If you gave me a choice to run 10 km or train legs, I think I would choose running most days. If you know how much I *love* running, you would know what a mental task it is for me to train legs once a week.

Kicking my week off with legs is the equivalent of a three year old eating her vegetables first.

After Monday it is a glorious week of delts, arms, chest, and back with some abs and cardio thrown in for good measure. Since I would prefer tree trunks instead of pencils for legs, I train like a mad woman on leg day.

I like to know that I creamed my no.2 pencil legs and all the iron being squatted, extended, and lunged is making a difference. I’ve gotta know my legs are growing!

Funny things happen after an epic leg day.

• Water is avoided to the point of dehydration. Sitting down to use the bathroom becomes a task that causes you to yelp out in absolute pain. When you are in a public washroom this can lead to extreme awkwardness.
• Elevators and escalators are used without shame. Walking up or down a flight of stairs requires more strength than you have left in your legs. You and all the grandmas get to catch up on what is going on in the world while your friends take the stairs.
• Standing is preferred at meetings. Your legs are heavy and sitting seems like a good idea until you have to get up. Hoisting yourself out of a boardroom chair while trying to remain professional is a skill all on its own.
• Walking like a drunken sailor without consuming a drop of alcohol. Lurching, stumbling, and tripping are all part of a normal leg day in my world. I nearly took out a man doing box jumps this morning; he was very forgiving when I muttered, ‘Leg day.‘

I am making surrender darn near IMPOSSIBLE!

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At least I know I did a great job ‘eating my veggies‘ this morning!

Time to bring on the arms and delts!

What is your favorite body part to train?

I was the expediter at the Calgary Cup.

An accurate way to describe this job is ‘herding tan, carb depleted cats‘.

My partner in crime backstage. We yell A LOT but always with a smile.

Oh how I love bodybuilding competitions!

Things happen backstage that don’t happen anywhere else and the strangest comments fly around.

In the midst of the gluing, applying of dream tan and muscle sheen, and completing my  217th set of stairs, I heard a few doozies.

• Wow. I love your boobs! You got them upgraded from last year, awesome.
• My suit bottoms are too big. They need to be smaller, much smaller.
• What are the poses for this class? Can someone teach them to me?
• What do you think of my waxing job? I did it myself this time.

There was a couple that competed for the first time and their combined age was over 120 years old.

No matter how old you are, its never too late to start.

Awesome.

What are you passionate about?

This is irony as its finest. 

When I used to get asked this question, I would draw a blank. No thoughts or inklings came to mind. Random things that I thought would sound good to me came out of my mouth.

One time I said, ‘Recycling‘. Ironically enough, at that point in my life I didn’t even recycle. I found myself trying to hold down a conversation I didn’t know a darn thing about.

When we broached the topic of how to compost most effectively, I had to awkwardly escape the conversation.

I am not a proponent of ‘shoulding‘ on myself or others, but sometimes it’s necessary.

You should live a passionate life.

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Sounds great, but how does one do that?

Finding what you’re passionate about is trickier than it sounds. I like a lot of things, but am passionate about very few. I like fitness a lot, heck I write a blog that is centred around fitness and training, but I am not passionate about fitness.

*gasp*

I am passion about helping people see what is possible and empowering them to go get it.

I train to show myself what is possible.

There is a reason, you just have to find it.

• What do you love to do whether paid or not?
• When do you lose track of time?
• What makes you feel weightless?
• When are you unshakable?
• What makes your heart sing?
• What impact do you want to have in the world?

The answers to all of these questions are different, but the essence is the same.

It is time to try new things, quit old things, and get curious about yourself. I give you permission to ‘hate‘ things and ‘be a quitter’. Finish off the things you hate and give yourself room to explore things you love.

It is time to get a better answer than ‘recycling’!

**Caveat – I do in fact recycle now and can talk at length about composting (though I don’t personally partake in such things living in a condo), blue bagging, and the reasons one should recycle.

