At-home Cardio Circuit Workout

Hello there! My eyes were killing me all day today, so I decided to skip the gym tonight. I actually had settled on not working out altogether but then realized that not having contacts in is no reason to skip a workout. I put on my workout clothes before I left work so that I could come home and immediately complete a circuit in my living room. I came home and completed this:

At-home Cardio Circuit Workout
1 minute each - 30 seconds *active* rest

- Jumping jacks
- Squats (30 sec. regular/30 sec. pulse)
- Rotating "knee-ups" with punch (no idea what to call this -- basically I start in a squat position and twist side-to-side while lifting alternate knees and punching. Probably doesn't make sense...)
- Alternating lunges
- Plank jacks (jumping jacks in a plank position)
- Front kicks (30 seconds fast, 30 seconds slow)
- Jump rope
- Side kicks (alternating with punch and knee up)

I completed this circuit 3 times with a 1:30 rest between each set. I was sweating hard by the end!

I finished up with 2 sets of the Tone it Up Ab Circuit:
30 seconds each - as little rest as possible

- V-sit
- Plank on hands - alternating hand to shoulder
- Bicycle
- Tummy tuck (plank on forearmes - bring alternating knees to chest)
- Leg lifts

This whole workout took me 48 minutes to complete, plus some time for stretching. It was a good one!

After I finished I was seriously craving protein. I snacked on some deli turkey meat while I made a cheese omelette. I also ate lots of carrots and hummus on the side.


Now I'm chillin' on the couch watching some Biggest Loser. Bob just said the greatest thing!!

"You can do anything you put your mind to, but you've got to put your mind to it."

So true. Aw I love Bob!

BAA Distance Medley

I can't believe I forgot to write about this!!!

I signed up for my second half marathon a few weeks ago. AHHH!!

Not only did I sign up for a half, but I signed up for the BAA Distance Medley. Here's the races involved in the Medley:

BAA 5K - April 15
BAA 10K - June 24
BAA Half Marathon - October 7

I'm really excited!! I started running again a few weeks ago and am now comfortable running 2 miles on the treadmill without stopping and can run 5+ with run/walk intervals. I'm going to attempt to sign up for a couple of more 5k races throughout this time period. I'm looking forward to training for the half marathon in warm weather! Last year I trained through the winter and sometimes it felt like torture.

One of my goals for 2012 was to finally break a 30:00 5k. I really think I can do this!! I'm sure I could have done it last year but I stopped signing up for races while I was training for the half. My plan is to get to a point where I am comfortable running a 5k at ANY pace, then start incorporating a little bit of speed work. My fastest 5K time was 30:10 last year. That's just 11 seconds I have to cut. I can definitely do that!

Cheers to motivation!

Rino's Place

Last night TKO took me and my roommate Kathleen out on a date! I have never dated a guy who cared in the slightest bit about making sure my friends like him, so this is new territory for me. And I love it! It was so nice spending time with my best friend and my suitor (HAHA...did I really just say that?) at once.

I had been dying to check out Rino's Place in East Boston for years now. It was featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives in 2010 and the images of homemade pasta and seafood made my mouth water then and now! (Here's a link to the segment on DDD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=az2qmVglV8s)

We arrived at the restaurant around 7:30 and knew we'd be in for a wait. The place is small (only about 10 tables or so) and we had about an hour ahead of us. We walked over to a nearby bar for some drinks while we waited. I ordered a cantaloupe martini, which was watermelon vodka mixed with mango. It didn't taste like cantaloupe but was still good!

When we got the phone call from the hostess we headed back to Rino's for some dinner. We started off with a bottle of red, some bread and a few appetizers. We ordered stuffed mushrooms (which were stuffed with crab meat, ritz crackers and a lemon sauce) and something like eggplant rollatini.
Both were so good, but I was full before my entree even arrived! The main courses are GIGANTIC and come with salads. I only ate about half my salad in a weak attempt to save room for dinner. I ordered the frutti di mare which came with clams, mussels, scallops and shrimp and was served over homemade fettucine and covered in a white wine sauce. Soooooooo freakin' good. This picture does not do it justice -- this plate was huge. I ate probably an eighth of the meal and brought the rest home. Leftovers for days!!

Kathleen ordered the "Rino's Special" which looks pretty gross in this picture. It was chicken, veal and shrimp atop pasta in a brandy cream sauce. Girl likes her meat ;)

TKO ordered the famous lobster ravioli. I was tempted to order this but in the end am happy with the choice I made. I tried his and it absolutely lived up to the hype, but was way too rich for me to eat more than 2 pieces or so.


