Friday, May 30, 2014

Stitch Fix #2

When I got home today I had a special surprise waiting for me! 

My second stitch fix arrived! If you don't know what Stitch Fix is, it's a personal styling service that sends you 5 items hand-selected by your stylist based on a super in-depth style profile that you complete. You can try on all 5 items, mix and match with your current wardrobe, and decide what to keep and what to return. You pay a $20 styling fee that is credited towards whatever you keep. You have 3 days to return whatever you don't like. Easy peasy! 

So what did I get?! Let's see! 

Item #1- Sonoma Striped Sleeveless Top $38
I love this top so much! It's a little tight around the bust but not enough to send back. Definitely a keep!

Item #2- Cassidy Colorblock Shift Dress $68
I thought this dress was cute right out of the box but on my body it wasn't very figure flattering. Sending back. 

Item #3- Lorna Diagnol Stripe Maxi Skirt $58
I really like this skirt. It's not anything I would've picked out for myself normally. In fact, when I pulled my items out of the box this was my least favorite. But when I tried it on I really liked it! I went back and forth because if the price mostly but decided to splurge. Keeping this!

Item #4- Giovani Beaded Neckline Tunic $108
This top was fabulous! I like the length and the fit is great. But I think no matter how great it is, I am just not the kind of girl who can drop that much cash in a top. Sending back.

Item #5- Barcelona Solid Short Sleeve Blouse $44
This top was really cute but too big. It was wide and the arm holes were really big. Sending back. 

So overall I kept 2 of 5 items. I also referred a friend after my last Fix so I had a $25 credit to apply towards my purchase. If you are interested in helping me continue my newest addiction use my link to schedule your fix too by clicking here!

See you guys again soon!

Until then, 
Geneva 

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Memorial Day Weekend and More

Well, you can't say I didn't warn you. I'm a horrible blogger. I just have a hard time finding the time to do it as much as I would like. So this post will be a catch up of everything you've been missing out on since my last post. Shall we?

First of all let me update you on week 2 of the 21 Day Fix. It's going well. Not as good as the first week, but still good. I'm not sure why week 2 was different. Maybe I didn't prep as much on the weekend or maybe I gave in more than I should have. I pretty much stayed on track but for whatever reason my results weren't quite as drastic as week 1. Maybe it's like on Biggest Loser where they lose 20 pounds in the first week and then week 2 they lose 5. I lost 3.5 lbs in week one which was awesome. Week 2 I was down to another .5lbs. I'm not complaining though! A loss is a loss is a loss and that put me at my goal weight!

Now for the bad news. Memorial day was great and you know what else was great? The pina colada that I enjoyed at our friends house. Seriously that thing was amazing! (Thanks Eric, if you read my blog...) Other than that I did fairly good considering. I didn't really eat BAD things, I just ate too much of things. I definitely went over on my purple fruit containers and probably my green veggie containers too. So when I started off week 3 I was back up around 2 lbs. Here's the thing though, our bodies are crazy. My weight fluctuates between 1-2 lbs per day anyway.

It also took all of this for me to realize that I'm human too. I was hesitant to share this with you guys. My brain was saying "you can't tell them all that. You're a Beachbody Coach now. People depend on you." But I think I learned that you guys may (or may not...) depend on me but you also expect me to be real with you so that's where I'm at. I cheated. I had a yummy, sugary drink and I didn't eat 3 greens and 2 purples. But I'm back on track this week and ready to finish strong.

Now, for the really fun part of my weekend. Did anybody even make it this far down? If you did then you're in for a treat. My sweet Blakely started crawling this weekend!! Literally I was on the phone and she just took off. No army crawl here, full out knees and hands crawl! And then guess what....she got 2 teeth!! And then guess what happened after that....she started pulling up! Can somebody tell this girl to slow down? I was not prepared for all of that in one weekend. But it's so fun to see her crawling all over the place now.  Here's a little snapshot.

 

Alright that's it for now. See ya next time!

Until then,
Geneva

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Week 2 Happenings

Well I'm almost finished with week 2 and it's gone pretty well so far! I'm still really loving the work outs (they're the same as week 1 by the way) and feeling sore every time. The eating this week has been pretty much the same. Here's a shot of my week 2 plan. (Again, sorry it's cut off. If you click on it it'll bring up the whole picture for your to view. If any expert bloggers out there know how to fix this please help a sister out!)

