It's been a while!! 

Where did we leave off?! I'm a bit frustrated that I haven't been able to keep up with this blog as much as I would have liked to this summer, but you know what? Life gets really freaking crazy sometimes!! I had next to no motivation to keep up with social media for the past month for a couple reasons. For one, creating recipes gets pretty expensive. Michael and I try to keep our grocery bill under $100 every week for the both of us, and there's not much wiggle room there for me to experiment with super cool ingredients. I'm starting to think however, that this could be more of an opportunity to create BUDGET friendly recipes with minimal ingredients. Aside from that, I had to go home for a while because some unexpected news hit my family like a truck. Everything is going to be totally a-okay, but cancer fucking sucks. My mom is as strong as a horse though, so I know this will be a bump in the road. I mean look at her, she's a boss. 

I've also been absolutely loving my job. It's a little physically exhausting so whenever I'm home I veg out instead of turn my brain on to write and do work (this needs to change). Along with my job as a Thrive trainer, I've been able to pick up some more Body Cycle spin classes and I will be starting at another studio, Unite Fitness real soon here! I'm psyched. I always know I made the right choice by switching to fitness full time when I wake up and have to decide which gym I want to train at that day...HA. Totally kidding, there's so much more to it (although it is a pretty sweet perk!)

Speaking of, last week I had such an awesome opportunity to be in a promo shoot for Idalis Velazquez's (@ivfitness on the IG) All In 18 Women's Health DVD! It was SUCH a blast. It was so lovely to meet her and see her in action! I also loved being able to see what goes into making a short video. SO MUCH. I finally kind of understand what my boyfriend does for a living now. The coolest part was that I got to share this experience with one of my own clients, Diana. She killed it. Here's some BTS action...

So thankful for that awesome opportunity. Now I've gotta get my shit together for a busy week at work. I should probably also start packing considering we're moving again next weekend! Packing would be a good idea. 

Okay everyone, have a great Monday. 

XO - Rach

How's your summer going?

Any big plans for the weekend?

Hello there!! It's definitely been a while since I've posted on here. It's funny, when I worked in advertising and I was on my phone and the computer ALL day long, and when I got home, the first thing I wanted to do was work on my blog and continue staring at screens. When I made my career switch into full time fitness, I thought it would fuel me to really work on my blog even MORE, and it actually did just the opposite. I'm truly happy going into work now and satisfied when I leave, and when I get home, I don't even want to look at the computer screen. It's very peaceful, but also kind of lazy? I love keeping up with the blog and I love the connections I've made through it, so I know that I need to strike a balance between my endeavors.  Speaking of blogging connections, I just attended Garden of Life's 2016 Blogger's Summit in West Palm Beach, FL, and it was incredible!! 

Garden of Life Blogger's Summit 2016

Garden of Life is the #1 brand in the natural products industry and I've been using their protein powders for a while now. I like them because it's very clear what you're putting into your body. All of the products are USDA certified organic, verified non-gmo, vegan, kosher, you name it! I'm not vegan, nor do I buy organic food, but I DO like to make sure my supplements and vitamins are totally clean, because there are so many supplements out there today that are not regulated and you just really have no idea if what you read on the label is what you're putting into your body. Besides that, I've been having a lot of digestive issues lately, so I've been trying to experiment with my diet a bit and making sure I get wholesome supplements is important. Anyway, I was able to tour the Garden of Life headquarters, meet with 9 other awesome lady bloggers and learn a whole lot about the products and the company as a whole! It was an incredible experience and I'm so grateful to partner with such an amazing brand. Here's a summary of our experience in photos! 

I love this inforgraphic - only 265 of the 26,000 supplement products on the market are certified organic and Non-GMO project verified. 72 of those 265 are Garden of Life products. Pretty interesting! 

All of the lovely bloggers!! From top left: Cassandra, Kathy, Moreya. Alex and Laura. Bottom left: Sophie, Angela, Karim and myself!

