Day ONE of Insanity Max :30!

Day ONE of Insanity Max :30!

This is a beachbody program that just came out. Shaun T is pretty famous for his workout "Insanity" and "Focus T 25". Now he has developed this one.

It is basically like a 30 minute Insanity but with new moves...and harder! You are supposed to go as hard as you can for as long as you can without losing from. When you need a break or you start to lose form, that's your maxout time. Keep track of this time and try to beat it each time that video comes around. It is INTENSE. But I LOVE it!

Stay tuned, I will be posting pics and stats along the way.

No Bake Energy Bites

No Bake Energy Bites

I've got quite a review of these tasty little treats.

These little guys pack a powerful punch of flavor. I can't say that I've ever eaten anything that grabbed my taste buds like this before! You gotta try them! Prepare to fall in love. The inventor of this recipe needs an award in my opinion!

Combine (first with a spoon, then with your hands):
1/3 c honey (can sub agave nectar)
1/2 c peanut butter
1 c raw, old fashioned oats
6 TBSP choc chips
1/2 c golden flax seed, ground
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 c coconut, toasted and cooled
Press and roll into 1 inch balls and chill for at least an hour. Overnight is best...if you can resist.
Yields 20 "bites"

Recipe found on http://www.cookingclassy.com/2014/04/bake-energy-bites/

Favorite Easy Dinner

Favorite Easy Dinner

Mixed roasted veggies are absolutely to die for! And so easy. Healthy doesn't have to be hard. Healthy doesn't have to taste bad. Warning: may lead to getting seconds or thirds!
Recipe:
Chopped ANY veggies you like.
Toss in EVOO
Garlic powder
S&P
Roast in oven at 425° for about 40 min (stir and turn veggies twice while cooking)
Broiler on high for 3-5 min (watch closely) to get those nice browned areas.
Eat & enjoy!

Before cooking:

And after:

A Big Change

A Big Change

This is my first blog. I have lots of great info on my Facebook page and my FB "like" pages but I am trying to distance myself from that and have my own page with my own rules. Some of the stories are going to be copy/pasted from there to here as I want all my info in the same place. I will be writing new things in between as well.
So forgive me while this is a bit under construction, because it is a big change for me. It will all work out though. :)

Going Vegan Part 2

So I’m losing weight and the vegan thing is getting easier. Fast forward a year and a half. I have lost a not-so-shabby 35 or so pounds.People are noticing and asking what I’m doing. I have more energy. I’m fitting into smaller clothes and I’m noticing smaller things. Such as I can squat down to the bottom shelf at the grocery store without trouble! And come back up without grunting and holding on to everything. I don’t have to cross my ankleover top of my knee; I can actually cross my legs like a lady. My seat belt is sitting across my lap and not over or under my belly! Oh and here’s the greatest thing – I don’t have to sprinkle my folds and thighs with powder!! Sounds kind of weird to some of you I’m sure. But if you have ever been heavy, and I mean that certain kind of heavy, you would understand the powder trick.

Even though I was having all of these great changes, I fel tlike there was more. I had lost all of this weight without exercising at all. I felt jiggly and out of shape. And it was painfully obvious that I had hit a plateau. Back to the gym I went. You know, that place where I have happily paid a portion of the electric bill every month? Anyway ,the same thing happened. I went around with a trainer. I worked all the machines, again. I wrote it all down, again. Nothing happened. UGH! What was I doing wrong? I was so discouraged!!!!

Meanwhile, my friend was plastering her AMAZING before and after pictures all over the internet. I was so jealous! I messaged her. I had to know what she was doing. She told me she had been doing some workout video from Beachbody and drinking this Shakeology stuff. I looked at the price and never gave it another thought. I went to work trying to find a video. I bought P90X second hand. I did a couple of those videos and thought I was going to DIE!!!! So I quit. They were so long anyway. I would have to stop in the middle and take care of my son. It was just too much hassle.

