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Archive for July, 2010

What Would You Do?

Jul 31

Posted by Shari B. in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Hi friends – Happy Weekend!

Before I get to the topics of today’s post, I want to say how much I loved reading your comments about the “Get Hungry” post – lots of really good comments and conversation!  Thank you so much for that and I’m so glad that you guys liked the post so much!  I’ll be sure to include more like that in the future.  If you like what you read here, please pass the link on!  (and you can follow me on Twitter to get FeatTweets!) Let’s build the FitFeat community so that we can continue to share and exchange all of our ideas!

***

Do any of you ever watch that show on TV called “What Would You Do?” where they have hidden cameras taping actors doing something morally out of line to see how people respond that aren’t in on it?  I feel like I was on that show today…

This morning I completed my annual CPR/AED course, which is a requirement to maintain my ACE personal trainer certification each year.   I don’t like to be a Negative Nelly (publicly anyway, ha ha!) but the guy that taught our class today was not only dry as the Sahara desert but also completely unqualified to teach people life-saving techniques.  I take it seriously because if I’m ever in a situation where I need to put this training to use, I want to know I am competent at it.  And the steps often change slightly from one year to the next so I want to be sure I’m comfortable with the protocol.  I feel bad for the people in the class today who were first-time attendees – even for those of us that were there for renewal, he was all over the place and completely confusing.  I hope that if I ever need someone to perform CPR on me, they weren’t ONLY trained by this clown.

I’m strongly considering contacting our local Red Cross chapter – it was that bad.

So like the TV show, I’m asking: What would you do? Would you consider calling to let them know that their instructor needs further training before being let loose with a real class or would you chalk it up to him having a bad day and stay out of it?  I’d love to get your input on this!

***

OK on to fun stuff!

Anyone else still suffering from Kombucha withdrawal?  Have you seen any of the main brands back on the shelves yet?  (Not the pasteurized imposter wanna-be Kombuchas – they don’t count!)  ;)

Since I’d been missing my BUBBLY booch so much, I mentioned recently that I was left no choice but to attempt to make my own.  My first experiment with making Kombucha tea is going the same way my first attempt with sprouting went, which is to say UNSUCCESSFULLY.  :(

I followed the steps to a “T”…

And hid it away to do it’s thing for 2 weeks.

But after 16 days…. I don’t think it’s really growing anything.  Which is a big Bummer with a capital B.  I think that the culture kind of expanded but supposedly I should now have a second culture growing on the TOP of the tea.  But I don’t.

The directions mention that the culture can be damaged by heat so maybe my first mistake was ordering it in the summertime when the box it shipped in had to sit in my mailbox till I got home from work one day – probably BAKING the whole time in our 90+ degree heat.

I refuse to give up!  I’m hearing that kombucha should be back on the shelves in August… so if I can get my hands on just ONE bottle somewhere then I will try again using THAT as the starter rather than the dried one.  I’ll wait until WINTER to order another dried culture if I have to go that route.

Because even when it’s back on the shelves it’d be really nice to save money by making my own anyway!

OK, blog buds.  All this tea talk has me thirsty!

Let me know your thoughts on the “What Would You Do?” question!  Can’t wait to hear what you would do!

– Shari B. =)

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Today’s Challenge: Get Hungry

Jul 27

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 10 Comments

Hi blog buds!

Just got back from a very toasty 5.5 mile run with one of my clients – it was a gorgeous morning.  I absolutely love summer in Colorado.  We’re getting into monsoon season where we have higher humidity levels and I felt it today, swollen fingers and all!  But it’s still lower humidity than where I grew up, that’s for sure!  I am hoping for a very LONG summer this year followed by a very LONG fall.  Last winter was so cold and long, I feel like we should be allowed to just SKIP the upcoming one for time already served!

***

A lot of what I talk about here at FitFeat is what, how and when I eat (obviously I like to eat!)  Today I want to flip it around a bit and talk about NOT eating!  :)

Do you ever find yourself eating for no good reason at all?  Maybe you are at your desk at work and you feel stressed/bored/anxious so you start to munch? Or maybe you are at a movie and eat snacks just because?  Or you sit down to eat lunch/dinner because it’s “mealtime” and that’s just the time you are supposed to eat?  Drinking a latte when meeting a friend, even though you just had breakfast?

