CLX/T25 Hybrid - Week 2

In deciding what program to workout to for the remainder of 2013, I decided to go back to my first Beachbody program, ChaLEAN Extreme. I LOVE this program. It makes me feel strong and powerful. Chalene teaches you to lift CORRECTLY. This is the program that I lost 43 pounds with last year at this time.

My one grip with CLX is that you do the SAME cardio workouts for the entire 90 days. It gets boring. I don't like boring. I also don't like working out any longer than 25 minutes. What can I say - T25 SPOILED ME!

So I made the decision to do a hybrid schedule of CLX and T25. It's not written out anywhere, I'm making it up as I go along. I am doing the CLX lifting videos on M/W/F, or 3 days a week, and T25 workouts on T/R/S, or 3 other days a week. Sometimes I throw in a rest day on a week day instead of on Sunday. Especially if this week :/

See, this week was a week of Mondays. I'm sure you know what I mean. If it could go wrong, it went wrong this week. Piper got sick on Sunday night. Hubs got sick on Monday. Wyatt got sick on Tuesday. Wyatt had to go to the doctor on Wednesday night and get a breathing treatment and steroids. Thursday brought Hubs' grandma going to the hospital.

See what I mean? It was a week of Mondays.

So, my workouts got a little messed up this week. I wasn't able to get up early (5am) to work out every day. I was busy taking care of sick kids and the hubs. I had to fit in my workouts later in the day, after I got home from my full time job. I hate doing that. In fact, I just took a complete rest day on Wednesday because I only got 2 hours of sleep Tuesday night.

Again, it's been a rough week.

However, I'm not gonna let that deter me. I got my workouts in on Mon, Tues and Thurs. Yesterday (Thursday) was interesting because I did it at 6 pm with my 15 month old in the room. At least I'm setting a good example - right? Positives people. I'm always looking for the positives in situations.

Piper and I had fun working out last night. In fact, she was trying to decide herself what program to do!

I did Burn Circuit 2 last night which just might be one of my all-time favorites. I LOVE working my back and biceps. I also LOVE doing dead lifts. I know. I'm strange. It's ok. Wanna see our workout from last night? Complete with exhausted "done" pic with the cutie pie pictured above??? Ok - twist my arm ;)

One of my favorite parts of this workout is the last set lifting. It's actually not lifting at all. It's push-ups. Triple Threat push-ups to be exact. First you do a tricep push-up, then a regular push-up, then a spider push-up. Repeat 4 times for a total of 12. I have YET to do all 12 on my knees. By the end of this workout my arms are EXHAUSTED! The only thing that saves me a little are my wonderful wrist straps. My forearms would be mush if I had to carry around 25 and 30 pound weights for extended periods of time!

So - that is my random rambling about my second week of my CLX/T25 hybrid. Tonight I am going to do T25 Ab Intervals and tomorrow is Burn Circuit 3. Sunday will most likely be Speed 1.0 from T25 but we'll see what kind of mood I'm in when the time comes!

AND - what kind of coach would I be if I didn't offer this great opportunity to you guys??? I have a new group starting preseason on Monday the 14th. I would LOVE to help you achieve your goals and dreams. Message me on FB or leave a comment here and, together, we will come up with a plan that works for YOU!

Enjoy your Friday friends!

<3,

Kell

60 pounds gone forever

It's taken me 6 months and a LOT of work. It hasn't been easy. In fact, it's been a struggle. But I reached another goal today.

I've OFFICIALLY lost 60 pounds.

That's a lot of weight! I went from a size 20 to a size 8, and my size 8 jeans are starting to be a bit loose! I never thought I would be able to say that!

The past 6 months have FLOWN by. I really don't know how I did it. I think the difference for me, this time, was that I didn't look at the big picture. I looked at each day as it came. Heck, I still have to take it one day at a time. I can't look too far down the road or I get too overwhelmed. I mean, I have goals for the future and all, but I don't dwell on them. I focus on my small, attainable goals and go for them!

I am on week 7 of my Body Beast workouts. I never thought I would be losing weight with this program, but I am. I am lifting HEAVY. Really heavy. And I love it. I love feeling my muscles burn. I love feeling sore afterwords. It makes me fee ALIVE!

The coolest part about the Body Beast program, is that I am seeing a huge difference in my body. I've lost 5 or 6 pounds since starting it, which really ins't a lot. I mean, I lost 35.6 pounds in 2 months with ChaLEAN Extreme. The difference with Body Beast is that I'm eating a TON of food so I can focus on GROWING my muscles. I am working on building muscle mass. And, I'm a smaller person now. I don't have as much to lose.

In all reality, I would be happy if I only lost another 5-10 pounds total! It's not about the number on the scale anymore. It's about how I FEEL and how I LOOK. I know that I'll probably never wear a bikini again, but it's only because I don't want to. I'm not comfortable with showing off my c-section "shelf". Those of you who were lucky enough to have a c-section, you know what I'm talking about. My shelf used to be huge and filled with fat. Now it's just saggy skin and it freaks me out. So, my belleh will stay covered. That's ok with me. There are TONS of cute tankini's out there!

