Mouth Watering Eats and Tough Workout Updates!

It's been a few days since I last posted. I've been busy working on a few things for school (already..I know..ugh). But I'm back and ready to give you lots of updates!!

I guess we're all the way back to Saturday Eats: 


Breakfast- soy yogurt, flax, berries, kashi sprinkled on top
Lunch-carrot ginger dressing, arugula, 1/2 avocado, and leftover cranberry wheat salad all wrapped up in a whole what wrap, apple on the side
Dinner-Lunch kept me full all day long so dinner was just a random assortment of snacks- Light and Fit Yogurt, clementine, a couple handfuls of Kind granola, and scrambled egg whites with some veggies

Scrambled egg whites with spinach and grape tomatoes from the farmers market 

Saturday workout was zippo. A nice and much needed day off.

Sunday Eats- 


Breakfast- soy yogurt, flax, berries, Grapenuts sprinkled on top. Then I made chocolate chip pancakes for Joey and snagged a few bites. Also a little change up for me..I had a cup of coffee with almond milk and a touch of agave instead of my normal green tea
Lunch- still full from a filling breakfast, I had a Kind bar post gym around 3:30
Dinner- spicy seafood salad I picked up from the grocery store, cantaloup pieces, applesauce, and a greek yogurt. All of this was eaten while doing work in Starbucks (where I happen to be right now too) while also enjoying my usual soy green tea latté.

Sunday Workout-

It was raining cats and dogs outside when I left for the gym, but I braved the storm and made it to the gym completely soaked to the bone and freezing.

Nothing like a good run on the treadmill to warm me up!

5 miles at a good pace left me drenched in sweat (better than rain I'd say).

Then I got on the elliptical for a good 12 minutes (extra 100 calories torched!), and then cardio time was done. I knocked out some quick work on abs, pushups, lat pull downs, and vertical chest press before heading home.

Gave in and got an Instagram AND Twitter account today. Follow me please!! @jgray1223

After being productive  in Starbucks for a few hours, I got to watch a little of the guys' set at Springer's Ice Cream. As always, they were great and so well received by everyone there.

Monday Eats: 

Breakfast- Activia yogurt with flax, berries, and Grapenuts sprinkled atop.
Lunch- 1 slice of Ezekiel toast with hummus and arugula on top
Dinner-

Go Joey!

I'm a lucky girl that my boyfriend knows (well, recently learned) how to cook (although not better than me...oops my competitiveness is flaring up). Yesterday he cooked food to feed thousands....but actually that's not even a joke...so much rice. It may not look the prettiest, but it was delicious. Brown rice, spicy chicken, veggies, and black beans. I had a small bowl of it with the rest of my dinner and wanted seconds! The rest of my dinner consisted of a few Kashi crackers with a wedge of "light" spreadable swiss cheese, a Light and Fit Yogurt, grapes, and a handful of raisins later that night.


Monday Workout: 

Ran two miles to the gym and then did 2 miles on the treadmill at an average 7:30/mile pace. My HIIT workout was incorporated by sprinting every .25 miles for .12 miles. The treadmills at my gym allow you to see your distance in relation to where you are on a track/ how many laps you've run. So I would start each new lap sprinting for the first half, and then taking it down to a more comfortable pace for the second half of each lap.

Then I got on the elliptical for a good 20 minutes at my usual full incline and level 10 resistance while chatting on the phone with my mama. Nothin' like catching up with her to distract me at the gym! The time flew by and before I knew it, the guys were ready to leave! I didn't get to do any strength stuff at the gym so I made up for it that night by seeing how many girl pushups I could do in a row before my arms fell off. 55 was as high as I got, but hey, that's better than the last time I tried this! I crawled into bed with arms feeling like noodles.

Tuesday Eats: 
Breakfast-

Oatmeal with almond milk, flax blueberries, a banana on top..also a little sprinkle of Kashi in there for crunch! Joey made his own pancakes for the first time. I had to try them to see who's were better...let's just say...he'll get better...
Lunch- Another awkwardly timed day where we went to gym before I was hungry for lunch and by the time we got back, it was too close to dinner time.
Dinner- Packed to go to eat with me in Starbucks while I get more work done!

