Fuel 4 Your Fire: Recipes & Nutrition Facts

Balsamic Blueberry BBQ Chicken

w/ baked sweet potato & green beans

Makes 4 Servings:

- 12 oz chicken breast

- 3 tbsp Trader Joe's Balsamic Glaze
- 4 tbsp Trader Joe's Organic Kansas Style BBQ Sauce
- 100 g fresh blueberries

- 4 4 oz sweet potato

- 1 cup green beans

- Trader Joe's Everyday seasoning

- Ground black pepper 

Note: I do not measure any seasonings. I simply season to taste.

Instructions:

- Marinate the chicken for 24 hours in the balsamic glaze.

- Wrap your potato in foil and bake until you can poke a fork all the way through.

- Boil or microwave your green beans until they're cooked to your liking.

- I seasoned the green beans with ground pepper and Trader Joe's Everything but the bagel seasoning.

Nutrition Facts (per serving):

34g Protein, 49g Carbs, 2g Fat, 337 Calories

Southwest Smokey BBQ Turkey Bowl & Wrap

Amount Per Serving:

- Two slices of Trader Joe's organic oven roasted turkey breast

- 1/2 cup black beans (drained and rinsed)

- 1/2 cob boiled sweet corn

- 1 cup cauliflower rice (I use trader joe's frozen bag)

- 1/2 tbsp Stonewall Kitchen Smokey BBQ aioli

- Ground black pepper

- 21 season salute (Trader Joe's)

- The wrap recipe includes 1 Multigrain + Flax flatbread (I used Aldi's in this recipe).

Instructions:

- Mix your cooked cauliflower rice w/ 1/2 tbsp Stonewall Kitchen's Smokey BBQ aioli and TD's 21 Season Salute.

- Then add the other ingredients (or wrap them) in the fashion you wish!

Nutrition Facts (per serving):

Bowl: 25g Protein, 27g Carbs, 22g Fat, 348 Calories

Wrap: 34g Protein, 44g Carbs, 24g Fat, 475 Calories

Firecracker Shrimp Tacos

Makes 4 serving:

- 12 oz large shrimp (peeled and detailed)

- 8 corn & wheat blend tortillas

- 1 cup mixed greens

- 4 tbsp Stonewall Kitchen Sriracha Aioli 

- Flavor God Fiesta Sweet & Tangy

- Ground black pepper

Instructions:

Boil the shrimp until the are fully cooked, then toss them in a large frying pan with the aioli and seasonings. Sauté everything in the frying pan for 5-10 mins. Then serve with mixed greens on the shells!

Nutrition Facts (per serving):

33g Protein, 21g Carbs, 10g Fat, 311 Calories

New Routine

Disclaimer: I hope in sharing my struggles I'll be able to help others see that they are not alone. More often than not, the people who portray an image of having an amazing life and having all of their shit together are usually the ones who are falling apart in one way or another. It's extremely important to share our stories and be real with one another. There is absolutely no shame in the struggle. It's a part of life's process. Embrace the struggle. Learn from it and remain focused on becoming 1% better each time you wake up.

The Process: Slowly, But Surly

I'm starting to find my way back to normalcy. I've fallen back into a routine that seems to be working pretty well and my relationship with food has definitely improved. My second show prep (January through April of this year) really messed with me emotionally. I wasn't in a good place the entire time I was doing it and when I finally made the decision to stop, I went through a pretty drastic rebound of about 20 pounds in 3 months time. There was absolutely no reverse dieting involved. I had an emotional break down and went on a straight up binge. This lasted for a couple of months. I couldn't seem to stop myself. As a woman with a career in the fitness industry, this was pretty hard to swallow for me.

"I'm supposed to be setting an example for my clients. I'm supposed to look the part. I'm supposed to guide them and SHOW them how to lead a healthy lifestyle." 

The fact that I was doing the complete opposite of what I was preaching to my clients on a daily basis was starting to eat at me. Up until recently I had absolutely no handle on it. I never used to be an emotional eater, but apparently I am now. Going through the extreme dieting that I endured during my first show prep definitely changed my relationship with food. I have to go about things a little bit differently than I used to. I've been able to utilize a technique known as intermittent fasting to help improve the issues I was having with binging. I'm going to give it a go and see if it consistently works for me. Like I've said before, everyone is different and we all respond to things in different ways. No one has the same body and nobody is the same. It's all trial and error.

