Recipe: Veggie Enchiladas

I think I'm going to try this one on Thursday. I think I'm going to sub whole wheat tortillas for the corn ones, and the recipe doesn't say low-fat cheese, so I think I might sub 2% cheese. I also might put in half ground turkey or chicken for half of the spinach (I know, I know, but that's a lot of spinach).

Veggie Enchiladas- makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 2 packages (10 oz. each) frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• 1 ½ cups sliced mushrooms
• 1 can (15 oz.) pinto beans, rinsed and drained
• 3 tsp. chili power, divided
• ¼ tsp. red pepper flakes
• 1 can (8oz.) low sodium tomato sauce
• 2 Tbsp. water
• ½ tsp. hot pepper sauce
• 8 (8-inch) corn tortillas
• 1 cup (4oz.) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• dash of salt

Directions:

1.In a large skillet combine spinach, mushrooms, beans, 2 tsp. chili powder and red pepper flakes over medium heat.

2. Cook 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove from heat.

3. Combine tomato sauce, water, remaining 1 tsp. Chili powder and pepper sauce in a pie pan. Stir.

4. Dip tortillas into tomato sauce mixture and stack on wax paper.

5. Divide spinach filling into 8 portions. Spoon onto centers of tortillas.

6. Roll up and place tortillas in microwavable dish.

7. Spread tomato mixture over enchiladas.

8. Cover dish with vented plastic wrap. Microwave at medium for about 10 minutes.

9. Sprinkle with cheese. Microwave at Medium for about 1 minute or until cheese is melted.

Nutrition per Serving: Calories 385, Total Fat 11g, Cholesterol 25mg, Sodium 741mg, Carbohydrates 55g, Dietary Fiber 2g, Protein 22g.

What Have I Been Doing?

Not too much. My evening job hours changed, and I'm working a lot more...therefore I'm working out a lot less. :( I've also been dealing with some family-related stress that made my diet take a nose-dive straight into the bottom of the sugar bowl. So this is kind of the relapse of the relapse. Or something.

As for my workout and diet log... well, I seem to be working out about 3 to 4 days a week, and eating protein for breakfast (and loads of sugar and calories for the rest of the day). So I'm not quite back at square one, but close enough for disco. Guess this means I'm not going to lose 5 lbs before Thanksgiving. Oh well. The more I tell myself it's not about losing weight, the more weight I don't lose. I think maybe I should just be honest.

Hell yeah, I want to lose 10, uh, 15, uh, 20 pounds!! I want to prance around in my skinny jeans again, and put away the fat clothes. I'd settle for pulling out the medium sized clothes. And yes, I have three wardrobes. And two of them seem to last a damn long time, because they've been in storage for over a year now. My fiancee is skinny. Even my dog is skinny. I want to be a matching set. Ok, I feel better now.

On the good side, I've got new pictures of my puppy. He's about 10 1/2 months old now.

Just Logging In

Slowly but surely, I'm getting back on track. I bumped my eating plan all the way back to Step 1 (protein with breakfast), and am working on a good workout schedule.

Sat: Workout- none, Eating- protein w/breakfast, but lots of calories and sugar.

Sun: Workout- none, Eating- same as Sat.

Mon: Workout- Ch/Ba from the 4 Day Split. 30 min walking dog. Eating- Same as Sun.

Tues: Workout- Bootcamp/Bi/Tri from the 4 Day Split. I actually threw up from all of that up and down movement (a first for me!). I'd say that it was because I was working so hard, but I was doing some serious modifications, and watching my heart rate during Bootcamp. Eating- a little better.

The next week is going to be tough to get my workouts in...I'm pulling extra hours at my part time job to cover for a co-worker.

Sigh. Shake Head. Now Listen to the Sinus Saga

Other than a couple of walks with the dog, I haven't exercised at all this week or part of last week. And the eating, well, it's been horrible. Normally I'd be all disappointed in myself, etc (well, just see my last post!), but here's the deal.

I'm sick. On Monday night I didn't get any sleep because every time I went to lie down, I had stabbing pains in my ear, my jaw, and my teeth. Tuesday I made an appointment with the doctor (since it started as an earache) for Wednesday. Tuesday night I didn't get any sleep, because now, in addition to lying down, I also had pains when sitting down. For what it's worth, I did do a lot of laundry, and I have a clean kitchen. Wednesday morning I cancelled my doctor's appointment and went to the dentist instead. And guess what.

