Link Love #73

I have to admit, I totally expected yesterday to feel like 2 days. And today? Oooh, it’s a doozy! But there were a few things that made the day a little easier. Before I even got out the door, I got a picture of this little cutie.

I can’t believe how big she’s getting! And look at those little curls. Gah she’s the cutest!

And finishing up my shift at my first job, a gym member came in with this guy.

Such a sweet dog. I wish they came in earlier so we could have played more! Sometimes it’s the little things that make the day better. And to make your day a little better..

Health

How Weight Training Can Help You Keep the Weight Off – The New York Times Well

How Weight Training Can Help You Keep the Weight Off – The New York Times Well
Key Nutrients for Marathon Training – Elisa Zied via Carrots ‘N’ Cake
Why You Should Think Twice About Vegetarian and Vegan Diets – Chris Kresser
How to Eat Clean: The Do’s and Don’ts of Healthy Clean Eating – Clean Eating Veggie Girl
Stop Hacking Life – Carla Birnberg

Fitness

5 Ways to POWER UP Your Push Up – Cotter Crunch

5 Ways to POWER UP Your Push Up – Cotter Crunch
Weekend Warrior 2: The Trifecta Workout – Lifting Revolution
Legs + Abs + Arms Boot Camp Workout – Peanut Butter Fingers
Barre Ab Burner {Video} – Fitessista
Build a Better Butt – Pancake Warriors

Food

Paleo Chocolate Coconut Tart – Eating Bird Food

Paleo Chocolate Coconut Tart + Healthy Valentine’s Day Desserts – Eating Bird Food
The Last Chili Recipe You’ll Ever Need – Coconuts & Kettlebells
Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars – Lexi’s Clean Kitchen
Nutella Oatmeal Cookie Shake – How Sweet It Is
Cuban Fish Tacos with Citrus Mango Slaw + Chipotle Lime Crema – Half Baked Harvest

Food for Thought

What was one of your favorite posts from the past week?

Link Love #62

Yesterday. Was. Great. I slept like a freaking rock and had a nice, relaxing morning.. didn’t even eat breakfast until 11! I also took a trip to Wegmans with my parents. We bought almost the entire store haha! And the best part of my day was going to visit my grandparents and my little Jilly bean. They were quick visits but it was so nice to see them all again and I’m looking forward to getting to spend more time with everyone over the next couple of weeks. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures, but I’m hoping to have plenty after Thanksgiving! And with that, back to family time.. enjoy the links!

Health

The Basics Carbohydrates | Part I Nutrition Stripped

The Basics | Carbohydrates, part I – Nutrition Stripped
Cheat Meals: Should You Cheat? If So, How? – Wildly Fit
4 Health & Fitness Habits You Should Give Up – MindBodyGreen
The cost of getting lean: Is it really worth the trade-off? – Precision Nutrition
Are Your Beliefs What’s Really Keeping You Stuck in Dieting Craziness? – Corinne Dobbas

Fitness

Arm Smoker Workout + Our Holiday Cards – Carrots ‘N’ Cake

Arm Smoker Workout + Our Holiday Cards – Carrots ‘N’ Cake
The 4-Course Kettlebell Pre Thanksgiving Workout Challenge – Lifting Revolution
The Most Efficient Way to Strength Train – Mommy Run Fast
Getting my Bosu On! – Bendiful Blog
Why You Shouldn’t Hold a Plank for Longer than :30 Seconds – Trainer Paige

Food

Prosciutto-Wrapped Pork Loin with Roasted Apples – Art de Fete

Prosciutto-wrapped Pork Loin with Roasted Apples – Art de Fete
Carrot Butternut Whole Grain Muffins – Peas & Crayons
Gluten Free Shrimp Pho with Miso – Cotter Crunch
Savory Waffle Eggs Benedict – FITaspire
Manchego Brussels Sprout + Prosciutto Spaghetti w/Brown Butter Pistachio Pangrattato – Half Baked Harvest

Food for Thought

What’s one of your favorite posts from the past week?

