Beachbody is offering some amazing deals for the month of August.  New this month is Body Beast and TurboFire for $160 each.  T25 was so popular last month, and still in high demand, the sale was extended till August 31st for $180.  These are what is called a Challenge Pack.  For this price you get on of the listed workout packages, plus 1 month supply of Shakeology, and a nutrition guide.

I am in week 2 of T25 and LOVE it!  Everyone can do this program: any body type, fitness level, or super busy people.

Check out the programs for yourself at www.beachbodycoach.com/nicoleabel.  You definitely want the challenge pack deal.  This sale saves you over $70 for each program of you were to buy the DVD's and Shakeology seperately.

If you have any questions or are interested in any of this send me an e-mail.  I would love to help you find the right program for you.  wrightcougs@gmail.com

Week 2 of Focus T25

Holy Cow!  I have found my new favorite workout program!  Focus T25.  It is a 5 day a week schedule for 25 minutes a day.  I freaking love it.  The first week was kinda rough because I am in the middle of working wheat harvest and I work 12 hour days from 8 am to 8 pm.  So I get up at 5 am, workout for 28 minutes (25 + 3 minute cool down), drink my Results and Recovery formula, shower, go to work, come home, shower, talk to hubby for 1 hour, go to bed.  Start all over.  If I am not a walking poster child for how anybody has 25 minutes in their day I do not know who is.

Now I am used to waking up at 5 and working out.  And it is actually fun!  It is only 25 minutes, but man do you get  workout.  There are no water breaks, just hitting it hard.  my legs and butt have been so sore!  I have also noticed an increase in energy throughout the day.  When I go back to my regular job this will be  breeze!

The first 4 weeks is the Alpha round.  Here you get your core strengthened and learn how to do the moves with proper form.  No equipment is needed for this phase.  I already like T25 way better than Insanity.  The verdict is still out if this program will nock P90X off its alter.  I will make that determination in the second phase, the Beta round.  Here Shaun T will begin to introduce weights (which is why I love P90X so much).

On to week 3!  Pumped!

10 Day Shakeology Challenge

My favorite Beachbody item is Shakeology.  It is an amazing snack or can be used as a meal replacement that is rich in flavor and amazing nutrients.  I drink it everyday for breakfast.  The reason I am an advocate for this product is because of what it does for my body.  I eat it for breakfast and do not snack on junk before lunch, my digestive tract is very happy, I do not get sick (colds, flu) as much because of all the awesome vitamins. 

I would like to share an opportunity with anyone and everyone: The 10 Day Shakeology Challenge. 

If you want to know more about shakeology please visit www.myshakeology.com/nicoleabel. 
To sign up for the challenge please leave a message on my facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/AbelFarmFitness?ref=hl.

I will be away from the internet until July 6th, but I will contact you ASAP after the 6th.

Well Well Well

Nice to be back.  I went off the blogging trail for a while and have been doing some amazing things that I really should have been posting about.  To wrap it up in three sentences or less I have been purchasing the Clean Eating magazine off the news stand and LOVE cooking the recipes they have in there.  I am also within days of celebrating my 1st anniversary with my amazing husband, and plan to travel to South Africa tomorrow for our official honeymoon.  (insert addendum to sentence limit) Now it would be a bloggers dream to post on the fly about this trip however... my husband has just reasoning for me to turn my phone off and spend time with each other.  So that is what I will do.  I will however take a lot of pictures and notes, and the first thing I will do when I get home is catch everyone up!  (Back to my last sentence)  Finally I have been having fun helping others improve their diet and health using Beachbody as a tool to do that.

So my vision for this blog is to move towards clean food recipes and idea, fitness motivation, and through in a little fun stuff on the side like trips to Africa and such.

