Next weeks challenge...

NEXT WEEK'S ADDED CHALLENGE: reduce sugar intake
 (this will be my greatest challenge yet!)

"Mamas, I want you to start to be aware of how much sugar you are consuming every day and start to cut back or cut out super sugary foods from your diet. If it is dessert at night, give yourself half of your normal portion. We all know what our own sugary vices are. Let's hold ourselves accountable and start our sugar detox and accelerate our progress on this fitness journey. "

Dangers of Sugar

"The dangers of sugar are very serious. Excess sugar intake will do more to derail your weight loss eating plan than just about anything else. If you limit sugar in your diet, you will go a long way to getting incredible results with your weight loss eating plan.

The Hidden Dangers of Sugar

The Dangers of Sugar - When I researched the bad effects of sugar in our diet, I was astonished at how harmful sugar is to our bodies. We've all learned how sugar can rot our teeth, increase our risk of getting diabetes, and make us gain weight. You may be surprised at how many other bad effects sugar has on our system over the long term.

How Sugar Can Ruin Your Healthy Weight Loss Plan:

If you limit your sugar intake, you will be well on your way to building the body of your dreams. That's because excess sugar intake will do more to derail you from reaching your weight loss and fitness goals than just about anything.

The problem with sugar is that it tastes so darn good. Therein lies the rub. If sugar treats tasted like broccoli, it would be easy to avoid them altogether. Because sugar tastes good, it can be very difficult to avoid consuming excess amounts of it. Sugar is habit forming. It is addicting. And that can lead to all kinds of health problems. Sugar has absolutely no nutritional value. Consuming a lot of sugar is the equivalent of taking a daily fat pill.

Once we start eating sugar, it's difficult to stop. The more of it we eat, the more we crave.

Sugar is largely responsible for unwanted weight gain, excess fat, and excess sugar intake leads to obesity for too many people.

Sugar can give us a short-term spike in energy, but then we have an energy crash. Sugar actually robs us of energy, and that creates a vicious cycle where we exercise less, become even more sedentary, and gain even more weight.

Excess sugar intake is one of major reasons why many people don't realize their goal to lose weight or build a lean, muscular body. You cannot continue to take in excess amounts of sugar and expect to build the body that you desire.

There is a lot of media coverage about the dangers of saturated fat (and for good reason), but there is not enough coverage on the dangers of sugar. Limit both sugar intake and saturated fat in your diet, and you will see astonishing changes in your body. You will not believe the difference.

Dealing With Sugar Cravings:

We all struggle with food cravings. If you learn strategies of how to deal with sugar cravings, you will go a long way to reaching your weight loss and fitness goals.

Don't beat yourself up if you give in to the craving. You're human. Beating yourself up over the occasional slip up is only going to demotivate you and discourage you.

How Sugar Can Destroy your Body and Your Health:

One of the dangers of sugar is that sugar raises your blood sugar levels (makes sense). But sugar can also cause hypoglycemia. Over the long-term, excess sugar in your diet speeds up the aging process, increases your risk of getting cancer, heart problems, contributes to diabetes, can lead to osteoporosis, hurt your eyesight, and can cause arthritis.

For you ladies out there concerned about keeping your skin looking young, sugar plays a role in giving you wrinkles and aging your skin.

No Sugar Diet - Benefits of Cutting Sugar from Your Diet:

While we're not suggesting that you never eat sugar (that is extreme), if you adopt a a no sugar diet most days of the week, you will see quick weight loss results.

To put a more positive slant on it, if you limit your sugar intake, you lower your risk of degenerative diseases, slow the aging process, save hospital bills and medical bills, and improve the quality of your life. If you avoid the dangers of sugar, and limit your sugar intake, you'll look better, feel better, and perform better.

If you can discipline yourself to cut back on sugar, your chances of you getting serious results from your weight loss eating plan skyrocket. Cut back on sugar and the pounds will melt off your body.

Eating a lot of foods that contain too much sugar is habit forming. And like any other bad habit, the habit of eating too much sugar can be broken. Begin by cutting back on sugar a little at a time. Progressively cut back even more until you get to the point where you are consuming very little sugar in your diet. Substitute snacks that contain little or no sugar. Over time, it will get easier and easier to substitute good foods for the bad foods. You will train yourself to avoid the dangers of sugar.

