Review of Fixate 21 Day Fix Cookbook Almond Chocolate Protein Squares

Almond Chocolate Protein Squares

The recipe for these Almond Chocolate Protein Squares came from the Fixate Cookbook from Beachbody. It has 101 recipes that are all 21 Day Fix approved. I'm currently not doing the 21 Day Fix meal plan, but these fit in pretty well with my Weight Watcher's points and I want to try these out for when I do go back on the 21 Day Fix meal plan. 

I didn't have several of the ingredients for this recipe, and I doubt many people would have them. I had to get the oat flour, whey protein, almond flower, unsweetened almond milk, almond butter and dark chocolate chips. I had the salt and the vanilla extra. :)

These were super easy to make and they are no bake so they are great for a warm summer day! Once you mix all of the ingredients in the food processor, you pour it into an 8x8 pan and freeze it. After it's been in there for awhile, you take it out and pour the melted chocolate over it. 

This recipe counts as 1/2 a yellow container, 1/2 a red container and 2 teaspoons. It counts as 5 Weight Watchers points according to my app. The squares are pretty small. You get 16 servings out of an 8 x 8 pan which means these things are tiny! I was thinking that they would be too small, but the size actually worked out pretty well for me. 

Neither one of us really liked these the first night. They weren't very sweet and the texture was weird. They hadn't completely frozen at that point. It was a few days before I tried it again because I just wasn't sure if 5 points was worth it. I had to eat them though because I spent too much money on ingredients not to eat them. When I had them again, I actually really enjoyed them. I'm not sure if it was because I hadn't had anything sweet for over a week at that point or if the texture was just better because they had frozen solid at that point.

I had hubby try one that was frozen solid and he enjoyed it better that way as well. I actually couldn't get enough of these after that. There were a couple days where I found myself with extra points so I had two in one day! I discovered that letting them sit for about 5 or 10 minutes softened them up just enough so they were easy enough to bite, but not enough that it gave them a weird texture. 

I'm going to make these again that's for sure. The book says that you can swap out the almond butter for peanut butter, cashew butter, seed butters or hazelnut butter. I'm going to see about finding a less expensive butter! It might be peanut butter and I might get a giant thing of it from Costco!

If you want the recipe, send me a message on Facebook or buy the cookbook! 

Want to learn more about the 21 Day Fix?

21 Day Fix is a nutrition and exercise program that lasts 21 days. It comes with seven 30 minute workouts that include cardio and strength training. It also comes with a 10 minute ab workout. If you buy it from a coach, you get an extra 30 minute workout for free. The nutrition system includes color coded containers. Based on your weight, you get a set number of containers to eat each day. Once you've eaten all of your containers, your done for the day. There are different sized containers for "veggies" (I used quotes since a lot of them are actually fruits, but they are the things that most people consider veggies like cucumbers and peppers), fruits, grains, proteins, fats and dressings. The containers help to make you understand portion control and getting a balanced diet. If it's on the list of foods you can eat and it fits into your containers, you get to eat it. If it doesn't fit, just put it off until the following day. There are plenty of treats that you get to eat as well.  Things like Peanutty Peanut Butter Squares and Almond Chocolate Protein Squares. 

Moderate Hike to Soda Creek Falls in Cascadia, Oregon

Soda Creek Falls

We've been on this hike before, but we were running out of hikes that we could do on our way to Albany. We decided that to redo this hike since it had a waterfall and it was right on the way. I love waterfalls. Before we went, I reread my blog post about our Hike to Soda Creek Falls in January of 2014. I was 315 pounds when I went up he first time and 275 when I went up the second time. I know I stopped a lot the last time I went up it. The hike is only 3/4 of a mile, but it's mainly uphill. The first section of it isn't that steep, but the last section gets a bit steep. I don't remember if we used our hiking poles the first time, but I know we didn't use them the second time. We wished we had though! We've decided that we're going to get poles that shrink down more easily and we'll just keep them in the backpack so if we need them, we have them. No more need to decide at the parking lot if we're going to need poles or not.

