WIAW #7 and a Vlog!

Happy Humps Day!!! I am super excited this morning because I filmed a vlog for all of you about my 5 day slim down results! The video will be at the bottom of this post for those of you who just want to see my WIAW post. 🙂 Basically this WIAW is what I did on the slim down. You guys get to see what a typical day was for me, then if you’re curious you can watch the video and see the results. Spoiler: I feel amazing!

Breakfast

For breakfast I had a slim down protein pancake topped with raspberries. Loved the addition of the raspberries. Normally I do blueberries or strawberries, but let me tell you those babies tasted amazing. I had another pancake this morning. I am now stuck in a protein pancake habit. Hope you all don’t mind. 😉 I also have a bombshell spell every morning to kick up my metabolism and help my tummy digest better!

Mid-Morning Munch

I had an apple plus a chocolate Zico. I did manage to take a picture of the Zico haha. By the way, these are amazing! They have great nutritional stats and this one tastes like chocolate milk. I hate every other Zico flavor, but this one satisfies my chocolate craving and helps hydrate me after a sweat fest. I love LOVE it. It has like 680 mg of potassium, which is more than a banana. It has electrolytes to refuel after your workout. Simple carbs from the chocolate, so it’s awesome when paired with a protein after a workout to drive the protein into the muscles and is only 110 calories. Chump change for people who workout. 🙂 I highly recommend it. It will definitely be with me through my half marathon training and during that actual half itself to keep me hydrated. Hydration is super important every single day! So drink up!

Lunch

Every day on the slim down I had chicken teriyaki collard wraps. I am obsessed with these. They taste soooooooo amazing and they are super awesome for you! They have a nice little vegetable kicker and a protein punch. What more could you ask for in a lunch?!

Afternoon Smoothie

The same smoothie recipe I posted the other day. My crack berry smoothie wonder. I am doing a vlog soon reviewing some of the protein powders and supplements I use if you guys are curious. I’ll talk about why I chose them and the taste. I hope that’s helpful, because sometimes I get questions on Twitter.

Dinner

For dinner I alternated between chicken with pineapple salsa and garlic shrimp! You guys get to see the garlic shrimp today, since it was my favorite. It was seriously so good! I put it over some quinoa to round out my meal with more protein! 🙂 Starches are super limited on the slim down to help cut you down and feel less bloated so that’s why most of these meals are protein based. I didn’t even miss the starches to be honest. But I do have a review coming up in a few minutes on a new clean cracker I found with amazing nutritional stats. 🙂

Late Night Snack

I had a bowl of blueberries and blackberries a couple hours after dinner when I got hungry. Sorry there was no picture, the lighting was awful!

Here’s my vlog on the results of my slim down! Let me know what you think! Or if you try it. My roommate and I are starting a group in a couple weeks of girls who are doing it again if you want to join let me know! 🙂

Five Day Slim Down

Hey guys! I have a terrible confession to make. Last week I was really bad. I cheated almost every single day. I was bloated, feeling like crap, on a constant sugar high, and feeling like a beached whale. Don’t get me wrong, cheating doesn’t bother me. It’s just when it’s in excess that my body starts to feel the effects. When that happens I realize I am in dire need of focus and a cleanse. So I decided to do the 5 Day Slim Down from the new Tone It Up update this weekend. I wanted to debloat and really refocus myself for the rest of the bikini series. I am midway through day 4 currently and I am obsessed with this plan. It is such a delicious and healthy way to lose all that cheating bloat weight and calm the sugar cravings to really get you back to your clean and healthy eating. Something I have realized I just cannot go very long without anymore. Oh the good ole days of being a fat kid and eating whatever I wanted. It must have been 24/7 bloat since I never noticed it back then. I just hate feeling sluggish and puffy. So let me share with you some of the eats from this weekend since I finally have internet back in my life. Did you miss me? 😉

So far every morning I have started off with a bombshell spell (a metabolism drink they put together to speed up metabolism and aid in digestion) and a protein pancake topped with sliced strawberries and a kiss of honey. I seriously have become obsessed with protein pancakes. Be prepared to see them more than my beloved oatmeal the next few weeks because I am on a roll with them!

