Out of order.





Blogspot says I have to buy more space for my pictures on here. And since a food blog is no fun without pictures, I will have to post one gigantic post in a few days instead.

Sorry for the delay.

Brussels

You know you're a health nut when you eat brussel sprouts as a bed-time snack. Or you just really like brussel sprouts :)

I steamed them, after soaking them, cutting the bottoms off and cleaning them, then topped them with lots of cayenne and sea salt!

My whole lifestyle seems like its changing lately. It's geared more towards gaining muscle. I just love the feeling of getting stronger and seeing great results. Already I can do lateral shoulder raises with 12 pounds each arm, as opposed to 8. I can also curl 20 lbs per bicep now, as opposed to the 15 I've been doing.  I think I just have to get a little bit back into cardio now, to lean out a bit more.

I've been keeping up on my protein too. I have a Vega Smoothie Powder shake before bed, with a bit of almond milk and 1 tbsp chia seeds (they help keep you full longer). If I don't have the shake before bed, I'll wake up hungry and won't be able to fall back asleep, or dream about really bad foods, and then feel completely dissatisfied with breakfast. I don't put flax seeds into my smoothies because I just recently learnt that your body cant digest the seed on it's own, it needs to be in powder form!

Well, I have the night off, so I'm going to watch a movie and then hit the hay. I've got cardio, back, and abs tomorrow!

:)

Dill veggie salad

I made an awesome veggie salad last night. It also has a fiber and protein boost from the chickpeas, and a healthy fat boost from the avocado. This is similar to a salad I've made before, I just switched up the dressing. I originally used a sweet balsamic dressing, but this time I made a sweet and tangy dill vinaigrette.

Sweet and Tangy Vinaigrette:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tbsp fresh chopped dill
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp fresh squeezed lemon
• 1 tbsp agave
• 2 tsp tamari
• Pinch sea salt
• 1/4 tsp cayenne

Whisk together, or put into blender. It will form a nice creamy yellow colour. This dressing is delicious. It was perfect with the salad.

I did some abs and cardio today at the gym, and I have a super headache from working on my shoulders yesterday. Does anyone else get headaches when they work on shoulders? I did my own spin class again today (that was my cardio), it was fun. My legs were having trouble keeping up though, they're so sore from Wednesdays leg workout. I plan on trying to work all muscle groups twice a week now, so we'll see how that goes. Tomorrow should be legs again, but I don't know if they can handle it.

With abs, sometimes I like to switch it up and do one full time with weights. I think your body gets used to doing abs with just your body weight, so they're forced to adapt when you add weights to the mix. Definitely will feel it tomorrow!

Now Im off to Noahs for some more Vega powder and some chia seeds.

Ohhh, I did a mac & cheese recipe from oh she glows last night, but I didn't really like it. I won't post the recipe, it's on her website, but here are some pictures.

The cheese sauce

The finished product. Not enough flavour.

See you later!

Harry Potter

I saw the newest Harry Potter movie today and it was great! Some people said it was slow moving, and that nothing much happened, but I thought it was perfect. Sometimes I wish they would make some movies longer. I loved the books so much that I could watch a 20 hour movie and still love it. I wish they would have done that for LOTR.

Today I did a really great chest workout. I got it out of Muscle & Fitness Magazine. Ryan finds it weird that I'm more excited about the newest Muscle & Fitness Magazine then I am about any "girly" magazines.

My morning chest workout:

• Dumbbell incline press 20 lbs each arm (12,12,12,12) After last set superset with incline flyes to failure
• Bench press (smith) 40 lbs (12), 60 lbs (10,10). Last set you superset with pushups to failure.
• Smith incline press, 40 lbs (12), 50 lbs (10,10). Superset flyes (same as above)
• Dumbbell decline press, 20 lbs each arm (12,12,12). Superset with pushups to failure.
• Machine flyes, 40 lbs, 2 sets of 25

After downing my Vega shake I went to the treadmill. I wasn't looking forward to doing any running (lately I've been in a running rut), but I got my butt on there and did it. I did 40 minutes, 4 miles, and 550 calories. Instead of doing speed intervals, I played with the incline. I did a 5 minute warmup, then 30 minutes of (2 minutes at 6.0 incline, and 3 minutes at 1.0 incline, all while at 10 mph). It was a great workout. I actually had to stop in the middle for a breather.

I came home and made myself a bowl of whatever I could find in the fridge.

The ingredients: walnuts, sunflower sprouts, hemp seeds, cucumber, tomato, red pepper, onion, rice, hummus, cayenne.

The base: brown rice with hummus, and cayenne.

Now add the rest!

It was mighty delicious. I'm craving sweets right now, so I'm trying to do stuff to distract myself. Writting about it really doesn't help :)    I think i'll try to brush my teeth, that usually helps.

Tomorrow the plan is to work on my legs, since I don't have to go to work after. I always do legs on the worst possible days.

:)

A sprout-tastic lunch!

After strength training I'm usually completely worn-out and very, very hungry, and today I worked extra hard (usually happens when cute boys workout next to you). I had my Vega Protein with a banana, 2 cups of spinach, and 2 cups of coconut water (mixed in a blender). It filled me up for about 10 seconds. So for lunch I had two pieces of toasted Ezekiel, with hummus, cucumber, and sunflower sprouts.

I love sprouts. I think I'm going to design a t-shirt that says that.

I've currently got coconut oil soaking in my hair. So while I wait for it to make my hair ultra smooth and shiny I'll make my workout for tomorrow (chest and triceps).

