Week One Review

Well, Today is Day 7.

It started out well with an early breakfast of turkey and egg whites. Snack was 1/2 cup Fage yogurt. Lunch was a medium sized cup of 1/2 Chicken Tortilla and 1/2 Vegetable Medley which filled me up and warmed me up (our air conditioner @ FL got fixed, maybe a little too fixed).

Then, I felt, like it all came crashing down- I sat down and had 2.5 coconut muffins from last night with about 3 tablespoons of raspberry jam. Since I have been focusing more on what to eat, it made me hyper sensitive of this little mini binge.

I think I have come to a place where I love my workouts, love my food amount and love my weight.

Shocking, I know.

Here’s what I have learned from this week:

I am content with my size (unless I go to Lululemon where I feel the need to be a size 2)

 I never ever use a scale so I am content not letting 3 numbers dictate how I feel about myself

I know I can hold my own strength wise and I can out hike just about anyone (said with complete humility)

I like my thunder thighs and curvy hips (My hubs does too!)

So my arms jiggle, who’s don’t???

I feel confident enough to strut around in a swimsuit (how many can say that?)

I loooove to eat and judging by the choices I am making, I am not too worried about gaining too much weight

I love to workout hard, every day if I feel like it.

So, it is with these new lessons learned and truths reaffirmed, that I officially end the ME diet and will go back to baking my socks off, working my butt of and sweating until I can’t see!!

My challenge to you is this….

What do you believe about yourself?

What do you like about yourself?

Do you demean your body, or appreciate what God has given you (including good health??)

Here’s to you, beautiful, strong, adventurous friends!

Kim

 Oh, and in good old Kim fashion, here’s my latest Muffin Recipe :0)

Summer Berry Bliss Muffins

Ingredients:

2 eggs and 1 egg white

2 tablespoons Earth Balance (or butter)

4 tablespoons Almond Breeze (or whatever milk)

Truvia/Stevia/Agave/Honey (I used 4 packets of Truvia and I should have done 1-2 more) around 3 tablespoons

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup coconut flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2-3/4 cup mixed frozen berries (frozen are great because the colors don’t run)

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray 7 muffin tins and set aside. Mix all ingredients together until all the lumps are gone. Fold in berries and spoon into muffin tins. Bake for 20 minutes. Makes 7 muffins (probably could have done 6 big ones).

 

Day 6- Protein Power!

It’s weird- yesterday I slept in until 10, but this morning I was up @ 6!! I did something I rarely do- I watched the morning news. It was slightly depressing hearing about global warming, recession in the economy and an escalation of gang violence in Portland. Sigh….

So, I decided to make some breakfast! I love breakfast but without grains my usual go to of oatmeal or toast, it takes a little  more planning and work. I don’t mind the challenge though! Here’s what I came up with:

Power Protein Plate

Ingredients:

4 oz ground turkey

3 egg whites

1/2 small avocado

1/3 cup green onion

1 tablespoon nutritional yeast

salt, pepper to taste

Salsa (optional)

Cook ground turkey in small suate pan.

 Set aside. Cook egg whites.

 

Mix eggs, turkey, green onions and add in nutritional yeast, salt and pepper to taste.

Top with avocado and/or salsa. Yummo!

I ran a ton of errands today and came home hungry because, yet again, I failed to pack more than almonds! I made some black bean dip and put it on romaine leaves and added ground turkey. Yay lettuce wraps!! One of my errands was to pick up some cocount flour to try for some muffins or bars. so, I found this delightful recipe and made some Blackberry Lemon Coconut Muffins. They were ok, but when I added a drop of raspberry jam, they were awesome! Here’s a pic from the recipe which you can find by clicking on the title.

I had some really good sessions tonight that challenged me as a trainer. This happens a lot and it’s good for me to be stretched in the areas of patience, verbal cuing and support. Before my workout, I grabbed a Promax Low Sugar (sweetened with Stevia!) Bar for some fuel. I had a great 35 minute work out with the following:

15 jump squats

Low Row- 80# @ 12 reps

Deadlifts- 85# @ 12 reps

Chest Press- 35# (just the bar) @ 20 reps

Walking lunges- #50 bar, 20 reps

Assisted Pullups- 50# @ 10 reps

Rear Foot Elevated Lunges- 40# @ 12 reps

Tricep Dips- Legs straight @ 20 reps

Body Ball Plank- 30 second hold

I repeated this 3 times through- it felt great!! I like to incorporate upper and lower body in a circuit style for maximum fat burn by spending most of the workout in an anaerobic state (higher heart rate!!)

