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Calling all Dreamers and Go Getters!




Calling all dreamers and go-getters. You fur-parents and stay-at-home-moms. My fellow military wives and even full time students. Men and women who are sick and tired of living pay check to pay check- this is for you!

Are you a creative mind that needs an outlet? Maybe you'd love the opportunity to be recognized for your hard work. Have you capped out in your current position, but desire more potential for growth? Possibly, you're like me-- you need to lose weight, gain confidence and create opportunity in your life!

My team is expanding, y'all. The need for passionate, honest, driven and resilient entrepreneurs in the health and wellness world is both real and growing. What I do as a coach is work daily to end the trend of obesity while creating my own version of freedom for my family -> freedom of time, finances and CHOICE.

I'm looking to mentor 8 individuals in September and October. My desire is to pass along to YOU the tools needed to create a successful business. Whether you'd like to come home from your job to run your organization full time find a balance with your current job that will provide you with extra weekly or monthly income.. I'm here to help.

Beachbody isn't for everyone.. and that's okay. But if you have a heart for others and a fire in your belly to create change in your life, it COULD be for you!

Fill out the application below to be considered as one of my 8 new mentees in September and October. 


Why not you?

21 Day Fixed Approved: Chocolate, Peanut Butter OATS

Today's recipe is a special one, folks. This tasty treat is straight out of Autumn Calabrese's new cookbook called Fixate; for those of you who don't know who Autumn is, she's the creator of the 21 Day Fix that gave me these results in 3 weeks. Yeah, she's one of my heroes. Ha!



ANYWAYS, this recipe is an awesome breakfast option for the days I save my shake for a quick lunch or on the weekends when Nate and I want to eat a yummy, guilt free breakfast together! 


So let's start with the main ingredient: Steel Cut Oats.


For those of you who aren't familiar with anything other than instant, old fashioned or rolled oats:

"Whole grain oats provide a healthy start to your day. Steel-cut oats, also known as Irish oats, are a type of whole grain oat cut from the center portion, or kernel of the oat, called the groat. Although steel-cut oats undergo less processing than rolled oats or instant oatmeal, all whole-grain oats have essentially the same nutritional value, as long as the finished product contains no added sugars. Steel-cut oats do take longer to cook than rolled or instant oats and have a chewier consistency."


Personally, I prefer steel cut oats because I'm a texture gal! Take the extra time to try them, I bet you'll like them! Go ahead and make these bad boys start to finish before you move onto the other ingredients.


Next, you're going to need some shakeology. This is going to give your oats a CREAMY sauce to bathe in & that desert-like chocolatey taste! PS, the shakeology is also adding a protein element to this meal.



If you aren't sure what Shakeology is, check out my blog post about it here; it's a nutrient dense shake that costs about $4 a day to drink and replaces a meal, vitamins and supplements. It's a game changer in healthy eating and the pursuit of fitness goal, I highly recommend you try it risk free for 30 days.

Now you need to stir in some all-natural peanut butter! My household is 100% crunchy, but you could of course go the creamy route.


SO this is where my rendition of this recipe gets comical. My hubby and I moved on Friday.. who cares, you just want the recipe.. WELL, most of my food items were either packed, discarded or misplaced. A few lucky ingredients made it over here to my two burner, no oven kitchen. SO, when the cook book says himalayan sea salt, caramel extract and cinnamon- I say no biggie!

All I had here was vanilla extract, so I used that and went without the cinnamon and sea salt. You know what? This stuff still turned out to be AMAZING! I can only imagine how much richer the other ingredients would make it.



Okay, so here's the recipe!

4 Cups Water
1 Cup Steel Cut Oats
1.5 Scoops of Chocolate Shakeology
4 TBSP All Natural Peanut Butter
Dash of Cinnamon (omitted above)
Dash of Pink Himalayan Sea Salt (omitted above)
1/2 TSP Caramel Extract (substituted pure vanilla!)
Optional: Mixed Berries for Topping (or in my case- I had like 2 strawberries left in my mini fridge) 

Top this treat with some mixed berries & you're SET!