Uh oh. Where's the protein?! I need to fix this situation pronto. Luckily there's a market right across the street from Starbucks. I may have to head in there and grab more of that delicious spicy seafood salad I had the other day. Shrimp, scallops, crab, oh my! Delicious!

Tuesday Workout: 

Fast 5k on the treadmill. I would say it was an "all out 5k", but I don't think I really gave it everything, so I finished in about 23 minutes. Then I ran two more miles at a more comfortable pace- averaging 7:40/mile (more sprints thrown in there). Finally, a nice .5 mile cool down at a beautiful 9:20 average mile pace.

7 minute abs on the mat:
2 minutes of raised leg crunches
1 minute plank
1 minute bicycles
1 minute  balancing V
2 minutes raised leg crunches

Quickie Circuit: 
standing horizontal leg raises (with resistance band around ankles)- 50 reps/leg
Romanian dead lifts with 25 lb bar- 20 reps
Overhead military press with 25 lb bar- 10 reps
^Repeat whole thing 3X ^

Another quickie: 
side bends with 20 lb kettle bell- 20/side
1 minute forward arm circles
side bends with 20 lb kettle bell-20/side
1 minute backwards arm circles
*commence arms falling off*

And then...just for fun... 4 X 25 jump squats (10 second rest in between each set). Wow, felt the burn on that one.

STRETCHING TIME!

One random thing I would like to share before I head out is that I've noticed that I haven't been drinking nearly enough water lately. Maybe it has something to do with living by the salty ocean, but my body seems to just hang on to water by the gallons, and I feel bloated all the time. Maybe that's why I avoid water...which is the opposite of what I should be doing. So I've decided to give myself a goal of drinking 5-6 big water bottles a day to see if that helps! I'm currently on my 4th of the day.

That's all I got! Enjoy the lengthy post and have a great rest of the week!

A Little Fun with Colorful Sharpies

Happy Saturday!! I have a bunch of updates for y'all so let's get to it.

Breakfast yesterday was stove top oatmeal with almond milk, flax, agave for sweetness, and berries of course. Nothing new here.

Lunch was a little later and consisted of a big bowl of fresh berries (trying to finish my farmers market berries before they go bad), and a Slim NuGo Bar. Perfect fuel for a tough workout!

Back to packing Dinner to go. I had to babysit so I brought with me leftover salmon from the other night, cranberry grain salad that I picked up at the store, cantaloup, and a few handfuls of granola.

Here's that granola. I was intrigued by the quinoa and chia in it, and since I love Kind bars, I figured I would like the Kind granola too. I was right! I am currently enjoying it atop yogurt. 

These seemed interesting. Each little packet of freeze dried apples is only 40 calories! I have yet to try them, but I'm sure they'll be good.

I thought I would do something fun and different to tell y'all about yesterday's workout so here's what I came up with:

It's clear that I had way too much fun doodling with bright colored sharpies 

Hopefully it's legible enough! Definitely try this workout. It kicked my but and I am thoroughly sore this morning. That's a great feeling though!

I also thought I'd give you guys an idea of what I listen to while working out. This mix has music from all over the board-anything from rap to broadway. Enjoy!

I also added funny side notes tehe :)

Alright that's all I have for you guys as of this morning! I plan on spending the day on the beach before heading to workout. Have no clue what I'm going to do for that yet. We'll see!

<3

Sushi and More Delicious Food..NOM

Happy Thursday! It's almost the weekend!

Time for the ol' updates...here we go...


Wednesday Eats: 

Breakfast-

Another repeat. Soy yogurt with flax, kashi, and lots of berries (I promise they're under there somewhere)

Lunch- Be proud! I had a decently substantial lunch today...well better than any other day this week at least. Whole wheat Ezekiel toast, 1 banana, and an Activia Light yogurt. 

