2017 Year In Review. What Was HOT For Me In 2017

2017 has officially wrapped up. 2017 was a great year! 

We traveled a LOT last year. Last year end, we went on a cruise to Belize, Cozumel, & Roatan. Then in the spring we went to St. Maarten & Anguilla. Summer we took our oldest niece on a cruise from NYC, to Florida, and 2 islands in the Bahamas. Then in the winter we took a final cruise to 2 islands in the Bahamas, Grand Cayman, and Jamaica. Then a TON of weekend flights to Las Vegas, and we even ventured to CA and UT last year. Almost contemplating starting a travel blog.....

Bahamas 12.2017

I led with travel on a health & fitness blog because of all this travel, need I even mention there was weight gain so DH & I just started doing Nutrisystem. If you have followed the blog, you will know that MANY years ago, I got to review Nutrisystem and had great success on it. This time around DH wanted to join in & I thought NS would just be easier for us both to do. Not as much cooking, meal prepping, and shopping as with many other programs. And I know its not clean eating but for something that is easy to do for both DH & I NS seemed like a great fit - and so far I have lost 8 lbs!! I am on day 18 so that is a great loss rate for me. I would LOVE to lose another 6 pounds, that would put me below my all time low so we shall see how it pans out.

pre-workout this morning

Fitness front: I am not doing any runs this year with the exception of the Phoenix Pride Race (as long as I am in town). My knees and ankle are just not up to running on concrete. My gym has those nice thick cushions which are a must have for me. I have been SUPER consistent with my morning hour workouts in my home gym and even got in a ton of 20 minute "bonus" walking workouts in the evenings- mostly from YouTube. I just finished up the wall to wall flooring in my gym this year & I LOVE it!

Exercise Favorites: My favorite exercise set this year was by far X-Train Fit Circuit Burnout 90 with Monique St. Pierre. The set is super well rounded, wastes no time, has a great lead, & is very effective. I LOVE the circuit format and Monique keeps things fun & effective in every single workout. Like all X-Train Fit systems, the cost is totally affordable, they really give you a HUGE bang for your buck with their systems.

Circuit Burnout 90

Fitness Kit Favorites: I loved the Empower Fitness 3-in-1 Kettlebell Kit. The kettlebell quickly & easily adjusts from 5 to 8 to 12 lbs and comes with an awesome DVD. I was surprised I loved this so much, because I was not hugely into kettlebells. BUT my issue was using too heavy a bell, which is why I love this bell. I was previously using a 27 lb bell. Gin Miller leads the DVD that comes with the bell & she is fabulous. The DVD contains 3 full workouts, a warm up & a cool down. LOVE!

Empower 3-in-1 Kettlebell

Yoga Favorites: Hands down Boho Beautiful in 10 Days. I LOVE this system and I am not a huge yoga person. Juliana is an awesome instructor with the perfect demeanor for these routines. I love the gorgeous outdoor beach settings and that each day gives you yoga, fitness, & meditation. Def check out my reviews for this set. Love the mind + body focus in this set.

Boho Beautiful in 10 Days

Active Wear Favorites: I LOVE LOVE LOVE Ori Active! Their clothes are SUPER cute. Mary from Total Fitness DVD's is the owner of this site so you know you will get amazing quality and stellar customer service. Their clothing is Activewear with a Polynesian Flair. High quality, great fit, & unique styles.

Ori Active

I also LOVE Jill Yoga. They have super cute, fun prints, like galaxy and fun colors. They also offer mom & me sets so you can twin up with your mini. Great fit, great quality and super affordable pieces that you can stock up on.

Jill Yoga

Beauty Favorites: I LOVE Dr. Ohhira's Probiotic Kampuku Beauty Bar. This is a probiotic beauty bar (bar of soap) that can be used on your face and entire body. It is gentle enough for my sensitive skin & I use it as a face wash. The bar has lasted me MONTHS and months & is super effective at cleansing my skin & reduces breakouts. I highly recommend. Much less expensive than expensive face cleansers and it works better!

Dr. Ohhira's Probiotic Kampuku Beauty Bar

I also love WITH MY Toothpaste. It is fluoride free, cruelty free, vegan, and natural! I love the lemon flavor. I can brush my teeth and then enjoy my preworkout drink without souring the taste of my drink like normal mint toothpaste can do. The toothpaste works great & I love that it contains no fluoride & is vegan!

WITH MY Toothpaste

Food Favorites: Modern Table Meals in 15 Minutes with Complete Plant Protein. These are pasta based meals that are gluten free, packed with protein, and made from lentils & other plant sources. The mac n cheese is amazing & my entire family happily ate it. Great substitute for the normal "junky"versions that kids (and husbands) love.

Modern Table Meals

Visit Me On: 

Lindsey Lu on Instagram

Lindsey Lu on Facebook 

Lindsey Lu on Twitter
Lindsey Lu on Pinterest

Do not repost my content on any other site without my explicit consent. All of my postings belong solely to lindsey8.blogspot.com. I received samples of these products to review. I was in no other way compensated for my honest reviews. All thoughts and ideas expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Please see my disclosures page for details. Do not copy, in whole, or in part any portion of any postings on my blog. Do not repost my content on any other site without my explicit consent. All of my postings belong solely to lindsey8.blogspot.com.

Year in Review: 2016 Wrap Up (SUPER LATE!)

General 2016:

Here is my super late year in review post. You can reference last Years post (here). 2016 brought me a much better fitness year! My lower back injury -just very recently is feeling, dare I say, 100%! That is the good news. The bad news is another old injury is flaring up - but its not near as impeding as the lower back injury. I just had an MRI done so we will see what that brings....I injured my trap muscle on the right side many years ago with kettlebells. I wont do them again. Anyways though I am (very recently) back to my regular workouts and even back to my heaviest dumbbells so that is great news! I was planning on running a 1/2 marathon this year, but my knees are just getting too bad. I did a 12k in December and my knees and ankle were just killing me after so I am sticking to only 5ks and not too many of them next season.

IdealFit:

I have even lost 15+ lbs using the IdealFit meal plans! My results pic above :) My sister had introduced me to their meal plans last summer and I have basically been doing them since then with great success. More details about IdealFit are in this post. I originally used the free 15 day plan, loved it, purchased the 6 week plan, loved it and just recently purchased their sculpt plan. So I now have the 15 day meal plans, 6 week meal plans, sculpt meal plans, and some meal plans created by members on their 6 week challenge FB page. You can only get access to those FB pages if you purchase those plans, though you can get into the 15 Day Challenge without any purchases.

I am not 100% strict with the plans, and not doing their workouts (Im doing my own workouts). Sometimes I sneak a cocktail in the evenings. And I OFTEN have a cheat weekend, instead of cheat meal- we travel a lot but I am still maintaining my loss. This is a huge win for me. I am at about my maintenance weight anyways and I like the freedom of free weekends and not gaining is great for me!

All of the plans come with workouts in one form or another -printable, or YouTube workouts. They are JUST now on DVD so I bought them but I havent done them yet. I am partial to DVDs so I am excited to check these out. The DVDs now come with the 6 Week Challenge bundle with protein powder and meal plans. Since I already have the 6 week I called and was able to order the DVDs for only $15.

I basically just bought the sculpt plan for the meal plans and probably wont ever do the workouts. If you are into heavier lifting or gym workouts - the Sculpt program is for you. I just prefer home workouts DVDs so I dont see myself using those workouts but you can get all the info in the challenges section of their website. 

Here is my affiliate link that save you 10% on your order (over $20) and I believe I also save 10% on my next order- win win! Just click on the challenges link on the top toolbar and you can see all that are available- many are free! I highly suggest checking out the free 15 Day Challenge and then if you love it as much as I did- go for the 6 Week Challenge for the added meal plans and DVDs. Stay tuned on the blog & I will review the workouts as soon as I get to them 

Workout/ DVD Wrap Up 2016: 

There were a ton of workouts that I liked in 2016. I think my favorite was the Rippedism series. These are solid workouts, great for men & women, lots of variety, effective and they arent super long dread filled workouts. They are streaming and as stated above, I am old school and prefer DVDs. But super convenient for those that prefer streaming. They are also a great price and require very little equipment. 

I got a few Cathe sets this year as well-Cathe ICE  and Cathe Strong & Sweaty. Really enjoy them but I dont find myself reaching for them nonstop like I do with some of my all time beloved sets. I am eyeing her Cathe live if I can get DH to hook it to my TV. I just hate using an iPad mini for workouts when I have a 42" flat screen hanging on the wall. 

My most used DVD of 2016 was 10 Minute Solution Tighten & Tone Pilates- well actually ONLY the stretch segment. I used it basically every day this year. I credit this section for fixing my lower back issues. It uses a stretchy band & is the BEST stretch segment that I own. It really focuses on the hips and hamstrings which in turn release the lower back. I would buy this DVD just for that section. Im sure the other sections are fine too but Im not hugely into pilates. 

All Time Fitness Favorites:

My absolute favorite workouts are still Barry's Bootcamp Fat Blaster set (the link will actually take you to all my BBC reviews, not just the Fat Blaster set)- I use this set all the time! I actually wore out one of my DVDs & my band and replaced them. I also LOVE The FIRM BSS3 & BSS4 sets (again this link will take you to all my FIRM reviews) Anything using the incline box I LOVE! In fact, I did incline box work all this week!

Best 2016 Products: 

Natural Deodorant: I love both Go Healthy Next Organic Tallow Deodorant and Green Goo by Sierra Sage Deodorant. Both are natural and contain no aluminum and both WORK! The Tallow is in a tub so I actually transferred it to a stick for ease of use. 

Food:  LOVE LOVE LOVE NuNaturals Stevia Cocoa Syrup. I make a protein powder melting cake with it that is AMAZING! Recipe in the link provided. Stay tuned on the blog for another NuNaturals giveaway coming soon! Butcher Box Organic meats delivered right to your door. Amazingly delicious, and super convenient! I also love Crispy Green freeze dried fruit. Super convenient to take on the go or great for when you dont buy enough fruit and can just keep these handy in the pantry. 

Beauty: Camilla Rose Naturals Coconut Water Hydrating and Styling products. LOVE both the products that I got to review. Highly recommend this line for all the curly girls out there. 

Visit Me On: 

Lindsey Lu on Instagram

Lindsey Lu on Facebook 

Lindsey Lu on Twitter

I rceived samples of these products to review. I was in no other way compensated for my honest reviews. All thoughts and ideas expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Please see my disclosures page for details. Do not copy, in whole, or in part any portion of any postings on my blog. Do not repost my content on any other site without my explicit consent. All of my postings belong solely to lindsey8.blogspot.com.

2015 Wrap Up Category: Fitness Products I Cant Live Without

Through my blog, I am lucky enough to be able to review SO many fantastic products, new foods, workout DVDs, and more. I only review things I love - I dont accept reviews for items that I know wont be a good fit for me and my blog, and if I receive a product I dont like, I am honest about that and wont promote it on my blog. It is rare that that happens though, because like I said, I only accept review items that look like a good fit for my blog and my tastes & I research first. Having said all that - here is a list of some of my absolute favorite fitness products from 2015. My workout fav's post can be found here. It was hard to narrow it down, but these are things that I now continue to use in my household. I will link my original posts to each item so you can read more/ get more info if desired. In no particular order....


Play Again Now: I love post workout drinks but dont need/ want a big 12-20 oz beverage. I work out after work/ before dinner now & a big ol post workout drink just doesnt work for me so I love that you can just take a "shot" of this to help with my soreness. It is a little thick but its just a shot not a whole drink so worth it for me. No mixing either just one drink & go on with life.

Liquido & Tiffany Cruikshank Leggings: LOVE these! Super cute bright print and amazing fit. Great for working out -they stay put, no creeping up or sagging down. Also great for casual wear, so much more comfy than jeans and so much cuter. Great quality, these will last a long time. I wear them all the time. The fit is so much better than most other leggings I own.

BackJoy Trigger Point Massager: I also love their posture plus seat but this massager is the bomb! The whole family uses it. It feels so amazing & is easy to use. The shape makes it perfect for all body parts as it has multiple massage points on it. Must have for those sore & tired muscles from working out or just from life.

HumanX by Harbinger Compressor Knee Sleeve: LOVE this knee brace. Wear it all the time. Will get another one when this one wears out on me. It fits perfectly (availabel in multiple sizes) stays put and really keeps my knee pain free while working out. It is sleek and not bulky so I can wear it even under leggings for runs or workouts.

Visit Me On: 

Lindsey Lu on Instagram

Lindsey Lu on Facebook 

Lindsey Lu on Twitter

I received samples of these products to review. I was in no other way compensated for my honest reviews. All thoughts and ideas expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Please see my disclosures page for details. Do not copy, in whole, or in part any portion of any postings on my blog. Do not repost my content on any other site without my explicit consent. All of my postings belong solely to lindsey8.blogspot.com.

2015 Wrap Up Category: Health & Beauty Products I Cant Live Without

Through my blog, I am lucky enough to be able to review SO many fantastic products, new foods, workout DVDs, and more. I only review things I love - I dont accept reviews for items that I know wont be a good fit for me and my blog, and if I receive a product I dont like, I am honest about that and wont promote it on my blog. It is rare that that happens though, because like I said, I only accept review items that look like a good fit for my blog and my tastes & I research first. Having said all that - here is a list of some of my absolute favorite health & beauty from 2015. My workout fav's post can be found here. It was hard to narrow it down, but these are things that I now continue to use in my household. I will link my original posts to each item so you can read more/ get more info if desired. In no particular order....

Spark Naturals Essential Oils & Diffuser: Love their essential oils & their diffuser. Love the pricing, love that they are not an MLM. I hate the follow up, emails, calls, etc when dealing with MLMs (multi level marketing), and hate the mark up that MLMs have. Spark has quality oils for a reasonable price. I use them in my DIY beauty products, in my diffuser, and more. 

Coromega Be Bright Non-GMO Superfood Oil Blend: SO FREAKIN tasty! Seriously the best way to get your omegas in. It tastes like a creamy coconut cinnamon dessert. Just squeeze a little in your mouth and satisfy your sweet tooth. Bye fish oil pills & hello Coromega. Seriously recommend this one.

Carrington Farms Coconut Oil Packets: I love these! Im sure their regular size coconut oil is just as amazing. I use these to travel with, one packet and I have my mouthwash (try it!), hair oil, facial moisturizer, and lotion. It tastes amazing so using in cooking also perfect!

Lindi Skin Care System Eye Hydrator: The Lindi line was actually originally created for those undergoing cancer treatment, so its super gentle on the skin. The eye cream is not a cream not a syrum, its like a thick gel that absorbs into the skin and feels velvety smooth. It is the most amazing eye product I have ever used. LOVE the feel. Quickly absorbed, non greasy, feels amazing. 

Primal Pit Paste Deodorant: When I am not making my own deodorant I am using Primal Pit Paste. It really works- even when Im sweating, the odor is eliminated, which is what a deodorant is supposed to do. Comes in a wide variety of yummy scents and is ALUMINUM FREE Free of a TON of nasty ingredients and full of things that will not harm your body. 

Hot Straws: Putting it here because I dont have a place for it lol. But it fits, keep your teeth white by using a straw with your coffee and these are BPA FREE! They are also thin so you dont chug down your coffee and they are very sturdy and machine washable. LOVE

Visit Me On: 

Lindsey Lu on Instagram

Lindsey Lu on Facebook 

Lindsey Lu on Twitter

I received samples of these products to review. I was in no other way compensated for my honest reviews. All thoughts and ideas expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Please see my disclosures page for details. Do not copy, in whole, or in part any portion of any postings on my blog. Do not repost my content on any other site without my explicit consent. All of my postings belong solely to lindsey8.blogspot.com.

2015 Wrap Up: Category Foods I Cant Live Without

Through my blog, I am lucky enough to be able to review SO many fantastic products, new foods, workout DVDs, and more. I only review things I love - I dont accept reviews for items that I know wont be a good fit for me and my blog, and if I receive a product I dont like, I am honest about that and wont promote it on my blog. It is rare that that happens though, because like I said, I only accept review items that look like a good fit for my blog and my tastes & I research first. Having said all that - here is a list of some of my absolute favorite foods from 2015. My workout fav's post can be found here. It was hard to narrow it down, but these are things that I now continue to use in my household. I will link my original posts to each item so you can read more/ get more info if desired. In no particular order....

Coffee Beanery Flavored Coffees: What really needs to be said, its Coffee Beanery, its coffee, and its flavored=love. Great brand, great rich coffees, amazing HUGE line of flavors. LOVE

Big Slice Gourmet Apple Snacks: The Cinnamon French Toast variety is AMAZING. I am NOT a fruit is dessert person- fruit is a healthy snack, not dessert, but I can say that the French Toast variety can be a dessert. It is sweet, satisfying, and full of cinnamon flavor. YUM! Only 80 calories per pack, indulge away. 

NuNaturals Stevia: Amazing stevia of course but I particularly LOVE their Cocoa Syrup. It is rich, creamy delicious chocolate goodness sweetened with stevia. It is thick & perfect for hot chocolate, mochas, chocolate milk and more.

Garden Lites: Their blueberry oat muffins are the bomb. Seriously delicious, tastes just like a regular unhealthy muffin but packed with veggies & only 120 calories & 2 grams of fat. First ingredient listed is zucchini. The chocolate muffins are also very good & both souffles I tried were also SO GOOD!

Veestro Gourmet Plant-Based Delivered Meals: These are bomb. I havent re-ordered these but they are on my to-buy list. They are so tasty, I have tried a lot of delivery meal type services and these are by FAR the best. Yummy, unique, and healthy foods delivered right to your door. Perfect when you dont have time to meal prep. Not your typical frozen meals. Im not vegan or even vegetarian but these are very satisfying meals!!!

