Beautiful Weekend, SundayWorkout, and 21 Day Fix Prep Week

Happy Sunday, everyone! I hope everyone has had a great weekend so far! Saturday for me was really nice. I took a day away from normal church service to recharge and spend some time in the sun and nature with God. It was very refreshing and definitely recharging. I thank Him for allowing us to be stationed in such a beautiful place where I can just go hang out on the beach for a few hours. Most weeks I just feel overwhelmed with the business of life. It's constantly go, go go everyday and I just needed some time away to talk to Him. It was very much needed. Especially with my upcoming move... Life will be even busier than normal for the next month while we're anticipating and getting ready for the move. So for now I'm taking all the time that I can to have downtime. Lol.

This morning I got in a great workout with my girls! I love my Sunday workouts. Not only is it nice to start the day of with a nice outdoor sweat session, but it's always nice to see my chicks. Love those girls!

Now I'm spending a few cleaning the house ams making my list for my Sunday meal-prep! This week will be prep week for the 21 Day Fix Extreme. Even though I don't technically start the program until next Monday, I'm going to follow the meal plan this week so that I have a week to tweak things before I jump into it on the 2nd. I'm super excited for this new program! I have seen some amazing results through Max 30! But, let's be real, I would have seen even better results of my nutrition would have been on point 100% of the time! So I'm going to do this 100% right and I'm excited to see the results. I'm most scared about giving up my Quest bars for the next month. Y'all know I love those things. I do plan on doing at least weekly blog updates while I'm on the plan, hopefully even more frequent than that, so be on the lookout for that! Alright, list is done.... off to shop!

21 Day Fix Extreme is here!!!

Happy Sunday, everyone!

It's been a really great day today. Started my morning off right with a great workout in the park.

Went grocery shopping with the hubby and grabbed some lunch AND some Menchie's while we were out! (I looooove frozen yogurt) And then came home and watched "The Croods". That was a really cute movie. I know it's been out forever; but I don't see a lot of movies out there. Lol. Movies that have been out for like a year are new releases to me.

Another great thing that happened this weekend is that I received my 21 Day Fix Extreme package in the mail! I am overly-excited for this program because of what I've read and the results that I've seen within my coach group as well as with people who I know personally. This program is great because it truly incorporates nutrition and exercise into one program.

Overview of what came in my box:

The Containers:

This will be what I use to build my meals each day for the 21 Days. Based on my current weight and my goals I'll be able to fill them a certain number of time with the corresponding food. When I look at them, they do seem a little bit small, but I've seen them filled with food and they actually fit quite a bit of food inside of them. So instead of counting calories and weighing, during this 21 Days, if it fits within the corresponding container and that container is allotted to me during the day, then I can eat it. My Fitness Pal will be very lonely during this time. Haha.

The DVDs:

These two DVDs will give me my workouts each day for the duration of the 21 Days. Each day has a different workout and each workout is intense! For me personally, on the day where the workout schedule calls for Extreme Fix Yoga, I'll be using that as a rest day or doing something different because I don't do yoga for personal reasons. Other than that workout though, I plan on following the workouts completely. It's really great too because each workout is only 30 minutes long! So just like with Max 30, it'll be easy to fit it into my schedule!

The Eating Plans:

The 21 Day Fix Extreme is a really cool plan because it kind of "ups the anty" if you will to the regular 21 Day Fix. On the extreme plan, there is no treats or cheats allowed at all during the 21 Days; where with the first 21 Day Fix, Autumn had a couple of treats written into the program. And, with the Extreme, she also gives you her "Countdown to Competition" eating plan, which shows you exactly what she eats to prepare for a bikini competition show. Clearly that meal plan will be even MORE intense than the Extreme eating plan. I haven't yet decided whether I will attempt this one or not. I know for sure I will do the Extreme eating plan for the full 21 days, but I'll have to figure out whether I want to incorporate the Countdown to Competition into my first go at the 21 Day Fix. Maybe my last week.... We'll see..... So you get two eating guides, the 21 Day Fix Extreme eating guide (which I don't have pictured here), and the Countdown to Competition. 

