7 Tips for Making Time to Exercise When Your Schedule is CR-A-ZY!

Everybody is busy. 

Or at least everybody claims to be busy.

But there's a good portion of people who are still working out despite the time crunch. How are they doing it? These are my tips. I'm certifiably busy. During the school year I have 10+ hour days, not including the commute to and from work, so I am always strapped for time.

Tip #1 - Verify that you are actually as busy as you say and/or feel 
Time for some tough love. Are you REALLY that busy? Do you have time to mindlessly scroll through Facebook or Instagram? Do you find time to catch up with friends on the phone? Watch TV? Are you seriously busy for the entire 24 hours in a day? You can't carve out 15-30 minutes anywhere?

You can chat on the phone while you're walking, you can exercise during commercial breaks. The time spend perusing social media could be spent in a more productive way. Pay attention to where you are spending your time and look for times you can get your body moving.

Tip #2 - Schedule your workouts FIRST and plan around them 
Now obviously you have to account for going to work, church, your kid's activities and other non-negotiables, but I strongly suggest that you make your workouts non-negotiable as well. When you do, it's not left up to chance. If you just fit it in "where you can" then it's likely not to happen. 

Make yourself and your health a priority. 

Tip #3 - Communicate your plans to exercise with your family, friends, co-workers, etc
Let the people around you know that you are serious and committed to exercising. That way they will be more likely to treat that as sacred time. I've even told my co-workers (on a couple of occasions) that I couldn't talk in the evenings because it was my gym time.

A bonus is that they may also hold you accountable.

Tip #4 - Plan ahead and make things easier for yourself

Take your workout clothes out the night before. Leave your gym bag in the car. Put your workout DVD in the DVD player before you go to bed. I even know some people that sleep in their workout clothes! Do whatever planning & prepping you need to do, so that it is easy for you to get started.

Tip #5 - Give up the all or nothing mentality 

Something is better than nothing. So what you don't have an hour or an hour and a half? Use whatever time you have to get your body moving. 

Maybe you have 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes in the evening, or maybe even 10 minutes 3 or 4 times throughout the day - those increments add up over the course of the day. Make the most of whatever time you have, when you have it. 

And you don't have to workout everyday 3 or 4 times a week can be effective too. 

Tip #6 - Consider working out at home
Working out at home eliminates the time spent driving to and from the gym. There are plenty of effective at home workout programs. You can also purchase some exercise equipment to use for your at home workouts. 

Tip #7 - Lose the excuses! 
This is the catch all. Whatever else you can come up with falls in this category. 

Exercise is not just beneficial so you "look good." Exercise is essential for your health and makes some life events like pregnancy and aging, easier. Make it a priority. Today! 

Feel free to leave questions & comments in the comments section. 

To contact for meal plans and/or workout programs to get you started on your journey, please email spandex.sportsbras@gmail.com. 

7 Recipes to Try at Your Next Cookout

I love food that has been grilled! But we all know that sometimes cookouts or barbecues have a lot of unhealthy and fattening foods. Grilled chicken, turkey burgers and salmon are typically my go to choices, but let's mix it up this season!

Here are 7 recipes that I plan to try this summer....

1. Grilled vegetables are my favorite! Try this recipe from  Eat Real Food.

2. A Hint of Honey has a delicious looking recipe for grilled sweet potato & vegetable skewers! 

3. If you love sweet potatoes as much as I do Life as a Plate has these grilled sweet potatoes that sound delicious. The recipe includes butter, but don't fret! It's not much & it won't kill you. 

4. I have never had salmon on kabobs, but I will soon with this recipe from Eat, Live, Run. 

5. This recipe is the first on my list to try! The Gunny Sack's Spicy Pineapple Chicken Kabobs sound amazing & the recipe isn't complicated at all! 

6. The chicken & vegetable kabobs from My Recipes are simple, but healthy and sound good. 

7. Don't want you to miss dessert! Try these grilled fruit skewers from Kim's Healthy Eats to satisfy your sweet tooth!

This list should help you get started! You can also check out my personal Pinterest board where I save recipes for the grill for more ideas!

For workouts & meal plans please email spandex.sportsbras@gmail.com. 

Be sure to follow @Spandex_and_Sportsbras on Instagram and Spandex & Sports Bras on Facebook!

Figure out WHY you want to make a change & 5 questions to get you started

A Beginners Guide to a Healthier Lifestyle

Week One: Figure out WHY you want to make a change & 5 questions to get you started

When I first began my journey to a healthier lifestyle, I just wanted to feel comfortable and attractive in clothes. That was my motivation for awhile, but eventually that wore off because I started feeling better about myself as I lost weight. Then I wanted to make sure that I never had to take medicine for weight related illnesses. That wore off because it was no longer a tangible concern.

 When I signed up for my first personal trainer I told him that I wanted to lose weight so that when I decided to start having children I could lose the baby weight easier. True story. I was about 22 and not anticipating children anytime soon, but it worked.

Now, my motivation is accomplishing a longterm goal of mine to compete in a figure competition and to push my body to new limits. My motivation is also wanting to lead by example. I'd love to be able to tell people that I used to weigh at least 220lbs and I changed my lifestyle. 