Dinner- Sushi!! Once a month Joey and I like to do a fun date night out. It was my turn to plan it so we started by doing one of my favorite things ever...painting pottery!! *nerd alert*. Then we headed to a great sushi place near by where all of their sushi is half off Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesdays. We were starving and with such great prices, why not go a little crazy?

I ordered a spicy salmon type roll with mango inside (sweet and spicayy), and my second roll had tuna, eel, cucumber and avocado. So so good.

Joey had a spicy salmon hand roll, the "out of control" roll, and another roll with eel, avocado, and who knows what else. Obviously we had to share, so I can say that all of the rolls were delicious...my spicy salmon mango roll was ma fave though. 

Froyo was right across the street so of course we had to stop in and get dessert. My cup was bigger and weighed more than Joey's. #winning. 

Wednesday Workout:

A quick trip to the gym earlier in the day included a nice 5k on the treadmill (not for time..but still finished in 25 minutes...not too shabby!) 

Then it was time for this speedy circuit: 

15 push-ups

15 burpees

1 minute plank

25 scissor kicks

20 girl push-ups

20 jumping squats

15 tricep dips 

1 minute wall sit 

Complete the entire circuit 3X! This got me sweating right off the bat so definitely give it a try!

Thursday Eats: 

Breakfast- 

Smoothie with blueberries, almond milk, Activia light yogurt, and a little protein powder. Half a grapefruit too!

Snack- a nice juicy apple!

Lunch- The most substantial one yet! I had a whole wheat wrap with some carrot ginger dressing I made (see recipe later in the post), arugula, and half an avocado. 

I also had some berries with a Light and Fit yogurt, and a few rice cakes. Yum :)

Dinner- 

Baked salmon (how I usually do it), with steamed corn, and avocado with carrot ginger dressing salad! 

Here's the recipe for that dressing! I adapted it from Gwenyth Paltrow's recipe on Goop because I didn't have all of the same ingredients that the original recipe asked for. Mine turned out fine though! 

1 large carrot roughly chopped

2 tbsp finely chopped ginger

1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

3 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp water 

Grind it all up in a blender and voila! So easy! 

Also went to the farmers market this morning! 

Those litte baby eggplants are called "sweet fairy tale eggplants" and the people at the farmers market said to just sauté them in a pan with some olive oil and garlic and their delicious. So I'm definitely going to give that a try soon. 

Thursday Workout:

Late night gym session (I only got back about an hour ago). 6 miles on the treadmill took up the majority of my time at the gym and left me plenty sweaty. 

Averaging 7:29 minute miles?? I will most definitely take that. In fact, I'm pretty proud! 

I kept that pace up by incorporating 1 minute sprints throughout the whole 46 minute run. Try that out next time you're running on the treadmill. One minute sprint, one minute slower recovery, one minute medium pace. I know I say that all the time, but I promise you'll be surprised by how quickly you burn through miles, and how much faster your overall comfortable pace will get! 

Then...

I did some abs:

1 minute vertical leg crunches

1 minute sit-ups

1 minute V-ups

1 minute leg raises

1 minute seated twists 

1 minute bicycles

Then...

2 minutes of girl pushups

2 minutes of single leg squats (1 minute per leg)

2 minutes of lateral leg raises (1 minute per leg)

2 minutes of arm circles (1 minute in each direction)

Finally...

A few minutes of stretching which I plan to do some more of before bed. 

That's all I have for tonight! Adios!! 

Running and New Foodie Finds!

Monday was a blur of a day. Woke up at a fairly early hour, considering I didn't get home until 4am the night before from babysitting. Newsflash-parents still know how to stay out late partying....

Promptly ate breakfast: steel cut oats made over the stove with almond milk (makes them creamier!). I also mixed in some flax seed and a generous amount of brown sugar for my sweet tooth! Berries on top!

Lunch wasn't really much of a lunch at all. This seems to be a theme with me lately- a downside of being busy.

