5-Minute Office Workout

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. All opinions are mine alone. #StopPainNow #CollectiveBias

My husband is my man crush every day and a big reason behind why I got back into exercising after having our fourth child.

He is super motivated, loves looking and feeling great. He exercises to keep his endurance up and keep his body in tip-top shape.

So when he was plagued with chronic Sciatica, it really took a toll on him physically. Sciatica is a pain that extends from the back down through the lower leg. It usually goes away in about six weeks with rest, but my husbands lasted and worsened for three years. He drives for a living so he's sitting a lot and we think that and maybe lifting heavy weight brought on sciatica.

5 Tummy Flattening Exercise Tutorials

These 5 tummy flattening exercises, protein shake recipes and shopping trip have been compensated by EAS Sports Nutrition. #easbrand #PowerinProtein

Being a wife and momma is the most challenging work I do. It takes a lot of sacrifice that I willingly give even to my own detriment. 

Sometimes I've given so much, that I didn't leave enough for myself. My husband saw that, which he admired, but he felt it wasn't healthy to give everything to the family and not take care of myself. I wasn't eating like I should, dressing up or exercising. 

We sat down and made some changes so that I could take care of my health and well being. This included planning meals I liked and exercising. When I started eating better and exercising, I began feeling better mentally and physically.

If you're struggling in they area, I want to help you just like my husband helped me. First, I'm going to show you how to prepare a simple protein packed workout shake using EAS® 100% Whey Protein. Then I'll show you my favorite tummy flattening exercises. After having four children, it's one of the areas that's hardest to keep toned. I used to wear girdles to hide my bulge, but I got tired of that real quick. Instead, I decided to find a routine that targeted my stomach and fit into my busy schedule.

4 Ways to Make Morning Workouts Simpler

Today I'm sharing 4 Ways to Make Morning Workouts Simpler. The post and my shopping trip is sponsored. All opinions are mine alone. #ListerineBOLD  

Do you want to be the fittest YOU this summer?

If so, I’m going to help you. We're going to start by putting together a game plan to make sure you get to the gym a few days a week.

Exercising is one of the best ways to feel good from the inside out. If you’ve been considering working out, you should do it. I don’t know of too many things that will make you feel energized from the inside out other than exercising.

One of my biggest struggles with exercising consistently was the time it took to get ready and actually get to the gym.

One day, my husband and I sat down and I told him all of the things that were holding me back from going to the gym, and we came up with practical solutions for them all.

One of my biggest hurdles was getting out of the house early without waking everyone. I told my husband everything I needed to do each morning before leaving. After looking over the list, we came up with practical solutions to make sure I could eat, do my hygiene and have everything I needed to exercise without making too much noise.

Sun's out guns out fitness update

I'm so glad the weather is warming up again. It makes it so much easier to get up and go to the gym when it's bright and sunny outside. 

I've been switching up my routine a bit and becoming more focused on muscle building versus muscle definition. So I've been doing less reps with heavier weights when weight training. I'll probably continue doing this for about another month and then go back to toning the muscle I've built over the summer. 

I had loss some muscle and my strength decreased during November and December because I wasn't exercising as much. It took about eight weeks for me to get back my strength and lose a few inches around my mid section, I'd gained over the holiday.

4 Ways to get your family back on track after the holiday season

You all know I’m typically a creature of habit, who relies heavily on schedules, meal plans, consistency and routine. But did you know, during the holiday season I ditch structure and go with the flow?

From October through December, I eat what I want and don't feel guilty when I don't exercise. 

The only challenge with ditching routine for the holidays, is getting back into it after the holidays. The good news is, it only takes changing one thing at a time, to get back on track.

I'm sharing my plans to get back on track over at SheKnows. Click here or on the image below. 

6 Ways Moms Get Motivated About Exercising

I'll be the first to admit that I don't like going to the gym. In fact I don't like exercising. 

Lifting weights and building muscles hurts. When people say, "no pain, no gain", they mean it when it comes to exercise. If you aren't feeling any pain while exercising you aren't going to get great results.

Now let me clarify. The pain shouldn't be excruciating. It will be more like uncomfortable. If you're lifting weights and doing cardio for results, the goal is to push your muscles a little bit harder incrementally. 

For me it's a no brainer. While I don't like exercising I do like the results. It's part of what keep me motivated about exercising. 

Anytime I talk to women about exercising I encourage them to find their motivation.

Your personal motivation is what's going to keep you giving your all with each workout. Here are some things that may get you started, but I challenge you to add on to this list. In fact, start a health and fitness journal where you track things like food intake, exercising that are working and personal health statistics.

10 Ways Women Can Get Motivated About Exercising 

1. Find a Friend.

The first thing that may come to mind is to invite an existing friend, but I encourage you to befriend women at the gym who closely resembles what you want to look like physically. Look around and find you a #WCW -- Woman Crush Wednesday and strike up a conversation about fitness. 

