Jump Start the Fall with AdvoCare

I am really excited about this post today!

I don’t know about you but I definitely have seen my fair share of indulgences this summer. Between BBQ’s, beers, sweets & sangria my food cravings have been through the roof and not in a good way.

So I decided it was time for a change. I needed to do something for my body that would make it love me again. Something that would make me feel better about what I am doing at the gym. Something that I could do with some friends to Shred The Summer Cravings, because everything with a friend is better!

I decided it was time for an AdvoCare 24 Day Challenge. I have not done a challenge since my first one which completely changed my life and fueled the fire that led me to this healthy-living world I live in now.

If you haven’t heard of AdvoCare or the 24 Day Challenge head over here for more info. In short the challenge consists of two phases, the first phase is a cleanse for the first 10 days you detox your body from cravings using a fiber and herbal drink to help facilitate; the second phase is called “max phase” where you replace the cleanse drinks with a meal replacement for either breakfast or lunch. The BEST part of the challenge is you get to EAT REAL FOOD!!!! They give you guidelines on foods to avoid and portion control but you still get food and you never go hungry!!!

When I did the challenge the first time I honestly didn’t realize that the foods I was putting into my body were causing my stomach to be upset, and leading to poor digestion. When on the challenge I had more energy partially thanks to Spark but also due to eating good for me foods that are PACKED with energy. These foods really fueled my body and helped me function at an optimal level. Once I finished the challenge and would let myself eat “bad” foods I seriously could tell that my body did not digest it well.

I felt better eating better and that was important. Not to mention I lost pant sizes, showed more muscle definition and felt better about my body.

My story is not much different then the hundreds of people who have shown success with AdvoCare. I am constantly blown away by hearing success stories with the challenge and use of other AdvoCare products. My girl Becky & Lauren are just two personal friends who have had major success with AdvoCare products.

Now its your turn! I would love to help you find a leg up on your health and wellness journey this fall with the 24 Day Challenge. I cannot wait to help you through the challenge and be a support system for you (and ME)! It will be a lot of fun so if you’re interested give me a shout and let me know if I can help you in any way!!!

When you sign up I will add you to TWO private Facebook groups, one with hundreds of challengers who share recipes, success stories and motivation; the second with a smaller group of challengers to keep things more intimate and motivating!

The September challenge starts on the 2nd, don’t miss your chance to leap into the fall feeling your best ever! ready to order? head over here to place your order and get ready for sept. 2nd & serious success. 

What goals do you have for the fall? let me help you get there!

The Diet Mentality

Hiiii Friends!!!!

Happy International No Diet Day, thanks Arman, and perfect timing for my post today, talking about my diet mentality and what works best for me!

Ok so today I wanted to pop back to my week on the Reset and share a conversation I had with some gym friends the Friday we finished.

When talking about how the reset was and discussing our honest feelings toward the challenge, my feelings and thoughts on doing it again at some point, I started to talk about a different challenge that I had done before. I love doing challenges, I truly enjoy a good challenge and forcing myself to do something outside of my comfort zone.

I realized around Day 4 that I started to think about “whats next” and realized all my thoughts went towards another “diet” plan or challenge. I found myself starting to slip down a slope that I wasn’t really interested in going down, and found myself thinking and beginning to obsess about the future and how I could be “better” than I am right now.

On day 6 when I was talking in the locker room with my friends I realized that the BEST thing for me to do is to end the reset, take it for what it was, and then move on and go back to living my life the healthiest that I can live it. I can make better choices but I do NOT need to be on a diet to make them.

Healthy ALLISON Dinner

Arman talked about the Diet Mentality when doing his food challenges and I realized after doing the reset that I could easily fall into this as well. I spent almost 2 years counting calories, focusing on diet “trends” and making sure that the food that I was putting in my body followed my “food rules.”

I then stopped doing all of the above and focused on eating whole, good for me foods, and cooking the bulk of my meals myself so I could focus on each and every ingredient. I follow some of the principals that I adapted from my years of following restrictions however now I don’t feel bad or beat myself up over the days when I indulge, or fueling a craving rather than avoiding one.

I realized with doing the reset that I could EASILY fall back into my trap of counting calories, feeling guilty and putting extra stress on myself regarding food. When in reality I just want to be ME!

