Top Meal Planning Tips For The Beginner

Normally each Sunday you have been getting an update from me on our progress with Hammer and Chisel and how it is going. Instead this week you are going to get my top meal planning tips for those looking to learn this new habit in the New Year. I spent all of Christmas vacation sick as can be with a fever, bronchitis, a sinus infection and an ear infection. Pair that with Christmas traveling and lots of holiday meals, you get a recipe for a redo on week 4 of Hammer and Chisel for me. So tomorrow is my fresh start. Meal plan is done. Going to do some grocery shopping and prepping later today so I can feel more confident about the week ahead of us.

You may read my post and see my colored coded weekly menus and think one of two things.

1. What the heck do all of those colors mean and why does she do this each week?
                                                         OR
2. This chick is nuts. Who the heck plans out everything they are going to eat for a week at a time. Surely she does not do this ALL the time does she?

Truth is yep I do. EVERY single week. For almost two years straight now. It's a very normal routine of mine that was a learned habit. Which is good news because it means you can learn it too with a little practice. And to answer all of the questions I get about why it is colored coded and what the colors mean. I learned how to eat this way when I did the 21 day fix. The program taught me portion control and helped to me better know what I needed to fuel my body with each day. There is a formula for how much and what you should be having each day but my formula looks like break down listed below. The program came with containers to teach me what the portions for each of these categories look like too. After two years I have it down and can eye ball portions like a pro. What I found was that while I was eating pretty healthy I wasn't having enough of everything and some of my portions were well lets be honest, way too big.

Each day I strive to have the following
4 servings of protein (Red)
3 servings of vegetables (Green)
2 servings of fruit (Purple)
2 servings of carbs (Yellow)
1 serving of healthy fats/ cheese (Blue)
1 serving of seeds and dressings (Orange)

So now comes the fun part - getting started. First things first sit down with your grocery list and a white board or some type of board where you can write the dinners down for the week for everyone to see. Ask your family what they would like to eat for the week. If it is something that is not so healthy I challenge you to get on Pinterest and find a "cleaner" swap for how to modify that meal. Chances are most of the time they won't even notice you changed things up to make it healthier. Buy in is SUPER important if you live with others. You don't want to be making different dinners for everyone. Nobody has time for that. Adapting meals everyone is used to makes it easier than rocking their world with an all new way of eating. Start with baby steps.

Once you get your suggestions then I challenge you to take a look at your pantry and see what you have on hand that you can use up this coming week. My big strength is that since I plan each weeks meals out ahead of time I don't have much wasted food or random food laying around. Everything tends to get used up. Speaking of the pantry do a quick overhaul and get rid of any junk food thats going to derail you from your hard work you just did during your meal planning.

As I plan the dinners and meals for the week I immediately put my needed items for the meals on my grocery list. Nothing is more annoying than planning a dinner only to find your missing important ingredients and can't make it. I try my best to look for ways to spread out the ingredients I am going to use for the week in other meals so I don't waste things. For example when buying fresh herbs see what else you can use them in so they don't just rot away in the fridge. We are a huge fan of fresh basil in our house. When I have to buy it in the winter months often the portion is enough for more than one meal, so you typically will see basil somewhere twice that week on the menu.

I would suggest that a newbie start with just planning dinners at first. Ease into your lunches, breakfasts and snacks. That was very time consuming at first and quite honestly a little frustrating when I added in color coding that took it to another level. It used to take me almost 2 hours to do a weeks worth of meal plans. Then I got quicker. Not it normally takes me 25 - 30 minutes as long as I am uninterrupted. I find for my clients this is the most frustrating part of starting a new lifestyle they often don't know where to start. Staying simple is also great if you are new at this. You don't have to have 5 - 7 fancy elaborate meals. Pick 2 or 3 and repeat them while you are getting the hang of it.

Once you make your meal plan head out to the grocery store and stick to the list. Don't add stuff you don't need to the cart. It will save you money and calories.

At home save yourself some headache during the week and prep some of that food ahead of time into portions. The more you can do ahead of time the less of a pain this is during your busy work week and the less likely you won't bother to use the food. (Yes that happens sometimes - cutting and washing and portioning is lots of work, lets be honest.)