**No paper was used in the creation of this blog post**

Back me into a corner, tell me I must do something, and there are zero options and I quickly transform from a sweet, quirky, sub-arctic dwelling woman into a pitbull that hasn’t eaten in weeks. You may just lose an arm if you pigeon hole me.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

That being said, if there are too many options I turn into a white fluffy cloud drifting aimlessly through the sky passively waiting for a gust of wind to move me.

More accurately, I LOVE restrained options.

If my life were a high school exam, it would be a multiple choice test with answers ranging from A to E and none of the answers would ever be ‘all of the above’.

Sinc

The Art of Choosing.

I always have a good book on the go. Sometimes they are fun to read books, and other times they are ‘make you even more fabulous‘ books. Reading is helpful for my job. As a Leadership Coach, I am constantly looking for ways to improve myself and resource the most amazing people on the planet, my clients.

Seeing how I love restrained options, I immediately started reading this book when my husband brought it home from the library. I hope he didn’t actually want to read it.

He totally picked it up for me, right? Right.

I am only one chapter deep, but there are already some fabulous gems.

• Choice is the ability to exercise control over ourselves and our environment. In order to choose, we must first perceive that control is possible.
• The ability to choose well is arguably the most powerful tool for controlling our environment.
• The perception of choice is as powerful as an actual choice.
• Small changes in our actions, such as speaking or thinking, can have a big effect on our mental and physical state.
• The min is independent, and indeed so free and wild, that it cannot be restrained even by this prison of the body, wherein it is confined.

Apparently I am a control freak.

Well if that is the case, at least I can choose to control my emotions, mood, words, actions, and reactions.

I LOVE red!

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Control freaks unite for greatness!

I offer you the option of reading this book with me. It could be fun and then we can take over the world, deal?

What is on your bookshelf this month? Why do you read?

• 4:30 am wake up
• Coffee…more than is reasonable
• Kasha
• Arse kicking workout.

After the usualness, I did something unusual.

I spoke at iMedia about blogging, and boy was it fun!

Oh the self portraits! I should have told them to get better at them than I am.

When I wasn’t talking about how much I love blogging, aka YOU, I got to take in the sessions. Thank goodness! The last thing I wanted to do was listen to myself all day when there are fantabulous people to meet, learn from, and tweet with about what we were learning.

Oh how I love Twitter!

I learned about SEO, developing a brand, putting forward a great pitch, and creating a professional image; which is great, but my blog is an oddity. My blog is ME, Donloree Hoffman, and all my craziness online. So while I was learning about how to be a better blogger, I couldn’t help but take away some fabulous life lessons.

Darren Barefoot

• Deeply engage with people and be remarkable.
• Don’t add numbers to everything. Numbers matter, but people matter more.
• Don’t be stupid, think about what you’re saying.

Rebecca Bollwitt

• Pay for the good stuff, the stuff that matters.
• Freelance is not free, everything has a cost!
• Everything takes time, keep going.

In my effort to be a real girl and not bring all my food everywhere, I ate from the buffet line. This may have resulted in scaring a few people, but the deconstructed deli sandwich + epic amounts of spinach salad = a DL approved meal.

Even if the sandwich guts looked suspicious.

Yup, all covered in random 'sauce'. I didn't wipe off the sandwich meat...I just ate it sauce and all. No reason to completely freak out my new friends!

And to top the day off, I won the biggest door prize on the planet.

The thing is HUGE! I think I could fit IN the box once the printer comes out. hah!

I feel a pressing urge to print things….many, many things!

Yesterday was a good reminder to show up, do your best, be yourself, and just be amazing.

Go be amazing today!

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…but you do it anyway, it makes you courageous.

• It makes you extraordinary.
• It makes you fabulous.
• It makes you strong.

Courage is not the absence of fear; it is doing it despite the fear.

Feel the fear and then GO FOR IT!

What eye popping things are you up to?

