Top Of The Muffin To You!

April 16, 2012 by 8 Comments

I grew up in the era of the Thigh Master, Hypercolor clothing, and Seinfeld.

Who doesn’t want to wear a neon shirt that announces to the world exactly how sweaty you are, have incredible adductors, and get  an extreme ab workout from laughing?

One of my favorite Seinfeld episode is the ‘Muffin Top‘ episode.

Oh yeah, its the best part. Its crunchy. Its explosive. Its where the muffin breaks free of the pan and sort of does its own thing!’

The past few weeks I have felt lost.

At first I thought it was because I don’t have my sights set on a competition or an epic feat of some sort.

It turns out I have been taking the Mr. Lippman approach and making muffin tops without a stump.

In order to ‘explode‘ and ‘do your own thing‘ you have to have a bland, boring, and maybe a tad bit tasteless base. A muffin top is nothing without its stump.

Actually, the stump is what makes the muffin top fabulous.

All I am doing right now is mixing up the batter for my next batch of muffins. I am working from scratch and am putting some fabulous ingredients in to ensure the explosive muffin tops are to die for.

When this muffin breaks free and does its own thing, the world is going to stop and take notice!

I’m loading my muffin batter up with:

  • self confidence
  • joy
  • seeing the best in others
  • acceptance
  • love
  • discipline
  • fiery determination
  • heavy lifting
  • courage

When opportunity comes, it is too late to prepare.

Or in this case, when the oven is hot enough there is no time left to add more ingredients.

Stump trouble is good trouble to have!

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Please Hold the Cream Sauce!

April 12, 2012 by 19 Comments

I have a love / hate relationship with eating out.

Love: having someone else cook, do the dishes, and clean up.

Hate: explaining how to prepare chicken and vegetables.

This afternoon I had a lunch with another leadership coach and friend to discuss business and life; not necessarily in that order.

After a cursory glance over three pages filled with pasta, I decided to ask for grilled chicken and steamed veggies.

Simple, or so I thought.

When our waiter who was all of 19 years old and sprinted from table to table with a water pitcher in hand came to take our order, I made my simple request.

DL –  Yes, may I have a grilled chicken breast with a side of steamed vegetables? No butter, no oil. Thanks.

Sprinting Waiter with Water Pitcher in Hand - (A painful expression crosses his face) What?

DL - Chicken, grilled. Veggies steamed. No butter, no oil. Just plain food. Boring. I like boring. Make it as boring as possible.

SWWPH -Ok, so what kind of sauce would you like on your chicken and vegetables? We have a garlic cream sauce that goes great with chicken.

DL - No sauce. Plain. Boring. No butter. No oil.

SWWPH - No oil? So just chicken and vegetables?

DL - Yes. Exactly. Plain, boring, dull, and unexciting food. If you want to go crazy, have the chef put pepper and garlic on it.

SWWPH - Ok. Got it! (Huge grin)

While we talked business I watched him serve tables like he was training for a track and field event complete with plates of pasta, cheese grater, and a water pitcher.

SWWPH – Here you go…cheese?

DL - Nope. Pepper if you have it.

SWWPH – Are you sure you don’t want a sauce? I feel so bad for you. Seriously….you just want chicken and vegetables?

DL - Yup, I just want this. I choose this. I am happy, don’t feel bad for me.

Who knew ordering healthy food could make someone feel so sorry for me!

Is cream sauce really going to make my life better?

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…but you’re still going to train, right?

April 11, 2012 by 17 Comments

Before I let the cat out of the bag about my decision to not compete anymore, I wondered what people would say about it.

Two possible responses came to mind.

Ambivalence

  • “Ok then…uh…Can you pass the salt?”

Persuasion

  • “NOOOOO! You can’t not compete! You have to compete! “

Survey says…

Confusion

After complete bewilderment walks past people’s eyes when I tell them what I am up to, the same question pops out of everyone’s mouth.

  • “Are you still going to train and workout?”

YES!

