Slow Running Machine

Hello my little bloggeties.

As I sit here right now, typing these very words, a calm sweeps over me. Or maybe that's a premature hot flash. HA! In any event, I feel at peace right now. Without dwelling too much on the details, lets just say that work was rough and mega stressful today. I'm SO HAPPY to be home and relaxing on the couch. Currently sipping on some honey green tea and all is well with the world. I'm also watching What Not To Wear and crying uncontrollably like a lunatic. :)

Reeeeeeeeeewind to this morning. Before my peaceful frame of mind was turned upside down.

BREAKFAST (meal #1)

• 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/8 cup wheat bran
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• dash pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tbs unsweetened dark cocoa
• pinch salt
• Splenda
• (Microwaved and topped with 1 tbs ground flax + 1 tbs Better N' Peanut Butter + 1 tbs sugar free strawberry preserves.)

work...drama...work....drama....work...

LUNCH (meal #2) at 12:30pm.

It was a vegetable EXPLOSION in my office today. I had a veggie wrap in a wheat FlatOut with bean sprouts, spinach, roasted red pepper hummus and kumato slices.


On the side I had more kumato wedges, baby bell peppers, leftover brussel sprouts and more hummus. Soooooo good!


Consumed in my office while I worked. Nothing exciting I know. I apologize. I didn't leave work for a break today either. There was NO way that I could allow it. I just had too much going on. :(

SNACK (meal #3) at 4:00pm.

I'm still going through those protein muffins I baked on Saturday. I WILL EAT THEM ALL DAMN IT! I crumbled two of them into a cup of plain Dannon Greek yogurt and sprinkled cinnamon on top. LOVED it.


Somehow, by some miracle, the clouds parted, the sun came out, the emails stopped, the phone wasn't ringing and I was actually able to leave work on time. SAY WHAT?!?!

WORKOUT!

Lat Pulldown with rope grip (cable)
70lb x 15
70lb x 15
60lb x 15
Advanced Chest Press (plate loaded)
60lb x 15
50lb x 15
50lb x 12
Face Pull with rope grip (cable)
90lb x 15
80lb x 15
80lb x 15
Modular Chest Press (cable)
70lb x 15
60lb x 15
50lb x 15
Bent Over Barbell Row
40lb x 15
35lb x 15
35lb x 15
Dumbbell Fly
12.5lb x 15
12.5lb x 15
12.5lb x 15
Elliptical Cross Trainer
15 minutes, 1 minute intervals of levels 6, 8 & 10, 1.35 miles
Treadmill
15 minutes, 1 minute intervals of walking at 3.2 and running at 5.5, 1.07 miles

I uped the running speed to 5.5 today and did okay. Who knew? Still following the "steady as she goes" method. We'll see where it gets me. The leg has been feeling fine. YAY! Project "Running Machine" is in full "slow" effect. HA! ;)

Total time at gym = 1:13
Max HR = 182
Average HR = 136
Calories Burned = 566

After the gym we did the now daily ritualistic feeding of the beasts at Mama and Papa Babushkas house. I think the cats hate us. They hide as soon as we show up and refuse to show themselves. It's like they know that I just want to hold them and love on them. MY LITTLE FUR BABIES! DON'T HIDE FROM ME! MAMA LOVES YOU!

SNACK (meal #4) at 7:15pm.

When I came home I whipped together a tasty little protein packed treat. I wasn't in the mood for a cold smoothie so I tried something new instead. I took one scoop of chocolate peanut butter whey protein powder and stirred in 4 tbs of unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze. It turned into a nice little pasty, protein packed pudding. I had it with a 1/2 cup of low fat cottage cheese and topped it all with a sprinkle of Udi's original granola.


I loved it. It was sticky, ooey, gooey, creamy, crunchy and filling all at the same time. I'll be making this again for sure! :)

DINNER (meal #5) at 9:30pm.

I was craving two things, roasted veggies and cheese. I can't explain it but I HAD to have it. I tossed some broccoli, mushrooms and asparagus (seasoned with pink sea salt, black pepper, rosemary and garlic powder) into a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes. When the veggies were nice and golden I tossed them into an oven safe bowl, topped them with a slice of Munster cheese, a sprinkle of Parmesan and a 1/4 cup of Bertolli Arrabiata sauce. To make it perfect, I popped the bowl under the broiler for 3 minutes until the cheese got all nice and melted.


I had it with a toasted Thomas's English muffin with spray butter.


SERIOUSLY DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!!!! I could cry it was so good!

Time to say goodnight now. I think we're going to pick a movie to watch or something. Not sure I can make it through a movie though. Pretty sleepy!

XOXO
Ildie

Jet Setters

Ohhh, so close to Friday that I can taste it but it's not quite here yet. Today started out a bit hectic. I was only working until 11:30 and work was craaaaaaazy busy. I could barely pull myself away long enough to make breakfast, which by the way was inhaled in a matter of minutes.

BREAKFAST (meal #1) at 9:00am.

• 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
• 1/4 wheat bran
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• dash pumpkin pie spice
• pinch salt
• Splenda
• (Microwaved and topped with 1 tbs ground flax + 2 tbs sugar free strawberry preserves + 1 tbs Better N' Peanut Butter.)

