New BodyRock Challenge

October/November 30 Day Challenge

Alright so after healing my foot and then taking a week off from bodyrock (eeek I know... more on that later) I have started a new 30 Day Challenge. This one is set up a bit differently than the May 30 Day Challenge. There will be instructed/real time work outs, usually 12 min, and then a bonus work out (3 min) Monday through Friday each week. My goal is to do another 30 Day Challenge following these work outs that started on Oct. 15. I will do the Monday through Friday and I also will begin running again this week. I started my new 30 days yesterday (10/29). I also plan on adding in extra sets here and there or some extra free weight work outs because I want to push myself a little more this time around and this challenge doesn't have the specific sculpt work outs like the May Challenge did.

If you want to do this with me Day 1 begins here! at BodyRock.tv

Apparently all the Monday through Friday videos are with Lisa-Marie who is my personal favorite so that has given me more motivation to keep doing it. Also these are in real time. If it works for you awesome. I typically watch the video first to see how to do the moves then try to start my interval timer the same time she starts and mute it so I can listen to my music/own interval timer. It's nice to have her video on mute though while I'm going so I can look back at the computer if I forget the next move.

Some tips if you don't have equipment that they use:

Instead of a sandbag you can use pretty much anything... I use a tent bag with the tent and everything in it plus I put a 10lb weight in it. You can use a backpack with some heavy books, free weights, pillow cases with some stuff in it and tied off, a gallon of water, anything! Depending on the work out and how they are using it you can use a variety of things.

Find a way that you can add a little resistance or just do the work out without equipment. It's still a good workout typically. If they are doing squats with the bag up on their shoulders just do the squats, if they are using the balance ball or ugi ball to elevate their arms or legs for push ups, just do the push ups without it. If you focus on doing the exercise with proper form and can get a few extra reps in it will still kick your butt usually.

For the dip station I have used two sturdy chairs. Other people have used couches, counters, etc. If you don't have anything do a variation. Maybe do a triceps dip with just one chair and then add an extra move.

If something requires a pull up bar... I do a different work out. I can't hang from anything in my house, if I tried just hanging from the door frame it would break. I don't have stairs or anything. If you have something use it and if not try to do a different work out that is focusing on some of the same muscles. One example is when they do knee raised from the pull up bar I will do crunches or tuck abs but holding a weight above my head, straight arms, and slighly above the ground.

If you don't have weights or are just starting out find something. At the beginning I only had 10lb weights so that was too much for a lot of reps. I took two cans of food (heavier things like chili), stacked them, and taped them together.

Lastly, the interval timer. If you are doing it with the video in real time you don't need your own. If you want one to set your own I use the iphone app pictured below. It's free but a little tricky. Set the high to 50 and the low to 10 but don't add a rest and then set it to repeat for however many minutes you are doing the work out. It will ding at the end of your 50 seconds and then again at the end of your 10 seconds (rest time). If you type interval timer into your app search it will look like this....

Cucumber Feta Greek Dip

I pinned this Recipe from Fitness Magazine and decided to try it out. You can click the link for the original recipe but I will put what I did below since I made some very minor changes and made a smaller version of the dip. This dip is SO good! If you like that cucumber dressing stuff they put on gyros you will like this.

Ingredients

• 1 cup Plain 0% Chobani Greek Yogurt (or any greek yogurt I'm sure, this recipe is just a Chobani recipe)
• 1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, finely chopped, and squeezed dry in a kitchen towel
• 1 container crumbled reduced fat feta (4 oz.)
• 3 stalks green onion finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• A couple dashes of dried oregano, garlic power, and black pepper
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Directions

• Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Can let sit for an hour or over night or serve immediately. Serve with pita chips, whole wheat pita bread, or veggies.

Photo is property of Chobani. It just looked like a bowl of dip and my bowls/photo didn't make it look as good as it tastes.

Gluten Free Oat Flour Pancakes

I bought some oat flour and wanted to experiment with it. The following is my recipe for Gluten Free Oat Flour Pancakes. I found some recipes and changed them based on what I had. The end product was pretty good. If you aren't counting calories or anything they probably would have been awesome slathered in butter and syrup! But without that they were a tad dry so I may tweak them a bit on the next go around. *Update: someone suggested adding mashed banana to add some healthy moisture!

**I read somewhere that if you buy store bought oat flour there may be trace amounts of gluten from it being processed in the factory. You can make your own with a food processor from oats or you can buy certified gluten free if you are worried about it/have Celiac's. It doesn't make a difference to me so I used store bought organic oat flour

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup Oat Flour
• 1 egg
• 1 Tbsp fat free milk
• 1 tsp brown sugar (probably could use a little more for a sweeter pancake)
• 1/8 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

• Turn pan onto medium-low and if your pan sticks put a little oil/spray  in it (mine is pretty non-stick so I left it alone). Add all ingredients into bowl and whisk together. Makes two small/medium pancakes
• Topping: Add a splash of water, frozen mixed berries, and about a half packet of Stevia (could use sugar or agave too) and simmer until you get a soft berry topping.

