6 AM Shred Fest!

My jellyfish and I had a very successful leg day at the gym this morning.  I NEVER thought I would see the gym at 6:30 in the morning but I did and I actually kind of loved it!  We both have a busy day today...me with work, my sMom's real daughter's wedding, some more work, and then I'm headed to St. George for my annual girls weekend with my real Mom and all my girl cousins and Aunts - I can't wait!  :)  My jelly has a busy day at work and tonight is her pumpkin patch client appreciation party, I'm super bummed I am missing it!

I can tell my priorities have changes for the better.  The old Jamie would turn her alarm off at 6 am and go back to bed.  The new and improved Jamie jumped up and met my jelly at the gym with a smile on my face :)  This morning was amazing.  After the gym I got ready for work at Ali's house and made us some DELICIOUS pumpkin oatmeal - my favorite morning meal.  Thank you Ali for being an amazing friend and keeping me motivated!


If you're curious about my supplements they are as follows:

Pre Workout - Protein Shake with 2 BCAA pills

Post Workout - Protein Shake with 2 BCAA pills

Multivitamin - with breakfast and dinner

Fish Oil - with lunch


When you go to hit that snooze button, ask yourself what is more important.  Would you rather be healthy and fit or get an extra hour of sleep??  The first option will leave you feeling better!

Thin-spiration -for my jelly

Prepare to be annoyed:) I know these sayings are cheesy but sometimes they're just what you need!

Chocolate Tootsie Pops

We were having technical difficulties this weekend...that's the excuse for no posts.

For what it's worth, we had a great weekend! I'm not sure about Jamie, but hands down, my favorite season is fall. We started the weekend out right with a kickboxing class (best class ever!) taught by the green machine. Then a healthy, homecooked, crockpot lunch followed by a bike ride and a mudslide coffee. YUM!

Saturday was a success!

I'm not going to blog for J and her sunday hiking adventure with wutang, but I giver her props for going on a 4 hour hike...get it girl. Skinny Minnie.

As for me and "fright-beers" (that means lagoon's Frightmares + beer), the gum and I had a good, sober time. :)

Reasons Why I Love Fall:

• Leaves changing colors in the mountains
• Sweaters, boots, scarves, beanies....fall clothes
• Pumpkin EVERYTHING
• Candy corn
• Family time!
• Hot cocoa/Coffee
• Holidays

Muffintop Non Lover...

I am feeling discouraged today.  And I need to remind myself that it's okay to feel this way!  Go through the motions and move forward.  A drastic transformation is not going to happen overnight so continue to put in the HARD work and it will pay off!

Getting healthy and adopting a clean eating lifestyle can be overwhelming at times but I wouldn't change it for the world!  My body is starting to change, I have more energy, and I am honestly borderline becoming obsessed with researching and learning new tips!

As my jellyfish has informed you, I love Jamie Eason.  Jamie has created a DELICIOUS pumpkin protein bar recipe that I just tried for the first time.  Whenever I am craving a treat these are amazing to have on hand and they contain NO SUGAR, BUTTER, OR OIL!

Here are all the ingredients I used.  Eason's recipe calls for Xylitol as a sweetener but I used Stevia instead.  I used 1/3 cup and would probably decrease it to 1/4 cup next time.

 

Before being placed in the oven.

 

Fresh out of the oven - YUM!  I baked mine at 27 minutes instead of the full 30.

 

Approx. Nutrition Facts:

Nutrition (without walnuts): 1 square = 47 calories, .7 g fat, 8 g carbs, 3.7 g protein

Nutrition (with walnuts): 1 square = 63 calories, 2.3 g fat, 8 g carbs, 4 g protein

Ingredients:

• ½ C Xylitol Brown Sugar Blend  (I will be using 1/4 C Stevia)
• 1 - 4 oz. jar baby food applesauce  (because there are no additives)
• 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 ½ tsp. ground ginger
• ½ tsp. ground clove
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 4 large egg whites
• 1 - 15 oz. can of raw pumpkin
• 2 C oat flour
• 2 scoops vanilla whey protein
• ½ cup almond milk
• ½ C chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions:

 

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. Spray a 9 X 13 Pyrex dish with non-stick spray.
3. Combine first 11 ingredients and mix well.
4. Add the final 3 ingredients (4, if adding walnuts), and mix until incorporated. Spread batter into the Pyrex dish and bake for 30 min.
5. Makes 24 squares.

Click here to watch Jamie Eason make these!


Remember being prepared is the key to succeeding!  If you keep a baggy of these delicious bars on hand there is no reason to reach for a candy bar, candy corn (if you are my jellyfish), or even the prepackaged protein bars available everywhere!  These are FULL of sugar, preservatives, and crap!

Always read labels!  If you can't pronounce it, you probably shouldn't be eating it :)



 



Muff - in Lover

Lately I've been wondering how much work people get done at an office job. Or, I guess any job for that matter. I mean, with facebook, skype, pinterest (guilty), twitter, instagram, google, etc... around, who wants to actually work?! I don't. Especially when I can send links of random things to my jellyfish.
This is definitely something everyone should know, right??

