CoreDeForce – Week 1

Conquer From Within

My Struggle

If I wanted to be really honest, I’d tell you I’ve been struggling these past few weeks. I’ve been pushing myself with my workouts but I did not have control over my nutrition. I tried, but we all know that trying doesn’t really get us far. So I had to refocus. I had to decide to commit to the next workout, and not just to the workout routines, but the meal plan as well. By this time (nine months postpartum) after having Sophie, our first daughter, I wasn’t only back to my pre-baby body, I was also skinnier. At that time I would have told you I was leaner, but looking back at the pictures I really mostly was just skinny. I wasn’t trying to be, that’s how it happened. I was dang proud of myself though, and when someone told me I looked too skinny, I was mad and hurt. Later I put some of the weight back on, mostly in the form of muscle, and some fat, of course.

One of my favorite type of workout is mixed martial arts. MMA makes me feel like a badass. It really truly does. So doing the 30 day Core De Force workout was a no brainer. Time to get serious.

My Before Stats:

And because I’m kind of a geek when it comes to fitness, here’s what my muscle quality looks like. (If there’s too big of a discrepancy between the right and left side, that’s because I didn’t put my Skulpt on right. I’m still learning how to use it).

The Workouts

Day 1: MMA Speed (27 minutes) – this workout was really confusing at first, but watching the breakdown and really taking the time to learn the moves, especially that switch knee, made a huge difference
Day 2: Dynamic Strength (47 minutes) – oh my, how many different types of pushups are there? For real though.
Day 3: MMA Speed (27 minutes) – getting faster and sharper with those punches and kicks
Day 4: Power Sculpt (37 minutes) – that was tough. Good thing I had my accountability partner with me and we kept pushing each other cause this routine is very challenging; humbling, as another accountability partner of mine said.
Day 5: MMA Shred (37 minutes) – shredded I shall get, all right. Love this muay thai inspired routine
Day 6: Dynamic Strength (47 minutes) – you again, huh. Getting stronger but still ways to go, especially in those sphinx blaster.
Day 7: Active Recovery (21 minutes) – it was more active than I had anticipated. I was hoping for more of a yoga type routine. Not complaining though, just saying. 😉

Some of my favorite selfies:

Nutrition

So like I’ve said, I’ve been struggling with my nutrition. So focusing on that has been the most important thing for me. I enrolled the help of the 21 Day Fix app. I am not 100% following the app (that will need some more planning), but I am working on getting all the containers in.

I’m following the 1,800-2,099 calorie bracket. What I love about the 21 Day Fix plan and the app itself is that it makes me eat more vegetables. It tells you how many of each container you have left, green for vegetables, as an example, and if I see I have 3 more left, I make sure to get those in. Whereas normally I may only have let’s say pasta and fish in a hurry, as an example, this way I make sure to add a side salad, or steamed veggies, or something that satisfies the green container.

Keeping a picture diary of my meals also helps me keep accountable to myself and to our group.

Default, and I always forget to take pictures, here’s what I have every single day:

• pre-workout Energize, Hydrate during my workout, and chocolate Recover after my workout
• dark chocolate (right now it’s Lindt pineapple excellence)
• coffee with ~5oz milk (milk is not really on the plan but I can’t have my coffee without it and I need my coffee, I’m working on reducing the amount)
• Vegan chocolate and cafe latte Shakeology

And my picture food diary:

Thank you for reading. I’d love for you to join me on this journey. If you’re ready,  just send me a message here: http://momofbalance.com/contact/

Pregnancy Week 29 Plan

It seems I completely forgot to post last week’s plan… It’s been a rough past two weeks, with Sophie transferring to a new classroom, one level up, and me spending a lot of time observing this transition (they have an observation room) which is nice but it was also heartbreaking to see some of the things I observed, like her struggling to communicate with the teachers and them understanding her or seemingly not taking the time to understand her (I know when she speaks English it’s sometimes a full on English sentence completely understandable, other times it’s mixed with Hungarian or it’s plain fairy dust, as I like to call it), or her being unhappy at the end of every day we would pick her up. So it hasn’t been easy, but after talks with her previous teacher, the director, and her current teacher (in that order which I realize is not necessarily ideal, we should have talked to her current teacher before talking to the director but a few of the things I observed and needed change were out of her control, like adding another teacher to the room or adding an extra snack table, transferring the completely out-of-control girl to a different class). Anyways. After the talks I saw immediate changes, so I’m hopeful they will stay permanent.

