Zion National Park & Bryce Canyon National Park

Trip Date: September 2012

Ever since our trip to Rocky Mountain National Park we have been so excited to go to more National Parks!  This was a very fast-paced trip from Vegas to Utah.  We woke up early each day to start hiking so we could see as much of each park as possible since we only had one day in each park.  It would have been perfect if we would have been able to spend two days in each park but we still had a blast!

We hiked a total of 30 miles in two days (after spending three days in Vegas) so we were pretty exhausted when we got home!

I had my own heart rate monitor for this trip so I was able to track our calories.  However, this hiking was a little different than what we are used to so I don’t know how accurate it was going down hill (because my heart rate was low but it was still very difficult).  Our hikes are normally hiking straight up a mountain but this was a lot of up and down.

Note: A lot of people have been asking me about my heart rate monitor (watch)…here is a link to it.  I purchased mine on Amazon (this is an affiliate link).  There are a lot of monitors out there but I chose this one because it was affordable and does exactly what I need (monitors my heart rate and calories)…oh, and it was available in pink.  

Zion National Park

Saturday

We woke up around 6 AM, took the shuttle to the Vegas airport, picked up the rental car and headed to Zion.  We forgot to plan for the time change so we actually starting hiking an hour later than we had planned.

We did three different hikes in Zion (Observation Point, hiked to the Narrows, and Emerald Pools).  We really wanted to actually hike the Narrows but we didn’t have time.  I definitely want to go back just to hike the Narrows.  Everything we saw in Zion was beautiful except for the tarantula!  Yuck – It reminded me of Home Alone!

We hiked a total of 14 miles and burned 2,523 calories in Zion!

After hiking all day in Zion we drove towards Bryce Canyon.  We stayed in a small motel in a VERY small town called Hatch (population 127).  There is literally NOTHING on the way to Bryce Canyon from Zion but it is absolutely beautiful!

Bryce Canyon National Park

Sunday

We woke up around 6:30 AM and drove to Bryce Canyon.  We also did three hikes in Bryce (Figure 8 Loop (plus some), Fairyland, and Sunset Point into the canyon to watch the sunset and full moon rise).  There are no words to describe Bryce Canyon.  It is truly breathtaking.  I literally kept telling Scott “I don’t know what to say about this place.”  If you have never been, you MUST go there!  The hikes we did in Bryce were KILLER!  Strenuous is an understatement!

We hiked a total of 16 miles and burned over 2,672 calories!

After watching the full moon rise we drove 2.5 hours to St. George (back through Zion) so that we wouldn’t have too far to drive to the airport on Monday morning.

Monday

We were going to get up early and drive through Valley of Fire State Park on the way to the airport but we were exhausted and slept in instead.  We will hit that one next time!  We got to the airport and flew to our first stop, Phoenix.  While waiting to board the plane to Atlanta we were told the flight was overbooked and they were looking for volunteers to take a flight home the next day.  They were offering to pay us via an airline voucher and cover our lodging in Phoenix (my favorite city), so needless to say, we were the first in line to sign up!  We were both looking forward to staying in Phoenix for the night and driving out to Scottsdale to hike Camelback.  However, at the last minute two passengers didn’t show up so we had to get on our original flight and go back home as planned.  We got home very late but thankfully we both had the next day off!

NUTRITION:

Since we were literally running from one hike to the next and trying to squeeze in as many hikes as possible we didn’t have much time to actually eat real meals.  We ate protein bars, granola, trail mix, nuts, etc on our hikes.  We ate two real meals: dinner at Zion Pizza & Noodle (delicious!) and lunch at Bryce Canyon Lodge (not recommended).

Which National Parks have you visited?  What was your favorite hike?

5 Things I Did {and Didn't Do} to Achieve My "Dream Body"

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After posting a few of my He and She Unfiltered posts I not only received a ton (and I mean A TON) of messages from people (especially other trainers) who struggle with the same thing but I also received questions from people asking me how I achieved this balance in the beginning. This is really asking me how I made my transformation. I've touched on it a little bit in other posts but I'll outline it here again.

I don't really like "Dream Body" but that's what first came to mind so I'm rolling with it, hoping this reaches someone trying to achieve that "Dream Body". I wouldn't say that the body that I have right now isn't my dream body. It isn't when I compare myself to others but it is when I'm focused on what my body is CAPABLE of. So, I guess it's safe to say that this was my "Dream Body" then and I still have my "Dream Body" - it's that my definition has changed.

I have made such amazing progress since posting about my body image issues - you can read about them here.

THIS is my DREAM BODY. I visit places that I dream about and use my body to explore them.

Zion National Park (Angels Landing Trail)

 Saying "I can't believe I just did that...", climbing the highest peak in the lower 48, Mount Whitney.

One of the prettiest places I've ever seen, Glacier National Park in Montana! 

