Hi guys!
As I mentioned in my earlier posts, I’m going to be gone Friday through Sunday.. I’m going to visit Bryon! For any new readers out there- my boyfriend moved to Arizona last September for school so we don’t get to see each other very often. This will be my 3rd trip down there.. I’m excited! 
I have a post scheduled to go up on Saturday though.. so be sure to check for that!
This morning I woke up really hungry! The past couple days I’ve only ate around 1600-1800 so I think it finally caught up with me today. I had the same breakfast I’ve been having all week- french toast cottage cheese overnight oats! Last night I combined 1 cup fat-free cottage cheese (all out of Daisy 
) with 1/4 raw oats, 10-15 drops of Capella French Toast flavor drops, liquid vanilla stevia, cinnamon, and ginger. This morning I topped it with 2 tsp almond butter:
305 calories, 33 grams of protein, 25 grams of carbs, 6 grams of fat
So yummy! But I was still hungry afterwards so I had a slice of Low Carb Sweet Bread with 1 tsp Justin’s Maple Almond Butter:
140 calories, 9 grams of protein, 3 carbs, 8 grams of fat
(I planned to only eat 1/2 but that didn’t happen! LOL)
And then I hit up the gym! I had planned to do Pull today but with my finger I figured I should give it another day to heal before I start gripping stuff. So I did light legs and abs:
- Barbell Squats supersetted with Barbell Narrow Squat Pulses- 80 pounds, 4 sets of 10 each
- Barbell Narrow Squats supersetted with Regular Squat Pulses- 70 pounds, 4 sets of 10 each
- Single Leg Barbell Deadlift- 50 pounds, 4 sets of 10 on each leg
- Dumbbell Step Ups supersetted with body weight Step Ups- 40 pounds, 3 sets of 10 each
- Knee Ins- 3 sets of 50 reps
- Walking Dumbbell Lunges- 40 pounds, 4 sets of 10 SUPERSETTED WITH:
- Leg Lift/Reverse Crunch combo- 3 sets of 20
- Standing Calf Raises- 60 pounds, 3 sets of 15
- 6 Twists- 2 sets of 12 reps SUPERSETTED WITH:
- Hack Squat- 50 pounds, 2 sets of 10
- Russian Twists on the Decline Bench- 10 pounds, 3 sets of 30
- 15 minutes cardio- treadmill speed 3.0, incline 10%
Cals burned-510!
I came home and had the best protein shake ever thanks to my friend Nancy who gave me the recipe! This morning I steeped 2 organic peppermint tea bags in 1 1/2 cup hot water and let it cool while I was at the gym. I poured the peppermint tea along with 1 cup Unsweetened Almond Dream, 1 serving Biochem 100% Whey Chocolate Protein Powder, 2 tsp 100% cocoa powder, a dash of peppermint extract, 10 Capella Hot Cinnamon Flavor Drops, chocolate flavored stevia, 1/2 tsp guar gum, 1/4 tsp xanthan gum, and ice. I poured it in a bowl and devoured it with 3/4 cup Kashi Go Lean for my post-workout carbs:
255 calories, 31 grams of protein, 21 grams of carbs , 3 grams of fat
It was really, really yummy! And it made a gigantic bowl-full too!
The rest of the morning and early afternoon I spent doing work for my online courses. I broke for lunch around 1:00 and kept it simple- 5 oz of chicken breast with cayenne, 4.5 oz baked sweet potato with cinnamon and ginger, and 1 steamed summer squash with pepper:
285 calories, 32 grams of protein, 18 carbs, 2 fat
And then not even two hours later hunger hit hard- I thought I was going to eat my arm off! My mom came to the rescue with something she made me last night.. A Protein Breakfast Cake! I topped it with 3 tbsp fat free cottage cheese mixed with 1 tbsp BSN cinnamon roll protein powder and 1 tbsp Sunland Organic Vanilla Cranberry PB:
310 calories, 28 grams of protein, 22 carbs, 8 grams of fat
After babysitting a while I came home to dinner. I decided to use up leftovers and make some lettuce wraps! Inside some butterhead lettuce I stuffed 4 oz all natural turkey breast, 3.5 oz sweet potato, 1 light laughing cow cheese wedge, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper:
275 calories, 28 grams of protein, 15 carbs, 4 grams of fat
And I followed it up with a slice of Low Carb Sweet Bread with Vermont PB:
140 calories, 10 grams of protein, 3 carbs, 8 grams of fat
Mmm..
Well I’ve still got a lot to do before tomorrow! I’ll see you on Sunday!
Have a blast in Arizona! I think I’ll make your protein breakfast cake this weekend. YUM! GO mom!!
LC
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Oooh have a fun trip! That sounds like a blast!
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FUN TRIP GIRL!!
i SO love your workouts! i tell u this everytime..haha!
gona make some more of that bread soon..and add more sweetener this time!
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I love the lettuce wraps, they look so good!
Have a wonderful visit with your man!
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your mom IS a genius
while you’re in AZ she should take over 
haha.
have fun with the boyf!!!
