What we've been up to

It's been a while since we've done a progress update.  Karl and I officially started our lifestyle change 2 years ago! What?! How has time flown by so fast? A year and a half ago we moved 300 miles away from family and were truly tested on our newly acquired eating and activity lifestyle. I'm pleased to inform you all that even though we have endured a stressful move, deaths in the family,  and a traumatic injury to Danielle's leg we've maintained our slenderiiz results. Admittedly, post injury Danielle is working on building up strength and endurance to be back to a fully active lifestyle but I don't know how many people could go through 3 months of being of their feet and not gain the weight back. We're proud of ourselves for not falling back in to our stress eating habits,  and proud to be a healthy family.  This week Danielle returned back to work after being off for 3 months, feels like a new chapter in our lives so we're taking the opportunity to do an 8 week challenge to get fit. Wish us luck, and pray for our journey as we start a new chapter in this process and get Danielle back to where she can be hiking and active again. We're flushing fat, building muscle and starting the slenderiiz program again to get to our full potential.

6 month Progress

                     

It's been 6 months being on the Slenderiiz program and I am happy to inform you all that we have combined lost over 110lbs! Karl has lost 63 lbs and I have lost 51 lbs. I say lost, but really I mean adios! Gone forever! We have developed a clean eating lifestyle that is here to stay. We're in the last stretch of weight loss, Karl has 10lbs left to lose of fat and is gaining muscle while doing circuit training and weight lifting, I have 20 lbs of fat left to lose to be at my DREAM weight, I've started running and have continued to do circuit training with Karl 3 days a week. I have a goal of running in a 5k with my sister in law this spring and I don't want to be last!

Soon we will be able to replace our family portraits in our home with the new us, which is perfect timing for our moving to a new home 4 hrs away.

Are you on a weight loss journey? Or trying to eat healthier? Feel free to ask questions, request recipes or learn more about the program we've been following by emailing us at kzfire35@gmail.com

We feel blessed to be on this journey and welcome anyone else who wants to make a change for a healthier lifestyle with the proper nutrition and food the fuels your body.

Karl's RESULTS to his 28 day commitment to fitness

RESULTS

August 16, 2013  /  Karl Marshall

Well the numbers are in!
In 28 days I lost 16.42 pounds of fat and gained 5.13 pounds of muscle. I also dropped my body fat percentage by 6%!  I'm not stopping here, I want to drop another 5% of body fat and build some excellent lean muscle to support my back while I play basketball! This is a huge leap forward in achieving my goals! Don't wait now guys and gals, start your Next 28 Days NOW!

 

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 

Progress Update: Being Real

I've spent nearly a lifetime making some good choices with food, but a large portion making inadequate choices with food. I wouldn't say they were terrible, or life ending but they brought me to a point of near obesity. What changed ? I couldn't look in the mirror and make positive comments about myself anymore. My children were requesting fast food, pizza and throwing fits when I did make dinner at home. Our quality of life was poor and it was all because of the choices we were making about food. I had an unhealthy relationship with food.

Those of you following our blog, you already know why I'm here and what our family and some of our friends are working on, a lifestyle change. Not a DIET, not a FAD, but a change in our relationship with food. One that doesn't mean we turn to food for comfort, for happiness, for boredom, but rather as fuel, as nutrition and as a teaching lesson to our children. 16 Weeks of eating clean, eliminating gluten, sugar, dairy and soy from our eating habits and incorporating a rainbow of healthy food options into our home.

Karl is down 45lbs, I am down 35 lbs, our kids are asking for snacks like hummus and bell peppers. Nadine has discovered she loves asparagus! I'm so proud of the progress we've made in just under 4 months. Our lifestyle change was really put to the test this summer as we have been traveling a lot. I am SUPER proud to inform you all that we did not stop for fast food once on either of our road trips. We drove 22 hours in a week the first week and then 39 hours in 5 days on our second trip. I packed a cooler full of salsa, veggies, baked black bean chips, unsweetened applesauce, unsweetened coconut milk, purenourish shakes, apples, oranges, white albacore tuna packed in water, Organic goat cheddar cheese and lots and lots of water. I will confess that I lived off from a combination of coffee and rejuveniix for energy since we only slept for 2 of 4 nights on our second road trip.

