LiveFit Trainer Phase 1 Days 23 and 24

As I sit here typing this, I have the munchies extremely bad!  I want to eat all of the food in my house, especially the Koala Chocolate Crispies cereal, the peanut butter, bananas, and pita chips!  Not necessarily all of those together, and I did have some of each.  I feel completely guilty about it, like I binge ate, which I know is caused by not having enough sustenance.  I did not go to sleep last night as I have become addicted to the show True Blood and could not stop watching it!  I was hungry all night long and ignored it, but now I just want to destroy the kitchen.  I feel like I just keep wanting more and more food.  I don't know if it's, because I'm still forcing myself to try to stay under 1200 calories or because I added cardio to the trainer early.  I really just want to be prepared for Warrior Dash.  I am about to lose it, and I feel like I'm just in the home stretch.  While I am proud of myself for making healthy choices during my binge this evening, I still feel guilty about it, because I did not measure the cereal I ate, nor did I measure the peanut butter, so I couldn't necessarily track it in myfitnesspal.  I know I went over 1200 calories, which isn't so bad considering my basal level is around 1400, but I am just starting to see results.  I'm afraid I will lose those!

Alright pity party over.  Yesterday I did Back and Biceps workout same as last week plus 30 minutes on the elliptical.  Today I did the Chest and Triceps workout from last week and walked on my treadmill at home for 30 minutes.  My knee has been hurting since Monday, so I don't think I'll be doing any cardio tomorrow, but it is leg day.  I guess I'll have to see how I feel.  Hopefully these munchies are gone soon.  I have the day off work tomorrow, so since I didn't sleep at all last night I'm going to try to go to bed early and sleep in.  I have a hair appointment in the late morning, and then my leg workout.  I am going to try to keep myself busy and not eat as much though in order to make up for today.

Sorry for another combined post and that I don't have any pictures.  I will try to post pictures tomorrow!

LiveFit Trainer Phase 1 Day 22

This is the start of my fourth week on the trainer; therefore, it is the last week of phase 1!  Since it was my day off today, I slept in which felt pretty amazing.  My day started pretty sucky dealing with some personal stuff.  If you follow me on Instagram, a lot of this will sound familiar.  Today was just one of those days when I truly realized how far I have come.  Two and a half years ago, I was unhappy, about 60 pounds overweight, in an unhealthy relationship that wasn't positive for me at all, passive aggressive about my issues, stricken with anxiety attacks and felt as if there was no way out.  I dealt with my issues by drowning my sorrows in sugary sweets that I hated myself for eating later.  Today I've lost about 40 of the 60 pounds and put on some decent muscle.  I even beat my personal records for leg day today, including hitting ass to the grass squats at 115 pounds for 3 sets of 10.  While my passive aggressiveness is still there, I am getting better at this as well.  If I have a problem with something or someone, I say my peace, and I have learned to deal with my problems in a healthier way.  I take my anger or sorrow out on my workout, like today for example.  These are snapshots of my Polar watch after today's workout.  I was pretty upset heading into the gym, but I left feeling absolutely on top of the world!  Endorphins are kick ass!

I did the leg workout from last week with higher weights as well as a 10 minute mile run and 40 minutes walking on an incline of 5 on the treadmill.  I was going to do Zumba as well, but my knee was in a lot of pain from this workout.  I want to be in full health for Warrior Dash and not re-injure my knee.

I am so proud of myself for what I have accomplished in two and a half years, and I will never go back to being that insecure girl I used to be.  I am not to where I want to be yet, but I will get there!

Well I am off of my soap box for the evening!  Hope everyone didn't have too bad of a case of the Mondays!

LiveFit Trainer Phase 1 Days 20 and 21

I am going to be combining rest day posts for the rest of the trainer, because nothing all that cool happens on rest days, except I'm really hungry and want to eat all of the food!!  This weekend my craving was banana with chocolate peanut butter.  I think in total all weekend I had three.  Bananas and peanut butter are on Jamie Eason's approved foods list, but they aren't necessarily listed for phase 1.  However, I think I did pretty well considering my other options were Betty Crocker Fudge Brownies or S'Mores Goldfish crackers!

I did try a new recipe this week using Quest bars that I found on Instagram, but I really didn't like it at all!  It was a recipe for PB Quest bar Oreos, which sounds good and has all good ingredients, but the filling just didn't work for me.  They do look pretty though!

I think I will try these again with my own recipe, because I like the idea of making Oreos out of Quest bars.  As I have said previously, Quest bars are basically the best protein bar on the planet!  I haven't found a flavor I don't like!  I wish I wasn't so broke right now, because I am almost out of them!!!!

Alright ladies and gentleman, I am exhausted and beyond ready for bed!  Sleep tight!

LiveFit Trainer Phase 1 Day 19

Today was the last workout day for the week, which I busted out this morning before going shopping with my friend Jen.  It was a Shoulder and Abs workout that went as follows:

• Seated Dumbbell Press: 3 sets of 10 reps
• Lying Rear Deltoid Flyes: 3 sets of 10 reps
• Dumbbell Front Raise: 3 sets of 10 reps
• Seated Arnold Press: 3 sets of 10 reps
• Dumbbell Lateral Raise: 3 sets of 10 reps
• Seated Bent-Over Rear Deltoid Raise: 3 sets of 10 reps
• Crunches: 3 sets of 10 reps
• Roman Chair Leg Raise: 3 sets of 10 reps
• Oblique Crunches: 3 sets of 10 reps

I have noticed that I have been feeling a lot stronger with my workouts, and I have noticed a little bit of definition.  In fact, I woke up this morning with marks on my shoulders from the squat bar yesterday!

I also think I'm getting more will power and control over my diet.  I went to Buffalo Wild Wings with a few friends and family for dinner and ordered Naked Tenders and a Veggie Boat.  Then my friend Jen and I came home and made Jazzythings Chickpea PB cookies, which are in a previous post.  They have a vegetable base and are pretty low calorie, so I am not considering these a cheat.  I am giving most of them away though, so I don't sit and eat the entire batch.  

It is obvious that this healthy lifestyle has become a part of me, because all I spent money on at the mall today was workout wear.  I bought some Adidas leggings and a sports bra, plus some tennis shoes for after Warrior Dash, since mine will get ruined in the mud.

I love these shoes!!

The shoes were super inexpensive for cross trainers too, because Adidas outlet was having a tent sale!  Who doesn't love a good sale?  Alright so it is rest days for the weekend, and my diet has got to be on point.  All I have set on the schedule is work, so I'm hoping that keeps me busy enough that I'm not wanting to smash on all of the food.

LiveFit Trainer Phase 1 Day 18 and Pro Yo

I cannot believe this page has almost reached 1500 views!  Thank you guys so much for reading!

