My dad is a Marathon runner. About 2 years ago, I wanted to start running and surprise him with a 5K for his birthday! I had no idea what I was getting myself into. At that point, I was 30 something pounds heavier and I didn't exercise. In my mind I thought it would be easy peasy to start running and get down to and 8 minute mile in no time.
How wrong I was!!
Last night I was EXCITED to do my 3 miles in under 34 minutes. That makes me almost embarrassed to admit. After sharing my frustration, dad told me that any improvement in time is something to be proud of!
Unfortunately, my 5 day gap since my last run and my push to go fast left me feeling stiff and sore. My hip flexors have been achy and weak all morning and it is not fun. For anyone trying to run better, faster, and longer I caution you to be careful! I am lucky to not be injured but I wouldn't want anyone else to have to feel this sore all day =/ Now the fun stuff!!
I am trying to do better about planning meals throughout the week. This is very difficult for me as Daniel and I are both impulsive and extremely new to meal planning. It has been a big challenge but we are finding some super yummy ideas along the way!!
Before we moved in together, Daniel went to Costco and bought a ton of stuff for his last house. Needless to say, he had about a million boxed, canned, and frozen items left over We started out the year with what seemed like a hundred boxes of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. Normally, I could easily eat a half a box of prepared Kraft Mac and Cheese! I just can't get enough mac and cheese, but who can really? I decided if I was going to keep eating this I needed to figure out a way to make it healthier.
Sorry for all the blur! I am not great with pictures but will work on this as time goes on =)
This recipe is SUPER easy to make and can be used with any boxed (or homemade!) macaroni and cheese. I would not say this is the healthiest dish but it is a heck of a lot better than the original. With some creativity, I imagine you could make this even healthier! Once we run out of our Kraft Mac (we only have about 5 boxes left!) I will try this recipe with a different pasta that packs a little more nutrition. Maybe whole wheat and healthier cheese? |
This version of Grown Up Mac and Cheese is really not nutritionally horrible. This recipe made 6 servings which I guesstimated in size. This is not the best method but I would say one serving is about 1 cup. Next time I make it I promise to measure it responsibly =)
I added 1/4 of an avocado on top of my bowl which was scrumptious! Get creative with toppings, Daniel added bacon to his ;) The avocado would add 63 calories, 3g carbs, 6g fat, and 1g protein.
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Daniel's bacon version
Grown-Up Mac and CheeseIngredients:- 1 box of macaroni and cheese, your choice (nutrition will vary)
- 1 head of broccoli, about 2.5-3 cups chopped
- 1 jalapeño
- 1/2 onion
Directions:- Prepare macaroni and cheese according to the box
- While the macaroni is cooking, chop broccoli, onion, and jalapeño (I included the seeds because I love spicy!)
- Lightly coat a large skillet with olive oil or cooking spray. Add the broccoli to the skillet first
- Cook over medium heat for a couple minute, then add the onion and jalapeño
- Complete all steps for your macaroni, add vegetables to the pot and stir until completely incorporated
- Top with any additional toppings and enjoy!
I love this recipe because it makes me feel a lot better for eating macaroni and cheese! There is about 1 serving of vegetables in each portion. Use a smaller bowl, this portion may look a bit small to you but with all the delicious broccoli it should fill you up! Go slow and pair this was a sweet fruit dessert for a beautiful yummy meal.
I would love to hear what everyone thinks!! How did this turn out for you? Did you use a different type of boxed macaroni or different vegetables? Are there any recipe makeovers you'd like to see in the future?
When I am really focused on getting fast results, I try to transform my workouts to get the biggest bang for my buck!!
I devised this workout on my own pulling inspiration from my dance years, pinterest, and my trainer. This workout incorporates cardio and strength training in your entire body.
Watching Charmed on Netflix is my guilty pleasure! I am on Season 8 so I honestly have no idea what I am going to do once I reach the last episode. I call this my Double Charmed Workout because I try to get through it twice in one episode! I have more motivation and excitement on some days and there are times where I poop out after one round. I wont lie that the second reason I call this my Double Charmed Workout is because sometimes it take me two episodes to do the routine twice and stretch! Can I count that as more calories burned please?
