Delicious Honeyed Peaches

Ok. Want something super easy and so so delicious?

Take a peach. Cut it in half and ditch the pit.

Score the top with a knife (just random slashes are fine) and drizzle with a little honey.

Pop em in the oven, broil for a few minutes, and eat!

You can also add cinnamon and/or nutmeg.

Seriously yummmmmmmm :)

Everyone has different reasons to exercise

We all have different reasons for exercising and trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle. I do it for the things I can do and the way I feel. I love to be able to climb and jump and pick up heavy things and race my husband down the road and do a women-only race and rope swing and on and on and on. I also love feeling strong and healthy, the feeling of setting a new PR, and feeling accomplished and disciplined.

Those aren’t the only good reasons to exercise, but they are mine. Other people exercise for looks and appearance, for competition, for comradery, for health or weight loss, and for a whole host of other reasons. Which is awesome.

Two things I found (and liked) on this topic:

First, for the people who want to be really lean.

I have a lot of respect for people who can be that lean. But so many people want it (thanks, media and unrealistic expectations) without realizing what goes into it. For some people, what it really takes is worth it. For most people, it’s not.

Second, for women who think they will get bulky and mannish if they lift.

Again, certain people like the very-muscular look, and it works for them. For most people, however, the amount of work that has to go into that level of strength and size isn’t going to happen, so it’s a completely unnecessary worry :).



Now I’m going to go and eat a cupcake.

Thoughts on eating

Typing is still a little difficult (arm surgery) at the moment, but I've read two things I really liked lately :)



"Being the reigning Queen of Cardio causes quite a voracious appetite, and I was gobbling down all of the food.

Breakfast: 400 calories
Lunch: 400 cals
Snack: 200 cals
Dinner: 17,865* cals

*possibly an overly generous estimation, but you get the point."

-from Girls Gone Strong


Sooooooo relate-able haha



"Sure, if a particular nutrition idea — like Paleo or vegetarianism — worked for you personally, that’s awesome. You should be happy you found something that helped you reach your goals.

But to suggest that because it worked for you, at one point in your life, under a particular set of circumstances, now everyone else should follow the same program isn’t just narcissistic. It’s the antithesis of good coaching."

By John Berardi, Ph.D. Paleo, vegan, intermittent fasting... Here's how to choose the best diet for you.


Yes. Yes. I hate it when people act like nutrition is one-size-fits-all.

Oat-Chocolate-Peanut Butter Energy Bites

I guess you could call them that. What they really are is delicious balls full of every delicious thing that combine into deliciousness in your mouth. I guess they are like a healthier version of no bake cookies?

Whatever they are, they taste fantastic (just ask the anonymous voters at my work's healthy potluck today). I got the idea here and modified it to this:

-1.5 c oats
-3/4 c coconut flakes
-1/2 c peanut butter
-1/3 c honey
-1 t vanilla
-1 T chia seeds
-dark chocolate chips

Mash em all together and roll em into balls. I refrigerate, and then enjoy!

Welp, now I'm craving these, off to stuff my face!

Spinning - our latest obsession

So our latest "thing" is going to spin class together (isn't he great??). Since it's winter, and since I married a cyclist, it just makes sense, eh? The endorphin high, the drenched-in-sweat car ride home together, the feeling of doing something that's working our hearts so well... and staying in shape during the off-season is obviously a plus :)

(our last 2 classes together)

(and a picture of back when it was warm... just to remind us why we do this to ourselves :))


Adore him :)

Amazingly Delicious Bran Muffins

Ok so it's no secret that I love to bake. Every once in a while, I come across a recipe that I will keep forever and ever and ever and I want the whole world to know about it because it's so freaking delicious.

This is one of those.

These bran muffins cure cancer, make your hair long and your nails strong, and instantly make you lose 10 lbs. Not really, but they taste good enough to make you think those things are true.

They also freeze well, I've eaten them months later and they were STILL amazing.



Amazing Bran Muffins

1.5 cup wheat bran
1 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup natural applesauce
2 egg whites
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 t vanilla
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup wheat flour
1 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
(opt.)
craisins
walnuts
honey

-Pre-heat your oven to 375F, and spray muffin tin liners (yes, spray the liners).
-Mix the wheat bran and buttermilk, let stand for 10 mins.
-Beat together applesauce, egg whites, b. sugar, and vanilla
-Mix with buttermilk mixture.
-Stir dry ingredients into mixture until just blended.
-Fold in craisins and walnuts.
-Bake 14-15 mins until toothpick comes out clean.
-Brush with honey immediately out of the oven.

And voilà! Delicious, amazing bran muffins!




This is a frozen muffin. Yum.

Fitness Gems

Working out. There are so many benefits: the high after a great session, looking great, better health, being stronger, and, let's all be honest, cute workout clothes and sweet equipment/accessories.

Working in the fitness world, it gives me a great opportunity to discover awesome little gems to help on the fitness journey. From bags to books to the cutest freaking sports bras out there, I'm always on the hunt to find items that are cute, functional, helpful, and/or motivating (because who doesn't feel motivated when you've got something totally awesome to try out/wear??).

These are some of my favorite finds.

Let's start with my all-time favorite gym bag. Originally, I fell in love with this bag, but its price tag was a complete turn-off. I mean, really, I use my gym bag as a work bag and I still couldn't justify it. Thankfully, I found this as a replacement. So cute, the perfect size (as a small person, I have no use for a giant gym bag - but if large size is important to you, this isn't gonna work) for all my workout clothes/food/shower stuff/water bottle and blender bottle/etc, and the right amount of pockets to keep it all organized. Love love love it. Got it in Jungle Green from the REI website.



So in that gym bag, I bring my protein powder. The huge 5 lb canister is definitely not something I want to lug around, though, so I tried a few different ways of packing it. Tupperware, plastic baggies, and just pouring the powder into my empty blender bottle weren't really floating my boat... and then I found this. Created for moms to carry around infant formula, each little section is the perfect size for a scoop of powder. I can just open the little spout, pour in the contents (one or two sections, depending on the day), and be done with it. Brilliant.



When it comes to fitness, nutrition, and exercise, writing things down is a huge deal. Tracking your workouts, your meals, your goals, and just about anything else makes a huge difference - you feel more accountable, you have an easy way to track your progress, and you can use it as a motivation tool. You can use an app, an excel sheet, an empty notebook, or just about anything else... but I love this fitness journal. It's got places to track meals and snacks, macros, cardio and strength training workouts, vitamins and supplements, glasses of water, and more. Love it.



So next is a little timer that I started using for teaching Tabata classes, and now I love it for any interval workouts that I do. You can set the length of time for each interval and the time for the rests in between, and you can set the number of rounds you want to do. So rather than watching a clock or stopwatch, this little guy just beeps/vibrates to let you know when to switch.



Finally, clothes. That's another can of worms entirely, one I'll address later, but for now I'll leave it at this - I'm obsessed with Lululemon. I'm not in love with their prices, but for a couple of these items, it's worth biting the bullet and totally rocking the cutest workout clothes ever. Loooooooove.




Now don't you just feel so motivated? :)

A Breakfast Recipe

Ok, I tried to avoid the quinoa phase. I really did. Even though I was tempted by it's cute little shape and high protein content, I hate that every few months there is some new "superfood" that pretty much claims that, if you eat it everyday, you will never die becuase it will make you so crazy healthy. Yeah. So, I said "no" to quinoa for quite some time.

But then it presented itself as a breakfast food. Man, I sure do love breakfast. So I yielded.

Boy, I'm glad I did.

This is like oatmeal on delicious delicious steriods. It's got all the best flavors - almonds and raspberries and brown sugar and cranberries... I mean, how was I supposed to resist? (I wasn't.)

So here you go, my new favorite breakfast recipe:

1 cup dried quinoa (pre-rinsed or rinse it yourself)
2 cups water
1/3 cup milk
brown sugar, to taste
dried cranberries
toasted almonds, slivered
fresh raspberries

So basically you boil the quinoa in the water until there's no more water, then stir in the milk and however much brown sugar you need, then dump on cranberries, almonds, and raspberries to your heart's desire (I probably used a half cup of each)... then you eat and die of happiness.

Simple, delicious, healthy, and happy.... and did I mention delicious????