Currently {5 Things}

Eating: Steel cut oats with blueberries, unsweetened vanilla coconut almond milk, mashed banana, and unsweetened shredded coconut. SO GOOD. I think this is going to be my go-to breakfast until the temps break 60 degrees again. Which, by the way, can that be soon?! The "feels like" temperature was 1 degree today. No bueno, I say.

Drinking: Water with lemon and lime wedges. I haven't had coffee in going on two weeks and while I miss it, I am certainly realizing I don't NEED it.

Thinking: That the forecasted storm this week is going to be NO FUN.

Looking Forward To: Spring. I need it.

Listening To: Bethel Music, "Be Lifted High". So good.

Have a great week, friends! I'll just be over here battening down the hatches and hiding out until spring.

Whip It Up Wednesday {Strawberry Coconut Shakeology}

Oh man.

You guys, it feels like winter is finally here, and that bums me out. While I do appreciate living in a state that experiences all four seasons in all their glory, something about winter really setting in just gives me a huge case of the sads.

But, hey! I've got a Shakeology recipe that brings a little bit of summer to you!

This recipe calls for four ingredients: Strawberry Shakeology, coconut extract, ice, and water. Boom. And just like that, you've got a creamy shake that tastes like the month of June. That's the only way I can describe it.

1 scoop Strawberry or Vegan Tropical Strawberry Shakeology
1 tsp. coconut extract
water
ice
optional: unsweetened coconut flakes

Combine all ingredients in a blender. Blend until creamy. Garnish with unsweetened coconut flakes if desired, you fancy thing.

Enjoy!

Meal Planning 101 {Free Challenge Group Opportunity}

***NEW FREE CHALLENGE GROUP STARTING 1/25! Keep reading!***

I get questions all the time about how exactly I plan and meal prep every week. At first, it was a totally foreign and overwhelming concept for me--how in the world can I plan and prep ALL my meals for an entire week when I can't even wrap my brain around what I'm having for dinner tomorrow?

I used to be the type that would walk around the grocery store and plan what we were having for dinner right there in the aisles, and I can tell you several things:

a.) I ALWAYS forgot something, requiring another trip back to the store (wasted time & gas money)

b.) I wasn't giving myself time to take a closer look at sales on protein sources and produce and working that into my meal plan (wasted money)

c.) This ALWAYS resulted in some sort of wasted food or something that I just grabbed in the aisle because it looked good at the time and then it inevitably went bad and I had to toss it in the trash (wasted food & money)

d.) Once I got all my groceries home and put away, I STILL found myself sitting in front of the refrigerator at 5 PM thinking, "Now what?" and just throwing something together in a hurry because it was just a mish mash of stuff with no plan on how to create a healthy nutritious dinner for my family (wasted sanity & health)

If anything, the entire gist of this is the following: failing to meal plan, nine times out of ten, equates to waste. Wasted money, wasted time, and wasted food (and I haaaaaate throwing away food).

I've since gotten it down to a science, and I'm creating a special free challenge group just to share my tips and tricks.

7 Day Meal Planning Challenge will help you:

Learn meal planning basics.

Ensure healthy, nutritious meals for your entire family--no more last-minute take out!

Learn how to save money by planning your meals ahead of time. 

Prep your food for the week, setting yourself up for success!

Save yourself from the last-minute 4 PM "What's for dinner?!" dilemma.

Rest easy knowing you've got this under control!

Monday through Friday, I'll share my tips for meal planning and prep and you will build your meal plan for the following week. During the weekend you'll put your newly learned meal planning and prep skill to the test and become a kitchen ninja!

Sign up is easy: click here and follow the instructions and we'll be ready to roll on January 25!

Meal Planning & Prep {Free Group!}

3 Day Refresh Review {Day 3 & Final Thoughts}

Read about Day 1 here!
Read about Day 2 here!

Day 3 of the Refresh--and the 3 Day Refresh itself--is a wrap!

Today was by far the easiest of the three days. Maybe it was because I knew this was my last day? Probably.

