Intervals Work!

Happy Football Sunday!
 I'm headed out the door soon to get some cardio time in at the gym while the boy keeps the couch warm watching football ;)
Today's cardio is an interval set that I found online:

It's not easy and I don't do it often because the constant change in incline triggers some discomfort in an old soccer injury, but it is a great cardio blast on days when you don't have a lot of time. (Which is pretty much every day...)


 Oh, and here is another picture to remind you of how I feel about running...
  
Definitely don't see eye to eye but it's going to give me the results that I want!

After the gym I am going to hit up my favorite Publix (if you live in FL you know that some are better than others) and pick up the remaining items to complete my meal planning for the week. I already have most of the items but I found some great clean eating recipes online so I am making another trip to Publix and maybe Whole Foods this afternoon. 
I'll post my Meal Menu for the both of us later (with some pics). 
Have a great and fit Sunday!
 

Eat Clean Til Halloween: Challenge ACCEPTED

Okay, I'll be honest - I did not come up with that cute little tag line in the title. I was lurking on Instagram when I saw it hashtagged under a really fit girls picture. So my naturally competitive self thought, "Hey, I can do that!" (And you know YOU want to, too!)

If you know anything about the TV show, How I Met Your Mother, you'll get the "Challenge Accepted" in the title. (Oh how I love Barney!)

In case you don't know what eating clean means per say, here's my understanding (and what I plan on doing). Eating clean means eating unprocessed, whole, natural foods such as fruits, vegetables, quinoa, and beans. Basically anything that is man-made is not "clean". 

I guess I'm in an honest mood tonight because I'm going to share my food faux pas from earlier today. I may or may not have raided my student's snack cabinet at school today. So I consumed more than my usual amount of processed foods. These delicious but terrible treats included fruit snacks, rice crispie treat (oh yea, I went there), and some mini chocolates. Can you tell that I'm a little stressed at work? 

I'm really excited to start this eating clean challenge. I went to the gym today but I ended up with a bad headache from all the junk I ate earlier. I had to take 4 ibuprofen to kick it. In hindsight I wish I would have just made better food choices. I could have avoided a headache AND taking medicine.
 Due to my moment(s) of food weakness today I decided that I would benefit from jump starting my clean eating challenge with a detox this weekend. I plan on doing a 48hour detox that starts with drinking warm(ish) lemon water and involves juicing fruits and vegetables for main meals and drinking tea during the day to curb some of the hunger. You can also eat some Miso soup during the day if your hunger is too great. I learned about this detox from the book by Dr. Gillian McKeith, You are what you eat. I strongly suggest borrowing or buying a copy. It's an easy read and SO great. I could talk about that book for a whole post in itself, so I'll stop now before I get off track. :) 

I'm going to the store on Friday after work so I can pick up what I need for my detox weekend and food for my first week of clean eating. I'll post pictures, recipes, and explanations of everything that I do/buy. Please ask questions if you have any! 

Detoxing and eating clean is SO beneficial to your body. Everyone could use a good detoxing every now and again. Eating clean is a lifestyle choice that you could start with this challenge. Baby steps for now. If you are piling up on processed foods (i.e. things that you microwave and come in a cardboard box) then you might give this a try. I promise you will have more energy, better SKIN, and a whole different outlook on what food can do for you. It's the only body that you will ever get. Treat it RIGHT!

Do the right thing and SUIT UP (another HIMYM reference) with EATING CLEAN TIL HALLOWEEN!
 

Food Frenzy

I just wanted to share some of the cooking that went on in my kitchen today in preparation of a new work week! I have to say that I am mighty proud of what I accomplished in a few short hours.

Here's a list of what made/did:

1.  Chopped up all of my veggies: cucumbers, zucchini, onions, and red pepper.
2. Marinated and grilled a portobello mushroom for my mushroom burger
3. seared a steak and roasted some potatoes (for the boyfriend)
4. Prepared some mock "tuna" salad for the week. 
5. Banana bread using our spoiling bananas.

