GoNoodle is Hoppin'!

Many of our readers have heard about my weight loss story.  If you haven't, let me tell you a little bit about how an active/healthy lifestyle has changed my life.  

See...I have lost over 100 pounds!  I've never known what it's like to be active.  Now that I know how wonderful it feels to move my body,  I'll be like this forever...and it's carried over to all parts of my life. 

How does this relate to teaching?

 Being unhealthy/overweight and teaching was dang hard for me.  I remember wanting so bad to go outside with my students and play a simple game of tag, but was unable to.  Last year, I was able to race my students outside from the lunch room to our playground and WIN!  BOOM! ;)  Take that, first graders.

I want to promote my active lifestyle to everyone I meet because I want everyone to feel as great as I do.  My students are no different.  We are as active as we can be in my little classroom. I know that they NEED to move more at school because many of my students are stagnant at home. Sometimes we just need 10 minutes of getting our wiggles out, or maybe I'm just trying to build their endurance and get their heart rate going (haha!), we always use my favorite website:

What is GoNoodle, you ask? GoNoodle.com is pretty amazing!  It's a compilation of FREE brain breaks you can use in your classroom.  From yoga to Minions dancing to "Happy", this website has it all to help your students (and you) get moving.  Your students are able to follow along easily, get moving, and have a BLAST.  Let's be honest, I have a blast too.  

I had to show you how much fun their Brain Breaks are. Try not to laugh too hard!
 (P.S. I'm totally repping my What the Teacher Wants t-shirt that Natalie bought me for Christmas)...

I seriously was sweating after! I had to do it like 5 times because I struggled managing the camera by myself. HA! So I really got a good workout and I love to dance!

Register and use their brain breaks for FREE {here}.

This was the one I did ( not all of the brain breaks involve dancing!):

You get to pick your classroom Champ character and of course we picked Oogles Fitzlemon:

As you pick new brain breaks for your class, you earn points and can earn more class Champs!

You can pick from  Zumba Kids (right up my alley), YouTube brain breaks, yoga with Maximo, dance/music videos, and SO MUCH MORE! You can even save your favorites so that you can easily access them later. People, they've thought of everything. 

Did I mention it's FREE!? I would never promote something that I didn't absolutely love.  I absolutely LOVE GoNoodle and I plan to use it every day this school year.  So what are you waiting for? Register and use their brain breaks for FREE {here}.

And just to show you how awesome GoNoodle is, they are giving away some swag!  Enter to win a CLASSROOM SET of GoNoodle Shoelaces.  {We can learn to tie our shoes with these awesome laces or even use them as a prize for a students' fitness goal} 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

How are other teachers using GoNoodle in their classroom?  Head over to Elementary Shenanigans to see how Hope uses it in her classroom! 

A Fitness Journey

Well...the year is over. I feel like it went by so fast, but so slow. I just wanted to talk about my fitness journey and how I've gotten to where I am (76 pounds lost)!

Please note: I went to college and got a degree in Elementary Education. I did not get a nutrition degree. I love you all, but I'm no expert. 

1.  I try to drink 96-120 ounces of water a day! 

2. I used to HATE exercising.  It wasn't until I started to lose a little weight that I started to enjoy my workouts.  Now, I do Jazzercise 3 times a week (which is a mix of cardio and strength training) and I weight lift 3 times a week.

3. My husband and I have been slowly cutting out processed food.  We've researched it and we feel good about eating as fresh of food as we can and not relying on a can or box to provide us with our meals. 

4. I know what you're thinking... You get having more veggies, but don't understand have less fruit. Well, vegetables are just so dang good for you!  There are benefits to many fruits as well, but nothing that compares to green veggies.  

5. Please note: RAW honey.  Raw (real) honey is not a clear golden color like you find in that cute little bear container.  Raw honey is not processed and is so delicious.  I use it in my coffee and to sweeten our home-made almond butter. 

6. Weight lifting has changed my body in ways that cardio couldn't even touch (but cardio is still good)! 

7. I just need to be nicer to MYSELF!

8. I love Almond milk! It's so healthy and light. My husband even makes it from scratch. 

9. Lean protein burns fat and I have some to burn. :)  I haven't eliminated carbs because I don't want to deprive myself, but I watch them very closely. 

10. I used to only eat things that were labeled "diet" or "light" or "low fat". Now... I avoid anything that has those phrases on it!  Fat is good.  I get my fats from avocados, nuts, seeds, and coconut oil.

Tips:

• Be PATIENT
• Plan your meals ahead
• You can't out work a bad diet 
• Don't drink soda 
• Love yourself
• Listen to your body
• Take it one step at a time
• I don't necessarily count calories, I count my macronutrients 
• No one is perfect and you won't eat perfectly every day!  You should see my food diary on My Fitness Pal from the last couple of weeks. HA! {to follow me on MFP: rachelleblake}

So, are you ready to do this?  There's no better time than today to start! YOU CAN DO IT!

I linked up with Blog Hoppin's link up for Day 3 "Fitness"!