Before I eat the pancake and after the bombshell spell I do a 20 minute HIIT workout, like the plan recommends. I have been doing the HIIT the Beach workout from the Tone It Up Beach Babe DVD that was just released. I highly recommend buying this DVD, I have never been so challenged outside of the gym in my life. That’s a lot coming from this lifting junkie. My arms, legs, and abs have been burning all weekend. And the girls are super motivating and obviously I love them to pieces so it’s awesome being able to workout with them. I apologize for that shotty grammer. 😉

Then for lunch, I am going to skip some of the snacks, I have been having Chicken Teriyaki Collard Wraps. This is another recipe from the plan and it leaves you with a foodgasm. I kid you not, these girls worked really hard on this plan because all of the food is amazing. I cannot get enough of the chicken teriyaki wraps this weekend. I wish I could share the recipe, but unfortunately I can’t so if you want it buy the plan! It’s an amazing plan anyways and it teaches you a lot about timing of certain foods, superfoods, exercise, and eating clean. Plus the community is unmatched anywhere. I love those girls like they were my family and I haven’t even met any of them. Haha, that sounds creepy. Guess you would have to be in it to get it? Or I am just creepy… Valid.

Before dinner we have also been doing a 30 minute workout like the plan specifies. More on that in the next post!

For dinner my roommate and I have alternated between North Shore Garlic Shrimp and Quinoa (to die for) and Grilled Hawaiian Chicken with Pineapple Salsa. I can’t even believe I have been losing weight eating these to be honest. They are so filling and so delicious. Even my roommate who is really picky with flavor and portions agrees! If that’s not a stamp of approval I’m not sure what is!

I also have an amazing smoothie recipe to share with you that tastes like ice cream and I eat it with a spoon. My roommate and I have become obsessed with it and have been drinking it every single day for our mid-afternoon snack!

Crack Berry Smoothie

1/2 cup Frozen Mixed Berries (no sugar added)
1 cup Unsweetened Almond Milk
1 scoop Vanilla Protein Powder (I use Sunwarrior!)
1 frozen banana
A pinch of xanthan gum if you want it thicker like ice cream (thick without!)

Directions: Blend and enjoy your foodgasm!

Stay put I’m about to post my Martha’s Vineyard Pictures from this weekend! 🙂 I’m also going to talk more about my workouts!

Pina Coladas and Pineapple Salsa

Hey everyone! Sorry I have been a little MIA with school work and stuff going on but I wanted to show you guys some awesome food that I have had lately!

The other day it was 88 degrees outside and my roommate and I knew we just had to go eat by the water and have a fruity little cocktail. We ended up going to Poconos in Portsmouth, which had their deck open right next to the water. We ordered Pina Coladas to start and they were amazing. There was a ton of rum on the top when we first got them and we were worried they were going to be super strong because we could smell all that alcohol right away, but once we stirred it you couldn’t even taste it and it was epic!

Then we ordered some chips and salsa because we were starving and obviously couldn’t be bothered to wait for our food. 😉 I forgot to take a picture of those, but the salsa was amazing and had a nice bite to it. Plus, the chips were freshly made so it was that much better. My roommate and I decided to split our entrees so we could try the two things we wanted on the menu. We had shrimp tacos with pineapple salsa and lobster quesadillas. The shrimp tacos blew my mind. The shrimp was so big and fresh. The salsa was fresh and wicked flavorful. The lobster quesadillas were a slight let down. My roommate got the two slices that had the most lobster so I was jipped, but overall, I thought the quesadillas should have more lobster on a whole. Especially with the $16 price tag. The whole restaurant is pretty pricey, but the quesadilla was good but the only disappointment.

