Eating in hotels...

Good morning.... or is it morning in Ireland? Hello either way :)

At the moment, I'm in the USA, the company I work with give each and every person in the company a chance to travel all expenses paid twice a year - and if it's available - I will avail of it :) I will post my blog next week on the whole amazing experience that I am having! However, today, I want to chat about surviving in hotels...

I am always chatting with people who spend a lot of time in hotels, whether working or on holidays. Hotels are amazing, but it can be hard to eat well in them... all those pastries are just eyeing you up all the time!!!!

So, firstly, when you're in hotels, make sure you:

1. Are always fully hydrated; a lot of the time, we eat when we are actually thirsty, so if you make sure that you have a full bottle of water before you leave your room in the morning, it'll help your cravings.

2. Take some supplements; it's well known, that if we lack certain nutrients, we crave more things. So stay healthy. If you don't supplement, the first supplements that I would recommend would be Aloe Vera Gel, Artic Sea Fish Oils and Bee Pollen (see my store for more info on all of these: www.ericabrennan.flp.com)

3. Eat eggs; there are always eggs in hotels, so eggs are defo on the menu. Stay away from the pastries, toast and jam and go for the eggs, bacon, oats route...!

4. Pop two Garcina Plus twenty minutes before you eat: Garcina is a fat loss supplement that basically makes you feel fuller! If you're at a buffet, I know that all I want to do is to keep going back up and grabbing more little mini croissants - here's a brief clip of me talking about my top three fat loss supplements!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUm1It7gNOM&list=UUf4-nCt3dfyQ2KHEiGPQAWA

5. Buy nuts in your nearest shop and snack on them throughout the day! Do not go hungry... if you go hungry you're much more likely to binge! No binging in hotels!

Travelling is fun and when you're on holidays have fun, don't be too hard on yourself but if you follow these 5 simple tips, you'll not be punishing yourself but you won't come home feeling shit!

Happy Sunday,
Erica xx

Chocolate Almond Banana Bread

Morning :)

Okay, so it's been a while since I've experimented in the kitchen! So here's what I made for my Saturday night #cheatclean treat :) :) It is DELISH!!!


Chocolate Almond Banana Bread :)

What you'll need:
- 1 Chocolate Chunk Quest Bar (chopped into small chunks)
- 6 eggs (6 whites, 2 yolks)
- 4 tbs of filtered water
- 100g of vanilla protein
- 1 tbs Cacao powder
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 2 medium bananas (mashed)
- 5 tbs flaked almonds

What you need to do:

  


1. Preheat your oven (Gas 3) + line your bread tin with paper
2. Sort your eggs out + add your water
3. Mix your egg mix with your protein + cacao + cinnamon + baking powder (if it's too thick add some more water, but this mix was good for me!)
4. Fold in your bananas, almonds + quest bar :)

5. Pour into your tin and in the oven for 40 mins
6. Let it cool, pop in fridge and enjoy :)

It's delicious with goo in the middle.....



Enjoy your Sunday,

Erica xx

Cheat Clean Snacks

Feeling adventurous today?? Today, I'm going to do a big shop and prep loads of food for the week!!! I'm also, going to make some healthy snacks! For anyone that's on my facebook private group, you've probably noticed that my meal prep has been pretty brutal of late! So organisation is on!!


Baking is so much more fun than cooking so here are some treat's i'm going to make: *the links to all the recipes are on the names :)

1. Granola Bars

2. Health Krispy Squares

3. Nutty Protein Bars

4. Chocolate + Coconut Balls

 5. Flapjacks

6. Protein Balls

Happy Baking :)

Erica xx

Do you cheat?

Olaaaa,

Right, so I'm not trying to invent some diet, I don't believe in diets - they're stupid and unrealistic. I believe that we should all want to eat and live healthily and that's how I like being - fit and healthy.

Obviously, my aim is to live a healthy lifestyle, now as a lot of people know, I'm no angel and I break the rules now and again - but I believe that that's okay as long as 90% of my time is eating clean and training properly.

