Aug
12th

Today, I made pancakes for dinner. I actually planned to make blueberry banana pancakes but I came home and all the blueberries were gone! It was all good though because I just heated some strawberries on the stove with lemon juice and Splenda to make a quick and yummy syrup.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Banana
• 1/2 cup Quaker oats
• 2 egg whites
• 1/4 cup Fat-Free Cottage Cheese
• 1/8 teaspoon Baking Powder
• Drizzle of Splenda
• Dash of Cinnamon
• Dash of Vanilla Extract
• Dash of Salt

1. Blend it all together in your blender until smooth.
2. Spray a pan with non-stick spray & cook.

Note: I found this recipe on a Tumblr. If it was yours, let me know and I’ll link back.

Aug
11th

Aug
11th

The Warriors!

Last Saturday’s Warrior Dash BC timelime:

• Stomach flips when I see the hills while going up to the course on gondola.
• Needs to pee really bad. Almost suffocates in outhouse.
• Talks to people who went in previous waves who’ve already finished the race; advised us to walk up the first hill and be sure to have good shoes for the steep downhills. Starts worrying.
• Almost dies from extreme nervousness at start line while looking up the 2km hill we had to run up.
• Whistle blows… guys shoot past me.
• I go, “f**k this.” So much for trying to keep up with them.
• Manages to jog up half of the hill but only to turn the bend and sees more hills … and more hills. Totally demoralizing.
• Thighs burning, heart about to give out. Tempted to crawl up the rest of the way.
• Wants to shoot self.
• Keeps on saying to myself, “I’M NOT A F**KING WARRIOR!!“
• 2km later, somehow managed to push myself to the top without stopping.
• Sees Boyfriend waiting at top for me. He had to forfeit racing with the guys because he knew I was going to have a lot of trouble going downhill because of my bad knees. ♥
• Climbs over walls and under barbed wire, up cargo nets, over a plank, more hills (but not as bad)… the rest of the course was okay (except for the downhills) but I took it real easy.
• Kicks mud in boyfriend’s eyes while passing him in the mud pit. NOT ON PURPOSE, I SWEAR.
• Crosses finish line… before Boyfriend (while he was momentarily blinded by mud). Hyukhyukhyuk.
• Secretly satisfied because I never beat Boyfriend in anything (but I knew if he actually tried, he would’ve been at least 10 minutes ahead of me).

People did this race for fun but I wanted to see how far I could push myself.

I was disappointed.

I was NOT ready for this. I went into this with no research, not knowing how long it was (5km) and not expecting that many hills. I just thought, “OOH WARRIOR DASH! SOUNDS FUN!“ I haven’t been doing ANY long distance cardio training for over a month; I’ve been doing Crossfit, plyometrics, sprints and basically anything and everything that trains my fast twitch muscles but nothing where I had to test my endurance for a long period of time.

I wasn’t my usual self and could not push myself hard enough to move faster. I knew I could’ve achieved a much better time but I had to slowly walk all the downhill parts because of my bad knees so the fact that I knew I wouldn’t get a good time didn’t help either, otherwise I knew I would’ve pushed myself ten times harder! I also only had a piece of toast and couple eggs for breakfast so I wish I fueled up more.

Results:

• My time was 38:24.90
• Placed 60th in my age group
• 1313/3913 overall =(

Despite not being prepared for it, I had so much fun and can’t wait to do it again next year!

The Course

Did I mention I ate poutine almost everyday that weekend? Almost. I had to gather up some major willpower to walk past it on Saturday night. I swear, I ate more pasta that weekend than I usually do in a year though.

Aug
9th

Aug
4th

If you stop fighting and accept something it loses its influence and power over your life… What I found was that if people accept craving for chocolate as human behaviour, just something that happens to them, then you take the fight out of it. It takes the pressure off

• Don’t eat anything that took more energy to ship than grow.
• We all know that old advice about shopping only the outer perimeters of the supermarket because that’s where all the fresh produce are. The center is filled with delicious and brightly-colored processed foods which you should be avoiding. And you know how they say “don’t go grocery shopping with an empty stomach?” They are so right.
• Never eat something that’s pretending to be something else (eg. “no chocolate” chocolate sauce, low-fat sour cream).
• Limiting foods in your diet leads to failure. If you can’t get that damn piece of chocolate out of your mind, just eat it! Don’t believe me? Read this article on the study.

• Lack of sleep can make you fat.
• It’s easier to stay in shape than get in shape.
• “Skinny girls only look good in expensive clothes, but strong girls look good in NOTHING.”

Chewing is the No. 1 tip I give to prevent bloating. Chew food until it is like applesauce in your mouth. Digestion begins in the mouth, and without proper chewing, food is not well-digested. Better-digested food means less gas and bloating.

—Dawn Jackson Blatner, RD, author of The Flexitarian Diet