Be True To YOU! ala Kasey

I am the happiest, healthiest and most balanced ME that I have ever been. I make gains in the gym now more than I have ever before and am accomplishing new goals which I didn’t even know I wanted to accomplish. MOST of these are due to the fact that I can and do eat, healthy food that I enjoy and have eliminated a lot of my food rules.

Fueled by FOOD not Diets

SO while the challenge was great, I also realized that the occasional challenge is fun, but long term I need to focus on being me  and following my food guidelines.

Have you fallen in the diet mentality trap?
What do you do to keep yourself centered and on track?

Usana Review

Thursday was officially the final day of my 5day USANA reset. It was definitely a life experience and taught me a TON about myself. I love that in 5 days I can learn so much about myself, even when I think I am already very in-tune with my body.

I left off with day 2 so let me get you up to speed on the rest of the week.

Day 3 my energy, and mood started to come around and I finally started to feel better. I added ground flax to my smoothies and continued to have higher fruit/veggie servings, which ended up being between 4-5. I focused on fiber-loaded fruits so I would stay full and satisfied, along with spacing out my food & snacks. I got the 4 o’clock starving’s and tried to just have a few snacks spaced out knowing that I would be going home and having dinner.
Day 3 I decided to skip the strawberry smoothie (because I wasn’t a fan of that flavor) and have a sweet potato with jalapeños and dry-sautéed mushrooms with green onions. I felt full, and satisfied. MUCH better than  a smoothie!

Day 4 again going well with energy. I pretty much ate the same thing as day 3 and then made a sweet potato & topped it with my 5 minute salsa for dinner. Again much better than a shake and very satisfying.

Day 5 I ate about the same during the day however I had plans to go out to dinner with my coworkers so I opted to end the reset a meal early. For dinner I had a vegetarian chili & a chicken taco salad. It felt good to eat real food but when we left my digestive system was a little out of whack. I could feel the digestion but nothing more was happening.

This brings me to my biggest beef with the challenge (and potentially TMI, if you are grossed out about this talk then skip the next paragraph)… I did not poop once on the challenge. I added extra flax to my smoothies & fiber dense fruits/veggies to try and aid in this process but my body didn’t eliminate much, other than fluids. I didn’t feel backed up but I also didn’t feel great. I knew my body needed to excrete something but it wasn’t ready. I performed some constipation massage and continued to get minimal results.
However, after have my meal day 5, and eating real food on day 6 (day after the reset) I started to become more regular and no longer felt stopped up. Possibly my problem was that I just didn’t have enough solid food in my digestive tract before starting the reset that I couldn’t form enough, I’m not sure.

Overall, I lost 3-4 pounds on the reset with eating 2-3times more fruits/veggies than recommended. I feel like it was a good challenge to me. I think it helped to reset my mind about food and helped me to shed some of my cravings. It was not my favorite reset/fast/challenge that I have done, but for only being a 5 day challenge I think it was worth it.

If you are looking for a quick and easy way to reset your mind & body than this USANA reset might be for you.

Have you done the USANA reset before?

USANA Reset #resetnation

Happy Tuesday!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, mine was filled with relaxation, well sorta…

65# thrusters.. GPP is no joke!

Friday night I was looking forward to a fun night relaxing with Brent and enjoying the beautiful weather. I thought it would be a splendid idea to practice our softball game, as we were suckered asked go play on a coed team this spring, whose first game was sunday. I am admittedly not a softball player so I knew I needed the practice and the weather friday was gorgeous so out in the backyard we went. Then… 5 minutes later back in the house we went as brent threw a line drive at my face I missed the ball and it tipped off my glove and hit me square in the eye. OOPS!!! The rest of our “relaxing” friday night was spent with a bag of frozen veggies on my face. #somuchfordatenight

New GPP Rockford “members” loved my friday storm crew!

I definitely woke up Saturday morning with a pretty black-eyelid. Which made my run with Amy a little more exciting. At least she got a good laugh out of it before kicking my tush on a 6 mile run. I swear every time I run 6miles there is extreme wind.

My legs were feeling a bit trashed thursday so before our run even started I was worried about the distance. I originally wanted to run 8 this weekend but decided Friday that 6 would be a better choice #theresalwaysnexttime. I felt great the first 3 miles, then started needing a few mini breaks to catch my breath. Amy said to me “even in races you stop a second and get water” this made me feel so much better walking a second or two.

