April & May Carb Cycling

I get asked a lot about what my "diet" looks like, or when I eat, or what I eat. Its hard to always give a direct answer because I don't really eat the same thing every day. I do eat at the same times and I follow some guidelines depending on what MY goals are. I also don't like to tell someone to much because what MY goals and needs are might be different then YOURS.

For those of you that don't know, I've currently undergone a certification program to become a personal trainer. I'm also going to culinary school full time......not to become a chef in some restaurant, but to learn different techniques and products to cook. I want to eventually be a personal trainer that can also set up a whole meal plan (recipes and all) for my clients. Now I would LOVE to do this right now but being a full time student, working part time and also taking a certification program to be a PT leaves me with pretty much zero free time :/ However I would still like to help in any way I can!

For the past 2 months I've removed gluten, dairy, whole eggs, caffeine, all supplements and some fruits & veggies. If your unaware why please visit my post Fodmap Diet. I wouldn't say I've been "bulking" but I've been eating carbs regularly and eating a lot different then I usually would. I'm also getting all my nutrients from whole food sources. As far as training, I'm only doing cardio 3 days a week, weight training 6 days and 1 rest day. I've been focusing on getting bigger so I'm doing less reps with more weight, its unbelievable how strong I've gotten in only 2 months! I want my muscles to continue to grow but it seems I've come to a plateau.....so with that being said I've decided to start carb cycling again. Starting April 1st my diet will change and so will my training, I'm going to continue it for 2 months, so until June 1st.

Carb cycling isnt for everyone and I don't suggest you do it to just "loose weight". If you want to loose weight you need well balanced clean meals. If you don't know what carb cycling is you can Google it. But basically its when you rotate the amount of carbs you have each day (low, moderate, high). You would determine if its a low, moderate or high day by your training. Rest days would be low, smaller muscles would be moderate & larger muscles (leg day) would be a high carb day. You would do this as a way to maximize fat loss while maintaining the ability to perform high-intensity exercise. Then on your high carb days you would refeed your muscles. What happens during a refeed is you would change your diet to comprise mostly complex carbohydrates, limiting dietary fats as well as sucrose and fructose. Since the glycogen stores in the liver and muscles are depleted, these carbohydrates go straight to refilling them, instead of being added to the body's fat stores. For this reason, the amount of calories consumed during a refeed can be far above an individual's usual dietary intake.

Everyone has a different opinion on what carb cycling is, a lot of people weigh out all their food and count every carb, protein and fat. I'm not cutting to compete so I wont be that strict. I know what I need and portion sizes, so if I stick that that i'll be just fine. I'm also keeping all of the foods that I've removed from my diet out of my new plan. I'll slowly add some fruits, veggies & whole eggs back to see if I can handle them but for the most part I'm continuing with the Fodmap approved foods. I will also be including protein powder back into my diet but just before bed, and only lactose friendly.

I made a basic eating & training plan according to my work and school schedule (this is what works for ME). Click here for my Meal plan. Ill also be switching up my training so it wont necessarily stay like this.

 

Training Schedule

• Monday- Back, Biceps (am)
• Tuesday- 20 min HIIT cardio (am), Quads, hamstrings, calvs (pm)
• Wednesday- 20 min HIIT cardio (am), Shoulders, Traps (pm)
• Thursday- 20 min HIIT cardio (am), Abs, Yoga (pm)
• Friday- Triceps, Biceps (am)
• Saturday- Glutes, hamstrings (am)
• Sunday- 20 min steady cardio, Abs (am), Active rest

Monday- Moderate
Tuesday- High
Wednesday- Moderate
Thursday- Low
Friday- Moderate
Saturday- High
Sunday- Low

Goals:

1. Only 1 tbs. all natural nut butter/day
2. Cardio 4 days a week
3. Eat fish once a day
4. Have 1 cheat meal per week
5. Focus on more reps and lighter weight but still increasing weight
6. Keep portions small
7. Continue to "eat the rainbow"

Oatmeal Cookie Blueberry Pancakes

I've really been craving cookies for some reason and oatmeal cookies are one of my favorites! At first I just thought of doing a oatmeal bake so it would have a cake like texture, but its pancake Sunday, which means I HAVE TO cook pancakes :) Duh! So that's what I did.......

I topped these with some microwaved blueberries and WF pancake syrup. THEN......I dipped them in almond butter and banana ;) Such a perfect combination!

Oatmeal Cookie Blueberry Pancakes

• 3/4 cup of oat flour (I just blend up my oats)
• 2 tbs. almond flour
• 1 tbs. coconut flour
• 1 tbs. ground flax seed
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 full droplet of vanilla sweet cream liquid Stevia
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. almond extract
• 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1/2 cup liquid egg whites
• 1/2 banana
• 1 date, pitted
• Blueberries

Directions: 

1. Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl
2. Blend together almond milk, 1/2 banana & the date until everything is smooth
3. Using a hand mixer mix together the milk mix along with the 
4. rest of the ingredients, except the blueberries
5. Pour onto a non stick cooking pan, add blueberries while cooking
6. Flip and continue cooking until desired texture 

Fodmap Approved Salsa Verde Chicken-Veggie Enchiladas

Being on the Fodmap map diet as made my food selection very limited. I've had to give up a lot of my favorite foods :( But hey that has made me that much more determined to come up with delicious recipes! So that means no dairy, no gluten, whole eggs or a lot of other things.

Now lets talk enchiladas.......they're my FAVORITE! :D They are also filled with things I cant have :/ So I've come up with a recipe to accommodate  They are packed with protein, veggies and deliciousness! Did I also mention that they're LOW CARB?!?! So lets review..... they are gluten, egg, dairy free......and low carb. Sounds good to me :)

First we should start by making the homemade Salsa Verde :) Now since onions & garlic are a couple of the foods I can't have on the Fodmap diet I had to leave them out of the recipe. If you however want to add garlic and onion be my guest, its just as delicious without though ;)

FOOD PORN 

Salsa Verde

• 1 bag or about 25-30 tomatillos
• 2 jalapenos (it wont be to spicy i promise)
• a handful of cilantro
• 1/2 cup green onion
• 2 limes, juiced
• Sea salt, to taste
• 1 tbs. olive oil

Directions:

1. Cote tomatillos and 1 jalapeno with olive oil
2. Broil until they begin to blister and char
3. Blend everything in a food processor  

Then we need to make the "tortilla" that you'll use for the enchiladas. They are super simple and only require 3 ingredients........

Low Carb "Tortilla"

• 3/4 cup egg whites
• 1 tbs. coconut flour
• Mrs. Dash spicy seasoning 

Directions:

1. Blend everything together
2. Cook on a small non-stick pan. Roll the mix in the pan so it creates a thin layer (you wont need to flip them). You should get 2 tortillas from the batter

Salsa Verde Chicken-Veggie Enchiladas

• 2 low carb "tortillas"
• Salsa Verde sauce (as much as you like)
• 1/2 grilled red bell pepper
• 1/2 grilled zucchini
• 1/2 grilled poblano pepper
• 2 tbs. nutritional yeast
• 4-5 oz shredded chicken

Directions:

1. Chop veggies into small bites, add to a bowl along with chicken & nutritional yeast
2. Add a couple tablespoons to the bowl and mix well
3. Fill your "tortillas" with the mix, roll up & top with more Salsa Verde
4. Bake at 350 for 15 min or until done
5. Top with more warm Salsa Verde (I also added hot sauce on top)