exercise

Everyone’s in Crisis!! Better do a Beer Review…

/ foodsweatandbeers / 4 Comments

Good evening ladies and gentlemen, and a happy Hump Day!  Normally, I love Wednesdays, mostly due to the changing of the sales. But there weren’t too many excellent sales today, and so I just putzed around.  Lunchtime was great, as I bared my soul and told you all about No Pants Wednesday (and every day, for me). I was happy to hear how many of you hate pants as well. To all you pants lovers… there’s hope for you still.  After work, I got dolled up in my workout gear, and hit the gym.

I'm workout Barbie!

Tonight, I’m on call for a crisis line. This could either mean nothing, or it could mean a lot of stressful calls. Unfortunately, tonight, it meant a lot of stressful calls. I checked in for my shift at 5pm and then hopped into an AbSculpt class. The teacher this week was that same instructor from the last week I took the class, the pilates queen, and so it was a different vibe of workout. We did some leg circle things, and some nice inner thigh workout that I loved.  I made it through the 26 minutes of the workout no sweat (well, false, some sweat, but you know what I mean.)

Then, it was time for BodyPump. I love taking the ab class before BodyPump, if only to be able to have a jump start on the “good spots” for Pump (which is always a packed house.)  In the middle of Pump, though, I received my first crisis call of the evening, right before the tricep track. I ran out of the fitness room and to a secluded section of the gym, only to return after the 12 minute call (aka right in the middle of the lunge track.)  Even though it was a choppy workout, it was a good one (nice to get some strength training in there after all my cardio).

Work it, now!

After working it, I got TWO more calls, leaving me a little worse for wear in the stress zone. Luckily, the beau took the wheel and cooked up some ground turkey, perfect for a taco salad (what else is new, right?)  I didn’t snap a shot, but it looked a LOT like this:

Deconstruct your meals into salads!

Recycled picture, just imagine that salad with less tomatoes and no avocado, and more salsa and pepper. Either way, it was fantastic.

In honor of #IPADay, we’ve been enjoying quite a few IPAs this week, and tonight, I figured “Why not?!”

Fort Collins Brewery Rocky Mountain IPA (with a fun elephant!!)

The Fort Collins Brewery Rocky Mountain IPA  is described by the brewer as:

An IPA by definition is liberally hopped and higher in alcohol. We made Rocky Mountain IPA by dry hopping for an intense floral aroma and adding a generous helping of malt to create a backbone stable enough to support the characteristic bitterness of the beer.

In my opinion, this is a quality beer (shock shock, another from Colorado) worthy of trying during IPA day (or any day). It was poured into a glass with very little head, coming out a dark orange/brown color.  When I smelled it, I initially smelled the hops (typical with an IPA) but I also thought I smelled some sort of cinnamon or dark spice.  The taste was a little malty, which is why Ryan liked it, and why he wasn’t so turned off by the floral tastes (think Bell’s Two Hearted, that’s what he’s not a fan of, but which I am a big fan!). The only part that I didn’t like was the mouthfeel (hee hee that word always makes me chuckle). My mouth felt sort of dry afterwards, almost like a bitter friction on my tongue which I am not too fond of… Still tasty, but probably wouldn’t go outta my way to get it in the future.  Unless I’m in a fun elephant mood. If that’s the case…. Maybe.

But maybe then, I’ll just watch these funny elephants.

Do you have any plans for IPA Day?

Are you excited for any beer related events? How about any other weekend fun?

I can’t wait for this weekend (which unofficially starts tomorrow!) Peak Brewing Hop Noir glass night tomorrow at Rockfish, then Beer, Bourbon, and BBQ this weekend!!

Zum-bad to the Bone!

/ foodsweatandbeers / 23 Comments

Hey hey y’all!

I’m feeling absolutely FAN-tastic after a killer workout at the gym. I was so stoked for today’s Zumba class because my favorite instructor was back from summer “break” (aka her son or daughter was on a swim team during the EXACT time of my Tuesday zumba classes.) I love her because she just jumps right into things, stays high energy the whole time, and mixes up the music.  In fact, today we did an awesome track to, of all things, a country song!

