Healthy Substitutes

Round 1 of the fix reboot went well, I went to the doctor for my weigh-in last Friday, May 1st and her scale showed I lost 12 pounds in 4 weeks so that's awesome! I'm feeling great, still getting sore from the workouts and sometimes I notice a slight change in the way my clothes fit or the way I look. Nothing dramatic though.


We're wrapping up softball & baseball season so it's been pretty flipping busy around here. I'm trying to cram so much in to such a short amount of time. The one time that I've found peace and stability is during my workouts which is something I never thought I'd hear myself say.


One of the things that I've struggled with since starting the 21 Day Fix in February 2014 is meal planning. Oddly enough, meal planning is the major key to success when it comes to weight loss. I have stayed pretty much the same over the past 15 months as far as what I eat and I'm finally getting tired of it and needing a change. I started trying to use recipes that sounded good and making ingredient swaps if something wasn't fix approved or if there was a healthier option available. It works out great if you know what a serving size is and how many servings is in the recipe, if not it's difficult, especially when you're math impaired like I am.


I seriously have to message a friend of mine to get her to check after me when I'm doing my calculations and making sure that I have the right containers in the container count and it's just a mess to put it bluntly.


Anyway, I'm trying to work on that and thank goodness I have an awesome coach and support system that doesn't mind when I badger them with questions constantly. Just today I've learned that the only way to make sure your container counts are accurate for a recipe is to measure them as you're adding them into your pot, crockpot, skillet, etc. For instance, I have a recipe for Steak Fajitas that I wanted to try and I was trying to figure out the container count for the recipe & for each serving. The recipe calls for 1-1/2 pounds of flank steak...how in the hell am I suppose to know how many red containers 1-1/2 pounds of flank steak is? Duh Ashley, you have to measure it in the red containers as you're putting it into the crockpot because well...that's just the easiest way to do it. So, we guesstimated that 1-1/2 pounds of flank steak will be roughly 6 reds but we won't know for sure until we're actually cooking the fajitas and I'm able to measure it out. You also have to remember (which I didn't) that there's a difference in 16 oz and 16 fl oz...they're not the same! Yep, I definitely tried the whole 1 cup = 8 ounces (a red container is 1 cup/8 ounces), 2 cups = 16 ounces, 16 ounces = 1 pound, 1.5 pounds = 24 ounces....I'm not the brightest crayon in the box!


Instead of explaining it (which I'm obviously terrible at) let me just share the ingredients and show you how we broke it down.


Steak Fajitas
-1.5 lbs flank steak
-1.5 tsp chili powder
-1 tsp cumin
-1 tsp coriander
-1/2 tsp salt
-1/4 tsp pepper
-2 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
-1 jalapeno
-2 garlic cloves
-4 to 5 bell peppers
-1 onion


Flank steak = red container because it's protein
Chili powder = FREE (see comments below about free foods)
Cumin = FREE
Coriander = FREE
Salt = NOT FIX APPROVED...OMIT
Pepper = FREE
Low-Sodium Soy Sauce = Not sure if this is fix approved & not sure what purpose such a small amount would serve so we're going to OMIT
Jalapeno = green container (vegetable)
Garlic cloves = FREE
Bell peppers = green container (vegetable)
Onion = green container (vegetable)


Here's the deal, every onion is different right? Size, shape, etc...so we can't really say every onion is going to fill 1 green container because they're all different and also because what I consider a "medium" onion might be what you consider a "large" onion and vice versa. The same goes for jalapenos and bell peppers as well as the steak (each one is cut differently, just because they look the same size doesn't mean they're the same weigh, etc). The only way to accurately know how many green containers are going into this recipe is to measure them as you cook. So, in this recipe it calls for 1 onion, 1 jalapeno, and 4 or 5 bell peppers as the veggies as I'm dicing the onion & cutting the other peppers I'm going to put them into green containers. Lets say I dice the onion and put it into a green container and it fills the container all the way to the top, that's 1 green container, I seed & chop the jalapeno and put it into the green container, it only fills it half-way full. So far, that's 1-1/2 green containers in this recipe, 1 from the onion & the 1/2 from the jalapeno. I chop the bell peppers & between 4-5 bell peppers they fill 2-1/2 green containers, that brings the green container count in the recipe up to 4 green (1 from the onion, 1/2 from the jalapeno, & 2-1/2 from the bell peppers). We guesstimated and said that 1-1/2 pounds of flank steak would be around 6 red containers.


We also know that the author of the recipe states that this recipe will serve between 5 & 6 people, to make math a little easier we'll round up and say 6. If the whole recipe has 6 red containers & 4 green containers & the recipe contains 6 servings, divide 6 by 6 and that gives you 1. Divide 4 by 6 and that gives you .67 (rounding up) so when we put that in fraction format we'll just be super safe and say it's roughly 3/4 of a green container. This tells us that in each serving (if you divide the recipe into 6 containers evenly) there will be 1 red container & 3/4 of a green container.