Dinner tonight was more ground turkey (I looove turkey spiced with rosemary and basil!) and black bean dip with a little bit of feta cheese.

I felt great about staying 100% to the diet today! Go ME, lol.

Have a great day!

Kim

Day 5- Hunger Be Gone!

One of the things I have always had trouble with is how hungry I get when I work out a lot. I feel like I need to be eating a lot more food than I normally would. That’s one of the things that Ben the Bod Pod guy said was that I am working out too much and my body is burning food rather than fat. So his suggestion, since 80% of this whole game is nutrition, to lower my workout level and focus on eating fewer calories, which seems to i with what the Tajeta’s are saying in their book.

So, the last five days have been amazing! I feel rested, not sore (finally!!! Stupid lunges!) and I less hungry! What a concept! I am still working out every other day (today I rocked Level 3 of Jillian’s 30 Day Shred and did some great ADAPT stretching and foam rolling) to keep burning fat and building lean muscle. I have been using veggies to provide the “bulk” that I am used to and monitoring my fat intake (I love me some nuts and nut butter!!) and varying types of protein.

Breakfast  consisted of the same thing I made for dessert the night before, Chocolatey Almond Butter Dip w/ Cinnamon Apples. It was quite delightful! I paired that with the leftovers from my salad and a cup of coffee. My snack was some almonds (I was running errands and didn’t pack much). Lunch was a veggie saute that was absolutely divine! It had:

1/2 yellow pepper

1/2 zucchini

1/2 tomato

1/2 avocado (added after the saute)

1/3 cup edamame

1/4 cup chopped snap peas

1 tablespoon feta cheese

pepper, salt, rosemary and oregano- oh my! I snapped this before it was gone!!

I just added the chopped veggies into a s saute pan and added a touch of olive oil from my Misto. I cooked it for about 3 minutes on high and then added my cheese and avocado. It was amazing!! I had some hummus on the side to dip my fork in for sort of dressing. Mm good!

 

Dinner was pretty laid back. I made some turkey rolls with feta and cheddar- oh my! I also had my allotted bites of Food Should Taste Good Multigrain chips. (Which I am totally feeling today….guh). Dessert was where it was at!!!

I mixed Almond Breeze, Truvia and Vanilla in a mug and put it in the freezer, stirring every hour. I blended the icy chunks into a smooth ice cream! It tasted just like the homemade ice cream we used to make when I was a kid!! Add in some fresh blackberries from the back yard and a scoop of almond butter and it was exactly what I wanted!

We strolled around the neighborhood this evening and met several new neighbors and cats. It’s was a beautiful evening with my best friend :0)

Hope your Monday is filled with the simple things.

Kim

Bring it on ME!!

I have always been one for trying new things (as long as my feet stay in contact with the ground, that is). So when I found Dr’s Jade and Keoni Teta’s book called the Metabolic Effect, I was drawn to give it a read. I mean, who wouldn’t want this tummy?

So, I read it and was intrigued by the way the “diet” works. You find out your metabolic type (sugar burner, muscle burner or mixed burner) and there are certain “rules” for each type. For the Mixed Burner (that’s me!), you are allowed any veggies and meat you want. Limited dairy and nuts and 5-10 bites of starchy carbs per meal. They say that when your body breaks down carbs, you release insulin which inhibits the fat burning process.

The next component is the workouts (of course!). They suggest 30 minute circuit training sessions with weights and full body exercises only 3 times a week!! They also included 2-3 days of walking or intervals!! This is where they lost me. I was super skeptical that three times a week would do it. Until Monday…..

Monday was my follow up Bod Pod appointment!!! My first appointment went really well and I was exactly where I thought I should be. I was a little nervous on Monday simply because I wasn’t seeing the changes I thought I should be (even though I did lose a few inches). But, to my relief, I got decent results. My body fat is down to 20%, lean muscle up to 118 pounds and weight stayed the same (I blame it on the chinese food I had the night before the test!). My Bod Pod tester, Ben, said that I was working out too much and therefore consuming too many calories. Now, I have stopped counting calories because I can become a wee bit obsessive over them, so this worried me. But, then I remembered the book….

So now, I am embarking on a 4 week trial of the Metabolic Effect “diet” to see if this is true for me. For the next 4 weeks, I will be posting food logs, recipes, thoughts and new exercises to document my journey. If you want to join me, shoot me an email and we can keep each other accountable. To learn more about the ME Diet, check out their website.

So far this morning, I have enjoyed my coffee with almond milk and a Chobani plain yogurt sweetened with Truvia. Delightful! I am off for my facial soon (thanks Cindy!!!) so I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday!

Kim