I didn't tell you about Peru huh?

I totally spaced in telling you about our Christmas in Peru!!
My dad's company flew my whole amily out there including Scott and I! IT WAS AWESOME! The weather was perfect, being together as a family was perfect! EVERYTHING WAS PERFECT!
Scott and I only got to stay out there for about a week, but that was still awesome! My parents and siblings were out there for ab out 3 weeks so they were super lucky and came home even more tan than we were! Here are some pics!

Here's the view from my dad's place.

Our first real meal out in the town- which was DELISH! Best seafood EVER!

View from he roof! CHECK OUT THAT OCEAN!

we were just a few blocks from the beach!

Just a cute sign we passes when heading to the BEACH!

We made Ami a fat sand person... awesome.

Rommmmance!

The beach house!

This was our room. YESSS

The back yard.

the peruvian love hold.

It was simply a well needed and WAY FUN vacation! EVERYONE GO TO PERU!

Empower yourself..

Hello everyonnnnne!
What an amazing beginning of the year! I can't say that enough! It's simply been amazing! like i mentioned before, I started teaching at Champion Karate West and had an awesome first night and have had the cutest people come join me to dance and work out. It's been a party!
We also added a Saturday morning class at CURVES and that was soooo fun! it was packed with fun ladies and a TON of energy! It was awesommmmme!!
I just wanna say thanks to all the awesome people that come to my classes and that have been so dedicated and supportive! I also wanna say, I LOVE NEW STUDENTS and NEW FACES so don't be shy! Come on in!!
It was so fun to see girls come from Timpanogos High School and Provo High to my classes! My heart was just so warm and I just had this overwhelming feeling of like... "YESSSSSS!!" I just wanted to jump and shout I was so excited!
Keep coming! I love new friends!

So, today's health topic comes from a sweet Youtube video from this awesome trainer, Alycia Kluegl. She's AWESOME.

In a video of hers i watched today, she talked about Common Mistakes when trying to loose weight... and in listening, I agree COMPLETELY. So many of my students when asking what they're doing wrong when starting to diet, all seem to do the following. There are 3 mistakes she mentions and I'll write em out for you here.

1. Believing in "Magic Pills". Without hard work, they simply don't work. They're made to assist, not replace a work out. So if you use a weight loss supplement, plan on still working hard to get it to assist you. :)  I'm not going to lie, I've been using a metabolic booster and fat burning supplement that has actually helped a ton, but I only purchased it because needed that energy boost, and I knew it'd help because I work out about 15-20 hours per week. If you're way into working out or you already have a set routine and diet, I'd highly recommend it. It says it's made to "Increase Metabolism, Improve Mood, Metabolizes Fat, Cuts down Cravings." I will tell you though, for the first few days I took it, I was SUUUPER jittery because my body was getting used to it and stuff so if you have intense reactions to caffeinated supplements, they have a lower level of the same brand for you.
2. Severely restricting calories. There are so many diets lately that are supper effective such as the HCG diet. But from what I've heard of friends and family that have actually TRIED that diet, is that the main reason it's so affective, is because you cut down calories to about 500-1000 per DAY. Your muscles have about 3500 calories they need per day. Now when loosing weight, if you want to cut down cals, cut down to about 2500, or the LOWEST is 700 to loose like 2 lbs a day, but even then that's not very healthy.  Why isnt it effective? Because your body goes into STARVATION MODE. So your metabolism shuts down. Your body tells your metabolism you're starving. It doesn't know you're just not eating, so thennnn, your body holds on to whatever fat comes in to store up to a MONTH worth of energy. The body completely stops burning fat, because it's storing whatever comes in to keep your body going in it's starvation mode. If you DO decide to cut down calories, Do it a little bit at a time so your body slows into the new diet rather than shocking it into starvation mode! Which leads me to the final mistake.
3.  People do too much, too quick. You need to let your body accomodate to your new diet and the new weight loss it'll be going through. Don't rush it! Weight loss is a journey. In today's society we want to look good NOW. Let it happen according to your body and your fitness level. You'll get there! It just takes Eating right, Working hard, and Knowing what you want to achieve to get there! BABY STEPS!

You're all amazing! I hope that this helped you out a little bit! Check out more of Alycia's tips on Empoweyourbody.com and on Youtube!

Song of the day-  La Vida Es Un Carnaval- Celia Cruz.