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Avoiding the Holiday Snowball Effect…

WARNING: CHALLENGES AHEAD

You know it’s coming in the next 30-40 days…

You’ve built up good momentum, are already consistent and are feeling pretty good. 

You’re eating quality foods 80% + most of your days and you’re hitting your fitness consistently 3 to 5 times per week without deviation.

Your next greatest opponent to challenge all the behaviors and momentum you’ve built is right around the corner.

The holiday season.

The holiday season challenges all of that in its own unique ways. 

I know that if in the past you’ve gotten

  • Very stressed around the holidays,
  • Fallen off your nutrition routine
  • Lost consistency with fitness

That these patterns are likely to emerge and challenge you again and again.  

AVOIDING THE SNOWBALL EFFECT… 

While the holiday season in an exciting time:

family gatherings,

delicious foods,

shared memories

and quality time with people we love,

it’s very natural and normal for our nutrition and fitness to take a small step back. 

How big of a step back is in your hands and your control. 

The snowball effect happens when that small step back turns into a walking backwards or in reverse.

HOW IT HAPPENS

At Thanksgiving, we are around people we love and we feast. We are in company we love and enjoy and we let our guards down temporarily.

We eat foods we wouldn’t or don’t normally eat on a regular day to day basis.

These tasty treats and variance throws our taste buds into extreme sensation and pleasure seeking mode.

This snowballs when one day with one meal turns into days or even weeks of over indulging or eating too much of those joy foods and not enough quality food. 

We are officially off our routine.

Then with Christmas around the corner our levels of stress are higher.

This leads to that need for a quick impulse or feel good to be even at a higher level, so we continue down this path.

As exciting as Christmas is for most of us, we can be in a constant state of stress about schedules, gifts, shopping, expectations or worries that we skip the gym more than get our daily dose of health, wellness and endorphins. 

Missing a day here or there is normal and isn’t going to derail your progress. 

It’s when we fall off our normal 3, 4 or 5 day a week fitness regime that we put ourselves in this hole that the further we get into it’s harder to get out of it. 

And when we do eventually make our return we are unfortunately met with difficulty, a feeling of everything is difficult and I’m winded so quick and easily.  Making the very thing you loved and enjoyed so regularly seem so difficult.

All challenging your will.

And then, New Years.

A classic time where people stay up later than normal, over eat snacks and drink alcohol to celebrate the closing of a year and beginning of another. 

The staying up late, food and alcohol combination throws off our entire daily rhythm and leaves us with more anguish than excitement. 

These factors in combination are the downhill snowball effect in full speed.

They challenge all the good behaviors, mindset/mentality and healthy consistent actions you’ve built up consistently over a long period of time. 

WHAT DO I DO? 

Aware – Acknowledge – Action 

Awareness, that’s the first step. 

Second, we must acknowledge. 

We can acknowledge that our nutrition will not be perfect over Thanksgiving and Christmas and that we will fully enjoy those meals and moments with loved ones, guilt free.

We acknowledge in advance that we will likely be around others (people we love) who don’t share the same will, drive, discipline or goals as we do.

Sadly, even the same desire for high levels of health and wellness.

(Friendly tip: If your family knows you as the “CrossFitter” or the “healthy person” or “workout nut” a couple of things may happen during this time of year…..

One  they may challenge your discipline or healthy ways or two – they may talk or communicate in a way that almost shames you for being so healthy or them for not.

I encourage you to not be reactive but to lead by example and allow your best self to show up in these instances. Meet them with unwavering love and understanding. What is really being said without actually being said is “I wish I had the level of discipline and commitment to my health as you do.”)

We acknowledge that although we may travel or need to do holiday shopping or be out of town, we will remain MORE consistent within the gym than not. 

Third step, the most critical is we take action

We take action in not letting ourselves spiral out of control due to 1-2 holiday indulgences. 

We take action in committing to a minimum amount of days within the gym per week because we know it will lower our stress, help keep moving us closer to our goals, bettering us daily and that if we don’t we dig a hole that the deeper it gets the harder to climb out. 

We take action in planning ahead.