The most important thing to do is go at your own pace! If you can't start with 100 Jumping Jacks and 30 calf raises then just do what you can. On the flip side, if this is too easy for you the first time than bump it up a few notches and add more reps to really challenge yourself.
For every single move you will note that I say to keep your abdominals engaged. My Ballet teacher used to tell us to "Kiss your belly button to your backbone." This is a great visual to help you suck in your gut so that you are actively engaging your abs throughout the entire routine. Periodically reminding yourself of this phrase will boost calories burned, build you 6-pack, and encourage posture!
Directly below is the basic workout. Keep scrolling to find pictures, descriptions, and tips for each exercise! |
Jumping Jacks:
Keep you belly tight and abdominals engaged.
To maximize your Jack, focus on pushing off the ground hard with your toes so that they are fully pointed in the air when jumping out and back in. Make sure your knees bend liberally during each landing. Be especially careful to keep your toes over your knees when you land. By engaging your abdomen and squeezing your gluteus you can help to make sure you are not injured during this move.
Triceps Table Push-ups:
Position yourself with the heel of your hand on a desk or chair. Spread your feet wide and distance them several feet away from where your hands are.
While engaging your abdominal muscles, lower yourself down so that your elbows make a 90 degree angle. Concentrate on using your arm muscles not the muscles in your leg to push your self back up.
To up your toning, hold that last push-up for 10-30 seconds!
Squats:
I usually do this above a low chair or couch to provide consistency. Engage your core and bend your knees to about 90 degrees. If you are using a chair, squat until your bottom is just barely touch the chair. Keep your hands on tour hip, held out to the sides, or hold weights to challenge your body even more.
To up your toning, hold that last squat for 10-30 seconds!
Calf Raises, Toes Forward:
Stand with your feet a few inches apart, toes facing forward. Raise up onto the balls of your feet and lower your self back down. Focus on balance -- engage your core and tuck in your rear to reduce wobbles. Keep your heels in line with your calf, be careful not to let your foot roll outwards or you may strain your ankle. Work towards creating slow and controlled movements. Do not let your heels cluck back down at the end of each rep, if you have that down then just let your heels gently touch the ground without putting any weight on them.
Keep your hands on tour hip, held out to the sides, or hold weights to challenge your body even more.
To up your toning, hold that last squat for 10-30 seconds!
Walking Squats:
Start with your hands on your hips, above your head, or holding weights. Take a large step forward, engaging core and being careful to keep your foot in line. Lunge forward so that your front leg is at a 90 degree angle keeping toes over your knees. Push off with your bag leg to take a step forward, repeating the motion on the other side. Repeat this until you have done 15 forward lunges with each leg. Focus on creating controlled and deliberate motions. As you lunge forward, use your quadriceps AND your glute muscles to help lower your body and raise back up.
Calf Raises, Toes Outward:
These are the same motion as the previous calf raises. To start, stand in your toes forward position. Shift your weight to your heels and squeeze your rear while moving out your toes to a comfortable position. Take caution to no "over turn out". This will put stress on your knees and cause injury. To ensure this doesn't happen, keep your glute muscles tight for the entire repetition. If you bend your knees, your toes should be directly under them with no discomfort. If this position is too difficult for you to hold, feel free to do more Toe Forward calf raises.
Clams: Quadruple Rotation:
This exercise consists of 4 different exercises on each side. This is the best name I could come up with!
Lie on your side with knees bent and hips stacked directly on top of each other. Keep your tummy tight for balance with your top hand in front of your body to help. This is your base for each of the four exercises.
Throughout all of these exercises focus on squeezing your glutes. Make sure to keep your hips and body as still as possible.
Clam 1: Lift your top leg straight up staying in line with the rest of your body. Slowly lower your leg back down in one fluid motion.
Clam 2: Keep your toes touching throughout this exercise, this position is most like a clam! Open your top knee pulling it as far back to the wall behind you as you can without compromising your form.
Clam 3: Raise your ankles several inches off of the ground, start with what is comfortable and push them higher to give your self more of a challenge. Repeat Clam 1 with your ankles off the floor.
