But, on with the show, eh?
Breakfast:
I'm not really into flowers, but my mom got me some daffodils for my birthday and I must admit, they're puuurty.
Baked Instant Oatmeal in my new "oats bowl" that I snagged from Goodwill the other day. Also, cold coffee with almond milk on the side.
Not sure why I don't make baked instant oatmeal more often... I still get my oats fix, plus some extra protein and fiber from the egg whites and pumpkin. And did I mention the taste and fluffy texture are amazing? Because they are. Mmm.
Morning snack:
Half a cup of fat-free cottage cheese with cinnamon and ground flax.
Lunch:
Leftover concoction that Doug made last night. He threw together some diced chicken with onions, mushrooms, butter and white wine and served it over polenta. In my continuing attempt to clear out our freezer, I mixed together some remaining green beans, broccoli and brussel sprouts and seasoned them with salt, pepper, garlic powder, butter and grated parmesan. Throw it all together and them's good eats! I think Doug was disappointed that I didn't take pictures of it last night when it was fresh and served on actual dinnerware. Sorry! I was lazy and in a crap mood at the time. Ah well.
Afternoon snack:
The last of the Pumped-up Pumpkin Cookies.
And? I tried the last of my new fitness DVDs this morning:
Another keeper. Even more so because it has the hottie from her Slim & Lean video. He totally winked at the camera at one point. And I let him get away with it because he's that hot. My goodness.
Aside from Craig's hotness, this was another good strength/cardio workout. The pace is different though because Jari makes you cooldown and do stretches at the end of every single interval, including the cardio intervals.
The cardio intervals are much shorter too (barely a minute or so?), but that's because they're super-intense, assuming you're using the aerobic step. I didn't think it was possible to do jumping jacks with that thing, but it is and it kinda sucks. But, I always feel I'm getting my money's worth when there's a good challenge, so thank you, Jari. I was worried that I would already be familiar with most of the cardio moves since it was an older release, but there was quite a bit of stuff I hadn't tried before. Jari really does try to keep people on their toes with each DVD and I love her for that.
As for the strength and resistance moves, pretty standard mix, but I would definitely recommend that you have a good variety of weights. She frequently switches between deadlifts (heavier), bicep curls (medium to heavy) and tricep extensions (light), so weight variety is pretty much required (the same can be said for all of her other DVDs, more or less).
My only complaint came when she mixed chest presses with chest flies. Other trainers on other DVDs do the same thing and it pisses me off every time. Why? Because I can use much heavier weights for chest presses, but hardly any weight for chest flies. So when you mix the two, I don't feel like I'm getting the full benefit because there's not enough time to swap out my weights. Ah well. That's probably just something me and my wussy arms will have to deal with.
There's also what Jari calls a "push-up party." Ugh. Seventy reps. She breaks them down into intervals of course, but that didn't make them any easier. I'm notorious for my history with push-ups (or lack thereof), so it's probably a good thing that she incorporates them into this workout. Yes, I've heard of the 100 push-up program. I've started, quit and re-started it a few times. I just hate push-ups, yo.
She closes with an ab routine before leading you into a good cooldown. And y'know what? The ENTIRE workout (including the warm-up and cooldown) comes in right at an hour. Usually her workouts stretch into 75 or even 80 minutes, so I was definitely glad to see that it did indeed stop at 60. On the weekends it's not a big deal, but on weekdays, I really do try to keep my morning workouts between 40 and 60 minutes, tops.
I'm done buying DVDs for the moment, haha. I'm really pleased with the new variety. Plenty of options to keep me motivated, especially in the strength/resistance department. Hooray for trying (and enjoying) new things!
