Pumpkin Spice Protein Pancakes

Happy Fall everyone! I wanted to post a recipe blog since I haven't done that in a while and I feel it is the perfect time of the year to post a pumpkin flavored recipe. I see everywhere I go there is food that is just being bombarded with pumpkin! I know fall is the time of the year for it but I think its gotten a little out of hand with some of the pumpkin flavored food I have come across. You name it, some company has infused pumpkin flavor into it. In my own personal opinion, I think its a bit overboard but hey, people buy the stuff! Any ways, with all the pumpkin foods out right now, I decided to try my own variation of a pumpkin protein pancake that I have seen people make on Instagram and through another website I like to look at, rippedrecipes.com If you get a chance, check it out for some awesome healthy meal ideas and snacks. With a little tweaking of ingredients, here is my version of Pumpkin Protein Pancakes that I cannot get enough of! Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup 100% pumpkin
1/2 cup oatmeal (ground up into flour)
1 scoop protein powder (vanilla and chocolate both work)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 egg whites
3 packets Truvia 

Directions:
Mix all ingredients into a bowl to make a thick batter. Heat a pan of the stove with medium heat. Spray pan with non stick cooking spray and pour batter onto pan into desired sized pancakes. The above ingredients yields roughly 3 regular size pancakes. 

Macro-nutrients:
Calories: 344
Protein: 38g
Carbohydrates: 52g
Fat: 5g

Its been a while...

From the title post you can probably guess what this small blurb is going to be about. So its been a while since I have been on blogger and I definitely should have not let that happen. For one, I feel like if there were people out in this crazy cyber world that were reading my blog they were all probably wondering where I went and did I fall off the the face of the earth. I am still here and continue to be here for a couple of different reasons. 

When I started blogging I was enjoying it because it gave me a way to express what is on my mind and share it with people. I originally started this blog so I could share my journey with people into my first bodybuilding competition. It was going great until I decided to slam the breaks on that and wait until next year to do a show. At that point, which was just a couple of weeks ago things started to go downhill for me personally. I decided since I was not doing a competition any more I can let up on my diet and start enjoying the foods around that I have deprived myself of for so long. It was especially easy for me to do this with the fall season approaching and all the apple and pumpkin flavors of food were being released. Let up on my diet would be just a tad bit false on the route I dove into. I completely let go of "clean eating" and it created a monster in me I am not proud of. 

As I write this blog entry, I am reflecting back on the last 2-3 weeks and realize how dissapointed I am with myself with my eating habits. I lost touch with myself and the values I possess and tried "fitting in" with the crowd around me. Particularly the people I work with. A quick background of where I work is in a distribution plant for a convenient store here in Upstate New York and Western Vermont. There is always free food in our break rooms and that is where my downfall begins. When I say always free food of some sort, I mean ALWAYS!!! We are talking multiple boxes of donuts, free bags of chips, frozen chicken patties, sausages, egg patties, burgers, boxes of muffins and the item the company is famous for in my opinion, its ice cream. On top of this, we have big coolers in each of our break rooms that stock multiple flavors of drinks, milk and bottled water. 

All these goodies being out in the open for the taking started my downfall of terrible eating habits. I have been consuming all the food they had to offer and then some. When I was dieting and not eating any of that kind of food, I could easily pass by a table filled with free donuts, muffins etc. and not blink or think twice about it. My will power was crazy and I loved that about myself. I started to eat this food and my taste buds were loving it! Unfortunately I was loving it too much. I couldn't just stop at having one donut, I had to have two or even three. I would then have some take out food that my co workers would order and have some more junk to eat. Every day would start to be like this and I have now noticed a significant increase in my weight, the way my body physically looks and my motivation to do anything gym related went out the window. 

I literally fell of the wagon and was being dragged and beaten down. Well today, enough is enough. I am not happy right now with how I feel or even I how I look. I am starting my normal gym routine up again, I am going to start eating clean again and I am very excited about this. I am also going to keep up with my blog posts and also posts some recipes that I come up with or have tried and want to share. 