We plan our schedules around our workouts. 

We plan what days we will be traveling. 

We plan what healthy and nutrient foods we will be eating a majority of our days. 

We plan to get back on track the meal or day after we eat “out of the norm.”

We plan ahead and we vow to not let 1 or 2 days where we eat out of routine (Thanksgiving and Christmas) make the other 30+ days a wash and set ourselves further away from our ultimate goal and actually hinder our progress, body composition and ultimately how we feel day to day. 

We know this time of year our healthy habits will be challenged the most.

We get ahead of that challenge by being aware it’s coming, acknowledging what we need to do and not do and taking and committing to action. 

Because the alternative? 


That snowball effect turns into an avalanche that some can never recover from. 

Here’s to stopping the SNOWBALL!

Thanksgiving Week Hours: Wednesday-Normal Schedule Thanksgiving-OPEN…9am Class Only Friday-Open Gym 6:30am-7:30am and 9am Class Saturday-Open Gym 7:45am and 9am Class

Work Hard, Eat Clean, Be Blessed 🙂

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4 Recipes That You Are Guaranteed To Love!

(Pick at least one to prep this week!)

You don’t have to only eat chicken, broccoli and brown rice to see amazing results. 

Our top 4 recipes are sure to be a hit with the whole family.

#1 Egg Muffins

Change up the flavor by adding your favorites meats and veggies, or try our variation with sweet potato.

#2 Amish oatmeal

This baked oatmeal is a great option for the whole family. Top with you favorite fruit and nuts. To add extra protein, add in Bubb’s Collagen when cooking. This increases the protein to 24 grams of protein per 200 grams. 

#3 Meatloaf Muffins

At my house, we are huge fans of muffin tins. These delicious meatloaves are great reheated. Pair with roasted veggies and mashed cauliflower for a balanced meal!

#4 Pulled Chicken

This is one of the most versatile recipes we have. You can put it over a sweet potato or make a Mexican bowl. 

If you liked these, check out our recipe book. Fun fact: you can find all the nutrition facts for HSN recipes in MyFitnessPal, by typing Healthy Steps Nutrition Official then the food name. 

What is your favorite recipe? Let us know! 🙂

You can find more delicious recipes >> https://www.crossfitunstoppable.com/recipes

Work Hard, Eat Clean, Be Blessed!

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Why Does It Take So Long??

A client came to me recently and said how badly she wanted to achieve their body composition goals and was frustrated that it was taking so long. “Why does it take so long to see the changes?” I had the opportunity to have an open and honest conversation about the importance of taking a long-term approach to our health and wellness goals and why the quick fix isn’t the way to go.

I will warn you that taking a long-term approach and truly taking the time to learn habits and make them part of a daily routine is not sexy and it is not quick. This stuff takes effort and time, and it is not a quick fix. 

Taking a long-term approach to improving our nutrition means we have intent, objectives, goals, and a mission to accomplish not only short-term goals but also long-term goals. The big picture mission is simple, we want to be happy, healthy, and strong – both mentally and physically. Being consistent with healthy habits like drinking water, exercising, sleeping, meal prepping, and eating real foods is key to accomplishing your long-term goals. When we take the time to learn these healthy habits, that is when we sustain healthy behaviors and we achieve the results we are so desperately seeking.  

Intent without action accomplishes nothing.

Many of us want to get to ideal body composition, losing weight and body fat. Setting those goals is the easy part. Being accountable for those goals and doing the smaller, often deemed “not so sexy” action items that lead to goal achievement is the hard part – and that’s where working with a nutrition coach in customized nutrition programs and participating in ongoing coaching programs over time is important.

First, let’s start with mapping out a long-term approach. Follow these 3 steps:

Step 1: Begin with the end in mind: What do you want to achieve? What will it take to get there?

Step 2: Start small. The little wins will snowball into larger wins down the hill. Consistency wins.

Step 3: Establish SMART Goals.

What’s a SMART goal? Glad you asked!

S – Specific; Should be simple and defined what you are going to do.

M – Measure; Tangible evidence so you can achieve the goal.

A – Attainable; They should push you just outside your comfort zone.

