I'm back!!!

Sorry friends I have not updated my blog in a couple months, but I'm baaaaaack!!! So many changes in the last two months I can't wait to share. My favorite was my decision to dive in to the unknown and become a Hot Hula Fitness instructor! The bottom line is I LOVE to dance and I want to learn and do it all. I really do believe in one way, shape or form I will dance the rest of my life.

I had never taken a Hot Hula class or had experience in polynesian dance before
attending an instructor training, I was scared out of my mind. It was amazing! I feel so blessed to have found another way to exercise my body and feed my soul. Zumba changed my life and Hot Hula Fitness, I suspect will fine tune the change. Don't be afraid to step into the unknown, it may be one of the many things you where born to do!

New Schedule

I have made some arrangements in my schedule to better balance my family. More kid's classes :) Check it out!

I Want to Wear Flip Flops!

Spring is so difficult in Utah. Two weeks ago I was so excited to wear my new sassy wedge sandals, it was wonderful! I even went out and bought my first flip flops of season and thought I would be wearing them the next day........not the case. It has been raining and snowing everyday since! Spring has not sprung in Utah, Blah! Anyway, this is the first year in maybe at least 12 years I am excited for shorts, short sleeves, tank tops, sundresses! It really is a reward for hard work. With only 2 1/2 months to summer I want to encourage all my students to keep going and make this summer one that is not dictated by what you may have to wear to feel comfortable! Zumba, Zumba, Zumba!!!

Zumbatomic!!!!!

I'm so excited to add more Zumbatomic to my schedule. Starting Saturday, April 9th at 9am, Elevated Fitness. We are doing a 2 for 1 in the month of April. Additional class times will be updated this week! I love doing Zumba with the kids. Its so much cheaper than dance class and they learn so many different types of dance, not mention it's exercise in disguise.

Is it True? Have I Possibly Broke Through?

I have been on a Plateau with my weight loss for six weeks, that was until this week, Yeah!!!!! Ready for the secret? I changed on thing. When I drink my protein shake. A couple of weeks ago I had a student share with me the struggles she was having with a plateau until she saw the recommendation on Dr. Oz. She used to drink her protein in the late afternoon before she worked out, the same time I would drink mine. She now drinks it very first thing in the morning and it worked! Her plateau is broken. This last week I decided to give it a try. I made sure I had my blender and ingredients ready the night before so it was easy. I'm happy to report a three pound weight loss!!! I'm not sure why it works, but it was a way to trick my body for the time being. Dare to share! Thank you Kathy!

Mama's Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Obese!

I had 50 kid's in my Zumbatomic (kids Zumba) class yesterday and it was so exciting! Their little faces said it all, pure fun! These boys and girls were not concerned about what they looked like, how many calories they where burning, or if there heart rate was in its target range. They just wanted to dance! All they know at this point is their body is meant to jump, wiggle, skip, run, hop, turn.....MOVE. Why do we squash that? At what point does sit down and be quiet trump everything else. I am so guilty of constantly asking my son to calm down. Yes, they need to learn self control, but they also need to know it's okay to move and it's fun!

No one means to help their child on a path to obesity, but we do map it out for them when we are not the example. I have already started paving the road for my daughter because she has seen her parents give every reason not to move and indulge in what ever makes you feel content for that moment. My hopes are that she will now see it is never too late to change your mind.

Childhood obesity is an epidemic that we can change and control. My goal is to dig up any path I may have laid for my children and REROUTE!

Oh My Gosh That's My Shadow?

So Sad I have been behind on my blogging. I am adjusting to my crazy new schedule. I am blessed to add more classes and even turn down some recent opportunities. I never thought I would be doing any of this a year ago. My life has changed!!

Today was the first day in a LONG time we have had sunshine! Oh, how I have missed it. Anyway, I was walking out of Costco and saw my shadow. I guess I haven't seen it in a while. I had to take a second glance at it because for a moment I didn't think it was mine. I look in the mirror everyday and I have seen changes, I feel it in my clothes and know I am wearing smaller sizes, but my shadow really almost made me cry. It was a shadow I haven't seen in 15 years.

As I struggle with these last pounds and become a little overwhelmed by my crazy schedule, I am so thankful that God sent me my shadow to remind me of my past, my present and my amazing future. Press on friends!!!

New Class Schedule

More classes! YEAH!! Check it out!

Zumba BOOOOOOM!!

I had the amazing opportunity to be part of a training called Zumba Jammer Session this last Saturday. It was great to learn more choreography and teaching tips, but better than that it was a rare chance to be in the same room as so many other great Zumba instructors. I am continuously blown away by the love and passion that so many instructors have and how much they want to share with others. The instructor who taught the session is an amazing instructor but also an amazing person. She is truly in it for the desire to teach others. I never want teaching to become stale or ordinary. I walk away inspired and blessed to be part of the Zumba boom!