So, to try and lead a healthy life, I think that every week IF you've eaten very well and trained then you can have a "cheat meal". Now, it's important that you read that properly... "cheat meal" meal, NOT DAY. Meal.

My "Diet"?

Scrap "diet", focus on changing your meals and tastes to choose healthier options and become cleaner! So my advice to people who want to lean up in a healthy and successful way;

1. Eat
2. Choose food that goes off (if it lives in a box, it's not food - things must go off!!)
3. Eat meat, chicken, fish, veg, fruit, legumes, nuts, seeds, oils
4. Have a cheat meal once per week if you've been good
5. No fizzy drinks, avoid Aspartame & gluten as much as you can
6. Very little alcohol - like a couple of times a year
7. Train like a freak
8. Drink lots of water - like minimum of 2litres per day
9. Take supplements
10. Sleep 8 hours every night

What are cheat meals?

Cheat meals examples are:
- Take Out
- Sweets
- Chocolate
- Desserts
- Alcohol
- Pizza
- Pasta
- Rolls
- Anything bold basically....



How to live with cheating!

It's really important not to feel guilty. This can be actually very difficult. Like I often feel guilty, so it's really important that you know that you deserve to have your cheat meal! If you have been really good all week then waheyyy you can have some food fun!

I think by eating great all week, then going out or getting take out means that you're not missing out on going out with friends or going out for a birthday party. You don't have to become a bore because you want to eat well and have healthy insides....

Also, make sure that you savour your cheat meals, don't feel guilty and most importantly DO NOT LET YOUR CHEAT MEAL THROW YOU ON A DOWNWARD SPIRAL TO EATING CRAP DAILY!

Feel free to instagram your cheat meals to me @ericabrennan.pt  or post them up on my Food Club (to get into my food club, please just add me on facebook and I'll add you to it)

Have a great Sunday!
Erica xx

"Work Bitch"

I'm quoting Britney today... Although she is a long away from the pigtails and mini skirts, she has a lot of serious points! Like she is amazing, her story is incredible... my blog today isn't about me loving Britney, but it is about her song "Work Bitch". This song is vital for your workout playlist!!

We all have wonderful intentions but the people who actually reach their goals all have a few important things in common:

- They all set goals
- They all perfected visualisation skills
- They are all self motivated
- And they all SERIOUSLY GET OFF THEIR ASSES AND WORKED!

The process of reaching fitness and health goals seems to be very similar to succeeding in business. You will fail, whether it's eating those biscuits when you promised you were off them or when a business idea fell flat on its face. We have to fail at things, it makes us learn. It makes us grow. Failing is a major part of succeeding.

No athlete has just strolled into the Olympics, they sacrificed drinking at parties, eating McDonalds, late nights due to early morning training and a lot more. They were not lucky. They worked bloody hard.

That phrase is one of my serious pet hates.... "Oh they were lucky..."... No they were not lucky. They trained their ass off, they worked 100 hours a week, the went out of their way to get to where they are now. Successful people, it doesn't matter what department of success they're in, they all have one major factor in common - they will do what it takes to get where they want to be. No objection is going to stand in their way.

It's very easy to say "oh I want to be fit" or "I'd love to just fit into my clothes comfortably..." but how much would you love to fit into your clothes properly? Like how much? The reason, why people quit is because they'd kinda like to fit into their clothes comfortably, but you know, not as much as going out every weekend, and not as much as lying on the couch watching tv, instead of going to the gym. They want to be fit, but every excuse is better than actually getting up off their ass and doing it.

I'm not trying to dampen your efforts, everyone will fall off the bandwagon but it's vital that you stand back up and go again! This is the difference between where you want to be and where you are now. You need to not let a hiccup stand in your way. Get up and go!!! (and if your friends are giving you stick about you trying to become fitter or healthier or successful in business, if they give you grief - they're not your mates.)

Switch on and surround yourself with like minded people!!

So my point of all of this is, whatever you want to do, whether it's to succeed in whatever you do or to lose body fat or gain healthy weight, whatever it is - you have to work, bitch. You need to believe in what you want, you need to eat, sleep, drink it and you need to put 100% into your workouts (hence why you need it on your gym playlist)!

