Fitness Friday Archives

Fitness Friday: Summer Goals

May 19, 2017 by Jai Leave a Comment

Disclosure: I receive free product in order to evaluate and comment on my experiences using Medifast products. Medifast products and the Medifast program are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease or illness.

I’m 2.5 Months into Medifast and I’m pretty comfortable with my food intake at this point in meeting my summer goals. I was struggling with cravings for the first few weeks but my appetite seems to be adapted to the new, healthier normal. At this rate I’m right on track to hit my goal by the end of summer. So far this has been accomplished without going out of my way to exercise. I’m getting a gym membership later this week and I’ll continue to keep careful track of my progress to see how that works.

Coupon Code

Get $25 off Medifast orders of $250 or more, plus free shipping by using coupon code: MomStart25 Limit one per customer. Excludes ready-to-drink shakes. Not valid with Medifast Advantage, or any other promotions or discounts.

Fitness Friday: Confidence Boost

May 12, 2017 by Beeb Leave a Comment

In the last month, I’ve been noticing a difference in my body’s shape and muscle tone. My clothes are fitting better, and when I look at photos of myself, I’m starting to notice a real difference since I first began my Medifast journey. Last month, I went to get my hair done before I flew to Florida. I haven’t seen my hairdresser since last July, and as soon as I walked in, she exclaimed: You look so tiny! You always look good when I see you, but wow! After my hairdresser worked her magic, she took a few photos of my new hairdo on her phone and showed them to me. She said that she thought this was the prettiest photo, because you could see the reflection of my figure in the mirror. I saw myself through another person’s eyes and realized my hard work was starting to show in a new way.

Photo by the fabulous Nicci at 220 Salon in Portland!

The external changes are a reflection of internal ones. My incessant cravings for junk food have faded and made it easier to eat well under challenging circumstances, such as traveling. Last week, I was at a train station by a restaurant where I would normally order french fries. Instead, I chose to eat the Cookie Dough Chewy Bar in my purse. When I’ve been on the road and needed something hearty, I’ve generally opted for salads or lighter options as fuel. Just as eating fast food begets cravings and snowballs into a regular habit, healthy eating also snowballs and becomes easy to do – but it takes time. The big difference for me is that I’m enjoying these choices rather than feeling deprived, because eating well helps to regulate my cravings and helps quiet of that voice that so desperately wants fat and sugar. Eating well now feels like more of a reward because of how it directly correlates to how I feel and look. Does this mean I’m perfect and eat exactly right? No way! But the difference now is that I have control. When I was in Florida, I chose to eat some decadent dishes because I wanted to taste local specialties and make the most of my experience. Enjoying your life in balance is a great thing, but compulsive eating has never brought me much happiness – that’s the difference.

The biggest encouragement I would give anyone forming new eating habits is that you won’t feel one way forever. There is no getting around it – changing what you eat is really hard at first. Eating well felt like a punishment to me at the beginning because I was putting in hard work but didn’t yet have much to show for it. There is also this sense of anxiety that you will feel miserable and deprived forever. But thankfully, that’s not true! Once I adjust and start to feel the difference, my relationship to food changes. So my best advice to anyone feeling discouraged would be to just hang in there – it won’t be easy at first and there’s no way around that, but keep plugging forward and it will change. Trust me, I’ve been there more than you know.

I have many more goals and dreams for this year, so my journey is still just getting started. But I’ve reached a pivotal turning point where my successes are propelling my confidence and making the journey rewarding in a new way – and I’m so excited to have you all along for the ride.

Coupon Code

Fitness Friday: Swing Yourself Fit With The Empower Fitness 3-in-1 Kettlebell

May 5, 2017 by Beeb Leave a Comment

Sample provided.

I love trying new workouts, so when I heard about the 3-in-1 adjustable Kettlebell from Empower Fitness, I was eager to see what it was all about. This kettlebell has three weight options: The 5 pound base stacks with two other weights to move it up to 8 or 12 pounds. To scale the weight up or down, simply click and twist. Free weights are a staple for any home gym, and they’re great for those who don’t have a lot of space. I love that this kettlebell stacks, giving it several weight options in one compact unit. As soon as I received it, I began incorporating the kettlebell along with my dumbbells into some weight routines that I had been shown years previously by a personal trainer.

The kettlebell also comes with a DVD explaining form and best practices along with several workouts. Form is extremely important with any weight routine, and I think especially crucial to keep in mind with a kettlebell because of the necessity of correct hand placement, wrist movement, and swinging. It’s important to take your time and really get comfortable with it, and remember that any swinging should always be a controlled movement. The “Swing Yourself Fit Total Body Workout” explains these points and provides 3 different workout routines, along with a warm-up and cool-down.

