WIAW + Back and Bis Workout!

Happy Wednesday friends! I got to sleep in to 7am this morning and actually woke up with energy for this day. B and I popped out of bed this morning and both felt like getting  little sweat going to start the day so we went straight to the gym for 30 minutes of steady state cardio. We've been slacking just a bit on our cardio so it feels great to have it out of the way. We'll head back this afternoon for a heavy back day and hopefully throw in some abs too! 

My food yesterday was pretty typical-- Just so you guys know I'm up at 4:30am on Tuesday and Thursday so that I can be to the gym for my first client at 5:30 so my food on these days tends to be a little more that other days of the week because I'm up longer. I typically end up with an extra meal in there somewhere, usually before I head out in the morning. 

5am- 2 rice cakes with peanut butter on my way to work 

7am- 2 egg whites and one whole egg during my break 

10am- finally had time for a normal breakfast so I had ezekiel toast with egg whites, spinach and turkey sausage. 

1pm- I had a big bowl of oats post workout with MRM Protein, sugar free syrup and banana on top. So yummy! 

2pm- I was hungry but hadn't made food for the night yet so I threw together a simple salad. 

5pm- Buffalo turkey meatballs with brown rice and green beans 

8pm- Egg whites (again!) with chicken, brown rice, and the best salsa in the world. We found this little carneceria by our house and I literally think they have the best salsa I've ever had! 

And as promised, here is a new workout for you guys-- more to come! 

Memorial Day: Food, Fruit, and Family!

The best thing about a long weekend? It's already Tuesday! Know how else I know it's Tuesday? I'm exhausted. I still can't sleep, nothing is helping, I'm going to lose it. I'm so tired of being tired, and I'm so tired of complaining about being tired but gosh is it miserable. Not only am I going through my days feeling like a zombie, but it makes it so hard to get motivated to do anything besides try to take a nap. I've been getting to the gym as much as I can but I know when I have a bad night my workout the next day is not going to be the best. ANNND has anyone noticed what happens to your weight when you don't sleep? I hardly ever weigh myself but last week I happened to weigh myself one morning and then again the next when I hadn't slept well and it went up 3 pounds- how nuts is that. Just goes to show exactly how important sleep is, and how unimportant the scale is :) 

Despite being tired I did have a great Memorial Day yesterday! We headed over to my parents house for a BBQ and pool day- although Bryan and I kind of forgot the pool part and didn't bring our suits which was a big mistake because it was HOT. I think we're getting close to triple digits here in Scottsdale this week, I don't know if I'm ready for it. And let me tell you, nothing is better on a hot day than a huge bowl of fruit and I took full advantage of it. Then, after eating my weight in fruit I had carne asada, chicken, and a grilled serrano pepper-- mmmm so good! 

Charley had a blast yesterday too, besides getting to eat way too much carne asada she absolutely loves the pool. All 3 of us came home last night and crashed on the couch- and there may or may not have been some Coconut Arctic Zero consumed. That stuff is just way too good! 

I'm going to do my best to get a few new workouts up for you guys this week-- is there anything in particular you'd like to see or any body part you need a new workout for? 

My Favorite MRM Supplements

I'm often asked about what supplements I take and I haven't done an update on that in a while, so here we go! 

If there is one thing I would want you to try the most out of this entire list, it's this Casein. IT TASTES SO GOOD! I just got my first tub a couple of weeks ago and it is literally the perfect cure for a late night sweet tooth. It's cookies and cream flavor and I've used it  in a shake, as pudding, and as a mugcake and absolutely love it. Casein is great to have before bed since it's a slow release protein-- I find that when I don't have it before bed I'm more likely to wake up in the middle of the night or early in the morning super hungry. 

I've been using the MRM all natural Wheyhttp://mrm-usa.com/products#!/~/product/id=6288471 for a while now and love it for a few reasons- It mixes really well in shakes and it also bakes well too. I've tried baking with a lot of different protein powders and some of them are just plain terrible-- this one is perfect and I use it in all my baking. I like the vanilla flavor because it's the most versatile and if I ever have a craving for chocolate I just add a little unsweetened cocoa powder. 

I have the BCAA's + Glutamine in both the pill and powder form-- I prefer to take the capsules after my workouts and if I happen to just be doing cardio, I'll use the powder in my water. If I'm feeling super sore or I had a killer workout that day I'll also take some before bed to help with recovery. 

CLA is a fatty acid that you can find in dairy and meats but only in small amounts. Some studies have also shown that it can aid in fat loss- always a plus! 

And lastly Relax-All is great for knocking you out at night! Whenever I take two I get super super sleepy, it's definitely my go-to on nights I'm struggling to sleep (which is every night!).  

