Gobble until you Wobble

That has been my activity for the past weekend and the scale laughed at my this morning.  I'm not sure how I thought eating my weight in turkey and pie wasn't going to negatively impact my health but it has. I'm pretty confident that the Hot Chocolate 15k will not be any easier carrying an extra five pounds on me either.

After my disappointing meeting with the scale, I hopped on the treadmill for some much needed exercise.  I didn't feel like running so I decided to bust out the HIIT.  It felt really good to move something other than my fork to my mouth.  Really, really good.  It felt so good that I even treated myself to a post-workout Max ARM (Anabolic Recovery Matrix) from Max Muscle Sports Nutrition.

I tried the watermelon flavor.  It wasn't terrible but I will NEVER crave that flavor.  Ever.  I actually went to a Max Muscle store right before Thanksgiving.  The woman I met with was wonderful.  She talked to me about putting together meal plans for me and sent me home with a TON of free samples.  I have been looking for something to drink after my workouts to help me recover faster and the ARM was what she recommended.  I really don't feel any different than I normally would so I am not sure how well it worked.  The true test will be after a longer workout.  Don't worry, I still have lemon-lime and strawberry to try out so stay tuned for that ;)

Do you have something you drink after a workout?

I bleed purple

Hello!  I have either caught the attention of fellow Dukes or Emily with this title :)  Yesterday just seemed to be very purple for some reason.  It started out very delicious too!

This was the most amazing smoothie I have made so far!  I put frozen peaches, frozen blueberries, chia seeds, almond milk, spinach and.....da da da daaaaaah....

Oh my yummy!!  I've never tried this protein powder (in a purple-y bag) before so of course, I bought it from Costco!  No regrets.  This powder mixes so much better than my last one and tastes so deliciously vanilla-y.  I'm sooo tempted to run back and grab the chocolate too :)   I was a little sad that I was running late getting ready for work because I loved that smoothie so much!  I wish I had time to really enjoy it.

Anyway, my workout was pretty intense yesterday morning.  I did the Jackie Warner HIIT workout on the treadmill.  Usually I do it only four times in total but yesterday I decided to do it one more time for luck.  I was exhausted and sweaty!  Both signs of a great workout! 

After my workout and delicious smoothie, it was time to get to work...

I had at least one admirer of my outfit ;)

What color was your day?

~Andrea

I heart Costco

Today was day two of Jackie Warner's 20-minute cardio and it was another intense, sweaty 20 minutes!  I did make a mistake that I will not repeat again.  On the last two-minute 12% incline segment, I decided to do a slow jog instead of walking it.  My quads were so tight that it was twice as difficult to continue to the running part after that!  Lesson learned.

After my workout, I had a quick protein shake with almond milk.  It was not very delicious.  I have the worst protein powder EVER!  The powder refuses to mix in so I pretty much had to chew and swallow the shake.  I have been eyeing some protein powder at Costco.  The price is steep ($35) but just because of the quantity you are getting.  I just don't know if I will like or not.  It's EAS Muscle Milk.  They have both vanilla and chocolate.  Has anyone tried this before?  Would you recommend it?

I feel like the price alone makes it a good buy; plus it is a whey protein, which Jackie Warner recommends.   Costco hasn't steered me wrong on the health food purchases so far, so maybe I should just take the plunge.  Speaking of health food finds at Costco, here are some of my recent finds:

These veggie burgers are pretty amazing.  I don't get the "burger" flavor from them at all but they are a nice substitute for raw veggies.  I really love that they have sunflower seeds in them.  It gives it a great taste and an unexpected crunch.  Here's their nutrition information.

Next up, Nature's Path Ancient Grains Granola with Almonds :)

This cereal has some pretty crazy grains (spelt and amaranth) that I haven't even heard of before and it's pretty delicious :)  A serving size is 3/4 cup and it has 9 grams of sugar, which isn't too bad.  I had some this morning as my mid-morning snack and it kept me pretty full for a while.  Costco also has pumpkin granola from Nature's Path, which I also love.  Julia loves these cereals too.  She even chose this one as her cereal.
Tomorrow is another session with Patrice!  I will be meeting with her tomorrow and Thursday and maybe Saturday too.  It's official butt-kickin' week :)

Have a good one!

~Andrea

Compact Cardio

Good weekend everyone!  I hope you had an enjoyable one :)  Mine was wonderful.  I went to a friend's wedding, spent lots of time with Alex and Julia came home from her two weeks with her dad.  I am a happy lady!

Before we set out on our journey to PA, I snuck in a workout :)  My friend Jess is lending me Jackie Warner's This is why you're fat (and how to get thin forever).  It has some pretty interesting points and a different perspective. 

We were (or read: I was) running late so I decided to Jackie Warner's workout.  She says that you only need to do twenty minutes of cardio, as long as it is with enough intensity.  It was a pretty good workout!

Here's what the workout consisted of:

Treadmill incline 12%, speed 3.5, two minutes
Lower incline 1%, speed 5.0, two minutes
Keep incline 1%, speed 3.5, one minute
Repeat three more times for a twenty minute workout

Jackie's promise is that if you do this workout five times a week for two weeks, you will see a difference.  Since the workout proved to be intense and got me sweating, I'm willing to give it a try for the next two weeks.  I am also looking forward at sleeping in a little bit more since my workout time will be shorter :)

As always, I'll keep you posted and how it goes!

~Andrea

HIIT me!

What a great morning workout!  I did some high intensity interval training (HIIT) and it felt really good.  I completed 30 minutes on the treadmill and I was seriously sweating!  Basically, the HIIT is alternating between short periods of exerting your maximum effort followed by periods of rest/recovery.  HIIT

After a tough workout, I decided to make a delicious smoothie for breakfast.  I just used a Yoplait smoothie mix that I bought from Costco and added in some protien powder and ground flax seed.  Yum!  With no straws in the house, I decided to eat my smoothie cereal-style in a bowl with a spoon.

The rest of my day seemed to fly by which was good.  I have continued to try to keep track of the foods that I am eating, which oddly enough I think has made me less hungry.  Before I started tracking my intake, I just felt like I was just trying to cut back on what I ate and felt deprived and hungry all the time.  Now that I know how much I want to eat each day, I feel more empowered to make the decision of what and when to eat.  I'm not saying I don't feel hungry anymore but I don't feel like I need to eat every thirty minutes.  Does that make sense?

Tonight I'm going to experiment with overnight oats....stay tuned tomorrow for what that is and how they turned out!

~Andrea