Today Is Beautiful

As I was working on another post, the song "Today Is Beautiful" came on my Spotify, and as I listened to the lyrics a completely different post came to mind. So I abandoned my post about the vegetable soup from last weekend (I promise I'll get it up soon!), and wanted to share something important that I've noticed over the past couple weeks.

I can't explain what's happened but something has slowly just clicked into place. Like everything and I can't pinpoint when it exactly happened but this morning after my run I thought "I've been in a really good mood the past couple weeks". I consider myself a pretty happy and upbeat person but I have those days just like anyone else where I'm annoyed, nothing seems to be going right, or I'm cranky (God help my mom and sister on those days!). I've been told that when I'm cranky, I'm an absolute bear. It's something that I try to work on but I admit, it often gets the best of me! 

Anyway, I started to notice the change the past couple weeks and then my coach, the amazing Katie from katiesfitscript :) made a post this week about her change in perspective. As I watched her video, I was like "aha! that's what it is, it's been a change in my perspective!". So how did this happen to me?!

A couple weeks ago, God laid a truth upon my heart. In my Bible study, the lecture leader said something that really hit me hard. In times of struggle, uncertainty, trials, temptations, whatever you might be going through, instead of asking God "how can I get out of this?", I should be asking "what can I get out of this?".  I immediately felt convicted because I always go with the first option, and will often complain about less desirable circumstances as they come up in my life.

It was a wake up call and something that I wanted to start working on. I began to feel a shift as I started looking more at the big picture. Once that happened things just starting sliding more into place. Applying to grad school, being comfortable with my body, finding greater balance with food, my relationships with the people in my life, and my faith in God and His plan for me.

For awhile now, I've been focusing on only what's in front of me and I think it began to have a negative impact on my life because I was being selfish and caught up in my own world.  I would get stressed about silly little things that are just so insignificant when looking at the big picture. Things like last minute changes in my work schedule, when people would take the machine I needed at the gym, or the stats on my posts. I mean things that really don't matter at all.

So I gave it all to God and tried to see what I could get out of the past two weeks. And let me tell you: I've never had such peace in my life.

I've never felt so comfortable with my body and who I am. I've never felt as sure as I do now of the next step I need to take for my future. I've never felt so much love from the people in my life. I've never felt such strong faith in God and trust in His plan.

As I've started investing in the people in my life and pouring out some of the love and healing God has given me, I've been receiving even more back. I'm not even kidding that once I gave up thinking about how many people read my posts or how many followers, then things started sliding into place. I had women reaching out to me, both readers and in my life. It's been such a blessing to make those meaningful connections and I can't thank God enough for this change in perspective.

I feel as though I completely rambled during this post because I was just kinda winging this as I went. But I hope that it makes sense because the point is I started looking at the big picture in whatever I might be facing-- the "what" that I can get out of the circumstances. We all go through different things in life, both struggles and triumphs, but our attitude is what determines whether or not we learn something from them.

I'm in the process of applying to grad school and yeah it's time-consuming and definitely not my favorite thing. But, looking at big picture I want to do it because I've felt a calling, and I want to give back to others. I want to help women who have gone through similar things as me so the more important thing is being able to invest in others and give back love, it doesn't matter that I don't like the application process. It's not about seeing what's in front of me, but what God sees for me.

So, no matter what I might be going through, I'm going to try to look at the big picture: today is beautiful. I am alive, healthy, loved, and God has a plan for us all. I lost sight of that and allowed myself to get derailed and mixed up in the insignificant things. God has used the past couple weeks to teach me a valuable lesson, and I wanted to share because it has greatly impacted my life for the best.

Here's the song that I was telling you guys about and if you listen to it, please listen closely to the lyrics because it's a pretty powerful message:

<3 with love,
Sam

More Updates: Halloween Weekend!

I know this post is a little late but I was pretty excited this Halloween because it was the first time in three years that I was actually able to enjoy all the treats and candies that come with this holiday. Halloween in 2012 and 2013 were not happy times because both years I was afraid of eating the candy-- one year of gaining weight and the second a trigger for a binge. 

However, this year was different! I was actually looking forward to being able to enjoy a couple pieces of candy here and there. I even survived a Halloween party at my office where coworkers brought in treats. I did my best with guesstimating and was able to eat a lot of the foods! It felt amazing to not feel deprived, restricted, or have any anxiety over what I was eating. 

