[amandaraefitness]

Never in a million years did I think that someday I would be a “fit mom”. 😱 . Just a few short years ago I thought a fit mom was some mythical creature that lived on Instagram. 🦄📸🦄 For some reason I believed that moms who were in shape 1) didn’t work or at least didn’t work full time, 2) had everything handed to them, 3) had hired help, or 4) fitness and diet came easy to them. 🤐🤐🤐 . YIKES. . Fast forward to today BEING the fit mom. 😅👧🏻💪🏼🦄 If I could go back in time and drop a truth bomb on myself I’d do it. . I am 34. I am a fit mom. I work full time (and then some). I have not had everything handed to me. I do not have hired help. Fitness and nutrition DO NOT come easy to me. What happened over the course of 7 years for me to go from such a limited/negative outlook to becoming one of those mythical Instagram creatures? 🤔🤔🤔 . My outlook changed. My attitude changed. My belief in my capabilities changed. Today and for the past several years, I no longer spend my time looking at other women who bust their asses for their health and think “that’s not possible” or “she’s got it easy”. Instead I focus on MYSELF and MY goals and MY abilities. Doing that over and over and over and over has yielded some pretty damn good results if you ask me. 💪🏼🦄💪🏼 . I believe in possibility where most people don’t. I see diamonds where most people see coal. I am patient. I am consistent. I am knowledgeable and forever seeking to know more. I purposefully put forth a positive attitude DAILY even though it is hard sometimes. I recognize where I fail and restart with a new plan. I am accountable to myself. I am responsible for my actions and my goals. Nobody else has accomplished things for me. . I post this because I want other moms out there to know that your goals are within an arms reach if you believe that they are. You already have everything within you to achieve them. It is ENTIRELY possible for you to be fit and active with your kids. If I can inspire ONE MOM to believe that today, my job is done. 🤱🏻💪🏼🤱🏼🦄🤱🏽💪🏼🤱🏾🦄🤱🏿💪🏼🤱 . . . #bbcomambassador #sponsored #bodybuilding #workout #fitness #fitgirl #fitmom #fitmoms #fitmomsofig #ladiesofbbcom

[amandaraefitness]

Yes, You Need to Drink Water

There, I said it.  And I’ll say it again - YOU NEED TO DRINK WATER!  If you expect to make changes to your physique you need to treat your body well.  The BEST and most basic way you can treat your body well is to keep it hydrated.  The benefits of staying hydrated are plain and simple.  These benefits include:

- Regulated body temperature - Improved nutrient absorption - Improved digestion - Prevention of water retention - Contributes to healthy bowels - Increased metabolism - Helps you to feel full (many people eat when they are dehydrated when they should actually be drinking water instead) - Keeps skin from clogging up with toxins - Increased brain function - Improved energy levels (due to proper body functioning)

Water isn’t exciting or tasty like sugar-filled drinks like soda, juice, etc.  A common complaint I hear from people looking to make a physique transformation is “I don’t like water”.  Well, you have to ask yourself if you want to be healthy and reach your physique goals.  Drinking water is a super small price to pay to experience success with your transformation.  There is no way around it - you have to drink enough water to be successful.  

So, if you don’t like water or find it difficult to drink, I suggest you begin adding it into your routine today.  Start small - add 8 oz. to your day for a week.  Increase that to 16 oz. next week.  Increase to 24 oz. the following week.  Continue that pattern until you reach 64 oz. OR half of your body weight in ounces.  For example, if you weigh 175 pounds you should be drinking approximately 88 oz. of water per day.  

Another suggestion I have is to get a water bottle dedicated ONLY to your daily water intake.  The image attached to this blog post is my own personal water bottle that I fill everyday.  It is 3 liters (101 oz.).  I have days that I drink it all and I have days that I only get about half of it down.  Water intake is a constant goal for me and it should be for you too!  I know when I have proper water intake that I feel better, my physique goals speed up, I have more energy, and I do not overeat.  

