Crockpot BBQ Apple Pork Tenderloin

I am obsessed with finding new healthy crockpot meals! My goal is to make dinner in the crockpot at least once a week, ideally twice. I mean, how awesome is it to come home from work and have dinner ready? It is so much better than stopping to pick something up, or having to slave in the kitchen for an hour when I am already hungry and exhausted.

I adapted this recipe from one I saw on Pintrest, and it was so simple and delicious that I couldn't help but share! There are literally 4 ingredients. That's it! You can't get much easier than that, right? Plus, it's pretty versatile, so you could easily change it up a little bit to make different variations.

Here are the ingredients:

1 pound pork tenderloin (you could use turkey or beef tenderloin if you don't eat pork)
1 cup unsweetened applesauce (chunky is best, but not necessary)
1 cup BBQ sauce
1/4 cup minced onion

It was really eye opening to find a BBQ sauce that was anything I could consider adding to a clean recipe. Almost every single bottle in the store had high fructose corn syrup, and usually as the first ingredient! Some of them had more than 20 ingredients that I did not recognize, and many topped off at more than 20 grams of sugar per serving! I did end up finding a good choice though, with all natural ingredients that I recognized and only 6 grams of sugar per serving. Just check your labels carefully and choose wisely. Or, you could choose to make your own BBQ sauce. Simply google "homemade BBQ sauce" and a ton of recipes come up. For my purposes, I was trying to make a super fast meal that could be thrown into the crock pot in 5 minutes on a weekday morning, so I wanted to use bottled.

To make this, you literally just have to place the pork tenderloin, silver skin removed, on the bottom of the slow cooker.

Mix the applesauce and BBQ sauce together and pour evenly over the pork. Top with minced onion. Cook on high for 6 hours. When done, the meat should easily shred with two forks. Stir the shredded pork with the sauce and let it sit in the crock pot for about 5 more minutes, to make sure that all of the meat has been soaked with the sauce.

I served the meat on top of a piece of whole wheat toast with a spinach and raspberry side salad, but it would be great as a shredded pork sandwich on a bun, or on top of rice, or even wrapped up in lettuce! There are tons of options.

Hope you enjoy!

P90X3 Progress Update: Week 4

Woo Hoo! I have officially finished three weeks of P90X3! Today I began my week 4, which is a transition week from Block 1 to Block 2. What does that mean? I'll explain.

First of all, if you are unfamiliar with P90X3, it is a brand new DVD workout system designed to sculpt your body, get you lean and strong in 90 days through 16 different 30 minute workouts. Most of you have probably heard of it's predecessor, P90X, or the follow-up program P90X2.  This newer version is NOT a graduate program, so no worries if you haven't ever done the first two. As a matter of fact, I never did them either.  But regardless of whether or not you have already done P90X, this program can be a great option for you. 

To be honest, I was pretty intimidated by P90X, because I thought that it would be too hard for me. Granted, I've been working out regularly since last March, so I am in pretty good shape, but I was still not interested in P90X. The workouts are almost all at least an hour long, and with my super busy schedule between two jobs and two kids, I just don't have that kind of time!

That's where P90X3 came along. Oh, hello 30 minute workouts! I am all about quick workouts, and the thing that honestly intrigued me the most about the program was that it includes 16 different workouts-- everything from martial arts to yoga to cardio. I decided to give it a try, and I am SO glad I did! It's all based on the science which shows that the most effective part of your workout happens in the first 30 minutes. Tony Horton brought the "muscle confusion" science he is famous for to this accelerated version to make what may be perhaps the perfect workout program!

The P90X3 program comes with a few different schedule options, depending on your goals. They are:

Classic

For total body fitness, Classic the the program of choice. Its traditional balance of cardio and resistance, along with the standard Muscle Confusing perks associated with the P90X system, will help you gain muscle, lose fat, and move better than you have since you were a kid.

Lean

The Lean rotation is designed for those who prefer a more toned look. It’s not necessarily better for weight loss. Both Lean and Classic can work equally well. But instead of muscular hypertrophy you’ll target functionality, mobility, and cardiovascular fitness. You’ll still gain some muscle, you’ll still lose fat, and you’ll still get strong; you’ll just stay lean.

Mass

For those looking to bulk over getting ripped, Mass is your schedule. Because it’s not the goal of most people using P90X3, it requires a little more information then other plans. First off, you’ll have to eat. A lot. Gaining muscle takes calories, probably more than you’re used to. You can use the P90X3 nutrition guide. You’ll just be calculating for gain instead of loss. It’s also important that you do the resistance workouts with some forethought. You want to stay in the hypertrophy ( or muscle growth) range during as many resistance sets as possible. Depending on how fast you go, 6 to 15 reps is what you’re after during each set, with the goal of maximizing time under tension. For best results, you should slow each rep down, focus on form, use all the weight you can safely handle, and minimize the rest between sets.

