Training Time!

Weeeee Happy Monday! Just kidding. The only thing Monday's are good for is a good day of clean eats, and a rest from training. But don't tell my trainer. I mayyyy have snuck that rest day in. Whoops. 

I've mentioned it a few times now that I've hired a trainer. Kind of. Gosh knows I can't afford to physically have a trainer beside me whenever I workout. Nor do I believe any trainer would want to be with me at 5am. So the next best thing? This guy.



Meet Luke. I knew him from one of my old gyms, and being a triathlete, urban race participant, rugby player, personal trainer, and also a certified strength and conditioning specialist, I decided to get in touch with him for some training advice once I signed up for the ride. This turned into me hiring him to make me a custom training program. I've learned enough about myself to know that I'm going to do way better if someone else is telling me what to do, rather than telling myself what to do. It was absolutely worth it to have the program made for me, and for a very reasonable price (this coming from the cheapest girl ever). It incorporates what I need to make it through the 200km bike, as well as working on other weight-training goals and injury prevention specific to my injury-prone self. 

So far, I'm not sure if he's the devil, or the best trainer ever. Although the workouts are balanced, they kill me. Every. Single. Time. It gives me something to work at though. The training is split up by month, so I have a month to set my own mini goals within the workouts, which has been fun for me (don't laugh, this is my kind of fun). 

I made it pretty clear on my info sheet that I filled out for him that I don't follow diets, or meal plans. Instead of telling me what to eat, he told me how much to eat and left the rest up to me, which I also like. We're experimenting with my calorie intake right now to try to figure out what is going to work for me. 

I took some progress pictures before starting up with this training, so we'll see in June how I look and how I do at the ride. I don't have any doubts at this point though. 

I can't recommend Luke enough. I'd put him up there with James Wilson I think. I love James' program, as you've possibly read, but it's something else knowing that this program was custom designed for me and my goals. 
If you want to get in touch with him, you can visit his facebook page here, or you can email him at lukeveens@gmail.com. 

Have you ever worked with a trainer?
Do programs work better for you?

Sunday Funday!

I love Sundays. I've said this before, but I really really like them. Today I woke up with a mission: laundry, food prep, homework, groceries, food prep, gym, football. Not only did I get everything done (okay, other than my homework), but I got it done in time to relax to watch the 3:00pm game. (Let's go Broncos!). 

I started off by writing down my meal plan for the week:

I've really noticed how much of a difference this makes in my groceries, and my week. Knowing what I'm going to make in advance makes week nights so much less stressful and frustrating (AKA when I get the "I don't know" after asking Lee what he wants for dinner. If it's decided and made, he's SOL). From there, I made my grocery list and a list for food prep:

The best part? This wasn't even all of it! Today I made:

- Lemon raspberry muffins

- Overnight oats x 5

- Egg white smoothies x 5

- Roasted red pepper hummus (SO GOOD!)

- Peanut sauce for stir fry

- Hard boiled eggs

- Egg salad (for Lee)

- Chopped vegetables for soup and for stir fry

- Spices for soup

- Rice for soup

How easy are dinners going to be this week? 

Did you food prep today?
Why NOT!?

A Ride with Purpose

I think just about everyone know this by now, but I still haven't made an announcement on here. I've signed up for the 2014 Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer! 

What? It's a 200km bike ride over two days. 
Where? Toronto to Niagara.
When? June 7th and 8th.
Why? To raise money for the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre.
How? I hired a trainer to help me by making a custom training program.

Okay, the cat is out of the bag. My cousin Kelly has been working in connection with this ride for a couple years, and although Bran and I have talked about doing it, we've never actually signed up. But this year, after being affected by cancer in my family, and seeing the devastation it has caused in friends' families, I decided that this was the year I needed to do it. While I'm training, I'll also be collecting donations. When you sign up for this ride, you commit to raising a minimum of $2500.00 - not a small amount! It's intimidating, but I have faith in my legs as much as my ability to raise that much money. (To clarify, I DO have faith in my legs). 

As a researcher, I have a strong belief in the power and influence of research and clinical trials. Although I don't have the means to help conduct cancer research at this time, I can at least raise money to help push this research forwards. 

I'm stoked to be doing the ride with my cousin Krista, I'm sure it will be a bonding experience like no other!

Any support is much appreciated, whether it's a donation, or some encouragement to keep moving forward! You can visit my personal page here!

Have you ever done a big race?

Why I SWEAT

Today when my alarm went off at the crack of stupid (4:15am...), I rolled out of bed, but couldn't help thinking why the hell I was getting up so early. Although the idea of going back to bed was more delicious than ice cream (do I even remember what ice cream tastes like?), I drank my water, ate my oats, and got on my bike. A few spins later and I started to remember exactly why I do what I do 6 days a week. 