Bon Appetit, My Friends!
xo, Lindsey


Chunky Monkey Chocolate Cookies (21 Day Fix APPROVED)




Holy DECADENT -- okay maybe that's the 21 day fix sugar ITCH talking, but these cookies are TASTY! I snagged the recipe from one of the coaches on my Beachbody team & whipped them up right away. Modify to make them unique to you or try them as is. Let me know what you think!! And good luck only eating one or two..

Ingredients:
2 scoops chocolate Shakeology
1 Banana
1/4 c Oats
1.4 c Chia/Flax/Coconut Seed (blend)
1 tbsp. Peanut Butter
1.4 c Dark Chocolate Chips

Mix until THICK batter is blended together. Drop on baking sheet and cook 7-10 minutes at 350 degrees. You're welcome! 

Transformation Tuesday: A Picture of Surrender





I get a little emotional looking at these photos that were both taken RIGHT before our 2nd and 3rd deployments. I changed so much between these two distinct times in my life- as a woman and a wife.

Let me take you back to November of 2012, to the photo on the left. I was barely 22, Nate was newly 30. We had been married a little over two years and had spent probably close to 11+ months of it apart. I was working in a position that was I wasn't passionate about, felt like I had no clue about what I would do with my life long-term, was TOTALLY insecure about my body that was about 20 pounds heavier than it is now, frustrated in my marriage because of our inconsistencies in communication/arguments about family, stressed about finances & really just didn't feel like myself. There, OF COURSE, were lots of happy moments sprinkled in here and there, but it was certainly a time during which I felt very insecure. I can tell you for certain that the majority of our issues came from a lack of surrender to the Lord and poor priorities.

Flash forward to November of 2014. I'm 24, Nate is 32. We're married a little over 4 years and still by no means marital experts. By GOD was working in our lives.. both together and separately. We were involved in our church, we were making steps towards healthier relationships, we established boundaries with our families, we had clear financial vision for our future, I found one of my PASSIONS by joining Beachbody, I created a healthy lifestyle and got my sexy back losing 3 pant sizes, I felt more confident intimately with my husband-- I felt renewed. We still weren't communication experts, in fact we had a small argument on the way to take those photos (HA- keeping it real),  BUT we were LEARNING how to resolve things quickly and that pursuing peace was better than being right.

Each year, we face new challenges.. I'm actually writing this blog now as a BALL of stress while having to remind myself to trust in the Lord's faithfulness. And each year, we have more triumphs. Our marriage is such a joy in my life- it CHALLENGES me to be a kinder person, a more forgiving partner, a stronger woman, a more compassionate friend, an increasingly faithful christian.. always learning, growing and changing. 

My #transformationtuesday isn't because of anything Nate or I were able to do solely on our own. It's because we finally trusted Jesus with our wants, needs and desires. We submitted to His will and surrendered ourselves to be used according to His purpose. 

You will find the most beautiful transformation when you ask Jesus to lead you.


"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Matthew 6:33


What LINDSEY Eats: A Peek into My 21 Day Fix Food-Genda



As most of you know, I'm a huge advocate of the 21 Day Fix {original & extreme} because of the results I felt and saw in just 3 weeks. Check out my journey HERE.

The secret sauce with this program is the NUTRITION, which is most people's down fall when it comes to achieving results or even maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Within the 21 Day Fix meal plan, you have your categories, the recommended foods within each category and the appropriate serving size of each. Based on a formula that calculates your caloric needs from your activity level, current weight, etc you will be told how many portions of each food category you should be ingesting on a daily basis.

The gist is: portioned whole foods + shakeology + 30 minute workouts = results

..and it's legit.

So let me show you the food list that I created when I started the 21 Day Fix, which made my life mega easy and straightforward when it came to selecting food items.

On the list- YES. Missing from the list- NO.

I do very well with black and white boundaries, so if you're the same I hope this helps!




After really just a week, I figured out which foods I like the most and what was easiest to prep --> I cook ONCE a week. I believe that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. My nutrition is no exception. Sundays are my day to prepare & the rest of the week is HEAT & EAT.

