“If it doesn’t challenge you, it won’t change you” -Zig Ziglar

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Change can be challenging. Yet, without a challenge, there can’t be change. With the holidays right around the corner, we have the opportunity to create good habits that will help us make smart choices through the holiday meals!

We also hope that this challenge will create habits that carry over into the New Year so you can shift your New Year’s resolutions away from health and fitness goals (because they’ll already be in place!) and make more goals surrounding having fun in 2020!

During our last challenge, we saw some awesome results and had great time working through the challenges & celebrating our weekly wins with our teammates. We hope you’ll consider joining us on this journey again!

Whole Life Challenge is part fitness, part nutritional and body composition, and part accountability challenges. Our goals for each Fall 2019 Whole Life Challenger are:

• Mental + emotional preparation for the longevity of a healthy lifestyle {awareness + action}
• Individual fitness gains
• Creation of lasting habits for individualized nutritional and body composition success
• Physical & nutritional preparation to get you through the holidays and carry over into the New Year!

You + Whole Life Challenge = Team CrossFit Austin

Challenge = Change // Goals = Gains

{What is it?}

While everyone wants to look and feel better, it can be a challenge to know how or where to start. The Whole Life Challenge focuses you on the key areas of your life that produce real, life-long changes. Playing together with your friends and family in a fun and motivating daily game, you’ll create new healthy habits that last long after it ends.

The Whole Life Challenge focuses on 7 daily habits that you will learn and create for yourself as you journey through.

These 7 Daily Habits are:

• • Nutrition. Your food choices have the single greatest impact on your health, well-being, and community. When you make choices that keep you healthy, you give yourself the fuel to fulfill all of who you are. There are 3 levels to choose from that allow you to start making changes in a realistic and attainable way.  {Choose the level that is right for you}
  • Exercise. Humans are designed to move daily. Whether through workouts, activity, or simply enjoying the full use of your body, daily movement keeps you healthy and vital. You’re already moving regularly with us!
  • Mobility. In a sedentary world, our bodies get stuck. Daily mobility and stretching helps you move the way nature intended and continue enjoying freedom of movement into your later years.
  • Sleep. Modern schedules tend to dictate how many hours of sleep we’re entitled to. A practice of increasing that time, even by a little bit, can make big strides in robust health. You set the sleep goals that are right for you.
  • Hydration. More than anything, your body is made of water. This habit ensures that your body gets enough of its most basic resources for life.
  • Lifestyle Practice. The {WLC weekly lifestyle practices} turn a life into your life. Learn to step back, take stock, connect, and turn your attention to what is really important to you.
  • Reflection. Looking back, looking inward, or looking forward, daily reflection draws your awareness to what is working and what needs your attention today.

{How Do I Play?}

The {Challenge} begins with taking your preliminary measurements and completing a scalable workout that will be repeated at the end.

Throughout the 42 day challenge you will post your scores in the 7 categories listed above. The Challenge is designed in a way that we can work as a team to check in with and support each other on a daily basis.

To close out the Whole Life Challenge, you will repeat the preliminary measurements and workout to gauge how far you’ve come! But, it doesn’t end there! The Whole Life Challenge is designed to help you make healthy lifestyle changes that last.

{How Do I Register?}

You can register and join Team CrossFit Austin through the Whole Life Challenge {website}. Make sure you do join our team to participate with the community!

REGISTER HERE

CHALLENGE BEGINS September 28, 2019
CHALLENGE ENDS November 9, 2019

Early Bird Sale: Now – August 18 @ 11:59p — $24

End-of-Challenge Special: August 19 – August 24 @ 11:59p — $29

Early Registration: August 25 – September 11 @ 11:59p — $39

Regular Registration: September 12 – September 22 @ 11:59p — $49

Last-Minute Registration: September 23 – October 9 @ 11:59p — $59

Challenge Begins September 28th, 2019

** All Times Are Local Time **

If you’re ready to dial it in and make some long lasting habits, join us for this challenge!

Who likes Chipotle? 😉 It is one of the few ‘fast food’ options that offers meals on the cleaner side that can easily hit macros (if you’re into that sort of thing). Tim and I usually get a burrito bowl and load it up with all the good stuff, but eating out can get pricey. Also, by making this home version, I know EXACTLY what ingredients are going into it and how much which makes tracking that much easier.

I’ve done several versions of this, but I’m going to share the steak version with you because it turned out really bomb. This marinade is great! I used my sous vide to cook the steak, but you could grill it, bake it, pan sear it…. whatever method you prefer. As for the toppings, go crazy! I like it all so I pile it high, but you can be as selective as you like.

At Home Burrito Bowl

INGREDIENTS
For the steak & marinade
2-3 lbs steak (I used ribeye)
2 TBSP Olive Oil
3 cloves garlic
1/2 medium red onion
1 chipotle pepper (in adobo sauce) + 1 TBSP adobo sauce
2 tsp Oregano
2 tsp Cumin
2 TBSP Chile powder
salt & pepper to taste
water as needed if too thick

For the cilantro lime rice
2 cups jasmine rice (you can sub brown if you prefer)
Juice from 1 lime
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 tsp Garlic Powder
Pinch of salt

For the corn salsa
2 cups corn (I used frozen – thawed and drained)
1 tsp cumin
1/2 cup diced red onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Juice from 1 lime

For the rest!
1 head Romain Lettuce – chopped
2 cans black beans – drained and rinsed
1 container pico de gallo (or make your own!)
Guacamole – (or make your own!)
Plain Greek Yogurt
Shredded cheese
Hot sauce of your choice

INSTRUCTIONS

Steak – combine all the ingredients for the marinade in a food processor and pulse until smooth. If it’s too thick, add a little water. Season both sides of your steak with salt and pepper. Combine steak and marinate in a gallon size ziploc bag and let marinate in the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes. If you are cooking it sous vide you can skip marinading and just cook it in the ziploc. Cook the steak a little under your liking! You’ll do this so that when you reheat, the steak won’t dry out.

Cilantro Lime Rice – Cook the rice accordingly. Once finished, add the remaining ingredients and stir well to combine.

Corn Salsa – combine all ingredients and mix well.

To assemble – Divide the rice and beans into 4 containers. Divide and add the steak. The rest of the ingredients should be stored separately. You’ll reheat the bowl with the rice, beans, and steak and the rest can be added cold afterward! Enjoy

Y’all… it doesn’t have to be hard. Some days you get home from work and you’re beat and you don’t want to put any effort into dinner, but instead of reaching for that take out menu, you can make an easy, healthy meal (and definitely cheaper!) in less time than it usually takes the delivery guy to make it to your door.

We’ve been burning the candle at both ends lately and I really just needed something clean and simple so that’s where this comes from. I kind of got away from regularly including fish in our weekly meals so I also wanted to make sure that I was getting us back to that and this meal was exactly what we needed.

No frills, wholesome food. Just the way we like it. The serving sizes below made 1 meal for each of us. If you’re hoping for leftovers, double it up!

INGREDIENTS

2 Large Orange Roughy (or other sturdy white fish) fillets
2 TBSP Olive Oil
1 TBSP Lemon Juice
1 TBSP Italian Seasoning
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 Cup panko bread crumbs – can also sub rough chopped almonds
2 Beets
6-8 Medium Carrons peeled
1 Cup brown rice
Coconut oil

DIRECTIONS

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Wash and dry beets, trim greens off top, but do not peel. Coat in coconut oil, wrap individually in foil and place in the oven on a baking sheet to roast. (Total time, appx 30 minutes or until tender)

Wash and peel carrots and cut into sticks. On a lined baking sheet toss in coconut oil and place in oven to roast (total time, appx 25 minutes or until fork tender)

Make the rice according to the package.

Pat fish dry and set aside. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. IF you have a wire cooling rack like this it is helpful to place that on top of the baking sheet, but otherwise just grease the baking sheet and set aside.

In one dish, whisk together olive oil and lemon juice. In another dish, combine panko (or chopped almonds), Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

Coat fish lightly on both sides in the olive oil/lemon juice mixture and then coat on both sides with the seasoned panko mixture. Place the fish either on the rack or directly on the greased sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the panko is golden brown and the fish flakes easily.

Once the beets and carrots are finished, remove from oven. For the beets, open the aluminum pouch and allow to cool for a bit. Using a paper towel, gently rub to remove the skin and then slice

To serve, portion the rice on each plate, top with the cooked fish. Serve with the veggies on the side. Sit your butt on the couch and kick up your feet because it’s been a long day, but at least you’re feeding yourself well! 🙂

I’m a little afraid that I might burn out on this because we’ve had this as a meal prep option 3 times in the last couple of weeks, but it is SO GOOD. It’s also been really refreshing for lunches in this crazy summer heat. Yes… it has chips on it. But, there are good options out there. Siete chips are grain free and we used the HEB Organics nacho chips… up to you!

Anyway, I used to love taco salad when I was a kid and it had been YEARS since I’d eaten it, but I’m so happy to have it back in my life…. This recipe is clean, simple, and so easy to put together. I am also including a recipe for a really good Catalina dressing. I highly recommend that you don’t skip that! That dressing would be killer on any salad honestly.

Alright, let’s get to it!

FRESH TACO SALAD

INGREDIENTS

For the salad
1.25-1.5 lbs ground beef
1 package of taco seasoning
1 head of Romain lettuce (or greens of your choice) – rough chopped
1 can black beans – drained and rinsed
1 can sliced black olives – drained
1 cup Corn kernals
1 cup green onions – chopped
1 pint cherry or sweet tomatoes – diced
Shredded cheese
Chips of choice
Plain Greek yogurt
Avocado

For the dressing
1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup ketchup (sugar free)
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup grapeseed oil
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp onion powder

INSTRUCTIONS

In a pan over medium heat, brown the ground beef. Stir in the taco seasoning and a bit of water as needed to keep it from drying out. Store in a container to build into a salad when you’re ready to eat.

Rough chop the Romain and slice the green onions. Put each ingredient in an individual container and store until ready to build your salad.

To build – Lay a bed of greens down. Layer toppings as desired and top with the dressing! Enjoy!

For the dressing – Mix all ingredients in a jar, shake vigorously until well combined. Store in an air-tight container in the fridge.

Simple as that guys. I made this again this week and Tim and I killed it in 2 days… Get on this!

I know what you’re thinking….. “wut?” I had actually heard of people doing savory oatmeal, but I have always been more than happy with my berry, granola, and cinnamon loaded oatmeal so I came to the conclusion I didn’t need to try it.

But…. in a search for something a little different to mix up our mornings, I decided to give this a go. This is an adaptation of a few different recipes I saw and I have to say I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.

Anyhoo, this is packed up with some garlic roasted kale and because I’m indecisive, some had fried eggs while others had soft boiled, and it’s all topped off with kimchi. I’ve also been trying to get more fermented foods into our diet. I did kimchi with this, but I also really think that raw sauerkraut would be awesome. What do you think?

Enjoy folks!

Savory Oatmeal

INGREDIENTS – This made (4) 2-cup servings
2 cups quick cooking oats
3 cups of water (more to your liking – I like my oatmeal pretty thick)
3 green onions – thinly sliced – including the whites
1/3 cup shredded parmesan (or similar) cheese
2-3 cloves of garlic – minced
1 large bundle of kale – ribs removed
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 egg per serving (your choice, fried or soft boiled) or if you want more, add more!
Optional toppings – Kimchi, Sauerkraut

DIRECTIONS

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Wash, dry, and rough chop your kale. Make sure the stems and ribs have been removed. Smash and mince your garlic into a texture close to paste. In a large bowl mix your garlic and a little olive oil with the chopped kale. Toss until well coated.

On a lined baking sheet, spread your kale out into an even layer (I had to use 2 baking sheets). Roast for approximately 5 minutes, flip, and roast another 5 minutes. Continue this process until the kale becomes crispy.

While the kale roasts, boil your water and stir in the oats. Once done to your liking (remember, you can add more water if you prefer) stir in the cheese, onions, and salt & pepper to tase.

Divide evenly into bowls and top with your choice of egg, kale, and a little more cheese. I left my kimchi separate because I wanted to heat the bowl, but put the kimchi on cold, but it’s up to you!

I also add fresh avocado and hot sauce to just about anything. Tim tried this with Sriracha and was a fan. That’s the beauty of oatmeal, you can really do whatever you want with it!

Hello again! Happy Hump Day!

Hope y’all have had a great week. The past weekend was another busy one for us (good, but packed) so I needed something that was easy to put together for prep this week. This is actually an entire meal put together in a single bowl, but I’m including 2 different ways to cook the carnitas. Hopefully all of you either have a crockpot or an instantpot by now 😉

I love this recipe because it’s pretty hands off ( and I was feeling lazy on my meal prep ) which allowed me to focus on some other things while the food was cooking. I have also used this exactly same recipe for BBQ pulled pork with the only difference being the addition of BBQ sauce… The season (for me) stayed the same so you could essentially make 2 different meals with one large piece of meat.

As always, let me know if you have any questions!

Carnitas Prep Bowl –

INGREDIENTS 
For Carnitas – Measurements are what I used for about 2.5 lbs of meat – increase to taste based on pounds
2-3 lbs of pork butt or shoulder – cut into chunks
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Black Pepper
2 tsp Chili Powder
1 tsp Cumin
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 TBSP Olive Oil
Juice from 1 small lime

Sides –
1 Can black beans – drained and rinsed
2 Large sweet potatoes – peeled and cubed
*Optional – soak cubed sweet potatoes in cool water for 10-15 minutes prior to baking
2 Large fresh broccoli crowns – cut into florets

DIRECTIONS – 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly coat cubed sweet potatoes in coconut oil and spread evenly on a baking sheet. Bake for 30-45 minutes stirring every 15 minutes until fork tender. Mix with drained and rinsed black beans and season lightly with paprika (optional).

Broccoli – I steamed mine for this bowl, but you could roast it alongside the sweet potatoes (about 20 minutes)

InstantPot  Carnitas – In a small bowl, mix all of the seasoning until combined. In a large bowl, coat the meat with olive oil and mix with seasoning until well coated. I used the steam rack, but you can plan the meat directly in. Add a 1 of water or chicken broth to the pot and place the seasoned meat in. Close the pressure valve and set the manual setting to high for 40 minutes. Once the timer goes off, quick release the valve. When the pressure has released, put the meat in a large bowl to shred with two forks. *Mix in a small amount of the cooking liquid and squeeze the lime juice over top. **Optional to crisp the ends** Put the meat on a baking sheet and put in the oven under a high broiler for 2-3 minutes (watch it closely).

From here, I just built the bowls! Half with the sweet potato/black bean mixture, half with the broccoli, top the veggies with a portion of meat and you’re done! If you like tacos as much as we do, you could throw the sweet potatoes/beans and the meat into a tortilla 😉

Crockpot Carnitas – Season the same way, add 1 cup of water or broth to the slow cooker and place the meat in. Close the lid and cook on Low for 8-9 hours/High for 5-6 hours or until it shreds easily. Take the same steps to crisp the edges if you like!