My 21 Day Fix Update!

    I'm a little more than a week and a half into the 21 Day Fix, and I am loving it! Let me just say that I had a slip up around Valentines day for a couple of days with all of the chocolate and other goodies in the house, but I got right back on the program and kept going! That's what it's really about, being persistent even after you make mistakes. I am officially on week 2 day 4 of the Fix, and here is what I think so far:

Nutrition:
    This is by far the easiest way that I have ever eaten. When I meal plan, I don't have to guess at how many servings of each food group I should have in my day, the program tells me and that's what I put into the calendar. (For more info on how the food system works, see my 2 previous posts on the 21 Day Fix). Since that's taken care of, the only thing that I have to do is measure out my food into containers and then eat it. The containers look small, but once you put the food on your plate, you'll be pleasantly surprised, I know I was! I haven't been really hungry since I started this program as long as I eat every 2 hours (sometimes I forget, but am quick to remember!).
    After trying to eat really well for probably the past year, I have to say that it can get really confusing, and expensive. With the Fix, we have actually saved money on our grocery bill every week because none of the foods that I eat are exotic, hard to find, or difficult to prepare. So there is another plus!


Workouts:
    The workouts are harder than I thought they would be for sure, and sometimes I am still having to follow the moderator. I really thought that the workouts would be a breeze since I just got done with T25 by Shaun T (the same trainer who made Insanity), and since this little model looking woman was the trainer. Nope, she kicks your butt and keeps you sore all week. I tried the 10 minute ab fix workout over the weekend assuming it would be super easy because it was only 10 minutes; nope. 10 minutes of focusing on nothing but abs is ROUGH. It's almost a whole week later and I still hurt when I have to lift up...you should have seen me the day after, OOF.
    So I'm loving these, especially because of the variety. I loved T25 and I got great results, but I like the variety of this program more. Doing cardio and squats every day was taking its tole on me. Now, I have tried pilates (new for me), and there is a great relaxing yoga workout which is a nice end to the week. I assume that this is a slow paced yoga workout because you're working out every day for 30 minutes, and you need a little bit of a rest day or you'd probably over exhaust yourself.

There ya go, there's my update for the program so far! I'll be giving my final review when I finish in a little more than a week from now! I know that eating horribly for a couple of days and needing to start week 2 over might interfere with my results a little, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to do 2 rounds of the program, so keep that in mind when I send out my final numbers! I can't wait to be beach ready!

Meal Planning on a Budget, and Time Management

     Hey everyone, so this is  a post that I think is overdue. I have touched on all of these things before in previous posts, but I wanted to delve a little deeper on these topics. I know that we all want to save time, money, and effort while getting healthy. The harder it is to do, the less likely you are to stick to it, so let me help simplify this a bit and give you some tips!

    Meal planning means sitting down once a week to write out a meal plan that is balanced and healthy so that you don't guess all week, buy extra groceries trying to come up with meals on the fly, or resort to eating out at fast food places because you aren't prepared. Here's how I go about meal planning on a budget while still eating healthily:

    1.) Sit down and plan out your dinners. I start here because it is the biggest struggle, easiest to skimp on, and instead just order pizza or Chinese takeout.

     Budget tips here: incorporate the cheaper pieces of meat if you can! Cook it in a slow cooker so that you can shred it, or grill it. It takes a little bit of extra time, but meat is expensive and this is an easy way to save here. Also, try to use as many of the same ingredients for your meals throughout the week in different ways, and eat leftovers a few nights a week! And, try to use recipes that don't require a lot of ingredients.

    2.) Plan out your lunches and breakfasts. Here, I tend to keep it the same all week so that I'm not buying 50 different ingredients when I shop. This can get boring sometimes, but you can add a little variation with extra things that you already have in the house without shelling out extra cash. For example, different veggies or dressings on a salad.

    3.) Now plan your snacks for in between the 3 meals that you just planned. These will be a little bit smaller than the 3 main meals, but will keep your metabolism revved up, and are easy to eat on the go. I also keep these the same all week on the schedule, but to minimize boredom, I switch up when I actually eat them during the day.

Always remember to pack meals for the day that you will eat while you are away from home so that you can avoid the drive through temptations!

Here is an example of one of my meal plans: You'll notice that there is a lot of overlap with my meals.

