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core de force week one review

So as you may or may not know. I have a goal this year to workout for 100 days in a row! To make the number less daunting, I’ve broken it up into smaller goals by picking a variety of beachbody programs to complete and review. My first 30 days are going to feature Core de Force, the newest workout program by fitness gurus at Beachbody headquarters. This program is unlike any other program I’ve done in the past. It’s a mixed martial arts (MMA) style program with lots of the one thing I have never enjoyed. CARDIO!

Somehow, Core de Force has managed to sneak cardio into some sweet combinations that I don’t even notice I’m doing cardio at all because I’m too focused on being a badass super hero fighting off baddies, or at least, that’s how I feel. True to its name, Core de Force has done more for my core than anything has ever done before!! The leaning out I’ve noticed in just one week of working out AT HOME is UNREAL.

My middle section has been my one trouble area for… ever. Although I’m not as large as I once was, it’s just soft looking and has weird bumps (lower pooch anyone?) and dips that have always made me pretty self conscious! I just want a toned tummy! Now with Core de Force I honestly think this is finally a possibility!! Here’s how my week looked like.

Starting Stats:

Measurements are my favourite way of tracking progress. Though I do weigh myself simply because I have a scale and I don’t have anxiety about the number on the scale, though if you do, stick to measuring!

Starting measurements 7 days of Core De Force
Neck 12.75″ 12.5″
Chest 35.5″ 35.5″
R. Arm 11.25″ 11″
L. Arm 11″ 10.5″
Waist 35.25″ 32″
Hips 41.5″ 41″
R. Thigh 20.75″ 20
L. Thigh 21 20
Total Inches 189″ 182″
Weight 150lbs 145lbs

Total Inches LOST: SEVEN INCHES DOWN! 3.25 INCHES AROUND MY WAIST! WHAT.

Total pounds LOST: 5 pounds!

 

What I ate:

I want to share with you my complete meal plan so that you can see every step of the journey. This is a meal plan with the Portion Fix Containers in use that come with this program! It’s super simple so my portions are easy to follow with these colour coded containers!

Monday:
Breakfast: Shakeology | Snack: cucumber slices and cherry tomatoes | Lunch: tomato Soup x2, tuna and quinoa x2 | Snack: asian pear | Dinner: avocado, salmon, cucumber salad, quinoa x2

Tuesday:
Breakfast: Shakeology | Snack: cucumber slices and cherry tomatoes | Lunch: zucchini salad, lentils, corn x2, dressing | Snack: asian pear and cashews | Dinner: sauteed kale, mashed potatoes, lentils, corn

Wednesay:
Breakfast: Shakeology | Snack: cucumber slices and cherry tomatoes | Lunch: mixed greens x2, hard boiled eggs, quinoa x2 | Snack: asian pear | Dinner: lentils, steamed veggies x2, avocado, sweet potato x2

Thursday:
Breakfast: Shakeology | Snack: cucumber slices and cherry tomatoes | Lunch: mixed greens x2 , lentils, quinoa x2 | Snack: asian pear | Dinner: veggie stir fry, shrimp, sweet potato x2, avocado

Friday:
Breakfast: Shakeology | Snack: cucumber slices and cherry tomatoes | Lunch: mixed greens x2, tofu, corn, mashed potatoes | Snack: asian pear | Dinner: lentils, quinoa x2, asparagus

Saturday:
Breakfast: toast x2, eggs, stir fry veggies | Snack: asian pear | Lunch: mixed greens x2, quinoa | Snack: shakeology | Dinner: salmon, quinoa x2, stir fry veggies x2, avocado

Sunday:
Breakfast: pancakes x2, cheese| Snack: shakeology, carrots | Lunch: mixed greens x2, gluten free pasta x2, tofu | Snack: asian pear | Dinner: salmon, quinoa, stir fry veggies x2

 

If you want to see some of the meals in action, here are some of my instagram shots, for more of these and to follow along in my journey make sure to follow my instagram account @coachmariangelica !

core de force pescatarian meal plan

The workouts:

  • Monday – MMA Speed (27 minutes) – Upper body and no surprise, it’s core-focused. Short workout but boxing inspired so it’s super fun.
  • Tuesday – Dynamic Strength (47 minutes) – Low on impact, but high on intensity. You can really feel yourself carving out your shape with all the twists!
  • Wednesday – MMA Speed (27 minutes) – You’ve done it before, now it’s time to perfect those moves!
  • Thursday – Power Sculpt (36 minutes) – A total-body burner. You will feel this everywhere and with the mixture of interval training, Endurance will be built!
  • Friday – MMA Shred (37 minutes) – Kick things up a notch with Muay-Thai-inspired elbows and kicks for a head-to-toe shred. Prepare to sweat!
  • Saturday – Dynamic Strength (47 minutes) – You’ve done it before, now it’s time to perfect those moves!
  • Sunday – Active Recovery (21 minutes) – 10 minutes of slow conditioning work that definitely made me break a sweat, quickly followed by the most relaxing stretch session ever for the remaining 11 minutes. It’s the shortest workout but not one to skip over lightly. 