Today was leg day again, and while I absolutely love leg day, I was still sore from Monday's workout!  But once I got started, my legs just seemed to work themselves out of their soreness and busted through an awesome workout!  It was the exact same as Monday, so check back to Day 15 for the workout.  However, today I was continuing my good mood of the last couple of days and wore one of my favorite old cheerleading shirts.  "We bust ours so we can kick yours."  I loved competitive cheerleading, because we seriously worked our asses off and left everything on the floor.  Now that I'm not competing, I try to do that with my workouts.  Except that now I'm not competing against another team, I'm competing against myself to be better than I was yesterday!

Some of you may be questioning why there are two leg days now, and this is one of the reasons why I love this trainer so much.  Jamie Eason chose to do legs twice a week, because it is her weakest body part.  While legs are my strongest, they are still not where I want them to be, and I'm more interested in bettering my legs than having a crazy strong upper body, though I am seeing gains in that area as well.  This is also where you can adjust the trainer to your own needs.  Jamie says that if you prefer to work on Chest and Triceps more, for example, you can do that workout twice and simply move the others to different days of the week so that the two Chest and Triceps workouts are about 48 hours apart in order to give them time to rest and rebuild.

Anyway, my schedule today was basically eat, clean room, eat, clean car, eat, workout, eat, softball, eat, blog and finally bed.  I was really glad that with my day off I was able to get some basic things done.  I was even able to do a little shopping with my brother.  I bought a foam roller from Everything Surplus, which I am really excited about!

These are used to roll out your sore muscles after a workout.  My brother got one earlier in this summer, and I love laying down on it and rolling my back.  It just helps to get the uncomfortable knots out, and since I am trying to save up some money, I figured a foam roller was a much cheaper method than paying for a massage every month or so.

The other really awesome part of my day that doesn't really have anything to do with my own fitness was watching my church's softball team play a double header tonight.  My dad, brother, cousin, and some friends play on the team, and I cheer them on from the sidelines.  It's a men's league, so I can't play.  I still have a ton of fun watching them.  They almost won the first game and won the second.  I took some pictures to share just a little bit of what I do outside of the gym and the kitchen.

Finally, I ended an amazing day with my favorite bedtime healthy snack.  Pro-Yo!!!  If you know me, you know I have an addiction to frozen yogurt.  I just love that I can add a bunch of toppings to it rather than just having plain old ice cream.  Now I don't have a lot of toppings on my pro-yo usually, because I do eat it at the end of the day.  I use it to fill out my extra calories and get some good protein in before bed.  My recipe does change depending on what protein powder I use and what flavors I'm looking for.  I have made cookies and cream pro-yo, vanilla pro-yo, chocolate pro-yo, etc.  Tonight I went with Peanut Butter Pro-Yo with a chocolate chip and caramel syrup topping.

Ingredients:
1 c non fat plain Greek yogurt (I usually use Chobani.)
1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder (But you could use any flavor.)
2 T PB2
Splenda or Stevia to taste
1 T Enjoy Life Dairy, Soy and Nut Free Mini Chocolate Chips
Walden Farms Calorie Free Caramel Syrup

Mix the yogurt, protein powder, PB2 and sweetener in a bowl.  Once it was mixed well, I chose to mix in my chocolate chips, but you can choose to add these as a topping later rather than as a mix-in.  Freeze mixture for about 30 minutes.  Once it is frozen to the point where it is still somewhat soft, add other toppings like Walden Farms Caramel syrup.  I used the caramel syrup, because I ran out of the chocolate kind!

Looks delicious right?  This gives my sweet tooth what it wants without breaking my diet, so it is the perfect end to my day!

I am off to bed, bloggers!  Thanks again for reading!  I have one more day of workouts for week 3, then a restful weekend ahead before the last week of Phase 1!!!

LiveFit Trainer Phase 1 Days 16 and 17...Breakfast Pizza

Sorry again for combining two days in one post, but I really want to make these worth reading.  I also really like to include pictures, so since I didn't have any from yesterday, I decided to wait and write all of it for today.  But let's start with day 16.

Day 16's workout is for Back and Biceps and is as follows:

• Hammer Strength Lat Pull: 3 sets of 10 reps
• Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown: 3 sets of 10 reps
• Seated Narrow Grip Cable Rows: 3 sets of 10 reps
• T-Bar Row, also known as a Long Bar Row: 3 sets of 10 reps
• Back Extensions: 3 sets of 10 reps (These were killer after the Single Leg Deadlifts from Monday!)
• Barbell Curl: 3 sets of 10 reps
• Incline Dumbbell Curl: 3 sets of 10 reps
• Alternate Hammer Curl: 3 sets of 10 reps

I was so excited after I finished this workout, because I could actually see my biceps without bending my arms!  I love when the muscles get swollen like that!  I'm becoming such a gym rat, if I wasn't already! :)

I spent the rest of my day yesterday with friends watching 3D movies.  I planned ahead and brought my own food, knowing that I wanted to stick to the plan.  My friends got two $5 Little Caesar's pizzas, and I had my bright yellow lunchbox!  I love that my friends were not even surprised at all that I brought my own lunchbox full of food.  I brought 2 slices of Carrot Cake Protein Bars from my last post, a protein shake made with Body Fortress vanilla creme whey and unsweetened almond milk, 4 oz. of baked chicken breast, and green beans.  I ended up staying longer than I thought though and didn't bring enough food!  It got to 9:00 PM, which was time for my evening snack, and I was all out of food!  But my friends are awesome and took me on a Wal-Mart trip to get me a pint of Arctic Zero Chocolate Peanut Butter ice cream.  Now this really hit the spot for me last night.  Arctic Zero tastes guilty, but it is lactose free, gluten free, and low calorie.  I can eat the entire pint for only 150 calories, and it's made with whey protein!

I am so thankful to my friends for allowing me to follow this lifestyle.  They joked about the pizza, but they were all very supportive!

Now for day 17.  To begin with, my workout today was Chest and Triceps.

• Wide Push-ups: 3 sets of 10 reps
• Incline Dumbbell Press: 3 sets of 10 reps
• Flat Bench Flyes: 3 sets of 10 reps
• Decline Flyes: 3 sets of 10 reps
• Bench Dips: 3 sets of 10 reps
• Lying EZ-Bar Tricep Extensions: 3 sets of 10 reps
• Dumbbell Tricep Kickbacks: 3 sets of 10 reps
• Overhead Two Handed Tricep Extensions: 3 sets of 10 reps
• Cable One Arm Triceps Extensions: 3 sets of 10 reps

There were a lot of workouts in this exercise set that I had seen people do in the gym but hadn't tried myself.  The Flat Bench Flyes and Decline Flyes were awesome, because gravity was working against me to pull the weights down as I was trying to pull them up.