WIAW: Finding What Works

Good morning! I'm up and at 'em after a full nights sleep- who would have thought! I've noticed my sleep is significantly better when I don't have clients really early so Wednesday's are usually my days to plug away at online programs and get through as many emails as I can. I've been trying out countless natural anti-anxiety remedies as well as natural sleep remedies hoping that I'll eventually find a combination that works for me. Interestingly enough my blood panels came back and everything was completely normal-- hooray! I did want to thank everyone again for all your tips and opinions I've looked into many of them and needless to say I've been single handedly keeping Sprouts in business ;) 

As far as food goes I'm still not counting macros just trying to provide myself with lots of variety and fuel for my workouts. Here's what my meals looked like yesterday: 

- Egg whites with spinach and 2 slices ezekiel toast with coconut oil 

- Egg whites with brown rice (I've never done this before, not bad!) and a piece of turkey bacon 

- Post workout shake- MRM whey, banana, blueberries, almondmilk 

- Mexican sweet potato skins 

- Turkey burger and salad 

- MRM casein heated up like a mug cake 

Mexican Sweet Potato Skins

I was finally inspired to do a little experimenting in the kitchen yesterday and I think I may have found a new staple meal. The filling for these potatoes is so darn good and full of tons of flavorful ingredients. I think when I make this next time I may just make the filling and not worry about even putting it in the skins-- this is great to make in bulk and eat all week long! 

Ingredients 

2 large chicken breasts shredded (I used my salsa chicken) 

1 cup corn 

1/2 bag of spinach 

1 can low sodium black beans 

Chiles in adobo sauce 

4 sweet potatoes 

mexican cheese (optional) 

1 packet taco seasoning 

Directions: 

1. Cook sweet potatoes either in the oven on 350 for 60 minutes or you can pop them in the microwave  for about 10 minutes or until tender. 

2. While they're cooking, place corn in a large skillet and spray with olive oil spray

3. Cook corn until it starts to brown and then add spinach. When spinach beings to wilt, add chicken, sauce from chilies (about 2 T) and beans (drained). 

4. Once potatoes are cooked, cut in half and let them cool for 10 minutes. 

5. Scrape the flesh out of the potatoes (try to leave a little in the bottom to help the skin stay sturdy) and place in a large bowl. Add 1/2 packet of taco seasoning and mix well into potatoes. 

6. Add potatoes to chicken mixture and mix well. 

7. Spoon filling into potato skin and add cheese if desired. 

Enjoy! 

Doc Update and WIAW

Thank you all so much for all of your concern and suggestions last week as far as my stomach probs go. I went on Monday to give a TON of blood (10 vials!) to rule out a whole list of things that could be wrong but as it turns out, the doctor thinks what is most likely wrong with my stomach is stress. I admittedly  don't have a very stressful life but what I do have is a mind that creates unnecessary stress and I've always been that way. I over think, over plan, and over analyze everything and basically this is screwing with my body. (This explains why I couldn't find a pattern or pin point something I was eating that was causing it.) The doctor thinks much like some people break out when they're stressed, some people get headaches, my stomach flairs up. I have a few other symptoms like not being able to fall asleep, clenching my jaw when I do sleep (my jaw is sore 24/7), and occasional anxiety attacks that leave me feeling like I'm literally having a heart attack. Fun stuff! 

So, the plan is to just make sure my blood work comes back okay and then work on the internalized stress. I'm looking into meditation, natural stress relievers, maybe picking yoga up again? I'm also trying to consciously stop myself from doing all the over thinking as much as I can. Interestingly enough, my stomach has been okay for the last week although the sleep problems are still there. 

Something that I have not been doing is tracking my food, macros, calories- nothing. For now I think it will be one less thing to worry and stress about which is exactly what I need. So, I've just kind of been eating according to what sounds good while making sure to include a good variety of foods that make me feel good. That's it! Does that mean I'm never counting macros again? Of course not, I have goals to meet! But for now until I get this all under control I'm going to do a little flying by the seat of my pants and see how that goes. So here's what my day looked like: 

Egg whites with zucchini, onion, jalapeño and 2 pieces Ezekiel toast

Sweet potato, egg whites, and turkey bacon

Spinach protein pancakes 

Salsa chicken with Daiya cheese and avocado 

Bison burger with asparagus 

MRM cookies and creme casein 

As always, if anyone has any de-stressing suggestions please share! 

Building a Booty!

Anyone else participate in leg day Monday today? 

And tomorrow will be leg day Tuesday, followed by leg day Wednesday…. just kidding although it seems that way sometimes. As you all know I've really been focusing on building my glutes and for the first time ever my butt can be seen from my side view haha, no kidding! 

