How you can feel better in 11 months

The past 11 months have been some of the absolute best in my life for so many reasons, but I truly believe one of the main reasons is because I've tracked my fitness progress with pictures. This is something I've always told my clients to do "focus on your pictures, how your clothes fit and how you FEEL, not on the scale!"

This year I finally decided to take my own advice and I've never been happier! In the last 11 months I've gained 3 pounds and MANY of my pants were getting super tight. Most women would FREAK out over this, and I'll be honest there were times when I thought to myself "What the heck? I feel like I'm in the best shape ever and my nutrition in on point moreso than it's ever been, what is going on?" 

Whenever I would think those thoughts it was time to take a progress picture, I wasn't great at doing them every 30 days, but I did them this year more than any other and I am AMAZED by my progress! The scale was moving up because I was finally gaining muscle and my pants weren't fitting because my butt has MOVED, seriously, it's higher than ever before in my 25 years on this planet...blows my mind!

So how did I get this way this year? What changed? How can you make sure you feel amazing in the next 11 months?

TRACK your progress with pictures, exercise, and eat well

Those 3 things will transform your life. The first picture was my start of P90X3, my second was at the end of P90X3 and the last one was after doing a hybrid of P90X3 and Piyo along with the 21 day fix meal plan (and shakeology of course)! These 3 programs have changed my life this year, they've helped me realize my pants size and what the scale says are NOT important, it's how I treat my body and the choices I make that truly matter. 

This is a journey, you have to embrace the process, it does NOT happen over night, it doesn't happen over 3 months, a year, etc...it's a LIFETIME process so you need to make sure you're creating LIFESTYLE habits to help you through. 

There are going to be SO many times when you feel like failing and giving up, make yourself a promise that you won't. Make yourself a promise that you will see it through!

If you need help with what direction to go in I can help you, just send me an email at samanthamarlett@gmail.com 

Don't hold yourself back, your time is now!

Scales SUCK!

I've always been all about ditching the scale, it's lame, it doesn't SHOW you what you're doing right or wrong, it's just a societal measurement that we can't seem to get rid of! It frustrates me just as it does most of you and recently I've been succumbing to the power of the scale and it's had me pretty down for the past month or so...that is until today :) I was scrolling through my Pinterest page and found this picture I posted almost to date 2 years ago! At the time of the first picture, I was struggling to gain weight (apparently due to stress from my wedding...I don't remember feeling stressed, but as soon as it was over I got back to my normal weight so I'm assuming that's what it was) So during this picture first picture I weighed 114 pounds, I was exercising regularly, eating a TON of healthy foods, but not packing on the pounds. I was down about it, but within about 6 months I got back to my typical weight of 118.  Back in 2012 I had been 118 pounds for almost 6 years, that length of time gets you tied to that number....Well enter December 2013, I was up to 123 and not feeling awesome, I had suffered a knee injury back in August 2013 and gave myself a LOT of excuses. So I decided to go through P90X3 at the start of 2014 and got some freaking AWESOME results, but I only lost 1 pound on the scale...for me it was still a win bc I LOVED the pictures and measurements at the end of my 90 days...

Fast forward through this summer of 2014 and I've managed to gain another 3 pounds (yep I'm at 125 pounds)...for the past few months I've been struggling with this a lot...my weight was 118 for so long, that's where I'm supposed to be, right?

I'm thinking WRONG, especially since seeing these pictures side by side! Do you see 11 pounds?! I know I sure as heck don't and I'm SO much more toned now than I was then! The point is, you've got to start taking progress pictures! They will show you the REAL story, not that dumb scale! 

How often are you going to commit yourself to taking progress pictures to see the real story?