In addition to that, if you eat the fajitas on tortillas (I typically don't, I just eat the meat and veggies) of course you'll have to account for the tortilla which, depending on brand and number of tortillas you use, would probably be a yellow container. One topping that I do like on my fajitas is sour cream. Unfortunately for me, sour cream is not 21 Day Fix approved...booooo....have no fear, there's a substitute! I've learned to use plain greek yogurt in place of sour cream. It has a different consistency and a tangier taste but once you put it with your meat and veggies it is disguised. It is definitely yummy! If I wanted to use the greek yogurt, I could use less meat in my particular portion of fajitas, say 3/4 of a red container instead of a whole red container, and use 1/4 of the red for the yogurt.


I'm terrible at explaining stuff but I'm trying my best. This is such a learning process.

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Week 1 Done!

The first week always seems like it's the hardest so I'm glad to say it's done! In my first week of the reboot I lost a little over 3 pounds. I haven't taken my measurements yet so I'm not sure how many inches I lost but I'll do that later today. Three pounds doesn't sound like a lot but it is in the weight loss and fitness world. On top of the weight loss though, the energy that I have is incredible and I just feel so much better than I did before I started this round of 21 Day Fix. I feel healthier, I'm not craving the junk food that I use to live off of and oddly enough, I took a sip of one of the kids cokes this morning and the after taste was disgusting.


Week 2 is off to a great start so I'm hoping to keep the momentum going! The kids had dentist appointments this morning and I could've easily said "I don't feel like cooking breakfast so we'll just run through the drive thru" but I didn't. I got up this morning and cooked bacon & eggs for everyone and by the time I took them to the dentist and got to work (2-1/2 hours late) it was time for my morning snack so I'm munching on my almonds and just finished off my yummy grapes!


I did all of my meal prep for the week yesterday while the kids were playing outside and the hubby was at all-star nominations for our little league. That means no excuses!!! I kept things simple this week, like really simple, so that I could make sure I got all of my containers in and see if that makes a difference. I did forget to make my toast this morning so that means I'll only get in 1 of my yellow containers today or I can eat the other one with my ham & turkey this afternoon for dinner so I can make it a wrap instead of just a ham & turkey roll up. We'll be at the field every day this week after getting rained out for the first 3 days last week then on Saturday both kids have all-star tryouts and I have to go to New Orleans to get fitted for a bridesmaid dress. I knew this week would be busy so I knew that if I didn't get everything prepared yesterday I would be setting myself up for failure and I don't want to do that! After all, if I fail the only person I have to blame it on is myself!


My workout from today will be the always awesome Total Body Cardio Fix including those dang surrenders. Lets hope I have as good of luck this week as I did last week with my not being extremely sore after doing them. I'm going to try to get through them today without having to use my knees for support and progressing from there. It's kind of a big deal to not use your knees because those suckers are hard...don't let them fool you!


Keeping things simple as far as nutrition goes so breakfast was the same stuff as always, 1 scrambled egg & 2 pieces of bacon. I already wrote about my morning snack. Lunch is going to be shredded chicken which I made in the crockpot yesterday, sweet potatoes, steamed broccoli, and a side salad. What I've learned over the past 14 months doing the 21 Day Fix is that a lot of days I struggle to get my lunch down because it is so much food. I've found that what works for me is to actually eat 1 red, 1 green and 1 yellow at my regular lunch time, after I finish my workout, then an hour or 2 later I'll eat my salad and that seems to work better and not be as overwhelming. I like lunch being my biggest meal because I don't eat a ton in the morning and I don't like eating a lot at night so it works for me. I could even go as far as making two meals out of my lunch by saving some of my protein to eat with my salad later in the afternoon instead of eating it all at once with my broccoli & sweet potato. Anyway, afternoon snack is sliced strawberries mixed with 3 oz of greek yogurt. I know the book calls for plain greek yogurt but I hate the taste of it, it's so bland, so I use vanilla...oh well! Dinner is scheduled to be a ham/turkey roll-up with a salad but since I forgot my toast this morning, I'll put my ham on a whole wheat tortilla and have a wrap so that I can get both of my yellow containers in today.


My meals this week will be exactly & I do mean exactly the same as the one for today. I decided simplicity is the key for this week to make sure everything goes smoothly and it also gives me time to go through more recipes to find ones that the whole family will enjoy but is still fix approved. Boring I know, but if it works, it works!


Off to get a little bit done before my workout!

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Reboot Days 4 & 5

I'm a total slacker, I realized last night as I was getting ready for bed that I didn't blog about day 4 so I'm doing a combo, day 4 & day 5 post. Forgive me!