I train for me, not a pant size, the confidence to wear a bikini, or even to get rid of my nemesis. At the crux of my training, I have a deep desire to be healthy, train my mind, body, and soul, and push myself past self imposed barriers.

There is nothing quite like hefting a few hundred pounds off the ground, squatting enough weight to have the strange man at the gym give you a spot without you requesting his help, or being told the hack squat is a back exercise from a skinny man that does full body bicep curls.

It’s freakishly fun.

Besides, I am literally a walking ‘macropedia‘ that can spout off protein, carb, and fat content for more foods than is even reasonable.

New challenges while I continue to train include:

  • Learning how to like my body all the time, not just during the weeks surrounding a competition
  • Having ‘just one’ and being satisfied
  • Accomplishing audacious goals but not letting them define who I am
  • Finding different and new ‘mountains‘ to climb
  • Spend less time thinking about food, lurking in grocery stores, and reading nutrition labels

There are many more, but those are the challenges staring me down this week.

Why do you train?

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Real Girl Willpower

April 9, 2012 by 14 Comments

Being a ‘real girl‘ is tough stuff!

For nearly the last three years I have hauled all my own food with me everywhere I went. I mean literally everywhere. Even to my sister’s house who is active, healthy, and has great food choices galore at her house.

My diet has been awesome these past few years and I love working with my coach. I get to eat whatever I want. No food has ever been off limits; yet I severely restricted myself. I made it way harder and more epic than it probably needed to be.

  • Want to know a secret?

I created a black and white world where if I didn’t bring it, I didn’t eat it. Black and white. Being ‘normal‘ was not allowed. I wouldn’t even eat other people’s vegetables!

vegetables

There is NOTHING wrong with these fabulous veggies! Why didn't someone slap me?

Photo Credit

  • Want to know another secret?

Living in the real world is pretty much all grey. At least for me at this moment in time.

For Easter weekend, I made the decision to eat the same food as everyone else and just make healthy choices from what was available. This means I didn’t plan out three days worth of food, pre-package all my food, and haul a reusable Costco bag filled to the brim with weird things. I ate when other people ate and I ate what they ate.

In reality it is simple, it just means you have to use your willpower to say ‘stop‘.

Simple and easy are not the same thing.

Now I didn’t fall head first into a swimming pool of chocolate Easter bunnies, but I sure did have a few chocolates and I didn’t adhere 100% to my macros.

Mini Eggs…need I say more?

Team K has been talking about willpower in our Facebook Group. As an extensively trained leadership coach who is constantly reading, listening to books on CD, and growing in self leadership, I have a lot to say. Possibly more than I should, but God apparently gave me a big mouth.

Enter a good question.

What ONE book would you recommend (after this thread and the other on willpower I’d like to start with one book and I’m overwhelmed by all the titles you’ve recommended) that would best help with diet?

One? Just one?

There are more books than I could list which deal with food and diet specifically such as ‘The End of Overeating Fover‘ and books from Geneen Roth like ‘Why Weight? A Guide to Ending Compulsive Eating‘, but they are more of a discovery of ‘why‘ you are the way you are with food than a ‘willpower development book‘.

If you don’t have purpose or hope, there is no will. There is no point.

‘Man’s Search for Meaning‘ by Viktor Frakl. 

 Man’s Search for Meaning

Learning from a Nazi concentration camp survivor on how to find purpose and joy in the midst of pure and absolute Hell on earth was enlightening, to say the least.

This book has nothing to do with dieting, but everything to do with purpose and willpower.

Purpose and willpower go hand in hand. The ability to constrain your options for something greater than this moment comes from having a meaningful purpose.

Who you ‘be‘ matters. Choose to be amazing.

Which came first, the willpower or the purpose?

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And Its a Bust!

April 5, 2012 by 24 Comments

Permit me to tell you a story…

Once upon a time there was a girl with a crazy name who grew up with loud, audacious dreams in her heart. A fiery determination and cheerful disposition marked her life.

In the midst of her ‘I know best’ teenage years she stopped watering her dreams and stated watering the weeds of negativity, low self esteem, and impossibility given to her by people she deemed friends.

