Stop the Hunger

Eating right is a major key player in Lifestyle Change. I cant expect my body to change completely for the better without addressing my eating habits. And frankly, they are not always that great. I am not following any particular meal plan that Beachbody provides, but just focusing on my portion control and replacing foods with ones better for me. I have learned that I am not very dedicated when I completely restrict something out of my diet such as chocolate or candies. So, I simply told myself reduce not restrict. Allowing myself to eat sweets but limiting the amount works well for me most of the time. Now, given the choice to eat something "not so great" I usually turn it down or only take one. I often think, "I'd rather waste my sweets on something better." Confession - I'm not 100% with this mind set. Sometimes I just really want to eat all 10 of those homemade cookies. After starting this challenge group I have been pretty good at keeping away from sweats and fried foods. However, every day is a continual battle, at least for now. Drinking Shakeology does help fill the void of snacky foods, so that is good.

First step of eating right - prepare before hand. I went to the store day 3 and bought a bag of frozen chicken breasts among other things. I baked a few chicken breasts to have in the fridge, ready to be eaten for the week. Lunches have been pita pockets and I thought adding chicken would be a nice change. Last week I had bought a small container of Extra Firm tofu. So I busted it out and chopped the cube into small squares. Cooked them on a frying pan and soaked the tofu in soy sauce. Chicken and tofu cooked and ready to be added to any meal! I also filled a container with chopped bell peppers of various colors. So that has been helpful, also having a large bag of carrots - I reach for those instead of crackers. Add some humus and it's a fair trade, taste wise!

Second step - stay busy! When I have work off and I am just sitting in my apartment all day, I swear sometimes I can hear the kitchen calling my name. It is so easy for me to stop by the cupboards as I walk by. Staying productive keeps my mind off of eating. I eat when I'm bored! So, can't be bored, got to do things. To help with this I try to write a list of things I want to get done for the day and then do them. I know I have a few projects that I've started a long time ago, so those are nice to dust off and continue working on them for a bit.

I still have a long way to go before I get a handle on portion control and eating completely healthy. But one bite at a time, right? Today's mini challenge was to read Stop the Hunger from Fitness Motivator and comment how we can improve our diet. The article was pretty good and I recommend you all read it. What I took from it - I need to slow down when I eat! I usually rush through my meals because I hate "wasting" time eating, I just want to get it over with. However, this makes me eat a lot more before I realize my stomach is full. Slowing down helps me register what my body is trying to tell me. Also, I need more fiber. Replacing foods full of fiber with other snacks will help curve hunger and keep me feeling full.

Workout for the day - YOGA.
Countless of people over many years have always talked to me about Yoga and tried getting me to do it. I have done some moves here and there once and awhile but I have never liked Yoga. Never wanted to do it! Primarily because I know I am not flexible and it's just sad when I try to be. But, Yoga was on my workout schedule and so Yoga is what I am going to do. Today was the first time with it...got to say, not as bad as I thought. I actually liked it a lot. It was a nice and welcoming change from the resistant bands and cardio. Afterwards I had my Shakeology - this time I added a banana. I liked it, but in the end I felt there was too much banana, I really just wanted the shake plain in the end. Weird.

Shakeology?

The study of shaking something... just kidding. It's the 'Healthiest Meal of the Day." I have to drink Shakeology everyday as being part of the challenge group. I've seen Amber and her kids drink it but I won't lie - I was never tempted by it's looks while at her house. She had the Tropical Strawberry but I decided to try out the new Vegan Chocolate one instead. I've never been a big fan of strawberry flavored things (though I love the actual fruit). Last summer I had bought a case of Premier Protein shakes from Costco and finally used them up last month. I usually drank them if I had no time to eat something or right after playing a sport. I don't eat a lot of meat so I thought this would be a good way to get more protein in my diet. Anyway, point is - I knew that Chocolate protein shakes never actually taste like chocolate. So I mentally prepared myself for the arrival of Shakeology.

First off, I'd like to point out that Shakeology is not like your average protein shake - in fact, it is much much more. I don't even call it a protein shake, it's jammed pack with super-foods  antioxidants, and so on. Anyway, you should check it out if your interested, I've enjoyed it so far, but lets get back to my experience.