I know this blog post is very unorganized and all over the place. If you have made it this far into the post, thank you for interest and patience with reading this post haha. I needed to get this off my chest and I knew this would be a good place to do it. I also want to just say thank you to my AMAZING wife who has kept my head up and keeps me in a positive state of mind. She supports me and my goals no matter where I am with them in my life. She is such a positive person and it really rubs off onto me and keeps me going. You can see this in her blog posts as well and if you are not following her, you should. She will make a bad day into a good one just by reading one of her posts. The link to her blog will be at the bottom of this post. 

"Learn from the past, set vivid, detailed goals for the future, and live in the only moment of time over which you have any control: now"  -Denis Waitley


My amazing wife's blog! Check it out!!  Run like a G! 

Unfortunate News...

Hello my blogging friends. This Saturday the 24th of August should be my 7 week mark until the New York Grand Prix bodybuilding contest. I hate to inform you but I will not be competing in this event. After looking into getting everything together that I would need for the competition, it would not be a financially smart decision for me to enter. As weird as that sounds, it would cost me A LOT of money for this one day event. This is not to to say that I will not compete because I will and and I cannot wait for that day to come. It will be in the year 2014 however. 

In the bodybuilding/physique/figure competition there are different organizations that hold the event. The organization that is holding the New York Grand Prix is the NPC. This stands for the National Physique Committee. The NPC is a very large and very well know organization and is a great place to start a bodybuilding career. I knew that there was a "card" I would have to possess in order to compete in a NPC event. I knew that it was going to cost me $100 to obtain this card. What I did not know is that it is only good for the current year. So in a nut shell, I would be paying $100 for the card, the fees to compete in the actual show itself, money for my posing suit, money for my tanning or services for tanning if I go that route, as well as the expense of gas to get to the venue which is about 2 1/2 hours away. This is a lot of money for a one time event for the year 2013. I am going to wait until the 2014 year to obtain a card that way I can compete in multiple shows and get my bang for my buck. 

This really frustrates me that I am pulling out of the show because I somewhat feel like I have let a lot of people around me down. I was on a good schedule for training, my diet was in line and I could see the changes in my body from it. I am trying to stay positive about the situation and not feel like a quitter because I will be stepping on stage, just not until next year. 

I sort of went on a mini food binge and my body really reaped the effects of it. I felt bloated, looked bloated, felt guilty about what I had just consumed and it really sucks because I was just enjoying the moment and not focusing on the effect it would have in the future. I am not one to say eat clean 100% of the time because it is good for you mentally to have that ice cream or go out and have some pizza and wings. I have to just learn to control how much of it I take in at one time because it will always be there. 

I will still continue to train hard and eat "clean" but be more open on what I can and cannot have I guess you could say. If my wife and I want to go out to dinner one night during the week, I am not going to beat myself up because of ordering something full of carbs on the menu. I am going to learn to enjoy these times until I have to go back on a competition style diet. Life is too short to feel guilty about things like this and I believe in the end I will be more happy. 

Enough negative ranting on the topic, so that is the unfortunate news in my life at the moment. I will stay positive, keep training hard and come 2014 I will be stepping on stage and I cannot wait for that day! 

8 Weeks Out

Here we are another week down and only 8 left until I step on stage. Ahhh!!! There is still so much to do but I feel more confident than ever about stepping on stage after today. Reason being is that I had a killer gym session with my buddy and had him take some progress pictures for me. I only did a couple poses for now but it really shed light on where I am. 

The first picture taken was called a back double bi. This one I am very proud of as far as progress goes. I am really getting a lot of detail to come out but still need thickness in my overall back. 

The second one is called a lat spread. This is a hard pose to hit and do correctly to show off the width of your back with your lats. I will be working hard to perfect this over the next 8 weeks. 

On a side note, if you are wondering what the mark is on the center of my back, it's a bruise/mark from the barbell while I was squatting last week. 

Will continue on my journey to perfect my body to be stage ready with solid consistent dieting and cardio. More progress pictures will be added to show where I am with future posts. Take care until next week blogging friends! 

