Tag Archives: gym

Salad a Day Challenge – Day 1

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Woo! Here we go!

I had a very long day and I’d love to tell you all about it but sleep is way more important to me right now :P

Today is the first day of the Salad a Day Challenge! The challenge where you have one meal as a big tasty healthy salad!

Greek: chopped romaine, cucumber, tomato, red pepper, red onion, feta and grilled chicken seasoned with oregano, salt and pepper. Balsamic vinaigrette.

Greek: chopped romaine, cucumber, tomato, red pepper, red onion, feta and grilled chicken seasoned with oregano, salt and pepper. Balsamic vinaigrette.

Deeeelicious! I was pressed for time so I wasn’t as creative as I usually am. Didn’t get started on dinner until about 7:30!

Here’s a few from the facebook page!

Rory shared this, I dunno what it is but it looks tasty. Is that shaved carrot? oOOoh.

Rory shared this, I dunno what it is but it looks tasty. Is that shaved carrot? oOOoh.

 

Yazmin shared this! Chicken/garbanzo salad with strawberries,almonds,carrots, cucumbers,spinach and romaine!

Yazmin shared this! Chicken/garbanzo salad with strawberries,almonds,carrots, cucumbers,spinach and romaine!

 

A few other pictureless salads:

  • Pepper had: “very colorful , had almonds and tuna and a tasty dressing with mustard and honey”
  • Petrina had: “Roasted chicken spinach, red quinoa, walnuts, dried cranberries and aged balsamic vinaigrette”

 

Both. Yum.

So? Who else?! What did you have!

 

 

Salad a Day Challenge – Season 2?

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Remember this? Click here to remind yo-self.

Grace from Grace Got Healthy suggested we do it again, and dammit, it’s a good idea.

I need a little somethin’ somethin’ to get me rolling again, and this is perfect.

This is how it goes. Every day, have one proper salad as a meal for a week. Forever if you feel like it! :P

By proper salad I mean well balanced, colourful and with protein! You want this puppy to keep you FULL!

Here are some salads that I made the last time!

Turkey Taco SaladMixed greens, extra lean ground turkey, taco spice, black bean salsa, avocado, cheddar, toasted corn tortilla strips and jalapeno ranch dressing. And a Green Salad Mixed greens, cucumber, carrot, tomato, pumpkin seeds, crumbled goat feta and a boiled egg.

Turkey Taco Salad
Mixed greens, extra lean ground turkey, taco spice, black bean salsa, avocado, cheddar, toasted corn tortilla strips and jalapeno ranch dressing.
And a Green Salad
Mixed greens, cucumber, carrot, tomato, pumpkin seeds, crumbled goat feta and a boiled egg.

Bbq Chicken SaladBbq chicken breast, mixed greens, mushroom, tomato, and goat cheese. and Honey Mustard Basa Honey Mustard Glazed Basa fillet on spring mix with julienned red peppers, snow peas, tomatoes and raspberries.

Bbq Chicken Salad
Bbq chicken breast, mixed greens, mushroom, tomato, and goat cheese.
and
Honey Mustard Basa
Honey Mustard Glazed Basa fillet on spring mix with julienned red peppers, snow peas, tomatoes and raspberries.

Bonus points for being creative, the more colours the better! Extra high fives for including nuts/seeds!

LETS DO THIS!

This starts on MONDAY so get prepping this weekend, fill your fridge and plan plan plan!

Here’s a COMPREHENSIVE salad guide to help you you!

Woop Woop I’m Back!

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Well I’ve been busy!

Mostly moving, but there have been a few other things.

The move went well, I LOVE MY PLACE! I’ve also been eating terrible food and drinking. It’s tough, and I know I shouldn’t have done it but I did it anyway! Moving, new areas, being tired, having an empty fridge. If you fail to plan you plain to fail!

Onward!

Here’s my new apt, not fully set up but you get the picture!:

Also, prepare for nerdiness.

