SUPER SATURDAY!!!

I am finally finding the time to blog about my experience at Super Saturday a few weeekends ago in Batavia, NY! I had such a great time, met many new coaches, made some new friends, was inspired, pumped up & got crushed in an awesome workout by Master Trainer Christine Pilaroscia (PiYo+Insanity=soreeeee).

You're probably wondering, "What is this Super Saturday crap she's talking about?"...

Well, Super Saturday is Beachbody's quarterly meet-up, where coaches from all across the United States get together at hundreds and hundreds of events. We all get together at these events to prepare for the next quarter, check out & recognize new success with workouts and the business, share tips, work out & make things happen!!!

This Super Saturday was again hosted by 5 Star Diamond Coach Meghan Eggleston (she was a 2 star last summer when I first went to her Super Saturday....she is a rock star!) & a few other Diamond coaches. The coaches who put on the event did such a great job putting it all together! I was so glad that not only did my fellow Bombshell/Phoenix Dynasty coach Kait could join me again, but Kristy as well! We had such a blast, although driving in the snow to get there was not fun...but it was worth it 100%! I mean, come on....we got to get our pictures taken professionally, for free! It was so much fun :)  

First up on our agenda was listening to REAL success stories from coaches in our area. Meghan Eggleston talked about her journey to the top 100 Elite Coaches in Beachbody...amazing! We also listened to a story or a woman who was battling cancer & talked about how much beachbody fitness programs & Shakeology was helping her stay as healthy as possible through her treatments. There were many other stories, but hers stuck out the most to me....here was a woman going through HELL and she was staying positive, rocking the business, and trying to get healthy with the help of fitness & Shakeology. Needless to say, tears were streaming down my face! We also watched a video from other top coaches in the business, the CEO Carl Daikeler & other heads of the company. It included details about new products like the 21 Day Fix Extreme (which I can't waittttt for), Beachbody Demand (which is going to be an incredible tool for many) & the Beachbody Success Club Trip Cruise next year! I am on the waitlist for the cruise, but am working HARD to earn my way off of it...I actually earned $50 towards the trip in January alone! 




I love how our CEO Carl gave us all a new motto for 2015....it is this "Everyone Matters"! This is for us coaches to help every single person who we reach out to realize that they can do this, that they matter & they can do it. I loved this message...I think so many of us think that we are too far gone, or that well, this journey is too hard so I must not deserve it! It's not true though....I struggle sometimes too & I just want to help everyone realize, that they do matter, they do deserve to be happy and they CAN do it!





The last part of our day was getting our butts handed to us by Master Trainer Christine Pilaroscia! She warmed us up with PiYo, did a PiYo heat section & then really kicked it up with two sections of killer Insanity. I was soooo sore.....but also she helped me realize that damn, I have gotten out of shape. Would that workout have killed me back in the summer when I was in shape?...probably, but I was really out of shape at Super Saturday..doing many of the modifier moves. THAT made me mad! There is absolutely nothing wrong with doing modifier moves....but when I knew that 4-5 months ago, I wouldn't have needed to do them...it sparked a fire in me! The whole day sparked a fire inside of me!! A spark that got my butt back working out everyday, eating right & helping others on their journeys again! It feels so great to be back in the swing of things & I really have this Super Saturday Event to thank for that!

New friends after a great workout!

I hope that by the next Super Saturday on April 25th, I will be able to bring more coach friends with me who have joined the team!!! 

 

 

Healthy Banana-nut muffins

Bananas usually don't have the opportunity to get super ripe in our house, because I love the little suckers! For some reason this week, I had 3 left over....I think because we also had lots of other fresh fruit in the house as options (I've been on a clementine kick lately). 



So after getting in my 21 Day Fix Lower Fix workout, I reallyyyy was craving banana bread or muffins when I saw them & got out my go-to recipe...but then remembered that it is full of sugar & butter...not so healthy. So instead, I decided to try my own concoction & not allow any butter or sugar in it! I had pinned a while ago a chart that gave ideas on how to substitute these two things, so I tried a couple of the ideas & the muffins turned out pretty good! 

The only suggestion I do have is to possibly use a different type of flour. I used quinoa flour & while the muffins were still very good, they had a distinct quinoa taste. I would suggest trying oat flour, whole wheat flour or some other healthier choice that doesn't have a strong flavor.

