Happy New Years!!

I started today out with a green smoothie. I made quite a bit so I drank only half of it and headed to the gym. I was so excited to hit the gym today cause it was LEGS day and I was curious to see how my body would handle the tabata style weights blast. Cause I am hella sore from yesterday's chest and abs. And it's been a while since I've had that. Can you say, BODY SHOCK?? Lol. 

Saw this on IG this morning and I loved it!! This pretty much sums up how I've approached my fitness journey this past year. Weight lifting has never been something I've done, but as soon as I made the choice to do it, I've never looked back and it has always been the one thing that takes me out of my comfort zone. And it has been the change that has made the biggest difference on both my mind and my body. Because you have to be strong mentally to be able to take your physical capabilities to new heights. It's amazing!! 

I love this Tabata Weights Blast workout set for the week. It's another workout set from Jim Stoppani. It's a week long and you decide how long you want to do it for. I'm only doing it for this week while awaiting his new program he's releasing next Monday. I can't wait!! I've continued to progress in my fitness and I love this lifestyle!! 

Left pic is from January of this year. Totally skinny with no muscles. It's also the first day of the change that was about to happen from bodybuilding type workouts. I started out with Jamie Eason's 12 Week Live Fit program and loved it. I saw so much results from it. And from there I just started picking different programs from Bodybuilding.com. They're all FREE and they all work according to whatever your goals are whatever hard work you put into it. 

The right pic is from today in the gym. My body totally looks bigger, but I actually weigh less. And I can hecka see my muscle increase throughout my body. It's crazy!! But I'm so happy to see where I'm at and how far I've come. I'm even more excited to see where I'll be at by the end of 2014!! Cause I will never stop this lifestyle. I love it too much and I know Heavenly Father didn't instill this passion in me for me not to pursue it with everything in me. And for me, I just wanna have a BANGIN' body and inspire those around me that you can have whatever you want. As long as you're willing to put in the work, you're already half way there. Just DECIDE to DECIDE. 

That's always how I feel after a GREAT workout!! I leave it all out on the floor and I never look back!! My body has gotten me so many gains in so many different areas!! This year I'll be working towards my goal weight and shrinking my waist and toning my love handles. I'm so excited cause its already in the works.

Walked hella slow on the stair master afterwards and then went and stretched in the sauna. 

I'm in love with the curve in my back and the gains on my butt. I've busted my butt for it so I'll gladly admit it. I am not genetically blessed with great glutes so I don't skip legs day!! I double up on it sometimes. Lol. Nbfr. 

I'm excited and grateful to be alive and healthy for another new year. I can't wait to keep going after the goals that I fell short of in 2013. And the new ones that were never made in 2013. I'm so looking forward to 2014!! I've been blessed abundantly and am so grateful to a loving husband and a loving Heavenly Father. Happy New Years family and friends!! Thanks for being a part of my life and accepting me as I am.  

 

Just a little humor to end this post cause we all know how true this is!! Lol. 

Missing Him

I was seriously texting Hoko about how much I miss him and just as I hit the send button, my phone rings and its him. Lol. This has happened so many times and Hoko always says the same thing. That he can sense when I miss him and that's why he calls. Mmmmhmmm!! Lol. 

It is freezing in North Dakota and he is working the night shift on this rotation. He supervisor just got in on Sunday from vacation and put Hoko on pumps so he can stay warm and not have to do much that requires hard labor while his finger continues to heal. 

He was taking a quick bathroom break and what else do you do when you're in there?? Hello?? Call your significant other!! Hahahahaha!! So TMI!! Lol. But he seriously doesn't ever have any other time to call me while he's working. And they're working through the night til noon tomorrow so they can finish up the job and have New Year's Eve off. Holy cow!! I could never do that!! So I'm super grateful that I don't have to. We have our ward party tomorrow night where we have to make a main dish and a dessert. Haven't decided what we're gonna take. Maybe I'll throw the pork loin in the crock pot tomorrow morning. Yeah....that sounds like a great idea. 