This hike is a fairly popular spot and the path is really only wide enough for one person. We had to pull off the path a few times to let people through. That part gets annoying when you are trying to check your progress and see how far you can get up this hill without stopping. On the way up, we stopped several times to catch our breath. On the way down, we just powered it out and only stopped if we needed to let people pass. It felt pretty amazing doing this hike and thinking back to how challenging it was the first time. I've come pretty far in a year and a half. I might not be where I want to be as far as my weight and I still have a long way to go with my strength and endurance, but I'm so much stronger than I was back in January of 2014.  

Polar M400

This was our first hike using our new gadget the Polar M400. It has a chest strap heart rate monitor and GPS watch. I had some issues with the connection on the heart rate monitor strap. The thing kept popping off me. The strap didn't fall off or anything like that, but I would look at my watch and see dashes instead of my heart rate. That really messed up my speed and heart rate chart. It was pretty gnarly looking so I just used the elevation line for this hike. No one else really cares about my heart rate and speed anyway. So here's the chart of the elevation. You can see that we got to the highest point of the hike at about the 45 minute mark. It took us 45 minutes to go 3/4 of a mile up and about 17 minutes to go 3/4 of a mile down. We did spend a few minutes up at the top though so the down was actually a little bit shorter. 

Review of Beachbody Les Mills Combat Day 53

What I did and why

Today was Day 53 of Les Mills Combat! I only have a week left! That's insane! I'm still a little freaked out about what I'm going to do when it's over. I know I need a few low key days to just let my body recover. Up until this week, I've had two rest days each week, but this workout program has really kicked my butt. I'm actually more sore now than I was in the first few workouts. At least, I think I am. I don't remember being very sore in the beginning. I do remember the weird circles of pain near my shoulder blades after doing Combat 45 for the first time and I'm sure my legs got sore at some point, but this week, I can feel it in my chest and shoulders big time. My abs are feeling it too. I'm not in pain really, but my muscles feel weak and my muscles are all tingly. 

Power HIIT

Today was Power HIIT. It's a 30 minute High Intensity Interval Training workout. There's a lot of jumping around and a lot of lunges and squats! UGH! You can read a play by play of the workout on my Day 2 review of Les Mills Combat. I didn't do any of the jumping today. I kicked my legs back for the burpees, but that's not really jumping. I was still trying to be kind to my foot/ankle since it was sore yesterday. It wasn't too bad today. I still feel like a wimp for not moving up to higher dumbbells for the shoulder section of this workout. I didn't bump up for a couple reasons. The biggest one was the money. The weights are such a small part of this whole program that it seemed wrong to go spend $20.00 on a set of 8 pound weights. I knew I couldn't handle the 10s, but the 8s wouldn't last long so then I'd be spending another $20 on 10s shortly after that. Since the weights are only in three short segments, it just didn't seem necessary. If this program was all about the weights, I would have upgraded. I'm doing PiYo soon and there are no weights for that. 

Okay, so the workout today.....I didn't hate it. I like the weight lifting section the best. I'm not a fan of the burpees! My boobs just don't do nice things during burpees. I promise to buy a better bra as soon as payday rolls around! Although, PiYo might not require another bra. There's no jumping! Woot Woot! I did the push ups on my knees, but I was pretty stretched out for it and I went down far enough that m boobs hit the floor. I felt good during them. I didn't have to take a break. I feel like I'll definitely be able to slam out one whole push up on my toes when this is over. I may never be able to say the word toes without hearing Dan's voice. It's funny how certain words are like that. I can't hear modify without hearing Leslie Sansone's voice. 

I do this workout one more time before I'm done!

BodyMedia Screen Shots

Here are my BodyMedia screen shots for the workout. I'm not sure that this workout arc even looks like the same workout I did back on my first day doing it. I have three extra minutes of activity on this one, but on the previous one, I had a minute of vigorous activity that I didn't have them. I really want a heart rate monitor for workouts like this! I'm so getting one before I start PiYo. I just need to decide which one and it has to be one that BestBuy sells. 

Want to Learn More?

