Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred

One of the lovely commenters over at All Women Stalk mentioned this oldie-but-goodie intense workout. The video is part of a series of three. Each video is done once a day for ten days. You will need weights to complete this (resistance bands should work too) and Jillian recommends doing all your measurements beforehand if you are really serious. This means measuring your weight, fat percentage, thigh circumference, and waist size. Then measuring again at the end of 30 days.

I love Jillian Michaels and am so impressed that she can talk while doing this workout. That is intense. The workout is great on it's own or with the shred. It is not as intense as P90X, but hard all the same! Jillian will keep you sweating the whole way though, it is very difficult to cheat on what she instructs, even when you know she cannot see. It's also a bit fun to see her a few years younger, and slightly tougher too!

Writing

A few weeks ago I started writing for an app and website called  All Women Stalk. The hubs put this app on my phone (best hubby ever) because he thought I would like it. Boy was he right! I loved the app so much, I contacted one of the editors to see about writing for them. She agreed to take me on and the rest is history, so to speak.

​Seriously, getting to write for another company is so super exciting. It has been uber fun to work with a group of ladies and get some real-life editor feedback on articles at the same time. If you have never checked out AWS, their articles run the gambit of interests. Most the articles I write for them have to do with health and fitness and relate well to the weekly posts on P+K. Some of the articles have to do more with beauty tips or movie loves than fitness or food or Disney... And yes, there are Disney posts as well. Really, who could leave Disney out of anything?

If you would like to check out the AWS community, which I would totally love, ​just click any of these links. The app is my favorite way to read posts, so that is what I recommend most (rhyming time-ish). You can also find some of my articles here to take a peek of what I have been doing in my none blogging time!

Shape Magazine Review: Jennifer Love Hewitt's Workout

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One of my first experiences with a workout video was a Barbie workout with Jennifer Love Hewitt as the main girl. In the video she went as "Love" rather than Jennifer or anything else. I was three when I started doing this workout and thought the video and "Love" were some of the best things ever. Now, I am a few years older and still looking at one of her workouts... Nostalgia. 

There are tons of great workouts in this month's Shape magazine, but I just had to do the one by my first ever fitness instructor. The workout also looks like a lot of fun with some moves I have never seen before, making it extra high on the "must try" list! ​

The Workout

First things first, I have to give massive credit to JLH for looking so good on the cover of this month's Shape Magazine. She has been pretty open with her weight battles, but looks absolutely fantastic now! Jennifer gives lots of credit to a form of exercise called Buti, created by Bizzie Gold. It combines dance, yoga, and plyometrics for a full body workout. These are Jennifer's five favorite Buti moves... ​

Each move is done in a sequence for 40 seconds per exercise. The sequence should be done four times total with a one minute break between each.​The best part: No shoes are necessary and there is no workout equipment either. Jennifer created this workout for me. ​

The Review

The workout took me sixteen minutes total and burned 106 calories. That is a little lower calorie burn than I usually like, but the workout was not some massive cardio expendature either. My heart rate stayed somewhere between 70% and 85% the entire time. Overall, it was a lot of fun and I could definitely see myself doing this some night instead of yoga.  ​

The chair circles and wide squat to burpees were definitely my favorite. ​Both did some major damage to the fat on my inner and outer thighs, and I am always a fan of that! I really enjoyed these and will be adding them to some preexisting workout routines and creating some workouts around them in the future.

The only part that I was not too fond of was the time doing each exercise. Forty seconds does not seem like much, it is there and gone before I get five reps done. The one minute break also felt way too long since I had only been working out for a little over three minutes . If I do this workout again, I will do each exercise for one minute and complete three circuits with a one minute break between each. This will take about two minutes longer, but the calorie burn and muscle toning should be much greater! 

If you do this workout- which I completely recommend, try the one minute variation for a circuit and let me know how it goes. I am quite interested to know the difference twenty whole seconds will make! ​

Meat Free Mondays: Favorite Things

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​Talking about favorite things today, I have become completely obsessed with little, adorable Danbos. Hopefully, you find these cute little guys as wonderful as I do and are not completely annoyed with my mass use of them.

A few other favorite things of mine have been healthier quick-cook foods. This weekend the procrastination bug took me by surprise and I ended up completing [almost] a year's worth of tax organizing in two days. There were a lot of late nights and easy to make meals eaten at my desk.

Thank goodness there are a few must haves that we keep in our kitchen so there is seldom a time when we have absolutely nothing quick to eat. Here is the list of some of the vegan and vegetarian quick food favorites that are simple to make and healthier than your average frozen meal.

Tandoor Chef

I love this line of frozen foods. Tandoor Chef is a great line of frozen meat, vegetarian, and vegan Indian dishes. It is not quite the real deal, but it sure comes close in a pinch! Best of all, the dishes have substantially less fats and carbs than the average frozen meal.​

​Tandoor Chef is sold in most health food stores including Fresh Market and Wholefoods.

​Newman's Own Pizza

If there is a Newman's Own anything, I tend to buy that. Most of the Newman's Own products are healthier than the average, organic, and all proceeds go to charity. Even if these pizza's, sauces, cereal (so good!), and dressings were terrible, I may just buy them for the charity factor alone. It is an extra big perk that the company takes health seriously for all the product lines they have. Gotta love a company having both brains and heart!

Annie's Goddess Dressing

The hubs found out about this dressing through Alicia Silverstone's vegan grocery list. This stuff is fantastic to put on anything- salads, seafood, veggies, you name it. There is a vegetarian and vegan dressing option, but we tend to choose the vegetarian instead. ​

Tempeh Bacon

Although this is not always in our house, it is purchased almost every time we go to the store. ​Tempeh is made from soy and has almost no fat or carbs. This stuff is way better for you than any bacon and tastes pretty fantastic to boot! My most favorite way to eat this yummy stuff is in the form of a BLT with mayo. Oh goodness, it is so quick to make, but tastes delicious. I could eat these morning, noon, and night!

Annie Chung's Udon Noodle Soup

This is almost always my go-to lunch when at home. The Annie Chung line has some pretty healthy Asian quick-food options, but I think the Udon Noddle soup may be among the healthiest. The broth is a light miso with mushrooms and the udon only takes about five minutes to steep since they are vacuum sealed rather than dried.

Six packs can be as inexpensive as $1.50 per container, but singles go up to $4.50! Best to order ahead of time online for a better deal.