I had so much fun yesterday doing an online workout that I did one again today. The BeFit Youtube channel has a good set of workouts to choose from. I did the Leg Thigh and Butt Be Fit in 30 Level 1 workout this morning and liked it a lot.1 minute intervals of things with a rest after 3 minutes between sets of things. 20 minutes total. It had switch lunges (which both I and my knees hate) and had to revert to backward lunges for part of them, but other than that I made it through. Then I did 4 minute scissor legs with crunches after and called it a day. Boom.
I was happy to have found some fruit buried in my freezer last night so I could have a saskatoon berry raspberry smoothie for breakfast and now I'm off to science town. Just wanted oto log.
Have a great day!
Inspirational
After a nice evening with J (who just got a big lighting gig this weekend because he's so awesome - yay) and a trip to the library to pick up a book I've been waiting for for ages it was an early night for us. This whole week has been lunches out and treats at coffee break (we have someone retiring...sniff) so I made a simple chicken breast and salad supper. This morning I did the Level 2 of the 30 day Shred with my 5Lb weights as well as a short Blogilates ab workout video after. Whew! That was a good workout. Tough. Solid.
It's already 16 degrees and I had a virtually snow free walk to work this morning (crazy!) wtih my cranberry green tea smoothie. It's gonna be a good day. There was already iced cream cake for coffee break. This is shaping up to be my kinda day hee hee :)
The way of the nerd
Last night was a family meal - went out for chinese. Mmmm. It's been nice having my Dad here for a few days. He heard me up and about this morning and decided to get up and be on his way by breakfast time. He was sitting sipping coffee and eating breakfast while I worked out. He kept laughing and felt like he should be doing something while I worked out...he was so happy to see me be able to exercise again. I'll miss him. It was nice to have some company in the morning. I get to see him soon the first week of June so I'm looking forward to it.
The snowpocalypse is almost gone already if you can believe it. A few days of 15-20 degree weather have made most of the foot of snow melt already. Another day or so and you'd never know it was ever here except for the odd broken tree branch. It's so nice out you don't need a coat. I'm looking forward to a really nice walk home. It's spring again...
This morning I had a doc's appointment at 9 so I got to sleep in an hour and then got up and did my upper body workout and had some oatmeal for breakfast. Good way to start the day.
Why the appointment? Well I've finally been able to meet with someone about getting my tubes tied, so I can get on with that. Since after chemo I likely won't be able to have kids and even if the odd chance is there that I'm still fertile I'll be on medication for 10 years that I cannot go off of that punts me into menopause - by the time I am off it at 51? Well for us that is not a time to have kids any more even if it were possible.... Add to that that there is a slight risk of ovarian cancer from the meds I am taking and having my tubes removed is the simplest solution that can also cut my chances of getting it (since the tubes is often where that sort of thing starts) and it just makes sense to get this done. I have an IUD but I'd rather find a permanent solution and be done with it. Instead of going through the owie and cost of having another IUD put in I'm just gonna get my tubes tied now and be done with it. After all I've been through a few days home for a day procedure resting up with a hot water bottle to heal up from this is not too much - and then it's just no more worries. I've come to terms with the fact that having little gremlins was just not meant to be for us. Rather than dwell on that I plan to get on with life and spend lots of time with my neices and my friend Heather's little boy once he comes next month.
I will teach them the way of the nerd :)
The snowpocalypse is almost gone already if you can believe it. A few days of 15-20 degree weather have made most of the foot of snow melt already. Another day or so and you'd never know it was ever here except for the odd broken tree branch. It's so nice out you don't need a coat. I'm looking forward to a really nice walk home. It's spring again...
This morning I had a doc's appointment at 9 so I got to sleep in an hour and then got up and did my upper body workout and had some oatmeal for breakfast. Good way to start the day.
Why the appointment? Well I've finally been able to meet with someone about getting my tubes tied, so I can get on with that. Since after chemo I likely won't be able to have kids and even if the odd chance is there that I'm still fertile I'll be on medication for 10 years that I cannot go off of that punts me into menopause - by the time I am off it at 51? Well for us that is not a time to have kids any more even if it were possible.... Add to that that there is a slight risk of ovarian cancer from the meds I am taking and having my tubes removed is the simplest solution that can also cut my chances of getting it (since the tubes is often where that sort of thing starts) and it just makes sense to get this done. I have an IUD but I'd rather find a permanent solution and be done with it. Instead of going through the owie and cost of having another IUD put in I'm just gonna get my tubes tied now and be done with it. After all I've been through a few days home for a day procedure resting up with a hot water bottle to heal up from this is not too much - and then it's just no more worries. I've come to terms with the fact that having little gremlins was just not meant to be for us. Rather than dwell on that I plan to get on with life and spend lots of time with my neices and my friend Heather's little boy once he comes next month.
I will teach them the way of the nerd :)
Snowpocalypse
It was snowpocalypse this weekend. It went from sunny spring to having almost a foot of snow in a day. Meh. I spent sunday shoveling all the wet heavy snow out of our walkways...my back is a bit stiff.