My Shakeology came in the mail a few days before I started the challenge group. I decided to go ahead and start drinking it. As a newbie, I simply put a scoop of Shakeology into a Blender Bottle with a cup of Almond Milk and shook. Only, I did not shake it very long. My first initial response: gag me! It was difficult to swallow the rest, but I did. The texture felt like fish food floating around in Almond Milk. I was prepared for this, but I still had about 93 days left of drinking this. Oh boy - there has got to be a better way to prepare this stuff!

I went to the Shakeology website and found lots of recipes for adding ingredients to your shake. Perfect. I decided to try something different everyday till I found one I really liked. Well...after day two, I decided to take Amber's advice and use a blender with ice. Fortunately one of my roommates had a magic bullet, so I poured the Almond milk and added my scoop of Shakeology and added ice. Blended for awhile and tried it out. Big Difference! Was not expecting such a change. The ice made it more smooth and creamy. Bending it with an actual blender and for longer extent of time then my original plan of hand shaking, made the taste so much better. I actually enjoyed drinking it. No gag reflexes at all! It's funny how simple it is to make things more enjoyable!

So, by day two of challenge group I was ready to add some extra ingredients. My first choice - mint extract. So, the recipe called for 1/8 teaspoon of mint extract combined with 1 cup of water, but I used Almond Milk instead. I was worried this make a difference with taste, but I should of been worrying about my measuring skills. I am pretty sure I used 1/4 teaspoon instead of the 1/8.... Overload of Mint! One sip and I thought I was going to die. I felt like I was drinking the mint extract straight out of it's bottle! I knew that I hade made an error, cause there was no way they would recommend that much mint - that can't be good for anyone! I told myself I would have to bare it and drink the rest...only made it half way. Poured the rest down the sink and rushed to rinse my mouth out. Later that day I made half a scoop of regular Shaekology - no mint. Word of advise - make sure you read your measuring spoons before adding!

Workout for the day: Total Body. Difficulty level for me: semi-hard. Okay, it's only for 10 minutes but I had to use the red resistant bands and most of the moves were okay but when it came to lifting my arms behind my head... well, let's just day embarrassing! But I guess I have to start at some level, can't be great at working out from the start. Got a bit more muscle to build! Hey - that's why I will keep Pushing Play and Moving Forward! 

Hey, I'm Katie

Today is my first day with the Challenge Group. I am nervous and excited! Everyday (except Sundays) we have a mini challenge we can do to earn points. For the first day we are to post a video of us introducing ourselves for about 2 minutes. Key points we needed to hit: why we are doing this challenge and what we wish to accomplish. Fortunately I have a MacBook, so I simply opened up iMovie and started recording. Only, I couldn't stop recording... I had to redo my video a whole lot of times. Who would of thought 2 minutes would take so long! After a couple run throughs I had to write down bullet points to help me stay focused and remember what I was supposed to say. Eventually I got through 2 minutes without laughing or pausing way too long. So, here it is.

Finally getting past those 2 minutes I got down to business. The Workout. Opened up the package, popped in the disk and Pushed Play! I waited to do my first workout after coming home from work. I trimmed trees all day so my arms were already feeling pretty sore. Fortunately day one was Cardio. The kit came with a band that I could hook to the door to help add resistance to the workout, however I decided not to use them this time around. I was doing the workout in my room which is small and I was worried my roommate would walk in with me strapped to the door....

Before Pictures

Anyways, Cardio was not too bad. It almost felt like Tennis practice in high school. We did a lot of similar moves and I loved it. One of my main motivations in accomplishing this challenge is to be more fit for sports. I love sports, especially Bball and Tennis, so I want to keep my body fit and ready for court-time. Tony Horton created the 10 minute Trainer and he is the one directing his workout "assistant." I've heard annoying trainers before, but I would say Tony is pretty good. I think he believes he is more funny then he really is, but that's kind of his charm. Will see if that's how I still feel after a few more workouts with him.

