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

Rapid Update

Good Morning (again)! I told y'all I'd be back eventually...semester #1 at Miami Dade College was just a wee bit more hectic than I had anticipated :/

While I was out walking Mugsy this morning I got to thinking, I think I'm in a state of mental shock. I mean, I'm just cruising along with life right now, working two jobs, training, dog-mommying, studying, landlording, doing everything I can just to stay afloat and I haven't really had time to sit back and accept the fact that I'M LIVING IN MIAMI. Goodbye career. Goodbye money. Goodbye comfort. Goodbye stability. Goodbye family. Goodbye everything that made me ME for the past decade.

I don't regret moving here but I also haven't had the time or money to get out and explore and figure out if I even fit in here. I do think there are lot more people here that are of the same mindset as me in terms of being fitness/health oriented and willing to leave their former lives to pursue a better future. My classes were full of people from all over the place and I've met a lot of really interesting people. That being said, Miami is an interesting place... On one hand, it is extremely convenient. Everything you could ever want is here and there's really no reason to ever need to leave. However, I learned pretty quickly that people are not to be trusted here. Everyone has their own agenda and there are a LOT of fake people. I also get the impression that there are various illegal activities going on all around me that makes me on edge at all times. I know I'm paranoid but I also know that my gut is usually right. Not that it should have any impact on me so long as I keep to myself and do my own thing. It just makes me skeptical of every person I meet.

Anywayyyy I won't go further into detail on that on this public forum. I don't want to find a bloody horse head in my bed after all! The semester of hell is over and I'm currently on a week-long break before the summer semester begins. I lightened my course load for the summer so that I can work full-time hours and hopefully get better grades. Let's just say that MDC is about 582,305 times harder than SMCC was. I busted my ass all semester long but I have a feeling when grades are released in the next few weeks they aren't going to reflect the effort I put in. I finally found a flexible hourly job doing sales for a nutritional supplement company (perfect for me!) and took on another part-time gig as a personal trainer at a small local studio. However, because of the time commitment required by my course load I was only working between 20-30 hours each week and that hasn't been covering even my basic living expenses. My poor savings account has been rapidly diminishing. Yes, the account that was only supposed to be dipped into for tuition purposes. Ughhhhh Effective last week however I've been able to get full-time hours so I'm praying that when I finalize my May budget I at least break-even. I don't mind having to dip into savings for large expenditures but I need an income that at least covers basic living needs. I don't want to think about the possibility of having to return to corporate hell and give up on my dietitian dreams all because of money.

Money is the root of all evil. Cliche but true.

Anyway, all my issues of the past four months could be put into a novel here but alas this is a fitness blog so I'll leave you with that small life recap for now. At the end of the day I'm still living in Miami, one of the most popular cities in the WORLD. It's sunny, lightly breezy, finally not humid, and mid-80's out today and I hear it was 35 in Portland yesterday morning LOL!

This morning I got up, fueled-up with coffee, freshly squeezed Florida grapefruit juice, and one of my fantastic zucchini muffins (see today's earlier post for recipe) then hit the gym for leg day. My beloved Porky's Gym that I fell in love with last December and purchase the entire year-in-advance when I got here in January was sold to YouFit (the south's version of Planet Fitness) a couple of months ago and even since it's been going downhill. Most of the serious lifters have left and it's just not the motivating iron mecca it once was. I'm tempted to leave myself but I doubt I'll get my money back and like I said, I'm beyond broke so having two gym memberships isn't the best use of my finances. For now, I'm just trying to make the best of it. Being the start of a new month I decided to switch-up my own lifting routine for the next 4 weeks. Usually I do traditional heavy leg exercises on leg day but opted to try out some new moves I saw in a magazine. I felt like I had a good workout but I'm not sure I really pushed hard enough. I focused more on form and went light-weight for safety purposes. If I'm not sore tomorrow then I'll go back to my normal routine next week but sometimes you gotta try something new! Here's the breakdown of today's leg day routine:

-Overhead BB squats 4x10
-Front BB squats 4x10
Superset:
-Cyclist DB squats 4x12 (heels elevated on a plate) with Kettlebell goblet squats 4x12
-Heavy smith machine calf raises 4x15

The overhead squats and front squats were very awkward but I think I just need to get used to them. Give this routine a try and let me know what you think in the comments section below! Anyway, it's lunch time and I'm starved. I promise to try to write more often now that I have a slight breather in my schedule. If there are any fitness or health topics you'd like me to write about please let me know! 'Til next time, happy gymming! xo

Double Chocolate Zucchini Protein Muffins

Good Morning gym rats! It's a beautiful, sunny, non-humid Sunday morning here in Kendall and I have a wonderful recipe to share with you! If you've been following me on Instagram @ariellenicolefit then you probably saw my post about them last night but for all of you who don't have IG I thought I'd share it with you here. 

I've been making a similar recipe in a bundt cake pan for years but have had a craving for muffins lately and wanted to make a healthified version. Here's the recipe I whipped-up last night:

2 c whole wheat flour

1/2 c truvia baking blend

2 eggs

2 cups grated zucchini

1/2 c unsweetened applesauce

1/2 c fat free plain Greek yogurt

2 scoops chocolate protein powder

2 tbsp baking cocoa

1/4 c coconut oil

1/4 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/4 c chopped walnuts

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

If using a jumbo muffin tin then cook for 30 minutes at 355 degrees F. Cook for 1 hour if using a bundt cake pan. These jumbo muffins are 439 calories each and macros are 19 g fat, 59 g carbs, and 19 g protein. Clearly they are not a good dieting food but you could make them a lot lighter by simply eliminating the chocolate chips and walnuts or using 1 cup applesauce and eliminating the coconut oil. Be creative! If you make your own version please share below or post it on IG and tag me! 

Instagram

Hey guys! Long time no talk, I know. Long story short, I am beyond swamped with my new school life here in Miami and blogging is the last thing on my list of things to do at the moment. The main issue being that when I signed up for my classes I assumed that Chem + Lab and Micro + Lab meant 2 classes (ie part-time status). Come to find out, at this new school the labs are entirely separate courses with different teachers, different tests, different grades, etc. To say I'm drowning would be an understatement. Nonetheless, I keep chugging along because that's what I always do and I know once I get through this hell I can lighten my load going forward. For now I can't promise any ongoing blogs but I wanted to let you all know that my primary method of social media these days is Instagram since it's the fastest and easiest way to broadcast to a large audience. Soooo you should all follow me @ariellenicolefit to get my latest fitness-related posts! Also, I'm still doing online personalized workout plans so if that's something you're interested please reach out to me via Insta or at FitFierceFun@gmail.com! I hope you guys are all staying active this winter. 'Til next time, happy gymming! xo

Gingerbread Protein Pancakes

Things in Miami have been an absolute whirlwind! I've literally applied to 324,566,835 jobs at this point and had 1 (or 2) mental breakdowns amid realizing I am totally NOT prepared for the workload at this school. However, things seem to actually be falling into place now so I promise a full update once I have things confirmed. In the meantime, I wanted to share a delicious recipe with you all for protein gingerbread pancakes.

