Circuits

Great workout this morning. I finally came up with a brilliant idea to do my light leg day (plyos etc) early in the week so that later in the week when I can't walk from my heavy day I have already done my light day. I don't know why it took me until now to come up with that ;) Anyway, today I did this fat burning circuit. It was nuts. I was sweating like a mad woman.

Choose up to 8 exercises and number them (I did 6, I will work up to 8)

1. Jump squat x 15

2. DB swings x 20

3. Pushups x 15

4. Squat row x 20

5. Mountain climbers x 80

6. DB squat curl x 15

Start at #1, next do #1 and #2, next do #1, #2, and #3 and continue until you have gone all the way through. It took me about 35-40 minutes to do this. I then went and did a really light high rep of leg extensions and curls. 4 x 20

Felt really good!

One of my favorite things to eat! I may or may not have already posted this at some point but I am going to do it again! I make a pan of this and eat it over the course of a few days because I can change it up and it never gets old.

1 package brown rice (I use the microwave in 90 seconds because I suck at making rice ;) )
chicken breasts (I usually use 2-3) cooked and cubed

salsa (low sodium) eyeball it!

that is the base of it, here are some things I add to change it up

black beans, corn, artichoke hearts, tomatoes, light cheese

Cook rice and chicken. Add to pan and top with salsa. Mix it up really good and add any extra's that you may want. Bake on 350 for 20-25 minutes, just until hot!

I eat this a few different ways. Sometimes inside a corn tortilla topped with a little bit of yogurt ranch dressing. Sometimes I just like it all by itself as a rice bowl. Sometimes I throw it on top of a large plate of salad, and sometimes (like last night) I turn my corn tortilla into chips by spraying with PAM and throwing them under my broiler. Oh and super yummy with a little avocado on top!

Late nights and sore muscles

Happy Sunday!

I have had a pretty busy weekend. My son started baseball so we spent Saturday morning at the ball park. I have to admit it made me feel young again. I grew up on the ball park. No, I didn't play but my 3 brothers did and man I loved watching them. My dad also played softball most of my childhood. It was fun to see my son out there on the field. After that, the kids and I drove out to my sisters house to do some "crafting" which mostly means that I sit and watch her work her magic. And then I come home with some pretty cute stuff :) She is incredible. So talented, she will just get an idea and whala... a masterpiece. We, or rather she made Easter baskets for our kids. They turned out darling. We ended up staying over until 11 pm talking and crafting and time sure flies when we are all having fun! Needless to say today was "sleep in" day. My kids didn't get up until 10:30. Eeks!

My workouts have been rough this week because I have been so freakishly sore from my leg and back and bi day this week. Honestly, legs was Tuesday and I am JUST NOW... as in TODAY able to go up and down my stairs without wincing in pain or screaming. SO... my two leg days this week... was one... but it was a good one :) I have tried out a couple of new recipes this week. I made some no bake protein bars to keep on hand for those "moments" using oats, fitnutz, almond milk, cocoa powder, truvia and some sugar free PB syrup. I also made myself a stuffed green pepper filled with ground turkey, salsa, and artichoke hearts. It was really good. Most of my meals this week have been the same old thing. Oats, ground turkey with mustard and a veg or brown rice with chicken and salsa.

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend... here's to a new week, with new goals and lots of progress!

Banana-rama

Too good not to rave about. I am not easily "blown away" by a lot of "healthy" recipes. I am not that starving... YET... however, if I don't share this with you, you will never understand how amazing my breakfast was this morning. It knocked my socks off and it all began last night. I was doing my usual thing... browsing blogs that I have come across, searching for new recipes to try just to change things up a bit and there it was. BANANA CHEESECAKE OATMEAL. I don't eat a lot of banana's. I am more of an orange person lately but I had some and thought anything that is supposed to taste like Cheesecake has got to be good right? A-MAZING! So since the recipe only called for 1/2 of a banana I also made myself a Banana Cheesecake Protein shake using the other half of it. DELISH.

