I don’t know if your holidays looked like mine, but the champagne was flowing, the dark chocolate (it’s still chocolate y’all) was around and there were appetizers out ALL. THE. TIME. Oh man, just writing about it makes me feel like I’m not doing it justice. It was plentiful and frequent. We weren’t helping feed any starving nations. BAD.
But, this is a new month and a new year and newness always brings positivity for change. If you break up the word CHAlleNGE you see the word “change” is in there, so I’m not saying it’ll be easy, but I can promise you it will be worth it! YOU ARE WORTH IT!!! So message me to reserve a spot. I ran this group in Jan and it filled up before I could even share it on my blog (sorry). So this is your 2nd chance, don’t blow it, K? LOL
You’ll get:
* 10 Superfood vegan protein shakes —> GF, DF, GMO free, Casein free & Carrageenan free!!! Check the cheaper brands, or even your alternative milk in your fridge, you do not want this! It’s a toxin for your IG tract.
* professionally written menu by a dietician focusing on flavorful, delicious, EASY meals that will please the entire family and be focused on minimal sugar. Trust me, your taste buds will still be happy!
* private accountability group - what you say here stays here, kind of like Vegas :)
* coaching by ME!!!! I’m limiting the group to 50 so I can get to all the questions and provide feedback and motivation
* bonus —> 10-day de-stress challenge b/c life has been crazy these past 2 yrs. This has been a hit in my January group!
What you can expect:
* weight loss. so far we are on Day 6 and most have lost between 2-4 lbs. Generally avg is 5-11 lbs in 10 days. We aren’t looking for massive weight loss, but depending on how bad your body needs this, you will lose fat, water weight and inflammation. I”m here for that!!
* better sleep —> falling asleep faster, deeper and longer. This is what I’ve enjoyed the most.
* more energy —> the first 2 days are hard to adjust, but then it’s a natural perkiness not having sugar in your system. Who doesn’t want more energy???
* reflection —> a lot of us have been surprised with what “triggers” us to want sugar. Emotions, disappointment, even positives can make us grab to cope or to celebrate. Some have realized it’s when the kids come home from school and are having snack, or the habits we’ve formed “after dinner” just because.
I can’t wait to hear what your takeaways are! This group will fill up, I know it. We have 10 already signed up and it’s more than a month away (Feb 28th)! email me stephanievining@gmail.com to get signed up and send $70 via Venmo or PayPal!
Pause and Meditate
I’ll be honest, mediation can be easy for some, but it is Hard. As. Heck. for me. Which probably means I need to do it so desperately bad, amiright? It would be easier for me to spend 30 minutes doing Insanity Max 30 with Shaun T than it would to be quiet and at rest and meditate. So this channel was designed specifically with me in mind. Just kidding. But really, this is AN AMAZING resource being added to Beachbody on Demand at no additional cost, so take advantage of it as much as you can! Right now, the whole world is quite a stressful place. Elections are coming, rioting and racism is happening (how is this even possible), Covid is not going away no matter how much we hate it and try to obey the rules; now more than ever, we all need a healthy way to relax, unwind, and reduce anxiety.
Growing research shows that meditation has a powerful impact on our well-being and is proven to help de-stress, decrease anxiety, promote positive physical and emotional health, improve sleep (fall asleep faster and sleep longer), improve sex-life, renew your energy, reduce negativity, and enhance your self-esteem, focus, inspiration and empowerment. All of these things = increased quality of life; that’s our goal right? None of those sound bad to me, so why is this so hard????
Meditation can help you:
Build skills to manage stress
Gain a new perspective on stressful situations
Increase self-awareness
Focus on the present
Reduce negative emotions
Increase imagination and creativity
There’s an entire channel dedicated to this (must be kind of important) including:
4 meditations from the Beachbody Yoga Studio (most under 10 minutes) perfect for first thing in the morning, or last thing at night;
13 Themed Meditations from the Unplug app;
60 meditations from Elise Joan based on her “I AM” cards from Barre Blend (let me know if you don’t have these);
A 21-day guided program called Unstress: 21-Days of Meditation for Relaxation, Calm, and Less Anxiety, produced in partnership with the premier meditation app, Unplug, coming soon.
