What I'm Eating Lately

Good Morning everyone! It's a rainy Sunday morning here in Miami but it will probably be dry and sunny before I finish this post since that's how it seems to go here. This morning I woke up at 4:00 AM absolutely ravenous and tried to stay in bed until my alarm at 6:00 but there's just no sleeping when I'm hungry so I tossed and turned for an hour until deciding to start my day at 5:00. I'm working today with a short shift from 10-4 so I got in my morning lift of chest and triceps extra early before anyone showed up. Gotta love empty gyms!

I thought today I'd do a post on what I've been eating lately since this is always something people want to know and I've been making some extra yummy meals now that I'm working toward increasing my calories. My current goal is 1,900 calories per day and macros of around 40% carbs, 35% protein, and 25% fats. This is pretty doable and doesn't require a lot of thought. In fact, I'm so used to a lower calorie cutting diet that sometimes I actually struggle to hit the 1,900 mark! This makes for some yummy protein pancakes, pudding, and mug cakes before bedtime :P

Meal #1 today was overnight oats which I prepared before bed last night and heated up this morning. Today's concoction was zucchini-strawberry-almond "proats" (protein oatmeal!) which consisted of 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1/2 cup sliced strawberries, 1/2 cup egg whites, cinnamon, 1 tbsp ground flax, 8 almonds, 1 packet stevia, and 1/4 cup shredded zucchini. Delicious!

Then it was off to the gym where I sipped on my usual mix of BCAAs and pre-workout for extra help with muscle recovery and energy. Post-gym I'm always starved and usually re-fuel with a Quest bar and protein shake. On days like today when I work, I make my protein shake with iced coffee. Can you tell I'm a caffeine fiend?!

After Mugsy got his morning walk and I got showered & dressed I prepped my food to bring with me for work. Lately I've been obsessed with beat hummus and have been making this superb spinach wrap filled with spinach, cukes, beet hummus, chicken breast and hard boiled egg. Sometimes the fillers change but its always satisfying! I also packed some fresh cherries to eat mid-afternoon and carry me through until I get home and can make an early dinner.

Yesterday I was reading one of my favorite blogs, peanutbutterrunner.com, and blogger Jen recommended adding a piece of paper towel to your bag of greens which will help absorb the moisture and keep them from wilting. I can't believe I never thought of that! I made sure to do it this morning; I'm always struggling to finish my greens before they go bad.

I won't make dinner until I return home because I prefer to have a nice hot, freshly cooked meal whenever possible, but I did set aside all the ingredients I'll need to make for a quick prep. Tonight I'm having baked salmon with sweet potato, corn-on-the-cob, and asparagus sauteed in olive oil. This is a staple meal of mine. It never gets old!

All of these meals together only total 1,551 calories so I'll probably satisfy my bedtime sweet tooth with a casein mug cake topped with nut butter. I want to point out the vast quantity of food that you can eat while still maintaining a healthy nutritious diet, without taking in too many calories. You don't have to deprive yourself and eat boring chicken and veggies all day long which seems to be a common misconception and what often keeps people from attempting to clean up their food intake. Of course I could easily hit my 1,900 calories by running to Five Guys or some other popular food joint but I much prefer to eat food that is filling, delicious, and won't make me feel crappy for the rest of the day! Plus, I always say I "eat to perform" and I've been hitting some major PRs in the weight room with my increased caloric intake!

That's all for today. Guess what...it's sunny out now! Hope you all have a wonderful end to your weekend. Comment below or e-mail me at FitFierceFun@gmail.com if you have any questions about eating to perform for your goals or if you are interested in getting started on your own custom fitness plan! xo

Core Burn

Good Morning gym rats! Risin' & grindin' as usual here in Miami. Woke up early as usual and fueled-up with a healthy dose of carbs & caffeine with a delicious bowl of banana-almond protein oatmeal (pictured below). It was so good I might have to make it again this weekend. Recipe is on Insta @ariellenicolefit

My core is on FIRE today so I wanted to share with you a post about the workout I did yesterday. This month I scheduled an entire day of core-only moves since I feel like I've been slacking on those muscles lately. Here was the breakdown:

-DB pullovers/leg lifts on a bench with a 20 lb DB in my hands and a 10 lb DB held by my feet. This is an extremely advanced move which I do not recommend unless you are fully comfortable doing them weight-free. It worked fantastically though and I'm pretty sure its the main cause of my [good] pain today! 3x12
-Decline bench weighted crunches 3x12
-Cable rope crunches 3x15
-Standing chair leg lifts while supporting my weight with my hands (arms straight) on the dip bars 3x12
-SB knee-ins side-to-side 3x12

I highly recommend this routine if you need a day off from the weights but don't want a true rest day. You can always simplify these moves by doing them weight-free. Here's a video clip of what my first exercise looked like except that I added the extra weight between my feet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r687q0UiwKw