Healthy Teachers: Getting Motivated

Natalie here. I know Rachelle is the one with the amazing and inspiring weight loss success stories, but I also had a few things to say about living a healthy lifestyle.

I think know that it's super hard to find the motivation to work out. Wanting to lose weight is one thing, but actually getting up and working out is harder than just wanting to lose weight. Between teaching, preparing for teaching, grading, making copies, and then coming home to fix dinner, keeping the house clean, and spending quality time with my family, I felt like working out was not an option for me. I'm sure a lot of you can relate with that. 

After having two babies, I desperately needed to do something to jumpstart my body into finally losing the extra pounds. I wanted to lose weight, but I struggled with the motivation to actually do something about it. 

Here's what I did to *finally* find the motivation to get started.

• I had to quit using the excuse of "being too busy" and I had to make time. 
• I decided to make a daily schedule that included time to get out of the house and start being more active. 
• I set a goal. My goal was to run a 5K. (To make it more fun and less intimidating, I signed up for the Color Run. The thought of getting splashed with color, helped me to be excited about running.)
• To make this a family affair, I bought a double jogging stroller. This was the best decision I made because it allowed me to spend fun time with my kids while also getting exercise.
• I started with baby steps. At first, I just jogged/walked around the block, then I was able to slowly build up to do less walking and more running. 
• Little by little I worked on building up my endurance and I could go a little bit further and a little bit faster each day.
• When it was time for my race, I didn't know what to expect. I still felt unprepared, but I did it anyway.
• I did much better than I expected at the race! It wasn't as hard as I had thought it would be. 

Here are a few pictures from my race:

 

{Before the race started}

{A shot of the fun colors}

{Me as I was almost crossing the finish line}

{After the race with my sister-in-law and her friend}

The moral of this story is that you have to start somewhere. Even if you struggle with the motivation, you just need to get started! Start small and know that it WILL get easier as you keep at it!

*  *  *  *  *

Hi friends! Rachelle here.... I just wanted to add a few things about motivation!  I am motivated by other people. Does that even make sense? HA!  I follow these Instagrams that motivate me:

@gymgirljessie

@mamalaughlin

@mommonntteeee

Also, I'm obviously motivated by looking at the scale and seeing it go down. BUT, I get obsessed with the scale and so I am now looking at non-scale victories (NSV).  I like to look in the mirror once in a while (instead of running past it)...I feel like that's a good non-scale victory, what about you?! I also like to do before and during pictures to motivate me:

The picture on the left was October 2012, on the right was October 2013

Speaking of motivation and non-scale victories.... I've always wanted to wear a cute tank to the gym instead of my oversized t-shirt.  Well... It finally happened!!!! I got the CUTEST, most comfy tank from Ruffles With Love.  I can't get enough! I think I'll order this one next.  I really like how the bow is removable and can be put on the back (it's racerback) or even worn in my hair!  But BELIEVE me.... I get dang sweaty at the gym, so this was obviously a picture BEFORE I went. ;)

*I really want to ask Vanessa (from Ruffles with Love) to design a workout tank/shirt that applies to teachers and working out.  Can you help me with a quick play on words?  If your t-shirt quote is chosen, I'll send you that tank for free!

Here's the only quote I can think of:

Teacher by day

Beast by night

So, head over to hear Etsy shop and get a tank to wear  (they aren't just for the gym!).

What the Teacher Wants: To Be Healthy!

I'm totally going out on a limb right now. I'm feeling super vulnerable and so I need your support!
It can be SO hard to be a teacher AND think about your own health. Many of you are also wives, mommies, volunteers, caregivers, or maybe you have health problems.  It's so hard to balance it all and the past 3 years, I've sort of "let myself go". I've ALWAYS struggled with my weight (I can remember feeling self-conscience in the 3rd grade).  Many of you are probably nodding your head in agreement.  Last October, I decided I was done with it all and wanted to make myself healthy by doing it the right way...eating healthy and moving more (I had lost a lot of weight years before, but I just wanted to be skinny and had no interest in being healthy).  I started slow, it's taken me a long time, and I'm still a work in progress.  BUT, I decided that if I'm going to be the best teacher, wife, friend, sister.... I need to be my BEST SELF.  If I don't take care of myself, I might not be around for as long as I want.



So.... this is where our new series comes in:

I know this will help me be accountable and help me avoid that dreaded roller-coaster, yo-yo, up/down that sometimes comes with a healthy lifestyle.  So, what I'm here to do is tell you that it's hard to be a teacher and it's hard to have a healthy lifestyle, but we can do it!

Picture on the left is October 2012 and picture on the right is October 2013

Today, I'm just going to tell you how I got started.  I wrote down (and still do) EVERYTHING that I ate.  Every bite, nibble, and lick. ;)  I love using the MyFitnessPal App (they also have an online version). My username is Rachelleblake, but please no creepers allowed. HA!

Hopefully I will be able to inspire other teachers to take care of themselves! 

 For now, I leave you with this: