Archive | February 2012

Beach Body Challenge Day7

Feb20

Got up Friday morning and had a Luna bar and lots of water for breakfast. Fridays are when I usually do a long run, but the Mirage’s Cardio room limits the time on the machines to 30 min. Before heading to the gym, I did a 2 min plank. I decided to do the 5K program again but do 6 sets of 1 min sprints. After the first couple sets, I thought that I’d just stick with running, but I hung in there and kept doing the sprint intervals.

PlankADay

5K Program w/ 6 sets of 1min Sprints

——————————— Turbo Fire Day 5 ———————————–

Fire 55 EZ

I knew I was going to be out for most of the day so I did my Turbo Fire workout when I got back to my hotel room.  On the schedule was Fire 55 EZ Class.  The EZ is deceiving. You think that it’ll be easier, but it’s not. lol.  I did the New to Class option for the breakdowns so it took over an hour to do.  There were long combos that I pretty much forgot after she went through it. Hahaha. But I did have a hang of the workouts and the moves so I did pretty good.  I was a little behind when there were transitions but I was able to catch up.  By the end of it, I was pretty worn out.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————-

I changed my clothes, very happy to be sporting my new Blowfish shoes :-) Since Ben took the car, I had to walk to the Cosmo from the Mirage.  I decided to use my MapMyRun+ app on my phone to see how far of  a walk it would be.  I walked fairly fast and only slowed down when I had to make my way around a group of people. I took the stairs when I had to use the walk ways to cross the street. I actually ran up the stairs. Trying to get in as much exercise as I could :-)

Run Up the Stairs

Run Down the Stairs

Walk From the Mirage to Cosmo

At the Cosmo, Ben and I had brunch at a China Poblano. It had both Chinese and Mexican food.  They had a breakfast menu, but there wasn’t anything that looked or sounded healthy.  The waitress said it was ok for us to order from the lunch menu.  I got a Mushroom and Avocado soft taco.  It was small but very tasty.  We also ordered some Churros and Mexican Hot Cocoa.  The churros were the freshest I’ve ever had. I dipped my churros in the hot cocoa but I didn’t drink the rest. Ben ordered a 20 vegetable fried rice and I took a small sample.  It was really good and since it was the first batch of the day, it was so fresh.  They really did have a ton of veggies in it :-) I ordered a Cherry Aguas Frescas thinking it wouldn’t be too bad, but it was way too sweet.

Mushroom Avocado Soft Taco from China Poblano

Fresh Churros and Mexican Hot Cocoa

Small sample of 20 Vegetable Fried Rice

Cherry Agua Frescas

After that we hung out for a while.  We sat in the chairs inside the Chandlier lounge. Ben was waiting for the shoes he wanted to buy. My friend Malissa was coming over to meet me for lunch and shopping :-) While we were waiting we realized that our phones got No reception – especially inside the Chandilier lounge :-( I was having a hard time texting my friend.  We couldn’t even call one another. I finally had to go outside of the hotel to be able to send and receive messages.  I was a little irritated at this point.  It meant that as long as Ben was inside the hotel, I wouldn’t be able to get a hold of him.

Hung out a lot in the Chandelier Lounge

My friend arrived and we went to Holstein’s for lunch.  It was right next the Chandelier Lounge and neither one of us felt like walking much.  This was a burger and shakes place.  I haven’t had a hamburger since starting the Tone It Up Nutriton Plan last July.  Luckily they did have mini Turkey Burgers that I could eat.  Swapped out the french fries for Sweet potato fries and split a almond coconut milkshake with my friend.  I did not eat all 3 mini burgers or even touch the sweet potato fries. I saved it for Ben to have as a snack while I went shopping.

Mini Turkey Burgers

I took Malissa across the street to Walgreens to kick off our shopping. Why Walgreens? Because they have a really great selection of makeup at decent prices :-) She was looking for lip glosses and I was looking for anything that caught my eye.  I stocked up on more Sally Hansen Salon Effects – the nail polish stickers.  I also found a brand of Gel Nail Polish that didn’t require LED lights to dry. I couldn’t pass up a 24hour CoverGirl LashBlast mascara and their ColorBlast eyeshadows. Yes, Walgreens is a favorite place of mine to shop.

