I feel like every post this week has started with me saying how exhausted I am. I just can't help it. Tonight I didn't get home until 9:00, making it yet another 14-hour day. I need Saturday...badly.
This morning I hurriedly chugged down a Virgin Cabo Daiquiri; this time I had the proper ingredients (i.e. mango), and it was just as delicious as it was without. I think that's my favorite shake so far.
I was busy all morning - helping students, grading papers, monitoring final-taking, etc. - and plumb forgot to eat my snack. By the time I remembered, it was nearly lunchtime, so I held out for a salad from Palmer's Deli. Today I opted for Romaine lettuce, cucumber, carrots, mushrooms, red pepper, turkey, and an egg, topped with nonfat summer tomato dressing. It was...okay.
My stomach was super upset today, which is probably one of the reasons lunch wasn't wonderful. My tummy kept a-rumblin', and I thought I was going to have to make a mad dash to the restroom, similar to what I had to do during first block. I'm super irritated because I've been eating so well, working out, etc. There is no reason I should be getting sick - or should be having stomach issues. But, I'm on day three (I think) of an antibiotic, and I'm thinking that may be what's causing the internal drama. Ugh.
Sorry for the TMI. If you know me well, you should know by now that I pretty much just put it all out there. :)
After lunch, I had two meetings. One of them was for a super great cause, though: a trip to Los Angeles! In late April, three colleagues and I will be heading to the City of Angels for the A Dream Deferred conference, and I couldn't be more excited. First, the subject of the conference is very dear to my heart and one of my major passions, and second, it's LOS ANGELES! I love, love, love Southern California!
I then headed to my evening meeting. (Well, that was after I got my nails did - actually, after I got my nails halfway did. I was running too late and have to go back tomorrow for them to get painted. Right now they look a raggedy mess. Color suggestions?!)
Tangent: complete.
My evening meeting was for Planned Parenthood Young Leaders, an organization of which I am so proud to be a part. It is a great group of young professionals, all passionate about similar issues. Tonight was our annual "retreat," so we headed to my co-chair's house for dinner and business. I brought my mom's famous white chili recipe - which I'll share with you when I can take a picture. :) It's embarrassingly easy. In addition to a bowl of white chili topped with crushed tortilla chips and a sprinkling of shredded cheese, I had a few crackers with cheese slices for an appetizer and a few pieces of fruit (pineapple, honeydew, grapes) for dessert. Overall, I did fairly well.
Today wasn't the best, though: I missed my morning snack, my afternoon snack, and my evening snack. While it might sound good that I ate less, it actually is detrimental, as eating smaller meals more frequently really helps one's metabolism. Unfortunately, that just wasn't in the cards for today. Also missing, obviously, was my workout. Thursdays are always really busy for me for some reason, so I've just resigned myself to using that as my free day. In turn, I will run three miles on Sunday - and maybe go for a short run on Saturday, too.
After all, there is a 5k I was planning on running Saturday, and since my race calendar is quickly getting changed (my soon-to-be sister-in-law's bachelorette party the weekend of Dam-to-Dam and the LA conference the weekend of the Drake 8k), I should probably stick to the other ones I've scheduled.
Eh, we'll see. I can always just do the distances on my own.
But that is a worry for another day. I'm pooped right now and am desperately needing a really, really good night's sleep. And a chiller than chill weekend.
What are your plans for the weekend?
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Don't Cry Over Spilled...er, Protein Powder
I left my house at 7:15 a.m. and got home at 9:45... p.m. I am exhausted.
The day started with a Blueberry and Peanut Butter Pancake, which was a whole-wheat waffle topped with two tablespoons of omega-3 enriched peanut butter, a sprinkling of crushed walnuts, and a handful of blueberries. It filled me up until lunch, which was the leftover Pasta Résistance. I was at school until 4:30 today helping students with finals and chowed down an apple as soon as I left...
...to go pick up my brand-new glasses! I'm super excited about them, especially since my new contacts haven't come in yet and my old ones are really bothering my eyes. I'll post pics later - when I'm not looking like a hot mess. :)
After my trip to Vogue Vision, I headed straight to boot camp for quite possibly the most difficult workout of my life. Honestly. I nearly puked after this one. We did a jumping Jack, squat, and sit-up pyramid for our warm-up and then did a 20-minute AMRAP, including kettlebell thrusts, kettlebell straight-leg dead-lifts, "MacGyver" moves (jumping like Spiderman to the side - like you're going over a "laser beam" and then getting into plank position and shuffling "under the laser beam" to where you started), kettlebell tactical lunges, and kettlebell squat jumps. We were supposed to do 20 reps of each exercise (except for MacGyver, for which we did 10 reps), and we had a set of ten kettlebell swings between each exercise. At the five-minute mark, we had to do five burpees; at the10-minute mark, we had to do 10 burpees; at the 15-minute mark, we had to do 15 burpees; and at the 20-minute mark, yep, you guessed it, we had to do 20 burpees. I felt like I missed so much of the actual workout because I had to get all my burpees in.
