clothed with confidence and strength

When I began this blogging adventure, I knew the focus of my blog, but I did not want to limit myself to one specific direction, instead, I want to focus more on a theme, a theme of living your best possible life, a life that is filled with conquering fears and pursuing dreams, living intentionally, purposefully, authentically, living with a purpose, a purpose to be called to a lifestyle that is greater, to be gracefully free.

And simultaneously as I began this blogging adventure, I also began to put my physical body first and to intentionally start working out and making smarter decisions to honor and protect myself. And to be completely honest with you, in the last six weeks or so, I have gained confidence back in ways that I did not even know I had lost. And so I have been wanting to share a few thoughts with you all for awhile and in doing so I also wanted to feature a post on athletic wear to hopefully encourage those who feel discouraged that your time is now and to take that step of faith and action and to move towards your goals and dreams!

It can be so easy to adopt poor health choices between diet and balancing the transition into marriage and full-time working (I say this as if it were all new ~ but this transition has been one that has taken its toll on my body for the last five years) anyways, in this transition period I put on quite a bit of weight, more weight than any 5’3″ frame should hold and just got comfortable with habits of unclean eating, now none of this is helped by the fact that I truly enjoy good beer, but regardless, I got to a point where I really did not want to step on a scale nor see myself in a mirror with bare skin. So moving along here, (I am realizing as i am typing that this post has become a whole lot more vulnerable than I had intended it to be. oh well) – I am fully believing that there are hearts out there that need to be encouraged in this exact same way. So maybe that is you and if you see fit keep on reading! 🙂

Back to my train of thought, I got to a point where enough was enough, and even though I had reached this point several times in the last few years, something was different this time. I don’t know if it’s because of me pursuing blogging or just being more in tune to my own heart and mind and being, but this time I was committed to truly living a better lifestyle.

The end of February, J and I had just gotten back from our trip to Napa, a trip where we definitely indulged in the food & spirit category as well as bottled up quality time together since the months of March and April for both of us are a whole different kind of level of crazy between the craziness of track season and his quarter-end-close. When we returned home from that trip, we finally set up the new scale that we had bought a few months before, and I decided and set out to be intentional with my living. And boy, I am so glad that I did.

Since then, I have experienced some major changes in my life

• I have gained a whole new level of confidence that I didn’t know existed within my heart & mind
• I smile a whole lot more freely & genuinely
• I have lost 11 pounds and have added more muscle to my body
• I have gotten my joy back (and really want to get it tattooed on my body ~ sorry mom and dad)
• I have become completely obsessed with Pure Barre (thank you Pure Barre Woodstock for changing my life) ~ Also – Pure Barre’s first week is completely free so what are you waiting for.. go try it!!!
• I crave healthier foods and more often
• I go for green tea more than coffee
• I also have become obsessed with Old Navy and their athletic wear. (Seriously its my new current obsession + pure barre + kombucha 🙂
• I have been on a constant kombucha kick.

My heart in this post is not to brag or put myself on a pedestal, but my heart truly desires for you to see and know that you can totally do this. Your goals, your dream number, your desired look is definitely within reach, start small, but start somewhere and you will get there.

Ten Must-dos to Pursuing your Fitness Goals:

1. Hold yourself accountable. Whether that is confiding your goals and dreams with a friend, but tell someone what your plans are, it definitely helps keep you motivated.
2. Write goals daily, weekly, monthly. Be intentional with your time and devote a few minutes each day, at the beginning of each week, and at the beginning of each month to set goals. These goals can be as simple as drink more water, sleep more, go for a walk, but specifically choose one or two goals and actually write them down. And then reflect on your progress.
3. Be realistic & honest. I can easily classify myself as an all or nothing type of gal, do the extremes of one thing or another and let me be the first to tell you please do not do that to yourself. Be realistic on what you hope to accomplish. If its losing weight, don’t make a goal to lose five pounds in a week, commit to one pound a week, or if you are trying to limit yourself to certain foods or incorporate healthier diets, don’t just completely remove it all at once, start small and work your way up.
4. Have grace for yourself. Be your biggest cheerleader. Humans mess up. It happens, it’s called life and humanity. So when you feel like you have failed or have taken a step back or are disappointed with your progress, have grace for yourself. Extend complete and total undeserving love to yourself. And just make a plan to get back up and try again the next day.
5. Buy new workout clothes and indulge in the process of getting fit. Seriously, splurge on that workout outfit, cute water bottle, or head band, but if you are going to feel good it is absolutely most definitely important to dress the part because you will not only be more motivated, but have the confidence needed to reach those goals and those dreams (Keep reading at the bottom for some of my favorite workout clothes)  
6. Get outside. Walk, Run, Hike, Bike. Just do something! Vitamin D is good for you, and not just that but get your mind away from the screen or the books or the work and spend 30 minutes outside devoted to you. This can be a time where you connect with your friends, family, or dog (shout out to my bud pal Shiloh) But get outside, because it’s awesome out there. 
7. Find your “YOU” – what motivates you! Figure out what type of exercise works for you. Is it running, walking, spin class, going to the gym, yoga, Pure Barre. Find what ticks for you. For me personally, since going to Pure Barre at the beginning of April, I have found an extremely positive, uplifting and encouraging environment that pushes me to be the me that I have physically dreamed to be. Also, a lot of classes offer free trial periods, so find a week where your schedule allows you to have a little time to yourself and try a few classes out at different places to see what works for you. 
8. Don’t be afraid to treat yourself. Eat that cake, go get ice cream, please don’t deprive yourself of something because you are worried about what you will look like. Now, don’t be obsessive over indulging constantly, but determine what your “treat day” will be. (I originally typed out cheat day, but I don’t like that, I don’t like the connotation that you are cheating or being dishonest with your body, you should be able to have a TREAT day where you reward yourself for what you have accomplished. 
9. Weigh yourself frequently. (you might shudder at the thought, I know crazy, BUT, I personally have found that if I weigh myself at the same time each day, it is an incredible accountability measure because it allows me to monitor my process. And when you see those small victories, it is incredibly motivating to keep moving along in the process. (And for those thinking, “but what if you see defeats,” well guess what, defeats will happen and believing and thinking that they won’t is just going to set you up for failure, but that is why it is so important to set daily and weekly goals and to not beat yourself up, instead when those defeats happen, evaluate on your day and the choices that you made, were there areas where you could have been better.. and if so make that your new daily goal for the day)
10. Intentionally clean up your diet. You may have heard dietitians or personal trainers say this before, but majority of what your body looks like and feels like is made up in the kitchen and not the gym. It is quite crazy to think just how much we can do to ourselves based on what we are putting in and on our bodies. So please make sure you are drinking plenty of water and eating lots of vegetables and fruits. Make sure that when you are working out you are putting the right foods in your body to be able to help recover so you can be ready to go and work the very next day. Additionally, using essential oils has been a great way to help make sure that what I am using on my body is supportive to an increased wellness of living.

Favorite Workout Clothes:

• Currently, Old Navy is absolutely crushing their workout gear. They have the absolute cutest tanks & leggings to help empower women to work out freely & confidently. Not to mention they almost always have a sale so you can save even more on already affordable prices.
• Fabletics also has great leggings. You can sign up for their VIP program and get 2 pairs of leggings for just 24.99!!! Seriously, this is a great deal. Then, you can either keep making purchases each month or just log-in to your account at the first of each month and select skip this month. Link to this deal right here.
• In addition, Gap (sister to Old Navy) also has great active wear line for affordable prices.

Turn it up tank – Old Navy – wearing a small (could have gotten an XS, but I wanted to make sure it had some length to it)

Fabletics – leggings – part of my 2 for $24 deal that I purchased. Size: XS (fits like a 4)

the most comfortable leggings ever – size small from Old Navy.

Gap top – Small.

Fabletics. Leggings. Other half of the 2 for 24 deal!

Positive tank. Old Navy. Small.