The last leg of the run I was feeling pretty toast, we ended up starting too fast and my body wasn’t up to maintaining that pace the whole 6 miles, especially with the last 2.5 being into the wind. OOPS! I finished the run in 54minutes and averaged 8:29/mile. My splits were 8:15, 8:21, 8:22, 8:26, 8:45 & 8:47. My plan for my 8 miler is to start slow and then speed up, rather than running myself ragged by mile 3.

My splits were taken from Amy’s Garmin watch, I believe it to be more accurate than MapMyRun app.

Sunday I started the USANA RESET with some girls & guys from the gym. I am new to USANA but wanted to change things up a little bit and flush out my cravings. I am not doing the reset with the goal of losing a bunch of weight. I am in a very good place with my body and how I look I just want to feel that way on the inside as well. Lately I’ve noticed increased cravings for foods I don’t normally crave and decreased ability to satisfy these cravings with real food. So I am resetting to kick the cravings and try something new.

Heres the breakdown of the reset… you are given 15 shakes, 3 each day for the 5 days; 10 “snack” bars, 2 each day for the 5 days; 10 healthpak’s 2 for each day. The reset is 5 days and in addition to the shakes/bars you are encouraged to eat 1 serving of fruit & 1 serving of vegetables a day (or more if needed).

{SOURCE}

Day 1 – Went well. I felt satisfied all day however when I took the healthpak I got really uneasy and sick to my stomach. This happens to me  most of the time after taking multiple vitamins. I have tried to take them for prolonged periods to see if my body will decrease its sensitivity and not get so sick to my stomach, but it never works. I took the first healthpak, felt awful and then realized why. SO I decided that taking the evening healthpak would not be a good idea for me. I had an orange and then snaked on some fruit & veggies when I was prepping for the week. Overall I felt fine, no big changes that I noticed.

Day 2 – I woke up feeling very blahhh. I didn’t feel bad, but I didn’t feel great, I definitely didn’t have my normal energy. I went to the gym and tried to workout however just wasn’t feeling it so I didn’t push it, just did what I felt like. The rest of the day I felt a bit better, I had decreased lethargy and didn’t really feel hungry until 4 o’clock when I always get hungry. I ate more fruits than “allowed” which included 5 dates, 1 pear, 1c melon (x2), 1 apple, 1c baked plantains, &1/4c frozen blueberries in my evening smoothie.

Strawberry shake with frozen blueberries & flax

I opted to add more fruit as I am not trying to lose weight and wanted to maintain my energy level. This worked for me on day 2. We will see what day 3 brings. I’ll be back with a full challenge wrap up later in the week.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and have a great Tuesday.

Have you ever used USANA products?
Are you a good softball player? 

Sticky Note Obsessed… MNBChallenge Week 3 Recap

I love the weekend. It is truly the best part of the week. Usually our weekends FLY by, and this one was not much different, but yesterday seemed to be a VERY productive day, so today gets to be a day of relaxation!!!

Last week I felt like I was paying catch up all week. In the middle of the day I felt like I had accomplished everything but then somehow by the time I left for the day my “to do list” seemed a mile high 5 sticky notes deep. I don’t know about you guys but I am a sticky note sean, I have notes lining my computer to remind me of what I need to do or get done. It works for me because I am never sitting at my desk so keeping a working list there would never get looked at. Plus this lining of my computer gives it a cool fringe look 😉

Last week was the LAST week of the Move Nourish Believe Challenge, I can’t believe February is almost over and these mini challenges have come to an end. If you missed week 1 and week 2 recaps make sure you check those out too!!

Thank you Lorna Jane Active & FitApproach for sponsoring this challenge and helping me step out of the winter-blues rut that is so easy to get in after those initial January resolutions are made.

The theme of this week was Believe. I was really excited for this especially after the long weekend that we had last weekend.

Monday – Spoil Yourself… I did not take a picture or even (honestly) think about the challenge on Monday of last week. We were pretty busy and I was most concerned about the crazy snow storm that we were supposed to drive through. But I definitely did do some spoiling which included eating lots of yummy baked goods (read: baklava, chocolate cookies & brownies) & drinking some yummy wine. SO I will reuse this picture from my birthday weekend… similar enough 🙂

Tuesday – 5 Mindful Minutes… There is a good part of me that really wants to learn and become aware enough to meditate and let go of the thoughts of the day. I have a hard time getting to a restful accepting place when I try to meditate and my mind generally drifts to the areas that I am stressing or thinking about, so this challenge was great practice for me!

