Up and at 'em

"Whats your secret?", "How do I look like that?", "What am I doing wrong?"

These are just a few of the question I get when people come to me for advice on losing weight and becoming healthy. Its a hard question to answer, but in this post will reveal one essential part to it....METABOLISM. 

People will usually say, "I have great metabolism!" or "My metabolism is slow." What they may not know is that YOU can control YOUR metabolism! 

Controlling it starts with my favorite meal of the day, Breakfast! Breakfast is the meal that gets your body started for the day. Its important to eat a large healthy breakfast (you want this to be your largest meal of the day). Sorry, donuts will not help you in anyway in the morning. Some good metabolism boosting breakfast ideas are; Eggs and turkey sausage, oat meal with flax seed and toast, sweet potatoes, veggies, Greek yogurt...ect. *I will post breakfast recipes soon*.  If you have to add tons of butter or syrup then its probably not going to help boost your metabolism. Once you get in the habit of eating a large healthy breakfast in the morning you will start to see your metabolism speed up and it will show in your weight loss. Along with this sped up metabolism will also come more energy throughout the day and more motivation to eat healthier for the rest of your day. People say a good day starts with a smile...not me a say a good day starts with a good breakfast!

Once you get your metabolism started for the day its important to keep it going. A great way to do this is to drink 8 glasses of water a day. I can't emphasis enough how important this is. Water, like breakfast, is essential for wight loss and staying healthy. Be sure that EVERYDAY you are getting your 8 glasses (or more) of water a day.

If you plan on putting these secrets to action and have questions, concerns, or comments just let me know know by commenting on this post or messaging me through any social media site...I'm here for you guys!

XOXO

Did You Eat Your Veggies Today?

I always find myself forcing myself to get my veggies in for the day. So I decided I need to do something different. I now drink my veggies with breakfast! This is my MEAN GREEN SMOOTHIE.

This Smoothie is absolutely delicious! Put 2 cups of   spinach in the bottom, at a mixture of at least three different fruits (about a cup of fruit). Add a cup of plain Greek yogurt and 1/4 of a cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk and blend! If this is still not sweet enough for you, you can always add a tablespoon of honey or just add more fruit.

I wanted to eat more kale...and lets just say kale isn't the best tasting veggie in the world; so I added it to a smoothie! I add about a cup of kale and a cup of spinach. When I make a smoothie with kale I like to add half an apple on top of the rest of the fruit, this helps disguise the taste of the kale a whole lot better. 

This smoothie is a great pre or post workout snack, as well as a great breakfast to start off any day!                                                          

What's for Dinner?

Whats for dinner tonight?! Spaghetti! Mmmm, nothing like nice tender angel hair pasta; except for the fact that delicious dinner will turn to sugar in your stomach before you get up from the dinner table. Fortunately for you spaghetti lovers there is an alternative! Its called spaghetti squash! Spaghetti squash is great because it takes on the taste of whatever you mix with it, whether it be good ole Spaghetti meat sauce, or you can switch it up and make Alfredo. There are endless possibilities with this dish you just have to be willing to give it a try!

Ingredients:

1 Spaghetti Squash

1/2 can of any type of sauce you prefer (I go with the organic basil sauce)

1 serving of chicken or lean sausage

Pick your favorite veggie!

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees

Cut the Spaghetti squash in half (careful, this part is a little dangerous. Be sure to have a super sharp knife)

set the timer for 20 min (it may be longer depending on how big the squash is and how tender you like it)

When the squash has about ten minutes left, start cooking the meat. I like to ground up my turkey when eating spaghetti but you can also make meat balls with it.

Heat up the sauce in a sauce pan on medium heat

Take a fork and start shredding out the in side of the squash onto a plate. It should come out smoothly and look like spaghetti noodles.

Add your meat and sauce to the top of it, put your veggie on the side and PRESTO! You have a worry free, guilt free delicious meal.

