Booo! Get off the stage!

This Monday morning hasn't left the best taste in my mouth, but I'm trying to stick to the positive thinking. I've been trying to do that a lot lately... Sometimes I'm successful, and sometimes, not so much.

To start my workout this morning, I tried Jari Love's latest Body Rock DVD. Booooo. I'm sad to say I was not instantly stoked by this one. And really, that's my fault for knowing that it included dance routines (not a fan) and buying it anyway.

The first half is cardio moves led by Jari and her team (mostly knee ups and versions of jumping jacks done at ridiculous speeds) alternated with various dance moves led by some chick named Angie. So annoying. Salsa crap. "Jazz" crap. The only one I found tolerable was the Hip-hop routine because it was the least complicated and incorporated descent resistance and cardio. I was actually looking forward to the disco routine, but that was pretty crap too.

For the record, I can dance. I don't claim to be the best, but I's gots rhythm and I'm not afraid to swing my hips or, if necessary, thrust my pelvis. But dance-based workout routines, where you're expected to learn and master the moves in a couple of minutes? No thank you. I think I was more optimistic about the idea of dancing when I bought the DVD, but now, meh.

I was disappointed with the editing too. During the dance segments, the camera would cut off right above the dancers' knees, so I couldn't fucking see how or when to be kicking and/or stepping and to which sides.

And when it was time to switch back to Jari's cardio moves, the screen just cuts to them immediately, where everyone is already doing the moves at a fast pace; no introduction whatsoever.

After the first half hour (more like 24-25 minutes), Jari leads you into a cooldown stretch before moving on to the next segment, weights & abs. At this point, I turned off the DVD and went into my workout room to run 3 miles on the treadmill and get a real cardio workout. Since I had done Jackie Warner's Power Circuit DVD the day before, I wanted a break from strength & resistance. I'll go back and give the Weight & Abs routine a shot later, as some of the Amazon reviews agree that that's the better half of the DVD anyway.

I still have two other new [older] Jari DVDs to try, so hopefully those will be more in line with her usual format. Also, quick side note: I'm starting to love the Jackie Warner DVD btw, despite how sore it makes me... It's a lot better now that I know how fast you're expected to follow along.

After my let down of a workout, I was disappointed to learn that no, our campus was not in fact on any kind of snow delay, so I had to walk to work in the crummy weather. But it's not the first time and certainly not the last, so I'm over it.

On to breakfast...

Since I was in a bit of a crap mood, I almost bailed on taking pictures today, but finally decided I should since I wasn't having my usual bowl of oats. GASP!



Two turkey sausage links, pumpkin/egg "soufflé" and a banana.

Over the weekend, I pretty much ate all carbs (and didn't drink enough water), so today, I'm cutting back a bit ("bit" is the keyword here, people) on starchy foods where I can.





Basically, I microwaved 1/4 cup egg substitute, 1/4 cup canned pumpkin, splenda, cinnamon & nutmeg. The nutmeg almost ruined this dish! I don't know what possessed me to add it to an egg-based mix (I usually just add it to oats and sometimes, spinach), but I did and I regretted it immediately. Oh well. Next time? Cinnamon = good, nutmeg = bad.



I added a drizzle of sugar-free maple syrup to help out the flavor a bit and it did.



I was gonna skip the banana as part of the "less starch" approach, but it was ripe and calling my name.

Morning snack:



1/2 cup 0% Fage yogurt with 1/4 cup pineapple chunks. Packet of Barney Butter on the side (LOVE these portion-control packets!)

That's all for now. Lunch and afternoon snack post to follow later this afternoon. Hope everyone is having a good morning!

I could get used to this.

So my 3 mile run this morning turned into a 4 mile walk/jog/run. Eh, I'm cool with that. Had some good tunes playing, so I took advantage of being in the privacy of my own home and busted out plenty of air guitar, air drums and a handclap or two. Y'know, the types of things I can't really do at the gym without people thinking I've lost my marbles. Heh- 'losing my marbles.' What am I, 80 years old? Sheesh.

Anywho, I decided to do a quick breakfast post because, yes, it WAS that good:





In today's mix:

• 1/2 cup oats
• 1 small mashed banana
• 1/4 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/4 cup pineapple chunks
• 1 tbsp. unsweetened reduced fat coconut
• 1 tbsp. ground flax
• vanilla extract
• cinnamon
• nutmeg
• splenda

I guess I should make a quick note that I cook my oats with just over a cup of water. Sometimes I'll split the water with soy or almond milk, but usually just water is good enough for me.

