Monday, November 14, 2011

Pumpkin Pie Protein Shake

PUMPKIN PIE PROTEIN SHAKE
Blend in the blender:
1/4 C unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1/2 C water
1/4 C pure pumpkin pure
1/4 teasp. pumpkin pie spice
1 scoop low carb vanilla whey protein
5-6 ice cubes

ENJOY!!! 

Saturday, November 12, 2011

You must AVOID sugar!

Here's some ideas from Nick Somebody about what to do instead of eat sugar,,, I do ALL of these already... except what's a quest bar??  and I only did the tea when I was on the Vdiet and didn't have any shakes left for the day and wanted something!


When sugar is taken away from you completely or you decide to give it up, such as a ‘diet’, you go through withdrawals & start to become anxious because you just want a little taste of that feel good feeling. Because sugar is addictive you need to take care of this through sheer WILL POWER. As I said, your mind is incredibly powerful, so use it for good!




Here are my tips that I use to help me beat the cravings (especially during contest prep.):


1. Eat protein at every meal so you never go hungry 2. Make your own baked goodies with oat flour and stevia sweetener

3. Plan a day that you can allow yourself to have a some sweets so you can look forward to them rather than feel deprived from them

4. Brush your teeth
5. Drink hot tea with stevia sweetener it takes a longer time to drink which keeps you busy

6. Drink lots of water and make it sweet if you like with Crystal Light

7. Eat a Quest Bar

8. DON’T BUY IT, if you don’t buy it you won’t eat

9. Blend a protein shake (there’s so many delicious flavors!)

10. Chew mint gum

Here,,, I'll give the Nick Guy credit:
http://blog.questproteinbar.com/10-tricks-to-beat-sugar-cravings/

Before and Afters

Okay,,, thought I better add the proof... (For my blog viewers only, all two of you! Please don't "steal" my photos and put them somewhere else on the internet, that's just not cool!)  

              This was take the end of April, 2011.  (boy, I look happy huh?)

And here I am, much happier the end of July, 2011!

Extreme is not for me!

Extreme dieting,,, working out in an extreme way and staying extremely fit is impossible to live forever. I guess I should speak for myself!  Let me share what I did to my body and how it revolted! (I think I am really writing this for me,,, I feel like I need to journal this to process just exactly what I've done!)

This past summer I got my body fat down to 12%.  Now, granted I was not ready to compete in body building but I was as "lean" as I've EVER been in my whole life!  I did it, just to see if I could do it! It was a lot of hard work. At least one hour of cardio, and lifting for 1.5 to 2 hours a day in the gym and then sometimes more cardio (walking/jogging) in the evening, to equal 3-4 hours of working out a day, everyday.  Ahhhh, but that was the "easy" part!  Also, for over 3 months I ate pretty strick: calories around 1400, low carb and high protein and if that weren't enough, I threw in a 28 day, high protein, all liquid diet (VDiet).  I  lost 6% body fat in 6 weeks!  Looking back on all that craziness I would say, it wasn't that hard,,, it really wasn't.  Yes, I was a little whiny, but really, if I can do it, anyone can do it.  So, now you have the background so what's the big deal!?
     Here's the rest of the story!  I, cold turkey,,, took an 8 week break from everything.  NO workouts at all, and I ate "healthy" but I ate whatever I wanted and didn't keep track of my calories or carbs!  This wasn't totally by choice; I had surgery and couldn't workout (that's a whole nother blog), but I should have done better to stay on my eating plan.  So, at the end of that 8 week break I had gained 6-8 pounds and who knows what my body fat went back up to, but by the way my cloths fit so TIGHT, I'm guessing back up to about 20%.  I was too scared to get my body fat checked!  I really think the extreme flip flop probably made my metabolism take a nose dive and the FAT deposit on my thighs, butt and belly went crazy in a BIG way!   In that 8 weeks I gained 2 inches in my thighs, butt and belly! WOW! 
So, why did I do it and what am I going to do now???   I don't know about you, but I'm impatient.  When I want something I want it now!  Losing 6% body fat in 6 weeks is way too fast!  My body was in such shock with the diet, the workouts and all of the many supplements I was on, I jacked up my system!  Hormonally, I was a mess.  I didn't even get my period all summer!  But, I was happy at the time, that I had accomplished my body goal, in such a short time!  Another point I might add is notice I had to go to such extreme to get my body to respond!  I had been eating healthy and working out for 3 months and it didn't change much. But kick in the EXTREME and watch me change! 
So, my new challenge is to learn to accept my body just the way it is.  I will still work hard, pushing myself in the gym and making healthy food choices but I do NOT have to maintain 12% body fat...I'm not competing on a stage in bikini and so I should probably stop competing against myself!  It just isn't "normal" for my body to be 12% forever~

Moral of the story: Don't be EXTREME just be a hard working YOU and LOVE the body your in!

