Pumpkin Pie Shakeology

Who doesn’t love Fall? Now that we are just about to the official fall season, kids are headed back to school, Friday night football games and pumpkins everywhere my taste buds start watering!!!  I used to be a huge pumpkin spice latte fan at Starbucks but since really digging into the quality of the food I put in my body I decided to find healthy alternatives to the things I love so I don’t feel deprived!  BINGO!  This one works great for that craving!!!

PUMPKIN PIE SHAKEOLOGY
Servings: 1
Prep Time: 1 minutes

Ingredients

3/4 cup unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk
1/2 cup Pumpkin {not pumpkin pie mix, just plain pumpkin puree in a can}
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp raw honey or pure maple syrup
1 Tbsp.  coarsely chopped raw pecans
1 Scoop Vanilla Shakeology
1/4 cup water (or more until desired consistency is reached)
6 to 7 large ice cubes

Directions
In a blender, mix all of your ingredients together till smooth and creamy. Pour shake into a glass or protein shaker. Sprinkle some extra cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice on top. Enjoy!

Don’t Fall For These 7 Common Fitness Myths

When it comes to exercise and fitness we’ve all heard the phrases, “muscle weighs more than fat”, “abs are made in the kitchen”, and “working out in the morning burns more calories”, but are they true? Should you really believe all those catchy phrases that are supposed to boost you into a super fit body? I’m going to discuss each of these, as well as a few more, and hopefully straighten out some of these fitness myths.

Fitness Myth #1: Muscle weighs more than fat

If you stop to think about this myth for a second, you’ll realize just how silly it is. How can a pound of muscle weigh more than a pound of fat, if they’re both one pound in weight? What this myth is really trying to get across is that muscle is more dense than fat, so it takes up less space in your body.

A great example of this is when a woman gives birth. While pregnant she will gain weight because of the baby, and may quickly lose weight after giving birth. Just because the scale reads the same number it did pre-baby doesn’t mean she has that same pre-baby body back. Her body fat changes, so her body shape changes, leaving her with a different body than before, resulting in her clothes from before probably not fitting yet.

Something that goes along with this myth, or way of thinking, is the idea that when you start a new workout program and you gain weight quickly, that weight is new muscle. The weight is actually your muscles responding to the new workout. If you’ve started doing something new, like running or lifting, you know that the next morning you’re sore. That soreness is your muscles responding to the trauma the new workout brought. Since the muscles are working in new ways, and are exposed to trauma, they require more water. This water is the weight you see on the scale, not new heavy muscle. Let your clothes be the judge, and if you are sore don’t weigh in.

Fitness Myth #2: You burn more calories during a workout, rather than after

The reality is it really depends on the workout; some workouts are more effective at calorie burning during and some are better after. Workouts that burn more after are usually heavy strength training or cross-training. If you’re doing things like HIIT (high intensity interval training) or heavy strength training, fat will continue to burn for upwards of 24 hours after. The best workout for burning fat is actually a little bit of everything, which is why HIIT has a longer burn; it’s working on strength and cardio at the same time. A shorter workout may also burn more fat longer if the intensity is high enough. The best way to achieve the longest burn is to look for a combination workout, something HIIT and low impact if possible.

Fitness Myth #3: When you lift weights, you bulk up

Women mostly think of this myth, because they don’t want to look like a body builder. Lifting weights, especially heavy weights, will transform your body and will help to keep your body fat lower. Muscle is built because of testosterone, which is higher in males than in females. Since ladies have lower levels of muscle building hormones, it’s almost impossible to “bulk up” by lifting heavy. By lifting heavy I mean being able to do 8-15 repetitions before failure, or you can’t do any more. Muscle building with heavy weights is gradual, and has some plateaus, which makes it easy to get bigger or toned but stop when you’re satisfied.

 

Fitness Myth #4: You can spot reduce fat

Most of you probably already know that you can’t spot reduce or spot correct fat, but we all wish we could. The reality is that the amount of fat cells you had during puberty is the same amount of cells you have now. The number of fat cells doesn’t change, we don’t make more, the ones we have just get larger (or smaller). Also, the first place you put fat on is the last place it will come off, which is why areas like the stomach and love handles are tough, and you can’t spot reduce them.

Fitness Myth #5: Ab exercises give you flat abs

You can’t just do crunches and get a six-pack, which is why the new phrase “abs are made in the kitchen” is being passed around. In order to get a six-pack you need abdominal and core training as well as less body fat. The abdominal muscles need to be strengthened, but also the fat in front of them needs to be reduced in order to actually see the muscles. A regimen of strength training, cardio, core, and proper nutrition will all help in getting that six pack to show up.

You could have a six-pack with nutrition alone, just think of the show Survivor. The contestants don’t eat processed food and are too busy surviving to think about getting a workout in. Because of their super low or starvation diet, many begin to get a six-pack, usually the men before the women. While this isn’t the proper way to get a six-pack, it proves that nutrition, or reducing body fat, plays a huge role in having abs that show.

Fitness Myth #6: Loose skin can be tightened with exercise

Skin is genetic in terms of its tone and elasticity. The longer you’re heavy, the less elastic the skin will be, so it may tighten but not back to its original state. Building muscle may help fill in some of the space below the skin, reducing a droopy appearance, but exercise cannot tighten the skin. Surgery is an option, but there’s no cream, vitamin or supplement that will firm it up. Eating right is the most important component because healthy nutrition leads to healthy skin. Eating things that are high in fatty acids will help your body make new cells which is the closest you can get to making new skin.

 

Fitness Myth #7: It’s best to exercise in the morning

There’s always talk about when is best to exercise. Some people say the morning, some people say the evening, I say do it whenever works for you. Whatever time of day you can stay consistent with, that’s the time to do it. Morning people may be more successful because it became a lifestyle, and also because the morning may have less interruptions. Morning workouts are ideal if you want to help improve your sleep quality, and reduce body fat because you’re working out in a fasted state. Afternoon people may have more success because their body is already warmer from being awake longer. Remember a shorter workout is better than no workout or one that gets interrupted. Track your progress like, when you workout, for how long, and how you feel. Tracking will help you find your patterns and see what works best for you.

~Chalene Johnson

Why Technology Makes it More Difficult to Focus

We live with technology all around us; phones in our pockets or purses, tablets on the nightstand, and computers at home and at work. This technology has created a sense of urgency with every beep, ding, and buzz; making it incredibly difficult to focus. As soon as something flashes on the computer screen we feel the need to tend to it. It seems like every time the phone rings or dings we answer it, as opposed to how it once was where the phone could go to the machine if we were busy.

With that in mind it’s no wonder we can’t focus and complete our daily tasks. We’ve all heard of multi-tasking, the idea that we can do more than one thing at the same time. Multi-tasking may include eating while driving or checking Facebook while in a daily meeting. The reality is that our brains can’t actually multi-task, they can only toggle, which is switching between tasks rapidly. You can see why it’s hard to focus when you’re constantly asking your brain to switch gears. Imagine if that happened to you at work, with two people bombarding you with questions and documents, and you trying to help both of them as quickly as possible. That’s what you’re asking your brain to do on an hourly basis with the windows on the computer, or the apps on your phone, the constant checking is pulling your brain from one task and forcing it onto another.

On top of multi-tasking, we’re also experiencing sensory overload, whether we notice it or not. In addition to the constant dinging and buzzing of our phones and devices we also have background noise, like sirens and washing machines, or in the office the clatter of keyboards, chatter of co-workers, and humming of the air conditioning. Our brains have to process and filter all this stimuli so we know which ones apply to us and which are really in the background. Imagine you’re in the car taking the kids to school and you’re expecting an early work phone call. You’ve got your phone and ears primed to accept the call as soon as it comes in, and the kids are talking and watching a movie in the back seat. You’ve also got an ambulance flying by on the other side of the road, and a school bus in front of you. All those sights and sounds require processing, and can easily distract you from the most important task at hand, driving the car.

