Merry Merry Xmas!!

I have done sooooooooo much baking. I love it! I have probably spent about 30 hours in the kitchen and it makes me happy. My clothes however, are not so happy. I have a pile of sweats covered in flour, sugar, and lots of sticky things!

I am at work which sucks but I will be leaving shortly to get ready for church and then a hectic but fun evening!

HBBC-
Yesterday: 4 mile run- 4 points
30 minute elliptical (on the glute track and it was tough)- 2 points
and 60 minute Bosu Bootcamp class- 4 points
Total- 10 points

Today-
45 minute elliptical- 3 points
15 minute quickie leg lifting- 1 point
Total- 4 points

Definitely tkaing tomorrow off unless I get a walk in with my grandparents after dinner! Hope that it is the happiest of holidays for everyone- enjoy them to the fullest!

Fam Comes First

I’m taking a little break from blogging because there is alot going on in my family and I just need to spend meal time focusing on them and not my food. I have been taking some pictures and doing some reviews so I will definitely have goodies and such when I get back. I have also been spending massive amounts of time baking so I have some really great recipes!

I do want to keep up with the Bootie Buster Challenge so I will be at least posting my results, if not my food and such. Hopefully things will slow down and I can put as much effort into this blog as I want to- which means redesign and some regular posting!

Heres the Bootie Buster Totals since Thurs

Fri-
30 elliptical- 2 points
30 strength- 2 points
Sat:
45 min elliptical- 3 points
Sun:
4 mile run
2 mile walk- 6 point total
Mon- 30 elliptical- 2 points
4 mile run- 4 points
30 abs- 1 point

Weekend total: 20 points

Double the Fun

I totally tried two new (for me) products yesterday so I get to give you two lovely reviews.

Yesterday morning I started the day with a banana and half a Pumpkin Clif Bar. Holy yum!!! This beauty tops my list of Clif bars- the only problem I encountered with it was that it was a bit sweet for morning time. I’ll save it as a sweet snack in the future. But it was much more pumpkin-y then I would have thought and I reallllly liked the addition of the plump raisins. I can’t wait to buy more!!

When I came back from my 7 mile run and did 20 minutes on the elliptical, I tried another new product- Kashi Vive.

I was really disappointed. I didn’t think it had any graham flavor whatsover, it got soggy fast, and it slurped up and absorbed all my milk. I did try it straight out of the box, however, and really enjoyed it. In fact, I had quite a good amount of handfuls. Looks like this is going to be another munch cereal, but then again, what cereal isn’t?

For lunch I wanted sweet potato fries and decided to make them with some Old Bay seasoning. I also enjoyed a delicious salad with carrots, chicken, and honey mustard dressing. Having plain, precooked chicken in your fridge just makes meal decisions so simple!

Not even 30 minutes later I was ravenous and started eating many handfuls of Cinnamon Puffins. I finally realized all the handfuls in the world weren’t going to satisfy me and I should actually make a snack, sit, and eat it. So i had unsweetened applesauce topped with Puffins before making my way to the mall. I also packed a bag of grapes to eat on the car ride home from the mall, and had a yogurt before dinner.

Dinner was light and quick- just a three egg white omelet with green and red pepper and onions and salsa on the side. I also snacked on some cereal and fresh pineapple.

This mornings breakfast and pre-workout snack were exactly the same. I did grab a few handfuls of tostitos for a salty kick- funny how my camera is never around when I make snacky choices! If I remembered to take a picture I’m sure I would chose healthier options lol! Maybe that is why www.self.com said that blogging is good for your health!  For lunch since I needed to use up the rest of the red and green pepper I made a hawaiian stirfry. I used a homemade hawaiian sauce and sauteed green pepper, onion, red pepper, and pineapple in it. The flavors were absolutely delicious and made me think of summer- top this with some brown rice and you have quite the yummy meal!

Bootie Buster
Yesterday:
7 miles- 7 points
20 elliptical- 1 point
Today:
4 miles- 4 points
15 minute elliptical- 1 point
30 minute abs- 1 point
Total: 14

Long overdue

Posting food pictures has been long over due but here I am.

