P90X Healthy Yam Protein Muffins

I have been having a hard time blogging today and adding my recipes because my little one is really sick. She is sleeping now, so it's time to get some recipes up.

For those of you sticking to the diets from Beachbody and getting tired of eating the same old same old yam.. Ya know? The ones you bake in the oven and after 60 days of doing this you want to, well barf. Well, my husband gagged on his saying "I can't take it anymore" hehe.. So he still needs his carbs and it is convenient and cheap if you are watching your budget.. Here's a spin off the old yam...

Healthy Yam Protein Muffins

mmmmm :0)

Ingredients 

3 cups mashed yams

6 egg whites

2 scoops vanilla whey protein

1 T cinnamon

2 tsp all spice

1 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt 

Directions

1. Pierce 3-4 yams with a knife a few times and place in microwave for 10 minutes.

2. Place yams in mixer and mix until yams are mashed. The skin usually separates at this point and I take out about half the skin. 

3. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. 

4. Place mixture in muffin tins and bake for 20 minutes at 350. 

This made 12 muffins, each with about 70 calories, 10g carbs and 7g protein. 

Calories. How many should you intake a day?

I wanted to touch base with everyone and their nutrition. I hear way too often that people are going to go on a diet and start counting calories. While counting calories is very important so you know exactly what you are eating, but eating too few calories a day is putting yourself at risk. I was talking to someone yesterday about her nutrition. She hasn't been working out and wants to start and eat healthier. I asked what she was interested in and what her plan was. Her plan was to eat around 1200 calories a day. At her weight and height, this is going to put the body in starvation mode and she will never acquire the results she wants!!! 

Everyone has different caloric needs because everyone is different; genetics, age, gender, body size, muscle mass and activity level.

Everyone has a resting metabolism rate or RMR, which is how many calories are required to keep the brain, heart, lungs and other organs functioning if a person did nothing else. Then you calculate how many more calories are needed to support your daily activities and exercise regimen.

In general it's 25 to 35 percent more than RMR.

If you are only in-taking 1,100 calories a day, sure you will lose weight easy at first, but the pounds will stop coming off or not coming off fast. You will begin to feel stressed, anxiety and sick. Why? Because you were starving yourself. 

When your body goes into this starvation mode, and your body will hold onto any extra fat to survive. Not a great thing if you are trying to lose weight and gain lean, toned muscles.          

Sign up here to go to meal planner to figure out your calories                                                             

1. Calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) using one of the equations below:
   Men (Imperial Units/United States): BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + (12.7 x height in inches ) – ( 6.76 x age in years ) = ________
   Men (Metric Units): BMR = 66 + ( 13.7 x weight in kg ) + ( 5 x height in cm ) – ( 6.76 x age in years ) = ________
   Women (Imperial Units/United States): BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches ) – ( 4.7 x age in years ) = ________
   Women (Metric Units): BMR = 655 + ( 9.6 x weight in kg ) + ( 1.8 x height in cm ) – ( 4.7 x age in years ) = ________
2. Determine your current fitness level:
   Sedentary: little or no exercise
   Lightly Active: light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week
   Moderately Active: moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week
   Very Active: hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week
   Extra Active: very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training
3. Calculate the number of calories that you require in a day based on BMR and fitness level:
   Sedentary:  Daily calories needed= BMR x 1.2    = __________
   Lightly Active: Daily calories needed= BMR x 1.375  = __________
   Moderately Active:  Daily calories needed= BMR x 1.55  = __________
   Very Active: Daily calories needed= BMR x 1.725    = __________
   Extra Active:  Daily calories needed= BMR x 1.9  = __________
4. Compare. Use a journal to track your caloric intake against your actual weight – this is really the only way to know for sure!

People always tend to "freak" out when they see that they should be consuming the correct number of calories because either they look at the nutritional guidelines on the back of food and it says "based on a 2,000 calorie diet." Obviously not everyone should be eating 2,000 calories. Some more, some less. Or you take for example someone eating to few calories, and they know nothing about nutrition and say to themselves, "What? I'm not eating that much or I'll gain weight!!" 

That's not true! If you are following a proper nutritional diet per say, your metabolism kicks into high gear and burns the extra fat! 

I found that in the past, I was one of those people. I starved myself to a certain extent (not realizing it), and could not get the scale to go down. I did this equation and thought the same thing. After getting frustrated and feeling like crap all day, everyday, I decided maybe I should give it a try. I instantly starting seeing a difference! I not only felt better, but my body was easily able to shed off extra fat and gain lean muscle. 

Beachbody has put a lot of science in all of their nutritional plans. I love the P90X plan because it's simple to follow and I'm not left hungry. I'm eating more and losing weight. If it didn't work, people wouldn't be ranting and raving about their results! 

Remember, if you have any questions, please contact me. I can help you achieve the results you want and answer any questions you may have. I'm not an expert, but based on personal results of my own and helping others and seeing them aspire in their weight loss goals, I know it works.

Pumpkin Protein Bars

I am definitely on this pumpkin kick and wanted to share the protein bars recipe with you!! These are great to take along to events!! 