A dense forest of weeds grew to the sky and blocked out the sun while she traveled into adulthood.

dark forest

Not a friendly place, not at all....

Photo Credit

In an effort to see a few glimmers of light, food, shopping, drinking, and adventure were consumed at an alarming rate. The brightness became more and more fleeting until nothing shone and life was only comprised of browns and greys.

Wandering through the darkness for nearly a decade, she finally tripped and fell head long into a deep and dank ravine. While lying in the mucky blackness contemplating whether or not she should attempt climbing out of the hole, a flash of color winked at her from the corner of her eye.

How could anything be alive at the bottom of nothingness?

A purposeful and larger than life dream with a refusal to accept defeat was still living despite the forest of weeds that blocked out the sun.The roots of this dream burrowed deeper than discouragement, self-loathing, and impossibility could ever hope to go. It lived despite circumstance.

Lotus

A dream is a beautiful thing to behold.

Photo Credit

In that moment the girl with the crazy name felt a fire start to burn in her heart, the fire of passion. The seemingly impossible task of clearing the forest suddenly became the one thing she must do, and so she started up the steep cliffs and began anew.

The long lost dream is still alive and worth fighting for. After all, it is her life’s purpose and passion.

I am the girl with the crazy name.

For the past three years I have been taking a machete to the overgrowth of low self-esteem and impossibility mindset and rediscovering who I was created to be.

Out of the ‘being’ comes the ‘doing’ 

After spending a lot of time thinking, I have decided not to compete again.

It is not Bikini or Bust, its just BUST!

Being a Figure Competitor has insidiously come to define me. My measurement of success has shifted from being the best and most fabulous Donloree on the planet to becoming the leanest and most muscular woman possible.

My dream has never been to become a Pro Figure Competitor, despite what I told myself. Achievements mean nothing if you aren’t the woman you have been made to be when you finally earn them.

I have bigger, crazier dreams growing in my heart.

In order to compete again, I would have to pay with my health, self-esteem, family, and dreams. My body is not cooperating despite the 100% adherence I have given to diet, training, and rest.

The price is more than I am willing to pay.

 

Worthy of my sufferingsPhoto Credit

There is a tale told of Cortez that he had his men ‘burn the ships’ when they discovered new land so they had no option but to move forward and conquer what lay ahead.

I could say, I am not competing ‘right now’, but I need to move forward and be the audacious, dream chasing Donloree that I was created to be.

I require all of my health, family, and self to conquer what lies of me.

Teenage girls need to understand how amazing they are and have help figuring out who they have been created to be. My passion in life is to bridge the chasm of the impossible for them so they don’t have to stumble in the dark and fall to their near death before they come face to face with their purpose and passions.

The bedazzled bikini may be hung up, but don’t count me out of the competition of life.

A few jewels have fallen off and I am taking them with me to shine on as I move forward into the next chapter in my life.

I hope you’re willing to come along for the ride because I wouldn’t have it any other way. You had better believe we are going to be lifting heavy in the gym and life.

It is time to train like a champion; tomorrow requires you to be one.

The ships are on fire.

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Homemade Protein YUM Bars

April 2, 2012 by 17 Comments

I seriously love to eat.

If my waistline would cooperate, I would be eating constantly. Alas, my tastebuds are faster than a cheetah and my metabolism is slower than a sloth.

This misaligned combination results in me smelling my husband’s food. He loves me, so he lets me sniff away.

Even in public.

My all time favorite meal of the day is breakfast, with the post work out meal coming in at a photo finish second. After I train I tell myself to shower before eating my next meal.

If there was a ‘Fastest showering Woman on the Planet‘ award, I would win hands down.

What post workout meal could be so tasty that armpit shaving is only done under dire circumstances?

Protein *YUM* Bars

My fabulous coach shared her recipe for homemade protein bars and I couldn’t come up with a better name than *YUM* because that is what I say every morning at 8:17 when I start chowing down on them.

Chocolate AND peanut butter, need I say more?

Now that you’re drooling, here is the recipe.

