Back on track- with The Diem App

"Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference."

- Winston Churchill

PC: Rich Faiva

By now, you know how much health and fitness is a part of my life. However, that doesn't mean that I don't have times where I slack. This past month I have been feeling pretty sluggish, low energy and unmotivated. I do not know why, maybe because I have a newborn and I'm getting very little sleep!? Haha, either way I needed a change!

This is where the The Diem App came to a rescue. It is a health and wellness app that provides individual practices to achieve your goals! How awesome is that? I have never been one to count my calories or anything similar, but it has been fun tracking my water intake, sleep, exercise and so on. 

I love that it comes with daily guidance for specific health problems such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, pregnancy, multiple Sclerosis etc. According to your health goal, the Diem App will help you develop healthy habits, all while becoming a healthier you. 

I encourage you to download the app, you are given a 15-day free trial!. If you decide to continue with the app past those days, you will be entered in a contest! For the months of May-June, the company will donate 10% all subscription revenue the apps generates to whatever charity the winner chooses! How great is that? 

Wishing you all an amazing Monday!!
xo

Follow your dreams

"Without a goal there can be no real success"

- Thomas S. Monson

I am humbled to say that we just finished our third round of my 21-day fitness challenge. I've had this dream and vision for a long time! I honestly start tearing up every time I think about how many people support me and are doing this challenge with me. YOU GUYS ROCK!!! I have gotten a lot of questions about "nutrition" and "if we will be adding it to the challenge". This has been something that we have been working on and I am so excited to tell you that starting April 3rd we will!!!

Allysa and I met in college where we both ran track and field for BYU. Our lockers were next to each other, basically we were destined to be best friends. She is a person who would become best friends with the 80 year old down the street, or the 5 year old boy she just met. When she told me she was going into food science, I knew we'd be friends forever. Knowing her passion for food, I knew it'd be perfect for her! I have been on her meal plan for over a month now, and it has been amazing!! I have loved making new meals, and eat HEALTHY meals! Just to clarify, it is not a diet, just amazing healthy meals.You guys, she knows what she's doing and I am so jealous of her husband who gets to eat her meals everyday. 

"I am obsessed with food, fitness, and travel. My husband, family, and friends mean the world to me and one of the best ways I know to show them how much I love them is to share my food and recipes with them.

I graduated from Brigham Young University (BYU) with a BS degree in Food Science and then went on to get my Master's degree at Oregon State University (OSU). During my years at BYU I was on the track team specializing in the 400 meter hurdles and the 800 meters. It was during these years at BYU that my interest in both food and fitness grew into more of a passion. By the time I finished grad school at OSU, I was totally in love with food and all aspects of it.

I believe that food is the best way to bond with people, experience a new culture or country, and the best way to spend time. However, loving food while also loving fitness has posed a bit of a problem as I don't ever want to sacrifice flavor for health. So I started coming up with recipes that are both healthy and pretty tasty too! This way my husband and I are able to enjoy food in our every day lives (and also splurging on burgers, pizza, and ice cream occasionally)!

Food, as everything in life, is all about balance. Food is life and life is food. I believe that we really need to have a healthy relationship with food. I really hope that these meals help your family like they've helped us. For me a proper balance of nutrition and health makes me feel great physically, mentally, and emotionally. I hope that these meals help you feel that eating healthy can still be delicious and fun!"   

YOU, yes we are talking to you! For this coming challenge, we have added delicious dinner meal plans! There will be 4 meals, grocery list and then dinner options! These meals are family friendly, and easy to substitute food items if you so wish.

Join us on our fourth 21-day challenge, we start April 3rd! The beauty of these workouts is that you can do them at home. Anybody can take 20-30 min and dedicate that to your workout, no excuses!!!! No equipment needed, although weights are optional and I do recommend having a pair of dumbbells. 21 days may seem like a lot, but I promise you that if we can do it...so can YOU!!! To sign up, leave your email in the comments! 

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Plan A) Fitness only is $10 

Plan B) Fitness + dinner meals is $21! 

Last months participants! I'm going to let the before and afters speaks for themselves :)

Thank you all for your support, it means the world to us!

Leave your email bellow and lets get fit and healthy together!!

xo

Fitness with fatty - post partum journey 2

"Stick to a task 'til it sticks to you, for beginners are many but finishers are few." 

- Thomas S. Monson 

This is one of my top 5 favorite quotes! It applies into so many different elements in life.