R – Results-Focused; Goals should measure outcomes, not activities.

T – Time-Bound; Goals should be linked to a time frame that creates a sense of urgency.

Here’s an example of what it looks like to map out nutrition goals over the course of a year:

I will eat a balanced breakfast using the plate method at least 4/7 days this week.

I will meal prep dinners with 3 compartment containers with balanced portions of lean proteins, green vegetables, healthy fats, and healthy carbohydrates for the next month to deal with busy times of the day.

I will eat balanced plates with lean proteins, green vegetables, healthy fats, and healthy carbohydrates, and have a glass of water instead of regular soda with that meal for at least 2 meals per day in the next 3 months.

In the next 6 months, I will log my meals daily to learn about my macronutrient balance, and work with my nutrition coach to stay accountable to losing 15 pounds in my customized nutrition coaching program.

This year, I will enlist the support of a coworker, family member, or friend at the gym as another accountability partner to make sure that we are eating healthy balanced meals 90% of the time, and getting to the gym at least 3-4 times per week.

I will work with my nutrition coach for at least a year to stay accountable to losing 30 pounds and 8% body fat in my customized nutrition coaching program.

It’s your turn! What does it look like for YOU to take a long-term approach when it comes to YOUR nutrition? 

Map it out, and book a free intro to sit down with your nutrition coach to get a plan in place for accomplishing your long term goals! If it sounds like its going to take a long time, remember that a nutrition coach will be there with you every step of the way. 

You can book a FREE INTRO HERE! We want to help YOU reach your true potential! 🙂

Work Hard, Eat Clean, Be Blessed!

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Transformation Tuesday!

 “I gained a bunch of weight in sobriety, just quit smoking, and now I needed to work on a healthy lifestyle. I had no idea the wonderful people I would meet and just how helpful they would be for me.

I’m on track with nutrition and it feels normal to eat healthy. That would have never happened without CFU and the nutrition program. I love the workouts the most though…I started gaining muscle and losing fat almost immediately after starting.


CFU really exceeded my expectations and you shouldn’t wait for the “right time”. Join TODAY! You won’t regret it!”

Today we would like to celebrate with Jennifer as she has accomplished amazing things in the past 3 months! Jennifer came in right before Christmas for a consult really unsure of what she needed to do so we worked out a plan for her.

She started with the Unstoppable Fitness Boot Camp program four days a week in late December (I wouldn’t let her wait until the new year 😉 ) She has found that she is strong and capable and wanted to add to her success so she joined our Nutrition program as well in mid-January. She will admit that she didn’t know how to eat healthy and she needed someone to help her with nutrition.

We got her on the right track and with this combo, she is headed towards great things! We (Aaron, Heather, Nikki and myself) as well as everyone else at CFU couldn’t be prouder of you, Jennifer! Keep up the amazing work! 🙂

If you would like to see similar results, set up a FREE INTRO! We want to help as many people as possible! P.S. You don’t have to be a member of CrossFit Unstoppable OR live in the Jefferson City area…we have remote and online training as well – how cool is that?!?

Work Hard, Eat Clean, Be Blessed!

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Tuesday Thoughts…

Sunday I had my 53rd birthday…holy smokes, where did that come from?? See, in my mind I think I’m still in my 30’s (although my body doesn’t agree some days 😉 ). Your mindset is soooo powerful in how your perceive your life to be.

If you have the wrong attitude about things going on your life, like “I’m never going to be able to get out of debt…”, “I’m never going to be able to lose weight…”, or “I’m never going to be able to find my dream job…” Chances are, you never will!

You can’t wait for the perfect moment to start something because life is never perfect, things might be good, but it’s never perfect. It takes baby steps in order for you to start something and one needs to realize anything that is a daunting task will be a marathon and not a sprint.

We tell our fitness and nutrition clients NOT to expect drastic weight loss overnight or even in 30 days because we want them to establish healthy habits in order to succeed. Think about all of the gimmicks out there where you can lose 10# in 10 days…how healthy do you think that is? Or “drink this drink for 30 days and watch the scale plummet!”…these things are not teaching you how to eat a balanced diet.