How this Busy Woman Reaches Her Fitness Goals

Today I'm sharing the strategy I'm using to reach my fitness goals as part of a sponsored post for Socialstars and Poise. #LadiesWithPoise 

Have you ladies set some health and wellness goals for the new year?

I have a few but I know they'll be nothing but wishes if I don't create a plan for success.

My health and wellness goals for the new year are to stay in shape and make healthy food choices. I'll be tracking my efforts using my "Habit Tracker". I showed you how I use it the other day. It's going to let me keep track of how often I'm keeping my health and wellness commitments each month.

To stay in shape this year, I'm going to exercise four days a week and to keep me accountable I'll be sharing a picture on my personal social media account. 

I'm a busy wife, mom and entrepreneur so it's hard finding time for self care. Being able to carve out time each day is important and should be documented. Plus, it's so inspiring to look back through my social media shares and see how constant I was.

How I Got These Great Looking Arms

The secret to my great looking arms and my shopping trip has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #PowerInProtein #CollectiveBias

I'm pretty much in the gym four to five days a week toning and building muscle. I remember when I used to hate working out and now I love it.

You can tell because I'm always taking pictures to keep track of my progress. 

My husband encouraged me to get back in the

Outdoor Fitness Routine for School Mornings

My outdoor fitness routine for school mornings ideas and shopping trip has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #RewardHealthyChoices #CollectiveBias

Several years ago I decided being a mom doesn't mean I give up looking and feeling great. Shortly after, I made a decision to get fit and never looked back. With school about to resume in a few weeks, I want to make sure I stay on track even though mornings will be a bit busier around here. 


To stay fit I plan on exercising indoors and outdoors four to five days a week. I'll also continue making healthy food choices and monitoring my fitness progress using the Walgreens' Balance Rewards for healthy choices™ app. Walgreens created the app in an attempt to help it's loyalty cardholders think about their health.

Simple Snacks for Your Meal Plan

This #50YearsofBreakfast Simple Snacking Meal Plan shopping trip has been compensated by #CollectiveBias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. 

People always think it's some mystery as to why I'm so skinny and fit. It's pretty much related to what I eat and exercise. I exercise 4 to 5 days a week and I typically plan out each weeks meals at the end of the previous week. Part of my meal planning includes a before breakfast and late afternoon snack.

Easy Exercise Routine for Couples

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #RhoneFever #CollectiveBias

Germaine and I are not just husband and wife, we are best friends.

We do a lot together. In a 24 hour days, most of our time is spent either together or talking on the phone and texting.

One thing we enjoy doing as a couple is working out. In between parenting, work, and running errands we exercise.

Germaine shy's away from being on the blog, but I asked him to help me with today's post. I even bought him some new workout apparel to increase my chance of getting a yes. 

Must Haves in Your Gym Bag While On Your Period

This Must Haves in Your Gym Bag While On Your Period shopping trip and tutorial have been compensated. All opinions are mine alone.  

Having a young family can often be one of the biggest hindrances for women attempting to make time for fitness. Another thing is our time of the month.

Once we've actually carved out time to go, we're often sabotaged by aunt flow. 

It's so important for use the exercise. Not only are their physically benefits like increased energy levels, healthy taught skin and a fabulous physic, there's also the benefits of reduced cramping, you often experience shortened menstrual cycles.

So how should you deal with exercising and your menstrual cycle?

Here's a tip!

Stress Less Morning Routine

My morning routine and shopping trip has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. 
#McCafeMyWay | #CollectiveBias

Are you a morning person? I used to be. 

Mornings for me used to be 5 a.m., but nowadays I don't roll out of bed until 9 a.m. to start my morning routine.

Routines work for me.

After I drag myself out of bed, my mind in a fog, I make a beeline for my home office. 

Since I'm the only one who drinks coffee in my house, that's where I keep my coffee maker. 

A cup of coffee and water are the first part of my morning rotuine. I know you all think I wake up refreshed, but in reality it takes thrity minutes or so to get my thoughts together.

Attainable Fitness Goals for Moms

This #24HourEsterC shop and my New Year's fitness goals has been compensated by #CollectiveBias and its Advertiser. All thoughts and opinions are mine and mine alone and should not be construed as medical advice. 

Ester C on Facebook | Twitter 

In the last year I've made some tremendous accomplishments related to my health and appearance. The one thing I thought was impossible without surgery was having defined abdominal muscles after having children. 

Sometime earlier this year I stumbled across a community of women who were in amazing shape after having multiple children and I was so inspired. They all had three things in common which I'll share with you in a second.

As a result of following these communities, I stopped eating meat for a while and began really focusing on the kinds of exercises that would sculpt the abdominal muscles.

My results were crazy and after a few months I had an almost six pack and my waist is down to 29 inches. 

