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I have been craving for chocolate for the past week, so since it was Saturday I decided to try these gluten free banana chocolate muffins. They turned out awesome so moist and brownie like! Without the chocolate chips there's about 85 calories in one so not bad at all.... I went a little crazy with the chocolate chips though but hey it's Saturday. (Recipe is down below)

ALSO... I am so excited because today was the last day of my antibiotics, so that means I'm hitting the gym again tomorrow! Cannot describe how good I feel now that I am well again, it's been awful past month but oh well, the only way is up! I've lost weight and it's time to get my muscles growing again!

RECIPE

1 egg 

1/4 brown sugar

1/3 cup applesauce (I used no sugar apricot jam)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup mashed bananas (about 3 bananas)

1 cup oat flour 

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup cocoa powder 

Chocolate chips (I used Hershey's semi-sweet ones)

Preheat oven to 165 celsius. (The recipe makes 10 regular or 5 big muffins). Whisk together the egg, sugar, applesauce, vanilla and mashed bananas. Mix the dry ingredients and add to the wet. Mix until just combined. Add some chocolate chips if you want. Bake for about 20-25 mins for regular and 25-30 for big (I used a toothpick to see when it came out a little sticky). I used apricot jam and some icing sugar for decoration, but you can also drizzle them with chocolate or whatever you want really.
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Kinda obvious but hey here are some of my favourite foods (missing banana...). 

Plums, apples, grapes, carrots, avocados, cherry tomatoes, Chinese cabbage, eggs, plain fat free yogurt, almonds, quinoa crispbread, All Bran Original cereals, rye porridge flakes, Elovena porridge packages and snack bars (from Finland, my granny sent me a huge pile and the packet came yesterday, drowning in them right now!), Linkosuo mini rye crispbread (Finnish), Fitne Herbal tea for detox and for treats Panda Natural Original Liquorice and Nellie Dellies Stevia sweetened salty liquorice (so good must try my absolute favourite! I bought these from Finland). 
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RECIPE

1dl oats (I used Quakers original)

100 g plain non fat yogurt

Multigrain cereals of your choice

Goji berries

Clover Honey 

Water

 ~ Pour hot water to the oats and stir until smooth. Add in honey for sweeter taste (optional) and stir in some goji berries as well. Place in a sealed container and fridge ideally overnight (until cold). Take 100 g of plain non fat yogurt and place on top of the oats and top with multigrain cereals and goji berries ~

Had the best breakfast for a long time today, I seriously L O V E overnight oats dunno why I stopped doing them though. The texture gets smoother and creamier or that's what I think, and overall they are just delicious so try try try! Also, the goji berries soak in water so they are really nice to eat, better than the dry ones :) 

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So, the Formula 1 was in Singapore last weekend and as you know I got sick on thursday, so I spent the following days literally in bed doing nothing for a change. The level of boredom I had cannot be higher trust me. In the end, I was able to go on Sunday, the race day and got to meet new people and had great time and got home at 12 (early!!) although had school on monday... but once a year right?

And then some other stuff guys. I am absolutely head over heels in love with ADIDAS at the moment. I wish I could get all of them but well... budget you know. Anyways here are some of my favourites... nice ones right? All the pieces can be found from nelly.com. 

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So, I am back in bed again. My fever went up this morning and I felt really tired so went to the hospital and received another 10 days of antibiotics. GREAT. Oh well, since I didn't have breakfast today and I came home early from school, I decided to treat myself with a big lunch (I had to get something to cheer myself up). Chocolate hasn't ever tasted this good I swear! I've lost another kg since last week, because I've lost my appetite and I believe that I am losing my muscle tissue since I have been sick for so long and haven't been exercising :( 

I hope this goes away because it's the F1 weekend this weekend and I really don't wanna waste my tickets! So fingers and toes crossed guys.  

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Yup, I'm back. I swear last week was like hell. I hate school, but hey one more year and then uni! Anyways, I'm all fine now no more antibiotics or anything and went to the gym first time on Saturday and did easy leg workout to start with continued by a 30 min walk on the treadmill up hill (gradient 15 %) with 6.5 km/h. My legs were dead on Sunday... gotta get my ass to the gym more often from now on, so the next goal is to be more organised with my school stuff. Making progress all the time...   baby steps as they say haha :) 

Legs & butt workout;

3 x 20 squats (14 kg)

 2 x 40 side leg rises

3 x 20 glute bridge single leg

2 x 20 leg extensions

3 x 20 lunges (12 kg)

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I just feel really overloaded with work right now after first day back to school after being away for a week. Really wish I hadn't been sick, or that at least I had gotten my stuff done while I was gone! Panic mode is on.... I mean do you ever get the feeling that because you have just so many things to do you don't even care anymore? Well that's me at the moment and I should NOT be feeling like this at this stage of the school year!! I hope I get through this though tonight I'll count on the power of coffee (probably tomorrow night as well...). Anyways in the midst of all this mayhem I had a really nice dinner, some slow cooked pork on a bed of carrots and parsnips and a hint of thyme. So yummy and just what I needed after a long day (I still can't eat properly because it feels like my throat is on fire when I swallow). Wish me luck!

