What I eat in a day...

I get asked what I eat A LOT…

So here’s a random day with a picture of part of it.

Brekky - Blueberries , Life Shake (20g protein) & Collagen-9 (10g protein - this is a complete collagen so you can count it towards your protein goals) Life Shake can be found HERE, and Collagen-9 HERE.

*Beachbody, Isogenix, and Vital Proteins DO NOT COUNT towards protein goals, they are incomplete proteins

1st snack - Shaklee Peanut Butter Crisp Snack Bar (10g protein, 130 calories, enough to hold me over between meals, but not too much that I’m too full for the next meal)

Lunch - Calamari (22g protein) salad w/ balsamic (Calamari steaks from Costco and $4.99 / pound )

Dinner - Beyond Meat Burger (20g protein) (purchased from Costco) & Zucchini (purchased from Trader Joe’s)

2nd snack - veggies & ⅓ avocado

Beverages - Water only! It’s been said, if you water has calories in it, it doesn’t count towards you water intake, but if you’re reaching ½ your body weight in ounces, I’m not worried about this. For example, I weight 128 lbs so I need to drink at least 64 oz of water a day, factoring in more if it’s really hot, or if I exercised.

So that’s about 80+ grams protein which is reasonable, but could be higher. Veggies and carbs have protein too, you just have to choose wisely. I love Dave’s Killer Bread for this reason; especially with my son Matthew because all he wants are carbs - rice cakes, tortillas, cereal, bread .

8 yrs ago I started supplementing with protein shakes at the suggestion of my doctor because I wasn’t getting enough. I find this to be the case with 95% of the people I train. How’s your protein intake??? Reach out with questions!

What breakfast looks like for my 13 yr old

A few days ago I posted Tyler's brekky in my stories because I get tons of questions about what I feed my kids for breakfast. Matthew is 9 yrs old and my carb kid...he could live on bread, pasta, cereal, oats (this is a new addition) and tortillas forever and life would be good (do we fault him???), so it's a struggle to sneak protein in. I will always opt for high protein options for this reason.

He picked out these “Egg’Wich” bun-less sandwiches at Costco and when I saw they had 17 grams protein, I BOUGHT TWO! However, when it came time to eating them, he realized it’s not a McDonald's Egg McMuffin (with bread on both sides) and can't be bothered to eat it. But, those that know me know we don’t waste food and I don’t make different meals for each family member, my motto is “Eat it or Starve”. Might sound harsh, but my pediatrician taught me this early on in motherhood and Bless Her. I’m so thankful she did.

Tyler (my 13 yr old) loves these and will happily eat the entire box if I let him. I would choose these for my pwn breakfast except "spices" as an ingredient is too vague and could have garlic and onion, which I’m allergic to.

Here's what I look at... NOT THE PICTURE (although that sold Matthew ). Flip it around and see that the first ingredient is EGG and second is Sausage. YAY for both of those being "whole ingredients" and not Sugar or Starches.

Then, the macros. If you're following portion fix containers (if you aren't message me and I can get you started, it makes things super simple and it's how I coach ALL my nutrition clients - macro eating) these are 1R, 1B. 17g protein, 3g carbs, 12g fat, only 1g sugar (and it's not "added sugar" - WIN) and 190 calories. Still low enough calorie to put this on top of Dave's Killer "thins" which gives you another 80 cal, 4g protein, 3g fiber, 3g sugar and only 2g fat. This is a solid breakfast choice and can be ready in 3 min flat from freezer to plate! No one is too busy for that and you're only adding 1Y to the combination!

Life Shake is always a great option and both my boys drink it, but make sure you add additional food to it so you get more calories. Generally you want to eat at least two, or more, containers together for a meal. So adding ½ a banana (I add a full for my 13 yr old and my husband), frozen zucchini, frozen cauliflower, PB2, etc will make it more calorie dense to hold you over. With 20 grams protein, you don’t need to focus on more of that.

Make sure your brekky is enough calories to sustain you until lunch with at least 300 calories.

Monday Move - Curl to Press!

You did it! Today is the last Monday Move, and I hope you did all 5 of these!!! .

For our final move is the Curl to Press, an upper body powerhouse move that will get things burning even if you don’t add any weight! Start with a bicep curl and then push to an overhead shoulder press. This is a compound move, so start with a light weight and move up if you feel ready.

