Hi!

After reading your comments I decided I shall keep the blog! However, I’m just going to blog when I want to- whether that be once a week, or once a month. I just don’t want to feel pressured to blog, or not blog! I’ll just go with the flow.

So I guess I owe some updates! As I mentioned, I’m the leanest I’ve ever been yet I’m the least-strict and most lenient I’ve ever been. What a concept right?! I’ll leave what helped me relax for another post, but some things I’ve been doing different include:

• Not really stressing about eating right after lifting. If I eat an hour or 2 hours later..no biggie. My muscles aren’t going to fall off.
• If I go over my macros.. no biggie.
• If I overindulge, no biggie! In fact, I’m allowing myself to indulge pretty frequently.. at least one a week. This week was full of delicious food.. I’ll get to that later in the post.
• I eat out pretty frequently now. And if I underestimate the macros..no biggie either.
• If I miss a workout, no big deal..I’ll just push myself harder the next time.
• I’ve been lifting in numerous weight ranges..typically 4-15 reps.
• I”ve actually been doing some cardio…in fact, I kinda am enjoying it! But no long sessions.
• When it comes to treating myself, I make sure to 1. Make sure I get some protein. 2. Try to get veggies. 3. Fill the rest of my meal with whatever.

So yeah! That’s all I can think of off the top of my head. So about the food this weekend.. Saturday was the s.o’s family Christmas party. Lets see.. it was after my workout so I was anabolic right? I had chicken-Alfredo lasagna, ratatouille, 2 slices of homemade bread with butter, like 6 huge homemade meatballs with sauce, some homemade bread pudding, some homemade dump cake, and some Hungry Girl pie (made by moi, who else!). I never got hungry again after that.. so I didn’t eat for the rest of the night. And no, I didn’t lose any muscle

Sunday was a Christmas fundraiser dinner that we went to. It was delicious.. first we had a salad, then a big roll with butter, then turkey with gravy, stuffing, and finally.. I kinda had 2 pieces of super decadent pie. Yum, yum, yum! I’m back on the diet this week..well, until Thursday when I go out of town. LOL.

But you see, none of this stresses me out. And it hasn’t done anything but good to my body and mind! We gotta live and find balance…we can still have our aesthetics while enjoying loved ones and life!

Alright, now I’m just blabbing. Here’s a recent pic of my arm I took for Christina’s guns post. My biceps don’t like to grow..but whatever!

Well, I’ve got a ton of errands to run. Look for update number 2 coming up soon! And thank you all for staying with me and reading!

Wow it’s been a month since I’ve posted?! I am alive and doing well!

Well lets see.. I have actually been debating whether or not to stop blogging or not. You see, I just have nothing to blog about anymore! My food is non-interesting.. I eat the same things pretty much everyday. (I mean come on, do you really want to see protein & veggies, and protein oatmeal, and Kashi cereal everyday?) Even when I eat out I’m a creature of habit! I honestly haven’t created any new recipes in probably 6 months or so. When I do bake it’s either been for someone else (like pies or cookies or cakes) or one of my old recipes. Workout wise I could post about..but I do the same program for 6-8 weeks anyway so who really wants to see the same workout over and over?

So as you can see there’s my dilemma! I actually almost shut my blog down a couple weeks ago..but then I decided to leave it up for my recipes. But then the other day I got a couple vibrations on my phone and I saw it was a couple readers comment’s that sent to my email..and it made me miss blogging! So I have no idea what to do..suggestions?

My blog has had a lot of transformations as I have had lots of transformations! It started out as just being a food and exercise blog where I didn’t really have any specific goals in mind besides maintaining my weight. Then it changed to my progress and experimentation through weight lifting and different diets.

At this point in my life, I have some goals in mind but I’m in no hurry to reach them.. I’ve just been living and enjoying life! There’s a few new people in my life who have brought me out of my being strict stage..and I’m happy. I’m leaner than I’ve ever been, yet I go out and eat out way and am much more laid back than I ever have.

With that being said.. I want your guy’s input! Is there anything you would still like me to blog about? Should I just do occasional check ins? Thoughts?

If I don’t post before Christmas I’m wishing you and all of your families a very Merry Christmas! (Oh, and my birthday is in 10 days..Christmas day! Woohoo!)

HELLO!

I’m currently sitting down after taking a midterm, lifting, and working and now I finally have some downtime to blog! Everyday I think I’m going to get a chance (I really miss it!! And I miss hearing from you all!) But then something comes up and I never can do it. I’m sorry! Now things should be (knocks on wood) slowing down..so hopefully I can get on here more often!

