Weekly Workout Thread 4th Dec till 10th Dec

[Lorelei]

Happy new week

Not long now tilll the Holidays, but we can still all make a difference, maybe even fit into that party dress which is justeversoslightlytootight if we work hard enough!! So keep up the good work everyone and even though food and drink will be in overabundance this month and early next, we can still have a great time and stop those pounds from sticking, also continue to reap the health rewards we can''t see, as well as the ones we can - lower blood pressure, less anxiety, lower cholesterol, physical fitness etc etc. My plan is to eat what I want Xmas Eve, Day, and the 26th, but then get straight back to normal eating and lose any leftovers apart from the good for you ones - well thats the plan!

Have a great week all!

 

[Mandarine]

Hi everyone!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, I do have to go on that business trip (I leave later today and come back Thursday). I will NOT let this business trip ruin my diet though (as these trips usually do!). The good thing is that I'm the only one flying in, so there will probably not be any big dinners or drinks after work!. I already packed my workout clothes and chose a hotel that I know has a good gym

This weekend was ok, I worked out on Friday (20-20-20 class at the gym), Saturday and Sunday I just took long walks. Today there won't be any exercise (because of the travel), but tomorrow morning I'm hitting that gym!

Have a great week everyone! happy Monday!

M~

 

[KimberlyH]

Lorelei: thanks for always starting these threads off with such a positive message. It doesn''t go unnoticed.

Yesterday the weather got the best of me. We''re having Santa Ana winds like crazy which means runny eyes, stuffy head, BLECH! We didn''t go hiking. This weather is supposed to last through Thursday, I am desperate for it to go away as it makes me feel like CRAP!

Not much else to tell.

Hope everyone had fun decorating their houses.

Rod, I hope you are safe and sound in NC getting accustomed to your new home.

Mandarine, I''m sorry you have to travel this week. It makes it tough to eat right and exercise.

Have a great Monday!
Ro

 

[Mara]

yes thanks for the positive message miss lorelei...

rod i hope you made it to NC and are busy getting setup!!

i actually didn''t work out saturday or sunday, saturday i was busy ALL DAY with decorating our house inside and outside and decorating two trees (we got a pretty nice fake one for downstairs in front of our french doors for ''display'' and also got our real family room one for upstairs). i didn''t have 5 free minutes it seemed like. and i made the turkey lasagna which turned out very good! i only cooked half the recipe and the other 1/2 is in the fridge so i will make it tonite. greg liked it a lot.

so then yesterday i was going to try again to work out but i was in SF all day til about 6pm and then we had dinner for my dad''s birthday at 8pm so i just wanted to rest for the time in between!! also yesterday i felt like i was coming down with a COLD...ugh. sore throat and runny nose. we thought it might just be allergies since we kicked up some dust while cleaning on sat and getting all the xmas stuff up...but then i just knew it wasn''t. so i started taking the echinacea and vit c but it was too late and it''s got me..so now it''s just a matter of trying to make it short-lived so i can get rid of it before friday when we take off for vegas for a weekend with greg''s family. SO bummed about the cold because i also probably won''t feel like working out if i am tired at the end of the day. AND on friday and saturday i flat out ate a lot of snacky stuff and felt quite guilty about not working out.

so since i''m not sure what my workout sched will be this week thank to mr cold...i am going to just try to eat really well. i got this new cereal from fiber 1 which is actually quite good, with honey clusters, and it''s 14g of fiber, 1g of fat, 3g of sugar and 160 cals for serving. so i''m having this for breakfast, and i am going to have a small bowl at work for lunch too. then supplement with a yogurt for a snack, and some fresh mango, and maybe a LC at work. then turkey lasagna for dinner. and that''s it for today. we''ll be eating up a storm in vegas at restaurants so if i cannot work out today or tomorrow then i just flat out have to be really good about what i eat while still trying to get nutrients.

bah. so there is my cheery news. hope everyone else''s day is going better!!

 

[Lorelei]

Thanks guys, I do try to inject some positive thoughts to the new thread! Rod I hope you are getting settled nicely! Mara I hope you can get rid of that cold fast, this is the second one you have had recently? Bah! Hate colds!

Forgot to put I did 45 mins on treadmill yesterday and I pushed like mad which was good, I hope to get another session in tonight.

