Physical exercise – Fervent Foodie

Recap–the (almost) 14 day fitness challenge

November 28, 2011 No Comments

Whelp, it has been 14 days since I proposed the 14 day fitness challenge and made it my goal to exercise every day for 14 days straight (including the Thanksgiving holiday). The first 7 days went as planned and I exercised each day. Boo. Ya.

Here’s how the second half of the challenge stacked up:

Day #8: Power Pump class at the YMCA
Day #9: Woke up with knee pain, so I decided NOT to exercise.
Day #10: 15 minutes on the elliptical, 1 hour of strength training & free weights
Day #11: Turkey Trot! 5 miles in 43:48!!
Day #12: 30 minutes on the elliptical
Day #13: 3 Mile Leslie Sansone walking video with my mom
Day #14: Stuck in traffic on the drive home from Ohio and got home 2 hours late – AKA no exercise.

So the 14 days fitness challenge was more like the 12 out of 14 day challenge. Even though I missed the challenge goal, I’m happy with what I was able to accomplish. First off, I listened to my body and decided not to run when my knee was bothering me. This is HUGE for me. Normally I am stubborn (and stupid) and try to run despite pains, which is exactly how I hurt myself two summers back. Second, I EXERCISED ON THANKSGIVING. Insane!!!

The Turkey Trot was the first race I have run in, and I’m already searching for my next race.

Half marathon here I come!!!!

Fitness, Ramblings, Restaurants

So fresh and so (not) clean

June 13, 2011 5 Comments

I’ve been in Charlotte for nearly 2 months now, yet my place is still in disarray. So, my primary goal for the weekend was to be OOBER productive. Looking back I’d say I did a fairly good job of meeting that goal—good enough that I may even be able to post some pics of the apt in the next week or so Smile

Amidst all my oober productivity, I squeezed in a Body Pump class Saturday morning and a “run” (Ah! more on that to come) Sunday morning.

After the Body Pump class, the instructor called me a “real regular”. I know it seems silly, but her little comment and acknowledgement that I’ve been body pumping on a regular basis gave me this sense of pride and accomplishment. I guess it’s because I’ve NEVER been able to stick with any sort of strength training program. I’ve tried. I’ve failed. Annnd repeat. I mean, you all remember my strength training powerpoint, right? Fail.

The hard part for me was finding something I could stick with, and something that I KNEW wasn’t a waste of time. I’m happy to report I’m four months in to Body Pump and going strong! So strong in fact, that today without thinking I flexed my biceps in the bathroom mirror at work. Who does that?! Luckily no one walked in on my “which way to the gym” routine Smile

Anyway, after body pump Saturday I headed home for a quick shower and scooted out to run some errands. I was about 5 centimeters down my street when I realized that I had not only forgotten to shave my armpits, BUT I’d also forgotten to put on deodorant. I slowed the car down to a crawl contemplating on whether or not I should turn around. On one hand I had my goals of oober productivity. On the other hand I had my newly formed goal of not ruining my chances of making new friends in Charlotte because I smell like B.O.. Now if it had been my cell phone I’d forgotten, you’re darn tootin I would have turned that car around. But hairy au naturale armpits? Not so much. I guess we all have our limits Be right back

I hit up Lowes, Target, and Trader Joes before rolling my famished self (neglected armpits included) into my first ever visit to Zoe’s!

Simple.Tasty.Fresh!
My strength training obsessed BF tells me I need to make sure I get bookoo protein in after body pump, so as I perused the menu for something meaty I giggled when I saw they had a dish called The Protein Power Plate. Really?

REALLY??

As unappetizing as the name sounded, the description really hit a special place in my heart. Flat-grilled chicken, caramelized onions, and slaw. Say it with me. CARAMELIZED ONIONSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.

I was also pleasantly surprised that the dish was sprinkled with a bit of feta. You know what they say. Feta makes everything betta.