The Biggest Loser 30-Day Jump Start Book Review

What I read and why

Not that long ago, I read The Biggest Loser 30-Day Jump Start. I have a slight obsession with reading weight loss books and specifically those from The Biggest Loser. I'm not really sure why, but it's a relatively new thing for me. I watched the most recent season of The Biggest Loser, but I hadn't watched much of the show prior to that. I only watched this season because when I was in high school, I knew one of the contestants. I wanted to watch him go through the show. Prior to that, I never wanted to watch the show because Jillian was just so bloody obnoxious on the commercials. Back on track.....I wrote a post several weeks ago about the Simple Swaps book and liked that one, so I picked this one up from the library. I wish I had more time to read! There are so many books I've gotten, but haven't gotten to read yet.

The Premise

The book mainly talks about healthy eating and exercise. There is no calorie counting or carb counting. There's nothing special that you need. The book actually gives you a 30 day meal plan and a 30 day exercise plan. You have nothing to think about with this plan. However, I wasn't a big fan of the recipes or the exercises, so I haven't done the 30 Day Jump Start. I still enjoyed reading the book. It had tips and updates from previous contestants.The focus is on people who were in Season 7. Apparently, during Season 7, some of the contestants were sent home for 30 days. There is a chapter that talks about what happened to each of them during their 30 days.

The Chapters

Ready...Set...Jump!

This is basically an intro chapter and something to get you motivated. It was very short

There's No Place Like Home

This section talked about each of the contestants that had to go home for 30 days. It showed a picture of the contestant and had a little bio about them. It listed their starting weight, their weight on Day 1 of the at home challenge, their height, age, hometown, and team mates name.  Each contestant had a little blurb about why they were ready. It then listed journal entries from Day 1, Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4 and Day 30. It also had a paragraph about what they learned. 

The What, When and How of Eating

This section talked about eating healthy. It's not a fad diet that you'll be on until you lose the weight and then you just eat whatever you want. This is about eating real food that's good for you. No processed crap that came in a box, no white sugar white flour or white rice. 

Building a Fitness Foundation

This section talked about exercise. It discussed the scale of exertion and heart rate monitors. At the end, it had the chart for the 30 days of exercise.

30 Day of Transformation

This section lists out everything you should eat and each exercise you should do for each of the 30 days. Each day starts off with an inspirational page to motivate us. There is a meal plan that includes breakfast, morning snack, lunch afternoon snack and dinner. There is also an exercise plan for each day.

The meal plans might be good for the average person, but I'm very fussy about what I eat. I'm slowly getting over it, but it's VERY slow. I can't just jump into a food plan with a bunch of stuff that I just don't like. The book has a couple recipes for each day. Some of them look interesting. The exercises seemed like a step backwards from what I was doing. I think this would be great for someone who hasn't begun an exercise plan. It starts off with a 20 minute walk and 10 minutes of mobility and body weight exercises. The walk increases by 2 minutes per day. I'm no professional, but in my experience, I've been burning a lot more calories by doing my DVDs than I do when I just walk around the block or even on our hikes. The body weight exercises didn't seem as intense as the Jessica Smith Thin in 10 workouts that I did last week or even The Biggest Loser DVDs that I've done.  

Now What?

This was another inspirational section that talked about keeping your eye on the prize,  not getting all upset over slip ups and keeping people around you who are going to help you instead of hurt your progress.

My Overall Thoughts

I enjoyed reading the book, but it was a pretty quick read since the bulk of it was the daily eating and exercise plan. It didn't talk a lot about nutrition, but it did have some stuff in there. I think the Simple Swaps book is a better about nutrition education, but this was good too. If you're not picky about what you eat and you need someone to tell you what to eat and when, this is a great book. The exercises are good exercises, but it didn't seem like a very intense routine to me. However, I didn't do the routine. I probably should, but I've got other plans at the moment.

Jessica Smith's Thin in 10 Book Review 2 - Intermediate Exercise Plan

What it is and why I read it

Jessica Smiths's Thin in 10 Weight-Loss Plan is a concept that combines a bunch of little things that can be done in 10 minutes to help you meet your goals. The workouts are 10 minutes each and the food can be cooked in 10 minutes or less. The concept is great for people who have busy schedules. You can fit in 10 minutes before work, on a lunch break or after you get home. I already wrote a review of Thin in 10 by Jessica Smith, but when I wrote it, I hadn't done the exercises yet. I tested as a Novice, but I challenged myself to do the Intermediate Plan for the full seven day program. However, due to some plans that we had on Saturday, my seven day challenge did not take place in 7 consecutive days. I did it Tuesday through Friday and then Monday through Wednesday. I did the workouts from the DVD. I'll do this again with the workouts in the actual book, but It was too hard to try that since I needed to know what I was doing next. I certainly wouldn't have know if I had to read while workout out. 

