Chocolate Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Cake

By: Spencer Fiumara

So this Monday's meal prep has turned into an all out war of cravings for me so I decided to create an alternative that won't completely blow up the scale tomorrow morning. Currently I'm reverse dieting and anyone who has competed before knows it's not the easiest thing to do for many reasons. BUT... enough about me let me teach you how to put together this beauty so you can treat yourself.

Ingredients needed:

-2 scoops or 66g of AI Sports Nutrition Cinnamon Roll Whey

-2g of cinnimon

-5g of baking soda

-3g or 3 packets of Splenda

-dash of sea salt

-16g of chocolate instant Jello pudding mix

-15 oz. of canned pumpkin

-1 egg 

-2 egg whites

-50g of fat free cottage cheese or greek yogurt

-dash of almond milk

-dash of vanilla extract

Topping:

-Sugar free syrup

-All natural peanut butter

Additional Thoughts:

I wish I would've added in chocolate chips to the batter, but I placed them on top instead (not in picture or added to macros below). I also wish I would've had some arctic zero on deck to eat this with. I guess a glass of unsweetened vanilla almond will do for now though. Enjoy!  

Directions:

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

-Combine all dry ingredients with wet ingredients 

-Stir

-Spray a 8-inch springform pan with cooking spray.

-Transfer mixture into pan

-Cook in oven at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes and then at 300 degrees F for 20 minutes. 

-Insert a toothpick. When it comes out clean, the cake is ready.

-Allow to cool for 30-45 minutes.

-Set in fridge to settle for at least 3-4 hours. Enjoy!

Macros for the whole cake...excluding sugar free syrup/natural peanut butter. 

Three Tip Thursday

By: Spencer Fiumara

So I don’t mean to rain on your parade as far as “Thirsty Thursday” goes but I do however want to throw a few fitness tips your way this Thursday.

#1: Don’t Drunk Eat
Your body priorities the digestion of alcohol over food. Anything you eat will sit in your stomach and end up as fat as your body processes the alcohol first. So before you decide to take a few brews to the face while washing it down with a trip to Micky D’s take this tip into consideration.

#2: Change It Up
Keep your workouts fun and exciting by changing them on a month-to-month basis. There are many physiological benefits to changing up your workouts, but from a psychological stand-point change it up so you don’t get bored.

#3: Prepping Food
If you want to tackle your fitness/physique goals head-on it doesn’t end with your training program. In fact, I would say that 85% YES, EIGHTY FIVE PERCENT of it IS DIET. I can’t stress that enough! So in order to avoid running to the easy option...fast food *cough* *cough* have your meals packed ahead of time to save your health and your wallet. Because let’s face it...fast food is a total rip off for what you get via quality, portions and taste.

But it’s all advice...take it or leave it.

Protein Pancakes

By: Spencer Fiumara
First off...HAPPY 4TH OF JULY! Secondly...let’s eat breakfast!
What’s on the menu today? Pancakes...mmmmm
Now these aren’t your typical IHOP pancakes. We’re making protein pancakes. There are thousands of protein pancake recipes out there, but I tried to find one for you guys that is simple, quick and easy (you’re welcome). :)
Ingredients
-1 Small Banana
-1 Small (120g) cooked sweet potato
-1/2 c of liquid egg whites
-1/2 c of vanilla whey
Directions
-Blend all the ingredients together for 2-3 minutes
-Spray pan w/ non-stick spray and heat on medium heat
-Pour batter into small circles
-When the batter begins to bubble up, flip the pancake over

Maple Glazed Protein Doughnuts

By: Spencer Fiumara

Tonight we will be baking macro friendly maple glazed protein doughnuts!
Ingredients needed to make the doughnut:
40g x Whey Protein Powder (Vanilla)

80g x Gluten Free Ground Oats 100g x Unsweetened Apple Sauce 50ml x Liquid Egg Whites 1 x Whole Egg 50ml x Unsweetened Almond Milk 1tsp x Baking Powder

Glaze Ingredients:

50g x Fat Free Greek Yoghurt (Liberte´) 1-2tbsp x Zero Calorie Syrup (Maple)

