November!

So, it’s just about November…my birth month, my daughter’s birth month, start of holidays, and general craziness!

We’ve been planning out the month and such, which has me a bit overwhelmed, but after a nice long list was created, I’m feeling a lot better!  So here I am 🙂

First things first!  November challenge is planks!  Comment or email me to be added to the group, or play along on your own!

Also this means the October deals on Les Mills Combat and Pump, Ultimate Reset and P90 (the new program that is PERFECT for beginners!) are coming to an end.  If you’re interested in hearing more, let me know!

More tomorrow…my bed time has passed 🙂

Sesame Tofu with Hemp Hearts

Manitoba Harvest sent me some of their Hemp Hearts to review!  What are Hemp Hearts?

They are raw, shelled hemp seeds!  From their site…

• Great tasting – Hemp Hearts have a slightly nutty taste, similar to a sunflower seed or pine nut.
• Easy to use – Simply sprinkle Hemp Hearts on salad, cereal & yogurt, add to smoothies and recipes, or eat them straight from the package!
• Nutritious – per 30 gram serving, Hemp Hearts contain 10 grams of plant-based protein and 10 grams of Omegas.
• Hemp Hearts have more protein and omegas and less carbs than the same serving of chia or flax.

Here’s what they look like, up close & personal…

In my 21 Day Fix orange container, of course!

I have always loved hemp granola, so i jumped at the chance to try out these guys.  I am not very creative when it comes to recipes, so I looked some up and found a delicious looking tofu recipe on the Manitoba Harvest site.  Then I switched it up to fit into my 21 Day Fix plan.  It was so good!  I love the nutty taste of the hemp hearts.  And they changed up the tofu texture a bit, which was cool.  I can’t really describe it – they were chewy, but different.  I was pleased!

I had enough left over from the recipe to use another orange of Hemp Hearts on my oatmeal.

Steel Cut oats with Hemp Hearts, almond butter and 1/2 a banana

Hello, this was amazing!  So nutty and rich.  I loved it.  I definitely need more Hemp Hearts because this was delicious.  I didn’t add any extra liquid, just took my Steel Cut oats (made in my rice cooker), and mixed in the Hemp Hearts and almond butter.  This works out to a purple, a yellow, an orange and a teaspoon on the Fix.

So, how about that recipe?

Sesame Tofu with Hemp Hearts (adapted from here, use for measurements without the 21 Day Fix if you like!)
serves 2

Ingredients :

2 Red containers of lite firm tofu, with water pressed out
2 Orange containers of Manitoba Harvest Hemp Hearts
3T Bragg’s Liquid Aminos (I’d use less next time)
1/3 cup green onions, sliced
2t sesame oil (increased for flavor without sesame seeds)

Method:

Mix all but tofu together in a small bowl.  Heat saucepan, add tofu and pour mixture over.  Mix and heat until warm.

Easy! It works out to 1Red, 1 Orange and 1 teaspoon on the Fix (I didn’t count the 1/6 green for the onion!)

I had both servings myself on different days…first with a side salad, second over quinoa (with some snap peas!)…here is how it turned out!

Over quinoa

Want to try the Hemp Hearts yourself?  Use code HHSweatPink14 for 20% off your order!  Enjoy!

Beasting Up

I haven’t said much about the Body Beast program I started September 1st.  It’s a tough program to give continuous results on, which I’ll get into.  But I’m going strong (*wink*) and loving the program.  I haven’t missed a day yet and am in week 7 of the Lean schedule.

The program comes with two different calendars – Huge Beast if you just want to build muscle and Lean Beast if you also want to lose some fat.  I am strongly in the still have fat to lose category, so it was an easy decision for me.  The biggest difference is in the Bulk block where the Huge Beast calendar doesn’t have Beast Cardio on the schedule at all.  Also, the Blocks can be different lengths.

