All posts by R.C. Liley

I'm an ex-mutual fund accountant who left the cubicle world to be a stay-at-home dad to my beautiful little girl, Avery, who entered our life on 11/15/13 and handsome little boy, Wes, who joined our family on 11/19/17. Also happily married to my wife, Kelley, as of 8/17/07. Sorry ladies... :) Fitness and nutrition is of the utmost importance in our family and we strive to reflect this in our daily life. I always prepare our meals at home and only go out if it's a special occasion, and even then I tend to not get much. Food should be fun and a joy to eat, not something quickly consumed from a fast food chain or scarf down before the next meeting. I have come from strictly logging high miles to train for the next marathon to keeping exercise varied and focusing more on strength. I still enjoy going for a run when I can, but nothing crazy, and I prefer hill sprints while pushing my daughter, Avery in the stroller. She loves it and I get a great workout! I want to show the world how to appreciate their body and feed it real, wholesome food while moving more throughout the day. In doing so, everyone would be healthier, happier, and we'd all live in a better place as a result. I blog mainly about my life as a stay-at-home dad and frequently include reviews, participate in campaigns, and share my thoughts on fitness and nutrition. If you ever have any questions or thoughts to share, please reach out as I'm always open to listening or helping others however possible. That is, when I have free time since Avery is and my wife are the number one priorities!

biPro Natural Strawberry Whey Protein Review + Giveaway

I don’t know what you’re making, but is sounds good.” My wife said this just minutes after I opened a container of biPro’s newest whey protein powder, Strawberry.

biPro Natural Whey Protein Powder review and giveaway

biPro asked me if I’d like to review their new strawberry flavor to which I happily accepted. Their natural chocolate, vanilla, and unflavored whey proteins already received my seal of approval, and I expected the new addition would so be added to the highly touted seal.

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As I’ve already alluded to, before even tasting the strawberry whey protein, it’s scent of fresh strawberries easily filled half of our house. The aroma was almost instantaneous, and had me eager to give it a try.

biPro usa strawberry whey protein, giveaway, natural, food, healthy

With only six ingredients, naturally sweetened with stevia (zero sugar), 90 calories and 20 g of protein per 25 gram serving, this is not the typical, low quality protein powder. Simply looking inside at the powder will reveal tiny pieces of real strawberries.

BiPro Strawberry Protein Powder

Probably where the wonderful smell of fresh strawberries comes from; actual strawberries! The only thing I’d like to see is that their whey protein source come from grass-fed cows, and organic would always be preferred. But that is a known factor, not something I would count against them. So, how did I like it?

Solubility – This powder mixes easily in any shaker cup with or without a blenderball. I mixed a scoop in water by just shaking my cup with zero clumping.

Taste – Unlike the wonderfully intense smell, the taste was not as powerful. To some, including me, this is a good thing. I used water to mix, mind you, so any milk will change the flavor a little. It’s not overly sweet that might give it an artificial, chemically flavor. For me, the flavor is subtle, not overpowering, which makes for the perfect foundation of blending with frozen strawberries for a healthy and delicious treat.

Texture – After shaking in water, the mixture turns a creamy pinkish brown. It was smooth, but the color might be off putting. But it’s a welcome color for me since biPro did not use any artificial or natural dyes just to change colors. If it really bothers you, just blend with berries in a blender and you’ll get a more pleasing red/pink color. Problem solved!

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I make green smoothies for our family every night before dinner and decided to treat my two lovely girls with the Strawberry BiPro Protein Powder. With lots of greens, spirulina, hemp seeds, frozen strawberries, and the Strawberry protein, I blended with water and a little unsweetened almond milk. The resulting nutrient-packed smoothies were a hit! Smooth, creamy, full of nutrients, and delicious enough to earn a hug and kiss, will have me making many more in the future.

Whether you’re just looking to keep in shape or an elite athlete, biPro is a great choice for a healthy protein supplement free from the artificial stuff found in most. It’s also NOT from China or other country where heavy metals are found. Instead, it’s proudly made right here in America!

american-made

And, if you are an elite athlete, you can rest assured you won’t unknowingly take in any banned substances that would get you kicked out of an event for doping on accident. Why? Because biPro is NSF Certified for Sport®, which means it’s third-party tested for banned substances.

Are you craving to try your own naturally flavored, protein packed, strawberry drink? Lucky for you, the good folks at biPro USA are offering one lucky reader the chance to win a one pound jar of their Strawberry Whey Protein Powder and a Strawberry Cookbook full of healthy ways to use your new powder.

1lbJar_Cookbook

Follow the directions below to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck!

If it just so happens that luck seems to never work in your favor (don’t worry, you’re not alone), you can bi-pass this by taking advantage of the awesome Neapolitan Bundle deal they have going on until the end of this month 7/31/16. Order jars of chocolate and French vanilla BiPro to receive a free jar of BiPro’s new strawberry flavor.

BiPro Whey Protein Neapolitan Bundle Deal

No matter what option you choose, you’ll be a winner either way.

Disclaimer: biPro provided this product free of charge in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are strictly my own.

Entrapment: What Framed My Suprascapular Nerve

Mark June 22, 2016 down as the day my suprascapular nerve entrapment was (hopefully) fixed. The surgeon was not 100% certain, but expected the nerve was entrapped by a suprascapular ligament. Luckily, he made the cut. Ha ha.

