Moving on to more fun stuff..

FOOD FUN

In place of ‘Something New Saturday/Sunday,’ since I don’t feel like going to the grocery store, I have a fantastic new recipe for you! This was almost made by accident. Just one of those, ‘I feel like baking, what can I throw together’ sort of moments, and I think this is one of my biggest success in a long time! Ok wow, I’m totally talking it up, haha, it’s really actually quite simple.

Protein Macaroon Chippers

~1/3 c Raw Coconut Butter

~1/4 c unsweetened Shredded Coconut

1 scoop Protein Powder (I used Cup Cake Batter, but Vanilla or Chocolate would be great too)

~ 3 tbsp Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze (start with 1, then add if needed)

Stevia to Taste

Pre-heat oven to 350 F. Mix all of the above ingredients together. Drop small ball of dough onto a baking sheet and gently flatten with a fork. Bake for ~10 minutes. Enjoy!

I used the above measurements, because that was the last of the Coconut Butter. Adjust accordingly, but these measurements made 9 delicious cookies.

Protein Macaroon Chippers

Protein & good fats!

Lounging & Snacking

Being chained to the computer for the last couple days resulted in a little baking and a lot of snacking.. I am for the healthy kind of course. A few items involved..

Portion Controlled Breakfast

You may have notice the reappearance of Nut Butters in my meals. Gah, what can I say, I just can’t stay away. But I’m choosing to take a safe route, in the form of portioned control servings. This time I used Justin’s but I also love to get just a couple servings of Raw Nut Butter from the grinders they have in the bulk food section (Whole Foods, Sunflower Market).

Protein Pumpkin Yogurt (1/2 c plain Greek Yogurt, 1/2 c Pumpkin, 1/2 scoop Cake Batter Protein Powder) topped with Vanilla Granola & Almond Butter..

Long Afternoon

While waiting for items to upload, download, freeze, crash, etc., I did a little cooking. Here we have Roasted Kabocha (400 F for 35 min) and Protein Granola inspired by Deb’s (of the infamous Smoothie Girl Eats Too) Puffy Pimped Protein Faux Granola. I followed her recipe but made a few slight changes..

Mixed all together and baked at 325 F for 20 min.

2 c Kashi Go Lean

1 c organic Oats

2 tbsp Walden Farms Calorie Free Maple Syrup

1/2 tbsp Coconut Oil

a few drops of Vanilla & Almond Extract

1 scoop Cake Batter Protein Powder

dash Stevia

So so good! Thanks Deb!

Later in the evening I snack on Vanilla Chai Vega Yogurt (1/2 scoop Vega + 1/2 c plain Greek Yogurt + dash Stevia) topped with Protein Granola..

I also enjoyed 1/2 Whole Wheat Low-Carb Tortilla topped with Cottage Cheese Humnut Sauce and Kabocha..

Saturday: Up & At’em

Usually I’m ready to eat as soon as I get up, but this morning it took a while. When I finally came around I mixed up Vanilla Chai Vega Yogurt and topped it with a crumble Protein Macaroon..

Delivery x2

A couple days ago I got my Secret Blogger Valentine from Tiffany at Carbzilla! She’s actually up in Seattle, and even though I grew up there, I actually don’t have a Seattle repin’ mug, so this was perfect!

Then today I got the item I won in the Bake Sale for Haiti. Banana Chip Muffins from Nicole at Another One Bites the Crust! So cute and SO good!

Yeah that’s a lot of food

As a single lady, I have the perfect thing to do tonight for Vday.. go out for my friend’s Birthday! Have a great one!

So I must ask.. how do you like the new layout? Is it showing up ok? Any suggestions? Thanks in advance

FITNESS

I love finding out that there is some sort of evidence behind my hunches/guesses/intuition and generally just the things I like to do.  I opened up FitSugar this morning to find that the first two posts talked about …

Benefits of HIIT

Yoga for Strength & Balance

Spin + Flow yoga = drenched in sweat and on a divine endorphin high. I had the best spin class today I’ve had in month! Not only was the class & music great, I really cranked up the resistance and got my heart rate pumpin! Checked the Heart Rate Monitor and ended up burning around 450 cal in 50 minutes. Not my best ever, but the best in a while, and it felt amazing. After Spin I drove straight to Yoga. The studio I’m going to has 2 locations and this was my first time at the other location. It really is a fantastic space. I’ll take pictures soon to share with you all. The class I did today was the same type & same instructor as Sunday. I noticed an improvement today, was going through the poses better and am starting to pick up on the breathing (sorta). With the room heated and me straining to get the holds better, I left an hour later drenched, it was fantastic!