Okay, so I've been craving all things gingerbread for like 2 months now and while packing up my kitchen in Portland I found my long-forgotten waffle maker and made a note to make myself some gingerbread waffles once I got my kitchen unpacked here in Miami. Further, my step grandparents gave me a MASSIVE jug of real maple syrup for Christmas from their hometown in Western Massachusetts which I couldn't wait to break into! Finally, one night last week I went online to research recipes and after compiling a few different ones here's the one I came up with:

2 egg whites
1 tbsp molasses
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp real maple syrup
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 scoop vanilla whey (I used Syntrax Matrix Simply Vanilla)
1/4 cup ground flaxseed
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves

Here I am, ready to go!

However, it having been eons since I last used my waffle maker I forgot the most important part...the non-stick lining isn't really non-stick...it requires a good spray of Pam prior to use...

And this is what happened.

It was so sad. My pre-lifting protein waffles burnt to a crisp! Not only that, but I also put too much batter in at once and it literally seeped out all over my counter-top. Not fun :( 

However, I still had a little batter left so I quickly whipped-up one delightful pancake and made a side of scrambled eggs to keep my protein count up. All is well that ends well :)

Not only was the mix delicious, healthy, and bodybuilding diet friendly, it's also gluten free! The nutrition for the entire recipe (sans the additional eggs, banana slices and maple syrup shown here) works out to approximately 371 calories, 14 grams of fat, 30 grams of carbs, and 35 grams of protein. Can't beat that! 

Even though I now live in a warm climate and the allure of cold-weather seasonal foods like gingerbread isn't quite as strong as it once was, I'd still make these again. I'd even serve them to company they were that good! Give 'em a try and let me know how you like them! xo

Home Sweet Home In The 305

Good Morning all you gym rats out there! What an absolutely fantastic morning it is too! Of course every morning (well, every minute pretty much) of the past 4 days has been superb as well as I am officially a Miami resident!!!!!!! Okay, before all you fans of my historically sarcastic attitude get ready to barf, I'll admit I've been a bit on the overly positive side lately but I just can't help it! If you've been following me on Twitter @PortlandGymRat then you'll know just how happy I've been since arriving in this gorgeous sunny state! I've been wanting to blog sooner but due to a mishap with Comcast (Side-note: DO NOT ever ever ever use that company if you don't have to; their customer service is abominable!) I did not get internet connection until last night and was angrily over-dipping into my cell phone's data plan to use the internet all week long.

As I type I am sitting on my balcony, nicely shaded by a giant palm tree, overlooking my pool. Yeah, I live in a fucking paradise! I don't know why anyone would want to live anywhere else. I am so meant to be here! It's a slightly breezy day which nicely offsets the hazy-humid 81 degrees Fahrenheit it currently is at 10:00 am. This morning I awoke around 6:00 am and just like every other morning since arriving here I made breakfast and sat out on my patio dining al fresco while the sun began to rise and the world around me remained asleep. The sun rises a bit later here than in Maine but I'll take it since that means it also sets later and thus I'm not feeling like it's bedtime at 4:00 pm!

Post breakfast I drove across the street to my new favorite gym ever, Porky's, and trained back and core (I really don't even need to drive it's that close!) for a couple of hours. The gym is so totally me it could not be more perfect. It's like old school Bally's or Gold's. No frills but has all the necessary equipment, people are actually in there to put in work, not to socialize and chat on their cell phones while hogging all the equipment you need, and it's filled with actual FIT PEOPLE! On my second day there I not only met a trainer who is a local NPC show promoter but was also invited to join the bodybuilding team of a well-known successful bodybuilder! More on that at a later date as I need to meet with him and go over the details before I commit but how cool is that?! With all the effort I put into my diet and training, it feels so good to be recognized like that by a total stranger!

After my workout today I scooted next door to Publix (grocery store) and loaded back up on meat and veggies (I've been eating a ton of delicious fresh fish for dinner!) and then came home to walk Mugsy and shower. I think he is really loving it here too. He's getting so much more exercise since it's not a fucking tundra outside and he gets to enjoy being out on the patio with me all the time as well. The rest of my days since getting here have been filled-up with random errands and I'm feeling pretty comfortable getting around the area now. Yesterday I went to my school to check out the bookstore and it's literally on the same street that I live on. My whole world is literally so close, how perfect is that?! The only thing still causing me stress right now is my lack of finding a job but I'm applying to anything and everything I come across so hopefully something works out quick. Living in this palm tree paradise ain't cheap!

I noticed not too far from here a sign advertising a farmer's market on Sunday's from 10-3 so I am looking forward to checking that out tomorrow. I hope it's good. If I could get fresh grapefruits and oranges each week I might actually need a depressant I'd be so high on cloud 9 LOL!

One thing I've been wanting to write about lately is how many people over the past month have sent me messages via Linked-in, Facebook, Twitter, etc. along the lines of "What you're doing is so risky" or "That really takes guts" or "I wish I had the nerve to do something like that". The thing is though, I don't feel gutsy at all. I feel like I had just been so miserable for so long that this was my only choice. I needed to be in a new area. I needed warm weather. I needed to meet new people. I needed a new career. A new future. New experiences. Yeah, moving is a pain and it's extremely expensive and oftentimes stressful but you know what? It's worth it if you wake up and suddenly all the negatively that had been weighing you down for 7 years is gone and you can't wait to take on the day because you know only new and exciting experiences are ahead of you. Everything ALWAYS works out in the end, just remember that. You might have to go through hell to get there but if you want something you can have it if you work for it. Take that step. Just go for it. Don't live vicariously through someone else's experiences wishing you had the balls to go after your dreams. Go after them now before it's too late and you're 65 or 70 years old, finally retiring from a career that brought you no personal satisfaction, and you're ready to do whatever it is you've always wanted to do only you can't because you're old as fuck and you're tired and you're body doesn't work the same as it used to and you feel like you're chance is over. Anyway, I just can't stress enough that everyone who is feeling stuck in a life they don't want should just cut ties and move on. The only guarantee in life is death. Don't you want to make the most of the time you have?