You can do it! 3 sets of 10 curls, 3 sets of 10 chest presses, 3 sets of 10 bent over rows, 3 sets of 10 deadlifts, and 3 sets of 10 squats. Whew - let’s get to work! Comment below if you did all 5. If you didn't, maybe you catch up today!

Monday Move - Bent Over Rows

It's Monday 3!!! We are switching it up to upper body this week with a compound move that brings the burn - bent over rows! .

There are many variations of the row that you can do to work your back, but today we are going to focus on the bent over row with two dumbbells or one single barbell (or no weight at all!) More important than weight in this move is form; check your posture and tighten your core to support you through this move.

Add a round of bent over rows to your lift today! Try 3 sets of 10 basic squats, 3 sets of 10 deadlifts, and 3 sets of 10 bent over rows. What weight did you use for today’s bonus circuit? Celebrate your strong below!

Another burnout - this time I'm focusing on triceps!!!

Lets get tank top ready because ready or not, summer is coming!!! Nobody wants their arms flapping in the wind, so try these moves with the suggested repetition range and see how many sets you can do. Aim for at least two sets, but if you can do more, DO IT!!! You’ll tank me, and be even more proud of yourself, tomorrow. You might not like me today, but I’m ok with that. I’d love to hear your feedback! Subscribe to my channel so you don’t miss any more challenges!

Time to burn out our ARMS!!!

Zero weights, all on the floor, and still 100% burn. Throw away old thoughts that you have to be lifting heavy to get results! That can be the case if you’re going for Muscle Strength or Hypertrophy, but you can gain Muscle Endurance by high repetitions of low to medium weights! Trust me on this and lets get to work :) Please share your comments on You Tube so I know how it felt and what you’d like more of! I’m here to help you!

Brownie Batter Recover

If you’ve been in my Virtual Fit Club community long enough, I would bet you have seen someone’s #sweatyselfie with Energize in hand. This is a pre-workout must-have and if it is not a part of your workout routine, then you’re missing out on results during your workout.

But, today is about Energize’s big sister, Recover. She doesn’t get as much screen time, but her benefits are just as great and, together, they are an unstoppable duo for serious results.

Recover helps fight post-exercise muscle soreness and jump-start recovery so you crush your next workout with the same intensity as your last. Take Recover after every workout to help combat exercise-induced muscle soreness, speed muscle recovery, support muscle growth, and restore your strength. In Chocolate, Orange, whey and plant-based formulas, there is a Recover for everyone!

Brownie Batter Recover

Ingredients

¼ cup unsweetened almond milk
1 tsp peanut butter (almond butter works, too!)
1 scoop Beachbody Chocolate Recover
Chopped almonds or granola (garnish, optional)

Instructions

Pour milk into a bowl. Slowly add and mix Chocolate Recover, making a paste. Work the peanut butter into the mixture until you have a moussey, brownie batter consistency. Add more milk if needed. Top with a sprinkle of nuts or granola and enjoy!

This recipe makes 1 serving.

Portion Fix Containers: ½ yellow, 1 blue
2B Mindset Plate It: This is a great protein rich snack!

Pilates Move of the Day - Pendulum Abs

Friend, you are building some serious strength here! I’m so proud of you for sticking with it so far. If you' started at the beginning with me, you’re on the 4th “Pilates Move of the Day”. How are you feeling? Challenged? Easy? Wanting more? Just let me know which body part you want to focus on (ie light on fire!!) and I’ll send you 1-3 moves stat! Have a great day and lets get after it!!

New piece of paper to hang on my wall!!!

Big shout out and THANK YOU to everyone that pushed me, encouraged me, knew I could do it even before I believed (and listened to me complain) ... I DID IT!

Most don't know this about me, but I went to college with dreams to work for the Big 4 accounting firms (was the "Big 6" when I started at Elon University) and I did it!! I thrived at KPMG, had success, money, and passion, but was missing "helping people".

Fast forward 10 yrs, when Tyler was born, I stayed home 7 yrs before doing a complete career change, one that I never saw coming! I started a health and fitness business over 5 yrs ago, which stemmed from my mom being diagnosed with Breast Cancer. You can say my perspectives changed quite A LOT!