Yeah?  Well, you’re not alone.  I catch myself doing these things too.

We’re human and we’re social beings and sometimes we forget to really listen to the signals that our bodies are telling us.  Hunger is one of those signals and we are bombarded with food so often (not to mention food advertising) that sometimes the act of eating is actually secondary to what’s going on at the moment.

When was the last time you really felt your stomach growl? For many of us, it might be hard to remember!  We eat so often out of habit, a lot of times before we have experienced ‘true hunger’.   Then unfortunately we also don’t hear our ‘true fullness’ and eat to the point of being stuffed.

We can also be prone to false hunger.  That’s your “feast beast” talking – the one that likes to rear its ugly head when you see an ad on TV for some delicious treat, or when you feel the need for dessert even when you are stuffed to the gills from dinner – those types of scenarios.  This is a danger zone when it comes to calories!

If you find that you have been struggling somewhat with weight loss or maintaining without gaining, today I challenge you to GET A LITTLE HUNGRY.  Really pay attention when you think it’s time to eat.  Are you eating out of habit or are you truly hungry?  Did your stomach growl for food or is it fake hunger trying to trick you into eating that Snickers bar?

This definitely takes a little practice.  Hunger signals can be tricky, especially if you haven’t heard them in a long time.

Here is how I tell the difference:

  • If I’m TRULY hungry, healthy foods sounds appetizing to me.  I ask myself “Am I hungry enough to sit down and eat a big salad?  Or is it {insert snacky food here} that’s calling to me?”  Usually I’m not in the mood for a candy bar when I’m actually HUNGRY.  But if something healthful sounds hideous, I know it’s just a ‘habit craving’.
  • If my stomach hasn’t growled at me but I ‘feel’ hungry, I have a little water or herbal tea first to make sure I wasn’t just thirsty.  If it was just thirst, the ‘feeling’ of being hungry goes away.   If it was true hunger, the growling will start shortly!
  • After a meal, when I still feel ‘hungry’ is it because I truly didn’t eat enough or is it that I’m craving something sweet?  Do I feel hungry enough to eat more green beans?  No?  Then it’s likely not TRUE hunger.  This would just be wanting to eat for sensation and habit.

So today, be aware and see how it goes.  Then do it again tomorrow.  If you learn to eat when you are experiencing TRUE hunger not FALSE hunger (and feast beast cravings!), you’ll find that arriving at a healthy weight might be easier than you think!

Let’s hear from you – do you “listen” for your hunger or have you gotten to a point where you eat out of habit/boredom/stress/anger, etc.?

Have a TERRIFIC TUESDAY friends!

– Shari B. =)

NOTE:  I promote healthful eating and healthful appetites.  This post should in no way be misconstrued to think I recommend otherwise.  I am absolutely NOT promoting the withholding of food or starvation, often associated with eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia.  If you think you might be suffering from an eating disorder, please be sure to seek the help of a medical professional.

Disclaimer Statement

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A Veggie-versary of Sorts

Jul 24

Posted by Shari B. in Vegetarian | 6 Comments

Hi friends!  Hope your weekend is already off to a great start.  My what a busy busy week it was.  So glad the weekend is here now!

One year ago today, July 24, my sweet hubby agreed to go see “Food, Inc.” with me and a couple of our friends.  I told him before we went in that I thought it might be something that would strongly affect me, but neither of us could have known the understatement those words would really  be.  And that the BBQ chicken sandwich I’d had at lunch that day would be that last time I’d be eating chicken, among other things!

It’s been a year chock full of veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds, sprouts, fermented teas, and so much more with an occasional egg or piece of fish or a little raw goat cheese here and there.  What a wild and adventurous ride it has been so far!  I have tried foods that I would never have even considered before or known about if I hadn’t needed to “find an alternative” for our typical meals, especially when eating out.

Like some of these awesome eats…

Delicious Vegetarian Enchiladas with Carrot Puree at Tres Margaritas:

Beautiful Berkeley Vegan Pizza from ZPizza (where I also discovered dairy free Daiya cheese!)

Fabulous Falafel and Hummus Plate at Garbanzo Mediterranean Grill:

Tasty Three Beet Salad at Root Down:

The best Quinoa dish I’ve ever eaten (at Boulder Organic Pizza):

And that’s just a few!  I could go on all day (but then I might start drooling on my laptop…!)

