Jillian Michaels

Hobby of the Day: Working Out

I just purchased Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred....we shall see friends, we shall see....

I am currently on day 3 of 30. Bring it on Jillian! 

Her workout consists of a 20 min workout.  3 min of weights, 2 of cardio 1 of abs or her 3,2,1.  You do the 3, 2, 1  three times during the twenty min, but each set is different, thankfully.   I think I should be able be diligent with this workout regime, as well as throwing in my running and gym time.  In the past I have tried P90X.  Don't get me wrong, that workout is beastly too, but I can't do that and run/gym.  Just takes up way too much time, but an extra 20 min I can do.

Goal to be toned like this!

I also wouldn't mind her arms, or body....

Oddly enough after day one I wasn't in too much pain, don't get me wrong, when I move a certain way I can feel it, but I don't feel the inability to move.  My friend after one day did, perhaps that means I am in better shape than I realized......We'll see how I feel tomorrow.  I'm starting out easy on her level 1.

I figured I would do 10 days at level 1(unless I really feel ready to move on)

10 days at level 2 and

10 days at level 3

= 30 day shred.....I'm ready to shred off that weight!

The Blessings of a Crock Pot

Hobby of the day: Cooking via Crock Pot

I heart my crockpot!  H.E.A.R.T! We got it as a wedding present and well, I had never used one before.  Let's just say that throwing a bunch of ingredients into a pot and then turning it on before you go to work= perfection.  The best part is that I am the QUEEN of the Crock Pot in this home. Then it's up to hubby to clean up the "mess" and or items that might have stuck to the pot.  Love it!

I use a Rival Crock Pot, it has Slow and faster settings from 4 hours - 10 hours.  Sooo great. Once it's done cooking it sets it to warm....ahhh perfection.

Tonights meal: Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken 

Thanks again to my new favorite, better for you, recipe site.  I am also a HUGE fan of Allrecipes.  Allrecipes is great because people leave their comments and often tweak the recipes, usually to the better. I am a huge fan of tweaking recipes, adding a little extra this or that and cutting on items.

I stuck to the recipe this time- although we did go to Whole Foods this week and therefore the majority of our stuff is organic.  We are not an all organic family by any means and also, it's expensive.  Isn't it a shame that eating healthier means you have to spend more money?!  The only thing I didn't add was cilantro, I am not a huge fan, if at all, of cilantro.  It isn't that I wouldn't have added it, it's just that I couldn't find it.  I know there are A LOT of people who do love cilantro, but sad to say, I am not one.

Let cook 10 hours badabing-badaboom!   Serve over rice, brown or white, I used brown.

Ooooh I also have a rice cooker, well not really mine, but we've had it forever. It's another fav....

Bon Appetite!

New Years Resolutions

Hobby of the day: Losing Weight, Working Out, Cooking Healthy

The NOT so Best Friend

As the New Year strikes, many people make resolutions.  Essentially promises as to what we would like to see achieved...resolutions seem to be repeated year after year.  I haven't made a resolution in a long time.  But this year Gary and I decided to set goals.  One of course is weight loss and eating healthier (As you can see from New Years Eve Post, we splurged on waaay yummy food).  We weighed ourselves on Jan 1 and then wrote down what weight we would like to be by the end of March, April 1st begins Spring Break.  A cruel joke I think.  Thankfully Gary and I are training for a half marathon, so we have to force ourselves to work out. We have 91 days to achieve our first target weight, then we have another 91 days until the last day of school to lose to our second goal weight. 


Gary and I also took pictures of ourselves, much to his disapproval in clothing we would like to be better in.  We took front, side and back photos.  I of course took pictures of myself in a bathing suit. The picture below is my motivation.  I will NOT be posting my muffin tops here, disappointed though you may be.  

The Motivation: being in a bathing suit in front of FRIENDS!!!

Why is it so much easier for guys to drop weight than girls?!


Apparently the East Coast has finally decided that it was winter and cold it is, not as cold as Quebec, where I long to visit, but cold enough nevertheless.  I wish that some snow would come too.... Yesterday was frigid and windy, thus no running outside.   Today is also quite cold and currently 59 degrees in the house.  I HATE heat! Heat gives me headaches, dry skin, itchy skin, nosebleeds and makes my eyes dry. Therefore we very RARELY use heat, thankfully we have a gas fireplace.  We prefer to sleep cold anyway.  


