Monthly Archives: February 2013

5 down. 35 to go.

I promise. I have not been lazy… Okay, I’m lying. I’ve totally been lazy. But only because I’ve been sick. And not just with a cold. I finally went to the doctors and yep, sinus infection. On the plus side, my voice is finally coming back. If you consider the honking and squeaking instead of words, coming back.

I have to say. Despite being sick, I’ve maintained my eating healthy and calorie counting. I’ve splurged a little bit on comfort food (grilled cheese, ramen noodles, etc.) but made sure I stayed in my daily limit. And it paid off!

I got on the scale this morning and had officially lost 5 pounds!


Yep. I totally felt as excited as that girl.

I know it doesn’t see like a lot…but I can definitely already feel my pants loosening up and just feeling overall a lot better health wise. As soon as the coughing subsides, back to to the gym I go. I mean, I need to lose another 5 before I head to DC in March!

Cue disgusting picture. I know nasty… But that’s what I lost!

Source

Okay short post today. Just be forewarned… When I lose another five, you may see the Carlton dance happen.

 

 

Just kidding. Or you’ll totally see it now :)

An Active Weekend

Happy Monday everyone! Big surprise, we got more snow overnight. Oh the joys of living in New England. At least it made for a lovely morning with the sun shining off the snow covered trees!

Downtown Amesbury

My never-ending cold is currently ahead in the standings. Just when I though I was beginning to feel better this weekend, I woke up on Sunday morning minus my voice. Touché cold…touché. I could talk a little bit yesterday, however today, it’s gone. Cold – 1 Eryn – 0.

Despite my cold, I had a great weekend and I hope everyone else did too! I started it out on the right foot, beginning Friday night by hitting the gym with Nick. I was in a bit of a funk on Friday afternoon and after a solid 45 minute workout, I felt great and back to myself. Instead of my normal 2 miles on the treadmill, I decided to up my workout by climbing on the elliptical. I turned my music on and went to town. Despite my miles screaming and gasping for air, I zoned out and just went as hard as I could. All of a sudden, 12 minutes had gone by! I couldn’t believe it. Initially, I planned for a 30 minute workout, but instead of aiming for that goal, I started giving myself little challenges. First, I wanted to hit 2 miles, which I did around the 20 minute mark. Then I aimed for 2.5 miles, followed by 30 minutes, which quickly turned into 3 miles. At one point, I had my speed up to about 7.6 (never happened to me before!). When it was all said and done, I had completed 3.03 miles and burned 315 calories in 35 minutes! I was so proud of myself. I haven’t done that in a long time!

The proof.

While I waited for Nick to finish up on the Stairmaster, I hopped on a bike for about ten minutes. 45 minutes and 370 calories later, my weekend had begun.

Dinner is usually the real adventure in our house. At night, we are usually both so exhausted that we eat the easiest thing we can, which usually is salads or sandwiches. Friday night, despite being exhausted, I wanted to make ‘pizza’. A restaurant across the street from my work began making pizzas using tortilla wraps as the crust this past week and I was DYING to try it out myself. Nick made his Mexican in style while mine was more Greek. Below is how I made it.

Tortilla Pizzas – Greek Style

  • Taco sized whole wheat wrap
  • 2 tablespoons of Tribe Everything Hummus as the sauce
  • 2 oz of Grilled Chicken
  • 1/2 cup of chopped mushrooms
  • 1/2 cup of black olives (my obsession, although probably not a healthy one)
  • 1/2 cup of Mexican Cheese (Clearly not Greek, but only shredded cheese we had)

After completing putting it together, we baked the pizzas for about 10 minutes at 350. Basically until the tortilla looks crispy and the cheese fully melted.

When we pulled them out, they smelled DELICIOUS! I couldn’t wait to dig in.

All done!

Eating it was a challenge. We ended up folding it like a taco….thus turning it from a pizza…to a taco.

I also treated myself to a glass of one of my favorite wines, Cupcake Pinot Grigio. I’m a huge fan of all of their wines. They are inexpensive and well-made!

Saturday was a typical busy day for me. I teach riding lessons at the farm I grew up riding at. I teach all beginners and love every second of it. After arriving a bit early to see what my day would look like and realizing I had a bit of time, I saddled up my favorite lesson horse and headed to our indoor arena for a morning ride. Horseback riding has always been my escape. It’s my yoga. Every time I ride, I hop off feeling refreshed and ready to conquer the world. This ride was no different. Lucas and I had a great ride and we spoiled with a yummy peppermint after.

He’s just the cutest.

The rest of the weekend was filled with errands, cleaning and a bridal shower for one of my good friends on Sunday (I’m a bridesmaid!). And of course, trying to coax my voice to come back. Doctors appointment today to see what’s going on!

This morning did start on the right foot, despite not being able to talk. A cup of hot coffee was waiting for me thanks to my wonderful fiancé (Current coffee obsession: Vanilla Macadamia Nut by Kauai) and a protein shake for breakfast. I’m a big fan of the Lean Protein for Her shakes. They aren’t chalky and they taste like chocolate ice cream. In the past, I’ve mixed it with water but today I used Silk Almond Milk. We recently made the switch over to Almond Milk in our house and are loving the change.

Planning to hit the gym tonight as long as the coughing fits subside and the doctors says its okay. Either way, it’s day 3 of The Gorilla Workout!

What did you do over the weekend to stay active? Did you discover a new favorite recipe?