Today is going to be a "get back on track" day where I just eat normally! I have a few pretty indulgent days of eating under my belt and need a break. Breakfast this morning was a granola bar and an apple. Lunch is going to be my favorite canned soup -- chickarina soup!

I rarely eat canned soups anymore but this one just reminds me of home. My mom used to make it for me whenever I was sick and I just can't give it up.

I have zumba tonight and I can't wait! For some reason my right calf is sore though -- maybe I'm dehydrated? Gotta drink up that H2O before tonight.

Happy birthday to my wonderful friend Cara -- my one and only blog reader from the start!! I love you and hope you have an amazing day!

Sluggish

Today has been really blah. I'm in the office on my own today so doing work has been a struggle. I feel like I've been totally unproductive today and hate it! I'm also feeling realllly sluggish. Despite getting in bed on the earlier side (before 12 AM -- yes that's early for me) I pressed the snooze button a record amount of times. I got to work about a half hour late and proceeded to just sit here for most of the day. I didn't get a chance to work out yesterday and instead overdosed on cheese at a pot luck for my friend Cara's birthday. I think this might be contributing to my sluggish-ness.

Despite the effects, the potluck was delicious as usual. I made little tomato-mozzarella bites but forgot to take a picture. We also had bruschetta, cheese and crackers, baked ziti, a cous-cous salad, pear and gorgonzola flat bread pizzas, and chocolate covered strawberries. Everything was so awesome but I deffffinitely overdid it on the cheese last night.

This morning I woke up with hopes to have a pretty healthy day. I'm going out to dinner tonight with TKO and my roommate so I wanted breakfast and lunch to at least be nutiritous. For breakfast I had a mixture of peanut butter, pumpkin butter and dark chocolate peanut butter on whole wheat bread with a banana. This looks gross but it was sooo good.

I snacked on some veggies and hummus mid-day.


And lunch was an un-pictured salad of spinach, tomatoes and edamame + 2 hard boiled egg whites and grapes. I also had some chocolate covered almonds for a little sweetness.

I went to the mall today before lunch and ended up getting sucked into the food court. Every part of me wanted to ditch the salad I bought for lunch and buy ANYTHING else instead. I waited on multiple lines about to order french fries, mac n' cheese, a chocolate croissant (what??) etc. and always ended up turning around before paying. I realized that I just wanted to buy anything so settled on getting hard boiled eggs and a little container of chocolate covered almonds from Au Bon Pain. I took a deep breath, paid for it and hightailed it back to my office. I don't know why sometimes food is still such a big deal for me. I know I'm going out to dinner later, there was no reason I needed to have something so indulgent for lunch too. Luckily I love hard boiled eggs so buying them was a little treat and made me feel better. Sometimes I just wish every food choice didn't feel so damn dramatic.

On another note, thanks to my recent interest in Crossfit (which at the moment I'm too afraid/cheap to try), I've been doing lots of research about the Paleo way of eating. This started simply because of my interest in nutrition but I'm starting to get really curious about it. I'm considering doing a 1-week Paleo challenge or something really just to see how I feel. The sluggishness I've been feeling this morning isn't unique to today -- it's been there for a while. Despite eating pretty healthy and working out 3-5 days per week I'm still lacking energy. I don't drink coffee and I'm curious if my decreased diet coke consumption has had an effect (that's the only place I occasionally would get caffeine from). Following the Paleo diet would take A LOT of preparation, but I know I can commit to it for a week. I'm gonna give it a bit more thought and see how I feel.

Brown hair don't care

Hola! This was a pretty fun weekend. Friday night I spent a long time sweating it out at the gym, then headed over to TKO's for some dinner and a movie. We got sushi from my favorite sushi place ever!!! I got a Mexican roll which is spicy tuna wrapped in avocado with a sour cream and Tabasco sauce mix. Sounds weird but it's oh so good. We watched Moneyball which I loved even though I fell asleep a few times. This was solely the blame of me becoming a grandma on Friday nights -- NOT a reflection on the movie!

On Saturday I did something crazy -- I dyed my hair!! I've been getting highlights for about 10 years now and suddenly decided I wanted a change. I don't keep up with my highlights well and wanted to get back to my natural roots. Muuuch less maintenance. I was really nervous because I'm scared of change, but went through with it! I'm really happy with how it came out. It's definitely still on the lighter side but I think it looks natural and healthy!

