Fitness with Ashley- Motivation Monday

*Hello!*

Today I'm going to do another fitness and health related post!! I'm going to talk about how to get motived to workout and eat healthy!

A lot of my motivation comes from pinterest! You can follow my health & fitness board here! There is a whole health and fitness section on Pinterest that I get a lot of my workouts and recipes from. There is a wide verity of stuff and they have something for everyone. There are tons of motivational pictures on there too! 

*I want to state that I am in no way a fitness expert or a nutritionist, etc. These are just some of my personal things that I have been doing that are working for me at the moment!*

Here is my number one piece of advice on how to get started. You just do it.  I know it's not as simple as it sounds sometimes, but no one is going to do it for you!! Just make your self start and get through that first day and it will be easier the next. I'm going to admit right now that I do sometimes get lazy and loose motivation, as I'm sure this happens to everyone sometimes. But my main focus is not to quit! Even though I get lazy and unmotivated sometimes, I pick myself up the next day and keep going! 

My tips and tricks to eating healthy and working out

Healthy eating

1. Start off with eating healthy. They always say if you want your dream body, it's 90% what you eat and 10% fitness. Put good things into your body and you will see results! Work out all you want, but if you eat like crap, you will never see the results that you want. 

2. I try to eat 3 small meals a day and two snacks in between. Portion control is really important. Eat until you are comfortable and not stuffed. 

3. No processed foods!! I try very hard to eat everything that's fresh and get things I can mostly cook from scratch. This is very time consuming but totally worth it. No processed foods means no freezer meals, packaged/boxed foods, etc. Basically anything that's already pre made, something that's not in its natural state, or anything with super long expiration dates. I'm not saying that all things like this are totally bad, but it's much healthier to make things yourself. 

4. You need to give yourself a cheat day. We're all human, we go out to restaurants, pick up pizza on the way home ect. Just make sure this doesn't become and everyday or weekly habit. And try to make healthier choices when you go out to eat! 

5. With that being said above, don't feel bad for indulging a little bit. I am a coffee addict. I do not like black coffee. I like mine sugar filled from Starbucks. This is my one treat that I will allow myself to have. I don't drink it everyday but when I do, I allow myself to enjoy it! I get my drinks with non fat milk and I only get half of the syrup put in it! There are ways to cut calories out! And I do no let myself feel bad haha! 

6. This also goes along with the two statements above- one bad meal won't make you fat, just like one good meal won't make you skinny. You need patience because your results won't come right away! Don't let this discourage you! 

Lol...please don't take this picture literal. I just thought it was funny. I do love me some chocolate though. Dark chocolate is good for you in moderation! 

I'm going to do a post soon on what u eat on a daily basis, and things I've changed about my eating habits/healthier alternatives! 

Fitness

1. My number one fitness rule is NO EXCUSES! We all get tried, have long days, are too hungry, don't have time etc. but if you use those as an excuse to not workout, then you are just being lazy. If you really want something then you will make time for it and work for it.  I work about 50 hours a week, and I use to work 60. I still find time to workout and eat healthy.  Even if you only have 15 minutes- using that 15 minutes to workout is better than nothing. 

2. I try to workout 3-5 days a week. This includes 20-30 minute cardio a day and some strength training and full body workouts. As much as I would like to go to the gym, working out at home works better with my schedule. There are tons of easy ways to workout at home, even with no equipment! *I will have a post on how to workout at home very soon!*

3. Just like having a cheat day, you need a rest day too! Just make sure this is only 1 to 2 times a week and you aren't resting everyday. You can't expect to see results if you are only working out once a week and don't push yourself to do more!

This one a a little harsh lol but it's seriously the soild, blunt truth. 

All these pictures came from pinterest! Get on there and get some motivation!

This is all for my motivation post! I hope this gave you all some fitness inspiration! Let's all be fitness buddies! 

*I'm doing a 28 day jump start workout challenge hosted by @fitgirlsguide on Instagram starting today!! This challenge is a monthly workout plan with Sunday's being my only rest day, and a weekly eating plan too! If you want to track my progress, then please follow me on Instagram (@ashleysue_)! Also check out Fitgirlsguide Website for more info on the challenge I'm doing, and their eBook that has the fitness schedule and meal plan in it if you are interested!*

Let me know in the comments if you guys have any request for fitness or health related posts! Expect more soon!