On the agenda for tomorrow is lifting for Hamstrings & Arms and 2 yoga classes.

NUTRITION

I assume that at one point or another I will get sick of Pumpkin Oats, but until then, I present you with yet another bowl.

For whatever reason, this morning I just wasn’t that hungry, so I only ended up eating half and packed the rest up to take with me to school for a snack later. I was however in the mood for coffee and I must share with you my latest love..

I take my coffee with tea & creamer

It’s likely that everyone’s been doing this for ages and I’m just behind the times, but either way it’s fantastic and do it immediately.. what do I speak of? Throw a tea bag in with your coffee! My favorite combination so far, naturally, is Starbucks Via + Celestial Seasonings Candy Cane Lane + Peppermint Mocha Creamer + dash of a sugar-free flavor syrup of some sort. Soooo good! I guess I like strong flavors because the flavored coffees just never have enough kick for me, and this little trick solved that problem

Snackin

My snacks and lunch were mixed & matched and devoured in class and in the car, so no photo evidence. It involved: 1/2 c Lactaid Cottage Cheese, 1/3 Avocado, 1 Protein Pancake, 3 oz Chicken Breast.

Microwave Death

I haven’t mentioned, but our microwave died yesterday Definitely an inconvenience, but not as much as it would have been a year ago! I use to cook everything either in the microwave or on the George Foreman, but Fitness has created a love of cooking in me and I have greatly diversified my kitchen abilities. Any who, last night’s pizza had to be reheated under a low broiler..

Phew, I’m beat. Time to get cleaned up and ready for tomorrow. Have a great Tuesday!

First, thank you all for your well wishes, and I am feeling better today. I seem to be a very slow learner with easing back into a varied diet! But any who.. I hope you had a great Sunday! Mine was oddly like my Saturday, which is a darn good thing

WORKOUT

I didn’t make it to Spin this morning because I’m still hobbling around with my extreme leg soreness, but I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s. I did however go to another yoga class. This one was a bit more advanced, called Flow. It’s suppose to be geared towards “Strengthen(ing) the mind/body connection by linking breath with a series of dynamic postures”. And again, I totally enjoyed it. I kept up pretty well, though certainly had to look around a lot for guidance, but I think after a couple more similar classes I’ll be good. They have a deal for new students where you can go to unlimited class for the first 2 weeks at a really good price. So I’m trying to test out as many different classes and teachers (? is that what you call them?) as I can. The membership packages are pretty expensive so I’m going to have to play with the budget to see if it’s manageable. But channeling my inner Tim Gunn, I’ll make it work somehow!

What’s really cool is that yoga seems to get exactly at my weak areas. After 12 years of gymnastics my hips are a wreck, tend to tighten up really easily and are not as flexible as other leg muscles. This has already proven to be troublesome and is an area I knew I had to improve upon in order to avoid injury moving forward. Even though overall I’m pretty flexible, a lot of the yoga holds get at stretching out hip flexors and glutes, so I’m really happy to be actively working on those trouble spot.  Also, the people I’ve meant there so far have all been really cool. I actually ran into a girl right after class while shopping at a local farmers market. We got to chatting, she recommended her favorite classes, and I think we’ll probably end up getting together for coffee in the near future. It’s just so wonderful & refreshing to meet people with similar lifestyles and attitudes towards health & fitness.

I love my Fit Livin’ Community

I’m continually amazed, in a wonderful way, by how inspired and supported I am by the people I’ve met this last year as I’ve become more and more immersed in the health & fitness world. You all are absolutely amazing! Whether I met these people at the gym, at competitions, at camps, at the grocery store or virtually, I’ve found that surrounding one’s self with a group of people who have similar interests and understand & support your goals is the absolute best way to stay on track physically, mentally and emotionally. Everyone will have their bad days, but not getting too down on yourself, and instead making the decision to turn it around the next day is what separates those that succeed from those that don’t. Being a part of a community that support one another on bad days and congratulates on the good ones is what it’s all about. It’s what makes this journey (I always feel like that’s a super cheesy word but I suppose it’s still the best one :p) not just a path to physical change but an overall life changing experience resulting in a more balanced and happy life.

Wow, I didn’t start this blog expecting to go off like that, I guess I’m just feeling sentimental, so thankful for what I have, and so happy with where I am in life right now!

EATS

I didn’t want anything too heavy before yoga, so I had a hot & cold liquid breakfast: hot Coffee, cold Sugar Cook Sleigh Ride Protein Shake..