I took some photos :)

I'm pretty proud of every thing I accomplished being as though I don't feel great. Do what you can with what you have :-)

Man, I really stink at blogging!

Ya digging the honesty? :D

Well, it turns out that I am terrible at blogging. But in light of a newly formed resolve, I'll try to get better at it. 
Here's an update:
Summer is over and I have successfully made it through the first two weeks of school. I am giving myself a well deserved "thumbs up" for this accomplishment. However, I have NOT successfully made it to the gym consistently in the past two weeks. I cringe to actually admit the embarrassingly low number of times that I moved my body (outside of dancing with the kids every morning - which does in fact make you sweat) since school started. But here it is: 3. That's right only 3 times. 
Guess how awesome I feel? (Please tell me someone picked up on the sarcasm)

I feel "bleh". Which is actually a sound that people make and not actually an adjective. But if you're used to working out 4-5 times a week and you haven't had the time or energy lately, then you know how "bleh" feels. So, here's the question, what do I do now? I can continue to ABHOR the reflection in the mirror OR I can pick up my head and do something about it. 
I choose option B.

I figure since this is a new month it is particularly good timing to get back into a fitness routine. After all, the school year isn't going to slow down for a few more months. I need to get my body back into a routine and get my time management back in check. So, tomorrow it's on! 

Now here is a potentially helpful tip (and not my whining):
I typically spend my Sunday's (not resting) preparing for the week ahead. Whether it be lesson plans or food or outfits, I try to be as ready for the week as possible. This usually starts off with a clean house. My control freak side possesses my body and convinces me that I absolutely cannot even think about starting a new work week with a dirty home. So, I make sure the house is clean, laundry is done, shopping is done, and food has been chopped and tupperware-ed up. (This include portioning). THIS is the part of my old routine that I did not let go. I still pack super healthy lunches and snacks so I can make it through the week and don't have to worry about preparing something when I am late in the morning (every day). This week the planning day will be tomorrow being as though it's Labor day and I am not working. :)
The other day I planned out all of the meals that I was going to make for myself and the BF this week for dinner and got all of the ingredients. I hate those mid week trips to the store more than anything! They exhaust me and then make me feel like there isn't enough time to workout.  
Here's what I have planned for this week for breakfast/lunches/snacks: (Because which teacher actually has time to sit and eat a FULL lunch?!)

Tuesday: 
 Breakfast: Banana and soy yogurt
Lunch: Asparagus, hearts of palm, and tomato salad with a dijon dressing. 
Snack: Cucumber slices with "cream cheese"  and baked zucchini chips

Wednesday:
Breakfast: Banana and soy yogurt
Lunch: carrot "pasta" with Parmesan "cheese", red onions, and peas
Snack: More cucumber slices and "cream cheese" (I'm a creature of habit)

Thursday:
Breakfast: Fruit smoothie called the "Skinny Green Monster" I found it online and it uses spinach, almond milk, peanut butter, frozen strawberries, blueberries, and a banana.  
Lunch: Veggie burger salad (basically heat up a veggie burger and mix together the vegetables in the fridge. I guarantee this salad will have some cucumbers, carrots, shredded veggie cheese, onions, and a vinaigrette of some sort)
Snack: roasted chickpeas and soy yogurt

Friday:
Breakfast: Peanut butter and banana wrap (Spread 1 TBSP of PB on a wrap and slice up a banana)
Lunch: quinoa and wild rice blend, black beans, salsa, and Tofutti sour cream
Snack: Baked Lentil chips (Sooo good) and soy yogurt

If you're interested in details on how to make any of these meals/snacks, just let me know!

Just remember that if you have a change in the normal day to day that it's okay. Don't beat yourself up. Choose to reclaim control over your schedule and make time to do the things that are important to you. You'll feel a million times better afterwards. *Endorphins!!*

Well, Hello There, JUICER!!!