I was able to enjoy this green tea latte (soy and unsweetened) on the way to babysitting because Joey was kind enough to pick it up for me.

I was babysitting that afternoon at the Revel Resort in Atlantic City and got there pretty early. My stomach was grumbling at me and I had only packed food for dinner so I stopped in a little market at the hotel and found these.

I have a cool app on my phone called Fooducate (a MUST TRY) that lets you scan the barcodes of foods, and it will give you all of the nutrition info, as well as give the product a grade based on how healthy the it is. So Mrs. May's Almond Crunch snack got an A-! Good enough for me! I also found a NuGo Slim Bar that packed a lot of protein with little sugar and carbs, so I grabbed that as well.

Dinner was quite the random assortment of anything I had left from home (I was running low on most foods except breakfast...of course). So I had some apples with a Justin's Almond Butter packet, grapes, rice cakes, soy yogurt, and carrots with hummus. Not much protein to be had here 

Monday Workout:

Kind of a hodge podge of things. I ran 4 miles on the treadmill before hitting the stair master for 10 minutes. Then I did some jump roping, pushups, and leg raises! 55 minutes total, in and out!

This morning felt great to wake up without having to rush to get to the gym or to babysitting. So I took advantage of the relaxing day and went to the beach for a bit.

Breakfast first though. Kashi Go Lean cereal with soy yogurt, flax, and strawberries (the very last of my fruit supply).

Lunch... dare I say it??... not much. But I have a good reason! I had a long run to do this afternoon and too much food and long runs do not mix well for Jordan...ever. I have learned my lesson over the years of suffering through all of the stomach aches. So I had another one of those NuGo slim protein bars, as well as the last of that bag of Mrs. May's Almond Crunch.

Dinner was had super late.

Poor picture quality...my apologies 

Baked salmon (350 for 12 minutes). Seasoned with salt, pepper, agave nectar, and rosemary. A cup of V8 tomato soup, a piece of Ezekiel toast, and a small yogurt accompanied the salmon. 


Before dinner I headed to the grocery store and had quite the good time restocking my food supply and spending (maybe too much of) my hard earned moolah. 

I finally found vegan cheese!! Now I can enjoy cheesy deliciousness without getting a stomach ache. Oh happy day.

 This looked interesting, and I was thirsty so I grabbed this pomegranate green tea and drank it while I shopped (don't worry, I did pay for it with the rest of the groceries). Very refreshing.

What a trip! And look at all that fruit! 

Like I said, my workout for the day was scheduled to be a long run. It was so stinkin' hot out though that I wasn't 100% positive I would survive if I ran the whole thing outside (side note-I really really need a water belt to wear to fend off dehydration when I do long runs outside). So I ran two miles to the gym, then did 4 miles inside on the treadmill, and then hopped right off and ran the 2 miles home. Grand total...8 miles. 

Post-Run

This is a picture from the spring, but it's pretty much identical to how I looked after todays 8 miler. Drenched to the bone. Mmmm...pretty..... *sarcasm*

Post- Shower

Ahhhhh...now that's better. Now I'm off to add some fun touches to the blog and then get to bed! Night!

Overload.

These past few days have been pretty hectic so I had to take a few days off of blogging. There has been a lot going on- I can feel my body growing more and more exhausted every day. Lots of working out, taking care of lots of crazy kids, and not sleeping enough are all starting to wear on me. Luckily, 2 weeks from today I'm going on a trip with my mom for her birthday, so I know that will be a much needed break. I can't wait!

Let's get started with Friday's Workout: 

I had another long run to do for the week, but since it was pouring down rain outside, I ran at the gym. 6 miles at a great pace! I'm not used to running that long at that fast a pace, but hey, that's how you get faster! 

Then I did some quick Russian dead lifts holding a 30 lb bar, and bicep curls with 20 lb bar-- 4 sets of 20 for each exercise. I also took a little time to do some abs, but I won't bore you with the details...same old thing. 