PUMPKIN PROTEIN BARS

• Ingredients:
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 1/2 cups oat flour
• 4 scoops vanilla protein powder
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp all spice
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 egg whites
• 15oz raw pumpkin (If you don't have that available, use libby's)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk

Directions:

1. Combine wet ingredients in one bowl, and dry in another.

2. Whisk wet ingredients into dry.

3. Place batter in a prepared 8x8 Pyrex dish

4. Sprinkle cinnamon on top

5. Bake for 25-30 minutes 

My Story and My Turning Point

Hey everyone!! People keep asking me what I am doing with my crazy workouts and recipes for eating clean so I figured I could at least give everyone some insight on who I am, my life and goals for the future.

Being healthy has always been a relatively easy concept for me. I have for the most part tried eating healthy and workout. However, as we all know, life throws obstacles in your path and slows you down. My journey started back when I was 18 and found out I was pregnant with my son. Scared and alone, I got through it and delivered a healthy baby boy. I managed to get a job at a local gym and went to school full time at night. Money was tight and raising a child through those circumstances were hard. I had gained 45 to 50 pounds during my pregnancy and really didn't know what to do to get the weight off. After taking advantage of the fact that I worked in a gym, I slowly got back to my pre pregnancy weight.

By the time my son had turned 20 months, I thought my life was on the right track as I met my future soul mate. Dean and I only knew each other for a week and he left to go to Iraq as a contractor. We hardly talked, but when he came home on RR 4 months later we fell more in love with each other and started talking about getting married!! (Crazy, I know!) He left and went back to Iraq and I continued my journey as a single mom. I slowly started noticing that I was smaller than I was at that point weight wise than I had ever been in high school. It wasn't because I was working out, but because I wasn't eating enough. I started getting severe migraines and was never feeling energized. When Dean came back 4 months since the last time I saw him, we got engaged, moved into a new house and started our lives with getting married just several months later.

Now I am playing wife and mommy. I was happy and no longer stressed. I got comfortable and started putting a few pounds on here and there. It wasn't long though that we found out that I was pregnant with our little girl. Every night, I was sending my poor husband to the store for ice cream and candy bars. I craved greasy fattening foods. I gained yet again, 50 pounds after she was born. At this point, I was forced to quit my job as we couldn't justify me working and paying daycare for 2 kids. The stress started hitting us big time. My husband worked full time and we decided that he needed to go to school to better his career as an Accountant. Totally broke, staying at home full time with the kids, and Dean never being home with work and school, the depression starting kicking in with an overwhelming anxiety feeling. My weight at that point was not a concern to me, yet every time I looked in the mirror I was disgusted.

The migraines starting coming on more and more and lasting for days. Deciding that I needed to do something about this, I started Jillian Michaels and started counting calories but really still eating what I considered healthy. I got my weight back down, but still felt like crap and tired. Every time we turned a corner, life lessons kept smacking us in the face. We tried everything and I thought I found the answer within our financial problems and started couponing. Things started to get better, I got pregnant with our third child then I started eating all the junk food I was getting for free from couponing.

I didn't put on as much weight this time around. But once our son was born, dealing with 3 kids alone proved to be a challenge. I just never had the time to even want to workout. Not to mention the migraines were getting so bad that I was lucky enough to pull through taking care of the kids. The weight started to creep up

                 THE TURNING POINT...............................................................

A friend of ours let us borrow the P90X program later that year. I was commited after seeing all of the youtube videos of real people documenting their results. I tried to follow the diet plan to the best of my knowledge and thought the easiest thing I can do is eat chicken and drink protein shakes. I stuck to the workouts and was amazed at the results in the end. Unfortunetly, I didn't have the before pictures taken because I was too embarrassed and really didn't know if the program would produce the results I wanted. I lost all of my weight and more by day 60. I was so excited!! Following P90X, I attempted insanity and while it was a great workout, I just didn't dedicate myself to it. I hated cardio!! So I switched to Brazil Butt Lift and fell in love with the program. When summer came, I let all my hard work go so I could enjoy being outside with my kids. I still watched what I ate and didn't gain any weight. My husband and I also took the time to remotivate ourselves for the fall to get back into the routines of working out and really started to research BeachBody a little more. It was amazing what we found. We have always wanted to get shakeology as it did wonders for us when we had previously tried it. Problem is we still couldn't afford it. 

Once school started back up this fall, Dean and I were really motivated into starting a program and REALLY get on track with our eating. We both joined challenge groups to get advice. I started with Brazil Butt Lift since I love that workout and followed P90X Fat Shred diet to a T. Dean is doing Body Beast and is getting excellent results even for not doing it that long! Motivated, eating healthy, both of us getting crazy results; I am proud to say that we ordered shakeology yesterday. Dean also became a coach and I will be following him next month. Both of us want to spread the word that you can be the person you want to be and it doesn't have to be hard and confusing. We want to relate to people to help them realize that they are not alone and that anything is possible. It's the dedication you put behind it to achieve the results you want. 

Since I started working out and eating healthy, my energy is back and the feeling of being zoned out is gone! For the first time in years, I don't deal with migraines!! If you are wanting to change your life or you have questions about where to begin, please don't hesitate to contact me or Dean.