Raspberry Cheesecake Protein Shake

Hello blogging friends! I bring to you another recipe that I just came up with while going through some videos on YouTube. I love to make protein shakes and there are a lot of different combinations that you can add to your shake to change the taste and make them more fun, yet keep them healthy. One of the videos I was watching, a guy used a fat free sugar free cheesecake instant jello mix to his and I thought this was genius for whatever reason. I remembered that I had some of that very jello mix and thought well why not try it. I decided to keep my shake simple because I wanted to use it as a pre work out shake/meal and not go overboard with the ingredients. I give to you my Raspberry Cheesecake Protein Shake!! Now you can use whatever berries you would like or even a different kind of fruit if you prefer. Here is the recipe and I hope you enjoy it if you decide to make it :) 

Ingredients: 
1 cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk
1/2 cup frozen raspberries 
1 scoop Cellucor Cor-Performance Whey (Whipped Vanilla Flavor)
2 tablespoons Sugar Free Fat Free Instant Jello Mix Cheesecake Flavor
1/4 cup Old Fashion Oats 
1 packet Truvia 
3 Large ice cubes 

Directions:
Put all ingredients in blender and blend for 30 seconds. 

Macro-nutrients:
Calories: 272 calories
Protein: 30 grams
Carbs: 33 grams
Fat: 6 grams

9 weeks out

Whats up my blogging friends?! I am 9 weeks out and it has been a great week as far as training and keeping on track with my diet. My workouts have been killer (in a good way) and my dreaded cardio is on point. My training is going to get harder as the weeks count down and I start to alter my diet which is going to mean less energy (boo!) BUT I have a secret weapon to combat that. Just recently, my good friend recently moved back into the area and joined the gym I train at. This is exciting news for a couple reasons. First thing, he brings the intensity to make anyone train hardcore when your in the gym with him. We flip a switch and go into total beast mode making the weights our prisoners! Second, he helps to keep pushing me when I want to give up and get out a couple more reps. I train with music and usually have my heavy metal blasting through my ears but I can still hear him talking in my ear saying "lets go!! 10 weeks! Stage is waiting!'" This just makes me dig deep and push my training to a level that I need.

As I write this, I am getting ready to hit the gym with him and we are doing my final workout of week 10....Legs. Now I know there are crazy people out there who say they love to train legs but I will be the first to tell you, I HATE training legs. I will be blunt and don't care what you think of me but it sucks! It hurts, they are sore for days and you feel like a baby horse trying to walk for a first time when you have a good leg session. So why do I continue every week to hit my legs and make my body feel this way you may ask? Well its because I like to pride myself in being called a bodybuilder and you are not a bodybuilder unless you train your ENTIRE body and that includes legs. Over my years of training, I feel I have developed a descent set of legs or "wheels" as we sometimes like to call them in the bodybuilding world. I may not be able to squat as much as some other guys but I go in and I still do my work and they are still continuing to grow and get bigger and that's all I can ask for!

The weeks are getting shorter and the journey is one I am enjoying. I will keep you guys updated mid week and also post a new recipe :) Take care and keep positive! 

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Protein Cookies

I follow a lot of fitness related people and subjects through my Facebook, Instagram and on Youtube. I am always looking to learn a new recipe or a new workout tip and incorporate it into my daily routines. I of course love love love to cook and bake and try and make healthy recipes that are tasty. Well one of the people that I follow on Facebook is a guy named Chad "JackednStacked" Coles. For one thing, this guy is freaking HUGE! His nickname is 100% right! He posted up a quick simple oatmeal cookie recipe a couple weeks ago and I knew I had to try them. It takes literally five minutes to mix up the ingredients, throw it on a cookie sheet and then into the oven. I tweaked the recipe by using a casein protein powder instead of a whey protein powder and I personally feel they are better! Give them a try and I promise you wont be disappointed!!