Those look amazing right? Omg so good. After this giant meal we had quite the sweet tooth so we went to another restaurant/bakery in Portsmouth called Popovers. I got the French Apple Crisp, which was to die for warmed up. It had an amazing streusal topping and a gooey brown sugar inside with fluffy dough, big chunks of cinnamon apple, and raisins. It was sooooo good. Holy cow! Worth every bite, but it was a little rich so I kind of wish I shared it. But my roommate was too busy downing her warm bread pudding. 😉 Love you, Tamar!

The next day I didn’t really take pictures of my food because I was super busy and on the road all day, but I did manage to take a picture of my amazing dinner. I tried the Grilled Hawaiian Chicken with Pineapple Salsa from the Tone It Up Beach Babe Update. It was amazing! There was so much food and the grilled pineapple was just so juicy and delicious. There is something about pineapple salsa and grilling things that is just so summery that I can’t wait for the warm weather to stick around and stop leaving us every couple of days. I am so sad it’s supposed to rain this weekend!

I swear there is chicken underneath all that salsa haha. But seriously, this was so easy. Plus, it was so fresh and completely clean and good for you. I seriously needed it after my huge cheat day as you can see. 😉

Now I leave you with a picture of me and my new obsession… My hat! I saw this hat in a bunch of Tone It Up videos and spent hours trying to find it online. But I finally found it and it came in the mail. I love the quote on it. 🙂 It makes me want to move to the beach and just surf! That’s not such a bad idea after all this stress from school, right?

I hope everyone has an amazing weekend. I am heading out to Martha’s Vineyard and I won’t have access to the internet so I won’t be able to update till Monday. I will be taking tons of pictures of food and have a bunch of updates for you next week. Until then, I love you guys! Have an amazing weekend full of amazing eats and awesome, kick butt workouts. 🙂

Motivation Monday

Welcome to Monday, people! Haha, I would say happy Monday, but we all know the start of the week is when we need a kick in the booty after the weekend. So I figured I would start off this Monday with a motivational burst first thing in the morning! This post I wanted to talk about balanced and healthy eating. That doesn’t sound super motivating, but I promise I will get there!

Whenever anyone wants to lose weight the first thing they think about are all of the things they have to cut out of their lives. How many calories they are allowed to consume. All the cardio they are going to have to do. Then they beat themselves up over the occasional slip, the holidays where they ate too many cupcakes, and all the steamed vegetables that have no flavor they have to endure. I can’t stand this, it makes me so sad. I’ve recently gone on multiple rants to my poor roommate about why this is so ridiculously unhealthy for everyone. I saw a lot of tweets this past holiday weekend where people were bringing their healthy food to their families houses so that they could stick to their diet. If that’s something you want to do because you hate the food there and you LOVE the food you brought then that’s totally awesome! But honestly, you don’t get to get together with your entire family often. Grandma doesn’t always make her apple pies. Have a slice! One day isn’t going to kill you! Healthy living and being fit isn’t about restriction and limitation. It’s about learning that it’s a lifestyle change. You can have your froyo and your abs. You can’t have your froyo every day. Everything in moderation! I had a cheat day last week and have been eating healthy ever since. I’ve still managed to lose weight, while eating the foods I love. It’s all about finding new and fun recipes. Finding new and fun workouts. Don’t think you have to be that guy at the gym lifting weights if that’s not what you are into. Being healthy and fit isn’t about that! If you love yoga do yoga. If you want a cookie one day, eat the cookie!

For the love of God everyone, it’s a marathon not a sprint. Happiness is where it’s at. Don’t get lost in all the numbers, all the counting, all the steamed veggies and baked chicken. Have fun with eating clean. Have fun with your workouts. And it’s okay to be naughty sometimes! It keeps you sane and if you don’t do it every day is totally fine! Learning to love your body is what this is all about. 🙂 I recently read an article that said the best thing for this country is to stop losing weight. 100 calorie packs and super restrictive calorie counting isn’t the way to do it! Learning to eat clean and giving your body what it truly wants by making a lifestyle change is how you will keep that weight off in the long run. So I am going to leave you with some motivational clips and I hope that this resonated with someone. Because honestly nothing makes me more sad than when people aren’t enjoying the food they are putting into their bodies and hating their workouts when they don’t have to. Remember to smile and have fun with it all. I promise, it’s worth it. The weight WILL come off. Give it time. 🙂 Remember, I love you all! And if you ever have a question or want a fun recipe I have a shizz ton. So just ask!