Don't stress about this! Celebrate the fact that you are making an effort. Some weeks your going to skip the meal you planned some days you will switch up the planned meals day to a different one. Trust me life is going to happen. Your doing great! Congrats on getting healthy and organized!!!

Please feel free to reach out to me with more meal planning questions or if you are interested in joining my next online accountability and support group. I am currently taking new challengers who are ready for a lifestyle change in 2016.

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Dreaming Big In 2016

Dreamer Or Doer? Which Are You? 

Dreamer or doer? Which are you? 

Dreamers are the ones who talk about all the wonderful things they want to do someday or accomplish but struggle with the follow thru. They lack the action, motivation and the persistence that is required to conquer big dreams. 

Doers are the ones who stop at nothing to make things happen. They believe in their own dreams often before others do. They refuse to stop. They set goals that scare them they are so big and they put a date on when they will achieve them. This year I want to encourage you all to be doers. To set goals for yourself that focus on many areas of your life not just a specific weight loss goal like so many often set at the start of a New Year. 

I call this making a "DREAM BOARD." It is something that is a visionary piece for myself and my husband so that we can see what goals we are working towards accomplishing in the coming year. 

This will be my second year to make a dream board. It's actually really fun. We have ours hung up in our bedroom so we can see it each day. It's a suttle reminder to keep my life on track with where I want to be doing. The goals are shared goals of things that truly matter to us in our life. They are a combination of family, relationship, vacation, financial, business and life goals. We worked to set them together and then each month we take deliberate action to get ourselves one step closer to the big goals on the board. We won't accomplish all of them and that's actually okay. It just means we are many steps closer than we were before. 

They say when you are doing goal setting you should set SMART goals. If you are unfamiliar with goal setting activities this might be new to you. Here is what the acronym means. 

S - Specific 

M- Measurable 

A - Attainable 

R - Realistic 

T - Time bound 

This means that you are not just setting "pie in the sky" goals for yourself. Your mapping out the how and the when of your goal. Which makes accomplishing it much easier. 

Make your dream boards something worth looking at. Include fun colors, pictures, your favorite quotes that motivate you and get crafty. This should be relaxing and motivating not stressful. 

They say that the most successful people in life are the ones with a plan and big dreams. So my advice to you is that you mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger darling! 

This is what we hang our differnt goals on. It's a frame I got from Pier One a few years ago.  It matches our room which is gray and yellow. It fits perfectally with the decor. 

Happy 2016 - May it be healthy, happy and fun!

XOXOXO

Sarah

Top Clean Eating Book Picks

I wanted to share with all of my followers some of my favorite books I have read that have helped me to learn more about clean eating and nutrition. I also am including one of my favorite books that I read in regards to natural living. By no means am I a nutritionist but I am teacher and that means I am good at doing my homework. When I began my journey to being healthier, I felt overwhelmed by how much I needed to change and wasn't sure where to start. Books became my teacher. It's one thing to know you shouldn't eat something, but when you start to educate yourself on the scientific reasons why you should avoid certain things it makes your new commitment a lot easier to stick to. I love the quote that say's "when you know better, you do better." It's so true. I really didn't know better before, but now that I do I find it easier to stay on track. My hope is that if you are trying to change your habits the same things will become true for you too.

One of my favorites for overall learning more about your body is ironically called "The Body Book." By Cameron Diaz. The book is broken down by really funny topics with just the right amount of science and humor. It is written for women.  Nutrition, Fitness and Mindset are the different subsections of the readings. Most chapters are short and you can pick and choose which ones you want to read. There is some really great informational charts in this one but no meal plans are recipes really. I have found myself going back to this one to re-read it several times. 

The Eat Clean Diet Stripped by Tosca Reno is AMAZING!!! She is such a guru when it comes to clean eating. I pray I look as good as she does someday. Super fit and healthy in her elder years. The picture of health. She has several clean eating books out there, but I only have this one. Each page is colorful and includes lots of pictures and is packed with clean eating knowledge for every topic under the sun. Most topics are only a page so it really was a great resource for learning LOTS of tips. Aside from clean eating topics, she does include different exercises to try. ( I didn't try any of them since I already have my pre-planned workouts for each day.) The second half of the book is filled with recipes and sample meal plans. Tried a few of the recipes and loved them. I have done a challenge group a few times this past year and used a lot of resources from this book as curriculum for my challengers. The results they got were great when they combined it with the programs they were doing with me.

