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Christmas pudge - new 30 Day challenge

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I hope you all had a great Christmas and if you don't celebrate I hope you still had a great time with family and friends. I've been very indulgent this week and I don't regret a thing although I do feel kinda 'bleh' and squishy. Today is a new day and I haven't worked out since Sunday so I'm starting a new 30 day challenge from Melissa Bender. Here is the link to her blog page that has the links for each day. I'm abandoning (yet another program) the newest Bodyrock challenge because I honestly don't have time to fit in an hour every day during the week and I was getting just as good of a workout doing the 12 minute HIITs with a Beachbody video. So my goal is to do at least the video for the day from Melissa's page and time permitting I'm going to add in a Turbo Fire/Jam or Focus T25, or evening maybe running or biking if I'm feeling ambitious. I did grab some leftovers last night and I plan on eating them tonight but my other

Two rice chicken noodle soup

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Today I made some chicken noodle soup. My fridge is pretty bare but I had the essentials. I didn't have any chicken thawed so this doesn't have any meat in it. Ingredients: 1/3 c. chopped onion 1 garlic clove 3 stalks celery 1 carrot chicken stock/bouillon 3/4 c. cooked or partially cooked wild rice 1/2 c. brown rice noodles sage, basil, rosemary, thyme, oregano, bay leaf Chop the veggies. I chopped them fairly small so they would take less time to cook. On medium heat put some oil in the pot and throw in the onions. Give them a few minutes before adding the carrots and garlic. I had put the brown rice in a mug with some water in the microwave for a few minutes to give it a jump start on cooking. I drained it and added into the pot to brown it a bit. I can't remember where I saw this but it was a great idea. Add the celery in along with the rice and let them soften for a few minutes. Add 6 cups of water or chicken stock; I used my

Progress!

Alright, I've been all over the place this last month with workouts. Which is good I guess because then my body doesn't used to the workouts I'm doing. I was still following T25 in Beta phase and then I started the Bodyrock 30 day challenge from May of 2012 with my fitness group and so far I'm loving the results. I've been doing the 12-16 minute HIIT along with a Turbo Fire or T25 video making the total workout about 40 minutes along with the 10 minute stretch video from Turbo Fire. I've also changed my eating habits the last 2 weeks. I used to take a lunch and two snacks to work and would end up eating every 2 hours - which is more than necessary since I have an office job. I'm not burning calories sitting on my ass. So now I take a small snack: cottage cheese, apple, Greek yogurt with granola, etc. and I have that on my morning break which is usually 3 hours after I have breakfast and then I eat my lunch at least 2 hours after my break. My schedule suc

Reset week

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Alright, I've been so bad the last few days. Delicious but terrible food and cake so I need a clean eating cleanse this week. So for my lunches I decided on chicken breast,  sweet potato, and steamed broccoli. I baked the potatoes at 450F for 45 mins,  flip halfway through. If they're smaller they will need less time. My boyfriend prepared the chicken for me. We went for Chinese tonight so he stole the peppers and onions from one of the dishes and placed the chicken on top. Seasoned them with olive oil, garlic, and some spices. Drizzle with some balsamic and he poured some of the beer we were sharing into the bottom as well. Bake at 350F for 30+ mins. I used my meat thermometer so I don't pay too much attention to time. 

Bodyrock May 2012 - 30 day challenge - November 2013

Alright, I'm starting the May 2012 30 day challenge because the workout are shorter than their most recent challenge. A few of us in my fitness group are starting this today and I'm really excited because I did a BR workout last week and I was sore (in a good way) for a few days. My goal is to do the scheduled workout for the challenge and do one of the following: add skipping/high knees between each exercise, a Turbo Fire HIIT, a T25 cardio video, running on the treadmill, or the stationary bike. Week 1 - DAY 1 http://archive.bodyrock.tv/2012/04/30/may-30-day-challenge-sexy-by-summer-day-1-start-here/ This is the intermediate level skill test. Click on the link to view the other skill levels for your fitness level. Set your interval timer to 10 Seconds rest & 50 Seconds work. Complete the Following Circuit 3 time through. 1) Squat & Press – Using the Pink Sandbag ( with 20 lbs of cat litter ) - 20, 17, 14 2) Push-Up & Clean & Press – Using the Pink

Lazy lunches

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This weekend I really didn't feel like prepping so while I was at Costco I bought one of their rotisserie chickens and a bag of yams. I normally buy the Normandy style frozen vegetables there too but my freezer is so packed so I bought a small bag from Superstore the other week. This bag was really cool - you just throw it in the microwave on a plate for 8 minutes. I baked the yams at 450F for 30 minutes, flipped them, and baked for another 20-30 (depending on the size), and while those were cooking and steaming I prepared the chicken. This took me less than 15 minutes to prepare all together. Viola!

