I Love It When a Plan Comes Together

Today I came home at lunch to enjoy some quality time with Henry, so I was able to go to the gym after work! Normally I don't like making unnecessary trips (like driving home on my lunch hour), but something's got to give here, and I think this is the best way to make this work. Henry and I are looking forward to May, when we move into a permanent residence in a neighborhood with sidewalks. Until then, we're just going to do what we can. I'll come home at lunch, and Henry will be the adorable, loving pet he is.

Also today, I figured out what to eat and when during the day to keep energy levels high and not be starving when I get home for the night. I can't figure out a way to correct that run-on sentence-- sorry. Because I know how curious you are, here it is: 8:30am coffee; 10:30am PB&J on whole wheat; 2:30pm whole wheat pita with turkey, hummus, and olives and a thing of greek yogurt; 6:30pm frozen dinner with veggies and rice; 9pm 4 whole wheat crackers (pre-workout); 10:30pm that smoothie from a couple entries ago. I know it seems a bit high on carbs and a bit low on veggies, but I'm working on it.

The Challenge

Ok, I'm now a two-being household. That means my comings and goings mean something not only to my schedule, but to Henry's as well. So.... right after Henry on the list of priorities comes to gym. It seems to make the most sense that I get up and go to the gym before work, come back home and get ready for work, then come straight home after work. But that requires waking up, which is not something I'm very good at. Today Henry let me sleep until 9am; I thought he'd wake me up at 7 or 8. I went to the gym as a single dog owner before, so why does it seem more difficult now? This week I'm going to try the morning work out. If this doesn't work well, I'll try to make a night work out schedule (which I prefer), but I think it's better for Henry if I do a morning work out. So just do it and quit making excuses!

This is Henry telling me to quit whining and start sweating.

Power Breakfast

My mom told me about this smoothie recipe that Food Network personality Alton Brown likes, so I made a couple of adjustments and plan on using it most days for breakfast.  If you want his original recipe, which uses bananas and does not use protein powder, you can look on foodtv.com and search through his recipes.  I don't like bananas and do like protein, fyi.

Power Smoothie

1/2 c. skim milk

1/2 c. mango/peach juice

1 c. frozen berries

1 scoop your favorite vanilla flavored protein powder

Put all in blender jar and blend till smooth.  I use my stick blender... just put all ingredients in a plastic mug and immerse the blender and blend till smooth.  

This drink has under 400 calories and you can drink on it for an hour-- it makes a lot of smoothie.  Also, it packs a ton of protein and fiber.  And it's delicious!  Great way to start the day.  A couple of days ago I  used blueberry juice, and the drink was just SO BERRY-Y.  Using the mango-peach juice (V8 Fusion brand juice) lightened it up the perfect amount.

New Fob

I got a new fob, and I am able to access the gym 24/7, although I don't take full advantage of that.  The fob even works, I used it last night.

I'm Trying, Y'all

See that light grey appendage on my keychain?  That's my fob.  It's function is to let me into my gym during non-staffed hours.  I went last night after work, around 9pm, and wasn't allowed in.  Spirits undaunted, I went home and did lots of push ups and sit ups, vowing to wake up early to go in the morning when a staff member was there.  Woke up, got ready, went to the gym... still no entry, and apparently no staff member was there, because the door was locked.  Went back to my car and called the gym.  The manager answered, saying she would be there at 9:30am, could I wait in the parking lot?  Well, not really, 'cause I have to get ready for work.  So I'll stop on my way to work, get a new fob, then workout tonight.  I'm not giving up!

Beet It!

This was not so much cooking as it was heating, but it's still something I did in the kitchen, so there.  This piece of stuffed salmon is from Trader Joe's.  I think the stuffing was cream cheese, shrimp, and dill.  Tasty.  But the beet!  I was astounded by the yumminess of the beet.  I cleaned the beet well, keeping the skin in tact so the color inside was preserved.  I also rubbed a bit of olive oil over the beet before loosely wrapping it in foil and baking at 425 for about an hour... I removed it from the oven when a knife slid into the beet (through the foil).  I worked the skin off, then cubed the beet and sprinkled it with a spice mixture from, you guessed it, Trader Joe's.  300 calorie dinner, so I had a glass of wine with it.

Technical Difficulties

Ok, it should work to comment on posts again, but I can't get it to put those little checkboxes under the entries... I've told it to enable this feature, but it's not enabling.  I'll keep trying.  Also, CSI Miami tonight directed by Rob Zombie is cool.  That red-headed guy with the sunglasses on this show just cracks me up.

Also, while at the gym today I watched Deepak Chopra  talking about people's need for instant gratification.  He said when a person is thinking about eating a piece of cake right now, even though it may contribute to heart disease or diabetes in the future, he'll eat it.  He said don't think about 20 years from now, just think about one hour from now.  If you eat a big plate of onion rings or something, odds are in an hour or tonight before bed you will feel bad.  I'm going to try to think like this.

Exclamation Points!

Back from the gym, had a big, bad workout. Started with 25 minutes on the elliptical then 35 minutes of resistance with a trainer. Planks, crunches, windmills, etc... I'm out of shape!! But I feel really great now. We discussed nutrition a little bit, and I'm ready to do this! Ok!

Let's Go!

Ok, reader(s)... who has a gym membership but doesn't use it enough? Who has a treadmill at home that's being neglected? Everyone, that's who. So let's just do the right thing and use our memberships and at-home fitness equipment, alright? It's got to be a little easier if we all do it, don't you think? I'm going to the gym now, and I'm going tomorrow, too. Ugh, this is so hard to get into, but after a couple of weeks, it's alot easier.

And the show V is coming back on at the end of the month!

February's Over!

March 1 at last! The longest month with the fewest days is gone for almost a year, thank goodness! I'm kinda figuring out a routine here in my new job and temporary place to live, but things will change next week when Henry comes to live with me again! I can't wait!

Saturday I took lots and lots of musculoskeletal MRIs.

Sunday Aunt Sandy and I explored a bit of Indianapolis. We started at the Indiana State Museum, which had a traveling Abe Lincoln exhibit from the Library of Congress. The exhibit contained a lot of neat stuff, but it was so dimly lit even my young(ish) eyes had some difficulty reading everything. The rest of the museum was like a ghost town, so we were able to linger over the exhibits detailing Indiana's history of running the natives off their land and later wearing white KKK robes and hats (I feel like there's a better word than 'hat' to use here, but I can't think of what it is). But really, there was a bunch of interesting stuff there. They had the timbers from that loch they dug up in New Haven back in the 90's, and old mail order catalogs from the early 20th century. Oh! My favorite part was the 3rd floor where they had all sorts of taxidermied animals posed in little tableaus.

Then we went to a restaurant Crystal and Chad took me to a couple of weeks ago-- Bosphorus, a Turkish restaurant in the Fountain Square area. We had delicious, spicy lentil soup and shared an appetizer platter. My favorite is the baba ganoush, and Sandy really liked this eggplant relish and the hummus.