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 😉

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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!

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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)

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

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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! image-76 image-75 image-74 image-70 image-69 image-68 image-62

DON'T FORGET TO DRINK YOUR H20!

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.

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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.

Were crazy, but we don’t care.

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       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

About a cup of baby spinach

Some blackberries

Some blackberries

A scoop and a half of protein

A scoop and a half of protein

And BAM! Smoothielicious with chia seeds on top!

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! 🙂

It Ain’t easy bein’ Peasy

c7eda4083f15e79793a85d958988ee9eEllo ello!

          Recently my mom has gotten into baking things…things  like brownies, cookies, and bread. Aka everything I CAN’T eat. And I know some people are probably like, this is why diets are stupid, just enjoy life and eat it! But for me I consider that taking the “easy route”and I knew from the beginning that I didn’t sign up for easy. Unless you have done carb night before or understand bodybuilding diets a lot of people don’t understand why I am eating like I am. And believe me, sometimes (when I am craving something that I can’t eat normal) I think to myself, “why am I doing this??” and “will this really make a difference if I have just a small amount?” and other thoughts like that. But then I have to remind myself that its JUST food. Food you can have when you have reached your goal.

When I look at something delicious that isn’t a part of my diet I think, “ok, was this cooked by a world renowned chef? Is this something that won’t ever come by way again?” If the answer to both those questions are no, then it’s not worth it to eat and jeopardize how far I have come.

Now this is definitely easier said than done. Especially when you have these guys just sitting on your kitchen table!

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But again, they are nothing special (not that my mom doesn’t know how to cook some mean brownies, cookies, and jalapeño cornbread….because she does) they are something that I will always have access to…well unless something tramatic happens, like all the chocolate in the world burns to a crips! But, you get what I mean. And with the diet that I’m on, it allows me to enjoy and really savor delicious treats like these once a week.

And I do get the “a little bit won’t kill you” from people or the “its [instert occasion or holiday here]!” But what most people don’t understand about me is that I also used to make those excuses. Saying “well it’s so and so’s birthday so its ok!” Or “it’s flag day so it’s ok to eat this and that!” But all these things add up. And if I give in one time, then I get the taste of what I’v missed out on and will want more. There will always be obstacles and temptations, but if you are really serious you have to learn to say NO! You have to understand that what you feed your body does matter, and if you start to give into a little temptation then you might start to go down a bad path allow other temptations and obstacles to run you over.

Carb night really took some time to get used to, and to learn about the foods that have carbs that I can’t have, and the ones that have carbs AND fiber which cancel out the carbs, like avocados. It pushed me to get more creative with what I eat, especially since I am one who is all for easy meals. I try to add flavor in more simplistic ways. It has also forced me to eat at home and cook pretty much 99% of my meals. I honestly can’t even remember the last time I went out to eat when it wasn’t a carb night (definitely saving me a lot of money). And this is because not knowing what exactly is in my food when I’m not cooking it raises too many questions and thoughts of, “what if there are carbs in my meal that I don’t know about?” and “how much of said ingredient did they use so that I can calculate it into myfitnesspal?”. It just makes it ten times easier if I prepare and make the meal all on my own. That way I know for sure what goes into it, and how much of something goes into it and can get the results I’m looking for without raising implications.

My advice for anyone who wants to do carb night….Know that this won’t be easy, but you will surely get used to it! Don’t let food control you, control your food and don’t be afraid to say no! And lastly, make your own meals, it might take some time to learn what foods have carbs and what foods have carbs and fiber, but once you get it, it will save you money, and in the end you’ll be much happier when you see the results come in!

PATIENCE = PROGRESS

Hey guys! I took a new progress picture yesterday and wanted to share! I also have a picture from when I first started my weight loss adventure about a year ago! NO JUDGING HERE! I, along with a lot of other girls, used to be embarrassed to say what my weight was out loud. But with where I am right now stronger inside and out, I don’t care anymore! This is MY journey and MY blog and I am here to be completely 100% honest with myself. If I’m not honest with myself then it will only be that much harder to achieve my goals! So here we go…

 In the top picture  I weighed a gross 250 lbs and in the newest progress pic I am down to 216! I am a tall girl so my weight (from what doctors have told me) should be around 180.  But for me, I’m not aiming for a specific number, I’m aiming for more so a specific body type. Which is strong, muscular definition (and no not to look like a man!) and lean. When your lifting it is very important to not weigh yourself on the scale constantly! Your body will be changing and turning that fat to lean muscle which is what mine started to do. Before I started carb night and just tried to eat cleanish I kept weighing myself and getting discouraged because the scale wasn’t going down…but yet I noticed I was getting leaner. Then it hit me. I was gaining muscle! I was loosing inches, but not lbs. Instead of weighing yourself, try measuring yourself! You definitely see a difference!

