Clear Skin Tips

I find myself sweating 365. In the gym, in the woods, fishing, hiking, hunting, etc- my face and body is covered in dirt and/or sweat. I haven't always had great skin, but over the past 4 years, I have really cleared my skin up immensely!

I will note- this post is not relevant if you are on performance enhancing drugs as those will cause terrible acne on your face and body- just wanted to put that out there. 

Below, please find the steps that I took to clear my skin

Step 1: DRINK WATER. Your body is almost 70% water. It's not 70% gatorade or diet coke. It's 70% water. Drink at least a gallon a day

Step 2: eliminate or limit dairy- this is a huge one for a lot of people! You may have a slight dairy intolerance and not even realize it. Quit dairy for 2 weeks and test if your skin clears up

Step 3: high quality multi vitamin- your skin is your largest organ and you should treat it as such. It will reflect what you feed it (or don't feed it). Implementing a high quality multi vitamin is VITAL for an overall clear skin complexion. This is what I have used since 2014: MULTI

Step 4: wash your face at the gym- cardio or not, you should never leave the gym without washing your face with at least soap and water. I bring my cleanser and moisturizer to the gym and wash my face after every sweat session

Step 5: clear skin cocktail- this has been a huge one for me in the last few months. I have noticed a drastic change in my skin. Here's the recipe:
20oz room temp water (can add ice once mixed)
2 scoops COLLAGEN
1 scoop GREENS
1 scoop cherry BCAAs

Step 6: CTMM (cleanse, toner, miracle water, moisturizer)- every single evening (if you are super dry, you should moisturize in the morning as well)

CLEANSER

TONER

MIRACLE WATER

MOISTURIZER

Step 7: weekly masks- I do 1-2 mud masks a week for a deeper clean and then moisturize with the above moisturizer at night

Step 8: jade roller- I saw a lot of bloggers using it and I decided to order one and I love it! I will do the roller a few times at night per week before I put my moisturizer on

In the morning:

Every single morning, I roll my face with my ice roller for several minutes

1-2 times per week, I will do a coffee mask after I ice roll

If I'm Trying to Lose Weight- Should I Lift or do Cardio?

The most frequently asked question I get in real life and online is: “If I am trying to lose weight, should I just do cardio until I get to my goal weight and then start lifting weights? I don’t want to start lifting weights and then build muscle over my fat”

1: Do not let your goals be defined by the scale- focus on your body fat % (because that’s what matters). Let’s say you just do cardio and diet to get to your “goal weight” (in this example we will use 130lbs) and then you start lifting weights. And then? YOU WILL GAIN WEIGHT BECAUSE YOU ARE GAINING MUSCLE. In 5 months you might be up to 135. So then what- you have to be stuck in this perpetual lose more weight to get back to some magical number that has no meaning whatsoever? no. 

2: Weight loss comes from being in caloric deficit. That means you eat less, move more, or a combination of both (while still remaining above your BMR). You burn calories alllllllll day long, not just on the treadmill. Weight lifting burns calories. Digesting food burns calories. Sleep burns calories. 

3: Your BMR (basal metabolic rat) makes up roughly 60-70% of your total calories burned per day. That means your ACTIVITY aka your cardio and training only makes up 30-40%. Less than HALF of your total calories burned per day actually comes from training. So- the best way to lose body fat is to increase your BMR, right? Right.

4: Increasing your BMR comes from increasing muscle mass. More muscle = more energy needed to move those muscles = more calories burned = more weight loss! Cardio WILL NOT increase your BMR

5: Cardio is still important, don’t get me wrong. And I think BOTH weight training and cardio should be incorporated along with a healthy diet when trying to lose body fat. But please- don’t think you will “build muscle over your fat”. That’s not how the human body works. It’s not like you are placing something permanent over your fat cells and then your fat cells can’t shrink because you are weight lifting. It’s just not true

6: Measure progress by body fat percentage, take comparison photos every 2 weeks, go off by how your clothes feel, and measurements- NOT THE SCALE

So, in short- do not be afraid to lift weight

If you need a training program, please checkout bowmarfitness.com! 

Do I Eat Back My Calories

This is a question I get more often than I would like to admit: "I burned 500 calories during my workout, I get to eat those since I burned them, right?"

1- how do you even know you're burning that many calories in a workout?

2- keep reading

Let's first discuss TDEE and BMR (referenced here as well, so if you have already read my cardio blog- skip ahead)

Your BMR is your basal metabolic rate AKA what you burn without moving.
Your TDEE is your total daily energy expenditure AKA your BMR + moving (in a day)

You burn calories 24/7/365. You don't just burn calories in the gym.

If you want to lose fat, you need to eat in between your BMR and TDEE. For simplicity, let's say your BMR is 1500 and TDEE is 2000. AKA your body (height, weight, body fat %) burns an extra 500 calories from all the moving you do (in and out of the gym) in a day. In order to lose weight, you  need to be in a deficit.

SIDE NOTE- I am not sure who wrote your meal plan (if anyone) if you are reading this. If you need a custom meal plan to configure all of these numbers for you- checkout
https://bowmarfitness.com/nutrition-plans/

In order to be in a deficit- you need to be eating less calories than you burn (and still be above your BMR to prevent your body from going into starvation mode).

So if you are burning a total of 2000 a day and your meal plan calls for a 1600 calorie diet- you SHOULD NOT be "eating back" the calories you burn in a workout because the 1600 calorie diet already factors in the calories you are burning during your workout. If you eat them back- you will basically be at a maintenance level style of dieting (aka no weight loss and no fat gain).