My tastebuds definitely thank me for the change I’ve made!  If I’d still been eating meat when visiting the restaurants above, I would never have even known about these delicious dishes.

Yesterday I decided to pay it forward, so to speak, by giving the DVD to a coworker who seems close to making similar changes.  I hope he finds it just as life-changing as I did, especially in the culinary sense.

Am I trying to change people’s minds or get them to give up meat?  Not at all.  I just want people who are considering cutting back on meat and animal products to see that when it comes to the question of “but what’s left to eat if I don’t eat meat?” the answer is “a heck of a lot of fun foods!”

I’m looking forward to what the next year will bring!

– Shari B. =)

***

If you’d like to read more on how I eat, you might enjoy these previous posts:

Shari Becht is a Fit Living Coach and an ACE Certified Personal Trainer offering coaching services to people across the U.S.  She is extremely passionate about teaching her clients how to start making small changes every day to their own lives, built around steps customized to fit their needs.

If you or someone you know could benefit from Shari’s coaching, please feel free to email her at shari [at] fitfeat  [dot] com.  For more information, click here.

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Back to the Real World

Jul 20

Posted by Shari B. in Fit on Vacation | 4 Comments

Hi Friends!

Well, it’s back to the ol’ grind this week.  I had a small case of the Sunday blues that night, sad that our wonderful week was already over.  But I will say it ended with a bang!  Our rafting trip was a BLAST!  I don’t have any photos of us personally because I wasn’t about to take my camera along.

There were some very calm float-along times throughout, mixed in with some high-adrenaline moments of pure “hairy”.  My friend Jeff said I broke into a couple sessions of “Panic Paddling”!  I agree!  This was my third time whitewater rafting in Colorado and I think this trip had more excitement (aka FEAR) than my previous trips.

By luck of the draw we were in a boat that had a fairly seasoned guide while some of the other boats in our group got a few guides who were in their first season on the job.  Which translates into all of us staying INSIDE the boat! (woot woot!)

Some of other rafters weren’t so lucky.  Here are some examples of scenes we saw:

At one point while we were waiting for the 6 boats behind us to catch up, we saw a paddle float by.  Then another.  And another.  Four paddles total floated by!  We were all wondering what the heck happened upstream.  After a good long wait even our guides determined that they better leave us there and hike back up to find out if everything was OK.  Luckily at that point the rafts started coming along again – apparently there’d been a flip or two.  Later we watched as a few boats flipped, “dumptrucked” and “wrapped” all in a row.  On the one where the boat was wrapped (when the raft gets stuck against a big rock and the water flow molds the raft around it) they ultimately had to throw two safety lines to shore and get everyone off the boat except the guide so that they could get the raft to move off the rock.

Right toward the end we had one nasty rapid that was really rushing and we got stuck pretty good.  At that time MSP and I both were thinking “Well, guess it’s our turn to get dumped out!”  I was a little scared at that point because looking at the rapids there, I knew it’d be a scary “swim” through them to get to shore.  But our guide was awesome, got us unstuck and we made it!

Phew!

I haven’t had a day of adrenaline like that in a while.  It was awesome!

We hit up a great mexican restaurant after that to refuel and then once home, it was COUCH TIME!  :)

Sunday we caught up on laundry, grocery shopping and general household “chores”.   How was your weekend?  Did it contain any adrenaline?

- Shari B. =)

Our Longest Hike Yet

Jul 17

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 4 Comments

Hi FitFeat friends!

It’s the weekend!  Hope that you have lots of fun FIT things planned!  We are at the end of our stay-cation already!  It FLEW by!  I can’t believe all we have left is the weekend and then I have to go to work on Monday.  BOO!

Today we are heading back up to the mountains to do a 1/2 day whitewater rafting trip with a couple of our best friends.  I’m really excited because MSP has never been rafting so I hope it’s a good experience for him and none of us gets tossed from the raft.  I have been twice in the past on team building trips with a company I used to work for and we had so much fun!  But I always get a little nervous before we go because people do have serious accidents while rafting and sometimes lose their lives.  I have a healthy fear of the power of Mother Nature.

OK, enough Debbie Downer talk.  :)   We’ll have a great time, I know it!

Speaking of great times, here is the ‘quick and dirty’ recap of our Barr Trail hike from Wednesday. (Click HERE for a PDF of a Trail Map.)  Our destination was not the summit of Pikes Peak.  We were just aiming for the halfway point called Barr Camp.  We’d aimed for this goal last September but had been misled by online pics of what looked like a leisurely stroll through aspen trees.  Which we found out was definitely not the case (at least not until you get past the first 4 miles or so.)  Because of that, we weren’t properly prepared with snacks and water.  This time we knew what we were in for, at least during the first 3 miles.  So it didn’t seem nearly as daunting!

At the trailhead the elevation is 6,570′.  We got there at 7:00 hoping to beat the rush, and we were shocked to see a full parking lot on a weekday with people parking down on the overflow parking.  The trail starts at the Cog Railway that you can ride to the top of Pikes Peak.

I didn’t take the camera out very much until we reached the camp location but here are a few shots:

This desolate-looking mountain is Pikes Peak.

It’s a bit hard to see here but if you look closely you can see the Summit House where the cog train arrives when you are at the top.  There’s a little restaurant up there and great views.  If you are ever visiting Colorado, you definitely should drive up to the top or take the cog.

After 6.27 miles of climbing, climbing, climbing in elevation, we finally made it to Barr Camp.  My trust Garmin told me 10,221′.  And you could feel it in your energy level.

Barr Camp was a lot more of a homestead than I figured it would be.  I was expecting a shack with a guestbook.  This is actually a place where people LIVE year-round.  The lady running the place right now has been living there for FIVE YEARS!  In the pic below you can see her off in the right – she was washing her clothes by hand!

We took a seat and ate our lunch.

Then it was time to make the trip down.  We were already a little fatigued after 3 hours of hiking uphill.  We thought the downhill would be a piece of cake.

Not so much.

The loose gravel on the trail is hardly noticeable on the way up.  But you slip and slide your way down.

And I bit it pretty good once:

We were having fun until about 8.5 miles.  Then the last 4 miles we were hot, I had a humongous blister on the back of my foot, and we were just ready to be done.  It took us 2:15 to travel the 6.27 miles down.  I don’t think MSP said two words the last three miles.

We both love to hike, but we found that this one exceeded the limit of our attention spans.  :)

It was the steepest and longest hike we’ve ever done.  12.54 miles, around 3,700′ of elevation gain.  We give mad props to those who continue on to the top of Pikes Peak.

A bath and a nap never felt so good!

Do you find that you have an “attention limit” even when doing things you enjoy? I’m usually about 2 hours at any one thing.  I adore movies, and even when they start creeping past 2 hours I get a little antsy.  It seems to get worse as I get older.  I had a much better attention span when I was a teenager!

Sorry for the abrupt end, but I have about 10  minutes before we leave for rafting so I have to scoot!  Have a SUPER Saturday!  Back again soon!

– Shari B. =)

Lessons From the Backseat of a Tandem Bike

Jul 15

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 3 Comments

Hi Blog Buds!

Happy Friday EVE!!!  (Wow, I must post every Thursday because it seems like I say that a LOT!  ;) )

I have so much to try to catch you up on it’s ridiculous.  I’ll start with the first adventure from our Colorado Stay-cation, which was TANDEM BIKING.

I can’t even express how much fun this day was.  I had no idea what to expect.  I just knew we wanted to escape a little bit of the crazy heat down here at 6000′ by heading up to 9000′, where the temps were 20 degrees cooler.

We headed up to Lake Dillon (aka Dillon Reservoir) and started with lunch at a tiny mom-n-pop natural foods cafe called Kula’s that I’d heard about, where they make all their own food from scratch.  I ordered the Vegetarian Green Chili and a Veggie Sandwich on sourdough.  The soup was perfectly spicy and absolutely delicious.

(Most of the pics from our tandem trip had to be taken w/ my iPhone, blurry photo alert!)

Now that we were fueled, it was time to rent the bike.

My view from the backseat:

View from the frontseat (if MSP had eyes in the back of his head)  ;)

Back down near the water toward the end of our ride:

The primary observation I made about tandem biking is that it is a definite exercise in COMMUNICATION.  Anyone contemplating marriage or business partnership should be forced to tandem ride up and down a hilly mountainside.

