It’s Pay it Forward Friday tomorrow (Oct 29th) on SHARIng with SHARI and I am honored to be a guest!

Tune in or call in if you have a question or to share what YOU have done this week
to help pay it forward!  Join Shari’s LOVE-volution!

10am PST/1pm EST

The phone number is 347-994-2543
Here is the link to the show: http://tobtr.com/s/1317291
You can listen online or through the phone number above.

I am so HONORED to *know* all of you and to be a part of this incredible journey.

YOU inspire me.

Here are some of their amazing What Ifs:

Big Girl Bombshell

Jen In Real Life

Medicinal Marzipan

Superwoman Spirit

The Giggly Bits

Guest Post by Tracey from I’m Not Superhuman

Let’s get one thing straight: I’m not a fitness junkie or a superstar runner. I have 80-year-old knees (or so says my doctor) and I’m about as nimble as a sumo wrestler. I downed an entire chocolate bar today—and not dark chocolate or the kind that helps little rain forest animals.

So I’m not the most perfect healthy living example out there. For the past seven years, I’ve been dealing with knee pain that’s made running impossible, walking painful, and shopping nonexistent. (And, no, clicking around Amazon.com doesn’t count.)

Up until a year ago, I knew my place. A friend wanted to meet up? Not if it involved walking a few blocks to the restaurant. I needed a new pair of shoes? No way am I brutalizing my knees at the store. Yup, I pretty much knew that I was a good-for-nothin’ gimp.

And then something happened.

After a train-so-hard-your-muscles-burn physical therapy session, I went to the grocery store. (Don’t roll your eyes—that’s a big deal for these achy breaky knees.) Not only did I go in, but I shopped every aisle. And my knees didn’t crunch themselves into red, hot discs of pain. I realized that maybe I wasn’t giving myself enough credit. Maybe I’m stronger than I think. Maybe my injuries are healing after all.

Fact is, we don’t give our bodies due praise. I say mine’s too broken. Someone else says theirs is too big. Another person says theirs is too weak. And so on. I’ve learned that my body is in pain, but it can do more than sit around on the couch all day. (Not that I don’t do that every once in a while. Ahem, today.)

Our bodies do some pretty amazing things, and we need to recognize that. Here are three ways to notice your body’s potential:

1. Push Yourself.
You don’t know what your body can do until you try, right? Maybe some athletes spring out of the womb with a deep understanding of their talents, but most people find out just how far they can run, swim, hike, or pedal by doing it. I might not be pushing myself to learn whether I’ll one day scale Mt. Everest (baby steps, folks) but I can try to learn just how far I can walk without my knees flaring up. And if that means I have to canvas the entire mall doing it, then so be it. There are no limits to my rehab dedication.

2. Ask Friends.
Some time in January my mother told me that she saw a ton of improvement in my knees over the past year. I had been visiting my parents for the holidays and both noticed how much longer I could stand, how much further I could walk, and how much less inflamed my knees got. We’re the best at noticing our flaws, so why wouldn’t we assume our weight isn’t budging or our muscles aren’t getting more toned? But sometimes we lie. For real, honest-to-goodness answers, ask someone you trust. (And, no, no one else thinks your nose is big.)

3. Trust Strangers.
I’ll never forget the woman with auburn hair and black warm-up pants who passed me in the gym and said, “That looks hard! You go girl.” That’s right, another human who wasn’t injured thought an exercise I was doing was hard. Chances are, there are strangers out there who think you run far (I do!) even if you haven’t hit your goal. There are people who think you’re skinny even if you pledge to lose another five pounds. And there are strangers who think your dinner last night was healthy—even if you splurged.

Of course, the hard part is actually giving yourself praise. So, I’ll go first: These two crotchety knees may cause me a lot of grief, but they got me through the grocery store. And they’re awesome for that.

Your turn.

photo cred: dideo

I began the challenge because I was dared, I wanted to see if I could do it and I thought my body could use some detoxing (which it definitely got!) Since January 1 was approaching it seemed like the perfect time to start something new, not as a resolution or permanent lifestyle change, but something different & fun.