 

Non-scale Victories:

NON scale victories of core de force

  • Although measuring is great and speaks to my physical body, I also like to think about things this week that have felt different than before.
  • The second time we did MMA Speed I noticed I was able to breathe a little easier through the workouts and focus on my form!
  • Drinking Shakeology for 7 days and eating according to the meal plan means my bloat has completely DISAPPEARED. I feel like I lived constantly bloated and bloat is no more.
  • When I go to bed now my stomach looks similar to how it looked in the morning, where usually I would avoid the mirror before bed.
  • Later in the week I have found I have been actually sleeping through the night and have had the energy to wake up without feeling like a zombie.
  • My nutrition has been pretty much on POINT and I’m not used to following anything this strictly and it’s been surprisingly easy because I actually feel full all day and haven’t felt hungry since I’m eating every three hours!
  • Found I absolutely love having my Shakeology in ‘ice cream’ form with some almond milk, and lots of ice! 

Get your Core de Force:

Order your Core de Force program here if you live in CANADA!
Order your Core de Force program here if you live in the USA!

Join me:

If you’re nervous about starting this alone, here’s the deal, you don’t have to! I run monthly challenge groups and I’d love to help you through it and share tips I learned during my first go at it! If Core de Force looks too intense for you, fill out this form to tell me what kind of goals you are trying to reach and I’ll help you find the perfect program for you, and work along side you as your accountability partner!

 

Make me your FREE Wellness Coach
Join my next challenge group!

 

I hope you found this review helpful and that if anything it gets you excited about starting a new fitness program where the hard work has been done for you in calculating when to work what muscle group and what to eat and how much. All you have to do is show up, and by show up I mean press play! Workout at home, get amazing results. It’s possible.

Love,

Mariangelica

 

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new year

The New Year, it’s finally here. I’m trying to think back to how I felt the last time I was in a new year and honestly, I just remember being happy. Being excited, and I feel very much the same now.

This past year:

We bought a house!

We reached the healthiest point in our lives. Though we lost our way after some unexpected events, we are going to get back there again.

We hosted many events full of friends, family, laughter and good company.

We made some amazing plans for the future wich we are still realizing today.

I saw many women completely change their life through my monthly challenge groups and was so humbled by it.

My husband and I had an incredibly difficult loss that brought us to the lowest points emotionally but we climbed out together, stronger than ever.

I lost an amazing uncle whom I will forever keep close to my heart.

I strengthened my relationship with all my female cousins thought the magic that is a WhatsApp group. I am so grateful for the opportunity that although many countries are between us we are all able to get to know more of each other and form a true sisterhood.

This new year, I’ve set some resolutions and goals that are trackable, and are specific and hopefully, this way will not get tossed to the wind:

I will workout 182 days out of the 365 days of the year.

I will eat 80% clean and reduce my dairy intake.

I will continue to grow in this beautiful marriage my husband and I have forged for ourselves.

We will travel to someplace warm.

We will pay off all of our debt, excluding our home.

I will take more videos of my husband, Congo and me. Photos are pretty but videos are special. I know we’ll love looking back through them in the future.

New year - family photo

I wish you the greatest year, filled with love, positivity, and happiness. I wish for your dreams to come true and the determination to achieve all the goals you have set for yourself.

Love,

Mariangelica

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21df-free-meal-plan-1

It’s Monday and today I start (another round) of the 21 Day Fix! You can get your own here! This is by far my most favourite fitness program from all of Beachbody’s line of workouts. Every Monday I get this electrifying reminder that it’s the beginning of a new week and there’s so much thrill in the beginning of anything.

The beauty of this program is the nutrition aspect. I am not a nutritionist, nor an expert in nutrition, and you shouldn’t have to be to get the benefits of any program. Your body is made in the kitchen. Working out is a part of being fit and healthy, but food is a much bigger part. The 21 Day Fix Program brings coloured containers that make it so easy to plan your meals and eat the correct portions to achieve your goal. And I’m all for easy hah.

