I turned my rough week into a positive...you can too!

I'm just going to say it....

THIS WEEK HAS BEEN PRETTY CRAPPY!

I am not a negative person. I used to be but over the last couple of years I have worked very hard through personal development to change my outlook. It takes just as much energy to be positive as it does to be negative. So even through this rough week, I have done my hardest to be positive. Let me just summarize some of this week's events...

#1 - My husband's new work schedule for the next couple of months started this week. Stick with me for a minute. If you are a military spouse then you will understand this and if not then I will try to explain it so you understand. So the saying among the military ranks is "with rank come privileged". I saw it as a military member myself and I see it happen within my husband's work. This basically means that as you progress in rank you don't necessarily have to take part in some of those extra tasks that get assigned. I was hoping to see that happen with my husband since he tested and has been selected to promote to a Senior Non-commissioned Officer. Unfortunately that wasn't the case so he is part of this extra work schedule for the next couple of months. We were told that it would be 12 hour shifts....no big deal since my husband works 10-11 hours on a regular day but in reality, this new schedule has him working/away from home 15-16 hours! Now some will say "at least he's not deployed" but try explaining that to your children who don't see their daddy because he leaves before they wake up and gets home after they have already gone to bed. My two and three year old don't understand that. But this isn't the sole reason this week was rough....I've learned to "embrace the suck" when it comes to work schedules and my husband. 

#2 - My youngest daughter came down with a fever and wouldn't even leave the COUCH! This is totally out of her nature and actually scared me quite a bit because even when she was not feeling well the week before, she was full of energy and playing her heart out. When she's down for the count and falling asleep in my lap....that means she's pretty sick. Luckily we have an amazing doctor here who, even though he was overbooked, worked us in to be seen and we found out she had a double ear infection and needs to be put on allergy medication. 

(This was before I came down with my migraine...)

 

*** Did you know that if either parent has allergies then the child is has a 70% chance of having allergies as well? I didn't know this and unfortunately, I am the parent with allergies so I'm publicly apologizing to my children now! ***

And since everything comes in threes (at least that's what my family believes)....

#3 - Not only did I get pink eye....I have been dealing with what I believe to be a sinus infection as well as a migraine (from sinus infection & stress) for DAYS. When I say migraine....it's been horrible. The last time I had one this bad, it lasted three weeks during my senior year of high school and I was getting daily shots of morphine! With my husband working, our youngest daughter sick, trying to get our oldest to school and my issues I had to find ways to relieve the pain without sitting in the hospital. Between essential oils, some over the counter medication, a heating pad and as much sleep as I could get when my husband was home....that's how I have tried to heal myself. I'm not back 100% yet but I am feeling better than I did so that makes me happy. 

(Yes I am wearing the same sweatshirt...don't judge...I'm lucky I had it in me to eat!)

 

So why am I doing such a negative post when I am normally such a positive person?

Honestly, I believe that everything is a learning lesson. I strongly believe that God will never give you more than you can handle and it was God who helped me make it this week. I honestly couldn't tell you the number of times I broke into prayer asking God to give me the strength to make it through the day.....and you know what HE DID! It wasn't without a whole lot of tears and prayers but I'm okay with that! This week was one of those defining weeks for me. You tend to experience a number of those when you are military spouse but there are only a handful that really stick with you. This is definitely one of those that will stick with me. It gives me the ability to say "If I made it through that week then I can make it through this." I guess what I am trying to say is that not every day, or every week is going to be positive. BUT you MUST FIND the positive in every situation, day, week, month and even year. 

My positives from this week...

My husband is working long hours and isn't home as much....positive side is that I will be able to dedicate more time to my business without feeling like I'm neglecting my husband. 

My kid getting sick with a double ear infection meant we saw the doctor and established that she needs to be on daily allergy medication. This should help her stay healthier because allergies can bring down your immune system and snot (sorry I know it's gross) is a carrier of germs. 

Getting my migraine this week really helped me learn some great alternative fixes such as my heating pad, essential oils and honestly got me in the practice of talking to God more often. Putting things in God's hands and asking for him to help me. 

If I can find the positives in my past week then I challenge you to find the positives in yours as well! Share yours below!

Sneak Peek Into Beachbody Coaching

I will admit, I was TOTALLY skeptical about Beachbody....not just the programs but the whole "Coaching Opportunity" as well. So I have decided to give the OUTSIDE WORLD a little glimpse IN so that they can decide for themselves if it is FOR THEM or NOT! This is not for everyone....but it just might be for you!

I've opened up a group where I'll share the answers to some frequently asked questions about what coaching is all about... You know... Questions & objections like:

- IS THIS some sort of PYRAMID SCHEME?!

- I am NOT at my goal yet... nor have I completed a program... Would that make me ineligible?