I would love to say I spent those 5+ minutes in complete solitude but to be honest I felt a little silly and distracted. I am glad I did a guided meditation from Heather Waxman  as it showed me I need to set aside some more time and do this regularly. I need to make it a habit and become accepting of letting go.

Wednesday – Be Happy… Ahhh this one is easy! I simply am happiest when I am with Brent. I guess that means I picked the right guy to spend the rest of my life with ;)… This guy makes me more happy than I could’ve ever imagined someone else making me, while allowing me to be 100% myself. We are not perfect individually or together but we definitely challenge each others strengths and strengthen each others weaknesses, which to me is just about as perfect as you can get :)!
Also I am pretty dang happy at the gym. I love that I have found exercise to challenge me and push my limits.

I found this quote on Wednesday and wrote it on my clinic board, where I write a motivational/inspirational quote of the week, and it definitely was share worthy. I seriously laughed out loud when I found it, because I think it is very true, and because I think I am way more funny than the rest of the world!

Thursday – Thankful Thursday… I am thankful for sooo much! And since I was a day behind on all these challenges I thought of what I was thankful for on Friday, mid-workout. I think the most of my inspiration for blogging & life, comes when I am at the gym. I am able to let my brain wonder and inspiration flow, especially when i have a rest between sets. So Friday I was thinking about what I was thankful for & I came up with this list.

I am thankful for having happiness in my life. I am thankful for MyWellnessland & YOU! I am thankful for the gift of health, love, and strength. I am thankful for my career physical therapy and the opportunity it gives me to impact others lives. I am thankful for Brent! I am thankful for my Family ‘n Friends for keeping my head up and being by biggest supporters. I am thankful for food & fitness… this sounds dumb but those are the things that keep me going, the fuel that takes me to the gym and the opportunity to exercise to improve my fitness is extremely important to me.

Friday – Shout Out… Okay I didn’t share this one either because I have SOOO many #1 supporters I can’t just pick one. I suppose the three people who have been there for me each day the past year. They listen to me when I am most upset and cheer for me when I am most excited. I guess it is understandable that one of these people has been talked about 2 times already today and the other one is my dad & then my step-mom. These three are seriously always there for me. I have a wonderful network of family members & friends who I know are always there for me but I guess these three stand out just a little above the rest, and I am so thankful for that!

So thats a WRAP! I have really enjoyed the MNBchallenge and have enjoyed getting to know a few of the other girls who have been involved in the challenge as well. If you are looking for something to do on Wedensday night (8pm EST), log into twitter and check out the Twitter Party for the #MNBChallenge that FitApproach & Lorna Jane are hosting. It is sure to be a great time!

But now I am off to Church and then on to my Sunday ritual of food prepping and getting my life ready for the week ahead!

Have a happy and healthy Sunday!

Are you a sticky note user or long list maker? 
How did you spoil yourself recently? I did buy new running shoes yesterday!!! WOOHOOOOO
Do you meditate? Have any tips? 

A Marvelous Life & MNB Week 2

Evening Friends,

I hope everyone had a safe and happy weekend. Brent & I traveled to Michigan Friday after work to spend the weekend with my family. We had planned to head back to Rockford today but because of the massive snow storm we will be heading back tomorrow, which gives me a little time to fill you all in on the weekend and the MNBChallenge.

As Always Thank You Katie.

I could not think of a more Marvelous person than Lawrence. 

It was an emotional, wonderful, sad, celebration of the life of a wonderful friend and family member. We spent many hours visiting with family and many moments with tears in our eyes while we said goodbye to a wonderful spirit.

Lawrence had a spice for life that everyone was touched by immediately. I am glad that he was not only a part of my life but made my Uncle’s life so much fuller. In all the sadness from losing Lawrence in the physical life it was wonderful to meet so many people who he impacted and to see how his gift of life was given to so many.

There were multiple moments of the weekend that were incredibly special to me. As nice as it was to see family and friends who we have not seen in so long and spending some extra time catching up, my favorite moment of the weekend was when just a small group of us were sharing memories.