Saturday night I went out with some friends for a birthday party. We went to a club which is not my scene at all. I ended up getting hit in the face by someone (too long/dumb of a story to even tell) and hightailed it out of there. I am not a fighter and couldn't even react to someone trying to get in my face. My reaction to getting swung at was to start giggling. Typical.

On Sunday I went food shopping and made a huge veggie platter for our superbowl party. Great game and I'm happy the Giants won, it's tough being a New Yorker in Boston!

Today has been a quick day at work! For lunch I had a sandwich with spinach, pickles turkey and salamai. Some cut up veggies and 2 clementines (1 eaten before the picture) on the side.


I also just snacked on a jello pudding cup. These are one my guilty pleasures! I don't buy them too often but I really just love them. It's pretty funny.

Bootcamp tonight!

Foods I don't like

The other day the roomies and I were talking in the kitchen and in a matter of minutes I mentioned two different foods I don't like. I tend to think I'm not too picky and like most things, but I guess there are some foods I dislike!

Here are a few of my [least] favorite things (this should be sung):
grapefruit
zucchini
broccoli (most of the time)
chocolate ice cream
lemon flavored things
grape flavored things
asparagus
pork (unless it's the dark side of pork belly!)
whipped cream
green apples
mashed potatoes (i can finally eat bites of these)
chicken in canned soups
cooked fruit (like blueberries, apples, peaches etc.)
green olives
bread and butter pickles
mustard
most cooked vegetables
boiled hot dogs

And now on to foods I do like!

Dinner last night was sooo good! I decided to actually spend some time cooking and busted out a package of fontina cheese, spinach, and roasted garlic chicken sausage from Trader Joe's that had set up shop in my freezer.


(Way to go cutting it open right across the name)

As soon as I slit open the plastic I could smell the delicious sausage, even though it was frozen solid. Crazy!

I boiled some pasta and chopped up A LOT of kale and spinach.


Yes I ate all that by myself!

I threw the sausage in a pan for a few minutes and then added the greens with some olive oil and garlic. Once the pasta was done I added it to the pan with a little bit of the pasta water and some parmesan cheese to thicken it all up. The final product:



This was seriously delicious and is definitely going to become a staple dinner for me! So easy too -- It was ready to eat in about 25 minutes!

Lunch today was a turkey wrap with spinach, hummus, and avocado and sides of raw veggies and white cheddar popcorn.


I have some clementines hidden away for a snack later too. I think I say this everytime I mention clementines but I could eat those little cuties all day.


So freakin' cute.

Happy Friday...love being able to say that!!

Chocolate & Veggies

Last night I went to a cute little cafe in Harvard Square called L.A Burdick's. I seriously overdosed on chocolate and left with a stomach ache.


I got a very tiny hot chocolate (shaved chocolate and cocoa powder whisked into steamed milk and topped with foam and grated spice ball) and a very moist chocolate cake (a rich chocolate cake layered with lingonberry jam Topped with chocolate mousse).


What a balanced dinner! I'm actually feeling slightly annoyed at the fact that I ate all that last night. I'm not really a sweets person and if I'm gonna splurge I'd rather do it on a huge basket of french fries. I'm still happy I went but I just wish I could have resisted getting both the hot chocolate and the cake (even though both were unbelievably delicious). Oh well.

I didn't go food shopping early this week and my body has been dying for some fresh fruits and veggies (this is an AWESOME feeling!!!) so I convinced TKO to drive me to Whole Foods to pick up a few things. A few things turned into spending 60+ bucks. How does that happen?? Whatever. Still better than buying lunch everyday from work. Yesterday I got a vegetarian chili, large cup of fruit and a diet coke (first of this week!) from Au Bon Pain and it was $11. That seems like so much to me! I guess I feel like when I spend $60 on groceries for a week that provides me breakfast, lunch and dinner for 7 days -- so about $3/meal. Note to self: Go grocery shopping! Eating out sucks.

While expensive, the lunch was pretty good although the chili was seriously lacking in beans. I felt like I was mostly eating spicy tomato soup.


Lunch today is a spinach salad with cherry tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, snap peas and balsamic. Popcorn and some clementines on the side. Yum.

On another note, I'm in a bit of an exercise predicament. The past few weeks I've been going to a boot camp class on Mondays. While I'm definitely getting back into shape in a cardiovascular sense, my muscles are struggling! So now after boot camp my entire body is sore for the whole week. I feel like this is hindering my other workouts and I end up struggling through zumba/running. I really like boot camp but I'm not sure if it's worth doing. Hmpf.

Zumba tonight and we have a sub. I guess that's fine. Week's almost over!!