I felt freaking awesome after this workout.  I have been in such a good mood lately!  I am no where near where I want to be with my ideal body and fitness goals, but I am happy and loving life.  I had someone today tell me my shoulders were looking more muscular, which is awesome!  I love that I am starting to see results!  Yes there are still things in my life that I would change, like a full time job, my own place or a relationship, but nothing can bring me down, and life is good!

I've talked enough about workouts and my good mood, on to better subjects: food!!

After seeing all of that pizza my friends ate last night, I wanted some myself, but some that wouldn't break my diet.  Therefore, I decided to make a healthy breakfast pizza!  I'll list my ingredients, but you can top it with any vegetables, eggs or meats that you want.

Ingredients:
1 La Tortilla Factory Low Carb High Fiber wrap
Pam olive oil spray
Garlic Powder
Oregano
6 T liquid egg whites
1/2 chopped yellow bell pepper
1/2 c Hunts diced fire roasted tomatoes
1 oz. Mt. Olive's jalapenos
2 slices of Go Veggie! provolone cheese

Saute the yellow peppers and cook the eggs in a pan with your spices on the stove top.  While this is cooking, spray a cookie tray and both sides of the wrap with the Pam olive oil spray and place on tray.  Sprinkle a little bit of garlic powder on the top of the wrap and smash the 1/2 c of diced tomatoes on it, just like pizza sauce.  Once the eggs and peppers are cooked, add this to the pizza too.  Add the jalapenos and cheese as well.  Sprinkle a little bit of oregano on top.

Bake in a 400 degree Fahrenheit oven for 5-7 minutes.  I cooked mine for 7, but the edges of the wrap were extremely crispy.

It's no Little Caesar's, but it fixed my craving!

This wasn't really a pizza I could pick up with my hands and had to eat it with a fork, but this was still so good!  If you are a pizza lover like I am, then I would definitely try this recipe!!  I hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far!

LiveFit Trainer Phase 1 Day 15 and Carrot Cake Protein Bars

I can't believe it's already the beginning of week 3.  Only 9 more to go after this!  I have followed the trainer almost perfectly for the last 3 days, and I only have two and a half weeks until Warrior Dash.  I know I can get to the race without any cheats, especially after the amazing protein bars I made today!  Seriously they are like cake!  But first I want to talk about my new workouts.

As I mentioned in my last post, today was leg day, one of two for the week.  I absolutely love lifting for legs, because it is the strongest part of my body due to many years of cheerleading and gymnastics.  The following is the phase 1 leg day for weeks 3 and 4 of the trainer:

• Leg Extensions: 3 sets of 10 reps
• Wide Stance Barbell Squats: 3 sets of 10 reps (These are my absolute favorite!)
• Walking Barbell Lunge: 3 sets of 10 reps (I used two dumbbells rather than a barbell.)
• Single-Leg Kettlebell Deadlifts: 3 sets of 10 reps on each leg (I have never done these before, but they definitely worked my hamstrings like no tomorrow!)
• Lying Leg Curls: 3 sets of 10 reps
• Seated Calf Raise: 3 sets of 10 reps
• Standing Calf Raise: 3 sets of 10 reps

I was a little bit worried about the lunges because of my knee.  Before physical therapy, I was unable to do them, because it felt like my knee was just going to tear.  I hadn't tried doing them again until today, but I didn't have much pain at all!  The deadlifts were extremely difficult, because I had to balance on my bad knee with a 30 lb. kettlebell.  However, I pushed through and completed my sets.  My knee doesn't even hurt as I sit here to write this, and I even did an hour of Zumba this evening too.

I hadn't planned on Zumba, but my mom said she was teaching tonight.  So I went to support her.  Plus what's a little ass shaking going to hurt?! :)

Today was also meal prep day.  I made the usual chicken, brown rice, and veggies for lunches and dinners.

All of my meals

 The picture below is how I measure out my chicken.  If you are serious about dieting and eating right, you absolutely have to measure stuff out.  I use this cheap kitchen scale that I got at Wal-Mart when I was living at school to weigh out my 4 oz. servings of chicken every time I prep.  It was really inexpensive but one of the best purchases I could have made.  4 oz. is not an entire chicken breast.  It is more like 1/2 to 3/4 depending on the thickness of it.  While eating a whole chicken breast probably wouldn't hurt much, I count calories, and therefore need to be sure of my exact intake.

Now on to the best part of my meal prep for this week.  The LiveFit Trainer has a section of recipes, a lot of which I have made previously, like Italian Turkey Burgers and Pumpkin Spice pancakes.  I will most likely make these again and post the recipes.  However the recipe I made tonight is one that I haven't tried before.  Everyone who knows me knows how much I LOVE Quest bars, but they are super expensive.  And right now I just can't afford them.  I have 6 left, and I am saving them up!  Therefore, in order to save a little money until next payday, I made Jamie Eason's Carrot Cake Protein Bars!  Rather than send you guys to the website, I will post the recipe here, but all credit goes to Jamie Eason!

Ingredients:
1 c oat flour
2 scoops vanilla whey protein powder
2 t cinnamon
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1/8 t allspice (I used Pumpkin Pie Spice.)
1/8 t nutmeg
4 egg whites
3/4 c Splenda, Stevia, Truvia, or Ideal
8 oz. baby food carrots
4 oz. water (Optional-I did not need it.)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Mix together flour, protein powder, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.  In a separate bowl, mix together egg whites, sweetener, baby food carrots, and water if necessary.  I would suggest waiting to add the water to see if you even need it.  Next, add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix together.  I used a hand mixer to make sure it really combined well.  Spray an 8 x 8 dish with Pam or some other non-stick spray, and pour batter into dish.

Bake for 20-30 minutes.  Mine only took 20 minutes, but every oven varies.

After baking

I was surprised by how much the cake rose while baking.  It came out a lot thicker than I thought it would, which makes the fat kid inside me very happy!  Let the cake cool fully before cutting into 16 squares.

Cake! Cake! Cake!

I almost felt guilty eating this.  Not going to lie, I ate 4 pieces after I finished washing my meal prep dishes!  Jamie says that 2 squares from a pan cut into 16 pieces is a serving size, but the macros I will give are for a single square or 1/16 of the cake.

Macros:
55 calories
0.7 grams of fat
6.4 grams of carbs
1.1 grams of dietary fiber
0.6 grams of sugar
6 grams of protein

Do yourself a favor, and make these, especially if you're addicted to super expensive protein bars and broke like me!

