I found this video from a new friend’s blog. I love that our blog world is so connected that we can make friends that we’ve never met in person!  It’s the coolest thing!!!

This video is awesome! I am in a unique position (and many of you are also pregnant with your first child) of being able to learn from these other smart mothers in this video. They are sharing their lessons and it’s invaluable. It made me teary……hormones? becoming a mother? the song? Who knows!  I downloaded the song though. I love it now. How true!

My favorites from the video… [I had a hard time narrowing the list down!!!]

• You are beautiful.
• It’s ok to be scared.
• She will have your eyes. [get the tissues!!!]
• Forgive yourself.
• Nobody really knows what they’re doing.
• Google doesn’t have children. [teehee]
• Take time to fit back in those jeans. [yes ma'am!]

What were your favorites? Did you buy the song, too?

What would you tell yourself right before you had your first child?

What would you tell yourself last year? before you got married? before you went off to college?

This was inspired by a reader email this week. [You know who you are!] She was asking if she should lift more than a certain amount due to her size and my answer was a resounding…YES YES YES!  Start lifting more TODAY! Hurry up! Get to lifting!  Get strong! Add muscle! Lose fat! RESHAPE your body! Feel strong! Feel awesome!  Be fit! Be tough! Be lean!

So, since this has been a tough week and I’m wiped out and still need to bake for the wake/memorial service and clean up, do laundry, etc tonight…

I thought I’d leave you with this inspirational pic and quote. I love it. I believe it. I am it!

I started lifting after my wedding. I was gaining weight and couldn’t get it under control. I hired a trainer. She taught me how to lift. I FELL IN LOVE! I loved the way it felt to lift. I loved the way I felt lean. My body was reshaped. For the first time in my life, the tire around my waist was gone! Bye bye baggy shirts!

I was changed forever.  I still feel strong. I can lift things. I don’t need to rely on my hubby for everything. I can move the furniture when he’s deployed and rearrange the house [this is pre-preggo, for the most part!]  I have strengthened my core so I don’t have back pain [except when I hurt myself...which does happen.]

[photo source] And, I want to know…..

TEST

When did you start lifting weights vs just doing cardio?

What happened to your body?  Share your story and inspire others!!!!

My belly profile 2010 to now! Many changes! All fun and all great! I’m enjoying them!

I am now struggling more than I did yesterday with my post…after posting it.  I got 99% positive responses but one that shook me a bit. I did not mean to hurt anyone. I thought a lot about my post last night. I think you all got my intent, but I also think that I should have said more….like what I’m loving about pregnancy and maybe explained myself more.

I feel like yesterday’s post was supposed to be a “coming out” for me to say once that I am struggling mentally some days with not LOVING every aspect of pregnancy and that I hate the question about whether I feel better than ever before because the truth is, I do not. I have felt better. I still feel guilty for saying that. This is hard on my body, my emotions, my brain.  I do not complain to my friends. I do not complain on Facebook. I do not even think “complaint” thoughts. But when I sit back and reflect about why the questions about how I feel bug me, I realize it’s because I don’t feel the way I thought I would and I do feel like I don’t necessarily LOVE how I feel right now but I cannot do anything to change it (like go to the gym to get rid of my belly!)

We have a LOT going on that I have not shared with you.  Yesterday a friend died. He left his wife and infant son. He died of cancer. He was too young. So, I think I’m more emotional than normal still trying to process that.  You can read their story here. We are facing a deployment and though I do not share details of when my hubby is gone [for my safety and his], I know that we are concerned about him being here for the birth of our first child.  There are other things going on with our Military Family and in our military life that are tough that I cannot share here for privacy reasons. I wish I could. But I say that to explain that I’m sure all of that coupled with my hormones is making me more emotional than the usual me.

So, since I’ve shared that, I’ll share this other fear to add to yesterday’s post.  I am scared that all the stress I’m under is hurting my child, even though I think I manage it well!  Yet on the flipside I know that these events were all placed in my life, including my pregnancy, in this order, at this time for a reason. Everyone has stress. Life has stresses. There are normal and abnormal or extreme stresses. But, we cannot be clear which stresses are affecting our child and which are not.

Another crazy thing I did not mention yesterday is having to say “no” to others to take care of myself. That is hard for me! I am usually the kind of person who will take on too much and sacrifice myself [and my sanity] for others. I’m having to say “no” and admit I am more fragile and admit that I have to take care of another being and cannot be selfish. My body is not my own to run ragged anymore. That is hard. BUT AGAIN, that is a lesson I need to learn…NOW! As I said yesterday in my moral of the story…..the moral is that this is a journey to get to motherhood and all these aches and pains are to get me to motherhood and grow me into the best mother I can be!!