On Sunday night we went to my uncle’s house and had dinner with most of the family and his close friends (who are family). We all gathered in the living room and shared memories and good times we had with Lawrence. It was a very special time and after each memory was shared we all lifted our glasses and toasted to the man who brought us all together. The “ding” of the glasses made sounds of bells ringing and sounded like a song. I could not have thought of a more peaceful, joyous way to remember a friend than that.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

As I mentioned before, I am participating in Move Nourish Believe which is a fun February challenge that Fit Approach & Lorna Jane Active  are putting on.

Last week was NOURISH week for MNB. I was a bit of an emotional eater last week after learning of Lawrence’s passing and my eats were based in health with an added side of emotion. I felt a bit overwhelmed and wish I could’ve been better about the challenge but I know that I did what was right for me and a challenge is just that, challenging.

Monday was to go Meatless – I did this without much hesitation and spent most of the week thereafter meat-free. I enjoyed a hearty salad for lunch and made some rockstar black bean burgers for dinner. I FINALLY created a black bean burger recipe that did not fall apart when I cooked them. I still need some practice but a definite improvement from previous attempts!
Tuesday was to take your lunch to work. I do this every day but ended up getting free lunch on Tuesday at a meeting… SCORE!!!… who can say no to Chipotle?? I enjoyed my tuesday lunch on wednesday which very closely resembled (read: was the exact same thing) as what I ate monday.
Wednesday was to track your eats… UGHH!!! I have given up food logging as I started to obsess over what I was eating and my calorie count back in the spring, resulting in me plateauing in my diet and physical appearance. I did track my food “loosely” on wednesday and I know that I missed many “snacks” through out the day… Remember I said it was an emotional week, definitely not the best track i’ve ever done.
Thursday was to make a smoothie…  I forgot but made it Friday.
Friday was GO RAW!!! I wanted to GO ALL OUT for this one but again emotions got the best of me and it completely slipped my mind. I made a “raw” smoothie with sweet potato, strawberry, almond milk & protein powder ((side note: AMAZINGGGGG)). I ate another “raw” salad with tons of veggies for lunch. Dinner was definitely not raw and my body reminded me multiple times on Saturday…

OVERALL I still am LOVING the MNBChallenge & am sad that I was not able to fully embrace the second week of challenges. BUT life is more important than a challenge and I know my #sweatpink Sisters would tell me the same thing!

To end today with something Beautiful. I wanted to share the flowers my Dad sent to my office for my Birthday. It was so nice to receive flowers (something I don’t often get) and watch them get more and more beautiful as the week went on!

Hugs & Kisses Bouquet! How fitting!

Have a happy and healthy start to your week friends!

No Questions, Just sending love.

Move Nourish Believe Challenge Week 1

Happy Saturday!

Happy Birthday to ME & all my favorite birthday twins!

post-multiple wine tastings last night!

I am popping in today to share my recap & belated friday favorites from the FitApproach & Lorna Jane Move-Nourish-Believe Challenge that started on Monday.

Do YOU #sweatpink?

I was really excited about the challenge, as I truly love to give myself little challenges through out the week to make my workouts, meals and mind a little healthier.

This week was MOVE week. The challenges were small but like I said it is fun to have a little challenge to break up the metonymy of your daily routine.

Monday – Sweat It Out
*show your favorite way to sweat pink* I love to sweat during each workout and lately my favorite way to get my workout on is through GPP. I love the workouts and the philosophy read more on that here, here & here.

Monday’s GPP workout was One Sided Revenge and definitely resulted in some huffing&puffing on my behalf. I decided to speed walk rather than run the workout for personal & leg related reasons. I finished the morning with 10 minutes of pull up training!