Give the following schedule a try so you can increase your water intake to help you finally reach your physique goals:

Week #1: 8 oz. water upon waking Week #2: 8 oz. water upon waking + 8 oz. water before you eat lunch Week #3: 8 oz. water upon waking + 8 oz. water before you eat lunch + 8 oz. water before you eat dinner Week #4: 8 oz. water upon waking + 8 oz. water before lunch +  8 oz. water before dinner + 8 oz. water post-workout Week #5: 16 oz. water upon waking + 8 oz. water before lunch + 8 oz. water before dinner + 16 oz. water post-workout Week #6: 16 oz. water upon waking + 16 oz. water before lunch + 16 oz. water before dinner + 16 oz. water post-workout

You’ll be at 64 oz. a day within 6 weeks!  Of course, you can add water anywhere else you see fit but this is a great start to boosting that hydration.  

The bottom line is you have to be drinking water whether you like it or not!  Beginning a journey to health & wellness isn’t always fun.  It especially is not fun to start if you have been used to very unhealthy habits.  You need to get out of your comfort zone TODAY.  It will get better.  It will get to a point where it is fun.  Most importantly, it will get to a point where you feel like the uncomfortable parts of the journey were totally worth it.  You just need to start somewhere and grow a little bit each day in your journey. 

[amandaraefitness]

Mt. Dew Memories

Let’s talk about CHANGING HABITS today!  As I progress further into the Bodybuilding.com #250KChallenge I am reflecting on my own habits and learning how to change some that aren’t serving me well.  This isn’t my first "rodeo” making changes to my body.  There have been some really great habits learned over time that support my goals but I also have some bad habits that I have slipped into as well.  

I want to talk about one habit that I have not picked back up over the years and how this is teaching me to drop other bad habits I have picked up along the way.  Did you know I used to be a REGULAR drinker of Mt. Dew?????  I got to thinking about this the other day and it just had me in awe.  I wouldn’t even think of picking up a Mt. Dew as my drink of choice today.  It sort of grosses me out to be honest.  But when I was in high school, I worked at a restaurant and had unlimited access to fountain Mt. Dew and I took full advantage.  That Mt. Dew habit led me to be about 30-40 pounds overweight as a senior in high school.  

Upon entering my college years I was really embarrassed to be overweight.  I knew I had to change some things if I didn’t want to be overweight anymore.  The very first thing I did was STOP DRINKING POP!  The only thing I would drink was water and occasionally I would drink orange juice with breakfast but that was about it.  My choice to drop that terrible soda habit led me to a 32 pound weight loss my freshman year of college.  I didn’t know much about nutrition at the time but I was certain that my choice to stop drinking Mt. Dew was a great contributor to my weight loss.  

What is my point?  I want give hope (to both you and me) that it is possible to change habits to help you lead a healthier life.  It does require you to make a (HARD) choice to leave some bad habits behind.  Quitting soda was hard at first but eventually it just became my new normal.  I started adding in diet soda over time but only on an occasional basis.  Today I still drink mostly water and will have diet soda sometimes.  I have never turned back to drinking Mt. Dew and am so thankful that I was able to quit that habit long-term.  It is something that has helped me maintain a great deal of my weight loss over time.

With this realization I hope to apply my “Mt. Dew memories” to my more recently formed habits that aren’t supporting my goals.  It is going to take me making a commitment, following through, and implementing a great deal of willpower.  I know that if I can apply what I learned when I quit my daily Mt. Dew habit then I can effectively implement more healthy lifestyle choices that will continue for many years to come!

[amandaraefitness]

Alcohol Free in 2018!

I haven’t had an alcohol free year since I was 12 years old.  Yikes.  Admitting that is hard and really embarrassing.  Looking forward to the opportunities that this year holds, it was not a very difficult decision for me to go without alcohol in 2018.  I have thought about it in the past and have even slowed way down with drinking alcohol in recent years but I still never completely stopped.  And, it has always been “a thing”.  Like, why?  Why is drinking booze so important?  THAT is the question I’ve been throwing back and forth in my mind since my first Bodybuilding.com transformation challenge in 2015.  I did choose to stop January-April of 2015 with the exception of one special occasion during that time frame (see, I didn’t even stop totally...ugh).  

