More Bodybuilding Eats!

One of the best things about eating clean is how OFTEN you get to! Every three hours I get to pick a protein, a carb and a fruit or veggie. Pretty simple huh? Sometimes you eat something delicious and pretty normal like today's lunch:

Silk yogurt,strawberries and puffed wheat-delectable.

And SOMETIMES you end up with something equally delicious but kinda strange:

Baked beans,Mary's crackers and buffalo spinach with margarine and hot sauce.Weird combination but it was so satisfying and fun to eat-a scoop of this and a scoop of that! That is one of my favorite "diet" tricks-make anything buffalo-it feels like you are eating something bad but if you use spray margarine and hot sauce or even Ken's Buffalo Marinade- it barely adds any calories. Try it and see what you think :)

Me Being Yucky

Prepare yourselves for a gross picture of me post-workout! I like how I hardly post pictures of myself on here yet I feel the need to share this atrocity haha:

I figured if everyone else was doing it then it was only fair I did too. And no I generally don't wear makeup to work out but I had been out and about-usually I look MUCH more disgusting if that is at all possible!

After my hour of circuit training I was too warm for my usual oatmeal breakfast so I prepared this delicious concoction:

• silk plain yogurt


• strawberries microwaved with some jam


• kashi heart to heart cereal

So good! I was so happy to find a big tub of that yogurt-only $3.79! That is one thing I have missed since going vegan-and it gives me a nice protein boost! And yes I always eat out of those Pyrex measuring cups-it is nothing to be ashamed of!

Nuts 'N Berries Dessert Tea

In an unplanned yet beautiful string of events I ended up with this concoction which tasted just like a nuts and berries drink. The drink usually has Frangelico hazelnut liqueur,Chambord raspberry liqueur and cream in it-delicious yet alcoholic and definitely not vegan. What happened is I brewed up some of this:

and I just so happened to find some of this on sale at Peter's Cornucopia(hazelnut flavor):

With a packet of Sugar In The Raw it was heaven in a mug! I highly suggest this combo. I actually bought the Celestial Tea Fruit Sampler which also contains Country Peach flavor-I see peach cobbler tea in my near future! You should try it-not to mention it tamed my sweet tooth for about 40 calories. If you can think of any other combos make 'em known!

A Day Of Body Building Eats

Today was a beautiful day here! It was much enjoyed after a week straight of rain!

Today I did Chris Freytag's upper body workout on Exercise on Demand-I was kinda disappointed! I am used to doing a lot more between Chady and the FIRM-this was pretty weak. Oh well we gotta try new things-right? I did Yoga Meltdown to make up for the lameness-that workout had TONS of arm work!

Breakfast was my usual-oats,banana and some pb. Lunch was a small sweet potato with some black beans and some cauliflower. The sweet potato and beans were a great combo-especially with some ketchup and hot sauce on top! Dinner was the only sort of interesting meal so here it is:

more mashed cauliflower,tofu fingers,onion,tomato and cuke salad and couscous that I added some lemon zest,chopped olives,dill and olive oil to. Really DELICIOUS. I actually like eating a nice clean diet-I do feel amazing after just two days-less bloat and a ton more energy. This two weeks might not be so bad after all!

Naked Nut Butter

MMMMMMMMM!!!!!! We took our weekly trip to Peter's Cornucopia to stock up on our natural food supplies today. We usually buy our tofu,bulk items(millet,quinoa,cashews) and usually a few new "fun" items to try. Now,I am a DEVOTED fan of Smucker's natural PB-it is extremely roasty tasting for lack of a better word and Ryan is DIE HARD natural Teddy's PB. I just so happened to be out and figured I would just get some at Peter's. I decided to go with the kind you grind yourself-it is only $2.99 /lb. for the PB and $6.99/lb. for the AB. I know I will probably be crucified for this,but I actually prefer peanut butter-I generally don't like the bitter taste in almond butter. Same with these-both are really good-and I like the AB a little more than the jarred-probably because it didn't cost me a bundle! The taste is just pure nut flavor and the texture is slightly grainy which is what I prefer. Creamy PB kinda freaks me out now-lol. I tried that Better 'N Peanut Butter before and the texture almost made me die-weird and gummy-blech. The next thing on my list to try is the PB2 that you just reconstitute with water-it is so expensive with shipping though! I am trying to get Peter's to carry it so I can just scoop it off the shelf and not have to pay shipping.

Check out my fitness challenge page-I have an updated plan that I am starting today. Super clean eating for two weeks!

Tomato Weenie

Look what I found in the produce section :0

A well endowed tomato! I kept it for as long as possible for the humor factor,but the projection started going soft-no pun intended. Oh well,it made a DELICIOUS salad:

• romaine


• cukes


• red onion


• olives


• tomato

In an effort to painlessly cut calories, I cut my creamy italian dressing 50/50 with some Bragg's apple cider vinegar:

Don't knock it till you try it! 2 tablespoons of the normal stuff has 100 calories-new formula-50. Do that for a week and save 350 calories. That is the kind of thing I am going to be trying to do-what are some of your calorie cutting tricks?

