UPDATE!!!

Hi hi hi hi everyone! I know I said I was back, and I promise I am..as always, I've been busy as a bee working full time and hittin the gym and enjoying the last few weeks of my summer. But I'm still here! Tonight is my VERY LAST NIGHT of summer and I cannot believe how fast it went :( 4 more semesters of college and I am officially done. So excited. Training for my competition has made me more motivated than ever to share my knowledge as well as learn from others, and has made me super excited to begin my career and see where it takes me!

I am currently 8 weeks out for my competition and am feeling pretty good. I've been getting to the gym 5 days a week, doing weights mixed with cardio 4 days a week and an hour of cardio on the 5th day. I've been focusing on doing high reps and light weights to really burn fat and tone up. Yesterday I started my new supplements for my competition and I should be seeing and feeling some new results within the next few weeks!

Derek and I went to our first NPC competition last night and I LOVED it. All the competitors looked really great and it made me more excited than ever to get my butt on stage. October 20th couldn't come any quicker! I didn't get many great pictures, but this is one of the pictures of the two girls who competed in the physique division 

I wanted to share with you guys a (genius) idea that I came up with today while shopping. Like I said, I've recently started using my new supplements, and there is a LOT of them to take. I am taking some in the morning, afternoon and evening. Having so many pills, I needed something to keep them all together but needed a way to determine which ones to take AM, afternoon and PM. Most pill containers only have an AM and PM slot, which for me, won't do. Also, the slots are usually pretty tiny and can only hold a few pills at a time. So...while shopping, I found an ICE CUBE TRAY with a lid to separate all my supplements! I use one row for AM, one row for afternoon, and one row for PM. Because it has a lid, I can shove it into my book bag and take it with me to school and not worry about missing my afternoon vitamins. The tray was 3.99 (most vitamin holders start at $10.00) - so it was a STEAL for me! Derek loved the idea and is going out to buy his own tray tomorrow :) 

For tonight's post, I wanted to share with you guys a new recipe that I've recently become in LOVE with. My diet has been extremely strict the past few weeks and is only getting stricter. I've been craving so many things, peanut butter being one of them. To satisfy my craving, I made peanut butter protein cookies (inspired by a fellow instagramer) ..and they were delissshh!! The recipe is SO easy, only a few ingredients, and takes about 5 minutes total to make. YUM!

Ingredients:

2 tbs All natural Peanut Butter

1 tbs honey

1 scoop Protein Powder of your choice (I used chocolate optimum nutrition)

1 tbs Water

Mix the peanut butter and honey together and microwave until bubbly (about 45 seconds)

Add scoop of protein to the honey/PB mix, stir until dry and crumbly. 

Add 1 tbs of water (or as much as you need until mix becomes of dough-like consistancy)

Mix together, roll into balls and place onto tray

Flatten balls with a fork as you would PB cookies

Freeze 45 minutes and enjoy! 

 

 

Do any of you guys have INSTAGRAM? It's a lot easier for me to share things with people through instagram lately. You guys can follow me at fitfelicia24 if you do and see all my progress pictures and recipes ! 

So guys, that's the update for tonight. I have another delicious protein recipe to share with you guys for tomorrow's post, so make sure you check it out! I know that summer is coming to an end, but even though you're not going to be frolicking in shorts and bikinis any longer, keep at your workouts and clean eating! Don't wait until new year's to start working out again, save your resolution for something far more interesting and original :) I'll be posting new workouts and yummy recipes for you guys in the next few posts to keep everyone motivated! I hope everyone is going to enjoy the last few weeks of their summer :) 

xxxox Fitness Felicia

The Benefits of Lemons...

Hello All! Not many takers on the contest so far? What's up with that?! Free stuff - who passes that up?! Come on all, let's get more pro-active here!!! <3

Let me start this post off by saying...T.G.I.F. It has been a very long, hot week. I am certainly looking forward to a weekend off to sleep in, relax, make good food, and exercise.

The picture I have above is a list of "negative calorie" foods. Negative calories mean that your body actually burns more calories digesting the food than the food is actually worth.