Day 1

Walk

Strength Shot

Stretch and De-Stress

I loved the Walk and the Stretch and De-Stress. The strength shot was hard for me. Push ups, planks, squats and lunges. I was pretty sore after this. 

Day 2

Walk

Cardio Quickie

Core Conditioning

The Cardio Quickie was hard for me to do after the Strength Shot the day before. My shoulders and triceps were sore. This cardio routine uses the upper body for most of the movement. That was HARD to do while sore. 

Day 3

Walk

Total Body Band

Stretch and De-Stress

The Body Band stuff was hard since I was still sore from Tuesday and Wednesday. I made it through the workout and enjoyed the stretch again. 

Day 4

Walk 

Cardio Quickie TWICE

I was not looking forward to doing this routine twice. I did them back to back instead of separating them up. It's better for me that way. This workout was hard, but I survived. It was easier this time than the first time. 

Day 5

Walk

Strength Shot TWICE

I was really dreading this day. I had to do the Strength Shot twice in a row. She says you can break them up, but I knew that it was either back to back or not gonna happen. I thought for sure that I would be dying the next day, but nope. I felt it, but it wasn't difficult to walk or use the toilet! With all the water that I drink, that last part is very important.  

Day 6

Walk

Total Body Band TWICE

This was another day that I wasn't looking forward to. I wasn't very sore from the day before, but I was a bit weak. I didn't put my all into the lunges I know that for sure. I also didn't use my resistance band for the whole workout. My shoulders just couldn't do it on the second time around. i used my weighted balls and some dumbbells. I did use the band for the ab thing and the cardio burst. 

Day 7

Walk 

Stretch and De-Stress

This was pretty close to having a rest day. I did jog during the speed walking segments, but still, an easy 10 minute walk was great after the previous six days of this workout! I'm glad I took those two days off in the middle too. If I hadn't, I'm not sure if I would ave been able to continue.

Overall Thought

I liked the book, and the exercises on the DVD grew on me. My first time around, I think I was cursing her name. I said how the DVD was meant for people who were already in shape. After some careful though, I realized that I had tested as a Novice but I chose to do the Intermediate Plan. Yeah the Intermediate Plan is designed for people who've been exercising for a bit. I only picked the Intermediate plan because it had 30 minute workouts. I should have increased the cardio instead of increasing the rest, but I wanted to do the plan like she had it laid out and I wanted 30 minute workouts. I learned that I'm stronger today than I was a week ago. I learned that I can do amazing things that most people of my size probably wouldn't do. I'm glad I picked the Intermediate Plan. Getting through it gave me the confidence to buy a BeachBody workout called Les Mills Combat. It was on sale for pretty cheap, so I bought it. I'm looking forward to it coming in, but next week is all about cardio. We're going to climb to the top of Smith Rock, and I can't be sore or have muscle fatigue before that hike! It/s 3/4 of a mile up a pretty steep rock. 

The Results

On Monday the 26th, the day before I started this 7 day challenge, I weighed in at 294. After seven days of the exercise plan and two days of hiking, I weighed in at 291. I actually hit 290 a couple days ago, but at the end of the challenge, I was at 291. I also learned that it's not obnoxious or annoying to do multiple workouts in one morning. In the past, if I wanted to do a 10 minute Jessica Smith routine, I've just done the one routine thinking it was going to be annoying to do the one routine and then set up the next one. It's not annoying and it's a a good excuse for a water break. It also gives me the chance to catch my breath. In the future, hopefully I'll remember this and if I see a short workout I want to do, maybe I'll do that one and then add something to it. 

Jessica Smith Thin in 10 Day 2

What I did and why

Today was Day 2 of my Thin in 10 exercise plan. My shoulders, triceps and glutes were sore from yesterday. I was pretty annoyed with myself for this crazy 7 day challenge thing since I really just wanted to do a nice easy walk. I stuck with it and did Day 2 though. 

