Workout and Clean Eats Update

A few weeks ago I talked about how I was doing the T-25 workout and eating clean! I cut out dairy, sugar, and turned to only whole wheat. You can check out that post here...

I wanted to give you all a little update because frankly I am SUPER excited about my results!

Although I have only lost 1.5lbs in two weeks (which isn't awful) my measurements show a great success! 

My waist: I have lost 2.5 inches in just two weeks!

My stomach: 1 inch in just two weeks!

Arms: 1 inch

Legs: 1 inch

Chest: nada (which brings me to another post later this week....stay tuned!) 

I am so excited about these results it makes me motivated to keep eating clean and working out! It can be difficult when you change your eating habits and exercise routine when you aren't getting the results you want. And although I wish that scale would show a different number and I am pleased to see that my body is becoming more muscular and tight! 

How has your success been in the gym? I know a lot of you were motivated with New Years resolutions! DON"T GIVE UP! YOU CAN DO IT! and always remember what the Tone It Up girls say! LOVE YOUR BODY! 

Get ready to link up your monthly goals again on Friday! Can't wait to check out your progress so far! 

Clean Eats Weekend

This weekend I made the permanent decision to keep working out and eating clean. You can read about my health and fitness story that started wayyy before this decision above on the fitness tab.

After a full week cutting out a few things from my diet I have NEVER felt so energized. I have also started the T-25 workout by Shaun-T. It is a workout you do 5 days a week for ONLY 25 minutes. There is no way to make excuses when you only have to work out for 25 minutes.

After a full week of eating clean and doing T-25 I have lost 2 inches on my waist and 1lb! 

So what exactly am I cutting out from my diet?

- Dairy: I no longer drink milk, eat cheese, or use coffee creamer. Instead, I use coconut milk to put in my coffee and to bake with anytime it calls for milk! 

- Only Whole Wheat: Now some health nuts would say that whole wheat has to much sugar. Which may be the case, but I am no nutritionist and I just know that this works for me. Ever since I cut out white flour I have felt much more energized! I use whole wheat flour in everything I bake and buy all my bread and english muffins whole wheat. 

- Sugar: This has been the HARDEST! I LOVE sweets! But have no fear, you can still have cookies and plenty of other sweets (that actually taste really good) when you eat clean! I made whole wheat coconut chocolate chip cookies this weekend that had no sugar or butter! I substitute coconut oils and honey to make it sweet and tasty! You can find the recipe here along with many others! 

What else can I make that is sweet? How about these whole wheat blueberry coconut pancakes!? 

Recipe:

3/4 cups of whole wheat flour

1 tsp of Pure Vanilla

1/2 TBS of Baking Soda

1/4 tsp of Salt

2 tsp of Cinnamon 

2 Egg Whites

3/4 cup of coconut milk (or use almond milk)

1/4 cup of coconut

Add blueberries at your discretion (walnuts, almonds, strawberries would be great too!) 

I have decided to make this change because I FEEL better! My body feels better, I have more energy, and I make food that works for me! 

It does take more time planning meals and making everything homemade but DO WHAT WORKS FOR YOU! If there are three recipes you know you will like start there, research, try different things out! 

As the girls from Tone It Up would say (I mean my best friends that favorite my tweets) LOVE.YOUR.BODY

I did it!!

13.1 miles.

Successfully completed! 

In fact, I finished 6 minutes before my goal time of 2:30:00! So no, I wasn't super fast, and yes it was extremely hard but I completed my fitness goal I sat months ago! Also, my sister surprised me and drove from Indiana to run with me! I seriously could not have done this with out her! 

Miles 1-6 easy peasy! To be honest, I wasn't training as well as I should have leading up to the race. I ran maybe 4 miles twice a week. So to get through mile 6 so easily, I was ecstatic! 

Mile 7: Started to struggle a little. Luckily they were handing out goo to runners, so I was able to re-energize and go! 

Mile 8-9: No problem! I kept thinking, I am so close to being done! I got this! 

Mile 10: death. I had not walked up to this point. However, I have sports induced asthma and I started feeling my lungs closing. It was in my best interest to walk, no more than a quarter of a mile then I started to run again.

Mile 11-12: SO CLOSE!! I had the music blaring, rhythm going! Life was good..

Until I hit mile 13. Have you ever had those dreams where you can see the end of something, like a finish line, but you just can't get there? Well thats what happened, except real life. Mile 13 may have been the hardest thing I have EVER done in my life. It was the last mile and I physically could not move.

Luckily, I was able to be encouraged by all the people lining up as you get closer to the finish line! 

Where I finally crossed, in 2:24:32! I have never been more proud of myself or have felt so proud of something I worked SO hard for! Check out my fitness page to see where I began. 

This 1/2 marathon is a celebration of where I was and where I am today. Hard work, dedication, preserving  all are required to be successful. I can not wait to see where another year takes me, and the preparation I will be enduring to check off another half marathon in my future! Should I go for a full? I don't know...we will have to wait and see! 

Beauty, Bronze, and Brains

A little JT for everyone this morning :) 

Here is my Wednesday Link Up!

I can't believe how nice the weather is! I actually got a sunburn over the weekend :) Who would think I would be this excited about a cherry red nose and tomato red shoulders! 

I can't believe I finally got my student teaching placement! This fall I will be student teaching where I graduated from high school! Such a blessing and it is near my house so I don't have to drive all across the state of MI just to get my student teaching accomplished :) 

I can't believe I got a 4.0!! I have never gotten such good grades, ever! I guess when your lowest grade is a 96% you can call that a successful semester :) 

I can't believe I ran 5 miles last night! Not only did I run that far, but my split times on mile 2, 3, and 4,  was 7:35 minutes! Who would have thought I would get faster the further I ran :)

I can't believe all the great deals I got shopping at the outlets Sunday with my friends :) $25 new Nike running shoes, new JCrew phone case, super cute Banana Republic sweater for $7, plethora of scented greatness at Bath and Body, and some nice summer shorts from the Gap...I love shopping but I am definitely in need of a pay check :) 

Have a great day everyone! 

Who is with me?

Alright fellow bloggers, I am in need of some help, encouragement and an online working buddy to get me through these next few months! I am starting the Insanity workout again on April 1st. This is the official announcement, which means I can't back out now...

Starting last August I got serious about working out and have lost about 20lbs since then. 15 of those pounds were lost during the Insanity workout. For those of you who have never done insanity, it is definitely the most intense workout I have EVER done in my entire life (counting basketball practices and track practices in high school). I have never felt so tired and sweaty after a workout, everrr. Well before summer starts, I want to give it one last shot to help shed a few more pounds that are having difficulty coming off from just running. 

Here is a before picture last year at my last sorority recruitment event! 

and heres and after insanity workout

So whose with me?? Anyone? Or if you are doing another work out, lets keep each other accountable by commenting below and updating each other with our success :) 

Now for my Wed. link up:

I can't believe its Wednesday, one more day till I am officially on spring break for a week! 

I can't believe I actually ran this morning, it took everything in me to get out of bed. 

I can't believe I am not in the shower yet, looks like I'm running a little late this morning.

I can't believe how awesome the 5th/6th grade talent show at my school last night was! I was so impressed by beat boxing, signing, dancing, playing instruments, and people doing back flips! I felt like I was watching America's got talent :) 

Happy Wednesday everyone!