New Year, New goals, New life- 24 Day Challenge.

Hello World!!

I apologize for my disappearance. There have been many changes in my life and blogging just needed to be put on hold. I have picked myself up and I am back! I wish you all a happy new year and I hope you all have set new goals for yourself! The most popular goal people set for the new year is weight loss. I would like to share a new method I have stumbled upon. It is called the Advocare 24 day challenge. The 24 day challenge is a very simple to follow program that consists of 2 phases. The first part is a cleanse and it runs for 10 days. This isn't a laxative or anything you won’t be running for the bathroom. It basically just dislodges any material that is stuck inside your digestive track and helps to remove toxins from your body. The next phase is the max phase. It is 14 days and this is where the magic happens. You take your MNS packets and it has a Meal Replacement shake. Both of these are designed to OVERLOAD your body with good nutrients! This does two this for you, 1 its giving you all your required nutrients so your health will improve AND because you are getting healthier your metabolism can run at full speed. Simply put, think clear all the gunk out, fill it back in with good stuff! You can do this from anywhere. Just pair it with a good clean diet and you'd see great results! I am currently on my second 24 day challenge. I just started my second phase. This is a before and after picture of phase 1. I feel better, I have more energy and I am happy with my results. I really love this system because it gives people confidence and builds a can do attitude. I would love if everyone ate Paleo and did CrossFit but the truth is not everyone "believes" they can. With the Advocare 24 day challenge I can help show people it is possible to lose weight and get healthy. My mom for example, has felt like she was to weak to do CrossFit and not disciplined enough to eat Paleo. She recently started  the 24 day challenge and she is eating a very clean diet (basically Paleo) and working out 5 days a week! She is a rockstar. Since being on Advocare products, her attitude has changed. She now has more confidence in herself and believes she can do anything. The 24 day challenge is just another tool in my handbag. My main goal this year is to help as many people as I can and I plan on sharing my methods here with all of you. I will track my progress here and share stories of other peoples progress. Click Here to check out all the products Advocare has to offer! 

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My downward spiral

If you read my previous post on the Zone Diet you all know that it is the end of week 1 since I switched from CBL. Well Monday through Friday was a success!! Poor planning caused me to fail. :( You see, I was working on our new house Saturday and had planned on having a "cheat" later that night. I bought a bottle of wine that Adam and I would pop open when we finished painting the new house. After a long day of painting I was really looking forward to that glass of wine. Thats when things got tough. We didn't have enough dinner to block out so we decided "what the hell, lets get beer and wings. We were going to have a "cheat" anyway". Thats where the downfall started. Once we got home our old habit of Carb Backloading kicked in. We started to crave ice cream and cookies. The beer munchies were no help either. We sat at home trying to kick the cravings but once we started our movie we knew something was missing. We said F**k it. We hopped in the car and went to the Dollar store to pick up a FEW snacks.. that was the plan anyways. I think I blacked out after that. I honestly don't know what got into us. The food cravings took over. The next thing I knew there was a carton of ice cream, a box of gram crackers, fig newtons, a bag of mnms and a box of drumstick ice cream. It was ALL gone, between the 2 of us! I looked at my self with disgust! Fat and tired I crawled into bed and yelled "Never again!". The next day I woke up not feeling the best. My stomach was upset and lets just say I spent a lot of time in the bathroom. I knew we had to go to the grocery store and get back on Zone. We had a really busy day and never made it to the store.. and the downfall continued. Adam and I both got upset with each other playing the blame game as to who's fault it was that we didn't have our meals ready and justify the reason we were forced to eat off our blocks. Here is where planning is a big part. If we hadn't cheated Saturday night we would have felt better Sunday to prepare our meals like we normally do. We thought "ehh, we can just do it Monday morning". We knew we had a busy day and didn't plan that into our day. We could have made better choices but coming off CBL and switching to Zone, there are bad habits you have to break. Needless to say we ate completely shitty AGAIN! I must say Im glad I did. I felt so gross, so fat, so disgusting, I will not cheat again! After eating strict Zone for 5 days I could really notice a difference. I felt healthier, had more energy and I didn't feel bad about myself. Carb backloading is great because you can eat all the junk food you want basically (after 6:00). I did see some good results but I didn't feel healthy or good about myself. The Zone diet makes me feel good. It requires discipline, which I really like. It's a challenge. My point here is that to be successful and see results, first of all stick with it, and make sure to plan!! Poor planning can lead to a downward spiral. Prepare your meals ahead of time or make sure you know exactly what your eating and how much you should eat so it makes cooking easier. Oh yeah, and stay away from isles you shouldn't be on!!

Meal plan for week 2: Same as week 1

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Week 1 Zone meal plan

So I have decided to stop Carb Back loading and start weighing and measuring my food again. I have seen good results from CBL but I just don't feel as healthy as I should. I like the Zone Diet because I know exactly what I am eating and I can get my carbs from fresh natural foods. I must say I did enjoy eating pretzel MnMs and drinking beer every night, but its time to start something new. Adam and I are going to Sam's today to buy all our ingredients. I like to make a meal plan for 1 day and eat the same for the whole week. Its easier to cook and shop that way. 

