So I have noticed that a lot of people WANT to eat healthy, but they don’t because they don’t know what to buy at the store or they think healthy food is just too expensive. Let me tell ya, I just graduated college 6 months ago and I’m not exactly rollin’ in the dough over here so obviously it’s doable if you know HOW to do it. And that’s what I’m here for J to teach you.  If you aren’t much into reading, I made a video with this same info that can be found here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bqD-2dzSD8 

So there are a few things that I consider must haves that I always buy no matter what. The first is chicken. You can get HUGE packs of boneless skinless chicken breasts and freeze them for later. The same goes for ground beef. Buy in bulk. It will save you in the long run. Like even with toilet paper. We were at the store and my boyfriend is like “are you sure we need that much?” and I’m like “um..are we ever NOT going to need it??”. Anyway ground beef can also be frozen. You can even cook it first if you want, then you only have to worry about heating it up later on. But you can always just freeze it straight from raw. The trick with ground beef is to go as lean as you can stand. Personally I get the 93% lean. Some of you may think that it’s an abomination but it’s kind of like the same thing as skim milk. At first you’re thinking “well, this is different” but after a while you’re used to it, and the regular stuff seems weird. Fish of some sort is always good too. I have tilapia right now but I get salmon when it’s available, and yes, you can freeze that too.  I also keep everything in Ziplocs. Ziplocs are your friend. Go buy some. Lots of them. When you get home from the store, take a few extra minutes to pre portion out your foods and you will be AMAZED at how quickly mindless snacking (thus overeating!) becomes a thing of the past

Ok so moving out of the freezer and into the fridge. First up: salad and veggies. Tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, squash, zucchini, bell peppers. All of these are great and can be easily incorporated many different ways. Some people don’t like bell peppers b/c it’s kind of like a hotdog where when you burp later it tastes like them. My advice is to get over it. Chew some gum. Bell peppers can be added to almost anything to give it a little extra crunch. They can even be used to substitute as bread if you’re trying to watch your carbs. Yes you heard that right. Cut them in half and clean out the seeds then just add your sandwich stuff inside. I use them for tuna salad a lot and I love it. My mom actually came up with it first so shout outs to her.

That brings me to the next thing. Tuna. It’s cheap and it’s easy. If you don’t like it, you probably haven’t tried it enough different ways. My friend Emily puts lemon juice and pepper on hers, and my friend Seli cuts up hard boiled eggs in hers. Get a little creative and don’t be afraid to try new things until you find one that you like. I get grossed out by mayo so I use hummus instead. Usually I’ll add some celery and red onion to it and you’re good to go.

Dairy products are good to have because they are a nice way to get some protein other than meat but you really have to stick with the Low Fat/ Fat Free kind for these. Be cautious though because flavor comes from 1 of 3 places, sugar, fat, or salt. So if you cut out one, they are going to double or even triple up on the others! Read your labels. That’s all I can really say. It is SO SO important to know WHAT is going into your body.

Eggs are obviously great to have, lots of different things to do with them and they’re super quick and easy to make. Other quick snacks would be protein bars, almonds, whole wheat crackers, whole grain rice cakes, low fat granola..etc. 

 Now am I saying you HAVE to buy these things? Not at all. But some basic principles that you should take away from this is that the closer to natural a product is, the better it probably is for you.  Also that as you learn more about food and how it should be viewed as fuel NOT comfort, you will start to realize that healthy foods actually make you FEEL BETTER because your body is getting the nutrients it needs. So all of those foods that you look at and say “I know this is bad for me but…” will eventually become foods that you think are totally unappealing because the stomach gurgling and gross feeling for the next 24 hours are just not worth it! 

Ok, here we go again. I’m giving it another shot. I’m not a quitter, alright? 

