Monthly Archives: November 2016

Chocolate Pumpkin Protein Muffins

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I am leaving for the weekend and needed a quick on the go snack to bring with me.  I decided to clean out my cupboards and create a healthy protein muffin that I can replace any meal with as needed.  It has been awhile since I posted a recipe and if you follow my blog you know protein muffins are one of my favorite things to make.  Today’s creation turned out so good I had to share (chocolate pumpkin heaven good!).  I used the chocolate protein powder I had in my house but you could make these with whatever brand you have or love. It is still officially fall so pumpkin is a staple in all recipes, right?  Who doesn’t love pumpkin!?!? (and chocolate, who doesn’t love pumpkin and chocolate!?!? oh, and protein, who doesn’t love chocolate, pumpkin and protein !?!?)

Here is what you need (I basically pulled a shit ton of ingredients out of my cupboards and mixed them together until I loved the taste and consistency. I manually create a recipe in myfitnesspal and enter them as I go. This gives you the macro breakdown and keeps track of the recipe in case I want to re-create it or post it):

  • 1 1/2 cup all natural canned pumpkin
  • 3 servings of liquid egg whites
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 3 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • 10 tsp stevia
  • 2 scoops chocolate whey protein
  • 1 scoop chocolate casein protein
  • 1 tbsp chia seeds
  • 2 tbsp flax seeds
  • 1 cup oatmeal
  • 3 tbsp cocoa
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tbsp dark chocolate chips

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How to make:

  1. Mix all the wet ingredients together in large bowl.
  2. Add in dry ingredients one at a time, mix well.
  3. Scoop into lined muffin cups (I use parchment paper liners, the rest stick).
  4. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes until done in center (be careful not to over cook, they will be dry).

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Today I am 36

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So at what age do birthdays no longer really matter?  Was it 31?  Yeah, 31 was the age when we stopped celebrating and started wishing we could turn back the clock.  We will celebrate again at 40 and 50, but really you just have a huge party to dull the pain of getting old.  #truth

To be honest, I kind of feel like I have always been in my 30s and never really lived out my younger years.  I don’t mind saying I am 36 but I would like my skin and metabolism to start acting like it was 26 again.  I leaped from teenager to adult my senior year in high school when I gave birth to my first son.  Now at 36 I am a mother of an 18 year old, 12 year old and 10 year old.  I am searching for colleges and planning a high school graduation while the rest of my friends are still changing diapers and stepping on Legos.

Overall I am pretty satisfied with where I am at in my life right now.  As I look back I guess I kind of took the express path to adulthood: At 17 I became a mother, at 21 I bought my first house, at 22 I met my husband, at 23 I had my second son, at 24 I was married and at age 25 I graduated from college and gave birth to my 3rd son.   The past 10 years have been a struggle with balancing career and family.  I worked full time in the pharmaceutical field in Quality Control, Quality Assurance and Technical Operations.  A year ago I started to feel hopeless and unsatisfied with my career and yearned to be home more with my family.  I followed my passion and became a personal trainer and Beachbody health coach.  I now work part time doing what I love and have much more time to get involved with my kids day to day activities.

So what is this birthday girl going to do today to celebrate?  Well, the usual.  Cook my boys breakfast, workout, work and then end the night with a steak dinner at our favorite local restaurant called The Chophouse.  I hope to get the new fitbit blaze for my birthday but that is just a wish.  My husband isn’t the best with following instructions, lol.

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Off Season Struggles

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Well, it is official, I am in the off season and it has been over a month since my last competition.  My abs disappeared, cellulite is creeping back on my ass and I have a love/hate relationship with my body.  On a positive note, I am not “hangry” all the time and I have been able kill my workouts because I am not in a calorie deficit.  For those of you that don’t compete or are not familiar with the world of competitive body building this may all sound crazy to you.  For my fellow competitors, I am probably speaking your language.  My plan for the off season is to focus on building muscle, specifically in my back and legs, while maintaining my weight at about 10 lbs over stage weight.  I would like to come in even leaner next year so I do not want to put on more than 10 lbs.  I have a difficult time dropping 1-2 lbs per week during prep and hate, hate, hate cardio.

This off season is different than my other ones.  Before I didn’t really know what I wanted and I chose to compete again because I started to put on too much weight and missed the structure and control that I felt during prep.  This year I have goals, big goals.  I want to win a first overall and not just first in Master’s Division (35 and over).  I also really would like to compete in a larger show and in my home town of Grand Rapids.  Memorial Day weekend of 2017 is my plan.  That is the Grand Rapids show and it is big.  That gives me 6 months to start building and shaping my body to bring my best package to the stage.

Anyone want to join me?

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This is my front pose at the 2016 Great Lakes Iron Man.  I took 1st in Master’s Division and 3rd in Open at this show.