Hey Friends,

Hope your week is going well. Things are chugging along over here. Exercise went well last week; I did 5/7 days. I planned to do six but I ended up doing a strength/cardio interval workout one day so I did not feel too bad about the extra day off. I am doing three days of cardio, three days of strength training and an active rest day (Yoga). As I mentioned before, I am using Chalean Extreme for the strength training and the cardio is mostly TurboFire but I have allowed myself some flexibility there. I am on Week three of the Burn Circuit in Chalean Extreme. I also wrote down to the best of my memory what I ate every day for the week so I'm happy to be getting back on track with being accountable in those areas.

Weekly dose of randomness:

-I am seriously considering purchasing a Bikram Yoga package especially since they gave me a discount on my first one. The weather has cooled off so now is a good time to get back into it.

-I really should own shares in Kashi considering how many of their products I bought lately.

-It's time I set some non-scale goals (NSGs). First will be to do the crow pose. Second, a flat stomach (can't remember it really being flat… ever. I blame my sugar situation.)

-I think I am gonna re-read A Course in Weight Loss. Still don't plan on doing the rituals/altar and all that but I do respect the fact that weight loss and staying fit is as much a mental challenge as it is a physical one.

-I am currently rotating through Adolescent Psychiatry and it is fun but emotionally exhausting. Exercise has been a good coping mechanism. Yeah for endorphins!

-I tried Kale chips last week and I liked them (recipe to come). Will try it in a smoothie and salad soon.

-I discovered that I can bench press 75 lbs yesterday :-)

Something to talk about:

Have you all seen the personal trainer who went from Fit to Fat and will be going back to fit? He gained 75+ lbs in 6 months.  Any thoughts? I will be tuned in for the journey back to fit.

Also, November is here! Any goals for the month or strategies to survive the holidays? Almost time to revisit those resolutions from last year. 

Mini Website Round up

Source

Have you checked out the body rock movement as yet? Bodyrock.tv has great workouts that you can do at home. They are short, effective, and best of all FREE! They will also be adding more recipes on a regular basis in the near future.

I have also been spending some time on the YogaJournal YouTube channel lately. They have an array of free yoga videos. I tried the one on Arm Balances the other day and the instructions were pretty good. I am excited to learn these seemingly impossible poses.

Side notes:

I saw two things on FB this week that stayed with me long after I viewed them so I thought I would share. The first is a video in which Oprah describes the beauty of surrendering. Amazing insight on how to get what you what in life :-)

Finally, an associate of mine share this photo with the following quote on his page:

"Be yourself because everyone else is taken."

I was reading a blog recently and caught myself almost wanting to be like the writer because of their experiences and things they had accomplished. This quote came back to me and was a nice reality check.

Have a great and productive week :-)

Back at it/ Updates

A nice reminder :-)

Hey Friends :-). It's been a looong time but hopefully this post puts an end to yet another unintended hiatus. The past few months I've been focused on mostly on school (taking one major exam and a few not so major ones, and transitioning to a clinical learning environment i.e. working way too much at times.). I am somewhat settled in now but life is still busy as usual. On the weight loss front, I have not been consistent with eating healthy or working out all summer so my weight has fluctuated but it has mostly stayed within 6-8 lbs of my lowest weight. I haven't lost sight of my goal though so I have recommitted to getting it done. I plan on starting by being consistent with the basics:

-Eating right (more fruits and veges, three meals and one snack per day)
All I can say about this one is that I am a work in progress. At one point I had incorporated just about everything I worked on cutting out/reducing back into my diet on a regular basis. Sugar... just ridiculous how much I have been having. Weight loss is 85% diet for me though so I will keep working on this "lifestyle change" goal.

-Drinking water (eight or more glasses per day)
Unfortunately, drinking water makes you pee. I am usually too busy to pee multiple times or to sip water throughout the day so I try to drink more in the evenings at home rather than earlier in the day. On the days when I come home and pass out, I usually end up more on the dehydrated side. Not sure how to fix this though...

-Working out five to six days per week
I started Chalean Extreme again last week and I am doing a modified version of the hybrid with TurboFire. I am usually good about getting my workouts in on strength training day but I've been lazy on cardio days. Maybe because a part of me feels like I do a lot of walking at work and my feet hurt by the time I get home. I have been working on getting up earlier to work out in the mornings but when earlier means 4:30am...ummm, yeah... Next week when I have more normal hours hopefully I can get into the habit.

For those that are still out there, how have things been going and what are your fall/winter fitness plans?

Today's Breakfast: Baked Omelet

I've been eyeing this recipe over at Yes, Divas Can Cook for a while and so when she re-posted it as a Mother's Day breakfast option I was inspired to give it a try. You can find the recipe and video here. Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers in the blogosphere!

Step One: Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Whisk 1/2 cup milk and 1/4 cup all purpose flour together. Add 4 eggs, 1/4 tsp black pepper, 1/2 tsp salt and whisk until smooth (you may also use a blender to get rid of lumps). Add mixture to a well greased (using butter or non-stick spray) 9x13 dish and bake for 5-7 minutes until firm.

Step Two: Chop 1/3 cup onions, 1/2 green pepper and about 1 cup smoked turkey sausage and then saute in a little bit of olive oil. Spread over the baked egg mixture and top with 1 cup cheddar cheese (I used 3/4 cup Mexican). Bake 1-2 minutes until cheese melts.

Step Three: Use a spatula to free the edges from the dish and roll up into a log keeping it tight as you go along. Be careful, the omelet will be hot! Slice and serve with a dollop of sour cream (I substituted Greek yogurt) and salsa. Garnish with parsley and Enjoy!

Yum-Yum!

I also had Strawberry and Blueberries with Strawberry cream cheese dip with my omelet.

Something to read: Check out this post by Erica at BGG2WL on 5 Different Days to Enjoy Greek Yogurt.

One Reason Why I Love the Blogging Community

A few hours ago I really wanted a slice of cake. My sweet tooth has been rearing it's head for the past day or so and my pecan cracker with dark chocolate almond butter fix was not cutting it. Since it was dinner time, I decided to make a Hawaiian Pizza using this recipe that I have been all but living off for the last few days. It works very well for those days when you have little time to prepare a well rounded meal. The first two times I made it was under conditions of extreme hunger so they were quickly devoured. Today I waited long enough to snap a pic :-).

Hawaiian Pizza

The cure for my sweet tooth came from these Amazeballz. Gina (the fitnessista) swears by them and I must agree with her. They definitely taste like cookie dough and provided the baked goods taste I was craving without all the sugar. Another quick and easy winning recipe.

Amazeball!

If it were not for these and other health and fitness bloggers, this weight loss journey could have been a lot harder. I am always copying tasty healthy recipes into my OneNote program for easy referencing. This recipe for Maple Glazed Salmon changed my life. It makes a yummy dinner with veges on the side in less than 15 minutes. Check out the Resources page for more websites with great recipes.

Something to read: 101 Revolutionary Ways to be Healthy (scroll over each one for a description or view the full list here.) My favorite is #16: "Learn the skills Healthy, fit people have learned how to be healthy. Learn those skills, practice them, and you’ll be healthy, too." What's your favorite?

Quote of the Day

Source

"If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader." – John Quincy Adams

Spring in2 Action Challenge Wrap up

This challenge went by in a flash but I am proud to say that Team Unstoppable rocked it! I missed last week's update but I will put the numbers in this post. The last two weeks have been busy as usual. I finished up TF/CE and entered the Beachbody Million Dollar body contest (pls. cross your fingers that I make it to the voting round). After that I took a few days off of working out. They were not planned, I was just too tired and my feet hurt too much at the end of those days to get a workout in. I got back into it on Sunday and became a Yogi again :-). I went to Bikram on Sunday, then did Zumba on Monday, and yesterday was a rest day.  Today I did Hip Hop Yoga and Zumba. I love getting out of the house for workouts after a six month long program at home. The weather is also becoming warmer so that make it even nicer. The only disappointment so far is that I planned to start running last week and that hasn't happened because I am still having shin pain. I decided to take it easy for a while rather than risk aggravating my old stress fractures.

My eating is still so-so. My appetite has been weird and I've been eating outside the house more often because I haven't made time to cook. I need to get back on track in this area. The only other notable thing I can think of is that I have been extremely achy these past few weeks. Between muscle soreness, tiredness and bone pain, I was hurting much more than usual. I had another foam roller session a few days ago so hopefully all this pain will go away soon.

Okay now for the numbers:

Beginning of Challenge: 199
Week 5: 194.2 (+ .8 from previous week, probably due to stress)
Week 6: 193.0 (-1.2 from previous week)
Total for the challenge: -6.0 lbs!!


Woo-hoo! I think this is the most I've lost in a Shrinking Jeans Challenge so far. As I mentioned at the beginning of the post, my teammate Kristy also did an awesome job. She lost over 10 lbs! Way to go Team Unstoppable!!