Sunday 7/31/2011

Today's work out is brought to you from bodyrock.tv. It's their 300 reps of brutality workout. It's amazing and you start to feel it just a short time into the workout. I'm not feeling the best today (got some sinus thing going on) so I'm spreading the workout through out the afternoon. If I can do 2 sets of each exercise at a time, I'm good. I plan on picking up the pace this week. I don't have a week of driving 3 hrs a day like last week and the only thing I have to do away from the house is Wednesdays school registration for the kiddies. So I'm running on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Monday and Thursday I'll do upper body workouts. Tuesday and Friday I'll work the lower body. Wednesday and Saturday I'll do total body (pilates?) workouts. Sunday I'll rest. I've got 20 days till my 5k and due to last weeks craziness I'm a week behind in training. So instead of 3 days of running, I'm doing 4. Instead of exercising 5 days a week, I'm doing 6.

So for today hop over to Bodyrock.tv and take a lookie at their 300 reps of brutality video. Give it a try. It consists of:

lunge and twist; 5 sets of 10

Dive Bomper Burpee; 5 sets of 10

Jumping lunge and swing; 5 sets of 10

Planck, jump and knee tuck; 5 sets of 10

Sumo squats; 5 sets of 20

Weigh-in Wednesday...but on Thursday

Sorry I'm a day late. The past week has been crazy with running my son to his civil air patrol activities. Between that and trying to keep up with my classwork my hopes for the week just didn't pan out. So I'm going to start planning out next week. Tired of floundering and need to get my schedule straight.

So here's this week's results.

Weight; 177, down 3lbs from last week. I knew last weeks gain was just water.

Neck; up 0.8"

Shoulders; down 0.3"

Chest; down 0.2"

Waist; down 0.3"

Hips; up 0.1"

Thighs; down 0.3"

Calves; down 0.2"

Biceps; up 0.2"

Arms; down 0.2"

all for a total of 0.4 inches lost.

Normally I would of ignored the small numbers but I was curious to see where they added up to see if I could tell where the 3lb lost came from. So for this week a 3lb weight loss equals only nearly 1/2 an inch in size. Well, a loss is a loss no matter how big or small. I'll take what I can get.

So later today I'll post today's workout. I will do one, I'm just not sure what I'll do just yet. I've been up since 4:30 and running around since 5:30. I'm about to eat a snack of eggs and cheese because my energy is dragging already and I've got a whole day ahead of me to go.

A Crappy Couple of Days

The past two or three days haven't been good exercise/eating wise. I've been eating poorly (2 much junk/sugar) and so I've not had the energy to exercise. Lack of exercising has been making my energy drag as well (I think) so I find myself reaching for a soda or a sweet snack to hopefully perk myself up so that I can make it through the day. I know it won't work and some of it's out of habit. So starting today I'm going to do a week of no-sugar (though I did have a 1/2 teaspoon of honey on my Uncle Sam's cereal this morning). I need this, I need to get out of this cycle. It's been a rough couple of days, my concentration is lagging so I'm getting behind on school work. I'm struggling to do half of the workouts I want to do, I need to do. I know better. I just don't know why I slide back into the bad habits so easily.

So, yep a week of no-sugar. I know over at Fit, Fabulous, Forever, Gale is getting ready to do a 2-month no-sugar challenge beginning August 1st I believe. "Like" her facebook page to catch the details. I don't know if I'm up for two months worth. However I can do one week. Maybe I'll try for a week a month. That does sound like a plan, I'll have to give it some serious thought.

Well, no workouts really today. I do plan on going for a run, maybe, and doing some crunches and chin ups. I may do a mini circuit...just to get my mind-set right. I hate when I go off of trying to be healthy. I feel like I'm flailing, I'll get back on track today. I refuse to wait till tomorrow, because tomorrow is too late. I've done years of "I'll do it tomorrow" thing is that there are too many tomorrows and not enough todays. So starting now I'm going to try to say I'll start today (and do it). Have a blessed Sunday dear readers and stay tuned I'll post my work out plan for tomorrow and maybe even get a meal plan together.

"If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail."

