It's June and time to Get it Right, Get it Tight!!

I want to Thank You all who showed interest in participating on the June Mean Abs workout. I will be posting the workout daily on the fanpage and linking it back to this post on my blog so you'll be able to come here to review it. Also look for videos of me demonstrating the exercises and the alternatives you can use to get'er done!!

ACCOUNTABILITY IS KEY and I will be on ya'll like white on rice!! I want to hear about your progress, your frustrations, see pics, find out about those who you've talked into to joining us and anything else you'd like to share. Please feel free to post anything you want on the Fanpage regarding the Ab Challenge and anything else you'd like to post about that you want to know more about, vent about, etc. I look forward to seeing ya'lls AWESOME Abs come the end of June. . . Get it Right & Get it Tight!!

RECLAIM over now time to RELEASE

So my first 7 days are in the books and as you see I'm still here in one glorious piece :) Despite my minor setbacks that occurred during Days 5 & 6 I was able to bring things back together 100% during Day 7 and end the week on a high note. There's nothing real major to report in relation to the EATS as most of the meals were repeats of prior days:

• Breakfast - Oatmeal w/flaxseed, cinnamon, 1/2 cup chopped apple (which I mixed in my Oats) however I passed on the yogurt and went for 1/2 a Tropical Strawberry Shakeology. 
• Lunch - Zucchini-Cashew soup (ya'll know I was EXCITED about this one) and a Microgreen Salad.
• Dinner - Baked Tempeh (you know I PASSED) with steamed veggies & brown rice (I opted for Quinoa instead). Now I'm not sure if any of you saw the pic on my personal Facebook but as you'll see here LC was totally spoiled last night with his dinner while I stuck to my Reset. Needless to say he put his fork in my bowl and stole some of my veggies then asked could he have more. . . UMMMM NO, LOLOL!! 

Now let's talk stats real quick. . .I'm unsure if you've noticed or not but I haven't shared actual numbers with you in terms of my weight or measurements in the beginning of the Reset and I'm actually going to keep it that way but I will explain why. I am taking & tracking my measurements and weight but I'm not sharing it because I'm trying to no longer be defined or define myself by the numbers on the scale. However the numbers on the tape measure are a more realistic evaluation of where you are and the changes you're making. So what changes have I made, well first you need to know where I began which is about 12-15lbs over my normal maintenance weight. Also all my measurements: waist, hips/butt, thighs were all up 1.5 - 2.5inches which is about right in terms of my weight because some people have a theory that for every 5lb lost = 1inch weight loss where others its a 10lb lost = 1inch. Everyone is different and there is NO TRUE formula for this, so don't go quoting me on that one. However if we subscribe to one of those theories in this instance it would partially hold to be true because if I'm 12-15lbs over and we use the 10lbs = 1inch this formula would work out. Anywho, back to my stats LOLOL!! As of Day 7 I've lost 4.5lbs and .5inches in every location.

Enough of that now onto how generally feel overall and that is GREAT! For starters its not just the nutrition & supplementation that's making me feel better its the discipline & structure which are 2 things I live for and appreciate. Yes I am spontaneous in my life but when it comes to my fitness & nutrition I like a well laid out, organized & structured plan. Knowing that better explains to you why I'm feeling happy & at peace while others feel all out of sorts because this kind of structure is taking them out of their comfort zones. But not only is the structure helping me but the supplements what were prescribed last week were very influential too. There are 4 supplements for the Reclaim Phase which are the MAIN supplements and will remain in your plan throughout all 3 Phases. They are:  

• MINERALIZE- simply put this is pure Himalayan salt and its added to your water daily. We all need sodium/salt in our life but not the regular table salt most of us have at home and use. Regular table salt (sodium chloride) contains trace minerals that aren't good for us
• OXYGENIZE - ummmm obviously we need oxygen to live but the amount of oxygen atoms has significantly reduced over the years due to all the airborne pollutants. The addition of this supplement helps your body to detoxify and to begin to develop a stronger immune system 
• OPTIMIZE - this supplement is a blend of systematic enzymes that roll the clock back and brings your body back to operating at its full potential  
• ALKALINIZE - as I've mentioned before. . . a more pH balanced body is "less likely" to be vulnerable to inflammatory diseases, cancers, viruses, etc. And that's what this supplement is here to do for you. . .bring your body back to its natural pH balanced level

Well there you have it for my Reclaim Phase round-up and now I'm almost 1 day into the Release Phase which sees the introduction of the Detox supplement which I will discuss in another blog. On Thursday I'm heading home to South Carolina so now we'll have the added challenge of traveling and staying on task. I've already begun by purchasing some of my EATS to take with me and I sent my mom out to gather some fresh fruit for me. But as ya'll know she'll prolly have every snack under the sun up in her house, but I will have no problem fending off those temptations with the assistance of you guys!!

