A Bump In The Road

Down but not down for good! I was one week away from completing Insanity (Yay!) and then I injured my knee. Man what a set back physically, mentally and emotionally. Exercise becomes a craving, like craving ice cream. Well soon you crave more and more, it seems like you cant get enough. Then you go cold turkey and stop all ice cream for weeks.... see my point? Not easy. You start to feel not so great about yourself. (If ever you lack in your own self confidence start to work out, it changes everything) So I stayed on the couch with my knee elevated and in a good amount of pain. Now a month later here I am trying to get back to my routine. I can no longer workout without a knee brace and I'm still in pain during every workout. I also now have to change my eating routine around beacause if I no longer workout burning off 600+ calories I cant eat like I did.

I still have another 20 pounds to loose and I have to figure out a way to do just that. So the always addicting Pinterest has motivated me again. I found a link to a website called Bunny Food For my Bunny Teeth. In her blog see explains how she lost her 70 pounds in 7 months. Basically your diet is bunny food but whats important is portion control.


She explains exactly the amount of fruits, veggies, protein, whole grain and plant based fats you should have at each meal. Pretty simple.


Here is a sample of her eating plan:

It’s easy! Just start with these basic guidelines:

Breakfast: 1 serving of fruit, 1 serving of whole grain, 1 serving of protein, 1 serving of plant based fat.
Lunch: 2 servings of vegetables, 1 serving of whole grain, 1 serving of protein, 1 serving of plant based fat.
Dinner: 2 servings of vegetables, 1 serving of whole grain, 1 serving of protein, 1 serving of plant based fat.
Snack: 1 serving of fruit, 1 serving of whole grain, 1 serving of protein, 1 serving of plant based fat.

Here is an idea of what one serving from each food group equals in the Rabbit Food world:

PRODUCE:
Veggies: (lunch & dinner)
2 cups fresh
1 cup frozen
½ cup canned
¼ dried

Fruit: (breakfast and snack)
1 piece, about the size of a baseball
1 cup fresh or frozen
½ cup canned (no sugar added)
¼ cup dried (unsweetened)

WHOLE GRAINS:
1 slice of whole grain bread
½ whole grain English muffin or whole-grain pita
½ cup cooked brown or wild rice, whole-grain pasta, or quinoa
¼ cup uncooked oats
2 taco sized whole-corn tortillas

PROTEIN:
1 cup skim milk
6oz plain nonfat Greek yogurt
½ cup nonfat cottage cheese
¼ cup nonfat ricotta cheese
1 slice reduced fat cheese
¼ cup reduced fat shredded cheese
¼ cup of egg whites
3oz chicken, turkey, or fish
½ cup cooked beans or lentils
¼ package of tofu or tempeh

PLANT BASED FAT:
1 Tbsp oil
2 Tbsp nuts
1 Tbsp nut butter
10 olives
¼ medium avocado
¼ cup 70% dark chocolate chips

I am going to try to keep up on my postings and share some reciepes that I come up with that go along with theses guidelines. I will share my first receipe with you that was my morning smoothie! Very yummy! This was substantial for me and I wasn't hungry at all until about 1pm.

Cierra's 8am Bannna Berry Smoothie

Fruit: 1/2 C Berry Medley (Trader Joe's Frozen Unsweetened)
1/2 C Bananna
Whole Grain: 1/4 C Quick Oats
Protien: 1 scoop Jay Robb's Whey Protien (sugar free)
0r Use 6oz plain greek yogurt (for protien)
1 C Unsweeted Almond Breeze Milk (sugar free)or water to cut calories
Plant Based Fat: 2 Tbs Walnuts

Nutrition Info
Calories:440
Protien:34g
Carbs:41
Fat:16g
Fiber:8.5
Sugar:0 (besides what's naturally in the fruit which is about 13g or cut out bananna and sub with 1 C Berry Medley instead of 1/2 C and becomes only 5g of natural sugar)

Directions: Blend all together and enjoy! There is over 30 grams of protien
*P.s you dont even taste the walnuts and I just got in good essential fats into my smoothie! I hope you enjoy!