The kitchen! Ignore the giant bottle of cider with a bendy straw in it. *cough*

The kitchen! Ignore the giant bottle of cider with a bendy straw in it. *cough*

 

Living room!

Living room!

 

 

Other half of living room!

Other half of living room!

 

Bathroom!

Bathroom!

 

Balcony!

Balcony!

 

Bedroom. I didn't frame this pic well there's a bit more room in this...room.

Bedroom. I didn’t frame this pic well there’s a bit more room in this…room.

 

It’s the largest apartment we’ve lived in so far, and in an AWESOME part of the city! Plus I can now fully walk to work, which takes 20 minutes.

Happy!

The rest..what else happened. I have a very close friend in the hospital right now and I’m super worried about her. and other than that I’ve been work work working.

Tomorrow I get back on track properly! As always always “getting back on track”. There aren’t any more upcoming plans that will put a kink in my routine, other than a vacation at the end of June. So from now until then, it’s well behaved Lee.

 

 

Hopefully.

 

 

Thursday! ONE MORE DAY!

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This week is almost over, yaay! AND today was GORGEOUS and sunny :D
Such a cheery mood.

Oh. And another amazingly on track day!

Breakfast! Heartier. Two free range eggs, two slices sprouted grain toast, 25gram sausage.

Breakfast! Heartier. Two free range eggs, two slices sprouted grain toast, 25gram sausage.

I also drank a red bull.

The red one! Cranberry flavour! Just to get me going in the morning.

The red one! Cranberry flavour! Just to get me going in the morning.

 

 

Walked to the train, as usual, and worked worked worked.

Lunch I went with a lighter option to balance out the breakfast.

 

Wrap! (it's just red, nothing fancy. No i don't know where to buy it), with grilled zucchini, red pepper hummus, sriracha, cucumber, sprouts, tomato and spinach.

Wrap! (it’s just red, nothing fancy. No I don’t know where to buy it), with grilled zucchini, red pepper hummus, sriracha, cucumber, sprouts, tomato and spinach.

 

After work I walked alll the way to my girlfriend’s house to hangout and do my hair!

 

The sun today. man. So nice. Warm!

The sun today. man. So nice. Warm!

 

On the way there. Chocolate bar hanging in between the glass walls of a bus shelter. cruel! :P

On the way there. Chocolate bar hanging in between the glass walls of a bus shelter. cruel! :P

 

I had a snack of greek yogurt, raspberries and a mandarine orange at her house. And an almond milk latte. No sugar.

 

She ombre'd my hair up. This is us later on at some fancy cosmetic's place called Curlique. I waited while she picked out sparkles.

She ombre’d my hair up. This is us later on at some fancy cosmetic’s place called Curlique. I waited while she picked out glitter.

 

Then I walked home AGAIN. For a total of 4 miles of walking today, woo! Not including the back/forth up/down stairs all day at work either!

 

I got home so late. But I'm proud I didn't grab any crappy food along the way. Had some chickpea curry, and pineapple and blackberries for dinner!

I got home so late. But I’m proud I didn’t grab any crappy food along the way. Had some chickpea curry, and pineapple and blackberries for dinner!

 

1630 calories today! Right on track, plus all the walking I did. Another wicked day.

Here’s to tomorrow ! TGFI. FINALLY.

 

 

Wednesday- Halfway There

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I greatly dislike the term “hump day” so I don’t use it.

HEEEY! How’s everyone?

Another completely on track day. How am I doing it? Magic? Luck? Common sense and motivation?

Breakfast was kind of lazy, this waking up at 4am business I still can’t seem to adjust to. Over 1 year of this and I’m still dead tired.

2 slices of sprouted grain bread and 2 tbsp crunchy peanut butter. Heftier in calories, but this bread I found has 6g of protein in each SLICE. My toast breakfast had 18 grams of protein. Ha! That’ll keep ya full.

This bread. This is the first actual loaf of sliced bread I've bought in a very very long time. It was on SALE!

This bread. This is the first actual loaf of sliced bread I’ve bought in a very very long time. It was on SALE!

