I could not be happier right now lol. It is 9:30 on this cold, snow covered Sunday morning and I have already done my last outdoor walk and the last 5 minute cold shower. The rest of the day will be easy to finish. I don’t know whether it was the fact that it’s January in New England and freezing out or just that a 5 minute cold shower in general is not fun, but like I have said this entire month, this was HARD! But by 6pm tonight I will be finishing up checking the boxes and be done with this part.

Well this morning we are at the start of a Nor’ester and I already have done my outdoor walk, read, meditated, had breakfast, visualized and had my cold shower. Next up is writing to you all now then yoga in a little while. Today is day 29 out of 30 for this phase of 75 Hard and I will say the same thing I have said for the last couple of weeks. I will be glad when this is over. It has not been an easy challenge and I have wanted to quit so many times.

Thought I would start today’s message with a professional picture of me thinking I was in a really good Yoga pose. It is amazing what you think you see in your mind and what it really looks like. But I digress because it really doesn’t matter. What does matter is doing something good for you no matter what it really looks like. You get better with practice and time.

This past year I have really gotten into eating sourdough bread. Over the years we have all heard how bread is not good for us and when I started competing the break they recommended was Ezekiel bread which is sprouted bread. Well watch out Ezekiel because there are so many benefits to sourdough! Here they are:

It’s Sunday morning and I am up bright and early having my coffee and getting ready to head out to a photo shoot. My mother has never seen anything like one so I am bringing her with me. I have done at least 1 professional photo shoot every year since 2010. Someone asked me the other day how I got into it.

Last night my husband John and I spent the night in Boston. He was tired of doing the same ole thing and needed to get away. Getting away is great but how do you stay on track when you do? That’s the one thing about not being home and on your schedule and it can really mess you up. The last 2 days I ate 5 meals from restaurants and did my best guess at what was in the meal. I added in extra fat because well how else do they get the food to taste so good?

Monday was leg day and during my second move I felt my lower back tighten up and I thought oh no here we go. I finished the moves of my workout with lower weights and then stretched. The next day was back/bicep day and when I was done with that workout my back was really tight. I went home took some Advil, stretched and thought ok it will be fine. Mind you I was still doing my 45 minutes of walks outdoors but they were getting slower.

This is an example of a full body workout that I did at home last week from the Sweeney Fitness App that I have been following. If you love lifting you really should grab the app and try it out. It’s only $1 for the first month and $14.99 every month after. I am not an affiliate for them, just love their style of workouts. I mixed it between using my kettlebells and my dumbbells so that I could do it at home instead of heading to the gym that day.

There is nothing like a great burger but how to make a Turkey burger juicy and not dry? That is usually the hardest thing! However, I have a recipe I made for you! They are great on the grill or fried on a pan. I got a Ninja Foodi when we were in NYC so that we could still grill and it was so worth the money! I use it everyday!

I am not happy today! I actually feel angry which is very unusual for me. I am on day 17 of Phase 1 of 75 hard and this one is HARD and every day I don’t want to do it, but then there I am getting into that stupid 5 minute cold shower and walking outside for 45 minutes in -8 degree weather. What keeps me going? My inner voice or “b*tch” voice keeps telling me this is stupid, you don’t want to do it, just stop with this madness and yet I know if I listen to it and quit I will be SO angry with myself .

There is a secret to life and it’s called visualizing! I mean it. Most successful people do this and not many people talk about it.

Visualizing is like day dreaming. I was always a kid who had moments of day dreaming. I would find myself dreaming of the life I wanted, the type of home I wanted when I grew up, the career I thought I wanted, how many kids I would have. You know the drill, we all do this as children then somehow when we grow up we stop dreaming and playing.

As you know I LOVE weight training. I have tried everything and even get roped into CrossFit style workouts occasionally but I am more the traditional weight training girl. It may depend on where you are at in life with what is best for you. You maybe a mom or just getting into working out or not comfortable heading to the gym just yet, Or in an ostomy and not sure what to do so an at home workout maybe what is best for you.

This recipe goes to Nutrition in the Kitch! My girl Kelly found it and I have been making it ever since. I made a few adjustments to it and didn’t make the Cashew Cream Frosting which you can get from the link above. It is super moist and you can have more than just one piece for breakfast or one piece for a snack! Well, that’s what I do to fit into my macros. The details of calories/macro count is below too. Enjoy!

Good morning! Guys, I must be crazy! I woke up today and the temperature said 4 degrees feels like -12. As I was lying in bed thinking NOPE I am NOT getting into that cold shower today, NOPE, NO WAY! Then here comes my tough voice JUST GO GET IT OVER WITH! You made this commitment to yourself, You are strong, You don’t quit things, You finish everything you start (I have had to train my brain to say this to me) LOL.

Like I have said in some of my other daily blogs. I was going to write everyday for 30 days (I may continue) to use this as my daily thoughts and then well, bring you into what is on my mind in the moment. Today it is about taking chances to grow in your life.

Truth be told reading this book at times put me to sleep and the author says that is completely ok and even encouraged. LOL. However, there was so much in this book about the importance of sleep and what it does for us. Below are some things from the book that I took away. If you enjoy detailed, specific, study related books then this one is for you. For me it was informative but I like a lighter read personally.

AHHHHH Stress it is all around us! We know stress can lead to health issues but how do we handle it? What are some things that we can do the limit it in our lives? Here are some practices that I have incorporated over the years. I didn’t start with doing them all but as time has gone on they are all pretty much included in my day.

As you all know I am in an Ostomy and one of the main questions I get a lot on social media is what I do for workouts and how I handle protecting myself from getting a hernia. First, let me say that I have permission from my doctors to workout, so you should always check with you Dr. before start gin any workout program. Secondly there is a lot of different exercises you can do like walking that will lead to great benefits. To me moving our bodies is the most important thing you can do.

There is nothing like pancakes for breakfast! When I started learning about eating clean back 15+ years ago, I learned how important eating the right foods can really keep our bodies healthy. Even when I had cancer the Drs said I was the healthiest cancer patient they had. That said how do you make pancakes healthy because let’s face it they are life!

BRRR…. The thought of a cold shower in January does not feel appealing, does it? Phase 1 of 75 hard requires a 5 minute cold shower everyday for 30 days. I almost didn’t do phase 1 because of this. Then I read the benefits of it.