Since my last post I have FINISHED Turbo Fire and have graduated to Insanity, and I only have 5 days left!! Can’t believe it. Sometimes I think it went by fast, but then I think about the pain and pools of sweat and I remember that it really was some intense work. But, it’s all worth it because the feeling of accomplishment after a work out is unlike anything else. So now that I’ve come this far (lost a total of 21 lbs!!) I have taken advantage of the amazing opportunity that Beachbody offers to become a coach. This means I now get to share my story EVERYDAY with others who may be feeling how I felt all those months ago, and help to inspire and motivate them and be there to support them through their own journey-and I get PAID to do it! How awesome is that?! It’s like a dream come true.

Check out my before and after pics for a quick look at what Beachbody has helped me accomplish, and watch my YouTube video (Link at bottom of page) for the FULL story of how it ultimately changed my life.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-F2kFl8v_c&feature=g-upl&context=G293f9b0AUAAAAAAAAAA

This is just an update for the sake of updating but wow, I’m really not very good at this blogging thing yet. It’s kind of funny because while I’m doing the work outs I’m thinking of all these great things to say in my next post and then I never really get around to actually posting it. I will say however that this should not be seen as an indicator of laziness because I am obviously not. I’m over half way through with my second week of the actual program (by that I mean not including the 5 day inferno) and it’s still going great. I still find myself excited to do the work outs and I think that can be attributed to the fact that you never have to do the same thing two days in a row. Even during the work out, its like as soon as you might start to get bored with a routine, Chalene is starting the next one! Its great actually because it keeps you engaged which prevents you from becoming like a work out robot. After my first weigh in after the first week I found that I actually gained back the 2 pounds I’d lost during the Inferno. I was a little disappointed by this but not totally discouraged because I could still feel my conditioning level improving and felt like I was getting stronger. 

I’m still not ready to post pics of myself but I promise it will be soon. 

In the meantime, I’m going to try to make a better effort to keep posting.

hello empty virtual space! 

Well, I did it. I completed the 5 day inferno portion of Turbo Fire. Whew! Surprisingly, I actually had fun doing it! Besides playing soccer in high school, I’ve never really experienced being excited to work out. This program is actually really fun and definitely not boring like running on a treadmill can be.

The Inferno part is how the program starts off. You do that first and then start the regular schedule of classes. It’s basically two classes that you alternate every day for 5 days but I’m pretty sure they’re the two hardest classes in the program, which is why you can burn so many calories.

My total weight loss was exactly 2 pounds as of this morning. The pamphlet says you can loose up to 10 but I don’t think that takes into account the fact that its nearly impossible to master the routines enough in the first few days to do them perfectly unless that’s just your thing. honestly though, even a 2 pound weight loss in 5 days is still something to be proud of right? Its at least the start to my total weight loss/get into shape adventure. and even though the classes are hard, by the last day I was doing them without the break-down portion and was following along fairly easily. Also, Chalene is awesome. Even though it’s a DVD, she talks to you like your really in the room and her energy is really positive and up-lifting.

I’ve decided not to put up any pictures up of myself until I have visible results because I feel like if I do it now I will just get discouraged. Above is a picture of all the awesome stuff that comes with the program. Before I ordered Turbo Fire, my main deterrent was the cost, but once you consider everything you’re getting, it’s totally worth it.

Well, this is officially my first post. I’m still a little weirded out by this thing because in all honesty, I feel like I’m talking to myself.

I guess just in case anyone ever does come across this, I should explain a little about why I started it.The real reason is because secretly I’ve always wanted one, but never really had a reason to start. Not that my reason now holds any sort of importance to the world around me, but it seemed like an excuse that was good enough to get by. Aside from hidden fantasies about having millions of followers enthralled with my daily activities, (just kidding, but seriously though..) I recently purchased the Turbo Fire fitness program and I figured that blogging my journey would not only hold me accountable to actually doing it, but it also might be sort of fun. So anyway, I’ll be uploading pics and some more information once FedEx decides to drop it off (which should hopefully be today! yay!)