Fresh Cut Through a Plateau

Three straight weeks without the scale moving a smidge. Boy have I struggled to keep my eye on the prize. I am within 20lbs of my goal and have excepted that it may take an entire year to achieve it. My body has mastered adaptation, but my mind is going to be a doctorate in it! I will continue to find new ways to catch my body offguard and sneak through it's desire to "preserve" itself.

Last Friday in the attempt to overcome, I had my hair cut and colored. It is amazing what a fresh cut will do to give a fresh prospective on a three week desert. I am ready to break the bondage of plateaus and have great hair doing it!

How Dare I Say I'm Starving!

Today I heard a report on how starvation is worse then ever in Haiti. I started to think about how daily I made the comment "I'm starving." The reality is I have no concept of what that means or feels like. My minor hunger pangs are not even a glimpse of what a child who has gone a week without food feels like. My suspicion is most in this country have never felt what we have made so cliche'. My thoughts have changed so much about food this last year and my motto has been "food is fuel not comfort" but for someone who is truly starving it is probably fuel and comfort. I want to continue to evaluate what and why I am eating, but to also know I am never starving.

Fundraising is Fabulous!

I had the privilege this last Friday night to be part of an amazing fundraising event. A fellow Zumba instructor is also a high school teacher at a continuation school here in Utah. She and her marketing students put together a Zumbathon to raise money to send these students to a marketing convention in April. Myself and 9 other instructors basically just showed up and taught a couple songs for a crowd of about 150. I had the easy part, but these kids did all the work, I mean they put together one great event. They sure earned every penny. What really blessed me about this whole night was to find out that these are the kids that have been pushed aside and really given up on. Thank God for teachers like Tomee who know and see potential in everyone no matter what, who or where they came from. I am still on cloud nine thinking about what these kids will experience this year and all the opportunity that awaits them if they are willing to take it.

I'm so proud to be part of an organization that can help raise funds and awareness for all sorts of charitable organizations. This week my plan is to go to another instructors class I have never gone to. I'm not sure who or when, but definitely something new. There are so many amazing classes to choose from and I want to learn from them all!

Containers Trick Your Brain!!

As much as I would love to say Zumba is the answer to all your weight loss needs it's not. Nutrition is a huge factor to the equation. I just spent the last weekend thinking I could indulge in a little more sugar, fat, carbs and larger servings then usual, because I worked so hard all year. Tonight was proof I was dead wrong. I felt horrible through my class tonight. I mean I felt gross. You really are what you eat and tonight I was a marshmallow!

The bottom line is, what is the point of working out if you are not going to provide your body with the right fuel to do it's job. Nutrition is everything. People now ask what is it that I do different when it comes to eating? There is a lot, but if I had to name one behavior that made the most significant change it would be packing my lunch. No matter how tired I am I force myself to pack my lunch every night. Never the day of, it has to be in advance. The more important part is what I pack my lunch in. Little containers. I mean like half cup to a cup containers. This is how I learned portion control. If the container is just a little larger than the portion it looks like more. I need to trick my brain in every meal. My thoughts of food and portions where completely out of whack. Most portions are never over 1 cup. In a large bowl I always felt it was not enough, but it is. Oh and I went from spending about $5.00 - $6.00 a day on lunch, now my cost is anywhere from $.50-$1.50. More money for Zumba wear!!

New Year Resolution

Last year I made a New Year resolution to lose weight and begin living. This has been my resolution for at least the last 20 years. I finally did it! After experiencing two of the most difficult years of my life, I finally hit the bottom and said enough is enough. Last January I began my journey, I joined a gym. I began to inspect every ounce of everything that went into my mouth and hopped on the treadmill for 45 minutes. Within the first week my resolution was quickly beginning to fade. Purely by fate, I happen to be there on a night the gym had started a new Zumba class, I reluctantly went in. Wow! Really the day my life changed.

I have been taking a class 4-5 days a week ever since. I am down 50lbs and have gone from being in the "at risk" category to "below average" category for serious health risks. I never imagined on the first class (which I struggled even making half way through) I would in 6 months be a certified Zumba Fitness Instructor. I was certified in July and have taught weekly ever since. What a difference a year makes! I am so inspired to share what so many incredible instructors cared to share with me. God willing, my resolution for 2011 is to take what was shared with me and hope that maybe someone ,like myself, a year from now will be rejoicing in success! Remember physical and mental limitations are challenges not barriers.