Tag: The Biggest Loser

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Pumpkin Cookie Calories

Hi guys!  So, I can’t believe we forgot to mention the calories in yesterday’s Pumpkin Cookie video.  I guess all things happen for a reason…this gives me a quick minute to talk about gluten/dairy free desserts.  I know so many people that think gluten/dairy free desserts are more “healthy” than traditional desserts.  While I won’t get into that debate today, I do want to remind everyone that a dessert is a dessert.  Period. They are a once-in-a-while treat.  Around here at myFitspiration we love treats and want to bring you many different options for when you do indulge. 🙂 Our goal is to sneak in as many healthy ingredients as we can.

The Pumpkin cookies breakdown like this:  if you make 12 normal cookies they are around 170 calories each…if you make 24 mini cookies they breakdown to around 85 calories each.

Most of the calories are in the almond flour & the coconut oil.  These ingredients…although heavy calorie hitters…have great nutritional benefits in moderation (including a good amount of protein which is great for weight loss and curbing hunger).  If you are really wanting to lower the calories even more you can substitute 1/2 of the coconut oil with unsweetened applesauce. You can also experiment with different types of flours….there are so many gluten free options….even garbanzo bean flour!!

Hannah & I both love cooking & entertaining….stay tuned for more fun & healthy recipes!!

Let us know what you think!!

Health & Happiness,
Olivia xo

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Delish Gluten-Dairy Free Pumpkin Cookies

Happy Fall Everybody!!!! We’re excited to be back with all sorts of fun new stuff to share. We’re going to be posting two new videos a week over at our YouTube channel.

Have you subscribed? Have you checked out the Channel??

We’ll post all the details of the videos (i.e. recipes for cooking, etc.) over here at MyFitspiration.com and we’ll still have lots of the lively discussion and community you’ve come to love. Comment here and over at YouTube and we’ll be dropping in!!

Today we proudly share a recipe for Pumpkin Cookies that are Gluten and Dairy free…but guess what…they are so tasty!! You’re going to love them.

What’s your favorite thing about Fall? Any ideas for other healthy treats? If you make these send us a pic!

Here’s the recipe…

Pumpkin Cookies (Calorie details here)

2 cups blanched almond flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice, plus more for sprinkling on top of cookies
1/2 cup pure pumpkin puree
1 small ripe banana, mashed
1/2 cup maple syrup (or sugar-free if you prefer)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup coconut oil

Preheat oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl whisk together the almond flour, baking soda, salt, and pumpkin pie spice.

In a small bowl mix together pumpkin puree, mashed banana, maple syrup, and vanilla extract.

Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir until combined. Add melted coconut oil and stir to incorporate.

Drop spoonful of batter (about 1 to 2 tablespoons in size) onto prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle the tops of the cookies with additional pumpkin pie spice. Bake cookies for 25 to 30 minutes until golden.

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Life is GOLDEN!!

Ok, who is LOVING watching the Olympics this year??  Don’t get me wrong…I love it EVERY year…what’s not to love about hot boys in swim gear? Right??  Ahem. 🙂  Moving on.  One of my favorite events is always women’s gymnastics.  It has been my favorite since I was a little girl.  I have such vivid memories of Mary Lou Retton winning the gold…it made me want to be a gymnast…for about 5 minutes.  Plus, as most of you know I am a giant…not a good quality in a gymnast…those ladies are pocket sized!

