Grab & Go: Egg White Bites

Egg whites: a healthy food and perfect breakfast (or snack) that can now be grabbed to go during your morning rush! No excuses to stop and get a donut now! It is crucial to start your morning in a healthy way; it will influence you to continue the rest of your day on a healthy streak! 

All you need is a carton of egg whites, a mini-muffin or muffin tin, olive oil cooking spray and your favorite vegetables! It was the quickest process and they tasted delicious.

Ingredients:

¼ onion, diced

½ pepper, diced

Handful of spinach

egg white carton (24 T. total is used)

olive oil cooking spray

black pepper

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Spray each muffin tin with olive oil cooking spray so it lightly coats the bottom

Add your favorite diced vegetables!

I added ripped-up spinach leaves, diced red pepper, and diced onion

Fill each muffin tin with egg whites. When using the mini muffin tins, it only took about 1 T. of egg whites to fill it. 

Lastly, sprinkle the tops with some ground black pepper for a little flavor.

 Toss them in the oven! 

The mini muffin tins took about 10 minutes. If you are using regular sized muffin tins, let them cook for about 20 minutes. 

Once they are cooled, enjoy! You can also add your favorite toppings- my favorite are avocado and salsa!

 Mine lasted in the fridge perfectly for 4 days (I couldn't keep them in there any longer... they were too yummy and too easy to grab and take on the go!)

Each egg white bite only has 10 CALORIES!

I had 8 for a snack which equaled out to about 80 calories! Unless you top it with avocado, the egg white bits have no fat, cholesterol, or sugar.

ENJOY!

Morgan

Fat Blaster: Bike Intervals

Intervals: the one exercise guaranteed to blast fat and to keep your metabolism buzzing all day! I have to admit, this is something I’ve turned to after enjoying a few too many post-pageant cheat meals and nothing makes me feel better!

Rather than maintaining a constant heart rate (as you would on a normal-paced run or steady bikeride), intervals constantly confuse your heart. The heart muscle never is able to adapt to your higher heart rate since you’re continually going faster and slower, faster and slower, thus TORCHING calories! The beauty of intervals? You burn calories all day long. Intervals are great for fat loss and building up your cardio endurance, so lets get started!

To make your life easier, save the picture below and put it on your phone- that way the workout is right at your fingertips.

Also, WORD TO THE WISE: make sure you have a motivating playlist. My music is literally bumping while I jam out (and sometimes dance or sing) on my bike. Music is the #1 thing that pushes me through this workout, especially during the last circuit when you feel like you could sweat to death. 

Fat Blaster: Bike Intervals

Head to the gym and get pumped up for this DIY Bicycle Bootcamp. Hop on a bike and adjust the seat so that your knees are NEVER fully extended (you should maintain a slight bend in your knees at every point of pedaling). Start by warming up those leg muscles by increasing the resistance on the bike- they are usually set at “1” … you want to have control of your legs and feel like you’re working. Having no control of the pedal will not help you accomplish this workout! I usually set mine to “3” or “4”; you can change this with each workout.

After 5 minutes of warming up, begin the intervals! Remember, you are the ONLY one that can push yourself (since I can’t be there to yell in your ear and motivate you… but imagine it). The intervals work like this:

20 seconds sprinting

20 second cool-off

Repeat this 5 times

(this equals one circuit- repeat circuit 3 times)

The “sprinting” consists of pedaling YOUR LIFE AWAY. I tell myself “faster, faster, faster” until my legs won’t go any quicker. I usually bring my butt off the seat (almost half-standing on your bike), grip the handles, and pedal, pedal, pedal. The “cool-off” consists of almost a break. You need to keep pedaling and moving your legs, but there is no reason to push it too hard. This is the beauty of intervals- you are confusing your heart so that it never adjusts to a constant heartbeat.

The easiest way to do the intervals is to watch the timer on your bike. After a 5-minute warm up, I usually start my intervals at 5:20. For example:

Sprint 5:20-5:40

Cool-off 5:40-6:00

Sprint 6:00-6:20

Cool-off 6:20-6:40

Sprint 6:40-7:00

Cool-off 7:00-7:20

Sprint 7:20-7:40

Cool-off 7:40-8:00

Sprint 8:00-8:20

Cool-off 8:20-8:40

Cool-off 8:40-10:40

Now you have finished your first circuit! You repeat this 3 times (of as many as you would like!). You would begin your second circuit at 11:00 since we have 2-minute cool-downs incorporated between each circuit. So you would cool down 8:40- 10:40 and begin Interval #2 with a sprint 11:00-11:20… Cool-off 11:20-11:40... Sprint 11:40-12:00... get it?!