It involved a lotta belt buckle holding, and a lotta kicks but, most importantly, a lotta shaking it. I get the feeling that my instructor might be a little bit of a country girl herself… There’s a twang in her voice and she held onto that “belt buckle” a little too well to not be….

In fact, she kind of reminds me of some sort of hybrid between:

Kristin Chenoweth's looks and Southern cuteness

Erin Heatherton's shaped (yet still feminine) abs

Beyonce's Bootylicious moves!

It’s truly the perfect storm of Zumba. Her abs are so toned that it makes you wanna do any of the moves she does in hopes to get em, and her moves are so fun you forget when you even started.

Oh, did I mention it’s a killer workout?

756 sexy calories burned

She also tossed in an arms-only track to Justin Timberlake’s “Carry Out” that left my arms shakey.

After having not exercised in two days (and one of them was mostly spent feeling sorry for myself), it was so crucial to get right back into it.  I feel like a new woman. Only sweatier.

I guess it’d only make sense to shower, really complete the process of “new woman”ification.

Do you Zumba?

I Zumba on the reg, but honestly I tend to use it as a “gimme” workout… except with this instructor.  And even though I have a super cute Zumba shirt, I’m not a zumba-holic…. but I saw one girl today wearing a Zumba tank top, a Zumba skirt, and Zumba SHOES!

Ready to take it to the next level? ZUMBA SHOES!

In case you’re in the market for these bad boys, check out McCarley Fitness aka the first website I found that offers them.

Do you have special outfits you wear for particular workouts?

I’d never wear my Zumba shirt to a BodyPump.  Faux pas, I think.

 

Baby’s Day Out: Grown Woman Edition

/ foodsweatandbeers / 7 Comments

Happy Friday night!!  I hope everyone’s weekend is getting started off right!!

I took the second half of today off from work as my shark week was getting the best of me, and I needed some R&R.  After getting some nutrients in my body and laying on the couch for about 2 hours, I was getting a little stir crazy.  It was time for an adventure.

Remember that film, Baby’s Day Out?

Baby Bink!

Well, basically, Baby Bink flies the coop and experiences some crazy baby shenanigans in the big city.  My day was exactly like that.  Minus the crooks and the gorilla and the city. And I’m not a baby so I can drive, not just crawl around.  Other than that…. the same.

First up, Old Navy.  I knew that today and tomorrow, all their swimwear left was only $4.  Alas, the pickins were slim (as in…. hideous pieces that it’s no wonder no one picked them up.)  I started to venture in the direction of the clearance section but, considering I was still feeling a little under the weather, the mere sight of the clearance rack chaos was overwhelming.

UGH, too much work.

Sometimes, I’m fully in the mood for sale hunting. Today was not one of those times.

Up next, I figured I’d swing by whole foods to take advantage of their one day sale on salmon. When I got there, I was promptly told that they were fresh out. AGHHHHHHHHH!

What frustrated me the most was not that they were all out (they’d sold over 600 lbs before 3pm!) but that there was no indication whatsoever.  In fact, they still had their sign up advertising it, which was rude and forced all of us customers, with hope gleaming in our salmon loving eyes, to feel embarrassed as we, one by one, had to ask and be DE-NIED!

YOU SIT ON A THRONE OF LIES, WHOLE FOODS!

In hopes of making the day not a full bust, I went to the one spot that I was sure I would score: Trader Joe’s.  Thanks to an earlier tweet and all the responses from the tweeps, I came home a victor!

Hooty hooooo!

Wine, light kettle corn, whole wheat pizza dough, sweet potato fries, frozen mahi mahi, carrots, Indian foods, light brie (meh, not all it’s cracked up to brie. LOL! GET IT?!) Flax seed tortilla chips (spicy), salsa, pizza suace, soy crackers, seaweed snacks, and a pepper.

I completed my day out with a brief (but HARDCORE) workout for the new release of BodyAttack.  It was AMAZING but I’ll wait to do a full review until I get an actual full class (this was missing 2 tracks).

Not too shabby.

The last track shot my HR up to 187, which I haven’t seen since maybe the last time I did a spin class.  Clearly, she had us working.

Now this Baby Bink is off to watch a movie with a friend and make a pizza.  Perfect evening.

What are you doing this weekend?

What would you do on your perfect day out, alone?

