Fitness Friday: Eating Healthy

Source: someecards.com via Grace on Pinterest

I saw this on pinterest and thought it was kind of funny, but mostly silly. I know quite a few people who always complain about their weight, or how out of shape they are but do nothing about it. It takes a lot of work and will power to eat healthy, resist over-indulging, and to motivate yourself to exercise, but it is more than worth it! My husband and I had friends over for dinner and I mentioned something about how I love to work out and my friend said she remembered when I told her I was unhappy with my body ( I had gained at least 10 pounds) and she said since then she has noticed I am much more fit. I then realized I told her that almost exactly a year ago, I have been consistently eating healthy (some days better than others) and exercising for a whole year! I wish I had taken some before pictures, but I honestly didn't think I would be consistent and didn't want to depress myself. I think part of what kept me going was changing my goal from a weight (we don't even own a scale) to just feeling good about myself and not comparing myself to others.

Fitness Friday: Grocery Shopping

Healthy eating doesn't have to be expensive! I budget $100 a week ($400 a month) for groceries and I'm able to stay within my budget and even splurge on little treats sometimes. I shop at 2-3 stores to maximize savings and because there are products I love at each! First up, Trader Joe's:

This is typically where the bulk of my shopping is done, I did forget to picture yogurt jalapeno cheese, sprouted wheat bread, and eggs. I bought the dark chocolate with 80% cacao for some healthy cookies I plan on making later tonight :) I bought 28 items and spent $57.38.

Sprouts Farmer's Market is another favorite place to shop (and where I worked over the summer), and this is where I get most (if not all) of our produce. My splurge here was the Kevita, it was on sale so I bought one for my husband and I to try (my usual splurge is on kombucha). I didn't picture the items I bought in bulk because they are in obnoxious plastic bags, but I bought black beans, brown rice, wheat flour, and chia seeds in bulk. I purchased 18 items for $37.51.

The last store I went to was Von's (or Safeway), I don't usually shop here, but I couldn't find baking powder or lasagna noodles at Trader Joe's. The noodles were 50% off (I hope their good!) and the baking soda was cheap especially since it's non-GMO! :) For 2 items I only spent $3.28

My Grand Total was: $98.17

Fitness Friday #7: HIIT

I have been doing Jillian Michaels' workout DVDs since November when I really started to get into fitness and trying to have a healthier lifestyle, and I have loved every minute of it. But I started getting a little bored with the DVDs I have, especially after doing the 30 Day Slim Down. Instead of buying another one of her DVDs (I am on a pretty tight budget over the summer) I started looking at free workouts online and stumbled upon Bodyrock.tv . The first workout I saw I watched the video, read the instructions, and thought, it might be too difficult. I contemplated trying this workout for about 45 minutes and just decided I had to try and push myself. It was one of the toughest workouts I had done in awhile (dripping sweat!), but I felt so accomplished! I have been doing their workouts this past week and feel like I already have more definition in my abs than before! The workouts are HIIT ( High Intensity Interval Training) and can be as short as 12 minutes while others are based solely on how fast you can repeat a certain number of reps (with good form) and will be revisted so you can try to beat your personal best.

I am sold on Bodyrock.tv and proud to be a new bodyrocker! Thanks Zuzanna and Freddy!

Fitness Friday #6: Workout Schedule

I have recently been in a bit of a workout rut and haven't really felt motivated or excited for any of my workout DVDs. I use MyFitnessPal to keep track of calories and exercise and I heard about a workout challenge that sounded like the perfect solution! For the last two weeks I have been following Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Slim Down Challenge, which is tough, but a great motivator and it really helps that I am part of a group to keep me accountable! Here is the schedule:

DAY 1 - 30 DAY SHRED: LEVEL 1

DAY 2 - 30 DAY SHRED: LEVEL 1

DAY 3 - NO MORE TROUBLE ZONES

DAY 4 - 30 DAY SHRED: LEVEL 1

DAY 5 - BANISH FAT, BOOST METABOLISM
DAY 6 - QUICK TROUBLE ZONES
DAY 7 - OFF!
DAY 8 - 30 DAY SHRED: LEVEL 1
DAY 9 - 30 DAY SHRED: LEVEL 2
DAY 10 - QUICK TROUBLE ZONES

DAY 11 - 30 DAY SHRED: LEVEL 2
DAY 12 - BANISH FAST, BOOST METABOLISM
DAY 13 - NO MORE TROUBLE ZONES
DAY 14 - OFF!
DAY 15 - 30 DAY SHRED: LEVEL 1 & QUICK TROUBLE ZONES
DAY 16 - 30 DAY SHRED: LEVEL 2
DAY 17 - NO MORE TROUBLE ZONES
DAY 18 - 30 DAY SHRED: LEVEL 1 & 2
DAY 19 - NO MORE TROUBLE ZONES
DAY 20 - BANISH FAT, BOOST METABOLISM

DAY 21 - OFF!
DAY 22 - 30 DAY SHRED: LEVEL 2 & 1
DAY 23 - QUICK TROUBLE ZONES
DAY 24 - BANISH FAT, BOOST METABOLISM
DAY 25 - QUICK TROUBLE ZONES & 30 DAY SHRED: LEVEL 2
DAY 26 - OFF!
DAY 27 - NO MORE TROUBLE ZONES & 30 DAY SHRED LEVEL 1
DAY 28 - BANISH FAT, BOOST METABOLISM & QUICK TROUBLE ZONES
DAY 29 - 30 DAY SHRED: LEVEL 2 AND THEN LEVEL 1
DAY 30 - NO MORE TROUBLE ZONES

So far I have noticed some small results (I'm looking to tone up more, not lose any weight or anything), I can definitely see my stomach muscles and better muscle tone in my arms. I'm definitely looking forward to day 30!

