Deadlifts and Diamonds

                                    8AM   I start my days off with a big bowl of oatmeal and muesli. Yummy and filling! Even Jewelz wants some oats!  NOON   Take a trip to Whole Foods Market for their amazing open salad bar with everything from mediterranean couscous to pot roast! I also picked up some Aloe Vera Juice--this stuff is amazing! Its a great way to cleanse the body and balance your PH Levels. 630 WOD  Warm Up : 30 seconds on/off x 3R -high knees to rig/back pedal back -slams (30/15) -push ups Midline : upside down tabata of air squats 20 seconds of holding the bottom of an air squat/10 seconds of squats Strength: Back squats 4 sets of 5 reps at 75% Metcon : 4R4T (15 min time cap) 15 kb swings (53/35) 30 dubz (90 singles) 15 goblet squats 30 ab mat sit ups No dubs for me yet, but I finished 4 rounds! Then died.. 8PM...

Its blazing hot in Texas right now, and we're just getting started. Soon, we'll be into 100 degree heat, dripping sweat in areas we didn't know could sweat. To cool off from the 3rd planet heat, I absolutely love chowin' down on some frozen yogurt with all the fixings. Its so yummy and a ton of fun to make your own froyo bowl. I always get a rich creamy flavor and top it off with granola and loads of fruit. Some of my local favorites are: Red Mango, Menchi's, Tutti Frutti, & Orange Leaf. The Red Velvet Cake is my fav flavor. After a few rounds of by the pound froyo, these little bowls add up, so I opted to make my own homemade, sugar free frozen yogurt. Checkout the blueberry recipe below. After mixing up a batch, I ate the 1st serving right out of the bowl without freezing and the mix turned out a bit sweet. After freezing, overnight (and thawing for an hour before eating) the yogurt was much more tart. So keep in mind, if you're going to make this...

Before I head out the door for work everyday, I prep my meals for the day. It must look like I'm packing for a camping trip each time I leave the house, haha. I always have my purse, gym bag, and a bag of food :). Here's a sample of what I pack on a typical day, yes, everyday.  I also bring oatmeal packets and cook them with water in the microwave at work. Museli and organic granola is a great snack too. Bananas and protein shakes are always stashed closeby ;) For dinner, I usually have chicken, sweet potatoes and veggies mixed with hummus or yogurt and eggs. Yogurt is freaking delicious mixed with chicken, its creamy, yummy, and it loaded with protein. Winning. 

So tonight's meatballs quickly became a turkey meatloaf due to time. Rather than my usual mushrooms and parsley I used zucchini and green onions.                                                      Next time around, I'll chop up the zucchini a bit smaller, and cook them up first with oils and herbs so they don't take center stage in the meatloaf.  Not too shabby! I'm definitely making turkey meatloaf again. Its so quick and easy and makes a ton of leftovers. :)

If you haven't tried spaghetti squash, I'm here to tell you it is delicious and so easy to make.  This meal has enough flavor to satisfy even the most skeptical diner. Yes, even my boyfriend loved it...he said it tastes just like pasta!  First, chop your spaghetti squash in half--careful its very tough!  Place face down onto a baking sheet with a bit of oil or butter. Cover with foil and bake at 365 for 45 minutes. If you oven cooks hotter, than check as you go. I wanted to leave it in as long as possible to let the squash caramelize a bit, but if left too long, the sugars can easily burn. Once cooked, the insides should easily scrape out with a fork.  Cook and chop your chicken breast and add the chicken and squash into a pot and add your tomato sauce of choice. I used a cup of tomato vodka sauce :) Once everything is warm, serve it up over salad mix. I add salad to most dishes to be sure to get my veggies in :) This would be extra great with a...

Its been a full weekend of Grillin', sipping Vodka sodas, jammin' out, hitting up Top Golf and laughing my ass off with my little sister. What a blast. There's nothing better than having a best friend and sister that you can just be silly with and gets your jokes. So much fun.  The last thing I want to do tonight is meal prep, but its better to do it now then be stuck running out the door to my interview and next workout without food in hand. I have spent too much time grabbing a protein bar on the go because I didn't prep my meals or have a snack ready for my workout. Please know that most protein bars are overpriced and loaded with sugars and preservatives. Eat it if you absolutely must get fuel in your system, say during a 3 hour bike ride with hills or a hard workout, but otherwise, steer clear of these.  This week's meal prep was quick and easy:  Cabbage rolls stuffed with lentils, herbs, and carrots Sweet Potatoes Overnight Oatmeal Peanut Bu...

Its full speed ahead today with another 2 hours of weight training and staying on track with a clean eating meal plan. No added sugar, juices, or butter here, just plain and delicious clean food. Here's a list of what I had today. Breakfast: 1 1/2 cups of rolled oats cooked with almond milk with a chopped banana and cinnamon Snack: Protein Shake 2 scoops with chocolate almond milk Lunch: Fajitas without tortillas Snack: Apple Dinner: Big Serving of Fajitas wrapped in lettuce with brown rice and black beans Snack: planning on having cottage cheese with salsa, a homemade protein bar, or a Fage Yogurt For tomorrow's breakfast, I prepped 2 containers of Cranberry Cinnamon Overnight Oats. They are soooo yummy and super easy to make. Check out the recipe below. Here's what you'll need: Equal Parts (I use about 1/2 cup each) Rolled Oats Almond Milk Fage Yogurt (or any greek yogurt, it is not processed and flavored like other commercial yogurts AND its loaded...

