Recipe: Low carb protein pancakes

It's PANCAKE DAY! Yes, it is a big deal.

As if I even need an excuse to make these super quick and easy protein pancakes though...

These healthy, guilt free pancakes are perfect for those who want to up their protein intake or are on a low carb diet. They're also gluten free and they taste pretty good too. This recipe makes a batch of about 6 pancakes, depending on what size you make them.

Ingredients:

• 2x eggs
• 1x scoop whey protein (I use PHD Nutrition's Diet Whey in Vanilla Creme flavour)
• A splash of your choice of milk (I use unsweetened almond milk)
• Optional extras: chocolate chips, raisins, cinnamon, berries etc.
• Coconut oil (to cook)
• Toppings of your choice

Method:

• Mix the eggs with the whey powder and then add in the milk until it is the consistency of standard pancake mix
• Stir in any optional extras
• Heat a small amount of coconut oil in a non stick pan and pour in the mixture (the size of a scotch pancake)
• Cook the pancake on a low heat for a minute, then flip, and cook for a further minute.
• That's it!

Stack them up and load them with your favourite toppings. For mine, I added Clark's Choccy Desert Topping and a few fresh raspberries. Or, try peanut butter, honey or Greek yogurt - anything!)

Macros per batch (including my toppings):
19.1g carbohydrate / 7.9g fat / 27.7g protein
293 calories

Recipe: Chocolate protein mug cake

Everyone who knows me will know that I have a very big sweet tooth... Chocolate, cake, cookies, ice-cream, they are all my weaknesses! There's no chance I could ever cut out those types of foods completely, so I find alternatives which will fit my macro-nutrient requirements more efficiently, and ways to increase my protein intake.

I like to make 'microwave mug cakes' whenever I get cravings for something cakey and delicious - they're super easy to make and only take a few minutes. I started playing around with recipes tweaking this and that, and have settled on this one being my favourite. It's flourless (gluten free), super low in fat and carbs and packs a high protein punch too (full nutritional details at the bottom of the post).

Ingredients:

• 1 scoop whey protein (I use PHD Nutrition Diet Whey - Chocolate Peanut flavour)
• 0.25 tsp baking powder
• 0.5 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 large egg white
• 2 tbsp milk of your choice (I use unsweetened almond milk)
• Sweetener to taste (I use 2x Splenda sachets)

Method:

• Combine all the dry ingredients in a mug
• Add the egg white and milk and mix until a smooth mixture is formed
• Put in the microwave for 1 - 1.5 min
• Tip out onto a plate to serve, or just eat it from the mug to save on washing up!

Serve with toppings of your choice, I like raspberries, Greek yogurt, peanut butter or even a scoop of ice-cream!

I find the texture of the cake to be almost brownie like rather than light and fluffy, but to me that just makes it taste more decadent!

Nutritional info per serving:

7.1g carbohydrate / 2.4g fat / 21.8g protein
147 calories

My calorie intake revolution

I think I may have seen the light! All of a sudden things seem to make a little more sense in my head. How could I have not realised this sooner?!

For the past year or so, since I started tracking what I ate, I have consumed a daily average of between 1,000 & 1,200 calories. It satisfied me I guess, I never went too hungry, I mostly ate salad, veg and healthy meals, but also some less healthy processed foods and snacks, and I'd also have days where I’d eat whatever I wanted without tracking it. I'd stick to my 1200(ish) calories for Mon to Fri, and then not track at all on Saturdays and Sundays. I couldn't understand what I was doing wrong, why wasn't I losing weight?! 5 out of 7 days I was consuming well under the average recommended calorie intake for women, surely I should be dropping the pounds?

After about a year of doing this and becoming frustrated that I wasn't losing any body fat, I knew I needed to make a change. After all, it doesn't matter how much you workout, if you don't eat right then you won't see results. After a fair amount of reading and researching online, I realised I was consuming too few calories, causing my metabolism to slow down, meaning I couldn't burn body fat. My body probably resorted to using muscle mass as a source of energy (reduced muscle mass also = a slower metabolism). This would explain why my regular gym visits didn't seems to be making much of a difference.

