Water you waiting for?

So here is something you have heard... drink water but how does this aid in weight loss and why should anyone care? Here are the top reasons I think to grab a glass and chug!
1. To burn calories you need a substantial amount of water to aid in this process. If you are dehydrated it slows down the fat burning.
2. When burning fat your body releases toxins that need to flushed out... so yay water to the rescue!
3. Reduces muscle soreness when exercising.
4. When you drink water before a meal it causes you to feel fuller faster.
5. Dehydration cause fatigued because of the blood volume reduction and no one needs any extra reason to feel tired.
OK so now that we are all ready to change our status to in a relationship with water, we need to know how much to drink. Who just said 64 ounces in their head??? Well you're wrong. Research shows that the best amount would be an ounce per pound up to 150-200 ounces. Thats a lot of water but you can always start by adding in a glass or two here and there. Another great tip is to have a certain time you want an amount of water finished. I drink a gallon a day so I mark on my water bottles how much needs to be finished and by what time (I will attach a link to explain it better). Any who, water is a VITAL part of losing weight so grab a bottle and start shedding the pounds!
Love always,
Keli K.
Keep water on Time
Lets face the facts... you CAN do it. :)

Peanut Butter Jelly Time!!!

I love peanut butter... its almost an obsession but now you can have your peanut butter and eat it too! There is a new product (or at least new to me) called PB2 it has 85% less fat than traditional peanut butter. How do they do it? They press the oil and the fat out of the peanuts in a chemical free process making the peanuts turn into a dry powder. So then all you have to do is simply add a tablespoon of water to 2 tablespoons of PB2 powder mix and enjoy your peanut butter! You can use PB2 in smoothies, recipes, and what ever else traditionally you would use peanut butter for. I like to take it with me as a snack with some celery sticks for those times you just gotta have a snack on the run or add a little liquid vanilla stevia for a super sweet yummy peanut butter spread!
Here is a link if you have any more questions on this product or to find it in a store near you:
http://www.bellplantation.com/about-us

Reduced Fat Skippy: 

Serving Size: 2 Tbs

Calories: 180

Fat: 12g

Carbohydrates: 15g

Fiber: 2g

Sugar: 4g

Protein: 7g

PB2 Powdered Peanut Butter: 

Serving Size: 2 Tbs

Calories: 45

Fat: 1.5g

Carbohydrates: 5g

Fiber: 2g

Sugar: 1g

Protein: 5g

Get to trying!
Love always,
Keli K.

people becoming hysterical when peanut butter sticks to the roof of their mouth have "arachibutyrophobia"

Live to eat, eat to live

Food, our social connection. The one thing that can support our desire for instant gratification is food. We use it to celebrate, to suppress emotions, to entertain, to somehow prevent boredom, but why does food control so much of our emotions? I find that fear controls much of my eating and life choices. The fear to diet and fail or the fear of being miserable on a diet or not belonging socially if I eat differently. We let our emotions dictate our eating habits and unknowingly we are stepping into a shorter life expectancy. The food we decided to consume today will effect the rest of our lives and we aren't taking that truth seriously. We have a cure to the leading cause of death in America and we mock the thought of changing what we eat. So how do we change? I don't have an answer yet. All I can say is we can't let the fear keep us from pursuing a healthy lifestyle. We have to eat to live not live to eat because in the end we want to develop meaningful relationships and not let our food choices render us from doing so. I have seen how diabetes and heart disease can completely hijack your life and keep you from being able to enjoy simple everyday living. So lets make a change. I say let's go live, throw caution to the wind, eat right for yourself, and make a change to better you! So here's to living!!!
Love always,
Keli K.
You'll never leave where you are until you decide where you'd rather be.

HIIT and Run

Excuse of the week... I'd work out but I don't have time. We all live very busy lives and yes some of us are busier than others but thats not an excuse to neglect your fitness. The answer to your time crunch is HIIT training! High Intensity Interval Training is the best way to burn fat and most HIIT work outs are only 20 minutes!!! How it works: you constantly change your speed and effort from aerobic to anaerobic for 20 minutes. HIIT training can be done with running, weight lifting, swimming, kickboxing, Zumba, biking, and tons of other work outs. The biggest benefit of HIIT is instead of just burning calories while exercising like when doing consistent cardio with HIIT when you get off the treadmill you will keep burning calories and fat for the rest of the day. So in turn you burn up to 9 times more fat doing HIIT training than just a traditional constant cardio. AMAZING! With all the HIIT cardio options there are also time options available for what ever your fitness level is. In my athletic conditioning class it is targeted toward extremely fit people so we do Tabata interval training with 20 seconds high intensity 10 second recovery... It will wear you out! Research has shown though that the best HIIT for burning fat is 4 minutes moderate effort with 30 seconds extreme effort but find what works best for you. So get to googling to find the perfect HIIT work out for you and let me know if you have any questions. With 9 times more fat burned and in only 20 minutes you can't lose!
love always,
Keli K.
Take the time to be your own hero today.

Banana Split for dinner

These past few days has been a roller coaster of emotions for me and after the shooting in Colorado Thursday night once again we are reminded of how precious is. We often get so wrapped up in our dreams and our diets and the latest social media excitement we forget about living life and enjoying one another. Sometimes we just need to serve our family a banana split for dinner and watch there face light up. I realize this goes against everything this blog is suppose to be about but sometimes in life we can't forget to value each other and relax. We have to have those moments where we just enjoy because no matter what in the end the only thing that matters is the relationships we form and the way we made others feel.
Love always,
Keli K.
Just Enjoy Life.

Yesterday you said tomorrow.