Day 2

Walk

I did the 10 Minute Interval Walk again. I decided to kick it up a notch and jog during the fast walking parts. I didn't jog during the first one though. I thought I should warm up a little bit. I did okay with the jogging. I was pretty out of breath, but I didn't want to die at any point. That's an improvement I would say over my first jogging experience.

Cardio Quickie

I used the DVD again instead of the book. This workout involved intervals just like the walk did, but these were 40 seconds of low intensity followed by 20 seconds of high intensity. There were five different moves that we did twice each for a total of 10 minutes. I don't remember all of the moves in this, but there was double side step type thing with a bit of a hop in middle. That was the low intensity part. The high intensity part involved something similar to a side lunge, but we did it very fast and we were supposed to touch the floor. I touched the floor, but didn't put as much oomph as her into the bouncing around stuff. 

Another move involved "swimming" while standing up. It was basically holding our arms straight out in front of us and doing big arm circles as if we were swimming. The high intensity part had us dong both arms at the same time and doing a small hop off the floor. I didn't hop! It was a bit too much for me.

There was another move that involved tapping one foot forward while punching with the opposite arm. I actually liked this move. The high intensity was doing scissor jacks while still doing the punching. I was not a fan of this part!

Overall, the Cardio Quickie felt more like it was geared towards people who were already in shape instead of people who were trying to lose weight. I like doing workouts that I feel like I can do without modifying everything. I should be happy to find something that is challenging for me so I can work my way up and master the workout, but I just feel like I'm not getting the calorie burn that I should and could get from doing something that I can actually handle.

Core Conditioning

I used the DVD again instead of the book. This one was another interval type thing, but each move was a minute just like the walk instead of the 40/20 split like the Cardio Quickie. This involved planks and side planks. I suck at planking and until today, I had never tried a side plank. The modified version of the side plank was actually easier than the plank. I put my feet against the wall to make the plank a little easier. I was able to stay up long enough to give myself rug burn on my elbows. I guess I should get a mat or something. 

This was another workout that made me feel like I was totally out of shape. This is not news to me. I know I'm out of shape, but I can do Leslie Sansone ab workouts and I like doing stuff that I don't have to modify! This also had bicycles and crunches. Oh we did do one thing that I liked. We were on our hands and knees and stretched out our opposite hand and foot. I liked that move because I could actually do it. There was a sit up move too which was impossible for me to do even with the modified version she suggested where you pull on your legs to get yourself up. Overall, I was pretty much miserable during the entire routine. The good news is that I don't have to do this one again! I committed to 7 days of the exercise plan and this workout is only in that 7 days once! 

BodyMedia Screen Shots

Here are my BodyMedia screen shots for the workouts. The first one is the 10 Minute Interval Walk, the second is the Cardio Quickie and the third is the Core Conditioning. The amount of vigorous activity was about what I had expected. I think it was a decent burn overall for a 30 minute workout where the last 10 minutes was pretty much just laying on the floor. Ab stuff is hard for me, but it's just not a big calorie burn. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be even more sore tomorrow, which totally sucks since I'm supposed to do the Total Body Band. That just sounds painful! Did I mention that my triceps are killing me already? So looking forward to Total Body Band. Maybe I should have done the Novice plan, but up the cardio. Too late now though. I'm in it for the 7 days even if I kill myself! 

Thin In 10 Weigh-Loss Plan Review Part 1

 

What it is and why I read it

Thin In 10 Weight-Loss Plan is a book written by Jessica Smith and Liz Neporent. I've been doing a lot of Jessica Smith workouts lately, and I thought it was time to finally read her book. The book is 204 pages long and includes a DVD with some workouts on it. The book contains an eating plan as well as an exercise plan. The premise of the book is that you can work on losing weight 10 minutes at a time. It's NOT about only putting in 10 minutes a day. It's about finding 10 minutes at a time to lose weight. The workouts are set for 10 minutes and you start out with one a day, but you build up to 30 and 40 minute workouts. The meals in the book can be prepared in 10 minutes or less. Since everyone is so busy these days, this is a great concept. You don't have to find an hour to workout and you don't need to spend an entire Sunday preparing food for the week. I love this concept.

