Motivation Monday - Goodbye!

The time has come to say goodbye to Motivation Monday. This is the final week for The Motivation Station. We've had a good run from September 14, 2009 until present. A big thank you to the team and all our visitors! I leave you with some final motivational words to live by...

The best to you always, take care!

Martha ~ Seaside Simplicity

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Monday Motivational Moment

Wishing you a Motivated Monday!

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Monday Motivational Moment

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Wishing you a Motivated Monday!

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Motivational Moment

Wishing you a Motivated Monday!

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Motivational Moments...

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Have a Motivated Monday!

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Motivation Monday - Motivational Moment

Wishing you a Motivated Monday and a wonderful week!

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Motivation Monday - Health and Fitness Recap

Here at Motivation Monday I've been doing a series on Health and fitness for the last 6 weeks. I've presented challenges,tools, articles, assignments and invited all of you to participate along with me. Here's a little recap of the past 6 weeks along with the links for each post if you are just joining us...

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Health and Fitness - Time to focus on health and fitness! I presented a list of 10 things we could do in order to prepare ourselves both mentally and physically to start taking better care of ourselves. I called the first 3 weeks our pre-training time.

 

Health and Fitness Challenge - I repeated the 10 things list complete with my answers. I had started daily walks and healthier eating and challenged you to do the same.

 

Final Pre-Training Week - I suggested we start using helpful tracking tools - My Fitness Pal to track food and exercise to get an idea of our average nutrition intake and calories burned during exercise. I also suggested wearing a pedometer to see what our steps are like on average, prior to making any changes or setting new goals.

 

Making Fitness Fun - Just fun little things we can all do to add little bits of fitness to our day.

 

Muscle - Building muscle is so important! I dedicated my fitness focus to building muscle at this point, and I challenged you to grab some weights and learn how to use them too. 

 

Transformation - I read the book Transformation, joined the website and the 12 week spring challenge. I also began the Transformation 5/25 workout plan.

 

I started out slowly but stuck with my goals each week. I'm getting stronger each day, my endurance is building, I've lost 10 pounds, 2 inches from my waist, and my body-fat levels are down a full 5%. 

How are you coming along on your own health and fitness goals?

The hows and whys don't really matter. When it comes down to the bottom line it's pretty simple - either we do it or we don't. 

Wishing you a Motivated Monday!

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Motivation Monday - Transformation

This week I wanted to share Bill Phillips book and his 18 step challenge with you. I read the entire book yesterday and will be working on the 18 steps in detail one at a time over the next several weeks. I've also joined the Spring Forward Challenge.

Some of you may remember my post from way back in June 2010 - My Personal Health and Fitness Journey. My journey was based on Bill Phillips original book Body For Life. Next to my father, my husband and my sons, Bill Phillips has been the most influential man in my life. Bill is the reason I am 7 pounds away from my goal weight instead of 70!

This book is about transforming your life, not just your body. Check out the links and let me know if you are ready to transform your life too!

Wishing you a Motivated Monday!

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Motivation Monday - Muscle!

Check out the collection of before and after photos of people of all ages at  Body For Life.

Think you are too old? Read this article.

Not sure how or where to start? 

Read these two articles by Leo Babauta at Zen Habits: 

The Thousand Cuts Fitness Program and

 How to build the Muscle of Change.

The challenge this week is to grab some weights and learn how to use them! 

(The majority of this post was posted yesterday at my personal blog Minimalist in the Making)

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Motivation Monday - Making Fitness Fun

There are lots of different ways to make fitness fun. If you have children or grandchildren go out and play! Throw the ball around, have races, ride bikes together, shoot some hoops, play Frisbee. If you like a sport of any kind, play it often. If you love nature, go on long walks. Hop, skip, jump, run! Do you have a pet? They love to run and play too you know!

(photo credit)

This week's Challenge is all about fun and games. Who doesn't like fun and games? Go ahead raise your hand. Just what I thought, we all like fun and games! :)

I came up with a few fun little things we can do when we are at home that will contribute to our quest for fitness. My boys think it's silly but are willing to go along with it for at least one week. Here's what we have so far...

1. Reach for the ceiling and hold it for 5 seconds every time we pass through a doorway.

2. Consider our desk chairs and the couch a hot seat - every time we are going to sit down we have to stand back up when our butt just barely grazes the chair (squats) 5 times.

3. Do 10 wall push ups before opening the fridge or freezer.  

4. Do tooth brushing calf raises - up on your toes, hold for 5 seconds and then back down, do these 25 times while brushing teeth.

5. Do 25 jumping jacks before using any electrical appliance in the kitchen.

These are just fun little ways to sneak in a little extra. Our rule here this week is anyone caught doing any of the things mentioned without the attached exercise has to do double!