Clam 4: Keep your ankles raised like in Clam 3. Repeat Clam 2 in this position.
Make sure to flip over and repeat this Quadruple Rotation on the other side!!!
Plank Hip Touches:
Get into the elbow plank position. Make sure your form is solid so you do not hurt your lower back.
Dip your right hip down to the floor (it does't have to make contact just dip until you can feel it!). Return back to plank and repeat on the other side. You can do this in a quick fluid motion just ensure that you level your hips out after each dip.
Bicycles:
Start lying on your back. Place your hands interlocked behind your head and lift your shoulders and ankles off the floor. Bend your right knee and touch your left elbow to it keeping your left leg extended. Swiftly switch and repeat on the other side. Push yourself to do as many as possible to exhaust your abdominals.
Push-Ups:
This is probably my least favorite exercise. Ever. Start with your hands under your shoulders. Balance on your hands and toes with your legs extended straight back. I balance on my knees since I am still building strength =) Keep your tail tucked and belly button to your back bone to avoid lower back injury. Bend your arms, keeping your body in a straight line, as much as you can before returning to the starting position.
|  Yes, that is supposed to be a push-up! | ENJOY this workout! I really love it and I hope that you can discover some new exercises!
What is your favorite exercise? Is there any "go to routine" that you feel gives you great results? Please feel free to share, I love feedback and ideas.
Valerie
Today was a nice hot day here! I spent the day lounging at the pool. I can’t really tan but I am hoping to increase my freckles which is the equivalent of tanning for me. At the pool, I get to see a lot of different body types. Some of these people really inspire me and I always find that I gravitate towards those girls who look strong and healthy. There is nothing really that can help exude more self confidence than a strong girl that puts in hard work getting her body at the gym. I hope to be one of those girls one day!!
Strength Training I used to be convinced that cardio was the only way to go. My opinion is that many people, mostly women, do not view strength training as a priority. For me, cardio was my go to at the gym because I wanted to get my heart rate up and look at the calories tick away – it was satisfying and rewarding when I left. The gym I joined last August gave me 3 free training sessions. The trainer they paired me up with was really absolutely wonderful! She talked to me about some of the benefits of gaining muscle mass and how it can really benefit my health and self image. Her strategy with me was to really relate building muscle to me. I want to take time to look at the facts on why strength training is so great for us!
Before I begin with science, I will share with you some key points she helped me with
- More muscle mass helps you burn more calories throughout the day (which means you burn more calories even in your sleep!)
- Defined back and pectoral muscles improve posture (which also makes you look thinner, and who doesn’t want that?)
- Building muscle in your glutes gives you a great shaped rear
- Our lower bodies consist of several huge muscle groups. Strengthening your lower body gives you a big bang for you buck – not to mention cardio sessions will become easier and you’ll look awesome in those stilettos ;)
 Squats and calf raises can make walking in heels easier! A huge huge HUGE benefit of strength training is maintenance of a healthy weight. As I stated earlier, higher amounts of muscle mass means your body is utilizing its food source more efficiently. Your BMR, basal metabolic rate, is higher with more muscle mass. Stored fat mass utilizes very few calories that we eat throughout the day. Comparatively, muscle is an active tissue that burns the calories we eat quicker than fat mass would!
| Strength training when you are younger will help preserve muscles as you age. Preserving lean muscle mass allows your body to run at high efficiency. Without pushing limits to utilize and build muscle mass, our bodies get rid of lean weight by turning it into fat mass – not so good!
Take caution as you lose weight. During weight loss, it is normal to lose some muscle mass, which is why strength training is so imperative.
 I don't think he has heard of Isometric Strength Training... | You should allow your muscle groups to rest in between sessions. A great strength training session would entail you pushing yourself to finish 12 repetitions of one exercise. About 8-10 different exercised twice a week engaging multiple different muscle groups and an awesome goal to help you see results fast! My advice is to consult a personal trainer to help you determine a set of routines and safe weights to start with. After nailing down the basics, start to increase resistance to feel and see your results.