But on to week 29. Week 28 marks the beginning of the third trimester, I can’t believe I’m already in the last trimester. Looking at the pregnancy diary we kept with Sophie, she was born less than 60 days from now, at 37 weeks and 5 days. She was early term, but term, and clearly turned out to be perfect. 🙂 

So while last week was pretty hectic, I did my best to stick to our meal plans and my workouts.

Workouts: I had to take both Saturday and Sunday off because I’ve been really tired by the evening, so much so that I’ve been taking involuntary naps (I call them involuntary because I just somehow fall asleep while watching my husband play with Sophie 😛 ) But I did start a a new trimester, which also means new routines. I wasn’t crazy about the cardio portion of it, so I’ll be substituting. I’m thinking Turbo Fire, modified, of course. 
Meals: I’ve been noticing that my heartburn has been getting worse. It’s usually bad after about two hours of consuming my meals, so I just need to start following my own advice and eat smaller portions – I mean, even smaller portions because I don’t have a whole lot of space in there anyways, baby is taking up more and more space. 🙂

This week

My workout plan is:

And our meal plan is:

Oh the dates are off. Hah! Changed them in my excel sheet, pregnancy brain note taken. 😛 

My goal for this week is to get way more of the pregnancy superfoods in my diet (such as wild salmon for brain development, flax seed for more omega-3’s and of course, more of the rainbow).

Until next week: stay active, eat well and be happy!  🙂

***NOTE: This is a repost, my blog has moved to http://www.momofbalance.com. If you’re still interested in my blog (I know I’ve been MIA forever, your life has changed, mine has changed…), please subscribe on my new page. Thank you. 🙂 ***

You know how when we decide we wanna do something, like get back on track, start reading the Bible, work on personal development, etc… and we start journaling it, but are ready to tear out the first week if it didn’t go well? Why? What do we want to prove and to whom? That we’re perfect? We’re not. I want Sophie to know that too. So no starting and restarting. Embrace your journey, good days and bad days, cause they’re what make it worth it.

So clearly, I don’t have a routine for keeping up with my blog yet. And normally, I probably would just want to erase it all. Start fresh. Hope that this time it will be perfect. But why? I really am not perfect and neither is my life. Things don’t always align to support my plans. Some days I don’t get to accomplish anything I had planned on doing. And that’s also the beauty of life. Learning to adjust, to enjoy every moment, even those that come in place of the ones we had originally planned. Maybe… just maybe, there is a reason for those moments. This weekend I had the opportunity to attend a lecture by a very famous Hungarian child psychologist, who mentioned that it is very new that moms have to do everything by themselves: before there were servants that helped, or big families of multiple generations. And today, most moms need to be super moms, do-it-all moms. A lot of times, we forget how to enjoy the little moments. To quote Mr. Vekerdy, he said “just try to enjoy that kid”. And it’s so true. So if I don’t get to my blog one day, or for days in a row… SO WHAT? I did something else that was probably more important – to me or to the big picture. (That’s not to say I’m not a little disappointed every time I don’t get to do what I had planned, but I’m, just like everyone else, am a work in progress).

But of course, some important highlights from these couple days:

I did work out every day, didn’t skip a single day, even after going out on Friday night and getting back at 2am. Of course, Sophie sleeping in helped as well, and my public announcement of this #ayearofconsistency because now it feels like I have an obligation towards others, I know they’re watching. And even if they’re not, it helps me stick to my routine regardless. 😛

Two of my favorite breakfast: oatmeal with maple syrup, cinnamon and fresh peaches and frozen waffles with fresh peaches and Greek yogurt. Frozen waffles are never my number one choice, but it was one of those mornings…

And I revisited an old favorite: ChaLean Extreme – Extreme Intervals which uses the ball and light weights for a killer workout and I also did some stretching on Sunday cause my body was aching for it….