We're not suggesting that you never eat sugar. Life is too short to never have candy bars, chocolate cake, and ice cream. Rather, work on cutting back on your sugar intake. The more you cut back on sugar, the more results you will see with your diet plan and your fitness goals.

Save the sugar foods as a way to reward yourself for your discipline with your diet plan. Create an incentive system where you reward yourself with your favorite sugar foods when you reach a weight loss or fitness milestone. This can be very effective in helping you reach your fitness goals."

WOD #25

20 Leg lifts (supermans)
30 Wall ball shots, 10 lb ball
20 Knees to elbows
30 Box jumps, 18 inch box
20 Sumo-deadlift high-pull, 20 lbs
30 Burpees
20 Push press, 20 lbs
40 Walking lunges (40 total steps)

WOD #24

Max rounds in 3 minutes of:
3 *Power cleans, 30 lbs
6 Push-ups
9 Squats

Rest 1 minute. Repeat for a total of 5 cycles.

*Power clean demo

WOD #23

For time:

20 Front squats, 40 lbs
30 Box jump, 18 inch box
40 Kettlebell swings, 15 lbs
50 Wall ball shots, 10 pound ball

WOD #22

As many rounds in 20 minutes of:

Run 400 meters
7 push-ups

WOD #21

3 rounds for time of:

15 Push-ups
15 Pull-ups (jump up, lower down)
30 Deadlifts, 40 lbs
30 Box jumps, 18 inch box

WOD #20

5 Knees to elbows
10 Deadlifts,40lbs
15 Crossfit sit-ups
50 Jump jacks
5 Knees to elbows
10 Deadlifts,40lbs
15 Crossfit sit-ups
100 Jump jacks
5 Knees to elbows
10 Deadlifts,40lbs
15 Crossfit sit-ups
150 Jump jacks
5 Knees to elbows
10 Deadlifts,40lbs
15 Crossfit sit-ups
200 Jump jacks

WOD #19

Run 800 meters
50 Squats
Run 800 meters
50 Crossfit sit-ups
Run 800 meters

WOD #18

3 rounds for time of:
7 Push-ups
21 Dumbbell thrusters, 10lb dumbbells

WOD #17

I'm scared for today...

"Filthy Fifty"

For time:
50Jump rope

50 Burpees
50 Wall ball shots, 10 pound ball
50 Back extensions (supermans)
50 Push press, 20 pounds
50 Knees to elbows
50 Walking Lunges (50 steps)
50 Kettlebell swings, 15 lbs
50 Crossfit sit-ups

50 Box jump, 18 inch box

WOD #16

For time:

15 Thrusters, 30 lbs
Run 200 meters
20 Thrusters, 24 lbs
Run 400 meters
30 Thrusters, 20 lbs
Run 800 meters

WOD #15

3 rounds of:

20 Overhead or front squats, 30-40 lbs
50 Jump rope

NEXT WEEK'S ADDED CHALLENGE: no food after 8:00pm 

  

Eating Before Bed – What to Avoid

"One of the most important keys to your weight loss journey is not eating before bed. Eating before bed gives our body immediate fuel to be used as energy – the only problem is we don’t need energy at this time. The food that is not used for normal body processes (our bodies are still active when we sleep) is left to be digested by the body and is eventually stored. This is a lot of activity for a body that wants to be resting!
While on a weight loss journey we want to maximize the number of pounds we can lose everyday in a healthy manner. A great way to do this is to stop eating 2 hours before we go to bed. Not eating before bed allows our body’s natural sleeping metabolism to help us burn fat while we sleep. Instead of the sleeping energy processes using our pre-bed snack for fuel they are able to breakdown fat to gather energy to recover from our day. This is an important part of any weight loss journey and can be stalled by eating before bed.
By not eating after 8 pm we are limiting those extra calories that we may have eaten! Stop the madness and save yourself from these extra calories by not eating before bed.
Getting a good night sleep is important for everyone. It helps us re-energize from long, tiring days, rebuild our muscles from intense workouts, and relax our mind from the stresses of daily living. Eating before bed can have negative effects on our sleep quality. It can make us feel bloated, uncomfortable, stuffed or too hot. It can ruin our sleep. On top of that many people experience acid reflux if they eat in bed or eat and lie down right away making getting a good sleep much more difficult. If you feel like your sleep has been interrupted by poor digestion or stomach issues make sure you aren’t eating 2 hours before you go to bed.

