Blueberry Protein Cheesecake Bites

We are currently living in a furnished month-to-month condo in the Summerlin neighborhood of Las Vegas. It's a beautiful area and living in this condo feels a lot more normal than living in the hotel. We will be here until we find and purchase a home. We are also only five minutes drive from Golds Gym where the IFBB pros Dennis Wolf and Amanda Latona call their home gym. Today Mike and I were demoliating our Quads when Dennis Wolf walked in with an entire film crew who filmed his chest work out. Dennis Wolf is HUGE! If you're not familiar with bodybuilding he placed 5th last year at the Olympia (FYI, the Olympia is the Superbowl of professional bodybuilding). After our workout, we came home and ate some lunch. Then Kellen went down for his long 3 hour afternoon nap. I used this time to put together a recipe that I thought up in my head this past weekend. It's super simple, only 5 ingredients. I call it my Blueberry Protein Cheesecake Bites.

1 8-ounce package of 1/3 less fat cream cheese

5 egg whites

5 packets stevia (or sweetener of choice)

4 scoops vanilla protein powder

1 cup frozen blueberries

Directions: Bring cream cheese to room temperature. Mix cream cheese, eggs, stevia and protein powder. Add in one cup frozen blueberries. In a Pam sprayed 9x9 inch pan, spread the mixture evenly. Bake at 325F for 30 minutes or until set. Let cool completely before cutting. Serves 8.

Nutrition:150 calories, 4 carbohydrates, 7 protein, 7 fat

Summer 2012 Playlist

I entitle this set of songs Pumpin Playlist.

Take You Higher, Goodwill & Hook N Sling
Ghosts N Stuff, Deadmau5
Cry For You, September
Til Death (R3hab Remix), Wynter Gordon
We Run the Night, Havana Brown
I'm in Love, Alex Gaudino
Call Me Maybe, Carly Rae Jepsen
Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites, Skrillex
Levels, Avicii
Sexy and I Know It, LMFAO

This playlist has all my favorite songs for this summer and all the beats per minute of these songs are high so they keep my energy up and motivation high. If you're not familiar with the recent studies proving that music can help push you harder than ever in your workouts, I suggest you read Dr. Jim Stoppani's article here http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0KFY/is_7_26/ai_n28010838/

Flag Nor Fail!

Yesterday my new Flag Nor Fail sleeveless hoodie arrived in the mail. This is my third purchase from the company who is quickly becoming my newest addiction. If you're not familiar with FNF, they are a small company that hand prints their products (mostly shirts) and has extremely limited quantities of each piece. That means once they sell out it's GONE. I love their message, "FLAG NOR FAIL is a mindset. No surrender and no failure. Flag represents surrender, much like one would wave a white flag to admit defeat. No surrender, no failure." Mostly bodybuilders wear their clothes, but it's not limited to only us meat heads. Dana Linn Bailey, the NPC's first Women's Physique Pro and her husband are the main faces behind the clothing brand. I love Dana's physique and follow her career in the IFBB. She looks a lot different in the shirts than I do, but hey, I think I still look pretty good in them. ;) Anyways, today I tried my hand at the "Perfect Foods Bar". I stumbled across this delicious snack/meal replacement bar a couple years back at the health food store. I was very impressed with the ingredients list AND the flavor was phenomenal. Yesterday I went to Good Earth for a few things (Ezekiel Bread, Kombucha Tea, and some dark chocolate). I was standing by the cashier line and saw the Perfect Foods Bar eyeballing me back. My tummy grumbled and then yelled, "feed me... with that!" So I obliged and purchased the bar. I shared some with Kellen, because ya I'm confident enough in the brand and the ingredients that I'd feed it to my 1 year old. He gobbled up half of it, little stinker. The bar is pretty expensive, about $3 each. So I decided to try to make a version for myself.

In a food processor, mix 4 tbs almond butter, 12 almonds, 2 scoop vanilla protein powder, 1 tbs chia seeds and 1 tbs flax seeds. It'll form a ball in the food processor when it's done. Remove the dough and form into 3 small bars.

And here's a pic in my new FNF sleeveless hoodie.