Wow, is all I have to say.
While we were busy sweating away, Mother Nature was busy dousing us with a blizzard. Snow and ice covered my car (and the road) when I left boot camp. I had to high-tail it (30 miles per hour on I-235) in order to get to bowling (yes, I'm a huge nerd) on time. That means that yes, I did not shower. What can I say? I'm a classy lady.
I bowled pretty well tonight - got my first turkey ever! And...that's about all I have to say about bowling. :) No, I recently started bowling with a few guys that I met a few years ago when my colleagues and I had a bowling team. These goofballs (hi guys!) recruited me this year (probably for my mad skillz), and I've been having an absolute blast. It's a nice, much-needed break in the middle of the week.
At bowling, I ate what was supposed to be my morning snack (Guac & Roll - whole wheat tortilla with two slices of deli turkey and a fourth of an avocado) and what was supposed to be my afternoon snack (celery and tzatziki sauce). And I drank approximately 18 gallons of water.
I got home (barely - it was slippery!) and whipped up a Belly-Blasting Berry smoothie and promptly did this:
Yep. That's my expensive vanilla protein powder all over my floor. Awesome. Thankfully, one of my friends/colleagues brought me a thing of vanilla protein powder, a thing of chocolate protein powder, and a thing of chia seeds today. How nice was that?! And what perfect timing?!
Also, this shake was absolutely sinful. You need to make it now.
And I am off to bed.
Before I go, though, question: I feel like my blogs are fairly boring. Like, all I do is tell you what I did during the day, what I ate, and the details of my workout. What can I do to make it more interesting? What else would you like to see on here?
Answer me, yo.
The day started with a Blueberry and Peanut Butter Pancake, which was a whole-wheat waffle topped with two tablespoons of omega-3 enriched peanut butter, a sprinkling of crushed walnuts, and a handful of blueberries. It filled me up until lunch, which was the leftover Pasta Résistance. I was at school until 4:30 today helping students with finals and chowed down an apple as soon as I left...
...to go pick up my brand-new glasses! I'm super excited about them, especially since my new contacts haven't come in yet and my old ones are really bothering my eyes. I'll post pics later - when I'm not looking like a hot mess. :)
After my trip to Vogue Vision, I headed straight to boot camp for quite possibly the most difficult workout of my life. Honestly. I nearly puked after this one. We did a jumping Jack, squat, and sit-up pyramid for our warm-up and then did a 20-minute AMRAP, including kettlebell thrusts, kettlebell straight-leg dead-lifts, "MacGyver" moves (jumping like Spiderman to the side - like you're going over a "laser beam" and then getting into plank position and shuffling "under the laser beam" to where you started), kettlebell tactical lunges, and kettlebell squat jumps. We were supposed to do 20 reps of each exercise (except for MacGyver, for which we did 10 reps), and we had a set of ten kettlebell swings between each exercise. At the five-minute mark, we had to do five burpees; at the10-minute mark, we had to do 10 burpees; at the 15-minute mark, we had to do 15 burpees; and at the 20-minute mark, yep, you guessed it, we had to do 20 burpees. I felt like I missed so much of the actual workout because I had to get all my burpees in.
Wow, is all I have to say.
While we were busy sweating away, Mother Nature was busy dousing us with a blizzard. Snow and ice covered my car (and the road) when I left boot camp. I had to high-tail it (30 miles per hour on I-235) in order to get to bowling (yes, I'm a huge nerd) on time. That means that yes, I did not shower. What can I say? I'm a classy lady.
I bowled pretty well tonight - got my first turkey ever! And...that's about all I have to say about bowling. :) No, I recently started bowling with a few guys that I met a few years ago when my colleagues and I had a bowling team. These goofballs (hi guys!) recruited me this year (probably for my mad skillz), and I've been having an absolute blast. It's a nice, much-needed break in the middle of the week.
At bowling, I ate what was supposed to be my morning snack (Guac & Roll - whole wheat tortilla with two slices of deli turkey and a fourth of an avocado) and what was supposed to be my afternoon snack (celery and tzatziki sauce). And I drank approximately 18 gallons of water.
