Coconut Milk Protein Shake

I just got done drinking down my favorite protein shake mix and I thought I would share it with everyone else. It's very simple but so very tasty! I really think I could drink one of these every meal of every day.

Recipe: Coconut Milk Protein Shake

Ingredients

• 1/2 Cup Coconut Milk


• 1/2 Cup Water


• 2 Scoops Chocolate Protein Powder


• 1 T Cinnamon


• 1 Banana (Optional)

Instructions

1. Combine all of the ingredients into a blender or Magic Bullet (my mixer of choice)

Cooking time (duration): 5

Diet (other): High protein

Number of servings (yield): 1

Meal type: snack

My rating: 5 stars:  ★★★★★ 1 review(s)

Copyright © StartBeingFit.com.

Nutritional Information:

Calories: 525
Fat: 25g
Carbs: 34g
Protein:  49g

Do you have a shake recipe that uses Coconut Milk? Leave it in the comments section below.

Workout Logs and Why You Should Have One

I am a huge proponent of workout logs and I always have been.  In fact, you will hardly ever find me at the gym without a workout log of some sort in tow.  There are several reasons why you should adopt a workout log. Here are just a few.

1. Increase efficiency - Everyone should go into the gym prepared. If your idea of working out is walking around and hopping onto whatever piece of equipment is available, then you are not going to get the type of results you are looking for. Go in with a workout plan written down and follow it. It will help you reach your goals faster and also help you get in and out of the gym that much faster.


2. Keep's you honest - If you write down everything you do, then there is no second guessing yourself. You won't find yourself cheating on a set because you don't "remember" the last weight you used.


3. Motivation - It's a very satisfying feeling to look at a log and see the progress right there in front of you. Whether it’s weight loss or strength gains; seeing it on paper will add some realism to what you are doing and make it that much more meaningful.


4. Obtain your goals – Let’s be honest. We all go to the gym because we want to achieve something.  But if you don’t keep track of your progress, how are you ever going to know that you reached your goals. Right your goals down in your workout log and then track your progress to it.

I have gone through many workout logs over the years. I have used everything from a notebook to a professional workout log that I purchased (and hated).  But the benefit of using so many different forms of tracking is that I know what I wanted from a workout log. I combined all of those features into a simple but effective sheet. I designed it to fit onto one of those small half sized clipboards. The small form factor allows it to easily fit into a duffel bag and its small enough not to take up a lot of room on the gym floor. They are cheap and easy to find (I bought mine at Wal-mart for 3 bucks). I put 2 logs on 1 sheet as to help save money on paper as well (because that’s the way I roll)

Below is a sample log that I filled out with some simple sample data. The key in that last sentence is “sample”. That was not a real workout so please don’t judge me based on it! :)

I have also provided a download link below should anyone want to adopt these workout logs for their own personal use. Enjoy and happy tracking!

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Wordless Wednesday – New Gym at the Office

Gym Topic of The Day - Shoes

Had a short but interesting conversation with an older gentleman in the locker room today.

Him:  They sure are getting popular.

Me:  Uhmm. What is?

Him:  Those silly shoes you have on. A few months ago, you were the only one I would see wearing them. Now they are getting to be everywhere.

Me:  Well they are super comfortable and great to work out in.

Him:  Well I suppose so.

And that was the end of the conversation. If you haven't guessed it yet, the shoes he was referring to were my Vibrams Five Finger shoe that I wear everyday when I am at the YMCA.  Our conversation made me wonder where else he had seen people wearing VFF's. After all, I couldn't imagine him and I frequent the same circles.  It wasn't until a few minutes later when I was in the workout room that I noticed another guy wearing some Vibrams as well. I guess that answered my question!

Living Cookbook 2011 Review

For the last several months I have been scouring the Internet in search of a good recipe database tool. I am happy to report that I have finally found one that I am very happy with. Although its not the online accessible, anywhere tool I was looking for, it does have almost every other option that I wanted including a great interface and ease of use. The app I chose is called Living Cookbook 2011 and here are the features that won me over.

Pro's

• Easy to use - I was able to get up and running very quickly with this app which makes it a huge plus. I also want my entire family to be able to use it so a steep learning curve would have been a big turn off for them.


• Easy to add ingredients and directions - LC2011 has a great feature that allows me to copy and paste an entire recipe into it and then tag the the specific parts that make up the recipe. Some of the other programs I looked into required me to enter each ingredient manually. I don't have time for that!


• Nutritional data - Since I am huge fan of nutritional facts, it's only natural that I choose an app that has the ability to pull the nutritional data from any recipe within its database.


• Shopping list functionality - What is a great recipe database app without the ability to create shopping lists from the recipes you choose to make? Fortunately for me, Living Cookbook has this feature.


• Calendar functionality - Planning a week's worth of meals can be tough. The application makes it easy with its built in calendar that is capable of separating meals out for each day. Plan a week and then export those meals to your shopping lists.


• Huge database of recipes - Living Cookbook comes with a huge assortment of recipes already in its database.  Huge plus!

Cons

• Cost - Currently I am using a version which has a limited 30 day trial attached to it. Once the trial is over, I will need to spring the $34 dollars to actually obtain a license key to use it. $34 is actually pretty reasonable compared to some of the other apps I have seen out there. I also like the fact that I was able to try before I buy. Some other apps don't have that option. I don't know about most people, but I always like to test out software before I purchase it.

RecipFox

One of the coolest things I have found to help me import recipes into Living Cookbook is a FireFox extension called Recipfox. It allows me to export recipes I find on the Internet directly into Living Cookbook. For sites that recipefox recognizes, it can import the entire recipe with one click. That tool alone has made Living Cookbook something I cannot do without. I am constantly finding great recipes online and it was always a burden to try and copy and paste those recipes to a word doc or Onenote app. This little FireFox extension makes all the unnecessary work...well unnecessary.

In conclusion, if you are looking for a recipe database that can do it all, is easy to use, provides great nutritional stats, and is a lot of fun to use,  then look no further than Living Cookbook 2011.

Random Thursday - Today's Lunch

What? You want to know what  I had for lunch today? Well its your lucky day then! Here it is.

• 8oz thin sandwich steak


• 1.5 cups sweet potato (skin left on)


• 1 cup yellow onion


• 1 cup orange pepper


• 1 cup beef broth


• 2T tomato paste


• 1T coconut oil


• Various spices


• and a banana for dessert

I ate this after I got back from my lunch hour workout. Today was back and biceps and I really worked my muscles into the ground. The added carbs will help to fuel my recovery. My mid-day snack will be a protein shake made with coconut milk and for supper we are having chicken fajitas (minus the shells for me).

Wordless Wednesday - Grassfed Beef

[caption id="attachment_1929" align="aligncenter" width="459" caption="Freezer full of grassfed beef"][/caption]