3 Day Refresh Day 1

How often do you find yourself wondering if you are really hungry or if you are just wanting to eat because it's something to do? After Day 1 of the 3 Day Refresh I found myself thinking this same thing throughout the day. The 3 Day Refresh is a 3 day program that provides you with a fast, clean break from bad eating habits, while dropping a few pounds in the process.

The benefit of this program is that you are cleansing your body while being able to eat light and sensible.  Each day begins with a Shakeology shake, followed by a mid morning tea, then an 8 ounce fiber sweep drink. Lunch is a Vanilla Fresh shake and one serving each of a fruit, vegetable and healthy fat. That is followed by a mid afternoon snack, and then a dinner consisting of a Vanilla Fresh shake and a meal made from the dinner recipe list. An optional evening tea is also part of the daily program. 

After completing Day 1, I can say that I was not starving all day. I was, however, questioning whether I was hungry or if I wanted to eat just because my kids were eating. Breakfast was not any different from my normal breakfast, a chocolate Shakeology shake. I enjoyed the mid morning tea, but found it a bit different from my normal tea because I could not use any sweetener. (One of the reasons I chose to do this program was to try and get away from using artificial sweetener and drinking Diet Coke!) The Fiber Sweep was not my favorite part of the day, but it is only 8 ounces for 3 days so I will suck it up and drink it. I really enjoyed lunch and was surprised by the portion that I was able to eat. For a mid afternoon snack, I made homemade hummus and had 2 tablespoons of that with 2 stalks of celery. For dinner I had coconut steamed veggies with the Vanilla Fresh shake. The veggies were delicious and something I would add to a regular dinner!

What makes this program worth it? After Day 1, I slept great and woke up this morning with no bloating and 2 pounds lighter than I was yesterday morning.

Exercise...what about exercise? Light to moderate exercise is recommended with this program. Last night I went for a 3 mile walk with my dogs and a friend. It was a nice way to get my mind off of eating because night time snacking is definitely a downfall of mine.

Check back for my updates on Day 2 and Day 3!

Interesting in learning more about 3 Day Refresh...comment below with your email address. 

A much better use for nutrition labels.

How often do you find yourself bored and craving a delicious and naughty treat? In your head your probably thinking, "That scoop of ice cream can't be too bad for me. I can walk that off..." or "One beer after work would taste so great!" If you are like me, you can usually talk yourself right into eating that delicious and naughty treat without much coercion because I'm not thinking of how much work it would take to get those extra calories out of my body!

I found this photo today and got to thinking...If all of my food had the calorie equivalent of exercise needed to burn it off listed on it, it would be much easier to avoid the food. Maybe nutrition labels should include how many miles you would need to run in order to burn off the food. If you picked up a container of munchkins from Dunkin Donuts and the serving size read 10 miles (as in you need to run 10 miles to burn these calories) you'd probably think twice about putting it in your mouth! 

What do you think...would exercise equivalents on nutrition labels mean more to you than the number of calories, fats, etc. per serving that you see now?

It definitely isn't pretty, but I run!

      

Last week I participate in a 5K+ race (because it was 3.8 miles) in my husband's hometown. I don't usually sign up to race because I'm really competitive, but not a very strong runner. Those two things together usually lead me to feeling incredibly frustrated and defeated at the end of a race...and why would I pay money to feel like that?! 

My husband has been trying to help me realize that it isn't about winning or losing, but working to beat my time with each run. (He has been telling me this for 10 years because his first cross country meet that I attended I pointed out that I didn't see how he could be so happy with his results because he didn't win!) In an attempt to do something together (and by together I mean we ride together, register together, and hang out together until the start of the race and then we meet up at the end...) I signed up for this race telling him that I would probably finish last, but hey, someone has to...right?

The night before the race we ran the course together so that I knew where I was going and what I was getting myself into. I was fairly impressed with my time in the trial run and thought that I might do okay the next day.

I ran the race and finished a minute faster than I had the day before, which I was excited about. I came in 10th from last, which I can't stand the thought of, but it isn't about that (right...). I also continue to run each mile faster than my normal 10 minute mile pace. I actually ran my first mile in 8 minutes, which nearly killed me, but holy cow I ran an 8 minute mile! 

                                     

I had to take the week off from running due to a bloody blister, but I went out again today and ran my first mile in 8:50. I thought, "Woah, slow down that is way too fast for you!" But then I ran my next two miles right around 9 minutes...maybe I'm not giving myself enough credit...maybe it isn't too fast for me...maybe this running  thing isn't pretty while I'm doing it, but at least I'm out there getting it done!

           

Transformations Only You Can See!

I have yet to meet someone who complains about how great they feel when they are exercising and eating right. Feeling physically and mentally great due to healthy choices along with having your clothes fit better are great incentives and motivation to continue on the right path. However, nothing feels as great as having someone say, "Hey, have you lost weight? You look great!"

Unfortunately, sometimes eating right and exercising doesn't produce the physical changes that lead to compliments as quickly as we would like. I know from experience that I may lose a few pounds, my clothes may fit better, but ultimately my body doesn't change as much as I would like as quickly as I would like it to. Due to this experience I need to look for transformations in different areas.

