Monday Motivation, 21 Day Fix Day 7/8, and Results of the First Week

Motivation Monday

I just got off a team call with my Beachbody team and I am feeling inspired.  The call was about going from selfish to selfless in this business.  I did not become a Beachbody Coach for the money, though I knew the potential was there.  I became a Beachbody Coach to help others experience and achieve success with their health and fitness goals.  Here is one of many little nuggets of inspiration I took away from our team call:

I feel absolutely blessed to have the opportunity to combine my love of fitness with my desire to help others achieve their goals, all while being about to be at home with my daughter.  Team Beachbody is a fantastic business to work for.  They provide all the tools you need to be an effective coach.  I am lucky to be a part of the top team in our organization and have found a wealth of knowledge and support from my fellow coaches.  I could keep going about all the awesome perks of being a coach with Beachbody, there are so many, but I will leave it this.  If becoming a Beachbody Coach sounds like something you might be interested in doing, or you just want to get more information, leave a comment or message me on facebook -----> here.

Days 7 & 8 of the 21 Day Fix

Yesterday, was another busy day. We started out going to dog agility training as a family because we wanted to take advantage of the amazing weather we are having here in NC.  My daughter got to run around and get her wiggles out, while my husband worked the pup.  Afterwards we came home and enjoyed a relaxing Sunday of family and football.  I was craving red meat all day, so I indulged and had a lean burger for lunch and steak for dinner.  I stayed within my proper portion sizes, but the food was so dense, that it left me feeling too full. Blech.  I did save a yellow (carb) serving so I could have a small treat.

Meal Plan:

• Breakfast: hashbrowns and an egg (1y,1r,1tsp)
• Lunch: Cheese burger and salad (1r,1b,1y,3g,1o,1tsp)
• Snack: Grapes (2p)
• Dinner: Steak and green beans (2r,1g,1tsp)
• Snack: Apple (1p)
• Dessert: Dark chocolate (1y)

Today started out late for a normal weekday.  My husband is on call for work, so he was up nearly all night working, and I don't sleep well alone anymore, so neither of us got restful sleep.  Couldn't workout in the morning, but I did get in my Total Body Cardio Fix this evening.  I'm taking a rest day from PiYo simply because I didn't have enough time today to get it in, and I'd rather get an extra hour of sleep than squeeze in another workout.  I will be back at it tomorrow.  This is my last week of PiYo!  

Meal Plan:

• Breakfast: Hashbrowns and an egg (1y,1r,1tsp)
• Snack: Apple (1p)
• Lunch: Cheese burger and salad (2r,1b,1y,3g,1o,1tsp)
• Snack: Grapes (2p)
• Dinner: Steak and green beans (1r,1g,1tsp)
• Snack: Peanutbutter and dark chocolate (1tsp, 1y)

21 Day Fix Week 1 Results

I am super excited to share that in my first week of the 21 Day Fix, I have lost 3 pounds and 5 inches!  I couldn't be happier with my results so far, and I can't wait to see how much more I can lose in the next 2 weeks!  If you would like to join my next challenge group, message me on facebook ------> here.

If you are looking for more fitness tips and tricks or healthy recipes, I post both daily on my health and fitness Facebook group. I also run free challenge groups each month in addition to 30 and 60 day Beachbody challenge groups.  Join us!  We are up to over 300 members!  Click this link ------> Achieving a Fitter Life with Heather Hope

Day 5 and 6 of The 21 Day Fix

Today has been a crazy busy day!  It's getting late here in NC, so I will just share a quick update of the last two days on 21 Day Fix.

Day 5 of The Fix

Friday mornings in the Hope Household can be kinda hectic.  Usually by Friday, my husband and I have a tough time getting up early to get our workouts in before he goes to work and our daughter wakes up.  This would be fine, except, Friday's we have a standing morning playdate to attend, so our mornings tend to be rushed.  We got up late, so there was only time for my husband to do his workout (he took and extra rest day last week, so now our PiYo schedules are off by a day).  This meant that I had to get both of my workouts done during nap time, back to back.  It was tough, but I got it done!  I was so busy with one thing right after another that my water intake was pretty low.  I'm making a mental note to focus on drinking more water throughout the day, not just at meals.  Eating plan went great and was as follows:

Meal Plan

• Breakfast: Cereal w/milk (2y)
• Snack: Yogurt (1r)
• Lunch: Salad w/dressing, (3g, 1o)
• Snack: Apple, cheese, and peanut butter  (2p,1b, 3tsp)
• Dinner: Swai Fish Filet, green beans, pearled couscous (3r, 1g, 1y, 1tsp)  
• Snack: Cantaloupe (1p)

Look at all this food!

Day 6 of the Fix

Today was a busy day.  Slept in, as this is the only day of the week we don't have something we have to get up for, then had breakfast as a family, and headed out to a local fall festival.  Today I made a mistake.  I did not plan out my food for the day, so I ended up away from home and starving without any of my fix foods.  Oops!  We ended up going out to lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings, and I tried to do my best to stay on track while eating out.  I think I did a pretty good job. I ended up eating a grilled chicken wrap and a side salad.  I'm sure my weight will be affected by the salt content of what I consumed, but water retention is temporary, so I will try to not let it be too discouraging.  I was right back on track as soon as we got home.  Later in the day, we went grocery shopping.  I was really proud of us because we only shopped the perimeter of the store.  For those of you who may not be familiar with this, the idea is that grocery stores are organized to have the fresh, and mostly non-processed foods around the perimeter of the store.  The isles that fill the middle of the store usually contain boxed, processed, less nutritive foods.  Now there are some exceptions to this general rule, but for the most part, if you stick around the outside of the store, you will be buying higher nutritive foods, which is what we should be fueling our bodies with.  Because we slept in today and my husband did his workout during naptime, I had to complete my workouts after bedtime.  I'm finding that working out in the mornings is way easier for me than working out at night.  It was a struggle to stay motivated, but I did push through and completed PiYo Drench and 21 Day Fix Dirty 30.

