I don't have time to workout!!!!!!!

         There are people in this world who live for working out, who get paid for working out, and who have nothing else to do in life but workout. Then there are those who just don't have much in life to do, no job, no kids, and simply have the time to go to the gym and get a workout in. AND LAST there are those who have kids, have a job, have a house to clean, meals to cook, etc. And finding the time to workout can seem impossible.

      Working out and staying fit and healthy has been important to me since I could remember. I didn't have the problem of "finding time to workout" until after I became a mom and a wife. But I decided that making excuses was NOT an option. It was leg day for me one Monday morning and I was at a hotel with my husband 6 hours away from home, we had to leave by noon and be out ALL day for a rodeo then drive six hours to get back home. NO WAY I was going to get a workout in. No gym, no running track, no time. I thought it through before bed and my stubbornness was going to find a way to get my workout in. I'm not a morning person at the least bit but Icardio workout. NO weights I just needed a big enough space to basically jump and squat. But then things happen like a screaming baby waking up and wanting all your attention. I had the choice of stopping or i had the choice to SOMEHOW make it work. So I put the cute little darling of mine on my shoulders while i did squats and she laughed through it all. My husband later woke up and I knew I had to take a shower, feed my family, and get ready for the day. In the shower I knew I wasn't quite done with my workout so between my shampoos and conditioner I got 150 squats in. As my hair was drying I got 50 push ups in and before we left I did 200 abs. Along with getting the family breakfast, getting the kids bathed and dressed, and dolling myself up for the day. I was pretty impressed with all I got done on that busy morning. WHO NEEDS A GYM!!!!!!
set my alarm an hour and a half earlier than I usually wake up, and earlier than i knew the kids and the husband would wake up. I woke up, did a thirty minute self
You would be surprised how much time we really do have.

        So that morning I realized that I could stop making excuses on my busy days and find a way to make it work, and I got to say I'm shocked of how much I can squeeze in to my busy days. You have children so you can't go jog? put them in a stroller. Kids LOVE stroller rides. Make it fun. If they want to stop and play at the park, let them. Stop and pet a cow... let them. Get your kids involved and teach them the impotence of being active and healthy. Learn to love being active and ALWAYS make time. If the shower is the only time you have to workout, do a workout in the shower. If your kids are around, involve them. I found other ways to squeeze a workout in like purchasing a bike and biking to places I need to go. BURN MORE CALORIES PEOPLE!!!!


                                              NO    MORE   EXCUSES !!!!!!

Abs are made in the kitchen

     I often get asked how in the world I have abs after two kids. My usual response would have been " tumbling, running, and working out everyday". And often I get the response back of "I do work out every day and this baby pudge just isn't going away". Or even woman who have never had kids complain about "the pudge". Hardest thing to get rid of ladies!!! I also get "well your young so it just fell off of you" WRONGGGGGG.... here is the the way to a flat stomach.

      I have tried every diet possible to stabilize my blood sugar, and to lose the extra pounds I was dying to lose. The one and only one that worked for me was to eat 6 to 8 meals a day. YES 6 to 8. Sounds like a lot but that's what are bodies like. Our bodies are like fire, you feed a little fuel to the fire continuously it keeps working, you stop feeding it, it stops working, JUST LIKE OUR METABOLISM. In high school I was eating 2 maybe 3 meals a day but they were large meals. I was starving by the time I get to a meal which calls for a bigger meal, and I can't just sit in class or at work and eat my other meals. I get a lunch break then a supper time, and if I was lucky I would grab breakfast. This is a lot of woman's problem, they work and get that 1 lunch break so they get a big meal in to satisfy them tell supper. And that was when I put on 20 pounds. Very frustrating to put on 20 pounds while working out every day. So that being said, ABS ARE MADE IN THE KITCHEN FOLKS...