 

[nejarb]

Yes, thanks for the pep talk--the stuff about general health benefits like lower blood pressure, etc. always gets to me. Because you can''t see it but you''re never going to see it, but w/ muscle tone/butt dimples or something, you can see the change but not after one workout, so there isn''t too much motivation on a day-by-day basis. I guess my point is that knowing i never want to know what high blood pressure feels like is more of a motivation than knowing my thighs may get/stay smaller if I keep exercising.

Anyhoo, I''ve not been good about exercising for the last week. Since last wed, when I stopped being good, I''ve only done it on friday and monday. When I went down to the treadmill yesterday, I was thinking about what Mara said about it not being a decision but something you just do. So that really helped. But I''m studying so hard and part of the prob w/ exercising is that if I sweat alot I sort of want to wash my hair, but then I have to blowdry/straigten it, and the whole process takes up study time, and so I actually haven''t washed my hair in 4 days. no 5--since the day on my last exam on thursady. I know it''s gross. I haven''t shaved my legs in about 2 weeks either.

Well, I should probably go downstairs and use the exercise bike (boring!) for like 30 min at least and I can look at flashcards then I''ll wash my hair and study some more....

 

[Mara]

Lorelei...no I fought off the last cold without really getting it...but this one snuck up on me!!! And typically if I know it''s coming I can fight it off...but this one was a sleeper!! I thought it was allergies from our tree and the cleaning we did and then yesterday I was like...nope definitely a darn cold! Anyhow I don''t feel too bad so hopefully with drugs, tissues, vitC and rest at night...i can get rid of it in a few days.

 

[Tybee]

Hi All!
Santa Ana winds, blech, sounds terrible! Mara, get healthy! This is definitely the season for sickness, mosty because we run ourselves RAGGED trying to get everything done.

Well, tomorrow I can finally wash my hair. I''m joining a running club and will run with them tomorrow evening. I love every excuse that I can find to be social. I''m looking forward to it. Meanwhile I''ve been stretching a lot, doing sit ups, push ups and leglifts in front of the television. Not as satisfying as a full blown workout... but my hair vanity... well

We meant to get our tree with weekend, but got held up my MIL who is buying a new house and now wants to give us all of her junk. She''s a pack rat of sorts and has collected so much family history... uck it boggles the mind. I am almost OCD in my need to have clean and uncluttered space, so I want none of the junk that she''s pushing in our direction. DH feels torn...

We left her place yesterday and I just felt boggled down and dirty from the chaos that is her basement, and the knowledge that WE will have to help her move it all! If it were me I''d donate it all to charity, but not my decision to make. Hmmm, I got off on a tangent, not sure why, but thanks for listening!

Hoping for a great and healthy week.

 

[KimberlyH]

I fogot, I spent 1 hr on the elliptical this morning, WOOHOO!

 

[CrownJewel]

Hi everyone! That was a nice opening message Lorelei and I thank you for that. The same day that I started posting on the WWT, I was told by my fiance that we were going to a "Turkey Fry" in Brooklyn that evening. I was like, "what''s that?" and I kinda didn''t want to go because they were deep frying 3 eighteen pound turkeys. Well I ate a giant salad beforehand so I wouldn''t be starved and dive for the fried turkey. Well, I ate the fried turkey. Luckily there were a LOT of people there (around 50-60) so everyone got small portions. But IT WAS SO GOOD. And I ate the battered fried onion rings (just a few).

Yesterday we walked around for about 5 miles, to see possible ceremony sites and other such wedding sites. I was pooped by the end of the night, but it felt good to walk a lot.

Have any of you had trouble getting your significant others eat healthier? It''s nearly impossible for me to teach my fiance self control when faced with beer and a banquet of high fat and bad carb food. His parents don''t watch what they eat and they are overweight but still healthy. On the other hand my parents learned to watch what they eat very carefully because they had high BP and high cholesterol. My fiance likes to cook once in a while, but he likes to feed me buttery crepes, bacon or sausages, potatoes, lots of bread, lots of cheese and beer. He thinks eating this stuff "in moderation" means a few times a week wherease I think it should be once or twice a month. Have any of you dealt with this?