Juicing for beginners!
Juicing for beginners…
You may already know about juicing, but it’s new to me. I’ve done the 3-Day Refresh probably 20 times and never tried the 3 juicing recipes in the back of the booklet, until now :) Here are my takeaways…
1) yes juicing helps you lose weight because it’s so low in calories, but there’s no protein, it’s high in sugar (from all the fruit and without that no one would drink it) and the fiber is extracted and thrown away.
2) It’s very trendy right now, but is it a sustainable way of living? How do you socialize and travel and sustain this way of eating?
3) How do you have energy for workouts? This seems the approach to skinny and quick fix, not being strong and having a healthy heart from getting cardiovascular workouts in.
I’d love to hear your opinions because the only people I know that do it are not enjoying it, but feeling it’s merely the “only way” to lose weight and torturing themselves through the process. That. Is. Not. Living! And they are GRUMPY! Just sayin!
I’m sharing the recipes, photos and macros below so you can have a go at them and see what you think. During the refresh, this is brilliant, but for day-to-day living, please eat the fiber, carbs, protein and get your workout in. You want to be healthy from head-to-toe, including your heart.
Zing Juice
My husband loved this one and my oldest did too. They both added 2 slices ginger to theirs and said they’d do it again. I had no ginger, no the biggest fan, and it was, just ok. It is double the calories of Kalange juice, but it’s also lots more juice, but also 2.5 x the carbs. People forget fruit = carbohydrates and for less carbs I could have 2 pieces of Thins Wholemeal bread.
Macros: 65 calories, 1 g protein, 20 g carbs, 13.5 g sugar, .5 g fiber, .5 g fat
Kalange Juice
I thought this was tasty, but it’s such little juice. My husband had trouble stomaching it and I gave him extra orange since he’s not on the cleanse. I thought 1 slice of ginger was plenty. It’s lower calories than the other two because it’s very little juice. Maybe I’m supposed to add water to this? Again, I’m a newbie!
Macros: 31 calories, 1.5 g protein, 8 g carbs, 4 g sugar, 0 g fiber, 2.5 g fat
Beet The Clock Juice
This one I was most excited about … but probably my least favorite. Not sure what happened, but lackluster. Made the most juice of any of them though. So wanted to love it!
Macros: 60 calories, 1.5 g protein, 18 g carbs, 13.5 g sugar, .5 g fiber, 0 g fat
Cleanse Day 3 - FINAL DAY!!!
From top to bottom, left to right:
1) Breakfast - Water first + Shakeology with your favorite fruit, or if you’re blending it, ½ banana makes it soooo creamy. Did you know, cauliflower can replace banana in shakes and still give it creaminess without sugar and you can save a purple container for later? I learned this fact watching Rachel Ray on tele :)
2) Fiber sweep (am snack) - I swear they’ve made this more lemon-y. This used to be my least favorite part and I don’t mind it at all!
3) Lunch - I’m consistent, what can I say?? Vanilla-nutter bowl with blueberries (1 fruit) and red peppers & cherry tomatoes (1 veggie). Had trouble eating all this in one sitting so saved ½ my bowl for post-nap. Maybe my tummy is shrinking because I can out eat my husband sometimes. ha! It’s amazing how tired I feel when I’m cleansing. 1) it’s less calories so I don’t have the same fuel for my body, but 2) my body is cleansing and working hard so I tend to listen up and nap. One-and-a-half hour nap felt AH-MAZ-ING!
4) Beet the Clock juice (pm snack) - Day 3 and this is the one recipe I was most looking forward to! Enjoyed it with a cup of cherry tomatoes on the side (1 veggie). I’m ready to pack this juicer away though; I’m sick of cleaning this machine. Tried all 3 juices in the booklet and this was my favorite; however, my husband enjoyed them all way more than I did. Macros and juicing details are here. Are you a fan? See 3-Day Refresh recipes here.