This is just my opinion, but whatever is natural should be the things that should be consumed. If it wasn’t made by God and from the earth, then most likely it isn’t good for your body. Now don’t get me wrong, I will consume things here and there that are not natural, but I have a good sense of how to eat. (Even though sometimes I indulge…but that’s okay because that is life!)

The important thing to remember here is that there will be ups and downs in one’s fitness/health journey, but if you know how to get back on track and WANT to get back on track, then there are ways to get there! Reach out if you would like to set up a FREE consult to figure out how to get back on track with your wellness journey! Book a FREE INTRO today so we can help! 🙂

Have a Great Tuesday!

Work Hard, Eat Clean, Be Blessed!

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Habits

Last night I posted a picture of my January calendar…I had decided not to really make any resolutions for 2021. Why? Well, in the past they just haven’t worked out that well for me. So I went in with a different plan – habit tracking!

For the most part it worked! I picked a couple things that I knew I could do on a regular basis – water intake and exercise. Proud to say that I got all of my water in and exercised all but 4 days in January. Exercise and water do the body good for sure! 🙂

For the other 3 things I thought this would be a struggle, but I kept putting one foot in front of the other…I will tell you this, I love a good cold beer here and there, but I know they are empty calories so I set out to try and limit my alcohol intake. I went nine days then had a beer with dinner one night out with Jerry. The following weekend we had a members night out and let’s just say I had a “few” 🙂 This was probably the hardest “habit” to conquer because it’s easy to come home and reach for that beer or wine to “wind down”…but I chose other things to focus on instead. I know it’s not the same, but I’ve started having some tea in the evenings (decaf!) and that has helped.

I went 31 days with NO Ice Cream!! During January, I wanted to cut out as much junk food as possible (had 2 days where I had some cookies 🙂 ) The ice cream win was HUGE! To combat that sweet tooth I just had healthy options available at home; a go to favorite is protein ice cream – mash 1/2 banana, scoop of protein powder (I use vanilla), almond milk then freeze for about 45min! Yum!

The last thing I did was try to eliminate at least 5 pieces of “clutter” from home/work. This is definitely helping as I ridded our house (and part of my office) of the unnecessary. It really does feel freeing!

I’m going to continue in February and continue to focus on these 5 things as well as add one more “habit” to track…a daily blog post! I keep meaning to post every day, but then I get sucked in to other things. So I’m going to provide a post (try to any way!) every day in February…Should be easier at the end right?? Tune in for information, inspiration and motivation in the next 27 days or so!

Happy Tuesday!

Work Hard, Eat Clean, Be Blessed!

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Monday Motivation

July 2009…XL clothes weighing around 220

I chose not to go into the gym this morning for the 8:30 class. As I sat and enjoyed a cup of coffee (black, no extra stuff 😉 ) I thought, I’ll just do something real quick at home to get a workout in and then get busy on some to do list things. I sat for a couple of minutes longer and told myself, if not now, when?? Many times if I wait until the afternoon or even a few minutes longer of sitting on the comfy couch, I end up doing nothing.

So downstairs I went to take a stroll on the treadmill contemplating what I should do for a workout today. Our regular workout that was programmed was 5 rounds of 3min as many rounds as possible of 20 bar facing burpees, 15 hollow rocks then max effort of overhead squats at 65# for the ladies. I thought, I could do that with the 22# trainer bar…but the longer I walked the more the thought of doing that version drifted away from my thoughts.

So after walking a mile I went back upstairs equipped with my abmat and timer on my phone and ended up doing and every minute on the minute of 10 burpees, 20 situps and 20 squats. This ended up being 7 rounds for 21 minutes. Definitely got my heart rate up AND took me down memory lane. You see, as I was jumping up on one of my burpees, my eye caught a glimpse of a family photo from the summer of 2009. The summer before I made the biggest decision of my life. That decision was to finally start walking the walk that I’d been teaching to my PE students.

