Advocare: What’s All the Buzz About?

I have recently discovered an amazing opportunity that I want to share with you. I work full-time as a passionate, caring, and dedicated personal trainer. If you’re my client, you know I sincerely care about your training, health, and lifestyle. I want to know what you eat, how often you workout, and most importantly why. Well here I am to present you with an opportunity to experience the top-of-the-line supplements. No matter what your goal: more muscle, weight loss, or better wellness, Advocare has a product for you.

I’ve been using them for a month now and feel more appetite control, energy, and have even experienced some weight loss, without adding in anymore exercise than I normally do. I’ve been a firm believer that strict diet and exercise is the answer, but I have been wrong. These supplements really help me and I believe can help you too! You can check out my Trusted Equipment and Supplements page for some specific items, and shop from here.

Advocare isn’t only for the consumer though. You can become a distributor and receive 20% off each order! (And I don’t make money for you simply signing up, so go ahead and get your discounts now!) If you need extra income (like most of us do in this economy) Advocare can allow you to reverse your debt, start a college fund, or even just help pay the bills. I’ve just started and am already making money, and you can too! I’m here to help. I know a lot of my readers, friends, and family turn to me for health and fitness advice. You know I care about you. And I know we all struggle at times with money. We want to work less and make more, but it’s hard. Advocare is about to help me tackle this ordeal, and I believe it can help you too. Just dedicate yourself, or simply sign up for discounts, and you will reap the health and income benefits.

Honestly, I’m not trying to be spammy or “salesy” at all. That’s not me. I never get paid for my reviews of products. Well here I am trying to help you. Contact me today for more details and I’ll help you every step of the way. If you’re in the fitness industry, click this link and watch the video. If you decide to become a distributor, my Distributor ID is 130735500. Let me know what you think!

Oh Congo: Riots Page 2 (Work in Progress – No Text)

I love this artist! Look at all these fun bunnies! 🙂

Oh Congo

View original post

Losing Weight With An Injury

Losing weight is hard enough on it’s own. Cut out all your favorite junk food, eat out less, go to fewer happy hours, and choose egg white scrambles over the french toast. Stop snacking all the time. Reduce your sodium intake. Eat fewer carbs. It’s hard. I know. I’m doing it.

When you choose to lose weight, you really have to take charge of your life. It takes an immense amount of commitment, dedication, and discipline to get results. Losing weight is a serious mental challenge. The hardest part is eating the right things at the right times, and knowing how much or how little.

The exercise is the easy part compared to the obstacles we face with food. All of the walkable restaurants, bakeries, $5 slices of pizza, coffee houses, and cheap delicious food around does NOT make it easy! It takes a strong mental focus, serious social support, and dedication, to overcome an attachment to food.

You want to eat what you want to eat. When it comes down to it, you want that slice of pizza and cupcake, you want that pint of beer, and you want to have fun at a social outing. You DON’T want to deprive yourself, starve yourself, detox yourself, and ignore your cravings. You want to live life and be happy. I get it.

I’ve been fit as a fiddle, working my ass off to get down to a certain number, size, and look. And then I became injured. I can no longer do any sort of cardio requiring my lower body. Your lower body is your POWERHOUSE of energy burning. Running, cycling, stair climbing, squats, dead lifts, plyometrics, and lunges torch calories. If you have full use of your legs, USE THEM to your advantage.

Over the past 4 weeks, I’ve become more than a few pounds over my ideal weight because of my lack of cardio. This means I’ve had a surplus of calories. Plus, I’ve lost the muscle in my legs from non-use and it has turned to fat. I’m officially in need of a change. At this point, I feel like I’ll do anything and everything to heal this stupid leg injury!

But I can’t accelerate healing – it has it’s own timelime. I am powerless.

Feeling powerless is the worst thing in the world. And when you are fat you know this. You feel powerless over cravings, hunger, thirst, mental roadblocks, and more. You don’t know what to do, and you just want to feel healthy. I get it, and I’m here to help.

I’m joining YOU, my clients, on YOUR weight loss journey. I’m going to try and lose this weight even without the use of my “legs day” or “cardio day.” I need to let my body heal, and I’m ready to do what it takes.

My first step to recovery is to detoxify and cleanse my body. I admit, after moving to DC in April, I’ve been trying tons of new places to eat, indulging in a few too many snacks, trying out a few too many flavors of cupcakes, and going out for drinks. All that stuff didn’t make me fat; but it sent me down a spiral of eating too much when I shouldn’t have. You have to know when to stop, and today is that day. I’m still going to be social and enjoy myself; what is life about anyway? But now I know I need to seriously watch my snacking and get back to my healthy routine.