Sleeping is the perfect time to give our body a rest from food. It wants to digest what it already has to deal with and doesn’t want you to add to the fire. This is saying that you are sticking to your 5-6 smalls meals per day and aren’t overly hungry at bed time. I will list a few pre-bed snacks for those who NEED an after dinner snack. There are going to be times when you need to eat before bed. Don’t go to bed hungry. If you can’t help it and need an after supper snack you need to try these few tips:

• Re-evaluate your daily meals – are you eating enough throughout the day? Have you eaten every 3 hours today?
• Make sure you are eating vegetables, a lean protein and a healthy fat for supper. This combination will keep you feeling full longer.
• First try drinking a glass of water. Sometimes we are really just thirsty and water will do the trick.
• As a last resort, try one of these after supper snacks – a banana with peanut butter, celery with peanut butter or a handful of almonds

 Reducing the Want to Eat Before Bed

One of the main reasons people eat at night is they don’t eat enough during the day. Many people have their biggest meal at dinner and then snack before bed. This extreme hunger from not eating during the day causes over-eating and worse cravings at night. The best way to prevent this is to eat small meals every 3 hours throughout the day and keep your body burning.
Much of our bedtime snacking is caused by stress. Stress is such a huge factor is stalling weight loss and can ruin your efforts if you let it! Recognize your stress don’t let it consume you. Do not turn to food in times of stress. One of the best ways to cut your nighttime binges is to reduce your overall stress! Try things like mediation, yoga or massage to reduce your stress and prevent eating at night.
Here are other ways to stop eating before bed:

• Eat 5-6 small meals throughout the day.
• Keep all junk food out of your house.
• Form a habit of not eating after a certain time (if you go to bed at 10 pm stop eating every night at 8 pm)
• Do your workouts in the morning.
• Eat protein, healthy fats and lots of vegetables at supper time.

 Your Challenge This Week 

Today I want you to stop eating 2 hours before bed! You will feel lighter, less bloated, have increased weight loss, better sleeps and more energy. These are some amazing reasons to take on this added challenge."

Homemade laundry detergent

I attempted to make my own laundry detergent and it was soooooo easy. It literally took 5 minutes to make 2 batches and it is dirt cheap. I figure under $1 for 16-32 loads depending on how dirty or large your load is.

If you get your soap at Costco it's super cheap (even wait for their coupons for more of a deal) or I got a large pack at target that made each bar .47. A box of Borax was $3.50 at Target so I'm sure it's cheaper at Walmart. I didn't find the soda at Target but I didn't look hard since I had some.

Powdered Laundry Soap:
2 cups finely grated soap (Ivory, Fels Naptha, Zote, homemade, or a combination)
1 cup borax
1 cup washing soda

Mix and store in a can or what have you. Use 1-2 T per load. I put mine in a food processor to make it more fine and look like store bought. I am also going to buy a grater and measuring cups just for this and keep it in a bucket so I don't contaminate our food ;) and its ready for next time.

Since there is no water added…it is very concentrated and you hardly use any per load!

Just tried mine today and it smells great. I used Irish spring mountain fresh or something like that.

You can make liquid but it is more involved and I like easy and 5 minutes I can do.

WOD #14

5 rounds of:

15 pushups
40 CF situps
50 squats

I might try goblet squats.  You hold the medicine ball under your chin and your hands hold it like a cup while you squat.  CF situps are hard towards the end but I don't feel sore so I must be doing something wrong so I think I might try holding a very small weight.  We'll see.....

WOD #13

3 rounds of:

Wall ball, 10 lbs (Reps)
Sumo deadlift high-pull, 15-30lbs (Reps) sumo deadlift demo
Box Jump, 18" box (Reps)
Push-press, 20lbs (Reps) push press demo
Crossfit sit-ups (Reps)

In this workout you move from each of five stations after a minute.The clock does not reset or stop between exercises. This is a five-minute round from which a one-minute break is allowed before repeating. On call of "rotate", the athletes must move to next station immediately for best score. One point is given for each rep.

Add your points and post them to comments.