Not that we don’t see each other when we are home. We probably see more of each other than most couples. We work together, so we have very little separation through the week. I think that actually causes us to talk and enjoy each others company far less than it would if we worked separate. By the time we get home at night we are bother ready to eat, shower, and relax. My idea of relaxing is reading or watching tv before going to bed at 9:30pm. Truman’s idea of relaxing is playing video games with his pals online and going to bed at 1-2am. Soooo, you can see how we don’t really spend too much time chatting about life, our future, or anything really!

On our drive home I was thinking a lot about de-cluttering our lives. How can we make things more simple, physically and mentally?

Here is my game plan for the month of October:

• Literally De-clutter: When you get married and/or buy a home, a lot of bullshit starts to pile up. We have so much stuff we need to get rid of. Truman has a lot of things he can let go of, but I think for the most part the clutter is me. I’m a pack rat. My parents have always yelled at me for saving things that are absolutely unessential. Concert tickets, books I’ll never read, clothing that’s on its last leg, dumb things. But a huge portion of things I need to get rid of are things from my Grandma Pam’s house. When she passed away, I got a lot of “stuff” from her. Decorations from my room at her house, things she collected, obscure toys I had in her house. A lot of things I don’t need and don’t plan on ever decorating my home with. I have always attached sentimental value to the smallest of objects. Nostalgia gets the best of my every time I try to throw things away. But damn it, this month I’m doing it. It’s taken me a long time to realize that I don’t lose memories or experiences when I get rid of material things. So I’m having a yard sale and giving some stuff away. Boom, home de-cluttered.

• Get rid of people who don’t add any value to my life: Harsh? Maybe. But who cares? To clarify, I’m mainly speaking in terms of social media. Years ago I started trimming out all the garbage people from my real life (There’s still some people, but I don’t know that anyone every fully gets rid of everyone that’s kind of a bummer in your life). But social media is absolutely insane! I don’t know about you but I know I follow at least 10-20 people on Instagram that I don’t give two shits about. I never like any of their posts. I’m usually annoyed when I see them pop up. So why the hell follow them? On top of that, there are several people I follow just because everyone else does. As of this minute, I follow 590 people on instagram. WHY???? Who are all these people? I know I don’t see 590 people posting each week (thanks IG algorithm), but would I actually want to?  AND FACEBOOK… Holy crap don’t even get me started with that. I’m sure there’s plenty of people who are my friend on Facebook that don’t really want to be, but they are just because they wouldn’t want to hurt someone’s feelings, or they love to creep. Facebook gives me anxiety and I wish I could delete it (I have to maintain a Facebook page to manage the two business pages I’m in charge of, and it’s a great marketing tool unfortunately).  To me, Facebook is like a Las Vegas size flashing sign that says “Come look at all the idiotic and extreme views of America!” and in smaller font below “PLUS! Now buy all your favorite bullshit pyramid scheme products of people you haven’t talked to since high school!”. If you know me AT ALL, you know I have ZERO interest in make up products. Yet weekly I receive messages from random chicks I went to school with about make up (side bar: Maybe try a new conversation starter make up chicks. “Hey girl! Have you see…” is getting pretty old. P/s: if someone doesn’t answer you don’t continue to send 90,000 messages).  This really turned into a rant. Sorry about that. BUT as you can see, a lot of these people on social media add no value to my life. So smell ya later! If you are following people who don’t have any type of positive impact on your life, STOP. If there’s people in your life that are just constantly huge negative downers, CUT ‘EM FROM THE TEAM.

• Plan Ahead: I always tell my clients to plan ahead. Planning out your day makes things so much more simple. The last few months I haven’t been taking my own advice. My training has been all over the place time wise. I never really know when I’m going to eat these days.  I’m usually within a couple of hour window on everything, but how much more simple would it be if I just sit down Sunday night and plan out my week. So today I did just that. Every hour between 5am and 6pm is scheduled out. (Maybe this approach isn’t for everyone, but I like structure.)

This month, I’m all about simplicity. I think that’s typically a Spring thing?? Oh well. Let’s get to work!