Squats: Challenge Accepted

Happy Friday everyone! I woke up to the warm sun coming through my slider, a nice hot cup of coffee…oh, and some extremely sore muscles from Day 2 of The Gorilla Workout. Yesterday's workout may not have seemed like much for someone who is out of shape as I am, it was definitely to easy. Day 2 consisted of 2 rounds of 15 Superman's and 15 Dead Bug's. The Superman's aren't awful and remind me a bit of doing 'The Swan' in Pilates, except instead of just your chest, you pick your legs and arms off the ground.

The Dead Bugs were a different story. For one thing, this move solidified what I've always known. I have ZERO coordination. Zip, zilch, nada. Like it wasn't even an out of shape thing. It took me, literally, three minutes, just to figure out how to put my left leg straight and my right arm back. It shouldn't take anyone that long to figure that out. Secondly, they look fairly innocent a first. Until I got about 5 or 6 deep. Then I wanted to cry. Clearly I have no ab strength right now.

I wish I looked as graceful as that. She's making it look easy....

Source

But we got through it. Of course we snuck a peek at Day 3 which is 4 rounds of 10 modified push-ups and 10 squats. Which of course called for me attempting a squat. This led into quite the discussion about how I'm doing them wrong and Nick proceeding to show me. As I attempted to do them the correct way, I realized that I flat out could not do one without lifting my heels to get down. Of course now I've realized that when I did Day 1, I probably did them completely incorrect thus not helping myself at all. Then another thought goes through my head…'Am I really THAT out of shape that I can't even do a squat?!' I blame my short tendons from my years of riding… (Totally a legit excuse right?). For the record, it can not be used as an excuse because I should be able to lengthen them by stretching and I am in fact just wicked out of shape.

So when I woke up this morning, I had brand spanky new determination at mastering squats. I was going to be able to do them if its the last thing I do! I may have to use a wall for a bit to build up some strength but I'm going to do it. So as I contemplated this post over my new favorite breakfast, Black Cherry Chobani with Cinnamon Raisin granola, I reminded myself that the best way to overcome something challenging is to work through it and challenging yourself. So I consider myself challenged.

Mmmmm....breakfast!
On a side note, every time I hear 'squats', I immediately picture LMFAO busting into the room and begin singing…. Is that weird?
 

Planning to hit the gym later for some cardio!

What is the one exercise that you find the most challenging? How did you overcome it?

 

 

Gorillas and Pickles

We last left off at Day 1 of the 3 Day Military Diet. Let's just say Day 2 never came to fruition as the said cold turned into a killer. And by killer I mean, I ended up flat on my back for three days with an Upper Respiratory Infection (URI). Yep, instant de-motivation to get healthy. When I'm sick, the last thing I want to do is focus on what I'm putting in my body. Which, looking back, probably would have gotten me healthier quicker.
Just as I'm starting to recover from that, thanks to some strong antibiotics, and preparing myself to jump back on the healthy train, I received some news that kept me derailed. My wonderful 92 year old grandmother had passed away in her sleep. Even though I had 'prepared' myself for it, it never makes it any easier. The week after that was full of comfort food and beer, while trying to fight might URI turned cold.
After about 2 1/2 weeks of comforting myself with my favorite foods, Nick and I decided that it was time to get our butts back in gear. For real this time. Normally, I go straight to Weight Watchers. It worked in the past for me, but after signing up and losing $55 bucks more than once in the last year, I decided to change it up. Instead, I signed up for MyFitnessPal.

The view of my home page from my iPad!

I've heard great things and know a lot of people who have been successful with it so I figured I would give it a whirl. I've never counted calories in the past. I tend to get a bit over obsessive about it. But this time, it's been really keeping me on track!
Initially it was allotting me 1200 calories a day, which I quickly learned was absurd for me. I also learned that I had somehow set my weight loss goal to the hardest one possible thus effectively starving myself. After making an adjustment, it now had me at 1520 a day. Much more attainable. I started with the app on 2/11/13 and weight in at 188.7. As of yesterday morning, I was at 184.4 for a total of 4.3 pounds lost so far! I'm being strict, but I'm also allowing myself for that splurge. It's only natural!
Okay. Enough on the background…again. I tend to do that every time. Guess I better get into more of a routine with this! What's really happening is my new found favorite workout known as 'The Gorilla Workout'.

I'm obviously at level one.

If you haven't heard of it, go check it out at my link above. It sounds silly, but let me tell you, for someone who is as out of shape as I am, it works. I could barely move on Tuesday. Needless to say, Tuesday was a rest day for me! But tonight, it's back at it! 2 reps of 15 dead bugs and 15 supermans!
The name of it definitely has me wondering if someone was obsessed with The Jersey Shore… Or with Snooki. But hey, if it works, I will totally promote it.

Coincidence? I think not.

Unfortunately, I haven't made it to the gym, but I have discovered some cardio videos on Comcast that I do enjoy. They aren't super high impact, but they are making me realize just how out of shape I am. I'm taking it slow, but will hopefully start my Couch to 5K training soon! It may not be pretty, but I'm going to become a runner!

Pretty much says it all.

I'm also happy to report, I'm back to horseback riding! For those of you who don't know, I was an avid rider from the time I was 9 until about 21-ish. Pretty much when I graduated college and begin teaching riding lessons more and riding less. It became more of a once a month thing, instead of a two to three times a week thing! Thankfully, I'm making the time to ride at least for a short amount of time on Sarurdays when I teach and in an adult group every other week (except last night because… SURPRISE! I am sick…again.)

Riding back in the day.

Also, for the record, I learned last night that a WHOLE dill pickle (the kind you buy in a giant jar from Sam's Club), yeah – they are zero calories. Now I know why Snooki had an obsession with them!