Muscle Monday

Awesome feedback on my Confessions post! Y’all made me feel a lot more normal for many of my confessions :) I am now offering free personal training services to someone who can hang up my clothes and do my dishes. Takers? No?

As I confessed yesterday, I’m growing weary of these early morning workouts. Today may have been the last one. Gonna try out the after-work-workout thing tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Here’s what my full-body workout looked like today:

Warm-up: 20 minutes on the elliptical

Exercise	Weight	Reps	Sets	Muscle
Front squat push press	40 lbs	8-12	3	Legs, shoulders
Superset:
Wide-grip lat pulldown	50 lbs	8-12	3	Back
Bulgarian split squat	15 lbs	8-12	3	Quads, glutes, inner thighs, calves
Superset:
Barbell bench press	50 lbs	8-12	3	Chest
Good morning	50 lbs	8-12	3	Hamstrings, glutes, lower back
Superset:
Dumbbell shoulder press	15 lbs ea	8-12	3	Shoulder
Reverse lunge with forward reach	10 lbs ea	8-12	3	Quads, calves, back
Superset:
Barbell bicep curl	25 lbs	8-12	3	Biceps
Skull crusher	25 lbs	8-12	3	Triceps
Plie squat	20 lbs	8-12	3	Quads, glutes, inner thighs

Finished off with a set each of roll-up, reverse crunch, side knee drops, bicycle crunches.

Good times :) I could have spent all morning playing around in the weight area if time allowed.

Today was my last Monday at my job. Boo :(

Been coming home at lunch to let the pup out. But also to secretly watch The View.

 
It also allows me to assemble salads of epic proportions.

 
Salad highlights include pickled beets, pickles, basil feta and chicken breast cooked and seasoned to perfection. The best part of course was the salad dressing: hummus + pickle juice. Seriously, pickle juice makes the best dressing.

I baked five chicken breasts last night in preparation for the week. SO easy. Threw them on a pan, watched TV for a while, then took them out, chopped them up, and tossed in the freezer. Badabing. No sketchy sodium in my chicken breasts thankyouverymuch.

Of course, it also equals an excess of chicken consumption when I’m cramped for time. Consider this lunch, pitafied.

Where I rushed off to after supper is top secret.

 
But it may have involved a cute girl with a camera ;)

Hi Melanie!!!!

After that business I went to the mall. This is bolded because I haven’t been shopping since I bought Lululemon pants in February. And before then, since Christmas. I actually went there to get tax stuff, but the sales lured me in. Picked up a new pair of pants, long-sleeved shirt and pretty necklace ALL for $20. Score. I’ll take a picture when I wear them all to work tomorrow :) I’m getting rid of all my “chubby” and raggedy clothing. Unfortunately, this doesn’t leave much left behind.

Then I came back home and amped up.

With a Muscle Brownieeeeeee. 

Raaaaawwrrrrr.

 

I’ve been living alone for too long.

You can read the long ingredient list in further detail here. 

Waaaiit a second. The front of the package says 20g protein, and this says 10g protein. WAIT a second!! Gah!! Foiled. There is two servings in a package. This is a GIANT pet peeve of mine. I thought I was getting a huge beefcake brownie for 170 calories. Apparently, it has the caloric density of a beefcake too.

 
At least I don’t feel so gypped for paying $3 for this anymore, since I am getting two servings out of it.

 
I ate the piece on top, and… um… it was delicious. The texture was spot on. Kinda fudgy, not the least bit dry or tasteless.

And I think I feel my biceps tingling ;)

Well that’s all from me! Archie just rose from the dead and is looking at me with those puppy dog eyes. Unfortunately we can’t walk. I injured myself walking this weekend. Ugh. Don’t even get me started…

Hope everyone had a great Monday!

Hugs and kisses ;)

 

Question of the Day: What are some of your biggest marketing pet peeves? I have many! Currently my biggest one is this commercial where a pretty woman is running in a little tank-top and no bra. Any woman out there knows running without support it impossible, and painful. Jeez. :P

The Good Stuff

In my next life, I’m coming back as a dog.