Then I wanted more! I didn't want to have only 1 way to help people or just be a motivational coach (although I hope I'm motivating), but I wanted to have answers for specific questions and really BE THE CHANGE for people. Personal Training seemed the solution, but it was expensive to obtain, a long process, and intimidating -if I'm being honest. But, as the saying goes, "suck it up buttercup!"

I'm stoked to announce I'm a Certified Personal Trainer with National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) and am proud as hell.

I hope if you're still reading this and thinking about something you've always wanted to do, but said you didn't have time because you're a parent, caregiver, spouse, whatever... I HOPE YOU DO IT! It feels so rewarding on the other side and I still parented, honored my spouse, did all the things, but instead of TV , movies , scrolling FB or Insta , I studied . I studied a lot. My butt got sore from studying more than it did from exercise, but I'm all the wiser for it now.

What's on your bucket list that if you had more time you'd ______?

Form Corrections for these 2 common exercises

We've all done it, especially at the end of our workout when our muscles start getting tired or we get lazy with form. I’m not perfect either so this applies to me too!!

Here are two ways to ensure you are using proper form and help force yourself to be in the right position. If you use these tricks, it's almost hard to cheat! Let me know if there are specific exercises you need help with and I’ll try to do a video specifically for you!

Bowflex and PowerTrain demo

I’ve been asked about the weights I use so much that I want to designate a post to it! These are not cheap, but in the long run, they are so cost effective!!! I spent about $340 AU on mine, which included the stand and 2 weights and was so worth it! I’ve never questioned this purchase once.

I’ve explained how it all works, but if you do the math of 5, 7, 12, 14, 17.5, 20, 22, 25, 30, 35, 40, 44 and 48 lbs weights, you’re getting ALL of that in this little set and the best party - ITR TRAVELS WELL! I know it’s bulky, but I put this in the trunk of my car and pack around it and when I’m on vacation, I CAN DO ANY PROGRAM!!! NO NEED TO GO TO THE HOTEL GYM OR SKIP A WORKOUT. Do you get me??? Cost savings, time savings, goals non-interrupted. You’re welcome :) Shop around, I think these are the best brands (same product just called different names in different countries) and watch for the shipping costs when you check out. They are heavy because they’re 48 lbs x 2, plus the stand, so you want a free shipping deal!

message me if you have questions! I love talking about weights and helping clients save!

My Story!

Wow, this was soooo hard to do, and even after I’ve shared it on You Tube, it took me a bit to share it here for all to see! I’m pretty raw here, I’ve shed a few tears and I’been open about it all, not just telling you the pretty stuff :) You might be able to relate to some of the things I was told, some of the eating disorders I experienced, or some of the fad diets I tried. There’s no judging here, I just hope that I’ve inspired to share your story with me, or other, or both! It’s time to move forward and end yo-yo living forever!!!

Chocolate Recover Shake

After you’ve done your actual cooldown, what is your post-workout routine?

For me, I like to make my Recover shake (cools me down, literally) while checking in here! Recover speeds muscle recovery, combats exercise-induced muscle soreness, reduces muscle breakdown, and improves your muscle strength recovery. The fact that it tastes like a Frosty is an added bonus 🤣 If you’re in a rush, you can just “shake” it up in your blender bottle that you got free with your order, but if you have 60 seconds, blending it is OH-SO-GOOOOOOD!!

Here’s my current go-to recipe to cool down post-workout!

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk (or soy milk)

• 1 scoop Chocolate Recover (I use vegan formula so it’s dairy free)

• ½ large banana (for men, use 1 full banana post-workout)

• 1 cup frozen cauliflower

• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Instructions

1. Combine almond milk, Recover, banana, cauliflower, and cinnamon in a blender; cover and blend until smooth. That’s so stinking easy, amiright??

Yield: 1 serving.

Portion Fix Containers: 1 Green, 1 Purple, 1 tsp (does not count as a Red if you drink it within 30 m minutes of exercise. any other time it is 1 Red)

2B Mindset: For more information on how to incorporate Beachbody Performance into 2B Mindset, see the “2B Mindset and Exercise” video in the 2B Mindset Program Materials section on BOD - incorporating Recover will vary based on the intensity of the program you’re doing!

Intensifying #mbf and #mbfa

If you’re like me, you’ve already completed a few round of #mbf (Muscle Burns Fat) and #mbfa (MBF Advanced) because they are so short (only 21 days each). It might be time to intensify things so you keep getting results and don’t plateau. Each time I repeat I try to perfect form and increase my weights, but here are a few other tricks too! Let me know which resonated with you the most!