So, the blocks.  This is why it’s difficult to see results until the end, and why a lot of people give up on the program.  Block 1 is Build, where you work on the foundation and working muscles synergistically (together).  This phase is 3 weeks long.  The workouts are 38-50 min in this phase of the program.  The nutrition plan recommends a 25/50/25 ratio (percentage of protein/carbs/fat) for the Build and Bulk phases.  You’re taking in a lot of calories, and need fuel in these phases.  So there is no focus on calorie restriction here!  You’re focusing on muscle growth.

Block 2 is Bulk and is all about pumping up your muscles!  Same nutrition, and the workouts are 29 – 41 min.  You stick with this for 5 weeks in the Lean Beast schedule, 6 on the Huge Beast schedule.  It’s where I am now and it’s a good place to be so far.  Cardio is once a week, 5 days a week are focused on a body part and one day is rest.

Now, the final block is Beast.  This is where you’re cutting phase is, where you strip away the fat and reveal the muscle.  Here the nutrition drops calories, and goes to 40/30/30 ratios.  It’s said to be extreme and you should keep it to 4 weeks max.  The Huge Beast schedule has you here for 3 weeks and Lean Beast is 4.  You use workouts from the other phases, so not much new there and Cardio shows up more.  There is also the Beast – Total Body workout option for Cardio  days.  I haven’t tried that workout yet but I definitely will be taking that option some days.

I adore this program.  Though I’m not seeing anything too noticeable, I have noticed some extra definition.  I’m really looking forward to the Beast phase so I see what might be hiding under there.  I feel amazing and love how strong the program makes me feel.  So while I can’t say I’m looking amazing yet, I do think I’ll see good results after the Beast, or cutting, phase!  I will say that I don’t love the Beast – Cardio workout.  I don’t hate it, but calling it cardio is kind of a misnomer.  It does burn calories, but you’re basically lifting light weights with a little plyometric work thrown in.  It isn’t so much that I don’t like it, more that I love other forms of cardio.  So, comparatively it’s not high on my list.

After Beast Cardio last week

So, how do you judge if you’re making progress in a workout program like this?  First off, you’ll feel good.  Like whoa.  And like you can take on the world.  You can’t bottle that!  Second, you track your weights so you can look back at what you’ve done.  Are you increasing weight somewhere?   Does something feel easier?  You don’t want to ramp up every exercise in one workout, but there should be a progression in weight or, for the really small muscles where it is tough to increase, ease of lifting.  Don’t think you have to stay with little weights!  I use from 5-30 so far and will likely be pushing above that.  You want to challenge yourself!

So, how are you challenging yourself today?

That Pre-Halloween time

It’s that time before Halloween.  Where stores are showing costumes and huge amounts of candy.  Candy candy everywhere.

I’m going to share a bit of something completely embarrassing about the old me.  Until 2008, I took some massive exams for work, usually twice a year in May and November.   I would be home studying if I wasn’t working (or working out, I did exercise for most of it) for months, chugging through the material, doing practice questions, memorizing lists, talking to myself…and of course eating for convenience!  I changed my eating habits in 2004, but before that I ate very poorly.

August 2004

August 2014

The worst was before November exams.  Hello Halloween candy!  I’d buy several bags, mix them together, and go through them while studying over a few days.  Uh too few to be remotely a good idea.  Then I would skip real meals because eating more would be crazy (crazier?).  So I existed basically on candy and coffee.  But I worked out, so I was good.  You all know that wasn’t true!  I’m sure I did also, but these are the things we tell ourselves so we don’t feel worse.  And why was I gaining weight?? I was eating healthy, other than the massive amounts of candy.  Yikes!  I may have been delusional, but again, the things we tell ourselves.

Seeing all the candy brings me back to this, but luckily (especially for my trick-or-treaters!) not in an “I’m going to spiral out and eat all this candy” way.  Just in a “how did I get to that” way.  Now, this seems like another person.  Thank goodness!  There is still usually an increase to my candy consumption around Halloween.  I wouldn’t say even a bag over the course of the holiday would be consumed now where it used to be a day.

