Food Journal Adventure

"Nothing changes until you change it. You must be prepared to do something you have never done."

This quote is so true! I know in my life, sometimes change can be a hard thing. When we attempt something new, or outside of our comfort zone, it can be a challenge. But it might also be the key to lasting change, and that makes it all worth it!

As my health and fitness journey progresses, I am always researching and looking for new tools and resources that might help along the way. Not quick fixes or crash diets or short term things, but habits and routines that can be established for long term results and change.

And I want to invite you into one of my latest experiments with a new tool, that I feel may be very beneficial in my journey, and maybe yours too!

And this tool...food journals!

I have done this a few times, but never quite stuck with it. But the benefits have been and are really great! When you first start tracking your food, it can be surprising! Little bites here and there you forget about normally end up adding up in the end.

In an effort to make sure I am staying on track with my nutrition and to see a break down of my daily macro nutrients, I have decided to start a food journal and track everything that goes in for my duration of doing the P90X3 program.

Before I did this with a pen and paper, but I decided this time to try MyFitnessPal because it shows the break down of each food and the specific nutrients in each food.

If you want to join me in tracking your food for a short season, or just dabble in it, here are some tips that I am noticing off the bat that will help you on your way!

1. Decide how you will track it. Whether a notebook you can take with you, or using an app like MyFitnessPal, decide on ONE way to track and stick to it.

2. Create your meal plan. This is something that will help you overall with having healthy options to choose from, and can help you save money because you will use the food you buy!

3. Stay on top of your tracking! Right when you eat a meal, before or after, WRITE IT DOWN. If you wait too long, you may forget those little things you ate. Write it down immediately.

4. Set a timer for yourself to remind you to go over the food you tracked for the day. Make sure you got everything!

5. Have grace for yourself. If you go over or under, or have a cheat day, don't sweat it and do not give up. Be honest with yourself and keep going. Don't let it be the end all, be all.

I am excited to start tracking my food and macro nutrients on a regular basis and see the results from that. Am I going to have a great occasionally? Absolutely! Find what works for you and keeps you healthy. But I do challenge you to try new things to see what works for you! So, if you are interested, join me in doing a food journal, and let me know you are! I would love to swap ideas and brainstorm.

Who else does a food journal? Did it work for you, or did you find something else that worked better? Share your thoughts below! 

Meal Plan For YOU

Meal planning can seem overwhelming and daunting when you start on a journey towards health or if you aren't used to it. So many options, so many opinions, so little time. My biggest piece of advice? Find something that works for you in your life! 

You want to make sure that your meal plan follows these rules:

1. Allows you to get good, dense nutrition into your body. 

2. Do something that you can make a lifestyle! Avoid crash diets like the plauge.

3. Consider your schedule. Allow for something that will give you options while also keeping you healthy. 

4. Evaluate and reevaluate! Try different ways and see if it works for you or not.

5. Save time, money and food by PLANNING! Even if it doesn't go 100% according to plan, creating any type of plan will help you save in these area. 

There are many ways to meal plan! You can plan out all your big meals, snacks, etc. You can write down all your dinner options but leave the day you have them open. You can rotate through a few choices for the whole week. You can have the same lunch or breakfast all week. The options are limitless. And I have tried a fair few different ways to meal plan! I have found that different types of meal plans work better for different seasons.

A season that I'm trying to be more totally focused in nutrition, I will plan out all meals and snacks. Sometimes I make a list of different options to rotate through if we have a busy week! Find what works for you, reevaluate and if its working, keep it. If not, try another approach!

This model is more loose and leaves you room to choose what you want for the specific day, but gives you structure so you save money and stay on track with your health!

BREAKFAST OPTIONS

-Shakeology (with PB and a serving of fruit)

-Sauteed kale and scrambled eggs

-Egg "muffins"

LUNCH OPTIONS

-Dinner leftovers

-Turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread with sliced tomato, avocado and mustard with fresh veggies

-Spinach salad with grilled chicken, feta cheese, cranberries, nuts and vinaigrette

DINNER

-One unplanned or cheat meal (because sometimes you need to work that in!)