I don’t really know how to talk about my decision to stop drinking without feeling like I’m going to offend people that I know.  Nearly everybody I know drinks in some capacity.  I guess the best way for me to talk about it is how I view alcohol from MY perspective and how it impacts MY life.  I am definitely not one to judge another person’s choices just because I am choosing to take a different path.  But I have to talk about it because I think it is going to end up being a super important decision.

It has been 7 days and I already feel empowered.  I felt empowered when I officially made the decision back in November.  What made me choose to go alcohol free?  Lots of things.  Most of all, it makes me feel terrible  I feel awful for things I may not remember while drinking, I feel awful because I really am not the same person with alcohol in me as I am without it, and I definitely feel awful the day after.  Even though I “wasn’t drinking very often” I would still consume a lot when I did choose to drink which led to a VERY unproductive 1-3 days afterward.  I started experiencing feelings of depression with my hangovers.  Shrugging it off like it was no big deal just wasn’t cutting it anymore.  I want to experience life without hangovers and feelings of guilt about what I might have said while drinking or how I may have acted.  It is going to be nice just to see life through a completely clear frame for once.  I will finally have 100% focus on my goals without taking any unnecessary breaks.  

My goal is to motivate and inspire more people this year than I ever have through my decisions I make in my life.  My focus will be on being a more confident, strong (physically & mentally), and empowered woman and I plan to work on that through fitness and nutrition.  I do not want anything to fog that confidence, strength, or empowerment.  Now is the time to say “peace out” to the booze for awhile, maybe even forever.  Here’s a non-alcoholic CHEERS to 2018 and topping any goal achievement I have experienced thus far.  I’m comin’ for ya! :) 

[amandaraefitness]

Eat What You Like!

What do you think of when you first think of dieting?  Is it dreadful?  Boring?  Bland?  Or do you find yourself feeling refreshed about it?

Having talked with hundreds of clients about dieting, the most common response I hear (and one I have had as well) is UGH!  Not positive.  There is a good reason for this.  When we diet, we are eating less food and shocking our bodies.  The human body does not naturally want to lose weight.  We receive signals to keep up alive and one of those signals is hunger pangs telling us to EAT!  While dieting we have to deal with some hunger pangs for awhile until we adjust to a new normal and that can be tough.  

What makes dieting even more tough is diving in and eating a bunch of food that you don’t even like.  “Clean eating” is a big fancy buzz word that is connected with weight loss and health.  Before I go any further I want to say that I DO think clean eating is great.  Whole foods are absolutely the best way to improve your health through nutrition.  What I do want to talk about is going from eating completely unhealthy foods to eating all clean foods.  Talk about a recipe for failure.  I have done it.  I have seen it time and time again.  It is really exciting to make a life change and weight loss can be one of those exciting life changes so we go “all in” when we start a diet sometimes.  

My advice is simply to EAT WHAT  YOU LIKE.  Just yesterday I talked to two people who came to me for advice and they were miserable after starting to diet.  One was eating broccoli all the time and she doesn’t even like it!  Another was feeling deprived of sweets.  Immediately I think of how likely both of these women are to fail if they continue doing what they are doing.  

When I say eat what you like I don’t mean keep doing what you were doing to get you in the position to be overweight in the first place.  What I do mean is to find alternatives.  Find things that are healthy options that taste good!  Eat veggies but find veggies you enjoy eating AND prepare them in a way that tastes good to you.  In the recipe pictured there are peppers, onions, and tomatoes mixed in with this Chicken Fajita Stir Fry meal.  Would I adopt a habit of eating raw peppers, onions, and tomatoes right away the first day of dieting?  No, I wouldn’t.  But I would absolutely eat this meal.  It is heck of a lot better than grabbing a double cheeseburger from a fast food joint.  Additionally, one of the biggest things people miss when they begin to diet is sweets.  This is so normal!  My advice?  Find a healthier alternative for a sweet treat to enjoy when a craving strikes.  There are so many options out there!  One of my go-to choices for a sweet treat is an apple with a Greek yogurt PB2 dip.  It is still sweet, it packs protein, and it has way fewer calories than something like a candy bar or a snack cake or whatever your normal sweet indulgence is when you are not dieting.

