Morning all! Today on my workout schedule I had Yoga X from P90X3 so I subbed in Sweat from PiYo Instead. WOW! It was sweaty, yeah perfect description! It goes fast so maybe after a couple times I will have the flow down a little better. And she had the nerve to sneak in burpees! Chalene you so & so you.

 

As long as you don't add syrupy sugar mixes to your sangria it's a great choice for catching a little buzz when eating healthy! Everything in moderation!

Travel and clean eating

Those who are working and dedicated to eating healthy often bring lunch with them to work and I applaud those who do. It's not easy to plan lunches and snacks and all that.  Would you even consider using a Tiffin box?
http://www.poppytalk.com/2014/06/its-picnic-season-at-new-domestic.html

Easy Breezy Frittata

Check it out! I love making frittatas for and easy grab and go breakfast. Once you bake this off keep the pieces in the fridge to take with you or to shove in your face when you are running low on time! 

8 eggs
red onion
zucchini (and any veg you love or leftovers from dinner!)
smoked turkey
salt & pepper
sautee onion, veggies in tsp olive oil put in bottom of a baking/pie dish
scramble the 8 eggs add salt & pepper (not too much salt, a pinch, the smoked turkey has sodium)
pour eggs over, chop up 4 slices of turkey and sprinkle over the egg
bake on 350 until it's still jiggly in middle turn off oven and let it firm up.
cut into 8 pieces, each piece has one egg about 1/2 red of turkey

Super Mega Deal on Beachbody Programs

Kids, what if I told you there was a crazy package deal from beach body where you could get 3 of the most popular current programs plus a ton of bonus's and save over $120? Would you like that? Well hold on to your panties because its true. Here's the deal:
Three 30-minute or less programs: 21 Day Fix®, FOCUS T25® and P90X3®
Shakeology! Delivered on Home Direct
30-Day FREE trial membership to Team Beachbody Club
Business Starter Kit
Popular Coach tools including a Shakeology® Taste Sampler, Shakeology Tote Bags (5-pack), Shakeology Welcome Guides (10-pack) and Team Beachbody Product Catalogs (5-pack)
$295

This package is intended for new coaches, but in all seriousness, even if you just got this to amass a great collection of programs and shakeology it's worth it. Signing up as a coach is a huge bonus. But this package is a deal on its own. Think you need to be in top shape to inspire and help change people's lives? All you need to do is take the first step and push play! This package will get you started on your healthy fit lifestyle! And then you can help others! Be a part of positive change for someone else. If you've been wondering about becoming a coach, now is the time! These programs are amazing tools and have helped so many. Join my team! I have fantastic graphic skills to make ads for you. That's the extra bonus!

Sriracha Chicken Lettuce Wraps: I usually hold out on trends or popular things, don't ask me why. When everyone is raving about a movie I usually end up thinking it wasn't that great, or a band, or any trend really.  When Sriracha sauce shot to the forefront as a condiment darling I refused to fall for it.

I finally caved, now that I see it on the tables of every hipster restaurant. It's not life changing, it's a solid good tasting hot sauce. It's perfect for this recipe, if you're in the mood for some heat and Asian flair. And it's yet again pretty intricate, very difficult.

  1 red grilled chicken chopped
1/2 yellow brown rice
1 green raw zucchini chopped
dress with lime juice, drop of toasted sesame oil and sriracha sauce, mix

serve in butter lettuce or on top of a salad

P90X3 Progress Report and my feelings:  As you can see I have come pretty freaking far, but still have a ways to go. Why do I love working out at home and beachbody dvd's and Beachbody challenges in particular?

Working out at home: I did the gym when I had tons of time and nothing else going on besides work and getting drunk with my friends. We would spend our early nights in classes and wasting time on the elliptical, gossiping about whatever went on the night before, go home shower and then go to bed or if it was Thursday-Saturday night we would go get bombed. It takes at least 20 minutes to get to the gym both ways so right there is 40 minutes wasted and then once I get there I have no idea what to do or if I am doing it right.