I love exercising. It's tough, and it takes time out of my day, but it's so rewarding. Every day that I can lift heavier, go farther and go faster is a mini victory. Every workout I push through when I'd rather go eat a (cheeseless) pizza, makes me happy and feel accomplished. Every time I hop off my bike, step inside from my run, or walk out the gym doors, I do so with a smile on my face. It starts my day off right, and gives me good reason to eat a bunch. Sweating feels GREAT, as long as you can shower after. 

Early morning, covered in sweat. THIS is when I feel my best. 

This is what most weekdays look like for me:

4:15am: Hop, fall, drag myself out of bed, depending on the day. 
5:00am: Workout starts!
6:00am: Workout done. Efficiency!
6:40isham: Leave for work.
7:30am-4:30pm: Work
5:30ishpm: Home 

I spend two hours a day DRIVING. And then I spend the next 8-9 hours sitting. If I wasn't working out, when would I move?? There's enough research out there that's made it clear that being sedentary isn't healthy. The LEAST I can do for myself is move for an hour a day. 

People call me crazy, constantly. I try SO hard to ignore it, but it gets to me sometimes. I could go years without exercising and no one would bat an eye, but waking at up 4:15am to exercise before work? Everyone freaks out. This is SO backwards. This is what I have to do right now, I've debated other options, and this works best for me. Maybe one day I'll be able to get up at 6am, and that would be great, but right now, this is what works. I'd sooner go to bed early, get up early and workout than stop exercising. 

This led me to wondering why people don't exercise, mainly those with sedentary jobs. It's good for EVERYONE. I don't care if you're overweight, underweight, normal weight, or have a perfect diet, nothing replaces or negates exercise. Just like you can't out-exercise a bad diet, you can't out-healthy eat no exercise. 
I always hear people talk about not having the time. It's about making the time. I get up EARLY. Why? Because that's when I can make the time for myself. Getting up early and getting it out of the way first thing also helps, since it's easier to find excuses to skip the gym after work.
Other excuses? People just don't like it. I find this very hard to believe. I have tried so many different kinds of exercise, and I refuse to accept that there are people that hate every single kind of exercise. I've done fitness classes, boxing, running, walking, weight lifting, circuit training, cycling, swimming, zumba... it goes on and on! Even now I get bored of what I'm doing and switch it up. I can't fathom what excuse could be good enough NOT to be physically active if you're otherwise healthy.You don't have to get up before the sun and push yourself as hard as you can, but every little bit helps. Throw in a workout video for thirty minutes, go for a walk, go for a hike, hit the weights twice a week. It's about whatever works for YOU.

Alright, I'll end my rant with the thought that I truly believe the world would be a better place if everyone knew what an exercise high felt like. 

Do you workout? Why?
Why don't you workout?

WIAW: A License to Eat

Have you ever been given a license to eat? When you realize you need to eat MORE! Well, I was just given this beautiful gift... or slap in the face. Whatever you want to call it. 
I used to count calories religiously. In an unhealthy way. Over time I got more comfortable with myself, and worked on my relationship with food and stopped. Until Monday. On Monday I decided to do a check-in on what my calorie intake was at, and adjust it as necessary. I started working with a trainer (more to come), and I was given a number that I should be aiming for with my activity level. Not only was I not even CLOSE to that number, but I was eating WAY less than what I thought I was on a normal weekday. Enter panic mode. My weight has been pretty consistent, which only led me to believe that I've been destroying my metabolism. So today's WIAW features food. Way more food. 

Pre/Post Workout: Overnight oats with a bit of fibre cereal and Special K Protein, just because. I doubled my normal portion size. 

 Coffee when I got to work :) (with coffeemate, of course)

First snack = Veggies and Hummus (the regular), and an egg white smoothie (new!).

Lunch = Leftover creamy brown rice pasta.

My afternoon snack stayed the same, it's probably one of my favourite meals of the day. Hard boiled eggs and a muffin!

Lee requested an Asian-style salad for dinner, and I don't want to brag... but I nailed it. The chicken was UNREAL! Recipe below :)

After dinner, although I wasn't hungry, I had a snack since I still didn't hit my suggested calorie intake. I had cottage cheese with a bit of PB2 and an apple that I chopped and heated up with cinnamon.

Crispy Chicken:

....sorry about the lack of measuring here, I wasn't expecting it to turn out so well. 

Cut boneless, skinless chicken breasts into thin strips. 

Mix together: egg whites, siracha, basil, pepper and a bit of soy sauce (you want it to cover the chicken when it soaks - it was mostly egg whites). 