My favorite thing about the 21-day challenge is the amazing support from all the participants. I create a private group on Facebook, where I post my videos each day. It is a place to complain about your soreness, to post your victories or to simply say that you did the workout! It can give you a sense of community atmosphere and that you're not alone. 

Do you feel stuck in your fitness routine? Do you fall in this category of being busy, not knowing what to do at the gym or just don't know where to start? Well then I promise this is the perfect thing for you! My 21-day challenge is designed to take about 20-30 min depending on how fast you complete the exercises.  My main goal is by the end of this challenge, for you to adopt a habit for exercising. I want you to look in the mirror and love what you see. I want you to be proud of yourself and for all the hard work you've put in.

Here are some before/afters from some of my participants!

"My 21-day fitness challenge is up today, but my personal fitness challenge is still in full force! I still have a lot of work to do, but I'm happy with how far I've come too! Fatima Dedrickson is doing another 21 day fitness challenge starting February 27th! I highly recommend it! It was convenient, fun, and encouraging! Thanks, Fatty! Looking forward to the next one! 💪🏼#fitnesswithfatty "

"The first is before the January challenge and then before and after this one. The progress is happening slowly, but it's for sure happening!5 months pp and slowly, but surely getting my body back 🙌🏾"

"These challenges were just what I needed to keep me accountable. Fatima's circuits KICK. MY. BUTT. I'm drenching with sweat at the end of each daily workout. Workouts can be done at home so there is NO EXCUSE to not get it done. The workouts last anywhere between 20-30 minutes depending on your fitness level. Every day before doing my workout I had my end goal in mind which is always to beat my "before" photo. No matter what time of day it was I ALWAYS completed the daily workout.

If I can do this SO CAN YOU! It's never too late to live a healthier lifestyle."

Read more about her story h e r e

"So because I am pregnant I wasn't expecting to lose any weight or even get smaller. It may be hard to tell in the picture, but I think these work outs were just what I needed to tighten up a little! I can only imagine that these will be exactly what I need after I get the baby out!! Thank you Fatima! "

"I wasn't convinced I'd see a difference and I'm most happy about my mental improvements (I proved I can take time everyday to work out!!) Now I feel better and can do push-ups on my toes! But I was way pleasantly surprised when I compared my before and after!! "

I am 10 weeks PP and I couldn't be more proud! There's still lots to go, but I sure am glad I decided to do this together with a bunch of amazing people!

My next challenge starts February 27th! Do you want to be apart of an amazing support system, or find a love for working out? No equipment is mandatory, but you can use dumbbells for more resistance! 

This is not a personal training program or another program thats out there. This is me, sharing my love for fitness with others.

Leave your email in the comments and lets get fit together!

xo

The struggle is real!

We are PREGNANT!!!!

PC: Cecilia Harvard

We are so excited and let's be real a little terrified haha! I've always said, I want all our kids to be fairly close in age. Ready or not, here we come!! This pregnancy has gone by so fast, can you believe I'm 18 weeks already?? How did that even happen!?
I have been feeling great, at the end of the day I'm always exhausted and staying passed 9PM is a struggle, but other than that this pregnancy has been kind to me so far. That first trimester was brutal, I didn't even know I could be that type of exhausted. My poor husband had to drag me out of bed every morning because I was in denial it was already morning. Chasing after 2 kiddos is hard work, I don't even know how I'm gonna be able to chase after 3 one day.
I have been exercising just like I used to, this baby is a lot lower than my first two were so there are a lot more visits to the bathroom.
Before I got pregnant with Noah, I had just finished my collegiate track and field career and I was in my best shape yet. A month after he was born, I was back on the track trying to get back in shape. I thought to myself "people do this all the time, so I can do it too". It was hard work. The first 2 months, I wanted to quit every single day. Only 10 months after having Noah, there I was on the starting line, representing my swedish club. I was in the best shape I had ever been, better than pre-baby. I ran personal bests in all my events, all of that after having a baby.
Why do people tell you "once you have a baby, your body can't do such and such"? That's false, YOU can do whatever the heck you want, but you have to put the work in.

Success doesn't happen because you never fail. 
Success happens because you never quit.

17 weeks pregnant here

I get comments like "I wish I had your genes". I want people to know how hard I've worked to get back and stay in shape. I made a promise to myself to stay active through my pregnancies, because I knew my postpartum body would thank me later. Not only my postpartum body, but my state of mind as well. Hard things are never easy to do at first, but they get easier with time. It takes a lot of discipline and dedication, and if I can do it so can YOU.