Then we went into the Miracle Mile Shops. Again, I walked the entire thing.  I took Malissa to the place I got my shoes – Wild Pair.  She found some boots that she loved but they didn’t have it in her size :-( I took advantage of their buy a pair of dress shoes and get 25% off your entire purchase.  I got some super cute wedge boots and red leopard print wedge dress shoes. We walked around and browsed through a few stores but we saved our shopping for H&M.  The one inside Miracle Mile is small compared to the one inside Forum Shops. We still found some cute things to buy.

After walking the entire mall, we headed back to the Cosmo and she drove me back to the Mirage. I wanted to put my shopping bags away and had to pick up my laptop for Ben. I had an almond coconut Kind bar for my Meal 4 on the way back to the hotel.  I added a few more layers, grabbed my lap top and walked back to the Cosmo to meet Ben for dinner. It was definitely a lot busier at night. I still walked fast and took the stairs. Might as well work up a sweat right?

When I got there, we had to line up in order to get the shoes.  The thing was we had to wait until Saturday morning to get them O_0. Since Ben couldn’t leave the line without losing his spot, I wound up just picking up snacks at the Walgreens across the street for him to eat.  I had a Luna bar for my dinner and spent most of the night waiting along the wall of the store.  I wasn’t comfortable walking back to the Mirage late at night but I got pretty tired so I decided to go to the car in the garage to try and sleep for a couple hours.  Bad idea… It was so noisy!! I might have dozed off for an hour at the most but I got hot and there was just way to much going on.  I went back up to wait with Ben.

Friday night was entertaining though.  The Marquee Night Club was right next to the shoe store so we got plenty of entertainment. There was even a guy from New York who said he was the Situation’s cousin. We all thought that he was just a little too drunk. lol. Lots of people came up and asked what we were all there waiting for.  The answer was always the same : “Air Jordan 1 Dave Whites.” Most people have no idea what that even is.  I wouldn’t know if it weren’t for Ben.

Oh Thank Goodness for alcohol!! Lol.  The owners of the store came out of club around 3a – Drunk and loud. They opened up their store an let us get the shoes. Originally we would have had to wait until 9a. I was so relieved! We got our two pairs of shoes and headed back to the hotel and went straight to bed.

Beach Body Challenge Day6

Feb20

It was really nice sleeping in. I woke up around 8a and just enjoyed Not hearing the sound of my boys fighting. lol. It is amazing how quiet things are without them around. I almost forgot what it’s like.  The beds weren’t too bad at the hotel. It’s hard for me to ever be comfortable in a bed that isn’t mine.  We have a Temperpedic and it is worth every single penny!

Our room didn’t have a fridge – besides the mini bar, so I had a Luna bar for breakfast. Ben had a Cliff bar and he decided that he’d come with me to the gym :-)  After doing a 2min plank (just me), we strapped on our running shoes and walked through the hotel to get to their Cardio room. I went over to the treadmills and he headed for the ellipticals. I love hotel gyms because they have the Best equipment.  These treadmills had a TV, attachments for iPhone, and a fan.  I chose to do a 5K program. Did pretty good and stuck to a 7mph pace.

Morning Plank

Ben finishing up his workout

—————————– Turbo Fire Day 4 ———————————

I decided to do my Turbo Fire workout when I got back from the hotel gym. I wanted to get my workouts out of the way so we could do whatever we needed to for the rest of the day.

Today was Fire 30 and Stretch 10. I still did the New to Class option.  I definitely did better.  This workout is so much fun.

