8 daily changes I made

My first video blog and more to come!

Switching things up :)

mmm numm numms

1. Drinking water first thing in the morning

2. Learned how to eat things plain

3. Only eat out when you absolutely have to

4. Not keeping a lot of food at home

5. Staying away from anything boxed or premade

6. Skipping the calorie filled drinks

7. Don't accept free bad-for-you food

8. Eat protein after working out and during long days

Don't diet just tweek your routine!

Sleepless Nights Dont Feel Right

Okay, so I know I am my own worst enemy to night eating but why why why???
Thats it, Im on a mission for the cure!
So what compells me to wake up in the first place? Hmmm. oh yeah, BECAUSE I CANT SLEEP.
But if I am ever going to stop that, I need to figure out the reason behind it. Why can't I stay asleep through the night? I need to look straight to the source of the matter which could include several factors, such as,
Working out a few hours before bed.
Having caffeine during the day.
Stress.
Maybe something is bothering me that I haven't acknowledged.
Not eating enough that day.
Eating too much at night so my stomachs hard at work trying to digest all night.
Or had my body just been conditioned into a bad habit?
Hmm I pondered..... and after thinking back to all my countless failing experiences the answer personally for myself was, drum roll please!

ALL OF THE ABOVE. Aw, shoot.
I realized I obviously had some "me stuff" I needed to work on.
I also had a BIG day coming up where I just simply couldn't afford not to try everything in my power to be fully rested without a full belly in the morning.
So here is what I did.

I changed my routine.

I worked out more around noon and skipped the 5 hour energy. I tried to stay relaxed about eating throughout the day making sure most of my little meals here and there consisted of lots of filling protein. I went out with some friends and limited myself to one drink and, when everyone else got foot long subways on the way home, I grabbed a yogurt and those cute little apple slice packs. Then before I went home I confronted a person about something that had been bothering me. And although I didn't get the response I was looking for, I felt a sense of peace that I had gotten something off my chest and got an honest answer, allowing me to let go. Boom, my mind was now silent.
Then I snuggled into bed and didn't wake up till my alarm went off at 8am and I can honestly tell you I had the BEST SLEEP I have had in months, not to add, I KILLED IT on my big day I was talking about.

Just another example of when trying to fix something, it's always best to take a better look at the source first.
Whats the factor for you when you find yourself restless at night?

MMMMMMmm Saucy!



We live in a world based on foods that are TOPPED.
Spices and sauces, oil and salt, dressing, butter, and don't forget jam.
We cover our nutrition in these things to add "taste" because that's what our taste buds are acquired to.
Whens the last time you've eaten something just as it came?
with veggies not sauteed, buttered, or salted?
Salad without dressing?
A sandwich without condiments?
Steak without A1 sauce?
Baked potato without butter?
Toast without jam?
Waffles without syrup?
Coffee without sugar?
In a split second we turn something "plain" into some kind of treat. We turn our food into something we could have eaten and felt good about, to something with either double the calories or enough sodium to make you swollen like a puffer fish for a week.
Especially if you LOVE to eat out like me.
Trying ordering something raw from a restaurant is practically impossible. If you think about it, your paying a lot more for a meal than making your something yourself at home. So the place your giving you hard earned cash to, HAVE BETTER make your food taste GOOD, right? You don't pay double for something you could have picked up from the produce department at a grocery store. Meaning their putting who-knows-what into your food that will keep you coming back for more. Even if it seems like you've chosen something nutritious.... ask for a nutrition menu first, I dare you.
Just recently I was complaining about how healthy I thought I was eating and how I was still struggling with cutting my calories to, my good friend Melissa Busfield, who is a personal trainer and spin class instructor. And she told me something I should have tried out long before. Very simple but genius, she said "Jessica, you just need to learn how to eat things plain."
It's so true. We live in a society where we cook for others and we have to add a bunch of things to impress our guests.
We have so many tools and seasonings and substitutions because we live in a civilized and growing society.We don't live in a country where all we have is what grows right out of the ground and just the animals that graze around. But, in those countries you don't see obesity or much illness either... I see a pattern.
So I'm going to be my own guinea pig in getting my taste buds back on track.
My goal is to get used to eating thing just how they come.
I want in a month to try to eat something with a bunch of additives to it and  not be able to eat it because it's either too salty or too sweet.
Do you think you could do it?