 

[appletini]

I feel like I have been so bad for the last week, I haven''t done anything since last Tuesday, and probably didn''t eat/drink as well as I should have, but it could have been worse. DH and I roasted a chicken with veggies last night that was very tasty, and today I''m going to make chicken noodle soup with the leftovers. I also went to my Total Body Training class today. I suddenly realized that DH''s company Christmas party is on Friday so its a good think I''ve been working out the last few months.

Mara, Get well soon!

Rod, Have fun settling into your new place...just think of all the new restaurants you get try in your city.

 

[Modified Brilliant]

We had our first snowfall in the Boston area this morning but only flurries.
Today was very cold and it really felt like winter for the first time.

I''m hoping to get to the gym tomorrow. Still in the groove.

Hope you folks with colds feel better

 

[Tybee]

Oh Jeff!
I''m jealous of the snow this time of year. We rarely get any in Atlanta, but I was raised in Connecticut...
Of course, I don''t miss the snow lasting through April, but this time of year I MISS IT!

 

[Rod]

Hey Everyone!

It''s us from North Carolina. If I had had access to the internet when we first got here, I would have said I wanted to turn around and go right back to Florida, but of course I knew we had to get set up and give things a try. It was cold and rainy when we arrived. Now, it''s clear and tonight will be in the 20''s, but somehow I enjoyed being out in the cold for a change. It actually feels more like Christmas time to us.

The apartment our realtor found for us is small and it''s pretty old and dated. At least we have a fireplace! It''s a one bedroom apartment and we brought every article of clothing we owned (our closet in our condo in Tampa was huge and the closet here is really really small), which was probably not a good idea, but Charlie wanted all his clothes here. We spent the first day going back and forth from Bed Bath and Beyond and buying every storage cubicle we could find to help us store all our clothes and shoes. We had shipped 22 boxes of clothes, plus both cars were filled to the hilt. But we''ve managed to find a place to store everything and we have to continue to remind ourselves this is temp living. I feel like a college student again, 30 years later.

We''ve found two really good sushi places, so that''s really good. Plus we found this really cool restaurant called NoVo near downtown and we had a phenominal meal there Saturday night. Since we''re both addicted to Starbucks, we''ve already found them to be quite abundant. On the workout front, we were given a one week pass to a Golds Gym which is pretty close to our apartment and it''s in a really cool shopping area. We''ve worked out the past two days in a row. This gym has different machines, some familiar, some not, but it''s a large and nice place. The ellipticals are completely different and my legs haven''t adjusted to them yet, so they''re actually pretty sore as I type this.

So far, it seems all one has to do is go into a new gym, explain we''ve moved from Florida and we want to try out the facility before making an investment. We''ve found another gym that has offered us a two week pass. It''s not such a nice gym, but it is closer to our apartment and it should get us through until our gym from home opens up on the 15th.

Tomorrow, we both go to work, and we drove to each office today to make sure we won''t get lost on our first day. Both are pretty easy to find. We''ve decided to go out to dinner tomorrow night to celebrate our first day of both of us working in Raleigh. Wednesday, we''ll be back in the gym and keeping our fitness regimes going strong.

There seems to be a lot of shopping and neat restaurants in Raleigh and we''re looking forward to exploring our new town.

I hope everyone is doing well and keeping up their workouts and eating healthy.

Mara: So sorry to see you have a cold. Feel better soon!!

 

[Lorelei]

Mara, take care of yourself!

Good job Kimberley!!

Tybee, good luck with the running club!

CJ, no we don't have that problem now, but as I was eating carefully before Hubby was, I was expert at just having a diet soda if we went near a BK, and he would have the burger and chips, and continuing this at home. But I think personally eating higher fat and calorie foods a few times a week is too much, but perhaps you could compromise and have a wee feast once a week with one or two moderate portions of your fiance's treats? But once or twice a month is even better! Again, it comes down to the negatives too we can't see such as too much LDL cholesterol, calories, sodium and all the things this can cause apart from weight gain. Another reason why exercise is so important to help us enjoy our goodies, so that it can help send these undesirable substances packing from our systems!

Rod, glad to hear you are getting settled, please keep us posted and check in when you can!

Great job on your commited working out 'Tini!