After the run and LOTS of stretching (still sore. gah!), I headed for the shower. And for the first time in months, I actually kinda loved what I saw in the mirror. My response really was "Damn, I look good!" Overall, I was pleased- I didn't have the urge to immediately start picking myself apart and looking for flaws. I was genuinely happy with my appearance. And as my heart rate continued to come down from the run, I felt pretty damn good too. I'm not sure why I tried to fight this feeling so much before... Could've saved myself a lot of trouble.

I know my perception of myself will probably change weekly, but now, when I start to hate on my body, I'll just remember this day and how naturally positive I felt about myself, without even trying.

Perhaps this change is just part of the process of treating myself better... I've been taking the time to enjoy what I eat instead of fearing it and learning to appreciate what good workouts do for my body, besides burn calories. I *think* this is a big step, finally moving me away from weight-loss and/or weight maintenance and just being healthy. It's all new and tingly, but I ain't skeered ;D

Soreness and Spaghetti.

Oh. My. God. I am so incredibly SORE this morning! The majority of the Amazon reviews for Jackie Warner's Power Circuit Training DVD warned of pretty rough soreness the next day, but apparently I thought I was indestructible because I didn't think it would happen to me. Well, here I am, feeling a bit beat the fuck up, especially from the waist up. The good news? I can hold off on getting those 8 lbs. dumbbells I was going on about. If my arms are this wrecked after just using the 5 lbs. set, I think I'm good for a while, heh.

Another positive? The DVD is indeed effective and will only bring on better results with increased use. No buyer's remorse here!

That said, I'm starting off slow this morning and catching up on blog stuff before I run. Which will be a short one, btw. I'm aiming for 3 miles and that's about it. I wanna move around enough to help ease my current soreness, but I don't want to overdo it to the point where I make it worse. Using the treadmill at home today too, as to avoid the slick roads on the way to the gym. Anywho. Moving on!

Last night's dinner:

Doug was cool with my pasta & vodka sauce idea, so he measured out pasta and chopped some veggies (mushrooms, zucchini and onions) while we waited for the water to boil and I got started on the ground turkey.









And the final (rad!) results:



So good and all comfort food-y. Added a little bit of grated parmesan and we were good to go.

Dessert (not pictured) was half of a Santa Fe tortilla with a small mashed banana and cinnamon (an idea I got here yesterday afternoon) and 1/2 cup of Maggie Moo's Better Batter ice cream. A relaxing, cozy night at home, spent watching Aqua Teen Hunger Force, The Sarah Silverman Show, The Best Thing I Ever Ate and eating a big mess of pasta. Love.

That's all for now. I guess I should probably get that run out of the way so I can reward myself with a big bowl of oats. My bananas are ripe today, so the possibilities of mix-ins are endless. I'm torn between going the berry route, the pumpkin route, the cinnamon-apple route or the chocolate route. Hmm...

Hope everyone enjoys the weekend!

For breakfast this morning, I decided to add some cocoa powder to my oats:





Had to use my camera phone for these, so they're worse than usual. Also in the mix: vanilla extract, 2 tbsp. reduced-fat coconut, 1 tbsp. PB2, splenda and a splash of light vanilla soymilk.

Not bad! I'm patiently waiting for my bananas to ripen though, so I can have some hot chocolate-banana-PB2 oats action. Mmm.

Morning Snack:



1/2 cup 0% Fage yogurt and a jar of baby food (apples & cherries today- yum!)

Lunch:

My lunches the past couple of days have been pretty lazy, mostly because I'm trying to clear out some room in the freezer by finally eating the multiple sets of frozen veggies I stocked up on when they were on sale (i.e., broccoli with cheese, creamed spinach, brussel sprouts, etc.).





Today, I chose broccoli with a light cheese sauce and mixed in a can of tuna and some diced mushrooms. Yellow bell pepper strips on the side. Yes, many random choices. I was in a hurry this morning and all I could think of was "protein, veggies and maybe some more veggies." Tasty! I have no qualms about mixing random crap together for the sake of meeting certain needs (protein, fiber, etc.). I'm sure it weirds some people out, but my palate is pretty easy going (plus, it's hard to go wrong with meat and veggies covered in cheese sauce, am I right?).

Afternoon snack:



Baby carrots, jicama and some string cheese. Apparently I like to color-coordinate my snacks.

I have some ideas for dinner, but nothing set in stone. I pulled out some lean ground turkey from the freezer. I kinda want to just brown it with some onions and toss it in a big mess of pasta and vodka sauce (would probably add some diced zucchini, mushrooms and/or broccoli for extra roughage). We'll see. Not sure what Doug will be in the mood for, but it does seem like it's been a while since we've engaged in some hot pasta action. And I haven't had vodka sauce in years. How sad is that?

