Stay Focused.

Hey guys! Alright, so typically I try to focus on me, myself and I when it comes to my training. I don’t think about what anyone else is doing, saying or thinking. Its a waste of time to put in the effort to care about that kind of stuff. But these past couple weeks my competitive side has gotten the best of me and I started to push my body wayyyyyy too hard. I started to get stupid minor injuries that weren’t necessary and only making me frustrated. Finally after clearing my head and talking with my trainer I have gotten back into my focused mindset and am ready to dominate these next 4 weeks before my competition!

There are two videos, because I’m not tech savvy annnnnd for some reason my computer doesn’t have iMovie so I couldn’t merge them. Oh wellll anyway, enjoy!! Comments and questions are ALWAYS welcome. Stay strong guys!

Tomorrows the Day!

       I know I haven’t posted in a while, and thats mostly due to the fact that I never really felt up to writing. That’s usually what happens when I have a blog. I tend to be a bit MIA for a little, but no worries I’m back!! And tomorrow is the day! Tomorrow is going to be my very first Strongwoman competition!

I truly can’t believe how fast this came! I also keep forgetting!! Which sounds really bad and laughable, because you’d think I’d be jumping up and down in excitement in anticipation and not being able to think about anything else!

But for some reason, I’m rather calm. Yes nervous, very very nervous. But still I’m calm. And that’s just me. When it comes to competitions I get more nervous than I do excited. Mostly because I’m not the best competitor. I psych myself out, I go blank, I get queasy, I over think. At least thats how I’d always get at most of my track meets.

But tomorrow I’m going to change that. Tomorrow I’m going to treat it not like a competition against a bunch of other people.  Instead I’m going to treat it as a celebration! A day where 4 months of working my ass off almost everyday, pushing my body to the limits, changing my life completely, putting my wants and needs before others will be celebrated.

I know what I have accomplished. I know what I can do now. And I don’t need to prove anything to anyone. Of course I’m still going to bust my butt tomorrow and shoot for the moon. I’m an athlete and I want to win, who doesn’t? But even if I end up in dead last, it won’t take away from how much stronger I am inside and out. I’ll still be a strongwoman.

A special thanks to my friends and family who have been there with me and who will be there with me tomorrow!! Your support and encouragement mean everything to me! And a thanks to my trainer Rob Marino and Jenn Finucane! Rob has taught me everything about this sport along with building my strength in the weight room! And Jenn has been there supporting me every step of the way if I ever needed anything! You both have helped me more than you will know! Giving me more confidence, strength, and will power. If anyone ever has any interest in  needing a trainer, I will always HIGHLY recommend these two! They will kick your butt into shape!

Welp I have to continue with prepping my food and preparing for tomorrow!! I will post soon to let you guys know my outcome!!

Forget the Past, Live in the Moment.

Good morning!

Last night I hit a pretty big realization which just motivated me to the max. What I most realized was that I had probably one of the best cardio work outs on my own that I’ve had in a loooooong time. And that was mostly due to the fact that my other cardio day this past week was complete crap. I made excuses after excuse that day, “my legs were tired from my leg day Monday”, “It’s snowing really bad out and I shouldn’t stay long”, “Well I did this many sprints, sooo that should do the trick”. GRRR just thinking about it makes me so mad!

I’m not one to not put my whole effort into things anymore. That was the old me, and it made me so mad that I let the old me slip in and make excuse after excuse to make myself feel better about the situation. The main reason why I’m frustrated is because my trainer gave me a goal weight to hit by February 14, which I know I can do! But if I continue to have crappy cardio days like that, then someone might as well hand me a donut because it just won’t happen…(I have donuts on the brain because tonight is my card night 🙂 !)

But thats why last night I knew that I needed to forget about Tuesday, I can’t change what happened, and hey I slipped up it happens. BUT NO MORE! I woke up yesterday on a mission, a mission to kick my own butt harder than I’v ever before!

I focused on my eating, went to work, then on my way from work I was off to the gym. I snacked on some sunflower seeds to get a little energy kick. Mind you, my drive from work to my gym is about 35-40 mins depending on traffic, and usually I can time my eating before workout out right. But anyway, I put my motivation cap on, put my handy dandy Polar Watch on so I could keep track of calories, and off I went!