I started to be successful with my lifestyle change when I started being realistic with myself.  Of course, it is optimal to eat lean protein and vegetables all the time BUT when you have not been doing that for a long period of time you need to take baby steps.  That is why I prefer flexible dieting.  I like having options to fill my macros with food that I actually desire rather than packing in food that is going to make me gag.  This week I encourage you to find just one new recipe or one new food swap that you can implement into your new lifestyle change and share with me!  

[amandaraefitness]

Life in a Calorie Deficit

To keep it really simple, the main priority when working toward a weight loss goal is to be in a calorie deficit.  A calorie deficit is consuming fewer calories than you burn in a day.  If you are able to simply track your calories consumed and your calories burned you should be able to execute a consistent calorie deficit relatively easy.  

My goal for the $250K Challenge is fat loss.  I will be in a calorie deficit for 12 weeks and yesterday was my “official” Day #1 of that.  Nobody talks too in depth about what life is like in a calorie deficit.  We love to celebrate the glory of the body transformation that occurs due to a calorie deficit but the details in between Day #1 and Day #84 aren’t always as glorious.  I would like to help someone thinking of embarking on a transformation journey by being transparent about how it really is to “diet”.  

Of course yesterday was my first day participating in the challenge so it wasn’t near as hard as it might be in the coming weeks.  My intermittent fast style diet was great yesterday.  Here was my eating schedule:

9:00am: Espresso + Premade Protein 9:30am: 20 minute treadmill walk @ home 11:30am: Train 1:30pm: Protein shake w/almond milk + frozen strawberries 4:00-8:00pm: “Feeding window”

As I discussed in a previous post I am not practicing true intermittent fasting because I do break my fast in the AM.  I started eating my regular meals at 4:00pm and was done eating for the day at 8:00pm.  That is really atypical of me but I rolled with it.  I usually like to eat more at night which is why this is the method I am choosing to contribute to my calorie deficit for each day.

I will try to leave my blog posts during the challenge with my calorie deficit information for the day so we can see over time how it is contributing to my progress.  My plan is to eventually share progress photos but I am not quite ready to share the “before” images from yesterday.  Stay tuned for that!

1/1/1018 Calories Burned (via Fitbit): 2933 Calories Consumed (via MFP): 1880

Calorie Deficit: 1053 

NOTE: I do track macros and practice flexible dieting but for the sake of simplicity I will just talk about calories for now as that is the most basic thing one needs to do to lose weight.  No need to over complicate the process yet!

[amandaraefitness]

Nutrition Goals on Nutrition Goals

You know I LOVE talking about goals!!  With the $250K transformation challenge approaching I want to talk about HOW I plan to transform.  I don’t always love sharing my plan of action but I promised transparency and here I am following through. :P 

Let me throw out a disclaimer -->  this may not be a plan that works for YOU.  It may not be an approach YOU think is best.  You could very well think it is the worst thing in the world.  I do not welcome your criticism of what I have dedicated hours to developing for my success. Nothing but love! XOXO

After I have evaluated my past successes and failures I knew I needed to formulate a realistic and workable approach to my transformation this time around.  Part of that evaluation was to look at where I was failing consistently and look at where I was succeeding consistently.  Here is my breakdown:

AM hours --> I can totally rock the AM hours when it comes to cutting calories/macros.  Breakfast isn’t something I am huge on and I am perfectly happy sipping on my iced protein coffee recipe until noon or so.  

PM hours --> Totally different story!  I have realized that the times that are hardest for me to stick to my calories/macros is when my daughter is done with school for the day and right around bedtime.  I just find late afternoon/evening hours the hardest to avoid overeating.  