 Follow the link for a great workout |  Follow the ling for a great workout | Some less obvious benefits of strength training include better bone density, better sleep, increase mood, increased balance (can I mention stilettos again?!), diabetes management, and decreased risk of heart disease. Bone mass is an especially important issue for women! As women age, they can lose up to 1-2% of total bone mass every year.
| |  With the right diet and exercise, you'll sleep as sound as this puppy =) | I hope this gave some good insight for the facts behind muscle! Get to work on building up that mass and by the next time I post you will burn more calories just by reading!
Valerie
 Hello everyone!
Here in Virginia it is a snowy slushy mess and I got (most) of the day off of work! It is easy to take a bad weather day and turn it into a lazy and glutton filled day of non-productivity. All I want to do is eat and watch movies. Even my coworkers were talking about that exact phenomena that when the weather is yucky outside, we someone how want to match that with our insides by eating junk and not moving around.
I want to come up with some fun tricks to at least stay somewhat healthy on these at home days of fun!
Each picture shown is one of my favorite exercises! They target all the areas I love to build muscle in and they help me feel better about myself by building a strong, lean, and sexy body.
| Backwards push-ups are a great way to target the muscles under your arms where a lot of women will complain about "flab" | You can do these walking lunges without weights to get around the house. Or better yet, do these while putting away dishes or clutter to give you the benefit that gym weights would! | Please remember, I am NOT a trainer, these are just exercise I like and want to share! Go at your own pace and remember to stop if anything is painful or if it doesn't feel right. I like to push my self to feel a good burn so I am sore tomorrow, but not everyone can, or will want, to start there. If you are new to exercising, you may want to start with fewer reps – try 5-10 to test each exercise out =)
| A great way to stay on track when the kitchen and couch are calling out your name is to get active! This can be hard when trapped inside, but there are TONS of amazing blogs, apps, and website to help you get moving even just in your living room. If you find that it is really hard to commit to a 40, 30, or even 20-minute workout without the gym, my suggestion is to start slow and build up over the day.
You can do squats without the jump at the end, but the jump is a great way to kick up calorie burning by adding some cardio. Squats and leg raises are great for quadricep, calf, glute, and ankle strengthening When working around the house try kicking up the intensity. You can pick up the pace and work double time as you vacuum, sweep, scrub, Clorox, and Swiffer. This may result in you having to do this twice, but hey, getting moving is what this post is all about!
Do both of these exercises (above and below) with a bent knee or a straight leg. This primarily works the glutes but remember to keep your abs engaged! Workouts help you burn more calories during the next few hours. Muscle building also helps burn more calories all the time – even while you sleep! Today I have no article to support this but I hope to have some future exercise posts where I explore more about calorie burning, muscle mass, and the effect of exercise on the body, mind, and mood! For now that is just great motivation! If anyone is like me, I try to find any excuse to burn some extra calories through out the day!
| For more of a challenge: don't let your feet touch the ground, just let them hover and inch or two between each rep. For less of a challenge: bend your knees so your calves are parallel to the floor when you raise up For the couch potato: do 10-20 reps of any strength training exercise during each commercial.
If you are a Netflix fanatic, try doing 20 reps before each new episode starts plus an additional 20 reps during the show.
Add in some cardio with jumping jacks, running in place, jumping rope, but kicks, and jumping from side-to-side an front-to-back (as you can see jumping is the best way to get your heart rate up at home!). As you do this, be careful not to hurt your knees or back. We used to do releves (or calf raises) in Ballet class and I have always loved this exercise! Stand next to a wall or chair to keep balance and raise up onto the balls of your feet, try to keep your weight centered in the middle of your foot so your ankles don't roll! As you perform more sedentary tasks (such as putting dishes away, laundry, brushing your teeth, microwaving, making coffee, dusting, etc…) you can use walking lunges, squats, calf raises, and leg lifts (be creative!) to kick up your calorie burn and build muscle daily.
This is another glute workout! I do this one as show and then another set with my ankles raised and knees on the ground. I also do a set without my ankles touching so it looks like a clam opening up | If you have any favorite exercises feel free to share. As always, if you have any thoughts, comments, feelings, or questions, don't hesitate to ask.
Well that's all for today! I am off to do a few of these on my own and make a nice healthy dinner starting with a big salad!
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