And with topping, mmm :)

Frustrated

So my foot is messed up. It's no ones fault but my own for wearing boots which were too small. Well the left is fine but the right was too small and apparently my right foot is bigger than the left? Never had this problem before but the right one is a tiny bit tight and after a few nights of wearing them my foot is swollen and I can't walk on it. I will be doing some crunches, sitting arm exercises, and i don't know what else... but the next 30 Day Challenge will be pushed back along with starting running again. Day 2 of icing the foot and taking anti-inflammatories commence :(

2 Low Calorie Meals with Sandwich Thins

Here are two things I like to make using the Arnold or Orowheat (depending on what part of the country you live in) 100 Calorie Thins. They are healthy, really easy, and tasty.

Toast with Avocado and Egg

This is about 170 calories and very well balanced. You get protein, healthy fats, and whole wheat. I think it is the perfect breakfast or addition to lunch. All you need is a hard boil egg (see my post about doing hard boiled eggs in the oven-so easy!), a sandwich thin, and 1/4 of an avocado. You can toast the sandwich thin or not. So good! It's like a healthier fried egg sandwich.

Veggie Pizza Thins

So each thin with toppings is about 130 Calories depending on what kind/how much cheese you use. I use 2% mozzarella and little bit of 2% sharp cheddar. If you want the bread crispier you can toast it first since you don't need it in the oven long to melt the cheese. To the 100 Calorie Thin I added some marinara, onions, spinach (and mushrooms if i would have had them), and cheese. Place in oven for about 5 min. at 450 or until cheese is melted to your liking. I usually will do both halves of the thin to have two mini pizzas for a meal.

30 Day BodyRock Challenge Completed!

Woot woot! I have officially finished the BodyRock.tv May 30 Day Challenge!

I stuck with the schedule, despite some confusion around week 4 with what work outs to do (see week 4 update for clarification). I have seen some real changes in my body, strength, and fitness level. I have been doing BodyRock workouts on some the active rest days and have been adding extra sets to my work outs to make them longer and have transitions from doing all my push ups from my knees to doing quite a few with proper form. I love BodyRock and feel like this is something I can really stick with. I have really changed my eating habits as well and the combo has been awesome. I am eating fairly low carb but lots of veggies. I have cut out most refined/white carbs but still try to get some whole wheat/grains in each day. I try to have protein in each of my meals and I am using portion control. See some of the foods I've been making lately under the recipe tab above!

Here is my 30 Day Before and After Picture.....

I can't wait to see Day 60 :) I plan to do one of the older 30 Day challenges next and incorporate running. I ran a 1/2 marathon in April and have probably ran about 15 miles total since then so I need to get back on the road. I will post the new schedule and links for which one I choose.

Want to start BodyRocking??

Here is the link to Day 1 of the May 30 Day Challenge
The easiest way to find the next workout is to click the link at the bottom of the previous day. So at the end of the post for Day one (right before people's comments) will be a link for Week 1- Day 2. I just go to my history from the day before and then click the link for the next. They are in the process of re-doing the site so there is some organization issues but if you're willing to be patient and look around a bit you can find the work outs, calendar, and lots of helpful tips! You don't have to have the equipment. I don't and I have been able to do most things. I've used a tent bag with canned food in it as the sand bag, I use chairs as a dip station, I don't have a pull up bar so I just do a different work out during that 50 seconds. It's really easy to modify the work out to fit what you have and your fitness level. I have quite a few posts about BodyRock so check out the tab above for more info.

Counting Calories

I've read numerous times that some of the most successful people when it comes to losing weight count calories/keep a food journal. I had gone back and forth with weight watchers for a couple years and could never quite stick with it so I thought there was no point. However about a week ago I thought I would give calorie counting a try as a way to stay on top of eating healthy and not let a little snack here or there undo my whole day without me realizing it. I decided to download Calorie Counter- FREE but Everyday Health, Inc.

There are plenty of other apps out there to choose from and I could pay a couple dollars and not have to look at adds but it really doesn't bother me. You are able to add food either by typing in a name and the calories (or all the nutrition info if you'd like), you can look up recipes, scan barcodes to add a food (it doesn't recognize everything), look up food by typing in the name (ex: Cracker Barrel Sharp Cheddar 2%), and so on.... The app is also nice because you type in some basic info and it helps you set the number of calories you should consume each day depending on how much weight you want to lose per week as well as a healthy goal weight based on BMI. It considers your level of activity so if you are pretty active daily or lead a fairly sedentary lifestyle it will take this into consideration. You can also add in exercise or activity to see how many calories you'd burned.

