The Shakeology Cleanse with Coach Kourtney

So… have you indulged a little too much lately?

I have a confession. Lately, I started getting back into sweets, fried foods, and fast food. Horrible, I know.  I knew I needed to stop when I realized how tired I was. So, since I am a beach body coach, I decided to put my Shakeology shakes to use, (although I hate, hate, hate doing cleanses). They are hard. The end. But I am sliding down, and I need to get myself back on track, and I have the answer staring me in the face, so I have no more damn excuses to not do this. So, here goes nothing.

Below is a the good, bad, and ugly of how I got through the four (insert sarcastic tone here) 'blissful" days of my cleanse. Enjoy. 

Day 1: It’s Monday morning. Sunday, I cooked greens and broccoli and rice and various veggies to get e through this cleanse, which consists of three Shakeology shakes a day, a serving of veggies, and a salad with protein for dinner. No cheese, no dairy, no sugar. For three days. So I make my shakes, get my eggs and brown rice together because I know I need more protein thanks to my two-a-day workouts. (I do 20 minute interval training or weights in the morning, and teach turbo classes in the evenings, or another workout, like Insanity. Again, I’m a BB coach because I love their workouts.  (100 pounds don’t come off easy, ya heard?) Morning, not bad, I have a couple shakes and I am not hungry. I have the brown rice, mixed veggies and some greens for lunch. Then I have another shake for a snack before I go to the gym. Can I say how much I want candy? I text two of my friends for inspiration. The hard part comes towards the end of my class, because I just plain run out of energy. Looks like a longer abs routine for my class. I’m beat.

Day 2: I wake up tired, I didn’t get much sleep. I still get a workout in. Again, more shakes, greens and rice for lunch.  Another shake on the way to class.  I’m sleepy, and I don’t get out of class until 9, and I sucked down two bottles of water. Starving. I get home, I make myself some popcorn (which really isn’t on the menu, and go to bed.

Day 3: Same thing, except I add eggs and chicken so I won’t run out of energy. Scale says I’m five pounds down. I stare at a milky way and pack it up. 3^rd day of no sugar. I don’t crave it. I suck some more water down and keep it moving, and have an awesome class. I go home and have a bowl of cereal with rice milk, which I do not like and it is not on my menu. I am full off of one bowl. Bedtime. No cravings.

Day 4 (the last day): I made it. 8 pounds down, and a 1.5 inches off my waist. Was this shit hard? Yes. But, I made it through another day eating healthy, no sugar, and my energy is back. Was this shit worth it? Hell yes! (excuse my French).

3 shakes a day, veggies, green tea and water, no dairy, no sugar. Shakeology has a day’s worth of servings of veggies and fruits, and over 70 good for you ingredients.  You want in? Holla at ya girl. I’m on a roll and I have officially re-dedicated myself back to my healthy diet. Wait, lifestyle. Because this is for life, whether I like it or not. And, it works. This is my third time doing this particular cleanse. The first two times, I lost 7 pounds. Two of my other friends did this as well, and both lost 5 pounds.  Another lost 10. But don’t expect to go back to your other sugar laden and fried food lifestyle, or you will waste your time and money.  

*Special Edition* Keeping Track of your Success with Coach Kourtney

Where have you been?

Summer time is coming. It’s time to ask yourself, what have you achieved so far? Where you have succeeded? Have you lost those first five pounds? How far has your intensity and endurance come along? Are you fitting into a smaller size? Better yet, have people started to take notice of you? The changes in your appearance? Have you been able to successfully keep track of your steps?

Take a moment to write down at least 5 things that you have accomplished. Now write down 5 more that you like and love about yourself. Post it where you can see it. Read these every day, when you are feeling down, or just because.  It’s important to do this because you need to keep yourself positive and moving forward. Don’t hinder yourself by thinking about what you haven’t done or negative thoughts about yourself or your body.

Where are you going?

Now that you feel good about where you have been, let’s talk about where you are going. I want to you to think about what is something that you are working towards, looking forward to, saving up for.  Here are some great ways to keeps track of your progress toward that goal. I recently read a great idea of where you put a dollar in a jar for every day that you work out for visual motivation, and use that money once it reaches a certain point, for a new outfit, vacation, or set reward. 

