PiYo Meal Planning

Meal Planning - PiYo Style 

This week I decied to start PiYo but had not done the meal plannign with it. I know how important meal planning is in order to be successful with a program so I spent some time working on it Friday night. Grocery shopped today and now I feel ready to conquer week 2. I am a bit nervous about Friday because it is the 4th of July, but I am going to try my best to stick to the plan. 

I was surprised how similar the meal planning was for the 21 day fix. In fact, it is basically the same. I am planning on using the containers that I used for the fix. The only thing that is different for me is that I have one additional serving of veggies while doing PiYo. For those of you who have done the 21 day fix I would suggest continuing the container use. As you can see below you will be eating many times during the day. If you can try to space the foods out about 2 - 3 hours and be sure to be drinking half of your body weight in ounces. 

PiYo Week 1 Meal Plan

www.sarahgriffith27.blogspot.com

Plan A

4 Primary Veggies

2 Secondary Vegetables and Grains

2 Fresh Fruit

4 Lean Proteins

3 Healthy Fats

	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Breakfast	Vanilla Shakeology  Whole Wheat English Muffin w/ natural pb	Vanilla Shakeology Whole Wheat English Muffin w/ natural pb	Vanilla Shakeology Eggs with peppers & onions	Chocolate Shakeology	Chocolate Shakeology
Snack	Eggs with peppers and onions Blueberries/straw	Apple	10 pistachios Strawberries	Apple Natural PB	Egg omelet Peppers/ Onions
Lunch	Grilled Chicken Salad- cucumbers/pepper 10 pistachios	Steak salad Cucumber/peppers Plain yogurt Mixed berries	Grilled Chicken Wraps Avocado Lettuce Mozzarella Cheese Steamed Broccoli	Ham Lettuce Wrap Mixed Fruit Peanuts (1 tbsp)	Pulled Pork Fruit Salad Peppers Hummus Salad
Snack	Apple- Peanuts(1tbsp)	Peppers	Mixed Berries	Hummus Peppers	Almonds Fruit Salad
Dinner	Filet Minion Broccoli, Baked Potato	Grilled Chicken Wraps Avocado Lettuce Mozzarella Cheese	Pork Chops Brown Rice String Beans	Grilled Chicken Black Beans Brown Rice Diced Tomatoes Onions	Lean Burger Wheat Bun Cheese Fresh Salsa Corn Tortilla Chips

Zucchini Fries

Zucchini Fries 

These were simple simple and my husband said they even looked like french fries so thats what I am calling them - sadly for him they do not taste like french fries but none the less they were pretty great! All you need is a zucchini 

Peel the zucchini then slice it length wise

Drizzle olive oil over it and spread on slices 

Then in a ziplock back add in 3/4 cup wheat bread crumbs

1 T. Italian Seasoning 

1/2 cup parmesan cheese 

Mix 

Put zucchini slices into the bag - shake to bread the slices

Then place on a cookie sheet and sprinkle with motzerella cheese 

Bake at 375 degrees until golden brown (about 20 minutes) 

  

Image above is what it should look like prior to baking 

Super Moist Banana Bread

Super Moist Banana Bread 

I woke up this morning craving banana bread but didn't want to make my normal recipe because it was full of oil, lots and lots of sugar and calories I didn't want. I decided I would check out Pinterest and I stumbled upon this one. It was a win! My little one and I had a great time making it. He helped the entire time and was proud of our treat. He kept calling it cake. I let him think it was cake! Enjoy! 

Ingredients

• 
  
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3 very large ripe bananas, mashed well
• 6 T. butter, melted and cooled
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup plain yogurt
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Directions 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8 1/2 by 4 1/2 inch baking pan.

Whisk the flour, sugar, soda, and salt together in a large bowl. In a medium bowl combine the mashed bananas, butter, eggs, yogurt, and vanilla. Stir to combine the wet ingredients. Gently fold the banana mixture into the flour mixture until just combine. Don't over mix. The batter should be thick and chunky.

Scrape the batter into the greased pan and bake until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean, about 55 minutes.