The Chapters

Part 1: The Thin in 10 Exercise Plan

Chapter 1: Your 10 Minute Exercise Plan

Chapter 2: The 10-Minute Walk

Chapter 3: Cardio QUICK

Chapter 4: Simple Strength

Chapter 5: The 10-Minute Total Body Circuit

Chapter 6: Core & More

Chapter 7: The 10-Minute Stretch

The Quiz

In this section, you take a quiz to find out your starting point. When I took the quiz, it said that I was a Novice. It gave me a workout plan for up to 20 minutes per day 7 days per week. I can workout for well over 20 minutes in a day, but I've yet to convince myself to get some exercise on the weekends. I plan to go on walks, but something always happens and we haven't gotten many of the hikes done yet this year. The workout plan suggested is a 10 minute walk per day, but not a leisurely walk. This thing is pretty intense. It also gave a set plan for a 10 minute strength training workout, a 10 minute Core & More program, a 10 Minute stretch twice in the week and a 10 minute cardio routine. There were two days with just the 10 minute walk. The book lays out some exercises, but it also has a DVD so you've got two different sets of exercises to pick from for the different routines in the suggested plan. She does say not to go backwards though. So if you're already exercising an hour per day, but your quiz results put you at Novice, you shouldn't drop down to the 10 to 20 minutes per day. If you get bored with the book and DVD exercises, you can also check out her website www.jessicasmithtv.com for a lot more 10 minute programs. 

Goals

You're also supposed to set goals in this section. I'm never really good at this part. I know that I want to lose 150 pounds. Once I get there, I'll decide if I want to lose more weight. I'm going to set down some goals right now though even thought I hate this aspect of weight loss. The book gives you instructions on how to set SMART goals. Here are my big goals. I need to work on some smaller goals.

I want to lose 150 pounds.
I want to wear size 10 jeans again.
I want to hike to all of the waterfalls in Central Oregon and the Gorge.
I want to hike to the top of South Sister.

The Exercises

The exercises in the book are a bit intimidating for me. I have 150 pounds to lose, so doing any exercise that uses my own body weight as the resistance is a bit scary. I can bounce around the living room without a problem. I can push weight around at the gym without a problem. Planking, push ups and lunges are just really hard for me. I'm going to spend two weeks working on the exercise plan in the book, but I can't start it just yet. I have a Leslie Sansone DVD in transit at the library and I'll only have 7 days with it. I have plans for it that will take up the whole 7 days! After I'm done with that DVD, I'll work on the exercises from the book and the DVD that came with it. 

Part 2: The Thin in 10 Meal Plan

Chapter 8: Your 10-Minute or Less Meal Plan

Chapter 9: Breakfast in 10 Minutes or Less

Chapter 10: Lunch in 10 Minutes or Less

Chapter 11: Dinner in 10 Minutes or Less

Chapter 12: Discretionary Calories

I was really excited to get to this section. I had set out to cook two meals per week, but we ran into a bit of a financial mess and the meals that I was finding were just too costly to continue making, so I stopped making them a couple weeks ago. I noticed that I haven't had as much success with weight loss since that point. I need to get back to cooking again, but it's just so time consuming for me to find a recipe and then get the ingredients and then cook the meal. 

The concept of these meals that only take 10 minutes to cook was very important to me. However, the meals were not all that I had hoped for and more. I'm still going to try some of them, but I'm trying to get into a more whole foods type of diet, and a lot of the meals had convenience type foods in them. Several of them had pre-made chicken nuggets, English muffins and frozen pancakes. I wish I had read this book back in January, because I think I would have found the menu a bit more of a step in the right direction than a step backwards like I do now. I do like that the recipes are set up for one serving. I also liked that they didn't have rare and expensive ingredients. 

