Hi, friends! I have a lot coming at you in this current faves post today. 🙂

How was your week? I hope you and your loved ones are safe, healthy and well.

Week six of quarantine went okay for us. I kept busy with the usual: working, Brady, home workouts, walks, laundry, and several conference calls for Beautycounter and for a new fitness project I’m working on. The big news of the week is that we got a Peloton bike delivered, and I’m very excited to share more about it as I use it. I’m already a fan after a couple days into it, so I can tell you that.

Now let’s get to the faves …

Current faves

Food

Daily Harvest now offers flatbreads, and they are delish

The best lunches I’ve had in a while have come thanks to the new Daily Harvest flatbreads. The company just debuted these, and you can get them on the site now for delivery almost anywhere in the U.S. (yay for frozen food deliveries during our time of need).

To make the flatbread: All you do is preheat your oven to 450, then pop in the flatbread straight from the freezer, and let it cook for about 20 minutes. I’ve been adding an egg to the flatbread for a little additional protein, but one flatbread could suffice as a decent lunch — and it’s purely veggies.

One flatbread is around 400 calories.

Here are the three flavors. I’ve tried them all, and they are all really tasty — no complaints:

• Artichoke and spinach
• Kale and coriander on sweet potato crust (definitely my favorite flavor)
• Tomato and cremini 

They are made from quality veggies (mostly organic), are gluten free, super tasty and anti-inflammatory too. It’s sort’ve like eating a high-quality salad in flatbread form.

I wrote more about my thoughts on Daily Harvest in this post, so check back if you want a review before ordering.

In the post, I even tell you my favorite smoothies, harvest bowls and snacks that you can add to your delivery, in addition to these new flatbreads — because there’s more than 80 items to choose from.

Here’s how I’ve been eating my flatbreads …

PROMO CODE: If you want to try Daily Harvest for yourself, you can get $25 off your first box using the code ALADYGOESWEST. Get started here.

Beauty

New Beautycounter All Bright Vitamin C serum

New product alert! Yes!

I was lucky enough to get a bottle of Beautycounter’s new All Bright Vitamin C Serum before it launched, and I’m in love.

It comes in a cute yellow environmentally friendly bottle, and it has turmeric and camu camu (a superfruit) in it, so it smells amazing — in addition to boasting a 10 percent blend of two kinds of super-potable vitamin C.

Here’s what else you should know about this new product …

• It’s a daytime treatment, suitable for all skin types (you put it on under makeup or alone)
• Brightens skin instantly
• Reduces dark spots
• Protects skin from environmental stressors (YES!)
• Reveals youthful and glowing skin
• Has tons of antioxidants to slow down aging of cells
• Is totally safe for both pregnant and breastfeeding moms

I literally loved it from the moment I put it on my face. It gives you an instant glow, and I swear my skin looked improved after only a few uses. This is something that everyone could benefit from.

It pairs really well with the Overnight Resurfacing Peel, which is a night-time treatment.

Check out the All Bright C Serum right here, and let me know if you have any questions!

Fitness

My review of LEKFIT, based on taking two classes

I tried something new.

Last week, I did a 7-day free trial of LEKFIT streaming classes. I heard about the LEKFIT Method from some ladies in my Instagram community. After doing a little research, I was intrigued. LEKFIT is named after its creator, a former dancer, Lauren E. Kleban, and she has a studio in Southern California.

LEKFIT offers three classes, and I tried two of the formats: Hype and Define. The signature class is Boost, but you need a rebounder (mini trampoline) for that, so I skipped it.

The workouts I did required a mat, small hand-weights and ankle weights. I didn’t think we had ankle weights, but Dave told me (after I ended the 7-day trial), that we actually had some in the garage. However, I will say, I felt all the moves without the ankle weights.

There were some very unique moves that worked the hips on all fours, so I definitely enjoyed trying these new moves. I also enjoyed feeling like a beginner as I tried out something completely different from what I’m used to.

A few other things to note about the two workouts I tried:

Tons of repetition. Great music. Very little instruction.

