I’ve been meaning to get back to blogging. Lots of life changes and blah blah blah. This year, 2020 I turn 50 yrs old. I want to make it my best life ever from this day forward.
Fitness Challenge Winner
Published June 9, 2014 by TrueLifeDiva Sparkles and Shines
SparklenLace!!!
Thanks to everyone who participated. Sparky checked in regularly, tried new fitness regimens, and showed the most improvement. Sparky, please contact me with your shirt size so I can whip up that blinged out workout top for you and mail your prizes. You’ve made a lot of improvement and it shows. I’m very proud of you 🙂
Christina P
Fitness Challenge Diva
Donna
Fitness Challenge Diva
Sharenda W.
Fitness Challenge Diva
Fitness Challenge Diva
Fitness Challenge Diva
SparkleNLace
Fitness Challenge Diva
MargiesB
Fitness Challenge Diva
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Prizes are a customized/blinged workout t-shirt, a pair of Bluetooth headphones (excellent for working out), and spa kit containing: organic and natural soaps, body butters, scrubs, and lotions.
Follow me on Twitter and InstaGram @TrueLifeDiva1
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http://FUDiet.com
The final stretch…
Published May 11, 2014 by TrueLifeDiva Sparkles and Shines
The final stretch
Just a few more weeks until summer. And just a few more weeks until my birthday. The weather is already getting warmer. I’m pulling out the sundresses and maxi dresses already. Here in San Diego we’ve been experiencing weather in the 80’s and higher. I usually love the higher temps but my new convertible has leather seats and my legs are getting scorched regularly!!! I’m still getting lots of DM’s and texts from my Fitness Challenge Diva’s. I don’t know everyone is so shy… If ya’ll don’t post, it’ll be hard for me to declare a winner. Keep up the good work, stay on track, and be the Divas I know you are 🙂
Don’t forget to plan your meals and workout for the week. If you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail…
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DivaWorld Fitness Challenge: SparkleNLace
Published April 19, 2014 by TrueLifeDiva Sparkles and Shines
Shining on all the haters
SparkleNLace
Fitness Challenge Diva SparkleNLace
Sparky’s story:
I have been working with a personal trainer since February 15, 2014. My dietitian asked me to consider partnering with a personal trainer after learning that the exercise routine I devised for myself (elliptical and treadmill) did not make me sweat. The personal training sessions have taken me in a direction that I would not and could not venture alone. My trainer concluded that my body had become resistant to the elliptical and treadmill that is why I wasn’t getting any results. Since February, I’ve been meeting with Benji for one hour twice a week. Personal Training exercises/routines are very challenging. The downside is I’ve experienced lots of sore muscles; the upside is I’ve no trouble sleeping at night.
I did run into a major obstacle; the dietitian and trainer have a difference in philosophy towards weighing in on the scale and how I should be eating. After a two week struggle with who was right, I decided that both their point of views had merit. I made a minor adjustment for the sake of both and have continued counting calories, weighing in and exercising.
My diet plan has been to eat at a deficit. I have curtailed my wine consumption to being a teetotaler (mostly), which is not the right way to use the term; but I love to party and socialize, so this is a major step for me. I haven’t cut out a lot of any food. I’ve just focused on staying within my calorie range.
I am walking a half marathon this Sunday. This is major for me since I’ve not gone near any athletic course for so long. It feels good to be back.
Thank you True Life Diva, you’re a great inspiration.
Update: Race photo below. Sparky, you look fab-u-lous!!!
****************************************************************************************************** Thanks for checking in Sparky :-). On Twitter you recently mentioned you’ve added Zumba to your fitness regimen. I think I see a dance off in the near future :-). When the pics from your race come in, let me know so I can post an update. You’ve come a long way, baby!!! Follow me on Twitter and InstaGram @TrueLifeDiva1 Don’t forget to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss each new post as it publishes. http://Calorieking.com http://Fitbottomedgirls.com http://Hungry-girl.com http://Active.com http://House-Foods.com http://Sparkpeople.com http://Zumba.com http://24HourFitness.com http://FUDiet.com http://BondiBand.com
DivaWorld Fitness Challenge: Meet Donna O
Published March 24, 2014 by TrueLifeDiva Sparkles and Shines
Fitness Diva Donna is doing it!!!
