Protein without Meat

When you're trying to lose weight or build muscle, protein is essential!  They're the building blocks of your body and they fuel metabolic activities!  It helps cells grow and repair, so if you eat or drink protein after a workout it will help you not feel sore later on and it will help strengthen your muscles so you don't injure yourself.

It's also responsible for:

• Maintaining the fluid balance in your body along with controlling the movement of fluids in your cells
• Helping to transport nutrients to various organs and regulate the flow of nutrients in your cells
• Helps to build defense
• Regulating and initiating metabolic activities
• They support all of your body's tissues which in turn will allow you to stand up and move around (kinda important)
• Giving your body a small amount of energy (natural energy!)

source

My favorite ways to get protein in my diet are fish (especially salmon,) a juicy steak, and shakeology!  But it's not always good to eat a ton of meat and you can't survive on shakeology alone.  Here is a list of great alternatives for protein!

1. Green peas; 7.9 grams in 1 cup

2. Ezekiel Bread; 4 grams per slice

3. Nuts; 1 oz in 5-6 grams

4. Chickpeas; 7.3 grams ½ cups

5. Peanut Butter; 7 grams per 2 tablespoons

6. Edamame; 8.4 grams ½ cup, boiled

7. Broccoli; 8 grams in 1 cup chopped

8. Quinoa; 8 grams in 1 cup

9. Chia Seeds; 4.7 grams in 2 tablespoons

10. Unsweetened cocoa powder; 1 gram in 1 tablespoons

How do you like to get your protein?

New Month- New Goals!

Happy 1st day of June- personally the best month of the year since it's my birthday month & is usually the last month of school, remember how exciting the end of the year was?

Here are some great suggestions for how to get the best start to a new month:

1. Kick butt work out, done thanks to Shaun T
2. Week long goal- mine is to eat as clean as I possibly can!
3. Month long goal- keep up with ‪#‎insanitymax30‬ and lose another 10 lbs
4. What am I thankful for so far this year? Lets see... The chance to go to Nashville this summer with my fellow ‪#‎teamarise‬ ‪#‎beachbody‬ coaches and getting to learn, grow, abd build a business with them every day, moving in with Eric, getting to see my family on a way more regular basis than I have since I was 8 years old!
5. So proud of myself for pushing through my workouts even when I want to stop and deciding to tackle beachbody with everything I've got. That smile may look weak because it's right after my workout but there is so much strength behind it!

What's on your list? 

What are you going to make happen this month?

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Results- Beachbody Ultimate Reset

I realized today that in the 6+ months I've been a Beachbody coach, I've never posted on "transformation Tuesday." Well, there's no time like the present! 
Yesterday I completed a 21 day challenge- I completed the Beachbody ultimate reset. It can be called a cleanse or a detox but it's unlike any other "program" or "system" I've ever come across. There were no juices, never any time of starving. I ate real, healthy, filling food the entire time. I did take a lot out of my diet- such as processed sugars, gluten, and even animal products. I did this to break my dependence on sugar, to clear my body of chemicals, and to relearn how to eat according to what my body needs.

Did I follow the program perfectly? Nope. But I stuck to it a lot closer than I honestly thought I'd be able to- it's amazing how much stronger we are than we realize.

*I've learned to enjoy the eating process- something as simple as chewing my food, instead of just shoveling it in as quickly as I can.

*I've learned that I like a lot more vegetables than I thought.

*I've learned that I don't *need* bread and cheese to live. For that matter, I don't *need* meat either, although that's probably the one thing I've enjoyed putting back in my daily diet the most!

*I've learned that drinking water is enjoyable and I can drink the amount that my body requires.

*I've slept better and felt cleaner than I can ever remember

*I've lost 20 lbs and can't wait to take what I've learned about food, portions, and balancing what I need vs. what I want into my next workout program (Insanity Max: 30 with Shaun T!) and see how much more I can lose.

Best of all, I feel like I've conquered a monster. Do I still splurge? Yep- I posted about that over the weekend. But I'm stronger now, I can fight those urges for longer and splurge less than I did before. When I eat clean, it feels so much better- I want that clean, healthy feeling to continue. I want to be able to pull more shirts from my closet- like this one- that I bought years ago, hoping it would eventually fit, and it FINALLY does, with a little extra room!

