Progress pics and a Delicious Smoothies Recipe...

I have to take a minute and brag about this girl. She is killing her challenge. I am so proud of her. Can u believe how much of a difference her pics show! From day 1 to day 34 she was down 11lbs. And obviously many inches. Love it! She just recently posted on our private fb group page that she hit a huge milestone in her weightless journey...I am way excited to see where this girl ends up at the end of her 90 days. 

I had me the most delicious smoothie this morning for breakfast. It was so good I had it for lunch too:)

1/2 frozen banana

1/4 cup frozen pineapple

1/4 cup cottage cheese

1/4 cup milk

A little ice and water

2 scoops Vi protein

(I added a handful of spinach to my lunch shake)

I will be having this again tomorrow because it was just that good. All the frozen fruit and cottage cheese made it thick and creamy. like soft serve ice cream. Kids taste tested for me and gave it two thumbs up. Yes, healthy can be delicious. 

Body by Vi Before and After Pics...

I am finally getting the before and after pics and stories posted!  Mommy life has been keeping me busy this last week...and exhausted.  I have gone to bed earlier than usual, leaving my house a mess and letting the laundry pile up...sigh.  I suppose life can't always be glamorous.  Anyway, I know most of my readers are my mommy friends so I am sure you understand where I am coming from.  

Enough of my ramblings!...let's get to the good stuff.  These pics always put a smile on my face and inspire me to keep working on my own challenge.  I want to say that all of these pics are people that I personally know, except for Misty, who is a friend of a friend.  

If you missed my first 2 posts about Body by Vi be sure to check them out here and here. 
www.meganrencher.bodybyvi.com 

 

Sarah
I joined the challenge because I was ready for a change.  I made the commitment and let the challenge work for me.  If you are willing to work for it you can get the results you want.  There is no magic pill...it's a combo of hard work and consistency.  It takes a learning curve to start making healthier choices but once you do the results will come.  My original goal was to lose 10 lbs.  After losing my first ten and comparing my before and after pics I knew I could go for more.  I am down 19.5lbs so far!

 (I met Sarah because she comes to my kickboxing and step classes at the gym.  She rocked her first challenge...obviously.  She gets comments ALL the time about how good she is looking.  Her body has been transforming like crazy.  She is now my lifting buddy and inspires me to go hard or go home!  The girl is a rockstar!)

Theresa 

I've used protein powders in the past, heard great things about Vi's shake mix, was THRILLED with the taste, and hoped to lose my muffin top. First month I lost 5 lbs. Second month I lost 5. When I saw my abs appearing I got really excited! So the third month I really focused on eating lots of protein in six mini meals a day and lost another 10 lbs PLUS added 5 lbs of muscle!!! Rethink what's possible for your body! This is more than just weight loss. It will have you changing your habits and creating a healthier lifestyle.

 (P.S. Theresa is a mommy of four!  Theresa is pretty much the reason I wanted to give the Challenge a try.  Her abs have inspired many.)

Chris

I am 40 and have 4 young kids. The Vi shakes made all the difference. Because the shakes were so effective at building muscle AND helping me burn fat, I was able to spend less time working out and still get amazing results.

(Another mommy of 4!)

Nichole-

My goal for my 90 day challenge was to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight and fit into my jeans. I planned to exercise during my challenge but my son got RSV and was too sick for me to work it in. Being a busy mom of 4 ... I love the convenience of making a shake for a healthy breakfast! I have more energy and less sugar and carb cravings which is a huge accomplishment for me. I should also add that I exclusively breastfeed my son and have not had any issues at all! I just started my next challenge and plan to exercise regularly this time to see what results I can achieve next!! 

(These pics were taken when her 4th baby was about 4 months old)

Misty

I still need to get Misty's story on here but seriously these are some pretty awesome results...

I am working on rounding up more pics and stories and will be posting them soon.  I will get some pics of guys because yes this challenge works for you too.

And if you want a great treadmill interval workout make sure to check out my previous post here.

Be back soon! 

 

Treadmill Quickie

After doing a back and bicep workout I hopped on the treadmill and finished with this little workout-

Incline 3.0 @ 10.0mph for 1 minute

Recover at 3.5 for 1 minute

Repeat 10x

Ok I will be honest I had to drop the incline down to 2.0 after 3 rounds and then after 7 sprints I dropped it to an incline of 1.0.

This was an awesome way to finish my workout.

Yummy Summer Salad Recipe!

This was my contribution to the Memorial Day BBQ we went to yesterday. I rather enjoyed it and hope everyone else did too. There was only a small amount left so I assume they did:) Then again I probably ate most of it. The original recipe calls for kale but I opted to use fresh spinach. The lemon basil dressing is yummy. When you add the avocado don't mix it in too much. I made that mistake and although it still tasted yummy I felt like it overpowered the lemon dressing. Head on over to Ambitious Kitchen to grab the recipe. It is the perfect healthy salad for your next BBQ or gathering. 

Push-up Combo

I have been doing this little push-up combo as part of my shoulder and chest workouts or just as a way to finish up my cardio workout....

I call it my 10/10/10

10 wide or Standard push-ups

10 tricep pushups

10 monkey pushups

Do the set with little to no rest between exercises. Rest about one minute between sets.

Do this combo as many times as you can.  The monkey pushups will start to burn!  Let's be honest...they will all start to burn.  The tricep ones nearly kill me actually. 

Standard Pushup

Tricep Pushup- 
Hands are more narrow and elbows slide right along your body as you go down

Monkey Puship-
Keep your booty in the air while you do this one.  It puts all the work in your shoulders. Lower your face to the floor then press back up.