Okie dokie lets see.. I haven’t been too creative with food for the past few months. No joke.. I eat protein oatbran twice a day.. I have veggies and either turkey or bison and a sweet potato or popcorn for dinner.. and snacks are pretty much protein shakes (unsweetened almond milk and protein powder and ice) and a few odds and ends thrown in there.

HOWEVER I have made a couple easy recipes! No, I’m not turning into a low-cal artificial sweetener junkie. (Although all my recipes lately seem like it!) I have just been making some low-calorie odds and ends to snack on/drink when I just want something to eat and am not actually hungry. Don’t worry..my meals are big!

One of them is a latte! Starbucks sugar-free peppermint mochas are pretty bomb. But I also do not care to spend $4-5 bucks per drink! So, I decided to make my own and have been enjoying it daily! Here’s what I do:

• Make sure some coffee or espresso is made- about 1/4 to 1/2 cup
• Microwave 1/2 cup to 1 cup of milk (I use unsweetened almond milk)
• Put milk, a splash of sugar-free coffee syrup, a packet of stevia, and cinnamon either in a blender, or just in a cup.
• Blend, or use a frother to mix/froth up.
• Pour the milk into coffee, avoiding pouring in the foam.
• Then top with the foam!

I’d love to share pictures of these..but sadly my camera is broken

Hello everyone and happy November!

I’m headed off to a restaurant here in a minute but I wanted to share a super easy and simple protein shake recipe with you all that I’ve been enjoying lately!

Root Beer Float Shake

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of diet root beer (or any other diet soda, or for the anti-artificial sweetener folks regular soda will work)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk (or any milk will work)
• 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
• Stevia or sweetener to taste
• 1/4 tsp each guar gum and xanthan gum (optional)
• About 1 cup ice

Hello!!

I’ve been hearing you guys want updates.. so I finally have some updates for you all!

Life is busier as ever! Hence the lack of posting. Anyway, this is what’s new with me!

I’ve been following that hypertrophy & strength program I was telling you about and I LOVE it. I’ve made MAJOR strength gains- I re-tested my 1 rep max this week and went from a 195 deadlift to 215 pound deadlift in 4 weeks, my squat went from 130 pounds to 150 pounds in 4 weeks, and my bench went from 110 pounds to 115 pounds in 4 weeks. Plus I’m leaner, have more visible muscle definition, and I’m burning carbs like crazy. It’s pretty sweet! I”ll have to take some progress pictures soon for you all If any of you are interested in a program like that, I’d recommend the 5/3/1 program- it’s very similar to what I’m doing!

Food wise, I’ve been sorta living off protein powder as the majority of my protein sources. I’m not sure how I feel about that.. there’s nothing wrong per-se and it’s delicious! The only thing is that I really should limit my milk consumption (whey is considered a milk product and my allergy tests came back positive for being allergic to milk). But if I were to give up everything I’m allergic to food-wise (egg whites and milk) I’d basically have to live off meat..and I don’t really wanna do that! LOL. I’ve been doing allergy shots for the last 6 weeks though and it’s definitely helping.

And in other news… I must confess.. I’ve been using pre-workouts now for a few months! LOL. ALTHOUGH BEFORE YOU TAKE ANY SUPPLEMENTS, CHECK WITH YOUR DOCTOR FOR INTERACTIONS WITH MEDS OR DIAGNOSES!! Anyway, my favorites are Jack3d for upper body days and SuperPump Max for lower body days. The sour apple SuperPump tastes exactly like a green apple jolly rancher.. LOVE! I like the pre-workouts for the energy and endurance they give me. I don’t get all those funny sensations people talk about and haven’t noticed any huge pumps (haha) but I do love the extra oomph they give me.

Hmm..well that’s all I’ve got for now!! Have a great one!

TGIF!

Actually, I wish it were my Friday! This past week all of the nurses got sick at work.. and so I covered for them. (Karma anyone?) Plus I’m working Saturday through Tuesday as well. So no break for me!

Anyways, just another update! Nothing too special going on here. I got a few questions regarding my new workout program.. I’m honestly not sure how it works exactly because it’s based off of numbers and percentages of my 1 rep max. I believe it’s like the 5/3/1 program? Anyway, in another week I’ll get to re-test my 1 rep max and I’m super excited to see how much it increased! I already know my squat one has soared.. the other day I squatted (LOW) 110 pounds 13 times..a month or two ago I could only do it 5 times! Yippee!

