Hey blog buds!

Wow it’s been a busy bee sort of day.   I am ready for some chill time, perhaps with my Kindle after I post.

Today’s FitFeature came to me while doing the weekly mowing. We used to pay a local company a small fee to come do a quick cut of our lawn once a week.  I took on that job myself beginning in May to save some money and the first few times I ran the weed whacker (which I guess is called a ‘trimmer’ – huh, who knew?) and the push mower, I was surprised at how much energy it seemed to take.  We don’t have a huge yard by any means – we live in the suburbs on a corner lot.  But the front and back yards do have a bit of a slope to them.  So after a few weeks of this, I decided to wear my heart rate monitor to determine how many calories I was burning and where my heart rate was.  I was burning about 300 calories in 40 minutes yardwork with a heart rate in the mid-150s! I’d call that worthy of ‘exercise’ status.  After that, I started thinking of my lawn day in terms of a cardio workout rather than a ‘chore’ which made it much more enjoyable for some reason.

Do you have any physical chores that you can turn into CARDIO? Drop me a comment!

My exercise for today consisted of weights, “wogging” the dogs, and the yard work.  Here’s the routine:

Weight Training (Hi-Rep Legs, Rear Delts)

• TM warmup for 5 minutes followed by 3 sets of 20 rep ball squats for a muscle specific warmup.
• DB Step-Ups 3 sets of 15 reps each leg
• Rear Lunges on ValSlide holding KB 3 sets of 15 reps each leg
• DB Rear Delt Flyes 3 sets of 15 reps
• Hamstring Curls on Ball (single leg) 3 sets of 15 reps each leg
• Wide Upright DB Rows 3 sets of 15 reps
• Russian Twist on Ball 3 sets of 20 reps
• Frog Legs on Ball 3 sets of 15 reps

Followed weights with the brief jaunt around the neighborhood with the dogs for light cardio (only 1.75 miles today).

Wednesday’s Eats:

You know it – COFFEE!  First thing everyday   I was hungry straight out of bed this morning so I also had a piece of Ezekial sprouted grain toast with raw almond butter and raw honey.   And yes, that is a Christmas mug from Starbucks.  It does get used year-round.

After my workout, it was time for my blended green yummers in a cup!  I must have subconsciously used more spinach today to make up for forgetting it yesterday, because it had a bit TOO much spinach flavor and tasted less like a green smoothie and more toward grass clippings.

Lunch was yet another use of my remaining Chipotle from Sunday.  This time instead of a bean bowl, I smeared a small corn tortilla with the Rosarita green chile & lime non-fat refried beans, sprinkled a bit of 2% cheddar, the remains of the veggie bowl from Chipotle and topped with leftover sauteed green pepper.   Voila!  A MexiPizza…

Afternoon snack was simple GORP, except minus the P and plus the A.  (For you non-hikers, GORP is “Good Ol’ Raisins and Peanuts”.  My “A” is soaked almonds.)   Washed it down with a cup of herbal mango tea.

Neither of us could decide what we were hungry for tonight for dinner so we went the easy route and made eggs.  I made one into an opened faced sandwich with egg #2 on the side.  Ezekial toast, smear of Tofutti faux-cream cheese, tomato slices and sprinkled with nutritional yeast for a cheesy flavor. Easy peasy 5 minute meal.  I admit, it’s not the prettiest presentation of food.

My eyelids are drooping now, so I better scoot!  We’re headed toward Colorado Springs early in the morning to get our hike on!  Hope to have some fun pics to share!  Have a great night!

– Shari B. =)

Hey there Fit Friends!

How was your Tuesday?  Here’s a recap of my Tuesday adventures!

Coffee first thing, in one of my favorite mugs!  “Instant Human:  Just Add Coffee“.  I don’t think truer words were ever spoken!

We met up with our good friend and running buddy Lynn at o’dark thirty for our outdoor run.  The days are getting so short – I miss summer already!  My total mileage w/ warmup and cooldown was 4.85. After I got home,  I did 10 min of much needed stretching.

I was famished by the time I was done, so I decided on a heartier breakfast this morning.  Oatmeal (1/3 cup measured dry) with cinnamon, raisins, splash of almond milk, drizzle of raw honey, and a couple crumbles of a coconut cream pie Larabar (what amounted to maybe 1/5 of the full bar).  Oh my goodness, this was a DEE-LISH post-run breakfast.  I will definitely be making this one again.

I completely missed having a mid-morning snack.  I got busy researching self-hosting options for my blog, reading about WordPress, and updating my Gravatar that the time flew right on by.  By lunch I was CRAZY hungry.  I still had some leftover tuna salad from the weekend, so I made it into a ‘wrap’ on a romaine leaf, and my salad du jour contained the usual suspects:  spinach, arugula, an egg, sundried tomatoes, pepitas, dulse, nutritional yeast sprinkles topped with olive oil & balsamic vinegar.

Later in the afternoon I ran some errands, and had intended to swing into Starbucks for a soy steamer, but I got “lost” in some books at Borders (I LOVE bookstores and libraries, and can entertain myself for hours in them!)  I had some remaining credit on a gift card I’d received as a Christmas present AND a 30% off coupon (BONUS!!!) so I decided on a geeky computer book about WordPress to further my learning on how to make this blog even better for you readers!

By the time I got home, it was too late to have a full snack without ruining my dinner appetite, so I waited for MSP to get home from work and we had HAPPY HOUR while I made dinner.  We had reason to celebrate, as he started his Labor Day Weekend early   He took a few extra days off of work to make the 3-day weekend into a 6-day weekend!  So we did the ‘”We’re on vay-CAY-shun, we’re on vay-CAY-shun” dance and clinked our glasses.  I had to have a side of soaked almonds with my cocktail or it may have gone straight to my head and then there’d be NO dinner at all!

My dinner consisted of Cajun Tofu, wilted arugula & spinach, green beans and wild rice.  I wasn’t able to clean my plate, so I have some leftover tofu for another day.

Later in the evening, it was time to veg out in front of the TV, so we watched “Hell’s Kitchen”.   That show always makes me stressed and hungry:  not a good combo!    I had a mug of Teeccino with some non-dairy creamer in hopes that would squash any hungries I’d encounter watching all the tasty food being prepared on the show.  It didn’t so a bit later I had a wasa cracker with a piece of light swiss on it.  That did the trick.

Well my dear friends, it’s time to get my Wednesday started.  We’re trying to decide on whether to do weights this morning or treat it like a weekend and hit up a hiking trail.  Maybe both!  We’ll see.  Have a FAB day and I’ll catch ya next time!

– Shari B.  =)