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General Weight Loss Tips

A Clean Kitchen and Dining Space

I’ve been spending a lot of time doing some pre-spring cleaning and things are feeling really good in our home. Cleaning + daily exercise makes me feel like I’m on the right track. I started with the kitchen and dining room which needed a good scrub down and reorganization. Things got really out of control during the holidays and I am always motivated to cook more when everything is clean and in order. Behold:

After taking these photos I realized that it looks more cluttered than it feels in the photos. An empty and clean sink!

Cutting boards, mixer, fruit stand, bento box, one of my many salts, and a photo of Simon (the cat).

Cook books and cooking magazines.

And the dining area (right beside the kitchen):

And there you have it. Our small, but mighty (that’s what she said!) kitchen and dining area. I love our home so much, this space was one of the reasons why I fell in love with our house. It feels like us in here.

Categories
General Weight Loss Tips

Back to The Grind

Hello Monday! I have to say this: I (with my husband) worked out six days last week and it was awesome. Most days we worked out in the morning and a couple of the days we worked out in the evening, but we did it! We were sore pretty much every single day. Insanity was majorly ass-kicking. By far, the hardest workout I’ve ever done. Ever. We scream at Shaun T during the suicide drills. I hate you Shaun T., but I love you too.

I like the schedule we set up: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: Insanity. Thursday is one hour of yoga and one hour of strength, and then we finish with Insanity on Friday and Saturday. Our goal is to complete the 60 days worth of Insanity and start running outside again when it gets warmer.

I’m staying away from the scale for awhile, and hope to find it again mid-February or March. Truth be told, and saying this here makes it seem even crazier, but often the reason why I give up so soon on diet and exercise is because I don’t see immediate results on the scale. Which is crazy, but somewhat true for me.

For example, this past week I worked my butt off with exercise. I was consistent, I ate well, I cooked at home a lot, I counted and tracked calories. I worked for it. But, in my mind I think “okay I worked hard, have I lost 50 lbs yet?!” or “how could I NOT lose 10 lbs this week?” it’s so crazy, but I let the scale guide me rather than my actions. I’m looking for insant results and when the scale doesn’t show it- I give up.

So I don’t know what I weight, or how much water or weight I’ve lost. And I won’t know for a least another month. I’m letting my actions guide me right now. I’m trusting that I’m doing the right things for the results I want. Moving more+ eating less. That’s all I can hope for. And I had a real moment with myself when I said “If I just lose 40 lbs this year, that would be great”.

So with that said, I’ve got another week of action goals. Six days of exercise, just like last week. Count and tack calories and cook often.

What are your action goals this week?

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Weight Loss Exercise

Gain Muscle Fast

Gain Muscle Fast

Gain Muscle Fast

Many guys and gals want to gain muscle fast, especially with summer coming and more chances of wearing less clothes. So I thought I would give some tips on how you can gain muscle fast

How to Gain Muscle Fast

Eating to Gain Weight – You need to eat big to gain big. I know all the magazines will let you know that you have to eat enough protein to bloat up a horse. But really you need to eat about 30 grams of protein and 60 grams of carbs every meal. Next make sure that you eat at least five meals a day and if you can up to seven meals a day. Make sure that you are getting at least a couple hours between meals and don’t make them too big so that you can eat every two hours.

Cut the Cardio to Gain Muscle Fast – Cardio is great for burning fat and improving your stamina. One of the problems with cardio is that you are using up energy and burning fat as well as some muscle. The key to your workouts and lifestyle is to decrease the amount of muscle loss to near zero and to keep your energy up.

Concentrate on Compound Exercises – The best exercises to gain muscle fast are to do are the basics such as squats, bench press, and deadlifts. A lot of people will do curls and pushdowns and even concentration curls to work arms when really you will make great gains on your arms by doing the compound exercises.

The best exercises are the best way to build muscle but remember also that you need to do weight workouts quickly and heavy as I will note below.

Keep Sets Short – Make you workouts short so that you can get the most out of heavy weights. The optimal number of reps are 6 to 8 per set but these reps should be all that you can do. Make sure there is nothing left after these reps.

Keep Weight Workouts Short – Workouts need to only be about 45 minutes. Spending more time in the gym means that you will be doing more lighter sets and wasting time. Also there is an urge to do more sets and really doing more sets can be counterproductive to gain muscle fast as it will force you to burn some muscle for energy instead of the glycogen in your muscles only

I hope that these weight tips will help you out. Keep all of these tips in mind and build your lifestyle around them so that this summer your body will be big and you will gain muscle fast as you can get on it.

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