I did have to make a few changes throughout the week. First, we had a TON of spaghetti leftover so instead of eating it for 2 nights, we made it 3. I really hate wasting food and I don't mind leftovers so that's how we did it. I guess eating smaller portions makes a difference! But I will say, even Cody used the containers to measure his portion and we were both satisfied without feeling overly full like I normally do after eating pasta.

That's a lot! 

Another small victory this week is that I resisted temptation BIG TIME! We had our annual CFO Picnic at work and as usual, there was BBQ for lunch. Not just any BBQ, WHOLE HOG! BBQ. That's my favorite. And the potato salad. And the brownies. I might as well have been in heaven. Except that I'm on the 21DF and that just wasn't going to work. I found the internal battle of "maybe just a little" but I won. I ended up eating some of the chicken and my baby carrots that I brought from home. Then if that wasn't bad enough, the ice cream truck made an appearance too. I didn't have to fight the battle as hard that time. 

 
Self control y'all! 

Unfortunately, I haven't seen any weight loss this week. Actually, I've been up about 1/2 lb. Normally this would really bug me (and it kinda does) but knowing that I fee different, my clothes fit different, and I can see changes when I look in the mirror helps out. Plus, even with that 1/2lb change I'm still only 2 lbs away from my goal! I think maybe my body went through shock last week when I cut out so many carbs and dairy that I'm used to having.

That's it for now guys! I hope everyone has a fantastic holiday weekend. I'll post my week 2 results and pictures this weekend sometime so check back.

Until then,
Geneva

Monday, May 19, 2014

Week 1 Recap and Results

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend. We had a pretty great weekend. Friday night Cody grilled out for us and we had a fairly low key night. Then on Saturday our friend Sydney came over to watch Blakely so we could go to a crawfish boil at our friends, Terri and Craig, house. It was a great time! While I did plan ahead for the crawfish, it was technically still cheating since that's not exactly a "21 day fix approved" protein! Haha

I gave you guys a short update on days 1 and 2 last week. The rest of the week went pretty well too. I did make some adjustments to eating plan though. When we had chicken for dinner on Tuesday night we had lots left over. I really try not to waste anything so instead of the ground turkey lunches I had planned for the rest of the week I substituted the leftover chicken and veggies from the week. It worked out great and I was still completely on track with my daily container allowance. I think that's something I love about this program, you can adjust it mid-week without slipping up!

The weekend was harder, as I expected. On Saturday I had planned to have a salad at home for lunch but the lettuce that I bought on Sunday had already turned brown. I don't like brown lettuce. It's probably fine but I just can't look at brown lettuce and put it in my mouth. So we went to Chilis where I was able to just get a grilled chicken salad and that fit right in with what I had already scheduled. The hard part was when Cody ordered a half order of cheese fries and ranch! WHAT?! Is he trying to test my limits!? I did really good. I had 1/2 of a single fry and NO RANCH! Anyone that knows me, knows that ranch is my weakness so resisting was a huge success in my book. I ate my salad and made the right choice. Sunday was similar, we had McAlisters for lunch, which wasn't planned, but I still made it work. I had a grilled chicken wrap and fruit cup which I counted for 2 greens, 1 red, 1 blue, 2 yellow, and 1 purple. Since that meal was so late my mid-afternoon snack wasn't really going to work and we had Dgroup so we just grabbed a salad from somewhere on the way home. So I can't say that I stuck to my schedule 100% but I made the best choices I could given my situation. And that's a win for me.

Since I finally got my full bag of vanilla Shakeology this weekend I tested it out and man was it yummy. I had banana and peanut butter yesterday and it was so good that I had that exact same combination again today. Except today I didn't have milk, just water, mixed in. It was still pretty fabulous.

I hate to break the news but I've gotten pretty lazy about taking pictures of my food. I took a few but definitely not every single meal. Here's what I have to share with you. 
Tilapia and sautéed squash

Lunch- leftover chicken with veggies in a tortilla 
Shrimp and pineapple kebobs with wild rice. This was my favorite meal all week! 
Sunday morning shakeology! 

Now that I've completed all the workouts in the program I can say I really like them! I think I might even like them better than T25. There is a lot more weight training involved and I leave a sweaty, sore mess every single time. Just the way it should be.

