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Weekly Food and Fitness

**Hey there, I thought I’d bring back my rundown of my weekly workouts and menus to perhaps inspire others to prepare in advance for a week of healthy eating and give you menu and training ideas. Now that I have more of an established schedule and all, it’s easier for me to organize.

I have been doing at least 30 minutes of exercise every morning, 6 days a week, alternating strength training and cardio days. And for cardio, I’ve been alternating steady state and interval training.

Workout Schedule

  • Monday: 30 min 21 Day Fix Extreme
  • Tuesday: 30 min run
  • Wednesday: Rest, sick
  • Thursday: Rest, sick
  • Friday: 30 min Flashfit (my own workout)
  • Saturday: 35 min interval run
  • Sunday: Rest

This week was a bit of a bummer because I was sick for several days. The first day it hit, I had a wicked sore throat, and Hubster has been complaining about me snoring every day I’ve had the sore throat. Sorry Hubby!

On the menu this week:
  • Breakfast: superfood smoothie, eggs with veggies, grapefruit
  • Lunch: Quinoa Pecan Peach Salad from the Tone it Up Nutrition Plan
  • Snack: A hefty serving of squeaky clean cucumber salad
  • Dinners: we have clean parm chicken, ham and cheese sammies, homemade blueberry pancakes, pizza burgers, etc.

A photo posted by Jessica Collins (@boun_seejess) on
Look at this beast! I get excited every day when snacktime comes around. I made my cucumber salad with 3 cucumbers, 1/2 onion, a carton of cherry tomatoes and 1 can chickpeas. For the sauce, I used about 1.5 cups of plain Greek yogurt, garlic, vinegar and dill. I’m tellin’ ya, you don’t miss the mayo!
This week I also had an appointment with my doctor and asked him about my weight, again. And again, they checked my thyroid!!! That’s been checked so many times, my blood should have its own spot in the lab. I’m getting a bit frustrated. Thinking about doing a video about it, because I have a lot to say, haha! I’m eating pretty clean, working out 6 days a week, and my body is not responding whatsoever. My diet and food plan here would make anyone else lose weight…just not me. Oh well, will keep you posted on what I find out.

Weekly Food and Fitness

**Hey there, I thought I’d bring back my rundown of my weekly workouts and menus to perhaps inspire others to prepare in advance for a week of healthy eating and give you menu and training ideas. Now that I have more of an established schedule and all, it’s easier for me to organize.

I have been doing at least 30 minutes of exercise every morning, 6 days a week, alternating strength training and cardio days. And for cardio, I’ve been alternating steady state and interval training.

Workout Schedule:

Monday: 30 minutes strength training with weights
Tuesday: 30 min Barefoot Cardio
Wednesday: 20 min TIU Hula Booty from Beach Babe 2
Thursday: 30 min steady state run
Friday: 35 Piyo Sweat
Saturday: 35 min HIIT run, 3 min/1 min intervals
Sunday: active rest, 30 min light yoga with Shiva Rae



On the Menu this week:

Breakfast: Shakeology Berry Smoothie, egg whites + tomatoes and mushrooms, TIU bombshell spell
Snack: grapefruit
Lunch: Romaine Thai Turkey Cups
Snack: Cottage cheese and chickpeas
Dinners: turkey dogs, tuna salad, broccoli ravioli, grilled pork chops


Hubster and I will be celebrating our 10 year anniversary this year and we are booking a trip for somewhere like the Bahamas or Cancun. Not sure yet. What I am sure of is that I need to get my butt in shape in the next few months. I have a check-in with my doctor this week again, because things aren’t adding up when I look at calorie intake and workouts. I am not losing like I should be according to the math. Hopefully I can get some insight and tighten up my diet and see the weight budge.

How are you workout out/eating this week?

How to do the LiveFit Series at Home

For those of you that don’t know, bodybuilding.com offers a bunch of free 30 to 90 day fitness programs for both men and women on their website. You can choose a program to lose weight, muscle up and everything in between. I have tried the LifeFit Trainer before in the past and enjoyed it. It’s one of the most impressive workout and clean eating programs that I’ve seen anywhere for free. But, it requires access to a gym. Until now.

Hubster helped me film a video this weekend showing how to do Jamie Eason’s LiveFit Trainer at home. I filmed substitutes for most of the moves that require specific gym equipment. To do the LiveFit Trainer at home, you need little more than a chair, weights, resistance bands and maybe an exercise ball. I did a few moves in the video with ankle weights, but you could even skip those and put a weight plate between your feet instead.

