Let your dreams become your realities, and your goals become your accomplishments.

                                                 

I wanted to start this blog off with this very true statement. It seems simple but there is a lot of truth to it when you actually think about it. No one was born knowing how to do everything and accomplish anything. We all have different qualities built in us that make us succeed but ultimately everyday is a new learning experience. I want to talk a little bit about "diets" and eating today. I feel there is a lot of misconstrued information out there and I wanted to touch on some of the latest fads of "healthy" eating.

First and foremost we do NEED fat and carbs. We just do not need an excessive amount of them. I try my best to get my fats from all natural sources like avocado, natural peanut butter, almonds, salmon and lean meats. Your carbs are going to be most beneficial to you when they also come from whole non processed sources. Fruits, vegetables, low fat or non fat milk products, whole wheat pastas or bread but that doesn't mean you should be eating pasta as your dinner every night and toast every morning because it is whole grain. Everything should be eaten in moderation. Also the more fiber it has the longer it will keep you full AND the less it will spike your blood sugar. That is where the ever popular Gluten diet came from. the less a food spikes your blood sugar the longer it takes to process the fuller you will stay. But the more processed a food is like candy, cookies, etc they tend to spike your blood sugar causing your body to react quickly therefore you do not process as long and you are feeling hungry soon after you just finished eating in the first place.

 

This brings me to my next fad right now the HCG liquid/pills. Most every diet with this "magic" ingredient requires you to cut calories down to 500 a day even at a 1000 a day that is very unhealthy. The thing is when you don't intake enough calories your body goes into survival mode. It is going to start storing carbs and fats so that it can function properly. When you decide to feed it whatever that may be it is going to cling to what you give it, because it thinks you are facing starvation, and really you are. Not to mention when you starve your body your metabolism is going to plummet down. I work with people who can't believe how much I eat because I eat every two hours from the time my feet hit the floor I try to get a cup of coffee with skim milk and a banana or some grapes, anything to start my motor up again. I have written many times before I eat before bed to make sure my metabolism  stays busy and burns calories while I sleep also. From someone who starved herself for years take it from me eating small frequent portions is the only way you are going to get the results you desire. 

As you know I am a huge advocate of weights and resistance training. BUT I noticed when I cut my cardio down I was getting thicker in muscle then i preferred so i started doing Zumba out of sheer boredom one morning, and boom started seeing the results with in a few days. My point in sharing this is that you HAVE to switch up your routine. Resistance and weights build amazing muscle which burns fat, but if you are not getting your heart rate up high enough with cardio exercises you are not going to see the resuls of the trimmed down look you want. Crossfit, HIIT training, weights, zumba, kickboxing, running all are part of my weekly routine and sometimes I combine them into one work out  you have to be creative, sometimes I put on my favorite old school songs from high school and dance my little heart out, it may be just me in my bedroom for fifteen minutes before I finish out a work out but its extra calories burned, memories to smile at, and it puts me in a good mood for the rest of my day.  

This sign couldn't have made me smile any bigger or spoke to me any clearer. The thing is I always dreamed of being the mom jogging in her neighborhood with her kids in a stroller or the wife who could keep up with her husband on a run, or the girl who proved everyone wrong, and I became that person. It took a long 25 soul searching years to understand, it was not how everyone else saw me that mattered, it was how I saw myself. So now I am active, busy, I probably appear to drink far too much caffeine and am still a little too over the top BUT the difference in who I am now to who I was before this journey began is that I am ok with all of those things because they are ME.

  

I will leave you with this image. The world, your friends, enemies, even your family and the ones you love most will tell you certain things are "impossible." To them I want you to say "I'm possible" What goal scares you the most in life? Running a 5k? Start jogging a half a mile a day no matter how long it takes you and within no time you will be entering your first race. Scared to enter the weight room because you can only lift the three lb dumb bells? Go get those three pounders and walk on the treadmill with them in hand until your biceps are burning and you get the courage to stand in the weight room and flex with the big dogs. I say these things because I, Amanda Rivera have been there. I was terrified to do a group class just three months ago I went to my first ever exercise class because I was scared people would be whispering about how I was doing things wrong, now I help instruct a mommy and me class for women. I want each and every one of you to know how much you are able to accomplish if you would just stop making excuses and believe in yourself. You can accomplish anything you want, so what is it?

Lastly, I want to challenge you. My two year old has recently adapted the word "can't" into her vocabulary and I as a mother treat it like a curse word. I tell her we are not allowed to say that word in our house because in life there is nothing you can not do. It is a lesson that I learned much too late in life and missed out on some great opportunities because of, I do not want that for my daughter, for you, or for anyone. We get one life, one chance, one body, take it to the limit every chance you get. God Bless- Amanda