Loving Beachbody dvd's: Well, obviously, I can fit them in when I need to. P90X3 in particular is only 30 minutes. The Beachbody people know what they are doing! They took out all of the guesswork, There are people planning out the programs, there are test groups to make sure the program works. They don't just put together something and cross their fingers hoping it works for people. The final dvd's have warm ups and cool downs - so important and something many people don't do on their own. P90X3 is great because it comes with a gazillion workouts. All week long is a different workout. You will not get bored. One day I am doing MMX with burpees, kicks and punches, the next yoga, the next straight up weight work, cardio mixed with weights, etc etc. 

At first I thought I would hate Tony Horton. That he would have the personality of a piece of dried up wonder bread. Like I imagine all the meat heads in the weight section of the gym. But a pleasant surprise is that Tony is more like this delicious brunch dish at my favorite Mexican place. All different flavors at once and made with love.  

Why I love online challenge groups: There is support, people are doing this with you! I like having a place online where I can go and know people are doing this with me. You get great ideas for clean recipes too and daily motivation.

Is it time for you to start your fitness journey?  Don't be another person who is wishing they could make a change!  You can do it too, and you will have me on your team.  I have been there, I can understand your struggles, ups and downs. I am doing all of this without a real kitchen so I have some problem solving skills you won't get with anyone else. Contact me, it's time!

Clean Eating Dessert: Keeping on track when changing your diet or getting fit isn't easy during holidays and get togethers. And while having a cheat meal or indulging once in a while I believe is fine, a 3 day weekend can easily turn into a 3 day drinking, cake eating, hot dog chomping binge for me. Being I have 25 or so pounds to go, I am trying to keep it a 21 day weekend. Here is a simple but awesome dessert option. It's creamy, a little sweet and won't leave you feeling guilty.  You could take this with you to a party, it probably won't look too pretty when you get there but it will still be scrumptious.

1 red of part skim ricotta or whipped cottage cheese
1 purple of mixed berries
1 tsp real maple syrup or honey
optional, dust with cocoa, add almond slivers...

 

I have another incredibly hard recipe. But it will be worth it.  This salad is so perfect for a hot summer night when all you want to do is grill off something. Make it a couple hours ahead so all the ingredients can get to know each other, when they are happy you will be happy.

1 package of cherry tomatoes, halved

1 large green zucchini

1 lemon

4 scallions

salt & pepper to taste

Chop all veggies, squeeze entire lemon over add salt & pepper to taste. For 21 day fix measure out one green of this salad, add 1/2 blue of feta cheese and/or toss with 1 yellow of brown rice or couscous for one serving.

21 Day Fix - My review and results:
First maybe a little background information. You might be wondering what those blobs of rainbow colored plastic are in the above photo. Those are color coded tupperwares that represent different food groups and their size reflects the portion of said food group.
The program comes with those tupperware, a meal plan book and workout dvd's 30 min each doing things like weights, intervals, cardio, pilates, yoga etc.
Basically the meal plan book gives you lists of acceptable foods, calorie requirements which are based on your weight and a formula they give you.  I was in the lowest calorie group.
You get to eat each container worth of a food group a certain amount of times a day.
For example
4 red containers which are protein YAY!
1 blue tiny container which is for cheeses, avocado, hummus BOO!
2 purple for fruit
2 yellow for carbs
3 green for veg
1 orange for salad dressings seeds
even tsp for nut butter or cooking with oils

So this may sound crazy confusing but when you get the package and read everything it's really simple.  I loved using this program. It is so much more easy than Weight Watchers, Calorie Counting apps, eyeballing your portions, logging everything you put in your mouth? Ever try logging a salad in WW or My Fitness Pal? It's never ending!! Plus I made a cheat sheet, which only MY challengers will get a copy of.  It's really helpful.

This is how I logged things for  the day. I used the memo app in my phone to add what I can eat each day and also my weekly treats as I ate things I just erased them. and refilled each morning or beginning of the week.