I've been debating with myself about whether to post the before and after pictures that Cody took for me. I'll be taking them each Saturday to track my progress. I think I've decided to take the plunge. I won't post them on Facebook just yet but if you're lucky enough (HA!) to read this post then I'll show you how I've done. It's no different than posting a bikini picture, right? People do that all the time. I have to say I'm really pleased with my progress. I started the week at 130lbs even. Saturday morning I weighed in at 126.4! Seriously! Almost 4 lbs in 1 week. I honestly didn't think that was possible for me. I mean, they advertise up to 15 lbs but I'll be honest, I just thought that was the exception. It's not! It can happen! I haven't looked at individual inches on certain parts of my body but my total inches lost was 3. So in 5 days I lost 3.6 lbs and 3 inches. It's that easy folks! Buckle down and make it happen. If I can do it, you can do it!! 

No, I didn't grow 2 inches this week. My photographer was slacking! 

 I'll be back for another post soon.

Until then,
Geneva

Friday, May 16, 2014

What IS a Coach anyway?

Hey guys and gals! Happy Friday! The sun is out here and while it's a bit chillier than I would prefer it's still going to be a really nice day. And tomorrow my alarm won't go off at 5am! Woo hoo!

As you guys know I am now a Beachbody coach. But what IS a Beachbody coach anyway? Well first I can tell you that I get to watch people change their lives. That's awesome! Even before I was a coach I was watching people make incredible changes and now I get to help people do that too. Pretty sweet if you ask me. Not only that, I can make extra money while doing it. I'm still new so I'm not getting crazy and quitting my job or anything but at this point if I can get my Shakeology covered and bring in a little extra money for my family that's a WIN in my book!

Don't get me wrong, I do know coaches that have been so successful that they were able to turn this into their full time job. If that's what you want too, you can do it! There is a place for everybody. 

If you want to know about what exactly a coach does and how it could benefit you and others let me know. We're doing a 5 Day Sneak Peek group starting on Monday so you can ask any question you want and find out the scoop. You don't have to be super in shape (I'm not) or a slick salesperson (I'm definitely not) but you do have to want to help others succeed. Sounds easy right? Anyone can do this!

Until then,
Geneva

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

21 Day Fix Days 1 & 2

Hey everybody! I hope you're all having a great Wednesday. It's rainy here and it took me an hour and a half to get to work so it feels more like a Monday to me. But you're not here to hear about my morning so let's hop to it!

I promised to give updates about the 21DF as I worked through it. I've got two full days down so far and I have to say, I'm impressed. 

Day 1:
This was my first day on the program. I woke up feeling excited since I had done all my prepping the night before. You can see what I ate on my previous post with my meal plan so I'll just cover how I felt mostly. The biggest thing I noticed was that I wasn't hungry all day! Normally when I'm sitting at my desk I'm constantly munching on something (or I want to be) but I didn't have that urge today. Even at dinner I couldn't finish everything on my plate. Here are a few snapshots of my main meals (the ones I remembered to take a picture of before I are then). Keep in mind photography lessons are not included in this program!


The workout on Day 1 was Total Body Cardio and it definitely was a workout! I was left super sweaty after only 30 minutes. The workouts are setup with 60 seconds of an exercise followed by 15-20 seconds of rest. It really flew by with that format. Another thing I really like about these workouts is the built in warm up and cool down. I've been known to skip the cool down in T25 so I like that it's part of the total video here. 

Day 2:
Today was another really good day. I was completely prepped when I got up so I felt prepared to take on the day. My abs are definitely feeling yesterday's workout. Again today I wasn't hungry and didn't have the crazy sugar cravings I normally have (which is not a good thing when my cube neighbor has a fully stocked candy bucket at all times!). I still wasn't able to finish dinner but I made a better effort than the previous day. Here are some of my meal snapshots that I was able to get. 

The workout for today was Upper Fix. It called for a heavy set of weights and a light set. I need a lot of improvements in this area so I did have to modify and use my light weights in place of the heavy a few times. This was a killer workout!

So there's my short recap of days 1 and 2. I'm really loving this program so far! I'm feeling energized and I can tell my body is getting stronger. And guess what else! As of today ( Wednesday) I'm down 2.5lbs so far! I don't expect to keep that momentum every day but I think my body is really adjusting well to the clean eating and NOT cheating for once. I definitely think I'll see my goal weight by the end of this but as always, I'll keep you posted. Again, please feel free to contact me if you have questions or want to know more. I'd love to help! 