Its time to get your *YUM* bake on!

Gather all the ingredients.

homemade protein bars

Lots of ingredients, but mere moments to make!

  • 1/2 cup quick oats (6/30/3)
  • 1/2 cup coconut water (.2/.5./2.5) or you can use skim milk (1/6.5/0)
  • 1 cup egg whites (28/0/0)
  • 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
  • 2 scoops Diet Doc Belgian Chocolate 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 (8/8/12)
  • 2 tbsp whole what flour (1/12/0)
  • 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (2/6/1)
  • 3/8 tsp baking powder
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 5 tbsp natural chunky peanut butter (15/15/40)
  • 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, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.
  4. Add oatmeal mixture to dry ingredients; mix just until everything is moist. Spread batter in pan.
  5. Place peanut butter in microwave safe bowl and heat for 45 seconds or until melted.  Spoon peanut butter over batter in pan and swirl with knife tip.
  6. Bake for 10 – 12 minutes (make sure fully baked before removing); 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: 17 pro, 14 carb, 10.5 fat, 219 cals

homemade protein bars

They turn into a tasty brownie with pockets of nut butter baked right in. *YUM* indeed!

Some fun ‘add ons‘ are coconut, instant coffee, and chocolate chips….but you have to add the macros in and adjust accordingly!

I pull one out of the freezer at 4:30 in the morning when I take the first sip of coffee, throw it into my Core bag, and its thawed just enough for me to chow down on by the time I’m done training!

homemade protein bars

Yes. I eat and put on mascara. I am a very talented woman, what can I say?

Yummers!

This is such a good solution for me! I love to eat, it is in my ‘macro zone’, there are no unpronounceable ingredients, and the price is right.

I am going to toy with a latte bar recipe next. If it turns out it will turn up on the blog, of that I am sure!

What is your favorite *YUM* bar recipe?

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Painful Clarity

March 30, 2012 by 14 Comments

What is important to you?

If you don’t know the answer look at your bank account, schedule, and relationships. Listen to what you say to yourself and others.

The answer will jump off the page at you.

What do you want to be important to you?

  • Are they the same?
  • Different?
  • Close?
  • Far apart?

Incredible grief and incredible joy coexist in my heart today.

I am grieving the loss of a precious life that should be, but is not. My auntie heart has been shattered into a million pieces and it will not go back together the same. A perfectly formed little boy who was anticipated, prayed for, and wanted more than anything in this world suddenly and inexplicably died days before he was due to make his entrance into the world.

Pain brings clarity.

Now is the time to live, love, and forgive.

Living without regret isn’t reckless. It is in fact the most purposeful thing you will ever do.

You have to pre-decide what you want and then go after it with your whole heart. It is too late when opportunity arises to prepare for what is at hand.

Invest in people and cultivate love, joy, passion, and purpose.

Build something that lasts, no matter what storms come your way.

In the midst of our sorrow, I look around and see a fabric of love, family, hope, and faith that refuses to be unwoven. The grateful heart and peace that my sister and brother have is not an accident. They decided to be amazing long before something horrific happened to them. They stand firmly on the rock despite the waves of grief, pain, and sorrow which crash all around them and threaten to wash them away.

Learn to be amazing before the storm hits. 

 

Stand firm in the storm of life

Photo Credit

Simon, your Auntie Donloree loves you with a white hot love that death cannot extinguish.

You are a miracle in every way and your brief time on earth has been purpose filled. You have forever changed the hundreds of lives that you touched in the nine months you grew to perfection inside your sweet mommy.

My beautiful Simon’s name means “listen or to be heard”.

What is your purpose?

Listen and hear what you must do on this earth and then execute it without turning to the left or right. Be the one thing that you were created to be. Decide to be amazing and stand on the rock where storms still come but will not wash you away.

Are you listening? What do you hear?

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Venus with Biceps

March 28, 2012 by 5 Comments

I often get asked, ‘What’s with the heels?‘ when discussing the attire for Figure Competitors.