- How do you get paid?

- I am just NOT a salesperson!

- I am introverted and have a small network!

The list goes on and on...

If you would like to be one of those "flies on the wall" for the 5 day period... I don't need anything from you! All you have to do is click this link and request to join our group!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1001696443223716/

Top Christmas Gifts for Fitness Lovers

I don't know about you but buying Christmas presents for adults can be the most difficult part of gift giving. I mean your kids are pretty easy...you give them one of the toy catalogs and let them circle everything they would like to have then you have a HUGE selection of items to buy. My husband and I always struggle on what to give each other so we started the list making requirement. My birthday is in October, our anniversary is in November and then Christmas and his birthday in December. We obviously weren't thinking about this when we got married but it works. By the beginning of October we make our lists, I usually do it in a Microsoft Word document, and we include a picture along with the link to purchase and size if needed. It makes it super easy to just pick and order! Well I decided to help you all out and compile a list of items that I believe any fitness lover would be happy to open on Christmas morning. There are a variety of price ranges to fit the budget of anyone. So here are some items that even I am hoping my hubby picks up for me!

Apple Watch (Sport)

Let's be honest, this is a fancy watch but I have done my research. There are some really great options to set reminders for working out and even to make sure you get up each hour and get movement. This is perfect for those people who sit at a desk during the day and time just slips away. There are a variety of colors and prices, this just happens to be the exact one that I am IN LOVE with! Did I mention it a syncs up to your iPhone health app so you can keep track each day? It's perfect!

S'well Water Bottle

This stainless steel, non toxic and BPA free bottle can keep your drink cold for 24 hours (or warm for 12 hours). It's perfect to ensure every fitness lover stays hydrated and does it in style. It also helps that S'well is part of the U.S. fund for UNICEF to help provide clean drinking water to children all around the world.

 Otterbox Resurgence Power Case

It's a given that every fitness lover also loves using the music on their phone to make it through their workout. That can drain the battery in our phones fast! Well this case is the fix to that. Not only is your phone protected by an Otter Box but you can double the battery life! It's a win, win! 

 Bowflex Adjustable Dumbbells

Who wouldn't love to have all those hand weights laying around combined into this one set?! I have friends who have these and absolutely love them. Let's just say, they are at the top of my wish list this year! 

The Performance Paleo Cookbook

Many people these days are following the Paleo lifestyle but even if you aren't this is still a great cookbook. Nutrition is a huge part of fitness and these recipes are in line with those goals. Every fitness lover needs to add this to their collection. 

Awesomely Cute Workout Tanks

Ever since Chalene Johnson posted this picture on her Facebook page I have wanted this tank! It was out of stock for quite a while but it's finally back! The link above provides you the site to purchase this tank but if you are looking for a different type then you can always check out Etsy for a wide choice of sayings and styles. 

Blinged Out Sneakers

What explanation is needed here?!?! These sneakers are awesome and are a must have for anyone! 

Guided Fitness Journal

This journal has guided pages throughout including space for what you are grateful for, goals to live fit, how you rate your day, and more. Even the most seasoned fitness person could benefit from this journal. It's the perfect stocking stuffer!

FitDeck

This is the perfect stocking stuffer! These cards provide 50 different exercises with illustrations on how to do each one. The cards are great quality and are easy to pack for trips as well. These exercises require nothing more than your own body weight so it's definitely perfect for even the busiest person.

Smart Scale

This scale measures: Body Weight, Body Fat, Body Water, Muscle Mass, BMI, BMR(KCAL), Bone Mass and Visceral Fat. The scale uses bluetooth technology and uploads the measurements to the corresponding app or into the health app on your iPhone. It can also store information for up to 10 users making it perfect for everyone in the house.  There are a lot of great features and it's a pretty great price right now on Amazon. 

  Now, here are 5 great Beachbody products that would be the perfect gift as well.

The Master's Hammer and Chisel Challenge Pack

 
As professional fitness competitors and personal trainers, Sagi and Autumn are masters of total-body transformation. And now they've teamed up to bring you The Master's Hammer and Chisel, an expert resistance training system that combines the three essential phases of muscle sculpting—Stabilization, Strength, and Power—to rapidly build, chisel, and refine your physique.





Fixate Cookbook

This cookbook provides 101 amazing recipes that work with the 21 Day Fix portion control program. The Master's Hammer and Chisel program also utilizes the portion control program so this is a must have cookbook. 

The Beachbody Performance Line

The performance line is the most amazing product I have used! Meet the supplement stack that's going to help revolutionize your results. When you're serious about packing on maximum muscle, ripping through the toughest workouts, and reaching your body's potential for change, then choose the Ultimate Performance Stack.