Let the banana bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then remove it from the pan and let it cool on a wire rack for at least one hour before serving.

*This recipe was found on pinterest from http://www.blessthismessplease.com/2013/04/the-best-banana-bread-recipe.html 

Yogurt Fruit Bar Pops

He Thinks He Is Eating Ice Cream...

Yogurt Fruit Bar Pops 

First you will need to purchase popcicle molds or pull them out of your cabinets if you already have some. 

Ingredients 

Vanilla or plain or any other flavor yogurt for that matter - the amount you will need depends on your mold size

Mixed fruit chopped up finely

Directions

Fold chopped fruit into the yogurt

Pour into molds just above the fill line

Freeze for 4 hours and enjoy!

Toddler approved! Let me know how your family likes this one as well! Great on a hot summer day without having to give them the sugar from ice cream! 

7 Day Clean Eating Group -

Jump On The Clean Eating Train With Me

I am so excited to announce that our Beachbody team Forever Fit is hosting a 7 day clean eating group. During those 7 days we will be providing you with education on what clean eating is. In addition we will have a grocery list for you for shopping, meal planning ideas, recipes as well as mini workouts! You will have access to me and many other coaches from my team.

Think you are interested? Here is how you get started:

Step 1: Go to my site and sign up for your free team beachbody account and have me as your coach.

Step 2: Purchase a 7 day supply of shakeology from me or from my site - They cost $5.00 per packet when you buy them thru me. If you already have Shakeology you will not need to buy anything. 

Step 3: You will be added to the private group on Facebook

Step 4: Take your before measurements and pictures

Step 5: Learn about how to live a great new healthy lifestyle. 

I challenge you to step up to the plate and join us! 

Working Out - Make It A Family Event!

Fun Family Times 

While it is nice to get a workout in by yourself and escape for some peace and quiet from our crazy lives, I learned this weekend it’s also so much fun to workout with your loved ones! My mom came for a visit Saturday night and I put her thru the ringer working out. She has been doing “Slim in Six” for many weeks now and mentioned she wanted to change things up. I have many of the different Beachbody workouts now so I wanted to get her exposed to many of them in a short amount of time. She kept calling it Beachbody Bootcamp. She survived and did a great job. In 48 hours she did 3 21 day fix workouts, 1 p90X3 workout and also 1 body pump workout. Not bad right? This morning during our pilates routine we allowed my little one to workout with us. Needless to say it was a bit chaotic with him climbing all over us. We did get a lot of laughs in though and I think he may have learned a few more poses. The picture collage illustrates some of the craziness! Can any of you relate?

I also would recommend working out with your spouse when you can. My husband and I have crazy busy lives and date nights rarely happen now that we have a two year old. When he did the 21 day fix with me we worked out together at 4:30 am each day and I won’t lie it was almost like a date. We looked forward to our morning time together before the crazy day started. This was also very helpful for me when I was trying to stay on such a strict meal schedule during the fix because he was going thru same thing with me. I wasn't making seperate meals or struggling by myself. We were it in together! It was good for our marriage to be working towards a goal together. It also made waking up at 4:30 am a little bit more fun!

The moral of the story is – yes make time to workout by yourself so you can find some peace to the chaos but also allow others to join you when you can. You will enjoy it more than you could have guessed!

Green Tea - Why You Need To Be Drinking It

Green Tea 

I will be completely honest – I did not like green tea until I changed my lifestyle. I remember trying it many years ago and not liking it. When I did the 21 day fix for the first time it was recommended that I use green tea in the evenings to ward off hunger pains in the evenings when I would crave snacks. I did not really want to have “plain” green tea so I went with the Lipton Green Tea- The Superfruits kind. They have a bit of flavor mixed in with the teabags. My favorite is the blueberry one and also the peach flavored one.  I had cut out coffee because I was putting too much junk in it. I was drinking half and half with it as well as 3 teaspoons of sugar every morning to start my day. I decided that if I was going to change my life the coffee was going to make an exit as well. It’s not that coffee is bad for you its just I was making it bad for me with all the extras. These extras in turn were extra calories and sugar I did not need. I had a headache for a few days when I cut it out but now four months later I don’t even miss it. Now instead of coffee in the morning I have a shakeology and I enjoy a green tea in the evening as I wind down. I actually look forward to it each evening now. When I drink it I am pretty plain - I simply heat the water and put in the teabag. Occasionally I might put in some lemon, other fresh fruit or some honey to jazz it up. But it still tastes great even if you drink it plain. 

