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Tuesday, August 8, 2017

How I lost 5lbs In Two Weeks On My Porch!

Do you ever find yourself settling for less because you think it's the best it's ever going to get—it could be your job, finances, living conditions, health/fitness, kids behavior, etc.?

How to get the fitness results you've been wanting!That's where I found myself recently. I had worked hard at my personal health and fitness over the course of three years. Even though I was proud of what I had accomplished, I was still comparing myself to others: "She's doing the same program as me. How come her results are better?"

But it wasn't a question of who was getting better results. It had to do with commitment. If I was completely honest with myself I would realize that I wasn't pushing myself like I could have.

Was I following the eating plan 100%?

Was I pushing myself to the max in each workout by upping my repetitions, weights, and effort?

No?

Well, then why was I complaining?

Two weeks ago I decided to stop the comparison game. Instead of making excuses and complaining that I wasn't getting the same results, I decided to own my process and my results.

I went all in. I began meal prepping four days at a time to make it easier to stay on track. I picked a fitness program that is cardio agility based along with strength training and increased my weights from ten to fifteen pounds. When I wanted to stop before the clock hit zero I went even harder.

I still have a whole week left, but the five pounds I've lost along with several inches from those stubborn places like my waist is inspiring. I plan to charge through week three!

Here's a sneak peek of my results so far!

If you've found yourself settling in your health and fitness, making excuses, hitting a plateau, or just needing to up your game, then this program is for you.

It's only three weeks long, but it's delivering inspiring results, and that's hugely motivating. If you are looking to step up your fitness, get some quick results to keep you motivated, and/or get past a plateau, then let me know. I'll give you more details about what I'm doing and help you reach your fitness goals too!

Dani the Fat Gurl Inside

Sunday, July 30, 2017

Meal Prep: Take 2 – With Limes This Time!

You guys!!!

That first four days of meal prep I did last week was SO NICE I jumped into round two on Thursday. Below is photographic proof of how much this mom rocked it!

Clean Eating Meal Plan

So what made it so nice? Well, even though the prepping itself can easily take 2-3 hours, depending on what you make and how much, once you're prepped you're prepped. No more scrambling 30 minutes before meal times trying to figure out what to eat. It is WORTH it!!

So, here's what I made for the next 4 days. If you read my last post (How To Meal Prep When You Don't Meal Prep) you might recall that I doubled up two different menus, as in I eat the same thing on Thursday and Saturday and eat another option Friday and Monday.

New Recipes I used:

Instant Pot Chili Lime Chicken

Baked Chili Lime Potato Chips



Thursday/Saturday Meals


Clean Eating Meal Prep For Shift Shop
Breakfast: 1/2 frozen banana, 1 cup frozen spinach, 1 cup water and Chocolate Shakeology.

Snack: 1/2 large apple with 2 teaspoons of peanut butter.

Lunch/Afternoon Snacks: 1 cup lettuce, 3/4 cup shredded Lime Cilantro Chicken, 1/2 cup black beans 1 tablespoon oil based dressing along with 2 hard boiled eggs.

Clean Eating Meal Prep For Shift Shop
Dinner: 1 lean hamburger patty served with lettuce and tomato (not pictured for freshness), choice of cheese, baked sweet potato fries (mine were Okinawan so they are purple), mixed veggies of zucchini and carrots.



Friday/Monday Meals

Clean Eating Meal Prep For Shift ShopBreakfast: 1/2 frozen banana, 1 cup frozen spinach, 2 teaspoons of peanut butter, 1 cup water and Chocolate Shakeology. (I seriously love it that much! If you want to try it for yourself feel free to contact me through my email at the top of the blog.)

Snack: 2 eggs cooked your favorite way, can add veggies and make a scramble or omelet.

Clean Eating Meal Prep For Shift ShopLunch/Afternoon Snacks: 1 cup lettuce, 1/2 cup cut up strawberries and blueberries combined, 1/4 cup feta, 1 tablespoon oil based dressing along, chili lime baked potato chips, carrots.

Snack: 3/4 cup 2% plain yogurt with a few blueberries and strawberries.

Dinner: Shishkabobs made of chicken marinated in lime juice, zucchini, tomato and pineapple, baked diced potatoes with your choice of seasonings, steamed broccoli with 1/4 cup cheese.