People's reaction to my life change is both motivating to me and extremely saddening. More people than you realize are unhappy in the life they are living and it doesn't have to be that way.

Well I'm signing off now before I blab on any longer. I'm going to research beaches to see if there are any worth checking out that may be closer than South Beach as I do not feel like dealing with traffic today. I hope you all had a safe and happy new year and have something to look forward to in 2015! If so, please share your goals below. I'd love to hear them! 'Til next time, happy gymming :)

  

Terminator

It's finally here, my LAST day of work! I've been waiting for this day to come for several years and now that it's finally arrived it seems rather uneventful LOL. Just sitting here, twiddling my thumbs, watching the clock tick ever-so-slowly until a suitable departure time arrives. Like T-4 hours ago J

After three stressful weeks I finally found solid tenants for my house who are coming to sign a lease tonight (knock-on-wood). Maybe once I have a signed lease in my hand I'll be able to sleep through the night for the first time in….fuck I don't even know the last time I got a solid 8 hours! My movers are all set to go now though so once I secure my tenants all I have to do is finish packing (surprisingly not a daunting task as I seem to be an expert packer from having moved so many times in the past) and it's pretty much smooth sailing from there. One thing I love about moving is that you end up eliminating a lot of things you don't need (Goodwill, Salvation Army, the dump) and you clean your house better than you probably did the entire time you lived there LOL!

This morning was my last super-early gym sesh and I crushed chest with a little added cardio. Here was the breakdown:

5 min elliptical warm-up

DB Chest Press on SB 3x10 using 25's

DB Incline Flies 3x10 using 20's

Decline Pushups from a SB with balancing in between sets 3x8

DB Incline Shoulder Press 1x8 using 25's and 2x10 using 20's (Burnout!)

10 min elliptical cool-down

I'll probably stick to my morning routine until I leave but it won't be quite so torturously early J

Can you believe Christmas is less than a week away? This is the first year I did not get a Christmas tree or even put up any decorations for that matter. The hassle of the never-ending pine needle pickup would have just been too much of a nightmare amidst all of the tenant walk-throughs I've had in my place. Surprisingly I haven't really missed it though. I guess I'm just too focused on my move to think about anything else! Luckily present shopping wasn't that stressful this year. I either already had ideas for people or got GCs which you know are usually preferred! I think tonight I'll watch one of my favorite Christmas movies, The Holiday. That'll be the extent of my festiveness for 2014.

So, the countdown is on. I'm so mentally over Portland you'd think I was already gone! You know what's really pissing me off? This just popped into my head so I need to vent it out. Ever since word got out a few weeks ago that I was leaving, guys have been asking to" hang out" left and right. I'm just like, "Dude, you had the past 7 years to ask me out and you think I'm going to say yes now that you've realized you've been too chicken shit this whole time and now you've blown it?!" Okay, so I don't actually say that but that's the truth. Moral of the story, don't be a pussy. If you like someone, ask them out. The worst that’s going to happen is they'll say no but chances are they'll give you at least one chance at a date, if for no other reason than to be nice. If you never ask then you'll never know. But, if you wait until your chance is gone, don't be a shithead for missing out.

Never Give Up

Good morning Miami! Um I mean Portland, okay well soon-to-be Miami! Yup, you read that right. I AM MOVING TO MIAMI! Wow it feels so good to finally be able to put that out there! In an effort to keep this post much shorter than it could be, I'll just give you the highlights for now:

1. That "last-minute trip south" I mentioned a year ago was actually an unsuccessful trip to Miami for a personal training job interview. Long story short, I clearly did not get the job and thus came back to Portland to continue my job search instead of moving there without a job which would have been a very bad financial decision at the time.
2. It's no secret that health and fitness have been my primary interests in life for years and I NEVER SHOULD HAVE MAJORED IN FINANCE! That being said, it took me 7 years to finally make the decision that being a broke student for a few years in my late 20's-early 30's would be a wiser decision than spending the rest of my life in a frigid miserable corporate environment where 99% of the people are just lying to themselves, trying to convince themselves that they are adequately content with their life choices all-the-while counting down the days until retirement.
3. It was a bit of déja-vu last week as I returned to Miami in search of a place to live. Again, not telling anyone at work of my true intentions for fear of not finding a place and then potentially being out of a paycheck (aka fired before the time was right). A bit of advice if you are planning a move; do your homework and use a rental agent. Specifically if you have an often restricted breed of dog like I do which made finding adequate housing extremely difficult!
4. In spring of this year I finally hit rock bottom with my misery level and decided I had had one too many failed job interviews and was done searching for "grass might be greener" corporate jobs in a state where I didn't want to be living anyway. My good friends had largely either remained in Canada or moved out of Maine to better their own lives and I was left feeling alone and tied-down due to my mortgage. There's a quote that goes something like "it's far better to be alone in a place where you know no one than to feel alone in a place where you know everyone". That's exactly how I felt. And that brings me to #5…
5. Done with time-wasting job interviews and done with the state of Maine I decided to take a drastic step and go back to school so that I could have a career that didn't make me want to stab my eyes out every morning. And trust me, that's a nice way of putting how I felt about my situation. Having followed the blog www.katheats.com for quite a while, I was inspired by Kath's similar decision to go back to school herself to become a Registered Dietician. Becoming an RD would mean a lot of additional schooling, basically starting back at square one since my finance degree did not provide me with any of the science prerequisite courses I would need in order to get into a Dietetics program. However, I decided it was a change I was willing to make and thus began my quest to change my life.

So, around June I began to research programs that prepare you for the RD exam. There is a great database at www.eatright.org that helps you to research the various nutrition-related career options and what schools in the US offer each. Since no school near Portland offers a suitable program, that meant I would have to relocate. And, if I had to relocate then I sure as hell was not going to go from one miserable cold locale to another! I knew I wanted to a) be near the ocean and b) be somewhere warm thus I quickly decided on Florida International University in Miami. Only one problem: out-of-state tuition is a bitch. I'm talking like twice as much simply for not being a resident. Outrageous! I had to get a little creative with my planning so I decided to begin taking my prerequisite courses at my local community college since they were quite reasonably-priced as well as transferrable. However, this did not fix my residency issue and thus I decided that I would make the move to Miami to complete my prerequisites at Miami Dade College with the intention of becoming a resident (1 year is required) in time to transfer to FIU.