Donna O
Fitness Challenge Diva
My name is Donna and I have been trying to lose for a while and still figuring out why the weight is not coming off. I restarted my plan on 1/1/14 and have lost 10 pounds so far. I work out about 6 days a week. My goal is to get down to 200 pounds by 10/8/14. Short term for this challenge is to be about 240 by 6/1/14. I started out at 279.2 pounds. I log my weight on fit day and I have a BodyBugg. The bugg I have had for about 6 months. I have learned a lot about myself with the BodyBugg. One thing it has told me is that I am burning a lot of calories per day from about 2500 on workout days up to 3300 on Zumba days. If I don’t work out I burn about 2200 per day. I try and eat about 1500 to 1700 calories a day although I don’t count calories as I am on a low carb plan. The one issue I have found out is that I do not sleep enough from the body bug. You lose weight when you sleep.
I eat healthy and do not enjoy eating junk food anymore. For me a great piece of meat and a big organic kale salad with raw sesame seeds, strawberries, gorgonzola cheese and my homemade orange and evoo dressing is so yummy. As of 1/1/14 my husband is on board with me and doing the same plan. He of course has lost about 18 pounds already and almost to his goal. We found that he is gluten intolerant and this has really helped him to feel better. This has helped the most since we went through the house and got rid of all the bad foods. He is no longer sabotaging me with junk food he used to bring to the house, so we are both on track.
So, my goals are to get more sleep, continue to lose weight, get into my too small but very cute workout clothes, build muscle so I need to add weight training to my workout plan and feel more comfortable in my own body.
I choose to give myself a break and know that this way of eating is for life. I know that doing it slow is the best way to keep the weight off. I have a vacation coming up 2/28/14 so pray for me to stick on plan during those eight days in Hawaii……
Update:
I did good on vacation, I did not really gain after losing the flying water weight. We cooked in the room since we had a villa with a full kitchen. I am happy that we did not gain on vacation for 8 days in Hawaii…. Still dealing with time change and jet lag. Will get back on track with fitness in the next few days or next week…
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Thanks for checking in Donna. Looking forward to some pictures of your progress Hint Hint. I’m sure the other Fitness Divas can relate to what you’re going thru right now. See you at Zumba class soon! 😀 {{{HUGS}}}
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Keep on keeping on
Published March 10, 2014 by TrueLifeDiva Sparkles and Shines
Keep on keeping on
A wise person once said “It’s about the journey” or something like that :-). Some of you are DM’ing me or texting me that you’ve fallen off the wagon. You know what? It’s not a big deal. Just dust yourself off and get right back on! One bad meal, one missed workout….hell one bad week is not gonna kill you. Please don’t let the little voice of doubt get the best of you. You deserve to be healthy and live longer. You are not a lost cause. Let your inner Diva stomp that nagging little voice into the mud!!!
It happens to the best of us
We’ve still got 12 more weeks left in this fitness challenge. I think that’s enough time to drop a dress size. And I think you’ll agree…any progress is good progress 🙂
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Monday Motivation Meditation Madness
Published February 24, 2014 by TrueLifeDiva Sparkles and Shines
Hey, it’s Monday :-). If you’ve fallen off the wagon, get up, dust yourself off, and get back on it!!! If you’ve been steady on the course, keep doing what you’re doing :-D. Here are a few little giggles and deep thoughts to get your week going
P.S.
Do your homework, Divas!!!
Tools for weight loss: The Food Journal
Published February 17, 2014 by TrueLifeDiva Sparkles and Shines
Tools for weight loss: The Food Journal
Hello Divas!!! How is it going? I’m hearing from some of you that you’re having a hard time getting started. Believe me, I understand. When I began my fitness journey I had several false starts. You can’t just want it to happen. You have to actively go after it. One of the main things that I attribute to me finally making progress in the beginning was keeping a food journal. Studies have shown that people who track what they eat lose significantly more weight and keep it off in the long run compared to those who don’t. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had someone tell me that they are struggling to lose weight and then when I ask them do they keep a food log/journal, they reply “I don’t have time for that.” or “It’s not that serious.” Well, I guess you don’t have time for real results and it’s not that serious to be healthy…
I have been keeping food journals for the past 7yrs. Yes, you read that right. I write down 90% of what I eat on a daily basis. The exception being I throw all of that out the window during the last week of December because I’m not fooling myself :-). Keeping a journal allows me to see where I’m messing up. Sometimes I get stuck in a rut and I can look at my patterns and see where I need to tweek things. If you don’t know what you’re doing wrong, how can you fix it? If you are currently not journaling, try it out for a month. And be honest with yourself. I once knew a guy who needed to lose weight. I bought him a journal and made him promise to check in with me weekly. When I looked at his notebook the following week, he was so proud. He said, “I’ve been keeping track of everything I ate. I even overestimated the calories against my favor. I’ve been eating 800-1200 calories a day.” I was concerned because this was a large man well over 6″ tall and men shouldn’t eat less than 1500 calories a day. Well, when I looked at his journal… this is what I saw
100
200
100
100
200
He didn’t write down a damn thing, just what he thought the calories of the food he ate had. And boy was he off. This dude would eat a foot long sub from Subway, with extra cheese, extra meat, bacon, avocado, Ranch dressing, and large chips on the side. And then jot it down as a 200 calorie meal. He also had this crazy theory that if he had a big bowel movement immediately after eating a meal, that he was passing the meal he just ate and therefore hadn’t absorbed any calories. If that were the case we’d all be slender. #SMDH
Everyone has a smartphone these days. Please take a moment and add a fitness tracking app such as MyFitnessPal , SparkPeople or CalorieKing. I use CalorieKing to find out the calorie counts of food of fresh foods as well as restaurant items. It just takes a few moments and I feel better knowing I’m making informed choices. When I first began my fitness journey I went on Nutrisystem. They provide you with little purse size journals to help you stay on track. I follow that same model to this day using composition books.