  • Seated calf raise: use ankle weights and/or place a weight plate on top of your knees.
  • Leg curls: wear ankle weights, lie on your stomach and bend legs behind you. Keep upper thighs off floor to make it tougher.
  • Leg extensions: put on ankle weights, use a sturdy chair and do extensions. You may also put a weight plate between your ankles.
  • Adductor: Squeeze an inflatable ball between the thighs.
  • Abductor: wrap tubing around upper thighs and perform an abductor press.
  • Back extensions: perform on ball
  • Reverse Fly: belly on ball, do a reverse fly.
  • Cable Rope Overhead Extension: Stand on one end of a resistance tube and perform a tricep extension with the other end.
  • Leg press: it’s difficult to do this move at home, but you can do heavy squats to get a similar effect. Use heavy weights or resistance tubing to intensify the squats.
  • T-bar row: perform rows with similar arm position using a heavy dumbbell.
  • Incline Press and Decline Crunch: any incline/decline moves can be done on a stepper. Put the risers under one side of the step to create the slant.
  • Standing calf raise: hang heels off any step in your home and lift up onto the balls of your feet.
  • Seated cable rows: I wind my rubber tubing around my treadmill and do them that way. Use thicker brands and choke up on the bands as you get stronger.
  • Triceps Pushdown: anchor the stretch tubing a little higher and perform the move.
  • Lat Pulldown: same position as triceps pushdown, perform a pulldown.
  • Underhand Cable Pulldown: same as lat pulldown, but switch hand position to underhand.
  • Cable Crunch: same anchor point, grab both ends of the tubing in your hands and perform a kneeling crunch.
  • Straight Arm Pulldown: same anchor point, pull arms straight down to your sides.
  • Cable Crossovers: I wound my tubing around both handles of the treadmill and did the crossovers kneeling.
  • Donkey calf raises: my little boy happily obliged climbing onto my back to do these.
  • Roman chair leg lifts: use the corner of your kitchen cupboards to rest your arms on. You can still pull your knees up to target abs.
Not shown:

  • Hanging leg raises and pullups: use your pull-up bar or monkey bars at the park. I don’t have these in the video because I didn’t have the equipment readily available while I was filming.
  • Lying T-bar row: belly on ball, perform a row

I hope this helps some of you tackle this excellent program at home. Let me know if you have any questions in the comments.

Weekly Food and Fitness–And the Easiest Pumpkin Turkey Chili Recipe Ever

Hey there, I thought I’d bring back my rundown of my weekly workouts and menus to perhaps inspire others to prepare in advance for a week of healthy eating and give you menu and training ideas. Now that I have more of an established schedule and all, it’s easier for me to organize.

I have been doing at least 30 minutes of exercise every morning, 6 days a week, alternating strength training and cardio. And for cardio, I’ve been alternating steady state and interval training.

Workout Schedule
Monday: 30 min FlashFit (workout series designed by me!)
Tuesday: 30 min interval run
Wednesday: 30 min Supreme 90 Day total body
Thursday: 30 min steady run
Friday: 30 min Tracy Anderson workout
Saturday: 35 min interval run
Sunday: Rest

On the menu this week:


  • Breakfast: My favorite Shakeology smoothie, Greek yogurt and egg whites with spinach.
  • Lunch: Pumpkin turkey chili {below} and my own version of peanut butter balls
  • Snack: cottage cheese with chickpeas (you’ve got to try this combo!!!)
  • Dinners: Mini pizzas, turkey/green bean casserole, crockpot chicken, etc.

Here’s a quick recipe for the chili I made for my lunches. It is adapted from several of my favorite chili recipes in one. I took ingredients that I loved and were super easy to assemble (mostly canned–still healthy) and came up with this:



Easiest Pumpkin Turkey Chili
1 can black beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can pumpkin
2 lbs lean ground turkey
your favorite chili seasonings (I used garlic powder, chili powder and cumin)

  1. Brown the turkey, drain the oil.
  2. Dump in the rest of the ingredients and warm through.

Yes, that simple!!! I also would’ve added one diced onion if I had remembered to pick one up. The pumpkin may sound weird, but it really makes the chili so rich and creamy without any added cheese or sour cream. I actually went with a 15-oz can of pumpkin rather than the larger can shown in the picture. You don’t really taste the pumpkin taste either, but do you know how brilliant pumpkin is for your health? You should definitely look it up!

I had my entire house clean on Saturday and my entire work week of food prepped by Sunday afternoon. I proudly read and relaxed the rest of Sunday after this was all prepared, for the first time since we moved. I haven’t done that in a loooooooong time. Ever since we’ve moved, the projects and piles have prevented me from even wanting to relax. So, this type of simple food prep really helped get me to the point where I actually felt like I could relax and read.

How about you, what does your week of food and workouts look like?

1 Minute Work Meditations

Hey Guys, I am jumping into the world of YouTube videos right now, and I’d love to have you check it out and tell me what you think!

So, I came up with two one-minute exercises that you can practice at work. They seem really simple and shruggable.

But.

