As I’ve shared before, smoothie prep is smart and easy! Stop yourself and your family from making poor food choices by having options ready for them in the freezer. I shared one of my favorite recipes, Berry Chocolate Truffle Smoothie with WBTV.
Great momentum can sometimes be slowed up by unforeseen circumstances.
Maybe you get sick, or someone in your family gets sick.
Maybe you have an injury that keeps you from the physical activity that you want to do so bad.
When these things happen its important that we adjust our perception away from the “why me”.
Sometimes a forced rest period is the best thing for us, a time to reset and refocus so we have clear sight to finishing the goal.
Bend, Don’t Break
You may have to waiver from the original plan, but that does not change the end goal. The only thing that changes is the immediate action we have to take to get there. During these times it’s easy to lose our focus, to throw our hands up in frustration and think we’ve lost our momentum, or ruined our progress.
Its ok to waiver from the original plan, as long as you stay in tune with the end result you were striving for. When faced with obstacles it’s ok to not be perfect, adjust to the moment, regain composure, Bend Dont Break!
Photo by@ Wanda Koch Photography
If you’re serious about losing weight there are three factors that come into play, exercise, nutrition, and the third is caloric intake.
To lose body weight, and body fat we must be at a caloric deficit, which means we are burning through more calories per day then we are consuming.
This is going to force the body to breakdown body fat as a source of caloric energy. Here’s the formula and equation of how all this works.
1 pound of body fat is equal to 3500 calories. In order to lose a pound of fat you must burn 3500 calories more than you consume in food and beverage. Each of us has a set amount of calories we burn every day without exercising. These calories are referred to as BMR Basal Metabolic Rate, and they’re based on height, weight, age and sex. These are the calories your body needs for daily energy to function properly.
For the sake of example let’s say your BMR was 1500 calories per day. If you were to burn 500 calories in exercise a day, your Total Daily Energy Expenditure ‘TDEE’ would be 2000 calories. If you were then to eat a healthy 1500 calories, you would be at a deficit of 500 calories per day, times 7 days, 3500 per week equaling 1 pound of body fat.
Here’s a BMR calculator if you’re curious what your body is burning!
While the amount of calories in and out are important, it’s equally important that we are feeding the body nutrient rich foods like a LOT of veggies.
If you’re interested in learning more, be sure to download my free e-book the power of food which will help you calculate how much protein, fat and carbs you’ll want in your meal plan to help you reach your goals You can download the ebook by entering you information into the subscribe box to the right of this page!
“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got”
What positive changes do you want to see in your life? What are you willing to do to make those changes happen? Define the changes, and the small steps you can take each day to ensure you’re on the path leading to the life you want to live. Make each change a commitment and each day that change will become your routine. In a short time you will forget that you ever had to make change, because what was once change; is now your lifestyle. Change is hard, but hard is always temporary. Have a dream, create a vision, and take action. Embrace Change and new doorways to success will open. Know The Goal
With give or take 2 million different choices of protein bars, how do we know which is the best for us? Tough to say, but we can break down the Why, When and What to help make your choices a little easier. The great thing about having so many to choose from is that you will find one that meets your needs.
Lets start with Why protein bars are a good solution when you’re trying to stick to a nutrition plan.
Convenience: The one place most of “slip” up is when we’re hungry and there’s nothing healthy in sight. Having a healthy on the go option handy can keep us out of the drive-thru line.
Protein: When living healthy we need to have a good amount of protein. It will help us build muscle and speed up our metabolism ultimately helping us burn more fat.
Sweet Tooth Cravings: We get them, face it, its normal and we’ve got to deal with it. So instead of going after the cookies, or candy we can get something sweet that helps to kick the craving.
Then When? This is pretty easy to answer because there’s no bad time to consume protein, more is better.
Protein within 30 minutes of working out is essential to take advantage of the all the great aminos that can help build muscle and repair the body.
Breakfast is a great time to eat protein, get your body the building blocks it needs to be its best and as I mentioned earlier, protein speeds up metabolism so we can get to burning fat early!
Anytime you think you think you’re going to eat something I WOULD NOT approve of. Be smart!
Here’s the one we have the most questions on, What protein bars are best for us? Here are a couple things to know about protein that will help you choose your bar
There are different sources of protein, and here’s what to know
Whey is a great protein source but if you deal with any lactose problem, you’ll want to be sure to try Whey Concentrate or Whey Isolate. Both are similar to one another in that manufacturers have taken out all the carbs, fats and anything else including most lactose. Concentrate is 80% whey and Isolate is 90% whey, it just goes through one more filtering process. Try these in small doses to see how you react.
Plant based proteins can be found in many bars, there’s Hemp which is numero uno in my book, you have Pea, Rice, Soy and there are some others. If you’re going to use a Soy product PLEASE be sure it is Non-GMO Soy. This means it was not genetically altered and is in its purest form.
So with all of that said, here are my personal top 3 protein bars based on what my personal needs are, but they pretty much fit the bill for anyone, anytime. I try to keep my protein bars low in bad carbs like sugars and fillers. Carbs from dietary fiber are ok, because they’re not going to spike your blood sugar level. I like to have 15 grams of protein or more in my protein bars so I’m getting a good portion. And lastly, I look for cost effective bars. I equate these to meals at times, so if I can get them for $3.00 or less, I’m doing great.
Here you are, my top 3:
Quest Bars. BUT NOT ALL OF THEM…. I had to bold that for you because half Quest bars contain SUCRALOSE which is chemical artificial sweetener and studies show it is not healthy. Stay healthy, go with the Quest bars that contain Stevia. Stevia comes from a plant and is digested well in the body.
Nu-GO Bars. There are a whole bunch of different style Nu-Go Bars, some are Organic, some are Lactose Free, some contain different sources of protein, but the one thing they all have in common is quality of ingredients. Non-GMO, no Malitol, no artificial anything. Take a look at their site and you’ll see what I mean.
Kind Bars. These don’t have as much protein as I would usually like, but I wanted to add them because of all the healthy bars out there, these are the ones you will most commonly find in your local convenient stores, gas stations, airports or places they may be lacking healthy in general. They’re made of quality ingredients and above all, they are far more healthy than the drive-thru…..any drive thru.
We could have discussed so many more bars, and that’s because of the 2 million or so in the world, there are a lot of really healthy bars. What you should take from this is that you DO want to have a protein bar that fits in to your nutrition plan, there are many more pros than cons, so next time you’re at your health store, look for some with the key do’s and don’ts we discussed. Keep it natural, keep it clean and keep it handy.
One day when you step on the scale or look in the mirror you’ll be happy you did!
