Jordan's Balanced Life

This slammin’ salmon slaps, it’s been awhile since I have found a recipe that was easy, delicious and nutritious. I love cooking but lately my cooking spark has gone out, part of it is picky kids and getting them to try new things or even eat at all and part of it is being busy and just not making time at the end of the day to make good meals.

I used to meal plan every week and shop for our meals at the beginning of the week, we rarely ate out but lately it’s been quite the opposite. Now that it’s staying light longer, getting warmer (hopefully) I feel more of a spark to cook for whatever reason and we are also trying out a new way to make meals so everyone gets a vote and hopefully more enjoyment out of dinner.
Monday: new recipe
Tuesday: Kids Choice
Wednesday: Date night
Thursday: Parents Choice
Friday: Pizza/movie night

Tonight we had salmon fish taco bowls from the defined dish cookbook, I switched a few things up and made a mango salsa instead of the dressing she had listed only because we don’t like cilantro and that was part of the base. We gave the boys deconstructed versions because we know they will eat salmon, tomatoes, rice and plain mango. Most kids go through picky periods so we always just encourage them to try things on their plate, reintroducing foods that have been a no before are sometimes still a no but sometimes they decide they like it. We always give them fruit and veggies they will for sure eat. I don’t make them separate meals but I add sides they will eat.

How is dinner time at your house? What is a family favorite meal that everyone says yes too?!

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5 things I wish I knew when I started my fitness journey:

Eat: Eating is so essential for every aspect of life, but there is such a stigma that comes with eating and what we should be eating. For decades we have been taught to eat as little as possible in hopes of being as thin as possible but we are finding that this is simply not the way to go. Eating more will actually help you to reach your goals. If you are not eating enough calories each day your body will cling to the food it does get and you aren’t actually losing anything. If you are stalled out with results try adding calories instead of taking them out and see what happens

Don’t over complicate it: Your workouts don’t have to be ground breaking movements everyday, start with the basics and build up with progressive overload, doing the same workouts and adding weight to those workouts will give you more progress than doing new workouts everyday. If you get bored switch it up a little bit up lifting heavier will provide you with fat loss and muscle gain

Resistance Training: is one of the best things you can do for your body in the long run, building up muscle will help us so much as we age, ditch the cardio and start lifting heavy this will give you the best results and provide you with a strong body that will prove important as we are aging.

Walk: Walking is one of my favorite things to do for my body and my mind, it gives me time to myself to think, read a book or listen to music. Walking is a great way to get our heart rate up without the added stress of running, I suggest a brisk pace with an incline.

Ditch the scale: Honestly this is the best thing that you can do for yourself, relying on what the scale says each day as a way of deciding how your day is going to go as far as eating and working out is setting you up for failure and disappointment, this also gets us into disordered habits, our weight can go up and down a few pounds in a day and that is not the end all determining factor of whether we are hitting our goals are not. Instead focus on how you are feeling each day, how your clothes are fitting, your stamina in the gym, etc.

On this Valentine’s Day the message is pretty simple, love yourself first and the rest comes with it. Changing your appearance only to please others makes us miserable and doesn’t actually solve any problems. So I encourage you to stop trying to please others, stop trying to fit into some imaginary mold that diet culture and social media has told us we need to look like and start loving yourself the way you are!

You are beautiful inside and out, sometimes we are the last person to see the best in ourselves so try and do that for yourself today!

Today is National Compliment day and I want you to take a minute to think of the last time you said something nice to yourself about yourself. I know I can fall into the trap of hating on myself before actually saying something nice about myself, don’t we all?

When you look in the mirror what do you usually think? I know it’s easiest to pick ourselves apart and think about the things that we do not like over the things we do like. The more we say things about ourselves the more we start to believe it. So why not start talking about yourself in a positive way instead of a negative way?!

Give yourself compliments each day like you do the other people in your life.
-I am beautiful
-I am smart
-I am capable of
-My ass makes these jeans look good
-This stomach gave me my beautiful children

What are some compliments you can give yourself?! Leave them in the comments so others can see and use them as well!