After many months of keeping my plans largely on the down-low I can happily say the time is almost here! I took three courses this fall and tomorrow is my last exam! I've worked extremely hard, getting up at 4:30 am every day in order to train in the gym before heading to work where I remained full-time in order to save as much dough as possible and then headed to school at nights and on Saturdays. Yes, that meant zero social or romantic life but I had priorities and nothing was (is) going to prevent me from being happy.  I think I might even end up with all A's and since I have the credit requirement that would mean getting on the Dean's List! I'm literally holding back tears as I type this because if you had been a schoolmate of mine during my first university experience where my real major was college boys and booze you would not believe that LOL!

I gave my two-week notice at work earlier this week and I'm now riding out the next few weeks getting things in order for my move. That includes packing my house up, scheduling movers (expensive much?!), spending Christmas with my family, searching for a part-time job in Miami, and finding suitable tenants to rent my home which I decided not to sell quite yet just in case something doesn't work out (knock on wood). It's been hard to find tenants since it's a pricey place to live but it's also a really nice place and should be able to attract professional, financially stable tenants so I'm staying hopeful. Everything works out so long as you don't give up. If there's anything I've learned during the past few years it's that no matter how bad life gets, if you keep chugging through the hard times, you will end up where you need to be. While on my "vacation" last week I finally had time to for some pleasure reading (as opposed to textbook reading) and one of the books I devoured was The Alchemist. My favorite quote goes something like "when you want something, all the world conspires in helping you to achieve it". It's so true. Stay strong, keep your head up, and keep your eyes on your goal.

More to come. Happy Friday gym rats! xo

Pre-Turkey Day

Hello everyone and happy day-before-Thanksgiving! It's the calm before the storm in many ways here in Maine. Not only are the roads and airways about to get backed-up with millions of people travelling for the holiday but we are supposed to get a massive snow storm tonight and into tomorrow. I'm hearing upwards of 8-12 inches. Yuck!

Today was my cardio-only day at the gym so it was a boring sweat sesh on the elliptical for me. Luckily I chatted-it-up with the lady on the machine next to me the whole time so it flew by quickly. After a quick stretch I was back home getting ready for the day. It would have been a perfect lift day since the place was so empty! Hopefully it stays that way for the rest of the week.

The past few days I have been functioning on very little sleep so I'm seriously looking forward to taking some PTO starting tomorrow. I've been battling a small cold this week and while I fall asleep easily I end up waking around 3:00 am needing a nasal decongestant and then I can't fall back asleep. Pre-workout and coffee are keeping my eyes open.

What's everyone doing for the holiday? My family lives right down the street from me so luckily I don't have to travel anywhere. Just gotta make my fav cranberry-orange sauce and head on over to fill my belly up with delicious turkey! I'm not stressing over the possibility of weight gain for many reasons:

1. I factor-in a "cheat meal" each week anyway so having some extra fat and sugar with dinner isn't going to destroy my plan.
2. Not having to work means I have extra time to get in some additional cardio tomorrow morning pre-meal.
3. I naturally don't even like dishes with lots of butter and cream (stomach literally can't handle it and I'll end up on the toilet for the night) which are most of the side dishes at my family's southern-influenced table so I basically fill-up on turkey and cranberry sauce.
4. As the saying goes; "one "bad" meal won't ruin your progress just like one "good" meal won't give you results".

Therefore, we should all just enjoy ourselves and sample a little of everything! I'm not saying go on an all-out binge fest but do allow yourself a little treat. It's one day out of 365 and you don't want to look back and think "gee I wish I had had a slice of that homemade pecan pumpkin pie"! Mmmmm pie :D

Anyway, I have lots of items to check off my task list today so I'm out. Have a fantastic holiday with friends and family, enjoy some festive homemade cooking, stay safe on the roads, and keep life fit, fierce & fun! xo

Friday at Home

Good day & happy Friday everyone! After an excruciatingly long, frigid, and exhausting week in the office I was lucky to be able to work from home today. I had a plumber come to work on my shower faucet which has been leaking for several months so I had a good excuse to be home! I got up at 5:00 today (no drive into work meant I got to sleep-in an extra 15 minutes) and after some Coffee by Design pumpkin coffee and a bowl of hot apple & cinnamon oatmeal, I was off to the gym to train back and chest. My oatmeal was so good I'll share with you the simple recipe:

½ cup oats

¼ cup unsweetened apple sauce

Dash cinnamon & stevia

½ chopped apple

½ cup liquid egg whites

Refrigerate overnight and pop into the microwave when ready to eat!

Kind of a random crowd at the gym this morning. Fridays are typically a little quieter which is nice when you are on a time-restricted agenda! My workout was really great and consisted of these exercises:

Stiff-leg deadlifts

Standing T-bar rows

Decline DB chest presses

Incline DB shoulder presses

Wide-grip lat pulldowns

Flat bench DB flies

Cable straightbar standing pulldowns

3 sets of 8-12 each

A little stretching and I scooted home to walk the pup and get ready for my workday. Once I had my computer all set-up I mixed a delicious post-workout shake with whey and iced coffee. I usually have this with just water but since I was WFH I brewed extra coffee and refrigerated it while at the gym. I highly recommend this mix. Protein for your muscles + coffee for your brain = fantastic re-fuel!

At lunchtime I scooted out to the grocery store to do my weekly food shopping. It was an expensive order this week as I needed to re-stock on all of the expensive proteins (chicken, salmon & steak) and Mugsy was also running low on both food and treats! One great thing about this time of the year…citrus season! I got some delicious Ruby Red grapefruit and a gigantic crate of clementines. Clementines are such a great snack to have on-hand. They travel well, peel easily, are super healthy, and taste delicious! I plan on adding a couple into my annual cranberry sauce that I'll make for Thanksgiving next week. Yum! Hmmm that just gave me an idea for Thanksgiving themed oatmeal! :D

While at the supermarket I also picked-up a Vietnamese shrimp spring roll to have for lunch. Nothing in my fridge was appealing to me. Believe it or not I sometimes get sick of my usual chicken breast salad!