     When I heard 6 to 8 meals a day my first thought was "awesome, eat a cheese burger and fries every two hours and lose weight"... NO! I count my carbohydrates and calories. Believe it or not I eat less calories and carbs with the 8 meals a day than I did 2 or 3. I make sure to keep it at or below 1200 calories a day and 50 to 200 calories per meal. So if I started at 7:00 a.m. and ended at 7:00 p.m. and make my meals 2 hours apart that is 7 meals a day. And if three of my meals were 100 calories and four of my meals 200 calories than that's 1100 calories. And not to mention I'm always satisfied and never starving because I get to eat every two hours :). When I say 200 calorie meals I don't mean half a snickers, or half a donut, or maybe a small 200 calorie honey bun. Stick with healthy, high protein, low carb foods, but just so I don't leave this important part out, STAY ACTIVE! working out at least 1 hour a day is helpful and what our body needs.

    Some things I make sure to follow through this is 1) this is not a strict diet, its my new life style and the way I live. 2) don't drink your calories, make sure to get all the water your body needs per day. Water, coffee, and crystal light are about the only things I drink. And 3) find the proper foods to cover your meals. Protein is a major element in building lean muscle tissue, and when combined with proper exercise you will get the results you want:). You can find many foods that are high in protein and low in carbs. Get creative with your meals and change your life for the better.

                                                          List of good foods

                                                                   eggs
                                                                   tuna
                                                             protein bar
                                                                  salad
                                                                 veggies
                                                                  fruit
                                                             penut butter
                                                             chicken breast
                                                             ground turkey
                                                                 fish
                                                             almonds
                                                               nuts
                                                           greek yogurt 
                                                             cheese 

Why did I start this blog???

Hello!  I'm Mackenzie McKee. Most of you will probably remember me from MTV's Teen Mom 3. I'm going to explain in a short story a little about myself and why I have started my fitness blog. 

I will never forget the day I asked (more like BEGGED) my mom to PLEASE put me in tumbling. I was only four years old and she wasn't really crazy about the idea. She said "I do not have the money to pay for people to teach you how to roll around. I can teach you that for free!" I walked away and worked for hours on my back handspring on her water bed.. until it broke.... Yesssssss, I BROKE IT. I then moved on to try it on the trampoline until I had it down, then went to the grass and conquered that too. So, at the age of four, I taught myself how to do a back handspring! Everyone pretty well knew at that point that this was my calling in life. From that day until now, I have never stopped (unless I was pregnant but I still did it with moderation).  I LOVE IT!! 

 

HOWEVER, I will also never forget the day not long after that when the doctor freaked out after my mom took me in for a check up. They told her there was sugar in my urine and I needed to give a blood sample ASAP and I did. But they told her that everything was fine...clearly it wasn't. I went on to grade school and was always active and started in first grade all-star cheering. I can't exactly tell you anything I learned in grade school. I was always jealous of the people who could simply listen to the teacher and actually GET what she was saying. I probably made the worst grades out of any grade-schooler around me. My brain just did not function how it was supposed to (due to being an undiagnosed Diabetic) and I hated the fact that all my teachers begged my mom to put me on all this medicine saying I needed it because I was slow. They literally had me convinced I was mentally-challenged even though my Mom knew it had to be something else. It hurt me a lot and I just wanted so bad to be able to understand in school, not feel sick all day, and be able to remember what someone said to me an hour before. I felt there was  simply something wrong with me that no other student had wrong with them. I struggled daily with feeling outcast and alone and incompetent. 

I went on to my sixth grade year and "HELLO HORMONES"! --Gotta love becoming a teenager. I still could not focus in class and often cheated. OK, the only way I made it through the day was by cheating. In the middle of the year, I OFFICIALLY became a teenager. My monthly cycle hit and things only got worse. I was so skinny if I stood sideways and stuck out my tongue, I looked like a zipper. My skin was so white I blended in with paper. I was so thirsty I would literally drink from the  lake. I could eat 6 honey buns at a time. I once sold a picture of my older hot sister to some desperate sixth grade boy JUST to get another honey bun!! (Hope you still have that, Timothy!!)

