and do something nice for yourself each time you reach one. After all…you deserve it!

It also doesn’t hurt to find a little inspiration

Credit: quotesandsayingsblog.com

Credit: herbalife mom

Credit: thethingswesay.com

Credit: Pinterest.com

Credit: yourdailyenlightenment.wordpress.com

Credit: Pinterest.com

Credit: dailypositivequotes.com

Credit: peachypalate.com

Credit: Pinterest.com

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My new year’s resolution?

To get back into my blogging schedule! Life got a little hectic these past few months, but I’m back and better than ever before. I can’t wait to share my healthy posts with you all and I can’t thank you enough for all of your loyalty and support– I love each and every one of you to the moon and back. And if I can leave you with just one word of advice as you head off to conquer those resolutions for the rest of 2014, it’s this:

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**Stay motivated and you will amaze yourself at what you can do!**

Healthfully yours,

Ashley Michelle xo

Be a Workout Warrior!

February 5, 2013
Posted by ashleymichelle

“Motivation is what gets you started….

Credit: http://aoinspiration.com

Habit is what keeps you going.” — Jim Ryun

Keeping in step with my “Fit for Life” series in these past few posts, I decided it was important for me to cover exercise and fitness. While a balanced diet is vital to you health, weight-loss/maintenance efforts, and over all well-being (as I covered in my last post)…physical activity is just as important. Why? Because if you’re looking to feel stronger, healthier, leaner, stress-free, beautiful, powerful and pretty much ahhh-mazing (and who wouldn’t want that?) you need a combination of good nutrition and good-quality exercise.

Now, I know sticking to an exercise regimen can be tough. We’re tired after a long day of work and taking care of the kids (or in some cases the boyfriend/fiancé/or husband!). Our weekly girl’s nights and happy hours are wayyy more tempting than a hot date with the treadmill. It’s so gosh darn cold outside you’d rather give up your Lululemon Wunder Under Leggings than walk to your car and drive to the gym (and no I won’t judge you for rocking Lulu even if the closest they’ve come to a gym is when you pass it on the way to the grocery store). But the reality is, with fitness…there is no secret potion, special pill, or magical fairy dust to create results for you.

The reality?

You need to wake up and you need to GET TOUGH.

So that’s exactly what I’m going to be.

Photo Credit: iheartinspiration.com

It’s no secret that America is facing a serious health crisis. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 35.9% of adults over the age of 20 are obese and 33.% of adults over 20 are overweight. Even scarier? 18.4 % of adolescents age 12-19 are obese, 18% of children age 6-11 are obese, 12.5% of young children age 2-5 are obese. Also according to the CDC–one-third of all Americans are obese and not one city in the U.S. has an obesity rate of less than 20%. People sit in a car on their way to work, sit all day at work, hit up the vending machines when they need a boost, grab fast food on their way home, or get home so late they can’t eat a healthy meal at all (cue the nighttime snacking). Grocery stores are full of all sorts of sneaky, false-advertised, processed, refined, and sugary junk that clogs up our bodies and keep us craving more of (and spending more on) that bad stuff.

And we can’t forget about stress.

Photo Credit: www.nhs.uk

According to the American Psychological Association, 44% of Americans say their stress level has increased over the past five years. And did you know that stress can actually lead to obesity? Of course, everyone deals with stress differently, but scientists have actually found evidence that supports the stress/obesity connection. The study shows that stress is linked to biochemical changes which then trigger the cravings that can lead to overeating, emotional eating, and obesity. Top that off with the addictive properties of unhealthy foods, and youve got yourself a killer combination (literally).

Now let’s play a game for minute. I want you to think about the last time you were stressed at work. Would you rather have reached for a bag of carrot and celery sticks or that bowl of candy on your co-workers desk and the cake in the break room? My guess is that your first instinct is to reach for the sugary, carb-filled, fattening, processed comfort foods. You see, stress has the ability to trigger certain hormones in the body which then play a role in the whole “pass-me-the-chocolate-before-die” process. When these chemicals and hormones are thrown into overdrive during stressful times, that’s when unhealthy-eating is most tempting. Below, I cover 3 of these sneaky fat-storing and craving -inducing buggers…

1.) Serotonin: Serotonin is one of these hormones and it could be the reason you’re grabbing for the fatty, processed, carb-filled foods when you’re stressed out. Serotonin acts as the body’s “feel good” or “happy” chemical, and when you eat carbohydrates your serotonin levels rise–so do those “happy” feelings. This makes you feel warm and fuzzy all over for the moment…but that’s it. Your problems are still going to be there after you finish that slice of cake!

