How to Deal

So I'll make this short and sweet; life is hard. There are many challenges, both with good outcomes and bad, but learn to take it all with a grain of salt. Learn to not take yourself too seriously, and learn to no matter what 

get back up. 

There are many ways to deal with the stresses of life, I use a variety of methods to combat the crappy things in life. Number one my belief in God and relationship with Jesus. No matter the worse circumstances my God knows, has felt it himself, and has the power to save or sustain me through it. Second my relationship with my loved ones, namely my husband, who loves me fiercely and will do anything within this power to help or console me. And thirdly fitness and nutrition. 

Fitness and nutrition is not only about eating right and exercise, but it's a lifestyle of healthy living. Its saying to yourself, I believe I am valuable and worth taking care of, and I will work hard to take care of my body and well being.

How much water should I drink?

It's a well known fact that water is important to our bodies. A variety of research says that our bodies are anywhere from 55-75% water depending on age, gender, body make-up, and other factors. Whatever the percentage it performs a number of important functions in our body. It maintains body temperature and blood pressure, metabolizes body fat, helps with digestion and flushing out toxins, lubricates and cushions organs, and transports nutrients. That's pretty much every life preserving process in your body!

It is also important for water to be in the right places inside the body. It should be inside our cells or blood vessels. However diet, cell damage, and disease can displace water into what is called a third space which is water retention. Ways to avoid this are, ironically enough, drink more water, decrease sodium intake, avoid chemicals pesticides and pollutants that cause free radicals and cell damage, and maintain a healthy lifestyle to prevent chronic disease.

So how much water should you drink? Well this is not a straight forward answer, like you might think. The truth is your body will tell you how much it needs.  Some good guidelines are the old 8 glasses a day rule, or the more modern rule of dividing your weight by 2, and that's how many ounces you should drink per day. If you exercise regularly, live in a dry climate, drink caffeine or alcohol, or just sweat a lot then you should drink more. More is always better than less, your body can easily get rid of excess, but cannot produce more. Thirst is also a good indicator of your body's need. However we have filled our lives with so much business and our bodies with so much junk, that sometimes we don't even recognize the thirst signal, so pay close attention to your body!

Other water tid bits:

• Drink water consistently throughout the day, we cannot absorb it all at one time.
• Drink cold water, your body uses more calories to warm it up
• Another way to get more water is through fruits and vegetables
• Get a good BPA free container to keep it with you at all times
• Water with "stuff" in it, is not the same, if you don't like just plain water, add fruit!

Banana Cream Pie Oatmeal

This is one power packed breakfast that is sure to keep you full and energized for a productive day. As it is high in carbs (good ones) I do not recommend eating this later in the day, but enjoyed as breakfast your body will gladly burn those needed carbs for your daily endeavors. Also high in protein it will be a sustained energy to keep your blood sugar level and stomach full longer. Plus who doesn't love Banana Cream Pie!
Ingredients
1 Banana

1 heaping tsp whipped cream cheese
1/2 cup quick oats
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
splash of unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions
(I like to eat my oats uncooked, but it you like yours cook, simply mix all ingredients and microwave according oatmeal's directions.)

1. Mash banana in a single serving bowl
2. Add cream cheese and microwave for 30 sec to soften and mix
3. Add remaining ingredients (enough milk for desired consistency), mix and enjoy!

Nutritional Info
Calories- 405          Carbs- 60           Proteins- 28          Fats- 6

Beachbody Success Story

MOTIVATION MONDAY

Victoria S.

 Lost 162 lbs and 19.5 inches off her waist in a little over a year with TurboFire. 

If she can do it so can you! 

Here is a little more about her story! 

What inspired you to change your life and begin your transformation journey? 

I was unhappy, depressed, insecure and missing out on doing a lot of activites with my little girl and husband. I felt trapped and felt like I was a lot older than I was. Watching my husband and daughter playing and having fun and seeing me just sitting there and unhappy, it just made me snap. Knowing that obesity and diabetes runs in my family also motivated and made me want to take control of me life. I wanted my life back, and then there it was the turbo fire commercial! I loved the music and the energy and I had nothing to lose but weight so I took the challenge.

How has your life changed since completing your Beachbody program? 

I’m not 100% at my goal but I know every day is a new day and I continue to go hard with my workouts and continue to eat healthy. I’m a full time mother and I work full time at a hair salon, but no matter how I feel or what time of the day it is, I workout. I work 40+ hours a week but It’s like brushing my teeth. I have to do it, no excuses allowed. My goals now are to continue my life style change and to motivate others who are in need to lose a lot of weight and get their life back or even just people who want to become healthier and of course have turbo fire work out parties!