I wasn't and I still am not very competitive. I never played sports in school. I did cheer and play softball for years but it was just a rec league. I never tried out for anything. I never worried about my weight or my appearance either. I was never that girl in the gym running for two hours and eating 800 calories. I never counted calories and cardio bored the crap out of me. It wasn't until my husband introduced me to weight lifting that I actually found something that I wanted to do. But even then I still wasn't competitive. People would tell me all the time "You should compete" but I have never wanted to do a competition. Nothing about getting up on a stage half naked, having my body compared and critiqued against others appealed to me. I want you to understand that this is coming from someone with a completely blank fitness and nutrition background - I wasn't your all-American athlete in school or someone who has struggled with body image issues before.

With that being said, after entering this "health and fitness world" and having people ask me questions about what I do I quickly learned that every one seems to be looking for that magic pill or the quick fix that will make all their worries and extra body fat disappear. Well, you probably know by now that there is no magic pill, it's all up to YOU.

This might surprise you but the first place you have to start is in your mind.

So, without further ado this is how I achieved the body of my dreams:

1. Positive Thinking AND Talking

When I decided to change my lifestyle I also changed my thoughts. I started looking at things from a different perspective. This isn't to say that it was all sunshine and rainbows but I always tried to find the good in whatever it was. I did this while working a high-stress job that I hated so I know that it can be done! I would also talk to myself. Yep, I would talk to myself. POSITIVELY. Even if it had nothing to do with being healthy - it could even just be "wow my hair looks good today" or something similar. I started each day with positive thoughts and talks!

2. One Day at a Time

I took it one day at a time. I didn't care what I was going to look like or be doing in a month or three months down the road. I was just living my life, talking and thinking positively and living in the moment. I did go on to prepare for a photo shoot (as the picture above shows) but that was only for a short period of time. The rest of the time was spent just living life. It was always just one foot in front of the other. One meal. One workout. One day. It was a lifestyle. There was NO finish line.

3. NOT Comparing Myself to Others

I started blogging about my journey in March 2012 on my personal blog and I didn't go back and read through all of the posts but from what I can remember (and what I saw) I only posted ONE picture of someone who I "wanted to look like". As I mentioned in my post on how getting into fitness ruined my body image, it wasn't until Instagram really took off in the fitness industry that I fell into the comparison trap and it's truly been one of the most difficult things I've had to deal with. I never thought anything could consume someone so much. I'm so thankful that I haven't lived my whole life like this though and really hope to help others work on getting out of this same trap. Bottom line - I didn't compare myself to others. I wasn't competing with anyone. I wasn't even competing with myself. I was just living a healthy lifestyle.

4. Hard Work

I worked hard. I loved it. I was passionate about it. I trained 4-6 days per week (4-6 days per week weight training and 2-3 days of cardio). I didn't ever "over-train" but I was pretty much always on target with my workouts. I also had a personal trainer for about three months before my photo shoot. Same thing with my eating. I didn't ever restrict my calories (again, I am NOT a girl that will starve herself to be thin) but was always on target with my meals and we didn't eat out often.

5. Determination AND Consistency

As the ones above show, I was (and still am) very determined and consistent. I never had a goal date or finish line when I started. I wanted to be happy and healthy. Giving up has never been an option. Sure, I'll skip a workout if I'm sick or just not feeling it but giving up on a healthy lifestyle is never going to happen. What would I be giving up on? Basically everything I love and enjoy. If you don't feel the same way you should try to find an exercise routine that you do enjoy (try one of our She Sweats workout plans!) and find healthy meals that you do love! To me, there is no other option.

To be completely honest with you though...

I don't know if I would have made the transformation I did if social media was the same back then (I know it was only 4 years ago but so much has changed - and I sound really old saying that). Social media is one of the main reasons that I fell into the comparison trap and why, for awhile, I was only accomplishing 3 out of these 5 things. I forgot the most important two...positive thinking and not comparing myself. Although I am healthy, a size four (definitely the smallest I've ever been, aside from my photo shoot), workout 4-6 days per week, and eat healthy I would still find myself falling into the comparison trap because of social media. I would not change anything about my journey because I consider everything a learning experience and I honestly think I went through this in order to help others. It's definitely been an amazing ride these last 4+ years and the fact that my husband and I still continue to live a healthy and balanced lifestyle shows that we have been successful!

Please use these tips and by learn how to love YOURSELF so you can be on your way to a healthy "Dream Body".

Eat Clean Meal Planning - Sample Meal Timing

Confused about when to eat? We transformed our lives eating every 2-3 hours like the schedule below (you can read about our transformation story here)! This schedule shows when we normally eat each day. Of course, you would need to adjust if you wake up earlier and/or go to bed earlier but typically you will want to eat within one hour of waking and continue eating every 2-3 hours during the day. Eating every 2-3 hours will help you from reaching that "starving" point where you want to eat every single thing in sight! Don't skip meals. You don't necessarily need to eat less - you need to eat right!

The basics:

• Eat every 2-3 hours
• Protein and fiber at every meal

Not sure about how much you need to eat? This article "Clean Eating: How Much Should You Eat" will tell you what you need to know!

These additional resources may help you:

• Clean Snack Ideas
• Clean Food to Keep at Your Office

Don't forget to check out our recipes in order to plan your meals for the week! We have you covered from the main dish to dessert!

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