Implementing My New Routine: Intermittent Fasting

First off, I'll explain what IF is. It's simply one of the many "styles" of food consumption that we have the option to utilize. You choose an 8 hour window during which you eat your caloric intake for the day. The remaining 16 hours are fasted. You can choose whatever window works best for you and your lifestyle. I've chosen to eat from 10am until 6pm. This window has proven to be the best one for my current schedule. I've been doing 30 mins of fasted early morning cardio 3 days a week and lifting 5-6 days. My cardio has recently consisted of a brisk 10 min incline walk immediately followed by 10 mins of interval running at an incline, immediately followed by another brisk 10 min incline walk. I've been trying to increase the speed of one, two, or all three of these each time. After this I walk my dog for anywhere between 20-60 mins (depending on what time I have my first client of the day), then I go to the gym for 1-2 hours. Again, this will depend the specific workout I have planned for that day. 

Cold Showers & Cardioooooooooo

I typically wake up between 3:30 and 4:30 each morning. I take a dose of DTE first thing when I wake up. This is the thermogenic that I use from Run Everything Labs. Next I do my morning cardio! Then I lift and take a COLD shower. This routine has made me feel extremely refreshed and full of energy in the morning. I do all of this on an empty stomach.

I used to eat a pretty large meal immediately after I woke up each morning, so that has been a big change for me. But change  has been good! The reasoning behind the cold shower I mentioned above is to increases muscle recovery and alertness, improves circulation and immunity, helps to stimulate weight loss, and helps to ease stress. I HIGHLY recommend giving this a try. Start with taking cooler shower and eventually working your way to cold. You can also start with 10-15 seconds at the coldest temp you can handle at the end of a regular shower then gradually increase as your body starts to adapt. Either way, break yourself in gradually. It's definitely a shock to the body at first, but yo will NOT regret it. Promise. Give it a try and let me know how you feel. I can honestly say that I feel like a million bucks every time I step out of one!

I remain fasted until 10am. Some days it has bee closer to 11, but I try not to go beyond that simply because I go to bed between 7 and 8 and I personally like to give my last meal a chance to settle and start digesting before I lay down for bed. I take a melatonin and a magnesium before bed each night. The melatonin to aid with quality of sleep and the magnesium to help with digestion while my body is at rest. As I said above, I typically wake up between 3:30 and 4:30 each morning. On days that I don't have my first client until the afternoon I do my designated cardio, walk my dog, then head to the gym for my lift. On days that I have clients early in the morning I'll do my cardio, walk my dog, then shower and head to work for the day. Pretty simple stuff my friends.

As I said above I'll eat my first meal around 10. It's always larger meal consisting of 600-700 calories. I've made these amazing little breakfast sandwiches the past two days. I day dream about them. That's how good they are. Just 562 calories for two! #winning. I can't stress enough that it's important to ENJOY the food that you eat. I recently had to take a step back and re evaluate what I was eating because I wasn't enjoying the foods that I was preparing ahead of time. I didn't realize it at first, but this was one of the main reasons that I had been over eating! Take the time to cook. Learn new techniques and recipes. You should enjoy the process of cooking your food. This is one of the thing that I've made a greater effort to start doing more. And I'll tell you what, it makes a HUGE difference. Another thing that most people don't realize is that you can make the most simple foods taste really good. Take these sandwiches for example. They literally consist of turkey, seasoned fried eggs, a slice of cheese, 2 slices of bacon, and 2 small dinner rolls. That's it. Nothing fancy here. Just damn good food. Meal one is typically one of the largest meals of the day since it's breaking the 16 hour fast.

I typically eat my second meal around 1:30/2:00. This meal is usually between 300 and 400 calories. Below is an example of a pretty simple, yet damn good meal that consisted of a coconut crusted black bean burger, 2 oz of aged cheddar cheese, 3 tbsp roasted pine nut hummus, and sautéed veggies sprinkled with a little parmesan and seasoned with Trader Joe's Everyday seasoning.