It wasn't a tooth problem. Yippee...no root canal for me. So then I had to make another doctor appointment. Apparently, it's an incredibly packed sinus infection. I can't believe sinus stuff can hurt so much. So I'm on antibiotics and Mucinex, but I'm still in a lot of pain. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being it hurts so much I want to throw up, then cut out one half of my face so it doesn't hurt any more, I was at an 8/9, and now I'm at a bearable (but not happy) 5 with spikes into 6 and 7. And I've gotten about 4 hours of sleep, so I'm sounding kind of lucid again.

But I think my fall from workout/eating well grace since last Wed (or was it Thursday?) has been because I've been having some sinus issues that have been getting progressively worse. So it's time to regroup. Again. Sigh. Shake head. At least it wasn't a root canal.

Uh oh

I've been bad. Very bad. Baaaaaaaaaaaad. I've been doing so well with my sugar reduction plan, but the past two days have been getting progressively worse. And today was absolutely horrible. I think my teeth are starting to ache from all the sugar I've had. The worst part is that my calories have been within range, so that means that 30-60% of my daily intake has been sugar. I don't even want to write this. Ugh. I guess the good news is that I am not craving anything sugar. I'm kind of grossed out by how much I ate, and how I feel right now (physically and emotionally). So I'm ready to get back on track, but I have a feeling I'm going to be a very cranky person for the next couple of days.

Okay. I'm going to move on, and mend my high fructose corn syrup ways. I promise.

Log 10/24

Tuesday's workout:

• 50 min walk (lunchtime)...this one was especially nice. The sun was shining, and I wasn't staring at the minutes on my watch.
  
• 30 minutes weights- I was short on time last night, so I put in Coffey's new Cardio/Sculpt, and just did the sculpt and only did one round for everything, not two. Then abs. I'm feeling a little sore today, so I think it did it's job.

Tuesday's food: Really good. Calories were on the low range, I got lots of veggies in, and my sugar was 98.1 grams, the lowest so far.

All in all, it was a good day.

Beans and Rice Report and Log

Sunday workout: none. I was supposed to start my new Cathe rotation, but by the time I got home from work and made my dinners for the week, I was exhausted. Drop down drag out tired. So I did nothing.

Sunday eating: fair. I had relatively few calories, even for not working out, but a lot of sugar (134.2 grams).

Monday workout: none. It was an effort to even move. Tired, achy, bloated, whiny...uh oh. It's that time of the month again. I'm bummed that my new Cathe rotation has gone all to hell.

Monday food: fair. Actually, about the same as Sunday. Low calories, high sugar (137.2 grams).

But today is a new day. I have already walked, and I will do some weight work tonight, even if it isn't from my new Cathe videos. Yesterday I received my new Coffey videos in the mail, so I might pop one of those in.

I've noticed that since I've started restricting sugar that I haven't had any major break-outs. I usually only get them once a month, but they are really bad when I do get them.

A note on the Beans and Rice Recipe. I made it on Sunday, and it's nice. It's a little bland (but, hey, it's beans and rice), but it tastes brighter than my other recipe. It looks really festive, too. I love the red bell pepper. So this one is a winner and goes into my recipe book.

Recipe: Easy Protein Waffles

In an effort to lower my sugar intake, I’ve been making protein waffles for breakfast for a few weeks now. These are super easy to make. I don’t eat them every day, but at least 2-3 days a week. I make them on the weekends and freeze them (they keep for up to 3 weeks frozen), then nuke them in the microwave for a minute. I like to measure out the syrup in a cute little fondue bowl (I knew I’d find a use for all my fondue crap one day). I use 1/4 cup of light syrup…only 100 calories, but it still has a ton of sugar, and dunk the waffle on my drive to work.

I’ve just tweaked this recipe to substitute ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce for ¼ cup vegetable oil. Lower in fat, and I think it makes the waffles even fluffier, if possible. Someday in the next few months, I'm going to start making these from scratch, in an effort to make a healthier waffle. I'm also looking for a topping with less sugar (or high-fructose corn syrup).




