21 Day Fix Extreme: Week 1 Review

Its Here!!!!

Alright y'all, week 1 is down and in the books and I could NOT be happier with my progress so far!! A little back story, I did the original 21 Day Fix about a year ago when it first came out and I have to this day incorporated the clean portion control nutrition into ALL the other programs I have tried since then including extra added rounds of the Fix. So when I heard that Autumn was bringing out the big dogs with her new Extreme program I was PUMPED!! I ordered it the day it went live and I was pretty much the happiest little camper when it showed up at my front door. 

This program is much like the same idea as the first but much more intense. Again, its a program designed to get you amazing results in 21 days. The nutrition is dialed in on this one, no wine or chocolate this time around! And the workouts, oh the workouts, they are INTENSE!! There is a modifier but even her modifying is much more than a normal modifier. This is a perfect program for someone who has done the 21 Day Fix (original) and is ready to kick it up a notch OR even for people just want a HARDCORE program to use!!

Day 1!

The workouts: There are seven different workouts again that you do for 3 weeks. Whats also a little different this time around is Autumn incorporates the resistance bands in some of the workouts!

You have to grind to shine!

• Plyo Fix Extreme: This is a jumping one, you do weighted plyo moves for 30 seconds with a 30 second break in between. There are 5 rounds with 2 exercises each round, and watch out for that bonus round! Holy ouch were my legs screaming the next day!
• Upper Fix Extreme: I was actually pleasantly surprised with this one. In the original I never really felt like my arms got AS MUCH work on them as I would have liked. This workout is GREAT!! I am already started to get SO much more definition in my arms it is LOVELY!! She works with the idea of drop sets in this one so its a nice change of pace
• Pilates Fix Extreme: You only THOUGHT pilates was an easy day! Try adding resistance bands to the entire workout! I REALLY feel my abs starting to pop with this workout!
• Lower Fix Extreme: I'm going to go ahead and knock myself down a peg or two. I have always been under the assumption I had strong legs, this workout makes me feel like a weakling! haha 
• Cardio Fix Extreme: Why Autumn?! Why would you give me cardio after an intense leg day?! Because she wants you SHREDDED thats why!! Cardio is not my friend so of course I don't exactly love this one but its a necessary evil!
• Dirty 30 Extreme: This is my favorite. It was my favorite in the original as well. Give me weights any day of the week and I'll be your friend!
• Yoga Fix Extreme: I was actually really sore after doing this on Sunday! Its definitely a nice recovery day, but you are still working!

Leg Day!

Dirty 30 Extreme!

The nutrition: Like I said above, this nutrition is DIALED IN!! Still using the same containers but there are no treats with this one! Give up that wine and chocolate, you can do it for 3 weeks!! Of course you'll still get your Shakeology so you can use that as your little "treat" :)

Yummy Shakeo!

Week 1 Meal Plan

Healthy Quinoa Burrito Bowl

All in all, the first week of any new program is always a little sketchy. You are learning all new workouts and moves as well as trying to change up your nutrition and figuring out what works for you!! Like I said, I'm very excited about how well I did with my nutrition the first week and how sore I was after all the workouts!! (I love being sore!) AND dare I say, I actually think I'm getting some definition in my never before seen abs?! SAAAAY WHAAAAAT?!

1 week and already seeing progress!

I'm pumped to see the next weeks progress and to see the FINAL after picture compared to my before!! Also I wanted to share with y'all the video I made the other day about how I have managed to make these containers fit super well into my lifestyle so that I actually enjoy my food and don't feel deprived! Check it out if you so wish to!!

As always, if you are interested in trying out this program or even the original Fix program fill out the application below for my next online challenge group! I'd love to be your coach and mentor you along your fitness journey!!

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Celebrate Your Fitness!!!

Only Working Out vs Clean Eating

We're having a party Y'ALL!!!!! One of the coaches on my team that I have come to know and LOVE through this amazing experience is celebrating her ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY in March of her fitness journey!! So we are celebrating her!! My new challenge group for March will be all about celebrating your health and fitness and of course rocking that bikini body for summer!! 

What is a challenge group?! Its a group of girls that have collectively come together with the same goal in mind: health and fitness! Our groups are for anyone and everyone whether you want to lose 15lbs, maintain what you have, work on your nutrition, learn the correct portion control. The best thing is you don't have to do it alone!! Not only do you have this group of ladies who are going to motivated you and inspire you but you'll also have ME as your coach! I'm going to show you how to meal plan, batch cook to save time, send you recipe ideas so you actually ENJOY your healthy food and motivate you myself to get you to your goals!!

