This post was inspired by a good blog friend of mine, Kelly. She's as awesome as they come and her latest blog post was about those pounds that just aren't coming off quick enough. We've all been there, right? When nothing budges and you don't know what the freaking deal is. What up fat?? Move on! Oh, but you can stay in my chestal area. Thanks so much! ;)

Kelly was asking me specifically about higher protein snacks, so I gave her my short but sweet list of the foods I grab for throughout the day for protein. Needless to say, that totally spun me up and I realized just how much I miss blogging about my healthy eating and fitness routines. A total STRONG yearning to write about it even. So, that's what I'm doing.

I think I blog about this every few months, so if you don't wanna read, move along.

At present time I can honestly say I've been doing so well with my workouts and eating healthy. So much in fact, that I've lost almost 8 pounds in TWO weeks! Then again, I gained about 15 during the holidays. LOL. Yeah, I had a bit of a free-for-all last Holiday Season. It's not normal to lose that much weight so quickly, but I'm happy it's peeling off me.

My secret? The type of cardio I choose and my diet. 

I rely HEAVILY on my at-home DVD workouts. I honestly wouldn't have it any other way! Thank you, Beachbody! Seriously. I'm just not big on paying gym memberships- I'd much rather have everything I need for an overall body workout right at home. I'm more likely to do it, for one!

Currently I'm relying on Insanity to whip my ass back into shape. It's SO amazing. High intensity, so if you're a beginner you'll need to start slow, but once you get into the program you'll start to see MAJOR changes FAST!

One of these days, I promise I'll show you a before and after comparison photo. It scares me to think that I'd show my less-than stellar figure off, but if it motivates someone else, who cares. But that won't be for a few more months ;)

I'm a firm believer that a healthy diet is a LIFESTYLE change. You can't just eat healthy and then after losing that weight or gaining the muscle you want, go back to your old ways unless you want to end up RIGHT where you started. And who needs or wants to move backwards?? No one!

That being said, I also believe in "everything in moderation." There are times I just want that Chocolate Peanut Butter Reese's egg, aiyt?? And I'm going to eat it! That also means, that I'm going to still do my workouts the next day and STILL eat my lovely Salmon or chicken breast at my next meal. The biggest thing I've actually soaked in recently is that I am my BIGGEST hindrance in my quest for true fitness goal reaching. I want to look back on this year and realize that I did everything I possibly could to get my body to its full fitness potential! Our bodies do so much for us and to take care of it is a HUGE deal. I want to see those defined abs and arms. I want my legs to be able to climb hill after hill- I cannot WAIT!

I expect this journey to take a year or so, and the maintenance to last a lifetime- and I'm OK with that.

I know this post is all over the place!

I've added a few new recipes to the "Eat This" page- just a few things I've been eating as of late, and also, you can follow me on Pinterest- I'm always adding foods to my boards. Healthy and the not so healthy. haha

My eventual goal? I'd like to be a personal trainer. I love the idea. I love giving advice to others on fitness and health. I love to workout MOST days. I couldn't imagine anything cooler than helping people achieve a healthy mind, body and soul. I don't know why I've never said this out loud before, but I am now. I am determined to one day be the person people look up to and ask advice. Until the, I can only add my two cents to this blog of mine.

My first step is to become a Beachbody coach! Anyone can become one, actually. You do have to pay a monthly fee, but you're part of a team and you get people to become coaches and make your own team. It's a great way to make money, yes, but you also have a big group of motivation behind you! Plus, as a coach you get discounts on Shakeology and the Beachbody workouts! UHM, yes please!! I can't justify doing it quite right now because of Brady's vet bills, but soon. it's not expensive to become a coach, but every cent counts for him.


Anyone interested in being part of my Beachbody team once I start one?? I'd love to have you guys as part of my group! 

Thanks for listening to my blab! I think the next post I do will be my daily meal plan. I always like to see what others eat and how often they eat. I'm weird.

Have a great weekend!

If you've followed my blog for awhile you may have seen on the sidebar, under "Currently Reading", that I was reading "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett for about 6 months (if not longer. I like to underguesstimate).
I finished the book last week. It was a stuggle. For all you readers out there, please pick your jaw up from the floor. It's true- it wasn't my favorite book.

#1: I liked it. It just wasn't the best book I ever read. I liked the characters and the subject, but it wasn't a "couldn't put down" for me.

#2: Also, keep in mind that I received this book from a friend when it FIRST came out. She really liked the book, but made a good point after I told her it was just "OK." She said that if she had read the book AFTER it received so much hype and talk, she probably would have had other expectations as well. So true. That's what I get for being a reading slacker.

#3: I still want to see the movie which comes out in August- I love Emma Stone and think she's going to play a GREAT Skeeter. :)

Q: Did anyone out there NOT like the book as much as everyone else did?

This morning for my breakfast I had my very first Shakeology Chocolate Shake. It was delicious, indeed. It's consistency is, obviously, much thicker than a protein shake because of all the nutrients and other "good-for-you" stuff! So glad I decided to incoporate it into my food menu.

