November Workouts Day 5

I took Friday and Saturday off which meant I HAD to do something today.  I didn't want to, but I also didn't want to lose my new momentum. Originally I thought I'd workout in the morning before we did anything, but I enjoyed my morning grog (coffee) a little too long and ran out of time.  Fast forward to 9pm and I had to make a decision. Work out or be lazy. I wanted to be lazy because I felt the mittelschmerz starting and knew it was going to be bad, which meant no squats or jumping or even a good core workout. What to do? Flake and use the onset of pain as an excuse, or power through a quick workout before it hit full force and I was bound to the couch in excruciating pain? I opted to power though until I couldn't do anymore. Arms was about all that was safe so I did the '10 Minutes to Tone: Arm Workout' video again. My arms were still sore from Thursday but "no pain no gain" right?  I swear that is the most hellish 10 minutes! Even though my arms felt like jell-o,10 minutes seemed like a sorry ass excuse to call it a day. Attempted the 'Killer Abs' but couldn't make it past the first 10 sit-ups before cursing womanhood and the shit we deal with on a monthly basis.

I still couldn't give up though. Why not torture my arms a bit more? I mean what's 30 more reps (3 sets of each) of a few easy moves? HA! I got in 2 sets, was afraid to whop myself it the head with a 5lb weight during the the shoulder press and called it a day. By this point I could barely make it to the couch anyway so the timing was perfect.

While this was not my most impressive workout I figured it was better than not doing anything at all. It hurts like hell so it has to be doing something AND if I pop a few Ibuprofen now I should be able to do some serious leg and core exercise tomorrow. 

Healthified Banana Bread makeover

For years I've been making Healthified Banana Nut Bread and it's been awesome. Everyone who has ever tasted it, loves it and never even knows that it's not regular banana bread.

After shopping and restocking the fridge today I remembered I had 3 very ripe bananas that either had to become bread or, well you know. So I decided to make some banana bread. As I was getting out all of the ingredients I thought that it would be interesting to experiment with some Gluten Free Flour that D bought a while back (when I sent him to the store for Almond Meal - don't ask). As I was getting the Gluten Free Flour I noticed I had some Almond Meal left. Hmmm, why not? Usually I mix regular white flour with wheat flour so why not mix these 2? Then I thought, why not swap the sugar with honey and while I'm at it use Coconut Oil instead of Canola oil. Worst case scenario, it tastes like crap, I throw it away and never try to fuck with a baking recipe again. Best case, I have a NEW, healthy, Banana bread recipe. 

Original Healthified Recipe 

1 1/2 cups Gold Medal® whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup canola oil

2 egg whites

1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 large)

1/4 cup fat-free (skim) milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans, toasted*

My New Healthified Recipe    

1 cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour

1/2 cup TJ's Just Almond Meal

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon Pink Himalayan Sea Salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 cup honey

1/4 cup Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil 

2 egg whites

3 med/large RIPE bananas

1/4 cup fat-free (skim) milk

1 teaspoon Bourbon Vanilla

(I didn't have any walnuts)

I had D taste the bread as soon as he got home but didn't tell him that I changed anything. He LOVED it! He couldn't even tell that I had changed anything OR that it was Gluten Free. SCORE! I now have a new Banana Bread recipe. I almost swapped out the fat-free milk for Almond Milk, but I'm still on the fence with Almond Milk. If it had more protein I'd be all over it, until then it resides in the house and has a purpose, but I'm not ready to bake with it yet. 

                    

November Workouts Days 3 & 4

Day 3 - I decided to google, and search some hashtags on IG and also search Pinterest and found more workouts to do. for Day 3 I decided to work on arms and core. I've said it before, but some of these exercises seem easy at a glance, until I start counting the reps. Adding Sumo Squats and Calf Raises on days 1 and 3 means that my legs are SORE. Not just thighs, the WHOLE leg, both legs.  So I thought focusing on arms and core (that was sore too but I can deal with that soreness easier) was going to be giving myself a bit of a break without slacking. I found this 10 minute arm video on FitSugar and it what's 10 minutes right? WRONG again! the woman does not break. It's 10 straight minutes, except when you switch from 3 to 5 pound weights. Of course I thought I would be all bad ass and just stick with my 5 pound weights, plus its all I have. By the 3rd exercise I wanted to cry and just used my own resistance. Still sore as hell during after and today, the day after. 
Here is the video. It really is only 10 minutes and since it is non stop and makes you want to cry I'm going to recommend it and hope to see results sooner rather than later.
http://www.fitsugar.com/10-Minute-Workout-Sexy-Sculpted-Arms-21620326. 

