January Reset

Who is ready to reset their habits in January?

I know all of you have been making good choices the last few weeks but now is the time to step it up a notch to start feeling better, exercising and maybe lose some body fat.

Details:

• FREE
• Starts Jan 6th
• Ends Feb 14th
• Initial and final body fat and weight measurements will be taken in the first and last week

What will you get:

• Challenge recommendations
• Food list
• Grocery list
• Workouts
• Weekly challenges
• Support via email and blog
• Support knowing you are not alone
• Hopefully you will be feeling better at the end of the 5 weeks

If you want to join let me know so we can schedule your initial measurements for the week of Jan 6th.

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Thanksgiving Facts

Thanksgiving is just one week away.  Here are some interesting stats on that great day and the food I am sure most of you will consume.

• Almost three quarters of Americans serve store bought cranberry sauce rather than homemade at Thanksgiving.

• About 200 cranberries are used to produce each can of jellied cranberry sauce.

• Instant mashed potatoes are used by food stylists as fake ice cream.

• Mashed potatoes, pumpkin pies, popcorn, milk, corn on the cob, and cranberries were not foods present on the first Thanksgiving's feast table.

• The first Thanksgiving celebration lasted three days.

• In the US, about 280 million turkeys are sold for the Thanksgiving celebrations.

• The average weight of a turkey purchased at Thanksgiving is 15 pounds.

• The heaviest turkey ever raised was 86 pounds, about the size of a large dog.

• Turkey has more protein than chicken or beef.

• The average American will consume more than 4,500 calories and 229 grams of fat on Thanksgiving Day alone, according to the Caloric Control Council. Surprisingly, most of these calories come from the all-day snacking in front of the TV while watching parades and sporting events.

• Americans consume over 675 million pounds of turkey on Thanksgiving Day

• For a calorie counter and burn estimator for your feast, check this out: http://walking.about.com/library/cal/blthanksgivingcalories.htm

Happy Halloween

Here are some candy fun facts:
-Americans purchase 600 million pounds of candy for Halloween
-More than 400 million M&Ms chocolate candies are produced in the U.S. every day.
-For candy producers, Halloween is the sweetest holiday of the year, even beating Easter, Valentine’s Day and Christmas in candy sales.
-The Snickers candy bar was named after a horse owned by the Mars family.
-California leads the nation in the number of chocolate and cocoa manufacturers, with 146, followed by Pennsylvania, with 115.
-Americans consumed 24.3lbs of candy per capita last year
-Americans are expected to spend an average of $20.29 on candy this Halloween season
-More than 35 million lbs. nearly 9 billion pieces of candy corn were produced last year.
-The Halloween season accounts for 75 percent of the annual candy corn production.
-The average American will gain 9-11 lbs between now and New Years day (don't be average)

Have a Happy Halloween!

Healthy Football Snacks, Meals and Treats

Since its Football Sunday and my Denver Broncos do not play until tonight I have some time to share with you my favorite Football Sunday snacks, meals and treats! Enjoy!

Meals:

• Chili Bar - make a large crock pot of chili and then have toppings to add to the Chili.  Some great toppings include: plain greek yogurt, lettuce, tomatoes, onions and rice
• Taco Bar - This is so simple, just brown some ground beef or ground turkey in some seasonings and add some fixings!  Great toppings include: Corn tortilla, rice, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, hot sauce, plain greek yogurt, avocado, lime, pico, peppers, jalapeños and corn
• Chicken Wings - Just bake or Grill some un-breaded chicken wings and drumies.  You can then make a great ranch dip by adding ranch seasoning to plain greek yogurt.

Snacks:

• Homemade kale chips - they are so easy, just put some kale on a baking sheet, add coconut oil and sea salt, bake until crispy and enjoy
• Homemade sweet potato fries - similar to the kale chips, just cut up to your liking and add seasonings, coconut oil and sea salt.  Cook until crispy and enjoy
• Homemade buffalo chips - I will cut either regular or sweet potatoes, season and cook.  I then make a dip of greek yogurt and seasoning salt to dip them in.
• Potato skins - cut either regular or sweet potatoes in half, bake them with bacon and add chives
• Broccoli Salad - the dressing is vinegar, truvia, and olive oil mayo.  Then mix the dressing up and pour over broccoli, bacon and sunflower seeds.
• Potato salad - cut and boil potatoes, after they cool mix with plain greek yogurt, onions, celery, dill, mustard and sea salt

Treats:

• Black Bean Brownies - make the brownies like normal but instead of the oil and eggs use pureed black beans, I will also season with cinnamon
• Banana Ice Cream - mush up frozen bananas and peanut butter, you can even add a couple of chocolate chips for taste
• Baked Pears - cut pairs in half and bake with cinnamon 

Hope you can enjoy some of these healthy game day foods!

Here is our dinner tonight as we finish the Sunday afternoon games.  Salad, pork chop, baked beans and healthy potato salad!

Time for the last week!

Welcome to the last week of our Challenge!

This week we will be focusing on finding a time to take your final measurements, some high intensity daily challenges and no gluten.

If we already have a time set to meet this week we can do your measurements then.  If we do not have a time already scheduled please let me know what works for you to come in for final measurements!

Week 5-

-Final measurements, tabatas  and no gluten

-The tabatas will be: 60 seconds of jumping jacks, 30 seconds plank (can be on the floor, from your knees or on a counter) and repeat for 5 minutes. Then 60 seconds of  lunges and 30 seconds push-ups and repeat for 5 minutes. Perform daily. 

-No gluten at all this week. 

If something has great value it will not be easy.  If losing weight and looking great were easy everyone would be happy with themselves.  You will always have obstacles, there will always be things to overcome.  When something is truly important to you it will happen or you will make the time for it to happen!

Fitness trends

I always enjoy reading articles and information at night.  Tonight I read about some of the hottest fitness trends in 2013.

Do you enjoy mud runs or parkour?  Maybe you are trying crossfit, spinning or dancing.  Here is a list of our 2013 fitness trends.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/hottest-fitness-trends-2013/story?id=20049041#

Week 4 starts tomorrow

Happy Sunday everyone.  We are getting ready to start our 4th week tomorrow and with that comes some different weekly challenges.

WEEK 4:
ARMS- 100 push ups per day, they can be done on the floor, counter top, wall or couch.  They can be broken up throughout the day also, 100 at one time would be a lot!
NO CAFFEINE ALL WEEK- that includes coffee, sodas (regular and diet), tea and energy drinks/powders/drops.  It is only a week, you can make it!

After this full week you will only have a couple of days left.  Finish strong and keep working to see positive changes this month.

Here are some fun articles I have read this week, if you have some free time check them out!

About some dangers of crossfit:
https://medium.com/p/97bcce70356d

Is our drinking water safe:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/20/the-arsenic-in-our-drinking-water/

New organic regulations with eggs:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/no-more-organic-eggs-zw0z1309ztri.aspx#axzz2faWl4aGT