The program starts with a booklet with a formula for figuring out which caloric bracket you fall under, and trust me this is the first and last time you have to look at calories! I honestly do not look at calories anymore, it’s been so freeing!

After the calculation I am told exactly how many containers of each colour to consume in a day and boy is it a lot of food! I know some of my past challengers have questioned if they really should eat that much food, and the answer is YES. Your body will be working out hard everyday and you need fuel for your body. Plus, here’s a secret, if you were gaining weight before trying this program out, then you were eating MORE calories than the ones in your bracket, so remember that. It’s all about the quality of the ingredients you are eating!

THE MEAL PLAN

Being Vegetarian AND Gluten Free really forces me to go to the natural ingredients and be a bit more creative than usual when planning out my meals. So the meal plan might look a bit drastic to a gluten & meat-eater’s eye, but that’s the beauty of this program, just change all your red containers to your preferred choice of protein and give it a go! I’m sharing this because it helped me when doing groceries for the week! As a note: I know it’s a lot of eggs, if i get tired of eggs halfway through the week I may switch to something else from the list! Remember, make it your own!

free-mealplan

 

I hope you give this program a try, it has been a complete life-changer for me!

Have you tried the 21 Day Fix? Do you follow a meal plan you love? I’d love to hear about it! Let me know in the comments below!

 

 

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polepost

Let’s start off with saying no, I am not a stripper and I do not work in a club. I took up Pole Dancing as my only form of exercise and have fallen in love with it. Here’s five reasons I love Pole Dancing as my form of fitness.

1. I forget I’m working out.

That’s right, I never think “I’m going to the gym,” or “I’m working out right now,” I only ever think about what I’m doing in the moment, and it’s usually the name of a move that I can’t get, or counting how many seconds I can hold a pole hold. Going to the gym doesn’t have the most positive connections in my brain. It makes me think of work, of being tired, of creepy gym guys, and of the buzz of machines. I find this is why I struggle going to a gym, because my brain has learned to associate it with these things and it’s difficult to change that! With Pole Dancing, we call the location a studio, you take classes and go up in levels. You have clear goals to reach before you can move to the next level and it forces you to try harder without realizing every time you try you are giving your body the workout of a lifetime.

2. The sisterly community.

Everyone is seriously so nice. One of the things that scared me most was the girls that pole dance and have been doing it for years, I tend to get nervous if I’m joining a group that is well established. But you will soon find all these girls are here to cheer you on, everyone is so supportive and they too are working on their own goals and their own tricky moves. Being surrounded by girls and women who are there to cheer each other on is a beautiful place to be. The sense of community that builds there after is pretty incredible too. Soon you too will have your group of Pole Sisters.

3. I’m not just losing weight I’m getting stronger.

That’s right. Although it looks fun and like we’re not doing much some of the time, the moves are difficult and require a lot of muscles to look as clean and proper as they do. Muscles are in constant use throughout the entire class. Lifting your body weight with only your arms is quite a feat!

4. Self Confidence Booster

The self confidence you get by learning what is uniquely sexy about you is so special. There are many forms of pole dance, and you don’t have to make all your moves sexy if it’s not your thing, but the thing is, I never thought I was sexy or that it was something I would ever be comfortable with, I totally wasn’t when I started, but after a few classes if you let yourself explore the way your body moves and you watch yourself in the mirror for long enough you realize, you are sexy, and there’s things about you that are unique and special. I never left the gym thinking positive thoughts about my CURRENT body, I always told myself I was working towards my FUTURE body, but with Pole, you can feel confident at every stage of your weight loss, and confidence is the best form of sexy.

5. Continued Challenge

It’s always going to be challenging. That’s the beauty of Pole. Moves are created every day by different people, and even pole dancers with first place medals and trophies still struggle to learn more complicated moves. You will always have something to reach for and that’s my favourite thing. I need goals, because reaching them makes me feel good, and pole has hundreds of little goals in the form of moves, and mastering them takes time and practice – before you know it, you’re working out.

If you’ve ever thought about trying a Pole Dancing class, I encourage you to go to google and check where the closest studio is, call them and book a teaser class! They don’t require long term commitment and who knows, you might just love it!

I personally have only ever tried Brass Butterflies, but I’m sure there are some other studios that are just as lovely.

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