Seize your moment. 🙂 Get everything you want. You can do this. I would love it if any of you wanted to leave a comment as to what you are proud of, of yourself, in the comment section. ❤

Week 2, Day 1 & Some Eats

Hey everyone! Happy Sunday! I hope it’s been super relaxing for everyone.

I woke up this morning starving, as per usual. I swear I have the appetite of a sumo wrestler… It can’t be normal. I am obviously still waiting rather impatiently for my protein powder so this morning was another Berry Oatmeal/Bran with 4 egg whites and salsa. You guys must be like “how on earth do you eat that everyday?!” Well I have two answers, it’s delicious and I often don’t mind eating the same thing over and over again if it’s good. I tend not to ever get sick of food. Unless we are talking about back in high school when all my Mom made was baked chicken flavored with absolutely nothing with a side of white rice and frozen peas. Yeah… Gross. I couldn’t eat chicken for like 3 years after that. It almost made me go vegetarian and we all know how much meat I tend to eat. It was really that horrific.

After breakfast I went to the gym and completed the Pull Workout that I have been doing recently. I am thinking about upping the intensity and doing it twice a week now instead of just once. I think my muscles can handle it. So I will probably do it again later on in the week. I’m really loving this program that I created. It’s been challenging, but also super awesome. I think I can feel myself getting stronger as dorky and weird as that sounds. I have noticed a big difference over the past couple of weeks after following it. I have deemed it a success on my part haha. I also completed week 2, day 1 of my Couch to 5k app! This time it was a 5 minute warm up then 90 seconds running, 90 seconds walking, 90 seconds running, 2 minutes walking repeated until you hit the 25 minute marker. Then there was the basic 5 minute cool down. I ran at a 6.5 mph pace, while walking, warming up, and cooling down at a 3.7 mph pace. Overall, I covered 2.3 miles. It felt awesome! I was sweating like a pig though… No surprise there since I have the tendency to sweat like a man. 😉 Super attractive, no? I am planning on doing a vlog sometime this week to talk about my workout routines and training plan in greater depth so be prepared to see my awkward awesome self on camera!

If only I looked this good after "earning my shower..." Sweaty mess people!

I am thinking about doing more vlogs for this channel to spruce things up a bit, since I am sure you all get tired of reading my long, rambling posts on occasion.

After the gym I chugged a scoop of Caramel Toffee Fudge whey protein with water and a couple of handfuls of blueberries and went to the grocery store to pick up a few things for this week. My roommate and I are heading to Pennsylvania at the end of this week so I didn’t end up needing that much. But I am really excited to try some of the new Tone It Up recipes that were released with the last update. I can’t wait to share them with you!

Once I was done grocery shopping I came home to make a quick and healthy taco salad. I cooked the ground turkey with some garlic powder, chili powder, cayenne pepper, cumin, paprika, ground mustard, and Worcestershire sauce and put it on top of baby spinach, red bell pepper, cucumber, tomatoes, salsa, and a little reduced fat cheese. 🙂 It was delicious! However, I was still hungry about an hour later and pounded a huge bowl of Uncle Sam Cereal, Chocolate O’s, and some almond coconut milk. Hungry hippo over here today!

I’m having the last of my leftovers for dinner tonight since I need to finish this paper. Sorry nothing fancy has come from this week food wise, I have been super busy trying to cram a lot of things in for school so I have time to travel on the weekends. I am heading to Martha’s Vineyard in two weeks to get another job and have a seafood feast! I am so stoked I can’t even tell you!!!

