What are you doing exactly?

This is the question I keep getting, "What are you doing exactly?".  Let me unpack this for you.

I am doing a 90 Day Fitness Challenge called Terrafit.  This is a program that was designed by some people who use doTERRA, not by the company itself. You do not need to use doTERRA products to do this challenge, literally anyone can do it.  

The Basics:

As simple as it sounds, the program is all about eating right and exercising. You know, the things we all know we need to do to get a healthy body!  What is really helpful to me, is that it teaches you about healthy foods and healthy portions.  Example: I had no idea you shouldn't really be eating soy products.  Go figure.  They provide a Healthy Food List and you can eat anything on that list.  What is also helpful to me, is that you CAN eat anything on the Unhealthy Food List as well, but it will be detrimental to your goals and health.  

You can take a look at the Healthy Food List here-- www.terrafit.com/healthy-food-list.pdf

As I already said, you will also be exercising.  Now, this was the part that was hardest for me. You workout 5 days a week for a minimum of 30 minutes.   For $11.99 a month you can get access to their daily workouts over the 3 months of the challenge, or you can be like me and not pay and just do whatever you want.  I've been doing a lot of walking, and some workout videos here and there.  What's nice about this for me personally, is I am not in the best shape (thus the challenge!) so I can take it at my own pace and work myself up to higher intensity workouts.  And the best part??  There is ZERO judgement!  You put in your 30 minutes?  Great job!  You're amazing!

The challenge is also a team effort.  I was pretty leery about being a part of a team.  I am the biggest person on my team and am pretty self conscious about the fact that I've let myself get so far gone in the body department.  For many years I wanted to just do it on my own, my rules, my way, my body.  I am beginning to realize how prideful that thinking was.  We need people.  We are born into families, we belong to one another whether through blood or friendship or marriage or what-have-you.  Why would I think this would be any different?  I am all about this kind of thinking in every area of my life, except my health.  Why?  Because it is something that can feel so personal and is so attached to insecurities and our sense of self.  Opening those areas up can feel threatening to the very core of who we are.

But we are not our bodies.

My team has been crucial to me in this journey.  Daily encouragement via texts and private facebook groups has been more helpful than I would have ever imagined possible.  We are all doing it.  We are all changing our lives.  We are all taking control of our bodies.  And while yes, I have the furthest to go than anyone on my team, I have just as much encouragement and love to offer as the rest of them.  This has been a very powerful part of this challenge for me.  It has built my confidence, it has built my self esteem, even my sense of worth.  I did not see this coming.  And I never want to do anything like this without a team!

Let me break down the food for you a little bit more.

Week 1 was pretty bad in the food department for me.  Yes, I had the list, but for whatever reason it took me about a week to realize what I needed was recipes.  I spent a lot of the first week eating a serving of brown rice.  Then a couple hours later a serving of carrots.  Then an apple.  Then some beans.  Then broccoli.  Basically I was eating off the food list, but I wasn't making any sense in what I was eating.  

Then I had a brainwave, DUH SARAH!  What would you normally eat?  Let's try and find a healthier version of that!  And it's been pretty great since then.  I've gotten into a food groove.

A typical day looks like this:

Breakfast--Oatmeal with local, raw honey and allspice.  A cup of tea with local, raw honey and almond milk.

Snack--Handful of raw almonds and an apple or string cheese.

Lunch--An omelet with spinach or kale, multi-colored tomatoes, garlic with Ezekiel bread toast with local, raw honey or natural peanut butter.  I vary between this and a large salad with either chicken, berries, seeds and red wine vinegar or a large salad with chicken, tomatoes, carrots, seeds and balsamic vinegar.

Snack--Veggies with a homemade dill dip using plain Greek Yogurt, plain Greek Yogurt with fruit/nuts/honey.

Dinner--This is where I've had the most fun.  I've done everything from tacos (lettuce wrapped!), stir fry, big salads, burgers and "fries", steak and potatoes, chicken and rice, all with a bunch of veggies.

Snack--This one varies.  Sometimes I'll do some more almonds, sometimes popcorn with nutritional yeast (you'd swear you're eating cheese popcorn), sometimes a protein bar, sometimes fruit, or more veggies if I didn't hit my daily quota of 4 servings.

And there you have it!  You're also required to drink 64oz of water a day, which is a breeze for me because I'm a big (water) drinker anyway.  

If you'd like to utilize doTERRA products in your day, you can use their TrimShakes, TerraGreens (whole food you can put in smoothies, etc), Lemon oil in your water, Breathe oil, Peppermint oil, Deep Blue oil during your workouts, you can take their supplement packs for energy and overall health, you can also use their Slim & Sassy oil to help manage hunger/cravings and help metabolism.

Everything is on a point system.  The goal is that at the end of the day you have 100 points. You can read about the point system here.  

Let's wrap this up with some pictures of meals I've made!  Yum!  Portion control is a huge deal, I'll post a pic that's helpful for that too. :)

Oh!  I almost forgot!  The reason you log points, is because on top of getting healthier, you can also win cash prizes!