Fire 30 Stretch 10

———————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Meal 2 was skipped. By the time I was done working out and showering, it was time for lunch. We headed to my favorite place: Bahama Breeze. I use to work at one when I lived in Florida and Vegas is the closest place for me to get their amazing food.  I Always go there for lunch when I go to Vegas. Their menu has changed a little since I’ve worked there but their atmosphere and quality is still great. It always brings back happy memories of my good friends and good times I had when I go there.

I decided to try out one of their new salads : Grilled Chicken and Tropical Fruit on Greens.  This was soooooo good! In hindsight I should have asked for the dressing on the side. It was Raspberry Vinaigrette but they had more on there than I would have liked. I am not big on salad dressing and I only ever use a very tiny bit.  The salad was still amazing though.  It had pineapple, grapes, oranges, and strawberries. I ate every last bit :-) I did have one drink: their Pineapple Coconut Martini.  It’s one they’ve added since I’ve worked there and it’s my favorite.  Usually I’d just have them keep them coming, but I stuck with just one and lots of water :-) Ben got his usual Jerk Shrimp appetizer.  I was very proud that he didn’t order an entree too. He’s working on getting use to smaller portions.

Ben with my drink and his

Chicken and Tropical Fruit on Greens

Jerk Shrimp

After lunch we  toured the Las Vegas Tower.  For those that don’t know, Ben is an air traffic controller.  He wanted to see if the Vegas tower was some place he would want to transfer to after SFO. It is very interesting listening to them talk about the differences between the towers.  It looks like that they are already fully staffed so it will be a while before Ben can go there.  They were all very friendly and we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

We headed over to the Cosmo for Ben to talk with a few people. He was very happy to have found a store that was carrying a shoe he really wanted.  The Cosmo is just so hip and fun. lol. I loved the Chandelier hanging from the ceiling and going all the way down. It was just so pretty :-)

Inside the Cosmo - 2nd Floor

We walked across the street to the Miracle Mile Mall. We walked the whole thing :-) Now I remember that we also walked it the day before… our first day in Vegas. lol. I had seen some shoes I wanted the day before. I went back in and got them today. Well, not exactly the ones I wanted.  The shoes I wanted were sold out in my size. They had my size in different style so I went for one that wasn’t as crazy as some of my other choices.

New Kicks - BlowFish

These shoes are super comfy!! I thought that they’d be stiff, but not at all. I took off my boots and wore these around and my feet felt great :-)

Meal 4 was Almond Coconut Kind Bar. We went back to our hotel and relaxed for a little bit.  We were a little worn out so we decided to stay at our hotel for dinner.  We didn’t want to do a fancy restaurant again so we decided to do California Pizza Kitchen.  I ordered a thin crust Spinach Artichoke pizza made with whole wheat flour.  Again, Ben liked it better than his pizza :-) I only had two slices.  I heard about the Kardashian Khaos Store inside the Mirage so we went to check it out after dinner.

I’m not a huge fan of the Kardashians, but I am a Huge fan of Stila Cosmetics.  I was surprised to see that they did an exclusive makeup collection for the Kardashian Khaos store.  There were two sets and I had the hardest time deciding which to get. I really wanted both but I decided to exercise some will power.  I chose the Bronze set since I use more of those colors on a daily basis than the ones inside the Night time set.

Stila Makeup for Kardashian Khaos

We went back to our hotel room and got ready to head over to our friends’ house out in Henderson.  We don’t get to see them much so we wanted to make sure we stopped by for a bit.  We always have a great time with them. Malissa and I will be doing the Disney Half Marathon in September together :-)  We stayed for a couple hours then headed back to the hotel.  Ben had to be up early the next day.

Beach Body Challenge Day5

Feb19

I’m a little behind on blogging about my Beach Body Challenge.  Days 5-8 I was in Vegas. It was a last minute trip that was kind of a whirlwind, but I was determined to stick to the Challenge.  How is it possible to stay on track while in Vegas?

First and Most Importantly, I Made it a Priority. I packed my TurboFire DVD’s (only the ones I needed), workout clothes, running shoes, and healthy snacks. As soon as we got settled into our hotel,  I made sure we went and got plenty of water.

