I'm officially more than halfway through my first week on the 21 Day Fix.  If you read my post on Tuesday, then you're already familiar with the basic idea of the program.  If you haven't had a chance to read it yet, go check it out so you know what I'm talking about in this post.

​When I weighed myself this morning I had already lost a little over 4 pounds since Tuesday.  I knew the program gave good results, but that's even better than I expected!  I won't plan on losing a pound every day, but at this rate I'm already well into the 10-15 pounds they say you can typically lose during the 21 days.  Needless to say, I'm definitely happy with my results so far!

Today I actually took a rest day from the workouts, even though the schedule said to do the cardio workout today.  I felt like I needed a break and decided that I would let myself off the hook without beating myself up about it.  I'll just get right back into it tomorrow and be back on track.

Also, I went to lunch today with some co-workers.  I think I did really well by ordering the tofu & vegetables with brown rice.  All I needed to do was choose items that were plan approved and deduct those items from the corresponding containers I had allotted for today.  Even with a big lunch, I still have plenty of food I am allowed for the rest of the day, which is one of the main reasons I really like the 21 Day Fix.  

One of the other great parts of this program is that I'm signed up for Shakeology, which is a superfood shake that can be used as a meal replacement.  The box says it's the "healthiest meal of the day".  Regardless of how healthy it is for you, I'm a huge fan of the taste.  I've had other shakes that taste chalky and gross, so I was a little worried about how these would taste.  

For my first month I signed up for the multi-pack with chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla.  The strawberry was just okay but I absolutely love the chocolate one.  I already switched my auto-shipment for next month to a be a 30-serving bag of the chocolate flavor.  It tastes amazing blended with half a frozen banana and a tablespoon of peanut butter!  I haven't noticed any health benefits from Shakeology yet, but I'll keep you posted on my results as I continue to drink them.

So, that's how I've been doing so far on the 21 Day Fix.  In my next update I'll be sharing what I eat in a typical day, so stay tuned for more if you're curious to see what the eating plan looks like.

As always, let me know in the comments below if you have any questions!

I don't know about you guys, but I absolutely love crepes.  To me, they're much better than pancakes and I love that you can customize them however you like with all sorts of different fillings.  Unfortunately, traditional crepes are not very healthy, so I was ecstatic when I found a recipe for clean eating crepes.  

Here's the simple & delicious recipe:

Ingredients:

• 3 egg whites
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 1 tbsp. almond milk

​Directions:

1. Spray a non-stick pan and pre-heat.
2. Blend ingredients together in a blender.
3. Pour about 1/2 to 1/3 of the batter into the pre-heated pan.  Swirl the pan around to get the batter nice and thin.
4. Watch closely, because the crepe will cook quickly.  Once you see bubbles and the edges look firm, flip the crepe over.  The second side will cook even faster, so only leave it on for about 30 seconds.
5. Repeat with the rest of the batter.  You should end up with 2 large crepes or 3 smaller ones.
6. Fill the crepes however you'd like.  Peanut butter is a nice option or you can also do Greek yogurt and fruit.

And that's it!  They're so easy and taste good even though they're surprisingly healthy for you.  Let me know in the comments below if you make these and what you decide to fill them with!

Like I mentioned in my post on Friday, I'm starting to focus on nutrition and fitness in order to improve my health and lose weight.  These days it seems like there are a million different weight loss programs to choose from, so it can be hard to decide which to follow.  

Personally, I have tried and failed at a few different programs, so I have an idea of what works for me and what doesn't.  Basically anything too complicated or too much work is going to go out the window almost as soon as I start it. So this time I tried to find something that would be simple and only take common sense to follow.  I didn't want to count calories or do any math to figure out how many points I have left in a day, so that ruled out some of my options.

I finally decided on following the 21 Day Fix.  I had heard about it from a friend and had also seen the infomercials on TV about it.  There are a lot of things I like about this program.  First and foremost, it's simple and straight forward.  There are workout DVD's that you follow every day for 30 minutes.  Also, the eating plan is very easy.  All you need to do is use the colored containers to track how much food you're allowed to eat in each food group (vegetables, protein, etc).  That's it!  

I placed my order last week and the package arrived on Friday.  Typically I would have wanted to start right away, but I knew that I'd be busy this past weekend and yesterday for my birthday, so I decided to start today.  In order to prepare I put together a spreadsheet of the foods I would be eating each day so that I knew which groceries to buy and what I'd be eating at each meal.  Once I bought my groceries I made sure to cut up all my fruit and vegetables right away and portion them out so I wouldn't have to measure later.  

