This review will go on my protein powder review page and the Toneitup page.

You guys know I love the Toneitup Nutrition Plan because it taught me how to eat and well…tone up! I know a lot of people in the blog world don’t like that phrase, but its true. Their diet plan taught me to eat more protein, less refined carbohydrates, and more fresh produce. Now I eat paleo too, but I don’t have any problems with rice every once in a while.

Just as I was about to order some of TIU’s new protein powder, Perfect Fit Protein, I found a little package in my mail with some packets! Totally thrilled!! They did not pay me to do this review and all of these opinions are my honest thoughts (I take proteins very seriously as you know lol!).

Some info about Perfect Fit Protein:

Organic, Gluten-Free, Raw, Vegan, Non-GMO, Non-Fat, Low in Sodium, Hypoallergenic, and Free of Sugar, Dairy, Lactose, Cholesterol, Soy, Corn, Wheat and Allergens

It has 15g of protein per 70 calories…so if you want more protein, you could use 2 packets. It costs about $1.40 per packet, or ~10 cents per g of protein, depending on how many you order at one time. While this is more expensive than whey protein, you’re getting such a good quality (organic!) product and its still cheaper than pretty much ANY of Whole Food’s organic proteins.

The protein is sweetened with brown rice syrup, vanilla, and stevia. Guar gum is added as thickener. Pretty nice and clean ingredients! I’m really impressed.

The protein comes in packets only, so that its easy to transport and servings are portioned.

The texture is very powdery and fluffier than regular whey. Its like flour, really!

On the back of the info sheet was a recipe for Perfect Fit pancakes – a version of the Toneitup pancake I’ve been eating every couple days.

I decided to whip some up for the ultimate test. Some wheys (especially isolates) make really rubbery pancakes. The last time I used Boku’s brown rice protein, the pancakes came out great since the texture of rice protein is much like flour.

In this batch, I tried my new almond/coconut milk…Its so much better than almond milk! Creamier!

All the ingredients went in the magic bullet, even the banana.

I cooked them on medium low in some coconut oil and it made 5 silver dollar pancakes. I topped them with half a diced banana, almond butter, and cinnamon.

They were SO good. The texture is even better than whey protein pancakes and they sweetness was perfection. I didn’t add any additional sweetener so I could taste the protein. Its not extremely sweet or artificial tasting. Just light and natural. Really nice! I’m going to order some more packets now. They are going to be my go-to for protein pancakes. I estimate that this serving (no toppings) has about 30g protein and 25g of carbs (depending on your banana size).

And now for the giveaway!! I’m going to send 2 winners 1 packet of Perfect Fit Protein to try and all you have to do is leave a comment below saying you want to try it!

If you’re anything like me, you like to sample before committing to the product. Have a good one!

I haven’t done one of these posts in a long time! Mainly because I don’t want readers to get the idea that what I eat is what they should eat…this is just what works for me. Keeps me going throughout the day without feeling sluggish. I’m constantly moving at work since I’m running back in forth between labs, and I need food that will keep me satiated but not too full. My diet is sort of a mixture of paleo, Toneitup, feta cheese, and chocolate. I also have an extreme love for gummi bears, but I rarely eat them. I’m waiting for a giant gummi bear to show up on my door (coughPhilipcough).

I’ve been starting the day with 2 eggs scrambled with veggies and salsa, or a Toneitup pancake.

Connie, one of my best friends, surprised me with a box of my favorite protein bars - Boku Bars. I’ve been taking one bar everyday to work and snacking on pieces of it whenever I’m hungry. Its all organic/non-gmo, gluten/soy/lactose free. Oh and DELISH.

For lunch I made a salad with 4 persian cucumbers, feta cheese, olive oil, raw apple cider vinegar, and some PaleOMG sliders that I froze last week. My lunches are primarily salads since they’re light and refreshing. Anything too heavy will drag me down in the afternoon.

My afternoon snack lately has been a scoop of Dymatize Swiss Chocolate and an unsweetened applesauce. Nothing special but super fast to guzzle during lab work. PS. I just tried Dymatize Gourmet Vanilla and I’m blown away by how much it tastes like sugar cookies! Review to come.

For dinner, I usually make a warm dish. Today we happened to go out to eat because a friend is in town visiting. Believe it or not, he knew Phil 9 years ago, when he FIRST spoke to me at a summer camp. I can’t believe how much has changed…and not changed! Our friend is excited to speak at our rehearsal dinner (a long time from now) and tell everyone how we met.

Anyways, I got stir fried veggies (light on the sauce) with beef.

And if I’m cooking, I usually try and make some protein, green veggie, and starch if I’m post workout.

The goal of all of this is so be stress-free and simple. No overthinking! I’m too lazy for that.

WOD:

On Saturday, I WODed with Nicole and we did a modified version of the Crossfit Regionals workout.

Partner WOD, split between two people in the following order:

40 pullups while one person is deadlift holding a 135# bar

60 wall balls (14#) while one person is doing chin up holds (um….yea…I lasted 5 seconds)

150m buddy carry with a 35# dumbbell

20 box jumps

150m buddy carry with 35# dumbbell

2 full strict pullups

Pretty hard! But my new secret to successful workouts: lululemon bangbuster with a french braid. No more eye sweat and it doesn’t slide off my head!

Today I just did some running in the morning…watching “Weight of the Nation” now on HBO – I wish they would show this on national basic channels, great program.

Have a great night!

Why hello.

I haven’t posted my random eats in a while, so let’s do it.

Leftover onion and mushroom from PaleoOMG cinnamon sliders in an omelet, cooked in a piece a of bacon.