Ingredients: Yields 6 cookies

1/2 cup oatmeal

2 egg whites

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon creamy natural pb 

1 scoop vanilla protein 

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in a bowl to form a batter. If you use a whey protein, the batter should be at the right consistency with the above ingredients. If using casein protein, a little bit of water is going to be needed to make more of a batter consistency. It should be a little bit sticky and not to runny. Take a spoon and place batter onto sprayed cookie sheet. Put in oven set a 350 degrees. If using whey protein powder, try 10 minutes but keep an eye on them and make sure they don't over cook other wise they will turn "rubbery". If using casein, 15 minutes should be the right amount of time. 

6 cookies                                                          1 cookie

Calories: 421                                                   Calories: 70

Protein: 43 grams                                          Protein: 7 grams

Carbs: 73 grams                                              Carbs: 12 grams

Fat: 12 grams                                                    Fat: 2 grams

Follow Chad "JackednStacked" Coles on Facebook for great motivational posts, healthy recipes and helping you become the best you! 

10 Weeks Out

Ohhh boy my last double digit is here for my weeks out until the NY Grand Prix! I am getting really excited and nervous now when I think about how close it is getting. This week has been a rough week in my eyes as far as keeping on track with my workouts and most definitely with eating right. Let's talk about eating right for a minute here.

I will be the first to admit that I have an "inner fat kid" in me and as horrible as that sounds, its true. I know that I have come such a long long way from when I started and I am more proud of that than I usually show. I do have a small obsession with food and especially the food we in the healthy/fitness world deem "bad". For example, I like to call myself an ice cream expert. If you were to go out with me and get ice cream I could probably tell you all about the flavor if you didn't know about it or what was in it. Candy is another product that I feel I am pretty knowledgeable on and can tell you all about. When I go out and get froyo (frozen yogurt) with my wife and friends, I usually load up on all sorts of candy for my toppings like chocolate peanut butter cups, bits of Oreos, Reeses pieces, M&M's etc. Clearly I have an obsession with the goodies and it can be bad at times where I will binge on it. The last couple of days have seemed to be this way unfortunately. My clean eating has been worked in between all of the bad food choices but I still feel slightly guilty AFTER I eat it. The whole point of a "cheat meal" is to help you mentally and you are not supposed to feel bad other wise it's pointless to do. With that being said, 10 weeks out I know that my eating will be at 110% on track and any "cheat meal" I do decide to throw in will be carefully scheduled and done in a proper way. Not an all out food frenzy.

10 weeks out is still a lot of time to prepare for my show and I know for sure that I can prepare to change my body to what it needs to look like and be stage ready. I usually spend all my time on the computer doing one of two things and they are either looking up food recipes that I can enjoy that are clean because I love to cook or it spent looking up information on bodybuilding. You can never know to much in the bodybuilding world and you are always learning new things. That is one thing I love about this sport. I have done my research and have a game plan on how my diet is going to be setup as far as my macro-nutrients are going to be for every meal.

Let the grind begin and my emotional roller coaster begin for that matter as well. I will have my days where I am feeling great and on point and I know I am going to have my days where I want to give up and ask why I am I doing this. In the end, it will all be worth it!

"Chipotle Burrito Bowl"

"Chipotle Burrito Bowl"

Ingredients:

4 oz meat of your choice ex. ground turkey/chicken/steak/lean ground beef/fish
1/2 cup white or brown rice
1/2 cup black beans
spinach
red pepper
low fat or fat free cheese
hot sauce

Directions:

1.) Cook desired meat until done
2.) While meat is cooking, cook rice on stove top or microwave as well as beans on stove top
3.) Once meat, beans and rice is all cooked, assemble onto plate with spinach, cheese and hot sauce as topping.

*** You can include or exclude ingredients if you desire. An option to add in would be fresh guacamole to get in some healthy fats. If you do not like black beans, you can use pinto, red or no beans if preferred.

Protein Pancakes

Breakfast is probably one of my most favorite meals of the day. In my eyes, it sets the day off for you and can really determine the rest of your eating habits for that particular day. One of my favorite foods in the world are pancakes. Most pancakes are loaded up with crappy carbs that are no good for you and can really pack on the calories that are unnecessary. Thankfully, protein pancakes are in this lovely world of ours and have been perfected by many people in the fitness world. I have made protein pancakes many times and have succeeded on most and failed on some. With that being said, I feel I have a good recipe for a delicious protein pancake that is not dry and rubbery and will satisfy your pancake taste buds. This is just one of my pancake recipes. The following is a basic pancake recipe using a standard whey vanilla flavored protein. A chocolate pancake recipe will follow very soon! 

