Last night I had to make the saddening decision on whether or not to watch the Glee season finale or The Biggest Loser season finale.

As I have my weekly tradition with my sister, TBL won out. Besides, the finale is the best episode to see the changes people made all at once.

Before watching the show, we had a simple dinner that I prepped before her arrival. I won a coupon for a free package of Purdue Shortcuts chicken from Heather. I normally don’t purchase products like this (simply as personal preference in the meat we do buy), but free wins out in this house. And after wanting to get back to my normal eating habits, I knew it would make a great addition to a ginormous salad.

I included a mix of spinach and romaine lettuce, topped with a whole slew of yumminess.

• 1 whole avocado, diced
• 8 large strawberries, diced
• 1/2 medium red onion, diced
• 1/3 package white button mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 large cucumber, diced
• 4 oz goat cheese crumbles
• 1/2 package Purdue shortcuts grilled chicken
• 1/4 c Annie’s Lite Honey Mustard Vinaigrette.

The only downfall of the salad? It used up all those ingredients so I couldn’t make this all too incredible omelet Courtney posted this morning. It’s all good though as I needed veggies in my life. Just like I need my weekly sister time in my life!

sheesh I look tired!

And this week was extra special with our extra guests – the boyfriend and the pup!

Although I don’t know how into our choice of entertainment they were. Lucky for the men in our lives, TBL may not last long as our weekly tradition anymore. Did you hear about the new trainer?

Say WHAT?!!? I’m sorry but I do not agree with that decision at all. I have a hard time getting behind someone who does not have personal training certification or ever worked with people in the fitness condition in which the contestants will arrive. It doesn’t seem safe. Plus, in my honest opinion, she didn’t even look all that healthy herself.

The reaction I had to this announcement did get me thinking a little bit about us bloggers, though. Anna will train “based on her own experience”…and that is something I know we claim as bloggers. In fact, I mention that the information I share on FFF comes from my own experiences and personal knowledge. Does that make me just as in the wrong?

I know that readers could very well take what I express on the blog as advice. In a sense, I am giving out advice when I share suggestions on different workout ideas, foods I eat that I view as healthy, or ways I worked to improve my relationship with my body and food. I do hope to motivate others, whether in fitness or personal struggles. I do like the idea of inspiring new workout ideas or meal creations. However, I simply share my life. That is the basis of this blog. I do not put information out there for others to follow as a training plan, diet regimen, or anything of that nature.

I really enjoyed Tina’s post on blogger responsibility she shared earlier. I agree that readers have a responsibility when reading blogs to know and understand that most material presented bases itself on the personal life of the blogger. I personally will forever have gratitude for blogs and the ideas and motivation they provide me. And I like to think most readers think the same way – great source of inspiration, but not a professional source. C’mon…thinking readers view blogs as professional sources sounds a little narcissistic anyways! My desire to put myself out there for my readers prevails. I think that is my biggest responsibility as a blogger -  to let others see someone relates to them or that if I can live a healthy, balanced, joyful life, then they can too. Beside, it’s not like I’m a tennis star parading as an expert qualified to teach others how to overhaul their lives.

• What show finales have you been watching? Watching Glee on DVR tonight!
• What are your thoughts on blogger responsibility?

Check out part one of my Fitbloggin conference insights and the blog tips I picked up!

Number Six: Free samples rock! And we should utilize those relationships. We received so much swag this weekend. I’m still impressed with myself that I managed to fit it all into my two carry on bags to bring it all home. As excited as getting a bunch of free stuff makes me, the thought that companies out there exist that support bloggers excites me even more. So many brands worked to help support this conference. That just shows me that they are open to making connections with bloggers. Knowing that, I fully intend to keep building relationships with these brands in the future and value their products even more than I did before.

all images from the Fitbloggin Sponsors page

Number Seven: Know your goals. During the session on making your blog more professional, which I captured as a live blog, Ryan kept bringing up the importance of knowing the goals you have for your blog. It can be anything. It can range from wanting to inspire as little as one person to a platform for selling other resources you share to gaining more subscribers and page views. Once you know your goals, make sure you express it in what you present in your blog. Make the actions you hope those who come across your site take a predominant focus. For example, if you hope to gain subscribers, you should have subscription and follow options easily accessible on your site.

Number Eight: Have a passion so you can be willing to invest in your blog. Whether you view your blog as solely a hobby or as a potential source of income/opportunity, you invest in your blog.  It takes time and energy to share your thoughts with others. You need to find a niche you feel strongly about so you don’t experience burn out. Once again, the message of staying true to yourself prevails. Also, if you hope to move past simply blogging for yourself and ever strive to reach more readers, a monetary investment will likely come up – in the form of hosting, design, web tools, learning experiences, materials used (cameras or food for example) and more.

source

Number Nine: “Fit” doesn’t mean “no fun”. I certainly noticed that many of us in attendance really do try to live a life of balance. Everyone seemed to want to have an enjoyable time and not stress over things like food. Sure, we had numerous workouts we could choose to join on Friday. Sure, healthy and balanced meals appeared for our breakfasts, lunches, and snacks. Yet the focus still seemed to be on living life and soaking up all the time we had with each other. I hope to express on my blog that healthy living is fun and I sure appreciated feeling that same mindset surround me this weekend.

image from my roomie Katie (with Heather and Alicia)

Number Ten: Your readers are the MOST important. I wanted to save the best for last. I cannot cannot cannot even begin to express my gratitude for the relationships I have developed with everyone who reads my little musings on FFF. I would not have a reason to give so much of myself to this blog without you. I truly believe a blog is only as good as its readers. I don’t mean that in the sense of the number of readers, page views, or comments at ALL. I mean that in the sense of the quality of relationships and community built from you visiting this site. FFF would be nothing without you! Any blog would be nothing without support from others. Never lose sight of yourself in blogging, but also never forget the people who help make it happen – readers!

What ways do you invest in your blog? Does passion reflect in a person’s blog?