The Plan
I’m starting my weight loss goal by replacing a few meals with a VegaOne shake and only having a small salad for dinner. This will last 3 days. My next step will be to do a 3-day juice cleanse to give my body a break and let it focus on healing. Last, I will incorporate a 24-hour fast to fully give my body some rest and rejuvenation.

Digestion takes a load of energy and attention from your body. When you replace meals with liquid alternatives (meal replacements, shakes, smoothies, broths, tonic, fresh green juice) it can focus on other, more important tasks, such as recovering and rebuilding.

I hope you come along this weight loss journey with me! Show your support and join in if you’re in the same boat! Say goodbye to being fat and hello to being healthy!!

Best Health,

Nicole

Wellness Weekly!!

I’m one of those people who fills her plate with WAY too much and then tries to chew it all down anyway. Well, I’ve started something new…besides my full time job as a Personal Trainer/Wellness Warrior at Vida Fitness: A newsletter! If you sign up before Friday, you will receive Issue one of Wellness Weekly. I’m slowly figuring out a good format, text, images, type for the newsletter, so it will look a little varied each week. Who doesn’t like surprises and new things?

Join in on the fun, get some recipes, fit tips, and wellness ideas. Please feel free to give me all the feedback and opinions so I can make it the best newsletter in your inbox. Got an idea, question, or special workout you’d like to try? I’ll address it and put it in. Anything it is, don’t hesitate to ask!

If you look to your right, you will see a link to subscribe to my newsletter. Or just click here. Please have your friends join too! I want to help EVERYONE! =P

Best Health,

Nicole

Finding a Life as a Full Time Personal Trainer

Hello Washington, DC

I have landed my dream job. I will help people become fit, healthy, and happy each hour of the day. I will perform fun training sessions as I live in a city full of spark. Somehow I will find a way to discover peace, sanity, happy hours, and brunches.

A personal training job is not a nine to five. It is a 7am-noon and 4pm-8pm kind of schedule. Your life is your job. Your gym is your new home… if you want to make money. I’m excited. I love the work. I love the people. I love getting to know people, forming genuine relationships, and helping people. It fulfills me. It makes me happy. It gives me strength and purpose.

Ever wonder what your purpose was? This is mine.

With a lion’s heart, I will be brave, courageous, and hard working. I will master my skills and show you exactly how much I care about your well-being. But of course, I must find mine first. For me to love you and help you, I must put myself first. Let me be my best, and I will be the best for you.

Busting Fitness Myths

You know what really grinds my gears? Myths. Lies. And Bullshit. I’ve been on a research hunt for the past couple weeks, reading and learning about all the latest studies on fitness, weight loss, and sports nutrition. I’ve come across a lot of claims, a bunch of idiots, and have learned a few great things about fat loss and nutrition. I’ll give you the rundown.

Bull

Some tools believe that an abstract of a small study (n<20) is going to prove their point.
People believe what marketing companies tell them, no matter what facts are shown.
Supplement companies make false claims, or claims made on small, ill-prepared studies.

Things I’ve Learned

Fasted training teaches your body to use fat as a fuel more efficiently.
- This means having an empty stomach for at least 15 hours.
Intermittent Fasting can be a very efficient way to lose fat for most people, Type 1 Diabetics excluded.
Branched-Chain Amino Acids (BCAA) can help a body recover faster and decrease soreness if taken before/during/after an intense workout.
A lot of BCAA supplements are sourced from human hair and feathers. (Gross!)
There is only one pure company I found, Ajipure, which makes BCAA’s with fermentation.

Not sure about something you’ve heard? Let me research the claim for you. Comment below with any diet/fitness questions!

Good Stress Vs. Bad Stress Breakdown

Thrive Stress 101

Bad Stress creates a physiological response in our bodies that makes us tired, irritable, fat, and weak. More than half of the stress we experience is bad stress. When you say that your stress is killing you, you are right. It is weakening your nervous system, organs, mind, and bones. It’s terrible, and we have to find ways to cope with daily stress accordingly.

Many people choose to eat, drink, smoke, or exercise it away. You can guess which one of those methods is the healthiest.

We know about bad stress. We wish we didn’t, but we do. If you’re like me and want to know all the science behind it click here: Scientific Slide Show. Let me know if you have any questions!

Good stress is the small amount of pressure that makes you get up off your ass in the morning and be productive. It is the mediocre amount of stress you put on yourself that makes you actually do something with your day. It is the tiny shot of cortisol that allows your body to wake up and start functioning.