Until then,
Geneva 

P.S. Lesson learned about taking pictures sideways with my phone. It cuts them off if you're viewing on the web but if you click the picture it'll open all 6 for you to view. Sorry about that- I'm a new blogger! 

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

I took the plunge!

I know I said this probably wasn't going to be a daily blog but I have something really important to tell all 5 of my readers. Are you listening? Are you ready? Ok here I go...

I joined Beachbody as a Coach yesterday! I'm so excited to be joining an awesome team and taking the journey to reach my own fitness goals and helping you to do the same. 

I think what put me over the edge was how excited I've been over the progress I've been making. While the number on the scale doesn't seem huge, the boost in my confidence and how my clothes fit now is totally worth it to me. And those 7 pounds (yep, 7 as of this morning!) are nice to shed too. 

I don't claim to be an expert. As a matter of fact, I'll openly admit that this is new to me and I'm learning too. That's the beauty of it! I'm on your team walking right beside you. 

T25 was awesome to me. I've never been more dedicated. And now with the 21 Day Fix and Shakeology I fully expect to see my goal weight very soon. Who knows, maybe I'll have abs one day?! Ha! 

If you're interested in looking around and seeing what I can do for you please don't hesitate to call, text, or email me (genevaemiller@yahoo.com). Also, check out my Beachbody page to see all the great things we have to offer. 

I'll fill you guys in on my first 2 days of the 21DF tomorrow. 

Until then,
Geneva 


Monday, May 12, 2014

Day 0

The day has finally come! The 21 day fix has begun for me. Since it's still early in the day I don't have much feedback to give but I thought I'd share a little bit about the planning and prepping that I did yesterday. 

I received my package from Beachbody last Saturday and immediately started putting my meal plan together. I searched Pinterest for ideas (great source of ideas by the way!) and found a template that worked for me. I stumbled across a blog that had exactly what I needed. If you're looking for an awesome template check out Fit Mom Aly

After adapting her template to my needs/likes/dislikes here's what I came up with: 

I even created a shopping list to make navigating around Kroger much easier. Cody tends to get a little impatient in the grocery store when I try to "wing it" so this helped a ton. I can honestly say I've never bought so much produce in one trip! Haha Already off to a good start! 

When we got home (after my Mothers Day nap) I got to work prepping. It was pretty easy and with the exception of seeing pure terror in my baby's eyes when I started the food processor everything went off without a hitch. 

I'm excited to see what the week holds and the progress I can make! I'll keep ya updated (maybe every few days, nobody wants a daily blog do they?)

Until then,

   

Thursday, May 8, 2014

My first post in 3 years..

So it's been 3 years since my last post....is that a record? I've been busy being pregnant, giving birth, and being a mom! Oh, what's that? I'm excused? Thanks.

Now that that's out if the way let me tell you why I'm back. Beachbody. I honestly never thought I would be able to complete an at home program much less live to write about it but here I am. 

Ten weeks ago I started a program called T25 through Beachbody. It took some effort to convince Cody (and myself!) that I could stick with it. Let's be real, I tend to give up on things that don't offer immediate results (Hello 3 year old blog...). It involves a quick, 25 minute workout 5 days a week. Tomorrow is my last day! I completed the entire thing! I lost 5-6 lbs (depending on the day, my weight fluctuates)! That may not seem like a lot but I really only had 10 lbs to get to my goal weight anyway and I started at my pre-pregnancy weight. So that means in 10 weeks I lost 5 lbs that I've been trying to lose for 3+ years. I'll take it!

Some of you may be looking for before and after pics. I plan to take my official after pics on Saturday so I'll try to get the courage to post them after that. Eeek! I don't know if I can! 

Since I'm finishing T25 I started exploring what else Beachbody had to offer me for my next adventure. Since eating right is way harder for me than working out consistently I chose the 21 Day Fix. It's all about teaching portion control and has some killer (or so I've heard) workouts too! It takes 21 days to develop/break a habit so I hope this will lead me to a healthier lifestyle long after the program is over. 

Stay tuned on Monday when I start the 21DF and blog my way through it! I might even offer a sneak peek of my planning progress on Sunday. 

Until Then,
Geneva