I got home (barely - it was slippery!) and whipped up a Belly-Blasting Berry smoothie and promptly did this:
Yep. That's my expensive vanilla protein powder all over my floor. Awesome. Thankfully, one of my friends/colleagues brought me a thing of vanilla protein powder, a thing of chocolate protein powder, and a thing of chia seeds today. How nice was that?! And what perfect timing?!
Also, this shake was absolutely sinful. You need to make it now.
And I am off to bed.
Before I go, though, question: I feel like my blogs are fairly boring. Like, all I do is tell you what I did during the day, what I ate, and the details of my workout. What can I do to make it more interesting? What else would you like to see on here?
Answer me, yo.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Change of Plans
I was all set to make "Son-of-a-Gun Stew" (which is essentially jambalaya) for dinner tonight, and when I went to whip it together, realized that it called for six hours in the slow-cooker.
Epic fail.
So, I opted for Wednesday's dinner tonight: The Pesto Résistance. (I feel like the name needs to be said with a flourish - like, I'm whisking my cape over my shoulder.)
I sauteed half a cup of chopped walnuts in a tablespoon of EVOO, threw in some garlic, spinach, and basil, and tossed it with four ounces of whole-wheat spaghetti, topped with one tablespoon of mozzarella. It was so delish - and über filling.
But look at us getting ahead of ourselves! I started off the morning with the Artery Aid smoothie: two ounces of low-fat vanilla yogurt, two tablespoons of ground flaxseed, one cup frozen peaches, and agave nectar to taste. However, I had to add a bit of skim milk because I could not, for the life of me, get the darn thing to blend.
My morning snack was a Chobani and four strawberries, which tided me over until lunch when I had the rest of my "Pineapple Delight" from last night in a whole-wheat tortilla. I had my afternoon snack fairly late so that I would be full of energy for my workout: celery with edamame hummus (thank you, TJ's!) and a hard-boiled egg.
Boot camp today was kind of boring. We had five stations and rotated through them every 25 seconds. The first stop was kickboxing: throwing punches and kicks on the bags. The second station was a sit-up/jumping Jack pyramid. The third and fourth station were related: one partner held out her hands while the other partner cross-punched them and hit the floor for a half-burpee and repeated; while the second partner was in the down portion of the burpee, the standing partner swung each of her legs over the other's head. The final station was a three-way burpee: go down in burpee stance, bring knees to chest, and then throw legs out to either side. The first one or two were not too hard, but holy smokes: the next few were tough. I really didn't feel like I got a wonderful workout, but I was drenched in sweat, and now I'm über sore - especially my shoulders. Apparently the coaches know what they're doing. :)
Last night I talked to my brother for quite a while on the phone, and it was really, really nice. I miss him a ton. Anyway, he's pretty much a fitness and nutrition god, so he was really excited to hear about my new ventures and then offered me some advice. One thing I'm going to start doing is similar to what I've done in the past: logging exact amounts of proteins, carbs (fiber and sugar), fat (saturated, trans fat, and unsaturated), and overall calories. I'm still going to eat what I'm eating and do what I'm doing, but it'll be interesting to see the actual breakdown.
And now, I'm off to bed. I grabbed a couple of new books at Barnes & Noble this evening, but I'm not sure I can even stay awake long enough to dive into them. I'm wiped.
Night, y'all!
Epic fail.
So, I opted for Wednesday's dinner tonight: The Pesto Résistance. (I feel like the name needs to be said with a flourish - like, I'm whisking my cape over my shoulder.)
I sauteed half a cup of chopped walnuts in a tablespoon of EVOO, threw in some garlic, spinach, and basil, and tossed it with four ounces of whole-wheat spaghetti, topped with one tablespoon of mozzarella. It was so delish - and über filling.
But look at us getting ahead of ourselves! I started off the morning with the Artery Aid smoothie: two ounces of low-fat vanilla yogurt, two tablespoons of ground flaxseed, one cup frozen peaches, and agave nectar to taste. However, I had to add a bit of skim milk because I could not, for the life of me, get the darn thing to blend.
My morning snack was a Chobani and four strawberries, which tided me over until lunch when I had the rest of my "Pineapple Delight" from last night in a whole-wheat tortilla. I had my afternoon snack fairly late so that I would be full of energy for my workout: celery with edamame hummus (thank you, TJ's!) and a hard-boiled egg.
