I don't have a picture to share today, but honestly, I ate pretty much exactly the same as yesterday's meals, with a few tweaks:
- I had 2 eggs today instead of 1 (and also had 3 slices of turkey bacon, asparagus, tomatoes, and added some sauteed garlic to the mix)
- I drank some hot water with lemon, with my breakfast. I don't really know why that is being touted as "healthy" but it tasted good. I also had my coffee at work sans sugar! (this does not include the sugar that is in the little mini-coffeemate that I put into my coffee...)
- Work was STUPID busy today so I had coconut milk yogurt as a snack and didn't have lunch until 4:30 (which was the same as yesterdays - basically, a grilled chicken salad).
- I ate an orange after bootcamp
It's almost 10pm and I haven't had dinner yet. I'm not sure what I'll have/if anything - I AM BEAT!
Today's workout was with the "vets" - we were partnered up and had to go through a series of exercises at different stations. This is what we had to do in an hour:
50 pullups (max 10) - Kim and I did not get to this
100 Pushups (max 10) - Kim and I got to 50
150 Squats (max 15) - We did this! (first...which was probably not a very strategic move because we were pretty beat afterwards)
200 Supermans (max 20) - Did this too!
400 Lunges total (max 40) - Hell no
200 Double Unders (max 20) or 1,000 Singles (max 100) - I think we got to about 400 singles or so - we lost count hahaha
20 Touch Drill (100 yards, max 2) - yup, did this too.
Chaya, I thought of you as I was doing the pushups! Those things can really wreck your neck lol.
I am really happy with what we did. I don't know if anyone got through all of those exercises in the hour we had. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I think it was even FUN... and I'm looking forward to Thursday's workout!! (tomorrow is an off day - thank goodness, I have to do laundry, buy some new workout clothes, catch up on GH!)
After bootcamp, we had a nutrition talk with one of the trainers. She was pretty bad (bad speaker, I felt bad for her) - but you could tell she was knowledgeable. I bet she'd be better 1:1 so I may try to take advantage of her expertise throughout this bootcamp month. She's pretty jacked and is super curious about nutrition. Key takeways for me, from the nutrition talk, were:
1. Do your own research. Try to figure out what's propaganda versus real science (now, how to do that is an entirely different question).
2. Experiment. Find what types and combinations of works for your body and health.
3. Gluten is bad. (I think I secretly have known this but have been ignoring the physical pains/proof of the "badness").
4. Soy is bad. (Same side note as above.)
5. I am not giving up wine for anybody. I don't care you who are or how fit you are or what you say. So fuck you and give me my glass of wine :-) (Though, I will admit to be drinking a glass of carbonated water as I type this...)
6. Sugar is bad and addictive. This, I for sure know and can personally attest to its addictive qualities.
7. There is a sustainable aspect to food - how animals are raised, how vegetables are tended to (addressing the side effects of pesticides), what sort of enviromental foot print is left when we consider what it takes to get food from the farm to our table, etc. I hear the hippy foodie wackos talk about this all time - especially in my line of work - but luckily, I now live in an area that is abundant with farmers markets and general access to affordable healthy, sustainable food options (some of the "lower end" grocery stores here have fantastic organic sections - it's' amazing).
8. There are different kinds - and flavors - of olive oil. The ones that smell better are worse for cooking with - just use those as flavor enhancers. After hearing that, it made me want to do a olive oil tasting! I just used to buy EVOO - whichever was on sale or sounded most "Italian" hahahaha...never considered that its smell or taste actually meant anything.
9. I love my cats.
10. Hahaha, I put that in to see if anyone would actually read this far down (and to make it to 10 points haha).
Today my ____ is:
- stress: 7/10 (today was a crazy stressful day at work; had a big meeting with CDC where I was, yet again disappointed by the lack of vision of our nation's health agency...)
- anxiety: 7/10
- energy: 5/10
- mental focus: 4/10
- fitness: 3/10 (i did more than I thought i was capable of today but I have a *long* way to go)
- quality of sleep: 4/10
- happiness: 5/10
- financial health: 6.5/10 (I have grand plans in place here, but need to give them time to actually WORK haha) (and thanks to Chaya for this addition! Interestingly, I read an article somewhere about how people who are financially "fit" are also able to lose weight..or something like that. I bet it has to do with being able to stick with small changes/habits until you see the big picture change.) I wonder if we could create some sort of "financial boot camp"....