I guesstimated for the party because I didn't want to pass up enjoying myself! I didn't go overboard but I was able to have a little bit of everything: coffee cake, some chips and salsa, mini brownie, half a sugar cookie and a thumbprint cookie. I just cut off the portion size that I needed and was able to stay on track! 

It was also helpful that the day before the party, we all sat down and talked about what we would make so that no one was bringing the same stuff. This was great for me because I knew what would be there and was able to plan my macros for the day ahead. If not, I was just planning to leave a lot of wiggle room especially with carbs and fats. 

If you're not able to sit down and plan it out like we did, something else I would do is to ask my closer coworkers what they are bringing so I could at least plan to have a little something of that. The rest I would have to leave up to chance and fit in as I went. My office is pretty small and there were only 5 of us so I was able to fit in a little bit of everything since it wasn't a ton of food. 

So the party was a success and big step for me because often times it can still be hard when I have to guesstimate. When I first heard the words "Halloween party" I felt that instant and familiar pang of anxiety-- what am I going to do?! But then I took a step back and reminded myself that this is life and I wanted to enjoy myself and the food. 

I then took a deep breath and started planning my macros and it ended up being a lot easier than I thought. I hardly had to make any huge changes to my usual meals so I didn't feel like I had to hoard all my macros for the party then not be able to eat for the rest of the day. I could even fit in my regular protein pancakes after dinner. And any day you can fit two cookies and protein pancakes is the optimal situation in my opinion!

We had the party on Thursday (a couple people had Friday off) and then on Friday I took my little cousins trick-or-treating. This was another step because I was yet again going to be around a ton of candies, and had to learn how to deal with that. Of course, I had some things planned in my macros and was able to enjoy a Reese's pumpkin, mini twix, and mini snickers. We also stopped by the house of one of our friends from Bible study and she gave us hot apple cider! That one was probably a stretch with completely fitting but like I said it was a guesstimate. 

The important thing is that I didn't completely freak out with being presented a food that didn't fit my macros. I thought to myself "hey even if it doesn't perfectly fit helloooo extra carbs as fuel for my long run tomorrow!" ;)

Speaking of my long run, it was only 40 degrees and the forecast called for freezing rain. I think my face says it all....

Anyway, trick-or-treating ended up being a lot of fun even though I had to take Layla home early when the rain started. We all enjoyed ourselves and it was great to spend time with family. It was also so much fun to watch Layla because she was literally overjoyed with all the youngsters running around, she loves kids! At our friend's house I was sitting on the front steps with her and all the little kids were asking if they could pet her. I was so proud of her because she was such a good girl by remembering her manners, and sat there nicely as they all patted her head. 

I ended the night curled up on the couch and watching a movie with my momma!

Overall, it was a great weekend and just what I needed! I was also very productive with some new recipes which I'll be sure to get up as soon as possible.

Have a wonderful Friday everyone!

Shoulder and Chest Circuit

There are days where I have limited time to workout but any workout is better than no workout, right? With that being said, I had little precious time to do a shoulder workout after I got back from my run on Tuesday morning.

This is when super sets and circuits come in handy because they definitely save me some time but also allow me to still get a great workout in! I personally like doing super sets during most of my workouts but that's just my preference. Also, for those of you who don't know super sets are where you go from one workout to the next without rest in between. 

For example, if you see 3x12 lateral raises SS 3x12 chest flyes all it means is you'd do a set of lateral raises then immediately chest flyes then immediately back to the lateral raises then the flyes until you finish out the 3 rounds. Pretty much it just means you don't stop working out! 

This circuit took me about 20-30 minutes to complete but don't be fooled because my shoulders and chest were on fireeeee! I was able to do this at home because I have adjustable dumbbells that can go pretty high. For the following exercises I used a 15-20lb range, but do what works for you. Just make sure that you are pushing yourself and it's a struggle (without breaking form) to get those reps out. 

Okay, so for the circuit I just did my favorite shoulder and chest exercises: 

x12 upright rows

x10 lying chest flyes 

x12 front raises

x10 push-ups

x10 rear delt flyes

x12 lateral raises

x10 lying chest press

x12 arnold press

Repeat 3 times! I didn't rest between the moves but kept going through the circuit. Instead of doing a circuit, you can also break it up into 4 sets of supersets a.k.a. 3x12 upright rows SS 3x10 lying chest flyes and then 3x12 front raises SS 10 push-ups etc.