Here’s why:

Both sets of pedals go at the same time (maybe some fancy ones go independently for all our know – but ours didn’t).  So when you are riding a bike alone and you decide to do something, such as stop pedaling for a second to adjust your positioning in your seat – no big deal.  When you do that on a tandem bike, you will pretty much cause your partner’s feet to be jerked off the pedals by your putting weight on one pedal to move around in your seat.  And it’s a freaky feeling when your feet fly off the pedals – you feel like you are losing your balance a bit.  Same with shifting.  Only one person gets to shift, and the back rider can be pedaling along smoothly and all of a sudden the front rider shifts quickly, causing the pedals to jerk and the back riders feet come flying off.

Or one rider can be pedaling aggressively and not realize that the other riders feet can’t stay on. :)   MSP would all of a sudden pedal like crazy and my feet were like “whoa, hey now Mr. Herky Jerky!”

RANDOM TIP:  if you are doing to tandem cycle on a cruiser bike, bring your own inexpensive cage-style toe clips.  Throw those puppies on before you take off.  Not only will it make pedaling easier, but it could save your partnership as well.

The next observation:  tandem biking is also a definite exercise in RELINQUISHING CONTROL and TRUST.  If you are the back rider, you are at the mercy of the front rider.  The front rider steers, shifts, brakes and can SEE.  The rear rider may pedal and hang on for dear life and that’s it.  :)   You have a back and a head blocking your forward view and you can feel as if you are headed straight for something and want to turn out of the way, but alas, you may not.  Hope you trust that person in the front!  They have your life (your teeth, your noggin, and potential for road rash) in their handlebars.

I am an admitted control freak.  I’m sure you can imagine that this was an uneasy feeling.  But I trust MSP immensely, so I got over it in a hurry.  The plus side of being the rear rider is because all you are doing is pedaling, you get to look all around, enjoy the scenery and not really HAVE to pay attention.

Last observation is that this was an AWESOME time.  I can’t recommend it enough.  Such a great outing for a date!  It was perfect weather, a great workout, not terribly pricey and we truly felt like we were on a vacation outing.  We laughed our heads off the entire time, about things like how trying to take off from a stopped position was comical (trying to time two people hopping on, getting their feet on the pedals and actually pedaling at the same time – yikes).  We went around the entire reservoir, and burned a boatload of calories. (I wish I’d worn my GPS -  from what I can tell online we went about 31 miles with a LOT of hill climbing, supposedly about 3000′ of gain.  Quads were definitely burning!)

If you haven’t done this with your sweetheart, you should make plans to do it soon.  I promise that you’ll get your GIGGLE on!

Afterward we hit up the TIKI BAR for a postworkout, uh, cocktail. ;)   (Does it count as a postworkout smoothie if my drink was blended???)  They are known for their RumRunners so I had to try one.

It’s located right on the marina.  The view doesn’t get much better than this – mountains and waterfront:

It was a fabulous stay-cation day!

Next up:  recap of the “hike that just wouldn’t end”.  Stay tuned!

Have a FAB Thursday!

– Shari B. =)

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I Need a Vacation from Staycation

Jul 14

Posted by Shari B. in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Hi blog buds!

We survived tandem biking!  (Such a fun time – a little scary to start, but FUN!)  We also survived a long day of hiking today.  We left the house at 5:45 a.m and didn’t pull back into the driveway until 3:15 p.m.  It’s been a fun couple of days and we are absolutely BEAT!  (Tomorrow can only include activities that DO NOT require our legs, that’s for sure!)

We have some stuff we need to do this evening so I can’t sit down just yet to recap all the fun.  But in the meantime I didn’t want you to think that I drove the tandem bike off a cliff or something, so figured I better pop in to the blog with a quick hello!  :)

Hope you are having a fantastic day!

– Shari B. =)

Twice the Fun or Double the Trouble?

Jul 13

Posted by Shari B. in Fit on Vacation | 2 Comments

Hi friends!  “Staycation” has commenced! Wahooo!

