Tag Archives: healthy-living

Finally Found a Groove

After being wishy washy for a while with my nutrition and fitness, I think I have finally found my groove.

As I mentioned before, I started Focus T25 a few weeks ago. I did three weeks of the program just to check it out and see how I liked it, then restarted it with a challenge group on Facebook. I gotta tell you…I have NEVER sweat as much with any program, like I do with T25. Okay…I sweat my ass with Insanity but this is almost a tie! A TIE…that’s crazy!

This program fits into my schedule like a glove and while I get frustrated at being rhythmically challenged, my two left foot are making progress! I may even develop rhythm, along with cardio endurance, thanks to this workout!

I’ve also made some changes in my diet. I borrowed a few books from the library on Paleo and Whole 30 diets. While I’m not adhering to either 100%, there is tons of amazing information in there and I’ve taken that info into account, when assessing my dietary needs and goals. Two of the books I found most informative are Practical Paleo by Diane Sanfilippo, BS, NC and It Starts With Food by Dallas & Melissa Hartwig.

The other change I made was incorporating weight lifting into my routine again.

I LOVE lifting. It makes me feel strong, I can feel my metabolism really kick in and I love the way my arms look when I lift.

Mike just started a Body Beast/Focus T25 Hybrid this week, so I decided to join him at night when he does the Body Beast workouts. It feels great to lift again and I can already feel a difference in my body by adding it! Weight lifting is so important even if you are looking to lose weight. Having more muscle increases your metabolism, even when you are not working out, so your body burns more calories all day long.

Another aspect that has really helped me the past few weeks is meal planning and meal prepping. All of the programs I have done come with amazing Nutrition Guides which are full of recipes, so I started digging through them, the books I mentioned above and of course Pinterest, for meal ideas and tips on meal prepping (I’ll have a separate post on this soon!)

One of the great recipes I’ve used came from the Body Beast guide…this recipe is quick, tasty and can be transformed into many different meals throughout the week. They also freeze really well so you can make double batches and just pull one batch from the freezer midweek and you’re good to go!

Body Beast Sagi's Signature Meatballs

This is another good recipe I tried this week from the Body Beast guide. I didn’t have the seeds on hand so I used some ground flax seed and unsweetened coconut in it’s place. They were missing some crunch without them, so I need to try this again!

Body Beast Power Protein Balls

Finding my groove has been a long time in the making and I’m happy I finally lifted the right rock to locate it. I look forward to sharing more on this new chapter with you as well as recipes, tips and anything else I come to realize along the way.

If you are trying to find your groove, please stop by my Facebook page. There are a few different accountability groups going on as well as info on the programs I have completed on my journey.

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September is National Yoga Month!

AthletaYoga

Leave it to me to run a 30 Day Yoga Challenge the month BEFORE National Yoga Month. I’m going to view it as being a trend setter. Maybe being a bit ahead of myself? Okay…okay…I don’t pay enough attention to these National “_____” Day lists, lesson learned!

Thankfully the wonderful folks over at Athleta sent me an e-mail sharing a series they have put together with YogaGlo, which starts today! They’ll be offering a series of FREE on-line yoga classes beginning today, September 1st through the end of the month!

Anyone can enjoy the classes by visiting www.Athleta.com/YogaMonth and pick from the 3 practice levels available:

– Level 1 class to kick start your day
– Level 2 class for recovery after a busy day
– Level 3 class designed as cross-training for athletes

Additionally Athleta will be hosting special events at both the Upper East Side and Upper West Side stores throughout the month! Please visit www.Athleta.com/Stores for details on events and free classes happening at both stores as well as the other NY locations in Scarsdale and Manhasset.

If you participated and enjoyed the 30-Day Yoga Challenge I hosted over on my Facebook Page in August, or missed that but wanted to try a month of yoga, I definitely recommend checking this out. I love that they are offering three different levels of yoga to fit your needs, as well as special in-store events!

Also, I’ll be running a Couch to 5K Accountability over on the Facebook page this month! If you have always wanted to try running but didn’t know where to start, now is the time to give it a shot and have a group to support you on your new journey. If you’re local to me, I’ll also be hosting a live group three times per week. Leave a comment or hop on over to my page to let me know you’d like to join. I’ll be posting more info this week as our start date will be September 9th!