— Harvey MacKay

Breakfast Swap Challenge

Over at Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans, they're doing a one week breakfast swap challenge. You swap your breakfast (or start eating breakfast if you're one of those who don't) with Uncle Sam cereal for one week. So I'm going to give this a try, beginning tomorrow because it's already past breakfast time today. Click on the button in this blog or on the sidebar here --->

to go to Attune foods website for a coupon for a free box. Also go to Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans and join the challenge as well.

Weigh-in Wednesday.

Today's weigh-in I have mixed feelings about. Some of my measurements have had no change compared to those I took at the end of May. The rest have small decreases. I have to think though, Most of June I did nothing. I didn't workout, I didn't even attempt to eat right. I'm pretty lucky, I guess to have any changes at all and that the changes are not increases. For my measurements the ones I marked as no change most of those did have some change (all were decreases) but if it was less then 1/2 an inch I counted it as no change. So here is what I found this morning:

Weight; 180 (yes up a pound, it is that time of month and I'm retaining some water so I'm not upset about this)

Neck; no change

Shoulders; no change

Chest; no change

Waist; down 1/2"

Hips; down 1"

Thighs; down 1"

Calves; no change

Biceps; no change

Arms; no change

Some of those I would of swore had big changes, especially my arms. I can see my biceps and shoulders popping out a bit when I workout. I hate that I let a month slide by, think of how great these numbers would of been. You always feel guilt if you don't work out, you never feel guilt if you do. That is my motto for those days when I feel like I just don't want to move. Today was gonna be one of those days until I saw those numbers, now I'm going to rock my workout. There are NO good excuses...

Today's Workout

I think I'll call this the Take That Mother Nature workout. Yep, it's that time of month. Feeling tired, crampy, and so not in the mood for doing much. However, I'm not going to let it get me down. I've been doing too good to let a little thing like Auntie Flow get in my way. So here's the plan for today, I've even linked to some YouTube videos for you so you know what to do:

Standing shoulder press w/ band, both arms; 3 sets of 12

Standing side raises w/ band, alternating arms; 3 sets of 8

Standing front raise w/ band, both arms; 3 sets of 8

Standing barbell (or dumbbell) military press; 4 sets of 10

Standing dumbbell side raises, both arms; 4 sets of 10

Standing close grip low row w/band; 3 sets of 10

On ball band lat pulldown; 3 sets of 10

Prone cobra; 3 sets of 10

Prone iso abs (planks) on knees; 3 sets of 30

Just a note, some of the videos aren't the exact exercise. I chose some to represent the exercise as close as I could.

I'm doing The Biggest Loser Cardio Max workout for cardio today.

Bent over dumbbell rows; 3 sets of 12

Pull ups (okay I'm going to attempt these, I've not been able to yet); 3 sets to failure

Dumbbell laterals (side raises); 3 sets of 10

Dumbbell shoulder press; 3 sets of 8

Band should press; 2 sets of 10

Tricep pushdown w/ band; 3 sets of 8

Bench( or chair) dips w/ feet elevated; 3 sets of 10

Barbell(or dumbbell) curls; 3 sets of 8

Preacher curls on ball; 2 sets of 10 and 1 set to failure

Also for the challenges I'm currently doing there is 25 crunches and still attempting to do at least one chin up. So that's it for today. Easy, right? My first race in many years is coming in 32 days. I'm going to be in good shape by then, I hope. I also have a 15 year high school reunion coming in 6-7 weeks. I want to look great for that and I will as long as I keep going strong.

Today's It's-Monday-So-Don't-Feel-Like-Doing-Much Workout

I'm calling this a lazy day. I did my day 3 of week 3 of the couch to 5k program. Then I did the following workouts. I also did 25 extra crunches because of a challenge I'm doing with HealthyFitFamilies.com . A great website by the way, so head over there and give them some love. I've also been attempting to do a chin up. I've been trying all day long. Just.Can't.Seem.To.Pull.My.Self.Up.... I read one article that had a slow step by step plan to doing one. It recommends hanging for 30 seconds or more before and after workouts. Well, I'm trying to speed things up so I hang from the bar every time I walk by it. It's hanging on the doorway between my bathroom and bedroom. Given the amount of water I drink, I walk by quite often and am bound to have blisters soon. I'm determined to pull myself up though.