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Incredible workout! All your workouts are so hardcore
Enjoy the time with your boyyyy!
<3 jess
xoxo
P.S Heard about your finger! I'm glad it's okay!!
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Have a great trip- I’m jealous you’re heading to somewhere so warm! I had a long distance relationship last year, and I know how exciting it is to finally see each other after awhile!
Isn’t it funny how appetite catches up with you? I’m always amazed at my bottomless pit days!
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Breakfast cake looks awesome and for some reason those oats made me hungry! Lookin good, glad you got a great workout even with your injured finger!
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Your workouts amaze me, wootwoot!
Leftovers make me best meals sometimes.
Have a great trip
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Those French Toast Oats look sooo yummy!
That workout is awesome- How do you know how many cals you burned?
and that giant chocolate peppermint bowl of goodness looks AMAZING. I want it!!! Chocolate Peppermint is like my All-Time favorite combo
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April Reply:
February 4th, 2010 at 9:24 pm
my heart rate monitor tells me!
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have an awesome time with your man!!!!!!!!!!!!! enjoy the trip sweetie!!!
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YUMILICIOUS! as usual. I love supersetting, it saves a ton of time and I also hate standing around at the gym! if I am there I am movinng
enjoy your trip!!
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OK, weirdest thing… but I actually made something almost identical to your breakfast protein cake last night for dinner – only mine was a little bigger, haha!
I was hungry! Anyway, I’ll try and put up a picture soon and show it to you. So, so, so good!!
Have a great trip!!
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Have a great trip!!
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Boo wordpress ate my comment! Anyway have fun with Byron and make sure you get tons of snuggle time in. Now is the time for him to pamper you…because of your poor finger and all
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Looking at your shake makes me wish that I made the same one this morning!!! ha ha. It looks like a bowl of fudge. I’m going to have to try the breakfast cake and add in some of my Crumb Cake drops!
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Hi,
I love your site and have been following it for a few weeks now.
I was wondering what you thought of guar gum and xantham gum. Would you recommend buying it and do you use it alot? Where do you buy it?
Also I was wondering if with all the hard working out you do, if you ever wake up hungry in the night? That is my problem right now (maybe I need to up my calories like you did)? Did you ever encounter that and how did you battle it?
Thanks!!
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April Reply:
February 7th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
I love guar gum and xanthan gum in smoothies/shakes! It makes it nice and thick. I buy it in bulk at the health food store. A little bag will last ou a long time!
I struggled with waking up hungry in the night but now I’ve been eating 1/2 cup – 1 cup of cottage cheese with pb before bed and it stops that hunger!
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Have fun with the boyfriend, sweetheart!
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Woohoo for mom!! That protein cake looks divine! Your French toast drops are calling my name – yum
Have fun in Arizona!!
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I just had your cottage cheese/ oat breakfast and it was GREAT!! I’m pretty sure I’ll be full for like 8 years
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I just found your blog and I LOVE it! We share eerily similiar loves (another girl who loves to lift hard and heavy, yay) and stats (5’4 ~105 lb). I have a few Qs for you, if you don’t mind. Do you take rest days? Do you eat less on rest days? Mental thoughts about rest days? And finally, are you very sensitive to cold? thanks so much and ahve a great weekend
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April Reply:
February 7th, 2010 at 3:02 pm
1. I usually take 1 full rest day per week. Sometimes I’ll do light walking or yoga on this day but other times I’m lazy. I often feel guilty taking rest days but when I start to feel that way I replace those thoughts and remind myself that in order for muscles to grow, you have to rest! And I remind myself that the next day will be a killer workout!
2. I’m struggling with the whole eating on rest days. I used to always think I needed to eat less but now I’m realizing that is not true- you actually repair on your rest days! I may eat a little less on rest days but not by that much. I’m usually hungrier!
3. And I am very sensitive to the cold! however, I’ve increased my calories by a lot and I’m finding that’s helping a lot
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have the best time visiting!!! sounds fun
xoxo
shelley
http://findinghappinessandhealth.wordpress.com
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I hope you have a fun time with Bryon!
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Have a wonderful time!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Man, I want that sweet bread. I went out & bought wheat germ instead of wheat bran!!! I am so bummed so can’t make it yet!!!! I am a dufus!
Great workout by the way!
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Hey April! Have fun in Arizona and I hope your finger is feeling better. Looks like I’m going to be snowed in this weekend so I may attempt to make your low-carb bread…hopefully I have the ingredients I need at home! Although I have to use something else instead of the wheat bran so this will be an experiment.
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Have a blast with the boy this weekend!! I will hold down fort in blogworld and eat lots of protein cakes while you are away
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aw enjoy your time with the boy, sweetie
!
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Have fun with your boyfriend!!!
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FYI: you helped motivate me to increase my calories
Thank you..
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I’m liking the Breakfast cake idea! I might have to add more oats to make a little bigger, but I think it would be great for a pre-workout meal tomorrow morning! (as long as it doesn’t snow me in.)
The workouts look good, but thats a lot of legs! I did a Body Pump class tonight at the gym- not very hard cardio-wise but the high reps were killer!
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