Jeff - I am SO jealous of your snow flurries

 

[Mara]

Rod it's so good to hear from you guys! sounds like while the circumstances may not be the most 'comfy' at this point, you guys are mentally settling in, which is wonderful! keep up the positive attitude and TWO sushi places? yum! hehe.

Thanks for the well wishes guys...I do feel better this morning which is great...still a bit under the weather but not as rough as yesterday morning which is good. Yesterday I stuck to my good eating habits all day...and then at night we had the rest of the turkey lasagna. And man it was FABULOUS. Basically I'd mixed the two components (turkey, sauce, spices etc in one and cottage cheese, parm cheese, mozz cheese, eggs in the other) and only made 1/2 the other night as my bigger baking dish had some leftovers in it. So last nite I put the rest of the components together with lasagna pasta into a dish and cooked it and it was SOO much better than the other night. I think it's the same idea as when we make spaghetti in the crockpot. The flavors in the meat and sauce have the time to gel and mix together and the sauce is absorbed more into the meat making it more flavorful, whereas when you are just making it that hour before, the sauce sits more on top of the meat than gets inside of it. So while the other night was pretty good, both of us last nite were floored at how great this was. Like definitely the best lasagna either of us has had in a LONG time. And we have leftovers for tonite too! So I'm pretty jazzed about that because I love when an adapted or healthy recipe turns out to be super yummy!!

So today is another good eating day...eating my super fiber cereal this morning. I may or may not work out tonite, probably not. I did some situps and leg work last nite before bed, so I might do some arm work and maybe some jumping jacks tonite but I may just take it easy too. Interestingly enough, I checked out sparkpeople and it said that if am not working out that I should only eat like 300 cals less per day than when I am working out like 5 days a week to maintain. So I figure if I am doing that then I can take a few days off and just let my body recover from the cold AND it's probably a good thing for my body physically as well since my leg was hurting last week and maybe this is a good time for my body to kind of recharge itself with some days off. If I go work out tomorrow then it will have been about 4 days off from the gym. Then I can go tomorrow and Thurs and then one day while we are in Vegas over the wkd and call it a lighter week.

Have wonderful day everyone!!

ETA: CJ...re the spouse eating well or similarly...Greg is pretty good about eating whatever I eat when he is home...except for stuff like his sugary cereals. but for the most part we eat the same things at home as i put together our dinners. though if we are having pre-made salads from TJ's i will give him the full fat greek salad and take the reduced fat for myself or something. Sometimes he complains that he is tired of eating 'healthy foods'...but for the most part he's not that restrictive. Like at work he has a full lunch (chinese, indian ,pizza, whatever he wants) and then a healthyish dinner at home. So he's got the best of both worlds I think. And he also works out (runs or rows) 2x a week which is bascially all he needs to stay in shape (darn fast-man metabolism!!)...so I am the one that probably has to 'struggle' more with staying fit and not gorging on the cookies as he doesn't have the hugest sweet tooth either. Men!

 

[akw94]

Morning everyone,

I worked out last night, did a tape at home. It felt good to do so b/c I wasn''t able to make it to the gym and usually those are nights when I end up making some excuse to not workout. Instead, as soon as I made the decision not to go to the gym, I changed, popped in a tape and did 40 some minutes with Billy Blanks. One night down! Not sure if I will work out tonight or wait until Wed. My eating was good yesterday also and has started good today so I''m feeling good about this week. I decided that a personal motivator for me will be this girl I work with. She is in such great shape and every time I look at her, it reminds me not to eat that whatever that I really want or to go ahead and workout when I''m feeling tired. I''ve decided that I will take whatever motivating factors I can get!

Mandarine, hope you''re having a good business trip and good choice on picking a hotel w/a good gym!

Mara, sorry to hear you have a cold! Feeling any better today?

Lorelei, that''s great about your 45 mins. on the treadmill! Kimberly, 1hr on the elliptical is fantastic!! I am still at 30 when I do the elliptical or treadmill but have been thinking about pushing it up to 35. I am just so ready to get off at 30 that it will be a big mental block to get over!

