Overnight Oats and my Birthday Countdown

I realized something yesterday: my 30th birthday is approaching fast.  33 days away to be exact.  I’ve decided that all I want for my birthday is to be pampered and to celebrate a month of hard work – the hard work of course being eating right and working out consistently from now until then.  I’ve decided to make a few changes to my routine and nutrition however. 

The first change I am making is my routine – sometimes I just go crazy, as you could see from my dire need for a rest day.  What I think I really need to do is to be more consistent (consistency is the key to success) rather than hitting it crazy hard for a few days and running out of steam.  That doesn’t necessarily mean that I want to only do one workout a day, but that not every single one of them needs to be a balls-to-the-wall workout.

That being said, I still began my morning with my DailyHIIT routine.  I just love these routines because they are fast and intense but I am not going to kill myself for the rest of the day with it.  I was planning to do some light cardio during lunch break.  Probably just a walk on the treadmill at a moderate incline or a 30 min elliptical session, but I wasn’t able to make it to the gym today.  Instead I am sitting here writing this, so I think it works out.  Tonight I am going to hit another Jillian Michael’s routine.  Even though I haven’t been good about following her plan like I did the first time around – I still love the workouts and go back to them all the time.  Today should technically be my JM rest day, however I didn’t workout Monday so I am pushed back a day.

The second big change I am making is in my nutrition.  Previously I had a plan where my macros were 50% protein, 30% fat and 20% carbs.  While this works to help take off the weight fairly quickly, I don’t feel that this is something that would be healthy for me to continue over the long-term.  It was also creating a “carbs are bad” complex in my head and that is most definitely not true.  I’ve decided to change my macros now to 30% protein, 30% fat and, and 40% carbs.  This is all based on a goal of 1200 calories/day so it comes to 90g protein, 40g fat and 120g carbs.  I’m in the trial phase of this macro count but I’m looking forward to it.  I am now going to be able to incorporate healthy carbs in my diet like fruits, sweet potatoes, brown rice, 100% whole wheat bread, oats, legumes and such.  Don’t ever let anyone tell you carbs are bad and if they do, just smack them right across the face!  Carbs are what our bodies use for energy – you just have to be smart about what types of carbs you are eating and when.  I still don’t plan to have many carbs with dinner, but that is a personal preference and you will have to make that decision for yourself. 

I think initially it is going to be hard to start taking in more carbs, but I found something that is really going to help me out.  Overnight oats!  Ever heard of them???  They are a glorious little concoction I see on blogs all over the place.  They’re super simple to make, a great healthy food, and perfect for a girl on the go such as myself. You start with a nice little base of milk, yogurt and oats.  That’s it!  No seriously, THAT IS IT!  Easy peasy, right?  Below is my first ONO breakfast and I was very happy with the outcome.

 

Ingredients:

1/3 C Oats

1/3 C Greek Yogurt (I used plain but feel free to add any flavor you’d like)

1/2 C Milk (any type will work fine)

Sweetener to taste – I used 1 packet of Truvia but it seems a lot of people use Agave, honey or stevia.  Your choice.

Any toppings you like – in this batch I added 1/2 banana, 3 strawberries diced and chia seeds

Nutritional Facts:  232 Calories, 5g Fat, 42g Carbs, 13g Protein

This is the finished product:

Ok, I know, not really the best or most appetizing photo.  I wasn’t sure how big the batch would be so I ended up using a large soup container from a chinese restaurant. Note to self, large container is too large!  The meal itself though was just the perfect size to fill you up and keep you full until snack time.

I’ve got some apples and cinnamon at home and thinking I might make myself another little batch tonight using those ingredients…maybe even try it warmed up tomorrow.  I don’t know, but I’ll keep you posted.

Hallelujah a Rest Day!

It’s Wednesday and in the “Making the Cut” world, that means a rest day. In my case, a MUCH needed rest day!

Monday I began my morning with a DailyHIIT routine. During my lunch break I did a tabata routine you can find here. Then, nope I’m not done, I rocked out my Jillian Michaels routine after my clients. Tuesday wasn’t much different: morning HIIT, cardio lunch consisting of the below treadmill routine and 28 minutes on the elliptical and after clients another JM routine.

