Ultimate Breakfast Sandwich

Prior to heading to the gym this morning, I snacked on ½ of a small banana with a light smear of natural peanut butter.  Today’s LiveFit Trainer called for a quads and calves workout out.  I knew it was going to be a tough one heading into the workout as my lower half is still sore from Monday’s workout and the sprints I have been doing the past two days.  Oh well – no pain, no gain! 

Breakfast

I loved everything about my breakfast this morning!  I have been craving caprese sandwiched ever since I had one last Saturday.  Since I am trying to avoid starchy carbs at night for the next few weeks (I’m doing the best I can, but I occasionally slip up on this), I thought, why not have a caprese sandwich for breakfast? 

For the sandwich, I cooked up three egg whites and folded in a little fresh garlic mozzarella.  I topped a toasted Ezekiel English muffin with some fresh basil, tomato slices, and the egg whites.  It fulfilled my craving for a caprese sandwich and kept me feeling energized all morning, not to mention happy – fantastic!

Eats Throughout the Day

9:15am – Sweet potato with cinnamon and some walnuts and almonds

12:30pm – Salad with romaine, spinach, celery, onion, cucumber, tomato, a little shredded chicken, and one hard-boiled egg.

3:30pm – Shredded chicken with hot sauce, celery, and onion.

Dinner

I kept thing fairly simple for dinner tonight. 

I put together a salad with cucumbers, tomato, orange pepper, onion, and chicken breast and chopped it all up using a pizza cutter.  I was only able to eat about ¾ of it – it was a monster!

*****

I’m off to do a little reading and spend some quality time with Marley and Molly.  Enjoy your evening!

Pre-Workout Snacks

Prior to heading to the gym, I had some apple slices with 1 tbsp of natural peanut butter.  I don’t usually get around to taking a picture of my pre-workout snack because it is 4:00am and I’m usually still a little fuzzy, but I always have one.  Some people prefer to workout in the morning on an empty stomach for optimal fat burn; I, however, do not.  I need something in me for energy; plus, I usually wake up hungry and I have terrible mood swings when hunger strikes, yikes! 

For pre-workout snacks, I have an apple, 1/2 banana, or one slice of Ezekiel toast with natural peanut butter, protein shake, or homemade protein bars, depending on my mood and what my workout entails.  On weekends, I eat breakfast before heading to the gym, so there is no need for a pre-workout snack.

Today’s LiveFit trainer focused on chest, shoulders, abs, and sprints.  The workout took about 90 minutes to complete.  Today was another day of treadmill sprints – I enjoyed every minute of it!

Breakfast

Protein pancakes with fresh berries.  After my pancakes were finished cooking, I heated up the berries in the pan for a minute before topping my pancakes.  Yum!!

Protein Pancakes

Ingedients:

¼ cup egg whites

1/4 cup old fashioned oats

1/4 tsp baking powder

½ scoop vanilla protein powder

1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk

Dash of sea salt

1 Truvia packet

½ tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp cinnamon

Directions:

Mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl or blender and cook them on medium heat on the stovetop. This recipe will make 2 pancakes.

Serve with your favorite toppings and enjoy!

*****

Eats Throughout the Day

9:00am – 2 pumpkin protein bars and a plain Greek yogurt with truvia.  I ate about ¾ of the yogurt. 

12:00pm – Leftover tilapia, roasted veggies, and 1/4 cup quinoa. 

3:00pm – Salsa chicken and veggies.

After work, I headed home and enjoyed a nice little walk with Marley and Molly before hittin’ the books for a little bit. 

Dinner

Tonight’s dinner was super easy and delicious.  This morning I threw pork tenderloin into the crockpot, poured in chicken broth, sprinkled the pork with cracked pepper and a little garlic, and set it to low.  It came out great for minimal effort!  On the side, I had some squash and spinach.

 *****

I’m off to catch up on some reading.  Enjoy the rest of your day!