Nejarb, good luck on the studying and getting in a workout. CJ, walking for 5 miles is great exercise! My bf eats very little so I don''t have too much of a problem w/him. He eats pretty healthy but does opt for dessert more than I should! That helps a little though b/c then we can split something vs. me eating it alone.
Appletini, what sort of stuff do you do in Total Body Training? Is it weights or cardio or both?

Tybee, a running club sounds like a good idea. I was thinking of taking tennis lessons this summer just to get outside, get some exercise in and have fun! I want to try and incorporate more activities that I actually enjoy into my workout routine. I also want to try rock climbing one of these days. Has anyone done that?

Rod, glad you made it ok and that you have found a few gyms to try out. You really are dedicated!! I''m impressed! 22 boxes of clothes is a lot so I''m glad you''ve figured out your storage needs. Sounds like you''ve been busy! Good luck on your 1st day of work!

Ok to get some work done for me. Have a good Tuesday everyone.

 

[KimberlyH]

Morning All,

Spent 50 minutes on the elliptical; I''m making dinner tonight...something from CL but I''m not sure what yet.

Hope everyone is haviing a great workout day.

 

[appletini]

I walked on the treadmill for 30 minutes during lunch today. Last night I made some delicous chicken & rice soup (really chicken noodle, but I used rice instead). DH loved it so much that he had 3 bowls...and I had some for lunch today. I also packed some celery sticks (left over ingredients from soup) and am snacking on those with some peanut butter.

Mara,
That lasagna sounds divine...you should post the recipe.

Dixie,
My Total Body Training class is a combo of cardio and weights...it is offered twice a week, and he always changes up the routine. Yesterday we did a lot of abs, planks, and lungues. The week before he set up several stations that we had go through twice and each station is 2 min each...that one had bike, planks, bench with hand weights, run serpentines through cones, and squats with weights. Plus the trainer is so hot and sweet that its hard not do what he says. He''s also great about complimenting people on good form and keeping us motivated.

 

[Mara]

Appletini, here is the recipe for the turkey lasagna, I actually combined two cooking light recipes...can you post your chicken noodle/rice?!?! It sounds YUM.

Turkey & Mushroom Lasagna

20 oz ground xtra lean turkey breast
EVOO spray
1c water
1 1/4 cups chopped onion
1 tblspoon chopped/diced garlic
1 (8-ounce) package presliced mushrooms
1 tblspoon dried oregano
40 oz (aka ~1.5 jars) Tomato and Basil Pasta Sauce (I used Classico because it was low in cals but also supplemented from a bottle of Emeril's Lots of Gaaahlic or whatever it is called since we love garlic and lots of flavor!)
3 cups (12 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided 2c and 1c
1 (16-ounce) carton 1% fat cottage cheese (or you can use fat free or 2%...depending on what you like)
1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
8 or 9 uncooked lasagna noodles

Preheat oven to 350°.

Spray the cooking pan with EVOO. Saute onions and garlic for a minute or so. Toss the oregano in and stir to mix. Cook the turkey in a large saucepan coated over medium heat until browned, stirring to crumble. Add mushrooms, water and pasta sauce; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

Combine 2 cups mozzarella, cottage cheese, parmesan, eggs and black pepper in a bowl.

Spread turkey mixture in bottom of a 13 x 9-inch baking dish. Arrange 2 or 3 noodles over turkey mixture; top with turkey mixture. Spread cheese mixture over turkey mixture. Repeat layers, ending with the remaining turkey mixture on top.

Cover and bake at 350° for 1 hour. Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup mozzarella cheese, and bake, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Let lasagna stand 10 minutes before serving.

NOTES: I ended up making the whole recipe but just cooked 1/2 at once. In terms of how much turkey mixture, how many noodles to use, and how to do the layers, it really depends on your baking dish. Mine was not deep enough to do too many layers so I ended up just doing one bigger layer of the cheese mixture and 2-3 layers of turkey mixture and 2 layers of pasta. But it turned out great.

If you want to make the meat mixture the day before and put it in the fridge to gel together, I'd totally recommend that as it was WAY WAY better after it had a day to sit in the fridge and let all the sauce and flavors mix together. IF you do this, you might need more pasta sauce to mix in with the turkey mixture or regular tomato sauce because this is a no-pre-boil lasagna recipe so you need the sauce to be a little watery so that it will cook the pasta and let it all absorb the sauce and not become too dry in the oven. Yesterday when I made the other 1/2 of the lasagna, I added another 1/2 jar of pasta sauce over the pasta layers and it worked out perfectly).