Fitness Friday #4: Raw Recipe

A couple of weeks ago I was looking online, trying to find some new dinner ideas and stumbled upon this blog. I found a recipe for thai lettuce wraps and just had to try them. They were delicious!

Raw Thai Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:
½ cup zucchini, diced
½ cup Champignon mushrooms, diced
½ cup red bell pepper, diced
½ cup fresh cilantro, minced
½ cup scallions, minced (greens only)


Sauce:
½ cup raw wild honey
¼ cup nama shoyu
1 clove garlic, minced
2 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated
2 Tablespoons sesame seeds, hulled
2 Tablespoons sesame Oil
2 teaspoons red pepper flakes


Garnish:
1 head of lettuce, Butter, Bib, or Romaine
2 cups mung bean sprouts
1 carrot


Gently pull-apart lettuce leaves wash and let dry on paper towel. Prepare the sauce in a food processor fitted with an s-blade by adding all ingredients and pulsing 3-4 times. Add diced vegetables to processor and pulse 3-4 more times until all ingredients are incorporated. Place 2-3 lettuce leaves on plate, scoop 2-3 tablespoons of vegetable mixture onto each leaf. Garnish with mung beans, and grated carrot.

*I did change this a little bit, I didn't use any walnuts, just veggies (the recipe calls for 2 cups to mix into the veggie mixture, and I forgot to get green onions! But it was still amazingly good!

Fitness Friday #3: DVD Review

Source: movies.netflix.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

I will admit that I have not tried the whole DVD, I could barely get to the 2nd level. Not because the workout was too difficult, but because I couldn't handle how off the contestants were. I like the idea of making a Biggest Loser workout DVD with former contests/winners, but they are not professionals and they don't always have the correct form and they do not stay together. The workout itself was pretty good, a good amount of cardio with some hand weights, but it wasn't really my style (I felt like it was too easy aside from all the quad work) and it really drove me crazy that the contestants were so off, which was partly because Trainer Bob wasn't really cueing them and keeping them together. Overall I used this DVD 2 or 3 times and will not do it again.

Fitness Friday #2: Recipe

This has become one of my new favorite recipes (with an adjustment!), thanks to Self magazine and Jillian Michaels!

Mediterranean Baked Salmon with Quinoa (Keen-wa)

(makes 2 servings)

2 Atlantic Salmon fillets

1-2 tsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 and 1/2 Red Bell peppers sliced

1 Fennel bulb sliced

About half a small can of sliced black olives

1 tsp. dried Oregano (or 2 tsp. fresh)

Fresh Black Pepper (to taste)

1 Lemon

Rub salmon with olive oil, place salmon with veggies on top in pan. Bake at 375 for about 20-25 minutes (until fully cooked, baking times may differ). Drizzle with lemon juice. Serve with quinoa.

Quinoa Rice

1 Cup Quinoa

2 Tomatoes, chopped

1/2 Red Bell Pepper

Handful of Cilantro (chopped)

2 Cups Water

Cook 1 cup quinoa with 2 cups water, after a few minutes add cilantro, red bell pepper, and tomatoes. Cook until rice is ready (no more water).

I thought this was very delicious, although I was not too fond of the fennel taste, so next time I will omit that and probably just add some yellow bell peppers and/or zucchini instead.

Fitness Friday: 30 Day Shred Review

Over the past few months I have really been enjoying working out (crazy, I know!). One of my inspirations has been Jillian Michaels, I love her no-excuses attitude and how encouraging she is to just keep going even when you feel like you are going to die! The 30 Day Shred DVD has been in my workout rotation for about 6 months and has stayed challenging. There are 3 levels (about 24 minutes each) beginning with the easier moves to build more endurance/stamina and then progressing to a very challenging Level 3 workout. Each level has a warm-up and cool down with 3 circuits of 3 minutes of strength training, 2 minutes of cardio, and 1 minute of abs. I have done each level numerous times and continue to put this workout DVD into my rotation, and I still feel like I am getting a great workout each time. I haven't been trying to loose any weight, just trying to get more toned and I have seen an improvement! I can actually see some ab definition, my legs are more muscular than fat, and I have some pretty nice tricep muscles! Haha! I would definitely recommend adding this to your exercise DVD collection!

*When I started this workout I was using 2 pound weights and have since switched to 3 pound weights, the added pound surprisingly makes the workout more challenging!