Friday night was fun - nice to catch up with my best pals. This weekend I did get a bunch of painting done (colour! finally!) and did some baking (meat buns mmmmm) and finished up a book I've been trying to get to for ages. Jay worked pretty much all weekend so I could do a bunch of chores and random stuff. Even got a haircut in the middle of snowpocalypse, during which the power went out and Ren had to finish my cut with the light coming in the windows...it's a nice short pixie cut- easy peasy for now and looks nice. I think I'll be keeping my hair shorter for a while. It's fast and easy and I get a lot of compliments on it this length so I'll go with it :)
This morning I was nice to my achey back and did lower body exercises. 3 sets of the following (both sides):
15 plie squats on my toes
15 deep squats
20 deadlifts (20 Lb)
15 back lunges into a front kick
15 side lunges with floor tap
15 reverse kick on my hands and knees
15 fire hydrants
15 lying down side leg raises outer leg
15 lying down side leg raises inner leg
20 hamstring butt lifts with 20 pulses and a 30 second hold (a la Josie)
50 bicycle crunches
10 leg ab raises
Solid. After a snowy pain in the ass walk to work it's oatmeal and science time. I hope you all had a nice weekend. :)
Friday night was fun - nice to catch up with my best pals. This weekend I did get a bunch of painting done (colour! finally!) and did some baking (meat buns mmmmm) and finished up a book I've been trying to get to for ages. Jay worked pretty much all weekend so I could do a bunch of chores and random stuff. Even got a haircut in the middle of snowpocalypse, during which the power went out and Ren had to finish my cut with the light coming in the windows...it's a nice short pixie cut- easy peasy for now and looks nice. I think I'll be keeping my hair shorter for a while. It's fast and easy and I get a lot of compliments on it this length so I'll go with it :)
This morning I was nice to my achey back and did lower body exercises. 3 sets of the following (both sides):
15 plie squats on my toes
15 deep squats
20 deadlifts (20 Lb)
15 back lunges into a front kick
15 side lunges with floor tap
15 reverse kick on my hands and knees
15 fire hydrants
15 lying down side leg raises outer leg
15 lying down side leg raises inner leg
20 hamstring butt lifts with 20 pulses and a 30 second hold (a la Josie)
50 bicycle crunches
10 leg ab raises
Solid. After a snowy pain in the ass walk to work it's oatmeal and science time. I hope you all had a nice weekend. :)
Friday :)
Man....my butt is stiff today! Pilates definitely works. Yowza.
This morning I did my upper body workout with some ab work between sets and had a nice walk to work with my tea (it was a chilly morning). After some banana oatmeal I am off to the lab. Much to do - things have been breaking all over the place and I need to go deal with them. Fun times...
Just have to make it through to tonight. Tonight I get to have a girly night with my friends Lisa and Heather (OK our version of a girly night - supper and zombie movies!) and I am looking forward to it. Should be a nice weekend too! Lots to paint in the house and do around the yard.
Have a good one :)
This morning I did my upper body workout with some ab work between sets and had a nice walk to work with my tea (it was a chilly morning). After some banana oatmeal I am off to the lab. Much to do - things have been breaking all over the place and I need to go deal with them. Fun times...
Just have to make it through to tonight. Tonight I get to have a girly night with my friends Lisa and Heather (OK our version of a girly night - supper and zombie movies!) and I am looking forward to it. Should be a nice weekend too! Lots to paint in the house and do around the yard.
Have a good one :)
Blogilates
A new friend of mine introduced me to Blogilates the other day. She said it's the site that got her into fitness and had nothing but good things to say about it. She's now very active, runs, weight trains and even does acro yoga but still uses the site so I thought I'd check it out. The host is a bit overly perky and happy at times, but she *is* happy...I like that. She has a way of talking while you're exercising that distracts you from what you're doing as you do reps of something. Sneaky. She has a lot of shorter workouts to mix and match from and appears to even make calendars of monthly workouts for people to follow along. It seems like a very positive environment with lots of different exercises - not just pilates. It's a different kind of endurance than HIIT... I've always been curious about pilates and am trying to find exercises to scult and thin up my trunk and butt along with the old usuals that I do so I thought I'd make today's lower body day a blogilates day. So, I did 2 of her workouts: Perfect Legs POP Pilates and 5 best thigh slimming exercises and then tried to get through a 4 minute scissor ab workout but had to quit before the last one was complete because...well...I couldn't do anymore! Such simple moves and they're so hard! My butt is already tingling...I do believe I may be stiff tomorrow. It was an interesting change. I think I'll keep it in rotation :)
I made a new meal last night for supper and it will definitely stay in rotation. I cooked up some ground turkey, kale, celery, onions, mushrooms and red peppers with some spices and then mixed it with some dry cottage cheese and stuffed some jumbo pasta shells with it. Then I drizzled tomato sauce over it all and baked it up with a pinch of mozza for 30 minutes - what an awesome meal with a big side salad. Enough leftovers for J to have for supper tonight too. I love cottage cheese baked up in things...
Anyway, I must get to it. I had my cranberry green tea smoothie for breakfast on my walk to work and now it's time to get down to science. Have a great day!