Walked to the train as usual, worked a bit overtime today too.

Lunch:

Portuguese bun hollowed out, 2 tbsp red pepper hummus, grilled salmon, cucumber, sprouts, tomato.

Portuguese bun hollowed out, 2 tbsp red pepper hummus, grilled salmon, cucumber, sprouts, tomato.

 

I only ate about 3/4 of this, near the end I was getting full so I just plucked the remaining salmon and chucked the rest.

Went to the gym right after with my workout buddy!

20 mins on the elliptical

10 mins HIIT on treadmill

  • tricep dips
  • tricep swingbacks
  • arnolds
  • walking lunges
  • squats
  • bicycle crunches
  • regular crunches
  • situps while my buddy held my feets.
  • More of those funny bosu planks I posted the other day

There’s this one part of the gym there that’s a ladies only stretching area that I was exercising in, and I dunno for some reason that gym always seems to have some rather…glare-y women in it.

There was this one woman who kept giving my workout buddy and I the super evil eye. I don’t know why some women do that? I try to not let it bother me but it cut my alternating planks short.

I wasn’t in the way or even saying anything, just working out peacefully on the other side. Bah!

Women.

 

Anyway.

After the gym I grabbed a muscle milk. FOR ALL MY MUSCLES! *flex*

I kinda hate these. Lol. Plus the ingredient list isn't so... clean.

I kinda hate these. Lol. Plus the ingredient list isn’t so… clean.

 

Walked home from the train again, did a bunch of laundry.

Then made some super simple chicken noodle soup.

I didn’t have much to work with, so.

I sauteed some white onion and carrot. Added my chicken stock (1 full carton), and a bay leaf. Let that simmer a bit until the veggies were cooked through. Added 1 heaping tbsp of itty bitty soup noodles. I had 1 lb of skinless chicken breast tenders, so I cubed them and pan seared them just until brown, and threw it into my stock. Brown = more flavour! Boil for a few minutes so chicken finishes cooking and you’re done! Add fresh parsley and green onion right before serving.

Et Voila! You don't have to use noodles, and I usually put more veg in but this was what I had!

Et Voila! You don’t have to use noodles, and I usually put more veg in but this was what I had!

 

Simple and comforting.

Now, to fold all that laundry I did, and sleep. Tomorrow’s going to be another great day!!

 

 

 

Tuesday, the other other Monday.

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Another good day down. Too bad this week already feels like it’s gone on forever. I watched my reflection as I ran on the treadmill earlier and had some rather noticeable bags under my eyes. The bad lighting didn’t help though.

Breakfast! Similar to yesterday, eggs and toast. (Foreshadowing! I eat eggs again today! *GASP!*)

Lunch:

Wrap. A rap rap. Black bean corn salsa, sriracha, chicken breast, sprouts, tomato, lettuce. delicious.

Wrap. A rap rap.
Black bean corn salsa, sriracha, chicken breast, sprouts, tomato, lettuce. delicious.

 

Went to the gym but got into a stupid text argument RIGHT before.

Went to the gym but got into a stupid text argument RIGHT before.

 

I don’t care what anyone says, working out when angry is very difficult. It’s also hard to do cardio with a lump in your throat. Kinda hard to breathe.

Anyway. I got over it. That’s me post workout. It’s how I’m looking now! Woo!

I did 20 mins on the elliptical. Dips, bicycle crunches, sit ups, crunches on the ball, leg lifts, and those planks where you alternate straightening your arms.

Starts around 28 seconds, watch the guy on the right.

I followed it all up with 10 minutes of HIIT intervals on the treadmill.

I walked home after the gym and had a protein shake made with 1 cup unsweetened almond milk.

I think I need a smaller blender bottle. Also. Semi empty apartment! Got a good head start on packing!

I think I need a smaller blender bottle. Also. Semi empty apartment! Got a good head start on packing!

 

I also ate a way overripe banana. I prefer them “recently green”.