At the end of the day do you often feel stressed or burned out, on top of out of focus? That’s because of the daily multi-tasking and sensory overload. Our brains can only handle so much, and the more we throw at it, the more our stress hormones, cortisol, increase. It’s gotten so bad that it’s hard for anyone to do just one task. When we try to focus on one thing, like just walking down the hall, our brain struggles looking for that adrenaline we get every time we check our phones. We’ve become addicted to multiple stimuli at one time, making it impossible to focus on just one thing. The only way to get away from this cycle is to remember that you have a choice. You don’t have to answer every email or phone call as soon as it comes in. By prioritizing your tasks and taking frequent breaks you will avoid losing focus and feeling stressed. The most successful people know how to balance all this input and remember that not everything is as urgent as it may seem.

Motivation – The Struggle and How to Improve it!

I have noticed over the years that people start out strong in  something like their health and fitness journey or a new passion or even something such as their Beachbody business  or another business and then they lose steam.  They struggle to be successful and to really reach their goals.

Have you felt the same way? Maybe you’ve struggled to eat better, workout more, or take care of yourself in a way that creates hurdles that prevent you from living the life you want. Maybe you don’t know any other reality.I spent a lot of time figuring out what had changed for these people. How they went from living off of motivation to one searching for sources. And what I discovered wasn’t groundbreaking, but it was something often overlooked.

What will make the difference?

Find what makes you happy. This is the real secret to motivation.

If you struggle with motivation–and we all do on some level or in passing moments–it’s important that you put your role in this world into context. That’s why I recommend making declarations that acknowledge your deficits and areas where you’d like to improve.

Most of us settle in life. Settle for what’s easy. Settle for what’s convenient. Or settle for the only reality that we know. Improving motivation means changing that reality and becoming aware that there’s more in life that you want.

Here are 10 simple strategies that can help with your awareness:

1. Write 5 things you want to improve
2. Create a list of what you love–and then assess how many of those items are actually part of your life
3. Email your friends and share your goals that you haven’t achieved
4. Set deadlines for personal, non-work-related goals
5. Ask your friends to list off areas in your life that you overlook
6. Visit your doctor and ask for a thorough physical of your health
7. Take a “before” picture of yourself
8. Set a challenge–it could be anything or join my next challenge group!
9. Plan out a list of future goals for your career, health, and social life
10. Make a bucket list

There are an endless number of ways to create motivation. All of them revolve around a simple mindset: Pursuing the life you want. But creating a list is just the start. From here, most people typically take the wrong approach.

They condemn themselves for the existence they created; place undue pressure and stress on achieving these goals. This is not a sustainable way to stay motivated. After all, stress is the poison–not the elixir. You should be moving towards mastery, not masochism.

So what should you do you do with your awareness?

First, realize that motivation is individualistic in every sense because it’s ultimately driven by one of two things: fear or happiness. Both work, but I prefer to focus on the latter.

When you find what’s missing (by using any of the strategies above or others), don’t focus on the negative. Research has shown that unhappiness and rejection is the quickest way to kill your motivation, not ignite new life.

So stop making yourself feel bad. You’re human. You’re going to have some bad days. Instead, identify all of the positives that can result from making a change. The joy you’ll feel when you look in the mirror. The extra time you’ll be able to spend with your kids. The desserts that you want to enjoy without guilt or fear of the harm it might do to your overweight body. The thrill of crossing an item of your bucket list. It can be anything.

You must identify the aspects that make you feel better, and then identify the steps that will allow you to include them in your life. When you are happy, you are motivated. I realize that this can be difficult as some things in life that make you happy might not be “good for you.” Create a fine line between the two and find a balance.

Feeding my natural drive, in turn, made me more motivated to improve in the other areas of my life. It’s a self-perpetuating process.

Life is about happiness and fulfillment. In fitness and health we oftentimes lose sight of that because we try forcing actions–like going to the gym or eating well–that feel like a burden, rather than patiently creating habits.

It’s much more effective to create a world where every action–in and of itself–is an achievement. This is about building positive habits, feeling good about your life, and taking a step in the right direction. The more steps you take, the better you’ll feel and the more motivation you’ll have.

The sooner your life carries less burden and is more driven by an internal desire to be happy, you’ll find that your motivation–and your life–will improve in more ways than you ever imagined.