I first attacked the rowing machine because treadmills were all taken, (I do HIIT [High intensity interval training] on all the machines I use). Then I ran over to a treadmill, when I saw it was freed up! SCORE! Now we can get this party started with some sprints! Whelp, as soon as I started going, I got a major you didn’t digest those stupid sunflower seeds you just ate cramp! I tried to keep sprinting through it, but it was useless. Beyond frustrated I knew I had to switch gears. This was NOT going to stop me, NO excuses here!

I decided to kick my butt in other ways…I did HIIT on the stationary bike and battle ropes. Did some ab work then light arm work. Then went back over and did more battle ropes and decided to finish with some HIIT on the stair master (which by the way, as much as I love that burning feeling, the stair master is the devil).

After an hour and a half I believe I was successful and it felt great! I got in a nice stretch afterwards, went home, had some isopure, ate dinner, and was lights out at 10:00.

Basically, we just have to remember that you can’t change the past, so why dwell on it?? Why waste all that time when you can enjoy the present moment? We never know how many present moments we are going to have (morbid, I know) so make them meaningful!

Oh by the way, I’m off from work today so……I’ll be back. 😉

Fats, a Carb Nighter’s Best Friend.

Goooood day good day!

All morning before my workout, I’ve been doing a little cooking and catching up on some How I Met Your Mother. I figured I’d start waking my brain up a little and do a little post about how I have really started to acclimate to carb night. Annnnd if any of you follow my instagram you saw that I made egg bacon muffins with some deliciousness inside, which I shall be sharing with what exactly that is here!

Lets see, it has been almost 2 months now that I have been venturing on this carb night diet. I have made noticeable progress in my muscle mass and weight loss. The scale might say that I have made minimal progress with only losing about 9 lbs, but thats because I am also gaining lean muscle mass! I recently checked my BMI and Body Fat and that has been decreasing!! I am proud to say that I am not longer in the Obese category yay! I also started to measure myself and take more progress pictures and those have reallllly showed me how far I’ve come! So guys don’t always trust the scale! I REPEAT don’t always trust the scale!!

Annnnyway, I am now understanding the way ketosis works and understanding what my body needs if this way of eating is really going to work and keep me fueled. I have noticed a HUGE difference in how I used to eat when starting this diet to what I consume now. I started off with thinking “oh ok so low carb aka no grains…meaning meats, cheeses, and fats” aka I ate bacon, cheeses, eggs, chicken, cheeses, red meat, cheese, ground turkey…and did I mention cheese?? Then after just feeling tired most of the time and lethargic, I was constantly asking my trainer questions about the diet almost every day! But he was very knowledgeable abut carb night, because he used to do it, and I wanted to make sure I was doing it right!

So here I am, yes it took me over a month to finally get it but hey at least I got it! I know, not only focus on my carbs but also on the fats I eat and the amount of fats! I no longer eat a boat of cheeses during the day to get my fat contents, instead I eat and cook with oils (extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, saffron oil), I snack on seeds and nuts, and I have a half to a full avocado every day! I even eat a little chunk of coconut oil before my workout and throw a little chunk into my morning green tea. I may add some cheese in my omelet or meals every now and then, but the majority of my of fats are coming from healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats! And let me tell you what a difference it has made! I feel energized, and I don’t feel like I could have a heart attack at any minute with all the saturated fatty cheeses and meats I was eating. SO TIP for eating carb night…keep track of those fats!! They are a carb nights BEST FRIEND!

Nooooooow recipe time! Yay!

Turkey Bacon Egg Muffins

1 muffin=10g fat and 1CARB THATS RIGHT 1 CARB!

Serving size: 6 muffins

Ingredients:

-6 stripes of turkey bacon

-a half a habanero pepper

-6 eggs

-1/2 cup of baby spinach

-4 breakfast turkey sausage links

-about a 3/4 cup of parmesan cheese

-Start by buttering your muffin tin and setting your oven to 350.

-Then take your sausage links and slice to casing in half and take the meat out of the casing so you can have ground breakfast sausage. Heat up and brown the turkey in sausage in a pan.