Dinner. Lazy kind of, I had to run an errand before and want to pack more tonight. Liberte pineapple yogurt, pineapple, blackberries, 2 free range eggs, 25gram sausage, 1 tsp canola oil to cook egg in, 1 slice sprouted grain bread, 1 tsp olive oil margarine.

Dinner. Lazy kind of, I had to run an errand before and want to pack more tonight. Liberte pineapple yogurt, pineapple, blackberries, 2 free range eggs, 25gram sausage, 1 tsp canola oil to cook egg in, 1 slice sprouted grain bread, 1 tsp olive oil margarine.

My total calories for the day was around 1619. Give or take. Or Give.

Probably give.

 

Now. I procrastinate on packing and probably make my husband dinner before he gets home. Taaa!

 

Who wants to pack for me?!

Monday- Check.

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Ok! Today went as planned, which was great.

I didn’t sleep very well though, my roomate went out for Saint Patrick’s day and got hammered, so when I got up to use the washroom in the middle of the night I had to deal with him ASLEEP IN THE BATHROOM.

So breakfast was:

1 slice multigrain toast with 1 tsp olive oil margarine, 1 free range egg cooked in 1 tsp canola oil. 263 calories.

1 slice multigrain toast with 1 tsp olive oil margarine, 1 free range egg cooked in 1 tsp canola oil. 263 calories.

 

Breakfast was light because A: I was half asleep, and B: Because I anticipated having to taste a lot at work today. Which I did. A bite of macaroni salad, green bean salad, roasted broccoli salad, and black bean and corn salsa. Everything I make I have to taste, because if I don’t I have no idea if it’s seasoned properly, and you can’t give the unknown to customers.

 

Lunch:

Salmon fish tacos! With some of that black bean salsa I made earlier.

Salmon fish tacos! With some of that black bean salsa I made earlier. About 300 calories.

 

After work I met up with one of my girlfriends and we ran around town finding decorations for her bday on the weekend. It’s “glitter/gold” themed. So lots of gold/silver.

 

Stopped by for some sushi:

We made it just in time for last call. (they close for a bit before dinner time) I got spicy tuna sashimi and an avocado roll. So good.

We made it just in time for last call. (they close for a bit before dinner time) I got spicy tuna sashimi and an avocado roll. So good.

 

Headed home after that. Walked about 2.5 miles today. More for sure, but I only calculated the walks I could remember, no in between walks or any of the running around at work.

Dinner:

1 container Liberte pineapple yogurt, black berries, 50g kielbasa, 11 wheat thins, 15g goat cheese, 15g cheddar. About 376 calories.

1 container Liberte pineapple yogurt, black berries, 50g kielbasa, 11 wheat thins, 15g goat cheese, 15g cheddar, carrots. About 376 calories.

 

I’m being as precise as I can for this week, using my scale to measure everything I can.

I have 200 ish calories left in the day, I’ll save those in case I need a snack but I should be okay as it’s 7pm now. I’m thinking of just making  a big pot of tea :)

Onto TOMORROW!

 

Did you guys have a good day too?

 

Ready for Next Week

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Well I’ve been kind of bad again this weekend, lol. Sometimes they just get you.

Made some epic tacos.

Made some epic tacos.

 

Ate half of an epic chocolate bar.

Ate half of an epic chocolate bar.

 

My feet don't reach the floor on the bus.

My feet don’t reach the floor on the bus.

 

We started packing for moving!

We started packing for moving!

 

Got a cute new purse.

Got a cute new purse.

 

Went for some pho, took a neato photo.

Went for some pho, took a neato photo.

 

It was sunny today and I’m rarin’ to go for this week!
I’m going to be much more strict this coming week than I have been. Actually going to set up a meal plan. Gotta get serious about summer, AND I have my girlfriend’s birthday this weekend and bought a cute dress!

 

The dress! Imagine me in leggings instead of jeans. and flats.

The dress! Imagine me in leggings instead of jeans. and flats.

 

Not that a week of hardcore eating right/exercise is really going to make a huge difference, but I’d like to feel good about myself at the end of the week too!

