I mentioned on my Facebook page the other day, but I was just a complete failure at balancing work and workouts this week.

My intentions were so good! Last weekend I planned out all my yoga classes & workouts and scheduled them into my calendar. Monday started great (see below) but then it was downhill from there. A few things came up at work and instead of making it out the door to catch my beloved Vinyasa classes, I was working until bedtime.

I don’t dislike missing planned yoga & workouts because I think I’m instantly going to balloon up, but because it’s what’s keeps me sane and happy. But sometimes it just is what it is, life gets in the way, and ya gotta adjust right?! So on 12+ hour workdays, I just put extra emphasis on eating right. Having a bunch of sugar or caffeine is only going to make  me/you eventually crash, feel worse, and eat more junk. Instead I try to stick with tea, and maybe have an extra Green Smoothie!

So the gym.. the actual cardio equipment, barbells and dumbbells, fitness studios and spin class, type of gym. I hadn’t been in AGES! Since around Memorial Day I’ve pretty much just been doing bootcamps and CrossFit for weight training and cardio. The five months before that I was doing a cardio class here and there but not lifting at all, and just doing a lot of Yoga.

CrossFit made me realize/remember how much I really do enjoy weight training and lifting heavy. So Monday I headed to the gym. It felt good. Even though I haven’t been in ages, the gym is certainly a comfort zone for me. The workout wasn’t anything crazy, but out of practice = me hobbling around for the four days after! My workout went a little something like this:

Barbell Back Squats w/ Double-Unders

15 Squats @ 50 lbs + bar ~ 83 (Warm-Up)

12 Squats @ 103 lbs

15 Double-Unders

10 Squats @ 103 lbs

20 Double-Unders

10 Squats @ 103 lbs

15 Double-Unders

8 Squats @ 123 lbs

6 Squats @ 143 lbs

I moved between sets quickly. Double-unders really wind me, so I like the mix between cardio and power. This would be the “CrossFit influence”

Walking Dumbbell Lunges and Kickbacks (superset)

15 Lunges each Leg walking, holding 20 lb dumbbells in each hand

20 weighted Kickbacks

(x3)

Leg Presses and Hamstring Curls (superset)

Leg Presses – 150 lbs / 15 reps, 190/12, 210/10

Hamstring Curls – 35/15

Walking out the gym I was already hurting

And that was it until today (big BOO). I am SO back & forth with morning workouts. Once I get into a routine with it, I absolutely love it. But when I get out of habit, it’s quite the battle to get back there. But I know it’s the only way to guarantee I get my workouts in, so we’ll try again next week!

Spot on this week! My extra effort at variety with meal planning last weekend really paid off!

And must share today’s healthy baking success! These were inspired by this recipe, but my adjustments ended up resulting in a very thin batter, so instead of making cookies I spooned it into giant muffin tins. If Scones + Muffins = Scuffins, then I guess these are just Cuffins or Mookies.. kinda a muffin, but also like a cookie. Actually I split the below recipe in half, so if you make the full recipe I have a feeling they’ll make perfect muffins.. check out that fluffy goodness..

Seriously though, these came out SOO good, a must try I promise!

Healthy Peanut Chocolate Chip Mookies

3/4 cup Spelt Flour

1/2 cup Peanut Flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 tsp Salt

1 cup Unsweetened Almond Milk

1/4 cup calorie free Maple Syrup (I used Walden Farms)

Stevia to taste (I used 2 squirts of the liquid extract version)

1 tsp Vanilla Extra

Chocolate Chips (Enjoy Life or Carob for a vegan version, or I use 3 chopped up squares of this fantastic no-sugar-added bar)

Preheat oven to 350. Spray muffin tins with cooking spray. Mix all ingredients together and pour into muffin tins. Baking time will depend on what size of muffin tins you use and how much you fill them. For my mini/cookie version they were baked perfectly in 12 minutes. Enjoy!

Stats aren’t too bad (the full recipe makes ~12).\:

Orange Everywhere!

Oh this was a happy site to see on my latest trip to World Market to refill my Sugar-Free Torani Syrup stash (“don’t judge it’s my thing”.. hehe ya’ll know where that’s from right?!).

Pumpkin’s back! Ok it never really left. Did I ever confess my Pumpkin stockpile to ya’ll? After last years shortage, every time I was at the store I’d pick up a few cans. So fast-forward a year later and I still have 15 cans in the cupboard. That means nothing but good-baking things!

I’m moving! Though not to a whole new state this time around. But knowing me, that probably wouldn’t come of much a surprise to anyone.  I’m moving into a cute house in a different part of town. I’m super excited because I’m much more of a cute city neighborhood gal than a fancy corporate, anywhere USA apartment sort. What makes it even better is that the location is great and I can walk to all sorts of restaurants including an organic juice bar, all organic restaurant with lots of vegetarian & vegan options, a drool-worthy bakery, another cute cafe, and more!

Any other college football fans out there?! I love this time of year and a big part of that is college football! Go Bears!

(Pick from the season I was working as a trainer from the Cal Football team. The work sucked, but it was worth it to watch the games from the field).

Any fun long weekend plans?

So where to begin.. so much has been going on, but at the same time I’m in this crazy limbo.. lots of potentially exciting things are up in the air, and only time will tell how it will all play out.

With all the distractions I’ve been all over the board with workouts. I’ll have a really good week, then not workout for 5 days. I did however finally make it back to Yoga last week, after a 90+ day absence, and of course it was amazing. Even after just one class, I notice an immediate difference in my mood, and that’s before the physical benefits.