Let me give you the lowdown on the profound, far-reaching benefits of mindfulness meditation:

  1. Addresses muscle imbalances (that you might not even realize you have): I specifically designed these exercises to stretch the chest and work the back and combat that hunched upper crossed syndrome that desk workers usually have. Here’s a really good article if you’d like to read more about this chest/back imbalance.
  2. Oxygenate: deep breathing exercises increase blood oxygen levels. If people with asthma can benefit from deep breathing, then that’s really saying something.
  3. Energize: at the same time as your blood oxygen is rising, your energy is increasing, but it’s a calm energy, not a frenzied one.
  4. Anti-anxiety: I have struggled with anxiety-related issues and one thing that kept coming up for potential treatment options was mindfulness meditation. I thought, huh, what’s that gonna do? Then, I saw it over and over and over, and with my arms crossed, I thought “fine, I’ll try it.” Turns out, it’s a pretty darn effective treatment, especially for OCD. It lowers your threshold for anxiety, provides an alternative to rumination, dampens fight-or-flight mode, and keeps your body in a much more relaxed state on a regular basis. The root of anxiety often is bad thoughts (something’s wrong with me, I’m not good enough, etc) that have too much power, and mindfulness meditation reduces that power. But you don’t have to have an anxiety disorder to benefit as it reduces stress and frenzied thoughts.
  5. Increased work productivity. Seriously, a regular meditation practice can restructure your brain! Don’t believe me? Read this. Benefits listed in the article also include improved attention, reduced stress, more compassion, and on and on. These mind-clearing exercises should be boss-approved.
Do you get the idea? I could go on… Meditation might sound new-agey, but it’s becoming more mainstream, and for good reason. If you’re still not sold, here are 100 Benefits of Meditation. If that doesn’t convince you, I don’t know what will.

There’s no reason you can’t reap some of these benefits in one minute! However, you’ll get a more profound effect if you practice longer, regular meditation.

Here are my brand-new videos. I would appreciate it if you’d ever so kindly check them out, subscribe to my channel and/or leave a comment and let me know what you think. 

Let’s Talk About New Years’ Resolutions

But it’s only December 15!!! Right?

Well, I propose that you start drafting your new years’ resolutions right now. In fact, I propose you even consider starting on them right now. The reason is simple: ANY DAY is the right day to start following your dreams.

What is the direction that you want your life to go? That is the most important question you could consider when it comes to exploring your life’s purpose. And the question takes a lot of consideration and brainstorming to answer.

So, get out a pen and paper and start. Give yourself a solid 30 minutes to 1 hour to really dig in. Write out a list of the things that you value most: your family, God, your home environment, helping people, etc. Write out what your goals are as they pertain to each of your values. Your goals and values should be aligned so you’re not just starting new projects arbitrarily. In other words, don’t adopt another goldfish if your life’s ambition is to travel and don’t spend an extra hour at “work lunches” every day if your family life is a priority for you to cultivate.

The benefits of defining your goals right now is that you’ll have a head start come the new year. You can get all the details prepared, you can “test” out your resolutions and refine them, you can narrow your focus, and you can build up your excitement and motivation.

I would also strongly recommend going through Chalene Johnson’s 30 Day Push to refine your goals. It’s a free online program that will push you toward your life’s goals. It will help give aim to your ambitions.

Now, if you have fitness goals for this year, please contact me and I would love to help you reach them.

Stick Chest Stretch

Free Fall Fit Club

Because I love fitness so much and I want to help people as much as I can, I am offering a free 21-day fitness club.
It’s so easy to start slacking on your fitness goals when fall rolls around, so it’s the perfect time to re-commit to your health goals. With this 21-day fit club, you’ll have access to workouts, meal plans and ME as your fitness coach.
You read that right! You get the benefit of being coached by an NASM certified personal trainer for FREE, so don’t pass up this opportunity.
The fit club consists of an accountability group on Facebook, led by me. We’ll share slimmed-down comfort food recipes, cheer each other on, participate in challenges and reach toward our goals together. But you have to be committed to participating.

Yes, it’s completely free. You don’t have to buy anything! Just comment or email me if you’d like to join. Share the post if you know anyone who might be interested.

A Trip to the Trampoline Park

My little boy turned 7 at the end of July (what now?!?! Ha!). Instead of a party, we treated him to a special day at a new trampoline park with one of his good friends from school. I didn’t even realize we had one of these parks in the area, but I’m sure glad we found it! I’ve been seeing trampoline parks on Pinterest and Instagram and thought how we’d love to try one, but we’re always the last place to get these kinds of things.

The boys played for an hour while Hubster and I each enjoyed a half-hour while the other was taking care of Rayna. I’m so glad we did! We had tons of fun ourselves. And holy workout! I didn’t realize how sweaty I would get! We jumped, we raced, we played games and we all played like kids.