More tips:
   When you meal plan, you know exactly what you need throughout the week, so this will minimize the grocery bill. It has for me drastically. No more "hmm, I could make this" while walking down the grocery aisles and then ending up with an entire cart full of things that you can't make into meals when you get home. Oh! This also cuts down the time in the store by a HUGE AMOUNT.
    After meal planning, go grocery shopping, get what you need, and prep what you need for the week when you get home. I actually spent about 2 hours last night cooking chicken for my salads, washing and chopping up fruits and veggies, and hard boiling eggs. So now during the week when I'm busy I can just reach into the fridge, grab what I need, and go. This is a huge time saver, and it keeps you stress free.

     As for dinners, I tend to make those on a day by day basis, but I usually only plan 3 dinners a week and the rest of the nights are leftover nights. Not only does this save time, but it saves money and ensures that I'm not being wasteful.
   If you are super busy during the week, I would suggest prepping the meat for your dinners ahead of time, or even putting together meals in a freezer bag for the slow cooker and just plopping them in to cook while you are gone. When you come home each night, dinner will have cooked itself (and the house smells AMAZING). If you don't have a slow cooker, I would suggest getting one or borrowing one from an older relative who might only use it for parties and holidays.
    My breakfast is always Shakeology. It gives me a constant source of superfoods and dense nutrition. It takes about 1 minute to prepare, and 10 minutes to drink (for me anyways because I'm a slow drinker). This is super convenient before class to make sure that I'm starting off my day right, so that saves me time there too.

Okay, well I think that those are all of my tips for this week! Go forth and meal plan! Let me know what your experience is with this, and comment if you have any other tips to share!

1st day of the 21 Day Fix

      For more information on the 21 Day Fix, please refer to my earlier post "All about the 21 day fix"

 As promised, I am going to give an honest review of my 21 day journey with the 21 Day Fix. Hopefully it will serve 2 purposes:

 1.) To help inform you of what the program is like 

and

2.) To help keep me accountable over the next 3 weeks.

     For personal reasons, I think that it is important for me to explain what my goals are with this program, so here goes!
 

MY GOALS

   I am starting this program at 127 lbs, and I am hoping to lose 6 lbs with this. I realize that this might sound a little crazy considering how much of my body weight that is (the heavier you are, the easier it is to lose a larger amount of weight in a given time period, and vice versa). However, this program advertises that it can help you lose between 5 and 15 lbs in 21 days. I am a little skeptical because I have been doing T25 and drinking Shakeology until now, and have lost 12 lbs in about a 4 month time span. However, I'm not a nutrition expert so my meals haven't always been perfect, and I have made bad choices with food along the way. I'm hoping that this "nutrition for dummies" as I'm going to call it will help this dummy out :p So basically, if you stick to it 100%, you should be able to lose what it promises. I am going to give it my best shot to stick to it, so let's see what I can do! Although, tomorrow is valentines day, so I might need to add on another day and really make it the 22 Day Fix! lol

    Here is a breakdown of my goals over the next 3 weeks:

               lose 6 lbs

               Get better at figuring out how to balance my meals between the food groups

               learning what correct portions even look like (because I literally have no idea and just guess)

              .....and I really want to be able to inspire people along the way to start making healthy choices 

              #EndTheTrend

Day 1: 

     Yesterday, I figured out my calorie target using the easy formula in the book and used the chart to find out how many of each color of container I should be getting every day. After that, I sat down and made my meal plan to make sure that I was getting all of my container portions in for the day. The first thing that I discovered here is that I was actually going to be eating a lot of protein throughout the day, and a lot less carbs than I am use to. Like I said, this is all a learning experience! 

    I was planning on going grocery shopping today, but I got so bogged down with everything else that I didn't get a chance, so I had to make due with what we had at home. I had everything except my lunch and second snack. To make up for this, I doubled the containers for dinner so that I was still getting in my 2 reds (protein), and 2 yellows (carbs). I have to say, I haven't been feeling great today, so I'm happy I was able to manage all of that. 

   One thing is for sure, those containers hold  MUCH MORE FOOD than I thought that they would. I haven't been hungry all day and wasn't even able to get all of my food in!

The Workout:

    Today was Total Body Cardio fix, and let me just say, I am not a fan of cardio at all...in general. But I know that it is a vital part of losing weight, so I do my best with it. Those people that love running...not me. Probably never will be! lol

   I was expecting to be able to breeze through the workout since I just got done with T25, but that was not the case. Even with the 20 second breaks every minute, I was still having a very hard time keeping up and I was doing the moderator moves more than I thought I would be. On a side note, I need to get some hand weights for the moves in this one, because the resistance bands are very hard to work with for the moves.  