Dear Blog.. I miss you.. love Alyson

On a different note, two separate occurrences this week made me realize how much I miss blogging on a regular basis. First, I was working on a Google Analytics report using blog statistics, second, and a bit more exciting (though I must admit I got more than a bit geeky playing with numbers and optimization stuff), was a blogger meet-up!

Over a month ago I met up with Caitlin, who I absolutely adore, then yesterday I finally got to meet Lindsay and Sarah. We all met up at a very hipster-esque cafe that made for excellent people watching. I was a total slacker and didn’t break out my camera, but check out Sarah’s post! After the other two girls had to leave, Caitlin and I wandered up to the capital to listen to the carolers and watch them light the tree. Not going to lie.. I was a bit disappointed in the tree… but perhaps that’s just my born & raised in the northwest, gorgeous green scenery everywhere attitude.

I was in a baking mood all day today, but restrained myself from a decadent treat that I would likely overindulge in (darn you emotional eating and missing not going home for the holiday), and instead opted for a bit of an experiment. Inspired by Tina’s Sweet Potato Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, I made..

Sweet Potato Protein Cookies

1 medium Sweet Potato, baked/microwaved, mashed

1/4 cup Protein Powder (I used MGN Cake Batter Protein Powder)

1/2 cup Oatmeal

2 tbsp Canola Oil

Cinnamon to taste

Stevia to taste

Mix everything together. Drop spoonfuls onto a sprayed baking sheet and bake at 350 F for 15-18 min.

I was so happy, and even a bit surprised, with how well these turned out!

Truth

I really do miss blogging, and everyday I think about perhaps posting that day, but with how all over the board I am with fitness and nutrition, sometimes I’m just not sure what to blog about. Truth be told, I guess I’m a bit embarrassed. I can’t believe it’s been a whole year since my competitions, and I regret that I’ve let myself get so far from where I’d like to be. I can’t wait to compete again, but there’s a couple things that need to work their way out first.. all that silly ‘I guess I’m a grown-up’ stuff. But I think I’ve been using it as an excuse.. there really is no excuse not to be getting in my workouts.. and not for a narcissistic reason, but for the plain and simple truth that working out keeps me sane! haha..

So it’s a new week right?! And with only 3 weeks until Christmas I have lots of Christmas moving watching to do  

What to you all do to get out of ruts? Whether it be workout, clean eating, attitude..

Wasn’t especially hungry this morning so I just whipped up a mocha protein shake. And brought my standard Protein Pancakes for snacks and leftover Coho Salmon and Spinach bar for lunch.

When I got home from work today I found this on my doorstep

Aren't they beautiful?! The possibilities are endless

Don’t think I’ve mentioned it yet, but Hi my name is Alyson and I’m a coffee-aholic. Last school year I was drinking at least one Starbucks latte a day. My drink of choice was a triple grande soy sugar-free cinnamon dolce soy latte. Nutrition-wise it wasn’t that bad for a standard diet, coming in around 170 cal, 4.5F, 24C (17 sugar), 9P. But sadly those were cut out of my diet in July. Actually I think I may have been threatened by my trainer with physical harm if I continued to drink them with such regularity. BUT what I am allowed and drink excessively is regular drip coffee. In order to spice it up I had sugar-free, carb-free flavor syrups and sometimes a little Unsweetened Almond Breeze. Coffee is wonderful for a cutting diet. Hot beverages really help to fill me up and keep me warm (I am cold most of the time!). Most coffee shops only have the standard Vanilla, Hazelnut, Caramel flavors, but I wanted to be able to create my own awesome holiday beverages so I ordered directly from DaVinci Gourmet. The amazing flavors I got: Butterscotch, Peppermint Patty, Cookie Dough, Egg Nog, Peanut Butter, Toasted Marshmallow, Praline, Coconut, Pumpkin Pie & White Chocolate. I’m excited to try them all!

I also got notification that my MixMyGranola order was sent! Placing this was a bit pre-mature being that I can’t eat granola at the moment but I couldn’t pass up the Halloween mix. So I made the order and am going to have to have my roommate hide it from me till post-competition. I realize this sounds completely ridiculous, but I LOVE LOVE granola and I don’t trust myself during one of my hungry moments. Expect a ‘Things I Look Forward to Post-Comp’ post in the near future. As I tweeted to Oh She Glow‘s @globakery, I can’t wait to try Glo Bars come December. So many delightful things to look forward to. But don’t get me wrong, loving how I look & feel right now too!

Workout: Made me smile

Had a late workout today in order to miss the gym rush, but it was a good one! Worked shoulders & back then did intervals on the treadmill & elliptical for 30 min and steady state on the treadmill for 15 min. It’s funny what compliments really hit home.. While I was resting between lat raise sets, an elderly woman who was at least in late-70s said to me “you really have a lovely figure.” I thanked her and we chatted briefly. I should mention at the time she made this comment she was resting in between chest press sets. At pushing-80 years old this woman is in the gym using weight machines next to these gigantic muscle head guys. A compliment from her meant so much more to me than an being hit-on compliment I’ve ever received… It really made me smile.

Ohh tonight I made an unexpected fabulous food discovery..

Coconut Protein Cookie

Updates:

- I added pics to About Me,  content to the Fun & Faves section and my Pumpkin Souffle Recipe that I submitted for Megan’s Breast Cancer Fundraiser

Lastly, here are a couple pics for Operation Beautiful

How have you or what are your tips for balancing your blogging with other aspects of your life?