Beachbody’s The Ultimate Reset: My Complete Journey & Review

Why Cleanse?

In general, doing a cleanse at least once a year is beneficial physically, mentally, and some claim, spiritually as well.

– makes the digestive system more effective
– maintains regularity
– increases energy
– increases the body’s absorption of vitamins and minerals
– improves concentration and mental clarity
– kick-starts weight loss
– increases fertility
– maintains pH balance in the bloodstream
– helps with emotional release
– creates a deeper consciousness (since your physical body is muted through a smaller caloric intake, your mind and soul are more alert, or rather, you’re more aware of them)
– getting answers to deeper questions/epiphany

What is the Ultimate Reset?

The Ultimate Reset The Ultimate Reset is Beachbody’s 21 day food based cleanse with three different phases:
– Reclaim: which “balances [the body’s] inner chemistry, preparing it for a change
– Release: which releases “the toxic compounds that are clogging your cells and stored within your tissues—like a purifying surge of clear water that flushes away years of impurities”
– Restore: which restores “your metabolism to maximum efficiency, while fortifying your body with the nutrients, enzymes, and probiotics it needs to maintain healthy performance in the future”

It also comes with six different supplements (detox, alkalinize, soothe, mineralize, optimize, and revitalize), some are used in all three phases, some are just in one or two of the phases.

Another thing it comes with that is a surprisingly powerful tool is a reset bracelet “symbolizing your dedication to transforming and ultimately resetting your life—and reminding you to give thanks for all you have”. And it’s true. When the journey felt a little hard, I looked at the bracelet, and it gave me power. It’s a mental thing, I know, yet it worked.

Why Did I Choose The Ultimate Reset?

I decided to do a cleanse after a six week vacation in Hungary, where I’m originally from. It’s funny how food is not just a physical, energy providing something, it’s emotional, brings back memories, it’s social, it’s enjoyable. And I enjoyed it a bit more than I do in the U.S. where health food stores are more readily available and foods are affordable compared to the standard of living. So I had white bread, cheese, butter, and sweets. Way more than I usually do. Surprisingly, I did not gain any weight, but I did feel “blah”. My inside just wasn’t feeling healthy. So I wanted to give it a fresh start.

There are many many different cleanses out there. I once did a nine day cleanse that started off with vegetable juice for a day and a half, then salad once a day for a few more days, adding back starch eventually. And I did benefit from that too, though I purely did it to lose weight. Completely the wrong reason.

The Reset works the other way around. It slowly eliminates animal products, and goes completely vegan for the last two weeks. While I knew the Reset was quite restrictive, with a major reduction in caloric intake, I felt ready. I felt like this was what I needed. I wanted to test myself mentally as well. I may have a little sugar addiction problem. 🙂

My Journey in Short

I loved the Ultimate Reset. There were days when it got harder, there were days when I was a bit more hungry, but I did not starve. Dinners were always amazing, and sort of made me keep going. Eating fruits for breakfast for almost two weeks straight got a little boring, but overall, the experience was so more than worth it.

I learned that I do have the self control to resist foods I before had thought I didn’t (for my toddler and husband, I made their usual foods: eggs, pancakes, bread, cheese, etc).

I learned that while I felt like we were having plenty of veggies and in a good variety, that wasn’t the case. The Reset had such flavorful vegetable dishes as main entrees, that I will be using as side dishes in the future. Different cuisines, like Asian, which I haven’t experimented with much, made me realize I had a lot more to learn.

I learned that I can let the emotions out (it was an emotional journey, I was more sensitive, for sure) in a healthy way.

I did kick-start my weight loss.

Before & After

Like I said, I did not do the Reset to lose weight, and that wasn’t what I had in mind. But physical results are of course, part of any cleanse. So here we go. I started the Ultimate Reset on June 9, 2014. I normally only measure my weight once a week, but I measured myself more in the third week, as I promised myself I would stop if I got below the 120lbs mark.

