Let’s Talk Lunch!

I am a creature of habit, so when I find a meal that I love, I tend to stick with it for a month or two before changing it up.  I love to have the same breakfast and lunch everyday and then mix it up for dinner. 

So, today, let’s talk lunch! I’m not a big fan of hot foods or cooked foods for lunch.  I like it simple, healthy, quick and cold.  Ha!  Therefore, I am all about finding sandwich and salad recipes for lunch time.

Here has been my go-to meals for the past several months:

First up, hummus and cucumber on a whole grain english muffin with low fat plain yogurt and sprinkles…

This is super simple to make…simply toast the english muffin, spread on 1 tbsp of hummus on each muffin, place 2-3 cucumber slices and enjoy! The yogurt is about 1/2 a cup with 2 tsp. of sprinkles on top.  The entire meal comes in at just under 300 calories.

Next up, this has been my go-to lunch as of late:  Cream cheese, turkey and spinach rollups with strawberries.

Of course, this is super simple as well…simply take an 8” tortilla and spread 2 tbsp. of whipped cream cheese.  Place 3-4 slices of nitrate-free turkey breast and several leaves of baby spinach.  Sometimes I like to pluck off the stems if they are a little long.

Then roll and enjoy!

How pretty and colorful does that look?  And at 300 calories, it is super healthy and satisfying.

Now, if you want to get a little more complex in your recipe, but still have a delicious wrap, I highly recommend a tabbouleh wrap!

Here’s a recipe I like to use, but keep in mind you can pretty much add anything you want and it will still be delicious!

-3/4 cup bulgur, cooked

-3/4 cup of chopped cucumber

-1/8 cup chopped black olives

-1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions

-1 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

-2 tbsp. water

-3 tbsp. olive oil

-3 tbsp. lemon juice

-1/4 tsp. salt

-3/4 cup chopped tomato

Combine bulgur, cucumber, black olives, green onions, parsley and tomato in a bowl.  To make the dressing, combine water, olive oil, lemon juice and salt.  Stir and pour over bulgur mix. Toss to coat and chill in fridge for 4-24 hours.  This is one of those dishes that gets better with age, so the next day all the flavors have melded together and it’s delicious!

You can eat it with a spoon or put it on some whole wheat crackers or fill a pita or flour tortilla.  It’s very flexible and one of my favorite summer recipes!

This one comes in with the lowest calories!  This makes approximately five servings and each serving is about 170 calories.  If you add in a wrap it is about 250 calories.  Add in a cup of fruit and you’ve got yourself a lunch!

So, what are your favorite lunch recipes?  Comment and let me know!

When You Fall Off The Wagon…

Well, for a few weeks now I have not been as dedicated to my workouts and healthy eating as I had previously.  In other words, I fell off the wagon.  It hurt.  I found my focus and drive go down, my energy decreased and I was impatient and frustrated more often because I wasn’t doing what was best for my body and, therefore, my mind was suffering.  I was eating junk and my stomach hurt afterwards.  I would get that “icky” feeling and just generally did not feel good.

But you know what?  I NEEDED THAT REMINDER. I know it probably sounds crazy, but I had forgotten how poorly I felt before my daily exercise and Shakeology.  Don’t get me wrong, I was on vacation for a good portion of the time and did enjoy myself but I did not feel nearly as good as I do while making healthy choices. I am SO VERY HAPPY to be back in my routine and feeling my sore muscles and getting the boost of energy from my shakes.  Yesterday I started back and, not gonna lie, it was HARD.  Even after just a short week and a half of a break, my body had already started to lose muscle and stamina. 

So how did I get back to my daily routine?  I made the commitment and joined my upline’s Challenge Group.  Here is my first day post workout sweaty picture ;)

So, this particular Challenge Group I am participating in is doing 21 Day Fix, so I have switched from Chalean Extreme to 21DF.  I love the exercises in this workout because they are all 30 minutes and are tough but are great for beginners with the modifier.  Let me tell you, I was SORE this morning…I have rediscovered my quads and they were not pleased.  Funny thing is, I actually have learned to appreciate this feeling because it means that I am pushing and changing my body in a GOOD way.