Ingredients

*3 very ripe bananas
*2 eggs
*1/2 cup no sugar added applesauce (I used homemade applesauce that I made in the fall w/locally grown apples)
*1/4 cup honey
*1 1/4 cup Quinoa flour (you can substitute this with oat flour or whole wheat flour)
*1/2 tsp pure vanilla 
*1/2 tsp cinnamon
*1 tsp baking powder
*1 tsp baking soda
*7 stevia packets (optional to make it a little bit sweeter naturally)
*3/4 cup walnuts (optional)

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Next, mash bananas in a bowl. Next, add in the eggs, applesauce, honey & vanilla and mix together. Last add in all of the dry ingredients and mix together! I didn't use muffin papers to line my muffin tin, but instead sprayed with coconut oil to be sure that they didn't stick. Place in oven & cook for around 20 minutes or until golden brown!

 Enjoy!

 (I filled my muffin tin up a little too high which is why they aren't very pretty...but they were yummy!)

21 Day Fix approved Crockpot Buffalo Chicken

As my schedule gets hectic again (Full time job, part-time job, getting my masters, juggling my beachbody business.....), I have turned to my trusty ol' crockpot to help me out! This one was a hit with not only myself, but my boyfriend Chris as well. He will generally eat anything I put on a plate in front of him, BUT I could tell he really liked this one! It is easy, pretty healthy & fairly low in calories....PERFECT!


Ready for this easiness?! Don't blink....

Ingredients

*Frank's Buffalo Style Hot Sauce

*4 chicken breasts

*One packet of ranch dressing mix (I prefer simply organic...healthiest version I can find without making from scratch)

All you do is throw the Frank's & ranch mix into the crockpot, stir it up & add the chicken. I cooked mine on low for 8 hours while I was at work. When it is done, shred the chicken (I did this easily with a fork without having to remove the chicken from the crockpot) & mix it up. It's done-zo....told you it was easy ;)

Now for some fun & choices of your own....HOW DO YOU WANT TO EAT IT?! I sauteed some peppers in a pan on the stove in coconut oil and then put the peppers on brown rice & put the buffalo chicken on top w/a sprinkle of cheese. For Chris, I made Buffalo chicken wraps & put the peppers/rice on the side! I am on the 21 Day Fix & only had one yellow container left which is why I had one serving of brown rice, compared to Chris' three yellows on his plate (2 wraps & 1 serving of brown rice)!

*****If you are following the 21 Day Fix, the Hers plate is 1 red, 1 green, 1 yellow & 1 blue!****

ENJOY!!

Clean crockpot Chicken Zucchini Parm

I've been craving Chicken Parm...pastaaaaa sauceeee, carbbssss, cheeeseeee...yummmm! But instead of going all out with breaded chicken, a giant plate of pasta and a 1/2 lb. of cheese; I decided to make a healthy & clean version of my craving & really liked it!

Ingredients:

-Two chicken breasts (cut into 1 inch cubes)

-Small/medium zucchini (diced)

-Small onion (diced)

-1 small green pepper (diced)

-1 1/2 cups of Organic pasta sauce (I love Wegmans Organic Roasted Garlic Sauce)

-Pasta (I chose Trader Joe's Brown Rice Organic pasta)

-pinch of Himalayan salt

- tsp Garlic Powder

-tsp Mrs. Dash all purpose no sodium seasoning

EASIEST INSTRUCTIONS EVER!......

Throw everything but the pasta into the crockpot. I cooked mine on low for 8 hours since I was at work, but 4 hours on High would work too...just watch it if you are going to cook it on high & make sure it doesn't burn! Once it is done, cook your pasta according to the directions on the package. Place pasta on a dish& scoop out chicken mixture from crock pot. I topped mine off with a little extra sauce & a shake of Parmesan cheese!

This is 21 day fix approved!!! I had used one yellow container of the pasta, one red container of the chicken/veggie mixture & a blue container of Parmesan cheese! 

Enjoy & let me know what you think!

My 3 Day Refresh results!

Alright ladies and gents, I promised you my REAL and honest results & opinions after I completed the 3 day Refresh.

Well....I feel FANTASTIC! Even almost a week later!

First, most of you are probably wondering what the heck the 3 day refresh even is! Good thing I'm here to fill you in ;)

So here is the deal....the 3 day Refresh is a 3 day GENTLE cleanse that helps you lose FAT quick in just a few short, easy days. If you're like me, when you hear cleanse you're either thinking.....alright so I'm going to sh*t my brains out, I can only drink liquids & starve for a few days or both. Lucky for you, the 3 Day Refresh is none of the friggin' above! 

On the 3 day refresh you get to eat real food & shakeology...also it is a gentle cleanse...by this I mean, there is no sprinting to the bathroom! Maybe tmi, but I was regular throughout the Refresh & so were my friends who have done it as well! 