I made a new meal last night for supper and it will definitely stay in rotation. I cooked up some ground turkey, kale, celery, onions, mushrooms and red peppers with some spices and then mixed it with some dry cottage cheese and stuffed some jumbo pasta shells with it. Then I drizzled tomato sauce over it all and baked it up with a pinch of mozza for 30 minutes - what an awesome meal with a big side salad. Enough leftovers for J to have for supper tonight too. I love cottage cheese baked up in things...
Anyway, I must get to it. I had my cranberry green tea smoothie for breakfast on my walk to work and now it's time to get down to science. Have a great day!
Jackie Warner kicked my ass
Yesterday I didn't work out since I was up really late (~2). J's laser show went spectacularly and it was a good night of funk music with Fort Knox 5 and some of my friends at Skylab who put on the show (which J is now a part of he hee) -good people and I got in a lot of dancing. Muahaha. Yes, it was a long tired work day on tuesday (I admit to actually drinking a real cup of coffee to be useful in an important meeting I had) but I made it through. I did walk home from work with J though and ate healthily - we had homemade refried bean tacos. Something I forgot how much I loved until I made them last month after not making them since university. So easy and healthy - saute up some diced onion, garlic and a jalapeno and then add a can of rinsed white beans and about 2 cups of chicken or veg stock and simmer it all until all the liquid is gone, mushing the beans as you cook. Add them to a taco wrap with veg, cheese and salsa and you have an easy meal full of protein. Yum.
This morning I wanted to make sure that I got back to the fitness. Monday night I was really able to dance for a long time...it was nice to feel that what I'm doing is helping me be healthy so I wanted to make sure I keep at it. For me consistency is the key thing to focus on right now. Just doing something daily. I grabbed what I remembered as a tough but fun workout DVD for this morning: Jackie Warner's "Personal Trainer: Extreme Timesaver Training" DVD. Holy crapcans. It was a tough 30 minutes. I was breathing hard and had to rest a few times and although I tried it with my 5Lb weights I ended up ditching the weights and doing the modified moves for a lot of the exercises and just concentrated on getting through the workout. It's a workout of compound moves in 1 minute intervals...and it's tough. I will definitely do it again but I will try it with my 3 Lb weights first try and get through it all without resting or dropping the weights. I have a long way to go with this one, but I feel really good.
After a walk to work with my cranberry green tea smoothie I am ready for some science.
Have a great day :)
This morning I wanted to make sure that I got back to the fitness. Monday night I was really able to dance for a long time...it was nice to feel that what I'm doing is helping me be healthy so I wanted to make sure I keep at it. For me consistency is the key thing to focus on right now. Just doing something daily. I grabbed what I remembered as a tough but fun workout DVD for this morning: Jackie Warner's "Personal Trainer: Extreme Timesaver Training" DVD. Holy crapcans. It was a tough 30 minutes. I was breathing hard and had to rest a few times and although I tried it with my 5Lb weights I ended up ditching the weights and doing the modified moves for a lot of the exercises and just concentrated on getting through the workout. It's a workout of compound moves in 1 minute intervals...and it's tough. I will definitely do it again but I will try it with my 3 Lb weights first try and get through it all without resting or dropping the weights. I have a long way to go with this one, but I feel really good.
After a walk to work with my cranberry green tea smoothie I am ready for some science.
Have a great day :)
so much salad!
We had a nice weekend. Got a nice visit in with my Dad and had a few good family meals. Ate a bit much and had a good visit with both sides of the family. Even had time to get a bunch of priming done, watch a movie and make some tabbouleh - here's the recipe. It turned out really well and made enough for us to eat off of for lunches all week. The longer it sits in the fridge the better it tastes. Nom. :)
This morning I got up to do upper body work and walked to work. Tonight J is doing his first big dual laser show for an event so I'm going out to support him even though I'll feel terribly tired tomorrow. I can't wait for him to be able to do this - he's been waiting to for ever. He's so excited. I hope he gets lots of exposure and has a great time. There will be funk music so I think all will go very well :)
I must dash. Hope you had a great weekend!
This morning I got up to do upper body work and walked to work. Tonight J is doing his first big dual laser show for an event so I'm going out to support him even though I'll feel terribly tired tomorrow. I can't wait for him to be able to do this - he's been waiting to for ever. He's so excited. I hope he gets lots of exposure and has a great time. There will be funk music so I think all will go very well :)
I must dash. Hope you had a great weekend!
Fabulous darling...
Whoop! It's friday! Bring on the weekend.
My Dad is popping in for a visit on his way to Georgia this weekend and I have some plans to make some new tasty foods this weekend when I have some more time (tabouleh...yum...I've got some cool grains and lentils and a shwack of veggies). I'm also starting up some crabapple mead this weekend as well to get the rediculous amount of apples in my deep freeze out of there so I can do some food prep and start freezing meals and things in advance. Plus there is a family meal on J's side on sunday so it'll be a family and food filled weekend. I spent time last night cleaning the house a bit to prep it to visitor status so I won't have to look around and mutter at my messy house - I can actually use it and relax instead. I like! :)
This AM I did lower body work with some ab work and then made my cranberry green tea smoothie again and had a great sunny walk to work. The workout was three times through:
-15 deadlifts (2X10Lb)
-15 reverse lunges with torso twists (both legs)
-15 squats
-15 ballet reverse leg extensions
-20 but raises, hold and pulses a la Josie
-15 one legged deadlifts (2X10Lb)
-15 kneeling side fire hydrant leg raises
-15 kneeling reverse kicks
...with 20 sets of ball passes and 20 weighted ab rows (10 Lb) in between the sets.
