Pick me up Quickie

The other day I was on Pinterest when I came along a post with a link to 5 one song workouts.  I, of course, clicked on the link to see what it was all about.  They were just 5 songs, each with a circuit of moves to complete within the time of the song. It intrigued me, so I did all 5 of them for you guys! They were quick and fast, which I liked.  It gets your heart pumping, trying to complete the cricuit as fast as possible and it was actually kind of fun! These circuits really were not that difficult, so they're perfect for you if you're just beginning to workout or if you need a "lighter" workout to your current regimen, like me, or if you just don't have too much time to get a workout in!

This song and circuit was my favorite:

 Here is the link to the complete set of the 5 one-song workouts.

Here is my challenge to you!

• I want you to complete all 5 song challenges, one right after another, for a complete cardio and fat burning workout.
• You can choose to do all 5, repeat your favorite one 5 times, or any combination to achieve a total of 5 songs.
• Warning: I have completed all 5 and I found that the first and the last songs were too short to be able to complete the circuit within the time of the song. So...if that happens to you, DO NOT STOP WHEN THE SONG IS OVER. Replay the song, if needed, to complete the circuit. You must complete the circuit!
• Leave me a comment telling me which one-song workout was your favorite!

Should I create my own one-song workout?

What do you guys think? Should I create one of my own and post it?  I currently have an obsession with Macklemore's song, "Castle". It's constantly on repeat when I workout-or with whatever else I'm doing! Take a listen to it, if you've never heard it.  Oh, I'm listening to it right now as I type...
Let me know what you think :)  Have a wonderful day!!
 

Smashed Chickpea Salad

This recipe is a spin off of a chicken salad, but vegetarian style! It takes no time to make and has a lot of flavor.

Smashed Chickpea Salad

Romain lettuce wraps.

• 1 15 oz can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
• 1 tablespoon chopped red onion
• 2 tablespoon roasted red pepper, chopped (if you don't have roasted red peppers, you can use fresh red pepper and add a splash of red wine vinegar to the mixture. I have done it both ways.)
• 2 tablespoons freshly, chopped parsley
• juce from half a lemon
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1-2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1. Mash 1/2-3/4 of the chickpeas with a fork or a potato masher.
2. Mix in the onion, pepper, parsley, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and the evoo with the chickpeas.
3. Enjoy on toasted bread, in lettuce wraps, or as is!

Asian Inspired Salad

Here's a quick and simple asian inspired salad that's to die for!

The dressing:

• 1 cup of vegetable oil
• 1 cup of sugar (I used 1/2 cup instead because it is still plenty sweet enough for me!)
• 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp of soy sauce

Shake the ingrediants together until all is combined.

The Salad

• Chopped hearts of romaine
• Sweet bell peppers of your choice
• Chopped onion
• Chow mein noodles

Feel free to use as much or as little of these ingrediants as you want. Enjoy! :)

 

 

 



Pre & Post-Workout Meals

Getting proper nutrition before and after a workout is essential for your body, energy, and muscles.

Pre-Workout Meals

• These meals and snacks should be high in carbohydrates and easily digestible. Any kind of complex carbs are your best choice-bread, oatmeal, bananas, rice, potatoes.
• Foods with a low glycemic index are a better option because they maintain blood glucose levels and glycogen stores, which will help maintain your energy.
• It's best to eat a meal or snack high in carbs about 1-2 hours before you exercise.

Post-Workout Meals

• These meals and snacks should have a higher glycemic index to give you energy and to begin recovery. Simple carbs are your best choice-sports drinks and juice are good options.
• About 1-2 hours after a workout, it is best to eat a well-balanced meal.
• Protein should definitely be eaten because it will promote muscle gain and synthesis,

• BONUS: The more muscle you have, the higher your basal metabolic rate (BMR), your metabolism, will be!

Not sure of what to eat to help fuel a workout or for recovery? Click here for 50 great pre & post-workout meals and snacks!

Here are a few quick meals that I like to have!

 An egg omelet stuffed with spinach and topped with home made pico de gallo! I had a slice of toast with avocados on top, too. This is a great pre-workout meal.





Quinoa with a fried egg and a side of sliced avocados. This meal is high in protein and healthy fats-great post-workout meal and great for building muscle.

  Peaches with cottage cheese is a super simple post-workout snack for when I'm crunched for time! High in protein, low in fat!