-Next crack your eggs into a bowl and add in the diced habanero pepper, chopped spinach, salt and pepper, cayenne pepper (I like my food spicy), some crushed red pepper, and some of the parmesan cheese (as much or as little as you want).

-Wrapped your turkey bacon around the muffin tip

-Pour your ground turkey into the bowl with your eggs.

-Then pour your mixture into the muffin tin and top it with a little more parmesan cheese

-Then pop in the oven for about 15 or so mins and BAM!

Turkey Bacon Egg Muffins!

I added some sriracha sauce at the end 😉

Peanut Butter Cup Lovin’

 

Now if your life me then you are a peanut butter cup loveeerrrrrrrr.

If there is one thing that is constantly a battle with my new way of eating, its my persistent sweet tooth! But I try to trick it with sweet things that have a healthy low carb twist to them. Today while I had a lot of time to get things done at home I decided try and make some peanut butter cups!

And let me tell you! They turned out to be pretttttty good if I do say so myself 😉

They are of course VERY easy to make with only 3…count them 3! ingredients.

Ingredients:

-PB2

-Dark Chocolate (I used 90 % Cacoa by Lindt chocolate–has less carbs)

-almond milk

Heres the recipe

Serving size is for 6 larger peanut butter cups in a muffin tins

-Butter your muffin tin

-Take half of your chocolate bar (should be about 4-5 squares) and put in a small pot with some almond milk. Stir while chocolate melts and add more almond milk if needed so that chocolate is liquified.

-Pour chocolate into in the bottom of each muffin tin filling a quarter of the way.

-Pop the tin in the freezer until chocolate is hard

-After chocolate is hard take your PB2 and scoop our 6 tablespoons into a bowl.

-Add in some water and almond milk till its smooth and liquified. Then pour on top of the chocolate and pop it back into the freezer for another 10-15 mins

-Take the rest of your chocolate and melt it the same way you melted the first half. Then take the tin out of the freezer, pour the rest of the chocolate on top of your cups, and pop them back into the freezer for about 30 mins.

-When cups are hard take a knife and pop the cups out of the tin, throw them into a baggie and store them into the freezer!

Love Yourself.

Hello Hello!

Last week and these past couple days have been a huge realization to me of how much I have grown. More specially, how much I have grown to love myself. I’m not saying I ever hated who I was, but I was definitely one of those girls in high school who would be in awe of other people and wish I had something they had. Whether it be their hair, their body, their humor, their ability to talk to a guy and charm them immediately. You get the point.

I did A LOT of growing through high school and mostly through college. In college where there are no groups, cliques, or identities, you are your own little person in a new world. Some people will say college is a place where you can redefine yourself and start over. I didn’t want to start over. I just wanted to (as cliche as this is) find myself. When I say that, what I mean is, I wanted to be able to be as comfortable around everyone I meet, as I am when I’m around my friends, and not be a shy quiet girl anymore.

I don’t think it was until my sophomore year of college when I started to not care. I didn’t care what people thought about me, and my shyness shell slowly started to crack. I basically found this new thing called confidence. I was like that little raptor dinosaur in Jurassic Park that Sam Neil watched break out of its shell all on its own.

Now I can’t say I did this all on my own. At that time I was starting to endure on something that would ultimately change who I was from then on. Nothing huge (for most people) , just my very first actual long term relationship. Going into sophomore year my and me boyfriend had been dating for about 7 months at that point. In my “About Me” section, I had only explained a small part of my break up, and for you to understand my whole story, I feel its necessary for you to hear my beginning…(Also because its snowing so I have A LOT of time tonight…LUCK YOU! 😉 )

My relationship with my boyfriend was a HUGE roller coaster ride. Of course it started off steady and it was the “getting to know you” period. Meeting each others families and take everything at a nice slow pace. Because I was shy I really didn’t let him see who I truly was till about a year and a half into dating. And he was very patient and kind about that.  He grew to become my best friend. We loved the same movies, listen to pretty much the same music, loved the same sport, lived 15 mins away from each other (which was weird since we met at school in New Hampshire 2 1/2 hours from home). We had the same humor and even grew comfortable enough to fart around each other. I have honestly never felt THAT comfortable around someone, where you could share a silence and it never be uncomfortable.