These two patterns have been something I have identified as being true for a really long time.  I have tried to space my meals evenly throughout the day like a robot - Meal #1 @ 8am, Meal #2 @ 10:30am, Meal #3 @1:00pm, and so on.  That just has me consuming more overall calories because I STILL will overeat at night.  No matter how much knowledge and education I accumulate about nutrition I still really struggle personally in this area.  I am not afraid to admit that I have had a really messed up relationship with food for most of my life.  That is a whole different topic and something I am working on (perhaps I will blog about this later on). 

So, knowing my schedule and my strongest and weakest points during the day I have decided to adopt a form of intermittent fasting at least for this first 4 weeks of the transformation challenge.  It is not true IF because I do break my fast in the morning shortly after I wake up, however, I only consume a select few things until 4pm.  I have been “practicing” for the past few days and it is going so well.  I drink iced espresso mixed with a premade protein shake throughout the morning starting around 9:00am.  This keeps me satisfied and satiated until at least noon or 1:00pm.  I do begin to feel hungry around 1:00pm but it is a time when my willpower is at an all time high.  I could eat but I could also wait to eat if I need to.  It is not an urgent need to have a meal so I am choosing to hold off on consuming a meal until 4:00pm.  IF I do get really hungry or if I decide to train during the morning/early afternoon I will add an additional protein shake blended with almond milk.  This will give me a grand total of about 300 calories maximum until 4:00pm.  When 4:00 hits, I then can enjoy snack time with my daughter after school and a couple of hours later we will enjoy dinner together.  I have several goals outside of fitness and outside of this challenge for 2018 and spending more intentional quality time with my daughter is one of those things.  I REFUSE to model food deprivation for my child so this style of dieting for my goal is absolutely going to work best for me.  I still have allotted calories/macros for the day but the majority of those will be consumed after 4:00pm.  So far, it has been very easy for me to feel satisfied and satiated all while staying within my calories/macros using this method.  

I will not obsess over hitting exact numbers this time around but as long as I am close I will be happy.  My goal is to be in a calorie deficit everyday for the duration of the challenge.  With the calories I have set I will be able to maintain around an 800-900 calorie deficit per day.  To reach my end of challenge weight loss goal of 20 pounds I need to be in a deficit of at 833 calories/day.  Having all of this figured out and my meal plan setup it is going to allow me to be in sort of auto pilot mode and not really have to overthink my nutrition on a day to day basis.  I know what I need to do and I have the plan in place!  I do have a meal plan setup and I will certainly be blogging about that along the way...I know the burning question people always have is “what did you eat to transform your body?”  I’ll be sharing with you a little bit at a time along the way!

I could go on forever and a day about nutrition but I will wrap up for now.  Please feel free to ask questions if you have them! :) 

[amandaraefitness]

My Road to $250K

Here we go again!  Another exciting Bodybuilding.com transformation challenge is about to begin in just 3 days.  This time there is $250K up for grabs and I am going to work my hardest to get my piece of that pie!  The main prizes are for best male transformation ($100K) and best female transformation ($100K) and 5 other $10K prizes as well.

This challenge will always hold a special place in my heart because it is where I truly fell in love with building my body and learning to become my best self.  The bodybuilding.com community is nothing short of amazing and most days I cannot believe I am lucky enough to be a part of something so incredible.  This challenge is such a big deal because of all the energy that comes together for one common goal.  I hope to be a super active participant throughout the challenge and will do my best to support, encourage, & motivate others along the way!

So what is MY plan for this challenge?  Well, the challenge runs (officially) from 1/15/18-4/8/18.  We can take our ‘before’ photos as early as 1/1/18 and get started making it a potential 14 week challenge. This gives some of us a 2 week head start if we choose.  The first piece of my plan: START ON JANUARY 1!  If I am given the opportunity to begin early you better believe I am taking it.