Food wise I faired not too bad. Lunch time I ate a pita pocket stuffed with peppers, mung sprouts, and roasted red-pepper humus. It was a nice and fresh change from the usual lunch of cold quesadilla. I would rate the overall day a 4.5 - I did say no to ice cream tonight and ate fresh strawberries instead!

Day 1 - Crushed it!

Joining a Challenge Group

What is a Challenge Group? I didn't know what a challenge group was till 3 before I started. My sister, Amber finished a challenge in December and started another one in January. She really loved her program, her coach, and officially joined the Forward Fitness Team in February. Amber was busy putting together a challenge group of her own but I wanted to start now. So she handed me to her coach, Brigitte Linford, who was starting another challenge group the following Monday. Signed up and nervously waiting to be in my first challenge group, I had a few things to do to prepare.


Body Measurements....who ever likes doing those! Fortunately Amber was there to make me just do them and post them right away to my TeamBeachbody profile. Measurements done, I now needed to do my Fitness Test! This was actually fun to do. I have yet to do my Resting Heart Rate and Pull - ups though. I keep forgetting to check my pulse when I wake up. As for Pull-ups, I was planning on counting those using the monkey bars at a park, but it has been snowing lately. Oh well, at least I did the rest. You may laugh after reading my results, but hey - just starting out here! It's okay, I'm laughing right there with you.

I explored more of my Team Beachbody site and discovered a Meal Plan you can create. They gave four base outlines and you can take a short test to see which one fits you best and how many calories you should be eating. I landed in the Balanced Slim Down with a daily intake of 1900 calories. Well.... after looking over the planned out days I knew I was not really going to use this. No offense here, but I tend not to have a lot of those random spices and interesting ingredients the meals ask for. Potentially this could be great, but for a girl who is living like a college student, it is unrealistic. At least for now. I've decided to focus on portion control and cutting out high processed foods. Bread is a major staple in my diet, but I will try to limit that intake down and replace with better choices. We will see how that goes! I installed a free phone app that will allow me to scan barcodes on foods - telling me serving sizes and all that interesting stuff. It keeps track of my calories and I can input any workouts so my caloric intake is adjusted. So far it has been fun cataloging what I eat. I have also decided to try out eating smaller meals roughly 3 hours apart instead of eating three large meals in a day.

Alrighty, back to my Challenge Group. There are a few things I need to do for Brigitte now. First: Accountability photo. I am supposed to find a photo to tape on my fridge that will be a motivator for me to keep pushing play! She gave suggestions of people I know who inspires me, or a photo of myself....well, I choose two photos of people who inspire me. Only, they are not technically real people... they are characters from some of my favorite shows and movies. Let me introduce....

http://collider.com

Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

http://www.ign.com

Yes,  I will admit it - I am a major Buffy fan. She rocks the fighting skills and wears leather pants doing it! Can't fight the evil beasties without a toned body.

                                                       Resident Evil - Alice.

Okay, I can't exactly have the strength and stamina as Alice (her body has bonded with the T-Virus...) but with key calves and bullet arms maybe no one will notice I'm not virally mutated. 

Goals! Really important but easy to forget. It is difficult for me to always keep up or follow through with my goals. First off, I rarely write them down - big mistake. I had to fill out a little questioner thing from Brigitte about myself and goals, so I thought I would share that here as well. The more you share your goals with others, the more likely you are to achieve them...at least in my opinion. I feel more accountable to them when others know. And that is a key player in joining this challenge group - Accountability. I have to answer not only to Brigitte but to all the others who have joined this challenge. So, back to goals - here they are. Not too bad for a start.

Choose a goal to reach one week from your start date:  

I want to use my car less. Most things are in walking or biking distance so I really do not need a car to survive everyday. I do have to drive to work, so my goal is to   choose walking over driving if it will take me a reasonable amount of time to reach my destination.

Now break it down into a 30 day goal:  

In 30 days I will have my bike tuned up and ready to hit the streets so I can bike to places that are too far to walk to. 

What’s your 60 day goal:

I am terrible at proportion control - especially when it comes to desserts. For the 60 day goal I would like to have established a regular routine of choosing better foods and proportions. I want to master it, this includes being diligent in shakeology 

What’s your 90 day goal:

Bike to work. There are a couple hills and it will be hot weather by then, but I want to be able to bike to work instead of driving.

