BURN MORE CALORIES SIMPLY BY EATING THESE 2 NUTRIENTS (HOW TO BURN CALORIES SERIES #3 OF 4)

Hey hey!

Welcome back for part 3 of the “How to Burn More Calories” series! So far we’ve discussed how to burn more calories through N.E.A.T. and your Activity Factor (aka, your AF, since we love to abbreviate everything...) lol.

And today we’re getting into how to burn more calories simply by choosing the right foods.

We’re not talking about getting more exercise or a dieting fad or choosing certain workouts over other ones… we’re simply talking about FOOD and how you can actually burn more calories than the person next to you depending on what you’re eating.

I think this is a VERYYY POWERFUL tool to understand and to use to your advantage on a daily basis. It’s something that I have learned to use as a secret tool for myself and when my clients start to truly understand the advantage of it, it’s magical haha.

So let’s get into it. Today we’re talking about T.E.F. better known as, the Thermic Effect of Food.

The thermic effect of food is essentially the increase in calories burned by your body by trying to break down and digest the nutrients you’ve given it.

This is where we learn that not all nutrients are created equal. Let’s look at the macronutrient of “fats” first. When we consume fats, our body will burn 0% - 3% of the calories simply by trying to break it down. Sounds ehhh, right? It gets better.

When we have carbs - our body only burns about 5% - 10% of the calories via the break down and digestion process. Still seems great right? UNTIL we move on to our winners… FIBER AND PROTEIN.

Fiber and Protein burn 20%-30% of the calories you consume simply by digesting them.

That means that if you eat 100 calories worth of protein, your body will automatically burn 20-30 of those calories on it’s own while you chill.

That doesn’t seem like a lot BUT it DEFINITELY adds up and could be working in your favor. Imagine if you ate 120 grams of protein a day. That means that you would be eating 480 calories worth of protein and that up to 144 of those calories would be burned without you having to do any extra work.

Over the course of a week - you could be burning 1,000 calories JUST BY eating protein.

Stick with that for a month and I think you see the point.

For a lot of people, this isn’t far off from being a reality. In my experience (from the girls I’ve coached online) most women are wanting to lose weight, and currently eat roughly 45-60g of protein a day. My goal is to at least double their protein intake over the course of a couple weeks so that not only are they burning more calories simply from what they are eating, but because protein keeps us full, they are also able to feel satisfied and stop snacking as much which results in eating fewer calories.

So for the girl that is averaging 60g of protein a day - she is burning roughly an extra 500 calories a week versus 1,000. Pretty insane right?! And like I mentioned, this is for protein AND fiber.

Most women only get 9-11 g of fiber in their daily diet when the recommended daily intake for women is 25g a day. Now imagine that you increase your fiber intake to 25 g AND you’re getting the proper amount of protein…GIRL you are going to be SO full and satisfied from every meal that you’re not going to understand how you’re eating more food, less calories and feeling better.

It’s like the famous male actors who always talk about how when they need to gain weight and it’s HARD…so they say. Meanwhile all of us are thinking “Fucking cry me a river that you are getting paid to eat 3,500 calories a day - we could do that in our sleep”. Haha BUT we have to realize that they’re not just eating 3,500 calories worth of in-n-out…they’re eating 3,500 calories worth of fiber, fat and protein so once you understand how FULL that makes you, I think you would also complain about needing to eat that much! (or maybe not lol).

Going back to this feeling like “my secret tool” let me fill you in on how I’m benefiting from TEF right now.

1. Currently: I am having to take a break from working out the way I normally do while I go to Physical Therapy for my back (I’ve had scoliosis since I was 14 and am finally deciding to do something about it hehe…) SO I’ve been REALLY focusing on my N.E.A.T as well as body weight and light weight exercises BUT I have also been making absolute sure that I keep my protein up. This is allowing me to stay full without going over my macros, maintain my lean muscle and it is helping me burn the extra calories.

An example of what a current day of eating looks like for me:

• Almond milk capp. (40 cals, 1g protein) - 7:00am

• Power Crunch Bar (200 cals, 13g protein) - 11:00am

• 4.5oz. Chicken, (180 cals, 39g protein) + 1/2 cup white rice (121 cals, 2g protein) - 1:00pm

• Coffee with pea milk (70 cals, 8g protein) + 1 scoop Vanilla protein Powder (140 cals, 20g protein) - 2:00pm

• Greek Yogurt (130 cals, 12g protein) - 5:00pm

• 4oz Ground Turkey with veggies and rice or in a salad (160 cals, 22g protein) - 8:00pm

This is obviously a rough estimate of overall calories but I’m just trying to show my main sources of protein throughout the day and how those foods add up to a substantial amount of protein with minimal calories.

So the break down would look something like this:

Calories: 1,041 —-> I aim for about 1,300

Protein: 117 grams.

When it comes to fiber, I dislike adding up a bunch of smaller numbers like 2g of fiber here and 4g of fiber there. Obviously at the end of the day, fiber is fiber and it all does help with adding up haha but just for my brain I personally like it to be as easy as possible so I gravitate towards 1-3 things that I know have a good amount of fiber in them and then attempt to keep the other smaller options in mind.

FOR EXAMPLE:

I know that theres 9g of fiber in a ONE Brand Birthday Bar.

There’s also 9g of fiber in one small 45 calorie tortilla.

So if I wanted to hit the remaining 7g for the day - I could easily do so with some jimica and broccoli in my salad or as a snack.

Although - other great options for fiber include:

• gg crackers

• apples

• pears

• raspberries

• and of course nuts, beans, and legumes.

If you are unsure how much protein and fiber you are currently consuming, spend one day logging your food into an app like My Fitness Pal. Chances are you’re getting roughly 40-60 grams of protein a day and 8-10g of fiber so first of all, DON’T WORRY.

Here’s what you need to do:

Try adding 20-25 grams of protein to your diet everyday for a week and see how you feel and if it’s pretty doable. After one week, see if you can easily add in another 20-25 grams and stick with that for a month!

Same with fiber, just work on upping it a little bit at a time. I think we get ourselves in trouble when we expect to completely change our habits over night. These things take time and that’s OKAY!

If you have any questions please leave them below, and if you want to have more help with allll of this, check out the next start date for the 10 WEEK PLAN!

(photo credit belongs to Alison Marras)

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UNDERSTANDING YOUR ACTIVITY FACTOR (HOW TO BURN CALORIES SERIES #2 OF 4).

Who was here last week for the first blog of this series?!

I’m excited about this blog today because I’m about to get real with you and ya know, hopefully it’s well received haha. I think we’re all a little over all the bullshit right?

[in my opinion] we see a lot of women on instagram who clearly have muscles and they are playing the game of trying to give you [the viewer] what you want which is something new, something flashy, something with lots of intensity and lighter weights. They gotta do what they gotta do, I get it. I’ve done it, but I want to educate you as well.

I recently did a poll and found that most people want shorter 30 min bodyweight workouts instead of 1 hour gym workouts which would be great for extra calorie burn but if you’re wanting to look like those girls on instagram, someones gotta tell you [i’ll tell you, because ILY] it’s going to take more than those quick, body weight, flashy circuits you’re seeing.

It’s safe to assume that those girls have put in the work of hard 1 hour gym workouts multiple times a week for years and now are at a point where they just need to maintain their body SO those workouts are great for them! Maintaining is easy, it’s getting to that point that takes more effort than what most people are showing us.

Here’s my thing…

I’m looking for some more realness, more explanations, and more substance.

Because it’s not fair to lead people to believe that if they do any kind of work out that they can eat whatever they want.

I think we’ve all been there right? I mean this info only made more sense to me over the last year. Before, I used to consume more calories because I walked on the tread, or because I went for a light hike and the mindset makes sense…I burned more calories than normal today so I can eat more, right?

Well, it depends on your goals. If your goal is to lose weight then it might be smarter and more efficient to just move more and stop feeling the need to refuel after every little thing. If you want to maintain your weight though then that would be a good plan for you.

I know the problem for me was that I read somewhere along the way that you need to eat right after exercise so I stuck with that and I became that person that would eat after any exercise even if I wasn’t hungry , simply because I thought I was supposed to.

So my calories remained equal to or above the amount that I was burning, hence, no weight loss.

But of course there are some workouts that we do where we truly burn a lot of calories, sometimes we even burn extra calories for up to 2 days and we can actually FEEL that we need to consume more food right? But how do we know how much extra we are supposed to have? What’s going to make us lose weight, what’s going to make us even out, and what is technically going to make us gain weight?

I have allll those answers for you. I will be blunt with you about some things and I will make everything as easy as possible to understand.

