day 3.....

Yesterday was not that great. I started to fail after dinner. Here goes...
I got up had my coffee, and then went for a run. This time I wore my running water belt thingie...I ran 3.28 miles. The numbers are always random b/c i just run to a certain street and then run back, and time was an issue for me yesterday, as I had to get home cool down, stretch, eat and shower and be at a clients office in a short amount of time.

here is a pic of me in my belt thingie after my run.... not the most flattering pic, but neither was the one I posted yesterday!

My breakfast was FABULOUS..... 1/2 cup fresh green beans, 1 cup sliced summer squash, 2 whole eggs, 1 egg white, balsamic vinegar and 30 ox of water,,,,,

 For a snack I had 7 whole strawberries and they were super yummy and super sweet

and this super cute kid watched me eat my food while playing around with his daddys P90x BRING IT hat!

My lunch was also amazing..... I had left over whole steamed crabs from my bday last month ( i froze them) so I sat at the table for an hour getting all the meat out of them.... I ended up with a bowl FULL of crab meat. 1/2 a cup of it ended up on my salad for lunch... i wish i got a better pic....

2 cups arugula, 1/2 cup cherry tomato, 1 small cucumber, 2 tbsp feta, 1/2 cup crab meat, 2 tbsp chopped walnuts, balsamic vinegar.

I then snacked on one serving of blue corn tortilla chips and 1 serving of hummus....

I did portion out the hummus.

 My dinner was 1 cup whole wheat pasta shells, 3/4 cup fresh broccoli, 1/4 cup leaks, 1/4 cup black eyed peas, 1/4 cup fresh carrots, 1/2 tbsp EVOO ( thats being generous, i put 2 tablespoons in the whole pan, so i probably ate less than that) and 1/2 tbsp butter ( again- 2 tbsp in whole dish so i am over estimating here) and 1 tbsp shaved ( yum) parmesan cheese. Jason took the camera to bootcamp, so I didnt get a pic of my perfectly portioned out bowl, so we took a pic of his when he came home.

 It wasnt the most flavorful meal. I only seasoned it with salt and pepper and garlic powder. and NOPE, i did NOT put balsamic vinegar on it! LOL

  After that I really wanted some chocolate....so I had a fiber one bar.

 Then the kids wanted more dinner after their bath so I made the each a small bowl and stupidly, I made myself another one as well. Not as big as my first bowl, but STILL- i didnt need it.

 Before bed I had 1 cup fresh blueberries. This was a big eating day.
The total calories fats proteins and carbs for teh day were......
Calories- 1494

Carbs- 198

Fat- 54

Proteins- 74


I feel bad about the 2 servings of dinner. Probably b/c it was pasta based and as you can see, I dont eat very much bread or pasta ( except for the pizza for dinner on the 4th).

Since I ran yesterday and skipped P90X, I plan to do P90x Plyo today and then also do some yoga and abs. I have not yet weighed myself and I wont untill Friday night.
I also have not had my shakeology for 2 days. I hate when that happens and I plan to make one right now for breakfast.
Please leave your comments below, and make sure you are a follwer of this blog. I am giving you all who are reading this a all to action....... Please send the link to this blog to 2 of your friends who you think may be interested.
Have a super fabulous day and thanks for reading!

day 2.....

Good Morning!
You all are going to love seeing the pictures of what I ate yesterday!  My day started off great, although I woke up to my period and some terrible day 1 cramps ( sorry guys). I still managed to eat my breakfast and drink my coffee and then  workout. It was P90X Chest and Back day. So i did ridiculous amounts of pushups, and band exercises for my back. I was supposed to do tons of pullups as well, but I didnt feel like having Jason put up the bar and I cant do any pull ups anyway. :) I was also feeling a little sore from my almost 5 mile run in the 95 degree heat the day before. (side note- i havent ran in almost 4 weeks, and sunday was my first day back)

I started my day with breakfast- it was beautiful- but Jason took the camera to bootcamp so I coudl not get a picture.... it was 2 whole eggs, and 1 egg white with 1 cup fresh cooked broccoli and 1 cup fresh garden picked summer squash all drizzled with my new obsession of my aged for 18 years balsamic vinegar. The stuff is amazing.