I could totally keep up with Archie’s schedule of sleeping all day. Instead – I studied all day!

Was up a little late watching Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution last night. That’s my new fave show. “The Naked Chef” used to air after school when I was in middle school, and I will always credit it for teaching me how to be passionate about food. The man doesn’t know it yet, but he’ll be leaving his wife for me :P

Anyways, there’s no clock in my room, and I magically woke up 8 hours after drifting to sleep. Perfection!

Dug through my mom’s fridge and came up with this for breakfast:

 

I found sesame ezekiel bread in the freezer! Better than finding a $20 bill on the side of the road :P

This bread is seriously like gold – two pieces have 160 calories, 28g carbs, 6g fibre, 8g protein. However, it’s also priced like gold – $5 a pop. Too rich for my blood, hence the joy when I discovered it.

Butter was used on both the toast and frying pan for the eggs. Mmmm…

My mom went off to exercise class this morning while I stayed home. Boo! My body’s due for a rest day, and my cold is progressing. I’ve gone from a sore throat, to sore throat and runny nose. It’s all pretty mild though, hoping it gets through all the stages quickly.

Instead, I studied! I studied all freakin’ day. There is SO MUCH material I need to know for my personal training test next weekend. I’m starting to get nervous I won’t be able to cram it all in my brain.

My morning snack did not fall into the healthy category – but I wanted a treat.

President’s Choice Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Equalizer bar.

The ingredient list might take a while to read…

Overall it was okay.

I don’t eat these types of protein bars much anymore, so when I do I want something that’s really good and worth the splurge. This, while chocolatey and edible, wasn’t quite worth it. But ya never know till you try!

Dug around my mom’s fridge some more for lunch and came up with this:

Turkey salad pita with celery, carrots and cream cheese (better than Cheez Whiz!)

I found this bouquet sale in my mom’s fridge. I have no clue what it is, a rub or tapenade of sorts?

Mostly made up of veggie bits, and only 5 calories a tablespoon.

Plus, it smelled darn good so I scooped a bunch into my turkey salad, which already had some mustard, cucumber dressing, onions and celery.

Whoooa nelly, it was salty. I got so excited to see it was only 5 cals per tbsp, I somehow missed the 510 mg of salt!! Whoops. My “palette” is sensitive to salt to begin with, so it was overload. Didn’t stop me from polishing it off though ;)

Mark (mom’s boyfriend) found some honey lemon tea for me to help the cold along.

Drank out of one of my mother’s famed monarchy mugs.

Yes, we are Anglican monarchists. I could also probably identify the characters on Coronation Street for you. Wished this tea was Earl Grey because honey lemon sucks. Blech. Tastes like Neocitran, Soothed the throat though!

Mom and I teamed up for dinner. She made baked chicken breast with a crazy good mushroom gravy.

For the gravy, she simmered 1/2 a can of Campbell’s low-fat cream of mushroom soup, chicken broth, mushrooms and onions.

Mommy dearest also assembled the Greek salad.

She buys the good olive oil as well. The stuff that’s actually green. Really, at this rate, she’s lucky I haven’t moved back home yet.

My contribution?

Cheetahs! Sliced sweet potato sprinkled with salt and chili powder, baked in a 450 F oven for 20-30 minutes. My mom also mashed some taters. Deeeelish meal. Even the kids ate it up.

That’s all from me today! I’m super stiff from studying all day, so I’m going to go stretch out a bit before hitting the books again. Hoping to get lots more sleep tonight so I’m good enough to sneak in a workout and visit to my Nana tomorrow. Will play it by ear. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!! xoxo

 

Question of the Day: What is one grocery item you must splurge on? What is one you won’t? Protein powder is always my most expensive grocery item, but it’s one I refuse to give up. I cannot bring myself to buy expensive frozen dinners though ($6 Amy’s bowls, I’m looking at you).

Pigs n’ Bunnies

Happy Easter.

Do bunny suits scare the crap out of anyone else?? When I was a kid, Easter used to scare me because I thought a man in a bunny suit was breaking into our house to hide things. Not a friendly man either. But the kind that stinks of bourbon and cigarettes, with furry eyebrows and deep growl for a voice. This was my innocent mind as a child. Thankfully, my parents were bad at pretending it was someone other than themselves hiding the chocolate behind the couch :P I will however say, they expertly put money under my pillow whenever I lost a tooth. That Tooth Fairy thing was a real shocker.

