Check out this blog by a client of Integrity Training Systems, Vanessa Coe!  Show her your support and follow her journey!

Fit Girl vs. Fat Girl: The Journey to Reach My Fitness Goals

http://www.onefitdoc.blogspot.com/

Food is Fuel: Diana Pitts

A Weight Loss Journey Guide

So, here it is, August already. What have I been up to all summer?  I have been gearing up for the IFPA Pro Galaxy Elite on August 17th in Troy, Alabama. I selected this show in hopes to qualify for the Yorton again this year. Along with an intense training program with Debbie Portell's Integrity Training Systems & competition diet plan with Roger Schemp out of Powerhouse Gym in St. Louis, I have been working part time as a registered nurse at Barnes Hospital in St. Louis and part time as a personal trainer at Complete Fitness in Lake St Louis, Mo.  I've had the privilege of representing one of my sponsors, www.themusclesource.com, at a couple of shows in the midwest this year. It truly has been an honor to hand out trophies to so many well deserving athletes.

At times as a single parent, I have found it to be challenging to find time to meal prep, train, take care of my boys and keep the house clean. I'd have to say it's a delicate balance. I'm always finding creative ways to multitask and prioritize.  I certainly am excited to step on stage again. I also have a few photo shoots lined up this fall. 

Competing and fitness modeling at age 39, mother of two, just goes to show anything can be done if you put your mind to it. For so many, the mind limits the body. Don't let fear get in the way of your dreams. 

Diana Pitts, RN BSN
IFPA figure professional athlete
ACSM certified personal trainer

"Force fear and frustration out of your mind.....favor fortitude."

What Are the Effects of Too Little Serotonin?

Our show's topic today will be concerning Serotonin, refer to this link if you missed something!

"What are the Effects of too little Serotonin?"


http://www.livestrong.com/article/292417-what-are-the-effects-of-too-little-serotonin/?fb_action_ids=598952256803013&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%7B%22598952256803013%22%3A10150256755325617%7D&action_type_map=%7B%22598952256803013%22%3A%22og.likes%22%7D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D

Low serotonin levels symptoms

On our show today, we will be talking about "Low Serotonin Levels Symptoms", refer back to this link if you miss something!

http://www.livestrong.com/article/245341-low-serotonin-levels-symptoms/?fb_action_ids=598787806819458&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%7B%22598787806819458%22%3A445992968378%7D&action_type_map=%7B%22598787806819458%22%3A%22og.likes%22%7D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D

Your Gut Bacteria Affects Your Brain Function, Study Confirms - an article by Dr. Mercola

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/06/20/gut-brain-connection.aspx

This article will be referenced Sunday, June 30, 2013 on "Healthy Living with Integrity Fitness" heard on FM News Talk 97.1

How Turning the Food Pyramid on Its Head Can Help You “Slim Down Without Trying”

This is a fantastic read and I will be referring to it on my show today!

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/06/22/food-pyramid-guide.aspx

Adrienne Hood

A Weight Loss Journey Guide This Week...

So let’s fast forward to the beginning of Fall. I’d worked hard ALL Summer during my husband’s deployment and it was finally coming to a close. He was coming HOME!! I’d gone from my heaviest weight, 180 pounds in a size 16, before working with Debbie to almost 120 pounds in a size 4. I couldn’t believe it!! It’s hard to describe that feeling of FINALLY conquering something that’d weighed on me, no pun intended, almost my entire life.  Anyone who is or has been overweight, you know what I’m talking about. The burning desire to lose the weight that’s coupled with a crippling inability to accomplish it. It’s a maddening circle of failure. It crushes your hopes until that fire in you dies down to almost nothing until you get fed up and repeat the cycle. Well, no more! I did it. I finally did it! I was free and happy and healthy! It made me think of all those times I’d watched a weight loss show or commercial on TV and tried to imagine that elated feeling those success stories must be feeling. How much I wanted to grab onto that, to have that for myself.  Well, it was mine.

Over the Summer, I think the biggest realization I had to make was that excuses are just that, excuses. I always had an excuse for why I ate this or that like being stressed or bored, or that I was simply a victim of my circumstances like the influences that were around me. So the family wants to go to the Chinese buffet? Well, I shouldn’t but they want me to. Who am I to say no? Forget the fact that I could at least make some healthy choices at the buffet. That’s not what everyone else was doing. This was an extremely hard habit to break. Our family loved to gather around food as I know lots of families do.  You don’t have to eat what everyone else does. You DON’T.  Stop it!

People gather around food to socialize and talk. While food is the excuse, the focus is not for people to monitor what you eat during those gatherings so make HEALTHY choices, not excuses. No one will notice. However, you will when you get on that scale. When you look in the mirror. When you feel that huge wave of guilt rushing over you because you failed AGAIN. Why is it so hard? Because you let other people’s priorities become your own. You can undo this! It’s a difficult mental roadblock that is engrained in a lot of us but you can break through. How do you do that? By having someone in your corner.

Debbie was that person. Because of my healthy lifestyle, that circle of people in my corner has grown over the years but it all started with just ONE person. Debbie Portell. Find your person. Find a trainer. You will NOT regret it. Stop that maddening cycle of failure once and for all. You don’t have to do it all by yourself. You don’t have to try to be strong all the time, all by yourself because, let’s face it, you can’t. You’ve proven that to yourself time and time again. You simply don’t yet possess the tools to empower yourself so, please, let someone help you! This is not some ridiculous, quick-fix diet pill commercial on TV. None of that works. None of it. All those lies just help feed the cycle that I know you want to finally break out of. This is how you change your life. You get someone in your corner. Someone with knowledge, experience, and the fire to drive you to succeed. YOU can be that success story! It’s not some faraway dream that only exists on TV! Plus, I’d be willing to guess that almost all those success stories had trainers. So join the club! I would’ve never made it without Debbie and that’s the truth!

I don’t know if I can really put into words that feeling of not only seeing my husband after being gone for months of deployment but with the added joy of knowing that he is FINALLY seeing me like I should’ve always been. He’d never seen me like this. Ever. It makes me want to cry. Not just because of all the time I wasted being unhappy with myself, but also because I was so proud and happy to finally be where I always wanted to be. In my husband’s arms, I was finally the way I’ve always seen myself but never been able to realize on my own.  

So, like I said in an earlier blog, some people need that big life changing moment to realize that it’s time to make a change. My husband’s deployment was mine. Don’t wait and wait and wait around for yours. Stop wasting your life! Make that change NOW!