Easy Protein Waffles


Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups waffle mix (I use Hungry Jack Extra Light and Fluffy Pancake and Waffle Mix)


• 1 egg


• 2 level scoops of protein powder (I use chocolate protein powder because, well, that's all I have)


• 1 1/4 cups water


• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
  

Directions:
Mix all ingredients together (sometimes I use a hand mixer, if it's too lumpy). Spray waffle iron with Pam, then pour part of the batter into the hot waffle iron. Close and cook for 2-4 minutes (depending on the waffle iron and how well done you like your waffles). Repeat until all the mix is gone. Makes about 4 and 1/2 waffles, unless you pour heavy, then it makes 4.

Nutrition Information:
193 calories; 3.2 g fat; 49 mg cholesterol; 651 mg sodium; 31.7 g carbohydrates; .7 g fiber; 6.1 g sugar; 9.8 g protein; 18% calcium; 11% iron.

I've Got New Videos

First off, the log

Friday workout: 35 minutes of step (LowMax, no blasts)

Friday food: very good. Under 100 g of sugar for the first time. Calories were also good. Having a medium breakfast, a large lunch and a smallish dinner seems to work pretty good for me.

Saturday workout: nothing

Saturday food: good until the fiance and I went out for dinner. My actual order of grilled chicken and shrimp was fairly healthy, but I chowed on the tortilla chips. Calories were on my high end, especially considering that I didn't work out.

Ok, now for the good stuff. I got my videos on Friday, and I've been previewing and working on making up weight sheets, and I start my new Cathe rotation today. It is going to look something like this:

Sunday: Disc A, Workout 1 High Intensity Step plus Ch/Ba weights
Monday: Disc A, Workout 2 Low Intensity Step plus Shoulders/Calves/Core weights
Tues: Disc B, Workout 4 Bootcamp Cardio plus Bis and Tris weights
Wed: Disc B, Workout 3 Cardio Kickbox plus Legs and Core weights
Thurs: Recovery day- walk, Budokon Beginning workout, yoga video etc.
Fri: Workout 1 HIS
Sat: Workout 2 LIS
Sun: Workout 4 BCC
Mon: Workout 3 CKB

and so forth. Thursday will almost always be a recovery day for me. I might vary up the cardio, especially with two step days in a row, but I will keep to the weight schedule.

I will probably have to modify the cardio quite a bit at first, and I KNOW I won't be at the weight levels that Cathe is. I'm not worried about it, though. It just means that I have room to improve.

Video Review: UML (Upper Middle Lower)

P90 Masters UML (Upper Middle Lower)
Tony Horton

Note: I wrote this review in Feb of 2006, and posted it to the videofitness.com website.

Overview: This workout is part of the Power 90 Master’s series, a set of videos that is supposed to bridge the gap between the original Power 90 videos and the P90X series. It runs about 40 minutes and all of the exercises are bodyweight, making this video ideal for people who travel, or don’t like to use equipment.

About Myself: I am an advanced exerciser with weight work, intermediate to advanced in cardio, and a solid intermediate in yoga. I alternate between the gym and working out at home.

The Workout:UML has two background exercisers, Veronica, who modifies, and Bobby, who does the most advanced version. The instructor, Tony Horton, does some of the exercises, but will periodically stop and check the backgrounders’ form. The set is bright, a marbled turquoise blue with opaque windows. This sounds overly bright, but the effect was cheerful, and not overpowering. As with all of the 90 Series videos, a bar runs across the bottom of the screen to tell you how much time has elapsed and how much longer you have to go. Every once in a while a picture of Tony pops up from the bar to give silent, word-bubble tips. This was kind of disturbing when previewing, but I didn’t notice when I was actually doing the workout. The sound (both the music and instructor’s voice) on the video is soft. I had to turn the TV volume way up. The music is forgettable—a soft rock with no vocals. There are options for music and cues to be louder, but I will probably end up doing the video with cues only and my own music.

The warm-up is a typical Tony Horton warm-up: jogging, lateral runs, lunges and then stretching, both static and semi-ballistic. It clocked in at 7:23. The exercise routine consists of an upper body exercise (push ups), an abdominal exercise, and a lower body exercise. At the beginning of the workout, after every three exercises there is a 15 second break, but by the end Horton just pushes through without stopping. The upper body exercises are timed, geared towards maximum reps, while the core and lower body are usually focused between 20 and 30 reps. This is followed by a 4 minute cool down and stretch.

