Sunday, March 31, 2013

Loud Pipes, Leather, and Chrome!

It's Easter Sunday. 

Yes, even Christians ride.  Yes, even on Easter Sunday.  Guess what?  I am feeling so much better now.  What a fabulous day!

Little did I know when I decided to gear up and go, that I was in for a most awesome surprise:  Last year, my husband bought me this very expensive leather HD jacket.  It did not fit me at the time of purchase.  I could not zip it up, and it was super tight on my arms.  I promised him that since the jacket was at an awesome clearance price, if he purchased it for me, I would lose the weight to fit into it.  I've done that so many times before, but never lost any weight to fit into my purchases.



Today, I can zip this jacket~ all the way up!  Not only can I zip it, it needs to be taken in and altered a couple of inches.  The sleeves even need to be taken up about 2 inches.  And I can ride comfortably without my circulation being cut off from tightness. =)  I hadn't tried on the jacket since last summer.  I almost didn't grab it today, but I thought, "What the heck... I'm already in a bad mood, so it's not like it would ruin my mood if it doesn't fit!" 

I'm so glad I tried the jacket on.  Thank you, God, for making it fall down on the floor and onto my feet when I was actually grabbing my other jacket to ride with.  You are Magnificently Awesome, and I appreciate you so <3

Always XOXOXO
~The Kaptain

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Start With Neccesity, Finish With Peace


It's no secret that I've been having a rough time lately.  Yesterday was by far the worst day I've had in a      longtime.  But today,  I woke up and saw this beautiful picture that my Coach Sj Nieusma posted for me on Facebook.  It got me thinking...  This is the very thing that I have done through all of my illnesses and injuries in the past 3 years... Simply start doing what is necessary and what I am able to do.  Do what is possible to do at the moment.  And then suddenly,  I find myself doing more then I thought I could.  Today, I got out of bed, and started doing what it necessary.

Soon after I started doing the necessary things, I found myself doing more then I thought I could.  I fixed and ate a clean breakfast, and actually had energy left over to clean up my mess!  I decided that is was possible for me to finally get some laundry done.  So I did it.  And while I was doing it,  I got some much needed food prep done.  I also made dinner!  All I needed to do was throw it in the oven at 5 p.m.  I did not work out in my gym today, but I did sweep the entire house (tile floors throughout most of the house), vacume all of the rugs, mopped the tile floors, and dusted and waxed the wood floors.  I even cleaned my bathroom!

Although it's Easter tomorrow, I did not make any Easter baskets this year.  I did not bake any clean cookies, due to my fragile emotional state right now... why tempt myself?  Just because I know how to make clean cookies does not mean that I need to be around them right now.  I kept it clean today, and I plan on keeping it clean tomorrow, as well.  As a matter of fact, I'm having my fabulous Heavenly Tropical Oatmeal for my Easter breakfast tomorrow, with some hard boiled eggs for protein on the side.  And ice water with an orange right off of my orange tree!  Follow me over on Facebook at "The Faithful Pantry" if you are a fan of Jesus and scripture... combined with clean and healthy foods, recipes, fitness tips, and more!  Please, come and "Like" my FB page, and you can get immediate access to my Easter Heavenly Tropical Oatmeal, too!  You can find my page at the following link:


I think today was deffinately a lot better then yesterday for me.  I feel like I accomplished a few things, and it felt good to get out of bed.  I still have many of the things on my mind from my blog post yesterday, but I am feeling at peace with it today.  I just want to thank my Sister and Trainer, Sj, for always being here for me.  You always know just how to get me motivated.  Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for always encouraging me.  Love ya, my RockPirate! XOXOXO
Always,
The Kaptain


Friday, March 29, 2013

Battle of a Warrior: Fighting To Stay Focused

Friday, March 29th, 2013

It's been 11 days now, and I'm still sick with a cold and painful sinus infection.  Today, I am having issues.  I'm struggling.  I'm tired.  Although my mind keeps telling me, "Get up and fight through this illness!  You are a Warrior!  You can do this!,"  I can feel the positiveness slipping away.  My confidence has fallen into a deep sleep, and my energy has all but subsided into what feels like a cold, dark abyss- floating around, lost, unable to find it's way back. 



