“I’m not skinny enough”, “I’m not muscular enough”, “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to look at myself and be happy”, “I wished I looked like her”, “I look too thin”, “I look too curvy”, “I look too fat”. These are all thoughts that have most likely filled our heads at one point. In society, we are constantly judged on our appearance. This constant desire to look a certain way or accomplish a certain image is often what drives us in our weight loss journey. We workout and eat healthy because we want to change our current body image. However sometimes, we can become obsessed with trying to look like models or people we see in magazines. Sometimes we can get a little carried away and start to look at our bodies with hatred and only see the negative aspects we don’t like. I can personally admit that I let these perceptions and unrealistic images of what I have to look like take over my life. To be honest, it pushed me over the edge and I lost control. Why did I lose control? I lost control because I felt like my weight and body image were the only things I could control.
 
When I was about sixteen years old, I started to get into health and fitness. At first, it was great! I felt amazing and the pounds started coming off right before my eyes. I just assumed that everything was great because I was eating healthy and working out. Until I became obsessed. My life was taken over by working out after every single meal to burn it off. I found that I was basically starving myself and my body by cutting out almost all carbohydrates and fats. I lived on vegetables and fruit and every single day my main thoughts were focused on food. The numbers on the scale creeped lower and lower. With every pound lost, I smiled more. With every new bone that showed, it felt like an accomplishment. Every time I looked in a mirror, I checked to make sure I didn’t gain any weight since the last time I looked. This was one of the lowest points in my life, and I couldn’t even see I was suffering until I looked at a picture of myself. All I saw was a weak, fragile shell of the girl I used to be. I lost almost all of my strength and muscle tone in my arms. In that moment, it hit me that I had to make a change.
 
Since that negative time in my life, I have re-learned everything I know about health and fitness. I learned that gaining back weight is hard, but I had to in order to be healthy. I learned that there is far more to nutrition than just eating vegetables all day long. I learned to LOVE myself and my body for what it is. Whether you are underweight, overweight, or anything in between, the main reason that you should be eating healthy and workout should be to show your body that you love it. Show your body that you are willing to nourish it and make it healthy. Especially in nutrition, most of our food choices are based around our emotions. To truly achieve wellness, you have to work on your mental state, so you can help yourself reach your ideal physical state. In this industry, we often only focus on the physical body, and ignore the mental aspect. It’s time that we start to love living in the skin we’re in. It’s time to give it your all at your workouts because you want to feel stronger, have more energy, live a happy life, and feel good about yourself. Not so that you can look exactly like someone on the cover of a magazine.
 
I hope that reading my story helped you think really deep down about WHY you set your health goals. What is your motivation to gain your health back? I promise you that you will see the best results if you are in a place of self-love. Don’t focus on ways that you want to change your body. Your body is beautiful and unique in its own way. Focus on how you can enhance what you already have and live your best life.
 
XOXO,
 
K. 

Have you ever had an on-again off-again relationship?  You know the one where it’s a little risky, it has you excited in the moment or maybe it’s a forbidden love that you just can’t say no to and your parents don’t approve. We get it, they are great in the moment but something just doesn’t feel right.
It’s time to walk away.
​
But they keep popping back into your life. The texts, snapchats and voicemails about how much they still love you, how it will be different this time – “baby I’m so sorry, I’ll change this time for you, I promise!”  [insert eye roll]

Your friends and family have all heard it before too and now start to roll their eyes when you bring up this relationship again. 

It’s taking a toll on your life. You can’t focus at work. You lay awake at night wondering if they are thinking about you or how they could do this to you? You have to muster up all the energy you have just to get through the day. You walk around in a daze and pretend like everything is ok, meanwhile you stomach is churning.

You have a couple good days and then you are back to square one again.  You are constantly taking one step forward and two steps back. You wonder, when does this stop? How do I feel normal again?
Guess what?  You are not alone.  We’ve been there and we’ve made all the same mistakes.  When we started we weren’t experts either, this has taken some crazy twists and turns, a few embarrassing moments. Too many nights overthinking and feeling devastated. But there comes a time when enough is enough.

You’ve become that couple…. On-again off-again.  Desperately hoping this time would be different.  But at the same time feeling lost and helpless.

Now, is not the time to crawl under a rock and hide.

It’s time to call a friend….the kind of friend that tells you how it is.  “It’s time to let go and move on, they are only holding you back from becoming the person you deserve to be”

It’s time to realize that this relationship is holding you back.  You don’t need to depend on them.  They do not determine your self-worth. This relationship is an emotional rollercoaster.

