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Letter To My 22 Year Old Self
I found a photo album the other day that was littered with pictures of my early twenties. I had to sit for a while and really look through it. Of course, I thumbed through slowly, laughed at a few things, remembered a few others, and reflected on some days where worries seemed few and late nights seemed many. A lot, I mean A LOT has changed in 10 years. I didn’t know the amazing man I would call my husband. I thought having kids was not for me- ever. I thought a good workout was a pub crawl on a Sunday afternoon, and the word responsible wasn’t something I would…
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Meal Prep Madness
We are the epitome of busy. We have three girls ages 8, 5, and 3. My husband travels some for work. I am a nurse (not currently practicing). I run a business from my home helping people meet their fitness and nutritional goals. We workout daily. I grocery shop. I run monthly accountability groups for my clients. We prepare our meals fresh. We have even been known to do fitness competitions. My life is a constant whirlwind. I need a cleaning service. And a laundry service. Most days I don’t have time to prepare for what is thrown at me. But I’ve come to learn how important it is to…
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Grocery Shopping on a Budget
One of the questions I am most frequently asked regarding eating clean and meal planning is “How do you do it on a budget?” It does take some planning but it is absolutely doable. We are a family of five, our kids are 7, 4 and 2, and believe me, they eat a lot. I stick to a $100/week max budget and what I have leftover we put away for splurges or Costco trips. Below are some tips and tricks to help you stay clean, stay healthy, and stay budget-friendly each week! Building your Pantry: The key to making a list and sticking to it is having a menu to…
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A Lot Can Happen In One Year (My 1 year Transformation)
On September 19th, 2014 I took a leap. I decided to take some steps to better my fitness. I decided I wanted to improve my nutrition, and overall health. I was almost 6 months postpartum with our third baby girl and I was doing ok. I was working out a little bit here and there. Trying to make it to the gym 3x/wk and eating as healthy as I could. I was also breastfeeding, in school part-time, was stressed to the max and just feeling like I didn’t have it all together. So why not add something else to my plate, right?! I joined Beachbody as a coach. I wanted…
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The Struggle to Gain: Body Shaming in All Forms
Standing in front of the mirror and being unhappy with the body of the woman staring back at you. At some point, even if it’s only for a brief period of time, we’ve all been there. Who are we kidding. Whether it’s that postpartum saggy skin, stretch marks, that little bit of cellulite that came out of nowhere, those not-so-perky-anymore boobies, or those scrawny stick legs with no muscle tone. We’re shown “perfection” our whole lives in magazines and on TV and live in a competitive society which makes us feel like we have to constantly improve. Plus, as a woman, it’s in our nature to be judgy and…
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Moroccan Curry Chicken and Lentil Stew
When the cat’s away the mouse will… eat curry? I have a picky husband. As sad as I am to see him go out of town for business, I really get to spread my wings when it comes to cooking. So I whipped up this yummy curry chicken and lentil stew and by golly it was a hit with the kids too! The baby literally licked her bowl clean! I think this would work well in the crock pot too. (See variation below). Ingredients: 3-4 medium chicken breasts, thawed & diced into 1″ pieces 3-4 celery ribs, chopped 2tbsp chopped yellow onion 2 garlic cloves, finely diced 1 can chickpeas,…
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Coach Summit 2015- Nashville
It’s been a few weeks but my first experience at Coach Summit happened over the weekend of July 16th and I’m still on a Summit “high”! If you’re not familiar with what Summit is, it’s the annual training trip from Beachbody where this year 25,000 coaches out of 330,000 came together. There is recognition, celebration, training, and workouts with celebrity trainers. I got to fist bump Sagi (the Body Beast guy) after my workout. I kind of felt like a big deal. I showed up to my workout with Autumn Calabrese (creator of 21 Day Fix/Extreme and Fixate) wearing the same thing she was wearing. She should have called me…
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Chicken Stuffed Peppers- Two Ways
As a parent you’re always trying to stuff something into food for your kids to eat it. Disguising muffins as cupcakes but packing them with carrots and zucchini. Adding flaxseed to oatmeal. Blending up extra veggies into a pizza sauce or even making cauliflower nuggets! All things I’ve tried and have been successful with when it comes to what my kids eat! Fortunately I have kids who love their veggies but we’re hard up to get them to eat proteins. So shredded chicken stuffed into these peppers was a hit for us! I love them with quinoa, my husband is a brown rice fan. The girls ate both š …
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Vanilla Protein Granola (with Shakeology)
Saturday mornings are for lounging, for coffee, and for listening to our kids run around and wrestle and giggle. We absolutely cherish these moments. Moments when we can sit peacefully and sip coffee out of old mugs, each one with a story to tell. Mine was a gift from coworkers years ago, a time in my life where my job was a big part of my identity, where I lived to work. I loved those that I worked with and the passion in their eyes truly made my “job” a place I enjoyed to go each day. My husbands mug was a gift from his 10 year West Point reunion,…
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Chicken and Veggie Tostadas
Taco Tuesday! I wanted to switch it up tonight and try something different. I had to take a CPR class this evening so I knew a crock-pot recipe was a must. With nursing school starting up in just a few weeks, I have a strong feeling that the crock-pot will be getting some good use again. So after coming back from a 6 day vacation last night and not being able to get to the grocery store yet, I had to work with what was left in the fridge. I had some zucchini, some peppers, and a bag of frozen chicken. Aside from that I had some corn tortillas left…
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