The rest of the afternoon was spent doing various work items on my laptop. Overall not a very eventful day but it was sssoooooo nice to be warm in my own home! The office has been so cold I've had to wear my smart wool socks, hiking boots, full North Face parka, scarf, and running gloves (thin fabric so I can still type) AT MY DESK. Even with all of this my circulation issues are at an extreme already this season. Yesterday my toes hurt so bad I had to try not to cry at my desk. Yes, I do have a doctor's note saying that I have a medical issue and need to be allowed the use of a space heater but I have not yet been allowed to use one by the company I work for. I won't go into details (I probably have mentioned it in prior years) but it's not something I can live with for much longer. I try to get up and walk around to get the blood flowing to them at least once per hour but I'm scared the lack of circulation could lead to amputation. I know that sounds drastic but my toes literally get so cold they turn purple/blue and burn. I can't even get a pedicure this time of year because it's too painful to touch them. I end up doing self-pedis on the weekend after a post-gym hot bath soak. Pathetic.   

Anyway, I'm toasty at the moment since I'm wearing socks, slippers, and sitting near my heater. I don't even keep my house that warm since I live alone and fuel is expensive. It ranges from high 60's when I'm home to low 60's when I'm away. I think it's more a matter of not having to sit stagnant for 9 hours with A/C blowing on me. Something's gotta give pretty soon.

I'm currently debating what to have for dinner tonight. To make something or to get a Whole Foods burrito which never disappoints? Hmm decisions, decisions. Friday used to be my "cheat meal" night but I'm going out to my favorite pasta restaurant tomorrow night and I plan to order the super decadent baked truffle mac 'n cheese. Saturday is of course my training off-day but I'll use the carb-load for my Sunday morning leg sesh! What are you all having for dinner tonight? Give me some good ideas! Cheers! xo

Sunday Funday Legday

So, I'm still on the Sunday legday routine as legs always take so much longer to train than any other muscle group and the weekdays just don't have enough time to get through my whole routine. Basically this means that I cannot walk correctly when I start the week out at work every single Monday LOL but oh well, no one seems to notice (or care!). This month my routine is pretty similar to last month except that I took out the RDLs which didn't seem to be giving me a booty burn anymore and replaced them with lunges which I haven't done in 2 months. Let's be honest, I HATE LUNGES! I didn't used to mind them when my workouts were less weight-focused but when you are constantly dealing with super tight quads and other random leg aches and pains they are a bitch. In order to get myself to not skip them I let myself choose the type of lunges I do each week. Last week was walking DB lunges (pure torture) and today I did walking lunges with Med Ball core twists. These weren't so bad as they were more balance than weight-focused. Other options I might use are stationary BB lunges, side-to-side lunges, or raised-leg lunges (I think these are called Bulgarian lunges?). I find the best way to keep yourself motivated is to do what you enjoy so if you hate what you're doing, find a better method! Anyway, here's the breakdown of November's leg routine:

4 sets of 8-12 each:
-BB back squats
-Hack squats
-Lunges of choice (2x length of gym)
-DB goblet squats on two parallel benches (Doing them raised lets you get really deep - I LOVE these!)
-Standing calf raises. 2 sets with toes forward 1 set each with toes facing in and out. This lets you get your calves working from all angles - another trick I love!

I then finished off with 15 minutes on the elliptical to loosen-up my stiffening muscles, 3 sets of hanging leg raises not only for a little core work but also to really stretch out the upper body since I'll be hitting shoulders tomorrow, and then finally some stretching and foam-rolling on the mats.

This takes about 2 hours in total so I try to get in really early and not use-up too much of my day. On my way out of course I was starved so I had a delicious Pure Fit peanut butter toffee protein bar and then stopped into Coffee By Design for a small iced which I mixed-up in my shaker with my whey. I bought a new flavor recently, chocolate caramel I think its called, which I am not a fan of but the coffee addition made it so much better! Adding caffeine to your protein shake is not only a great way to refuel those broken down muscles but also fantastic for re-energizing yourself after completely burning yourself out for 2 hours! I'm so ready to take on the rest of my day now haha! When I got home I soaked in a hot bubble bath filled with Epson salts for a while prior to showering. The salts feel so good on your sore muscles, soften your skin really nicely, and the heat and lavender scent really help to rid any lingering stresses. Plus, its freaking frigid here and the thought of sitting in an ice bath when the air temperature is not much warmer was really making me cringe!

Despite my post-workout nutrition I'm already dizzy from starvation so I'm going to go make myself my typical chicken breast salad for lunch before getting on with my Sunday chores. Thank goodness I took tomorrow off as a PTO day...so much to do and so little time lately!

Do you readers reserve your favorite or most time-consuming workouts for the weekends or do you prefer to take the weekends off? What's your favorite post-workout snack? I'd love to see some comments below! Happy Gymming all! xo

Election Day

Hello gym rats and happy Election Day! I woke bright and early and hit chest and back on this frigid Tuesday here in Maine. As the start of a new month, all of my workouts are changed-up this week. It's always my favorite week of lifting! Today's split consisted of the following:

-Straight-leg DLs

-Wide-grip T-bar rows

-Decline DB presses

-Incline DB presses

-Cable lat pull-downs

-Flat DB flies

-Straight-bar standing cable pull-downs

I have to say, 3 days into my new schedule and I am spent! My ass hurts so bad still from Sunday's leg sesh (but hurts so good!) and doing back right after yesterday's shoulder sesh probably wasn't my brightest idea ever. I may switch my back/chest day with my bicep/tricep day (Friday) going forward.

Another thing I love about a new month of offseason building is that I get another calorie increase to my meal plan. I have been testing a monthly increase in calories each month since my last show. So long as I feel like I'm burning it and not getting pudgy, I keep it going. This month I'm up to 1,800 and I feel great. I am noticing huge gains in my "troubled" areas and my abs, while not as defined as I prefer, are still flat and sports-bra appropriate LOL! My macros are still around 45 C / 20 F / 35 P but I'm honestly not as strict as I have been in the past. This sport is such an experiment and I find it's better to listen to your body rather than sticking to a super stringent routine that may be slowing your gains. Unless you're cutting…in that case stay on plan! Side-note: I posted a great recipe for sweet potato quinoa patties to my recipes page a week or so ago so if you haven't already, go check that out. They are delicious!

In other updates, I'm still ridiculously busy and have zero down-time. That's why the blogs have gotten so infrequent lately. I will however be updating you all in the next month or so and my lack of posts will suddenly make much more sense…just in time for a 2014 re-cap and discussion of New Year resolutions past and future! I can't believe the year is coming to a close again. I know it's only the start of November but time flies and we'll be baking Turkey's and hanging stockings soon enough! It even snowed here this past weekend. Yuck! It snowed all effing day long on my "Sunday Funday" but luckily it didn't accumulate. The weather has been so strange lately. 34 degrees when I got up this morning and supposedly it's going to be in the 60's tomorrow. Make up your mind already!

