Breakthrough!

Hello people :)

I am so thrilled to be blogging at you today! It's been 3 days of my allergen free eating (corn, wheat, gluten, eggs, dairy, soy and high oil/fat things such as peanut butter and olive oil) and I am feeling better and better by the minute. No uncomfortable stomach pains or poor digestion. No acid reflux. It is so great!

I have also had somewhat of a breakthrough.. I have been researching this whole faulty gallbladder situation. The gallbladder is what breaks down fat. Since mine wasn't/doesn't function properly, fat that I obtain through diet hasn't been broken down correctly. In turn, it's actually getting stored in my muscle and other tissues. Hence why no matter how much I'm working out or counting grams or calories, I can't drop weight.

Today, for the first time, my leg muscles (that I worked out yesterday with Tom & Nolan) felt sore. Not that they aren't normally sore but this was an entirely different type of sore. They were sore deep into the muscle tissue. I can feel a difference in how my muscles are preforming and tearing (the good way, that they should). I'm really excited about this development.

Don't mistake the way I am eating as fat free, that is very much not the case. I am still getting fats through nuts, seeds, etc. Just not from oils, butters, soy or dairy. Many people are asking, "What do you eat..?"

Well I'll breakdown how yesterday panned out;

Breakfast- oatmeal cooked in banana pureed with almond milk, cinnamon and dried cranberries

Snack- cubed melon

Lunch- turkey and spinach sandwich on GF bread with sliced strawberries

Snack- rice crisps, hummus and grape tomatoes

Late snack- sauteed spinach and mushrooms and a rice cake (normally I don't do two snacks but mom was lolly gagging and our time to meet for dinner got pushed back)

Dinner- Chipotle with brown rice, black beans, chicken, fajita veggies, tomatoes, green salsa, guacamole and lettuce

Late night snack- Oats, pb2, almond milk and a tbsp of granola.

I felt completely satisfied. My mom said that my skin is looking clearer and that my eyes appeared brighter. I'm not sure if it had to do with what I was wearing, how I did my makeup, the fact the sun was shining or if my body is detoxing and maybe things are actually starting to lighten up? Who knows, I won't complain though! :)

Today I premade lots of goodies for the week ahead. Chicken, brown rice, jasmine rice, sauteed peppers and mushrooms, vegetable soup, sweet potato wedges, balsamic mushroom and chicken sausage and Mexican black beans. I made things that I could easily throw together in to meals. With my schedule I don't have the time to come home after work and spend an hour cooking, no sir-e. I had some of the the balsamic mushrooms and chicken sausage for lunch today over brown rice. It was delish!

Balsamic Mushroom & Sweet Apple Chicken Sausage

1/2 cup cooked brown rice
1 Sweet Apple Chicken Sausage from Trader Joe's
1 Cup sliced mushrooms
1 clove garlic, chopped
handful of spinach
1 Tbsp dried cranberries
1 Tbsp lite balsamic salad dressing
dash of cinnamon

Put everything (except rice) in a skillet and cook for approx 10 minutes. Stir throughout the 10 minutes. Serve over the brown rice.

Well I am off to do other Sunday shenanigans ie laundry, schoolwork and cleaning. Au revoir :)

A Fasted Run?

You mean a fast run right? Nope. Fasted. I had heard of fasted runs a couple of times and at first didn't realize what they really were. Its when you get up and go run on a completely empty stomach. No breakfast (those two words should never be used conjoined in a sentence in any other circumstance, mind you). The purpose of this is to dip into your fat stores during the cardio exercise rather than using the food that you've fueled your body with.

After I tried the fasted run the first time, I was STARVING. I certainly wouldn't recommend trying this before a marathon or anything but maybe before a couple mile run. The second time I tried this I was on my way to the gym and ended up having to eat a LUNA bar. My body is just so used to breakfast that it doesn't do well at a certain point in the morning when it hasn't received any. Moral of the story; Listen to your body. If you can go without eating breakfast, go ahead and do it. What've you got to lose? But if you can't focus because you are just so hungry, eat breakfast, The end.