Exercise Breakdown:

Warm up Wide Leg Switch Hand Push up 50 sec

Wide Leg Crunchy Frog 30 rep

Sumo Walk 30 rep

break

Plyo push up 60 sec

Heavenly Twist 30 rep

Warrior Lunges 20 rep

break

Downward Sphinx Push up 70 seconds

Fifer Scissor Twist 30 reps

Spin Squat 20 reps

no break

Pike Press 42 sec

Banana Boat 30 sec

Two Point Back Kicks 20 sec

no break

Negative Push ups 120 sec

Up and Overs 30 reps

Run Stance Squat Walk 30 reps

no break

Plank to Side Arm Balance 60 sec

Ish Gate 30 reps

High and Low Twist and Pivot 15 reps each side

Cool Down

Pros:

FLOW: I know that people will voice concerns about jumping up and down, getting the heart rate up and then hitting the floor, but I thought the workout flowed pretty well. The movement from push ups to abs felt pretty natural, and by the time the abs were over, I was ready to stand up. My heart rate stayed within a 20 point range.

SHORT but TOUGH: This really fills a gap in my collection. I needed a full body advanced weight workout that was short. If you used it as an add-on to cardio and skipped the warm-up and cool-down, this workout could be done in 30 minutes.

NO WEIGHTS: As I mentioned before, perfect for travel.

Cons:

UNEVEN: I found the push ups and the core work to be hard, but thought the leg work was lacking. However, because the Power 90 Master’s Series has a video that focuses exclusively on legs (PlyoLegs), I think that this was intentional within the series.

SOUND: It was too low. Every time I do this video, I forget to turn the sound back down after I’m done, and then end up blasting my ears off with the next video I put in.

TONY: He was so goofy and over the top. At first, it’s cute but he wears out his welcome quickly. Luckily, in the cues only option you don’t have to hear all his silliness.

Final Thoughts: I don’t have Power 90, but I do have P90X. Because of the length, I don’t think this video is as hard as a P90X video, but the upper body and core exercises are pretty challenging. As I said before, the leg work feels light, but it is easy to substitute harder leg exercises. Overall, I am pleased with this purchase, and I will get a lot of use out of this video. A-
Instructor comments: Tony is a goof. Sometimes he is funny and cute, and other times you want to hit him in the face with a brick.

Checking In

Wednesday workout:
Walk- 45 min (lunch...and it rained)
Weights- 68 min: The same weights as usual, Cathe's Cardio and Weights Compound and Heavy Wts premix

Bento's 10 min Solution legs and stretch

Wednesday's eating: pretty good. Only 105 g sugar, the lowest total yet. Calories were good also.

Thursday workout: nothing. zilch, zip, nada. Hey, it's my designated recovery day. And it's been raining all day. Actually, I wanted to do the Budokon Beginning workout again. It's perfect for a recovery day- under 30 minutes, yoga and light cardio, but I just didn't get to it.

Thursday's eating: Oh, I've been bad. Ok, not that bad overall, but even though the calories were within my range, I would have liked to see them lower, considering that I didn't work out at all today. But my sugars! They are at 151.8 g, which is pretty high. I actually started out pretty good. I don't have too much that is a straight sugar snack in my house anymore, but at my second job, between the twizzlers and the caramel corn...look out!

My new Cathes are almost here! I will have to go home during lunch tomorrow to do some previewing. I've worked up a new rotation--a four-day split, imagine that. It should start this Sunday.

Same Old, Same Old

Food: Yesterday's eating was very good...in my calorie range, although on the high side, and less sugar intake than Monday. I hate to admit it, but the food diary thing really works. It's just that I get bored with it so quickly. And when I actually eat something that I don't know the calorie count for it drives me crazy. But it works.

Exercise: Exercise was good too.
Walk- 40 min (lunchtime)
Step- 40 min of Cathe's StepBlast.
I think I actually only did about 35 minutes of StepBlast. The other 5, I had the DVD on pause while gasping for breath. It makes me sad that I can't make it all the way through the step combos on this one. It will get better, though.

Another exercise note...my Cathe DVDs are being shipping. Right now they are in transit from Horsham, PA to, well, probably Ohio and then on to Lenexa, KS where they can be distributed to me. UPS Tracking is a dangerous thing, sometimes.

