Only ONE Shake A Day?!

This is a question I get a lot. The way it's asked varies but it's still the same premise: How do you lose weight if you only do Shakeology ONCE a day?

Answer? Without secretly starving yourself.

I usually hate math but it helps make my point so *deep breath* here it goes...

The average person probably needs to eat a minimum of 1500 calories a day to LOSE WEIGHT at a healthy rate. That might be higher for you if you're more active or have a higher Basal Metabolic Rate. But we're going to stick with 1500 because it's in the middle.

That means if you eat 3 meals a day they should each be 500 calories. What's an example of a 500 calorie meal?

Click for recipe

Seared Chicken with Apricot Sauce
1/2 steamed broccoli with lemon
1/2 steamed spinach with lemon
Cheesy broccoli potato mash
Banana pudding pop


Okay, back to the shakes!
Those 2 a day shakes usually run 90 calories. The instructions say to eat a sensible dinner. So let's use our 500 calorie dinner above as our "sensible dinner."

90 + 90 + 500 = 680 calories

Not even one thousand calories for the ENTIRE DAY. That, ladies and gentlemen, is starving.

Even if you have a couple of snacks, and assume those snacks are 100 calories each, you still don't hit 1000 calories.

That's why people gain weight back after they stop their "shake diet." Your body has been starving and when you start truly feeding it again (with your healthy 1500 calories) it will hold on to everything because it's in a panic. When you go from eating 600-800 calories back to 1500 it doesn't matter how healthy you're eating...your body freaks out.

How does this change with Shakeology?

The big point is that Shakeology is more calories. We've been drinking the Chocolate Vegan so I'll use that in this comparison. It's 170 calories. Plus, the nutrition can't be beat! Check out the ingredient list!!

We want you to learn to eat healthy food! That means ACTUALLY EATING! So if we go with the "500 calorie healthy meal" assumption the math looks like this:

170 + 500 + 500 = 1170

MUCH closer. You could easily maintain this for a few weeks to jumpstart your weight loss and then add in healthy snacks to bump up to where you need to be for calories. Going from 1200 to 1500 isn't going to be as much of a shock to your system!

To learn more about the awesomeness that is Shakeology click here! Remember that I'm not a medical professional and I can only speak from experience!

Temporary Insanity

This week has been pure insanity and it's not just the workout.

Friday my husband had jaw surgery. He has (well, HAD) an overbite that can't be fixed with braces so they broke his jaw, screwed it with space, and now bone will fill in between. It's sort of cool if you think about it. The body does crazy things.

This was the first time he was totally under anesthesia so I was a little freaked out. His mom took him (because whoever took him wasn't allowed to leave until the surgery was over) so I got updates by phone. He did great and he's recovering well...

BUT...

He needs a lot of rest (he's up for a few hours before he gets tired and has to sleep), he super swollen (his bottom lip swelled so much it was splitting), and he's on a NO CHEW diet for 6 weeks. Let me tell you how thankful we are for Shakeology right now! It's seriously a staple now more than ever.

Well this also means he's not allowed to workout for a good long while. No idea if he'll be allowed to workout in 6 weeks or not. I couldn't NOT workout that long and it didn't feel right to keep doing Rev Abs without him (it's sort of our bonding thing right?)

So I started Insanity!

I've finished week one and I'm already hooked.

I spend a lot of the workout staring at the screen panting. I also have to press my hand to my mouth and breathe deep so I don't puke a lot. I have yet to even make it through the entire WARM UP.

This is a video from right after my very first workout.




It really is  keeping me sane. Throughout all of the crazy I've been looking forward to my daily workout. It's an hour (workout plus shower) that is just for ME. And the endorphins are a huge bonus for my mood!

I'm posting videos after each workout so be sure and subscribe to Kas Fitness on Facebook to keep track! https://www.facebook.com/KasFitness


Do YOU want to go insane? I'll be starting an Insanity Challenge Group on OCTOBER 15th 2012!! Several of the slots are ALREADY RESERVED so if you want on the list (or want to convince me to open it as a larger group) you need to let me know sooner rather than later!

Baby Steps to Better Health

I've been meaning to do this one for awhile. I know when I started changing my lifestyle I floundered a bit. "Where do I start?" is a big question. It's hard to know how to get started STRONG without inviting burnout.

If you go through and toss every junk food in your house, replace it with healthy food, and tell yourself you'll NEVER EAT BAD FOOD AGAIN you'll probably do fine for a few days. Some of you will do fine for a week or two. Eventually, though, you'll resent not being able to eat your favorite foods. You'll binge, feel like you failed, and give up for a few weeks only to do it all over again. It's common!

So here are a few baby steps to get you started!

1) Food Journal. When you start out don't worry about calories. This is more for volume and type of food. Put times on here. You may realize that your "weak spot" is in the evening (it is for me) or that you eat most of your calories at dinner after barely eating all day. Track for 1 week and put "bites" in there. 1 bite of a cookie throughout the day isn't a big deal...10 bites throughout the day is a serving of cookies and a bigger deal.

2) Choose Water. You can have your coffee but try to avoid fancy coffeehouse drinks. Those are LOADED with fat and calories and you should only have them if you work it into your plan for the day. (They're TREATS for me) Making your coffee at home will also save you money! Stop drinking sodas and juice! No one NEEDS juice! If you want a serving of fruit have an actual piece of fruit! You should be drinking 1oz per pound of body weight in water. Yep, that's a lot! You can add lemon/lime/cucumber to it for flavoring but try to ONLY drink water.

3) Protein Breakfast. Eat breakfast! This was the HARDEST for me. Try to eat close to 400 calories for breakfast and make them mostly protein. When I first started out I had to eat in shifts. I would make breakfast, eat half of it, wait an hour, and eat the other half. Now I devour breakfast! This is going to jumpstart your metabolism for the day!

4) Make Smart Swaps! Click on that to get 10 things you can swap to make healthier choices!

5) Get Sneaky. Top 10 Ways to Sneak in Exercise.


Those are 5 things to get you started this week! Next week we'll do "Toddler Steps To Better Health!"

Come on over to Kas Fitness and check in with us! Do you need advice or motivation? We're there for you!!
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