The adventures of finding good allergen free food are still going. I project a lot of Indian dishes in the near future. And possibly Mexican. I cleaned out my cabinets and fridge last night. Goodbye fro-yo, peanut butter, popcorn, bliss.. just kidding. I shall still be blissful :) I replaced all of the foods I got rid of with lots of beans, rice, vegetables (nothing more crazy than what I already get) and fruit. I feel like I'm going to OD on carbohydrates though. Oats for breakfast since I can't have eggs or protein powder. Rice and beans or sandwiches for lunch and dinner. Thank goodness I can still have meat. I never thought I would say that since I'm not a huge carnivore but alas, when all other things are gone I will turn to meat. My only hope for high protein with all this carbage going on.

Since I skipped WIAW this week I guess I can substitute with a WIAF(riday). That was the first fully successful day of my new eating regimen.

Breakfast:
Carrot Cake LUNA bar

Morning snack:
Apple

Lunch:
Chicken soup with brown rice

Early afternoon snack:
Raw string beans & a navel orange

Late afternoon snack:
Red garnet sweet potato wedges

Dinner:
Turkey & avocado sandwich and steamed veggies from Jason's Deli

Late night snack:
oatmeal with craisins, cinnamon and flax seed meal

It looks like I ate that of what a rabbit does yesterday.. well I did. But I felt satisfied. All of those foods were real and full of nutrients that didn't leave me feeling starved or deprived. Time to get my thinking cap on and see what creative things I can get to cooking this week.

I know one dish will be a yellow curry. I went to this restaurant in the Short North called Basil and it was amazing! It is Thai food. I hadn't really gone out for Thai food before, which is why we chose this place. That and because they are allergen friendly :) I got a yellow curry with sweet potato chunks, peas and carrots in it. I think it may be one of my new favorite things on this planet. That right there gives me hope an lets me know there is still good food to be had. So, I went to the lovely Trader Joe's and got a yellow curry sauce to play around with. Wish me luck! Ill be using mom as my guinea pig with it tonight.. muahaha.

I'm off to work now and then to train with Tom after :) Happy Saturday! Yay for the weekend!

Bad News Bears

Well instead of the usual WIAW, I am mixing up the post on Wednesday this week. I spent most of the day with a stomach ache. These have been frequent lately so I've been in contact with a specialist so I can try to get my digestive system up and working the way it should.

Turns out I have a bit of a gallbladder issue. It doesn't seem to be functioning properly. Things that can trigger this are foods normally found on an allergen label; wheat, peanuts, milk/dairy, eggs, soy and eggs. So you know what that means? Take a guess. It means I need to cut ALL of those things out of my diet.

I was really bummed upon hearing this. But the more I think about it, the more anxious I am to see if this helps. I can't wait to just feel good. Not have to worry about my stomach being inflamed or swollen. Not have to deal with painful digestion.
Thank goodness I like to cook is all I've gotta say. I am going to have to get creative. I'm seeing a lot of rice, quinoa, beans, and lentils in my near future. I'm definitely going to have to premake meals. No more grabbing a yogurt on the way out the door. Or protein shakes. Or edamame for snacks.

I'm going to have to take some serious one on one time with my cabinets and fridge this weekend and clean them out.

I must admit, I was very sad to realize that I would no longer be able to have ice cream. So, Bayli and I made one last trip to UDF so I could indulge in 2 scoops of peanut butter chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. It was delicious. It doesn't taste as good as I'm hoping to feel again though. And through the first couple weeks of that I will just have to remind myself that no matter how good something tastes, I just want to feel good again and it'll all be worth it.

Troublesome Tuesday

Well I woke up today.. half heartedly.. and put on my gym clothes. Grabbed a clif bar and hit the road. I. Felt. Miserable. I made it to the gym and instantly wondered why I was about to do this to my body. My body didn't want to work out. It wanted sleep. In mass amounts at that. I basically just coasted on an elliptical for about 20 minutes and decided to stop being cruel to myself. I hit the showers and made my way in to work. I just kept feeling worse and worse until eventually I thought I was going to fall asleep right at my desk. At that point I ended up going home.