To wrap up:

     More food than I thought there would be, challenging workouts, and I need hand weights. Day 2, here I come! It's all about getting better every day, and that's what I plan on doing! More updates coming in a few days!

The Freshman 15

THE FRESHMAN 15 IS REAL. For some it could only be a couple of pounds, for others, it's well over the 15 it's named after. Universities have built in gym memberships in the tuition, and many of us assume that we will take full advantage of them and be in the best shape of our live's because of it. So why is it that most of us gain weight? I can think of a few reasons.

1.) Budget

    This is the one that seems like a no brainer, we're broke. With the cost of tuition and living costs skyrocketing, it's no wonder that the average college student doesn't have a lot of disposable cash. If we do, we would certainly rather spend it on things we actually want than spend it on groceries (something we've never had to pay for before anyways). When you go grocery shopping, what's always on sale, is super easy to make, and has all sorts of combinations? Pasta. Literally all you have to know how to do is boil water to make this dish. So it's no wonder that it is a college staple. Here is basically how it works from our standpoint: everything in the aisles is cheap, stuff lining the outer walls tends to be more expensive and harder to make into a meal since it generally requires some cooking know-how. Unfortunately, the outside of the supermarket is where all of the healthier foods are, like fresh meat, fruits and veggies, fresh dairy, and seafood. We tend to fill our carts with things that can be quickly made, are cheap, and happen to not expire for at least a couple of years. I'm sure that doesn't bode well for our digestive systems. 

2.) Fast food is everywhere, all the time.

     I'm pretty sure that this isn't just a problem that is exclusive to college students, based on how "large" our country is. However, it is still something that plays a role. Let me just say, I think everyone is guilty of this, at least once in a while.  

     When we come to college, many of us are use to having meals made for us for the most part. For me, fast food was not an every day thing at home...but it could be when I came to college. When you get to college, you don't have parents around cooking for you, or telling you what to do. Although this is part of what makes college absolutely amazing, it also leads to us ordering pizza at 3 am.. Did I mention that there is a hot light app for Krispy Kreme? Yes, the app will actually notify you when fresh, hot doughnuts are available. That has gotten me into a lot of trouble and I had to uninstall it when I started trying to lose weight.

    I know that this seems contradictory to my first reason "budget", but let's be honest, it's hard to realize how easily small charges on our debit cards add up unless you are actually looking at the TOTAL price of it each month. So $6 here and $8 here doesn't seem to be that big of a deal until we realize that we spent around $200 a month on fast food. It's such an easy alternative to grocery shopping, and is literally everywhere. So I'm saying that fast food is a big part of why most of us gain weight in college, and let's not forget the alcohol consumption.

3.) No more varsity sports

    I was a varsity cheerleader in High School and spent a lot of time with my team practicing and just being active. I would say that most of us did something that we enjoyed in High School that involved some kind of activity. Well, when you get to college you get really busy with classes, because let's just be honest, no matter how hard your classes in High School were, you were not ready for these classes. We don't even realize it's happening until our jeans are a little tight one day, but we just aren't as active as we were in High School. Yes, we do have a gym membership. But do we really use it as much as we should? Obviously not if we all put on weight.

   

I think that these are the top 3 reasons why we put on weight in college. Fortunately, weight can be lost, so you don't have to just deal with it. I know that it can be tempting to just wear the yoga pants and oversized t-shirts that you wear to campus, everywhere. Then you never have to deal with those jeans that don't button or that shirt that shows your "beer belly" way to well. Come on though, do you really want to just have to buy bigger clothes at some point? It kind of seems like giving up on yourself if you do that, doesn't it? It did for me, so I never bought bigger clothes, because it seemed like I was condoning my weight gain, and I seriously did not. So here's what you need to do:

1.) Find easy recipes that incorporate veggies and leaner meats, and cut down the fast food meals. You'll be surprised at how many different things you can make, and you'll feel better after dinner instead of feeling sluggish and sick.

2.) Drink more water! Most of us are chronically dehydrated, so make sure that you are drinking half of your body weight in oz of water per day. For example, if you weigh 140 lbs, drink 70 oz of water. This will help you digest food, have more energy, and basically keep everything in your body running smoothly.

3.) I know it's not fun, but you have to exercise. I don't mean walking to the fridge more often, but I also don't mean working out for an hour every day. As long as you get in 30 minutes of good exercise 3 or 4 times per week, this is adequate. I hate working out, but I also hate not being confident in a body that I am going to spend my entire life in. 

