Protein Powder Review and a Fierce Workout

A BIG hello and hugs to all of my wonderful readers! How was your Sunday? Mine was superb. I hit up the gym early this morning, did some major studying the rest of the day, ate some tasty food, chatted with my Mommy over the phone, painted my nails, and attended a student council meeting this eve.

I am so excited to do this protein powder review! Especially because I have been waiting for months to get my hands on this protein I literally have been waiting for months to try About Time protein powder. I first heard of this type of protein powder when Naomi posted about it on her blog way back in June! I went to their website to make an order, but was disappointed to find out that they do not deliver to Canada I was crushed. Of course, I searched every store that offered protein powders near me, but I had no luck coming across any About Time products.

Everything changed when I moved back to London in September, though! As I mentioned yesterday, my favourite store, Homeopathy London, carries About Time protein powders! You can only imagine how thrilled I was when I found this out (Picture me bouncing up and down). I had a lot of protein powder at the time, so I decided to wait until I made ‘the purchase’ And I guess ‘the purchase’ was made yesterday YAY!

Unfortunately, Homeopathy London only carries About Time’s chocolate and vanilla flavour and are not able to order in any other flavour other than cinnamon (due to the supplier they are dealing with). I had my heart set on trying their peanut butter flavour, but I wasn’t going to let myself get upset seeing as how any About Time protein powder is better than no About Time protein powder at all Am I right or am I right? Read my review to find out!

About Time 100% Whey Protein Isolate

About Time protein powder uses 100% whey protein isolate and only natural ingredients such as Stevia.

Nutritional Profile

The nutritional profile is amazing since About Time only uses all natural ingredients! I always look at the label before buying my supplements and was really happy with what About Time protein offers!

Taste

Even though it is made with Stevia, there was definitely no apparent “Stevia” taste that may turn some individuals off.

Personally, I do not like extremely sweet flavours of protein powder, but I do not want the flavour to be bland either. I think this protein had a perfect level of sweetness. I tried the chocolate flavour and was very happy with it; it actually tasted like chocolate.

There was no “chalkiness”

Mixability

I have only tried to mix it into my yogurt so far; it mixed well and it didn’t clump.

Smell

This was the first thing I checked out after tearing off the plastic! YUM! Very chocolatey!

Overall Review

I am really happy that I purchased this yesterday I actually made an order after I purchased the chocolate… they are bringing in the cinnamon for me to try I give this protein powder 5/5! Three cheers for About Time protein!

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With all of this protein powder talk, I thought that this would be a perfect time to share a new PWO recipe with you all  
Ever since I created my sweet potato pudding, I have been enjoying it ever since to fuel my workouts! Seeing as how I ran out of bananas yesterday, I had to change things up and create something new! Yay for new creations! This is what I came up with

Extra Thick Sweet Potato Cranberry Pudding

5 oz. sweet potato

1 – 2 Tbsp dried cranberries (or fresh; I had dried!)

1/3 cup greek yogurt

1 – 1.5 scoop protein powder (I used vanilla)

Cook potato
Blend all ingredients together once the potato is cooked! Add cinnamon if you want  
This turned out extra thick I was lovin’ it

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So, this morning I rocked an amazing leg workout But it seemed as though everyone in the gym was getting a good workout in today! There was a lady doing triceps pushdowns and her face was mean! I LOVED it! I totally knew the burn she was feeling I felt like saying “you go girl!”, but contained myself…
Things might have got a little awkward… haha

So I went into this workout determined to get a sweat on I used to dread leg days. Last year I actually never even incorporated leg training into my weekly routine, but that was way back when I was a total newbie to lifting (now I am just somewhat of a newbie haha)

This year is much different I have been noticing changes like none other, but still have some things to work on that’s for sure!

Currently, I am doing two leg days per week. For one of my leg days I focus on quads (Wednesday) and for the other leg day I focus on hamstrings and glutes (Sunday). Since I am a perfectionist (something else I need to work on), I have been constantly switching up and changing my leg workouts to make them ‘perfect’! The constant switching of routines has gotten me really frustrated because there is no such thing as a ‘perfect’ routine. Another reason I am frustrated is because I want to stick to one routine for at least a month until I switch it up a bit.

Today I created the routine I will be sticking with for at least a month I am sure I have said this before, but this routine seriously made me feel like I accomplished something  

Exercise	Sets	Reps
Straight leg deadlift	5	5
Walking lunges w/ barbell	4	20 (10 each leg)
Superset
Side lunge*	3	12
Jump squat	3	12
Triset
Reverse lunge off step w/ barbell**	3	10
Bench straddle hops	3	24 (12 each side)
Plié squat w/ DB	3	12
Hip thrusters	3	10 – 12
Kneeling cable kickback	3	10 – 12
Ab Circuit
V sit ups	3	15
Reverse crunch on bench	3	10

* Perform right side lunge, left side lunge and then immediately go into squat jump (demonstrated in video below)

** Perform all 10 reverse lunges on right/left leg before switching to other leg

After doing this workout I was on a workout high all day It’s been a great Sunday

Some of the exercises performed throughout the workout I just shared were inspired by one of my favourites, Aubrie Richeson  Love her. We tweet daily She said goodnight to me last night  

How did you spend your Sunday?
How often do you switch up your workout routine?
Do you get bored with workouts easily?

