Week 1 Wrap Up

So, I started off GREAT last week - stuck to my meal plan 100% for Monday-Friday.  We did a great job of prepping on Sunday night, which really helped streamline mealtimes and make everything super easy.  This is what our fridge looked like at the start of week 1:

The covered colored bowls held strawberries, grapes, and of course I can't remember the third thing right now.  We also had a huge container of salad, water, hard boiled eggs, precooked chicken breasts, sliced bell peppers, cucumbers, and diced zucchini, all ready to go for various meals.  I felt like a rock star when we got it all together!

The 21 Day Fix workouts were great, too.  We ended up skipping Friday's Cardio Fix in favor of a 45-minute walk with the kiddo in the stroller after dinner, but we still stayed active.  The Lower Fix on Wednesday was tough, and Pilates Fix Thursday was killer!  Those two workouts on back-to-back days really kill your butt, you can tell they are definitely working!  Saturday was the Dirty Thirty, which was a good challenge but not as tough as I was expecting.  Last night was the Yoga Fix, which was a great way to end the week and refocus energy for the upcoming week.  Autumn mentions that life is all about balance during the workout, which totally fits with the theme of this blog.  And it is so true, you have to really work hard to balance fitness, cooking and eating healthfully, and work and family commitments.  It's not easy, but it is totally worth it in the end!

Since yesterday was Mother's Day, we ended up veering off the meal plan quite a bit.  Part of this was because we wanted to celebrate, and part was because our steak didn't thaw in time for dinner.  The first part of the day was not too bad, but then I went on a Starbucks date (just by myself!) and splurged on a tall Frappucinno and a chocolate chip cookie.  And due to the steak not thawing, we ended up ordering a pizza.  The results of these choices?  The scale showed the same number this morning as it did last Monday at the start of the Fix.  I am also PMSing, so that is probably not helping the number a lot.  I will weigh again tomorrow to see where I'm truly at.  Either way, overall I'm feeling great about the work I put in last week, both nutritionally and fitness-wise, and I can tell that my body is changing.  My muscles feel tighter (in a good way, not stress-related!), I have more energy, and I'm happy.  I'll call that a win for Week 1!

We haven't sat down to meal plan for week 2 yet (not great, since the week has already started!), but I'm working on it now.  Shopping will hopefully get done this evening, and then the Full Body Cardio Fix is on the schedule again tonight! :)

21 Day Fix - Week 1 Meal Plan!

Okay, so I'm a few days behind posting this, but I really want to show y'all what Tyler & I have been eating this week.  We sat down on Sunday to come up with a meal plan that would work for both of us.  There are a few modifications for each of us, but this is essentially what we've been eating each day.

Here is the general container breakdown for each meal:
Breakfast - 1 red, 1 yellow, 1 purple, 1 teaspoon (Tyler subs 1 blue for yellow)
Lunch - 1 red, 1 yellow, 1 green, 1 teaspoon (Tyler adds 1 green)
Dinner - 1 red, 2 green, 1 orange (sometimes there may be a teaspoon here, depending on cooking method)
Snack 1 - 1 red
Snack 2 - 1 purple
Snack 3 - 1 green, 1 purple, 2-3 teaspoons

So far I have stuck very closely to the meal plan, and substitutions have stayed within the containers allotted for each meal.  I have been feeling pretty satisfied all day long.  The only thing I've been struggling with this week is getting enough water, but I really just need to be more mindful of drinking a little here and there to fix that issue.

We have also bee doing the assigned 21 Day Fix exercise programs each day.  Each day has a different 30 minute video.  Monday was the Total Body Cardio Fix - this was a killer workout!  Tyler & I have been doing an outdoor bootcamp fitness program for the past year+, which is an hour long, and this cardio workout really gave us a run for our money, in half the time we would normally spend working out.  Tuesday was the Upper Fix - lots of upper-body workouts, plus some ab work thrown in for fun.  I ended up modifying quite a bit of this workout (either using only 1 10 lb. weight instead of 2, or dropping weights altogether), because my lighter sets of weights are in my car, which happens to be in the shop at the moment.  Yesterday was the Lower Fix, which has a lot of lunges, squats, and other fun exercises to get your legs and butt in great shape.  Leg day is always a favorite of mine, and yesterday was no exception.  Autumn Calabrese is the creator & trainer for the 21 Day Fix, and she includes a lot of creative exercises in each program, working you basically the entire thirty minutes to get awesome results.  Tonight is Pilates Fix, which I know is a killer workout!

Finally, I wanted to let you know that I am hosting a free, 1 week fitness challenge group on Facebook.  I am challenging the members to commit to working out 5 days out of the week, posting about each workout on our Facebook group page, and offering advice and support to the other members.  If this sounds like something you'd be interested in joining, please comment below (please leave an email address!) and I will get in touch with you.  Hope you are having a GREAT week!