My ‘theme’ for this week off is Wellness Retreat.  (I’m sure this is news to MSP.)  I’ve always wanted to go to a spa retreat like Canyon Ranch, where they feed you full of über-healthy food and you do active things each day.  This week will be my ‘budget friendly’ version of that.  So this morning I started out my day with a Vega Whole Food Health Optimizer and a piece of Ezekial toast with almond butter (gee, sounds like a big departure from how I normally eat, huh?)  ;)

Since it’s going to be hot as Hades around town today, we’ve decided to begin our staycation fun by heading up to the mountains (where it will be a perfect 80 degrees) for the afternoon.  While we are there, we have reservations to rent one of these:

I’m so excited!  I’ve never been on a tandem bike before.  We thought this would be a ton of fun.  I admit I’m a little nervous too – I’ve fallen over on my own mountain bike while literally standing still.  (I’m klutzy like that.  Most of my more painful injuries have occurred while simply taking a breather during activities:  snowboarding and rollerblading are especially hazardous for me when NOT moving.) So this tandem thing could mean falling twice as hard, right?  ;)   I am sure there will be plenty of comedy involved, no matter what happens.

I’ll be sure to report back on the day’s happenings and let you know how it goes.  I’ll toss in a few gorgeous mountain pics too!

***

In other news, my KOMBUCHA STARTER CULTURES arrived last night!  YAY!  I just started my first batch today, so I’ll be letting you know how it goes (or should I say, how it GROWS!)  I can’t wait for 2-3 weeks from now when I can take my first sip!  I miss my “booch”.

Have a TERRIFIC Tuesday!

– Shari B. =)

P.S. Thank you SO MUCH for the feedback on how the site is loading for you.  Sounds like it has more to do with my connection as opposed to a slow host server, so that’s good news!  Thanks ladies!

Burn Baby Burn: 2 Workouts to Turn Up the HEAT

Jul 12

Posted by Shari B. in Keeping Fit | 5 Comments

Hey blog buds!  Happy Monday!

Did any of you have a Pineapple Mojito Slush over the weekend? Or a non-alcoholic “Projito“?  Here in Denver it was definitely good weather for it – we’re in a heat wave!  And I’m loving it!  It’s supposed to be 100 degrees tomorrow.  Ahhh heat.  It makes me crave delicious green smoothies and cool veggies.

We are fortunate to have cool mornings, usually in the high 50s, low 60s as well.  So it’s ideal for still squeezing a run in outdoors before the heat kicks up.  I was watching the 9:00 PM news the other evening and they mentioned that at bedtime it was still 101 degrees in Arizona.  (And I always say I want to live there.)  Holy hotbed!  101 at bedtime?  That would be tough. I’ll take 100+ during the daytime, but at night when you are trying to sleep seems just wrong!

Speaking of BURNING UP…  a lot of what I’ve been writing lately has been focused on foodie topics.  Today I wanted to share the last couple of weight training workouts I’ve done.  I did an upper body set on Friday and then lower on Saturday.  In our household this weekend there were a lot of exclamations of “ouch”, “oh”, “yeow”.  :)   I LOVE being sore from a great weight workout and these two were no exception.

For part of my upper body workout, I’ve been following along with the “100 Pushups” plan.  I downloaded the app to my iPhone and start out my upper body days with it (after a good warmup of course).  I decided to do this simply because pushups are one of those things that you just seem to lose strength at if you aren’t doing them regularly.  And I’d noticed that I’ve been a little weak in that area, letting myself do more modified (knee) pushups than I’d like to admit.  :)

Day 1: Arm Busting Upper Body Workout:

  • Pushups – 5 sets of 12, 13, 10, 10, 15 (total: 60)
  • Pullup Negatives (hop into pullup position, hold there for a breath, then SLOWLY lower yourself) – 2 to 3 sets of as many as you can do
  • Barbell Bent Row – 3 sets of 10, 13, 12
  • One-Arm, One Leg Overhead Shoulder Press (works your balance and core while you do your shoulders) – 3 sets of 10, 10, 10
  • Rear Delt Laterals – 3 sets of 10 with a PAUSE and HOLD at the top

Day 2: BUM-Busting Lower Body Workout:
Use Tabata timing for the lower body (20 seconds on, 10 seconds off, repeat for 4 minutes straight per exercise) You can get a 99 cent Tabata app for your iPhone

  • Static Ball Squats – squat and hold during the 20 second “on” phase, stand during the 10 second “off” phase
  • Smith Machine Squats – no holding on this one, perform squat movements up and down during the 20 second “on” phase
  • Leg Extension Machine- oh the burning quads!
  • Leg Curl Machine – oh the burning hamstrings!
  • Plyo Lunges (jump lunges) – Do the lunges during the 20 second “on” phase, rest during the 10 second “off” phase.  NOTE: do not perform this exercise if you have troublesome knees.

