fitness goal

two of my favorite bloggers (steph&steph) came up with this brilliant goal oriented link-up. I'm excited to participate, I mean, I actually made time to type up a post (something I haven't done much of lately).

anyways, this month's challenge is all about fitness, which is right up my alley. the past two weeks I've been trying to get back on track with my healthy life style. I did extremely well when I began this journey back in December. I was down 13lbs! I've managed to keep off most of the weight, hovering around the 10lb mark. but I have not been eating all that healthy lately, and I want to get back into a workout routine.

so, with that said, my goal for September's fitness challenge is to workout five days a week. with my ankle still recovering (I'm technically not supposed to do high level activity until November) I won't be doing as much cardio as I normally would. however, five days a week I will do any combination of the following: sit-ups, push-ups, plank, shoulder lifts, squats, and calf raises, and at least once a week I will walk around 2 miles. I'm hoping my ankle will do okay with that.

good luck to everyone participating!

getting fit

oh food. I love food. and I've been loving it too much this past week.

and because of that, I kicked ass on Monday, workout wise. I ran, did 300 situps, 30 pushups, 60 squats, and 2 sets of shoulder lifts. it's more than I usually do. and I plan to do the same thing again today, if not even more.

I feel great, sore, but great. (is it weird that I actually like feeling sore?)


the recipe this week is Liz's healthy peanut butter cups. they're delicious!
Liz is doing a healthy Bikini Body giveaway right now!

pb cups

bowl one:
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
6 packs of sugar substitue
half scoop protein powder (I used chocolate flavored)
1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 cup yogurt
mix together

bowl two:
1 cup PB2
half scoop protein powder
1/2 cup almond milk
mix together
*I didn't add this half scoop of protein powder, only added it to the bowl one mix.

spray mini-muffin tray, fill half way with bowl one mix, then top off with bowl two mix. let freeze. then devour.

getting fit, week five.

last week I kinda, may have, a tiny bit, fell off the wagon. it was that time of the damn month and I gave myself some leniency with the daily workouts. but this week I'm back on track fully again.

I've still been eating healthier, more fruits and veggies, less carbs and sugar. and I've upped the daily floor workouts to 200 situps, 30 pushups, 30 squats, and 30 calf raises. even adding in shoulder lifts on days I'm able to get a run in.

I feel great, and at a superbowl party three people told me I look like I've lost weight. I was so pumped to hear that. it gives me even more motivation knowing that the results are paying off. as of this morning I'm down 8 pounds!


for this week I have a "diet" book for you. I found it interesting to read, and although I can't agree with everything it says some of it does make sense. anyways, so my boss brought in a book called Eat Right For Your Type. it breaks down the four blood type categories and tells you what foods you should stay away from and what ones are more beneficial to you.

as I stated, I don't think this book is accurate. however, I did want to test a few things for myself. my blood is A Negative. so I was directed to group A. I read the entire section briefly, and a few things stood out for me, the main one being:

it said to stay away from red meats, cayenne pepper, and most dairy products. now, I can't really vouch for the dairy products because I don't typically eat cheese and I never drink whole milk (only skim). but as for the red meats and cayenne, I eat those almost daily. cayenne I put on everything I eat, I use it like normal people use salt and pepper. and red meat is a staple in my house.

I've always been in good health, so is this book for real? doubt it. but, I figured I'd give it a shot, and try to cut down on my red meat intake, and drink soy milk instead (it said soy products are good for me and will help boost my immune system).

I'll report back with any findings.


have a great Wednesday!

getting fit, week four.

well, I was down 9 pounds. but I may or may not have eaten Melt. which is definitely not diet friendly. but like I said before, everyone needs a cheat day, right? and I may or may not have enjoyed a few margs, too. but I worked out extra to try and compensate. that counts for something. but I'm still down 7, which is good. but it's that time of the month for me so I've taken a break from the running.

my floor workout has upped to 200 situps, 25 pushups, 25 squats, and 25 calf raises. I plan on upping it again sometime within the next week to 200 situps, 30 pushups, 30 squats, and 30 calf raises.


I was hoping to share a healthy peanut butter cup recipe but I haven't been able to make them myself yet. hopefully this week I can make them, I just didn't have time last week.

so instead, I'll share a few workout tips...

