Showing posts with label fitfood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fitfood. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Ultimate Plank Challenge and Feast Day

I was awake extra, extra early today. After failing to fall back asleep, I decided to knock out my workout so that feast day could commence.

Last night I came across the #Ultimateplankchallenge and you know how I love a daily challenge. So this morning I jumped in and completed days 1-3: timed plank, 3x30 second forearm planks, and 3x15 crunches. 


The feast day workout had to be modified so I could give my knee a rest. I was able to complete the arm circuit using lower reps (I can't do 100 push-ups!!), but I opted for a leg workout without any squats or lunges. How? I used this routine from Amanda Miller and added mountain climbers at the end. Then I took my cool down outside. They're working on the boardwalk, so I walked in the courtyard of our apartment complex.


I worked on the active trigger points again and brought out my secret weapon. The tennis ball is small, but it can find knots in places that the foam roller and stick can't get to. Warning: if you've never used a tennis ball to roll out knots, it hurts. Just a heads up. 


My knee is better, but still not a happy camper. It's as if my knee cap is not tracking properly. This happened in the past and it turned out to be my IT band, so that's where I went with the tennis ball. There was definitely some knotting/tender spots in there, so I'm hoping this will be the answer.


What I ate on feast day #2

Breakfast: protein pancakes, watermelon, and coffee
These pancakes are awesome, but actually have twice as much protein as carbs. I think that defeats the purpose of carb loading on feast day. They were really good though.


Lunch: quinoa and tuna, grapes, pb banana protein bar, water
Left out the dairy from my regular recipe (see it here) and it wasn't bad. I was stuffed!


Snacks: (not pictured) more watermelon, some Baked Lays chips

Dinner: leftover quinoa and tuna, water, pb banana protein bar
I was 100% NOT HUNGRY, but knowing how bad I felt on the last fast day, I made myself eat.


Macros
Admittedly proud of my eating work today. I was still 500 calories under the goal of eating 50% more than regular calorie days, but my carbs were better than last feast day.


Let the fasting begin!!







Sunday, May 1, 2016

Leg Workout and Getting Settled

There is always a ton of things to do when we return from an extended trip away.

Turn the water and gas back on in the apartment
Restock the fridge
Order water bottles for delivery
Sort the mail and newspapers
Unpack and do laundry
Workout

I took full advantage of the comfortable morning weather for an outdoor workout. It won't be long before the high temps and humidity make this option less appealing. mrC and I found a nice little area with a breeze to do our thing.

It was all about leg strength using body weight. I could still feel some soreness from my last full body workout, but I was able to do most of the exercises. I only had to modify one that bothered my knee. And holy squat jumps and lunge jumps! My legs were jello! I don't even know how I was able to do a 20 minute walk after.


That was a nice amount of calories burned for a twenty-ish minute workout.


My grocery order arrived right on time. It is seriously convenient! This order was filled with mostly fruits and veggies (and a little Coke zero for my occasional caffeine craving).


When I had a chance, I took all the separate lettuce that I bought (iceberg, romaine, and red leaf) and created a little DIY mixed salad just like I buy pre-made in the US. I'm all about convenience.


What I ate for Regular Calorie Day

Breakfast: scrambled eggs with ham, pb&j rice cake, and coffee
mrC made this post workout breakfast for us. The eggs were extra good with the addition of Jane's Crazy Mixed Up Seasoning that I brought back with me. 


Lunch: dairy free protein smoothie, 3 turkey slices
This is my nice and pretty smoothie but before this it was a mad mess all over the kitchen walls. Long story short: stick with what works. Smoothie ingredients: frozen blueberries, frozen raspberries, almond milk, coconut oil, spinach and protein powder.


For the protein powder, I tried another sample from Naked Nutrition. I admit that I am partial to whey protein, but this brand has so many positives that make it stand out from others I have tried: one ingredient only, gluten free, non-GMO, grass fed in the USA. It's worth the money in my opinion.


Dinner: spicy chicken salad, water
I put that DIY salad to use. The only thing I forgot to buy was dairy free dressing, so I splurged with the Ranch that was in the fridge. 


Snack: grapes
I only ate these to try to increase my carb intake for the day. It didn't help much and I wish I had been hungrier so that I could've enjoyed them more.