Boot camp today was kind of boring. We had five stations and rotated through them every 25 seconds. The first stop was kickboxing: throwing punches and kicks on the bags. The second station was a sit-up/jumping Jack pyramid. The third and fourth station were related: one partner held out her hands while the other partner cross-punched them and hit the floor for a half-burpee and repeated; while the second partner was in the down portion of the burpee, the standing partner swung each of her legs over the other's head. The final station was a three-way burpee: go down in burpee stance, bring knees to chest, and then throw legs out to either side. The first one or two were not too hard, but holy smokes: the next few were tough. I really didn't feel like I got a wonderful workout, but I was drenched in sweat, and now I'm über sore - especially my shoulders. Apparently the coaches know what they're doing. :)
Last night I talked to my brother for quite a while on the phone, and it was really, really nice. I miss him a ton. Anyway, he's pretty much a fitness and nutrition god, so he was really excited to hear about my new ventures and then offered me some advice. One thing I'm going to start doing is similar to what I've done in the past: logging exact amounts of proteins, carbs (fiber and sugar), fat (saturated, trans fat, and unsaturated), and overall calories. I'm still going to eat what I'm eating and do what I'm doing, but it'll be interesting to see the actual breakdown.
And now, I'm off to bed. I grabbed a couple of new books at Barnes & Noble this evening, but I'm not sure I can even stay awake long enough to dive into them. I'm wiped.
Night, y'all!
Monday, January 9, 2012
Can't Make This Up
Well, today was an eventful day. First, I mortified myself in a grown-up situation. Let's just say that the phrases, "It sounds like a Seventeen 'this happened to me story'" and "But what if the magic does happen?" were used. You can use your imagination for the rest - and you're most likely correct.
In addition, I went on quite possibly the worst date of my life. Words cannot describe how horrific it was. It was so bad, in fact, that I walked out. Yes, you heard me correctly:
In addition, I went on quite possibly the worst date of my life. Words cannot describe how horrific it was. It was so bad, in fact, that I walked out. Yes, you heard me correctly:
I walked out on a date.
On another note, I did a pretty good job with the Abs Diet today. I started my Monday with an Almond Joy smoothie, which was essentially skim milk, almond butter, chocolate protein powder, chia seeds, and ground flaxseed. It was yummy. My morning snack was the "Guac & Roll," which consisted of a whole wheat tortilla, turkey, and 1/4 avocado. For lunch, I had leftover Penne and the Jets with a hardboiled egg, and my afternoon snack was a "Cucumber Tube": a hollowed out cucumber half stuffed with cottage cheese, chives, basil, and parsley.
Note: I abhor cottage cheese but am trying really hard to like it.
Our workout today was way too complicated to share, as I cannot remember every single exercise. I can tell you that we did approximately 15,000 variations of push-ups, that I cannot do a "dreidel roll," and that I sweat ungodly amounts. Also, I wish there was footage of all of the beautiful faces I make during these workouts. That would be entertaining.
Dinner tonight was consumed hurriedly tonight, in hopes that it would make the Date From Hell go by faster. Despite it being awful company (albeit entertaining stories), dinner was good: Pineapple Delight from Thai Flavors. It was essentially stir-fried tofu, pineapple, peppers, and onions in a sweet (yay, carbs) sauce over white (oops) rice. I only ate a few bites of rice and saved half of the tofu-veggie mixture, possibly for lunch tomorrow.
Oh, and I had a glass of wine to survive the date. And another glass to recount said date with friend.
But it's okay. As a result of the aforementioned grown-up situation, I cannot drink for a full seven days starting tomorrow. So, today I used my drink allotment for the week.
And I'm okay with that.
Check ya later, suckas.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Sunday Funday
Today started off perfectly: I woke up around 8:30 and stayed in bed until about 9:00, when I realized it was probably time to be productive. I did the dishes and whipped up some delicious breakfast:
The Abs Diet's Ultimate Power Breakfast. Essentially, it's oatmeal, skim milk, half a banana, some mixed berries, chia seeds, vanilla protein powder, Greek yogurt, and walnuts. It's supposed to include an egg, but since I had hard-boiled all of mine, that was left out of the equation. Let me tell you: it took me nearly an hour to eat this breakfast - so substantial.
I then spent about an hour figuring out my meal plan for this week. Unfortunately, it's already a bit messed up since I had planned on a salmon Caesar salad for tomorrow but will instead be going on a dinner-date (say what?!). At least the salmon's frozen (so I can use it in the future), and it won't interfere with my leftover schedule.
After the breakfast had digested and I had my meals and grocery list all figured out, BFF and I went on a run. We did the Grand-Ingersoll 3.1-mile route that I ran way too often during my marathon training. It was, however, the first run for both of us in quite awhile, so we took it pretty slowly and walked a fair amount. It took us 40 minutes to complete; it should have been a lot faster, but I was proud of us for getting out there together and getting it done. We also did abs exercises: 25 toe touches, 25 butt lifts, 25 full sit-ups (me) and crunches (her), and a 25-second plank. I think my abs are going to be sore tomorrow just from the run, though!
