Tag Archives: motivation

MAKE IT COUNT MONDAY

“Don’t give up! It’s not over. The universe is balanced. Every set-back bears with it the seeds of a come-back.”
― Steve Maraboli

Good Day to all, it is Weigh In Monday and I am off for two days. I love to use my days off to catch up on my writing and my plans. I am always redesigning my life, even when set backs happen. I continue to forge forward always, and I never give up. I love this quote above, it truly speaks to me.

I think I am going to call Weigh in Day “MAKE IT COUNT MONDAY.” It has a special kind of hopeful ring to it.

This week the scale did not budge, but I expected that. I stayed at 159 lbs. I know the scale can sometimes be that fickle friend, one day it shows you love and the next day it stands you up. There you are, standing on the scale with all the hopes of the hard work you put in the previous week, and then nothing. Not one bit of movement, no matter how many times you step on the darn contraption.

Weighing in should not cause that much drama, do not view the scale as a frenemy; someone you love to hate. Instead embrace the process, weight loss is just like life; you will have your ups and downs. Each week is a brand new chance to reinvent your approach. This week I did not feel well, I felt a bladder infection coming on and I drank all my extra points in cranberry juice. I knew the extra calories of all that juice could alter my outcome on the scale, but my body needed healing. I recently discovered cranberry pills, highly recommended by friends and I am now on the mend. Remember, this is all for your health and wellness. I am completely fine with the scale staying the same this week.

I am embracing the process of the journey. I am going to work harder on my fitness this week, and keep my food clean and keep my points on point. Monday is my splurge day, but I will not go overboard. Splurging within my point range.I will make an effort to get at least 6-8 fruits and vegetables a day. Maybe I should begin making smoothies with veggies again. I will stay motivated and put in the work, it is all about the work.

My workout schedule for this week:

The 3 W’s. Four days a week on my work days after work, I will do my workouts by #benderfitness. I am tailoring them to the fact I have a shoulder injury, and I will also be doing exercises for my shoulder to help myself heal. I will complete two walks a day on my work days. This is all easy to remember, if I work, I workout and walk. The 3 W’s, walk, workout on work days. http://www.benderfitness.com

Three days a week I will run, I will work up to 3 miles each day. I will also do home yoga and flexibility training 3 days a week. Again, 3 days off equals 3 miles. No way I can forget this plan. Here is my yoga, flexibility and running plans.

http://www.benderfitness.com/2015/05/5k-training-for-new-runners.html

http://www.benderfitness.com/2016/10/daily-yoga-challenge-10-sun-salutations.html

http://www.benderfitness.com/category/flexibility-training

I will work on sleeping better, and not stressing even though life can sometimes throw a pie in your face, and trust me I have dodged a lot of pies lately. Willpower, a good attitude and a smile works wonders; and perhaps just a taste of the pie.

I am off for now. Namaste’ Love and Light.

Happy Monday,

Make it Count

Rose

FLEXIBILITY GOALS 2017

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To follow, without halt, one aim: There’s the secret of success.

Anna Pavlova

I love this quote, as a Sagittarius I have my arrow on my prize always. I have many prizes in the form of my goals. I have so many goals, and I believe in never giving up. Some goals may have to wait because of money constraints, and some goals are put on a hold because let’s face it, one can only do so much at one time. I do not consider this procrastination, but a pause. I focus on what I can do, and return to my other important goals as soon as life and time gives me a little more freedom to do so. I keep adding new goals, I guess you can say I am driven my making goals. I aim for my goals.

I photographed this statue of a dancer in this beautiful pose and added the quote I felt best represented the image. It struck a cord with me when I saw it, it inspired me. I was a dancer when I was younger, and one of my motivations/goals when I began this blog was to return to my dancers shape and flexibility. Age was not a factor with this or any of my goals. To do this that takes consistency and hard work. I have come a long way but there is still a lot of work for me do to get to my goals. I want to attend ballet and yoga classes in my area, because face time in a studio really makes me come alive. In the meantime, there is no reason why I cannot do this on my own. I can prepare for the time when I am in a place to pay for such classes. My plan is to add to my home workouts a rigorous home yoga and flexibility training. I know my body, I know what to do, and I have my benderfitness videos to help guide me along,http://www.benderfitness.com

It reminded me of the time I slacked off on flossing my teeth. ( I know, gross huh) I realized I needed to floss again twice a day to get my teeth in good shape so my next cleaning would not be painful. Once that happened I vowed to never not floss again. If you have ever stopped flossing and went for a cleaning you know this is a painful experience. Same holds true for any goal, you can prepare on your own, take baby steps. You want to take an acting class but cannot afford it so for now you can find a library and read. Prepare, prepare for your aim. Use your time wisely, spend your time learning.