And with that I am signing off for the night since I still have 5 pages left of this torturous 20 page term paper on ketamine. Seriously, how much can you say about one drug. I feel like I am being incredibly repetitive. Who wants to be a neuroscience major after reading my blog? Anyone? No takers… I don’t blame you.

 

Triceps Overload

Happy Saturday, everyone! This is one of my favorite days of the week. Next to football Sundays of course. But alas, it is not football season unfortunately. I am currently watching the Bruins game so I apologize in advance if this post seems erratic in any way. The refs might as well have their helmets on backwards, they are calling the most ridiculous penalties right now.

I started off my morning with one of my favorite meals. I am still waiting for my protein powder to come in so this morning I started off with Mixed Berry Oatmeal. 1/4 cup oat bran and rolled oats cooked with 1.25 cups of water till the liquid is absorbed. Added 2 tbsp of wheat germ, 1 tbsp of ground flax seeds, blueberries, and sliced strawberries. On top I added some chia seeds and unsweetened shredded coconut. On the side I had the usual suspect of 4 egg whites and salsa.

After breakfast I went to the gym to focus on a problem area of mine, triceps. I know there is no such thing as spot training, but I would like to tighten up that muscle as much as I can while I work on burning the fat over it. 🙂 I also did 20 minutes on the elliptical incorporating 5 minutes of HIIT at the end for a little cross training action during this running plan.

Triceps Obliteration

Overhead Triceps Press 3×15
Close Grip Bench Press 3×20
Skullcrushers 3×15
Bent Over Triceps Kickbacks 3×15
Triceps Cable Rope Pulldown 3×15
Triceps Cable Rope Overhead 3×12

Since I am still missing my protein powder I made a smoothie today that was epic even without it. I used plain Oikos Greek yogurt to get in that protein, a cup of almond milk, some frozen strawberries and raspberries (organic unsweetened), and a frozen banana. It was sooooo creamy and delicious. I am rockin’ these smoothies lately.

For lunch, I had to usual salad beast with turkey. I would post my dinner for later, but it’s just leftovers from yesterday. Nothing exciting this weekend. I am trying to figure out how to start this term paper, but unfortunately my procrastination is getting the best of me. How am I supposed to concentrate when there happens to be a game on tv? Let alone, a playoff game. 😉 Yes, I am a tomboy… Yes, I know it’s not normal for a girl to like sports as much as I do haha.

I’m not sure why all my pictures are so dark! I apologize, it was actually really sunny and nice out today. I really need to invest in that camera. 😉 How did you all like my guest post? She’s awesome right?

Bikini Series!

Gooooood evening! I am using this time of procrastination to show you some daily eats and tell you about something super exciting! First the food!

Breakfast

Like I said in my last post I had some oatmeal and eggs! 1/4 cup rolled oats, 1/4 cup oat bran cooked with 1.25 cups of water until the liquid was absorbed. I then added wheat germ and ground flax. Topped with homemade honey cinnamon peanut butter, sliced banana, and chia seeds. Then I had 4 egg whites and salsa on the side. Delicious way to start off almost every morning. Still waiting on my protein powder clearly. 😉

Lunch

I was really lazy today, as per usual… So I made a turkey sandwich with low sodium deli turkey, 2 slices of low carb whole wheat fresh bread from When Pigs Fly, dijon mustard, spinach, and a slice of Sargento Natural Cheese Blends in cheddar and mozarella. On the side I had some delicious grape tomatoes. I eat tomatoes like they are going out of style. Seriously.

Dinner

I had the same thing as last night because I didn’t have a lot of money to spend at the grocery store this week. Sorry for all the boring foods, I have some fun stuff planned for next week! But I had steamed broccoli, chicken breast, tomato sauce, and nutritional yeast with a side of healthy garlic bread. I made that with another slice of bread, some smart balance, garlic powder, and garlic gold. Yummmmyyyy.

