Tuna Stuffed Avocados

I have recently decided to cut grains, processed food, and extra sugars from my diet for awhile. It's a little tricky coming up with new things to eat for lunch because I could seriously eat a sandwich every day.  I have a yummy tuna/avocado pita sandwich recipe that I used to eat a lot, so I decided to just TRY it without the pita. I didn't even miss it!

The avocado keeps the tuna really moist and the tomato adds a little extra flavor and juiciness. Yummy! You could probably add some celery, onions, or bell peppers if you wanted to add some crunch to it. Extra seasonings would be good as well. (I'm kind of boring when it comes to food though, unless it's SPICY - I LOVE spicy!)

The best part about this recipe is that it takes like 2 minutes to throw together. And it's soooo good for you!

Ingredients:
(makes 2 servings)
1 can albacore tuna in water
1 avocado, sliced in half
cherry tomatoes, diced
sea salt, to taste
pepper, to taste

Scoop out a little of the avocado, leaving some around the edge & in the bottom of the skins. Mix the avocado, tuna, and tomatoes together in separate bowl. Add seasonings if you want. Spoon the mixture back into the avocado skins & enjoy!

(I confess, the next day I just ate everything out of the bowl - I was too hungry to be fancy!) haha

Healthy Southwest Chicken Bowl

Have I ever shared my all-time favorite go-to lunch? It's A-MAZING! I seriously eat this almost every day. Never get sick of it! Yummm! 

grin emoticon I seriously eat this almost every day. Never get sick of it. Mmmmm!

Ingredients:

1 red container of chopped, cooked chicken (about 2 oz)
1 yellow container of black beans (1/2 cup)
1 individual packet of guacamole (Blue container or 1/3 cup homemade)

I usually buy rotisserie chicken, cut it all up, and store it in individual containers. (You can also cook some up ahead of time, or use leftovers from another meal.) I buy individual packets of guacamole too. I found the Tableside Chunky Guacamole at Costco. It's really yummy & spicy! 

Then all you have to do is heat the chicken in a pan with some black beans, toss in the guac, and BAM! Delicious, healthy, and fast! :D 

Body Beast, Hammer & Chisel HYBRID!

I only have 2 more weeks left of The Master's Hammer & Chisel! It went by so fast! I absolutely LOVE this program! I am totally planning on doing another round but I think this time I will add in one of my other favorite programs - Body Beast.

This was a really hard hybrid to make. The Hammer & Chisel workouts are total body, working legs practically every day. This is seriously great for the booty! I definitely liked that about the program. ;) Body Beast focuses on one or two body parts each day so I had to be careful when planning this that we didn't overlap the muscle groups too much.

I found the best way to incorporate both programs was to do alternate weeks. (With a little extra cardio added in on the Beast weeks.) This actually works out really great for a couple reasons. 
1) You can adjust your calorie intake week to week to fit your goals. (Like eating more on Beast weeks, and cutting down on the H&C weeks.)
2) There is a lot of variety. I am actually looking forward to trying this one out!
3) You can focus really hard one week on lifting heavy and reaching muscle failure. The next week you can work on your strength, speed, & endurance by adding in the total body workouts each day.

I made this a 60-day hybrid so if you want to continue month 1 for a couple extra weeks before moving on to month 2, that would be totally fine. Feel free to add or remove any of the ab workouts too. I made this based on what I would like to do. ;)

Good Luck! Have fun and let me know how this works out for you! I will be starting my hybrid February 29 if anyone wants to join me.

coachbethclark@outlook.com

https://www.facebook.com/BodyRemodel/

Hammer & Chisel

After jumping back and forth over my workout bench, pull-up burpees, sumo power jumps, and all kinds of craziness - I completed day 2 of Hammer & Chisel! I have to say I am LOVING this program so far! (Even though it's kicking my booty.) wink emoticon

Today was Hammer Plyo. I have to say I was a little scared before doing this workout - luckily it's short - but I think the Chisel Balance I did yesterday was much harder! You have to really concentrate and use more muscles when you are working one hand with the opposite foot. Apparently my balance needs a lot more work! haha 

I'm sorry I don't have those great little videos of me doing some of the moves but I don't want to worry about what I look like working out. That's the point of working out at home, right? I'm sure you wouldn't want to see it anyway. Yikes! ;) 

I will definitely try to give more in depth reviews though so you will know what to expect from this program. I will also be posting my nutrition plan, menu, and hopefully some worksheets, so stay tuned. 

