The perfect pre-workout meal.

Fridaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyy!!!! I had a really good day today.  Nothing super out of the ordinary happened—I just felt happy from the moment I woke from my deep sleep at 5:30am.  Started my day off with a nice little workout sesh which always seems to improve my mood by 100… ate this before I left the house:

This is pretty much the perfect pre-workout meal.  Filling, but not so much that I feel weighed down, easily digestible, good ratio of carbs fat and protein.  It’s easy to modify based on the intensity and duration of exercise too.  Example: If I’m doing a long run (6+) I eat the whole bagel instead of just half, and have a banana instead of the OJ.

And it’s also yummy.

Workout:

• 5 min treadmill warm-up
• BOSU squat and press
• Switch Lunge
• Stability ball wall squat
• Chest press, flies, push
• Step-ups
• Seated row
• Bicep curl w/pulse
• Bench hops
• Tricep dips
• Hamstring cable kickbacks
• Upright row to shoulder press
• BOSU crunches, side-to-sides, oblique twists, toe tappers
• Swimmers

Remember when I used to post workouts all of the time?  Maybe I need to start that up again…

Moving forward, Lunch was a new favorite Amy’s variety that I came across at the organic food store last week:  Lentil Vegetable.

Veggies make everything better. This was a great find.  I’ll definitely be buying it again!

The perfect pre-happy hour snack:

Not really sure why… I suppose any food is the perfect pre-happy hour snack!

Time to go beautify myself for the evening.  Have a fantastic weekend!

12 hour shift

So glad to be home after such a long day!  I was gone from 7:30am-7:30pm with not much down time so this was eaten throughout the day in parts… I guess you could say I pulled a 12 hour shift on campus, so I came prepared.

• Veg wrap (hummus, spring mix, tom, avocado, cuke)
• Pink Lady
• Peach CHOBANI
• Cinnamon LARABAR

Dinner consisted of this, except it was the garden herb flavor.  Just had this picture on my computer already and decided to roll with it.  I think I’ve tried them all and Garden Herb is my hands-down fave.

Alexia organic fries were on sale at Whole Foods this weekend so we figured those would go good with the burgers.  So here’s your burger and fries, made slightly more healthy? May not look like it, but this was really good.  And it was exactly what I was craving.

Day’s worth of meals… not too hard to do.  I think I can handle this.

As far as exercise today, I did 2.5 m on the treadmill before I needed to stop because I felt like my stomach was about to burst open!!!!!! May or may not have had too much fiber today… although it’s not much different from what I usually take in.  So confusing!

Anyways, it was fine by me because I taught boot camp and full body fit and there was enough cardio involved to get me a decent sweat overall.

Biochem time! Lot’s of  fun.  See you for breakfast!

The best french toast ever.

Hey everyone! I’m in a great mood tonight because I got a ton of stuff accomplished today, had a great workout and some great food.  I think I finally have my class schedule figured out for Fall semester.  What are all of you students taking next year?

My day started nice and early with this fantastic breakfast of french toast with fruit on the side.

I know this looks like pancakes, but the homemade oatmeal bread is a round loaf… This bread definitely contributed to the BEST french toast I’ve ever made.  I think it’s because of the dense texture.  Not sure, but I used 1 egg, vanilla soymilk and cinnamon for the batter and it turned out perfect!

Mid-morning study fuel was an apple with PB.

And lunch was this mix of flavors that I have seen in blog land before many times… Black beans + sweet potato! I tried the combo in quesadilla form (Ezekial tortilla), and added my own twist with arugula and avocado. I just read that Miss Tyler from Raspberry Runner had a similar lunch today… we didn’t plan it, I swear!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Yum! This was super good! The sweet potato adds just a hint of sweetness. I had a banana on the side, but I’m sure you all know what that looks like:-)

Between lunch and dinner I attended a “Skill Builder” on sushi rolling because the woman I intern for was giving the presentation.  Very interesting! I learned some new things and got some free twig tea that I’ll be testing out tomorrow.  I’ll definitely do a review because it’s a pretty unique flavor!