Later on I had.... 2 trader Joes gluten free waffles ( i dont eat gluten free I just bought these to try them), 5 strawberries sliced up, 1/3 cup blueberries and 1/4 cup sliced banans, topped with 1/2 tbsp organic agave nectar ( yum)

after i ate it, Alivia wanted to take a picture of my unshowered, un-made-up self....and her is what she took...

she followed it up with " EEEW YOU LOOK GROSS" LOLOLOLOL

when shopping at Target I was hungry so we got a bag of Organic Blue Corn Tortilla chips with flax seeds- 10 chips are 1 serving and that is exactly what I had. they are archer farms brand and if you havent tried them...your missing out!

Around 2ish I had- 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, 1 small cucumber ( really TEENY), 1/3 cup left over shredded chicken, and 1/3 cup summer squash...all drizzled with ( OF COURSE) my vinegar.

YUMMY. My favorite snack of the day..... is coming up next.......at a whopping 60 - yes SIXTY calories of yummy goodness......... 1 cup arugula, 5 sliced strawberries, 2 tbsp feta, and my special vinegar....

doesnt it just look amazing. no i dont have a recipe. i just look at all of my fresh food and put together what i like. and its AWESOME. i haven't followed a recipe in almost 2 months now! i do love to do that, but it just feels like more of a fall/winter thing to do!

Now here is where it gets bad...... we went to teh boardwalk to watch the the fireworks.....4 hours early. B/c we were warned many times about the craziness that would be down there. So we parked at a friends house, and walked to a pizza place. We ordered nachos as a appetizer.... here is what the whole thing looked like....

YIKES! Here is what I TRIED to portion out for myself....

Not bad, right? TOO BAD it didnt work! I ate probably-18 of those, not the 6 you see here. OPPS. I also ate 1.5 of these SMALL greasy things....

SO, instead of going to a party and snacking on crap and party food all day. I let my dinner be my one cheat meal. It did SOMEWHAT make me feel bad, but only a little.

There was a huge crazy thunderstorm and we had to run back to the car in the pouring rain, lightning and thunder. which was scary but also kinda fun. We got home around 7 and played with the kids on teh living room floor for a while. I ate a fiber one bar about an hour or so before I went to bed. FYI- the kids and Jason all got Icecream and I DID NOT!

That was my day. Not perfect.... but pretty good with the exception of my dinner. The only thing processed and packaged again, was my fiber one bar.
Be a follower of this blog, and leave a comment. All winners will be announced on friday!

Day 1....

Gooooood Morning and Happy 4th of July!
 I am offering a BONUS GIVEAWAY DAY today! You must be a "follower" of this blog and leave a comment below....

Yesterday was actually my first day of being strict with my diet and exercise again. So i decided to make that a bonus day! I started to food journal write away and after some coffee and some breakfast, I decided to go for a run at 1pm. It was 95 degrees and not a cloud in the sky, and it was also pretty darn humid.

 I ran for 10 minutes then walked for 2, I did this 3 times and then i was dying. I ran from my house to First Colonial Rd ( 2.21 miles) and back.....in exactly 60 minutes, so 4.42 miles including warm up and cool down. I mostly walked the last 15 minutes due to heat and the stupidity of not bringing water on the run with me.

 When I came home I drank 3 full glasses of ice water, and then did 30 minutes of P90X  X Stretch. I felt like a million bucks. I was so soaking wet it was ridiculous!

Here is me right after my run.......

Here are a few pics of the food I ate yesterday......

 1/2 cup dry oatmeal ( made with 1 cup water)
2 tbsp finely chopped walnuts
1 small banana
1 serving PB2

 ABOVE.....
2 beets ( roasted) and sliced
3/4 cup shredded roasted chicken breast
1/4 cup red onions and celery
1 small red potato - quartered
- all roasted and left over

RIGHT and ABOVE
1/2 cup arugula
10 cherry tomatos
1 small cucumber
 1 tbsp feta
 8 whole grilled mushrooms
 1/2 cup summer squash
1 chicken drumstick- bone and skin removed
all topped with basalmic vinegar- no oil
AMAZING




I ate the  meals you see above... I also had a greenberry shakeology- made with 8 oz of water, 1/4 cup fresh pineapple, 1/4 cup frozen strawberries, and a few ice cubes....as a snack

While cooking dinner, I ate 5 whole amazing strawberries

after dinner- i ate a chocolate fiber one bar.


My days calories were only 1100. Less than normal, but I really didnt have any "carbs" other than my oatmeal in the am and the fiber one bar in the pm. The only thing packaged and processed was the fiber one bar. I think I did well yesterday, I ate too much protein but that was b/c we had no fresh fruits or veggies and I needed to go to the store. :)

Be sure to comment ( and be a follower) so you are entered into todays drawing!