There are many things I love about pregnancy, along with those fears, the vulnerability, the hormones, the not feeling like “me”, the worry and the asking for help.

What I love about pregnancy! I am loving my new body. Some women struggle with body image during pregnancy, but not me [so far]. I’m loving it! I’m loving that this is what my body was meant to do and this is what my body is doing!  For the first time ever, I’m not as shy being naked…even though my body is changing. Even when I was in my best shape I felt like that body was MY doing….like it was because of my efforts at the gym or in the kitchen. But now, this is all HIS doing. This is all what the body was meant for. Sure I can work out and eat right and not gain 100 pounds but the changes that are happening are completely out of my control. My body is not my own right now and I am not stressing over it…yet. [Ask me how I feel with a squishy belly in July, but now I'm enjoying this process as my body changes!]  I still could live without the teenage acne. Not sure why, but the acne has always made me insecure. It did at 15 and it does now. Thank God for concealer!

Were you offended by my post yesterday?

What did you LOVE or do you think you will LOVE about pregnancy the most?!

How was your body image during pregnancy? Did you struggle? It’s OK if you did! Share for others to learn!

Change….get it? And one of my questions is about money.  Oh the pun…what fun!

I need your help!  I have some questions below I need your help with! As you can tell, a few things are different on the blog recently…..[Forgive my ADD in this post...I've added some pics and comments in the middle of my post!!]

• I added the STORE tab at the top and it’s empty…but not for long!
• I moved the “subscribe by email” button to the top menu by the RSS subscription to put the two together. I thought it made more sense.
• I also moved the “search” option to the sidebar at the right.

• I added a few new headers. I had 3 and I added 2 more so watch the flash slideshow and you’ll see some new pics! I’ll keep updating them as time goes on!
• I added the drawers in green on the left side of the best FIT posts and best LIFE posts.

Change is good!  Change is inevitable!  I’m working hard on getting my STORE open and I’m ready to start pushing further toward my goal of taking clients!

I am finishing up two more nutrition certifications in the coming weeks! And, I’ll be adding info in the store or on another page with all of my qualifications and more info on WHY online training is awesome and WHAT my philosophy is for training clients as well as why mine is different than others! I’m soooo excited about changing lives!!!

What do I need your help with???!!! MY FORUM!!! I am starting a private message board…very soon.  I have been getting TONS of questions and having interactions with many of you and am thinking that a message board would be a great place to have some of these discussions and answer all of your questions. Eventually, when I take clients, this message board is a great place for them to go to start with some of their questions and get an immediate support group of others who are working hard and encouraging each other!

I KNOW this stuff [fitness, nutrition, etc]. This is my passion. If I don’t know the answer I have THOUSANDS (literally…not figuratively) of dollars of materials and resources to  look up the answers.  I know there are tons of questions that you have that others have as well.  You can share your before and afters. You can share your struggles and your triumphs. If you’re hitting a plateau you have someone to ask. You can also look through the other questions and find answers to questions you didn’t know you had!

playing with some new actions and my new lens today…..showing you some of the fun pics.

What do you think? Should I get that tattooed on my forehead?! You like?! j/k!!

With the forum, I can offer my “services” and “time” for less than the monthly fee that clients will pay. Now, obviously, clients will get more since they’ll be working one-on-one with me to develop a diet plan, but I know that many of you can see the last 5-10 pounds or the first 20 pounds drop off by joining the forum and asking the questions that have you stumped when you go to grab lunch or a snack or make dinner every night!!!

I don’t want to sell a mass-produced diet plan for x dollars. I don’t believe in that. It doesn’t work long term. I could sell them but I don’t want to just sell a product to make money. If I sell a product it’s because I know it will work and will change lives.  I can make money at my day job but this is my passion.  And, I want to change lives and help people, not just sell a product. So, I won’t just sell something to sell it. If it’s in my STORE, I know it will work and I’ve thought long and hard about it.

I swear I popped out overnight….I actually felt my abs being extra tight yesterday and woke up at 2am with my abs hurting & tight. I think they were stretching! I really think I grew last night! This is about 18.5 weeks!! I always feel like my eyes look crazy in these self portrait belly pics…so the pic above shows you what my real eyes look like, close up! Oh, and I know….these pants are tooo baggy! Look at the “saggy” butt I have going on! [To do: buy new pants.]

I asked the question last month on my FITori Facebook Page about how much you all were willing to pay for a monthly fee for an online trainer and I got lower answers than I thought! But, when I asked a few weeks later how much you all would pay for an online, members-only forum, you all said much higher than I thought!  So, how much?! I am asking you, my friends, to tell me what a fair range is for this message board for a monthly fee? What do you think?! Don’t copy others’ answers….really, tell me what you think! Message me privately if you don’t want to put it in the comments!  I just need the help!!

