Low Impact at Home workouts for beginners! Introducing Strength Training & cardio!

If you are brand new to working out and do not know where to start this is the place for you! You need very minimal equipment or none at all is perfectly fine.
1. The first thing you always start out with is a warm up. Warm ups should be about 2-5 minutes, just to get your muscles warmed up and get the blood flowing so you are ready to go. You can start off with very light jogging, dynamic stretching (stretching one muscle for 10-15 seconds) or other forms of light cardio like jogging in place, butt kickers, jumping jacks, or even lunges in place. If you need any examples, youtube is a great place to help you out!
    

2. Now it is time for resistance training. You can chose to work out one muscle group per day and just focus on that. I like to do all over body resistance training.
- Start off by doing 8-10(reps) crunches and repeat 2-3 times. (2-3 sets)
- Now it is time to workout the arms! Start off by doing anywhere from 3-5 pushups and repeat 2-3 times. Push ups are a very brutal workout when you are first starting out, so do NOT get discouraged if you have a hard time. Take a break and do the best you can if you need to.
-Now it is time to work the lower body. In my opinion, I think lunges are a great way to start when introducing lower body workouts. It is very easy and effective for toning your legs and butt. Do about 5 lunges on each side(10 in total) and repeat one more time.

3. Yay! Good job you just finished your resistance training. Now it is time for a quick cardio session. Cardio is very easy to get in. You can bike ride, jog, dance, walk etc. Cardio machines are effective as well, but not necessary. Do a 10-15 minute cardio session. Make your cardio fun by doing something you enjoy and putting on your favorite music.

4. Now it is time to cool down. Cool downs should be about the same length as your warm up(although I am guilty of cutting them shorter!) Your cool down should be light cardio with some stretching. Make sure to stretch your muscles! It is VERY important for muscle recovery.
If you would like some at home workout ideas, going on youtube and following the workouts on your phone or TV is VERY helpful. I do this almost every time I workout since I do not have a gym membership. I recommend Fitnessblender. They have FREE effective workouts for every fitness level (beginner, intermediate, & advanced) Look up fitnessblender beginner workouts and I am sure you will find some great effective workouts to do!

Hope this helps! Comment if you have any questions or requests. I will be making blog posts for all fitness levels & recipe ideas, so stay tuned! I am also thinking of posting workout videos if you are interested in that. Let me know, I would really appreciate feedback. Thanks so much for reading:)

What I eat in a Day!

This is basically what I eat on a daily basis. It switches daily except for breakfast. For dinner, I usually try and have meat like chicken this is just what I ate for today! I do NOT follow any special "diet" such as paleo, high carb, low fat, or veganism. I just eat what I feel that my body needs! (balanced foods)
Breakfast: I start off by eating a banana and water. Then, I will make 2 slices of toast and spread peanut butter on them and throw some berries or grapes on the plate. I love to start my day off with lots of fruits and carbs. I also drink coffee.  Before lunch, I also had a snack which was an apple and some nuts.

Lunch: Lunch is so important whether you are at school or work. For lunch today I basically worked with the leftovers in my fridge. I used some brown rice and threw in lots of kidney beans(my new obsession!) They are really high in protien and carbs and low calorie so it will keep you full for a long time. We had left over green beans from last night's dinner, so those got thrown in and I threw in some carrots, onion, and pepper and microwaved it! I had 2 servings because I ate this after my workout and was really hungry. ( and it was soo good!) Before dinner I was hungry and ate an orange.

Dinner: My dinner this night was very similar to this picture. Before my dinner every night I always have a salad. But otherwise I'm eating some vegetable pasta mixed in with vegetables like carrots, pepper, onion, celery, etc & added the same beans and tomato sauce. Then I just threw it in the microwave & it was soo good! This is def. my favorite meal out of all of them. I most likely had 2 servings, but I can't remember.

After dinner I always have some dark chocolate for my dessert. Chocolate is def. my weakness! I love to eat healthy foods because it is what make my body feel good, it does not have to do with my weight. I would be the same weight if I ate junk food all day because my metabolism is very high. I find eating right gives me so much more energy and the more you eat it, the less you crave junk food. (it's not a myth!) I occasionally will eating unhealthy(pancakes are my absolute weakness!) and will not beat myself up if I mess up once in a while. After all, we are all human! As a side note, what I ate today was for the most part vegan friendly, but I am not a vegan! I eat chicken and turkey a lot! 

Ways To Begin A Healthy Lifestyle in 2016!

So you've made your New Year's resolution to lose weight. Again. You decide to start exactly January 1st by getting up at 7 am and go on a morning jog. You also decide you will go on a major diet. No pizza, ice cream, or chocolate. Only fruits and vegetables. Your alarm clock rings at 7am. You look at your alarm, turn it off and think "Eh, there's always next year!"Lots of people make this mistake. They might be inspired to live a healthier lifestyle because they want to lose a lot of weight or they decide that they want to make their diet cleaner. But are they really committed?1. Be realistic. Decide what your goals are. If you would like to lose weight, realize it will take time and commitment. Fat doesn't magically disappear in 3 days. If you would like to try to be more active or eat healthier as your goal, it will take just as much commitment as losing weight.2. Start Slowly. Slow and steady wins the race! Start by making small changes. Start off by eating a healthy breakfast instead of just grabbing a poptart or skipping breakfast altogether. If you eat pizza every week that is fine for now, but maybe instead of eating two slices eat a slice with a side of steamed vegetables. As for workouts, start with low impact workouts. Just try to get some activity and movement throughout your week. Start off by taking a walk two to three times a week. Every little step counts!3. Work to improve your lifestyle. So you've cleaned up your diet a bit by eating a healthy breakfast and stay active during the week. Take it a step further! Slowly start replacing your junk food with healthier options. Even if it is just replacing your bag of chips at lunch with an apple. As you slowly make changes, you will feel the benefits and be motivated to change.4. Realize that what you put into your body is what you get out. If you have bad acne or oily hair, fatty greasy foods can cause this. If you limit the fatty foods and replace it with whole real foods, you most likely will see a difference quickly!5. It is okay to reach out for help! I think this is a very important step that lots of people need to realize. It is good to ask for help. Whether you ask for help by having a friend or family member help you,  hiring a nutritionist, dietitian, personal trainer, they want to help! That is their job an passion, they will be more than happy to help you. The internet is also one of the most helpful tools out there. Go on youtube and look up beginner workouts and google clean recipes. The internet is the most effective and motivating tool for me.6. Do not be hard on yourself. If you go a week without eating fast food, but then you slip up, it is okay! Forgive and forget. The next day go right back to your healthy habits. I think one of the hardest things about changing your lifestyle is yourself because you are your worst enemy.Hope these tips are helpful. They came right from the top of my head, so look out for new posts very soon. I am just getting started:)