Stop the Insanity! Love Your Body!

In a world with so much competition and comparing to each other, I find it my responsibility to teach my daughter to love and embrace her body for how God created her. I think she is perfect and a gorgeous little woman.  We live a healthy lifestyle with good nutrition, exercise, sleep and lots of fun.

God created each of us different and beautiful in our own special way. All women, men and children are beautiful and one size does not fit all. Hence why there are 31 flavors of ice cream, different colors on the rainbow and variety in the majority of areas in our lives.  It is so frustrating when I hear moms compare their babies, kids, toddlers to others. I get infuriated when moms insult other kids/moms or have the high and mighty "my kids are better than yours" attitude. We as moms need to be positive and lay the platform that are kids are beautiful inside and out.

Since the new year, so many people in my classes are on a mission to lose weight fast and make silly comments, "I want to look like so and so" instead of "I want to workout and eat healthy for my body and to feel great.  I also see so many of them giving up because they don't see instant results. We are all built differently, have different metabolism and our bodies respond differently to exercise and foods. Start by loving and embracing your body and making a commitment to be the best you can instead of wanting to look like your friend or a movie star.

Embrace your beautiful body!
Count your blessings not your blemishes!
Be your body's friend and supporter not an enemy.
Treat your body as the vehicle to your dreams- honor it, respect it and fuel it.
Make a list of 10 positive things about yourself not mentioning your appearance and add to it daily.
Your body is extraordinary: your skin replaces itself once a month, your stomach lining every 5 days, your liver every 6 weeks and your skeleton every 3 months. Respect and appreciate it!
Find the exercise you enjoy and do it regularly. Don't workout to lose weight- do it for a healthy and strong body because it makes your fell good! Exercise for the 3 F's: Fun, Fitness and Friendship.
Find the beauty in the world and yourself.
Life is to short to waste precious time hating your body!
Eat when you are hungry, rest when you are tired and surround yourself with real, true friends who will support you and love you.

Stop the Insanity!! Love your Body!

Being your best at any age!

Everyone keeps asking me how I lost so much weight and what I did to get fit. It is very challenging at 45 and each year gets harder but it is possible! 
My answer to losing 25 pounds= clean eating, drinking a lot of water, working out daily, spending time with family and great  "real" friends, laughing, talking to mom everyday, 8 +hours of sleep and sex!  It is all about loving and respecting yourself enough to make major life changes. 
Each year gets better and better and age is only a number. For me, 45 has been great and 46 is looking even better!

November 1, 2015, I started a 24 day challenge with a girlfriend to lose some weight for our December Christmas trip to Mexico. I went to Crome several times a week, taught my cycle classes 4-5 times a week, played tennis, took my pups on long walks, did yoga and ate clean- super strict on everything I put in my mouth! I felt great, my complexion was clear and my hair/nails were stronger and longer than ever before.

The end of November my orthopaedic surgeon told me to stop Crome and tennis and only do cycle classes along with upper body workouts since he wanted to scope my knee due to a possible meniscus tear. I was devastated since I loved the daily routine I was in and I was feeling great! I continued eating clean and healthy- no processed foods, white flours, sugar, salt, minimal dairy and once in a while a glass of red wine.  I did enjoy a few indulgences over the holidays and my daughters birthday but didn't over do it.  After enjoying foods that had salt and sugar, there was a huge change in how I felt, decrease of energy, sluggish, inside of my mouth raw and I was bloated.  I went back to my clean eating and started feeling better again. I did splurge last week a couple times while celebrating my girlfriends big birthday and Monday I felt horrible again so back to my clean eating an healthy routine.  

People comment how hard it is to clean eat but I disagree. Jacksonville has developed and we have many great options for healthy foods and reasonable prices. Fresh Field Farms, Trader Joe's, Costco, Native Sun, Whole Foods and even Publix- Winn Dixie have many options. Plus we have so many local farms to set up delivery if you don't want to take the time to shop. 

Losing weight and being healthy is 80% +what you eat and 20% exercise, but it is also 150% mental. There is not "quick fix", only a commitment to good healthy, hard work, dedication and will power while also enjoying life.
Some Solutions:

• Don’t go for quick fixes….focus on long term solutions (time will pass quickly enough…as look where you were 6 months ago)

• You don’t have to be perfect to get good results, so don’t beat yourself up for going out and eating things you know you shouldn’t have. Just focus on today and what you need to do. The past is gone, more forward. Do not give up altogether.

• Keep your approach to eating/fitness simple and fun. Don’t look at is as a complicated task, or you will just resent and eventually give it up. 

• Focus on living a healthy life till you are 100.  Diseases are not natural and are something we can help to prevent. With that mentality make the right food choices for a long and healthy life. Then you won’t deprive yourself of any foods.  Choose the ones you want for the right reasons now without anyone else taking them away from you.

• You can be happy right now, it’s all in your head. But it’s something you need to face head on, not avoid and cover up with foods, exercise or other distractions. Once you can master your own happiness, then it’s yours to have every day. 

• Live to enjoy life, eat to enjoy good foods, keep things simple and repeat daily.

Believe in yourself and remember you can do and be anything you want to be! 


Cheers for good health, being fit and lots of happiness. 
Nicole