Things I Learned This Month – February 2010

• It’s hard to blog after Canada kicks butt winning a record 14 gold medals aaaand beating out the US in the gold medal hockey game :D
• Topping custard oats with a soft-fried egg, salsa and cheese is absolutely amazing.

• Sometimes I like resting my body on Sundays, mostly so I can torture it better throughout the week ;)
• Showering at the gym almost every morning means I don’t have to scrub my bathtub as often.
• Elvis might have been on to something. Bacon Peanut Butter is delicious on top of banana.

• As Danielle eloquently put it, “Consider fatty feb to be fatty forever.”
• Protein powder is amazing when mixed with just a little water, whether eaten straight up as protein cookie dough or used as a spread on a peanut butter protein sandwich.

• Sometimes small steps forward turn into giant leaps. Moving from my cozy province to a giant city 14 hours away doesn’t scare me in the slightest. Finally, I’m EXCITED!!
• Being who I truly am attracts the right kind of people into my life.
• Even though Western Creamery is owned by my favourite yogurt brand, it just doesn’t live up to Liberte.

• Homemade granola is better than store-bought. Seriously.
• Peanut butter puffins do not live up to the hype, but I will still munch the box away.

 

• There is nothing more healing than a wild weekend with my best girl friend.
• I am perfectly content being on my own, but I miss living with other people.
• I need to take more supplemental vitamins.

• But I also need to check the ingredient list of said vitamins before deciding to ingest them everyday.

• The expectations I place on myself are ridiculously high and unwarranted. Often the pressure I feel to succeed comes from within, and not from outside sources like I trick myself into thinking.
• There is something wrong with me when, at the age of 24, I refer to university students as “kids.”
• Treat Monday is possibly the greatest invention ever.

• But there is a reason why I’ve never tried blondies before. It’s hard to stop at just one!! (or, erm, two)
• President’s Choice The Decadent semi-sweet chocolate chunks are superior to all forms of chocolate chip.

• Being well groomed is expensive. Hair straighteners, nail polish, fancy eye liner and hair goos, it all comes at a high cost.
• I needn’t be scared to cook with high-fat foods like olive oil, butter, nuts, full-fat cheese and even egg yolks. My body craves them!
• Sweet potatoes need to by slow-roasted. Go. Do it now.

 

• Actually, everything tastes better slow-roasted.

• And sometimes the only spices you need are salt and pepper. Why mask the flavour when you can enhance it?
• Weight lifting makes me feel amazing. Cardio may burn the calories, but weight training has me waking up every morning feeling good about myself (and mega sore)
• I need to be an active participant in my own life. It’s pointless to just let things happen when I can make every day in the meantime one worth remembering.

Question of the Day: What did you learn this month?

Fatty February Wrap-Up & Then Some

Hey bloggie friends!! Well, I was watching Food Inc online. But I apparently maxed out my streaming time, so I thought I’d take a little break to blog :)

Thanks for all the wonderful feedback on my Oatmeal & Beauty for Dummies post! First, I should add my mom commented that the typical oat-to-liquid ratio is 1:2, which is true. I do 1:3 because I cook them slowly and like them suuuuper creamy.

Secondly, all you straight hair pros out there gave my Chi straightener a thumbs up! Yay!! :D Some of you asked what my hair is like naturally, here’s an au naturelle pic I tracked down – naturally styled and my natural colour.

Please excuse the mega awkward look in this photo. I’m an awkward person in real life, and it apparently translates onto film. I also cut my friend/bandmate/co-host out of this picture because I didn’t know if he is ready for his blog debut yet. Soon though, right Billy? :P

Okay, so if I had blogged yesterday, I would have said my whole-body weight workout was a little lacklustre. But the great thing about typing it up the next day is that I can tell you I’m sore! So I must have done somethin’ right!

Treadmill

Minutes	Speed – MPH	Incline
0-5	3.5	1.0
5-6	5.5	1.0
6-7	6.0	1.0
7-8	6.5	1.0
8-9	7.0	1.0
9-10	7.5	1.0
10-11	5.5	1.5
11-12	6.0	1.5
12-13	6.5	1.5
13-14	7.0	1.5
14-15	7.5	1.5
15-16	5.5	2.0
16-17	6.0	2.0
17-18	6.5	2.0
18-19	7.0	2.0
19-20	7.5	2.0

 

Exercise	Weight	Reps	Sets
Barbell deadlift	50 lbs	10	3

 

Exercise – Alternating	Weight	Reps	Sets
Assisted pull-up	75 lbs	8	3
Chest fly	15 lbs each	10	3

 

Exercise – Alternating	Weight	Reps	Sets
Good morning	40 lbs	12	3
Barbell upright row	20 lbs	12	3

 

Exercise – Alternating	Weight	Reps	Sets
Single leg romanian deadlift	15 lbs each	10	3
Seated cable row	55 lbs	10	3

 

Exercise – Alternating	Weight	Reps	Sets
Medicine ball squat	11 lbs	15	3
Russian twist	11 lbs	30	3
Lying medicine ball throw	11 lbs	15	3
Pullover to ball crunch	11 lbs	15	3

Stairmill

Minutes	Level
0-1	6
1-2	7
2-3	8
3-4	9
4-5	10
5-6	6
6-7	7
7-8	8
8-9	9
9-10	10

Yeah. Looking back I can see why I’m hobbling today. I would also like to add that I could have sworn I saw some shoulder rippling during those upright rows. Yesss! That’s why I’m a strong advocate of wearing shorts and a tank-top to the gym. They allow you to see all your muscles, instead of hiding them up in sweats and baggy tees. Wearing nice workout clothes can be a huge confidence booster!