It Starts With Food was very factual and at some times boring but helpful in giving me different approaches to some foods that I would typically consume. The authors are the founders of the Whole 30 plan. While I am not planning on doing Whole 30 since most of what I already eat is pretty similar to the suggested foods. I liked this book as a factual guide for my challengers. They had very interesting points of view. It focused a lot on how foods you eat can help eliminate disease and aliments that you might be suffering from. A common theme in this reading was encouragement for readers to eliminate dairy and grains. The appendix had helpful meal prep tips and shopping suggestions.

Superlife - The 5 forces that will make you health, fit and eternally awesome was an eye opener for me and really made me critical of foods and the chemicals in them. It certainly gave me the "scare factor" that stuck with me for a few month prior to reading it. Helped a lot with getting me to stick with foods in their most natural state. I also loved this book because it was written by Darin Olien the creator of Shakeology. He did an awesome job of describing where the superfoods come from and the benefits of them. Made me proud to say that I drink it daily. In addition he did a great job touching on detoxing your body as well as how to incorporate supplements in your daily diet. 

The Honest Life - Living Naturally and True To You was really one of my favorite reads from 2015. One of my goals for the year was to remove chemicals from our lifestyle and learn to slowly change our habits and products that we were currently using. With my thyroid condition, it was strongly encouraged that I take proactive measures to eliminate this as much as possible because there are many endocrine inhibitors that can effect your thyroid in many of the daily products I was using. The book is awesome for moms, especially NEW MOMS!!!! I wish I read this BEFORE I had my son but am at least glad I have read it now. Fun topics with beautiful pictures. The book is broke down into the following sections:

Food
Cleaning
Beauty
Style
Home 

Baby 

Decorating Inspirations For Your Home 

It also included recipes and lots of DIY ideas for your home. After reading it I did become an active subscriber of the Honest monthly bundles. I loved them so much I also send my mom one each month. Great stuff! I did a blog post about it which you can find here. if you are looking for more info about the bundles. 

Fixate Cookbook is my go to cookbook in our house. It was created by Autumn Calabrese the creator of the 21 day fix. I have yet to find a recipe that I don't like yet and I love how affordable it is. The Chicken Noodle Soup is our favorite one. I encourage all of my challengers to snag this one and I always get the same response. I LOVE THIS COOKBOOK!!! They especially love it because it breaks down all of the meals by the containers used in the program for portion control and helps with meal planning when doing the programs. Check out my blog to learn more about this one. 

Hope this was helpful! Take it upon yourself to learn as much as you can! While I have used all of these books I don't recommend just one, I suggest to keep growing your knowledge base. Read, read, read! Knowledge is power my friends! Stop using the excuse that you don't know where to start. If you would like to consider being one of my challengers in my online support group, please feel free to fill out the application below. I would be glad to include you. I have found my challengers have the most success in these groups because of the accountability and the fact that they are getting to be supported not just by me, but also by my other challengers in the group going thru the same struggle. 

Only you can change your lifestyle. It isn't easy. I won't come quickly but I do promise it will be worth it! 

Happy New Year!!!

xoxo

Sarah 

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Greek Lemon Chicken Soup

Greek Lemon Chicken Soup 

I was skeptical about this recipe when I put this one together. I was not so sure how great lemon would taste in a chicken noodle kind of soup. I love all things greek though, so I figured I better give it a try. The results were mind blowing. I LOVED IT! The best part- so did my little man and my hubby. It was a tiny bit spicy for the little one but he didn't really complain. That's one thing about my parenting style that I am really proud of, he eats whatever we eat for dinner. He hates mac and cheese and never gets any "special kid meal" made for him. It's a great feeling watching him eat so many healthy things. His diet has lots of variety in it.

The prep for this meal was pretty simple too. I even made this one on a weeknight after a long day of work. Take a look below at the recipe and gather the ingredients. Let me know if you end up trying this one!