2024 we are building up our habits! Doesn’t have to be all about fitness, I am adding journaling, meditation, meal planning, drinking enough water everyday etc!

What habits are you looking to add to your life in 2024?!?!

Habit stacking

Let’s go into the new year with let’s pressure to set weight loss goals, less pressure to diet and less pressure to completely change your entire self…we aren’t the “new year new you” type of people over here!

Here is what we are doing to this year, first we are going to slay (duh, because we always do) but we are also going to start habit stacking, leaning more into strong habits and adding to the ones you already have to make you feel the best you have ever felt, get rid of the constant exhaustion, the inflammation, the anxiety and stress! Let’s move our bodies and feel our best each day!

Everyone is different and everybody is different not everyone is made to move their body the same, if you struggle to find something you enjoy doing message me and we can find something you enjoy together!

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It may be Thursday but it’s a big game night in our house! We love Nacho’s during football games, we usually have them on Sunday nights during Sunday night football but it felt right to have them tonight since the Bear’s and Iowa Women’s basketball are playing tonight, I thought it might soften the blow of watching my beloved Bears tonight by having a comforting pan of nachos. I started 2 chicken breasts with a jar of homemade salsa and a little chicken bone broth in the crockpot this morning and let them cook on low all day. For the nachos, preheat your oven to 425, line a cookie sheet with tin foil, layer your chips, cheese, queso, and chicken then place in the oven until the cheese is melted. Top with your favorite nacho toppings we added sour cream, guac and salsa.

We served this with an array of tv’s to watch both our games and one of our favorite beers, citrus surfer from https://www.facebook.com/biggrovebrewery this beer pairs well with so many things and a great year round beer, pick your own 6pk up today at your local grocery store or at the tap room.

Big Grove Brewery We live what we love and we love what we do. Award-winning, fresh craft beer from the heart of the midwest.

If you have a ton of tomatoes like we do we are trying to find ways to use them before they go bad. Yesterday we made fresh salsa and it was so good, took minimal time and ingredients.

Salsa recipe:
1 lb fresh tomatoes
1/2 white onion
1 glove of garlic
Juice of 1 lime
1 jalapeño
Cilantro (to taste, we don’t love it so I added just a few sprigs)
2 tsps salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp cumin

All ingredients except tomatoes to food processor pulse a few times to get desired texture. Add tomatoes and pulse until it’s all chopped to your liking. Refrigerator and serve chilled, it’s even better day 2!

It has been a minute since I explained what exactly I do here so swipe on through to find out more, please feel free to message me if you have any questions!!

You may have seen this quote before Idk who it actually came from (sorry😬) but I randomly saw something similar to this same sentiment the other day and it kind of struck me differently this time.

There is something really cool about just being you. We live in a society that wants us to hate our bodies and change them constantly. I find that most clients that come to me because they hate their bodies and want to “be skinny” they start a program and they have trouble finding motivation to do the workouts or burn out quickly because they just don’t enjoy it. Totally understandable, if you are trying to change a body you say you hate it won’t go well. But if we change that mindset to loving your body because of what it does for you each day then decide to workout because you GET to and not because you HAVE to, the dread will go away and you will find something that you enjoy doing.

Working out does not mean you have to burn a certain amount of calories each time, lifting so heavy you can’t pick yourself off the floor after it can be as easy as a walk around the block or stretching before bed. The best way to achieve your goals is to start small and add to them. I start all my clients small and slow so we can build from there and I do the same for myself anytime I am trying something new.

I will also write my programs based on the individual client, their goals, their equipment and time available. I will also never promise you that you will lose 30lbs in 30 days because honey that ain’t real 🤪.

On this International Women’s Day please know that you are beautiful no matter what and you are always enough! Now go out there and do amazing things!

Fun snack to make with your kids (or without 😉)
Sliced Banana
Swipe of peanut butter on each sliced
Covered with a spoonful of melted chocolate
Store in the freezer
Great for an afternoon school snack or dessert! Both boys loving helping in the kitchen so this was fun to do assembly line style!