Have I told you guys how in love I am with lemon water? I drink (almost) a liter of it every day. I squeeze about one whole lemon into each tall glass of water that I have. I actually don't even care for lemons - not a fan of sour foods at all, but lemon has many benefits that are too good to pass up! I've been drinking lemon water for about 2 months now and have become accustomed to the taste. Regular water now actually tastes odd to me! Here are some benefits that you may have not known about lemons:

- Treats Acne 

Drinking lemon water, along with rubbing lemon juice on your irritated skin at night can help to prevent and eliminate acne. I've had acne problems since middle school - I have very sensitive and oily skin, but since I have been drinking lemon water (I occasionally put it on my skin), I haven't experienced any breakouts - at all. The citric acid (which is found in most acne cremes/washes) from the lemons help to treat your acne. Drinking lemon water is less effective in treating acne than applying lemon juice directly to your skin, but I have found that simply drinking lemon water has helped immensely. 

I found this lemon mix acne treatment on webmd.com:

· With your finger or a cotton ball, apply fresh lemon juice on acne and leave it overnight. Wash with water the following morning. There may be an uncomfortable sensation of burning at first, but it will soon disappear.

· Mix one part of freshly squeezed lemon juice with an equal part of rose or honey water. Put the mixture on affected areas for at least half an hour. Wash it afterwards with water. This application should be repeated twice daily, ideally in the morning and the evening.

                           -Promotes Digestion / Detoxification

Lemon juice works with the body as a natural detoxifier and digestive aid. Because lemon helps with digestion, the stomach becomes less bloated, gassy or inflamed, which allows your body to, in turn, burn fat at a faster rate. Apart from helping with digestion, lemons help to increase metabolism, which also helps with burning fat quicker. Many people think that lemons burn fat. Lemons, alone, do not burn fat, that is a big misconception. They do, however, work along with the body by aiding in digestion and decreasing inflammation in the stomach as well as increase your metabolism, which in the end, allows your body to burn more fat. 

-Fights Fatigue

Lemon juice helps to stimulate brain activity, making you feel more awake and alert. Take a few drops of lemon water if you are feeling fatigued to help "wake up" your brain. The smell of lemons also helps to stimulate brain activity. Many people use lemon oils in their homes or offices to help fight fatigue and feel more refreshed. 

-Gives you that "Good, Clean Feeling"

Lemon juice helps fight bad breath and mask odors from cigarettes, alcohol, onions, etc. Washing your mouth out with lemon water mid-day helps refresh your mouth, and activates your salivary glands to get rid of any "stale" breath. 

-Helps with Insomnia

I found this off webmd.com:

Several studies have found that lemon balm combined with other calming herbs (such as valerian, hops, and chamomile) helps reduce anxiety and promote sleep. In a recent double-blind, placebo-controlled study, 18 healthy volunteers received two separate single doses of a standardized lemon balm extract (300 mg and 600 mg) or placebo for 7 days. The 600 mg dose of lemon balm increased mood and significantly increased calmness and alertness
^I did not know this before, and will deffinatly have to give it a try. I use melatonin and valerian root (as you can see from my previous posts) usually to help with my sleep, but I'm curious to see how the lemon works!

Does anybody else have any knowledge about lemon water? As I said, I'm obsessed with it and drink it all the time. How about you guys? 

This picture is of how many lemons my waitress gave me one night when I went out to dinner (bless her!) recently. Usually when I ask for EXTRA, EXTRA lemons, waiters/tresses look at me oddly and put ONE extra slice on the rim of my cup. Seriously?!! BIGGEST PET PEEVE! JUST GIMMIE SOME LEMONS WHEN I ASK!!!! This waitress, however, heard me loud and clear (she also got a nice tip from me:) )!! I was so happy, I just had to take a picture :) 

P.S. - all these lemons went into ONE glass of water (ha ha). I know I go a little overkill sometimes, but hey! A girl's gotta have her some lemons!! Am I right?! 

How many of you love your lemon water or lemon remedies?!! 