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{Product Review} Lifeway Frozen Kefir

Summer and ice-cream go hand in had to me. They are a perfect duo and few things say summer more than enjoying some ice-cream on a hot summer day or night. Okay, so a juicy burger and a cold beer in the yard say summer too, but I digress.

Recently, I was asked by Influenster to participate in a review for Lifeway brand Kefir. I had seen and heard of kefir before, but I had never tried it, so I figured why not?!

Never heard of kefir? I’ll let Lifeway describe it for you… “Kefir is a cultured probiotic beverage similar in taste and texture to drinkable yogurt, and made from milk fermented with kefir cultures. Originating over 2000 years ago in the Caucasus Mountains-where many people live well over 100 years – kefir has been associated with a long list of health benefits.” 
#LWaySummer

I saw that they made a frozen kefir and since I love me some ice-cream, I decided that I would try that over the smoothies they offer. I’ve also been opting for frozen yogurt instead of ice-cream lately, so I figured the kefir would be similar. Thankfully, one of my local grocery stores had it. They didn’t have Mango, which was the flavor I had my heart set on, but they did have Pomegranate so I grabbed a pint of that and headed to the check-out with my voucher.

Before cracking open my frozen treat, I flipped it over to see what the ingredients and nutrition info was and it wasn’t awful. The sugar was higher than I would have liked but compared to regular ice-cream, I thought it had a decent ingredient list.

Frozen Kefir – Tart and Tangy Pomegranate 1pnt (473ml)

Each of their frozen kefir varieties feature all-natural ingredients and 10 probiotic cultures. Each flavor has only 90 calories per serving, 1 gram of fat per serving and is 99% lactose-free as well as gluten-free. Sounds great, but how is it going to taste?!

I’m happy to report that it was really freaking good! It had a nice smooth, creamy texture and the flavor was perfectly tart and tangy. I will definitely be trying the other flavors that my local grocer has in stock and I hope to find some of the others that I have heard of, too!

If you’d like to locate a store near you and get a coupon to try some Lifeway Frozen Kefir for yourself, click here!

Have you ever tried any of the Lifeway Kefir products? If so, I would love to know which product and flavor is your favorite.

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*I received a voucher for one free Lifeway Kefir item as a perk of being part of the Influenster program. All thoughts and opinions are my own.*

 

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Keep Calm…Dammit!

Keep CalmIt’s been awhile since I’ve stepped on a scale. I’m pretty sure I’ve made it known that I don’t like the scale and it doesn’t tell an accurate story of what’s going on with your body.

I normally just use my measurements and how my clothes are fitting as a guide and I adjust things from there. Well, today I stepped on the body mass calculator, in order to log all of my numbers for the official start of the Focus T25 challenge group that I am running with a friend, and the number wasn’t pretty.

Now in the rational part of my brain, I know why there was such a jump in the number on the evil little piece of bathroom equipment, but the rational part of my brain was abruptly over thrown by the irrational part of my brain when I saw the number. I immediately began to freak out and wonder how this could be. I mean, yeah, I haven’t followed a program for a while and yes, I’ve been a slacker with running…but I’ve been okay with my eating and I have been active. Where did I go so wrong? How could my clothes still fit well if there was such a jump?

Then I took my measurements and laughed at myself. They are all the same except for my thighs…they went up quite a bit and I always had a flat booty but that is no longer the case since I started running and squatting. THAT is my answer right there. I have built a lot of muscle in my lower body over the past few months. Now I know not all of it is muscle, the time of day as well as the month plays a role in a woman’s weight and I know there is room for improvement with my diet, but once again, measurements told some key plot points to the story.

It’s scary how quickly the rational part of my brain shut down and how upset I got over a number on a scale. I believe part of it has to do with how I refuse to go back to were I came from. It’s actually a big fear of mine, so knowing I’ve been off my normal routine and not as good as I should be with nutrition, teamed up with a weight spike, freaked me the fuck out!

On the bright side, I feel a little clearer on my goals, know that my nutrition is key and I’m truly looking forward to getting to know those participating in the challenge and seeing what a full 60 days with this program can result in!