I feel fabulous darlings!
Simply Fabulous .
Off to sciencetown and then...the glorious sunny weekend!
Have a fantastic weekend y'all!
My Dad is popping in for a visit on his way to Georgia this weekend and I have some plans to make some new tasty foods this weekend when I have some more time (tabouleh...yum...I've got some cool grains and lentils and a shwack of veggies). I'm also starting up some crabapple mead this weekend as well to get the rediculous amount of apples in my deep freeze out of there so I can do some food prep and start freezing meals and things in advance. Plus there is a family meal on J's side on sunday so it'll be a family and food filled weekend. I spent time last night cleaning the house a bit to prep it to visitor status so I won't have to look around and mutter at my messy house - I can actually use it and relax instead. I like! :)
This AM I did lower body work with some ab work and then made my cranberry green tea smoothie again and had a great sunny walk to work. The workout was three times through:
-15 deadlifts (2X10Lb)
-15 reverse lunges with torso twists (both legs)
-15 squats
-15 ballet reverse leg extensions
-20 but raises, hold and pulses a la Josie
-15 one legged deadlifts (2X10Lb)
-15 kneeling side fire hydrant leg raises
-15 kneeling reverse kicks
...with 20 sets of ball passes and 20 weighted ab rows (10 Lb) in between the sets.
I feel fabulous darlings!
Simply Fabulous .
Off to sciencetown and then...the glorious sunny weekend!
Have a fantastic weekend y'all!
Nutella and Baileys
I just found a recipe for Nutella and Bailey's popsicles. It's a nutella popsicle (1/3 c nutella + 1 cup milk) only you swap out half (or all, he heh) the milk with Baileys.
Oh my gawd. Summer can't come too soon.
Drool...
Turns out there's a whole lotta enhanced popsicles out there...seriously a lot...who knew?
Oh my gawd. Summer can't come too soon.
Drool...
Turns out there's a whole lotta enhanced popsicles out there...seriously a lot...who knew?
cocoa and cranberries go well together
Quick log. Must dash.
This AM I did my upper body exercises along with some ab work and pushups between the 3 sets. I've upped my sets to 15 from 12. Then I had some oatmeal with cocoa and cranberries and walked the 2Km to work.
It's gonna be a great day :)
This AM I did my upper body exercises along with some ab work and pushups between the 3 sets. I've upped my sets to 15 from 12. Then I had some oatmeal with cocoa and cranberries and walked the 2Km to work.
It's gonna be a great day :)
Whoop there it is
This morning was DVD wednesday. I found workout 1 of Jillian's 30 day shred on BeFit's youtube channel (Really liking this channel for workout options) the other day and decided I would try that. I was a bit nervous, but I must say - I LOVED it. A challenge in some spots, but I did it - all of it. :)
Boom.
It was the exact kind of workout I like - doing sets of compound exercises through for 30 seconds or 1 minute each movement and alternating with cardio chunks between sets of exercises. Nothing tough for the knees either -bonus...and I felt awesome after. I needed to use my inhaler midway through after the cardio, but I was able to keep going through it all with my 5Lb weights and feel really good after. Makes me want to pick up the entire DVD to see what some of the other workouts are like. I work harder when there is someone telling me what to do :)
For breakfast I made my new favourite smoothie. I tossed a handful of frozen blueberries, a handful of frozen cranberries, a handful of frozen kale, half a banana and ~1/4c of cottage cheese and greek yogurt in my blender with 1t of matcha green tea powder and stevia and enough milk to hold it together. YUM. Cranberries and green tea are one of my favourite flavour combinations...it was a tasty breakfast to sip while walking to work listening to a Quirks and Quarks podcast. :) It's finally warm enough to wear my runners for walking to work and I can really feel the difference between them and winter shoes or dress shoes for walking that long (~2Km). I plan to get a new pair of runners this month since these ones are a few years old.
Now it's off to sciencetown.
Later taters!
Boom.
It was the exact kind of workout I like - doing sets of compound exercises through for 30 seconds or 1 minute each movement and alternating with cardio chunks between sets of exercises. Nothing tough for the knees either -bonus...and I felt awesome after. I needed to use my inhaler midway through after the cardio, but I was able to keep going through it all with my 5Lb weights and feel really good after. Makes me want to pick up the entire DVD to see what some of the other workouts are like. I work harder when there is someone telling me what to do :)
Now it's off to sciencetown.
Later taters!