P.S. Insanity is kicking my butt. I had to get out of bed last night to stumble into the bathroom and slather Bengay all over my feet (yes. feet) and my hamstrings. *sigh* I don't know how the hell I'm going to power through today's workout, but I am. Update to follow.....

OHMIGOD. Y'all. Like I told my peeps on my facebook status just now...if yesterday's Insanity Fit Test deserved a "holy crap" today's workout DEFINITELY deserves a HOLY. SHIT!

It was HARD! HARD!..FREAKING-A HARD!

I only burned about 322 calories in 35 minutes (this isn't including the cool down. Total length of the workout is about 41 minutes.), but I was SWEATING buckets and breathing hard.

I couldn't push myself to do all the moves and I can only improve from here. Can you IMAGINE how many calories I'll be burning once I can actually Do all the moves?

I didn't videotape today's workout. Frankly, I didn't have the energy to push record. lol. I'll record this workout next week when it pops back up in rotation because you have GOT to see this one. Makes me wonder what tomorrow has in store....

Let's talk Insanity meal plan....

The meal plan is pretty realistic and attainable. For all you low-carbers doing Insanity (I'm looking at MYSELF), re-think that...because you'll need those precious carbs for fuel. The diet is balanced and can be tweaked to your needs. After reading through each of the meal options for each of the 5 meals you eat, it's clear that I already know what I should be eating. I'm on the right track. I actually need to ADD more calories....SAY whaaattt?!

The basic meal plan is 1,500 calories. That's a LOT of food to me, honestly. When I'm trying to lose weight I try to keep my calories around 1,200-1,300, but...this IS Insanity. It's TOUGH. I'm going to try to follow the meal plans as closely as possible and tweak some things once I've done a few weeks of the program- at least I won't feel super guilty for adding more carbs into my meals ;)

Here was today's menu:

Meal 1: 3 pieces of Turkey Bacon + 2 Boiled Eggs (NOT in the meal guide, but its hard for me to stray from this easy breakfast meal. I like having that protein in the morning. CAN'T wait for the Shakeology I ordered to get to me!)

Meal 2: 1 cup Greek Yogurt, 1 tsp honey, half an apple sliced (From the guide)

Meal 3: High Protein Salmon Patty, 1 cup roasted broccoli, 1/3 brown rice (NOT in guide, but close to other meal options they give you.)

Meal 4: 3 pieces Turkey Bacon on an Arnold's Thin Whole Wheat bread, mustard and tomatoes. 1/2 Apple slices and Almond Butter (In the guide it says to eat a pear and add lettuce to the sandwich. Also, the bun isn't supposed to be an Arnold's THIN, but...ah well.)

Meal 5: Mediterranean Salmon with Spinach- Possibly a little something else later.

I haven't calculated the calories, but hopefully I'm close to 1,500.

I just think its important to stick to what you feel comfortable eating. I would love to follow the guide EXACTLY, but...I don't like pears and I'd rather have turkey over chicken, etc. etc. As long as I'm getting around the same amount of calories and eating goods foods, I'll be happy.

I can feel that I'm definitely going to need to add a bit more carbs after today's workout.

I'll post another vlog on Sunday- that'll be the one week mark. Wish me freaking luck. Anyone wanna join in and do this with me?? :)


You can read the online meal guide here. Enjoy and see you tomorrow....if I can move...

I'm such a program/schedule organized freak. At heart, I'm a structure loving being. I love chaos, when I feel like I can control it (What the what?), but otherwise....I like to have a piece of paper in hand of what I'm doing, where I'm going.

I love P90X- albeit a bit annoying (ahemTONYCOUGH!)- and have been looking at other Beach Body workout programs. The beauty of these programs is they give you something to follow- they tell you what your ass needs to be doing on any given day to see the results you expect from the DVDs.

Insanity looks ridiculously hard- I've scoured YouTube watching people record themselves doing the workouts. Look at this woman. She's freaking FIT. She's struggling on DAY 1...THE FIT TEST!! WHAT!!!

Something else by beachbody I want to try is their Shakeology shake. They kinda sound delicious...I have a thing for chocolate protein shakes. Yeah. Weird.

Shakeology has a 3-day cleanse program and I'm excited to try it. This "cleanse", in short, isn't like other fasts or cleanses. This shake has nutrients, vitamins, veggies, etc. It's not a liquid of crap. It supplies energy and stuff you need to sustain LIFE. You DO want to continue living...don't you? Anyway, go read up on it. I spent all last night reading about it and watching videos. It's expensive. Yeah. That's what my BFF e-bay is for :)


I haven't bought any of my supplies yet. I'm waiting a few weeks so I can do my own thang first. Building up my cardiovascular and fitness level is going to be EXTREMELY vital before starting this program. I don't want to start and then immediately quit because I can't get through a workout.

So, yes, I've decided to embark on this Insanity journey. I'll be documenting it once I start, but don't expect me to videotape myself doing ANY of it just so you guys can have a good laugh. No.