The Secret to Confidence

How comfortable are you in a bikini? How about just in shorts? The answer for me was "not as confident as I should be". Even after working out for over six months I still didn't feel like I could pull of a bikini perfectly. When working out, and dedicating so much of your time to something results are expected and confidence should come with it. One day I went bikini shopping and I just didn't feel like I looked as great as I felt. I had been working on my abs for awhile so that couldn't be the problem. The problem was my legs. So after that day I dedicated 75% of my workout to my legs. I decided if this is what is limiting my confidence then I am going to everything I can to fix it. Here I am a month later and feel like I have conquered what was holding me back. I not only feel more confident in my clothing, I feel more confident in my work out and am performing 100% better than I was a month ago. What was my secret to this huge boost of confidence?

SQUATS
Squat it up Ladies! These may seem like a very manly exercise to perform but there is a reason behind all the hype. They work wonders on leg definition and work wonders on the butt (that's where the confidence will come from;)! This confidences isn't going to come within the first week or even the second week. I almost quit because they were just too difficult, but I am so glad I didn't! I start with just squatting 50 pounds. You might have to start with less depending on what your legs can handle. Perfect this before you move on. Make sure you can perform at least three sets of 12 at 50 pounds before you even think about adding more weights. With this you are building your base. After you have done this add 5-10 pounds and perfect that and keep going till you reach your goals. I saw the most progress when I got up to 100 pounds. Once you conquer this strenuous exercise you will feel like you can accomplish anything. It is such an uplifting feeling and will motivate you to keep pushing yourself.

Follow @gymknowledge on Instagram for the correct form for all your exercises!

Sweet Potato Nachos

I love nachos! Every time I go out for Mexican I would always go for the extra large nachos...my mouth is watering just thinking about it!

Good news, I have a Healthy alternative! Those extra salty tortilla chips and large amount of dairy in the sour cream just wasn't cutting it for my healthy lifestyle. I got the inspiration for these nachos from fitfunandfantastic.com. I changed the recipe to my liking since I never like to follow exact directions. There are a lot of alterations you can make to this recipe, just try different things and see what you like!

Sweet Potato Nachos
Serving size: 1

Chips:
1 sweet potato
   salt
   pepper
4 tbs olive oil

Turkey mixture:
1 serving of ground turkey
1/4 green bell pepper
3 tbs onion
1 minced onion
  cumin powder (to taste)
  chili powder (to taste)

Avocado topping:
1/2 avocado
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/4 chopped tomatoes

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 425. Cut the sweet potato into thin strips (like a chip) and put them in a cookie sheet. Pour the oil over them sprinkle the salt and pepper over them (mix them around). Cook for 15 min. After 15 min flip them over and cook for another 20 min.

Start cooking the onions, bell pepper, and garlic in a skillet. Add the ground turkey, cumin powder, and chili powder and cook until done.

Put the avocado in a bowl and mash it up. Add the yogurt and stir. Chop tomato and add to top.

Habits, Habits, Habits.

Do you have something you do everyday? Why do you do this?
The reason is repetition. That's all it takes to start a healthy lifestyle, you just have to start. Start having a veggie with dinner every night, start adding fruit to your lunch everyday. When starting a healthy habit it doesn't have to be all or nothing, A habit is learned and can be added to. Just think of it this way; when you start your healthy lifestyle you are a "beginner" but slowly you will evolve to the "intermediate" stage then finally to the "expert" stage. Of course this will NOT happen over night, it won't even happen in a month. You have to teach yourself, and slowly evolve your habits it to nothing but healthy.

One healthy habit leads to another. I realized that the more I ate healthy the more motivation I had to workout. I figured since I'm feeding my body right why not make it look like it. So I began working out. This habit is more challenging to start than most. (It did not happen overnight...it actually took me about six months to make it an "expert" habit). When I started working out it led me to try to eat even better than I already was. I was putting in so much work at the gym that I would remember that and choose the best option for me health. Working out made me accountable for what I ate. This is why getting exercise mixed into your routine is so important.

Eat healthy so you have the fuel to workout and workout so you have the accountability to eat healthy!