After a good shower, a hard-boiled egg and an apple, and a chat with my favorite soon-to-be sister-in-law, I headed out for more errands with BFF. We hit up Old Navy so that she could return a vest, Trader Joe's so that I could pick up some produce, and Super Target so that we could both get the remainder of our groceries. (If you're keeping track, I was at Target Friday, Saturday, and Sunday this week.)
My grocery bill was significantly less than last week, but it was still a whopping $140 total. Honestly. I would be a lot wealthier if I could just eat Mac & Cheese or Ramen noodles. How do you grocery shop on a budget?
I have some leftovers from last week: two Chobanis and lots of almonds, cashews, pistachios, etc. The only things that went to waste from last week's trip were two chicken breasts (I forgot to freeze them) and half a bag of Romaine. So it's not like I'm buying too much. The "big-ticket items" this week were the salmon and tilapia (which can both stay frozen since I'll only be using one filet of three at a time), two chicken breasts (which will be used this week), spicy chicken sausage (which will be used with extras frozen this week), and shrimp (which will be used this week).
It's just frustrating. Can I afford this diet?!
(Side note: on the way from TJ's to ST, I sampled three of BFF's new crackers - rosemary and raisin, or something like that. They were delicious, and I'm sure I could've devoured the entire box.)
When I got home from the grocery store, I threw in some laundry, chopped up some veggies for the week, whipped together the Best Broccoli Ever, and then headed to "family dinner."
(Side note: on the way to FD, I ate up a few stray gumdrops that were in my car from who-knows-what. Shame.)
I'm not sure I've mentioned before: a group of my friends and I get together every Sunday for "family dinner." When we first started this, we ate dinner and watched football. Now, we are starting to watch all of the Academy Awards' Best Picture winners. It's crazy how much we all look forward to "family dinners" and how sad we are when one of us has to miss or when we didn't see each other over the holidays. In fact, we were so sad this weekend that we spent both Saturday and Sunday together this week.
While we watched Shakespeare in Love tonight, we savored Eric's Famous Chili and Katie's Delicious Cornbread (not pictured):
(It looks like a lot of cheese, but I swear it wasn't that much.) Sunday dinners are going to be a bit tricky for me regarding the Abs Diet. Saturdays are for sure my free day, but I'm not going to go super overboard with them. For example, I might do a not-so-great breakfast and a not-so-great dinner, and I may have a couple of adult beverages, but I'm not going to be crazy. Likewise, I'm planning on being super good all day Sunday like I was today (with the exception of my random cracker and gumdrop intake), but I'm going to go ahead and enjoy "family dinner." That doesn't mean that I'm going to go nuts with whatever the meal is, however; that is, I'm not going to have 18 helpings of chili - I'll have one reasonably sized portion.
I think this is the best way to ensure this diet actually becomes a lifestyle change; it needs to be manageable.
Okay: I'm off to chug some water (so thirsty - too much sodium?) and write up some quick freelance things before crashing. I'm EXHAUSTED.
I hope y'all had a lovely weekend and have a wonderful start to your week tomorrow!
 |
| Please notice the new placemat, the new coffee mug from BFF, and the new (barely visible) spoon. |
I then spent about an hour figuring out my meal plan for this week. Unfortunately, it's already a bit messed up since I had planned on a salmon Caesar salad for tomorrow but will instead be going on a dinner-date (say what?!). At least the salmon's frozen (so I can use it in the future), and it won't interfere with my leftover schedule.
After the breakfast had digested and I had my meals and grocery list all figured out, BFF and I went on a run. We did the Grand-Ingersoll 3.1-mile route that I ran way too often during my marathon training. It was, however, the first run for both of us in quite awhile, so we took it pretty slowly and walked a fair amount. It took us 40 minutes to complete; it should have been a lot faster, but I was proud of us for getting out there together and getting it done. We also did abs exercises: 25 toe touches, 25 butt lifts, 25 full sit-ups (me) and crunches (her), and a 25-second plank. I think my abs are going to be sore tomorrow just from the run, though!
After a good shower, a hard-boiled egg and an apple, and a chat with my favorite soon-to-be sister-in-law, I headed out for more errands with BFF. We hit up Old Navy so that she could return a vest, Trader Joe's so that I could pick up some produce, and Super Target so that we could both get the remainder of our groceries. (If you're keeping track, I was at Target Friday, Saturday, and Sunday this week.)
My grocery bill was significantly less than last week, but it was still a whopping $140 total. Honestly. I would be a lot wealthier if I could just eat Mac & Cheese or Ramen noodles. How do you grocery shop on a budget?
