"It's time to get serious"

The weekend is over and it's back to the factory for me.  I realized today that my brother, on his visit to see me, was inspired by my vitamin collection.  Today it seemed, through email exchanges, he is doing some research for himself on what to supplement his diet with.  I recommended a multivitamin and vitamin D (because this is what a Harvard study found to be most beneficial).  He asked why I would give him advice I don't myself follow.  That was a good question.  Mainly because I know that research does not substantiates the claims I make about vitamins and since they cost money I wouldn't recommend something without presenting my brother with the actual research, that being said I broke down the general attributions contributed to each vitamin in hopes he at least starts taking a multivitamin.  Many doctors do say that everyone should be taking a multivitamin!

My lunch today was great! (it was the sweet and sour veggies and tofu over brown rice from the post below).  I also had the roasted veggies on the side.  Of course a coworker brought in two huge and delicious wedding cakes that sat right outside my office with a sign "eat me" right next to an assortment of gourmet cookies.  Is this a predominantly women-in-the-office trend or does everyone get exposed to delicious top-of-the-old-pyramid sweets at work regularly?  After 3 hours of staring at the cake I indulged, it was delicious!  But then I hit the gym and a mighty fine workout was had.  I hit the weights (with nominal breaks for added cardio) for about 50 minutes and then I went on a run with a friend.

Weights:

Don't let the cable exercises mislead you-- for some reason at this particular gym the pulley system is off making the weight a lot lighter than it should be-- I would normally do 90-100 lbs for cable row, not 145! (cable machines vary from one another given the gym and their upkeep).

Then I ran.  We usually run about 25 minutes, this particular loop had us at 22 minutes, included in that is a good 3 minutes waiting to cross various roads--which is about a 9 minute mile pace if you take that into consideration.  Personally I love using mapmyrun.com when I have time to check up on my workouts.  Check it out:

It was about a 2.40 mile run.

Then I came home and what was going to be a side salad turned into the main course (mostly because my spinach is on it's final days so I figure I'd try and finish it off and use the rest in my omelet tomorrow morning):

Organic: Baby spinach, strawberries, sliced almonds, goat cheese (Newman's own light balsamic dressing)

Bedtime for Bonzo!  Sweet dreams!

"I'll try anything once, twice if I like it..."

Well hello, blog.  I haven't been able to update in a awhile  I've been busy busy busy but I've still been up and at 'em.  It's been a great past week.   The weekends especially. The weekends have been packed with good eats! I went to a baseball game, my first major league baseball game as an adult! Of course I had to indulge in the various foods served at the GREAT AMERICAN PAST TIME EVENT!  So I did.  Hotdog with the fixins, cotton candy, peanuts, beer galore, etc.  It was a great time!  Then this weekend my brother visited me for a weekend adventure of fun.  My family is known for our love of food and boy did we indulge!  It hurt my wallet and my calorie intack was astronomical but it was worth it, and a ton of fun!


But it's back to the grind for me.  I have my workout written for tomorrow and my food cooked for the week, mostly.  It was my first time EVER cooking with lentils.  I ate that particular meal displayed in the second picture tonight. It was delicious!!!

Check it:

roasted veggies: sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, carrots

Green Lentil Veggie mash (recipe below)

This is two recipes from the same site mixed together.  The sweet and sour veggies and the Sweet and Sour Tofu (recipes link below) I'm also planning on putting it over brown rice.  I will be eating this tomorrow and I'll let you know how it is!!

Green Lentil Veggie Mash: recipe

Sweet and Sour veggies and tofu:  veggies, tofu

10 lbs Since Christmas

I weighed myself today, it's not an unusual thing for me to weigh myself but I almost do it out of habit.  It's like dreaming, I know I did it but I forget soon after what I really saw.  Today I took the number in with pride in comparison to the drastic difference sheer horror I felt post-Christmas vacation weigh-in.  I gained 10lbs over Christmas!  I am starting to believe it's a conspiracy, a societal conspiracy to get everyone fat for Christmas. (Perhaps the weight-loss companies/programs, natural/health food stores, and fitness and athletic clubs join forces and push cookies, candy canes, hot chocolate, fruitcakes, and eggnog so that their New Year profits increase exponentially after the post-Christmas-weigh-in-New-Years-Resolutions!) Everyone brings you something to eat.  Every single person at work delivers you a deliciously smelling plate of home-made cookies or chocolaty treats.  Breakfast is supplied daily leading up to Christmas vacation at work, and it isn't low calorie!  This year I guess I just indulged a little too much.  And yes, when I returned to the daily grind I did gasp at the number on the scale but I didn't exactly regret my Santa-like binge.  I enjoyed every second of my Christmas break.  I saw a lot of friends, I ate a lot of good food, I had a lot of fun with my family and I got a lot of R&R.  It happens, but this Christmas I'm going to make sure that I can enjoy myself, indulge, but still maintain my waist line.