Party Murder House

Truman and I are in a house party. I have no idea who’s house, but it’s a two-story house that feels more like a town home build. There’s easily 80 people in this place. It’s crazy. Truman tells me he’s going to grab a drink. For some reason I go upstairs, I’m not even up the stairs and I see like 4 people gathered around someone laying on the ground. As I get closer I see this person has been ripped open, from the middle out. No one understands what the hell happened. Chaos ensues. People are losing their minds.

I continue upstairs to the bathroom, where I find another dead person. This dude has been cut in half. Literally someone cut this dude in two pieces, right down the middle. I run downstairs to find Truman.

When I tell him what’s the heck is going on, he thinks I’m joking. I tell him “Dude I’m not kidding we need to leave now. They are killing people!”

I finally convince him to leave but I’m dragging him through this crowded hall back to the door. The Police (not the band, real police officers) are running in the door and up the stairs. Right behind them are 6 figures in big crimson red cloaks blocking the door. I turn around and push Truman towards the back of the house. We run out the back door and are sprinting towards our car.

Then I wake up. No idea where that nonsense came from. Hopefully we got away.

Zombie Luna

This is probably the most traumatic dream I’ve ever had.

Preface: Truman and I have a 3-year-old  all black German Shepherd named Luna.

It’s a post apocalyptic setting. Zombies and all that jazz. Truman, Luna, and I are on the run. Months or days, I’m not sure. A lot of time goes by. We have a been moving on foot for the most part.  We get to a motel and decided to stay there for the night. When we get inside I notice Luna is acting weird. Truman leans over to pet her back and she snaps at him. As the night goes on she gets more and more sick. She’s burning up, her breathing gets really heavy.  Somehow we knew that meant she had contracted the virus.

We decided we needed to put her down before it was too late. Truman said he would do it. He started shaking and crying and just couldn’t do it (Not that he’s a huge wimp or something. He and Luna have a really tight bond. That’s his little baby angel ). So I told him I’d try. We had landed on a using a knife. I took her into my lap, gave her a couple kisses on her little tiny head, and quickly slid my knife into the base of her skull. She whimpered once and then fell limp. I pulled her body into my arms and cried.

Then I woke up crying. I was so rattled! I went to work and anytime I’d start to think about it, I’d have to fight crying. When I got home for lunch she (and Roland, our other pup) met me at the door. I sat on the couch and cuddled her and just cried like a baby! Then I had to explain the dream to Truman, cried even harder. He laughed at me but it felt so real. Everything in the dream felt real. I felt the pops of her skin and the clank as the hilt of my knife hit her bone.  I basically killed my daughter in a dream. I get choked up even typing it.

Luna, I’m sorry!

Mr. Keenan bought me my dream vehicle.

The oddest dream I’ve had in years. Every bit of this dream was tied to something currently happening in my real life.

I was at Novus, our gym, and got a notification on our business Facebook page. It was a message from Maynard James Keenan. He was in town for “business” and wanted to know if he could drop in for the week. (If you don’t know who he is, give him a google. He’s a pretty interesting human! He’s the lead singer of several bands. Including A Perfect Circle, which I’ve been listening to a lot recently.)

Anyways, as ridiculous as it is for a rock star millionaire to A) message us on Facebook about dropping in our gym… in Bedford, IN or B) even have a personal Facebook page, I sent him a message back saying of course, we’d love to have him!

He shows up at the gym the next day and it’s like we’ve known the man for years. He trains with us for several days and everything is awesome. We took him out for dinner in Bloomington one of the nights and really bonded (I know, it’s ridiculous). We closed the restaurant down, we talked for an eternity it seemed. The next day he shows up the gym with some “parting gifts” because it was his last day at the gym. He bought Truman and Tyler things also, but I don’t remember what they were. I’m not sure if I even saw them in the dream.

He said “Sam…. yours is outside.”

I walk outside and there sits a bad ass late 70’s Bronco (the Bronco comes from Morgan Pye’s instagram post. Her dream vehicle is a Bronco, me too! Shout of Morgan for making my dream rad!) I completely freak out. We tell him it’s too much. He tells me it’s no big deal and he was happy to do it, BUT when he comes back in town for “business” (no idea what his business here was) that I would have to let him borrow it to get around.

Then we got a solid lift in and he went on his way. I’ve had this dream several days in a row. Could it really happy? Probably not. But maybe!