     We are young, so don't waste your youth in a body that you aren't happy in! There are some things that we can not change, and I'm not saying that you need to be "skinny" to be happy. But I am saying that healthy is beautiful, and you will feel beautiful if you are treating your body right. I know that in America we are leaning more towards this idea that it is common to eat horrible and not exercise, and that this is ok. You also hear all the time that "real women" are curvy, and that smaller women are "not real". I don't have a preference on how someone looks, but I do think that treating your body well and living in a healthy way that inspires others to do the same, is extremely beautiful. It's hard to lose weight, but it's possible with some changes and hard work. Don't waste another day being unhappy. Take charge of your life! I know I will never regret starting my journey to a healthier life! <3

Meal Planning; Our Favorites

        It's always a difficult switch to go from college eating to homemade food all of the time. For Zach and I, it wasn't that bad since we already did more cooking at home than most people our age, but we still had to come up with a plan to avoid eating out so often. I would say that we were eating out around 5 or 6 times a week before we starting meal planning for the week. Not only was this bad for us, but it was getting expensive and we weren't even realizing it until we looked at Mint at the end of the month (a budget website). So when we moved in together, we knew that we needed to come up with a better system.

       

      I was at Goodwill one day when I found a big crock-pot cookbook, and that is where everything started to come together. This along with many Pinterest posts is where we got all of our recipes. We planned out the week of dinners, went grocery shopping, put together all of the meals, and put them in the freezer. We knew what days we we were having what and would take it out the night before, put it in the crock-pot before class, and dinner would be ready when we both got home from class. Not only was it super simple, it made the apartment smell great and we saved so much money by not eating out.

      This week we put our meal plan together, and there are always a couple of favorites that we try to incorporate. Since we are making them at home, we can substitute healthy ingredients to make the meals something that fits into my healthy lifestyle. So these are the two that we are having this week, and they are Zach tested and approved!

1.) Chicken Tacos        

 Ingredients

1 packet of taco seasoning or homeade seasoning

2 lbs of the cheapest chicken meat

1 can of pico of your choosing

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup water

For preparation of the tacos after:

whole wheat tortillas

shredded cheese

1 diced onion

Directions

1.) Put seasoning on the bottom of the crockpot and put chicken on top of this.

2.) Cover chicken in pico (or salsa)

3.) Pour the water and olive oil on top, do not stir.

5.) Cook on high for 6 hours

6.) shred and de-bone chicken on a seperate plate, then return to the crockpot.

7.) Serve on tortillas with cheese.

2.) Easy Pulled Pork     

Ingredients

4 lbs or pork butt roast

2 yellow onions, sliced

Dry rub:

3 tbsps chili powder

1 tsps coriander

2 tsps cumin

2 tsps onion powder

1 tbsp dried parsley

1/4 tsp chipotle powder

2 tsps sea salt

Directions:

1.) Rub all of the dry rub ingredients onto the pork.

2.) Lay onions on the bottom of the crock pot, and place the roast on top, and the rest of the onions on top

3.) Cook the roast on High for 5-6 hours and then turn to Low for 3-4. NO LIQUID NECESSARY

These are the favorites that we included in our meal plan this week, and they are always dinners that we both look forward to! There are also usually a lot of leftovers so that we can have them for lunch and other dinners all week!

Have a great week everyone!

All about the 21 Day Fix!!!

So what is the 21 Day Fix anyways?

    The 21 Day Fix is the newest Beachbody fitness and nutrition program by Autumn Calebrese that is going to make getting fast results even more attainable! The one thing that I hear over and over again from people is that they want results fast...of course you do! But that doesn't mean that you have to go on weird crash diets that will leave you malnourished or spend hours working out! These workouts are 30 minutes and are made for anyone; the fitness guru or the person who has never exercised (because of the moderator in every single workout!). On the nutrition portion, there are color coded containers to make eating right simple and full proof! Take a look! This is launching on February 3rd 2014!

This is a program that we at Beachbody have been very excited about since it's reveal a few months back, and I cannot wait to do this myself! I know that I am not the type of person to be able to cut out foods completely, because I am not a person who can "diet". Luckily, that is not what this is at all! It can be done once to lose up to 15 lbs in 21 days, or you can keep doing it! One of the initial test group participants lost 111 lbs after doing 10 rounds! The point is, it's sustainable and you can actually get quick results and keep the weight off! (A rare combo!) I am hoping that this can help get me even closer to my goal weight since I am only 11 lbs away! We all know that it's those last 10 lbs that are the hardest to get rid of!