Once I got home I slept for 4.5 hours. It was glorious! I am normally a terrible nap taker but today it was just so right. After the nap I got up and felt a bit better. I grabbed my school book and made my way to the gym to climb some mad stairs and learn about metabolism. I found this chapter to be one of the most fascinating so far. Ironically, it is also the shortest chapter I have come across so far.. no coincidence there. No, but really, it was interesting to figure out what stores your body retains energy from and what it prefers to use.

I got home and had some din. Then Lauren and I walked to Rita's to get Italian ice with the pup. The cold felt miraculous on my throat. I got chocolate chip cookie dough flavored ice with vanilla custard. Mmmmmm :)

To finish off the night I decided I needed to get my bake on. Again. I've been all about it recently. I forgot that it calms me. The idea sparked when I looked at these two, beautiful, ripe bananas that the wonderful Tom brought me today. He likes his bananas more on the green side so these were just going to go to waste at his house. I put on a little Mat Kearney and got lost in my bliss. I made banana bread muffins. Which is just individual servings of banana bread, portion control at its finest. If I don't do this I will sit down and eat a whole loaf because it's just so darn good. So moist. So delicious. Especially when slightly warm <3

Here's the recipe;

Ingredients:1 cup raw sugar
1 tablespoon butter (regular or nondairy)
1 cup mashed overripe bananas (2 or 3)
1 egg
1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
1 cup oat flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
2. Line a muffin tin (be sure to spray the liners with cooking spray) and divide the batter evenly. Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown and firm to the touch.
3. Allow to cool and then serve. Save extras in an air tight container :)

Today started out a little rough but shaped up to be a pretty solid day. I'm off tomorrow so hopefully I will fully catch up on my rest. I'm getting my hairs cut and hanging with Bayli too :) Yeeee. Happy thoughts y'all, adios!

In Sickness & In Health

Last week Lauren came down with something awful which came with a cough and stuffy nose. Basically the worlds most brutal cold.. pah. Well long story short, I managed to catch it too :( I've been taking vitamins like they're going out of style. Still working out every day, I have to be certain that I am still getting enough sleep while my bod tries to fight this off. In lew of my feelings of le poopyness, I made homemade chicken soup. It turned out great! And I made enough that it would last throughout the week to take for lunches and such.

The recipe is super simple and super delish.

8 cups chicken broth
4 celery stalks, chopped
1/2 head cabbage, chopped
3 large carrots, chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 cloves garlic, minced
rosemary, sage, italian seasoning and salt & pepper to taste

Throw everything into a large pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to low heat and allow to simmer for an hour. Viola.

I personally think the recipe tastes better day old. As a matter of fact, I think all homemade soups are that way. The extra time to let the flavors join together makes all the difference.

Today I omitted my usual run and did back, bi's and tri's. Tomorrow I am going for a run with a friend so I didn't want to completely exhaust myself today. After the lifting, I did 30 minutes on the adaptive motion trainer and then made my way to the treadmill. I brought my school textbook to the gym so I could walk and read/study at the same time. I've never done this before but I have heard that some people have positive results with retaining information when they are moving while working. Final verdict; I liked it and I will do it again! I absorbed the information that I read and as a bonus I got an extra hour of walking on an incline as opposed to sitting potato-like on the couch. :)

The rest of my evening will consist of vegging out on the couch and recharging with a cup of frozen yogurt at hand.

Ladies, I will leave you with this little gem. I stumbled upon it on Instagram and absolutely loved it;

Lastly, I caved. You can now find me on Facebook.

Have a great week!

Thursday Thoughts

So many things were going through my mind today. I was almost tortured by being stuck inside at work whilst the bootyful sunshine was out. But I managed to get out in it eventually for a run :)

I've been debating getting a Facebook again. For networking purposes of course. With the fitness and nutrition industry it's almost crucial for networking and communication. Stay tuned for that outcome.

This has overall been a really good week. I've been energized, motivated, relaxed, all rolled into one. I can't believe it's almost Friday!

I've decided that I am going to bake healthy chocolate muffins tonight. The recipe is as follows;

1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp canola oil
3/4 cup oat flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
pinch of cinnamon
2/3 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375. Line a muffin tin to make eight muffins. Combine all ingredients together and mix well. Portion the batter into the tins and bake for 20 minutes or until the tops are firm to the touch. Allow to cool completely and remove from the tin. Enjoy!

I can't believe the marathon is 16 days away. It's coming right up! Eeeeek.

I have decided to do a mud run this summer! All proceeds will go towards autism. I better get my upper body strength at it's prime because there is going to be lots of pulling myself up, climbing and things of that nature. All while covered in mud. Can't wait :)

Today was chest and shoulders at the gym, speaking of upper body strength. I was very pleased with how hard I pushed myself. After all was said and done and it was time to get ready for work, my arms were even quivering while I was trying to do my eye makeup. Boom. I'll take that.

Well I hope y'all have a great Friday! Make it a great day. After all, life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to it.

WIAW 4/17/13

Breakfast:

Egg white omelet with Mexican beans, pepper jack cheese and spinach.
I made a hugesque amount of taco soup last night so I spooned some of it into the innards of the omelet. It was super nummy, even though the picture doesn't do it much justice. I was hungry and in a rush, can you blame a girl?

Mid Morning Snack:

1 raspberry carbmaster yogurt and an apple.

Lunch:

I had left over taco soup and some broccoli florets. SO GOOD! And that soup is seriously the easiest thing ever to make.

1 can pinto beans
1 can black beans
2 cans Mexican stewed tomatoes
1 can chili hot beans
1 can kidney beans
1 can golden corn
1 packet taco seasoning
1 packet ranch salad dressing mix
1 onion chopped

Saute the onion and once it's translucent add all of the canned ingredients. bring to a boil and then let simmer for an hour. You can add ground turkey or tvp to this recipe if you're craving more protein.

 

Afternoon snack:

 

1/2 cup old fashioned oats with with 1/4 cup pureed pumpkin

 

Dinner:

 

Dinner was awesome. And pretty quick to make! I topped a few broiled slices of graffiti eggplant with spinach fontina chicken sausage, cottage cheese, spinach and pasta sauce. I had some asparagus with it too. :)

 



Late Night Snack:

Chocolate Nutty Moose Tracks ice cream. <3

Today was a great day. After work, Tom and Nolan (Tom's partner) and I went to the gym for core work and cardio. Those boys worked their butts off today and recognition is in order. Kudos boy's! Keep up the good work, you're doin' me proud :)

Done Me Proud

Ladies and gentleman; BIG news. Tom has weighed in and since his initial weigh in at his fitness evaluation he has lost.. drum roll please... 5 pounds! I am so so so proud of him! With changing the way he eats to whole foods, healthy ones, and adding some exercise in the mix he has already lost five pounds!

This weekend was the perfect mix of eventful and uneventful. Sunday I went to the gym early before church and got a run in. Then mom and I went to church, lunch and out for mani-pedi's. We went to Cheesecake Factory for lunch and I got the fresh vegetable salad. It was really good and loaded with tomato, asparagus, beets (yum-O), edamame, grilled chicken and mixed greens.

I was very fortunate and got Monday off so my weekend was actually a little extended and very much appreciated :)

Monday I got up and went to the gym to work on back, bi's and tri's and then went for a nice run. Then Bayli came over and we attempted making Chicken Tikka Saag. It all started out about a week ago when I went to this amazing Indian restaurant in Grandview called Aab India. I ordered Chicken Tikka Saag and it was amazing. I decided I had to try and make it. My go at the recipe just didn't compare to the restaurants but it wasn't totally hateful. Not flavorful enough though. It had spinach, chicken, yogurt and loads and loads of spices including turmeric (which is great for inflammation), cardamom, coriander, paprika, chili powder and even more.