Dumbbell Squat With Ball	3	10	Legs
Dumbbell Straight Legged Deadlift	3	10	Legs
Standing High Cable Chest Press Both Arms	4	15	Chest
Static Lunge	4	8	Legs
Adductor Side Steps	4	8	Legs
Standing Chest Fly With Band One Arm	4	12	Chest
Laying on Bench Dumbbell Flys Both Arms	4	12	Chest
Standing Bicep Curl With Band Both Arms	4	15	Arms
Standing Triceps Extension With Band Both Arms	4	10	Arms
Laying on Ground Abdominal Crunches Hands by Head 4 12 abs

Whole Wheat Crepes with Cottage Cheese and Pumpkin filling

Whole Wheat Crepes w/ Cottage Cheese and Pumpkin filling drizzled with honey

These went over real well with my bunch. My youngest ate his in like two minutes and was asking for more before I had a chance to finish serving everyone else. I love it when something I'm not too sure of ends up being a a hit. These aren't real healthy(or clean) due to having a bit of powdered sugar. However, I think they would be great for an occasional treat.

Whole Wheat Crepes w/ Cottage Cheese & Pumpkin Filling

6 servings: 373 calories, 85 fat calories, 10g Fat, 137 mg Cholesterol; 425mg Sodium; 56g Carbohydrates; 9g Dietary Fiber; 8g Sugars; 20g Protein

For Crepes:

3 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups 2% milk

1 1/2 cups of water (or just use 3 1/2 cups skim milk)

1 tbsp oil

2 tsp cinnamon

4 eggs (beaten)

1/2 tsp salt

Mix together flour, salt, cinnamon. Add milk, water, oil, eggs. Mix well. Batter should be fairly watery. If it's too thick add more liquid.

Cook in hot skillet. Add about 1/2 cup of batter to skillet and swirl around to thinly spread on skillet. Cook for about 1-2 minutes on first side, until it's set. Then flip and cook for about 30 seconds on other side. Repeat for each crepe.

For Filling:

1 1/2 cups pumpkin

1 cup cottage cheese

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp powdered sugar

Mix together and place about 1-2 tablespoons off center on crepe. Roll crepe and place in a baking dish. Repeat for each one.

Take rolled crepes and place in oven at 300 degrees for about 10 minutes to make sure filling and crepe are warm. You could eat it with the filling cold if you wanted to, I'm sure. I just like crepes better warm. Serve with topping of choice.

TGIF Workout

It's Friday so I've got to kick today's workout up a notch. I don't usually workout over the weekend except for a run on Saturday mornings. So, for today, nothings optional. I've got to make sure I maintain all the hard work I've done all week. I've worked too hard to let it go to waste for two days. So to kick the weekend off here's today's plan:

Squats; 2 sets of 12

Concentrated Curl; 2 sets of 12

Seated dumbbell military press; 4 sets of 15

Hammer curls; 2 sets of 12

Shrugs; 2 sets of 12

Standing upright row with band; 3 sets of 10

Standing calf raise; 2 sets of 12

Standing Full range lateral raise w/ band; 3 sets of 10

Barbell curl; 2 sets of 12

Standing close grip high rows w/band; 3 sets of 15

Standing overhead cable pull down with band; 4 sets of 10

Reverse grip pull down with band; 2 sets of 12

Regular grip pull down with band; 2 sets of 12

Step ups; 2 sets of 12

Dead lift; 2 sets of 12

Cable(band) seated row; 2 sets of 12

Hyperextension on ball; 2 sets of 12

Plank on knees; 5 sets of 20

Ab crunches w/ hands by head; 5 sets of 20

and for later just for fun...

Leg extensions with band; 7 sets to failure

Dumbbell lunges; 3 sets to failure

Leg press with band; 3 sets to failure

Walking lunges; 1 set to failure

Stair stepper (will be doing step ups instead) w/ dumbbell; 10 minutes

Jump lunges; 3 sets to failure

Step ups w/ dumbbell; 10 minutes

Today's Killer Workout

Why is today's workout going to be a killer? Mostly because I didn't do yesterdays and so I'm doubling up today. So here's today's plan:

Week 3 Day one of Couch to 5k

Bench press(well, on ball dumbbell press actually) 2 sets of 12

Twisting Situp: 2 sets of 12

Dips 2 sets of 12

Lat raise 2 sets of 12

Dumbbell Chest Fly: 2 sets of 12

Reverse Crunch: 2 sets of 12

Tricep overhead extension: 2 sets of 12

Dumbbell front raise: 2 sets of 12

incline bench press: 2 sets of 12

ab curls: 2 sets of 12

tricep pushdown(with bands): 2 sets of 12

Dumbbell shoulder press: 2 sets of 12

Side crunch: 2 sets of 12

and then...