So, I had been thinking over the past couple of weeks of ideas for my next Challenge Group that I will lead.  I wanted to add something that I personally would really love besides the fitness and nutrition. I am a book junkie and have really learned that personal development is key to making and sticking with changes in my life, so I decided to add in a book with my next Group.  I found Made to Crave: Satisfying Your Desires With God, Not Food and was hooked.  This was PERFECT for me!  I have such a bad habit of using food to replace voids in my life and I need to learn how to redirect it.  I am also very bad at just eating out of boredom.  I must eat only to fuel my body, not to fill a void!

So, here’s the deal…my next Challenge Group will start this coming Monday, August 25th.  We will be combining a fitness program with Shakeology as usual, but will also add in the book.  I will be assigning sections of the book to read and then we will come together and discuss as well as motivate and inspire each other.  I am SO EXCITED about this new group!

If this sounds like something you would be interested in, feel free to contact me!  I can answer any questions you may have or give you more details.  I am so excited about the number of women who have already committed to this challenge and can’t wait to see the results we all walk away with at the end of these 30 days.  If you are ready, it can really change your life.

Take care!

Chalean Extreme Modified Burn Schedule

Good morning!  I have begun using Chalean Extreme and it is fantastic. I have learned so much about weight training and it has totally changed my beliefs!  I’m going to work on it for the next month but the original schedule wasn’t quite right for me.  I really prefer to work out five days a week and take off the weekends.  This keeps me from feeling overwhelmed with a program. Plus, when the weekends get crazy busy, I’m not struggling to fit in my workout.  It’s just a nice break.
So, I made a modified schedule for five days a week, Monday through Friday, and thought I would share it with you! I noticed that weight training is done every other day to give your muscles rest, so I incorporated that into the schedule.  This is only for the first phase of three for Chalean Extreme, called the Burn Phase.  If you are looking for a modified schedule to the Chalean Extreme Burn Phase, I hope you enjoy this one! If you are interested in trying out Chalean Extreme, please contact me for more information. Take care!

Dream Big! What Are Your Goals In Life?

I have been reading some terrific personal development books lately and then listened to a team call last night that really motivated me this morning to create my own Dream Board.  This is a Board full of pictures of things I would like to achieve within the next two years or so.  This is NOT a bucket list!  This is something that I believe I can achieve waaaaaay before I kick the bucket! ;) 

I wanted to share them here and let you know that I believe, truly believe, that these goals are all achievable so soon BECAUSE of Beachbody. I have seen it happen to many of the wonderful ladies in my upline and I know it can happen for me.  It can also happen for you.  I believe it takes some hard work, commitment and CONSISTENCY!!

Here it is…

I have actually changed my desktop to look like this and will probably print it out to help encourage me.  I am so excited to share each of these with you!

First, I think it’s important to give you a bit of background.  I am sharing this in the hopes that you will be encouraged as well. Rob and I live a comfortable life, but it took time to get there. We bought our current house at the height of the big housing boom and paid more than we should have.  I could say we were young and naive, and just super excited to have our “first” house, but the truth is we made a mistake buying at that time.  We were paying way more than we should have for our income and were, what Dave Ramsey calls “house poor”.  We could afford the house but not a whole lot of other things! We had two car payments and student loans on top of our mortgage. 

Fortunately, Rob was able to consistently get raises each year and we eventually got to the point where we paid off the student loans.  We were ready for children and had FINALLY reached the point where I could come home from work to be a full time mom.  But, this was tough.  It was hard to go down to one income and add the expense of another child.  Believe me when I say that I am so GRATEFUL to Rob and his job, because it is quite secure and has great insurance, which has been such a blessing in our life.  So, we were able to make ends meet and do a few extra things.  However, we had very little savings.  Very little.  And every time we built it up a bit we would travel or do other fun things because I have such a “I want to do it now before I’m old!” mentality.