*Image courtesy of www.superskinnyme.com 

http://www.superskinnyme.com/butt-sculpting-cardio-workout.html

So, as you can see I’m not kidding when I say I need my rest day. I won’t be completely lazy though – it will be an active rest day. The hubs has decided it’s time to come back to the gym so we are hitting a spin class together. Maybe he’ll even let me snap a pic after so you all can see out hard work…although I won’t count on it. 😉

Anyway, here’s hoping my legs still work tomorrow! Happy training!

I got my pic…

 

 **Disregard our un-sexiness, we were sweating bullets and struggling to get out those smiles.

It’s Monday

Good morning all! I am chipper this morning because I am starting to see my hard work pay off again.

Last week I began my Making the Cut workouts again. I know you’ve heard this a million times before but I always go back to this book because I know it works and I love the routines. I’m trying my own meal plan this time around for two reasons. 1. Time and energy available to put into meal prep is very low these days so I’ve got to work around my current schedule, and 2. I feel that I need to be able to make healthy food choices on my own because I can’t always follow someone else’s meal plan. After 30 days, I’m back on my own so I figure I might as well start now.

That leads me to something that I discovered this weekend and that I’m absolutely in love with. Cauliflower pizza crust – OMG heaven!!! I’d seen this on a couple of blogs before but had yet to actually try it. Friday I used this recipe and both the hubs and I loved it. He made his with sauce, cheese and turkey pepperoni. I’m a big fan of white pizza so I made mine with ricotta instead. Both were delicious. One thing I will recommend however, don’t eat the whole damn thing. I thought it was a personal pizza size but I think you can go halfsies on it. Especially to cut down on calories! I was so tempted by it I didn’t even think to take pics so I’ll try to do this next time I make it.

Anyone else have any great cauliflower recipes? I’m trying to go low carb high protein so any other recipes that fit that description send them my way!!!

Mid-Week Update

In case you were wondering why I haven’t posted any recent updates, it’s because this happened Thursday!

I was driving my husbands Jeep when I completely lost control on some ice.  Luckily a very nice lady was able to stop my spinning with the front end of her car.  ARGH!  It was absolutely terrifying.  Luckily no one was injured, but mentally it sort of put me out of commission for a few days.  Friday I was depressed.  I woke up angry because I cost my husband and me the price of our deductible, we won’t be able to sell his Jeep for what it is fully worth because it’s been involved in an accident, and I felt extremely guilty that I wrecked his car and not my own.  Well, as many people are, I too am an emotional eater.  I started Friday off with a healthy breakfast, but that didn’t last.  By lunchtime I was ready to indulge…and indulge I did!

 

I ate every single morsel you see in that picture.  A salad with ranch dressing and pasta salad on the side.  A bowl of cream of mushroom soup.  A cheeseburger with all the fixins’.  And to top it all off a big slice of red velvet cake.  It didn’t end there either.  What else did I do?  Well I drowned my self-pity in my old friend BEER!

What a sad and pathetic face.  I just curled up in my living room, drank and ate all night  I attempted to have a healthy snack while I was drinking and found something new and delicious that I absolutely love.  Toasted Ezekiel bread with a wedge of Laughing Cow Light Swiss and Olive Tapenade.  Sounds weird but it was fantastic!

But that doesn’t really help when you consume more than your daily allowance of calories in just beer now does it?

Saturday I woke up feeling rested and surprisingly not hung over.  I decided to catch up on my 30 day Challenge from Daily HIIT since I hadn’t done my workout Friday.  I knocked that out, and started feeling better.  The rest of the day I did nothing but relax, pick up a few things and relax some more.  Sunday was pretty much the same minus the workout.  Instead of my BodyRock routine I went and walked an indoor track with my friend and got a little time to vent, which I needed…desperately!

Monday, I opted for one more day of rest and relaxation just to make sure all the depressed gookies were completely gone and lo and behold when I woke up Tuesday morning they sure were!