I started off with eating low carb, doing cardio, and some lifting. I now do carb night, lift heavy, with cardio 2 or 3 days a week,  and train 5-6 out of 7 days a week. I didn’t do any crazy crash diet here. I was patient with this whole thing (as much as I didn’t want to be!). I keep my lean proteins, green veggies like spinach asparagus, kale, and mixed greens in my diet. I changed my fats from eating cheeses to eating a little bit of cheese and getting my fats from avocados, coconut oil, olive oil, nuts, and seeds, AND LOTS OF WATER. As long as you eat clean and train hard theres no need for diet pills or crash diets! Your only hurting your body!!

A lot of my fat as turned to lean muscle mass which I am pumped about! I feel great, and super motivated now that the holidays are over…aka no more distractions by delicious holiday foods!

I shall get to it now!

Before:

250 lbs ugh I hate this pic.

250 lbs ugh I hate this pic.

And heres my current pics!

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Catching up.

Hello all!

Ok we have some catching up to do. Lets see when I last left off was my first carb night. I most definitely went overboard with the amount I ate that night. I was pumped to get back to eating healthy and cutting the crap out again and training hard. My next carb night I had was wayyyyyy more controlled and I felt a million times better the next  morning!

That time I had BBQ pulled beef, mashed potatoes, and carrots for a traditional dinner. Then over an hour later I had one chocolate chip pancake. Then an hour or so after that I had 3 peanut butter cookies. Got some better sleep that night than the first time, and the next morning I felt tight and not bloated!! I was sooo excited!

heaven on a plate

heaven on a plate

for some reason I always crave pancakes when keeping it low carb.

for some reason I always crave pancakes when keeping it low carb.

happy Keeley!

happy Keeley!

After that night I had a week of training and then I would be off to Seattle for the holidays. This made me verrrrry nervous. I was just getting the hang of carb night, and now all those delicious holiday treats and wholesome carb filled foods that you devour to the extreme one time out of the year was fast approaching. I told myself I wouldn’t fall for it! I would stay dedicated and not go back to those old ways.

That week came and went, and in the middle of the week I made the executive decision that I was going to enjoy myself. And that doesn’t mean eat like complete sh*t. That means that I would portion my meals out and eat what I wanted in a controlled amount. I knew just from that one week I wouldn’t gain back a boat of lbs. But I also knew that while on vacation I wanted to spend it relaxing with my family, working out, and not counting every little thing that I eat. I have been eating clean enough for a while to know what a good portion amount for me is. But I also knew that upon returning I would just have to keep working my butt off.

And thats just what I did.

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beautiful

beautiful

Seattle

Seattle

freshest shrimp I've ever had!

freshest shrimp I’ve ever had!

I’v been back on the low carb eating until tomorrow (my next carb night) and working hard in the gym. I decided to push my carb night back a couple days to fully recover from vacation. Even through New Years Eve My friends and I had a low key  nights where I had two drinks (which were no carbs) and raw tacos on a lettuce leaf. The next day I wanted to be nice and well rested to kick off my new year with a squat and leg day!!!

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Christmas gift

Christmas gift

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New PR in the sled

NP in the sled

Oh and I got to use my new lifting shoes and lever belt that I got as Christmas gifts!!

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Gifts that I got from one of my closest friends! She's the besssst!

Gifts that I got from one of my closest friends! She’s the besssst!

Ok and now, last but not least! I have a couple progress pictures from this past fall and winter. I am really excited about this because it just continues to show how far I’ve come! And even if I get a little discouraged if I’m not dropping a certain amount of weight at a certain pace, this just goes to show that when you work hard and consistently lift (with some cardio of course)  lean muscle really takes over fat and does its thing. I will leave you with those progress pics and that is all for now! I will try and be better about posting more often as the progress continues!

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left side is not flexing and the right side is flexing.

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