I Mustache You Some Questions

I’ve got a fun one for you today. Danica did this survey on her blog yesterday and tagged me to do it, too. So let’s get to it, shall we?

Four names that people call me, other than my real name:

1. “Bub”.. a name that evolved over time that Nathan and I typically use for each other. Possibly the outcome of a joke from me calling him bubala? I don’t know but it stuck!
2. “Batyah”.. my Hebrew name. Also shortened to “Bat” at times.
3. “Britt the brat”.. a common phrase I’d hear from my grandfather. Though now he feels like he can’t call me that anymore.
4. “Squirt”.. because I was too old for “Britt the brat” 😉

Four jobs I have had:

1. Camp counselor
2. Web designer
3. Sales.. jewelry with my mama and now Athleta
4. Personal trainer. Hit. Me. Up.

Four movies I’ve watched more than once:

1. Coyote Ugly
2. Grease.. it’s the word, you know.
3. Anchorman
4. A Night at the Roxbury

Four books I’d recommend:
Eesh.. this is a tough one for me. I’m not a big book-reader, so I’m going to change this to blogs.

1. Cotter Crunch
2. Lifting Revolution
3. STUFT Mama
4. Carrots ‘N’ Cake

Four places I have lived:
Similar to Danica.. I haven’t gotten around too much!

1. Baltimore County, Maryland
2. Frederick County, Maryland [for a hot minute]
3. Baltimore City, Maryland
4. California

Four places I have been:

1. Captiva, Florida
2. Paris, France
3. Florence, Italy
4. Portofino, Italy

Four places I’d rather be right now:

1. In Maryland with my family and friends
2. Playing with my Jilly bean.. I guess that kind of goes with #1
3. In Captiva.. it’s one of our favorite vacation places
4. Exploring more of Europe

Four things I don’t eat:

1. Hamburgers.. unless we make them at home. And then only turkey burgers.
2. Hot dogs. Blech.
3. Fast food.. unless Nathan gets french fries. Then he needs my help.
4. Nut butter. HAHAHAHA! So joking.. nut butter pretty much makes up half of my diet. I just don’t know a 4th!

Four of my favorite foods:

1. Nut butters. All kinds.. I’m not picky.
2. Chocolate. Duh.
3. Winter squash. Particularly butternut, kabocha, and my new fave, red kuri.
4. Blue crab. Specifically blue. And don’t try to tell me a San Francisco “crab cake” is the same as a Maryland crab cake.

Oh, and ice cream since we moved to a place with the most ridiculous flavors around.

Four TV shows that I watch:

1. Pretty Little Liars. I powered through that series and I need the next episode!
2. Modern Family
3. Veep
4. The Newsroom

Four things I am looking forward to this year:

1. Going home for Thanksgiving/cousin’s wedding/Jilly’s 1st birthday!
2. A friend visiting next weekend
3. Enjoying the warmer weather while everyone at home will be freezing their tootsies off 😉
4. Just generally spending relaxing time with Nathan

Four things I’m always saying:

1. “Love you!” Always tell your family and friends.
2. “[Insert color] punch buggy! No punch backs!” They’re EVERYWHERE here!
3. “No, but fo realz.”
4. “Fudge ’ems!” .. when I’m actually cognizant of my words.

Four People I Tag:

1. Caitlin
2. Brittany
3. Laura
4. Jamie

Food for Thought

I want to hear your answers! Share something with me from the list above.

Link Love #49

Yesterday started out with a bang.. or really a little snap, crackle, pop. I was doing high knees in only the second set of my workout and my ankle rolled. The side of my foot was practically perpendicular to my leg and I was definitely seeing stars. I took it easy and ended up being able to finish my workout. Very carefully.

Looks good, right? Ugh. You bet I got my feet up and ankle iced when I got home from work though.

A little peanut butter mug cake action didn’t hurt either. Heather’s recipe is legit my favorite. You should definitely give it a try! <– A nice little segue into some more favorites from the week..

