detox – GRIT By Brit

Your 1 Week Summer Shape Up Workout Plan

May 26, 2014 No Comments

Happy Memorial Day friends! Summer is my favorite season of the year. I cannot express how much joy this season brings to me. Yesterday my gym buddy/neighbor and I hosted a “Summer Splash” pool party – it was a blast! Hopefully, you guys are getting ready to hit up the pool yourselves or, better yet, jet-set away to a beach vacation. With that in mind I wanted to share my 1 Week Summer Shape Up Workout Plan:

Monday: Brit’s Calorie Crusher Pyramid
Tuesday: DCC Football Field Workout
Wednesday: Brit’s Jump Rope Workout + Brit’s “Goodbye Gut” Abs Workout
Thursday: 1 Hour of Hot Power Yoga
Friday: Brit’s Thigh Workout + 20 min cardio of your choice
Saturday: 4 mile run/jog/power walk + Brit’s 10 min abs & thighs video
Sunday: 1 Hour of Hot Power Yoga

Stick to this workout plan for 7 days and I promise you will see a shapelier you by day 7. For best results, also try to keep up with my 7 Day Diet Detox formula. Enjoy and WORK HARD 🙂

P.S. Here are some pics from my Summer Splash pool party yesterday – great times!

Just for Fun

Dr. Oz 3-Day Weekend Juice Cleanse Challenge

July 14, 2013 6 Comments

Image source: http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/joe-cross-juice-cleanse-recipes

Today is my 29th birthday – woo hoo! I’m so blessed to have completed another year of life and am grateful for good health, a great family and a hobby that brings me so much joy! In honor of my b-day, I’d decided to bring in my 29th year on a FRESH and CLEAN note. That’s right ladies and gentlemen, I’m starting a new cleanse, which was inspired by the Dr. Oz Weekend Juice Cleanse with Joe Cross. Since I had so much success with the Dr. Oz Detox Cleanse (you can CLICK HERE to read my full review) , I decided to keep the momentum going by trying another cleanse.

Unlike the Dr. Oz Detox Cleanse, this cleanse is a JUICE cleanse. That means I need a juicer, as I can’t use my blender for this cleanse. HOWEVER, today I went to Target to buy a juicer and realized they were out of price my range right now…the cheapest one I found is $79.99. What if I don’t like the cleanse? Then I’ll be stuck with a juicer that I never use.

SO, I made up my own version of the cleanse using some ready-made, all natural, no sugar added juices and I also plan to buy some fresh squeezed juices from Whole Foods or Central Market over the next 3 days. Essentially, I plan to have 4-5 servings of juice each day to replace my meals. Then for dinner I’ll have one solid meal every evening, just like the Dr. Oz cleanse. However, dinner must consist of only of fruits and vegetables. And as icing on the cake (mean joke – I know) , I’m going to make sure that my dinners are RAW! So I’ll only eat fresh, raw produce and maybe steam my veggies if I want something hot.

As a fitness professional, I wanted to share a few facts with you about Juice cleanses vs. Smoothie/drink cleanses.

Juice does not contain the skin of the fruit or vegetable
Smoothies have more fiber and tend to be more filling
Juices tend to be high in sugar and low in protein and fiber (which I’m a little nervous about)

Now let me be clear, I’m typically an “anti juice” person because I believe that juice is nature’s reward for EATING your fruits and veggies. However, there are many benefits to juicing. Just a name a couple…

Juice absorbs in the body faster, so it’s an efficient way to get vital vitamins and minerals
Juice is a tastier way to consume fruits and veggies that you don’t typically like
Juice is less likely to cause upset stomachs, like smoothies which sometimes have too much fiber

For more information about differences between juices and smoothies, check out this post by my “Fit Friends” over at Sporty Afros: http://sportyafros.com/nutrition/differences-in-juicing-and-smoothies/

Grit by Brit WARNING – Juice cleanses tend to have very little protein. So, I’m not going to lift weights or do super high intensity workouts over the next 3 days while I’m on the cleanse, as I don’t think my body will have enough protein to repair my muscles. If you engage in high intensity workouts and weight training, like me, you may want to do the same.