Recipe: Beans & Rice

I found this recipe and I think it will taste better than my current recipe (which is not bad, but very bland). Probably won't try it tonight, but I think I put red pepper and cider vinegar on the shopping list for next week. Also, I will probably use my slow-cooking enriched white rice for the brown rice. Why? It actually has the same amount of fiber and more nutrients than the brown rice that is sold commercially. I'm not ready to go shopping at Whole Foods or where ever just for rice. Once I have about 4 or 5 organic things that I decide I have to have and am sick of paying through the nose for, then we'll talk.


Beans & Rice
Total time to prepare : 15 min
Servings: 4


Ingredients

• 1 cup instant brown rice


• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil


• 1 medium onion, chopped (1 cup)


• 1 medium red bell pepper, diced (2 cups)


• 2 cloves garlic, minced


• 1 19-oz can black beans, or dark red kidney beans, rinsed


• 1/4 cup reduced-sodium chicken or vegetable broth


• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar


• 1/4 teaspoon hot sauce


• 1/8 teaspoon pepper


• 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
  

Directions:
Cook rice. Meanwhile, heat oil in large skillet over med-high heat. Add onion, cook for 2 min, stirring often. Add bell pepper and garlic, cook until softened (2-3 minutes) stirring often. Add beans, broth, vinegar, hot sauce and pepper. Cook until heated through, 1-2 minutes. Add the hot rice and cilantro; mix well.

Nutrition Information per serving:

Calories 252; Carbohydrates 42g; Dietary Fiber 10g; Fat 4g (Monounsaturated Fat 2g); Potassium 189mg; Sodium 429 mg.

The Dreaded Food Diary

Doesn't this picture of Amy Bento look great? I thinking about getting a poster of it to put up in my workout area. She looks strong.

Yesterday I started my food log again. I'm a member of myfooddiary.com, but I needed a notepad that I can carry around with me all day. Plus, I wanted to move on to Step 2 of breaking my sugar addiction, and that includes documenting how I feel physically and emotionally along with what I ate. I couldn't find a food diary that worked with what I'm trying to do, so I ended up making my own. It's 7.25 x 5 inch book comb bound on the top. I made all of the sheets for the month, and then put in a weekly diet tracker to add up the totals for the week. It's pretty sweet, but I'm already thinking of changes I can make for next month. Usually, I stick with these for about a week and then it drives me crazy so I quit. This one is pretty low maintenance, though, so hopefully I will at least be able to stick with it until the end of the month.

Yesterday's workout:

Walk- 40 minutes (lunchtime)
Weights- Cathe's Cardio & Weights, Cpd & Heavy weights premix, plus combo one of the step (about 5-7 min)
Bento's 10 Min Solution Butt Blaster (did I mention how much I hate that title), and Stretch.

I upped the weights on the heavy weights on everything but the chest work, but still modified the ab work, although not as much.

And because of the food log, my eating was really good. A calorie count within my target range (which is 1600-1900 cal, depending on amount of exercise). The only downside was that it was a little too much sugar, which I totally blame on the brownie that somehow forced its way down my throat. Until now, the sugar intake has been the best thing about my diet. I slowly weaned myself down to one 20 oz Pepsi a day, and this week I've cut myself down to 12 oz of Pepsi. I'll probably stay here for a while. I think I was at the 20 oz for about three or four weeks. The ultimate goal is to cut it out completely, but since it's my biggest and longest addiction, I'm trying to go slow.

My Other Preorders

October is a great month! Here are some of the other videos I pre-ordered that will probably be at my door this month. Here's to giving the UPS guy a workout too :)

Trace Stahle- She has two new ones that will possibly ship this week. I only ordered the Parts Series, which has Strictly Upper Body (50 min), Glute Camp (50 min) , and Total Body with Pilates/Yoga (30 min). I'm excited about using the Bosu, and I think that at the pre-sale price of $15.95 plus free shipping (because I'm a previous customer) this is a great deal, especially since the premixes look good too.

Tracey is one of those instructors that I like, but I either don't like her workouts, or they don't fit into my rotations. The parts sound pretty versatile, though. Her other video is High Intensity Step Mix 2. I have HISM1 and I never do it, so I thought I would save myself some money.

Amy Bento- Her three new DVDs are: Slow-Mo Strength Challenge, Advanced Step Challenge 2, and Hi-Lo Dome Challenge. The pre-sale price per DVD is $14.95 plus s/h. I haven't pre-ordered any of these yet, because she hasn't put up any clips on her website, although there have been many, many pictures and the set looks great.

