Post Workout Snack

After a good workout at the gym, I come home and am ready to eat whatever is in the fridge. I am one of those people who is starving literally right after I walk through my front door.

To avoid pigging out, I have a solid, healthy snack that will stick to my ribs. 

It includes:

1 apple, a small spoonful of peanut butter, a few strawberries, and a big glass of water with fresh lemon juice. 

I love peanut butter. I could eat half of a jar in one sitting. Plus it's delicious with an apple! 

Strawberries are basically like dessert for me, so it helps calm my sweet tooth. 

Lemon water is a great way to detox your body. I have started drinking it in the morning and I will write and update if I notice a difference.

What are some post work out snacks you eat?

Until next time

My Workout Routine

With my big trip approaching quickly, I am trying to get in the best shape I can be in. I want to feel good while I'm there, and lets be honest, look good in pictures. 

I have a few pairs of shorts I am bringing, and I will look good in them. It's a promise, haha. 

I will admit though, I was doing great for about 3 weeks, but I have slacked off on the gym. I was doing at home workouts, but slacked off on those too. Woops. Since I have only a little over a month until I leave, now is the time to get my butt in gear!!

Cardio

For me, cardio consists of the bike, the stair master, and the treadmill. I do about 10-15 min on the bike, then 15 min on the stair master, then about 10-15 on the treadmill. I try to keep my heart rate up, but I do take about a 2 minute break in between each machine to stretch and whatnot. Sometimes I do closer to an hour, but I go by how I'm feeling that day. When I work out at home, I do jumping jacks and high knees, and even jumping rope. 

Arms and Back

I love planks. I swear that they are the best whole body workout. I normally do 5 sets of 30 second planks with about a 10 second break in between each set. I also use the weight machines at the gym, but prefer free weights and my own body weight to train. I feel like it's more natural. I do arm dips {I doubt that is the proper name for it} on a bench or chair, and they really do the job. Most arm workouts use my back muscles, so I kill two birds with one stone. 

Abs

Oh ab workouts. It's a love hate relationship. I have a set routine that I love. If I am out of shape, I only do it about 3 times, but my normal amount is 5 times. I start off with a 10 pound weight and just do 20 normal sit ups. I then move onto 30 Russian twists with the weight. Next is leg extensions, where you lean back on your arms while extending your legs and then bringing them into a crunch. I do 20 reps. Finally, I use an exercise ball and squeeze between my feet. I raise my legs up, take the ball with my hands, and then lower both my legs and arms {with the ball in my hands} down and repeat, but this time putting the ball back between my feet. Again, don't know the name of that either, haha. And that is my ab routine! Feel the burn.

Legs

Because my knee is still recovering, I have certain exercises I do the strengthen my legs. I love doing the leg press, it is one of my favorites. I also like the abductor and adductor machine. It's always a challenge but your feel great afterwards. But the best one for me is just simple squats. I use one of the weight benches so it sets a goal for how far down I need to get my butt. It really helps build up my muscle and keeps the booty perky! I heard a saying that I love: "Ass to grass". Its so true!

So that is my workout routine! I normally am at the gym for about 2 hours Monday-Thursday, but on Friday and Saturday I normally have more going on, so it's closer to an hour. Even if it's 30 min, I still feel good because I was able to get some sort of exercise in. 

I also change it up. Sometimes I replace cardio machines with swimming. It's all about what makes you feel the best and gets you the results you want. 

And with anything, do a workout routine that is right FOR YOU! Don't go by what others do, otherwise you could harm your body. 

Happy workouts!

xo

-c

What I Ate Wednesday

Breakfast

*one bowl of oatmeal 

*the last strawberries I had :(

*one banana

*2 huge cups of water

Lunch

*handful of penne pasta

*vodka sauce

{the sauce is packed with salt!! I don't eat a lot of it otherwise I would have a heat attack, but a slight drizzle for taste isn't too bad in my opinion.}

*4 peppermint hershey kisses 

{not pictured}

*2 huge cups of water

Dinner

*one slice of sour dough bread cut in half with:

-tomato sauce

-cheese

-garlic

{I need to go shopping tomorrow}

*pineapple chunks.

*2 huge cups of water

**For dessert I am going to get get frozen yogurt with some friends, but this post is up before that!**

Water Intake

I'm proud at the amount of water I drank today! I had 6 huge cups of water. 

I promised myself when I woke up that water was going to be the only thing I drank today. 

Mission accomplished!

Please join me on What I Ate Wednesday! I want to see what you had :]

xo

-c

What I Ate Wednesday

Thanks to Miss Anna, I have found a new theme for Wednesday!

{go see her blog here}

I am basically going to take a picture of everything I eat.

Well, almost everything haha. 

I started this afternoon so I didn't get a picture of my cereal.

But Frosted Mini Wheats are only so interesting. 

I wasn't very hungry for lunch.My breakfast always holds me over because it's like eating Wheaties. Plus I didn't have much time. So I had a bowl of strawberries. And half a cucumber, but I was rushing so I couldn't get a picture of it. 

And I found these at the store today. Sound healthier than the normal ones...right?

I was very please by these! I didn't compare the nutritional facts when I was at the store, but I am going to do a little research to see if they are truly what they claim to be.

For dinner I cooked up some ground turkey and added chili pepper, garlic, salt, cumin, and a few other yummy ingredients to make my own taco seasoning. I don't like the packaged kind because it has SO MUCH SALT! 

I chopped up an onion and bell peppers and put hot chili oil in it. Boy, were they spicy!

The finished product! Warmed up corn tortillas, added some cheese on top, and BAM! You have dinner. And it was all under 20 min. I prefer turkey over beef nowadays. I have always had stomach ache after I eat ground beef, and I have no problems with turkey! It's lighter, and it tastes better in my opinion. 

For "dessert" I had a nectarine. And will probably have more strawberries and maybe an apple later. 

I feel so much better when I eat lots of fruit throughout the day. 

Let me know if you want to join the "What I Ate Wednesday"! Go check out Anna's blog, she is a beauty!

xo

-c

30 Day Shred!

In 1 month, I turn 22. I originally planned on being in the best shape for my birthday, then continuing those good habits into 2013, but when I hurt my knee, that came to a screeching halt.

So...I decided that I am going to do all that I can to eat healthy, work out (without hurting myself), and just be happy with my body!

I have always been athletic and into exercise. Within the first year of dating Parker, I gained about 15 pounds from midnight eating!!

He would have two dinners a night because of how many calories he would burn at volleyball.

I, on the other hand, did not burn all of those calories, so they stayed on my abs, thighs, and booty.

{not good}

I lost 10 of those horrible pounds by not snacking when I was bored, and just eating when I was hungry.

But now I want to get rid of those 5 extra pounds that are lingering. And tone my muscles that have turned into mush since my injury.

Today I am going to take before pictures and weigh myself. I will be doing this every Friday, so I don't obsess over the scale. I also will be using an app I found called "MyFitnessPal".

It helps you log what you have eaten, how many calories it is, what workouts you have done for the day and so on. 

I like the workout feature because so many people don't realize how many calories they burn when they are working out, and don't eat enough! 

Part of my lunch today. {yummy!!}

My dog wasn't happy I wasn't sharing my carrots.

xo