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Weightlifting and Waffles – What Else is New!
Hey friends!! I am blogging from the WordPress dashboard right now and it is so weird. I’m all out of sorts! Usually I blog from Windows Live Writer, but it’s on the fritz. Actually, my whole computer is acting whacky. Think I’ll finish backing it up tonight and to the big hard-drive “reformat” once I’m done here :)
My night after hitting “publish” yesterday was just as nerdy.
Taxes!! They’re due on April 30th in Canada. Hopefully they make it to Newfoundland by then! Thankfully I’m getting money back. Some of the best advice my dad ever gave me was to do my own taxes the year I was 18. I only worked one job that year and figuring out how to complete the forms was pretty simple. Now as life gets a little more complicated, I can sufficiently make my way through them without getting too confused. Thanks dad!
I was up until 11:30 pm finishing my taxes, which is waaaaay past my bedtime. I had a distant hope of getting up and going to the gym first thing this morning, but it didn’t happen. Especially since I’d gone to a spin class not even 12 hours before – my body likes 24 hours in between!
So! Archie and I slept.
And Archie continued to sleep while I whipped up a batch of waffles. Jerk.
Another week, another Waffle Wednesday!! Waffles are definitely in my Top 10 favourite foods. I look forward to this every week!
With my immersion blender, I mixed up 1/3 cup rolled oats, 1/3 cup egg whites, 1/3 cup cottage cheese, 3/4 tsp baking powder, vanilla extract and cinnamon.
Topped with almond butter, fresh strawberries, yogurt, and a drizzle of sugar-free syrup for good measure. I love this waffle recipe. It always feels like a “treat” but in reality is pretty darn nutritious!
Today was my last Wednesday at work. Wain! Sometimes I feel so silly for leaving a job I actually like, as I know they’re hard to come by. But at the same time I know that I have to get out of this city. At this point, I don’t think any job would keep me here.
I had a few fleeting thoughts of skipping the gym after work, but I somehow stuck with it. Came home quickly to let the pup out and munched on a random piece of homemade chocolate banana peanut butter protein bar that I found in my fridge.
I went to the big co-ed gym, knowing full well it was going to be packed. I’ve never been shy in talking about my diagnosed social anxiety disorder. I get a lot of questions from people asking me how I handle the gym all the time. Well, sometimes it’s not easy! I was definitely nervous going in there today. I planned my workout a little more so I had a plan going in, but knew that I’d just have to go with the flow based on the availability of equipment. Oh, and no headphones. I get more paranoid when I can’t hear what people are saying.
I have no idea how to insert tables in WordPress, sorry if it’s not as readable!
Warm-up: 15 minutes on elliptical, increasing resistance every 2 minutes
Back Superset x3:
Wide-grip lat pulldown
Dumbbell bent-over row
Cardio: 5 minutes on the rowing machine, alternating grips
Chest Superset x3:
Dumbbell bench press
Incline push-up
Cardio: 5 minutes on the stairmaster, increasing speed
Shoulder Superset x3:
Standing dumbbell shoulder press
YTWL
Cardio: 5 minutes on the stairmill, increasing speed
Tricep/Bicep Superset x3:
Barbell curl
Cable pushdown
Ab Superset x3:
Cable horizontal woodchop
Hanging leg raises
Pretty good, considering for the second workout in a row, I’ve gone up in weights :) Also, even though the weight area was packed, the meatheads were really nice and cooperative about sharing equipment between sets. I didn’t have to wait for anything or change what I had planned!
I was also surprised by how much energy I still had. It’s funny, I’ve been working out first thing in the morning for so long so I have the evenings all to myself. But then my evenings are cut short because I have to be in bed so early. No matter how you schedule it, workouts are going to eat up time somewhere. But at least the time is ME time. Sometimes the only time of the day I get to wholly dedicate to myself :)
Oh! And I counted – the majority of people who commented on my last post prefer morning workouts. My rough tally was 19 to 9 for mornings.
Sooo, ummm, why is the gym always so crowded after work? :P
Dinner was popped in the oven while I showered.
Pita pizza! Or, pita tuna melt? One can of tuna with olive oil, lemon juice, tomatoes, green pepper, onion and feta cheese.
