Whoa Whoa Whoa.. we ARE still alive!!

So it probably seems as if we have fallen off the face of the earth and it seems we kind of have done so. SORRY 1001x!

So here is the update since January for me -> Janey

Since my last post life has been crazy busy. My husband called with a few days notice informing me he was deploying within a matter of days and a month early. I went through a roller coaster of emotions and stresses. The first week I wallowed in my sorrows not knowing how to function without him. The second week I got angry feeling alone, and basically ungrateful. As this vicious cycle started I lost slight track of all of my goals and stopped working out which I was doing religiously before my life spiraled out of control. I came back into contact with my personal trainer I was working with when Kylan left for basic training. (She has been a godsend during this deployment!! -> Michele Jamison <- Check her out!!!!) Anyways. With the new partnership with my massage business and her personal training business, { Gym at Begin Again Fit For Life} I decided I needed to stop tiptoeing around the obvious and admit I had no will power to follow through with consistent and necessary workouts on my own. I started training with Michele on March 20th.  Let me tell you I thought I was going to die! The results and journey alone have been amazing. With each work out I feel a new level of accomplishment. I feel a little bit closer to my goal. Through balancing of schedules, clients, motherhood, marriage, housekeeping, and studying I look forward to that time in the gym to escape. This is the new direction I am taking this part of my blogging experience. I will share my struggles, my triumphs, my success, and my moments of weakness. I will show you my progress from my all time heaviest, and emotionally/mentality worst this time last year to now and to through the future.  I will share with you that I am not just someone who gets to eat what I want, do what I want, or sit on my butt when I want. This journey has now become a lifestyle change. Nothing more nothing less. I will post photos tomorrow of all the comparisons and measurements thus far and I will gladly share with you any advice or questions as you experience this with me. Just know, it is never too late to do this. There is a woman at the gym who I idolize, she has a body I would love and she is one of the most humble human beings I have come across. She went through her own journey and looks amazing. Being 2x my age I love working out next to her because she drives me to keep on pushing when I want to give up and that is what I want to do for you. The most important thing is, find the determination to change for only yourself. Once you can do that you will find it is much easier to fight for something you want. Sweet dreams my friends and I look forward to start new with you all and my new journey -xo

J

Helpful Hint with H20

Something I have been doing to ensure I have been getting enough water is using rubber bands.
Now let me explain this first.

Coming directly from livestrong.com  "Use your weight to determine how much water to drink. According to body building expert Dave Parise C.P.T., adults should multiply their body weight by .65 (.55 for cold climates and .75 for hot climates) to determine how much water to drink. Or, use an online calculator to calculate for you"

Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/85926-determine-much-water-drink/#ixzz2JlSaBbir

So I bought a water bottle -> that I love. Double insulated, and it twists apart so I can put ice cubes in it ... perfect for me. I scrounged up 9 rubber bands and I keep them on my water bottle. Through out the day every time I empty it I take one off and put it on my wrist. It is REALLY hard to get through 9 a day if you are not used to drinking much water at all but this method has actually helped me easily keep track and show me if I am behind in the day. Also doing this it has helped suppress my appetite so I am not wanting to snack a lot during the day.

Rubber bands was just a simple cheap way to do this. You could get creative and go to Hot Topic or Spencer's and get the gel bracelets and alternate it from your right to your left (or vice versa)

That is my little post for today, short and sweet but something that is very important. Water has more benefits for you than you know.
xo- J

Strawberry Cheesecake Me oh My! ♡

So this is a blog about eating healthy right ?? Here I am about to give you a recipe for Strawberry Cheesecake? I am sure you are thinking this defeats the purpose of what we are doing here, but that is hardly the case. Valentines Day is coming up and instead of indulging on tons of sweets, cakes, or chocolates here is a tasty quick fix to fill those cravings AND to show a little creativity for your special someone.
So here is Ashley's version of her Strawberry Cheesecakes  

((since she is a little ditzy and can't figure out how to post it haha ♡ ))


Ingredients::


- A little over 1 lb of strawberries
- 8 ounces reduced fat cream cheese  OR  8 ounces of Greek yogurt (Janey's version)
- 1/3 cup confectioners sugar (I will list below an alternative if we are 100% sticking to counting calories here)
- 3/4 cup chocolate chips (preferably dark chocolate)2 packs of graham crackers

*Before I started hulling the strawberries, I set out the cream cheese to soften!*

1) So I hulled the package of strawberries as well as a few from the other package. For those that don't know to "hull" a strawberry is to leave it whole but remove the core.


2) After I did that I mixed the cream cheese and confectioners sugar in a bowl until it was a little fluffy. I then put the mixture into a plastic freezer bag (in one of the bottom corners) so I could fill the strawberries (If you are confused look below). 


3) After filling the strawberries, I melted about 3/4 cup chocolate chips in the microwave and dipped the filled strawberries into the chocolate! I put them on wax paper and placed them in the fridge so the chocolate could harden and the cream cheese mixture could set. 


4) About an hour later I crushed up some graham cracker and dipped the tops of the strawberries (the end with the cream cheese sticking out) into the graham cracker crumbs!

That's it... I hope it makes sense it was super easy... minus the hulling of the berries... but I hear there's a tool for that.


*** About the bag:: I used it to "pipe" the filling into the hulled part of the strawberry. The bag is easier to fill if you put it in a cup with the corner of the bottom of the bag down into the cup. once its filled, just cut about 1/2 off the corner so you can squeeze out the cream cheese. Kind of like one of those things bakers use to decorate cakes. ***


*** Confectioners Sugar Substitutes:: If your recipe calls for powdered sugar to also act as bulk in the recipe, such as during baking, you can mix a sugar free powdered sugar substitute by taking 1 part artificial sweetener, 2 parts powdered milk and 2 parts cornstarch and grind in the blender. Use this on a 1 cup to 1 cup basis as a powdered sugar substitute.***

Anywho, I'm sure I made it sound way more complicated than it really is so please enjoy and let us know how you liked this version!
Here is what it should look like [=

It's only the beginning

So here it goes and here is the explanation.

I've missed writing and I find that writing not only helps motivate me but it encourages me to motivate others. I asked my amazing friend Ashley to help me with this blog because that crazy girl motivates me more than anyone I know and she is 1000 miles away! I hope she can help reach you all as much as she does me. So over time you are going to get to experience my struggles with finding what works best for me with changing my eating habits. You will experience my trails - tribulations of my workouts and schedules. You will hear me say how hard all of this is -- but you will all see my triumph, reaching my goals, and my success. I primarily use Max Muscle Products and I will make sure to give reviews on how all of that makes me feel and what I like best. The biggest thing I want all of you to learn is, it doesn't matter how much you workout the foundation to being healthy is eating healthy.
So please enjoy, and don't mistake this blog for preaching because it is far from. I am overweight, and looking to get back in shape/healthy. Ashley is fit and healthy already, we are completely opposite but we both love food AND working out - we are one crazy combo.

Thank you for starting this journey with us, and please let us know how we can help YOU start your own journey <3

xo- J