Let me just be honest. I bought my juicer WEEKS ago. I was too afraid to use it... (Yes, I was afraid of an appliance. No judging, please.) I even bought tons of fruit and vegetables... and still nothing. Until this morning!
I'll just come clean, I HAD to use it or my produce would have gone bad. So, I "manned up" and googled a juicing recipe, boycotted that because I didn't even have all of the ingredients and juiced up my very first concoction.
It came out a weird green/orange color.
It was still DELICIOUS.
Here's what I used:
1/2 apple (Next time I will use a whole apple cause I omitted the celery - didn't have any in the house)
3 carrots
1 cup spinach
1/2 cucumber

It was surprisingly refreshing. If you don't look into the color too much then it's just a satisfying beverage to get your day started. Especially post run (see previous post about my "successful" morning run.)
I'm going to spend some of my day off today experimenting with juicing possibilities. I will (hopefully) keep you updated on the successes and the failures of my juicing adventures. :)

Morning Run

It has previously been established (if you've read my only other post) that I don't necessarily like to run. Unfortunately it is one of the only forms of exercise that gives me results. No pain, no gain. This morning I had the puppy with me (Hades) so I decided to treat him with some exercise as well. (He had already been up for hours before me and was dying to go out.)
You know those days when you wake up and you think to yourself, "Oy, this is not going to be a good workout day." You just don't feel right. Well, this morning was one of those mornings. I have never been a fan of morning workouts to begin with. My body just doesn't seem to recognize that it's time to MOVE. But since I had this rare day off and I knew that rest of the day would get away from me without a workout. I went for a "run". I decided to get smart, I knew that if I took off running (in the Florida morning heat) right off the bat that I would surely come to my breaking point all too quick. So, I let the puppy get all of his smelling and lawn watering out for about 1/2 a mile and then started out on my jog.
It still sucked.
I have never been a long distance runner by any means. My typical run usually takes me from 2-3 miles. (I told you I'm no runner.) Today's 2 miler was a .... you know. I could immediately feel my legs getting heavier and that familiar knot in my right side (scar tissue from surgery 5 years ago) getting tighter and tighter. Jeez, if I didn't have this hyper dog with me, I would have shamefully quit LONG before I did. Luckily, this big boy (Hades) can run. He kept us going at a decent pace - aside from his NONSTOP sniffing and territory marking- for about 2 miles. Then I think the heat got him and he really slowed down. I let him rest for 30 seconds and then my Garmin (finally) beeped for the second time telling us that we had made it 2 miles. Oh good, now we get to walk the last mile home. :-/

Point is, I did it. I didn't want to. Not even a little. But I got up, put on my shoes, and left the house. That's all it really takes, too. Just putting on the shoes and leaving the house. It's all downhill from there. The fact that my workout is over for the day is the ONLY reason that I somewhat support morning workouts. Now I have the rest of the day to bore you with blogs (haha) or actually do planning for the last 8 days of school. Just remember, no matter how much you don't want to exercise, when it's over you always feel better. So go out and run (or keep the dog from eating other dogs like me), jump around, go on a walk and look for new places to rent (you know you're moving like me soon, too), or bike or take a class. Movement is key. I promise you won't regret it.

Hey, why not?

I am not the greatest blog writer to be honest. I typically forget that I even have one. However, I've been asked for food and fitness tips from several of my friends so I figured maybe someone else could benefit as well.

I am by NO means a fitness professional or a nutritionist. I just like to try new ways to get fit and I like to experiment in the kitchen. If any of this interests you, here are some things you should know off the bat.

I am a mid-twenties, chocolate obsessed, running opposed, exercise lover. Let me clarify, I'm a girl so I love chocolate (duh), I am NOT a natural born runner so its hard for me and as a result I don't make it long distances but I do it because it gives me results. I LOVE to exercise. Some days I hate it, some days I am just too tired to put my shoes on. But I always feel amazing whenever I'm done. Expect several blogs about failed exercise experiences and some successful ones. Haha.

I have dietary... limitations. I have GERD. It's just a fancy acronym for acid reflux. So, I experiment with foods that are healthy and won't aggravate my condition. When you notice the lack of fried chicken recipes, don't be surprised. :)