:) Mare

Macaroons!!!! :)

I made these great macaroons today! So delicious!! Some might consider them raw, some might not (with the debate about agave). But here is the recipe:

Raw-ish Macaroons:

Ingredients:

• 2.5 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1/4 cup agave
• 1/2 cup coconut oil /or coconut butter
• Pinch sea salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions: Easiest directions ever. Mix all ingredients together. Form into balls and put onto parchment paper. Now put it in fridge. Wait at least 1 hour. If you want to the chocolate coated version, melt some dark chocolate and roll the balls in them. Put in fridge again.

This is the chocolate that I highly recommend. I didn't have enough to coat all the macaroons because I ate most of the bar!

 Some of my most recent workouts:

Shoulders:

• Arnold Press 20 lbs each arm (8,6,6,8,8)
• Dumbbell scare-crow, 12 lbs each arm ( 9,10,10,12) 10 lbs each (10)
• Barbell upright row, 40 lbs x 8, 30 lbs x (12,12,12,12)
• Sword cable draw, 10 lbs (12, 15,15,15)

Chest:

• Benchpress with Smith machine 40 lbs (12,12,12,12,12)
• Dumbbell alternating benchpress, 20 lbs each arm ( 12,12,12)
• Dumbbell flyes, 12 lbs each (12,12,12,12,12)
• Pushups, 15, 8, 10

Triceps:

• Assisted dips, 55 lbs (12,12,12)
• Dumbbell lying triceps extension, 12 lbs each (12,12,12)
• Reverse grip tricep extension, 40 lbs x 15, 50 lbs x (10,10)
• Overhead tricep extension 40 lbs (12,12,12,12,12)

Legs:

• Smith machine sumo squat, 70 lbs (12,12,15,15)
• Standing pulley abduction, 15 lbs (10,10,10,10)
• Jumping split squats, 20,20,20,20 (in between sumo squat sets)
• Barbell bulgarian split squat, 40 lbs ( 12,12,12,12)
• Standing backwards pulley thing (hamstring) 15 lbs x 12, 20 lbs x (12,12,12)
• Calf extensions, 70 lbs (15,15,15,20)
• Donkey calf raises, 100 lbs (15,15,15,15)

I also did some running in there, some HIIT and some spinning. Tomorrow I'll be doing some all over body work, lots of jump training and some spinning!

:)

Birthday

I had an amazing birthday this year. There was lunch at Fresh with my mom, my haircut, dinner at Fressen with my mom and Ryan, and lots of vegan sweets! Score!

Started the morning off with a 7 am gym run. I figured I should workout to offset all that I was about to eat!

Breakfast was Ezekiel bread with apple butter and banana.

Waiting for our food at Fresh. I actually ate so much food that I felt extremely sick after. :(

Cookies, miso burgers, zucchini and lentil soups, cucumber/ ginger/carrot/lemon/apple juices, coffee, etc.

Best gifts ever from Ryan. The Mens Health Gym Bible, and the Everything Running Book.

The most amazing Vanilla cake from LPKs Culinary Groove. Thank's Ryan!

Some nice Rose at Fressen. It was so dark in that restaurant that I couldn't take pictures of our food. I was too embarrassed to use a flash and blind everyone. But the meals were delicious. I had a creamed corn pasta, my mom had a spelt pesto linguine, and Ryan had a black bean seitan steak, which was so amazing. The service was great. And at the end of the night they gave us all of their leftover homemade olive bread!

And my hair:

Did a shoulder workout this morning, now I'm off to work. More desserts and a run later!

Love,

Mare!

All hail the birthday princess

As promised, though a day late

Little Lola Bear

My spin routine: Every number means a different song. I'll adapt what I want to do for that song to the song length. If the song is 3:26, i'll just go easy till' 3:15 then go from there.

1. Warm up, 3 gear changes, keep up speed
2. Hill, 6 changes,  15 second sprint, 45 second normal speed. During 45 second part, up the gear once. Repeat.
3. Speed, 70 % effort + 30 sec sprints, 30 sec normal speed. 3 gear changes
4. Interval, put one full rotation on for 15 seconds, then take it off for 30. Repeat.
5. Hill, 30 second seated, 30 second standing, 4 gear changes
6. Hill, steady climb with 5 gear changes
7. Interval, 70% effort with 10 second sprint and 20 second recovery
8. Interval, one full rotation up, 3/4 down, repeat x 4
9. Interval, 6 changes, put on gear and sprint for 20 seconds, then relax for 30 and add next gear.
10. Hill, 30 second seated, 30 second standing sprint, 5 changes.
11. Cool down

I actually enjoy doing my own spin class more than going to a class. I've been noticing some really great improvements lately with my physique too. I am pretty sure I owe it 90% to strength training.  I want to tell all those girls in the gym that only do cardio that they are wasting so much time! Strength training really is the way to go.

Things I ate in the last few days:

Spinach salad with sprouted lentils and chickpeas

I made two spelt pizzas, one with my cashew cheese (on the left), and one with Daiya Mozzarella.  After Ryan and I both tasted them. The cashew cheese definitely one. Daiya tastes way too fake, and doesn't have as wholesome ingredients.

Add a few tablespoons of nutritional yeast to your sauce, it tastes amazing.

Homemade sauce with some brown rice noodles, mushrooms, and bell peppers.

I went for a run this morning before the gym. But I didn't wake up early enough to eat before hand so I ran on an empty stomach. Bad idea. I felt horrible the whole run. I did 7 km in 39 minutes and it was torture. Felt like I was running a marathon.

Tomorrow is my birthday, and I plan on eating lots and lots of vegan sweets, so I am having a very intense weights sesh and HIIT on the treadmill in the morning to make up for it! See you tomorrow with lots of yummy birthday pictures!!