Front Ball Squats: 3 sets of 10

Static Side Lunge: 3 sets of 8

Resistance band leg press: 4 sets of 15

Sumo Ball Squat: 3 sets of 10

Dumbbell leg curl: 3 sets of 12

Resistance band leg extension: 4 sets of 15

Standing incline Chest Press w/ band: 1 set of 30

On ball tricep extension with band: 1 set of 30

Ab crunches with hands straight up: 3 sets of 15

and if I'm feeling froggy later...

Leg extensions w/ band: 7 sets to failure

Smith lunges: 3 sets to failure

Leg press w/band: 3 sets to failure

Walking lunges: 1 set to failure

Stair stepper: 10 minutes (okay I don't own a stair stepper, but I do own a Wave step thingy and I figure 10 minutes up and down that would be an okay substitute).

Jump Lunges: 3 sets to failure

Stair Stepper: 10 minutes

So it goes like this: 1st, first set of exercises; 2nd, run; 3rd(sometime after breakfast)second set of exercises. Then later this evening ,if I have any energy left, the third set. So I'm off to download the podcast for the third week of Couch to 5 K then get started. Have a great day everyone. Stay Active :)

Weigh-in Wednesday

It's almost 11pm but it's still Wednesday so I guess I'll post this real quick.

Today's weight: 179 lbs

Woot! A loss of 3lbs this week! 3 hard earned pounds at that. Next week I'll post my measurement, or at least the difference in measurements from last time I recorded any(which was May 30 of this year). Good night all.

Ground Beef Stir Fry

This is just a quick and easy dinner I made the other night. It was too hot to spend too much time in the kitchen. I had a couple bags of mixed stir fry veggies and 1 1/2 lbs of ground chuck so I decided to make this.

Ground Beef Stir Fry

sorry not a better picture, having to use my phone's camera.

Ground Beef Stir Fry

serves 6. I didn't figure out the nutrition data on this one.

• 1 1/2 to 2 lbs of Ground Chuck (the leaner the better, ours is lean enough that there is no grease left over to drain.)
• 2 packages of mixed veggies (I used a package of asparagus stir fry and a package of sweet snap stir fry veggies)
• 1 tablespoon of soy sauce (approx.)
• 1 tsp of garlic powder (approx.)
• 2 tsp of black pepper (approx.)
• 1 tsp salt (approx.)
• 1 tablespoon of dried onion flakes (approx.)
• 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce (approx.)
• 1 tsp of Cumin seeds (approx.)
• 1 tsp of red pepper flakes (approx.)
• 1 cup dry pearled barley (cook barley to package directions)

This meal couldn't be easier to fix. In a large skillet (I used a large cast iron) you cook the beef till all brown and crumbly. You add the frozen veggies and the seasonings/sauces(all my amounts are approximate because I just threw stuff in, so just go to taste on everything). I also put about 1/4-1/2 cup of water in when I put in the veggies to steam everything a bit. Cook till veggies are hot. Serve over barley (or brown rice, whole wheat egg noodles or whatever you like). We had some leftovers so I froze that for a soup/stew later.

Whole Wheat Biscuits and Cottage Cheese Scrambled Eggs

The biscuits are good, especially if you like English muffins. Being whole wheat they have that English muffin smell, taste and texture. The scrambled eggs have got to be the best I've ever made. I swear this will be the only way I fix scrambled eggs from now on. I thank The Kitchen Stewardship for the recipe. I didn't change hardly anything in mine so all the credit goes to her.

