I live, I eat

Ah yes, it's time for another fitness review. This time I jumped on the bandwagon for Chris Hemsworth's Centr fitness app. I started out with the seven day free trial to see if it was even worth the full try. Lest I say, I stayed on to get the full experience. Signing up is super easy. There is not really much that you have to fill in but you do have the usual height and weight. There are a few goals and preferences that you can fill in, and then you get the whole week's plan. The options for the goals are lose weight, get fit & toned, and build muscle.  I have to say that I can really appreciate that they've made this app to cover pretty much everyone's major goal. There is also a preference for the diet being: regular, pescatarian, vegetarian, and vegan.  Even if you choose to have the regular plan, you can look forward to having some vegetarian options come up in your meal plan. These are able to be changed but I like that it rounds out the nutrition in...

Lest I say that when I heard about Walden Farm's products I was super curious.  I looked for this stuff everywhere and could only find it at my over priced natural foods market and on amazon.  In general, I would say that most of the products were a bit over $5 each.  They have chocolate and carmel sauce, a variety of salad dressings, PB and Jam, Ketchup, and BBQ.  When you are cutting your diet and these things are no longer permissible, this is like finding the holy grail. (Insert singing angels here.) I started this quest with a couple of salad dressings.  I bought the honey Dijon, the berry vinaigrette, and the ceasar.  The first one that I've tried was the ceasar. It was flavorful, but still not quite what the original is. When I looked at the ingredients, I saw that it was pretty much made up of spices, flavor, vinegar, and thickening agent.  As this has no calories, sugar, fat, but has a slight amount of sodium I saw this as a free food. I wen...

Macaroni-Potato Salad From  Hawaii Magazine (Serves 8) ½ lb. macaroni 8 hard-cooked eggs 3 red potatoes, cooked and cubed 1 Tbsp. salt 1 Tbsp. vinegar 2 cups mayonnaise ½ tsp.     ground allspice ½ tsp.     pepper 1 package frozen peas, thawed and drained (10 oz.) Cook macaroni according to package directions; drain. Separate egg yolks from egg whites. In a small bowl, mash yolks and chill. Chop egg whites; put into a large bowl with macaroni and potatoes. Stir in salt and vinegar; chill overnight.    Add egg yolks and remaining ingredients; gently mix into macaroni mixture. Chill.

Somewhere along the way things got messed up with the meals. Perhaps it's where I changed teh bar for an entree, or it could be when I realized that I looked at the wrong page in the guide for half the day. Anyways, it's a great thing that all of these meals are interchangeable.  When I weighed myself it as flipping between what I was and the pound lower.  I'm not going to take the liberty to claim that pound, so we will just say that we stayed the same.  Also of note, is that I'm not going to the bathroom for #2 as much.  Peeing? Heck yes, every 5 minutes it seems, but not the rest. I know, TMI, but it's part of the deal. I might try to go a bit more leafy green on my veggies. Today's meals minus dinner: I woke up this morning and got myself to the gym.  I've been pretty good about my workouts, and when I couldn't get to the gym, I did something at home.  I work out harder at the gym, and I have the bonus of the trainer.  I got my gym membership...

Day 3!! Not as bad as I thought it might be.  Yesterday I weighed in 2 pounds less, and today was the same loss (-4!!!!). Of course, just my luck that by the time I got to the gym and got weighed and measured by my trainer it was up.  Thank you coffee and water.  So for the duration, I shall only follow my scale, but I will go with my trainers measurements.  I will have to look back and see what my initial measurements were.  I will ask her to measure again at the end of the Fast 5, and then periodically through my weight loss journey. Just as a note to you all, I noticed as I was searching the web for other reviews that most of them are sponsored by Nutrisystem, and I assure you that I am currently not. If they choose (go on ahead!!) to sponsor me, then I will make sure that it is stated in the next blog to notify you all. So things that I've noticed.... It might be that I'm PMSing, but I have been exhausted.  But it's not usually that bad. I've been g...

Making steamed rice can seem a chore if you don't know what you are doing.  I will be making this steamed rice in a rice steamer.  Long ago I decided that I didn't care for using a pot on the stove.  I suggest you upgrade to a machine if you already haven't. For this recipe, I will be using 2 cups of calrose rice, a pinch of salt, and water.  Later I will season my rice for my recipes, but that is optional.  But there are a lot of things that are not. When measuring your rice, you need to use the provided cup from your machine. I've had a few, so I have a couple in easy reach. If you accidentally threw yours away, you need to remember that a Japanese cup is about 2/3 cup in American measurement.   You need to wash your rice at least three times.  Three is the magic number, but you might need one more, just watch the water.  The first rinse I do not count, because you pretty much get the rice wet and pour off the water.  This is the dirt...

So I signed up for the 12WBT a little over a week ago.  I decided to try that $3 for 3 weeks promo that I kept seeing.  After I signed up, I went on the website and saw that we were "pre-season" and there were a bunch of videos and tasks that you are assigned before the program begins.  The videos  have Michelle in them talking over the different sections and why that part of pre-season will help you succeed. I was initially put off by the pre-season.  I wanted to start right away and not deal with stuff in the meanwhile.  After the first week, when I was going through the tasks, I started to enjoy it.  New tasks, videos, and whatnot open up at different dates on the site.  You will see a notice when it will be made available.  Also, each week has a new task. When I started, pre-season had been underway for a while and I only had about a week and a half to go through most of the tasks.  After the first week opened up, I had access to...

Okay, I'm on day three.  In so far.... I like the workouts.  A couple of things I have to improvise on because my gym doesn't have a couple of pieces of equipment, but is otherwise completely doable.  I'm doing supersets and a couple of singular movements and then abs.  I'm working out Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.  She gave me a supplement suggestion, and I have to get a couple of things shipped. I normally go to bodybuilding.com to order my supplements because they usually have the best prices and ship super fast.  They also have great customer service. I have some bread products in my meal plan for these two weeks, and that is a little different to get used to.  Not bad though.  The rest of the food I like as well and eating every 2-3 hours.  Pretty clean eating.  I'm trying my best to drink my allotted water and not my coffee as I normally do.  I've also premade a bunch of food and have some of the steam bag veggi...

I enjoy the idea of online coaching.  I really like the sites that allow food tracking and have a community area to chat with people that are in it with you.  I like interaction with my trainer whenever needed or to give me a boost.  In my search for the perfect program, 10 Weeks BodyChange with John Cena somehow got on my radar. Okay not my typical type of guy I am attracted to, but I'm not blind.  John Cena is eye candy.  What's better?  Oh yeah, he actually seems like he is a great guy.  I think I could make myself workout with him. This program is $99 for 12 weeks of access.  I searched for a coupon code, but they were all expired.  There is also a payment option, but you pay more that way.  There is also a 30 day guarantee.  The program is 10 weeks, and you get another two of the access to the website.  Then you are cut off.  You can sign up/pay for their other program which is just a continuation and maintenance ...

I wish everyone knew how easy it was to do meal prep for the week so they could ensure they had healthy meals at their fingertips.  The hardest part is doing the calculations in the beginning so you do not make too much food and end up throwing money in the trash. I recommend writing down what meals you will be making.  Be honest.  Do you normally eat breakfast at home?  Do you have a day you go out with your friends for lunch?  Calculate those in.  That ends up being good amount of food you could make the following week and save yourself some money.  Another option is to go ahead and make some extra food and then freeze it into your own little lean meals you can store in the freezer at home or at work. My general plan is to choose what proteins and carbs I want for the week.  Chicken and salmon are my top two picks.  I also generally choose from eggs, chicken breast, turkey breast, and fish for my protein and i switch off between sweet p...