Here's where I have to confess, we are not perfect. Just because something is vegan, doesn't mean it's a healthy choice, and just because it's gluten free doesn't mean it is healthier than regular bread. We "rewarded" ourselves with vegan donuts, Karl bought me a vegan lemon cupcake, and we had dairy free pizza when we got home. Our first exposure to refined sugar, soy, and gluten in 15 weeks and we were miserable. By we I mean I was miserable and unfortunately my family paid the price. My chronic acid reflux (GERD) came back with vengeance and so did my irritable bowl syndrome (IBS) and my seasonal pollen allergies were out of control (I think because my immune system was compromised by eating foods that made me sick)! Sorry if that's too much information for you all but here's what I gathered from this experience. My body is at it's best on the Slenderiiz food program, when I follow it to the letter and avoid my food allergies, I have energy, my seasonal pollen allergies are minimal, and I have no symptoms at all from GERD or IBS. Karl was irritable and had a supreme sugar crash after the experience and agreed that "rewarding" our efforts is the sign of us not really taking the lifestyle change serious as a long-term choice and our bodies need us to treat it serious. At a certain point we will reach our goal weights, we CAN'T look in the mirror and ask "Am I thin enough?" or "Am I fit?" we have to change our view and look at what we are putting in our bodies and ask "Am I HEALTHY?" I want to play with my children without my joints hurting, without stomach aches, and I want to have the longest possible life to enjoy my family which means this is not a FAD not a DIET and FAILURE is not an option.

Sunday, We hit the reset button and are back to eating clean, making meal plans and getting active. We genuinely care for our friends, family and even all you international blog readers. Do yourself a favor, don't judge your health by what you see in the mirror, or what size of clothes you're wearing. Look at your food, your vitamins, your beverages and your activities and then honestly ask yourself "Am I HEALTHY?" "Am I teaching my children to be Healthy?" "Am I making choices that will help me be there for my family, friends and community as long as healthfully permitting?". If your answer is NO to any of those questions, you're in need of a lifestyle change, please feel free to use us a support system.

On a lighter note, I have tons of recipes to share with you all since I didn't get very many blog posts in while we were traveling! Stay tuned =)

Danielle's progress update

Here is my most recent update I posted on instagram today. Feeling pretty good! 15lbs to my goal weight and officially at a healthy BMI !

P.s. if you're on instagram or Twitter you can find me under the username Daniczec.

Karl's individual update is coming soon!

Long Over Due Progress Update- 90 days

 90 days ago Karl and I along with our friend Jeff decided we were ready to commit to a healthier lifestyle, to hold each other accountable and to not stop until we hit our goals. We're not done yet but the 3 of us have come a long way and have a ton of over-sized clothes to show for it.

                                                 Then

Jeff - 270 lbs
Karl - 285 lbs
Danielle - 176 lbs

Now

Jeff - 228 lbs (down 42 lbs!)
Karl - 245 lbs (down 40 lbs!)
Danielle - 146 lbs (down 30 lbs!)

Collectively we have lost 112 lbs in 90 days

As you can see from the picture, our clothes are baggy. We were all laughing at how ill fit our wardrobes were and how we need to buy some skinny clothes and re-take this picture. There's some fun outtakes I will post, because these men are silly and fun to be around.

Karl's and my relationship has grown stronger (I didn't know that was even possible) through this journey and we are constantly building each other up. I love that our children have had a noticeable change in their eating desires too. Yesterday Nadine requested asparagus in her lunch for school and today she was eating raw bell peppers as a snack. I feel so proud to know that we are teaching our children the skills to eat well, and have a healthy relationship with food.
Jeff and his wife, Tiffany, are two of our dearest friends and through this experience I think we've grown closer as well. It's definitely a perk to have people who understand and live through the same accomplishments and obstacles. We are eternally grateful for their friendship and their part in sharing this journey.
As two family's on this journey together Karl and I are particularly excited to celebrate when we all 3 have met our goal weight! Tiffany and I have talked about a cruise, I think the boys might go for that!

What we've been doing:
We have been on a set eating program for 90 days called Slenderiiz its an all natural, organic supplement that is taken under the tongue  before each of your 2 largest meals a day for 90 days (or shorter if you reach your goal before then) which helps flush fat and boost your metabolism while reducing cravings for sugar and oils. This combined with a food plan of 1200 calories and eating guide to help train our bodies to crave REAL food, that is going to fuel our bodies instead of weigh it down has propelled our weight loss in to over drive. This program has a 2 year clinical trial and we are participating in a beta testing of the product for the Oregon area. 

