SORE!!! Being sore has never felt so good! I love being sore because it tells me I am working muscles and becoming more healthy. I was able to go to Jazzercise 3 times this week. They have some really fun and killer arm routines. One great arm routine is to Train's "Play That Song". I love it and find myself doing it while I am in the car-without weights of course ;) Lifting is much more enjoyable when I can sing and jam out while working out. It was so great being back to Jazzercise. I think that the West Jordan Jazzercise is the best! Everyone is so welcoming and nice. It was great being back, dancing, and lifting weights. I also was able to meet my other short term physical goal and did not have any fast food. This was not even a temptation for me. I think mostly because I am currently off track and I have so many more healthy and yummy options at home. So YAY! for meeting my physical goals this week! Now lets get to my mental goals... I'm trying to read 300 books this year. In order to do that I need to read 25 a month. I think I'm off to a good start so far. Drumroll please...... This week I've read...... (any guesses?)..... 8 books! I can't tell you how I fit it all in. I read any chance I have. I have a Kindle and the KindleApp on my iPhone so I am constantly reading! You can see all the books I've read on Goodreads but my top two this week were: "Undeniably You" by Jewel E. Ann (382 pages). I nearly threw my Kindle at my wall at 1:30 in the morning because chapter 15. If you read it and get there, text me when you flip out k? I had to email an author I met on FB because she recommended the book and I NEEDED to talk about it. Don't worry, all is well now but I did stay up to an insane hour because I needed to finish it. My second favorite book I read this week would have to be "Sidebarred" by Emma Chase (101 pages). Now this is a novella which means it is a shorter book. It comes after the third book in the series and is like a longer epilogue to see what is going on with the characters. I loved the Legal Briefs series so I was very excited to read this book. So I can say that I am for sure well on my way to reaching my reading goal. Some of my favorite series are coming out with new books so I will be re-reading a lot of books to catch back up with what happened. Again, if you want suggestions, check out my Goodreads (@booksragirlsbf) For my spiritual goal of doing yoga, I was able to do yoga at my house twice this week. I downloaded the free app, "Asana Rebel". You can purchase a coach with it if you want but I think there are plenty of free how to videos in the app and on Youtube. So for now I'm sticking with doing yoga at home. I also need to say how wrong I was about yoga. People make it look so easy (and hopefully I will get to that point). It is a great workout mentally, physically, and spiritually. You have to keep your mind open and clear while going through each pose. I'm excited I have started doing yoga. I think it is something I am going to really love.
Finally, for my emotional goal I was able to have a lot of alone time with my four year old. I am currently off track so every time that my little baby took a nap, Maggie and I were able to spend a lot time together. It's going to be hard going back to teaching in a week but I know it's such a good thing for Maggie to have her own activities without me. I would have to say week one was a success! I am so excited about this journey. Good luck and congrats to everyone out there setting goals and doing amazing work! Be proud of what you have accomplished!!! Xo ~Megan
Having goals is what helps us stay on track for what we want out of life. So I have decided to make goals to become more healthy physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I will have one longterm goal for the year but then I will also have monthly short term goals. I will keep track and check in at the end of each month to see how I'm doing in achieving the goals I have set. This is a learning process for me so I'm starting small and will adjust accordingly. I think that short term goals are so important. That way you can have little celebrations on your way to making your overall long term goal. I also need to keep reminding myself to follow the great advice of Michael Scott told by Dwight:
So many times with a new year I think, "Okay I'm cutting all sugar, carbs, fats, gluten, and dairy! So all things, I'm going to cut all things and just eat carrots and celery all day everyday!". What on earth made me think that this is first of all: practical and second: healthy? It's not! So I'm going to start small and build on these habits I'm setting in place. Physical Goals: LONG TERM: I want to be a size 6 at the end of 2017. SHORT TERM: January: I will not eat fried fast food for the entire month! I also will go to Jazzercise at least 3 times a week. Mental Goals: LONG TERM: I want to read 300 books at the end of 2017 (this just makes my heart happy!) SHORT TERM: January: I will read and rate on Goodreads 25 books this month! Emotional Goals: LONG TERM: I want to be a more compassionate wife, mother, teacher, friend, and person at the end of 2017. SHORT TERM: January: Each week I will send one text or write one note to my husband about things I am grateful for that he does for me. Each week I will spend at least 15 minutes of alone time with Maggie doing something SHE wants without baby sis around. Spiritual Goals: LONG TERM: I want to be more in-tune with myself through yoga and meditation at the end of 2017. SHORT TERM: January: I will practice yoga for 30 minutes at least twice a week. What is a long term or short term goal you have? Comment below. XO ~Megan