Three pieces of sushi ended up being my pre-workout snack… I did a 3-miler as fast as I could and I finished in right around 26 minutes. After doing some back, shoulder, and abs which included:

• Bent over rows
• Boat shoulder presses
• Back hyperextension w/hand weights
• Stability ball push-ups
• Crunches, ceiling pulses, bicycles

I came home and made this quick dinner:

Tuna + pepperjack (toasted) on more oatmeal bread, steamed brocc w/oregano, strawberries! I think I’m fiber’d out for the day…

Chemistry time. Have a great night!

Hey-O!

Hello, hello!

The lecture was great! It was very interesting to learn the R.D.’s role in counseling a patient with an eating disorder.  I never really knew that much about ED’s until I took an obesity and weight management class last semester and our teacher stressed that this disease has little to do with food.

Tonight we also learned about:

• Hunger and satiety cues
• Common characteristics of an ED
• A variety of coping mechanisms
• How hunger can affect concentration and mood

Before I attended the lecture, I made an early dinner because I was starving from a tough lower body workout! Definitely felt the burn today…

I basically did this ,which I posted on Love of Oats Tuesday, plus I added in some hamstring curls, lateral leg raises, stability ball lifts, and more ab work because I had more time.  It felt SO good to sweat!

Dinner was polenta because I bought some last weekend to shake up my normal grocery routine.  When I saw Chandra cover it with pasta sauce the other night, I knew I wanted to do something similar.

I seasoned 4 slices with salt, pepper and garlic powder and grilled each side until slightly browned.  Then I topped each with mozzarella and italian seasoning, made 2 “sandwiches” and covered with red sauce.  I’m running low on food so the carrots and cukes were my attempt to get rid of stuff in the fridge.  Not very sophisticated, I know!  The polenta was good, but I wasn’t crazy about it. It was a nice change though.  I’m in a grocery store rut!!!

Who has ideas for what I can buy when I go shopping this weekend?  Keep in mind that I spend a pretty small amount of money on food each week… Mostly produce and a few specialty items.  Suggestions???

Since dinner was pretty small I knew I would be hungry later on tonight so just ate a banana with PB as a little snackie while typing this post! Mmmm…

Have a great Thursday evening!

I love Sundays.

It’s true!!!! I know, most people hate that the weekend is over, but I think Sunday is the most relaxing day of the whole week.  I wake up without an alarm (like 7:30) and I throw together some coffee (mmmm….) and usually make a more time-consuming breakfast.

Today’s menu: Whole Wheat Yogurt Pancakes that I found on KERF yesterday.  As soon as I saw the recipe, I knew I had to use it because I’m trying to get rid of some full fat yogurt that my mom bought me.

The texture of these was phenomenal! Kath is a genius in the recipe creation deparartment.

I topped these with a smidge of AB and microwaved frozen strawberries (maple syrup is expensive, and the fake stuff grosses me out). Although you can’t see them, mini choco chips are hiding inside as well!

As far as yesterday goes, here are my eats that I forgot to blog while I was being lazy on the couch all night!

Breakfast was a boring bowl of oats (banana, walnuts, flax, AB) I need some new and interesting toppings!

Lunch was a fabulous sandwich since I went to the store and bought my favorite local hummus!! I was craving this today!  It was very green… Toppings were spinach, cuke, and avocado. I had a Pink Lady too.

Dinner was Tofu with some charred veggies:

Tofu (with olive oil, honey, cinnamon, chili powder, salt)

Veggies: there’s a special place in my heart for caramelized onions:-)

Voila!

This tofu was probably the best I have ever made because it was frozen and I thawed and pressed out the liquid for the second time.  I reccommend doing this with tofu, the texture was perfect!

I also had 2 small bowls of great grains today because the stuff is so darn good! One for a midday snack, and they other while I was watching TV at night because my tummy was growling!

Lastly, I had a great slow but tough workout yesterday.  Sometimes I feel like getting a good burn in, but I want to focus on form which is SO important! I’m telling you guys, it’s better to do less reps with perfect form than the other way around.  Take your time! I did:

• 30 minute walk on inclines 1-10
• Hammer curls, overhead tricep presses
• Lot’s of push ups! (I’m working on upper body strength)
• Overhead shoulder presses on a bosu
• Lat raises
• Planks
• Ab twists

I finished with slow stretching because I’ve been sore all week from hip/hop.  I may take today off, I may not… We’ll see?

