Shine bright

 Good morning! The sunrise shines in and I am encouraged by the light. Shine on and shine bright! It's a good start to a great day!

FYM retreat. Here I come!

 Good MORNING! I'm off to catch a plane all by myself! I feel like such a big kid again hehe.

Here we go

 GOOD morning! Last crunch for packing and cleaning before I go flying to meet my FYM friends. Here we go......

2 days til FYM retreat

 GOOD morning!! It's going to be a beautiful day and I get to see my FYM ladies in just 2 days! @HollyRigsby @SheriMeierle see you soon!

It's time to vote Fit Yummy Mummy style!!

The FYM New Year's Transformation Challenge has come to a close and the finalists have been chosen. I have read through each one of the essays submitted by the fit yummy mummy group over ClubFYM and so many of them gleaned such great successes with fat loss, inches removed, confidence gained, and wisdom gleaned from the experiences they have had over the last 12 weeks. I was INSPIRED by these women and their successes as they transformed inside and out. A few days remain for you to cast your vote.....I have already! Who will you vote for? Go and find out NYTC Vote.

simple equation for results

 Positive focus combined with constant action produce fruitful results.......Good morning!...off to get those fruitful results.

Go for the fruit!

 Good morning! Positive focus combined with constant action produce fruitful results.

But what are virtues...?

 Patience is a virtue they say......what is a virtue? hehe......positive thoughts, positive thoughts

So close to getting our new home

 Good morning! Off to a running start today on the road of positivity! Excited to jump the last hurdle in the race to a new home

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9:07 pm Last hurdled jumped and cleared.....anyone up to help move? 

He'll grow out of it LOL

 MOM!!!! ....That's how my toddler wakes in the morning.....shocked my hubby right out of his bed yesterday! It was so awful (snicker)...

In order to become...

  "To become a butterfly, you must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar." -- Trina Paulus

Don't get fat from a bunny bearing chocolate!

It's that time of year again. Can you smell it? The fresh scent of cocoa in the air. It's on all the stacks outs and ends of the aisles in all your favorite stores. CHOCOLATE!!!

I went down the main aisle of the grocery store with my boys and I had to PEEL their attention away from the huge display that ran up the middle of the store. Easter time is here again and a new level of holiday gift-giving has arrived. I'm sure you may have noticed it over the last year, but for EVERY "holiday" or occasion they have come out with all the goodies that you can stuff baskets full of and give as gifts. Excellent marketing idea for those who spent ages trying to get people on board giving gift baskets, but NOW it involves every possible thing being tossed in. Toys, books, cards, crayons, but most of all candy! Sugary treats with their packaging changed for the season (like costumes) and to entice the eyes (at all sight levels) of those who like to buy for the occasion.

At some point, I am thinking that when people think of giving to children, that their first instinct is not always going to be laden with sugar. That the "treat" they think they are giving is a "present" left by the Easter bunny as "it" secretly hopped around all night long leaving these gifts of colourfully foil-wrapped chocolate balls and other goodies for kids to gorge on. And of course, as we think these gifts of chocolate will ONLY be eaten by the kids, then we fool ourselves as we may all be familiar with the taste of the tail of the chocolate bunny and a nibble of the tip of its ear (the easy to snap parts) as our children share with us as they have been taught to do with their toys. Those little nibbles and bites add up to a lot of sugar and a lot of unwanted and unsupportive calories. They also leave you hungry, and craving for more with your thoughts all obscured and your children running around in hyperactive circles till they drop from fatigue and exhaustion. About 25 chocolate chips (not even a handful for me) is easily 100 calories or more. That means an average-sized, well-meaning, chocolate easter bunny's appendages can amount to over 500 calories (2 ears, 1 foot, 1 tail, and the paw....flat chocolate bunny), about 1/3 of required calories for an average woman (doing average exercise). That equals almost a full lunch and snack.....2 MEALS worth of calories.

So pray that your generous, gift-basket-bearing-tonnes-of-sugary-treats friends are heavy on the chocolate giving this year (especially if you have more than one child too). And if you like to stock up a basket for your kids at this time, opt for options like coloring books, fancy parkers, pens, and pencils, fruit, carrots, flowers, seeds to plant in the garden (carrot seeds), gardening tools...the options are endless. Or celebrate this time in a way that does not shove unnecessary, and unsupportive foods into their faces and establishing an expected tradition (habit) of celebrating with sugar, gifts, and treats. Focus on the WHY of what you are celbrating this time of year and share it with your friends and family. We can also celebrate by getting together with family, doing something fun and active together, and enjoying quality time. What better time in our economy to up the standard on quality, instead of showering with quantity.

Have a great weekend and enjoyable holiday!