If you can't do pushups on your toes yet just do the standard and tricep pushups on your knees.  You can do the monkey pushups the same and don't go down all the way.  

Let me know what you think!

Body by Vi 90 Day Challenge--Part II

Yesterday I talked about why I personally am doing the Body by Vi 90 Day Challenge.  Today I want to continue and discuss why I promote the challenge...

I started personal training about 6 years ago.  I really enjoy the work.  My clients in the past were always doing really well with the exercise and getting stronger and more fit, but most of them saw little change in their weight.  Despite my best efforts to give nutrition plans and advice, most of my clients struggled to eat healthy on a consistent basis.  It was frustrating for me and for them. 

I often get asked by friends and family back home for exercise and nutrition advice.  Although I do love helping people in these areas it just isn't realistic for me to write meal plans and exercise routines for everyone.  But I still want to be able to help them. 

The 90 Day Challenge has been the perfect solution to both of these situations.

Ever since I started recommending the challenge to my clients, results have been AMAZING. (Be prepared for some awesome pics and success stories to come in my next post).  I am truly inspired by some of the transformations. 

Even better I have been able to help people I don't personally train with. 

I have found a product that allows me to help others learn to eat healthy, nutritious foods and lose weight.  And they all love it.    

Basically the challenge makes healthy eating realistic.  I recommend to people that they should be eating 5-6 small meals a day.  Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and 2-3 snacks...but snack is kind of a deceiving word because really your meals and snacks should all be about the same size.  You want to be eating every 2-4 hours, keeping your body fueled and your blood sugar levels stable.  Most people have a hard time eating this many times a day, especially healthy foods.  I am amazed at how many people don't eat breakfast at all.  It is a lot to ask of someone to plan and prepare 6 healthy meals a day...At least in the beginning of their weightloss journey.  For some people this is a complete departure from what they are use to.  The Body by Vi protein shakes replace two of these meals so that you only have to focus on making your remaining meals/snacks healthy.  The shakes are yummy, you can flavor them in so many ways so you don't get sick of them, and they keep you feeling full.  Plus they are packed with nutrition.  They are healthy fast food.    

With the help of the shakes I love coaching and teaching people how to make healthy food choices for when they aren't using a shake.  And once people start using the shakes and losing weight they naturally start feeling better and have more energy for exercise. 

I have only been promoting the challenge for a short time, but already I have seen so many lives changed because of it.  I love getting messages from fellow challengers sharing their success stories for the week.  You can feel their excitement and it inspires me to keep working on my own challenge.  

I know pictures speak louder than words so I don't want to ramble too much.  Tomorrow I will start sharing before and after pics of some of the challengers.  You are going to love what you see.     

I will also blog about the most common questions I get about the challenge.  And I want to discuss some of the skeptism you may have....it's okay, I was skeptical at first too:)  So if you have any questions you want me to address please feel free to leave a comment.  

One thing I want to make clear is the challenge truly isn't about some crazy diet.  If you take your challenge seriously you will learn how to eat healthy and your body will feel better.  I absolutely love the way I feel right now.  Eating healthy clean foods has never been so easy.  And I can't complain about the fact that I have lost my baby weight (4 months post-partum) and am building some strong muscles at the same time.  I will share a few of my progress pics in future posts.  

Oh and I must not forget to mention that the challenge comes with a 90 Day Money Back Gaurantee.  If you don't get the results you want you get your money back...all of it.  Pretty much you have no excuse not to take the challenge:)  

www.meganrencher.bodybyvi.com

Come back tomorrow!

   

Quinoa Egg Muffins

I did some food prepping last night after putting the kids to bed. I was running low on quick healthy snacks and I had a new recipe I really wanted to try. I got it off Slender Kitchen...love this blog. It's full of healthy recipes if you are in need of some new ideas. I also whipped up some of the turkey muffins from Jamie Eason off Bodybuilding.com. I seriously love them. I have been trying to be brave so I added Sriracha sauce to both muffins and it gave them the perfect kick. I usually don't do spicy but lately I like a little something. Plus I eat less and drink more water when my food is spicy. I now have lots of yummy snacks prepped for the rest of the week. And they are just spicy enough I don't think my kids will end up eating them all:).

Quinoa Egg Muffins

From Slender Kitchen

1 cup cooked quinoa

1 cup diced veggies of choice 

(I used zucchini and onions and probably used closer to 2 cups)

1/2 cup feta cheese

(I didn't have any so I used 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese)

2 eggs

4 egg whites

Salt and pepper to taste

Hot sauce to taste

(I used Sriracha and just eyeballed it)

Mix everything and bake in muffin tins for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Original recipe says it makes 6 muffins but mine made 10 because I added more veggies. 2 muffins is 185 calories. 

Turkey Muffins
from bodybuilding.com

2 lbs ground turkey or chicken

(I only used 1 lb)

3 egg whites

1 cup oats

(This time I used 1/2 cup oats and 1/2 cup cooked quinoa)

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp dried thyme

2 tsp dry mustard

2 tsp pepper

2tsp chipotle pepper spice

(I used Sriracha in place of this)

1 tsp salt

2 Tbsp garlic powder (2 cloves)

1 small onion chopped

2 celery stalks chopped

(I didn't have any celery so I used zucchini...yum!)

Mix all the ingredients and bake in muffin tins for 30-40 minutes at 375 degrees. The recipe as written says it makes 12 muffins but it made 12 even with only using 1 lb of meat because I used more veggies I think. Really you can put what you want in these. Don't be shy with the seasonings. 

I will get part two up of my Body by Vi blog series later today. Be sure to check out my first one here.