We have successfully transitioned in to a healthy relationship with which is low-glycemic, no refined sugar, gluten free, dairy free (primarily due to my allergies) and only eating lean proteins. Karl and Jeff are done using the drops and will continue their 1200 calorie food plan until they have reached their goal weights and then will adjust the calories accordingly to maintain. I plan on doing another 30 days of the slenderiiz system since I still have 20 lbs to go until my goal weight.

This has been such a positive experience, I am excited to continue to develop new recipes, share our story and hopefully with in the next 60 days be celebrating reaching our goal weights. Stay tuned for more progress updates and recipes.

Outtakes ;)

This one is my favorite! oh those silly men...

Progress Update measured by PANTS!

Today was weigh in day and we didn't make it to the gym lol oops! We will do our official weigh in tomorrow morning.
BUT!!
Karl and I went shopping for jeans today, the progress is in the numbers!
Karl started out in 42x34 Silver brand jeans and as of today is wearing 36x34 Silver jeans!
Danielle started out in 33x32 Silver brand jeans and as of today is wearing 30x32 Silver jeans!

Karl and I have collectively almost lost 50lbs, not bad for only 37 days right?

This lifestyle change has been one of the best things to happen to us.

How are you all doing in your journey? Are you just getting started, starting over, or thinking about starting? Take it from us, there's never a time like now to save your life by making healthier choices with your food, activities, and fluids.

Hidden sugars!

I thought we were doing so good with our new lifestyle of Dairy free, Gluten Free, Sugar free and no prefab or processed foods and then we hit a plateau  Nothing shakes your confidence like a plateau after you have such amazing results like we were seeing. Then on Easter I was getting ready to make a GF, DF, SF brownie when my mom pointed out that the original coconut milk we were using had cane juice in it.. I was blown away! We also had to change our coconut oil, sugar free chocolate bars, and our steak seasoning! There's hidden sugar where ever you look, so I've come to terms with you don't know what you're eating unless you make it yourself.

Common places where you might find sugar:
Drinks
Juice
Dairy Substitutes
Ketchup
BBQ sauce
Mixed Seasonings
jarred salsa
Canned fruits, vegetables and sauces
Sugar free candy (may contain malitol or sorbitol which is a sugar from alcohol)
chips
Crackers
popcorn

Know what you're eating and you can save lbs, inches, possibly disease from your future =)

Progress report on Karl After 29 days on the Slenderiiz program he is down 23 lbs, 29 days on the Slenderiiz program and Danielle is down 10lbs. I consumed the sugar loaded coconut milk at least 2-3 times a day this last month so with these adjustments I have a goal of being at a total loss of 30lbs by May 1st! and Karl's goal is to be down a total of 45 lbs by May 1st.

Stay tuned for a recipe for Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Sugar Free Brownies.

Jeff's progress is amazing!

Remember our friend Jeff?! We are so proud of him and excited for the results he's seeing!
Jeff is down 26 lbs in 30 days! How incredible is that? He has made a complete lifestyle change for clean eating incorporating the Slenderiiz program to assist in his weight loss. We are truly amazed. That's nearly a pound a day!

This month we're going to have to incorporate work outs to catch up to you Jeff. =) Here we come month 2!

2 Weeks and Going Strong!

2 weeks on a 1250 calorie diet, with the addition of our Slenderiiz homeopathic drops. We are really starting to see some great results and also starting to get into a groove for being organized with meal planning and grocery shopping. This journey is off to a great start and has us sooooooo motivated to meet all our goals!

Week 2 Progress Update

Karl is down 16 lbs in 14 days! His exact words when seeing this side by side was "Good bye man boobs and double chin, hello motivation to get ripped!" If this is what 2 weeks brings I can't wait to see where he is at our 60 day mark.

6.5 lbs in 2 weeks and nearly 5 inches off my waist! The biggest difference for me is being able to see the definition between bust and belly. I feel like by the end of 60 days I will be closer to having abs!



Remember our friend Jeff? Jeff is down 16 lbs as of this morning as well!
Collectively the 3 of us have lost 38.5 lbs in 14 days. I think that's pretty darn amazing.

Over coming challenges

Initially I was concerned about being able to keep up with all of the fresh food. We didn't eat fast food very often but we ate out for Thai and Mexican food quite a bit. The downside of eating out is that you don't know what's going in to your food or how to accurately account for calories.

So to curb these temptations of easy and accessible meals I have been prepping food ahead of time on Sundays and Wednesdays. Right now our fridge is full of bags of broccoli, corn, "California Vegetables" (mixed veggies in a bag", bell peppers, apples, oranges, avocados, shredded chicken, mixed tuna, and baked cod. Every meal is accounted for for the next 3 days.

