Bikini = Chia Choco Peanutty Blues Protein Pancake

"Be careful about reading health books, you may die of a misprint."

Do you ever find yourself being a bit too obsessive about reading everything there is to know about being healthy, eating well, working out and being overall ridiculously awesome? Probably just me yet again. So at the end of last week I was preparing to head out to the river so was obviously working out a ton, eating for a bikini, and mentally preparing myself to relax and just be in my bikini. Not easy for me to do at all.

Ordinarily I feel the pressure of eating too healthy and find myself reaching for anything sugary salty and delicious to ease my pain. But this week was different. This time I was armed with Chia Choco Peanutty Blues Protein Pancakes. This is a recipe I have created in adaptation of various protein pancakes I've tried from Tone It Up, PB Fingers, and a few others. This recipe is delicious, nutritious, packed with protein, fiber, antioxidants and to me tastes better than the daily morning Pop Tart I'd rock my day out with in high school.

Start with 1 tablespoon of Chia Seeds

Add a tablespoon of Flax Meal (grounded flax seeds), and a scoop of Chocolate Protein Powder

Add 1/4 cup of Organic Egg Whites

Start mixing it up!

After the mixture is smooth, start folding in a handful of blueberries. About 1/4 of a cup. It helps to scrape the bowl with a pastry spatula!

Cook it up like a regular pancake, you will hear it start to pop and sizzle, and just ease your spatula underneath the pancake to see if it's ready to flip. It helps if you use one spatula to flip, and a spatula or spoon to help guide the pancake on the flip spatch!

Add a teaspoon of Organic Peanut Butter after it's cooked!

Avoid peanut buttah face!

After a week of working out, eating well, and setting yourself up for success every morning with a Chia Choco Peanutty Blues Protein Pancake, go enjoy yourself at the river! Jump with your friends, and remember you work your arss off everyday to feel good about yourself. So ACTUALLY feel good about yourself, or what is it all worth? xo

Chia Choco Peanutty Blues Protein Pancake

1/4 cup Organic Egg Whites (Whole Foods)
1/4 cup Organic Blueberries (Whole Foods)
1 scoop Chocolate Protein Powder (Sun Warrior is the BOMB DOT COM)
1 tablespoon Flax Meal (Henry's)
1 tablespoon Chia Seeds (Whole Foods)
1 teaspoon of Organic Peanut Butter (Whole Foods)

Mix all ingredients except blueberries and peanut butter. Fold in blueberries, fry it up like a pancake. Add Peanut Butter as syrup. Nom nom nom away!

Nutrition Facts:
265 Calories
26.5 grams of Protein
10 grams of Fiber
4 grams of Sugar (that's it!)

catching up with summa summa

"Basstrackers, bayliners and a party barge, strung together like a floating trailer park, anchored out and gettin loud all summer long, side by side there's five houseboat front porches, astroturf, lawn chairs and tiki torches, regular joes rocking the boat that's us, the redneck yacht club!" - Craig Morgan, Red Neck Yacht Club

So it's been a haute minute since I last posted.  I've been pretty busy between staycationing, playing OTL, and running head on full speed with my new job.  This summer has felt a bit like a comfortable warm red neck yacht club vacation with the ones I love the mostest.  Being with family and the friends in low places I call my own, really made me stop to think and remember to be thankful for all I am blessed with.  Including the ability to still dive and roll through the sand in my quest to one day win OTL...

Not to worry... I caught it... But it hurt like whoa.

I found something else this summer, my age, at least it was the first time I have felt myself getting older.  I used to be able to run, dive, be dehydrated and bounce right back the next day on a couple hours of sleep.  The funny thing is I am much healthier now than I had ever been through my youth and athletic career.  I used to live off of cereal, chocolate, and no water.  These days my favorite nosh is baked kale chips, and dessert consists of a piece of fruit when the craving surfaces.

Hubs and my cousin's son Brandt Man.  Stud to the muffins.

There's a good chance hubs will not like me posting this photo, but it makes my heart warm so we'll deal with that later if need be...  This past week I was spoiled with a staycation with my family.  Although hubs insisted on bringing the deep fryer along for nightly meals, they fried everything, dough, onion rings, french fries, you name it.  Mix that with my family's shared love of kale, and our obsession with wine and beach fire s'mores, and I was obviously feeling more than fabulous in my bikini... pause.  Nyaattttt! 

 

It's Wine o'clock somewhere!

I don't know if there is anything more beautifully relaxing than wine and a sunset off the water.  Not to mention running by the water is more relaxing.  It may have been my dad who insisted on riding his bike alongside me as I trudged through miles each morning to prevent me from being kidnapped of course, but running at the beach was easy and I woke up every morning before 6:30 on my staycay to run.  What's more, I really, really looked forward to it like it was a treat.  Totally not a treat on most days in the real world.

Blonde Beezies on Court 27

I think I also liked running in the morning because it was like my morning workout preparing for our weekend of OTL ahead of us.  Yeah... I really take this OTL business seriously...

We coulda had it all... Rollin' in the dirt...

This was the one that really hurt, actually stills hurts as I sit here typing 5 days later...  I somehow landed on my back on the end of this dive and my neck still ain't feelin' quite right. 

Most amazing lady lovelies I know...

In the end, the neither the Blonde Beezies or the Bruin Bombshells won it all, despite our diving triumphs.  The ridiculous competitive blood in my veins still boils a bit just thinking about it, but oh well, 364 more days until next year's OTL World Championship, gotta keep in shape, and perfect my swing...

Thanks to my fam and all the beezies that keep me grounded and provide an enormous amount of love and happiness in my life.  Thanks for making fun of me for eating protein pancakes every morning instead of cinnamon rolls, but still making sure there was a healthy vegetarian option alongside all that was fried and glorious.

Hat says it all...

I look forward to aging with all of you and one day soaking it all in while flubbin' and remembering how we used to could.  Here's to one day taking the 'ship at OTL.

Muscles, Excuses and Mentors

"You can make excuses or you can make muscles but you can't do both." - Bill Lyons, via my amazing friend January of Bliss Fitness.

January posing for me for a lululemon post about opening up through yoga.

I am blessed with knowing this wonderful lady lovely pictured above. Her name is January and she is one of my fitness/whole life mentors, as well as a wicked awesome friend.  I love her for reasons I have lost count of, but am most thankful for the following:
     She inspires me to love myself, inside out and around this big old badonk we both share!
     She balances life with health, fitness and fun and never takes any of those things too seriously.
     She has taught me how to train, fuel and appreciate the body I have.
     She is the best bootcamp instructor on the planet.  (Don't believe me, here's her schedule, test her for yourself.)

I made her model for lululemon a lot...

Today I am dedicating this post to her because it is her birthday, and I think she deserves to know about the impact she has had on my life, and probably a ton of others.   This morning I was in need of a shake up in my morning workout so I joined her bootcamp class, which I shamelessly have not been to in months!  It more than kicked my badonk, it reminded me of how much more you get out of a workout when it is led by someone who really has love for what their teaching paralleled with incredible knowledge, and a triple threat of actually knowing how to deliver their message.  (We've all had those terrible teachers who mean well but just shouldn't be leading class...) 

Her teaching is a gift, and I am lucky to sweat in her graces every now and then.  I hope to be half the trainer she is someday.  (Remember it's a 1 year goal of mine...)  So today if there's someone in your life who has helped you to become a better you mentally, physically, both, whatever, give 'em thanks.  We tend to view our trainers and teachers as super heroes, but really they're human too and sometimes need to be reminded just how wicked awesome they are.

xo

healthy happy hour

The first cup is for the guest, the second for enjoyment, the third for the sword. - An old Arabic saying on coffee

That's right, pourin' one out for my homies this morning. Funny story. After my run and while making a morning protein-a-cinno, I checked Facebook while the blender mixed up my treat.  I found Facebook chat was open, which is odd as I never have it turned on, probably some Facebook software upgrade so I have to go re-do my settings again...

My favorite mug of all time, purchased at Vernazza in the Cinque Terre

To my delight, an old friend from Italia, Giovanni who speaks zero English, messaged me to come back to Parma and visit his cafe for a delicious cappuccino. Me speaking only a bit of Italian, and babble fish translating the rest, responded with what I think probably read to him in Italian: I go work now. Make coffee for myself. How is you? I miss you a lot. What I wanted to say: Getting ready for work, making some coffee but really missing the coffee from your cafe. I believe it translated awkwardly because he responded with 8,000 kisses emoticons. Whoopsies.

New obsession: love burritos.

Healthy Treats

I personally am a very big fan of treats.  I love snack food and could live off of snacks and never eat an entire meal.  Luckily my Tone It Up plan calls for little meals all day long and I can snack like a king.  It is my gigantic need for good snacks that has inspired today's post.  For quite some time I have been purchasing Kale snack chips from Whole Foods, but they are usually like $100 for one small pack (okay maybe $7.50 but still) so I was beyond delighted to find a kale chip recipe in my Tone It Up plan! 

Kale all dressed up, and in the oven we go.

I heart kale by the by.  I could eat it everyday and I actually probably do.  Yesterday I was in need of a snack to hold me over between lunch and dinner and decided to give baked kale chips a try.  I strayed from the TIU recipe just a bit and here is what I created:

Kale Cayenne in my Belly Chips:

• 1 1/2 cups of fresh kale (torn into "chip pieces")
• 1 Tbsp. of drizzle olive oil (probably could use 1/2 Tbsp., this was too much)
• A few shakes of cayenne pepper
• A few shakes of onion powder
• A few shakes of cumin
• A few pinches of Sea Salt
• Juice of 1 lime

Lined a baking sheet with foil and baked for 15 minutes.

Mmmm baked deliciousness! 

Nosh away I did! The verdict: I think I have found my new favorite snack, though next time I will definitely use less olive oil. And I am dying for a dehydrator because I think they would taste even mo bettah!

Very much not on the TIU plan: Carne Asada Tots (luckily I don't eat meat and was not tempted)

Did I mention I met my slo-pitch team before our game last night to watch the NBA finals?  Surrounded by big hungry men they ordered no less than 4 trays of Carne Asada Tots!  I am a vegetarian and sat happily full with kale chips in my belly, and a veggie patty on the way. Though I may have picked at one tot on the edge that never touched the meat...  Just one.  I also enjoyed a pear cider, just 2... 2 too many....  All the sugar from the 2 ciders really did not sit well with me and I did not wake up too happy this morning. 

Summa Summa Summa Time: Healthy Happy Hour Drinks!

My RA rattles every now and again when I eat things like sugar and basically anything white, so I was a bit achy this morning.  From my achy breaky bones, I started dreaming of healthy summer delights and so I thought I'd share my favs with you to wrap it all up!  I'd probably prefer to make every single recipe from the Fashionably Bombed girls, but their drinks tend to have a lot of sugar which does not sit well with me.  Not to mention is a leading culprit in hangovers!  So here are a few of my favorite summer healthy happy hour recipes!  Share 'em, enjoy 'em and love 'em in moderation.  xo

My best beezy whom we share the exact same tastes in food and cocktails and life!

Beezy Breezies

• 1 Shot Vodka
• 4 oz Water
• 1/2 Lime
• 70 calories of delish. P.S. These can get you quick, so probably just a couple and take it slow.

Grapefruit Drank Drank

• Juice of 2 Grapefruits (makes about 1 cup)
• 1 shot vodka
• 163 calories of refreshing deliciousness, and the best cocktail to escape the warm weather.

P.S. Got any healthy happy hour recipes? ALWAYS in need of more!

it's goal time.

A view from the wedding location in Santa Fe.

Just got home from a wonderfully hot and delightfully fun weekend in Santa Fe. Close friends got hitched up in the hills, hubs and I drank too many sangrias to compensate for the heat, and today my body is craving the path of wellness full of kale, water and morning workouts. For the first time in years, I traveled sans laptop and took a much needed digital siesta.

Standard goal setting tools = Postcards, Nylon Magazine, fruit.

Leaving my laptop and worries in San Diego felt amazing, but 30 minutes into my 4 hour layover at LAX sent a rush of anxiety through my bones. I had mentally prepared myself to set some goals during this trip and how could that happen without my laptop? Not to fear, the trusty airport gift shop saved my goal setting intentions with postcards and a few magazines. $50 later I was ready to write my way to my future.

Mile high club goals!

There truly is no better feeling than putting your goals down on paper, and remembering why it is you work so hard and what you are actually out to accomplish in life, in work, and in yourself.  Here are just a few of my goals.

• In June 2011 I am enrolled in dance class or martial arts (Check first class is on Tuesday!)
• In May of 2012 I have completed my group fitness certification!  Yep, that's right.
• In July of 2011 I run at least 18 miles and attend 3 yoga/dance/fitness classes a week.

Swagger in my step headed to the wedding rehearsal dinner. 

In the past few months I have severely neglected my goals and was kind of feeling like a ship without oars if you will.  For some reason setting a few goals before a weekend escape relaxed me even more, and got me out of bed every morning to work off some sangrias.

So cheers to the good life.

As a rather skeptical person in general, goal setting was really something I had to trick my stubborn self into doing and then enjoying (gasp).  But it truly feels good knowing I am working towards a few things again.  If you are a stubborn skeptic like myself, reluctant to set goals, set in your ways, happy with where you are at, then that's fine, I'm not gonna go Tony Robbins on you.  But, you really should at least try it once.  The fact of the matter is, there are things in your subconscious mind you may not know about until you start to think about where you are, where you are going, and where you ultimately want to be.  No one will tell you where you will be in 5 years, but you can tell yourself.  

peace.love.goals.homies.

balance is everything... and other Tone it Up tips.

"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, And loudly proclaiming, WOW !!!! What a ride!" (This quote used to be taped to the inside of my locker in college, still holds true...)

In the past couple of days I have had more than a handful of friends and readers ask me, Do you like the "tone it up" plan, does it work, how do you have time? So here are my collective a's to a few q's, mixed in with some tips.

Drove to work today with wet hair to account for my run... Here is the end result.

it works. do it. make time for it, even if your hair is messy everyday.

Yes. The Tone It Up plan works, and it is worth paying for. I have lost some good lbs and some good inches. But more importantly, I FEEL good. Some people look good but don't feel good because their approach is self debilitating (ie my previous self). This plan works for me because it is fun, different everyday, and positive. The saying is true: If you tell me I suck at life, I'm gonna suck at life. If you tell me I rock at life, I rock at life. (Yep, just made that saying up. Spread it like buttah.)

Best Christmas present ever from the hubs.  There's just something amazing about checking off my 30 minute  or hour long morning run.

tick tock tick tock

How do you have time? I don't have time, I have to make the time. I work full time plus a few side projects, plus moving into a new house, plus living the good life. But what's the good life worth if you don't feel good? I wake up an hour earlier every morning to get a good run in. Sometimes I do my tone it up or resistance workout during my lunch break, sometimes at the end of the day, sometimes I just can't squeeze it in. But that's fine, so long as I have had my morning run and my morning coffee, all is in balance in the world.

ask for help, ask for friends

Sometimes you can do it all by yourself, sometimes you just need a little help. I need friends to sweat with. I need my hubs to understand and support my eating and work out needs (he does fully). If you are overwhelmed you have to communicate to the ones you love as to why and what they can or cannot do. We all hate it when people ask us if they look fat, so stop asking, and if they do ask if they want to workout since they don't feel amazing about themselves right this second. (Just a suggestion, or you can give me frozen yogurt that helps).

Balance is Everything

I'm not perfect, not even close, with my workouts, eating or life in general. Sometimes I have too much to do in one day to workout, so if that means I have to dance all night to burn off the calories I neglected that morning, so be it. But really, if you don't let yourself have a little fun now and then, you're probably gonna suck at life more often than you are a rock star. Eat well. Be well. Dance a lot. And yes, TONE IT UP.

small detour, big realization

"He that can have Patience, can have what he will." - Benjamin Franklin

Let's go let's go let's go let's goooo

Meet my morning running buddy equipped with a built in alarm clock! In the past two weeks buddy boy has grown very fond of our morning runs. So much that he starts barking promptly at 6:15 so we are out the door and on the move by 6:30. What a guy. He is a terrific running partner. He is faster than I am, gets distracted easily, and warns off anything that dares walk near us. What more could a gal truly ask for?

By 7:30am Jackalope is curled up in the laundry fresh out of the dryer and ready to reenter his slumber.

As devoted as this running buddy is, I still managed to take a small detour on my getting it right getting it tight mission. Why? I ate too much cheese, did not plan out my meals, and decided my weekend was fair game for all things sugar.

Exhibit A. caprese at 9pm on a Thursday... First wrong turn of the week. 

There is nothing wrong with a little caprese salad once and again.  But when you almost eat the entire log of mozarella at 9pm on a Thursday when you are in full blown bikini shape up mode, there's a small problem. It was like the gateway drug to my weekend of terrible food choices.

Exhibit B. Hello 1995 it's nice to see you again. 

You didn't hear slurpees were making a comeback? Well apparently they were. Granted it was 85 degrees and I ran 3 miles that morning... Ironically my 3 miles did not cancel out my slurpee, #hurtful. It wasn't really the slurpee that bothered me, it was the "why" behind my detour... I popped on the scale Saturday and it didn't budge from the week before. What gives, what's the point, self-loathing, terrible judgments of myself ensues.

Back on track side braid... Aka I had 5 minutes to get ready this morning... 

I wish I had the ability to just say "so what, it means nothing, and you worked your donk off this week". I am slowing trying to become that person who rolls with it with patience, faith and hard work, but my olden ways of self belittlement creeps in now and again. Nonetheless, this morning at 6:30 my running buddy and I were right back on track and ready to kick the ish out of this week. Before I started to write this post this morning I really thought, I guess I shouldn't post about my progress, or maybe I need to fudge the results a bit... I'm sorry, whaaaa? Who lies to themselves that extravagantly? It was just a flash thought but the fact that it was there frightened me.

Feeling a rut, I wore 2 lucky bracelets today just because. My Grandma's gold links, and my Marc Jacobs haute pink pretty little thing.

A ton of you have commented on my progress and have gone so far as to email me your praise and encouragement. I am super thankful for all of your thoughts and wishes. If it weren't for you lovelies holding me accountable, I'd probably be lying to myself and moving nowhere. Much love.

Equipped with two of my favorite bracelets and some tougher skin against myself, it's sure to be a better week. Isn't it amazing how a little fashion is a big pick-me-up sometimes?  Have a rockin' week. xo

Checking in...

2 weeks in, Whey to Go

Jack would like you to know that my working out is seriously cutting into his cuddle time, though he gets to go on morning runs with me...

Two weeks ago I embarked on the Tone It Up Bikini Challenge, and here is my first "holding myself accountable" post.  Thanks for all of your lovely words and tweets of encouragement.  Today I stand 7 pounds down, but more than that, feeling great, alive and feeling blessed to simply have my health.  I feel like I take it for granted now and again...

Morning shake getting ready... Mixed with a shot of espresso, bomb.com

I did not really get in this thing because I want to drop 20 pounds or something, I just needed a little structure to my workouts and nutrition, and the energy and confidence it is giving me weighs in much heavier than any lbs ever could.

keys to success...thus far

Morning Meta-D metabolism wake up and go drink!  We're talking water, apple cider vinegar, a smidgen of apple juice, cayenne pepper, and cinnamon.  Wakes me up in the morning, and it just makes you feel like your whole system gets a spring cleaning every morning.  Plus I love all things spicy so this is a perfect start to my day.  #nomnomnom

Water with a straw!  If my cup has a straw I have calculated that I am 203% more likely to drink it, and drink a lot of it.  Totally was once confusing hunger with dehydration.

And finally the purchase the hubs makes fun of me for, but I could careless.  Skechers Tone Ups!  They don't have the big swooping arch foot, they are subtle and give my squates, lunges, and dog walks a little pep in my step and hopefully lift in my badonk.

A few tips for anyone else embarking on this challenge

•  Do it.  It is worth the hard work, your body will thank you, and more importantly your mind.
•  Get yo donk up in the morning!  Just 30 minutes and sneak in the cardio sesh.  Makes the workday feel like a breeze and when life gets busy in the evening you won't have to self-sulk.
• Plan your meals as much as possible and stock your fridge with your favorite lettuce and salad toppings.  Stock your shelves with different types of beans for protein, and nuts (in love with chili lime nuts from Trader Joe's).  There you go 4 minute salad.
•  Weigh yourself once a week.  I. hate. scales.  However, I do know that when I weigh myself consistently I keep off what I want to keep off, and shred even more.  I may never be happy with a number, but there is satisfaction in the little things.
•  Have fun.  Enroll a buddy.  Right now Jackalope (my pup) are in it together on the morning runs, but I much prefer sweating with real friends.

Hope your week is fantastic!  5 weeks to bikini  season.  #eep.

P.S. Probably won't be posting the pound droppage week to week, maybe at the end I will do a little before and after shot.  But probably shouldn't hold your breath... ha