Food..nothing special. The only thing I’ve made special lately is my Whole Meal Pumpkin Pie! I ate half of it today for a snack..yum yum yum!

Oh, another thing I’ve been doing is having a “treat meal” once a week for date night! I hate calling things “cheat meals” because you are not cheating if you have something unhealthy! That’s part of life. I fully believe in treating yourself right. I had my body fat checked (I’m not going to post the number, but it is pretty dang lean for a female) and I got this way still eating unhealthy foods every so often. So I’m going to continue! Life’s too short!

Anyway, I have a million and one things to do today. So I’m off! Have a wonderful weekend!

Hellooo is anyone out there??

I have been a bad, bad blogger lately! Life has just gotten so busy (hence why my house also hasn’t been cleaned in days..)

Lets see, I’ll give you all an update! I got my allergy blood tests back and it came up positive that I’m allergic to milk, egg whites (not the yolk), and tomatoes. SAY WHAT?!?! I’m supposed to do a trial and give up all of those and see if my congestion and fatigue clears up. (This is not an intolerance- this is an actual allergy which involves your immune system.) Tomatoes are no biggie for me since I’m not a huge fan of them anyway..but egg whites?! They are in everything! And that means no more pancakes, baked goods, etc. (Unless I use a flax egg or whatever but I’d rather not..) Sigh. I’m just a walking allergen!

I also started up my allergy shots. I’ll probably have to be on them for 5 years.. I’m going 1-2 times a week right now. It’ll be a couple months before I start seeing improvement though.

On the school front, it’s going pretty great! I’m so happy that I got my LPN before my RN. It makes the RN program SO much easier.

On the workout front, everything is going well too! I’m following a hypertrophy program from one of my friends (who has a masters in exercise science) and I’m getting stronger each week which is awesome.

On the nutrition front… nothing exciting! I’m eating ALOT more carbs.. so breakfasts have been oatbran and protein powder. Lunches have been sandwiches or more oatbran with protein.. dinner have been sweet potatoes and meat and veggies or popcorn with meat and veggies or a turkey burger.. snacks have been protein powder concoctions and fruit, etc etc. Nothing too fun or exciting! It’s easier just to eat simple these days. And I like simple..so no complaints there!

An example of my post workout meal- oatbran with canned pumpkin, vanilla protein powder, cinnamon, stevia, and banana:

And a snack example: protein mousse!

Well, that’s all that’s new with me! I hope everyone is well and I still have some readers! LOL.

Just came into report (because I’m kinda jumping up and down at the moment..)

I DEADLIFTED 195 POUNDS AND BENCHED 110 POUNDS!!! I’m sooooo excited! I’m going to be doing a new program with the guy I lift with focused on gaining strength and size..so today I found out I’m way stronger than I thought!!! My goal was to deadlift 200 pounds by Christmas and bench my body weight someday.. and I’m there!! (Well, 110 is a little below my body weight but I’ll get to body weight soon!!)

Ahhhh I’m on top of the world! LOL

Ahh I’m sorry for going MIA (again!). My world has been so busy! I’m back into school 4 days a week and I’ve been working the other 2 with one day off. School is fun though- right now we are doing labor & delivery, postpartum, and neonatal which I LOVE. Those fields aren’t typically what LPN’s do, usually it’s required to have your RN to work in those fields.. so I’m excited to finally be able to work with those types of patients!

Anyhow, I’ve just been lifting and eating kinda random. As far as goals go I honestly think maintaining my current physique may be the best bet for now. I’m pretty lean for a girl now and I’m pretty happy with my body.. there’s always room for change of course but right now with my schedule and social life I think I just might want to just maintain!

Last weekend I went to the fair and oh man it was yummy! I didn’t count macros that day and I definitely did my share of fair-foods including indian tacos, funnel cake, and pie. (I split them with the guy I went with). Funnel cake is my favorite part about the fair!

I’ve been having a lot more frequent treats than I used to due to my social life and it hasn’t made any sort of impact on my weight of physique. Ya gotta live a little!

I think on Sunday I’ll post some pics of my food as I’m cramped on time today..but I will share a workout with you that I did Wednesday..it still has me sore!

Lower Body:

Barbell Squats- 100 pounds, 4×10

Single-leg Leg Press (first time doing these and ohmygosh they were hard!)- 180 pounds of added plates per leg, 3×8

Barbell Glute Bridge- 95 pounds, 4×12

Calve Raises superset with Weighted walking lunges- 3×10

Just dropping in to share a must read article!! I adore it.. pretty much sums up my philosophy and beliefs!

The Dirt on Clean Eating