Cookina Reusable Grilling Sheets: Not a food, but used to grill up your healthy foods. I use this ALL THE TIME. I grill usually once a week or every other week so these are a must. You can do kabobs without the sticks, grilled veggies, and marinated or saucy items right on your BBQ grill. Check them out. LOVE them! Machine washable even.

 

Visit Me On: 

Lindsey Lu on Instagram

Lindsey Lu on Facebook 

Lindsey Lu on Twitter

I received samples of these products to review. I was in no other way compensated for my honest reviews. All thoughts and ideas expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Please see my disclosures page for details. Do not copy, in whole, or in part any portion of any postings on my blog. Do not repost my content on any other site without my explicit consent. All of my postings belong solely to lindsey8.blogspot.com.

My 2015 Fitness Wrap Up

Well sadly, this has probably been my least accomplished year in fitness/ health. We went to Jamaica in May and sadly, my eating has not been as on track since then- yes I realize that was 7/8 long months ago. On top of that, in September I somehow managed to injure my back (old age). It was bad, really bad. I have spent the last 4 months alternating chiropractor appointments, walking workouts, modified upper body workouts and then gradually unweighted lower body workouts. I luckily had some reviews stockpiled and was able to do some modifying so at least I can keep doing my beloved workouts along the way. I am just now getting back to my regular workouts. DH surprised me with a new rebounder that has been a savior for my cardio in the past few weeks. I am about 15 lbs heavier than I should be. Alas, I know none of this is the end of the world & I am confident I can get back to better eating habits and am already about back to my regular workouts. FINALLY. Life has changed A LOT this year for me so my structure of "life" has been different. New job, new schedule, working out after work, dealing with a lot more traffic. Kids in my life, dealing with 5 peoples schedules instead of 2, more appointments/meetings  than any normal people should have, but I did gain a new workout partner....With all of that said, here are some of my fitness favorites of 2015. Am I missing something? Let me know :) And anyway, heres my face & my youngest nieces face...

Add caption

Favorite DVD Set:
Hands down Operation Tonergy is a winner for me this year. TOUGH but fun bootcamp style workouts that had me sweating, burning a ton of calories, and left me sore the next day. I really love Nikki's energy and the format of the workouts. They are unique workouts with a fun live class feel. Each workout is different from the rest & the set is very well rounded, cardio, strength, core, you really get it all here. I will most definitely be getting a ton of use out of this set. Lots of sweat and no dread. And best of all, the set is on sale for ONLY $30 right now. That is SIX 45-60 min workouts for only THIRTY DOLLARS! Check out the Tonergy website and read all of my Tonergy reviews here.

Races: 
Peak race season here in the desert starts in late September/ early October so needless to say the back injury precluded me from doing (m)any races. I did do a Halloween race, only because I had already signed up for it before injuring my back. I couldnt run it, I had to power walk and my time wasnt that bad for not being able to run. I will do Pride again in the spring but dont have anything planned besides that. I havent decided on the 5 or 10k yet. I will wait and see how my endurance is doing by then.

Instructors:
I really love Linda Wooldridges new stuff for barre style workouts. I dont do a ton of barre/ pilates/ ballet workouts but I really like Linda's energy and the workouts are solid. She has a ton of great new workouts- DVDs & downloads, great production & sound quality, solid cuing, excellent instruction, unique exercises, and a sneaky burn that will seriously work those muscles. If you are a barre girl- you must check out her stuff. Check out the Barlates Body Bliss website (AU and US) and all of my Barlates reviews here.

Shout Outs:
Fe Fit is a wonderful set. It is super well rounded, contains a TON of exercise minutes and gives you so much variety. The workouts are solid intermediates and could be all someone needs in their library (I mean not a DVD junkie like me, I always need more, but you know- normal people). It has barre, traditional strength, cardio, core, floor & standing work, splits, total body work. Seriously everything you need to get moving and keep you going. I like the instructor a lot, no dread and fun little 25ish minute workouts. Check out Fe Fit on the web and all of my Fe Fit reviews here.

So while this year was not so exciting or even so successful on the fitness front, I will keep plugging along. 2016 will be stronger & better and 2015 could have been a whole lot worse. Looking forward to new workouts, new fun, & new fitness challenges in the year to come. Until next year!

Visit Me On: 

Lindsey Lu on Instagram

Lindsey Lu on Facebook 

Lindsey Lu on Twitter

I rceived samples of these products to review. I was in no other way compensated for my honest reviews. All thoughts and ideas expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Please see my disclosures page for details. Do not copy, in whole, or in part any portion of any postings on my blog. Do not repost my content on any other site without my explicit consent. All of my postings belong solely to lindsey8.blogspot.com.