I'm not interested in ASC2 because, like with Tracey, I have ASC1 and I never use it. Guess I'm picky about my step. The Slow-Mo looks interesting...a three day split with heavy weights at a slower tempo. Split one- legs, split two- back and shoulders, split three- chest, bis and tris. Core work is separate. Each workout is 35-40 minutes with warm-up and cool-down. And more premixes than you can shake a body bar at. The downside is that Amy uses a ton of equipment. Compared to her last series, the equipment list looks small, but you would still need: Step w/ three risers on each side (or a weight bench), plate-loaded bar, heavy dumbbells, stability ball (or Bosu), band/tubing, yoga mat, towels or paper plates, and a chair. The Hi/lo Dome Challenge is a 60 min hi/lo workout and a 30 min weight workout using the Bosu. I'm not interested in the hi/lo, because I don't really like hi/lo unless it's sports style plyometrics, but the weight workout looks interesting. Her pre-sale ends in about 10 days, so I wish she had clips up.

Kelly Coffey- Her two are going to ship on Wednesday. Her oh-so-imaginative titles are: Cardio Kick and Cardio Sculpt. Oh well. I pre-ordered both for around $30 plus s/h. Her premixes aren't great, but they are good. Cardio Kick is 60 minutes of step-boxing, plus 12 minutes for abs and cool down. It sounds kind of dumb, but it's actually fun. Cardio Sculpt is mostly circuit training with cardio blasts, about 70 minutes long. The thing with Kelly is that you work hard, but there's no dread factor. I'm not terribly fond of her background exercisers (their hair is straight from the eighties, and they always have goofy "goonies" looks on their faces...it's distracting), but I usually focus on Kelly anyway.

The New Cathes are Coming!

Cathe's new workouts, a 4-Day Split, should be shipping on Monday! I pre-ordered, so if all goes well, I should be getting them either by the end of this week or the beginning of the next. I'm pretty excited about this series. There are 4 complete workouts on 2 DVDs. Each workout is approximately 60 minutes and has a separate cardio segment followed by a heavy weight training routine.

Disc A:

Workout #1 High Intensity Step Aerobics plus weights Chest/Back
Workout #2 Low Impact Step plus weights Shoulders and Core

Disc B:

Workout # 3 Cardio Kickbox plus weights Legs and Core
Workout # 4 Boot Camp Cardio plus weights Biceps/Triceps

AND there's going to be, like, a hundred premixes, or something ridiculous. I will be working up a rotation with these and will start just as soon as I get them in my greedy little hands.

Why are Weekends So Hard?

First off, the workout log:

Thursday, 10/11: 45 min walk
30 min of interval step (Cathe's IMAX 2)
Friday, 10/12: nothing
Saturday, 10/13: nothing
Sunday, 10/14: nothing

Arrrgh. It is so hard to keep up my workout schedule on the weekends. I think I have so much time, and then something always comes up. This weekend it was looking after my 3 year old nephew while my sister was out of town. He's a little cutie, and I only babysat from after work on Fri. to Sat. evening, but it just threw me totally out of whack. When I dropped him off on Sat. and came back home, I was just too tired to do the workout I wanted to do. So instead of doing something easier, didn't do anything.

Then today. I knew I only had until 5pm to get my workout done. I had to be at work at my 2nd job at 5:30 until midnight. But after grocery shopping, cooking and some minimal cleaning, that was it. I just wanted to plant my ass on the sofa and watch some television. At least I got my meals cooked for the week. But I'm still angry that I took 3 days off from working out. One day is great! Two days are good, as long as they aren't consecutive. But three days in a row? It's really hard to get back into a workout routine after three days off, believe me.

Now, about the eating. It was...okay. Getting better, I guess. I got a free 30 day supply of this stuff called Satiatrim. You're supposed to drink it before meals, and it will help you feel full etc. It doesn't have a lot of sugar (and it was free), so I decided to give it a try. Since my problem times are afternoons and evenings, I decided to just drink it in the afternoons and evenings to make it stretch. I tried the vanilla on Friday. It tastes a little bit like Slimfast, but better. There is a super chalky residue aftertaste, so I ended up drinking about 20 ounces of water with it. I had it with lunch (about 2pm) and I felt extremely full afterwards. I didn't have any on Saturday. Today, I tried the berry-flavored kind. It was okay--not as good as the vanilla--and with the same residue taste. This time I drank it in the afternoon when I was rummaging for snacks. It killed any desire for snacks, but it did not give me that full feeling. I will be giving a running commentary on this later.

