FitFeat

Posts Tagged pizza

Out of Practice

Sep 15

Posted by Shari B. in Adventures in Dehydrating, Adventures in Home Gardening, Keeping Fit | 3 Comments

Hey blog buds!  Happy “JERSDAY”! (New Jersey Shore episode tonight, woot woot!)

I am happily feeling yesterday’s workout.  I did a quick but effective Tabata workout consisting of:

I love the effect that the windmills have on my shoulders.  It’s a total body move that utilizes a lot of core and stabilization, but the light soreness I get after doing them is mostly in my shoulders and upper back.  LOVE that move!  It’s a “new to me” exercise in the last month, so I’m starting with light weights when I do it.  Currently using just a 5 lb DB and STILL feel it!

I took a very chilly 30 minute power walk right after my workout too.

I had 1/2 of a Larabar before my workout.

I hit up Target to look for a travel iron and while I was there I had a decaf soy caffe misto.  I always forget about the misto, which is less expensive (and less caloric) than a latte.  My tall misto was 70 calories and $2.20 or so.  It’s basically equal parts coffee and steamed milk (or in my case, soy milk… still awaiting the arrival of almond milk at local SBUX stores).  So in Italy this concoction is called Caffe Misto while in France it’s Cafe au Lait.

I realized yesterday as I was driving away from Target how out of practice I am at snapping a pic of EVERY thing that crosses my lips, like I did when I first started logging my food on the blog.  It just doesn’t occur to me sometimes like it used to!  So I don’t have a picture of my misto to share!

I also don’t have a picture of my soup and salad lunch that I had at the Whole Foods.  I met a good friend there to grab a bit at noon and I had a kale salad with olive oil, pepitas, dried cranberries and grape tomatoes with a cup of their vegan savory quinoa soup.  It was delicious!

Dinner was completely out of character and not the cleanest…  I think my mind is already in vacation mode, because all I wanted was pizza.  And rather than make a pita pizza at home, I went out to pick up a single slice from a local pizza joint that I’d never tried called Big Bill’s NY Pizza.  Topped with eggplant and mushrooms.

I had intended to add a bunch of stuff to it when I got home, like sliced black olives, spinach, tomatoes – but I was FULL ON lazy last night.  I’m so not loving the dreary weather!  I feel like I need to eat “hibernation” foods!  :D

I do appreciate that I can go somewhere to purchase just a single slice.  This is all strategy on my part.  If I were to order a full pizza, I’d eat too much of it.  It’s not a food I can easily stop eating when I’m full and because I know this I find a workaround.  If I just get a slice and bring it home, that’s all there is.  (I use this strategy with desserts as well, which is why you don’t see me write much about making desserts at home.  It’s better for me to go pick up a single mini-cupcake or cookie than make a whole batch at home.)

Other than lunch, the rest of my day yesterday was pretty lacking in greens and fresh food so I’m making up for it today.

“Sunrise”  juice with carrots, broccoli stem, kale, cucumber, celery and a bit of lemon:

Then I mixed up the pulp and am attempting a raw bread in the dehydrator.  If it works out, I’ll put a recipe out here for it.

And I also have a batch of kale chips in the dehydrator.

This is kale from my garden.  And I refer to it as BABY KALE because the leaves are pretty tiny.  And it’s getting cold so fast here now that I feel like I need to keep harvesting because I think the growth might slow WAY down soon.  It’s getting into the 40s at night and right now as I type this at 9:32 AM it’s still only 52 degrees.  Record breaking heat at the beginning of the month and now I’m digging out mittens for my walks and runs.  WOW.

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CHECK IT OUT

Now, for something fun if you like giveaways, head over to the Brooklyn Fit Chick blog where she is giving away a copy of Bethenny Frankel’s latest yoga workout DVD.  Of course I entered!  And you should too!  (Who doesn’t love to win a blog giveaway AND get a new workout to do in the process?)  I really enjoy the BFC blog, especially her “What Have We Learned This Month” posts which recap what you’ll find in magazines each month, like SELF, Prevention, More, Oxygen, etc.

