My plan moving forward...

Well of course I'm going to party hard this weekend! :) LOL. But after the weekend is over and the cheating is over here is my plan.

I will stick to 13 blocks / day on the zone, while trying to mostly eat paleo foods. But I will incorporate zone bars, dairy & whey protein back into my diet occasionally. I am still going to stay away from grains as much as possible.

I will continue on in February like this with a maximum of 2 cheat meals / week.

I am also going to drink caffeine again and VERY limited diet soda.

I'm glad that we did this, I definitely learned a lot from it.

What a great experience but I'm glad it's over!!!! ha-ha.

CHEERS!!!!!!!! :)

OMG we did it!!!!!!

Wow.... I can't believe it!!!!!!! :) We did it. I never thought I would ever go that long without caffeine in my life. CRAZY!!!!

Well today is the last day of this craziness.

As of this morning here are my results... 30 days of paleo / zone dieting and NO caffeine! (Well actually nothing to drink but water!)

Down 8lbs!!!!! (An average of 2lbs / week), 1/2 inch lost in my wrist, 2 1/2 inches lost in my stomach, 1 1/2 inches lost in my hips, & 1 inch lost in my thighs.

I also PR'd on my mile run and my 400m run this month and also accomplished double unders without singles in between.

I GUESS ALL THE HARD WORK DID PAY OFF!!!!!!!! :)

- Cassie

Tomorrow it's over!...well not over, over.

Tomorrow is the last day of the challenge and I think we both did an awesome job! This was a really tough mental challenge for me, probably one of the hardest things I have done. It sounds silly, but not being able to eat what I wanted whenever I wanted was really hard. I have seen a difference in how my body looks and I am now starting to see improvements at the gym. I think it takes females much longer to see significant results than it does males. I'm going to keep up this eating routine and hopefully it will become a habit. I was thinking today that I had mainly snacked on unfavorable foods when I was bored, so keeping busy is important for me. I encourage everyone to try this once because when you see and feel the results you won't want to turn back around.

Peace out!

~Krista

About a week left!

About a week left….wow. Its funny how when you look back at our blogs in the beginning how stressed out we were, and now we hardly blog at all. It has become a lifestyle change and I am sure Cass and I both agree the first two weeks SUCKED! Changing something you have been used to your entire life is hard. It’s NOT easy, but it’s the only way to get good results. You have to sacrifice a little in almost everything you do and. I’ve been thinking about when the challenge is over and I am kind of nervous about going back to old eating habits and just even adding dairy back into my diet. We’ll see what happens!

~Krista

Finally feel like I'm making progress....

We are heading into the last weekend of this challenge!!! :) YAY!

Last night I ran a mile in 8:50, my best time EVER!!! Finally broke into the 8's, pretty happy about that.

Also, I've finally got a rhythm down for my double unders!!! I'm so excited!!!!! Just gonna keep practicing them so I can do more in a row.

I'm finally feeling good, finally feeling like I'm making progress! It's been a good week.

- Cassie

Everyday gets a little better...

Everyday into this challenge gets a little better and a little easier... :) I feel a lot better lately and my emotions seemed to have leveled out. (I was a little worried for a while)

I'm so excited to show Krista & Shain something tonight that I'm sure will knock their socks off!!! ;)

8 days left!!!!!! WAHOO!!!!!!

- Cassie

Congratulations Cassie!

I just want to say that I am so proud of Cassie! Praise the lord she is showing significant changes in not just her body but her performance at the gym! When you change your normal routine your body has to adjust and it's a little give and take for a while. Tonight she moved from a red and blue band to a blue and purple band, did scaled wall climbs, and scaled rope climbs all for the first time! I don't think Cassie has ever been upside down at the gym! Improving in gymnastic movements is a big accomplishment! Way to go Cassette!

Muah Me

Nikki's Sweet Potato Recipe

I'm going to try out this recipe and see if I can zone it. It looks better than the yam muffin recipe!

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/nikkis-sweet-potatoes-recipe.html

Nikki's Sweet Potato Recipe

If you'd like to prepare part of this recipe in advance you can certainly bake the sweet potatoes a day or two in advance and save the mashed sweet potatoes in the refrigerator until you are ready to move forward with the remaining steps. Also, you can make these vegan by using olive oil and not butter.

2 1/2 pounds orange-fleshed sweet potatoes          
1/3 cup coconut milk                                    
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
1 tablespoon maple syrup                            
1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
1/3 cup raw, unsweetened grated coconut  
2 tablespoons olive oil or melted butter
1/3 cup toasted macadamia nuts, chopped

Preheat your oven to 350F degrees, a rack in the upper third. Butter or oil 6 ramekins or a single medium-sized casserole dish.

Wrap each sweet potato in foil, pierce numerous times with the tines of a fork and place in the oven for somewhere between an hour and an hour and a half, until each is baked through. Times vary greatly depending on the size of your sweet potatoes - in the end you should be able to cut through the center flesh as if it were soft butter. Remove the potatoes from the oven, let them cool for a few minutes, and cut each sweet potato in half. Scrape the flesh into a medium mixing bowl. You should have about three cups of sweet potatoes. In a large bowl mash the sweet potatoes with the coconut milk. If my sweet potatoes are on the fibrous side, l take a hand blender to them for a minute or so (alternately you could use a food processor). Stir in the ginger, maple syrup and salt. Let it sit for a few minutes, stir again and taste - adjust the seasoning if you need to - this is your chance to get the right amount of salt and ginger in the sweet potatoes before they go in the oven.

Spoon the sweet potato mixture into individual baking dishes (or single larger baking dish), sprinkle with coconut, drizzle with olive oil and bake uncovered until warm and the coconut golden roughly 30 - 40 minutes. Remove and sprinkle with the toasted macadamia nut

We are almost there...

12 more days and only one more weekend!!!!! :) Phew.

- Cassie

Cheat Night WooWoo!

So my cheat night was fabulous! I went to the bridal expo with some of my girlfriends and tried cake, oreo and white chocolate covered popcorn, and other candies. Then Sheena and I had dinner at the M buffet, mmmmMMM! We had meat, yams with marshmallows, cheese stuffed tortellini, spaghetti, cheese pizza, chocolate chip cookies, cheesecake, some kind of pudding, and a glass of wine! I think I could have just done with the yams for dessert though ;-) Of course we didn’t eat all of it and I was super stuffed and didn’t feel so good after. Oh I also had some Reese’s Pieces! They were still as good as I remembered. But again, I ate waaaaaay to much, uh!

It’s crazy how your body adjusts to not eating all that crap and when you do, you have to be careful so you don’t make yourself sick.

~Krista