Anyway, I gotta get back to my day here. Have a great Tuesday and don't forget to vote! Make your opinion count.

P.S. I would really love to add some new online clients to my book in the coming year. Talk about a perfect holiday gift to give! I create monthly PERSONALIZED fitness routines and diet plans for folks of all kinds. And no, you don't have to be a seasoned exerciser or a bodybuilder. I work with my clients to create a routine that both fits their schedule and incorporates things they'll enjoy doing. Fitness is supposed to be fun! Visit my site at www.FitFierceFun.com or e-mail me at FitfierceFun@gmail.com I might even offer-up a deal if you mention this blog post J

Fall Tastes

Good Morning! I have a few extra minutes to spare in between training, studying, cleaning, and knocking other random chores off my list this morning so I wanted to share with you all a great new vegetable I just discovered. It's called a Kabocha and is also known as a Japanese Winter Squash. Ever heard of it? Well I'm not much of a squash fan nor am I a fan of cooking anything that takes more than a few minutes of prep but a fellow lifting girlfriend excitingly told me about it the other day as it is apparently difficult to find around here and she had found it at Trader Joe's. I guess it's one of Pauline Nordin's (Figher Diet) favorite starchy veggies so being a huge fan of hers I too had to try it out. I scooted off to Whole Foods the next day since I had a GC to spend there and to my luck I found a big box of them. I chose a small-ish one and after reading-up online about how to prepare them I decided the cleanest and easiest version would be to cut it into slices and bake them on a greased baking sheet for about 10 mins each side at 375 F. I sprinkled them with cinnamon for a little extra sweetness and flavor. When I pulled them out they were soft and easy to cut into smaller chunks. Some of the recipes I read recommended skinning the squash first but that looked way too difficult so I just ate the skin right along with the fleshy middle. I would liken the taste closer to that of sweet potato than say butternut squash since it was quite sweet. I thought it was delicious and the best part was that 1 cup is only approximately 40 calories and 7 grams of carbs. What a great food to have on-hand while dieting! I ate 1/2 of the squash with dinner alongside some steamed peas and grilled chicken breast and I was full for the rest of the night! Here's a collage of the baking and eating process:

I would recommend using a very sharp knife to cut through the squash if you choose to cook it that way. My knives all suck so I had to microwave it for a couple of minutes to soften it a bit before slicing. My friend who claims to be a lazier cook than I said she just cut it in half, scooped-out the seeds and steamed it in the microwave until soft with a little bit of water added to the center. I found some other recipes that sounded pretty tasty which suggested additional spices and tossing in coconut oil prior to baking but I was going for low-cal here!

Anyway, I just wanted to share this new find with all of you before it leaves the shelves again. I always love finding new clean foods to add some variety to my bland diet. Please share any fall foods you have recently tried in the comments section below! Happy Sunday Funday all :) 

Lately

Hello Gym Rats! First off, I'd like to apologize to my loyal readers for being MIA for so long. My excuse? Outrageous busyness to the point of literally not having enough hours in the day to do everything that I need to. Even my training and diet have suffered as of late. These 4:30 am daily wake-ups in order to be on the gym floor by 5:00 are seriously killing me. Not because it's "too early" but because by the time I get everything done for the day and settle down to sleep, there's just not enough hours left for a decent slumber between then and when the alarm goes off again! I am someone that has and probably always will require AT LEAST a solid 7 hours in order to function properly. When I list out my major priorities at the moment, training is still numero uno. I just feel like I'm rushing through things in order to get in-and-out in the measly hour I can devote each morning and letting equally important things like stretching, cardio, foam-rolling and ice bathing fall a bit to the wayside. I know…no excuses right? So I keep trudging and working on some workarounds.

I decided to call this post "Lately" because some of my favorite bloggers are always posting "Lately" posts of their week's recent events (OK, month in this case). I don’t even know where to begin though! The biggest life change (and consumption of time) for me is something I can't share here yet but I promise as soon as I can, I will! It's officially Fall here in Maine and that alone brings many changes in our day-to-day lives. Do your training and eating habits change with the seasons? Mine sure do! I've been freezing my ass off here (as usual) and have been in full-swing with the Fall baking. As clean and protein-packed as possible of course LOL. So far I have made two separate batches of pumpkin apple protein muffins, yum! I don't really have a recipe for them to share with you guys. Basically I just googled a simple pumpkin muffin recipe that included chopped apple chunks, did my usual swapping-out of butter with apple sauce, lowered the sugar,  added-in a couple scoops of protein powder and doubled the baking powder to offset the denseness brought on by the protein powder. This is a great baking trick a friend told me about. If you find that your recipes get too dense and don't rise enough when you add-in protein powder, just double the baking powder/soda (whatever is in the recipe). Works like a charm!

Last Sunday I finally had a few free hours of "me time" so I met up with a couple of friends and went apple picking. I try to go apple picking every year. Store-bought apples just aren't the same. Nothing beats a bite into a crisp Macintosh just plucked from the tree! I also picked up a small jug of fresh apple cider. Sooo good; especially when heated-up! Here's a pick of me doing some necessary orchard taste-testing.

I have no idea what I was laughing at but apparently it was a riot. Sunday night I whipped-up a delicious apple crisp with a protein crumble topping. I've been having a small bowl of it for breakfast each morning with my eggs. Great pre-lifting fuel! I think this weekend I am going to try making a pumpkin bread with dried apricots and sunflower seeds. I found the recipe while sifting through my recipe binder last weekend. I think I cut it out of a magazine last year and never made it. I'll post the recipe here if it comes out as good as it looks!

As far as training goes, nothing really changes for me in the Fall but I am being a bit less strict about calorie control (i.e. I may or may not have had pizza and wine for dinner last night). My favorite fitness idol, Pauline Nordin (check out FighterDiet.com if you aren't already in-the-loop) posted a good point the other day when she said something like "you can always loose an extra few pounds of fat so use those added calories today for greater muscle gains!". Well she said it much better but anyway my point is that I'm feeling like I'm making great progress on my "problem" areas thanks to added carbs/calories in my diet so if I my abs aren't quite so visible right now I don't really care. It's not bikini season, right? Plus, a guy who I constantly avoid getting into a gym convo with because of his highly critical nature actually went out of his way to compliment my progress the other day so I figure it's not totally in my head LOL.