No hard core weightlifting for me
Today I tried to do some lower body work without stressing my knee. I had a cardiology appointment this morning so I didn't walk to work (and got to sleep in a bit muahahah), but I did get the following done:
3 sets of:
15 reverse lunges
20 deadlifts (20 Lb)
15 squats
20 butt raises and hold/pulses (from Josie's workout)
20 kickbacks on my hands and knees (birddogs??)
20 firehydrant side leg raises on my hands and knees
I also did 20 ball passses and 20 ab dumbell rows in between the sets and stretched out afterwards. Good stuff.
My cardiologist gave me the all clear for whatever cardio I wish to do and was quite happy I was exercising again. Sadly, the only thing I was told specifically not to do is (sigh) no heavy weight lifting...so my plans to do more of that later at the gym are not allowed, but I can still work with dumb bells and body weight so I should still be able to do solid workouts. Kinda sucky, but I'm sure I'll be able to set up solid workouts without them. It's always good to hear that you're in good health. I know my home scale is accurate too which is a bonus. Not that I use it much, but it's goot to know it's not totally out to lunch...
At any rate, I have to go be Macguyver and fix a lab instrument so I'm gonna head outta here. Then I get an evening hanging out with my big brudder. Should be a nice evening.
Have a great day :)
3 sets of:
15 reverse lunges
20 deadlifts (20 Lb)
15 squats
20 butt raises and hold/pulses (from Josie's workout)
20 kickbacks on my hands and knees (birddogs??)
20 firehydrant side leg raises on my hands and knees
I also did 20 ball passses and 20 ab dumbell rows in between the sets and stretched out afterwards. Good stuff.
My cardiologist gave me the all clear for whatever cardio I wish to do and was quite happy I was exercising again. Sadly, the only thing I was told specifically not to do is (sigh) no heavy weight lifting...so my plans to do more of that later at the gym are not allowed, but I can still work with dumb bells and body weight so I should still be able to do solid workouts. Kinda sucky, but I'm sure I'll be able to set up solid workouts without them. It's always good to hear that you're in good health. I know my home scale is accurate too which is a bonus. Not that I use it much, but it's goot to know it's not totally out to lunch...
At any rate, I have to go be Macguyver and fix a lab instrument so I'm gonna head outta here. Then I get an evening hanging out with my big brudder. Should be a nice evening.
Have a great day :)
What's the big deal about anchovies?
Had a really nice weekend. The northern lights were incredibly bright on friday night. J and I had a date night and after we went for a late walk and watched them streak across the sky. The pizza at the italian place was amazing...I had artichoke, peppers and olive with goat cheese one with a lemon cocktail. I even tried an anchovie (bleh). I just don't get the appeal. They aren't awful...they are just so overpowering...not what I want on a pizza.
Saturday I spent the day with Heather and we had a great day - brunch at Cora's and an afternoon of shopping and then an evening with her family sewing baby stuff and hanging out. I found a dress to wear to my summer weddings :) Sunday I did some painting and prepped some food for the week for my lunches and after some homemade curry and chapatis we settled in to watch the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special in 3D. Nifty. Nice way to end it all...
Now it's back to work.
Today I did my upper body exercises, some abwork and walked to work. I made a tasty blackberry banana and kale smoothie for breakfast with some cottage cheese. Yum. Today I have a lunch meeting at a place with a ginormous salad bar so I'm looking forward to that. >;)
Tonight I plan to go and get a new paint roller so I can get more painting done. The one I have is so old that the roller keeps coming off...I have never sworn so much while trying to prime a shelf in my life. Argh! I got primer everywhere and was coated in primer before I was done the unit I primed last night....what a gong show. Hopefully once I get a new one things will go faster. There are 6 units with all the shelf pieces to go with them so it'll take a while...then I have to paint them! Sheesh...
Well I must dash. It's coffee break and I have a muffin calling my name.
Have a great day!
Saturday I spent the day with Heather and we had a great day - brunch at Cora's and an afternoon of shopping and then an evening with her family sewing baby stuff and hanging out. I found a dress to wear to my summer weddings :) Sunday I did some painting and prepped some food for the week for my lunches and after some homemade curry and chapatis we settled in to watch the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special in 3D. Nifty. Nice way to end it all...
Now it's back to work.
Today I did my upper body exercises, some abwork and walked to work. I made a tasty blackberry banana and kale smoothie for breakfast with some cottage cheese. Yum. Today I have a lunch meeting at a place with a ginormous salad bar so I'm looking forward to that. >;)
Tonight I plan to go and get a new paint roller so I can get more painting done. The one I have is so old that the roller keeps coming off...I have never sworn so much while trying to prime a shelf in my life. Argh! I got primer everywhere and was coated in primer before I was done the unit I primed last night....what a gong show. Hopefully once I get a new one things will go faster. There are 6 units with all the shelf pieces to go with them so it'll take a while...then I have to paint them! Sheesh...
Well I must dash. It's coffee break and I have a muffin calling my name.
Have a great day!
