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My Mom Is Awesome And Lost 27.5 Pounds So Far

May 7, 2014
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My mom has always been awesome, but recently she’s taking it to a new level by making fitness and health a real priority. She, like so many moms, is one of those ladies that makes sure everyone else is taken care of before caring for herself, and works harder than anyone I know. But sometimes it’s better to be selfish, especially regarding your health, and Mom finally decided it was time to focus on making a change in her own life for a minute. And, since it’s Mother’s Day this Sunday, I figured it would be a great time to INSPIRE YOU ALL with what a badass she is, and how manageable her journey has been.

Mom and I are similar in that our body types will take just about any type of food we eat and ask CAN I CONVERT THIS TO FAT NOW?! which means losing weight requires a lot of attention to detail. However, it is still totally doable. Here’s how the lovely Mom O’Neill got on the fitness train, starting at the end of January: Read More

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Eat Real Food

May 1, 2014
Hey, Friend
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Eat Real FoodWe’ve talked a lot about werkin out, and eating good stuff, and having a healthy mindset, and all kinds of things that can make you strong and healthy and awesome.

I’ve been a little slack in my writing the past couple of months, because I’ve been focusing on the “eating good stuff” part in a serious way. I’ve gotten a specialty certification in Fitness Nutrition (FANCY, Y’ALL) and really nailed down the most important part about eating right. Oh and I started a new business you guys. Here’s the main nutrition philosophy that sparked the idea: Read More

Ease Up on that Animal Protein Y’all

November 15, 2013
Advice from Experience, Hey, Friend
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Alright I know I’ve been all about Greek Yogurt and grilled chicken breast, but I’ve had a lot of time to watch a lot of documentaries and read a lot of books, and you guys, there are better ways to get protein.

Before you get hives and go buying up all the 2% cottage cheese, just relax. I’m not saying cut all your animal protein. I’m just saying tone it down a bit. Not every meal has to be a lean white meat with veggies. There are other (effing delicious) ways to get protein and eat healthy. And you should get in on some of that.

So, to be clear, animal protein means any product coming from an animal. The meat itself, the dairy produced, the eggs — the whole deal.

Here we go with reasons to cut back on animal proteins: Read More

Working Out When It’s Hard

November 6, 2013
Advice from Experience, Hey, Friend
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Oh, hey y’all. I know it’s been a while (again). I promise to pick back up now (really) on our regularly scheduled programming (like, one or two posts a week? nothin crazy). I was SUPER THROWN OFF by some stuff, including that pretty intensive ankle surgery I’m still recovering from, but I vow to continue to give you sweet fitnessing tips on the regular.

SO ANYWAY, let’s lead in with a quick chat about working out when it’s hard. I’ve had some struggles lately that have less to do with the surgery itself, and more to do with being significantly out of shape after being fitnessless for a month or two. This happens to a lot of us, for a lot of reasons, including, but not limited to:

  • work gets real busy and knocks you out of your workout schedule
  • you get a puppy and can’t get to the gym without panicking that he/she is practicing his/her house-training, indoors
  • you get injured and can’t physically complete a workout for a while
  • you’re sick and your recovery period just extends into the rest of your life and then you’re embarrassed for not having shown up at the gym and just end up never going back, ever
  • you straight up give up for a while

So, all of these things are very possible, and can lead to weeks or months going by when you’re not working out. Which means that even if you love love LOVED working out, it’s probably gonna be harder when you start again (ps, you HAVE to start again). Which means you won’t be as good at the stuff you were before, and you won’t like it as much because of that, and you’ll be way more likely to want to quit than you were before your Dark Fitnessless Era. Read More

Not Working Out: A Study

September 5, 2013
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Hey folks. It’s been a while. But not because I’ve been super busy — No. Not at all. In fact, I have been not busy in a way that I never thought possible to not be busy. But more on that in a moment.