Log and Still More on the Cookies

Here's the workout log for yesterday:

Cathe's Cardio and Weights- Compound and Heavy Wts premix
Cathe's Low Impact Step- just the warm-up
Bento's 10 Minute Solution Trouble Zones!- Butt and Thigh Blaster; Stretch

Today is supposed to be a recovery-type day, but I'm feeling pretty good, and since I had two days off on the weekend, I think I'm going to do some extra step.

Note on the Cpd and Heavy Wts premix: I did all of the pyramid push up side raise thingies without modifications! Yay. Road back to fitness, I'm travellin' on. I am still modifying some of the ab work, especially those walking soldier planks at the very end. Ugh.

The whole eating thing was fair...I had a few too many of those oatmeal cookies. I've decided that they're not too bad, I just had to get over the fact that they didn't have the same taste or texture as oatmeal cookies. Maybe they should be called bean cookies, or something. I think I'll make another batch, this time with the cinnamon oatmeal.

P90X Masters Series

First there was Power 90. Then Power Half Hour. (Both of which I don't have). Then there was P90X, possibly the best home exercise system for advanced exercisers around. And of course, P90 Masters, to bridge the gap between Power 90 and P90X. But now... now Tony and his gang are working on a P90X Master's series. It's supposed to come out sometime in January. Calloo Callay! Oh frabjous day!

Here are some clips:






Ok, I can't say much for their form on this one, but it does look fun! The music sounds like it's the same as P90x, a guitar-heavy rock that would be over-the-top in other videos, but is absolutely perfect for P90X (and Masters, I hope)




Oh, and this one has me wondering if I can afford an authentic BeachBody Pullup Bar. Never mind that I have my own pull-up bar setup at home.



In that last one, when Tony's yelling out "He's kipping a little!" He's talking about a kipping pull up. Kipping 101: Kipping pull ups can allow someone with very limited upper body strength or who is very heavy to perform many many pull ups since it is more based on rhythm and momentum than strength. A kipping pull up, done correctly, is more than just kicking your feet wildly and flopping around on your way up to the pull up bar. A correctly done kipping pull up is fluid and powerful.

While a kipping pullup is easier on your direct pulling muscles, it's much harder on your grip and it's much more cardiovascular. It's a full body movement where you generate power at your hips - a similar use of the legs and hips to a kettlebell swing or a barbell snatch - just the opposite direction. It looks like this:

And with that, I think I'm done with my Youtube orgy.

Oatmeal Cookie Report

Last night I made the oatmeal cookie/bean recipe, and, well...it didn't suck. But it wasn't great. The batter, though, was great. So great, in fact, that I ate part of the batter, and gave the cookies to a co-worker. So now I halved my supply of oatmeal, and now I just have to figure out what to do with the rest of it.

Other than the oatmeal cookie batter orgy, my eating was fair yesterday. My fault, I was running late and left half of my lunch on the counter, so all I had for lunch was celery and low-fat ranch dressing...and peanut m&ms. I was hungry after lunch, I was hungry when I got home. And I was cranky that the cookies didn't turn out as well as I wanted to. Sigh.

Workout: I walked 45 min at lunch time, and in the evening I tried out the Budokon workout (see below). I wanted to do something a little more intense, but that workout has been gathering dust for a couple of weeks now, so I guilted myself into doing it.

Video Review: Budokon: Beginning Practice

Overview: This video is titled Budokon: Beginning Practice, and is intended to introduce the principles of budokon: the combination of yoga, martial arts and meditation. It is ideal for people with little space, and requires no equipment (except for an optional yoga mat)

About Myself: I am a former advanced exerciser who took a whole year to slide all the way back to low intermediate, especially in cardio.

