Sisters Real Life Fitness and Friends are going sugar free!

So I must preface this blog by clarifying that I am not a fan of 21 day cleanses, 30 day diets, 10 day juice cleanses, etc. I think the best and most sustainable way to live, is to have a balanced diet the whole freaking year! Yep I said it, ALL the time! Not just for swim suit season or when there are no fun holidays around because, let's be honest, holiday season can be extended from Halloween through New Years if you are really clever. Not to mention, there is at least one good holiday, birthday, or reason to celebrate every single month of the year. So if we are constantly making exceptions to our diet any time a good excuse rolls around, the healthy portion of our diet ends up becoming the exception instead of the rule. 

With that being said, I've decided to be completely sugar free for the next 30 days. My family and a few clients will be joining me as we attempt to cut out sugar through the month of October.

 ( This can also be read; you have been warned to stay away from the McNeils for the first week of October, as my whole family will be very, very cranky! ) 

Yes I know I am doing the exact opposite of what I proclaimed in the very first sentence of this blog...but there is a reason and we will get to it....promise.

Over the past few years, I've done way too many X number of day diets, cleanses, etc. to count and I've come to realize that I much prefer living day in and day out in the healthiest fashion possible and in a way I can live with long term, not just until the end of the week, month or season. A dear friend of mine and fellow fitness professional always suggest the 80/20 rule. Eat healthy and clean and the way you know you should 80% of the time and provide yourself with those treats you crave 20% of the time. However, every once in a while I take a glimpse and realize my 80/20 has slid to 60/40, 50/50 or oh no even flipped backwards to 20/80!!!!

That's when I like to take a step back, reevaluate things and perhaps throw a challenge out there for myself along with anyone who may care to join me. ( I'm talking about YOU, hint hint! )

So after celebrating my birthday.

And eating ALL the cake! The most delicious cake I have had in such a very long time!!!

( My wonderful husband found a bakery here in Charleston, WildFlour Pastry, that made a dairy and gluten free, 3 layer dark chocolate cake with raspberry filling and rich buttercream icing. OMG!! I died! I am slightly happy that this bakery is a 30 minute drive from me or I would be in some MAJOR trouble! )

So, as I was saying... I ate all the cake ( and then dreamed of it for a few more days ), and I may have definitely been indulging in some delicious cashew ice cream that wasn't available to me before I moved to Charleston...a lot lately...kinda like all the time. 

 Needless to say, sugar has become a higher percentage of my diet than I typically allow or really ever should be. Recently, I found myself chatting with clients who have been under crazy life stressors and have also found that their diets have slid to unfavorable percentages. So we thought let's do this together!

30 days no sugar! We can totally do this! 

What exactly are the guidelines? Well I am so glad you asked.

The best part of this challenge is that we get to decide individually what they are. Yep, you don't have to live by my rules and I will fully support you in what ever endeavor you take on. 

For my husband he will be giving up sweet tea, which when living in Summerville, South Carolina may just be a huge sin.

There will also be no Pepsi  

He drinks Pepsi like I drink water and I drink a lot of water! 

   And finally no sweets, such as cookies, ice cream, etc. Because he is a such a good husband and doesn't want me to eat alone, he has been joining me in my ice cream adventures and we both need a break. I will be avoiding all sugar except for natural fruit sugar which means reading ALL the labels because for some reason, us crazy Americans have to have sugar in some form added to EVERYTHING!

Seriously its absolutely everywhere! 

My girls will be avoiding all sweets just like their dad and since I do all the grocery shopping and they I pack their lunches for school, any added sugar in other foods will be minimal. 

I will certainly miss my ice cream and I am sure other fabulous foods that I haven't even realized yet but I am excited to get off that sweet, sweet crack and give my body a break. I am excited for all the other foods to taste richer, and I am excited to see the difference in my skin, mood, sleeping patterns and so much more. I know it won't be easy but I know it will be worth it.

I would SO love to have you join us on this journey in whatever capacity may be right for this moment in your life. I know for me, putting it out there for the whole world to see keeps me committed, so if you do decide to join us, I would challenge you to put it out there. We'll have your back and come out on the other side of this together! 

Can I just say how excited I am for this first week of October!?! It's going to be awesome!

Join Us!

Just Because It's Good For You?

It seems to me that every single time I turn around, there is new information coming out about the latest food or drink that will perform nutritional miracles in my body. Coconut water, kombucha,  chia seeds, bison, vitamins, juicing, acai, green drinks, coconut oil, coffee enemas, placenta, goji berries and the list goes on and on and on. I will be the first to admit that I have used and enjoy some of these products. However, I use them with the understanding that the majority of their health claims are based on consuming ungodly amounts of the suggested product.