10 Minute abs on Stability Ball

Don’t be intimidated by Stability Balls. They are a great modality to take your workout up a notch and you’ll increase balance and stability at the same time as working your core. Who doesn’t love multi-tasking in the gym!!??! If you can do over a 2 minute plank, it’s worth going out and buying one of these because you’re wasting time on the floor in ISO prone plank position, when you could be challenging yourself more in the same time, or even half! Trust me, you’ll feel it.

My personal challenge to you — try this today and keep at it for 30 days. Then try it again and see how much strength you’ve gained in your core. I’d take pictures too, if you’re planking every day, there’s going to be some visible changes :)

Salted Caramel ShakeO!

I cannot resist the decadent taste combo of savory sea salt + sweet, rich caramel… with all the nutritional benefits of Shakeo! If you weren’t one of the lucky ones to get the Vegan Salted Caramel, I’ve got you covered!! We will just have to create it on our own :)

A teaspoon of caramel extract and a dash of sea salt make this simple smoothie taste like a gourmet salted caramel milkshake 😍 You’re very welcome! There are more Salted Caramel recipes here!

Ingredients
* 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
* 1 cup ice 1 scoop Vanilla Shakeology
* 1 tsp pure caramel extract
* 1 dash sea salt or Himalayan salt

Instructions
Place all the ingredients in the blend and cover. Blend until smooth.

Portion Fix Containers: 1 Red, 1 tsp.
2B Mindset Plate It: A great snackional or enjoy as part of breakfast.

11 workout hacks --> get out of bed and get shit done!

1) Get enough sleep - sounds so easy right? Who doesn’t love sleep, but this is a major issue for most of my clients whether they’re up through the night with little ones, awake from drinking caffeine too late in the day, or wine disrupting their REM sleep. 7-9 hours is the suggested length of deep sleep and the best ways to get this are:
a) make the room as dark as possible - I love black out blinds,
b) use a white noise machine (this is my FAVORITE and under 70 decibels), a sound machine, or white noise app on your phone. The differences are: White Noise Machines offer a steady sound, simulating a fan, it’s doesn’t have a repeating pattern so your brain doesn’t get trained to listen for it, which is stimulating for some. A Sound Machine will have an “ocean”, “outdoor sounds”, “wind”, “babbling brook,” “white noise,” etc and they are usually repeating patterns. Honestly the crickets make me feel like there are things in my bed and the babbling brook makes me want to pee, so neither make me drift off to sleep, LOL, but the kids seem to like them and it works.
c) invest in soft sheets, these sheets on Amazon are my favorite, I have 4 sets.
d) keep the room temperature between 60-67 degrees,
e) drink a warm cup of tea when you start winding down, but make sure it’s herbal, not green or black tea, as those have caffeine and produce the opposite effect,
f) you’ve heard this one a million times, but I’ll remind you again, limit screen time. It stimulates your brain and eyes and sends you to bed with lots of thoughts swirling around and lastly,
g) journal things you're thinking about. When I have a lot of things to do the next day, I worry I’ll forget and it keeps me up thinking / stressing about it. If I make a list of everything I need to do / am thinking about, I’m able to put it at rest and fall asleep much faster.

2) Lay out exercise clothes the night before - I especially do this when I travel because it’s very easy to wake up on vacation and talk yourself out of it. But if everything is ready and staring me in the face, I remember I had intentions of getting moving and I’ll be thankful later. I’m 99% more likely to follow through with my workout plans. Some even wear them to bed, I might have done that before, just make sure if you do this, that your workout bra doesn’t have underwire in it.

3) Put alarm out of reach - the snooze button can be the devil and ruin your day. I never would have believed it till I listened to this podcast on the snooze button by Mel Robbins. Check it out and you’l be moving that alarm clock tomorrow :)

4) Schedule coffee maker to go off at a certain time - the smell wafting from your kitchen will give you just another incentive to get up and crush your workout and it’s been proven that small doses of caffeine on an empty stomach can help you push harder, thus get more, out of your workout,

5) Let the light in - expose yourself to natural light as soon as you wake up. Getting blue light from the sun turns off your brain’s melatonin faucet, which in turn can erase any morning fog you feel and give you energy to get going,

6) Sniff Peppermint oil - a small study found that drinking 500 ml of mineral water spiked with peppermint oil improved power and performance and lengthened the time to exhaustion. Young Living oils are the only oils approved by FDAA for consumption.