The Workout: First off, I had a beef with the fact that it's a Gaiam video...which of course means no ff or skipping past the commercial at the beginning. But, once you finally get to it, the menu has three options, the pose guide, the long workout (35 min) and the short workout (28 min). I did not look at the pose guide because I have some yoga and some martial arts experience (I'm sadly out of practice in both, however). The long and the short workout are THE SAME WORKOUT. It's just that the long workout has more instruction and a 4 minute introduction. Admittedly, it's nice to be able to condense your workout to under 30 min, but don't think that you are getting two separate workouts.

There are three people on set, with Cameron Shayne leading, and one person (the girl on the left) modifying. The set is a brick studio that is saved from being dingy by the nice light-colored wood floors. The music is not intrusive, but fairly blah.

Shayne does not mirror cue, which isn’t too bad in the yoga, but can be confusing in the martial arts part. I ended up just mirroring him anyway, because it’s really confusing to me when he turns right and I turn left.

The Yoga Part: The yoga was mostly sun salutationesque, with some warriors thrown in. Shayne tells you to watch the modifier if you are truly a beginner, but the camera does not show her too often.

The Kick/Punch Part: You do all of the exercises on one side, and then all of the exercises on the other. He started with the punches, and then moved to the kicks. I wore a heart rate monitor, but my heart rate never got very high, I think the highest was in the 130’s. He worked up a huge sweat, and was even panting a little. I have a feeling he put WAY more into it than I did J Oh, and Shayne’s form was beautiful to watch. If you want to know how to execute a great punch or a kick, watch this guy.

The Meditation Part: I’m not much of a meditation person, and this was a very short, standing practice, kind of like a cool down while standing in place.

The Instructor: Cameron Shayne is very calm, doesn’t chatter, and has great form. I really enjoy his instructing style.

So overall, this was a fun little workout, one that I would reach for when I need a half hour workout on my recovery days, but I am disappointed about the fact that I thought I was getting two half hour workouts, when I really was only getting one.

Oatmeal, oatmeal and more oatmeal

I knew that I hated oatmeal. I mean, it smells wonderful, especially the different varieties you can get, but blech. It has the texure of finely whipped wet cardboard...oh, and that's what it tastes like too. But in an effort to eat more protein at breakfast, I decided that peanut butter and oatmeal would be a wonderful thing. To make a long story short, I ended up feeding it to the dog (he loved it). And now, because I was absolutely certain that I would enjoy this horrible concoction, and because it was on sale, I have lots and lots of oatmeal.

Because I'm cheap, because I'm broke, I have to use up all of this freaking oatmeal. I decided that the only way I'm eating that nasty oatmeal is in cookie form, so I went online to look for a reasonably healthy oatmeal cookie recipe. I found this: http://extension.usu.edu/fsne/files/uploads/lessons/Heart%20Healthy%20Eating/Awesome%20Heart%20Healthy%20Oatmeal%20Cookies.pdf

It uses beans, instead of a lot of the butter. BEANS! But in the interests of healthy living, I'm going to try it. It's not like I'm going to eat the oatmeal anyway. So we're going to see what kind of potential combination oatmeal and beans can be. Stay tuned, kids.

Yesterday the eating was OK. A little calorie heavy, but all good food (with the exception of my 20 oz Pepsi). For my lunch workout I did the the upper body/compound weight premix of Cathe's Cardio & Weights, about 45 min with stretching. I don't feel like it gives me a very thorough leg workout, so in the evening I added one of those 10 Minute Solution videos, the Amy Bento one, and worked the legs with a band. Then I finished up with cardio, the first 30 or so minutes of Cathe's KickMax plus stretch.

I'm back

Ok, so it's been over a year since I've last posted. And all I've done is gain weight and lose fitness. Yuck. So I'm trying this again, with some of the same tools, and some new ones.

I recently read a book by Kathleen DesMaisons about sugar addiction (The Sugar Addict's Total Recovery Program), and have implemented Step 1--protein with breakfast every morning. I've noticed a huge difference in mood swings AND in cravings during the mid-morning. I've done this for about three weeks or so, so I think I'm ready to move onto the Step 2--Journaling. The journal is a little bit different, it's kind of a combo that lets you get in touch with your body, and your body's response to different foods. There are places for what you ate/drank, of course, but also how you feel physically and how you feel emotionally. I will start with that tommorrow.

Plus, here's a great picture of my dog. So cute! There will be more dog pictures to follow...I'm a tiny bit obsessed with the stinker. It makes me smile everytime I see it, and I made it my avitar over on the boards at http://www.videofitness.com .