Walking holiday

In an attempt to sleep less and make it to TurboKick & PiYo, I woke up at 7:45 and had breakfast.

Then I walked to the gym. I was bringing my mat so running was not an option today. I wanted to see how long it would take me to walk - 22 minutes according to Google maps. It appears so much shorter than 1.1 miles that it is.

I listened to Catching Fire and encountered random table cards on the sidewalk.

I haven't been to a TurboKick class in almost 2 weeks! I was antsy and scared for the new round. My knees hurt a little during the workout. My thighs are quite happy for the work though. Though I was sluggish in TurboKick, I enjoyed PiYo. It may be my favorite. PiYo showed off some of the strength I've earned from the LiveFit trainer. I can do actual pushups now by the way. :)

My hungry cousins wanted to meet for lunch. We chose Fortune Cookies so I could easily walk over.

I went to their other location before they opened up this one near us and like their healthy Chinese food.

What is this starter? Gross.

I went with chicken and broccoli and brown rice, which I skipped after a few bites because it was dry.

My cousins dug into sweet & sour chicken...

And orange chicken. I tried both and they were excellent.

Instead of hitching a ride, I decided to walk over to the bank and then to the market for 99 cent strawberries (mmm). My feet are worn out.

I'm glad I got some walking in today because it looks like cloudy skies and rain for the next few.

I keep saying that I'll paint my toes/fingers and grooming my eyebrows but this has yet to happen. Maybe tonight.

Work begins in less than 2 hours. Time to rest and put together some sort of dinner. 

WIAW: For the Love of Broccoli

I woke up to sunshine and a sore posterior. I totally didn't expect it since the workout yesterday wasn't so taxing.

First stop was a new find Baguetier Bakery in downtown Huntington Beach. I found it on Yelp yesterday and you know how I love new bakeries. They're a Parisian bakery with a Mediterranean flair. Unfortunately, at 7:45AM, they only had quiches: turkey and bacon minis, broccoli and beet (ew?), and sweet potato and Gorgonzola quiche. I went with the latter. It's huge. I had 1/2 of it with coffee.

When I came home, I topped off the sampling of quiche with a salad made with spinach, broccoli, goat cheese, cranberries, and spicy peanut dressing. I love this picture! Look at the florets of broccoli.

I stopped by Trader Joe's for some ingredients: dried mango and white chocolate... except they were out of white chocolate. Averie (Love Veggies & Yoga) mentioned they had been seasonal, but I'll hit up another TJ later to see if it's true.

I ventured into the frozen section to check out Dorot herbs. I saw them over at not martha. Aren't they the cutest? I don't need garlic, basil, or cilantro though.

Lunch was very simple today: I worked on my batch of Jamie Eason's turkey meatloaf with asparagus. :/

After work, I was super hungry. I had some almonds, a pumpkin protein bar, and then quickly made Love Veggies and Yoga's no bake white chocolate & mango cookie dough bites. Yep, I did find white chocolate chips at a TJ's near my work.

They were delicious. I melted some white chocolate to meld these together since my chopper didn't pulverize the cashews & oats well enough. :(

I took a 45-minute nap before cardio barre fusion, which ended up being just TurboKick.

Today's workout was great - my heart is still beating out of my chest 45 minutes later and I have a stomachache, which means a) I'm hungry, b) I worked my abs, or c) all of the above.

I had half of a Shakeology Greenberry to give me some energy. I already had some food in my belly so I thought 1/2 was enough... and I don't quite like Greenberry anyways.

I'm showered and now it's time to fill my belly with another staple: chicken and onions with broccoli. Broccoli feels good and warm going down. It is indeed, VEGGIE LOVE this month!

What shall next week's veggie be? After that sweet potato quiche and Fitnessista's sweet potato and almond butter combo, I'm thinking sweet potato!
What's a veggie you can't get enough of this week?

