Reality of You

Real talk about health, fitness, and weight loss.

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7 Day Clean Up: Staying Motivated to Work Out [Day 2]

7daycleanupnew

This is part of the 7 Day Clean-Up Series. See all posts in the series here.

Hey everyone! Welcome back! Today we’re going to sit down and get an epic workout plan in place for you, talk about ways to maintain that workout plan, and the secret to staying motivated.

Day 2: Making a Workout Schedule

Step 1. Design your weekly workout plan using this guide. Make sure you’re working out enough days to reach your goal and have a good balance of activities you enjoy. For example, I love yoga so I do it all the time, but I find variety by trying different types of yoga like hanging yoga and different vinyasa flows.

Step 2. Create a workout calendar. I have a workout calendar I hang on my wall, and I make myself check off each workout so I feel motivated to get it done so I can check it off. I highly recommend making one of these! At the start of every week it helps to plan out what workouts you’re going to do so that you can stay motivated and look forward to it.

Step 3. Double check to make sure your workout schedule isn’t falling into any common traps or problems. Having a balanced schedule is a bit of an art, but make sure it’s well rounded with strength and cardio and you should be golden.

Here’s this week’s workout schedule for me: [Read more…]

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Dining Hall Survival Guide: FIT STUDENT

Fit Student Series dining hall survival guide

Since I’m an RA, I’m back at that unlimited swipe life, which has its pros and cons. Pros: I don’t have to cook or do dishes. Cons: the siren song of dining hall carrot cake.

However, I have gotten good at learning how to beat the system and eat healthy at a dining hall determined to use its temptress powers to sway me away from the land of clean eating where focaccia bread is not a major food group (sadly).

Here are 5 tips on how to survive the dining hall and get the healthiest meals!

1. Fill your plate with healthy stuff first. No dessert or foccaccia bread until you’ve finished your veggies and lean protein first! I know it’s tempting to grab that brownie on your first pass but you may overeat if you grab dessert every time and then feel obligated to eat it when you may not want it after you finish your healthy food anyways. [Read more…]

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Build Your Own Acai Bowl: How To + Recipe!

 buildyourownacaibowlFind more delicious and photogenic recipes here

Acai bowls are the hottest things in superfoods since Forever 21 discovered Kale. Have you been to Nektar? Sure you have. Acai (pronounced ass-ay-EE or somethin like that) are those bowls sold at Nektar, and they’re essentially thick smoothies with delicious toppings, but with the benefits of the acai berry superfood. [Read more…]

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6 Ways to A Healthier Start to Your Day

healthierstartoyourdayIf you’re like me, mornings can be a challenge. Recently, I’ve found myself getting up earlier and earlier to fit in workouts and better breakfasts, and it’s changed my view on mornings.

Here’s how to get a great, healthy start to your morning!

1. Fruit first thing in the morning, then a clean, healthy breakfast with protein, fiber, and calcium. Break the fast and eat some fruit first thing after you wake up — fruit in the morning boosts energy. Also, make sure you eat a clean, healthy breakfast that will energize you. Find my clean breakfast ideas here! [Read more…]

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Do Juice Cleanses Actually Work?

realityofjuicecleansesThose of you hooligans who have been following me for a long time know that I am a fan of using detox water, juicing, and smoothies as a way to supplement a healthy diet and get the most nutrients in your diet and promote healthy digestion and maximum hydration.

However, I do not believe in restricting your diet to ONLY these things. As I’ve said before, the only way to see results that last is to find a balance of clean foods and exercise. Selecting only one food to eat for periods of time can actually hurt your progress. (Such as that ridiculous fruit-only fad diet that is such a bad idea on SO many levels.)

So what about a temporary juice cleanse? Does that help flush your body of toxins and start fresh? Or could it be the cause of cravings and the start of an unhealthy cycle of calorie restricting? [Read more…]

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Recipe: SUPER CHARGED Avocado Eggs

avocadoeggsGood morning! And by morning I mean 11:56am because I went to the Ed Wood film festival last night where my film was showing and stayed out super late so this is me sleeping in.

This is my go-to recipe for “mornings” like this because I need something to keep me fueled up for the rest of the day so I can get through yoga, my shift at work, and tons of pre-production for tomorrow’s shoot and not fall asleep in the middle of everything.

The spice from the chili powder wakes you up, the healthy monounsaturated fatty acids in the avocado nourishes you and speeds up your metabolism as well, and the protein keeps you full. Add a slice of whole wheat toast to help your body better utilize the protein from the eggs. Also whole wheat toast is the bomb. [Read more…]

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54 Healthy Habits for the New Year

54healthyhabitsforthenewyearThe reason most people’s New Years’ resolutions fail is because they try and do everything perfectly right from January 1st. They cut out junk food, exercise seven days a week, and they go on a juice cleanse and start detoxing.