Then, two big things happened last year that really changed my outlook.  First, Rob was a part of the government furlough and his always-reliable-paycheck was suddenly reduced.  They also cut out most of his travel, so that bonus income was gone.  Second, we enrolled in a Dave Ramsey Financial Freedom course at our church.  These two major things last year CHANGED MY WAY OF THINKING. Both of these events, whether I liked them or not, helped me understand that we were not being the best stewards of our money.  We could do so much better, but (and you’ll hear this repeated quite a bit!), it would take DEDICATION and CONSISTENCY. 

And you know what?  For the past year we have worked out a budget and managed to pay down all of our debts, minus the mortgage, and start a savings of 3-6 months income (recommended by Mr. Dave). It is HARD. Sometimes I want to quit and just not worry about savings, or the future, and just “live in the moment”.  However, we have stayed consistent.  But I began to feel like we had reached all we were going to be able to achieve with our “box”.  And I realized that I have to dream bigger in order to make those dreams happen. 

So, lately, as I have been working on making my body healthy not only has my mind been more clear and healthy, but it has allowed me to start dreaming outside of box. I realized, by listening to my awesome upline and reading personal development, that there is no reason to stop dreaming.  To think that I have achieved all I am going to and to just stay “status quo”.  You and I can do more, dream more, create more! 

My first goal is to continue on my fitness journey.  I would love to see my abs and get my arms into better shape.  But, at the heart of it, I just want to feel confident in my clothes and not worry about how I look at the beach.

Arms and Abs, baby!

I want to continue my personal development journey and read as much as I can…

Build my dream house with a beautiful kitchen, open floor plan and LOTS of storage.  A pantry!  One day I look forward to having a pantry! This is a picture of the actual kitchen I hope to will have one day.

Along those same lines, I dream about having the ultimate homeschool room for my children.  Yes, I’m a crazy homeschool mom!  I love it and believe it has been my calling from God as the best choice for my children.  One day I hope to have a room full of beautiful white furniture, colorful wall maps and lots of sunlight to foster their love and learning and creating…

I live in Florida and have a four year old who is crazy about swimming.  This year I have been feeling the itch to have a pool!  I would love to be able to have lazy summer days by the pool, pool parties and hear the giggles of my kids as they enjoy the water…

I might throw in a fire pit and a hot tub, too! ;)

To travel freely and to show my children all kinds of different places and cultures.  My primary goal is to go to England, Scotland and Ireland and stay in castles and see Stonehenge and visit Irish pubs and let my kids pretend to be kings and queens. 

The final big dream, which is the most important to me, is to help others change their lives.

I want to show others that if I can do it, so can you! Listen, I was such a coach potato before.  I never committed more than a couple weeks to any sort of exercise and NEVER finished a program.  I would lose weight just by dieting only to gain it back and then some.  Between the awesome fitness programs, world class instructors, incredible shakes and the support online of other coaches and friends, I found that it was totally possible to stick with something.  And that missing one day didn’t mean it was over and I had to quit.  I learned to keep going!  And that has shown me that I can dream bigger!

If you’d like to join me on this journey, I would so love to have you!  I love dreaming and creating with others.  I can help you discover your own goals and how you can achieve them. If you’d like to reach me, just fill out the contact form below or message me on facebook and I will be in touch. Now, go fill out your own Dream Board!

My 3 Day Refresh Results!

I have officially completed the 3 Day Refresh and my results are in!