So to make it simple - when we use heavier weights, we need to consume more calories, and when we don’t, then we don’t need to. (This excludes professional athletic training and games, marathons, and any strenuous activities lasting longer than an hour). I’m really not trying to make a MASSIVE generalization but for the purpose of my readers I have a really good idea what most of you are doing.

Essentially I’m drawing a line between weight training and all other popular workouts right now like yoga, HIIT classes, spin, light hiking, power plate, mat pilates, barre, etc.

Yikes I feel like everyone is going to want to kill me here.

If it makes anyone feel any better, I was literally signed up for Classpass while I was learning about this concept. And the classes I went to were yoga, barre, pilates and spin haha SO….I GET IT.

I was taking all of those classes but never actually seeing any significant changes. When I talked to my coach about it he told me very simply, “Of course you’re not. What kind of overload is being put on your muscles in those classes? NONE.”

I replied with, “What the hell is overload “ lol.

Overload = weight. Weight challenges the nervous system and your muscles and requires them to work together to adapt to this new overload. When we DON’T have overload, our bodies don’t recognize a reason to change.

The demand we are putting on our bodies to preform the exercises in those classes definitely FEEL hard as fuck. You’re shaking and sweating and feel like dying but that’s because your muscles aren’t strong OR because they are fatigued from doing 800 million reps.

And continuing to do those same exercises over and over will of course get easier the more you do them and your body will adapt to a certain point but then it will stop because it is carrying the same weight day after day in a sequence of similar exercises and like I mentioned before, the demand will be low.

SO with all of that said - we need to begin to understand that if we want to take our bodies to the next level, we need to stop eating a ton of extra calories because we take one of these classes and we need to pick up some weights.

Real quick - I want it to be clear that there is nothing wrong with those classes.

I love all of those classes like I said and would gladly go to one right now! But let’s help ourselves out by going to one of those classes simply because we want to burn a few extra hundred calories, and not because we want to transform your body and eat more at brunch.

You’ll begin to notice that you can actually manage through your day without re eating those calories and you will be stoked because you will probably start to see some weight loss. But like I said, if you are really ready to take your body to the next level, then weights are essential to your fitness regime.

Once you start overloading your body and challenging it with new weights, then your Activity Factor will increase and you will be burning more calories.

This study mentioned in the article “A calories is Sometimes Not a Calorie” is worth reading…check out the whole article when you can!

There's a study to illustrate the point. It was published in the April 1999 Journal of the American College of Nutrition and looked at two groups of obese subjects put on identical very low calorie diets. One group was assigned an aerobic exercise protocol (walking, biking, or jogging four times per week). The other group was assigned resistance training three times per week and did no aerobic exercise.

After 12 weeks, both groups lost weight. The aerobic group lost 37 pounds, 27 of which was fat and 10 of which was muscle. The resistance-training group lost 32 pounds, and 32 pounds were fat, 0 was muscle. When resting metabolic rate was calculated after the study, the aerobic group was burning 210 fewer calories daily. In contrast, the resistance-training group had increased their metabolism by 63 calories per day.

Think of it this way…when we go to work, we clock in, we work, then we clock out. That’s like endurance training. You only get paid for the time you’re at work and you only burn calories for the time you’re in class.

BUT with strength training…strength training is like going to work, working, clocking out, and then getting paid overtime.

Your body keeps working even after you drop the weights and THIS is why your activity factor increases and why your AF is one of the biggest ways to burn calories.

Just to give you an example. I recently had to take a little 2 week week break from lifting heavy weights due to my scoliosis. My Physical Therapist said he needs some time to re align my pelvis before I can start going heavy in the gym again so I’ve been doing cardio and body weight exercises.

I AM LITERALLY NEVER EFFING HUNGRY. It’s very annoying to be honest lol and a little freaky. I can actually feel how not weight training has caused me to burn less calories hence why I’m less hungry.

Even when I was lifting heavy 3 days a week I was more hungry on an off day during that week than I am after a run or hike during this cardio period.

Also - lifting weights obviously builds muscle if done properly right? And muscle is HARDER for your body to maintain than fat so your body has to burn extra fuel just to MAINTAIN that muscle so the more muscle you have, the more calories you’re burning even when at rest.

With all that said - let’s get into the proper way to find out how much you should be eating depending on how often you are weight training.

The numbers look a little something like this:

Sedentary = BMR X 1.2 (no exercise)

• Lightly active = BMR X 1.375 (light exercise 2-3 times a week)

• Moderately active = BMR X 1.55 (moderate exercise 3-5 days a week)

• Very active = BMR X 1.725 (rigorous exercise/sports 6-7 days a week)

• Super, Extra Active = BMR X 1.9 (rigorous daily exercise/sports & physical job)

if you don’t know your BMR you can use this formula right here:

Men: BMR = 66 + (13.7 X wt in kg) + (5 X ht in cm) – (6.8 X age in years)
Women: BMR = 655 + (9.6 X wt in kg) + (1.8 X ht in cm) – (4.7 X age in years)

So I don’t like to give myself extra calories and I don’t like to give my clients extra calories because, well, all of my clients want to lose weight and they will probably overeat on accident anyway so depending on how consistently they are getting to the gym, I might change those numbers a little bit BUT to keep it simple….

My BMR is about 1,400 calories. BMR stands for basil metabolic rate and it’s the amount of calories that our bodies burn on their own in order to maintain our weight and keep our internal organs functioning.

Say I workout with weights 5 days a week, then I would take my BMR x 1.55 = 2,170.

So this is about how many calories I can eat if I’m working out that much BUT this would make me MAINTAIN my weight. So if I want to lose weight then I would need to create a deficit from that number. Depending on how much weight you want to lose you can subtract 20-30%.

So if I did 2,170 x .30 I would get 651. That’s my deficit. So if i’m working out 5 days a week but still want to consume a calorie amount that will let me lose weight then I would take 2,170 - 651 which = 1,519.

And THAT is how you figure out how to balance your activity factor with your calories.

Real quick - notice how it says if you’re working out 3-5 days a week, you can multiply by 1.55? So in my personal opinion, I would use a smaller number if I was definitely only doing weight 3 days a week.

i would pick a number like 1.2 then create a deficit from there.

I know this probably sounds tedious but if you’ve never tried paying close attention to these numbers then I think you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to seriously help yourself!

Any diet…I repeat…ANY DIET that works, works because it is creating a caloric deficit. So why don’t we just live our lives and pay more attention to what our calories should be and stop trying to chase fad diets?

Again - this is coming from someone who tried every diet in the book, fucked up their metabolism by eatting adderal for 3 months, and did every cardio class of every intensity until it made me sick SO I hope I don’t sound judgy or mean AT ALL, because anything I’m saying to you, I’m also saying to myself haha.

I have just learned the proper way to do things over the last 13 months and have seen and FELT the results from swallowing my pride and trying a new system.

Let me know what you think and definitely let me know below if you have any questions!

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22 WAYS TO INCREASE YOUR N.E.A.T. (HOW TO BURN CALORIES SERIES # 1 OF 4).

Hi mama!

After I did my most recent poll on Instagram, I learned that you guys are actually really interested in learning more about health and fitness beyond what to eat and simple workouts. I feel like I’m learning about this stuff on a daily basis but I wasn’t sure how much ya’ll wanted to know so I kept things really simple BUT now that I know, I’m super stoked to take you guys through as much as I can :)

I just got home from SD which was super fun but it was also a lot of sitting, eating and drinking, AKA GAINING WEIGHT lol.

I just got back this afternoon and literally went for a 90 minute walk 5 minutes after I got home then went to Costco and walked around there then cleaned my house and now we’re here!

You might feel like that’s useless information for you right now but it actually is why I thought to do this post!

So let’s rewind a little and talk about the subject of today’s blog…N.E.A.T.

As I was explaining in this post - NEAT is one of the top 4 ways that we burn calories and I feel like it is HIGHLY underutilized.

The other three ways are, BMR (BASIL METABOLIC RATE), AF (ACTIVITY FACTOR), AND TEF (THERMOGENIC EFFECT OF FOOD), which I will talk more about over the next few weeks for this “How To Burn Calories Series”.

NEAT stands for, NON EXERCISE ACTIVITY THERMOGENESIS.

Say wha…?

Basically it’s the calories that you burn through movement that’s not considered your actual workout. In my opinion, a LOT of people could start dropping weight if they would increase their non exercise activity factor So I wanted to give you guys some examples today of how I do it on the daily, and other examples that you could potentially incorporate.