So instead of complaining that I cannot afford the classes I covet, I will prepare my body by doing the work myself at home, and on nicer days I will take my mat to the park. I will begin this starting Monday next week. I have been meaning to write out my schedule, but that too has been on pause. I am on top of that now.

Rome wasn’t built-in a day, but I am sure the Romans worked really hard day in and day out to get to where they wanted to be, one brick at a time, one day at a time.

I am the architect of all of my goals, the designer, the builder, the person with the vision. I will do so, one brick at a time.

Namaste’

Love and Light

Rose

MAKING FOOD MY FRIEND

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Your body is a temple not a trash can. At the same time, you have to learn to live with food, not without it. It is fine to occasionally eat foods that are not considered healthy. For me, I now follow the 80/20 rule. 80% of the time I eat real, clean food, and the other 20% I allocate a little wiggle room for occasional treats and goodies. I find this plan is sustainable for life and living. I can maintain this forever, and not feel deprived. This is how I am moving forward in my weight loss journey, and my life.

Rose Bruno Bailey

Food, it is a necessity of life, the staple of living. We need fuel to live. Food not only feeds the body but it can nurture the soul. Food can be healing, and it can be addictive. For some food can cause anxiety and fear, how much is too much? One cannot decide to just quit food and go cold turkey. You have to learn to live with food, to achieve balance, to make food your friend.

For the longest time food was my enemy. When I was age 13 I began dancing, and an adult dance teacher told me I must lose 30 lbs between freshman and sophomore year of high school. That began my journey of making food my enemy. I had eating disorders and spent most of my early days trying to avoid food. You can read about it here. http://mychangeforaten.com/eating-disorder-past/

That post was in 2013. This is now 2017, and I am here to say the old habits came back after that moment. I decided I did not need Weight Watchers after some time, and went at it on my own. I lost my weight, but the old feelings of being obsessive about food came back, in the form of what I was eating instead of not eating. I went from my starving days of yesteryear, to being obsessive over good vs bad foods. Carbs, gluten, sugar, just a little sent me over the edge of guilt and obsession. I think I was bordering on a new eating disorder called Orthorexia. Melissa Bender from Melissa Bender Fitness was the person to suggest this was how I was behaving. She knows my background with food.

or·tho·rex·i·a

noun

an obsession with eating foods that one considers healthy.
a medical condition in which the sufferer systematically avoids specific foods in the belief that they are harmful.

noun: orthorexia nervosa; plural noun: orthorexia nervosas

I am happy to say here I am in February 2014. I feel like I am back in control of my eating disorders, and I have done so with Weight Watchers Online. Melissa Bender told me she is so happy I am making food my friend, and I am too. I can safely say I am still eating healthy, but I now have a little wiggle room. I no longer obsess with what I am eating, I track it daily on the Weight Watchers App and I am done with it. I eat clean, but I allow some treats here and there. I work the plan each week, and if I feel something is not working, I try something new the next week. I have broken my year long plateau and lost 9 lbs since January 14th, 2017. That brings my weight loss goal closer, I am now 24 lbs from 135 lbs. I will always do this, I will maintain my weight by the points system after I get to goal. I will achieve lifetime status with Weight Watchers, and have a healthy relationship with food.

I am grateful for the food that nurtures me and fuels my body to do the things it loves to do. I will not obsess over bad and good food. I eat clean and healthy yet I enjoy life, and with life comes the occasional treat or celebration. Food is no longer my enemy, food has become my friend. Every Monday, after weigh in I enjoy a treat with my coffee. I do that, and I am still losing weight. I really look forward to the scale, and the treat afterwards.