Work. Work. Work. Weeeeeee...

I don't know how I managed to but I turned the computer off, pushed my chair in and slithered out of the office just a few minutes past 11:30 like originally planned. I do... I DO believe in miracles!

Ann and I drove to Mama and Papa Babushka's house to hang out with them for a bit. As you know, they're leaving for Hungary today. There's LOTS of excitement in the air!

LUNCH (meal #2) at 12:15pm.

While there, I whipped together a quick lunch. I was STARVING! I made a wrap with 4 egg whites + roasted garlic hummus + spinach + Sriracha.


I also had some red grapes on the side.


After eating, we made sure that they were all packed up and ready to go. They were so happy, nervous, fidgety and ready for their Jet Setting adventure. The original plan was to drive them to the airport and drop them off. However, they made a last minute decision to drive themselves. Those crazy critters. We hugged it out, said our goodbyes and they were off. :)

Afterwards, Ann and I went straight to the gym to get our sweat on.

WORKOUT!

Tricep Pushdown Machine (cable)
80lb x 15
80lb x 15
70lb x 15
Bicep Curls (barbell)
45lb x 12
40lb x 15
35lb x 15
Shoulder Front Raise (barbell)
30lb x 15
25lb x 15
20lb x 15
Skull Crushers (barbell)
30lb x 15
30lb x 15
30lb x 15
Hammer Curls (dumbbell)
20lb x 11 (whew)
15lb x 15
12.5lb x 15
Standing Military Press (barbell)
45lb x 15
40lb x 15
35lb x 15
21's (barbell)
30lb x 21
30lb x 21
30lb x 21
Elliptical Cross Trainer
30 minutes, 2.67 miles, 2 minute intervals at levels 6 & 8

Total time at the gym = 1:13
Max HR = 163
Average HR = 135
Total Calories Burned = 557

After the gym I came home and found a lovely box waiting for me from Sonia at Master Of Her Romaine. AWE SNAP. It's nutritional yeast party time. I finally get to try it. Of course that Miss Sonia went above and beyond and sent me more that agreed upon. Thanks so much Sonia. You're the sweetest! I got some of her favorite tea, a gorgeous little makeup bag, a packet of Jay Robb whey protein, the nutritional yeast (of course), a Kind Bar and a makeup sampler from Mary Kay. THANKS LADY! I love it all.


SNACK (meal #3) at 3:30pm.

I immediately put Mr. Jay Robb to work and made an amazing smoothie.

• 1 cup unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze
• 1 packet of Jay Robb Chocolate whey protein powder
• 1 tbs sugar free coconut Torani syrup
• 1/2 cup frozen cherries
• 1 frozen banana (frozen in chunks so as to not murder my blender)
• 1 cup ice

Oh man, this smoothie was a good one. Thick too. I was sipping on it for close to 45 minutes. While watching my last recorded episode of Millionaire Matchmaker.

I would like to declare something. Being at home with my remote and my smoothie with a workout already under my belt is so much better than still being at work. I wish I could leave work early every day!!

I grabbed a quick bath and cleaned my messy self up before Nick even got home from work. GLORIOUS! While waiting on him to come home, I contemplated hiding his Wii controllers or perhaps disconnecting something behind the TV to mess with him. In the end I decided that it was probably a bad idea and resisted. Though it would have been amusing to watch him flip out. :)

By the time I came down from my bath, Nick was already positioned on the couch, controller in hand and consumed with the television. HA! He was only going to be home for a bit though. He was meeting his dad and his two younger brothers for dinner to celebrate his brothers Birthdays. They were both born in April. I thought about going as well but in the end, decided against it. The bar food and beer was tempting but I need to be GOOD! Tomorrow is weigh in morning and vacation is right around the corner. Must.....Be.....Good.....

SNACK (meal #4) at 6:00pm.

I had a delicious Fuji apple...


And a cup of coconut mango oolong tea courtesy of the lovely Sonia. YUM! This tea is delicious and smells heavenly! It was so good in fact that I forgot to take a picture of my cup. I'll make up for that by showing you the wrapper. ;)


When Nick took off I dove deep into DVR recorded paradise. I curled up on the couch and watched two episodes of What Not To Wear. Love that show! Makes me cry every time. I'm such a wimp!

DINNER (meal #5) at 8:30pm.

I wanted roasted veggies so I sprayed my trusty cookie sheet with Pam and loaded her up with broccoli and white mushrooms.

At first I had no idea what to actually have with the veggies and then it came to me. I topped the roasted veggies with 1 tbs of nutritional yeast (thanks again and again Sonia), 1/4 cup of Bertoli Arrabiata sauce and a Morning Star Farms black bean burger.


Let me tell you what, this worked BEAUTIFULLY! I devoured my plate. YUM-YUMMERS!

Nick is still gone so I'm going to enjoy some more TV freedom while I still have a chance. I hope the folks are doing okay. They should be well above the Atlantic by now. :)

Have a great night! TOMORROW IS FRIDAY! YAY!

XOXO

Ildie