Tag Archives: challenge

Blogging it all and Brussel Sprouts!

* Don’t miss the giveaway from earlier – open to everyone! *

Back to real early spring weather today.  Drizzly and cold!  Ah well, it was fun while it lasted.  I drove to the gym today for lifting.  Started with a 1 mile jog on the treadmill.  I cannot believe I haven’t run since last Tuesday!  Then the weights:

  • Chin ups: 2 sets of 2, and 1 set of almost 2!  Yay!
  • Barbell split squats:  3 sets of 8 (each leg) at 75#
  • Close grip lat pull downs:  3 sets of 10 at 60#
  • Push ups:  3 sets of 10
  • 1-leg dumbbell dead lift: 3 sets of 8 (each leg) with 15# DBs
  • Side raises:  3 sets of 8 with 10# DBs
  • Planks:  3 sets of 90 second holds
  • Triceps kickbacks: 3 sets of 10 with 12# DBs
  • Cable bicep curl:  3 sets of 8 at 40#
  • Horizontal woodchop: 3 sets of 8 (each side) at 40#

I had someone come over and ask me about the planks.  Unusual that I get interrupted during lifting or even talked to by the guys.  He asked me what the plank was and what muscles it worked.  Maybe he will give it a try 😀  See, they do notice you lifting and it isn’t always a bad thing.

Came home to banana custard multigrain cereal.  Funny, Andra mentioned in my giveaway post that she used Country Choice multigrain cereal, and here I had it for breakfast!  With dry almond butter.

This was the most lame batch of nut butter I have ever made and I think it was the result of blanching the almonds to get the skin off.  Never again.  Also note the 2 little chocolate chips on there.  John had gotten the chips down to put on his breakfast and gave me 2 to eat (I was salivating over them), so I put them on my oats to document I ate them :mrgreen:

Today I am showing every little bite that goes into my mouth, just to keep myself honest.

Mid morning snack:

1/2 scoop of vanilla PP with cinnamon mixed with a little water and topped with a chopped up medjool date.  This was surprisingly good.

Slow work day today.  I have been trying to get caught up on blog stuff and emails.  If you email me and have not gotten a response, please email again.  I try really hard to get to them all, but sometimes I wonder if they go to my spam box (or if my replies go to your spam boxes).  Also, is anyone getting emails when I reply to a comment question in that section?  I wonder if I have that figured out yet.

Lunch time:

Lame ‘bagel’ thin with tuna salad and lettuce.  Yes, the woman who said she was tired of tuna went and bought some more.  Veggies with lunch!

John made me a protein latte for a snack.

I am liking these, although I worry that I will want sweet lattes when I go out now.

I was really hungry for dinner.  10 minute cook time is always good for that.  More pork (surprise, surprise) with my brussels and strawberries.

For those that wonder about cooking the brussel sprouts, they are super easy.  The recipe is sort of based on Alton Brown’s recipe for brussels.  For each person, you will use 4 sprouts.  I just shred them with either a mandolin (please use the hand guard, knuckles are not a good addition to this dish) or a knife.  Melt 1 tsp of coconut oil (or any oil) in a small fry pan and add the brussels.  Add some salt and pepper and toss around.  I slap on a cover and give it a shake from time to time to make sure they don’t burn.  In tonight’s pan, I added a tbsp of slivered almonds, too (just living on the edge, folks, have to get my excitement somewhere).  It takes about 5 minutes to cook these.  Put on a plate and top with craisins!  Sweet and savory.

Also in the spirit of all that enters my mouth, I had 1/4 cup of rice that John cooked up.

Yummy, white jasmine rice that is oh-so-addictive for me.

Produce update:

F: 1 banana, 2 clementines, strawberries, 1 date

V: 1 serving of carrots, 1/2 serving of salad, 1 serving of brussel sprouts.

Tomorrow I am going to do a post on the anatomy of a meal and how I put them together.

Evening snack while writing this post is a ricotta/chocolate protein powder mix.