Extra:

I got another Shakeo cup! Super excited about that because I sometimes forget mine at home. So this one I will keep at work. I love my cup! It's big enough to hold all of my shake that I make. Depending on how much ice I put in it, sometimes it ends up making more than a standard 12-oz cup can hold. So this was an exciting extra that was added to the package.

So I am pretty darn excited about this program. I'm still in the midst of Insanity Max 30, which I'm still LOVING!! As soon as that completes, this one will kick off. I'm excited to see the results that are coming with the Insanity Max 30 and even more excited to see what will happen with this program. What I'm trying to do with my body right now (cut fat and lean out) is really accomplished through mostly nutrition, so I'm hoping that this will really take it to the next level for me! Thankfully I have some awesome challengers who will be joining me on this journey. 

I am definitely looking for even more challengers, so if you're interested in coming along on this 21 day journey, let me know and I'll send you the info. For the month of February, both the regular 21 Day Fix as well as this new 21 Day Fix Extreme are on special, so you can take advantage of either program. 

If you're unsure which one is right for you, here is a chart comparing the two side by side:

If you already know which program you want and you're ready to order:

1. Create your free Team Beach Body account here: https://teambeachbody.com/signup/-/signup/free?referringRepId=841828

2. Order the challenge pack of your choice: 

• 21 Day Fix Challenge Pack: http://teambeachbody.com/shop/-/shopping/BCP21D160?referringRepId=841828
• 21 Day Fix Extreme Challenge Pack: http://teambeachbody.com/shop/-/shopping/BCP21E160?referringRepId=841828

**Remember that you'll also get a 30-day supply of Shakeology with your order!!

Reunited; And It Feels So Good

Today was a good day! Was blessed by a great sermon at church, was invited to eat fellowship lunch with one of the best families I know, and then went to Tampa International to pick up my mom, sister, and nephew.

One thing I've realized on this military-life journey is that I will never stop missing my family, no matter how long or how short we're apart. It's been 22 months since I've seen my mom. That is a really long time. So today I was overjoyed to see her face! I'm so happy she's here. We had fun tonight just relaxing, looking through things that made us remember old times, and just enjoy being with each other!

My sister and nephew we here in October and it feels like it just happened, but man oh man...has he changed so much in just three short months. I got the BIGGEST hug from him at the airport and that warmed my heart. I just love having them around me. It brings me so much happiness! And spending time with my sis is always a wonderful thing....sje just makes me smile!

Now it's late and I'm tired. Everyone else is sleeping, so that's my queue. Going to host my Sunday bootcamp just like normal tomorrow morning. Just because I'm in vacation doesn't give me am excuse to skip my normal workouts!

Good night!

Weekly Meal Prepping

HOW DO I EVEN BEGIN TO MEAL PREP? 

I know I had this question months back before I started my prepping ritual. Back in April I purchased a meal plan from the amazing Shawn Wolfe and I had NO idea what I was doing going into it.  All I knew was that he had a specific plan for me to follow and that I had a lot of stuff to cook everyday. Lol. I'd heard about people meal-prepping, but I never thought that it would be necessary for me to do. 

Well, my first week into that meal plan, I realized that I desperately needed to have a plan. Lol. The one thing I know about every week in the life is that its going to be busy! If I'm not wasting my life away sitting in Tampa traffic, I'm either at work or I'm at home spending the small amount of time that I do have there cooking dinner and getting ready for the next day. So that doesn't leave me a whole lot of time. And the last thing I want to do is spend an hour cooking after I get home following am hour-long drive. 

So if you're anything like me, your time is valuable. So I quickly discovered that my life would DEFINITELY be easier if I could have stuff ready to go for the week! My plan won't be like everyone's plan, but I hope that through this post I can give some direction and ideas to someone wondering where to start and what to do!