Meal Plan

• Breakfast: Southern-style hashbrowns (cooked with no oil) and an egg (1y,1r,1tsp)
• Lunch: Grilled chicken wrap and salad w/dressing on the side (1r,1/2b,1y,2g,1o,1tsp)
• Snack: Cantaloupe (1p) 
• Dinner: Chicken Cordon Bleu and green beans (2r,1y,1/2b,2g,1tsp)
• Snack: grapes (2p)

Day 2 and 3 of 21 Day Fix

Three days into the 21 Day Fix, and I am feeling very good.  The eating plan has been easy to implement, and the workouts are short, but very effective.  Here's a breakdown of the last 2 days:

Day 2 of the Fix

Today my daughter had a playdate, so I had to work my meals and workout schedule around it.  I didn't get up early enough to get in a morning workout, which made doing doubles more difficult, but I am proud to say I got it done.  Today's Fix workout was Upper Fix.  I really enjoy arm days, so I really liked this workout.  I'm going to use heavier weights next time.  3 and 5 pounder weren't doing it for me.  I did this workout during my daughter's nap time, and did my second workout, PiYo Sculpt, after she went down for the night.  After so many days of doing morning workouts, I did struggle to workout in the evening.  I just don't have the same motivation at night.  As far as the eating plan went, I was happy with my food choices.  I was a little hungry in the late afternoon, but drinking water helped curb my appetite until dinner.  I am still experimenting with what time to have each of my color containers.  Today I tried having reds (protein) in the morning and my yellows (carbs) later in the day.  I liked this better than Monday's meal plan.

• Meal Plan
• Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs (2r, 1tsp)
• Snack: Large apple (2p)
• Lunch: Tortellini and green beans (1g, 1r, 1y, 1b, 1tsp)
• Snack: Cantaloupe (1p)
• Dinner: salad w/dressing, grilled chicken and mashed potatoes (3g, 1r, 2 1/2 y, 1o, 1tsp)

Day 3 of the Fix

Got my schedule back on track today. Got up early and did my PiYo workout (PiYo Sweat) before the kiddo was up.  Today my husband joined me for PiYo.  He is doing the program as well, but we usually workout separately.  It was nice to have a workout partner today.  I was planning on getting my fix workout in during nap time, but life got in the way of that, and I had to save it until after bedtime.  I just finished the Lower Fix workout a little bit ago.  I have mixed feelings about leg day.  

It was a really good workout, and don't get me wrong, I did enjoy it, but I am not as much of a fan of sore legs.  You really don't realize how much you utilize your quads and hamstrings until you have tried to sit, stand, or climb stairs after leg day.  On the flip side though, your legs are your power house and the key to revving up your metabolism.  Leg muscles are big muscles and require a lot of energy to function.  So, embrace leg day!  The hurt is worth it. At least, that's what I'm telling myself. :)  My meal plan today was on point.  I was really happy with how it worked out:

• Meal Plan
• Breakfast: cereal w/1%milk, 1 scrambled egg (2y,1r, 1tsp)
• Snack: Large apple (2p)
• Lunch: salad, grilled chicken, and mashed potatoes (3g, 1r, 1y, 1o, 1tsp)
• Snack: Colby cheese and almonds (1b)
• Dinner: Pork Loin and roasted cauliflower (2r, 1g)
• Snack: Cantaloupe (1p)

I love roasted cauliflower.  I have a great recipe that I will post tomorrow, so stay tuned!

The Rest Day

I am a very goal-oriented person.  I like to create goals, both big and small, for all areas of my life.  This can be both a strength and a weakness.  On the one hand, having goals keeps you moving forward and can give you a sense of purpose.  On the other hand, focusing too narrowly on your goals leads to a sort of tunnel-vision that can cause you to be successful in one area of your life at the cost of another.  Such is true regarding fitness.  I have found that exercise and fitness is one of the easiest parts of my life to create and achieve goals, but it is also the one area in my life in which I will readily sacrifice for.  This leads to burn-out, illness, and injury. 

Having experienced this issue time and time again along my journey to becoming fit, I decided to step back and reevaluate my training habits.  What I found was that in my attempts to achieve my fitness goals, I was focused mainly on quantity goals instead of quality, like number of miles I could run, how much weight I could lift, how long I could plank, and I was trying to accomplish these goals as quickly as possible.  At the height of my fitness frenzy I was doing two to three workouts a day, seven days a week.  I looked at "rest days" in my training plans as an opportunity to fit in a different workout. 

Now I look back at how I used to approach working out and realize just how ridiculous I was being.  Our bodies need time to heal and recover after intense workouts.  Just as our brains need sleep in order to process all that we have learned in a day, our bodies need rest in order to process all the work we have put our muscles through.  We must respect and honor the "Rest Day".  It is just as important as all of the workouts we complete.  With that in mind, today I observed the sacred "Rest Day".  I spent time with my family and allowed myself to enjoy the day without feeling guilty about not getting a workout in. 

"Rest Days" are not lazy. They will not slow you down.  Take the time. It will help you stay fresh and focused, allowing you to achieve your fitness goals without sacrificing your health and happiness.