I'm struggling.  I'm questioning my success.  I can almost taste the depression creeping back into my mind... working it's way up from my hungry, nauseated stomache just dying to reach my brain so it can once again pull me back into the lifeless bowels of hell with it's sickening, undefiable grip.


I'm having a battle with my "fight."  My mind is battling to continue with my daily clean food and fitness regimine, yet my body is saying, "Screw off.  I'm sick.  Leave me alone."  I keep talking to myself while resting in bed, telling myself, "This too shall pass... tomorrow I will wake up feeling brand new, full of energy, and ready to take on the world!"  Yet, my depiction of the perfect "tomorrow" has not yet arrived. 

Am I fooling my self?  Can I really do this?  You know, my whole weightloss & goal "thing".  My dreams and wants to be fit and fabulous... will my body and the damage that I've done to it allow me to ever reach my weightloss goal?  Will I ever truely be happy with myself, or am I just living in a fantasy world of believing that I, too, can grace the cover and/or pages of Oxygen Magazine?  Do I have what it takes to be a real "Success Story" for Tosca Reno and The Eat-Clean Diet?  Or is this all just a facade in my head,  giving me false hope?  I believe I am also battling "Believing" in my self.  Do you battle belief at times, too? 


I'm having a love/hate battle with my weights, as well.  I haven't been able to perform any cardio since becoming ill, but I have tried without success for the past 3 days to just lift... even if just a little bit.  8 pounds; 5 pounds; 3 pounds.  I'm just not into it.  It's provoking a migraine everytime I try.  I have no enjoyment or satisfaction in lifting right now.  I sit on my weight bench, staring at myself in the mirror, with no energy, no ambition, and no recollection of my goals or where I was at progress-wise before I became ill last week. 


I'm having a horrific battle with cravings right now.  It's not "PMS," or anything of that nature.  I am hungry.  All of the time.  Yet I can taste nothing.  And the food that I can taste, does not taste "right."  I can attribute that to my sinus infection.  Still, I am hungry, unsatisfied with anything that I put into my mouth.  I have no desire to eat food, or even anything clean for that matter.  I ate an entire pack of Ritz Crackers yesterday.  It's the only thing that has tasted good to me in 11 days.  And I don't care that I ate them.


I'm having a passionate battle with temptation this week, as well as cravings.  These two battles go hand in hand, yet completely intensify the process times a million!  Cravings are one thing... I know how to get past a craving.  But to also have temptation nagging at your mind every time you see a commercial, or advertised in a magazine, is just pathetic!  I have been so tempted lately to eat cupcakes, cake, donuts, cookies, lemon bars, muffins, all white and refined baked goods. 


As many of you may know, my addiction is to "numb" my feelings, whether negative or positive emotions, with food.  Overeating refined food.  Going on food binges.  Food binging donuts used to be my drug of choice.  It's the same thing as a junkie sticking a needle in their arm for their next high/fix.  I cannot succumb to temptation... It will draw me right back into the life threatening cycle of food addiction.  I have my 2 year donutversary coming up here very shortly, in April, as a matter of fact.  My binge food drug of choice are vanilla cake donuts with the pretty pastel sprinkles on top.  I haven't had one in almost 2 years.  I am proud of myself. I am proud of my progress.  I hold on to my "sobriety" by remembering where a dozen donuts will put me... it will put me right back into addiction mode. 



I am battling with my energy level.  It's pretty much non-existant right now.  I pray to God every day to please provide me energy to make a speedy and full recovery.  I have been a good patient and stayed in bed, resting, and staying hydrated.  I really am trying to heal myself and allow my healing to happen in God's precious time.  But it's hard to remain stagnant when you have so much that you want to do with your life.  Maybe God is still working with me on my "patience," which is what I last blogged about here.  Patience.  It truely is a virtue.  I know I have alot to learn and practice with in this particular department.


I'm battling motivation like crazy... I simply have NONE.  I keep talking to myself, telling my body to just get up and do it.  Yet my body does not respond.  Oh, my head is responding lots!  My mind has a lot to say.  My body is being very stuborn and doesn't seem to want to comply. 

I hate feeling "helpless" and dependant on others.  I like to do things myself.  That's not working out very well for me right now.  So I'll just have to follow the advice of NIKE, and just "do it," even if I suck at it right now.  Just keep moving.  One day at a time, keep moving, one foot in the right direction, without ceasing.