This has been an incredible experience and I was nervous to share this with all of you but I'm excited and couldn't hold back any longer. If you've ever felt stuck, if you've ever wanted to improve your health- clean up your eating, break your dependence on processed food or caffeine- I know how you feel! And I know that you can improve, you can feel better, you can change! If you want help, let me know. I'm always here for you!

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Life Lately

Life has changed a lot since I was posting regularly!

I've become a Beachbody coach- but I think you can tell that from my blog changes!

I moved into my own place- a place that is all mine!  And proved that I not only could live alone but I actually loved living alone.

I have since moved in with my boyfriend and we seem to have made a nice little place for all our furbabies.  (Here is Bella laying in the hall, waiting for him to come home, and Loki and Lil snuggled together on the couches.)

I'm finally in a place where I can enjoy my life, have little indulgences, and be confident that I'm building a productive and strong future!

Now that the torment of a horrible marriage is behind me, I have learned to not only love myself but also love a new and much better man (hence the moving in together.)  I can also enjoy being with my family and friends, without having to be terrorized that I'm spending someone else's money (funny since I was the only one working for most of the relationship) or wasting time with people who are awful (again, funny, since they're the same people who took him in when he was too lazy and immature to pay bills.)  But I will do my best to not dwell on the past and only enjoy the present and look to the future!

Speaking of enjoying the present (or recent past haha.)  My mom and I went back to Painting with a Twist because we loved it so much at her birthday party and painted our furbabies.  I think we did a great job, what do you think?

So that's my update for now.  I hope to be getting back to this a bit more regularly but I've already said that before- we'll see how well I do!

How many times have you moved in your life?  I'm pretty sure I'm over 20 at this point!

Have you ever been to Painting with a Twist or a paint shop like it? I can't get enough of it!

Healthy Stir Fry and Sweet Potato "Fries"

While on doing the Beachbody Ultimate Reset I learned some recipes that I LOVED.  These are 2 that I adapted from the recipe book that came with the program, and make enough for 2 people to eat or just for a dinner and leftovers for lunch.

Healthy Stir Fry 

- all veggies, no meat but feel free to add some farm raised chicken or beef.

Ingredients:
EVOO
Ginger (I used dried and shredded that I found in the produce section of my local Acme)
3 Medium Carrots- peeled, cleaned, and cut into chunks
Broccoli/Snap Peas- I found a steamer bag in my produce section that was a mix of FRESH broccoli florets, snap peas, and sprouts- perfect!
Peppers- again in my produce section I found a container of already thinly sliced and cleaned peppers- I used half of the container for this recipe
Himilayan Salt
Braggs Liquid Aminos

Directions:
1. In a large frying pain heat 2 tablespoons of EVOO over high heat, include a few pinches of ginger and 2-4 cloves of chopped garlic (depending on how much you like garlic.)
2. Add in carrots and stir constantly for a minute
3. Lower to medium heat and add in the Broccoli/Snap Peas and stir occasionally for 4-5 minutes.
4. Add in the peppers, cook for another few minutes.  I found that my stove is unreliable, sometimes this takes a few minutes, sometimes it heats really fast.
5. Add salt to taste.
6. Serve with a side of the Liquid Amino- it tastes like a cross between teriyaki and soy sauce so don't be intimidated by it!

Sweet Potato "Fries"

-The Reset calls for having a baked sweet potato and you can put the EVOO and seasonings on instead of butter or sour cream.  So I decided to have fun with the recipe and cut them up into "fries."

Ingredients:

EVOO

2 sweet potatoes

Himalayan Salt

Italian seasonings

Directions:

1. Clean (and peel if you like) the sweet potatoes.  Cut into strips. I kept mine fairly thick.

2. In a bowl mix with 2 teaspoons of EVOO, salt and seasonings to taste.

3. Bake at 450 degrees for 30-40 minutes, flipped half way.  Again my oven was temperamental, sometimes cooking faster than others, so watch them every 10 minutes or so to see what you need for your oven.

I love serving these together, especially because the "fries" feel like a cheat or indulgence but they're actually healthy for you!