PAIN is temporary!

Have you ever wanted to just stop during your workout? Just QUIT because you were in pain or it was too hard? You just could not go on; all you could think was, “I CAN’T!” With each movement, all you can think about is, “My quads hurt, my knee hurts, my shoulder hurts.” I have been there too, so I get it.

What gets me to keep moving, keep pushing through it? I simply say to myself, “This PAIN is temporary; if I Quit it is forever”. Every time I hear myself thinking I can’t do it, I remember it is not forever. I turn around those negative thoughts and tell myself I can do it.  You would be surprised how positive thoughts can get you through some painful moments.

Recently, my shoulder has been giving me some trouble and I have been taking it easy on it. Now, by that I mean using lighter weights and not doing 4 classes in 1 day. In one class when we were doing my favorite, Turkish Get Ups!!!, I actually thought to myself,  “I can’t do it”!  But, of course, I kept going (stubborn)....kept pushing myself....repeating over and over...."this PAIN is temporary...but if you QUIT, that will be forever".... YES, I COULD DO IT!!! I had to dig deep and focus! I did not quit; I moved forward, and was so glad I did. 

 It doesn’t matter if you are frustrated during a Zumba class because you just can't quite get the steps down, or you are totally out of energy during a high-intensity Spin class, or you are battling fatigue after a long day and are trying to get some cardio in, or you are taking Kettlebell Boot Kamp and need to do just one more Turkish Get Up, or you are training for a Marathon and are struggling to get through a LONG training run...

Don’t just QUIT! Don’t think you CAN’T! Dig Deep and get through it! Whatever it takes! Why?

The PAIN is temporary, QUITTING is forever!

What do you want your forever to be?

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Most of you will think I am talking about back to school, although that is part of it for me it's not all of it. The other part of it is PUMPKIN! Most of you know how I love pumpkin, anything pumpkin: coffee, muffins, fudge(yes they had it in OC),ice cream, pie and on and on the list goes.......
I try my hard to stay away from it but it is so hard to resist! Right now it is even harder for me since I am trying to "drop a few pounds" (my pants are a little tight). The last few months have been a little to unstructured for me so I have to reel myself back in before it gets out of control!
I subscribe to a great blog snack girl and she post this "Pumpkin Pie Smoothie" so I thought great way to get a pumpkin fix! So I made it, I loved it, no surprise there! Here is the recipe if you want to try it.

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie Recipe

(makes 2 servings or 3 cups)

1 cup canned pumpkin
½ cup plain greek yogurt
1 ½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 banana
maple syrup, honey, or agave nectar (to taste)
lots of ice cubes

Put all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. Serve and enjoy! Pour leftovers into drink container for later consumption.

For one serving with lowfat yogurt and no syrup added = 142 calories, 1.4 g fat, 28.6 g carbohydrates, 15.7 g sugar, 5.5 g protein, 5.3 g fiber, 50 mg sodium, 4 PointsPlus

I should have taking a picture!

Then I saw this one and I thought great this has more protien in it so I need to try it.

2 scoops Arbonne Vanilla Protein Powder
1 scoop Arbonne Fiber Boost
6 ice cubes

4 oz water
4 oz almond milk
1/2 - 3/4 cup of organic pumpkin puree (found at the grocery store)

2 dash cinnamon
2 dash of pumpkin pie spice
1 dash ground ginger
1 dash nutmeg
1 small dash ground cloves
adjust the spices to taste
adjust the water to almond ratio to taste...
sprinkle cinnamon on top and serve