Sweltering

It is so humid here tonight.  Did I mention it is humid? I think I’ve broken a sweat just typing this.  Oh how I miss you AC but how I love the extra $$ in my bank account.

Today was a productive day.  I got done just about everything I was aiming for, both work-wise and personally.

One of my co-workers (who always brings in yummy, tempting foods) brought in Amish Friendship Bread today.  About a year or so ago, she and I seemed to be trading the starter back and forth weekly, but luckily (both for me and my waistline) I broke myself out of that trade.

But I did grab a slice.  I ate about 75% of this.  LOVED the nuts on it!

I had some of my morning snack (the kefir and some of the cherries, I ended up finishing the cherries while I was making dinner.) and then headed to the gym.

Workout #1
I did intervals on the arch trainer today, set to incline level 3.0.  Total of 40 minutes:

5 minute warmup at level 4
30 seconds at level 8
2 minutes at level 5
Repeated that for 20 minutes
10 minutes at level 6
5 minute cool down at level 3

Got back to work and I was STARVING!!!!  I dove right into my lunch.

Lunch
My arugula salad with carrots and grape tomatoes.  I put about 1T of homemade balsamic vinaigrette on top.

Then my sandwich, which I changed up quite a bit!

I had 2 pieces of 100% whole wheat bread with 2T of Tribe Roasted Red Pepper hummus and sliced cucumber on top.

I hadn’t had sandwich bread in ages!

And then I had a wegman’s no sugar added chocolate and vanilla pudding that I found hiding in the back of the fridge.

I had a bit of a hunger craving all afternoon but I didn’t think I was actually hungry, so I fought it.  Glad I did…maybe I just wanted a distraction from work or something.

Anyway, some time this afternoon I had a cup of Yogi Tea with 1/2 cup of cottage cheese, 3/4 sheet of graham crackers and some dried fruit & chocolate chips.

 

This only made my sweettooth worse, so I refilled my cup of tea with more hot water over the same tea bag (I only brought one with me.)  The flavor I am obsessed with right now is the Sweet Thai Delight and after this second cup, my sweet tooth and cravings were gone.

I pushed myself to go back to the gym so I could lift because I haven’t lifted since Thursday. 

I have been doing some research lately and I honestly feel like I am doing way too low of weights for my muscles.  Like many other females, I have a slight fear of increasing weights because I am already pretty muscular and I don’t want to get huge.  Well, that is good and fine, but I am wasting my time by lifting at only 30% of my max, I don’t care how many reps or sets I do.  So I am doing a new little experiment.  I have been in the low weighs high reps crowd for awhile and I really think I am wasting my time.  So I upped myself to 80% of my max and pushed for 6-8reps a set with 3 sets.  I felt like She-ra (yes, the Princess of POWER!) while I was lifting.  I will give this a few weeks and we will see where I am. 

Workout #2
Upper Body

Bench Press with two 20lb weights
Shoulder Press with two 20lb weights
Bicep Curls with two 17.5lb weights
Skull Crushers with two 17.5lb weights
Seated rows with one 17.5lb weight and one 15lb weight (my left shoulder is noticable weaker…weird!!)
Tricep dips on the machine (weight set to 50)
Bicep curls on the machine (weight set to 60)
Real pushups on the bosu (2 sets of 10)

Lower Body (still working to get my leg strength back)

Dead Lifts with two 20lb weights
Leg Press on the machine (150lbs)
Frontal Lunges onto the Bosu with two 10lb weights
Side lunges with two 10lb weights
Squats with two 10lb weights
Squats on the Kenesis cable machine, both set to 5
Squats on the machine, weight set to 50lbs
Calf Raises–no weight.

After that workout I was hungry on the drive home, so I had half a kashi roll bar–chocolate turtle.  I have noticed that all these flavors kind of taste the same.  I haven’t decided how I feel about these.  I like the chewiness but it is almost tough to bite through sometimes.  I think I would like a slightly creamier texture in the middle.  And maybe for a significant difference in the flavors.