1. STOP LOOKING FOR THE CLOSEST PARKING SPOT.

Yoooo I used to be the BIGGEST front row parking snob. I would drive and drive and drive and wait around until the closest spot to where I was going would open up. Then I started occupying my boyfriends passenger seat and went through a phase where I wanted to murder him because he would park in the back of every parking lot without even CHECKING the front. (I legit would offer to drive so that I could park). Now I do the same thing because it’s an AMAZING way to get in so many more extra steps. TRUST ME.

2. DO EMAILS/TEXTS/POST WHILE WALKING.

If you’re not cautious of this, it’s super easy to sit in front of your phone or computer while you’re on the couch . It took me some time to be more aware of it but now I time batch my texts, emails, and posting into one 60-90 minute time slot during the day and regardless of where I am, I just put in my headphones and walk outside while I go through everything. It’s also WAY more relaxing, it' doesn’t feel like work it just feels more like a stress reliever.

3. WALK TO THE STORE INSTEAD OF DRIVE

Uhh yeah I also used to be pathetic at this. I would literally go to the bank and then instead of walking across the crosswalk and down the street a little to run my next errand, I would get back in my car and drive there. Seriously. TERRIBLE. Now one of my favorite things to do is bring a bag with me that can help me carry groceries or dry cleaning or whatever and just walk from place to place to knock out my errands. Remember if you’re thinking your too busy for this, that you’re knocking out exercise while you’re running errands! It’s a win.

4. SIT UP STRAIGHT > SLOUCHING

Sounds minimal but our bodies are wired to like minimal. Our bodies are always wanting to conserve energy so they will always want to take the path of least resistance but YOU have the power to tell you body who is boss and tell it that WE’RE MOVIN. Sitting up straight engages our core where as slouching most certainly does not, so sit up straight, work on that core and burn more calories.

5. FIDGET > SITTING STILL

This article is a really interesting read about how fidgeting burns more calories so check it out when you can. Sometimes I will be writing a blog and I’ll snap back to reality and realize that my leg is bouncing around and I have no idea how long it’s been doing it for haha and stopping just feels unnatural. This is why I can’t sit criss cross while working because then I can’t move anything and it’s almost more distracting than moving around.
if you’re not a fidgeter, see if you can pick up a little pep in your step while you’re at your desk.

OTHER WAYS TO DEVELOP YOUR N.E.A.T. THROUGHOUT THE DAY.

6. Clean your house for 20 minutes a day.

7. Walk while you chat on the phone, even if it’s just in circles around your apartment.

8. Stand > sit whenever possible.

9. ALWAYS take the stairs over the elevator. I’m always SO surprised when I see people skipping the stairs and taking the escalators and the airport. MOVE. Or when I go to the mall, my doctors office, parking garages, etc. I always take the stairs.

10. Squeeze your glutes at least 200 times while driving. Sounds weird, I know, but your glutes are totally turned off whenever you’re sitting so take a few minutes to wake them up and give your hip flexors a break.

11. Do planks, glute bridges and crunches during commercials. I did this during the last award show and seriously got in a full workout haha.

12. Do calf raises while you’re waiting in line. I do this OFTEN lol, at the grocery store or the bank and I always did it when i was waiting around as a cocktail server.

13. Tighten your core at stop lights until it turns green.

14. Read > scroll through insta. Using our brain burns more calories. According to this article, a person uses about 320 calories a day just to THINK. Just like with a lot of these tips, the calories burned won’t be a HUGE amount if you change your habits but say you burn 50 more calories a day just from reading instead of watching tv and you do that everyday, you could burn an extra 1,400 calories a month which is almost half a pound. Just something to think about ;)

15. Rent a bike for the day instead of driving.

16. If you sit a lot, set a timer for 1 hour and get up to walk for 5 minutes every time it goes off.

17. Make a simple workout challenge for yourself to complete by the end of the day like 50 push ups or 10K steps or 80 squats. Having little goals at least keeps movement on our minds and allows us to push ourselves a little bit further. Imagine doing 10 push ups 5 different times throughout the day. That’s 350 push ups a week! It would feel like nothing and your arms would LOOOOVE you!

I think that’s a good start haha. Pick 5 of these and comment below to let me know which ones you’re going to try to do starting this week! Also let me know if you liked this blog and if you have any other ideas I would love to read them!

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HOW I'M GETTING READY FOR HAWAII IN TWO WEEKS

I just celebrated my birthday HARD for the last week and I'm not mad at it, but I'm also feeling way less in shape than I was a week ago and totally unprepared for Hawaii haha.

BUT not to fear, I know how to get things back together over the course of two weeks and then we can all just pretend that the alcohol, burgers, chocolate, chips, dips, beer, pad thai, cake, ice cream and bread nevvver happened this week. ALLLRIGHHHHT!

I feel like I get asked this a lot though so I wanted to break down everything I'm doing so you guys know exactly how to prep for a vacation. 

1. WORKOUTS ARE A PRIORITY

I mean, it is quite literally, CRUNCH TIME. NO EXCUSES. When you have a short time period to get ready to vaca or for an event, you need to schedule your workouts like you schedule your blow drys. Here's what my workout schedule will look like for the next 2 weeks:

WORKOUT GOALS

M - Full Body

T - Upper Body 

W - Lower Body 

TH - Upper Body 

F - Full Body 

Sa - Hike/Something Outdoors

Su - Lower Body 

One of my biggest areas of focus is my lower body. I want to lift and round out my booty, tone my inner thighs, and tone my hamstrings SO a good rule of thumb when you really want to focus on an area is to get 30-40 total sets per week. WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN. I'll tell ya. 

So say on Wednesday I do 3 sets of hip thrusts, then I do 3 sets of back squats and then I do 3 sets of dead lifts...that means I've done 9 sets. So by the end of the week I want to try to hit at least 30. (Again this is for areas that you're REALLY wanting to work on). 

If I do that again on Sunday then I will have done 18 sets. This means in order to hit 30 sets, I need to incorporate 12 more sets throughout the week for legs. So I could do this by 3 sets of squats and 3 sets of bulgarians on one full body day, then 6 more sets of lower body exercises on another full body day. 

That would put my total sets for lower body at 30 for the week which is wooorrrrkk girl! This is how you'll start getting those results you're looking for. 

To give you perspective, a beginner usually gets 18 total sets a week, meaning that they might do 9 sets one day, cardio a few days that week, and then one more strength day with 9 sets for the day. This is not ideal for big changes so just something to keep in mind :)

Another thing to keep in mind when creating your work out plan is to make sure you're hitting each muscle group 2 times a week. 

So those are my workouts...Now let's figure out how much I should be eating with those workouts!

CALORIE GOALS:

So if I wanted to maintain my current weight and not work out, then I would have to consume 1,206 calories a day, but since I'll be working out, I can give myself some more calories YAY. (There's a system to figuring this out so if you want this done for yourself - email me at INFO@CHELSEYROSEHEALTH.COM and tell me you're interested in the NUTRITIONAL CONSULTATION). 

There's a whole number and percentage thing that happens here depending on how often you're working out and how hard the workouts are so for me we will multiply my calories by 1.55, so my daily intake of calories on work out days if I wanted to maintain my weight would be 1,869...

BUT

I want to lose a bit of weight right? So what I would need to do is create a caloric deficit so my calorie goal on work out days would be maybe something like 1,600. This means that by the end of a workout day, I will have burned about 250 more calories that day than I consumed which = WEIGHT LOSS. I think what a lot of people tend to do is work out and then reward themselves with a huge meal so your most likely not in a caloric deficit by the end of the day which is why you're not seeing the results you want! (Don't worry, I did that for a long time too).

MACROS GOAL:

Let's start with protein. If I want to maintain lean muscle that I'm putting on then I want to aim to get my body weight in grams of protein. So I would want to aim for about 130 grams of protein, this means that 520 of my calories would be coming from protein. (There's 4 calories per gram of protein so you just multiply 130 by 4). The cool thing about protein is that when consumed, you burn MORE CALORIES simply by eating it. This is called the thermogenic effect of food. Protein burns roughly 30% of calories consumed so if I eat 520 calories of protein, 156 of those calories will be burned off simply by my body trying to break it down and digest it. WOO!

OKAY - from here I can make my CARB goal intake. I know that a VERY low carb diet is 50 grams a day or less and a LOW CARB diet is 100 grams of protein a day or less. When I'm getting ready for a event or a vacation I like to hover at a "low carb diet". Carbs are made of water so when we eat less carbs we start to lose a lot of water weight and look leaner so it really helps when you don't have a ton of time to get ready for something. 

Carbs also have 4 calories per gram so if I want to have 100 grams of carbs a day, then that means that 400 of my calories will come from carbs. 