Health

25 Things I Do To Love My Body (And How You Can Too) – Corinne Dobbas

25 Things I Do to Love My Body (And How You Can Too) – Corinne Dobbas
10 reasons your weight is not shifting – Diet Duchess via Food & Nonsense
What We Eat to Maximize Recovery and Fight Oxidative Stress – Cotter Crunch
Your Body: Are You Accepting Or Settling For Your Reflection? – Lifting Revolution
5 Simple Diet Changes – The Lean Green Bean

Fitness

Basic Strength Training Workout – Fit2Flex

Basic Strength Training Workout – Fit2Flex
5 Calorie Torching Crossfit Workouts to Try – Carrots ‘N’ Cake via Health
Fitness Pilates Circuit Burner Workout – Housewife Glamour
6 Ways People Make Running Harder Than It Has To Be – Shut Up + Run
The Simplest & Most Challenging Arm/Ab Workout – The Almond Eater

Food

Triple Layer Fat Bomb Nut Butter Cups – Peachy Palate

Triple layer fat bomb nut butter cups! – Peachy Palate
Honey Pecan Sweet Potato Muffins – Nicole Culver
Poached Egg + Crispy Proscuitto Avocado Toast – According to Elle
Roasted Garlic Eggplant Lasagna Boats with Spicy Italian Chicken Sausage – Half Baked Harvest
Grilled Romaine with Caramelized Onion Noodles, Blue Cheese and Greek Yogurt Balsamic Dressing – Inspiralized

Food For Thought

What’s one of your favorite posts from the past week?

Link Love #33

I’m really excited for tonight. I fully plan on eating a nice, big spoonful of peanut butter, granola, and lots of rice with dinner! I know I haven’t kept Passover 100% but I’ve at least tried. I think I’m just now to the point of wanting things because I can’t have them.. like pizza. I can go a looong time without pizza, but I do like to at least have a bite when Nathan orders it. Well, now I just want a whole pie! And chocolate chip cookies. And lots and lots of peanut butter haha!

Continuing on the Jewish note, last night Nathan turned on a movie called When Jews Were Funny. It’s ridiculous and pretty darn funny.. though I’m wondering if it’s as funny if you’re not Jewish. Oy vey!

Ha! Onto a little love.. can you tell I’m ready for some bread and peanut butter? 😉

Health

Regaining Your Common Sense: Why Doing LESS Leads to a Leaner Physique – JillFit

Regaining Your Common Sense: Why Doing LESS Leads to a Leaner Physique – JillFit
Maintaining Gut Healthy and Gluten-Free Living – Cotter Crunch
Guest RD: Fueling for Sports – Fresh Food Perspectives via Kath Eats Real Food
14 Habits of People With a Healthy Relationship to Food – HuffPost Healthy Living
When Elimination Diets Backfire – U.S.News Health & Wellness

Fitness

10 Minute Hard’core’ Abs Workout – CandyFit via Burnbrae Farms

10 Minute Hard’core’ Abs Workout – CandyFit via Burnbrae Farms
15 High-Intensity Workouts You Can Do Just About Anywhere – Carrots ‘N’ Cake
8 Kettlebell Exercises to Tone and Tighten Your Thighs – Lifting Revolution
Transitioning From the Treadmill to the Track – Wildly Fit
What is Glycogen Depletion Training? – NYC Running Mama

Food

Brown Sugar Blueberry Banana Bread with Blueberry Butter – Averie Cooks

Brown Sugar Blueberry Banana Bread with Blueberry Butter – Averie Cooks
Carrot Cake Loaf – Lexi’s Clean Kitchen
Kale and Wild Rice Bowls with Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette – Iowa Girl Eats
5 Ingredient Inside-Out Peanut Butter Cups – Edible Perspective
Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Crispy Baked Tofu with Honey Sesame Glaze – Cookie + Kate

Food for Thought

What is one of your favorite posts from the past week?

