Why Ive been M.I.A

  Well hello out there in cyber space! Anyone still reading? Or have you all left blogger and headed on over to more active social medias like Instagram or Snapchat?! Well I have to admit I fell in love with these wonderfully fun apps and have found myself on a journey I simply never saw myself going on! After facing some of lifes hardest obstacles growing up, finding faith through those struggles and giving my life over to God I found myself a mom of three beautiful girls and the wife of a hunky monkey Fireman!! LOL Never in a million years did I think that after all of that and having my body go through the stresses it did that I would STILL have a chance at my fitness DREAMS! I am happy to report that I am now an active Instagram fitness motivator a soon to be ISSA trainer and a Nationally qualified fitness competitor! I have found support through some AMAZING sponsors PrimeNutrition (code elizabeth20 will get you 20% whenever you shop ;P lol) and CelestialBodiez (code: elizabeth15 will get you 15% off anytime) here you can actually read a bit more on my story in the BIO section. Along with all of this I have found an amazing and supportive coach and team! Its been quite the journey and Ive had the time of my life! Here I thought my life was OVER at 30 HA I was DEAD WRONG! My life had JUST BEGUN!

  I am now happier healthier an fitter than I have EVER been! I no longer dream of "getting back my high school body" because the body and health I have now is 10x BETTER than that ever was!! My energy and focus is through the roof, I live to wake up and play with my husband and kids everyday! I enjoy life I love life and it loves me back! Im positive, outgoing and overall more mentally well! I am no longer afraid of the dark (I know silly but its true I really was!) I no longer drink wine every night to go to sleep, I have the energy to not only survive 72s and 96s or God forbid a strike team but I thrive during them! All of this has taken so many stresses off of our marriage because I no longer require as much from my husband and am just more supportive of him in general! I dont rely on him I simply enjoy him! Theres a BIG difference! I use to put so much pressure on him and everything was his fault if things stressed me out! OH, speaking of I can handle stress WAY better these days! Woooosaw! Its all insane! I feel like a whole new person! I am so thankful for who I have become on this journey and Im kinda pissed at myself for not blogging more about it! But I am back and I promise to be more regular with my posts! I want to help anyone I can! F

  Finding my health has changes my life! I face dreams and I believe in dreams now! My family is way better off and I look forward to what our future holds!

  An easy way for you to get started on your own journey is to head over to my coaches website through this link > Edgebootyextreme2 < check out the DVD at home programs they offer and if you choose to purchase you can use edge10 to receive 10% off that purchase! You can email me at wowfitness13@gmail.com and I will also send you a 3 month OMGluteness PDF program I wrote that was designed around my first year of fitness for free with the EdgebootyProgram purchase. I will also answer any questions you have regarding anything I share!! Please dont be shy! I LOVE to help!! and last you can also check out my website its nothing special right now but I have posted some blogs over there that might help you along with links to my youtube channel etc. it is www.ElizabethTurleyFit.com

  Here are my transformation photos for a little hope, inspiration and motivation! Please NEVER GIVE UP ON YOUR DREAMS, know that you are LOVED and your health and happiness MATTERS! Take care of yourself and be healthy so that in turn you can take care of and love on those around you!!  "The most important weights you will ever lift are others"


                                                  with lots of love    and support ALWAYS,


                                                     LT (Fear_less_Fitness )

This is a 7 week difference the same amount of time
that the DVD program runs

My "during" (blue suit) and "current" (Black suit, I would say after but
Im not finished yet! ;P I dont plan on stopping! I will be like fine wine and get better with age!) 

My before picture I was 25!

Progress not Perfection...

  I am sitting here the second morning of peak week, processing all I have come through, all I have learned, and the progress I have made. This is my third prep to date, six months of eating clean, no alcohol, no dairy, no sugars minus the cheats after shows that I can count on one hand. What has this experience taught me? Where do I go from here? What do I do with all I have learned? How and where do I start to make this bigger? Am I capable of really focus' my energy on making this more? These are all things I sit here and wonder.

  Really there is so much I can do, so many places I can go from here. The truth, unfortunately, is up to this point I have had many dreams, plenty of great ideas! My problem, I have trouble focusing in on one thing at at time and finishing through. I think this is why competing has been such a great experience for me, it has taught me that I do have the power to finish something if I really set my mind to it! It has not been easy, competing takes up so much time and money that I have had to really only focus on that, but because I did that I followed through! Now that I have done that I want to move forward and take this skill to other parts of my life. I know I can do this, now its decided which of my dreams I move on to next. I still have two weeks of competition prep to focus on so right now I am only freeing myself up enough to think, process and reflect on it all. I know my next step is to get pen to paper, start writing out goals, and tackle them one at a time.