These workouts range in length from 11 to 14 minutes, which makes it really conducive to home workouts: On those days when I’m crazy busy and don’t have time to do a full workout or get outside for a run, it’s easy to just skip working out altogether, but seeing how quick these routines are gives me the motivation to do it since I know it won’t take forever. And with my wedding coming up in a few short months, every single day counts!

Working out along with the DVD is also fun, since the workouts are new to me and use the kettlebell in a lot of creative ways. Although the routines are brief, they are impactful: The 11-minute routine had my heart rate going and could be felt in several muscle groups the next day! I think this is a versatile piece of fitness equipment since it’s adjustable in weight, has a wide range of workout options, and is small and easy to store. If you’re in a tiny apartment, you could even use it as a doorstop!

The Empower Fitness 3-in-1 Kettlebell retails for $39.99 and is available on EmpowerFitness.com.

Fitness Friday: Tracking my Adventures With The LifeTrak Zoom HRV

April 28, 2017 by Beeb Leave a Comment

Sample provided for review.

When I’m considering which fitness tracker to wear, the most important consideration is how much data it can collect. Any tracker can tell you how many steps you’ve taken – but the ones that go above and beyond provide detailed information on all aspects of activity, including sleep patterns. So when I received an email about the new LifeTrak Zoom HRV, I was immediately intrigued by its features. Although it’s billed as the “First wearable to accurately and conveniently monitor heart rate variability”, it’s not just a heart rate monitor – it also offers detailed activity information including calories burned, steps taken, distance covered, hours of sleep and even hours of exposure to natural light. This sounded like my type of fitness tracker, so I was eager to try it out!

My last experience with this brand was testing out their LifeTrak Move C300 fitness tracker in 2013, so I was curious to see what this model would be like. And I had the perfect opportunity to try it out last month when I went on an adventure-packed trip to Florida that included activities such as kayaking past alligators and zip lining at an aerial adventure park!

Wearing my LifeTrak Zoom HRV on a zip line! Photo credit: Veronica Figueroa

Zoom HRV collects data continuously, and also has a workout mode to record detailed heart rate and activity data. You can choose specific workout types, such as running or swimming (It’s waterproof to 50 meters!), or “General”, which is the mode I put it into right before setting off on my zip line adventure. Since I find heights to be quite frightening, I thought it would be very interesting to see what my heart rate looked like!

Wearing my Zoom HRV as I cross a swinging zip line bridge – photo credit: Veronica Figueroa

The zip line at Orlando Tree Trek was an adventure worthy of Indiana Jones: I swung on ropes, crossed swaying bridges, walked a tightrope and made my way across trapeze-style swings before plunging 425 feet down a zip line. I was terrified to be up so high off the ground, to the point where my whole body was trembling – and if you want proof of how scared I was, just look at the heart rate readout:

Heart rate during Orlando Tree Trek as seen on the Zoom HRV app

Heart rate chart

The chart is just fascinating – you can see how I started out at a normal heartrate, and climbed way up as my fear level rose. It drops off and spikes back up in correlation to each new high-flying obstacle I tackled. Pretty illuminating! As I’ve tracked my heart rate during day-to-day activities, it’s very clear that I have a healthy resting heart rate that spikes up when I experience stress.

You can track your heart rate in real time with a detailed readout in the Zoom HRV’s corresponding phone app, and in a more basic capacity with a readout on the device itself. You can also just let the Zoom HRV collect data and analyze it after the fact, as I did during the zip line. Being able to track heart rate so accurately has a lot of really helpful implications – for example, being able to amp up your workout to burn more calories, as well as tracking your day-to-day stats. My gym has heart rate monitors built into some of the cycling machines, but they never seem to really work very well. I’m so impressed by the technology that’s gone into this device. Of course, this is not a medical device or intended to be a replacement for health services.

The data collected by Zoom HRV is compiled into a “VScore”, which gives an assessment of your general fitness level. You can set goals for yourself and track different aspects of your health and fitness beyond heart rate, including detailed sleep tracking. Here’s how I slept last night:

As you collect data over time, you can compare your sleep records with your activity and blue light levels to see how they correlate, and give yourself notifications through the device to get more natural light as needed. As far as collecting data goes, this has to be one of the most well-rounded and comprehensive fitness trackers that I’ve seen.