One of my fondest childhood memories is my step mom, Angie, reading me Shel Silverstein. A kid with a large imagination and Shel are a perfect match. You can thank Angie and Mr. Silverstein for my knack for storytelling. No matter how old I get, in good times and bad, I always seem to fall back to these poems and tales… and I always come away a happier person. (If you’ve never read any of Shel’s work, please do so.)

Whether I’m reading about Sarah Cynthia Silvia Stout’s neglect of garbage or Wilfred Owens accounts of war, I’m thinking. Poetry is so powerful in that way. We may never be in the same circumstances as the author or subject of the poem, but we put ourselves back into a situation in our life that most closely relates. I think the world needs to do more thinking. More imagining. Which is why the permanent baby shower gift I give is a copy of Where the Sidewalk Ends. (Kids these days need to know if they misbehave, their parents will sell them to the gypsies!)

Everything is so simplified now. How we speak to each other is so blunt and boring. Poetry is an excellent way to learn new words and phrases. I know lit and AF seem like cool things to say (I will admit that I say them sometimes, ironically of course). But in my opinion, using actual words is far more appealing. You can appear so much more intelligent simply by speaking the actual English language. Yea yea, I know… we are American, we don’t speak actual English. Well, we can try guys. (Why do every one of these blog posts turn into a rant about the world?)

Instead of scrolling through social media (yea dude… I know you’re on it. How else did you find this article? But good for you reading something instead of just looking at pictures), pick up a book. Everyone should read poetry… Or just read anything. Think, imagine, FEEL, reflect. It’s good for your brain and your soul.

Love you mean it,

Samantha Ann Marek

 “Words are, in my not so humble opinion, our most inexhaustible source of magic, capable of both inflicting injury and remedying it.”  

-Dumbledore

Not only is this delicious and nutritious, it’s also incredibly filling. (If you don’t understand the reference, I’m not sure we can be pals.) Every time I see a recipe online, I get really irritated when I have to scroll all the way to the bottom to look for the nutritional information/macros. So I’m just going to throw them in right here. If it’s too much for you, you can stop reading… or make adjustments… or just eat it, know it’s essentially healthy, and don’t count all this stuff. Either way. You do you playa!

Samantha’s Breakfast Burrito

Protein– 41.5g Fat– 14.1g Carbs-50g Calories-482

Here are the ingredients I used:

Gardein Ultimate Beefless Ground (87g)

Plain Greek Yogurt (0.1 Fluid Oz)

Spring Mix (85g)

3 Egg Whites

Zesty Cilantro Salsa (30g)

Diced Jalapeños (30g)

Mozzarella Cheese (28g)

Hot Sauce (a decent amount)

Garlic Powder (couple sprinkles)

Salt (lil sprinkle)

Pepper (big sprinkle)

OLÉ Large Burrito Tortillas (just one)

Cooking Instructions:

 I don’t like to cook with oils all the time (I don’t want all the extra fat) so I use cooking spray.

1.) Start by turning the stove on somewhere around medium and spraying your pan. Then measuring out 1 serving (87g) of this stuff down here.

2.) Toss it in the pan. It takes no time to heat up.

3.) Measure out 30g of jalapeños and throw them right in the pan.

4.) Add 3 egg whites.

I always crack my eggs straight into the pan and just keep the yolk in the shell.  Typically I’m making my husband something too, so I just add the yolks to his burrito. If you are super picky about egg whites, you can buy them in a carton and measure them out.

5.) Measure out 30g of salsa and add to the pan.

I was using the delicious salsa my Aunt Donna made fresh from her garden, but I’m out! So I’ve been trying out various salsa from the store.

This one is decent. Plop that stuff right on top!

You can add your salsa at the end if you prefer. I add it here because I still get the delicious flavor, but the juices don’t run out of the burrito and make a crazy mess.

6.) Add in salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

Sometimes I add chili powder, paprika, cayenne pepper. Spice up your life!

7.) Mix all that nonsense together! Flip/stir as needed. Don’t burn it. These crumbles don’t taste great burnt.

 8.) While its cooking, I heat up my tortilla in the microwave for :30.

Then, I put my plate right on the measuring scale so I can just measure everything out as I add to it.