So now, after trying a few varied diets and ways of eating (I will go in to these in more detail later), I have decided to calculate what my actual calorie intake should be and then increase my calorie intake to match it. There's a load of calculators online that will calculate this for you depending on your age, weight, activity level etc... Just Google 'calorie calculator'. This is the one I used. (Note: this one calculates maintenance calories, if you want to gain/lose weight you will have to add/deduct calories to the result).

I hadn't been brave enough to do this sooner because the thought of eating even more food while trying to lose body fat just seemed so illogical to me - as I'm sure it does to a lot of people. But reading up on it, there seems to be a lot of proof that upping your food intake to what your body actually requires will ramp up your metabolism and kick start your fat loss.

Now, I've been eating my suggested 1,600 maintenance calories a day (or at least close to that) for a couple of weeks and I have to say I am feeling alright. I haven’t got any fatter from the extra food (phew!), and I definitely feel less hungry and more energetic. I think it’s working!  I imagine in a few more weeks, once my metabolism has picked up a bit, I will reduce my calorie intake by 50 - 100 to start with, which (I'm hoping) will kick start some body fat loss. I will be tracking my progress measuring body fat % and measurements only. I stopped trusting the scales a long time ago!

If you take anything from this post, be it this… If you're eating too few calories, your metabolism will slow down, you’ll probably lose muscle mass and you’ll struggle to maintain healthy weight loss in the long term. If you think this may have happened to you, a good starting point would be to find out what your recommended daily calorie intake is, and try to reach it every day! Use a food tracker like My Fitness Pal or Cronometer to stay on track, and remember, patience is key!

Via wifflegif.com

Recipe: protein banana bread

My protein banana bread recipe couldn't be any simpler and makes approximately 12 slices / 6 servings. It's relatively low carb and high protein, so it's an ideal healthy snack or breakfast. I like to serve mind with a helping of peanut butter!

Ingredients:

• 2 large ripe bananas
• 2 scoops whey protein powder - any flavour of choice. I use vanilla phd nutrition diet whey.
• 2 scoops (of the same size) of almond flour. I actually didn't have almond flour the first time I made this so used ground almonds instead and it worked quite well.
• 2 large eggs
• coconut oil / butter (to line baking tray)
• 1 heaped tsp of bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• Optional add ins: raisins, chocolate chips, sweetener etc. to taste

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
• Mash the bananas in a large bowl
• Add all the other ingredients and mix well
• Line a loaf tin with coconut oil and pour in the mixture
• Bake in the centre of the oven for 25 - 30 minutes

Nutritional info per serving/slice (1 tenth of the loaf):

8g carbohydrate / 5g fat / 7g protein

103 calories

My plan

I've already posted a lengthy 'about me' post (see here), but I guess I haven't really shared my starting point for my 2017 goals. AKA the important starting point before tracking progress!

In a nutshell...

My goals

• To shed fat and lower my body fat %
• Increase lean muscle
• Feel stronger
• Create an overall healthy toned body
• To learn about and understand nutrition – cut out processed foods and eat right, but not get obsessed with food

My motivation

I would love to be able to buy a bikini that I actually like (rather than choosing one that covers my lumps and bumps) and to feel completely comfortable and confident wearing it.

How will I measure success?

I have found that my Fitbit Charge 2 is such a great tool for keeping track of pretty much everything - calories in v calories out, water intake, sleep patterns and heart rate to name a few. The best thing is that it provides stats so I can see how I have progressed over time.

As well as using my Fitbit I will measure my body fat percentage every 6 weeks and take waist and hip measurements at the same time. I also like to take progress photos along the way. It's a great motivator!

Where am I now?

Waist measurement: 82cm

Hip measurement: 99cm


I will take another full measurement like this is 6 weeks time and share the progress!