5) Dinner - Last Vanilla Fresh of the cleanse; pretty sad about this. :o( I seriously love it y’all and would buy it if the packets were sold separately. Went back to the spinach salad because it’s a lot of food so it takes just as long to eat as the family, especially with the incision in my mouth. But I love all these veggies and it’s a favorite to finish with. I went out with a bang!
Well, that’s a wrap! Looking forward to my results tomorrow!! I can already tell I’m sleeping better, but excited to see what the scale says. You can read about Day 1 here, and day 2 here.
3 Day Refresh - Day 2 is in the books!
From top to bottom, left to right:
1) Breakfast - Water first + Shakeology with your favorite fruit, or if you’re blending it, ½ banana is always amazing and a creamy addition.
2) Fiber sweep (am snack) - Today I stirred this much faster and enjoyed it 100%. Less water, stir quickly and throw it back, that’s the secret :)
3) Lunch - Another delicious day and I’m sad that I’m already ⅔ done with this cleanse. It really isn’t hard and the benefits you reap, while eating 5 times a day, is pure amazing. I made a bowl again with 1.5 tsp nut butter stirred in, and berries and red peppers on the side. There are heaps of options in the kit so no day has to be the same.
4) Kalange juice (pm snack) - I’m still not a huge fan of juicing, I’ll be honest. there is so much clean-up and the loss of fiber confuses me. I want that fiber in my body! But, I’m a rule follower and I’m supposed to get as many mushy foods or drink things through a straw while I heal, so juicing it is. I had a side of red peppers and cherry tomatoes (not pictured) See 3-Day Refresh recipes here.
5) Dinner - Last Vanilla Fresh of the day and no peanut butter allowed at dinner; no dramas, it was still delicious. My 7 yr old thought it was frosting and was begging for a taste. Tonight I chose a dinner recipe that required cooking thinking it would be softer / easier only teeth. I made the “Kale with Pine Nuts” but at the last second, I omitted the pine nuts and added olive oil instead for a healthy fat. I’m worried the pine nuts will get stuck in my incision. Added a few cherry tomatoes too for color and flavor and it was delicious!
Day 2 is done and I’m looking forward to Day 3!! Read about Day 1 and Day 3 here.
1st cleanse in 2020! Day 1 is in the books!
Timing is everything, isn’t that what they say? Well, I didn’t nail the timing on this one, but I also don’t back down on a commitment so here I am, crushing day one and already looking forward to tomorrow!
A little background, yesterday I had oral surgery and had a tooth removed, yeah, GONE! Nothing was put in it’s place and this is the first smile since surgery. I’m delightfully surprised that ½ my face isn’t drooping. They suggested meals that are “mushy” or can be sipped through a straw, so I thought this would be the perfect timing for a 3-Day Refresh. Right? Wrong! ha!
From top to bottom, left to right:
1) Breakfast - I started with water and added a squeeze of lemon to make it more exciting, followed by Pumpkin Spice Shakeology. Note - this is a vegan cleanse so you can chose pumpkin spice, vanilla, chocolate, cafe latte, peppermint mocha, or salted caramel, but it needs to be the vegan formula.
2) Fiber sweep (am snack) - just the name makes me want to visit the toilet, but this cleanse does not have you glued to the bathroom one bit. In fact, I don’t notice any changes in my bathroom habits except possibly more peeing from drinking extra water to cleanse my body. Fiber sweep is lemony and gets quite thick, very fast, so I pour it in a breakfast glass + add 10 oz water and chug! (think back to your college days, down the hatch!)
3) Lunch - so delicious and oh so filling. I mean, seriously, this is a cleanse yall?!?! Look at all this food while others are fasting, juicing, or starving themselves. I choose to “eat” Vanilla Fresh protein shake rather than “drink” it, I just think it’s that good and want to savor it. Clean dark roasted peanut butter (1 healthy fat) is pretty damn delicious swirled in I must say, but you get a few healthy fat options (avocado, hummus, etc) if you aren’t feeling nut butter. Tip —> Almond butter is preferred over peanut butter because it has less bloating effects. I had a side of blueberries (1 fruit) and red peppers & cherry tomatoes (1 veggie) for a great combo!