A Naturally Wonderful Addition

I was super hungry by the time I got home from yoga and was craving crabs. Instead of the standard oats, I went with a bowl of Pumpkin Quinoa Flakes. This also gave me a great opportunity to use Naturally More I’d just picked up. I’d seen floating around the blogosphere and was excited to try. If you haven’t heard about Naturally More, it’s peanut butter (or almond butter) fortified with Flax Seed and Flax Oil to add protein and as a result it has more fiber, more protein, fewer carbs and fewer calories. And perhaps the best news, it tastes great! Definitely a big fan of this product

What isn’t on there?!

After many cups of tea (I just could not warm up today) and a delicious Amazing Grass Peppermint Mocha Protein Shake (didn’t take a pic but will be making again soon and will post the recipe), I decided to have a little fun with dinner. I wanted to use up the rest of the TJ’s Whole Wheat Pizza Dough, so I scrounged through the fridge to see what could be used for toppings. What resulted was a beast of a fantastic “pizza”..

TJ’s Whole Wheat Dough

Spinach “pesto” (blended spinach, pinenuts, vegetable broth & spices)

leftover Roasted Butternut Squash & Garlic

Ham

sprinkles of leftover Cheeses (included Goat, Gouda & Parmesan)

And even though the diameter of the pizza was fairly modest, the stacked up toppings made 2 slices just the right serving size. Nutrition-wise, this was more cheese than would have been ideal, but I just couldn’t bring myself to let the gourmet cheeses my parents bought while they were here go to waste. I didn’t go crazy or anything (.. me making myself feel better :p) but there were 3 kinds after all

Sweetness

For “dessert” I heated up about 1/3 of a leftover Kabocha and tossed it with WF Maple Syrup and Cinnamon. So yum!

I’m excited for tomorrow’s workouts. I’m hitting Shoulders & Glutes in the AM before class, then have Spin & Yoga in the evening What a great way to start the week!

Do you ever find yourself guilt eating like I did with the cheese on my pizza? On multiple occasions I’ve ended up eating things that I felt too guilty to let go to waste, either because of how expensive it was or because of how good it tastes? What do you do to avoid &/or overcome this?

WORKOUTS

Yoga

I am so happy to report that yoga was great! I was worried about maybe not doing well since I was so sore from Friday’s leg workout, but it was actually the perfect thing. I think it’s going to be an awesome supplement & compliment to my training. A lot of the stretches and holds get at muscle groups that none of my standard weight training and cardio work can, not to mention it’s fantastic stretching, which I love.

The instructor was really good about explaining how to do the poses and I was feeling my achy muscles starting to relax by the end of the 80 minutes (which flew by). She gave me a lovely compliment too.. she asked me if I was a gymnast, I said that I use to be, and she told me that I have a beautiful body. It meant a lot to me to hear that because I have been feeling so icky (really that seems like the best work to describe it) the last week and a half. I know it’s silly, but when you get use to seeing yourself at a certain weight, body fat level, toneness and tightness, it’s a quite the adjustment to see yourself puff up like a big marshmallow and have your weight & body fat shoot up so fast. I know its normal, and my body is just respond to the carbs & variety after being restricted for so long, but knowing that doesn’t help the physical uncomfortableness of it. I’ve been doing my best to avoid negative self-talk by staying active and trying new things, but it’s still a little hard. I feel bad complaining about it, but I suppose it is a major post-comp issue, so if anyone can learn from my experiences, I don’t mind sharing (working on a more detailed post related to all of this).

Workout Schedule

I am such a crazy planner, it all goes on the calendar at least a week in advance. Often times items end up getting moved around, but I like having it all laid out. So here’s what this week’s looking like:

Monday: Weights- Back & Core, Spin

Tuesday: Weights- Power Upper, Yoga Flow

Wednesday: Spin

Thursday: Weights: Shoulders & Glutes, Yoga Flow

Friday: Weights: Legs with Trainer, Spin

Saturday: Weights: Hamstrings & Arms, Spin, HIIT or Yoga Flow depending on my mood

EATS

I generally just plan my next day’s meals the night before while entering them into MyFoodDiary to make sure I hit my macros. But lately I’ve been completely slacking, and although I’ve still been eating pretty healthy, I know I’m not eating enough protein. I have to admit, it was rather nice not prepping food for hours everyday for the last couple weeks, but vacation’s over and time to make sure my nutrition is in line to build that muscle I need to compete at the national level. There have also been a few adjusts to my diet. Talking with my trainer on Friday, we decided to moderate my Carbs so that I’m not so overwhelmed with the amount of food. Everything is pretty much staying the same except I’m going to go 3 moderate carb days (50-80) followed by 1 high carb day (150-180). I’m really happy with this and know I’ll be able to handle it better than the previous plan. So for the new week, I’m setting goals:

1. Get down that gallon of H20 everyday! – this was sooo easy while low-carb but has been much more difficult the last couple weeks while in my marshmallow state
2. Hit my protein goal (200g) – same excuse as above
3. No sugar – I’ve been decent, but both physical appearance, mood and stomach react so badly to it, it’s so not worth the momentary pleasure

As for what I actually eat, it’s generally a combination of the following..