I had another decent cold breakfast at work after…

• 1/2 cup cottage cheese
• 1/2 cup yogurt
• 2 tbsp Grape Nuts cereal
• 1 tbsp almond butter
• 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
• 1 tbsp blueberry jam
• cinnamon

The tiny bit of Grape Nuts left to soak overnight made for a wonderful texture!

Also wonderful, this week’s Apple Cinnamon protein bar.

 
Just one of those batches where everything comes together perfectly.

Let’s see… I also stunk up my office again with boiled eggs.

 
Then tried to mask the smell with a fragrant citrus fruit.

I’m trying really hard to like grapefruit, but every time I eat one I just wish it was a sweet orange!

Let’s skip everything else and get to today, shall we?

Good thing I went to bed at a decent time last night, because my body clock still kicked in this morning. Left me lots of time to make a beautiful breakfast before step class. PB&J Oatmeal Sandwich.

 

• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 cup egg whites (whisked into pot)
• cinnamon, stevia
• blueberry jam
• peanut butter

To “sandwich” it, I pour half the oatmeal in the bowl, top it with half of the PB and jam, then layer the rest on top. Makes for a little PB&J “pocket” in the centre ;)

 
Unfortunately, it was an “off: day for me at BodyStep. It started badly after the first song when I noticed I had a wobbly step. I had to swap it out for another one, but it left me a little off my game for the rest of class. We did a lot of new songs with moves I’ve never done, which means more time spent fumbling instead of pushing myself. Lastly, I’m sore!! Did I mention that already? :P My shoulders and hamstrings are beat.

Treated myself to a hot lunch, one of the great things about weekends.

Butternut squash fries with two Sol veggie burgers topped with salsa and old cheddar. Hit the spot!

I had a banana I wanted to use up, so instead of making protein bars for this coming week, I made Low Carb Banana Bread. 

 

 
It’s essentially April’s Low Carb Sweet Bread, with the pumpkin swapped out for banana.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup ground flaxseed
• 1 cup wheat-bran
• 1/4-1/2 cup pure pumpkin (depending how moist you like your bread- I like mine really moist so I used 1/2 cup) 1 mushed banana
• 1 cup liquid egg substitute
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 1 tbsp each baking powder and cinnamon
• 2 tsp pure stevia extract 4 packets of stevia

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a loaf pan with nonstick baking spray.
2. Combine all ingredients.
3. Pour into baking pan, bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

 
I had a piece right away topped with PB of course! Turned out really well! One piece (1/8 of the loaf) is 123 calories, 6g fat, 13g carbs, 7g fibre and 5g protein. Not bad!

Of course, my hot lunch then had me craving a cold supper.

Egg salad sandwich with pickles, onions, mayo and mustard. Then carrots + salsa on the side. Check out how thick that filling is. Two eggs a sandwich is how it’s done ;)

 

Fatty February Wrap-Up & Then Some

Seeing as tomorrow is the last day of the month, I wanted to combine all my thoughts about my Fatty February challenge. For about four weeks, I’ve been consciously increasing the amount of healthy fats in my diet, with hopes improving my hair, skin and hormonal levels.

It occurred to me today that my results with Fatty February may be a little skewed. You see, I also went off the birth control pill at the end of January, and I’m realizing that what could have been a side-effect of increasing my dietary fat, could also be a side-effect of going off the pill.

For example, one thing I noticed is that my belly pouf shrank. Apparently water-bloat can disappear when you go off the pill, so who knows if it’s related.

As for satiety, I think increasing my fats may have improved it. I did a lot less munching this past month, especially at night. Perhaps it’s because I felt more satisfied with the food I was eating?

I haven’t noticed a huge difference in my skin. My face is still the same, my arms are still pretty dry, and the rash on my legs is only slightly better. Again, it’s hard to judge my skin now that I’m not taking a daily dose of hormones!

Finally, my nails grew at lightning speed. This was probably the thing I noticed most. I could barely keep up with them!

I can say for certainty, that I will be continuing a diet high in fat. Shooting for a 30-30-30 carb-protein-fat ratio worked really well for me this month, and I would like to keep doing it. Every body is different in terms of macronutrients, so perhaps this is just the one that works for me :) I’ll be sure to do more check-ins as I notice things.

As a side note, Caitlin wrote a wonderful post today on the “Big Birth Control Question” that I encourage you women and men to check out. Some interesting conversation in the comments of that post. I can tell you I was on the pill for four years and felt myself starting to drag towards the end. I hope going off it will get my hormones back to where they’re supposed to be, and I’m looking forward to being back to my body’s natural cycle. To be perfectly honest though, I’m a little weary about what will (or won’t) happen!

 

Okay, that’s enough getting personal for one evening. Hope you’re all enjoying your weekend! I’m off to finish Food Inc now…

Hi!! I’m alive!!

I just got a phone call from my mother checking to see if I was still alive because I didn’t blog last night :P Yes, yes, I am indeed alive. Barely, step class pounded my already sore hamstrings today. I spent way too much time staring at a computer screen yesterday, so when the time came to blog, I read (like, a real book) instead! T’was fab and well needed :)

Be back tonight with food and workout moves and ramblings and maybe some baking or maybe some movie rentals, PT studying, laundering, kitchen cleaning….

Have a great Saturday!!