If you're wondering, what is up with all the lime? Well, there is a good reason. A friend of mine has a lime tree and so she has more limes than she can spare. She gave me over a dozen, and so for this meal prep I Googled all things lime to use what I had been given but also add some different flavors to the prepared meals. It worked splendidly!

If you have any questions about my meal prepping game, the Shift Shop program, or any of the recipes or links above, feel free to comment below or contact me <3

Dani the Fat Gurl Inside

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

How To Meal Prep When You Don't Meal Prep

I am not by nature a meal planner/prepper even though I encourage my clients to do so—yep, I went there!

Truth is, my biggest struggle is the food! I LOVE all things sugar and carbs and it takes me great discipline to stay on track with a healthy, clean eating plan that has little to none of those things in it.

So when I go "all in" and fully commit to a fitness program and eating plan it requires me to do things I don't normally do. In this case, it was meal prepping.

An easy meal prep for Shift Shop week 1!

In order to make it a bit more fun, I snagged the Instant Pot on Amazon when it was on sale for Prime Day along with ordering some Bento Boxes to make my food look like the professionals.

This is what I got: (affiliate links)


With these items, it seemed as though I could conquer the WORLD, or at least the food prep world. Even though when I started out I was COMPLETELY unorganized. I hadn't nailed down exactly what I was going to eat each day, but I had purchased plenty of options to fit into the Shift Shop eating plan so it was just a matter of portioning things out.

So, with Google in hand, I put my new Instant Pot to work cooking sweet potatoes, eggs, and broccoli.

Recipes:



If you're dying to know what I made, here we go!

Keep in mind I am in the "A" plan for the Shift Shop, which for week 1 is 3 veggies, 2 fruits, 4 proteins, 2 carbs, 2 teaspoon, 1 healthy fat, and 1 seeds and dressing.

To make it easier I started with 4 days worth, but doubled up two different menus, as in I eat the same thing Monday and Wednesday and eat another option Tuesday and Thursday.

Monday/Wednesday Meals

Shift Shop week 1 approved lunch options

Breakfast: 1/2 frozen banana, 1 cup frozen spinach, 1 cup water and Chocolate Shakeology.

Snack: 3/4 Cup 2% plain yogurt with a few blueberries and strawberries.

Lunch/Afternoon Snacks: 1 cup lettuce, 1/2 cup cut up strawberries and blueberries combined, 1/4 cup feta, 1 tablespoon oil based dressing along with 2 hard boiled eggs and 1/2 cup grapes, sweet potato chips from 1 medium potato.

Dinner: 1 serving of grilled chicken, 1 cup cooked broccoli, 1/2 large sweet potato with cinnamon and 1 teaspoon of butter.

(The other allotted teaspoon I account for extra virgin olive oil I used for cooking my chicken and sweet potato chips in.)

Tuesday/Thursday Meals

Week one Shift Shop meal ideas

Breakfast: 1/2 frozen banana, 1 cup frozen spinach, 1 cup water and Chocolate Shakeology. (I seriously love it that much! If you want to try it for yourself feel free to contact me through my email at the top of the blog :-) )

Snack: 3/4 cup 2% plain yogurt with a few blueberries and strawberries. (Mostly the same because I want to use up the yogurt before it goes bad ;-) )

Lunch/Afternoon Snacks: 1 cup lettuce, 1/2 cup black beans, 1 serving grilled chicken, 1 tablespoon oil based dressing, 1/4 avocado (not pictured because I like it fresh), along with 1 cup of grapes.

Dinner: 1 serving of grilled steak, 1 cup sauteed zucchini, 1/2 large sweet potato with cinnamon and 1 teaspoon of butter.

(The other allotted teaspoon I accounted for on my steak before grilling and when I sauteed the zucchini.)

And there you have it! It's not too fancy, but all the meals are full of flavor and super yummy!

I also went ahead and made my husband these same meals (with his permission of course). In order to make it easy for us to grab food from the fridge, I used a dry erase marker and wrote on the top of each lid: name, meal, and day.

Shift Shop meal prep organization

My plan is to do the next 3-4 days of prep on Thursday to round out the week. I may or may not pick two new meals for those days just to change things up. If I do new ones you better believe I'll share it with you!

So there you have it, my easy, simple, but delicious meal prep for Shift Shop. Having those cute containers to pull out of the fridge today really helped me stay on track 100% for day one.