I'm battling with negative thoughts of "lack of progress" while I am layed up in bed.  All I can think of (other then cupcakes and donuts) is the amount of time that I have lost while sick, and all of the workouts I have missed out on due to illness and fatigue. 

I feel like all of my progress has now back-slid into a big hole, and I have to start all over again.  I feel like a lot of time has been wasted being in bed.  My muscles no longer feel toned, and I haven't felt that much anticipated muscle "burn" in what seems like weeks.



Yes, I'm battling with staying positive, and staying focused.  This is not normal for me.  I am one of the most positive people that I know.  I have been positive in the sense that I am still pushing forward, and doing whatever I can, with what I have at the moment, which isn't much. 

But I'm still going. I'm still pushing, I'm still trying to figure out ways to get back on track even though I physically can't do much of anything right now.  At least I haven't just lied down and completely given up!



I am battling with both physical and mental fatigue/burnout.  Yes, I know what that means.  It means that it's time for this girl to take a vacation.  Or a "staycation," or what ever you would call vacationing without actually leaving your home.  It's time to rejuvenate, re-evaluate, re-energize, and re-charge my body, mind, and spirit.  So with that thought, I will leave you with this:  I promise to take time for healing, positive thoughts, scripture, and rest... on the beach!  Hurray for my beloved beach! 

If you are going through, or ever begin to feel like you might be going through battles such as mine, please take some time for YOU.  Take a vacation, take a rest... from the world!  Turn off your cell phone, computer, and your "business-oriented" mind before you burn yourself out, and never find your way back.  It's happened to me before, and I will never allow all of this negativity to take over my life again.

That being said, Happy Easter Weekend!  Have a blessed holiday with your family and loved ones.  Take some time for just YOU.  Even if it's just an hour out of your day.  Do something to relax, keep a positive outlook on things, and to just enjoy your surroundings.  God put this beautiful life in our hands for us to enjoy... not have a nervous breakdown over things we cannot change.  ;)

The Kaptain

XOXOXOXO





Monday, March 25, 2013

Illness Is No Excuse To Quit!

Monday, March 25th, 2013

How many times have you started something new~ a diet, a fitness regimine, a project, a goal, a promise to your self or someone else, only to quit before you reached your goal due to illness?  I confess: I used to be one of those people.

But not any more.  Not for the past couple of years. Not since I found The Eat-Clean Diet and support from their website, along with Overeaters Anonymous.  I have learned that illness is temporary; therefor, so is taking a break.  Leaving my ambition behind due to laziness from having a long, drawn-out cold or flu is not an option for me anymore. It's so easy to create excuses within ourselves: "I have been sick for too long, I lost my motivation to continue weight training." Or, "I have been sick, and I fell off the wagon of eating clean and fitness."  Excuses are NOT an option.


Okay, so you "fell off the wagon."  Get up, and get back on it.  Don't try to make up for lost time, and don't try to "start all over" again.  Tomorrow is a brand new day, a beautiful gift from God.  Simply wake up, dust your self off, and CONTINUE where you left off.  That's it.  No looking back, only move forward.  Do not beat your self up!  Illness is a part of life! It's temporary, and it will pass.  Don't let a temporary illness discourage you.  However, it is important to take the proper time to recover from your illness.  Otherwise, you will not recover so quickly!



Yes, I am a Nurse... but I am a horrible patient!  I do not like to stay in bed, or rest, or sit still.  I like to be doing things, reading things, planning things, and making things... so yes, it's hard for me to be a patient.  I pitty the fool who has me as their patient. ;)  That being said, I've had to learn the hard way what lack of patience brings to the table when I should have been patiently resting and following doctors orders.


Due to my lack of respect for patience, I have turned minor colds into major illnesses.  I have turned the flu into pneumonia, and bronchitis.  I have started exercising with injuries long before obtaining a doctor's permission to do so, further aggravating my injury.  I have suffered through immense pain, because I refuse to take pain killers or antibiotics.