Have you ever experienced a moment like this? Where you know better but your emotions just take off and leave common sense behind?

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{Recipe} Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Chicken Thighs

We are a week into the August Clean Eating Accountability and Yoga Challenge and I’m loving it!

I’ve been following a good 80/20 rule with my eating and even that 20% has been full of smarter choices. A new challenge always means new recipes for me, so I hit Pinterest and started searching for Clean Eating and Whole 30 meals that looked good to me…then I put my own spin on them.

The recipe I’m about to share is a combination of two recipes I found on there. One was a stuffed chicken thigh and the other was a bacon wrapped chicken thigh. Both sounded delicious and I couldn’t choose which one sounded better so I decided to merge them together, make a few changes to the stuffing and the results were delish!!

Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Chicken Thighs

  • bacon wrapped stuffed chicken thighs¼ cup cashews
  • ½ medium onion
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • small handful of basil
  • 1 cup baby spinach (kale would work too)
  • boneless, skinless chicken thighs
  • Cajun seasoning, to taste (I use Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning)
  • nitrate-free bacon

 Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. In a food processor, combine the cashews, onion, garlic, basil and spinach. Pulse until it forms a thick paste with no large chunks in it. (If needed, add a little water or vegetable stock to thin it out so it doesn’t get stuck – but don’t make it runny.)
  3. Open the chicken thighs and lay them out flat. Sprinkle with your seasoning, then spoon some of the mixture into each thigh. Roll it up and then wrap with a slice a bacon. Place each thigh, bacon seam down on your baking pan.
  4. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until a meat thermometer reads the proper temperature, between 165- 175 degrees.

These were really easy to make and they tasted amazing! I served them with some roasted sweet potato and zucchini.

As for yoga, I’m REALLY loving this series and I’m so happy I stumbled upon it on YouTube! Having a quick, program that is beginner friendly has been key to me sticking with daily practice.

I’m also happy to report that I have started running again! It felt good to get back out there and while my legs are really sore right now, I didn’t lose that much progress, which was a pleasant surprise.

Have you tried any new recipes since starting the challenge? Please be sure to share them with the rest of the group and if you Instagram or Tweet a photo, use the hashtag #EatCleanWithNikki

If you are hearing about this for the first time, please join us over on Facebook for daily accountability, recipe and snack ideas and of course, the daily yoga video!

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August Challenge: Clean Eating & Yoga

August is upon us and with it brings us a new challenge!

First off…congrats to everyone who stuck with the July Squat & Plank Challenge. I know how hard it is during the summer to stick with these things, so even if you missed a few days (I know I did), you still did awesome if you kept coming back to it!

This month I’m changing it up a bit. I found out that many of us struggle with nutrition, so a clean eating challenge seemed like the logical way to go. I also found that many of us have a lot of stress in our daily lives, so I’ll be posting  daily yoga video on the Facebook Page to help center and relax us!

I have already posted some Clean Eating basics over on Facebook, as well as Day 1 of the Yoga routine. There is also a tab on the upper right side of the Facebook page where I have a link to Pinterest. I’ll be pinning lots of clean recipes over there, so make sure to check it often or follow me on Pinterest.

#EatCleanWithNikki

For this challenge I want us to all work as a team. I’ll help you as much as I can but expect the following from you:

  • You need to check-in daily on the Facebook Page.
  • Share any new clean snacks you may have found, as well as recipes that you’ve tried.
  • Share any slip-ups or struggles you may have. I try to be as honest as possible here on my blog and lord knows I get derailed quite often. We are all human and we can’t be perfect. If you have a slip-up and happen to not eat so clean for a meal, it’s okay! Dust yourself off for your next meal and make sure it’s as clean as you can make it.
  • No matter how much you dislike yoga, try it! If you really hate it, just lay in corpse pose for at least 10-minutes, clear your mind and focus on breathing. We all need to take a break from our daily crazy tasks to just breathe.
  • Don’t try to go cold turkey! If you use 6 teaspoons of sugar in your coffee a day, cut back or try something like Stevia in the Raw. Going from 0-120 with this will only set you up to binge. I’d rather you take baby steps to ingrain a new, healthy habit. Just make sure you are making changes.
  • Be supportive of one another!

