Some thoughts and discussions from me.

Good morning – and happy New Year! Party smile

Last night we rung in the new year with a surprise party for our friend, Greg (Lauren’s hubby.) With friends, laughs, staying up way past my bedtime, and champagne, it was quite the indulgent night. Most New Year’s Eves I usually throw caution to the wind, and just enjoy myself (from a food and drink stand point,) but then in the ultimate contrast, every January 1st (or 2nd,) I find myself thinking about how to live the year as healthily as I can.

I’ve never declared that I’m a resolutions sort of gal. In fact, I’ve repeatedly said on here that I never make New Year’s resolutions – but rather intentions. With that said, I have a list of ways on how I intend on living a healthy lifestyle in 2014.

The following post is sponsored by Fitfluential LLC on behalf of Designer Whey

1. Get serious about getting serious.

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I love my workouts lately, but my goals are all over the place. I want to increase my chin ups, increase my deadlift, perfect my squat form, get better at get ups, and more. One intention for 2014 is to pick one major goal and do everything I can until I accomplish it. Then move on to the next goal.

2. Focus on solid nutrition surrounding my workouts. I’m old school – I still like to have a protein shake post-workout. Whichever kind I use, I like to make sure it’s a good quality protein, and made with all natural sweeteners and free of dyes. One of the protein powders I actually recommend to most clients is Designer Whey Vanilla protein powder, because it meets the aforementioned criteria, and it’s extremely inexpensive.

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It stocks up at 100 calories per scoop, with 16 grams of protein, 8 grams of carbs, 5 grams of fiber, and only 1 gram of sugar.

You can also get it and brick and mortar stores, which is sometimes less intimidating for a client who’s new-to-exercise to walk into as opposed to a sports nutrition store. And, it’s super tasty! I also really like to bake (or un-bake, in most cases) with it, especially since I tend to have nighttime snack attacks. It’s a horrible habit, but every night a couple hours after dinner, I need a sweet snack before bed. This protein works great in my peanut butter protein fudge, no bake chocolate protein bars, and grain-free protein bars.

And to make #2 even longer, I’m also focusing on intra-workout nutrition. Right now I’d like to possibly take off a few couple of the pounds I’ve gained over the holidays. That means, I don’t need as many calories as I’ve been taking in lately. So, drinking BCAA’s instead of a full on protein shake after a workout will suffice in some cases for me. Those cases are when my meals surrounding my workouts are sound. Oh! and I’ve finally found an all natural branched chain amino acid powder:

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A week or so ago, I walked into GNC and asked the kid working there that I was looking for an natural-ish BCAA powder – one with out artificial sweeteners. He very rudely scoffed, and said “good luck” …and I just looked at him. He proceeded to feed me some bull about protein drinks, thinking I didn’t know a thing about workout nutrition. I walked out, and thanked him for his good luck wishes. Well, lucky me, there’s this little natural food store called Richard’s in Sarasota, and I saw this on the shelf – an all natural BCAA drink! One without artificial dyes or artificial sweeteners. HA! GNC boy Smile with tongue out I admit it’s not as tasty as other BCAA powders, but I’ll take it.

3. Eat more vegetables.

I’ll be honest – I have to really think about getting my vegetables in. If I don’t take some time at the beginning of the week and prepare and cook veggies to grab and heat up for weekly meals, my rainbow of nutrients are somewhat slim. This year I intend to really beef up (ha!) my vegetable intake by chopping and cooking a batch of them a couple of times a week, as well as incorporating a greens drink into my diet.

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I actually just bought this Greens + Advanced Muli yesterday, and it took me nearly 15 minutes to choke down all 8 ounces of my drink. I honestly don’t think any of the greens drinks can taste good, but for all of those veggies packed into one scoop – I’ll take it.

4. Re-prioritize my priorities. The other day I wrote out a list of my priorities, and then I made out a list of how I thought my time was split up between those priorities. I might make this a blog post on its own soon, but what I saw was very frightening. I love my job, and I love fitness, but if reading and researching fitness articles, studies, and blogs doubles the amount of time that is dedicated to phoning my closest friends? I need a priority shift. And this plays into having a healthy lifestyle by alleviating stress. When I talk to my loved ones, I feel loved, connected, and happier.

5. Take more action in active-recovery.

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This means more foam rolling, more mobility work, more stretching, and perhaps a monthly massage. What you do on your off days from the gym is just as important as what’s going on during the workout itself!

What are your intentions for 2014?