Last night watching the women’s team USA win the gold was so moving and inspiring.  These girls have worked so incredibly hard for their ENTIRE life for that moment in time.  Being able to be a part of that victory was just awesome.  I found myself cheering and jumping up and down in my living room…now, the people in the apartment below me… I don’t think were as excited as I was! 🙂

As inspiring as winning the gold was for these ladies…that was not what moved me most.  I was completely blown away by one young lady…Jordyn Wieber.  From the very first step she took onto the gym floor I was completely mesmerized.  I literally couldn’t take my eyes off her.  I’m sure I wasn’t alone.  For those of you that live under a rock or don’t like the Olympics (what’s wrong with you?? Did I mention HOT BOYS IN TINY SWIM GEAR??)   So, going into these Olympic games Ms. Wieber was ranked number one in the world in women’s gymnastics.  She was EVERYONE’S pick to win the gold in the women’s all around event.  After a decent showing of rotations the other night she found herself edged out of the women’s all around qualifications.  She was beat out by two of her other teammates and did not earn a spot to compete.  CAN YOU IMAGINE???  You spend your entire life training to make it to that competition and you just barely fall short.  How do you recover from something like that.  I can’t even imagine the disappointment and sadness!!  It wasn’t like she royally messed up…she just didn’t have her best night.  Not to mention she had to turn around the NEXT day and compete with her team!!  If it were me I would still want to lie in bed with my dozen cupcakes in my pj’s…let’s be honest.

I have to say what I couldn’t get over was her countenance….our faces NEVER lie.  You can try to hide disappointment, but in the end your face will ALWAYS give you away. I’ll admit I’m the worst at broadcasting what I feel with my face…I just can’t hide it.  The only exception to that is when I play poker…I give GREAT poker face.  Where is Lady Gaga when you need her?  teehee!  Back to Jordyn.  Her face was radiant…it was lit from deep inside.  There was not an ounce of disappointment or jealousy….just peace.  It moved me to tears.  Literally.  What amazing maturity and inner strength she must have.  To step out in that arena after possibly the biggest disappointment in her life knowing that everyone was watching.   All I kept thinking is…I WANT THAT.  I want to remember this moment and learn from her.   She gave an amazing performance and proved to the world why she was ranked number one in the world.  She is a champion both inside and out.

For me this lesson couldn’t have come at a better time.  It’s an important piece of the puzzle for me.  How do you not just deal with disappointment, but how do you move on? It’s about accepting what you can’t change…learning from it and then stepping forward.  The kicker is not just stepping forward, but stepping forward with peace and contentment.  That’s HARD!!  It was so obvious to me that she is one of those people who believes that things happen for a reason.  I’m a big believer in that principle.  I personally believe that my steps are ordered…no matter what happens.  All things work together for good.  Of course I know that doesn’t always mean it will happen the way I want it…or in the time frame that I think is best.  In the end if I submit to my strong belief that He will order my steps, I can handle any disappointment and move forward with peace and contentment knowing that something golden might just be around the corner.  It’s not about the disappointment…it’s about what you do AFTER!

Are you enjoying the Olympics??  What did you think about how Jordyn Wieber handled everything?  What is your favorite event?  I’m reading comments today, so let’s chat below!!

 

XOXOXO

Olivia 🙂

 

PS…I can’t wait for women’s Olympic Lifting today…I want to see how Holley Mangold does. 🙂

 

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Go & Get a Goal

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about goals. Not just coming up with new ones, but what TYPE of goals I want to set for myself. It’s funny I tell people I meet all the time that the REAL challenge in my weight loss journey began the day I stepped off The Biggest Loser Ranch. Most of you know that Hannah & I are approaching our 1 year anniversary of keeping the weight off in May by using supplements which According to Riverfronttimes.com is the easiest way to do it. This year has been amazing in so many ways, and I will say I am so proud of how hard we both have worked. Now that you are all getting to know me so well you won’t be surprised to know that I am always searching be better & learn more. Although, I did so many things right last year there are areas I want to be better at. One area in particular is my relationship with the scale. I know it’s the nature by which I lost the weight, but I don’t want to be a slave to a number. I know I will fight the same five to ten pounds my whole life…it’s part of it. I know my body and because of how I abused it in the past it will always want to put the weight back on…BUT…the joy is found in the fight, in the struggle. I will always use the scale as a tool of accountability, but now that I have maintained for a year it’s time to move on to new NON scale related goals.

