new powerhouse drink

12 oz water 1/2 apple
1 c mixed berries
1/8 pineapple wedge with core
1/2 banana
1/4 lemon with peel
10 almonds
10 walnuts
1-2 scoops protein powder, whey isolate
1/2 -3/4 c oats
1 carrot
Broccoli (2 medium florets)
1/2 c spinach or 1 stalk of kale

can also add 1 T extra virgin olive oil
   1-2 whole raw eggs
   grapes or anything else that is good and healthy for you

Mother Guilt

When you make the decision to get healthy and make drastic changes to your life, your food, your workout routine, your body overall there are lots of nay sayers.

There are those who will say you can't. I was told when I first started losing weight that it was impossible to lose. That is would just yo yo and I may lose it for a short time but I would eventually gain it all back.

There are those who say that what you are doing isn't healthy. I faced this when I made changes to my diet. I went completely sugar free for 30 days. No bread.  No fruit. No dairy. No white anything. No refined sugar. Minimal sweeteners.  I was told everything in moderation.  I was told you have to eat fruit. I was told a little won't hurt. I ignored them all. I went 30 days no sugar. It was the best decision I made for my diet. I have some dairy now in the form of Greek yogurt and a little bit of cheese. I have fruit from time to time.

Fruit triggers my cravings for sweet so I avoid it in large amounts. No more than one or two servings a day.

When I said I was going to start lifting weights I was told that I would get big and bulky unless I just stuck to low weights and more reps. People raised their eyebrows and asked why on earth on would want to look like a shemale. Of course I don't want to look like this. But toned and beautiful...absolutely. A well defined muscled body looks a thousand times better than any soft pudgy body tried.

The biggest hurdle to overcome is the guilt. The dreaded "Mommy Guilt" that so many of us heap on ourselves. I work 40 or more hours a week. I workout at least 2 sometime 2 1/2 hours a day. I work hard to make sure that I am not taking time away from my kids. Some days are better than others. I like training in the morning early before they get out of bed. I go get my pump on before they wake, rush home and put us all together and out the door. Sometimes I hit a late night cardio ... like blacklight zumba at 9:00 pm. And sometimes I get to workout out after work. After work is the hardest. It is away from my little ones. My older girls can train with us, the little ones can't. This contributes to mother guilt.

Sometimes this guilt is fed from th outside. I had just had a great workout. I had busted my butt working hard completing several different lifts that involved my chest and triceps. I had my pump on. Then my husband and I hit a cardio class called "R.I.P.P.E.D." that works every muscle group in your body, builds your endurance, and focuses on strength building. I had sweat like crazy. Worked my guts out. High fived my husband on a job well done. And called my Mom to celebrate on my way home. She crushed my high when she said so do you just post a picture of yourself at home so the kids know what you look like? What the hell!! I said nice mom..thanks for the guilt. She quickly retracted and swore she wasn't trying to make me feel guilty but didn't I feel bad that the kids didn't see me cuz I had been working out all night long? I fight myself over guilt a lot. I know my kids have been in daycare heir whole life. I know my older girls help me in ways I can't even imagine a teenager could would or should. I know my husband makes sacrifices so I can achieve my goals. I feel guilt over these things sometimes. I told my husband about what my mom said. He, being the amazing guy that he is, said don't worry about what she said. You spend lots of time with the kids and you are getting healthy. I love this man!! I do worry about the time I spend away from them and if it is too much. I don't think so. I know they know I love them. If anything, I am showing them it is OK to say yes to themselves and their needs.

I need to be healthy. I need to be able to have a strong body to do the things I love to do with them. What better way than to go to the gym and lead by example. Put the guilt aside. Let go of negative thoughts. When someone says you can't..ignore them. Focus on all you do and all you are accomplishing. Let the nay sayers say what they will. They are gonna notice all your changes one day and ask what you did to make the change. Their eyes will gloss over when you tell them it was work, but you know that in the end, you are the real winner.