What will your 90 day reward be?: 

I have been wanting a road bike for a few years now but could never justify buying one. The goals above help set up a life long pattern of choosing a more active mode of transportation. The workout program will also help my body become more fit and increase my energy, so I would say I could justify buying a road bike by then.  

WHY Beachbody?

Why? If I was asked years ago to become a Beachbody coach, or even join a challenge group, I would have probably brushed you off. So why now? What has changed? I decided to Take Control of my life!

Most of my life I have played the role of a "door mat." Not fun. In high school I thought it made things easier, but really it only made me less confident about who I was and wanted in life. I did not hold much value to my name and I believed that I was only "going through the motions." I thought living this way would keep me safe from disappointment and failures. Not true! I didn't take responsibility for my life - by doing this I was giving up control. Never sure of who I was made me feel angry towards myself all throughout high school and continued on into college. The only thing I had going for me was to study Biology in college. However that quickly changed when grades tanked and I began to doubt myself. I had no confidence and believed that I could not do it. The love I had felt for plants and Biology was fading and soon I was confused at what I was to do. There was one point in my life where I actually stopped trying because I thought it was too late to succeed or anything. [I know now that was not true].  Eventually I switched majors and life became more enjoyable. I made great friends in my classes and began to try hard once again. 

I have recently graduated and now work at a very small landscaping business. And I mean small - I am currently the only employee. I was grateful for the job but little did I know that it was only going to create more stress later on! I love the work I do and get along with my boss, however it is turning out to be not the best situation for me. Well, end of the year came and New Year's Resolutions were on my mind. At first the same old list pops up, "read this, do better at that, finally finish... etc." However, this time I wanted real goals, ones that I don't simply check a box next to, but ones that help build a bridge towards a better lifestyle. I reached my limit of feeling negatively about myself and life, so I made a decision - Taking back the Control of My Life!

So, pumped with my "epiphany," I started the year determined. I began working on neglected projects and tried becoming more involved with those around me. I got a gym membership and started going 3-4 times a week. I was set. Or so I thought. After a month, my initial drive was starting to wain and things at work were getting worse. I needed more structure...something that tied together the changes I wanted.

So, there I was. Minding my own business watching my sister's adorable children dancing, when my sister joined me on the couch.

So, that is why I joined Beachbody. But how does Beachbody help achieve my desire to Take Control of my life? Well, you can see as I take you through my first 90 Day Challenge Group!

Day 1 of a Long Journey

There I was, minding my own business chillin on my sister's couch, watching her adorable children dancing around, when my sister, Amber joined me. She began speaking to me about Beachbody and Shakeology once again and this time I actually listened. I knew she had been doing a workout - TurboFire - and been drinking this interesting looking stuff called Shakeology, but had no idea how involved it really was. She showed me her before and after pictures and I was actually shocked - I have always thought Amber to have a great body, but I had no idea how much change she went through after doing her workouts. You could definitely tell! I was really impressed and my mind was even more open about Beachbody. She has been telling me that I should join for a long time, and this time I was starting to believe the same thing. I've seen her kids drink Shakeology all the time so I knew that part couldn't be too terrible.

What was the main hang up? The workouts! I knew about P90X and other workouts and my body was quaking in fear...then I heard the following beautiful words "you could start out doing the 10 minute workout." Say What? I did not believe her till she pulled up the website and showed me that there was indeed a 10 minute workout. 10 minutes! I think that was the deciding moment in joining Beachbody. I could commit to 10 minutes a day to workout!

So, before I knew it I was signed up as a coach and waiting for a challenge pack to come in the mail. But here is the thing - my track history of workouts and consistency was not so great in my favor. One of the greatest parts of being apart of Beachbody I've come to find are the challenge groups! Amber hooked me up with a challenge group that was starting the next week! I was signed up, I had committed! Was I scared? Of Course! In the end though, you really have to figure out why you are really doing this and if it's worth it...well then it's worth it!

So, why am I doing this? Well, that is a whole other story...

Stay tuned.