Friday Eats:

Breakfast- really late in the day because I got to sleep in! After going to bed at 4 am because of the Batman premiere...can you blame me? So breakfast was a big bowl of oatmeal with almond milk, flax seed, cinnamon, and berries. 

Lunch-Well this was nothing more than a cranberry almond Kind bar because I had breakfast so late.

Dinner- Packed to go because I had to babysit...

Corn, faux chicken patty, apples, grapes, and rice cakes! Yum! 

Saturday Workout:

Confession: today was supposed to be my day off, but I just was too antsy all day. I had to go out for a quick run just to calm myself down. 30 minutes on the boardwalk was all I needed. 

Saturday Eats:

Breakfast- I just didn't get a good night's sleep Friday so when I woke up Saturday morning I knew I needed something extra to kick start my day. Enter- WaWa coffee! I didn't grow up with WaWa (which is basically a hyped up gas station for those that don't know) so when Joey started taking me there, I didn't get what was so great about it, but I've learned to really really love their coffee, and they have great snacks that I can grab on the road (fresh fruit, veggies, Chobani greek yogurt, kind bars, etc!). I'm not even a regular coffee drinker, but today was the day for a big cup of French Vanilla Coffee with a little almond milk stirred in and 1 splenda. Perfect! 

Also I had a bowl of Kashi Go Lean cereal with almond milk and berries. 

Lunch- After I got back from a 4th birthday party for one of the little boys I babysit, I heated up a veggie burger and threw it on a bed of spinach with strawberries and dried cranberries. Then I munched on some grapes.

Dinner- Again I had to babysit so it was another packed dinner for me. Slightly less substantial, though, because I had a stomach ache. I just snacked on some apples, a soy yogurt, and rice cakes.

You know those days when everything feels off? Jen from Peanut Butter Runner actually wrote a post today that starts off with talking about exactly how I felt today. Just off. Nothing else could go wrong, and then it does. I won't go into everything, but I will say that when I got to the gym, I just wanted to get on the treadmill and run and run and run until my legs wouldn't take me any further. So that's what I did...

Sunday Workout: 

An amazing 6 miles with no pacing or sprinting. I just let my body run at the pace it wanted to while I listened to all of my favorite songs and forgot about everything going on around me. I stepped off of the treadmill totally rejuvenated body and clear mind.

Again, there were some abs thrown in there after the run, but nothing you guys haven't heard. 

Sunday Eats: 

Breakfast- None. I never...I repeat...never ever skip breakfast. It's just that meal where I feel I have the most freedom. It's hard to explain, but I just love it. So it's very very rare that I skip it, but I guess this morning I just wasn't feeling a meal for whatever reason. I did have some green tea though, and that hit the spot.

Lunch- Panera trip!! Definitely one of my favorite places. I was very hungry after the gym so I did the you pick two deal- half fuji almond chicken salad (no dressing), and a cup of black bean soup. Whole grain baguette on the side. Perfection.

Snack- Smoothie from this place called Bryn and Danes. It's a one of kind place who's claim to fame is "healthy fastfood". They serve amazing foods that you don't have to feel guilty about! We stopped in so I could try one of their famous smoothies and air popped popcorn. 

Dinner- Once again, I had to babysit. Have I become a pro at packing dinners-to-go or what? I'm beginning to forget what it feels like to eat dinner from something other than a plastic container or baggie. Anyway, pretty much the exact same dinner as Friday night, except I had apple sauce instead of grapes. 

Now I'm off to finish watching the Bachelorette finale. My favorite guy, Jef, won! 

I'll leave you with a few silly pictures the boys and I took on "Old Booth" tonight while babysitting.

Look at this amazing view from the top floor room this family is staying at in Atlantic City! 

ZOO trip and Batman!!!

Time for another update! 

Wednesday Workout: 

I didn't get home until late yesterday afternoon. I went out for a run and about 5 minutes into it, I looked up and saw huge black clouds overhead. I hate storms so I sprinted home and when I saw bolts of lightening striking just outside my window, I decided I wasn't leaving the house for the rest of the night.