Starting the 21 Day Fix!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am an independent Team Beachbody coach.  I decided to sign up as a coach about a month ago.  I initially became interested in Team Beachbody because a friend of mine, Kendra, had been posting about her business and success with Team Beachbody programs on Facebook.  I had also heard great things on the Internet about the 21 Day Fix program, and decided to try it out.  When I ordered the program, it was on backorder.  While I waited for it to arrive, I joined Kendra's clean eating challenge for the month of April, and decided to become a coach, as well.  Finally, my 21 Day Fix package arrived, and I could not wait to get started!

The 21 Day Fix is a program designed to promote clean eating, teach portion control, and make fitting exercise into your daily routine a breeze.  There is an eating guide, which outlines what types of food to eat regularly, and which to consider "spluge" items.  Accompanying this guide are some color-coded food containers, which provide portion control for various food groups.  Additionally, you receive a set of 7 30-minute workouts on DVD.  All of this works together to create healthy habits and abolish old habits which are keeping you from achieving the health and fitness you want.  Sounds great to me, and I've seen some amazing results from this program already among my Team Beachbody family!  I chose this program because I definitely feel the need to hit "reset" on my health & fitness habits, as years of grad school and infertility/family-building stress have negatively impacted the habits I built after college.

I chose to begin the program this week, after taking a week-long "vacation" after the April group challenge Kendra hosted.  Yesterday, Tyler and I sat down to create a meal plan & shopping list for the week.  This is a daunting task at first, as you have to consider how many of each colored container you are supposed to consume each day.  As I said before, each food group has its own colored container, which is a different size depending on the portion size for that group of foods.  The number of containers assigned varies depending on which calorie threshold you choose.  I have chosen to take a slightly less aggressive approach to my weight loss than what is recommended in the Fix literature, so I am aiming to consume 1500-1799 calories per day.  This breaks down to 4 green containers (veggies), 4 red (proteins), 3 purple (fruits), 3 yellow (carbs), 1 blue (dairy & nuts), 1 orange (dressings & seeds), and 5 teaspoons (oils & nut butters).  I also need to drink about 73 ounces of water per day.  Achieving the optimal balance of calories and food groups takes some planning, and you've gotta commit to the plan, or else life can get in the way quickly!

Day 1 Breakfast: 1 red, 1 purple, 1 yellow, 1 teaspoon, 24 oz. water, 8 oz. coffee!

 Tomorrow I will be posting our meal plan for the week, but first I want to share our before pictures and measurements with you - full disclosure so you can get an idea of our full results in 3 weeks!

In addition to the before stats on this graphic, my chest measures 35", and my arms measure 11.5" & 11.75". for a total of 176.5".

Tyler's extras are thighs: 24" & 24.5". and arms: 11.5" & 11.25", bringing his total to 185.5".












We are really looking forward to creating healthy habits together in order to benefit our whole family.  We can't wait to share the journey with you!  Check back tomorrow for this week's meal plan, as well as our thoughts on Monday's workout!

Who I Am

I introduced myself briefly in my post "Start Here", but you still don't know much about me.  You know I live in Texas, and that my name is Katie, and that's about it, right?  This post should change that a little!

First time meeting B!

I am almost 28 years old, born and raised in Texas.  I've never lived in another state, although I've considered moving a few times.  My husband Tyler and I have been a couple since the end of eighth grade, exactly 14 years ago today!  We have been married for nearly 8 years.  We have one son, B, who is almost 10 months old.  We adopted him at the end of January, when he was almost 7 months old.  Only three short months ago we were wondering how long we would have to wait to become parents.  We tried to grow our family the old-fashioned way for several years before pursuing adoption, so it had been a long wait!  We are so blessed by adoption, and we love sharing our story with everyone.  We also have three dogs, Pongo, Lucy, and Sam.  They keep everyone entertained and are pretty great with the kiddo, too.

We own a small house in our college town of about 115,000 people.  One of my favorite things about our town is the sense of community!  We have an amazing downtown area, and there is always something going on at the town square.  Another huge part of my life is our church.  We have attended the same church for about 6 or 7 years now, and over the years we have made lifelong friends and been supported by an amazing community of believers.  We currently lead a small group in our home for several other couples with families of their own.

I love learning, and am a huge advocate for lifelong learning.  I completed my bachelor's degree in 2008, with a major in anthropology and a minor in art history.  About a year later I started a massage therapy training program and I still have my license to practice massage, although I don't use it much these days.  Finally, I received my master's degree in library science about a year ago.  I am always learning about something new, and the phrase "you learn something new every day" is bandied about with frequency in our house.  

Finally, I am very into health & fitness.  No, I'm not exactly a health "nut".  I do believe in taking care of the body God has given me, and I do this by educating myself about health topics, exercising, and trying to eat a healthy, balanced diet.  I recently signed on as an independent Team Beachbody coach, which has been a great experience so far.  I love supporting my friends and family in reaching their health and fitness goals, as well as learning more about fitness in the process.

Hiking Stewart Falls outside Salt Lake City, May 2013

  That's the basics you should know about me.  You can feel free to ask questions in the comments, I'm a pretty open book when it comes to my life experiences and passions.  Please share with me what your core values are in the comments, as well!

-- Katie