For example, green tea is said to boost metabolism and provide antioxidants but what they fail to mention is that you would need to drink 6-10 cups a day in order to see even minute changes. I don't know about you but that seems almost impossible to this coffee loving girl. I could possibly choke down two cups of tea a few times a week but 6-10 cups a day just isn't practical.

Or maybe we should discuss coconut water. Have you ever actually tasted that stuff? I know that there are plenty of people who claim to enjoy coconut water. However, I can only imagine that their taste buds have been destroyed at some point because coconut water literally tastes like licking the inside of a jellyfish. Just thinking about it makes me want to vomit. I have tried, God knows I have tried, to learn to like coconut water but I can't even choke that vile stuff down. A few times, I have been able to mix it into a smoothie with success in order to help with electrolyte replacement but to be honest, I think I would rather just stay dehydrated.

How about chia seeds? Those little magical seeds have been everywhere the past few years and they are in everything from beverages to protein bars. There are literally tons of recipes online for chia this and chia that...and of course who can forget the loveable chia pets? Too far? Sorry, sometimes I get carried away. Back to the subject on hand. Chia seeds are huge in the running community and are often given the credit for the success of the Tarahumara runners. Over the past few years, I have eaten tons of chia seeds  and although I have never noticed a difference in my running, I have spent way too much time picking those little suckers out of my teeth. I mean, let's be real, for every spoonful of chia seeds I have eaten, I have probably turned around and flossed 80% of them out of my teeth. How am I supposed to reap any benefits from that kind of a ratio?

Kombucha...should we talk about kombucha? Anything that is made to breed bacteria seems like a bad idea to me. And scobies? Really? Have you seen what those things look like? Go ahead google it and then try to tell me you want to drink kombucha. (Sorry Mom. Please don't take that personally.)

I could go on: Green drinks - taste like you just licked the bottom of a lawn mower. Goji berries - wish they tasted half as good as raisins. Coffee enemas - are an insult to everything that makes coffee wonderful. Juicing - An expensive, albeit delicious way to starve yourself into your skinny jeans. Placenta - I mean really? Do I need to say anything about this one?

So what is my point to all of this? Well, to be honest, I don't really have one. I sort of just like to rant about things that interest me. However, if I was forced to come up with something to glean from all of my complaining it would be this: Don't buy into a fad or look for a quick fix when it comes to taking care of your body. You only get one of these things. Find ways to exercise that make you feel alive. Seek out foods and beverages that nourish you. Give your body the rest it deserves and most importantly live a life that makes you feel proud.

~Stacy

Birthday Goals

Happy weekend! I'm so excited for a weekend to play and relax with some of my favorite people in the low country. I think we'll be squeezing in a beach day because I know eventually this warm weather will go away and the beach won't be the best of ideas. 

Don't get me wrong I am totally excited for the cooler weather of fall. I get to wear sweaters, go to the pumpkin patch, explore fall festivals, and maybe even a fright night. I am so excited for fall, but I am going to get all the beach days in that I can!

Yesterday was my birthday and it was the best! Just one of those days I did so many of the things I love and went to bed with a huge smile on my face. Plus I got this gem to treasure for forever...

How can you not smile after that! 

But when birthdays come around, I always think of what I want to accomplish in the next year, reflect on the past year, both the good and the bed and try to step back and take a deep breath. Now if I'm being honest, I usually set way too many lofty goals and by mid November they are as far gone as a new years resolution by the middle of February. 

So while I have yet again in my mind thought of all the goals I could set for a lifetime I am totally trying to reign it all back and be a bit real about it. I mean honestly there is no way I will write a book, travel the world, build a business, do all the health and fitness things right without fail, be the perfect wife, mother, sister, aunt, and friend and so many of the other things that may have made their way onto my list, and yes there is a list, I'm calling it the dream list. I have set one goal; be gracious with myself while striving to reach some ( or most ) of these goals. I plan to dedicate one month in particular to each of these or as much as I possibly can but mostly not be too hard on myself. We all have critics and usually our biggest ones are ourselves. So while yes I would love to look back a year from now and say I did all that and more, I will be even more proud of myself when I have given myself the kindness and grace I try to give to those around me. This doesn't mean I won't be pushing myself and striving to be a better me then yesterday, but if I am being real ( and that's what I'm about, the real life ) learning to be gracious and kind to not only others but also myself may be one of the best improvements I can make in myself. 

So here's to a year of trying to be the best me with grace and kindness. I feel like I totally got this! Do you do this? Am I the only one who sees a birthday as a day to set new goals? I'd love to hear your birthday traditions!