I also made this cute little workout board to motivate me! I got some chalkboard contact paper and chalk markers for Christmas and I wanted to try them out. (I cross off every day but in this picture I added the X's digitally.)

I'm still working on getting everything organized after the holidays. I don't know why it's taking me so long!

Don't let this program intimidate you guys. It's totally doable. I had to modify a few things today but that just gives me room to grow and improve myself. I can't wait to see what I get to try tomorrow! 

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or need some help.

coachbethclark@outlook.com

https://www.facebook.com/BodyRemodel/

grin emoticon

Protein and Pumpkin - What's Not to Love?

Today is National Pumpkin Day so I thought I would post a couple of new healthy pumpkin recipes. The first one is a really yummy pudding that you can eat plain or put in a little pie crust if you have a few extra carbs to spare. 

Protein Pumpkin Pudding
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1 container of greek yogurt, vanilla flavored
1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
1 TBS of fat-free Cool Whip
1-2 packets of Stevia, optional

Blend together all ingredients until smooth. You can add a packet or two of Stevia to make it a little sweeter if you want.

Eat straight from the dish or put it in a little graham cracker pie crust -

Mmmmm - tastes just like a pumpkin pie! (Only healthier!)

The next recipe is a pumpkin smoothie. You can use regular protein powder for this or use vanilla Shakeology. Either way - deliciousness!

photo: vitamix.com

Pumpkin Protein Smoothie

1 - 1 1/2 cups cold water

1 1/2 scoops vanilla protein powder, or 1 scoop vanilla Shakeology

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp pumpkin spice

1 packet Stevia

4-6 ice cubes

Blend all ingredients together until smooth. You can add some fat free Cool Whip and/or cinnamon to make it pretty. If you like it a little thicker, you can stick it in the freezer for a few minutes.

The last recipe is a for pumpkin pie oatmeal. This is super yummy and totally hits the spot on cold mornings.

Protein Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

1/2 cup old-fashioned oats

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

1 scoop vanilla protein powder

pumpkin spice

dash of cinnamon

1 packet Stevia, optional

Mix oats with water and microwave (as per the directions on oat container), stir in pumpkin and protein powder, adding water if needed to get a smooth consistency. Add spices and Stevia to taste. Enjoy!

Sneak Peek - Hammer & Chisel Workout

Today is the day you can try out two of the new MASTER'S HAMMER & CHISEL workouts!!! I am so excited for this workout to be released!

Have you heard about it yet?

Looks pretty awesome, right? RIGHT? :D

I was actually wanting a Body Beast 2 but I am okay with this....for now. haha

Sagi Kalev (Body Beast) and Autumn Calabrese (21 Day Fix, 21 Day Fix Extreme) teamed up to create The Master's Hammer and Chisel. 

This is a 60-day program where you build muscle with Sagi for the first 30 days, and then chisel the fat the next 30 days with Autumn.

This program won't be released until December but you can try two of the workouts RIGHT NOW on Beachbody On Demand! 

These are the 2 workouts:

ISO Speed Hammer

Time: 25 minutes

Trainer: Sagi

Equipment Needed: Weights, bench or stability ball, resistance bands or towel, chin-up bar or bands with door attachment

Workout Details: 10 reps slow 3-count, 10 reps fast 

Example: 10 push ups slow (3 counts), 10 push ups fast, repeat with lunges, chin ups, deadlifts, shoulder raises, squats, and so on. This is a total body workout where every muscle group gets worked. 

