I love being able to track progress! It is helpful to see trends and how your journey is going. I have a weight loss tracker for you that you can download and print to use for tracking your weight loss. Remember that healthy weight loss takes time. We are more likely to sustain our weight loss if we change our habits and take it slowly. There is nothing worse than trying to lose weight fast and gain it back because our habits did not change.

Planning in advance is a great way to succeed. When we have a plan, we are more likely to stay on track. I have created a planner for you to plan out your meals for each week. Feel free to download and print off as many copies as you want.

Before we get started on January 2nd, it is a good idea to stock your fridge and cabinets with healthy foods. I have created a grocery list for you! It is not an exhausted list, but it will give you ideas of foods to consider for planning your meals. One of the biggest changes we can make for our health is to cut out processed and packaged foods. Frozen food is fine, but make sure you read the labels! We will talk more about this soon. For now, the less ingredients the better!

Every year in January, people make new goals they want to achieve. Many times weight loss is one of those goals. It can be hard to know where to start and how to be successful. This year I am offering a weight loss and nutrition challenge to help you reach your fat loss goals! As a certified weight loss coach, I can help you develop healthy eating plans, figure out the right calorie and macro goals for you, and teach you how to be successful. Losing weight is not complicated, but it is not easy either. It often takes a mindset change, creating new habits, and dedication and commitment to the journey. If you are serious about reaching your goals and need help, join my challenge!

Here is how it works: Everyday starting on January 2nd I will post a new challenge for you to focus on regarding nutrition in a private Facebook group, or private Instagram page, and on my blog. I will also post tips and ideas for changing habits and creating new healthy ones. There will be a weightless tracker, weekly meal planner, and goals form you can print too. I am also asking that you participate by doing regular check-ins on your journey. I really want to have a community of people who want to encourage each other and share their journey, so if you do not feel like you can or want to commit to that, then this might not be the right challenge for you.

What do weekly check-ins include? I will also be asking you to send me your weekly weigh-ins. Every four weeks you will send in updated measurements and progress pictures.I will also ask that you occasionally share your meals and the ingredients you use. Nothing you send me will be shared without your written consent. Of course that is optional, but ti is a great way to be accountable.

If you are interested in reaching your goals this year but need help, let me know!

I also offer private nutrition coaching for a small fee ($19.99). It includes a customized calorie and macro goal, and guidance in developing an eating plan.

*Because I am not a registered dietician, I cannot give you a customized meal plan, but I can help you create your own meal plan.

Let’s talk about food! Planning out your meals is a great way to be intentional about your food choices. We are more likely to make poor choices when we are starving and have nothing planned, so let’s be purposeful and plan ahead!

The first thing I do is plan my protein source for each meal. I will then build my plate around that protein. For instance, if I am planning out breakfast, I might start with egg whites as my protein. Then I can decide what Carbohydrate source I want to add and finish with a healthy fat. One of my favorite go-to breakfast meals is an egg burrito. I start with egg whites as my protein, add a high fiber tortilla as my carb and fiber source, then add avocado as a healthy fat. I can also add fruit as an additional carb and vitamin and mineral source. I complete the meal with my coffee or tea with collagen powder. I do the same thing for lunch and dinner. I plan out my protein and build from there.

One way to plan out your meals is to get a calendar and plan out what meals you want to make for the week. This will give you a plan to follow instead of throwing a bunch of stuff together last minute without thought to your macronutrients.

Once you know what you want to make for the week, you can start pre-making some of the foods. On Sunday evening, I like to pre-cook my chicken, sweet potatoes, and egg burritos. I then put them into containers, so that I all I have to do is grab what I need each day. I also make enough food at dinner to have left overs for the next day. Planning ahead saves me a lot of time in the morning. I grab the meal I want, put it in my lunch bag and head out the door! It takes a little planning, but it makes life so much easier. I also pre-load my meals into MyFitnessPal. This gives me the ability to see if I have planned enough protein for the day so I can make adjustments if needed. I know tracking meals sounds tedious, but it has truly made my meal planning more intentional and helped me stay on track.