Remember: there is a CONTEST going on right now (previous to this post) and all of you guys should definitely do it! Even if you don't win (which, the chances of you winning are actually pretty likely considering how many participants I have right now - 1 - lol) - you're helping to promote my site (something I deff need right now!) !!! And who doesn't wanna help their favorite Fitness Felicia ?? Hmmm?! 

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!! 

Talk soon,

Fitness Felicia <3 

Kookin' with Kale

Hey guys! Thanks for all the responses and motivating words yesterday! I really appreciate it :) I'm feeling a lot more motivated today, and am back in action. I took a long walk with Jackson today through some neighborhoods and handed out more personal training flyers. I've probably handed out 100 by now. No calls yet, but I'll keep waiting. All I need is just ONE client, and the flyers will be a success!

I added some new tabs at the top of my page, by the way! One of the tabs is a way you guys can contact me if you have any questions, advice, complaints, requests..etc. You can also find a link on there to follow me on pinterest and twitter. The other new page I created is a "get to know me" page. I just provided answers to some basic questions on there so you guys can get to know a little bit more about me. Let me know if you guys have any other questions for me!

Anywho! I was feeling a bit under the weather today, so I decided to skip the gym. Today would have been shoulders (one of my favorite days). Hopefully tomorrow I'll be feeling better and can get my sneakers back on and myself back into the gym!

Since I wasn't able to get into the gym today, I gave myself a cooking challenge...actually more like 2 cooking challenges. I've been reading a lot about the vegetable kale lately and have been wanting to try it. Kale is FILLED with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fiber. One cup of kale is only about 35 calories and has 5 grams of fiber. I've never tried kale before, and didn't even know what it looked like (it looks a lot like lettuce, except darker)! Just out of the blue the other day, my mom texted me a new recipe she wanted me to try, "kale chips." What a coincidence!!! It was then that I decided that making kale chips would be my next challenge!

The recipe is quite simple:

1 bunch of kale

1 tbs extra virgin olive oil

dash of garlic powder

dash of salt 

KALE

Preheat oven to 350

Wash and dry kale thoroughly

Cut the kale leaves off of the stem part of the kale and tear into bite-sized pieces.

After tearing the leaves, lay out onto a baking tray

Drizzle olive oil, salt, and garlic powder over the kale leaves

Bake for about 8-10 minutes, until the leaves start to turn brown around the edges

Cool and enjoy! 

The kale chips were....interesting. I've never tried kale before, so I wasn't even sure what kind of taste or texture to expect from the chips. They were very light and flaky almost. For a snack, these chips are great, but they aren't going to fill you up, that's for sure. I have A LOT of kale left, so I will be trying some other recipes with this veggie. If you like kale, try these chips. They're not "OMG delicious," but they are different for a snack, and extremely healthy and filled with nutrients. 

My next challenge of the day was zucchini and eggplant fries. I'd seen a recipe off pinterest for this snack and decided to give it a go! I've NEVER made eggplant by myself before, so cutting it up was a challenge in itself..I wasn't sure if you had to take out the seeds, or if it needed to be skinned..I was clueless. I basically just started chopping away and chopped the eggplant into a bunch of long, skinny fries. Is that how you cut an eggplant?

The ingredients for this recipe was also simple:

One whole eggplant

One whole zucchini

100% Whole Wheat bread crumbs

3 egg whites 

Pinch of onion powder

Pinch of garlic powder

Cut up the zucchini and eggplant into long, thin "fries"

Dip the fries into the egg whites, and then coat with the bread crumbs

Place out on a baking tray and back at 450 degrees for about 15 minutes (depending on how crunchy you want them)

Unlike the kale chips, these fries turned out "OMG delish!" They were so crunchy and yummy I couldn't stop eating them! These make a great snack or side dish at dinner. So, so yummy and I really recommend you make them. They were quick and easy to make and "OMG SO DELICIOUS!"

Try out these new recipes and let me know what you think!! Back to the gym tomorrow, everyone, and I'll have a new workout challenge ready! 

<3 Fitness Felicia