Last day

To cap off the year, I woke up late (kind of) and decided on TurboKick Best of Vol 6. I thought it would be a nice change... and I have all these DVDs still in their shrink wrap. I liked it, but part way through, my left ankle hurt so I took it down to low impact. Well, ya know what? I felt the moves on my bottom more so than I did with high impact.

Work started at noon and ended at 4 so that leaves me plenty of time for... not celebrating New Years Eve really. I'm just going to do the usual, maybe break out some beer.

Brunch: 2 egg whites with jalapeno almond cheese and a few pieces of leftover chicken + green beans

With almond milk & rice nog coffee:

Snacked on almonds and favorite fro-yo after work.

For dinner, at around 4: slice of pizza + 3 soy chicken wings

I also stopped by Trader Joe's for a couple of items for the week:

A carb

(source)

Maybe next time I can try the gluten-free version as well:

(source)

And for tonight, for just under 5 bucks:

(source)

Happy 2012 all!

No snow

Snow would be a wonderful excuse for staying in bed, but no, it's already sunny and I was reluctant to get out from under the blanket.

On today's agenda, farmer's market, workout, library, and... not so sure.

This was my first time to Orange Home Grown. It's a small farmer's market, but they definitely have unique vendors. Today, they had free coffee and baked goods from Chapman University. I needed the coffee!

I also loved that they have a banging logo.

I picked up Sweet Lilikoi's chocolate croissant to try. I was drawn to the design of the packaging and the beautiful crafted pastries. I've always wanted to try a chocolate croissant too. The chocolate spilled over and made chewy crusts of chocolate on the sides of the croissant. Then there was the big surprise, the secret pocket of chocolate in the bottom. I just though the bottom was thick, but NO!, a piece of chocolate stayed intact in the bottom. Maybe if I heated it up, it would have been more delicious.

I found the closest 24 Hour Fitness in Orange. It's two stories and recognized as a "24 Hour Fitness Sport," which means it's bigger, and thus, similar to the one I go to normally (Bella Terra in Huntington Beach). However, this gym has a strange layout... even the group X room.

I did like it more though because it was spacious, clean, and though reviews said it smelled like B.O., I did not notice. Must be used to it? I felt like they made an effort to correct it too - I saw some air fresheners. Another advantage was that the bathrooms and showers don't have the same entrance/exit because it makes the floors gross for those who just have to pee.

Because I was there for TurboKick, I liked that there was lots of natural lighting in the group X room and also downstairs where I biked before class.

Biking was effortless today and TurboKick was fun. I had an endless amount of energy.

Now for lunch: Miracle Noodles with green beans (lots!) and some canned chicken in Rising Moon's organic pasta sauce.

I just made pumpkin pie spiced almonds. I can't pay $6-7 for Planters. I left them in too long though and burned some.

Now for the library and to sign something I forgot for my second job.

1st of tha month: August

I love when months start on Mondays! It made me think of Bone Thugs! Love them.

I was thrown a curve ball this morning as I trekked with all my belongings - basically my laptop - for a mile.

I finally made it to a later Turbo Kick class with 20+ minutes time to get on this strange elliptical machine, which is actually an "adaptive motion trainer." The machine allowed me to do either steps or stride like a gazelle.

I didn't have a TV to watch though.

Turbo was equally awesome. I was pointed to as the example for advanced options. During one of our Turbos (HIIT), a guy came in who complained about our loudness by shutting down our music! He said he was a lawyer and if we have to open the doors for air, we shouldn't even be occupying the room! It was pretty dramatic and thus, funny. :)

Lunch was fresh salmon steak over romaine.

As for the rest of today:

• 7:45AM: breakfast - 1/2 c. 0% Fage yogurt
• 20 mins on the AMT machine
  
• 9-10AM: Turbo
• 10-11AM: Bank and bills
  
• 11AM: Quick rinse
  
• 11:30AM: lunch - salmon over romaine
• 12-2PM: TV & naptime
• 2:30PM: snack time - 1/3 apple & 1/2 c. Arctic Zero Mint Chocolate Cookie
  
• 5:30PM: bites of blueberry & strawberry banana donuts from The Donuttery
  
• drove around for fun
  
• 7:15PM: dinner - salmon over romaine
• 9PM: green juice from Mother's Market
  

Second go at S.E.T. & pyramid training

Press play to hear this Turbo song on while you read: Beyonce's "Runs The World (Girls)" with a long intro...