Hello! Thanks for viewing my blog. This is my way to track the progress I want to make for 2017. I've heard that if you share your goals and progress with others around you, you are more likely to succeed. Hopefully that is true. This is a long post because I want you to know who I really am. The only way to know who I am is to look at my past and what has shaped me. Who am I? This is a complex question. I have many parts that make me, me. I am a wife and have been since 2008. I met my husband in high school and am still so in love with him. He works so hard to help provide for our family and is taken away from home a lot. I am getting better at handling the single mom thing. I know I can always count on my hubby but the day to day stuff at home, I take care of. I am a mother to two beautiful girls. One just turned four and my other daughter is 4 months old. I am a teacher. I have been teaching for 7 years. I am currently teaching 6th grade. I have taught kindergarten, first grade, second grade, and sixth grade. I am a leader. I just graduated with my Master's in Administration Leadership and Policy (so I can become an administrator at a school). I was very active all growing up. I danced for at least 3 hours a day. And I ate WHATEVER I wanted. I mean, being young, and burning so many calories, I honestly could. I remember my mom always saying, "you can't eat like that forever." It was wishful thinking on my part that I could. I never created healthy habits when it came to eating. I never denied myself food or struggled with eating disorders like some friends had but I also was not making conscience decisions with what I was eating. Now I was never "skinny" (I hate that word but that's for another post). I always had a booty and boobs. But I was fit from dancing so much. I truly loved my body growing up. I felt beautiful and happy. I never felt bad about the way I looked. I am so grateful for my parents always telling me how perfect I was. I was a size 8 and completely fine with that. I would rock my cheer skirt and bikinis and not think twice. I hope I can give my girls the confidence my parents gave me. (Thanks mom and dad! xo). When I graduated from high school and moved out of my parents home, I continued eating easy. By that I mean that I bought and made foods from the inner aisles from the grocery stores. I ate fast food because it was cheap and quick. The biggest thing that I stopped doing, that made such a change with my body, was dancing. I loved dancing growing up and in high school. I struggled with whether I wanted to continue towards becoming a high school dance teacher or become an elementary teacher. I have always wanted to teach and I never struggled with knowing my career. I just wasn't sure which kind of teacher I would become. The biggest factor that made me decide to not become a dance teacher is that I saw how much time my dance instructors put in. I knew that because they were with me at school for 7 hours a day and then an additional 3 after school, they were not with their families. So even though I was accepted into dance programs at a couple different universities, I walked away from that part of my life. I felt like it was either all or nothing. I am always looking ahead and planning my life years in advance. I felt like it was easier to just stop after high school and move on. Looking back, that is a regret I have. Why could I not have both? Why not just enjoy life in the moment and not focus on what could change and happen 5, 7, 10 years down the road? I married my husband a year after I graduated high school. I wanted to get "skinny" after my wedding because for some reason, being a size 10 was too big for me. So I tried the HCG diet. I was eating 500 calories and doing daily injections. It worked for a hot minute but I never changed my eating habits so it just all came back. Two years after I was married I became an 2nd grade intern teacher. This means that my last year at my university I was also teaching school. I loved this experience. I was blessed with an AMAZING TEAM and an AMAZING COACH! These people helped me with my first year of teaching. After teaching this first year and graduating with my Bachelor's degree, I knew I was on the right path. I then moved to teaching kindergarten. That first year was WILD! I was on an incredible team with all new teachers. We learned together, grew