I have ALWAYS been an active person but I was NEVER satisfied with how I looked and I would get SO frustrated to the point of tears all the time because I just didn't understand. Introduce 21 Day Fix into my life and I have been AMAZED!! The workouts in this program are great but what I loved the most was the nutrition was ON.POINT. It was so easy to not only learn WHAT I should be eating but HOW MUCH I was supposed to be eating. Believe or not you are supposed to eat a lot, but of the RIGHT things!! Most days I can't even fit in all the portions I'm allowed! Wait what was that? I can get results without starving myself?! YES!!!! I am smaller now than when I was in High School and thats AFTER baby folks and I owe it to this program and it showing me that you in fact cannot out train a bad diet. 

Now do I still enjoy my splurges OF COURSE! But now instead of hating myself afterwards I actually ENJOY them because when you are eating clean 80% of the time, those extra cheat meals are enjoyed instead of filled with guilt! 

So here's the deal, preseaon starts March 2nd! The 21 Day Fix and the NEW 21 Day Fix Extreme are only at their sale and promo price for a few more days. I have THREE spots open and I want to share this experience with you!! Fill out the application below to be considered for the open spots!! Hope to celebrate with you in March!!

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Learn These Habits, Lose Weight!

Which Do You Choose?!

I seriously love learning all about nutrition and fitness, it has quickly become my new addiction! I wanted to talk to y'all a little bit today about some EASY habits that you can start NOW to start helping you along your own fitness journeys!!

1. WATER!

This one has always and honestly probably always will be my hardest task of every single day! Drink your water people!! The rule of thumb is to take your weight, divide it in half, and drink that many ounces. So for me, my weight is 115, SO 115/2=57.5. I should aim to drink about 58 oz of water every day. Why? Because its excellent at flushing out your system and it makes your skin pretty :) (Also I promise the urge to relieve your bladder every 2 seconds will regulate itself!)

2. SLEEP

Sleep is AMAZING!! So to hear that you should actually sleep about 8 hours a night. The more you sleep the more energy you have to burn extra calories. Psht, you ain't gotta tell me twice. Can you let my kid know that too??

3. EAT BREAKFAST

Think about it this way, all night long when you are sleeping you body is basically in hunger strike mode. You are burning off a TON of calories from the day before so when you wake up you need to refuel yourself at least within an hour of waking up with something nutritious (unfortunately those fruit loops don't count). If you don't eat breakfast you can seriously KILL your metabolism and you will start storing fat because your body doesn't know when it will get its next meal and try to hold on to everything you eat the rest of the day. If you don't have time for breakfast HELLLLLO Shakeology! Chocolate for breakfast? I'm down with that!

4. SNACKS

Eating snacks in between your meals is going to keep those pesky cravings at bay as well as add fuel to your metabolism fire to keep it burning all day long. Now also note, a snack does not mean a meal from Taco Bell, we are talking maybe an apple with some PB, or a handful of almonds, something that's not too heavy but will keep you satisfied!

A Day of Meals During 21 Day Fix Extreme

I seriously get asked ALL.THE.TIME what on earth I eat and how am I able to as much as I do every day and continue to lose weight. Did you know that eating 5-6 small meals through out the day will actually burn MORE calories than eating 3 large ones? The smarty scientific facts behind that one is you are continuing to give your body fuel causing it to continuously have to work to digest it, thus speeding up your metabolism and burning more calories!! 

This is the KEY to the 21 Day Fix programs, learning how to eat those 5-6 SMALL meals each day by teaching you the correct portion control! Seriously, y'all these programs have had WILD success so Autumn apparently knows her stuff!! 

SO I wanted to share with you today a little glimpse into what I eat throughout the day!! I tend to eat the same thing throughout most of the week just because I don't mind it and its much nicer on my checking account! 

So first up: Breakfast! (usually about 8:30 or 9)

Shakeology is seriously like my best chocolately HEALTHY friend! I get up with Ryken in the morning and get him situated with his milk while I get my coffee going. While I'm at it I mix together some water, ice, scoop of Shakeo and a Green container of spinach.

11 am(ish):

I put Ryken down for his nap and head out to the garage to get my #21DFX on!

Snack: 11:30am

I use 1 yellow & 1/2 purple to make my oatmeal and strawberries for a little fuel after my workout. Please excuse this picture, I had almost eaten the entire thing when I remembered to take the picture.

Lunch: 2pm

Spinach Chicken salad! I use 1 green, 1 Red, 1 orange. I prepped and cooked the chicken and divided into portion sizes to have throughout the week. The spinach is pretty self explanatory and the orange container is the balsamic vinaigrette recipe that is in the Fix Extreme book.