I was recently introduced to a website full of lower calories meals.  Thanks to Skinnytaste I have a new variety of tasty recipes.  It is quite a shame that Gary hates fish or rather seafood.  I love it and would love to make some of those recipes, but don't want to cook just for myself.  Last night I made Low Fat Baked Ziti with Spinach, you can find the recipe here.  It was delicious.  The recipe made waaay to much for G and I. Next time I'll try halfing the recipe.  Thankfully I can take some for lunch too.  

Sauce and Spinach blend: pre-cheese

Whole Wheat Ziti

Plenty for All

De-lic-ious!!

Spinning

Hobby of the day: Spin Class

I probably haven't done a spin class since June.  Gary and I used to go at least 1-2 times a week and we became Saturday morning regulars.  Once Summer hit, we kind of lost track of the classes and then once school began again, well FORGET IT!

As of 2012 we are back in the saddle, literally.  Our gym is great, great classes, location, personal, not the cheapest though..... but what can we say, we live on Capitol Hill. 

We had a new instructor.  He was kind of crazy, but in the good way.  I eased myself back into riding and pretty soon I was huffing and puffing.  I am not a big sweater, my husband, however LOTS!  Spin is one of the few places I sweat like whoa! The class wasn't even full, 15 of the 35 bikes were full, fans were on full blast and pretty soon the windows were steamed up and starting to perspire.  After class- well the floor is ridiculously slippery. Our instructor painted pictures as we road, apparently we road all the way to California, onto the beach, over hills, saw sunsets, fell breezes, etc.  He then navigated us back through Arizona, New Mexico, etc...At least class put a smile on my face....

New Years Eve

My last night of eating like CRAZY!!! I was STILL full this morning!

Don't you love my sparkly NYE outfit?!

The lovely host and hostess

I was sick for most of Christmas break and didn't really feel like going out.  I did want to dress up, but didn't really want to spend the money either on flashy new clothes. Not to mention all the New Year's Eve shindigs around here were super expensive.  I have trouble wrapping my head around spending almost $200 to be with people I don't even know.

 Someone commandeered the fondue stiring, not that I will complain.

  

 

Enjoying my FABULOUS fondue

We ended up having a quiet night with some good friends at their house. We had a fabulous dinner if I might add.  I made cheese fondue- Yum!  One of my favoritest things ever.  It was half Swiss cheese half Gruyere and plenty of white wine.  Apparently the trick is to flower the cheese before you add it to the fondue pot, as well as add a splash of lemon which helps to prevent clumping.  Needless to say we engorged ourselves.  We had that with apples, bread and carrots. My friend also made baked brie, and smoked Gouda.  It's fairly safe to say that we had PLENTY of cheese!

Dinner:  beef tenderloin and a fabulous salad, complete with homemade seasoned pecans, feta cheese and green apples. Delicious!

No loud obnoxious drunk people that we don't know....I didn't say we weren't loud

Dessert:  Dark Chocolate Toblerone Fondue, complete with Baileys and heavy cream
Served with: strawberries, bananas, potato chips and pretzels

What's NYE with out Bubbly? Baby Prosecco with a splash of pomegranate liquor

First Day back Running

Hobby of the Day: Running and Gear

New Running Gear

So I haven't run in about two weeks.  Right up until Christmas break I was swamped with shopping, baking and wrapping, not to mention cleaning and packing.  Then, I got sick over Christmas break, which I am still currently fighting off.  I was mostly lethargic during break and slept a whole lot. Thankfully  I did not eat too much and therefore, NO WEIGHT GAIN! Score one for me....haha.  That doesn't mean that I still don't have lbs to lose.  I gots to get ready for Spring Break 2012.

