Do Something New

One thing I love about being an actress and a fitness/adventure enthusiast is all the new things I get to try.  Last month alone, I played an attorney, an addict and a rock climber.

According to Gretchen Rubin, one of my favorite podcasters and author of "The Happiness Project" as well as "Better than Before",  "trying something new is an excellent way of boosting happiness". (You can listen to her podcast here).

Well, a couple years ago, Coca-Cola challenged filmmakers in a competition to make a web spot about having an experience trying something new for the first time.  

So, Boston, Andrew Hancock and I took on the challenge and decided to do 100 new things in 10 days.  We made a rule for ourselves that as long as 1 of the 3 of us had never done a particular activity it qualified and we would film it.

So fun . . . Well, it was the middle of winter so a lot of our activities were filmed in the cold - like a polar bear swim.  And it turns out, doing 100 new things while filming, is a lot of work, resulting in not a lot of sleep especially while holding normal jobs, celebrating Valentine's day and planning a surprise birthday party. But, it was worth it: we won the contest and Boston was named Coca-Cola's International Online Content Director of the year, which we find funny because we don't even really know what that means.

We did a lot of really cool things for this spot, like flying airplanes and going ice climbing, but I still have yet to go sky diving . . .

Transformation

In this pic I had just started the transformation - stay tuned, I'll be posting before/after pics in about 7 weeks . . . 

I don’t claim to be a bio-hacker. At least not like Tim Ferris or Dave Asprey, but I do love to test things out on my body. Supplements, diets, exercises, cleanses, etc, etc.  

Then came a trip to Costa Rica with Boston’s work - a health and supplement company where I met people who had experienced dramatic health changes in not just weight loss but with conditions such as the Epstein Barr virus and diabetes.  And even more who had  lowered cholesterol, lowered triglycerides and lowered glucose levels . . . So, I decided to test their program out. 

My basic goals have been: 

1. Resistance or weight train 3x/week

2. Cut up. Decrease fat, gain lean muscle.

3. Hydrate, supplement and regulate sleep cycles.

4. Feel awesome.

So far I have maintained basic body weight with fluctuations within a couple pounds, but I've been measuring inches - something I've never bothered to do before.  I've lost a total of 1.5 inches - about a 1/2 inch off my waist, 1/2 inch off my thigh as well as 1/2 inch off my bum.  Which according to my coach's calculation has resulted in about 1% loss of total body fat composition.

I’ve gone from being able to barely muscle out any push-ups, to up to 65 in sets of 10-15.  And for crying out loud, I can do burpees and not want to die.  It's a love hate relationship.

Fun fact?  Total carbs - fiber = net carbs.  If you’re eating a bunch of fiber it cancels out carbs per gram. Didn’t know that!

My energy has not been ideal but I'm attributing that to the fact that my carbs have been pretty darn low . . . we're talking 50-80 grams/day. 

I’m about 8 weeks in with 7 more to go.  Stay tuned . . . 

Get Back Up

Screen grab from Chevy Commercial debating how to ascend after having taken a fall.

This past weekend, Boston and I got a group of people together and filmed a commercial for Chevrolet to inspire Perseverance.

The commercial is about a girl who despite bad weather or taking fall after fall during her climb, pushes through her training and gets to the top of an epic cliff, only to realize that though she conquered this mountain she has many more yet to climb!

Metaphor for life, right?  

Well, I fell down this week.  Not physically (minus the commercial), but I just felt life kickin' my trash.

I didn't listen to my body and respect that it was exhausted.  I fell off of my eating plan AND work out regimen and then on top of that, didn't meet my work goals for the week.  So I crashed and then I beat myself up for crashing.  Productive.

And, of course, after the storm clouds clear and all is well, I look back and I wonder why was I freaking out?

If we're performing life at 100%, 100% of the time, then there are no peaks, it's just big fat plateau. And that's no fun.

So what if life kicked my trash this week.  Just gotta get back up.

Behind the scenes.  Husband and director Boston McConnaughey strapped into his harness shooting from above.  Cute angle of a cute couple =)

Moment of triumph! Bad ass brother duo, Andrew and Danny James with their Red Camera from James Brothers Studio. 

creativiTea

I’m cold. I’m always cold. So, I’m drinking a lot of tea. I gotta warm myself from the inside-out. I mean, a girl can only bundle up so much. 

I’ve been pretty proud of my latest tea concoctions …  ’cause if I’m going to drink this much, I might as well get as much bang for my buck. 

So, what’s in it? Well, obviously my favorite tea (lately ginger and rooibos), and then I’m adding:

1. Coconut Oil

2. Cayenne Pepper

3. Cinnamon 

And here’s why:

Coconut Oil:  I stole this idea from the popular concept that’s out there right now called Bullet Proof Coffee, where you put several tablespoons of either grass fed butter, ghee, coconut butter or coconut oil in your coffee or in this case my tea.  The idea is, instead of loading up on sweetening your drink of choice, you load up on fattening your drink of choice so that you’re satisfied longer and avoid the shakes.  It’s awesome.  You don’t get hungry for hours.

I also read up on the Coconut Ketogenic Diet.  Basically, all hail the amazing coconut and I use it in everything - including, my basic cooking oil. I don’t want to bore you with all the amazing properties of coconut oil, but it raises your internal body temperature so that your body is burning more calories. Or in other words it’s a thermogenic fat which boosts your metabolism. And in more other words, you’re warmer. 

Why doesn’t it make you fat? Because it’s a medium chain fatty acid and not a long chain fatty acid. Bored? I know, let’s move on.

Cayenne Pepper: If anyone has done the Master Cleanse, you are familiar with the heat of cayenne pepper. I strangely relish this little burn when I spike my drink with cayenne. There are benefits to the burn - including stimulating your circulation, raising your metabolism, suppressing your appetite as well as anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties. Which means, when you feel that office bug goin’ around, cayenne can help you bust it before it starts.

Cinnamon: Ok, mainly, I just love the taste and smell of cinnamon.  But, I’m also happy to report that cinnamon can help stabilize fasting blood sugars (basically how fast your tummy empties itself, which usually causes a spike in blood sugar) which means you will experience less of the moody yo-yo effect throughout your day AND just smelling cinnamon will help your cognitive brain function.  I don’t know about you, but I can always use help with my cognitive brain function … 

I’m like a bird, I wanna fly away…. On the slopes today! Tons of #powder. #fitness #ski #epic