The Ultimate On-The-Go Protein Drink

It is time to talk about protein again. If you’ve been following the blog since 2012, you’ve seen us talk about many different products in the realm of food science/nutrition/diet, etc. We’ve tested and reviewed dozens and dozens of supplements. While we don’t write about all of those items, we’ve focused a lot on one brand: Optimum Nutrition. Since 2007, I’ve used ON’s products for a variety of goals. They helped me as a high-level athlete and more importantly, they helped me as a person with a normal lifestyle. Why do I enjoy their products?

They taste good.
They’re reasonably priced.
I trust the brand.

Apr112018

Protein Powder Recommendations

The only thing that makes me cringe more than people who don’t squat properly is ridiculous recommendations when it comes to supplements. We’ve talked about this, mostly through social media, time and time again but it seems to be an endless cycle that might only be getting worse. Why? Because more people are using it.

Feb282015

One-Protein-Fits-All: Sunwarrior

I have a friend at work who struggles to get enough protein as a kind-of-vegan (she just doesn’t eat cheese and milk by itself) and who also can’t eat soy. I can suggest all the protein powders in the world, but they usually end up having either milk proteins or soy in them! It’s been a tough case to try to find one that would work for her. As fitness professionals, we run across a lot of people who are soy or dairy limited, so it can be a struggle to provide enough options for good protein. Here at Hungry and Fit we finally found a one-fits-all product! Enter Sunwarrior (epic name, right?).

Jul242013

5-Minute Protein Pancakes

So I’m still prepping for contest, so I’m upping my protein and lowering carbs somewhat. It’s about two hours before my second workout (just cardio) and my tummy is rumbling. Hmmm…what to eat? I don’t want to eat any straight-up carbs (during this LAST week of contest, I’ll get my carbohydrate grams from other sources like veggies and shakes) like cereal or oatmeal, I don’t feel like having tunafish or a salad, but I could always use more protein. Hmm…oh yes–protein pancakes! I had played around with a recipe before, didn’t quite get it how I wanted it, so I used this recipe and altered it a bit to fit my needs. It’s extremely easy and filled me up without feeling sluggish.

Oooooh yes!

Jul142013

Chocolate Strawberry Lean Protein Shake

By complete accident, this is the most delicious, simple, and healthy protein shake I have ever made. It’s been about 90+ degrees all week here, and today I chose to wear long-legged under-armor (I’m a trainer so I wear workout gear to work), and unfortunately, the AC in the trainer office was broken. On the ride home, my heat kept rising and I knew I needed something cold, refreshing, and nutritious. After all, I am still prepping for contest. This is also the first time I’ve had protein powder since my protein shake hell week, so I was a little nervous because my at the end of that week, my body started feeling disgusted towards that stuff. But don’t worry, it was allllll good. Please follow this SIMPLE on-a-whim recipe for a healthy delicious protein shake. Here are the macros:

Calories: 193
Fat: 5.7g
Carbs: 11.5g
Protein: 26.5g

DELICIOUS.

Ingredients

1 cup Silk Vanilla Unsweetened Almondmilk
6 frozen medium strawberries [if you don’t have frozen strawberries, you can use regular and throw some ice cubes in]
1 scoop MTS Machine Whey Chocolate Protein

[Yup. That’s it.]

Directions

Measure out a cup of unsweetened almond milk

Place 6 frozen strawberries in the blender

Put one scoop of protein powder in and blend! I let it blend for a while longer than usual, probably about 20-30 seconds.

DELICIOUS.

THAT’S IT. Ridiculously simple. I was actually in awe when I first tasted it. I really didn’t expect it to be that delicious. What’s better than chocolate and strawberries? Exactly. Look at those macros and tell me this isn’t perfect. You will feel so full and so satisified after (I felt like this was a cheat meal because it was so delicious, but it was the opposite). DEFINITELY use this to stay hungry and fit!