I was way under my total calories goal for the day (but not hungry) and my macros were not quite up to par either. 




Tomorrow I get another try at it. 

Ever watched your smoothie ingredients fly across the room??


Today I'm linking up with www.marathonsandmotivation.com & www.ilkasblog.com. 



Monday, March 7, 2016

Stretch, Hike, Yoga, Cook

That was my Monday. 

30 Day Pilates Body challenge.
Day 6 - stretching
I'm not a mermaid, but I did like the mermaid stretch. I'd probably like it better if my hips weren't so tight, but it felt good nonetheless. 


I met the SWIC girls for the Monday hike up Nanshan Mountain. According to my Apple Watch, we climbed 56 floors. That seems like a lot to me. On the way down we ran into this happy guy. Or maybe he made us happy? 


It was such a pretty day for yoga camp day 27 on the balcony. Lower body work felt good today. For once there was a really nice breeze. I could've laid on the mat in Savasana all afternoon.


I finally joined the coconut oil party. I picked up this bottle a couple of weeks ago and have been adding little to my smoothies, but tonight I was feeling ambitious. Honey garlic shrimp (one of my favorite grilling recipes) in coconut oil. So good!


Coconut oil is so useful. I never knew there were so many different ways to use it. This article explains more than 100 uses for coconut oil around the house, cooking, health and beauty.


What's your favorite use for coconut oil?






Friday, February 26, 2016

Friday Favorites

It's the final Friday of February, so I thought I'd share some of my favorite things.

Food - I picked up some goodies on a recent shopping trip to Hong Kong (there are A LOT more options there). I figured munching on the Sweet Potato chips would be better than my usual choices and they're good. I love a little something sweet for dessert and these Organic Hard Candies just sounded healthier (50 calories for 3 pieces works for me!). I was hoping to find hemp hearts but could only find chia seeds...a good runner-up. And I've gotten back to making a daily smoothie. 


Fitness - I'm on day 22 of the Yoga Camp videos. I don't know what I'm going to do when I get to the end. I've been doing strength every other day (abs, arms, legs) and mixing up the workouts to prevent getting bored. My goal to walk at least 30 minutes feels really good, even without sunshine. Today I walked nearly 2.5 miles.


Fitness fashion - Loving my Aspire pants from Athleta, my new Apple Sport Watch, and the Power Y tank (with built in bra) and the design on the Enlighten Crop from Lululemon. 


Free fitness equipment - First, I love these little areas scattered throughout our apartment complex and the parks in the city. Mostly, I'm loving this leg press. Who needs a gym membership when you have this?!?


What's on your favorites list this week?






Friday, February 19, 2016

Tabata Randomness

I'm an early riser. mrC is not. It's always worked out perfectly that while he sleeps, I get in some at-home workouts. For some reason, all the workouts I chose to do this morning were Tabata style.

I started with an oldie, but a goodie from Run to the Finish: 4 Minute Ninja Abs. This is one of my go-tos when I need a good ab session. (side note: the tag on my tank drove me crazy!)


I saw this one posted by Amanda Miller on Facebook: Goodbye Inner Thigh. This was my first time trying this one and I really liked it. If you don't already follow Amanda, you should because she shares great stuff.


All of my Tabata workouts are made easy with the use of my Gymboss Timer.  I love this thing. 


mrC and I made a pledge to take a walk every morning. After my indoor workouts, the cool air felt good as we strolled through our little garden courtyard. You can totally tell I'm a westerner by the to-go coffee I'm carrying. 


We investigated the deserted play/exercise area (which by-the-way is never empty) and found this awesome leg press.  Next time we walk I'm bringing a towel to wipe off the seat, so I can use it.


When we got back, mrC went to work and I dove into Yoga Camp. Somehow nearly two weeks have gone by since my last video class :( It felt good to follow Adriene through some flow today. 

I always take video of my yoga workout. First for the pics (this is a blog after all!) and second for the chance to assess my progress (I don't have a mirror). Like today, I can see that my "flat back" is not actually flat. This gives me something to think about and work on the next time. 



My brunch was inspired by this photo posted on Instagram. It's been weeks since I made a smoothie (the cold weather might have swayed that), but my new trend is healthy eating, so...