Well, it turned out to be exactly that and then some. Here are some of my lessons learned along the way:

Its all about the planning: When I agreed to the 30 day challenge I completely forgot about the fact that I’d be going to Disney World for a week and that when I got back I had a slew of dinner meetings to attend. For the first 10 days I was able to make all of my green smoothies, salads, and meals in the comfort of my own kitchen and take food with me whenever necessary. But when we arrived in Orlando, all of that went out the window! On the first day there we walked into a restaurant in the Magic Kingdom famished (bad). Luckily they were able to seat us without a reservation, but we only found out as the food was being served that it was a fixed menu…with a whole heck of a lot of meat! I filled up on the salad & veggies as best I could, but I was so hungry I broke. This was day 10. I got back on the wagon, but half way through day 11 I was done. Had I planned better for the trip & the outings I might have lasted longer.  Happy to report though, now that I’m back home I’m still drinking my spinach green smoothie!

I CAN survive without coffee! (but just don’t want to): Despite breaking for good on day 11 I didn’t have any coffee until day 16. Caffeine withdrawals were horrible, but I was ok by the second week, and I think what I missed was the warmth in my tummy. Tea did the trick for a few days, but I really did miss the taste of my morning coffee too. That first taste again was sheer bliss.

Trying new things is good for the soul: I love diving in and trying new things. Sometimes I don’t weigh all the pros/cons or work out all the details because I get caught up in the excitement of the idea. I used to think this was a fault of mine, but today I don’t and I like that part of me. My biggest fear was that if I didn’t complete something that people would think I was a failure, and maybe they do, but WHO CARES?! I certainly don’t anymore. Who says I have to go balls to the wall all the time? As long as I’m not hurting anyone, I will continue to try, experiment and challenge myself as much as possible. If it works, it works. If not, on to the next.

My online family ROCKS!: From the moment I announced the 30 day challenge I received nothing but amazingly wonderful support from my online peeps. Ya’ll are so frickin awesome!! I am incredibly thankful to have your support and honored that you all share your lives with me every day. I am still amazed every day at how cool it is that we all get to connect, share with one another, and be a supportive community all without having met in person. LOVE that!

So, what’s next for me? Don’t know yet. But you will be the first to know when I decide to jump into a crazy challenge again!

Now its your turn. How did it go, how is it going, what’s next for YOU?

photo cred: fireflythegreat

I’m back from Berlin, Germany.  Work-wise it was an extremely productive trip, fitness/diet-wise though, not so much.  It wasn’t the traveling factor, it was mostly a lot of delicious dinners, wines & beers and very little working out.  But I enjoyed myself, so I’m not too upset about it.  Live and enjoy the moment.  Isn’t that what we’re all trying to do? No regrets.

But now that I’m back I’d like to refocus on my fitness/clean eating plan that I committed myself to before I left.  The honest truth is that I want to be back in shape to compete again and the only way to do that is to JUST DO IT – CONSISTENTLY! Also, the Olympia is 63 days away, and I won’t lie, I’d like to look good.  Vain? of course, but I won’t apologize for it.  I don’t think there’s anything wrong with wanting to look & feel good as long as you’re not making yourself sick getting there.  I was in that deep dark place many years ago, and never again.  My life is worth living!

An estimated 182,460 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to occur among women in the United States during 2008. An estimated 40,480 women will die from breast cancer. It is estimated that 1,990 men will be diagnosed and 450 men will die of breast cancer during 2008. In addition to invasive breast cancer, 67,770 new cases of in situ breast cancer are expected to occur among women in 2008. Of these, approximately 85 percent will be ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). (Source: American Cancer Society Cancer Facts & Figures 2008)

To all of those that have fought and are still fighting this disease, I honor you, salute you and thank you for inspiring me with your bravery & warrior spirits.

For information on early detection & screening please go here.

Let’s hear it ya’ll!