It's definitely been a slow process and I didn't really start focusing on this until a couple months ago, so I haven't really been eating at a surplus except on leg day which is probably slowing the process down. Trying to walk the line between building a booty and staying lean for summer is a little tricky but so far so good, although I have a long way to go.  Last time I talked about this I got lots of questions as to what I was specifically doing-- basically I work legs/glutes out at least twice a week, most weeks 3 times. I'll do one heavier day and two lighter high rep days. Today was a heavy day and actually the same workout I did last week that left my glutes sore for like 4 days… 

Walking lunges with 40lbs 3 x 15 (Take long steps and focus on pushing up with the front leg instead of pushing off with the back leg)

Leg press- 4 x 12-15, 2 sets wide 2 sets close 

Hack squat- 3 x 12 

Leg extension 4 x 12-15 

Glute kickback on lying leg curl machine- 4 x 15

Give it a shot and let me know what you think! 

Strawberry Chocolate Chip Protein Muffins

Tuesday and Thursday my alarm goes off at the early, early hour of 4:30 so that I can get ready and get to my first client by 5:30 so needless to say I don't have time to make a full on breakfast. I used to just go without eating and make breakfast once I was home around 6:30 but I've added some new morning clients which means this girl needs to eat. Instead of waking up any earlier, I decided to come up with a new protein muffin recipe so that I can just grab a few of these in the morning and run out the door! 

Ingredients 

1 cup oat flour

2 scoops MRM Vanilla Whey 

2 egg whites 

1/2 cup greek yogurt 

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce 

1 tsp vanilla 

1 tsp butter extract 

1 tsp baking powder 

pinch of sea salt 

10-12 scoops Better Stevia or preferred sugar substitute 

5-6 strawberries, slices 

1/4 cup dark chocolate or carob chips 

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients except strawberries in a mixing bowl and mix well. 

2. Add sliced strawberries and fold in slowly. 

3. Add batter to a prepared muffin tin and bake for 20 minutes at 350. 

Hope these save you same time if you're someone who needs to get out the door quickly in the morning! 

Carbs and the Doc

Good morning! We are up for an early gym session this morning and then I'm off to the gastroenterologist- always fun times. Over the past 2 months or so my stomach has been a bit out of control and I am ready to figure out exactly what is wrong with it. 2-3 times a week I've been getting so bloated that I literally can't function because it hurts so bad and I just can't figure out what is causing it. You all know I'm pretty on top of my diet and know exactly what is going in my body and when, and there's just no correlation I can find between when it happens and what I've eaten that day, so hopefully the doctor has some answers for me.  

I'm not sure if I'm just a little worried about this whole doctor situation or if I'm a little burnt out, but I haven't been tracking my macros this week. I'll probably jump back on that wagon soon but until then you can see I'm definitely loving my carbs lately haha. From rice cakes to brown rice, I was all about the carbs yesterday! I did actually throw this all in Myfitnesspal last night and I'm right around 1550 calories just a little high on the carbs and a little low on the fats. The big reason I like tracking is so that I can keep my macros in a good split, otherwise I tend to over-do it in one or the other. 

Anyway time to go hit shoulders and tri's and then head out, I'll be sure to keep you updated!

Photo Shoot Picture & Mom's Workout Routine

We got our photos back! I absolutely love them all and I'm still so proud of my mom and happy she did this with me. My favorite one is below, I'll put the others up on my Facebook page tomorrow. 

A lot of you asked about her workout routine so I wanted to share it really quickly. As far as workouts go, she lifts about 5 days a week and goes for runs 3-4 days (clearly she didn't pass along a love for running to me…). She usually works out in my parents home gym which has a leg extension, lat pulldown, cables, bench, dumbbells, and barbells. 

Her nutrition is pretty simple- she doesn't count calories or macros she just eats clean and listens to her body. Here's an example of what her day looks like: 

Breakfast- Ezekiel english muffin with sugar free jelly and peanut butter 

Snack- Think Thin bar (her weakness!) 

Lunch- dinner leftovers from the night before 

Snack- Greek yogurt & rice cake with peanut butter and a couple cuties 

Post workout shake 

Dinner- The usuals are: turkey burger, tilapia with brown rice and asparagus, chili, taco salad with brown rice chips 

It's interesting comparing the two of us- she is about 2 inches taller than me, but the morning of the shoot we weighed exactly the same. Though our bodies are similar we definitely carry our weight in different places, but one thing that is alike is we both put muscle on our arms very easily. 

Anyway, if there's anything else you'd like to know from her, let me know I'm sure she would be happy to share! 

Photography: James Patrick 

Tank tops: Firedaughter 

My shorts: Under Armour