fitnessprincess’s BodyBlog

Do you pay attention to how much cool whip you use?  I am dieting down for competition and I have used fat free cool whip each time.  Oh just a dollop on top of my protein pudding at the end of the day.  It makes me feel human, you know?

Well, recent discussions about oatmeal prep and how you measure oatmeal (dry weight is most accurate/meaningful as everyone preps oatmeal a bit differently not the same amount of water or consistency) led me to measure the "teaspoon-ful" of fat free cool whip I was putting on my protein pudding.  Now this WAS a genuine teaspoon full of the stuff that I added.  To my surprise the weight corresponded to 4 tablespoons or two servings (1 WW point by the way if you do WW) - 30 calories and 6 grams of carbs.  I was in total shock.  Now anyone who uses cool whip has noticed that the stuff is light and fluffy as a general rule when you first open the container but it tends to harden and shrink after that.  So you have to be very careful about measuring cool whip based on volume.  As for me, I have decided to forgo cool whip from this point out.  Rather save the 30-calories and 6-grams of carbs for some real food!

Over the past couple weeks I have been trying out several pre-workout supplements, specifically, Endorush by BSN, FirstOrder by BodyWell, and SuperPump250 by Gaspari. I became interested in trying the latter (SuperPump250) because of the positive reviews Fern (Ms. Fitness) gave the product and she’s someone I really respect on this Board (you rock woman!!). At any rate, here’s my two-cents worth offered from the perspective of a figure competitor looking to build muscle and cut fat.Endo Rush by BSN

I hate indecision.  I have been in a limbo of sorts for a month now.  I was all set to sign up with my original coach again but financial challenges have made doing that at least right now impossible and that has made it difficult for me to chart a course.  I tend to do well when faced with a goal so at least for now I have set my mind to diet down for the NE Classic on June 6th.  I am not sure if this is a smart decision or not as I wanted to bring a different package to the stage the next time I stood on it.  Right now it is difficult to tell what’s there - LOL!  a lot of fluff to be sure but the key question is whether or not I have put on any quality muscle.  Certainly for the last month I have been following a modified Steve Holt 4-day split program and putting all my effort into it but I can’t tell whether or not there’s any more muscle there than there was before.  I think there is but we’ll have to see.  As I set sail, I plan to resume my regular entries summarizing my diet and workouts.  I like the accountability and I think it helps keep me on course.  This time around I am going to supplement with a number of Beverly, Parillo and Bodywell products.  I am going to use Beverly Lean Out, Density, and Ultimate Muscle Protein, Parillo MCT oil, protein chew and high protein bars, and with Bodywell First Order and Tight Curves protein powder.  In addition, I will be using HMB, 5-HTP, and chewable multivitamin, vitamin c, vitamin e, and calcium citrate. 

If you are in the market for a personal blender for light use such as blending up a quick protein shake at work, it is worth taking a look at this little blender. My personal favorite, as far as blenders go, is - no surprise - Magic Bullet. However, the Magic Bullet requires a fairly hefty cash or credit outlay of over $50. You also need electricity in order to use it. These considerations have led me to investigate and test several “personal” blenders recently. On the balance there is much to like about the Ontel Personal Power Mixer. It retails for less than $10 and you can use it with AA batteries or with a 3V power supply (not included with the unit). When I first unpackaged the unit I was a bit scared that I might have wasted my money: The blending action is accomplished by a relatively small wire wrapped ring (yep! no actual blades) at the base of the unit, which I must say actually does a surprisingly good job of blending even large volumes (16-oz) of liquids. Not a major consideration for me but very quiet - not loud and noisy like the Magic Bullet. The plastic container allows you to blend as much as 16-oz of liquid at one time. One side of the unit is marked with approximate solution volumes both in English and Metric units. The plastic cap on the blender has a nice slit in it so you can drink your shake right out of the mixer. It is easy to clean, too. Overall not a bad light purpose unit for on the road or in the office.

This is a relatively new product from the folks at BodyWell. It is sold in pink packaging with a photo of IFBB Figure Pro Kristal Richardson on the package. You can either buy a box of packets or a bag of protein powder. I have tried both the bag and the packets in both berry and vanilla flavor. One serving boasts 90-105 calories, 14-15 g protein from a mixture of predominantly soy isolate and casein hydrolysate, about 1.5 g fat (canola oil blend so relatively healthy), and 3 g carbs. The blend also contains green tea extract, calcium (75% RDA requirements) and 0.5 g of a proprietary blend of who-knows-what that includes St. John’s wort and Black Cohosh (herbs). It is presweetened with a mixture of acesulfame potassium and sucralose (splenda). It blends fairly completely with water and produces a relatively thick shake. I have to say that it is rather gritty and I have no idea why. Flavor-wise I liked both the berry and vanilla bean and found the shake pretty satisfying. The product packaging and the BodyWell website claim this protein powder does a lot of things - don’t know about any of that but as far as protein powder goes this is better than some and most of you know I don’t like protein powder - bleah!