Hello all! I wanted to share with you all my top 5 things that have seriously helped me along my fitness journey. I’m not here to sell you on anything or say that by buying any of the products I share you’ll get those desired results. You do what works for you. I’m here to share the things that have helped me. I’m here to give you motivation and inspiration to keep going with your goals.

Find a Workout Program That Works For You

I have shared in the past plenty of times that I am a Beachbody member (not a coach), and have been following the programs provided for almost a full year now. Prior to joining this community, I was seeing results but it was slow moving and I wasn’t satisfied with my workouts. I had no real guidance. For me, these programs have helped me so much. That being said, find a workout program that works for you. YouTube is saturated with fitness influencers with their own workouts that they share, all of them free. Your thing might be strength training with weights, or body weight, or maybe HIIT is more your thing. Find what works for you.

Make Your Routine Fun

I want to say straight up that you do not need any kind of supplements in order to reach your goals. You do not need to spend hundreds of dollars on fancy leggings. When I first started my journey, I had a raggedy pair of leggings with a whole at the bum, a single unsupportive sports bra, and some holey tank tops. It wasn’t cute but it was what I had.

Over the years, almost as a reward to myself as I progressed, I started added supplements to my routine and began investing in better apparel. My favorite supplement brand is Alani Nu, a brand that is more geared towards women. I love their energy drinks and pre-workouts, my favorite being the products launched from their collab with Whitney Simmons. It took me a while to get used to it. The first time I tried their pre-workout, I got so itchy from the beta-alanine and was a little too amped up. Now it’s just something that I’m used to and gives me that extra motivation to get through my workout. That being said, my favorite protein powder is from Ghost. It mixes so well and tastes amazing, without that chalkiness that I’ve found in other brands. Again, it’s not something that I absolutely have to have. These are just things that I’ve added to my routine to make it fun.

The same thing can be said of my workout apparel. I am absolutely in love with Gymshark and their clothing. Will I still get the same results if I wear my clearance leggings from Walmart that I’ve had for six years? Absolutely! You do not need expensive gear to get the results you want. I have these things to make this whole journey more fun for me personally and I am always so thankful and appreciative that I’m able to add these type of things to my routines. A lot of the pieces in my wardrobe were gifts from family over the years from birthdays and holidays.

Find What Motivates You

This can really be paired with making your fitness journey fun. If putting on those cute leggings in the morning is what motivates you, then girl get it! Maybe you want to create a vision board of cute magazine cut outs and have it posted on your kitchen fridge. Do it! A lot of my motivation comes from looking at before and after photos of myself. A lot of days I step on the scale and feel discouraged when the number isn’t moving in the direction that I want it to. But then I’ll look at my old photos and see the physical difference. I find so much motivation, too, through YouTube and Instagram. My favorite YouTubers for fitness and health related content are Angie Bellemare, Kylie Ross, Beatrice Caruso, and of course Whitney Simmons. Angie and Beatrice are probably my most watched influencers. Vastly different in their approach, but I can connect to both of them and take what they share and learn from it.

Scheduling

I feel like one of the most important things that has helped me is scheduling. Scheduling my workouts into my day assures me that I have set aside that time to get my workouts done. I also schedule in time to meal prep so that I have no excuses when it comes to eating healthy. I usually spend my Sunday evenings planning out the week in advance. I plan in my work schedule, school assignments, when I need to get groceries; etc. Whatever I have to do for that week, I schedule it and do my best to stick with it.

Pay Attention to Your Nutrition

I used to think that I could eat whatever I want if I was working out two times a day. That is so far from the truth and I had to learn it the hard way. At the same time, I’ve learned that when I completely restrict myself and don’t let myself have a drink or partake in a piece of birthday cake, I am more likely to go back to binge eating and not tracking what I’m eating. Nutrition is one thing that I’m constantly learning what works best for me. I am trying to become more balanced with my diet. I am getting so much better in that I am learning to meal prep more and find healthy substitutes that don’t leave me feeling deprived. Something that makes it easier is learning to experiment in the kitchen. Take your favorite meal and put a healthier spin on it. At the beginning, I used to be a little afraid of cooking with raw vegetables and would buy those frozen steamable bags from Birdseye or Green Giant. If you’re first starting out, I highly recommend them as they got me started on the right foot.

Find Your Support System

The last thing that has helped me is by finding the right support group for my journey. Being active with like-minded people on Instagram has helped tremendously. My husband is probably my biggest support system, working out with me and eating healthier with me. I know that it is difficult as not everyone has a support system that they can go to. Let me just say, if you are reading this………let me be your support system! You can do hard things. Don’t worry about the ones that are saying you can’t do something. Don’t worry about the ones questioning your choice of yogurt over a piece of cake. If there is anything that I’ve learned growing up and dealing with naysayers all my life, they are unhappy with themselves and will take it out on you to bring you down to their level. Don’t let them! You are stronger than that. You are beautiful. You are cherished.

Thank you so much for reading and until next time………….