Also, I’m adding categories for topics. What kinds of things would you want to discuss?

• Introductions (meet and greet area)
• Prenatal & Postnatal Fitness & Nutrition
• Getting Lean
• Maintaining Weight Loss
• Eating “issues” or disorders (What would make you feel most comfortable about this area of conversation? What can I call this area that would be less scary to enter?  I have talked many times about eating disorders, overeating, anorexia and I’m not using this area to solve or cure any problems, but just to speak frankly about our issues)
• Body Image (or should it just be called Body Image?)
• Recipes (do you want a recipe section to share recipes?)

What other topics am I missing? What kinds of things would you like to talk about? Do you want a separate area just for personal stories or something?  If you’re not interested in the forum for you, can you give me suggestions of what you think people might like?

I’m asking for your input! I can’t wait to read it! I value your opinions!

I’d love your insight and I can’t wait for the next chapter of FITori!!!

I hope my daughter [preggo w/ our first due in June/July 2011] is like this one day….

The curly hair. The spunky attitude. Her confidence. The POSITIVE attitude. Wowsa! Love her!

Michele @ Healthy Cultivations posted this video! What a great one to post! I had to steal her idea and post it for you all!

I think I’ll post my first Project 52 post on Monday? And, I have a great post coming on MONEY and WEIGHT and how they correlate!

Also working on some exciting new things for the FITori STORE! Can’t wait to unveil!

What do friends have to do with feet? Well, I had to thank a good friend of mine for loaning me the shoes off her feet over the weekend.  We went for mani-pedi’s and I forgot my flips!!! I had to go run errands afterward and she was headed home. She took my disposable flips from the salon and gave me the shoes off her feet! That’s a true friend!!!

Well, that was my first pedi since my ankle injury and I thought I’d do a quick update. You can kind of tell that my right ankle is bigger than my left….still! I’m still swollen, a bit. I’m going through painful physical therapy 2-3 times a week.  I’m still trying to stretch it out. It’s really tight. It aches for 2 days after each PT appointment. I still can’t put my heel flat on the floor. I have a ways to go BUT I’m functional, for the most part. I haven’t ventured to take a long road trip for work yet….I’m a little nervous to drive 5 hours away and find out that it’ll be a struggle to get back home  I still can’t run without limping, but it could be worse!

I took this funny pic and thought I’d share. When you walk through my house, you pick up dog hairs…even on your toes evidently!

My good friend [who gave me her shoes] is about to POP and have a baby soon!! So, when she suggested getting mani’s too…how could I turn her down?! But, I have to say, I’m so disappointed!! I got my manicure and less than 24 hours later, they were chipping. Ugh. No more french mani’s. If I do this again, I’ll just get clear!  I don’t do mani’s but once every few years, always for some kind of occasion [I just can't see spending the money].

YUCK!  The day after my manicure and I have to repaint my nails.

WARNING:  BTW, a warning for iPhone users…be careful when trying to type “pedis”…my iPhone changed the D to an N!!!  That can be confusing to a friend….”I’m definitely down for pe_is tomorrow”  ”Pe_is sound great!”  Oops!! Thanks iPhone for another laugh at my expense!

ALSO, I’M WORKING ON A FUN WAY TO TELL YOU ALL THE GENDER OF THE BABY!!! [found out today]

ANY CREATIVE SUGGESTIONS?

Any good “friend” stories, pedi/mani stories, or iPhone blooper stories?!

I know there are some good iPhone texting blooper stories out there!

So, what do you think? I went from platinum blonde and tan at my competition in May [see: header] to pale for fall/winter and BROWN hair!  I thought it was too ashy but it really looks great in the sunlight. Don’t you wish we could have great lighting everywhere we go??!!

I also added a new watermark to my pictures.

What do you think? Do you like the cursive one or the old one?

My concerns w/ the new one….

• should it be bolder?
• should the apple be at the end again so that if someone steals a pic and it ends up somewhere else on the web, people can find me?
• I love it as is but I’m wondering if people who don’t “know” my blog will be able to “read” what it means

And yes, I’m gutsy – that’s me w/ no makeup on!  JUST ME!

As always, I LOVE YOUR OPINIONS!!!

I am sorry I have been an absent blogger the last few days…I’ve been enjoying my life!

I took this photo while I was outside the other day taking photos.  I was admiring my curves and my booty!  I was noticing how my weight gain since the competition had been different than before and was admiring my lower half!

I am so grateful for this time of my life. I’ve been saying that for years and hopefully I will say that every day for the rest of my life.  I feel like I have the best part of my life still ahead.

I was not feeling so grateful during my competition prep because I just wanted to be propelled to after the comp and be done. I hated the body obsession that came with that time.