Sweating Buckets

Workout

Today’s workout was a good one!  The workout took me 90 minutes to complete.  The strength training portion of the workout focused on back and bi’s.  The workout included various supersets, some with active rest, which included mountain climbers and ball pull-ins, and others that involved performing back to back strength exercises with no rest between each exercise.  Once the strength training portion of the workout was complete, it was on to cardio!

Treadmill sprints were brought back into my life today!  I absolutely love treadmill sprints.  The last time I did them was back when I was finishing up my 12 week Transformation Challenge. 

The breakdown:

30 seconds @ 8.5mph, 30 seconds rest (feet on side of treadmill) – Repeat 10 times (10 minutes)

30 seconds @ 9.0mph, 30 seconds rest – Repeat 10 times (10 minutes)

30 seconds @ 9.5mph, 30 seconds rest – Repeat 5 times (5 minutes)

30 seconds @ 10.0mph, 30 seconds rest – Repeat 5 times (5 minutes)

I was sweating buckets by the time I was finished with today’s workout.  I get to do it all again tomorrow!!

Breakfast

For breakfast, I had an egg white omelet with bok choy, mushrooms, and a little mozzarella cheese.  On the side, I had some fresh berries.

Delish!

While at work, I enjoyed these eats:

9:00am – Chicken salsa and fresh berries

12:00pm – Flounder with quinoa and Brussels sprouts

3:00pm – Tuna and veggies

Dinner

For dinner, I made baked garlic and lime tilapia and shrimp and paired it with steamed broccoli.  It was tasty!

Garlic and Lime Baked Tilapia

Ingredients:

Olive Oil cooking spray

4 tilapia fillets

16 medium to large shrimp

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 lime, juice

Mrs. Dash Caribbean Citrus seasoning blend (optional)

Freshly cracked pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Spray pan with nonstick olive oil spray.  Rinse fish and shrimp and pat dry; place in the pan.  Season fillets and shrimp with garlic, cracked pepper, Mrs. Dash Caribbean Citrus seasoning blend, and lime juice.   Place in oven and baked, uncovered, 10 to 12 minutes until fish flakes when touched with a fork. 

*****

I’m off to do some studying.  Enjoy your evening!

Grilled Pizza

Hey there.  Happy Monday!

This morning I kicked off Phase 3 of the LiveFit trainer.  Today’s workout focused on quads and calves and incorporated supersets with a strength move and an explosive move such as jump squats, long jumps, and jump rope; this type of training in known as hypertrophy training, which is intended to produce maximal muscle growth.

Breakfast

5 Egg whites, bok choy, and mushroom scramble with 1 slice provolone.  On the side, I had ¼ cup oats with truvia and cinnamon. 

Eats throughout the day:

9:00am – 1/3 cup plain Chobani with 1 tsp vanilla, truvia, and cinnamon and some almonds

12:00pm – Salad with romaine, a little fresh basil, 1 egg, celery, onion, tomato, banana peppers, and strawberries.  The basil added a lot of extra flavor to the salad. I was able to squeeze in a 30 minute walk at lunch before the rain started!

3:00pm – Shredded buffalo chicken.  I added a little hot sauce, celery, and onion to some shredded chicken I cooked up yesterday.  I also had some celery, peppers, and carrots.

Dinner

Tonight’s dinner is an all-time favorite of mine, grilled pizza!  Bob did a great job on the pizza, as always.  For the crust, he used pre-made whole-wheat pizza dough.  For the toppings, we went with marinara, peppers, onion, mushrooms, garlic, turkey sausage, mozzarella, and a little parmesan cheese.

So good!

Attack of the Twirlies

Hey everyone.  I hope you weekend is treating you well.  It has been gorgeous in here the last few days and today is supposed to be another good one! 

Yesterday morning, Bob and I hit up the Troy farmer’s market and picked up some bok choy, lettuce, flowers, and some amazing garlic mozzarella cheese (spur of the moment sort of thing – more on that in a minute).

After we made it back home, we got to work on the yard.  I picked up what seemed like an endless amount of  maple twirlies from the flowerbeds in the front of our house.  My yard literally looks like it has been attacked by twirlies! 