Saturday, August 13, 2011

How do you handle Road Blocks?

Okay, so when it comes to working out and eating clean you always have little road blocks and sometimes some unexpected detours that try to throw you off coarse! Like the day (about two weeks ago) when I showed up at the gym for a heavy leg/glute day to find I'd left my tennis shoes at home (15 minutes away!) In the summer I always wear my extra support flip-flops and that's all I had!  My enthusiasm to go bust a move diminished even more as I sat in my car outside the gym realizing my lifting partner would not be joining me!  I so wanted to just say "forget it!"  I just didn't have time to run all the way home as I was paying a babysitter, who's on a time schedule herself!  I wasted five minutes pouting in the car before I finally decided to give it a try with what I had.  I told myself, "Work with what you've got; just make it work!"
 As I walked into the gym I was hoping there wouldn't be too many people in there to see the "dumb lady lifting legs with flipflops!"  Nope, not too many people, just 4 GUYS!
 I started off with barefoot dead-lifts, ten pounds lighter than my usual but I added 5 more reps and did 4 sets instead of 3!!! That worked! Then, I struggled just a bit to get my form right on my lunges, so I skipped the heavy lunges on the Smith Machine and opted for barefoot walking lunges... I did enough, packing two 20's that I almost had to crawl to the leg press!  I actually think I got a better leg press workout than usual so things were looking up!  I got through the rest of my workout, some of it with these beautiful flip-flops and some of it barefoot. But believe me when I say, my butt was SORE the next 3 days! Whoohoo!!!


I did get a few funny looks from the guys in the gym, luckily I didn't know them so I didn't really care!  Once I got going and started feeling my quads, hams and glutes working to their potential I didn't care what I looked like! 
Now, I'm not saying go workout without the proper shoes,,, I'm darn lucky I didn't hurt myself!  However, look how I handled a road block and didn't let something little give me the "excuse!"  
Too many people always have "excuses" and I've heard 'em all!  Ya know what?  If you want something bad enough you'll make it work!  If not, then stop complaining about not being able to reach your goals! Love the body your in or change it! 
Geez, look at all that "support" haha!!!
Train hard ya all!!!

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Is life about reducing cellulite?

When Jillian Michaels was asked what do you like least,
Here is what she had to say:


"My ass! I hate it! There's cellulite on it, and no matter what I do, I can't get rid of it. The reality is that it's connective tissue. I can starve and my boobs will go and my face will get gaunt, but I will still have cellulite. It's not so much about aesthetics for me these days. Instead, I think a lot more about the mark I'm going to make on the world than about the back of my ass."- Jillian Michaels

Wow,,, I can so relate! Poor woman! I guess it's just normal! I'm working on being happy with my cellulite ass and all of me!  I've worked hard transforming my body after the third baby and this is as perfect as it's going to get!
So, I tell myself,,, Keep working hard and enjoy life but remember life is more than reducing cellulite! 

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Garage Challenge Workout!

So, I did this workout last Sunday morning in the 95degree garage!  Yes, it was that hot at 7am!  and my time on 6 rounds was 30:50~
Today, same workout my time was 27 minutes~ really got my sweat on!
Here it is:
10 Jump Squats (body weight, get low and jump HIGH, make em worth it)
10 pullups (I did assisted with orange band)
10 Turkish Get -Ups  5 on eachside http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVDiFNy8NUA
10 Jumping jacks (keeps my heart rate up!)
10 walking lunges with Slosh Pipe overhead (step out far, focus on tight core and feel the up motion through your glutes~)
15 hanging ab strap knee raises http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNkNW7pciNI&feature=fvsr

I did 6 rounds but one could do more or less depending on their fitness level.  I push myself pretty hard through this workout and don't want to compromise good form so I usually don't do much longer than 30 minutes!  After 30 minutes at this intense of a level one starts to get shaky and weak and loses good form! 
I'm just pleased I did better on my time by over three minutes,,, whether that was because of the cooler temperature or I was pushing harder I'm not sure but hey, I'll take it! 
Push yourself hard and you'll see progress, EVERYWHERE!

CORY'S Protein Pancakes-- YUM!!!