So since I was stuck indoors, I had to change my workout up a bit. I ended up doing P90X Plyometrics. This hour long workout is designed to get your feet off the floor (there's a lot of jumping), which keeps your heart rate high, your breathing heavy, and those calories a burnin'. It's amazing. A few of the guys I'm living with are doing the full P90X workout (following the videos for 90 days to kick their bodies into great shape), and they all say that the "plyo day" is definitely one of the hardest of the days they rotate through.

After doing the plyo,  I also went ahead and idd the 15 minute Ab Ripper X video.

And so I got a great workout in, while staying safely indoors durning the storm.


Wednesday Eats:

Breakfast- Joey and I went to a nearby zoo yesterday so breakfast was picked up on the way there. Small coffee (I've been craving more caffeine lately for whatever reason), GoGo SqueeZ applesauce, and half of an Odwalla Banana Nut bar. 


Lunch- Packed to go and eaten before we left the zoo!

Leftover quinoa and a veggie burger atop spinach and a few strawberries. Carrots with hummus and another applesauce packet on the side!

Snack- Mehhhh no clue why I was craving something salty, but I was so I can't deny that I stuck my hand in a bag of Tostitos Hint of Lime Chips. Bad idea, I had a stomach ache like ten minutes later.

Dinner- I wasn't too hungry so I just scrambled up some egg whites, and then had some cut up cantaloup and more strawberries on the side.

Thursday Workout:

The infamous hill workout... Joey and I tackled 5 uphill sprints on this baby (slow downhill jogs for recovery after each sprint). Both of us were feeling really rough at the beginning of this. My legs just took a while to warm up because they were stiff from doing all of that jumping yesterday!

The hill workout only took about 30 minutes so then we grabbed the rest of our fellow gym rat friends and headed out for more.


I hopped back on the treadmill for more uphill-


2 minutes warm up and then...
2 minutes at 3% incline (6.6 MPH)
2 minutes at 5% incline (6.4 MPH)
2 minutes at 3% incline (6.6 MPH)
2 minutes at 7% incline (6.4 MPH)
2 minutes at 3% incline (6.6 MPH)
2 minutes at 9% incline (6.2 MPH)


I was about to cool down after this and hop off, but my legs were feeling so good that I just didn't want to get off. Another mile and a half at a nice 7.3 pace. Then I was ready to get off.  

Back extensions how to...

I did 4 sets of 20 holding a 15 lb weight. I can already tell I'll be sore from that tomorrow

Then...

Lateral leg raises with resistance band around ankles- 4 sets of 25 raises per leg (100 per leg total)
Oblique standing side bends holding 25 lb weight- 4 sets of 15 per side (60 per side total)

Stretching, DONE!

Thursday Eats: 

Breakfast- big bowl of oatmeal with flax seed, cinnamon, and berries mixed in.
Lunch- breakfast was super late (yet again) so I just had a Kind Bar to hold over until dinner

Dinner- 

V8 tomato soup, cantaloup and strawberries, faux chicken patty for protein!

 Tonight we're all going to the midnight premier of Dark Night Rises. Of course I'll be needing some yummy movie treats (that don't include an excess amount of sugar and movie theatre butter).

I think I'll be taking some corn cakes (picked up today at the store), apple slices, and maybe just maybe I'll make some healthy peanut butter cookies for a special treat. I'll also be gravitating towards some coffee soon to ensure that I can stay awake through the movie! Something tells me that it will be so intense though...so maybe I don't need the extra caffeine...

Just for fun, I'll leave you with a few pictures from yesterday's trip to the zoo.

I forget what this animal is called, but I just thought it was so funny looking. It looks like a giant gerbil!! 

My dad received his undergrad from Bucknell University and their mascot is the Bison (hence the reason that this picture was necessary). He loves that school and has been teaching me their "fight songs" since I can remember. "RAY RAY RAY RAY RAY FOR THE ORANGE AND THE BLUE!"....told you...