A couple nights ago I baked my fish recipe with cod

Then I put all the cod and drippings away in the fridge sealed tightly and through out the last couple days we've nibble on it, or packed it for Karl's lunch as he goes to work. In between we had several other proteins for dinner, and our Purenourish shakes for breakfast.

This evening, was one of those nights where I wanted Thai food. I didn't want to cook, all 4 of us were sick. I opened the fridge and there was the cod and a bag of mixed veggies that I had pulled from the freezer and put in the fridge for easy cooking.

In a saute pan I threw the veggies and some corn in with salt, pepper and garlic and once it was heated up I added two pieces of fish and some of the drippings to flavor the veggies.

From the time I dragged my bottom off the couch to putting the veggies and fish in a bowl, it took 9 minutes and only 300 calories per serving.


It's only one of many examples how being prepared saved us from wavering from our program which could set us back in our goals by 3 or 4 days.

What are ways you keep from straying from your diet program?

Celebrating a week of progress!

Hello dear friends and followers!

Sunday marked our first 7 days of lifestyle change eating and exercise combined with our "liquid discipline" ;) Homeopathic drops. We have some great results! and will continue to combine the Slenderize program with our dietary and work out changes.

Remember Jeff from our earlier post? You can read about him joining our journey HERE.

Just a reminder of where we started:

Karl on 2/27/13 285 lbs , Waist measuring 49 inches, Chest measuring 48 inches.

Danielle on 2/27/13 176 lbs, Waist measuring 44 inches, Chest measuring 37 inches

Jeff on 3/3/13 270 lbs, Waist measuring 48 inches

UPDATE!

Karl on 3/10/13 274 lbs (down 11 lbs!!)

Danielle 3/10/13 172 lbs (down 4 lbs) but I have lost a total of almost 2 inches off my WAIST! yes! down to 42.1 inches =)

Jeff on 3/10/13 258 lbs (down 12 lbs!)

Collectively the 3 of us lost 27 lbs in one week =) pretty exciting stuff!!!!

Lean Proteins to Keep you Full and Full of Energy!

We are learning quickly that the key to sustaining energy, feeling full with out feeling stuffed, and keeping caloric intake under control is portions. We love fresh fruit and veggies but tend to stray on proteins so here's a versatile recipe for cooking lean fish full of flavor but skipping the full fat ;)

Baked Fish

1 clove garlic, minced

6 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon rosemary

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

juice of 2 fresh lemons

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

2 (6 ounce) fillets halibut/cod or Salmon

(if you roll the lemons first before squeezing  them, you will get way more juice out with less effort) Mix all your seasonings to prepare the marinade. Place your fish in marinade and cover/refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.

After you squeeze the lemons in to the mix, slice them thinly and place over the fish, this will help penetrate the flavor but also retain moisture. Bake at 375 deg. F (for white fish)  at 7-13 minutes, and 400 deg. F (for salmon) for 18-22 minutes until the flesh is opaque pink.

6 oz of salmon with this recipe is 246 calories, 6 oz of cod with this recipe is 281 calories. (according to Fitness Pal)

This is 4 oz of cod, 4 oz of salmon, 1/4 cup broccoli, 1/3 bellpepper 466 calories

Stay tuned for an awesome progress report from Karl, Jeff and I. This Sunday is our first full week completed on the journey as a team of 3 =)

Progress Update

We have several friends who are on this healthier lifestyle change journey which is very exciting! Hopefully as the month progresses we will get some of their testimonies posted here. One of our close friends Jeff has agreed to actively participate in logging his journey as well.

Saturday 3/2/2013 we took some before pictures... oh boy just to warn you they are NOT flattering.

From Left to right: Jeff, Karl and Danielle

These make me cringe...seriously.

So here's an update on where we are:

Karl on 2/27/13 285 lbs , Waist measuring 49 inches, Chest measuring 48 inches.

On 3/4/13 he's at 279 lbs, waist measuring 48 inches, Chest measuring 47 inches.

Danielle on 2/27/13 176 lbs, Waist measuring 44 inches, Chest measuring 37 inches

Danielle on 3/4/13 174 lbs, Waist measuring 42.5 inches, Chest measuring 36.75 inches

We are starting to see some progress which is very promising! On Sunday the three of us started a homeopathic system that's supposed to support weight loss and natural energy. Hopefully this will help jump start our goals. 

As soon as I get an update on Jeff I will let you know his progress too!