Ok, so I'm pooped. Looking forward to a good night's sleep. Happy that tomorrow is an off day. Looking forward to Thursday's workout!! WOOOOOOO!!
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Monday, April 29, 2013
Day 1, FitWit Bootcamp
Today was day 1 of bootcamp. I am also trying out this paleo thing as well (for the majority of my meals, and for at least for the duration of bootcamp...I'll revisit once this month is over!).
For my meals today:
1. 1 egg, over easy with sauteed asparagus and cherry tomatoes and a few slices of turkey bacon. I used cooking spray and turkey bacon which I'm pretty sure aren't really paleo but whatever...
2. Coffee and coconut milk yogurt (blueberry flavor). I did NOT add sugar to my coffee today!! But, I did add two little french vanilla creamers lol... those probably weren't paleo. But, yo, not having sugar in my coffee is most definitely a first! You know, I'm not sure if the yogurt is paleo either (it tasted sweet) but it's dairy free, so it met that parameter of the paleo diet.
3. Grilled chicken with veggies - mixed greens, cucumbers, zucchini, broccoli, tomatoes, carrots. I did put a little northern italian dressing on it...also probably not paleo :-)
4. An orange and an apple. Both 100% paleo!
5. Dinner is going to be fish and veggies. I ran out of dressing so this is most likely going to be 100% paleo! Except for the 2 sprays of cooking spray I use when I prep the fish and smother it in cajun seasoning :-)
It wasn't that difficult to put these meals together (with the exception of the little things like cooking spray and coffee creamer and turkey bacon haha). The things I've read so far about transitioning to Paleo indicate that this will be a detox period for my body and that I should expect pretty rough symptoms (e.g., fatigue, headaches, irritability) before I "stabilize"... so far I feel pretty good. I'm hungry for dinner, but that's probably because I sweat more in the last hour than I have for like the last 2 years! So, let me tell you about the workout:
There were about 10 or so of us "newbies" (more "vets" were also part of the camp but they did their own thing so I didn't pay much attention to them.) We did a dynamic warmup that pretty much kicked my ass and then a lot of assessments - # of pushups in a minute (3 toe, 12 knee), # of single jumps in 2 minutes (110), plank duration in 3 minutes (54 sec), # of squats in 1 or 2 minutes (24 i think?). In 4 weeks, we'll do this re-assessment again and the goal is to see that I've improved in these areas. Tomorrow, we're going to work out with the "vets", Wed off, Thursday "newbies only", Friday with the "vets"...
I did the best I could -but it was hard. there were people of all shapes and sizes and abilities - but I am very clearly deconditioned. I can only go up from here. I know I shouldn't compare myself to others in the group, but it was really hard for me *not* to do that. I am going to try to stay focused on myself and my progress...I hope others don't judge me for how out of shape I am. Though, if they do, should I care? Probably not. One of my coworkers is in the group (she was the one who told me about it) so it's nice to know someone. I'm not yet sure of the others in the group - people came with friends and sort of kept to their groups. I tried joking around with people, but it fell flat.. I kind of felt like what I imagine Daddy to feel like when no one responds to his idiocy. I should be nicer to him...
Anyway, I digress. So, I left the workout and could barely lift my arms to hold my steering wheel, to drive home. I'm screwed. OH, and what the hell am I going to wear for 4 workouts/week! I can't wear the crap that I have been trying to pass off as workout gear (3 out of the 4 pants I have all have holes in the inner thighs and the shirts are gross lol...time for a trip to marshalls or target, me thinks!).
I also want to see what health/wellness changes this month long experiment yields, so I am going to rate how I feel on a scale of 1-10 (1, best- 10, worst) on the following indictors:
Today my ____ is:
- stress: 7/10
- anxiety: 8/10
- energy: 5/10
-mental focus: 5/10
-fitness: 2/10
- quality of sleep: 4/10
- happiness: 5/10
Are there other indicators I should track? Please leave them in the comments!
For my meals today:
1. 1 egg, over easy with sauteed asparagus and cherry tomatoes and a few slices of turkey bacon. I used cooking spray and turkey bacon which I'm pretty sure aren't really paleo but whatever...