You need be 100% sure of what your outcome is, you cannot be fickle, you have to accept that there are going to be challenges, but overcoming these challenges will make it worth it.

Here's a million dollar question? Lets set the scene, you're at a BBQ and there's load of meat and salad, so you can be perfectly good, but all the desserts come out, you're dying for one.... Ask yourself this; " If someone was to give me a million dollars today for me NOT to eat any dessert would I eat it?"

Your answer is decision!

Nutty Protein Bars

Hiiiiiiii,

So it's been ages since I've actually baked something fun, so yesterday morning I decided to experiment :)

Simple recipe and no joke, it only took like 5 minutes prep and 30 minutes in the freezer!

Ingredients:

• 2 scoops Forever Ultra Lite Protein Shake
• 60g of organic oats
• 100g of flaked almonds
• 60g of flaxseed mix with cranberries
• 30g of sunflower and almond mix (I had them toasted from previous, but I'm sure they're as nice as if not toasted)
• 60g of almond butter (peanut would do too, I'm sure)
• 1tbsp of Organic Bee Honey
• 20ml of almond milk (just a drop...)
• A little dark chocolate for topping (although, I put it on first time and you actually don't really need it!)

Method:

1. Mix all the of the dry ingredients together
2. Chuck in all the wet ingredients
3. Give it a good mix with a wooden spoon
4. Pop it into a bread loaf tin, pop dark chocolate on top
5. In the freeze for 30 minutes 
6. Boom - out and in mouth

Easy peasy lemon squeezy....

Enjoy :)

Erica xx

Gaining weight but not fat!

Firstly, I want to thank everyone so much for their lovely emails and texts in relation to last week's blog. I'm so touched to have gotten so many kind messages. I really hope that if someone is really nervous about training or concerned about food to please get in touch. Honestly, I will truly try my best to help and give any advice and support that I can.

So, today, lets talk about... gaining weight! I know that most of the time my blogs are about fat loss, so today I think I should mention some pointers for girls who actually want/need to gain some weight.

Gaining weight, for anyone who is trying will agree, that it is one of the hardest things to do (I have never personally had this problem, but I've had plenty of clients who have taken my advice)! So the first thing you need to do, is discover why you want/need to gain weight? Are you just naturally really skinny and want to get toned and muscly? Have you had injuries or health problems that have caused sudden weight loss? Have you in the past or do you currently have an eating disorder? Do you struggle to gain weight even though you eat whatever you want whenever you want?

All of the above are questions you need to ask yourself and see where you personally lie. Obviously if you're reading this, you're interested in being healthy and training. So the first thing, I suggest is that you make sure you're a member of a gym (where you can go in and train on your own). Here you need to follow a program that is designed for you - not a one for all program. It's important that you're training in the right rep range, taking the correct amount of rest and following a 4 - 6 week plan, so that YOU can see your progressions!

Secondly, what I would suggest you start developing (and I suggest this to any client I meet, weight loss or gain) a food diary. This is a simple yet very effective task. Literally, write down what you eat/drink and at what time you do this. Then leave a comment 40 minutes after you've eaten saying how you feel e.g. sick, tired, bloated, happy, skinny, clean, healthy, emotional, etc. Oh, and don't lie! The only person you're cod-ding is yourself.

Food diaries are essential for the trainer who will be working with you and for yourself. You'll actually start to see what you are or what you're not eating? A food diary should be for around 10 days and make sure that you get a weekend in there.

Thirdly, just because you are trying to gain weight, doesn't mean you should go out and eat as much fast food as possible to gain a few lbs. You need to be a clever clogs about it. Up your healthy, good quality food and make sure you're having six meals a day (yes, I say six).

1. Breakfast
2. Snack
3. Lunch
4. Snack
5. Dinner
6. Snack

You need to follow all the healthy eating guidelines, trying to increase your protein, lower your empty calorie foods, avoid dairy and gluten and eat plenty of high (good) fatty foods (e.g. nuts, avocado etc.).