Day 4 was GREAT! My nutrition was on point and I stuck to my containers, I even managed to get both yellow containers in which was my goal. My only problem was that I got the second yellow in at dinner so I would prefer to get it in earlier in the day but I'm working on that. I think I only 1 green container on the table last night and that was because I was too tired & too full to even think about eating anything else. As far as my workout goes, I did my favorite workout from the Fix yesterday, Dirty 30! It's a killer exercise but it's one of the shortest ones and you sweat buckets! On the original 21 DF schedule Thursday is supposed to be Pilates Fix but I know this weekend is going to be busy and it's going to be difficult to get a workout in on Saturday & Sunday so I wanted to make Thursday and Friday count big time, so I did Dirty 30 instead. Dirty 30 is an intense workout that works the entire body, arms, legs, core, you name it and it's worked! I was concerned since I did Lower Fix the day before and was really sore yesterday that I wouldn't be able to move this morning after doing Dirty 30 yesterday but I think it actually did the opposite. I am still sore, don't get me wrong, but I'm not nearly as sore as I thought I would be. I guess the workout yesterday helped work out some of the soreness from leg day on Wednesday. I'm still feeling it though, in my arms, my booty, my abs, my quads, my thighs, and my calves...yep basically from my head to my toes. Overall, I would say day 4 of the reboot was a success. Oh and the rain actually held off today so the kids were able to get a baseball game in. Not enough boys showed up so my daughter got to play with my son and husband. Shout out to my 4 year old, he hit his second homerun!!! Yes people, I know it's only t-ball but it's kind of a big deal to a 4 year old and I'm very proud of him! The 6 year old played catcher for the first time and she got 2 runner out at home and loved it! I love watching them play, both of them have such a passion for the game and at their ages that just amazes me. My daughter has a smile plastered on her face the entire time she's on the field and my son is so into the game that he bites his tongue between his lips, it's so fun to watch.


Day 5 started off with a thud, in other words, I planned on getting up and making everyone a healthy breakfast but both the hubby and myself were so tired that we kept hitting snooze until the last possible minute. I had my typical scrambled egg and bacon for breakfast and I added in a glass of orange juice today to help me wake up and get moving. It's almost snack time now then I'll get my workout in for the day which is Cardio Fix, at least I think it is, I'll have to look at my schedule. If it's Cardio Fix I have a love hate relationship with it because it has burpees in it...burpees are the spawn of satan. They work everything but I hate doing them! Oh well, it's going to be a good day with or without burpees. Once I get off, it's back to the ball field we go. I should probably just pitch a tent and sleep there since we have to be back up there at 7:30 tomorrow morning. I will survive though and my containers will be along for the ride!


Next week will be my first adventure in trying to incorporate the entire family in my healthy eating and it could be interesting. Hopefully the weather improves soon so that I can start getting outside and get some walks in again.


Have a great weekend!

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Julia Jackson's Lasagna Roll Ups

I promised yesterday that I would post this recipe & I waited all day for the pictures I took to upload. Guess what people, they're still not uploaded for some reason! Ugh, dang blogger app and internet connection. Oh well, I'll go ahead & post it now, without pictures! They weren't great anyway!


I found this recipe through Pinterest and I couldn't find the dang pin to share with y'all and was getting frustrated but I finally found it. Just click here to go to the original website where it was posted. This lady has a ton of yummy recipes and ideas so I really suggest you take some time to explore her site and see what you find. I seriously have an entire word document of recipes from her site that I want to try! Okay, onto the yumminess of Lasagna Roll Ups!


First, I'll start with the recipe then tell you what we thought about it.

Lasagna Roll Ups:
Ingredients
9 lasagna noodles, cooked
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and completely drained
1 (15 ounce) container fat free ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasonings
salt and fresh pepper
(optional) 1 chicken breast, cooked and diced
32 oz tomato sauce (I used spaghetti sauce)
9 Tablespoons part skim mozzarella cheese, shredded

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°. Make sure you drain the spinach well. Combine spinach, ricotta, Parmesan cheese, egg, garlic, Italian seasonings, chicken, and salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Pour about 1 cup sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking dish. Place a piece of wax paper on the counter and lay out lasagna noodles. Make sure noodles are dry by patting them with a paper towel. Take 1/3 cup of ricotta mixture and spread evenly over a noodle. Roll carefully and place seam side down onto the baking dish. Repeat with remaining noodles. Ladle sauce over the noodles in the baking dish and top each one with 1 Tablespoon of mozzarella cheese. Cover baking dish tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes, or until cheese melts. Makes 9 rolls. To serve, ladle a little sauce on the plate and top with lasagna roll.