2.) Cortisol: Cortisol is another stress hormone that I’m sure you’ve heard about before. When you are stressed out, your cortisol levels rise. Chronic stress can cause your body to release extra cortisol, which increases your appetite and cravings and signals the body to store fat.

3.) Neuropeptide-Y: Lastly, there is a less well-known molecule that has a hand in fat storage. Studies show that the body processes food differently when under stress. When you are stressed, neuropeptide-Y is released from the nerve cells and encourages fat accumulation. Fatty, sugary, carb-filled diets further promote the release of this molecule.

So, in a nutshell, a common scenario goes something like this…

Photo Credit: Bing

Okay. This is a tadddd extreme, but still–the point is valid. You get super stressed/sad/angry so you crave something sweet and sugary and/or fried and fattening to make you feel happy (for a minute) because you think “I deserve it!” This quickly becomes an addictive cycle every time you’re stressed. This unhealthy eating habit then causes you to gain unwanted weight and pick up even more unhealthy habits (those addictive cravings will do it to ya!). This makes you more stressed and causes your body to activate all of those fat-storing hormones that (once again) cause you to continue eating poorly, gain unhealthy weight, and become even more stressed than before.

SHEESH!

What a vicious cycle. All of this sounds pretty counterproductive, don’t you think? So… what does help with stress and the risk of obesity/weight gain?

EXERCISE!

Photo Credit: liftrunplay

I’m just going to come right out and say it– I believe exercise can cure almost anything (or at least many of) the health problems riddling our society today. If you don’t believe me…Google it. The studies are endless. Check out some of the fabulous health benefits of regular exercise below.

Exercise can help you…

Control your weight
Improve your mood/reduce depression
Reduce stress
Increase energy
Combat disease (heart disease, high blood pressure, metabolic syndrome, heart attack, stroke, metabolic syndrome, depression, type 2 diabetes, cancer, arthritis, and many others!)
Sleep better
Ignite your sex life <3
Find a new hobby
Think clearer
Look amazing!
Get stronger
Make friends!
Live a longer, more fulfilling life

The list goes on and on and on (check out this NY Times article here for a more in-depth report on the health benefits of exercise). All of these things sound pretty great huh? I mean really people. There’s no excuse not to exercise (it’s actually more harmful if you don’t. Just check out these two articles).

Now, I do understand that not everyone can go to the gym or workout every single day (we do have a life to lead after all) and let’s face it, life loves handing us responsibilities that are non-negotiable. However, there’s a difference between allowing outside forces to hold you back from exercising and getting healthy and allowing YOURSELF to hold YOU back from exercising and getting healthy. I want you to be honest. If the real person keeping you from achieving your dreams is in fact you…something needs to change.

Like I said…there’s no secret potion or a magical unicorn ready to fly you to the gym. If you want change…you have to make it happen yourself. You have to wake, up, get to that fitness class, drive to the gym, go for a run, practice yoga or whatever you choose to do. It takes motivation and it takes hard work but I promise it’s worth it. But you already know that don’t you? Chances are, if you’re still reading this post, it’s because you want to make a change…

**You want to be a workout warrior.**

**You care about your health.**

Congrats.

I have faith in you!

And while I’m not going to sugarcoat it and tell you it will be easy right away, I can tell you there are plenty of ways to motivate yourself and ease yourself into a fitness regimen that will make working out both easier and fun over time. The list below includes some tips and tricks that have helped pump me up and keep me on the path to health. Hopefully they will pump you up and keep you in check as well

Photo Credit: Healthworks

Tips and tricks to get you to “Workout Warrior” status!