Flat Belly Foods

25 foods that aim to help with weight loss and lose inches around the waist:

1. EVOO
2. Almonds
3. Beans
4. Spinach
5. Avocados
6. Pork
7. Grapefruit
8. Apples
9. Eggs
10. Nut Butters
11. Non-fat greek yogurt
12. Mushrooms
13. Low-fat chocolate milk
14. Tomatoes
15. Turkey
16. Salmon
17. Whole grains
18. Berries
19. Broccoli
20. Asparagus
21. Garlic
22. Soybeans
23. Dark Chocolate
24. Vinegar
25. Walnuts

For more info on these flat belly foods, click here.

This list of food would be considered part of the "Flat Belly Diet".  This diet is supposed to be high in fruits and veggies, whole grains, nuts, lean proteins, and healthy fats-particularly monounsaturated fatty acids. MUFA's help with the destruction of belly fat while promoting satiation.  This type of diet is also modeled after the Mediterranean Diet-which promotes a diet rich in fruits and veggies, legumes, whole grains, and olive oil. This helps with keeping weight off.  With limited research, there is a chance this type of diet can help with the prevention or controlling of diabetes, particularly type 2, and it can benefit the cardiovascular system.  To read more, click here.


I personally eat a diet rich in these foods and my stomach is noticeably flatter. I workout 5-6 days a week, alternating between both pilates and cardio, but I have also found how important it is to nourish your body with nutritious and healthful foods. I work hard for my abs, I want them to stand out! It's a balance between exercising, eating clean and healthy, and changing your  behavior. Remember:abs are made in the kitchen and shown in the gym.  Not sure of what that means? Look it up!



HIIT

Within the last few months, I've discovered my love for High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) routines. They're quick, challenging, and effecient! HIIT routines go through bursts of high-instenity activities to periods of low-intensity activities. It's a constant change of intensity causing your heart rate to spike and fall maximizing fat burning. There are other benefits to HIIT that you can read about here, if you're interested.

I fell in love with HIIT because it challenged my body, muscles, and mind.  It's not easy, that's for sure, but it is one hell of a workout! I began seeing results quicker than I had expected to and I soon found it to be much more fun that running on the treadmill. My body and muscles were sore and tired and many times I wanted to just give up because it was so hard, but then my body became stronger and stronger which gave me the willpower to put in more effort in my workouts. That's why I love HIIT-it challenged my body and mind.

To help you get started, here are two quick, fat burning exercises that I like to do:

1. Sprint on the treadmill at a speed (8-10 mph) you can sustain for 30 seconds. Rest for 30 seconds. Repeat this sequence 10 times.
2. Run on the treadmill at one speed lower (7-9 mph) than your sprinting speed for one mintue. Plank for 30 seconds and then rest for 30 seconds. Repeat this sequence 8-10 times.

Also, I recently found a YouTube channel, FitnessBlender, that has over 200 different at-home HIIT workouts that are truely amazing! They even give a link on each video stating how many calories that particular workout burns and what muscles groups/body parts that are being targeted.

If you're bored with your current workout, I strongly encourage you to try HIIT. You won't be disappointed :)

Banana Bread with Applesauce

So, this morning I decied to make banana bread because I had too many ripened bananas sitting on my counter.  But, I wanted to find a recipe that was lower in calories, fat and carbohydrates because so many of the calories in banana bread comes from fat and carbohydrate calories. Well..the recipe I made used absolutely no butter or oil! The butter and oil was substituted for all-natural applesauce..yum! Also, I was able to further cut down on calories by cutting the amount of sugar in half! You won't believe how many calories I saved just by using half of the amount of sugar! It was a whopping 400 calories I saved...WHAT?!?! Yeah...you're welcome :)  Like I said, this banana bread recipe is a healthier opiton because there is no butter/oil, it uses applesauce, and half the amount of sugar!

The recipe:

• 3 medium, ripe bananas, mashed
• 2 cups of all-purpose flour or whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup of sugar (the recipe actually used 1 cup of sugar, but I cut it in half, as stated above)
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 tsp of baking soda
• 1/2 cup of naturally, sweetened applesauce
• 2 tsp of vanilla extract (the recipe called for 1 tsp, but because I cut the sugar in half I used another tsp, which is a healthier and equivalent alternative)

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mash your bananas and set aside.
3. Combine the flour, sugar, and baking soda in a bowl.
4. Mix the bananas, eggs, vanilla, and applesauce together and then add your dry ingrediants.
5. Mix until everything is combined, but don't over mix it!
6. Put in a greased loaf pan and bake for 50-60 minutes, depending on your oven. It will be done when a toothpick or knife comes out clean.
7. Let it cool and enjoy!