All I Can Say Is Yikes!

Hi Guys! Today is Wednesday and I'm halfway through my workouts. Its my first week of Insanity Max Workouts and Im dying! They are hardcore. They kick my butt in a way no other workout has. Im looking forward to tomorrows recovery workout that is a little slower in pace but good stretching. I woke up feeling like I can barely move, my muscles are so tight but I pushed through my workout today. At least I know its working. Some fun things I went over this week was my measurements! I'll show you how they are currently looking: Start as of March 11, 2012/Current as May 6, 2012 Weight 181/161 Chest 40/38 Waist 34 1/2 /30 Hips 38 1/2 / 36 1/2 Neck 13/12 1/2 Shoulders 42/ 42 1/2 Right Upper Arm 12 1/2 / 11 1/2 Left Upper Arm 11 1/2 / 11 Right Forearm 9 1/4 / 9 1/4 Left Forearm 9 1/4 / 9 1/4 Right Thigh 24 1/2 / 22 1/2 Left Thigh 24 1/2 / 22 1/2 Right Calf 14 1/2 / 13 3/4 Left Calf 15 / 14 1/2 Its neat to see the changes on paper. The most significant of changes I physically notice are in my arms and legs. Some fun things I got to help me in my Insanity workouts are my new Nike Free Trainers!I love them. Very light wieght and flexible.

I also ordered the Results and Recovery Formula for after my workouts.

I knew I would be sore this week so I went ahead and bought some. I hope it works for me today! Taste is great, just like a 50/50 ice cream bar. Oh yes another BIGGG change for me this week. C A L O R I E S. Dun dun dun. Normally I consume around 1200 calories a day. Well now with my handy dandy Polar HR Monitor

I can see just how many calories I'm burning. Mondays workout I burned a whopping 750 calories. So I have to take that into my diet consideration. I HAVE TO EAT MORE. Yikes! According to the the beachbody formula I should be taking in around 2000 calories. Yes its alot but in theory Im only taking in my normal 1200 calories. I guess the idea is to make my body not feel starved otherwise it wants to hold onto fat. I have been very strict on my diet this week and for the next month to come. No sugar what so ever except in friuts I have. Whole wheats and grains. Lots of Veggies and good essential fats. Some of my meals look like this: Breakfast: Stell Cut Oats w/ Blueberries Walnuts Almond Milk Pinch of Splenda brown sugar to taste (or) English muffun w/ Peanut Butter Half bannana sliced pieces to top Lunch: Chicken Wrap w/ whole wheat tortilla spinach cucumber red bell pepper ranch Dinner: Tuna Steak w/ Brown rice (or) Lean Turkey Burger W/ avocado slice of cheese 2 slices double fiber wheat bread mayo (or) Salmon Brown rice Broccoli To help me track my calories I created an account at myfitnesspal.com. Here they have a large food database especially if you shop at Trader Joe's. I can also log in my exsercise and it shows me what calories to add for the day. I also like that it quotes me " If every day were like today ... You'd weigh 150.9 lbs in 5 weeks!" Pretty cool if you ask me. I hope that I have encouraged you to make a slight move forward in your life. Hope everybody is happy and healthy. ~Cierra

Made It To Another Friday!

Hi guys! Today is Friday and I made it through my week of workouts! Yes by Friday Im completely shot. This week I worked on Core Cardio and Balance to prep me for next weeks workouts. I officially go into the "Max" Insanity workouts. I'm not going to lie I'm scared! I know it will be worth it. Staying motivated in this process is not easy. In fact today I wasn't all wanting to do my workout but I had to try. So I did and half way succeeded. Im proud of that, being very much sleep deprived at the moment. I believe your best is what counts. Some things that do motivate me are Pinterest, pictures and quotes for some reason move me. Also my new calorie counting watch is amazing. I love seeing what I burned!!! Another thing that oddly motivates me is a mirror. No not being conceded but if I'm able to watch how I work out I can correct myself and feel like I'm doing the workout correct and one day not seeing jiggle would be nice. Keep on pushing is all the advice I can give. After feeling like I had no change and kind of down about my body I still keep going and picture where I want to be. Im an instant gratification type but today something has changed and I cant be more happy! I went to the local Tj Maxx and thought why not try on a few things... So I grabbed different sizes of clothes to see what would work. Last week I was so desperate for a pair of jeans that fit. I went to the thirft store and found a pair of jeans that were a size 8! C R A Z Y! I thought it was a fluke, maybe running large. I tried a size 8 in these cute summer shorts with buttons on the side. A M A Z M E N T. They FIT!!!!! It feels so good to know that my hard work really is paying off! I cant say more. Here's my goofy outfit..I had to post in black and white because I have white girl legs!!! Thank goodness summer is around the corner!