Not only did the park have tons of trampolines, they also had trampoline basketball, trampoline dodgeball, a slackline and foam pits. They had a huge pillow thing you could jump into off a diving board. And they had a climbing wall for only $1 extra.

When I asked if he had a good birthday, Kayne replied: “A good birthday? I had an awesome birthday!”

Before
 And After

After jumping, we treated the kiddos to pizza and treated Kayne to some of the best cupcakes in town. All in all, I’d say it was a successful celebration of our boys’ birth. Love that kid!
**If you have a trampoline park near you, do give it a try!!! It’s the most fun we’ve all had in awhile, and it’s a really great workout!

Weekend Highlights: A Quick Glimpse of Spring!

**I started this post several weeks ago on my phone, but still thought these memories were worth recording:)

Well, we were finally reminded of what 60 degrees feels like here in Wisconsin this past week after what has felt like a cold desolate winter. Is that dramatic? Well, that’s how it feels. The sidewalks are literally swarming with dogs on leashes, bicycles, strollers and roller blades. You fellow Wisconsinites know exactly how the first heat wave of the year phenomenon works! People. Everywhere.

Titus and I took advantage of the temps and went out for a morning sunrise run. My first outdoor run of the season!!! We’ve also been picking up Kayne from school on-foot, with the baby in the stroller. And we even happened upon one of these neat lending libraries we’ve seen finally popping up in our city.

Our family spent an entire weekend letting our cheeks tilt toward the sun. After enjoying a lunch out on the town this past weekend, we headed over to the dog park, but the mud up to the armpits of every dog out there made us reevaluate our plans. After trying another dog park that didn’t look any better, we finally made our way to a local park with pet-friendly trails. Earlier, we had stopped at a cheese factory and picked up some fresh cheese (the freshest WI cheese possible), sausage, crackers and jam to picnic on.

I dabble in babywearing every now and then. Trail walking necessitates it. Rayna isn’t usually very content facing me, so we’re still adjusting and trying to figure out what works for us.

The trees out on this trail were exceptional for climbing!

And someone had built this super amazing fort thing among some of the trees. This is the kind of hideout my kid dreams were made of! We’ll be back here, for a picnic or spring break or something.

Another little lean-to someone built. Makes me wonder who’s been hanging out here.

After church the next day, the kiddos and I headed out to another favorite trail along the river to get a good leg stretch in again. We know that we are not out of the woods yet with snow being only March, so we get our leg stretchin’ and sun soakin’ in while we can. These little reprieves in the weather are always just enough to make the last few weeks of winter/early spring seem tolerable.

See what I mean? Wednesday we woke up to white stuff, but by the afternoon it had all melted. Spring, you little tease.

I can’t wait for summer! To say the very least…

Ultimate Tone it Up Bikini Series Printable

TIU Printable
Anyone else super excited for the annual TIU Bikini Series? Last year, I was unable to participate because I was very pregnant and very mobility-challenged. This year, I intend to rock it! Basically, the Bikini Series is an 8-week workout plan that leads right up to summer. You follow the workouts that are posted by Tone It Up each day. If you have the Nutrition Plan, you’ll be choosing recipes and following along with that (or just eating clean). Their are daily prizes and huge incredible grand prizes for the winners. Check out last years’ winners!
What I love most about Tone It Up is their community of women. They’re all about making girlfriends for life and it’s like a close-knit group of friends, bringing each other up. Everyone is encouraged to make connections on Twitter, Instagram, the TIU community pages, in real life, etc.
By the way, I will be doing daily/almost-daily check-ins on Twitter/Instagram. Let’s follow each other! Twitter: @BounSee_Jess, Instagram: @Boun_SeeJess. The hashtags for the series are usually #toneitup, #BikiniSeries #100bysummer, #150bysummer, #tiumeals, etc.
Now, because I’m a super Type-A organizer type, I just had to design a printable for the upcoming Tone It Up Bikini Series. I’ve designed a few others in years past, but wanted to make a fresher, more comprehensive printable. I like things concrete, on paper, in front of me, especially when I’m doing my daily planning and goal-setting. 
So, I designed the ultimate Tone It Up Bikini Series printable. You can print the entire set of printables HERE. It includes eight trackers:
  1. Workout Planner
  2. Daily Checklist (Bombshell Spell, Booty Call, Workout, Check-in)
  3. 100 by Summer Tracker
  4. 150 by Summer Tracker
  5. Meal Planner
  6. Goal Tracker and Reward Sheet
  7. Summer Bucket List
  8. Measurement Tracker

Hope this printable helps you achieve your goals. Please Pin and Share away! If you use them, I’d love to see pictures. Tag me or leave a message so I can see! 
These are just for personal use though, not intended to be sold or distributed. The logos belong to Tone it Up.