Tuesday – Change It Up
*sweat a new way today* I think everyday of GPP is a new workout, some days we do a repeat workout but most days are completely new combination of moves, intervals or reps.
Tuesdays are known to be a Lift Heavy day in the GPP Gym and this tuesday did not disappoint. I love the challenge of lifting heavy but get a bit weary when it is a newer move that I have not perfected or when I reach for a weight I know I could not clear previously.
My change it up challenge to myself was to look beyond the weight and focus on pushing myself and my limits without fear of failure. Sometimes it is OKAY to fail on a lift, it means you stepped outside of that comfort-zone box and tried something new.
I started my power cleans at a weight I was comfortable with and then progressed it depending on how I felt with 2 reps left of the previous lift. If I was completely toast with 2 reps to go I upped the weight 10# (5# each side) & if I felt it was tough but do-able I upped my weight 20#. I did not go above this formula for ME for THIS workout, and it seemed to work. When I was getting fatigued and heavier for me I tried upping 10# and could not clear the bar, so I dropped down 5# and tried again. Since I was able to clear I finished that round and added those 5# back for my last round.

please note I WAS breathing during this pull… I just made a funny face… workout faces are not always cute/ #sorrynotsor

AND I DID IT!!! Well I did it once, it took all my energy and a couple “trial” pulls before I was able to clear and clean the bar. I caught the bar a little late and ended up more in a power-squat-clean position, BUT I cleared the bar!!
I was very proud to say I cleaned #125 on my last pull and challenged myself to get a heavier weight and did not quit!

Wednesday – Plank It Out
*perform 5 minutes of planking* I finished my GPP workout and did 3 sets of 60 second planks before becoming jello and could not complete the last 2 minutes. I finished the last 2 minutes after work before crawling in bed! I do love to plank!

Thursday – Sweat With A Buddy
Thursdays GPP KB/AB workout was a great partner workout. My coworker and I blasted through the quick & dirty workout and caught a quick pic during our last few abs. Well… I TRIED to get a picture but it was an epic photo fail.

#photofail

Friday – Five Fitness Faves!
SORRY for being a day late on my 5 faces, I had every intention of writing this yesterday morning but got distracted in re-designing my header & little corner of the web…
I have TONS OF Fitness Favorites. If I sat here and thought about all the things fitness that I love I would have a longggggg list of people, workouts, apparel, and shoes… YES shoes get their own category! I decided to put together a few workouts and pull a few of my favorite GPP workouts to share with you.

Source

Source

I hope you all have a great week and made sure to move a bit! I am excited for the nourish week and cannot wait to work on making better food choices. AFTER the birthday cake tonight!

Cheers!

How did you move this week?
Do you follow Fit Approach on FB/IG/Twitter?
What is your favorite way to Sweat Pink?

Hangry?? nah… just Nap Time! – GPP Reset

WOOHOO!!! Day 4 of the fast is here!!!

I have to say I felt pretty good all weekend but definitely took my napping for granted because Monday was a bit tough with the whole having to be awake & personable for 8+ hours.

I got a lot of questions from my patients at work & some of you lovelies about my energy and the actual break down of the fast so rather than skipping straight to my BCD plan I thought today would be a perfect day to share.

FIRST food since Friday night Selfie was a must!

GPP Reset Protocol (from the GPP website)

Day 1 – Water Only.
Day 2 – 24 g CHO drink.  We suggest 15 min before your GPP workout.
Day 3 – Add 5 servings of Fruits & 5 servings of vegetables (Google it).
Day 4 – Add 24 g of PRO.
Day 5 – And for the rest of your life – get it right!

What this means to you…

Day 1 – Water Only. –> ONLY WATER!!! Not tea, not water with lemon, just water. Keep it simple peeps  it’s only 1 day and you will survive… remember the purpose of Reset is to RESET your body & metabolism, by pumping it filled of fruity sweetness you are not fulfilling the challenge to its optimal potential.
Day 2 – 24 g CHO drink.  We suggest 15 min before your GPP workout. –> CHO drink is a fruit juice, like 100% real fruit. NOT some apple juice whose 2nd ingredient is sugar… look.at.the.labels & find something that fits this criteria. I bought an organic 100% fruit juice & when I looked at the ingredients it was all fruit. The macros broke down to being 28g CHO per 8oz glass, so my drink was a tad less than 8oz.
Day 3 – Add 5 servings of Fruits & 5 servings of vegetables (Google it). –> pretty simple, just load up on fruits & veggies…
Day 4 – Add 24 g of PRO. –> this can be a protein of choice. Protein drink to supplement your workout is recommended.
Day 5 – And for the rest of your life – get it right! –> for me this is doing at least 1 BCD cycle.