7) Fuel up / don’t sit down - chose a bite to eat that’s carb-focused and 100-150 calories. ½ banana and peanut butter or Shakeology stirred with water (as a bowl) are my two favorites, both with 16-20 carbs quickly available for your workout.

8) Drink up - dehydration can have a huge effect on physical performance since you lose ~ one liter of water during your sleep through sweat and breathing. I have a lot of ideas for ways to flavor your water without adding extra calories, so try to drink 16 oz. water when you first wake,

9) Stay accountable with a group - telling yourself you can’t work out is easy to do; making that excuse to someone else is a whole other story. studies have shown those that check-in with an accountability group are 20% more likely to succeed and get better results than those that go at it alone. I offer BOD Groups every single month and you’re always invited to join so make that commitment to show up every day and let do this together,

10) Download a new playlist - create a “wake-up” list of energizing songs to get you motivated to move. Research shows that music can reduce the perception of effort and increase endurance up to 15%! Beachbody Super Trainers shared their favorite playlists if you need some new ideas; now go crush that workout,

11) Workout @ home - you’re more likely to workout when your living room, playroom, study is your workout space and you walk by it and hear it call your name. You’ll save money, miss out on germs and save the commute time so there’s really no reason you can’t fit it in. Beachbody on Demand has programs from 10 minutes up to 90 minutes so there are plenty of options to fit the time you have available.

10 Minute BOSU Abs

I’ve started creating some “bonus” videos for my Personal Training clients and you’re free to try them too. Abs are one muscle you can work every single day. If you need to regress the move I’m doing, put your knees on the floor, if you want to progress the move, you can flip the BOSU so the ball-side is on the carpet. If you don’t have a BOSU and have a stability ball, use that, but know it’s much harder because your stabliiation is challenged. For cardio planks - don’t use the ball please! You’ll go flying 🤪 If you try this, please comment ON YOU TUBE!!!

Physical therapy isn't easy, but it works!

Leg Extensions - 50 each side, twice (200 total)

In January 2020 I injured my achilles skiing in Japan. By the time we returned to Australia, Covid was in full effect and treatment options didn’t feel safe. I know this won’t require surgery, but it will require lots of rehab, time and dedication to get better. It’s amazing how quick doctors are to operate when quite often, a good trainer and give you the exercises and stretches to keep you away from the knife! That his it’s own recovery time, plus medication we don’t want to expose our bodies to if we can help it.

To make matters worse (and more exciting), we then learned all four of us had parasites, likely from the water in Singapore. B U M M E R! We all took very strong medication for 6-8 weeks to kill the bugs, but during all this, my achilles got put on the back burner. Fast forward a few months and Covid is sort-of under control and we are parasite free, I’m finally getting treatment!

It is soooo hard to “unlearn” a habit. Whether it’s related to nutrition, fitness, things you say or do, etc; your brain is used to a certain way of doing things. But, that doesn’t mean it’s not possible. This is just one of the 6 exercises I do to work on my quad strength and am back to squatting low and lifting heavy.

I’m excited to be able to help clients work on compensations, posture issues, flexibility constraints, and more! Assessments are a great starting place so you can experience the same JOY I have been fortunate to experience, in being healed.

Shift Shop Proving Ground launches Oct 22!

Yall, you want to watch this video. YOU DO! I love that the modifier in here is a coach friend of mine, a plus size model, a super successful woman and has a goal of losing over 100 lbs. And she knows it’s not easy, but her arse is not going to give up or cheat. Believe me, I know her and she has willpower like I’ve never seen!

Shift Shop is a “bootcamp-like” workout and It's pretty rad and more "bootcamp-ish" which is fun. I love to do this outside in the yard or on my patio and my kids LOVE joining in! I was fortunate to be in the Elite Coach Test Group when the original program launched last May and now the super motivating, Chris Downing has added 4 new videos. We are going to re-shuffle it all so be ready to shock your body and lean it out, build it up and start from the inside out!

The other exciting part is Chris’s meal plan works well with Whole30, Keto and Paleo diets because it’s low carbs (week 3 is no grains all together) and it is delicious! It’s one of my top favorite plans so far! Check out my Shift Shop approved recipes here!