I loved hearing the diverse genres of music that everyone listens to while working out in my last post. Some fun ones:

Madeline admitted to listening to blasting the pop music, although she listens to indie the rest of the time.

chillel said classical music makes her feel powerful while working out.

Ellie is hooked on Glee because showtunes pump her up.

…and John ran 10 miles to NO music today. Whoa. I am thoroughly impressed.

 

Anyways! I was up at 6:50am today. Babysteps. Maybe I’ll crack 7am tomorrow. I know it’s Pancake Sunday and all, but I am not one to argue with the Waffle Monster.

Two Nature’s Path Flax Plus waffles topped with a mix of cottage cheese, cashew butter, maple syrup, cinnamon and raisins. 

That’s how you make freezer waffles filling :)

Actually, a little too filling! I had my two hour group exercise medley at 9:30, and I didn’t want to go without something extra in my tummy. I reached for a homemade apple cinnamon protein bar for that long-lasting energy.

Thankfully, we didn’t start with Body Attack, or I would have thrown up :P

The breakdown went a little something like this:

30 minutes Body Pump – For a girl who loves weight lifting, I just can’t get into this class. Doing squats and chest presses for 5 minutes each is not fun, and my joints don’t like it.

30 minutes Body Step – I was not expecting there to be a step block! I got all excited when I saw the crazy step instructor there today. Favourite part of the day. She even referred to me as one of the “seasoned steppers” for all the newbies to follow :)

30 minutes Body Attack – Ever do “high knees?” Well it’s all that, all the time. Except, we did one song from the Hairspray soundtrack where we jumped side to side and waved our hands in the the air like we just didn’t care.

30 minutes Body Flow – I was SO sweaty and tired by this point I was ready to collapse into the pool of sweat that gathered on my mat. I don’t think the instructor for this one adequately planned, as she had us doing a lot of challenging warriors, when we really just needed to chill and streeeetch.

Overall, a fun day of exercising!! I wish they offered these medleys more often, they typically only do it on holidays when they don’t do the regular class schedule. Two hours may sound like a lot, but it’s all about pacing yourself and knowing when not to push too hard so you don’t crash.

After this I went straight to the after hours medical clinic. I don’t have a doctor in town, so I can’t just schedule an appointment with one (there’s a waiting list). So I have to go to the drop-in clinic. I finally broke down and went, because my arms are essentially covered in rashes, and I can’t put up with it anymore!!

After a three-hour wait, I walked out with some cream and pills.

The cream is a type of cortisone cream for my arms, which the doctor said looked like eczema. The pills however are for my legs. I’ve had skin problems there for well over a year now. The doc said it looked like it might be a bacterial infection in the hair follicles, so he prescribed a form of antibiotic. I’ve got to go back in a month to see if it helps. I really hope my arms clear up – the itching is driving me batty.

Oh. I ate a ham sandwich during the wait. And studied. Then I came home and had more ham. It’s freakin’ Easter!!

 
For the veggies, I tossed broccoli and butternut squash in bacon peanut butter and maple syrup and roasted them.

Since I did maple syrup for the veggies, I skipped it for the ham. Instead I pan-fried it and topped it with sauteed onions and a sauce made from laughing cow cheese, almond milk, dill and garlic powder.

Excellent, excellent meal. Not a bad Easter dinner for one if I do say so myself :) After dinner I called my Nana who is also home alone today. Kicking myself I didn’t just go stay with her instead!

 

I’ve read a billion blogs today, here’s a couple you should check out:

Lisa wrote a great post about control issues with food and body image.

Tam made the prettiest waffles I’ve ever seen.

 

Happy Easter!! Don’t let the man in the bunny suit get you!!

Question of the Day: Did you believe in the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy or Santa Clause as a kid? As for Santa, I found out he didn’t exist by matching “his” handwriting on the presents to my mother’s. It was much too girly ;)