If you have any questions about my meal prepping game, the Shift Shop program, or any of the recipes or links I shared above feel free to comment below or contact me <3

Dani the Fat Gurl Inside

Monday, July 10, 2017

The Newest At Home Fitness Program - Shift Shop


I always get excited when Beachbody announces a new fitness program, but this one I'm especially
excited for! It's called Shift Shop and was created by NASM certified trainer Chris Downing. He's put together a 3-week rapid rebuild program that will give you quick results and help you rebuild your body and reinvent your life.

Shift Shop, Chris Downing, At Home Workout Program

One of the things that impressed and stood out to me about Chris is his ability to motivate and inspire you to leave it all on the floor. It doesn't matter if you are at the peak of your fitness journey and want to push a little harder or if you are just starting out, you can always reinvent and become a better version of yourself.

Not only is Chris inspiring, but you can tell he genuinely cares about you, your results, your journey, and your success. I got the awesome privilege to do two of his workouts when I went on the Beachbody Success Trip to Punta Cana in April. I fell in love with this program immediately! Here is a little video from one of the workouts there. Sorry for the poor quality, my phone got killed and I salvaged this from Facebook :-(



If you are familiar with Chalene Johnson and love how she is always so inspiring and uplifting, you are gonna love Chris. He's like her male clone ;-) He has the ability to make you believe in yourself and that you can do anything. It's that belief that will help you crush this program and get your results.

So, what exactly is the Shift Shop Workout?

It is a 3-week rapid rebuild program, which means instead of repeating the exact same workouts from week to week, you'll progress through a series of increasingly challenging routines.
It is for anyone who wants to ramp up their fitness to the next level FAST!
It starts with basic 25 minute workouts and increases to advanced 45 minute routines, all while honoring your nutrition for optimal results because we all know how important nutrition is.
It is a great program for all fitness levels. If you have a lot of weight to lose, shift shop will be your on-ramp to fitness. If you have spent time away from your regular routine, Chris will lead you through a fitness tune-up.
The workouts are 25-45 minutes a day, 6 days a week for 3 weeks.
There is a workout modifier in every workout, so anyone can do this.
It will be officially available on July 12, 2017, so make sure you get on my list to stay up to date on the latest release information.

I will be hosting a Shift Shop Virtual Fit Camp starting on July 24! If you want to get my personal mentoring, coaching, support, and be a part of our awesome fit fam and one of the first to try out this program please fill out my online form.
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Monday, February 20, 2017

Blueberry & Avocado Muffins - Toddler Approved

I've been on the hunt recently for food that Toby can eat on his own, as he's proven very independent
when it comes to eating. I'm by no means a perfect mom but I do try to give him wholesome food when I can. Last week I was gifted a dozen avocados from my landlords uncle, and so I went on a mission to find a good recipe to use them in.

I cam across this Blueberry Avocado Mini Muffins at Baby Foode and adapted it to make it work for us.
Blueberry & Avocado Muffins

2 cups whole wheat flower
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 ripe organic avocado, seeded and peeled (I used 1 1/2 because they were on the small side)
1/3 cup organic coconut sugar (original recipe called for 1/2 cup of organic raw sugar)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup plain whole fat yogurt [I used  Fage]
1 pint or 1 1/4 cup organic blueberries (I used frozen)

Heat oven to 375 and spray or line a regular or mini muffin tin.

In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl, scoop out avocado, discarding seed, and beat until smooth and creamy. Add sugar and beat well. Beat in egg until completely combined. Add vanilla, yogurt and cinnamon and blend well.

Pour in the flour mixture 1/3 at a time, mixing until just combined. Gently fold in blueberries. Spoon into muffin tin, filling 3/4 way to the top.

Bake for 15 minutes for mini muffins (check to be sure they are done mine took longer) or 25-30 minutes for regular muffins, or until toothpick domes out clean. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes before transitioning to rack.
Makes 36 mini muffins or 12 regular muffins. Store in air-tight container on counter for 1 week (I stored in the fridge due to how quickly food spoils here in HI)

*I did notice my batter seemed to be pretty thick and upon doing a little research it looks like it may be due to the coconut sugar as it absorbs a lot of water. They still came out fine, just an fyi :-)

Toby loves them, he is able to eat them fine with only 2 teeth and the only downside is the mess he makes ;-)

Let me know if you try these for yourself or your little one and how you liked it!


Dani the Fat Gurl Inside