We served it with toasted french bread and you could add a salad but the pasta was filling enough!!

Oh and the nutritional information is uncertain since I combined parts of two recipes and one was 280 cals per serving and one was 385 cals per serving...but one recipe had 8 servings and the other 9 for basically the same amount of turkey/sauce etc...so I figure that accounted for the differences in the cals..was the additional serving. So depending on if you do 8 or 9 servings it could be ~280 or ~385!

 

[Modified Brilliant]

Hi Rod:

Glad to hear you guys are settling in.

You''ve got to start somewhere...so remember that it''s probably just a temporary place to live.

Good luck with your new jobs and enjoy the colder weather

''cause I sure don''t

Off to the gym now

 

[Rod]

Hey Everyone,

Had a really good first day on the job. The people are really really nice and I''m sure I''m going to like working there. It''s a completely different environment from my last job. It''s actually refreshing to be in the headquarters and to be part of the senior management team.

We decided since we both started work today, we''d go out for dinner. We chose a seafood restaurant, but it wasn''t too good. Oh well, live and learn. Tomorrow we''ll be back in the gym and we''ll try to settle into a routine.

I got an email from our trainer here in NC. The gym is still on target to open on the 15th. Our membership costs will actualy go down up here, so not only will we get a supposedly better workout environment, it will cost us less.

Nothing else to report. Had to buy an ice scraper as our cars were covered in frost this morning and we had nothing to take the frost off. So that was a fun experience. They''re saying this will be a rougher winter than normal and we should expect some real snow. Not sure I''m prepared to handle snow, but we also know the town just shuts down if it snows and no one goes out. I can assure you that Rod does NOT drive in snow

.

I hope everyone''s having a good week so far.

 

[CrownJewel]

Rod, don''t you love getting a "deal" at the gym? They''re so expensive these days that any sort of discount feels good.

Dixie, if you like workout tapes, do you like yoga? A friend of mine and I were talking about yoga dvds, and she had this great one called "power yoga" with Bryan Kest. It''s not relaxing yoga...it''s a hard core workout. I bought Yoga Shakti with Shiva Rea, which is also really hard core yoga, but focuses more on relaxation. I''d say both are intermediate to advanced levels and they''re great. I''m at the beginner level, but I like a butt-kicking challenge, so those two are great. Given a choice, I''d do the Bryan Kest dvd more often.

Mara, your recipe sounded sooooo good and I printed it out. Due to lack of ingredients though, I decided to just make super lean turkey chili. SO GOOD!!! My fiance was skeptical, he said "what''s wrong with the regular beef chili?" It was really fast to make (30 minutes), healthy and delicious. I make it with red beans, extra lean ground turkey breast, green bell pepper, jalapeno, cumin, cilantro, canned tomatoes, onion, and garlic. Once done, I shredded reduced fat cheddar on top. We ate the chili on top of a bed of red leaf lettuce and a bitty dollop of reduced fat sour cream (tastes just as good as regular sour cream, but none of the chemicals that fat-free sour cream has). It was a hit. If anyone''s interested, I can post the recipe.

I walked 1.5 miles yesterday and 4 miles today in the freezing cold!!! It felt good. Would like to get some strength training in though. Maybe I''ll do a yoga dvd tomorrow. So far, a pretty good week (to make up for the turkey fry last weekend!)

 

[appletini]

Mara,

Here is my chicken noodle soup recipe...I kind of eye ball it...

Chicken Noodle/Rice Soup

2 boneless skinless chicken bresat halves
6 cups chicken broth
2-3 large carrots, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
salt & pepper to taste
Italian seasoning
1 cup rice or 2-3 oz egg noodles

1. Bring broth to a boil in a large pot. Add chicken breasts to broth leave in for 10 minutes until cooked.
2. Remove chicken and set aside...when chicken has cooled, cut into cubes
3. Add onion, carrots, and celery--simmer for 20 minutes
4. Add chicken, rice/noodles, salt, pepper, and seasoning and cook for 5-10 minutes more.

 

[Lorelei]

Great recipes guys, thanks for posting them!