I woke up feeling good, no bloating, headache GONE (yeah!), and I was able to get through the entire day without feeling terribly hungry at all. I had plenty of energy--I was up and out the door early to get my food shopping done, cleaned the house, squeezed in Day 1 of PiYo, and meal prepped for the week. I cut out the tea breaks completely today due to the Daniel Fast starting today and replaced it with water and I am feeling awesome.

Meals were the same as Days 1 & 2. I am certainly not going to miss green beans for lunch every day ;)

My jeans are not feeling as snug as they were on Wednesday, and overall I feel like a million bucks. This was the perfect way to acclimate myself to a plant-based diet, because that's what I've got going on for the next three weeks now.

Would I do this again? I could see myself doing this quarterly as maintenance. The experience was not as terrible as I thought it would be, and I appreciate the fact that Beachbody developed a program that enforces actually EATING during a detox.

Here are a few takeaways from the 3 Day Refresh:

• Fiber Sweep is not that bad, ya'll. The trick is to mix it up with super cold water and chug chug chug. 
• Coconut oil will be your new best friend. I have a rekindled love for all things coconut oil.
• Vanilla Fresh is like dessert at lunch and dinner. Seriously, I looked forward to it every day.
• You will never pee so much in your entire life. 
• If you are a coffee drinker, start weaning yourself off of caffeine a few days ahead of time. That withdrawal headache was so annoying. 

I'm just really glad I made a liar out of myself and gave it a try.

3 Day Refresh Review {Day 2}

Read about Day 1 here!

Ahhhhh, Day 2 of the 3 Day Refresh is in the books, and here's a quick rundown of how it went:

I was on the road for the first half of the day, so I blended up my Shakeology, packed up my Fiber Sweep and a Vanilla Fresh packet, as well as my lunch bag with my lunch and snack ready to go, and was able to stay on track all day. This was HUGE for me because a.) I always struggle with the lack of structure/change in schedule of my weekends and b.) I proved to myself that I could stick to a plan if I was prepared.

Water intake was a struggle toward the end of the day, but managed to get to 100 oz. A little short of my gallon-a-day goal, but 100 oz. is my goal on a normal day, so I'm happy with that.

I slept like a rock last night and the bloating and slight discomfort I felt last night were gone this morning, which was a relief. My meals and snacks were the same as Day 1 so that made planning a breeze, but I still had that nagging headache--although it was much less annoying than Day 1.

I am a little disappointed I didn't take measurements before starting, but this is more about FEELING better and getting back on track than looking better. And overall I felt pretty darn good today, so that works for me!

3 Day Refresh Review {Day 1}

Today was Day 1 of the 3 Day Refresh and I lived to tell about it.

Some background: I said I would never EVER do a cleanse or a detox. I'm a firm believer that cleaning up my diet would do all the work I needed it to do. But, I was not kind to myself in December, and dropped a lot of my healthier eating habits. I came out on the other side of the new year bloated, uncomfortable, and carrying around a few more pounds than I would have liked, and I was totally disappointed in myself after all the hard work I had put in with T25.

Add in a Daniel Fast with my church starting January 10 (you can read more about that here) and I was looking at a whole world of hurt coming up.  Hence, 3 Day Refresh. I thought this would give me the best chance to prepare physically for the fast, as well as spend some quiet time in prayer leading up to the fast.

As a quick recap, the 3 Day Refresh is a three-day program of shakes, healthy meals, and snacks that serve as a way to jumpstart healthier eating habits, drop a few pounds, detox, and feel better in general. I am getting rid of the junk, and getting back into the groove.

I knew it wouldn't be a walk in the park, but I did take some steps to prepare myself for the Refresh to make it less of a blow. I made sure I drank my Shakeology every day this week and I made sure most of my meals comprised of lots of fruits and veggies to acclimate my body to the upcoming increased fiber intake.

Once my kit came in, I put together "Mini 3 Day Refresh Kits" for each day of the Refresh consisting of a Fiber Sweep Packet, a Vanilla Fresh packet, and two tea bags --since I'm either at the office or out and about, it will help to keep what I need on hand while I'm away from home since I can toss this into my purse and go, and plan my meal timing wisely. I also decided to eat the same things for all three days to make it a little easier on myself, so I did all my prep last night.