Next Bayli and I hit a little coffee shop here in town to do some school work. I had an exam to do so I could finally kiss the strenuous Fat and Lipid chapter goodbye! The weather was so nice that we just had to sit outside and bask in the sun while we worked :)

Once I finally finished with school priorities I met with a friend for Northstar Cafe. One of their most popular menu items is the Northstar Burger. It's a vegetarian patty made with brown rice, beets (mmm more beets <3) and black beans. I got mine bunless and it was still delish :)

I couldn't have asked for a better start to the week! Here's to yours :)

Plans in Place!

Today after work I met with Tom to form his weekly workout routine. :) I was mainly just showing and critiquing strength exercises so he would know what to do, how many times and how to preform them properly. You can do as many reps of whatever exercise you want but if you aren't doing it correctly, it ultimately doesn't matter how many you do because you are doing it wrong. Therefore no results, just wasting time.

The workout schedule is as follows:

Monday- Bi's, tri's and back & 30 minutes cardio
Tuesday- Legs & 20 minutes on the stair master
Wednesday- Core & cardio
Thursday- Legs & 20 minutes on the stair master
Friday- Chest, shoulders & 30 minutes cardio
Saturday- Mega cardio (at least 40 minutes, preferably an hour)

The exact workouts and meals for each day will be logged in this lovely..

 

Tom made this FANTASTIC binder upon my request. In it are separate tabs where we will log exercises, meal plans, macronutrient intakes, progress pictures, weight logs and the recipes for each day the emeals prvides! Brilliance. I LOVE it.

 

 

Still plugging away with school. I'm learning about fats and lipids in the body right now. Very interesting. It's important to remember that fats and lipids are necessary in the diet, even when trying to cut weight. Dietary fats carry fat soluble substances through the digestive process improving digestive absorption. So go ahead, use a little olive oil instead of cooking spray when making your veggies or add some avocado or nuts to your meals. Those healthy fats keep your body functioning properly :)

 

Happy Saturday y'all!



WIAW 4/10/13

Today was a lovely day.. to have off! :) Up until about 20 minutes ago the skies were blue for the most part, there was a nice breeze and it was in the 60's. How could a girl complain? Well now it's raining.. but I think it's time for a good rain.

I started out the day with pumpkin protein pancakes. So good. The only fix I will do next time is add one more Tbsp of almond milk to the batter. It was a bit too think so my pancakes were a little odd shaped but delicious none the less :)

The mid morning snack consisted of a box of blackberries and a white chocolate raspberry carbmaster yogurt. I have officially decided that the white chocolate raspberry is my favorite flavor. Very dessert like :)

Lunch was great. I made brown rice pasta with sliced chicken, spinach and fontina cheese sausage slices and balsamic and feta. YUM.

I had a late afternoon snack of baked lentil chips and greek yogurt spinach and kale dip, both of which are made by Trader Joe's. <3 Both are very very low calorie and fat. 22 chips = 120 calories and 2 Tbsp of dip = 30 calories. Yes.

I had a pretty carbful day so for dinner I had roasted chicken, peppers, asparagus and white fleshed sweet potato wedges. Oh so satisfying :)

For dessert I bought the ingredients to make Peanut Butter Bananarolls.

From Trader Joe's I got flattened, dried bananas and inside them went peanut butter.. and maybe a few chocolate chips.. maybe. :)

Oh today. I can dig today. It's sunny. Breezy. I get to sit outside Panera and listen to jazz music on my lunch break contemplating life. Life is good :)

Today's post will mainly be about Tom's new diet plan. Woo hoo :D I have his diet based off of the paleo diet. It's also referred to as "the caveman diet". It's a nutritional plan based on the presumed ancient diet of wild plants and animals that various hominid species habitually consumed during the Paleolithic era—a period of about 2.5 million years which ended around 10,000 years ago with the development of Agriculture and grain-based diets. That means no grains. Now I know that grains are key in any balanced diet but for the initial weight loss in this journey, the high protein and vegetable diet is the best place to start. Building lean muscle and getting complex carbs from fruits and vegetables and healthy fats from nuts.

