Day 2 - Bikini Body Boot Camp

Today I spent the afternoon with my daughter and mother at Silver Sands Beach. It was an absolutely perfect beach day and we had a great time. It's only day two of my personal beach body challenge and I was already trying to wiggle out of my commitement to myself. It was very amusing to me to watch the internal conversation I was having in my head this morning as I was trying to tell myself that I did not have time to do my workout and I could do it later in the evening when I got home. Now I know from past experience that if I don't do my workouts in the morning, first thing on busy days, they don't get done. I also knew that I was going to have to write about what I ate and did today and so even though I knew working out was going to make me a bit late, I threw on my sneakers and ran out the door and did hill sprints. It's actually quite valuable to revel what you are doing to the world - it really keeps you on track!

6:45 am - banana & coffee while I meditate, write and do EFT
7:45 am - Fit Fast: 5 hill sprints; stretch
8:30 am - Jumpstart Juice (fresh vegetable juice); whey protein w/coconut milk, flax seeds and blueberries
12:30 pm - salad of baby greens, tomato, grilled chicken w/ginger dressing; hummus w/carrots & blue corn chips
2:00 pm - walk on beach, swim
2:30 pm - fresh fruit salad
5:00 pm - fresh fruit salad; hummus w/carrots & blue corn chips, sliced steak (I'm so hungry after the beach, I feel like I'm going to faint. I drank 2 huge glasses of water before I ate which somewhat stopped the shakiness)
7:30 pm - salad of baby greens, tomato, avacado and grilled chicken w/olive oil and lemon
10:00 pm - bed

Day 1 - Bikini Body Boot Camp

Today I start my own personal Bikini Body Boot Camp. There's only 4 weeks till I leave for Hawaii so I need to stay focused and on track if I want to achieve my goals!

6:15 am - Coffee and Banana while I write, meditate and do EFT
8:00 am - Protein shake: whey protein and water
9:00 am - Workout: teach 1 hour BBB Camp class
11:00 am - Protein shake: pea protein, coconut milk, raspberries and stevia
1:00 pm - Lunch: salad of mixed baby greens, tomatoes and steak w/olive oil and balsamic vinegar; hummus w/celery & carrot sticks
3:30 pm - 5 min. jumping on my mini trampoline to clear my head, raise my metabolism and get the blood flowing (I've been sitting working at the computer for 2 hours).
4:00 pm - 1 diced Mango (I just love Mangos the remind me of Caribbean sunshine!)
5:00 pm - handful of Blueberries
7:00 pm - Dinner: grilled burger on romain leaves w/ketchup, onions, tomotoes; salad of baby mixed greens, cucumbers, tomatoes w/olive oil and liquid aminos.
8:30 pm - stretch
10:00pm - bed

4 Weeks to Get Bikini Body, Buff and Beautiful!

Like I said in my last post I found out a couple of days ago that we are going to Hawaii on July 30^th and I want to feel really good being on the beach in my bikini. A couple of years ago when I started doing "Fit Fast" and eliminated most of the grains and starchy carbs from my diet, I got down to 19% body fat and I felt so light, lithe and lean. I just loved the way I felt and looked! Over the last year or so I've gotten a bit lazy and inconsistent with my personal workouts and my body fat has crept up along with the inches on my waist, abs, hips and thighs. When we started Beach Body Boot Camp back on 5/3/10 I was up to 27.8% body fat (a ten year high!). Over the past 8 weeks I've come down to 21.5% and lost 4" and I feel so much better but I'd still like to get back to where I was 2 years ago. So I decided to do my own personal, 4 week intensive version of my Beach Body Boot Camp to get ready for Hawaii. If you are up for the challenge feel free to follow along! Here are my goals.

Physical Goals
Body Fat: 19% (-2.5%)
Weight: 120 pnds (-3 pnds)
Waist: 26" (-.5)
Abs: 31" (-2)
Hips: 34" (-2)
Thighs: 19" (-1.5)

Emotional Goals
To feel confident, sexy and beautiful on the beach in my bikini.

My Daily Statements of Intention
I am a light, lithe, lean fat burning machine!
I feel confident, sexy and beautiful in my bikini!

Look for my daily posts where I'll describe what and how I'm doing. - Bonnie

Bonnie’s Personal Beach Body Makeover

Hi Girls!

For those of you who don't know me I'm Bonnie Skane and I'm a Fitness, Weight Loss, Wellness and Personal Empowerment Coach. I've been working with women for the last 12 years supporting them and giving them tools that help empower them to look and feel great. I teach a variety of classes and workshops and do private sessions. Right now I am 2 weeks into teaching my second session of Beach Body Beautiful Boot Camp. This has been so rewarding and so much fun for me as I watch our participants break through the limits of their bodies and minds and start achieving the results they desire. Beach Body Beautiful Boot Camp is a very special program - probably like no other you've ever seen! We take a very holistic three prong approach that deals with mind/emotions, body (exercise) and nutrition. I believe that the key for obtaining lasting, lifelong results is how you feel about you. I also believe that the first step in allowing yourself to have the body you desire, is loving and accepting the body you have –even if it's not perfect. We help change these beliefs with energy-psychology (EFT and PTCB – Process to Change Beliefs). For more info… Sign-up to receive my FREE e-book at the right if you'd like to know more about using EFT to help you lose weight.

Anyway, back to why I am posting this. I found out a couple days ago that I am going to Hawaii for business/pleasure. I am so excited I've always wanted to go to Hawaii! On this trip we are going to be working with a large company that is in the fitness business in a big way. I want to be able to go on this trip and feel confident and really good about how I look on the beach in my bikini. So I decided that I am going to do my own personal, ramped up, intense version of my Beach Body Boot Camp. I thought it might be fun to share it with anybody who is interested in following along (there's tremendous power in shared experiences!). So if you are up for a challenge and you are willing to put in some time, effort and energy – join me!