But first a lovely pic of Brett from the Jets game I was at this weekend!

This morning I woke up and ran 3 miles on the treadmill, busted out 30 minutes on the elliptical, lifted abs for 15 minutes and arms for 15 minutes.

I refueled at work with coffee, oatmeal and a banana.

I still need some oatmeal to go ideas. This is so simple and tasty to heat up at work, but I know that making my own would be much easier. I definitely want to stick with oatmeal though- my office has no insulation so I really need the warm oats to heat me up! I wear a coat almost all day at work- how ridiculous is that?!

Lunch was leftover chicken (just sauteed in some white wine) with a Steamer bag of carrots and broc.

I reallllly liked these vegetables. They are seasoned, but since they are one of the steamer bags they don’t have any gross and unhealthy butter sauce on them. They were quite tasty- and you can’t beat a 4 minute microwave heat up. I will definitely be taking these to work some more.

Mid afternoon I needed my snack of a golden delicious apple and a fruit salad with pineapple, and red & green grapes. I’m planning on having the other half of the fruit salad with some yogurt for dessert ; )

About an hour later I decided I was going to go to the gym straight from work to try out the Bosu Bootcamp class. I used to take a Bosu class at Rowan University and I absolutely loved it! I wasn’t sure how much fuel I would need for the 45 minute class so I decided to play it safe and eat a Clif Z bar to hold me over.

The class ended up lasting an hour (thank goodness I ate the Clif bar) and it was really enjoyable. I joined this gym for a trial month just to see if I like it (and because the month was free). I like exercising on my own but I have really missed the fun that comes from group exercise classes. I hope to take full advantage of my membership the next month. But anyway, the class involved differents steps, squats and jumps on the bosu ball. It also incorporated abs, pushups, jump roping, jumping jacks, and a body bar. I think it was great overall but I have to admit I felt like it was not challenging enough for me. The only time I really felt tired was when we used the jump rope for extended periods of time. But I have to wait for an honest opinion when I wake up and see how sore my legs are tomorrow!!

I was ravenous when I came home and enjoyed a turkey taco and a big turkey taco salad with taco meat, salsa, ranch dressing and some cheddar cheese. I definitely went back for another salad after this big one!

Todays Bootie Buster Total:
3 mile run- 3 points
60 minute Bosu Class- 4 points
30 minute elliptical- 2 points
15 ab- .5
15 arms- 1
Total: 10.5

Sorry!

Sorry I have been such a bad blogger! I promise I will be better. The truth is, a lot has been going on with my family right now, and even though I have been taking pictures of my food, etc. I have been kind of exhausted to post at the end of the night. When I got home last night I did 15 minutes of legs before dinner, then afterwards walked three miles to blow off some stress. I just found out that both my grandparents need to have chemo (my grandmom for breast cancer and my grandpa for melanoma) and they both found out this news within a week from each other.

I will be back to regular posting hopefully tonight. You will probably be seeing even more workouts ( I already did an hour and a half this morning) because that is how I deal with stress- and icecream and chocolate of course!!

Monday total:

4 mile run-  4 points
3 mile walk- 3 points
15 minute legs- 1 point
Total: 8 points

See you tonight and I will be in a better mood, I promise!

J-E-T-S, Jets Jets Jets!

Okay, I know that I am a Giants fan, but the Jets game was soooo exciting to be at yesterday. It literally came down to the last ten seconds of the game. You would have thought I was a Jets fan, hardcore, the way I was jumping up and down and screaming. The day involved lots of coffee, hot beverages, potato chips, goldfish, and hoagies. I have some fun Brett pics I will put up later.

 

I took yesterday off from working out (Sun. is usually my off day) but somehow I was still super sore during my 4 mile run this morning. I’m guessing all the jumping and walking yesterday made it not a real off day.

But here is my first week Holiday Bootie Buster total: 46.1 !!! Alright : ) I know I work out a lot but this made me realize how great it really is! Love it
Mon- 7
Tues- 12.1
Wed- 3.5
Thurs 8.5
Fri- 6
Sat- 9

Bad@$$

Sorry for the lack of post yesterday. Work exhausted me and I was definitely tired and cranky and just wanted to chill out. I did manage to get a nice little 4 mile run and 2 mile walk on the treadmill in, however. But I decided to screw lifting and abs.

