Protein Cheesecake Recipe

   I've wanted to try this recipe for months! But my husband isn't such a fan of "healthy" desserts, since it's my birthday week I went ahead and made it. It was sooo good you guys! Here is the recipe:

1 pckg fat free cream cheese. 

Yoplait Greek 100 calorie vanilla yogurt.

1 Egg.

3 Eggwhites.

Some sugar free cheesecake pudding mix, like 2 tbsp.

Sugar free graham cracker crust.

1 cup artificial sweetner of choice.

1 scoop vanilla whey.

   I blended all of the ingredients, poured the filling in the crust and baked for 40 mins at 300 degrees. It's about 185 calories and 18g of protein per slice! Enjoy! 

Xoxo,

   Brittany Marie Powell

#MIMM

Happy Marvelous Monday Everyone! 

  So here's one of my most marvelous eats of the day, which was breakfast of course. I made vanilla shakeology protein waffles and they were DELISH!!! 

I also ran today for the first time in a whole and it felt marvelous. I needed it. It's funny how good it can feel to get back into it after you've taken a break. As much as I like body beast and lifting I feel like running will always be my first love. I always feel so much better after I do it and have some of my   best thinking while I run. Running truly is therapy!

   We also went mini golfing as family tonight. I am by no means an expert golfer haha but we had fun anyways. And it was so fun to watch Grayson try and do it and he loved looking at all of the glowing fishies and sharks :) 

   

   Now that the kiddo is in bed, Grant and I are going to get a great chest and tri workout in body beast style! It's weird but I really do kind of look forward to doing these some days. Although the body best cardio was INTENSE! So many weighted squats! Lol. 

Happy Monday readers :-D 

Xoxo,

  Brittany Marie Powell

Sunday Funday.... Or not ;-)

I CUT MY HAIR!!! It's gone, #shorthairclub now. 

   This weekend has been crazy with two sick boys on my hands (Grant and Grayson). It's hard being a mom sometimes. I'm tired haha. But I wanted to talk about a long time pipe dream of mine...

   I've always wanted to do a healthy meal delivery service. It'd be a lot of work but I always think of how great it would have been for me, and even sometimes now to just have meals/snacks ready! And HEALTHY. I think it takes so much of the stress out of dieting, especially when you're first starting. It's hard to have 5-6 small meals a day, and track your calories and make sure you're hitting your macro goals. I want to help myself and others do this! I think shakeology has helped me a lot because that's one meal I don't have to think about and really helps energize me. 

   My game plan for this week and the next for weeks really is to give myself a sort of mock trial with this. I want to start cooking and preparing creations. Freezing them and seeing how they hold up. I just have so many ideas, and I really want to help others with nutrition. I want to take the guessing and stress out of it. I want to show others that it doesn't have to suck, and that it really can be easy and fun! Some of my meals/snacks this week are going to be:

Vanilla shakeology waffles 

Quinoa with a twist

Protein cheesecake

Homemade protein bars

Salmon burgers

Broccoli

Stir fry

Crockpot chicken

I'll be sure to post what I make each day this week (if it turns out good) ;-) I'm also BEYOND excited for bright night event this week!!!! I really can't wait I need a Me party day haha.

Xoxo, 

   Brittany 

Funnnay

   Just wanted to take a break a post some "funnay" pictures, because that's how Grayson says funny. Today was a crazy #mommyproblems day. So I'm tired. And tomorrow is leg day for body beast.

                      

     

    He's learned how to take selfies with his ninja turtle camera. Haha!

Xoxo,
   Brittany Marie Powell.

#MIMM

I LOVE Healthy Diva's Marvelous in My Monday Posts, so I decided to hop on board. 

Some of my Marvelous recent eats have included:

                           

Sea Salt Carmel Arctic Zero Ice Cream. This is by far one of their best flavors yet! I am obsessed with all of them but I'd have to say that the Strawberry flavor is my favorite. I also love that the whole pint is only 150 calories and that there is protein in it as well.

 

 GREEN SMOOTHIES! I am so into these again. For a while I stopped eating them because 1.) It got too cold. and 2.) I think I overate them when I was prego with grayson so sometimes they just don't sound appealing, but lately they really have been good to me. This one had 1 Cup Almond Milk, Spinach, 1 Frozen Banana and some Frozen Tropical Fruit Mix. I also added a packet of Stevia because let's be honest, I am kind of a sugar addict. This has been my go to breakfast lately.

I am proud of myself. This weekend during night-time hours I was craving a quesadilla like mad. But instead I steamed some cauliflower and carrots and sprinkled a generous amount of cheese and some of the Bolthouse Farms Yogurt caesar parmesan dressing, which has been marvelous to me lately. I find I always get the worst/most fattening cravings at night, because I'll watch my Hubby eat all these delicious things and I'm like...... so yeah sometimes I gotta get creative haha.