 

Here’s to a good week, wish me luck!

I don’t need to mention that I skipped Saint Patrick’s Day. Not my thing!!

How was everyone’s weekend?

Still sick, and Thursday!

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Last night my husband talked me into pizza. I’m sick and weak!

Had a few slices of this one.

Had a few slices of this one.

It was delicious. I’m too sick for regret. Lol

 

This morning I woke up at 4am for work again. I may be sick but I can’t afford to miss any work right now :( BLAH.

I ended up eating this for breakfast:

My head was so cloudy that I couldn't think of anything else, and it was sitting on the counter.

My head was so cloudy that I couldn’t think of anything else, and it was sitting on the counter.

 

I only worked a few hours, just got my stuff done and made sure everything was ready for the next day. Thankfully my boss lets me leave early if I need to!

Came home, quickly threw together some soup, let it simmmer a bit. Turned it off and napped for 5 hours.

I was genuinely disappointed that I couldn’t find alphabet noodles at the grocery store :(

Soup and berries!

Soup and berries!

 

Now I relax. Work tomorrow, and I’m supposed to work on Saturday as well for a special event. *sigh*

I’m truly tired of being sick. I feel like my body is betraying me. I eat right, exercise, I even haven’t been drinking, and SICK.

Everyone seems to be getting sick multiple times this season. It’s terrible.

I’ll be on the couch if you need me!

 

Wednesday! Down with the sickness.

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It’s wednesday, right?

Well, that cold I thought I was getting finally got me :( I think it’s the germy gym. Ick.

Yesterday: Oatmeal breakfast, with 1 tbsp peanut butter.

Lunch: i dont remember I think it was a wrap, lol

Had to go sign the lease with the new landlord. I of course was an hour early so I just walked around the neighbourhood. I could NOT for the life of me find any food to eat.

Settled on a bag of doritos! They were delicious, but 410 calories. The hour walk helped shave some of that off. But not a good choice!

Settled on a bag of doritos! They were delicious, but 410 calories. The hour walk helped shave some of that off. But not a good choice!

After that I headed home and had a quick snack before I met my husband at the gym

Straight turkey breast. I didn't really have anything else ready to go, and I felt bad about the doritos. So this wasn't so bad. You should have a bit more carbs pre-workout though for energy!

Straight turkey breast. I didn’t really have anything else ready to go, and I felt bad about the doritos. So this wasn’t so bad. You should have a bit more carbs pre-workout though for energy, but I don’t think having straight protein is bad.

 

This is how I'm looking lately.

This is how I’m looking lately.

 

Excuse the hat hair, but I am definitely looking smaller/toned. Belly is much flatter. No move on the scale but I can see the difference.

Excuse the hat hair, but I am definitely looking smaller/toned. Belly is much flatter. No move on the scale but I can see the difference.

Worked out for 1.5 hours.

18 minutes elliptical warm up

7 minutes treadmill HIIT

That’s where I  started to feel my cold really coming on :( I started to get tired/phlegm-y so I had to stop my run short.

My husband was with a trainer so I still wanted to wait with him, so I did a few body weight exercises, weights, then just stuck to low level cardio.

I did some dips, bicep curls, shoulder presses, crunches on a stability ball.

Tried to do a plank, made to 40-something seconds.

Walked on the treadmill at a higher incline at 3.5 mph for 15 minutes, and biked on the recumbent bicycle for another 15. Trying hard not too push myself too hard.

Stretched and we walked to pho.

Rare beef. A-thank-you.

Rare beef. A-thank-you.

 

Today!
I felt crap when I woke up.
Ate crap too!

I skipped lunch at work, left early and ended up eating Chinese food, then napping for 4 hours.

And here I am. Sniffling, groggy, hungry again. BAH!

Grumble grumble. but I’ll leave this on a positive note. Yesterday I posted a picture of the BUTTBLASTER machine at the gym, well at another location I found:

 

Decisions, decisions!

Decisions, decisions!