LiveFit Trainer Phase 1 Day 14

I started to take pictures of all of my food today, but then I realized it was pretty similar to yesterday.
Breakfast:
9:00 AM

• 6 T liquid egg whites
• Red and green peppers
• Mushrooms
• 1 slice whole grain Ezekiel bread

12:00 PM

• 1 scoop Body Fortress vanilla whey protein powder
• 1 c unsweetened almond milk
• Brownie Quest bar

3:00 PM

• 4 oz. baked chicken breast
• 1/2 c brown rice
• 1 c steamed broccoli
• Walden Farms Tomato Basil dressing

6:00 PM

• 4 oz. baked chicken breast
• 1 c steamed broccoli
• Walden Farms Tomato Basil dressing

9:00 PM

• 1 scoop Body Fortress vanilla whey protein powder
• 1 c unsweetened almond milk
• 2 T PB2
• 1 serving of Key Lime Protein Jello sprinkled with Splenda

All of this isn't exactly to the diet plan, but they are all foods on Jamie Eason's list of allowed foods.  I had to adjust in order to fit it to my work schedule, since I only had one break today.  Plus I was really getting sick of eggs, and the thought of eating egg whites at 9:00 PM made me sick.  Therefore, I had a protein shake, which was delicious!

Tomorrow is a whole new beast, and I am so excited for this new leg workout!!!

LiveFit Trainer Phase 1 Day 13

1 day of no cheats or binges until Warrior Dash down and 21 more to go!

Today in order to keep myself accountable, I took pictures of all of my food for you all to see.  I followed the diet plan as closely as I possibly could, but working in retail doesn't always allow me to leave my post every 3 hours to eat.  I also had to rearrange some carbs, so I didn't break the no starches after 7:00 PM rule.  I was actually quite surprised, but I didn't feel deprived of food today at all.  Even when a lovely pizza showed up at work!

I did, however, choke down some foods I don't like.  I am a huge hater of eggs.  I cannot eat real ones at all; I prefer the liquid ones, but even those are gross to me.  Two of my meals on the trainer consist of egg whites, so I have to get them in somehow.  If I could change anything about my diet, the eggs would be it, but what can you do when it's a super food!

Here are my eats for the day in comparison to the diet laid out for phase 1:
Breakfast:
5 egg whites
1 starch
Unlimited veggies

Mid-morning Snack:
Greek yogurt or Protein shake or Protein bar

Lunch:
Lean meat
Unlimited veggies
1 starch

Mid-afternoon Snack:
Same as mid-morning

Dinner:
Lean meat
Unlimited veggies
1 starch

Evening Snack:
5-6 egg whites
Unlimited veggies

No exercise for me today.  I decided to stick to the trainer and make it a rest day.  One thing about this diet that I cannot stress enough is to PLAN!!!  This is what I took to work with me today in order to fit in all of my meals, since I worked 3:00 PM to 11:00 PM and didn't wake up this morning until 9:00 AM.

I was surprised to see though that after eating all of that I was still under 1,200 calories, which makes me feel better!  I'm going to try to get up earlier tomorrow, so I don't have to stress too much about having enough time to get all of my meals in.   Night bloggers!

LiveFit Trainer Phase 1 Days 11 and 12

I have been doing this trainer for almost two weeks now, and I continuously have the urge to binge eat.  After a really awesome day on the lake, which I will get into later, I came home and basically ate all the food in the house.  Not all healthy choices either.  I was feeling really guilty about it, but I went back to the bodybuilding.com website, reviewed the trainer and read some articles.  I realized that even though I thought I was following the trainer's diet plan, I really wasn't.  I was too worried about keeping my calories under 1,200 and wasn't sufficiently fueling my body, which caused me to binge.  Therefore, I decided that I will continue to track what I eat, but I will not necessarily be counting my calories.  I will follow the trainer's diet plan more specifically.  It is a tried and true method, so I should trust it.  The Phase 1 diet plan for females is as follows:

Breakfast:
5 egg whites
Unlimited vegetables
1 serving starch (Ezekiel bread/wraps, oats, whole wheat pasta, potato, brown rice, rice cakes, chickpeas, beans, or quinoa)

Mid-morning:
Greek yogurt or protein shake or protein bar

Lunch:
Lean meat
Unlimited veggies
1 serving starch

Mid-afternoon:
Same as mid-morning

Dinner:
Lean meat
Unlimited veggies
1 serving starch

Evening:
5-6 egg whites
Unlimited veggies

**No starches after 7:00 PM or 3 hours before bedtime.
**Limit fruit to twice daily.

For motivation, I've also decided I need to read the trainer more often.  Jamie Eason has daily videos that I feel I need to watch in order to keep me on track.

Anyway, tomorrow is a new day, and Monday begins a new set of phase 1 workouts.  The new workouts are set on a 5 day split rather than a 4 day split with 2 leg days!!!  Ahhh!!!  The workouts look a lot tougher, and I'm looking forward to working my ass off.  I have 22 days until Warrior Dash, and my goal is to kick butt on my workouts and stick to my diet 99% of the time until then.  I would really like to make it to Warrior Dash without any cheats, then I can make that an epic cheat day!

Enough talking about the future, let's talk a little bit about the last two days.  Yesterday, I worked.  I was able to get through my Shoulder/Abs workout and about 10 minutes on the elliptical before I needed to deal with some important family stuff.  Today I spent the day on Lake Erie fishing with my dad.

I have been wanting to go walleye fishing on the lake for a while now and finally got a coinciding day off work to go.  My distant cousin Ross is a charter boat captain for Bigwater, and he took us out.

Captain Ross Robertson

With a lot of Ross's help, I was able to reel in a 12-plus pounder that was 31 inches long!  This thing was a tank!  I had so much fun, and I think I actually got a tan!

Still can't believe my hand was stuffed up in it's gill! 

Me and my Dad

That thing is looks like it's the size of me almost in this picture!

I realize fishing is not necessarily "food blog" related, but it was a pretty good workout and a ton of fun.  If you like fishing and are near Lake Erie, I would definitely check out Ross and Bigwater.  Also, I was starting to notice some thigh definition in this photos, which is pretty exciting.

I was going to go to the gym and run for a little bit, but I was so zapped from the sun that I had zero energy!  Tomorrow I am going to try to do some sort of cardio even though the trainer says it's a rest day, because what's a little cardio going to hurt, right?

LiveFit Trainer Phase 1 Day 10

I am pretty sure I won't be able to walk tomorrow!  I may have gone a little workout crazy today, but I figured why not?

I started out at the gym to do my LiveFit Leg Day routine and ended up meeting or beating my PR's for every exercise!  Most of the weights I upped by about 20 pounds!!  I swear if I would have had to walk down stairs or something, my legs would have definitely given out.  But instead of going home, I decided to do some cardio, since I ate a lot of food yesterday.  So after all of that, I busted my ass on the Arc Trainer for 30 minutes.