Excuses. I have a million each and everyday. Its too hot, its too cold, my head hurts, I don't feel good, I am going out, not enough time, I am having lunch with a friend, it never works, and my favorite is I WILL START TOMORROW. The never ending cycle of starting tomorrow and feeling like a hopeful failure. One thing I teach in my school program with the Miss Texas Organization is to be honest with yourself. So lets get to it! Take a moment to figure out what your excuse is. Share your excuse with me and one by one over time I want to try each one of them out and see how we can get past it. If you want it bad enough you will make it happen if you don't you will make an excuse. Look deep inside and figure out why you want to lose weight and then don't let that go. I want to not only be healthy and pass on healthy habits to those around but I want to win swimsuit at Miss Texas next year. Big goal, big dream, difficult yes, but doable... why not? We need to let our WHY be bigger than our How and our goals will be more attainable than ever!

Love always, 

Keli K.

"That voice inside your head that tells you it will never happen is a liar."

How about some Pancakes

Here is my favorite breakfast recipe.... it sounds crazy but just try it!

What you will need:

1 egg

1/2 cup of cottage cheese (I use 2% daisy)

1/2 cup of ROLLED oats (not quick outs) 

1/8 cup of water (you might want more or less just check the consistency)

 This makes one serving 

Blend ingredients in a blender and there you have it pancake batter! 

Pour into a pan like you would any other pancake batter 

Add sugar free syrup 

*** I like to add syrup and all natural peanut butter OR make a PB&J out of them! 

It sounds strange I know but trust me they are absolutely delicious! I like to make a weeks worth on Sunday nights so I just can grab them from the fridge and microwave them when I am on the go. 

The most important meal of the day!

Although I will interject with personal and pageant life let's start by diving into what I want this blog to really be about, you and helping you reach your weight loss goals! What better way to start a blog then how you start your day, breakfast!

I've heard it, you've heard it, we've all heard it.... Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and usually if I asked my mom or teacher or anyone else for that matter why it's so important I got a "because I said so" answer in return. So I am here to tell you why we all need to breakfast to LOSE weight. Hello I am telling you to eat not starve, lets all take a minute to say yay!!!

The Why: First of all why not? In dieting you are always told don't do this or don't do that, to finally get a green light to go to the fridge makes me ready for tomorrow morning already. Skipping breakfast can throw your diet into a state of chaos. Instead of me getting to technical let me break it down for you as best I know how, your brain needs glucose to think and concentrate. Have you ever noticed that when you skip breakfast that morning seems like an unfocused blur. I sure have! The other great health benefit to a high protein breakfast is it will boost your metabolism for the rest of the day. Helllllllooooo anything that will boost my metabolism is a winner to me! ALSO when you eat breakfast it lowers your risk of over eating the rest of the day and stabilizes your insulin levels so the chance of diabetes is cut in half. 

Now that we are all on board to dive into some tasty breakfast treats lets talk about what you want to eat. Protein, protein, protein!!!!! Every living cell in your body needs protein to rebuild and when we eat protein it release a small dosage of insulin which is just enough to add in fat burning through out the day PLUS you will feel fuller through out the day. Winning! 

So I plan on posting a whole section of recipes once I figure this whole blog thingy out but for now some great options are egg beaters, turkey bacon, turkey sausage, protein smoothie, Greek yogurt, and if your on the go grab a Quest Bar. I usually will eat 1 whole egg 1/2 cup of egg beaters and 1/2 cup of ROLLED oats with a table spoon of all natural almond or peanut butter to get some good fats in. I am always stuffed after breakfast which causes me to eat less through out the day. Lesson has been learned. 

Ok I think thats probably more info than you ever desired on the importance of breakfast but now you know! Had great day today and I hope you did too!

Love always, 
Keli K. 

"Do something today that your future self can thank you for."

The Greatest Question ever.

Today was the day! I got started on my future, and one part of my future that some of you know others may not is that I have been debating returning back to Texas Tech this fall. I have made pros/cons lists, called on the advice of my family and most importantly prayed about it. At the end of the day coming home or staying there seemed pretty level but then I had to reflect on the greatest question ever.... In light of my past experiences, my current circumstances, and my future hopes and dreams what would be the wise decision to make? While Lubbock is an amazing place to attend college, my future is here in Dallas. I have my pageant support system, my church, my family, my gym, and just a better all around since of who I am. When I am out there I just can't seem to find myself. If we are going to pursue a relationship with the Lord, the idea of becoming Miss America, and ultimately becoming the best Keli I can be then Dallas it is!

Ok so there's that, I went on a walk/jog with my gay BFF (every girl needs one) and it was like being a therapy we have the BEST time together. Diet went well today, I can  honestly say I feel so much better already without all that nasty food in my system. Food matters people! I have more energy and just feel better about myself kicking those fatty foods back out! Well I will keep you posted on any new findings in my life!
Love always,
Keli K.

Prov. 31:1

And tomorrow we begin

So here I am stepping into the world of "blog" whatever that means! I wanted to start a public diary where I can share fitness tips, fashion, recipes, and chat about what is going on in my life of pageantry! Let me share who I am I compete in pageants but long before that I was the overweight girl who had no self esteem. I have now fully embraced a healthy lifestyle, lost 90 pounds and am getting a degree in Exercise and Sports Science. Last week was Miss Texas and after a full 7 days of completely disregarding my diet and exercise I have decided that I want to be Miss America. So lets make it happen! Here is where I want to chart this journey, the next 51 weeks to Miss Texas. I also want to use this to encourage others and help people stay motivated about following their dreams and getting fit! Since I am starting tomorrow though.... I should probably go finish that brownie!
Love always,
Keli K.
Jer. 29:11