The diet plan is set up with 1500 calories for women and a little more for men. I'm not a huge fan of diets that don't give extra calories to larger people. Larger people burn more calories just being alive, but the book doesn't give any concessions for that in the diet. It also doesn't talk about mixing up the calories until the very end of the book when it talks about plateaus. It does talk about getting away from the Burn and Earn mentality. The Burn and Earn mentality was something I actually learned while I did Weight Watchers several years ago. I like Burn and Earn. I like the option of being able to work harder all week in order to get to eat ice cream on the weekend, but this concept is a no-no in the book. When I do the exercise plan from the book, I'll also do the eating plan, or at least I'll try it.

Part 3: Living the Thin In 10 Life

Chapter 13: How to Burn (or Trim) Extra Calories Every Day

Chapter 14: Skinny Sleep

Chapter 15: It's Not Just Physical: The Mental Side of Weight Loss

Final Thoughts

I liked Chapter 13 in this book. It's something that I've talked about in the blog before, but I can't remember where, so I can't link to it. I bought a rocking footrest for my office at work. When I sit around typing, I try to rock my feet on the footrest to burn some bonus calories. When I'm standing at the copier, I do side steps instead of just standing there. When I'm talking to someone in the office, I try to shift my weight from side to side to get some extra calories burned. I have a hair clip on the couch, and today while my in-laws were visiting, I put my fingers between the teeth and kept opening and closing the hair clip. I have no idea if it burned enough to register on my BodyMedia Link device, but I know it was still doing more than just sitting here doing nothing. 

My Overall Thoughts

I really like the concepts in this book and look forward to trying out the workouts and the eating plan. I think this is a great book for anyone beginning an exercise and diet plan. I think this book is a much better book to start with from scratch than something like Dolvett Quince's The 3-1-2-1 Diet. This is partly because Thin in 10 is a much easier book to get through. It's a lot shorter and the writing is just more interesting. However, there are a lot of references to studies done on weight loss and diet. I started to tune those out since I am very skeptical about more studies. Everyone can skew the data to their way of thinking, so I don't give much credence to "studies." After I do the eating and exercise plan for a couple weeks, I'll post another review with information about my success or failures. 

The Biggest Loser Simple Swaps 100 Easy Changes to Start Living a Healthier Lifestyle

I recently read The Biggest Loser Simple Swaps 100 Easy Changes to Start Living a Healthier Lifestyle. The book was not what I was expecting, but it was still good. I got the book from the library and only had a brief blurb about the book. I was expecting something similar to Eat This Not That. However, this book was more like a regular diet book with extra blurb throughout that explained the Simple Swaps. It also included recipes. 

Chapter List:

Swapping the Ranch for Life at Home - (It's a where are they now section for previous contestants.)

Calories: You Can Count on Them

Planning Regular Meals and Snacks

Eat Your Vegetables

The Power of Protein

Don't Go Against the Grain

Fat Can Help You Get Thin

No More White Stuff

Eat, Don't Drink Your Calories

Moving Right Along

Creating a Game Plan for Life

The information in the book, wasn't really all that new to me. I know that I need more veggies and less processed foods in my life. I was looking forward to the Simple Swaps, but they were not really all that I had hoped for and more. Some of them were what I was looking for, such as eating an orange instead of drinking the juice. A lot of them were things like Be Positive instead of Negative. I didn't really find those mental swaps to be helpful for a couple reasons. The book is called Simple Swaps, but changing your mindset isn't really all that simple. It also just seemed like no brainer type stuff that it wasn't really necessary to waste one of the top 100 Simple Swaps on stuff like that.

The format was a bit chaotic for me. I pretty much felt like I had ADD. I would be in the middle of some educational paragraph, but would have to flip to the next page to finish it. Once you finish the paragraph, you have to flip back to the previous page to read all of the blurbs from the previous contestants, the swap blurbs and the trainer tip blurbs. I found that quite distracting. 

The book has some really good information and some good recipes, but it just wasn't what I was expecting. I was happy that the suggested diet plan didn't include any crazy crash diet stuff and the calorie count suggestions are pretty doable. 

Recipes from the book that I've tried.

Flaxseed Flapjacks

Garlicky Poached Chicken Breasts with Ginger and Onion and Quinoa with Spinach and Cheese

Nicole and Damien's Sweet Grilled Cheese

Garlic Southern Fried Chicken and Rosemary-Roasted Root Vegetables