Post UR

The last two weeks have been eye opening.  I immediately went back to some of my old eating habits and regretted that.  I have confirmed the dreaded intolerance to dairy.  AHH, that is my absolute favorite food group! Damn!  So I must move on.  And there are some decent alternatives.  While in Hastings I picked up two Clean Eating magazines and have been cooking from them over the last week.  Holy cow there was some good food!  And it really did not take that long to prepare.  I may feel that way because I survived the 21 days of the Ultimate Reset and the millions of hours in the kitchen preparing food for that program. :-)


My so so recipe was the pesto scallop linguine.  I loved the pesto and scallops, but the "clean" part (aside from the yummy homemade pesto) was the whole grain linguine.  It felt gritty, and I thought I was eating dirt.  I wish I could use regular spaghetti. 

My favorite recipes: pomegranate steak with balsamic vinegar, fish tacos, and fajitas.  Now the meat recipes called for beef, but my house is powered on venison and elk.  I did have to go buy the scallops and halibut.  Yikes, that was pricey, but a god treat.  I probably will not cook those to recipes too often.  I also have really enjoyed making a sour cream alternative using Greek yogurt, lime juice, and cilantro.

I had an Amazon buying binge last week and bought Practical Paleo, the Clean Eating cookbook (same people as the magazine) and Karma Chow (the chef that designed the Ultimate Reset).  I just opened the Practical Paleo and was very happy with what I saw.  The book is huge, and not just a cook book.  The first 1/2 is educational based discussing the paleo concept, the digestive system, thyroid issues, just a bunch of good stuff.  So I am going to sign off and look for a yummy banana dessert.

UR Results

I woke my husband up this morning to get the dreaded pictures taken.  I chose to do this program in a bikini.  Uhh, I will never do that again...uhh oh well, I am on a journey to a healthier me. So I need to take the pictures, deal with the mental trip hazard and move on.  Or put that damn workout in the DVD player and "push play."

I lost 13 pounds and 5 inches!!  Amazing!  My husband was not happy that I lost the most around my chest.  he he.  I was surprised that the pictures did not show more of a drastic change.  13 pounds is A LOT.  Must be 5 pounds in each boob and a little around the middle.  :-) 

I am still very happy with the results.  As I have said earlier, this is not primarily about weight loss.  It was about a frame of mind change, and setting my body up for positive changes and success.

Day 21 of the Ultimate reset!

Whoohoo!  I made it.  21 day journey to a cleaner me.  I took a bath and reflected on this journey this evening. 

What have I learned?  I learned that I absolutely love steamed and roasted vegetables.  Beets are amazing.  It is not that hard to cook, just takes a little time and planning.  I also know that I can eat clean and enjoy it.  This process has taught me that nori rolls and tempeh are awful, and I will never eat those again.  :-) 

This was a challenging task that I took seriously and committed to 100%.  I did not cheat once!  I drank water everyday for 3 weeks.  Can you believe that?  Before the UR I was lucky to get one glass a day. 

My body feels great.  Cutting dairy out of my diet has helped immensely.  I have known for a while that dairy makes me feel bad, but I like it so much I was willing to deal with the side affects (sorry hubby).  But now I know that I want to feel better all the time.  When I went to Africa 2 years ago I felt amazing.  My stomach never hurt, I didn't have gas, and it was because I was eating clean with no dairy.  I feel that way today! 

What are my post-reset plans?  I am going to add meat back into my diet.  That is the one thing I truly crave.  I have already bought some chicken to grill for my salads to take to work for lunch.  I will keep dairy out.  I am also surprised to realize today that I have not thought about grains at all.  I did not miss them.  So my goal is to keep grains to a minimum. 

I signed up to be a Beachbody coach during the reset and bought the P90X2 challenge pack.  I also have TurboFire and Les Mills Combat sitting on the shelf.  I first intent to finish RevAbs as I started that before the reset, then work on each of these programs. 

Doing the UR at the first of the year has set me up for success.  This was a springboard to a cleaner, more focused me.  I have also been participating in Chalene Johnson's 30 day challenge and between the two programs I have a definite focus for the year.  I am excited to tackle new projects on my personal and professional life.