Habit over motivation: I often get asked by my clients or whoever how I have motivation to always workout and the real answer is I don’t, some days I don’t have the motivation to move my body but I have made it apart of my daily routine so now it I do it because it’s just part of my day like brushing my teeth. Are some workouts better than others? Yes, absolutely just like some days you are more motivated to cook a big fancy dinner and some days all you can manage is chicken nuggets and mac & cheese, both are perfectly acceptable but one requires a little motivation and little bit of effort. Just like a 15 min walk or 30 minute weight lifting session both are great forms of movement but one requires a little bit more motivation and effort.

Movement is important for so many reasons….heart health, mental health, improved bone and joint strength, core functionality I could go on and on. When clients come to me they say that they lack motivation, no problem let’s change that from lack of motivation to adding it my daily to do list, I put it on my calendar every single day, yes I take rest days because I mostly lift weights but I like to still take a walk to do some stretching. Some type of movement to start my day gives me more motivation and energy to get through the rest of the day.

This wasn’t something that I did in one day, this took me a couple months of adding it to my to do list, laying out my workout clothes and finding something I looked forward to doing, now it’s part of my day.

Just a little tip in case you are struggling to get into movement, think of it as a I GET to instead of I HAVE to that can really help change your mindset so you don’t dread it everyday and if you are in the state of dread it could be because you are doing a workout program that isn’t right for you, switch it up and find something you enjoy and look forward to adding to your to do list! As always if you need help finding something that works for you, send me a DM or email and let’s chat!!

Make my favorite warm salad with me!

First start with a hot pan with about a tbsp of olive oil, add about half the bag of sweet kale mix, I love this salad mix in the winter time because it’s the perfect mix of greens that taste good warm or cold. I prefer my Brussel sprouts and kale warm because they are easier for my IBS tummy to digest.

Next, add a handful of cranberries or craisins depending on availability. Cranberries provide many health benefits such as helping lowering blood pressure, immunity and prevention of UTI’s.

Let that cook down for 3-4 minutes and then add in cooked chicken, I bought a rotisserie chicken on Sunday to have for lunch this week so I added some of that just to warm up.

Lastly I added in some sweet potatoes that I roasted in the oven at 425 for 15-17 mins. Add that to the pan with the rest of the ingredients, give a quick toss and add to a salad bowl. I do not add a dressing as I don’t think it needs it but if you want to go ahead!

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Let’s talk about rest! Rest is just as important as movement, the most important thing we can do is listen to our bodies. I haven’t worked out in over a week. I haven't felt the best, my body is tired and I just feel run down. So instead of just powering through I am letting my body rest, it’s ok to change up what you’re doing. Instead of lifting weights which is my usual choice of workout I am taking walks, stretching, and prioritizing sleep.

Taking a break is often hard for anyone to do. We live in a society that praises hustle and looks down on rest because it is seen as lazy. This is so f’d up, how can we expect people to be productive every single hour or every single day. Constantly on the go, working, parenting, trying to have a social life, exercising and never stopping to rest leads people to burn out. Rest has to be apart of your daily life, my rest time is when I read I make it a point to write on my to do list everyday “read 60 minutes” no I don’t always get that much in but I try and read for 20-30 mins before bed instead of scrolling my phone, this helps me to fall asleep faster instead of tossing and turning for an hour plus.

Rest and recovery helps to get more results, if you’re looking for gains your body has to recover and rest to build the muscles, to replenish itself instead of running on empty.

What are some of the ways you rest?! Yoga, reading, meditation, watching a show. Let me know in the comments below.

Health doesn’t have a look…

When thinking about adopting a new way of eating in the name of weight loss, think about how it will work for you in the long term. If your new plan is extremely restrictive then you probably won’t enjoy it for long. If weight loss is your goal, make small changes to your lifestyle and incorporate those and then try a few more. Make it an all around lifestyle change instead of a short term diet.

Some small changes to start with could be adding a walk in during the day especially if you haven’t been very active recently. Then add in some resistance training.