Here are a few things to know about this post:

  1. The format and content are a little different from our regularly scheduled programming. (YOU GONNA BE ABLE TO HANDLE THAT?)
  2. I recently had ankle surgery, so my fitnessing took a backseat for a while (as did this blog) and it’s time to lay out some thoughts about my fitnessless month
  3. Just because it was a fitnessless month doesn’t mean it was a useless month. There are some takeaways here.

So. Having gotten the opportunity to experience the effects of being in recovery and not working out for a month, let’s go over the very controlled, scientific, this-is-my-experience-and-therefore-probably-true-for-everybody discoveries about muscles, well-being, and exercise.

Read More

Being Sick and Working Out

April 8, 2013
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Hey y’all it’s been a while but hopefully you’re of the deductive reasoning level that the title of this post makes obvious the reason why. Anyway, let’s get down to the real stuff.

Being sick is the worst for many reasons. Things hurt, it’s hard to sleep but also it’s hard to be awake, showering is a HUGE DEAL, TV is somehow more boring all of a sudden, food doesn’t taste good because it hurts to swallow and breathe, and you don’t feel like cooking so you live off of soup and sorbet. On top of this, days go by that you can’t work out. Can you? Because maybe, like a light workout, will make you feel better? Or at least not as guilty for eating cartons of sorbet? Read More

Being Strong vs Looking Strong

March 18, 2013
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OMG you guys, SOCIETAL ISSUE POST!

Just kidding, I don’t have any opinions about society, or issues. But, this is a topic that’s greater than just the fitnessing world, and starts to get into squishy stuff like media, self-image, and confidence.

There are a lot of different reasons to go to the gym: working off stress, getting healthier, losing weight, bulking up, making friends, curing boredom, healing injuries, training for an athletic event, blah blah I’m bored. Anyway, most people go because they want to improve their physical appearance in some way. Which, trust me y’all, I GET IT. Losing 70 pounds was not a by-product of just wanting to get really good at box jumps. But, were I to take my own advice, then it would have been, because I would have set a series of fitness-related goals, rather than appearance-related goals. SPOILER ALERT this post is an extension of the Set Goals Y’all post. Cause, you know. Some thangs need saying. Read More

Nutritionist #2: Being Full And Stuff

February 26, 2013
Advice from Experience, Hey, Friend
6 Comments

So I’m sure EVERYONE remembers that total force of a post, Nutritionist #1: Eat More Protein, which was published back in November and took the fitness world by storm. Well, lucky for you, I’m super neurotic and saw another nutritionist to find out why I was so hungry and still didn’t look like Jennifer Hudson yet (the “after” version, of course. Also, I still don’t).

At the time I was eating mostly egg whites and spinach, and probably hadn’t had a sandwich in months. Which is why I was FLIPPING OUT with glee from her advice.

Sandwiches are okay. So is jam. You will not get fat if you have a sandwich for lunch, or put jam in your greek yogurt in the mornings. When you eat food, you should feel full afterwards (full meaning satisfied, not meaning unbutton your pants). Read More

Shut up about your schedule.

February 13, 2013
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OK I was gonna write about this cool movie I saw about the food manufacturing industry and how we should TRUST NO ONE but something compelled me to instead tell you all to shut the hell up.

Guys, you need to SHUT UP ABOUT YOUR SCHEDULE ALREADY.

Making time to work out is hard. I can appreciate / understand / empathize. We all are Very Busy and need to hurry up so we can get to work / class / that meeting / a PowerLunch / another conference call / tech rehearsal / our computer / Gawker / therapy / the airport / happy hour / The Real Housewives / band practice / some sports game / your wedding. It is very difficult to get all of this done, and where on earth are we going to find three hours, so we can get to the gym, warm up, do a workout, cool down, and then shower.

NOWHERE. WE ARE NOT GOING TO FIND THAT TIME ANYWHERE.

Here is where you are SO WRONG. Read More