Protein Sources: Chicken, Tilapia, Salmon, Protein Powder, Cottage Cheese, Yogurt, Egg Whites

Carb Sources:

Starchy: Oats, Cream of Wheat, Quinoa, Ezekiel bread, Pumpkin, Squash, Sweet Potato

Others: Spinach, Berries, Apple, Carrots, Mushrooms, Tomato

Fat Sources: Udo’s Oil, Coconut Oil, Avocado, raw nut butters, nuts

The Lonely Picture

It’s a rather bland post tonight, but I do have this pic.

I tried Averie’s Raw Vanilla Chia Seed Pudding. I finally just picked up Chia Seeds the other day and so far have thrown them in a protein shake and oatmeal. So far, so great, love the flavor and the added texture.

looks odd, tastes great!

Hope everyone’s weekend is going fabulously! I”m looking forward to tomorrow; hoping to hit up both Spin & a Yoga Flow class, but we’ll see how it goes.

Are you a crazy planner like me (yes of course my calendar is colored-coded) or are you more of a go-with-the-flow type? What’s your strategy to keeping work, fun, school, workouts, etc all organized?

Spin + Leg WO = Hurts So Good!

Friday was fantastic, just my kinda day! Started the day off trying out a new spin class. I stumbled on studio dedicated to Spin & Yoga and was excited to try it out. It was definitely different from anything I’ve done before because the whole class is done in the dark. There were black lights (which made my leftover competition acrylic nails look just lovely) and we were out of the seat 90% of the time. Overall, I think I could really like it. Will probably go to another class Sunday. And in keeping with my trying new fitness things goal, today I’m going to Yoga! A few of my friends are really into it and this studio’s been highly recommended. I’ve taken a few classes in the past and have just been bored, but I’m giving it another shot. Today I’m just doing the beginner glass, but hopefully I can try one of the more dynamic classes later in the week.

I also met with my trainer yesterday and had a killer leg workout. I forgot how great it feels to have the energy (thanks carbs) to lift heavy, and how much I love doing it. Not only do I not like steady state cardio because I get bored, I don’t prefer doing lifting sets over 15 reps for the same reason. I love lifting heavy in short sets. By the ended of it my legs were shaking and the endorphins were running like crazy.. so great to be back to this mode of training!

EATS

Breakfast came in the form of Pumpkin Oats, mixed with 1/2 scoop Cake Batter PP, topped with 1 tbsp natural Peanut Butter and Unsweetened Coconut

snowy oats

diggin it

Lunch was a quick one in between my workout and another meeting, but it was a fantastic. I tried out Allie’s, from Pimp My Protein Shake, Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride Protein Shake. I used her recipe but added in 2 tbsp Sugar-Free Cookie Dough Syrup and used Cake Batter Protein Powder. It was absolutely delicious! Seriously try this asap, it taste just like an ice cream shake, though I think it would be good hot too (I’ll letcha know later today, I want another already :p )!

I finished off the meal with the rest of the Kabocha from the night before.. yummers!

So I felt like trying a new recipe for dinner, and settled on this one. Of course I made some changes, and instead used:

1 Butternut Squash, peeled & cubed

1/2 c TJ’s Omega Trail Mix

1/3 c Cheddar Rice Shreds

1/2 c chopped Mushrooms & Garlic

I added protein in the form of Ham and topped it with my roasted squash mix. Overall the meal was pretty good, but I think I went a little crazy with the garlic, wohhh, smelly!

the plate is small, I promise

Buy These!

I almost forgot.. I finally gave in and picked these up at the store when I was getting baking goods..

These flavors are all amazing! Seriously I couldn’t pick a favorite, it’s totally a mood thing.