As you add your food in for each day it will keep track of the totals based on how much fat, protein, carb, sugar, etc. you should consume in a day. So although I am mainly counting calories and trying to go low carb I have realized I need to watch my sugar intake and increase my fiber.

So far this has been working really well. It's easy enough to look up food or at least find something similar if they don't have the exact brand of what you are searching for. I have my phone with me pretty much all the time so it's convenient enough to add throughout the day and not have to write things down to look up later. I feel like this suits me much better than weight watchers. Although it works great for some people it doesn't work for me. On weight watchers my two glasses of wine a night would take up a huge portion of my points (almost 1/3 of my daily points) but if I'm just looking at calories it's only 250 calories for two 5oz glasses so it doesn't use up as large of a percentage of my daily allowance.

Cauliflower Pizza Attempt #1 and #2

So I've been wanting to try this cauliflower pizza recipe for awhile and my friend and I finally attempted it the other night.... We will say attempt because although it turned out pretty tasty I would like to make some changes and try it again soon. I followed these directions from Eat-Drink-Smile.com

Ingredients

• 1 cup cooked, riced cauliflower
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp crushed garlic
• 1/2 tsp garlic salt
• Olive oil (optional)
• Pizza sauce, shredded cheese and your choice of toppings* (We sautéed chopped onion, red and yellow peppers, and mushrooms and then added spinach, mozzarella, and a little cheddar cheese when we put on all of our toppings. )

Directions

To "Rice" the Cauliflower:

• Take 1 large head of fresh cauliflower, remove stems and leaves, and chop the florets into chunks. Add to food processor and pulse until it looks like grain. Do not over-do pulse or you will puree it. (If you don't have a food processor, you can grate the whole head with a cheese grater-this is what we did).
• Place the riced cauliflower into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 8 minutes (some microwaves are more powerful than others, so you may need to reduce this cooking time). There is no need to add water, as the natural moisture in the cauliflower is enough to cook itself.
• One large head should produce approximately 3 cups of riced cauliflower. The remainder can be used to make additional pizza crusts immediately, or can be stored in the refrigerator for up to one week

To Make the Pizza Crust:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick cooking spray.
• In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup cauliflower, egg and mozzarella. Add oregano, crushed garlic and garlic salt, stir. Transfer to the cookie sheet, and using your hands, pat out into a 9" round. Optional: Brush olive oil over top of mixture to help with browning (didn't do this step, it "browned" just fine haha)
• Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.
• Remove from oven. To the crust, add sauce, toppings and cheese. Place under a broiler at high heat just until cheese is melted (approximately 3-4 minutes). (Not that high/long!!)
• Enjoy!
• Note** toppings need to be precooked since you are only broiling for a few minutes.

My Take on the Recipe 

So I would use a little extra cauliflower rather than one cup or plan to make a smaller pizza cause ours got pretty thin. Also do not broil for 3 min. Maybe 1 or 2 max. What I think I will do is leave it at 450 but put under the broiler or on the top rack for a few min. Broil made it burn and thankfully I set the timer for 3 and not 4 min. I will also use my pizza stone next time (love that thing! The bf made a Digorno pizza on it while we made this one haha) Minus the very thin crust and burnt edges it was really good!! The crust was still pretty bread-y tasting. We had to eat it with a fork since it was so thin and kinda fell apart but like I said it was great! I look forward to attempt number two! Here are some pictures of our results!

Before baking...

poor little burnt edges...

But..... VERY tasty final product!

**2nd Attempt Update**

I made this again and it turned out better. I made the crust with just over a cup of cauliflower and about 3/4 shredded cheese (2% fat but that probably doesn't make a big difference). When I spread it out it this time I made it smaller in diameter, about 8 inches and thicker. Cooked for normal time, added topping and then put back in on regular/middle rack at a slightly higher temp (500) for a few minutes rather than under the broiler. It didn't burn and turned out more pizza/bread like. The more you let it cool the more it will set as well.

Turned out SOO good!

Week 4 BodyRock Confusion and Challenges

Confusing Week 4/Week 5 

First off let me say with the change in the calendar (both of which are posted in earlier posts) things get a little confusing at Week 4. If you are doing the 30 Day Challenge and get to the next work out by clicking the link at the bottom of the previous day then there are multiple links/posts between Week 3 Day 5 and Week 4 Day 1. I've realized these are technically Week 4 and then when you get back to what actually says "Week 4 Day ..." that would be the fifth and final few days of the 30 Day Challenge.