Egg wrap

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I made this wrap the other week for dinner. It was so good and the tastes of everything combined were a party in my mouth. I scrambled 1 or 2 eggs (I can't remember) with 1/4 of egg whites. Mash 1/4 or 1/2 and avocado in the middle of the wrap in a strip where everything is going to be placed. Sliced up a tomato and put a few slices on top of the avocado. When your eggs are done lay them on top and sprinkle some shredded cheese on top. Add any spices you like: I used pepper and original Mrs. Dash. Last is chopped lettuce. Roll it up and leave open on one end . I usually fill my wraps too much so I end up having a hard time rolling them up haha. This is fairly high in calories due to the wrap and avocado so it should keep you full for a few hours. Or you could cut it in half to have as a snack.

Egg stacks

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As you're probably aware I love eggs. They're just so easy to make and you can make them so many different ways. I had head lettuce left over from a taco dip I prepared for Thanksgiving so I had to find ways to use it up. You can't see but at the bottom of these towers are whole wheat English muffin halves. I have a poaching pan that I used to make these eggs. It's great to make 6 at a time and you can keep them in your fridge for quick meals. And a side of Brussels sprouts for my veggies.

Mandarin salad

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Happy Sunday all! I went grocery shopping yesterday and holy crap is my fridge packed. I bought a lot but most of the haul was fresh veggies. This week for lunches I am taking a great big salad. For protein I'm going to use either a salmon or basa fillet. I also bought more fresh veggies to continue with my raw veggies and hummus for my afternoon snack. Yesterday I had a small bowl of frozen yogurt but I ate so many veggies. This was my dinner last night after my double up workout. On the Focus T25 schedule I did ab intervals and speed 1.0. I think speed 1.0 is my favorite video from the Alpha phase. Anyway, back to the salad: so after my shower I opened my fridge and pulled out almost every vegetable I had bought. I saw these canned mandarin oranges at the store and remembered how delicious they were in a salad I had at a restaurant before. So I chopped up 2 leaves of romaine, sugar snap peas, a mini English cucumber, cherry tomatoes, celery, and mushrooms. Top it

That damn food day

I stopped participating in potlucks at work because they are just filled with unhealthy food and you always eat way too much. I participated in today's though because it was for the leadhands and I was excited to bring something new. I promised myself that I would enjoy the food in moderation (yeah, right) but everything was just so good. I brought 'fruit dip' which is a tub of whipped cream mixed with a package of strawberry Jell-o. I was going to buy the sugar free Jell-o but I figured no one else cares but me so I used the package that I already had in my cupboard. I didn't want to buy a crap load of fruit so I brought graham crackers to dip in the goodness :) I had a light dinner since I've been such a little piggy today: I had 2 eggs and a romaine salad with dried cranberries, pine nuts, and raspberry vinaigrette. Today's workout was Focus T25 lower focus but I wanted to do an extra workout to try to offset some of the junk I ate today so I also did T

Not my average Sunday

What a crazy day! I had a sleep over with my niece last night so her and my cat woke me up at 3:00AM - 4:00AM with meowing and "auntie I need to go potty". After a few more hours of sleep she was up for the day at 6:30AM and had me making pancakes and ready for the day all before 7:30AM. I've been sick since Monday night last week so I haven't worked out since last Saturday :( I'm not happy about this and I've definitely gained some cushion back between Thanksgiving, treats at work, and being sick. This was supposed to be week 5 of Focus T25 Alpha phase and I missed all of it - so now I'm stuck between redoing all or part of alpha phase, or starting the new Bodyrock challenge. Decisions, decisions. (#fitproblems) haha. Anyway, back to my crazy day: I've been up since 6:30AM running on about 4 or less hours of sleep. I should have napped while my niece was napping but I had to make myself lunch and got distracted with the Bodyrock challenge post w

Bodyrock October 2013 - 30 day challenge - links and workout breakdowns

The format of the videos for this challenge is you skip (or do some type of cardio) while you watch Lisa-Marie do the exercise and then she skips while you do the exercise. So if you follow the videos you'll be doing a workout twice as long or you can set your own timer and do them on your own. They do have the playlist on their Youtube for all of the challenge videos but I don't believe they have the workout breakdowns. This is for myself because I like having everything in writing and I'm just putting it on here in case someone else finds it handy too :) Day 1 http://www.bodyrock.tv/2013/10/07/30-day-i-real-time-challenge-1/ 10/30 for 65 rounds Part One - Movement & Strength: 1. Push-Up, Clean & Press - using the Sandbag or Ugi Ball 2. Squat & Press - using the Sandbag or Tbar 3. Tuck Abs 4. 1 Arm Clean & Press, Squat & Press & push Up - (Alternate L&R Arm) – using the Tbar weights 5. Lunge & Twist - (Alternate L&R) – usi