You might also like…

BONUS KITTY PIC

Cuddle demons

Jun272013

My Hell Week is Over

Disclaimer: I would never suggest this “diet” to anyone else. For me, it was just a willpower test I’ve wanted to try. I am highly against crash or fad diets.

Second Disclaimer: This is kind of a long post, but only because it means a lot to me.

I did it. I did it! I did it! If you’re wondering why I’m seemingly raving mad right now, direct yourself to this post. If you don’t feel like reading the whole thing (even though it’s short), I’ll give you a little summary. I did a crazy thing of subjecting myself to 7 days of 560 caloric hell. The actors from Spartacus did this to get lean and in slave-gladiator-like shape for their show. It was a prescribed four water protein shakes a day. That’s it. For an entire week. And that was while they were at “Gladiator Camp” doing 4 hours of combat work each day. I unfortunately had no such camp to attend, so every other day I completed the hellish Spartacus Circuit (3 times over). And on the other days, I did other cardio and strength exercises.

Working hard during a Spartacus circuit

So last Wednesday I forwent food, subsisting on only 4-5 protein shakes a day (water mixed with protein powder). If any of you know me, I am hungry most of the time. Why do you think we named this blog Hungry and Fit? I didn’t choose to do this to lose weight or lose inches (even though I am doing this contest), I did it for the sole sake of testing my willpower. And I did it. I didn’t touch any food for that entire week though I drooled and craved it constantly. I’m waiting for someone to send me my “Willpower Extraordinaire” plaque, but I guess it takes time to mail.

I am very proud of myself and happy I pushed through. Water, gum, and ice are the three material things that really helped me get through it. Oh, and video games. Thanks, nerdy side of myself, for helping me get lost in that while I wasn’t working out or working. More than those, Chris and friends really supported me. Chris was there for me every step of the way and my friends would text me each morning say, “Alana, still staying strong?!” I appreciated it more than they know. Because I was definitely an infinitely more grumpy person during that week. You can especially ask Chris, but also my workmates like Daisy or Kim too.

How I felt

Again, I would not suggest this to anyone. After only consuming 560 calories a day, working out every day, and continuing an active-paced job, I lost ten pounds (I know my mum is yelling at me right now back home). Ten pounds in a week is NOT GOOD. Listen to me, I’m a trainer. That’s what you call a bad crash diet. Again, I want to reiterate, I did it for the willpower test, because for me, I think at the end of the day, if you don’t have your willpower, you don’t have anything. It was extremely rough the first few days–who am I kidding, it was rough for the entirety, but I started getting used to not consuming food. However, by the end, my body was pretty mad at me, making me a little sick and weak. Again–DON’T do this. I’m just sharing my achievement. It ended up de-motivating me for my contest because I was so miserable without food and feeling weak.

“Before”

“After”

I’m showing you pictures of how my body slightly transformed, not as motivation, but to document how this affected me.

You can imagine how blissfully amazing this day of rebirth into food has been (if you think I’m being dramatic, blame my dad, he’s an actor). I had my meals planned days in advance (because what do you do when you can’t eat? You think about food!). I was in such a better mood than I had been all week and I was just happy because I did it. I accomplished something I had wanted to for a long time now. I’m all for celebration, but I’m still on track for this contest. And although today is a “cheat” day (you’ll get descriptions and pictures after this of my meals today), I’m going right back to strict eating of lean proteins, veggies, fruits, and complex carbohydrates to get to my “extremely fit” goal with Chris at my back as a coach.

This wasn’t even close to my cheat day before the Spartacus Hell Week (in terms of bad food), but it was cheat enough for me because it was real, beautiful FOOD. Let’s look at the menu.

For Breakfast: Dot’s Diner

Small House Breakfast…that’s fake meat

I really tried slowly eating, but you can’t understand my excitement and happiness. I ate most of it, but not the whole biscuit. Stomach felt funky for a few hours, but it just needs to get used to solids again.

For Lunch: Snarf’s

Tuna sandwich…mmmm

Face of bliss

The mouth-watering in this situation happened to be ridiculous. Again, tried to take my time.

