Happy summer, friends! I sure hope it’s going well for you. We are halfway through July which means it is FLYING by! Do you feel the same way? It’s been a busy month for us and I wanted to give you a little peek into it! I spent the last week of June in Florida visiting my brother and his family and just got back from a weekend of camping. I want to share with you a little bit of how I eat and exercise on vacation, not because I think you need to mimic it, but because I think it’s interesting to look into other people’s lives!
If you’ve followed me for any time, you know that I try to be pretty realistic and balanced when it comes to living a healthy life. Vacations for me are a time to go a little off the normal schedule, but I still an aware of how to steward my health. For example, I may not exercise as many days a week that I do at home, but I do try to be active via walking or swimming, or at least try to get in small spurts of exercise in. I actually have found that I move more (thanks to my Garmin step tracker) during most vacations and that is not to be underestimated! I tend to walk/swim/bike more away from home than when I’m at home. I know what some of you are going to say, “It’s vacation! It’s time to take a break from exercise?!” And yes, maybe for you it is, but when you attach exercise to your MENTAL wellness, then it’s something that’s hard to separate from your daily routine. If exercise was purely used to keep weight off, then I might see your point, but it is WAY more than that for me. We each have to find out “the why” in the fitness portion of health so for me, staying relatively active on vacation is important!
We spent one night at a hotel and I filmed a quick circuit that you might find helpful!
Here is a sample full body circuit if you are at the gym or hotel!
The eating portion is perhaps the hardest portion for me, especially on vacation! You are out of your normal routine, kitchen, and resources. For example, I drink a protein shake every day and for whatever reason, I didn’t pack it with me so I had to figure out a different substitute for my post-workout snack. For this vacation, we were able to make most of the food we ate, (we did eat out a bit) so that was helpful! I made a big batch of avocado chicken salad that we snacked on. We had walking tacos, burgers, pizza and I can’t remember what else. Lunches were salads and leftovers and of course I got a large amount of water in. I love NUUN in my water especially on those hot days where I am sweating either just at the pool or after a workout/run. I also love BCAA’s and recently have tried Momsanity’s and really really like them so that helps the monotony of water
Last weekend I went on a camping trip and while you can definitely eat some healthy food, it’s so easy to binge on junk food! This was my contribution to dinner that weekend—a build-your-own veggie/meat foil packets with a side of a Texas (or Cowboy) Caviar which is super close to my black bean dip but a little different!! (We went with 2 other couples so we shared that responsibility!) I also enjoyed S’mores, Campfire Cones, and hobo pizza pies so I was definitely feeling a little yucky come Monday morning! I take it all in stride though and get back on the original plan as soon as I get home!
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I also wanted to update you all on the survey and announce the WINNERS! I know–I am so slow to the game with that. SORRY!! First of all, thank you so much for filling it out. I figured maybe 200 of you would fill it out but I had almost 700 responses. WOW– you guys are seriously the best. The info you provided was so beneficial for me as I’ve been praying over where God is leading me for this next year.
I was surprised at how much you all still want exercise content from me. Honestly, I feel like there is SO MUCH info out there that there is no need for me to add more, but you spoke, so I am going to do my best to get back on that! You also had interest in more blogs and video about the faith content that I talk to. I mainly do this via Facebook or instagram posts, but I am going to try and bring that over to the blog because most of you said you keep up with me here! The challenges (“Living and Active and “Spring Clean Eating”) are also still well-received and there is interest in some of them being done just a tad bit more throughout the year so I need to think through the best way to do that. I am also (prayerfully!) going to do a version 2.0 of the Living and Active Challenge so that you have no content if you’ve done it before! We’ll see!
Perhaps the most surprising and encouraging part of this survey was the final question where I asked you if you had anything else to add. I forgot to make this part “optional” on the survey so that you didn’t feel the need tons ay anything, but forgot to turn that option off. Oops! However, it ended up being the very thing I needed. I felt like I had the biggest virtual hug from you guys. Many of you noted that you had missed my absence online and encouraged me that I wasn’t “just another voice” online. You affirmed my passion and desire to be where the Lord wants me as the seasons of my life change. I have gone back and read your comments, and will continue to do so, when I have the gray days of blogging. I am so very thankful for you!
So onto the winners of the survey! The 3 names randomly chosen are:
Debbie
Sharilyn
Kim B.
Because I don’t want to put email addresses on here and I have no other way to let you know which specific person this is, I am going to email the 3 of you so be on the lookout for an email from me if you see your name listed here!
Hope you are enjoying your summer! The school year will be here before we know it!
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