:: while brushing your teeth, do calf raises or squats.
:: always take the stairs.
:: park farther away.
:: every time you want a snack, work for it. do jumping jacks/sit ups/push ups whatever, but earn the snack.
:: while doing cardio, change up your pace. you want your heartbeat to vary. it helps burn fat faster.
:: when catching up on your tv shows, do easy workouts during commercials: pushups, situps, squats, jumping jacks, etc.
:: get in an easy quick workout on your lunch break. do some squats while eating that sandwich.
:: and remember, it takes time to see results. don't give up on yourself. after a hard cardio workout I don't see results until 2 days later. keep going!

that's all I got for you this week. have a good Wednesday! 

getting fit, week three.

guess what?! as of this very morning, I'm down 9 pounds!! almost everyday I've been doing my floor workout (200 situps, 20 pushups, 20 squats, 20 calf raises) and I got in two runs. I've continued to eat healthier, too. I've been eating more veggies and looking at the calories/fat/carbs in foods before I eat them. when I'm craving chocolate or ice cream I just eat a little non-fat froyo, or put a few chocolate chips in my non-fat light yogurt. it cures my craving without all the sugar/fat that regular desserts have.

last weeks goals:: do floor workouts every day- not fully completed. when I dog sat I completely forgot about the workout. oops. run at least three miles- completed. continue to say no to bad foods- completed.
this weeks goals:: don't forget floor workouts every day and get in at least two runs.

I also found this recipe on pinterest, they're okay. but you have to eat them fast, they went moldy in less than a week. I'm not sure if I'll make them again, but I promised Katrin that I'd share the recipe, so here we go.

cookies

3 bananas
1/3 cup apple sauce
2 cups oats
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
raisins (optional)

mash up the bananas, and then mix in the rest of the ingredients. plop the mixture onto a baking tray and bake at 350 for 15-20 min. I did not add the raisins but I did add chocolate chips, which helped with the flavor.


also, Liz posts a bunch of healthy delicious looking recipes, I'm going to make her peanut butter cups sometime this week, I can't wait to try them!

 linking-up with We Can Wednesday

getting fit, week two.

I've done well eating wise. I even turned down Dairy Queen, McDonalds, and a few other unhealthy foods. that's a big win for me, saying no to DQ has never happened in all of my 24 years. workout wise, I did the "floor workouts"on Monday and Tuesday. I began with 200 situps, 15 pushups, 15 squats, and 15 calf raises. I plan on doing a similar floor workout everyday, the only difference would be upping the amount of each and maybe adding more to it.

my goal for week three:: do the floor workouts every day, run at least three miles, and continue to say no to 'bad' foods.


Also, I wanted to share this, I came across this recipe on pinterest (duh, where else?) and I actually made it and it is delicious.

peanut butter yogurt dip

this is the actual recipe::
1/2 cup greek yogurt
1/2 cup runny peanut butter
1 tablespoon honey
mix and eat with fruit

this is what I did::
put some pb in a microwaveable dish, heat it a bit to make it "runny" like the recipe says. add the same amount of yogurt to it after it's runified. then add a little honey. mix. and devour.

I put it on bananas which was delish and tried it with an apple too. it paired better with the banana, I thought. I'm sure strawberries would be good too, but I don't like strawberries, so I won't be trying that. I've already had to make it again. I love that it's so easy, healthy, and good.


know any good and healthy recipes I could try? if only chicken nuggets were healthy.
 

 

getting fit, week one.

it's time to get back on track. before jumping in, let's recap.

December:
I started working out and eating healthier. things were going quite well so I took two weeks off for Christmas and New Years as a reward to myself. and on NYE I was still down seven pounds. fast forward a few days, I was supposed to see J. that fell through because mother nature decided to dump 15 inches of snow in Ohio (no, that's not an exaggeration. we really got 15 inches in a 24 hour time span.) the next day, my Buckeyes lost their bowl game. needless to say, it was a rough few days for me. I decided to really go on a break and eat whatever the hell I wanted. and I did exactly that, it was awesome.

and now we're back to the beginning. time to get back on track. I'm going to try to continue and post weekly for how I am doing, it helped me stay on track before, hopefully it still will help me stay motivated.

so far this week I've began the trek to eating healthy again. and even did a few situps yesterday. today, I'm hoping to squeeze in a better workout.

considering I just re-launched my get fit phase I don't have much for you this week, next week I should have a more interesting post. maybe.

who else is trying to get fit? have any tips?