May 27, 2014: 128.1lbs
June 9, 2014:   127.9lbs  |  21.6% body fat
June 12, 2014: 126.3lbs  |  20.8% body fat
June 22, 2014: 121.7lbs  |  19.5% body fat
June 29, 2014: 120.3lbs  |  19.6% body fat
June 30, 2014: 120.4lbs  |  19.2% body fat

The Best Part

By far the foods and learning discipline.
The feeling of lightness (not just because of the weight loss, but light on every level).

The Worst Part

Badly missing my workouts. I can’t tell you how difficult this was. I did not have the energy for them anyways, but I was really looking forward to getting back to my routines.

A Look Back At The Foods

I documented every day here on my blog, so you can check it out, but here’s the short version.

Ultimate Reset Day 1: The Excitement

Ultimate Reset Day 2: The Anger (‘I’m sorry for what I said when I was hungry)

Ultimate Reset Day 3: The Relief (ah, today was so much easier)

Ultimate Reset Day 3: The Craving (Which I resisted)

Ultimate Reset Day 5: The Low On Energy

Ultimate Reset Day 6: The Eh

Ultimate Reset Day 7: The Week 1 Is Done Pride

Ultimate Reset Day 8: The “I Feel Like I’m Starting All Over Again”

Ultimate Reset Day 9: The Wife Wants to Date Again

Ultimate Reset Day 10: The Should I Keep Going?

Ultimate Reset Day 11: The I’m Definitely Getting Mentally Stronger

Ultimate Reset Day 12: The Not My Week for Friendships

Ultimate Reset Day 13: The I’m Cold

Ultimate Reset Day 14: The At the Two Week Mark

Ultimate Reset Day 15: The No More Cucumbers for Me, Please

Ultimate Reset Day 16: The Day My Husband Told Me Not to Lose More Weight & When I Needed to Go Out

Ultimate Reset Day 17: The I need to have a Better Equipped Kitchen

Ultimate Reset Day 18: The “You’ve Done Your Thing”

Ultimate Reset Day 19: The Final Push

Ultimate Reset Day 20: The Finish Line

Ultimate Reset Day 21

 

Thank you for reading my The Ultimate Reset journey!

Sources:

http://www.ultimatereset.com
http://life.gaiam.com/article/10-benefits-colon-cleansing
http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-9818/5-unexpected-awesome-benefits-of-doing-a-cleanse.html

Ultimate Reset Day 21

Ultimate Reset: Day 21
The Craving

The last day!!! I think The Ultimate Reset is the perfect example of “it’s the journey, not the destination”. Cause sure, we should always have a goal in mind, mine was to get back on the healthy track after our awesome trip to Hungary (photos to come soon, I promise); but I got so much more. Though I am not going to stay vegan as I have been eating during the last two weeks, I most certainly see many opportunities for us to incorporate even more veggies. The food during the Reset has been amazing, very flavorful, inspired by different cuisines including Asian, which I haven’t much experimented with at all. I’ve always enjoyed cooking, but because I looked forward to every meal so much, I got to enjoy it even more. I learned to have discipline (resisting foods right in front of me which is a huge deal for me), and I learned to differentiate hunger from thirst. I did lose weight. But that’s only the side effect. It’s a lifestyle.

With that said, lunch was awesome, but dinner…. WHY, Ultimate Reset, why??? My taste buds have not been trained hard enough (luckily) for this avocado cucumber soup. Chilled or warm or hot. So I did not eat it. I had mashed avocados and baked tempeh strips instead. Still Reset approved food, completely vegan, but, edible to me. I tried hard though, to finish the soup.