That’s right…in just 72 hours I lost a total of 3 lbs and an inch from my waist! I was SHOCKED because I had been working on losing weight for a couple of months, now, and thought that surely it wouldn’t result in much weight loss, if any.  But, it finally pushed me over that plateau that I’ve been hitting for almost a year now. (I would get down to my lowest weight and then sit there and then slowly creep back up, only to get down to that same number again but NEVER GET PAST IT!  Ahh, so frustrating!)  I’m not sure if you can tell the difference in this picture, but look at the seam of my shirt…I had just washed it both times so it wasn’t all stretched out.  On Monday, it was fitted.  Today, it was actually loose.  On me.  Loose!  To say I am thrilled with the results is an understatement!!! I haven’t been at my current weight in SEVEN YEARS. That is because I slowly put on weight after getting married and then three children later it just kept adding up.  It was the compound effect…a little over time really added up to 20+ pounds.  So, I’m now making the compound effect work for me…working hard so that over time I will be at my healthiest and fittest.

So how were those three days?  I’m going to be completely honest.  The first day was fine…I wasn’t hungry and just felt a little tired in the evening.  Day two was harder and day three was the hardest.  I was definitely hungry on the evening of day two and and day three.  It took a firm resolve and mindset to tell myself that this was only three days and I could do it!  I reminded myself that I was doing something good for my body by getting rid of toxins that had been building up and starting clean. 

I made it a priority to not schedule anything on the three days I did the cleanse, including exercise.  I just relaxed and enjoyed my family.  I read a books and got caught up on my favorite tv show.  I kept myself busy so as to avoid thinking about FOOD.  I drank plenty of water and followed all the rules in the book.  And it paid off!!

So, would I do it again?  Definitely!  It is a serious commitment, but one that did great things for my body, both inside and out, and got me past my weight loss plateau.  It’s only 3 days! 72 hours! You can do anything for 72 hours. But I am ready to get back to my workouts!

Is the 3 Day Refresh something that you’d be interested in?  My results are the AVERAGE results that people have been getting with this product! You could do even better, depending on where you are starting from.  It is a wonderful way to kick start your weight loss goals and to detoxify your body.  I am starting a 30 day Challenge group on July 28th called the Refresh Challenge.  We will do the 3 Day Refresh and then 27 days of clean eating along with a Shakeology daily.  You will incorporate exercise of your choice for at least 30 minutes 3-5 days a week and learn how to make healthy food choices. I will be with you every step of the way and we will support and encourage one another!  Plus, it will be fun!!  If you’d like to join me, please fill out the contact form and I will help to get you started.

Until next time, take care!

3 Day Refresh – Shopping and Day 1

I am currently on Day 2 of my 3 Day Refresh and it’s going well!  But, I want to document my first day as well as the grocery shopping.  And, I’ll tell you all!! The good, the bad and the ugly.  Here goes…

Sunday was my grocery shopping day.  I made a list of foods I would need from the guide and came home with this…

Yum, right?? Look at all those colors! Remember, this is not a starvation diet or juice cleanse. It is real, clean foods along with shakes to “reset” and clean up your body. 

I woke up yesterday morning and logged my start weight, took a before picture and measured my waist.  These are the three areas that I wanted to track and see if there is a noticeable change.

Then, it was on to making breakfast.  It was my chocolate Shakeology and strawberries…delicious!

I was totally full after eating this, and honestly, think I would have lasted until lunch no problem.  I tell ya, I don’t know which super foods in Shakeology do it, but it really curbs my hunger for several hours.  I LOVE THIS!  Normally, with a regular breakfast, I am always hungry about two hours later. 

Next up, mid morning, was the Fiber Sweep.  This is a packet that is mixed with water. And I have to be totally honest…it is not good.  Nope, not at all.  But, it’s super simple to make by just adding water and mixing.  Then, you just chug it as quickly as possible. Remember, you are doing good things for your body!!

Lunch is much better! ;) It’s a veggie and a fat plus the Refresh Vanilla Shake…

There is a snack after lunch, which I forgot to photograph.  But, I had celery and hummus.  Yum.  You can also have several herbal or green teas throughout the day, if you choose.