Another great idea was to use a couple of jars filled with pebbles, maybe change, and have one jar that symbolizes pounds and inches lost, and the other symbolizes how many more you are working towards. Put these three jars on your bedroom dresser, on your kitchen counter, dining room table, or the table by the door. Maybe in front of the TV. My point is, keep it visible, keep it where you will see it and think about it every day, so that it becomes a HABIT. Then there will be no excuses for why you can’t work out or eat better.

Your progress and keeping track is an essential part of changing your lifestyles. Keep yourself accountable and stay positive about yourself. You are your own best friend. You are your own best friend, cheerleader, and motivator. Be good to yourself. Always. In all ways.  And remember, we are not dogs. We don’t need to reward ourselves with food!

What you need to do Now?

This week: Try these moves. I love resistance bands. You can take them anywhere and use them. If you don’t have them, use some weights that will have your muscles tired by the last few reps, and add some jump ropes, jumping jacks, and/or tuck jumps in between sets to keep that heart rate up.

Shout out to Kenya Jackson and Tam Brummer. My loves, that have set goals to eat clean and train for marathons. Not only did they accomplish this, they did it with flying colors. They are rock stars. We all need positive role models like this in our lives. Get rid of that dead weight, spiritually, mentally, and physically. Starting now. 

Mondays with Coach Kourtney: Motivation. Part two.

Motivation has been the big topic lately, now that everyone’s new year’s resolutions have slacked off and the steam is being lost. People are losing focus or and not seeing results as fast as they would like. Etc, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah. Same story, different year. You say,  "I’m going to lose it," but this is always what happens.

             

The first thing you need to do is ask yourself, "why am I losing weight? Is it for me? Is it because you found some new weight loss system, like HCG, to help you drop 50 in two weeks? Maybe the Sensa drops? Or maybe you and a girlfriend wanted to start, and you were doing well, and then, you started eating instead of hitting the gym.

No matter how you answer those questions, its important to remember, there is NO magic formula for motivation. No matter how much you ask me or any other fitness professional about motivation, we cannot motivate you if you are not ready. Weight loss is a hard journey. You HAVE to eat better. You HAVE to exercise more. You HAVE to get sweaty. And, whether you like it or not, you HAVE to make it a priority. You have to be mentally ready to take the plunge and start going. You have to be ready for people to make fun of you, to not believe in you, to eat the foods you want when you are changing over. No if’s, and’s, or but’s. That’s it.  I personally have to recharge my batteries every few months, and I have to commit to a program to keep me motivated. I have done P90X, Insanity, Insanity: The Asylum, and Turbo Fire. Rev Abs, The Firm… I’ve done them, because for me, it is easy to get a program, with a calendar, and a meal plan, and follow it. It is also easy for me to go to a gym and go to group exercise classes.

               

  And now, with social media, there should be no excuse. You have Facebook. Twitter. Pinterest, etc, etc. You can "friend" your trainers, chat with  fitness friends, find accountability groups and so on. So unless you are ready to move your butt from the couch, stop making excuses about why your job hours are keeping you from the video, and stop telling yourself that the chicken wing is too good to give up, you may not ready to make a change. Me, I like my calendar with my progress (um, 20 pounds lost since September? I’ll take it). I like my veggies and shakes to keep me moving. I like seeing people’s eyes drop out of their heads when they see me. I like the congratulations. I like being able to fit into regular clothes and go to Cedar Point and not worry about fitting into the rides. I like the sweat. I like the soreness. I like the accomplishment. Most of all, I like me. And that is what is most important. Because those naysayers don’t have your best interest at heart, but your mental mindset is all you need for YOU!

                Try these exercises; let me know if they work. Find me on Facebook; feel free to ask me anything, I’ll tell you. Find your motivation. Decide. Commit. Go. 

Mondays with Coach Kourtney: Fail to Plan and Plan to Fail!