Doesn’t look all that appetizing, but good.  😀

Question:  Did you know Tuesday morning is free pastry day at Starbucks?

http://lovetoeathatetoexercise.blogspot.com/

Staying on track Monday.

Happy Monday everyone!  Or probably Tuesday by the time most of you read this 😀 Don’t forget to enter the cookbook giveaway!

Off to the gym this morning to workout.  It was really weird there today, as I overheard one of the new owners talking about pallbearers and funerals, and the other owner wasn’t there.  That got me thinking about Saturday and how the gym was not open in the morning.  I hope nothing happened, but it was pretty obvious something was wrong.

I did this:

  • Chinups:  2
  • Romanian barbell deadlift:  3 sets of 8 at 75 pounds

Alternating sets:

  • Barbell bench press:  3 sets of 8 at 55 pounds
  • Seated lat row:  3 sets of 8 at 55 pounds

Alternating sets:

  • Reverse lunges with 1 dumbell on shoulder: 3 sets at 20 pounds
  • Arnold press: 3 sets of 10 with 10 pound dumbbells
  • Plank:  3 sets with 90 second holds.

I was going to then walk on the treadmill, but then a woman came in crying and hugging the owner.  I felt so uncomfortable working out in this atmosphere and it felt disrespectful, so I decided to go home.  I checked in the paper, but didn’t see anything.  I don’t know them well enough to really ask much, you know?

I made some Cream of Wheat for breakfast:

brekkie1214

  • 35 grams of Cream of  Wheat
  • 1 ultraripe banana mashed
  • cinnamon
  • 1 tablespoon cashew butter
  • 1 tablespoon blackberry jam

Unpictured cafe au lait on the side…  So tasty.  This is a new bowl, too.  A local potter made it!  I love pottery. I burned my tongue on this, too, because I was so hungry.  I actually did not eat a snack preworkout today.

Thinking about finishing the year strong.  I know Christmas is in there, but there is no reason I can’t make an extra effort on the other days.  I am starting to get lazy. I set 2 mini goals for today.  One goal was to not snack except for my planned snack.  This is really hard for me as working at home I can go get a few chips or some nuts if I so choose at any time.  And I have gotten into the habit lately of munching.  No wonder I can’t get off the last 10 pounds!

My other goal was to have 2 vegetables at lunch and dinner today.  So – lunch was a tuna wrap with lettuce mix, served with a side of baby carrots.

lunch1214

And the most tart kiwi ever!  It was almost like a lemon 😯

I drank a lot of tea today to help keep me from snacking.  It worked pretty well.  I was ready for the planned snack of a latte!

latte1214

About an hour before dinner, I got really hungry and I told myself that I could have a clementine only.  No nuts or chocolate chips or the like.  So I had one.

I had another giant salad for dinner.  This used up the last of the lettuce, so there won’t be any salads for the rest of the week!

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Lots of protein on this salad.  About 3.5 oz of chicken and an ounce of feta.  And yummy pan sauteed broccoli.  Kermit would be proud of me today 😀

Ornament of the day:

PC110019

Another horn ornament!  This has a pretty stained glass appearance to it.  I have had this one for a long time and it is one of my favorites.

Question:  Will you challenge yourself to one thing tomorrow?

Hot 100 update

Quickie update:

hot100-small

Hot 100 update:

1. Duathlon.  DONE!!!
2. Limit the number of eggnog lattes this year to 2 or 3.   I have had 1 so far.  Doing good.
3. Keep a redline of weight in mind to not go over during the holidays.  I am 1 pound above redline, likely due to Chinese food, but annoying, none the less.
4. Complete the New Rules of Lifting for Women.  DONE!!!!

5. Enjoy time with family during the holidays.  Did shopping with my mom last weekend.  Planning Christmas dinner.


6.  Better organization of time to be productive.  Not bad.  I am trying to make a goal to clean for 15 minutes a day (by timer).

