Friday, July 19, 2013

Karl's commitment to fitness for the next 28 days - Day 1


I wasn't always a big guy, as a child, teen and young adult I lived-breathed-and died for basketball. When you eat like a teenager and stop playing ball like one it turns out... you gain 40 lbs in 2 months. Ouch. Then, add a broken hand, and a second child in and you gain another 20 lbs. OK so maybe you didn't gain 60 lbs but I did. 

In the last 4 months while adhering to the Slenderiiz program (you can read more about that HERE} I have lost 50 lbs, primarily by taking some quality supplements, incorporating clean eating at a 1250 calorie intake (more on days when I work out) and 20 minutes of light cardio 4 days a week. I have come to a point where I want to tone up my newly exposed muscles and gain the strength and agility back that I need in order to safely play basketball again. 

My friend Brock, who I have known since elementary school had killer results in his commitment to fitness where he blogged about reducing his body fat from 21% to 11% in 28 days by using the same supplements but a higher intensity work out regimen than my previous 20 minutes of light cardio. You can read about Brock's 28 days HERE.

Friday July 19th was my first of the Next 28 days, where I am committing to following the work out regimen I will be posting from Brock's blog as well as continuing to eat clean - we are dairy free, gluten free, sugar free, soy free, and low glycemic. This is the first time I have attempted intense work outs baring weight on my left hand that's had 2 reconstructive surgeries since a car wreck in October of 2010.
                           It is a lot easier to bare weight on my hand now that I'm 50 lbs lighter!
I really was intimidated by this work out routine because it pushes me to bare weight on my hand and use my lower back in ways that I haven't done since completing physical therapy. Did I mention I have degenerative disk disease? I have moderate to severe arthritis in my lower back at the ripe age of 32 years old. My doctor has been very frank in telling me that if I don't lose the weight around my belly than I'm going to end up having the back of a 90 year old by the time I am 40 years old.

I'm not a writer, or a body builder or a nutrition expert but I have been inspired. I want people to see that even if you have health issues, or insecurities there's no reason to settle and give in to accepting the weight, the lack of strength. I refuse to give in anymore, I will be healthy and I will be fit. You better believe I will be playing basketball again some day soon too.





                                           Incline Push-ups: 4 sets, 12-15 reps








My plan is to do 3 days of upper body/core followed by 2 days of lower body/core then a rest day from lifting but used for 40 minutes of cardio and day 7 will be stretching and some Yoga. -I've never tried Yoga before but Danielle's mom teaches it and we've been googling videos on You Tube to figure out what will work best for stretching out and strengthening my problem areas.

I have a huge support system between my wife, kids, friends at the gym, and the whole Next 28 Days contributors and audience and am looking forward to the remaining 27 days!

You can also follow my blog
posts at 
http://thenext28days.com/karl28

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

A lighter more flavorful spin on a Chicken salad



Who doesn't love chicken salad? The problem is usually its full of mayo and chicken and bread which doesn't really provide much nutritional value to your day. Here's my absolute favorite chicken salad mix on a bed of spring greens. 

Ingredients:
1 chicken breast cooked and cooled (you can boil or bake or use left over rotisserie)
1/2 tbs olive oil based mayo or veganaise
1/2 an orange
4 dried apricots
1/2 cup red grapes
optional garnish** sunflower seeds, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, Chopped basil
2 cups lettuce of greens of your choice (I like the spring mix with baby herbs and spinach)

Note: Don't like Mayo? no problem! Substitute greek yogurt, or 1/2 tbs mashed avocado, or 1/2 tbs of olive oil emulsified in the blender with 1/2 tbs lemon juice. 

Seasonings:
cumin
sea salt
pepper

Dice up your cooled cooked chicken, apricots, grapes (cut in half) and toss with the mayo and 1 tbs of fresh squeezed orange juice (save the rest of the orange to dress the greens with). season with 1/4 tbs cumin and salt and pepper to taste.

Plate the greens in a bowl and squeeze remaining orange juice on to the greens. Spoon the chicken mix on top of the greens and garnish with your choice of seed or basil. 
Voila! so delicious and healthy!

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Veggie Loaded Gluten Free Lasagna

 I love Italian food! Lasagna is a personal favorite. I have a recipe for you that can easily be done vegan or with Goat cheese (if you can tolerate cow milk go for it, goat cheese is much more allergy friendly and about 1/2 the calories of cow milk). Instead of pasta layers I used thinly sliced strips of zucchini. My whole family -even little Ms. Picky eater- and the neighbors who joined us for dinner LOVED this and didn't miss the noodles at all.
Ingredients:
1.5 lbs of ground chicken or turkey - to simplify you can get Italian seasoned turkey sausage
2 large carrots (shredded)
3 medium zucchini (sliced thin, length wise)
1 yellow onion (finely chopped)
3 cloves of garlic (minced)
1 can Hunt's Basil Garlic Oregano canned diced tomatoes
Optional** 6 tbs Chevre (we get ours from a local goat dairy farm but you can buy yours from any grocery store!)
2 tbs Olive oil (or coconut oil)
2- 25 oz jars of spaghetti sauce of your choice ( I use O Organics tomato basil)
Sea Salt
Pepper

Seasoning for Turkey:
1/2 tbs Sea salt
1/4 tbs Pepper
1/4 tbs Onion powder
1/4 tbs Garlic powder
1/2 tbs Rosemary (I used from from the garden but you can also use dried)
1/4 tbs fennel seed (ground)
1/4 tbs cardamom (ground)
2 tbs Balsamic vinegar

Note: If you are preparing Vegan than use the seasonings typically used for turkey and apply to saute fresh spinach and pine nuts instead.