Enjoy the last bit of your weekend, I’m off to finish a paper!

No More Squats PLEASE!

Happy Tuesday! Let me explain the title of this post…

So far my workouts have been pretty sporadic this week, and I’m getting a little thrown off… Usually I do aerobics on Monday and Wednesday, and I have snowshoe class on Thursday, then I circuit train on Sunday, Tuesday and Friday.  Saturday is rest day.  This works out pretty nice for me and since I’m a total Type A, I don’t like when things get shuffled around!

I started my week off with that tough agility workout on Sunday, including 3 different types of squats including jump squats which are super tough, so let’s just say my legs were burnin’ up!  Monday in aerobics, we did a new step routine (no hip-hop yet!) which included about 600 squats!

I thought 2 days in a row was bad, but that was until today when we had a leadership exercise activity in one of my classes and you probably guessed it, we did lot’s of SQUATS!

When it was workout time after my 11:00 class was over, I was in the mood for a nice and light upper body workout! ha ha… So here’s what I did:

• 5 min elliptical warmup
• Chest press with dumbbells (2×15)
• Bent over rows (2×15)
• Biceps hammer curls on bosu (2×15)
• Triceps kickbacks (2×15)
• Lat raises (front & side, 2×15)
• Assisted push-ups, using a bench (2×15)
• Abs “suitcases” (30 sec.)
• Scissors (30 sec.)
• 5 min treadmill cool down

Each time my heart rate started to get a little low, I threw some sort of cardio burst like bench jumps or ball swings in between.  Even though this only took me about 35 minutes, I felt really good after I stretched and came home to chow down on lunch:

I made a veggie wrap made with an Ezekial tortilla, Lebanese hummus (made locally, and so good!), red bell pepper, mushrooms, and Earthbound Farms herb salad mix which is my new addiction thanks to Jess!

The oranges keep getting better as I get to the bottom of the bag, I’m telling you!! They’re so delicious right now!

I’m pretty sure I have no veggies left in this place, besides some old frozen ones, so my meals may get very interesting for the next 3 days… I refuse to go to the grocery store!!  We’ll see what I can come up with.

I have a break from class until 6:00 when I get to go to Chem Lab… yay.  See you later tonight!

Friday, Please Come Quick!

I know, I know it’s only Sunday! ha ha but let me explain how stressed out I am right now…

1. I have 2 group projects, 1 midterm, 2 quizzes, and some major NSCA studying to do this week.
2. My I-pod was stolen at the gym on Friday
3. My heart rate monitor seems to be dying on me… Technology does not like me right now!

In good news however, I have this stuff to look forward to on the weekend:

1. My Roomie’s 21st birthday/party on Friday night.  Hi Nichole!
2. My Step-Dad’s retirement party at home on Saturday.  All of my family will be there and there’s going to be live music and everything… This party has been in the works for months!  He likes to throw a good party:)
3. LEAVING FOR LAS VEGAS ON TUES. March 3rd!!!!!  I seriously can’t think of anything else right now… I’m going for spring break with my friends Jess and Nichole and none of us have ever been there before.  SO freaking excited!

Anyways, that’s why I can’t wait for the weekend, so before I get back to my “studious” Sunday night, I wanted to let you all know that I tried the Agility Workout from the link I posted a couple days ago and I LOVED it!  It was super quick, but hard and it challenged my balance and coordination in addition to just strength.

I especially loved the med ball rolling push-ups at the end, because I have always struggled with upper body exercises, push-ups specifically, and I could totally do these! (well, girl push-ups… but still!) I’ll be doing these often because I really felt the burn, but they weren’t impossible.  Let me know if you try it out.

I don’t have food pics tonight, so tomorrow morning I’ll whip up something extra special to make up for it.  Nighty night!