So today was the first full day I followed the 21 Day Fix.  I used the workout schedule to do the upper body strength training workout.  I had already done most of the workouts last week by streaming them online (a feature you get when you buy the program), so I knew what to expect, which was kind of nice.  I've been eating my meals according to my meal plan all day, so that's been super easy too.  Because I prepped all my food ahead of time, it made things much easier today when I was making my salad for lunch.  I literally just threw a bunch of pre-measured stuff in a big bowl and was ready to go!

Overall my first impressions of the 21 Day Fix are really good.  It doesn't feel complicated or overwhelming like other plans I've been on.  It's also nice to know that it lasts for 21 days, so it's a reasonable amount of time to stick to something.  I'm hoping that I'll love my results so much that I'll decide to do more rounds of it and keep going until I'm at my goal weight.  That's the plan, anyway!

Please let me know if you have any questions I can answer for you about the program, whether it's the nutrition portion or the workouts.  I'd be happy to give more details on anything that I didn't explain in this post.  So comment below if there's anything I can help you with!

If you follow me on Instagram (@besidebeth), you've probably noticed that my posts have been trending towards working out and eating healthy.  Hopefully you're not sick of me already because I'll be continuing with those types of posts as I follow my journey towards losing weight and getting healthier.  

You might be asking yourself, "Didn't she just do one of those programs a few months ago?  What ever happened to that one?"  And yes, it's true.  I have started and stopped a number of different programs in the past.  Like most people, weight loss has been a challenge for me for a long time.  So of course I've tried everything I can do to make it work.  

What's different this time around is that I'm also starting to work on becoming a happier, healthier person on the inside.  I'm working on personal development every day in hopes that I can get one step closer each day to being happy, healthy, and confident.  It's not going to happen overnight, but I am going to stick to it and try my very best to share my experience along the way.

My plan is to use this blog as a way to share healthy recipes, weight loss tips & tricks, and lots of personal development ideas.  I'll be continuing on with my Something For Yourself series so that you can learn something new about how to take care of your own wellbeing, whether that be spiritual, physical, or any other way you take care of yourself.

So now that you've heard about my plan, I'll share a healthy recipe with you that I just tried for the first time.  I was skeptical about making a recipe with brown rice because I've never liked it in the past, but amazingly I loved this recipe.  I don't know if it's the type of rice I bought (which was Safeway brand long grain brown rice) or if it was the other ingredients, but whatever it was, I loved it!

No surprise, I found this recipe on Pinterest, just like most of the other recipes I make, but it's originally from a site called Skinny Ms.  Check out their site for the original post.

Mexican Rice
​
Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small sweet onion, diced 
• 1 cup long grain brown rice (recommend Uncle Ben's Long Grain Brown Rice - not the quick or instant kind)
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• Kosher or sea salt to taste
• 1/2 cup freshly chopped cilantro
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can petit diced tomatoes
• 1 (4 ounce) can diced green chiles (optional)
• 2 cups vegetable broth, low sodium (optional, chicken broth)

​Directions
In a large skillet or sauce pan add oil, turn to medium-low heat and saute onion until tender, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and continue to saute one additional minute. Add remaining ingredients, cover, reduce heat and simmer on low for approximately 45 minutes or until rice has soaked up the liquid and is tender. 

NOTE: The time it takes to cook the rice will depend on the brand. Some brands take 35 minutes, while others take up to an hour. We prefer Uncle Ben's Long Grain Rice because it is tender in approximately 35-45 minutes. 
​
Remove from heat, leave covered and allow to set 10 minutes before serving.

I hope you make this recipe and tell me if you like it in the comments!

It's amazing how quickly things can change, isn't it?  Sometimes it almost happens without us even realizing a change has occurred.  And other times the change is so significant that you can't remember what life felt like before it happened. 

I've definitely experienced my fair share of change, especially in the last year.  In December the company I had been at for almost six years announced that they had been acquired and we would be moving over to a competitor.  It was completely unexpected and at first a little scary, but in the long run it has turned out to be a good change.  Now I love the company I work for and appreciate how much they invest in each employee's growth and development, much more so than my last company.

I feel like I've also changed my mind a lot in the past year.  One day I'm completely certain I know what I want to do with my life and then the next moment I'm questioning everything and letting go of something that recently felt so certain.  

The biggest thing I can think of is my decision to move to California.  Once I decided that's what I wanted to do, I was hard set on making it happen.  I even flew to San Diego with a friend and went apartment hunting!  Now, I realize that moving to California was my attempt at making change happen in my life for the wrong reason.  I was trying to change the outside of my life instead of looking inward and changing on the inside.   

