Ms Bliss Fit

Chocolate Chip Power Pancakes!

Eating these pancakes are like eating dessert for breakfast! If you are watching your weight, just eat one pancake with a serving of egg whites. If it is a high carb day and a little more fat is okay, eat 2. Great for the whole family…your husband and kids will love them and they won’t even know it’s healthy. :). One pancake has 130 calories, 17 grams of carbs, 6 grams of fat (because I used coconut oil…you can use a lower fat spread like smart balance…melt it before you put it in the mix), 6 grams of protein, 186 mg of sodium, and 3 grams of sugar (you can substitute the semi-sweet chocolate chips with dark chocolate pieces and use less).

Instructions

Mix in a large bowl:

1 cup of Bob’s Red Mill Organic 7 Grain Pancake and Waffle Mix

1/2 scoop of chocolate protein powder (I used IDS)

1 tablespoon of coconut oil

3/4 cup of unsweetened almond milk (you can use water or other types of milk)

1 egg (you don’t have to use an egg…it just makes the mix richer…you can also use egg white)

1 and 1/2 serving of Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips

Makes 6 pancakes.

More Recipes

This week I made, honey sweet potato casserole and ground chicken muffins.

Honey Sweet Potato Casserole:

5 sweet potatoes

1 tbsp of honey

1/4 cup of evaporated milk

cinnamon

ground ginger

Directions:

Slowly cook sweet potatoes in the crock pot on low for 3 or 4 hours. You will be able to peel the skin off of them once you take them out.

Mash them in a large bowl and add in evaporated milk, cinnamon, honey, and ginger.

Place in a baking dish of your choice. (Be sure to spray the dish with cooking spray first.)

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. My pan made 10 servings at only 80 calories per serving and about 14 grams of carbs. This is a wonderful replacement for sweet potato pie! You don’t need much to sweeten sweet potatoes.

Ground Chicken Muffins

See recipe for Ground Turkey Muffins and follow the same directions. You will replace the turkey with ground chicken and add in a cup of black beans. These are DELICIOUS and juicy. Warning…place tin foil under your muffin tin because the juice from the meat will spill over and burn the bottom of your stove! I learned this the hard way. These are very portable and low-fat. I even eat them at room temperature because I can’t always get to the microwave at work.

$8.00 Cake

I am starting to dream about food! Wow.I had a dream that I was at work and there were people there selling desserts for $8.00. I purchased two big slices of cake and then I woke up! It seemed so real. No one told me that having crazy dreams was going to be a part of this process. I guess I am always thinking about what I can’t have and so it comes out in my sleep. I hardly ever remember my dreams but boy do I remember this one!

Now these weren’t just any slices of cake. They were the most beautiful pieces of cake I had ever seen! And even in the dream I was telling myself I could not have it! I ate it anyway. I am not physic or interpreter of dreams so I have no idea what this means. There are one of two things…I have some repressed issue in my subconcsious…or prepping for this competition is driving me crazy! LOL!

To take care of my sweet tooth I eat fruit with my breakfast in the morning. Today I had half of a banana and sugar-free syrup with my oatmeal and protein shake. It seems to do the trick. :).

Some other things that help calm my craving are:

Sugar free Jello

Diet Hot Chocolate

Chocolate Protein Powder (IDS)

Sugar free gum

“It’s Never Crowded on the Extra Mile”

Thank you JillFit for posting this Wayne Dyer quote on your page this morning. I was just thinking to myself as I woke up that it’s hard doing this alone. Technically, I am not alone, I have a trainer and I have support but when I go to the gym in the morning, I am with myself. You don’t see too many people up at 4am and even fewer people at the gym. The ones that you do see are the faithful few. When you don’t see them, you wonder what happened and why they are not there.

It takes dedication to stick to a major goal. Many people start but few people finish. When others fall off to the side of the road, you have to keep walking. I am pretty sure that this will be worth it when it is all over but it sure is tough. Most people are not training for a figure competition so they don’t really understand the process and why I am doing it. It’s funny how you see what you need to see when you really need a boost. I needed to see that quote so I will keep this in mind today. Keep going the extra mille no matter what…

Life is beautiful so give it your all! You only get one!

Tanning and a Bikini What?

I found myself online yesterday researching tanning salons in my city. Wow! Tanning Salons? This black girl is going to go get a spray tan! LOL! The things I am doing for this show! Have mercy! It’s one of those things you know you have to do but when you actually start taking the steps to do it, it hits you all of a sudden. I mean I was REALLY into my search yesterday. I learned the difference between a regular spray tan and one that is applied by hand as well as the tanning bed. I think that I am going to go with the hand applied one at the Spa. I figure they will know what to do and it is much better if a professional does it.  I will be going on a cruise in a couple of weeks so maybe I will try it out for my vacation and see if I have a nice glow or if I looked like someone poured a big blob of paint all over my body! Let’s hope I don’t look like Snookie! (You know that black celebrities tan all the time…just thought I would share that bit of info). I will have to let you know how it goes.