400 calorie in carbs + 520 calories in protein = 920 calories. If I'm shooting for 1,600 calories on a work out day then this means that I have 680 calories left to use innnnn fat..or alch haha, but seriously. 

one gram of alch = 7 calories

one gram of fat = 9 calories

So depending on what my day looks like I can play around with these remaining calories. 

And that's the lesson on MACROS. 

EATING GOALS

Alrighty - now that we know how much I can eat, I'll talk to you guys about WHAT I'll be eating. I can eat the same thing for months which is nice because then I don't have to think that much about cooking, prepping, blah blah blah. 

Breakfast 6:30am : 1 piece of medium/large fruit like an apple, pear, or banana or two pieces of small fruit like plums...mainly lol. I'm in love with plumcots right now AND a medium almond milk latte.

Snack 11:00am: This is where I like to get in some protein so I will pretty much always have a ONE BRAND Birthday Protein Bar.

Lunch 2:00pm: Protein bowl. If we have rice in the fridge then I'll add a 1/3 cup of that to the mix with 4 ounces of turkey, 1/4 an avocado, and 2 over medium eggs. Then I top it with some sea salt, goat cheese, and tajin. This is a super easy way for me to get in a lot of protein without feeling stuffed or losing any energy, and it keeps me full for like 4-5 hours. 

Snack 5:00pm: This is usually a point in the day that I'm on my way to work and I'm not super hungry but I need to get in more protein and I never know when I'm going to be able to break at work so I like to go in without any vibes of feeling hungry SO i'll do a cold brew with a scoop of protein powder and almond milk or I'll do a ONE BRAND birthday protein bar if I didn't have on earlier in the day. If I don't have to go to work then I skip this snack and just have dinner when I get hungry. 

Dinner 7:00 - 8:30ish: Nothing big. I'll usually have turkey with vegetables and 1/3 cup of carbs whether it's sweet potato, brown rice, pasta etc. Although since I'm keeping my carbs between 50 and 100 for the day it really just depends on what I've had already. 

SLEEPING GOALS

It's impossible to look and feel good without proper sleep and with my stupid ass schedule, sleep can be really hard sometimes. But I've gotten better at setting myself up for the best sleep possible and making sure that I take a nap the next day if I feel like I need one instead of trying to power through. 

When we're on minimal sleep, we LOOK it and our stress levels typically go up and we end up getting sugar cravings so sleep is meggaaa babe important. 

So to get the best sleep I'm going to make sure that I de stress before going to bed. I work at a lounge until midnight so when I come home from there I need to make sure that I try to relax and unwind before getting in bed or else I feel a little stressed in the morning still because it's like I didn't give myself a break. 

I also spray aromatherapy around me when I get home because it just helps with the relaxation aspect of the night and then I make sure that I do my face routine with all my favorite skin care products. 

An eye mask is essential for sleep as well and my phone always goes on the ground on airplane mode. Rest up bitches.

FINAL DO'S AND DONT'S

Do:

+ Drink a lot of water throughout the day

+ Have a celery juice for breakfast a few times to help reduce bloat

+ Drink a detox tea before bed 4-5 nights a week (I like slim master from Ralph's. Super Cheap)

+ Do hit up a sauna and get a colonic if you have time (MAJJJOOORRR)

Don't:

+ Drink if possible. If you do, go for 1 glass of wine or 1 clear liquor on the rocks. Try to avoid super sweet cocktails and beers FOR SURE. 

+ STRESS. This is so counter productive to what you're trying to do. Stressing will make you hang on to weight and crave sweets.

ANYYYWAAAYY I hope you guys found this helpful! I am officially on day one of the count down and made sure to hit the gym this morning, had an apple and a coffee for breakfast, had a turkey bowl for lunch, a ONE bar as a snack and right after this I'll be going on a hike before I figure out what I'm making for dinner! 

Thank you guys so much for popping in to read this. Comment below if you have any other tips, suggestions, or questions!

X

CLEANSE TIP: COLONICS.

I just sat here for way too long trying to think of a better title for this blog but honestly, there's no good way to talk about it, so we're just going to roll with it. 

Okay - I feel like I'm a sex ed teacher who's trying to prep herself to talk about some awkward shit. 

"So, who here has heard of a colonic?! The process by which a tube is shoved up your ass in order to cleanse out your digestive system...?"

No one? Some of you? Okay cool. Let's talk.

As part of my two week cleanse that I just finished up recently (and I'm getting ready to do again), I made a bunch of DETOX-ME appointments. 

This included everything from facials and massages to infrared sauna sesh's, yoga, and yeeeuup, you guessed it. COLONICS. Not one, but two. 

I'll be writing more blogs about the benefits of each one of these appointments individually but for today, I figured we would start with the one that I feel like is talked about the least. 

A colonic, aka colon hydrotherapy is something that I feel is super necessary to get AT LEAST twice a year BUT I know some models that get it like once a month. More power to ya. 

It might sound intimidating and you may have already heard some stories so let me break it down for you. 

When you schedule an appointment for a colonic you are basically setting aside 45 minutes of your day to go to a spa like room and meet with a physician who is licensed to do colon hydrotherapy. They will ask you not to eat for 2 hours before your appointment so that you're not digesting anything during your appointment. 

You walk into a room with a vibe that's like a mesh of your last bikini wax appointment and your upcoming 1 hour massage. 

AKA, it's a relaxing and comfortable vibe with spa music and oil infusers but there's also a woman there who's about to be all up in your business. 

You just have to think that like, these people do this multiple times a day. SHIT they're CERTIFIED in this. They don't mind it, so it's one of those things where you just gotta chill, take the situation for what it is and just gooo with the flow. 

Once you get into your private little spa room, the physician will fill you in on what you're doing and then ask you to go undress from the waist down and hand you one of those annoying and slightly confusing gowns that are open in the back.

You know which ones I'm talking about? Like the ones from the hospital that have strings in random places and you're always worried your ass is COMPLETELY hanging out? 

Yeah so one of those.

Here's where it gets a little weird but, fugg it. 

She'll ask you to lie down on your side on the table bed thing and then she'll (hahah I'm legit laughing as I'm getting ready to type this), she'll take a little tube, lather it up with some coconut oil and slowly put that in place for you - or she may ask you for your help so that you go at your own pace. 

When I say "in place" I mean in your ass - just in case I lost any of you there. 

Yup.

If you can just get past that then you're gucci. It's a lot smaller than you probably think. 

Then you lie down on your back with blankets over you and your knees bent so that you're feet are on the table. The physician will likely talk you through everything again just to make sure you're comfortable and then she will TURN THE WATER ON. 

This is a little knob that is on the irrigation system that they use and it just allows water to slowly start to make it's way through your colon. It feels weird and then you get over it. The therapist will ask you that you just let her know when you feel full and in the mean time she just massages your stomach to get everything to loosen up. 

Once you tell her that you feel full meaning you feel like you can't hold anymore water, she will stop the flow of water and ask you to release. It honestly doesn't even feel like you have to do anything. She will continue to massage your stomach in a way that pushes everything out. 

This is where I felt some cramping but she said that that was the toxins being released and sure enough, you start to see some serious ish flow through the tube. 

The first two times she asked me to release there wasn't much in the tube and I was thinking, damn I eat cleaner than I thought, but that's because everything needed to be loosened up. 

By the third time I noticed that things were really happening. After the fourth time, about 35 minutes in to the appointment, I noticed that my stomach would have some pretty bad cramps and then after I released, I felt my stomach getting flatter and flatter. 

Once you feel like you're no longer experiencing cramps she'll call it quits and have you wrap up the session by going to the restroom where it's like one final push. 

AFTER the appointment she'll tell you not to eat anything heavy for the rest of the day. 

She also told me (since I was asking 8 billion questions during my appointment) that while colonics of course remove all the horrible toxins that were in the colon, it also removes the GOOD BACTERIA from the gut BUT the good bacteria is recreated in about 24-36 hours so I just took it upon myself to go grab a kombucha afterwards to introduce healthy bacteria back into my system.

10 Minutes after I left from my appointment I felt super energized.

I also noticed that I didn't have to go to the bathroom for the following two days and the physician said that this is normal. It wasn't like I couldn't go, I just didn't have to and she said it was because my colon was empty. 

The best thing to notice though was that my stomach was FLAT. I'm talking FLAT FLAT. 

This picture was taken the morning before my colonic and then the morning AFTER my colonic. 

Overall, the process isn't bad at all and I think it is totally worth it. Colonics are SO good for you because they wash away the toxins that build up in your colon over your lifetime and leave your colon clean and fresh. 

Colonics are also known to treat:

+ Constipation

+ Indigestion

+ Diarrhea

+ Gas

+ Bloat

+ Irregularity 

+ Skin Conditions

+ IBS 

and lots more. 