Here is a quick little video that explains the whole thing more:
 

Who is the 3 Day Refresh for? 
The 3 Day Refresh is for any person that wants to

• Jump start their results from a weight loss plateau
• Needs to prepare or recover from an event, big weekend, or slip up in diet
• Someone who needs and wants to learn more about healthy eating
• Anyone who wants better sleep, focus and energy 
• Anyone who wants a smooth transition into a healthier diet 
• Anyone who wants to break bad habits like coffee, soda, late night snacking, etc.  

What's included?

• 3 packets of Shakeology each morning for breakfast (or order a month supply of Shakeology with your Refresh...better deal!!)
• Vanilla Refresh 2x daily
• This protein-rich formula helps curb hunger with more than 20 grams of wholesome plant-based protein, 22 essential vitamins and minerals, probiotics for digestive health, and a patented potato protein extract clinically tested to satisfy appetites.
• Fiber Sweep 1x daily 
• Gently and naturally eliminates waste from the digestive system with a blend of whole ground flax, chia, and psyllium seed husks. Fiber Sweep can help lower cholesterol, support healthy blood sugar levels, and may even reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, as part of a healthy diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol.
• 6 snack options
• Lunch & Dinner meal options --> both of which are included in your program guide

What can you expect?:
So I promised you my honest opinion right? I'm not going to sit here and tell you the 3 day refresh is all rainbows, butterflies & icecream cones..(wouldn't that be kick ass to eat icecream for 3 days & lose fat?...Keep dreaming!). BUT I will tell you that it's really not that bad at all! I am the friggin' QUEEN of stuffing my face to the max....I'm still working on that whole portion control thing (Thanks Autumn Calabrese & the 21 day fix for that!)....BUT I did NOT feel like I was starving what so ever on the Refresh!

 More than likely you will experience slight hunger once or twice during the Refresh...BUT this is your body expelling toxins & creating a more neutral environment to be able to let that excess weight go.  Still with me?? When our bodies are in a toxic state from eating a chemical shit storm of food, your body legit FREAKS out on you & holds onto fat just in case it goes into starvation mode. Although you may experience slight hunger, the Refresh creator peeps do their best to provide snacks and dinner options as well as the protein shakes and Shakeology to curb hunger cravings using a potato protein to curb cravings and hunger pains. 

I can also say you can expect better sleep & more energy. It's crazy what kind of energy you can get from eating proper, clean foods !

How can you get it?!
You can find the REFRESH through me, myself & I. I am a Beachbody coach & I am MORE than happy to help you get through your 3 day Refresh. I provide support, advice & motivation. I have a girl who is doing the Refresh this week ...we actually just swapped phone numbers so that she can text me if she is feeling the urge to cheat, has any questions, etc. You can email me at samanthalyn2288@yahoo.com so we can get you set up with the 3 day Refresh or add me on FB & message me! I can not wait to hear from you & help get you started :) 


ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, on to why you started reading this darn post in the first place....MY results. Before you look any further, I want you to promise me that you will not judge me. I have nevah evah posted result pictures. This is a huge step for me. The pictures also aren't the greatest because of poor lighting in the room (I didn't realize this until I looked at the pictures a few days later).

 I also have to give my boyfriend Chris a HUGE thank you for supporting me through this!!! I couldn't have done it without him!
 

Drum roll please.............

• After the 3 day Refresh, I lost 6 lbs. & 4.5 inches! I was extremely pleased with my results. 

 After the Refresh was completed I felt proud, energized & could see a big difference in my stomach!

I will certainly be doing the Refresh every couple of months! I hope to hear from you & possibly complete it together soon :)

  

Healthy, clean & 21 day fix approved PANCAKES

So if anybody really knows me, they know I loooooove pancakes! Come on, how could you not?! Mmm, I could eat them for breakfast, lunch or dinner! 

With that being said....pancakes out of the box or even a lot of homemade pancakes are loaded with calories & not so great ingredients. I kept seeing pins on pinterest for "2 ingredient" pancakes...every single time I thought to myself "those must be incredibly disgusting". BUT tonight I had a purple & a red container left on my 21 day fix plan for the day SO it was perfect and I decided to give them a whirl with my own little spin.

Clean & 21 day fix approved pancakes: 

What you need:

1 banana

2 eggs

1/2 tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp PURE vanilla extract (optional)

1 tbsp Pb2 (optional)

1. Put all ingredients into a bowl and blend together until there are no more banana chunks.

2. Spray pan with non-stick spray, pour in batter & cook on medium heat. Flip when pancake is ready (Not sure how to explain the readiness to flip, but seriously...who doesn't know when a pancake is ready to be flipped?...come on!)

 3. Put on plate & enjoyyyyyyyyy! Mine didn't last long! I can't wait to make this again :) 

My Monday Night......