 Meal 3 and 4's size and timing tend to vary. Sometimes I'll consume them both at the same time when I get home from work if it's a long day and other times I'll eat them separately if it's a less hectic day and I'm abel to sit down and eat two separate times. Lately meal 3 has consisted of a salad with some sort of protein mixied in and meal 4 has simply been my protein pudding concoction. There have also been days where I just eat 3 meals an make the last one a larger one. When I do this, the meal will look a little something like this!

Small Victories: Setting Daily Goals

I think it's important to set small goals for ourselves that we can achieve on a daily basis. The cool thing about these is that they start out as goals, but they eventually become second nature as part of your daily routine. When this happens, you come up with new goals and become an even bigger badass. Simple. Here are my current six:

1) Go to bed 100% satisfied with what I accomplished that day. No regrets.
2) Do NOT hit snooze.
3) Stick to the fasting schedule.
4) Take a cold shower each morning.
5) Read or listen to something that is self improvement oriented.
6) Do 15-20 mins of yoga.

It doesn't matter how long the list is, just make one. Give yourself little things to work on and always focus on the small victories. This is what's going to get you to the finish line. Continue to take things one day at a time. 

Until next time,

Kelsey

Reset

Hitting the reset button.

I haven't been truly happy for a while now. I was on an absolute high last year when I decided to prep for my first physique competition. It was the most challenging goal that I had set for myself thus far in life and I knew it was going to be extremely gratifying. What I didn't know is how much I'd learn about myself along the way. I felt amazing. I was inspired and motivated people that I truly care about. Hell, I inspired myself. I was the most proud that I had ever been of myself. 2017 was one hell of a year for me. I faced one of my biggest fears by stepping on stage (basically naked) at that competition, I started a small meal prep business, and I landed a corporate personal training job. I also managed to maintain a handful of the clients that I had the opportunity of working with through the gym that I originally started at back in July of 2014. I felt unstoppable. Once all the excitement of these changes came to an end and I began to fall back into the normalcy of life, I got stuck in a rut. Not only physically, but mentally AND emotionally as well. I'm not 100% sure what I need to do to get out of it, but I do know that the first step is hitting the reset button.

What exactly are you doing with your life?

A year and a half has gone by and I've been asking myself this question a lot lately. I've been feeling incomplete. Like I haven't been putting forth much effort to do what I truly want to be doing. I want to travel the world. I want to see places that I've only so far dreamed about. I want to make a difference in more ways than one. I want to leave a damn legacy!!! I'm the kind of girl that knows exactly what she wants, but doesn't always know exactly how to go about getting it. I'm ADD w/ a minor case of OCD and my brain is always moving a million miles a minute. I have a hard time processing my thoughts and putting them into words. This is where I get frustrated. It always takes me forever and a day to figure out what it is that I want to say. This is why I'm a pretty damn good writer (or so I think) and at times a shitty person to hold an actual conversation with in person. I'm chuckling pretty good as I type that, but unfortunately it's true!!! I've become a bit of an introvert over the past few years, so sometimes human interaction is harder than it used to be for me. This is pretty funny because as a physical trainer/lifestyle coach, I interact with individuals (sometimes on a very personal level) on a daily basis. And honestly, it can be exhausting!!! Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my job, but it's a lot more mentally demanding when you aren't naturally an extroverted individual. My brain is definitely wired differently than most. My client's would be the first to tell you that sometimes I need more time than the average bear to process information and get back to them with the answer that they are looking for. I'm also really good at going off on tangents (like this one) because when I'm in the zone, it all just pours out of me like a storm drain during hurricane Katrina.

We all have our shit. It's simply a matter of how we handle it.

I'm sure you can all relate to my cluster fuck of a brain from time to time. If not, you're one lucky son of a bitch! Enjoy the calm river of smooth thoughts, even keeled feelings, and steady emotions. (insert THICK sarcasm here). But seriously, we all go through crap in life and we all have the ability to bounce back. All we need is the proper amount of time to sort through our thoughts and the right people in our corner to help us smell the rosy side of any sudden pile of dog shit thrown our way. I've met some pretty damn resilient people in my 33 years on this planet and I'll tell you what, THAT is the shit that inspires me. Seeing people over come obstacles they never thought they could. Not only that, but becoming solid individuals with strong morals and the work ethic of an ox. It's pretty liberating. Hell, it's one of the few things in life that literally gives me the chills. I strive to be a little bit better each day and these people are the first thing that pops into my mind when I start to second guess things. You may or may not know who you are, but you're my inspiration non the less.