Vanilla Protein Pancakes: Yields about 4-5 pancakes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup dry oats
1 scoop protein powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
2 egg whites
Splash of milk (I use almond milk)
50 grams of banana (about 1/2 average size banana)

Directions:

Start with two bowls, one for the dry ingredients and one for the wet. Mix up the wet ingredients first starting with the banana. Take the banana and mash it up to make a paste out of it so its not chunky. Then add in your milk, egg, egg whites and vanilla extract. In the dry bowl, add in your protein powder, oatmeal, baking powder and ground cinnamon. Mix up the dry ingredients so they all blend up together and then add in your wet. Stir this all together and you should have a pancake like batter. Heat up a frying pan and spray with a non stick cooking spray. Pour batter into desired size on pan and cook for about 30 seconds and the flip and cook for another 20 seconds or so. One thing to remember when cooking with Whey protein is that it cooks fast and if overdone, it will turn out rubbery and taste like you are eating cardboard.

**One option if you want a smoother batter and not want the oatmeal texture is to grind up the oatmeal first in a magic bullet type of device or even a blender to make a powder out of it

Macro-nutrients for the above recipe using Cellucor Cor Performance Whey Whipped Vanilla


Calories: 440
Carbohydrates: 43 grams
Protein: 47 grams
Fat: 10 grams

11 weeks out

Yesterday marked the 11 week out period until my competition date. When I think about this, two things come to mind. First one is holy crap, that is closer than I realize and my butt needs to be in competition mode as far as training and dieting goes. Second thought is more positive in the sense that I have a lot of time to accomplish my goals for this competition. 

I will be honest, there is a small part in the back of my head that doesn't think I will be ready but I feel that's okay. It lights a fire under my ass and motivates me to not only prove myself wrong but anybody else that doesn't think I can do it either. There will be haters and I say bring it on because it will make me grin ear to ear when I step on stage in the best shape of my life. 

A couple things do need to change to help me make sure I accomplish my goal of competing this October. First one is to not have as many cheat meals as the weeks shorten. Once at the six week mark, it's going to be 100% strict. The other factor that needs to change is making sure I get my cardio in every session. I have more body fat than most people expect me to have that know me but its the stubborn kind that is difficult to go away. 

Those are my current thoughts at the moment and a mini update on my prep to the New York State Grand Prix bodybuilding show. 

Healthy Personal Pizza

Who doesn't love pizza in this crazy world of ours?! Unfortunately most pizza is full of grease, crappy carbs and fat. Most people in the fitness world will reward themselves with a "cheat meal" and have pizza. Well I say forget that, lets have pizza be part of an everyday diet and not feel guilty after eating it. Here is my recipe that I use when I want to have my own healthy pizza. It has good protein, good complex carbs and the fat is minimal.

**On a side note, the following recipe are just the particular ingredients I use. Feel free to add more vegetables, add a different kind of protein source or take out the protein completely. It is a recipe that you can customize 100% to your liking.

Ingredients:
2 100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Thin Slices
1/4 cup pasta sauce or low sodium pizza sauce
1 large white mushroom
1/6 cup Low Fat/Fat Free mozzarella cheese
4 oz precooked chicken breasts ( 2 ounces per individual pizza)
1/2 oz feta cheese crumble
Baby spinach leaves

Directions:
Pretty self explanatory haha. Just assemble the ingredients into a pizza using the sandwich thin slices as your crust. I personally keep my sandwich thins together and not separate them, but if you want to cut down on the calories and carbs but still have two personal pizzas, you could split one of the sandwich thins.