I have sat and evaluated my “plan” for weeks now, pretty much ever since I learned about the registration date for the $250K challenge.  I completed this same challenge in 2015 and I look back fondly on that time.  As much as that time of transformation was so powerful for me, I failed to make an “after the challenge” plan of action.  I was really just ready to be done with it because I was exhausted.  I was tired of meticulously tracking food, I was tired of being hungry all the time, and I was tired of working out an average of 8 times a week.  I took my pictures even a little bit earlier than I had originally planned and it was over.  I waited to see if I was a finalist and found out I was not.  Then what?  Well, I retained some of my habits from the challenge and some of those habits slowly faded over time.  I don’t want to say I have completely fallen off the wagon but I’d say I’m about 60% still on the wagon.  If I’m only 60% on the wagon, I’m not doing my best.  I need to be doing my best regardless of my excuses.  I shared this particular image of myself from a recent photo shoot because it is a photo that I didn’t initially want to share.  Doing a flexing pose with virtually no visible muscle showing??  Ugh.  But, I decided to share it anyway.  What I do have is a giant smile on my face and I’m rocking my B Elite gear proudly because I DO still represent the best self lifestyle, just with a little extra fluff on top of these muscles these days.  I share this image because it shows my reality since the end of the 2015 challenge.  Have I gained a ton of weight back?  Nope.  I’ve gained a little weight that I’m not proud of.  In fact, I had hoped I would continue after the challenge and cut some more fat, build a little more muscle, and settle at a physique I was genuinely satisfied with.  That didn’t happen.

That brings me to my plan this time around.  I took that 2015 experience and had a long, hard look at it.  I evaluated how I remember feeling at the beginning, middle, & end of the challenge and I evaluated how I retained certain habits and how I let other habits slip away.  And most importantly, WHY.  I am entering this 2018 challenge as a more educated and prepared participant.  A participant that is looking at the long term instead of just this short 12 week period.  I will not experience this challenge feeling like I am in survival mode.  I will plan my nutrition approach according to my lifestyle, schedule, goals, and happiness.  I will implement my fitness plan accordingly as well.  I will enjoy this!  I have set goals and milestones along the way to help me evaluate my progress.  I have a plan for after the $250K challenge at least through June.  I will work hard!  I will be realistic.  I will check in with myself on a regular basis so I don’t feel run down and ready to quit. I will become an even better version of myself.  

I am grateful for my experiences thus far that I have had with weight loss, getting in shape, gaining weight, etc. because every experience has taught me a little bit more about the next step.  With confidence I can prepare for what comes next and sort out the best approach for ME.  I look forward to sharing more throughout and being as transparent as I can be along the way.  Good luck to all of the $250K participants!  Let’s make 2018 the best year yet!

[amandaraefitness]

Which Diet is BEST?

As we embark upon the great Bodybuilding.com $250K transformation journey there are so many of us asking, what is the best method to transform my body diet-wise?  This is a valid question and certainly something you should be thinking about!  We all want to be sure our nutrition is on point for the entire 12 weeks to yield the best results at the end of the challenge.

The trouble is that too many people are going to dive head first into super healthy eating right away.  I think super healthy eating is GREAT!  What I don’t think is great is going from A-Z in one day.  If you are eating double cheeseburgers and fries on a regular basis you are absolutely setting yourself up for failure if you plan to eat kale salads starting January 1.  That is just the way it is.  While I fully support eating whole foods and treating your body well through nutrition, it is really important to be realistic if you want to yield incredible results in 12 weeks.  More importantly, you need to be realistic if you plan to KEEP your results that you achieved in those 12 weeks.

My recommendation?  Begin with small changes!  One example I put out there yesterday is something as simple as turkey bacon.  Of course this is going to be applicable to people differently, however, it could be a huge change if you are one that finds yourself eating really poorly.  Swapping regular bacon for turkey bacon is a great small adjustment that can make significant contributions to your transformation journey.  The journey will be about much more than just turkey bacon but hopefully you get my point.

Cutting foods entirely out of your diet is one of the quickest ways to fail.  I understand your intention is absolutely in the right place but it just isn’t a good idea.  Deprivation is the fast track to bingeing on those foods you’ve cut out.  To avoid bingeing (and going crazy) I recommend you include healthier alternatives to your favorite foods as you transform your body.  A great example is pizza!  Instead of ordering takeout and scarfing down 4 pieces of meat lovers pizza you could make a healthy alternative at home.  Here is an example:

- 1 Carb Balance Tortilla - 1/4 c. Pizza Sauce - 28g Part-Skim Mozzarella Cheese (I like to use Velveeta Shreds for fewer calories) - 28g Turkey Pepperoni - Veggies of your choice (e.g. mushrooms, green pepper, olives, etc.) Bake at 350 on a baking sheet for about 15 minutes.