A common type of good stress is the kind you put on your body during a workout. You end up stronger, faster, and thinner afterward. It’s a great type of stress! Another type is studying or learning. You are stressing your mind, but only for it to grow and become smarter.

When I’m Stressed I tend to do one of two things: sleep or workout. I run until I can run no more. Or, I sit on the couch, lethargic, and waste away. Sometimes I combine the two. I try to run it out, physically and mentally. If you think about it, this makes the most sense: our bodies are in fight or flight mode. So the best tactic is to punch a bag or run! I admit, it’s a temporary fix. When I’m running, sprinting, or hiking up that 15.0 incline, I feel great. But when I put my coat on and drive home, I’m back in my head, stressing out about whatever the current life issue is.

So you may ask,”Did it really make you feel better?” Yes. It did. And it made my body feel better because it used up the cortisol and adrenaline that was being pumped out before I got to the gym. It’s worth it.

Cravings can be your health’s worst enemy when stressed. I crave carbs like sourdough bread, cake, and sugar. Our bodies naturally crave carbohydrates when stressed because they boost our serotonin, which calms us down. The bad part is that our body is already full of released sugar because it’s in fight or flight mode. So we eat a cake donut, and add more sugar to our bloodstream. If we don’t use it up by exercising or playing, it turns into fat.

Healthy Foods help our bodies find homeostasis more quickly. They get us back to feeling energized, happy, and relaxed. They fight adrenal fatigue. (Your adrenals release the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline.) When we have exhausted our bodies, eating foods that de-stress us is vital. The Thrive program has these three great videos and handouts to make it easy to deal with stress in a healthy way.

My favorite healthy de-stressing snacks are VegaOne Smoothies, Chia Seed Pudding, and apples or bananas and almond butter. They all tastes like dessert, but they’re healthy. Yay for healthy carbs!

How do you deal with stress? What are your negative and positive reactions to it? What do you crave when your stressed?

Health is a Journey, Not a Destination

Making A Lifestyle You think it’s a diet. You think it’s a cleanse. You think it’s not eating carbs. You think wrong. Health is a lifestyle. It’s a complete way of living. Health is from the moment you wake up to the moment you go to bed and the hours in between. It’s a 24/7 practice. It’s eating, drinking, breathing, and heart-beating. You can eat whatever you want, you can workout whenever you want, and you can socialize in any way. A healthy lifestyle means doing those things with health in mind.

I eat cookies, pizza, sushi, cake, brownies, and dark chocolate. I take days off from working out. I sit in my pajamas all day on sunday and watch tv. I eat chinese food once a week. Does this sound healthy? Not at all! Here is a health-ifying breakdown:

I eat organic cookies I either bake at home, or buy in small portions.
I eat organic vegan pizzas that are single-serving, or made from home on a pita.
I go to sushi once a month or less.
If I eat cake, it’s a mug cake that I make in the microwave. Again, single serving.
Same goes for brownies. (Why have a huge pan sitting around to devour?)
Dark chocolate is afforded to one small square a day, or in the form of Raw Cacao powder to make hot cocoa or chocolate milk.
Rest days are essential to rebuild and recover. Taking an extra one is always okay.
My chinese food is made from Gardein Mandarin Chick’n and Quinoa.
Sunday is a rest day, so I’m allowed to do what the hell I want!

Have Your Cake and Eat It Too You see? You can have all those things if you just healthify them! I have a major sweet tooth. I am a fat kid in a health nut’s body. I love my sweets, but I always keep health in mind when eating them. If I go overboard, I’ll be sure to make up for it in the gym. Aim for balance.

Your life is important. Your vitality, wellness, vigor, energy, and spirit is important. You deserve the best because you are the best.

I may indulge in all those things, but guess what? It’s OKAY. I’m healthy and you can be too.

Find time, at least an hour a day, to devote to moving. If you can’t get to a gym, do some body exercises during one of your TV shows. Squats, Push-ups, Dips, Mountain Climbers. Those four things will shape you up just fine. They will get your body, digestion, and metabolism moving more efficiently.

I know it’s hard to change your frame of mind. Change is a frightening thing. But if you don’t change how you look at losing weight and gaining health today, then you won’t ever get there. You will continue the same behavioral patterns and end up where you started, or worse, heavier and sicker.

If you need any help, just ask. My mission is to fight obesity and that starts with one person at at time.

If being overweight isn’t your healthy lifestyle issue, what is? Tell me below and inspire the next blog. Thanks for reading.

Best Health,

Nicole

Let Go

Let go. Let go of your past. Let go of your anger. Let go of your anxiety. Let your worries float free.