I’m sure most of you know the Season 13 Finale of the Biggest Loser is coming up in a few weeks. Hannah & I will both be going, so you know what that means….it’s time to dress up & get fancy!! I recently found an amazing one piece pants jumper thing by Rachel Roy at Macy’s. Wow, my description of that outfit is hilarious & a little scary!  Trust me it’s really pretty! Anyway, the best part of the outfit is its basically backless. That’s right my back will be showing. So, here is my new goal! I want to be strong & toned. I want to have a strong & sexy back! It will take longer than a month of course, but I’m using the finale to jumpstart my journey. I have already been doing Crossfit for about 6 weeks now & I’m seeing great results. Crossfit makes me feel strong & powerful…I love it! Also, let’s not forget that the Sports Bra Challenge is May 17th…my abs could use some attention too…Right??

Here is my challenge to you…no matter where you are on your weight loss journey. Set a non scale related goal for this month. It can be anything fitness related. Maybe you want to run a 5K. Maybe you want to try a new group fitness class. Maybe you want to try Crossfit (hint, hint). Maybe you too want a strong back too. Whatever it is just go for it. Don’t get me wrong I’m not telling you to abandon your scale…please don’t do that! Think of it as channeling your attention and energy into something else.

Well….ARE YOU WITH ME??? Let me know in the comments what your goal is going to be! I love challenges like this. It gives us hope & something to work towards.

Big Love to You All!!
Olivia
xxxooo

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Disappointment

I have been thinking a lot lately about disappointment. Sounds a little depressing when I re-read that sentence, but trust me you won’t need any Kleenex after reading this blog. 🙂 One of my BIG issues I worked on when I was on The Biggest Loser was disappointment. It wasn’t featured a ton, but it was the biggest piece of my puzzle. See, you all know by now how type A I am by nature, and to my detriment I can be pretty controlling. Ah, control….well, I tried to control everything (which is impossible) and it got me to 284lbs at my highest. In my mind I always convinced myself that by keeping such tight control of things I was being “productive” & “driven”. Ha. Ha. Ha. It was a very candid conversation with Bob Harper that really turned my thinking around. He simply said, “You spend so much time and effort trying to keep all these balls in the air…what would happen if you let one of them drop?”. I will tell you that even hearing him say those words made me sweat! Let a ball DROP? That is enough stress to drive me to eating a whole sheet cake alone, but the more I thought about it the more I realized that if I dropped a ball the earth would still turn & I would not die. He challenged me to really spend some time thinking about that concept. As I began to dig into this issue I will tell you that I couldn’t for the life of me come up with a reason why I feared letting go. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks….well, actually that ton of bricks happened to come in the form of Jillian Michaels. She simply said, “Honey, you can’t let go of control because you are terrified of disappointment.” Um, WHAT?? In that moment it became very clear. She was right…I was afraid of disappointment. You know in cartoons when the light bulb turns on…it was like that. I avoided really putting my self out there in my career, relationships, & really life itself to avoid being disappointed. The biggest area where this manifested was in my struggle with weight loss. Don’t get me wrong…I was always on a diet, but I NEVER really tried because that way if I failed it was because I did it half way & wouldn’t be disappointed. In my mind disappointment = weakness & failure. Whew….that’s a mouthful.

Have I fixed all this? I’ll say that I have made HUGE strides, but it’s a work in progress. I find myself at times trying to control things & I have to step back and adjust. The joy in that is the awareness…it’s half the battle right? Also, I look at disappointment in a very different way. I no longer fear it…do I like it…no, but who does? That being said I look at disappointment as an opportunity to overcome. If I set a goal & fall flat on my face…I allow myself to take a moment & be disappointed, but then get up brush myself off & set a new goal. You know why? Well, if you fall or fail the earth keeps on turning & you won’t die. Trust me…Bob said so. By getting up it gives you one more chance to achieve, and I just love that.

xoxoxox,

Olivia

Do you struggle with disappointment? How do you overcome? Let’s chat about it in the comments! 🙂