No Pale Skin Here!

One other thing I have to do is the dreaded bikini wax. Good Lord! I don’t really want to think about the pain but I gotta do what I gotta do! 🙂

My life pretty much revolves around this competition now. For the next 14 weeks it’s what I eat, sleep, drink, and breathe. I am literally becoming obsessed with it but I really enjoy the process! It’s so cool to read other competitor’s blogs, look up healthy recipes and tips, work with the trainer, and share my experience. Although it is very, very, very, VERY, challenging…I am loving it!

Twitter Updates

I finally broke down and added a twitter account. Now when I have useful information, I will tweet about it! If you are on twitter, follow me @msblissfit. I hope that this will help with easier access to quick information for people on the go that don’t have time to sit down at the computer.

This Week’s Clean Recipes

Clean Turkey Muffins (Makes 12 servings) (A Variation of Jamie Eason’s Recipe)

Turkey 99% Lean Ground – Ground Turkey Breast Extra Lean 99% Fat Free – Cooked, 448 g (16 oz)

Weis – All-Natural Lean Ground Turkey 94/6, 16 oz

Bob’s Red Mill – 5 Grain Plus Flaxseed Rolled Whole Grain Hot Cereal, 1 cup

Egg Whites – Egg Whites, 3 egg white

127 calories, 6 grams of carbs, 3 grams of fat, 19 grams of protein, 65 mg of sodium

Mix all ingredients together and roll into 12 balls. Place each ball in one muffin tin in a 12 tin pan. Bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes. Very portable. You can warm them up or just eat them cold or at room temp.

Cherry Chicken Salad (Makes 3 servings) (My own creation!)

Generic – Baked Chicken Breasts, 12 oz

Nuts – Blue Diamond – Almonds – Whole Natural (Raw), 14 nuts

Cherries – Sweet, raw, 12 cherries

Fage – Total 0% Greek Yogurt Plain, 0.5 cup (114g)

175 Calories, 7 grams of carbs, 28 grams of protein, 194 mg of sodium, 5 grams of sugar

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Store in the fridge. You can substitute the cherries for strawberries and leave out the nuts…tweak it how you like.

Slow Roasted Pineapple and Sweet Potato Chicken (Makes 8-10 Servings) (A Variation from Jen’s Fit Playground).

Calorieking.Com – Chicken Breast, Roasted, Boneless, Skinless, Baked/Roasted Per 1oz, 16 oz

Dole – Crushed Pineapple, 1/2 cup

Sweet potato – Cooked, baked in skin, without salt (Sweetpotato), 5 medium (2″ dia, 5″ long, raw)

Pacific Natural Foods – Organic Free Range Chicken Broth Low Sodium (Corrected), 1.5 cup 

170 calories, 17 grams of carbs,  20 grams of protein, 83 mg of sodium, 8 grams of sugar

Place all ingredients in a good size crockpot. I placed the meat on the bottom and the sweet potatoes on the top. Cook on a low setting for 4-5 hours. You can use any vegetables and/or fruit you want. Quick and easy to clean up!

Adding and Subtracting

This is my motto for the next 16 weeks. I am subtracting a few things from my diet and adding others. I am finally starting to see changes that I want to see in my body but I am pretty sure it is the little things that are holding me back. Specifically, a lot of the artificial additives that I have in my diet. Even though they are low-fat and sugar-free, I have noticed that they cause me to bloat like crazy. I also think they make me more hungry than I was before I put them in my mouth. Eating splenda just makes me want to eat real sugar! Go figure! I have never in my life had flat abs…this is partly due to genetics but more so the things that I eat. Slowly but surely, the rolls are going away! LOL! So for the next 16 weeks, I will be fasting from these items:

• Malitol Sweetner
• Aspartame
• Diet Soda
• Sugar
• Products containing gluten (mainly bread)

I will be adding  a little more of these items:

• Mustard
• Hot Sauce
• Low-Sodium Salsa
• Rice Vinegar ( 0 everything!!)s
• Xylitol Sweetner (Natural)
• Green Vegetables (Even at breakfast)
• WATER
• Coffee and Tea (Coffee is not evil like you might believe…it actually has a lot of benefits)

You will be surprised how little changes make a big difference!

On another note, I watched a very inspirational video this morning on YouTube. Sometimes I watch them before I go to the gym to remind myself why the heck I am doing this and to see what other women went through during this process.

BEST ADVICE EVER!

 You have to read a lot and do a lot of research to stay on the right track. This video contained the best advice I have ever heard about figure competitions. Real talk. If you are even considering competing now or in the future…check out this video. Even if you are not thinking about competing, she really breaks down the issued that women have with food and the process of dealing with them.