Cookies and Cream Protein Cupcakes

I can't believe I almost forgot to post my new creation I made this morning! I present to you Cookies and Cream Protein Cupcakes/Muffins in both regular and pumpkin spice Oreo flavors :D

I may or may have not had these for breakfast...don't judge me!

Can you blame me? Look how yummy these look!

Recipe (makes two cupcakes, one of each flavor):

• 1/4 cup (61 g) pumpkin puree, divided
• 2 egg whites
• 1/4 scoop (10 g ) chocolate protein
• 1/2 tbs (2.5 g) cocoa powder
• 1/2 scoop (21 g) vanilla protein, divided
• pumpkin pie spice
• baking powder
• 2 tbs (35 g) greek yogurt
• sweetener to taste
• 2 oreos, 1 regular and 1 pumpkin spice

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin pan with two muffin liners.
2. For the chocolate cupcake combine half of the pumpkin puree, one egg white, the chocolate protein, cocoa powder, baking powder, and sweetener to taste. Fill one muffin liner with this mixture.
3. For the pumpkin cupcake combine the remaining pumpkin puree, egg white, half the vanilla protein, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, and sweetener to taste. Fill the second muffin liner with this mixture.
4. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. I ended up turning up the oven to 400 F for the last five minutes or so.
5. Top each cupcake with the remaining vanilla protein mixed with water drizzled over top. Top either cake with greek yogurt (I chose to top the pumpkin cake). Finish with oreo cookies. Enjoy!

Macros for both cakes, including toppings and cookies: 337 calories 9F/33.4C/31.8P

Progress Shots and a Review

Hello all! With the new year everyone seems to be making new year's resolutions, namely those about losing weight and getting healthier. I'm all for these people making goals, but lets face it, most of these people will be in the gym for the first half of January and then we won't see them again until next year. In the meantime, they're just taking up benches when I need them #firstworldproblems.

That being said, I thought it would be nice to document where I stand this new year so I can see how how much progress I can make in the next few months/years. So without further a due, here I am! Please forgive the b*tch face, I'm sick and didn't realize I was making one haha

Currently I'm 108.8 lbs and consuming 2105 calories (45F/275C/150P). Since my show in August I had been following the 5/3/1 program, but I have recently been looking into a more DUP style of training. In addition, in order to help put on some much needed size in this off season I'll be increasing my macros over the next few weeks as well. I plan on getting to about 50F/300C/150P and seeing how I progress from there!

Now enough about me, lets get on to the good stuff!  I wanted to share with you all a little review of one of Chobani's new flip yogurts I stumbled across in Walmart the other day! I present to you Chobani's Salted Caramel Cunch: a caramel low-fat yogurt with salted pretzels, chocolate, and praline pecans AKA heaven in a cup!

190 calories 5F/25C/12P

This yogurt was everything I hoped for! The caramel flavor in the yogurt itself was perfect, not overly sweet and still had the slight tang of greek yogurt. And the toppings? Oh man. I'm not a big pretzel person, but this combo was amazing! The saltiness from the pretzels was perfectly balanced by the dark bitterness of the chocolate and the sweet crunch of the pecans. I'll definitely be picking up some more of these in the near future!

Peanut Butter Cup Protein Pancakes

Today's workout was intense so I HAD to make sure to refuel properly! What does that mean to me? Protein pancakes, of course!! Peanut butter cup protein pancakes to be exact...

They're just so beautiful! Nothing beat the combination of chocolate and peanut butter if you ask me.

Recipe (makes 9.5 pancakes)

• 1/3 cup (26 g) oats
• 1/2 scoop (16 g) chocolate protein powder
• dash of baking powder
• 1/2 cup (113 g) low fat cottage cheese
• 2 egg whites

Blend all ingredients together until smooth. Heat large skillet over medium heat. Spray with non-stick spray. Spoon batter into pan, creating as many pancakes as you wish. When pancakes begin to bubble, flip and cook for an additional minute or so. Plate and drizzle with sauces. Chop up 2 mini Reese's peanut butter cups and sprinkle onto pancakes as well. Devour :)

Dark chocolate sauce: 1 tbs (5 g) Hershy's dark chocolate cocoa powder + sweetener to taste + enough water to drizzle

Peanut butter sauce: 2 tbs (12 g) Pb2 + enough water to drizzle 

Macros for the whole stack, toppings included: 420 calories 14F/43.7C/43.1P

First Workout of 2015

Yes it's true, I didn't workout on the 1st. I know I was being a lazy butt. Don't judge me! At least I got a fantastic workout in today :D

I recently decided to switch programs so as of today I have officially begun a DUP (Daily Undulating Periodization) style of training. It's a strength-focused program with progressive overload on the big four lifts ---> Deadlift, Squat, Bench, OHP <---

So this morning, right after work, I made sure to fuel up properly with my pre-workout of choice...

Sour candy, caffeine, beta-alinine, and creatine

And then it was straight to work! Starting with easy controlled squats, followed by heavy bench, finishing with hypertrophy deadlifts and some extra chesticle workage for funzies. Needless to say, the pump was SO real!

Just look at that chest split! The workout looked a little something like this:

• Squats: 6x3 @ 150
• Bench: 5x5 @ 100
• Deadlifts: 4x8 @170

Totally to a whopping 10,640 lbs lifted today! (Not including the extra chest accessory work)

Starting this new year off right :)

Blueberry Lemon Pancake Donuts A LA MODE

This past weekend I was up at my grandparents' house celebrating a late Christmas. I absolutely LOVE my grandparents' house. The house itself really isn't that big or special, but the property? Oh man...

20 acres nestled atop a hill, with a beautiful view of the northern California valley. Of course, with all this land my grandmother also has a multitude of gardens, both for produce and for beauty. And every time I go up for a visit, I swear she tries to get me to take home something from her garden. Whether its some fresh vegetables or an entire plant, I never leave empty handed! So what did I leave with this time? LEMONS

Instantly I knew I had to think of something creative to make with them, but what? Lemon poppy seed muffins? Typical. Lemon pancakes? Delicious, but been there, done that. Lemonade? Woooo...

Then I thought of something brilliant - Blueberry Lemon Pancake Donuts A LA MODE, because just the donuts by themselves weren't nearly decadent enough :P

This may be the easiest recipe I've ever made, but soooooo good!

 Just look at that ice cream melt over the warm blueberry donuts. And that fresh blueberry sauce drizzled over top? Forget about it.

You need to make this ASAP. It's literally the perfect combination of breakfast and dessert, but you don't have to feel guilty about it!

RECIPE

• 1/2 cup Kodiak Cakes pancake mix
• Juice and zest of one lemon, divided
• water 
• liquid stevia (or other sweetener) to taste
• 1/2 cup blueberries, divided
• 1 serving Halo Top lemon ice cream

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Spray donut pan with nonstick spray.
2. Mix together pancake mix, the lemon juice and zest of half a lemon, water to make 1/2 cup liquid, and sweetener to taste.
3. Mix in about 1/3 of the blueberries and spoon into donut pan. Bake for about 8-10 minutes.
4. While donuts are baking, prepare blueberry sauce by mixing together remaining blueberries, lemon juice and zest, and sweetener to taste in a small bowl.
5. Microwave for 30 seconds and mash blueberries with a fork.
6. When donuts are finished, drizzle blueberry sauce over top and garnish with lemon ice cream.
7. Dig in and enjoy!

Macros for the full recipe (makes 4 donuts)

312 calories 4.7F/65.4C/18P

Flexible Dieting/IIFYM Whaaaa? The Basics

There is a lot of material out there about flexible dieting and IIFYM, but sometimes it can be a little confusing and hard to find. So what I'm (attempting) here is to provide a single source of IIFYM knowledge and answer some questions that will hopefully help you on your journey :)

First off, what is IIFYM??

IIFYM stands for If It Fits Your Macros
Basically, whether your goal is to lose weight/gain weight/lower your bodyfat/increase strength/whatever, you can eat whatever you want as long as those foods fit your macros. Simple.

But what are macros??

Macros (or macro nutrients) are fats, carbs, and protein.  All foods are made up of these 3 nutrients where:
1 g fat = 9 calories
1 g carbs = 4 calories
1 g protein = 4 calories

The average flexible dieter has a specific number of fat/carbs/protein that they keep track of and attempt to eat everyday. These numbers will vary depending on the person and their goals.

How do I figure out my macros??

If you are familiar with calorie counting, I'm sure you are aware of the several calculators out there that can give you a GENERAL IDEA of the calories you should be consuming to reach your goals. Similar to these calculators, there are macro calculators as well. Personally, I use THIS one.  Just enter your stats and select your goals. Then the calculator will give you a nice ratio of fats, carbs and protein to aim for each day.

Keep in mind this gives a GENERAL IDEA of the macros you should be aiming for. These numbers may need to be changed depending on how your body reacts. Every body is different and these numbers should be treated as a guideline.

So how to I keep track of these macros and make sure I reach them?

In order to start tracking your macros, you are going to have to become very familiar with reading labels. For everything you eat, you will have to make sure to count the fat/carbs/protein. This can be done with a pen and paper or MUCH more easily with a calorie counting app. Personally I use myfitnesspal and I love it! It may also help to purchase a food scale to weigh out portions and measure things that don't have labels.

This 87.9 g avocado for example doesn't have a label, but according to myfitnesspal it has 13.5F/7.6C/1.7P so we can still track it!

There is MUCH more information out there regarding IIFYM and flexible dieting, but I figured this would be a good start! Feel free to ask questions. I'll do my best to answer them and hopefully make more posts soon to help clear up anything else :) 

My Foods

Just to give you an idea of some of the foods and recipes you can look forward to, here's a little food porn!

First off we've got stacks upon stacks of pancakes...

 Breakfast pizzas...

 Waffles...

Oatmeal...

And if you couldn't tell breakfast is my favorite, so here are a few more breakfast yummies...

Sometimes I eat some more savory things too...

But of course, I always save room for dessert...

Hopefully this got you hungry! Stay tuned for recipes :)