As I mentioned before, I really haven't been doing much cardio at all other than my one day per week where that's all I do in the gym. My shins haven't been bothering me at all lately but that's probably more due to lack of cardio than it is true progress on my skeletal imbalances. I am still trying to get-in a 10-minute ice bath post Sunday morning leg training because it really does make a HUGE difference in my recovery. There's just no time for it any other day of the week unfortunately. Outside of the gym I did get out for a beautiful pre-Fall hike a couple of weeks ago from which I was literally crippled for a good 3 days afterwards. Maybe doing legs the day before wasn't my best idea ever LOL! Here's a pic of the miles and miles of Maine woods you could see from the top of Burnt Meadow Mountain in Brownfield.

Gorgeous, eh? I hope to get in at least one more hike before it gets too cold (i.e. two months ago LOL). Maybe go somewhere with some good foliage viewing! Alas, I must cut this short so I can check more items off of my Thursday "To-Do" list. Side note: it's not too bad with only about 386,206,173 tasks to get through today! So, that's it for my "lately"…How does your life change with the changing of the seasons?

TGIF!

Hey y'all! Happy Friday! Just a quickie post as I sit here sipping a glass of delicious Barefoot Refresh Summer Red wine. I've never been a red drinker but I was recently in a position of compromise and decided to give this sweet version a try. Guess what? I LOVE it! This could get dangerous LOL!

Anyway, it's the start of the long Labor Day weekend and I was happy to work from home today to make for a semi 4-day weekend. Being plugged in all day isn't so bad when you are in the comfort of your own home, not being frozen to death by the arctic A/C and in comfy gym clothes to boot!

Despite not having to get up as early as usual I decided to rise at 5:00 am today to do legs. This month I am changing my rest day to Saturday (from Friday) so since I didn't want to have 2 rest days in a row I did a little switch-up. Sunday will basically be an ad-hoc day since I won't want to do legs again and since my sister is coming to visit I am going to take her to the gym for an introductory lift sesh. She's either going to love it or hate it; I'm so excited! I think I'm going to do a total body circuit of my favorite exercises for each muscle group so she can get a feel for what lifting is like.

So anyway, today was the start of my September lifting plan which I created a few days ago. I've been having some success with keeping the shin pain at bay lately so I'm going to try to hit legs 2x per week again and see how it goes. Today's plan consisted of the following:

BB front squats
Romanian DLs
Hack squats
BB stationary lunges
Calve raises

I was ticked when I arrived at the gym and found all of the squat racks taken (seriously, taken at 5:30 am? FML!) so I started with the hack squats. Luckily one of the racks opened up quickly so I was able to stay put and get the squats, DLs, and lunges all done in the same spot. It actually made for a much more efficient workout, not having to move around all that much. When I was through with my planned lifts, I finished-up with some hanging leg raises and some stretching and foam-rolling on shins and quads. No matter what I do I just cannot loosen-up those areas but some stretching/rolling is better than none! I think it might be time to splurge on a serious deep tissue massage in the near future.

Anyway, it's Friday and I'm being a total anti-socialite as I have to get up early tomorrow to attend a course I am taking (details at a later date). It's the reason Saturday is now rest day! Alas, I'm signing off now to go prep for tomorrow and finish my wine :)

Happy Labor Day weekend everyone! Be safe and stay active! xo

August Update

Good Morning! I realize it’s been a while since my last post but I promise I haven’t been slacking in life; I’ve just been outrageously busy (in a good way)! First things first; yesterday I officially became an ISSA certified Sports Nutrition Specialist! I crammed through my studies in order to finish the 8 month course in just over two. In all I found most of the material quite easy since I already had a pretty solid base of knowledge but I definitely learned a lot. I got a 94% on my exam so I guess that leaves a little more learning to be had in my future J

I don’t even know where to begin with my workout / life / competing updates so I’ll start on the competition front. After going back-and-forth for a stressful few weeks on whether or not I should compete one more time this year I’ve pretty much decided to hold off for now, continue to build, and return to the stage in 2015 bigger than ever! It’s not that I don’t want to get back on stage right now (I’m dying to!) but I know that in reality it makes more sense to keep building since I will inevitably lose some muscle mass the next time I cut and I want to be sure I can take that risk and still show visible improvement on stage. The main reason I am putting it off though is because my schedule this fall is going to be nothing short of a crazy hectic whirlwind (more on that at a later date) and I’m just not sure I’ll have the time to devote to expanding my existing training schedule with increased cardio sessions and posing practice. It could be done; I’m just not convinced it should be.

Physique-wise I have seen and felt great improvement ever since I changed my macros a month or so ago by decreasing the added fats in my diet. By doing so, I’ve leaned out a little bit due to a small caloric decrease. While I haven’t made an effort to take in extra carbs, the decrease in fats has caused my diet to consist of a larger percentage of carbs which I think is a better ratio for my mostly anaerobic training. I have been a little more lenient on my fruit intake though which hasn’t seemed to hurt me and definitely makes me a happier camper LOL. Macros over the past week have been 42% carbs / 36% protein / 22% fat. Definitely not 100% consistent day-to-day but I feel good so it’s all good. The funny (sad) thing is that while my fats are at 22% (kind of high for a bodybuilder) I am barely taking in any additional fats other than a few almonds or avocado in my salads and a teeny tiny bit of olive oil when sautéing veggies. Most of the fat is just what is inherent in other food sources like eggs and meats. Kind of a pisser if you ask me!

On the training front, it’s safe to say that I am now an official morning gym rat. My body just decided that it was going to continue to get up at the crack-of-dawn whether I wanted it to or not so I’ve been hitting the gym by 5:00 am most weekdays. Training before work means that I’ve got to get in-and-out in about an hour / hour-and-a-half so I do the occasional double-session when I need more time to fit in cardio. Most days the early morning is very enjoyable with few distractions, equipment-hoggers, tools or chatty Kathy’s so when I do return to the 5:00 pm time slot I am easily irritated and leave more overwhelmed and angry than when I got there. That’s not what’s supposed to happen at the gym!  

Injury-wise I haven’t been in too much pain lately. I’m sure this is mostly from not doing a lot of cardio but even when I have done it, I’ve managed to keep the swelling at bay by sitting in a bathtub full of cold water and ice for 10 minutes post-workout. It’s actually not as torturous as it sounds and being able to walk and go about the rest of my day without constant pain makes it worth it. I haven’t been back to the PT in a few weeks because even with insurance it was costing me an arm and a leg but I have been doing my recommended exercises at least a few days per week and while I’m still skeptical of their necessity I can’t deny my improvement. I’m also no longer popping Ibuprophen like they’re Skittles so that’s definitely a plus!