Wearing my Zoom HRV by the pool

Zoom HRV is a basic black fitness tracker that blends in well with most things I wear. Here I am wearing it by the pool in Florida! It also has bands that can convert it to being worn on the arm or ankle, if desired.

The only downside to the LifeTrak Zoom HRV is that display and controls are a little counterintuitive. Rather than a full digital readout, the Zoom HRV tells you the time by illuminating LED lights on the face of the device in correspondence with the numbers on a clock. It also uses these lights to display various different goals and readouts, which will take some time for me to memorize in order to know what they’re indicating. I think this could be made simpler by just having a digital readout that could tell you heart rate and goal status more plainly rather than communicating it through symbols.

Indeed, there are so many features and options with the Zoom HRV that I’ve only just scratched the surface of what it can do. For example, I just learned today that I can set an intelligent vibrating alarm on the device to wake me up within a window of time in the morning, so that it will go off when I’m in my lightest sleep phase for an easier, less groggy awakening. This is amazing and something I’ve been trying to find a way to do for ages, and it’s something that’s only mentioned in passing on their website! The instructions provided with the device are a little sparse, given the number of features that this device has. But to be fair, I haven’t had much time to dig into it while I’ve been traveling this past month, and I also switched phones in the middle of testing it which added and extra layer of setup. I’m excited to continue collecting data and learning what the LifeTrak Zoom HRV can do – it’s definitely earned a spot as a must-use accessory in my life!

The LifeTrak Zoom HRV retails for $139.99 and is available on Amazon and on LifeTrakUSA.com.

Fitness Friday: Expanding my Wardrobe

April 21, 2017 by Jai Leave a Comment

I have to admit that during the first month on Medifast I felt myself really looking forward each meal. I had been so used to eating as much as I wanted, whenever I wanted that eating meals at set times, with set portions felt odd and I would have to fight cravings. The second month has been much easier and I’ve comfortably fallen into my new routine. The most dramatic changes I’ve seen this month have been in the way my clothes fit. At the start of the year most of my old jeans were uncomfortably tight and relegated to the bottom drawer. Gradually I started wearing them more often as they became more comfortable. In recent weeks I’ve noticed that I need to wear a belt to avoid awkwardly pulling them up myself in public. I guess that’s a good problem to have. My goal for April, now that I have my eating habits under control, is to get the other half of the equation in place and start exercising regularly.

Coupon Code

Fitness Friday: Healthy Deviled Eggs

April 14, 2017 by Beeb 3 Comments

Easter is right around the corner, and like every other holiday, it brings family gatherings with tempting foods such as chocolate rabbits and hot cross buns. Fortunately, Easter is also filled with hardboiled eggs, which happen to be one of the recommended items in a Medifast lean and green meal! So today, I’d like to share my healthy deviled egg recipe, which is Medifast-friendly and totally delicious. I tweaked my standard deviled egg recipe that I learned years ago from my mom’s old cookbooks, and changed up the ingredients based on the Medifast condiment list. These eggs may be deviled, but when it comes to following your healthy diet, they are simply angelic!

Healthy Deviled Eggs

Ingredients:

3 eggs
1 TBSP finely chopped sweet yellow onion
1 TBSP mustard
Mrs. Dash seasoning

Directions:

Place 3 eggs into a small pot and fill with cold water. Bring to a boil, then immediately remove from heat and allow to sit for 20 minutes. Drain the pot into a strainer and run cold water and/or ice over the eggs to make them easier to peel.

Crack and peel all 3 eggs, then slice each in half. Use a spoon to scoop out the yolk into a bowl, then add mustard and onion. Mash with a fork and stir thoroughly until mixture is creamy. Scoop yolk mixture back into egg whites, distributing evenly until all 6 halves are filled. Sprinkle Mrs. Dash on top of each egg to season.

This recipe counts as the “Lean” portion of a lean and green meal with 3 condiments. To complete your meal, add 3 servings of vegetables; I like to serve these with sliced red peppers, broccoli, and grape tomatoes. This way, you can create a lovely veggie tray and deviled egg platter that would be a great addition to any Easter party, while still fitting your healthy goals!

Pin it For Later!

Coupon Code

Fitness Friday: Healthy Egg Fried Rice Recipe

March 24, 2017 by Beeb 11 Comments

One of the things I’ve been having fun with during our month of vegetarian eating is the challenge to try new recipe ideas. I wanted to share something I came up with last week that Jai and I have really been enjoying – it’s my take on one of my favorite Chinese dishes, egg fried rice, made to fit in perfectly with the Medifast plan I am following. This recipe is super easy and fast to make, and counts as one lean and green meal with 3 condiments, 3 greens and 1 healthy snack (the “1” in the 4 & 2 & 1). It’s also tasty and very filling!