2 Roll – Ups Equal 1 yellow 1 green 1 red 1 blue 1 purple  

How yummy does that sound? My mouth watered when I read the recipe & my husband had mentioned a few days back that he wanted lasagna so I figured it'd be the perfect time to give these a try. Let me say that everything seemed to be running later than usual that day and I'm not sure why. So when we finally sat down from dinner it was almost 7:50 and way past the kids bedtime so it was interesting to say the least. We usually prefer to have quick stuff for dinner, especially during the week while we're in baseball and softball season so the 40 minutes in the oven probably wasn't a great idea, oh well. The recipe doesn't actually take that long to prepare and get in the oven which surprised me. While waiting for the water to boil for the noodles I prepared my mixture of spinach, ricotta, and all of that yummy stuff except for the chicken. I decided not to add chicken into ours for the first time because I had already used all of my red containers for the day and didn't want to go over, next time we try this I'll definitely add the chicken or even some ground beef and I think it'll make a huge difference. Halfway through me preparing the mixture, the water started boiling so I added the noodles. By the time they were done, I had the casserole dish ready to go with some tomato sauce in the bottom, put the mixture in the noodles, rolled those bad boys up, placed them in the casserole dish, poured the rest of the sauce on top and popped them in the oven after we sprinkled them with a little bit of Mozzarella!


The kids were hungry & so were we so I actually took them out a few minutes before the timer went off because we were ready to eat and the cheese was melted. They smelled amazing so we dished them up, cut the kids in half because there was no way they were going to be able to eat an entire roll and off we went. I was completely blown away when my 4 year old said he didn't like it and spit it in the trash, this kid will eat anything that doesn't eat him first and I've honestly never seen him pass anything up! The biggest shock factor came when the 6 year old sat at the table and ate all but a teeny tiny bit of hers, this is the child that eats like a bird...she's 6 years old and only weighs 38 pounds but she's constantly snacking on something. She just doesn't like to try new things but she loved the lasagna roll ups.


According to Julia, the serving size (and container counts) are for 2 rolls, I have no idea how anybody could eat 2 of these. I barely got one of those suckers down and I was stuffed, there was absolutely no way I was going to get another one in my stomach. I was so full that I didn't even have room to eat the green container of salad that I had left over for dinner. This is what caused my major caloric deficiency from yesterday. Since I only ate 1/2 of a serving, I still had several 1/2 containers left but there was just no way I was going to force myself to eat the other 1/2 serving, I would've been sick.


Overall I think this recipe was delicious, like I said I left out the chicken but the next time I make it I would definitely put chicken or even some lean ground meat in there as well just to give it a little bit of texture. One out of two kids liked it and the hubby liked it so much that he ate 1-1/2 roll ups and had some for lunch and dinner yesterday! It's safe to say that I'll make it again however, since it is one yellow container I think I would have it earlier in the day next time and definitely on a weekend since it does take a little longer than what we typically make during the week.


Thumbs up and thanks to Julia Jackson for sharing!

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Day 3 is in the books! Day 4 has begun!

Day 3 of the reboot was a good day, I tried a new recipe but I also had an "ah ha" moment that left me really disappointed in myself. I think it was just what I need though to give myself a kick in the butt! Let me talk about my workout first and then I'll tell y'all about the ah ha moment.


Yesterday was leg day which meant Lower Fix for all of us 21 Day Fixers! It's probably the day that I have the most love & hate for. It's definitely a day that can't be missed if you want to work on your legs but it's also one of the hardest workouts and you definitely feel the burn. After 14 months of doing Lower Fix every single Wednesday I can finally say I got through the entire 30 minutes and only had to stop during round 2 of the Sumo Squats...which by the way are another one of the devils spawn, at least I'm convinced they are. I pushed through though and let me tell y'all, I'm feeling it today! My butt and legs are super sore and my calves were so tense (I'm not sure that's the right word to use) last night that I thought for sure I was going to get a cramp during the night, but I didn't. There's nothing quite like a Charlie-horse in your calf at 2 in the morning! I think Autumn hits every muscle group that you have in your leg and you feel it in places you didn't even know were there. It's a killer workout and I made it through!


I also tried a new recipe last night that I'll share in a different post but three comments that I want to make about it 1) it was yummy 2) I think whoever developed the recipe (I found it online) overestimated the serving size because I could only eat what they considered 1/2 a serving before I was stuffed and the hubby managed 3/4 of a serving before he was done 3) this recipe was the cause of the "ah ha" moment. Anyway, I'll hopefully post that this afternoon. I did take some pictures and I've literally been trying to upload them to the recipe post since last night and for whatever reason my internet hates me and they're still trying to upload over 12 hours later! So, I sincerely apologize for the lack of pictures on my blog, I'm really trying to figure out what's going on so just bare with me please.


