Sometimes you just need a cookie....

OK, so we're all human and sometimes you just need a cookie. Don't want to fall off the wagon and get started on the sugar kick again, or just erase the calorie deficit for the day (or week since it is awfully hard to have only one cookie once you get started.).
So....I cleaned up the cookie! Calories still count so indulge in moderation but without guilt as this recipe also provides some health benefits (ok, so some rationalizing going on...).



Dark Chocolate/Oatmeal/Peanut Butter Cookie

1/3 cup Olivio light

1/2 cup Agave nectar

1 egg

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/8 tsp. baking powder

1 cup old fashioned oats

1/2 cup natural peanut butter

1/2 cup Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

Roll dough into ~ 1 inch balls and flatten on baking sheet.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.

Makes about 30 cookies.

The breakdown (per cookie)

Calories: 77.5

Protein: 2 g

Carbs: 9.8 g

Fat: 3.5 g

Sugar: 4.6 g

And here's the health benefits of my cookies:  :)

Natural source of flavanol antioxidants from the 100% cocoa

Protein and healthy fats from the natural peanut butter

More healthy fats from the Olivio as it is made from olive oil

and everybody talks about the benefits of eating oats...

Give them a try as a healthier treat option but remember a cookie is still a cookie...

Healthy Favorite: Homemade Granola Bar

Looking for a new "bar" for a to-go snack? How about homemade granola bars? I treated my husband to a great cookbook, (though I think I have tried more recipes than he has...) Gourmet Nutrition by John Berardi from Precision Nutrition. Just baked a batch of the granola bars! They are great to cut up and put in snack bags to freeze for a good healthy snack to-go. I also enjoy the peanut butter crunch bars...also great to freeze for grab and go healthy, protein filled snack option.

The book can be used simply as a cookbook but also describes how to create a meal plan from its recipes including labeling each as anytime meals or post workout meals as well as giving good pairing options, referencing other recipes to create a more complete meal. Meal templates are also included to get you started.

Precision Nutrition's website has a great blog worth checking out for those really interested in the science of nutrition and health. Their website also offers free online/email courses that are full of great information, downloadable tools and the occasional free recipes from their cookbooks!

A clean and healthy nutrition plan is essential to living a fit and healthy lifestyle and achieving your transformation goals. Experiment with new recipes and food to find healthier substitutes you enjoy, you need to make preparing and eating healthy meals enjoyable!
Your long term success depends upon you recreating your attitude about eating to make a lifestyle change and stop "dieting!" Good luck and enjoy!

Gourmet Nutrition: The Cookbook for the Fit Food Lover

Cardio boost

We all can probably agree, when stuck inside doing cardio for the winter months it can get a little boring. Need to switch up the mode frequently for the interests of continued progress and not going insane and starting to avoid cardio just for the pure boredom factor.

I have found the solution to my getting a killer cardio workout without having to force it mentally the whole time. Using a variety of  Motiontraxx episodes, I have multiple options for upbeat music mixes guaranteed to kick your cardio up a notch without you even realizing what happened. Motiontraxx has been releasing some new mixes in recent weeks that I have found top all the other mixes I have tried. Some are available on iTunes and some are exclusive mixes with new sponsors. Motiontraxx can be found on iTunes, or at their own website Motiontraxx.com, and try 'liking' it on Facebook for updates on new episodes.

Got another killer cardio workout this morning using one of their new mixes "Precision Beats" sponsored by Polar Heart Rate Monitors, an interval mix for some HIIT without having to watch a timer as the music beats change and cue you to switch up the pace at the intervals. Believe me, just let the beat of the music guide you and you'll get a killer workout.  My other fave is the Push It Traxx that was sponsored by Powerbar, steady state cardio but easy to get lost in the beat and power through a great cardio workout!

Be sure to check out Motiontraxx and break out of your cardio rut!

Campaign to save the skinny fat...

Quotes heard in an Upstate NY gym: "I forced myself to do an hour and a half of cardio yesterday." "I'm dragging on this 1200 calorie diet." Please let me help you! These methods will only frustrate you, make you cranky and result in you being skinny fat...if you can stick with it long enough....regardless, a recipe for disaster. True if you can keep moving on 1200 calories and do more cardio the scale may drop but at what cost? Most likely loss of lean body mass (muscle), this is exactly what you want to preserve when trying to lose weight. Muscle is a metabolically active tissue, burning calories even while you are at rest. Why would you want to sacrifice this just to see a lower number on the scale? Also consider how much more aesthetically pleasing sculpted muscles are after losing the insulating layers of fat disguising them....can't firm up fat. By adding resistance training to you program you firm and sculpt more of the very tissue that will raise your metabolism to only further contribute to your weight (fat) loss success.
So, let's try another approach...lets try to focus on eating more nutrient dense foods and eat them more often to keep the metabolism humming and provide your body with the building blocks for muscle growth as you begin a resistance training program. Sounds like a win-win situation to me....a more interesting workout program including options from an endless list of possible strength training exercises, eating more all while building figure sculpting muscles and moving towards a healthier,  leaner and more efficient fat burning machine!
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Breaking plateaus

Oh, the dreaded plateau....they can be mental or physical plateaus and if you ask me it's difficult to say which are more frustrating, but if you can break through one generally a breakthrough in the other follows.
The physical plateaus in some ways are easier to tackle as the mental ones come will a lot of baggage that can be difficult to shake loose. But I find in tackling the physical plateau I also benefit from improved stress relief, maybe its from lifting heavy things at the gym (grunt) or a good sweaty cardio session but I also find myself feeling better about things in general after spending some time reassessing and reorganizing a workout and nutrition plan.

Let me help out with a few ideas to help you mix up your training program to get you started:

1. New exercise: Pick a new exercise for each body part, add a new one or swap out an old one
2. Vary your equipment/resistance : options include dumbbells, barbells, bodyweight, resistance bands, kettlebells, medicine balls, machines... no excuse to get bored here with so many options
3. Change the order of the exercises : simple enough and self explanatory, hit a different focus area at the beginning of the workout each week so you aren't performing the same exercises when fatigued every workout
4. Change your splits : try a new workout plan, upper/lower splits, push/pull splits or full body workouts.
5. Mix up your reps/sets: Try a new scheme, pyramids (ascending weight/descending reps then reverse) or drop sets (descending weights), supersets, heavy weight/low reps, lighter (not too light :) ) weights/high reps....
6. Change your tempo : Try slowing down your reps to increase the amount of time the muscle is under tension. New challenge!
7. Change the scenery : home or gym (trial free pass at a new gym, tag along with a friend on a guest pass) ...(I personally am looking forward to spring to take the workouts outside!)
8. Change the company : grab a a friend/training partner (new recruit :) to the fit lifestyle?) or go with your iPod!

The key is to change your parameters somehow to stimulate further muscle (and mental) growth. As you can see....really no excuse (except for laziness :) ) to allow a program to rest on a plateau. Spend a few minutes to mix up the plan, try any or all of the above suggestions and let me know how you do....I for one always feel more motivated after switching up the program.


Treat yourself to a new toy for a little motivation :)
GoFit 10-Pound Yellow Kettlebell with Vinyl Coating, Iron Core Training DVD and Exercise Booklet
GoFit GF-MB8 8lb Medicine Ball with DVD Training Session by Mark Verstegen
Bowflex SelectTech 552 Dumbbells
FitDeck Bodyweight
TRX Suspension Training Pro Pack