Bad Habits, Blog Series, and RevAbs

Bad habits are HARD to break. I'm not even talking about things like smoking or whatever...I'm talking about emotional habits.

I have a history of depression and anxiety. Over the years I've come to fight against it a lot. But, honestly, a lot of it is ingrained habit now. When I have a hard day, get bad news, get frustrated, etc... my first instinct is to curl up in a ball and WALLOW in that feeling. Truly, I have so much to be thankful for and, if I fight, can avoid giving in to the wallowing...but the feeling is still there. It's a habit just like anything else! Did you know you can have EMOTIONAL Habits?

Moving on...

I get a lot of questions about what I eat and how much we spend. Basically, we try to keep it at about $500 per month for the 4 of us. That does NOT include eating out money. That is an entirely different fund. Our Food Budget includes raw milk in it so the amount spent at the grocery store is less than that $500.

So, I've decided to do a blog series for July where I track our purchases and meals made with those purchases. Yes, this means you'll get to see when I sneak in junk food and when I throw up my hands and say "I'm not cooking tonight" at the end of a hard day! No, I don't buy totally organic produce (I don't even stick to the dirty dozen...I know...fail) but if you're on a super tight budget this series will be for YOU. Hopefully I can help you make some healthy choices and learn to shop a little more efficiently.

The first post will include a list of things I ALREADY HAVE. I'll tell you right now that the shrimp and chicken breasts were on SALE when I bought them...normally those are too expensive for my taste. Are you excited?

Expect some photo updates every 30 days or so as you follow my and my husband's RevAbs journeys. I'm loving this workout so far. Brett has charisma even through the screen. I'll tell you that phase one is already changing my body and I'm only about a week into it.


Which update are you most excited about?

Hungry But Not Starving

I'm hungry...all the time.

I'm also eating...all the time.

I'll be honest and tell you that this is sort of weird for me.

The last time I was hungry all the time I was eating 500-800 calories a day. Now I eat a minimum of 1700.

I have a metabolism. I'm not sure I've had a functioning metabolism for the last 10+ years. No, I'm totally serious here.

How did I do it? How can you replicate it?

1) Eat a filling, protein rich breakfast.
You should aim for 400 calories. A wrap with egg whites, avocado, potato, and veggies is perfect (just measure things out so you're in your calorie range) The first WEEK I did this I couldn't finish it. I'd eat half, wait an hour or so, and then eat the other half. Now I easily inhale my breakfast and wake up HUNGRY!

2) Eat every 2-4 hours.
Yep, even if you're not hungry. Eat SOMETHING. Even if you just eat an apple or have a small glass of milk. Think of hunger like a scale of 1-10. 1 is so starving you think you're dying and 10 is so full you could puke. You want to stay in the 4-6 range as much as possible. If you get to 2-3 you're more likely to overeat and end up in 8-9. (okay, enough numbers!) Eat frequently.

3) Stay hydrated.
Seriously. Drinking 8 glasses of water a day isn't enough for everyone. Aim for 1oz per pound of body weight. More if it's hot or if you're working out or if you just feel thirsty!

4) Exercise regularly.
Once you fuel the fire you need to keep it running....by running (or weight lifting or dancing or or or...just MOVE)

5) Give it time.
If you eat tomorrow and wake up the next day and don't feel hungry don't think you've failed. It takes time. Just keep at it!

Bonding over Health

When my husband and I got our first apartment our diet was terrible...LOTS of processed foods. One thing we LOVED was chips and dip. We got caught in, what I call, the "chip-dip-cycle." That's the one where you  run out of chips but have dip leftover so you buy more chips so the dip doesn't go to waste. You finish the dip but have chips left so you buy more dip...and so on.

Except not this glamorous looking...

We would sit and watch "TV" (our computer) and eat chips and dip...it's how we bonded. We worked at the same place but didn't spend a lot of time together during the day so we would bond over House MD, LOST, Heroes, etc...and chips and dip.

Bonding...right?

We gained weight. We felt awful most of the time.

Now we know better!

Today we start RevAbs TOGETHER! We're going to bond through exercise. We've worked out together before and I love it. He pushes me to work harder, to finish out a set, and to keep pushing when I think I'm done. Yes, there's a bit of competition there! It's a healthy competition that pushes us each to be our best.

I want that for you!!

I want YOU and your significant other to BOND OVER HEALTH.

Which is why I'm starting a Couples Only Challenge Group on July 9th!

Get healthy with your main squeeze

If you want to get healthy together message me NOW https://www.facebook.com/kasondra.morin  Spots for this kind of thing fill up FAST!

Motivation for today

Top 10 Chocolate Shakeology Recipes

These are my favorite Chocolate Shakeology Recipes! Yes, I've tried them all and they're all fantastic! I love that Shakeology gives me variety!

Click to learn more about Shakeology!

All are made with one scoop/packet of Chocolate Shakeology in a blender. All include ice to taste!

1) Peanut Butter Cup

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup water

1 Tbl peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla

2) Chocolate Minty

1 tsp mint extract

1 cup water

3) Chocolate Bananas Foster

1 banana

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp rum extract

1 cup milk

4) Mocha Chiller

1 cup cold coffee

1 tsp cinnamon

5) Post Workout Recovery (my own recipe)

1 cup water

1/4 tsp sea salt

6) Cheeky Monkey (my own recipe)

1 banana

1/2 tsp coconut extract

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup water

7) Salted Caramel

1 cup milk

1 tsp caramel extract

1 dash sea salt

8) Maple Buttercup

1 Tbsp peanut butter

1 Tbsp maple syrup

1 cup milk

9) Cinna-Nutter

1 tsp cinnamon

1 Tbsp peanut butter

1 cup milk

10) Straight Up!

Just add water or milk!

Linking up!

No More Sugary Soda?

I recently began reading "Reshaping It All" by Candace Cameron Bure (you remember DJ from Full House?)

It's amazing. I knew it would be. I can relate to parts of her story, especially when she gets into her eating disorder.

One thing that stood out to me recently was this:

"One problem with our overweight society is that we've been trained to look at food as the problem rather than our approach to appetite. Food as become the focus of our culture with fast-food signs adorning every street corner. In hopes of fixing this obsession with food, we find diet plans that offer twice the binge at half the calories or we reach for pills that will quickly shed the pounds."

She put into words what I've been thinking for sometime now. After New York's Mayor decided to ban sugary drinks 16oz and larger I had mixed feelings.

Health is important to me. I want people to make healthy choice. Notice that sentence: I want people to make healthy choices. I did not say I want the government to make healthy choices for people.

BUT, some of you are yelling, what about people that just don't know any better?

Educate them.

It's kind of like school and children. If SchoolChild doesn't know how to do a skill and you do it for them without teaching them THEY WILL NEVER LEARN.

We should be teaching people how to make healthy choices, teaching them how to SHOP on a budget (I hear "healthy eating is too expensive" too much), teaching them how to prepare healthy meals with limited funds/resources, showing them how to get a good workout without a gym and trainer, etc... We should NOT be making choices FOR people.

We, as a society, need to learn moderation and self-control...not government babysitting.