TIP: Turn your scale off and then back on so it zeros out between each ingredient

Add 28g of mozzarella.

9.) Add 85g of Spring Mix.

I forgot to take a picture of adding my plain greek yogurt. It’s going to be really hard for you to figure out how to do that without a picture but, try your hardest!

10.) Use it like sour cream. Just spread it on there. I change the unit of measure on my scale to fluid ounces and measure out 0.1 fl oz. It’s not very much at all. Just a little dab.

11.) Once the scramble is done, throw it on there.

12.) The finale touch is adding hot sauce.

I LOVE HOT SAUCE! It’s delicious on almost everything. Don’t waste your time measuring it out, just add a decent amount and call it a day.

13.) Wrap your burrito.

I don’t want to brag, but I worked at Taco Bell for 3 months in high school so… I’m basically a professional.

Side Note: I also learned what “Fire in the Hole” was during that time period. If you have ever done that or think it’s funny… Grow Up. 

I always wrap my burrito in a paper towel (or aluminum foil) because I hate getting my hands all sauced up and gross.

Voila! Enjoy this simple delicious burrito. Weighing and measuring the ingredients isn’t necessary. I’m sure it will be just as great when eyeballing it all.

When you wake up, you’ve been resting for a long period of time. The whole point of sleep is to refresh your mind and body. Sleep is not supposed to be this desirable state we constantly think about and can’t wait to be in. Sleep is just a necessary part of life, that allows us to function properly.  Being awake (living) is the cool part guys.

You don’t have to jump out of bed bright and shiny like Day Man (Fighter of the Night Man, Champion of the Sun), but why not wake up with a positive attitude? Your entire day is shaped around the attitude you wake up with.

I CHOSE to have good days. Sometimes it’s not easy to get out of bed when I’m all comfy, sandwiched between my two beautiful sleepy dog children and my husband. But I get up, take my pups outside, make some coffee, and start the day. Within 5 minutes of getting up, I’m already thinking about the million things I need to do. I don’t get grumpy or panic. I simply make a mental list to prioritize my daily tasks.

My husband and I are small business owners. He and his best friend own Novus Strength Training. At Novus, I handle all media/marketing, as well as operate my personal training business. I won’t lie to you, it does help get me up and moving every day knowing that I’m my own boss. You can’t be negative, because if things are going bad… it’s no one’s fault but your own. Am I going to start my day by being mad at myself for not being where I want to be? No. I’m going to start my day by making a plan, and focusing on my long term goals.

Maybe you are not an entrepreneur, but this still applies to you. You can still wake up every morning with purpose. You can still chose to have a good, productive day. If you are in a bad mood, who’s fault is it really? Does that guy that cut you off in traffic, your boss, or any other human REALLY have the power to control how you feel? NO! You are choosing to let them affect you.

As Rob Bailey say, I only have good days. I decided to only have good days. Sure, I’m going to have days that aren’t the best day of my life. I might face some adversity from time to time. Some days might be challenging. But my outlook on those days is what matters. Do I let that 2 min event ruin the next 48 hours… or do I learn from it and move on? You read something on the internet that made you mad? You heard xyz from so-and-so? Someone made your coffee wrong? That lady flipped you off? You ripped your pants? Your dog took a dump on the couch?

WHO CARES!?!?

The answer is no one. No one cares about your bad day. So have a good one. Chose to have a good attitude and be a productive human. Positivity is where it’s at guys. It feels great, you should try it!

BUT my parents also taught me to be respectful and kind.

It was always yes ma’am, yes sir. Please and thank you. Holding doors. Shake people hands. Maintain eye contact and give someone your full attention when they speak to you. As an adult, I’ve quickly realized most people either:

A) Were never taught proper manners

B) Are just flat out rude

Almost everyday, you are going to interact with someone new. It may be a passing glance. Someone might talk to you in line at the grocery store. Whatever the situation may be, that person is going to make an assessment of you… SO BE NICE!

I don’t know how many times I’ve held the door for someone and they in no way showed appreciation for it. Every time I’m in line at Jay C (local grocery store), I see the checkout employee trying so hard to engage this person in conversation. “Did you find everything ok?” “How are you doing today?” “Is it cold outside still?” and all they receive back are snippy one word answers as the person stares down at their purse/wallet. Is it truly that hard for you to engage with another human that is providing you a service?