Peanut Butter has been my downfall since I've been eating clean. I used to make trips to the nearest Whole Foods (40 minutes away at that time) just to pickup a container of their peanut butter. True story.  My go-to snack is peanut butter with bananas, which may sound healthy, but peanut butter is loaded with fat. 2 Tablespoons has 16 grams of fat--yeah, i know. If I ever want to get my 6 pack (or abs of any kind at this point I'll take anything) something has to give, so I gave up peanut butter and switched to PB2's powdered peanut butter and it totally delivered.  PB2 has only 1.5 grams of fat in 2 Tablespoons! Score.  I picked up my jar at HEB and rushed home to make my own PB2 Protein Bars. They're easy, and my friends had no idea they were healthy! Here's how I made them:                                         PB2 Protein Bars     ...

Here's my equivalent of a Sad Desk lunch post (check out the site  here ), but I spruced it up with bright photos to make it look yummy. Here's my meal plan for the day: Breakfast Oatmeal (rolled oats, not instant) with honey, blackberries and almond milk Snack Banana with chocolate peanut butter (trying to get some calories in!!) Lunch Sweet Potatoes with Chicken and a bit of Brisket and zucchini Pre/ post workout snack Banana, Protein Shake Dinner Chicken with beans, sweet potatoes and salad Snack Protein Shake

A tube of raw cookie dough rarely stood a chance against me, I would never bake the cookies, I'd just go ham on the raw dough of course, but since I've started eating clean I've switched to this paleo recipe and its oh so yummy. These cookie dough bars are loaded with healthy fats and flavor and are so easy to make! Honestly, too easy. Here's the recipe I used, feel free to taste as you go and add honey, vanilla or the sweetener of your choice. Without the sweeteners, the recipe is a bit bland, so feel free to add. I'm so excited for you to try it! Enjoy :)  Here's what you'll need:  1/2 cup Shredded Coconut 2 TBSP Coconut Oil  2 caps or 1 tsp of Vanilla Extract 2 TBSP Honey (Raw) handful of Chocolate chips 1 Cup Almonds  Place all ingredients in the blender, and mix well. Taste and add more vanilla or honey if you'd like. Careful not to add more coconut oil since it melts at room temp, with too much oil, the bars won't be po...

I dropped the ball on doing an all week meal prep this Sunday so I ran to HEB at 10 at nite to stock up on the usual:  bananas, 2 cartons of organic eggs, cottage cheese, frozen and fresh veggies, peanut butter, and almond milk, tuna, and of course, sweet potatoes! :)  I always keep these dry ingredients stocked: couscous, quinoa, brown rice, beans, and oats. Shopping late at nite is the way to go. Yes, you might have to dodge late nite re stalkers and their towers of  food pallets rolling down the ailes, but that's why we use the nimble half size carts rite? After a full day, I cooked up some quinoa, homemade protien bars, and spaghetti squash to hold me over until the weekend. We know abs are made in the kitchen so stick to making meals and snacks ahead of time to avoid reaching for a McDonalds biscuit (God forbid you even think of doing that) or a donut at the office. Here's a montage/ collage of yesterday's eats:  Breakfast Ezekiel English Muffin wit...

The most important part of living fit is resting! Just allow yourself the time to chill out, relax, and just REST. You earned it. For some of us, like me, this is actually the hard part as we crave an endorphin rush, the bumping music in our headphones, the sweat pouring into puddles around us, and the thrill of a new challenge completed.  This was me a little over a month ago. I was making some good progress until  I overworked my body by training hours a day and weekends for 2 weeks. I went from invincible to sick when I caught a low grade flu and stayed out of the gym for 2 weeks. Two weeks is a long time of not training, but I plan on having a healthy body for life so I took the time to recover, rest, and eat. Thankfully, I still ate clean and got back in the saddle--or tried to. On my first day back, I could only do 20 minutes of cardio before being completely winded and totally gassed out. I tried again the next day for another 20 minutes---still totally gassed o...

Track your workouts! To transform your body, you first need to know what your limits are so you can blow right past them.  I use a small 4x6 notebook to jot down my reps, times, and a list of exercises I want to do.  My handwriting is a little sloppy and shaky after pullups so I'll spare you the handwritten. Here's the work I put in during last nite's back workout starting with an ab circuit. I absolutely love to do circuits. They're intense, timed, with little rest and it allows you to track your progress.  AB CIRCUIT 1 min. V-SIT with 18 lb ball 10 sec rest 1 minute RUSSIAN TWIST with 15 lb dumbbell 10 sec rest 1 min PLANK  10 sec rest 1 min CRUNCH ON STABILITY BALL Finish with reverse crunches with 18 lb ball and knee tucks on stability ball BARBELL BENT OVER ROWS 50 lbs 5 sets of 10 with short rest 15-30 sec in between reps on last set, drop to 15 lb dumbbells to failure DUMBBELL ROWS ON WEIGHT BENCH ...

I absolutely love eating eggs, its just an added bonus that they are loaded with protien and I can cook them up with just about anything. This post is typical of what I eat any given day after I've tired of eating of sweet potatoes, chicken, and quinoa which I eat a lot of. Here it is: chicken sausage or turkey sausage as lean as you can get it, alfalfa sprouts and eggs. Top it off with some fage yogurt and I'm set! 

Healthy Pancakes?! Yes, healthy pancakes and no you can't tell the difference between these and regular SAD (standard american diet) pancakes. I make a stack of these during meal prep so I can munch on these for breakfast as I'm running out the door, or dip 'em in peanut butter for a pre-workout snack...mmmm, peanut butter, the stuff dreams are made of. There are so many ways to make these pancakes absolutely rock! Here's the simple recipe I use.