So what’s my point? You need a reason. You need a “why.” What’s going to keep you going? What will keep you from giving up when it gets hard? And it WILL get hard! When it does, you'll want something to keep you going & to keep you motivated. 

As you start your fitness journey find your “why.” That’s the first and most important thing to figure out. It’s ok if it changes over time. Mine did! And it’s ok if you feel like your reasons are shallow or not “deep” enough. Whatever works for YOU.

Need help? Here are some things to ask yourself:

11.  How will you know you have met your goal?

22.  What are you looking forward to (the most) on this journey?

33.  Are there any upcoming events or dates that you want to use as a short-term goal?

44.  Is your health a concern?

55.  Do you have loved ones that you want/need to be around for?

Spend some time this week figuring out why you want to be healthier and/or lose weight. That will help you focus during the next few weeks when it gets challenging and your motivation starts to wan.

I'd love to hear your "why" or your motivation! Comment below. Feel free to share this post with someone who's just getting started on their journey. 

Until next time my loves! 

My next BIG fitness goal

I have been planning to write this post for awhile now, but I kept trying to figure out how to do the "perfect post." I haven't figured out what a perfect post would say, so instead of trying to be perfect I'll just say it.

I'm training to compete in my first figure competition.

What's that? It's this.....

And this...

I have been successful losing weight & building muscle already. And I could very well maintain my progress where I am, but this has been a goal of mine for YEARS, so I'm going for it.

2010...                    2012...                      2015...

I'm a few months out, but in order to get ready I have a lot of prep to do.

So, this means I'll be spending the next few months training harder, dialing in my nutrition and getting my body in the best shape it's been in.

I'll be writing updates pretty regularly, so stay tuned!

I'm not perfect & you don't have to be either!

If you follow me on Instagram (@spandex_and_sportsbras) or Facebook, then you know that I work out & practice clean eating. It's my lifestyle. I generally stick to sharing my highs and tend to shy away from sharing my lows. Or my fears.

Why? It's hard!

Sometimes I feel pressure to be perfect because I know that people look to me as a fitness role model.  But perfect isn't realistic. And I'm essentially lying to you when I keep my shortcomings a secret.

So, I am committing to sharing my highs and my lows. My good days and my bad.

It's become important to me to share my journey with you all because I want to be a legitimate inspiration for my followers. I don't want to discourage anyone because they don't think they can be as "perfect" as I appear to be.

The truth is - I don't always have perfect nutrition days. I don't always want to work out. Every workout isn't great. I'm not always pleased with my results. Some days, I am hard on myself. Some days I am down right discouraged with the whole process.

And all that is normal!

So if you're ever not perfect, and I'm going to assume that is the case from time to time, don't beat yourself up! None of us are!

But, while I am committing to sharing my less glorious moments, I am also committing to giving you strategies and tips to push through these moments. You are not defined by what you do in any given day, but instead you are the sum of your choices and your actions.

Together, we can and we will figure this thing out. Please follow me for my journey & share your journey with me!

As always, I'm willing & available to help you with your fitness journey. 

Send your questions, comments and concerns to jamar.paige@gmail.com. 

3 Weight Loss Myths... BUSTED!

As a health coach I talk to a lot of people about their weight loss/healthy living efforts and I see a lot of the same misconceptions. Some of this misinformation is sabotaging weight loss and some of the misinformation is making people miserable unnecessarily. I don't believe that you have to be unhappy in order to be healthy.

So let's clear some things up right now.

Carbs are not all bad. 
Carbs have gotten a bad reputation. They've been vilified, but all carbs aren't bad! In fact, your body needs them for energy. I know there are some successful diets in which carbs are restricted, but the problem isn't carbs themselves. The problem is the type of carbs that people are eating.

Instead of processed carbs- white breads, most pastas, candy, sugary drinks, desserts etc - choose whole grains, natural fruits and vegetables. Whole wheat or whole grain breads, brown rice, quinoa, whole wheat pasta, sweet potatoes, vegetables and fruit are all good choices.

More about carbs and a healthy diet diet...


You don't have to give up meat. 
I don't really know why, but some people think meat is bad and giving up meat is the key to losing weight.

The truth is that meats provide your body with a lot of protein and protein is essential for developing and maintaining muscle. It also helps with fat loss and keeps you full.

So what kinds of meats should you eat? Lean meats that don't have a lot of visible fat.

You have to eat in order to lose weight 
I know. It doesn't make sense. But let me break it down to you.

If you don't eat, your body worries that it won't get enough fuel and it needs fuel to perform every day tasks. So, instead of burning what it has - it holds on to it, just in case.

Think about it like money. If you have a limited amount of money and you don't know when you are going to have more coming in, you don't spend it unnecessarily. Right? Your body is the same way.

So, if you want your body to "spend" more freely - you have to eat so it doesn't feel the need to be stingy.

Hope that cleared some things up for you. If you have questions let me know! As always, I'd love to hear from you all and would love to work with you on your fitness journey.

Send your questions, comments and concerns to jamar.paige@gmail.com.