You might notice from my sample weekly plan that I eat a lot of the same foods. This makes life easier for me. I know what I am going to buy each week and that they fit my macro plans. Every few weeks I do search out new recipes or meal ideas, but for the most part, I eat a lot of the same foods. I like things to be simple and easy to make. I think it is also helpful to have a list of protein, carb and fat sources to help in meal planning. You can look at your list and see what foods you want to include in your weekly meals. Check out my nutrition guide for a list of foods to choose from and other helpful nutrition tips.

My biggest tip is to be intentional about the foods you choose. Ask yourself how the foods you eat will help your body thrive. Are you choosing foods that will help your body or harm your body? What nutritional value is in the foods you are choosing? Do you feel your best eating the foods you choose? Have you included a protein, carb and fat at each meal and snack? My goal is to get at least 30 grams of protein at each meal and 10-15 grams at each snack. This helps me reach my protein goals everyday. Having purpose for each meal in the foods you choose can help you stay on track, reach your goals, and keep your body healthy and thriving!

Christmas time is here! I don’t know about you, but it is my favorite time of the year! I love celebrating the birth of our Savior, the beautiful lights everywhere, the smell of pine and cinnamon, and the sounds of Christmas music filling the air. I also love sticking with my workout routine through the holiday season. I am adding this fun mini challenge to add on to my workout routine if you want to join me. I love having a little added challenge to keep me motivated and excited about my workouts. You can follow along each day or pick which days you want to do with me. There will be demonstrations each day on Instagram, so be sure to follow me there!

Download your free calendar, so you know what exercises are coming each day.

October is just around the corner, and I have a new program for you! It will be a mix of new workouts and my older workouts. I have a calendar you can print, so you can follow along each day. New workouts will have a * mark next to them, and all other workouts listed will be in a playlist called “Fall into Fitness”. Are you going to join me?

The day is finally here! My nutrition guide is ready. This guide is NOT an eating plan or a list of foods you should or should not eat. It is my thoughts on nutrition, things that have helped me along my journey, and concepts I have learned along the way. I am in no way an expert, registered dietician, or medial doctor, so please do not take what I have written as medical advice. If you have specific medical needs, dietary restrictions, or intolerances, please seek professional help.

Throughout my fitness journey I became more and more passionate about nutrition as I could see how it benefited my body. I took a year long nutrition course, read as many books as I could, researched anything nutrition related, and tried to glean what I could from nutrition experts in order to help my body thrive. It has been a journey. Figuring out the best way to eat for yourself takes time and patience. Don’t feel like you need to figure everything out right away or eat perfectly everyday. You will good days and bad days. You will want to throw in the towel some days and feel excited about the journey other days. The key is to be consistent and patient.

I hope this guide helps you get started, understand nutrition a little better, and gets you excited to help your body thrive. There are also videos to accompany this guide on my YouTube channel. Check out my playlist titled “Eat to Thrive” for more information about the concepts discussed in the guide.

Please feel free to contact me if you have questions! I am happy to help the best I can. You can share this with a friend too!

Here is the link to the guide:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jNCXzEr3hhlODnKqIYGphqIFRvHWQ3v1B80urbVXNBQ/edit?usp=sharing

Here is the link to the Youtube Playlist “Eat to Thrive”:

Max Strength is here! For the month of August we will be working on strength! Are you ready to challenge yourself? There will be 5 workouts posted to YouTube per week, and a bonus sixth workout in the PDF file in my pervious post. Print your calendar below if you want to keep track of what is coming!

August is just around the corner and that means it is time for a new program! For the month of August we will be working on building muscle! There are 6 workouts per week, but you can choose to do 4-5 per week too. I have attached the PDF of the workout program for you, so you can do this on your own, or you can join me on YouTube to do the workouts with me. You have options! I recommend keeping track of the weights you use during each exercise, so you can track your progress. I look forward to another month of training with you!

We are focusing on basic exercises this month and really challenging our strength and form. There will also be one cardio day per week, however, you can choose your own cardio for that day too. I also recommend getting in zone 2 cardio at least a few days per week. Zone 2 is working at 60-70% of your max heart rate. Zone 2 cardio can include things like swimming, rowing, elliptical machine, biking, or low impact cardio. Let’s do this!