No excuses

Wow, I have been really bad about posting and keeping up with my challenge, which I have to admit, didn't work out so well... Between work and getting sick, and other social events, things have just slipped through the cracks. No excuses, but I am picking myself back up and starting again, and that's really the key, not to beat yourself up if you fail, just to revise your plan and continue forward...

So for February my new plan is the following - exercise in some form (not necessarily Ripped in 30) 4 times per week, and cut back alcohol to 4 times per month (3 was too conservative). I have the 8K on March 10th, so I needed to incorporate running/jogging back into my routine. I also want to do more yoga. I had a groupon for a nearby yoga studio, which I ended up using most of, but it has since expired so my choices are P90X Yoga or 24 Hour Fitness yoga... this past Wednesday I found a class @ 7:30 which was actually pretty good, once I got over the fact that you could still slightly hear the music thumping outside in the gym and that it wasn't warm :)

Workout log for Jan 20-26:

Sunday - 2.5 mile jog, outside
Wednesday - yoga
Thursday - 2 mile jog, treadmill
Saturday - snowboarding in Tahoe

I love snowboarding! it's so fun... Even though I am hurting today... I want to go back soon... It just needs to snow more.

Plan for this week 1/28 - 2/2:

Monday - run 2.5 miles
Wednesday - yoga
Thursday - run 3 miles
Saturday - run or hike

with some strength training in there somewhere... and abs every workout day. I was supposed to go grocery shopping today, but was far too lazy when I finally got home... I think I can scrape together something for snacks & meals tomorrow before going to the store tomorrow night. This weekend was pretty much a no-log weekend (meaning I didn't log anything I ate), but I'll be back on track at least for the week ;)

Have a great Monday!

Ripped in 30 Week 1

Well Week 1 is done. It was a rough week. I've already used up the last 2 drinking occasions of the month due to a belated Christmas party with my friends and a post-Christmas work event last night. Needless to say I am not feeling 100%, today's workout was tough, it took me 45 minutes instead of 30 due to extended breaks. I only ended up doing the video 3 times this week, because I ended up working out at the gym yesterday with a friend of mine, we didn't really have a plan but did a bunch of core/ab exercises and some other random strength work (planks, ab twists with the cable machine, crunches, side crunches, roman chair leg raises, push ups, wall squats) and then finally finished with 20 minutes of intervals on the elliptical.

Regardless, I'll be moving on to week 2 this week. I also need to start running again as I had signed up for an 8k back in October (the 2nd annual 408k Race to the Row coming up in March)  and just remembered this past week that I had registered ;)

Anyway I wanted to use this post to talk about the modifications I made to Week 1 to prevent knee pain and it seemed to work. It's weird that I've experienced knee pain from RI30 because I can do jump squats/lunges and plyometrics all day long. I got some of the modification ideas from this blog. I also wanted to note the weights I used for each exercise. I have weak shoulders and the video has you doing high reps so I'm pretty much always using the "barbie" weights as the New Rules of Lifting for Women book would refer to them - that book is another story for another day :)

Circuit 1

Push up - body weight, on knees

Squat and Press - 5 lb 

Crescent pose - 5 lb

Modifications:

Skaters - Step touch instead of jump

Circuit 2

Stiff leg deadlift upright row - 5lb, worked up to 8

Squat swing - 12 lb

Good mornings - 5lb, worked up to 8

Modifications:

Running man - shorter stride

Circuit 3

Chair pose reverse fly - 5lb

Side lunge with front raise - 5lb

Lunge with bicep curls - 5lb

Modifications:

Side lunge with front raise - made these stationary lunges instead of moving from side to side

Butt kicks - jogged in place

That's it!!! Have a great week everyone. I'm drinking some coconut water and trying to regain my energy back...

Get Some!

I think "Get Some" is like Jillian Michaels' favorite saying. I've done the week 1 workout several times in the last few months (I'm ashamed to admit), so I almost have it memorized.

This is my way of announcing that I finally got back on the JM wagon today, I had planned on doing it last night after work but ended up getting home later than expected. I even put on my gym clothes, but after I ate a late dinner (leftovers from Sunday night) I was full and tired, and ended up falling asleep on the couch watching The Big Bang Theory with my cat.

Aren't we cute?

So I woke up this morning determined to get back to it. I did some modifications to see if that would help with the knees, we'll see if they worked. I'll elaborate more on that in the next day or two, but today I wanted to focus on the most important meal of the  day - breakfast! I usually eat a light breakfast (a slice of toast and almond butter), wait 30-45 minutes, and then do the video. But this morning, I was still pretty satisfied from having a late dinner, so I had half a cup of coffee and went for it. So after the workout I was ready for breakfast, and decided to whip up a protein shake in my blender, something I haven't done in a while (I usually just mix protein and water in my blender bottle after workouts). I had some frozen pineapple tidbits, which goes really well with vanilla protein powder.

Pineapple protein shake

Pineapple Protein Shake

2 scoops vanilla whey protein (I use Jarrow's)
3/4 c frozen pineapple tidbits
1 Tbsp chia powder
1 Tbsp flax seed
Enough water so that everything mixes

Blend the pineapple and water until it blends smoothly, then add the other ingredients.

This comes to 342 calories, 36g carbs, 6g fat, 38g protein, 83g sodium, and 22g sugar.

Another go-to breakfast staple is oatmeal, which I had yesterday. I added a serving of fruit & nuts (Costco's "Wholesome Fruit & Nuts"), cinnamon, and a splash of coconut milk to make a delicious 314 calorie breakfast.