Have a great day friends!  I’ll see you tomorrow for the FINAL day of our 3 weeks of cleaner eating!  I’m going to have a STRONG FINISH today and tomorrow!  How ’bout you?

– Shari B. =)

 

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Turning the Tables on Naysayers

Nov 2

Posted by Shari B. in FitFeature, Keeping Fit | 10 Comments

Good morning FitFeat friends!

I hope that you had a wonderful post-Halloween recovery day.  Alison from Mama’s Weeds blogged about “recalibrating” – I think a few of us were definitely in that mode!  I know I was (and am today as well).  I’m feeling ready to hit the reset button and get back to my regular routine.  Between hosting houseguests and then getting snowed in, I feel like it’s been 2 weeks since I’ve had a routine day.  Vacation is over.  Back to reality!  :)

MSP and I did get out yesterday for a great 5 mile interval session.  Intervals of any sort are my favorite, which is why I love to hike.  Hiking to me is bascially one big interval session.  Higher intensity on the uphill portion, recovery on the downhill.  We did something similar on our run yesterday, as where we live is pretty hilly.  We speedwalked the uphills and raced on the downhills.  It was so fun and the miles flew by in a hurry. 

The sun was shining  and the sky was clear blue.  A big thanks to our Recreation Association for taking a snowplow to the trail system, because they were in great shape despite all the snow that fell.

I fueled up about an hour prior to the run with a Larabar Coconut Cream Pie.

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And a post-run green smoothie (that I almost forgot to photograph, so it’s almost gone).

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During the Broncos game, which did in fact turn out to be the snoozefest I figured it would be (Ravens ended the Broncos undefeated streak with no trouble at all), I was craving pizza.  As you know I adore pizza and could probably eat it every day ;)   so I made a super-healthy veggie-topped pita pizza.

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It was filling and DEE-LISH!

Mid-afternoon I had a handful of Newman’s Ginger-O’s and a glass of soymilk (the store was OUT of almond milk this time so I am stuck with soy this week.)

Dinner was a beautiful veggie salad dressed with hemp oil and balsamic vinegar.  On the side I had a Sunshine Falafel patty.  Mmmm. 

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It felt great to get plenty of veggies in my day again.

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On to a new FitFeature topic that I’ve been wanting to cover for some time:  using naysayers to propel you to success.

Through the years, I have tried many different nutrition plans and fitness routines as I enjoy experimenting to determine what works best for me. 

When you are eating healthy and exercising, chances are you are going to bump into people who want to rain on your parade.  I could do a whole series on the reasons WHY and HOW people will do this to you, but for today I’d like to focus on YOU turning naysaying into motivation.

Many years back, before I became a personal trainer and while I was still new in my fitness journey I was working as a consultant and had been assigned to a project with a fairly large company.  Over time, people got used to the fact that I packed my own food and ate healthy most of the time.   

I had a 3-ring binder in which I kept my food and exercise logs.  On the cover of the binder was an “Avia” fitness ad I’d torn out of a magazine as motivation.

One of the women that worked in the department I’d been assigned to saw my motivation photo and actually told me that I could “never look like that”. 

Now I am sure she didn’t mean it maliciously.  I like to think she was implying that she figured only a select genetically gifted few looked that way and that I’d only be wasting my time or setting myself up for failure. 

Ten years later, I STILL remember that comment. And boy did I prove her wrong.  Not that she knows it – my contract there ended and I moved on to the next consulting gig and then ultimately became a full-time personal trainer.  But just knowing that I reached my goal and THEN SOME, gives me satisfaction that she could not diminish my excitement or drive with her negativity. 

In fact she PROPELLED me further. 

I am one who responds when you tell me I can’t do something.  I must have a little rebellious side because if you tell me I HAVE to do something, I immediately do NOT want to do it.  And when you tell me I CAN’T do something, I will move mountains to show you I just how well I CAN. 

When I first embarked on my journey to better fitness I looked like this (150 lbs, 5’4″) – geez I look unhappy don’t I?