I also planted the flowers that I picked up from the farmers market.  Meanwhile, Bob was busy trimming bushed, mowing the lawn, and laying new mulch.  There is something so nice about fresh mulch in a flowerbed!

*****

For lunch, I had a Caprese sandwich, made with fresh basil from my garden, tomato, and a slice of garlic mozzarella on Ezekiel bread.  I grilled the sandwich on my Geroge Foreman. 

It was amazing…You will probably be seeing quite a few of these throughout the summer!

*****

Around 5:00, Bob and I called it quits in the yard.   We got cleaned up and headed up to Saratoga for dinner.  We had planned to try a new restaurant, but after looking over some of the menus, we opted for Circus Café.  I went with the fish and chips with sweet potato fries.  The fish was haddock – it was fantastic!

After dinner, we took a stroll through Congress Park and enjoyed some fresh spring water!

*****

Fast forward to today…

Breakfast

Omelet: 5 egg whites, bok choy, mushrooms, and a little garlic mozzarella. On the side, I also had ¼ cup oats with a little truvia, cinnamon, and ½ tsp vanilla extract.

*****

Once breakfast settled, I headed out for a nice 14-mile bike ride, which was a perfect way to kick off this gorgeous morning! 

I’m off to run some errands and enjoy the rest of the day.  Have a great one!

Quick and Easy Broiled Salmon

Hey there!

I am so excited to begin a three day weekend!  Mid-afternoon I decided I needed to take a “me day” tomorrow.  I never take days off just because.  Tomorrow that will all change! 

But first…let me reflect on today!

I got my day started with a great shoulder workout (my favorite)!  There was no cardio on the agenda for today.  However, I did enjoy a 3 mile walk at lunch.

Breakfast

For breakfast, I enjoyed eggs and oats.

In the omelet: 5 egg whites, a slice of provolone cheese, and fresh basil that I picked from my garden this morning!! So good.

Today’s oats: ¼ cup oats (uncooked measurement), truvia, and 1/4 tsp chia seeds

While at work, I enjoyed these eats:

9:00am – 1/3 cup plain Chobani with ½ tsp chia seeds and walnuts and almonds

12:00pm – Turkey wrap with spicy mustard and spinach

3:00pm – Tuna salad made with a little spicy mustard, parsley, pepper, green pepper, and onion

After work, I cleaned the tree “twirlies” out of my garden.  There are so many of these this year!  I also caught up on some reading and participated in a Java web conference. 

Dinner

Dinner was quick, simple, and tasty!  Tonight I was flying solo, which gave me the perfect opportunity to make myself broiled salmon. 

This was so easy to make!  I set the oven to broil.  I spread a little EVOO on each side of the salmon and sprinkled the salmon with a little Mrs. Dash Caribbean citrus blend.  I broiled the salmon for approximately 9 minutes and the asparagus for approximately 6 minutes. I squeezed fresh lime juice over the salmon and asparagus.  It does not get much easier than this!

I’m off to catch up on a little more reading.  Enjoy your evening!

A New Way to Eat Eggs

Good evening! I hope you enjoyed your day.

I kicked off my day with a great chest, abs, and cardio workout.  I increased my weights on most exercises today, and I am sure I will be feeling it tomorrow!  For today’s cardio, I did 30 minutes on the Arch Trainer. 

Breakfast

For breakfast, I had a southwest scramble and one slice of cinnamon raisin Ezekiel bread! 

In the scramble: 5 egg whites, spinach, mushrooms, peppers, onions, and salsa.  Delish!

While at work, I enjoyed these eats:

9:00am – 1/3 cup plain Chobani with blueberries and ½ tsp flaxseed

1:00pm – Turkey wrap with a slice of provolone and spinach

For the wrap, I used one of these little gems:

I love these!

3:30pm – Baked chicken tenders and veggies

After work, I headed Changes salon for color and a cut.  While I was there, a thunderstorm rolled through town that brought buckets of rain and hail.  This was no surprise because every time I go to get my hair done, it rains.  Luckily, the rain and hail stopped just as I was finishing up (this never happens)!