Party Recap

The holiday party last night was a lot of fun. I had about 1/2 a glass of wine, which was plenty for my light-weightness, and was pretty good about the snacks… but of course I had to try little slivers of the pie’s I made. And the verdict? The Brownie Mint Pie (recipe here) was great, though I used a chocolate graham shell because I had an extra lying around and it was a bit burnt, though still tasty. If I was to do it again, I’d use a regular shell and sprinkle the bottom with Chocolate Candy Cane. The Cookie Pie was tasty but needed to be warmed. I think it was just too thick, so the cookie ended up being too hard since I had to store it in the refrigerator to keep the frosting fresh. I’ve made cookie cakes/pies before that turned out better, so probably won’t use that recipe again. And it seemed like everyone enjoyed the cookies, because they all got eaten up!

cookies on display!

congregation around the snack table

I didn't make them, but pretty nonetheless

Fun Links

Fit Sugar’s Holiday Gift Guide

I’m kinda nervous for yoga. The class is 80 minutes, so if I’m bored it’ll be brutal, and I’m super sore! haha, ah well, I’m keeping an open mind.. though I do still need to go get a mat!

A Busy Thursday

For breakfast I went wish a fantastic bowl of Rich & Creamy Protein Mocha Oats, topped with a tbsp of Better n’ PB

missed you!

The night before I cooked up a batch of 0-Carb Protein Pancakes, so I snacked on a couple of those throughout the day, in addition to testing this out:

I thought it was good, but I like the Gingerbread flavor better

Lunch was pretty basic, just Baby Spinach with 3 oz Chicken Breast and chopped Tomatoes + Walden Farms Ranch of course. I was actually wishing I had something warm, but it did the trick.

Knowing sweets were on the horizon, I made a dinner that I hoped would fulfill my sweet tooth. I think you know what’s coming.. Kabocha! I sliced the whole thing, coated one half with Swerve (sugar replacement) and Cinnamon and left the other half plain, and popped it in a 375 F oven for 40 min. Added a little protein in the form of Ham and a couple tbsp Pumpkin Hummus. Seriously awesome dinner!

a perfect combo

Oh and buy the way, yes, I am that girl..

I had my old Starbuck’s drink for the first time since July yesterday. My drink is: double tall, sugar-free cinnamon dolce, soy latte, light foam, extra hot. So yes, I am that person in front of you in line that you give either a dirty or ‘ok you’re crazy’ look too Isn’t he beautiful?.. I looked under the cup to determine the pronoun to use there :p

Cookie Party!

So it’s no secret that I love to bake! Unfortunately I have no ‘off button’ when it comes to sweets, so I don’t allow myself to keep classic dessert & baked items (using “classic” to be all things not clean or fitness-friendly) around the house. But as I mentioned yesterday, Friday is our MBA Holiday Party (180 rsvp’ed, crazy), so I had a wonderful excuses to use up baking items leftover from Thanksgiving and try some new fun recipes!

Mint Brownie Pie

1st batch of: Peanut Butter Chip Oatmeal Cookies

fresh out the oven: Chocolate Chip Pie

Chocolate Chip Pie with Rum Butter Frosting

1st batch of: Cinnamon Chip Cookies

sugar-coma just looking at it all!

Started the evening with a lil Holiday music playing thanks to my DJ roommate, then later put on ‘Love Actually,’ my all time favorite Christmas movie. I was busy in the kitchen so didn’t sit down to watch, but no need, I could hear it from the kitchen and I know the movie by heart

Currently cooking up dinner, then need to get cleaned up, pack up the goodies, and head to the Holiday Party!

Hope you all have had a wonderful Friday, mine’s been fantastic! Any movies you love so much you could probably recite them beginning to end? Others on my list include Disney’s Aladdin and Brown Sugar.

Today I chose to stick with safe foods (edit: or so I though) but still tried to keep them interesting! After a couple days of no sugar/simple carbs or dairy, but mid-morning today I felt sooo much better.

WORKOUT

Today was just a cardio day. I started with a 5 min warm-up walk (4.0), then did a quick 10 min. HIIT alternating 1 min at 6.0 with 30 s at 9.0. Got my heart rate going, then I headed down to spin. Class was pretty good, not the best but not bad either. But I found a new Spin & Yoga dedicated studio and I am SO excited to try it out. I have it on my calendar for Friday morning, I really hope it’s great!