Schedule weekly workouts ahead of time! This way, you don’t have to make the “to gym or not to gym”decision on the fly (C’mon, you know the answer will be “not to gym”). Going out with friends after work? Then get up an hour earlier and workout in the morning.
Treat workouts as appointments…NO EXCUSES! Would you cancel your hair appointment or that mani/pedi? Didn’t think so. Want to really look and feel fabulous? Working out is the best kind of makeover– both physically and mentally.
Lay out your workout clothes night before: This is little tip makes getting yourself out of bed for a morning workout that much easier. If your clothes are all good to go and ready to throw on…it’s harder to say no (heck, sleep in them if you have to!)
Pack your gym bag before you go to bed: If you work out during the day or after work, it’s hard to say “forget it” when your bag is already packed and ready to hit the gym. Heck, change at the office before you leave so you really have no excuses for hitting the gym after work.
Try something new and fun! Tabata? Zumba? Spin? Pilates? Aerobic pole dancing? Whatever! Just get moving . If you keep yourself from getting bored, you’ll keep it up.
Buy cute new workout clothes: If you buy em’…you’ve gotta find a time to wear em’ right?? So go on. Treat yourself to something nice.
Get fitted for the right sneaker: This is SO important. Wearing the right sneaker can prevent injury and make all the difference in your workouts. So please don’t just buy those neon yellow sneakers because they’re super cute. Buy them because they FIT. If they also happen to be adorable too? Bonus!
Hire a personal trainer: When you’re paying someone to help you workout, believe me…you’ll show up. Those guys are NOT cheap.
Take advantage of deals/coupons/specials: Groupon, LivingSocial, RueLaLa…you can find some great deals here if you want to test out fitness classes, boot camps and gyms before committing yourself to something full-time.
Find a workout buddy! If someone else is counting on you, you most likely won’t want to flake out and skip a gym sesh. Plus, having a workout buddy is a great way to keep yourself in check and keep each other motivated.
Set an alarm: Set an alarm on your phone to workout and set a couple other alarms throughout the day as reminders to remember your goals.
Buy a trashy magazine: Hey, if that’s what it takes to get you on that stairclimber…go for it girlfriend!
Make a new playlist: Sometimes a brand new mix of music is all you need to get amped up and ready to sweat. Another fun idea? Have your girlfriend/boyfriend/husband make a playlist for you! It adds a fun element of surprise to your workout.
Split your workouts up: This is probably my most helpful trick of all– I choose to split my workouts up so that I do half before work and half after work (or on my lunch break when the weather allows for a nice run). I find I am able to get in harder, intenser, more effective workouts or get in an extra fitness class this way because it makes each separate workout seem short and sweet. In reality, both workouts are anything but.
Invest in simple at-home gym equipment: Oh, it’s raining/snowy/windy/too cold/too hot outside? Good thing you have weights, a jump rope, resistance bands, and a yoga ball at home! Check out some easy at home fitness routines here and here (without equipment)or here and here (with equipment).
Log your activity: Channel your inner elementary school self and make a sticker chart or a “money jar”. Give yourself a gold star every time to sweat it out or add a buck to the money jar. Spend on something nice .
Reward yourself: Did you run a 5k or workout everyday for a week? Finally nail that yoga pose or hold a plank for one minute straight? Woo hoo! Reward yourself with clothes, a mani/pedi a massage (etc…) or anything that makes you feel fabulous! Just remember– you are not a dog–don’t reward yourself with food. A healthy snack is fine…but just because you ran five miles doesn’t mean you get to chow down on a plate of sweet potato fries (They’re still fries. Don’t pretend they’re calorie-free). Believe me, you won’t feel good about it after.
Exercise even if you’re tired: NOTE: This does NOT mean exercise if you’re rundown. This means exercise if your feeling lazy or if you’re hungover. I promise…it will wake you up, give you a healthy glow and put a pep in your step in no time.
Most importantly…CHALLENGE YOURSELF! Exercise isn’t supposed to be easy. And it sure isn’t supposed to be comfortable. So… get comfortable with being UNCOMFORTABLE! that’s the only way you’ll see results and get all the health benefits you possibly can.