I began my Beachbody journey on March 18. On this day I committed to 21 Day Fix. I absolutely LOVED the program. It gave me the motivation I needed to get back into an exercise routine. After 28 days of 21 Day Fix, I switched my exercise routine to P90X3. I have always had an interest in P90X, but didn't have time to commit to the long workouts that P90X provided. The 30 minute workouts with P90X3 were perfect for me!

P90X3 is tough, but doable because throughout the entire workout I think "I can do this for 30 minutes!" I had to wonder how it was actually helping me physically. Would 30 minutes per day really make a difference? 

Of course I am seeing changes in how much I can accomplish in each 30 minute workout as I progress through the 90 day program, but my biggest surprise transformation came to me while I was running.

I have been running for exercise since high school. I am not a strong runner, but I do it because you get the most bang for your buck with running. My normal running pace has always been between 10 and 11 minute miles. Nothing fabulous, actually quite embarrassing when my husband literally runs twice the speed that I do. Recently, I've been running at a pace of around 9:30 per mile. Again, nothing fabulous, but pretty exciting for me! Especially since I have NOT been training to run. 

The top picture is of my pace from last summer. The bottom three pictures are of my pace from the last two weeks.

I have been exercising to get fit and to feel better both physically and mentally. As an added bonus P90X3 has improved my running by taking almost one minute off per mile!

Can you see this transformation by looking at me? Nope! Does that make it feel any less great? Nope! Every time I return from a run I can't help but say, "Look at that! 30 minutes per day really does work!"

Interested in making some transformations of your own...ask me how I can help!

Wisdom Wednesday...The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson

"Everything you need to do to transform your life is easy to do. It's easy to become healthy, fit and vibrant. It's easy to become financially independent. It's easy to have a happy family and a life rich with meaningful friendships." (p. 55) 

However, it is just as easy to not do the things that will transform your life. I began reading The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson about two weeks ago. Truth be told, I'm not even finished the book yet, but I have already taken away a lot of good points that are worth sharing.

It's easy to set your alarm for 5:00 a.m. to workout before work, but it's also easy to hit the snooze button until you have just enough time to rush out the door.

It's easy to choose an apple instead of a doughnut for your morning snack.

It's easy to put money in a savings account a little at a time until you have the money to purchase the item that you want, but it's just as easy, if not easier, to put the purchase on your credit card.

"The Slight Edge is about your awareness. It is about you making the right choices, the choices that serve you and empower you, starting right now and continuing for the rest of your life, and learning to make them effortlessly." (p. 74)

In order to have the slight edge you need to make the correct choices and continue to make the correct choices after you have reached your first goal. How often have you lost 5 - 10 pounds of weight by watching what you eat and exercising frequently only to quickly gain that weight back because once you've reached your goal you stopped doing the things that got you to where you wanted to be.

The slight edge seems like such an easy thing to do. Olson claims that by following the slight edge he has become the successful person that he is today. He also claims that having the slight edge is easy; you just have to commit to it.

"Any time you see what looks like a breakthrough, it is always the end result of a long series of little things, done consistently over time. No success is immediate or instantaneous; no collapse is sudden or precipitous. They are both products of the slight edge." (p. 85)

Do I know if the slight edge going to work for me? No...

But will it hurt me to give the slight edge a try? No...

"How you realize happiness is by doing some simple things, and doing them every day." (p. 96)

Who doesn't want to realize happiness? It's definitely worth a shot and I'm beginning my slight edge today! Who's joining me?

I found my copy of The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson on amazon.com.

Southwestern Turkey Meatball Skillet - Gluten Free

I found this delicious recipe on Pinterest while I was looking for clean eating recipes.

 Southwestern Turkey Meatball Skillet - Gluten Free

My husband made it tonight and even my 3-year-old loved it! We had to make a change to have it be gluten free. We substituted gluten free oats for the bread crumbs in the meatballs. We had used the last of our cumin in a taco seasoning that we had made from scratch so we put the taco seasoning into the dish as well, and it still tasted great! We plated the meatball skillet dish on brown rice instead of spaghetti squash because I felt like eating brown rice tonight.

This recipe will definitely be put into the dinner rotation again. 

Thank you to 2FatNerds for sharing this recipe on your blog!

School's Out for Summer...Establishing a Routine

Today marks one full week since I've been out of school for summer. Before school ended I had high hopes of waking up every morning at 5:30 to get my workout, run, and shower in before the boys wake up for the day. This has happened once!

I have managed to fit my workouts in, but not until after 8:30 at night. Last night I was playing catch up with p90x3 and found myself finishing my second workout at 10:15. That was not really the ideal time to be winding down from a workout, showering and getting into bed at a reasonable time. (Especially since I had to be at school for a workshop at 8 this morning!)

Now that I am one week into vacation, and (hopefully) over the idea that sleeping in is exactly what I should be doing since I am on vacation...I am going to try to stick to my early morning wake ups. I would much rather get my workouts done first thing in the morning anyway. It is a great way to start the day on the right foot and I have very few excuses as to why I can't get it done!