1/3rd tsp x Xantham Gum
Instructions

• 1. Donut Method:
• 2. Pre-heat your fan oven to 170 degrees celsius and prepare your donut pan with a little spray oil. I used a small 6 donut silicone mould however if you don't own one you could use muffin moulds or even bake it as a protein cake.
• 3. Simply add in all of your donut ingredients to a food processor and mix until well combined. I started with my wet ingredients, blitzed this first, then added the dry. The mixture is runny but it bakes well so try and resist wanting to make it any thicker!
• 4. Next, pour your batter into your donut mould and bake in the centre of your fan oven at 170 degrees for around 10 minutes. It should make roughly 14 mini-donuts! Whilst your donuts are baking, make up your frosting.
• 5. Frosting Method:
• 6. Add your yogurt, Zero Syrup and a pinch of xantham gum into a bowl and mix until it is nice and smooth and the texture has begun to get a little gummy. Make sure you add a little xantham at a time as you don't want to add too much or you will end up with a glue like substance! Taste for sweetness and add more syrup as desired... Its calorie free after all so go mad!
• 7. Finally remove your donuts from the oven and let them cool on the side. Once cooled, frost your donuts and store in the fridge once done. These are so simple to make and absolutely delicious, ENJOY!

Nutrition Info
1  Mini Donut (Out of 14)
43kcals  Calories
3.9g  Protein
4g  Carbs
1.2g  Fats

Tasty Tuesday

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Protein Waffles        
Ingredients:
2 Scoops of your favorite chocolate protein powder
1/2 cup of almond milk
1 teaspoon of banana extract
1 tbsp of chia seeds
3 egg whites
2 tbsp of PB2
Cooking spray
How do I make them?
Mix all ingredients except for PB2 in a mixing bowl. The batter will be thicker than typical waffle batter. Spray the waffle maker with cookie spray on both sides or it’ll stick. Pour the batter into a waffle maker. Make sure to spread the batter evenly, since it is thick. Cook for about 2 minutes on each side. Once done, spread your prepared PB2 on top of the pancakes. Enjoy!
Macros per serving (makes two):
Calories: 196. Fat: 3g. Net Carbs: 4.1g. Protein: 32.7g.

Cardio Burn

By: Spencer Fiumara

The workout this week is going to be more directed towards cardio and less towards weight lifting for those of you who are looking to lose fat and maintain muscle follow the regimen below. 

Three days a week you’re going to perform high intensity interval training. The following cardio will assist with burning fat while maintaining optimal muscle. This type of training will assist with less joint pain, save your immune system, save your body composition, and most importantly...TIME. 

Back in the day the theory was that to burn fat, you must stay in the fat burning zone. 

What is the fat burning zone?

-” (heart rate between 50-65%) for 60-70 minutes”

You don't start burning fat until about 20 minutes into the work-out.  So if you do a 70 minute session, you will get 50 minutes of fat burning. 

You see the instant that you are done with low intensity jogging; your body is done burning calories.  But, do an intense set of intervals, and your body burns calories for the 2-4 hours after the workout.  So the total amount of calories burned from intense intervals far exceeds that of jogging type cardio. 

“So where do I start?”

Try hoping on the treadmill and doing one minute at 3.5 mph and one minute at 10 mph.

*Caution this type of training isn’t for everyone and I would not recommend that you commit to this regimen if you are a beginner to cardio*

Hint: If you have to make modification to the speeds to start please do so. For instance...

-Start at 2.0 mph

-Increase to 5.0 mph 

Then progress weekly.

Tip Tuesday

By: Spencer Fiumara
So I’ve noticed that a lot of individuals are really pursing fitness these days and really trying to make a habit of it (GREAT JOB WORLD!). Aside from that, I’ve noticed that many people are still using the old fashion pen and paper to track their macros or calories for a lack of a better concept. I’m here to save you a little bit of time along your fitness journey by promoting an application that I like to use on a day-to-day basis in order to keep track of every piece of food/liquid calorie I eat/drink. The application I’m referring to is called “MyFitnessPal.” The following application has taken fitness to a whole new level by putting the convenience of tracking what you eat at the palm of your hand (if you have a smart phone that is). The first thing you’ll notice when you download the application is that you have to add in all of your data such as age, weight, name, etc… After that’s done you’ll create a profile for yourself (now I know what you’re thinking “GREAT, another social media site I’ll have to keep up with”), but it’s not like that! You can be socially active on the following application, but you obviously don’t have to be. I strictly use the application just to keep track of my macros…those being (carbs, fats, and proteins) that I’ve spoke upon in previous blogs. The application also allow you to scan bar code labels, but most of the foods you’ll find are already in the application from previous members using the app. Another cool feature about MyFitnessPal is that it allows you to keep track of your total calories, it sets a goal of how many calories you’ll need to consume in order to reach a following goal of your choice such as “lose one pound a week, gain 5lbs in a month, etc…” I strongly urge you to try it and comment below to let me know what you think!