   Where do I go from here? I relax, give myself time and talk to myself the way I talk to my clients, I have a lifetime to tackle my dreams and visions. I pace myself! Progress not perfection :)

                                                                           LT

The new "normal"...

    So I think I am finally beginning to understand and except how to have a "normal" life within the fire service. I sure wish it hadn't taken me 8 years to start on the right track but hey at least I am getting it now and not 10 years from now when the girls are up and grown.

   Driving Alisa to school this morning she starts talking about the "Father/Daughter" dance the PTA is holding at her school this week and she says "I wish dad didn't have to work." My reply? "Well sweetie your Daddies job is different then other daddies. That is why we have to make special time for you and him on our own" We don't have evenings off monday through friday, we do not get weekends off or "summer vacation" heck we dont even get HOLIDAYS and for the longest time I have had trouble trying to make it to weekend birthday parties and baby showers or an evening small group with church friends then of course there is the family who wants to know why you don't want to drive in holiday traffic alone with 3 kids. The "normal" world or most of it plan their lives around this weekend evening schedule thing. Which means for me and the girls if there is a birthday party on saturday and Jt is working we either do not get to go or I play single mom with 3 kids for the day (not fun with a crazy toddler). But the perks to our schedule I am learning out weigh the downsides tremendously! If you can learn to work the system right. The thing is Jts schedule is set out for us for the next 20 years until he retires we can look ahead and in theory see whether or not he is working christmas day in 2015 or Thanksgiving 2020. Also my husband is not home every evening it is sporadic ALWAYS, but unlike my friends husbands he is home sporadic throughout the week. So for example he could be off on any of the weekdays when the girls are in school, perk right!? Now we could do a day thing together or I get his help around the house with out the distraction of all the kids. We can also work around days that we would like to plan something because since you do not get holidays off with his job (people have heart attacks and fires on christmas and thanksgiving too) we get what is called "holiday" time as long as he can find a co worker to take his day then he can put in for holiday time and both guys get paid. So I am slowly getting the hang of this, if I know far enough in advance about a party or event I would like for him to be at as long as we can get the time covered I can have him with me and the girls don't miss out. I mean if you think about it, once all three girls are in school we will get all his weekday days off to our selves! How amazing right!? So my plan is to look far enough ahead this year and book off some vacations for our family so that I do not miss out! I find that as long as I get my family time to refresh and rebuild then Im ready set for the crazy busy thing we call "life" in between! I have also slowly let down my guard with grandparents and have learned they are a VITAL part to my families success! Whether it be they take the girls for a weekend so Jt and I can have time to reconnect or Grammy takes the baby so I can take the older two to a weekend birthday party and not worry about chasing a 2 year old the whole time! Its not easy because my instinct and heart wants my husband to be the one helping but like I told Alisa "Sweetie you daddies job isn't like other daddies jobs" I have to except it and know that he gets to do something he LOVES and to boot feed and care for his family while doing it!! Im not sure how fire families without the extended support do it really! Or the fire families that the wives also work!! I have had to stop everything in order to balance the normal around here! Its hard to be an independent women at heart and be fully dependent on my husband but Ive learned the hard way its the closest to normal my family will ever have and for our peace and our kids peace I have to let go of my old dreams and make new ones! The cool thing is in all of this is that I think they were right... God knows my heart better then I do and He is giving me everything my heart desires even when I had no idea it desired this in the first place! As I make new dreams it feels like they've been there all along!!

   So in closing Im getting it, Im learning how to bring "normal" into a not so normal life! ;) Im feeling at peace with it now and I can see blessings of peace being passed down to my girls as I find my own peace in it all! I couldn't ask for more!

                                                                          LT

I'm "Half" Crazy...

     Well I did it! About six months ago, after not working out in over two years ( a record for me) I started back on my fitness journey. I had a group of friends that started to frequent a boot camp in our area and would shared progress pictures on their Facebook accounts. It only took a few weeks of seeing this and a random act of signing up for a local mud run to give me the push I needed to get back off the couch! I had lost a lot of muscle over two years so I had become what the fitness world calls "skinny fat". I had no energy and my diet SUCKED to say the least! When I ate (which was rare) I would just snack on whatever frozen meal I had heated up for the girls :(. It was bad! I would say my lowest of lows!!