Love to feel good

So what's the purpose of putting our bodies into an atmosphere like the gym or outdoors?
Why should we choose to eat healthier things that don't necessarily give us instant gratification?
The answer should be because at the end of the day it makes us feel GOOD.
And if your a person who says you never work out and eat like crap and can still feel GOOD at the end of the day...so be it.
but I don't believe you.
If you are feeling unhappy, defeated, or any other negative feeling you are attracting negative things. For example, if you feel horrible about the way you look, pick apart your body constantly or you feel guilty for failing your fitness goals you set out for the new year.... you have to understand you are MAKING yourself feel that way.Your going to be more likely to eat donuts and sit glued in front of the television.

You are focusing on what you hate about your body and not what you love.
If you don't love your body FIRST, how you look and feel today, changing your lifestyle to a healthier one is going to be 1,000 times harder.

Ive noticed that I get more things done efficiently and go through with things to reach my goal more easily when I,  get up every morning look at myself in the mirror put a smile on my face and say thank you for my body no matter what weight I am.
I could be standing there, 8 pounds heavier from being on an all you can eat week long cruise and say, "Damnnnn I look good!" Because even if your body isn't perfect and you've slipped up a little.
WHO CARES..... because it's your mind that controls whether you want to feel good or not.You are the remote control to accept and love yourself and I guarantee you eating better and being active will come so much more natural.
Before you eat food or drink water, look at what you're about to eat or drink and feel love and gratitude. Before you go to the gym make sure it's not out of spite of yourself but because your excited to get the adrenaline rush and your blood flowing.
Make sure your conversations are positive when you are sitting down to a meal. Make sure you listening to upbeat music or are with a positive person when you go to the gym.

Love yourself and only good things will happen to your body. Jessica promises :)

"The difference between someone who is struggling and someone who has a fabulous life comes down to one thing LOVE. Those who have a great life imagine what they love and want, and they feel the love of what's they're imagining more than other people."- The Power

And yes I got my first tattoo everybody. Which will be my last one too.
(I literally passed out in the tattoo chair woops.)
When I look at my hand I will be remindedeveryday to give out only love, love fore myself, love for my family, love for the aquantinces I come into contact everyday. Because I believe you recieve what you give out and what beats the feeling of love? not much.

Do what makes you happy, don't do what doesn't

Hello January. Im going to make you my mine.
It is a new year and I am going to start it off strong with making everyday a productive one.
In saying that, not only do I want to continue to do something everyday to maintain my health but also, I want to be proactive in building for my future career. Because here I am. After three years of wandering and moving location to location, I have found myself living in the city of opportunity and it's time to start using the tools that are readily in front of me and the passion I have in my heart.
I have realized that it is not about the things that you enjoy at a certain moment that is what's most important. For me, what's most important is the feeling when you have pushed through things that you DIDN'T necessarily enjoy doing. Because the pride of reaching success with no one to thank but myself when I finally reach it gives me the uttermost happiness.
And I'm talking about any goal. I think it is just so important.Whether that goal is to lose 5 pounds, eat better, tone up, get that job, climb that mountain, ace that test, whatever.... I believe a goal constantly gives you something to concentrate on yourself and a reason to get excited to start the day everyday.