Hollatcha later cause I think I'm headed to get my wig done (again I don't wear a wig LOL just a term of endearment for my hair). I'll post a pic for ya'll to see once I'm done because the outcome will definitely surprise you

Kenisha (KQ) 

The BOTTOM "Almost" Fell Out!!

This weekend turned out to be a hectic one and because of that the bottom almost literally & figuratively fell out but I was able to keep it together. As I mentioned earlier Thursday night, Friday & Saturday constitute the weekend here in the Coleman House so that's when we veg out & do nothing or we're busy like little worker bee's doing EVERYTHING and this weekend was the latter!! So let's just jump right in with both feet and lemmi say, what had happened was. . . .

DAY 5. . .
For starters as you'll notice there are NO pictures displaying the food that I was fortunate enough to partake in. Now this is NOT because I didn't eat because I did. However I was unfortunately all over the place after breakfast which began properly with the a cup of oatmeal & 1/2 cup of blueberries & some walnuts mixed it. If there's one thing I've grown to love its my oats! I use them for any and everything too. Not only are they a breakfast item for me but they serve as a binder when certain meals are calling for bread crumbs, I just grind them up in my Ninja and use them as a substitute and no one ever knows :)  After I trained my Saturday AM client I came back home & prepped breakfast for the sleepy heads then had prepped my own lunch which was the remaining Quinoa from the night before with hummus & a raw veggie plate, again I was right on task and still feeling good. So I know now you're wondering when & how did my day fall apart. . . .well seeing as though our impending nuptials are approaching we both found it to be important that we sought premarital counseling from a Pastor to ensure we were on the right path and a Blessing over our marriage. Of all the places we could've looked, we found our Pastor/Counselor on the radio here in CT. His name is Dr Charles T. Brantley and he is AWESOME. . .fits right in with the crazy, quirky personalities that LC & I have. You can also find him on Facebook if you'd like to keep up with his going's on. Anywho back on track as to what that has to do with the Reset and all. . . you see we had an appt on Saturday so as to be prepared I made us both a Tropical Strawberry Shakeology treat thinking that'd hold us over.Well it didn't . . .we went to the mall before our appointment to grab a few things and look at some possible bridesmaid dresses. As it turns out  it was VERY HOT up in that piece and by the time we began I wasn't feeling well. I drank my shake but things were still off because I was light headed and just couldn't focus so thankfully I ran into a restaurant grabbed some mixed fruit (melons, cantaloupe, grapes & watermelon) along with a handful of cashews and I commenced to killing them & leaving no prisoners :) Once counseling was over and we arrived back home I was NOT in the mood for Miso soup because I wanted to EAT. The stir-fry veggies from the night before were a welcomed repeat tonight but instead of brown rice I opted for quinoa. Now I have to be honest. . .I found myself still hungry as the night went on so I had to have a small salad and I did throw some nuts on there :( :( :( Unfortunately its gets a lil worse on DAY 6