I was curious about the nutritional facts because I know that banana bread tends to be high in calories, so I did some research. A traditional homemade loaf of banana bread-without any substitutions-is around 2,460 calories for the whole loaf. I found this on livestrong.com. Also, for those of you curious about Starbucks banana walnut loaf, one slice has 490 calories, making an entire loaf (which is 6 slices) 2,940 calories! So how much is this banana bread you may be wondering? The entire loaf is 1,820 calories. From my loaf, I got 10 slices of bread, making each slice only 182 calories. Not too bad! My recipe saved 640 calories by cutting out the majority of the fat and eliminating 400 calories worth of sugar!

 This recipe was very good! And I hope you will try it, too! :)

Enjoy!

Banana Pancakes

One of my favorite recipes is Banana Pancakes. They're super simple to make-only 2 ingredients-and they're super healthy! These pancakes are high in protein, low in sugar, and all natural. They're the perfect snack or perfect post-workout meal.

All you will need to get started is:

• two eggs
• one large banana-the riper, the better!

The steps:

• slice your banana into thin coins
• crack your eggs
• mash and stir your eggs and banana coins together until everything is the same consistency
• put your batter onto a heated griddle or skillet and flip away!

I found this recipe from my favorite fitness blogger, Cassey Ho.  That is her down below :) To watch her video on the banana pancakes, click here. Enjoy!!

Cassey Ho

Frozen Grapes

Just the other day, my friend offered me some frozen grapes. I thought that they would be so frozen I wouldn't be able to bite them, but I was wrong.  They were so good! It was like eating a popsicle but without all of the sugar and artificial flavorings. It was 100% natural and healthy and now all I want are frozen grapes.  Its the perfect summer treat.

Frozen grapes are super easy to prepare:

• pick your favorite grape or a combination of grapes
• wash them off thoroughly-no need to dry them excessively, just enough so they don't freeze together
• pop them in the freezer in a sealed bag-the longer, the better

Green grapes dusted with sugar

Frozen grapes can also be dusted with sugar for a sweet and tangy treat or thrown into a glass of wine. It's very easy to find many ways to enjoy frozen grapes online.

Enjoy :)

Avocados

nom nom nom avocados :) here's a link to several avocado snack ideas: http://www.fitsugar.com/Avocado-Snack-Ideas-21828074?image_nid=21828074

 Enjoy!

Oven Baked Zucchini Chips

I had a bunch of zucchini in my fridge, so I decided to finally make oven-baked zucchini chips. I've always wanted to try it, but never had a recipe to use or what to even do! I referenced a recipe from Skinnyms, but I tweaked it a bit.  These were surprisingly delicious! I devoured them almost instantly after taking them out of the oven.  I strongly encourage people to try this :)

Here is the recipe:

• one zucchini
• a small amount of milk-I used a couple tablespoons of nonfat milk
• a combination of bread crumbs (or panko), parmesan cheese, salt and pepper, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper

Here is what I did:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• Slice a zucchini into thin slices-I ended up with 24 slices.
• Dip the zucchini slices into the milk and then into the bread crumb mixture.
• Bake in the oven for 15 mins, flip, and continue to bake for another 10-15 mins.
• TIPS: the longer they cook and the longer they cool, the crispier they will be!

Killed it!

Today was the first day in over a week that I had an intense workout! I completed a HITT routine that maximized fat burning and strengthening. I was drenched in sweat when I was finished...like, sweat was coming from my eye-balls!  This was the routine I did this morning:

Can find this routine by Blogilates

 And how I freaking felt afterwards! Well..after I drank a ton of water and wiped my face off haha :)  Feels good to finally start getting back into my routine, even though I'm still currently fighting a god-awful cold. That won't stop me :)

Motivation

 Lately I've been struggling with finding motivation to workout. I typically like to workout 5-6 times a week, doing pilates and cardio. But last week I decided to take a week off because I hadn't been feeling well and now it's monday morning and I still have no motivation or energy to workout.  How are you supposed to find motivation when all you want to do is sleep and be lazy or even just give up? That's how I'm currently feeling-giving up.

 

 

For me, I know that if I just get up off my ass and tell myself, "hey, you're going to workout today!", that I would begin to feel better, be less tired, and have more energy. I would be able to find my motivation again to workout almost everyday. But still, it's hard to find motivation when all you want to do is be lazy. 

 

So, today is July 1st and I choose to begin working out again, just like I have been. I will start my July workout calendar that I use from my favorite fitness blogger, Blogilates. It will be hard, but I will enjoy it! I just have to do it!

 

 

Today, I choose to be sore tomorrow. What do you choose?