Nourishing your body instead of starving your body. Honoring your hunger cues, eating foods that will keep you full longer, not ignoring cravings. Not eating enough each day can actually prevent weight loss, adding in a little more protein to each meal can help keep us full longer. If you are craving a cookie, have a cookie, this will keep us from pushing that craving down and then binging later and eating the whole bag which leads to guilt.

I don’t like referring only to weight loss because I feel like more people are so worried about it and they do not actually need to lose weight they are just worried about what diet culture has told us. So while these tips won’t give you drastic weight loss in a short time I think they will show you how you can be happy with your body as well as happy with food and exercise.

Give yourself a little pep talk about all the things you love about yourself instead of always picking apart the things that you don’t like.

Showing up daily doesn’t mean showing up at 100% every single day. It means showing up, even if you can only give 10%. Not everyday is going to be perfect but showing up for yourself is what is important.

I live by the 15 minute rule (completely made up by me) on days when I don’t feel motivated. I give myself 15 minutes in the gym and if I am still not feeling it I can leave most of the time I am in my groove and continue but sometimes I just leave. Is that my best or worst workout, no but it is something and no matter how much time I have spent I still feel good about it.

Making movement part of our everyday lives is important for overall health. Not for weight loss or to get bulging muscles but for mental and physical well being. Start with a walk down the street or a 10 min yoga session. Run up and down the stairs a few times or if you saw my stories today chasing flies around your house with a bug zapper 🫠.

In Case anyone needs to hear this today. You don’t have to diet to be thin, you don’t have to hate your body because you think you’re “fat”. I know it’s easy to just say these things, I say this from experience and once I dug myself out of the diet circle of hell it was more and more clear the things I was doing were causing more harm than good.

People often get annoyed on social media by the love your body sentiment, and I don’t take it lightly. I feel (my opinion only) that if you start to love your body and notice the things you are doing it will make it easier to improve your body if that is what you want. I don’t like talking about weight loss because I don’t want anyone to think that is what I am trying to push on you, a lot of my clients want that though and I will help them reach their goals but we are going to do it in a safe way. If you want lasting weight loss it will take time, you can’t just expect to lose it all in one month and be done. If you implement reasonable and healthy lifestyle changes into your daily life it becomes easier to maintain and more enjoyable to do each day.

Working out is a part of my daily routine but also so is resting, I do workouts I enjoy like yoga and weight lifting. I plan my workouts and rest on Sunday nights based on what I have going on, I eat with intention and when I am hungry. I may have a salad for lunch followed by a festive Reese’s peanut butter shape (obvi they are the superior Reese’s). I don’t count macros but I have and that led me to restriction and guilt around eating so I stopped, it was hard at first but was the right choice. I don’t always love my body but I no longer stare at myself in the mirror, pick apart my flaws and tell myself I am fat. I think in the long term instead of short term, when it comes to fitness goals, I don’t crash diet for an upcoming event and most of all I understand that I am not perfect, never will be and that trying will only end in failure.

We are all guilty of it at one time or another, I know I certainly am. I used to let the scale determine what I ate in a day, what type of workout I did, what type of mood I was going to be in for that day and how much I was going to punish myself if my weight was up. I used to weigh myself every.single.day I needed to know what that bowl of ice cream I had after dinner did to my weight which is actually ridiculous. I eventually learned that our weight fluctuates so much even daily that it isn’t a good representation of our health, weight or the way we should eat and exercise. My weight goes up at least 5lbs during that time of the month due to bloating and water weight. Your scale doesn’t know the difference between body fat and muscle.

If you are actively trying to lose weight but not eating enough each day you could be losing muscle but not body fat, muscle is great for our overall health and something we want to keep maintaining as we age to help protect our bones and joints.

Muscle weighs more than fat, I struggled with this for a long time, I was so into the number on the scale that while my body was changing, gaining muscle and toning up the number on the scale was actually going up. I was gaining all this muscle and that in turn made the number on the scale higher, another reason it is not a good tracker for eating and exercise.

Instead of focusing on what the scale says try and look at it from a different perspective, how do you feel? Are you enjoying the foods you are eating? Do you like the workouts you are doing? Do you like how your clothes fit? Is your stamina up whether you can lift more, run farther or easier to chase your kids around the park?