I went to nordstrom rack a few days ago, and got

Grayson this like dressy t-shirt. It is so adorable on! I love it. It's funny how much I love boy clothes now. I also scored myself these Sperry's, they're totally me. They have pink glitter on the sides and they were only $9.90. I love finding good deals, and hardly ever pay full price for clothing. It actually kind of pains me to do so! Haha 


        I am still trying to come up with a crown for my little man for his BIG 2 BIRTHDAY! I finally got the supplies so now I just need to get crafty. This one looks so perfect. I'm always amazed at how crafty some people are, it inspires me. 


       HAPPY MONDAY EVERYONE! 

           SEE YOU TOMORROW :)

                         

xoxo,

Brittany

Happy Sunday

   Today we woke up and got ready for church, Grayson has been watching way too much 'How To Train Your Dragon' because he used a Tupperware lid as a shield and a toy as a sword to fight off our dogs this morning haha.

  We are going to a friends house after church which I am excited for. I made a quinoa dish so hopefully it turns out okay. We are also bringing a fruit bowl in case the quinoa sucks! Haha I am excited to go, and hope I am not so socially awkward as I am usually because I want friends. It's times like these where I really miss my sister Kendal. She's in the Phillipines on a mission for our church. She always gave me good pep talks when it came to being social, she's a social butterfly and has always had tons of friends. 

  I've been pinning toddler room ideas on Pinterest. I'd like to get Grayson's room decorated before his birthday but we shall see. I love vintage themed rooms. And vintage maps. And gallery walls. I think I just really love decorating in general. I can't wait until we own our own home and aren't renting so I can decorate to my hearts content. I also want to make him a birthday crown like this for his birthday on the 9th: 

   I've been really trying to eat more raw foods/healthier and mostly vegetarian. I got this raw truffle pie which I ate for breakfast, I'm having my monthly and found it totally acceptable since it was all pretty much healthy ingredients. And I NEED chocolate right now. Like honestly it's a physical need. And I got this chia pod creation at Harmon's it was delicious but $$$ so I need to work on creating my own chia pudding goodness.

   I can't wait for Game of Thrones tonight. I'm sucha nerd, Grant has turned me into one but I love that show. Really. 

  I found a 10 minute arm routine I am going to start doing this week, I also have a goal to lose at least 2 lbs this week. If I can do that each week I can lose 15-20 lbs by my birthday. Ideally, I'd like to lose 15 but these last few pounds have been the hardest, and I need to be more dilligent. 

xoxo,

Brittany

SORE&TIRED

   I'm writing this while procrastinating my workout. I've been so sore so much so that I couldn't sleep last night. And I've had a kink in my neck all week hah 

My workouts this week have gone as follows:

Monday: 9 mile run

Tuesday: 3 mile run

Wednesday: 2.5 mile run and 30 minutes stair master

Thursday: TBD

Friday: TBD

Saturday: Do a race of some sort.

   I very much feel that I need to get serious about stretching/yoga. I've been very good about icing my knees after I run which is why I feel my running and training for this upcoming half hasn't felt nearly as hard as last year, although it's still been hard. And then I wonder how I'm going to run a full marathon in November. But I like my little motto of "if you've been there in the mind, you'll go there in the body." I think so much of running and weightloss in General is positive visualization. I am so in love with the article hungryrunnergirl posted a few days back, THIS ARTICLE

  I had the best breakfast ever this morning, which was avocado toast! #healthyfats #delicious plus Grayson even ate it although I put honey on his as well. I've been craving avocados so much lately, I ate half of one this morning and I am probably going to eat half after I post this haha. I'm pretty sure I'm not pregnant and avocados are good for me so I'm just gonna go with it 8-)

   

   

I also was able to have a baby free impromptu Ulta trip last night. 

I only bought one item but I think it's so fun! 

It's the Urban Decay heavy metal glitter eyeliner 

in midnight cowboy. I love it! I can't wait to do a look 

on my Youtube channel with it. 

xoxo, Brittany 

What No One Tells You About Losing Lots of Weight

   So as you all know I've lost quite a bit of weight. Initially 85 lbs although I've gained 9 lbs since my initial loss. I wanted to write a post for those trying to lose weight, the things nobody says. Because it's dang hard losing weight, I don't know if it will ever be an easy thing for me honestly. A quote I love is: 

    I feel like is that is so TRUE. Every step and stage of this journey is HARD. The struggle is real. So here are some things about weightloss, that I feel like nobody talks about:

1) You will miss the foods that made you fat/overweight. I know I do. As much as I do like eating healthy, I miss cheez it's and Oreos just as much! ) You will still miss eating all the things and not stressing about it. I feel like now that I've lost weight I am a lot more conscious of what I'm eating. I'm not as care-free as before and sometimes I miss that. But I do not miss being overweight/the depression and self loathing that came along with it.

