June Luciano Core Fitness

Lovely evening with Orangetheory Fitness Jensen Beach friends/family supporting Council on Aging of Martin County, Inc. at the Kane Center. Orangetheory was the top fundraiser for this event, helping to provide Meals on Wheels for our community. 🧡

Proud to be part of this incredible team!

Such a great time racing with .stonee at the Keith Nintzel Memorial 5k! Girl was on 🔥!

Pineapple 🍍 5k! It was a 🔥 one, but so much fun! Who knew Florida had so many hills! Great day with !

So excited to have been chosen for the cast of this amazing show!

Road food, it’s never pretty. So what to order when you’re driving for hours and there’s not a truly healthy choice in sight? You do the best you can.
The main thing is to try to stick to your “protein first” goals. Eating a bunch of fried food and French fries is not going to help you feel good. Your body is used to eating clean, and this will just throw your system way off.
I, myself, was faced with this today. My husband and I are on the way from Florida to Chattanooga, TN, where he will be competing in his Ironman 70.3 race this Sunday. We were hungry. There was nothing around but a BJ’s Brewhouse. The name alone tells you it’s not gonna be easy!
So this is what we chose. Not the prettiest picture, but we shared a 6 oz sirloin and a grilled chicken breast with asparagus and a salad as a side. Unfortunately, the asparagus was inedible as it was so laden with salt. The salad was okay but way too much dressing. Fortunately, the meats were decent, so that filled us up. Lessons learned …. ask for no salt and dressing on the side.
Was it a spectacular meal? No. But we did get a good amount of protein in, and we’re not hungry.
Sometimes all you can do is the best you can. Tomorrow we’ll be at our Vrbo rental and will be able to prepare our own foods.
I know this is a situation we all face, and thought this might help some of you navigate how to handle travel. 😊
Oh, and that sugar filled bbq sauce you see was left untouched!

Let’s Talk Protein Part 2

In my last post, I promised to tell you how I easily hit my protein goal of 140g/day. Remember, this goal will be different for each of you. It’s based on consuming 1g of protein per pound of IDEAL body weight. For me, I eat slightly above my ideal weight as I’m so active.

So, here goes …

Breakfast -
- I cup coffee w/2 Tbsp Nut Pods Almond Coconut Creamer
- 2 Large eggs
- 2 slices uncured Canadian bacon
- 1/2 c Sprout’s cottage cheese
- Creatine Monohydrate 5000 mg
- Mixed berries
Calories 331, Protein 31.2G

Lunch -
- Sprout’s Just Chicken 5 oz
- 2 c red leaf lettuce
- Handful of dinosaur kale
- 6 grape tomatoes
- 1/2 c steamed broccoli
- 1/2 Hass avocado
- Herb de Provence Vinaigrette
- 1/4 c chick peas
- 1 Tbsp sunflower seeds
Calories 590, Protein 53.9g

Snack -
- Stonyfield Farms Organic 100% grass fed plain Greek yogurt 1 cup
- 1 Tbsp ground flax seeds Calories
- 1 Tbsp Chia seeds
- Mixed berries
Calories 291, Protein 23.6g

Dinner -
- 5 oz 100% grass fed beef
- 10 Asparagus spears
Calories 350, Protein 30.2G

Total for day …
1562 Calories
139g Protein!

If I needed more protein, I could easily add a protein shake (photo attached of the one I recommend), for an additional 130 calories and 24g of protein.

This is just one example, but the proteins used are interchangeable. Be it chicken, beef, bison, fish or plant based protein sources, the point is to just prioritize that in your diet.

I’m here to answer any questions and would love to hear if this sounds like something you’d like to try.

Have a wonderful, active weekend!

Let’s Talk Protein!

With so much buzz out there about protein, surely many are wondering why it’s such a big deal. I thought I’d give some clarity to that and also to how much we should be consuming each day.

My own weight loss journey had a lot to do with understanding my protein needs and making that top priority. I had been doing all the training … strength training 4-5x/week, running several times per week, bike riding, etc. As a personal trainer, I was always on my feet … not exactly a sedentary career! Getting 15k steps a day was just a normal day at the office. With all this, why was I not losing the 20 lbs I had put on during menopause? Well, the old saying is true, you cannot out-train a bad diet. Not that my diet was “bad,” I just did not focus on protein the way I do now.

I started tracking my food intake and realized I was taking in far too little protein. That’s why I was always hungry and mindlessly snacking throughout the day.

Protein increases satiety, boosts metabolism, and helps preserve muscle mass. A high protein diet can give you a feeling of fullness much longer and help reduce calorie intake, which in turn leads to weight loss. It also takes more energy to digest, leading to additional caloric burn!

The most common question I get from clients interested in revamping their eating habits is HOW MUCH PROTEIN? When I tell them the answer, 1g per lb of IDEAL body weight, they often can’t imagine how to get in that much.

Let’s look at that amount more closely. If you currently weigh 170 lbs, but your goal/ideal body weight is 140 lbs, you would need to consume 140g of protein each day. If you’re an athlete, possibly even a bit more.

So how do we get that much protein in our diets? I’m living proof that it isn’t that difficult at all.

Tomorrow I am going to post here a complete day’s intake and how I get about 140g of protein in my diet each day. When you’re consuming the correct amount of protein, you will not be hungry and tempted to snack on less than healthy foods.

Back with more tomorrow!! 🥩 🍣 🍗