The next 3 months.

For me, these 90 days are about finding the balance that I once had and lost. The balance that made me feel sane and secure in life. The balance that made me jump out of bed in the morning like there was $100,000,000 waiting for me when I get to work. It's about finding my passion again. Falling back in love with the processes that always made me glow. Training clients, training myself, going on outdoor adventures, planning trips, and ultimately planning and executing the steps to get me to where I want to be in life. I don't know exactly where that will be, but I know it won't be exactly where I am now, and that's what excites me. It's about the journey.

Until next time,

Kelsey

Fuel 4 Your Fire: Recipes & Nutrition Facts

Coconut Crusted Black Bean Burger

(Makes 8 burgers)

3 cans black beans

½ cup grated parmesan 

1 cup panko bread crumbs

Breaded with a thin layer of coconut flour & seared.

Rainbow Peppercorn (Trader Joe’s)

Everyday Seasoning (Trader Joe’s)
Fresh Veggies:
Sautéed in coconut aminos & seasoned w/ lemon pepper
(sweet peppers, zucchini, garlic, and red onion)
Served on a brioche roll (brand = specially selected @Aldi)

Amount per serving:

39g P, 54g C, 23g F, 536 Calories

Chicken Mac ‘N Cheese Wrap

Amount per serving:

4 oz baked chicken breast seasoned with:

Coconut aminos 

Orange vinegar

Lemon pepper seasoning (Trader Joe’s)

1/4 cup shredded gouda cheese

2 tbsp grated parmesan
1/2 cup riced cauliflower 

1 multigrain + flaxseed flatbread
(brand = fit & active @Aldi)

1 cup spring greens

53g P, 23g C, 20g F, 467 Calories

Turkey Taco Bowl & Chili Lime Rice

Amount per serving:

4oz of ground turkey (93/7) seasoned with:

Chili lime (Trader Joe’s)

Cumin

Lemon Pepper (Trader Joe’s)

Cherry tomatoes

¼ cup jasmine rice seasoned with: 

Trader Joe’s chili lime, cumin, & coriander

42g P,  51g C, 19g F, 540 Calories

Smokey BBQ Chicken & Rice Stuffed Avocado

Amont per serving: 

Half an avocado (2oz)

4 oz chicken marinated in:

Coconut aminos

Orange vinegar

Lemon pepper seasoning (Trader Joe’s)
Side Salad:
Mixed greens w/ chopped sweet peppers & black beans

31g P, 32g C, 15g F, 383 Calories 

Only One You: Road To Your Best Self Challenge (Phase 1)

I've created this challenge to put a fire under your ass to become a better version of yourself. Sometimes we just need a little push!!!! Below I've attached the instructions for what you need to do.

I will be doing tis challenge along with you and I'll be documenting everything on this blog. I'll share my routine, meals, workouts, and anything else you may request to see!!!

I hope you decide to join in!

Only One You: Road to Your Best SelfPhase 1: First 90 Days

What to you need to do:

1) Choose your goals. Chose AT LEAST two LIFE goals. And remember that it’s not all about how you look. It's about how you FEEL. Keep this in mind when you are tackling your fitness goals. Don't just look in the mirror/scale. Pay attention to how you feel after eating or doing certain things. It's extremely important to reach a point of feeling physically AND emotionally good. The good things that come from having confidence in your body's abilities and yourself as individual will spill over into all aspects of your life. I'm here to make sure that you have the right tools, mindset, and inspiration to get to where you want to be.

2) Email me your goals at kbriggsfitness@gmail.com with the heading ONLY1U GOALS.  I will respond within 1-2 days with directions specific to the goals you choose.

3) Wake up each morning with the desire to become a little better that day. Even if its just 1%. Better is better!!!

4) Focus on the LITTLE things that you CAN control.

5) Go to bed HAPPY and eager for tomorrow. Do whatever you need to do to make this happen!!! Get excited about LIVING. We only get one chance at it.

Ready? Lets do this.