Personal Tips & Notes:

Day 1 – I did not workout… I intentionally started the fast on Saturday so if I did not feel well, was completely tired or any thing else I could sleep & be at home. I had intentions of working out on the fast however after a really hard week of GPP workouts + the additional 2 mile challenge each day I was pretty sore and my body was telling me to rest. so i listened… over all I felt pretty good, I was not very hungry and just continued to make sure I was drinking enough water. I got pretty cold at one part of the day so I heated up my filtered water so it was warm and felt like something new 🙂 this worked for me!

{Source}

Day 2 – Again I did not workout. I had intentions to do some yoga but the day slipped away from me. Again I felt pretty good, the only time I felt like I hadn’t ate was when I was at church where I regularly feel lightheaded (Lord help me on my wedding day!)… I again took a couple good naps but then I woke up and got to work on my food prep… I had a few leftover grapes that didn’t fit in my bin so I snacked on those (about 10 grapes) before drinking my juice. SINCE I had some grapes with a CHO factor I drank ~1/4 less of my designated drink amount. I was not extremely hungry but worried I would wake up starving.

Day 3 – My first day working out and having to be social for 8+ hours… I drank my CHO on my drive to the gym, which was prolonged due to a slight snow fight 😉 & felt great during my workout. I had all the energy that I needed and was able to STORM the workout in about 13 minutes. I was bummed that I couldn’t complete the challenge but time dictates. As for energy the rest of the day I had my ups & downs. I can’t say that is much different then a normal Monday but at times it was definitely a low blood sugar low. When I felt this I just went and grabbed a pre-portioned baggy of fruit or veggie and drank some more water. I made it through the work day without feeling horrible or super tired. I did divide my servings, I knew my work day would likely be the hardest so I packed 4 fruits & 3 vegetables to have during the day. I also tried to get fruits that were fiber filled so they would keep me full longer… heres what my day looked like:

Dates = post workout breakfast
Carrots = midmorning & afternoon snacking
Broccoli, Apple & Pear = Lunch
Grapes = After lunch snacking
Cucumbers = Drive home snack

Day 4 – this is today & because I am writing this monday night it has not occurred yet. I can tell you likely I will be feeling rather hungry, as while I am typing this my little tummy is wanting something more to eat. I can also tell you I feel a lot of accomplishment for completing what I have so far, so I will.succeed.today I have come too far to quit now. ALSO I am veryyyyy excited for the first day of Burst on Wednesday because that means SOLID FOOD!!!! 🙂

Overall thoughts on the RESET…. I LOVE IT!! I think it was a great way for me to just flush my body and start fresh. I really wanted to try this just to be able to give you ideas and insight without feeling like a hypocrite for never completing the challenge. But you guys I really enjoyed it. I mean I was DRAINED and am definitely excited for real food but it was a great spiritual challenge for me and commitment for me.

I do see how this would be very challenging and detrimental to someone who is not in the same health state that I am in, so PLEASE consult your doctor prior to performing the fast & PLEASE ask if you have any questions about the fast. THIS is something that you only do ONCE and a great WHILE… it is not something to be performed regularly and was not designed for that intention so please fast responsibly! 

I hope this helps put some of the GPP fast into perspective for you all and gives you the insight you were looking for. I really believe that GPP has your best intentions at heart when providing this program so please understand that this was designed for everyone and to be the healthiest way to jumpstart your metabolism and life. If you have any questions or concerns please email me @ allisoninwellnessland@gmail.com or comment on the GPP blog. There are great people in this community so reach out to them as well.

I’d Love To Know ~~ Have you ever done the GPP fast? What would be your 5 fruits & 5 vegetables? 

Elf 4 Health Blog Swap

Hey Friends,

I am stopping in to share with you my very first guest blog post. I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday & I’ll be back tomorrow with an awesome Christmas Sweater idea!

As you know I am participating in #elf4health and we decided to do a massive blog swap today to the challenge of sharing our expertise. I am really excited to have Katie guest posting here with some great advice for being the best YOU, you can be!

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Well, hey there! My name is Katie and I blog over at Peace, Love & Oats! I am a 20-something recent law school graduate on the job hunt and enjoying my life in Chicago! One thing that I have worked a lot on over the past few years, and consequently write about often, is self-confidence and learning to love and appreciate who you are. On that note, I thought I’d share some thoughts with all of you on that subject!