He opened me up and let me feel  every emotion…loved, happy, and beautiful…But of course when I say every emotion..I mean EVEY emotion. I also felt pain, anger, and disgust. As perfect and amazing as our connection was, our relationship was farrrrr from perfect. I was a victim to being in a relationship where there was no trust. Now as for how he caused the pain and hurt I am going to keep to myself (but don’t worry it wasn’t psychical abuse, he would never hurt a fly). But I had become one of those girls who didn’t get out of a relationship because they “didn’t want to be alone” or because “the connection was there and they belonged together” and “afraid they aren’t going to find anyone else”! I used to think those girls were crazy and why would they stay in a relationship where they weren’t happy, didn’t trust their boyfriend, and crying more than smiling!?! And now I know.

It had gotten to the point of where even the littlest thing would set me off, because I just couldn’t let go of all of what he had done to me through our time of dating. It was like every time we would have a fight it would get worse and worse like a snowball affect. I drove myself crazy, and when the trust isn’t there, thats what happens. Once one thing happens where the trust flies out the window, theres no getting it back. And as much as I tried to not accept it, it was true. I held on to that relationship for four years…four years, of being a weak girl who was in this spell of wanting something so badly to work out, that she would keep torturing herself by accepting and forgiving the pain that he caused her. Then try and move on and keep going with the relationship.But it inevtiable that this HAD to stop. This relationship had become far from healthy.

And so last December thats exactly what happened. After starting our weight loss journey together, he broke up with me. After hearing that he didn’t love me and maybe after four years never did, I can tell you right now I have never felt anything like what I felt that day…Orrr for the next 5 months that would follow for that matter. And by no means do I EVER want to feel that way again. But I’ll admit, as much as I cared for him for those past 4 years the only time I felt like I really loved him was maybe for a little less than a year. It wasn’t real love, and I know that. How could you when it’s that same person who broke your heart over and over again??

Now I shall try and wrap this up, because this is getting sappy and sympathetic and the last thing I am looking for is sympathy! A little over a year later I am here, still growing, but truly happy, healthy, and single. Last year, if you told me that I’d be where I am not doing what I’m doing (which most of the people who I’m close with did tell me at that point) I’d never believe it! But honestly, when your at your toughest times you CAN overcome all! I honestly didn’t think I’d ever recover after my breakup (as stupid and girly as that sounds). I was severely depressed and HATED myself. I thought I was the ugliest person who no one would EVER want to date. I mean sitting in the Khols fitting room crying while out shopping with my mom. Not being able to listen to a love song or watch a romance movie without sobbing through the whole thing. But with the encouragement and help from my family, close friends, and a little voice inside of me, I am who I am today. And after crying so much, that I’m pretty sure my tear ducts are now dry… I knew that I NEEDED to move on.

I will be posting other posts of how I did that part exactly, but lifting was definitely a large part of that. And all I’m saying is that right now I’m proud of myself and truly LOVE myself. I love the path I’m on and the focus I have gained. I love being single and letting myself accomplish so many goals and continuing to accomplish more. I’m learning who I am and what I can do. I am so much stronger inside and out and know that I will NEVER EVER EVER allow a guy to treat me like that. Do I regret my relationship? Never. It let me grow to become stronger, and let me know what it is that I want and don’t want within a relationship. I take every experience I go through and now make a decision that is best for me, because after all, this is MY life..and I’m going to fearlessly live it how I want to. I am now confident in myself, more so than before. I’m no longer meek and unsure. The best thing you can do is to love yourself, before you allow someone else to do you. Because riddle me this…How can you even truly love someone else or let them love you, if you don’t love you?? Be confident in who you are and know that you are smart, beautiful, and Independent person who can and will conquer all! p>

Welp, I need to give my fingers a rest. And will be back with some recipes later! 🙂

And So it Begins!

Yesterday I had my first training session with Strongman equipment! At first sight it is definitely intimating. I mean going from a regular 45 lb barbell to a thick 65lb bar with a barrel in your face, your bound to be a little intimidated. But after my trainer went over the motions of how to do each step, I slow yet surly became more and more conformable with it.

