Fitness and Nutrition Revolution: Phase 1 has BEGUN!

Well, Cassie made it through her cleanse!!!! I cannot even TELL you how proud I am of her. This gal is amazing. Cassie is a girl who went from NO exercise at all and only a few healthy eating habits directly into one week of a full on juicing and raw diet cleanse. I am amazed beyond belief. She literally only had one true melt down that I'm aware of. But I just had to keep reminding her that this was only one week of her life and we were just resetting her system and letting it rest and cleanse before filling it with new power packed superfoods!

Now begins Phase 1 of her Fitness and Nutrition Plan. 

For her nutrition, I designed a well-balance weekly meal plan consisting of 6 meals a day that are filled with superfoods and proper ratios of macro nutrients. The idea is get her super healthy and turn her metabolism into a fat burning machine! Doesn't sound so bad, huh? I included a grocery list and I actually went to the grocery store with her yesterday. 

Here's the fun part of her meal plan...I am letting Cassie and her family have one day a week to choose WHATEVER they want to eat as long as it falls within her calorie range. I am not a nazi and Cassie isn't training for a figure competition, so I'm allowing her to have her freedoms and enjoy them responsibly. I am also asking that she designate at least one night a week to plan her own meal out of superfoods that she chooses from the grocery store. She will find the recipe and she will cook the meal. She will educate her family about the value of the meal that they are eating so that she and her children can begin to develop positive associations with food. 

Phase 1 of the nutrition program is basically teaching Cassie what it looks like to eat healthy and how to learn some of the skills herself so that she can adopt them as her own. Liz will always be her friend, but Liz will not always hold her hand. Will she lose weight? YES! But ultimately we are learning lifestyle change that will help her continue to lose and to maintain the weight loss. 

For her fitness, we will work in 3 phases as well. 

For the first month, I really just want her moving. She'll meet with me two to three times a week for some basic strength exercises, but ultimately I want her just exercising every single day in some shape, form, or fashion. I want her to find ways to get her heart rate up doing what she enjoys. I think Zumba is going to be the perfect fit for Cassie at this stage.  

So this morning was her first day of exercise and her fit test. She rocked it! I was so proud. It wasn't easy for Cassie, and we've definitely got a long way to go, but we have plenty of time to get there. We have the rest of our lives to get healthy. AMEN!

So, here are the results of her fit test:

CARDIO FITNESS:

Step test put her in the "FAIR" category....which is better than poor. YAY. lol! This means I'll start training her cardio at a baseline level keeping her at a certain percentage of her Maximum Heart Rate. She'll need a heart rate monitor for this. 

Heart rate monitors are a great tool for Beginners to use because they give external feedback on how you are doing. When your body is unfamiliar with exercise, everything feels strange and difficult. A heart rate monitor will let you know if you're working hard enough to reach your goals. 

I also did a strength endurance test on her which I was actually REALLY impressed with. Cassie will be a sexy beast by the time I'm done with her!!!

Her pushups in one minute totaled 20. That's actually awesome and half were on her feet! I snapped a picture before we got started and don't worry...I quickly corrected her form after this. ;)

Her Situps came in at 17 which is awesome too. I am fully convinced that once we improve her cardio and get some of the weight off, we will see this Chica turn into an animal!

We followed up with some postural assessments to check for muscle imbalances, and I didn't let her off the hook without making her do a basic workout . 

I was SOOOOO proud!

Here's Cassie again taking a run around my yard. 

We'll follow up with another fitness assessment in a month and keep you updated on Cassie's progress along the way!!!

Be sure to keep cheering her on in the comments below or on my facebook page.