Maybe you have just 5-10 lbs you want to lose before summer, or maybe you have a similar story to Victoria's, whatever your goals and wherever you are at reaching those goals, you can do it! 

DECIDE. COMMIT. SUCCEED. 

I would love to be a part of helping you reach those goals. If you are ready to commit
contact me!

Fit Tip Friday

Nutrition and your Caloric Needs

So we have all heard the the saying you are what you eat. The thing is, its a common saying because its so so true.  I'm sure you also know that your body needs a certain amount of calories to operate, and anything we eat over that it stores for later reserves, aka fat. So common sense says, when considering healthy nutrition it is important to know your caloric needs. 

Eating to many calories we all know is not a good thing, but neither is eating to few. Your body needs those calories to have enough energy to make it through the day, let alone workouts, and repairing muscle tissue post workouts.  

So how do you figure out your caloric needs. There are many formulas out there to help you get a good starting place, but its also very important to listen to your body.  I like the Harris-Benedict Equation because it takes into consideration height, weight, gender, age, and activity level.

Here is a link for a good easy calculator.  

Keep in mind that eating the amount of calories you get from this link will maintain your current weight. To lose weight you need a caloric deficit, and to gain weight you need a caloric excess. A good starting point would be to add or subtract 500 calories based on your fitness goals. Again I reiterate, this is a starting place, it is important to listen to your body. 

Learn more about Shakeology here. 

So how do you listen to your body, you say? Well first it is important to eat a "clean" (non-processed) nutrient dense diet, so your body gets all the vitamins and nutrients it needs. Otherwise while meeting its caloric needs but still lacking in nutrients, your body will tell you its still hungry and exhibit cravings. Multi vitamins are good, but your body absorbs nutrients best from whole foods. That's why I love Shakeology! I get my daily servings of fruits and veggies in one delicious shake.

Then its simple if you are starving, exhausted, your brain feels foggy, you get dizzy standing up, etc...  You are not eating enough! Your workouts will not be as effective, you risk your body going into "starvation mode," and you are just plain miserable. Or if your goal is to gain weight, you're bringing it in your workouts , and you are consistently still not gaining, consider increasing your calories incrementally and see how that goes.  Vice versa, if your goal is to lose weight, you're killing it in workouts, and still not losing, then incrementally decrease calories. Its as easy as that, haha! I know, I know easier said then done, but you can do it! It just takes discipline, and then practice and patience listening to your body and watching for those results. 

Recipe Wednesday

Pumpkin Protein Bars

This is one of my favorite "go to" snacks. I love just tossing one in my purse while on the go!

Ingredients

1 cup canned pumpkin

1 cup egg whites

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup protein powder*

4 tbsp coconut flour**

1 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp ginger

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips***

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour an 8x8 baking dish. 

2. Mix first 3 ingredients together. 

3. In a separate bowl mix together next 6 ingredients. 

4. Add the dry ingredients into the the wet and mix together, once all dry ingredients are incorporated into the wet, add your chocolate chips. 

5. Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

6. Let cool completely, then cut into 10 bars and individually wrap. Store in refrigerator. 

I ate one before taking this pic, oops.

Notes

*Make sure you use a high quality protein powder that does not have any artificial ingredients like sucrolose. I use plant based proteins, but whey would work just fine. Also any flavor works. My normal brand is Life Basics Lean Plantein Vanilla, available here.
**I have also used spelt or almond flour with good results. You just want to stay away from your highly processed white flours.
***Since there are no other sweeteners in this recipe, I do not recommend omitting the chocolate chips. It needs them :)
-Also I have had a lot of trouble with these sticking, the only thing I have found that helps is flouring the dish. If any one else has any ideas, let me know.

Nutritional Facts
Serving size 1 bar or 1/10th the recipe
Calories- 88
Carbs- 7
Fats- 2
Protein- 11
(This is based on using Coconut flour and the Protein Powder mentioned above)

Motivational Monday

I think as a blogger you are suppose to come up with catchy themes for the days of the week, aire goes "Motivational Monday." 

So it's now February 11th, well into the new year. How many of you made those get fit, lose weight, be healthy resolutions? And how are we doing? Maybe you hit some bumps in the road, it's okay, don't give up!  Let's think about this, do you have a concrete goal? Do you want to lose weight, okay  how much weight? Do you want to exercise more, okay what kind? when? 