Urghhhh the dreaded DAY 6. Things here just started off on the wrong foot. But we'll highlight the positive first 6 days in 5lbs down WOOT!! WOOT!! My mind is clearer & more focused, I'm sleeping good and hard and overall I'm feeling good & looking good. Bloatage (yes I made up a word) in my lower abdomen has reduced significantly despite even though I haven't been a hostage to the bathroom and skin is clear which is a sign of toxins and junk no longer being present in the body. Now let me deliver the not so good info to ya. . .breakfast was slated to be whole grain toast = NOT EATING, tempeh = NOT EATING, avocado = NEVER TRIED & kale. Well this just had me all kinds of messed up because I didn't want any parts of this meal so instead I opted for a Tropical Strawberry Shakeology w/a few berries in it because I actually wasn't hungry. Of course later I found myself a pack of wolves we'll call HUNGER!! Without even hesitating I ate a handful of LC's honey roasted mixed nuts :( I Know, I Know I KNOW. . .  I set myself up for that and I was utterly pissed, angry, and disgusted with myself. So quickly prepped lunch which included quinoa salad & a microgreen salad. Since I'd done the ultimate NO, NO with the cashews I passed on the quinoa salad and ate the microgreens where I tried avocado for the first time and it was AWESOME! I have no idea why I've been hesitating to eat this all my life but it was mighty tasty. And I want to give a shout out & a huge THANK YOU to all the ladies who posted avocado recipe ideas yesterday on Facebook when I mentioned my new found treat. Despite my enjoyment of the avocado I was utterly disappointed in myself and was starting to have feelings & thoughts of failure but I had to quickly shake that off and say "I am Human!" "I did not totally WRECK my Reset journey with that 1 handful" and "I will no longer find myself unprepared as I did today & yesterday". . . whewwwwwww back on track and just in time for dinner which was INSANELY GOOD!! Listen I love veggies with a passion but WHO KNEW?!?! That's right who knew combining zucchini & cashews to make a soup would be so tasty I almost found myself licking the bowl then licking my fingers LOL. Ya'll it was so tasty I have no words, even LC tasted some and said "hmmmm this sure tastes better than it looks". Then he kept getting more but I had to make him slow his roll cause that was my dinner hehehe!! So yesterday ended fairly good despite my slight hiccup & disappoint in myself when it came to preparedness & self control. But we're over that now and we're moving on. NO DWELLING ON THE PAST . . . What's Done is Done. . . Move on and DO BETTER!!

Stay tuned for the wrap-up of the RELEASE phase in tomorrows post where I will also cover the supplements that I've been taking these last 7 days and the additions I will begin tomorrow. As always Love ya and praying for much success along your journeys!! 
KQ~

Slightly Changing the Game. . .

Hey ya'll I hope all is well on your end. So lemmi give you an update on my journey with the Ultimate Reset. Since we've last talked I've completed Days 3,4,5, & 6. Currently I'm on Day 7 and about to end Phase 1 - Reclaim. Now on these days I've had to make a few adjustments in the meal plan for several reasons:

• There are certain foods I KNOW I don't like and I'm not interested in trying AT ALL!!
• There are some items on the Reset that are Soy based products & choose not to eat those because of the high levels of estrogen. Being that I'm already struggling with a cortisol abnormality my estrogen levels are currently through the roof, so nooooo help needed from my EATS!!
• Lastly I had to alter my eats because I got caught unprepared and ya'll know that's not like #MsAlwaysPrepared 

So lemmi give you a quick overview of each day. . .

• DAY 3 

Now that I'm on the 3rd day of the Reset I find myself a lot more balanced and feeling balanced. Today's breakfast was a pretty much a repeat of Day 1 but instead of eating spinach I enjoyed my beloved kale :) I am here to tell you I left this meal feeling VERY satisfied because as you'll see in the picture I ate an obscene amount of kale and it was sooooo tasty!! Today was my Power Yoga class and I felt so much more flexible and open during my practice. I'm here to tell ya'll that if you're feeling tight & lacking flexibility, in need of a stress reliever or want to gain full body strength & control you should seriously look into Yoga. I know most people feel that its expensive but in the era of Groupons, Living Social deals and everything else they're sending us through email these days you'll be able to find a good deal in your area with no problem (I say this because I'm currently using a Groupon to attend my current classes & I just purchased another discounted month at another Yoga Studio in my area). Anywho lunchtime is when I started making changes but I stayed within the nutrients for the prescribed meal plan. With that being said I decided to go "Next Episode" on the black bean & rice tortilla situation and like last night it was so TASTY, add in my beloved kale and it was a well deserved & earned lunch. Dinner tonight was Nori Rolls w/Tempeh , Japanese cucumber salad  and Miso Soup. Wellllllllll Tempeh is a soy based product so needless to say this meal was not going down tonight. Instead I opted for a repeat of the Greek Salad w/Chicken from Day 2. I want to let ya'll know I have been making my own dressings per the recipes in the Reset and I am SO PROUD of myself. Check out the Garlic Dressing I've been using on the Garlic Salads