Got home and sat around for a little while until I was motivated to start dinner.  I opened the fridge to see what to make–I knew I should use the salmon I bought on Sunday.  I gave Justin three options–salmon wraps, salmon with a salsa and salad, or salmon with corn on the cob and sauteed veggies.   He went with the salsa and salad option.

Here is what I ended up doing.

Dinner
The Tripe S

I cut up 2 small red skin potatoes into small chips and sprayed them lightly with oil, sprinkled on salt, pepper and old bay.  I put them in the oven on a cooking stone cookie sheet (I love you pampered chef cooking stones!) at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, turn once or twice.  I served these alone.  (and I some how, surprisingly, didn’t put ketchup all over them.)

Salsa
I took the corn off half a ear of corn (the other half was looking a little iffy) and put it into a cooking stone baker that I have and put that into the oven too.  Then I chopped up 1/2 a cucumber, 1/4 of a carrot, 7 grape tomatoes, 5 cherries and half an avocado and mixed them all together with a little vinegar, a drizzle of honey and some oregano.  I served this under the salmon.

Salad
For the dressing, I took balsamic vinegar and mixed it with about a splash of soybean oil.  I added in 1tsp of Dijon mustard, 1/2tsp of horseradish, 1T of fresh parsley, 1T of fresh basil, and 1/2tsp of brown sugar.  I served this on top of a bed of arugula with 1/2T of blue cheese crumbled on top.

Salmon
I had a 12 ounces of salmon with the skin on it.  I coated the flesh side with salt, pepper, red pepper and about 1tsp of honey.  I heated up a non-stick pan VERY hot and placed the fillet on, skin side down, and cooked for 5 minutes.  Then I turned it over and cooked for 5 more minutes.

I served everything with toasted focaccia bread.

My plate has about 5 ounces of salmon, 1 red skin potato, 1 cup of arugula with 1/2T of blue cheese and 1T of dressing, almost 1 cup of salsa and half a slice of focaccia.

Everything turned out really really well, especially the salmon.  I love well cooked, moist fish!!

I am exhausted but there are definitely some chores around the house that need to get done, so I am aiming to stay motivated.  This means there may be an evening snack some time in my future.

Have a lovely (and oh yes, still humid!) evening!

Well Rested

I was in bed around 10PM last night and that helped a lot.  I did wake up at 1:30 and was ready to get up for the day.  I think my body was assuming I was just taking a nap.  Luckily I fell back asleep pretty quickly.

Last night I ate half a cupcake (without frosting) and 1/4 cup of light soy milk.

Then I had the other half of the cupcake and another 1/4 cup of soy milk.  I didn’t really feel the need to take another photo.

When I woke up this morning I was annoyed with myself.  I just didn’t really understand why I had the other half of the cupcake/milk.  Yes, I know it probably isn’t a huge deal, but I know I didn’t need it.  I am sure other people get frustrated with themselves.  I think the problem is that I justify it to myself by deciding I am still hungry or something, when all it really is is lack of self control.  Since Thursday I have eaten things that I don’t usually eat and quantities that I know were excessive.  Time to forgive myself for that and move forward and make the right decisions.  I just think the problem is, what are the right decisions?  At the time, (for the most part), I think I am making the right decision, but hind sight tells me that I over did it.  I guess live and learn.

On to today.

Breakfast

I mixed things up a bit this morning and had half a peach in my oats instead of blueberries.  Shocking, I know!!  I had 1/2 cup of oats, 2 egg whites, 1/2 cup of water and half a peach.  I cooked this at 40% for 4 1/2 minutes.  I missed my liquid egg whites.  I just don’t like the consistency of egg whites that I have cracked with the oats.  Gets almost foamy.

To this I added 1T of flax seed, a splash of soy milk (probably about 1/8-1/4 of a cup), and about 2T of no-sugar added Swiss Muesli.

All stirred up:

Hehe–looks about the same!

Okay, time to buckle down at work.  I have quite a few ‘busy’ task that I really need to get taken care of that I have been avoiding (both procrastination and because I had other more pressing issues).

AM Snack

Same as yesterday, Kefir and cherries.

And for your viewing enjoyment: