Our first client- Lupe Ballesteros :)

Congratulations and thank you to my friend Lupe for taking such a huge step towards living a healthier life by letting Cade and I coach her on the Take Shape for Life weight loss program.

Our first client.  We are excited.

Yesterday we put in her first months order and I am hoping the product will arrive to her and start her by December 1st. 
December 4th.  (-So that Lupe can have one last splurge for her Birthday (December 3rd) ).



YES...starting her in December....are we crazy? :)

 Dear FAMILY, friends & co-workers of Lupe----I give you permission to eat any sort of tempting yummy Christmas goodies that come her way. :)  You are my eyes and my support for her when I can't be there.   She'll do great though!  Updates and progress to come...  And thank you Lupe for letting me talk about you and share your progress.

A little bit about Take Shape for Life... Established by Dr. Andersen ten years ago.  It is the coaching arm of Medifast- which has been a proven weight loss product since 1980- recommended by over 20,000 doctors and tested and used at Johns Hopkins in their weight control and obesity clinic.  TSFL is not a diet but is a way to achieving optimal health.  Compared to all those other diets out there--this is where you will get the best results.  The product costs less, is lower in calories, higher in mineral/vitamins & has a plan in place that will set you up for a successful journey to achieving optimal health.

My Dad lost 60 lbs in 5 months, dropped many of his medications, sleeps better and has felt so great since being on the program one year ago.  Let me know if you want more details.  I can send you an 8 minute video about the program and some more information.
Our email: cadebreanna.tsfl@gmail.com
or
Our website: www.brehansen.tsfl.com

"Short people aint got no reason to live" ...

I JUST WANT TO LOOK MY AGE.  21.  JUST LOOK 21.

I'm not really an emotional shopper, in the past more of an emotional eater...today I switched my beat though.
After being told TOO many times ALL in like the past month...

I look like a teenager,

I "don't look old enough to work at Sam's Club",

over hearing, "Mom, she looked like she was twelve"

or being told from the YW in my branch, "I'm taller than you" (multiple times) / "My mom thinks you look like a teenager".

I came home from the mutual activity tonight, grabbed my credit card, went to the mall and bought two pairs of high heel boots. :)  Next I plan on chopping my hair off..(as soon as I get the guts to make an appointment).  That will age my look and add enough height right?  Hopefully.  Because, "The older I get the more I do not love hearing how young I look" or how short I am..  I mean, who wants to be 40 and still getting 12 year olds putting their hands above your head while repeating, "I'm taller than you"??

  OH NOOOOOOOOO. 

Not saying I don't appreciate a good short joke once in awhile (one that is original, like Randy Newman's Short People song). But when it comes to being confused with teenagers then I am one sad "little person". 

SWEET turn out!

So happy to announce that.....MY PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS turned out AWESOME.  Ok, honestly, they may have not tasted so great had there not been a good amount of chocolate chips in them but I still feel proud of the small changes I made and how they tasted.

My recipe went like this:

Not mine----but looks the same

3 Cups of Flour- (Two cups of whole wheat and One cup of white flour)
2 tspn ground cinnamon
1 tspn salt
1 tspn baking soda
4 eggs
3/4 cup of Agave Natural Sweetner (instead of 2 cups table sugar) YES!
2 cups canned pumpkin
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
And chocolate chips

In a large bowl combine Flour, Cinnamon, Salt and Baking Soda- Mix well
In a second bowl beat eggs, agave, pumpkin and oil.
Stir dry ingredients into the second bowl.  Fold in the chocolate chips.
Basically it.  It's a super easy recipe and we loved them!
Bake at 350 around 30-60 minutes (I don't know, I don't time very well)


Ok, so still not all that healthy for you but I think I made it a bit less unhealthy :) Haha.  If that even made sense.

Lately especially grateful

This week I have just felt grateful.  I am BLESSED.

I am thankful for....

Emma

Eliza and Zach

FAMILY.  Especially this week for a Sister-in-law that calls my husband to get a hold of me to meet her and her kids for lunch when they are passing through Utah to California.  Thanks Jeanette, made my day!