Trainers

I currently work with a personal trainer. I never thought I would ever say that. Only celebrities and famous rich people with too much time and money on their hands work with trainers .... right?? This is not true. I am about as regular average Joe as it gets. Not to mention I was clueless of what to do on the boys side of the gym. Give me a treadmill or stationary bike any day and I know how to work your ass out. Put me in the weight section and I stick to bicep curls with the 5 pound weight.

The idea for lifting first came from myfitnesspal.com.  I was the cardio queen but I started seeing lots of my friends were lifting weights too. I was intrigued. So I did a little research and found a book called the New Rules of Lifting for Women. I bought it on my nook and read it cover to cover. This guy promised me I wouldn't turn out like some crazy pumped up shemale.  Well I could if I spent hours and hours in the gym and ate what they ate and well I would need YEARS to become like that. I don't want to look like that at all. I want to look like the fitness models. Soft, curvy, toned, and cut. Fit and healthy and attractive. (OK I have soft and curvy but that is part and parcel of the Mommy body gig...I want firm and toned...especially my abs).

Now I was excited to start lifting. The problem was I had no idea what I was doing. I also had this HUGE fear or going to that side of the gym. So I did what any cardio junkie would do....I joined a class. I found a bootcamp class. We used weights and kettlebells and stability balls and weight machines. My bootcamp instructor is also a personal trainer. After about 3 weeks of bootcamp and working on different machines and with various free weights I worked up the nerve to ask her train me on weight lifting. SHE AGREED! of course she would...its her job but still a part of me thought she is gonna take one look at my sissy body and refuse.

Jolene has been working with me for 5 weeks on weights. I have made it to the majority of the bootcamp classes since I went to the first one. They are held twice a week. My strength and definition has increased dramatically in the few weeks I have been training. When I did my first deadlift on August 21 I deadlifted 40 pounds. I was pulling hard it was work. Today in the gym I did a deadlift for 115 pounds! This is huge!!!  I am so excited.  These changes have come because I get in the gym and do it. I just started in lifting as heavy as my arms could pick up. I am still doing that but they are stronger. My husband pushed me hard today in the gym. I thought it was 100 pounds and it was 115 instead. Hiring the trainer to show me how to do all this has been worth every dime I have spent.

Introduction

This is me...Brandy.  I could say things like how I am a mom and a wife and a full time banker, but I really just want to talk about how I love working out.  It is honestly my addiction.  I love it!!  I have just found lifting and have completely fallen in love.  I love the challenge and the force it places on my body.  I am one who loves to constantly be doing and this is one thing I can always do--and always get better at.  You can always add 5 more pounds to the bar. 

As a person, I enjoy playing and having fun.  Being positive is a way of life and I surround myself with those that are.  Joking and laughing and enjoying being around others is what I prefer to do with my time.  I work to live not the other way around.

My new found foodgasm is peanut butter.  I just cant get enough.  It is so effing delicious I just want to keep eating it!!!I love the way it feels on my tongue and coats my mouth.  It is so thick and creamy and delicious.  OMG!!! it tastes good on chocolate protein bars, in my protein shakes, good hell I will just eat it off a spoon in bed.  My husband thinks I am a little strange, but he can kiss my ass...its his fault.  He loves this stuff and it finally rubbed off on me.  **stops to get up and get a spoonfull....mmmmmmmm***

As a diet plan and choice I have decided I need to go completely sugar free.  Not because I want to be some bandwagon jumping freak, I don't have diabetes, I don't even have bad or sensitive teeth.  I just want to lose weight and all the shit I eat that has sugar in it makes me crave it like a beast and I am tired of craving it.  I want control of my food choices, not my food controlling me.  Kicking sugar to the door has been the best diet decision of my life. I eat a lot cleaner when I don't rely on sugar: dairy, wheat, bread, starchy veggies, fruit, refined garbage food, all the other stuff, to fill me up.  When I stick to my good whole foods I feel better, my brain works better, my attitude improves, I become a better Brandy.  Better Brandy = Happy Brandy.  Happy Brandy = Stronger Brandy.  Stronger Brandy = More Weight Lifting capabilities.  Win Win all the way around.

Lifting is my new passion

I love it!! I cant get enuf of it.  And I want to keep doing it.  I think about it all the time.  Good lord you would think it was sex...the high is almost the same.