Macropedia – (mah-crow-pee-dee-uh) A woman who can spout off the proteins, carbs, and fats for all the commonly eaten fruits, vegetables, starches, meat, and dairy items found in her local grocery store before you can say ‘Jenny Craig‘. A high functioning Macropedia does not require the aid of a smart phone app or online food database to accurately estimate the calories in a meal. Macro information flows freely and is often poured over unsuspecting family members in a show of misaligned love.

Did you know you could have eaten a 450 grams of berries, half a cup of greek yogurt, and 6 tbsp of uh-MAY-zing nut butter instead of the cheesecake you consumed in a mere 7 bites?

Yeah, I want to slap her too.

Since 2009 I have weighed, measured, and calculated nearly every single piece of food that has gone into my mouth. There are only a few holes in the DL food journals:

• Post competition week.  I went on vacation with my friends chocolate, red wine, white carbs, and butter. ‘Nuff said.
• 10 year wedding anniversary. We biked 100 kms in a rainstorm around Niagra. I was hungry! I also got rather tipsy after half a glass of wine that night. Funny times!

Other than that, I tracked everything, and I mean everything.

Including pickles.

Even the day I had a huge emotional binge and consumed half a jar of peanut butter. Reporting back to your coach in the weekly summary that you most likely consumed 100 grams of fat in one sitting is a less than proud moment.

Late last week, I found myself questioning my ‘Maccropedian‘ ways.

Food is weighed, measured, obsessed over, daily weigh-ins are done at 4:32 am, and when I look in the mirror I do a very through muffin top assessment.

A girl can’t live like this forever.

Last time I tried the ‘Ok Joe, I am just going to eat like a real girl and all will be well!’ things didn’t go so well. I didn’t stop tracking, I stressed out more (if that is even possible), and I had some epic health things on the go that I was just discovering.

Take two!

I am off to the races! You had better believe I am eating fabulous, healthy food, not keeping track of every single thing, and still working out like a mad woman.

• Food journals have been abandoned
• Freedom from mental food anguish is being learned
• The scale is coming out of the linen closet only once a week
• Muffin top assessments are kept to a dull roar

There is a difference between need and want. It is rather amazing when you ‘can‘ do something how much less appealing it actually is to do.

Buh-bye Macroville. Hello Healthyville!

For the past few weeks, my post workout meal has been a Homemade Protein *YUM* Bar.

At 4:30 am while taking the first sip of coffee, I pull one out of the freezer and throw it in my gym bag. By 8:03 am when I have finished training and am a hot, sweaty mess it is thawed just enough for me to consume faster than you can say, ‘My name is Donloree Hoffman and I love lifting weights and fabulous shoes!‘

Chocolate peanut butter is great, don’t get me wrong. I have such an affinity for nut butter that I could probably eat only nut butter for the rest of my life and die happy.

That being said, variety is the spice of life.

Introducing the ‘Latte Cacao Bliss Protein Bar’.

A fabulous afternoon snack as well. I was well fed and caffeinated up, what more could a girl want?

LCBPB for short, if you’re into nicknames and such. Feel free call me ‘DL’ or ‘DLo’ if we are throwing around nicknames today.

My inspiration?

I thought you would never ask! Artisana Cacao Bliss, aka ‘Donloree’s newest food nemesis‘.

YUM! I think that sums it up quite nicely.

One of my Team K friends was raving about it, which meant I had to go find it and try it immediately. Once I tried it, all I could think about was how to make a new protein bar with it.

It’s time to get our bake on!

First gather all the ingredients.

Cacao spread AND nibs. I know, I am going CRAZY today!

• 1/2 cup quick oats (5/30/3)
• 1/3 cup coconut water (.2/.5./2.5) or you can use skim milk (1/6.5/0) or use water!
• 1 cup egg whites (28/0/0)
• 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
• 2 scoops Diet Doc Belgian vanilla protein powder (41/11/8)
• 1/2 cup granulated splenda (I omit because I don’t use sweeteners or sugar)
• 1/4 cup ground flax seed (8/4/12)
• 2 tbsp whole wheat flour (1/12/0)
• 2 tbsp unsweetened coconut (1/3/8)
• 3 tbsp instant coffee
• 2 tbsp cacao nibs (2/5.5/6.5)
• 1 tbsp chocolate chips (1/11/2)
• 3/8 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 6 tsp natural Artisana Cacao Bliss (2/8/16)
• Cooking spray

Then put them together for supreme yumminess.

