Monday 19 March 2012

Apple Oat Muffin Recipe

Weigh in on Sunday and lost 400g.  Mixed emotions about the loss, was hoping for more but then having said that I am actually quite happy with where I am at now so I'm not stressing about the scales too much.  Would like to gradually drop 1 or 2 more kilos, just to get rid of that dreaded baby belly :(
Made my first batch of Apple Oat muffins on the weekend, very easy and quite yummy.  The recipe made about 12 medium size muffins.  I have frozen some to have as quick easy snacks throughout the week.  I start work early nearly every morning and don't usually have breakfast until a couple of hours later so there's a great pre-work or pre-training snack as they have a mix of carbs and protein.

APPLE OAT MUFFINS

1 cup almond meal
1 cup oats (I did soak my oats first, but I don't think I will next time)
1 cup natural/greek yoghurt
2 tabs. cinnamon
2 tabs. natvia (natural sweetener - I didn't have natvia so I used Rapadura)
2 eggs
1 large or 2 small apples - grated

Mix all ingredients together well.  Spoon into muffin trays and bake at 180 degrees for 20-25 mins. 


I personally think they are best served warm, and be sure to limit yourself to only 1 or 2 per day.


Tuesday 13 March 2012

My new fav food - Kanga Bangas!

Well it's week 1, day 4 and things are tracking well.  The first week of cleaning up your diet can either be the easiest or the hardest.  Easy because you're excited, motivated and ready to take on the new challenge, or hard because your body goes through a detox stage and as you eliminate the sugars, the alcohol and the processed food your body goes through a possible withdrawal stage of headaches, lethargic, no energy and possibly feeling ill.  Luckily for me as my diet is reasonably clean I don't suffer the withdrawal stage too much and I've been feeling great (tired - but that's the usual sleep deprivation thanks to my darling children).  I've tried out a couple of new high protein 'treat' recipes, 1 of which I will share with you later in the blog.
I started my cleaner eating on Sunday, even knowing that we had been invited to a friends BBQ that night.  I did toss up the idea of waiting to start until Monday but if you wait until you NEVER have a social engagment, family/friend Birthday celebration, Easter, Christmas, Winter, coffee with the playgroup etc - you'll NEVER start!!  So I thought "NO EXCUSES" and this is a great way to show you how I handled a social event and still stayed on track. 
So being a BBQ it was a pretty easy decision for me to decide to take my own Kanga Bangas to cook up, and as I wasn't sure what other food would be there, I just took 1 slice of Soy and Linseed bread along.  If I was a bit more organised I could have also taken my own salad, but as it turned out I struck luck with the salad anyway.  When the boys started the BBQ up, my hubby discreetly handed my Kanga Bangas to the "chef" and then I just grabbed them straight off so no one even knew I was eating something different.  And they had a delicious salad of Spinach, pumpkin, pinenuts and fetta which I enjoyed (and will be stealing their idea and making it myself lol).
And I avoided the drinks by drinking water and wasn't even tempted by the desserts.  A bonus of having children at your social events is you can keep yourself busy looking after them so people don't even notice you've skipped desserts ;)  Unfortunately people are so quick to pass comments these days and be prepared to hear alot of "just one drink/cake/chip won't hurt" or "you don't need to be on a diet" just to name a few.  Don't let these comments get to you, you just smile and tell them you're not eating it because you don't want it.  Oh and tell them it's not a diet, it's a lifestyle ;)  But remember it is ok to treat yourself every now and then too without feeling guilty.  Just choose your treats wisely ;)

So as mentioned above here's the Protein Slice recipe I tried out this weekend.  Very similar to Chocolate protein balls I have made before.
1/3 cup water
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup organic peanut butter
4 scoops Chocolate Protowhey (or protein of choice)
Mix together well, flatten into a tray (I place cooking paper in first) and then freeze to set.  Cut up and store in fridge.  Great for an easy snack, and great for the chocolate/sweet cravings.

Saturday 10 March 2012

Pre-pregnancy weight = DONE!

I know it's been a while (again) but I'm still trying to find that balance between work, family and trying to get enough sleep lol.  I've just run a 4 week Challenge with my clients which always has me super busy and pretty tired by the end of the 4 weeks (especially when my darling children are tag teaming the midnight, 2am, 3am and 4am wakeup calls).  So with that done and dusted until the next one starts in May it is time to focus on ME (and the blog) again.  I am super excited to say I have hit my pre-pregnancy weight from Brandon - YAY ME!!!  But I still have 2-3kg I would like to drop, but I'm pretty happy with where I am now.  I would love to get back to my pre-pregnancy Bella weight, but I realise that won't be easy as I was at my fittest and best shape EVER as I was teaching between 6-8 classes most weeks and had unlimited time to train.  BUT I'm going to give it my best damn shot and I know it will come down to eating clean and training smart.
There's 4 weeks until Easter so I've decided to set myself a few little goals and hopefully arrive at my fitness and health destination just in time for the Easter Bunny's arrival.  A few of my key focuses with regards to nutrition are:
* no alcohol (yes I do enjoy the glass of wine with dinner a few nights a week)
* limited processed food - this means I need to organise my weekends better and prepare some healthy snacks to get me through the week
* cut back (NOT cut out) the carbs
* drink more green tea (I have not been drinking much over the last few weeks)
* focus on clean eating at dinner time for the whole family - I'll be spending some time researching meals that the whole family can enjoy, including my 3 year old.

I currently teach 3 BodyPumps and 2 BodyCombats a week so my training is pretty good but I do have a couple of focuses to drive my results more and keep my energy levels up:
* 1 Crossfit session each week
* 1 gym floor resistance session each week
* 1 short endurance run each week

I also need to start going to bed earlier.  I fall into the trap of taking my iPhone or iPad to bed and checking facebook, emails and playing games and before I know it, it's 10:30 and I'm wide awake!  My goal most nights is bed at 9, no phones or TV etc and lights out at 9:30. 

So that's a run down of my goals over the next few weeks.  Stay tuned to the blog for more regular updates including clean recipes, training ideas and videos, and I'll also be posting occasional daily food diaries and my measurements and photos (eeeek) at the end.  Also be sure to check out my Be Hot Business facebook page for even more meal/snack ideas as I will be setting up some albums with recipes in the coming weeks https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Be-HotBec-Hayes-Personal-Training/235721899227


MY GOAL SKIRT!!

One of my Pre-pregnancy goals was to fit into a Lululemon skort that I purchased whilst pregnant, and had never worn.  Excited to say it fits finally, but still want to drop a few more cm's around my J-Lo butt and thighs for a better fit. 

Meal plan this week:
Monday - Steamed fish (microwave) and Salad
Tuesday - Steak and Salad
Wednesday - Leftovers (Moroccan Chicken Slow cooker)
Thursday - Kanga Bangas with Sweet potato mash and greens
Friday - Crunchy Chicken Parmesan with Spinach salad
Saturday - Stuffed Chicken breast and veg
Sunday - Homemade Pizzas (Chicken, fetta and pumpkin on wholemeal pocket bread base)