Routine; do you have one? It is so important to establish a daily routine in your life, especially as we are focusing on our goals, weight loss, career, and school, whatever your heart desires. A routine helps with so many different things in weight loss, the food that goes into your mouth, the activity that you do, and the exercises you will complete. Take a good, hard look at your schedule and ask yourself.

Do you have time to cook?

Do you have time for long exercise?

Do you like to eat at certain times?

How do you and how can you fit healthy eating and moving into your schedule?

This is the type of stuff you should be planning out each and every week, each and every month. I have a wall calendar and a planner that I write my monthly and weekly goals in every day, (I check things off as I do them). I also track my monthly progress every month, weight, measurements and body fat, which I chart and write on my wall calendar. I make my weekly food planner and post it on the fridge so that I know what to cook, or prepare Sunday and in the mornings to have my food for the day. I do this because, I am usually gone from place for upwards of 10 hours at a time!

If you leave your schedule to chance, you also leave your food intake to chance as well as your exercise. Chances are, you will grab fast food and sweets, and decide you are too busy to work out, or you are too tired at the end of a long day. This why it is so important to know when and what you have time to do, and what kind of food you need to have on hand to stay putting healthier food in your body.

As far as food, I make sure I have balanced meals in my fridge.  And when it comes to time, I also make sure I have enough to fit in both weights a couple of sessions of intense cardio. My food and exercise regimen keeps me fueled and energetic enough to keep up with my furious and full schedule, which can change on a whim. If I have to work out in the morning in order to keep my energy up for the day, I do. Plus, if I get my work out done in the morning…it’s out to the way and I ready to roll.

How ‘bout you?  What is your routine?

*Sidenote: Did you try a new exercise routine with some weights? Try making those weights heavier with the same routine from last week and see if you feel a difference by the end of the week. Let me know! *

Mondays with Coach Kourtney: We all slip-up...but make sure you GET UP!

                As I am sitting here, I’m celebrating my success. In the two years since I’ve started my weight loss journey, with that first turbo kick class (and throwing out all my bread and pop), I’ve lost 110 pounds. Yes, I started at around 320 pounds. I am now weighing in between 204-206, in between a size 12 and a size 14. And while I should be happy, all I am thinking about is those last 15 pounds.

                I’ve been here before. Right before my birthday, I was 199. And then alcohol and cake consumed my life for the next couple of weeks. Before I knew it, I was at 220. WHAT??? Yes. So, while my goal is to fit comfortably in a size 12, maybe a 10, and weigh between 185-190, I had to basically start over. I had to get myself back in gear. I had to work out again. I was struggling through my classes, my energy had gone way down, and my skin had broken out. Um, no…

                So I cried. Pulled out my calendar, wrote down some workouts, and created an accountability group on Facebook. How can I preach fitness and nutrition if I don’t practice it? I started the group on 11/11/11. I started my workouts 11/09/11. Less than three months later, I am back down 15 pounds, but it sure was a lot harder to work it off this time. What did I do? I cleaned up my eating. I kicked the alcohol. I kicked the sweets. I ate a lot of vegetables and protein shakes for a week. I did intense workouts and two-a-day workouts 2-3 times a week. I kicked up my weight training. I calculated my BMR to understand how much I needed to eat to burn my food, not keep it from eating too little. I was not going to be fat again!!!

                We all fall off the wagon. We all get frustrated in our progress. We all see plateaus. All it takes is that small tweak or that "in your face moment" to change your resolve. Now, get back on the horse!!! I’m gonna say it again: write down your goals, post them, take pictures of every bite that goes into your mouth, log it, and use a PEN to schedule your workouts in your planner, and check off your goals and workouts daily as you complete them. How much do you have to lose in three months?

TRY THIS...

                Try some weights this week. Do some bicep curls with squats, 3 rounds of 12-15 repetitions. Try some standing rows, 3 rounds of 12-15 repetitions on your left and right sides, and try some plies with shoulder raises, hands straight down, plié position, lift arms straight up to shoulder and then back down as you plié. Make sure you are controlling the weight, counting to 3 as you raise and as you lower, and if your muscles aren’t tired after twelve reps, you need heavier weights. If they are tired after a few reps, you need to lighten up. Try this routine, 3 rounds, 12-15 times each, with some pushups and ab/core work, twice this week. Tell me how it feels.