In the new year, I want to build on what I began this year and that's going to mean setting some new fitness goals.

10 Best Exercises for Defined Back and Shoulders

My 10 Best Exercises for Defined Back and Shoulders is a sponsored by Sol Republic.

I'm sitting on the couch, pen in hand, pad on my lap and my Sol Republic Trax Air Wireless Bluetooth Headphones on my ears, drowning out the noise of my kids in the background. 

It's that time of year and I'm writing out my fitness goals.

The kids are out of school for the holiday so it's a bit noisier during the day. If I'm going to be subjected to noise while I write my goals, it will be the noise of my choosing. 

These headphones are ridiculously noise reducing, so even with the kids making noise, I'm not disturbed. The Sol Republic Trax Air Wireless Bluetooth Headphones deliver crisp audio with clear highs and deep bass so instead of fussing, I hear the sweet sounds of my favorite songs. It's crazy being able to see the kids, but not hear them. 

I'm getting amped about what I plan to achieve in the gym this year. 

This year I definitely want to work on what some call back abs. I first noticed back abs while my husband was doing triceps pushdowns. It's the muscle definition in the upper back. Think about the images you've seen of Serena W., Jada P., or Michelle O., in a backless dress.

Yass!! That's the kind of beautifully sculpted back and shoulder definition I'm going for.

When I saw that muscle definition I knew I wanted to start working on defining the muscles in my upper back and shoulders.

The summer will be here soon, and with the hot weather come the tank dresses, and tank tops. A defined back might not matter now, but in the summer it will.

In order to get my back and shoulders toned up I'm going to change up my workout a bit by incorporating some of the following exercises into my back and shoulder workout routine.

10 Best Exercises for Defined Back and Shoulders

DIY Healthy Snack Car Kit Tutorial

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #LoveV8Protein #CollectiveBias

Learn more about V8Protein on Twitter and Facebook

It's been hard making healthy food choices over the last few weeks. Between holiday social events and the overall busyness of the holidays, my eating habits have been terrible. 

I've found myself going through the drive through and stopping at the mall food court more often simply because I've been ill prepared when it comes to my meal planning.

Since I know my schedule will be crazy until mid January I'm making some adjustments to my meal plan. I don't have the energy or time to make my morning smoothie and afternoon protein shake from scratch so I'm substituting them with the  Campbell's New V8 Protein Shakes and Bars.

Meal Planning, Food Storage Ideas and a Recipe

I write and talk a lot about fitness, but something that's equally as important as exercise is healthy eating. 

The easiest way to make healthy food choices is to intentionally plan your meals. Meal planning is not hard and once you have a few weeks under your belt, you can simply rotate through your previous weeks. 

One thing I highly recommend when it comes to meal planning is proper containers. Here are the plastic and glass food storage containers I use. 

Turn Your Health Goals into Walgreens Balance Rewards

This #BalanceRewards shop has been compensated by #CollectiveBias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.

I'm a stone cold health and wellness junkie nowadays. I love challenging myself to lift heavier weights or complete more repetitions in my workout. 

I also love challenging myself when it comes to cardio. I love lifting, but cardio is the thorn in my side.

Cardio doesn't come easy for me so I come up with all kinds of goals and rewards to keep myself motivated.

Garlic Chicken and Kale Pasta Recipe

Eating healthy doesn't have to be boring. In fact, now that I have a few recipes under my belt, I love eating healthy. My latest recipe is a delicious Garlic Chicken and Kale Pasta which can be eaten cold or hot.

 The first thing I did was cook the garlic in extra virgin olive oil until opaque. While that cooked a brought a pot of salted water to a boil. Then I added the pasta and kale and cooked for nine minutes until the noodles and kale were tender.

I then added the noodles, kale and chopped chicken to the pan. Next, I thoroughly mixed the pasta, kale, garlic and chicken together.

 At the very end, I decided to add some black beans. I used ones from a can so no additional cooking was required. 

I enjoyed this dish immediately while hot, but I also ate it cold tossed with a little bit of balsamic vinaigrette dressing.

This dish was so delicious and is perfect for meal planning. I'll show you soon how, I use the dish in my weekly meal plan.

Be sure to connect with me using the buttons below.

Growing Organic Beans and Tomatoes

During the summer I tried my hand at growing tomatoes and beans from seeds. I've grown vegetables before, but not in a few years.

There's something fascinating and fulfilling about harvesting produce from your own backyard. Everything seems to taste better and I feel better about eating it since I know where it was grown and in what type of environment. 

 Growing fruits and vegetables is not as easy at it looks on Pinterest, easpecially for a lazy gardener like myself.

 My gardening style is more of a plant it and forget it style. I allow my gardens grow wild and they're only watered when it rains.

So far it's worked for me and soon I'll be harvesting some tomatoes and peas. 

I have some delcious recipes planned with the vegatables in my garden which I'll share over the next few weeks.