The strangest part about that is, most of these grocery store employees are so conditioned to being ignored or brushed off, when I actually engage in conversation with them, THEY DON’T KNOW HOW TO RESPOND! Last week it was a high school aged girl, and when I said ” I’m doing great today, how has your day been so far?”, she got a panicked look on her face and said “Fine.” and never made eye contact with me again.

Care about other people!

That past couple years, I’ve started complimenting people more. Instead of waiting until someone passes to tell my husband or friend I like that person’s pants or hair or how beauty they looks, I just tell that person. People light up. You can immediately see it made their day being complimented. Most people are just trying to get through the day. So why not try to make it better?

One thing that might make me sound old but really drives me insane is not looking at someone when they are speaking to you. In the age of smart phones and tablets, people have their faces glued to screens from the minute they wake up until the minute they fall asleep (most likely you stayed up swiping and scrolling for hours after you wanted to go to bed). I’m just as guilty as any other human. I think as a whole, this has dramatically decreased people’s attention span.

Now I won’t lie, in person (and probably in my blog too. Oops!) it does take me a long time to get to the point of my story. I include way too many details and go far too in depth with my conversation. So I can see how someone would get a little side tracked while I’m talking on occasion.

BUT if someone is taking the time to tell you something about their life, or just have a conversation, PUT YOUR HECKIN’ PHONE DOWN! Look them in the eyes. Actually HEAR what they are saying and not just the cliff notes version of the conversation. One of the things I love about being a Personal Trainer and working with Novus Strength is the human interaction. It’s so rewarding. I love hearing people’s stories and getting to know them.

I truly believe that if you are kind to the universe, the universe will be kind to you. Wake up everyday with the goal of being kind to everyone you meet. Smile… Laugh… Listen!

Before we begin, let me state a few things clearly:

I am in no way legally qualified to prescribe exact diets or supplements to anyone and I won’t do it! Can’t make me. There are people who do that, Dietitians, Nutritionists, and Medical Doctors. However, I have met several people who do not meet those qualifications in the fitness industry that have nutrition down to a science. There are plenty of people who are extremely knowledgeable and qualified to help you with it…

BUT THERE ARE EVEN MORE WHO ARE COMPLETELY UNQUALIFIED AND MISINFORMED.

Just because some skinny chick or a ripped guy puts in their Ingram bio that they are an “Online Health Coach” “Online Macros Coach”, “IIFYM Coach”, or “Flexible Dieting Coach” doesn’t mean they know what the hell they are talking about. Listen, you can google a macro calculator. 90% of these Instagram “coaches” are using an online macros calculator, regurgitating a bunch of bullshit they read once or heard on a Podcast or YouTube video, and charging you hundreds of dollars a month. If you are willing to spend your hard-earned money on your nutrition, don’t throw it away. Do some research into an individual before trusting them. Don’t just trust someone based on their social media appearance. Plenty of people are genetically gifted and athletic appearance comes naturally. Just check out my husband. The man is jacked with huge biceps and abs all year round. BUT he eats 78 Pop Tarts and 90 bowls of cereal per day (too much??? Love you mean it dude). Not to mention, its social media. People are only posting what they want you to see. Typically, they are posing in a back-breaking angle, with the perfect lighting, and using apps like FaceTune to make sure they look “flawless”, or what most people call artificial.

Sorry, I got a little ranty there for a second.  Back to the original post!

* In both these pictures I weigh 150lbs. But, my body couldn’t be more different. On the left, I hadn’t quite figured out my nutrition. I was extremely unhappy with my appearance but, I was pretty happy with the strength I had acquired. On the right, my diet has been consistent for 11 months. I’m stronger than I’ve ever been, and my appearance isn’t too shabby either. The key is consistency. I made a decision to eat and train to reflect how I wanted to perform and to be honest, how I want to look. I’m still a work in progress. But you would not believe the changes that come from being consistent with the little things over a long period of time!