Now <<<PAUSE FOR CELEBRATION>>>>

BINGO! BULLSEYE! HOME RUN! SCORE!!!!!!!

I made the yummiest dinner tonight and it was so quick and easy to make.  It was far superior to the previous halibut recipe I shared.  I made one serving and the recipe I used: halibut recipe is for 6 fillets.  So I just put the extra veggies in the fridge for my omelet tomorrow!

View the pics of the epic deliciousness!

Chopped Veggies for dinner and breakfast: zucchini, roasted red pepper, red onion,  baby bellows 

Veggies on top of halibut before it goes in the oven

THE MEAL! topped with tomato for the last 10 minutes of cooking

Also, vitamin update!  I haven't been sleeping enough lately and I haven't found a remedy to the problem.  I bought Melatonin at the grocery store today so I plan to take it tonight and see if it will work!

A Balancing Act

Miss the weight workout for Monday so you make it up Tuesday...but then what do you do Wednesday when you had planned a weight workout again.  Ah!

Also, eating organic is great for your body but not so much for your wallet, and really, is it always necessary, not really (at least not when you are poor and/or a young professional).  But then again-- watch enough videos of industrial farming and the thought of not buying organic meat is slightly terrifying... what to do, what to do...it's all a balancing act.  Meat or Tofu/Tempeh?  Grains or Veggies for side? Cardio or weights? etc. etc.

First of all, I really like meat.  Whatever they all say I don't want to give it up.  I think we were made omnivores for a reason.  I'm not saying you need meat, but if you don't have strong feelings against meat, why give it up?  Obviously I don't support the industrial farming techniques and I will no longer make purchases that reward this mass production of food at the cost of animal suffering.  We all know how bad stress is to humans, it can't be good for animals either-- and it certainly can't taste as good as an animal that's treated with dignity.

My red meat of choice is usually venison.  It's not because I think venison tastes better than beef I just have A LOT of it in my freezer.  Deer are wild and sustainable, and my brothers and father keep me fully stocked.  As for white meat I find chicken delicious and easy to prepare, but I'm not to keen on pork.  Now, moving on to fish.  Sometimes fish are farmed, but many times not in the brutal, satanic way cows and chickens are.  But fish can be expensive, and sometimes it says in small print that they come from China.  Not to hate on that country but given their fluctuating dollar, sweat shops, lead child toys, and human rights violations I tend to not trust China-- given that the U.S. checks 1% of the food they import I'm even more cautious.  Then we have wild-caught Salmon but that's pricey so I need to find a fish to buy that's delicious, affordable, sustainable, and that contains low levels of mercury.  Anyone know a list of sorts.  I found this video on Cooking Light and I'll start there.  how to find fish  Luckily in the summer the men in my family give me a somewhat decent supply of flounder and rockfish which I LOVE!

Oh, here are the organic eggs I got that I spoke of in the last blog:

And finally I'll leave you with my weights workout for the day before I run off to make water polo practice:

"So be sure when you step, step with care and great tact. And remember that life's A Great Balancing Act. And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and ¾ percent guaranteed) Kid, you'll move mountains." 
— Dr. Suess

Back on the grind!

So this weekend was great and relaxing!  Maybe a little too relaxing because I relaxed what I decided to put in my mouth.  It was definitely worth it and I munched on some delicious food, but now getting back to the grind is a little difficult.  Pause for the highlight of the trip:

I got to snuggle with this kitty all night!!

So adding insult to injury to my relaxed and intensely-enjoyable-for-the-taste-buds-weekend (I didn't eat unhealthy per se, I just ate too much cheese and bread, oh, how refined)-- more than one person decided to make delicious looking cookies and bring them to work.  Oh, first world problems will get ya!

Anyway, this is weird but I pushed the snooze button on my alarm for OVER AN HOUR!  This rarely happens, in fact I rarely sleep in (though this is a new thing I use to be able to sleep the day away).  Not only did I sleep in but I had bad dreams and somehow still found the motivation to press snooze and suffer through some more realistically vivid nightmares.  Then I had to rush a little bit to work so I microwaved some old fashioned oatmeal rather than the normal steal cut oats.  I didn't have time to prepare lunch so I took a Lean Cuisine.  THEN when I went to the gym and started taking out my workout clothes somehow I grabbed a tank top instead of shorts...I couldn't work out in my jeans so I had to go home... with rush-hour traffic it really wasn't worth driving back to the gym particularly because I had a date to run so my workout would have been piss poor.  So instead I just waited to run and we ran a good 25 minutes, we are still getting in shape but the run felt pretty good...so that's an upside to the downsides.

Then I went grocery shopping and was inspired to make a pretty delicious meal.  I also took the plunge and bought Almond Butter!!! Haven't tried it yet but I've heard so many great things I'm pretty excited to try it.  ALSO, one of my co-workers is starting a farm and farming organically (though not yet certified).  He gave me FOR FREE a dozen eggs from chickens who live like royalty.  I left them in the fridge at work but I'm pretty excited about them!  Now I have an egg connection.  Soon he'll grow spinach and the like too! woot woot!