Carrots + salsa on the side. Of course ;)
How’s that for a protein-packed meal to follow up my weightlifting? One can = 120 calories and 30g protein. Doesn’t get much better than that!
I also want to mention – remember a while back when I was complaining about my hunger being out of control? Particularly in the afternoons? Well, shortly after, I took an extended rest. Three days of minimal activity, and absolutely no workouts. My hunger leveled out during that time to match my activity level (usually takes a couple days to catch up), and has been back to normal since. I have no clue if there is science behind this, but I bet my body really needed and enjoyed that rest!
Alrighty friends, America’s Next Top Model is on. It’s Go-Sees! See ya tomorrow xoxo
Back to School
Greetings from Saint John!! A little bit of background about the city – it’s a dank hole. Sorry to any Saint John-ers out there, but let’s be honest with ourselves ;) It’s a smelly port city with a giant oil refinery. It’s my province’s largest city, but also my least favourite.
Since my grandparents don’t have the internet, I am currently blogging from Starbucks.
They told me the first two hours of wifi was free – that better be right!!
So. My personal training class! For those of you with bad short term memories: I’m here for personal training specialist classes with Can-Fit-Pro (Canadian Fitness Professionals). The course is available entirely though distance, but it’s strongly suggested that you take the classes. They’re being offered here in Saint John for the next two weekends – so here I am!
These pictures are all taken from the Nubodys website, as there are understandably no cameras allowed in the club.
Nubodys is a chain of Atlantic Canadian gyms that falls under the Goodlife Fitness umbrella (ie my gym!). I of course think my gym in Fredericton is the best, but this one’s pretty nice too ;)
Our class is in a small studio with tables and chairs, etc.
I broke down yesterday and splurged on a bunch of store-bought bars. I didn’t want to bring a cooler to my Grammie and Grampie’s, I’m trying to stress them out as little as possible. My Grammie was downright flabbergasted that I brought my own oatmeal for breakfast!
As per usual, I entered the day armed with snacks. I usually get strange looks for this, but what didn’t occur to me was that everyone in the class would be the same way! At 10am and 3pm we were all digging into our snack bags. One guy was even mixing up protein shakes and had a container of cottage cheese :P
We only had 30 minutes left for lunch, so I was also able to make use of my backup snacks instead of rushing out for Subway for something.
A couple small cans of tuna, a few pieces of rye crackers and an orange. I actually ate an apple with my morning snack, so the orange got pushed over till lunch :)
So! I bet you’re what you’re wondering what the hell we’re doing in that classroom! :P Well, there are about 15 of us, an even split of guys and girls ages 18-35. We have an instructor, or “PRO Trainer” who is essentially going into detail about all the course materials with us.
This weekend will be all about the textbook. So today we went through the training principles, respiratory system, bioenergetics, and muscular and skeletal concepts. Basically all the headache-inducing stuff and it cleared up so much of it for me! Our instructor is super knowledgeable and really keen for us to all have a good understanding of how and why the body works. For example, I learned that the lower back shouldn’t twist or bend backward (ahem! back extension machine!) and I learned sun salutations are pretty much the best way to stretch ever, by combining static and dynamic stretches and hitting all the muscles. Fun!
Next weekend we’ll move on to the practical stuff – including a fitness assessment and determining our VO2 max. Eep.
For the record, I did just have to pay for internet. Stupid Starbucks.
But at least they gave me a grande instead of a tall by accident ;)
A vanilla rooibos tea latte made with skim milk and sugar-free vanilla syrup.
Despite all my snacks today (which included the half a Builder Bar, apple, Simply Bar and beef jerky), I’m starving!!! It is a rest day after all. I’ve been munching on some nuts & fruit.
I have dinner plans with an old friend in about 30 minutes. She lived on my couch for a few months in university. I’m excited to see her again! After that, it’s back to my grandparent’s place so all of us can make our 9pm bedtime ;) It’s really nice seeing my grandparents, but I’m not entirely comfortable staying with them. I feel like I’m causing them TONS of extra work and stress. Contemplating just commuting the hour drive next weekend… we’ll see!