Workout Clothes

Asics Running Shoes

Laptop, Turbo Fire DVD's and Workout Calendar

Healthy Snacks: SnapeaCrisps, Kind Bars, Luna Bars, and Cliff Bars

Two Six Pack of Arrowhead Water

We landed at 7:30a and couldn’t check in until 3p so we had a lot of time to kill. After we picked up our luggage and rental car, we ran around doing some errands for the hubby. Things did not quite work out as planned for him so he was upset and we almost went straight home. He worked a few things out  and we wound up staying.

I had Luna bar on the plane for my Breakfast. I always keep a couple in my purse ;-) By the time he settled everything, I was getting hungry again so we went to Serendipity’s for Breakfast #2. If you’ve ever been to Serendipity’s – you know the portion sizes are huge! We learned that from our last visit.  So instead of getting separate gigantic meals, we split a breakfast quesadilla. It wasn’t a super healthy breakfast. I wound up taking the bacon out of my second piece because it was actually making me nauseous.  It was the perfect portion size and saved us some money :-)

I really don’t remember what we did after breakfast… lol. I think we walked around a bit. Stores were just starting to open. We walked through the Forum Shops.  I looked through a Guess Marciano store. So cute But so Expensive! We decided to catch a movie that was starting in 30 min. to help pass the time. We went to Town Square and watched the new Underworld movie. Not great but Not bad either.  Then it was Lunch time.

We decided to try out a Sushi Restaurant that was by the movie theaters. We ordered two rolls. I got the Avocado and Eel roll which he wound up liking better than his Alaskan roll :-) Tried out their Mango Ice tea which I realized was probably loaded with sugar. lol. We figured that we could head over to our hotel and check in even though it was only 2p.

Appetizer

Alaskan Roll with cooked Salmon on top

Avocado Eel Roll

Closeup of my Yummy Avocado Eel Roll

We stayed at the Mirage and lucked out in getting a corner room. That meant we were at the end of a very long hallway but I figured it was a great way to get exercise every time we came and went :-) Since we had only gotten 3 hours of sleep, we decided to take a nap after checking in.

Once Ben got up, we got ready to go out. We wanted to ride the roller coaster inside NY NY hotel so we decided to do that first before eating dinner. It was so much fun! The highlight was the drunk wedding party that was behind us. They asked if they could go in front of us so they could all ride together. We didn’t mind since we were in no rush. The mother was so funny and kept thanking us. They obviously were having a great time.

On our way to the Roller Coaster inside NY NY

We were craving steak and there happened to be a really good one inside our hotel: Kokomo’s. It is a Fine Dining Restaurant so it’s pricey, but the food is amazing! They brought out a bread basket with several types of bread. We split a few to try them out. My favorite was the cranberry wheat. He ordered a 16oz. steak and asparagus. He says it’s he Best steak he’s ever had. I got the Red Snapper with veggies.  My snapper came with a lemon butter sauce that I didn’t use. I didn’t have any of the crispy onions that topped my veggies so I think I did pretty good :-) The dinner was delicious.  We were still tired from traveling so we just went back to our room to relax and go to bed.

Bread Basket

Ben and his 16 oz. Steak

Red Snapper

Green Beans, onions and tomatoes

———————————  Turbo Fire Day 3 ———————————–

Luckily it was a Rest Day for my Turbo Fire workouts. I really needed it. I only napped for a couple hours then got up. I had my afternoon snack – my favorite: Almond Coconut Kind Bar. I decided that while Ben napped that I’d do some toning workouts.

Started with a 2min plank on my forearms

Followed by  Tone It Up’s Vday workout X2

A Custom Booty Workout X3:

20 Sqauts

20 Lunges each leg

20 Side Lunges each leg

20 Single Leg BootyLifters each side

20 Heatwaves

Ended with a 2min plank.

I promise that this will be longest post. I didn’t have as much time to take as many pics for the rest of the time I was in Vegas.