The rest of the day turned rainy, so it was a perfect time to hit up a local driver to take us to Metro (the European box store). They don't carry a huge amount of western products, but they usually have big bags of pre-washed salad and Tyson chicken breasts. Not today. 

I did find this great set of storage containers. Anyone who has ever lived in a high rise apartment in the city understands how easy it is to get bugs. We do whatever we can to prevent that.



TGIF fitness friends!



Thursday, February 18, 2016

Banana Peanut Butter Protein Bars

I'm not a fan of bananas. True story: a friend once chased me around the dorm lounge trying to make me touch the mushy fruit inside. Totally freaked me out.

Now that I'm miles away from that silly college girl, I love to use them in my homemade protein bars.


Making the protein bars was an excellent follow up to a morning climb up Nanshan mountain. It's been cold and cloudy in Shenzhen since I got back from the Maldives (yes, I love saying that!), but we made it to the top without getting rained on.


Banana Peanut Butter Protein Bars are one of my favorite homemade snacks. I haven't been making the best food choices lately, so I checked the ingredients for my recipe and figured I could still make them here in China. And they're still gluten free.


Here's my recipe:

2 cups quick cooking gluten free oats
1 cup protein powder (I use vanilla)
1/4 cup organic buckwheat flour
1 tbsp ground flaxseed
1 cup nut butter (I use almond butter)
1/4 cup honey
2 mashed ripe bananas 
1 tbsp cinnamon

Mix together. Spread about 1/2" inch thick onto cookie sheet lined with cooking-sprayed wax paper. 
Bake 350 degrees 15 min. 
Remove from wax paper. Let cool and cut.


I always have a couple right away. 

After the hike, I met mrC at the salon. He got a haircut and I got my nails done. They were seriously overdue. 


On our walk back to the apartment, I saw this scooter and now I think I want one. Except it would put a dent in my Fitbit stats. 


We didn't do the souvenir thing on our trip. We bought some incidentals: post cards, a disposable underwater camera, sunscreen. It was enough to earn a free gift and tonight we put it to use while making dinner. I love it!



Do you make your own snacks?
Souvenirs or no souvenirs when you travel?


Saturday, December 19, 2015

Holiday Sweat Challenge Week 5 & 6 Update

It doesn't seem like a good sign to be able to combine two weeks worth of fitness into one blog post. However, even though I was taking a break from running, I was still working on strength and anything else to make my muscles happy!


After four weeks of the Holiday Sweat Challenge and 63 days of a run streak, my legs told me to rest. I'd been treating a tight right calf knot for about a week when on my last run (day 63) I picked up on a little twinge in my left adductor.

Time for some serious rest. After two days off to start Holiday Sweat week 5 and doing nothing beyond walking and foam rolling, I pulled out the low impact workout cards. Here are some of the workouts I did:

Lower Body Blast - Amanda Miller
Happy Hips Yoga - Happy Fit Mama
Lose the Pooch Abs - Pop Sugar Fitness
Booty Hips - Amanda Miller
Hip Strength - Runner's World (July 2015)

By Sunday, I was feeling like it was time to test the legs. The only good thing about this run was that I ran. For the first .25 everything seemed ok, but then the familiar tightness in my right calf came back (although not painful). Worse though, was the painful trigger point in my left adductor, near my knee.


Needless to say, I was crushed. The weather has finally turned cool here in Shenzhen and I can't run. I knew that feeling sorry for myself wasn't going to get me anywhere, so I went for distractions. Some things that helped keep my mind off the failed return to running: a really good book and some really good tasting snacks!


Again, I started week 6 of the Holiday Sweat Challenge in rest-the-legs mode. I focused on foam rolling and yoga stretching for the first two days and then mixed up my low/medium impact workouts. Here's what those workouts looked like:

Hip Strength & Stabilty - Jasyoga
Cardio Drills - Booya
Dirty Dozen Arms - Your Path to Fit
Pilates Abs - Run to the Finish
Not So Easy Circuit - Booya

This morning I laced up my running shoes for another test of the legs. It was going ok, just a couple of twinges in the calf and adductor. I thought it was ok to run through it.

