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Saturday, September 20, 2014

My Review of T25: Part Three

If you are curious, here's Part One and Part Two.

What I did.

I ordered Focus T25 and didn't looked back. The first package came with two phases: Alpha and Beta. I eventually ordered the third phase, Gamma. What happened to Charlie, Delta, Echo and Fanta? I'm not sure.

I began Alpha back in November just before Thanksgiving. It. Was. Rough. I made it through all five weeks sweating the whole time. I didn't follow the nutrition plan...those changes came later. Baby steps, people. During those first five weeks I only changed two things with my nutrition: no more sugar in my coffee and I stopped stuffing myself sick with food. Those are some pretty big changes, folks!

While completing the fifth week of Alpha I was unsure whether I was ready to move on to the Beta phase, which I expected to be more difficult. I repeated Alpha. This time I started counting calories. Womp, womp. I know, I know. Who wants to count calories? It's actually easier than you might think. I used www.caloriecount.com to help me, but I'm sure there are lots of options out there.

I was focused and I really made exercise and better nutrition a priority for the next many months. Thinking about how I fueled my body was a definite game changer for me. I finished up Alpha (for the second time), and then I moved on to five weeks of Beta and four weeks of Gamma (hybrid version). It turns out that I really like lifting weights, which were part of both the Beta and Gamma workouts

All I can really say is that I LOVED this program, and I definitely saw results. Do you want to see my results? Ok. Here you go...

The top is the before from November 2013. The bottom is the
after from July 2014. This is after T25 and 21 Day Fix,
which I didn't talk about in this post.
Although I'm not completely comfortable having this picture on the blog, I decided to show it for three reasons: I don't get many readers, everyone likes a good before and after and maybe it will inspire someone else to take control of their food, fitness and health. I could not have done this without the inspiration and support of my friend and coach Michelle at Michelle is Living Well.


Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Farm Food: Week VII

Here's last week's haul from our CSA pickup at Dancing Roots Farm:

eggplant
summer squash
peppers
basil
tomatoes
onion
yellow beans
beets
lettuce
cucumbers


Chocolate beet cake...not as good as it sounds. To be fair, I messed with the recipe a little by reducing the sugar (which I do for most sweet things) and switching out some of the flour for almond meal. I don't keep bakers chocolate in the house, so I also subbed in a cocoa powder/butter mix. I could re-make this cake to taste really good, but it would require more butter, sugar, chocolate and eggs. So basically a whole different recipe. Womp, womp.


Now this pasta dish was divine. Whole wheat spaghetti, sautéed veggies (onion, garlic, eggplant and summer squash), steamed broccoli, quick homemade tomato sauce, a sprinkle of mozzarella and more than a few cracks of pepper. YUM! So good. All we were missing was bread.

I'm gonna' give baked beet chips a try tomorrow. I hope they turn out tasty.



Monday, September 1, 2014

The Neighbor Trimmed a Tree


Never in 8 years have I seen the sky from here. As a consequence, many of my new shade plants are receiving late afternoon sun. Some are having tantrums (dogwood) and some might be dying (snowberry). Gah.