Cool down and stretch at the end of each workout.

Give it a try and let me know how you like them!  I promise you’ll feel those plyo lunges for a few days.  ;)

***

This week MSP and I are taking some time off of work to have a Colorado “Staycation”.   One of our plans includes hitting up Barr Trail again (that hike near Pikes Peak which is the one that ate me up and spit me out last fall.)  I can’t wait!  This time we get to start EARLY in the morning while the weather is still cool (hopefully).  I’m sure I’ll have a lot of really fun pictures to post afterward.  We’ve talked about maybe going rafting or up to the mountains to try out an alpine slide.  We also talked about seeing the King Tut exhibit, but for the cost of the tickets decided we’d rather do something a little more adventurous!

***

Question for FitFeat Readers: Are any of you finding FitFeat to be slower when it is loading in your browser?  It is for me.  So I’m trying to discern if this is a lack of speed on the part of my host server, something in the theme programming causing a slowdown, or maybe I just happen to have a slow internet connection these days?  If you have a second to drop a comment, I’d love to hear from you as to whether you’ve noticed it being slower than usual or not. I know that can be irritating, so I want to fix it if you guys notice it! Thanks so much!

Have a great week friends!

– Shari B. =)

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How to Make a Projito (and just what IS a projito anyway?)

Jul 9

Posted by Shari B. in Recipes | 6 Comments

Hi friends!  Happy FRIDAY!! Woot woot!

I can’t remember the last time I was able to write a post on a Friday! But I wanted to get this one to you in time for the weekend, especially if you are hosting a happy hour anytime soon.  Allow me to explain…

There is a restaurant in Denver called the Samba Room that has THE best mojitos.  My favorite is the Pineapple Mojito.  Unfortunately they taste SO good because they are so sugary and aren’t very friendly to the waistline!  (And usually after I have a couple I might have the tendency to not give a hoot about apps either and consume way too many food calories to boot!)

Over the 4th of July weekend I was at the library (because we all know I do not need is MORE books…!) and I happened to see this great little gem:

Super-Charged Smoothies by Mary Corpening Barber and Sara Corpening Whiteford.

And what do I find in the section for Grown Up Smoothies?  A Pineapple Mojito Slush!  Oh my!  You can bet I ran right on down to the store for some club soda, mint and frozen pineapples.  I had the all the rest.  (I’ve contacted the publisher for permission to reprint the recipe and am awaiting a reply.  In the meantime, I’ve found it at Scribd, click here and scroll down to page 7.)

In the words of my cousin Kevin:  GOSH. DARN. DELICIOUS.

MSP thought it could be lighter on the mint, so for our second batch I only added half of the mint leaves and it was still amazing.  And in future batches I’ll experiment with stevia in lieu of agave.

I’ll be serving this to guests in the future.  It’s a cocktail I can feel good about!

But wait … there’s more!!

So while I was sitting at my desk yesterday afternoon, I was craving one.  And I’m not really in the habit of mixing up frozen alcoholic drinks when I’m home alone and working.  :D   (No really!)  So I figured why not take this one step further and tweak this into a MOJITO protein shake (or as I like to call it, a PROJITO)?

Into the blender went:

  • 3/4 cup frozen pineapple (about 140g)
  • 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder of your choice (for me it’s Jay Robb sprouted brown rice – half a scoop gives me about 12g protein)
  • 4 fresh mint leaves
  • squeeze of lime juice
  • 1/2 packet of stevia (or to taste, optional)
  • 8 oz can club soda + 4 oz water

Mmmm.  150 calories, 12g protein, 25g carbs and 0.25 of a gram of fat.  Can be enjoyed anytime of day without the stigma of “drinking alone”!  ;)

Let me know if you try either version!

Have a FABULOUS FRIDAY friends!

– Shari B. =)

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