I ran home and got a Quest Cookie Dough bar and ate it on my way to the rec center for round 2.  My mom was teaching Zumba tonight!  I was interested to measure it using my Polar watch, and I came out at 531 calories burned in an hour with my heart rate at an average of 154 and a maximum of 173!

Let's just say I am exhausted and am definitely going to sleep well tonight!

LiveFit Trainer Phase 1 Day 9 and Paleo Brownies

Today was just an altogether awesome day!  I had a day off work and plans to hang out with friends.  I started off my morning with a testing of a new recipe for my own Cookie Dough Pop Tart, which isn't perfect yet, so I'm not posting the recipe.  I went to the gym to do the regular Back/Biceps workout, which according to my Polar watch burned about 200 calories.  For lunch I had my regular prepped food: baked chicken, brown rice, and veggies.  Since I was going out with friends later, I decided to test out a new paleo brownie recipe I've been dying to try.  This recipe comes from the Instagram of @hungryhappens.  It is a triple layer brownie with the third layer being a coconut topping.  I am not the biggest fan of coconut, but this was actually really good.  My mom and dad even said this was the best recipe I've made to date of the ones they've tried.  Everyone loved these, so do yourself and favor and make them!!

Ingredients:
Brownie Layer:
15 pitted dates
1/4 c coconut oil, melted
2 T coconut flour
3 eggs whisked, or 9 T liquid egg whites
1/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder
2 T raw honey
1 t vanilla extract
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t baking powder
pinch of salt

Middle Layer:
1/2 c unsweetened raw cocoa chips (I used Enjoy Life dairy free, soy free and nut free chips)

Coconut Layer:
1 1/2 c shredded unsweetened coconut (This is difficult to find.  I found it with the Bob's Red Mill flours/sugars.)
2 T coconut oil, melted
2 T coconut butter, melted
1 T raw honey
2 egg whites or 6 T liquid egg whites, whisked until foamy
pinch of salt

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Begin with the brownie layer.  In a food processor, process dates into a paste.  This is a very thick paste, and it stuck the the blades of my food processor.  So you may have to push it off the blades a couple of times.  Next, add in the coconut oil and cocoa powder.

Puree again to mix it all together.  Then, add eggs, coconut flour, honey, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Puree. Grease an 8 x 8 pan and cover the bottom with this brownie mixture.  Try to control yourself and don't eat too much of the batter, but it is so delicious on it's own!!

Evenly top the brownie layer with the 1/2 c of cocoa chips.

To make the final layer, in a bowl, mix the coconut flakes, coconut oil, coconut butter and honey.

 Microwave for 1 minute and mix.  Then add the whisked egg and salt and mix well.  Pour evenly over the batter and cocoa chips in the pan.

Bake for 25-30 minutes.  Mine only took 25 minutes.  Let it cool, cut and EAT!!!!

Also while hanging out, my friend Jen and I tried a Market Bistro downtown called Spoon.

Dinner may have not completely fit my daily caloric intake, but it was still a pretty healthy choice minus the ciabatta roll my sandwich was on.  I had the Dr. Strangelove sandwich, which was portobello mushrooms, roasted red peppers, goat cheese and pesto, plus I added chicken, on a ciabatta roll.  I also had a side of their homemade kale chips and a pickle.  This food was absolutely amazing!

Sorry for another late post!!

LiveFitTrainer Phase 1 Day 8 and Pbeechie Pop Tarts

If you follow me on Facebook, you know it was pretty late when I went to write my Day 8 post, so instead I chose to fall asleep and do it when I was awake! I will still do a Day 9 post later today though!  So lucky you guys!!!

Week 2 is exactly the same as Week 1 in workouts and nutrition; however, with my new Polar watch, I decided to add in cardio early.  I figure if I have the energy to do it, why not?  I did the usual first day of the week workout (Chest and Triceps), but my gym was so busy I had to wait for all of the machines!  I hated waiting and usually tried to find something else to do while waiting, like additional sets or switch to another exercise on the list.  After getting all of the required lifts in, I decided that with Warrior Dash less than a month away, I would do some running for my cardio.  Now I am not a long distance runner by any means.  I have competed in 2 other 5K races before, but I did them for the charity they represented and for fun, not for time.  Therefore instead of just straight running, I do HIIT or High Intensity Interval Training.  If you have never heard of this Google it!  Basically what I do is after a 2 minute walking warm up, I run for a minute then walk for a minute, back and forth for about 30 minutes total.  Between the two workouts, I burned roughly 602 calories.

Now onto the second part of my title, POP TARTS!!!  Who doesn't love Pop Tarts?  I know I do.  My absolute favorite are the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.  I also really want to try the new Chocolate Peanut Butter, but that taste test will have to wait.  For now, I am testing out Pbeechie's recipes for Pop Tarts.  Check out her website for some awesome and healthy recipes!  http://www.thecoconutdiaries.net/  I have tried two of her Pop Tart recipes, but there are tons of others!  First is the Peanut Butter Pop Tart:

Ingredients:
2 T oat flour
2 T PB2
1 T almond flour
1 T coconut flour
1/4 t vanilla extract
1 t Stevia
1/4 c unsweetened almond milk
1 La Tortilla Factory Low Carb High Fiber Wrap

Mix together all of the ingredients, except the tortilla obviously.  I just used a small bowl and mixed with a fork.

Next spread the batter onto a single tortilla in somewhat of a rectangle smack dab in the center.

Fold in the sides of the tortilla.  It will stick to the batter and stay shut.

Place the pop tart on a panini press type heated plate.  I used the flat plates of my waffle maker, but if you don't have any of these, I would suggest using a skillet on the stove and placing another skillet on top to keep it flat.  If you do this make sure you flip it at some point so both sides get browned.  If using the panini press or waffle maker, place the pop tart with the folded side down.

Heat it until golden brown.

They are way bigger than normal pop tarts!  It is basically the size of my hand!

Once complete, you can top it with whatever you want.  I suggest peanut butter, PB2 spread, Greek yogurt, or bananas.  To keep it lower calorie, I topped mine with banana slices and Walden Farms Chocolate Sauce.

For me, this was delicious, but a little bit too flour-y for my taste.  I was hoping for a lot more peanut butter flavor.

I calculated the macros with the ingredients I used on myfitnesspal, and here is what it came up with:

Macros without toppings (serves 1):
266 calories
10.8 grams of fat
36.3 grams of carbs
19 grams of dietary fiber
3.8 grams of sugar
18.4 grams of protein

I also tried Pbeechie's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Pop Tart.  By the way, I did not make all of these on Day 8.  I had the Peanut Butter one on Day 7!