(They are waving to Cade- pictures I sent him from my phone.)  And how did I forget Owen?? :(


For Employment.  I don't love my cashier job but I'm grateful to have it.  Super grateful.


An AMAZING husband who helps me with the dishes.  Seriously...it came to me one night that God really knew what he was doing by leading me to Cade.  I couldn't have been married to someone who never helped me with the dishes.  Hahaha. :)

(Partly sarcastic.  Partly completely serious.)

This morning I did act my age though by doing them myself.  Sometimes I'm a help.

Veterans!  Grateful for the people who sacrafice their life for my freedom.  Grateful for all those who have served especially in my family.  Cade's Dad and my Grandpa.  Thank you!!!

Thanks Emma!

Socks from the Nike Factory.  Oh my favorite socks!  Haha...random.

Nieces that send colored pictures to me in the mail.  So sweet.

Grateful that we are down to about 15 weeks living here.  I will miss some things about Utah though.  For sure. 

& My brother who I can talk about politics with. :)

Dear Santa...

So today I found a cooking show that actually held my attention.  It was "Chef Brad- Fusion Grain Cooking", (I think that's what it was called).  He was AWESOME.  I loved his style of cooking.  He was all about cooking healthy but he understood that sometimes it takes something like a little bit of  Unbleached White Flour  to make foods tasty (edible in my case).

He prepared something I've never heard of.  Amaranth? (As well as Teff..and others).  With the Amaranth he put it in a hot pan and it would pop and then he would set it aside and put it into recipes.  He made Whole grain rolls with Amaranth: Whole wheat flour and added a little bit of white flour for taste.  Of course there was more to it but I don't care to go on.  

I thought the coolest thing he made was rice krispy treats though.  He melted butter and marshmellows in a hot pan and then added dried craisens, nuts, rice krispy's and then the popped amaranth.  Making a seriously unhealthy treat just a little bit better.  I LOVED it.  So then I went to his website and found out the things he was using and am now so disappointed in the price of my wants.  Haha.  The ninja blender I discovered from working at Sam's Club though.

 So...

Dear Santa,
For Christmas I want.....

 

 

Sweetest bread/cookie/whatever mixer I've ever seen.  Only $429.99

BLENDER that actually works (so I've heard)..$59.00-159.00

I don't really know what this is....but it looks sweet!  I think it's a grain flour maker...? $259.95

Convention

Saturday Cade went to a Take Shape for Life Convention here in Utah with my Dad and had a really good time.  I had to work but was happy he went anyways.  He was able to go to lunch after the convention with a small group and a really successful Health Coach, Bryan Drollinger, who held the convention.  And now his fire is fueled and he is ready to help others obtain good health.  It really is exciting.  We hope that we can put ourselves out there and find people to coach.

Message me your email and I can send you an 8 minute video about the program if you (or someone you know) is looking to lose weight and most importantly obtain good health.

Lose weight for the Holidays instead of gaining, seriously!  OR... Keep us in mind when you are making that New Years Resolution to lose weight.

Our email is cadebreanna.tsfl@gmail.com

OR if you want to browse around on our website its www.brehansen.tsfl.com

 Look!  Here are my before and after pictures (haha) from when I was on the program.

 Before...am I really posting this picture?

And 7-10 lbs lighter later.  My After.

I still look like a dork but maybe you get the idea.   7-10 lbs lost in 2 weeks.  In a HEALTHY way.

Dad BEFORE

Dad AFTER

Of course, in case of confusion, I should mention Take Shape for Life is the reason I started making healthier choices BUT is NOT the reason Cade and I have been trying to eat more organic foods and such.  That part of our eating habbits was inspired by The Green Smoothie Girl and book by Elder Widtsoe.  So if a person gets on the TSFL weight loss program and after they have made it to their goal weight and begin introducing more foods to their diet, they will not be expected to eat only whole wheat flour, only organic foods..etc.  TSFL is so much easier than trying to take on the extreme whole foods diet we've been trying (or TRIED).  With that said, TSFL is a good start if you want to eventually eat more organic foods and less processed foods.