Recipes

 Let's share!

This weekend we tried a recipe I found here for flourless blueberry pancakes.

I modified the recipe a smidge when I made them yesterday.  I added a pinch of salt and used peanut butter instead of almond butter.  Also instead of using honey or maple syrup on top, I sautéed up some fresh berries with a little coconut oil. Oh, and I think the recipe said med-high heat...definitely burned the first two...so medium ended up being a good temp.

They were yummy (Michael approved too)!  It only made 5 pancakes though. (3 for Michael and 2 for me).  I scrambled up some eggs to eat on the side, so I could get my protein in.  

Made it again this morning, but tweaked it again in a different way so it would produce more pancakes and I wanted more protein.  I didn't want to just double the recipe as one whole banana and a 1/4 cup of peanut butter seemed like a lot for one serving.  So I added two extra eggs (three total) and a scoop of chocolate protein powder.  They were a little thinner than yesterdays and harder to flip, but they turned out pretty tasty too.  I might up the vanilla extract next time and maybe two pinches of salt.  This batch yielded 9 pancakes.  Michael and I had 4.5 pancakes each, which had a total of about 21 grams of protein for each of our servings.

Share in the comments some healthy recipes you all are enjoying.  Also, how about some snack ideas??  

Week 2 Challenge: Planks!

Let's work on some core strength this week.

Goal: hold a plank for one minute.  

Details: Preferably forearm plank, but if you need to scale it, feel free to do it on your palms.  If you can't hold one minute straight, hold it as long as you can and accumulate one full minute in the plank position.  Even though you can take rests as needed, it should be done in one session. (i.e. NOT five seconds at a time with an hour in between, LOL)

Challenge starts tomorrow and runs through next Sunday.  Send me a text, email, or comment on this post each day for 6 days letting me know that you've completed the daily challenge.  Then you'll be entered into the raffle.

Feel free to challenge yourself.  If one minute is easy peasy, then see how long you can hold it and see if it improves by the end of the week.  Or try different, more challenging, versions of the plank (side plank, one arm/leg up, etc.)

Also, even though the water challenge is over, let's keep trying to drink all that water.  I've been peeing a crap ton, but I feel so much better when I'm hydrated!

Week 1 Challenge: WATER!!!

We're going to start with an easy one.  This weeks challenge is to drink water.  "They" say you should drink half your body weight in ounces.  So that's what we're going to do.  (If you weigh 200 lbs, then you would need to drink 100 oz of water a day.)

The water challenge will officially start tomorrow (Tuesday, Jan. 12th).  You will need to drink at least half your body weight in ounces of water everyday Tuesday through Sunday this week.  It will be mostly honor system, but to be entered into the drawing for the challenge raffle, you will need to send me a picture every day.  The picture can be a picture of you drinking your water, or a picture of a sticky note or something where you are keeping track of your water intake.  The picture can be taken anytime throughout the day...but don't actually send me the pic until you've consumed all the water. (a pic sent the following morning for the previous day's water is acceptable).

The pictures need to be shared with everyone for accountability and motivation.  So either post pictures in the comments of this post, or reply all to the water email.

So to be entered into the raffle, I'll need two things:

1.  6 pictures (one from each day)

2.  Confirmation that you consumed the appropriate amount of water each day

Let me know if there are any questions.

Cheers!

YAY Weight Loss Challenge! Here are the deets

Disclaimer: consult your physician before starting a new weight loss, nutrition or exercise regimen.

Goal: Lose 8% of your body weight in 8 weeks

First Weigh In: Monday, January 11 (Happy Birthday Thomas!)

Last Weigh In: Monday, March 8

Money: $20 upfront to participate.  Send via Venmo.  (my account number was emailed to you) I'll need the mula Sunday night before the first weigh in.

Winner: If you get to the 8% goal, you at least get your money back.  The highest overall winner gets the remainder of the pot after the other 8% winners get their $20 back.

Weekly Challenges:  Every week there will be a weekly challenge.  Everyone who completes the weekly challenge will be entered into a raffle to win prizes.  (full disclosure...the prizes are probs gonna be things I find around my house that will be re-gifted LOL But I'm going to find things that are health/wellness related)

Details:

Weigh Ins:  I'll prompt everyone via an email to send me their weekly weigh in.  The email will go out every Sunday night.  You will have from then until Monday mornings at 11am to send me your weight.  No exceptions.  In the Sunday night email I will email out a word that needs to be in the picture of your weight.  The picture should be a picture of the scale with your weight displayed, the paper with the weekly word on it, and your toes or hand in the picture.  Either email me the picture or text it to me. (my phone number went out in the email) I will keep everyone's information private and each week I will post everyone's rankings with only their percentage lost listed...weights will not be made public.