5:20	Sprint	5:40	Cool-off
6:00	Sprint	6:20	Cool-off
6:40	Sprint	7:00	Cool-off
7:20	Sprint	7:40	Cool-off
8:00	Sprint	8:20	Cool-off

Once you complete this you should feel SO proud of yourself! You will be burning fat all day long. Don’t forget: don’t ruin all of your hardwork by eating junk food. Nourish your body after your amazing workout and you will feel amazing!

Now you're FIT FOR SUCCESS!

Morgan :)

Morgan's Homemade Protein Bars

The only way to guarantee that you are “eating clean”… is to make it yourself! No more feeling guilty about eating packaged, preserved, nasty products- homemade is the way to go! These taste WAY BETTER than store-bought protein bars, can be grabbed on the go, and last in the fridge! AND you know they are healthy since you are making them! I bet these will become a weekly tradition for you (especially if you meal prep) and it definitely satisfied my sweet tooth! I've wanted to experiment making protein bars for the longest time.. Well, this one is checked off the blog-bucket-list and I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Really, who doesn't love the combination of banana, peanut butter, and chocolate? I wasn't going to include dark chocolate chips in my first experimental batch but I cannot resist that flavor trio. A little sugar won't kill you (and dark chocolate is the smartest option anyway). Ahhh, I am so satisfied. Here we go: 

Banana PB Chocolate Protein Bars

Homemade Protein Bars

Ingredients:

2 medium ripe bananas, mashed

3 egg whites

1/2 c. unsweetened almond milk

2 T. Teddie's natural unsalted peanut butter 

4 packets stevia 

1 t. vanilla

1 c. old fashioned oats

1 c. oat flour

1 1/4 scoops protein powder (I used Gold Standard Whey- Vanilla)

Dashes of cinnamon

 3 T. dark chocolate chips

Instructions:

-Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Coat a pan with olive oil cooking spray. I used a 9" circular pan, I'm sure an 8x8 or other size would work just fine- you just may need to alter your baking time by a few minutes.

-Mash your bananas in a large bowl. I used a handheld mixer.

-Combine the mashed bananas, egg whites, almond milk, peanut butter, stevia, and vanilla

-Next add in the oatmeal, oat flour, protein powder, cinnamon

-Lastly, stir in the dark chocolate chips!

before the oven!

Pour your batter into the greased pan and pop it into the oven (at 350 degrees) for 20 minutes! The middle should appear solid, almost as if you were baking a cake.

after the oven!

Let it cool for a good 10-15 minutes. Next, I was able to flip my pan over and the bars came out easily and cleanly out of the pan! (Remember to coat the pan with cooking spray before pouring your batter in). I placed it on a cutting board to let it cool more before proceeding to slice it!

I sliced it into 16 bars (which is what the nutrition facts portray below!) This gives you 100-calorie servings (99.75 calories to be exact) and is a good serving to fill you up with 6 grams of protein. Enjoy two bars if you're used to having 200 calories/12g protein snack times :)

can you imagine the deliciousness?

melty dark chocolate... mmmm

Nutrition Facts

100 calories

3g fat

12.5 carbs

3g sugar

6g protein

2g fiber

Enjoy one bar warm out of the oven (it made me feel like I was eating a cookie fresh out of the oven- seriously delicious, people) and store the rest in the fridge! I froze a few of mine as well. Since all of the ingredients are fresh, you want to enjoy them quicker than a store-bought product... those store-bought protein bars are filled with preservatives to allow them to last days, weeks, months, maybe years... EWWWW! Not Morgan's Homemade Protein Bars! And let me tell you- I don't know how these will even stay in your fridge for more than a week. They are THAT good.

Since they only take 20 MINUTES (with a 10 minute prep), you should have NO excuse that you "don't have time"- toss them in the oven when you watch the nightly news, when your dinner is cooking, while you're styling your hair... please, people. You have time! This will also save you money from the store-bought protein bars that can be $1/bar (or more)!

ENJOY BEING HEALTHY!

And never forget: healthy is possible.

Morgan :)