Recipe Share Day

I wanted to share some recipes today that I have come across this past week. 

This one is from my girlfriend (in picture) and new gym buddy Ashley aka the author of Kuffler Says - Finding the Me I Need to Know. Say "HI SMASH!"

Like I mentioned before, Ashley is on her own journey of weightloss and has looked to me her "Inspy" to help. I feel so blessed. She is also making me get to the gym at 8:15 tomorrow MORNING. Whoo!

This is Ashley's Chocolate Avocado Pudding, 
more commonly referred to as "Get in my Belly!"

1 ripe avocado1/4 cup cocoa powder1/4 cup honey/agave nectar - whatever1/4 cup almond milk (I used natural unsweetened, but do as you wish - But I bet coconut milk would be AMAZING)1 tsp vanilla extract

Blend it up Blend it up Blend it up! Throw it in the fridge for a few hours and serve with a  a dollop of greek yogurt, fresh berries, cinnamon, chopped nuts, coconut, etc etc etc...

Also came across this gem, Pineapple-Apple-Mint Juice. I am going to try it this weekend. I LOVE pineapple. and MINT. and APPLE.

1/3 of a pineapple
2 green apples
handful of mint (to taste)
VOILA!







Finally, some Chocolate Bliss Balls. I have been in love with dates since visiting Shields in California (outside of Palm Springs). In fact, I had my snowbird parents bring me home some this year. I have yet to try these, but I am sure they will be equally as delicious as my almond balls. MMMMMMM!

1 cup of cashews blended until smooth (I am going to use almonds, as I have an allergy)
2 tbsp of raw honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
8 dates (pitted and soaked for at least 4 hours)
2 tablespoons raw cacao powder
1 cup of shredded coconut for coating


Place all the ingredients except for the coconut in a mixer and blend until smooth. With your hands roll the mixture into small balls. Then pour the shredded coconut onto a chopping board and roll the balls in it to top. Place the balls on a plate and refrigerate until hard.


Tomorrow is weigh in day! Eeeeeek. Sorry I haven't kept you posted on my Friday weigh ins. You are in for a big surprise! I hope. :)

Plateauing and Starvation Mode

Wow! I have not blogged for almost two weeks. I'm sorry friends.

For the past four weeks I weighed in at 141.2, 141.0 and 141.2 and 141.2 respectively. Not a lot happening in the "world of weightloss" and it is very frustrating. I have not had wheat 3 weeks now, but it has not effected my weight. My stomach is a lot tighter now, but the weight is still plateauing. 

Moving forward this week, I have made some changes that will hopefully help me break the 140s.

Strategy One: I'm going to start doing drop sets. Once I have finished doing an exercise to exhaustion, I will drop the weight by 80% and do another set.

Strategy Two: Focus on the negative strength aka lowering the weight. I need to lower the weights slowly and concentrate on the negative contraction.

Strategy Three: Use active rest. I will try to do burpees, mountain climbers, medicine ball jump squats, russian twists etc. in between each weight exercise.

Strategy Four: Modify my exercises. I am always increasing the weights/rep for progressive overload, however I could do more modifications. Squat on a bosu ball, use an exercise ball for my chest presses, or use a bar on shoulder when doing lunges. Simple changes, but the same "staple" exercises. Thankfully, my book "The Women's Health Big Book of Exercises" has about 5 different modifications for each main exercise. Very handy!

Finally, Strategy Five: Re-evaluate my calorie intake. Using the Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) calculator on bodybuilding.com, I found out that my body burns 1441 calories per day when at rest. I also calculated that the recommended daily intake of calories for my body needs between 2100 and 2400. This is to stay as is - with no weight loss. 

A person should decrease their caloric intake by 500/day in order to lose 1lb per week. This is not always the case, but 3500 calorie deficit = 1 pound lost. If I were to reduce my recommended intake by 500, I would be sitting between 1600-1900 calories a day. I take in around 1200 per day. I could very well be in starvation mode.

After consulting a friend (PTNB is in Saskatoon still), we decided I needed to up my caloric intake each day. Especially if I am burning around 300 calories each workout with cardio/weights. I started using the MyFitnessPal App to record my meals and make sure I am eating around 1600 calories a day. I am still eating healthy, just eating more. I guess we will see in the next few weeks if I can break the plateau.

Any ideas/help will be great!

xo

K

End of Month Three

This will be a super short blog to share my June month end. I am quite pleased. I created my own workout plan and followed through. I missed the sprint cardio once because I ran 4km instead. But everything else was followed to a T and I made sure to increase my weights as I went. PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD! I have yet to create my July workout plan (oops) but I am thinking I will keep it similar to June. I will change up the back exercises (I want to add rowing, as I changed the rowing I was going to do to the back extension machine instead, and it sucked) and add more push-ups and lunges. Maybe a Wednesday Challenge again. I will see.

Anyways, here is the low down. I lost the following this month: 1lb in weight, 0.5" on waist, 1" on bust, 0.5" on hips, and 0.25" on each bicep. I'm still slimming down and I couldn't be happier.

I also want to show you overall since I've started. I compared today with only 3 months ago and I'm blown away. 5.5" on my waist. GONE. 7.4lbs GONE. 2" on bust. GONE (sniff sniff). 1.5" on hips. GONE. Not to mention almost 4" off my thighs! BOOM! I am so proud of myself. And like I said before - I just feel so sexy and that's the most important thing. 

My goals for the month of July are the following:

1. try more healthy recipes and share with my followers
2. stay off wheat/gluten as best I can
3. drink more green juice
4. get UNDER 140lbs - even if it is 139.9lbs
5. do 60 girl push-ups in a row without stopping (need a goal that is achievable!!)
6. go to the gym in the mornings

All totally do-able! And if you are reading this send me a comment! Just so I know you are reading! That I am not just doing this blog for me (although that is ok too). Ask me questions! Tell me stories! Share exercises and recipes.

xo

K