Ready? Here we go!

1st, Zucchini has a lot of water in it and we need to get rid of as much as possible. Slice your zucchini thin length wise and lay out on top of paper towels (or clean kitchen towels), salt lightly and then lay another layer of towel on top. Make sure the top layer is covered with a paper towel or clean kitchen towel and place another cookie sheet on top to help press out the liquid.
Let that sit while you prepare the filling.

Grate two large carrots with the larger hole size set in the sink (on top of a clean plate) in a colander to drain the moisture.

Heat up a 2 tbs of olive oil in a frying pan, brown the ground turkey with all of the dry seasonings (wait to use the balsamic vinegar until the meat is completely cooked) deglaze the pan with the vinegar. Then put your drained/shredded carrots into a big bowl and use the colander to drain the turkey meat use light pressure to help expel extra moisture.

While your turkey is draining add the can of tomatoes (drained) to the carrots, chopped onion, minced garlic, sea salt and pepper to taste, add the turkey and toss in the goat cheese if you are using it.

In a 9x13 pan spoon in a thin layer of spaghetti sauce, then lay down a layer of the zucchini, spoon in a layer of the filling, top with a few spoon fulls of spaghetti sauce and then lay out another layer of zucchini. Repeat. For your final top layer lay out a double layer of zucchini evenly spoon out a thin layer of sauce. If you're using cheese crumble some of the chevre on top, if you're preparing vegan I recommend topping off with some pine nuts. Cover with foil.

Place a cookie sheet on the bottom rack of your oven to catch any over flow from the lasagna while baking.

Bake for 45 min in a preheated oven to 350 degrees
then remove the foil and bake for 15 more minutes.

Remove from the oven and let sit for about
5 minutes before serving

Enjoy!

Friday, July 12, 2013

4 Month Progress Update

The 3rd of July marked 4 months on the Slenderiiz program for us. Karl met and beat his original goal and is now shooting to lose 10 lbs of fat and then start building muscle. Soon he will be participating in "The Next 28 days" and working on really getting "cut". I'm so excited for him and he is thrilled to be on the next leg of this journey so quickly! I originally wanted to get down to my pre-2nd child weight and now I'm on board for getting to my pre-children weight! Here's our before and after pictures for 4 months. We still have work to do!

I have lost 40 lbs in 4 months and went from a size 34 pant waist to 28 or in standard sizes I went from a 14 to an 8 (almost 6!).  My goal is to lose another 20 lbs which will put me at 125 lbs. I've added 15lbs to my weight loss goal because it came off faster than expected!

Karl has lost 50 lbs in 4 months! Doesn't he look amazing?! He's added an additional 10lbs to  his weight loss goals and then is going to follow in our friend Brock's foot steps on getting cut in 28 days and journaling everyday on how he's doing, what he ate, his work out routine and how he's feeling. We're both really excited for this new phase!!!

Together we have lost 90 lbs in 4 months! that's an average of 22.5 lbs a month! We're so thrilled with the results we have seen and are really looking forward to reaching our best potential physique and celebrating with a little photo shoot to replace the family pictures in our home from Christmas that really showed us how unhealthy we had become!!

If you would like to learn more about the complete Slenderiiz program visit Slenderiiz.com/complete 

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Vegan Faux Alfredo Pesto


I've used Cashews for creaminess in desserts and this evening I trimmed back my basil plant so voila it was time to make a pesto sauce which turned out to be the most delicious faux alfredo that I have ever had. My brother had some of the left overs and said he would have never guessed that the dish was vegan!

Ingredients for sauce:
1 1/4 cups raw unsalted cashews
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup warm water
1 large lemon (juiced)
3 cloves of garlic minced
1 cup chopped fresh basil
sea salt
pepper
*optional* crushed red pepper

Additional ingredients for pasta dish:
Quinoa pasta
broccoli
6 roma tomatoes
*optional* cooked chicken breast or shrimp

In a food processor or powerful blender/magic bullet
Puree the cashews, olive oil, lemon juice and slowly add warm water until mixture is creamy (similar to the texture of creamy almond butter) add basil, garlic and 1/4 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp ground pepper (or season to taste). Pulse and blend until the mixture is smooth and creamy adding warm water as needed to keep the mixture loose. If like spicy Italian food then stir in crushed red pepper flakes for desired heat level.
 That's it! you can toss as is with any pasta, veggie, dip with veggies, gluten free snacks what ever you want. Here's the dish I made.




I boiled a whole package of Quinoa Pasta in salted water, when I drained the pasta I left about a 1/4 cup of starchy water in the pan, then folded in the pesto sauce. While the two were heating up I microwave steamed a package of broccoli that was salted and peppered. I tossed the cooked broccoli in and then diced up some roma tomatoes. I removed the mixture off heat and folded in 4 of the diced roma tomatoes. After plating the pasta I garnished with fresh diced roma tomatoes. My husband wanted meat for his dish so I grilled a salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder seasoned chicken breast on the bbq sliced it up and topped off the chicken and tomatoes.