Before

After a couple of rounds of “Body for Life” I’d improved to this (this is where I was when I was working the consulting job) – cheesy pose due to entering the BFL contest :)

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This is the ad I’d referred to for motivation:

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And then at my first NPC figure competition:

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Now I won’t kid you – getting ready for figure competitions was no easy feat.  I worked my tail off and I endured ridiculously strict diets for each one.  But it was something that I chose to experience.  I’d moved on from my AVIA model and soon her pic was replaced with that of NPC and IFBB figure competitors.

What I want you to take away from this is:

Never let naysayers talk you down from your goals.  Use it as fuel for your motivational fire.  You CAN accomplish what you want when you put your mind to it and really dial-in  your focus.  

Don’t let it hurt when people say you can’t do something, or shouldn’t do something.  And when it comes from people close to you, I know it can sting even more.  Often times, people just don’t quite grasp what you are aiming for and that’s OK.  Let it get under your skin to ENCOURAGE you, rather than allowing it to cause doubt.

Here is the body “I live in daily” now, eating foods I ENJOY and doing exercise that I look forward to (and obviously in dire need of a tan, but hey it’s November!) 

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So today I would like to say thank you to all the naysayers out there who help propel THE REST OF US to kick a$$, take names and show ‘em how we roll.

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Today’s discussion:  Have you experienced people attempting to rain on your parade or make you feel that you can’t achieve a certain goal?  Get picked on for eating healthy?  (That’s a big one for me.)  Please drop a comment and share your experiences with us. 

Make it a great Monday friends, and a great week as well! 

See you next time!

– Shari B. =)

 

If you know someone embarking on their own fitness journey (or could use some help battling the naysayers!) please feel free to send them my way. I offer fitness consulting by phone nationwide and in-person in the South Denver area.

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Sippin' for the Cure

Oct 6

Posted by in Keeping Fit | 6 Comments

Ahhh I’m soaking up the sunshine today after a very dreary Monday.  The sky is SO blue today!

Monday started with a solid upper body workout that I’m definitely feeling today!

Weight Training (Chest/Back/Shoulders):

  • TM Warmup 5 minutes, arm circles for some blood flow
  • DB Chest Press/Flye Combo (incline) 4 working sets of 12+12, 12+12, 10+8, 12+12 reps per set
  • DB Row (face down on incline bench) 4 working sets of 15, 15, 15, 12 reps
  • DB Pullovers on Ball 4 working sets of 15, 8, 15, 12 reps
  • Overhead Shoulder Press 4 working sets of 15, 14, 8, 7 reps
  • Rear Delt DB Flyes on Ball 3 sets of 15, 15, 12 reps
  • Chest Stretching for a few minutes at the end

My bis and tris got some love on Sunday so I didn’t work them again this time.

Then I had to run to the kitchen to take care of my craving!  Green smoothie time!!  First the basics:  water, spinach, cucumber, celery, sprouts.  Then the accessories:  pineapple & cantaloupe, plus some hemp oil and vanilla rice protein powder. I usually buy flaxseed oil, but decided to switch it up this time and try the hemp oil.  It’s pretty darn good!  And a very pretty green!

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I bought some pineapple to add in to my smoothies for this week because I’ve been quite the klutz lately and have little bruises to show for it!  When that happens I bust out the pineapple juice and chunks for some extra BROMELAIN.  :)

Mid-morning and it was still chilly, so some tea was in order with my Pecan Pie Larabar.  And in honor of it being October, Breast Cancer Awareness month, I used my “Sip for the Cure” Pink Grapefruit Green Tea.

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Lunchtime was quite the assortment of veggies!   Greek-ish salad (spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, zucchini ribbons, Greek vinaigrette) with a few slivers of goat cheese and Mary’s Gone Crackers on the side.  Then in the Mickey-Mouse ears of this photo, we have leftover mashed fauxtatoes (mmmm warm and comforty on a cold day) and the rest of my tasty kale chips!  It was GREAT lunch!
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By mid-afternoon, I was chilled to the bone. It was in the 40s and raining (brrr.)  I decided to warm up with some heaven-in-a-bowl (oatmeal!) topped with raisins, almond milk and slivered almonds. 