It was time to stop making excuses for being lazy and get my @$$ in gear. So I did…that December I decided to make treks to the YMCA (this was a couple years before CFU) at 4:30am 5 days a week to make a change in my life. I would do some dumbbell work on MWF and cardio on TTH…I would do the same exercises over and over…don’t get me wrong, it was hard and I stuck with it and after 12 weeks I lost around 12# or so. I was feeling much better about myself and I started running more…and I signed up for my first 5K! What?? I never was a runner per se, but had done sprints for basketball and volleyball in HS/College. Running more than a mile was going to be challenging, but I did it…In May of 2010, I ran that 5K and didn’t even stop to walk. That running kinda became an addiction and I was doing about 2 5K’s per month and getting faster with each one. The running along with lifting weights was doing wonders for my transformation so I kept at it and people started to notice.

In the summer of 2010, I discovered CrossFit and haven’t looked back since. It has been life changing and I KNOW I would not have met the people I know today had it not been for continuing on my CrossFit journey…

In 2010, I started sharing my experience with some moms at the school I was teaching at and that’s how Mid-MO Fitness was “born”…in my little basement in Wardsville. I had a couple of “clients” who would come over and workout. I loved (still do!) helping people, but wanted to help more so I started some boot camps – those were fun 🙂 And then…I applied for CrossFit affiliation…Next Saturday (28th) will be our 9 year anniversary. A lot of ups and downs, but in the long scheme of things, I’m living my dream…to help people become better than yesterday.

Long story short, that glimpse of that pic made me realize how far I’ve come in the last 11 years and I never want to go back. So if you’re needing some motivation to get started let me know and I can steer you in the right direction OR if you need help staying motivated, I can help you there too. Just think about where you want to be this time next year and get your rear in gear 😉

Work Hard, Eat Clean, Be Blessed! 🙂

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No Time to Workout?

Hogwash…that’s an expression my grandma always used when the truth wasn’t being told. So I think it’s a bunch of hogwash when people tell me they don’t have time to workout! YOU are worth 2% of your day…do you know how long 2% is?? It’s 30 minutes!!

You mean to tell me that you can’t set aside 30-60 minutes out of 1,440?? The American Heart Association recommends that people should exercise at least 60 minutes per day in order to fight off heart disease. Look at your lifestyle and be truthful, are you doing what is needed to keep your heart healthy? Are you exercising, eating healthy, staying away from tobacco, and limiting sodium in your diet?

As some of you know, I used to teach PE and I loved having the kids play games that actually taught them something…one particular game is called “Heart Attack Tag” – we had four taggers who each represented a risk factor for the possibility of having a heart attack – too much salt, lack of exercise, junk food and smoking. If you got tagged the first time, you would cross your arm across your chest and it meant you were 25% likely to have a heart attack; get tagged a 2nd time then both arms across your chest (50% likely for an attack). If a player got tagged a 3rd time (75% chance of an attack), then the player would lie on the floor and wait for a “Dr./ambulance” to come help. In order to get back in, the Dr. prescribed “exercise”, usually 5 jumping jacks. Have you ever tried to run around with both arms across your chest?? It’s hard! Think of how hard your heart has to work when proper care isn’t present…if it’s clogged with “junk” then it’s not going to work right.

Do you realize what the number one cause of deaths are in America? It’s heart disease…so don’t you think it’s time to put your heart first? Even if it’s just 2% of your day, you can begin somewhere and help reduce the chances to develop heart disease and other illnesses.

If you aren’t sure where to start, book an appointment with me and we can work something out! We have in person AND online options available to get you started towards a healthier YOU! Book HERE!

Work Hard, Eat Clean, Be Blessed!

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Nutrition-Keep It Simple!

Nutrition should not be complicated! But many people make it out to be and start making excuses on why they do not reach their goals! Bottom line is…follow these little tips to make your nutrition journey a little bit easier!

Don’t drink your calories

A coffee from the coffee shop might as well be a giant slab of cake… a venti size frappuccino with whipped cream at Starbucks can have as many as 600 (!) calories. Alcoholic drinks are all empty calories (meaning you get no nutritional value) plus consuming alcohol in excess can cause you to make poor food choices. Fruit juice, while natural, is liquid sugar! Water or unsweetened tea is your best bet. Check the labels!