together, sometimes cried together due to the stress, and we became close. Now teaching is HARD. It takes so much time, effort, and passion. I was shaping little humans. I put them first (and wouldn't change a thing about that) and me second. I was eating what I could, when I could, and not exercising. With this and the stress, my body continued to change. After that second year I became pregnant and I knew I needed to be in a different grade. I couldn't imagine leaving my little 5 year olds with a sub for 9 weeks. So I went back to second grade. I was probably between a size 10-12. But during this year, I obviously was gaining weight (I mean, hello, I was growing a human). Being pregnant paired with not dancing or exercising and eating easy, led me to gaining more weight. I had my beautiful little girl in my arms and I had not felt joy like that before. I would take the weight and stretch marks 100 times over to have my sweet first baby girl Maggie. After having Maggie and seeing how much I weighed I was not happy. I would have to say I was a size 14? At this point in my life, the number on the scale was the ONLY thing that mattered. I did not care about the size of pants I wore or how I felt. I just cared about that the number on the scale and how it was WAY more than it ever had been. I needed a change. Of course it took me a year or so but then a girl I worked with introduced me to a dance/workout studio. I had so much fun and I began the path to becoming healthier. But it was so far away from where I lived. Because of this, and being a first time mom, plus working full time, I stopped going. But this studio started me on the path of eating better and exercising, I was a size 12 at this point in my life.
I wanted to continue working out (specifically, I wanted to continue dancing). So another girl I worked with introduced me to Jazzercise. I was hooked from the first class! It was fun dancing for 40 minutes and then jammin out to music while lifting weights, and then a quick stretch at the end. I went so much and loved every minute. I was looking forward to going. I worked my tail off and was between a size 8 and 10! Holy cow back to my high school size?! That was exciting. I was getting more tone and I had more energy. I was still working full time with a two year old and having a husband out of town made it tricky. I am blessed that my mom watches my kids for me. She was okay with me coming and getting Maggie at 5:45 at night. Now, there were times I would not go to Jazzercise but I did pretty well going for the most part.
After being active for over a year I got pregnant with my second daughter. Now I tried really hard not to care about the scale. I was between a size 8 and 10 but I weighed more than I did when I was pregnant with my first. But with my first I was between a size 10-12 with my first. It still was hard not to let it affect me. With my second pregnancy I was eating better but then due to a kidney stone, I had to stop eating oxalate (any plant based food basically). So after my second daughter was born in September I am back to being between a size 10-12 (depending on the store--so lame).
My body is different now then it was in high school. I gave up my body to have my beautiful girls. But now it is time for me to have the healthy life I know I can. I don't want to just be "skinny". I want to be physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally healthy. I will be posting my goals for 2017 in my next post. This is a pretty scary thing and WAY out of my comfort zone but I am excited to do it. I want others to know that you can love you and still make positive changes in your life. I want my girls to know what healthy is (NOT JUST SKINNY). This is going to be an amazing year! One last thing that makes me, me is BOOKS! Man, I am an avid reader! I read mostly romances (what can I say, I like the grown up fairy tales and happily ever afters). I do read young adult and fiction as well. Because this is such a HUGE part of who I am, I will be posting about books I read. You can also follow me on Goodreads (booksragirlsbf). I read about a book a day and sometimes when my hubby takes the girls, I can get 2 or 3 in!!! I really want to write a book (or many) and maybe I can do that this year? Now you know who I am. Who are you? Comment below where you are from. I wish everyone a happy and healthy new year! XO ~Megan
For my spiritual goal of doing yoga, I was able to do yoga at my house twice this week. I downloaded the free app, "Asana Rebel". You can purchase a coach with it if you want but I think there are plenty of free how to videos in the app and on Youtube. So for now I'm sticking with doing yoga at home. I also need to say how wrong I was about yoga. People make it look so easy (and hopefully I will get to that point). It is a great workout mentally, physically, and spiritually. You have to keep your mind open and clear while going through each pose. I'm excited I have started doing yoga. I think it is something I am going to really love.