On to the "ah ha" moment story! In the past, I logged my caloric intake religiously with MFP (My Fitness Pal) to make sure I was getting enough food and also to keep track of my workouts and of course my weight. If you don't have an account with them, I highly recommend it, you can use their website to log stuff if you're like me and don't have access to your phone during the day or you can use their mobile app. It's a wonderful tool to have at your fingertips! Back to the regularly scheduled program, I hopped on last night after trying out my new recipe for dinner and thought for sure that I would be at my goal for the day. Boy was I wrong! I was completely shocked to see that when I entered my recipe, using the specific ingredients that I used and told it how many servings the recipe made the calories were nowhere near what I thought they would be. I am in the lowest bracket on the 21 DF meal plan so my intake should be between 1200 & 1499 calories, but after I had logged all of my meals during the day plus dinner last night I was at a whopping 737 calories. I was so confused, I knew what I had eaten during the day and I hadn't skipped but one yellow container so I didn't think it should be that low. I started looking at stuff and realized that since I had only eaten 1/2 of a portion of dinner last night and was too full after that to eat the other green container that was scheduled for dinner, that meant I was short 1-1/2 green, 1-1/2 yellow, 1 orange, 1/2 red, 1/2 purple, and 1/2 blue. That is a lot of food missing! I immediately text my coach who is a good friend of mine from childhood and had her look at things with me. After just a few minutes, the "ah ha" moment happened, it was like a slap in the face, just the slap that I needed to get my butt back in gear.


I haven't been eating enough for a while, this probably explains, at least partially, not only the lack of weight loss but the gain that I've had going on. I was almost always completely skipping out on my yellow containers because I wasn't focused on eating carbs. Guess what people, carbs are important though, your body needs them for energy & you need energy to get through your workouts!!! I've been screwing myself over by not making sure I got those carbs in! The true slap in the face happened when I realized there were other containers I was skimping out on sometimes, mostly without realizing it. I thought to myself, "Ashley, they didn't come up with these containers and figure out how many you needed to eat each day just for the hell of it. They told you which containers you need to eat because that's what your body needs for 1) a balanced diet & 2) to burn off fat...DUH"! I was beyond frustrated with myself. I'm not even going to lie, I almost cried. I decided that I would look at my meal plan, figure out how to spread ALL of my containers out throughout the day in order to make sure I could get them all in and learn from this revelation and move on, grow from it. So that was my "ah ha" moment story from yesterday!


I'm not going to lie y'all, sometimes this journey sucks, it's not easy at all, it's downright hard sometimes. There are days when I just want to say screw it and open a Coke and drink in all of that sugary goodness, but then I look up at the pictures of my kids sitting on my desk and I remember my why. I remember that I want to set a good example for them, I want to teach them how to eat healthy & that it's important to stay active. That's what keeps me going. Learn my mistakes and grow from them. Remember, it's important to eat enough when you're trying to lose weight because your body needs fuel in order to burn the fat. Also, take pride in the non-scale victories more often...sometimes they're even better than what you see on the scale!

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Reboot Day 2...Back to the Grind!

Ahhh Tuesday, we meet again!


Let me start off by saying Day 1 of the Reboot was a success, or at least I would say so. My workout was on point and nutrition was good, I did have one slip up though. I stayed on track until I got off of work and went home. I had to run an errand so the whole family went with me and the kids wanted Popeye's...their biscuits are my absolute favorite thing! When I was little, my Pepaw would pick me up from dance and bring me home for my parents, every week when he picked me up he had a box of Popeye's biscuits waiting. There were probably 6 in the box, he would have to tell me to make sure I saved one for my brother...well hunny let me tell ya, that one was all that ever made it home. Yep, I would eat 5 Popeye's biscuits on the way home and nope I never regretted it! Now that I'm finished with my childhood memory, let me tell y'all what happened. Basically the story is that I had a terrible headache yesterday afternoon that made me nauseated and my whole body just hurt. The nausea hit me all of a sudden while we're in line at Popeye's waiting on the kids food, not the best place to be when you feel like you're about to blow chunks. Needless to say, I knew I had to take something very quickly to try to get the headache under control and I can't take meds on an empty stomach because I'll get sick so this led to me eating a biscuit and taking a sip of coke from one of their drinks. That's the one thing I did "off of the plan" yesterday and I know there weren't any other options at that specific moment when I needed it so I did what I had to do. We all make mistakes and can't be 100% perfect so I'll just move on.


This morning when I woke up I was surprised that I wasn't sore. I remember the first time I ever did Total Body Cardio Fix I couldn't move the next morning without every muscle in my body talking to me! The very first exercise is called a "surrender", go ahead and google it. It looks like it's not a big deal, you don't think it's going to be so bad, let me just go on record saying I couldn't sit down on the toilet for days without sounding like I was having a baby...it was that bad! I usually try not to miss a Monday workout and even though I haven't completely stuck with a fitness routine over the past few months I still made sure to get my Monday workout in and it was typically Total Body Cardio Fix. Even though I've done it several times, I haven't really been tuned in to my body, until today. This morning I noticed that those surrenders that, in the past, would've left me not being able to move didn't hurt so bad. Don't get me wrong, I still feel my muscles in my legs and they're sore, but not like they use to be. In one of her videos, Autumn says "It doesn't get easier, you get better" and it never hit home with me until today when I was talking to a fitness friend about my lack of soreness. I've gotten better at surrenders but there are still ways to modify them to keep those muscles burning.