Tuesday I woke up early and knocked out my morning HIIT routine.  That afternoon I decided to hit the gym during my lunch break for a mid-day cardio session.  Those always seem to make the day go by faster and give me a little boost of energy.  At the end of my Coast Guard day I went straight to the gym to train with a few clients and followed that up with an intense Jillian Michaels routine.  You read that right, I got in 3 full workouts yesterday.  On top of all that, I ate impeccably. 

I guess what I am getting at is that life happens.  How you deal with it may not be the same as how I deal with it, however we all have coping mechanisms.  I’m not saying mine is a good one, because lets face it, it’s not!  I do not recommend you eat and drink away your problems because it really isn’t going to get you anywhere.  However, what I do recommend is that when you are ready you get right back on that horse and keep on trekin!  I had a mini-mental-meltdown and it sucked, but today I realize that it’s not the end of the world and I am ready to just keep moving forward.

What mental setbacks have you had in the past, and how did you deal with them?

Working in BEAST Mode!

I’m feeling so great about myself and life this morning that I just couldn’t wait to post. I’m in BEAST MODE and I just gotta share!

Yeah, I realize that isn’t the most flattering picture but sometimes you just gotta ROAR!!!!

I’m excited about my progress this week both in the gym and in the kitchen. Monday after trying to get my phone and kindle to load the Daily HIIT routine with nothing but failure I was left with only 4 minutes to workout. Don’t fret, the time was not wasted. At the urging of my hubby I did some high knees and jumping jacks to get my heart rate up a bit. Each day since I’ve gotten up early and done the routines. They give me such a boost of energy in the morning I feel ready to conquer the long day ahead.

As well as keeping up with that 30 day challenge, I’ve mentioned starting back on with Making the Cut. I hit that hard Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday was a rest day. I made it an active rest day by doing my morning routine and also squeezing in a quick 20 min on the treadmill before clients last night.
Most of my days I spend sitting at a desk. As many of you probably know, this makes you feel super inactive, well, because you are. So to break up my days a little I like to do little mini-workouts. There is a bench in my bathroom/locker-room on base so I’m using it to my full advantage. I’ll do 10 incline push-ups, 5 single leg squats per leg, and 10 in-outs each time I have to hit the head. So to recap I’m rocking the shiz outta some workouts this week!

On the nutrition front, well I’m killing that too! I’ve hit my calorie goals everyday this week. I’m getting lots of fresh fruit and veggies in. I’m eating salads and lean protein. And best of all, I’ve discovered new and exciting uses for cauliflower, HALLELUJAH!! Prepping Sunday made my life exponentially easier this week so I’ll try to do that again this weekend.

I’m hoping this motivation keeps on coming because the progress I’ve made over just these past 5 days has been amazing. I want to keep seeing results and reap the benefits of all my hard work! More updates to come and hopefully some positive progress photos. 🙂

Workout ADD: A Self Revelation

Yes, I’m still alive and still blogging but it’s been an insane couple of weeks! I have barely been able to get my hair washed daily so hopping on a computer has just not been an option.

Here’s a little update on what’s been going on.  December 27th thru Jan 6th the hubs and I went so So Cal to spend time with his daughter. We hit outlets, Sea World, Dave and Busters, Mulligan’s, and so much more. It was a blast! 

Upon returning home, I found that I had gained 7 new clients at the gym and 7 new pounds on my body. GAH! It’s ok to splurge a little on vacation however we got crazy!

Coming back with those extra pounds and extra clients however made me realize how far off track I have gotten. How can I tell my clients to eat clean and workout consistently when I am doing the opposite and steadily packing on pounds? (16 lbs to be exact from the time I started personal training until now.) How about practice what you preach?  Ever heard that, Carey? Yup, sure have! Now it’s time to take it to heart!

We all know this can be difficult to do.  Everyone has busy schedules and things come up.  Right now, I’m working 8 hour days with the Coast Guard and then going straight to the gym for another 5 hours or so.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, just explaining. I’m trying to make it work. I’m having good healthy breakfasts.