Dinner

For dinner, I had a “new to me” egg and veggie pairing, which turned out excellent.

In one pan, I sautéed some spinach, mushrooms, red and green peppers, onion, and garlic.  In another pan, I cooked up two poached eggs.  I served the eggs over the veggies and sprinkled them with cracked pepper.  I can’t believe I haven’t tried this before!  I typically have them over wheat toast, but this is great for when you are trying to avoid starchy carbs or when you want to add some extra vegetables to a meal. 

Have a good one!

Difficulty Signing up for Races

Hey there!  I hope you are having a great week so far.

Last night I attended my first triathlon club meeting!  Beginning in June, I will be doing sprint length triathlons in Tuesday nights to prepare for races throughout the summer.  While I have been swimming in a pool for the past few weeks, swimming in open water is so much different.  I cannot wait to get started!   I have yet to sign up for any of the events this year – I always struggle with signing up for races because you never know what the weather will be!  This week I need to get signed up for at least some of the races. I have been putting it off for too long now!

This morning, I enjoyed two Pumpkin Protein Bars prior to heading to the gym.

Today called for an excellent leg workout.  No cardio was on the agenda for today, which is a good thing because my foot has been bothering a little the last few days.

Breakfast

I have been craving pancakes for the last couple of days, so this morning I made up some Blueberry Protein Pancakes.  I added ½ scoop of vanilla isopure whey protein, 1 tsp vanilla, and a little extra almond milk to the original recipe. 

So good!!

Eats throughout the day:

9:00am – Chicken and shrimp stir-fry with ¼ cup brown rice (leftovers from last night)

12:00pm – Salad with romaine, spinach, cucumbers, tomato, onion, peppers, avocado, and 1 egg

3:00pm – 1 small sweet potato with a dash of cinnamon and ½ packet of tuna

Dinner

We kept dinner fairly simple tonight!  Bob prepared some burgers made with ground round, garlic, onion, and Portobello mushrooms.   

The burgers were delicious, as always.  I topped my burger with provolone, lettuce, tomato,onion, and spicy brown mustard.  On the side, I had some coleslaw and baked beans.

*****

I picked up a movie on my way home from work.  I thought it would be a perfect way to end a rainy and very long Tuesday. Enjoy your evening!

Eating Clean

Getting Started with Eating Clean

A big part of attaining your fitness goals comes from eating clean.  You can exercise your heart out, but the fact is, you will not get the results you are seeking without eating healthy. 

When I first decided to focus on eating clean, I was a little overwhelmed.  I had some bad habits that were a little tough to overcome in the first few weeks.  Prior to my start of eating clean, it was not unusual for me to drink at least 4 diet Pepsi’s a day.  I am proud to say that this bad habit is in my past.  I do still occasionally have a diet soda, maybe once every few weeks, if I get a taste for one. 

To start, I recommend that you define what “eating clean” means to you and write it down.  For instance, do you want to avoid all sugars and white flours, pastas, breads, and rice?  What other foods/drinks will you avoid and what will you include?  My definition of eating clean is eating lots of vegetables and moderate fruit, whole grains, and lean meats and fish with the occasional treat here and there.  Do what works best for you and your lifestyle. 

Clean out

Go through your cabinets and fridge and get rid of the junk.  Either throw it out or set it aside for donations.  As you are going through everything, pay attention to the nutritional facts and ingredients.  The more ingredients it has (especially if you cannot pronounce them), the worse it is for you!

Be mindful of  anything labeled “fat free” (excluding Greek yogurt or non-fat milk).  Often times, more ingredients, such as sugar, flour, and salt are added to the foods to make up for the lack of taste of “fat free” and “reduced fat” foods, which often results in higher caloric intake. 

Make a grocery list

Here comes the fun part!  Plan out what meals you want to eat for the week as a starting point.  Since you just cleaned out everything, you will be stocking up on quite a bit.  Make sure to load up on fresh fruits and veggies, lean meats, nuts, and whole grains! 