This was one DELICIOUS dish. One that I’d eat again regardless of my body’s protein replenishment needs. Zoe’s has a ton of other things on the menu that look worthy of a taste – several sandwiches, kabobs, salads… not to mention the hand-made chocolate cake and homemade cookies. Can’t wait to go back!

After lunch, I headed back to the apt where I unloaded my booty… as in all the goodies I scored shopping… not as in #2… ummmm moving on….

One thing I scored was this lamp shade from Lowes:

I love the color and pattern. Yes, I plan to take the plastic off. Please note the pile of crap on my nightstand. Now envision a 1,000 square foot apartment filled with similar piles of varying heights. That’s what I’m working with, folks.

Slowwwwllyyyy but surely Smile

Fitness, Recipes

Strength Training & a Breakfast Sandwich

January 15, 2011 8 Comments

Last spring, I found a new love in running, and shortly thereafter I found out I have crappy knees that can’t handle too much impact.

Sadness… Sad smile

Then, a few months back, I joined a gym.. That’s right, a gym. And since then I’ve pretty much become BFF’s with the elliptical. Feeling like a hamster is better than feeling like a sloth. Am I right?

While it feels good to get some cardio in during the week, I noticed I’ve been feeling kind of weak lately. Slightly feeble. (could be the cold weather?) Plus my posture has definitely declined in the past couple of years, and that is not a trend I’d like to continue on.

With all this weighing on my mind, in my down time over the past few weeks I’ve been working on putting together my first-ever strength training routine. I’ve NEVER EVER been into weightlifting or any of the machines at the gym. It’s just, well, too complicated. Plus, I’m a numbers gal. If I can’t see the numbers adding away right in front of my face, I feel like I’m not accomplishing anything.

So one morning, I tried out a few different exercises I found in the pile of fitness magazines I’ve been hoarding in my office and was immediately discouraged. I just really didn’t know what I was doing, I had no plan of attack, and it felt like a big fat waste of time.

Well that is until I woke up the next morning and literally had to lift my legs out of the bed because they were so sore. Perhaps it is possible that doing these silly strength training moves DOES actually impact your body…

Perhaps.

The next day, I went through ALL of the fitness magazines I’ve been accumulating over the past year and snipped out the strength-training exercises that looked promising. Using this data, I pieced together the exercises I actually understood and/or those that appeared somewhat feasible and that could be done in the comfort of my own home…

Thennnnn I found images and instructions for each exercise and then decided to take things to a whole new level of crazy by organizing all the data into a PowerPoint presentation.

What? You don’t put your strength training workouts into PowerPoint?

Open-mouthed smile

After ALL of this research and organization, I had about 30 exercises but still no plan of attack. I knew what the moves looked like, how to do them, and… well, that was about it. So I sent my PowerPoint to the BF, who has a heck of a lot more experience in this area than I do, and asked him to please help me because I’m to the point of extreme frustration even though I had found pictures for each exercise, detailed descriptions, and picked out a really pretty color scheme!!!!

Hehe…

Pretty, right?

Luckily, he obliged and did help and also did agree that it was a pretty color scheme…. (your darn tootin it’s pretty) all while I got to work on breakfast!

FINALLY!!

Cue the turkey pepperoni breakfast sandwich please!

Easy peasy, I tell ya. This is 1 egg seasoned with S&P topped with 4 slices turkey pepperoni and 1 tbsp reduced fat Mexican cheese:

My cheese was being stubborn and would not melt, so I popped a lid on for a bit to coerce it.

Mellllltttttt I say!

Then I slid the egg onto a toasted whole grain English muffin and added some Ketchup and some Franks Red Hot:

How ridiculously good does this look?

Mmmmmmmm….

Get in my belly.

Smash em together:

Annnnddd the sandwich was gone 13 seconds later.

Stats on the sandwich: 221 calories, 31g carbs, 9g fat, 15g protein, 8g fiber