In addition to the arm torture I did the Core Challenge. My arms hurt so bad that I could only do 1 of the planks with fully extended arms, and even then they started to shake after 10 seconds and that has never happened before. 

Day 4 - let the torture continue. Totally sore today. 

Even tough I went to hula and danced for an hour I felt that I had to keep my momentum and do a regular work out. I had intended to take easy, but once I was done I realized that I've lost my mind and am clearly punishing myself for being such a slacker the past few months. 

-I only did 1 set of arms, with 5lb weights. The full image says 3 sets,  but I just couldn't be that cruel, it already hurts just to reach in the cupboard from yesterday's 10 minute torture video.

-I also only did 1 set of the each squat pictured. There are actually 2 more variations (split squat and 1 leg squat) and that also says to repeat 3 times, but 200 squats in one night was enough for me. I can't even fathom 600 in one day at this point. I can't be that cruel yet. Maybe by January I'll have reached that level of insanity but for now 200 squats is enough. Shit, the 30 day challenge doesn't have you at 200 until the very end and I've never made it that far. I'm actually kinda scared, I hope I can get out of bed tomorrow. 

November workouts - Day 2

I almost didn't do an actual workout since I went to hula practice early and danced for approximately 1.5 hours non-stop and my legs were crying, but I came home, made a quick post-dance dinner and then started searching. Our DVD player still isn't working properly and the excuse is getting OLD considering I have a laptop and iPad so really no excuse to not pull up a video or just do more of the "pic workouts." So I found a few more that looked interesting and challenging and picked 2 for last night. I found these doing various google searches. The one on the left is called the "Inner Thigh Gap Workout Routine" and the one on the right is simply "1 set." Considering I was already sore from Monday's workout and had just worked my legs in hula I was already sore so these were pretty hard, but again, TOTALLY WORTH IT!

Today I feel like this, but also my core. It's that good sore that I love to hate but also miss. I like to pretend that the soreness is converting fat to muscle so it's worth it! I find that the soreness really kicks in about 15 hours post workout, which means I may be crawling by this evening. Maybe I'll find some floor workouts for tonight. ;)

The Beginning of the November Workouts - Day 1

Last year I kicked ass on the workout front. I formed a strong love/hate relationship with Jillian Michales and her DVDs. I got fit, felt great and had noticeable results. Without going through all my FB posts I believe I worked out a total of 150 days in 2012. Now that may not seem like a lot to some of you, but considering I hadn't done much in 2011, it was a HUGE accomplishment. This lead me to enter 2013 with grandiose plans to hit the 200 mark. Sadly I stopped keeping track because I lost motivation and I'd be shocked if I even made it to 85 days this year. Oh well, shit happens right? At least I haven't given up. I haven't been as dedicated to Jillian this year but I have done tried a lot of the 30 Day Challenges. I have yet to make it through an entire 30 days, but I've given it a good shot.  Since my motivation has been lacking I thought I'd start out light and chose these 2 workouts that I found on Instagram. Let me just say that they were NOT as easy as I had anticipated but they felt good! Haven't decided what I'm going to do tonight but once I do I will post it.

FB accountability has definitely worked, but since I have been lacking, I am now holding myself doubly accountable. Plus posting here will be much easier to search.

November already?

Whoa where did the past 10 months go? So much for trying all those pinterest experiments huh? Talk about a brief hiatus. Oh well here we go again. No rules this time, just going to post about whatever.

Let's start with some shameless self promotion... Have you checked out my etsy store lately? I think I only had like 1 or 2 items back in January. Well I have officially become totally addicted to yarn and crochet. Last year it was knitting - which I still love but I realized a lot of the items I wanted to make were crochet so I taught myself, with the help of YouTube of course. Now I'm a crocheting fool! I still love to knit, but I realized that I need better knitting needles so until I can get those it's all about hooking!

What about FB, have you 'liked' my FB page? Followed me on instagram? What are you waiting for? What about zazzle for some cancer awareness logo items? Yup I have my fingers in everything, which is probably why I've been such a blog slacker.

Here's a random picture of a 6-week Shiba puppy - Eisha. I got to meet her and her 4 other litter mates (3 girls , 2 boys total) back in October. Why am I posting it? Because I can, and I LOVE puppies (all dogs are puppies in my book) and she wants you to like my FB page too because I make Shiba inspired hats and donate a % of each hat purchase to a Shiba Rescue.

More to come so stay tuned!