A lot of people will have their negative opinions about colonics but I heard enough positive things about it and have now done it for myself three times and have experienced nothing but amazing results in the way I look and more importantly, FEEL. 

I suggest looking on groupon because that's what I did and there are some really good deals. I got two for 100.00 so i did one 7 days into my cleanse and then another one the day after my two week cleanse ended. 

I didn't feel like it was necessary to make two appointments back to back like that but my girl said that it was actually extremely helpful and it would allow us to get more into the small colon. 

So that's it! Don't be nervous, like I said I highly suggest it!

Let me know if you have any questions!

SIMPLE TIPS YOU CAN USE AT HOME TO IMPROVE YOUR DIET AND FITNESS

guest post: Dorothy Piamonte, content specialist at VAAM.com http://www.rehabcenters.com/free

When you try to get fit, it feels like you have to change everything about the way that you eat.

Maybe you need to join one of those services that deliver ingredients or meals to your house. Maybe you need to get a meal plan and stick religiously to it. Should you be buying expensive ingredients and cookbooks?

Then, there’s the exercise. Do you need to buy resistance bands? What about joining a gym? Is there room in your place for a stationary bike or treadmill?

Don’t freak out. There are a lot of small changes you can put into action without spending a lot of money or changing everything about yourself. Start simply by practicing healthy eating and fitness at home and work up to more complicated endeavors.

You might end up running marathons and eating a raw, vegan diet, but you don’t have to start there.

Eating Healthy at Home

Half of the money you spend on food probably gets spent outside your home. By preparing moremeals at home, you help your bank balance and your health. Try the following:

+ Eat more fruits and vegetables. Fresh is great, but even dried, frozen, and canned are a healthy start.

+ Consider using simple substitutions to make recipes healthier. Use whole wheat flour instead of white. Try unsweetened applesauce and canola oil instead of butter when you bake.

+ Choose healthier oils, like sunflower, soybean, corn, olive, canola, safflower, and sesame.

+ Limit the amount of sugar you consume. Start by drinking more water and cutting out sugary beverages.

+ Reduce your sodium intake. Instead of salt, use more herbs and spices.

Getting Fit at Home

Even if you had a gym membership, taking time out of every day to get there and workout might never happen. Instead try the following:

+ Use fitness magazines and the internet to find new workout techniques and exercises youcan do at home.

+ Use your neighborhood. Go for walk and/or runs. Try going to local parks and using equipment to get fit.

+ Find an exercise buddy and workout together.

+ Plan your workouts and schedule them. If you miss one, reschedule it immediately.

+ Track your progress in a journal. You will learn what works for you and what doesn’t/

+ Set some attainable goals. Think about things you can’t currently do, but could with some work do soon.

+ Make fitness integral to the way you live. It is a lifestyle change and you need to commit.

Jessica Banes is a fitness buff and very fan of home remedies for fitness. She also an expert

health blogger most specially about addictive behaviors, addiction problemS and gambling. 

HOW I'M GETTING FIT IN BETWEEN THE HOLIDAYS

Notice how I didn't title this "staying fit"...that's right, GETTING FIT. 

We're in between holidays and I think I have my diet together more than I have in months. I don't know why but that's just the way it is. 

I feel like this is usually what happens for me...I'm on my A game from about January to May, mainly because there's nothing going on. JUNE, JULY and AUGUST are summer festivities and my birthday so I tend to enjoy more margaritas than usual and of course eat more chips and salsa. Like gallons, but whatever.

September and October and pretty okay because I'm getting ready for halloween or getting ready to travel.

After that I kind of shoot down to a "D Game". I'm puffy and bloated from alcohol and traveling, I'm cold because I'm a California baby and I end up staying in bed a little longer, I want warm comfort foods and it's the holidays so I'm drinking sangria like it's my job.

It's only been about 1 week since Thanksgiving and I'm already noticing A LOT OF GOODNESS HAPPENING this time around.

I made some commitments to myself and it's making me SUPER happy to feel TIGHT, see my stomach de bloating and feeling constantly energized. 

A lot of the things I'm doing are part of my 8 Tummy Tips which you get when you sign up for my newsletter so feel free to grab that while you're here:)

So basically I'm committing to this until Christmas so it's just about a month. Do it with me!

1. DRINKING MAS WATER

Especially now that it's winter, we need to keep our skin hydrated. If you feel like your lips are dry or your skin feels tight then it's probably a sign that you're dehydrated. 

After that I fill up one of my 24-ounce cups with a lid and straw and fill it up with water throughout the day. Even when I'm at work, I make sure that I have water handy throughout my entire shift. 

You'll run to the bathroom more but be happy about it! That means that your bod is properly hydrated and is willing to let some water go.

Have you ever noticed when you're hungover and you drink like 6 water bottles and still don't have to pee? That's because your body is scared that you're going to dehydrate it again so it holds on to as much water as possible. This is why we get puffy when we drink. 

So DRINK WATER. It also helps reduce cravings and appetite. 

2. WORK OUT 6 TIMES A WEEK

I recently showed you guys how I'm scheduling my workouts in this blog and I'm still sticking to it! I also bought a groupon deal for Bar Method which has been nice for days that I don't want to go to the gym OR for days that I go to the gym in the morning and feel like working out at night. 

Staying consistent with my workout schedule makes me more motivated to eat clean which in turn makes me motivated to work out so it's a win win. 

3. HEALTHY [AF] SNACKS

A lot of the time I don't HAVE TIME to make a meal before I leave the house. I'm also more of a snack person though so I noticed that when I would get hungry and be in a hurry, I would eat some crackers really quick or grab a bag of flax seed chips and bolt to my car. 

This isn't the worst but I knew it would make a difference if I made some changes. 

For example, when I last drove down to San Diego, I was in a rush and didn't feel like cooking anything. I grabbed an old grocery bag, threw in an apple, 3 tangerines, and a bag of each veggie I had. 

I ate all of it on the way to SD and felt full without ever feeling stuffed or bloated.

This has also been especially helpful at work because normally I would go on break and dabble into a tiny bit of pasta (covered in oil), a tiny but of tuna (covered in mayo), and a salad with a tiny bit of ranch (no bueno) and then EVERY SINGE TIME no mattter how much I ate, I would be bloated afterwards.

Lately I've been bringing a bag of almonds from Whole Foods with my everywhere including work, along with these chocolate energy bars and a bag of tea.

I tell myself that if I eat that and I'm still hungry then sure, have some work food but as tempting as those other options are, I've been LEGIT FULL.

And not bloated!

4. NO DRINKING.

Gaaahd, I love a good whisky sour during the winter time, or some glasses of wine with a friend but for this little 4 week break...no drinking. 

It really is the one thing that will let me lose weight, puffiness and bloating almost instantly. 

When I'm drinking I notice my love handles start to creep back, some really sexy form of what I like to call an Iphone Double Chin starts creeping in which is where you start to get a double chin jusssst as you tilt your head down to look at your phone or computer. So that's fun. 

I think my ankles even get smaller when I'm detoxing so, lots of benefits going on. 

Like I said, it's only been 1 week of these habits and I'm noticing differences. 

5. SMALL MEALS

Remember the blog I wrote about eating clean while you have a boyfriend? Well this kind of goes back to the roots of that. When you're first in a relationship you eat smaller meals throughout the day because you never want to be too full. Then once you start dating for a while you start ordering the same thing as your boyfriend and drink dark beers with it and then lifes just over. 

So SMALL MEALS. I eat until I'm satisfied and then eat again in 2-3 hours. This can be kind of hard if you're running around all day which is why you NEED to keep small healthy snacks in your purse and car. This way you eat though out the day and keep your metabolism going. 

When you go all day without eating then you're starved by 4 pm and end up eating everything everywhere. No No NO.

Alrighy lovies, that's all for now. I need to go have my apple and almond butter snack and get ready for work. My spaghetti squash is already in small tupperware ready for me to take to work :)

1 MAJOR THING I DID TO "LOSE WEIGHT".

You know those moments when you look at a picture of yourself from a few years ago and think about how damn good you looked?

And then you remember that when you were at that time in your life you were actually unhappy with your body?

I'm definitely guilty of that. 

I used to be SO hard on myself. I was going to the gym twice a day, I tried eating only raw for 3 weeks, I trained for a fitness competition, I drank a gallon of water everyday, and I still remember seeing myself in pictures and analyzing all the things that I thought were wrong with me.

I would think that my hips looked too big or my shorts were too tight and that I shouldn't have enjoyed so much food while I was on my vacationnn and blah blah blahhhh. 

I would compare myself to my friends and make myself even more unhappy and then I caught myself looking at every inch of my body in the mirror trying to figure out how I could change it.