Here is the first thing to keep in mind, at each meal you want the essential things: carbs, protein, and veggies! So what does this mean? It means that you need to have all of these things on hand for every meal! So this is what I do: 

I prep all three. Being a vegetarian my options will differ from someone who isn't a vegetarian. These are my staples; what I cook for my week. 

CARBS

Quinoa, brown rice, black rice, and baked sweet potato coins are all staples for me in my carb category. I usually make about 5 servings of each and throw them into the fridge in tupperwares. Thar way, when it's time to either pack my lunch or make dinner, I can just pull them out, measure away, warm them up, and I'm good to go!

PROTEIN

Black beans, tofu, and quorn chick'n cutlets are all staples that I have during the week. I try to shoot for about 4-6 oz of protein at each meal. (Side note:by yourself a good scale, they work wonders!) 

VEGGIES

For veggies one can always use the easy go to of a salad, but I like variety. So I usually find myself making a couple of things. Brussel sprouts and green beans are my favorites to make. I'll usually have a tupperware of each in the fridge after my meal prepping. I also really like the steamfresh frozen veggies because they're easy and still healthy. So I have a nice variety of those in my freezer! And then of course I always have my bagged mixed salad on hand! 

SNACKS

Snacks are a bit easier because there usually isn't a lot of prep involved. One thing that I do recommend though is to portion out your snacks. For example, when I buy my big bag of almonds from Walmart, as soon as I get home, I count out 24 almonds and individually bag them into snack baggies. That way I can just grab a baggie in the morning to throw into my purse and I already know the calorie count on it. I also LOVE having hard-boiled eggs! So I'll always have some of those on hand in the fridge so that I can easily grab one to throw in my lunch bag to take to work with me! That obviously involves a little bit of prep, so that's another one on the list on my meal-prep days! 

Overall, meal prepping is a great way to give yourself more time during the week. We all live busy lives and we can all stand to give ourselves some ease. So do yourself a favor and take an hour or two on Sunday afternoons to set yourself up for the win during the week! You'll Thank yourself once you do it! Trust me!

If you have any questions about what I do to make my life easier through meal-prepping, just ask!

To Be A Blessing....

This morning I was sitting back reflecting on my weekend and how quickly it flew by. Every weekend goes faster than the last. Most of the time the weekend is packed with events that prepare me for the week ahead; but rarely are they filled with things that directly help others. Maybe in someway the things that I do positively impact others; but it's not like I participate in activities every weekend that make a direct impact on someone's life.

This weekend I was blessed to be given the opportunity to do so.

The Women's Choir at my church was invited to go sing at an Assisted Living Facility where one of our choir members works. Sometimes you're not quite sure how you're going to be received at an event like this. I mean, just because you're older and living in a facility such as this doesn't mean that you want to have a bunch of ladies singing to you while you're enjoying your Saturday afternoon sandwich and social hour.

However, this group of people loved it! I felt very blessed and privileged to be a part of what put a smile on their face that afternoon. It made me understand what Christ was saying in Matthew 25:36, "I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came unto me." When we are a blessing to others, we are serving Christ by showing His love. I don't know the situation of each person that was sitting there thar afternoon. I would like to believe that they all have family who comes to visit them... but from what I've experienced and been told, that is more often not the case. So if our group was the first visitor at least one person had in who knows how long, then that's all that matters.

It truly is a blessing to be a blessing to another person and I'm thankful that the Lord gave me the opportunity to serve Him in that way on Saturday afternoon!

John 13:35
"By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another."

Long weekend happenings....

Hello, all!

This weekend has been really nice! Number One- it's a long weekend! Number two- I've gotten to spend a lot of time with my hubby this weekend which has been really nice!