Giant salad – romaine, apple, FETA, canned tuna, TJs champagne dressing:

Post crossfit meal – chicken legs cooked in Penzey’s Fox Point seasoning, tomato salad with feta, balsamic, EVOO, italian spices, and sweet potato wedges.

So my blog is a food blog…but I’ve recently become obsessed with My Superficial Endeavors. I’ve been reading her blog for a couple years but I haven’t been really interested in the business clothing until now. First off, she has amazing style – conservative but feminine, romantic, flattering…just how I hope to be someday.

The prospect of having a real job that doesn’t leave me covered in bacterial waste has piqued my interest in attempting to have nice work clothing. This has now expanded to all forms of dressing up, since I’ve been going to lots of weddings/formal things since Phil and I are both reaching the end our student lives. OH YEA!!!!!

Long story short, here are some outfits I like, kthanks.

I wore this last night to a law gala (aka party with hors d’oeuvres ha).

I also wore this to my sisters wedding in November of 2009, and asked my mom ship it to me – its one of my FAVORITE dresses EVER by Maggie London. It has structure and is extremely well made.

I still love your wedding dress, Diane!

Side and back:

And I just ordered some more dresses for Phil’s graduation festivities…All on sale at Macy’s.com!

Jessica Simpson:

NY collection:

And with that, I will leave you with a pic of Teddy in my armpit.

WOD:

I went to crossfit on Wednesday and we did:

5 rounds

5 push press
12 back squat

I can do fairly decent weights for both of these moves…but the hard part for me was putting the bar on my back from the push press position. I wanted do 70# but ended up doing 58#. It was still hard and exhausting.

And yesterday I just went running to loosen up my muscles…they were pretty sore. Correction, still sore

I just spent some time going through Foods of April’s older posts…I miss you April! Come back

I got back yesterday from my best friend Natalie’s wedding in Houston. I was the maid of honor and we had a great time. I was happy to have my travel buddy, Philip, with me.

On our first day there, Phil requested a real Texan steak. Filet mignon, ohhh yea. So. dang. good. I tried to eat paleo for some of my trip so I got my steak with sweet potato and broccoli.

And the next morning, I went down for breakfast at our hotel (free!) which was INSANELY awesome. I will be staying at Hilton Garden Inn’s from now on…full eggs, bacon breakfast, cold cuts, fresh veggies, cottage cheese…even FETA CHEESE.

I ordered an omelet with all the veggies and bacon.

I also had some fruit and FETA.

And then the wedding festivities ensued.

Here’s my bridesmaids dress for the wedding:

It’s by Alfred Angelo and it was very comfortable.

Natalie had her makeup done by a professional and it was so pretty. I hope I can find someone as talented for my wedding.

My hair was done in this curled, side ponytail thing…sort of hard to describe. But it was the most comfortable formal hair I’ve ever had!

All in all, the wedding went off without a hitch and it was beautiful. She had a traditional Catholic ceremony which I enjoyed a lot, since it was my first Catholic wedding. I was in charge of making sure her train was properly fanned out, and I took my job very seriously

I did enjoy my fair share of non-paleo goodies – wedding cake and pizza, but the wedding was catered a BBQ company – paleo dream haha.

I was happy to get back yesterday and see my buddy…

I made some zucchini fritters with PaleOMG’s cinnamon sliders last night…loved both of them.

Fritter batter:

Sizzling in a little coconut oil:

Onions for the sliders, cut on my mandolin:

Final product (snack taste test):

And then today, I topped everything with pico de gallo:

Really good!! So filling that I couldn’t finish my plate.

I hope you make them!

WOD:

I haven’t WODed in a while due to the traveling…But Kylee sent me this question on my facebook page:

I was wondering a few things about your training. I remember (not sure how long ago) that you took some olympic lifting coaching sessions (if I remember correctly). I also took about 5 until my coach quit on me. I dont have oly lifting setup at my gym so I dont continue to do it except with lighter weights. I got a crossfit groupon because I wanted to do more oly lifting and cant find a coach and I was wondering if you found that it has helped your olympic lifting? I am sure once I try the crossfit that will answer my question, but I am curious. I would love to see a post on this too: how has crossfit helped you, has it helped you in the gym, are you still strength training, what are your goals/experiences? I am sure others are curious too and would love to hear if you have any advice. I am not sure if I will like crossfit but I figured it is worth a try (my fiance and I are going to try it together!)

Here is my response to her, in case you had a similar question:

My personal opinion is that its better to learn oly lifts from a private coach than at a crossfit box, but its possible to learn at Crossfit. Learning how to do cleans from a private coach REALLY helped me. I think the reason is that oly lifts were originally meant to be done at 1-4 reps, not 10+ reps like crossfit. but I still LOVE crossfit, as you know! I don’t strength train as much now since I consider crossfit to be “weight lifting” but its usually lower weight, higher rep.

You don’t get as much individual attention during Crossfit, and I think when beginning to oly lift, its really important to get a strong base and understand the movement. Different Crossfits have different foundations classes – some better than others. My good friend Nicole, started Crossfit with no oly lifting experience, and she’s doing great with her cleans. So I’m not saying its impossible, but I do suggest finding a coach if you like the lifts and want to practice independently. See if a local high school or college has a weight lifting coach – they tend to be the GREAT inexpensive oly coaches!! I hope this helps, let me know if you have any more questions.

Crossfit has tremendously helped my cardio endurance and my pull up strength. I feel that my shoulders are much stronger now during overhead squats and snatches as well. I just find it fun, but I love low rep, high weight stuff too when I have time. I tend to stick to deadlifts and back squats when I’m doing a true strength training day (not crossfit).