I was actually so stressed about my body that 1. I was seeing things that weren't really there and 2. I was probably holding on to extra weight because that's what your body does when you're stressed.

And to be honest, I was actually stuck in that for a long time. It didn't help that every beautiful girl I was around was doing the same thing. I would see these girls who I thought were gorg CONSTANTLY picking on themselves and it made me feel like I should also be more 'aware' of my body.

Girls that were super thin were talking about that they ate too much that day when they didn't eat shit and saying that they needed to work out just SOOO BADDDDD because they had some french fries earlier.

WHAT KIND OF LIFE IS THAT???

A really, really, shitty one. And I fell for it. 

So I just kinda starting trying to really pay attention to myself and I stopped listening to the other people around me that were bickering about their bodies. If they said something negative about themselves I just started ignoring them rather than feeding the fire and trying to talk them out of it. 

They would sit there and talk about how hungry they were while I was eating popcorn and they would complain about their body and I would just siiiit there and watch Ellen.

Slowly but surely I started feeling more comfortable in my own skin. I kept going to the gym and eating clean of course but not to such an extreme that took over my life. 

Kinda like telling yourself that you're not allowed to pop pimples you know? Like, just DON'T do it...then your face starts to clear up!

Don't look at yourself in the mirror and pick at your body...then you're mind starts to clear up!!

See what I did there?

I remember looking at myself a few times after I had stopped WORRYING about trying to look damn near perfect and I remember feeling HAPPY. My body looked nearly the same but I knew that I had been enjoying a stress free diet. 

I let myself enjoy a beer or a little bread before dinner or some pasta....WHATEVER. 

I still made healthy decisions throughout the day and I still got up and went to the gym. It's not like a just completely let myself go but I did pull it back a little bit and I actually felt better.

By not analyzing myself every damn second, and feeling my stomach to see how bloated I was after each meal, I started to just RELAX, and feel more confident in my skin. 

So if you're currently bashing yourself or feel like you can't have one cheat meal without running to the gym, then PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE try to take this advice.

Really try to stop staring at yourself and picking out everything that you don't like about your body. See how you feel and share below. I think it's really important to bring this up because I think there's a lot of girls out there who are going through the same thing. 

love you guys!

xoxo

WHY PEARS ARE MY NEW SKINNY SECRET

SERIOUSLY THOUGH YOU GUYS...I HAVE A NEW OBSESSION.

Pears. Random right? Haha, not like they're anything brand new.

+++ I've always liked them but recently, I fell in LOOOVEEE.

So remember how I was sick AF with that weird summer cold that I guess is a thing??

It was a major drag BUT while I was sick, all I was craving was fruits, veggies and tea with LOTS of honey. A friend of mine told me that last time he was sick he ate like 8 pears in one day, HA, and felt so much better the next day.

Ehhh, fine I'll try it. Couldn't hurt, right?

I looked like a pear obsessed freak when I left the grocery store but that's fine.

So whatever, the next morning I chopped up 4 pears, threw them in a bowl, grabbed a fork, jumped back in bed and enjoyed the shit out of ALL of them.

Needless to say, I was a little shocked by how full I was. Like, literally...STUFFED. (Goes to show that fruit CAN fill you up!)

Then I noticed that I wassss going thru some major detox. TMI? Whatever.

Sooooo I decided to do a little research to see what these little guys have to offer and everything was SPOT ON.

Come to find out ----

Pears are one of the highest fiber fruits, giving us 6 grams per every medium sized fruit.

So I basically had an entire days worth of fiber in one sitting..

---

Ready for the skinny secret??

---

Due to the amount of pectin (an insoluble fiber) that pears have, they are kinda like a laxative for the gut. They TOTALLY help with bloating and constipation which alsoooo helps you steer clear of colon cancer. Just fyi. 

And apparently when you get full from fruit fiber you are reducing your risk for breast cancer which I think is something that we as girls need to be paying WAY more attention to.

Catch my blog here about how what you EAT can actually reduce or increase your risk for breast cancer. 

In terms of starting to feel like you're getting sick, pears are a staple GO TO ITEM. They contain Vitamin C as well as Copper which are antioxidant nutrients. This makes sense as to why loading up on them helped me recover MUCH faster.

Here's some other goodies they have!:

VITAMINS:

- C

- K

- B2

- B3

- B6

MINERALS:

- Calcium

- Magnesium

- Potassium

- Copper

- Maganese

- Iron

Pretty cool right?

I knew that apples we're known for having a lot of insoluble fiber which is why they are also good for your digestion but pears surpass that. Plus I think they're easier to eat, right? For some reason I feel like apples make me hungry haha. I feel like they're a little too acidic for me.

Pears on the other hand are super sweet AND they are hypoallergenic so people with food sensitivities can usually eat them without any bad side effects.

Not to mention, they're also good for vegetarians as a little dose of iron.

I'm personally anemic from having a lack of iron so this was just anoooother plus for me.

A lot going on here right?! Amazing.

I've been eating a pear before hitting the gym in the morning and I've been having two as a snack in the middle of the day.

I seriously can't get enough.

TRY IT, TRUST ME.

Especially if you're having digestion problems, eat like 4 in the morning and see how it goes. 

xoxo

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WHY L-CARNITINE IS MY NEW TONE UP WEAPON

So kind of forever ago, I trained for a fitness body competition and my trainer had me doing a lot of things to help me lean out, gain muscle and burn fat.

Some of those things I still do today like lift heavy to build muscles and get lean (especially the booty) & drink a protein shake after working out. Other things I STOPPED doing, like eating pounds of turkey and chicken every single day. (For me, I found that not eating meat helped my stomach to stop hurting all the time.)

Then there was THIS little supplement that I totally forgot he had me buying on the reg. 

If you can stick with my through an old school science lesson real quick, it will help you understand what it does & why it's so vital. 

Science version: L-carnitine is critical for energy production in every cell of your body. It carries fat, in the form of fatty acids, to the mitochondrial inner membrane where energy is produced. Without L-carnitine, the normal burning of fat cannot take place.

Real Person Version: It basically squeezes the fat out of your cells and makes it the main source of fuel that your body can use for energy, thus torching your fat! 

Have a tablespoon of L-Carnitine about 30 minutes before you work out to make sure that you end up using fat as your main energy source rather than your body burning off your muscles in order to get some energy. 

I took a tablespoon the other day on an empty stomach just so i could really feel the effects of it and everything was spot on.

I was sweating like a psycho in my class, i wasn't hungry for a while after working out (although i did have my protein smoothie!) and i was like cracked on energy - but not in a jittery way. 

This is because L-Carnitine also gives you energy and suppresses your appetite. 

Other benefits? 

+ It helps improve your endurance during a workout - Yesterday, for example, I took Barry'sBootcamp "Booty and Legs Class". This guy had us doing 3-minute intervals on the treadmill, with sprinting and jogging and uphill sprinting....IT WAS MADNESS. And then he would have us rush over to the mats and do ridiculous squats, lunges, and step ups with weights and bands. No break, one hour. 

At the end of class, my friend and I were drenched in sweat but looked at each other and said, "that wasn't that bad". The L-Carnitine had us burning a lot of fat rather than sugar like it normally does.

When your body runs out of it's sugar storage (glucose) while you're working out, that's when you start to feel fatigued and then your body starts getting fuel from eating your hard earned muscles which is what we DON'T want. 

+ It also assists in muscle recovery and muscle soreness which is amazing!! Even with how much water I drink I didn't think I'd be able to move today after that class and I actually feel okay. And this class was hard AF you guys haha.

+ It aids in brain health by helping to either benefiting or delaying age-related things like memory or mood. 

+ Our heart gets 70% of it's metabolic energy from fatty acids SO L-Carnitine is stocked in that area and it has been shown to support the cardiovascular system which if healthy, would help to prevent things like heart failure and irregular heartbeats. 

So basically I'm in love. Try it out and see what you think but I think you're going to love it too. The taste isn't actually AMAZING like the bottle says. It's actually pretty disgusting. But it's one tablespoon. You take more in a shot of tequilla, which actually tastes better in my opinion haha but ce la vie. 

Have you guys tried this before? If you have, let me know what you think!

xoxo Chelsey

Some information for this post was supported by this website.

MY FAVORITE TEAS FOR ENERGY AND WEIGHT LOSS

Okay so there's clearly been a huge push lately about promoting tea & now there's like a million to choose from. Whether or not the people that swear by them are doing it because they really DO or just because they're getting paid...ehh hard to say.