I Just Don’t Care :-p

Feb16

Today I’m just in that mood. I Just Dont Care … about anything! I know it probably sounds mean – but guess what? I Don’t Care!! Lol.

Ben’s sick and I could care less. Usually I’m right there waiting on him hand and foot – but today … I don’t care. He can take care of himself.
“You don’t want to go to Sac cuz your sick? Fine. I can go by myself”
“But I want to come help you”
“Really? Seriously just stay home” So now that you’re all sick you Care about helping me out. Please! Lol.

And I definitely Dont care that he just bought a bunch of shoes!! Whoopty doo for him.

Boys are mad at me cuz they don’t get to see their oh so wonderful Grandpa. I don’t care!! Usually I feel all guilty and try to make up for it some way – like a treat. Screw it! Life isn’t fair and they see him plenty.

I don’t care that my house is a mess. I don’t care that I look like crap. I have nothing planned for dinner and I don’t really care to think about it.

I always take care of everyone and everything else first. I try so hard to make the people I love happy because I care so much. But why? Not like they do the same for me.

20120216-165102.jpg

End Rant :-p

My Goal for this Year!

Feb13

20120203-194944.jpg

My Big Goal for this year is to run my First Half Marathon!

I would really love to do the Nike Women’s Marathon/Half Marathon this October. It is a Huge race with over 20,000 people expected. Eeeeeks! It’s gotten so popular that they do a lottery for individual spots. There hasn’t been an official date on when registration starts but the date for the race is:
Image

Even registering early right doesn’t guarantee you a spot. I plan on signing up on the first day but just in case I don’t get a spot I’ve signed up to do the Disney Half Marathon in September :-)
I’m doing it with a friend of mine and making it a Girls’ Weekend. If I happen to get a spot in the Nike Women’s event, I will still do it :-) It’ll be about a month and half after the Disney race so I should be ok.

I am so excited and nervous about doing a half marathon. The distance seems so intimidating right now. I have already started training for it. I plan on doing a few smaller races leading up to it to help prep for it :-)

2012 is going to a great year!!!

Beach Body Challenge Day4

Feb7

Day 4 of BeachBody Challenge

I started my day doing Tone It Up’s Valentine’s Day Workout x2. I added light weights to the first 6 exercises :-) It was a great way to wake up.

Breakfast was something that I’ve been thinking about for days.  You know when you have an idea on your mind and you’re just waiting to get it out? Yep, that was me making my breakfast. Took a couple egg whites, put it on top of Spinach and topped with sliced tomatoes and tempeh bacon. I sprinkled a little sea salt on top.

Egg White Tempeh Sandwich

I was very happy to have my Chobani Champions for my snack this morning.  Resisting the Chobani Champions every time I opened my fridge was a hard part of the cleanse. lol. The Champions are perfect for me because they are smaller portions and less sugar. I added Trader Joe’s Raw Almond Butter and Bear Naked Fit Granola.

Raw Almond Butter

Bear Naked Fit - Found it at WalMart :-)

Had a Shakeology Shake for Lunch. I couldn’t decide which recipe to try. So many choices!! I went with the Choco Raspberry because it was simple and I wanted to use up the last of my frozen raspberries. I put in a little more than a half of cup because there wasn’t much left.

Choco Raspberry Shakeology

It was sooooo good. I added ice cubes but I probably didn’t need to since the raspberries were frozen. Came out super thick – the way I like it :-)

Meal 4 was a Lemon Zest Luna bar. Wanted to have some energy for the gym.

Dinner – Tilapia w/ 1 cup of brown rice mixed with spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms, and broccoli slaw.

100 oz. of water today!

——————————— Turbo Fire Day 2 —————————————

Today’s class was HIIT15/Stretch 10. I figured that this was going to be really intense – and it was! 3 Different HIIT workouts doing each 3 times in 15minutes. Insane!! lol. Thought my heart was going to come out of my chest after the first HIIT workout.  I followed the modifications because it was all a little fast for me. Not quite ready to do all those jumps but I will definitely be working on it. I was drenched in sweat even though I didn’t jump. Loved it! The Stretch 10 was the same as yesterday’s and I could feel all my sore muscles from yesterday and today. I see why tomorrow is a Rest Day.