Talk to you lovely people tomorrow!

Love,

Meg
xoxoxoxoxo

The Question that is Currently Stumping Me:

Why is my kitchen always a disaster?

Advice of the Day:

Acknowledge and appreciate all of the amazing things that your body is able to do!

Break the Rules to Win

Happy Thanksgiving weekend to all of you fellow Canadians out there! And happy weekend to all of the rest of my wonderful readers I hope Saturday treated you well

My Saturday was eventful. Hangouts with the fam, another shopping spree, gym date with my Mom, and Thanksgiving dinner numero 1 filled up my day!

The plan for this post was to update you with all of my purchases, the new workout I created for myself to do today, and some pictures from the evening of my family and I However, I am feeling really passionate about another topic right now, so I will save the fashion, fitness, and family post for a later date (most likely tomorrow).

Although I have never shared my entire history regarding my struggles with body image and food with all of you yet, it has been implied through many of my previous posts (and comments that I leave on other blogs) that I have over come many struggles in the past; that struggle being an eating disorder which I will be referring to as ED.

I am recovered from ED. However, I believe that even when an individual recovers from ED, ED thoughts will still arise every now and then. Thankfully now that I am recovered, I am able to deal with these ED thoughts in an appropriate and healthful manner. Before, when I was consumed in ED, I would follow and obey thoughts or rules made by ED. Today, in my recovery stage, I break ED rules.

That’s exactly what happened tonight.

I broke the rules.

And when you break ED rules, you always win.

In one of my previous posts, I discussed with all of you that I set a goal for myself to ditch my usual bedtime snack of egg whites and start having something more substantial. The next day, I shared with all of you that I was successful in the goal I set for myself and have been ever since From the day I set the goal for myself to have more than just egg whites for a bedtime snack, I have been doing so and absolutely loving it. I sleep better and I know I am doing my body good.

Tonight was different though.

Tonight was my first Thanksgiving dinner out of two this weekend. Dinner took place at a hall because it was combined with a family member’s 50th anniversary as well. I had a fantastic turkey dinner and enjoyed every morsel just like any regular meal After dinner I had a chance to visit with family and hang out with my cousins who are very much like my sisters It was such a great time! When it was time to go home later in the evening, I initially thought that I would have a nice big bowl of protein fro yo when I got home It had been a few hours since we ate dinner and I knew I needed a snack before I went to sleep for the night.

All of a sudden, I started contradicting my original plan. For some reason I started to think an evening snack wasn’t necessary for me tonight.

Bogus!

I told myself immediately that I definitely did need an evening snack tonight.

What was so different about tonight anyways?

Well apparently, there was a lot different about tonight…

- Dinner took place at a later time than when I usually eat

- On “ordinary” days I would have had my evening snack already

And the list went on with pathetic excuses…
Suddenly, I was thinking of alternative snacks to my protein fro yo that I so desperately wanted in the first place. Going back to my old evening snack, egg whites, seemed like a fantastic idea.

For some reason this evening snack of egg whites seemed “safer” and someone or something was “happier” about this option over the protein fro yo.

ED was that something.

ED started making rules for me. ED was the one putting thoughts of doubt in my head about my bedtime snack. What else would make me think I didn’t need a bedtime snack tonight? What else would tell me it’s too late to eat my bedtime snack? What else would make me anxious to eat at a different time than “normal”?

Every answer lead to ED.

I had made a promise to myself long ago that I will never let ED win again. I was able to determine that these thoughts and doubts that I was having were ED thoughts which led me to use my experience and knowledge to over come these ED thoughts.

How did I over come these thoughts? How did I break these ED rules?

I find it extremely beneficial if I assess each ED thought individually. I question the thought and ask: “Does this thought make sense?”
“Would I be pleasing ED or Meg if I obeyed this thought?”
”If I obey the thought, is ED winning? or am I?”
If the thought doesn’t make sense and is unrealistic…
If I would be pleasing ED instead of myself…
If ED would win instead of me…
I know not to obey the thought.

At this time, if I am still struggling with disobeying the thought I reinforce my healthy decision with my experience and factual knowledge that I have gained over the years.

Tonight, I told myself that my body does not know what time it is; therefore, I can eat at any time and it will not matter.
I told myself that I had ate dinner quite a few hours ago, so if I didn’t have a bedtime snack I would be depriving my body of fuel.
I told myself many positive affirmations and thoughts as well such as:

- I am deserving of any type of bedtime snack I want

- The bedtime snack will only help me

- Live life to the fullest. How is a bedtime snack going to hurt you? (I answered this question by saying, “By not having this bedtime snack, I am only hurting myself”)

The use of positive affirmations, positive thoughts, and factual knowledge helped me through my decision of breaking the ED rules that appeared tonight and I was able to enjoy my bowl of protein fro yo

Just as I intended

Can you relate to this post?
Did you find this post beneficial? Can you use some of the knowledge I shared with you when you are in this situation?
Do you have a definition of ED recovery?

Good night friends and sweet dreams!

Meg
xoxo

P.s. for all of you who have been emailing me, THANK YOU I am so happy you feel as though you can ask me questions and confide in me for certain things I am reading the emails tonight and will email all of you back! Xoxo