Here are a few food journal/diary templates that I found on the internet. There are literally hundreds of different styles available. Just google “food journal” and pick one that meets your preferences.
Dear Fitness Challenge Divas,
We are entering week 3 of the challenge. Please submit your bios ASAP!!! I don’t care if you aren’t running marathons and losing 10lbs a week. It’s all about the journey 🙂
Follow me on Twitter and InstaGram @TrueLifeDiva1
Don’t forget to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss each new post as it publishes.
http://FUDiet.com
DivaWorld Fitness Challenge
Published February 3, 2014 by TrueLifeDiva Sparkles and Shines
Here we go!!! Let’s do this
Meet the DivaWorld Fitness Challenge Divas!!!
Christina P
Fitness Challenge Diva
Donna
Fitness Challenge Diva
Sharenda W.
Fitness Challenge Diva
Fitness Challenge Diva
Fitness Challenge Diva
SparkleNLace
Fitness Challenge Diva
MargiesB
Fitness Challenge Diva
TrueLifeDiva
Fitness Challenge Diva
Check-in in the comments section and tell us what you fitness goals are and what your plans are to achieve those goals.
Example: My goal is to get more muscle definition. I plan to exercise daily and increase my workouts with weights from twice a week to three times a week. I will work on reducing my snacking and eliminate eating after 8pm.
As part of this challenge you need to check in weekly and also encourage the other divas in their weight loss/fitness efforts. We’re all in this together 🙂
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Recap:
It’s January and everyone is struggling with their New Years Resolutions. I’ve been having conversations with friends at the gym, work, and online about wanting to “get back on track” As you know, I’ve been on a fitness journey for a minute now. I’m at the point where I need motivation to keep going. Motivating yourself doesn’t come easy. I’m at a healthy weight, although it’s not what I’d consider perfect. I would like to see some muscle definition and more progress on my problem areas.
So here’s the crazy idea I came up with….. A Fitness Challenge!!!
It’s open to everyone/anyone. And the rules are simple:
1. Take and submit a “before” picture by Feb 01, 2014. *Your personal info will remain private*
2. Along with your before pic, tell me/us what your fitness goal is. Is it to lose 10lbs? Lose a dress size? Tighten your butt?
3. Tell me/us what your regimen is and how you plan to reach your fitness goal.
4. Check in weekly and offer support to your fellow “Challengers”
Prize headphones
5. Submit an “after” pic when the challenge ends June 01, 2014
6. Winner will be the person who shows the most improvement.
7. Prizes will be a customized/blinged workout t-shirt, a pair of Bluetooth headphones (excellent for working out), and spa kit containing: organic and natural soaps, body butters, scrubs, and lotions.
Let’s do this!!!
Follow me on Twitter and InstaGram @TrueLifeDiva1
Don’t forget to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss each new post as it publishes.
http://FUDiet.com
Fitness Challenge and Giveaway
Published January 22, 2014 by TrueLifeDiva Sparkles and Shines
I’m putting my money where my mouth is, ya’ll
It’s January and everyone is struggling with their New Years Resolutions. I’ve been having conversations with friends at the gym, work, and online about wanting to “get back on track” As you know, I’ve been on a fitness journey for a minute now. I’m at the point where I need motivation to keep going. Motivating yourself doesn’t come easy. I’m at a healthy weight, although it’s not what I’d consider perfect. I would like to see some muscle definition and more progress on my problem areas.