Maybe you indulge more than you’d like too!  So I’m kicking off a 3 day cleanse group now, as a way to get a fresh mindset before the candy hits your home shelves (hint…buy candy as late as possible, or buy non-food to give out!).  If you want to quickly jumpstart some weight loss or just lose some cravings and grab some extra motivation, this is a great tool to do it.  Contact me for info or check out the 3-Day Refresh site.  We are starting between the 20th and the 26th (it’s hard to get people to decide on 3 days all together, but the group will go until everyone finishes!) so it’s coming right up!

What candy do you have a tough time resisting?

PiYo versus Bikram Style Hot Yoga

It’s all in the title!  We’re talking about how PiYo compares to Bikram style hot yoga.  I’m going to tell you a little story about why this is on my mind though!

Before I was pregnant, I took 5-6 hot yoga classes a week, mostly Bikram style.  This was usually on top of whatever workouts I was doing at the time.  I prioritized those first, and then if I could make it to yoga, I went.  What can I say…I loved it, and I had time!  I started leading a student-run early morning class once a week as well.  My yoga instructor was the second to know i was pregnant after my husband.  Do you know how you’re not supposed to hot tub while pregnant?  Yoga in a room heated to 105 degrees isn’t recommended either!

After having a baby, the timing/scheduling made it difficult to fit in.  There’s no childcare at yoga!  I believe I made it to my 8th class in almost 23 months yesterday.  But I have done a lot of yoga in that time.  I take it at the gym sometimes, where there is childcare if I need it, but someone seems to really like to fall asleep when we’re supposed to go!

See that little girl asleep in the back? We were supposed to go to yoga!

I have also done a lot of PiYo – both from the dvd program and in the instructor videos as I’m certified to teach it.  So how does it compare?  That’s what popped into my head while at yoga yesterday.

First, for convenience, the PiYo dvds are awesome.  Flexibility in my living room?  Hiya!  And it moves quickly enough that it doesn’t make me think about turning it off 5000 times a second.  Next is sweat.  You will sweat doing both…likely a little more with the 105 degrees, but still dripping from PiYo.  For class feel, hot yoga at a studio definitely wins, but of course it does.

One of the things I love about the Bikram style is that the poses are athletic and there’s too much to think about to get into your own head and drift off.  You need to remain present in the poses.  With PiYo, it moves faster, with also very athletic poses.  This was the point that clicked with me yesterday.  The poses are different, but both have the athletic side which is something I love.

So while the two are immensely different, the feeling I have after the workout is extremely similar.  It took a long time to figure that out (I was certified in PiYo in January 2013, have had the home program since it was released in July 2014) but now that I have it’s like angels singing.  I won’t lie, it’s always been hard for me to press play on yoga at home…even if i like the workout.  But remembering that this feeling is waiting on the other side should be the key that has me doing it more often!

Post yoga glow!

If you have a love for the challenge of a hot yoga class but can’t make it like me, this might be something to check out for you!  What keeps you away from your practice?

Do you do this?

So, something comes with a rewards program…say a code to enter on a website.  Do you participate?

Currently, the only one we have is Pampers.  We use their sensitive wipes along with the Honest Company ones that come with our diapers.  They’re a little wetter according to my husband (I would be fine with just the Honest ones).  So they have a code that can be entered for rewards.  The things you can get are really not too exciting, but if you’re going to get a lot of wipes, you may as well take what you can get, right?

But I hate entering the codes.  So we end up with a load of wipes wrappers for the codes waiting to be entered.  Like this:

I think it looks worse than it is…there were 17 packages in there.  They are all entered now, and I have almost 700 points.  For this, I could get 12 4×5 Thank You Cards from Shutterfly, or once I hit 700, a Discovery Toys $10 eGift Card!  The problem is, I don’t know that my time is worth a $10 eGift card.  I used about 5 minutes entering these codes, which isn’t much.  But I wouldn’t mind it back!  I just don’t know if it’s worth the trouble!

Knowing me, I wont decide and will make a new collection of them and enter them.  Because it just seems to simple not to!

What about you? Do you enter codes?  What’s the best thing you’ve received?