Listening to your body is going to be the most important thing, whether you are trying to lose weight, or just adding in a fitness plan or eating style. If you sleep well, your body feels good throughout the day and you enjoy the things you are doing then the number on the scale doesn’t matter at all.

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Every body is made up differently, shape, sizes and colors. We could all eat the same things and do the same workouts everyday but we would all still look differently because that is just how it works. Everyone has a different metabolism, different genetic makeup’s and that is ok bc life would be pretty boring if we all looked the same!

Just remember your body is beautiful and you don’t have to look like someone on the internet to be considered beautiful!

I don’t know who needs to hear this today but the amount of calories you burn or the intensity of your workout does not define your level of worth. You are worthy whether you workout or not. It doesn’t matter your size, shape or color you are worthy to feel beautiful in all aspects of life. You do not need to workout to be a certain size because random people on the internet say you are only beautiful if you are a size 2 or 120 lbs. It’s simply not true, I am just one gal out here trying to show the rest of the fitness industry that flabby bellies and stretch marks are beautiful. Flat stomachs and no cellulite aren’t all that makes a person worthy of your time. Everyone is beautiful in their own way and it’s time to stop spreading this message that you can only be beautiful if you are “skinny”

I track my workouts for time and to see my heart rate, I don’t care about my calories burned because it doesn’t define the rest of my day or week. Plus how accurate are these things on calories burned anywho!

Check out my website, link in my bio to learn more info about my services or DM me with questions!

I’m not sure what it is about the cooler temps but the boys and I all love muffins for breakfast. These lemon poppy seed muffins are so good and so easy to make. Can substitute 1:1 flour to make them gluten free.

1 cup lemon greek yogurt, I use two good brand for less sugar
6tbsp melter butter
2 eggs
Zest of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 lemon
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups flour
2 tsp poppy seeds
1 1/2 tsp baking soda

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and then add to muffin tins about 2/3 way full. Bake at 350 for 20 mins.

I am the first to admit that when I want something I want it now and I think a lot of you can agree especially when it comes to dieting and fitness. There have been so many times when I started a diet and expected the weight to be gone in just a few days or doing 30 day fitness challenges expecting to lose a lot of weight and then it not come back. “What I did these 30 days of hard core workouts and only lost 5lbs, now I am done and it came right back, how is that possible ''??

Over the years I have learned that there are no quick fixes when it comes to health and fitness. The 30 day fitness challenges are great if you continue working out but often they are so intense that by the end of the 30 days you are burnt out, take time off and then never get back to it. A few weeks later the results are gone, you’re frustrated and back to looking for another quick fix which is just a circle of wasting your time and money.

The same goes for diets, these are often not sustainable for the long term and leave us feeling hungry and deprived which leads to binging later on.

So instead of starting with most extreme things and “falling off the wagon” why not start small? If you haven’t had a fitness routine in awhile start from the beginning and work your way up, go for walks and move up to runs, lift weights but start with lower weights and increase as the weight becomes easier. If you easily get burnt out, try something new and keep trying until you find something you enjoy. The more you enjoy the workout the more likely you are to stick with it in the long run.

I am not here to give you quick fixes, I am here to give you the tools to make it part of your daily routine for the long-term. I don’t believe working out should be for weight loss alone, it serves so many other purposes in our life and can be enjoyable once you find what you like. Let’s get rid of the fad diets and extreme fitness challenges and enjoy our bodies the way they are!

Follow me for more tips or DM me to see how I can help you to make fitness fun!

One of our favorite afternoon snacks! This is a family favorite that we can all share.

One apple thinly sliced
1/3 cup Greek yogurt
1tbsp peanut butter
1tsp cinnamon
Stir and enjoy!

Summer BBQ Chicken salad!

Cooked 4 chicken breasts in the crockpot w/ cookies bbq sauce for about 4hrs. Shredded it and added more bbq and put it back in the crockpot for 20 mins
Steamed the corn and removed from the cob
Served over a bed of butter lettuce w/red onion, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and crispy onions. Drizzled a little Tessemae’s ranch.