Can you think of more? Have fun with this challenge, and let the games begin!

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Motivation Monday - Final Pre-Training Week

So here we are at the final pre-training week. I know I'm ready to kick things up a notch, how about you? How are you coming along with the 10 pre-training steps?

What I've been doing so far has definitely been working for me. I simply started being more mindful about what I'm eating, concentrating on getting in the healthy stuff and being more motivated about increasing my activity levels. I don't even feel like I've been doing all that much, but just adding in a brisk walk, a bike ride, or even just walking the dog a little further than usual each day can make a big difference.

My first weigh-in on Friday... 4 pounds lost!

I've been logging every bite I eat, my exercise, and water consumption religiously at Myfitnesspal. com. It takes me about 5 minutes at the end of the day. They also have convenient free phone apps making it easier to add as you go during the day. I downloaded the app, but generally just don't have time to add during my workdays, but do add as I go on weekends and in the evenings.

My Fitness Pal has really been eye opening for me. If you haven't done it yet in the pre-training steps I hope you will all go over and open your free account now. If you do, I'd love it if you'd add me as a friend. If you prefer to keep it private I think it will still be very beneficial just to see what your daily totals are, and maybe soak up some motivation from others there. Even if you aren't ready to make any changes yet, just try it this week and let me know what you think.

This is also the week to clip on your pedometer and log your daily steps. Again, this doesn't mean you have to have a specific goal - YET, just wear it all day and log how many steps you get in. It would be great if you would share here daily in the comment section of this post.

Anyone in?

Here's to a Motivated Monday. Together we can do it! :)

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Motivation Monday - Health and Fitness Challenge

Last week I posted a series of 10 things I was going to do to get ready to go all out in health and fitness area and I suggested you to do the same. This week I have copied each step and added my own answers below each step. It's not to late to join in the fun! 

1. Have a regular check up if you haven't done so recently. Not only to get the ok from your doc to start a fitness program, but also to find out what your cholesterol levels are, blood pressure, weight, and to address any other problems you are having that might get in the way of starting a new program.

My cholesterol was is normal range. I asked but can't remember the numbers. I need to call and have them send me a copy so I can compare it "after."  My blood pressure was 120 over 80 which is normal range but a little higher than my usual. Weight 130, 12 pounds higher than my visit last year, but still in normal range. I'm all clear to work my butt off!

2. Go to Homefuse.net to calculate your body mass index (BMI), your waist-to-height ratio, your body fat levels, and your basal metabolic rate. I like the calculator at Homefuse because it takes your waist measurement and age into consideration for a much more accurate calculation.

I went to the website to do the calculations. My BMI or Body-Mass Index is 21.7 which is great. My Waist-to-Height Ratio is in the increased risk range at 49.2 (guess we all know now that I carry all my weight right in the middle). My Body Fat came in at 34.9 yikes! My Basal Metabolic Rate is 1296.

3. Take a before photo if you really want to give yourself some serious motivation. It will give you a major wake up call, I promise!

Photo taken, definitely not sharing!!

4. Get a pedometer if you don't already have one, very inexpensive ones can be purchased at any drug store. Wear it a few days over the next week or two to gauge your average steps per day. A steps per day challenge using a pedometer is in the near future, be ready!

Have mine and ready when the challenge begins :)

5. Be sure to get yourself a decent pair of sneakers if you don't already have some. They don't have to be expensive, just not worn out and with good support.

I didn't make it out shopping last week but it's on the list for this week. My sneakers definitely need to be replaced, they are super worn.

6. Take a pledge to be more mindful of what you eat - strive for good healthy meals, eating smaller portions more often in place of big meals, focus on getting in the good stuff such as the recommended daily intake of veggies especially, and reducing the amounts of processed foods.

I took the pledge and have done very well with eating this past week. I almost forgot how good health food tastes. I've really been loving eating healthier foods again!

7. Start increasing activity levels. I won't give any specific challenges for this yet, but you know they will be coming soon!

I've started walking again. I've mapped out a one mile walk to take with the dog, a two mile and a five mile to walk focused and briskly without the dog, also started biking again, usually 20 minutes at a moderate pace at a shot.

8. Go to My Fitness Pal to create a free account. At My Fitness Pal we can set goals and track our daily foods and exercise. It really seems to be a great site with tons of support and motivation.

This is a great tracking website! I'm not big on counting calories but at this site you track foods, exercise, and water consumption. At the end of the day when you hit save for the day it tells what you would weigh 5 weeks from that day if you ate and exercised the same everyday as you did for that day. It's pretty neat and although I can't see myself using it all the time I think it could be a really great tool. Try it! It also has a friends option there. Let me know if you sign up so we can be fitness friends :)

9. Take some time to seriously think about your own person health and fitness goals - be realistic.

My goals are to lose 12-14 pounds and get my muscle tone back. I plan to accomplish this in 8-10 weeks. I know it's realistic because I've done it many times. It's a lot of hard work, but I'm a big leaper, not a baby stepper.

