My favorite "BAR" these days is PURE BARRE!

So I've held off on creating my Pure Barre post until my 100th class - which, in the Pure Barre family is the mile stone where you're celebrated for "lifting, toning and burning" 100 times.  For me this challenge started on May 1st, 2013 and I just completed my 100th class yesterday - 11/11.  That's on average, a class every other day for 7 months or so, so yea - I'd say this is an accomplishment.  I joke that Pure Barre has been my local "bar" for the last 1/2 a year. 

What do I love about barre:  Barre is a way for me to be able to concentrate on the trouble areas - hips, thighs, seat, abs and arms all in one hour.  The class actually goes by quickly as its sectioned in different segments and you feel that you flow through the segments quickly.  I don't feel I've ever had a better ab work out then my pure barre class.  My abs are always an area that is extremely targeted.  I also have trouble with flexibility and feel that this has greatly improved in my last 100 classes.  When your legs are shaking uncontrollably you know you're doing something right.....check out a side by side - the left image is in May (before Pure Barre) - the right is from my 100th class yesterday!!

As you can see, the toning and definition is definitely noticeable.   In addition to my abs and arms being defined, my hamstrings (a serious problem area of mine and one of the reasons my back hurt so badly earlier in 2012) are so much stronger which gives my "seat" lift and definition.  There is a great natural shape to my backside purely from Pure Barre! 

The next step for my Pure Barre endeavors is the 90 minute inner thigh intensive class on 11/23.  This is free because I'm now a "centurion"!!  I'm scared but excited as it will be a good way to blast the inner thighs and get them in tip top shape!  It's expensive at times but I think the studios really give those that continue to come on a regular basis a way to pay much less than their normal 'pricing'.  There are incentive programs (like their November "20 classes in 30 days") that challenge the client to stretch their attendance in exchange for $100 off for the next month...etc. 

 

(My Facebook post from Pure Barre Irvine where you wear the tutu and get featured on the Facebook page!)

Ever considered a "cleanse"??

Confession: for the last three weekends in October I had slightly tail spinned out of control.  Yes, true - "we're only human" however for whatever weird emotional (or not) reason, I was eating my feelings through french toast, appetizers mini bites, raisins, cranberries, trail mix, chocolate, coconut and other 'healthy' items.  Sure, I'm complaining about raisins and cranberries and almonds....who do I think I am complaining when THAT'S my binge food; however, for me, when consumed in a large quantity these items are high in fat and not effective to my goals.  Quite honestly I ballooned 8-10 lbs at times, only having to work my ass off Mon-Fri to shed this excess stupid weight.  Luckily enough I never stopped moving.  I kept pushing on.  In fact, I usually ended up with more steps on during this 'dark period' (average 12-15 miles a day) than before.  My guess is that I was so imbalanced that by Monday I was trying everything I could to walk off the caloric intake I had over the weekend.  I feel it might be easier to post this here, admit to it and figure out what I can do to avoid it.  The weirdest part was that it was such a foreign land for me.  In this entire journey I have yet to have major issues with diet.  It was always pretty easy for me to eat healthy, it was actually fun to come up with new concoctions.  Therefore, when I would be in my tailspin on Sunday evening going for anything / everything I could that would "satisfy me" (nothing really did) I didn't quite know what to do but go for it on Sunday and be pissed at myself Monday. 

So I decided - nearing my 30th birthday party and in a true effort to get my shit back in gear, to do a 5 day juice cleanse.  This cleanse actually ended up being more of a 6 day because I had received some complementary juices, avoided number 5 one day to save it for day 6 and purchased 2 additional juices.  For me it was less about "detoxing the system" (I had a bit of black coffee on day 3 and 4...shhh!) and more about having a controlled caloric intake and 6 solid days of clean eating, good vitamins and non-processed sugars.  It was also about setting out to do something and sticking to it.  I was having such a hard time with my diet.  I would start the day in this "ok I'm going to be good!" phase and end up being terrible and getting down on myself.  Through this whole journey I never beat myself up; however I was finding myself doing this often so my cleanse was to A) avoid succumbing to temptation B) to stick to my juices and most importantly C) to be good to myself --- 100%, inside and out, good to myself.  I can say overall, I feel great.  A bit bummed it's over but I feel awesome.  I am making some additional juices at home with a co-workers juicer to have for the weekend.  I am now going to attempt to get through this weekend being active, healthy and binge free.  Wish me luck!!

My results: 6 days, 8 lbs and a whole lot of bloat

Sometimes Accidents can be a Good Thing!

I am in LOVE with this soup so I had to make sure to post it to my blog for ya'll to try it out.  I think one of the main reasons I enjoy it is because it's SOUP'er healthy and SOUP'er easy.  Get it?  See what I did there?  :)

I also enjoy this soup because I veered off from a recipe I found for a cauliflower soup and tried a couple different things, making the outcome a wonderful coconut flavored curried cauliflower soup than the traditional soup that was on the recipe. 

I have deemed this the:

Accidental Cauliflower Coconut Curry Soup

What you'll need:

2 small heads (or 1 large head) of cauliflower
2 onions (medium sized)
2 tablespoon of coconut oil
2-3 medium carrots
2 cloves of garlic
2 cups of water or vegetable broth
1 cup of water
1/2 cup of coconut milk
pinch of salt and pepper

Directions:

I happened to roast the cauliflower - not necessary but bueno none the less.

Cut your cauliflower into florets and place on a baking sheet lined with foil.  Drizzle in olive oil and bake at 350 until golden brown. 
Meanwhile in a deep pot cook your cut up onions and carrots in a tablespoon (or a bit more, as I did) of the coconut oil).  Cook the veggies for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add your roasted cauliflower to the concoction as well as your brother (or water) and bring to a boil.
Once boiled for 5 minutes, turn heat to low and let it simmer for about 30-45 minutes (until veggies are tender)
With a hand immersion blender (and if you don't have one, a regular blender will do - however the hand immersion blender is AWESOME) blend everything up
Add in slowly the 1/2 cup of unsweetened coconut milk.

What you turn out to have is a SUPER healthy, SUPER fresh vegetable stew that nixes your craving for Indian food because it has an almost curry like taste due to the coconut mixes with the carrot, onion and cauliflower.  This is why it's OK to add a bit more coconut oil if desired.

 For lunch today I poured the soup into an avocado middle, eating a little soup with a little avocado.  I kept refilling my avocado middle as I ate the soup with avocado.  Totally recommend!