In fact, I posted an Instagram story saying that I tried the class and didn’t think there was much coaching, and the LEKFIT people shared my story and said that they do minimal coaching, so people can get in the zone and feel the music — they do it that way on purpose. I guess I understand that.

But I think the class was taught with regulars in mind, and I always think people feel more successful with a little more help getting into moves.

Pros:

Great music. Lots of hip work. Cult-like vibe.

In the Hype class, which is a cardio and sculpting class, we did a lot of skipping, jumping jacks and running in place — with a tid bit of a dance feel. And the cardio part was easy to follow. I did feel like I could see this being a total blast in a sweaty and busy studio environment, with the beat pumping. Alone in my living room … it was marginally fun.

Cons:

Minimal coaching. Minimal set-up. Minimal cueing. Minimal functional compound movements.

Lauren (the founder, and the one who taught the streaming classes), uses a clap or an “Up” to notate when it’s time to switch moves. That’s it. I’m like … where’s the cue? But I guess that’s the vibe they are going for.

In the Define class, we stayed on the floor nearly the entire time, except for some standing arm work, and it was full of repetition and was fairly easy to follow. However, we didn’t do very much functional work. It was mostly on all fours lifting the legs or little single-arm bicep curls in a standing position. You did get a chance to burn out the hips, but we did so much repetition of the same move, it got a little boring. 

I wanted more movement in bigger ways, I guess.

Overall:

I wish I had been able to try the Boost class with the rebounder, because I’m guessing that one is the best and is the big selling point of the method. Why? Because working out on rebounders is low impact, improves digestion and is great for drainage too. And it’s something I’d like to experience.

Overall, I think there is an audience for every type of workout. And I can see why people love the LEKFIT Method. However, it’s not for me. With the time I have available to exercise, I want to get more coaching from instructors, do more functional moves that work more muscle groups at the same time and feel like I know the purpose to everything I’m doing. I didn’t totally get that from the two classes I tried. So there you go.

Weekly workout recap

Here’s how I got moving last week …

• Monday: 2-mile run, 6 p.m.
• Tuesday: 30-minute GRIT Strength via Les Mills On Demand, 10 a.m., 2-mile run, 6 p.m.
• Wednesday: 50-minute LEKFIT Define workout, 10 a.m., 2-mile run, 6 p.m.
• Thursday: 2-mile run, 6 p.m.
• Friday: 30-minute GRIT Strength via Les Mills On Demand, 11 a.m., 2-mile run, 6:30 p.m.
• Saturday: 50-minute LEKFIT Hype workout, 10 a.m
• Sunday: Rest day

This week I set a goal to run 2 miles every evening to switch up my routine, and I did it. It was cool weather, and I looked forward to my little run every single night. I also did heavy-ish weights twice with Les Mills GRIT and tried out two LEKFIT workouts. I would say my goal to do new things was certainly reached this week. Yay!

Best reads

A few things from around the web …

• Quarantine 15. It’s totally normal to gain a little weight during a national pandemic. And you know what? Don’t worry about the scale. Worry about how you FEEL. This is a short and sweet piece on how to mentally deal with the quarantine 15.
• Life advice from great women. This is motivational article with tips from powerful women on how to move forward in life. Lots of great tidbits in this one.
• Virtual class tips. I don’t know if any of you are filming workouts or other things right now, but this short how-to video from Les Mills is helpful for the best ways to film yourself.

And here’s the quote of the week from the Calm app, which I use to do my daily morning meditations …

A Lady Goes West favorite archives …

• Skin health. I hope you got some useful info from this post … “How to improve the health of your skin.”

• Back on track. I almost forgot about this post until someone shared it on Twitter the other day. It sure is valid right now … “How to get back on track after a break from your healthy routine.”

Thanks for reading the blog today, my friends! I’ll see you over on Instagram! xoxo

Questions of the day

What was something good that happened in your week?

What are you up to this weekend?

What’s one way that you moved your body this week, official workout or unofficial?