Bonnie

Are You Getting Enough Sleep?

I am a big believer in feeling good and since I don't feel good if I don't get enough sleep, I make sleep a really big priority in my life each day. Everybody's sleep needs are a bit different but I have found that I need a good solid 8 hours of sleep each night to function at full capacity. Over the years I have found that the price that I pay for staying up late, just isn't worth it, so 95% of the time I am in bed by 10:30 to get up for 6:30am. I have also created a soothing bed time routine that I stick to each night. I head upstairs about ½ hour before going to bed and wash my face and brush my teeth, then I climb into bed and write at least 5 things in my journal that I am grateful for, then I read from a spiritual type book before I turn out the lights at 10:30am, as I am laying in bed right before I go to sleep I do a round of EFT tapping for a good night's sleep.  – Bonnie Skane
This article was written by Dr. Joseph Mercola http://www.mercola.com/

What Happens When You're Sleep-Deprived?

Americans get about 25 percent less sleep than they did a century ago -- and this isn't just a matter of having less energy. Too little sleep impacts your levels of thyroid and stress hormones, which in turn can affect your memory and immune system, your heart and metabolism, and much more. Over time, lack of sleep can lead to:

• 
  
  Weight gain
  
• 
  
  Depression
• 
  
  High blood sugar levels and an increased risk of diabetes
• 
  
  Brain damage
  

The consequences of sleep deprivation are so intense because your circadian rhythm has evolved over hundreds of generations to align your physiology with your environment, and your body clock assumes that, like your ancestors, you sleep at night and stay awake during daylight hours.

If you confuse the situation by depriving yourself of enough hours of sleep, you send conflicting signals to your body. For instance, in addition to the above, too little sleep can:

1. 
   
   Increase your risk of cancer by altering the balance of hormones in your body
2. 
   
   Accelerate aging
   
3. 
   
   Increase your risk of heart disease and stroke
4. 
   
   Raise your blood pressure
5. 
   
   Speed up tumor growth. Tumors grow two to three times faster in laboratory animals with severe sleep dysfunctions

Sleep researchers from across the United States have also discovered that:

• 
  
  A single night of sleeping only four to six hours can impact your ability to think clearly the next day.
• 
  
  Sleep deprivation can cause changes in your brain activity similar to those experienced by people with psychiatric disorders.

Additionally, your body does most of its repairs during sleep, so not getting enough of it can impair your immune system, leaving you less able to fight off diseases of ALL kinds.

Why You Should Turn Off the TV Well Before Bedtime

There are numerous reasons why the United States is a nation of insomniacs, and stress is certainly near the top of that list, but another often overlooked cause has to do with your bedtime ritual.

The most common activity done every night (or almost every night) before bed for Americans of all ethnic groups is watching TV. According to NSF's poll, 75% of African-Americans, 72% of Hispanics, 64% of Whites, and 52% of Asians watch TV within one hour of going to bed.

This is a mistake, as research suggests that television can cause irregular sleep patterns and sleep difficulties. Aside from the obvious impact of purposely staying up late to catch your favorite late, late show, violent images on TV stimulate your body's "fight or flight" response to stress. But since you know that the threat is not real, you suppress it.

This engages your brain in a constant mode of impulse and suppression, and when you turn off the TV, all of this built up impulse must be released, which may make it difficult to fall asleep.

It really doesn't matter what type of TV show you're watching, however. Television is stimulating to your brain and it will take you longer to fall asleep if you watch right before bed.

Further, if there is even the tiniest bit of light in your bedroom -- including the glow from your television -- it can disrupt your circadian rhythm and your pineal gland's production of melatonin and serotonin.

Melatonin is secreted primarily in your brain and at night it triggers a host of biochemical activities, including a nocturnal reduction in your body's estrogen levels. It's thought that chronically decreasing your melatonin production at night -- as occurs when you're exposed to nighttime light -- increases your risk of developing cancer.

The more your sleep is disrupted by light pollution, the lower your melatonin levels and the greater your risk of developing cancer becomes. So PLEASE make sure you sleep in a pitch-dark room every night -- and this means not only installing blackout drapes if necessary, but also turning off the TV!

How to Get More Shut-Eye

If you're staying up late watching TV, surfing the Web, or working, it's time to set some limits. Determine a set bedtime for yourself, just as you do for your children, and try not to let any other activities interfere with this time.

What time should you go to sleep? A good rule of thumb to follow is that if you feel tired when you wake up, you probably aren't getting enough sleep. Most of us have set times that we need to wake up in the morning, so getting more sleep, for most of us, means going to bed earlier.

I actually recommend getting to bed as early as possible. Your body, particularly your adrenals, do a majority of their recharging or recovering during the hours of 11 p.m. and 1 a.m., so you should definitely try to be asleep during those hours.

At least an hour before your bedtime (but preferably two or more) start to wind down from your day. You may want to spend time journaling, meditating, sipping herbal tea, washing your face, using Meridian Tapping/Emotional Freedom Techniques (MTT/EFT) or reading a calming or spiritual book.

During this time, turn off your phone and your e-mail, and put away all work. This will give your mind a chance to unwind so you can go to sleep feeling calm, not hyped up or anxious about tomorrow's deadlines.

Once in the bedroom, some people find the sound of white noise or nature sounds, such as the ocean or forest, to be soothing for sleep. You'll also want to adjust the temperature in your bedroom to a cool setting (most people find they sleep best at temperatures no higher than 70 degrees F and perhaps even a bit lower than that).