Rest Days

When working out I find taking rest days the hardest. My body will say it wants it, but my head still says that I need to work out, I'll somehow gain 10 lbs if I don't work out for a day, or all my hard work will disappear overnight. It's a way of thinking that's been ingrained in my head for ages(strange how some behaviours stick with you). Rationally, logically, I know this isn't possible. I know you need rest days. Overworking your muscles can destroy them just as well as sitting around doing nothing.

Brenden Brazier is an amazing vegan Ironman Athlete, and also the founder of Vega(an amazing line of vegan protein powders and supplements). He mentioned at one point in his career, when he was training 35-40 hours a week,  that he started gaining fat. Not muscle, fat. Weird, yes? He discovered it was because his adrenal glands were burnt out(as much as working out is good for you, it's also a stress on the body). Your body needs adequate nutrition and time to recover and rebuild itself. Deplete it too much and it starts to turn on itself.

I've been working out pretty hard for the past couple months, and while I was noticing strength gains for a bit, I wasn't really noticing change in body fat composition and it was frustrating. I evaluated my diet, and I know I'm not really overeating(about 1400-1800 cals daily). I work out in the morning and sometimes at night as well, if I feel like it. Frustrated with my lack of progress, I decided to take a break. Not a day or two, but a full on week. I felt like I needed it to hopefully allow my body to recover. I walked around lots, but for the most part left the gym and running alone.

Since I'm back in Vancouver for a couple weeks I decided to leave the heavy lifting alone for a bit, and just focus on cardio. I've been doing mainly HIIT exercises, and a random Aquafit class with my mom :) It felt great to give my body a break. I was sore pretty much all the time the last little while, which I liked, but it was starting to get exhausting. I feel like it's good to give your body a break now and then, you're not a robot. The workouts I'm doing now, I feel like I'm able to do them better, since I have the strength and I'm not just wobbling around with sore legs and arms from my last workouts!

Anyone have any similar experiences?

Rest Days & Lara Bars

This Monday when I went to do my workout my body just felt exhausted. Which is to be expected I guess, I'm bad at trying to take rest days. Comes with the territory of never feeling like I'm doing enough, I guess. But I'm trying to learn to listen to my body's cues, and so it says it's exhausted I guess I've got to give it a break. I've been taking it easy the past couple days and just doing a little bit of pilates and yoga, and making tons of goodies in the meantime.

I saw the recipe for a Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie, so I decided to make mini versions of that! I halved the recipe, and swapped applesauce for mashed banana. I also accidentally forgot the oil, but since I used coconut milk which is fairly high in fat it didn't affect it too much. They're to die for!!!

Since I had purchased the biggest bag of dates ever, I decided to make something else I've been meaning to try forever; making my own Lara Bars. I just kept adding random things from my cupboard into them, and they turned out great! One thing I love about recipes like this is they're so open to experimentation, you can swap out different types of nuts, and whatever goodies you want to put in them. I went with chocolate chips, chocolate protein powder, and cocoa powder(there's never enough chocolate). A handful of gojis and hemp seeds finished it off!

Chocolate Cashew Energy Bars

1 cup Cashews(or any nut)
1 1/2 cups pitted dates
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 scoop chocolate protein powder(I used Vega)
1/4 cup goji berries
2 tablespoons hemp seeds
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Process everything in a food processor(I used my vitamix and did small batches, but a food processor would definitely be better) until it starts to stick together. Press into a parchment lined pan, and let set in the fridge or freezer for a couple hours. Cut into slices and enjoy!

Nutritional Info(1 serving of 12)
Calories: 140
Protein 5 grams
Fibre: 3 grams