Happy Pants

I love working out. I really do. It wasn’t always like that but now I just love it! I love going to my class so much, that sometimes I forget the value of rest.
I’m in a real groove lately with my class. I feel so free and alive during my workout (even though this week’s routine is particularly hard)- I just love going. That feeling of tiredness and happiness is super addictive. Endorphins, great music, sore muscles, feeling strong, great sleep- all these things make me want to go to my class everyday. But then- too much of a good thing happens. Tuesday night, about half way through my workout- I hit this bad wall of tiredness. My whole workout felt off. Every movement felt hard and awkward. I left that class a little pissed off at myself- I should have stayed home- I grumbled to myself!
I was right- I should have stayed home. My body was tired. My muscles needed time to repair. I needed a mental break from the gym.
I took a night off, cuddled with Boyd in front of the fireplace and Modern Family (did you watch the Valentines episode? So great!)

Back to the gym tonight and it was awesome! Best workout in a while! I can’t give all the credit to my rest day- although I felt so awesome tonight- I have to give some major “mad props” to my pants! I wore new pants to my class tonight and they were a huge difference maker! Seriously!
They is something to be said about the power of the right outfit. These pants make me happy. They make me feel pretty. They made me feel confident. I just love them! Here’s a picture (not a great shot) of these fabulous pants:

Ridiculously cute right?!!! They are soft and so light. They aren’t actually workout pants- they are just regular tights but they helped me fly high during squat jumps! I ordered them from Sweetlegs. Super cute patterns and they are only twenty-five bucks! (By the way, Sweetlegs has no idea who I am! I just ordered the pants and fell in love with them).
Something else that has helped my soaring squat jump- Smoothies! I’ve had a major bread addiction every morning the last few weeks! My husband and I (~~unfortunately~~) discovered Art Is In Bakery. If you live in Ottawa YOU MUST TRY THIS BREAD! It’s super clean. It is hands down the best bread I have ever tasted. It’s ridiculous! Last week, my husband bought a large sour dough and a crazy grain.

The loaf on the left- that’s the Sour Dough….. I might have allegedly eaten that entire loaf in one week…. It’s made with super clean ingredients but come on its still BREAD!
It ain’t kale!
So smoothies make me feel happier because they are healthier than bread…

Here’s my basic smoothie recipe:

1 cup almond or coconut milk
1 scoop protein (I usually use vanilla Progressive)
1 tbsp chia seeds or ground flax seed (or both)

Then to that I add a bunch more stuff! Lately I’ve varying between these flavour add ins-

1/2 cup pumpkin purée (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 banana
1 tsp honey
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/2 avocado
1/2 banana
1 scoop chocolate protein powder (instead of the vanilla)
1 big hand full of baby spinach or kale

1 banana
1/2 cup mixed berries (blueberries,raspberries,strawberries,blackberries)
1 big handful of baby kale or spinach

I have recently bought a new Ninja blender. I already had the big Ninja blender but I found it difficult to clean so I would avoid making smoothies (and then I would eat bread instead!) I got this personal size smoothie maker and it works great! I haven’t once sucked up at whole leaf yet!