Ingredients:
Pop Tart Base:
3 T oat flour
1 T coconut flour
1 T unsweetened applesauce
1 T Walden Farms pancake syrup
2 T water
Stevia to taste
1/4 t butter extract
1/4 Chocolate Brownie Quest Bar
1 La Tortilla Factory Low Carb High Fiber wrap

Chocolate Icing:
2 T non fat plain Greek yogurt
1/2 chocolate protein powder
Stevia to taste

Cookie Drizzle:
1 T non fat plain Greek yogurt
1 T Walden Farms pancake syrup

Begin by mixing together the pop tart base ingredients, mixing everything but the Quest bar and the tortilla.  When the batter is mixed thoroughly, break up the 1/4 Quest bar into small chocolate "chips."  I started by cutting mine with a knife but got impatient and just started ripping it.

Put together your pop tart exactly like the peanut butter one and cook on the panini press until golden brown.  While your pop tart is cooking, mix together the chocolate icing and cookie drizzle.  Let your pop tart cool before topping, because warmed up Greek yogurt is just nasty!

Yum!!

Macros (including toppings):
375 calories
8 grams of fat
56.9 grams of carbs
22.8 grams of dietary fiber
6.8 grams of sugar
37.3 grams of protein

These are delicious!  Try them out for yourself.  I will be making me own and changing up the recipes a little bit to try to make them better fit my macros and calorie intake.  I like to have a larger breakfast, and one pop tart is just not filling enough for me!  I would also like them to be less flour-y and a little bit sweeter.

In the meantime, check out Pbeechie's website!

LiveFit Trainer Phase 1 Day 7

Week one done!!  11 more to go!!

I was way off at work tonight and ended up eating a bunch of chocolate, but according to myfitnesspal, I was almost 2,000 calories under budget for the week.  Therefore, I'm letting it go and making tomorrow a new week to be better!  I am my own worst critic, and I'm trying to be better at that.  So while this first week may not have been perfect, I know I can do better next week.  I'm also planning on trying to add some more cardio, which shouldn't be too hard considering I'm really curious about my new Polar watch.

I tried a new breakfast recipe for Peanut Butter pop tarts today from an Instagram I follow.  I am going to try a Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough version and may experiment again with the Peanut Butter one in the next couple of days,but once I get the recipes to match my tastes, I will be doing a double post for my daily check in and the recipes!  The Peanut Butter one I had today was tasty and a nice change of pace, but it wasn't high enough in protein and kind of dry.  I wanted it to be more peanut buttery as well.

Not too much by way of excitement today, so this is it!  Hope everyone had a great weekend!  Tomorrow is the start of a new week.  Think of it in a positive way, rather than "ugh! It's Monday!"

LiveFit Trainer Phase 1 Day 6

Almost done with week one!!  I had to be up early for work this morning, and since the last time I worked I got dizzy mid-morning, I decided to have a substantial breakfast with a little more sugar than just eggs and oatmeal.  Plus it is my all time favorite flavor combination!  Chocolate!  Peanut Butter!  Banana!!!  Two slices of Cinnamon Raisin Ezekiel bread, which is my all time favorite, with 2 T Peanut Butter and Co. Dark Chocolate Dreams Peanut Butter and banana slices!  So delicious!

Work was....well...work.  We were busy as heck, but I got to wear a Batman shirt so not too bad!  At work I had the usual lunch of chicken, veggies, brown rice, and a Quest Bar Brownie for a snack.  I microwaved my Quest bar, and my boss asked me what it was.  So I obviously went on for about 10 minutes about how amazing Quest bars are!!  Anyway, I was really proud of myself for ignoring the giant bowls of candy on the table all day at work!

I have no clue why we had candy, but I didn't have a single piece!  After work, my brother and I finally got to go on our hike!  It was super fun and piping hot out!  We hiked for almost 2 hours.  Though this wasn't totally on purpose.  We kind of got lost.  There are quite a few trails in the same area, and I thought I was more experienced with the 3.6 mile outer trail.  I suggested we take that one, but after a while I realized I had no clue where we were.  Oops!  After about an hour and half, my brother and I were exhausted and definitely ready to go home.  It was like the trail was never ending!  Eventually I let my brother and his incredibly accurate inner compass take the lead, and we finally made it back.

Another exciting thing about our hike was I got to use my Polar watch for the first time!  That thing is awesome!  If you are at all interested in fitness and increasing your activity level, I highly suggest getting one!

I was absolutely starving when we got home, so I ate my prepped dinner and the rest of the Jello, which was only about two servings.  I also munched on some Townhouse Flatbread Italian Herb crackers, pickles, and Dark Chocolate Dreams PB, while food prepping for next week.  So my ending diet wasn't very good.  I don't really feel too guilty though, because we burned so much hiking!

I had so much fun today, so my advice is if you don't like working out, do something fun and active outdoors with your friends or family.  You won't realize how much of a work out you're actually getting!!!

LiveFit Trainer Phase 1 Day 5

Today was a rough day!  I did not eat any of my pre-prepped meals for lunch or dinner, because nothing sounded good to me at all.   But let's start at the beginning!

I woke up this morning feeling pretty awesome.  Although I had planned on only weighing myself at the start of every week, I was really curious this morning and decided to weigh myself unofficially just to see.  I had lost 3.6 pounds in just 4 days!  I'm sure most of that is just residual water weight, but it means I'm on track to meet my goals.  I was getting sick of oatmeal for breakfast, so last night I decided that I'd make an egg scramble sandwich with Ezekiel Sprouted Whole Grain bread, which is on Jamie Eason's list of good starches!  I absolutely love this bread.  It is 80 calories a slice, 15 grams of carbs with 3 of those grams being dietary fiber,and 4 grams of protein.  This stuff is nutrition dense and absolutely delicious.  I am already planning on having the Cinnamon Raisin Ezekiel bread for tomorrow's breakfast!  I'm definitely going to be switching up my breakfasts a little bit more, because eggs and oatmeal get old real fast!  Plus I don't even like eggs.

Anywho, when next meal time came around, I was just not hungry at all.  Nothing sounded good, especially not the prepped chicken, rice, and snap peas I had in the fridge.  So I decided to have a Cookie Dough Quest bar instead.  If you haven't tried Quest bars, I highly suggest them.  I haven't found a flavor I don't like, and they are all natural and gluten free!

While savoring my delicious Quest bar, I found out I did not get the job I was hoping for, which is disappointing, BUT I truly believe that everything happens for a reason.  There will be another opportunity right around the corner.  God has plans for me; I just haven't quite figured them out yet.  So in my state of sadness, I decided to eat another Quest bar.  My stomach did not like this idea.  I'm not sure why, and I don't think it has anything to do with the bars at all.  I've been getting weird dizzy spells and hot flashes about 2 times a week lately, and I'm thinking I'll probably go to the doctor soon.  Anyway, after that absolutely NOTHING sounded good to my stomach, but dad and I went grocery shopping for the family and next week's meal prep.  I found a new flavor of my favorite brand of healthy cereals that actually sounded good when I saw it on the shelf.  