For some people it's not the lack of ideas of making there selves better but, it's the fact that some people just TALK about it so much. Talk talk talk. Do they even realize you can't expect anything to change without doing something differently? Can an object move without any force?  Sometimes I even catch myself expecting things to magically happen. I used to be all talk. Saying, "Oh I am going to move.... someday when I'm more stable in my life, oh I will go apply for those jobs... next week, or oh I will start working out.... after I wake up more."
Time to stop talking and start doing. Time to start getting after the life I always wanted, today. Not tomorrow but today.
At the end of January I will be doing things that I didn't think I could. Life is too short to live a day without passion for something.
What's your passion? What are you excited to do tomorrow? :)

One foot in at a time

If I could snap my fingers and magically start eating perfectly tomorrow, I would
but of course that would be WAY too easy...
I mean, after trying this over night miracle several times and miseraby failing, I had to get realistic with myself
It was about time I tried a more practical method. Like setting one goal at a time.
I needed to put one foot in at a time in the pool and give my body a chance to slowly get used to the cold temperature change. Time to stop trying to jump in head first only to hop right out after feeling the shock and noticing I was in way over my head.
This way I could focus on one bad habit at a time in attempts to conquere my "demon"  then, once I felt like I accomplished it, I woud set a new one.
For me, it's not hard to break habits... it's just getting past that first week.
After that first miserable week when you feel like, "how the heck do people do this?"...BOOM, the next day after you have resisted temptation, saying no to the cookies, the carmel popcorn, and the sourdough spinach dip at that holiday work party, you feel unstoppable.
I may be alone on this but personally, just that feeling of success alone, is enough to keep me on track.
I started this method quite shortly after I started this blog
I'll refresh you...

Goal #1 Lose 2 pounds that week (When I was weighing myself)
Goal #2 No more night eating
Goal #3 No sweets, No Bread
Goal #4 No more weigh ins
Goal #5 No more fast food/eating out
Goal #6 No more high sodium food

Goal #2 though darn it...
I understand we all have our personal weaknesses.
but Goal #2 is the DEVIL....My own personal devil that one day I will destroy.
Goal #2 I have had to skip over and over and move on to the next goal and try to go back and accomplish it later. EVERYTIME.
New Years Resoution: Operation No Eating At Night.
I got this.

When beating yourself up doesnt work, beat something else.

WARNING: this is the only post I will write that doesn't exactly fit the theme of health and fitness.

HOWEVER, I think stress, how we feel inside, and how we deal with things can play a huge part on our well being as a whole.
For example stress can turn people to food, some people bury it inside them until they literally become ill. Others let it consume them to the point of depression where they lose all their zest in life or interest in taking care of their body.
Stress can effect you in negative ways and for some people (like me) can affect your attitude and health.

I realized personally I was stressed when I finished writing my blog today. When I went back and re read what I had wrote and saw that it was more like a diary than a heath and fitness blog,.
"Ok Jessica whats wrong now?"
I realized today this Christmas Eve 2010 I belong in Los Angeles NOT Sacramento.
I feel my body getting antsy, my mind wanting routine, and my heart yearning for something exciting. You may even go as far as saying I sort of resemble some kind of wild creature in a cage. Only, my cage is a little place called, Fair Oaks.
But Christmas wasn't even here yet...
I had to figure out a way to stay sane and happy for three more days until I returned home so today I ran.
 And I ran and ran and ran. Seven miles at least. This usually cures me for the time being so I was surprised when I drove the whole way home with my eyes full of tears and a urge to punch something/one.
So I went with my instincts and listened to what my body wanted to do (or so you could say that trapped creature in the cage wanted to do)... and that was to smash something into another thing and I needed to plan it out soon before I took it out on the next person I came in contact with.
I couldn't stand to have it apart of me anymore.

I took a hammer and a few fireplace logs out in the backyard and had at it.

Now I know your thinking I'm crazy at this point but hey whatever I found a temporary release
Sure, I obviously need to find a less dramatic way in the future to cope when I feel as if I hit a wall but for today I had to do what I felt like would help.

When beating myself up didn't work, I beat something else :)