Cottage Cheese Scrambled Eggs

5 servings, 181 calories, 103 calories from fat

12g Fat, 429mg Cholesterol, 722mg Sodium,

3g Carbohydrate, 2g Sugars, 17g Protein

• Cottage Cheese; 1 tablespoon for every 2 eggs
• Eggs; 2 for every person (it was just the kids and I so I used 10)
• 2% milk; 1/4 cup
• Salt; 1 tsp (or to taste)
• Pepper; 2 tsp (to taste)
• Oil or butter for pan

1. Take eggs and beat in bowl.
2. Add good splash of milk (I used about 1/4 cup) beat until foamy.
3. Add about 1 tablespoon of cottage cheese per every 2 eggs.
4. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Cook in a non-stick skillet (or any skillet with about a tablespoon of oil or butter) on med heat stirring occasionally until eggs start to clump together.
6. Reduce heat to med-low and cook till until egg mixture is completely set(about another 3-5 minutes).

sorry this picture isn't better, still haven't found my camera's charger.

So I'm using my phone's camera.

Whole Wheat Biscuits

serving amount depends on how you shape the biscuits. I made about 40 small/medium sized biscuits.

approx nutrition data: 149 calories, 51 from fat; 6g Fat; 25mg Cholesterol; 165mg Sodium; 21g Carbohydrates, 3g dietary fiber, 3g sugars; 5g protein.

• 4 cups whole wheat flour
• 8 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup yogurt
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/3 milk
• 2 tablespoons honey

1. In large bowl mix together flour, baking powder, and cream of tartar.
2. Cut in butter until there are no pieces bigger then a pea.
3. Add in yogurt(can cut this in like the butter).
4. In another bowl beat together milk and eggs.
5. Add milk and eggs to flour mixture, add honey.
6. Combine just until everything is moist.
7. Knead about 5 times and put on floured surface.
8. Roll or pat out to about 1/2 inch thickness.
9. Then using a cup or biscuit cutter cut out biscuits(can also just use a pizza cutter and cut into squares).
10. Put some on a baking sheet to bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.
11. The rest you can freeze in single layers then put into a gallon baggie for later. To bake the frozen biscuits, put in 425 degree oven for about 15 minutes.

Today's Workout

I thank my body for being awesome and getting me through these shoulder exercises. Also, a 10 year old boy makes for an awesome trainer. The crunches ended up being speed crunches because he wanted to count. Cool thing is he cranked them out along with me. I've got great kiddies.

Exercise	Sets	Reps	Muscle Group
Standing Shoulder Press With Band Both Arms	4	12	Shoulders
Seated On Ball Dumbbell Side Raise Both Arms	4	12	Shoulders
Standing Front Raise With Band Both Arms	4	8	Shoulders
Seated On Ball Dumbbell Military Press Alternating Arms	4	15	Shoulders
Standing Close Grip Low Rows With Band One Arm	4	10	Back
Seated On Bench Bar Lat Pulldowns	4	10	Back
Prone Cobras On Ground Without Band Both Arms	4	10	Back
Prone Iso Abs On Knees	3	30	Abs
Laying on Ground Abdominal Crunches Hands Straight Up	3	20	Abs

Testing

I was having problems posting earlier and switched to bloggers old editor to see if this works. If so I'll repost everything later.

Summer is kicking in full gear

It's hot here in the mid-south. We have hit triple digits, not the first time this year that was back in the beginning of June. It just seems that it's hotter this time around.  So I'm trying to make sure I get most of my workouts and outdoor stuff in before 10am.  Today that didn't go though. I got my run in 30 minutes later then usual (a lot more traffic at 7 then 6-630am around here). I meant to come in cool off, fix breakfast and then do my weights work out.  Well I came in cooled off, fixed breakfast and then started checking facebook, emails, class work and by the time I got done with that it was noon and time to fix lunch.  Then I got sleepy, I think the heat of the day added with the boring lecture I watched for class was the cause for that.
So I'll be doing my workout after dinner today. Still going to do it and I've got a big one planned. Off the top of my head it consists of:
dumbbell squats with ball
adductors (using  band)
crunches
deadlift
step ups
pull downs
tricep extensions
hammer curls
concentration curls
seated cable rows
hyperextensions
and more but I've not got my paper in front of me.  It should be a good hour long workout. I'll love it when I'm through, I'm sure.
I'll post tomorrow's workout in the morning. Tomorrow's not a running day for me so I'll probably do some yardwork during that time frame instead.  Have a great evening everyone. Stay cool, stay active.