4) Zing juice (pm snack) - I can’t believe I’m 42 yrs old and this is my 1st time juicing?!?! My 7 yr old even knew how to do it so he showed me. Any chance I have to get my kids in the kitchen is a win in my book. Of course after making my “juice” we needed to make some fresh lemonade. Cheeky monkey. Juicing is an option so if you don’t have a juicer, no dramas, you can do 1 veggie and 1 healthy fat (think celery and PB, cucumber, tomatoes and avocado salad, etc) and stick with the plan. I think I prefer the raw food over juicing, I just hate to see all that fiber being tossed out, but with my dental situation, I’ll try to juice each day. See 3-Day Refresh recipes here.
5) Dinner - Last Vanilla Fresh of the day and I was missing my peanut butter, but still delicious. I was worried about my teeth and thought about blending my salad, but thought I’d tough it out and see how things go. Delicious although I ate like a bird being very cautious of my stitches. That salad is huge and should have salt and pepper on it, along with pumpkin seeds, but I chose to add extra olive oil instead in fear a pumpkin seed might get stuck in one of my stitches. So many veggies, I love it!
The last beautiful picture is me winding down for the night with my ice pack strapped on my face and I was trying to drink water when it dawned on me, I couldn’t do both. Ha! I have ice for 5 days and then heat for a week. Wish me luck, this is going to be a long recovery! Read about Day 2 and Day 3 too!
Do you like vegetables? if not, what’s the hang up for you? If so, what’s your favorite?
3 Day Refresh - Day 4
You can do it! 3 days! I don't even want chocolate today and I'm still staring at the chocolate Bilby they haven't even opened yet. AMAZING! I am the queen of no-willpower too!
I DID IT! Don't you love when you accomplish something and it feels so good, even if it wasn't that hard to do? During these 3 days I served BACON and CHOCOLATE KOALAS (in Australia they don't do bunnies for Easter LOL), and my kids asked for Baskin Robbins. The last one I had to say no to...I know myself well and that would just be stupid. I might use the line "I'll only have a sample" and then 4 samples later, I've blown a vegan, plant based cleanse. And if I'm feeling this good, why blow it?!
Results...slept way better on night 3 than I have in a WHILE. My pillow proved it because it was wet with drool in the morning. LOL I felt less bloated and my shorts were loser around my waist. Nothing is more uncomfortable than feeling your stretchy shorts, feel maxed on their stretch ability :( And, I realized just how much I snack on my kids' food. Y'all, it's almost embarrassing. My oldest son said the other day "hey mom, I need to go potty, can you not eat my lunch while I'm gone?" OH MY GOODNESS!!! From the mouth of babes, right? WTH is my problem. My poor kids have to ask me not to eat their grilled ham and cheese sandwich...when I'm not even hungry? Those bites, they add up y'all and if you tell yourself they don't. I have 4 words for you: YOU'RE LYING TO YOURSELF.
Drum roll please ;) Weight before...126.2 Weight after 122.8. Change of 3.4 lbs in 3 days and really, today, I'm kind of sad to be eating regular meals again. I really enjoy this! See you later this month for my Refresh accountability challenge!
3 Day Refresh - Day 3!
OMGGGGGG how is this the final day already? I really like the Vanilla Fresh shake and so many ask if they can buy those al-a-carte, but the sad answer is...you can't. Sorry! It's only sold as a kit and only has 3 Shakeology packets, the rest are special formulated shakes with plant based protein so you stay full, but still detox. Let me know if you want to try it and join my next accountability group on April 16th! I run groups every month if that week doesn't work for you.