EnviroKidz is an all natural, gluten and wheat free, organic company that makes cereals, granola and such.  I absolutely love their Peanut Butter Panda Puffs.  I cannot keep that stuff in the house.  I will eat it all in like a day!  But this cereal actually did not make me want to gag when thinking about eating it, so when we got home I had two servings with almond milk.  And it didn't make me sick!!!  I was even able to eat a Brownie flavored Quest bar too.  I made sure I ate the cereal before 7:00 PM to abide by Jamie's no starches after 7 rule, so technically I did not break my diet too badly.  I would not say that I was perfect on my diet today though.  

Hopefully I'll feel better tomorrow.

However, there was one really awesome thing that happened today that I'm really excited about.....my Polar watch came in the mail!!!!

These little fitness beauties measure your heart rate through a monitor worn on your chest and calculate calorie burn during a workout session, and they are very accurate!  I'm so stoked to get to try mine.  My brother and I will most likely move our hike to tomorrow when I get off work, so I'll be using it during that!!

Thanks for reading!!

LiveFit Trainer Phase 1 Day 4

I woke up this morning with a hankering for peanut butter, so I switched around my breakfast to be able to include peanut butter in my macros.  Plus, I was getting sick of oatmeal and liquid egg whites.  For the last three days, I've been making plain oatmeal to package instructions and mixing in the egg whites.  It tastes fine, but it's definitely a texture you have to get used to.  So today, I tried pancakes using my allotted ingredients for breakfast and mid-morning snack, since I didn't get around to breakfast until about 11:00 AM.  I used 1/4 c. oats, 9 T liquid egg whites, 2 T fat free cottage cheese, and 1 scoop of vanilla whey protein powder, blended together with Stevia and Cinnamon and topped with Walden Farms syrup and Better 'n PB peanut butter.

Well, the pancakes did not really work very well without a fruit base (see some earlier posts for recipes), but they were edible.

I'm still sick of oats and liquid egg whites, so I'm gonna try an egg sandwich tomorrow.  My eating schedule was off today again, because I decided to spend most of the day with my grandma who isn't feeling so well.  I wasn't even hungry for my lunch, because I was eating it only a couple of hours after pancakes!

Alright, now enough about food, here was today's workout for Shoulders and Abs:

• Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press
• Standing Dumbbell Front Deltoid Raise to Top
• Side Lateral Dumbbell Raises
• Rear Deltoid Raises
• Exercise Ball Crunches
• Air Bike

I was going to do some cardio, since Zumba got cancelled yesterday due to the storm.  But I hadn't eaten dinner yet, and it was already 8:00 PM when I left the gym.  Maybe tomorrow I'll go on a hike or something.

Look for some information about my supplementation in tomorrow's post!!  I'm getting much more traffic on my site, which is really exciting!  Thank you so much for reading!!

LiveFit Trainer Phase 1 Day 3

This is going to be a very brief post with no pictures, because I am beyond ready for bed!  Today was absolutely crazy!  We had a tornado warning in my area, which just happened to hit as I was getting ready for work and headed to the gym.  I was still able to get in my favorite workout though: legs!!!

• Leg Press
• Leg Extensions
• Seated Leg Curls
• Wide Stance Barbell Squats
• Standing Calf Raises with dumbbells
• Seated Calf Raises

I also added two additional lifts from my physical therapy sessions, because my hips are weak.

• Hip Adductors
• Hip Abductors

Today was also a little crazy with my food schedule.  Despite eating a pretty substantial oatmeal, egg whites, and pumpkin breakfast, I felt very shaky and weak by mid-morning, so rather than having my protein shake, I ate my regular afternoon Quest bar in the morning.  I did not have a mid-afternoon snack but had another Quest bar with dinner and some Orange Creamsicle protein Jello around 9:00 PM.  So I kind of got off the eating every three hours schedule, but I got my macro-nutrients in the end.

Tomorrow's post will be longer I promise!  I will discuss breakfast and supplements.  I have tomorrow off, and the only thing I have scheduled is to go to my crazy allergist!

Have a great night, and if you and your family were effected by the weather, I wish you all the best!

LiveFit Trainer Phase 1 Day 2

Day 2 is coming to a close!  I woke up this morning feeling awesome because of all of the extra water weight I lost yesterday.  Guys, I drank roughly 170 ounces of water yesterday.  I googled, and a gallon is equal to 128 ounces.  So I drank over a gallon of water yesterday.  Today I drank about 20 ounces less than that, because I don't want to over hydrate.  But I am still feeling pretty great overall.

I had to work again today, so my eating and workout schedule went around that.

My knee was a little sore from Zumba yesterday, so no cardio for me.  I simply did the lifting back/biceps workout from the trainer, which was:

• Wide Grip Lateral Pulldowns
• One Arm Dumbbell Rows
• Seated Cable Rows
• Underhand Cable Pulldowns
• Alternating Dumbbell Bicep Curls
• One Arm Dumbbell Preacher Curls
• Standing Biceps Cable Curls

I took the pre-workout C4 again, but I didn't feel as jittery today.  I think it may have something to do with the fact that I was super stressed today, and I probably had a lot of adrenaline anyway.  But I was really proud of myself.  Even though I was stressed, I didn't let myself succumb to it, and I stuck to the plan.  Today really proved to me that this is all mind over matter.  The only difference I made to my meals that deviated from the original plan was my last meal, which according to schedule should have come at 10:30 tonight, but I'm tired and will probably be in bed by then.  So I ate it with dinner.  My meals were as follows:
7:00 AM-9 T liquid egg whites, 1/2 c. oats, Stevia/Cinnamon, Walden Farms pancake syrup
10:00 AM- 1 scoop whey protein
1:00 PM-4 oz. baked chicken breast, 1/2 c. brown rice, 2/3 c. green beans
4:30 PM- Quest bar Cookie Dough flavor
7:30 PM- 4 oz. baked chicken breast, 2/3 c. green beans, Orange Creamsicle Protein Jello

You may notice that there isn't much of a difference between what I ate yesterday and what I ate today.  My food will basically stay pretty similar or change weekly, since I am prepping everything to keep myself accountable.  The orange creamsicle protein Jello was what I was going to eat at 10:30 PM, but I pushed it up.  What that is basically is 2 packages of orange sugar free Jello made to package instructions but with 1 scoop of vanilla whey protein powder dissolved into the cold water before adding it to the Jello mixture.  It kinda looks weird, because the Jello and the protein are different densities.  But it tastes pretty good and is very low in calories!  I didn't make it to necessarily be a meal daily but as a buffer if I get hungry in between meals.