I am very happy I took this challenge.  If you had asked me that in week one you would have gotten a different answer.  With the support of my husband and all the fellow UR folks on the facebook pages I was able to overcome a mental and physical barrier that week.  It was worth it!  I am so excited to see what happens to my mental and physical state in the next 12 months. 

Torture! Kinda.

So I took my FFA students to a trap shoot today. Tradition is that we go to the world famous (ok famous to us) Effie Burger. This thing is huge! The kids love it. Well I snuck my apples in and watched them gorge themselves. Lol. It smelled really good, but I actually could just look at it and think about the stomach ache I would have if I are that! :-)

UR Week 3, Day 5-6

Oh man, the dinners the last couple days have been good. I LOVE roasted beets. The Asian stirfry was really good also. And I liked the avocado- jicama salad as well. Yummy.

I have been going through the clean eating magazines for recipes post reset and have found some good ones. Ofcourse my eye is drawn to all the yummy grilled melts. Ahh I am going to try really hard to keep dairy away even though it is my favorite! :-(. But the good news is there are some definite possibilities for good food out there. My goal is to focus on cooking clean on the weekends and prep for the week.

and bigger news...

Yeah!!!!  Now we shall see where this takes me.  I am really excited for 2013!

UR Week 3, Day 3-4

I am running low on groceries, so I have to be a little creative, plus I have a lot left over so I want to use it all up.  Last night was the baked squash. I could not find the squash that was called for so I used a butternut squash.  And if I remember correctly, I was supposed to cook veggies with kale.  Most of my kale went bad, so I just cooked veggies- sweet potato, cauliflower, broccoli.  Yesterdays lunch was the Moroccan carrot salad.  I at this in my classroom as we had an FFA practice at that time.  The next class came in and freaked out about the smell.  It was pretty funny.

Tonight I cooked the fennel and broccoli.  I did not have any asparagus, and the little grocery store did not have any either, so I just made extra broccoli.  It was not too bad.  I could only eat half the fennel because the stem was really hard. 

 

An interesting thing happened today that went over pretty smoothly.  The special ed class occasionally bakes cookies and brings them around to the teachers.  When they brought mine I had to take it.  She even wanted me to smell it because they smelled delicious.  well yes they did!  Ahh sad day.  I waited until she left then asked a trivia question and gave the cookie to the first student to answer.  :-) They all knew I couldn't eat it, so they were little vultures waiting for my cookie.  :-)

 

UR Week 3, Day 2

I woke up this morning with a little sore throat, a crazy runny nose, and feeling pretty blah.  I went to work just to make it through the day and come home asap.  After lunch I was not feeling so bad, and actually tackled a work project I have been meaning to do for a while.  So instead of coming home at 3 I stayed till 5.  I think Chalene Johnson's 30 day challenge and making goals and to-do lists are starting to kick in.

Dinner was not great.  I made curry cauliflower.  It was really dry.  I also was supposed to make kale, but I didn't have any, so I cooked collard greens.  They would have been fine by themselves, but I mixed in the pieces of lemon kale that I made the other day that was too lemony.  Ahh, that was not good either, the left over kale was wilted and almost see through due to the lemon juice.  Needless to say, I did not eat very much.

I have been missing my Shakeology terribly, and truly feel that if I was drinking that I would not have a cold.  Yesterday I read that a person can have 1/2 a scoop for a snack.  I didn't have a snack today, so I made the kiwi strawberry recipe after dinner.  I used a lot of ice and little water, so it was like sherbet.  Kinda tricked myself into a little dessert.  I feel better already.  :-)  Now off to bed to rest.

UR Week 3, Day 1

So I have been sneaking in some oranges to get some vitamin c.  Shh don't tell the BB coaches that moderate the UR FB page.  :-)    But I definitely have a cold.  Dang it!  But it is just a cold, so I will continue on with the reset and finish the program. 