I’m about to get all metaphorical on you guys right now, but I definitely see that training session as a step to getting out of my comfort zone not only in training sessions, but in life too. Going from seeing something that intimidates you and that your not comfortable with, to take baby steps and realizing that not only can you do this, but that you really enjoy it (which is a good thing too since it’s only just the beginning 😉 )! Why stay in a box of comfort your whole life, when there is SOOOOOO much more out there. And maybe even things that you could potentially love, but will NEVER know until you break that box and take a leap.

This is what I see my whole journey as. Yes I have been lifting since age 14, so what I’m doing may seen relevant to the thing that I am training to do. But, so far for me, it’s been a completely different lifting world than what I’m used to. This challenges me and pushes me mentally and physically every single day. Learning new things can be scary, but it can also be exhilarating, which is how my journey has been so far. Trying new things and pushing yourself is definitely something that I highly suggest everyone do, even maybe just once a week!

Anywayyyyyyy I have a video! Of me training with the log press yesterday (and my workout outfit just so happen to coordinate with the log press and weight colors 😀 )

Check it out on my youtube or my instagram page (this will hopefully be the first of many)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀Keeley Moffitt (@kekebball7)

Today I end with another easy low carb (practically carb free) meal! And progress pics!

Who needs a carby flour tortilla when you can have this colorful fiesta in your mouth!! Just some….

-ground beef with some taco seasoning (from a packet, use as much or as little as you want just check the nutrition facts on the bad so see what the carbs are)

-Half an avocado

-Monterey jack cheese

-Lime juice

-A little bit of habanero pepper (Side note, use real hot peppers instead of hot sauce. Don’t get me wrong I LOVE my Franks Red Hot, but it tastes fresher with real peppers!)

-And lastly some cilantro.

And now for some progress pics! 

DON’T FORGET TO DRINK YOUR H20!

Preparation is Key!

Goooooood Morning!

  Today we shall focus on being prepared when it comes to dinning out options.

First, twice this week I will be having dinner out… aka not prepared by yours truly…aka menus filled with the overwhelming amount of carbs! But no need to fear, there are ways to go about this without feeling the dread of the possibilities of those sneaky carbs getting into your “clean” meal!

Numero Uno! Find out where you will be dining. This way you can look up the restaurant and know what kind of cuisine they serve. Along with checking out their menu to see what options you have to pick from. Tonight I will be going to a pub type place, which I’m a huge fan of because pubs tend to always have a variety of options of their menu. You can get a burger and hold the bun and add your own carb free/ low carb toppings, with a vegetable side (tell waiter/waitress NO FRIES pretty please and get a substitute, that way they aren’t just sitting there staring at you and tempting you). Or if you want fries and only want like 2, to try them, then have two and IMMEDIATELY throw something gross on them so you won’t eat anymore!

Numero Dos! WATCH OUT FOR THE “LOW CARB” MENU OPTIONS! It may say low carb, but if you doing carb night and have a VERY limited amount of carbs you can eat during the day, then look closely, because in reality its not carb night low carb. Just because they remove the bun and add a lettuce leaf instead, doesn’t immediately make it low carb. You gotta watch out for those onions, tomatoes, and other carb loaded toppings! Restaurants are usually good about adjusting the meal to fit your needs, so don’t be afraid to ask if you can eliminate and add things.

Number Tres! Get a gooooood workout in! Today I have a cardio workout, and not that I’m a slacker when it comes to doing workouts when I don’t go out to eat, but I like to just kick it up a notch. I always go hard at the gym no matter what day it is, but if I know I am going to go out to eat and if there is a chance that sneaky carbs get in, then I go bigger and harder during my workout. Adding extra sets, extra minutes, extra sweat.

And last but not least, if you know your going to be going out to eat, and it’s not impromptu, then plan your day. Plan out what your going to be eating through the whole day, so that you know when dinner comes you have extra carbs to use at dinner …just in case. And if it is impromptu, and you have smart phone, and you  have the myfitnesspal app, then while your looking at the menu take your time by checking eat ingredient in the meal your interested in to make sure it fits your diet! And if you don’t have the myfitnesspal app THEN GET IT!!! IT’S A LIFE SAVER!