Aaaand. You are who you are. I always say denying ourselves only leads to binge eating, overdoing it, and eventually falling off track. I think three weeks are very reasonable for a cleanse like this. Within three weeks, our bodies get rid of most of what we put in it – so when one is to do an elimination diet, for example, it is advisable to go for a minimum of two weeks, but three, or even four are recommended. And the it takes three weeks to develop a new habit comes to mind as well, though I personally believe it’s different for every person and habit, and depends on circumstances, the type of habit, etc. Point is though, I mentioned before that huge box of chocolate I brought back from Hungary that I did not touch once during the Reset. I did put it on my mind though so much, that I literally couldn’t fall asleep. When you feel the taste in your mouth, the texture…. I had that chocolate on my mind, and only that chocolate. Around 11pm I walked to our bedroom door, to test if my husband was awake. He whispered to me: “what are you doing?”. I told him I was testing him cause I just can’t fall asleep, I can’t stop thinking of the chocolate. So 51 minutes before day 21 was over, I went to the kitchen cabinet, opened the door, found the box, reached in, and took a single square from this:

It was pure satisfaction. My husband told me he could see the smile on my face when I laid down next to him again. I was asleep within minutes. That was all I needed for my happiness. And I loved how it melted in my mouth. Thank you Milka, thank you Oreo. And thank you Reset, for teaching me that a small bite can satisfy my sweet tooth just as much as a whole bar can (ouch, I know).

Ultimate Reset Day 20

Ultimate Reset: Day 20
The Finish Line

Yay, almost there!!! Though the day wasn’t a huge success. The pears I got were not ripe yet, so my breakfast consisted of one tiny apple. Not enough at all. And I swear I took a picture of my lunch – it was an avocaco jicama salad, quite yummy, actually, but it seems I deleted it. For Sophie and my husband I made salmon patty for lunch with mashed avocado. It smelled good. 😛

And then came dinner. Look at those colors (#nofilter). Dark green veggies, with red bell peppers, orange carrots. That’s variety.
Dark green veggies boost the immune system, help fight free radicals (those nasty little ones “often injure the cell, damaging the DNA, which creates the seed for disease” ~WebMd), and support vision, among many other benefits.
Red veggies lower blood pressure and reduce LDL cholesterol (the bad one, that leads to the formation of plague within the artery walls which puts pressure on the arteries, making it harder for blood to rush through, leading to heart problems).
Orange veggies promote healthy joints, are high in magnesium and Vitamin C.

Conclusion: eat your veggies. And don’t just eat one. I think all these veggie dishes taught me that there’s million ways to prepare them. In the meantime, I’m giving some to Sophie every day. She’s still picky and won’t eat them all, but she loves soup, no matter how vegetable tasting it is. That is my secret mom weapon. 😀

Ultimate Reset Day 19

Ultimate Reset: Day 19
The Final Push

Toddlers are picky eaters. Most of them are, at least. There can be days when they want to eat the same thing over and over again, and there can be days when they just don’t want to eat anything. Sophie loves “gogur”, as she calls it (yogurt, or joghurt in Hungarian, cause we only speak Hungarian to her) but sometimes she won’t eat even that. And I think us eating differently has taken its toll on her. She just refused to eat the eggs I made for her this morning, as an example. And what a hypocrite I am for saying “just fruits is not enough for breakfast”. For her it isn’t, anyways. Or is it? Maybe it’s just me wanting something more substantial in my belly. I love fruits, but I am missing my egg-egg white scrambled eggs with toast and veggies and orange juice. I let her eat just fruits though. Maybe she wasn’t hungry for more. It’s okay. Variety is key. And I think what made today’s breakfast hard for me is that I’m lacking variety. Dinners are different, but I’ve been having fruit for breakfast for almost two weeks now.

But with that said, I ate my fruits and looked forward to dinner. I think dinners really are the “make” part in the “make or break” when it comes to the Reset. They keep me going through the day, because I know I will not be disappointed, and my tummy will be full just to perfection. Not too much, not too little, and with nutrition dense, healthy, yummy food. I love the beets we have during the Reset. They’re so tasty. My husband ate maybe half of the dinner I made him (not the tempeh or collard greens half 😛 ) and then made himself toast. It’s okay. I wish I could have taken him on this whole journey with me, because I know how much he would have benefited from it as well, but with him traveling so much, that just wasn’t an option. Maybe some other time.