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I love those days when you can just lay back and watch really good movie, have some good food and just be in your own company and not have to worry about anything. I had that kinda day today; watched movies all day in bed although yeah, finished my art project (so proud), and had a an awesome fruit platter for breakfast (spent almost an hour cutting the fruits while watching friends heh). Tommorow I'm going back to school and I feel so much better now that the antibiotics are working. So should be able to gym by the end on the week hopefully!

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I really feel a bit down at the moment because I haven't been able to gym or do basically any physical exercise (if walking to the fridge and back to bed isn't counted) this past week, but I have to let my body recover properly. So, instead of writing about exercising, why not write about what to eat and what not to? As we all know, fat is accumulated in our bodies through stress, genes, lack of sleep, excess calories and hormonal changes and the consumption of carbohydrates (mainly pasta, rice or potato), protein rich foods and fat rich foods not only increases the fat in our bodies, but is also bad for our organs. For me, eating less potato, rice and pasta allowed me to feel less bloated and I saw results really quickly after starting, so I recommend you to try as well. Or at least changing to wholemeal products rather than eg. white rice. 

So here are the DON'TS; foods that we think are healthy, but in reality aren't...

1. "Low-cal" frozen dinners

2.  Frozen yogurt

3. Energy/Granola bars

4. Fat free products

5. Whole grain bread

6. Trail mixes

7. "Health" drinks e.g. Vitamin water

8. Store bought muffins

9. Pre-made smoothies

10. Prepared salads

And here are the DO'S; foods that are good for your body (and increase fat burning!)...

1. Fruits - orange, lemon, kiwi, tangerine, fresh lime, apple, watermelon, pineapple, grapes, strawberries

2. Vegetables - cabbage, tomatoes, spinach, beans, avocado

3. Pulses

4. Oats - buy the non-flavoured ones that don't contain sugar or added preservatives

5. Almonds and walnuts

6. Eggs

7. Fish

8. Water

9. Whey proteins

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My flu or whatever is not giving up, so seems that gym won't be an option anytime soon. So instead of laying in bed all day (and doing what I should have done; school work...) I decided to bake and as I told yesterday, I've been craving something with oatmeal so badly the whole week. Basically ended up just going through our kitchen cabinets and fridge and used whatever I could find; peanut butter, bananas, eggs, rye porridge flakes, regular oatmeal, few nuts and some buckthorn powder. The mixture could have been a little stickier/ moister so I advice you guys to put maybe some more banana or even add honey, but since I didn't have any had to settle with only banana and pb. I really liked the taste of them though because well, banana and pb = a match made in heaven. 

RECIPE

2 egg whites

2 mashed bananas - ripened or not, doesn't matter
2 dl of rye porridge flakes

2 dl of regular oatmeal flakes
1 1/2 tbsp of peanut butter - I used creamy
2 tsp of buckthorn powder
nuts 

Mix everything together in a bowl and if you feel like the batter is too dry for your liking add banana/pb/honey. Spread the mixture onto a baking tray/dish so that it is about 3-4 cm high. Bake in 175 degrees for 15-20 mins. Leave to cool down before cutting. 

Simple? Yes. Delicious? Yes, but still can improve on the recipe a little. These are perfect for a snack, so filling and full of energy that is good for you and only takes what? 30 mins to make? Certainly helped my craving but now I have to stop procrastinating and get my work done!

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Here we go. Hey everyone out there, I'm Linda, 17 and currently living in Southeast Asia, Singapore. I'm originally from Finland, and I've also lived in Germany for a year in the past before moving here about 2 years ago. You could say that I am one of those people who start something, and never finish because to be honest, I have never really set real goals (like by this and this date I HAVE TO have this done) for myself ... except school of course you know. So, here's the story; about 8 or so months ago I decided that it is time for a change, so guess what that meant? My body. I dragged myself to the gym, not really knowing what I was doing, and from time to time got stares because "my squats weren't proper ones" etc. I changed my eating habits, dropped all the sodas, chips and candies (expect for one day in a week) and replaced them with carrots, grapes and green tea. And now looking back after so long, it was the best decision I've ever made. I have gone from 60 kg to 49 kg. 

However, I had no certain goal, I just wanted to lose weight. So now, the next step; toning and building up my muscles. I have already gained some muscles on my arms and abs, however, I am nowhere near where I would like to be. So that's why I am starting this, to make sure I reach my target this time! I'll share my workouts, meals and everything involved with fitness, and check my progress every month, (I also want to know if you know something better than me, or have something to add, because I'm not a professional so ask questions and leave comments) and I want to challenge you to do the same thing! Honestly, I don't know 1/3 of what people like @linnlowes, or @kayla_itsines know (my two biggest motivators!), but like they say, everyone has to start from nothing.

So, I hope that some of you will pick up on my challenge, and help me a long the way. But now, I'm gonna go back to bed and take a well deserved nap, have a great day!

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