First, on an unrelated note, simply because I can't keep anything exciting inside of me, I have to tell you guys some amazing news!  Due to the great response to my last contest, I already have my next contest figured out!  Buuuttttt, I'm having a pre-contest that I'll announce on Monday with the Motivation Monday post, so keep an eye out! :)

I constantly crave brownies throughout the day!  They are absolutely delicious chocolatey squares of heaven, and when they're topped with walnuts, I'm on cloud 9!  However, one brownie can have as much as 15 grams of fat, which is waaayyy too much for one measly piece!  My friend turned me on to black bean brownies.  At first, I didn't like them, but I have modified the recipe enough times to finally create extra fudgy black bean brownies without all of the pudge!

Ingredients
1 15 oz. can black beans, well rinsed and drained
2.5 tbsp. flaxseed mill
6 tbsp. water
3 tbsp. coconut oil, melted
3/4 c. organic cocoa powder
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
6 tsp. Stevia or 1/2 c. raw sugar
1.5 tsp. baking powder
Optional: chopped walnuts

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Using an electric mixer or food processor, combine the flaxseed mill, water, black beans, coconut oil, cocoa powder, salt, vanilla extract, Stevia or sugar, and baking powder.
3. Pour the batter into a lightly greased 9 in x 9 in square baking pan.
4. Sprinkle chopped walnuts on top, if desired.
5. Bake for 20 to 26 minutes, until the sides start pulling away from the pan.
6. Let the brownies cool for 30 minutes before cutting them.

Note: These brownies will be extra soft, fudgy and tender since they are both vegan and made out of black beans.  Be careful when cutting them and removing them from the pan.

Nutrition Facts
Serving size: 1 brownie       Recipe yield: 12 brownies
Calories: 108        Total Fat: 6 g        Saturated fat: 1.5 g        Carbs: 13 g        Sugar: 1 g

First off, I want to start by thanking all of your for over 4,000 followers on Instagram!  Even though I am not pursuing nutrition as a career (I'm becoming a doctor.), I have a vibrant passion for it.  I have had such a bad experience with weight loss, that I want to help as many people as I can make this difficult journey that much easier, which is why I provide you guys with advice that is 100% free and honest!  So from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU for letting me pursue my passion, and I hope it is helpful!

Anyways, back to Workout Wednesday!
Today at work, I realized how much we depend on elevators.  I am a surgical intern at a trauma hospital, so I constantly have to switch between floors.  I realized that rather than waiting for the elevator, it is much quicker to just rush up the stairs - we just don't like it because it takes up more energy.  Later, when I was at the gym, I was on the StairMaster.  It hit me that if I took the stairs at work everyday, I would burn so many extra calories, freeing me up at the gym to work on other machines and other parts of my body.

Here is my challenge to you for the week: NO ELEVATORS!  Take the stairs, whenever possible.  And for those of you who don't need to take the stairs or barely use the stairs, you're not getting off the hook that easy.  Climb up a flight of stairs in your house, apartment complex, dorm at least ten times a day for the beginners and around 15 to 20 times for the more experienced.

Stairs are a great way to exercise your gluteus maximus muscles (your rear-end/backside/ass muscles, basically).  We rarely work these muscles as much as we need to to maintain them.  Remember: If you don't keep working your muscles, it will all slowly turn to fat, creating a soft, droopy butt.  The stair exercises will lift your butt while making it firmer and more toned.  It also works your thighs, creating slimmer, toned ones that you'd be happy to prance around in.

So what are you waiting for?!  Go climb those stairs!

Last week's trivia question was:

Which of the following food groups is the most calorie dense?
A) Protein
B) Carbohydrate
C) Sugar
D) Fat

20% of you chose protein, 10% chose carbohydrate, 40% of you chose sugar, and 30% chose fat.

The correct answer is D) Fat.  
Fat has approximately 9 calories per gram, whereas both sugar and carbohydrates have about 4.5 calories per gram.  Protein has 4 calories per gram. Fat has double the calories of sugar!
When it comes to fat, good (like avocados) or bad (like Twinkies), you HAVE to limit yourself.  Consuming too much fat is the easiest and most direct pathway to gaining weight fast.  So next time, when you are forced to pick between "sugary" fruit and a fatty piece of cake, go for the fruit.  Fruit has natural sugars which your body can easily detect and burn.  Fat may be detected by your body, but it has so many calories that it is almost impossible for your body to burn all of them!  Over time, the calories keep adding on and voila, you are gaining fat at an exponential rate!

Don't forget to answer this week's trivia question located in the column to the right, third one down.  It is:
You usually drink your daily two cups of coffee with 2 teaspoons of sugar and 2 teaspoons of full fat cream.  Assuming your diet and exercise levels remain the same, approximately how much weight could you potentially gain in one year from this habit?
A) 1 pound or 0.5 kilos
B) 5 pounds or 3 kilos
C) 10 pounds or 5 kilos
D) 15 pounds or 7 kilos
E) 20 pounds  or 9 kilos 

As we are still in the process of creating your internal locus of motivation (Did you read the post from last week's Motivation Monday?), I created the perfect handy-dandy guide to creating an internal locus of control and staying motivated!