Once I got on with my day I realized how much energy I had, yesterday on top of the headache my ears were bothering me. Dang pollen! My left ear was particularly painful and I could actually feel the fluid behind my eardrum which was not pleasant at all so I knew my Eustachian Tube was blocked. This happened to me last year, the day before a business trip where I had to be on an airplane for 18 hours!!! I took two Benadryl last night to help that and was pretty sure when I woke up this morning I would be groggy as can be and first thing this morning, before I got out of bed, I thought I was. However, once my feet hit the ground and I started getting dressed and getting my lunch together I realized I actually wasn't tired, I had energy! I honestly can't remember a single time that I've come into work and not had thoughts of crawling under my desk and going to sleep. So having energy and not feeling tired is a huge first! Don't get me wrong, it's rainy today and the rain hitting the tin roof is making me want to go to sleep but most days I'm sitting at my desk with my head propped up on my hand with toothpicks holding my eyes open, but not today!


My menu for today is pretty similar to yesterday, not surprising since I said yesterday that I like to keep things simple and have the same thing for breakfast every single day. Yep, you guessed it, 1 scrambled egg and 2 pieces of bacon was my breakfast! My plan for a morning snack was grapes but time got away from me and I was actually feeling hungry around 9:30 which is my typical snack time so I actually ate my almonds for my morning snack. I didn't eat them until after 10 though and I'm guessing from the way my body spoke to me that I ate them too late and too close to my workout because at one point I was certain I was about to get sick but I didn't. I gave myself a few minutes to recover and started again.


Lunch was kind of blah and I guess because of my issue during my workout I barely ate half of my food. I had baked chicken with veggie and brown rice stir fry. I didn't find it appealing at all so I ate what I wanted and put the rest back in the fridge. Since I didn't eat my grapes for my morning snack I'm going to eat them for one of my afternoon snacks and then just before I head home I'll eat my greek yogurt and strawberries. I've also allotted 1 tsp of peanut butter for today because I used 1 tsp of EVOO in my stir fry but it depends on how I'm feeling if I eat it or not. For dinner I planned on being at the softball field watching my daughter play but Mother Nature has other plans. Because of the rain I'll be eating baked chicken (SURPRISE!!!) with a small green salad and steamed broccoli.


As far as my container counts for the day so far, I have had 2-1/2 red, 1 blue, 1 green, and 1 yellow. I believe that's all, oh and of course my 1 tsp of EVOO. So, I still have 1-1/2 red (chicken and greek yogurt), 2 purple (grapes & strawberries), 2 green (green salad & broccoli), 1 orange (dressing), and of course the 1 tsp of peanut butter if I decide to eat it. I would say so far so good, I've changed a few things and gone off of the regularly scheduled programming for the day but I'm still doing good. I haven't drank a coke (cola, pop, soda...whatever you people who aren't southern call it) or had candy and I actually made the conscious decision that I would not make a cup of a little bit of coffee with a whole lot of milk and sugar even though I thought for sure this morning I NEEDED it. I looked myself in the mirror and said nope, you don't need that Ashley, what you need is to drink some water and eat a good, healthy, 21 Day Fix approved breakfast...and that's just what I did! Looking back on this morning I know that I would've been sluggish and felt like crap if I would've drank that cup of coffee, that's what always happens when I have a cup. I have a major sweet tooth so when I drink coffee I add a ton of sugar, seriously I would be ashamed if I said the amount out loud so I'm just going to save myself the embarrassment and of course I can't use creamer or any milk other than 2% because that's just what we do in our sweet little southern family. So, I made the decision to pass it up and to push past the thought process that it was something I NEEDED and I'm glad I did. I didn't NEED that cup of coffee, my mind was playing tricks on me and thankfully I knew it and made the right choice. Because of these things that I haven't done, I know that I'm on the right track, I'm having a good day, and I'm making good choices and I'm proud of that.


My workout for today was Upper Fix, as you can tell from the title it's all about upper body. I know when I first did this workout I thought "hmmm no big deal, it's just arms"...WRONG!!! My arms are like jello after I complete Upper Fix and they literally shake by themselves. It's not just arms though, there's planks, ab exercises, and leg work incorporated into this one workout. I honestly don't even think you realize it when you're going through the routine but you're targeting several muscle groups, the name just fools you! Even on exercises where you have just a tiny little bend in your knee your legs are working and if you do them hard enough you will feel it the next day. You're told to tighten your abs to protect your lower back but what you don't realize is that when you're doing these twists and stuff with your abs tightened, you're working them too and they'll be screaming in the morning. It has actually turned out to be one of my favorite workouts to do and I actually look forward to it.


Okay, lets be honest, I think all of the workouts in this program are my faves! Sure leg day is killer and I have yet to be able to do that entire workout without having to stop or not do certain exercises but my goodness does it feel good when it's done! The only workout that I don't care for in the 21 DF series is the Yoga Fix and I think that's simply because I'm not a yoga kind of girl and never have been. To each their own.