Anyways, I'm missing Hoko a lot tonight because of the fact that he won't be home to ring in the new year with us. It's ok, tho. We had an AMAZING vacation over the holidays and 2014 is gonna be another great year!! I love my husband so much for continuing to make my dreams come true every day!! 

And this has nothing to do with this post, but since I'm so random, lol, I'm gonna put this out there anyway. I saw this on IG tonight and OMG!! I tagged Ashleigh and commented 'Excuse me while I go squat til I pass out!!' 

Motivation never looked so good!! I love you JLo!! And we just watched 'What To Expect When You're Expecting' yesterday where we were all drooling over her body as well. Lol. The goal is to look like that in jeans!! Let the waist shrinking and belly toning BEGIN!! 

Body Shock

Last week I finished up the Shortcut To Shred six week program (refer to previous posts). I've been researching what program I should do next and throwing around a lot of the programs I've done in the past. LiveFit, Clutch Cut, MFT28, etc....  Well, I'm subscribed to Jim Stoppani's website and he has a ton of workout programs on there. Like, a TON!! One of them is the Tabata Weights Blast Workout that's a week long and designed to shock your body and get it outta plateau mode. OH EM GEE!! The BODY SHOCK was real in the gym today!! I loved it!! My muscle pump and muscle exhaustion was so intense!! 

Chest day was a success!! My muscles were sooooo EXHAUSTED!! I was drippin' in sweat!! 

Eight rounds, 20 seconds straight with a 10 second rest. I used the GymBoss app which I love cause I can still listen to music and it beeps to let me know when my set is up and when it's time to start again. 

Straight wore Hoko's tank to the gym cause I miss him and I love wearing his tanks or shirts when I miss him. Always makes me feel like he's there with me. 

Anyways, I'm so excited to keep my body in shock this week!! Jim Stoppani is releasing a new program a week from today to kick off the new year and its exclusive to his subscribers. His gift to us for 2014!! Yeeeee!! It's going down!! 

I'm excited to keep puttin' in work!! I know I'll reach my goals eventually. I ain't got nothing, but TIME!! I love that saying, Abs are made in the winter. But I'm trying to have a fit and cut body 360 days of the year. All four seasons babeh!! Lets do this!!

Post workout meal. 

I'm back to at least a gallon a day. I had a green smoothie this morning for bf. And I've been straight flushing all day!! Lol. 

Goals....To Make Them Or Not?

I made up my mind last week that I didn't really want to make any goals for 2014 because I felt like I've been doing everything I've wanted to do in order to reach my goals. I mean, not everything. I still made spiritual goals, but physically, I just wanted to keep to eating clean and starting new workout programs every time I finish one up. I've been talking to Ashleigh a lot about everything, but she's been making trips to her farmer's market and buying locally grass fed meat. And I've been totally fine with buying meat from Costco cause I love and trust them so much and their products. But Ashleigh was saying that her mom doesn't trust their meats cause it's swollen compared to what she's used to in NZ. It got me thinking a lot about it. I couldn't get it off my mind. 

So the girls and I decided to watch a documentary on Netflix called Hungry For Change. OMG!! I can't believe how much sugar is in EVERYTHING!! And how it's comparable to crack. How food like products with sugar in almost all of it kills more people than drugs, alcohol or car accidents combined.  How crazy is that?? And such an eye opener. 

After the documentary, I started looking up local farms in the area that I can buy locally from. And I'm so happy that I q's able to find one in Morgan, which is only 15-20 min from here. There's also one in Salt Lake that I can go to with more variety of meat as well as dairy that I can purchase. I'm planning to check it out some time this week or next and I wanna take the kids with me so we can all get educated together. I want to bring them up in that kind of environment so that they can make thee best choices for their health. I want to teach them healthy habits that they can incorporate into heir lives forever. And I wanna teach them the difference in taste between real food and food like products (processed foods). And how real food is not only good for you, but tastes delicious. 