I should probably continue to read these articles for the term paper I need to write this weekend. I know what you all are thinking… Didn’t she say she was starting that earlier? Uhhh… I started about 30 minutes ago. I know, I’m awful at this whole time management procrastination thing. I think maybe one day I will get better… But that’s just silly wishful thinking.

Now here’s the title of my post. Tone It Up, the nutrition plan I bought a while back and follow loosely, is releasing their Second Annual Bikini Series Challenge. Last year’s was awesome, even though I wasn’t a part of it. I have done all the workouts and they are awesome. They do great giveaways to keep you motivated, daily challenges, tons of new workout videos, and lot’s of fun other posts. If you want to sign up here is the link! I promise you, it’s 8 weeks of motivation and fun.

WIAW #6, Week 1 Day 2

Happy Wednesday!

First I thought I would update you on my workout yesterday then get into the food. 🙂 These are always my favorite posts to write because I think they hold me accountable. However, yesterday was my cheat day haha. So you get to see a deliciously unhealthy meal for dinner and dessert. 😉

Yesterday I completed Week 1, Day 2 of the Couch to 5k program I am using. I have to admit, I love this program. It’s really nice and simple. Tells you when to run or walk so I can zone out. But what I love the most is that it eases you into running. I have yet to feel overwhelmed or anything. I am actually starting to enjoy running, which is something I never thought I would say. My roommate and I are already thinking about running some races this summer. Just 5k’s for fun. It’s good to experience what a race really feels like, I think. For weights yesterday, since we did a two a day, I completed the Legs workout from this day. My legs were on fire! I loved it.

Shall we move on to the food? 😉

Breakfast

I started off my day with a protein pancake since I had to sit in class for almost two hours at 8 am. It is never my fine moment in the morning during that class haha. So I made a peanut butter protein pancake, topped it with the leftover honey cinnamon peanut butter, the rest of the sliced banana plus another banana, and some chia seeds. It was delicious. Plus, it filled me up until my amazing morning snack!

Mid Morning Munch

I haven’t had granola in far too long, so I introduced that back into my day with a small yogurt bowl. 🙂 I combined some plain Oikos Greek yogurt with sliced strawberries and Love Grown Foods Sweet Cranberry Pecan granola. Heaven! I love that granola so much. 🙂 I am going to attempt to make homemade chocolate granola soon, since I miss that granola that they sent me. If I can’t recreate it then I am just going to buy more haha.

Lunch

My roommate finally came back in time for lunch so we made two big salad beasts topped with chicken. Underneath the chicken was spinach, edamame, red bell pepper, grape tomatoes, and cucumbers. We topped our salads with balsamic vinegar, evoo, and some minced garlic. I also added some garlic gold to mine for a little extra garlicky crunch.

Mid Afternoon Snack

Before the gym we had a bowl of Cascadian Farms Chocolate O’s combined with Uncle Sam’s original with some unsweetened vanilla almond milk. It was delicious. Then we shared a Peanut Butter Pretzel Luna Bar before we hit the weight room. Overall, not such a balanced meal haha. It kind of looks like we were carb loading for no reason whatsoever.

Dinner

Welcome to where my cheat meal begins and ends! My roommate and I shared a small buffalo chicken calzone from the amazing pizza place down the street from our apartment. Seriously, those calzones are so good and we figured we needed to have one more before I graduate and we move to Massachusetts.

Before Dinner Dessert

Yes, this is out of order haha. But this is probably the order we should have eaten them in, but I am a believer in never denying yourself what you truly want first. So we had Shain’s of Maine Cookie Dough Ice Cream. This ice cream is literally the best ice cream I have ever had in my entire life. Plus, I think you can only find it in New Hampshire and Maine. She’s never had it so I told her it was an absolute must with the warm weather around the corner. This ice cream is basically a combo of the best cookie dough you have ever had with a side of the best vanilla ice cream you have ever had. I was building it up from the start, but trust me it’s the kind of thing that will never disappoint. She loved it! I recommend if you ever find  yourself in this area you get the Cookie Dough or the Mint Oreo. Two of the best ice cream flavors on the planet from this company.