Rod, glad to hear your first days of work went well and that you are starting to get the '' lay of the land'' so to speak! It must have been a novelty scraping the cars off, but it isn''t much fun with frost, I hope you have stocked up with gloves.

CJ - the turkey chilli recipe would be good too if you would post it please.

Did 45 mins on the treadmill last night , I have finished my Little House on the Prairie DVD''s and am now on The Waltons!

''Night Jim Bob!

Dixie, with your mental block about wishing to leap off the ellip or treadmill at 30 mins, I get over this by varying the programme, for example do your extra 5 mins at a hill walk, or just something different to what you do most of, or faster and no incline etc. This works for me by nixing the boredom/will this ever end / factor!

 

[lovelylulu]

hey gang,

this week has been pretty hectic, so i''ve been away from the thread. sounds like everyone is doing well! hurray for your first day at work Rod! I can attest to the whole place shutting down if there''s snow. We were stuck for almost three days once when there was a huge storm. the city was using bobcats (normally reserved for construction) in a feeble attempt to clear snow

. also, for whatever reason, that area gets at least one good ice storm a year. BUT, fear not, the overall climate is divine. spring springs early and lasts long -- so winter will be quick!!

this week, i''ve been managing healthy meals. i''m a huge fan of soup for lunch and found very convenient, resealable container from TJs or wholefoods. simple, easy, tasty.

also did two cardio workouts for about 550-600 calories each.

however, i don''t know when i''m getting back to the gym. tis'' the season of social engagements and i''m booked from tonight though the weekend...so i''ll really be focused on eating healty.

hope all is well.
LL

 

[KimberlyH]

Happy Wednesday All!

Spent an hour on the elliptical, burned about 500 calories. Dinner last night was super yummy, I made the following recipe from a cooking light but added more herbs than called for and some minced garlic.

Chicken Cacciatore

1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
6 bone-in chicken breast halves (about 3 pounds), skinned
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 1/2 cups red bell pepper strips
1 1/2 cups green bell pepper strips
1 cup thinly vertically sliced onion
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 bay leaves
1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes, undrained and chopped
1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste
6 cups hot cooked penne (about 3/4 pound uncooked tube-shaped pasta)
1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
Combine first 6 ingredients, and sprinkle 4 teaspoons oregano mixture evenly over chicken. Set remaining oregano mixture aside.
Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the chicken to pan; cook 2 minutes on each side or until browned. Remove chicken from the pan. Add mushrooms, bell peppers, and onion to pan; sprinkle with remaining oregano mixture. Cover and cook for 5 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Add vinegar, bay leaves, tomatoes, and tomato paste; stir to combine. Arrange the chicken over tomato mixture, and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 50 minutes or until the chicken is done.

Place 1 cup pasta in each of 6 shallow bowls; top each serving with 1 chicken breast half. Ladle 1 cup sauce over chicken, and sprinkle each serving with 4 teaspoons of Parmesan cheese.

Yield: 6 servings

NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 533(13% from fat); FAT 7.8g (sat 2.7g,mono 2.9g,poly 0.8g); PROTEIN 53.9g; CHOLESTEROL 105mg; CALCIUM 207mg; SODIUM 813mg; FIBER 5.5g; IRON 4.3mg; CARBOHYDRATE 60.6g

 

[Mara]

i love all these great recipes!

so i didn't work out last nite..i feel like my belly is expanding to huge proportions even though my measurements this morning are the same. funny how not working out mentally messes with you!! esp since we had dim sum for lunch yesterday for a coworker's birthday and while i only ate about 7 things, only one of which was fried and the rest were steamed....dim sum is really not that healthy for you in terms of calories. i found an online chart that basically told me i probably ate about 1200 cals for those 7 things. yikes! damn that steamed pork bun!

so last nite we finished off the turkey lasagna, yum!! with two thin slices of french bread and some butter. and i had a 10 cal jello cup for dessert. today i had my 14g fiber cereal..mmm. hehee. it's actually pretty darn good because it has honey clusters in it. so it's not like the super dry tasting fiber cereals. and i mix in some honey bunches of oats too ... just like 1/4cup and it adds more flavor. for lunch i brought a campbells chunky soup, vegetable beef. the whole can is only 360 calories and like 3g of fat. we'll probably make a coffee run today so i'll have my short nonfat gbread latte. and then dinner i am thinking needs to be something super simple and light. not sure what. i like the appletini chicken soup recipe...maybe i will feel adventurous and i hear homemade chicken soup is great for colds.