Now, it’s a different time and I’ve gained some weight. My ankle is hurt and I’m not as active as I would like to be.  I “rebounded” a bit after my competition and gained 5 pounds pretty steadily.

This is a time in my life where I am viewing my body for what it was intended rather than simply for what it looks like. Our body image (as women) is so complex.  This time is forcing me to love my body, even with an extra 10 pounds that I’d like gone!  I feel best lighter. My clothes [the TONS of clothes I've already purchased that I LOVE] don’t fit as well now.  But, I’m not lighter now. And, that’s ok!

I am aware that to be that lean is not the best idea for my body in this time of my life.  I am accepting that there is nothing wrong with me. This is me now. I will not look in the mirror and wish I was smaller. I will not wish I looked like someone else. I will not wish to be in a different time in my life, like back at contest prep time. Sure, I looked great, but I got there the wrong way and I didn’t feel my best. I feel pretty darn good right now.

I will lose the weight…hopefully after our first child.  Until then, I am a healthy 10 pounds heavier and hopefully fertile.  This time is good for me, mentally and I am thankful that God has a plan for my life.

Bottom line. Don’t wish to be somewhere or someone else. If you’re ready to make a change, make it. But do not wish to be someone else.  BE WHO YOU ADMIRE.  Act every day like a person that you would admire.  You will feel good about yourself every night when you lay your head on the pillow knowing you made good choices that day.  You will build self-confidence.

Tell me about a time when you felt good about yourself despite being in the “perfect” body

OR

Tell me about a time you struggled to obtain that “perfect” body and realized it’s not all it’s cracked up to be!

Please give me 1 minute and 22 seconds of your time and I promise you will…

• smile
• feel better about yourself
• laugh at yourself for being so silly to ever hate your body for a second!!!

click on me for my source.

……….

I think the video says it all.

I mean really, what is “beauty”?  Aren’t we all beautiful?

Isn’t individuality more beautiful than all looking the same type of beautiful?

If you like this you REALLY need to check out the documentary America the Beautiful.

It’s available for instant streaming on Neflix.  Check it out!

……….

self portrait of FITori - wrong lens actually made a pretty cool pic!

As many of you know, I am redesigning FIToriBLOG again. You’ll see the new design soon!  It’s a really tough process to try to find a logo and design that captures I am and what I see for my brand, which essentially is me and what I want for myself and all of you. I want it to be feminine yet strong. It’s a tough process! I think we’re there.

I have included a sneak peak…

Don’t be surprised if one day soon the new blog looks something like this pic above!  I can’t wait!

I’ve been working on my About Me info for my new blog layout and remembered advice from that author of the book Operation Beautiful.  Her advice is shown below….

And, along with that, while working on my About Me info, I got this comment on a recent post.

Check out the grocery goddess jen!  Thanks for your comment, girlie!  It made me think…..

What do people want to know? How do I shorten who I am in such a small area, in a quick and easy to read section?  What will make them “like” me and keep coming back? In just a few words (I am long-winded) how do I share who I am, what I believe and why I am blogging.

………………………….

HELP!! What part of my “story” resonates with you and with new readers?

………………………….

Is it enough to tell you that TORI IS A….

wife  |  mother (to our dog)  |  daughter  |  sister  |  friend  |  full-time employee  |  Master’s Student (grad in Nov 2010)

FITNESS & NUTRITION student and enthusiast!!

Is it enough to ask you to join me as I….

take steps toward being healthier and happier  |  learn more about fitness and nutrition  |  start my business  | grow my blog and brand

Is it my FIGURE LESSONS post that helps you see who I am?  Is it my journey of how I got here that you need to know?

………………………….

The last thing I want is for someone to open my blog and see my competition picture and think…

“she’s not like me” | “she must not have to struggle with her weight” | “this must be easy for her” |

That’s now what I want AT ALL!!! I struggle daily.  I will always have to work at being healthy and to maintain my weight. But, this is my passion and I want to share what I’ve spent years researching! I want every woman to have the tools to be happy with her body and her health!

I want to inspire you to take control of the things in your life you want to change and…change them!

I want to empower you with the knowledge you need to be successful at achieving your goals!

I want you to feel confident in your body, that it will stand the test of time and will give you the physical strength to live the life you imagined!

I want you to feel the freedom to get dressed without tears and anger and go out into the world happy with your body, whether regardless of what the scale says.

I want you to be proud of yourself and how hard you work every day and go easy on yourself when you slip up. We are human.  We are not perfect.

I want you to stop comparing yourself to other women and compare yourself to you.

I want you to BE THE WOMAN (OR MAN) YOU ADMIRE!!!

………………………….

Email me  |  Contact page me  |  Comment on my FITori Facebook page |  Comment here

What About Me is most important to share?   (thank you.)

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