2. Coffee and coconut milk yogurt (blueberry flavor). I did NOT add sugar to my coffee today!! But, I did add two little french vanilla creamers lol... those probably weren't paleo. But, yo, not having sugar in my coffee is most definitely a first! You know, I'm not sure if the yogurt is paleo either (it tasted sweet) but it's dairy free, so it met that parameter of the paleo diet.
3. Grilled chicken with veggies - mixed greens, cucumbers, zucchini, broccoli, tomatoes, carrots. I did put a little northern italian dressing on it...also probably not paleo :-)
4. An orange and an apple. Both 100% paleo!
5. Dinner is going to be fish and veggies. I ran out of dressing so this is most likely going to be 100% paleo! Except for the 2 sprays of cooking spray I use when I prep the fish and smother it in cajun seasoning :-)
It wasn't that difficult to put these meals together (with the exception of the little things like cooking spray and coffee creamer and turkey bacon haha). The things I've read so far about transitioning to Paleo indicate that this will be a detox period for my body and that I should expect pretty rough symptoms (e.g., fatigue, headaches, irritability) before I "stabilize"... so far I feel pretty good. I'm hungry for dinner, but that's probably because I sweat more in the last hour than I have for like the last 2 years! So, let me tell you about the workout:
There were about 10 or so of us "newbies" (more "vets" were also part of the camp but they did their own thing so I didn't pay much attention to them.) We did a dynamic warmup that pretty much kicked my ass and then a lot of assessments - # of pushups in a minute (3 toe, 12 knee), # of single jumps in 2 minutes (110), plank duration in 3 minutes (54 sec), # of squats in 1 or 2 minutes (24 i think?). In 4 weeks, we'll do this re-assessment again and the goal is to see that I've improved in these areas. Tomorrow, we're going to work out with the "vets", Wed off, Thursday "newbies only", Friday with the "vets"...
I did the best I could -but it was hard. there were people of all shapes and sizes and abilities - but I am very clearly deconditioned. I can only go up from here. I know I shouldn't compare myself to others in the group, but it was really hard for me *not* to do that. I am going to try to stay focused on myself and my progress...I hope others don't judge me for how out of shape I am. Though, if they do, should I care? Probably not. One of my coworkers is in the group (she was the one who told me about it) so it's nice to know someone. I'm not yet sure of the others in the group - people came with friends and sort of kept to their groups. I tried joking around with people, but it fell flat.. I kind of felt like what I imagine Daddy to feel like when no one responds to his idiocy. I should be nicer to him...
Anyway, I digress. So, I left the workout and could barely lift my arms to hold my steering wheel, to drive home. I'm screwed. OH, and what the hell am I going to wear for 4 workouts/week! I can't wear the crap that I have been trying to pass off as workout gear (3 out of the 4 pants I have all have holes in the inner thighs and the shirts are gross lol...time for a trip to marshalls or target, me thinks!).
I also want to see what health/wellness changes this month long experiment yields, so I am going to rate how I feel on a scale of 1-10 (1, best- 10, worst) on the following indictors:
Today my ____ is:
- stress: 7/10
- anxiety: 8/10
- energy: 5/10
-mental focus: 5/10
-fitness: 2/10
- quality of sleep: 4/10
- happiness: 5/10
Are there other indicators I should track? Please leave them in the comments!
hey. i miss you guys.
time to resurrect the dinner (b)log?!? and also sister skype dates?
i guess it would be pretty difficult to come up with what i've been eating for dinner every night since my last blog post, especially since i think that was over a month ago. instead, here are some highlights:
first: last week was philadelphia science festival, which brings together universities, research institutions, companies, and other community organizations in philadelphia to highlight science and how cool it is - and there are some pretty cool events that take place throughout the entire ten days of the festival. i went to a few: first, an event on taxidermy, where i heard a cultural historian speak about sort of the history and cultural meaning of taxidermy and then i watched a taxidermy practitioner taxidermy a chicken in front of us. really. she skinned a chicken and then stuffed it right in front of us. here's a picture:
.JPG)
it was awesome. here's her website if you want to take a look at her stuff - she's a rogue taxidermist (that's a real thing!) because she doesn't generally taxidermy animals into their original form but rather does stuff with it -- like creates wearable taxidermy! after that event, kevin and i went to dinner at alla spina, which was delicious - but kevin actually had the fried chicken there and i'm not sure how he did it after watching the taxidermy demonstration.
a couple other events from philadelphia science festival - we watched an improv comedy show about the history of science, which was mostly really funny, and then on friday, we went to an event titled "beer chemistry" which was all about the chemistry behind beer/food pairing and was held at yards brewery. i think i learned something, but it was also open bar, so i'm not really sure. i'll get back to you on that.
second: DC was a much better work trip than wisconsin was - thank goodness!