Here's my deal. I've been asked with a TON of tea companies and I've tried a few. Some are seriously gross which is why I don't promote them. Team-i Blends hit me up and let me try their skinny tea and their colon tea. I like them both but I especially LOVEEEEE the colon tea. Now I'm not doing this just to promote them, I truly do LOVE their stuff. I think I get like 3 dollars, maybe even less actually...I don't even know, every time someone uses my code to buy their tea. Half the time people spell my name wrong and I think it still works and then it doesn't even go thru me haha but I don't care.

I like it so I use it and then tell you guys about it, that's it. Now it works VERY WELL but it can be really intense. Like wakes you up in the middle of the night intense if you let it steep too long but I don't mind because that makes me feel like it's really working. 

Since it is so intense I only use it like once every 1-2 weeks. 

NOW. As a less aggressive detox tea I use the Triple Leaf SUPER SLIMMING tea which you can get pretty much anywhere (I get mine at Ralphs). This one you can have any time, the other one you definitely only want to have at night haha.

As for energy, the Bigelow Vanilla Chai (also sold at Ralphs) is my jam! Black tea has the most caffeine and I love chai so it's perfect. I mix a packet of the chai with the super slimming tea in the morning with some organic honey and I've noticed that it definitely gives me lasting energy, reduces my cravings, and sorta suppresses my appetite. 

If you do want to try the detox tea from Team I blends, my promo code is CHELSEYROSE and you'll get 10% off, or just buy it without my code. WHATEVER. It's just soo good. (Disclaimer: Don't have it if you plan on hanging out with your boyfriend the next morning. Or anyone for that matter. lol. Weird? true.) 

If you get any of these, let me know what you think in the comments below :)

WHEN YOU HAVE 3 DAYS TO GET YOUR BOD RIGHT AND TIGHT

I literally never know what day it is. ALL DAY yesterday i thought it was Monday and it was THURSDAY. Like not even close. So it doesn't surprise me that i looked at my calendar today and realized that I actually only have three days until my first fitness shoot...not 8 like I originally thought for some unknown reason.  

First of all, lets talk about this shoot real quick. So yes it's going to be my FIRST fitness shoot for Chelsey Rose Health & I am SO excited. I did a few shoots with W3livehealthy but this will be my first one on my own. (For those of you who followed W3livehealthy, if you haven't noticed...we all talked and decided that we wanted to go on a little but of different paths so that's why you won't see the three of us on there together anymore but we're all SO EXCITED for what's to come!)

The main idea behind the shoot is MOTIVATION. Motivation for me to get more posts out to you guys about workout tips and tricks (Since Iv'e been focusing more on the nutrition side of things) which in turn might motivate you to try something new or set some new workout goals! It's not just to have the picture on instagram or to get dolled up for a day (even though it's gunna be fun..!) It's to provide you guys with more information and tools and resources so it's definitely a little project that i'm excited about.

At then end of the day though IT IS A PHOTO SHOOT haha and I think it's in every girls genetics make up to want to do SOMETHING to feel like we're getting ready for the shots SO I wanted to fill you in on what I'm doing over the next three days to get prepped and who knows, maybe it will give you some guidelines for the next time you're in a crunch to slim down, and tone up. 

1. Less Carbs

Notice how I didn't say NO CARBS. Best belieeeve I'm going to be working out over these next few days (as usual) and I need my carbs to fuel me. I'm just going to do a little bit less. At lunch time before I work out I will have 1/3 cup quinoa or cous cous with A TON of arugula and some some chopped baby carrots. (No croutons :( - salty). Normally I have a few because I live in moderation but I can hold off for the next few days.

No carbs at night though. Not that it's a huge deal but if there's somewhere I can cut down it would be there. I'll stick to lettuce wrapped tuna, salmon salads with lemon dressing and lots of veggies, and  FA SHO.

2. Lots Of Fat Burning Water

A gallon a day at least. If I carry around a one gallon jug with me then I tend to go through a lot more! (You run to the bathroom a lot but you're flushing out TONS of toxins, reducing cravings by A LOT and reducing all that bloating and puffiness that comes with alcohol & salty foods, YAAAS).

For one gallon:

+ Squeeze or Juice 2 organic lemons

+ 2 Teaspoons Organic Cayenne Pepper

+ 1 Gallon ALKALINE WATER. (I mentioned in my snap the other day (chelseyrose - add me!) that you can find places around you that will sell you GALLONS of alkaline water for SUPER CHEAP!! Just google "ALKALINE WATER STORES IN your city) and you should get a map of some. You just have to purchase the 5 gallon jug when you get there and then they will fill it up for you for 5-7 dollars! (1 gallon at the store is like 3.50 so it's a great deal). The jug is about 30.00 dollars or so but it's a great investment that you only need to purchase once. Also - get a little one gallon jug to carry around with you while you're there if they have them!!)

3. Detox Tea

Detox tea is the shit. No pun intended? Haha gross anyways.

Seriously though detox tea is SO NECESSARY for every day life but especially when you're wanting to slim down pretty quick. This is what I use because it's the best tea I've found for detoxing with the colon cleanse and sustained energy with the Skinny Tea. 

This is my go to, i HIGHLY recommend it. The colon cleanse can be a little intense your first couple of times so I suggest only steeping it for about 5 minutes. I steep mine for like 15 haha. 

Get 10% off your purchases from Teami BLends with my discount code CHELSEY. Make sure you put a "Y" not an "A" .

4. Sweat and Tone

Definitely want to sweat to reduce puffiness and eliminate toxins from my body and I want to tone up! I'll probably do a spin class because i sweat my ass off in those classes, sit in the sauna for about 30 minutes one night (LOVE THAT) and do two barre classes because that's about all I have time for ! haha. Barre is AMAZING for toning quickly and plumping you up in all the right places. i suggest looking online at Groupon Barre Class Discounts and trying it!

5. Protein Smoothie

Another one of those things that you've probably seen a trillion times if you follow me on snap. I FREAKING LOVE THIS SMOOTHIE! It's filling, SUPER HEALTHY and plant protein based. I have been having one or breakfast and then I've been making one after my workout as well. This helps keep me full and satisfied and helps rebuild my muscles! YOU'RE NOT GOING TO BULK UP. If you want to that plump feeling in your ass after a workout to last longer than the next day you NEED to refuel with protein. Or else you're just "living off the pump" and your ass will go back down in 24 hours. Get it right get it tight my friends. 

So whether you're getting ready for a shoot or getting ready for Coachella, these tips will definitely give you some quick results! Stay tuned for the shoot & more tips via snap!

xoxo

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QUICK SLIM DOWN TIPS

A lot of people ask me how they can drop a little weight quickly! I know that sometimes it can feel like you’re never going to get close to your dream body, or maybe even your old body!

 Sometimes we get so down on ourselves that we think we can’t even go back to the body we had 2 weeks ago!! 

That really is how quickly things can change! I want to remind you to pick your head up and know that you can change your body for the worst just as quickly as you can change it for the better! Take three pictures of yourself in a bathing suit (front, back and side) then follow these steps and take the same pictures again in 2 weeks!

1. Drink ½ gallon – one gallon of water a day to flush out toxins, promote digestion, and speed up your metabolism.

2. Reduce sugar and salt intake, even in things like almond milk, granola and yogurts. Make sure that you buy unsweetened and go for all natural ingredients. This will reduce puffiness.

3. SWEAT 6 TIMES A WEEK. We don’t care how, just do it J Speeds up metabolism, promotes digestion, clears your body of toxins, burns fat, builds lean muscle.

4. Eat 5-6 small meals a day! Calorically this is roughly 200 calories a meal. Keeps your metabolism going and burns fat.

5. Eat fruit for breakfast. It is the easiest thing for your body to digest so it won’t use up a lot of your energy and it will give you the nutrients you need!

6. Restrict your diet of EGGS, MILK, CHEESE, YOGURT (goats milk yogurt okay)refined carbs (white pasta, white bread, white flour –> muffins, cookies, pastries, pancakes… white potatoes, cereal, white rice) fried foods, and added sweeteners (any sugar excluding RAW sugar and stevia, simple syrup)

REFINED CARBS ARE DIGESTED QUICKLY WHICH GIVE YOU ENERGY FOR A BRIEF AMOUNT OF TIME BECAUSE THEY SPIKE YOUR SUGAR LEVELS, but then they drop making you feel exhausted. Instead have COMPLEX CARBS WHICH DIGEST SLOWLY GIVING YOU STEADY SUSTAINED ENERGY THAT LASTS J These are foods like oatmeal, whole/multi grain breads and pastas, quinoa, brown rice and sweet potatoes.