   After signing up for the mud run I knew I had to get in some sort of shape. So I hit up the local Boot Camp my friends had been going to and started back at the gym with JT as much as possible. It was not easy. I had forgotten a lot about fitness and the machines but I was determined to get my old self back! I hit 30 this year and wanted to begin my thirties NOT feeling like I was in my Fifties!! The working out was great! Although it was tough and tiring I noticed my appetite come back in full force and better yet I was beginning to crave a MUCH healthier diet then I had previously been munching on! I began to set some goals like making sure to gain back some healthy weight, run more, and eat clean. As I stuck to my goals I began to see HUGE progress in my body! I was seeing ME again! I had also been talking to a friend of mine at church who was a runner and she had mentioned wanting to run a half marathon. I had talked with other friends about it before but was never 100% into the idea. Im not big into running, or at least I wasn't yet ;). Shortly after this my friend and I signed up and began training for a Half Marathon in Santa Barbara.

  I am so happy to look back on the past six or so months and see the big changes I have made! Every day is not perfect and I cheat more then I probably should on my diet but I feel amazing and have learned once again that I can do anything I set my mind to! I ran the half marathon this weekend and thats a story in itself but I did it! My goals were to run and NOT stop, to have no water breaks, and to FINISH. No specific time was in my head just "complete it" :) I did all of that!! Plus I finished in 2:02 :D a pace of 9m 22sec mile!! Not too shabby for my first half! On my run I kept coming up on this couple with shirts that said "we're only half crazy" I loved it, and you know what I hated running when I started this journey but I think its hit me! Ive got the bug! Im "half" crazy! Im ready to hit the road again and sign up for another but this time my goal will be a timed one! Im so excited for my thirties now! They will be the best years of my life!! Stay posted Ill be blogging about the half marathon and how I survived 13.1 miles without my music!!!!! :/ lol as always thanks for reading!! Love to all!



                                                                          LT

Faith and Fitness...

   Aww here I am in solitude. We had a very special wedding to attend last night so the girls stayed over with JT's parents. So much has changed since I last blogged, I no longer am working as a Hairstylist, our oldest daughter hit double digits and turned 10, our middle daughter is now in kindergarten, I've gone from blonde to brunette, my husband has started to pursue teaching and other advanced areas of his career (now that I have freed my schedule of clients to fully support him) and I have jumped head first back into the world of fitness. Life is full of busyness around our house and yet I look back on our days and wonder why. Its not like the girls are not in sports and I never schedule evening plans due to the amount of homework that comes home daily between two kids.

  Letting go of my career was one of the hardest things I've had to do. I had so much fear and anxiety hovering over me, what if we needed the money more then we knew, was I ready to be completely dependent on my husband, would I lose the sense of "this is what I bring to the table". The list goes on I was afraid for so much but I knew its what our family needed. The anxiety and stress that came from prepping for clients was far greater then the anxiety and stress I would have over losing a few dollars of our income, and the truth was God was calling me to more then just being completely dependent on my  husband but to be completely dependent on Him having an overwhelming faith that He would bless and provide for us through my husband. So I let Him have it! I did my part and quit work, and you know what God has blessed and He HAS provided!! Not only have the bills been paid every month which is always nice but more importantly there is a peace that fills our home! I have learned that I as the women of the house set the mood. If I am stressed and my anxiety is high my kids and my husband are frantically on edge trying to keep mom from blowing. If I've got a chill attitude and stay calm through the mess and stress of life we all have more confidence that it will all work itself out, no big deal! :) The saddest part for me is that I am realizing mostly in my oldest daughter that I have to "reteach" a lot of behaviors and how we should react to situations, the good news is, I do not believe in "the first five" rule. I know I have not lost hope with her and as long as we stay consistent I can pass down the blessing of calm relaxed peace.

