#6. Document what I eat for ONE week to the exact

So yup, I did it!

One entire week of documenting what I eat. I actually didn't mind it because it definitely helped my eating stay on track. (Seeing how I knew it had to be posted).

Here goes..


Day 1 - Thursday, October 31st

Breakfast:Vanilla protein pancake scramble
Snack #1: Pear+ JIF peanut butter (100-cal pack)
Lunch: Chicken salad - 4-oz chicken breast, mixed pepper and onion, 1T ground flax, 1T chia seeds, 1/2-cup of shaved brussels sprouts, 1/4 apple, 1T maple balsamic vinaigrette

Snack #2: 3/4 apple  (large apple)
Pre-workout: 1/2 pack of Glazed Cashews + 1/2 banana
Post-workout: 2-tomatoes (I had 15 but fell asleep and didn't eat them)


Day 2 - Friday, November 1st

Breakfast: 1.5-cups of green juice + 1/2 of a vanilla protein pancake with 1T of pure maple syrup
Snack #1: 2 adventure 'ish' cookies
Post-workout: the other half of Glazed Cashews

Pre-Bed Snack: 1/2-cup of peanut butter granola, 1 adventure cookies, 1 granola square, 7 strawberries (I ended up eating 4/7 of the berries)


Day 3 - Saturday, November 2nd

Breakfast: Green juice + 1 adventure cookie
Snack #1: almond butter + 10 almonds (5 not shown)
Late Lunch: Fruit salad + 10 baby tomatoes
Pre-Drinking Meal: Not shown: 2 granola squares

11 beer..

Day 4 - Sunday, November 3rd

Breakfast: Vanilla protein pancake scramble
Snack #1: 10 almonds
Supper: 1 homemade pesto turkey burger + mixed peppers + 1-cup of sauteed broccoli
Snack #2: 1T of almond butter (not shown)
Pre-Bed Snack: 1 granola square + 1 handful of peanut butter granola


Day 5 - Monday, November 4th

Breakfast: vanilla protein pancake with 1/2T of sunbutter
Snack #1: 4-oz chicken w, srirachi hot sauce + 1-cup of sauteed broccoli
Snack #2: 2T of peanut butter granola + 1 granola square + 1 small apple (very hungry morning)
Lunch: Not shown: ice berg lettuce, 4.5-oz pork loin, mixed peppers, 5 baby tomatoes, 5 strawberries, 1T of hemp hearts, 1T of chia seeds
Snack #3: Not shown: 15 almonds



Day 6 - Tuesday, Novmber 5th

Breakfast: vanilla protein pancake + 10 strawberries (they were a lot smaller than they look in the above)
Snack #1: 10 almonds .. which turned into another 10 .. then a 5 .. then another 5 (I could NOT get full today. I was constantly holding my stomach in hunger)
Snack #2: Not shown: 4-oz of pork + an apple with pumpkin butter
Lunch: Big salad (same as yesterday)
Snack #3: vanilla protein cake (made in the microwave at work)
Supper: 4-oz of pork loin
Pre-Bed Snack: 1 chicken breast

Day 7 - Wednesday, November 6th

Breakfast: 6 strawberries + a mango/plain greek yogurt/vanilla protein pancake smoothie

Snack #1: 1/4 of a banana and a lot of peanut butter

Lunch: Pork-loin salad with fig balsamic

*Note: I obviously plan on eating a lot more today :) Perhaps a small finish up with a WIAW post tomorrow? (not promising anything ;) )


The Weekly Conclusions

• some days I didn't eat much .. this is not not common for me .. I was off Friday through Sunday so with appointments, errands and just running around in general, I didn't find as much time as eat as I should have 
• I need to start packing more snacks in my car because I always get super hungry on the drive home from work
• Sunday was not filled with much food due to a killer hangover
• I finished off all of the treats I baked last week
• ugh, ate a smoothie this morning which I am not proud about. 1. the frozen mango definitely is not in my eating plan at the moment and 2. greek yogurt (dairy) is generally not in the mix either... but I had zero food to prep a breakfast (poor planning). I left everything in Pouch Cove and when I combined the ingredients for my morning pancake, I realized I didn't have any egg whites. Protein-filled breakfast = big fat fail (I only had a 1/3 of a scoop of vanilla powder, too)
• protein pancakes are the biggest staple in my diet. If it was healthy to have one per meal, I most certainly would!
• It seems as though the majority of my carbs are coming from my morning oats and my excessive fruit .. hmm..
• I really need to cut back on my fruit intake. Fruit (sugar sugar sugar) definitely isn't working with flattening this tummy
• I want to incorporate juicing into my Mondays-Fridays
• I love srirachi sauce on chicken but it is crazy high in sodium! Like 150mg (7% of your daily) per 5mL. That's like a third of a tablespoon. Whoa!
• Atleast 3-L of water was consumed each day (minus Sunday. Maybe 1 glass and 3 coffee - Bad.news.bears)
• 2 redbull were consumed on Monday/Tuesday evening (I was death at work and needed my wings)
• Atleast 1-XL Tim Horton's coffee was consumed each week days and a Starbucks Blond Roast on weekends/some week nights 
• I'm addicted to peanut butters and almond butters and all kinds of nut butters. Yum! 
• I feel thinner this week
• I feel really good this week
• I feel like I know how to make next week a better week just from re-reading the above

Over and out.

If you missed my morning post today, check it out at 'Try Something New' Tuesday


And remember, friends .. Your abs are in the kitchen!

 

Questions
1. Do you eat the same food daily?
2. What's your classic breakfast?

'Try Something New' Tuesday

Obviously the title is self-explanatory, hey?

I've decided from here on out I will buy/try a new food for a short post on Tuesdays (though this week it will be posted on a Wednesday).

I'm trying to continue clean-eating but my biggest fear is a deprivation binge.

If you read my blog, you probably know that I don't deprive myself of that much. Yes, I've cut out chips, chocolate, candy, and all that jazz but I'm still human, and I still do have that occasional treat. I.e. drinking followed by downtown this past Saturday night (11-beer, 1430-calories later ... quite the treat in my opinion) but in order to ensure I don't go over the top with a random sugar craving then binge, I've decided to start switching up my diet to keep things fun.

Try Something New #1

Organic Pumpkin Seed Butter

 

 

Well c'mon now, I absolutely love my nut butters so this will most definitely become another additive to my diet. I was extremely apprehensive about trying this due to the color (childish, right?) and had it sitting in my baking cupboard for a while. Karla said it was really good with crackers so I decided to go with an apple (which I generally pair nut butters up with).

Ugly?

Anyways, overall I loved the pumpkin seed butter and would highly recommend the spread for anyone who likes peanut butters, almond butters, sunbutters .. nut butters in general. It has a similar taste to almond butter with a hint of salt (thought there are 0mg of salt in the spread). You can find it at Dominion in the Natural Value section for $5.99.

Nutrition

Try Something New #2

Fig Balsamic Vinaigrette

I bought this when I was in Halifax last month (one of many) at Liquid Gold. I'm a huge fan of dates so I was super pumped to try the Fig flavour to spice up my salad. The Maple balsamic lasted about a week (please note that these are tiny bottles) so I'm slowly trying the rest of the balsamics. Not gonna lie, I'm so happy that I love my salads. New salad vinegars give me something to look forward to.

I absolutely love love loved the fig! It has that balsamic bitter taste but with a sweetness to it. I think this will remain on my weekly eats list until the bottle is empty. Holy yum ! This can be found at Liquid Gold in Halifax for $4.00/bottle. I bought it in a starter kit.

Shh..but there are talks of a Liquid Gold coming to St.John's.

So there it is. Two awesome eats for my Tuesday! Now, go try some nut butter and a new kind of balsamic. I promise it'll be worth your while!

*Note: I'm fully aware that the pictures I post here aren't of the greatest quality. It's generally a quick iPhone snap. However, I am looking into making a change to this soon :)


Questions
1. What's something new you've tried lately?
2. What are some foods I could add to my 'try something new'
3. Are you a fan of nut butters and balsamics?
4. What's your favourite salad dressing?

Wknd Baking - Almond Butter Granola, Granola Bar Cake Squares, My own version of an Adventure Cookie

 

Almond Butter Granola

 

Ingredients

1-cup of multi-grain oats
2 heaping spoonfuls of almond butter
2T of organic honey
1tsp of cinnamon
1tsp of vanilla extract












Directions

1. Combine almond butter/honey and microwave until fully melted
2. Add in cinnamon and vanilla extract
3. Stir in oats
4. After mixing, spread on a cookie sheet and bake for approximately 15-minutes
5. Voila

This recipe deserved a 'holy yum'!

 

*totally stole the recipe for peanut butter granola off of Peanut Butter Fingers (but I subbed in almond butter, obv)Click the link and check out her site. She's a new favourite of mine and she has some fantastic recipes on her site. 

 

 

Granola Bar Cake Squares

 

Ingredients
1-cup of multi-grain oats
4 mini packs of stevia
1tsp baking powder
1/2-cup of egg whites
1T of chia seeds
1T hemp hearts
1T ground flax
1T vanilla extract (cause I put this in everything)
1T cinnamon (and this..)
1-scoop of vanilla protein powder
1/2-cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1 heaping tsp of epicure pumpkin seasoning

*Note: you definitely don't have to use chia seeds, hemp hearts or ground flax. I use these ingredients for health benefits

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 350-degrees
2. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl
3. Mix all wet ingredients in a bowl
4. Mix both dry and wet ingredients and pour into a coconut oil greased pan
5. Bake for approximately 20-minutes
6. Cut, serve, enjoy!

 

 

Now to my favourite recipe from thee weekend.

 On Friday morning, I threw together my very own version of the Adventure Cookie.

This cookie turned out AMAZING! I actually loved the taste, consistency and just everything about it. I baked 13 and now have 0 left (in my defense .. I did give away a couple)

My version of the Adventure Cookie

 

 

 

Dry Ingredients

1-cup of raw pecans

1-cup of almond flour (you could sub in oat flour of coconut flour if you'd like)

1/3-cup of multigrain rolled oats

1/3-cup of pumpkin seeds

1T of chia seeds

1T of hemp hearts

1T of ground flax

1T of cinnamon

 

Wet Ingredients

1T of vanilla extract

1T of almond butter

1/4-cup + 1T of 100% pure maple syrup

 



 



Step 1 - roast a cup of pecans for approx. 5-minutes on 350-degrees

 

 

Step 2 - Mix all of dry ingredients & wet ingredients into separate bowls

 

 

Step 3 - Combine dry and wet ingredients and mix thoroughly

 

 

 

 

Step 4 - With slightly damp hands (this is super sticky), roll the mixture into 13 little balls and place on parchment paper

 

 

 

 

Step 5 - Let bake for 12-15-minutes on 350-degrees

 

 

 

 

Step 6 - Let these delicious cookies cool, then eat 1,2 ..

 

 

 

 

Hope you like the weekend recipes, guys!

 

Questions

1. Do you do any baking on your days off?
2. What's a good protein treat recipe you have to share?



Lots done & still so much fun!

Happy 'almost' Monday, guys!

Sorry I haven't written in a few days. I had a pretty busy weekend and was trying to make the most of my time off.

So last week, I gave you my November list of tasks to complete. I started on Thursday with number 6, 'Document what I eat for ONE week to the exact'. It's Sunday now and I've written EVERYTHING  down since Thursday. Go me, right? ha, not really, but ya .. I started to have some skin issues a few weeks back and I've been wanting to get down to the wire and figure out where my sensitivity lies. Bam! Found it .. The Combat Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Powder. Sad, hey? I actually frigging love that stuff. But O well ..

So Turnaround started on Friday but I made sure I started to take full advantage on Thursday night.

Thursday

First stop, Chapter's.

I eyed the book Monster a while back and have not been able to stop thinking about it. Allan Hall writes about an Austrian man who holds his daughter captive for 18-years in an underground cellar .. c--c-crazyyy!

Anyhow, ya, I'm twisted and love reading those types of books.

After Chapter's, I headed to the gym but was running on an empty stomach so I got a little snack at Starbucks.

Workout

I headed to GoodLife and pushed out a 1-mile walk and 2.5-mile run.

I've been loving skipping lately so in between sets of an arms and shoulders workout, I would do 100-skips. I totalled at 500-skips. O, and if you are going to 100 and you mess up, ya have to start again :)

new edition to the ladies room :)

'Half' Of my Groceries

After the gym, I headed to Costco to beat the weekend rush.

*Note: for a little exercise, try passing on the use of a cart. Try carrying your groceries. Yes, this can become annoying when everyone and their mother are asking if you'd like to use their cart, but overall, you break such a sweat and will finish with BURNING arms.

In the mix
Stevia (for baking, obv)
broccoli
baby tomatoes
strawberries
almond butter
egg whites
Paradox hiking shirt? Oops..

Shoot Prep

I was feeling pretty determined post-Costco so I headed for a Thursday evening glow (slowly getting a few tanning sessions in for my photo shoot) and then headed to Sports Check to pick up my short shorts that I will be wearing for the shoot. Whoa! Wake-up call. Lose.that.chubby.ass.like.now!

Then it was off to relax and start my book :) What a happy Thursday, hey?

Friday

Friday was the best day of my turnaround. I was up and on the go at 7-am. I had my first batch of baked goods in the oven by 7:30 and a big breakfast protein pancake cooking for Samantha (she had been in study mode since 6-am) by 8-am.

Breakfast

vanilla protein pancakes w. semi-sweetened chocolate chips
and unsweetened coconut

And some pure maple syrup that a very special
someone brought in for Karla and I

I skipped on chocolate chips and the shredded coconut but I definitely had a massive pancake.

And then made my first batch EVER of green juice (thanks, Lizzie)

And made a little extra for later..

After breakfast I read some blogs and whipped a batch of cookies for some weekend snacking. Primarily, I had planned on cooking Happy Trails Adventure Cookies  but I kinda went off track and did my own thing.

Ps. These cookies turned out Awesome! I had my sister and Doug do a little taste test. Hashtag approved.

After breakfast and baking, I had some errands/a bank appointment so off to town I went. At around 1, I met Doug at the gym and then we spent the afternoon running around crossing tasks off the list(s) (obv) and then I met up with my dad for some new sneakers (the man got a new pair of New Balance so he better start using that treadmill) :) Loves 'em!

Friday evening, everyone seemed to be having a low-key night so I decided to do my weekly prep a little early and get some more jogging in.

Sooo .. I ran a mile, jumped off and cut my peppers for the week,

Jumped back on, ran a mile, hopped back off and whipped up a batch of almond butter granola bars.

Jumped back on the treadmill, ran a mile and then hopped off again, and whipped up a batch of peanut butter granola.

And I'm sure you know what I did next..

4 for running 4 miles (and I ran 2.5 earlier at thee gym)

Yup, happy happy Fridays! 

My Friday night ended up being extremely low-key with a coffee, healthy treats and a book.

A little bit of everything

Saturday

I slept in until 10 on Saturday (was super exhausted) and felt it could be justified from the wind and rain outside. Shortly after getting up, I grabbed a protein cookie and headed to Starbucks to get my first coffee of the season in their Christmas edition coffee cups (I text Allan right away and he was planning on heading there also - it's the little things in life, hey?)

my hand is looking awfully manly, hey?

After my little coffee kick, I headed to the gym for a little workout.

I was supposed to meet Steven earlier in the morning but we I kinda might have slept through the alarm. Oops.

Lunch

After my short workout, I headed to Dominion to get some groceries for juicing. 

I made a delicious green juice, and then set off to meet Steven for a little catch-up at Second Cup (and brought him some green juice - which he seemed to enjoy)

I sat in Second Cup and demolished all of this (sad lunch)

Steven gave me lots of blogging tips and opened my eyes to a lot of things I plan to look into (secrets, secrets). We ranted on for a few hours and then it was home I went to get ready for a night downtown with the crowd.

I don't like being in pictures at all..

And now it's Sunday night and my body is aching from drinking and weekly workouts.

I hope everyone had an exceptional weekend! 

Good Night, Good Night! Mwah! :)

Questions

1. Does your eating fall off the charts on the weekend?

2. How productive were you this weekend?