So as many of you know probably know, Chris is in the police academy. It is a part time academy which means he works his full time job during the day & goes to the academy at night. Oh & then he has a part time job Saturday nights after he's been at the academy all day as well. I would be lying if I said that this has been easy....it's been stressful on both of us, but we are strong & chugging through it by working together. Some weeks it feels like I don't see him at all......I couldn't even tell you the last time we went on a date. SOOO, when I got this text message on Monday, I was ecstatic to say the least! He finally had a night completely off! 

I was pumped, we were going to a local Pub&Grill which has amazing food & was also where we had our first official date. As corny as it may be, I love going there because it always brings me back to our first awkward meal together HAHA...that's a whole different story for another day though! But so either way, like the procrastinators we are....Chris got home from work, we watched a little t.v. & laid around. And when we were finally ready to go, Chris had stuff he had to do as class captain that came up. So we were a little late going to dinner (we're talking walking out of the door at 7:45). We get to the restaurant & Chris has to take a phone call....finally get into the restaurant at 8:07 & the girl tells us they stopped serving food at 8....JUST OUR LUCK. If you have ever had the joy of visiting Hornell (a little sarcasm there), you will understand that panic sets in at this point because there aren't many other places to eat....I mean yeah, Crapplebee's is open late, but I really didn't want to go there. So we decided we would try seeing if a small Italian place on the other side of town was open & still serving food. We get in the car & head over when Chris gets ANOTHER phone call (he's class captain, so this is literally the story of our lives lately ). He has the phone on speaker & the guy decides to pull a little prank on him and tell him that he needs to head to Rochester ASAP. My jaw dropped....seriously?! It was our first date night in roughly 2 months....then the guy starts laughing! He just had to call & tell Chris something but decided to make a little joke first..HA-HA...I didn't find it funny at first. Woah, enough rambling.....so we get to the Italian place, are the only ones in the joint & have an amazing time. I got a delicious meal & even more delicious glass of wine (it was cheat night....back off) . It was nice to sit with one another, talk, laugh and just enjoy each others company. 

After getting home, the plan was just to relax & pop in a movie before we had to head to bed for the night. I got in the door when Chris called me back outside. We could hear that there was a cow at the farm about a mile down the road, who sounded like she was in distress. Being the animal lover that he is (which I love him for), we had to get in the car & drive down to check it out. While we were gone, I put our dog Brannagh in our bedroom with the door shut....she likes to get into things which is why I contained her into one room. I checked around the room quick to make sure there was nothing she could get into & shut the door. So we drove to the farm, listened for the cow & Chris said it sounded like she was giving birth...there were people around though so we didn't worry about it & drove back home. When I walked in the door , Brannagh didn't bark...which is super unusual as she usually barks at any door that shuts or opens within a half mile radius (the dog is ridiculous). I ran down the hall way, opened the door and found her standing on the bed with an extremely suspicious look on her face. I looked around & for the life of me couldn't figure out what she had eaten. I knew she had eaten something though, due to the fact that there was a huge pool of drool in the middle of our bed. I looked over at Chris' nightstand to where we have our little Riain (our dog who passed away in May) shrine. We have a print of his paw that we did the last day he was with us, his urn, his tags & there USED TO BE a salt dough ornament I made with his pawprint & painted. Brannagh ate the friggin' salt dough ornament that was covered in craft paint & mod podge. Are you kidding me???! She has got to be the dumbest dog I've ever met. I immediately burst into tears, put her down in her crate and continued to sob.....Chris was upset too. Neither one of us wanted to see her.....that was an extremely important piece of Riain that we had (I'm thankful we have another one though....I made a couple, but that one turned out better than the other). After controlling my tears, Chris & I looked at eachother with the same "Oh shit" look....we then began frantically looking at the paint & mod-podge labels, but were happy to find that both were non-toxic. Phew...right? NOPE! Salt is toxic to dogs apparently....so if you didn't know, know you do! Learn something new every day.....I know that's something I didn't know. SOOO a whole new round of panic & google searching to try and figure out how much damn salt she could have in her body before it is lethal. She obviously was allowed out of her crate & with us at this point because we had to start watching for vomiting, seizures, lethargy, etc. We came to the conclusion that she didn't have enough to kill her, but that we had to be sure she got PLENTY of fluids. This meant giving her water & letting her out to relieve herself every 45-60 minutes ALL night. We got little to no sleep. Although we were pretty sure she was going to be ok, it was still scary to think that something could still happen & that made it very difficult to sleep.

And this my friends is why we don't have children....because we already have a child. She keeps us on our toes, some nights doesn't allow us to sleep & needs a lot of our attention....She just has four paws :)