How to Freeze Bananas for Sculpting Protein Shakes

Demonstration of how to freeze bananas so they are ready when you want them for a quick, healthy smoothie. You freeze “fresh from the store” bananas…or save them at the last minute after they’ve become speckled with brown. (Don’t throw them away & waste them, they’re still great for baking or blending.)
Adding banana to your smoothie adds a creamier consistency. And when frozen can be used instead ice, or in addition to ice.
Tip: for weight loss it’s suggested that you limit bananas to the morning or before 2pm because of the starch & sugar content.

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Where’d you go, Blogger girl?

Oh dear, self realization that I’m “one of those people” that starts a blog about losing weight in January and than disappears from posting for 8 months!  Here’s the deal…it’s so much easier to post little snippets and share cute photos on Face Book than to log in and publish on my own platform.  It’s the ‘ol  “good is the enemy of great”.  It’s good to post on Face Book and be connected to family and friends. And maybe remind people from time to time about what one does for a living.  The thing about Face Book and other social media is that you don’t own what you post or have any control over how easy it is to access. We really have no say over what happens to our stuff.  So it’s unreliable as a personal journey record keeper. And it’s only effective short term, and within only very small circles, in terms of putting out a message.

Do I really have a message? Yes. I do.  I have a lot of messages I’d like to share. I’m wired to share. My challenge is deciding what messages I really want to focus on.  It is fitness & weight loss; it’s also a lot of other things from video blogging for your business, success in real estate or business, etc.  This whole thing is about the fact that I am always juggling several ideas at once. How does one decide which ambitions are “fit”? Where to put the focus. Focus on too many things = no focus.

So while my posts weren’t getting done…I have been doing a lot of thinking & soul searching. My brain has continued to whir away. Progress has been made & been lost…and some made again. Much has happened since January.

I made it to one of my original goals at the beginning of February. Then threw in the towel upon the death of a 19 year old. I struggled with why I should care about personal weight loss when my son’s best friend on Earth is gone.  We literally “put in him a drawer” in a mausoleum down the street. (Something I just can’t & don’t want to shake.) I kept going to the Y classes I loved while ignoring quantity of food intake. I slacked off on making good choices…and put 20lbs back on. By July 8th , I was ready to start working on getting that back off.  

Two days later, I found out that a HUGE opportunity was available in a new health & wellness line of products.  I realized the opportunity because of some personal observation gained over the last couple of years working with real estate clients involved in a health & wellness business and doing unbelievably well (understatement!)  A day later, I found that the celebrity product developer moved to my hometown and was living around the corner from me with another past real estate client!  There are so many serendipitous connections that led me to this “Innovative Nutrition” company that it seemed like a clear message. So while I’ll happily be a REALTOR all my life, I am expanding my health & fitness goals into a mission to help other people get healthy too.  I figure while I help people buy & sell the homes they live in; I can also help others improve the bodies they live in.  

Being an aspiring health & wellness coach as part of the original founding members of Innutra will certainly help hold me accountable to my personal goals. You can’t hold yourself much more publically accountable than posting on the internet that you’re becoming a health coach.  (Oh boy, why can’t I just give myself a break, LOL!) 

Now I’m dreaming of a full circle focus that is helping me put all of my interests, skills & talents together in a way that makes sense to me. I have a million $ education (no kidding!) in leadership & team training thanks to Star Power University (brain child of my mentor; & mentor to my mentors… Howard Brinton, recently deceased) & locally launching Keller Williams Realty.  My interest in Video blogging, “vlogging”,  can be put to use to reach others.  And I’m forcing myself into a higher level of personal accountability to be who I am supposed to be.  So I’m back to blogging & vlogging…because now I feel a purpose beyond myself.  

(Plus this lil’ wordpress theme is sooo cuute, just can’t waste it!)

K

Yogi Transformation-Day 1

Started a 3 month body Transformation contest today, Jan. 3rd 2013. Decided to document progress not only in regular before/after required contest photos, but also in yoga poses just for fun. My goal is to be able to show my “yogi” transformation in 1st Q 2013 in an album of yoga inversions. This is the only one I can do so far. I think it’s called a tripod. I’d better start brushing up on poses…and figuring out what I want to aim for in the next 12-13 weeks.
Hoping that by the end of this contest I will have a waist, LOL! And that I will have a couple of impressive poses to show off. So, we’ll see!

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I’ll be overweight by Friday: the last day of the world!

Yep, with any luck I’ll finally weigh in as “Overweight” any day now. That’s a great thing because my current size falls on the “Obese” chart right now. Today’s Wednesday and I’m only about three pounds away! With the program I’m following…if I stick to it…I just might hit that magic number and not a moment too soon.
It could be tomorrow. Or it could be the next day. Which is Friday 12/21/12…scheduled to be the end of the world. According to the Mayan’s calendar & that awesome John Cusack movie, 2012, it could be a ground-breaking day.
I don’t believe for a second that it will really be the last day of the world, but I’m starting to believe that it could mark a big day for me anyway. I’ve been working on this (okay, off & on, LOL!) for awhile. And since we go right off the ol’ Mayan calendar Friday & embark on uncharted territory…I’m going to declare a mission to find my skinny side!
Since I’m really writing this blog for me, I’m going to reveal the numbers. (Plus don’t we all want to know the details?! Just don’t judge your numbers by reading mine. We’re all on our own journey.) At 5’2 a particular chart says I must be 163, or less, to not be obese. So my first “fit ambition” for 2013 is to get off & stay off of that ugly part of the chart. (I say ugly…because I view heart disease, diabetes, and so forth…undesirables that I don’t want to meet!)
I know my #’s tend to bounce around a bit & I might see a new #, then an old #, but eventually the new one sticks & the #’s move down from there. It’s a downward trend. And that’s good enough…working on reaching the lower to mid 160’s and hold it fairly well through Christmas. Then January go find a spot in the 150’s…that’s the cool plan.
I’d like to spend next year getting fit, and working my way down the overweight scale to the “normal” spot (136lbs.). Can I be normal? That’s yet to be seen. And if I could hit “normal”, just how normal can I get? Or will I want to get when I get there??? Don’t know.
One thing I do know… I AM ready to tackle the future, past this Friday, & see where it gets me, on this small part of my ambitious journey…

Hello world!

Today is my husband’s birthday. In honor of him; our children & extended family; and friends everywhere…I am devoting this blog to getting healthy in 2013. The clock is ticking…in order to truly embrace life & be there for family as time goes on…it’s time to draw the line and embrace a new fit lifestyle!
I had entertained thoughts of “not wasting my twenties” and getting slim. My “thirties” passed on by…and now in the 2nd 1/2 of my forties I finally started getting serious. So far I have developed a few good habits in attending YMCA & Hot Yoga classes, making new fit friends, and I’ve started to drop a few pounds.
I can see major health challenges in my future & my family’s future if fitness isn’t a major priority! As a wife, Mom, and daughter…I’m charging myself with the responsibility of being a better example.
Anyone want to join me on this project? Your support & company on this journey would be much appreciated!
Blessings to you as we close out 2012! Approaching the new year is a great time to once again address losing weight & getting fit. Here’s to sticking with it, not as a diet or temporary goal, but a LIFESTYLE change we can LIVE with & Embrace together.
Peace!
Katherine