Power circuits, indeed.

Alrighty. It's FRIDAY! It wasn't a particularly hectic week, things just moved along rather quickly. I'll get to food pics in a later post because I have some new DVD feedback I want to get out of the way first!

This morning, I wasn't really in a running mood, but I was still excited to try my new Jackie Warner Power Circuit Training DVD.

I set up my dumbbells, popped in the DVD and selected the 40-minute Total Body Circuit. My overall reaction: This is a great strength training workout! It reminded of Jillian Michaels' No More Trouble Zones, only a bit more intense and WAAAAAY faster. When I do No More Trouble Zones, the whole workout seems to draaaaag out forever, which is exactly why I don't do it very often.

Jackie's DVD on the other hand moves through each interval like clockwork. In fact, that's probably the biggest con for me... I like that the 40 minutes flies by, but she moves through the reps a little too fast for me. None of the moves are particularly complicated, but I still would like a few extra seconds to make sure my form is right (especially since she's constantly blabbing about how important form is throughout the whole workout) and also to adjust my weights.

The reviews on Amazon led me to believe that there would be a good amount of cardio (I was expecting some plyometrics), but there wasn't any at all. I think because you do a lot of reps so quickly, your heart rate does get raised a bit to where it feels like you just did a bit of cardio, but the moves themselves are all centered around resistance and strength training.

I used my 5 pound dumbbells most of the time, but tried to switch to my 10 pound set when I could. That was probably another part that kinda irritated me- trying to determine which weight to use to get the best results. Since it was my first time going through everything though, that lack of knowledge was to be expected. That said, I think I need a pair of 8 pound weights. Sometimes the 5's felt a bit too light, but the 10's were too heavy. There was also a circuit with deadlifts where I wanted to use my super-heavy set (I think they're 15 or 20 pounds?), but of course, didn't have time to grab them from the other room.

The format of each circuit is like this: One minute each of three different moves, then you close with a "Power" mini circuit, where you repeat all three moves back-to-back, quickly and with less reps.

She breaks it down into lower body (think various squats and lunges), then moves into upper body (working biceps, triceps and shoulders) and then the last 3 circuits each focus on abs (upper, lower and obliques). I HATED the ab circuits, but I know I'll love the results if I keep up with them. Her goal is to fatigue all of your muscles a bit and my abs were pretty much dead by the end of it.

Despite moving through everything too fast, I'm definitely happy to have this DVD in my collection. I like having a strength training workout that goes by quickly because, as we all know, I just don't like strength/resistance workouts. I love what they do for my body though, so I'm glad I have a new one that I don't hate and will actually be motivated to do more often. I think I'll get more out of it once I have some 8 pound weights and become more familiar with the format.

There's also four individual 15 minute workouts that each focus on upper body, lower body, abs and total body. I'm thinking on Sunday, when I have more time (and if I'm not incredibly sore still), I'll go though each circuit individually to see how it differs from doing the condensed 40 minute version.

I worked up a good sweat and when it was over, I suddenly became aware of how much I worked my arms and my abs. In fact, when I looked in the mirror, I pretty much expected to see a new six pack because the ab circuit seemed so brutal. I dunno, maybe I'm just a wuss in that regard. I did feel strong and buff afterward too, which led to a much-needed positive body mood.

All in all, I'm pleased with Jackie as a trainer and am looking forward to getting more toned and cut by adding this DVD into my regular rotation. Score!

New Blog FAQ

For those interested, I finally finished/published a new FAQ page. I started on it months ago and decided to finish it since I've been getting more questions recently. Keep 'em coming!

Wrap Rap.

For dinner last night, I was in the mood for some eggs (or some egg substitute, rather). Since I've been on my oatmeal/greek yogurt/cottage cheese kick for breakfast the past several weeks, I decided it was high time I show my All Whites carton some love.

I threw some fresh spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic/onion powder, kosher salt and black pepper in a pan to cook down. Then I added the egg whites:



Meanwhile, I prepped a Santa Fe Tortilla with some mozzarella and feta:



Once the egg stuff was done, I plopped it onto the tortilla, folded it in half and returned it to the pan for some hot, crispy grilling action:



Final results:





Good grief, I need a better camera. Anywho. It was deeeelish! Super-drippy though, thanks to all the moisture from the veggies and egg whites. I tried to let it all cook off as much as I could, but I didn't want to burn it either. Ah well. Quick, tasty, filling meal.