Stay focused on the road

Ever get caught driving and missed your intended exit? What did you do? Did you keep on driving in the direction you were not intending on, hoping that you would be able to take an alternative route to get to where you are going? Or did you slow down, look for somewhere to turn around; and then get back on track in the direction you wanted to head in?

Well yesterday I learned a valuable lesson about being in a positive mindset, and focusing on your goal. Many distractions come into our lives for one reason or another and I believe that how we handle each encounter gives us the opportunity to either be strengthened and encouraged or weakened and discouraged. I was in a situation that took a negative turn and it lead to being distracted from what I was in the process of doing, getting from point A to point B. Instead of regaining focus and getting back on track, it lead into a lengthy"drive" to the edge of where we could go before we found the "road" to get back on again and get to where we wanted to be. Although we "knew" the map of where we were, we were still lost since we were not actively driving to where we wanted to go. More missed exits, and still proceeded on in the wrong direction, further and further away from the desired destination.

Each exit was a choice and opportunity. And each time the choice was made to not take that opportunity it lead to further discouragement, frustration, and distraction. Eventually when we arrived at where we were going, the residue of the "road trip to the edge" still lingered and it took a while for us to warm up to others and share in the celebratory experience. We were driving to a party after all! But it was as if we walked in wounded, limping and in pain. The drive from where we were at would have taken about 7 minutes......we arrived half an hour later with gained wisdom and experience of what not to do. It is important to focus on the tasks at hand and to keep your thoughts positive as it helps to maintain the focus.

So as we drive through the rest of our lives, I am going to keep my eye on where I am driving, with a smile on my face and my destination in mind. But when I get off track, I will make sure to get back on again and share my experiences with others so that they may be helped with that wisdom to walk a straighter path.

The finale of another FYM challenge

Here it is!! The end of another challenging 12 weeks and the excitement is building over at ClubFYM as the New Year's Transformation Challenge comes to an end. Myself and hundreds of others began this journey at the start of the year, applying the Fit Yummy Mummy workouts and setting goals to achieve amazing results from the inside out. As the fit yummy mummies shared their progress over the last 12 weeks I was astonished and overjoyed at how quickly they were seeing results! Many simply applied the workouts, the fundamentals of supportive nutrition along with focus and hard work and they were shedding pounds and inches in weeks!

As a finalist in the Summer Transformation Challenge, it made me realize that the concept of time and the expectation of getting quick results has been skewed by media, and by scams when in reality 4 weeks, 6 weeks, and even 12 weeks is not really a long time at all. The time has FLOWN by again and it leaves me wanting more. Well, there is more to come as another challenge is soon underway at the beginning of May. If you want in on the e.xcitement, and the opportunity to get fit inside and out, pick up your copy of Fit Yummy Mummy and stay posted for the sign up of the next challenge!

Buying a house

 Good morning all! Our strongest offer is in on the house I have been looking at for months! I pray that it gets accepted!

Having a mommy moment and enjoying it!

You may be familiar with the saying "kids say the darndest things", but I am realizing that they get some of that interesting material from their beloved parents. I share some pretty crazy thoughts with my kids and I know that I will probably NOT be sharing the content of those conversations with others. We have developed a special club, my boys and I, and we have special hand shakes and greetings that only we share.

I'll give you a little taste of what goes on in our club house (the rest is "privileged" and "classified" information). Some of the things that they are "exploring" right now....gas and its various volume levels, what makes boys special, putting together outfits on their own and reviewing their trendsetter strengths, and knowing that people make their own choices and to respect their needs.

Being "mom" in the club has it's privileges and as I help to keep my boys healthy in their minds as well as physically in some creative ways. There are things that moms (and dads) have to check on to make sure that their children are healthy, functioning, and growing (not always the most glamourous job) and also have to help train so that as they grow into adults they can function optimally among other "clubs" out there. It's good stuff and fosters an environment that is without judgement and full of feedback about how to do things different and ways to improve the democracy within the club's governing decisions.

With spring break in full swing, I get to spend that extra time with my club members and offer support and fun ideas and activities to engage in......full of options so that everyone can cast a vote and share their opinion. I am truly enjoying their company and what we get to share together. My youngest is a little out of commision this week (having had surgery yesterday) and has been ordered to being a couch potato for a couple days....SUPER challenging for a boys that does laps around the house at least twice each day. So we are having some movie time, story time, a dance performance, and eating our snacks outside of the dining room (oooooooh exciting!). There are a few more activities, but again listed as "classified".

Have a fun week (especially for those "spring breakers") and enjoy the presents of the present.

A man races a pizza....NO JOKE!

My friend Craig Ballantyne of Turbulence Training has decided to race a pizza (I'm not kidding) to prove a valuable fat loss lesson.

See who wins at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQbuzsY_34Q

Make sure to post your comments. I would love to hear what you think about the race.

Stay tuned for tips on how you can be the winner in your very own race for fat loss.

Stay healthful!