i'm hitting up the gym tonite...i don't plan to get all crazy as i still feel a little tired from my cold but i feel good enough to do something active...and i feel like a couch potato now after 4 nights of not working out. so i figure an hour on the elliptical to the tune of 500 cals is fine...i would love to walk on the treadmill but i don't want to anger my quad again. so i figure elliptical tonite and then maybe treadmill/elliptical tomorrow.

dixie re: the elliptical boredom, i find the elliptical to be super boring! i don't know how people stay on it for 2 hours. i need more varietey. but i manage to do an hour if i need to (like if i can't go to the treadmill and walk)...by just playing my fave motivational songs on my ipod or seeing if there is a cool show on the TVs or something. between the tv's and my ipod and sometimes just daydreaming about something (like what i am going to make for dinner or what i am going to pack for our trip to vegas) passes the time more quickly for me.

anyhow have a fab day everyone!! stay healthy and fit!

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 12/6/2006 1:37:04 PM
Author: Mara
i love all these great recipes!

so i didn't work out last nite..i feel like my belly is expanding to huge proportions even though my measurements this morning are the same. funny how not working out mentally messes with you!! esp since we had dim sum for lunch yesterday for a coworker's birthday and while i only ate about 7 things, only one of which was fried and the rest were steamed....dim sum is really not that healthy for you in terms of calories. i found an online chart that basically told me i probably ate about 1200 cals for those 7 things. yikes! damn that steamed pork bun!

so last nite we finished off the turkey lasagna, yum!! with two thin slices of french bread and some butter. and i had a 10 cal jello cup for dessert. today i had my 14g fiber cereal..mmm. hehee. it's actually pretty darn good because it has honey clusters in it. so it's not like the super dry tasting fiber cereals. and i mix in some honey bunches of oats too ... just like 1/4cup and it adds more flavor. for lunch i brought a campbells chunky soup, vegetable beef. the whole can is only 360 calories and like 3g of fat. we'll probably make a coffee run today so i'll have my short nonfat gbread latte. and then dinner i am thinking needs to be something super simple and light. not sure what. i like the appletini chicken soup recipe...maybe i will feel adventurous and i hear homemade chicken soup is great for colds.

i'm hitting up the gym tonite...i don't plan to get all crazy as i still feel a little tired from my cold but i feel good enough to do something active...and i feel like a couch potato now after 4 nights of not working out. so i figure an hour on the elliptical to the tune of 500 cals is fine...i would love to walk on the treadmill but i don't want to anger my quad again. so i figure elliptical tonite and then maybe treadmill/elliptical tomorrow.

dixie re: the elliptical boredom, i find the elliptical to be super boring! i don't know how people stay on it for 2 hours. i need more varietey. but i manage to do an hour if i need to (like if i can't go to the treadmill and walk)...by just playing my fave motivational songs on my ipod or seeing if there is a cool show on the TVs or something. between the tv's and my ipod and sometimes just daydreaming about something (like what i am going to make for dinner or what i am going to pack for our trip to vegas) passes the time more quickly for me.

anyhow have a fab day everyone!! stay healthy and fit!

I do too Mara, I far prefer the treadmill, also as it is faster. The treadmill just feels better to me, but I do force myself to use the ellip for upper body, it is hard to do so and I dread it, but look forward to the treadmill. I couldn't stay on the elliptical for an hour even, half an hour is my max.

 

[CrownJewel]

In regards to the elliptical torture, I think gradually you get accustomed to using it. The first time I tried the elliptical, I could barely stay on for 10 minutes. Three times a week, with an increase of 5 to 10 minutes each week finally got me up to an hour and half. It takes some great music on my ipod to keep me on there though!!!!

But I also think it a good idea to switch it up. If you want to do an hour of cardio, go straight from the elliptical to the treadmill (uphill and at a fairly fast walking pace). I did that for a while and it worked out really well.

By the way, I''m really liking this WWT thread. It''s really motivational and fun.