In other fitness and health related news, today makes 4 weeks since I stopped my spring cut and decided not to do a show this year (or at least this spring as I do change my mind often LOL) and instead go back to "bulking" for a while. Long story short, I really wanted to do a show but after thinking long and hard about NPC and deciding I was too small to compete against the monster-sized "bikini" girls here in Florida, I then decided to do NGA (similar to OCB natural organization). I cut from the end of January to the beginning of April at which point I had barely lost any weight and was losing my mind over the stress of my seeming lack of physique progress combined with lowered carbs in my diet. I know I looked leaner but I think it was just water weight due to low carbs and minimal fat loss. The straw that broke the camel's back was the day I took a Chemistry lab test and left feeling like I bombed it due to a complete inability to focus (I actually got a B so no biggie afterall LOL). So the next day I increased my calories by 300/day, decreased cardio days from 3 to 2 (now only 1) and upped my carb intake to a minimum of 40% of my macros. I haven't been following strict macros for the past month but I have still been tracking all my food intake and I average 42% carbs, 25% fats, and 33% protein. Ideally I would be at 45% carbs, 20% fats, and 35% protein but I am suffering from a love of healthy fats lately LOL!

Anyway, the reason I tell you all this diet and competing news is that when I did my weekly weigh-in this morning I was 118.2 lbs......and I was 119.2 lbs when I stopped cutting! You figure that math out! My body just reacts in the strangest of ways. Who on earth increases calories, decreases cardio, and loses weight?! I don't get it but I'll take it! My current goal is to increase my calories by as much as possible while staying lean and building muscle. I had the most amazing hydrostatic body fat test done a few weeks ago by www.BodyFatTest.com (check them out!) and found that I was 19.9% body fat. A little higher than I thought I would come in at but it's the most accurate way to test body fat so I can't argue it. The guy who tested me gave me a whole printout with tons of useful information and I think my calorie target (assuming my metabolism is in a healthy state) was roughly 2,400 for muscle building. That makes me sOOooOoO happy! Who wouldn't want to eat more and not get fat LOL?! I plan to increase my calories by another 100 starting tomorrow, continue my weekly-ins, and see how it goes. I just love the experimentation and I'm feeling so strong and healthy lately! Here's a pic of me on body test day:

One last thing I'll note is that Florida is such a great place for improved skin, nails and hair! I don't take any added vitamins other than my daily multi and my skin is glowing (not in my head - people have said this to me!), and my hair and nails grow insanely fast! The sunshine state is truly an amazing place for your body. Alright, it's lunch time and I have work to do so I'm signing off. Have a great day everyone!

P.S. I still have my Facebook page for Fit Fierce Fun personalized training plans https://www.facebook.com/FitFierceFun?ref=aymt_homepage_panel so please become a fan by "liking" and spreading the word of fitness! xo 

Happy Cinco de Mayo! (and a mini lesson on BCAAs)

Buenas Dias mis amigos! Haha I have no idea if that is correct Spanish or not but I'm trying. Also, happy Cindo de Mayo!

I was really hoping that I would not be scheduled to work tonight because as usual my craving for Mexican food is high and how can you not treat yourself when it's Cinco de Mayo?! However I am scheduled to close the store tonight (8:00 pm) and while that may sound early to you, after working a 10-hour shift I'm usually ready to hit the sack by the time I get home. That being said, I wanted to share with you all my simple recipe for BCAA frozen margaritas!

In case you don't know, BCAAs (short for branched-chain amino acids) are the three essential amino acids that your body cannot produce on its own. Therefore, you must consume them in your diet via food and/or supplements. In a nutshell, the 3 BCAAs are Leucine, Isoleucine, and Valine. Leucine is the most important and BCAA supplements usually have the ratio of BCAAs printed on the label with 2:1:1 being the minimum recommendation. That means that if you are purchasing a supplement touting a 2:1:1 ratio and a total of 5 grams of total BCAAs then you are getting 2.5 grams of Leucine, 1.25 grams of Isoleucine and 1.25 grams of Valine.

BCAAs are important for many reasons, perhaps the three most important being 1) immune system support 2) protection against amino acid deficiencies and 3) prevention of lean muscle mass loss. You can purchase them in pill or powder form but I prefer the powder because you can find a variety of delicious flavors and I like to drink it while I workout.

So, in honor of this 5th day of May, here is my easy BCAA margarita recipe. In a blender combine the following:
1 scoop BCAA powder (Scivation Xtend Watermelon is great!)
1 cup water
1 oz tequila
Several iced cubes

Once slushy, pour into a margarita class, garnish with a lime wedge & decorative umbrella! I make these all the time sans the tequila when I am cutting and need a post-dinner "treat". My holiday recipe is approximately 70 calories compared to approximately 300 calories at your favorite bar or restaurant. Now that's what you call cheating clean! Enjoy and let me know what you all think! xo