Spring is here :)
Spring is here. New beginnings. I saw a crocus the other day on the walk
home. That's my official sign of spring...so now it's for real :)
This morning I got up and did my lower body exercises. I picked up a book to log things, so when I get time this weekend I'm gonna start from this monday and log my workouts form now on. I also took some measurements initially last weekend just to be able to see my progress (if any) as I go. I only step on the scale about once a month (it makes me crazy otherwise...and when you're trying to build muscle it can be deceiving). I want to be able to measure how I do by how I feel and how my clothes feel. I want functional strength - to be able to hike where I want to go and do what I need to do in my daily life without strains. Already my pants have lost their uncomfortable feeling they were getting from me over indulging pretty much daily and drinking beer and wine often instead of occasionally. Moderation is the key. After a week of eating well I've lost the wierd sugar cravings I was having which is nice...I no longer feel the need to eat a whole bag of skittles at one go. I have a Lindt chocolate bunny to enjoy this weekend and it will be glorious :)
I also noticed my knee give a few twinges as I walked to work this morning. Yup *that* knee. The one that would periodically act up in the past. I think I may need to dial back a little bit on my knees . I'm so excited to be able to do full workouts again and it feels so good...I'm perhaps being a tad too enthusiastic about things...and that's how you can hurt yourself. So, before I do anything dumb I will scale it back a bit. I have a weekend of rest, but also I will try some other strengthening exercises next week and see how that helps. I don't need to DO ALL THE EXERCISES just because I can now. I may divide my lower body exercises into 2 separate groups and then do them on separate days instead of all of them twice a week. That sounds more reasonable to me...After all, it's all in the process. I want to enjoy every minute of it :)
J and I are gonna go out tonight for a dinner date out and maybe a film or something. There is a new italian place that opened near our house so we're going to check out what delicious things their wood fire oven can make us...our cheat meal for the week...we deserve it. We've become so used to me not really being up to going out or being trapped by the winter ridiculousness that we're trying to reset our minds and find more things to do out together that aren't too expensive...even just going for a walk or preparing a new recipe...catching a movie or a live band. Things to do together not involving Netflix! Cuz he's my favorite person to be with...:) I also get to spend saturday with my bestie who I haven't seen in nearly a month...I am so very much looking forward to this weekend. It's going to get up to +16C. Glorious!
I was thinking on my walk to work today how lucky I am to have this reboot. How I have been able to step back into my life and I am so very grateful for being able to be here. I have gone from bald, achey and unable to climb a whole set of stairs to walking 4K a day and doing a full weighted workout again. Feeling your body move and respond is a wonderful thing...I never want to take it for granted.
This morning I got up and did my lower body exercises. I picked up a book to log things, so when I get time this weekend I'm gonna start from this monday and log my workouts form now on. I also took some measurements initially last weekend just to be able to see my progress (if any) as I go. I only step on the scale about once a month (it makes me crazy otherwise...and when you're trying to build muscle it can be deceiving). I want to be able to measure how I do by how I feel and how my clothes feel. I want functional strength - to be able to hike where I want to go and do what I need to do in my daily life without strains. Already my pants have lost their uncomfortable feeling they were getting from me over indulging pretty much daily and drinking beer and wine often instead of occasionally. Moderation is the key. After a week of eating well I've lost the wierd sugar cravings I was having which is nice...I no longer feel the need to eat a whole bag of skittles at one go. I have a Lindt chocolate bunny to enjoy this weekend and it will be glorious :)
I also noticed my knee give a few twinges as I walked to work this morning. Yup *that* knee. The one that would periodically act up in the past. I think I may need to dial back a little bit on my knees . I'm so excited to be able to do full workouts again and it feels so good...I'm perhaps being a tad too enthusiastic about things...and that's how you can hurt yourself. So, before I do anything dumb I will scale it back a bit. I have a weekend of rest, but also I will try some other strengthening exercises next week and see how that helps. I don't need to DO ALL THE EXERCISES just because I can now. I may divide my lower body exercises into 2 separate groups and then do them on separate days instead of all of them twice a week. That sounds more reasonable to me...After all, it's all in the process. I want to enjoy every minute of it :)
J and I are gonna go out tonight for a dinner date out and maybe a film or something. There is a new italian place that opened near our house so we're going to check out what delicious things their wood fire oven can make us...our cheat meal for the week...we deserve it. We've become so used to me not really being up to going out or being trapped by the winter ridiculousness that we're trying to reset our minds and find more things to do out together that aren't too expensive...even just going for a walk or preparing a new recipe...catching a movie or a live band. Things to do together not involving Netflix! Cuz he's my favorite person to be with...:) I also get to spend saturday with my bestie who I haven't seen in nearly a month...I am so very much looking forward to this weekend. It's going to get up to +16C. Glorious!
I was thinking on my walk to work today how lucky I am to have this reboot. How I have been able to step back into my life and I am so very grateful for being able to be here. I have gone from bald, achey and unable to climb a whole set of stairs to walking 4K a day and doing a full weighted workout again. Feeling your body move and respond is a wonderful thing...I never want to take it for granted.
Madness
“All living things contain a measure of madness that moves them in
strange, sometimes inexplicable ways.”
-Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
“No one can tell what goes on in between the person you were and the person you become. No one can chart that blue and lonely section of hell. There are no maps of the change. You just come out the other side. Or you don't.”