I debated on Not doing anything else. I was worn out from the HIIT15. Ben decided to change his mind – again – and booked a last minute trip to Vegas early tomorrow morning. Tomorrow is a Rest Day for TurboFire but I was planning on having an Active Rest day. I usually do a bike ride and some booty toning exercises.  This last minute trip is going to make that difficult. I decided to hit the gym and do a 30 minute Hill program on the bike. My legs were dead from the HIIT earlier but I made it over 6 miles with the resistance up at 20 at the hardest part :-)

Gotta go Pack!

Grace

Feb7

20120207-100539.jpg

If you know me, you know that I am NOT a religious person. I am a firm believer that Spirituality is an Individual choice and journey. I feel religion tends to control more than guide these days. So why would some “non-believer” like me have my kids saying Grace at dinner?

Well, despite my dislike of the religious aspect of it, I believe that saying Grace teaches my boys something important: Gratitude.

20120207-101100.jpg

To me it’s not just a Prayer. I want them to take a few moments to think about All that they Have in their Life. A few moments where they aren’t concerned about Not having some stupid toy or Not getting something they want. I want them to be Grateful for what they Have and hopefully help them realize not to take it all for granted.

It’s so easy to do. We all forget how precious and short our time really is. We are all so worried about getting the things we Don’t have we forget to appreciate what we do have…. Until its gone. For kids it’s even harder to realize because to them everything is forever :-)

I figure that by saying Grace at dinner, they can start to see that as long as we have each other, a roof over heads, food on our plates, and clothes on our backs that we have all we Need.  Even though we Dont have all that we Want, we have so much to be grateful for.

20120207-101930.jpg

Beach Body Challenge Day 3

Feb7

Day 3

The Last day of the Shakeology Cleanse and the First day of Turbo Fire!!

Well I made it through the Shakeology Cleanse :-) I have to say that for a cleanse – this was probably one of the easiest. I didn’t expect it to be. How could 3 shakes, two cups of green tea and two servings of fruit (which are optional) going to keep me full?  The answer: Shaekology! These shakes will fill you up just with the water and ice.  I was allowed to add fruit to my morning shake, and that made it even more filling. They have a whole bunch of  recipes they suggest and I’m sure those make it more satisfying :-)

Chocolate Shakeology Menu

I am really looking forward to trying all these recipes out. This morning I added frozen pineapple and it was amazing!!

Snack – 1 c. of cherries (had to finish them off before they went bad)

Lunch – Shakeology  – didn’t spill it this time :-) Green Tea

Dinner – Chicken salad with spinach and broccoli slaw

Dessert – Shakeology

I will continue to have 1 shake a day during the challenge.

For more information on Shakeology contact BeachBody coach April Anaya at http://www.teambeachbody.com

——————————— Turbo Fire Day 1————————————-

Today was my first day doing Turbo Fire. I knew it was going to be challenging, but I guess I really had no idea what was coming. Lol. I started by watching the Intro DVD: Get Fired Up. Chalene explains What Turbo Fire Is, Why it works, and what to expect from the classes. I learned a lot from the intro and she is really motivating. It is the first time I’ve done one of her workouts. She had me pumped and ready to go.