1. Preheat oven  to 350°F. Spray an 8×8″ pan with cooking oil spray.
2. In a microwave  safe bowl, combine oats and coconut water or milk; cook for 60 seconds. Stir and allow to cool; mix in egg whites and vanilla.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the whey protein, Splenda, flaxseed, flour, cacao nibs (reserve some for the top), instant coffee, coconut flakes, baking powder, and salt.
4. Add oatmeal mixture to dry ingredients; mix just until everything is moist. Spread batter in pan.
5. Spoon cacao bliss by the teaspoon into 6 sections of the pan, swirl or leave for a pocket of deliciousness.
6. Sprinkle chocolate chips and remaining cacoa nibs on top.
7. Bake for 12 – 15 minutes (make sure fully baked before removing – should be ‘cakey’). Allow to cool completely before cutting into 6 bars. Wrap each individually in plastic wrap and store in the freezer or refrigerator. Unwrap and microwave 30 seconds to warm.

Macros for 1/6 of pan or one bar made with coconut water: 15 pro, 14 carb, 11 fat, 215 cals.

They come out smelling delicious and looking a bit funny; nonetheless I love ‘em!

Heavenly!

Next time I may make them ‘mocha‘ and add in some cocoa powder or use chocolate protein powder. The cacao nibs and coconut flakes give some great texture and ‘chew‘ to the bars.

It is time to preheat your oven, you have bars to bake!

• Climb Mount Everest
• Lose 30 pounds
• Run a race
• Live out my dreams
• Structure my day to workout
• Eat clean

You may never, but it doesn’t mean you can’t.

We tell ourselves all the time that we ‘can’t‘ do something, when we actually choose not to do something. There is no reason I have to do anything. Every single thing I do or don’t do in my life is a choice.

Stop playing the victim and get on with your big, audacious life.

There are a bazillion and one things that I am not going to do or accomplish in my lifetime.

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My next goal in life could be a myriad of things such as scaling high mountain peaks, rappelling off cliffs, lifting small cars off the ground, running a marathon, or swimming the English Channel.

Plain and simple, I don’t want to.

It is more than ok to not want to do something. Give yourself permission, in fact choose, to not do things; many, many things. You are unique and have a specific purpose in life. If you try to do everything you will find yourself doing little to nothing.

• Are you passionate about it?
• Is it good for you?
• Will it help or hinder your life goals?
• What will you gain?

You can, but will you?

Is it worth it?

I am raising my hand, just in case you were wondering.

‘Just one’ is something I am learning to do.

A cookie, a piece of cake, a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, or a piece of pizza is fine. You will not die from eating one of these things. The problem for me is one usually leads to more…more than is good for me.

Over Easter I surprised myself by just eating one mini egg and shutting the Costco sized package. I did not open up the flood gates and announce, ‘Let the eating begin!‘

Seriously, who needs this many Mini Eggs?! Oh Costco...

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It was nice to not wake up to a belly full of regret or giving a camel a run for its money when it comes to water storage capabilities.

Some days I handle negative comments in the same way; just one is not enough.

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This doesn’t happen very often anymore, but when it does it happens in a violent manner. As soon as I let myself have ‘just one‘ forbidden negative comment, I find myself shoving the comments in faster than they can go down.

One thing leads to another.

I have a Costco sized bag of negative comments in my pantry.

It is ok to have ‘just one‘ and put it away. Not waking up to heart full of self loathing is a great feeling, even if there were some rough moments in the day.

Operation ‘Just None‘ is about to commence for negativity, but not the cookies.

Let’s be honest, a girl needs a cookie now and again!