-Chicken sausage with sweet peppers and onions over hot brown rice, with steamed broccoli

-Turkey burgers on whole wheat bread with avocado, tomato, and sweet potato fries with steamed broccoli

-Zucchini noodle pasta with ground turkey spaghetti sauce, whole wheat garlic bread

-BBQ chicken stuffed sweet potatoes with spinach salad

-Stuffed bell peppers with veggies, ground turkey, and pepper jack cheese, with hot brown rice

-Leftovers night

SNACK OPTIONS

-Shakeology

-Cheese and apples

-Fresh fruit serving

-Fresh veggies with ricotta cheese

-Greek yogurt with fruit

DESSERT

-DIY Strawberry Ice cream

-Revamped "cookie dough"

-Shakeology chocolate bars

5 Healthy Lunch Ideas

Let's talk about lunch time. That sometimes skipped over meal, or the meal that we forget to pack so we end up  eating a less than nutrious meal and paying extra for it. But it doesn't have to be that way! There are so many great lunch options that you can prepare at home either the night before, or prep them all at the beginning of the week!

This saves you time, money, and helps ensure that you are getting good nutrition for the whole day, which helps you be more productive and healthy.

If you are in a lunch rut, or just need some new ideas for your lunch time to spice things up, here are some fantastic recipes and ideas that I found on Pinterest (one of my favorite resources). Be sure to follow me on Pinterest and save these on your own page as well!

1. Grilled Chicken Veggie Bowls
Grilled chicken and veggie bowls are a fantastic option for a whole week of lunches. It is cheaper and easier to prepare in bulk, and you can vary things just a little so that you don't get bored of your food! Memberships to places like Sam's Club or Costco are great for the food supplies for these and save you money too.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/283586107762465326/

2. Mason Jar Salad

These beautiful salads have been super popular lately, especially in their fun container option using a mason jar. Its hard to prep a salad for lunch sometimes because things get soggy. But this idea actually helps keep everything crisp because of the way the salad. Give these a try to pep up your lunch time salads! 

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/283586107762465350/

3. Avocado and Turkey Wrap

Or any kind of wrap, really! Wraps are a fun way to pack your lunch and vary things up. You can batch cook your ingredients, and have them ready to go for the week. Wraps offer a lot of variety and personalization options too! 

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/283586107762465358/

(Image from Pinterest and blog linked on Pinterest)

4. Traveling Lunch Noodles

For an Asian twist on your lunch, try this beefed up noodle lunch option! Turn boring noodles into a fun lunch packed with veggies and other things you love. I also love how they packed these! 

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/283586107762465373/

5. The classic (or not so classic) healthy lunch sandwich!

Here is an array of healthy sandwich ideas for you to bring to work with you. The sandwhich is such a classic lunch option, bit it can absolutely be jazzed up and kept healthy as well! These are some fantastic recipes to check out and try if you like a good sammy. 

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/283586107762465382/

There are five great lunch options that you can try for your work week this week. Do your prep work, it will save you time and money! I love to prepare as much for the week as much as possible so that lunch can be a grab and go and stay healthy! 

What is your favorite healthy lunch option? 

What Coaching is Not

Talking about something I am passionate is incredibly easy. I could talk on subjects I am passionate for hours, if given the breath and time. I won't be doing that to you today, but I do want to share a new aspect of my passion with you to help you understand what it is that I do!

Many of you know by now that I am a Beachbody coach. I own my own coaching business, and honestly, love it more than I ever thought I could. It fits my goals, my personality, my passion, and my purpose to speak life and worth into others, all while empowering myself and others to make a difference in their physical health and fitness.

Honestly, most unexpected and coolest job ever.

But let's shout out the elephant in the room. When most people find out that someone is involved with coaching, consulting, distributing, or anything else related with Multi Level Marketing, direct sales or network marketing, we bristle. We search for the nearest exit and create our strategy to get there as fast as possible.

It makes us uncomfortable because its unconventional. And because there have honestly been some not so honest companies in the past that have burned people.

I want to take a moment today on my blog to tell you a few things that Beachbody coaches are NOT, and maybe answer some of your questions along the way! My heart always in coaching is to SHARE. I'm not out to sell everyone, I honestly love helping people find something that works because it has made a huge difference in my life.

Okay, let's dive in.

1. Beachbody is not a pyramid scheme. Those are in fact, illegal. Pyramid schemes are scams that involve no trading of goods or services. Clearly with Beachbody, you get both. Our commission as coaches does not come solely from signing people up.

2. It's not a get rich quick scheme. This is one that trips up people a lot. In our minds we can know that, but sometimes we have the expectation (whether self imposed or someone dishonestly told us) that we will make millions overnight. This is a business, and it does take time, and hard work to grow.

3. It is not something that just happens. Speaking of hard work, you do have to put in effort. I know I have made the mistake in the past of thinking things would just happen. I put in all kinds of effort to make pretty binders, create posters, but I came drasticly short when it came to action, so I inevitably failed. With Beachbody, because I am passionate about helping others, it has been easy to take action. But you better believe I put in work, effort and heart into my business every day.