Saturday night we went to the arcade. I haven't been to the arcade forever. It was seriously so much fun. Life gets so routine and busy so often that we forget to just kick off our shoes and act like kids. That is just what we did. Everyone else had left by 11:30 at the latest; but Craig and I stayed until 12:30 playing games and cashing in our tickets. Seriously a blast!

Sunday morning we went to our marriage group at church. We're reading The 5 Love Languages asa group and discussing the challenges that marriages face and doing different activities that require us to work together. We had a really good time hanging out with church family and doing the activity together. I think sometimes you think you're the only couple struggling with certain things, and then you find out that these are things that EVERYONE is going through. So it was nice!

I got a day pass for hubby to come to the gym with me last night. We never workout together because it schedules are so opposite, so it was fun to go together. It's not like we worked out together.... We still did our own thing; but it was nice knowing that he was there and I got to go spy on him looking all strong when I was done with my cardio. Hehe.

Then we rented a movie from Redbox to watch, which we never do. We rented Captain Philips. If you haven't seen it, let me just suggest that you go rent it now. Probably one of the better movies I've seen in awhile! Very intense and well-written. Scary that it's based on something that really happened. I can't even imagine going through something like that.

Today I FINALLY got to go out to this exercise equipment warehouse I've been trying to get to for months but never can because their hours are so not conducive for anyone with a normal M-F work schedule. I made out like a bandit. Got some battle ropes, a sandbag, and a wall ball all for under $150. And I had $80 in birthday money that I used, so my out of pocket was very minimal. I'm super excited about this equipment, not only for me, but for when I do my workouts with the group of girls I workout with. This equipment will make our workouts even better!

We also went to this hip new restaurant in South Tampa that I've been dying to try. Totally outside of our normal dining choices and really outside my hubby's comfort zone, but he's good to me and humors me when I want to try new stuff cuz he knows I like it. The food ended up being incredible and even he enjoyed himself. Definitely a spot I'll go to again!

I still have one more day off in this long weekend and really not a whole lot planned for tomorrow, which is nice. So I'll definitely hit the gym, since I didn't do that today; and then probably do a couple things with my hubby and take advantage of free meals around the area in observance of Veteran's Day.

I wish every weekend could be a long weekend!

Relaxing Sunday...

It's funny that the time changed last night because it's like the weather knew it and decided to fall right in line. It was definitely chilly for Florida today! I like it because I can wear the few things that I can't wear very often here. But it was funny to see the Tampa-folk out with their beanies and coats on.

I had a pretty relaxing day today though. Went to church this morning for another session of Action65. It's a program that a friend of mine has created that promotes clean eating. I've been on the program now for about 6 weeks and it's been going well. My body can tell when I'm not eating clean. Lol. We've been watching this documentary called "Fed Up" for the last couple of sessions. We're going to finish it up next time. It's a really eye-opening documentary though. 

After that I went over to the house of one of the ladies in the church for the Healthy You Club meeting that we have one/month. We had good discussion that learned how to make homemade dressing and different kinds of smoothies. 

I had an eye appointment today as well. I've been feeling like my right eye has gotten weaker over the last few months, so I wanted to get it checked out. I was definitely right. All this time I've had the same prescription for both eyes. Well, now I'll have a more powerful one for my right eye. Oh well, this is what happens with age, I guess. Lol. But I'm glad I got it figured out.

I had to fight the Sunday crowd at Walmart today too. Never fun! But this last two weeks I haven't made a dinner menu like I usually do and I've felt it. Just makes me feel so unorganized and pressed for time. So this morning I made my menu for the week and shopped for that. I'm excited for some of the recipes that I'll be making this week. They're going to be yummy! 

The rest of today had been spent doing some light cleaning around the house and watching football. Definitely a nice way to end the weekend! It was definitely weird to have the sun be down before 6:00 though. I'm not a huge fan of non-daylight savings months, if I'm honest. I like my long days.

Tomorrow is the start of a new work week. This week is going to be very busy week. Hopefully it'll go by quickly because I have a 4-day weekend next weekend!