THE FOODS

Safe & Orange

For breakfast this morning I visited an old friend, the mighty Pumpkin Protein Pancake. It was a good one too, nice & fluffy, topped with Walden Farms Maple Syrup and Pumpkin Spice.

she's a beauty (why 'she'.. no idea)

But today my pancake had new company… I picked this up at the Borders’ Cafe over a month ago and was just reminded of it the other day. Grade: A~ So good! I added a tbsp of Peppermint Mocha Creamer and the two were meant to be..

don't they make a beautiful couple?

safe & delicious

Not So Colorful, but Still Tastey

Even though it’s something new, I was pretty sure it would be safe.. enter Quinoa Flakes! I cooked up 1/3 cup flakes in 1/2 c UVAB + 1/2 c H20, then mixed in a scoop of Chocolate Protein Powder along with 1 tbsp Better n’ Peanut Butter and brought it with me for a morning snack. It was definitely different but I like it. The flakes are so much softer than oats, but I can see it being worked into the breakfast/snack rotation. I forgot to take a pic earlier and I ended up eating it during class, at which point I thought a camera flash might be a bit distracting :p

Coloring it Up

I threw a couple fun items into an comp-diet staple. Here we have:

2/3 c Egg Whites

1.75 oz Tilapia

~1 c Baby Spinach

~2 tbsp Pico de Gallo

pre-nuking

rainbow eggs

More Orange

After my stomach felt better I was completely craving Sweet Potato. So dinner ended up being 1/2 a medium Sweet Potato mixed with refrigerator odds & ends in the form of: 3 oz Chicken Breast, 1/2 Avocado, 1/4 c Black Beans (think that was a bad choice ), 2 tbsp Rice Shreds, and Pico de Gallo. It ended up being bigger than I planned, but I guess I was making up for having my appetite back because I wolfed it down! Bad idea though, something was in there I shouldn’t have eaten, was it the tomatoes, avocados, beans? gahh, I have no idea! I do however have a new found empathy for people with real, permanent, food allergies :/ .. I’m learning and will try again tomorrow

.. It looks oddly similar to lunch .. This makes me realize how much I’d like a new serving set!

Southwest Sweet Potato Mix

Holiday Festivities

Two fun Holiday events to look forward to over the next couple days. First, tomorrow we’re (roommate & I) hosting a Holiday Movie & Cookie Night. Plans are to make cookies/desserts, watch ‘Love Actually’ and enjoy a spiked beverage. I carefully picked out recipes to use the leftover, unopened baking supplies still floating around my cupboards. On the menu is:

Iced Cinnamon Chip Cookies

Chocolate Chip Pie

Brownie Mint Pie

The great thing is, these will be out the door by Friday afternoon to go to the next fun event..

On Friday, it’s my Grad program’s annual Holiday Party. It was a lot of fun last year, and I’m sure I’ll have fun again this year, though I know the experience will be much different being that I’m not really able to drink these day. But with my crazy schedule over the last few months I was a complete hermit, so it’ll be really nice to get to hang out with everyone outside of school.

On another note, I totally spaced on “attending” a webinar tonight because I was watching Top Chef. Are you a fan do? Do you agree with who won?

Have a wonderful Thursday!

Truth is, my stomach’s still a complete mess. Again, I have no one to blame but myself, but that doesn’t make it any less fun. So my message to everyone training for their first fitness/figure/bodybuilding competitions: listen to incredibly knowledgeable people that warn you not to eat all those fun things you’ve been looking forward to right away, because you will regret it, and it is sooo not worth the brief moment of enjoying that scoop of ice cream, or 2 or 5.

I think I am just very sensitive to carbs. I had never truly dieted before this process and had never played with low-carb, carb-cycling etc. As it turns out, my body responded very well to carb-cycling, and I was loosing body fat and weight quite readily. In fact, I lost it almost too fast and ended up having to try to maintain at a low level for a few weeks leading up to my show. Knowing this, it should have occurred to me that when I introduced those foods back in, that’d I’d have an equally strong reaction. But of course I’m no expert, this is just my opinion of what’s going on.

So I’m starting from scratch. For the rest of the week I’m going to eat very mildly, similar to my higher-carb days pre-comp, then slowly reintroduce foods. Hopefully that will do the trick.

Food Philosophy: Fitness vs. “Ideal”

I’d been wanting to post about this for a while, and I guess this is as good of a time as any. The thing is, I don’t want there to be a misunderstanding between how I actually eat and my ideal nutrition philosophy. There is a gap between those two things because right now I am eating for a goal beyond just fueling my daily activity. While training for fitness competitions, whether it be building, early comp-prep or cutting, you are eating very specifically in order to achieve a very specific goal and sometimes a very specific look. However, the building and early comp-prep phases allow more than enough wiggle-room to enjoy a wonderful variety of foods while eating very healthfully. Cutting gets a little crazy and restrictive, but that’s only for a very limited amount of time.