So, I guess I kinda got away from what I meant to blog about. But at least I'm blogging! It's been kinda rough since I got back from Texas in mid-March. All I wanted to do was spend time with my kids before I went back to work. Everything else kinda hit the back burner. But, that's what being a mom is about. I do what I need to do for my kids. And I needed to spend time with them!

And - I got side tracked AGAIN! GAH! I have so much on my mind!

Anyways - 60 pounds. I lost 60 pounds! Go me!

<3,
Kell

Brown Rice, Black Beans, and FF Feta

I have been on a kick with finding new recipes lately. This has been a favorite of mine with the Body Beast program. It's not a recipe from any specific book, it's just one that I kinda threw together and it's awesome!

It is kinda carb heavy but I don't care. Some days a girl just needs her carbs!

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup cooked brown rice
• 1 cup cooked reduced sodium black beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 oz FF Feta

Directions

1. Cook rice according to the package.
2. Place black beans in a pot and add water to cover beans.
3. Heat beans while rice is cooking.
4. Drain beans again and add to rice.
5. Top with FF Feta. 
6. Enjoy!!!

Here are the stats for this recipe, as I made it, according to MFP. These stats will vary based on the specific brand of ingredients you use. 

Calories: 395

Carbs: 86

Fat: 3

Protein: 20

Calcium: 27

Fiber 14

If you choose to cut back the beans to 1/2 cup, your stats will look more like this:

Calories: 290

Carbs: 63

Fat: 3

Protein: 13

Calcium: 21

Fiber: 8

<3,

Kell

Body Beast begins tomorrow!

I am SOOOO excited! Tomorrow (today) I'm starting Body Beast! I literally can't wait to get up and work out in the morning!

Who'da ever thunk that I would be excited to wake up and workout? Not this girl! But, it's true! I seriously can't wait to go to bed just so I can wake up and work out!

I first heard about Body Beast back in September. I knew that it was a serious weight lifting program. I knew that not a whole lot of women did it. I knew that I didn't want to do it because I thought you *had* to take the supplements with it, and I'm a nursing mom who doesn't like to do supplements. Little did I know then, but you DON'T HAVE TO DO all the supplements in order to complete the program.

Well, now I know and I'm READY to commit to the BEAST! I learned that I absolutely LOVE lifting weights when I was doing ChaLEAN Extreme. I learned that lifting make me feel strong and powerful, not big and manly. It has given me muscles, definition and strength. Oh, and it's helped me to lose 55 pounds! Woot Woot!

Now, with Body Beast, I'm going to be lifting a little bit different and adding A LOT of calories to my diet. I have been holding pretty steady at 1600 calories since I started my weight loss journey back in October. As of tomorrow, I'm upping that caloric intake to 2300 calories A DAY! Holy Moly!

I'm not gonna lie. I'm scared out of my mind! I mean, I just got into the 150's this past Thursday and now I'm UPPING my calories? AM I NUTS?

Well, no, not really. In order for this program to work correctly, we are going to be tearing down our muscles BIG TIME and then I'm gonna have to eat A LOT of the RIGHT foods to help them build back up.

Trust me, I'm NOT going to be eating 2300 calories of Lucky Charms, mashed potatoes with butter, and birthday cake. It's going to be 2300 calories of pure protein (chicken, fish, low fat cheese, beans, etc.), good carbs (whole wheat, fruit, veggies, etc.) and good fats (avocado, coconut oil, etc.).

Something else that is new to me with BEAST is tracking my macronutrients. I need to make sure that I'm getting the correct ration of carbs/protein/fat. In the Book of Beast, they recommend a ration of 50/25/25 for the first 2 phases. I know my body well enough now to know that I will gain A TON of weight if I eat 50% carbs. So, I'm going to back that up to 30/45/25. Hopefully that will work with my body type and allow me to gain muscle and not FAT.

I sat down yesterday and planned out my weekly meals. It was HARD! I realized that I'm going to have to take some type of supplement to help me reach my daily calorie goal. So, I stopped by GNC today to see what they had to help me out. I should have ordered the Beachbody Hardcore Base Powder, but I just wasn't thinking straight, and now I need it, so I couldn't wait for it to be shipped. Luckily, GNC had an all natural (no artificial anything!) whey isolate protein powder. I got Birthday Cake and Strawberry. They have a 30 day money back guarantee, so if I don't like them, or they don't agree with my daughter (still nursing - 8 months strong!), then back they go!

I spent  most of the day today (Sunday) doing meal prep. I made Sagi's Power Meatloaf and his Power Protein Balls. I also got out some chicken breast to thaw so I can make my Almond Crusted Chicken Fingers for lunch and dinner this week. I'll be making those tomorrow! I got some nitrate free/low sodium turkey breast and some low sodium/reduced fat swiss cheese at the grocery store today too. I'm going to be using those as roll-ups for quick protein and good fats. Also on the menu this week is an Ultimate Reset inspired beans and rice recipe. I love having that for lunch. If I get into a pinch and need more protein, I always have my cans of low sodium chunk light tuna in water. Those are great for making Tuna Salad.