4. Coaching is not all about sales. At least it is not for me. Of course there are people in every business that can become the "bad apples." But believe me when I tell you, I am NOT a salesperson. But I absolutely love sharing my story, my journey, my results. Coaching is about helping people find something that works for them, and walking through that journey with them. 

There you have it, just a very few points about what a Beachbody coach is not. I hope through that you can get even a little clearer picture about my work as a coach. It is something that I have become very passionate about, because there is such a great opportunity to help change people's lives.

It's not about the money, a sale, or the programs. It's truly about helping people become more in their own lives. Personally, when I began focusing on my health and fitness, I grew in every area of my life. And that is why I share, and why I want others to be able to experience the incredible freedom and results from making simple changes for their own health benefit in their lives.

Now let's hear from you! What questions do you have about Beachbody coaching? 

Money Wasn't Really the Issue

"That's a good bit of money."

Those were my first thoughts when I started thinking about investing in my health, when I was starting to see that I wanted to change. Being newly weds, we didn't have an extreme amount of money floating around, and I am still learning how to budget and be a better steward of our money (and am thankful for a husband who diligently tracks all our receipts and finances for us).

Putting money into something that I wasn't sure I could do was scary. Especially holding it up to the light of my track record. I had attempted to do two other workout programs before, gotten a few weeks through them, and then they collected dust and I went back to my ol ways.

Nothing had worked.

In truth, the programs that I tried had worked, I saw some results. But I lost motivation and I was the one who gave myself excuses and eventually gave up altogether.

And as I was contemplating yet another investment in a workout program, thinking of all the times before, I realized something. I wasn't truly hesitant because of the money. The issue was me. The issue was my determination, or lack thereof that made my money a "waste."

When it boiled down, I was afraid of change. Afraid to give up the things I had held onto practically all my life. My identity as an overweight girl. My comfort in rich, often unhealthy foods. My easy going, only sometimes active lifestyle. I was afraid of what change would really look like.

Oh, if only I had known then.

After talking with my husband and getting his full support, we ordered the workout program, and started it together after it arrived. It was hard. It was a change. It was difficult to keep going at times and I wanted to stop.

But I kept going. I made up my mind that I did not in fact want to keep living the way I had lives, because that was going to lead to a place full of health problems and not the life I wanted. I threw away my excuses, stopped blaming it on timing, money, circumstance, genes, and anything else that came to mind.

I realized that I was responsible for this. I had to do it. And I did!

It has been one of the best decisions of my life because it has not only started my physical transformation, I have become more disciplined in all areas of my life. My quiet time of Bible study I more consistent. I am reading and listening to personal development books. I have been investing more into my marriage and relationships. I am more alert for life, and it is incredible.

Of course there are always days that I struggle. That I want to give into stress and eat a whole bag I chips dunked in salsa. There are days I don't want to workout. Days I don't want to do the things I said I was going to do.

But I have found that the struggle is worth it. The investment is worth it. The time is worth it. You may not see the effects immediately, but over time, if you stick to it daily, you will see results in your life. Keep going.

Think seriously about the investments you make in life. What is tilt holding you back? Confront your fears and go after the thing you are called to. Be bold and be courageous!

What's one thing in your life that you are afraid to change? Share below!

Progress Not Perfection

I heard a great quote once on an inspirational talk I was listening to, and it struck a chord with me.

"Often we overestimate the event, and underestimate the process."

That is so true, and I have found myself guilty of that sometimes in my health and fitness journey. We see pictures of where we want to be, know what exactly we want our bodies to look like in the end, and in our typical American mindset...we want it NOW.

We think "if I was only at this weight, or this size, THEN I would be happy."
"If I just got this promotion, THEN I would be happy."
"If we just found this certain kind of house, THEN I would be happy."
"If he/she would just do this, THEN I would be happy."

I want to encourage you...don't get stuck in the end results. Set your sights on your goals and dreams, and dream BIG, yes. But don't put all your stock in that one event, because it will come and go and leave you chasing after the next thing like chasing after a wind that just won't stand still.

Find beauty in the process, because I'm telling you, no matter what your journey, whether to health, a different career, a different place in your relationship, there is beauty there. We go through seasons in life- we have to. Find the joy in each season.