Soak chicken in egg white mixture for 20-30 minutes. 

In a shallow dish, add panko bread crumbs, garlic powder and cayenne. 

Coat chicken in panko (this is a bit labour-intensive). 

Put foil on a cookie sheet and cover with cooking spray. Bake chicken at 350 for about ten minutes (longer if needed). 

ENJOY! This is my new favourite.


Do you calorie count?
 

Go-To Snacks

Happy Monday! Whomp whomp. The only thing exciting about this Monday is that we're meeting with our real estate agent tonight. Weeeeee. 

Anyway, to continue on with my healthy eating tips, today's feature: Snacks!! If you're around me enough, you know that I eat pretty much constantly, and sometimes rather weird things. Here's a list of some of my go-to snacks:

• Hard boiled eggs, duh!
• Homemade muffins, of course!
• Black bean brownies
• Veggies and hummus!
• Cottage Cheese Ice Cream 
• Quest bars! These are my favourite if I'm on the go. 
• Nuts - especially almonds and cashews. 
• Weird things like this..
  This is a rice cake with mustard, turkey and pickles, along with a tomato with a bit of salt and pepper!

It doesn't have to be fancy to be healthy! It's always easiest to make better choices when you have choices on hand! Keep vegetables washed and cuts, lots of veggies around and healthy treats baked!

What are you favourite go-to snacks?

Meal Plans

I go through phases with meal plans. For me, 3/5 meals a day are pretty standard, but it is the other 2 that I either plan in advance, or just wing it. If you're just starting out, planning meals is crucial. It's too easy to go out and grab something to eat if you haven't planned what you're going to eat. 
It's helpful to write it down, make your shopping list based on what you've planned and put your menu somewhere that you're going to see it. It's even MORE helpful if you've prepped for some of your lunches and dinners - there's no good reason to waste prepped food!

This is what a typical day looks like for me:

1. Smoothie or oatmeal: 1/2 pre, 1/2 post workout. 
2. Veggies and hummus. 
3. Lunch - this always changes. 
4. Hard boiled eggs and a muffin
5. Dinner - this also varies 
(6. Bedtime snack - depends on how I'm feeling)

My lunches are normally leftovers, a salad, something that I've bulk cooked or something I've made previously that was waiting for me in the freezer :)
Dinners are always different and are FAR easier if planned. I have plenty of dinner and lunch ideas under my "eat clean" tab if you're looking for ideas! More recently, I've been searching through cookbooks instead of browsing the internet for meal ideas. Recipes don't normally get into cookbooks unless they're tried and tested, and anything can be posted online! Probably an odd statement coming from a blogger who always posts recipes...
Here are some of my more recent dinners and lunches:

 This AWESOME Turkey Rice Soup:

 A simple, but delicious salad:

 

"Creamy" Rice Pasta:

 And this odd creation that I'll likely never be able to recreate:

Food Prep

Oh my. How I love a good food prep. You've seen pictures of how carried away I can get with it, but it doesn't always look like that, and it varies depending on how much time I have/what the menu looks like for the week. 

Food Prep Staples:

• Hard boiled eggs. I ALWAYS have these on hand.
• Muffins
• Hummus (this is a new one)
• Chopped vegetables (if they're prepped, there is no reason not to eat them)

Other Food Prep:

• Bulk lunches - whether it's soup, a rice or quinoa dish etc, this is always helpful! Separating it into containers for lunch everyday makes it SO easy to bring lunch to work rather than buying something. It's also great to have things to freeze for later on when you don't have time to prep. 
• Prep for dinners later in the week - if I have time on Sunday to chop vegetables for Tuesday's dinner, it makes a big difference later in the week. 
• Healthy treats! This is helpful if you have a sweet tooth and you need help staying on track. If you need something sweet, may as well make it healthy!

Food prep doesn't need to be an all-day event. The more you do it, the easier it will be. I've gotten better at making dinners that can easily be turned into a couple lunches for the week - this takes a bigger step out of food prep. 
I snapped a few pictures of some prepped food in my fridge this morning...

Hard boiled eggs

Muffins!

Chopped veggies!

What do you prep?

What stops you from prepping?