As I neared the two mile mark, my left knee kind of gave out a little. Startled, I stopped and walked a bit. Bending and flexing my left leg. It didn't hurt, so I gave it another try. A couple of steps later the same thing happened. Run over.

As I sit here typing and icing my knee, I have no idea what this means. My knee (which has had a hard life) is unstable and I need to figure out why...what can I do to help it...and how will it affect my fitness life.


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Some of the workouts I mentioned are from Booya Fitness. Booya Fitness is an online gym. Your membership gets you access to a large variety of online classes that can be done at your convenience. There are also dozens of workout training plans available for a small fee.

I have teamed up with Booya to create a 4 week training plan that is perfect for the winter months, but can be done anytime of year. It is also a great cross training option for runners as the plan has options for 30+ minute runs. Take a look here.




Are you currently following a training plan?
How do you distract yourself when you're injured?





Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Do this one thing and every workout will feel brand new!

Sometimes I am not super excited about my workout.

After waking to a rainy day, I took one look at my stability ball and yoga mat and thought, ugh. So instead of hitting the floor, I grabbed a second cup of coffee and went out on the balcony.

It felt so nice (it's in the low 80s today)! That's when I decided to move my workout outside.


As usual, I brought the stability ball into things. Today I worked on single leg squats. Just like when I use the ball during wall squats, it aids the motion of moving up and down. I still get the burn, but I feel "safer" especially since the ball is pushed up against the door.

In addition to my normal strength exercises, I mixed in some yoga poses that specifically work the quads. Here's a ***list in case you are looking to add yoga into your strength workout:

chair pose
warrior 1-3
crescent lunge (low & high)
goddess pose
bridge

***I linked to GaiamTV because I think it has the best information and step-by-step directions for beginners like me.

It's amazing how doing one little thing, like moving your workout to a new place, can make it feel brand new. It works with my runs, so I should've thought to use this trick with my strength workouts too.

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Another amazing thing that I want to share is dinner from last night. Back home we always grill the blackened salmon fillets, but here in China my only option was the microwave method. I usually steer clear of using the microwave (except to reheat), so I had a backup plan to order pizza if it didn't turn out well. It was DEE-LISH-OUSSS!! Oh my GOODNESS! I can't wait to have more.


In case you want to get some for yourself, here's the exact brand we buy from Sam's.

I saw this on Instagram and definitely think I should get it. mrC and I run a lot together.



The links I shared in this post are just from me...no compensation was made to me on behalf of any product or company.




Monday, June 15, 2015

My Monday with Some Favorites

I'm learning that summers in Shenzhen mean lots of traveling for expats. Some return home, others move on to new places, and many go on holiday. The Shenzhen Women's International Club goes on a summer break of sorts, too. The official activities end until late August, but the expats who stay behind keep them going informally.

So, I started my Monday by meeting up with one of my favorite SWIC groups for our weekly hike. Our group was small and we were missing our leader, but we all love being active and outside.


We chatted and climbed, trying not to be distracted by the numbers that let us know how many steps we have climbed...and how many more we have to go!

Almost halfway there!

The mountain climb was hot today and didn't offer much of a breeze at the top, but we still enjoyed the satisfactory summit picture.

At the top. Chris took the photo

After a quick beverage at Pacific Coffee with the group, I walked to the Hilton to make use of my new fitness membership and take a swim. I love that I can lay out my sweaty hiking clothes to dry while I'm in the pool and sit under the umbrella to relax for a bit. Next to running, swimming might be my favorite thing.


Back at the apartment I was super excited to do #MeanAbsJune day 15 because it's the halfway mark!


mrC and I finally picked up a large knife and cutting board, so after having quinoa and tuna for lunch, I treated myself to a very large container of watermelon. Watermelon is easily my favorite fruit. I could eat it all day.


Before dinner I ran some errands. It was so darn hot out, that I just had to make a smoothie when I got back. It tastes even better than the first one I made because I now have spinach and creamy vanilla gluten free whey protein. Smoothies are such a great treat when it's hot.


I'm still looking for some chairs for our balcony so I can enjoy morning coffee and afternoon smoothies sitting with the gorgeous view. But even without them, today was pretty awesome. I enjoyed so many of my favorite things!


Do you travel a lot in the summer?
What are some of your favorite treats?


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