The Macro-nutrients for my meal with the ingredients above are as followed:

Calories: 498
Protein: 54 grams
Carbs: 52 grams
Fat: 12 grams

Supplements are not a miracle

So supplements are a key part of my diet and usually any one else who does some sort of physical activity on a daily basis. They range from multi-vitamins, fish oil pills, protein, creatine and the biggest one of the supplement industry.....FAT BURNERS. You know, the miracle pill that will help you shed off the unwanted weight and get you looking ripped and ready for that beach body. 

If there is one thing that has really begun to annoy me over the last year or so is talking with people and they ask me what fat burner to use. Now I have two routes I usually take this conversation into. First one is if you have been working out and doing your thing for some time and have made it a part of your life on a regular basis, I will give you my opinion on a couple different brands of a fat burner to take if you choose. My second route is for the newbies in the fitness world and think the first supplement they should buy is a fat burner. I straight up tell them don't wast their hard earned money on a fat burner right now because when you really dig deep into that particular persons life, all they need is a change in their diet. 

I know it sounds crazy, but I really wish people would pay attention to what they eat instead of trying to take a magic pill to "get ripped". I am not saying completely avoid them because I just recently came off of taking one. If your interested in which one I took, it was called Super HD by Cellucor. What people need to realize is that fat burners are there to do just what the bigger name implies, supplement your DIET. I did see results from the HD when I was taking it because I had a constructed diet plan that had clean healthy food. Combine that with a little bit of cardio and you have a formula to start changing the way your body looks. 

In the end, make changes in your diet and it will be the best fat burner you could ever ask for. Your body will love you for it and you will love you for it because you will feel great all the time. If you do choose to use a fat burner just be smart about it and realize that it is just there to help you supplement your diet. 

I will share my top 3 personal picks about which fat burners are really worth the hype :)

(My personal favorite. Warning on it though, they come in "packs" and is 9 pills a "pack")

(Just got done using this, pretty good product) 

(I have not used this yet, but really want to try it. Plus its such cool packaging haha!) 

Patience is Virtue

Patience is something that I have come to learn on my bodybuilding/fitness journey. In the beginning about 4 years ago I thought all I had to do was lift in the gym, take my protein and magically in about 1-2 months time I would be rocking the body of my dreams. 

Boy was I wrong. The people you see in the magazines have been doing this for years and years and a little help from photoshopping plays a big part in the final appearance. It has taken me a long time to realize this but I'm glad I finally did. You learn new things everyday and nutrition in this lifestyle is one thing you can never have enough knowledge of.

A little over a year now I have really strapped down and payed attention to my nutrition and what a world of difference it has made. My body has completely changed for the better and I receive complements on it now and that is rewarding in itself. 

So the moral of this blog is to not give up on your dreams whether they be fitness related or something else. Patience is virtue and eventually everything will come together in the end :) 

New to the blogging world

Hello everyone! 
I am new to the blogging world and wanted to give this a try seeing as my wife does it and seems to like it a lot. I wanted to start blogging for a couple of reasons. One of them being to gain a little more support for my adventure into the bodybuilding/fitness world. It is a goal of mine to get into the industry and make a career out of it. I love to work out, eat clean or healthy or however you want to put it and I put 100% dedication into the lifestyle. Another reason is I am currently training to enter my first bodybuilding competition. This will be a huge step and accomplishment for myself when I do step on stage. 

My adventure into the bodybuilding world has been a crazy one since I picked up the lifestyle roughly 4 years ago. To put it into terms, I have made a 180 transformation in many aspects of my life and I contribute it to finding this lifestyle. I have lost nearly 100 pounds and have become inspiration for a lot of other people! To look back at old photos of myself makes me cringe but also realize how far I have come and that helps me know whatever I put my mind into, I can accomplish. 

Stepping on stage is going to be the craziest, most nerve racking roller coaster ride of my life come October. To know that I went through all the dieting, cardio (which I HATE lol) and depletion workouts will be so rewarding and nothing will be take the moment away from me. It will showcase the best shape of my life that I will be in and I will be enjoying every moment of the competition. 

Just a little sneak peak into why I will be blogging and will have more detailed blogs to come about my journey with the workouts, my days of dieting and will also create a section for recipes of food that enjoy on a daily base and taste awesome! Thanks for reading and thanks for the support!