And for dessert, I just wanted something small and rich, so I headed to the pantry and found these lil' hotties:







I savored each bite. I would have preferred some Peanut Butter & Co. PB, but that stuff is like crack and not particularly safe for me to keep in the house. So instead, I buy Skippy and PB2. This way, I have PB around when I want a reasonable serving, but I'm not obsessed with the flavor to the point where I want to eat it out of the jar with a big-ass spoon (see PB & Co.'s white chocolate and dark chocolate varieties. Holy funbags. Orgasm in a jar).

Some day I'll feel safer around certain foods, but I'm not quite there yet. Baby steps.

Not pictured is the onion ring I ate at quiz and the Yoplait Red Velvet Cake yogurt I had before bed.

We got home later than usual, so I slept in until 6 am this morning and skipped my planned yoga workout. Ah well. I've been slightly drained this week, so it's a well-deserved day off. Tomorrow, I'll either head to the gym or try out my latest DVD:



The reviews on Amazon list breakdowns of all the moves that are covered, so I think it'll be a pretty good workout. Plus, her abs terrify me, so that's probably a good sign that it'll be effective. I'm not expecting it to be as intense as the Jari Love DVD, but hopefully it'll come close.

Probably won't post any new food pics for today. Just feeling lazy and kinda blah. Doug's having dinner with his parents tonight, so I'll be on my own. Not sure if I want to whip up something with beans or just skip cooking altogether and head to Subway... Hmm...

And, what the crap, tomorrow's Friday already? Seems like yesterday was just Monday. Anywho. Hope everyone's week is gong well!

Push now, pumpkin later.

Oh my goodness. Tackled another 5 miles this morning. Had to take a few walking breaks though, so my final time was 51:00. Not too shabby, by my standards. Seeing 49:00 would be even better... Someday. Sooner rather than later, I'm thinkin'.

I was even going to stop at 4 miles, but after about a minute or so of some internal flip-flopping, I finally said "Fuck it, let's just go for 5!" And I did. And more importantly, I didn't die in the process.

So that makes 10 miles so far this week. Definitely taking an active rest day tomorrow and just sticking to some yoga. Then, either Friday or Saturday, I'll see if I can crack 15 miles. Pretty sure I can, but we'll see where my motivation is as the week comes to a close. Breaking up the distance into shorter amounts over the course of more days is also an option, but that would mean running more often in place of other types of workouts and I'd rather not go that route. Right now, I'm just challenging myself to see how much I can run in one session. Being able to tackle 6 or 7 in one day would be pretty awesome, but we'll see how long my dedication lasts, haha.

On to visual food stuffs.

Breakfast:



Bowl of pumpkin oatmeal. Made with 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup canned pumpkin, 1 tbsp. ground flax, 2 tbsp. reduced fat unsweetened coconut, cinnamon, vanilla extract & nutmeg. Soooo delicious! I think mashed banana or some pineapple chunks would've been a tasty addition, so I'll have to try that in the future.

Morning snack:







Plain 0% Chobani with baby food mixed in (apples, pears & bananas). It's not the prettiest snack, but it's damn tasty!

Lunch:



I had some leftover Cabbage Roll Casserole sitting in the freezer and decided to finish it off for lunch. I added chopped yellow squash to this batch. Not much to look at, but it's one of my favorite recipes!





Deep chocolate vitatop for dessert (so glad I was able to buy these at Costco yesterday- soooo much cheaper than buying them online or at the regular grocery stores!).

Afternoon Snack:





Just some bell pepper and jicama strips, baby carrots & some light string cheese.

No clue what dinner will consist of. We're going to pub quiz tonight, so I'll either slap something quick together at home or possibly eat something at McCabe's. Between their salads, sandwiches and appetizer dishes, there's still quite a bit that I haven't tried yet, so I may/may not venture out. We'll see.

Taco-flavored kisses.

Threw together some pork tacos tonight. For coming up with the idea at the last minute, these turned out pretty damn tasty! (Quick to prepare, too.)



Diced pork with onions, zucchini, mushrooms and a splash of some Wild 'n' Mild sauce:



I found out about this stuff from Tina at Carrots 'N' Cake. She had some promo coupon code a while back and I was able to snag a couple of bottles for super cheap. It's the 'wild' blend, so it's definitely got some heat. I just added a tiny bit- probably not even a tablespoon for the whole pan- and it gave it just the right amount of kick.

Since we were going with a Mexican theme, I had Doug mix me up a Tequila Sunrise:



Made with some sugar-free orange drink mix. Gotta love that stuff when making calorie-conscious cocktails. Tasted great!