The Jellyfish have been a little bit more productive when it comes to googling things these days. I think that's why we're so motivated to set some tough goals and are determined to reach them. Please tell me you have been on bodybuilding.com. Or at least heard of it? That website is addicting and I could have a full-time job looking up work-outs, diet plans, and before/after pictures.

Today, I am grateful for that website. I think that it's given J-Hud and I motivation to finally get a routine and have something awesome to follow to get the results that we want. Do you know how much easier it is to have someone to do this with?? I don't think I've ever worked this hard and wanted something so bad. A chocolate bar couldn't even tempt me! Anyway, we're on to something good and I like it!

Speaking of bodybuilding.com; Jamie Eason is amazing (Jamie H. loves her!!!) and has some delicious protein recipes that must be tested out. Last night I made her Turkey Meatloaf Muffins. They turned out alright... My cooking skills aren't the best. :)

Turkey Meatloaf Muffins

Ingredients: 2 lbs ground turkey (I only had 1 lb. so I had to be creative!) 3 egg whites 1 cup quick cooking oats 1/2 tsp ground cumin 1/2 tsp dried thyme 2 tsp dry yellow mustard 2 tsp black pepper 2 tsp chipotle pepper spice 1 tsp salt 2 tsp garlic powder 1 small onion (finely chopped) 2 celery stalks (finely chopped) Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray muffin pan with canola or olive oil. Mix all your ingredients together in one large bowl. Roll the mixture into balls and place in muffin pan. Bake for 40 minutes. Makes 12 muffins. Serving Size: Women: 2 muffins Men: 4 muffins Per Serving: Calories: 80 Fats: 2 grams Carbs: 4 grams Protein: 11 grams

I can't wait for Jamie to try them to see what she thinks.

I will leave you with this great quote that N.J. passed along: ' My drive cannot be stopped or even slowed down, because every obstacle has a way around it. Every day I become stronger from the weights physically, the books mentally, and life emotionally. There is no limit to my strength and at the end of the day, I want to be known as the strongest. '

A Tale of Two Jellyfish....

What in the world is a skelly jelly you might ask???  I don't think many people will ever truly understand the meaning of jelly like Ali and I do.  It started by accident on a drive home from Vegas and has forever changed our lives!

Vegas was our first trip together (don't judge the high bump pony tail) and where we Jellyfish were officially born.  I am so blessed to have such an amazing friend in my life that shares common values and goals with me.  I love you jellyfish / jelly / jells / jelly jell jell!  Thank you for starting the amazing journey of clean eating and getting shredded with me - I couldn't do it without you!  Here is to becoming an official skelly jelly!

We took jelly to a whole new level when we decided to get matching tattoos.  Yes, this is a true story...we have "jelly" tattoos.

 

My jelly is on the side of my foot, while Ali's is.....

 

 

on her side :)

Jelly you are already starting to look shredded in that photo!

 

 

JellyHud

 

JellySmith



 

 

More tales of jellyfish to follow...

 

Remember - NOTHING TASTES AS GOOD AS SKINNY FEELS!

 

 

I'm A Pumpkin, I'm A Pumpkin, I'm A Pumpkin!

I'm dedicating this post to my best friend for her birthday (3 days ago). I've never met anyone who loves pumpkin as much as me. So how perfect was it for her birthday cake to not only be topped with a massive jellyfish, but to be the most AMAZING pumpkin treat we've ever partaken of. No joke. (thanks BS and swirly girls gourmet!)

As far as how much of that massive thing we ate, I'm not going to tell. But we figured since our eating has been pretty clean the past couple weeks, we'd make an exception for a pumpkin treat. Worth every calorie.

Happy 27th J-HUD! I love you!

I also decided to surprise Jamie with a treat I knew wouldn't disappoint. Pumpkin Fro-Yo. My lovely mother, Christianna, has this magical ice cream maker that whips up delicious treats in like 20 minutes! It turned out pretty yummy, and the fact that it was low-cal made it even better.

Homemade Pumpkin Frozen Yogurt

1 cup nonfat vanilla yogurt
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Mix everything together in a large mixing bowl until completely combined. Churn the mixture in an ice cream maker for a few minutes until it is a smooth, cool consistency. Or, if you don't have an ice cream maker, place the bowl in the freezer and stir mixture every half hour until it reaches desired consistency.

Just a warning; lots of recipes that we share will include pumpkin. Oh, and you can follow our pumpkin board on Pinterest! pinterest.com/alielisabeth/pumpkin-party/

A Start to Something Great!

There comes a time in life when you realize you want more and what you are doing just isn't working.  Luckily for us, we met each other. Cheesy, right?

Well...we were both at the point where we wanted to start getting healthy and shredded, feel better about ourselves, and be happy!  How much easier and motivating is it to have someone to go through this life changing journey with?  With similar goals and ideas in mind, we decided it was time for a lifestyle change.

We're excited to share our workouts, healthy recipes (that may or may not turn out), ideas, and lifestyle changes.  Let's see where this adventure takes us!