Ahhh don't ya love the smell of OATS in the mornin'??

Well my day started out great because I knew I was waking up to make a big bowl of my famous banana/blueberry/strawberry and chia seed oats with some eggwhites on the side!





This is a pic of the chia seeds in the pot, this is right before they are done, thats when i stir these little buggers in here!



Here is the big ole' bowl
1/2 cup old wessex 5 grain oatmeal
1/2 cup soymilk
1/2 diced banana
handful of blueberries and 4 diced strawberries (added in the end)
1 tbs chia seeds (added in the end)
vanilla extract
(not pictured) spoonful almond butter

I had my 3 eggwhites on the side, and of course I spilled on the cinnamon because i LOVE cinnamon on my eggwhites (if this looks gross, you need to try it before you judge hehe)



of course a morning doesnt go without a mug of coffee!! I am very fortunate that my uncle owns a coffee company in Costa Rica called Cafe Britt. It is the most amazing coffee! so we are spoiled and always have delicious Costa Rican Coffee! I had it with my Silk creamer which is my all time new favorite find!


This meal DEFINATELY fueled me for my awesome spin class!! I try to take at least one spin class a week, as I am obsessssseeeed with it!...I am even getting certified on October 17th! I cannot wait!


So I came back and decided to make a post workout smoothie to bring to work!
I ended up making another Mangolicious SMoothie, with some Protein Powder!

1 dollop chobani greek yogurt
1/2 C soymilk
1/2 C frozen Mango
1/2 Banana (not pictured because I decided to add it after!)
1 scoop all the whey cinnamon pp (sounds wierd in this shake but it was really yummy!)

I used the cinnamon from the sample pack I got from All The Whey!


ahhhhh This HIT.THE.SPOT!!! : )

LUNCHTIME!!!

It was a HUGE salad chock full of chickpeas, lettuce, red pepper, cukes, walnuts, grilled chicken, brocolli, and my homemade mango chutney dressing! wow this was a good one today and it totally filled me up! Those chickpeas really added a little pizzaz!

I also had a few strips ofthese guys on the salad that I picked up from Trader Joes last week. They have 12g of fiber per serving!! and are quite delicious! They are handmade which makes for an odd arrangement of bits and pieces of all different size pieces of fruit
PROS

• They are chock full of fiber, like I said 12g per serving!
• They are truly very tasty! not as sweet as other dried fruit, but just sweet enough (for me at least!)
• Easy to transport and throw in a ziplock baggie as a snack! pair it with some protein and you got a great meal! (i would like to try it diced up on cottage cheese!)

Cons

• They are loaded with sugar, 16g per serving and we all know with dried fruit its hard to have JUST one serving since they are so calorie dense
• Although tasty, they are a bit chewy/..it took me a few minutes to chew it down to size till I was OK to swallow, at that point I almost thought 'this wasn't worth it'

overall I think I will be purchasing them again! I would give them a 7 out of 10

Lets Talk HIIT!

Are you short on time? Are you looking to make the most out of your cardio workout? Are you looking to burn fat? Well then, HIIT may be your exercise of choice! HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training. It is a form of interval training cardio that is performed at such a high intensity that your body will take the rest of the day expending energy to recover.

HIIT performed properly is is defined as something so intense you cannot keep up with it for more than about 60 seconds. Because you can only do this for 60 seconds at a time, you are correct that HIIT is always done in intervals. Sprint, rest, sprint, rest etc hence the name High Intensity Interval Training!





When you perform HIIT, your body will like I said, spend the rest of the day expending energy burned from your intense workout. EPOC , (which stands for Exercise Post Oxygen Consumption) is something that takes place in your body once you have performed intense exercise, and it relates to how long you burn fat after you have worked out. Depending on how hard and intense you perform your intervals will decipher the duration of EPOC. For example, with steady state cardio *yawn* your EPOC will only be effective for a few minutes prior your low intensity ellipitcal workout, BUT with HIIT, your EPOC could last up tot a day and a half if performed the right way. SO, during your 'work' part of the interval, you better be kickin' ass!! : )

Benefits of HIIT

When you are performing steady state cardio, you are puttin yourself in a catabolic state in which you could acutally lose muscle mass. Yes, some of that hard earned muscle may in fact get lost in your goal to shed fat.

HIIT will help to accelerate overall fatt loss and improve both aerobic and anerobic. All in all, it will show you great results in a short period of time!


HIIT works the body in a way that steady state cannot. When you are constantly tricking the body with the intervals, this allows for overall higher intensity of exercise therefore kicking up your results!

When should I do HIIT?

HIIT should not be performed everyday, but rather consecutive days. Since the goal of HIIT is to go all out, high intensity, your body and muscles need time to recover and replenish from the workout. The benefits to your workout happen during the rest period, so be sure to rest those hard earned muscles!!

HIIT workout

Interval Jog (~60%) Sprint (~90-95%)

1) 60 sec-- 30 sec
2) 60 sec-- 30 sec

3) 60 sec-- 30 sec

4) 60 sec-- 30 sec

5) 60 sec-- 30 sec

Repeat cycle 3 times for a 20 minute HIIT workout
Cooldown: 5 min and stretch!!!

Dont forget to refuel your body with a post workout meal combonation of carb's and protein. Here is one of my favorite post workout smoothies!

Bananalicious protein shake!

1/2 banana
1/2 C skim milk or soy milk
1 scoop chocolate or vanilla protein powder
few shakes of cinnamon
few shakes of vanilla extract
ice and water

Blend and enjoy!