And finally, the finished product, served on grilled corn tortillas with diced tomatoes on top:



I ended up topping each one with a dab of light sour cream to ease the heat a bit. Tasty! Doug made his into burritos and added shredded cheese. Great dinner, but next time, we both agreed that some diced pineapple would be awwwwesome. Ah well. Next time!

Guilt and cramps and running, oh my.

What better way to start a Monday morning than with food guilt and menstrual cramps? Huzzah! Actually, I'm trying to be in as good a mood as I can. Yesterday's eating sucked. I started the day off right with a 30 Day Shred workout and my oatmeal, but the rest of the day quickly turned into nothing but chocolate candy, cashews, chips and ice cream. On the upside, I stopped myself before reaching that painful level of fullness. But I used a silly holiday as an excuse to feast on more crap, even though I had already indulged the day before.

Gah. Oh well. Beating myself up never accomplishes anything, so here I am, pushing forward and moving on. I woke up at 4:30 this morning and decided to get out of bed and head to the gym. My original plan was to sleep until 5 and just work out at home, but once I woke up earlier, I figured going to the gym would be a better choice.

I was the only person in the cardio room for almost 30 minutes, so it was nice to enjoy the quiet alone time. I ran a warm-up mile, then switched to incline training. I alternated that with running in 10 minute intervals until I cracked 5 miles.

Thanks to all of the extra sugar in my system, I was able to push myself out of my 4-mile comfort zone and kick up my distance a bit. I've ran 5 miles before, but it's been a loooong time since I last tried. Although I was still feeling a bit guilty about my bad food weekend, I couldn't help but feel proud of myself for cracking 5 miles before 6 am. It's nice to feel that sense of accomplishment early in the day.

I'm a bit more motivated to try and do another 5 miles on Wednesday. If I nix the incline walks, I could cut my time down a lot too (this morning, it took me between 55 and 57 minutes to finish, but that was with 20 minutes of walking during the inclines).

My speed is getting better again (6 mph is now my 'jogging' or 'warm-up' pace, versus 5 mph). I'm averaging about a 9:30/mile, but would like to work it down to a 9 min. mile. I'm not too concerned with getting much faster than that. I'm not training for a marathon, so I'm not going to kill myself by trying to get down to 8 or 7 min. miles. As a personal fitness goal, 9 minutes (or as close as I can get) would be pretty sweet. Overall, I'm still just happy to be running, period. For several years, even going back to my childhood, I couldn't run because I was too heavy and out of shape. I've only been running for about a year, so I still get excited at the thought of being able to run X minutes non-stop.

Anywho, the run left me feeling pretty good all morning until I got to work and sat down at my desk. Those time-of-the-month cramps seem to hit almost immediately, thus crushing my mood a bit. But I don't like being in pissy moods, so onward with the positive thoughts! Take that, hormones!

After the gym, I came home and mixed my usual Chocolate SuperFood with water.

Then, for breakfast:



bowl of oatmeal made with 1/2 cup oats, 1 banana, 1 tbsp. ground flax, 1 tbsp. PB2, cinnamon and 2 tbsp. reduced-fat shredded coconut (forgot the vanilla extract again, dang it!).

Once I use up the last banana tomorrow, I'll probably switch to pumpkin as a new mix-in. I'm totally on an oatmeal kick right now, as boring as that may seem. I can't help it though; I love experimenting with the mix-ins and the stuff has been holding me over for hours, which is especially helpful on weekdays. I'm just gonna keep eating it until I get sick of it. That said though, I think I need to make a trip to Costco after work and buy some oats in bulk; the canister I have now will no doubt be empty in a few days.

Snack:



1/4 cup fat-free cottage cheese with about 1/2 cup blueberries.

Lunch:







1 Good Grains bagel from Eisten Bros., spinach, turkey slices, reduced fat provolone and red bell peppers. Pear on the side. This sandwich actually ended up tasting way better than I thought it would! I've never tried the Good Grains bagel before, but it has this subtle sweetness to it that complements the turkey and bell peppers really well. And of course, it was super-hearty, making it a filling meal. I'm glad I saved it for a sandwich instead of just toasting it and slapping on some cream cheese (though I'm sure that wouldn't have been half bad either). Maybe it's just been too long since I last had a bagel sandwich, but I was really happy with this. It was simple, yet it still made me have one of those "I LOVE FOOD!" moments.

Snack:



Jazz apple.

Dinner pics to come later tonight or tomorrow. Hope everyone had a great weekend!