You’ve got to let go to move on. The reason we fail in life is because we are holding onto something that is bringing us down. Would you stay tied to an anchor if it was drowning you?

If you don’t let go of something that is taking up your life, you won’t have room for anything fresh and new.

Cravings, emotions, and attachments can anchor you to that sugary donut, white bread, and want to eat. A love lost, death, departure, and uncertainty can anchor you to not want to eat.

They are making you depressed and pushing you further down into the deep, dark ocean of emotion where you can’t breathe. The past life you lived, the habits that consumed you, and the present issues that are circling in your brain are keeping your mind and body from becoming healthy.

Personal Tidbit. The idea of a perfect body has always been the anchor drowning my ability to have ultimate wellness. The obsession started around age 14 when we all go through that awkward pubescent stage of life. I was in a very rough patch. My parents were going through a divorce that was going on 4 years, I didn’t have a place to call home, and I needed control. The only thing I could control was my diet. I decided I didn’t like everything I was forced to endure, so I stopped the one thing I could: eating.

After many years of nutrition courses, vegetarianism, veganism, and health-nuttiness, I still have issues of wanting the perfect level of health, the perfect body (which is constantly changing), and the perfect life. It’s not healthy, and I try to break this obsession with more health.

My way of dealing and coping with it is to eat the utmost perfect diet: organic, low-fat, full of antioxidants, plant-based, etc. And to be a personal trainer: obligated to having a muscular physique, toned abs, and perfect skin. I’m working on accepting the body I have and letting go of the perfect anchor.

We all have our own issues we need to let go. I have mine, you have yours. But we can’t let them destroy us. We can’t let them drown us.

We must choose to let go of them. It’s no easy feat. It may be a lifelong battle. All we can do is work on letting go: one day at a time, one emotion, one memory, one loss, just one at a time. We can do rituals to make ourselves well, like yoga, meditation, and self-love. We can take medications to block out those obsessive thoughts, but that won’t make our body any healthier. In the end, we must realize, breakthrough, and let go. Untie yourself from the anchor drowning you.

Making It – New York City

I’m going to make it. I’m putting all my eggs in this Empire City and it better hatch a golden goose! Right now, I’m striving to find an apartment that accepts a young up-and-coming woman and her dog, and boy is it hard. It was easier to send cover letters and resumes throughout the city and get a positive response. This apartment search is stressing me out beyond belief. ~~And running it off is not working this time.~~

My daddy always says, “All you need is a roof over your head, clothes on your back, and food in your belly.” Once you’ve got those, everything else will fall into place. Well, Dad, this roof over my head part is stumping me right now!

Making it. Making it. Are you making it? What is your goal in life? What do you want to become? What legend do you want to leave behind? Are you sitting there idly by, not achieving your greatest dreams? Get honest with yourself. If you’re not growing and learning, you are wasting away. Get up. Get out. Go build your Rome.

Maybe you want a great family.

Maybe you want an amazing career.

I want to dominate the health industry with my passion for fitness, health, and happiness. I write here because I want to share a source of facts about health, so you don’t have to weed through all the bullshit on the web. So many websites and shows (Dr.Oz) just try and sell you on something. And after all is said and done, it’s not true one bit. Those statements and claims have not been evaluated, and you’re stuck spending money on something that isn’t making you any thinner, fitter, or healthier.

Your thoughts are what you become. So if you think you are a fat, dumb, loser, then you are. Change that. Think positive. Tell yourself each day, “I am fit. I am happy. I am healthy.” And you will become that. Don’t say, “I want.” Say, “I am. I will.”

It is your choices that give you the life you live. You decided to eat those 6 cupcakes. You decided to waste away a few years in your parents’ basement. You decided to dedicate your life to vanity. It’s all you. You do it to yourself.

And if you’re not working your damn ass off each minute thinking, planning, writing, drawing- whatever it is, you are diminishing your chance of getting that.

Seriously, what is life if you’re not living it? Right now, I’m working to get into New York City, to land some important interviews, and start making a name for myself. I want people to know my name, know who I am, and exactly how hard I will kick their life into healthy shape.

Do you have passion? Do you have drive? Are you channeling your aggression into the right avenue? Start now. Not later. Not tomorrow. NOW!

I know what it feels like to be wanting more, needing more, and wasting time. I know the feeling of depression due to lack of success. I knew all along (and you probably do too) that underneath my laziness, my excuses, my pooch, I have what it takes to be the greatest. Dig deep. Find your drive. Dig deep. Commit and succeed. Do your best and forget the rest. Just fucking wake up and do it already!