The first part of Tom's exercise plan will be a higher cardio to weight training ratio in the beginning. Just to get some of the excess weight gone and out of the way. He will still be doing some lifting though.

We used the eMeal app to plan out his dinners for the weeks in advance. It's so convenient! They provide the grocery list, the day's meals and how to prepare them. For breakfast and lunch Tom decided that he wants to juice. So that basically just leaves snacks for him to plan!

Today was leg day at the gym. Squats, squats, squats, leg extensions, abductor, adductor, calf raises, stair master and oh did I mention squats? Hopefully I can't walk tomorrow. Hopefully. Just kidding.. But really.

Well I'm off to enjoy the rest of my lunch and the weather to go along with it :) Have a swell day!

Happy Go Lucky :)

My best friend Bayli swears that the phrase "Happy Go Lucky" is a perfect way to describe me in life. I could agree with that. Just fly by the seat of my pants and take what life throws in my direction. By definition it means trusting cheerfully to luck. Though I don't act like it all the time, I really am a lucky person. Somehow I just seem to fall into things (i.e. how I've gotten my job, my condo with my best friend, my car..). I seem to just stumble upon things and for that I am very fortunate. This post isn't for me to sit here and gloat about my abnormally decent luck, it's actually just to emphasize on the irony of something that happened yesterday! Since the weather was to be lightweight beautiful, Bayli and I made a trip to the Short North to bop around the North Market and the shops that lace North High street in Columbus. The North Market was AMAZING. I had never been before but it is full of local foods, goods and spices, many of which are artisan. Once we made our way to the shops there were plenty of quaint stores but I stumbled into one that I just LOVED. Guess what it was called? Happy Go Lucky. Imagine that. Oh the irony.

Happy Go Lucky is a lifestyle store filled with custom furniture, home decor and jewelry. "Traditional with a twist" said one review. I highly recommend popping in to visit :) Or you can always check out their site here.

After Bayli and I decided we were about ready to head home we just had to make one more stop. And that was for Bayli to get the best piece of Tiramisu that either of us have ever had in our lives. I only had a bite.. or three.. of hers because it does contain gluten (Silly lady fingers.. so spongy and delicious. Humph. But I'm not hostile..). Bayli had been raving about how she had gotten it before and it was just soooo good. Boy am I ever glad that I tried it. If you ever doubt whether or not life has meaning, go try that Tiramisu. All question and doubt will rid itself from your mind and you will realize that that Tiramsu is reason enough to go on.

Once I got home I decided I was hungry for real food. I made red lentils and TVP. In a previous post I mentioned TVP and said I would elaborate on that in the future. Well, it is now the future. TVP is an abbreviation for textured vegetable protein. It's high in fiber, high in protein, low carb and vegetarian. It can replace ground meat in dishes like sloppy joes, meatloaf, pastas, lettuce wraps, etc. The flavor basically just conforms to whatever you put it in. My personal favorite thing to put it in is lettuce wraps.

Spicy Red Lentil's & TVP

1/4 cup red lentils
1/4 TVP (I used Bob's Red Mill)
1/4 peppers (chopped, whichever colors you like)
1 cup water
1/2 cup pasta sauce
1 oz tomato basil goat cheese
1 tsp minced garlic
basil
oregano
crushed red pepper

Boil everything except for the goat cheese and pasta sauce together until the liquid is absorbed. Then add the pasta sauce and goat cheese and stir until the cheese is melted and BAM. It's done. Don't judge a book by its cover kiddies, it may not look like a spicy kick of yum in the mouth but I can assure you, that's what it is. :)

The rest of my night consisted of studying and homework and an exam. I felt so sluggish that I had to drag my rump to Starbucks for a latte to wake me up. Next thing I know I was there for almost three hours doing work. But it paid off and I got a 95 on my exam. Yay yay yay :)

Well today is Sunday Runday and before I hit the ground running I am most definitely going to have to stretch. We're talking Charlie horses in my sleep last night when I would stretch out. Mleh. Happy Sunday :)

Peanut. Butter. Everything.