Ingredients 

• 10 cups chicken broth
• 3 tablespoon olive oil
• 8 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 sweet onion
• 1 large lemon zested 
• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 cup israeli (pearl) couscous
• 1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper
• 2 ounces crumbled feta
• 1/3 cup chopped chive
• Salt and pepper

Directions 

1. Place the olive oil in a large 6-8 quart sauce pot over medium-low heat. Peel the onion. Then quarter it and slice into thin strips. Once the oil is hot, saute the onion and minced garlic for 3-4 minutes to soften.

1. Add the chicken stock, chicken breasts, lemon zest, and crushed red pepper to the pot. Raise the heat to high, cover, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium, then simmer for 5 minutes.

1. Stir in the couscous, 1 teaspoon salt, and black pepper to taste. Simmer another 5 minutes. Then turn the heat off.

1. Using tongs, remove the two chicken breasts from the pot. Use a fork and the tongs to shred the chicken. Then place it back in the pot. Stir in the crumbled feta cheese and chopped chive. Taste and salt and pepper as needed. Serve warm.

It takes about 30 minutes from start to finish to make and will produce 6 - 8 one cup servings. ENJOY! 

Coming Down From Too Much Holiday Eating

5 Easy Detox Tips

Let me guess, now that the holiday's are coming to a close your feeling bloated and stuffed. The good news is your not alone and there is an easy way to get back on track to feeling more energized. Today I wanted to share a few of my favorite tips for getting you back on track.

Often my challengers will ask me how do you know if you should do a detox or cleanse? I ask them how their sleeping habits have been. What their energy levels look like. What they are craving. If they feel or look bloated. If they ever have "brain fog"  and what their current nutrition looks like. Typically they have many of these symptoms and often confess that their nutrition ins't so hot. Sometimes I will encourage them to do an actual cleanse or detox like the 3 day refresh. I recommend this to someone who is at a weight loss plateau or to someone looking to kick start their new eating habits. but sometimes I simply suggest they start with these easy action steps and see where that gets them.

These are some before and after pictures of my husband and I after we did a 3 day cleanse. We don't do them often but when we do we are always happy with the results.

1. I am a huge fan of doing the gallon challenge. Normally I suggest that my clients drink half of their weight in water each day but when you are coming down from an eating binge, I actually suggest they up their intake and strive to drink an entire gallon of water. When I am trying to eliminate bloat I go for distilled water but I don't drink distilled water all of the time. It can actually be hard on your body to process.

If your not a fan of plain water just add in fruits and other herbs or spices to give it some extra flavor. 

2. Gotta sweat out those toxins. If your looking to lose the bloat, I would encourage you to kick it up a notch for a week and do some sort of cardio workout on  Monday, Wednesday and Friday and do some strength training on Tuesday and Thursday. I would only go for a 30 minute session. Consistency will be key compared to spending hours in the gym. 

3. Nutrition wise, I would encourage you to up the number of proteins you are consuming and decrease the number of carbs and fruit. I make an intentional effort to cut out all junk food and sugar. In a typical day my nutrition would look something like this below. The second image shows what it looks like when I am upping my protein and decreasing my carb intake. Keep in mind this calculation is for my body type. Depending on your height and weight the formula for what you are eating may look different. The cravings you may be having for sweets and salty things will go away after a few short days.

Normal Meal Plan Day 

Higher protein, less carb kind of day

4. If you do start to notice you are having some cravings, use green tea to curb your appetite. Not only will it help, but it is also a natural antioxidant. When I am trying to get rid of bloat, I typically will have three hot green teas in a day and not have any coffee. On a normal day I would only have green tea once in the evening to help with my night time snack cravings.

5. My last tip would be to be mindful of what you are doing and the things you are craving. The more aware you are of the things you are putting into your body, the more likely you will be to stay on course. I encourage you to use a food journal or use an app on your cell phone to keep track.  My fitness pal and Loose It are great apps for this.

If you are interested in getting your nutrition back on track and would like some help from a coach please fill out the application below and I will be in touch.