I will leave you with this, a quote from the weight loss guru himself. We miss Richard Simmons. If you would like to hear the number one podcast in the country, Missing Richard Simmons, here is the link. I was interviewed on the last day of Slimmons. I hope Richard is well. https://www.facebook.com/MissingRichardSimmons/

We miss you Richard Simmons.

I’ve always practiced this: Love yourself. Move your body. Watch your portions.

Richard Simmons

I love myself, I am watching my portions and moving my body Richard. Thank you.

WEIGHT LOSS MILESTONE

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My weigh in day is on Monday. I am working so hard, and I really get excited for weighing in. This week I finally made it into the 150’s, a milestone I have been chasing for over a year. I finally broke my long time plateau with Weight Watchers Online and I lost 9 lbs in a little over a month. That is 10% of my body weight.

I lost my initial weight between the summer of 2013 and 2016 and than the scale just stopped moving. I continued to work hard on my fitness and I continued to eat healthy but nothing could get the numbers to go down. I even kept off every pound through an ongoing crisis. I never gave up nor will I ever give up. One day I will write about the crisis I am in, but for now I keep all of that private.

I can officially say I am 24 lbs from my goal weight of 135 lbs.

Cue Happy Happy face.

I CHEATED ( this is what happened)

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It is now common knowledge that the average American gains 7 pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day.

Marilu Henner

The dreaded scale after the holidays, how many of you faced it today? I did, and I gained five pounds. I knew I put on a few pounds so I felt there was no reason to avoid the scale. Better to know now, as I begin anew in 2017 with my weight loss and fitness goals. One of the reasons I feel this happened because I went so extreme on my diet for five months. than I ate whatever I felt like eating off and on in between Thanksgiving and New Years. I did not plan to eat with abandon, it just happened. I am human.

My plan for my next 10 lb charity is to deliver the blankets I am collecting for the homeless to the Midnight Mission when I lose 10 lbs and finally make it into the 150’s. 159 I am coming for you.

I am here to tell you one or two cheat meals are ok, but every day cheating for a few weeks left me feeling as crappy as the food I ate. I thought maybe I would feel the joy of the holidays if I indulged, I worked every holiday and I was trying to find my joy elsewhere. This year the holidays lacked sparkle for me. I am here to remind you and remind myself that food is not the answer to happiness. A little moderation is better than an all out binge. It left me feeling empty and not healthy. I felt bloated, ill and my stomach and joints felt off kilter. It did not bring me the joy I was seeking, it did the opposite.

Marilu Henner got it right on the nose, but I was lucky I only gained five pounds since Thanksgiving. Now I have to back track a little, but no complaining. I got this. Lesson learned for the future. Back to the 80/20 rule. Eat healthy almost all the time, but leave room for occasional treats, of course within portion control.

Life is not linear; you have ups and downs. It’s how you deal with the troughs that defines you.

Michael Lee-Chin

Back to the drawing board, as I sketch the 2017 I envision. I need to do some grocery shopping and I am reading health magazines for ideas. I am on day three of Melissa Bender Fitness 30 day Challenge. ( I am behind so I am doing one round of day two and one round of day three so I can be in sync with Melissa.I am also going to join her and work on my flexibility. Here is the link. I got 2017 by the collar and I am showing this year whose the boss. Who is with me? Let’s do this.

http://www.benderfitness.com/2017/01/muffin-top-meltdown-body-weight-exercises-to-burn-fat-strengthen-your-core.html

FINDING BALANCE

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Happy Monday to all. If you have been following my progress you know I challenged myself to go from the summer solstice to the winter solstice without a cheat on my diet. I was eating clean, and I was going strong. Five months I pulled this off, five months of looking away at every thing that tempted my resolve. Five months of ups and downs in my life, and never once did I drown my problems with food. I am proud of this fact.

To blame my break in my challenge on someone else is weak, but it is the truth that my husband James really wanted to enjoy Thanksgiving Dinner with him. So on Thanksgiving I cheated on my diet. I didn’t overeat, but I ate foods I had deemed unhealthy, and I realized. There was no balance in my approach to losing weight anymore. I was again in a position of all or nothing. This taught me a lesson. It is ok to have the occasional cheat day, the occasional cookie, the occasional french fry. It is not ok to fill your body all the time with junk, but to occasionally eat off program is ok. There is no good and bad food, there is just food and the choices you make.