Growing up, I was taught that appearances are important. I’m not just talking about what you wear and looking appropriate, but how you act and come across as well. Obviously manners were important, but so was making and sticking to commitments, succeeding and trying hard in any activity that you joined, making a good first impression, doing well in school, having a good application or resume; the list goes on and on. I’m not saying these aren’t important aspects to life or good values to learn, but they were all very important to me. Appearing “perfect” became very important to me.

 

Recognizing that aspect of myself was necessary, but the most critical thing is learning how to place a lower value on my appearance to others. A piece of advice I was given once was to check in with myself throughout the day, ask myself why I’m doing the things that I’m doing. Am I doing this because of what someone else would think of me?

Why am I wearing this? Why am I so anxious to talk to that guy? Why am I avoiding this subject with someone? Why am I going out when I don’t feel well and just want to go home? Why am I not speaking up if I have something to say?

I realize this sounds like a lot of questions, but stopping and asking myself just a couple of these questions each day, has already made me relax a bit and let my guard down. The point behind this exercise, and of this post really, is to learn how to just be your “true and honest self.”

The reason we all try to keep up appearances is to avoid rejection, but if you love yourself and are confident in yourself, then being rejected won’t shake you up or upset you as much. Why is that? Because this “true and honest self” is the person you really are. This is the person you want people to love and appreciate. If they can’t love and appreciate you the way you really are, then they aren’t the right people for you.

 

Having that confidence in yourself and believing in yourself is how you put yourself in situations that make you happy and surround yourself with people that make you happy. If you have to “keep up appearances” for someone to like you, is that person really right for you? I don’t think so.

So do you. Be you. Love you. Everything else will fall into place. And if you’re someone who struggles with self-love and acceptance, then here are a few tips that you can add into your daily life that might help:

1. Tell yourself how great you are. Every time you catch your reflection in the mirror, give yourself a compliment. You are gorgeous! You’re pretty amazing. Great hair today! Whatever it is, make it a habit.

2. Dance. Dance freely, like no one is watching. Dance to your favorite song from middle school, dance to a holiday song, dance to hip hop or classical. Whatever you’re feeling! Just moving to music without worrying about how you look always makes you feel better!

3. Smile. Having a bad day? Getting frustrated by work, a workout, standing in line at the grocery store? Take a deep breath and smile. Trust me, it really does improve your mood!

4. Say yes. When you get out of your comfort zone and get out there and socialize, you tend to forget about all the things you’re worrying about. And remember, if you’re self conscious about something, I can almost guarantee that no one else notices or cares as much as you do. Taking a risk and going out on a limb is always better than doing nothing.

5. Be nice. Helping other people, or even just complimenting them, not only improves their day, but it improves yours and your own self-image. Make giving back to others a part of your routine, whether it’s volunteering or just holding the door open for someone, and soon you’ll see more value in yourself.

6. Surround yourself with uplifting people. Last but not least, you have to love yourself but if the people around you are bringing you down then it’s just not helping. Be sure that the people who you keep close, whose opinions you value, are the kind of people who love and support you no matter what.

I hope you all enjoyed these tips, and if you ever have any questions or just want to chat, feel free to email me at peaceloveandoats@gmail.com!

Do you worry too much about what others think of you?

What self-love advice would you give? 

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Thanks again for all the great advice Katie. Make sure to check out my guest post on Katie’s blog along with all the other Elf’s posts you can find the link party over on Elle’s blog.

Meditation Monday

Happy Monday!!!

Today’s elf4health challenge is to take some time to meditate! I can say I am not a meditator. I try to do some stretching, read some motivational quotes and internalize them for myself, or do some yoga to relax and breathe deep. Last week I spent 2 days after my workout in the steam room just breathing in the warm air and relaxing after a workout and before going to work. That was my kind of relaxation!!!

I decided today to take a page out of Heather Waxman’s journal blog and do some meditation with her guidance.

I love reading Heather’s soul scriptures on instagram and her longer very insightful posts on her blog feed. I always feel like a better person after reading her message and always take away something wonderful.

Today I will be repeating this soul scripture for my meditation to help me reconnect with my body and ground myself during this pre holiday craze.

Happy Monday & Happy Meditating to you all!

 

 

 

I’d Love To Know ~~ Do you meditate regularly? Whats your favorite way to reconnect with yourself?