Meals today:
breakfast: vegan vanilla Shakeology w/ blueberries & strawberries
am snack: fiber sweep
lunch: vanilla fresh w/ strawberries, celery & PB
pm snack: tomatoes w/ avocado
dinner: vanilla fresh, spinach salad w/ lemon & olive oil dressing (yes I did this all 3 nights. it's that good)
This was pretty easy and I'M ON VACATION! Most people wouldn't do a clean on vacation and if they did, they wouldn't follow through with it, but when you want a system reset and to change your habits, you just grit your teeth and push through. Too bad this is so easy that it didn't require teeth gritting, but I was ready just in case :)
We've talked about sugar cravings and water intake and how important drinking enough water is, but we didn't talk about emotional eating or GRAZING. I hate that word because I do it all the time and it sounds like you're referring to a cow. Right? I mean I'm not in a pasture constantly eating, but it seems that way when I walk around the kitchen nibbling on this, finishing that, tasting this... you get the point. Do you do this? Those calories all add up. Do you know the average Costco shopping trip costs a customer 400+ calories in just those tiny swish containers. I mean, they are so tiny...how is that possible?? BECAUSE IT ALL ADDS UP!
So, breaking habits is a huge reason to do the reset. In 3 days it will be quite evident where you are gaining the extra calories. It might be finishing your kids plate, because really, it's a kids' meal so it's already small, can't hurt? WRONG! Or sampling food while cooking and getting almost a meals worth of food before you even plate it and sit down. Yeah, that's happened in my house once, or ten times. NOT GREAT! I hope you reap all the benefits I did because in three days, even if the scale doesn't move, I've had huge take aways, and feel better, more rested, and more focused on FOOD = FUEL, not emotions. And I want to change how I reward my kids from ice cream and sugary treats, to non-food items. They are not dogs. I don't know how that habit started, but I know how it will end. I feel in control again!
3 Day Refresh- Day 2
Was super excited to have my son join me again fro Day 2 of 3 Day Yoga! He practiced yoga in Kindergarten back in CA and loves to show me how well he knows the poses. He also has other names for them like "sitting in chair" is "sitting on the potty going #2" but he's 8 yrs old, all boy and pretty darn cute, so I let it slide.
I made it out in the rain to get groceries, YAY! We have variety now :) We also endured an Urgent Care stop because as we walked in, my 4 yr old tripped and fell on a huge shard of glass that got stuck in his arm and as blood went everywhere, he was crying and my 8 yr old was about to throw up. I hope you're laughing and saying to yourself "it's always something with little ones, right?" because that's what I said. really....just a grocery store run in the rain. Why?! Did I tell you he JUST got his stitches out last night from falling out of the tree and landing on a stick?! This one. Sigh.
Anyways, so far so good. Still not starving and finding this very doable! Yay for that. I'm more than half way through too! One thing I want to make sure and stress is how much water you need. DRINK ALL THE WATER! Your body is trying to rest, recover and release toxins so help flush them out with the correct amount of water. If you get bored, add some lime, lemon, cucumbers or mint to it and it will make it more flavorful.
Meals today:
breakfast: vegan chocolate Shakeology w/ 1/2 banana
am snack: fiber sweep
lunch: vanilla fresh w/ strawberries, 2 stalks celery w/ PB
pm snack: tomato w/ avocado
dinner: vanilla fresh, spinach salad w lemon & olive oil dressing
Tomorrow is Day 3! I can't believe how fast this is flying by and how great I feel. Y'all, I even resisted BACON this morning after cooking it for my kids. I mean, that is the true test for me! Don't even show up with dark chocolate chips or I might have to ask you to leave :) Just. Don't.
3 Day Refresh - Day 1
Have you ever heard of a cleanse where you EAT? yeah I never had either so when I heard of this, my first reaction was, "no thanks, don't want to be glued to the potty all day! and don't want to drink all my food," but y'all, that is not the case at all! I've done the 3 Day Refresh probably 10+ times and I've never been restricted to the house or had irregularities.
I've had a few ask me why I do the refresh if I'm already at my goal weight and here's why...I FEEL GOOD DOING IT! It's a Vegan diet (so plant based, no eggs, no dairy, no grains, no meat) and my Houston GP recommended I do it every one-two months so my body could REST! What a concept??? Reward our body for all the hard work it does every day? Digesting food isn't easy and it's been proven that drinking a shake during the day actually makes it easier to digest your food.