So that’s my WIAW cheat day! Not a lot of greens, but my salad beast made up for it, right? 😉 I hope everyone has a good Wednesday! Workout post still to come! I am pretending to be my roommates personal trainer today since she missed Monday’s Push Workout and today is my rest day. 🙂

 

WIAW #5

Happy Humps Day everyone!

Sorry for my lack of posting over the weekend and the beginning of this week. There were many all nighters pulled due to driving and studying, so I had no time to update my little nugget. But don’t worry I remembered to take pictures of all the food I ate for my favorite posts of the week. This month, What I Ate Wednesday is all about adding another cup of veggies. I love this challenge because I basically am obsessed with all things veggies so I am quite happy that this is the challenge. Without further ado, here is what I ate on Tuesday. 😉

Breakfast

I know you are probably sick of seeing the same breakfast, but since I am rather obsessed with it lately and it takes hardly any time to cook you will have to bear with me as I show you more oatmeal and eggs. This particular oatmeal was especially delicious. I combined the usual 1/4 cup rolled oats with 1/4 oatbran and 1.25 cups of water till all of the liquid was absorbed. I then stirred in 1 tbsp of cocoa powder (unsweetened), 1 tbsp PB2, sliced banana, chia seeds, and shredded coconut (unsweetened). It was delicious! I thoroughly enjoyed it. 🙂 I am obsessed with oatmeal in the morning. I go to bed thinking about what I am going to do to it in the morning. Health nuts problemsss! Haha, on the side I had 3 egg whites and salsa. 🙂 Always a good ole fashioned standby for some lean protein in the morning.

Sorry these pictures are so dark! I ate at 6 am before my exam so the sun wasn’t out yet haha. I swear one of these days when I can afford an awesome camera you guys will get better pictures than the ones I take on my iPhone. 😉

Mid-Morning Munch

I had my new stand by for mid-morning snacks. A green monster made the classic way! I am seriously loving these. They taste amazing, I swear you can’t taste the spinach. Also, you have a whole bunch of energy and they make you feel really full! What more can you ask for in a mid-morning snack, right? I needed it badly yesterday since I hadn’t slept in going on 48 hours for the second time this week. Oh yeah, it’s only Wednesday. Clearly I have had a lot going on haha.

Oh man that photographs horribly. I promise you it is so much better than it looks! 🙂

Lunch

For lunch I made a salad beast. They just never get old. This one was a little different. I used:

Spinach
Swiss Chard (a new favorite)
Grape Tomatoes
Edamame
Cucumber
Leftover roasted cauliflower and broccoli
Tuna
Balsamic Vinegar
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Garlic Gold
Minced Garlic

Man it was seriously good! I loaded up in the veggie department yesterday because I have been big time emotional eating lately. I fall victim to that all the time. But in trying to get back on track I have introduced a serious veggie overload into my diet.

It was seriously not bright out yesterday until like mid-afternoon so I’m sorry that looks terrible haha.

Mid-Afternoon Snack

I made a batch of honey cinnamon peanut butter, recipe courtesy of Sweet Tooth Sweet Life’s Courtney! I paired that with an organic Granny Smith apple and it was the best little snack ever. I seriously missed that peanut butter and am now reminding myself to add it back into rotation. 🙂

Dinner

Dinner was awesome! I made a turkey burger and seasoned it with Worcestershire sauce, garlic gold, garlic powder, and a little pepper. I then grilled it, which is the only way to have a burger I might add. I topped it with roasted garlic hummus and two big Swiss chard leaves for a bun since I am watching my carbs a bit when I have a rest day planned. I don’t need as many if I am not working out. Even though I obviously want them. 😉 It’s my wannabe Italian. On the side I had leftover roasted cauliflower and broccoli, which were delicious, and sweet potato fries flavored with cinnamon! So good! I really REALLY loved this dinner. Nothing like burgers, basketball, baking, and procrastinating on a paper, right?

Every time I see my plates of food it reminds me of how much food I consume. I am such a little piglet.

