Chicken Gyros

I came across this amazing recipe on Pinterest, Chicken Gyros with homemade Tzatziki sauce. I made these last night and they are to die for. Not only are they delicious, but they're affordable and pretty damn healthy. My husband loved them and is taking them for lunch today. If you're looking to make these I will warn you that the chicken has to marinate for about two hours and the sauce has to sit for about an hour. Other than that, you're golden. 

Check it out here, http://basil-albi.blogspot.com/2011/11/chicken-gyros-with-tzatziki-sauce.html 

Marathon Training

Okay so my wonderful sister in law showed me this marathon training program. It's training to run a marathon in four months. Well as you may know, I'm running a half in 1 month and 3 days.You can use this to train for a half marathon, however you will be about three miles short of 13 miles. I'm not worried about it, because on race day I'll be so pumped that my adrenaline will carry me the last three or close to it. I'm not racing for time, I'm racing to finish and to say I did it! I found this extremely helpful and do-able. I hope you all enjoy this.

http://www.fitsugar.com/Four-Month-Training-Schedule-Your-First-Marathon-1517016#

So here's a little motivation for those of you who are having a rough time.

Training for a Half Marathon

I found this today, because I'm running a 1/2 marathon March 23, 2013. It's crazy I know, but I will do it! Check out this website for a good schedule for running. Please note that you should be able to run 3 miles at least 3 times a week before starting this program. If you cannot it's okay to go ahead and start it, however it will be tough. I have a good 2 mile base built up and can do 3 miles in one workout, but I just go a little slower. It's always important to remember that your pace doesn't matter. As long as you can hold a conversation with someone, then you're going the right pace. 

http://www.halhigdon.com/assets/_legacy/halfmarathon/halfnovice.pdf

Resources for Starting Your Journey

Hey guys! 
I wanted to create a post to give you some helpful websites for starting your weight loss journey. I mentioned in another post that I use calorie and fitness trackers. The two main ones I use are,
www.sparkpeople.com
www.myfitnesspal.com
Both of these are free! They both have supportive communities and track great things for you. (calories, nutrients, water, calories burned, and how many you have left to consume for the day.)
Another thing I find helpful before starting a fitness program is calculating your ideal weights and BMI.
http://www.halls.md/ideal-weight/body.htm this will calculate both for you. It's a very helpful tool to figure out where you should want to be. It also gives you a window of a healthy weight.
If you're going to start running, I recommend mapping your runs. I do this on my iPhone with the Nike+ app. It's wonderful and I love it. It gives you your average mile pace, and can also show you on the map where you ran your slowest and ran your fastest.
Another great way to get fit is to train for a race. Most people start with a 5K or 3.1 miles. I'm currently training for a 10K since I've already ran a 5K. I have an app on my phone for that too. It's very similar to the "Couch to 5K" program that you may have seen.  If you want to start running here's a good program to start with if you stick with it! http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/
These things take dedication, but I'm sure you know that. Remember in 2 months you're gonna wish you started today if you don't start today.

Feel Short on Time Today?

If you're feeling short on time today don't skip your workout all together, try this one instead!
It takes a whole whoppin' 30 minutes and I promise you'll feel good about it once you've done it.
Start off by doing a 15 minute mile on the treadmill
2 sets of 20 sit ups
3 sets of 10 push ups
3 sets of 1 minute wall sits
50 right leg lifts
50 left leg lifts
2 sets of 25 squats
50 jumping jacks
5 minutes of stretching
If you need more of a challenge try a set of dumbbells with squats and when you do push ups why not put your feet on the couch so you're doing them at a decline.

Jump Free Workout if you Live on the 2nd Floor

I've found a jump free workout for those of you who live in an apartment like myself. :-) 
Start off with a 1 min march in place
5 ankle circles (each leg)
10 arm swings (each arm)
20 standing calf raises
15 squats
10 plie squats
10 lunges with twist (each leg)
2 push-ups
10 chair dips also known as tricep dips
20 Russian twists
5 Pilates roll-ups
10 donkey kicks (each leg)
20 bird-dogs
20 side lunges (each leg)
2 min march in place

This one burns, at least for me. I hope you enjoy it. This workout was found at backonpointe.tumblr.com 
She has tons of great stuff on her site.

Full Body 10 Minute Workout Video

This video is a great 10 minute workout with four simple moves. Lateral shuffles, lunges, bicycle crunches, and mountain climbers. Check it out, you will feel the burn!
http://www.fitsugar.com/10-Minute-Full-Body-Crossfit-Workout-23065707

The All Cardio Challenge

Looking to work a little extra hard today, because you had one too many hot chocolates like I did last night? Well try this all-cardio challenge found on backonpointe.tumblr.com. 
40 jumping jacks
30 seconds jump rope
20 seconds high knees
20 seconds butt kickers
30 mountain climbers
5 jump squats
5 burpees
30 seconds jump rope
WATERBREAK
25 jumping jacks
20 pivoting upper cuts
30 second march in place
5 burpees
35 jumping jacks
40 seconds jump rope
5 jump squats
30 second high knees
Don't forget to cool down with a march in place and to stretch.

8 Week Bikini Body Challenge

As we all know it's February and Summer's coming fast! I found a challenge that you all may or may not be into. It's called the 8 Week Bikini Body Challenge it can be found here-> http://fit.lifeplusfitness.com/bikini-body-8-week-program.html. I've looked through it pretty well and it looks, well, tough. However you don't receive gain without the pain. It's a Love Hate relationship. So as stated in the title, it runs for eight weeks and targets all areas of your body.  The workouts for the challenges are in circuits and you repeat them x amount of times. You do a different workout each day targeting different areas of the body. You have one day off each week from your workouts. Something that people always seem to forget when trying to lose weight or to become more lean and tone, is DIET. Diet is so important! If you're not watching what you eat then you're throwing your hardwork away before you ever see the payoff. So please remember to form some sort of diet awareness plan. I use calorie trackers online and on my iPhone. These are great for tracking food and exercises to see where you stand. www.sparkpeople.com is free and has a great community as well as other helpful videos. Coach Nicole does a great job! An app I use on my phone is My Fitness Pal, it's free as well and also has a community that you can connect with for support. My username on my both is mccaulley25. Find me if you use one of these. 
And the last important thing to remember when trying to tone up or get fit is to DRINK WATER. Not tea, not diet soda, but good ol' H2O! You should be drinking anywhere from 8-10 glasses per day to help flush things out of your system.
Have a marvelous day! :)

300 Ab Crunch Challenge

While browsing the web the other day I came across a very interesting challenge program. It's exactly what the title says it is. 300 crunches for your abs, each day. You can find it here ->http://kayciesantics.blogspot.com/2012/03/300-ultimate-ab-and-core-challenge_22.html This blog goes through the moves step by step and has pictures to guide you along. You do 25 of each kind of crunch, eventually getting you to 300. This is brutal and you will hurt, but it gets better as you progress. I've been doing it for four days now and I'm past the hurt. Also feel free to modify any of these moves to fit your own range of motion and personal progress. Remember, as long as you're doing something, you're doing better than your buddy sitting on the couch at home with a bag of potato chips. :)