Banana Cheesecake Protein shake

1/2 banana

1 scoop vanilla protein powder

ice (to your liking)

1/4 C cottage cheese or yogurt

1 Tbsp cheesecake pudding mix (sugar free, fat free)

blend it up and wha-la you have the yummiest creamiest "shake"

To see some pretty awesome tips and tricks and shake recipes visit Katie. She is amazing, and most of my shake ideas come from her recipes!!

Back to the oatmeal. I only used about half of it in my oatmeal. I didn't mix it in, I just threw it on top and had a little with each spoonful. I then ate the rest of it after the gym for a quick snack. So good. Too good. What are you waiting for? Go try it!

Oh turkey.....

What a day! I took today as my day off from the gym because we had so much going on. I had two doctor appointments this morning, had to be home for my furniture delivery, and my son had baseball tryouts. Today was business as usual with my meals. Oatmeal, chicken breast on a lite flatbread for lunch (only 8g carbs!), an orange, a piece of low carb sweet bread made using this recipe from April (clicking on her name will take you to the recipe)! I threw a piece in under my broiler so it would toast and used some spray butter on it. Pretty tasty! Dinner, I had some ground turkey with some chipolte mustard and Brussels sprouts. Don't be jealous. :) Something I learned about ground turkey is if you throw an egg white in and mash it all up before you cook it, it comes out SUPER moist and not dry at all. YUM.

I can barely walk today. Just have to throw that out there. My workout yesterday has left me in some serious pain. I honestly have to slide down the stairs... only problem is I can't slide up them. Day 2 is the worst... I am in a world of trouble tomorrow. YIKES! After checking out a few blogs I have some YUMMY recipes that I can't wait to try out to change things up a bit. I might even get a picture or two up here!

J-E-L-L-O

Today has been an exhausting day. I planned to do sprints this morning... but it was raining and I then realized that I was training with my trainer today and we would likely be doing legs. I haven't done legs with her before but to say the least... I was TERRIFIED. So... bagged the sprints, saved my energy for the gym. I started my day off with 1/3 C of Oatmeal and one of my bran muffins (recipe posted yesterday). I got to the gym and did a 10 minute warm up. I started the walk down the plank... ehhh... to meet my trainer. The workout was INSANE. All I was thinking to myself the whole time was "B**** IS CRAZY". Ha! Legs were J-E-L-L-O! Kind of wishing I didn't have 3 sets of stairs to go up and down because the first time I tried going down today I almost went DOWN. In fact I am pretty sure that at one point in my workout I actually resembled this:

For lunch I had chicken with artichoke hearts and red peppers. It was goooood!!!! Somewhere in my day I had an orange, and maybe another bran muffin (shhhh) and for dinner had tilapia with artichoke hearts and red peppers. Can you tell what I have been craving today?

I will end my day as I always do with the best protein shake on the planet found here http://www.dashingdish.com/2010/05/frozen-hot-chocolate/ I swear it is like heaven on earth (tastes like a Wendy's frosty) and even though it makes my teeth chatter and colder than you could even imagine I just have to have it!

I want to know your favorite recipes for contest prep. I need some new ideas. Please share!!!!!

Here we go again!!!!

My plans to do another show in California came to a screeching halt when my life turned upside down and inside out. I am now living in Utah... my husband took a new position with his company. We have purchased our FIRST house... and we are really just trying to adjust to being back "home". We haven't lived here our entire 11 years of marriage so it has its challenges. I miss my friends and my life in Temecula so SO much, but I am very blessed with some pretty amazing friends here. It will be okay.