• DAY 4 . . . ohhhhhh my ohhhhhh my this is when things started getting a lil hairy. As it turns out ya'll my fiance LC is off on Friday's & Saturday's. So unlike everyone else Thursday night, Friday & Saturday constitutes our weekends around here and this is sometimes when things go haywire like they sort of did this weekend :( Despite the lack of preparedness that I'm going to share with ya'll I will at least give you the good news first which is up until this point I have lost 3.5lbs. I'm not suffering any major hunger pains, no headaches or any uncomfortableness (stay tuned for what's to come though).  Today actually started as an early day seeing as though LC needed to drop his truck at the shop. Then to my surprise he wanted to go ahead and get in early AM cardio/workout which is exactly what we did. Once home I at breakfast as prescribed which was 2 cups of fruit (1 green apple & a cup of blueberries) and a 1/2 cup Greek yogurt but I decided to forgo the whole grain toast and replaced it with a few walnuts. After eating this and continuing to rehydrate myself from the buckets of sweat I was pouring during my cardio session my sweets asked me on a mid-day Date to see The Avengers and as expected it was GREAT. But ummmm NOTE TO SELF: check the length of the movie next time and use the restroom before it starts because having a full bladder makes it hard to focus. . . #kwim!! As luck would have it when we were done LC had me running around with him and I found myself STARVING but I refused to eat anything while we were out so once I returned home and I HULK SMASHED a salad from a previous day in the reset. I'm sorry there was no pics but I would've probably eaten the camera had I tried using it. When dinner arrived I was excited to try Quinoa for the first time along with partaking in some tasty stir-fry veggies. This was so good I had to go back for more veggies leaving me happily satisfied. 

We'll bring this post to a close and move on to DAYS 5 & 6 in the next post where I share with you how things almost fell completely apart


As always please feel free to contact me with questions, information, etc regarding Personal Training, The Ultimate Reset,or any other Beachbody Products
KQ~

All Hail the Kale!!

Most of you already know I "Ride or Die" for some Kale. Heck I Love Veggies in general but I really do like Kale, Collards, Cabbage, etc and as luck would have it this delicious veggie shows up multiple times throughout the Beachbody Ultimate Reset and I couldn't be HAPPIER!! Now to top things off not only is Kale delicious but it is a nutritional POWERHOUSE!!

Let's breakdown the nutritional value first for 1 (one) cup of Kale:

• Diet
• 36 Calories & 0grams (ZERO) of Fat
  
• 5grams of Fiber which promotes regular digestion, prevents constipation (keeping it REAL here), lowers blood sugar & curbs overeating
• 15% of your daily requirement for Calcium & B6
• 1,020% of your daily Vitamin K requirement

•  Antioxidants
• superstar in the when it comes to Carotenoids & Flavonoids which have been shown to fight against the formation of  Cancerous cells. And its rich in Vitamins A & C and manganese

• Anti-Inflammatory. . .ohhhh who wouldn't use a lil reduce inflammation these days?? LOLOL
• with just a serving you're getting 10% of your daily omega-3 fatty acids, which is what helps regulate the bodies inflammatory process and this reduces the formation of inflammatory diseases such as arthritis, autoimmune disorders & asthma

•  The Big C. . .Cancer
• As we discussed earlier it helps in the reduction on cancer causing cells but a healthy diet of Kale also provides Glucosinolates which have been proven to prevent colon, breast, bladder, prostate, ovarian & even gastric cancers

• Cardiovascular Support . . .NO it won't make you run further or faster on the treddy
• However the high fiber content in Kale lowers your cholesterol when it binds with the bile acids produced in the liver. Lower cholesterol further reduces your chances for heart disease 

Now enough of the mumbo jumbo lets talk about cooking and eating this Nutritious Masterpiece. Get a pot, put in some water & seasoning, let it simmer a little a toss in the Kale. . . YES its that SIMPLE!! I mean if you've ever cooked collards then you can cook kale. Now another route is to saute your beautiful leafy vegetable by finding a big enough pan, warming it up then adding coconut or olive oil, maybe a little minced garlic then toss your kale around in the pan until its soft but still has a bite to it. Remember. . .NO Chew then it's NOT Good for you!! I also like making casseroles and you can find here & here from my pics.