3 Day Refresh on the go

Here's a rundown of my Day 1. I promise I won't bore you with the details on Days 2 & 3, but instead I'll give a general rundown of how I'm feeling and some general thoughts for the remaining days.

5:45 AM - I drank 10 oz. of water right away, followed by more water, this time hot with lemon. You CAN have coffee during the 3 Day Refresh if you absolutely have to, but it has to be black (yuck). The hot water with lemon was my coffee substitute and it wasn't horrible. I didn't miss the coffee too much. 

6:30 AM - I'm hungry already, which is odd because I usually don't feel any sort of hunger until 8:00 AM at the latest and that's usually when I have my Shakeology for the day.I guess drinking water first thing in the morning really does help get your body moving! I'm supposed to have the Shakeology 1 hour after waking, but I'm usually running around getting myself and Peyton ready for the day, so it looks like I'll have to rearrange my morning routine to fit my Shakeology in before the hunger kicks in. No one likes to start the day hangry.

8:00 AM - I made my Shakeology at home and drank it in the car between school drop-off and getting to work. Chocolate Vegan Shakelogy + 10 oz. water + 1/2 frozen banana. This is my usual go-to, so no big changes there. I just need to remember to drink my Shakeology earlier in the morning for the next two days so I'm not famished at this point.

9:00 AM - slight headache, but I am chugging water to compensate for it. I'm up to about 40 oz. so far--which is almost half of my daily goal on a normal day. I am aiming for a gallon of water (128 oz.) each day of the 3 Day Refresh, so I still have quite a bit of water left to drink. The bathroom and I are good friends today. I wish I had worn my step tracker today, because I am pretty sure I'd get 10,000 steps in just running back and forth to the bathroom to pee (sorry for the TMI, but I did promise the good, the bad, and the ugly!)

9:30 AM - Morning tea break. I'm drinking Tazo Refresh Mint blend, which is decaf, but this particular blend is a nice little pick-me-up. I'm kind of liking the tea break and I can see myself incorporating this into my daily routine. 

11:00 AM - Fiber Sweep. I had read a lot about Fiber Sweep online and the general consensus is that it isn't the most pleasant, and the program guide really reinforces the fact that you have to drink it quickly. I mixed it up and drank it as fast as I could. Surprisingly, it wasn't that bad, and I think it helps that it was only 8 oz. so it went down quickly. Definitely tolerable to only do once a day for three days.

The infamous Fiber Sweep.

12:30 PM: I'm not going to lie, I was pretty excited to finally chew something at this point. I had 1/2 apple, green beans tossed with coconut oil and seasoned with red chili flakes, and mixed up a Vanilla Fresh shake. The shake was pretty darn tasty, and it reminded me a lot of cake batter.

1:30: I am up to 85 ounces of water by now. I feel like I am floating.

2:30: Snack time! One serving of veggies (cucumbers), and one serving of healthy fat (2 tbsp. hummus).

4:00 PM - Afternoon tea break! I still have a teeny tiny headache, but nothing unbearable. I thought I'd be hungrier than I am, so that's a nice surprise. 

6:00 PM - I've had an entire gallon of water today, and now it's time for dinner. Another Vanilla Fresh shake, this time blended with cinnamon, one cup of veggie broth seasoned with oregano, basil, and red chili flakes, and steamed coconut veggies. The recipe in the program guide calls for cauliflower and I forgot to pick some up, so I subbed in green beans and it was pretty darn good. 

Don't mind the background clutter, I'm keeping it real over here ;)

Tonight's plans call for some 21 Day Fix Yoga, a warm shower, an at-home mani & pedi, and some quality Netflix time with a side of chamomile tea.

Overall, Day 1 was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I'd say the worst part of all of it was the slightly annoying headache I've had all day, but I guess that is to be expected with no caffeine. I am a tiny bit bloated, but again, I was kind of expecting that. 

Other than that, I'm feeling good and ready to take on Day 2!