Intro DVD

Fire 30 w/ Stretch 10 was on the schedule for today. I chose the “New to Class” option so I could get a break down of all the moves so it was a little bit longer than 30 minutes. I could have used a break down for the warm up. lol. Right from the start it was high energy. There is a modified version you can follow which I liked because it helped me to learn the moves better. Even with the break downs, I was a little behind. I’m not all that coordinated and the moves are choreographed with the music and I got confused a few times. It was still a great workout and soooo much fun. The moves are great and the music goes so well with it. A couple more times with the break down and I should be able to get it down :-)

Fire 30 Stretch 10

Stretch 10 was a really good cool down. I have a bit of an issue with flexibility especially in my left knee so some stretches were hard. I usually don’t like to do the cool downs in workouts, but I will be doing it with this challenge. I want to make sure that I don’t injure myself and hopefully it will help with my flexibility :-)

I am wondering if this Turbo Fire is meant to be the only workout I do for the day. I can see why it would be. It wiped me out. After I was done stretching I laid down on the floor for 10 minutes before getting up.  lol. I do like to run and I usually do 2-3 small workout sessions in a day. I don’t want to overdo it so I’m taking it easy and seeing how I feel.

Today I also did Tone It Up’s Valentine’s Day workout, 40 Tummy Tucks, and a 5;30 minute plank for my Plank A Day. I challenged myself to do 2 min on my hands then did 1 min side plank each side with 30 seconds of side plank crunches. When you’re in side plank on your hands doing crunches, you can Really feel it in your obliques! Went back to plank on my hand for 1 min and did 30 seconds on my elbows. I’m on Day 8 of the 150 Day Challenge :-)

Really looking forward to my first Turbo Fire HIIT workout tomorrow!

BeachBody Challenge Day 2

Feb6

Day 2

I meant to blog yesterday, but Ben had my laptop :-P So I’m catching up now. Yes, I continued with the Shakeology Cleanse during the SuperBowl.  Luckily, it was just me and the boys since Ben had to work. This made it easy for me to stick to the cleanse. My boys are young so the game wasn’t a big deal to them. I just had to feed them dinner and they were happy :-)

Breakfast was Green Tea and Shakeology with frozen banana

Snack – 1c of cherries

Lunch – Shakeology and Green tea – spilled half of my shake :-(

Snack – Shakeology. I like to have it after dinner (it’s like a dessert) but since I spilled half my lunch I needed the shake to help me make it to dinner.

Dinner – Tilapia, Spinach, and Broccoli Slaw – Wish I had taken a picture. I marinaded the Tilapia in Balsamic, honey, lemon juice and a little extra virgin olive oil. It came out soooo good! I highly recommend the Broccoli Slaw from Trader Joes. I usually sauté it, but I just used it raw for the salads and it tastes great.

Workouts:

Went for a 3 mile run but it was at a slower pace. My left knee actually hurting me quite a bit :-( I also felt really tired during the whole run. I went out before I ate so maybe I just needed some fuel.

I did Tone It Up’s 300 Rep Challenge that I modified for the Booty:

30 Walking Lunges

30 Kettlebell Swings (10 lbs)

30 BootyLifters

30 Heatwaves (from TIU’s Beach Bum Workout)

30 Squat Jumps

Repeat

Original 300 Rep Challenge

My time was 7:02 – I’ve done several modifications to the TIU’s 300 Rep Challenge and this one has to be my favorite. Get’s my heart racing and booty burnin :-)

Followed it with TIU’s Rush Workout X 3 with 20 Reps Each. This is such a great quick workout. I also did the last of Blogilates Week of 100 Challenges. Eagle Crunches – I did 5 sets of 20 to get to 100 :-) Ended with a 5 min plank (1 min on elbows, 1 min on hands, 1 min side plank each side, and 1 min on hands) for my PlankADay.

I joined a group of girls on twitter doing a 150Day Challenge. It’s 150 consecutive days of working out to prepare for summer. It doesn’t have to be super intense workouts. Just something everyday. Since I’ve worked out every day this week, I’m on Day 7! It’ll go perfectly with my Beach Body TurboFire Challenge since I can cover 90 days with it :-)

Follow @JadeTonesItUp on twitter and Join Us!

Starting My First Beach Body Challenge

Feb4

Today I officially started my first BeachBody Challenge.

I’ve been wanting to try a BeachBody Challenge for a while but have been putting it off. Price being the main reason and the fact that I was a little intimidated. Since I joined Tone It Up and started my new Healthy and Fit LifeStyle, I’ve gained the confidence to try a BeachBody Challenge. I met a BeachBody coach, April Anaya via twitter and decided to join her Fitness Challenge.