This is my first time to try a juice cleanse. Hopefully, some of you decide to try it along with me! Have you done a juice cleanse before? How did it go? I’ll be back in a few days to share my results. You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram @GRITbyBrit for progress updates! Until then…

Wishing you health, happiness and BIG RESULTS! xoxo, Brit

Inspiration & Motivation

3-Day Detox Cleanse by Dr.OZ

May 12, 2013 36 Comments

So, some of my best friends have been ranting and raving about the great results they’ve had with the Dr. Oz Juice Cleanse. Have any of you tried the cleanse before? Were you successful? Obviously, I have serious FOMO (fear of missing out) and have to try it for myself. I already went shopping and bought all of my ingredients (see pic below).

I’m especially excited about bathing in Epsom Salt every night! Growing up, my mother (a true country woman) would ALWAYS make me bathe in Epsom Salt to help soothe mosquito bites, achy muscles or open scrapes from playground accidents. No matter the issue, an Epsom Salt bath was her go-to cure.

What’s really interesting about this “cleanse” is that the drinks actually include A LOT of food. I spent $90 at Central Market today buying all of the ingredients. If you look closely at each of the drinks, they each include almost 4 full servings of fruits and veggies – that’s AMAZING! I have a feeling that the drinks are going to be very filling 😉

Also, I’m infatuated with Coconut Oil right now. I like to use it on my skin and in my hair for deep conditioning, but never have I ingested it. This will be a first. Last, the almond butter, almond milk and flax seeds are nice additions to help ensure I get sufficient protein Altogether, this cleanse is HEALTHY, BALANCED and LEGIT according to GRIT by Brit!

Follow me on Twitter @GRITbyBrit for my pictures and progress updates over the next 3 days. Also, please share your cleanse stories if you’ve decided to try it too!

Hope you had a great weekend – CHOOSE to have a great week ahead!

Inspiration & Motivation

5 Day Diet FOCUS Plan

April 21, 2013 8 Comments

Hey Gang! So I have a confession to make…

I have been eating TERRIBLY for the past 2 weeks. Not sure what my problem is, but I’ve developed some nasty habits (i.e. adding croutons to salads, snacking on candy, too many simple carbs for breakfast – sticky buns anyone?) The fact of the matter is, I’ve been making a lot of excuses to eat crappy food, and the excuses have got to stop – today!

While getting ready for my work week, I put together this 5 day diet FOCUS plan. Keep in mind that I’m a vegetarian, so if you are trying the plan for yourself and want to add some lean meat to one of the meals, by all means go for it!

Here’s my game plan for the next 5 days (Monday – Friday). Each day, my diet will look like this:

Breakfast – 1 cup black coffee, 2 cups water, fresh fruit w/Greek yogurt OR w/ all natural peanut butter
Min morning snack – 1 serving of nuts or trail mix, 1 large glass of water
Lunch – Large veggie salad with oil/vinegar dressing (NO croutons, cheese, or meat), 1 large glass of water
Afternoon Snack – fresh fruit, 1-2 cups hot green tea
Dinner – 1 serving vegetarian protein (black beans, humus, lentils, etc.), 2 servings of veggies

I’ll be tweeting my progress all week, so follow me @GRITbyBrit – wish me luck and have wonderful week!

Detox Plans

7 Day Detox Formula

August 8, 2012 10 Comments

Last weekend I went to Miami on my annual family vacation. I was feeling good at the start of the trip (pictured above w/ my lil bro & sis). But by the end of the trip, I wasn’t feeling so hot. Fortunately, I kept up with my workouts because my family likes to workout together.

However, during this limited uninterrupted family time, I like to take advantage of the opportunity to indulge in delicious FREE meals (courtesy of my dad). That said, my body was definitely in need of detox from the weekend. So, this week I’ve stuck with my tried and true 7 day detox formula. It’s simple and consists of 3 basic diet eliminations:

Meat. Meat is a great source of protein but takes FOREVER to digest and is high in calories. This week I’m getting my protein some from vegetarian options recommended by my registered dietitian. This really helps cleanse my digestive tract. Also upped the veggie intake – can’t forget that 🙂
Sweets. Long story short, sugar packs on the pounds and make us hungry, so I’ve pretty much cut out the sweets all week. Interestingly enough, the less I eat sweets, the less I crave them – it’s true I promise!
Alcohol. As mentioned in my 28^th B-Day post, “Cutting Back on the Booze,” alcohol slows down our metabolism and adds lots of empty calories. Going cold turkey for 7 days really does the body good!

Try my 7 day detox and let me know how it goes.

What do you have to lose?

It’s EFFECTIVE, FREE AND HEALTHY!