Deidra Mangus

I cannot believe time has past this quick and I can say I am marrying this man in less than 2 weeks!! Like next weekend!! EEEEK!!! I am so excited!!! I feel like in the past year… well, past 6 months, my life changed dramatically!!!

If you have been reading my posts and following me, less than 6 months ago is when I first met my fiancé Brent! We met on a dating website Christian Mingle, and he was actually the first real conversation I even had!!!! I never in a MILLION years thought I would allow myself to find a man on a dating site… I’m being honest, I thought only creeps were on there!! Haha!! But then I decided to listen to my pastor’s wife who told me to “give it a shot”! I found myself on it (and I’m not a creep!) and finding this amazing Christian man who had EVERY quality I wanted in a man that I wrote down in my journal (except living close to me, but I somehow didn’t even write that down)!

We FaceTimed EVERY single day since the first day we started talking! So it’s kind of like spending time together right?! I mean, you gotta love social media and technology! It really does amazing things!

We have been able to see each other once a month since we first met, 2 times a month a couple times!! And got engaged on Christmas Eve (4 months after we started talking), and here we are getting ready to married within 6 months! You may call us crazy, we just know what we want! You learn a lot from a first marriage! Hehe!

Ok, so I have been tracking our journey of what we are doing to prep in 5-6 weeks for our wedding!! Now, we are having a smaller wedding (our first wedding of 300 people didn’t work for either of us, so we’re changing it up lol), but planning is still lots of fun!!

We got our venue at a Theatre right in town, our Caterer to make my life easy with food, A photographer to capture memories with us on our special day with our families, A DJ to spice things up (we LOVE music), and our very close family and friends will be joining us to make our day even more special!!  I will say, I have not officially met Brent’s family yet!! Only on face time!! So I am so so excited for that!!! Our kids (Brent’s 3 kids and my 2 kids) have only been physically together one time, but they Face time on a regular basis, so we will come together like we’ve known each other a lot longer!

This week, I am just finalizing a few things! Last Marriage counseling, talking with caterer, flower lady (is that what you call the people who set up flowers lol?), DJ, confirming my makeup artist to make me pretty!!

Oh, I did also find what we are doing for our Unity piece for the wedding ceremony! You know how they have unity candles, sand, etc?? Well, after some thinking and talking, we decided to go about using a Unity Knot!!! It just came in the mail yesterday and was hand made! It is AMAZING!!!! Here is a sneak peek!!! We got it made from a couple on Etsy.com who did a wonderful job- SoZoeyBotique 

Ok. So we are caught up with the actual wedding prep, now it’s time for our fitness journey! Brent and I are still doing Core De Force, which is our home fitness program with Beachbody (we are both fitness coaches, so we like to follow the programs), but also Brent sees squirrels, so he is going to the gym, playing volleyball, basketball, and whatever else he can find to do! I can’t keep track of him sometimes lol!

This is my meal plan for the week! It isn’t Brent’s because I can’t toss his food to Maine for him, but here is what I am doing! I prepped Sunday after grocery shopping and got everything set and ready so I don’t have to cook during the week!! This saves me time, money, and confusion! Nutrition is so key to your results, so this is one thing I do make time for!

My grocery list looks like this:

Lean Protein:

• 99% Lean ground turkey (for meatballs)
• 96% lean ground beef (for meatballs)
• Chicken (lots of it)
• Salmon
• Eggs and egg whites (I get both) ) For snack 1 and protein pancakes)
• Shakeology– my superfood health shake that is so easy and convenient for me to get in, especially when I’m busy (comes to my door every month, so it’s one less thing to get at the grocery store)!
• Mozzarella cheese (2% shredded) for english muffin pizzas

Carbs:

• Oatmeal (quick oats) (for breakfast and turkey meatballs- use instead of bread crumbs to keep meat together)
• Sweet potatoes
• Red potatoes ( I do steam fresh)
• Rice cakes (I do lightly salted)
• Ezekiel bread/Sprouted bread (I get at Aldi or in organic frozen section at grocery store)
• Whole wheat english muffins (for English muffin pizzas

Veggies:

• Colored Peppers (for veggies and hummus)
• Cucumbers ( for cucumber tomato salad)
• Onion (for salad, meatballs)
• Asparagus (you can do fresh or frozen, I just prefer fresh on this veggie)
• Spinach (for salad and green protein pancakes)
• Steam Fresh peas/carrots/bean mixture (for cauliflower rice)
• Cauliflower (fresh head)
• Mushrooms (for asparagus and if you want on english muffin pizzas)

Fruit:

• Tomatoes (for cucumber and tomato salad)
• Strawberries (for Salad)
• Blackberries (for fresh fruit bowl)
• Raspberries (for fresh fruit bowl)

Healthy fats:

• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Natural Peanut butter (I do Jiff)
• Hummus (veggies and hummus)
• Walnuts (for Strawberry salad)

Extras:

• Tomato sauce (organic and low sodium) (for Meatballs and english muffin pizzas)
• Bragg Liquid Amino’s (soy sauce healthy alternative- found in organic section at local grocery store)
• Green Tea
• Raspberry Vinaigrette dressing (for salad- I get at Aldi)
• Soy free, nut free, dairy free chocolate chips (brand ENJOY- in organic section at grocery store) for protein pancakes

Ok, so there you have it!! I broke everything down for you!! I hope this helps!!!

I am excited to be on my own fitness journey, but also help you along the way!! If you are looking for more support, motivation, healthy tips and recipes to keep or start your healthy lifestyle, apply below to be considered in my next fitness support/challenge group!

*This is for non- Beachbody coaches or people who are not working with a Beachbody coach please!!

Thanks for reading and catch up with all soon!!!! Stay tuned for the final week and our BIG celebration of getting married!