Here's to finishing out day 2 of the reboot with a bang and move on to day 3!

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Meal Planning For My 21 Day Fix Reboot

February 2014, Beachbody came out with a new program, the 21 Day Fix by Autumn Calabrese. I have several friends who are Beachbody coaches, including my very own amazing coach, Natalie, so I had seen the advertisements for it and it really peaked my interest. I started doing some research and it seemed simple enough, it focuses on portion control using color coded containers and it gives you the formula and helps you calculate how many of each container you should be eating each day. It seemed like it would be a perfect starter program for me because I knew nothing about nutrition, portion control (I'm from Mississippi...portions do not exist here), and had honestly never really exercised a day in my life, unless you count dance class and I don't. I purchased it the day it came out and was like a kid in a candy store waiting on it to arrive.




The basic breakdown of the containers goes a little something like this, Red = Protein, Green = Veggies, Purple = Fruits, Yellow = Carbs (good carbs!), Blue = Healthy Fats & Cheeses (who doesn't love cheese), Orange = Seeds & Dressings. You are also allowed a certain number of tsp's of stuff, I don't have the book in front of me at the moment so I can't remember exactly what's on the list but I use my tsp's for Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO thanks to Rachel Ray) and Peanut Butter for a little treat and I know they're on the list, just can't remember what else is on the list. There are different calorie brackets and the book that comes with the program helps you figure out exactly which bracket you should be in and what all can go into each container so it is really simple! Trust me, if I can do it, anybody can do it!




I am in the 1200-1499 calorie bracket, so my containers for the day are 3 Green, 2 Purple, 4 Red, 2 Yellow, 1 Blue, 1 Orange, plus 2 tsp's. So, let me get this straight, this Autumn Calabrese chick says that if I eat the containers that she says I should eat and ONLY the containers her plan says I should eat, no extra snacks or Cokes (this is Coca-Cola, Pop, Soda, etc for you people who aren't familiar with our Southern Slang) and do a 30 minute workout from her dvds for 3 weeks, 21 days, I could see results and start losing weight? Is this for real? Surely weight loss can't be as simple as eating healthy and working out can it??? Say it isn't so!!! *Insert sarcastic emoji here*! That's when reality smacked me in the face, I feel like I need to play Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus right here because that's kind of how I felt when the realization hit me that it WAS as simple as that and that I had simply been too lazy to put in the effort to make it happen. Since she had made this program so simple to follow and literally dumbed it down to my level of cluelessness I realized that if I failed at this the only person I could blame was myself. So, my 21 Day Fix journey began...the first time!




You know most of this stuff already if you've read my previous posts because I basically told y'all my life story but I like to talk, a lot, so get use to it!




Due to life getting in the way I am now having to "reboot" my 21 Day Fix journey and I'm basically starting over since I've had an unfortunate weight gain due to health issues and some other stuff. I say today is my first day "back" on the fix but in reality I never stopped, I just didn't put 100% of my effort into it.




I did all of my meal planning towards the end of last week and bought groceries and meal prepped over the weekend. It is very important that you meal plan, especially if you're using a new program or you're like me and you need to have stuff written down. I've heard it many times, if you fail to plan you plan to fail and that statement is so very true for me. A lot of people can kind of roll with the punches and make things work, I am not one of those people. I am a list person and always have been, my husband makes fun of me when we go on a trip because I make a list for myself and each kid because if I don't, something will be left at home. Meanwhile, he waits until the last minute and just throws stuff in, but somehow nothing gets left! I guess I'm just scatterbrained...oh well! When I first started, I went through the book and wrote down each food that I like or wouldn't mind trying along with what container it goes with and anything special that they noted. I typed it up so I now have a pretty list in a pretty binder that I'll tell you about later. Once I had my list and I knew how many of each container I would need each day I printed out a weekly calendar with 5 spaces and wrote down every single thing that I would eat each day. The 5 spaces were breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner. I know some people prefer to break their food into 6 meals a day but I like 5.


I would take the calendar with my meals on it and make my shopping list, go into the pantry, fridge, and freezer to make sure I wasn't buying stuff we already had on hand (keep your budget in mind) then we'd go grocery shopping. Sunday's are usually my prep days and sometimes it does take a long time, but the way I think of it is I'm doing all of the work at once because it'll save us time during the week and I can be spending that time with my family. I also know myself well enough to know that if I don't plan and prep every single thing, I'm going to have a bad week as far as my nutrition is concerned and I'm only going to have myself to blame for it.