The Ultimate Reset Challenge Pack

Increase energy, lose weight, and lower your cholesterol in 21 days. In just three weeks, the Ultimate Reset and Shakeology Challenge Pack will help you get rid of the toxins you've been taking in for decades, while fueling your body with Your Daily Dose of Dense Nutrition^®. This gentle, no-starvation cleanse helps restore your body to its optimal "factory settings" so you can feel, look, and be healthier than before. It is perfect for just after the all the holiday meals and treats. 

Shakeology Boosts

With this bundle, you get it all—energy, greens, and digestive health—all at your disposal! Focused Energy delivers that effective, but healthy, pick-me-up. Power Greens gives you a full serving of nutrient-dense veggies. And Digestive Health helps you get back to your "regular" self. With full-sized, 20-serving tubs of Focused Energy Boost, Digestive Health Boost, and Power Greens Boost, you'll be able to customize your shakes based on your daily needs.

Little Black Dress Challenge

You guys, I am so excited about this month's group! This is that opportunity for you to get into that dream dress for all those upcoming holiday events. Let's face it, we all have that dream outfit to really shine in for a work Christmas party or even New Year's Eve. This group is your chance to stay on track through some of those tempting times while still enjoying the holidays. Plus, you could be the winner of some great prizes! Join us this month and start your new year off without having to make that "weight loss" resolution. End your year achieving your goals!

If you are interested in joining us then fill the form out below and I will get back to you within a day. 

XoXo <3>

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21 Day Fix Approved...Meal Prep Made Easy

If you are like me then you are busy and it's tough to find a lot of time to meal prep. My kids may look older because they are tall but a 2 year old and a 3 year old take up most of my time...mainly separating them so they stop fighting....but still my focus can't be in the kitchen non-stop to prep food. Especially when you add a husband and a household to keep going on top of my kids. There just aren't enough hours in the day! So I have had to come up with some ways to make meal prep super easy yet 21 Day Fix approved.

My challengers have asked me to share some of those meal prep ideas with them but I also wanted to share with all of you. 

Okay, you can meal prep a BUNCH of chicken at once and it's a throw it in and forget about it kind of thing. I like to buy a whole chicken and put it in the crock-pot. You just sprinkle some seasoning (I use: 1 teaspoons paprika, 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon dried onion, 1 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, 1 teaspoon chili flakes. You mix all those spices together in a bowl then coat the whole chicken with olive oil then sprinkle the spice mixture on top of it.) I like to cut some sweet potatoes and throw in some baby carrots in the bottom, pour some organic veggie broth to cover the veggies and then place the chicken on top then cook it on low for 6 hours. Afterwards you shred the chicken and then you have quite a few meals ready to go. They make for great lunches at work...just ask my hubby. You can also skip the veggies and just cook the chicken (no need for the veggie broth if it's just chicken) and then you have a bunch of chicken prepared for salads or tacos...really anything! You can also get 3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts and put them in the crock-pot. You cover them with a jar of organic salsa (or even homemade salsa which you can find the recipe to in the new Fixate cookbook) and then turn the crockpot on low for 6 hours. When it's done you shred up the chicken and you have plenty of meat for whatever you choose. Then of course if you live in Belgium then there are the Markets in each town on certain days. They have GREAT rotisserie chicken that you could buy and shred to use during the week. If you are looking to do something similar but live in the US then I suggest finding a place that uses good, no antibiotic chicken. Places like Wal-Mart do not use good chicken so please try to avoid that stuff! 

I don't typically do elaborate snacks so my prep is super easy. I make sure I cut up all my fruits and portion them out right away. You can put them in Ziploc bags to store them. However, I like to portion my snacks out with my lunch as seen in the picture below. I also boil enough eggs for the week which is super easy and quick. Honestly, the best thing you can do for your snacks is make them super simple so all your prep should be is cutting fruit or boiling the eggs. So many times people over complicate the process. 

(The pic above shows my snacks in one container and then in the bottom portion you see my salads for lunch. I use these containers but there are plenty of options to choose from.)

Don't be afraid to eat the same thing each day for most your meals! I do it! I use my dinners as my "new meal" of the day. You can even plan more portions when you cook your dinner so that you have leftovers for lunch the next day. That alleviates the pressure to prep for lunches. 

I personally do not prep my dinner items because I work from home and can cook dinner when I need to. If you are busy and work outside the home then you can always try to cook Monday night's dinner on Sunday, then you can stay a day ahead and only have to reheat the items. I do like to pre-cut my veggies if I can sneak that in at nap time or on Sunday's during meal prep. I have also used meal prep Sunday to cut and roast a week's worth of veggies using this recipe. That means all I am making for dinner is the meat and warming up the veggies. Another go to quick and easy option for prepping dinner is making a big pot of spaghetti sauce. It's easily freezable and you can make an abundance of it so then all you have to do for dinner (or even lunch) is boil up some noodles. Again, the Fixate cookbook has awesome options on using the sauce in multiple ways so that's it's fresh and new. 