Much to Mulder's dismay I am going to post this picture of him:

Aunt Jemima! Actually Muldee hates pancake syrup-he much prefers the real stuff.

Attack of the Sunday Snackies

Today was one of those crazy days where I just want to MUNCH! It all started out innocent enough with breakfast:

• 1/2 cup oats


• small apple chopped


• 2T. PB


• sprinkle of cinnamon

About 3 hours later-lunch:

• jalapeno bean burger


• flatout wrap


• Dinosaur BBQ sauce


• 1/2 cup quinoa-chickpea creation


• 7 mini oreo-ish sandwich cookies

About 3 hours later-chocolate attack! I went to the drug store for the "Sunday paper" and bought a chocolate bar-a HUGEY!

Promptly eaten on the way home with a lemon-lime powerade zero-I was trying to reason that I was so hungry because of dehydration. I think I just wanted to try the powerade-it was yummy =). Lets see-then 7 of Ryan's Swedish Fish. Then off to make dinner:

• salad with olives,cukes and scallions


• homemade balsamic(a little dijon that was left with some vinegar,EVOO and salt and pepper-shaken up in the bottle)


• steamed cauliflower mashed with salt and lemon juice


• another jalapeno bean burger

After dinner called for dessert of course-the other half of the chocolate bar and 14 almonds. Depending on how late I stay up,the hunger bug may strike again-today is one of those days where I just listened to my hunger cues and ate what I wanted. I am usually not a snacker or a grazer so my body must need the calories. I am thinking it could be because I have upped my cardio-does that happen? I upped it to burn calories but it seems my body just isn't having it right now!

Cardio Is The Best Medicine

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I know this may sound weird,but every 3 months I get PMS BAD. I just am exhausted,starving,in pain-I feel like hell. I don't know why it hits me so hard every three months,but it has been that way for forever like clockwork. As you know I have been doing the Bikini Body Workout for a few weeks now and it is pretty intense as far as strength moves go. It makes it so you are sore most days and it is really hard so if you are not motivated it is certainly not fun. So I was sitting here this morning not wanting to do it(todays workout included 240 lunges with weights!),I decided that I would go to exercise tv on demand and see if there was anything else I could muster up the ambition to do. I settled on 30 Day Shred, an old favorite of mine and it felt SO GOOD to jump around,sweat and use some light weights. My cramps subsided a little and my headache started clearing. It was fun to do something different and have someone leading the way for me.

This is where it gets crazy-it felt so good I wanted more! So I decided to try the ELLE Cardio Part 2 as well. It was the first time doing this workout and it was just okay,but it kept me sweating and jumping which is just what I needed today.

I guess it really does pay to listen to your body. Yes,it is wonderful to set goals and want to work out hard but if all it does is burn you out then it is time to reevaluate. I don't plan on giving up on my weights,but if my body is screaming for some cardio,yoga or a rest day,I will do it from now on.

Wussing Out!

Okay so I am wussing out on the bikini pics. I took some pictures in my workout clothes this morning and they are not something I am comfortable showing. I didn't realize how THICK I look. It is a little frustrating because I work out hard almost everyday and eat a healthy vegan diet and I still don't look like I want. I have a lot of muscle and even a little layer of fat makes me look hefty. Time to amp up the cardio I guess! I took it out on my (very grungy looking,sorry) yoga mat:

In other news, I made raw cashew cheese last night. Here is the recipe(modified from the "Real Food Daily" cookbook):

• 1.5 c. Raw Unsalted Cashews


• 2 Tbs. Lemon Juice


• .5 tsp. Salt

Soak cashews in cold water for 2 hours. Drain and place in processor with 1/3 cup water,juice and salt. Blend for about 5 minutes,scraping the sides as needed. Place in bowl and cover-leave at room temp for 24 hours. Refrigerate-will last 5 days covered in fridge.

Oh,so delicious! It is mild and creamy with a little tang from the lemon. I used it on my bean burger(recipe soon!) that I had for dinner tonight:

Along with some broccoli and salad-YUMMY!

I also learned not to clean your puppy's dirty face with a scented baby wipe because it may give him an allergic reaction and make him look like he got punched in the eye. My poor tender baby. I gave him some Benedryl and gonna pamper him with love now and hopefully he will feel much better in the morning.

The Dreaded Weight Post

I know that it is not a good thing to dwell on and talk about it too much on your blog,trust me I do. I suffer from bouts of binge eating,severe restriction,over-exercising and just giving up. I just know that over the past few weeks I have definitely gained 5 pounds and it is ALL in the stomach area. I have been working out MORE and eating about the same. I know it has to do with me not running around at work anymore and burning up all of those calories. It is just so frustrating because I really don't want to go back to counting calories. I did it before and lost 20 pounds,but it was such a hassle. It would also be even harder now because I am pretty much eating all whole foods and no convenience foods with the calories already counted and portioned for you. Unfortunately I will be counting for the next month or so-I won't post too much about it as to not be a trigger to myself or others-but when none of my pants are fitting I have to do something!