I like to keep my meals very simple because if not I get overwhelmed and I don't want to do that. I swear, I think I've literally eaten the same things every day for the last year, at least it feels like it sometimes, but it works for me and that's what matters. My breakfasts are always always always 1 scrambled egg and 2 slices of bacon, it's supposed to be turkey bacon but I haven't been able to make myself try it. Give me a break, 28 years of down home southern cooking (bacon fat included) is hard to break, baby steps people, baby steps! My snacks change up sometimes but they always consist of a fruit of some sort, my favorites & my "go to" are always bananas (the plan allows for 1/2 banana and it counts as a purple container), grapes, and strawberries. Usually in my afternoon snack I throw in 12 whole almonds which is a blue container and I'll sneak in my 2 tsp of peanut butter if I'm feeling it. I also have recently developed a love for Greek Yogurt so I buy the little containers of it at Walmart and 1 of the containers counts as a 1/2 of a red so the 1 egg for breakfast and the yogurt = 1 red. Lunches and Dinners are usually grilled chicken, green salad, broccoli, asparagus, sweet potato, brown rice, or some variation of the sort.




Since this is day 1 of the reboot I wanted to share my basic meal plan for this week with you. Like I said, I typically keep everything the same, I do try to mix up the veggies every day so I'm not getting tired of them constantly.




Day 1 Menu

• Breakfast
• 1 egg (1/2)
• 2 slices bacon
• Morning Snack
• 1/2 banana
• Lunch
• Baked Chicken
• Sweet Potato
• Broccoli
• Afternoon Snack
• Greek Yogurt (1/2)
• Grapes
• 12 Whole Almonds
• 2 tsp Peanut Butter
• Dinner
• Baked Chicken
• Mixed Salad
• Steamed Asparagus

Now that I'm looking at it, I could technically separate the afternoon snack into 2 separate snacks if I wanted to. I could also change it around and have my almonds in the morning with my banana, then when I want my afternoon snack I could have the yogurt and grapes and later in the afternoon, maybe just before I leave work I could have the 2 tsp's of peanut butter. I think I might try that today and see if maybe holds my hunger for lunch off for a little while. On a typical day, I get to work at 7, eat breakfast between 7 & 7:30, have a snack around 10, workout is scheduled for 11 (when all of my coworkers go to lunch, I'll eat lunch after that so I guess usually around 12, afternoon snack around 2:30 or 3 and then dinner around 5 or 5:30 depending on what we have going on.




Today I think I'll have my yogurt and grapes around 2:30 and since I don't get off until 4:30 I'll probably wait until closer to 4 to have my peanut butter. I'll play dinner by ear since our plans for the evening are dependent on the weather today.




Monday workouts are very important, we have to start the week off with a good workout! If I miss a Monday workout it isn't setting a good pace for the rest of the week. I do tend to follow the 21 DF workout schedule for the most part but there are some exceptions. The typical 21 DF schedule is as follows, Monday is Total Body Cardio Fix, Tuesday is Upper Fix, Wednesday is Lower Fix, Thursday is Pilates Fix, Friday is Cardio Fix, Saturday is Dirty 30 (my absolute fave!) and Sunday is Yoga Fix. The exceptions that I mentioned before are, I don't care for the Yoga Fix, I'm just not a fan and I typically am running ragged on the weekends so I'm not going to lie, the majority of the time I do not workout on Saturday and Sunday but I do try my best to keep my nutrition in check. My typical schedule is the 21 DF schedule Monday, Tuesday, & Wednesday. Thursday I do typically stay with Pilates as the schedule recommends but I have been known to throw the Dirty 30 in there instead of Pilates Fix because the Dirty 30 is my favorite workout from the 21 Day Fix and Pilates is an active recovery day but sometimes I feel like I need a little something more than Pilates. Friday is another "I usually stick to the plan" kind of day but it depends on my mood. It's the end of the week and sometimes I'm absolutely exhausted so I need a good workout but I also want to still have some energy when I get done. If I am feeling drained and did Dirty 30 instead of Pilates on Thursday, I'll do Pilates on Friday. If I am feeling good and did Pilates on Thursday I'll go ahead & get another round of Cardio Fix in. Saturdays and Sundays there is always something going on, I know this is an excuse, but from the time I get home on Friday nights until it's time to go to sleep on Sunday we are going constantly. So while I do try my best to keep my nutrition in check on those days, work outs are kind of an after thought.




While I'm talking about after thoughts and that sort of thing let me go ahead & talk to you about cheat meals. Every once in a while it's okay to have a cheat meal, it's actually important if you're just getting started on your fitness journey. If you jump in head first and are very strict with yourself at some point you're going to fall off the wagon. Some people can do it, don't get me wrong, but you have to realize how long you've had these bad habits and that it's going to take time to develop new, healthy habits. To make it easier on you schedule cheat meals. Figure out how often you're going to give yourself a break. I like to give myself one cheat meal for every round of the 21 Day Fix, so in any given 3 week timeframe I plan one cheat meal. You might need to schedule 2 cheat meals per every three weeks, but I wouldn't recommend more than that. Also, check out the book for substitutes that can be a little treat here and there. For instance, 3 times a week I can substitute a glass of wine for one of my yellow containers. So you don't have to completely give everything up at once and give yourself a break, we all slip up from time to time.




When you're preparing for your week, don't forget that failing to plan is planning to fail!

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