Grocery Shopping

I used to HATE grocery shopping. I was embarrassingly bad at it. I would have to go back and forth through the entire store trying to find things. Now, I have it down to a science. Lee and I shop at both No Frills and at Zehrs. At No Frills we get the bulk of list, and stop at Zehrs for things we can't get at No Frills like fresh deli meat and some things in the health section. We used to shop exclusively at Zehrs, but our weekly grocery bill decreased by at least $30 a week once we switched - well worth it!
I always check the flyers before we go, if there is anything on sale that will keep, we stock up. This counts especially for meat - mostly for boneless, skinless chicken. I have a very hard time paying full price for chicken. At any given time our freezer is normally pretty stocked. 
Having some idea of what you're planning on having for dinners that week is really helpful, but a lot of the time I don't. This past Sunday I did have a full meal plan for the week written, and I think we did end up saving money because I wasn't grabbing extra stuff that I didn't need. 
Since I've already posted my staples, this list isn't exhaustive. I obviously need to restock my pantry quite often. One of the biggest keys to eating healthier is sticking to the perimeter of the grocery store as much as possible (which I'm sure you've heard before). This is where you'll find the produce, meat, bread and eggs/dairy. Anyway, onto my list!

Produce:

• Peppers
• Jalapenos 
• Zucchini
• Celery
• Baby carrots
• Apples
• Berries/grapes (normally only if they're on sale)
• Mushrooms
• Cucumber (2-3 of these)
• Tomatoes
• Broccoli
• Sweet potatoes
• Lettuce and/or spinach
• Onions
• These ones I buy less frequently, depending on what's on the menu:
• Spaghetti Squash
• Cauliflower
• Kale
• Leeks

As you can tell, it's a pretty long list. We eat a LOT of vegetables. I don't always buy everything on the list, but there's a pretty good chance that I will. 

Frozen/Refrigerated:

• Meat (Chicken, pork, extra lean ground chicken/turkey, tilapia, sometimes steak --> this all depends on what is on sale and if we need it!)
• Almond milk
• Regular milk (for Lee)
• Eggs!! 
• Lactose free cottage cheese
• Frozen fruit
• Coffeemate (I still can't give it up!)
• Deli meat (for Lee)

Apart from those, we'll stock up on anything else we're missing or running low on. There are often other snacks that get thrown in for Lee, plus bread for his lunches, but the majority of the cart is always vegetables. 

Pantry Staples

I have to apologize (I feel like I do that a lot), this took way to long to get started. On the bright side, I have started and I really hope that this helps! Below I've compiled a list of some of my staples that I try to always have on hand for both cooking and baking. I may need to come back to these lists a few times, in case I've forgotten things. 

Cooking Staples

• Beans (black, white, kidney, chickpeas, lentils)
• Brown rice
• Quinoa
• Spices
• Nuts (also for baking!)
• Chicken and beef broth
• Olive oil
• Tahini
• Pasta sauce

Baking Staples

• Oats
• Oat flour
• Other flours (almond, coconut)
• Baking soda
• Baking powder
• Sweetener (the kind you use really depends on preferences)
• Coconut 
• Chocolate chips (enjoy life mini chips)
• Unsweetened applesauce
• No sugar added syrup
• Cocoa power
• Chia seeds
• Coconut oil
• Peanut butter
• True lemon
• Vanilla extract (and other extracts - almond, mint, maple)
• Parchment paper muffin cups

This is what my cupboards currently look like - mostly items that I use, and a few random things that are Lee's. I can't wait to have a big kitchen with TONS of storage so I can be extremely organized all the time. For now, I have chairs close on hand for when I need to climb up and find stuff hidden in the back. 

What are some of your staples?

Happy New Year!

Hello again! I've been slacking, as you can probably tell. Christmas hit, work was done and I barely touched a computer for almost two weeks. Heaven? Yes. First off, here's a bit of a photo-dump from over the holidays. I unfortunately didn't take a ton of pictures, but I got some in!

Christmas Baking!

Our tree with all the presents for everyone!

Seaforth snow!

A blurry Christmas morning.

First Christmas at home together!

My man did GOOD.

Champs to celebrate Amy and Steve's engagement!!

And this happened. The Ninja from my parents for Christmas, and the KitchenAid from Lee for my birthday. Completely spoiled.

My bike is back at home! I kicked off 2014 on the right note with a 20km bike and some green detox tea!

And one last one... I found this in an old album, I've been practicing my push ups and plank from a young age, it seems. 

Normally I have a ton of resolutions, but I struggled this year. Here's what I came up with for my goals:

1. Take my vitamins! 

2. Stretch more!

3. Do more random acts of kindness. 
4. Walk/run/bike the distance from home to Mexico. Yes, that's a goal. My family watches Modern Family and decided that if we do it (3000km) before 2015, we're going back to Mexico!!

I have one more BIG goal for 2014, but I'm not ready to announce it on here quite yet. Granted, I'm sure the majority of the people reading this already know what it is. 
Hopefully I think of a few more goals in the next few weeks, but there's my starting point. 

What was your favourite Christmas present?
Did you make any goals?