That was my original post. The funniest part to me is on the left my waist was 27″. Now my waist is 30″. Our bodies are fascinating. I think it’s nice to track your weight and measurements so you have data to compare. But unless you are competing in a weight class sport (wrestling, weightlifting, powerlifting), who gives a shit what your weight is? I’ll never understand how we have evolved to the point that our self-worth is attached to a number that pops up  between your toes on a little digital scale.

Recently, I asked Jordan Callahan to speak with our Transformation Challenge group about nutrition. (Jordan is a lifestyle and weight loss coach, as well as a member of Novus Strength. Check him out!) He said “80% of your appearance depends on what you eat.”  As he said that I looked around the group. So many people were completely shocked. If there is one thing I have learned about nutrition in the past 5 years, it’s that people do not know how to eat.

My diet is going to be a lot different from most of yours. I’m a vegetarian.

“Wait…. What???? You can be a vegetarian and still be strong? You don’t eat meat ever!? But what about bacon? I could never do that!” Yea, I get it. It’s weird. Who cares? What food I chose to fuel my body with does not somehow change who I am and I’m not going to ask you to join the cult. We good?

While I don’t eat meat, the basic frame-work of my diet can be applied to anyone. The bulk of what I consume is vegetables. I get almost all the carbs I need from them. I have multiple sources of protein Plant based “meats”, eggs, protein shakes, almonds. A lot of these protein sources are rich in healthy fats too. It’s pretty neat!

Real quick, I just want to note the most significant changes I have seen since adopting a primarily vegetable diet:

1. Digestion– Eww, yucky. Girls don’t do that. Chill, Pal. I don’t like talking about it either. But, this is a huge deal. I don’t mean to brag, but my husband is jealous of how efficiently my body processes the food I eat. My diet is incredibly dense in fiber. Fiber assists in digestion and helps to prevent constipation/bloating, all that fun stuff.  It’s amazing. Like clock work. That’s enough about that.

2. Skin- I’ve never had extreme acne issues but I did suffer from breakouts. These were especially bad in the summer. My skin is far from perfect, but it has gotten so much more clear and smooth.

Now that you know what type of food I eat and how it benefits me, lets talk about what and how often I typically eat in a day. I’m not going into specific portion sizes. (Not because it’s some crazy secret, it’s just not important. You aren’t me. What you need is different from what I need.)

This is what I eat every day. I’m a huge creature of habit and most my days are exactly the same. Again, I’m not recommending you stop eating meat. Just that you start eating more vegetables and stop eating processed foods.

5:30am- Wake up. Crush a glass of water.

6:30am- Coffee

9:00am- Meal #1. Protein Shake (Vegan Pro),  Almonds, and an Apple. I also take my vitamins here.

11:30am- Meal #2. Veggie scramble. Typically this includes things like bell peppers, broccoli slaw, veggie breakfast sausage, 4 eggs, and a side of cubed baked sweet potatoes.

3:00pm- Meal #3 Piece of fruit, typically an apple or banana. Veggie “meat” and sometimes broccoli if I have a long training day.

3:45pm- Pre-Workout, before I workout.

6:45-7:00pm- Meal #4 Protein Shake with added dextrose

7:30-8:00pm- Meal #5 Veggie “meat”, a heaping serving of vegetables, and a side of cubed baked sweet potatoes.

I understand that most people cannot eat the same meals day after day. But, food also doesn’t have to be overly complicated. With this combination of food, I can get everything I need. To me, that’s enough. I like the taste and it keeps me properly fueled.

CHEATING

I’m not a big fan of the phrase “cheat meal/day”. I’ve never liked to look at eating that way. If you want to drink a beer, have it. You want some ice cream with the sprinkles? Get it sister. But have some self-control. If you are doing everything right 99% of the time, don’t let 1% ruin you. You’ll be fine… as long as it stays 1%. Now if that 1% starts to creep up to 15-20%, you need to check yourself. You can go out to eat and order healthy meals. You can also plan ahead. Eating is a necessity of life (unless you are the man who claims to live off air). Not every meal is going to be the best of your life.

One change I have made to my diet recently is trying new things. Each week when I go to the grocery I try to find something I’ve never tried (Last two weeks have been pine nut cheese and guacamole salsa). So far, I haven’t added anything permanently to my diet.

SO if you have any exciting food suggestions, leave a comment below!

I hope this is somewhat helpful. As always, if you have any questions, hollaa!