Anyway, it’s time for me to scoot off to work here. I was up way too late last night so I’m not looking forward to the inevitable mid-morning head-bobbing and mid-afternoon brain drain that will most definitely require an extra strong coffee to battle through. Looking forward to an early bedtime tonight! I hope all you gym rats are enjoying these last few weeks of Summer (or extended Spring here in Maine). ‘Til next time, happy gymming! xo

Perfect Protein Bars

I have spent the past few weeks perfecting the perfect protein bar to share with you. So what constitutes a perfect protein bar? Well, deliciousness of course! But in keeping with one's fitness and physique goals I wanted to create one with appropriate macros as well. Now don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE Quest bars for just this reason but seeing as they have been costing me a bundle each month I wanted to see if I could make a similar product. Indeed I can :)

Qualities of a (good) quality bar:
1. Superb taste
2. Pliable but not too melt-y consistency
3. Majority of carbs from fiber
4. At least 1 serving protein (20 grams)
5. Low in fat & sugar

I began by Googling "Quest bar recipes" and came upon several different sites that offered up similar recipes. However, one site in particular, www.busybuthealthy.com shared a product I had yet to hear of, VitaFiber.

You can read about what exactly VitaFiber is at the Company's website http://www.bioneutra.ca/index.htm but in a nut shell it is a low-calorie, sugar free sweetener similar in consistency to honey that is extremely high in fiber. The product also comes in powder form but for the sake of not having to add additional liquid to my recipe I opted for the syrup version. It costs an arm and a leg but it's so worth it! There is one other company that sells this product in the US however BioNeutra gives you slightly more product for the money, despite the flat shipping charge to the US being more than the product itself!

Before my VitaFiber arrived in the mail I experimented with some cashew-coconut protein bars which were pretty decent in consistency and taste but way too high in sugar due to having used honey in my recipe. For my first experiment with the VitaFiber I made key lime protein bars. These were delicious but way too liquidy and had to be eaten with a spoon! Next I tried peanut butter chocolate bars which were a little harder in consistency but didn't taste as good because of the brand of protein I used (side note: not a fan of MusclePharm!). My third try was with white chocolate macadamia nut flavored bars. These were pretty good but again the consistency was just not quite there. The main ingredients for all of these bars were the VitaFiber, protein powder, flour, and water to achieve desired consistency. Plus of course extras like nuts, coconut, choc chips, lime ride shavings, and lime juice to make the specific flavors. Finally I connected that the best bars consistency-wise were the ones I made the first time which used cashew butter. Thus, today I concocted the perfect protein bar in the flavor of double cashew! You can head on over to my recipes tab for the exact recipe by clicking here: http://gymrat-confessions.blogspot.com/p/favorite-protein-packed-recipes.html. The only modification I would make would be to use 4 scoops of protein and 1/4 cup of flour. I had to adjust this because I only had 3.5 scoops left in the tub! This will make your macros slightly better by increasing the protein and decreasing the carbs a tad. Still, the nutritional content was pretty good!

You could make a delicious double almond bar by using almond butter and almonds instead of the cashew butter and cashews I used today. I can't wait to try these out post-workout tomorrow. I sampled a little bit of the batter and it was soOoOoOo tasty! If you've ever tried the fantastically delicious PureFit protein bars http://purefit.com/ I would liken them to those....but with MUCH better macros!

My tummy is rumbling as I type this so I think I'm going to go prepare an early dinner and then take the pup out for an early evening walk once the sun starts to set. I always feel bad taking him out midday this time of year since I hear the hot tar can really tear-up a dog's tender paws!  Anyway, I hope you take a stab at your own protein bars and if you do, please share your own unique recipe and results with the rest of the gym rats in the comments section below! Happy cooking xo

Always Changing

Good Morning gym rats! Your day is probably just beginning but I’m already ready for bed. Soooo sleepy and the rainy / humid / grey atmosphere is not helping matters. I may have officially woken up at 4:45 this morning with the sound of my alarm alerting me it was time to get up, fuel-up, and hit core before work but I really feel like I’ve been up since about 2:30, having tossed and turned much of the early morning hours. I do love my early morning gym sessions but unless they are a regular occurrence, the change in schedule really sets my bodily clock out of whack!

A week of having a training partner was about all I could handle so I am back to training on my own this week. I will say though that it was exactly what I needed to get me over a plateau I didn’t even realize I was on. I’m lifting much heavier all across the board right now. I even realized yesterday that in the past two weeks my rear delt flies have gone from 12.5 DBs to 15’s to 17.5! I’m feeling wicked strong and even think my gains are starting to be noticeable. Very happy with my offseason strength progress thus far! I think sometimes you just need someone to remind you that you CAN lift more than you think and get you to push through the last couple of seemingly impossible reps.

However, by the time Thursday rolled around my lifting partner seemed to forget that spotting does not mean groping so I’ve since backed away. Men are such dumbasses. Training by myself at 5:00 pm these past couple of days though has reminded me how annoying most of the amateurs in the weight room are, thus I decided to rise and grind this morning. I’ll probably do the same tomorrow since I’ll likely be giving myself an early bedtime tonight and I really do enjoy starting my day with such a prime selection of meat LOL!

Another change I decided to start this week is in my macros. Right now I’m hovering around 1,700 calories +/- each day which does seem to provide me with ample energy to train and get me through my day as well as build muscle. However, I am not satisfied with my current level of leanness so I did some research on macros the other day based on my body type (Ectomorph – naturally lean “hard gainers”), gender, and muscle building goals. I decided it might be a good idea to try to increase my carbs and decrease my fats. Not substantially, but say 5-10% on a daily basis. I was previously achieving an average of 40% carbs, 35% protein, and 25% fat but I think I may get better results both energy and physique-wise if I try to get something more like 45-50% carbs, 40% protein, and 15-20% fat. I’m going to keep my calories constant for now, then reevaluate in a month or so. I’ve been so terrified of taking in too many carbs for so long now that increasing them to this degree is going to be a challenge but I am always game for a nutritional experiment!

Anyway, that’s all for this mid-week update. Off to go re-fill my Nalgene bottle. For some reason being exhausted makes me so thirsty! By 9:00 am today I have already had about 12 oz of coffee, 20 oz BCAAs while lifting, 20 oz protein shake post-lift, and about 20 oz water. 72 oz in and at least 11 more hours of hydrating to go. No wonder I pee so much!