[WEEK1]

3 blocks per meal and 1 block per snack= 11 blocks per day

Breakfast:

2 eggs [1 egg]
1/4 cup egg white [1/4 cup]

3 tbs. avocado [1 tbs.]

1/3-cup oatmeal [1/3 cup]

1 tbs. honey [1/2 tbs.]

Lunch:
3 oz. Chicken Breast [1 oz.]

1 tsp. Olive Oil [1/3 tsp.]

1 cup Green Beans [1 cup]

1/2 cup onions [1/2 cup]
1 peach [1]

Snack:
1 Hard-boiled Egg [1]

Fish oil pill


1 pickle [1g carb]


1 sliced tomato [1]

Dinner:
3 oz. Beef tips [1 oz.]

1 tsp. olive oil [1/3 tsp.]

1/2-cup onions [1/2 cup]

1 ¼ cup mixed peppers [1 ¼ cup]

½ cup salsa [1/2 cup]

Snack:
1 oz., (7g) Protein Powder [1 oz.]

3 almonds [3]

4 oz. Almond milk [4 oz.]

**The measurement in [the brackets] = 1 block

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10 CrossFit Women to Watch

 10 badass CrossFit Women to watch 

1. Annie Thorisdottir

2. Julie Foucher

3 Camille Leblanc-Bazinet

4. Kristen Clever

5. Lindsey Valenzuela

6. Elisabeth Akinwale

7.  Christmas Abbott

8. Rebecca Voigt

9. Michele Letendre

10. Talayna Fortunato

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Eat Like a Pig, Get Shredded.

Recently Adam and I started a new program called Carb Back-loading.  We heard of it from a few friends who were doing it and were surprised by the results. I have been kind of skeptical about it because the main principle is- eat like a pig, get shredded. I have been taught that for the past few years that the paleolithic/low card diet is the best for me. Now this new "diet" has come along and everything I have learned is out the door. Obviously the Paleo diet is great for health (no one can argue with that) and a low carb diet will help you loose body fat. Im still learning about carb back-loading and Adam says "Just trust me". I have been "trusting" him for a couple weeks now and surprisingly I am seeing good results. He looks at me almost everyday now in shock of how good I am looking. My muscles are growing and for the first time, without eating only tuna, my abs are showing through. I can't argue with the results, so I am going to give it a whole 30 days. I will post before and after pics for you to see. So basically I am eating no carbs all day. I workout between 3-5. Then carb back-load (meaning eat whatever I want) from 6 until I go to bed. I know what your thinking.. All those carbs before bed!! It feels wrong. I feel guilty eating it, but... its working.  We started eating Paleo carbs like sweet potato fries, squash, anything really thats high in carbs. It was really hard getting all the carbs we needed in so we added rice and trail mix-, cranberries, almonds and chocolate (60%).  Trail mix and wine used to be my "cheat meal". Now i'm eating it on the regular. One night I had a full glass of wine and my trail mix and I was forcing myself to finish it. Carb back-loading sounds easy but if you try and eat relatively healthy its really tough getting all the carbs in. We recently switched to cookies, ice cream and really whatever we feel like. I am still seeing great results but I cant help but wonder what I am doing to my body. For some reason this is good for my body composition (I still don't understand it) but what is it doing for my health. The Paleo diet is all about health and what the foods you eat are doing to your body. So Is carb back-loading helping me with my goals in terms of looks but possibly hurting me in terms of health?

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Keep calm and blame it on PMS

“That time of the month” can be a frustrating time when going strict on a diet plan. Most women crave chocolate or something to satisfy a sweet tooth, but eating these foods can offset your major goals. Knowing what your body actually needs vs. what your body wants can be very helpful. Researchers at Flinders University in Australia determined that food cravings are partially psychological, but also a result of your body demanding nutrients. Your craving for chocolate may be your bodies’ reaction to low serotonin levels or a magnesium and/or zinc deficiency. PMS symptoms have been linked to low serotonin, zinc and magnesium levels. Chocolate is high in tryptophan which is an essential amino acid the body uses to synthesize proteins.  Your brain produces serotonin from tryptophan resulting in relaxation and a pleasant mood. Chocolate is also high in zinc, which increases serotonin production, and regulates hormone secretion. Chocolate contains high amounts of magnesium as well. The principal function of magnesium is that it enables the muscles to relax. Inadequate amounts of magnesium can cause the muscles to cramp. Make sense why we crave chocolate? Now that you know why your body is craving chocolate you can make smarter decisions during “that time of the month”.  You can feel satisfied without setting yourself back and stay on the right path to reach your goals. Here is a list of tryptophan, zinc and magnesium rich foods:

Tryptophan: Raisins, sweet potato, spinach
Zinc: Red meats, seafood and green leafy veggies
Magnesium: Raw nuts and fruit 


For other healthy substitutes for food cravings click here 

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