Exercise Plan

First, I have worked at the same gym for nearly 11 years. Do not waste your money on a gym membership. You can workout at home and outside. My plan is simply to move my body everyday.

The food is far more important in weight loss. Exercise is good for a hundred things, but weight loss is not one them. Most say weight loss is 80% food, 20% exercise, or 90% food and 10% exercise.
Weight loss is 100% eating less calories than you burn. Exercise helps you burn more calories and shape your body.

If you are a woman, you need to lift weights. Dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, or your own body weight, whatever works for you. And not pink 2 pound dumbbells!! Humans lose 10% of muscle mass per decade. Women do not have enough testosterone to get bulky. If you see a woman with man-esque bodybuilder muscles, she is taking supplements. Start at once a week. Build up to twice or three times a week.

Here is what I do via YouTube.

These first three are playlists I created myself. My YouTube channel is private, so only someone with the link can see it.

My favorite dance videos:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgST2BDAsNFc0mTXKje-wsfbMI9DUBfeV

Another favorite dance videos: 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgST2BDAsNFflCXb5-H90DYXD08KnsCJG

Yoga with weights:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgST2BDAsNFeqHY7LW07ac4j_uwPTqEaJ

The rest of these are my favorite dance/fitness/cardio/yoga/movement YouTube channels:

Fit Body by Ashley. A badass dance teacher. https://www.youtube.com/user/fitbodybyashley

Yogea Yoga. The most eclectic yoga ever. https://www.youtube.com/user/YogeaArtFlowYoga

The Fitness Marshall. Richard Simmons on steroids. You'll laugh while you dance.

 https://www.youtube.com/user/TheFitnessMarshall

Popsugar Fitness. Fitness for women. Lift those weights!! https://www.youtube.com/user/popsugartvfit

Fitness Blender. A husband and wife team here to whip you into shape. Male and female friendly. https://www.youtube.com/user/FitnessBlender

Leilah Issac Bellydance. https://www.youtube.com/user/liloliloish 

BollyX. Indian dance fitness. https://www.youtube.com/user/BOLLYXFITNESS

Movement Parallels Life. Eclectic movement. I love this guy.
https://www.youtube.com/user/kjmilad

Start here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H9KbBM7FmI&list=PLeElSzqPKgixSyfXWL_lYkuNFX6rpyfBA
And here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUnqoWVbvmg&list=PLeElSzqPKgiwvf3tlCpP7dAMB9A3BnVYA

All of these channels are appropriate for beginners. Feel free add these channels to your YouTube playlist.Also share your favorite fitness channel with me and I'll share with the other subscribers.

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Exercise Plan

Vegetarian Meal Plan

Quick correction to my last post. 

Pay off all consumer debt by October 2020. (I'd wrote 2019.)

Pay back all people I owe money by March 2021. (I'd wrote 2020.)

If you want to lose weight, learn what your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is. The BMR is how many calories you burn if you laid in bed for 24 hours without moving. Decide how many pounds a week you'd like to lose: 0.5, 1, 1.5, or 2. Determine your activity level: sedentary, lightly active, moderately active, or highly active. Enter all that information into a food journal you trust. 

My recommendation is Cronometer. (www.cronometer.com) It's free. Although you can upgrade for $5.00 a month, don't do it. The free version does the trick. You'll see if you are hitting all of your vitamin and minerals each day. It'll ask for basic information about you. From there, it'll give you a daily calorie recommendation. For me to lose 1 pound a week, it recommended 1661 calories a day, which left me hungry. I chose around 1800 calories a day.

I'm not getting enough fat according to Cronometer, but I feel good about it. I'm hitting 96% of nutrients. That's only because I take a women's multivitamin.  

My Plan

Sunday Lunch through Saturday Breakfast/Lunch

I eat what I want Saturday dinner and Sunday breakfast.