10. Go one step further and decided why you want to focus on health and fitness - is it so you can fit into your skinny clothes, to set a good example for your family, to live a longer more healthy lifestyle?

Yep, those are all my reasons - along with desperately just wanting to feel comfortable in my own skin again, even if that's the only thing I'm wearing ;)

So there you have it. If you have started (or finished) working your way through the list during our pre-training time leave your answers in the comment section or leave a link if you've posted about it on your own blog.

Taking the first step is the hardest part. Now that's I've taken those steps I'm really excited about setting up my plan to go all out!

I will keep thinking, planning, and getting into my routines this week. I'll be back next Monday with my plan followed by weekly challenges every Monday. Will you be ready?

Together we can do it!

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Motivation Monday - Health and Fitness

It's time to focus on health and fitness, time to focus on ourselves for a change.

I don't know about you, but I've really been slacking in this area of my life lately. I've been so consumed with work, decluttering, renovations, etc. that I just let everything to do with health and fitness go by the wayside. 

I am going to use the next couple of weeks as somewhat of a pre-training/preparation period. I hope you will consider joining me.

During this pre-training time here are 10 things to do...

1. Have a regular check up if you haven't done so recently. Not only to get the ok from your doc to start a fitness program, but also to find out what your cholesterol levels are, blood pressure, weight, and to address any other problems you are having that might get in the way of starting a new program.

2. Go to Homefuse.net to calculate your body mass index (BMI), your waist-to-height ratio, your body fat levels, and your basal metabolic rate. I like the calculator at Homefuse because it takes your waist measurement and age into consideration for a much more accurate calculation.

3. Take a before photo if you really want to give yourself some serious motivation. It will give you a major wake up call, I promise!

4. Get a pedometer if you don't already have one, very inexpensive ones can be purchased at any drug store. Wear it a few days over the next week or two to gauge your average steps per day. A steps per day challenge using a pedometer is in the near future, be ready!

5. Be sure to get yourself a decent pair of sneakers if you don't already have some. They don't have to be expensive, just not worn out and with good support.

6. Take a pledge to be more mindful of what you eat - strive for good healthy meals, eating smaller portions more often in place of big meals, focus on getting in the good stuff such as the recommended daily intake of veggies especially, and reducing the amounts of processed foods.

7. Start increasing activity levels. I won't give any specific challenges for this yet, but you know they will be coming soon!

8. Go to My Fitness Pal to create a free account. At My Fitness Pal we can set goals and track our daily foods and exercise. It really seems to be a great site with tons of support and motivation.

9. Take some time to seriously think about your own person health and fitness goals - be realistic.

10. Go one step further and decided why you want to focus on health and fitness - is it so you can fit into your skinny clothes, to set a good example for your family, to live a longer more healthy lifestyle?

Make the commitment - leave a comment saying you are in! Be sure to come back every Monday to report your progress and join the weekly challenges. Together we can do it!

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Motivation Monday - Challenges

Only two days left in January to get rid of 100 things. Have you reached the goal yet? I know you can do it! Let us know your progress.

This Wednesday will bring us into February, time for a new challenge!

I'm giving fair warning to tie up lose ends on projects and be ready to focus on ourselves for the month. Next Monday we will begin our focus on health and fitness. It doesn't mean we can't keep working on our other goals, it just means we will be putting ourselves first for the month. I know I personally really need this. I hope you will considering joining me.

Let's toss, toss, and toss some more today and tomorrow, and then start stretching, measuring, thinking and assessing what our goals will be for our February heath and fitness challenge.

Wishing you a Motivated Monday!

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Motivation Monday - 100 Things Challenge

Here it is Monday again!

I will say one thing - the hardest part is getting started. Once we take that step to start something it becomes easier immediately. This rule works with cleaning, decluttering, exercising, or any other changes we want to make or things that need to be done.

When I started my goal to to get rid of 100 things this month I imagined so much work to accomplish it, but once I got started I've had no problem getting rid of at least 100 things a week if not more.

Take the first step if you haven't already.  Do you have a junk drawer? If so, start there, you will be amazed at just how many items you can toss just from that one little drawer!

How many things can you part with this week?

Wishing you a Motivated Monday and a great week!

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Motivation Monday - 100 Things Challenge

The first week of the "Get Rid of 100 Things Challenge" has come to an end. Don't worry if you haven't been playing along or haven't accomplished it yet, this challenge is for the entire month of January. There are still 3 weeks left to accomplish the mission!