Microwaves vs. Crockpots: A Weight Watchers Metaphor

/ foodsweatandbeers / 9 Comments

Good evening, y’all!!

Today, after work, I took a rest day, as I knew I would.  I spent some time at the grocery store, and came out with a KILLER haul due to sales and bogos.  25 dollhairs for all of this:

Hooray Grocery Goodies!

Well, actually, the box of wine glasses/glass of wine on the left was simply what I was drinking post-grocery store.  I did some cleaning, I drank some vino, and I watched some X-Men and continued to feel like a superhero. It was a true success.

For dinner, we had tacos. Well, I had some taco salad and the beau nibbled some true tacos.  It was a SEXY looking meal.

Delightful!

In the salad:

  • Spinach base
  • 1 roma tomato
  • 1/2 green pepper
  • 1/2 avocado
  • spicy turkey mix
  • salsa
  • low fat mexi-mix cheese!

It was simply the best.

Tonight, I was thinking back on a post I read back in my tumblr days.  The idea was on weightloss and how folks are either microwaves or crockpots.  This post, by the Active Artist, (real name: Alex) basically talked about how different folks lose weight incredibly fast (microwaves) or slow and steady (crockpots).  Please read the post to see his opinion (I don’t wanna sum it up wrong) but here’s my response.

I love this analogy.  I’ve recently been talking a lot about weight loss to my mother, who started my journey with me last March, but fell off the wagon with grad school, five kids, a husband, and a veryyyy busy life to handle. She was asking me questions about losing the weight I did, and how I did it so fast.  However, I just looked back at some old posts and maybe have an addition to this metaphor.

In March, I started my goal to lose weight. By August 12th, I was 181.5, down over 30 lbs.  However, at my last weigh-in I was 172.  This is about 9 lbs since August, which just a month shy of a year ago. So while I lost the initial 30 lbs in what seemed like no time, the last 20 that I’m trying to work on have been like inchworms they’re leaving so slowly.

Part of it may have to do with moving in with someone, and adjusting my eating habits to another person. Part of it may have to do with this newfound freedom of looking good in clothes and feeling great despite not losing every week, because I am eating what I want (admittedly, what I want is often grilled chicken, veggies, salads, etc), and feeling sexy.  But the thing is, I know I can do better.  So here’s my addition:

I think I’m a microwave. A trusty dependable one that’s worked your whole life, only one day, it’s not working. And so your food’s not cooking at all, and you’re confused. Only the thing is, it’s going to end up being something stupid, like it’s not actually plugged into the wall socket.

All I need to do is find that damn plug, and plug back into my weight loss. That, I think, will give my system the jump-start it needs.

And, if you’re not sure, I have mixed feelings about microwaves.

Thanks for reading, I know it was text-heavy.

How about you?  Are you a microwave or a crock pot?

Are you trying to lose weight or are you happy where you are?

Responding to Les Mills Motivational Posters

/ foodsweatandbeers / 5 Comments

Good evening ladies and gents!!

Today, after work, I had two things on my mind: Zumba and Dinner.

While shopping for dinner, I passed what I’ll consider a sign from the powers that be, and stopped thinking about food entirely.

Wine sale? Don't mind if I do.

Clearly, I had to do something really stupid, because when life hands you lemons (or carts full of discount wine), make lemonade (or buy it.)

That's right, Arbor Mist SUCKAS!

I picked up a somewhat classy bottle of Bogle Riesling (gotta celebrate the Summer of Riesling, right?) and an opposite-of-classy bottle of “Mixed Berry” Arbor Mist.  Because sometimes… well, you gotta throw back a bottle of ridiculously cheap wine, college lady style.  I’m hoping that my friend, Veronika, will wanna do a little wine tasting like we did before…. Then I can sneak in that Arbor Mist and see where the night goes!

Zumba Nation!!!!!

Zumba was a success, for the most part.  But I’ll be honest, by the end of the workout, I was feeling kinda ornery and tender in the ankle/knee region.  And as I walked outta the gym, I passed these godforsaken motivational posters that I always see.  Even though I love working out, by the end, I mostly end up hateful towards anything telling me to work harder.  These posters are no exception.  I thought I’d share with you my visceral reactions to these Les Mills Motivational Posters (note, these are all post-workout thoughts, I love motivation and Les Mills programs).