Oatmeal with Fruit & Nuts

Oatmeal with Fruit & Nuts

1/2 c rolled oats
3 Tbsp (30g) Kirkland Wholesome Fruit & Nuts
1 tsp cinnamon
2 Tbsp unsweetened coconut milk

Put oatmeal in a bowl and add a bit of water to your liking. Heat in the microwave for 90 seconds. Then, add the rest of the ingredients.

314 calories, 44g carb, 12g fat, 10g protein, 8mg sodium, 12g sugar

As a side note, did you know that 2013 is the International Year of Quinoa? Pretty interesting... think I'll have some quinoa for dinner :)

Crockpot Broccoli & Vegan Sausage

I love my Crockpot. As a single person the 4.5 quart size is perfect, it allows me to make dinner plus leftovers. Sometimes I have to be careful not to get carried away and make too much otherwise I won't be able to eat it all within a few days. I have this one from Target, it's nothing fancy, but works fabulously.

Before I had a crockpot, I had stumbled across crockpot365.blogspot.com and had forwarded it to my sister who had one, and soon she was raving about all the things she could make with it including recipes from the blog. Within a couple of weeks, I bought my own and I just love it. My sister & I frequent the above mentioned blog often for recipe ideas. Last night I was over at her house and I was starving, and I was about to cave in and order a pizza when she mentioned she had made a broccoli dish and if I wanted some of the leftovers. At first I was skeptical especially after having a couple of beers with my brother-in-law (yep, I used up 1 of my 3 alcohol days), and broccoli isn't generally my go-to culinary choice after a few beers but she served it to me over white rice and I added a little bit of soy sauce and it was actually really good! So good in fact that I went out and bought the ingredients today to recreate this magic in my kitchen ;)

It's basically the Broccoli With Toasted Garlic and Hazelnuts recipe from Stephanie O'Dea, my sister made it a full meal by adding Tofurkey Kielbasa (she's semi-vegetarian) and serving it over rice. I decided to try it over quinoa.

2 pounds of broccoli
1 cup of whole hazelnuts
2 lemons
2 Tbsp olive oil
9 cloves of garlic, minced
2 links Tofurkey Kielbasa Meatless Sausage
1/4 tsp Trader Joe's Everyday Seasoning (this stuff is the best, I swear)

Cut up the broccoli and sausage links into manageable pieces, stick it in the Crockpot. Then add the hazelnuts and garlic, and drizzle the lemon juice from the 2 lemons and the olive oil on top, and add the seasoning. Cook on low for 2-3 hours depending on how you like your vegetables cooked (I cooked them for about 2 hours and the broccoli was still a bit firm, but I like it that way).

Before

In the future I would use fewer hazelnuts and actually maybe less of everything, this made A LOT of food for just one person. But it is a really good vegetarian meal. It makes about 6-8 servings depending on how you split it up, at 6 servings it comes to approximately:

329 calories
22g carbs
23g fat
17g protein
290mg sodium
5g sugar

per serving.

Serving it with 3/4 cup of cooked quinoa adds 128 calories, 23g carbs, 2g fat, 5g protein, 1mg sodium and 2g sugar.

Served over quinoa

As for the January Challenge, on Thursday my knees were hurting a bit and I realized this happened to me last time I did Ripped in 30... and googling shows I'm not alone :( I don't want to give up though, so I'm going to try it again with some modifications. I am super sore from snowboarding yesterday, but I'm planning on starting the video again tomorrow.

Good night!

Crab & Kale Quinoa Salad

I was debating on what to have for dinner tonight as I didn't plan my meals for the week like I usually do due to it being a short week. I did however make up a batch of quinoa when I got home last night (I told you I loved quinoa), as I planned on making Winter Morning Quinoa for breakfast at least a few times this week.

I thought back to the dish I had made the other night with quinoa, tuna and kale, but wasn't really feeling the idea. But it made me come up with another idea that involved canned crab meat and making it into a cold salad instead of a warm dish, and came up with this salad that turned out to be quite delicious! The best part was that I had all the ingredients on hand, and it was really quick to make.

The ingredients (makes 1 salad):

A couple of handfuls of pre-chopped kale, blanched
2 oz crab meat
3/4 cup cooked quinoa, cooled or chilled
1 lemon
1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp dried parsley
1 dash salt
1 dash pepper

Instructions:

Whisk the lemon, olive oil, parsley, salt and pepper in a small bowl.
Combine the quinoa, crab meat, kale, and the dressing.
That's it!

This was the result:



Yum... and less than 300 calories!

Nutritional breakdown:

Calories 286
Carbs 37g
Fat 10g
Protein 15g
Sodium 520mg
Sugar 3g

January Challenge

I decided there's no way I am setting foot in the gym this month, so in lieu of the gym I've decided to challenge myself to actually do the Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30 video at least 4-5 times a week (in the past I've only gotten up to 1-2 weeks so I don't even know what the 3rd and 4th week look like).

My cat attempting to do mountain climbers

This morning I took some "before" photos of myself and some measurements, I'll share those with the "after" at the end of the month.

I like the Jillian Michaels workouts because they are short and intense, the circuits themselves are only 18 minutes total but combined with the warm up and cool down the whole session is about 25 minutes (30 minutes if you have to pause and take a breath like I do).

I'm not following the meal plan but one of my other goals is to log my food on MyFitnessPal every day. I usually eat 5 meals a day, which includes breakfast, lunch, dinner and 2 small snacks (~200 calories), and I try to eat somewhat clean with a proportion of 40/35/25 (carbs/protein/fat).

Today's stats (using a Polar FT7 HRM):

Duration: 31m 48s
Calories: 314
Average HR: 143
Maximum HR: 168
Fat Burn Zone: 9m
Fitness Zone: 22m 14s

As an additional challenge, I've also decided to only allow myself alcohol 3 times this month.

Happy New Year!