Weekly Challenges 4

This week, there will be a prize up for grabs for completing the challenge!! My blender bottle is my absolute favorite thing.  I keep it at work along with a bag of Chocolate Bode Shakes so that I can easily make a shake to curb my chocolate cravings for my meal 4 of the day when I haven't brought enough snacks.  Two of you will win a blender bottle for commenting below or checking in with the group.

Challenge for Week 4:

Get active with a friend or family member!! Schedule a workout date together. Go enjoy the outdoors.  Pick a class to try out together.  It's up to you, just make it happen.

Working out with a partner will help to hold you accountable, make your workout more enjoyable, and likely cause you to give a little bit of an extra effort!  We all finally have great weather, so it's a great time to get outside and make some fun memories with a friend, all while sticking to our healthy lifestyle goals!

So, tell us about your workout with your friend or better yet, post a photo on the Facebook page! You have til next Tuesday to share.

The Importance of Protein

Protein is an essential building block for our bodies and we should be aiming to eat some at every meal.

• How much protein do we need?  About 50-60% of our bodyweight in grams of protein every day! (E.g., if you weigh 150 pounds, aim for 75-90 grams daily)
• How much protein is in a serving? About the size and thickness of the palm of your hand.
• Stick to lean options - chicken, turkey, fish, tempeh, tofu, bison, eggs, cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, etc.
• What are the benefits??
  • Increasing your protein intake helps boost your metabolic rate, particularly when you include some protein at every meal (all 5!).  This means that protein helps you burn the most calories!
  • It also helps you to rebuild your muscles after you workout! Bigger, stronger muscles take up less room in the body than fat and help us burn more calories every day!
  • Protein helps us to stay fuller for longer, since it takes longer to digest than carbs or fats.

Eating more protein was one of the biggest contributors to my success in losing weight.  It can be hard to fit enough protein in, especially for snacks, but your Bode Burn makes a great option - it has 20 grams of protein in an easy to drink formula.

Carb Swaps

I definitely find that I miss my “carbs” on low-carb days.  There is just something familiar about having my plate sectioned out as protein, carbs, and vegetables. So, today let’s talk about some fake-outs, some alternatives to our familiar pasta, potatoes, and rice. These fake-outs happen to be quite delicious and super easy to make too! And they are all vegetables, and you are allowed to eat as many vegetables as you want!

Cauliflower

Cauliflower is magical. I swear. I hated cauliflower for most of my life and now… I LOVE it! Here’s why:

• Cauliflower rice: put the rice in a food processor, pulse until the size of rice.  Then sauté in a pan on medium heat for about 3-5 minutes with garlic and spices.
• Or try these Cauliflower Mashed “potatoes”
• Or Cauliflower pizza crust

Zucchini

Zucchini is one of my other favorite vegetables. It also happens to make a mean alternative to pasta. What?! Yes, use this in place of pasta.

 

Zucchini noodles: To serve 4, Heat a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Using a mandolin or vegetable peeler, carefully slice the zucchini lengthwise, starting at one end and ending on the other end. Add the zucchini slices to the boiling water and cook very quickly, just 1-2 minutes so zucchini is tender, but does not fall apart.

 

Check out this cool vegetable spiralizer!!

 

Spaghetti Squash

Spaghetti squash is also quite magical (yes, I think it’s magic that we can sub veggies for carbs!).  I love to roast my spaghetti squash (apparently you can cook it in the microwave too).

To roast, preheat the oven to 400. Cut the squash in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. Spray with olive oil cooking spray, then put the squash cut-side down on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Roast for 40-45 minutes. Let cool slightly, then scrape out the inside of the squash with 2 forks.

Positive Self Talk

One of the biggest challenges that we have as women is the constant stream of negativity coming from all directions about women’s bodies and what they should or shouldn’t look like. Too fat. Too skinny. Too muscular. Everyone seems to have an opinion. And of course women aren't the only ones who face negativity.  It can be disheartening and discouraging. We may be thinking, “oh I will never look like that” or “I will never be able to lose enough weight” or “ugh, that muffin top is the bane of my existence.” Or maybe you are like me and no matter how hard you work, you aren't satisfied.  We are often our own biggest critic and can be so hard on ourselves sometimes!

Well, let’s instead focus on the good stuff and focus on how awesome our bodies are and how lucky we are to be in good health. Our bodies keep us functioning, our bodies are strong, our bodies are miraculous. And most of all, our bodies are beautiful.  We all need to be kind and gentle with ourselves.

So, let’s focus on positive self talk. Keep your tone with yourself positive and focused on the things that are going well. Pick a mantra and post it somewhere you can see it.  That way, when you start to doubt yourself or feel bad that you ate something you felt you shouldn't or missed a workout, you can come back to the positive side of things and instead of dwelling, you can pick yourself up and refocus!

Remember, you are beautiful, smart, and kind. Your body is an amazing thing. And most of all, I think you are awesome!

Getting Your Zzzzz's

Getting enough sleep is crucial to good health.  When we sleep our bodies have time to recover, our cells replenish, and new tissue is created and growth hormones are released.  These things can only happen when we sleep, so if we aren't getting enogh, our bodies are missing out!  Plus, not getting enough sleep causes our bodies to release cortisol and cortisol contributes to weight gain. Yikes!! So, sleep is important... but you already knew that!  How can you get more or better sleep then?

• Turn off your electronics at least 30 minutes (ideally up to 1 hour) before you are ready to go to bed. Our electronics emit a short wavelength blue light that interferes with the production of melatonin and melatonin is essential for a good night's sleep.
• Create a bedtime ritual.  Doing the same thing every night before bed can give our body cues that it is time to go to sleep.
• Try journaling.  Write down your worries or everything that you want to remember for the morning, and then tuck your journal away until tomorrow when you can deal with those worries or start working on your to-do list.
• Read positive affirmations or meditate.  This allows the last thing you experience to be positive and helps to shut out negative thoughts that might keep you tossing and turning throughout the night.

Sweet Dreams Everyone!

Weekly Challenge 3

Challenge: Sometimes, especially with a plan like carb cycling, it is easy to get into a rut.  We want to avoid ruts, because they lead to plateaus and we want to continue to see progress so that we can reach the goals that we have set for ourselves!  Your challenge this week is to try 2 new things: a new workout and a new recipe! THEN, I want you to share with the group what you tried.  Tell us your impressions of the workout and share the link to the recipe you made! Easy as pie!

Looking for recipes, some of my favorite places to look:

Cooking Light for quick and easy options, Oh She Glows for vegetarian and vegan, Clean Eating for simple, healthy meals, PaleOMG since paleo has lots of lower-carb options

Summer Bode HIIT

One way to blast fat and get a full body workout even in a short amount of time is to do a HIIT—high intensity interval training — workout, like the one below. You don’t need any equipment or a gym. You can do this workout anytime, anywhere, so there are no excuses! The exercises in our HIIT workout use our big muscle groups too, so they really get you fired up.