I have some leftovers from last week: two Chobanis and lots of almonds, cashews, pistachios, etc. The only things that went to waste from last week's trip were two chicken breasts (I forgot to freeze them) and half a bag of Romaine. So it's not like I'm buying too much. The "big-ticket items" this week were the salmon and tilapia (which can both stay frozen since I'll only be using one filet of three at a time), two chicken breasts (which will be used this week), spicy chicken sausage (which will be used with extras frozen this week), and shrimp (which will be used this week).
It's just frustrating. Can I afford this diet?!
(Side note: on the way from TJ's to ST, I sampled three of BFF's new crackers - rosemary and raisin, or something like that. They were delicious, and I'm sure I could've devoured the entire box.)
When I got home from the grocery store, I threw in some laundry, chopped up some veggies for the week, whipped together the Best Broccoli Ever, and then headed to "family dinner."
(Side note: on the way to FD, I ate up a few stray gumdrops that were in my car from who-knows-what. Shame.)
I'm not sure I've mentioned before: a group of my friends and I get together every Sunday for "family dinner." When we first started this, we ate dinner and watched football. Now, we are starting to watch all of the Academy Awards' Best Picture winners. It's crazy how much we all look forward to "family dinners" and how sad we are when one of us has to miss or when we didn't see each other over the holidays. In fact, we were so sad this weekend that we spent both Saturday and Sunday together this week.
While we watched Shakespeare in Love tonight, we savored Eric's Famous Chili and Katie's Delicious Cornbread (not pictured):
(It looks like a lot of cheese, but I swear it wasn't that much.) Sunday dinners are going to be a bit tricky for me regarding the Abs Diet. Saturdays are for sure my free day, but I'm not going to go super overboard with them. For example, I might do a not-so-great breakfast and a not-so-great dinner, and I may have a couple of adult beverages, but I'm not going to be crazy. Likewise, I'm planning on being super good all day Sunday like I was today (with the exception of my random cracker and gumdrop intake), but I'm going to go ahead and enjoy "family dinner." That doesn't mean that I'm going to go nuts with whatever the meal is, however; that is, I'm not going to have 18 helpings of chili - I'll have one reasonably sized portion.
I think this is the best way to ensure this diet actually becomes a lifestyle change; it needs to be manageable.
Okay: I'm off to chug some water (so thirsty - too much sodium?) and write up some quick freelance things before crashing. I'm EXHAUSTED.
I hope y'all had a lovely weekend and have a wonderful start to your week tomorrow!
Saturday, January 7, 2012
In the Nick of Time
I started out my Saturday bright and early at 7:00 with today's workout, which was quite the doozy...
The warm-up started with one partner sitting with her arms parallel to the ground in a "T" and her legs straight in front of her. The other partner had to jump over one of the arms, over the legs, and over the other arm of the sitting partner. We each had to do this six times. Then, one partner had to get on her hands and knees, and the other partner had to jump over her back and then army-crawl under her stomach. We each had to do this six times.
And that was the warm-up.
We then had a rotation of ten separate stations. We had to "give it our all" for 20 seconds, take a 10 second breather, and then do that five more times, for a total of three minutes per exercise. Here was our rotation:
The warm-up started with one partner sitting with her arms parallel to the ground in a "T" and her legs straight in front of her. The other partner had to jump over one of the arms, over the legs, and over the other arm of the sitting partner. We each had to do this six times. Then, one partner had to get on her hands and knees, and the other partner had to jump over her back and then army-crawl under her stomach. We each had to do this six times.
And that was the warm-up.
We then had a rotation of ten separate stations. We had to "give it our all" for 20 seconds, take a 10 second breather, and then do that five more times, for a total of three minutes per exercise. Here was our rotation:
- Straight-leg swing kicks (envision Russian dancers)
- Knees to chest on the pull-up bar
- Tug-of-war rope: each partner had one end of the rope, and at first we made vertical motions to hit the ground, and then we made horizontal movements to work the obliques
- Sprinting with a resistance band around our waists
- Medicine ball: slammed it to the ground and lifted it back up repeatedly
- Partner planks: one partner is in the plank position, and the other is jumping over her back laterally
- Burpees
- Kettlebells: sit in boat pose and figure-eight a kettlebell through the legs
- Partner push (I think I just made up that name): we held the kickboxing bag between us and had to try to push the other across the room
- Box jumps: jump (or step) various heights on the boxes
Holy smokes. I was drenched. And exhausted.
I absolutely hate eating before early-morning workouts, so I had half a pouch of Power Bar Energy Blasts before the workout and the other half after. I think it worked out well... What do you eat prior to a morning workout?