With that being said, I do keep track of everything I eat (through MyFoodDiary) and weigh most of my food. However, both things are done more for the purposes of making sure I’m hitting the right macro levels each day and getting enough protein, than for a calorie counting reasons. I don’t count calories, I count macros.

So that’s what I do.. now for what I think. I really like the idea of intuitive eating. I strongly believe that when you eat healthy and fuel your body in a balanced manner that your body will tell you what it needs and wants. I truly think this is possible for anyone, whether or not you’ve struggled with your relationship with food in the past. For anyone who doesn’t believe that, spend some time perusing the healthy living blogs written by some of the most inspiring & strong woman out there!

“Dessert”

I did get one photo, of my last meal of the day. I wasn’t able to eat much up until this point, so nothing was missed. On the menu tonight was the other half of my Kabocha, which I drizzled with Walden Farm SF Maple Syrup and Cinnamon then microwaved for 3 minutes. So yummy!

Happy Links

Workouts to Printout: from FitSugar

Hump-day tomorrow, hope you have a great one!

A lil Morning Jog x Spin = Cardio^2

Yay, morning workouts are back! It felt so good to get in the gym this morning and run it out. In the near future I plan to lift in the morning and do Spin at night, but my back did not agree with doing heavy legs this morning. I don’t think I’ve mentioned it, but I hurt my back a few weeks ago. Not exactly sure how I did it, but it was at a time where it didn’t really matter because I wasn’t going to stop training or practicing my routine just a couple weeks out from show. So I continued to work on it and as a result it really hasn’t gotten any better. It’s strange; it hurts to to touch and arch but I’m fine running on it. I making an appointment with the chiropractor today so hopefully something’s just out of allignment and it will be better soon.

And this evening I made it to spin! And it was wonderful Don’t have too much more to say on that one, except for after my week of silly eating, it felt better than ever. I just envision all the empty sugar calories I ate being sweat off.. yeah I’m a dork like that. Not sure what all is on the workout agenda for tomorrow. I definitely will be lifting, focusing on Shoulders & Back, but I’m also hoping to make it to a yoga class. We’ll see!

Onto my next favorite thing.. food

Oats in a Jar Yo = Lived Up to Expectations

So I know I said I was planning to have a protein pancake for breakfast, but when I realized that my Barney Butter was almost empty, plans changed.. I think you know what comes next

almost empty!

Oats in a Jar!

these are a few of my favorite things..

In the jar we have:

1/3 c Oats

2 tbsp Oat Bran

1 tbsp Wheat Germ

1/3 c Pumpkin

1 c Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze + 1/4 c H20 – to cook

~1.5 tbsp Almond Butter

Nutrition Facts: 317 Cal, 13g P, 15g F, 43g C, 4.3g sugars – Not bad, but I definitely need to add 1/2-1 scoop Protein Powder next time.

And it was finished off with a cup of Via + 2 tbsp SF Cookie Dough syrup + 1 tbsp SF Vanilla-Caramel Creamer.

Lunch at Home = Luv it!

I ended up coming home for lunch between school and work, which was great because I have so many more option to choose from. I ended up going with a Protein Green Monster and Kabocha Slices with homemade Pumpkin Hummus. This was a new GM which I made with..

Chocolate Protein Green Monster

1 c Frozen Spinach

1 scoop Amazing Grass Chocolate SuperFood

1 scoop Chocolate Protein Powder (I used Nectar)

1 c Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze

This was delicious!

I underestimated how filling it would be though because I was stuffed for hours!

Then look what was waiting for me when I got home from work:

Russian Tea Cakes

I won these little bites, made by Val (from Chicago Marathon Val) in Ashley’s Sweet Stand Against Cancer Bake Sale. Cookies for a good cause don’t count for calories right?!

After Spin I had planned to make a more creative dinner, but by the time I got home I was ravenous, so just ended up heating up the last of my casserole I made last week.

leftovers

It was prettier before I added the guacamole. I’d prefer plain avocado but none at the store looked good. But have you seen these? I definitely need portion-control for this one so it’s perfect:

100 calories in a plastic pack.. lovely

Dessert came in the form of Kabocha Crunch Delight.

