Paleo Chocolate Cake

Ok so last night, I just couldn't take it! I needed my "sugar" fix.  So I tried to find something that I had all the ingredients for since paleo uses some different ingredients that will sometimes be more costly or harder to find in podunk illinois : (  Anyway, so I found this and said, Let's go for it!  I made this just a bit differently than the recipe itself and I have to say it was quite delicious!!  I used a 9x13 pan and I ate like 1/4 of it....oops  Great news though!! I didn't feel like a big pile of crap after eating it!  that's probably why i kept going back!  My stomach wasn't bogged down and I didn't have that shame that usually comes with me having sweets.  It was great!!!  It wasn't super sweet since it doesn't use sugar, but it was sweet enough to give me my fix.  So in love with this paleo right now!  From the results I've seen in my body and now with this dessert recipe, I am feeling great about the decision to try this!  Anyway, without any more delay here is the recipe I found(with a little tweaking I did)

Paleo Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 cup chocolate chips (I used vegan carob chips...which don't melt well, they clump and crust up, but I just removed all the clump and used whatever melted into the oil which was great because it lowered the chocolate content and still turned out great!  Dark chocolate chips are also a great healthy alternative!)
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 6 eggs
• 1/2 cup raw honey
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup coconut milk
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Over low heat, melt the chocolate chips in coconut oil.
3. Allow this chocolate mixture to come to room temperature. (i cheated and stuck it in the freezer for a few minutes)
4. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, honey, vanilla, apple cider vinegar, and coconut milk.
5. Add cooled chocolate mixture to the egg mixture.
6. In a separate bowl, whisk together the coconut flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.
7. Add the coconut flour mixture to the egg mixture. Whisk together until the lumps are pretty well worked out.
8. Add to a well-greased 9×13 pan
9. Bake for 15 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

The original recipe says to use a 9x9 pan and cook for 30 minutes but I just set a timer for 15 minutes because I figured, bigger pan, and 30 minutes is forever and I didn't want to burn it.  When it doubt, set a lower time limit.  I'd rather have to check it more often and get it perfect than ruin it!  It's so great, ENJOY!!!!

Paleo venture, thus far

So I have not completely gone paleo, I've been having trouble giving up my morning oatmeal/ bagel....not at the same time, but those are my two go to breakfasts!  I am NOT a morning person, so being able to have something ready in 1 minute or less is great for me, plus the added bonus of some carbs for energy.  Other than that, the past week has been paleo.  I have to say, I can tell a difference in my body starting to show some more muscle, especially in my abs and backside.  The biggest problem I'm having is the slump of being tired throughout the day without my usual midday carb like brown rice.  Hopefully my body will adjust.  It's been SUPER hard for me to give up my sugar, especially my end of the day dessert, but so far I've done ok.  A couple nights ago I cooked some apples with cinnamon, a dash of sugar*yea yea I know but it needed something to counteract the cinnamon* and some pecans.  Turned out great!  And last night I had an orange and some walnuts.  Not as good as the apples but it worked.  I'm just going to have to continue to push on and try to develop a routine and hope that sooner or later(preferably sooner) I will get used to it and not crave sugar so much.  It's like my cryptonite!!!  It hasn't been to terrible awful cutting out other things.  I think I'm doing ok.  Still rough but hopefully I'll get it all together and get out of the beginner's slump!!  Well that's really all for now : )

Exciting little venture

So the more I go through my days and get frustrated with eating and having to pack meals or get meals or just plane have to deal with food at my house and the temptation to eat it all, the more I think I just need to get it together and make a change.  I've been reading a little more into the paleo lifestyle and I think I may just give this a whirl. Yes it will make some things harder, but I think that I will make this a family change.  No more crap in the house, no more temptation sitting in front of me because my kid or my husband likes to eat it.  Something that will be healthy and beneficial for all of us and will be good for all of us even though we don't all have the same specific goals(such as packing on the muscle and getting the body fat percentage down).  So I'm going to be working on a list and slowly getting things together and weeding all of the other stuff out.  It may take a month to get this all together considering I'm not just going to throw out food and spend a ton to buy new food all at once...because well, we don't have money to just toss around like that so it will happen, just not right away.  So yea, there it is!  Big decision, but I feel good about it.  It's going to be hard at first I'm sure, but I know I can do it and get into the groove.  I'm just going to have to get better at planning and packing meals and keeping my willpower in check, but hopefully I can find some baller recipes that will satisfy any cravings that come my way and keep me healthy!!  I would also like to have some herbs growing fresh to cook with and so I don't have to buy so much of it at the store and stuff.  So yea! when I'm up and running I will let you guys know.  And as for my updated pictures, sorry it's taken a while, I have been so crazy busy with work/midterms at school/ my sister's wedding is this weekend and I'm going to have a lot of company......but I promise I will try to have them up in a week or 2!  yay for good decisions!  I hope this will help me tremendously in my battle against the evil junk food and help me reach my goals.  That is all for now! : P

NEW WORKOUT ROUTINE

As I said in my last post, I felt that I needed to change my workout routine.  It's good to switch it up every so often so your body doesn't get used to the same routine and start to plateau.  I did the beginners body building workout for 4 weeks and saw awesome results but I felt that it was necessary to kick it up a notch and rearrange my days.  So here is a little breakdown of my days.  Monday-Back and shoulders and cardio.  Tuesday- Abs. Wednesday- glutes and hamstrings and cardio.  Thursday- chest, biceps, and triceps.  Friday- legs.  Saturday/Sunday-  I do cardio one of these days and the other is a rest day.  If you want to see a more detailed list of specific exercises you can look at my weighttraining.com page.  I havent "logged" a workout for a while but I made sure to log them for the first week of this new program so you could see it if you wanted to.
http://www.weighttraining.com/users/chelseakylene

This is not a premade workout like the beginner's bodybuilding plan I did, I just decided what days would be what and then looked up exercises on bodybuilding.com and made a list.  I can already tell you that after the first week, I can totally tell this is going to be some good stuff!!! Especially my glute and hamstring day!  And I'm trying to kick up my cardio too.  There are a few exercises that I may not have logged just because I couldn't find them, or there may be some that I did differently than what is described but that was the closest thing to it.  If you see resistance band...I don't use those, chances are I used a dumbbell.  I also am not a fan that the website doesn't have a "crossramp" machine on it's exercise list and that there is no resistance option when you log cardio.  My cardio looks a little sad just looking at the time and distance.  so here's a better breakdown.  Monday I did 30 minutes on a stationary bike, did 6.5 miles at a resistance of 8.  Wednesday I did the crossramp(not the stair stepper) for 20 minutes, 10 incline, and a resistance of 10.  I also did a 6 incline on a treadmill going 15 minute mile pace for 20 minutes.  I chose to do a little harder intensity and less time on wednesday.  I am going to try to keep some form of this in my cardio at least once a week.  So that is basically it for the new routine.

I will be taking some pictures here soon so we can compare them to my pictures from a year ago.  One year ago today I finished the 8 week rushfit program.  It helped me get started in my journey to a fit and healthy lifestyle.  So we will look at some pictures from before the program, after I finished, and me now!  I'm kind of excited to see the changes!  I'll try to post that in the next few days