2) Not everyone is going to care about your weightloss journey/diet. In fact some people might bring you down about it, or tell you to just be "normal" but in the end it isn't about them, it's about you achieving your goals. 

3) Just because you lose the weight your life isn't going to be all glitter, rainbows and butterflies after. You just will have the upside of not having to worry/stress about your weight as much. But you're still going to have stressors. I think I had this delusional idea that once I lost weight everything would be perfect and I'd always be happy, but the truth is that's not the case! So don't fall into that way of thinking.

4) You will have dreams of regaining the weight. 

5) You will feel guilty after indulging at times, I think that this is a good thing though because the minute I stop caring is the minute I start gaining and I do think that's the reason behind these 9 lbs. 

6) It's okay to feel hungry. I think sometimes I just miss eating for the sake of eating. For example I really like eating and watching TV, but unless you're eating carrot sticks or celery it's not something that you can do all the time and still lose weight. 

7) Weigh yourself daily, I feel like this is key when it comes to maintenance. 

8) Some days you'll feel like a million bucks and some days you'll feel like a busted can of biscuits. 

9) There are no short cuts, no easy ways out, no tricks. It all comes down to eating healthy, eating less (because you can still gain weight eating healthy foods) and working out. 

10) Losing weight is an emotional roller coaster, but I know for me it is one of the best things I've ever done for myself. It's given me strength, courage, and more confidence to be the kind of person, woman, wife and mother I strive/want to be. 

   There you have it! I think this post was kind of all over the place but I feel good about getting this off my chest, I think this post was more for myself than anything hah! I'm off to attend to mommy duties and running.

xoxo, Brittany

#tmtt

   This morning I decided to go to the gym for an elliptical workout. I ran twice yesterday (2.6 miles and 3.6 miles) and I wasn't feeling running this morning. Grayson really likes the gym daycare and had a full on terrible two tantrum when it was time to go. Lovely. Lol. 

   

^elliptical session.

   I had a makeup fail today. I wore too faced lip injection gloss and kissed Grayson and well... It plumped up his face as well! I was so scared when I looked back in the car and saw this: 

I washed his face off with a wash cloth and water and it went away shortly after but it was scary! 

   For dinner we went out because I was tired and lazy and didn't feel like cooking. We got my favorite Pho :-P I am so obsessed with this soup! My favorite place to go for it is in Park City, at Shabu Shabu. The broth they have is phenomenal and has a strong ginger flavor which I love! 

  It will be Grayson's 2nd birthday soon! I've been pinning lots of fun ideas on Pinterest. I want to make him a cute little birthday crown. And I already decided on how I want his cake to be which you guys will see! I can't believe how big he is getting, but at the same time I can because of his Terrible Two tantrums! Haha. I'm just going to embrace all of his little stages, the good, the bad and the ugly. Because I know I am so lucky to have a child of my own and to be a mom. I know there are lots of women out there who want that very thing so badly. #alwaysbethankful 

   I've been drinking a lot of chamomile tea lately, I am hoping it will help with my muscle soreness. I also like drinking it at night to unwind. 

xoxo, Brittany.

   

   

  

Happy Easter!!!

Happy Easter! 

  We had a lovely Easter together as a family. We went to church and had a big Easter egg hunt for the kids, it was so fun to watch Grayson gather all the eggs. He kept saying boo-ket whenever he put the eggs in his bucket. It was so cute.

   I ate way too much candy tho, and I am going to put Grayson's candy up high so I don't get tempted and have to think twice about eating it. I'm also going to make little treat bags for my scouts with the candy to get rid of some of it lol.

   I've had a productive day today and got a lot of cleaning done. That always makes me happy. One of my goals for this week is to organize my makeup room. Which is quite the daunting task! 

   I've been obsessed with this show on Hulu called 'the only way is Essex' it's basically like a British version of 'The Hills'. All of the girls on the show are gorgeous and I love their makeup. It always gives me inspiration. 

  I made a strange-but-good concoction for breakfast this morning. It was a sweet cauliflower mash with strawberries and walden farms chocolate sauce. The consistency reminded me of cream of rice. I think this is going to be a new love of mine. Here's the recipe:

1 cup cooked cauliflower 

1/2 banana 

12 drops English toffee stevia drops

More stevia haha 

Blend in blender until it reaches a purée/mash consistency, then enjoy! I think this would also be good with some sort of nut butter on top. 

xoxo, Brittany