Lunch was ok.  It was the Asian salad.  I really wish it had the crunchy noodles or chicken in it, but it was good.  Dinner was really good too except I need to figure out how to bake sweet potatoes.  I cooked it for an hour, and it still was pretty hard.  Next time I will wrap it in foil and see how that works.  The fully cooked parts were sweeter than the center.

The app iDrated is actually helping me drink more water.  It sends a reminder every so often to drink, so I do.  As of 7:30 pm I have drank 72 0z.  My daily goal is 75 oz, so I am working on another 12 oz before I go to bed.  This will be the most I have drank to date.  I am normally doing good if I drink ONE bottle of water, so 4 is awesome!

UR end of week 2

I jinxed myself!!!  I was all talkin up Shakeology and how I never get sick.  UGHH.  I think my sneezing and runny nose is a cold.  I wish I could drink Shakeology again. I can in one week. :-(  Today I am pretty weak, still have a runny nose, and sneezing.  I just finished the dishes, reviewed Chalene Johnson's 30 day challenge task for today, will take the garbage out, then I am taking a nap...

I did get on the scale this morning as it is the end of a phase and I lost another 3 pounds!  That is 9 total.  whoop whoop.  Again please remember, the weight is not WHY you do the reset but it IS a great bonus.  I am excited to start working out again and see what I can do at this weight and the toning results.  It will be interesting to see if I can maintain that weight loss as I intend to go back to eating meat.  But I think the other dietary choices will fall in line with the reset meals better.

Chalene Johnson (TurboFire) has a 30 day challenge for free.  I recommend you check it out.  Emails are sent to you daily asking your to do various tasks.  There is always a video of her talking to you and usually a worksheet to go along with the assignment.  So far (5 days) I have set goals for the year, identified one major "PUSH" goal, and today we are creating to-do lists her way.  And it is free, nothing to lose.  Check it out.  http://www.30daypush.com/

UR Week 2, Day 7

OH Yah Baby!  Week 2 finished!

    I lounged around this morning and ended up preparing breakfast really late, so I did not make he chickpea mash.  I went to the ol trusty fruit platter instead.  It was delicious.  Maybe I will do the mash tomorrow, but it sounds really unappetizing...

I also could not bring myself to cook the hearty miso soup, so I had leftovers again.  Pinto beans and rice, and steamed veggies.  But all my leftovers are gone.  That is a bonus.

Dinner was really good.  Edemame and corn succotash.  Definitely will cook that again post reset.  But I had an issue with the lemon pepper kale.  I put the lemon juice in a bowl, then the kale.  And mind you I only used 1/4 of a lemon opposed to the full lemon the recipe calls for.  Holy cow is was straight lemon juice.  I ate one piece.  I will keep it and follow my husbands advice to chop it up and either put it with plain kale, or add it to a salad.



And today's goal was to watch those detox packets disappear.  Bam, done with detox!

Today I also found a fun app iDrated today.  You track your water intake and it even reminds you every so often to drink. 

 

Today I have been very cold and I have had a runny nose ALL day.  That is a bummer.  So I am going to take a nice bath and hopefully wake up without the runny nose.

 

UR review

Ok, lets talk about the serious stuff now.  Bodily functions.

For one full year prior to starting the reset I drank Shakeology everyday for breakfast.  I love this stuff and it loves me.  Shakeology keeps me healthy.  I have not been sick this year.  I had one cold and that is it.  At work we had a nasty flu bug and I was not effected.  I credit Shakeology for supplying me with the vitamins I needed to stay healthy.  The other bonus to my daily meal was bowel movements.  Shakeology kept me very regular.  If I did not have it one day, I did not have a BM. 

The UR has surprised me in the fact that I have not had very many BM's.  Week one I only had a couple, so with week two being focused on detox I figured I would have many if not several times a day.  I had a BM day one, two, and six.  The Beachbody UR experts on the facebook page say this is normal to only experience a BM on day one and two, but that you are supposed to be drinking a lot of water to help the detox work.  I have not been to great at that.  I range from 40-70 oz while at work.  OOPS.  Yesterday I was proud of myself and drank 72 oz (resulting in a bathroom visit during my classes).  But that is no where near the 1 gallon mark that they recommend.  Week two will be interesting with just eating fruits and veggies.