Ultimately, I would still love to move to California sometime in the future, but I just don't think now is the right time for me to make that change.  I guess that's a lesson you have to learn the hard way; figuring out that something you think you want isn't the right thing at that moment.  

So although I am not pursuing a move to California anytime soon, I am working on some other changes that I think will really make me a better, happier person.  Self-improvement has been on my mind a lot lately and is actually one of the main reasons why I started the Something for Yourself series.  I had been spending a lot of time working on improving myself and wanted to share what I had learned.  I would like to let you follow along as I continue on my journey towards being a happier, healthier person.  So, stay tuned for more Something for Yourself posts and a bunch of other content I've got in the works for you.

And now, let's get into the main purpose of this post.  We've already talked about setting a morning routine and a night routine for yourself, but we haven't focused on a daytime routine.  This is something that may seem obvious and somewhat unnecessary, but since creating my own daytime routine I have felt much more focused and centered.  It's nice to feel like you have a set plan for the day, especially when you work from home like I do and need some extra structure to your day.

Here's the routine I set for myself a few weeks ago, including my morning and night routine:

7:00am

• Wake up
• Feed cats
• Put on workout clothes
• Make bed
• Write in gratitude journal
• Take pills

7:30am

• Workout
• Stretch
• Shower
• Skin care
• Get dressed
• Have breakfast
• Make coffee/tea

9:00am

• Start working
• Morning break (snack & sparking water)
• Keep working

12:30pm

• Make lunch
• Eat at table (no TV)

1:00pm

• Back to work
• Afternoon break (snack & tea)
• Keep working
• Make to-do list for tomorrow

5:30pm

• Done working
• Make dinner
• Eat at table (no TV)
• Relax (read, watch TV)

7:00pm

• Feed cats
• Take pills & vitamins
• Put on pajamas
• Skin care routine

9:00pm

• Get in bed
• Bible study
• Pray
• Meditate
• Sleep

It may seem silly to put some things on the list, like putting on pajamas or actually sleeping, but for me it's just nice to see everything laid out and to have placeholder for each part of my day.  

There are some things on my list that I've intentionally included in order to spend time on them and not forget about doing them.  Some of these are things like writing in my gratitude journal, bible study, or eating without watching TV.  These are things that I used to only do if and when I remembered to do them, so now I've got a nice reminder to make sure I make them a priority in my day.

So that was a look at what my daily routine looks like.  Again, you may not need to write down certain things that you're already going to remember to do each day, but it might be a nice place to start by just writing down everything you do and then adding in those bonus items that you sometimes forget to do.

I hope this was helpful.  Let me know in the comments if you have any questions on easy ways to structure your day.

Ever since I was little I have been making wish lists for myself.  Not only are they fun to make, they are also useful when it comes time to give people ideas for birthday or Christmas presents.  

I decided to make a wish list for all of the beauty products I've been hearing about lately.  It seems like this is the time of year when Sephora and Ulta first get their gift guides put together and I always find a ton of stuff I want.  Instead of going out and buying everything, which would cost a small fortune, I'm going to "window shop" and show you what I find.

Here are the products I am drooling over at the moment from Sephora:

And here are the products I am wishing for at Ulta:

And that is everything I currently have on my beauty product wish list!  I hope you found something you like.  Let me know in the comments below which beauty products you have found that I should go check out.

It's hard to believe how quickly this year is going!  It hardly seems possible that it's already October and winter is around the corner. In order to prepare myself for the cold temperatures that are quickly approaching, I ordered a couple of items online.  

​I heard about the first item on a YouTube video from Zoella and immediately went to the website for Marks & Spencer (a company in the UK) to see if I could get shipping to the US for a reasonable price.  They actually offer free shipping on orders over £35, so I went ahead and placed my order.  

​Here's what I got: 

This is the Luxury Hooded Shimmer Dressing Gown.  Zoella put this on during her YouTube video for her September favorites and I knew I had to have it.  I especially loved the hood.  It doesn't hurt that she said it's the softest thing she's ever felt!

The other item I bought is a pair of the Cable Knit Toggle Slipper Boots.  These were too cute to pass up and I figured as a bonus they will look cute with the dressing gown.

Here is the YouTube video on Zoella's channel in case you want to see what else she was loving last month:

Now I feel like I'm prepared for the weather to get colder, but am hoping fall will last as long as possible because it's my favorite time of year!

Hopefully I'll be writing another Something For Yourself post sometime soon, so please stay tuned for more!