Doubles

Doubles is another niche rotation. It wont be appropriate for all of you, and everyone interested should complete 90 days of P90X3 first. More is not necessarily merrier when it comes to exercise. Without a proper base, Doubles will break you down beyond your body’s ability to recover. With that warning, it can help to accelerate both fitness gains and weight loss for those who are ready for it.

So for me personally, I have decided to follow the Lean Schedule, since that is my ultimate goal is to lean out and tone up (plus I'm not a big fan of pull-ups, and the lean schedule doesn't really have any). Each schedule is broken up into 3 blocks, each consisting of a 3 week repeating rotation of 6 workouts followed by a transition week. What I love about this setup is how much variation it creates! Just as soon as you begin to become bored of a workout, the schedule changes and mixes it up! Plus, your body never plateaus because it is always being challenged in new ways. 

The past three weeks were Block 1 of the Lean Schedule for me, which looked like this: 

Monday: Accelerator-- By engaging both the aerobic and anaerobic pathways, Accelerator increases cardiovascular and muscular efficiency, resulting in more bang for your fat-burning buck. You achieve this by exercising at two different speeds, each targeting specific energy systems.  This unique combination eliminates downtime associated with power-based workouts, while maximizing the consistency of traditional aerobic workouts. This is your go-to cardio workout, and it will have you sweating.

Tuesday: The Warrior-- A total body workout, free of equipment, based on Tony's 10+ years of working with the U.S. Armed Forces. You'll circuit upper and lower-body resistance with core and cardio work, essentially touching on every area of fitness in one workout--- and it's all been honed into an uber intense 30 minute blast. When you need a one-size-fits-all workout that can be done anytime, anywhere, this is your drill. This is honestly the best total body workout I've ever done. 

Wednesday: X3 Yoga-- This flow style practice takes elements from Ashtanga, Hatha and others, and is perfect for filing the gaps in your fitness that other workouts cannot address. It is a perfect 30 minute routine, providing strength, balance, stamina, body awareness and flexibility.  I've never really done yoga, so this is very new for me. It's tough, and I have lots of room for improvement in both balance and flexibility, but I love it!

"The Crow"

Thursday: CVX-- My favorite of the workouts so far, CVX combines resistance with intervals in order to increase the impact across every energy system.  You'll stress everything fro power and anaerobic endurance to aerobic endurance.  You'll also strengthen your core. CVX uses weights and cardio to provide a full-body burn.

Friday: Isometrix-- combines isometric contraction with instability to make your core rock solid.  This is basically the hardest part of yoga, and you hold static movements for 45 seconds each.  Isometric contractions occur when the muscle neither shortens nor lengthens and the joint angle does not change, building static strength.  This workout requires the least amount of movement, yet is the hardest for me. I am totally sore the next day.

Saturday: Agility X-- A full-body workout that requires floor targets (made by placing two strips of tape on the floor marked by X's) to dictate movements, Agility X uses both aerobic and anaerobic energy, focusing on precision, power, flexibility and strength.  As opposed to traditional cardio workouts, these targeted movements force explosion, deceleration, and proprioceptive adaptations, the sum result being an increased ability to move effortlessly for extended periods of time. This one involves a lot of jumping and running, and is a sweat inducing workout for sure!

Sunday: Rest day or Dynamix-- Dynamix is a stretching routine designed to use your muscles, connective tissue and joint function in symbiotic actions to actively increase range of motion, flexibility and stabilization. 

I have to say, I'm honestly really floored by the results of only 3 weeks. Prior to doing P90X3, I had just finished up Focus T25, which is very plyometric and cardio-heavy. This is a very different style of workout, and for me, I think it is really helping me lean out and achieve significant muscle definition. For the first time in my life, I have core muscles that are the beginning of a six-pack?! I mean, what?! Seriously?! 

Honestly, I'm amazed, because there hasn't been a single crunch involved in this past 3 weeks, and I haven't added any additional exercises to my routine outside of P90X3. I can't believe how much my stomach has changed!

I have also lost 2 pounds. That may not sound like a lot, but for me, it's huge. I don't need to lose a whole lot more weight, so it's those "last 5 pounds" that are the hardest. Despite eating clean and working out 6 days a week for a long time, I've pretty much been at a stable weight for the past few months. To all of a sudden see a couple of pounds fall off is a big sign that this program is really working for me.

Of course, in addition to the workouts, I have been sticking to my clean eating plan. As you probably know, I always create a meal plan on Sundays and for the most part stick to it pretty religiously throughout the week. Here was last week's plan:

And as always, I drink my Shakeology every single day. I swear by it, and honestly believe that not only does my shake accelerate my results, but it helps me have the energy for my workouts and ensures that I get all of my daily nutrition. Plus I just really love it :)

I never took a real "before" picture, but I'll be taking progress pics from here on out. Check back next week to see how the transition week goes-- it's my first time trying out Pilates X! I'm excited!