Measure your progress

Progress. It is a touchy subject. It is much needed, to stay motivated. But how do you measure it? By the scale? By measuring tape? Or do you throw it all out the window, and see how clothes fit. Or perhaps take pictures, and compare them side by side.

Actually, it all counts. For me, the scale is not so important for my fatpercentage and my looks. I can switch 8 pounds up in a few weeks, but my clothes will fit just the same. The measuring tape, it never lies. It tells me exactly that I did gain some inches here and there. And clothes don’t lie too, they either fit nice, or they don’t. Photo’s are great for when you don’t think there is much progress. How to use all this information

An example: You lost 4 lbs of fat, and gained 10lbs muscle. The scale will show you that you gained weight, a whopping 6lbs! The measuring tape will tell you that you didn’t loose an inch on your thighs, as you replaced the jiggly fat by firm muscle. The photo however will show you that your legs have leaned out, and that you added great definition and shape to them. It will show your butt has probably lifted, becoming more round, and when flexing you see your quads! Whoah!

Now, if you only would have weighed yourself, and had only looked at that for progress, you would have been disappointed. If you would have measured and weighed, you still would not have been happy, weight gain and no inches lost. But the photo’s tell a objective story, side by side.

Today, for my own training, I did pullups, squat snatches and deadlifts, and tried handstand pushups. All exercises in which I use my shoulders a fair bit. When I was done, I looked in the mirror sideways, and saw great shouders and arms! Couldn’t resist making a dorky selfie, just to be so proud of me. A year ago, I have jiggly arms. Look at them now. I am happy with that progress, even though I see that belly not being where I want it yet. It will come. Or not. But at least my arms look exactly how I want it.

Holiday musings…

Not much posted, these last months. There has not been much progress either, perhaps that is a connection? I have been struggling with my diet, these last months. Have switched to intermittent fasting, adding more carbs, reducing them again, went CrossFitting, ate more, ate less… I threw myself from one diet paradigm to another. Enough now. I am almost where I want to be. My shoulders and arms are great, no toning or building more muscle needed, nor is there fat left that needs to be gone. Belly and legs? Different story altogether, I am afraid, my friend.

So what’s next?
I viewed my crystal ball, lit some incense and sang a few incantations for a look in the future, and did not like what I saw. Restricting all week, eating according to a ‘plan’, binge eating on my Saturday cheat day until I was sick. The future was not so bright… I wanted to eat normal, like a normal person. If I wanted bread on a tuesday, should that be prohibited? All of my life? And that is where I stumbled upon a great concept. Revolutionary actually. Could it even be true? Let’s give it a try…

Moderation
There. I said it. The ugly word. The word I can not be trusted with.
Eating in moderation. Eating whatever I want, but in moderation. Eating a piece of bread if I want to. But not the whole bread because I can never have it anymore, so I should eat it ALL RIGHT NOW! Or drinking a glass of wine. Instead of the whole bottle, until I am sick, because wine are carbs, and they ar evil.
Taking a handful of M&M’s, savoring them one by one, instead of eating 25 handfuls by shoveling them in, polishing off the whole 400grams in the bag. All because it is my cheat day, and today is the only day I can eat them and I must make the most of it!!

See, that all or nothing mentality was and is not healthy. I need to shift that silly thinking. But I also need to learn that by unrestricting food, I need to learn when to stop. Not eat that whole bag of M&M’s, but be satisfied with just a hand. And not go back for seconds…

And that delicious photo on top? I came back on a sunday from a vacation in France. Nothing left in the house to eat. But I did have a can of tuna, a leftover green pepper and red onion in the cupboard, and we took tomatoes with us from France, as we didn’t want to throw them out. Hence, the tuna-tomato salad. And I finished it off with two glasses of delicious red wine.

Sunday Preppers

Sundays… ah. The good old days. Lying in your bed until noon, dazed from the alcohol you consumed last night. Breath you could kill someone with. Speaking of someone, who is that beside you? Oh. Yeah. Thát guy. Right. Slumpin’ from the bed to the coach, playing videogames, eating nothing çause your stomach is just as upset about your previous night out as your brains are. And then the inevitable crash-and-burn, as you get so hungry (while the hangover clears up) that you need FAT right now. Pizza it is.

Yes! Don’t we all have those sundays?

Fast forward to present. Mommy of three kids, wakes at 7.30 on a sunday, kisses hubby to let him sleep for a few hours more, heads down to fix breakfast and getting ready for the gym. And then after the gym is done, she gets home and starts the serious healthy life… *drumroll* … Mealprepping!

If you want to eat healthy, there has to be mealprepping. Or you will come home at tuesday evening, kids whining and you cannot think of any combination with that zucchinni, wrinkled bell pepper and chicken. Except for something smothered in butter, fast carbs and cheese. If you DID your mealprep on your lazy sunday, you would have heaps of tupperware containers in your fridge, with chicken, turkey, sauteed veggies, a veggie lasagne perhaps, some protein carrot cake for your sweet tooth and lots of cut up veggies and already fried proteins to warm up and enjoy. Yay!

Okay, so not always yay… ’cause the chicken gets rubbery four days after you grilled it. And the brussels sprouts ARE best when grilled fresh and still warm. That quiche smelled and looked better when it came out the oven two night before. But warmed up, it actually tastes quite nice. And easy. And above all, Healthy without much prep on that day. And that’s what it is all about: Making it easier to eat healthy will help you on moments your motivation is low in the day (after getting home from work, HUNGRY!)

So what can you prep on a sunday? Usually I grill a plate of veggies (sprouts, pumpkin, zucchini, mushrooms) and thats 4-5 portions of veggies for me. I cut up raw veggies to take with me to work, and buy cherry tomatoes and divide those in ready to grab containers. I make a big pot of oats and eggs (recipe below) for 5 workdays. And of course divide that in portions to go. So I grab that container each morning to go to work with me too! And than I fry up a few chicken filets in coconut or olive oil with herbs and garlic, or other protein like fish or bake a few mini quiches. And a big pot of veggie soup to fill me up before dinner is usually bubbling on the stove somewhere in between all the prepping. You can think of so many things. A no-pasta lasagne, with zucchinni or eggplant as the pasta sheets and ground turkey instead of the fatty beef. Or grill some lean beef, slice it, and save it for a yummy salad. Boil eggs to grab and go.

It is the secret to staying on track, or at least help yourself to make it easier to stay on track. All that hard work and food in the kitchen, you cannot waste that, so just eat it, instead of the pizza you craved half an hour ago. You know the saying: “Satisfying a craving you had for ONE HOUR vs having the body you wanted YOUR WHOLE LIFE; you choose”

Anyways, the recipe for my big batch of OATS. I eat these after my workout at 10.30, and at the moment it is the first thing I eat for the day. I workout at 9 am, and I want to do that at an empty stomach for some extra fatburning. After workout, some carbs are in place, hence the oats.

Put the first ingredients in a big pot and cook it for an hour on a low fire.
It will look and smell just lovely now, with the red fruits and the cinnamon, hmmmm!

Add the eggs. It will turn into a nasty purplish brown “stew”. Keep stirring very well with the fire low, as the eggwhites will solidify in lumps. The orange and white of the eggs with the red and purple fruits just turn to an undefined greyish, brownish, purply goo. It will taste like heaven though, not to worry.

When done, all egg whites seem solified and mixed through the oats, you can separate it in five portions and put it away. Now prepare 5 mini containers with half a scoop Vanilla whey each, and a few crushed almonds. When morning comes, grab a containers with oats, reheat it with an added splash of water in the microwave, and stir in the whey and almonds.

My collegues, without exception all came looking what caused that wonderful smell. Only to eyeball my oats and thinking that bowl of donkey sh*t could never be that source. But it was… Yummy yummy.

Macro breakdown: (whey and almonds included)
kcal: 301;
protein: 28.6 g;
carbs: 34.5 g;
fat 4.3 g

 

 

 

 

 

Fishy Veggie Cupcakes

Simple, quick and easy. I love me a recipe like that, and bonus points when being healthy! Here’s a good one…

Needed for 12 cakes:

4 whole eggs
2 egg whites
1/2 zucchinni (sliced very fine)
150 g smoked salmon
2 full spoons of red pesto
pine nuts

In cupcake liners, throw in some raw zucchinni and salmon, until half full. In large bowl, mix eggs, eggwhites and spoons of red pesto. Pour egg mix over filled cupcake liners, until the liners are 3/4 full. Sprinkle some pine nuts over each. Shove in oven at 150°C (300°F) and leave until golden brown. Usually 40-45 mins. And… we have protein snacks with veggies and good fats for grabbing in the fridge again.

Progress!

Haven’t heard from me in quite a while, eh? We-he-hell… that is because I have been working my ass off.
Every day, I go to the gym. Yes, you hear that right. Every. Day! Yes, sundays too. And saturdays. And all of those weekdays too. Even when PMS happens. Or headaches. Or muscle pains. I just go. Guess that is the magic…

Anyways, the hard work pays off. True, you can not out exercise a poor diet, so I kept that one on the Lean Eating course. And here is the result so far. Not bad at all!

Wanna see the difference with 6 months ago, when I thought I was doing okay? Can’t wait for the next 6 months to go by:

Really cool! What happened?? Well, As said, I follow the Lean Eating program. Which teaches me all kinds of not-new stuff, stuff I already knew… but… this time I not only know it, but consistently DO it. And that makes all the difference. With that program also comes a workout program, but meh… I find that not so cool. So I made one myself, and a few weeks ago met a personal trainer in my gym. He made me another program, incorporating supersets, giant sets and circuits, mixing it up with strenghth training and plyometrics. Together with my diet, it works! These pics were taken in the evening, but in the morning, the Lords-Of-Abs give me a sneak preview of real abs. Working hard to make these visible not only in the dehydrated morning, but also in the evening. I am not yet where I want to be, but at least it doesn’t look like I had three kids anymore.
And, as a bonus, a picture of one of my guns. 😉

Black Bean & Whey Brownies

I KNOW! That sounds gross, right? And you have tried a few black bean ones, and they were dry and lumpy and not rich and chocolaty at all. Well, fear not. Here they are. The black bean, no flour, no added sugar, and lots of protein brownies. And tasty. Did I mention tasty? They are…

I have made a few batches, and tried something different each time. Play around until you hammer down the one you like. Basics are as follows:
1 can of black beans (400g), rinsed
1 whole egg, 1 egg white
2 dates, pitted
2 scoops of chocolate whey
1 scoop of vanilla whey

optional:
2 tablespoons or cocoa nibs
2 tablespoons of chopped 85% chocolate
chopped pecans or other nuts
liquid to water down to desired thickness. I used water and unsweetened almond milk.

Prepare:
Put beans, egg, eggwhite and chopped dates in blender. Blend. Add whey. Blend. See if the batter is not too stiff. If soo, water down until it is a thick cupcake like batter.
Stir in cocoa nibs and chocolate. Pour in brownie pan or oven dish or whatever you use, put in preheated oven at 150°C (that is 300°F). Bake until set. The key here is not to overbake until you get dry as hell bricks! After 30 minutes, keep probing that cake with a fork, until it comes out clean.

This is GOOD! And it is even better when you eat this with natural peanutbutter smeared over the top. Try it, it is heavenly. Did you see by the way, how many proteins are in here?? Not only from the whey, but also from the beans! The sugar comes from the dates and the added flavour of the whey. No need to add honey, syrup or stevia, it is sweet enough. So, healthy brownies. Eat your heart out! in. euhm…

Quick and Dirty Lunch

Sometimes lunch just doesn’t seem to workout. I am doing the grocery shopping tonight, and we had an empty fridge. All the while I had some disgusting protein bars calling my name, as a quick lunch, and always the rice cakes with peanutbutter. But that would not really start my new week off right, would it? Nah… thought so! So I dug a bit deeper in the fridge. In the back, there were just a few Brussels Sprouts, leftover from my roasted veggies. And even further in the back was tilapia filet, almost degenerated to a Science Project (it was overdue for two days, is that really bad?).
Anyways… I stir-fried the sprouts, the fish, and roasted some pine nuts. 7 minutes later, there was my lunch. Now, doesn’t that look good? To me it does!

 

Roasted Veggies

When I was young, I hated Brussels Sprouts. Just hated them. When I was bigger, I still hated them. And then the kitchen fairies waved their little wands, and roasted some veggies for me overnight. After that, I am in love with all kinds of veggies. Don’t tell, but sometimes I even ‘have a bite’ of this yummyness when it is cooling. Previously, that only happened with cooling pies or cookie dough.

Roasting veggies is supereasy! I prep lots of my food for the week in the weekends, and usually a baking plate like this is also between all the foodies I cook.

Home Made Dark Chocolate Whey Protein Bars

Lifting weights and growing muscles requires the intake of enough protein to get that muscle synthesis going. Getting enough protein can sometimes be challenging, and that’s why there are many companies that make protein bars. Usually full of unpronouncable XYZ ingredients, sugar alcohols, cleverly disguised sugars and more. I would like a protein with lots of protein, not so lots of carbs and of course… a great taste! I made these today, and they turned out yummy-gooey-chocolaty. Check ’em out!

Making them is super easy!

• In 1/2 cup, mix together dry oats and almonds. I used more than half of that 1/2 cup with dry oats, and topped it off with almonds (30g oats, 20g almonds)
• Grind oats and almonds into meal
• Take 3 scoops of chocolate whey (it was exactly 1 cup) and mix with the oat-and-almond meal and add 1.5 teaspoons cacao
• Add water per tablespoon. I used 1/4 cup of water, until you get a sticky dough.
• Form 4 bars out of this dough, and melt your chocolate in the microwave (1min15 @900W).
• Cover the bars in chocolate by drizzling it over it with a teaspoon. Refridgerate until chocolate is set.

I also added a handful of dried cranberries to the dough, but it is not required. Be careful with the water, add it per spoonfull, so the dough does not get too wet. Wrap ’em in nonstick paper or tinfoil when the chocolate is set, and you are good to go!

Nutritional facts/bar: 197 kcal, 20 g protein, 10.6 g carbs, 8.7 g fat

Lean Eating – started today

Today was the first day of the program. I received my workout schedule, and I am establishing a new habit: Going to the gym every morning from monday to friday. I go right away after bringing the kids to school, shower there, and head to the office. The only thing I had to cross off today was introducing myself and getting the workout done.

Couldn’t help myself and wanted to see other habits ahead yet. Tomorrow we need to chug down fish oil (have been doing that for the past 8 weeks already), and a probiotic. Hmmm, I thought it was fishoil and multivitamin? I don’t like probiotics like Yakult or whatever, I don’t believe in it. But… I don’t want to start out by doing things “My way”, since I already proved that “My way” doesn’t work. Let’s try to take someone elses view on things, and just drink the damn yakult. They recommend to take double doses, no matter what the package describes. Right. Off to the store now, to buy this bacteria!

I did adjust the workout though. They want to start super easy, I guess for all people not used to working out. They tell us to do only 1 round of each exercise in week 1 and 2, doing two rounds in week 3 and 4, and doing 3 rounds in week 5 and 6 of this phase. I did 3 rounds right away. Some were easy, especially the bodyweight ones, but some with added weights got tough because they go for 15 reps per set. I usually go for 10 reps, and take a higher weight. Now… I took the same higher weights, but had to do more reps. Muscles crunched, but they liked it 😉