When I got home and finally stopped sweating, I took a quick shower and then joined BFF for breakfast at our favorite dive, the Waveland Cafe. After all, today is my FREE DAY!!!
I opted for the quarter order of Everything Hash Browns (there are peppers, ham, onions, and lots of other good stuff mashed up with the potatoes), a side of sausage, and a side of wheat toast. I also had a coffee. While this is certainly not health food, I'd normally double the portion of Everything Hash Browns, so I'll count it as a win today. Plus, it's my FREE DAY!
BFF and I continued our weekend routine by running errands. Today, we just hit up Target and World Market. She needed a few random things at Target, and even though I was just there last night, I bought a new alarm clock: mine mysteriously stopped working, and even though I set four alarms on my phone, I'm still nervous it'll turn off randomly, I'll sleep through them, etc.
I needed absolutely nothing at World Market, but...you know how that goes. I came away with quite a few things: reusable straws (I drink everything with straws, and I figured it'd be an easy way to reduce my carbon footprint), a few new pieces of silverware to make my photos more interesting, and this:
Because you know what my life has been missing? A birdcage. Clearly.
After errand-running was complete, I came home and whipped up a Virgin Cabo Daiquiri to drink throughout the afternoon, especially since I knew we'd be going out to dinner, and I didn't want to be starving. I then took a nap with the kitty-cats:
(And this is the nice one.) We slept away the afternoon.
Tonight, I headed downtown with my besties. First, we went to Dos Rios for "Sangria Saturday" and tacos:
Yum, yum, yum. I had two shrimp tacos, two sangrias, some chips and guacamole, and approximately 18,000 waters. Again, while I didn't make the healthiest decisions, it's a.) my free day, and b.) much better than I would've done a few weeks ago.
We then went to the Kirkwood and had time to enjoy one cocktail (a Skinnygirl Cosmo for me - not a fan) before being kicked out due to a birthday party taking over the entire restaurant.
Finally, we went to the Lift, and I remembered how much I like that bar. I had one more drink (a vodka tonic) before switching to another 18,000 glasses of water.
We finished the night at Fong's, where I was totally "bad" and chowed down a huge piece of honey-garlic pizza. Oops.
It's 11:54. I barely got the post in today, but I made it. You're welcome. :)
See you tomorrow after a three-mile run and "family" dinner!
I absolutely hate eating before early-morning workouts, so I had half a pouch of Power Bar Energy Blasts before the workout and the other half after. I think it worked out well... What do you eat prior to a morning workout?
When I got home and finally stopped sweating, I took a quick shower and then joined BFF for breakfast at our favorite dive, the Waveland Cafe. After all, today is my FREE DAY!!!
I opted for the quarter order of Everything Hash Browns (there are peppers, ham, onions, and lots of other good stuff mashed up with the potatoes), a side of sausage, and a side of wheat toast. I also had a coffee. While this is certainly not health food, I'd normally double the portion of Everything Hash Browns, so I'll count it as a win today. Plus, it's my FREE DAY!
BFF and I continued our weekend routine by running errands. Today, we just hit up Target and World Market. She needed a few random things at Target, and even though I was just there last night, I bought a new alarm clock: mine mysteriously stopped working, and even though I set four alarms on my phone, I'm still nervous it'll turn off randomly, I'll sleep through them, etc.
I needed absolutely nothing at World Market, but...you know how that goes. I came away with quite a few things: reusable straws (I drink everything with straws, and I figured it'd be an easy way to reduce my carbon footprint), a few new pieces of silverware to make my photos more interesting, and this:
Because you know what my life has been missing? A birdcage. Clearly.
After errand-running was complete, I came home and whipped up a Virgin Cabo Daiquiri to drink throughout the afternoon, especially since I knew we'd be going out to dinner, and I didn't want to be starving. I then took a nap with the kitty-cats:
(And this is the nice one.) We slept away the afternoon.
Tonight, I headed downtown with my besties. First, we went to Dos Rios for "Sangria Saturday" and tacos:
Yum, yum, yum. I had two shrimp tacos, two sangrias, some chips and guacamole, and approximately 18,000 waters. Again, while I didn't make the healthiest decisions, it's a.) my free day, and b.) much better than I would've done a few weeks ago.
We then went to the Kirkwood and had time to enjoy one cocktail (a Skinnygirl Cosmo for me - not a fan) before being kicked out due to a birthday party taking over the entire restaurant.
Finally, we went to the Lift, and I remembered how much I like that bar. I had one more drink (a vodka tonic) before switching to another 18,000 glasses of water.