Healthy Egg Fried Rice Recipe

Ingredients:

Brown rice
Broccoli
Eggs
Soy sauce
0 calorie cooking spray

Directions:

Here’s how I made this particular batch:

I added 2 cups of brown rice and 4 cups of water to my rice cooker. This makes a big batch in advance that we can reserve and portion out for future easy meal prep.

Just before the rice was finished, I opened the rice cooker and added a layer of chopped broccoli on top. Jai read this cooking tip on Reddit and it works great to steam the broccoli!

I then set out two cereal bowls to measure out one lean and green serving. In one bowl, I added 1/3 cup of rice and 1 1/2 C broccoli, followed by 1 TBSP of soy sauce, and mixed it well with a fork.

In the second bowl, I cracked 3 eggs and added another 1 TBSP of soy sauce, beating with a fork until well scrambled.

To complete the dish, I sprayed a frying pan with 0 calorie spray and turned it on medium heat until nice and hot. I poured the eggs into the pan, followed by the rice/broccoli mixture, and stirred together with a spatula. You’ll want to continue to stir frequently as the dish cooks, then remove from heat and serve immediately once finished.

The great thing about this recipe is that you can tweak it a variety of ways and substitute ingredients such as mushrooms or chopped onion depending on your mood – just refer to the Medifast Nutritional Guides for the recommended ingredient measurements.

Pin It!

Coupon Code

Fitness Friday: A New Medifast Journey

March 17, 2017 by Jai Leave a Comment

Like many others, I tend to let fitness and nutrition go to the wayside during the holiday season. Not only was this true last year but I feel I may have taken it a little farther than usual this time. Because of this, I had already decided weeks ago to reclaim lost ground as my New Year’s resolution, and learning that Medifast was giving me an opportunity to join Beeb on the Medifast 4 & 2 & 1 Plan was my first good news of February.

Beeb and I Ringing in 2017 on New Year’s Eve

I started the program one week ago with fire in my eyes and a readiness to push through cravings and hunger pangs at any cost. So far the battle has been fairly anticlimactic. Any time I find myself feeling hungry throughout the day I know that it’s about time for one of my Medifast meals. My eating patterns are certainly different on the Medifast plan in that the portions are smaller but more frequent than with my normal gorge-and-starve® eating strategy. There is a wide variety of food to choose from and, so far, I haven’t had anything I didn’t like. I have also been supplementing this with the Medifast Probiotic Supplement line, and so far I couldn’t be happier.

Coupon Code

Fitness Friday: Lean and Green Recipe Inspiration

February 3, 2017 by Beeb 4 Comments

There’s nothing like browsing Pinterest for some amazing recipe inspiration! Since I started Medifast, I’ve been enjoying trying new lean and green recipes, and their Pinterest page is a perfect place to start! Here’s 3 can’t miss recipes from the Medifast Lean and Green Recipes board:

#1: Broccoli Crust White Pizza Recipe

#2: Taco-Stuffed Zucchini Boats

#3: Cauliflower “Mac” and Cheese

Coupon Code

Fitness Friday: A Warm Winter Breakfast

January 20, 2017 by Beeb 1 Comment

I remember when I was a kid, it was a big deal to get “Mickey Mouse Pancakes” – pancakes shaped like a head with chocolate chips for eyes. When you think of losing weight and eating healthy, you don’t tend to envision childhood comfort foods, but that’s exactly what I ate on my Medifast program this morning! One of their many breakfast options is Chocolate Chip Pancakes, which has a gooey, melty chocolate chip goodness that warms you perfectly on a cold winter’s morning. Paired with a steaming cup of coffee, this is a wonderful way to wake up!

My breakfast this morning – YUM!

As you can see, I’ve been enjoying my meals this week! Jai and I are having fun with our January vegetarian challenge, and it really hasn’t been difficult at all. I’ve been keeping it simple by experimenting with different egg-based lean and green dishes as well as trying out a vegetarian “Sausage” patty which I really liked! I’ve been sticking to easy food this month, since I spent the first solid week hobbling around on my sprained ankle. I’m still wearing the brace, but feeling so much better. And while my exercise options are obviously limited until I’m 100%, I’ve still been getting my upper body workouts in by lifting weights in a chair. This month has had its bumps, but overall I’m feeling really good – especially after eating a tasty chocolate chip pancake!