Talk about MIA...

Holy crap...it's been a really long time.

Shortly after my last post my dad unexpectedly passed away. After that I had a really hard time feeling motivated to take care of myself. I also felt little motivation to keep up with this little blog. Plus, this past semester was rough. And I started working full time, which meant very long days between classes and work. When I got home I had to use whatever energy I had to study.

Initially I sporadically went to the gym and ate well on and off...mostly off. It was hard and it took me a while to get back into my groove. Even then it was a struggle. I would go a while doing well and taking care of myself, but then would fall back into bad habits. I even tried paleo for about a month, which is something I never thought I would be able to do. I'm proud of myself for doing it, but again it just lead to me falling into my bad habits. I did really well for that month or so. I don't know if I just felt deprived without realizing it, but for the past month or so it's been pretty bad. And it didn't help that a fairly stressful semester ended  and I just didn't want to do anything. Lately I just have not felt like myself, and I'm definitely not happy with the toll it's taken on my body. SO, I've decided to make a change and get back to my normal self and start taking care of myself again. It doesn't matter how many times we fall, so long as we get back up and dust ourselves off. So if you're like me and you're struggling to get back up, just do it! It will be hard at first, I won't lie. But it's so worth it in the end. In an attempt to get back to my normal ways I've decided to take a break from paleo...who knows, maybe once I've had a break and feel like I've got a handle on my eating habits I will give it another try. There are a few things I've taken away from my paleo trial though:

• Fat is not the enemy. Previously I would shy away from anything that seemed too fatty. I would rarely use nut butters (even though I loved them). I would rarely use oil, butter, etc to cook with. I would avoid fatty meats. Now, I really do have a different view of fats and I'm no longer scared of them. 
• Avoid overly processed foods. The less ingredients the better. There's so many chemicals and things added to foods now-a-days that our body just doesn't know what to do with. Now, I'm trying to find moderation with this as well. With paleo, there's a very strict view of how pure everything you eat should be. But there are certain things that I'm willing to compromise on. Like sriracha. I absolutely love sriracha, but according to paleo you can't have it. It's all about balance, especially right now when I'm just trying to get back into my groove. 

Anyways, enough of my talking...I thought I'd share a recipe for some amazing protein pancakes I made before my paleo trial. These were so delicious, my god just thinking about them has got me drooling. 

PB&J Protein Pancakes

Ingredients:

For the pancakes:

• 1 scoop protein powder
• 2 tbsp peanut flour (or PB2)
• 1/8 tsp baking powder
• 1 banana, mashed
• 2 egg whites

For the toppings:

• 2 handful of berries ( I used blackberries and blueberries, but any work)
• 2 tbsp peanut flour (or PB2, peanut butter/nut butter)

Directions:

1. Add protein powder, peanut flour, and baking soda to a bowl.
2. Add the banana in chunks. Mash it all together while trying to mix it the best you can. 
3. Add egg whites and stir well. 
4. Cook pancakes like any other pancakes!
5. While pancakes are cooking, put your berries on a plate or cutting board. Use a fork or masher to mash the berries very well. Combine mashed berries to form a fruit spread. 
6. Once pancakes are cooked, spread some of the fruit spread on each pancake. Stack them pancakes.
7. In a small bowl add peanut flour and enough water to make a consistency you can pour. Pour the mixture over those bad boys. 
8. Enjoy!

These pancakes are so fluffy and delicious, hands down the best protein pancakes recipe I've ever tried. This recipe was adapted from a recipe posted by @the_starving_artist on instagram.

Hopefully now that I have the summer off I will be posting a lot more on here. At least that's my goal :)

With love,

Tuffy

Some good news and rambles

I made a new recreation today, and will be posting the recipe shortly! But first I need to ramble a bit :)

First off, I was very disappointed I didn't get to post WIAW this week. I had taken all my pictures and was ready to go post it...and our internet wasn't working -_- WTF cox cable >=| And then I was going to do it on Thursday instead. On Thursday it really wasn't working. But as of this morning, it just might be permanently fixed. For the past 3-4 months our internet has been on the shitty side. It would cut out randomly and then come back. Cox sent out technicians. The first one had no idea what was wrong so they sent out a more experienced one (I guess) who kind of figured out what was going wrong, but could not figure why or how to fix it. He did manage to figure out that if you went and wriggled this one wire outside, it would at least temporarily fix it. So that is what my love has been doing at least once a day. Until last week when it stopped fixing it. So this time Cox sent out a new contracted technician who isn't actually employed by Cox. Apparently he knew what he was doing and it looks like this good man has figured it out. So far today our internet hasn't cut out at all. We are keeping our fingers crossed that it continues this way.

Anyways, enough with that ramble. And on to this one, which includes very good news for me! So it's 2 weeks into the 6 week recovery period for which my Dr told me no weight lifting, and I kind of mentioned to my mom (who is a nurse) how I was sad I couldn't lift weights. She asked me why and I reminded her of what my Dr said. She responded with "What?! No way. You're definitely healed by now. There's no reason you can't lift weights". I sat there with my jaw dropped, staring at her. Really?!? Are you sure???! She told me that it probably took me a week to heal and there's no reason I shouldn't be able to go back to my regular gym stuff. At that point I had the hugest smile on my face. And as much as I love my mom and value her opinion, I couldn't just take her word on it. So I googled it. According to an article I found written by a Doc, she recommended taking it easy (nothing strenuous) for the first week, but after that you can start slowly working in your normal activities. At this point I was just beyond ecstatic and a little annoyed that my Dr was so off in what he told me. It makes sense that he was wrong though, because when I asked him how long I had to wait before doing weights and what not, he looked like he was searching for an answer and just kind of landed on 6 weeks. But I was mostly just happy! I could start actually working out again! I'm sorry but cardio/yoga/pilates just doesn't feel the same as going into the weight room. I definitely enjoy yoga and pilates, but I also definitely crave something more intense. So today my love and I went for a nice chest/tri session. It was wonderful :)

Also, I ran! For 2 miles! I used to run almost every day, 3 miles minimum. And then my knees started bothering me. At first braces helped. And then they didn't. So, much to my dismay, I stopped running. Which is a shame because I really do enjoy it. Every time I've tried it since I stopped sometime last year, my knees start hurting by the time I hit the 1 mile mark. Today I got to 2 miles and had to stop due to knee pain. I really enjoyed those 2 miles and was really sad I had to stop, but I'm just glad I got those 2 miles in. It was a reminder of how much I miss it though. I'm thinking about trying a different type of knee brace. I think the kind I have isn't really meant for my knee pain and I'd really like it if I could continue to run :)

On another note, I started school this week. So far so good, but the first week is always the easiest so that doesn't really mean anything. Ha! This semester I'm taking Molecular Genetics and Nutrition. Genetics is a required course and I'm really excited for it. I find DNA and genetics fascinating, but admittedly I don't know much about it. I'm sure it will be a challenging class, but I'm really excited to learn and I think it will be really interesting (plus it will definitely be useful for my job). Nutrition is not at all a required course, but I needed another class to maintain my part-time status and I've always been interested in nutrition. It should be pretty cool to learn about nutrition from a more scientific stand point. So I'm expecting to be a busy little Tuffy this semester, but I will just have to manage my time properly ;)