M response usually comes in the form of a shrug and ‘meh!‘ I really have no idea why heels and bedazzlement are required. Its fun, but I had no idea why until this morning when I read a book review for Venus with Biceps, A History of Muscled Women.

Low and behold, an answer!

“From the mid-1950s to the early 1970s, women had to appear as ladylike as possible, even when doing something as traditionally masculine as working out with weights. This girl is doing a seated press with respectably heavy weight, but her high heels and helmet0like hairdo are like fig leaves preserving her femininity.”

seated lady like shoulder pressSo interesting!

Women have been weight training for centuries. I am glad we kept the weight training and ditched the dresses! Thank goodness for shorts and tank tops with built in bras.

1900s weight training women

Somehow I think this is a 'warm up' set!

Old school powerlifting!

Now this is how its done!

The book explores many themes and ideas around weight training, self esteem, and societal perceptions when it comes to ‘strong women‘.

A thought from the author.

Many of the same battles that were being fought over a century ago are still being waged today… after all, labels are so much easier to deal with than realities.

This is now on my ‘must read‘ list.

I am officially intrigued.

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Larabar Limerick Winner Revealed!

March 27, 2012 by 2 Comments

No playing favourites.

I am a middle child, which means I think everything should be fair.

Even at the wee age of 5, I came home from Kindergarten with suckers for my big sister and little brother. After all, if I got one they should too!

So how the heck am I supposed to pick a winner of the Great Larabar Limerick Challenge?

Hold a draw – YES!

My inner crafty and fair minded kindergartener got to work straight away.

larabar limerick draw

Eight lucky and lyrical contestants!

And the winner is….

larabar limerick draw

Awesome!

By the way, Sherri’s limerick rocked.

Larabars are yummy
They fill up the rumbly in my tummy
Peanut Butter Cookie makes me swoon
And keeps my spoon
Out of the peanut butter jar
A Larabar for me and one to share with you
And you’ll say they’re yummy too

Sherri, an email from your’s truly and a package from Larabar will both be coming your way shortly. Woot!

Its about to get tasty!!

*chomp* Peanut butter....need I say MORE?!

GOSH, I sure wish I could have won!

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There’s a Cupcake For That!

March 23, 2012 by 14 Comments

Life happens.

When life happens to me I want to eat. Happy, lonely, sad, ecstatic, bored, overwhelmed, tired, or content I usually want to eat.

Let’s be honest, I am a recovering emotional eater.

Good news – I am not the only one.

Many people are just like me. Something happens in life and the first thought that crosses their mind is FOOD.

There's a cupcake for that!

Photo Credit

Bad news – I am not the only one.

There is a lot of group think around emotional eating because so many of us are entrenched in it. If we all do it, then it must be ‘normal‘ and must be ‘ok‘.

Donloree’s simple definition of Emotional Eating.

Eating food to avoid or fill a void of emotions.

It sounds like a grey definition until you ask yourself the question while you are eating. Enter black and white clarity. I don’t know that I am ever going to be completely free of emotional eating, but I am getting better.

This week emotions were running high, stress was rising, sickness was lurking, and the lure of self medicating was definitely an option.

There wasn’t an epic binge, I didn’t go crazy, nor did I spend my whole day ‘window shopping‘ in my kitchen, but I sure wasn’t perfect either. My diet was not spot on and I ate more than I should have in an effort to avoid emotions.

Nobody is perfect. Nobody.

The goal is progress, not perfection.

I am not afraid to be the first to raise my hand and let you know that I am a recovering emotional eater.

A few tips:

  • Write it out. Take time to write out and process through your feelings in a journal.
  • Talk it out. Find a friend or family member to talk to about it, even if they don’t ‘get it’.
  • Throw it out. Open the garbage can and insert trigger foods until you can have them in your house again.
  • Let it out. Forgive yourself and others around you. Holding onto negative feelings only increases emotional pain.
  • Sweat it out. Go for a walk, hit the gym, or go to a yoga class; create endorphins in a healthy and balanced way.

It isn’t easy, but it does get easier.

How do you overcome the urge to emotionally eat?

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