What is a day like on the 21 Day Fix?
Shakeology with 1/2 purple of apple and 1/2 green of cucumber
2 eggs (red) 1 green of veggies on 1 slice of whole grain bread
1/2 fruit with tsp nut butter
1 red of chicken breast, 1/2 blue avocado, over lettuce & salad fixings plus 1 orange of salad dressing
1/2 blue hummus and veggies
1 red of flank steak with 1 yellow sweet potato and grilled asparagus

Now this menu doesn't look like any new revelations but its the portion control from the containers that makes all the difference for me. Also knowing how much of each food group I can have a day helped me tremendously in my daily eating. I won't overeat my healthy fats which I did alot, or overeat fruit, even protein, you will eat enough protein for your workouts instead of not enough which happens. This plan is fool proof and stupid simple. End of story!

My results? 9 pounds! In three weeks.

 Troubles in yoga-ville

Today on my schedule: p90x3 yoga workout. I'm doing a hybrid of p90x3 workouts with 21 day fix food plan.
Getting the moves down since its my 5th time and I really like it. Then my Zen was broken towards the end. A mosquito came sauntering in as they always do. I clumsily slammed my hands and missed my evil target about 246 times. Tony was in the background talking smack about tree poses. I never got that little vampire. When I returned to my poses, I saw an ant, my other summer adversary merrily crawl by, I had to just watch him......frozen in my triangle pose.

The past three weeks on the 21 day fix could not have been possible for me without these cookies. They are from the 21 day fix meal plan book and they are scrumptious. Even though I indulged in these babies a few nights a week, I still lost 9 pounds in three weeks.  Yeah I think I am pmsing, can't stop thinking about chocolate.

To fight temptations or not? Last night I had a party to attend. Early in the day I made the (wise?) decision to save my carbs for a couple glasses of wine. Back in my south beach diet days I did this all the time - drank on a bread free stomach. 

As I laid my eyes on the food selection I didn't care about having the pasta or rice etc. Not that I think these things are the devil. I just am trying to save things like that for when I REALLY want it. For instance if there were huge slices of chocolate cake I would've plowed my face through it like a backhoe. So I chose the string beans, lemon chicken and salad. 

Former me would've used this party as an excuse to have 2 plates of pasta and cake and wine. I did make the terrible decision to have a third glass of red wine but did not inhale it like the first two. Instead I left some in the glass. Fast forward to when I got home. I felt really nauseous and this happens to me often when I drink red wine, but i didn't drink a lot so or so I thought.
 
Anyway my stomach was just too messed up. I needed to "soak" up the alcohol. I don't know if this phenomenon is real or just some urban myth but I had to have some bread, so I had half a hot dog bun, along with a hotdog that my husband had left on the counter from dinner and a 21 day oatmeal cookie. Then I laid down and fought off puking in the bed for a couple minutes. Soon magic happened: the bun soaked up the alcohol, I guess, because I felt a lot better.
 

What do you all think about this? Ever get sick from not having a solid drinking foundation?

SPAGHETTI SQUASH LASAGNA

Let's kick this blog off right.  With a dish that will wipe away all of your pasta cravings and leave you begging for more.  Because pasta is the devil.  This is creamy yet there is no cheese.  Although cheese has not yet been found to be as evil as gluten and grains by most people leaving it out can save some calories.  This recipe I learned from my challenge group ladies.  It's really really hard to make as you will see. 

one baked spaghetti squash seeded and scraped

one jar of marinara sauce

1 package of chicken sausage (I used applegate farms sweet Italian)

3 eggs

garlic powder

Scramble the eggs and dump everything in a baking dish

Mix well

Bake at 350 degrees until firm to the touch

One serving is about 1 1/2 cups 

For a  complete meal make a salad and garlic bread.

Do not have any garlic bread, just watch your husband and kids eat the garlic bread, wipe the tear from your eye.