Cory's Protein Pancakes
2 ¼ C. Oatmeal (quick oats)
1 C. unsweetened Apple sauce
¾ C. Liquid Egg Whites
¼ C. Fat Free Greek Yogurt
¼ C. peanut butter
2 T. Ground Flaxseed
3-4 scoops whey protein (Vanilla is best but Plain works too)
¾ teas. Cinnamon (we use the Cinnamon Plus from Pampered Chef, it has nutmeg, allspice, cloves, ground orange peel and ginger. This is almost a must to get the taste right!)

OPTIONAL:
Add some dried cranberries (this helps make them sweeter)
Your favorite sweetener. We use about 3 T. of Truvia
ground nuts like walnuts

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl with a hand-mixer.

Then add water to get "pancake batter consistency." Usually about a half a cup. It will likely thicken up as you are trying to get all your pancakes cooked so just add a little more water as needed.
Non-stick spray in a skillet on Medium to Med-low heat… they need to cook slow or the middle doesn’t get done.
Use a ¼ C measuring cup to pour in pan.

Keep refrigerated. They are great cold or warmed up. GREAT ON-The-GO snack! The only bad thing is they disappear too fast! Even the kids love them!

Makes 16-18 pancakes.
Nutrition facts will vary but this is approximately what we figured ours to be per pancake:
Cals: 130
Carbs: 14g
Fat: 3g
Protein:10g

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Now, for the rest of the story

So, as much as I don't even want to mention it,,, I have to go back to my goal!  Remember, I mentioned my "goal" a few posts down??!? Yeah, that magic number of 120 was my goal.  I didn't think that it was that unreasonable since I am only 5"2' and my bottom healthy weight is like 110 pounds so honestly what's the big deal?  Well, the big deal is,,, as many of you know "THAT LAST TEN POUNDS IS THE HARDEST!"   GEEZ!  NO kiddin!!!~  I DID NOT get to my goal!  FAILED!!! The closest I got was 122.something!   I'd like to say I am still close but since I went into the transition phase of the Vdiet, no such luck.  I am back up to 125.  
I follow a couple Fitness Girls blogs and it was encouraging to read what they had to say about weight... Holly Shraeder  http://www.hollymariefitness.com/ says you will fluxuate all the time, up and down within 5 pounds.  That you really have a 5 pound range you sit in.  She also said you don't gain 2 or 3 pounds of fat overnight! DUH, I know that!  WATER weight!?!?!  I can seriously weigh myself at night before I go to bed and get up in the morning and weigh 2 or 3 pounds MORE!  That must be with age,,, "Old Lady Water Retention?"  So, for now the scale is taking a break! We will NOT be dating every morning, nor at night!
Well that was a depressing story,,, let's move onto something more positive!
So, remember when my husband did my measurements and they didn't change at all?  He suggested I go get my body fat done again!  Sooo,  Body Fat % here I come! And this will explain why I am not overly frustrated with the stupid scale! There's more than one way to determine success!
 Body Comp. Scan:  This is a machine you lay down on and it scans over your body,,, scanning your tissue, determining how much fat and lean muscle you have.  It's expensive, $35.00 a scan but VERY informative.  The only problem is it tells you the fat you have EVERYWHERE, like around your organs and such!  Well, that would be all good if you really needed to know that, but I had to remind myself my numbers made me seem "fatter" than I actually appear!
Check this out!
Aug. 2, 2010 (2months after having baby) 145lbs
37% fat    24,586g of fat,    39,326g lean tissue
April 13, 2011(12 months after having baby)  130lbs
27% fat    16,335 g of fat,   40,408g lean tissue
June 8, 2011 (13.5 months after having baby) 125lbs
21% fat   12,371 g of fat     42, 242g lean tissue

Also on June 8th Jesse from Downtown Gym did my body fat with the "pinchers".  He got me at a total of 18% body fat! which makes sense because that doesn't take into consideration of ALL my fat on the inside of my body! I was happy with that!
Chest 15%
Abs 20%
Thigh 27%
scapula 13%
Triceps 13%

THEN I did the Vdiet plan and intense workout schedule for 6 weeks, and cried to my husband that NOTHING had changed! So, on July 21st I went back to Jesse to get my body fat done again.
Chest 11%
Abs 14%
Thigh 17%
Scapula 9%
Tricep 10%
For an average of 12.2% body fat!  FINALLY GOOD NEWS!~  I don't see it, but hey, I've gotta be happy with these numbers!  I feel great and people who haven't seen me in awhile say I look great so I've got to be happy! I am!  I am happy with the results of HARD WORK!  See,,, it can be done!

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Peanut Butter Muscle Bombs

Peanut Butter Muscle Bombs


2 cups natural unsalted, peanut butter, drained of seperated oil (I use the chunkie)
2 scoops Vanilla Whey protrein
A FULL 1/4 C molasses (over flowing)
2 tablespoons flaxseed (I use the meal)

If it is too dry I add a little flaxseed oil

In lrg bowl mix together the ingredients,, this takes some muscle

Form into "walnut size" balls, wrap in plastic wrap. Chill in the freezer for two hours, OR I just leave them in the freezer, prefer them frozen

makes about 25 balls. Per bomb: 150 cals, protein 6g, carbs 8g, fat 9g

Be careful because their dangerous! You're either eating them or thinking about eating them! ;)

Is this the end???

I started the Velocity diet (Vdiet) in June, for 28 days. This was a mostly all liquid diet- Superfood/vitamin shakes, protein shakes, flaxseed and a little natural peanut butter with one Healthy Solid Meal (HSM) a week. Again, my word for June was HARD! Yeah, it was not easy, but actually now that I look back on it, it wasn't bad! The Vdiet's therory is rapid body transformation that takes some serious dedication and no, it's not for everyone. What it did for me: ease of meal planning for myself,,, "Have shaker will travel" was my motto, it helped me get through a plateau, reduced the cravings for junk, a little fat lose and a little muscle gain. Now, ready for the honesty??? Here's what it didn't do: It didn't allow me to go out with my friends for dinner or a drink or eat dinner with my family, It didn't allow me to lose weight on the scale- and keep it off, and it didn't help my measurements to change,,, NOT even a tiny bit!
Here's what the scale did... I was a 125.7 the first day of the Vdiet. The scale was down, then up, up, then down (a pretty boring roller coaster really!) but on the 28th day I was 123.2 pounds~ So, a 2.5 pound lose in one month wasn't bad. Even though I really felt like I had worked harder than that, I thought, "hey, I'll take it!" However, by the 5th week frustration set in with the transition phase of the Vdiet (only change is I added in 1 HSM a day) the scale started going up FAST! In two and a half weeks after the 1st phase of the Vdiet I had gained it all back,,, yep, back up to 125.3 So, with extreme frustration I had my hubby do my measurements and photos just last night. I thought this would be helpful since I know the scale is NOT the only measure of sucess! All this hard work for the past six weeks and my measurements were ALL EXACTLY THE SAME! As I'm about to cry, all my poor husband can say is, "Well at least they didn't go up!"
NO, This is NOT the end... there's more to the story!  I know, it's getting too long. I know, my eyes are burning too, but you have to stay tuned to hear the "rest of the story!"

in the middle....

Part two...
SO, as I was saying,,, my friend Tina helped to motivate me. She competed in a fitness bikini show the beginning of April. Since the beginning of 2011 she had lost weight (fat) not sure how much but enough that everyone noticed and then added muscle... toning up! She looked amazing! This showed me that I (even though I don't want to compete) could at least get to my "pre-Tenley look" goal! What I learned from Tina is that is was going to take lots of hard work, but it was do-able!!
So, my UNREALISTIC goal for this "beefcake" girl was 120 by the end of July! (that was only a little over ten pounds,,, after already losing thirty pounds what's 10 more!??? )
Also, about the second week of April, another very helpful factor was when Tina, and I talked Cory into competing in the Denver show on June 4th! That was a huge help when he started eating clean, so did I! I keep track of my food on a food tracker journal on-line (Sparkspeople.com) and I did sssoooo good! It was hard! VERY HARD! But, honestly it got easier! I will say doing it right along your spouse makes it much easier! All through May I kept eating clean, keeping my calories between 1,300-1,500 and I started getting more workouts in. After June 4th I came home from Denver realizing I needed to "change it up" because my body wasn't responding. This was a perfect time to kick it up a notch since I don't work in the summer! (Gotta love my teacher's schedule with summers off!) 


Sunday, July 17, 2011

In the beginning....

Sometimes I feel like I might be fighting a losing battle... I don't have "lucky genes" like my husband and his skinny family! I will admit, I am a bit jealous of his sisters and their skinny little legs! My legs are anything but skinny! When I get on the topic of my legs I usually find myself grabbing a big handful of thigh saying, "Yep,,, I'm a beefcake!!" And who wants to be a "beefcake??"
My metabolism was only helpful in high school and it's been all down hill after my first year of college. I was a happy size 1 or 3 and a minimal 112-116 pounds all through high school, but I gave the "Freshman 15" a new name.... "Freshman 35!" Yeah, apparently the bagels with CheezWiz and wine coolers messed up my unrealistic dream of being a size 3 forever. Actually I didn't even know that I had gotten so big, or I didn't care until I went to try on wedding dresses in the Fall of 1998. They ordered me a size 16 but said I was probably a size 14~ oh my gosh! (I need to borrow a scanner and show you those scary pictures!)
So, I went to Weight Watchers and lost 39.5 pounds in a little less than 6 months! I hit my goal weight of 120 the week before our wedding! I did awesome! Just after our July 1999 wedding I got down to 112 pounds but maintained around 118! THEN,,, two little boys came along and changed my body FOREVER!!! But again weight watchers came to the rescue after both of them! I kept off the weight and staying around 125 for several years.
Now jump ahead to the summer of 2009, I was pretty happy with my 127 pound body before I got pregnant with my daughter (in July 2009). I actually took measurements and pictures and prayed I could "at least" get back to that after having her! I gained over 60 pounds with her pregnancy and it wasn't easy getting it off. It took OVER a year!!! I started working out, walking and a little cardio when she was only 2 weeks old. Which at this point I weighed 160 pounds but mentally felt about 200 pounds, (Either way, that's a lot of weight on a 5ft. 2in. frame!) When Tenley was 8 weeks old, my friend Tina, drug my 150 pound butt to an intense workout class, called Barefoot Fitness. It was sooo hard at first and in front of the other people and the mirrors I often left in tears, feeling like a fatso and frustrated with being so heavy! However, I do believe it did something for my confidence, when I could see my substantial progress. For example, I started out doing assisted pull-ups with this HUGE gray band. I really felt embarrassed but it wasn't long and I was able to switch to the orange band that Tina used! Now, I look back on that and think "WHO CARES!, why did I care??!" HEY people,,, I was there busting my butt, trying,,, more than most people would do! I also learned a LOT from the trainer and even though I don't go to that class anymore (conflict of interest with the physco, bi-polar trainer) I still use a lot of their workouts, exercises and warm-ups to this day! So, thanks BFF!!! :)

I continued to workout all winter long in my garage and at the Rec Center! Now, let me just say that the extra weight came off very slowly, like only a 5 pound loss every two months. I tried to watch what I ate but I wasn't on any "plan" until the end of May (I weighed 133) when my friend Tina got me motivated to a whole new level! Also, I knew I was going to have to push myself with my workouts and eating if I was ever going to get back to my pre-Tenley weight and most importantly, back in my pre-Tenley cloths!! I wanted to get in my old cloths pretty bad! I mean, I love shopping as much as the next girl, but I wasn't going to go buy the next size up just to have an excuse to by clothes! No, I just made due and I kept telling myself, "Stace, can reward yourself with new cloths when you are back in "your Size!"
to be continued....

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Where have I been???

Well, I know I've chose to NOT write in my blog for almost a year... but where I've been is a good question... Just at work,,, home, the gym and running the kids here and there!!! Same ol' same ol'!!!
Here's the family update!

Tenley greatly enjoyed Jayne's and I think Jayne fell in love with Tenley, "Miss T!" We are blessed to have her! Even though she won't take the boys this fall on Friday's we are still staying with her because that will be best for Tenley!
Jett... he is 9.5, just finished his 3rd grade year and is trying so hard to be a big boy but yet he is still such a little kid! He is taking better care of his "pets" the Salamander and now he has a beta fish! He hopes to show us enough responsibility to get chickens next spring! Daddy needs to get working on that coop! Jett also has braces top and bottom which is changing the look of his face so much! I can't believe how grown up he looks and yes, very handsome!
Oakley,(7) almost 8 in Oct, who is ready for 2nd grade is however, not interested in being a big boy yet. He likes being a kid and is in no hurry to grow up! He's stinking cute but as always for him, a bit naughty! Speaking of braces, he starts the whole process with spreading his top jaw in September! yeah,,, another bill!

Tenley is a 14 month old, walking, talking wild maniac monkey girl! That pretty much sums it up for her! Oh, did I mention she is stinking cute like her brothers!?

Cory has been busy with work. He just returned from an 18 day work get-away in NV. He hopes to get out one more time before summer is over to get some extra money in the savings!

And now to ME!!! I am not doing any of my regular hobbies,,, NO time to read, scrapbook or nap... NOPE! Instead I just WORKOUT!!! oh yeah! Insanely, usually 2 sometimes 3 times a day! I have been working very hard on getting myself in shape and back into my pre-Tenley cloths!!! I guess you could say I am there but not ready to stop! Even though it has been a lot of hard work and I know maintaining this size will be tough I am ready to see where I can go with this. So, I am about to dedicate this blog, starting tomorrow, to my Fitness goals! So, tune in tomorrow for the whole story!!!
ENJOY THIS BEAUTIFUL SUMMER LOVVEEEE!!!!