I wish society didn't make women feel guilty because of us wanting to take care of ourselves. That once you have kids, it is all about them. Don't get me wrong, it is pretty much all about them but don't forget about you. It is hard to see your body go through changes and not having any control over them.I've had to once again, prepare myself for these changes. Being mentally healthy is just as important as physical health.
Exercising is a part of my lifestyle, and it doesn't look the same for everyone. If you love to walk, then walk and if you love zumba then do zumba. Find something that you love and stick with it. The truth is, if you compare yourself with others or other peoples physique you will never learn to appreciate your own. You won't be able to appreciate your progress. Whether you are pregnant or not, healthy doesn't mean a salad. Healthy isn't a measure of weight. Being healthy involves your mind, spirit and heart just as much as it involves your body. Each persons version of healthy iix different. Sweets don't make you unhealthy but sadness will. One day at a time my friends!

xo

Pure Barre Grand Opening- East Gilbert

Picking out our weights, I know its only albs...we still wanted to die!

Most of you know how much I love exercising and just being active. I got introduced to 'pure barre' last week and it rocked my world. Literally, I watched a video thinking "oh, that looks easy... I can totally do that". Brittany (a girl I know here in Arizona, she's the sweetest) and I went together with no expectations. I was honestly so nervous, but also super excited to try something new. This was hands down, one of thee hardest yet most effective workout I've ever done. I am SO SORE, I can't even explain what is is. Its a mix of yoga/ballet/core/arms/balance, they're all about little movements. It may sound real easy, but it doesn't matter how fit you are because it will burn either way.

You will work on areas women most struggle with: hips, abs, arms and thighs. 

Barre is the new black, get onboard :)

If you are in Arizona, you are in luck. You can now tone, lift, burn, at the newest location in Dana Park Village Square, 1854 South Val Vista Drive #108, Mesa, AZ 85204. Together with the owner Christine, we are excited for the grand opening on August 31st, schedule your first class here Pure Barre .

Hope to see you guys there, if not, find one in your area. It will totally be worth it, 55 min of awesome exercise. 

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post, however, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Life lately!

I recently realized that I hadn't blogged in a week or so and that I haven't filled you guys in on our lives in Arizona!

First of all, we lucked out big time with our neighborhood. We love it so much, even if we are inside most of the time ;) The thought of us not living in Utah is still weird! Moving was hard, harder than I thought it would be. I was lucky to have my mom here for 3 weeks, which made the transition a whole lot easier. Being a mother of two, has been crazy but also crazy fun! With all the major changes, this was going to be our lives for the next 2 years. I'm so grateful for my Mother and all her help but once she left, I felt lost.

I didn't quite understand how hard it was going to be. How much I was going to miss  Ben and having him around. I knew without doubt that he was going to do well in school, even though the workload was nothing he was used to. All of a sudden our time became really precious to me. Don't get me wrong, it was precious before as well, but now it was different. 

I'm sure that these feelings are similar to those with spouses that are gone a lot and you can relate. I'm beyond proud and grateful for how he has handled it all. We were told that the first 8 weeks were going to be the hardest, and I'm so glad that no matter what he has put us first. 

I get asked if being a mother of two is hard? I honestly think that having one was harder, what's hard for me is living in this heat. Not being able to go out whenever we want because my toddler has some crazy energy has been hard. This is the transition that has been the hardest for me, I've had to truly dig deep, say lots and lots of prayers and be oh so patient. Luckily, I've made some really good friends that have kids Noah's age. He gets to interact and play with other kids while I get some adult interaction, and it makes the time fly by. As bad as it sound, I've had days were we've just watched shows/movies all day until daddy comes home. I'm not perfect, and still trying to figure out this parenthood! Movies are like a drug, keeps Noah nice and calm and I get to relax a little haha.

On another note, I've got some exciting news that I have been working on concerning fitness. I'm super excited about it, and hoping that things will work out. I will announce it in a little bit! In the meantime here's my "dirty 50" I did this morning :)

50 crunches

45 Jumping jacks (fast)

40 forward lunges

200m run

35 leg tuck- abs

30 squats

25 walk with stroller

100m run

20 bench push ups

15 deep squats (ace down)

10 single leg squat

5 push ups with clap

100m sprint!

xo