Time was my biggest challenge. I have a husband, 3 kids and a full time job. My youngest was 7 and has multiple disabilities and requires a lot of care. I don’t have  anyone that can watch him so I can go to the gym and I don’t have the time to go there anyway!  Another friend gave me Focus T25. That looked like a winner! It was only 25 minutes. I can do that. I have 25 minutes, don’t I?

I messaged my friend again and told her I got the video and asked if she could help me. She told me about the challenge groups and that was the way to go. I had the video but she said I also needed Shakeology to make it work. I was like no way. Out of the question.  And these challenge groups…what’s that all about anyway? I don't want to be in a group of strangers. A few days later we talked again. She shared a couple videos and we talked about the price of food vs the shake. She told me what it does for her and she lets her kids drink it! It’s got a money back guarantee, and they have a vegan formula. Then there was one video that really intrigued me….  OK, I’ll try it. I can get my money back if I don’t like it.

January 2014 I cancelled my gym membership and ordered my first bag of Shakeology. My hands were shaking the entire time I was ordering online (kind of like they are while typing this). I started my first challenge group in February. The things that have happened to me since that day could never have been predicted. I still can’t believe it myself…

Going Vegan Part 1

How did I start losing weight? That's a common question I get. 
I don’t usually make this public, but in the interest of helping someone else I will. My top weight was 189 pounds. I am 5’3”. My BMI was 33. My doctor diagnosed me “obese”. I also had borderline high blood pressure and high cholesterol. I had anxiety and I was depressed. I felt like the world was going on all around me but I wasn't moving. I had no energy to.
I had a gym membership for over 2 years. I did everything they said to do. I told the trainer my goals who then took me around to all of the machines,showed me how to operate them and made me demonstrate that I could do it. They helped me to calculate how much weight to use on each machines and how fast to go on the cardio machines. They even wrote it all down on a weekly schedule that I could take with me. Sounds great, right? I thought so too. I went 3-4times per week faithfully. In 3 months, I gained 8 pounds.  And no, it was not muscle. My clothes were tighter than ever! I was done. I did end up going back periodically for a bit of cardio, maybe a class or two but I just couldn’t find a groove. I knew I needed physical activity but I didn’t want to gain anymore weight.
It was around this time that I started giving more thought to my food choices. Not just what kind of food I ate but what kind of food I thought was available for me. My biggest excuse was my job. I am a nurse and I used to travel as far as 3 different counties in one day to see patients in their homes. I also live in Florida, so anything I packed would surely get hot in the car. I used the drive thru as my main source of food during the day.Occasionally I would go to a sit down restaurant with co-workers. Most days I would have nothing to eat at all until I came home. I still continued to gain weight. I would think, “How can that happen? I don’t even eat that much. It’s not like I eat all day long!”
I had been hearing about a documentary from several people. I kept thinking maybe there is something to this. A friend loaned me the DVD. It was called“Forks over Knives”. Maybe you have heard of it? It’s not the most exciting video in the world to watch. I mean, it’s a documentary, full of facts and statistics and studies. It actually took me two days to watch it. It kind of was a snoozer but once I got through it, I was in shock. It was one of those defining moments in life that you don’t forget. I was lying in bed watching from a laptop computer. I remember pushing the computer back and saying, I’ll never eat those things again!
The next morning, July 1 2012, I went cold turkey vegan. I wasn’t really sure what to eat but I had decided to do this and by God that’s what I was going to do. I asked my friend a lot of questions and researched on the computer. I went to the grocery store a lot and bought things every day. I read labels carefully and after a while, I found my way and it got easier and easier. The light bulb had gone off in my head and I was so ready to make a change. Not only because of what the documentary had taught me but because I started losing weight immediately. I was losing 1-3 pounds consistently, every week!That was enough motivation to keep going!! I even took it a step further. I cutout coffee, soda, high fructose corn syrup and prepackaged foods (for the most part). If it had ingredients in the label that I cannot pronounce or if I didn’t know what it was, I was not eating it. I was determined to lose weight and get myself healthy!