       Try swapping some of your favorites for these healthier alternatives :)

                                    THIS < THAT

 Flour pancakes < gluten free pancakes

Greek yogurt < Goats milk yogurt

Whole, 2%, fat free, skim < Unsweetened vanilla almond or coconut milk

White rice, white pasta < gluten free, whole wheat, whole grain rice, quinoa, and pasta

White potato < sweet potato

Salad dressing < olive oil and vinegerette with lemon

Hamburger <lettuce wrapped veggie burger

Burrito < whole wheat tortilla with spinach, black and pinto beans, avocado, sriracha

Ice cream < arctic zero protein ice cream

Candy < coconut dates

Movie theater popcorn < already cooked sea salt popcorn

Chips < bag of dried, lightly salted veggies (whole foods/trader joes etc)

Pizza < gluten free pizza

Cereal < granola

Fries < sweet potato fries

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EASY STEPS TO AVOID BLOATING

Being bloated sucks. Ladies, we already have to go through that sh*t once a month guaranteed. Sorry for the language but DAMN ITS ANNOYING.

So, other than those days i’d really appreciate it if all my hard work didn’t hide under this weird bloat thing that tends to happen. So I looked into what makes it happen, and how to avoid it.

I never eat a lot of dairy. The most i’ll ever have is my greek yogurt….

But, the other night I was enjoying a drink and some good conversation and we decided to get a cheese plate. The guy talking about cheese could have gone on for years so we just decided to get one. I’d say it was more of an interesting experience than it was tasty, but regardless…we finished it.

I got home that night and seriously wanted to jump off of my balcony. I felt like my stomach was actually GOING to kill me and I looked about 5 months pregnant. 

The amount of cheese I ate was just WEIRD

Come to find out, fats take the longest to digest when compared to protein and carbohydrates. So they keep us full for longer periods of time which can make us look very bloated. Trust me. Last cheese plate ever. 

Other quick recipes for bloating include eating too fast and eating too much.  

Thankfully those things are pretty easy to change and will DEFINITELY reduce bloat, you just have to be aware of it. The slower you eat by the way the more aware of how full you are. 

Other than that you need to be aware of what foods you are consuming because some foods just naturally cause bloating like beans and lentils because they contain indigestible sugars called oligosaccharides that have to be broken down by the bacteria in our stomachs.

Other bloating foods include some veggies such as brussels sprouts, cauliflower, carrots and apricots. I remember a few years ago my “after the gym snack” was a big bowl of brussels sprouts cooked with hummus and a protein shake. I didn’t understand why It made me bloat so much since it was healthy but i’ve learned to avoid them, or at least eat smaller portions. 

Sweeteners like fructose can also cause bloating which might be a big one for some people because companies sneak that crap into everything. Our bodies can’t digest it so it just kind of sits there. It’s awful and you should try to be aware of it, it will make a big difference if you take that out of your diet!

Other than thattttttt, just remember to drink a lot of water!! Even fiber is an indigestible carbohydrate so water helps to break it down.

I hope that helps :) 

HOW TO PREVENT YOURSELF FROM OVER EATING

Uhhhh why do we eat until we can’t stand sometimes? I DONT KNOW EITHERRRRRRRRR

Give me some popcorn at a movie theater and make sure you say BYE to it because it’s gone forever once I get it. I’m also finding (kind of surprisingly) that MOST girls I talk to tell me that they usually over eat, and wish they wouldn’t. Sometimes when it’s a scheduled break time at school or work I've also noticed that we tend to overeat because we almost feel like we have to. Whether it’s because it’s the highlight of our day depending on how class or work is going or because we’re forced to break early and won’t be able to eat for the next 6 hours…(how do they make that legal…….still wondering)

Other times we over eat simply because we’re bored, or because we don’t understand what our body is really telling us so instead, we just eat, thinking that it’s telling us that it’s hungry.

Other time we suffer from FOWLO…fear of wasted left overs, and save it and then end up eating it only because it’s about to go bad…..God forbid it goes into the trash can, lets use our body as a trash can instead! yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa no.

Or how about those hangover hungers? I think pretty much everyone  I know finds it acceptable to eat the world on hangover days. But filling yourself up with every piece of junk food isn’t going to make you feel much better. Keep it to one cheat hangover meal.

I want to teach you about the times when you think you’re hungry but you’re not, and tips to seriously minimizing the meals you over eat!

1. Ever notice how sometimes you wake up and you’re first thought is, whyyyyy the F am I soooo hungry already?? Well sometimes if we wake up too early or on too little of sleep, our bodies aren’t done processing all the acids that it takes care of while we sleep. If we wake up in the middle of this it feels like we haven’t eaten in 12 hours but it’s actually just stomach acid. Let it pass.

2. At night when you’re really tired do you notice that you also start to feel hungry - sweets specifically? When we force ourselves to stay awake our bodies start to reach for energy sources. Whats the fastest? Sugar. You don’t have a random late night craving, you’re just tired. When this happens to me I go for a glass of almond milk mixed with some alkalizing chocolate greens!

3. Eat Slow - when we eat too fast we don’t give our bodies enough time to absorb all the nutrients which will eventually let us know that we are full. By the time we feel full, we’ve already stuffed down more food bringing on the SUUUUUPER FULL FEELING.

4. Go for Colored Plates and Bowls - Studies show that when we use colored plates and bowls we tend to grab less food.

5. Stand up - We tend to eat less when were not so comfortable. Standing up also gives us a sense of how long we’ve been eating. You can sit comfortably on a couch for 45 minutes eating chips but it’s unlikely that you’ll do the same standing. 

6. Have A Craving? - Go for a 10 minute walk. Just try it, it works. Every time I wake up from a nap I CRAVVVVE something. I don’t know why. I’m never actually hungry. So instead of falling into that trap I tell myself to get out of the house for 10 mins and 9 times out of 10 my weird nap craving goes away.

7. Eat Protein ! - This is major when it comes to preventing yourself from over eating. Protein actually sends a signal to our brains that we’re full. Without it, were just eating machinas. I don’t know about you but i could sit and eat an entire bag of chips if i wanted to - no prob byyyye…but imagine if each chip was a piece of sashimi….You’ll be full pronto.

8. Up Your Fiber Intake - This will get you full, and keep you full for longer without having the uncomfortable tooo full feeling.

10 TIPS FOR DETOX

Our bodies are exposed to toxins everyday through water, food, air, pharmaceutical drugs and of course the poison that comes along with any alcohol you may have consumed.

I want to give you 10 ways to detox today ! This includes detoxing both the mind and body naturally so that it can flush out anything in your body that may be unhealthy and slowing you down!

1. Lemon water - Start the day with a glass of water and fresh lemon. This just helps to flush out the toxins and alkalize the body. I personally juice 2 lemons first thing in the morning, add some cayenne pepper and 1 packet of stevia then put it in a 32 oz glass jar and fill the rest with water!

2. Fresh made Green Juice - Try to have a fresh one daily filled with all sorts of greens! I like to make a batch in the morning using lemon, green apple, ginger, spinach, romaine lettuce, cucumber and pineapple - then i add chia seeds to stay full ! 

3. Trade out your bad oils for healthy oils - This mean ditch the canola oil, vegetable, peanut and sunflower oils and swap them for coconut, hemp, flaxseed or avocado oil.

4. Drink Herbal Teas - These teas help to detoxify your body naturally while hydrating you and giving you energy

5. Eat RAW - This means uncooked! Primarily fruits, vegetables and herbs. These foods help grab on to toxins in your body and pull them out. They also don’t leave any toxins in your body after consumption!  

6. Minimize or eliminate white sugar - This means white rice, white potatoes, white bread, white sugar, white flour get the idea? These foods just rev up your blood levels aka your energy and then they shoot it down 15 minutes later leaving you tired and bloated.

 7. Take a Probiotic - Or eat foods like have like cultures in them! My favorite way to get my probiotics is through non fat Plain Greek yogurt. The probiotics kill off bacteria and yeast thats hanging out in your body and strengthen the lining of your stomach aiding in good healthy digestion.  

8. Minimize or eliminate meat consumption - You don’t even want to know how long it takes for your body to digest meat. Meaning that you eat it, then a couple DAYS down the line your body will be able to dispose of some of it. yikes. That means it just sits inside of you, mind you our body temperature runs at about 98 degrees. So it’s kinda just cooking in there for a few days. Imagine how weightless you would feel if you stopped that cycle for a while ay??

 9. Start a journal - What? Yes, journal. This is for your mental detox. Anything getting clogged up in your brain needs to come out and lets do it in a positive healthy way! Plus its fun to read through later.

10. Exercise - If you’re exercising and getting your blood moving then you are sweating and helping your entire body detox and get rid of anything that it doesn’t need. Ever notice how after a night of drinking if you can manage to get to the gym you kiiiinda smell like a bar? That all that alcohol leaving your body! Thank God.