This is a ROUGH gist:
Breakfast: 4 poached eggs, 4-5 slices of smoked salmon, half an avocado
Snack: 2 handfuls of nuts, blue/raspberries, protein shake (good quality)
Lunch: 3 turkey/beef burgers, broccoli, spinach, green beans and sweet potato
Snack: 2 handfuls of nuts, blue/raspberries, total greek yoghurt with protein powder
Dinner: 2 salmon fillets, big plate of veg, and sweet potato
Snack: Porridge (almond milk)

Now, I know that if you're not a big eater, that'll look like a mountain, but it's important that you take it day by day, step by step and gradually build up so that you can eat bigger portions. All of those foods are good quality and you all probably recognise them as I suggest people trying to lose body fat eat them (but not as much of them... don't panic fat loss readers!)

I hope that this is a little insight an food for thought for those of you who would like to gain some weight (but not fat!). As always, please PM on facebook and I can help you out with a program for your training. Don't forget, if you would like to be in my skinny mini club (tis a facebook foodie group), please add me on facebook (www.facebook.com/ericabrennan.pt) and I'll add you to it :)

Happy Sunday,
Erica xx

Ps. As I was looking through to find some pictures, I found this....  #ilovegerard

Granola Bars... and crumbs

Looking for something quick and handy to keep in the press and have with a cup of tea?

Here is my recipe for healthy granola bars :) Here are all the ingredients that you'll need!

Now, I know that all these ingredients make it look like it's a lot of effort, but it's really not. If you go out and buy all these seeds then they'll keep for whenever you need them (and they're not that pricey)

These are the one's that I buy in Aldi:

Use the protein shake scooper...

One scoop for these four:

Two scoops for these three:

Three scoops of these two:

So put all of the ingredients in a bowl and then add the wet ingredients!
- Almond butter (1 tbsp)
- Almond milk (40ml)
- Coconut Oil (2 tbsp)

Blend them all together, put in a tin and in the oven (gas 6) for 40 minutes :)

They are delicious and you can enjoy them with a cup of herbal tea .... healthy and filling and full of fibre to help your digestive system work properly!

Flapjackkie Thingie

Hello :)

OK, here's another good recipe one that I invented during the week - inspired by my training buddy @sfitz1 on Instagram (give her a follow, her cooking is unreal!!)

This is a healthy, sugar free flapjackkie thingie :)

The ingredients look long, but you can basically put whatever nutty - seedy stuff that is in your house in. These are what I used yesterday :)

Dry Ingredients
Whole Chia sees (2tbs)
Flaxseed mix (2tbs)
Shelled hemp (2tbs)
Linseed crunch (2tbs)
Milled linseed with blueberries & raspberries (2tbs)
Sesame seeds (2tbs)
Chopped walnuts (2tbs)
Chopped almonds (2tbs)
Mixed seeds (2tbs)
Flaked almonds (2tbs)
Dried raisins (4tbs)
Coconut segments (4tbs)
Vanilla Ultra Lite Protein Shake (2scoops = 50g)
Organic Porridge Oats (4 scoops = 100g)


Wet Ingredients
Organic coconut oil (2tbs)
Almond nut butter (2tbs)
2 Bananas
Almond milk (200ml)

Method:
1. Preheat the oven, Gas 6
2. Mix all the dry ingredients together with an electric mixer (low speed).
3. Put all the wet ingredients together in a bowl.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredient mixture and mix on high speed for about 1-2 minutes.
6. Put the mix into a greaseproof papered tin.
7. Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes


   

Result:

Please not: Coconut Oil =

#healthieselfie

Hi,

So I spotted this idea on Instagram from Sweaty Betty (a fantastic company with a brilliant gym gear collection) and I thought it was pretty awesome!

#healthieselfie
So as you know "selfies" are everywhere (if you don't know, a "selfie" is a picture of you taking a photo of yourself) BUT I think that #healthieselfie is a much better idea!!

Here are some of mine (obviously if you're doing something revolved with fitness, you may need to get someone else to take your picture):

Why not Instagram me your #healthieselfie @ericabrennanblog

Chat soon,
Erica xx