Yesterday I was doing my leg workout and was most of the way through when a trainer came up and asked me if I was a trainer. I said no, and he asked if I wanted to become one. Well I have a pretty demanding career so I said I couldn’t but it is something I’ve always wanted to do. He gave me the fitness managers card and said he was really impressed with my physique. Well that made my day! Being asked if I want to become a trainer because I look the part… hell yes that is some awesome motivation and reward for the hard work!
I finished off my workout feeling awesome about myself despite the fact that I cannot lift as heavy as I normally do.An unfortunate side effect of cutting calories and upping cardio so much is that my strength is decreasing…. a lot. I am increasing the repetitions to try to get the most out of the muscles. My squat is usually 165 lbs and I can usually stiff leg deadlift at least 185 lbs. But yesterday I was supersetting jumping lunges and burpees with my squats and deadlifts and I only ended up lifting 135 lbs squat and a measly 120 lbs deadlift (but I was doing 15 reps). This is rather upsetting and can be very unmotivating so the compliments were really helpful to push me through the leg workout.
One of the things I keep reminding myself is that this is temporary. I love being strong in fact and not just in appearance, but I know that after the competition when I add more carbs and increase my calories I will make some awesome gains. An athlete that lifts heavy and eats well-ish after a competition can make amazing muscular AND strength gains because your body has been deprived of nutrients for so long that when they are present finally it will use them really efficiently. I am really looking forward to seeing what the results of that are, but that’s putting the cart before the horse as I still have 3 and a half weeks to go before the competition and Thanksgiving to contend with this weekend. Are there any willpower exercises I can do?
Seriously, I could use some strength gains for my will power this weekend. Pumpkin pie is my weakness, and I’m so close to the competition. This is a trap! However, I do believe that willpower is like a muscle in that you can train it. The more practice you have saying no to bad food and taking reasonable portion sizes or going to the gym even when you don’t want to, the easier it gets to continue with that. Maybe it’s just habit, maybe it’s actually better willpower, but I definitely notice it’s easier for me to stick to a diet and training regime now than it was a year ago when I hadn’t been as strict.
Speaking of sticking to my diet, last night I decided to make a nicer dinner and actually put some effort in. There are no grains involved and it’s super tasty.
Ground beef stuffed peppers
Cheesy beefy goodness
Ingredients:
- 1 medium onion
- 1-2 cloves garlic
- 1 lb lean ground (preferrably grass-fed) beef
- Tomato paste (5.5 oz can)
- 3 bell peppers
- 1 tbsp oil
- 3 oz. Gouda (or other cheese, but Gouda has some awesome health benefits)
Directions:
Onion and garlic
- Heat the oven to 350 degrees F
- Slice bell peppers in half and gut them so you can put the beef inside them.
- Spray a baking pan (preferably with sides so that the bell peppers don’t slide around too much) with Pam or lightly oil the pan and put the peppers in the oven to partially cook while you prepare the filling.
- Heat the oil in a saucepan to medium while you dice the entire onion (there will be tears)
- Either chop the garlic or use a garlic press and add this to the oil to brown (but not burn) then add the onion.
- Cook the onion for 5 minutes or until starting to brown.
- Add the ground beef to the pan and brown the meat until just cooked through, but not too dry.
Grass fed ground beef is better for you, leaner and tastes better!
- Add the entire can of tomato paste and mix well, leave on the heat until heated through again. The mixture will be quite thick because it is paste and not sauce, this works better and will hold together well when we fill the peppers
- Take the peppers out of the oven and distribute the filling evenly among the peppers. Mine were full but not overflowing, just perfect 🙂
- Place these in the oven for 10 minutes to cook the pepper further and set the filling.
- Grate the Gouda cheese and remove the peppers from the oven.
- Top each pepper evenly with the cheese, and put back in the oven for 5 minutes and switch to broil for the last minute to brown a little.
The stuff peppers minus the cheese
Nutritional Info: (serving size is 2 half peppers or 1/3 of the recipe) Cals – 390 Carbs – 18 g Fat – 19 g Protein – 41 g
Oh, and these reheated like a dream for lunch today. It was a welcome treat to have a substantial warm lunch. Microwaved for 1 minute 30 seconds.
On The Go Fitness 