This dish comes in at around 320 calories for the whole thing. It will kill your craving for pizza all while staying within your calories/macros.  What a great motivation for staying on track!  

I encourage you to find these healthy alternatives or hire a professional that can assist you in creating a plan specific to your goals and preferences.  It can be life changing to make small adjustments over time and you might find that your progress is much quicker going from A-B-C, etc. than it would be trying to go from A-Z all at once.  :) 

[amandaraefitness]

Being strong AND feminine are not mutually exclusive. In fact, it is two of my favorite things about myself. In a world where we are judged for everything we think, do, or say I hope to be one to stand up for exactly who I am. Lifting weights in the gym is one of my absolute favorite things to do - I also love makeup, curling my hair, and getting dressed up. I like feeling STRONG, and both of these things make me feel that way. Essentially lifting makes me feel good and my feminine qualities/characteristics make me feel good too. After all, life is about being your best self however you see fit, not how others think you should be. Standing tall and confident is not a thing I have always been able to do, but I do it now and that, to me, is priceless. I hope you can too...exactly as you are. 💓💪🏼💓 . . . #BBCOMAmbassador #Sponsored #Hustle #Strong #Beautiful #Confident #Feminine #Transform #BuildYourBody #BuildYourMind #TransformForLife #MissionPossiblePat #Bodybuilding #BestSelf #BodybuildingGirls #HustleSoldSeparately #FitGirl #GirlsWithMuscle #GirlsWhoLift #FitFam #FitLife #Inspire #Motivate #Challenge #FitMama #FitMom #PersonalTrainer #HeavyLifting @bodybuildingcom @transformforlife @possiblepat

[amandaraefitness]

There is no other choice for me anymore than to DREAM BIG. I remember the days of being told "just go get a job with a big company" which meant go settle for any job that somebody would give me because I have a 4 year degree. That was always so disappointing to me to hear that. Not because I don't respect those jobs, I totally do! It was disappointing because that isn't what I desired for MY life. I really do have to love what I do for a living, not just work for a paycheck. I was a social worker for 5 years and that was something I really liked doing. It was fulfilling and very rewarding. Unfortunately that type of work doesn't pay well so I always felt like there has to be something MORE for me. But, I was too scared to dream big for whatever reason. In 2011 remember doing an exercise in a book by @chalenejohnson called PUSH. She really encourages you to dream really big...think of things you think are not possible and the whole idea is to get the ball rolling by simply writing it down. That exercise was so hard for me!!!!! I was upset with myself for not dreaming big or being scared to, or being doubtful of my own capabilities. Let me tell you...since that moment I have grown tremendously in that area. I did that exercise so many times after that and I got better at it. And oddly enough, the things I thought would never happen ARE HAPPENING. Insane. So I encourage you to #DreamBig and write your goals down. I don't care how old you are, what you do for a living now, what you did yesterday, etc. Do it. And especially do it if you aren't totally happy with your life the way it is. I am a big time believer in manifestation and writing things down gets that ball rolling 100%. 😘😘😘 . . . #BBCOMAmbassador #Sponsored #Hustle #Transform #BuildYourBody #BuildYourMind #TransformForLife #MissionPossiblePat #Bodybuilding #BestSelf #BodybuildingGirls #Goals #FitGirl #GirlsWithMuscle #GirlsWhoLift #FitFam #FitLife #Inspire #Motivate #Challenge #FitMama #FitMom #LawOfAttraction #HeavyLifting @bodybuildingcom @transformforlife @possiblepat

[amandaraefitness]

25 Flexible Dieting Recipes are finally here for your transformation!!!

Get yours here -----> https://amandaraefitness.godaddysites.com/ebooks