Hey guys! Now, we have been chatting for some time together about a healthier lifestyle both mentally and physically. Anddd I promised to share with you all some of my tried and true favorite things! In today’s post, I’m going to share with you my best smoothie recipe yet, including some other tips on how I’m boosting my metabolism by actually ADDING calories to my day. Mind-blowing, I know. (Stay tuned for a future post revealing some of my go-to camping recipes!)
Oh! And don’t miss the really cool interactive spreadsheet for free at the end!
How I Made My Change
If you’re new here, I’ll give you a little context to my current situation. I’m an active 33 year old female with a healthy lifestyle and a fatty liver. Contradictory, isn’t it? Check out a few of my recent posts to see how I figured this out and what I’ve been trying to do to reverse it.
Turning Things Around At 33: Why It’s Never Too Late To Start Embracing Change With Growth
When Push Comes To Shove, Remember To Not Compare
Overcoming Negativity On The Scale: How I’m Learning To Be Okay With My Body
So, last year when I had two trainers that specified in completely different ways of training, I thought I had it all figured out. (This was before that discovery, of course…and before I quit birth control completely!) One day after all of this new info surfaced, I realized that I’d been heavily relying on everyone else to tell me what to do and what was best for my body.
Of course, trainers do know most of the time what is best for our bodies. That’s why they’re trainers, after all. But what I realized was that I needed to do some deep dives on how I wanted to approach the next several years of my life, and if I really wanted to be motivating myself through external sources.
I didn’t.
So, I quit them both, and proceeded to stop going to the gym for a month or more. I didn’t do much of anything, really. I was a lazy blob figuring out life. But then it happened. One day, I decided that I was going to go because I felt like it. Because I made the decision to. Because I knew that it was what my mind and body needed.
I also knew that even though I kept telling myself I was eating right, I knew deep down that I could be doing better. It’s amazing what we tell ourselves on repeat just to turn our cheek to what is actually the right decision.
Wanting to gain that self-motivation, I kept up with it this time. I continued to let myself ebb and flow and move with the cycles of life throughout this journey I’ve been on. I was easy with myself on days that didn’t feel right to go, and went all out on days that I felt like being in beast mode.
After a while, I stopped craving crappy food, too. I began looking for new ways to slowly incorporate more healthy options into my life and less junk food to fill space or time. And that is where my favorite smoothie recipe was born!
My Metabolism Boosting Smoothie Recipe
It’s not all that and a bag of chips. Well, it doesn’t actually include chips at all…but it’s delicious…and not chunky…and that is something that has been hard to perfect.
I also found a few ingredients that I didn’t know about before, and realized that hello, duh, I could be using greek yogurt instead of WATER to add more fuel to its power. It’s the perfect blend of smoothness, deliciousness, and balance (in my opinion) of ingredients.
Check it out:
- 1 handful or cup of frozen blueberries
- 1 handful of spinach
- 1 scoop of your favorite protein powder
- 1 room temp banana
- 1 spoonful of NuttZo 7 nut & seed butter
- A serving size of your favorite vanilla bean or unflavored greek yogurt
That’s all folks.
6 simple ingredients.
I’ve noticed whatever flavor of protein powder I pick doesn’t make too much of a difference, but I prefer unflavored if it’s available. The peanut butter can be whatever kind you like best as well, but I opt for this brand as it packs a little more protein and a few more things than just your plain old Jif. I really like the unflavored greek yogurt as it has less sugar content than flavored, but what I usually have on hand is vanilla bean.
I also like to spend 15 minutes or so per week just bagging up some of these ingredients. (I freeze sandwich bags of blueberries, spinach, and the banana. I’m sure you could add the others as well if you wanted). Doing this makes it super easy to grab and throw in my Ninja in the morning before work to make sure I can get in a hefty dose of protein and healthy options first thing. (I even got a cute glass container to travel with it in to inspire me to drink it on the way to work).
Losing Weight By Adding Calories
Soooo, did you know that you can actually lose weight by ADDING calories?! Because your girl had no freaking clue. It sounds like such a backwards concept that I’m sure a lot of us out there had never even heard of such a thing. It’s also super hard to do if you’ve ever tried it, especially since most of us are used to attempting to be calorie restrictive. Ugh.
Since I’ve been struggling to lose weight even though I feel like I’m doing basically everything I can, I talked to my trainer again about this. He explained that since my activity level is so high, my calorie restricting is actually hurting my body because it’s not letting it repair itself properly.
Basically, my body has just been on go-mode, and only offering up new energy to what’s keeping me alive, instead of keeping me healthy…which is what explains that pesky fat storage around my midsection that is saving itself for the apocalypse. Instead of burning it off because I’m eating enough calories to sustain my activity level, it’s hoarding it since it never knows if I won’t get enough to eat with all the activity that I’m doing.
…after he explained it several times, a light bulb finally went off.
So here I am in this new chapter ingesting more calories than I probably ever have. It’s super weird being overly full all the time instead of mostly hungry. I think my body is starting to get used to it though, which is very cool how things work so quickly!
I’m beginning to crave these healthier options, less sodium, less junk food and look forward to making my smoothie in the morning along with a chicken patty and root veggie hashbrowns. It’s a ton of food, but now I’m really enjoying my breakfast instead of always feeling guilty because of it. (And bonus, it’s done in like, 10 minutes people!)
Two other things I’m loving in the morning are Gruns gummies (vitamins with greens!) which has been a quick alternative to portioning out supplements when I’m in a hurry, and Chobani or Siggis drinkable yogurt. They’re high in protein and really great to add in an extra 18-25g when I’m getting a bit hungry and need something fast.
What are your favorite go-tos in the morning? Do you have a smoothie recipe that does the trick? Let me hear about it in the comments!
PS!
I put together this little spreadsheet for those of you like me that like to check things off. It helps me stay on track with hitting 150g of protein each day and 2400 calories. It also helps me find trends where I slack off or do really well, so I can reflect back on what changed my habits in those days.
Download it here for free! 🙂
Happy blending friends! <3
Thank you so much for reading “Healthy Hacks, Delicious Metabolism Boosting Smoothie, and the Secret to Eating More to Weigh Less!”
I want to extend my sinceriest thank you to all my readers who continue to follow me on my journey including today’s post Healthy Hacks, Delicious Metabolism Boosting Smoothie, and the Secret to Eating More to Weigh Less! Make sure you let me know how you like my recipe for a delicious metabolism boosting smoothie!