From this list, here is what I found myself eating most often.

PROTEINS


Chicken, Ground Turkey, Turkey Burgers, Eggs and Greek Yogurt.. oh my! 

There are so many different ways to season, mix, and prepare these proteins that they just don't get old for me!

*Food Prep Tip:: When selecting meals to cook each week, try to stick with recipes that use the same 2-3 proteins to save $ and time!*

GREEN VEGGIES


Romaine for salads, Snap Peas for a snack or stir fry, Cucumbers to munch on and Roasted Broccoli as a dinner STAPLE. Of course, I might wash and chop carrots, zucchini, onion and tomato too- but you get the gist. These are veggies I can interchange for various meals and use in multiple ways!

FRUIT


I like fruits that can be eaten alone as a snack, mixed into my breakfasts or serving with a nut butter. I also like fruits that don't cost a bunch of money, since I get two large servings every single day. 

CARBS


Oh my precious carbs. Going with HEALTHY options that are a blank canvas: Quinoa, Sweet Potatoes and Steel Cut Oats. I mix my oats in the morning with berries and a side of greek yogurt ALL.THE.TIME. The quinoa can be served plain as a side, mixed with veggies as a salad dish OR serving steamy on top of a bed of greens with taco meat or something! Seriously, y'all.. give quinoa a change. It's SO so good! Lastly are my beloved sweet potatoes. You can microwave and half these bad boys OR cube and roast them for a side. Serving tip: roast cubed sweet potatoes with carrots and top with goat cheese (yellow+green+blue) . HOLY HEAVENS.

Healthy FATS


Avocado, Cheese and Hummus.. need I say more?

SEEDS & DRESSINGS


For my salads, I make my own 21 Day Fix dressings directly from the meal plan! Usually, I make one new dressing each week or two. Instead of getting multiple seeds and nuts on hand, I get a medley of unsalted nuts to use as a snack or to top a salad.

 OILS & Nut BUTTERS


Typically, I cook with olive oil and bake with coconut oil. I also like to blend in a half TSP. of coconut oil into my coffee.. so darn tasty. And the only nut butter I ALWAYS keep stocked is an all natural crunchy peanut butter. I eat it with fruit, on it's own or mixed into my morning oats/greek yogurt.

So I'm guessing you're wondering how the amazing Shakeology fits into this meal plan? Besides perfectly, these are the appropriate categories!


One scoop of shakeology counts as one protein serving. If you like to mix your shakeology with a splash of unsweetened almond milk, it would count as a part of a carb serving.

Seasonings


It's important to me to spice things up a bit, so that the foods I like to eat often don't seem boring and overly redundant. It's amazing how a little cinnamon on apple slices, red pepper flakes on green beans and cumin on ground turkey can make a world of difference. There are TONS of approved spices in the meal plan, as well as fresh herbs. These just so happen to be my favorites.

Condiments


Only because hard boiled eggs are LAME without hot sauce and my turkey burgers would be lonely without dijon.. these are two approved condiments that are ALWAYS stocked in my fridge.


No-Guilt Sweetener


I understand that plain greek yogurt can be a little shocking if you've never eaten it that way before. Sprinkle a little trivia or stevia on top to take the sharp sour edge off. If you're on the traditional 21 Day Fix meal plan, you are allowed to use honey, I believe. On the extreme version's meal plan, this is as good as it gets- and it works for me!

Creative Hydration


Hydration is SO important for anyone, but the way I keep my water intake from becoming dull is with a daily La Croix and with lemon or lime infused water!

Thanks to Autumn Calabrese, the creator of the 21 Day Fix, writing her new cookbook called "FIXATE" (check it out, HERE) I can switch things up even more!


Follow my blog as I cook through some of her new recipes including what's pictured here: Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins (1 purple + 1 orange), Pumpkin Pie Energy Bites (1/2 yellow) & Almond Chocolate Protein Squares (1/2 red + 1/2 yellow).

I'd love to answer any of your questions about the program and see if this might be a good fit for you.

Off to get my Plyo Extreme Fix on. Happy Monday, friends!

Lindsey