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For some reason that didn’t fill me up (I really think I’m hungrier when I am cold…) so I sliced half a banana into my bowl with a small smear of almond butter and a squeeze of raw local honey.  

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Adding the banana definitely worked because then when dinnertime came around, I just wasn’t that hungry.  MSP had a grilled white cheddar cheese sandwich dipped in tomato soup, and I had to have another pita pizza because it totally rocks!!

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A few pieces of candy corn for dessert and that was the end of the Monday eats!

So today’s question, since it is Breast Cancer Awareness month:  Have you ever participated in a Race for the Cure or an Avon Walk for the Cure?   I have been lucky enough to participate in both.  Denver has a great turnout for the Race for the Cure, which just took place this past Sunday. There were almost 54,000 participants!   (Go Denver!)  A few years back, a good friend and I also did the 39 mile Avon Walk for the Cure.  What an empowering and uplifting event!  It was so well-organized and you just felt an overwhelming  sense of camaraderie with everyone!  Tell us about YOUR race or walk experience in the comments section!

Have a great rest of your Tuesday friends!  See you next time!

– Shari B. =)

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Pick Your Pizza

Oct 5

Posted by in Cooking, Recipes | 2 Comments

As promised in my earlier blog post today, here are the ‘assembly instructions’ for building a super-fast, super-tasty, super-healthy Personal Pita Pizza!  For this recipe, I’m rolling with a Mediterranean/vegetarian feel on mine, while for MSP likes a BBQ Chicken flavor. 

Start with whole wheat pita bread.  I chose Food for Life 7 grain.

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I prefer a thinner crust, so I slice mine through the middle into two circles.  (MSP prefers his ‘crust’ a bit thicker so for his I use a whole pita pocket).

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Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line your baking sheet with parchment paper if you like easy clean up as I do.  :)

My veggie pizzas are on the right, MSP’s meaty ones are on the left.  I smear mine with extra virgin olive oil and minced garlic.  MSP’s side shows a layer of BBQ sauce, a layer of 2% Italian Three Cheese, and shredded rotisserie chicken. 

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Next on my vegetarian side, I sprinkled a coating of nutritional yeast and then added thin slices of heirloom tomatoes.  MSP’s assembly is now complete on the left after having added fresh chopped cilantro. (If you like red onion on your BBQ Chicken Pizza, add that too!)

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Next, to my side I add zuchinni ribbons (using a potato peeler), kalamata olives pieces, sundried tomatoes, red pepper flakes (for heat!) and a very LIGHT sprinkling of the 2% Italian Three Cheese blend.

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Bake for 12-15 minutes, keeping an eye on them to be sure your ‘crust’ doesn’t burn.  Plate and enjoy!  Buon appetito!

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Serve with a HUGE salad for best results.  ;)

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What Does Being Fit Mean to You?

Oct 5

Posted by in Cooking, Keeping Fit | 3 Comments

Happy Monday friends!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend – it went by too quickly as usual! 

As I mentioned yesterday, I was saving the current FitFeature for a weekday since the blog is a little slower on the weekend.   I’d like to start a discussion on what fit means to each of us.  Being fit and aiming for good health is a very personal experience, so I’d love to hear what being fit means to you!  Post your thoughts in the comments section.

My personal definition of “fit” has evolved over the years.  Currently, being fit to me means:

  • Being active most days of the week, doing something I enjoy like running, walking the dogs, hiking or lifting weights.  I no longer participate in any kind of exercise I don’t like “just because that’s what other people do” or because that’s what other people think I should do “because I’m a trainer”. 
  • Eating foods that are healthful and nutrient-rich that taste good to me and are nice to my digestive system.  
  • Not being restrictive for the sake of “dieting”.  I will eat occasional treats, or I’ll have days “off-the-wagon” if that’s what I chose to do.  When I choose not to eat something, it’s because it’s full of processed ingredients or because I know it won’t make me feel good after I eat it (but NOT because “I’m on a diet”.)
  • Regularly feeling energized after a workout instead of completely zapped.  I believe in having energy left over for living life. 
  • Listening to my body.  If it tells me it’s not the right day to push hard, I don’t.  If it tells me that it doesn’t agree with a certain food, I avoid it the next time.
  • Exercising to be injury-free now, and functional in my “golden years”.  I don’t subscribe to the ‘no pain, no gain’ philosophy. 
  • And yes, being fit to me also means staying trim.  Not solely for vanity’s sake. I’ve just learned that when I look good in my clothes, I feel better about myself overall and it does affect my mood.  If I feel uncomfortable in my clothes or in my skin, I’m just not going to feel good.   Period.   

How about you?  What’s important to you on your fitness journey? 

Speaking of … did anyone exercise during football commercials yesterday?  I did!  During the Broncos game, for the first quarter and part of the second.  (Then we got hungry!)

Here are the exercises I chose — most of the commercial breaks were 90 seconds to 2 minutes:

  • Squats to the Couch (or cOUCH squats)  :)
  • Mod. Pushups / Tricep Dips / Crunches
  • Jumping Jacks
  • Donkey Kicks
  • DB Hammer Curls (biceps)  
  • Static Wall Squat (Can I say BURN here!?)
  • DB Row (lats, 57 reps!)
  • Overhead DB Shoulder Press (72 reps, then switched to side raises!)
  • Plank
  • Calf raises on the stairs

I got a very effective full body workout that primarily hit my slow-twitch (muscular endurance) fibers.  It was surprisingly painful!  :)   Reminded me of when I used to run outdoor circuit “BOOTY CAMPS”.

Now on to Sunday’s Eats:

I was in the mood for a savory breakfast, so I made scrambled eggs with a side of Ezekial toast (and Earth Balance vegan spread) with a side of goat cheese.  My eyes were bigger than my stomach because I couldn’t finish the eggs.  It was 2 whole eggs + 2 whites, whipped with a pour of MimicCreme.  Toward the end of cooking, I added nutritional yeast flakes to the eggs for some cheese flavor.

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Mid-morning we snacked on some Halloween fare:  CANDY CORN!  I’m starting to get in the mood for fall… but am dismayed to see CHRISTMAS displays already in the stores.  Can’t we get through Halloween first, before we are bombarded with Christmas music?

After my football workout, it was time for some football food:  PIZZA!  This was definitely a winner in the ‘recipe’ department – it turned out SO GOOD, I know I’ll be craving this a lot!  (I’m going to put out a separate blog post so that I can link it to the “Build-A-Meal” tab.  You have to make this one!)

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Alongside my super-healthy pizza I made some crispy kale.  I bought the kale recently to put in my smoothies and salads, then found that I didn’t care for it as much as I thought I might.  Lo and behold, this month in “Woman’s Day” magazine, there was a recipe for crispy kale, which I tweaked a bit to my own taste/liking.  I’ll soon add that recipe to the new “Build-A-Meal” tab as well.  It looks a little scary, but it really tastes great!

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My late afternoon snack was the last of the Immaculate Cookie Co topped with a squirt of chocolate syrup and a spoon of raw organic almond butter.  Scrumptious!

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And then my “Lazy Girl Dinner”:  leftover Amy’s Organics Split Pea Soup, with a big spoon of leftover rice mixed into it.  I wasn’t in the mood to fix a dinner and we were just vegging on the couch by this time.  It was perfect for a slightly chilly evening.

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Well friends, off to tackle the Monday To-Do list which is quite lengthy!  Have a Marvelous Monday and I’ll see ya next time!

And be sure to leave your comment about what being fit means to you!  We’re still aiming for the 30 comments to get the GIVEAWAY going!  (see the right sidebar of the blog!) 

– Shari B.  =)

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Full of Beans

Sep 1

Posted by in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Happy Tuesday morning everyone!  Tuesday is outdoor run day!  Colorado has the best weather for morning runs, pretty much year round.  It’s 5:00 AM and 59 degrees, perfect! 