Happy Weekend! 

~Amy

Why We Do What We Do

Given the realities of an over saturated fitness market, perhaps you are asking yourself, “Why should I train with Amy and Stacy?” or “What makes Sisters Real Life Fitness any different from the millions of other options available to me?” and the answer to your question can be summed up quite simply…however, as you can see from our photos, we are women and it is our prerogative to be overly descriptive, hence the following bullet points and blabbering. Enjoy.

-          We want to help others reach their goals. It is an amazing privilege to help an individual accomplish something that they never realized they were capable of. Maybe you want to do ten pull-ups, or qualify for the Boston Marathon, or do a headstand without breaking your neck, or lose ten pounds…the list could go on and on and on. We all have different goals and dreams for the future and we want to see you get there.

One of my absolute favorite memories of all time happened while running down Main Street in Richmond, Virginia during the Richmond Marathon. I had spent the previous year watching my training partner slowly increase mileage and train for her first marathon. The year was filled with victories and setbacks but she persevered and showed up on race day prepared to give it her all. I will never, ever forget the smile and tears of joy as she glimpsed the finish line in the distance. The entire final half mile was an emotional crescendo of laughter, tears, running and her valiant attempts to hug my neck as we ran. By the time we crossed the finish line, I knew that this was a moment that I wanted to recreate for as many people as possible.

-          After moving around and living in many, many different areas, Charleston, South Carolina has become our home and we are thrilled to be a part of this community. However, as we are both relatively new to the area, we are excited to immerse ourselves in the fitness opportunities that are available here and to begin to connect with like-minded individuals. Let’s be honest, we are all striving to live the healthiest, happiest and most productive lives possible …why not cheer each other on and have a little bit of fun while doing it? We want to get to know you Charleston!

-          And as much as we want to get to know you Charleston, we also enjoy having the ability to train and coach people all over the world. Our online training opportunities make it easy for us to be available to you no matter where life may take you. Technology has made it possible for you to have access to Sisters Real Life Fitness and we love to be along on your journey. Whether through Skype, Email, FaceTime, Google Hangouts, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Text, Phone, Snail Mail, Carrier Pigeon and even Smoke Signals…we can find a way to train you.

-          Mistakes. We’ve all made them…personally I have made a LOT of them. The truth of the matter is that Amy and I don’t have all of the answers but we do know a lot of things that don’t work and we can help you avoid making the same mistakes we have made. Let me give you one quick example, a few years back, my sister and I decided to sign up for a 10K race on a whim. This particular race is huge in our hometown and we thought, “Why not? Everyone else is doing it.” To explain how inexperienced we were with running, I will start by saying that we were probably the only people at the starting line, in a crowd of 12,000 people, who had absolutely no idea what a K was and even less of an idea of how far we would be trying to run that day. All we knew for sure was that we had “practiced” running for three months and that we were definitely in better shape than all of the old guys around us. (Ahh…the bliss of youthful ignorance.) Little did we know that many of those same old guys would cross the finish line before we even saw the 2 mile mark. Our first mistake of the day was deciding that a 6:00 minute mile seemed like a reasonable pace. We found the 6:00 minute pace group, jumped around a bit so that we would look like the runners around us and I gave my sister's hand a quick squeeze. I really wish I could tell you that we took off running and were natural born runners but the reality is that a lot can happen in the first mile of a 10K. For instance, who would have thought that 12,000 people could rush past you at such a great speed? Or that the brand new shoes you bought last night, now feel about three sizes too small? To say that this race was a learning experience, would be a vast understatement and we want to make sure that you can learn from our mistakes. After spending the last 15 years running, biking, swimming, weight training, teaching group fitness, leading boot camps, racing, practicing yoga, studying nutrition, etc. we have learned quite a bit about how to pursue a healthy lifestyle while avoiding injury, illness and burn out. We would be absolutely honored to share that knowledge with you.

-          Money…there, I said it. We have absolutely zero qualms when it comes to admitting that we would love to make some money from this venture. Everyone needs money and this girl has bills to pay. It is a dream come true to be paid while doing something that you love and feel passionate about…and doing it with really cool people by your side is simply an added bonus.

-          Finally, there is a very good chance that we will fail. Most small businesses do. The deck is stacked against us and we may have wasted hours and hours trying to establish something that will never amount to more than a pretty pink website. However, we will never know if we can be successful, if we don’t at least give it a try. This is us trying.

So check out our website Sistersreallifefitness.com
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Thanks for stopping by we can't wait to share with you and get to know you.