Now do you have a plan to achieve your goal? Be positive, and don't make excuses make solutions! Maybe you are like me and take every second you can to lay in bed just a little longer. Well I sleep in my workout clothes, have the dvd already in the player, water on the table, and all I have to do is brush my teeth because huffing and puffing morning breath is not pleasant.

I'm sure this is nothing you haven't heard before, and I'm not blowing your mind with new thoughts over hear. But it is a friendly reminder to not forget about those resolutions. If they were important enough to make, then they are important enough to keep. So come on people. If you have fallen off track and need some help getting back I have a great opportunity for you. 

FITNESS + NUTRITION + SUPPORT = SUCCESS

That is the formula to my BeachBody Challenge Groups. March 1st I will be starting an Insanity Challenge Group and a TurboFire Challenge Group. These are both high intensity cardio conditioning workout programs that will help you lose weight, burn fat, and tone muscles. These challenge groups are the perfect plan to help you achieve that fitness resolution you made back in January. 

Comment if you want more information. 

Throw back to the 80's

So do you remember those 80's era Glamor Photoshoots. Young girls would be subject to pounds of make-up, big hair, tons of hairspray, and costume jewelry. Well I never got to be a part of those, but secretly longed for the day of my own glamor shots.

www.heltonphotovideo.com

No worries, my dream is not lost! My best friend Courtney Helton is an amazing photographer. She does weddings, families, kids, seniors, AND she is doing a modern version glamor shot, woot woot! I'm so excited!! Needless to say I am taking this seriously, and trying to look my best!


I have been doing Turbo Fire Inferno Week, which I have done several times with really good results.  This 5 day workout plan consists of 3 different workouts Fire 45, Fire 55, and HIIT 20.  The number represents how long the workout is, Fire classes are regular aerobic dance/kickboxing sessions, and  HIIT stands for high intensity interval training. A HIIT workout is awesome for revving your metabolism and burning fat. In fact, most exercise science research says that these type workouts (also called circuit training or burst training) burns anywhere from 4-9x more fat than a regular cardio workout, and keeps your body in "fat burning mode" for up to 48 hours after the workout. Amazing! So day one Fire 55, day two Fire 45 and HIIT 20, day three back to Fire 55 etc. Here's a preview of what Turbo Fire looks like.

I've also started a 3 day Shakeology cleanse, which is giving me all the vital nutrition my body craves without all the extra stuff it has to work really hard to break down.  Read more about the cleanse here at my friend Michelle's site, and learn more about the shake from the video below. The best thing about shakeology is that even though I'm only consuming 3 shakes a day and a salad for dinner, I haven't been hungry at all, plus it's delicious!

Turbo Fire and Shakeology are available for purchase at my BeachBody site here.

Trying this blog thing out....

Okay so this is something very new to me, in fact besides very basic Facebook activity, social media in general is pretty new to me. Sooo, bare with me please. Some of you may know that I have have recently become a BeachBody Coach, well it has been a long time coming. I have always been a fairly active person. Actually growing up I was voted most athletic in middle and high school, and then continued to play intramural sports through out college. But then.... you graduate.....dun dun dun.

Life after school and organized sports soon became filled with random outdoor activities. However these were few and far between, and squeezed into a life filled with work and adult responsibilities, yuck. So there began my search for something else. Being a night shift nurse, on days off I found myself staying up late and somehow watching a lot of infomercials. I have to say my favorite one was "Your Baby Can Read," but seeing as I didn't have a baby I opted for ordering P90X, the BeachBody workout program. What started off as a group of 4-5 girls, quickly slimmed down to me and a friend faithfully working out together, and seeing awesome results.

My friend (left) and I  (right) about to do some Insanity

Well fast forward five years, I am still doing and loving BeachBody work outs, and I am now a BeachBody coach because I believe in the company. I am a product of the products, and I have a passion for fitness and nutrition. I love training my body, fueling it with beneficial foods, and then seeing the results my hard work has paid for, as well as helping others do the same!

So... all that to say, this will be a blog about health and nutrition, my journey through it all, and hopefully some helpful tips, tricks, and recipes to help you through your fitness journey too.

Okay Friends, I suppose that's all for now. If you want to check out my BeachBody Site here is a link:

www.beachbodycoach.com/DARCYBRINKLEY