7.  Do some freelance writing.  Lame, lame.  No extra time

8.  Run at least 2 more official 5K races this year.  DONE!  Last race.

Overall not too bad on the goals.  Athletic goals have been awesome! My weight is bothering me, though.  I really have to tighten things up.  Little snacks of chocolate chips and crackers are what are doing me in.   I am doing pretty well with time management and working a little extra (for extra $$).  The writing has really gone by the wayside.  It’s hard enough to just do blog posts, let alone extra.

Will be back later with the daily recap!

Hot 100 Update

For Steve’s challenge!

hot100-small

My posted goals were as follows:

1. Duathlon in October.  6 days away OMG!!!
2. Limit the number of eggnog lattes this year to 2 or 3.  Not out yet, phew
3. Keep a redline of weight in mind to not go over during the holidays.  Doing okay with that.
4. Complete the New Rules of Lifting for Women.  Working on Stage 6
5. Enjoy time with family during the holidays.  Not enough here.

6.  Better organization of time to be productive. Need improvement here

7.  Do some freelance writing.  Done and in editing

8.  Run at least 2 more official 5K races this year.  Still need to do (although I have picked them out)

Livestrong day, bagels and challenges

LIVESTRONGDAY

LIVESTRONG Day is the Lance Armstrong Foundation’s 1-day initiative to raise awareness of cancer issues on a global level and in communities across the country.
You can wear something yellow, cook/eat something yellow, participate in any events in your area, or get a health check.

Today was my day for a Pap test.  15 minutes can save your life!  Don’t forget to schedule your mammograms and Pap tests as these 2 types of cancers have great survival rates when caught early.

Even though it is not an official bagel day, I wasn’t lifting, so asked John if he wanted to bike to breakfast.  It’s the start of my weekend, so what the heck?  We went on a chilly ride.  40 degrees!  It really is getting close to the time we will hang up the bikes 🙁

This is downtown for some reason.  Not sure what it is, but it’s cute!

jbear

And then there is that big straw bear… 😉

Had a wonderful warm mug of coffee when we got there

coffchron

Plus bagel deliciousness!

bagel

Look – it’s like the parting of the Red Sea in food form!

The rest of the day has been snacky and not the best of eating.  Sigh….

First check-in for Steve’s Hot 100 challenge!

hot100-small

My posted goals were as follows:

1. Duathlon in October.  Signed up and ready to go!
2. Limit the number of eggnog lattes this year to 2 or 3.  Not out yet, phew
3. Keep a redline of weight in mind to not go over during the holidays.  Doing okay with that.
4. Complete the New Rules of Lifting for Women.  Finished stage V
5. Enjoy time with family during the holidays.  Spent some this week!

I am adding a few new ones as well:

6.  Better organization of time to be productive.

7.  Do some freelance writing.

8.  Run at least 2 more official 5K races this year.

I am hoping the rain holds off for tomorrow.  We are supposed to go and check out the course for my duathlon, as the road is supposed to be marked now.

Have a great night everyone!

September Challenge drawing winner!

Thank you to everyone for participating in the challenge this month! It’s always fun to have partners to stay motivated.  I had 43 comments to pull from and Debby’s comment was chosen:

Dang, Lori! You had that great frozen yogurt, AND you lost .8 pounds! Maybe if I have some frozen yogurt today, I’ll lose more next week LOL! Anyways, today is my regular weigh in day, and I am happy enough with my .4 weight loss. Gotta keep at it though!

And hand-roasted coffee??? Could you dangle a bigger carrot in front of us?!

Debby – we’ll contact via email about shipping you the coffee! Congratulations!

Those of you participating in Steve’s Hot 100, I think today is a posting day as well. 😀

NROLW: YTWL video and no bagel??

Hello to my new visitors!  I was honored to be asked for an interview by Sahar for FatFighterTV and it was posted today.  I was given a Weight Loss WooHoo, which you can read about here. That was fun!

September challengers, don’t forget to do the final check in here!