This morning I woke up and had a glorious Starbucks while foodshopping. I did a 30 minute ab workout after, ate a banana, and geared up for the freezing cold and wind.

So it was extremely frigid. My underarmour was not helping me out, but the worst feeling of all was the extreme pain in my hands. Underarmour gloves were no match for today’s weather. Still, I felt AWESOME running. I’m thinking that this was from eating about 1,000 calories in cereal and chocolate before bed last night. When I eat alot I run fast as hell and I have to tell you, I felt unbelievable out there. It also probably helped that the whole time I was running I was thinking that I was totally bad@$$ for being out there in the weather and how much I rocked. I imagined that people driving by were thinking how extreme I was instead of how crazy I was. (By the way its now pretty nice out…guess I should have had patience and waited till the afternoon!)

Oh yeah so I did 8.1 miles in 55:34. My last mile was 6:24- heck yes!

Breakfast needed to be HOT! Coffee and oatmeal pleaseee!

I baked some brownies after breakfast to take to the Jets game tomorrow then set out on errands for Xmas.

When I got back I still wasn’t starving and feeling myself so I settled on a salad with honey mustard dressing, parmesan cheese, red pepper, tomato and a pickle on the side.

A little later I was hungry again so I started picking at pineapple and cereal, then decided to make a vanilla protein shake with skim milk and a bowl of pineapple and grapes. I’m sure I will have a sandwich or bar to hold me over for dinner- I think my stomach is still a little off from all of my food last night.

Bootie Buster:

Yesterday:
6 miles- 6 points
Today-
8 miles- 8 points
30 abs- 1 point

Friday & Sat total= 15 points

Tomorrow is my off day but I may squeeze in a light walk after the game ; )

Review: Healthy Request

Today for lunch I decided soup and salad would be the perfect comfort lunch to cheer me up from the serious downfall outside. I was going to go to Amy’s soup but I bought this Mexican Soup from Campbell’s new Healthy Request line awhile back and I decided it needed to be opened.

The nutritional stats and sodium aren’t bad on these- a definite improvement from the original Campbell soups. It is 2 servings, however, so remember that if you plan on having this baby all to yourself.

I couldn’t get a good picture cause of the steam…sorry! But the soup is full of chicken, beans, rice, corn, tomatoes, and peppers in a spicier tomato broth.

The verdict??

NASTY! I didn’t even finish the bowl which says a lot. While the broth does have a nice, slightly spicy Mexican kick to it, the chicken in this was absolutely dried out and disgusting. I was also disappointed that the soup really ripped me off of all the yummy vegetables it claimed to have. There was a decent amount of corn, but I thought that the soup was mostly rice.  Also, I am not sure if they were supposed to be tortilla chips, but there were funky things floating around in my soup that I was too scared to try. If there were more beans, tomatoes, and vegetables, and they completely got rid of the chicken, I might have really enjoyed this soup. But as there were not, I am avoiding this product in the future (except for the one other can I made the mistake of purchasing before trying this one! haha).

My salad: just tomatoes, romaine and red pepper with some caesar:

Now let’s back track. This morning it was pouring so I had to force myself on the treadmill, but I ended up having a great, sweat 45 minute workout, and I ran 5.5 miles and walked 1. I also did 15 minutes on the elliptical and 15 minute upper body lifting.

Breakfast was two cups of coffee, CinnaRaisin/Go Lean and a banana.

Snack was about twenty of these large fellows and a golden delicious apple.

And of course, some Cinnamon Puffins and a few handfuls of Whole Wheat Goldfish.

Bootie Buster Total:
5.5 run- 5.5 points
1 mile walk- 1 point
15 elliptial- 1
15 lifting- 1
Total- 8.5

Oh, I almost forgot I made these delicious yummy macadamia nut cookies.