Happy Monday!

Mondays with Coach K: "You can't Out-run your mouth"

It’s Monday, you find yourself thinking about all the work you have to do, but have you also planned out your meals? Your food makes up 80% of your new and healthy lifestyle. Exercising is great and it is a wonderful commitment to have, but you cannot outrun, outlift, or outcardio what you put in your mouth. In last week’s blog, I talked about calculating your BMR, which will help you decide how much you need to eat to lose weight. While calories are calories, you can eat a lot more of the good stuff and feel better than to eat a little of the bad stuff and try to work out for an extra fifteen minutes to work it off. I personally burn between 2800-3800 calories a day, but I also am heavier than the average 150 pound woman that fitness books write about, thanks to being bigger boned and more toned up. That means I need to eat between 2300 to 3200 calories a day, and burn at least 300 calories with exercise daily to lose weight. A normal workout for me burns well over 700 calories, so I eat healthy protein like nuts, greek yogurt, a protein shake, or a bowl of veggies to help keep my calories up instead of having a bowl of ice cream.

                I made a small change in my diet last week and lost a couple pounds. It was a simple move and one I always recommend to people that ask me about losing weight. Eat more veggies and drink more water. That is it. Seriously. Don’t overhaul your diet in one week and expect to be successful. You will crave and you will give in, and then you think, well, I messed up breakfast, so, let’s get at lunch and dinner. I’ll start over tomorrow. Guess what? Tomorrow may never come for your change, not until you realize you’ve gained five pounds, you can’t fit into those pants anymore, or you are at the doctor’s office wishing that donut away.

                Make one or two small goals a week. I sit down on Sundays and decide what I want to do for the week. Last week, I want to add more veggies to my diet and drink an extra bottle of water daily. So, at every meal, I look to see how I can add some veggies. I’m going to drink my Shakeology, which has a day’s worth of veggies in one packet. I’m going to start my lunch and dinner with a bowl of a vegetable, and then I’m going to eat the rest of my food. Because of that small change, I ate less of the other stuff, and didn’t eat any fast food last week. Then, I kept a bottle of water by my bed, one in the car, and one on the kitchen counter, so that every time I saw that water, I drank some. Then being the OCD person I am, I don’t want to have half empty bottles everywhere, so I finish the water and replace it. Viola! I have added in more water without really trying.

                My meals usually are green tea, coffee, cereal and greek yogurt for breakfast, shakeology for a snack, veggies and protein for lunch, nuts for a snack, and veggies and protein for dinner. I literally eat all day long, but keep in mind, it’s not how much I eat, but what I eat. I have green tea and water  with every meal, as well as some sort of veggie with lunch, dinner, and snack.

                Maybe you want to give up pop and soda. Swap a can for water. Maybe it is fried food. Swap a fried meal for something baked or broiled. Maybe it is something sweet. Try some yogurt with fresh fruit in place of that candy bar. Small changes add up, and once you conquer one thing, you will find it easier and easier to conquer the next. And as always, take five minutes at the end of your day to assess how you did. As you find you are making better changes, you will find that you feel better, not only with more energy, but about yourself in general. Celebrate that!!! Conquer one or two goals and move on to the next, and the next, and the next, and then you will be sliding into those pants!

                Now that you have some extra energy, try a new workout. Your body adjusts to exercise every 4-6 weeks, so now you need to try new things to see what you like. If you like running, you will keep doing it. If you like a certain group exercise class, you will keep doing it. Try one out, and tell me what you like and didn’t like. I would like to know. I love boot camp, Insanity, and Turbo Kick, but I hate running and zumba. I know that, so guess what I will stick to? Most people love Zumba and P90X, I’m just not a fan, because I like my workouts to move faster and be really challenging as well, without using a whole lot of extra tools. I could help you burn 500+ calories in 20 minutes just using you. Find out what YOU like, and tell me.