So not realizing this I did the Couplet Workout on Week 4 Day 1 and then skipped ahead past the bodyrock lite work outs and unlabeled ones so I got to the ones that said "Week 4..." and now I'm out of the scheduled workouts with a week left of my 30 Days. I'm annoyed but if you look at the dates you can see what work out were supposed to be on which days if you correlated it with May. I'm irritated but just going to go some repeat work outs or random ones from the website until I'm done.

Don't get frustrated. Even though the Couplet isn't technically one of the labeled days it was an AMAZING workout, so intense and 20 minutes long (you can make it 30 if you do it 3 times through) but it felt really good and I was able to just keep pushing. Then the sculpt that went with it was great and the flow was nice because it was more fluid than some of the other ones.

If you want to do the couplet workout (technically week 4 of 30 days) here is the link:   http://www.bodyrock.tv/2012/05/21/couplet-workout-body-heat-workout-new-warm-up-flow/

If you want to find the 5th Week but labeled  Week 4 Day 1 without clicking through everything here is the link:  http://www.bodyrock.tv/2012/05/28/week-4-day-1-show-your-skin-bodyrock-burn-sculpt-flow-workout/

Update/Challenges 
So I'm on Week 4 Day 4 and things are going well. I am seeing more muscle and definition and the fat layer covering that is slowly getting smaller. I had a it of a set back this weekend/monday. I didn't eat healthy Sunday and then Monday we had a potluck and at the end I crashed an burned and ate way too much cheese and desserts. I felt bad both inside and out. I felt gross and bloated but also felt bad and it put me in a bummed mood. I was feeling a little defeated because I had been doing so well with the 30 Day Challenge and was just disappointed in myself and willpower. I felt like saying screw it and not working out but instead I just forced myself to do it and because of the confusion on bodyrock.tv I did the couplet workout which as I said turned out to be awesome. That made me feel better cause I knew I burned some serious calories but it also helped me refocus. We can't be perfect all the time but I know I will be so much happier if I just get back on the horse and back on track rather than giving up and saying screw it. If I said screw it and stopped trying, working out at diligently , and eating as healthy in one month I would be so upset with myself. I'm opting to feel awesome in a month rather than guilty and frustrated, and I am in control of that. I am trying to use this as a reminder when I want to eat the world and sweets and a million pieces of cheese... remember how I felt when I did that. I didn't feel good physically or mentally. I can have things in moderation and sweets here and there but it needs to be balanced. If I can keep this in my mind when I am at places with lots of good food (my weakness is cocktail parties and such... love those finger foods and appetizers) and can use will power I will feel good at the end of the day because I know my body will feel healthy but I will also be happy rather than guilty and disappointed .

To wrap it up I am still on my way and staying focused. I am loving BodyRock and look forward to doing another 30 Day Challenge after this one.

No Pasta Veggie and Ground Turkey Lasagna

Last week I tried making some recipe I saw online for a squash and zucchini bake that looked so good. So I made it and it looked amazing but then tasted... meuh. I still had left over zucchini and squash so I decided to make something similar but in a way that I knew I would like. I've been trying to cut white carbs (pasta, white breads, etc.) out of my diet so this is my take on a no pasta lasagna.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound ground turkey
• 1 zucchini sliced
• 1 summer squash sliced
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1/2 red onion sliced/diced
• about 2/3 cup shredded parmesan cheese
• about 2/3 cup shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese (I would probably add some ricotta to make it more like lasagna but I forgot to get it at the store)
• 1/3 Jar Marinara Sauce of choice (I use mushroom and onion)
• 2 Tablespoons bread crumbs (not necessary but I like a little extra crunch on top)
• Seasoning (garlic powder, salt, pepper, basil)

Directions

• Heat oven to 350 degrees
• Put a little bit (1 Tbsp) olive oil in a pan and heat to medium
• Add  ground turkey. Cook for about about three minutes or until the meat is no longer pink. Break up the meat with a spatula or a wooden spoon while cooking.

• Add sliced veggies a seasonings. Continue to stir and cook for another 5 min until meat is cooked through (165 degrees) and veggies are a little soft. They will cook more in the oven so don't worry if they are not totally cooked yet.

• Spoon a little marinara sauce on bottom of pan
• Spread half of the turkey and veggie mixture in the pan Cover top of mix with marinara cause. Sprinkle half of your cheeses on top and then repeat with the rest of the veggie/turkey mix, sauce and cheeses.
• Sprinkle your bread crumbs on top

• Bake for 35 minutes
• Enjoy!

** My not very professional cooking tip is that when cooking a lot of veggies the casserole/bake can get a little watery. I pulled my dish out with 5 minutes remaining and just poured a little bit of the water into the sink and then put it back in the oven to finish baking. Be careful if you choose to do this because things may slide a bit.... It's not very classy but hey it made it taste better than if it had been really watery