On the schedule for today:

• 15 minutes biking
• 8:30 24 S.E.T.
• 9:30 Turbo Kick
• 10:30 30-minute Amp'd Abs

The S.E.T. instructor was much better. She wasn't smiley AT ALL, but she was fit and made me tired. I conversed with a fit chick on the weights to use. I've realized I'm pretty strong. :) We only used free weights in a pyramid. It's pretty easy to understand:

The strength training pyramid means starting with a lighter weight and higher reps, then as you increase weight you decrease reps. - Strength Training Woman

I looked it up and Fitness Health 101 gives a great bullet-pointed section on reasons why pyramiding has been around for so long.

• Muscles are exhausted with the first set then required to adapt.
• Warm up muscles with lighter weights.

There are benefits, but of course, I had to look for some problems as well: I was exhausted by the time we got to heavier sets.

I've actually heard more about the reverse or inverted pyramid. If you start with heavier weights, you're fresh and more able to lift. Also, your medium and light weights will be easy even if they're really not.

Though I want to use the word pre-fatigue, apparently this is incorrect. Pre-fatigue actually starts with a single-joint movements and moves onto multi-joint movements.

The most productive way to perform an anaerobic exercise is to tire a particular group of muscles as quickly as possible, and keep them tired during the course of the exercise. - Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution via Getting Stronger

I heard this term in a weight lifting class at my previous gym when we did push-ups before chest flys and chest presses.

Review: MaraNatha Honey Almond Butter

I love Fridays off because I get to go to Turbo Kick. Sometimes I don't go to the gym at all on Fridays because I have to wait until 6:30 (when I get off at 5:30) to go to hip hop. Though fun, I don't sweat as much and I'm no longer a fan of getting on a machine for longer than 30 minutes before a class.

Kickboxing was tough today though cause well, I hate shoes. My feet are officially wide and I have problems with front/back movements - they hurt my feet. Side to side movements are okay.

Yoga was great and went by really quick. I felt strong and relaxed. I need to remember this for next time I don't feel like going.

I'm feeling a little lightheaded and I was hungry after working out. Usually, the only time I'm hungry is for lunch and I force myself to eat at other times of the day. Okay, sometimes I'm hungry at breakfast.

This is the first time I've ever felt lightheaded and wanted to throw up after working out. I hear about people actually feeling this way but I never have even after 4 hours of working out.

Yeah, gross there. I'm having a good post-workout snack. I've been eating it everyday for 3 days now: Brown Cow plain Greek yogurt with 15 grams of protein and some NEW almond butter sauce.


Yesterday, I made my almond butter sauce (equal parts almond butter & almond milk) with smooth Barney Butter. It came out thin. On my trip to Amazing Savings today, I found MaraNatha natural honey almond butter for $4.99. It made for a much creamier and thicker sauce and there's a hint of honey.

A weekend on the successful side

I got a speeding ticket. Sigh... and decided to skip 2 days in Savannah cause of it.

Charlotte kind of sucks for me. The YMCA was huge and the trainer had me and my Asheville instructor go up to demonstrate the warm-up and punches with her. I think I surprised my instructor when I told her I had practiced this new round. Anyways, tons of fun.

I went for lunch at Luna's Living Kitchen where I had the mystical mushroom spaghetti made with zucchini and butternut squash. Since it was Saturday, there was an indoor market next door so I bought some chocolates from The Secret Chocolatier.



Paper Skyscraper had tons of cool things I didn't need. Instead of hitting up Ikea, cause I can't buy anything anyways, I went to Amelie's French Bakery where I delved into their amazing cream puff and a cinnamon chocolate macaron. Yum.

