I've Found a New Bar!

With all the protein bar selections on the market, it can be a little confusing as to which ones are the good ones. "But, Tiffiany," you may say, "aren't they all good, they have protein, right?" Well my friend, don't believe all the hype, there are a lot out there that aren't much better than eating a candy bar.

The thing to really watch out for is sugar. Many of these bars are loaded with sugar which is not what you want to be consuming if you are trying to eat healthy.

So, recently I was at a different grocery store than the one I usually frequent. I was browsing the store's health food section when I came to the protein bars. I stood there surveying the options when I saw some bars in light green and peanut colored wrappers. I grabbed one and feel in love when I read they were sugar free!

The brand is called ThinkProducts. They have protein bars that have 20g of protein, around 220 calories and the best part, have no sugar. Now maybe I'm really late and these bars have been around for a while, but they are new to me and I am thrilled! I would totally recommend having a stash of these around so when you are pinched for time and need to eat, you can just grab a bar. They have variety of flavors: dark chocolate, brownie crunch, creamy peanut butter, crunchy peanut butter and chocolate fudge (and yes, I've tried them all). You may saying to yourself, "yeah that sounds good, but how do they taste?" And to that, all I have are two words, de-lish!!!

Leg Day

One of my favorite muscle groups to train is legs. These workouts usually tend to be long because you have a lot of muscles in your legs and they all need training. I always hit the major muscles of the leg which are the quadriceps, hamstrings and calves. And I will use my leg day to train glutes as well.

I don't do exercises for my inner and outer thighs on the abductor and adductor machines (those machines where you are sitting and squeezing your legs together and pushing them apart). I find that you get an awesome workout doing exercises that hit all the muscles like squats. Plus, I don't really want to increase the size of the muscles that the abductor and adductor machines focus on. A common misconception with those machines is that people think they are burning the fat off of their legs. Wrong! You will need cardio for that.

I would recommend changing your leg routine every few weeks. (This would actually apply to any weight training routine.) The reason you want to change it up, is because your body adapts to the exercises and those exercises become less effective. It's sort of like your body knows what's coming and so it doesn't work as hard. If your change your routine to a new set of exercises, your body will work harder because it hasn't had a chance to adapt.

Check out one of my favorite leg training routines below.

4 sets of each exercise

Smith machine squats 90x20*/180x10/180x10/180x10

Decline leg press 270x15/270x15/270x15/270x12

Leg extensions 90x15/120x12/140x10/140x10

Leg curls 105x15/120x10/120x10/120x10

Deadlifts w/ bar 95x10/95x10/95x10/95x10

Standing calf raises 90x20/90x20/90x20/90x20

Cable kickbacks (glutes) 35x10 ea. leg for 4 sets

*90x20 means 90 pounds for 20 reps. Each set is notated by a /

What I ate

Hey! Sorry I've been behind on my posts, I have been super busy. I started taking a chemistry class last week. This is the first of many I will be taking toward becoming a registered dietitian. Between my class, training my clients and training myself for my figure competition in April, free time is scarce. But, I think I can commit to putting up a new post once a week. As of today, I am 12 weeks out from my competition. My diet and training must be very strict from this point forward. Here is what I ate today.


9:30 a.m.
1/4 cup oatmeal with water
1 Tbs sugar-free strawberry preserves
1 scoop protein powder with water

12:30 p.m.
Homemade chicken sandwich
-1 serving baked boneless/skinless chicken breast
-1 whole wheat bun
-1 Tbs light Miracle Whip
-tomato, lettuce, red onion

Salad greens w/ 2 Tbs vinaigrette dressing
-tomato, cucumber, 1/8 cup light blue cheese crumbles

3:30 p.m.
1 serving Chicken Fiesta
- mix of brown rice, baked chicken, green & red peppers, onions, black beans rinsed & drained

7:30 p.m.
1 serving baked chicken
1 cup broccoli
1 Tbs natural peanut butter

10:30 p.m.
1 tilapia fillet
1 cup broccoli

2 liters water
Approximately 1220 calories
Cardio for the day= 1 hour 15 minutes

Comments: I didn't go to bed until 2:30 a.m. so eating at 10:30 p.m. wasn't bad. My water intake should have been higher -- I need to be drinking 1 gallon per day. Other than that, I'd say today was perfect.