Review: I LOVED this workout! You really get your heart rate up during the fast reps & by the end you are SWEATING! After doing 10 reps slow, the fast reps really toast your muscles too. I will definitely be feeling sore tomorrow! I am not usually a huge fan of the resistance bands because I feel like they are awkward and hard to use most of the time. This workout wasn't too bad using the bands though, and it's only a few moves.

Total Body Chisel 

Time: 35 minutes

Trainer: Autumn

Equipment Needed: Weights, bench or stability ball, towel

Workout Details: 3 rounds, 3 exercises each, 10 reps each 

Example: 10 squats, 10 chest presses, 10 bent-over rows - repeat 3 times. That's round one. Then you do a new set of exercises for the next round, and so on. She does legs, chest, back, legs chest, back, and the last set is legs, biceps and then triceps. 

Review: I LOVED this one too! I admit I was a little nervous about Autumn being the trainer because I wasn't a huge fan in the 21DF workouts. She is a lot more serious in this one and I really liked that! She really concentrates on and explains proper form throughout and the pace is slow enough that you can really lift heavy and not feel like you are rushing through the moves. I used pretty light weights for this one because I don't have a laptop & had to do it in my office so I didn't want to carry my heavy weights downstairs. haha However, my legs were still shaking at the end!!

I am definitely going to be buying this program when it's released in December! 60 days to ripped and shredded? Sign me up! haha ;)

You can try BOD for 30 days FREE! Sign up for a club account here. Not only do you get to try Hammer & Chisel, but you get access to TONS of other Beachbody workout programs! 

If you have any questions about this workout, other workouts, or BOD - comment below or send me an email. I will try to answer them for you the best I can.

Go try these workouts & let me know what you think?

coachbethclark@outlook.com
https://www.facebook.com/BodyRemodel

Dealing With Low Energy Levels

Wow! I haven't posted in a really long time! You will know why after you read this post though. It's been a long couple of years, but I think I'm finally starting to feel like my old self again.

I have been in such a slump lately! It all happened so gradually that I'm not even sure exactly when it started. A year ago I was diagnosed with a low thyroid. That gave me an answer to a lot of the symptoms I had been experiencing. I thought being on medication might make things a little better and they WERE for awhile.  I knew that having a low thyroid would be harder to lose weight. (Add that to me being over 40 also.) I also knew that it was still possible to lose weight but it was completely up to me to keep my nutrition in check. If I stayed super strict and NEVER missed a workout - I could actually lose a few pounds. However, the minute I strayed off clean eating - I would gain it all back. I have really struggled with this! Here I was, telling people how to lose weight, coaching them, seeing the results they were getting but then I could never do it myself. It was so frustrating! 

I decided that I just wasn't as active as I used to be. (My kids aren't little anymore so I wasn't chasing after them all day.) I got a Fitbit for Christmas and decided to try to get more steps in during the day. I even set reminders on my phone so I would get up and walk around every so often. I still got my workouts in almost every day as well. But I was still SO TIRED!! I didn't want to do anything.

I kept thinking to myself that I was just being lazy. I would write up my to-do lists and come up with projects that I could work on to keep me busy and motivated. I would fully intend to do them, but just couldn't bring myself to even get started. Ugh! It was AWFUL! I could get some things done if I did them in the morning but by noon I was DONE. And it wasn't even just physically - I was mentally exhausted too. My brain would check. out. I would try to plan out my weekly meals, or write a blog post & I could. not. stay. focused. I seriously couldn't concentrate. All I wanted to do was go take a nap.

I had no motivation to do ANYTHING. If my calendar started to fill up, I would get overwhelmed and stressed out. I just wanted to stay in my own little world. Don't anybody bother me - please.

Now just so you know - this was all happening very gradually. I was coming up with reasons for the way I was feeling. "It's cold outside, so that's why I want to stay curled up with my electric blanket and read a book." "I've been running errands all morning, so I don't want to make dinner tonight."