So, tomorrow morning (it will be tomorrow already when you read this...) I will be doing Body Beast: Build Chest/Tri. I'm really nervous excited and can't wait to feel the burn!

I will be blogging this week with my "before" pics, weights and measurements. I have everything done except for the pics. It's been a busy weekend! I'll get them done tomorrow (today) - promise!

<3,
Kell

ChaLEAN Extreme - my review

I'm not gonna like. I've always hated cardio. Heck, I quit playing soccer in middle school because I hated running!

On the other hand, I've always loved lifting weights. I think lean muscle looks amazing on anyone!

When I talking with my coach, Dani, about what program would suit me well, she suggested ChaLEAN Extreme. It's a weight lifting program that also incorporates cardio on 2 of your 5 workout days. It's also nice because you longest workout is 45 minutes long! Talk about being perfect for a busy mom on the go with 2 kids in tow! As I finished the program today, I can say that ChaLEAN Extreme was (and is) my perfect program. I can't call it my soulmate workout because I haven't tried anything else yet, but it really was amazing. Below are pictures of my actual workout sheets. You can easily see my progress :)

The program consists of three distinct phases. First is the Burn Phase. All of the exercises are using two different muscle groups. For example, there's a sumo squat paired with a hip lift, a dead lift paired with a posterior fly, a dead lift paired with a row, and a squat paired with a calf raise. I loved the burn month. The exercises were challenging and man did I sweat.The goal is to completely fatigue your muscles in 10 - 12 reps of each exercise. Then you break the muscle down with an "extreme" set after a 10 second rest. Holy moly - it's intense! I started out with weights ranging from 5 - 10 pounds and by the end of the month my weights went up to 8 - 15 pounds.

The second phase is called the Push Phase. This was my ABSOLUTE favorite phase. We were lifting HEAVY weights and only doing 6 - 8 reps of each move. Each exercise only focused on one specific muscle group. I found it refreshing to be able to focus so hard on one specific area. I started the Push month lifting 10 - 15 pound weights and I ended the month lifting 15 - 30 pound weights. This month was all about pushing yourself to your limit. To be perfectly honest, I did just that! One warning about the Push Phase, you will EAT A TON of food. I was constantly hungry. I just made sure that the food I was eating was clean and nourished my body.

The third and final phase is called the Lean Phase. I'll admit, it was my least favorite. I think it was because all of the exercises are designed to make you really use your core. I felt off balance a lot. It was hard for me to focus on lifting well because I felt like I was going to fall. I pushed through and ended up really liking the workouts by the 5th week.

I did 5 weeks of the push phase because the program is designed to be 90 days. I really liked the set up of the first month which was working out on M, W, R, F, S and rest days on T and Sun. So, instead of changing up my rest days and repeating some of the cardio days, I just did 4 weeks of each phase and then an extra week of the lean phase. It worked out really well for me.

So, as you can see from my workout sheets, there are three days of lifting during each phase. The other two workout days are cardio/abs and cardio/yoga.

The first cardio video is Burn Intervals. In the video, Chalene lifts 5 pound weights the entire time. When she said that's all she was lifting, I thought she was crazy. She's always saying to "go heavy or go home". Well, 5's are about right for this particular workout! It is muscle endurance at its best! I think we did a bazillion bicep curls! There's no way I could have done more than 5 pounds with this workout!

Burn intervals is paired with Ab Burner for the first 6 weeks and then Extreme Abs for the last 6 or 7 weeks. Honestly - they are both really tough. This entire program is about how difficult YOU make it for yourself! I eventually got good at Ab Burner and then Extreme Abs KICKED MY BUTT! It is nuts!

Burn It Off! is the second cardio day. It falls on Saturdays during the Burn Phase. To be very honest, this was not my cup of tea. Well, scratch that, I liked it in the beginning. But this is a workout you do the entire 90 days and I got bored with it. So, I ended up subbing in some TurboFire cardio workouts for it towards the end.

Recharge is a nice and short yoga session. It really stretches your muscles and is kinda the "reward" at the end of the week. I loved it!

All in all, as I finish this program, I have to admit that I love Chalene. She is amazing. She is motivating. She makes me want to workout! Just when I think I can't do it anymore, she says "smile when it hurts" and I smile. She tells me to say "I love it" when doing tricep pushups and guess what I say? Yup you guessed it - "I love it I love it I love it!"

In the end, ChaLEAN Extreme is an awesome program for anyone. Beginners to advanced can do it. I should know. I was an absolute beginner when I started the program. Now as I sit here typing this blog post, I am down 43 pounds and over 20 inches. I know the inches don't look like a lot, but I gained a lot of muscle during the past 90 days. I'm sure that has a lot to do with it :) As of Monday, I am moving on to P90X but I have a feeling that I will be seeing Chalene again in the future. I don't think I can stay away too long :)

<3,
Kell