See ya later aligator! 

Workout, Eat, Workout, Eat.

Monday Workout: 

A wonky day at the gym because it was extra crowded for some reason so it was hard to find a free machine anywhere! People were literally waiting for treadmills to open up, so I just ended up taking my "light running day" and then hopping on the first elliptical that opened up.

On the treadmill I did a short HIIT workout (only 2 miles)....1 minute at full effort sprint, 2 minutes slowing it down to a more comfortable pace.

Elliptical was the usual full incline, half resistance for 20 minutes, only I split it up into 4 sets of 5 minutes in which two of those I was pedaling (right word??) forward, and one I was going backwards (kickin' those glutes into high gear!)

Then a magical thing happened...a treadmill opened up and I was able to get in another 1.5 miles on the treadmill! Same HIIT timing.

Then I did my pretty standard ab routine before joining the boys for a 'quick' cross fit circuit.

My numbers were:

50 pushups
75 bicep curls (10 lb dumbbells)
50 clean and presses

To be completed as quickly as possible, but we took breaks after every 2 minutes. I think I ended up finishing this in about 10 minutes. It was a doozy, and I expected to be thoroughly sore from it when I woke up this morning, but I was pleasantly surprised to wake up and feel no soreness!

Monday Eats: 

Since we got to the gym a little later than normal and were there a long time, I didn't have 'breakfast' until about 12pm. I was starving so I quickly whipped up some oatmeal with soy milk, flax seed, cinnamon, berries, and some almond butter drizzled on top!

Then lunch time rolled around and I was still full from my giant bowl of oatmeal so I ended up just snacking on some cantaloup and trail mix around 4pm.

Dinner was delicious though!!

Grilled salmon, sweet and spicy quinoa with chickpeas (picked that up at the store), carrots and white bean hummus! Grapes and freshly cut cantaloup on the side!

Foodie close-ups

I got hungry later that night and couldn't help sticking my hands in the trail mix bag...that stuff is addicting! And it has M&Ms....oh no...



Tuesday Workout: 

Began with a fun (for me) treadmill run with the guys (Joey, Devron, and Channing). Joey has been running a lot with me lately in prep for our half-marathon, but D and Channing aren't usually the cardio types...but that all changed this morning!

Luckily the gym wasn't as crowded this morning so we all got on four treadmills side by side for a 30 minute HIIT run. 1 minute medium paced, 1 minute faster, 1 minute all out sprint. They did great...I was very impressed that Devron and Channing kept on running through the blood, sweat, and tears. Just kidding, no blood or tears, but definitely enough sweat to make up for the lack of both.

Then they went on to do their manly weight lifting and I continued on the treadmill for another 2 miles to get my total up to 6 for the day (long run day). I have no clue why, but I have really been gravitating to the elliptical lately so after my run, I got back on for another 15 minutes or so (doing my usual routine).

Then it was time for some abs and back:

Insanity ab workout (see this post for the link to where I found it)
and then...
30 sit-ups
30 leg lifts


Worked the back on this guy... holding 10 lb to make the upper body lifts a little more challenging.

Tuesday Eats:

Pre-gym fuel- 1 piece of Ezekiel toast with almond butter and 1/3 sliced banana
Post-gym breakfast (late)-bowl of warmed up Grapenuts with soy milk, cinnamon sprinkled on top
Again I ate breakfast too late to be hungry for a big lunch so I had a Blueberry Kind Bar to tide me over!
Dinner-

Tuna, carrots and celery with white bean hummus, sweet and spicy quinoa, 1 apple and grapes for my fruit fix. I also picked up a soy, unsweetened green tea latté on my way to the guys' gig. 

Froyo treat on the way home from the gig. I know I'm supposed to be giving up dairy for a while, but I just couldn't resist this. Oh well, I can have a tiny slip up every now and then.

Ugh...sorry this is so blurry!