Bedtime Snack

Like I said earlier, we baked last night! Chocolate protein bars! They are the bomb dot com. They were originally supposed to be pumpkin protein bars, but I wasn’t paying attention and started following the chocolate recipe. So alas, we didn’t have a pumpkin loaf coming out of the oven. Don’t worry Tamar! I will make it up to you next week. 🙂 She’s just going to have to deal with the brownie tasting protein bars. Tough life she leads. 😉

Before I sign off for the time being, I wanted to update you guys on something super exciting! In a couple weeks my roommate and I are starting CrossFit! Any CrossFitters out there? I’d love to here your experiences and thoughts. I heard it’s a cult… An amazing and obsessed cult. Sounds like my kind of workout!

I love Oatmeal

Fancy title, huh? Super creative, I know. You must all love how often you see oatmeal on this blog. I swear to you I could eat it three times a day with every meal and never get sick of it. How’s that for fulfilling the healthy blogger stereotype? 😉 Between my oatmeal and eggs in the morning plus my mid-morning green monster I have been in heaven lately. A healthy, wonderful, full of energy heaven. My tummy and body have been thanking me as well. I recommend everyone try all of it! Haha.

Breakfast

Best oatmeal ever this morning people! I combined 1/4 cup rolled oats, 1/4 cup oat bran, 2 1/4 cups water on the stove and cooked until the liquid was absorbed. Then I stirred in 2 tbsp of wheat germ, 1 tbsp ground flax seed, 1 tbsp cocoa powder (unsweetened), sliced strawberries, and some shredded unsweetened coconut. Soooo flippin’ good! It tasted like a chocolate covered strawberry… only better because it was oatmeal and I got to eat for breakfast. Not that I wouldn’t eat chocolate covered strawberries for breakfast because I believe that food has no time boundaries associated with it haha. I had this amazing oatmeal goodness with a side of 4 egg whites and a big ole scoop of fresh salsa. Such an epic breakfast. Yes, I eat that much food. 🙂

Dinner

I would show you lunch, but it was the same thing I ate yesterday and I forgot to take a picture of it since I was eating in class. I am such an awesome student, I know. But dinner was especially yummy! I had some bison, 1/2 sweet potato broiled for 15 minutes with cinnamon and brown sugar, and roasted cauliflower and broccoli with Clean Marinara from Tosca Reno’s cookbook. It was sooo yummy, I died a little. If you haven’t tried bison I highly recommend it. It’s super low in sodium and fat and has 37 g of protein for one steak. Sorry, you just can’t beat that nutritional powerhouse of a slab of meat… That is unless you are a vegetarian or vegan. Then I am sorry you hate the food I eat so much! If you have any tricks on how I can eat less meat, please share. I am always open to try some new things. 🙂

That radioactive stuff on top of my veggies is nutritional yeast haha. It always makes my food look so appetizing. Bet you want to come over for dinner now, huh? 😉 But seriously, if you like meat and the taste of steak, but want something healthier for you try bison. It’s so good for you! Just don’t buy any funky bison that’s been like herded and fed weird things. That’s bad for you and the environment.

Also, if you remember the mid-afternoon snack I posted earlier today in my WIAW post then you should know I tried it differently today and it may have been better than yesterday. Actually, it definitely was. I spread half the waffle with peanut butter, the other half with dark chocolate peanut butter then added the peanut butter chips and it was so peanut buttery I died a little of happiness. So you should all try that too. I am very pushy today apparently.

OMG I ALMOST FORGOT MY NEWS! Clean Eating Magazine saw my review of their magazine from last month and asked if they could use my blog post on their website! I was so honored I almost cried… Cause yes, I am that emotional and love blogging that much. If this were a job I would have applied like yesterday and I procrastinate on everything. 🙂 Keep an eye out for that if you ever go over to their website and let me know if you see it before me!

Have a good night everyone, I am finally headed to bed since I have to leave bright and early in the morning for PA. 🙂