Like A Feather Friday

Welcome to Like a Feather Friday! 

It is said that a feather is weight-less. So each Friday I want to help you take the weight off. 

Here are a few ways to add Tula to your life. 

Eat Breakfast ~ I know I sound like a mom with this one! I did not eat breakfast from the time I was in Middle school until I was thirty years old. This is such a common bad habit.
Eating breakfast plays a huge role in maintaining and losing weight. So many people will rush off to school or work without eating anything until lunch. 
When you do that your blood sugar drops, you are more likely to be impulsive when choosing snacks and you are left with zero energy. So make your self eat breakfast even if it is a banana with peanut butter. 

Playful ~ In today's world it is hard to imagine yourself as a child. Children are so great at turning the most boring things into playtime. I know there are times you have to "adult", but see life is more enjoyable when you have a playful spirit. Not everything is meant to be serious people! I encourage you to be playful today. Live a little and laugh a lot!

Workout ~ Say hello to Surfer get Ups. This one move is sure to bring up that heart rate for some cardio while building muscle. 
1. Start by laying on the floor belly down. 
2. Pike yourself up to a stagger leg low lung.
3. Rise from lung to standing and pop back down to the ground. Switch sides and repeat!

"We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing." ~ George Bernard Shaw

                                        

My Fitness Journey

Hey everyone! My name is Joanne and I am so happy to be guest posting for Tula Fitness Tribe today. I am a blogger over at cleaneatingmommy.com and a fitness coach via a partnership with Beachbody and Team Inspire. I wanted to share with you, how I started my journey into fitness.

While I was growing up, I was not into fitness or sports at all. I was the typical lazy, overweight kid. I was a couch potato and spent most of my time watching tv and eating to cure the boredom. I was really shy and did not have a lot of friends at school.  I continued on this route through high school and into early adulthood. I never wanted to put in the effort to lose weight. I only wanted to sit around and complain about it but do nothing to change my bad habits.

When I was around 23 years old I decided to make a change. I joined the gym and set a goal of losing weight to go to my brothers destination wedding in Cuba. I had hit 170 pounds and did not want to have to wear a bathing suit in front of others. My goal was to get into a bikini.  Once I joined the gym and was paying to go, it was hard for me to make excuses not to go. I set the date of February 15th as my start date.

I chose that day because it was the day after Valentines Day and I wanted to enjoy the 14th with my boyfriend at the time. I had one last food binge before starting my new lifestyle. I worked out daily and followed a low carb diet, Atkins style diet. By the time the wedding rolled around in May, I had lost almost 50 pounds and felt amazing. I had never felt so good about myself ever. I had a new-found confidence and a new passion for fitness. It was just the beginning for me and it was not always a smooth road.

I had continued on that path for years and sure I gained a few pounds here and there but stayed around the same weight for around 5 years. Then I was dating a new guy that kept mentioning that I was so much "bigger" than girls he had dated in the past. When he asked me for my clothing size for Christmas presents and I told him that I wore a size 4. He swore I was lying telling me that there was no way I was a small or a size 4 and that he dated a girl that size before. That I was a bigger girl and should accept it. Well this hit me hard and then when he broke up with me it hit me even harder.

I kept telling myself it was because I was too fat.  This is when things took a turn.

I went from having a healthy lifestyle to alternating between starving myself and bulimia.

I would eat a cup of soup a day for days at a time. Then I would start eating and binge and purge often. I lost weight but did not look good. I was tired and unhealthy. Family and close friends had brought it up to me but I denied that there was anything wrong. Not so close friends would tell me how amazing that I looked and asked me for “fitness” advice. I felt like I was living a huge lie.

Until recently I had never shared that with anyone but my husband and my step mother. In the photo below, I was at my worst and really struggling with eating disorders and body issues. Two of the photos were from my birthday party that year. The one candid one, really shows how sad and stressed that I was at the time. In a posed picture I looked really happy but on the inside I was really having a hard time.

Then I met my future husband. He made me feel more happy and more secure in myself than I ever had. I had someone who thought I was perfect and loved me for who I was. Things definitely got a lot better and the starvation and bulimia stopped. I went back to working out and eating a balanced diet.  This really became important after we were married and then obviously when I became pregnant with Emma. I really paid close attention while I was pregnant to working out and eating right. Knowing my past with eating disorders, I was really careful to make sure that I was not eating too little or over doing it. Then came the real struggle, finding balance in motherhood.

Once Emma was born, I dropped 20 of the 25 pounds I gained, in the first 4 weeks. I had a c-section so I was not able to workout for the first 6 weeks after surgery. After being given the ok, I was still afraid to go back to working out. It took me about 2 months before I got back into things. I was breast-feeding (pumping). That helped a lot and was giving me decent calorie burn. I was watching the scale stay the same and I was not really watching what I was eating because I had no weight gain.

Then I stopped breast-feeding (pumping). As soon as that happened, the weight started slowly creeping up on me. I also had stopped at the worst time: the holidays. Not only was I burning fewer calories, I was eating Christmas cookie and drinking an abundance of wine. By the time the holidays ended I had put on 20 pounds. I was almost back to my pregnancy weight but with no baby!

I had picked up Slim in 6 by Beachbody and decided to start right after the holidays. It put me back in the fitness groove. I am not all the way back to my pre-baby weight but I am getting closer everyday. I did lose 10 pounds with Slim in 6 and got a lot more toned. I am continuing to use Slim in 6 and alternate it with PIYO. On weekends and some weeknights I hit the gym. I am getting back on track and my passion for health and fitness is greater than it ever has been. Now that I have shared my continuing journey with you, what started your passion for fitness?

I have joined an amazing group of women in Team Inspire and have also taken a step further in my fitness career by partnering with Beachbody the makers of P90X and Insanity. What does that mean?

I have taken on a role as coach and as a mentor. I have been coaching ladies that want to get healthy and fit. How am I doing this?

I have been running awesome challenge groups via my partnership with Beachbody! I would love to have the opportunity to help you get fit and find a love for fitness. Please contact me via our Facebook page for info about my next monthly challenge!

Use it or Lose it!

                            (I used 8 lbs dumb bells, please use what you are comfortable with.)

Here is a work-out that can help you build lean muscle. 

It is important that you incorporate weight training in your workout routine at least once a week.

 Did you know that you gain muscle from birth until the age of Thirty?  

Once you are in your Thirties you began to lose that muscle.

 This is a process is called sarcopenia. 

If you do not work-out at all you are losing 3% to 5% more than those who are.

I linked the article with information on Sarcopenia above. 

It is okay if you do not have a set of free weights. I have used resistance bands along with my children as substitutes. 

  Go grab some weights and let's do this set three times back to back! 

Ready set GO!!!

1. Squatting Lawn Mower ~ Get into a squat position. Make sure your back is flat. Start with the weights on or near the ground. Lift one dumbbell up in a bicep curl, then twist and lift the weight up into a shoulder press. You will want to use SLOW controlled movements. (10 reps on each side)

2. Good Morning & Rise ~ Stand with feet hip width apart and keep a slight bend in your knees. Rise to standing squeezing that booty. Now slowly raise your arms straight in front of you. Again, make sure to move slowly. (15 reps)

3. Handstand Tuck Jumps ~ Find a wall! 

Perform as many as possible. Start in Down Dog position and make sure your core is pulled in tightly. Rock back kneeling close to the ground and jump forward with both legs at the same time. You should land back down pretty softly. Repeat as many as you want. These bad boys really use the entire body and get your heartbeat up!

Take the time to care for your body. It belongs to you and you are responsible for taking care of it. Use it or Lose it!