So here's my dinner:

Tofu, broccoli, red onions, zucchini, baby bellos, garlic over quinoa

On to the next one.

HUMP DAY!

Wednesday is always a good day because Modern Family is on and it's the best TV show ever, and basically the only one I watch these days-- other than Fox & Friends in the morning.  :)  It's the best show I recommend it to all.

Today was my third day back into the swing of things post-cold-from-hell.  I already feel my body bouncing back.  On Monday I had trouble breathing 15 minutes into my run, today I had an easy breathing 23 minute run (we under-estimated our loop so when we returned to the start we just stopped, plus it was drizzling...).  I also hit the weights and that felt good.  But BOY my gluteus maximus is in pain!  Side squats really target the butt!! It's had me walking a little funny and having to hesitate before I sit down....ee gad!  (note: I'm a drama queen when it comes to pain).  Then yesterday I got in and swam and played water polo with the club team.  Egg beater (the way you tread and jump out of the water in water polo; simple explanation of egg beater) also is pretty demanding on the legs so I think it just added insult to injury.  It felt so good to be back in the water, I really miss water polo!

I have been eating leftovers all week which has been awesome and easy on the pocket book!  Today I cooked dinner for the first time this week.  I cooked Halibut with Herbs & Capers (Recipe) with steamed cauliflower and Brussels sprouts on the side.

Getting ready to food process the sauce:  parsley, cilantro, onion, lemon zest, lemon juice, green olives,  capers, evoo. 

Raw halibut filet with pesto-like sauce

Prepared meal with side

My Life in Pictures

Today was a great day.  I'm not sure if I'm saying that because I just drank my obligatory cup of post-exercise Ovaltine, or what.

I started the morning off with an early morning phone call from a great friend whose conversation I always enjoy and he got me thinking about things I like to think about-- While talking to him I made this piece of artwork- it involved a rubber band, a red sharpie, a  green highlighter, and a blue pen.  It's on sale for $4,000.  Let me know if you are interested.

 so...consequently I think I got a little lost in my head and not absorbed enough in my work so I had a slow start, but I eventually chugged along and made some serious progress!  I had great music to listen to too so the work day just flew by!!! Woo!    

Then I went to the gym.  Wooo-weee.  I'm still getting back into shape and my allergies are making a roaring comeback to great the beautiful Spring weather.  

C'est La Vie. 

Needless to say it's going to take me awhile to get back to the cardiovascular shape I was in if my asthma doesn't settle down.  I'm not too concerned though, I'm not that out of shape.  It's just when you remember doing something more efficiently in the past, doing that same exercise less efficiently makes you realize your decline.  I'll get it back though, I'm confident about that!   

I told Megan that I didn't think I could write my workouts down on my blog, but I took a picture of my workout today to get a peek into the typical workout of Annie. 

So typically I do 4 sets switching between the A and B of a set without rest (or little rest) to make the workout more cadio-esqe.  I use to do 5 sets but time constraints have shortened my workout.  This one is kind of confusing because I only got through set 3 before I was to meet a friend to go on a run, our run was only 17 minutes long (as we are out of shape...haha) and then I picked back up with the last set.  The time each workout took, my average heart rate and my peak heart rate are recorded next to the respective chunks.  My heart rate got pretty high which I try and maintain-- however if I don't do many leg exercises my heart rate does not get very high because leg exercises typically engage the whole body and since the leg muscles are the largest/strongest it takes more blood (and thereby increases your heart rate).  

I got this idea of working out from a workout book that I highly recommend.  If you are a guy they have one made for men as well but I can't vouch for it as I have not used it.  Here is the book for ladies:

My only complaints is that the binding is not very sturdy so if you use it as much as I do pages will start to fall out.  I love this book!   It has 619 exercises separated by what muscles you are working, each exercise has pictures to show you how it is suppose to look and then there are a ton of different workouts in the back.  I use to do the pre-made workouts in the back and I do highly recommend them, they are great and challenging!  

Now I was reading Women's Health magazine the other day and saw an advertisement for a similar book:

It made me laugh.  But then again, given how much I LOVE "The Women'sHealth Big of Exercises" maybe "The Women'sHealth Big Book of Sex" is worth a shot....just sayin'. 

Now-- one thing I must share with you all is the DELICIOUS dinner I made last night.  It was literally a party in my mouth.  I took one bight of it and just couldn't contain myself with how delicious it was.  I think my roommate thought I was weird that food got me that excited but I couldn't shut up about it.  I may have even texted 1 or 2 or... people about how friggin delicious it was.  Here is the link to the recipe: Recipe

I changed a couple minor things to that recipe-- I didn't fry it in 2 tbsp of oil, I just lightly coated the pan with EVOO and I used a bit of rice vinegar instead of rice wine.  I also served this dish over quinoa rather than brown rice.  All of my sauces and broths I used low-sodium since Chinese food has a tendency to pile on the SALT.