But lemmi get off my Kale obsession and talk about the  Ultimate Reset which supposed to be the main purpose of this blog LOLOL. To sum it up. . . All is going Well!! Yesterday's eats were very delicious and filling, I slept like NO OTHER last night and I'm down 2.5 lbs. BTW since I was feeling so good yesterday I did a little low & slow cardio followed by a kick a$$ yoga class that nearly killed me! For now we'll leave it at that and share with you a pic of my EATS from yesterday . . . more to come on the Reset, how I'm feeling, workouts, stretches, etc that I'm doing and anything else random that I seem to enjoy  talking about!

Stay Fit, Fine & Fabulous!!
Kenisha (KQ)

I survived Reset Day1. . .

Well #UltimateReset Day 1 is in the books and I SURVIVED!!  LOL actually there was no question in my mind that I'd make it. However changing up the game and doing something you've never done before can give you a little anxiety because you don't know what to expect. Unfortunately my BUR (Beachbody Ultimate Reset) package didn't come as early as planned so I only had enough grocery to make it though breakfast. Now I'm not a big bread eater so this one was difficult for me to deal with mainly because I don't have bread in my house. I know that sounds crazy but its true. However I did have whole wheat Arnold's Sandwich Thins and that was good enough for me. I was also out of kale and only had spinach and I DON'T like  cooked spinach. . . .ewwwwwwwwww YUCK!! I'll eat it all day raw or mixed in an omelet but not just steamed by itself so I decided to mix it with my eggs, put it on top of my sandwich thins and make a "bootleg" egg & spinach sandwich. Hey when in doubt, figure a way to work it out ;)

After hustling to BJ's, Trader Joes, Walmart & my local Vitamin/Health food store to complete my shopping list, I was finally ready to go home and have lunch. And trust me I was HONGRY because I'd waited a little longer than expected to eat. Now it may not be necessary for you to visit more than 1 store to get the things you need but I did this because 1) several of those stores are right by my house and 2) I know I can purchase certain products significantly cheaper at certain stores. Going to your local Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Earthfare, Sprouts, etc should be sufficient to get the majority of your shopping done.
Lunch made me happy because it was salad and as ya'll know I LOVE Salads!! But what made this experience more entertaining than usual was I made my own Vinaigrette dressing using the instructions that are provided for you on both the DVD & on the Beachbody Ultimate Reset site. I'm here to tell ya I was very pleased with what I created because it was T-A-S-T-Y!!

Resting your body is a vital part of this process as you're already getting an internal workout with the Reset. So there's no need to put your body through strenous workouts. No worries though you're not going to loose any massive amounts of muscle and the rest that you've given your  body will repay you when you return to your workouts because you've allowed your body to rest & recuperate thus leaving your recuperated & recharged!! Despite not being able to train hard it is suggested that you stretch or walk so I figured what better way to stretch then to go to Yoga. Unfortunately due to the crazy traffic and rode blocks last night I was LATE so I didn't get to participate :( Instead I went home and preformed some stretches and began making dinner for myself & my family. Now dinner was INSANELY good!! OMG. . . nothing could've made me happier than to see salmon & asparagus on the menu. I was a little thrown off again because of the white potatoes as I don't eat those either, I'm usually a sweet potato kinda girl, but I stomached them anyway and had found everything to be very filling!! I also decided to start prepping some of my food for the remainder of the week which proved to be VERY SMART this morning. Ohhhh I'd like to add that I needed to have a Tropical Strawberry Shakeology +  12 almonds yesterday for a snack.

Stomaching the supplements that are required during the Reset was actually pretty easy. For days now I've been hearing others complain about the Alkalinize and its terrible awful taste but I chugged it right down with ease. I'm not sure if that's because of my years of teaching myself how to eat things that aren't otherwise appealing or if it just doesn't taste that bad in general?!? All in All it was a GREAT day and today seems to be going along just as smooth if not smoother :) I'm also weighing in daily and taking measurements with the tape measure only once a week. I will report to you the changes at the end of each week. I'll be back atcha tomorrow with a round up of how ends up going. Until then ya'll have a good one and make sure No matter the Situation or Circumstances . . . Get Up, Get Out, and Get'er Done!!

Kenisha (KQ)