Snack: 4:30pm

 Next up! We've got our green container of carrots and blue container of avocado!

Dinner: 6:30pm

Tonight I decided to make honey dijon mustard salmon and sweet potato chips! So that accounted for 1 red and 1 yellow and 1 tsp!

Snack: 8pm

This is my favorite of all!! My 1/2 banana and all natural peanut butter!! This accounts for 1 TSP and 1 purple

And there you have it ladies and gents!! Stay tuned for my FIRST week review of the NEW 21 Day Fix Extreme coming on Sunday!! 

Why I Workout At Home...

Beautiful Day for an Poolside Workout

I came across this blog post on the Beachbody blog about why working out at home was better than working out at the gym. Back before I had Ryken I used to go to the gym a lot. Before I moved to Minnesota I practically lived there. I had my own reasons for needing the gym; I was coming off a bad break up and both my best friends had moved away. I was pretty lonely so I filled most of my day in classes at the gym. Now that I have other things going on with my life I am LOVING the fact that I not only have the ability to workout in the comfort of my own home, but I'm getting SO MUCH more and better results than I ever did at the gym; and I even had a personal trainer at one point! 

Anyway, I wanted to share some of the reasons that were listed on that post because they were ON POINT!

1. There is no commute to get to your workout! 

Where the Magic Happens

How many of you get done working all day and then decide to go spend another hour at the gym? Or even better get home and put on workout clothes and get back in your car and drive to the gym? Yeah, that motivation is just not going to the be there 95% of the time! Good news, all you have to do is get home, get a little dinner and family time in and then WALK INTO YOUR LIVING ROOM (or garage in my case) and push play!

2. You don't have to care how you look.

Check out Those Socks!

For those of you that know me, you know this outfit is not even close to some of the outrageous things I like to wear. Guess what? No one in my house cares how I look when I workout. I can be a huge sweaty disgusting mess (I usually am) and I don't have to have a care in the world because its just me and the trainer on the TV.

3. No guess work.

This one was a big one for me. Like I said I used to spend hours at the gym, but unless I was in a class I really had no idea what I should be doing as far as machines. Working out with the programs I use now I don't have to pretend to act like I know what I'm doing. These programs are designed by the most amazing trainers WHO KNOW THEIR STUFF!

4. The only germs you have to worry about are your own.

My Own Area, My Own Germs

This was another HUGE one for me. Y'all I used to work at a gym, that disinfected spray only does so much. Plus I could probably count on one hand how many people actually wipe down their machine after they get done sweating all over it like they are supposed to. Don't even get me started on the childcare. Its like a small plague waiting to break out. I didn't want my child going to daycare because I didn't want to worry about him getting sick (again, the preemie thing) I didn't think TWICE about putting him in the childcare area at the gym. Nope, now he gets to hang out with me while I work out so we are both much happier.

5. When you're done, you can fall out and lay there for however long you want.

#killingit

I don't know about y'all but when I push myself as hard as I can possibly go for 30 minutes I AM SPENT. I always have to lay there for a minute or two and collect my life. You try that at the gym and you will either get laughed at or stepped on neither of which are too much fun. 

These are just a few of the MANY reasons I prefer to workout at home with my girls Chalene or Autumn or my guy Shaun T at my house, on my terms. To me, you just can't beat that. What are some of your reasons for either working out at home or at the gym??

Workout For The Busy Mom!

The Reason I stay Healthy

Raise your hand if you are a mom who just DOES NOT know how on earth to squeeze in a little sweat sesh in between all the sports practices, bath times, laundry, and why why why do they need to eat ALL. THE. TIME?!

Ryken is currently almost 17 months old and in the past couple of weeks has seem to master walking and is actively pressuring the toddler tornado effect. My poor house. Some days I just can't get in my Insanity Max workout unless I do it when he's taking his naps. SO I decided to put together a quick little video of a FAST workout you can squeeze in whenever you have some down time (yeah right, whats that?!) Even better, you can do this while your toddler or baby is crawling all over you a little extra resistance is never a bad thing! Here's a little video I put together. (This video was initially made for a weekend workout but you can do it any day of the week!)

Here's a simple break down of the moves:

• 10 Burpees (My FAV!)
• 20 Push-ups
• 1 Minute Plank
• 20 Squats
• 20 Lunges (Each Leg!)
• 30 Tricep Dips
• Repeat 2-3 Times

Simple as that!! Try it out and let me know what you think!!! Of course if you are looking for something a little more invasive consider joining my online challenge groups! Fill out the application found under the "Become a Challenger" tab at the top of the page!!