Drink water with every meal

Hunger can often masquerade as thirst. You may feel that you are still hungry, but really you just need some water, so drink a tall glass with every meal. If you can’t decide if you need a snack or not, drink a glass of water and wait 20 minutes before going for the snack. If plain water is too boring, try infusing your water with fruit. Use a shaker bottle, add a few pieces of frozen fruit and you have a cold, lower sugar, flavorful drink.

Eat veggies with every meal

Mom said veggies are good for you and turns out she was right. Not only are you getting a boatload of nutrients and vitamins, but the water and fiber content of the veggies keeps you feeling fuller for longer. Try sautéing vegetables, like zucchini and onions, and seasoning with salt and pepper and fresh herbs like chopped thyme or tarragon. When in a pinch grab a bag of baby carrots, snap peas, or green beans. Almost all supermarkets have washed and packaged snack or smaller size portions of fresh veggies. At CFU, we teach the plate method which is making at least 1/2 your plate be veggies! This helps with filling you up AND there are less calories!

Make calculated indulgences

Nobody said, never indulge! Just plan and indulge smarter. A failure to plan is a plan for failure! If you know you’re going out for dinner and you’ll want to order dessert, make smart food choices leading up to your meal out and there’s no need to feel guilty about the brownie with ice cream. Ordering the dessert is a planned indulgence. Now, if you find yourself eating junk food from a vending machine because you didn’t plan ahead to bring your own food, you’ve indulged, but you probably haven’t enjoyed it one bit. Plan ahead and eat well most of the time so you can eat something not so healthy but feels truly worth it guilt-free. There are non perishable food items you can stash for snacks; almonds are a great option.

Avoid your “trigger” foods

Can you think of any foods that once you start eating them you just can’t seem to stop? The package of crunchy, salty, sugary, fatty whatever-it-is that you just need to keep snacking on until it’s gone? Any food that triggers a binge, that is, a food you cannot eat in moderation, you should just simply steer clear of. Remove the temptation. If it is in your house get rid of it and replace it with a healthier option. Better yet, don’t buy it in the first place!

It all goes back to keep it simple. If it is to hard to follow it is a recipe for failure and frustration.

Take the tips above focus on them and then start building upon them. Don’t start with “all of the above” all at once…take one tip per week and build upon that!

If you would like to have some extra guidance, book a free consultation with one of the nutrition coaches so we can get you on the right path! You are worth the time and effort! Have a blessed day!

Work Hard, Eat Clean, Be Blessed!

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Getting Off Track – Saturday 7.4.20

Happy Independence Day! How are you celebrating? BBQ, Fireworks, a few drinks? All of the above for me, but I’m going to keep it under control 😉

Many people use the summer months as an excuse to let things slide a little bit (some – a LOT!). We see a lot of this in our profession around the holiday months as well and the rationale behind the excuses really isn’t acceptable. Why? Because to get decent results with exercise and nutrition, one can eat pretty clean 80% of the time and workout 3-4 times per week. If they choose to tighten up the reins a bit then they will see even better results.

I’ve been on my “latest” fitness journey for 10 years now and I have had those days and months even when I’ve gotten off track. Many think that progress is only hard at the beginning of the journey; I’m here to tell you, that just isn’t true…things come up which try to derail you. You lose focus and you need to find your way back. You get too comfortable after losing 50# then slowly the weight comes back on because an extra bite here or there won’t hurt, right? Do you know what I’m talking about?

Progress is definitely not a straight line either! There will be ups and downs throughout one’s health journey, but the main thing is to NOT focus on the setbacks and forge on towards a healthier future! Are you better than yesterday? Are you better than you were a year ago? If not, set some new goals and set out to reach them and see where you end up in a week, a month, a year…Build healthy habits and watch your success happen!

Put in the work and it will work for you! If you want progress and transformation, then get yourself back on track and make things happen-You are worth it! If you need some extra guidance and accountability, let us know and we can get you started! We want to help people with their journeys!

Have a safe and happy 4th!

Work Hard, Eat Clean, Be Blessed!