Breakfast

-Lemon water

-1/4 cup lentils, 2 eggs, 1 tomato, 1 oz cucumber, 2 TBSP avocado, cilantro (423.25 cal)

Morning Snack

-2 apples (196.08 cal)

-Green smoothie: 1 apple, 1 banana, 1/2 lemon, 3 cups greens (any leafy green), 1 tsp chia seeds (231.86 cal)

Lunch

- 1/2 cup chickpeas, 1/2 cup lentils, 1 tomato, 1 oz cucumber, 2 TBSP avocado, cilantro (340.11 cal)

Afternoon Snack

-Green smoothie: 1 banana, 1 cup mixed berries, 2.5 cup greens, 1 tsp honey (200.02 cal)

Dinner

-Sweet or white potato, 1/4 cup lentils, 1 tomato, 1 oz cucumber, 1 TBSP avocado (373.17 cal)

TOTAL: 1764.49

Because it's a template, I can cut and paste. For instance, instead of a green smoothie for my afternoon snack, I'll have 2 eggs and 2 carrots, which is approximately 230 calories. 

For dinner, if I'd rather keep it raw vegan, I'll have a smoothie of 2 bananas, 2 cups berries, 1 TBSP chia seed, and 1 TBSP avocado which is approximately 390 calories.

And today, I had toast with my breakfast, so I skipped my morning snack. This way I'm not eating the exact same thing everyday, which can get boring. I suggest people learn how to count calories and understand macronutrients.

And yes, for now, I'm eating eggs, which makes me a vegetarian, not a vegan. Any recipe I post here will be vegan.

It took me MONTHS to figure this out. I wanted a plan that was super easy, quick, doable, flexible, and didn't leave me starving. Frankly, I needed more protein than I realized. That's where the lentils come in. Lentils are my new favorite food. They are easy to cook. I have some super yummy variations on simple boiled lentils, which I'll share soon.

If you have questions, email me at mochaangels@aol.com. Next up, I'll share my exercise plan.

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Vegetarian Meal Plan

Self Love + Simplicity

I’m still alive ya’ll 😊. Thank you to everyone who wrote me to ask how I was doing and if I’d ever blog again. I haven’t written anything since Prince died in April 2016. The past five years have been quite challenging, on every level. Grief is a real thing. I totally fell off. I have fought hard to get back to Althea. As I blog, I’ll share my experiences.

The biggest two lessons I learned from that time are 1) love yourself and life flows much smoother, and 2) a simple life leads to clarity, self-knowledge, and purpose.

My biggest challenge is that I distract myself with food and over-spending. If I’m emotionally unbalanced, angry, frustrated, unhappy, etc., I am going to eat or spend money. I’ve been so out of whack that I didn’t care what I was eating. That has led me to be 60 pounds overweight. I have lost weight, but I haven’t been consistent. I’m a stress-eater. No stress, no overeating. Stress = overeating. My biggest expenditure is food. Wegman’s grocery is my second home.

I am healing these dual distractions at the same time. They are not different. They are same. They are different manifestations of a mind that searches for distraction. With all the work I have done on me, I realized I wasn’t loving myself. I wasn’t paying attention. I can’t spend nor eat my way into the life I want to live.

I have certain goals that I want to share with you all, which will help keep me on task. I’ll get more specific later.

HEALTH

·         Sixty pound weight loss by March 7, 2019 (my birthday)

     

HOUSE/MONEY

·         Declutter my apartment. DONE!

·         Create an emergency fund. DONE!

·         Save $100 a month until I reach my goal number through October 2019.

·         Create a shopping ban.

·         Pay off all consumer debt by October 2020.

·         Pay back all people I owe money by March 2021.

·         Save six months’ worth of salary (not sure how long that takes.)

CAREER

·         Start Mocha Angels Yoga and Massage YouTube Channel by March 7, 2019.

·         Resume daily Mocha Angel messages on Facebook and Twitter.

KIDS

·         Clinically document massage and energy work treatments on my kids to track their progress.

(In case you missed it on Facebook, I did manage to graduate from massage therapy school. I graduated in July. I’ll be a licensed massage therapist by October/November. 😊)

I’ll blog at least twice a week. On the 1^st of every month, I’ll report my progress toward my goals.

I’m learning to love me. I have cared for and served others personally and professionally for decades. At 46, I’m finally taking care of me.

Also, I am retiring from doing intuitive readings. If you’d like a reading from me, this is the moment to get it. I’m removing the PayPal buttons from my website on September 15.

Thank you for reading. I’m excited about this next phase in my life.

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Self Love + Simplicity