“Don’t compare yourself to others. Be better than you were yesterday” Unknown

I think this quote is a great piece of advice and we should take into account on every level: whether it’s personal growth, fitness, diets, even relationships. Personally, I have always tried my best to watch my weight, what I eat and when, basically balance my love for sweets with a healthier lifestyle, avoid putting on too many extra kilos. Sometimes I succeeded, sometimes I didn’t. Even so, for the past two years, I realized that physical exercise should be a constant in my life in order to see some results. What I sometimes found difficult to do was getting the motivation to workout before or after office hours, getting all the way to the gym during rush hour, workout for 50 minutes, dry up and then go home. For me, this process was very restrictive and tiring.

Luckily, I was browsing on Instagram one morning, when I came across this photo:

Looks amazing, I know!! Who doesn’t want to have pancakes for breakfast?? Well, some people probably don’t but I DO! I looked up the recipe and found this new amazing world, made of colors, workouts and clean foods, the world of Blogilates, so I started to nag my friends and family with it (and I still do :)).

Blogilates is Cassey Ho, an amazingly positive and adorable girl who lives in LA, has left behind her parents’ dream to become a doctor and decided to do what makes her happy, which is working out and sharing it with people. What I love about her, aside from her Youtube, website, free workout plans and Instagram profile (yeah, basically her whole brand) is that she speaks from the heart. She always encourages her viewers to start working out, to be patient with themselves but also to always push a little, in order to see results. I love how she talks during her workouts, and she is obviously struggling to do both, but keeps a smile on her face and encourages her viewers to do the same.  But for me, the most important thing is that she is genuine, she gives a “girl next door” vibe , she is a fitness trainer with a normal body shape, who has decided that happiness is more important than being extremely thin and strength is more important than having perfect abs. She looks great an she is strong. I would invite some of my male friends to workout for her and hear their opinion afterwards. It’s not just girly stuff and pink nails, it’s a lot of sweat and determination.

What I learned from her is that fitness is a unique journey for each of us, we have our own way of processing things, getting our strength and our motivation to keep going. But whatever that motivation is, in order to be positive, happy and successful at it, working out must be a constant in your lifestyle. I am not saying we all have to workout 7 days out of 7, if you have a busy life you will surely not do that, but try doing it for 3 or 4 days a week, for a month, challenge yourself to keep with the program, photograph your progress, do the measurements, witness your own change. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t see a lot of progress from week one! You’ll get there if you keep going, and most importantly you will be amazed by your own strength!

Have a look at her monthly calendars, get to know the community, browse through the recipes, maybe you’ll find something appealing. Invite a friend, workout together if you don’t feel like doing it at home by yourself, whatever gets you started! Just remember to compare yourself to who you were yesterday!

I’ll be sharing my progress with you, as I will try her February challenge, whatever that is! Please comment below if you’re already working out with her and how do you feel! For those of you who are new to this, here’s a beginner’s calendar below. For the more advanced monthly calendars, subscribe to her newsletter and she’ll send you a new workout plan at the end of each month!

Don’t forget  to Give. Take. Recreate