Ultimate Reset Day 18

Ultimate Reset: Day 18
The “You’ve Done Your Thing”

Just when I thought my husband truly got it, I realize he doesn’t. He is very supportive. Concerned too, but supportive. I have a minor heart issue, Mitral Valve Prolapse with regurgitation (basically, one of the valves in my heart doesn’t always close, running the risk of blood flowing the wrong way – doesn’t really bother me on an everyday level, just need to get antibiotics when any procedure is done). But I do feel my heart beating out of normal rhythm and I do have to cough. And today that happened more than it usually does. So my husband told me he was concerned about my diet. The body is working in such an intricate balance, that diet does affect a lot more than we can think of. I don’t know enough to see the connection here, plus, other than eating way less than usual, I’m eating a lot more healthily. So he told me that I’ve done my thing, I proved myself, it’s okay to go back to my regular eating pattern. NO IT’S NOT. First off, what is my thing here, really? Losing weight? Proving I had more discipline than I ever thought? That I could do it? If I can do it, why would I give up three days before the end? Like running a 10K and at 9.4 saying “Ah, I got this far, I’m good”. No I’m not. I’m not. So I just keep going.

Food today was… average. Nothing that blew me away like crazy and nothing that was bad. On to tomorrow.

Ultimate Reset Day 17

Ultimate Reset: Day 17
The I need to have a Better Equipped Kitchen

Ah, kitchen tools. They can truly be very very useful at times. Like, they would have been today. My food processor did not come with the shredding blades, so I manually shredded a bunch of carrots. It was rather tiresome, so I decided to make maybe a half size lunch (which was a Moroccan carrot salad, really yummy). So while lunch was amazing, it wasn’t nearly enough, so I had the optional snack of carrots and avocado. I mashed the avocados with garlic and lime juice. It’s a frequent dish we have, usually with toast or it makes a great dipping sauce as well.

And around 5pm my husband called that he had a flat tire and we had to pick him up. He works about 40 minutes away on a good day, and in Southern California around 5pm, no day is a good day for traffic. So there was no way for us to make it back on time to prepare lunch, so again we ate out. At BJ’s. My husband and Sophie had a pizza (I love BJ’s pizza, very rarely do we eat there, but it’s oh so good). So I again ended up with steamed veggies and brown rice. Most restaurants will only have these two items that fit the Reset guidelines, especially during the last week. No complaints though, they were quite tasty.

What’s your favorite pizza?

Ultimate Reset Day 16

Ultimate Reset: Day 16
The Day My Husband Told Me Not to Lose More Weight & When I Needed to Go Out

I did not start the Reset to lose weight. Its inevitable and will happen when you change your eating patterns so dramatically; but, I did not to expect to lose so much. I’ve lost close to eight pounds by now. And that’s a lot for me. I’m at the weight I was eleven months after having Sophie, after finishing P90X. A lot of people told me I was too skinny at that point (I was eating a lot and breastfeeding so trust me, I was not dieting at all). Neighbors told me today too that I was losing too much weight. But I am sticking to the Reset. No way am stopping now.

I know I only have a single photo up there. For breakfast I had fruits, and then I just had enough. Literally. I love cooking, but I felt the need to get out of the kitchen for an evening. I was supposed to have curried cauliflowers (with optional grains) for dinner and ended up with steamed veggies and brown rice at an Asian restaurant. My hubby had sushi. I love sushi. But the point is, eating out during the Reset wasn’t as challenging. Sure, I deviated from the day’s menu, but I did not deviate from the plan. And that right there, is success. So I was really proud.

And for lunch, the Asian cabbage salad, oh my… Sooooo good. So good. The Miso soup was optional but since I’m not allowed to lose more weight, I’m going for the optional side dishes. I know though, that some people can be sensitive to certain grains; hence they are only optional, but the thing is, I’ve been doing really well with my diet in general, so I know grains don’t bother me.

Do you have any food sensitivities?