A Little Reflection

It’s amazing the difference in attitude and energy when you’re interacting/studying something you enjoy and stimulates you versus something you’re required/forced to do. It makes me realize even further how essential it is for me to find my niche. Today I found myself participating in class discussion on Web 2.0’s integration into standard media plans, while blogging, tweeting, reading blogs and emailing. It made me feel less bad about multi-tasking in class since after all we were discussing Web 2.0, what better way to understand and contribute to discussion than to be participating :p. I contrast that to experiences I’ve had where I go to a job, am crazy bored, and feeling like my brain in numb, and I feel exhausted from doing nothing. I feel like I have all these possibilities flying around in my head for potential professional paths to take moving forward, but I just have quite been able to piece it together. Any who, just a minor rant for the night.

So right now, Spin class makes everything better and I can’t get enough squash. What are a some of your current obsessions?

Have a great Tuesday!

I’m still not sure why this is so funny but I makes me giggle everytime:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OBlgSz8sSM&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b&border=1]

But for real.. I’ve had the worst stomachache all weekend and I’m sooo not cool with it! So for the next week, lactose is getting booted from the diet, because I have a sneaking suspicion that’s what’s putting me in so much pain Even though I was adequately warned, I completely failed at slowly introducing foods back into my diet and instead jumped into carbs mixed with carbs topped with carbs with dairy and fruit on the side. Yeah, it was stupid, I was warned and I didn’t listen. But this weekend has been brutal, and my best guess is that it’s some minor form of lactose intolerance. I didn’t eat much dairy before comp-prep, so I think yogurt, cottage cheese and dare I say peppermint double churn ice cream entered the picture and my stomach got pissed off! All I gotta say is that it better be better by tomorrow morning because I have a leg workout to do!

Studying & Cooking

Breakfast this morning was another dose of Pumpkin Oats, though not the fancy dressed up kind like yesterday. Did stove top again, which I’m loving, but forgot to take a pic.

I spent from about 10:30am to 4:30pm working on my take-home Final for my CRM class. But it’s done now and it feels great to have that class behind me (not one of my faves). On the other end of the spectrum however, we are currently studying Web 2.0 marketing integration in another class, which as you can guess I’m totally interested in, so that makes class go by much faster.

While working on the final I naturally took breaks to whip up a few snacks. First we have…

Kabocha stuffed with Chicken Sausage and Mushroom Dressing:

Later on I made another squash custard, but this time I used a Delicata and topped it with Chobani honey … the Kabocha version was better

With the sugar in the house going out the door this evening, I couldn’t resist but make one last goody. I’d picked this up on my Trader Joe’s trip with my parents, so it was the lucky winner.

I had about a 1/3 of a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips left over from last weekend’s baking extravaganze, so I tossed those in just for good measure. Definitely don’t need those lying around!

As usual I took a bite before I remembered to take a pic! haha, I’m a slow learner :p But this bread was fantastic! You never know how boxed version will be, but I guess know Trader Joe’s I shouldn’t have been so surprised. If you get a chance definitely give this a try.. and add the choco chips too

Sproutin

After finishing up a bit more school work I made a run to Sprout’s Farmers Market to pick up.. betcha can guess.. more Kabocha. Yes, I am a bit of an all-or-nothing, addictive, personality. Another reason, all sugar is being removed :p Another thing on my list to pick up from Sprout’s was Nut Butters. During contest prep, I could have technically had peanut butter but decided not to purchase it because I knew that with the state of both my restricted diet and mental status the risk of me going a lil crazy one night and eating the whole jar was just too great. But it turns out, now that I can have it everyday, I’ve had no problem sticking to 1-2 tablespoons. And having the variety of nut butters to choose from has helped even more.. perhaps there is hope for my wacko eating! .. I digress.. So Sprout’s has a pretty darn good selection, and it would have been very entertaining watching me squat in the isle trying to choose what to get for a good 5 minutes. After much internal debate, I decided to go with Raw Almond Butter, Crunchy Sunflower Butter and Creamy Peanut Butter (I did mention my coco need for variety). Since the MaraNatha raw variety is rather pricey I decided to stick with Sprout’s store brand PB. It’s still natural, old fashion, with no added sugar, so I have all the faith it’ll be good.

just part of the family

For dinner, I thought for my last no-weighing, no calories counting day I would have splurged on something crazy, but instead I really just felt like having Warm Breakfast Dinner Apple Crisp. Though I did dress it up with a little trail mix, Barney Crunchy Almond Butter and the rest of the Honey Chobani. And I suppose it still is pretty anti-Fitness diet rebellious in it’s lack of protein :p

I don’t have class until 10am tomorrow, which gives me more than enough time to get a lifting session in. I’m already planning on having a Protein Pancake for breakfast, I’ve missed those beauties!

Now I’m off to watch ‘Brothers and Sisters’ and write up the week’s workouts. Hope you had a wonderful weekend!