My Healthy Changes

Hello There! Well I just finished my Insanity workout and I'm loving it! Im feeling really motivated so I wanted to share some thoughts with you. To catch up I havent felt all that motivated to blog about my exercise and dieting (I mean life style change) but as I am progressing I want to be able to look back and see my hard work and feel that accomplishment we all need, especially when its a struggle. Back in December I started cutting out sugar from my diet and controlling my carb intake. If you want the exact diet look up the book "The Belly Fat Cure" by George Cruise. Thank you to my best friend who introduced this to me! I immediately started this diet. It was not easy! Lowering your sugar intake is like taking candy away from a kid! In the first two weeks I went through major sugar withdrawls making me have horrible headaches! Eventually after about three weeks it started to fade away. I started seeing mood changes and more energy. Like magic!

While I agree taking sugar out of a diet is exactly what I needed to do, its not for everyone but a tablespoon of sugar is like a tablespoon of poison. Really they should have warning labels just like medication or alcohol. By really watching my sugar intake I realized how much I really was taking in! I was probably consuming over 200 grams of sugar easily! I always thought dieting meant watching calories and carbs but what about the sugar? Some of the low fat, low calorie foods have more sugar in it to make up for taking away fats. Well I now try to only consume no more than 15 grams of sugar a day. Some days I do go over but in consideration of what it used to be I'm ok with that. Its now been 4 months since I started this new healthy life style and I have successfully lost 20 pounds! I actually started getting compliments about my weightloss and it feels so good! My hard work is paying off! Now not only have I cut down sugar but about a month ago I started doing the Insanity workout by Shawn T. Man does it kick your butt! Not untill I actually started working out that others started noticing my body changing. I too have seen changes but when you see yourself everyday its hard to notice slight changes. What I like about Insanity is it comes with a complete workout schedule and Shawn T is "pretty" motivating. Haha. I encourage anyone to try it but it is Insane!

Some other things that have help with my healthy eating is the all amazing Crock Pot!!! I love that thing and I recently adopted a baby crock pot to do more. Ha, I sound crazy! But really, being able to get in your veggies isn't easy especially when a year ago I would touch a green thing! Seriously. Now I incorporate all the veggies I can and eat simple lean meats like chicken. There is nothing easiler than a crock pot. I reccomend looking up mamaandbabylove.com she has some great receipies and ideas in making out your freezer meals for the month.

Its changed my life! Pinterest is also a great place to find crock pot receipes. I will try to share some of my favorite receipes with you soon! I hope you all are doing great. Live happy and healthy everyone! Miss Cierra <3

Sugar Free???

Ok so Im starting this blog to share a little bit more of my personal dealings with food. Recently I started a sugar-free diet and it has its challenges! I like food but I need to learn to LOVE food so that I treat my body well. A few months ago I went on a sugar free diet and lost close to 10 pounds in two weeks. It was great! However I didnt stick to it and I gave into the sugar again! I gained the weight back and here I am again trying to start over. Ive been on this diet for about two weeks now and I have lost about seven pounds.I really want this to be a life style and not a diet. I have felt what sugar does to me moody, tired and depressed. When I started taking sugars again my body just does not take sugars like it used to before. I always feel kinda sick. Long story short Im trying some new receipes and I thought I would share the adventure with you.