I'm proud to say that I have gone above and beyond already. During the first few days I took well over 100 items to Goodwill - they were mostly the boys outgrown clothes, games and books that they no longer wanted, one box filled with throw pillows, several sets of sheets for a full size bed that we no longer have, and another box was just filled with miscellaneous items.

I've been so bad lately about taking photos of my progress. Once I start working I am going on high speed, I just don't think about it, and even if I did I just couldn't take the time to photograph each and every item (sorry Lydia). Someday when I have things a little more under control I will join 365 Less Things and then I will photograph everything leaving my home. Right now I just want the massive amounts of stuff out!

I do have one comparison photo to show from this week - a before and after at our vacation rental home. Mostly things were just moved around but I can guarantee at least another 10-20 items down for the challenge that went in the garbage or recycling...

A little decorating, a little more furniture exchanging, cleaning out the storage area, and we'll finally be ready for our first vacation renters!

I would love to hear about your progress this week. Wishing you a Motivated Monday!

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*Motivation Monday - New Challenges for 2012!

Happy New Year to all!

I don't make New Year's resolutions but do love to look at the New Year as a fresh start. I have many things I'd like to accomplish this year and lots of changes ahead.

This year for Motivation Monday I'll be bringing you a new challenge the first Monday of each month. I hope you'll join me!

For the month of January - Get Rid of 100 Things Challenge!

Unlike the original 100 Things Challenge to get rid of everything we own other than 100 things we will start much smaller - how about a challenge to get rid of 100 things in the month of January?

It doesn't matter if you donate, sell, giveaway, throw in the garbage, or recycling - the goal is just to get 100 things out of your home no matter how big or small.

I will update you with my progress on Mondays throughout the month. Will you join me? It's more fun if we work as a team - together we can do it!

Wishing you a Motivated Monday and a Happy New Year!

*Also posted at Minimalist in the Making

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Motivation Monday - Time to Clean Up

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Today is a day many of us spend resting and relaxing after the big rush to have everything ready in time for Christmas. Let's focus on just one little thing today, just a little bit of clean up.

Let's just take a few minutes to make sure our homes are somewhat in order. If there is still wrapping paper scattered around, open gifts still stacked near the tree, or dirty dishes in the sink - let's take care of these things first before we take time to rest. It really won't take much time at all, and we will all feel better and be able to relax in peace once it's all done and out of the way - after that just relax and enjoy!

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Motivation Monday - Keep it stress free!

We're on the final countdown to Christmas, less than a week left to be ready for the big day. Have you remembered to keep your holiday season simple and stress free this year?

The whole month for me has been a whirlwind of activity between work, volunteering and the many concerts and shows the boys have performed in. I told myself that making memories with them by working along side them and hearing their wonderful Christmas music was the focus of my holiday season no matter what else gets done or doesn't get done, and I although I worked very hard, I truly enjoyed every single moment!

I really did just let the rest go and didn't worry about it.

We are all off school and work as of Saturday, the concerts and volunteering also came to an end on Saturday evening for the rest of the holiday season. Now we can all finally relax - notice I said relax, not spend the next week frantically getting ready for Christmas. We are keeping things super simple this year, and so far it's the most enjoyable holiday season I can remember in a long time.

This year the finances are tight with my husband being on unpaid medical leave and the economy in general. I had been introduced to a great site, Restaurant.com, though a blog giveaway I won several months back. I knew it would be a great place to purchase very reasonable gift cards for gift giving this year, especially for my teens who $20 dollar me into debt every weekend to go out to eat with their friends. Funny how things work out. After purchasing the gift cards I got an email from Restaurant.com for Feed it Forward.

Feed it Forward allows you to send an email Christmas greeting to friends and family and they include a free $10 gift card for the recipient. You can send up to 40 greetings with gift card included per day from now until Christmas Day. Here's the best part - there is also an option to send random acts of kindness if you to donate your unsent cards each day back to the restaurant.com community which includes their partners The American Lung Foundation, The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and The Make A Wish Foundation.

It's a win/win all the way around. We can send a little gift to our friends and we can make a donation to a good cause - and all without spending a cent. It's almost too good to be true!



Wishing all of you a wonderful stress free week. Remember to keep it simple! Happy holidays!

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Motivation Monday - Keeping it simple

Only 12 days until Christmas!

Are you in the mad rush to decorate, shop, wrap, mail packages, bake, etc? Why not join me in a minimalist holiday season - forget all the commercialization and ridiculous expectations! 

                                                           Source: digsdigs.com via Martha on Pinterest

Let's all remember to keep it simple and focus on what's really important!

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