It just so happened that my thyroid prescription was running out & it was time to make another appointment with my doctor. For some reason I started looking back on how I'd been feeling and realized I had been in a slump for quite awhile. I figured it must be my thyroid. 

Then about a week before my appointment I had a REALLY bad day. I was super exhausted, moody, depressed, didn't want to do anything. I had totally turned into my teenager!! haha ;)  That night my husband took the kids out to dinner and I decided to stay home (because I just felt too fat to eat unhealthy food, plus I didn't think I looked good that day, plus I just didn't want to go anywhere). When I woke up the next day feeling so much better, I started thinking it might be my hormone levels. I AM over 40 - could totally be perimenopause, right? So I talked to my mom and she suggested I get my vitamin levels checked. I started researching low B12 and read that both B12 and D could cause some of the same symptoms I'd been having. I just knew that was what it was and I ordered both vitamins from Amazon. I didn't want to take them until I'd been in to see my doctor though so I could get accurate test results.

When I saw the doctor, she said that my thyroid was right where it should be, my B12 levels were actually pretty high (oh crap) but my vitamin D was really low (whew). I say "whew" because I was actually a little glad that I had something to explain my symptoms, right? After talking with her a little more about how I'd been feeling, she suggested they also check my testosterone levels. She was almost positive that it would end up being low.

While I waited for THOSE results to come back, I researched low testosterone in women. Here's what I came up with:

I chose a picture because it's more fun to look at but there are lots of articles online you can read. 

Who knew, right? 

I never would have thought low testosterone would be an issue for women. So my results came back and my test levels were definitely low. She put me on a really low dose - just enough to raise my levels but not so high that I would have negative effects. I have a special compound made for me that I take daily. It just melts under my tongue. Easy peasy.

I am also taking 5000IU of vitamin D every day. Here are some symptoms of low vitamin D:

I am posting about this in hopes that maybe there is someone reading this that has dealt with something similar. No one understands how horrible you feel unless they have experienced it themselves. My mom totally understands. My sister-in-law....not so much. When I was telling her all the things I'd been going through, guess what she said? "Maybe you need to get a job."

I get that she was trying to help though. It's just that I KNEW something was wrong. This wasn't me AT ALL. I am so glad that I had a doctor willing to help me figure out what was going on.

So I want to let you all know that if you have low energy levels - you DO NOT have to accept it!!  I thought for so long that I was getting older, my metabolism was slowing and I would just "have to live with it". NOT TRUE! Like I told my doctor - "My 72 year-old mother has more energy than me!" 

I have been taking my vitamin D and testosterone for about 2.5 weeks. I noticed a difference in the FIRST WEEK! Now, I run errands after lunch and I'm not tired AT ALL! I haven't had weird mood swings. If I happen to lay down for a real quick "power nap", I hop right up after and feel totally refreshed and energetic. I am not overwhelmed when I have a lot of things going on. I'm so ready to take them on again! I also don't feel like a heavy weight is settling on my mind in the afternoon. (I think some people call it 'brain fog' - totally get it now.) And a great bonus - I've lost a couple pounds this week! I know that's not a huge difference but it's a start. It makes me realize I'm getting back to normal, I have energy again and I CAN DO THIS! 

It makes me think of my favorite part of any Chalene Johnson workout. (If any of you have done her workouts, you'll totally get this.) You're halfway through the workout, out of breath, about to die, and Chalene says:

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that! 

So - my friends - get out there and get your vitamin and hormone levels checked ASAP! So many people are feeling the exact same way I did every day and like me, just figuring they're being lazy or it's just a part of life. Don't let anyone make you feel like a bad person because of it either! We're hard enough on ourselves! I felt like such a horrible mother and wife. The guilt just adds to it. Go find a doctor who will really listen to you and don't ever stop until you figure it out!!

I'm sorry this was such a long post. If you read the whole thing - thank you. ;) And as always, I am here if you want to talk. 

Have a great day!! 

coachbethclark@outlook.com

https://www.facebook.com/BodyRemodel