( as soon as i figure out how to copy my food jounral and paste it to this blog...i will.... until then I will just show you by my pics and tell you!)

Happy 4th of July! Make sure you thank the Military Men and WOmen today!

My personal 5 day challenge & GIVEAWAY

Good morning! Its 9:44am on Sunday July 3rd. I am sitting here at my computer waiting for my coffee to cool for just a minute before taking that first magical sip. MMMMM. I started thinking, I have only 7 days until I am wearing my gold ( very tight and very short ) dress in South Beach Miami! I have put on a few pounds since I came back from my PHX and LA trip. So I need to get serious today.
How much difference do you think I can make in 5 short days? I am hoping on 5 pounds. Here is what I plan to do.
1. workout each and everyday for 5 days ( i will be working out today as well, since this is day 1 for 1/2 marathon training 10 week plan- but today is not part of my "challenge")

2. I will record here every single thing that I have eaten and drank each day.

3. I will also let you know how I am feeling and what I am thinking, as well as how much weight I have lost at the end.


My hope is that, I will hold myself even more accountable all week, and that you will see how much I struggle with this. Food is my problem. My baby boy is 2 years old this Friday, and I still have 20 pounds of his 60 pound pregnancy weight gain left. I work out all the time. I eat well MOST of the time. However, when I am bad, I am really bad. And my metabolism does NOT like that.


I lost 9 pounds in the 30 days before PHX and LA. My goal was 10, I was close. Less than 1 pound shy of my goal, but I was still very happy. I am hoping that I can lose 5 this week. And of course, I will be drinking 1-2 SHAKEOLOGY shakes everyday as well. Of course.


Here is what I want from you....I want you to comment on my post each day.....and each day random.com ( or is it random.org?) will pick a winner and I will mail you a sample of my cherished shakeology.......each day! Thats FIVE CHANCES to win! You need to leave a comment and be a follower of this here bloggy.


Contest starts tomorrow!
Cant wait!

 I have included a pic of me in the gold dress, my white dress and my blue dress, all 3 are options for Miami and all 3 were worn feeling sexy and confident in LA, I want to feel the same in MIAMI with Jason!

Working out as a family

Next week is the launch of our new program called Family Boot Camp. Plus it's the start of summer break and parents all over the country will be counting the days until school starts back up again. But for some of you this is the time of year when you get to spend quality time with your kids and build memories that will last a lifetime.  Some of these memories are simple things like playing in the front yard, or in our case exercising in the back yard or neighborhood park.  Yes we are crazy, and our kids love it. My daughter has her own workout DVD's and she's 4...she loves them. 

One of the things we get a lot of questions about  is how to get in a workout when you have kids.  This is also one of the biggest excuses I hear from people about why they don't workout.   "I never have time because of the kids"  or "My kids have me too worn out by the end of the day to work out".  Well I have two small children and my wife and I both work out 4-6 times a week. So that excuse will never fly with me. You just need to know how to incorporate your kids into the workout...or get up and work out before they do, which isn't everyone's cup of tea.

Now some people are just using this as an excuse, when really they just don't have the motivation to exercise, but for some people they really just don't know how to make it work with kids around. The key  is getting your children involved and making it fun for everyone.  The great things about kids is they are full of energy and want to run around and get energy out. Trust me you will be the one having the hard time keeping up and to them it's just playing. 

Parks and playgrounds are great places to get a workout it and you will be surprised at how hard it is to do stuff you could easily do as a kid. Like monkey bars or balance beams.  Here are a few ideas for playground workouts. Most of these can be done with  a small child on your shoulders...and they will love you for it. Or if they are too heavy just have them do it next to you. Start by doing 2-3 sets of 30 seconds to a minute depending on your fitness level.
- Step ups on a park bench or beam
- Squats
- Lunges
- Jumping Jacks
- Swinging (Keep your abs tight for a great core workout)
- Push ups
- Tag
- Hide and Seek
- Jump Rope
-Bear Crawls
- Frog Hops
-Hop Scotch (It's really a lot harder than you think)
- Partner Situps ( Sit facing each other with legs interlocked and sit up..High five at the top of the situp)

Or you can just pile your kids on you and walk for a couple hundred yards !!!

  This is a link to a video we made last yeah to give some tips on fun ways to exercise as a family. Enjoy.
Mt Trashmore Family Workout

Can Deoderant Cause Breast Cancer?

Today's blog isn't necessarily about food or fitness, but about a very popular health subject. Breast Cancer has become a big issue among woman in the recent decades mainly because it's one of the leading causes of death in woman in the U.S.  If you are a female you have a 1 in 4 chance of getting breast cancer.  That's pretty alarming...that means that most likely you or one of your close friends/loved ones will get breast cancer at some point in your life.  The good news is that with all the breast cancer awareness and fund raising groups out there,  lots of research has been done and methods of finding early signs of it and treating it has grown by leaps and bounds. However, the best way to fight breast cancer is to prevent yourself from getting in the first place.

Not all causes of breast cancer are known and you can't 100% prevent yourself from getting it, but by educating yourself on the subject you already have a much better chance of  preventing yourself from getting it, or at least finding it early. One theory that has been floating around for the past decade is that underarm deodorant  and antiperspirants can cause breast cancer. This theory is that it is caused by the aluminum, yes an aluminum bi-product is in deodorant and antiperspirants, that is absorbed into the skin through the armpit. Aluminum causes a spike in estrogen, which is a known to increase the chances of breast cancer. The other suspect product in antiperspirants is parabens, a class of preservative that is found in many beauty products. They have been found to cause tumors, although benign, parabens mimic the action of estrogen.

Much research has been done on this and at this point there is no conclusive evidence linking the deodorant or antiperspirants alone directly to cancer, but what was found is that if a woman shaves her underarms frequently along with wearing antiperspirants than this increases the risk.  I'm guessing it's because of the nicks and small cuts caused by the raiser allowing for the aluminum to be absorbed into the body easier.

So the jury is still out as to if this really is an issue, and we may not find out for some time if it is a cause of cancer.  But to me it makes sense and we all know the FDA has a knack for not telling the whole truth and is mostly controlled  by lobbyist, so I wouldn't put my life in their hands.  So what can you do to make sure your not unnecessarily putting yourself at risk. Well for one you could stop wearing any antiperspirants or deodorant, but I'm sure that's not gonna fly well with the man in your life..or anybody else you are in close quarters with on a regular basis.  Or you can keep everyone happy and  skip antiperspirants all together and buy all natural deodorant.  Brands like Tom's and Burts Bee's are made with natural ingredients and do not contain aluminum bi-products. You can get even more natural products than this it just depends on how much you want to spend since they can range upwards of $20 per stick. For more info on the subject check out these sites below
http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/AP-Deo
http://urbanlegends.about.com/cs/healthmedical/a/antiperspirants.htm

P.S.  Don't forget that it's also important to get your self a breast exam and screening every so often too.  It can save your life!

Workout accountability partners and fitness goals.

I know most of you have heard of an accountability partner...someone to ask you tough questions on a daily/weekly basis about an area in your life you struggle and are trying to do better at. Most people have them to keep them away from bad habits, but they work just as good to help produce good habits.

Let's face it, the average person needs a little push, sometimes a shove to get their butt motivated to exercise, otherwise we wouldn't need personal trainers. This is also the reason group fitness programs like Bootcamps are so popular.   But not everyone can afford a trainer, or to take a group class, so the next best thing is a workout accountability partner. Brooke and I are each others accountability partner, but it's also part of our jobs to stay in shape, so that helps motivate us too.  However, there are still days when we don't feel like doing anything and all it takes is a little questioning to keep each other motivated. 

A workout accountability partner doesn't have to actually work out with you, or even exercise at all.  Of course it helps a lot more if they do, since they can relate better, but sometimes that's not an option.  This person can be a friend, relative, co-worker, even someone you know from online. That's pretty much how Beachbody's WOWYgym works.  Everyone puts in a workout schedule and then it  pops up when your supposed to be working out. You can even invite people all around the country to do the same workout....Talk about motivation.

  If you struggle with sticking to an exercise schedule, but want to get healthy the best thing you can do is tell other people about it. If possible get someone to actually come workout with you, and it will be a great bonding experience. Trust me people will be excited and want to help you succeed in hitting your fitness goals, and you may end up being their motivation.  Ask them to send you an e-mail or call you every so often to see how it's going and it will make a world of difference. 

So stop beating yourself up for skipping or putting off getting healthy and start telling people about it. It's never too late to start, but always hard to take the first step.