BodyFlow poster.

“Well, I guess… if today was different…. I’d spend most of it in the pose that you weirdos are doing. However, it’s not different, so I’ll try to continue it not looking like a tool. Thanks.”

BodyPump poster

“You’re right. This could be day one.  Day one of getting a massage once a week, day one of sleeping 10 hours a day, day one of PLENTY more things than being fit. I know that you want it to be day one of lifting way more weight than I’m comfortable lifting in BodyPump, but I think I’ll go for the massage. Thanks.”

BodyAttack poster

“You know what, BodyAttack?  The hardest part isn’t deciding to go. I think the hardest part is that damn plyometric track where you force me to jump back and forth doing single lunges in a room that’s so hot I think the ground is actively sweating.  Deciding to go… that was NBD.”

BodyCombat poster

“Well, I know what’s stopping the young lady on the left, and that is the harness built into her shorts.  As far as what’s stopping me… It might be a fear that the giant man in the back is going to kick me in the kidney, or the fact that the girl in front of me refuses to look back when she does those donkey kicks towards my face…  Take your pick.”

Though these posters always inspire me when I’m going into the group fitness room, when I see them on the way out…. Let’s just say that they’re lucky they haven’t been ripped off the wall.

I think I’ll take the day off the gym tomorrow, my ankle was acting up by the end of Zumba and I’d love some time to finally unpack after this wild wedding weekend.

In case you missed the recaps, check out the Wedding Rehearsal and Rehearsal Dinner!

Do motivational posters pump you up, or tick you off? 

For me, it’s a little of both…

My apologies

/ foodsweatandbeers / 8 Comments

Hey all, and happy Sunday night! (sarcasm… I’m so tired.)

Sorry I fell off the face of the Earth this weekend, I forgot my computer charger in North Carolina (the wedding was in Pittsburgh) and… oh yeah, had to be a Maid of Honor on a wedding weekend!!

Everything was wonderful, and I’ll do a few recap posts in the next several days.  In the meantime, I’ll leave you with a few teaser pictures….

Oh, rest stops in West Virginia... you slay me.

Workout Substitution: Bikini tops are SORTA like a sports bra, right?

Everyone needs a little pampering.

It's all about the details.

It ended, as all good stories do, with fireworks...

 

More tomorrow, now we SLEEP LIKE ROYALTY!!

 

Twist and Shout

/ foodsweatandbeers / 6 Comments

Happy lunchtime, y’all!!

This post will be a brief one, as I have loads of packing to do for the weekend!!  Knocking that checklist down, slowly but surely.

That being said, today’s workout was an early morning one, my favorite kind!  I headed over to the gym a little before 7 am for my favorite BodyAttack class at O2 Fitness .  The instructor, Javier, is FANTASTIC and always manages to pump me up despite it being over an hour before my average wake-up call.  Today, though, did not go as smoothly as usual.

My workout looked like this:

Notice anything different?

About 15 minutes into the workout, during a little ski jump agility action, I twisted my right ankle.  Sort of like this:

You know what that feels like, right? MISERY!

Having broken that food in 10th grade (and the other foot 6 years later), I knew not to mess around so the second I twisted it, I fell to the ground, hobbled over to the side, grabbed my stuff, and left.

I finished the workout with some weights, situps/ab work, and even some pushups (hear that Michelle?! I’m trying!!) Here’s proof that I did pushups for once in my life without an instructor demanding them of me:

The proof is in the BEAUTIFUL picture!

I was feeling particularly snarky at the gym after twisting my ankle, when I saw the posters that encourage me to join a group fitness class.  And I decided that would make a hilarious blog post.  So expect it on the horizon, because sometimes… Jordan’s just gotta be rude and bwitchy.

Breakfast was provided by Meghann and Attune Foods from winning on the Healthy Living Summit blog.

De-lish!

The Uncle Sam cereal is delicious, I loveee the flax seeds in it, and it pairs nicely with some blueberries.

Ok, off to pack!!

Ever had a workout related injury?

The Best Laid Plans

/ foodsweatandbeers / 3 Comments

Good morning, early birds!!

So, while yesterday didn’t go exactly as planned, I learned a few things, got a nice workout in, and spent time with the beau.