Where did five months of eating completely strict get me? Honestly I am at my lowest weight since I started this blog but I have not lost a pound in weeks. Yes, I kept my weight off with diet and exercise but I could have done just as great following portion control and the 80/20 rule. Eat healthy 80 percent of the time and allow for those occasional treats. Going to the extreme leads to eating disorders and creates imbalance in your life. It creates a mind body struggle that is not positive. So I am moving forward with balance all while still maintaining my healthy lifestyle. I still believe in eating clean and whole foods, and I will move forward doing so. With that said I will be watching my portions and using the loseit app to count my calories. And yes, there will be occasional splurges within this new program of mine. I plan to get to my goal weight in 2017 and all of my fitness goals, without driving myself insane. After all a mere half of a muffin never hurt anyone.

I am proud of all of my accomplishments, and as I approach my milestone birthday in less than two weeks I am motivated for all that is to come in the brand new year. I am going to stop having a love/hate relationship with food and learn to accept it into my life with gratitude as I continue with my healthy food and fitness lifestyle.

As I type this I realized I did not eat today, sometimes that happens to me but not often. I am human and with that comes flaws. As I type I “eye spy” a muffin and I am thinking of buying it and eating half or maybe a quarter. This new balance lifestyle is so weird but I feel confident I can continue by counting it in with my loseit app. and keep the majority of my food plan clean and healthy. I will soar with the 80/20 rule. I am 164 lbs and dropping.

As I eat this beautiful sweet treat, I will savor it slowly and have gratitude for all the abundant blessings in my life. Life is sweeter when you find balance.

CRISIS CHALLENGES

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It is Thanksgiving week and it never escapes me how lucky I am, despite being in what seems to be a long-term financial crisis. I keep dieting and exercising through my challenges. This week we had yet another disappointment, but I am not going to allow myself to wallow in my woes. I took a moment yesterday, cried in my coffee over conversation with my dear friend Mary. I shared with her some things that concern me about being in a financial crisis as a weight loss blogger. My friend is a fixer type of friend, she is completely giving and the kind of person who tries to come up with solutions to your issues. She is amazing and I am lucky to have her around the corner. I am thankful indeed for all of my friends, family, my husband James and our beloved Siamese cats Rascal and Spanky. I am thankful for life.

I decided to do a quick post and share my thoughts and concerns about being in a financial crisis and how it affects my blog, These thoughts are ridiculous to me when I type them up, but they are my feelings. Being in a financial crisis puts a limit on a lot of spending. If you know me, you know I am more interested in helping others, in reveling in nature than I am about material possessions. With that said, everyone likes nice things, and I am not immune to that fact. If you follow fellow weight loss bloggers and well as fitness bloggers it seems a lot of the things they post I cannot post because of my situation. I feel like I do not measure up. This is not a pity statement, rather a way to get it out and share and to come up with other ways to be a motivational weight loss blogger during my lean time. I love that I said lean, because despite my crisis, I can say I accomplished my lowest weight on my blog. I did it even though there were times I wanted to dive head first in a vat of chocolate cake batter. It has been five months without a cheat day, and I have one more month to go. My workouts are at www.benderfitness.com which are all free. My equipment is weights, a mat and again a pair of worn shoes. Here are my silly concerns and how I am moving past them. I keep moving.