Following an 80/20 rule will also make this less stressful and stress is one of the things I’m also aiming to reduce with this challenge!

We have a few different diet restrictions (Gluten-Free, Paleo, Vegetarian & Vegan) participating in this challenge as well as a yoga instructor, so please feel free to post questions! If I don’t know the answer, someone else might!

If you are on Twitter or Instagram and take photos of your yoga practice, meals or snacks, please use the hashtag #EatCleanWithNikki and be sure to follow me! I’ll share some on the blog as we go through the month!

So who’s ready to eat clean and de-stress with a quick, daily yoga workout?

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Refocusing

focusMore often than not, I seem to be refocusing. I refocus on workouts, nutrition, cleaning schedules, and priorities in general. Life seems to be a constant juggling act, and more and more items keep getting tossed in. It’s hard not to drop something from time to time.

Running is the item that got dropped a while back and you know what? I miss it.

I set a goal for this year to hit 500 miles and I stalled out at 250 due to illness, frustration and then the heat. Frustration and heat are excuses and I know it. I know that you have to push through frustration and I know that there are ways around the heat. The time has come for me to stop making the excuses and start logging miles again. I’m a happier person when I run and I’m tired of feeling like a quitter.

This past week I started to refocus with Focus T25. The amount of sweat my body produces in 25 minutes with these workouts, is both amazing and gross. I’m hoping to build my cardio back up with this routine, so easing back into running will be a little smoother.

The next part of my refocus plan is an August “Clean Eating” accountability that I will be running over on the Facebook Page. I’ll be posting the basics of clean eating, shopping guides and recipes over there each day. My eating has been pretty good, but it took a nose dive during Mike’s vacation this past week. I’m hoping that as a group, we can stay accountable, help each other find new recipes and form new, healthier habits. I’ve always had success while working in groups and I’m hoping that those participating will too.

As well as the clean eating accountability, I plan on sharing a daily yoga workout on the Facebook page each day. If there is one thing I’ve learned during my fitness journey, it’s that no matter how badly I suck at yoga, it is important to my routine. I’ll benefit from a stretching/muscle recovery aspect as well as mentally with meditation/stress relief. I always feel better after doing yoga, yet I always manage to skip it…I clearly make no sense and need to fix this.

Ultimately, life happens, and our grand plans don’t always work out as planned. As long as you take a moment to stop, see where things went wrong and refocus, your goals can still be reached.

Are you ready to refocus with me? What aspect of your routine do you need to focus on?

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{Wordless Wednesday} Happy Fourth of July

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{Photo from Lilsugar.com – Click for recipes}

 

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{Fitness Friday} Man of Steel Edition

Man of Steel

As I mentioned earlier this week, Mike and I went to see Man of Steel in IMAX. While watching this movie, you can’t help but notice the physique of Henry Cavill  (if you can, you’re blind) so of course we became curious as to what he did to prepare for this role. Mike found this video and passed it along to me, so of course, I’m passing it on you!

I love that they talk about the mental and emotional side of fitness in this clip. With quotes like “He has opened my eyes to seeing past what I thought were my limits.” and “…you come to a point where your mind allows you to break through your physical boundaries, and takes you to places you never thought you could go to.” this clip really hit home for me.

I am 100% in the mental part of fitness right now. I know that my body is capable of things, but my mind holds me back many times. It’s funny because in the beginning, I was scared that my body couldn’t handle what I mentally wanted to do…and now it’s reverse. You would think by this stage of the game I would have it all figured out, but I don’t. I struggle and I fail just like everyone else, but I pick myself up and I keep pushing forward.

If you are interested in seeing the workouts that trainer Mark Twight did with Henry Cavill did to prepare for his role as the Man of Steel, watch the two videos below (they teach you how to get proper form) or go to the Soldier of Steel website where you can print them out in .PDF form.

Soldier of Steel Workouts…

I hope you enjoy these videos as much as I did. While the moves in this may not be for you, I hope you at least walk away with the tips on proper form and apply them to whichever workout you decide to do!

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{Wordless Wednesday} I’m KIND of Obsessed

KIND bars

 

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