The Other Plan... With A Side Of "Blueberry Chocolate Almond Ice Cream"

So I'm kind of feeling lost in terms of my fitness goals and how to fit them into my life for the next four months (actually for the next 8 months). The problem is I feel somewhat like a Gym Gypsy. I hope that this "fitness plan" helps keep me stay focused and efficient in the gym no matter which gym I'm training in. After I leave Sicily in April I will be living in Utah for 3 months until Mike returns from his 3 month deployment and we head to Vegas (in August we should be transitioning to our life in Vegas). During this time back in the states I plan on enjoying my time with my parents, my mother in law, and my friends. I hope to keep my training motivation high and accomplish my fitness goals in this three months. As for my fitness goals, I'm going to put more muscle onto my lower body, mainly my quads. I feel my upper body is good in terms of size and definition but I think my legs, especially my quad sweep, is lacking the size to be symmetrical with my upper body. I plan on doing lots of box squats, leg presses, and narrow stance hack squats. I also hope to stay fairly lean in this off-season so that when September rolls around I can do a competition (or maybe a competition in October). I feel like I shouldn't choose a Bodybuilding Show until we have settled in a house. Doing so otherwise will set me up for failure because of all the other commitments and issues that come when transitioning into a new home. To keep me accountable, I'm posting my most recent pictures as well as my leg measurements. Right thigh at largest measurement, 20.25 inches. Right thigh at mid measurement, 19 inches.

And now, onto a delicious dessert! I call it Blueberry Chocolate Almond Ice Cream. 1 cup frozen blueberries (they must be frozen), 1 scoop vanilla protein powder, 1 cap full of Cocoa Roasted Almonds (I used Emeralds). Put into a blender and turn on the low setting. Depending on your blender, you will have to stop the machine and scrape down the sides. I have a VitaMix so I only had to do this once. But a lower grade blender you may have to stop a couple more times. No extra sugar necessary, the blueberries add sweetness and those cocoa roasted almonds are a great crunch! Delicious!

No shirt, no advice, and a clean colon

So as you remember from my previous post I'm an official member of the Blood & Guts Club. Along with my bragging rights and my name displayed on the board, I also get an exclusive shirt. I was told I could pick it up Thursday. But Thursday I showed up and no shirt was to be mine, then I was told to come back Monday and pick it up. Yesterday I arrived and they informed me they don't know where my shirt is, and to come back next week. Huh?! No way, no fair. So I leave you all in suspense until I finally get the shirt and post the picture. Onto other news in the gym. I absolutely hate it when a man approaches me during my workout to try to correct my form and/or give me "helpful" advice. So dudes, take note, I do not need your help/advice. I know why you're doing it, and I'm not interested in your ego trip. 99% of the time I know more about training and nutrition than you do and all you're doing is slowing down my workout and pissing me off. Off my soap box now... I made Whole Foods Detox Salad that I found on Pinterest. It is actually pretty tasty. I changed it up a bit since I'm in the cutting stage of my diet so I have less dried fruit and no maple syrup. But I kept all the vegetables. I expect to be pooping like crazy for the next couple days. Here's the link if you're interested. http://ohsheglows.com/2011/09/27/detox-salad/

My Turn

So I've faithfully and unselfishly given up my body to the art of baby makin for 3 years now. How you ask? Well, after my last competition I had to hang up the posing suit and put on the lbs. My body didn't want to get pregnant because of the PCOS & it definitely couldn't support a baby if my bodyfat was low. Also, I had to change the way I trained. That meant less intensity, less cardio, more food, and not as many days in the gym. Believe it or not, this was hard for me. I love training, so to tell me not to train was like telling a fish not to swim. The food part wasn't hard, I love food. But dialing down the intensity was a huge sacrifice for me. After years of trying, I finally got pregnant! Hallelujah! Pregnancy was not good for me though. I had horrible morning sickness and ended up losing weight because I couldn't keep down food for the first six months. No food meant no energy and no energy meant little exercise. After I gave birth I made a goal to lose all my baby weight within the year. Accomplished. I also made a goal to breastfeed my son for the first year of his life. Kellen is only 1 1/2 months from turning 1 year old. I'm super close to that goal too. So now I feel it's my turn to have my body back. So I've decided to do another competition. The goal has been set and April 14 I will be walking back on stage strutting in those clear stripper heals, covered in Jan Tana, posing oil, and a pound of jewelry and makeup. Can't wait, IT'S MY TURN!