Link Love #26

Another Tuesday already? The days seem to be flying by lately! There were so many good posts from this past week that I had a hard time choosing my tops, but as usual, these are not to be missed. I also realized that a lot of my favorite recipes were snacky kinds of foods.. seems to be where my mind is recently. I’m headed to the store to pick up some popcorn and Puffins. One of my favorite snacks this week has been broken up rice cakes with a little coconut oil, cinnamon, and salt. I figure I’ll do the same with some popcorn.. or a lot of popcorn 😉

Health

Life Lessons: Counting Ingredients Not Calories – The Hummusapien

Life Lessons: On Counting Ingredients, Not Calories – The Hummusapien
How You Can Have The Confidence To Increase Your Strength – Lifting Revolution
5 Untraditional Ways to Expedite Fat Loss – Trainer Paige
Demystifying Health Food Labels: What do they all mean? – The Picky Eater
Evening workouts don’t disturb sleep – Yahoo! News

Fitness

TRX Circuit Workout – Peanut Butter Fingers

TRX Circuit Workout – Peanut Butter Fingers
High Rep Workouts – Are they Beneficial? – Cotter Crunch
Knock ‘Em Down, Build ‘Em Up Workout – Carrots ‘N’ Cake
10 Ways to Pushup – Fitnessista
5 by 50 bodyweight purely training workout – Purely Twins

Food

Spicy Thai Carrot & Kale Salad – Running to the Kitchen

Spicy Thai Carrot & Kale Salad – Running to the Kitchen
Roasted Garlic Parmesan Brussels Sprouts – Jessie Loves 2 Run
Whole30 Day 27: Paleo Chips (Including a New Recipe for Crispy Mushroom Chips!) – Nom Nom Paleo
One Bowl Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies – Oh She Glows
Honey and Mustard Roasted Cashews – Joy the Baker

Food for Thought

What was one of your favorite posts from the past week?

My Own Metabolism Experiment

Happy Halloween!

On Friday, I mentioned Alysia’s post about her metabolism experiment. After having considered doing the same thing for a while, I decided to give it a shot. Like Alysia, on rest days I find myself wondering if I’m eating too much so I thought this would be a great way to figure it out. I like knowing numbers and of course, I knew that no matter what, I would compare my number to her’s, but hey, that’s just the name of the game sometimes! Knowing that going into it helped me stay out of the comparison trap.

So how did it go..?

Hmm..

Well, to be completely honest, I was a little disappointed. My day started out strong. I noticed for the first few hours in the morning, I was averaging about 100 calories per hour. I didn’t think that would hold up throughout the day, even though I had some errands to run, but I was definitely surprised by how much it slowed down as the day progressed.

My day looked a little something like this:
7:45 am – Wake up and strap on the heart rate monitor
8:30 am – Time for breakfast!

Carrots ‘N’ Cake sweet breakfast scramble with pumpkin, topped with nut butters and granola

9:30 am – Haircut
11:00 am – Nail appointment [and a little Target shopping..]
1:00 pm – Lunch and baking time!

Awesome huge salad!

Snickerdoodle biscotti with white chocolate drizzle [recipe soon!]

3:00 pm – House stuff.. laundry, dishes, etc.
6:30 pm – Heading out to a fabulous dinner and drinks!

Verde Pizza

10:30 pm – Hit the hay! Yes, we’re old farts.
7:45 am – Wake up and take off heart rate monitor.

That is usually about the amount of activity I have an on rest day. So while Alysia found that an average 2000 calorie/day diet is about right for her, I’m wondering what I could do to help speed up my metabolism on rest days. I feel like 1700 calories is a decent amount, but I’m always looking to improve!

I also wonder if it had anything to do with having a harder week with my workouts. I felt like the quality of my workouts last week were not up to par and it makes me think that if I had a stronger week of workouts, that maybe the results would be different. I may try the experiment again in a few months to see if anything has changed, but in the mean time, I’ll continue to work on listening to my body and feeding it right!

Food for Thought

Have you ever considered trying this kind of metabolism experiment?

If you’ve done this before, was the calorie burn higher or lower than you expected?

Any tips on speeding up my metabolism on rest days?

Are you dressing up for Halloween?

Link Love #7

Another week, another set of fabulous posts!

Health

You can’t out-train a bad diet.