So here’s the crazy idea I came up with….. A Fitness Challenge!!!
It’s open to everyone/anyone. And the rules are simple:
1. Take and submit a “before” picture by Feb 01, 2014. *Your personal info will remain private*
2. Along with your before pic, tell me/us what your fitness goal is. Is it to lose 10lbs? Lose a dress size? Tighten your butt?
3. Tell me/us what your regimen is and how you plan to reach your fitness goal.
4. Check in weekly and offer support to your fellow “Challengers”
Prize headphones
5. Submit an “after” pic when the challenge ends June 01, 2014
6. Winner will be the person who shows the most improvement.
7. Prizes will be a customized/blinged workout t-shirt. A pair of Bluetooth headphones (excellent for working out), and spa kit containing: organic and natural soaps, body butters, scrubs, and lotions.
Let’s do this!!!
Follow me on Twitter and InstaGram @TrueLifeDiva1
Don’t forget to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss each new post as it publishes.
http://FUDiet.com
Guest Blog: Lizzie’s story Pt 3 the final chapter
Published November 16, 2013 by TrueLifeDiva Sparkles and Shines
Guest blog: Lizzies story Pt. 3
By LizzieTishy
Chapter 3 of a 3 part series
So……
At the end of the clinical trials for the natural-thyroid medicine, I was on top of the world. Hadn’t felt this good is years. And I mean many years! All the annoying thyroid symptoms were gone. I was sleeping well, no aches and pains, my hair wasn’t clogging up the drain and overall was feeling groovy. About a month later, I followed up with my primary care doc and my labs came back as thyroid levels too high — essentially I went from one extreme to the other very quickly. The clinician warned us that this could happen (possibly due to being over-medicated) and that we should continue to follow up with dr and get lab work. So I did. My dr said that I didn’t need the T3 meds based on my lab results. He also refused to prescribe the meds from the trial saying the meds would continue to deteriorate my thyroid. He’s basically against this med saying it hasn’t been on the market for 40 yrs. (true but has been on the rise with new credible studies). Also, since my auto-immune disease is ongoing (never resolved), my TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) level was really high with the t3 meds. He suggested I get back on same meds t4 meds but different brand and test again in a couple of months. As life challenges arose I dove head first into fixing other problems thinking I would be fine for a while. Instead I quickly got so tired yet anxious, heart racing for no reason, no appetite, achy joints, very sensitive to cold (imagine freezing and sweating at the same time) and awful debilitating panic attacks (which I detest and will avoid by remaining low key).
I now think my problem is not converting t3 to t4 but more about the nature and makeup of the hormone replacement drug itself. I read a lot of Dr’s don’t like the natural medicines and many pharmacies don’t even carry it. My research says you may have to find a pharmacist that works in compounding medicines but before going that route you have to find a Dr willing to tweek your lab work (to include adrenal and cortisol testing). It’s very confusing and thanks to another thyroid symptom — brain fog — I’m having a hard time retaining all the info and had to shut down the brain. For now I’m right back to feeling like my gas has run out. I equate the whole experience similar to that of a running car. Mine was a Volkswagen and then I went to a Maserati and now I’m in a Fred Flintstone mobile.
***Update
I’m really having a hard time sharing this story because of all the people truly & really suffering with life threatening illness while I’m stuck with a disease that alters my daily life. That’s it. But at the same time it is affecting the qualify of my life and I just cannot ignore this but also can’t seem to pull myself outta this stupid, stupid funk. And I don’t know the answers anymore. I thought the clinical trail WAS my answer.
And then I look at my hubs who is a quadriplegic with major life challenges and I think what a wimp I am. He wakes up every day with a smile ready to take on the world. I feel awful for my grumpiness. At the end of the day, I do realize and appreciate all my blessings and admire him greatly. I’ve also been dealing with this for 13 years and I’m just bummed right now.
Since initially writing this, I have eliminated wheat from my diet and do feel better (gluten free). I have also almost (!) cut out all sugar. That’s a tough one haha. I try to do a 1/2 hr – 1 hr walk in the morning. I found that putting on my headphones and cranking up my favorite tunes helps immensely.
I am still determined to beat this and my next goal is finding a new doc.
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You are truly an inspiration. Love ya! 😉
Follow Lizzie on Twitter @LizzieTishy
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DivaWorld 