Here is the rundown of Monday’s feats & eats:

Weight Training (Chest, Medial Delts, Biceps, Light Abs)

(I list working sets because I will often do a warm-up set specific to each muscle group as well)

  • DB Chest Press pyramid 4 working sets of 12, 10, 9, 8 reps
  • Chest Flyes with heavy tubing 3 working sets of 15 reps
  • Uneven Modified Pushups (1 hand on floor, 1 hand on medicine ball) 3 working sets of 15, 14, 12
  • DB Bicep Curl 4 working sets of 12, 9, 9, 9 reps
  • Kettlebell Side Lateral Raises 3 working sets of 12 reps each arm (one arm at a time)
  • Bicycles for abs 3 sets of 30

I did spend a few minutes stretching after the workout.

Today’s cardio was wogging the dogs for 2.4 miles.  (It’s so hard to jog with my spazoids, so I always end up “wogging” – jogging some and walking some :) ) It was a brief outing as I had a huge list of things to get done on Monday. (And I crossed off every item on the list – woot woot!)

I got some additional activity by finishing up the painting in the guest bath today (painting can really be a workout!)  Once I got started trying to cut in the ceiling lines by hand I realized that was a silly idea after having just done weights that morning.  Squiggly arms = squiggly paint lines!

Monday Fuel:

Breakfast (post-workout) was a beautiful glass of liquid nutrition!  Check out this beauty before and after (do you see what’s missing?):

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 I completely forgot my spinach today!  Der!  I even had it sitting on the countertop.  Guess I’ll be a little short on calcium for the day!  :)

Mid-Morning Snack was half of a Larabar (coconut cream pie flavor, not pictured).  I was doing housecleaning followed by the painting, so I knew I’d need some quick energy! 

Lunch was my last two slices of that awesome zpizza from Sunday (w/ wheat crust & soy cheese, 3 meals out of that $10.00 item, not too shabby!)  I was extra hungry (notice bite already missing from the pizza!) so I also made a large salad (my salad had a pizza theme:  I made it in a “PIE” plate, and it has tomatoes and mushrooms just like my pizza!)  Other ingredients are spinach, arugula, nutritional yeast sprinkles, dulse [seaweed], olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

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Afternoon snack was a simple cup of Kashi GoLean with a cup of unsweetened Almond Milk.  Sometimes you just need some cereal for comfort!

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Dinner was inspired by the hummus bowl I get at a fun place called Garbanzo’s.  They smear the inside of  bowl with hummus before topping it with your rice and goodies.  I still had some leftover veggie bowl from Sunday’s Chipotle takeout, so I opened a can of Rosarita  Green Chile & Lime refried beans, smeared about 2/3 c onto my bowl, added the Chipotle (rice, black beans, two salsas) and then topped it with a stack of sauteed green peppers and onion.

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It was beanlicious!  And here is the dinner I made for MSP since he wouldn’t touch what I made with a 10 foot pole! 

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Thing brings me to a FitFeature I’d like to share: Above I included a picture of the dinner I made for my husband (spicy adobo chipotle chicken salad rolls).  We are pretty much opposites in the food department. It wasn’t always that way, especially back in my Body for Life days.  He still follows a protein + carb formula whereas I currently have the majority of my emphasis on nutrient-rich veggies, fruits, grains, legumes, etc.  Pretty much most of which he does NOT like.  He will eat an occasional salad, green bean, carrot or kernel of corn.  That’s about it on the veggie side.  I don’t mention this to give him a hard time (OK, maybe a little because I want him to eat more veggies ;) ) — what I really want you to take away from this is that it’s not so difficult to make a separate meal if you are following a nutrition plan different from the rest of your family.  A big obstacle for many personal training clients when they are trying to eat healthier and/or lose some weight is that sometimes the rest of the family just isn’t on board with the new eating habits.  While it’s GREAT to continue to encourage the family to eat healthier, be sure it doesn’t become the reason not to follow through with your own nutrition or physique goals. 

Alrighty peeps, I better go get on my running gear and hit the pavement!  Have a FABOULOUS day!

– Shari B. =)

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