Below is the Lipton brand teabags that I LOVE! 

If you are not already drinking green tea you should consider adding it into your every day routine. The benefits are incredible.

Detox Water - What's In Your Cup Today?

Detox Water 

It is no secret one of the best tips to losing weight it to drink water, LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of water each day. You should make drinking half of your weight in ounces your goal every day.  At first this was a huge challenge for me. I am a teacher so drinking that much water on my strict daily bell by bell time schedule was tricky, but I trained my body to be able to drink that much without running like a pregnant lady to the bathroom all the time.  You can do it to. My advice though it to start small and increase your ounces each day until you are at your goal. The water will help to detox your system and remove impurities from your body.

"One of my favorites - so simple lemon and mint" 

Drinking that much water can get boring so I make sure I spice it up and add in different fruits and even veggies each day. I prefer to prep my water the night before so that it has time to “marinate” overnight. It amazed me how much flavor the water was getting simply by putting it in overnight.

Different fruit and veggies have different benefits for your body. Here are a few fun combos you might want to try. I like to muddle the fruits a little bit before dropping them in. They make water bottles that will do this for you but this way is cheaper ;) I typically make a pitcher at a time so that I have plenty for the day.

Watermelon & Mint

Cucumber & Lime

Cucumber, Lemon and Mint

Strawberry & Lemon

Blackberry & Lemon

Strawberry & Tangerine

Apple Slice and Cinnamon Stick

Raspberry & Lime

Meal Planning 21 Day Fix Style

Doing the 21 Day Fix? Getting Ready To Meal Plan? 

Check out my tips and suggestions in this quick video on meal planning success!

I have found that challengers who meal plan vs. challengers who do not meal plan and simply "wing it" are MUCH more successful when they take the time to do this important part of the fix. MAKE THE TIME FOR IT! It will pay off!

Breakfast Egg Muffins

Breakfast English Muffins 

Since starting the 21 day fix months ago I am finding that I pick eggs often as my breakfast as well as dinner some nights. I wanted to be able to make some and have them ready to store in the fridge so I could pack them a few days in a row in my lunch box. I saw on Pinterest that people were putting eggs in muffin tins and making "mini muffins." I decided to give it a try and it was a win! Super easy and they really held up well just like a muffin. 

Here is what you will need to do to give it a try. 

Heat the oven to 375 degrees and spray cooking spray on each muffin tin

•  6 cracked eggs
• Splash of milk 
• 4 Tablespoons of fresh salsa
• Handful of diced onions and peppers
• 2 slices of ham diced up 
• Motzerella cheese to sprinkle on top

After you wisk the ingredients together our them into the muffin tins ( half way) sprinke the cheese on top and bake for 25 mins or until brown.

Super Sale - Starting Today

Get It While It's Hot!

Starting today Wednesday June 4 at 3:00 pm until Monday June 9th at 3:00 pm you are going to find some KILLER deals an many of the different Beachbody Programs, attire, and gear. Supplies are limited so if you are thinking about buying one of these buy it early so you can get the best deal before it sells out. Check out my site: www.beachbodycoach.com/sgriffith27 to get some fantastic deals. Send me an email if you would like more information about a particular program. S.Griffith27@gmail.com

Shopping For The 21 Day Fix

Once you decide to commit to the 21 day fix you will need to pick up just a few things to be successful. Check out the video for more details about you will need. Who does not love a good shopping trip right?

Maybe you feel this way ;) 

Comparing Peanut Butter Options

As I began my clean eating journey one of the foods I realized I needed to change was my peanut butter option. I always thought eating peanut butter was a great idea and very healthy. Well I was only sort of right. Peanut Butter is pretty fattening and I needed to evaluate my options. Check out the video to hear my reasoning.