So this is one of my goals. And I think its definitely gonna run side by side with my goals of sticking to a budget and getting our debts paid off. We're currently working on re-establishing our credit while we pay off our debts. We got offered a Capital One credit card as well as an American Express. We're gonna get both. One in Hoko's name and one in my name so that we can both re-build at the same time. I'm excited to continually work towards our goals. Doing these things always puts the ball back in our court and gives us back the control we need to move forward in our lives. Hoko working at Halliburton has been such a blessing to us. He's finally found a place where he's getting paid for all his hard work. He continues to excel and is now an operator there. He's gotten 2-3 raises and continues to work so hard. He hurt his finger last month and is already back to full duty in North Dakota. He's seriously so amazing. I don't know how I got so lucky. Anyways, I only named a few of my goals for 2014. I haven't made my official list, but I will soon. Between now and Tuesday. 

Shortcut To Shred

Today was the last day of the six week Shortcut To Shred program in the gym!! I love this program. Tina introduced it to me and once I saw her results from it, I had to hop on it as well. I feel like these past six weeks have flown by. Seriously!! I've seen so much progress on my back and legs. I didn't stick to eating clean throughout the program which is why I'm not as cut as I should be, but I'm life styling and learning what works for me and what doesn't. 

This fitness journey is AMAZING and I continue to learn so much about myself through it. Not just physically, but mentally. I've surpassed so many goals this past year and I'm so grateful for all that my body has gotten me through. The highs, the lows, the in-betweens. EVERYTHING!! 

Hoko rewarded me with so much workout gear last week when we were at the Adidas outlet in LA. I love it all!! Cute workout gear is always so important to me cause I love fashion. And I spend so much time in the gym that I ain't tryin to look ratchet. Lol. Even tho I still do. Hahahaha!! 

I did back, traps and biceps today. Here's some post workout pics. 

There's no filter on any of these pics. I'm so happy with my progress. I feel so great on the inside. I'm writing this post while my chicken is roasting in the oven and my corn is boiling on the stove top. I'm sticking to clean eating so I can really start reaping all my hard work in the gym and at home. I really want this to be a lifestyle so I'm totes happy that Ashleigh is on board with this challenge. 30 days is plenty of time for us to get rid of bad eating habits. Ending the year and starting the new year off right!! 

Disneyland 2014

We had the amazing opportunity to take the kids to Disneyland last Friday while we were in SoCal. Another bucket list cross off has happened once again. I've always dreamed of going to Disneyland during the holidays cause it looks so magical every time I see it on tv. And it was!! 

Seriously thee best candy apples you will ever eat in your life. A must when going to this place!! 

We got the hopper passes for both Disneyland and California Adventure. We started off at Disneyland and went on a couple of rides. While Hoko was in line with the girls at Splash Mountain, one of the workers asked them if they wanted to skip the line and go straight to the front. She was a total stranger, but she introduced herself to us. She was so nice. She didn't know us at all. When they got to the front, the ride broke down so she got us passes to go on any other ride at either park without having to stand in line. Awesome, right? We were so happy and so grateful for this wonderful person. I can't remember her name right now cause I'm terrible with names. Like thee worst. But I'll always remember her face. 

We always go straight to the Jazz Kitchen for their beignets in Downtown Disney. It is seriously soooo delicious. Once we were in the park, we were in the New Orleans part of it and stopped at one of the restaurants to get some more beignets cause that's how much we're addicted to them. And to our surprise, they serve a gingerbread kind during the holidays. And every one was ordering them so I assumed they would be deelish. Well, they were ok. Definitely not gonna order any on our next visit. Lol. It wasn't our favorite. 

Hoko took the kids to the gift shop and they all got to pick one thing each. They are definitely blessed to have such a hard working dad that busts his butt for their happiness and mine. I love that hard working man of mines. 

Another very memorable trip that's going down in the books. I am so grateful for all the tremendous blessings we've enjoyed this past year. 2013 has been an amazing year for our family. I plan on making 2014 an even better one!!