But, regardless of weight, there are habits I want to break. It only takes one vacation, birthday celebration, binge sugar fest for my taste buds to get excited and crave sugar again. I can avoid salty things easily (except BACON - all the bacon please!!), but sugar is my pitfall. The refresh is short enough it's doable, but long enough that your tastebuds will react different so I'm trying to break habits and cravings. I'll chat about habits around eating tomorrow with Day 2 post. If you want to know more about the refresh, I talked about it yesterday or you can purchase it HERE.
Completed 3 Day Refresh Yoga today and it was an eye-opener. I am so inflexible. Love that my 8 yr old son ASKED if he could join me?! I will miss these moments when they return to school in another week :(
Meals today:
breakfast: vegan vanilla Shakeology w/ blueberries
am snack: fiber sweep
lunch: vanilla fresh w/ PB and 1/2 banana, 2 stalks celery
pm snack: 2 stalks celery w/ PB (can you tell I need to go shopping)
dinner: vanilla fresh, spinach salad (should have cucumbers, sprouts, pumpkin seeds in it, but I'm on vacation and had to make do) w/ lemon & olive oil dressing
Check out the promo this month!! Instead of $80, it's only $30 when bundled with a new Shakeology order, but until April 9th, it's only $15 extra! You will want this for summer, a wedding, pre / post vacation , etc. Next group starts April 16th!
3 Day Refresh - starts tomorrow!
Here’s the “skinny” on the 3-Day Refresh (pun intended). It is a gentle detox/cleanse, but you actually get to EAT real food all 3 days and multiple times each day!! You guessed it, that’s not typical with most cleanses; they make you stick to liquids only. But, it’s easier, safer and your results stick. Imagine if you only juiced for 3 days and then had your first normal day - you’d bloat up! Who wants that? Really?? Who wants that?
Here's how it works: everything you see below (minus the food) is provided...
Breakfast: VEGAN Shakeology (this is a plant based cleanse, do not drink the regular whey formula during these 3 days)
AM Snack: Fiber sweep (no you’re NOT running to the potty, I don’t even notice it)
Lunch: Vanilla Fresh, plus a fruit, veggie, and healthy fat of your choice (you’re given options)
PM Snack: Veggie and heathy fat
Dinner: Vanilla Fresh, plus one of the meals options they provide
Most people aren't starving, and some days I struggled to eat it all, so it's doable for sure. And it’s only THREE DAYS!
They suggest no, or very low impact, exercise during your cleanse. Your body is working hard to release toxins and detox, you don’t want to overwork it. There’s a new Beachbody program, 3-Day Refresh Yoga 🧘🏼♀️ which pairs perfectly to this and is free to all BOD subscribers. If you don’t have streaming, we need to fix that!!
Most people drop 3-6 pounds and keep it off. We do the group as a team challenge, which is really fun and makes it easier. I lost 4# when I did it and absolutely loved the experience!
Watch for Day 1, 2, and 3 coming soon with results posted on Day 4!
Day 1 of 3 on Refresh
Day 1 of 3 day refresh - breakfast and dinner, and plenty of yummy food for snacks and lunch too. Dinner also includes a Vanilla Fresh shake, but I ate fast because we were on the run and didn't get a picture. We eat whole foods even though our bodies are detoxing and we are not starving. So crazy to think of on a cleanse, right?!?
I'm not complaining, I feel thankful, but 86 days of vacation was total over indulgence and I do not feel, or look, like myself. I'm excited to get back on track with healthy habits, stop snacking on my kids food (sorry boys), not eating out 3 times/day (saving time, money and empty calories) and eating when I'm not hungry.
This cleanse is long enough you make real changes and see what your triggers are, but short enough it's doable for anyone!! Side perk, most lose 3-6 pounds!! I will not object to that right now!
I usually wait for challenge groups to do this program because it's more fun with community, and easier to stay on track, but Day 1 of returning to Australia and I'm seriously looking forward to this before I start Shift Shop with Travis next week. I'll run a 3 day refresh group in August after school starts so contact me now to get your kit!! We already have over 20 ladies ready to get back on track and you do not want to be left behind!!
Don't bother with liquid diets or juice cleanses which aren't sustainable; JOIN ME and feel better and lose some unwelcome weight along the way!!!