I hope you are not as hard-headed as I am.  I am my own worse nightmare of a patient.  But I'll let you in a little secret... I have learned how to be patient with my body.  I have learned how to take care of my body the RIGHT way, not the way that I so stubbornly want to.  I have my own personal healer.  His name is Jesus.  I take the time to pray, day and night, for a speedy and full recovery.  I take time to thank God through Jesus for all that He provides me with, and all that He does for me. I have Faith that Jesus is my Healer, and that this, too, shall pass.


And, it always does.  Thank you, Jesus, for opening my eyes. To You, I am eternally grateful <3

~The Kap

Friday, March 15, 2013

More ECD Ambassador Travel Tips!

Happy Friday, Bloggee's!

Today, I have a special gift for you. You can copy it, download it, print it, save it, travel with it, prepare with it, and share it with others.

Here is a fantastic chart from The Eat-Clean Diet, Tosca Reno, and all of us ECD Ambassadors!  Our travel tips are continued from yesterday.  Get your download here:  http://ow.ly/iYTZu

Have a great weekend, everyone!  I'll see you all back here very soon!  Stay posted for more travel tips from Tosca's Team!

Eat Clean, and Train Mean!

~The Kaptain,
Kymberly Morgan

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Eat-Clean Travel Tips!

Hello, Blogee's!

Want to find out how to eat clean while traveling?  Come visit my fellow Eat-Clean Diet Ambassadors and I here, at the Eat-Clean Diet Website's "Kitchen Table" forum for all of our tips:

I promise, you can live a clean lifestyle and travel, too!  Please check out Tosca's Blog for all of our Ambassador Tips here:  http://ow.ly/iVqSP

Leave me any feedback you'd like, and be sure to leave any comments or questions you may have for me in the "comments" section at the end of this blog post.

Eat Clean and Train Mean, everyone!

~The Kaptain (Kymberly)


Friday, March 8, 2013

WOMEN'S DAY WICKEDNESS!!!!





Well, Look who made it into Tosca Reno's "Sisters in Iron 2013" Gallery photo album!!! 

I'm so excited!  And I'm in there RIGHT NEXT to Tosca and Rita! My sister and trainer Sj Nieusma graces these marvelous and inspiring pictures, along with my fellow ECD Ambassador Sisters Allison Earnst and Chelle Stafford.  So many of my Warrior Sisters are in this beautiful gallery, too many to mention.

I just wanted to give a shout out to Tosca Reno, Bob Kennedy, Rachel Coraddetti, Kiersten Coraddetti, Keley-Lynn Coraddetti, Chelsea Kennedy, Meredith Ecd, Amy Ecd, Sj Nieusma, Chriss Thompson, Chelle Stafford, Allison Earnst, Vicky Damwijk, Joe Salottolo, Shirley Rogers, Tomi Ann Gee Butler, Kelsey Byers, Rita Catolino, Chef Jo Lusted, Zain Jamal, Theresa Jenn Lopetrone, Janet Gates, Robyn Lynn Stone, Michelle Baker, Anne Marie Brugger, and too many other names to post here, along with Oxygen Magazine, RKPUBS, and all of The Eat-Clean Diet Staffers, Ambassadors, and community members who kick major ass and inspire me every single minute of every single day!  I love you all so much, and you continue to inspire me and support me through my journey. Without you, I would not stay on track.

If I can do this,  then so can YOU!  Take the time today to look into Tosca Reno's "The Eat-Clean Diet" website as well as her series of ECD books.  Join the Kitchen Table Community at The ECD Website for support, encouragement, and a lifetime of inspiration and knowledge!

You can view The "Sisters in Iron 2013" Gallery here:

http://www.toscareno.com/2013/03/08/sisters-in-iron-gallery/?fb_action_ids=442088072543009&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582

You can find all of Tosca's amazing Eat-Clean Diet book series here on Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/Eat-Clean-Diet-Recharged-Lasting-Better/dp/1552100677/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1362770778&sr=1-3&keywords=tosca+reno



Let Tosca help keep you on track with your clean lifestyle during Spring Break:
http://ow.ly/iswg6

AND.... You can now follow me online while I cook clean and healthy meals for kids and families!  If you're looking to change the way your family eats and thinks about food, come visit me at:
http://www.bellaonline.com/site/cookingforkids





As always, Eat Clean and Train Mean!

~The Kaptain