Well time for a bath and then bed!  Can't wait for tomorrow!  It's leg day!!!

LiveFit Trainer Phase 1 Day 1

I cannot express how ready and excited I was to start this trainer!  Since my cousin's bachelorette party in April, I have been struggling to keep up with my diet and workouts.  I have also been waiting to hear about a job that I am really hoping I get and dealing with family issues, so I have been stress eating like crazy!  And by crazy, I mean eating two cupcakes, pop-tarts, cookies, pizza, ice cream sandwiches, candy, and a bunch of other stuff all in one day.  I was filling my body with crap, and it really doesn't matter how much you workout if your diet sucks!  A while ago, I was introduced Jamie Eason, a fitness model and writer, on bodybuilding.com, and I have been wanting to complete her trainer forever!  The results pictures she has posted on her Facebook page look amazing!  What I like most about the trainer is that it is set up in three phases of 4 weeks each, and the lifting/cardio workouts and days change every 2 weeks.  So it's always new!

When I decided I was going to start the trainer today, I spent Saturday and Sunday planning and prepping!  For me, with diet, I have to plan in order to stick to it 100%.  Saturday I wrote out daily plans for the whole week with times for work, working out, eating, appointments, etc.  I am a super organized person, and writing everything out helps me a lot!

Working out and anything else I have scheduled for the day is listed on the left.  Today my workout was chest and triceps.  3 sets of 12 reps for each of the following:
Wide push-ups
Flat Dumbbell Bench Press
Narrow push-ups
Cable Crossover Flys
Standing Dumbbell Tricep Extensions
Tricep Pushdowns
The first phase of the trainer does not include cardio, but because I am competing in the Warrior Dash in 5 weeks, I will be doing Zumba on Mondays and Wednesdays with my mom and High Intensity Intervals on the treadmill on Friday.

Meals are listed on the right of my planner.  I eat every 3 hours, so basically breakfast, lunch, dinner, and 2-3 snacks.  There are no starches 3 hours before bed.  Today, my meals were as follows:
6:00 AM- 9 T liquid egg whites, 1/2 c. oats sweetened with Stevia, cinnamon, and Walden Farms pancake syrup
9:00 AM-1 scoop Body Fortress whey protein shake
12:00 PM-4 oz. baked chicken breast, 1/2 c. brown rice, and 2/3 c. green beans
3:30 PM-Quest Bar Chocolate Brownie
6:30 PM-4 oz. baked chicken breast, 2/3 c. green beans
9:30 PM-6 oz. plain, non fat Greek yogurt sweetened with Stevia.
I prepped lunch and dinner meals for the entire week, so that I have no excuses.  All I have to do is pull out the Tupperware from the refrigerator and microwave it!

I am also keeping track of my water intake.  So far I've had 5-20 oz. bottles of water, and I plan to have at least 2 more.  Another new thing that I'm trying out with this trainer is preworkout.  I have never used a preworkout supplement before, and since I've been pretty lazy with my workouts, I figured it would be a good way to boost my energy to get them done.

I used Cellucor C4 in Strawberry Margarita flavor from GNC.  This stuff was delicious.  It did make me a little jittery, but it definitely gave me a lot of energy.

I have high hopes for this trainer, and I am already feeling more energized and healthy.  My body was really feeling crappy after eating all of that trash food.  My goals for the next 12 weeks include:

• Goal Weight: 125 lb.
• Complete Warrior Dash without injury in under 40 minutes
• Abs!
• 90-100% clean foods--I am going to try to have no more than 1 cheat meal every two weeks.
• Be able to squat my body weight on the barbell.
• Run a 7 minute mile.
• Blog daily.

So far day 1 has been a piece of cake.  I haven't been hungry at all, and all of my meals have been delicious and satisfying.  I still have 2 more to go, Zumba for an hour, and then relaxing and watching softball the rest of the night.
Can't wait for tomorrow!  Feel free to leave any positive comments or questions you may have.  I am doing daily blog posts for this to show that progress and change takes time.

I have daily inspirational quotes that I am using as well to keep a positive attitude.  Today's quote is:
"It's not whether or not you get knocked down; it's what you do when you get back up!"

Sugar Free Chocolate Fudge

I don't remember where exactly I got this recipe from, but it was somewhere on Instagram.  I made this to take to an overnight at Kohl's, and everyone loved it!  My only disappointment with it was that the flavor wasn't very chocolate-y.  It has more of a banana flavor.

Ingredients:
1/2 c. melted organic coconut butter (I used Earth Balance Coconut Spread.)
160 g. very ripe banana
1/8 t. sea salt
8 tsp. sweetener (Splenda, Stevia, Xylitol)
1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 t. vanilla extract

First measure out the banana.  I used about 160 grams, which is what the recipe called for and turned out to be 1 1/2 bananas, but because the taste was not as chocolate-y as I had hoped, I may only use one banana next time.  I weighed mine on a cheap kitchen scale I think I got at Walgreen's or Wal-Mart.

Then process all of the ingredients in the food processor.  I used my Ninja (obviously!) with the smaller bowl.  You may have to stop the blender every once in a while to get batter off the sides and make sure it is all mixing well.  Once the batter is smooth, pour into a bread loaf pan that has been lined with wax paper.  Finally, let it set in the freezer.

Cut it up into squares and enjoy!  Store in the freezer until the deliciousness is gone!


Macros per square (makes 24 small squares):
41 calories
3.8 g. fat
2.4 g. carbs
.8 g. dietary fiber
1 g. sugar
.2 g. protein

Here's the Deal

Sorry for not posting lately! The last couple of weeks have been absolutely crazy, and I just haven't gotten the chance to sit down and write any posts.  I have some healthy fudge that needs written up, and I have been on the search for the perfect funfetti protein cookie.  I have tried cookies about four times, and I haven't quite gotten it right yet.  So be looking for posts about those.

Also, I haven't really been on my healthy eating game due to some serious stress eating!  Therefore, I decided that in order to keep myself accountable in my diet, workouts and blog posts, I will be beginning a 12 week Live Fit Trainer by Jamie Eason on bodybuilding.com.  I will be following the workouts and the basics of the nutrition plan adjusted to my tastes.  I am also going to try my best to make daily blog posts on what the trainer is for that day and on my progress throughout the 12 weeks.  I follow a lot of fitness accounts and have seen plenty of before and after pictures, but I have never seen a transformation progress detailed this much for this long.  I like to post things that would be helpful for me, so I hope this will be helpful to the few readers I have!  

So be looking for the first of many 12 week trainer posts on Monday!!  I can't wait to start!