Two Last Things to Go

Hey gang,

Today has been another productive day!

As soon as I got out of bed, I got to work on my breaky.

Pumpkin Oatbran

In the pot:

• 40 grams oatbran
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup UVAB
• 1/3 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/2 egg whites
• cinnamon
• nutmeg 
• cloves 

Toppings:

• 70 grams strawberries
• 1 T natural PB
• stevia
• cinnamon

After I ate this, I loaded up my books and drove to school to work on a project that's due tomorrow. My project took me way less time to finish than I thought it would. So at around 1:00 p.m. I left the library to get some lunch. I wasn't even hungry when I ate my lunch, but knew it had been 5 and a half hours since breakfast. 

I decided on Pita Pit, since it's so close to our home. This is their chicken breast pita with lots of veggies and honey mustard dressing. 

I was going to go to the gym soon after I ate my pita, but I fell asleep on the couch! Craziness. When I woke up I had to push myself off the couch and into my workout gear. I had a pretty good workout too! I love it when those are unexpected. 

I did 30 minutes on the stepper, 15 on the treadmill, and then I did some abs and stretched. 

Here are the stats:

Time - 58:35 minutes

Calorie burned - 555

Max heart rate - 187

Average heart rate - 162  

I came home and snacked on this. 

• 1/2 cup cottage cheese
• 100 grams of blueberry yogurt 

Dinner came quick. 

The same tomato shrimp dish I made a few weeks ago. 

I love the spinach in it. 

I know I'm gonna need something else tonight - I'm only at 1048 calories today... hmmm.....

A Great Day

Morning!

I hope everyone's yesterdays were fantastic. Mine sure was! J and I went to our big mall in town and shopped till our hearts content. We both walked away with some fantastic purchases. Before the mall, we went to the gym. It was an awesome workout. I wish J lived here! She pushes me so hard. We did 30 minutes of cardio, and just under an hour of an arm and ab workout. Faaaantastic.

When we got back from the workout we ate this AMAZING lunch.

This was my plate.

I made the smoothie that's in that bowl.

• 1 cup berries
• 1 cup water
• 1 scoop chocolate whey protein powder
• 1 T cocoa powder

(serves 2)

It was so good! I've been making all my smoothies in the food processor lately; it makes them so frothy! I might never go back to a blender. 

J made the salad. 

• lots of spinach
• red bell pepper
• mushroom
• tomato
• cucumber 
• leftover turkey sausages from last night
• balsamic dressing

It was just as good as the smoothie! Such a great lunch. 

We hit up the mall till around 6 pm. We were starving by the time we left! We went and picked up take out for dinner. 

J and I got the same thing - chicken teriyaki with sauce on the side, no rice, and extra veg. We picked D up a beef and chicken dish (similar looking to this one), and california rolls. 

Now, to this morning. 

(sorry the pick is so dark)

Pumpkin Oat Bran with "Baked" Apples

Pumpkin Oat Bran

• 30 grams oat bran (about 1/4 cup)
• 1 cup water
• 1/3 cup pumpkin
• 2 egg whites
• cinnamon
• nutmeg
• cloves

Baked Apples 

• 92 grams (half an) apple
• cinnamon

Place the ingredients in a bowl and microwave for about 40 seconds. 

It was so yummy. It fixed my grumbling tummy problems. 

I have two classes today. One is Intro to Lit, the other is Intro to Rhetoric. I love rhetoric! 

I'll chat with you all soon :)

Pumpkin Delight

Hi folks,

Sorry I've been gone so long. I've been entertaining our company. D's cousin is back! She's staying with us for a week now. Exciting stuff! Plus my camera died. So I couldn't take photos for a good portion of the day yesterday, so I decided to take the day off from my camera!

J (that's what we'll call D's cousin) and I had an awesome workout yesterday. I brought my study notes, since I have a test today. We both spent about 45-50 minutes on the elliptical. My incline got to 20(!) and my resistance got to 15(!). Then I ran for just under a mile on the treadmill, but by then, my legs were already so tired. Awesome, awesome, awesome workout. 

Here's my breaky this morning.

Pumpkin Oat Bran 

• 50 grams oat bran (1/3 cup)
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/3 cup pumpkin puree
• 2 egg whites
• packet of stevia
• cinnamon
• cloves
• nutmeg  
• 1 T natural PB

and... COFFEE - much needed on a Monday. 

I gotta start studying. Talk to you all sooner than later I'm hoping! 

Are Bigger things Really Better?

Ummmmm yessss....?

Let me tell you about the amazing bowl of oats I had this morning.

It was wginormous! Surprisingly it didn't make me feel overly full.

• 1/4 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup spelt flakes
• 2 tbsp oat bran
• 1/2 tsbp chia seeds
• 1 cup water
• 1/3 cup pumpkin puree
• 2 egg whites
• 1/4 banana
• cinnamon 
• cloves
• nutmeg 
• 1 tbsp natural PB

All the volumous (my computer is telling me this isn't a word, but I just need to use it. I once had a professor who told me "If you love using a word, that makes it a word."), ingredients like pumpkin, egg whites, and chia seeds made this bowl huge! 

So in conclusion, I've learned - when it comes to oatmeal at least - bigger is better. 

Chocolate for Breaky

Morning friends,

Wow! I had a great sleep.

But unfortunately my breakfast wasn't great.

• 1/3 cup oat bran
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/3 cup unsweetened chocolate almond milk
• palmful of goji berries
• 1/2 tbsp chia seeds
• 1/4 scoop vanilla whey powder
• cocoa
• cinnamon
• scoop of PB

It just didn't rock my socks off. I know there are better bowls of oat bran out there somewhere! 

The tea made of up for my mediocre breakfast. It's chocolate chai! Seriously delicious. 

Time to get to class. I'll see ya all soon. Have a great day. 

Question of the morning: What's your favorite tea?

It's the Weekend!

Good morning friends,

How was your week? Today is FRIDAY! YAY!

This morning started off with a creamy bowl of oat bran.

• 1/3 cup oat bran
• 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 banana
• 1/4 cup 1% cottage cheese
• 1 tbsp granola 
• sprinkling of coconut
• 1 tbsp almond butter

A super filling, tasty breakfast. 

I needed coffee this morning, so I made some! I only put a little almond milk in, and since the almond milk is sweet there is no need for more sweetener. 

For having the day off from school, I have tons to do! In a few hours I'm going to get my hair dyed back to blonde, or at least get some highlights throughout it (I can't stand the roots!). 

Then a friend and I are going to try out Bikram yoga. I've never tried hot yoga before. What I've hear is to drink tons of water throughout the day (something I already do), and not to eat two hours before you take the class. Something I'm so glad people told me! I usually eat an hour before I work out. Not today!

Right after that, D's grandma and cousin are coming to stay with us for the weekend. We're going out for dinner with them tonight. Should be a fun day! 

Hope you all have an excellent start to your weekends :)

Oat-Branerrrrrific

Good morning everyone!

I slept so well last night; I wasn't even up before my alarm, which is huge for me!

Last night's dinner didn't hold me over as I hoped. I was still starving about a half hour after I ate it.

• 4 cups mixed salad greens
• 1/3 cup black beans
• 1/3 cup corn
• 1/2 cup salsa
• 1 serving firm tofu 
• 1 grated carrot 
• 1/5 avocado 

It tasted great - another great mexican feast. It was just too small, or I was just TOO hungry. 

So I made D and I these babies. 

These are the fitnessista's recipe. I did have to change the recipe quite a bit because I didn't have all the ingredients. 

Here are the switches. 

• Instead of two cups of spelt flour, I used 1.5 cups of whole wheat.
• Instead of vegan chocolate chips, I used 80% dark chocolate. 
• Instead of molasses, I used honey.
• Instead of almond butter (too precious to use for cookies), I used natural peanut butter.. 

And they turned out great! D was swooning over them, while he was eating his ice cream (frozen yogurt) sandwich. 

This was my dessert. 

One cookie with one scoop of Champan's Chocolate Frozen Yogurt. It was ahhhhhhh-mazing :)

Now, let's fast forward to this morning. 

• 1/3 cup oat bran
• 2/3 cup water
• 1/3 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1/4 sliced banana
• 4 grams goji berries 
• 1 tbsp almond butter 
• cinnamon 

It was pretty darn tasty! After I'm finished writing this post, D and I are heading to the gym. I'm running 4 miles, and I'm not sure what he's planning. 

Have a fantastic morning everyone!