I choose to make a spinach salad for dinner.  It was HUGE!  I actually had trouble eating all of it…I was full! You pick any of the dinner recipes listed in the guide PLUS one last Vanilla Refresh shake…

I finished the salad but just couldn’t finish the shake.  That is how filling everything was!  Now, again complete honesty, I’m not a huge fan of the vanilla shakes.  Vanilla is never my favorite flavor. I wish I could add a bit of cocoa to it, but I want to follow the program perfectly.

So, what did I think of the first day?? I really loved the fact that I wasn’t hungry the entire day.  I was fully expecting tummy rumbles and desperation! ;)  But, no, I was very much full.  My energy was a little low in the evening, despite being full.  I’m always a bit of a crab when I don’t have much carbs and yesterday was no exception.  My husband is probably very grateful that it’s only three days. Ha! But, I woke up this morning feeling great and the scale is already rewarding me!! I’m going to post my final results Thursday morning, but I am super excited about where I am at right now!

One crazy thing I noticed is that I really missed exercising yesterday.  Even though the program recommends that you can maintain your fitness during the Refresh (just don’t push yourself), I decided it would be best for me to not workout.  I did not want to get super hungry or exhausted and wanted to focus solely on my Refresh.  But, crazy enough, I missed it!!  This, coming from a girl who thought exercise was crazy just a few short months ago, is amazing in and of itself!!  So, I am super excited about getting back to it Thursday.

Okay, I’m going to finish it up today and tomorrow and then post all my final results and experiences Thursday morning.  Can’t wait!

In the meantime, if you are looking for a way to jumpstart your fitness and health goals, I think you would love the 3 Day Refresh along with drinking Shakeology every day.  Shakeology changed my life.  Really.  And it can change yours, too!  I’d be happy to customize a fitness program and meal plan for you, and along with your shakes, you can watch your energy increase, the pounds melt away and your muscles become strong!  Contact me if you are ready to start your fitness journey.

See you Thursday!

Strawberry Cheesecake Shakeology Recipe! (And A Little 3 Day Refresh Excitement…)

Hi all! So, I’m a total creature of habit and once I found a good way to make my shakes, I normally just stick with it.  My standard, go-to recipe for my breakfast shake is what I call a Mocha Latte Shake:

-Ice

-1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk

-1 cup chilled, decaf coffee

-1 scoop chocolate shakeology

Total calories: 165

I just dump all of this in my shaker cup, shake and go!  I really love this combo and it saves the time of having to use and clean the blender. HOWEVER, I have been inspired lately to mix it up a bit.  I have some strawberry packets that I have been experimenting with and I found an absolutely delicious recipe if you are looking for ways to dress up your strawberry flavor.  BUT, this will also go great with chocolate or vanilla.  I call it the Strawberry Cheesecake Shake and here is the recipe:

Put in a blender the following:

-Ice (the more you add the thicker the shake will be)

-About 3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk

-1 scoop strawberry shakeology

-1/4 of a packet of Jello Non Fat Cheesecake mix (about 1 tsp.)

-1 graham cracker, crumbed

It will look like this…

Blend it up and pour into your cup!  It comes out to a total of about 240 calories. So yummy!

Also, I am excited to mention that my 3 Day Refresh finally came today and I can’t wait to give it a try! I am going to do the grocery shopping for it on Sunday, July 13th and then will be doing the Refresh Monday July 14th through Wednesday July 16th.  I am going to document on here the meals I choose, the way it makes me feel and my results.  Feel free to follow along! 

I hope you all enjoyed the recipes and get a chance to check out my journey on the 3 Day Refresh.  In the meantime, if you are looking for a way to begin your own journey to health and fitness,  I would love to help you.  I am in this with you and totally understand the obstacles and mindset that can keep us from making healthy food choices and getting in our exercise.  I’ve been there and can help you through those negative thoughts!  Any excuses you have?  They are all in your mind.  You can totally do this!!  Please feel free to contact me if you are ready to make a change.

Take care!