Tuesday, February 16, 2010

My name is Nicole, *sigh...and I'm a slacker/snacker

OK, so I am the absolute worst!! I have slacked on on this blog so bad that this morning when I went to log in, I had forgotten my user name =( And it's not just the blog, I have been slacking in several areas of my life over the past 2 weeks. I hadn't completely fallen off the healthy living wagon, but I was holding on for dear life. I have definitely given less than admirable efforts a work as well. I don't know, I guess I got completely side tracked from life. But fear not, I'm back. Let's review the lessons that I have learned:

#1: 5 am workouts are a terrible idea! Well, its just not good for me to have them 2 or three mornings in a row. I haven't completely given up on them, but I think I'm just going to do them once or maybe twice a week. It is pure hell trying to get out of the bed that early.

#2: I have step my workouts up to 5 days a week. Plain & simple. 4 days just won't cut it for me at this stage in the game.

#3: You don't get to "cheat" on your diet unless you've actually put forth a monumental amount of effort. I'm surely not starving myself, but I don't think I should be allowed to have fried shrimp & hush puppies just because I went to the gym 3 days in a row.

#4: I'm back to hating yogurt.....what can I say, I tried.

#5: a chronic snacker such as myself must keep healthy snacks on deck at all times...and I must keep a variety, so I don't get bored. Right now I'm liking muti-grain wheat thins, triscuits, laughing cow wedges, mini bags of pop corn and fruit salads..... I LOVE SNACKS!

#6: Some people don't have gym etiquette! So the BF and I were in the gym last week wrapping up our workout with an ab session. There were two girls near us on mats doing a similar workout. They were cute, seemed to be normal....people that I would assume have some home training. Well, after about 2 reps of "6-inches" and 20 crunches, I started to get a whiff of an extremely foul odor. I looked at the BF with disgust. "Gross! my mouth was open!....I'm struggling to breathe & here you are polluting the little bit of air that I can inhale!!!" He responds with a simple "It wasn't me...what are you talking about?" Shortly after finishing that statement, he got a sudden whiff as well. It was one of those cute girls! Not sure which one, but I'm thinking "how is the other one not passed out dead on the mat?" Either way, one of them needs to bypass the crunches and go see a colon hydro therapist. A dirty colon is probably the culprit for that tummy bulge. Needless to say, we cut the ab workout short that day.

To make matters worse, I tried on a pair of pants yesterday that have been falling off of me for more than a year now. I hadn't put them on in a few months. They actually fit his time!!!! I wanted cry. But instead, I pushed myself extra hard in the gym that evening. I have stepped my level of dedication & seriousness up about 5 notches. I'll be posting another recipe and pics soon. Until then....wish me well. Oh, and I'll keep you all updated on those pants in the future.

Monday, February 1, 2010



This weekend I came up with a dinner and dessert recipe. For dinner I made ginger garlic teriyaki chicken. To maximize health and minimize calories and carbs, it should be served over brown rice, but I was trapped in the house over the weekend because of an ice storm and all I had on hand was jasmine rice.


Directions:

marinate chicken (I used 2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts) with onion powder, garlic powder, Mrs. dash, black pepper, 1/4 cup of teriyaki sauce, 1/4 cup of honey, 1/4 cup of Iron Chef Sesame Garlic Glaze, a few sprinkles of ground ginger & a few sprinkles of thyme. Let the marinated chicken sit covered in the fridge overnight. When you're ready to prepare, heat the oven to 350 degrees. Place 1/2 tsp of olive oil in bottom of your baking dish. Place the chicken in the baking dish. On the stove top, combine 1 sliced green, red & yellow pepper into a skillet. Peppers can be expensive, so you might want to try to find some sort of package that has this variety of peppers already sliced and ready to go. I would not suggest frozen peppers. Next, add one 16 oz can of drained pineapple chunks. Then add about 1/4 cup of chopped fresh garlic root, 1/3 cup of teriyaki sauce & 1/3 cup of Iron Chef Sesame Garlic Glaze. Let the chicken cook in the oven for about 35 minutes...or until done. Let the veggies cook uncovered until tender (20 mins or so), stirring so that they don't stick to the skillet. Serve veggies and chicken over rice. You can add some broccoli, water chestnuts...or whatever you like to the veggies. It came out pretty good. Lots of ginger flavor! Now, there is a decent amount of sodium in this dish from the teriyaki and glaze, so do not add salt!


For dessert I made fat free chocolate cupcakes with fat free chocolate whipped icing! They actually came out pretty good!


Directions:
In a large bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, 3/4 cups of sugar or sugar substitute, 1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 tsp of baking powder, 1/2 tsp of baking soda & 1/2 tsp of salt. In another bowl, combine 2/3 cups of fat-free plain yogurt, 1/2 cup of skim milk, 4 egg whites & 2 tsp of vanilla extract. Heat your oven to 400 degrees and then mix the dry and wet ingredients together. Pour the batter into the lined cupcake pan. You want each slot to be filled about 2/3. Bake for 20 mins. For the frosting....I made some intricate home made frosting, but realistically, to save time, money and energy you can combine 1 package of fat-free cool whip, 1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder & 1 tsp of vanilla extract...voila! The cupcake I have pictured is paired with 1 scoop of vanilla frozen yogurt with fresh fruit topping.
Today is a non-gym day, so I'm just going to do a 10 min ab workout in the house. I'm trying to drink plenty of water, and snacking on some fresh cantaloupe. 5 am workouts commence tomorrow =( Till next time....