We finished the night at Fong's, where I was totally "bad" and chowed down a huge piece of honey-garlic pizza. Oops.
It's 11:54. I barely got the post in today, but I made it. You're welcome. :)
See you tomorrow after a three-mile run and "family" dinner!
Friday, January 6, 2012
TGIF
The title says it all: thank goodness it's Friday. This week has worn me out: I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that I started an über intense workout regime, or maybe the fact that I started school after a week off, or maybe the fact that I feel like I haven't sat down since I got back to Des Moines a week ago. I don't know.
It was another late morning for me: 6:30. Normally this wouldn't have been too bad, but I had totally forgotten that my meal plan was messed up since I didn't cook dinner on Wednesday and therefore didn't have any leftovers for lunch today. I panicked. I had no idea what to pack. I'm pretty sure mylunchbox Sticks bag looked like Hy-Vee exploded in it. Seriously.
For breakfast, I whipped up another Halle Berry smoothie and sipped on it throughout the morning, counting it as breakfast and my morning snack. (It's two servings, so this was legit.) I've had some questions about what exactly is in an HB smoothie, so here you go:
It was another late morning for me: 6:30. Normally this wouldn't have been too bad, but I had totally forgotten that my meal plan was messed up since I didn't cook dinner on Wednesday and therefore didn't have any leftovers for lunch today. I panicked. I had no idea what to pack. I'm pretty sure my
For breakfast, I whipped up another Halle Berry smoothie and sipped on it throughout the morning, counting it as breakfast and my morning snack. (It's two servings, so this was legit.) I've had some questions about what exactly is in an HB smoothie, so here you go:
- 3/4 cup skim milk
- 3/4 cup frozen berries
- 3/4 cup oatmeal
- 2 teaspoons vanilla protein powder (I just dump in a scoop)
- 3 ice cubes
- Chia seeds (added by yours truly, not the Abs Diet)
I also had two cups of coffee, which severely limited my water intake for the day. Oops.
For lunch, I dug through my kitchen bag to come up with a whole wheat English muffin and omega-3-enriched peanut butter. Oh, and two Lifesavers mints.
After school, I ate an apple and a hard-boiled egg while I helped some kiddos with their final essays and chatted with my colleagues.
I hit up boot camp today, and it turns out that no one really likes to work out on Fridays. I swear, a third of the class showed up. Interesting. It only lasted about 30 minutes today. We warmed up with jump-roping, high knees, butt kicks, squats, forward jumps, side-to-side jumps, and a few stretches. We then went into stations. The first station was AMRAP (as many reps as possible): four burpees, eight sumo squats with a 20-pound kettlebell, 16 split-squat-jumps, and 32 Russian twists with a 15-pound kettlebell. I finished three sets in whatever time they gave us (it felt like forever, but I'm sure it was like three minutes). The second station was kickboxing. We had four sets on the bag and four sets off. The off-the-bag sets included triceps dips, pull-ups, windshield-wiper abs, and jump squats. We finished the workout all together with a 30-20-10 activity: we did 30 seconds each of pulsing squats, push-ups, and flutter kicks, then 20 seconds of all three, and finally ten seconds of all three.
Here is my one complaint about Max Life: kickboxing. Overall, I like this program better than Farrell's. However, I like Farrell's kickboxing more. On Tuesday, we worked out our left side really hard - which, I'm assuming, is why I could barely straighten my left arm. I assumed that today we would work out our right side really hard - but, no. I feel uneven (granted, I'm a bit OCD, but that's besides the point). Also, the combinations they have us putting on the bag are super awkward.
Oh well.
After the workout, I inhaled a serving of celery sticks and decided to hit up Target before heading home. (I am so the girl that goes out in public looking like a hot, sweaty mess. And I don't care one bit.)
I then whipped up dinner:
"Penne and the Jets," courtesy of - you guessed it - the Abs Diet. Yum, yum, yum. The recipe called for chickpeas, but unfortunately, I used them all in the chili. So, my Penne and the Jets included spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, feta cheese, parsley, basil, and whole-wheat penne. I also had a side of Romaine with a smidge of light Caesar dressing.
Unfortunately, since I didn't have the chickpeas, I was really lacking in protein. I was hungry again almost immediately after eating the whole plate. Ugh.
Also, I was craving sweets - like, bad. So question: how do you curb your sweet tooth on a diet? I feel like I always want dessert after I eat dinner, and I have no idea why. That's never been a staple of my diet, so I feel like it's super strange that I'm craving it hardcore right now.
And since my tummy is still growling, I'm going to go whip up another Virgin Cabo Daiquiri, watch a little CSI, and then head to bed: I have an early morning workout!
Ciao!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)