Beach Body Coach April Anaya

April started her BeachBody journey in 2009. She signed up to be coach to get the discounts. She’s lost 69lbs and has maintained it for over a year. What an inspiration! After her success, she decided to pursue the business side of being a coach to help others with their health and fitness goals. She presented me with her challenge and was very helpful in answering all my questions.

Her challenge has you pick from a bunch of different Beach Body programs. It depends on you and your fitness goals which one you pick. For beginners, she recommends Turbo Jam, Hip Hop Abs or Brazil Butt Lift.  She tailors her recommendations to your wants and needs.

You can also choose to do a Challenge Pack where you get a program plus a month’s worth of Shakeology. Yes this is more expensive, but you Don’t have to get the challenge pack if you don’t want to.

To Save money, you can sign up to be a coach and get a discount on the programs and challenge packs.  You do not have to become a coach in order to do her challenge.

So Why did I chose to do her challenge? Like I said I’ve wanted to try a BeachBody Challenge for a long time. I felt that I was finally ready to give their programs a shot. I was ready to invest in my health.  April has a great set up for her challenge. It’s a small group of 5 that keep one another accountable. We check in with our workouts and meals and help motivate one another. For more details about her Challenges please check April Out on Twitter: @mommywifey1

I chose to become a coach and take advantage of the discounts too. I also chose to do a Challenge Pack to try out Shakeology. For my program, I chose Turbo Fire since I love HIIT workouts and kickboxing. I probably won’t be doing the business side of being a coach because it’s just not my thing. I will take advantage of the discounts though and get more BeachBody programs once I complete TurboFire :-) I am always looking for new workouts to try out and BeachBody has a lot of variety.

What I got with my Challenge Pack:

TurboFire Program w/ Bonus DVD

30 Day Supply of Chocolate Shakeology

Thin Kitchen Recipe Book

—————————————————————————————————————————————–

Day 1

My group is suppose to start on Feb. 6th with the Shakeology Cleanse. I decided to start Today because I will be going to Vegas on Tuesday (the 7th) and I wanted to have the cleanse done before I left. I figure the cleanse will be easier to do at home. I will be following the Tone It Up Nutrition Plan while doing this program but incorporating at least 1  Shakeology Shake every day :-)

The Shakeology Cleanse has me drinking 3 Shakeology Shakes, green tea twice a day, lots of water, a lean salad for dinner and two servings of fruit for added calories. I was really worried when I looked over it because it didn’t seem like I’d be getting much to eat. I told myself that it was Only for 3 days and I Can Do It!

For my breakfast shake I added half a frozen banana. I have to say that I was not expecting the shake to be so creamy. I figured it was the banana. It was very chocolaty – but not too sweet. It was very filling. I really wasn’t hungry afterwards. My cravings just came out of bad habit. It has been a struggle all day  to not eat anything else besides what is on the cleanse. I had a cup of grapes for my snack. My lunch Shake had no fruit and it was still very creamy :-) When I got a craving, I’d drink some water. The shakes really do fill you up and I was not hungry. Just a lot of tempting things around from the boys and the hubby :-)

For dinner I had a salad made with spinach, tuna and broccoli slaw. I need to go restock on my veggies.  Instead of having my third shake before dinner, I decided to have it after dinner – kind of like a dessert. I couldn’t finish it all. I got through most of it, but I was honestly Full.

It’s recommended not to do intense workouts during the cleanse. Luckily today is my active rest day. I went for my usual hour long bike ride in the morning. At night I did 20o crunches, 100 pushups and a challenge from Blogilates 100 Chest pulses. I also did a 5 minute plank.

I also went over the Turbo Fire Schedule and planned out my workouts for the coming week. I wanted to see what I’m suppose to do for the first week and make sure that I pack what I need. I am determined to stay on track with this challenge even while I’m in Vegas :-)