For Dinner: Korea House

Korea House in its amazingness…we would eat here every night if we could afford it

Happy last meal

I wasn’t going to (or supposed to) have any thick dairy like milk or ice cream, but we were served it by our favorite Korean chef and we always put respect, honor, and morals before anything else.

All in all, I’m glad I did it. I’m proud of myself. But I will never do it again. I only wish to inspire people to try to reach higher and higher, because you never know what you’re capable of. Wish me luck on the rest of my 5 weeks til the end of the contest! Going to be on an eating plan of tuna, beans, rice, vegetables, grapefruit, banana, fish and oatmeal! Use your willpower to stay hungry and fit!

You might also like…

Jun182013

The Best Protein Shake

I noticed we had five drafts waiting for us to finish. Two are interviews between myself and Fit (those are going to be amazing) and then there are two others I already forget and actually put in the trash bin. We either did them or aren’t going to do them. You’ll find out what those are soon enough. This is the final one and I cannot believe I have not published this yet.

I have many recipes for post-workout protein shakes. I cycle supplements even though I have my favorites. I try new supplements when they are released so I can recommend them and, depending on my fitness goal at the time, I have different blends of mass gainers and protein. I also often purchase depending on price and deals. The base ingredients of my shakes are consistent and simple. I often combine my post-workout shake with a meal… typically dinner. Therefore, I don’t make them massive because I would not risk ruining my appetite. With that being said, here is my base shake with potential deviations.

1. MILK– I am almost always bulking or maintaining and I love dairy products. Milk is one of my favorite foods period. In a bulk, I might have whole milk. In a cut, I might have 1%. It’s not set in stone but I always use two cups of milk, which on average is about 16 grams of protein and 300 calories. I NEVER calculate fats or carbohydrates. Sorry. This is the shake’s foundation.

2. ICE CREAM– That’s right, more dairy. More fat. More calories and slightly more protein. My go-to ice cream I use 95% of the time is Breyer’s Natural Vanilla. It’s expensive so I wait for it to go on sale and buy, buy, buy. It’s been rated by Men’s Health as the healthiest ice cream for men year after year. I also have eaten Breyer’s since I was a kid. A serving is half a cup so I typically use a full cup in my shake. It’s somewhere around 300 calories and 6 grams of protein. Somewhere around there. This makes the shake rich and smooth.

3. Protein- This is the ingredient that will differ the most depending on everything I mentioned above. Right now, I am using Cytosport’s Whey Protein, which is a blend of whey concentrate, whey isolate, vitamins, minerals, and amino acids. It’s low in calories and very high in protein. I use two-three scoops depending on what other food I eat throughout the day. My go-to is two scoops, however, which comes out to 54 grams of protein and under 300 calories, I think. I use regular chocolate because I think a lot of the other flavors in the industry are disgusting, especially vanilla.

4. Banana- I love fruit and like to make sure my potassium intake is high enough for when I actually start swimming and playing sports again. Banana and chocolate is also the perfect mix. It may only be about 100 calories and 1 gram of protein but it’s delicious. Also, many primates eat bananas and they’re strong as heck so of course I’m going to eat some too.

5. Creatine- This one isn’t always present but when I am taking extra creatine (my pre-workouts often have it too, plus I do) I usually throw in two teaspoons in my shake during creatine loading cycles and one during creatine maintenance. I use Optimum Nutrition’s Creatine Monohydrate. It can be extremely grainy so mix well or be ready to deal with the texture. It is calorically void.

That’s about it. I have been known to mix in other fresh fruits, especially strawberries or blueberries. I used to add peanut butter until I got sick of cleaning it off the blades afterwards. I used to add chocolate syrup but that’s long gone. And more. So there you have it. My typical protein shake measures out to a liter. It currently has about 75-80 grams of protein and between 1000-1200 calories.

If you have any questions about post workout meals, supplements, or anything related feel free to comment below! Stay hungry and fit!

You may also like…