The problem is, for most people this isn’t sustainable. February rolls around, and they’re back to their old habits, except this time they feel ashamed that they weren’t able to keep up with such a hard, sudden change.

This year, do your New Years’ Resolutions right. Want to get fit? Healthy? Take it week by week. Make one small healthy change every week in 2014. January 1st, begin eating one piece of fruit each day. The second week, start eating one vegetable each day. The next week, begin exercising twice a week. Then three. Then four. Gradually build upon each of these healthy habits.

This works because only gradual changes will stick.

Need some ideas for small healthy habits? You’ve come to the right place!

Here are 54 health and fitness habits to build in the new year: [Read more…]

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30 Day Clean Eating Challenge

30 Day Clean Eating Challenge RESIZE  

This month I’ll be posting 30 days of recipes and tips and tricks on how to eat clean!

Welcome to the home base of the 30 Day Clean Eating Challenge! I’ll be posting ALL the resources of the 30 Day Clean Eating Challenge here.

Get Started Guide

More articles on their way! Stay tuned 🙂

Benefits of the 30 Day Clean Eating Challenge

So, why not go off and just follow the Eat Clean rules on your own? Sure! That’s a great idea! …so what are you going to eat? Luckily, if that question is daunting to you, this guide will help you out!

Each day I’ll post articles and meal plans and recipes that help you plan out what else you’re going to eat, what you’re going to buy at the grocery store, and how you’re going to deal with eating out.

I’ll also be creating handy-dandy printer-friendly guides for you to stick on your fridge, on your computer, on your face — wherever helps to remind you of the rules of the challenge and how to survive all 30 days! Good luck!

Meal Plan, Rules, Grocery List

  • The Rules. The main rules of eating clean. Hang this up on your fridge to keep you on track throughout the thirty days!
  • The Basic Grocery List. This grocery list covers the basics of what you’ll need to support your clean eating lifestyle
  • The Meal Plan. Here’s a healthy meal plan for 7 days! You can repeat each week and swap out recipes you like (and don’t!) with the new ones I’ll be posting throughout the month. 
  • Basic Clean Eating Cooking Guide. Here’s a basic cooking guide for all of you new chefs!

The 30 Days

Each day I’ll be posting about everything you need to know about eating clean. Each day in August, I’ll post a new article. Good luck!

Good luck and let me know how you’re doing!

 

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No Bake Peanut Butter Honey Bites

No Bake Peanut Butter Bites

I am OBSESSED with this recipe! I needed a healthy alternative to breakfast bars, and this is it!

I stumbled on this concoction when I was desperately trying to make homemade breakfast bars that stuck together. I was practically yelling Harry Potter spells at my mixing bowl. I’ve baked and roasted and toasted and hadn’t actually gotten anything that was soft and chewy — until in my frustration I just put a mixture into the fridge, forgot about it, and then realized that the fridge + lots of honey and peanut butter = the solution!

I messed around with this recipe for quite a bit to get the right amounts of everything, and although 1/3 cup honey and 1/2 cup peanut butter may seem like a lot — IT ISN’T. You need them for the soft, chewy taste.

Each bite is only 75 calories, and it will take you the better part of a week to get through these snacks because they’re so fibrous, full of protein, and healthful that they fill you right up!

These bites are really filling because of the oh-so-healthy flaxseeds, which also contain beneficial omega 3’s, which are responsible for healthy hair, heart health, a reduction of inflammation throughout the body, and a host of other health benefits!

Here’s the recipe: [Read more…]

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5min Recipe: Detoxifying Lemon Water

 

lemonmintdetoxwater

Lemon Cucumber Detoxifying Water: 5 Minute Recipe

Hey guys! Today’s recipe is a quick lemon/cucumber/ginger/mint detox drink that will help flush your internal systems of toxins. It’s a refreshing recipe and I hope you love it as much as I love dancing on street corners to music that doesn’t exist except in my head!

Also, this is a great drink to try before starting the 30 Day Clean Eating Challenge. lemon detox water

RELATED RECIPE: Sparkling Spinach Smoothie

How this drink detoxifies you:

Cucumbers rejuvinate you through energy-boosting vitamin B. It also contains a lot of fiber that aids in removing toxins from the body, as well as aiding digestion.

The ginger aids digestion and also has anti-inflammatory properties. In 2010, there was a study done that followed people who consumed two grams of ginger each day for about eleven days. It turned out those people had a 25% drop in exercise-induced muscle pain. So all you runners/serious athletes out there? DRINK THIS!

Lemons clean your bowels, and neutralizes free radicals that cause aging. Lemons also contain 22 anti-cancer properties.

Mint promotes good digestion and contains enzymes that could prevent cancer.

Now let’s make this crazy delicious thing! [Read more…]