Dinner was a TASTY one, and very easy at that (mostly because the beau volunteered to finish up cooking so I could pack for MY BEST FRIEND’S WEDDING ON SATURDAY!!)  We picked up a pack of Al Fresco Chicken Sausage on sale at the store, and let me just say… it may have been the best decision of the week.

Hello little weenie-shaped links of goodness!

The flavor we chose was Roasted Pepper and Asiago and for two links, there are a little less than 300 calories.  We used the whole pack, cut up into little disks (as the weenie-shape was making my appetite fade fast).  We added these tender cooked disks to some Reduced Sodium Zatarain’s Jambalaya (a staple in our home considering the beau’s got hardcore cajun roots).  The sausage made this dish.  While I’m always a fan of the Zatarain’s rice dishes (I used to have the red beans and rice for dinner while I was on Weight Watchers at least once a week), this sausage added a whole new level of tastiness.  The Asiago cheese inside was so savory and made the sausage creamy almost.  Jeez, I wanna say creamy, but I feel like that’s not the right word…. Well, imagine a creamy sausage that still retains its “sausage-ness” and that’s what you get.  It was a perfect match.

Also, while craving a sweet treat after dinner, I remembered Chocolate Covered Katie’s Cupcakes for One.  The recipe seemed easy enough and, since I was feeling particularly lazy, I went for the microwaved version.  Well…. either my measurements were off (likely) or my microwave has super powers (more likely).  Either way, it ended up mostly rock hard.  I tried to remedy the situation by adding some chocolate… luckily I had a fresh bag of Adora disks and melted one on top, which made it edible (and full o’ calcium!)  I don’t know if I’m brave enough to try this again, and in the future…. should probably stick to baking in an oven, not a microwave.  And we all know my issues with microwaves…

Today’s workout is BodyAttack, the early morning edition.  Maybe, if I’m lucky, I’ll be able to squeeze some sunshine in at lunchtime.  Wish me luck!

Ever had a baking blunder?  My last blunder was with cooking, not baking, but it actually turned out delicious.

What’s your favorite day of the workweek?  Mine’s usually Thursday, due to an early morning workout, tasty appetizers for half price at dinner, and normally a trip to the mall for funzees….

Enjoy the day!!

Learn Something New Every Day

/ foodsweatandbeers / 8 Comments

Good evening friends!

I loved reading about your opinions regarding the Bridal Party BYOB decision, I think that the final decision will be a fun six pack of beers, with a cheapy bottle of champagne for the fun of the trolley ride.  It’ll be good for pacing myself and even better for deliciousness and options.  I also plan on bringing some water bottles and a tasty snack or two.

So the day went swimmingly well, though not exactly as planned.  Sometimes that’s how the best days work, right?

Around 3pm, I had my work buddy drop me back off at Jiffy Lube.  I know it’s less than a quarter of a mile from my office but honestly, in this nasty heat, even that would’ve left my outfit so drenched in sweat it would not have been work appropriate.  They changed my oil, rotated my tires, and I had a coupon for $10 off.  I got back into the ol’ cav and it drives like a dream!!

Maybe not as good as it drove in 2006...But I definitely don't have many pictures of my car.

I have had my Chevrolet Cavalier for a while now (pushing on 9 years), and it’s gotten me everywhere I’ve needed to go, and back again.  However, it’s also dealt with its fair share of nicks and bumps and rear ends in the time, so it’s always nice when I can give it a little TLC.  I think it’s a girl car, so it wears one of my tiaras on the back.  And this princess is ready for her long journey to Pittsburgh and back.  960 miles on the agenda.  Luckily, though, that’s round trip.  And honestly, having done the 700+ mile trip to Ole Miss and back, I’m not too worried (except for the part where I have to wake the beau up before 6am… that won’t be pretty.)  Oh well, I started packing tonight and hopefully we’ll have everything ready by tomorrow so we can just wake up and go.  That’s the plan.

The plan for working out was AbSculpt followed by BodyPump.  Alas, AbSculpt turned out to be a totally different experience, as the substitute instructor was (GASP) a pilates princess.  Real talk, this woman was flipping her legs around and doing core workouts that my puny ab/back muscles struggled to handle.

