Motivation.

When it comes to exercising and eating healthy, it can be hard to stay motivated sometimes. For me personally, a lack of motivation is what leads me to make poor choices when trying to lose weight/get fit.

However, there are many tools available to help keep you motivated and on the right track.

1. Fitness section of Pinterest. I love Pinterest for many reasons, but one of my top reasons is for finding motivation to workout as well as great exercises and healthy recipes! If I want a new workout or am feeling a little unmotivated, I just go to the fitness section of Pinterest and I am always instantly motivated to get to work. There is a workout for everybody on there and it can also lead you to find other great sites, such as Fitsugar. 

2. Motivational Quotes. This one kind of goes hand-in-hand with #1 because I find the majority of my "fitness motivational quotes" on Pinterest. Below are some of my absolute favorite that are great reminders to just do it.

^ this one is my personal favorite ;)

3. Motivation/Inspiration Wall or Board. This is also another idea I found while on Pinterest. Essentially, decorate a wall or make a board full of pictures/quotes that motivate you. You can also keep track of your weight loss this way if that is what you're going for. Below are a few pictures of these motivation boards that I've found on Pinterest. My goal is to make one of these soon!

I hope these ideas helped you find new ways to get and stay motivated! Just remember to go out there and kick some bootay ;)

Summer Goals

In two days, I will officially be done with my sophomore year of college.

what?

I can't believe another school year has flown by! I know everyone says this every year, but this year seriously went so fast. I feel like I just moved in. Crazy!

So since I don't have to worry about school for 4 months, I want to focus on accomplishing a few things this summer!

Get in shape, lose weight. Last summer I lost 15 pounds just by simply running. I didn't work out my abs, arms, anything else. I also didn't eat as healthy as I could have. This school year, I gained all that weight back and then some, so I really need to kick it into gear this summer. I want to work out ALL of my body and eat healthy -- and stick with it. Overall, I would like to lose 25 pounds this summer. While this may seem like a lot, I know I can do it if I work hard enough. 

Run a 10k. I only started to get into running last summer and ran a total of four 5ks. This summer, I want to challenge myself by training to run a 10k that is in August. Running longer distance will be interesting and hard at times. But training for a 10k will also help me accomplish my first goal!

Run a 5k in under 30 minutes. As a newer runner, I'm not that fast. My best 5k time last summer was 30:31, so my goal for this summer is to get a time under 30 minutes. It will definitely be possible considering I started out running 35 minute 5ks last summer and shaved it down about four minutes in just three months. 

Start to write, a lot. This goal kind of covers two things I want to do. One, I want to devote a lot of time to this blog over the summer and develop it a lot more. Two, one of my life goals is to write a book. I've always loved to write, especially when I was little! I think it would be so cool to write something and even get it published. So this summer, I want to start brainstorming ideas for stories and start to actually write something.  

Find a new passion. I've recently been going through what I would like to call my "fifth-life crisis." I'm 20, so obviously it's not a mid-life crisis ;). But I've just realized that I'm not completely sure what I want to do with my life and if where I am at is okay. I'm so interested in doing many things, so I feel like now is the time to do them all! So this summer I'm going to start trying new things and maybe even find a new passion.

Travel somewhere new. Almost every summer, my family and I go to Cape May, New Jersey. This summer we are either going somewhere different or not going on vacation at all. I want to travel somewhere I've never been before, whether it is with my family, friends, or boyfriend!

Find confidence. I probably have one of the worst self-esteems ever and I don't want to live my life like that anymore. I want to gain confidence this summer, and I feel as if a lot of my goals will actually help me reach this.

So that's all I can think of for now! I'm sure throughout the summer I'll add other little goals as I think of them!

What are your goals for the summer? 

Hi There!

So this is my first official blog post on this blog! How exciting. I had created a blog before on Wordpress, but I never stuck with it so I figured I would start completely new and fresh!

To start off, I just want to say that I have no idea what my exact point of this blog is. I'm sure it will be a mixture of many different things such as talking about different products I like, fitness, cooking and baking, and just my life in general. I just enjoy writing and think that blogging (and sticking to it!) will be very therapeutic!

Since we are a little over a week into the new year, I think it would be a little bit appropriate to list some goals I have set for myself. Notice how I called them goals and not resolutions. I'm not one to make new year's resolutions, mainly because I set goals for myself throughout the year and when I feel I need to make a change in my life. This just happens to be a time for change!

Goal #1: Take the time to read more.
For as long as I can remember, I have been such a bookworm. I love reading many different types of books,  with some of my favorites being The Pact by Jodi Picoult and The Rescue by Nicholas Sparks.
Fun fact: I have read 16 out of the 17 books Nicholas Sparks has read. The only one I haven't read is the one he wrote with his brother. 

Since I am in college and am busy most of the time, I don't take much time to read when I'm at school. So my goal is to allow myself more free time to read. Ideally, I would like to read 30 books in 2013. I've already read two so far!

Goal #2: Create a fitness routine and stick to it.
One of the goals I accomplished in 2012 was becoming a runner. Most of my life, I despised running more than anything else on the face of the earth. I thought it was miserable and while I knew it was great exercise, I would avoid it like the plague. But in May 2012, I decided to take on the challenge of getting into running. By the end of summer, I ran four 5K races, with my best time being 30:32. I was so proud of myself because I had improved a lot from the beginning of the summer and would go for a run 4-6 times a week.

I even lost about 10 pounds of fat during this time, while gaining much leg muscle. However, when I went back to college for the fall semester, I put running on the back burner. So my goal is to not only begin running on a regular basis again, but also to combine abs and upper body workouts into my routine.

Goal #3: Learn how to relax and live in the moment.
Towards the end of 2012, I began to realize that I have anxiety. While I know everyone has mild anxiety on some level, mine wasn't just a small problem. I had my first panic attack due to it and have realized how much of an issue it is becoming in my life. I worry way too much and get very anxious very quickly. To try and deal with this, I want to find methods that will help me to relax and stay calm. I want to try doing yoga because I've heard that this is a great way to deal with anxiety. Also, I just need to learn to live in the moment. For example, if I do something fun one day but have something I need to get done the next day, no matter how small, I constantly stress and worry about it. I want to stop doing that so I can just enjoy the here and now.

So those are some of my goals for the time being. I know this post wasn't too exciting, but I have a few fun ones planned for the near future!

Something I want to do is end every post with an inspirational saying, because I sometimes lack positivity and just want to end things on a good note!