Guest Post: Learning to Love Me by Jamie Anderson RX2Fitness

Sheena asked me to write up something about my weight loss journey.  This is one thing I love to share because it's the one thing that has changed my life the very most.

This comparison picture of me was taken exactly a year apart.. The before is actually my middle part of my journey.  Anyways, You can see I've had a lot of physical changes, but what you can't see is the changes that I made on the inside. (Which to me is has been wayyyyy more valuable than the physical changes because I found out how to love myself) I'm proof that if you change your thoughts about yourself, the outside will follow. It's really weird to me to have a conversation with someone else, to find out they have the same negative thoughts about them, as I did for myself. (I thought it was only me!) Thoughts like "I'm not good enough" "I'm not fast enough" "I'm not skinny enough" "I'm not a strong enough" "I'm not pretty enough"... and the list goes on and on and on. (Why and who put this into our brains!?!) 

Also what I've found is that a lot of women have a really really hard time accepting complimnets. For me every time someone would pay me a compliment I would think to myself "they are just saying that because they feel bad for me." "They are just saying that because I'm the last to finish the workout" I had a list of excuses for myself at why someone would actually like who I was, because I didn't like myself. 

The ending of 2012, I was at a crossroads with my weight loss, I was getting frustrated because I wasn't going anywhere. I decided to take the plunge again and let myself be seen and critiqued in a different way. I hired someone to help me with my nutrition. Little did I know, he would change my life. He saw me. He didn't see everything I thought I was. (every negative thing out there!) I decided to listen to his advice and really make an effort to change my thoughts about myself. The first thing was accepting compliments. If someone paid me a compliment, all I had to do was smile and say thank you, regardless of if I believed the person or not. That taught me to accept love. As I kept doing that eventually my thoughts towards myself started to change. I was good enough. I am good enough. The reason I really love this part about my journey is because I found out how to love myself.  And with loving myself I am more forgiving of my mistakes, I take better care of myself, I'm happier… and things just fell right into place because I love myself for who I am.  See why loving yourself would benefit all parts of your life?

If you are interested, feel free to follow me on Facebook where I share my journey, tips, recipes… and stuff like that.

www.facebook.com/rx2fitness 

Healthy Habits

Spring time is a time to clean out, to reflect and renew.  So much symbolism in spring the plants begin to bloom again ready for a new year to show their beauty, it's when babies are born showing new life, it is when we all get the urge to clean out and purge our homes and it is usually the moment we realize we need to shed some winter weight and get back into shape for summer time.  The fruits and vegetables that produce in the spring are ones that help the body to cleanse such as strawberries and asparagus.

So much of what we do is built around habit.... Why do you reach for comfort food during stress, is it because that food helps you feel better or is it a habit you picked up along the way.  It is a habit, I have never felt better after indulging in something bad for me because I was stressed.  A lot of what you do is built around habits you have formed, so in order to change and be better, you need to build better habits right!  They say it takes 21 days to build a new habit and I think that is about right.  What I am wanting to do is start slowly and implement one healthy habit each week (meanwhile keeping the old habit going too), and slowly build myself into a healthier version of me!  I am hoping that you will join with me and we can support and encourage each other along the way.  Things are always better with a friend, and studies show that being accountable to someone else increases your chances of success.  I am hoping that you all are as excited about this as I am.  Each Monday morning I will post a new habit that we are working on that week and some information about how to succeed doing it, and why we would want to.  Who is in on this with me?  I will post the Challenge on Monday on the blog and the fb page and then I will be checking in daily to remind you on the facebook page.  Healthy-Intuition  If you sign up for our e-mail list you will be sure not to miss the challenge for the week.  I will be going with this through the remainder of spring, and at the end there will be prizes and possibly surprise giveaways along the way so be sure to follow and participate, and let me know you are participating. 

Pre-Run Fuel Favorite: Protein Oats

Why are steel cut oats so good for you?
Oats are a high nutrient plant food that has a ton of nutrition, Vit E, B, and minerals - calcium, magnesium, potassium, selenium copper, zinc, iron and manganese.  Oats are also great because they don't spike your blood sugar the way refined carbohydrates do.

According to the book Beauty Detox Foods by Kimberly Snyder "In a study at Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, it was determined that consumption of whole grains can contribute to favorable metabolic alterations that may reduce long-term weight gain.  This along with fat reduction, will help reduce cellulite."

Oats are beneficial to heart health, and can help prevent diabetes due to the slow uptake of glucose.

Here is my recipe for what I call Protein Oats:
I absolutely love this breakfast and it is really and easy way for me to add in a bit more protein to my diet without consuming one more boiled egg, or piece of chicken. I love steel cut oats they are my favorite and obviously healthy for you from the information I found about them.  I usually make a big batch to last me the week because really who has time to make a 30+ minute breakfast every morning!  Not this Mom.  So I make a bunch then when I go to reheat some I add in 1-2 egg whites stir them in and reheat it cooking the egg white.  I then put on my topping of choice lately it has been peanut butter with a tiny bit of honey or some dark chocolate chips.  But I have been known to put berries or  just honey, a banana, really your options are endless here.  I have been eating this on mornings before I go run, I need to eat just a little earlier so my body can digest it before I start my run, but it has proven to be a great form of fuel.  It is filling, and one serving with 2 egg whites and 1/4 cup dry oats and 1 tbsp peanut butter has 10.6 grams fat (don't let this scare you it is good fat), 4 g fiber 15.7g protein and 290 calories.  UNDER 300 Calories for a very filling very healthy breakfast!

1/2 cup cooked oats
1-2 egg whites
mixed and heated until egg is cooked
add desired topping and enjoy!