  Fast forwarding quite a bit now I have jumped on the "fitness band wagon". Well I've always loved fitness and being in shape, I can even remember working out with my moms dumbbells when I was in elementary maybe middle school. In High school I put together an "All about me" board for a class project with pictures of ripped body builders and said "I will marry a guy like this one day" lol! But life and three kids later I had all but lost my fitness dreams. Then I started to notice a bunch of friends frequenting a Boot Camp in our area and after some coaxing from one of these friends I decided to give it a try! That was the beginning and I haven't stopped! I don't get to attend BC much due to JTs crazy schedule but I do hit the gym 5-6 days a week with my gym partner and I have signed up for a half marathon that I will run this weekend so I've been training for that running any where from 5-almost 10 miles every few days. I noticed a huge change in my body and can almost taste my dream of getting on stage to compete like I dreamed when I was a little girl! I can see myself up there rocking a body I thought was for sure lost to motherhood! So here I sit on my couch resting taking it easy because I am trying to catch a cold and cannot get sick right before my run! I haven't stopped to blog or read or relax in so long! I don't know how to STOP! But I want to complete my half on saturday so I am forcing myself to stop! This is so good for me though because I have been struggling mentally with my childhood dream. I am different then I was in High School (aren't we all!?) life happened to me, a LOT of life, I've been through the ringer and I've found my peace in the only source I believe that can bring true peace, God. Being in the fitness world surrounded by "beautiful people" who are in constant talk of me, me, me, my body needs this, I need to do that, Im competing here, takes its toll! Don't get me wrong I believe God wants us to love and care for ourselves not only mentally but physically. I also believe that in all things there needs to be balance! Which in itself is a challenge! So here I am sitting stopped and I am finally allowing these thoughts to flood from my mind. While I type, I get to process all thats been going on and share my journey with all of you (whoever YOU may be). I love that I am finally able to go after a life long dream but I love even MORE that I've come to a place in my life where Im not facing my dreams alone, I have my Father who loves me deeper then I could imagine here with me ready to carry me through the struggles that this dream will bring along the way! Its crazy actually because just the little taste that I've had of what goes into fitness competitions and prep I cant imagine doing it without Him! I love that I've come full circle and I can look back and see how He put me in places and brought people in to my life preparing me with the support and mental game I will need to step out on that stage! I am more excited and more motivated then I have EVER been!! Its corny but I have that Miley Cyrus song in my head a lot " I can almost see it, that dream Im dreamin". I think Im ready but as I continue this chapter of my life I know I do not want to look back on it and see that I pushed God aside! I want to stay focused on who I REALLY am and being a fitness model is not what will define me! I still and always will want to stay focused on being a daughter of the King! So your prayers over me are welcomed and appreciated I look forward to the challenge of finding balance but know that I cannot do it alone! If I lose focus on Him I will lose myself!

   Im not sure how to end this entry, I guess I just needed to share my thoughts out loud living life as a christian has never been easy, being into fitness and my body so much I just struggle with fears of is this me being too selfish? Why do I care so much about my outer appearance when I know God cares more about my inner. Is this wrong? So far I feel like I just cant lose focus in what really matters. So heres to staying focused on the bigger picture and who I really am! Thanks for reading my blabber :)


                                                                       With Love,

                                                                               LT


 

 

" Your gonna miss this", or will I?

   You know I often sit and think about that oh so wonderful fraise, "Your gonna miss this". I think about it as I run crazy behind my kids cleaning up their messes. I think about it as I sit and witness my husband sleep for hours and hours a day! ( No really! He sleeps almost as much as I am awake during the day! lol) I think about it as I dream of days when my house will stay clean and I will sit comfy on the couch reading, knitting, or relaxing till my hearts content. Am I REALLY "Gonna miss this"? Maybe. Maybe not.

   I'll tell you what I will miss. I'll miss my kids hugs and kisses until my hearts content! I'll miss the sound of laughter coming from their bedrooms as they play "teacher", "house", or "tea party". I won't miss the fight that follows and the endless fit that seems to last the rest of the day when I ask them to clean up the mess they made playing all of those wonderful games! I will miss the overflowing amounts of art and color pages brought to me daily, I will in no way miss the big spot of red crayola crayon I have to scrub, scrub and scrub again off my tile floor! Most of all, I will absolutely in every way possible miss the beautiful, happy, joyful faces that are the reasons for those messes!

    So I think what it really is, what I will feel or miss most of all when its all said and done, as I sit there in my quiet, clean house, curled up on my couch enjoying my current read. I will more then likely glance down at that tile where I scrubbed, scrubbed and scrubbed some more and it will bring back the flooding memories of my wonderful, joyful, happy children and it will hit me. I will miss THEM in every way! Then I will probably think to myself, "Ill take that crayon back now" and gladly scrub scrub and scrub some more if I could just have one more squishy, slobbery, wet kiss and big bear hug from that beautiful face! I will! I will miss this!!

                                                               LT

Its been too long...

 Dear Blog,

       I miss you! I have so much o tell you and there is so much to catch up on! We moved. I quit my day job. I downsized the animals. Its all been so life changing. Hope we can get together soon! Maybe a cup of coffee? Or a day on the couch. See you soon I hope.


                                                      with lots of love,

                                                                  LT