You no longer have to guess when it comes to how much to eat! Say goodbye to dieting and all of the confusing information that you'll come across when looking into eating healthy! If it fits into these containers, you can eat it! Even treats like chocolate or a glass of wine!

This is what you get in the Base Kit, and Shakeology comes with it if you get the Challenge pack!

         

       How does the patented container system work? 
  The nutrition portion is the part that is going to make this the easiest for me, because I am bad at this part. So let me tell you a little bit about how it works. With the kit, you get a book with how to use the container system. You start out by using an equation to find out how many calories you should be eating a day, and when you get this number, this is the last time that you will have to think about calories again. You find the section in the book that matches how many calories you should be having per day, and this section is called your "calorie bucket". This section will tell you how many times you will be refilling each container throughout the day. So you are not filling each container once and then that's all the food you get for the day. You will have multiples of the green, purple, etc. depending on your specific "calorie bucket". You can choose to eat these whenever you want! See what you can make with multiple containers!

     Once you figure out how many of each container you will be having per day, then you have to figure out what you want to put in it. This is where you can really tailor it to your taste. There is a page in the book that tells you which foods go into each colored container. For example, in the green container, there is a list of veggies. For the purple, a list of fruits. So you can pick from this page and anything that fits into the container, you can eat! So you don't have to have foods that you don't like, which you'll find is different from most nutrition plans. But there is a recipe section just in case you don't happen to be a person who is good at coming up with good combinations! A little tip, the foods are listed in the order of how nutrient dense they are from top to bottom! Here is an example of the page for what goes in the purple container so you can see what I mean:

Exclusive Test Group! Only taking 5 people!

This workout is available starting February 3rd 2014, and you had better believe that I will be snatching it up as soon as it goes live because of the high demand! On February 17th, I will be starting a private support and accountability Facebook group for 5 people who are motivated and want to get quick results! I need people who are dedicated because I'm looking for amazing results to share with others at the end of the 3 weeks! This group will offer support, accountability, motivation, help with meal planning and prepping for this program, and workout tips! We will all be checking in with each other in the group daily to make sure that we stay on track! Here are some of the results that we got from the initial test groups for this program when Beachbody was putting it together. You'll see why I'm so excited!

What will being in the group be like? Take a look!

Imagine where you could be in just 21 days!!!

A word on pricing

    The other thing that I hear from you guys over and over again after "I want results fast", is "I need something more affordable". I definitely understand that, and I have great news! This is one of the most affordable programs that Beachbody has come out with! 

    For all of my groups, I require my participants to have the program for the group (this one would be the 21 Day Fix), and Shakeology for the month. Shakeology is the meal replacement shake that goes with all of the beachbody programs, and was actually built right into the 21 Day Fix's nutrition plan. It is your daily dose of dense nutrition, and I drink it every day. You may wonder why I require that you also get Shakeology for the duration of the group. It is very simple, I am going to put all of my effort into making sure that you get amazing results. I am going to help you learn how to eat clean, how to meal plan and prep, and I am going to make myself available to you 24/7, FOR FREE. Honestly, Shakeology makes both of our jobs a lot easier. It is the one meal a day that you don't have to think about, it is simple, fast and the healthiest thing you will be able to eat all day. This means one less meal for you to plan, and I know that I can count on you getting nutrition from there. Let's be honest, the less meals that you have to think about, the better!

      The best way to get both of these, is to get a challenge pack. A challenge pack is a bundle that comes with the program and your month of Shakeology, and is DEEPLY discounted. The 21 Day Fix challenge pack is normally going to be $160, but is $140 with free shipping this month because of it's release! Also, because you would be buying it from a coach, you get a free workout "Plyo Fix" (a 17.95 value) for free! On top of that, the first 3 people who buy a challenge pack to join the group will be getting 3 free gifts from me as a thank you, a Shakeology tote bag, a single serving of chocolate or vanilla Shakeology, and a $10 bill! 

   The price breaks down to be $4.33 per day, and that includes 1 of your meals each day! This means that you will be getting the 21 Day Fix and a month of Shakeology for the same price as a bag of Shakeology on it's own! It is a great deal!

Would you like to be considered for a spot in my Exclusive Test Group? Fill out this application below for a chance to reserve a spot!

Fill out my online form.

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