Hope y’all are having a great weekend and that the weather is gorgeous where you are too :) xoxo
Question of the Day: Have you done any sort of further education? I have an undergraduate degree in Journalism & Communications, and now I’m doing the PTS certification with plans on doing the Nutrition & Wellness certification asap. I lovelovelove learning and was my very happiest as a university student. I think if I won the lottery, I’d spend all my money on taking courses!!
Goals For February
Erm, Happy Monday? Or Tuesday, if that’s when you’re reading this. Then I’m sorry, because Tuesdays suck more than Mondays. Is it Waffle Wednesday yet??
So I’m not 100% better today. My body is still producing snot at a high rate. But the rest of me feels okay, so I got up in the minus million celsius weather to go to spin class this morning. Not gonna lie, it was hard to do with a cold! There were a few other people blowing their noses and hacking up gross stuff along with me. I kinda felt like we had a secret hardcore bond, and felt each other’s pain after each brutal hill climb. I also burned 499 calories in 60 minutes. What’s up with that?
Showered at the gym and went straight to work. Got there at 7:50 am!! I kinda like the quiet hours before everyone arrives. I get to enjoy a quiet breakfast and take my time preparing for the day ahead.
Breakfast was another go at overnight oats. Well, kinda.
- 200g plain yogurt (3/4 cup?)
- 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
- lots and lots of cinnamon
- raisins
- 1/2 tbsp shredded coconut
- 1 tbsp sliced almonds
- 1/3 cup coconut chia granola
The applesauce helped and made the consistency much better! Still didn’t keep me full though.
Luckily, I had a PB&J homemade granola bar to keep me going till lunch.
These are TAS-TEE. But the consistency is off. The jam added more moisture than I anticipated so they’re a little on the gooey side.
Lunch was as boring as boring gets.
Tuna salad (with capers) in a pita and a naval orange. Snore.
I was hungry again soon after and dug into my next snack early.
Yoplait Source muesli yogurt cup and a Kashi blackberry cereal bar.
And a touch of snobbery.
Although, I guess the classiness is brought down by the fact that I drank it out of a can.
This snack powered me through the next four hours! Not bad eh? I couldn’t help it, I got lost in the aisles of the grocery store after work. Happens every time. Came home to a quick dinner featuring this:
Turned into this…
I just mixed it with some tomato sauce, adzuki beans, broccoli, mushrooms and chili powder. Super simple, pretty tasty!
My evening snack was another bar (I try to limit myself to one a day), but I just had to try this new flavour!
Okay, the Kashi Dark Mocha Almond chewy granola bar is a “new to me” flavour.
I really liked it! I could smell the coffee flavour as soon as I opened the package (which is saying a lot, as I’m really stuffed up). It was still kinda bland like all the chewy bars are, but hey, you can never go wrong with chocolate and coffee. Except when there’s chocolate chips on top. They always fall off and melt in the most unfortunate of places.
I also just realized that of the six meals I ate today, only two of them didn’t contain oats. At least I’m getting lots of grains?
Goals For February
So this is something I used to do every month, but took January off. My goal for January was just to start my new job and “survive” the month. Besides a few close calls, I’d say I did that :) So what’s in store for February you ask??
1. Work out no more than 6 hours a week. You see, I have a bad habit of doing long ass workouts every single day. Then I get run down and sick and have to take a whole weekend off doing nothing to recover (ahemlastweekend). So my goal for this month is to find a balance between reaching my fitness goals and accidentally overtraining.
2. Say yes more. I’m awful for making up lame excuses to get out of doing things. This month, I’m going to say yes more when people ask me to do something. Hopefully I’ll get some new wonderful experiences out of it!
3. Make more leftovers. I have a tendency to make a lot of single-serving meals. Now that I have a microwave at work, it would be pretty sweet to just grab leftovers instead of making a big lunch every night.
4. Eat more fat. This is a big one and I’m going to dedicate a whole post to it tomorrow. A lot of people mentioned in my last post that they too need more fat in their diets. Well Emily and I have decided to initiate a little challenge to make it a Fatty February ;) Our hair and skin will all be shining by the end of it!
There ya go. Not really ground breaking goals compared to some of my old ones. But I know I can accomplish every single one of these. And they’re all important in making the next month not only run more seamlessly, but be more fun!!
Question of the Day: What are your goals for the month? Big or small, write them down. I’ll be checking in every Sunday!
