In The Gym with Nik

Please introduce yourself to our readers.

Hi ya’ll!  I’m Nik, a 30-something, married, mother of 2 boys, and sporadic blogger at www.NikGLifeAndStyle.com

How did you get started in fitness?

I’ve always been active.  As a child, I competed in gymnastics, later was a cheerleader in high school, and then high school and beyond just kept up with regular exercise.  It was in my 20s that I’d discovered running and have used that as one of my main types of cardio since.

How do you maintain your physique?

I maintain, first and foremost, by never falling ALL the way off. Haha  I, like everyone else, have up and down times when in comes to exercise and eating healthily.  I tend to fall off the wagon the most during really cold winter months.  During that time, I am unable to do my favorite cardio (running outside) and I almost never feel like going to the gym when it’s cold.  I still drag myself in a couple of times a week, though.  One thing that has kept me on the up-and-up, is that I’ve discovered some YouTube fitness accounts and weight training apps.  I feel like my home workouts have now actually taken my fitness to another level.  Some of the workouts I do on YouTube are HIIT workouts and dumbbell workouts. I alternate those day-to-day.  Which brings me to say, “Don’t be afraid of lifting weights, ladies!”  Even though I already considered myself “in shape” from just the running that I use to do, after buying myself a few sets of dumbbells and weight training regularly—I’ve seen the biggest change in my body yet, and I’m definitely more fit than I was in my 20s!

What is your favorite exercise routine?

My favorite routine is to run outside when it’s nice and warm for about 3 miles, followed by different dumbbell workouts.  Oh, and I do enjoy a good yoga session from time to time as well!

Describe your typical workout.

Pretty much what I mentioned earlier. I alternate a cardio days with weight lifting days.  If I go to the gym, I use different weight machines depending on the workout, but at home, I use dumbbells for upper AND lower body workouts—lots of weighted squats and lunges at home.

What do you generally eat in a day?

I’m not the best eater.  Not that I eat bad stuff, it’s just that I don’t think I eat frequent enough.  I usually start my day with a green smoothie of some sort with added protein.  I also make myself fresh juices with my Omega Juicer as well.  In a nutshell, I eat a lot of eggs, avocados, tons veggies and seafood.  That’s what I eat the most.  Just this past January, my husband and I did a 30-day vegetarian diet challenge (no meat, no seafood—dairy & eggs, ok).  I really enjoyed it and definitely felt a difference in my body and how I just feel.  Since then, I’ve incorporated seafood, but I’m hesitant into going back to eating all other meats.  I feel lighter and I have more energy.  Not to mention, it made my tummy area even flatter.  What more could a girl ask for?  Also, I’ve followed the Paleo diet in the past.  I feel like it is a great way of eating if someone wants to lose weight.  I feel like I was getting too lean on it, so I went back to eating grains and rice!

What’s your favorite cheat meal?

Hmmm…either something Caribbean (I love Cuban, Jamaican, Bahamian, etc. food) or barbecue ribs.

What general tips do you have for the average woman balancing family, career with trying to lose weight and get/stay in shape?

I say just do SOMETHING.  If you’re only able to go for a 15 minute walk at lunch, then do that.  Go to Wal-Mart and buy yourself a pair of 5 & 10 lb. dumbbells, then get on YouTube and search dumbbell workouts—one of my favorite fitness accounts is “Fitness Blender”.  Just do something, eventually you will feel and see small changes and that will give you even more of a boost to keep going and do more.

Who is your fitness inspiration?

I can’t really name one person off of the top of my head.  I follow a gazillion IG “fitness models”.  I get a lot of inspiration from those kinds of IG pages.

How can our readers learn more about you and your workouts on the web?

Well, I have a lifestyle blog that I post on semi-regularly.  I just fairly recently moved cross-country back to Atlanta, so I’ve been pretty preoccupied with getting settled in, school, and just being mom & wife.  My family and I are about to move into a new house in a few weeks and I’m putting a home gym together in the basement, and I plan to do more detailed posts and maybe even videos then.  So please check out my blog at: www.NikGLifeAndStyle.com.  I also can be found on all of the other social media sites like Twitter, Instagram & Snapchat with the handle: “the_nikg”.