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Happy Holidays

Thanks For Being Part Of The Journey 

As the craziness of December begins to wind down and we approach one of the most magical weeks of the year, I wanted to pause for a moment and wish all of my followers a very Happy Holiday. I hope you are taking time this year to unwind and enjoy the moments that you have ahead of you. Take time to be present with those you love. Being present means being there whole heartedly. Not being there scrolling your cell phone admiring how others are spending the holiday. Put your phone in your pocket and just be. Before you blink the tree will be down, the holiday foods will be gone and the loved ones who have traveled to see you will be home again. Time passes by too quickly and life seems to move way too fast. Try your hardest to just take it all in.

Our family could not be more excited for our Christmas festivities this year. We have went above and beyond this year to create lots of anticipation leading up to Christmas for our son. The month has been just as magical for us as it has been for him. This will be the first year we are home in our house for Christmas morning. In years past we always traveled but as our son get's older, it's time to let him enjoy Christmas in his own home. We are looking forward to our new tradition we are starting. I can only imagine what time our little love will have us up this year for presents on Christmas morning. He is counting down the minutes.

I wanted to thank each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart for following and supporting me on this journey I have been on as a coach. It touches me to see so many who invite me into their lives as they join my team as coaches or when they reach out and ask for my help on their own weight loss transformation. I realize my way of life sometimes seems like an unconventional way to make a living, but truly this opportunity has changed our families world. It is not always easy being so public with our life, but I know it is worth it because someone out there needs me.  I was called to do this for a reason, I am sure of it. Because of Beachbody life will never look the same. This blessing has allowed me to find my passion while creating a life of financial freedom for my family. I truly have found a blessing and love paying it forward to others. In my heart of hearts I believe I have a gift that was put in my life for a reason. I love when others reach out their hands and ask for me to share my blessing with them. There is no better reward than being able to help a new coach begin to duplicate the success I have had in my own business or when I can help someone accomplish a weight loss goal they may have waited their entire life to accomplish.

2016 is going to be a big year for our family. God willing there are lots of surprises and changes to come! Stay tuned!

Happy Holidays to all of you! Looking forward to working with so many of you in the coming months as you set out to accomplish your own New Year's Resolutions. Please feel free to reach out if you would like to be a part on of New Year - New You accountability group.

The Masters Hammer & Chisel Week 2 In Review

Struggling But Getting By 

Working out isn't so bad when you get to have this guy along side you. 

I saw this coming this week. I knew I was going to struggle. Our calendar was packed with activities almost every single evening this week and several of the occasions involved food. I planned ahead knowing that I may get off track. It wasn't a train wreck of a week but I will say a few days I went over on my portions. One of the days I was almost too busy with work to even eat anything at all during the day. My snooze button was my friend this week too. Most of my morning workouts turned into evening workouts but at least they did get done. 

Monday night I traded out my workout for a PIYO live class at the YMCA. I went with one of the other coaches on my team to support our friend Kristi. She was teaching her first live class so we had to join her. It was so much fun and a great workout. After an hour of it, I came home needing to sleep so I put Monday's workout on the back burner and actually did two on Tuesday night. Talk about sore that evening. I used my Recover drink that night because I knew I was going to feeling it in the morning if I didn't.

Thursday night was my worst night in regards to my nutrition. I had a holiday party for work and I did have a cocktail, a plate of pasta from the Olive Garden and a piece of orange cranberry cake. I wish I could say I regretted it but I really didn't. The holiday's only come around once a year so you might as well enjoy it once in awhile right??

How adorable are these cookies? I had to have ONE! Couldn't resist. 

My shirt sums up this week! The struggle has been so real with the holidays! Staying on track with my nutrition and workouts takes some serious willpower and focus! 

My partner in crime is still kicking butt with me. We both are starting to notice a transformation. My stomach is getting flatter and my pants are already starting to be a little less snug. My goal for this program is abs and arms so I am happy that the transformation is beginning. 

Below is this weeks meal plan. I realize that this coming week will be even more difficult to stay on track because of Christmas eve, Christmas day and traveling for the holiday. While I am not after perfection, I am hoping to stick to the plan for the most part. Looking forward to the coming days with family and the memory making that's to come. If I can keep up with my workouts and stay on track with my nutrition during this week I can do anything ;)

Happy Holidays to all of you!!

Week 3 - Meal Plan Done 

If you are interested in joining my upcoming health and fitness support group, please fill out the application and I will be in touch shortly. There is strength in numbers.

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