When my sister Kaylee's 16th birthday rolled around that year, we all went out to eat at AppleBee's. They brought our drinks and I drank my Coke down before anyone had time to blink. I asked for another one and did the same. Again, I asked for another one and had it down before my food came. During the time we ate, I drank 3 more glasses of Coke. After we ate, we went shopping at the mall and I peed 7 to 8 times in the short time we were there. We went home and I immediately drank 3 cups of water then scarfed down a huge chunk of chocolate birthday cake. I noticed everyone staring at me like I was a freak, then my Mom said she was going to grab my Dad's glucometer to check me (he's a Diabetic).  I said, "WHATTTTTT???? NO WAY!!!! You will not come near me with that!". So, she calmly made all her kids line up to check their sugars and they all read perfect...except for mine. It just read HIGH. I thought, "That's not bad is it?"... I mean, what did I know? But then I looked at my Mom's face and thought, "Oh wait... I'm NOT OK!". I ran to the bathroom to scream the anger and confusion out as I was peeing AGAIN! All my siblings came in after I finished to hold me and tried to console me telling me it's nothing bad and I must have just had some chocolate on my finger and I was gonna be OK. My Mom's actions spoke a whole different language. She was pale and I could tell she wanted to cry. She grabbed my hand and took me to the hospital only to find out my blood sugar was 698 and I would have to live the rest of my life taking shots to stay alive. OK....WORST DAY OF MY LIFE, AND WORST BIRTHDAY PRESENT TO MY POOR SISTER. 

I was put on insulin that day and sent to a hospital for days to learn how to eat, how to take my shots, blah blah blah. When I went back to school I figured it would be the same. However, I sat in Math, listened to my teacher, got what she said, and worked out the problem without the struggle and fog in my brain... I WORKED OUT A PROBLEM, EVERYONE. It was the first time I was able to do that EVER. I was in 6th grade. I lost all those grade school years of learning. So there it was, I had to start in the life of learning from there. It was like moving to an all new country and learning a whole new language and way to learn.  I didn't really get to learn how to spell properly or all that simple stuff. I was sick all through grade school and didn't even realize it.

I took care of myself for about 6 months. Then sadly my brother, who had Down's Syndrome, passed away, and I became so depressed things went back down for me physically. I wouldn't take care of myself. I didn't care to live. I was on depression medication...YOU NAME IT. I again struggled in school-- brain fog and no understanding. This lasted until I hit about sixteen when I made a big "no-no" and got pregnant with my son. The doctor told me if I didn't get things under control my baby would die and I could die too. So I grew up quickly and learned how to take care of myself not just for me, but for HIM. I was able to pay attention in class again and began the learning life all over. People often have rude things to say about how dumb they think I am and especially every time I spell a word wrong. They say things like "you really need to go back to grade school" or "how could you be so dumb". It's taking a lot for me to admit this, but I spent weeks hiding as I cried until I literally wanted to kill myself. I wondered "Why did I have to be sick all those years when I needed to learn the simple basic things in life? If you can't spell, why live right? You're just worthless." This went on until I finally opened my eyes and realized I wanted to go somewhere in life no matter obstacle I had to overcome. I realized, "Why would I cry over a stranger, letting them win?". They got just what they wanted out of me and that was to simply hurt my feelings. I don't need to be a spelling-bee champ to go somewhere in life-- although that would be AWESOME. But I am using what I have been gifted with which is being physically talented and I have a good heart. That's what I focus on now. Today writing this blog I can't believe I even cried and wanted to die over something so silly. Now I don't even get half way through a mean comment or tweet until I'm laughing and moving on with my day.

ALL THAT BEING SAID, I have OVERCOME a lot with my disease. I am happy about the strong woman I am today because of my life's obstacles and now I am HERE TO HELP YOU!!!!!!

I am excited to start this blog and help everyone--diabetics and non diabetics, moms and non-moms, old and young-- to eat right, live right, and workout until you OVERCOME as well !!  I will be making lots of workout videos and nutrition videos. And will be sure to keep everyone updated with all my great plans for my fitness future with YOU!! 

<3 Mackenzie #spellcheckme