-Stephen King (The Stand)
-Yann Martel (Life of Pi)
“No one can tell what goes on in between the person you were and the person you become. No one can chart that blue and lonely section of hell. There are no maps of the change. You just come out the other side. Or you don't.”
-Stephen King (The Stand)
Sun sun sun here it comes
It's warming up! The last few mornings it's been sunny and around 0 with little wind so I've had some lovely walks to work in the morning. The weather during the day is getting up to 9 or 10 C which is glorious. All the snow we got is gone again. It's supposed to continue this nice weather for the next while, so I'm looking forward to more time outside in the near future.
Yesterday on my DVD humpday I tried out Jillian Michael's Yoga meltdown workout (having youtube on my TV is pretty sweet I must say). I enjoyed it a lot. It was still yoga, but with a bit more speed and reps. It felt like a very nice workout. I will definitely do it again. I have learned I cannot do camel pose...but I am hoping in time I will be able to. My back just does not like to bend that way...yet. I also dug out all my old stack of workout DVDs last night so I have a few things to try out on my random wednesdays. Should keep it interesting. :) This morning I did upper body weight work like earlier in the week, with some chest flies added in for good measure and a bit of ab work along with my tabata bike sprints again. It was a very nice workout and I feel amazing after a nice sunny stroll to work in the sunshine.
We've been trying to eat healthy this month and last night I made greek chicken taco wraps for supper and they were amazing. Spiced grilled chicken with chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion and lettuce with some homemade sour cream tzatziki. Mmm. I had hope to have enough for my lunch today, but we ated them all. Nom. I have some leftover banana pancakes for lunch instead...and I am OK with that :)
Anyways... I must dash. Lots of lab stuff to catch up on today. Have a good one :)
Yesterday on my DVD humpday I tried out Jillian Michael's Yoga meltdown workout (having youtube on my TV is pretty sweet I must say). I enjoyed it a lot. It was still yoga, but with a bit more speed and reps. It felt like a very nice workout. I will definitely do it again. I have learned I cannot do camel pose...but I am hoping in time I will be able to. My back just does not like to bend that way...yet. I also dug out all my old stack of workout DVDs last night so I have a few things to try out on my random wednesdays. Should keep it interesting. :) This morning I did upper body weight work like earlier in the week, with some chest flies added in for good measure and a bit of ab work along with my tabata bike sprints again. It was a very nice workout and I feel amazing after a nice sunny stroll to work in the sunshine.
We've been trying to eat healthy this month and last night I made greek chicken taco wraps for supper and they were amazing. Spiced grilled chicken with chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion and lettuce with some homemade sour cream tzatziki. Mmm. I had hope to have enough for my lunch today, but we ated them all. Nom. I have some leftover banana pancakes for lunch instead...and I am OK with that :)
Anyways... I must dash. Lots of lab stuff to catch up on today. Have a good one :)
Snow again
It's snowing again. Spring is being elusive. There was no walk to work today because the weather is a bit miserable - windy and snowy and I'm not in the mood to walk along a riverbank with no wind cover. Hopefully it'll be nicer by the end of the day for a walk home. This morning I was up and did my tabatas on the bike and then my lower leg workout, with a few ab exercises thrown in for good measure. A nice solid workout. I cooked up some oatmeal with banana and blueberries for breakfast and have a ham sammich for lunch with lots of veg on some fresh baked buns I made on the weekend. Yum.
I discovered this AM that my chest strap for my Polar watch needs replacing. J is worried I may be doing too much with the tabatas so I said I'd wear my chest strap to keep an eye on my heart...but it doens't work right now. You can apparently pry them open and replace the battery which I think I'll try to do tonight. It just has a big watch battery in it and I feel better about reusing it and just sealing it up with some tape instead of buying a new one and throwing the old one out. It seems so wasteful. I figure I'll give it a go- I meant the worst thing that could happen is I break it and have to get a new one anyways...no biggie. I just have to seal it back up again after so I don't sweat all over inside the thing with some tape or silicone. I was curious if it would stay in place with only one breast but it doesn't seem to matter at all. When I get all Macguyver (swoon) on it this week I'll take some pics and post them in case you all want to know how to too.
I can't wait until the snow is done. Mostly because a lot of the grad students wear UGGs in the winter...I think they're ugly (but I'm old so what do I know), but the thing that drives me crazy about them is they aren't tight at all on your ankles so I get a gillion people walking around shuffling their feet on the floor. Loudly. All. The. Time. Yes -it's one of my top peevey peeves next to chewing with your mouth open (which also seems to be a thing for some foreign grad students...sigh). I had hoped UGG season was done, but it must remain for a few more days it seems. Thankfully this time of year the snow doesn't stay and it's supposed to be up to +10 again by the weekend so I'll bide my time and think warm thoughts until then.
Have a great day! I should go science up some things.