I also have decided to compete again. I will however NOT be doing Figure this time around. That was a really hard decision for me to make. I have SO much respect for Figure competitors... so much respect for the sport and the women I have met along the way. It just isn't for me. I really struggled with the weight gain. I came into this sport weighing 110 pounds.... and came out of it weighing.... oh come on you didn't really think I was going to tell you did you??? I came out weighing A LOT MORE THAN I DID GOING IN. 'Nuff said. I don't like the extra weight on me. I don't feel good with it. And the harsh reality that I was going to have to put on even more just to compete with this industry (of course by put on more weight I am talking muscle) was like a big reality check. So for that reason alone (my sanity) I am focusing on losing a bit of the weight I have gained and competing in the Bikini division. I am about 9 1/2 weeks out. I have been really dialing in on my diet... and workouts are getting pretty intense. A lot of cardio (yay) and some peace of mind knowing that in a short 9 weeks I will hopefully be looking a whole better in a bikini. Sigh.

I have a recipe for you all! I made these today. They turned out pretty good, will taste great with Peanut butter, jam or honey. I plan to freeze them and use them for when I just really need a "treat".

Bran Muffins

1C Oat Flour

3/4 C Wheat Bran

1/4 C Ground flax (you can omit if you like)

1/4 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla extract

dash cinnamon

1/4 C sugar free honey (or you could use brown sugar)

1/4 C Stevia (for baking) omit if you use brown sugar

1 C Nonfat Greek Yogurt

1 egg (beaten)

Applesauce (I didn't measure this... but would assume it was around 3 Tbsp)

1/4 C Almond Breeze (ish... see how dry your "batter" is)

Preheat oven to 350. Mix wet ingredients add dry ingredients. Batter will be thick... not runny like most muffins or cakes. Put into lined cupcake pan. Bake for 20 minutes.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 1 muffins

Amount per Serving

Calories 89

Calories from Fat 17.9

% Daily Value *

Total Fat 1.99g

3%

Saturated Fat 0.13g

0%

Cholesterol 17.92mg

5%

Sodium 16.39mg

0%

Total Carbohydrate 14.8g

4%

Dietary Fiber 3.33g

13%

Sugars 1.18g

Protein 3.32g

6%

Est. Percent of Calories from:

Fat

19%

Carbs

66%

Protein

14%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs.

New Year

So today while at the gym my friends and I were discussing New Years Resolutions. I have never been big on this. For me its pointless.. I do however make goals throughout the year to get me where I want to be. That just seems to motivate me more. Anyway... we were talking about this and one of my girlfriends said that rather than doing the typical resolution she was going to think of a word. A word for the year. Something that she knew she needed to be better at. Hers was prioritize. She wants to be better at prioritizing all of her "to do's". I thought this was brilliant. This is something I can do. So all day I have been thinking about this. Trying to come up with something that I really want to focus on this year. Something that will really put everything into perspective and get me going. Before I tell you what my word for the year is I want to tell you the thoughts that made my decision.

The last four months have been extremely difficult for me. I have had to learn how to function without my other half. I have had to learn how to hold down a job, be a mom and a dad to my beautiful children and to somehow try and have some "me" time (Ha. Ha. freaking Ha). I realized how important my family is to me. I learned how much I depend on my husband and how much I LOVE HIM. I also learned that I get really depressed when I don't get that gym time in. I never realized how not getting that time in I could become so sad... so low... so emotional... I LOVE the gym. Okay so I don't always love it, but I LOVE the way it makes me feel. I learned how much I need my kids. They make me smile, laugh, cry, scream, and sometimes really crazy but I LOVE them so much. I am very blessed. Have you guessed my word???

LOVE. I know it may seem... easy? I want to focus on spending more time doing the things I LOVE with the people I LOVE. I want to really show my husband how much I love him. I want to make him the happiest man alive. I want my kids to know that they are LOVED beyond words. I want to allow myself to be a little bit selfish and do the things I LOVE, I want to spend that extra time at the gym, I want to compete, I want to rock climb. I want my friends and family to know how much I love them. I feel like sometimes life takes over and those who are the most important to us get put on the back burner a little bit. LOVE! That is my word for the year. :)