Traveling

This year I'm learning to take advantage of cheap flights and weekend getaways. When I graduated college last May, I literally moved to Philly that same week and started working. This summer I am taking advantage of some much needed time off! West Palm was wonderful, I'm heading home to Ft. Myers later this summer and Michael and I also have a week trip planned to DENVER. A WEEK!! SO stoked. I'm so grateful for the flexibility of my job, yet as a trainer, when I don't work, there's no income. Quickly learning the high importance of budgeting. 

Training

Just an update on my job - I love it. My clients rock and I'm amazed every day at their willingness to reach their goals! Here's a shot from a Thrive Olympics we had amongst all the trainers at different gyms. If theres one thing I've gotten a lot better at by demonstrating multiple times a day, it's push-ups! Do your push-ups, ladies. 

Have a lovely hump day :)

XO - Rach

Any travel plans coming up this summer?

Hi! I wanted to share something a bit different today - all my eats from yesterday plus a day in the life of my new job! So as most of you know, I did leave my job in advertising and I started a new job as a full time Thrive trainer at City Fitness here in Philly! I am also still teaching group fitness classes as well, so I'm totally immersed in what I freaking love to do. It's a WHOLE different schedule and new challenge but I'm so ready for it. I am training semi-private groups with the Thrive training modality (learn more about it here, it's an AWESOME functional training program) and I'm already amazed by the support of my new bosses, co-workers and the motivation of the few clients that I'm starting with! 

WIAW (What I Ate Wednesday) 

So here's a little sneak peak into what it looks like to work in fitness (when you're first starting out)...

7 AM: Alarm goes off, I have coffee and a little pre-workout snack (too sleepy to get a pic) of half a mashed sweet potato, half a banana, a tablespoon of Sunbutter and some raisins. I got this sweet potato breakfast bowl idea from Jen at peanutbutterrunner.com and I am OBSESSED!! Michael also used to mash sweet potato and banana together in college for a side at dinner. It's a winning combo, please try it. 

8-9:30 AM: I head to the gym near my apartment and practice a few of the strength moves in the Thrive training library as well as put myself through a workout that I will be putting my clients through eventually. This helps me gage the intensity and helps me to program my workouts for them. 

9:30-11:30 AM: I eat my (second) breakfast (pictured below) of an AMAZINGGGG chocolate smoothie bowl - recipe coming soon, this one was a winner!! It was packed with protein and healthy carbs. I also pack my day's worth of food, work on this blog post, take care of a few emails and get ready for the day. I also had a few handfuls of trail mix on the side.

11:45-12:30 PM: I commute to Center City by train and head to City Fitness. My current hours are afternoons/evenings, so I've been getting to work around noon and leaving around 9:30 at night. The gym is slow until about 5:30, but I try my best to work the floor, meet new people and set up some assessments! 

2 PM: I train a client. She does AWESOME. 

3-3:30 PM: Eat a delicious salad with spinach, grilled chicken, avocado, tomato, cucumber, olive oil & balsamic and an apple on the side. I'm really craving a coffee but resist the urge to spend $5 on an almond milk latte, because I can't ever just buy a plain old coffee...

3:30-6:30 PM: Shadow a few of the trainers, work the floor and get ready for my clients in the evening. I also noshed on a couple of these protein balls, they're so good! I have been making The Healthy Maven's protein bites every week. They're great. Actually kind of addictive...I made a batch of 20 on Monday and they're already gone. Whoops.

6:45-8:45: Train a few clients and I also had a couple people come in for an assessment! 

9:00: I eat this combo of veggies, rice, brussels sprouts, sweet potato and ground beef before I got ready to make the commute home (I walk about 15 mins to the train station and the train ride home is about a half hour). The wind was CRAZZYYY last night and literally almost knocked me over getting to the train station. 

10:30 I am HOME!!! I had a snack of cottage cheese, PB and jelly (yes, it looks disgusting, but trust me it's so, so good) before bed and then hit the hay at around 11. This morning I'm up and at em' - teaching an 8 AM cycle class at Body Cycle Studio before heading to City Fitness for a team workout, several assessments and some client sessions. It will be another long day and I wouldn't trade it for the world. 

Have a GREAT one, you guys. 

XO- Rach

Is there something you just CAN'T go without eating every day?