Basically when going out to eat, check out the menu and find something you would like that follows your diet plan before your get there, don’t be fooled by the “low carb” menu option, get a good workout in prior to, and lastly plan out your day! All simple things!

Now I wanted to put up a quick recipe!

Dark Chocolate Black Raspberry Sneed Bars

These high fiber and low carb gluten free bars are great for keeping in your fridge, and grabbing to go when in your in a hurry! I have been eating them before workouts to get some of the carbs that I need to get fueled. And because some of the carbed ingredients contain fiber as well, that cancels out the carbs and makes it low carb! It’s like magic! And the best part is, it only takes like 5 mins to make!! LOVE IT.

 This recipe should make 12 muffins (or in my case because I couldn’t find my muffin tin, I made 12 bars)

-100g. almonds

-50g. sunflower seeds

-50g. sesame seeds

-50g. flax seeds

-50g. pumpkin seeds

-1 handful of blackberries

-50g. of dark chocolate (yuuum)

-1tsp sea salt

-1/4 cup of oil (olive or sunflower)

-3 eggs

preheat oven to 390 degrees F. Chop the almonds and dark chocolate coarsely. Mix together almonds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds, blackberries, chocolate, and salt. Add in the oil and then the eggs and mix well. Pour mixture into nonstick muffin tins (or baking dish) and bake in the oven for about 15 mins. Allow to cool and store in the fridge in an airtight container.

Truly a Break-Fast

Goooood day!

      Ok this post will be quick, I say that now but of course paragraphs later and I’m still going ;-).

        This morning I was definitely feeling extra tired from this past weekend. It was one of my best friends birthday and we went out Friday night and so yesterday I was beyond tired and very thrown off of my regular routine. Which hey, it’s not always gonna be perfect, just means I have to suffer the consequences and get back on track. But it was definitely worth it, we had a blast!

Were crazy, but we don’t care.

       Anyway after working late last night and having to get up early this morning, I was slow to get out of bed and tired of eggs! But I definitely needed to eat something. So after a quick brainstorm I decided to throw together a smoothie. Of course when your going low carb a smoothie is a difficult task because most fruits are high in carbs. BUT I recently found out that blackberries are free game! And luckily I had some left over after making this blackberry dark chocolate sneed (nuts and seeds) bar (I’ll be most definitely sharing the recipe on that on in another post).

   I did a nice simple smoothie full of protein and nutrients.–> About a cup of blackberries, a cup of baby spinach (you can’t even taste the spinach I swear!), some ice, some almond milk, a scoop and a half of isopure strawberry and cream zero carb protein powder (you can use any protein power of course), hemp seeds, and chia seeds! –>For a little tip next time I’m going to freeze the blackberries instead of using ice so you don’t have tiny ice bit and so it’s doesn’t get watery.

About a cup of baby spinach

Some blackberries

A scoop and a half of protein

And BAM! Smoothielicious with chia seeds on top!

Basically what I wanna get at is to not skip any meals with the excuse of “I didn’t have enough time”. When I was in high school I would rarely eat breakfast, and if I did 9 times out of 10 it was some sort of granola bar. No bueno. You can make breakfast in seconds if you just take a second and use what you have and whip something up. And even though we all have in are heads what the typical breakfast food is, breakfast can consist of anything you want to eat! Don’t get stuck in the mindset that you have to have eggs and bacon! Have a burrito! Have some grilled chicken and spinach. Just make sure to eat something! Put fuel in your body to start your day off right. Ever since starting my carb night diet I haven’t skipped breakfast once. I make it a point to have something even if its going to make me late to work. Theres no way I am going to stat my day off with an empty stomach, not allowing my metabolism to get roaring, and feel tired and sluggish. Plus with the amount of calories I burn each workout, I need to stay energized with food and need my body to burn something while I workout!

In spite of what I said I do tend to make eggs…alot. Its just a really easy fast breakfast, and I make them in different ways to keep it interesting. But after having my smoothie this morning, it inspired me to take the next step and check out other fruits that are on the lower carb side and experiment with some smoothie options!

But all in all, EAT! Nothing makes me more frustrated when people think that skipping meals or not eating breakfast is going to help them loose weight. WRONG! But that will be in another post…And I promised to keep this short. So until then! Happy eating! 🙂