Here is a sample of what my typical grocery list looks like (these are just my staples I have some things in bulk such as nuts and oats):

Vegetables: Romaine Tomato’s Cucumbers Onion (red and yellow) Peppers (various kinds) Mushrooms Carrots Celery Broccoli Asparagus Squash Zucchini Sweet potatoes Red potato (for Bob) Spaghetti squash Spinach

Fruits: Raspberries Blueberries Blackberries Oranges Bananas Apples

Meats/Fish: Chicken Ground Sirloin Ground Turkey Tilapia Tuna Deli: Roasted turkey Baked ham Provolone

Dairy: Greek yogurt 1% cottage cheese Mozzarella cheese Unsweetened Almond milk 2% milk (Bob) Eggs Egg whites

Bread: Whole wheat & flax Arnold thins Ezekiel bread

Other: Natural peanut butter Pam Non-Stick (Olive Oil) Tomato sauce Canned diced tomatoes Salsa Beans Honey(Bob) Tea

Incorporate a little “prep” time into your schedule

Having healthy, prepared foods available when you need them is key to staying on track.  I usually do my food prepping for the week on Sunday.  I typically cook up chicken, hard-boil eggs, bake protein bars, roast veggies and chop up veggies for meals for the week.  It is so convenient to make things in bulk and have them on hand throughout the week. 

Have fun with it

Eating clean is not a diet; it is more of a lifestyle.  You do not have to give up your favorite foods.  Most things, including pizza and banana bread can be prepared with clean eating in mind and best of all – the food tastes just as good as it is good for you.  Eating clean gives you the perfect opportunity to get creative in the kitchen and try new things!

Adapted from The Eat Clean Diet.

*****

Some tips for eating clean and staying on track:

Drink a lot of water.  Keep a bottle of water with you at all times, if possible.

Leave your house with a healthy snack in hand, just in case you are out longer than expected or hanger sticks.  I typically always carry an apple, walnuts, almonds, or a protein bar with me when I leave the house. 

Start you day with a glass of hot lemon water to stimulate your digestive system and help flush your system.

I hope this gives you a little insight on how to get started with eating clean. The first few weeks may be a little challenging, but do not get discouraged!

This or That?

Hey guys! Happy Friday.  I thought I would change things up on the blog today.  I have seen this survey on a few other blogs, so I thought I would give it a go!

Coke or Pepsi?

I have been laying low on soda lately, but I prefer Pepsi over coke.  If I am in another country, however, I prefer Coke over Pepsi.  Weird, huh?  I think it might have something to do with the water. 

Lemonade or fruit punch?

Lemonade. It has to be just right. Not too sweet and not too sour.

Caramel apple or cotton candy?

Neither. 

Butterfinger or Snickers?

Snickers! 

Pudding or Jello?

Pudding!  I love Casein pudding before bed!

Turkey or chicken?

Chicken.

American or Provolone cheese?

Provolone! 

Crackers or cookies?

Cookies!  Obviously.  Oatmeal raisin.

Pretzels or chips?

Pretzels.  I can’t remember the last time I had them.

Mexican food or Japanese food?

Mexican.

Chinese food or Italian food?

Italian! Love it.

Ice cream or cookies?

Tough one!  Depends on my mood…but ice cream may have a slight edge.

Pasta or pizza?

Pizza!

Soda or juice?

Club soda or diet soda…although I am trying to cut back on it.  There is too much added sugar in juice!

Chocolate bars or chocolate truffles?

Depends on the chocolate!

Apples or bananas?

Apples.

Salad or soup?

Salad.

Cauliflower or broccoli?

Broccoli.

Onion rings or french fries?

Sweet potato fries!

Blizzard or McFlurry?

Blizzard…I have not had one in years.

Fried or poached eggs?

Poached!

Crepes or pancakes?

Pancakes! I did have a crepe in Paris and it was pretty good, but nothing compares to pancakes!

Hashbrowns or roasted potatoes?

Roasted potatoes.

Oatmeal or cereal?

Oatmeal! It is much more filling.

What are some of your favorites?