It is no longer about them, it’s about YOU!

And, you my friend don’t need them to be happy. They do not complete you.  Without them there won’t be an empty void in your life.

This choice is yours. Are you ready to do what it takes?

You say “yes”… but then start to panic and maybe lose your composure.  Can you really be OK without them?

This time is different. You are cool, calm and collected. Ready for the task at hand. Breaking up is the best thing for both of you.

You feel incredible.  There is a state of peace inside of you.

They are expecting you to freak out and come running back, but you are perfectly fine on your own! This is going to drive them crazy.  They will try everything to change your mind. 

Watch out this is often when we cave for the break up sex. 

But how is this going to leave you? Satisfied or upset that you let it happen? Were you a sex deprived little puppy?  You were going to stand your ground, and now you feel ashamed to tell your friend who had told you not to do this time and time again.

Are you ready for some real, cold hard truth? In every relationship the person who cares the least always has the power. As soon as you embrace this you will get the power back in this relationship.
After break up we go through shock and panic. Otherwise known as fight or flight. You want to pour your heart out and do everything to get them back, you’ll change for them, you could just workout more right?

Does this sound like the strong and confident person you are?

The only acceptable answer here is NO!

You want to get out of this crazy co-dependant state so you can finally regain peace of mind and sanity. You can be happy on your own.  You no longer have to depend on them to make you happy. My friend, you are capable of greatness!!

You are not wrong in how you feel.  You are not weak. This couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s not your fault, we all go through this.  The problem is no one ever taught you how to get through it.
But it’s Ok because you do have people to support you, find those people and stick with them!

Think about all of these emotions we just explained and compare them to your relationship with junk food.  Does it satisfy you in the moment? Have you tried to leave it, or break up with it before?  Do you always go back thinking it might be different the next time?  All these answers are YES!  It’s crazy how similar they are, but it’s so true!   Let’s be real – to get over an ex the simplest thing to do is just move on and remove him/her from your life.  So what if we were to take that same simple analogy with junk food?  Just eliminate it all together – sounds easy enough, but these stages of a break up will pop up.

Welcome to the LMF 100 Day Clean Eating Challenge – Time to Break Up With Junk Food! 
Our 100 Day Online Clean Eating Challenge has historically always been our best challenge with seeing results with our challengers.  We’re not sure why, but September seems to be a good ‘turnaround’ point and a solid jump-start for everyone.  Summer has ended, and it’s time to get back on track.  The 100 Day Challenge is for everyone and anyone interested in making some improvements to their health lifestyle.  It changes you for the better.  The biggest impact is that it’s not 21 days, it’s not 6 weeks or 8 weeks, it’s a full 100 days that will take you all the way and achieve your goals, and you get to do it with a group of the most supportive people in the world.

If for some reason you think you can’t do it.  YOU CAN!

Let us help get you past your BIGGEST BREAK UP EVER!

Link to the 100 Day Online Clean Eating Challenge! 

When people look at foods that are high in fat, they usually go into panic mode and avoid this macronutrient altogether because they assume that eating fat will make them fat. That makes sense, right? Actually, not quite! If I told you that eating fat is actually a very important part of every diet, would you think I'm crazy? Probably! There is some truth and good reasoning behind why you should be including fats in your diet. Just make sure they're the right fats! And I'm here to give you a hand with determining the good from the bad.

​Now, when I say you should eat fat, please don’t go to the grocery store and load up with a cart full of ice cream, chips, and chocolate! Because the truth is that not all fats are created equal. There are four main groups of fats: saturated, trans, polyunsaturated, and monounsaturated. Basically, we should focus on limiting/eliminating saturated and trans fats. These guys are the bad ones that like to raise cholesterol, blood pressure, and cause heart disease! Who wants that?! On the other hand, poly and mono unsaturated fats are the good guys! They can actually LOWER your risk for cholesterol and heart disease. Below is a comparison of two food labels. One is a chocolate bar and the other is an avocado. Look at the difference between the fats! Most of the total fat in the avocado is poly and monounsaturated fats. Most of the fat in the Toblerone bar comes from saturated and trans fat (46% of the daily fat intake! For half the bar, not even the whole thing)

​So, what’s the verdict? Don’t give up fats! They’re one of the key macronutrients and they make an excellent fuel source, on top of providing energy and keeping you full. Just make sure that you’re choosing the right type of fats that will heal your body, not harm it.
 
XOXO,
 
K.