My running shoes have seen their best day. I almost did not go to the last Richard Simmons Slimmons class out of embarrassment. I shared this in a private group, and the beautiful support that came my way through the Slimmons family taught me I am not an embarrassment. Someone even kindly offered to mail me shoes his wife has never worn. That touched me but it was not why I posted it, I just felt the need to vent. I am grateful to him and the whole Slimmons family, and as I type I am sporting my proudly worn Asics and my new Nike’s that were gifted to me. I am proud of all my steps. I am proud where these shoes have been, and where I am going.
Instagram is filled with photos of people posting work out gear. I love nice work out clothes too, so I love liking the photos. I cannot do that now, and that is OK. I will find other ways to share my journey. So I am at my lowest weight on my blog and I am not clothes shopping. It will come soon enough, perhaps when I hit my ultimate weight loss goal. For now I keep keeping on and staring as trees as I run in my worn shoes. This gives me something to work for and something to look forward to. Perhaps a fun photo shoot when I finally reach that elusive weight loss goal of 135 lbs. The new clothes can wait, I am refocusing on the work. It is all about the hard work, the health and the wellness. And of course the connections with people.
Races. I have done a few and I wish to do more. They are not cheap. I hope to run in a race in the new year. In the meantime, I will maybe do a virtual race and ask my followers to run along with me virtually. In 2015 I ran across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and that was such a high on national 4/20 day. I can find another place to do a run here in LA, some place that really is special. As long as I keep running in my worn shoes I will reach my dream destination. I am a work in progress.
Recipes and Food. Lately I have fallen off the wagon with cooking and shopping for groceries. We are keeping our diet simple, and I eat a lot of my meals at work. I tend to rely on the same fast and healthy options. It does not leave me much time or money to make elaborate recipes and that is OK. We have food, we eat healthy, we are grateful. Tonight I am off and trying a couple of healthier autumn treats. I am going to bake apples and make a baked sweet potato with just a few pecans, marshmallows and banana. I will post these budget friendly recipes. I can do one or two new recipes a week. I love shopping at thrift stores and finding treasures on a dime. This is my vintage Cuisinart food processor that I made black bean brownies with.
My Blanket Drive. I wanted to hold a boot camp to raise blankets for the Midnight Mission in LA for the Homeless. This is my next charity. I ended up sick and I have an injured rotator cuff so this felt like a failure to me. The game may have changed, but the prize is still the same. I am collecting blankets for the homeless and I will continue to do so from now until I deliver them to The Midnight Mission in December. It is getting Cold here in LA and the blankets are needed. Here are my thoughts on blankets for the homeless.http://mychangeforaten.com/1750-2/ I am getting to my goals despite the issues and nuances of life. My best friend Melissa Bender called me Mulan today. I am a warrior fighting my metaphorical huns. Much love and light, I am thankful for you. Happy Thanksgiving to all. Remember to treat your body like a temple but still enjoy life. It is the holiday so it is totally acceptable to indulge and share delicious fare with family and friends. Try to watch your portions and maybe get out for a walk or run. xo

It’s a Journey

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“You must give everything to make your life as beautiful as the dreams that dance in your imagination.”
― Roman Payne

If you have followed my journey you know this is a blog a about dancer/writer poet who gained a lot of weight and decided to combine weight loss and charity and write about the process and journey. You can find my beginnings here. http://mychangeforaten.com/about/

For me this blog has become life changing. It has literally opened up a whole world of possibilities and endless opportunities and introduced me to lifelong friends and mentors. We are only held back by the shackles we place upon ourselves. We have the key to let go of what holds us back, the fears and blocks that keep us from living the life of our dreams. Life is too beautiful not to be happy in the living.

This is a weight loss/fitness blog where I sponsor charities as I lose weight and it will continue to be that as I continue on my journey. I am 30 lbs away from my goal weight and on my six month challenge of no cheat days until I arrive at my 50th birthday on The Winter Solstice on December 21st. Here I am now proud of my accomplishments but always moving forward. I lost over 50 lbs and helped numerous charities and found a love of fitness and yoga similar to my love of dance and the written word. I am on a fitness quest as well as a weight loss journey, a quest to be the best me inside and out. This will not cease when I hit my goal weight. Lifestyle equals a life journey.

I will continue to share my fitness goals and my mentors and role models, my weight loss journey and diet including more recipes.I am in the process of planning my next charity event. I plan to start writing about a subjects that are related to my journey, subjects about inspirations of life and living. I have slacked off writing here because I let life get in my way and got lazy with my writing and overwhelmed with the nuances that sometimes stop us in our tracks. I plan to write more often like I did when I began, and be more transparent in the process. I am painfully emotional and human, and from now on I will write more and stress less about life’s issues.

My life is beautiful because I am in love with living and all creatures of the universe. With that said a beautiful life is not a perfect life. I have issues like every other human that walks the earth. I am too far from family, and finances are a struggle but I am living despite of my problems and always moving forward. One of my favorite quotes from the film The Shawshank Redemption is

“get busy living or get busy dying”

I am living, loving life here in LA. Almost 50 and grateful for every single person in my life and every single moment that got me here. Are you getting older or living a beautiful life? You have the power to choose.