I discovered this AM that my chest strap for my Polar watch needs replacing. J is worried I may be doing too much with the tabatas so I said I'd wear my chest strap to keep an eye on my heart...but it doens't work right now. You can apparently pry them open and replace the battery which I think I'll try to do tonight. It just has a big watch battery in it and I feel better about reusing it and just sealing it up with some tape instead of buying a new one and throwing the old one out. It seems so wasteful. I figure I'll give it a go- I meant the worst thing that could happen is I break it and have to get a new one anyways...no biggie. I just have to seal it back up again after so I don't sweat all over inside the thing with some tape or silicone. I was curious if it would stay in place with only one breast but it doesn't seem to matter at all. When I get all Macguyver (swoon) on it this week I'll take some pics and post them in case you all want to know how to too.
I can't wait until the snow is done. Mostly because a lot of the grad students wear UGGs in the winter...I think they're ugly (but I'm old so what do I know), but the thing that drives me crazy about them is they aren't tight at all on your ankles so I get a gillion people walking around shuffling their feet on the floor. Loudly. All. The. Time. Yes -it's one of my top peevey peeves next to chewing with your mouth open (which also seems to be a thing for some foreign grad students...sigh). I had hoped UGG season was done, but it must remain for a few more days it seems. Thankfully this time of year the snow doesn't stay and it's supposed to be up to +10 again by the weekend so I'll bide my time and think warm thoughts until then.
Have a great day! I should go science up some things.
Nice weekend really
Friday was a nice day off. I worked out (leg and ab stuff as before and then I hopped on the bike for 25 minutes). Then I had the weekend off to relax. I got some sewing done (and managed to mangle my finger with the sewing machine...don't ask). I went in with J to co-host his radio show on community radio. We took an extra shift like we do every good friday and had fun playing music and being weird on the air together. Saturday J worked all day so I managed to sew some more and nearly finish the baby sewing I am trying to finish for my friend Heather's upcoming baby. Then we went out to see 2 of our friend's bands play on saturday night. It was nice to be out and see and hear my talented friends and enjoy some live music. Sunday J was sick with something miserable so I had a solo easter meal at my brother's place. We played games and ate good food. Yup it was a good weekend. I hope your weekend was great too.
This morning I got up and did my upper body workout (with some plank weighted arm raises added in for fun) together with 25 minutes on the bike because the weather is freezing cold and now it's time for work. I have to go be all adult and stuff and interview someone for a job. Little do they know :)
And so I leave you with a song by my friend Dylan playing on his step...he was in one of the bands we saw play saturday night.
Happy monday :)
This morning I got up and did my upper body workout (with some plank weighted arm raises added in for fun) together with 25 minutes on the bike because the weather is freezing cold and now it's time for work. I have to go be all adult and stuff and interview someone for a job. Little do they know :)
And so I leave you with a song by my friend Dylan playing on his step...he was in one of the bands we saw play saturday night.
Happy monday :)
Mmm. Eggy oats.
Did my bike tabatas again this AM with the same upper body workout as earlier in the week. They seemed slightly less evil this time. Somehow knowing they are short-lived makes them easier to deal with.
Since the weather is crappy (snow, sleet and strong wind) I didn't walk to work this AM had some extra time for a hot breakfast. I made some oatmeal up with an egg stirred in at the end for some protein with some blueberries and a splodge of milk and honey. Dang. So good. I also made some peach bran muffins last night...I have one staring at me right now waiting for me to get to my coffee break and eat it.
I have a more relaxing weekend coming up than I thought. My Dad was going to stop in for a few days on his way home from his month in Arizona but he has a bad cold so he's just heading on through home. A bit less stress...but I'm still making myself clean up the house even tho it's not really needed :) Then I can sit around all weekend and not look at things I need to do...
Anyways. My muffin is calling me. Just wanted to log today and say hi.
Happy Easter. I hope you all have a nice relaxing weekend :)
Since the weather is crappy (snow, sleet and strong wind) I didn't walk to work this AM had some extra time for a hot breakfast. I made some oatmeal up with an egg stirred in at the end for some protein with some blueberries and a splodge of milk and honey. Dang. So good. I also made some peach bran muffins last night...I have one staring at me right now waiting for me to get to my coffee break and eat it.
I have a more relaxing weekend coming up than I thought. My Dad was going to stop in for a few days on his way home from his month in Arizona but he has a bad cold so he's just heading on through home. A bit less stress...but I'm still making myself clean up the house even tho it's not really needed :) Then I can sit around all weekend and not look at things I need to do...
Anyways. My muffin is calling me. Just wanted to log today and say hi.
Yoga again
This morning I got up a bit earlier and did my entire yoga DVD before I walked to work. It was nice....but I can't get used to the slow pace of yoga. I'm wondering if that means I just need to do more yoga. It seems so sloooooow. I feel good after though. I'm hoping I'll get more flexible. I'm tempted to try a yoga hybrid workout as well, like the one by Jillian Michaels yoga meltdown which is more of a regular workout based on some yoga poses...less mellow, but maybe more my style...what do you all think about yoga? Maybe I need to learn to relax more? I'm just not all that namaste kind of a person...
I had to fast for a blood test I had this AM and I am now happily eating my chia overnight oats and an apple. I must get back to the lab tho - Just wanted to log this in.
I had to fast for a blood test I had this AM and I am now happily eating my chia overnight oats and an apple. I must get back to the lab tho - Just wanted to log this in.
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