Healthy Happy and Free

Abs may come and go, but booty gains are forever. Well, not really, but it is more attainable and sustainable than a six pack of abs and it seems to be a big obsession in the fitness community right now. When I weighed less, I had a concave butt. It wasn't cute. I don't think people should strive to meet anyone's standards of beauty and fitness, but I personally wanted to make some gains! Also, strong legs and Glutes help with many activities in life in general. Most people tend to be quad dominant so it's very easy to allow them to take over. My tips (note: I am not a professional anything, but these are tips I found helpful) Mind muscle connection - focus on the squeezing the Glutes as you perform your exercises  Proper form - proper form ensures you're recruiting the Glutes and prevents injury  Do Glutes focused exercises regularly  Eat to grow!  Some of my personal favorite exercises: Deadlifts! I feel the Glutes squeeze even more in deadlifts t...

Do you track your macros? What's a macro? I'm by no means an expert on the subject, but I do loosely track my macros, or macronutrients. Macronutrients include Protein, Carbohydrates, and Fats. The IIFYM approach to eating basically means that you should eat micronutrient* dense foods for the most part, but you can enjoy other foods If It Fits Your Macros (IIFYM).  There is a common misconception that IIFYM promotes eating a lot of junk as long as it fits your macros, but from what I've read, that is not true. There is a balance needed as with everything. For example, I eat salad for lunch most days, vegetables at dinner, and snack on a lot of fruit, however, I usually have something "unclean" for dessert. Some days it might be two oreos, or some candy. Some days I have more "unclean" foods than others, but I am trying to gain weight right now, so it's easy for me to get plenty of micronutrients and still enjoy these treats.  Many peop...

Nut Butter Addict here. The first step is acknowledging it, right? But, I don't really think I'm going to be kicking the habit any time soon. I love trying all different kinds of nut butters and most recently, I tried out the Bliss Nut Butters brand. Cashew Nut Butter The cashew nut butter is made simply of cashews, sunflower oil, organic raw honey and sea salt. It tastes amazing! I love cashews so I love this flavor. It's a great balance of salty and sweet. It tastes very similar to the Flyjoy Cashew Cookie Dough energy bar! My only downside to this nut butter is that it doesn't melt but it is very obviously fresh and delicious! Texture shot of Cashew Nut Butter Hazelnut Butter with Cranberries Hazelnut with Cranberries texture  The next flavor I tried was the Hazelnut butter with cranberries. The first thing I noticed is that there was some oil on top, which is not unusual with freshly ground nut butte...

I don't know how it happened, but it's mid October and you know what that means. Pumpkin. Spice. Everything. I had been wanting to try a macro friendly pumpkin spice muffin for a while but I've been so busy! Thankfully, these are the EASIEST muffins ever! I used protein pancake mix as a shortcut but if you want to try from scratch, I would suggest subbing 1/3 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 scoop protein powder and 1/2 tsp baking powder - but I make no promises because I haven't tried that! Ingredients: 1/2 cup protein pancake mix (I used Kodiak Cakes brand)  1/2 cup pumpkin purée  1/4 cup liquid sweetener (I used Walden Farms maple walnut syrup)  1 egg white  1 tsp cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice  Pumpkin gbutter for glaze  Directions:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray or line a mini muffin pan.  Combine all ingredients except the gbutter, and mix with a mixer until thoroughly combined. If you used a different...

Everyone loves the idea of birthday cake flavored things but sometimes, the product falls a little flat or doesn't hit the nail on the head with flavor. You can't just add some rainbow sprinkles and call it birthday cake, people! Texture Shot - Baked Center The new kid on the block, Nitrotech Crunch bars, tackled this controversial flavor. The employee at GNC told me it was the best protein bar she's ever had, so obviously I had to give it a try. The calorie count is slightly higher than your average (i.e. Quest) protein bar. Macros: 240 cal 24c/7f/22p and the bar is 65g so I didn't think it was too bad!  The description says no added sugar, yet there's sugar and sucralose in the ingredients list so that's a bit confusing. It uses a blend of whey protein isolate, whey protein concentrate and milk protein concentrate for the protein source. It has a "baked" center with sweet white coating and pink drizzle. It sounds and looks a lot like the F...

You know how there's certain muscle groups you don't like working? For me, it's triceps so I had been neglecting them! I've decided to start focusing on them to improve. My workout split is Back/Shoulders/Abs, Glutes/Hamstrings, Triceps/Biceps/Abs, and Overall Legs. It's been working out pretty well so far! Here's what I did for tricep/bicep workout last week: Band assisted pull ups, neutral grip 4x12 Band assisted pull ups, narrow grip 4x12 Band assisted pull ups, wide grip 4x12 Band assisted chin ups 4x12 Push ups 4x15 (narrow, wide, regular, diamond) Tricep kickbacks 4x10 superset with Bicep curls 4x10 Tricep Dips 4x10 superset with Hammer curls 4x10 Skull crushers 4x10 superset with Bicep curl burnout 4x20 lightweight Tricep Dips amrap Those tricep dips at the end were killer! If you have any tips on working triceps or favorite exercises for them, let me know!

Perfect Bar That's quite a name to live up to. Is it perfect? The perfect bar brags non GMO, kosher, gluten free, good source of protein, refined sugar free and packed with 20 superfoods for vitamins and minerals. Where can you find it? The refrigerated section! That's how they stay fresh without junky preservatives.  So far, I've only been able to try Almond Butter, Carob Chip, and Almond Coconut. My favorite of the three was probably Carob Chip! It had a strong peanut butter flavor with a chocolate overlay. It was an interesting texture similar to the G2G bars and thankfully, I didn't taste the dried kelp.  Texture shot of Almond Butter flavor I also really liked the almond butter and it had a strong almond butter flavor, obviously, with a similar texture to the G2G bar again. It's chewy, dense and slightly crumbly.  The Almond Coconut was my least favorite of the three but still good. I think the texture was a bit dryer. It's been ...

Hannah Montana might have known what she was talking about when she sang: "nobody's perfect". Sure, we all know that no one is perfect, yet still, many people are "perfectionists", many people don't feel good enough. I know I've dealt with these feelings myself. I'm not good enough, strong enough, nice enough, fast enough, kind enough, generous enough, friendly enough, healthy enough, etc. Good enough for who? Why do I set these unattainable standards for myself? They only cause negative feelings. I sincerely try so hard to be "good" at everything I do. All you can do is your best. Nobody's perfect and if you spread yourself too thin, nothing will seem to be good enough. You could get burnt out. I think it's very important to have a good balance of taking care of responsibilities and being the best person you can be while not expecting yourself to be superwoman. Take time to relax and enjoy yourself, too. Balance and realist...

On the fly? Aren't we all? I know that I feel like I'm constantly going, going, going. So I need snacks to keep me going. Flyjoy bars are called 'quinoa energy bars'. Energy. I like the sound of that. Plus quinoa = healthy, right? While they also happen to be vegan (dairy free), gluten free, and non-GMO. The ingredients list is comprised of quinoa, chia, oats, flaxseed. Other ingredients vary by flavor but they utilize organic brown rice syrup and organic evaporated cane juice as sweeteners, so you will get that sugar kick but balanced out with the whole grains lasting energy. I first tried out Cherry Coconut Macaroon on top of a pint of Halo Top ice cream! The bar was delicious, sweet and chewy and is a perfect energy bar! I thought they would be great for hiking and pre-run snacks. Cherry Coconut Macaroon  The next flavor I tried was the Cashew Cookie Dough. Oh my goodness, the cashew cookie dough is so good! The perfect balance of salty and sweet!  ...