Weekend Updates

It's been a few days so I have a bunch to update you on! Let's get to it.

Day 4 (Friday) Eats:

Breakfast- Grapenuts with unsweetened vanilla almond milk with flax, cinnamon and berries
Lunch-

Quinoa with a veggie burger, cut up peach, and some dried cranberries on the side. Also a homemade green tea latté (made with matcha green tea mix-ordered from amazon-with warm almond milk...so delicious).

Dinner- We had a dinner party to go to that night because the guys were singing at it so I got to change it up a bit for dinner: some crab claw and crab ball appetizers and a little veggie lasagna for the main course. I'm not a big pasta person usually, but that lasagna hit the spot!

Singing at the dinner party! 

Day 5 Workout: Literally nothing. This was my scheduled day off and it felt great to let my body totally rest and relax for the day.

Since I didn't have to devote any time to going for a run, or going to the gym, I had a lot of time on my hands yesterday. I pretty much spent it reading and cooking.

Day 5 Eats: 


Breakfast-The same old Grapenuts that I love.
Lunch- Tuna atop crsipy wheat crackers and an apple
Dinner- Sweet and salty tofu with broccoli, carrots/celery with hummus, and an apple on the side

^that was made earlier in the day during my cooking spree^

Sweet and salty tofu! Just cubed tofu sautéd in olive oil, sea salt, and agave nectar! Sweet and salty is perhaps my favorite food combo, so this dish is perfect and so simple. (apologies for the blurry photo)

Talapia I picked up at the supermarket that I baked for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Perfect to heat up for a quick dinner later! 

 The talapia in the front is crusted in coconut and red pepper flakes! Sweet and spicy :)

Packed dinner to-go for babysitting! Made this afternoon and popped in the microwave later that night when I got hungray.

 Then I got on to some baking. I had some frozen blueberries in the freezer that I needed to use so I found this recipe for Banana Blueberry Bread and whipped it up!

Mmm this is so delicious...and almost gone at this point because I have been constantly picking at it since yesterday. Every time I walk in the kitchen I can't resist having a bite. Ooooopsie.

Day 6 Workout: 


Today was pretty much identical to Day 1 workout. 

It all started for a timed all out 5k on the treadmill. I have to be honest, my body felt awesome during this run and I think it was all due to taking yesterday off. My legs didn't feel nearly as exhausted as they usually do and it didn't take them nearly as long to warm up and get into the swing of things.

My time was two seconds faster than last week! Woo I'll take it! I said I wanted to try and improve my time every week...so this will do for now. Next week I really want to be closer to 22 minutes and maybe even break it! We'll see how that goes.

Time to cool down and do this tough circuit (same as last week):

10 push-ups alternating knee-ins
15 froggers
10 / side ice skaters
15 / leg alternating forward lunges
10 box jumps
15 / leg single leg step ups
5 / side row with neutral front raise

Repeat circuit 5x with 90 seconds rest in between! 


This is such a great total body circuit. Trust me if you do it, you will be sore the next day. I was sore for days upon days after, but that's a good thing--try it out!! 


Ab workout for the day- I skimped on these a bit today. I only managed a few minutes before I was ready to just stretch and get home. Pretty much all I did was some bicycles, sit ups, and russian twists.  



Day 6 Eats: 
Breakfast- (a little later than usual) steel cut oats with agave, flax, berries, and cinnamon on top! 

Lunch- Ehhh not anything worth noting. I missed a meal with protein here because I just wasn't terribly hungry for a big substantial lunch. That's the problem with eating breakfast late, ugh. Basically I just nibbled at the banana blueberry cake, a few bites of cantaloup, and tried Devron's homemade guacamole with a few chips.

Dinner- I warmed up the coconut crusted talapia and broccoli that I made yesterday. Also on my plate was a cut up apple with almond butter, and some farmers market celery and peaches! Oh and I'll definitely maybe be making a green tea latté in a bit ;)

Off I go to watch more Breaking Bad...we. are. addicted.