Rainy days make me oversleep

I am one of those people who are blessed/cursed with an automatic 6:45 alarm clock. I can wake up early if need be, but no matter what, I am always up and ready to go by 6:45. Today my alarm clock didn’t go off, and my ACTUAL alarm clock didn’t go off either! I wasn’t late for work because I’m quick to get ready but it did make me miss my usual a.m. workout. I was bummed because it was 60 today and not raining badly yet so I could have gotten a nice quick run in. Oh well.

Work started with a bowl of oatmeal and a banana. I really hate having to use this instant lower sugar crap. Does anyone have tips on preparing oatmeal and getting it ready for the microwave- but with a decent enough taste still?

This lunch picture does not do a justice- leftover stir fry! Its gross looking here because its not yet heated up and delicious plus its thrown into a microwave safe container. The mix was chicken, broc, green and red peppers, onions and pea pods. Delicious!

My snacks for the day included my favorite Golden Delicious apple and a mondo sized bag of grapes ( and the green grapes are beasts. They are HUGE). I didn’t eat the yogurt at work- instead I am enjoying it now with a cup of tea.

When I got home from work I did 30 minutes on the elliptical, abs for 15, and legs for 15. This made me feel like crapola and the only thing I wanted was peanut butter. I couldn’t decide how I wanted it prepared so I have one piece of wheat toasted with almond butter and raspberry preserves and the other piece UN-toasted with crunch peanut butter and regular grape jelly. Both were delicious- can you tell I am the least decisive person ever when it comes to food? I want too much- which is a serious problem when there are lots of snacks around. I also had it with a nanner and some tea.

Hopefully I will feel back to myself tomorrow. I am checking out a gym facility that has the best classes in the area to see if I can work some sort of a deal.

Bootie total for the day:
30 elliptical= 2 points
15 legs= 1 point
15 abs= .5 points
Total= 3.5

I’m off to read. The weekend isn’t too far!!

Almost back to 100%

I guess all I needed was a good night of sleep. I went to bed around 8:30 last night and woke up feeling back to normal! Although the weather is supposed to be 60 degrees tomorrow!– so I am sure the abrupt change will make me sick anyway.

Since it was still cold when I woke up I busted out my 30 minute upper body lifting (20 free weights, 10 machines). I decided I needed to eat something pre-run since I was hungry so I had…

Then I warmed up with a .5 mile walk, ran 6.6 miles, and cooled down with a .5 walk. I felt great out there running today, but the wind for the last two miles legit made me curse in my head. Luckily I had coffee on the brain.

And the best post-run meal: cereal! I big bowl of Kashi Cinna Raisin Crunch (despite my intial review this has really grown on me as I have made my way to the bottom of the bag. I think that it just settled funny during shipping and all the good stuff was on the bottom) with an apple.

For lunch I had a bowl of fruit salad x 2 and x about 3 handfuls of grapes because they were that delicious. I also noticed that my PB Puffins box was almost done : ( so I poured myself a bowl. I have a box of Cinnamon Puffins in the pantry but they just aren’t the same to me. I loooove peanut butter!

Mid-afternoon I attempted to do a yoga dvd because I was bored since I didn’t have work today and since I heard its really good for runners. Yoga usually is a great stretch for me but I made the mistake of trying a cardio yoga dvd and it was INTENSE. It would be great if thats what I was looking for but after my longer run I just wanted something more relaxing. I stuck with it for 15 minutes and then turned it off at about minute 20. After yoga I may or may not have had a bite of a brownie, a handful of goldfish, and a few of these dark chocolate m & ms ; )

 

Dinner was filet mignon, sweet potato disks (x about 2 pictured obviii), roasted onion, and a salad with caesar. It was my first time cooking filet and it came out halfway decent! I’m not a red meat eater at all but once in awhile it is a nice change of pace.

Scott and I went for a 2 mile walk after dinner since it was nice and warm and we may not get a walk in for awhile with the cold Jersey weather. I am currently enjoying another cup of tea and some Kashi Go Lean and Coco Puffs buried on the bottom. They satisfy my sweet tooth lol.

Daily Challenge:
30 minutes lifting= 2 points
.5 warmup, .5 cooldown, 2 mile walk= 3 points
15 minutes yoga= .5
6.6 mile run= 6.6 points
Total= 12.1