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The red circle, eloquently drawn by yours truly, shows where my nerve was trapped.

G-Ma spent the night and stayed with Avery the day of my surgery so Going Mom could valiantly court me to the hospital. For someone about to have nerve surgery (so to speak), I didn’t feel too nervous. But then, as waiting time in the hospital increased, I felt a slight anxiousness set in.

Nothing major, more like wanting to be done with it, but there nonetheless. I kept occupied by constantly trying to make jokes with the numerous hospital staff and posting on social media.

Grippy socks on, weird gown thingy on, and IV in. Let’s do this! #surgery #hospital #outpatient #bored

A photo posted by RC Liley (@going_dad) on

I even turned on my charm to score an extra pair of yellow grippy socks to bring to Avery. I’d say she enjoyed them.

cute kid, parenting, hospital, socks

They also make the perfect sock to wear boots that are otherwise too large.

Avery in boots with yellow hospital socks

Sorry, have to move away from the cute kid and back to the shoulder. My surgery went great, the surgeon said he just had to really “get in there” (made me cringe) to get to the ligament and clear everything around the nerve. Before I knew it, I was being wheeled out of the hospital with a throbbing arm and weak body.

Once home, I tried standing and/or moving, but it wasn’t happening. I had been fasting for about 18 hours at this point and had zero appetite. I laid down and slept.

Later in the evening, I mustered the strength for a small family walk and finally ate some food. I was given hydrocodone and took a dose that night which basically knocked me out. That was the one and only time I took that, it had me constipated for almost 2 days! I’ll choose poop over pain any day!

The next day I had more strength and posed for a shoulder bandaged shot. Notice my upbeat facial expression.

Shoulder bandage on

Eventually, as I couldn’t keep myself still, jumping in the pool, walking in the sun and sweating had my big bandage come off in a few days.

Shoulder bandage off

No, I’m not a University of Texas fan, I’m a proud Sooner (Boomer Sooner!), the tattoo is from one night in Austin, TX. Nuff said.

After several pool sessions,  many Airdyne workouts, and the associated sweat, the glued-on bandages were off a few days after that. Then I got to reveal the awesome scar!

Shoulder Scar One Week After Surgery

With each passing day, pain is reducing and mobility increasing. Two weeks later, my doctor just cleared me to use my water rower again. I’ve only used it once, but it’s nice to change things up after so much riding the Airdyne. Of course, I’m happy to do anything to keep active, so let it be known that I’m not complaining. 🙂

The scar is looking good, confirmed by the doc, and hopefully I don’t mess that up by doing things like….oh, hanging from monkey bars with your kid holding on to your leg to swing them around.

A video posted by RC Liley (@going_dad) on

But I wouldn’t do something so dumb, right? Never! So far so good, nothing has come undone.

Shoulder Scar Two Weeks After Surgery

I probably won’t do the monkey bar thing again for a while though. I go back for another checkup at the beginning of August. At that point, fingers crossed that I can start doing push ups and maybe use some weights.

It’s been a long journey trying to get to this point, and as long as I am mostly smart, I have high hopes of letting my nerve “wake up” as the doctor says and growing my right supraspinatus and infraspinatus muscles. Maybe I’ll be more filled out for the next beach vacation then….

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Pictures from Our Outer Banks Family Vacation

How much do you remember from your last family vacation? Seems like the moment vacation ends and we’re waking up in our own bed the next day, some of my memories have gone by the wayside.

Really, we just returned, how could that happen?! Often is the case, memories will come back little by little as days go by. Talking to friends and family about the trip helps recall events, as does looking at all of the vacation photos you took. You did take pics, right?

Upon finishing my day-by-day posts of our recent family vacation to Corolla, North Carolina in the Outer Banks, I realized I had left a few things out. I also just want to share more pics. In no particular order, here are a few more photos from our trip I somehow left out.

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Our beachgoer girl ready to catch some waves.

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Catching the waves with Mommy and Daddy.

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Avery keeping warm in the chilly wind with her beach robe as Daddy plays in the sand.

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We found a huge sand crab. I caught him with our trusty plastic pail to take a pic. Afterward, several others dug a hole for us to put him in. He’s probably still traumatized from that day.

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Family selfie on the bottom bunk in our sleeping quarters for the week.

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Aunt Tammy, Grandma, and G-Ma ready to go on Bob’s Wild Horse Adventure, a popular attraction in the area.

Bob's Wild Horses Tour in Outer Banks_Paul Peeking in

Oh yeah, Uncle Paul was there too!

Uncle Preston_Outer Banks Family Vacation

Just a good shot of Uncle Preston. He provided all of us plenty of entertainment with a stream of stories. With every drink complete, the stories only got better. Thank you, Preston, for sharing your fun-filled adventures.

Grandma Hugging Suspicious Avery

Hugs from Grandma before leaving to go back home. It was early, she was suspicious of everything!

To follow along each day of our family vacation, just use the links below.

Picture Post While on Vacation

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Day 8

Thanks to blogging, I’ll be able to record memories to reflect on years from now. Unless the internet goes away…..*gasp*