I spent all evening prepping food Sunday night.  I separated fruit salad and greek yogurt into 1 cup portions, made three salads, four pieces of chicken, Jamie Eason’s Turkey Meatloaf Muffins, and tons of rice.  The only thing I didn’t cook in advance was breakfasts and veggies because I don’t like when cooked veggies sit for days plus they are so easy to steam while I’m having breakfast.

I’m also working out again, which I just loooove! And here is where my title comes in. I had a conversation with a friend recently where I explained my new workout plan. She says to me, “You change your plan a lot, huh?” I thought and it and responded, “Yeah, I have workout ADD. I get bored easily.” I just can’t seem to stick to one plan too long. Does anyone else have this problem? I like different workouts and different plans and different meals. Don’t tell me to lift 5 days a week, run long distances and eat chicken, brown rice and broccoli because I’m gonna tell you where to shove it! I want circuit training with different moves and routines. I want all kinds of new recipes incorporating foods I’ve never tried before (more about that in future posts!). And I want new ideas I can take and apply to my clients.

So, on that note, here’s what I’m trying to do now. BodyRock, now The Daily HIIT, has a 30 day challenge going. These workouts are posted daily and each one is different from the day before. Best part, they’re only 12 minutes. 12 MINUTES! If you don’t have 12 minutes a day to dedicate to your health and well-being then you have bigger fish to fry my friend. But anyway, I’m trying to do these in the mornings. If I wake up only 30 min earlier than normal, I can get in a great workout before work everyday. I’m one day behind because I couldn’t get anything to work yesterday morning, that’s no big deal.  This morning I did Monday’s workout, tomorrow I’ll do Tuesdays workout and so on.  As long as I stay on track for the 30 days, I think I’ll be ok.  I’d like to try to link the videos in here each day, but that is time permitting. In the evenings I’ve gone back to my tried and true Jillian Michael’s ‘Making the Cut’ book. The first time I ran through this program following it perfectly, I dropped 14 lbs in 30 days and felt better than I can ever remember.  This time around, I will follow the workout plan exactly, but I’m going to change up the meals.  I am sticking to the percentages for Fast Oxidizers (50% protein, 30% fat, 20% carbs) but trying to create the meal plan myself.  This will help me develop my own healthy eating habits without having to depend on someone elses meal plan.  Hopefully I’ll be able to post some progress photos soon. Something I realized in California is that it is ok to be a chubby trainer here in the Soo, but that shiz ain’t gonna fly down there. Gotta get it together! Anyone else wanna join in this 30 day challenge?

One Bad Ass Workout

Guess who just killed one bad ass workout between clients? That’s right, it was this lil’ lady right here:

Do you see that sweat dripping? Hope my next client doesn’t mind, lol!

I did the 300 Rep Challenge from BodyRock.tv and killed it. The routine is pyramid style starting with10 reps of each exercise then the circuit repeats with 9 reps, then 8 and so on until one then you follow up with the Ab Bonus.

Here are the exercises:

1. Alternating sandbag swings
2. Shovel left using sandbag
3. Shovel right using sandbag
4. Clean and Press left using sandbag
5. Clean and Press right using sandbag
REPEAT

These exercises all use this bad boy:

The Ultimate Sandbag Training System (in pink of course) but if you don’t have this or access to it you can use kettle bells or hell, even throw a few books in a backpack. I keep mine at 15lbs but the weight is up to you and your abilities.

Ab Bonus (50 sec on, 10 sec rest)

1. Reptile Push up on Equalizer
2. Mountain Climbers on Equalizer
3. Star Push Ups on Equalizer
(I used step aerobics steps because I didn’t have an Equalizer)

If you haven’t already checked out Body Rock routines, what are you waiting for?  Most are super intesnse 12 minute routines that can be done with little to no equipment right in your own home.  Get off your asses and get sweaty!

My new toy

Looksie what I got today!

Yeah boy, that’s right, my brand new Ultimate Sandbag…IN PINK!!!

My wonderful husband got this for me for my birthday, I filled that sucker up after work and now I’m ready to get Body Rockin’!  If you aren’t already aware of BodyRock.tv you better check it out with a quickness for some of the best FREE workouts available.