Method:  This challenge will not require any certain nutrition or working out guidelines.  It's up to each person how they want to lose the weight.  Whether it's Paleo, Zone, Keto, Whole 30, counting calories, etc., or just making better choices in general.  The goal here is to lose weight the healthy way and to jump start us into creating better habits.  No crash dieting, diet pills, water pills, or starving yourself!  (I'm going to be doing Paleo-ish...allowing dairy and occasional grains.  Also, cutting out Alcohol.)  I know a decent amount about Paleo and Zone if anyone wants to pick my brain.  While the majority of weight loss is going to come from good eating, a good exercise plan is a must as well.  Make a plan for yourself and set goals.  (I think Michael and I will be doing some P90x videos to start and probs mixing in some runs and some crossfit workouts).

Even though it's a competition, we are here to support and encourage each other.  This group should be used for motivation and accountability.  Feel free to share recipes, fun workouts, etc. throughout the weeks.

Optional:  I always find it's fun to take before and after pictures and measurements.  Even though this is a weight loss challenge, sometimes you see even greater results when looking at pictures and seeing inches lost.  There are even spreadsheets you can get off the internet to track your measurements.  This would just be for yourself if you choose to do this, no need to share with anyone.

On this blog I will post the weekly challenges, people can comment, etc.  I'll start random threads like for recipes, work outs, motivational things etc.  Any notifications will go out by email, but this blog will be for when you want to access more info or want to interact with the group, etc.

Can someone send me a letter, please?  This will be the first letter of the word I send out for the first weigh in.

Let me know if anyone has any questions.

Otherwise send me your mula!  (I already have money from myself, Michael, and Glen)

~ C8

LARABAR EXPLOSION!!!

I don't think I'll be needing to buy any Larabars for a while.  I ordered some on Amazon because I have a hard time finding the flavors I like at the grocery store.  I got four boxes (16 bars in each box): Lemon, Key Lime, Blueberry Muffin, and Cappuccino.  Lemon is my favorite!  Cherry Torte is a close second (I didn't buy any of those online because Giant always has that flavor).  I had never even seen the Cappuccino flavor before, so I bought some...it's actually pretty good!  I usually eat half a Larabar before I go to the gym in the morning...16 bars a box times 4 boxes times 2 servings a bar divided by 5 days of working out a week = I'm good to go on Larabar consumption for more than 25 weeks! :)

So, if you were wondering...

I did wake up and go to the gym this morning....wahoo!  I didn't go to my usual 6am though.  I went to the 8:30 class.  And since I had a meeting at 10, I brought my work clothes and shower stuff to the gym and got ready there.

Since I knew I would be running around today I made myself a smoothie (zone of course) for breakfast, which I drank after the gym.  Supposedly you are suppose to eat breakfast within one hour of waking up.  That has always been an issue for me, since I usually wake up at 5 to go to the gym at 6...and food in my stomach before a WOD is never a good thing!  I usually just eat half a Lara Bar to hold me over until after the workout.  So I had my smoothie at 10 at my meeting.  After the meeting Dad and I went to Chick-fil-a.  It smelled sooooo good, even before we stepped inside the doors.  Mmmm, I LOVE their waffle fries!...BUT, I was good.  I got the char-grilled chicken sandwich, a small fruit cup, and a side of chick-fil-a sauce.  Since I had breakfast just a couple hours earlier, this was just a one block snack.  I threw away the bun and I cut up the chicken breast and only ate about an ounce (1 block protein) and brought the rest home for a snack later.  I dipped the chicken in the chick-fil-a sauce (1 block fat) and then the side of fruit for my block of carbs.  So even though I was on the road this morning...and was tempted with the delicious smell of waffle fries...I was able to keep in zone!

Vanilla Almond Cherry Smoothie
Serves 1
3 Zone Blocks

1/2 cup Greek Yogurt (1.5 blocks protein, 0.5 blocks carbs)
1 cup frozen cherries (2.5 blocks carbs)
1 tbsp almond butter (3 blocks carbs)
1 tbsp PurePea Natural Vanilla Pea Protein (1.5 blocks protein)

Jones'n!

I'm jones'n for some CROSSFIT!!!  I haven't been to the gym since Thursday!...I am still sore from Thursday's workout though!  Monday's are usually my rest day...but considering the last three days have been rest days...I think I'll go ;)
Hmmm...I wonder what the workout is going to be?...it's after 7...let me check...

As many rounds as possible in 15 mins of:
100 m Run
10 Box Jumps
10 Push-ups
10 Sit-ups

And Max Rep strict pull ups

Sounds like a good day...now I just need to get up in the morning!  It's been hard lately...not sure why, no motivation maybe...
I do have motivation to go tomorrow though...I had two pieces of pie today!!!  yike!  It was really yummy though.  It's from my favorite pie shop...Pie Gourmet in Vienna.  I got blackberry peach...SO good!  There is still more pie left...so I'm gunna have to eat the rest at some point :)
Yup...definitely have motivation to wake up and go to the gym tomorrow!...and the rest of the week!
I'll report back tomorrow with my workout results.