I hope that these options help you to get some meal prep done in a quick way. I know that your time is precious and that when you first start out, meal prepping can take hours. I have been there! That's why I try to stick to the crock-pot for chicken, I cut my veggies and fruits, boil some eggs and portion out my salad items. 



As always, if you have questions then please don't hesitate to ask! I am here to help! If you are interested in joining one of my fitness challenges then fill the below form out and we can get you started on your journey. XoXo

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21 Day Fix Meal Planning....MADE EASY!

The 21 Day Fix is an amazing program and so many people have seen amazing results because of it (myself included). However, the meal planning portion can make you feel overwhelmed. That feeling can cause you to stop, or not even start, the program. That is NOT what I want for you so I decided to share with you how I meal plan each week based on the 21 Day Fix program. 

The most important step to meal planning for the 21 Day Fix is to gather all of your items needed.  

 I also make sure to have my Fixate cookbook as well as my nutrition guide.

I use a meal planner sheet now that I recently got from a fellow coach.

In these pictures you will see the 21 Day Fix Extreme nutrition guide. I mainly follow that guide (pretty much the same thing except a few food items are either taken away or added plus no wine or chocolate substitutes). The meal planning process is the same thing regardless if you are using the original or the extreme version.

 Now once I have all that gathered I start to fill in the dinner portion of my meal plan. That might seem a little weird to you but since your day is based on so many number of containers, I make sure that I plan dinner first so that I am not running out of containers and can no longer figure out dinner. This way, I take away whatever containers I need for dinner and then the rest can be used for the other meals. 

After dinners are planned then I automatically fill in breakfast and my morning snack. I am a creature of habit and I know what I like to have in the mornings so it's always Shakeology and fruit for breakfast and then my snack is scrambled eggs and a toasted English Muffin. Depending on the day, I can flip flop these as well. If I am able to get an early workout in then I might have my scrambled eggs following that since I am typically pretty hungry after a workout. 

Next is planning lunch! Well if you are like me, I have a hard time getting my green containers (veggies) in first thing in the morning. I don't want to pack all my veggies in at night either because I know that my body needs them to stay fueled. So I like to have salads for lunch. It says grilled chicken salad but you can bake your chicken, or even cook a whole chicken in the crockpot then shred it and use that meat for your salads. It's such an easy way to get 2 (maybe 3) green containers in for the day. I use 1 green container of spinach as my bed of "lettuce" and then 1 green container that's a mixture of tomatoes, cucumbers sauteed mushrooms and carrots. The blue container is my feta cheese then of course an orange container of Fix Dressing. 

The last step is planning my afternoon snack. I always save this for last because it allows me to tailor it to whatever containers I have left for the day. See....there is a method to the madness LOL. Okay so before planning my snack, I go through each day and figure out what containers I need to finish off my day's requirements. This is an example of this week's afternoon snack planning. 

Based on what containers I have left, I fill out my afternoon snack. I have certain go to snacks when I have specific containers left. Such as, if I have 1 purple, 1 yellow and 1 tsp left then my snack is a peanut butter & banana quesadilla. Super easy to just spread a tsp of peanut butter onto a taco shell, slice up half a banana and put it on top of the peanut butter and enjoy. Peanut butter is my go to tsp with an apple or celery. 

Here is my final  meal plan for this week:

 

The meal planning process can seem overwhelming at first but getting a system down will really help you succeed. Don't be afraid to plan out of order! Heck, I start with dinner and then plan the rest of my meals. Hopefully this will help you to plan a little easier. If you have questions the please feel free to email me or comment on this post so I can help you. Also, if you are interested in joining one of my challenge groups to help you drop those pounds (or inches) and stay motivated doing so then send fill the form below out. XoXo

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Fall Into Fitness

Fall Into Fitness Challenge Group 

The planning week starts October 12th. 

This month you have an opportunity to get your health and fitness on track and stay on track through the upcoming holidays. The 21 Day Fix Challenge Pack is on sale this month AND you get a free insulated cooler back to help you carry your awesome food choices around. 

This group and the 21 Day Fix will help you stay focused on clean eating, portion control and 30 minute workouts that you can easily fit into any busy schedule. I help you will meal planning, meal prep tips, making good choices while eating out and you will be a part of an awesome group of women who are working towards the same goals as you! 

It's 100% possible for you to lose weight during the holidays instead of gaining the 8-10 pounds like the average person does. What if you could lose those 8-10 pounds before Thanksgiving??? 

If you are interested in joining our amazing group then please email me for details! 

cyoungblood1127@gmail.com