May 30, 2012

WIAW: Mixing Up the Snacks

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Happy WIAW! Thanks again to Jenn for hosting – I love how WIAW always brings together so many bloggers every week.

I’m especially excited for this one because I finally switched up my snacks this week. Here are my eats from Monday:

Breakfast

Even though I got over 9 hours of sleep on Sunday, I was still tired from staying out too late on Saturday night. As a result, getting out of bed to go to BodyPump was a little harder than usual so I perked myself up with a coffee run on the way to the gym. I also ate half a banana before my workout and had breakfast (crushed raspberries on P28 toast) when I got home.

Morning Snack

I’m trying to eat more vegetables (what else is new?) so I’ve started eating salads as a snack. Weird, I know, but I don’t like vegetables unless they’re cooked or served in a salad. In the mix here – spinach, avocado and grape tomatoes. I added the dressing (olive oil and lemon juice) later so the spinach wouldn’t get soggy. I coupled this with a piece of cheese for some protein.  

Lunch

Leftovers from Sunday – Moroccan Stewed Chicken.

Afternoon Snack

Greek yogurt with a scoop of chocolate protein powder. This was inspired by a post I read on Nia Shanks’ website – she calls it a High Protein Cheesecake Bowl, which is slightly misleading (it doesn’t really taste like cheesecake – shocking, I know), but it still makes for a fairly yummy snack and it’s a great source of protein.

It also gave me something to do with the last dregs of the nasty protein powder I bought a year ago from Walmart. I told myself I had to finish the entire tub before I went out and bought a better quality brand and I held myself to that. After finishing up my very last scoop, I went out and bought Sun Warrior protein powder, which has fewer weird ingredients than the brand I bought last time.

Dinner

Lemon-Garlic Shrimp & Vegetables with a side of brown rice. This was one of the first recipes I tried when I was still learning to cook and I made it so many times, I got sick of it. It’s been out of my “rotation” for over a year now but I came across it while looking through my bookmarked recipes and decided to resurrect it – great idea.

Bedtime Snack

Before bed, I had a sweet potato with a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese. I’m pretty sure most diet “experts” would shake their heads at this (carbs before bed?!? OMG!!!) but I could care less… I eat carbs before bed all the time and it has no effect on my ability to lose or maintain weight. In fact, I don’t pay any attention to rules about meal timing and when to eat what. My approach to weight maintenance is pretty simple – count calories, get a good balance of nutrients and eff everything else ;)   

Are there any diet “rules” you break regularly?

Filed Under: Daily Eats · Tagged: , , ,
May 27, 2012

Recovery Day

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I had a lot of fun dancing it up at my co-worker’s wedding last night but I’m definitely feeling the effects of too much alcohol and not enough sleep. I got to bed around 3:30 a.m. and still woke up at 6:15 with a rumbling tummy. Such is the power of my appetite over every other bodily function. I woke up, ate a P28 bagel with almond butter and strawberries, downed a glass of water and went right back to bed for another few hours.

For lunch, I went to my Nonno’s house for pasta. This is my ultimate hangover meal.

When my grandpa was younger (he’s 87 now), he used to cook a big pasta lunch for the family every Sunday. In my wilder days, when more of my Saturday nights involved too much alcohol and not enough sleep, my favourite hangover ritual was to sleep in until 11 a.m. on Sundays, roll out of bed and head over to my Nonno’s for a big plate of pasta with his home-made sauce. Hits the spots every time.

For today’s meal, pasta was followed by stuffed eggplants and a big salad.

In the afternoon, I napped then went to a pay what you can yoga class at Some Like It Hot. All those downward dogs felt amazing after dancing all night in these !@#$% evil shoes.

Doing yoga after dancing in heels = best idea ever.

Wearing heels while doing yoga = not so much.

After yoga, I came home and cooked a recipe for Moroccan Stewed Chicken from Runner’s World. I love the flavour combos in this one, plus any recipe with chickpeas is a win in my book.

I’m feeling less like a zombie after some light activity and a healthy home-cooked meal. The rest of the evening will be spent watching TV and reading. The goal is to be in bed by 9:00.

Have your drinking/partying habits changed over the years? Mine definitely have. I don’t do it as often, and when I do it really takes a toll on my system. Plus, I can’t drink as much as I used to. After three drinks, I’m pretty much done whereas in my early twenties I could drink a shocking amount without feeling sick. Writing this (and admitting that I’m aiming for a 9:00 bed time) is making me feel awfully old.

Filed Under: Daily Eats, Moderation, Yoga ·
May 26, 2012

Week in Review: Eats and Workouts

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Hey there Saturday!

Glad you guys liked yesterday’s post – usually when I have to try that hard to motivate myself to work out, I end up skipping it – no point forcing a workout when you’re really not feeling it, especially since I’d already had a pretty active week. But it was such a beautiful day yesterday, I know I would have regretted sleeping in and missing out on the chance to get outside first thing in the morning.

I also got to enjoy the weather in the evening – Josh and I hit up a patio and enjoyed some wine over dinner, then went for a walk by the lake. It was an absolutely perfect evening.

Last month, I went on a bit of a recipe bender after buying a new cook book. Well, this past week, my enthusiasm for cooking seemed to disappear so I went back to basics – instead of getting all recipe happy, I prepared simple meal combos made up of protein, fat and carbs and made sure to get a serving of vegetables in with each meal. Here’s what that ended up looking like:

Sesame Chicken with Broccoli and Beans

Spaghetti Squash with Tomatoes, Beans and Cheese (mom cooked)

Grilled Chicken and Avocado Salad with Baked Sweet Potato

Egg white, feta and spinach wrap from Starbucks and sliced avocado

For most of the above meals, I made multiple servings and just cycled them throughout the week so I wouldn’t get bored. Eating healthy really doesn’t have to be all that time consuming or complicated.

That being said, I feel like cooking again so I have a few recipes I’m going to be making this week.

As for workouts, Sweat It Out Saturday is back this week. Make sure you head over to The New Healthy to link up your workouts and get some great workout ideas. Thanks Stefanie for hosting :)

Sweat it out sat button

Sunday – RPM
Monday – Hot Yoga
Tuesday – BodyCombat
Wednesday – BodyPump
Thursday – Rest
Friday – 30 minute run
Saturday – BodyPump

I had a pretty active week this week but experienced very little post-workout soreness. I’ve been foam rolling every night and I think that’s helping a lot with post-workout recovery. That plus all of the other good stuff (eating well, getting lots of sleep, etc.)

Tonight, I’m going to a co-worker’s wedding, but only for the dancing and drinks part of the evening. It’ll be a late night, so I plan to make tomorrow a rest day from the gym although I’ll probably hit up a gentle yoga class later in the afternoon – I haven’t done a Sunday night yoga class in a long time and it’s always a nice way to wind down before the work week starts up again.

Enjoy your weekends (especially those of you who have a long weekend – I’m jealous)!  

Filed Under: Daily Eats, Week in Review ·
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