I also have a little issue with dairy that Shakeology could not fix.  When I eat dairy I get very gassy.  With the UR phasing out dairy and grains, I have had very little gas.  That is quite a relief.  The problem is that I love dairy.  I will try to keep dairy to a minimum after the UR.  I try to anyway, but if you put Cougar Gold cheese in front of me I CANNOT resist!  It is worth the punishment.  :-) 

well, one of my favorite virtues is not talking sh*t, so enough of this discussion.  lol

UR Week 2, Day 5-6

Nothing really to report.  I did find out you can burn food in the microwave.  :-0  I had black ash on my beets and stunk up the staff room. he he. 

I did buy my groceries for phase 3.  I spent $23.14. Very nice!  Granted I did not buy any fruit.  I have a lot of greens left over from phase 2.  It is too bad they have you buy a whole bundle of greens, then you only use that particular type once.  I hope it keeps and I can use it after the reset.  I cooked everything by the book also.  The only thing I did different is I ate leftovers last night.  Basically in each phase I have had enough left overs, so I cook 6 meals and the 7th day is leftovers. 

The big news I guess is that I only have 1 day of detox left!  It really is not that bad now.  The first day was rough, but then I figured out that if I just swallow, and do not move my tongue it goes down fine.

Have a great Saturday!

UR Week 2, Day 4

1/2 WAY!!!!

Man do I feel more successful in week two than I did in week one!  This week is so much easier.  Work went well.  I had to go to the restroom twice during class.  That is definitely not the ideal choice, but you gotta do what you gotta do.  :-O

Dinner was so good.  Beets and coconut swiss chard.  I will be cooking that post reset.  I am excited to eat the beets for lunch tomorrow.  Initially when I prepared my dinner plate I was discouraged because it looked like such a small portion, but I was completely satisfied at the end of the meal.

Whoop whoop over the hump.  Bring on the rest of this reset!

dinner

UR Week 2, Day 3

Happy New Years day!!

at the hockey game NYE
(that beer is not in my hand.  lol.  Us girls snuck in apples to snack on.)

I woke up this morning at my brother-in-laws house fresh and ready to go.  No hangover because I did not drink and never felt the need to drink.  The food temptations last night were not bad either.  By 11 pm I was getting very hungry though. My brother in law wanted to go to My FroYo after the hockey game and I about freaked out.  I can handle appetizers all around me, but do not make me sit and watch you eat frozen yogurt and my favorite store.  That is cruel!  Luckily my sister in law came to my aid and said no.  Saved!

Today my timing was a little off.  I woke up and had my supplements and breakfast at 8 am.  Then we went shopping before we came home. It was 11:30 before we left for our 1 hour drive back, so I had to eat my fruit I had brought with me for breakfast.  No supplements.  I also had to stop at McDonald's for my husbands lunch.  All I can say is my sense of smell has been in overdrive on the reset.  I am pretty sure I can detect every ingredient in food I can not eat now.  :0)  and :0( lol. 

Once we got home I immediately ate my sweet potato soup I had prepared from the day before.  Man was that nice to have that all ready to go.  When it was time for dinner I took the supplements, prepared dinner, and ate.  So now I have to take the alkalinize and one more set of supplements before I go to bed to get everything in for the day.  I really liked dinner.  I think that is a first so far.  i like how the quinoa lentil pilaf was cooked in liquids and had a lot of flavor.


Tomorrow is my first day back to work since starting the reset.  I am nervous about timing of supplements, drinking enough water, and being able to only use the bathroom between classes.  I do however already have lunch prepared as it is the same as tonight's dinner, with a snack.  So I think I am ready to venture to work...

lunch and snack for tomorrow