Happy Humbug Day!

Brace yourself for a good news/bad news post :)

Bad news: True story, December 21st is Humbug Day. Copyrighted and all.
Good news: Ironically it's also Look On The Bright Side Day.

aw, jeez.



Best Good News: Peanut Flour Recipes!

If ya love it so much, why don't ya marry it? :)

Double Peanut Butter Pancakes;

Ingredients;

1/4 cup peanut flour

1/2 cup egg whites

Splash of vanilla almond milk

1/2 tsp baking powder

vanilla extract

loads of cinnamon

stevia

Mix all the goodies together in a bowl and cook in a frying pan sprayed with pam (or similar) on medium heat until the top gets bubbly, then flip. These cook up very fast. I'm not sure how many it makes, I just spoon random amounts onto the pan...I usually get about 4 or 5 though.

My Toppings; Cinnamon raisin peanut butter, bananas, sugar free syrup and more cinnamon!

(Not pictured: my drool ;) )

Peanut Butter Banana Protein Shake;

Ingredients;

1/2 sliced frozen banana

30g or 1 scoop of vanilla whey protein powder

1/2 cup vanilla almond milk

around 10g of peanut flour

1 cup crushed ice

Loads of cinnamon

Mix in blender and enjoy!

Peanut Butter Honey Drink;

Ingredients;

1/2 Container of honey flavored greek yogurt (I used Chobani)

10g of peanut flour

1/2 banana

1/4 cup vanilla almond milk

1 cup of crushed ice, or less

Cinnamon, lots!

Stevia

Mix and slurp! It comes out more watery than a smoothie.

Peanut Butter and Cream Cheese Fruit Dip;

Ingredients;

1/4 cup peanut flour

Water

Pinch of salt

1 packet of stevia

Cinnamon (optional)

2 tablespoons of cream cheese

Mix the first five ingredients together, add enough water to get the consistency you'd like. Then add in the cream cheese and mix. Eat with apples or bananers!

More Good news: I'm done with classes until next semester! I go back exactly a month from today and this month is going to FLY by, I know it.
Bad news: The past couple weeks have been nothing but rough, between finals and the holiday.  I'm not a big fan of the holidays. I really don't have any family besides my Dad to celebrate with, so the holidays are kind of a big bummer for me. (Guess I'm not celebrating look on the bright side day! haha) So I've been spending a lot of time kind of bummin' around, going through the motions and...sleeping. Hence, why I haven't updated in so long, my bad!

Good news: I've been keeping up with training though of course :) Yesterday looked like this:

Workout; back.

• One arm DB rows.
• Cable rows.
• Face pulls.
• Wide grip pull-ups (still assisted..)
• Lat pulldowns.
• Deadlifts.

Good news: I upped my dumb bell rows to 40lbs/arm and did 90lbs of added weight on my deadlifts.
Bad news: I had been seriously underestimating myself on deadlifts by only adding 50lbs onto the bar before! I'm definitely feeling it today though and will definitely be taking the day off..since I went back to the gym at night with Steve, Mike and Jen because I finally convinced Steve to start going, after 3 years. I didn't work out though, I just showed them a

Basic full-body strength workout:

• DB Rows.
• Chest presses.
• Shoulder Presses.
• Deadlifts.
• Squats.
• Lat pull-downs.
• Rope pull-downs.
• Curls.

I'm so proud of Steve, he hates the gym and working out (I guess opposites do attract..) but he made it through the whole thing and even put up with me poking him in the armpits while doing shoulder presses :)

worst. trainer. ever.

Dinner tonight was cajun-rubbed tempeh strips with green beans and smashed sweet taters:

I also decorated cookies today too. I'm not a total Miss. Scrooge yet...

Yes there are Jeep cookies in there. Nerdy much?

I'll end this post with a good read:

• Warped Beauty and Embracing the Buff

A Lumpy Day.

It feels like its been forever! This is my week of finals at school, so I'm stressed to the max. (What else is new?!) Its almost over though!

Needless to say I woke up this morning feeling like a big lump. I just felt crummy. I mean, how can you not when its 10 degrees outside? I could not get myself going, so I ended up going back to sleep for an hour. Oops. I felt better when I woke up and ended up getting some Christmas shopping done.

When I got home I still wasn't in the mood to go to the gym. Plus it was a leg day, which I'm not gonna lie...are my least favorites. So what's a girl to do?
Bring the leg brutality at home:

First I grabbed a heavy bag of road salt and did step-ups on a kitchen chair. These were rough!  I also managed to make dinner in between sets ;)
Then I dragged out my full-body mirror and barbell for some dead lifts, squats and lunges.

Took about an hour, not as heavy as I would have done if I got my butt to the gym, but this week is wearing me out and I just want to sleep sleep sleep.

While out shopping today I took my first trip to Trader Joe's and snagged a few goodies.

PEANUT FLOUR! Holy crap, I am so excited about this. I already cracked it open and mixed it with water, stevia and a little sea salt and ate it with greek yogurt. 31 grams of protein, what up!
I also got some balsamic vinagairette that I marinaded some chicken in for dinner and can't wait to try it with tempeh too.

I've been doing good with keeping my sweet teeth at bay at night, here are some of my latest snacks/meals:

Breakfast cookie! (Dipped in greek yogurt)
Made with oats, mashed banana, almond milk, natural peanut butter and vanilla protein powder. I popped it into the freezer to speed up the hardening.

Frozen greek yogurt, banana, cherries, cinnamon and peanut butter. I'd also like you to meet my new PB lover..

Ingredients: Roasted Peanuts. That's what's up.

Pesto tuna pita. I couldn't resist snapping a picture because of how neat it looks. Haha, I quickly made a mess of it though :)

In other news, it snowed like crazy the other night and the roads were pure ice. I ended up losing control of my jeep, more than once, and spinning out (don't worry, I was giggling like a little kid the whole time, winter driving doesn't bother me.) I managed to live though. My boyfriend is also a sweetheart for filling up my tires when I was too cold and lazy to..

I seriously hate working on my truck or doing anything to it in the winter..or even thinking about it. I'd much rather work out in the humidity than in the cold.  My tire was down to 5psi (should be at 30). We couldn't find the leak though.

This big beast is just my project Jeep though. I do have another Jeep that isn't so heavily modified and does much better in the snow and on long distance trips. I just drive this one around town because it's fun as heck. I can't wait to get it fixed up and back in action though..

Tomorrow I have to meet with my Algebra teacher, finish/submit my research paper and finish my speech which is due friday (counts as my final!). I also plan to do more gift shopping. I'm exhausted just thinking about it, but happy baking thoughts are keeping me motivated ;) good night!

Friday Five!

Five Kick-Ass Push-up Variations;

1) One-legged



2) Legs Elevated

(See how my head is up in those two? Don't do that. Your chin should be down so  your spine can be kept in a straight line!)

3) Rotational

4) Diamond Handed

5) Spiderman

Five Moves To Do On One leg;

1) Side Plank

2) Romanian Dead Lift

3) Split Squat

Best done with dumbbells in hands :) (why is there an orb on my butt?!?)

4) Pistol Squat

I WISH I could do these. It helps to assist yourself by holding on to something while doing these.

5) Step-Ups

Five Ways To Improve Your Strength Training;

1) Bar Hold: to improve your grip strength.

Load the bar with heavy weight, grip shoulder width apart with an overhand grip and hold for 20-60 seconds. (excuse my puny bar/plates, it's all I have for home!)

2) Squats: push the floor and use your hips!

When coming up from the squat, imagine pushing the floor down away from you rather than lifting your body up. This helps to get more out of your leg muscles. Also, always start by pushing your hips back, not by bending your knees.

3) Pull-ups: squeeze your shoulder blades together!

While doing pull-ups, pretend there's an orange between your shoulder blades and you need to squeeze the juice out of it with your shoulder blades.

4) Deadlifts: squeeze what your mama gave ya!

When pulling up during a deadlift, squeeze your glutes (your butt) hard the same way you'd clench your fists.

5) Try Skullcrushers on an incline.

This lets your beat your triceps up from a different angle, therefore lightin' up the fire for new muscle growth.

Five Random Things I Dig;

1) Battle scars

2) Apples and Dates

Dates are deliciously gooey and taste like candy, paired with an apple..I'm in love.

3) Cinderella

Cinderella is my favorite Disney princess.

4) Meerkats

I used to watch the heck out of Meerkat Manor. They are so funny when they fall asleep and topple over!

5) Palm trees

It was 15 degrees on my way to school today. Get me out of here!!

I've always wanted to spend Christmas somewhere that was warm and never got snow and to see all the palm trees with Christmas lights on them. It's been so cold lately that I have to have a wrestling match with my transmission in order to shift while driving until it warms up. It gets violent and I usually lose the match..

Time to get the weekend started. Enjoy :)

Attack of the food monster!

You know the food monster they used to show in the Weight Watchers commercials?  Yeah, well, he's been living in my closet this week.  See, I love everything about lifting, that's very apparant, except for that whenever I switch up my routine I become ravenous.  I don't mean "Oh I just ate dinner and I'm still a bit hungry" kind of hunger, I'm talking about painful, bottomless pit I-could-eat-a-dump-truck hungry..the kind that sneaks out of nowhere and rips your insides up! It finally subsided today, though, thank god..I'm running out of food! ha ha.

Speaking of new routines, I'm loving my new split. I'm having a blast doing it.

Tuesday: Chest/Biceps;

• Incline Dumb Bell Chest Presses
• Chest Flies
• Bench Press
• Cable Crossovers
• Cable Curls
• Standing Dumb Bell Curls
• Hammer Curls

...Push ups definitely needed to be added to this! Next time.

Wednesday: Legs;

• Step-ups
• Deadlifts
• Barbell Squats
• Calf Raises
• Split Squats

My leg workout was short, it was getting late and I had a paper to get started on! It was still enough to make my legs bruised enough so I couldn't sit with my laptop on my lap! Note to self: get your form right, girl.


I've mentioned before that I'm nothing special in the kitchen, it's just not in me.  I've almost mastered the art of eating healthy when you're a terrible, pressed for time, cheap college student. Here's my favorite things I've munched on so far this week...

I brought this to class with me this morning.  Half a banana + almond butter + honey + cinnamon. Helloooo lover! Good thing I brought a spoon.

Breaded chicken on top of spinach and red peppers with green beans, mashed sweet taters and ranch for dippin! I used vanilla almond milk to mash the taters. Sounds weird, but it adds an interesting flavor.

I've been seeing Kind bars pop up everywhere. Mid-food monster I was looking for something new to satiate me and this fruit and nut flavored guy jumped into my palms.

Very yummy and peanut-ty tasting. I'll definitely be buying these again. I want to try the almond and apricot flavor too.











Anyways, after passing my trainer exam last week and realizing it's time to start applying for an internship and jobs, I got really nervous and realized although I know the theory and science behind exercise, I have no idea how to really design an effective program for such a broad spectrum of people! I mean I know everyone has to start somewhere and that this is what the internship is for, but I'm a total worry wart.  Amazon.com has my back though...

They both had rave reviews and I got them for cheap used, so why not. I just needed something to ease my anxiety!

I'm off to catch some sleep, I have a day filled with algebra, christmas shopping and never-ending english homework tomorrow.  In the mean time, check out this guy's burpees..

Why wait until the new year?

Exhibit A.

I'm in a really good mood today! Weird, considering I spent the majority of my weekend behind my laptop, refer to "exhibit A", doing research for a paper! It's all good though, in a couple weeks I'll be bored out of my mind with no homework to do.








Exhibit B

Exhibit B: Doofy pictures that should not be posted on the internet and how loopy I really look after starting at a puter screen for hours.

ANYWAYS...I took a small chunk of days off from lifting after not feelin' it 100% last week..and I came back swingin'. I really didn't feel like I needed a whole week off yet. I decided to switch up my routine to a 4-day split instead of the upper/lower body split I was doing and I started it yesterday. I already feel like this was the best decision ever. Here's what today and yesterday looked like:

Saturday; Shoulders/Triceps:
4 Sets of 12, 10, 8, 6.

• Seated Shoulder Presses
• Lateral Raises
• Reverse Flies
• Shrugs
• Skull Crushers
• One Arm Cable Extensions
• One Arm Dumb Bell Extensions
• Dips

Sunday; Back:
4 Sets of 12, 10, 8, 6

• One Arm Dumb Bell Rows
• Wide Grip Pull Ups (assissted)
• Close Grip Pull Downs
• Deadlifts
• Face Pulls
• Bent-Over Barbell Rows

I think I'm going to add deadlifts to my leg days too, because I love them, and it works out because I won't be doing them on consecutive days. Some of the sets I did as pyramid sets, some I didn't. I just go by how I feel and do what I think I'll really be challenging myself with.

So, I'm one of those people who doesn't go by the number on the scale (no one should, scales are misleading bastards!), I measure myself instead.  But after packing on a few pounds since summer, I've stepped away from the tape measure too in order to focus on gaining muscle rather than worrying about numbers. Well, I finally manned up and dusted off the tape measure this morning and it turns out I lost just about an inch in my waist and hips..and my arms have grown an inch and a half! So motivating. This is all since seriously limiting the cardio too (only doing walking 1 or 2 days a week). I'm so glad the bruised legs and arms and torn up, calloused hands have started to pay off :)

After Steveo finished taking ridiculous pictures of me on my laptop, he whipped up a grilled cheese sandwich for himself that he grilled in a sandwich maker that he's been keeping secret from me for years!

With tomato soup for dippin'! The smell of this meal made us both crave chocolate milk like crazy for some reason!











I've been snacking on delicous melons that I keep cut up in the fridge. Yummy.

This is my latest favorite lunch. Pesto Tuna. I mix 1/2 a can of tuna with 1tbsp of mayo and 1tbsp of pesto sauce and toss it on a toasted pita.  I definitely add more veggies than just tomatoes though, I figured I'd snap a pic before it got out of hand though, ha ha.








Those are all my boring ramblings for now...I promise my posts will get more exciting after finals :)

xoxo