Today I  busted out a lot of new running gear. Thankfully this new hobby of mine enables loved ones to buy me unlimited amounts of running gear.  Gary and I only ran 4 miles and that was a mess for me.  I am still struggling with breathing (thanks cold) and therefore have difficulty swallowing since I keep sniffing.  I wore my new Brooks Ghost 3 shoes, my feet need to get used to wearing nice new shoes. Hopefully I can break them in after a week or so.  The only real setback for me running was that my feet really fell asleep. They usually fall asleep around 3-4 miles but always wake back up, but today, maybe because of the new shoes they fell asleep hardcore, to the point where I couldn't even feel that I was running on feet and my ankles also fell asleep too.  We'll see, the last race I did I don't think my feet even fell asleep, but I had also been running a lot more frequently and also in shoes my feet were familiar with. 

 

My brother-in-law got me some new running tights from Under Armour, the coldgear frosty compression tights.  I have had trouble with running tights in the past.  I feel like they are constantly falling down, or that that they are sagging so to speak.  These tights got good reviews, I always read reviews, just to give me some insight.  I wore those today.  They were nice and tight around the ankles, so no ridding up.  Unfortunately I am short so these tights fit well but could have been a little shorter for me, they did bag up a little around my thighs, but I kinda pulled them down.  These tights do not have a draw string, I always feel like drawstrings give me an extra sense of security, but they do have an elastic band and because the tights are so "tight"  they definitely do not ride down.  First day of wearing them: success.

I also wore my new running shirt from Northface, women's impulse 1/4 zip, courtesy of my good friend Jenna.  It fits well and it has thumb holes which I love.  Thumb holes were such a great invention!  I love the color of this shirt, I tend to lean a lot towards pink for some reason, so this teal color is great! It is a half zip and also has a pocket, score again.  I always need pockets for keys and chapstick. For some reason my running gets hindered if my lips are not moist. Weird huh? The only problem that I found with this shirt is that the sleeves are a little too long. Again I am short and I do think my arms are shorter than they should be, so while standing/resting the sleeves are way long, but while running it seems to be ok because I like to have my hands covered. The only thing is I also feel like I hold on to the shirt more too thus clenching my fists. 

I did not however wear the new gloves my mother got for me Nike Women's Lightweight Run Glove.  It's cute, my mother is not an athletic person, nor does she follow sports, but she wanted to be supportive of my hobby, so she bought me these super cute gloves.  I wanted these earlier this fall they have a key pocket on the palm, perfect for me.  Way to go mom!  Love her!

Shoes?

When I used to run back in middle/high school shoe brand didn't really matter all that much to me.  I wasn't a super serious runner and I never had a lot of money to by extras.  I usually went to Kohls, which was of course the best place to buy running sneakers.  My checklist were usually, not expensive, comfortable and "cute" (i.e. nice colors).  I typically would keep the same sneakers for about 2 years or so.  Since I have become more "serious" about running I have tried to be better about buying good running shoes. 

Nike Turbo 8- My Shocks

Prior to last year, I had only gone once to a legit running store, but not to purchase sneakers I purchased running spikes for sprinting.  I've also shopped at the Nike outlet for sneakers.  The last pair of Nike Sneakers I bought were,  the shoes above.  I bought them because I love pink and I liked the design, I just assumed that they would be fine for running and they were.  However, I've now had these Nikes for a little over two years now and they've definitely seen better days.  Shoes are just so dang expensive!  

Pumas

Last year Gary and I went to the Georgetown Running Company and they had me run on the treadmill to see how I planted my feet.  They recommended that I get shoes with more support, surprisingly my husband who has plantar fasciitis needed a more neutral shoe.  Sadly, I purchased these Pumas.  After using them at the gym a few times I realized they really hurt my feet. They gave me support all right, too much in the heel area and not enough at the ball of my foot, so it felt like I was pounding the daylight out of them.  Similar to wearing heals with no platform in the front.  Sad to say I've only worn these shoes 4 times.  As you can see there is some dust/hair gathered at the toe.  Ooops :-)

This year I discussed running shoes with many of my running friends.  They recommended Brooks, Mizuno and Asics.   I purchased these Brooks ghost 3, not the newest of the ghost series.  I still have yet to run out on the roads in these, but I did try them out on my mother-in-law's treadmill and have been wearing them around my house.  Tomorrow I will break them out for the first time. Wish me luck!