Really, what person thought "Hey, this probably works out some muscles." then just did it? (Source)

The craziest part?  The woman instructing the class was just casually chatting the entire time, like she wasn’t even doing more than standing in line at a coffee shop.  Meanwhile, I was gasping for breath as I tried to “inhale through your nose, exhale through your mouth.”  Read: choke an occasional exhale out and sound like a pregnant woman in Lamaze class as you inhale… Cute, right?

What did I learn from the class? I learned that Pilates is HARDCORE. Much more than I ever thought. I definitely gained a new respect for Pilates…. as well as the desire to take BodyFlow, because I sense a challenge to my muscles (and my drive to have a stronger core… something I could really use.)  I learned that my abs…. they need a lotta work.

Since I got more of a muscle/core workout and less of a cardio blast in, I skipped Pump and hit the elliptical instead.  A hard fought 33 minutes later, and I was drenched and exhausted enough to head home.

610 calories, and I forgot to turn my HRM on until halfway through ab-class

I thought I would have some sort of protein shake or something like that when I got home, but all my Almond Milk was at the office… Next option?

Kiki the Kiwi. Wait, you don't name your food before you eat it?

Here’s another thing I learned. I don’t really like kiwi.  I don’t mind it as a topping in my FroYo, or in a giant fruit salad…. but alone, it just doesn’t do it for me.  Oh well, so glad I only bought one.  Save those tasty oranges for the long trip to Pittsburgh.

Now I’m off to watch The A-Team… maybe I’ll learn what boys see in this kind of flick?  Luckily, I don’t need to learn what I see in it… I’ll give you a hint.

Ok, it was a big hint.

Hee hee hee….

Did you learn anything today?

Have you ever done pilates? TELL ME YOUR WAYS!!!

The Little Meal that Could

/ foodsweatandbeers / 14 Comments

Good morning friends, neighbors, and countrymen (and women).

Last night was a blast as Ry and I watched the first episode of this AWESOME new show called Alphas (which is GREAT, if you like sci fi [or syfy] or super powers like X-Men, or anything wild like that), and oops, I did end up drinking the last Endo IPA from Carolina Beer Company.  However, I was informed that they are now owned by Foothills Brewing (which I have a super sweet glass from, woo!) so maybe the beers will improve (thanks, Michael!)

Well, before I sat my booty down on the couch to watch the show and drink too many beers for a Tuesday night, I decided that it was a great day to Zumbaaaaaaaaaa at the gym!!  AKA I really wanted a chance to rock my new Zumba shirt:

You like? I like!

PS I promise, I was off the clock when I took this picture and that’s why I’m playing dress up in my office.

Anyway, the workout was fantastic, though it made me painfully aware that I am not a dancer and merely an athlete trapped in a Zumba-phile.  Oh well.

771 calories burned? Don't mind if I do.

Then, when considering the food left in the pantry post work, and after meeting up with the beau in the grocery store…. it hit me.  What to have for dinner.

Chicken Cordon Buffalo Bleu(s)!!

Here was my plan:

  • Take some chicken breasts, knife them hollow
  • Marinade them in some sweet Ken’s Buffalo Sauce Marinade
  • Dredge them in some egg mixture
  • Stuff em with some stuff (Laughing Cow Blue Cheese n’ bacon for me, cheddar n’ bacon for Ry)
  • Then panko bread crumbs
  • Fry them in some EVOO
  • Eat them up

Seems foolproof, right?  Woops.

I skipped the egg mixture, coated in bread crumbs, stuffed em with some stuff…. then went into the pan.

Well, the panko bread crumbs fell off nearly instantly.  And some of the cheese came outta the stuffed breast.  And this is what it looked like:

Beautiful? No. Delish. Mhm....

I’ll be honest, I won’t even bother giving you a formal recipe, because I think that you can kinda understand it was sort of a bust, appearance-wise. But trust me, it hit in all the right tastebuds.

I paired it with some steamed vegetables (corn/carrots/peas/green beans) and voila, dinner of champions.

Ok, worktime followed by oil change time.  Knocking that list down one at a time.  You love it. I love it.

Ever have any cooking blunders that ended up delicious?

Are you a fan of buffalo chicken anything?

I go nuts over the stuff.