The process has not always been easy for me. There are days that I feel bloated and "fluffy" as I tell my husband and he affectionately reminds me "No, you're beautiful. Fluffy is a three headed dog, and you are NOT fluffy." (For those of you who caught that Harry Potter quote, I applaud you!)

Point is, it's not all rainbows and sunshine. There are rainy days. But you know what? There's something beautiful and freeing even in a rainy day. And without those hard days, we would not grow. If it was easy, we wouldn't get stronger. We wouldn't change.

EMBRACE the process.

I'm learning day by day on how to embrace the process, because I know reaching my "goal weight" won't signal the end of my journey in the health and fitness realm. It will just transition into something new, because this is a lifestyle that I am setting for myself.

One of my biggest lessons from learning how to love this process in my journey to health...taking pictures. Sure, it can be uncomfortable at first. You may not enjoy what you see in the mirror. But if you are staying consistent, working out, watching what you eat, you should be seeing results week to week.

I've made it a point to take pictures every week. You might not see a HUGE difference just from week to week, there are weeks that I don't see a huge change. But when you compare your first to your last, you WILL see that change, and remember why the process is all worth it.

Take those small steps every day, and you will get there. Love the process. Laugh, cry, dance, sing...LIVE. Don't get caught up in the event, but dream big and DAILY go after it, enjoying every day for the blessing that God has given us. 

A Healthier Me

Let me take you back just six short months ago- to January of this year. I had just gotten married to my best friend, started a new job, and was transitioning into a new season of life.

But something was wrong. I was happy, yes. Overjoyed, in fact, to be able to spend every day with my husband, and dig into my new job and learn the ropes. But my body felt awful.

I was constantly tired, my ankles hurt in the morning when I got up. I felt weak. I ran out of breath easily. I told my husband that his legs were longer than mine when we would be out walking and that's why I was walking slower than him. But I knew, deep down, that I was headed in a bad direction. And at 25, my health was going downhill.

It all started two years ago when I returned home to the U.S. after being overseas for eleven months on the World Race (an eleven month missions trip to eleven different countries...you can see my blog recaps in older posts). So I came home having lost about twenty pounds over that year, which was awesome. But then, I started craving American food.

I saw things like bagels, bacon, cheese, pizza, Mexican food, In-n-Out Burger (for those of you fellow west-coasters, you know how amazing that is), and on and on. My mind was saying "oh you've been 'deprived' of that for a year! Go ahead and treat yourself!"

Well, I treated myself. And treated. And treated. And treated. Basically I ate everything bad for me, again and again. I packed on all the weight I had lost, plus more, and I was heavier than I had ever been before. And I was in denial about it. I wouldn't even step on a scale, because I was afraid of what I would see. I knew I needed to stop, but I didn't.

Finally, this January, I decided something had to give, or I was going to wind up with serious health issues. I wanted to be around for a long time with my wonderful hubby and our one day children and family, and the thought of them pushed me forward to a decision.

It took me until February to commit and get started. But my husband and I ordered T25, and we started it. Before T25 I had never completed a fitness program. I would always start and then lose motivation and just stop and go back to how things were. This time, with my husband at my side, I pushed through  the entire ten weeks and finished!

(Picture on the left was 4 weeks into T25, picture on the right was 6 weeks later after finishing T25!)

I am now on my second program, and focusing on my nutrition. I can't even explain how good it feels to know that I FINISHED. I accomplished it. And now, I'm moving forward, and continuing. This journey has been incredible, and I know it's just the beginning.

I have a long road ahead of me still, but I'm taking it one day at a time. If you would have told me a year ago that I would be working out every single day consistently, I would have laughed at you. That was just not me. Sure I liked doing active things. But workout every day? No way.

Oh how things have changed, and so much for the better! I not only workout every day, but I enjoy it! I love watching my body transform and feel myself gain more energy and strength.

I'm here to tell you that YOU can do it. Yes, you. You who has given up hope that you could ever change. You can. You who thinks it's just too hard or there's not enough time. It's not too hard, and you do have time, you may have to make sacrifices, but I'm telling you, it's worth it.

YOU are worth the time and investment. Your health is worth it. Just because you feel fine now doesn't mean all those chemicals and things you are putting in your body won't rear their ugly head later. Take time and do something good for your body and your life.

You are more than a number on a scale. You are more than your pants size. You are more than how many push ups you can or can't do. And YOU are worth it. If I can do this, YOU CAN TOO.

This is why I love being a coach. Being able to share my story with you, and hopefully offer you HOPE to know that you can do this! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. I love helping others!

(Picture on the left was taken March 2014, Picture on the right taken June 2014)