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it was actually really cool to be able to meet with some representatives/staffers, particularly Rep. Chaka Fattah, who is the congressional rep for the 2nd congressional district of PA (e.g., half of philly - i voted for him!). here's a picture of him accepting an award from my student, veronika:
.JPG)
he was much more interesting to meet with than the staffer from senator toomey's office (super conservative republican senator from PA - they had fox news playing in his office waiting area while we were waiting for our meeting) -- that guy didn't have any idea why we were there or what the posters on the hill event was or what the council on undergraduate research was - which is fine, because of course they can't know everything, but also kind of was a downer after having met with Rep Fattah, who is so involved in and supportive of undergraduate research.
this weekend, i helped kevin paint his living room/kitchen on saturday (it took us like 6 hours... uggghhhh... but it looks really nice now haha) and then yesterday, i just cleaned up around the house (did laundry which i hadn't done since before leaving for wisconsin), baked (banana bread nutella whoopie pies), and then dena came over so i could help her with some wedding crafts. here's the nutella buttercream frosting, which goes in the center of the whoopie pies (no idea why i didn't take a pic of the whoopie pies themselves):
.JPG)
and of dena and the mess of glitter that happened while we were crafting:
our couch is REALLY sparkly now.
i guess it would be pretty difficult to come up with what i've been eating for dinner every night since my last blog post, especially since i think that was over a month ago. instead, here are some highlights:
first: last week was philadelphia science festival, which brings together universities, research institutions, companies, and other community organizations in philadelphia to highlight science and how cool it is - and there are some pretty cool events that take place throughout the entire ten days of the festival. i went to a few: first, an event on taxidermy, where i heard a cultural historian speak about sort of the history and cultural meaning of taxidermy and then i watched a taxidermy practitioner taxidermy a chicken in front of us. really. she skinned a chicken and then stuffed it right in front of us. here's a picture:
.JPG)
it was awesome. here's her website if you want to take a look at her stuff - she's a rogue taxidermist (that's a real thing!) because she doesn't generally taxidermy animals into their original form but rather does stuff with it -- like creates wearable taxidermy! after that event, kevin and i went to dinner at alla spina, which was delicious - but kevin actually had the fried chicken there and i'm not sure how he did it after watching the taxidermy demonstration.
a couple other events from philadelphia science festival - we watched an improv comedy show about the history of science, which was mostly really funny, and then on friday, we went to an event titled "beer chemistry" which was all about the chemistry behind beer/food pairing and was held at yards brewery. i think i learned something, but it was also open bar, so i'm not really sure. i'll get back to you on that.
second: DC was a much better work trip than wisconsin was - thank goodness!
.JPG)
it was actually really cool to be able to meet with some representatives/staffers, particularly Rep. Chaka Fattah, who is the congressional rep for the 2nd congressional district of PA (e.g., half of philly - i voted for him!). here's a picture of him accepting an award from my student, veronika:
.JPG)
he was much more interesting to meet with than the staffer from senator toomey's office (super conservative republican senator from PA - they had fox news playing in his office waiting area while we were waiting for our meeting) -- that guy didn't have any idea why we were there or what the posters on the hill event was or what the council on undergraduate research was - which is fine, because of course they can't know everything, but also kind of was a downer after having met with Rep Fattah, who is so involved in and supportive of undergraduate research.
this weekend, i helped kevin paint his living room/kitchen on saturday (it took us like 6 hours... uggghhhh... but it looks really nice now haha) and then yesterday, i just cleaned up around the house (did laundry which i hadn't done since before leaving for wisconsin), baked (banana bread nutella whoopie pies), and then dena came over so i could help her with some wedding crafts. here's the nutella buttercream frosting, which goes in the center of the whoopie pies (no idea why i didn't take a pic of the whoopie pies themselves):
.JPG)
and of dena and the mess of glitter that happened while we were crafting:
our couch is REALLY sparkly now.
Friday, April 5, 2013
A Post
I have no cool picture collage to help me narrate recent going-ons, so I can't really think of anything to say. Hm. I'm going to see Jurassic Park tonight!!!!!!!!
Here's a picture of a asparagus & mushroom (!!) risotto Russ made this week, with hot Italian sausage on the side. He cut up the mushrooms reeeaaallly small so I didn't even notice they were there! Yum!
Here's a picture of a asparagus & mushroom (!!) risotto Russ made this week, with hot Italian sausage on the side. He cut up the mushrooms reeeaaallly small so I didn't even notice they were there! Yum!
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Recent Happenings
top row, right to left: 1) the Meows being super cute. And helpful, as Mariposa Guards. 2) Chicken stuffed with proscuitto and cheese, from target (before). 3) the "after" of said stuffed chicken. 4) I LEARNED HOW TO PARK MY CAR IN REVERSE!!!! This is something that *everyone* does here in Atlanta and I never tried doing it, but when one of my minions was in town, she made me do it. And, now every night when I get home from work, this is how I park my car! (Well, the picture is of me parking this way at another minion's place, but it was the first time I had done it so I had to take a picture of it. Der.)
Row 2, right to left: 1) the baby blanket I'm knitting for my friend. i am really digging this pattern! For whatever reason, I had been calling her kid "lizzie lemon" and she just found out the gender yesterday.... IT'S A GIRL! and the blanket I'm knitting just *happens* to be a LEMON yellow!!!! 2) the picture on the UNSWEETENED ICED TEA thing at the burrito place that I got picture #3 from. How funny is this! 3) chicken and broccoli burrito, chips, and guac. I highly recommend broccoli in burritos. AMAZING. 4) scoop of (dairy free) coconut ice cream and mint chocolate chip (full of dairy). The dairy free was made w/ coconut milk and almond milk... also delish!
Row 3, right to left: 1) lizzie lemon's baby blanket, 2) MY MEOW MEOW LOVE, 3) lotus salad with yummy papadum like things and 4) shaken beef over watercress, both of these were lunch from a local vietnamese place that i went to with coworkers. MY BELLY WAS SO HAPPY after this meal. My coworkers and I decided halfway through the meal that we would go there monthly lol...
Row 4, right to left: 1) mine and Suzanne's sandwiches from a local spot called Victory. One her sandwiches was this veggie sandwich made with beets that were prepared like pastrami. My sandwiches were pimento and ham, and a cuban - both ridiculously delicious. 2) I found (award winning!) ravioli at my local market (Savi Urban Market) that is shaped like FISHIES and tastes like mac and cheese. Paired with my favorite summer wine, Casal Garcia Vino Verdhe, and I am one happy chick. 3 and 4) My *other* MEOW MEOW LOVE, hiding in a bag.
Row 2, right to left: 1) the baby blanket I'm knitting for my friend. i am really digging this pattern! For whatever reason, I had been calling her kid "lizzie lemon" and she just found out the gender yesterday.... IT'S A GIRL! and the blanket I'm knitting just *happens* to be a LEMON yellow!!!! 2) the picture on the UNSWEETENED ICED TEA thing at the burrito place that I got picture #3 from. How funny is this! 3) chicken and broccoli burrito, chips, and guac. I highly recommend broccoli in burritos. AMAZING. 4) scoop of (dairy free) coconut ice cream and mint chocolate chip (full of dairy). The dairy free was made w/ coconut milk and almond milk... also delish!
Row 3, right to left: 1) lizzie lemon's baby blanket, 2) MY MEOW MEOW LOVE, 3) lotus salad with yummy papadum like things and 4) shaken beef over watercress, both of these were lunch from a local vietnamese place that i went to with coworkers. MY BELLY WAS SO HAPPY after this meal. My coworkers and I decided halfway through the meal that we would go there monthly lol...
Row 4, right to left: 1) mine and Suzanne's sandwiches from a local spot called Victory. One her sandwiches was this veggie sandwich made with beets that were prepared like pastrami. My sandwiches were pimento and ham, and a cuban - both ridiculously delicious. 2) I found (award winning!) ravioli at my local market (Savi Urban Market) that is shaped like FISHIES and tastes like mac and cheese. Paired with my favorite summer wine, Casal Garcia Vino Verdhe, and I am one happy chick. 3 and 4) My *other* MEOW MEOW LOVE, hiding in a bag.
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