Today was the last NROWL stage 5 workout:

  • Deadlift/bent over row:  4 x 4  at 75 pounds
  • Single leg partial squats:  4  x 4
  • Wide grip lat pulldown:   4 x 4 at 70 pounds
  • Back extension:  4 x 4 at 100 pounds
  • YTWL:  4 x 4 at 10 pounds
  • Crunches, reverse crunches, lateral flexion:  3 x 10
  • Prone cobra:  3 x 2 minute holds

Then it was breakfast time.  Long-time readers probably expect the usual Wednesday bagel, but not today!  Today is my mom’s birthday (Happy Bday MOM!!) and we took her and my father out to breakfast at the Silo Restaurant.

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There is plenty of opportunity to eat a lot of food there, but I decided to eat healthy instead with a bowl of oatmeal!

silooats

There was a choice of strawberries or blueberries, and you can see what I chose.  I also sprinkled with a bit of brown sugar.  It was quite good and filling.  Actually more oats than I normally eat.  I was hungry after my workout today.

Chilly day today, mid 40s.  We turned the furnace on today for the first time.  Pixie is just a heat magnet now. It’s very hard to work when she does this:
pixie
Yes, that is my current work spot.  How lucky am I that I can work in a rocking chair??

Here is my next video! Please forgive the set up and ending. I still need to figure out how to crop those off. I did it before with my triathlon videos, but forgot how I did it!  I’m no Stephen Spielberg.

Anyway – this is a move called YTWL.  Named that way because of the moves your arms make. You can feel free to sing YMCA when you do this if you want. 😀 If you try this, please start with no weights and build up. It is much harder than it looks. I am using 10 pound dumbbells and you can see how I struggle on the L part at the end. Also, some people point the weights horizontal on the T part. I do them parallel to the floor because I think it is easier on the rotator cuff (that’s just me).

We are off to my folk’s house tonight for cake, ice cream, and fruit – so wish me luck. My plan is just to have fruit and I have enlisted John’s help with that.

Question: Is there another NROLW move you would like to see me video?

Final September Challenge Check in!

Okay everyone!  How did you do on your personal challenges this month?

I did not hit mine to lose 4 pounds.  I lost 3 for the month.  I actually did hit 4 and a little more gone over the weekend, but Monday’s Indian food and resultant bloat caused a pop up on the scale.  C’est la vie!

So, I am going to make a list of all participants, and each time you checked in over the month will give you another entry into the drawing for some fresh roasted coffee!  Again, if you are chosen and don’t drink coffee (!!!!!), we’ll figure something else out.

Come back later to see another NROWL video!

Tupperware and giveaway roundup!

Tupperware party last night was fun.  Lots of pretty things:

tup

Tupperware is expensive, but it’s nice that there is a lifetime guarantee on it.  I decided on the cereal keeper.  When I am not snacking on cereal it actually lasts a long time and tends to get stale in the box, so this will be a good thing to have.

I did meet my arch nemesis at the party, though:

pbcups

One thing I just cannot control myself around.  Reese’s are like my kryptonite.  Quite a few ended up in my tummy……

Giveaways around the ‘net:

Zevia at Healthy Living

Febreeze Sport at Fatfighter TV

Zensha workout wear at Team Giles

On a challenge note: Steve over at Log My Loss is doing a end of the year challenge that starts today!  If you want to end the year with a bang, view this post.   This part of the year starts the time when we all forget to take care of ourselves.  There is a ton of food, lots of activities, sometimes too much stress.  With all of that, sometimes we let ourselves slide to the background.  Join the 100 day challenge and make it the best 100 days of the year!

Challenge Check In!

He fellow personal challengers! Hope the month is going well for you. We are now in the home stretch!
The scale is continuing to creep downward for me, another pound so that is about 2.8 for the month so far! I am pretty excited about that 😀

Don’t forget to check in – anyone who wants coffee personally roasted! Each time you check in with the challenge, you get an extra entry for the drawing. It doesn’t matter if you are doing awesome or struggling with whatever your challenge is, just be accountable.

Talk to you later!