Namaste’

Rose

CHASING GOALS

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Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.

Tony Robbins

Hello to all and a very Happy Wednesday. I have been thinking a lot about this blog, my goals, and what I wish to accomplish as I move forward. This summer is my three year Anniversary, I have lost a lot of weight and kept every pound off. I have helped numerous charities, and started a fitness journey that has taken me beyond anything that I could have expected. My book was published, I was in a Richard Simmons video, and my story made it into a few websites. In the process I met lifelong friends and have been inspired by all the stories of people crushing their personal goals. I have done all this through a move to San Francisco, and back to Los Angeles and kept my optimism through a tough personal crisis. I could never have done any of this alone, and a huge shout out to all of my mentors, friends, and family.

Here begins the new chapter. I am all in my 6 month clean eating challenge with no cheat days until my 50th Birthday which falls on December 21. Summer solstice to the winter solstice. I admit there have been a few days when all I wanted to do was drown my sorrows in a tub of cake batter, but I have resisted. I have broken my plateau and my weight is now 166.

I have really exciting news to announce, but I am trying to wait until it happens before I say what it is, but I will say it is a milestone in my life. A personal goal was accomplished, and I am giddy as a school girl.

I have a giving friend who has been down lately, and I hate to see her sad. I suggested we meet once a week to have coffee, write down our goals for the upcoming week and discuss how we feel. We have been doing this for three weeks now and I can honestly say it has worked just as much for me as it has for her. She has started a new opportunity and she has also returned to playing a sport she is passionate about and has missed dearly. For me it has helped me set new goals as I move forward. I am still in a personal crisis, but it is much better now that we are back in Los Angeles. I am crushing my weekly goals and I feel extra motivated and inspired.

Two months in my clean eating challenge and here is the workouts I will be doing for the next six weeks. Thanks Melissa Bender Fitness for always pushing and inspiring me and the masses. Today is day 3 for me. Melissa is a new Mom to baby Maverick and I could not be happier for her. http://www.benderfitness.com/2016/08/postpartum-beyond-6-week-workout-challenge-week-1-day-3-cardio-day.html

I also am knee deep in planning my next Charity. I will explain all in a future post but here is who I am helping next. I am planning an exciting event. https://www.facebook.com/TheMidnightMission/?fref=ts

http://www.midnightmission.org/

It makes sense since this charity is very similar to my first charity back in October, 2013 with The Monday Mission. I went to skid row with My trainer Mike, his girlfriend Maria, and my friend Courtney and her boyfriend to feed the homeless. We donated food courtesy of Chef Jessica of Seasons 52. This photo was before I lost my weight, and the beginning of my journey. You can read about that experience here. http://mychangeforaten.com/middle-of-the-night-monday-night-mission-musings/

So that somewhat catches me up to today, almost the end of the summer 2016. One of my goals is to get back to posting daily here. You can also find me on Instagram and Facebook. Have a wonderful day, Namaste’ and keep crushing those goals.

https://www.facebook.com/MyChangeForATen/

https://www.instagram.com/mychangeforaten/?hl=en

FRUGAL IS NOT AN F WORD

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Good day, it is a good day. Today is day two of my countdown and challenge and leads me to my winter solstice 50th Birthday. Lately I have been contacted and asked to be an ambassador for some really cool yoga and fitness clothing lines. I fell in love with one of them, but I let them know I do not feel I am in a place yet to represent their line. I would like to get into the nitty-gritty, and get to work first. I plan to revisit the invitation in three to four months when I am well into this challenge of mine. More to come on this subject and opportunity when we are closer to the Autumn Equinox. In the meantime, work, work, work.

Yesterday was the summer solstice, six months until my challenge ends on my 50th birthday, and a brand new beginning for a lot of us. Days are longer and nights are shorter. We are a long way off until the winter solstice which leaves us with plenty of time to achieve our personal goals. Are you with me? Do you believe?

Are you chasing your goals while being in a financial crisis? It can be devastating. We have lived in many of the most expensive cities in the USA and we have been struggling. I know what it can do to your self-esteem. Don’t get me wrong, I am the first person to say material gains in life do not define a person; it is their kindness, soul and love that does that. You cannot take it with you, and that is true. I have always said all I need is a pen, notebook, trees and the ocean and to be surrounded by animals and loved ones.

To survive in this modern world today is so different in comparison to what it was for our parents and grandparents. Gone are the simple days in life.

In the movie Meet Me in St Louis they are spending the dog days of summer making homemade ketchup. Such simple times are long gone. I have always wondered what it would be like to live in such a simple era. It seems simple, but they did not have our modern-day resources and conveniences. Do you really want to spend all day making ketchup? It would be clean eating and organic but really?

Back to reality. Money seems to define a person today, which is truly tragic. Getting fit, dieting, losing weight all seem to come with a hefty price tag. if you cannot fund your fitness you are destined to be unfit and overweight? Everything seems to have a cost attached to it. I do not agree with this and I am going to achieve my goals despite our situation.

I am here not only traipse through my own weight loss and fitness journey, to sponsor charities; but I will also be sharing my wisdom, experiences, and resources as I get to my goals the frugal way. I have no other choice. At the end of the day if you let the stress and struggles consume you and you let your health go, you will have far more problems to deal with than finances. So, let’s do this.

This Gaiam mat was found at Marshalls for only ten bucks, the 8 lb weights at KMart. That’s the only equipment you need.

Lace up your running, walking, or crawling shoes. Whatever you choose, get a pair and just move it. That’s the beginning secret, just to start moving. These Asics were only 38 bucks and good running shoes cost well over a hundred. I suggest you visit a running store and get fitted, if you can afford to purchase your first pair there go for it. Break them in, feel them as you move.

After a few months you will learn the mechanics of your own feet and you will be able to compare the running shoes from the running store to those found at discount stores. That is what I did and these discount running shoes are actually the same as the previous pair I bought at the running store, for a fraction of the price.

My workouts are free thanks to Melissa Bender Fitness. She has countless videos, information and resources. She is my trainer of choice and I am learning a lot.

http://www.benderfitness.com/

Today is International Yoga Day and I love the being outside and I cannot afford a regular yoga class. Give yourself time in nature, grab a mat and do some outdoor yoga. You mind, body, and spirit will thank you. Yoga can be free, there are countless yoga videos online. Sun Salutations is the best way to begin.

Here is a link I love. http://www.benderfitness.com/category/yoga

A more involved post will include what I am eating to get there, and all the resources I am finding to eat on the cheap all while eating clean and healthy. Yesterday was day one, and I did wonderful. I swapped my protein Bars for Melissa Bender Fitness energy balls. My protein bars were costing me 58 bucks a month, these are a fraction of the cost. The recipe is below the photo. Enjoy them with your morning coffee or before a run.

I swapped agave for honey, and did not use chocolate chips. I used unsalted natural peanut butter and raisins as the dried fruit.

A little tip, put the agave in first, and pour the peanut butter in the same measuring cup and it will be smooth and not sticky and pour right into the bowl. Make sure you chill well, they will form better. Save some of the batter and crumble with apples and blueberries, great with Greek yogurt. I may try to bake it and make it a clean eating blueberry crumble.

Here is her recipe.

Ingredients (makes 20 balls):

1 Cup Dry Old Fashioned Oatmeal
1 Cup Dried Cranberries or other dried fruit
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips ( I actually used about 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips, a tablespoon of sesame seeds, and the rest trail mix for this batch)
1/2 cup ground flax seed
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup Natural Creamy Peanut Butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

I combined all of the dry ingredients, then added the peanut butter and stirred. Add the

honey, continue stirring. Add the vanilla and stir until all of the ingredients are coated.

Chill for 20-30 Minutes, roll into balls, and serve or store in an air tight container.

Thanks Melissa Bender Fitness

Happy Tuesday,

Namaste’

Rose

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MY CHANGE FOR A TEN

Rose Bruno Bailey’s site about vegan weight loss, fitness, philanthropy and more. I’m chasing joy and all of my dreams and goals by becoming my own happiness guru. Let’s spread sunshine and be happiness gurus together.

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