6 Reasons You Shouldn’t Use Exercise As Your #1 Weight Loss Tool – JillFit
How to Lose Fat Without Losing Muscle – Muscle Evo
Keeping Fit After It’s Off: Create Your WHY – MizFit
Why Sugar Isn’t the Entire Story – Shape
How Bad Are Your Fitness Habits? – Prevention

Fitness

The Dream Shuffle Workout – Lifting Revolution

Dream BIG: The Dream Shuffle Workout – Lifting Revolution
5 Tips for Morning Workouts [+ Training Update] – Better with Veggies
Bootcamp Workout – Fitness Perks
10-Minute Booty Burning Workout – Carrots ‘N’ Cake
TRX Workout – Peanut Butter Fingers

Food

Baked Fig Plantain Bread Pudding – Purely Twins

Baked Fig Plantain Bread Pudding – Purely Twins
Easy Creamy Buffalo Chicken Quinoa Bake – Half Baked Harvest
Black-Bottom Coconut Cream Tart [Vegan, GF] – Cafe Johnsonia
Fall Harvest Brussels Sprouts – Peanut Butter & Peppers
Apple Pie Quinoa Breakfast Bowl – Love & Zest

And if you missed the post on Surviving Whole Foods, definitely check it out! 😉

Food for Thought

What was one of your favorite posts of the week?

Link Love #6

It’s been another week of some really great posts and I’m excited to share some of my favorites with you!

Health

What Makes Superfood Super? – Svelte

What Makes Superfood Super? – Svelte
This is your body on sugar | the science behind food cravings – fitknitchick
Counting Calories Is Flawed. But Here’s Why I Still Do It. – Greatist
Let’s Be Real: Before & After Photos Are B.S. – MindBodyGreen
Not Happy is Okay, Too – Speak Happiness

Fitness

Burpees Everywhere – Life to the Full
10 simple tips for running your first half marathon – Run Wiki
The Best Exercises for Your Weightlifting Routine – Workout Nirvana
Motivation Monday: 5 Ways to Get Better Results from Strength Training – Cotter Crunch
5 to 50 Ab Workout – Pumps & Iron

Food

Loaded Greek Goddess Chickpea and Quinoa Pita Chip Nachos – Half Baked Harvest

Loaded Greek Goddess Chickpea and Quinoa Pita Chip Nachos – Half Baked Harvest
No Bake Elvis Bars – Oh She Glows
Healthy “Fried” Brussels Sprouts – Carrots ‘N’ Cake
Vegetarian Coconut Rice Bowls – Bev Cooks
Paleo Spaghetti Squash Casserole – SlimSanity

Food for Thought

What is your favorite post from the past week?

Quick Love

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve done a link love post but I’ve seen so many awesome posts recently that I had to get one up this week!

Health

Is a Calorie Just a Calorie? – Strong Inside Out via The Lean Green Bean
6 Ways to Beat the “Comparison Trap” and Own Your Unique Awesomeness – Live Well 360
Fat, Sick & Miserable. No more “junk” ’round here – Sarah Kay Hoffman
How I Lost 70 Pounds in 30 Days! – Roni’s Weigh
If they ate it, why can’t I? – My Healthy Happy Home

Fitness

20 Minute Pyramid HIIT – Tina Reale

Move It Monday: 20 Minute Pyramid HIIT – Tina Reale
Breaking News: Every Little Bit Helps – Mom’s Little Running Buddies
Leg Workout and S’mores Coffee – Peanut Butter Fingers
Muscle Ropes and a New Workout – Blonde Ponytail
Can CrossFit Improve Running? – Huffington Post

Food

No Bake Oatmeal Breakfast Bars – Pineapple & Coconut

No Bake Oatmeal Breakfast Bars – Two ways – Pineapple & Coconut
Easy Healthier Crockpot Butter Chicken – Half Baked Harvest
Healthy No-Grain Seedy STUFT Bread – STUFT Mama
Sugar-Free Apple Pie Chia Seed Jam + Breakfast Parfait – Oh She Glows
5-Minute Desserts for One – Carrots ‘N’ Cake

Food for Thought

Which posts from the last week or so have caught your eye?