Fun Event

Hello all,

So I ended up checking a few big things off my list today!  At least the weekend is here so I have plenty of time to finsh before next week…

I got a workout in at around 4:00 and let me tell you, my triceps are burning!! Here’s what I did:

• Warmup on elliptical (5 min)
• Chest press on stability ball (2×15)
• Bent over rows (2×15)
• Bicep curls using Barbell (2×15)
• Tricep dips on bench (2×15)
• Lat raises with Barbell (2×15)
• Dumbbell Flies (2×15)
• Ab twists w/med. ball, sitting on bench, legs raised(2×30)
• Incline crunches (2×15)
• Back hyperextension w/med. ball(2×15)

I also did some cardio/agility in between, but I can’t remember that part!!  It was bench jumping, ball swings, step ups…etc.  The usual!

I finished with a 7 minute cooldown on the elliptical, and got a REALLY nice stretch in.  That part felt SO good.

After showering, I threw together a salad of whatever I could find and unfortuneatly ate most of it before I realized I didn’t take a picture!  It wasn’t that pretty anyway though, and it was in a metal mixing bowl… cause I’m classy like that! ha ha

I’m not totally picture-less though:

I’m going to see Seth Meyers from SNL tonight!!  He’s speaking at my university and I’m super excited to go.  Hopefully it’s not sold out because I haven’t bought a ticket yet!  I’ll let you know how funny he is… See you in the morning with my Friday smoothie and workout.  Enjoy your Thursday night!:)

SNOW DAY!

Well, we ended up with a snow day and I couldn’t be happier!  My to-do list includes:

• Study Chemistry
• Work on Research paper: Hyperthyroidism
• Write a Newsletter article: Navigation of the College Cafeteria
• Write 5 Questions for a mock game show in Critical Issues
• Read NSCA text, chapter 4
• A chest and back workout

Whew… I don’t have to get all of this stuff done today, but I would like to seeing as I have an ENTIRE day free with no interruptions (except maybe the internet! ha ha).

Since I woke up and had time to make a “weekend” breakfast, I went ahead and made some french toast, something I don’t make often.

I microwaved frozen blueberries to put on top along with a sprinkle of flax, then I had some sliced banana and a scoop of fage on the side.  I also had a new kind of coffee that was SO yummy:

It’s Archer Farms brand, Butter Rum.

I saw an article today that showed good demonstrations of some exercises to improve agility.  You can read all about it here.  I like doing these types of movements in between sets of lifting so I can keep my heart rate up the entire time.  Like the article says, they also do wonders for your speed so runners would benefit as well…Give it a whirl!

I’m off to get started on that long list of to-dos. Stay warm!

Improvising

Tofu Stir Fry!!! This goes along with my “Healthy Eating on a Budget” post from earlier today.  I’m not sure how accurate I am, but I tried to do some quick adding in my head and I’m thinking this meal cost less than $2.00 if you don’t include seasonings, oil, etc… And it was delicious!

But first…

The weather is so crazy outside!  It’s a total whiteout and we’re under a storm advisory until tomorrow night.  Evening classes were even canceled today, and rumor has it that we may have a snow day tomorrow!!! This would be awesome since I have a lot of things due next week that I could get a head start on.

Anyways, due to the weather my 4:00pm aerobics class was cancelled (yeah, I get a credit for working out) and since I was already at the rec. center, I wanted to get some type of cardio in.  At first I wasn’t sure what exactly to do, because as I have mentioned before I am NOT a fan of long bouts of cardio on machines.   I decided that I wanted to get home ASAP, so I did a 3-miler on the treadmill at race pace.

The first mile I stayed at 7.0 mph, when I hit mile two I went at  7.5 mph, and on the last mile I increased to 8 mph.  There were 2 times when I jumped to the sides to get a quick drink and take a breath, then I got right back on.  I would MUCH rather do a speedy, challenging run than go at a moderate pace for a long time.  I just get bored and talk myself into moving on to something else… The treadmill is so mental for me, so I’m glad I pushed through!

I finished somewhere around 25 minutes and was really happy with this time!  After 5 minutes of cool down walking and stretching I was OUTTA THERE!

Dinner included the following veggies:

Which turned into this:

For the tofu I used: honey, garlic powder, chili powder, ginger, S &P.  I was too impatient to let it cook for the whole time, so it wasn’t as good as usual, but it worked.

Hope you all had a great Wednesday!  It’s homework time until Top Chef comes on… Night!