When I was younger, I remember my mom telling me stories about my aunt being crazy for peanut butter. CRAZY. Apparently she would dig into the jar by the spoonful. Looking back I remember thinking that was insane. Heaping spoonfuls of peanut butter? Having your mouth shellacked shut by the peanutty paste? Well now my friends, I understand. I don't know what flipped the switch in my palette but let me tell you. Peanut butter is consumed at a once a day minimum by this girl. It's always so appealing to me. On bananas, toast, rice cakes, celery, apples, in oatmeal, protein shakes, by the spoonful.. mmmmm. Peanut butter.

Where I'm getting at with this (as I salivate at just the thought of a spoonful of peanut butter in my mouth right meow) is tonight I made a peanut butter protein oatcake. Craving an experiment, I threw a couple ingredients together, mixed and mashed them up and baked them in a ramekin for 20 minutes. I give you... The Oatcake.

1 banana - mashed
1/3c applesauce
3/4c oats
1 scoop vanilla protein
2 Tbsp peanut butter
dash cinnamon

Mix everything together, pour into a ramekin (sprayed with cooking spray) and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Viola!

It covers the essential carb, protein and fat bases and leaves you feeling oh so satisfied. Perfect for a pre or post workout. Give it a shot and I promise you won't be disappointed :)

WIAW 4/3/13

Today was a mighty yummy day :)

It started out with this beut. A slam packed egg white omelet. It had asparagus, peppers, onions, spinach and pepper jack cheese.

My mid morning snack is one of my latest and greatest creations. PB2 Mousse. Mixed with a lite vanilla greek yogurt is two Tbsp of PB2 and 1/2 Tbsp of sliced almonds. The PB2 and the already thick and creamy yogurt mixed together makes a fluffy mousse like texture filled with peanut buttery goodness. Mmmmm :)

 

Lunch was a turkey sammich, carrots and hummus.



The late afternoon snack was an apple and edamame.

Lauren and I met up for half priced sushi for dinner and I got a christmas roll which had tuna, salmon and avocado and a sweet potato roll with a sweet sauce on top. I was pleasantly suprised with the sweet potato roll! Best $2 I've spent in my life.. Well this week at least.

Lastly was my late night snack. I made protein ice cream. It had frozen mango and strawberries as well as 1 strawberry banana carbmaster yogurt and a scoop of protein. The lack of liquid made it nice and thick, just like ice cream. I topped it off with a chocolate covered strawberry that someone was nice enough to give me ;)

 

That's all for today :)

 

Randomness

Howdy :) I hope everyone had a great Tuesday! Mine was pretty busy but great nonetheless. I feel like each day has less hours than the day before though. I feel like it's a struggle to get everything accomplished in a day that I need to. Luckily tomorrow after work I get the rest of the evening for homework and an exam and cooking <3

I just have a few updates for you today;

First, I just found out about a new APP called eMeals. It's genius. If I understand the concept correctly, the APP is designed to help people who have grocery shopping "anxiety". You modify the settings to fit your needs so whether you're going for shopping for larger family sizes, weight loss, or even shopping based on your favorite grocery store. It forms a grocery list for the upcoming week and recipes to cook using these ingredients. All of which are focused on your personal needs. Click here to see the site. Nifty business right there people.

Next, I have exciting news. This is Tom. Tom is my fitness child. I am taking Tom under my wing and forming a diet and fitness plan for him so he can obtain his fitness and nutrition goals :) We are very excited to begin this journey. You should definitely follow him too to keep up with diet, exercise, support and progress!

Last night my friend Zach and I watched the movie Perks of a Wallflower which I normally wouldn't have picked out to watch but it was recommended to me by my manager. I trust his taste in movies so I decided to give it a chance. I have to say that I was really surprised. The movie had the ability to grasp my undivided attention. It was intense yet heartwarming. Trying to put this movie into words is very difficult, to me at least, but I walk away from it with a few words of wisdom that I will also pass along to you;

That's all I've got for you today guys! I'll be back tomorrow with WIAW and a workout :) Need a little motivation?

 

DO WORK PEOPLE! :p