At the end of the day- you need to be in a deficit to lose, eat what you burn to maintain, and eat more than you burn to bulk.

How to: Curb Cravings

I get it- we ALL love cookies. We ALL love candy. We ALL love pizza. We ALL love tacos. We ALL love peanut butter. I get it. I GET IT. Trust me- I GET IT. There isn't a person (fit or not) on this earth that could honestly say they don't have cravings. We all have cravings. The trick- you have to be stronger than the cravings if you want to really succeed with your health and wellness goals.

Let me also first say this- life is meant to be lived. When we travel- we enjoy ourselves (within reason, we usually practice IF and pack a ton of protein and enjoy 1 meal a day at a new restaurant). This is not a blog post to sit here and preach and tell you to not enjoy food off your diet. Screw that. I don't even follow that. If you need more info, follow these links:

• IF: http://sarahbowmar.blogspot.com/2018/01/what-do-i-think-of-intermittent-fasting.html
• Save calories in Vegas (or anywhere): http://sarahbowmar.blogspot.com/2016/01/how-to-save-money-and-calories-in-vegas.html
• Treat meal tips: http://sarahbowmar.blogspot.com/2014/02/cheat-meals-101.html

Ok, now back to the point of this blog post- I am talking specifically about the cravings you get at the end of the day when you have been 100% on your meal plan and as soon as the sun goes down- you become a junk food werewolf. You could eat 50 bags of chips. You could eat 50 donuts. You could eat 50 slices of pizza. You could eat 50 gallons of ice cream. But why? Usually- it's boredom. Other times- it's because you don't enjoy the food that's on your meal plan. And other times- you hired some idiot off of Instagram who isn't certified to be writing meal plans and they themselves don't even look like they have a clean bill of health and suddenly they're your coach and you're starving and they're starving and then you binge and they make you do hours of cardio the next day to make up for it and suddenly you have the world's worst relationship with food (just like they do). And off my soap box.

Here are my tips on how to curb cravings
1: make sure your diet plan was written by someone who is actually certified to ensure you are getting adequate nutrients throughout the day (hi, hello, it's me)
2: make sure you are getting plenty of water throughout the day- I recommend 1 gallon for females
3: DO NOT buy foods you crave. DO NOT keep foods you crave in the house. If you buy it- you will eat it
4: trick yourself- fitness is honestly all about making unhealthy things, healthy.
my protein dessert cookbook: DESSERT BOOK
my healthy meals cookbook: WILD GAME WILD GAINS
5: keep sugar free packets of water flavoring in the house (not the healthiest option but I would rather see someone enjoy a 5 calorie packet of fruit punch than binge on 1900 calories of nut butter)
6: chew gum- my favorite is bubblemint
7: drink ginger tea
8: drink fiber (our brand is coming out very, very soon)!
9: do some online shopping- checkout the website https://www.liketoknow.it/ and follow me + other bloggers to shop our closets- it's super fun (my username is sarah_bowmar) OR get on expedia and shop travel! It's literally one of my favorite things to do
10: lastly, drink protein (notably, protein hot chocolate)

I truly hope these tips help! My life's mission is to combat all the BS out there online and what's portrayed on social media!

Should You Workout While Sick?

I realize this post is a little late (as it is beginning of February) but it seems like the flu is still going around so I figured- better late than never!

When you train when you're healthy (cardio or weight lift), it's pretty rough on your body. Inadvertently, your immune system becomes compromised. This stress is what, in time, makes us stronger.

So what happens when you're sick?

I personally think you should stay home for anything more than a head cold. Put yourself in other people's shoes- would you want to be working out next time to someone who is sneezing, coughing, blowing their nose, etc right next to you? Any flu symptoms- stay home. No questions. If you are sick, your immune system is already compromised and fighting something off. When you workout- you are further compromising your immune system. If you do too much too soon, you could prolong your illness and symptoms.

If you have a home gym- you might be able to get away with cardio if you simply have a head cold. Me personally- I just want to lay in bed and recover as fast as possible. Your workouts are usually garbage anyways if you aren't feeling well- so why not recover quickly and get back to being 100%? Your progress won't go anywhere in a week. I PROMISE!!!

My Weekly Lifting Schedule

This is a very requested blog post I have been receiving a ton lately

I will preface by saying this: your body DOES NOT KNOW what day of the week it is. I don't plan my lifting schedule as though I HAVE to lift glutes on Monday, shoulders Tuesday, etc. Your body CANNOT read a calendar so don't get bent out of shape if you have to shift your days around. You won't lose progress if your shoulder day gets pushed to Wednesday- I promise

I also am very blessed with the schedule and ability to lift 5-6 days a week (which I LOVE). If you only can lift 3-4 days a week, you will need to merge some of the muscle groups together

Here's my current workout split (all of my lifting workouts are 45 minutes)
Triceps
Glutes
Shoulders
Abs
Biceps
Back
Rest
REPEAT

If you can only lift 3-4 days a week, combine triceps/biceps or biceps/back and triceps/abs

I DO NOT lift chest, you can read more about that here:
http://sarahbowmar.blogspot.com/2015/08/boobs-and-barbells.html?q=boobs

My cardio schedule varies and you can read about it more in depth here:
 http://sarahbowmar.blogspot.com/2017/10/how-much-cardio-should-i-be-doing.html?q=cardio