When I finally got home, I went out to meet Conor and friends at Barley's before we went to Asheville Brewing. I had 3 rum and Diet Cokes while they ate a ton and drank beer and ninja bombs (car bombs with a different beer). Afterwards, we went to the LAB where I had a couple of Kamikazes and a French 75 (gin, champagne, lemon, simple syrup). We intended to go to the Dirty South, a part of the fancier Southern, but it was kind of dead. So in addition to hanging out with Conor, it was Asian Josh's birthday. We tried to go to a party afterwards, but it was dead so we all went home and I finally fell asleep at 3 or so. I would've been okay had I not kept eating leftover PB cupcakes I made the other night... :/

Today, I slept in till 11:15, did Bob Harper's Cardio Rev Conditioning workout, and went with Yancey and Luis downtown since it was so gorgeous. We walked around looking for a suitable lunch that we found at Pack's Tavern. We sat on the back patio, overlooking the downtown mini park. I felt like we were living in a small corner of a big city. Anyways, they ordered some fancy burgers: Mt Mitchell and Chipotle Ranch. I liked the Mount Mitchell better.

I had a peanut butter and grilled cheese sandwich with a side of tomatoes and cucumbers. I liked the combo of classics so much Luis and I went to buy some jalapeno almond cheese for my lunches this week.

Luis and I hung out, watched "Little Fockers," and he brought his table so I could get a nice massage. I took a nap immediately afterwards and have been tired since. I got hungry late though (cause I ate so late and woke up late) so I decided to have something salty - shirataki noodles with an egg.

Now I'm up till I can digest all this food. :(

Happy Pi Day!

I didn't realize today was 3.14 until just a few hours ago so no pie for the day.

I've successfully made apple pie and several faux pies (sweet potato whoopie pie and pumpkin pie snickerdoodle bars). I'm fairly intrigued by the Long Beach lime pie so someday, when it's National Pie Day in January, I'll bake that.

Might as well since I forgot my sneakers today and didn't have any in my car! It's insane because I have so many other shoes I never wear in my car.

Anyhow, today wasn't too bad. I started the day off with a V-Core protein shake at 9:15AM. It was tough waking up because I didn't get to bed until 2AM!

For lunch, I ate a spring roll with avocado and spinach. I also had a slice of cantaloupe.

At 5PM, I finished off my Pink Lady apple.

I forgot my sneakers and a parent was late so I decided to skip step, get sweet potato chili cheese fries from Rosetta's Kitchen again!, and nap.

I woke up, did "Burn It Up" of the "Slim in 6" series, and also practiced punches for Turbo Kick Round 42. :) Tomorrow, kicks.

After, I had a couple of celery stalks with peanut butter and chocolate chips cause I don't have any raisins. Plus, I prefer blueberries.

Little miss turbo

Yes, that's right! I'm certified. I was exhausted because I didn't go to bed. I woke up half way through the night and searched for teaching jobs in California... part time is too much work so I might as well be full-time. However, I need to make sure I can go back to school with in-state tuition.

Shakeology kept me going for awhile, but I got hungry and ate half of a Pure Bliss mocha java bar on the way to Greenville, SC.

We got the workshop and got some goodies including Round 42. We did the whole round later with the instructor watching us to award us a level of instructorship from in-training to gold. I'm neither but somewhere in the middle. Part of the problem is that I like being close to the front then I'm unable to see what the instructor is doing.

At lunch at 1PM, I drank a Tera's Whey Pomegranate/Cranberry Goat Whey. It has some fantastic stats. It is a little expensive though...

For the practical, I did better because she chose our spots and mine was a few rows back. I thought this would be difficult to follow; it worked out well though.

I nabbed the Elite '11 with 11 DVDs, got a free round, bought a Turbo Fierce shirt and a sweet little boxing glove key chain. :) I'll post on those later.

It was pretty fun day overall except one of the girls we went with was pretty annoying.

I got dropped off super hungry and looked for something tasty. I chose Rosetta's Kitchen for non-raw food. It took forever to get my order, but I ended up with chili cheese sweet potato fries. Yum yum.