Trivia and a Substitution they'll never know.

Friday, January 18th

Breakfast:  Kashi GoLean Triple Berry Crumble; frozen berries; almond milk; coffee; creamer

Lunch:  2 egg white, 1 egg scrambled eggs with orange pepper, carrots, spinach, milk, and pepper

Snack:  Almond butter; apple (Yep, finished off the jar)

Dinner:  I was heading out for the evening and figured I'd eat a few appetizers throughout the night.  This was definitely not a good night with my food choices.  Here we go:  I grabbed a medium sized plate and had some artichoke dip; this awesome bacon almond cheese dip; 2 chips and guacamole  2 pieces of broken up bread (dipped into the 2 dips).  Then at the bar I had tator tots dipped in ranch dressing (way way too many!) and more chips and guacamole.

Evening drinks:  It was a long night and I had to teach 2 TRX suspension training classes in the morning.  I was "pretty good".  I downed 3 312 beers, and a tried a gluten free beer (Lakefront Brewery New Grist Beer).  First of all, I love Lakefront Brewery!  Second of all, the gluten free beer is fantastic!  If anyone gets to Milwaukee for a weekend, this is definitely a stop to make.  My first tour here was years ago when it was more of a mom and pop place.  This time I came back to a totally different experience.  Still fun, but not so small anymore.  Big bonus is drinking beer while the tour is underway:)

And since it was a special occasion, I had 2 Soco Lime shots.  I was supposed to have one, but since a couple people didn't want one, I took one for the team.

Late evening:  I got home around 1:30am, and I knew I would be so tired at class.  Since I had a few drinks, I thought a bowl of cereal would help.  So look above at my breakfast and that's what I had.- minus the coffee, of course

Saturday, January 19th

I woke up very tired and came to the studio to teach 2 classes.  Once I got moving, I was completely fine.  Probably helped that the drinks I had the night before ended around 10pm.  Also, I was not hungry, and that's because I gobbled down a bowl of cereal at 1:45am.

Breakfast/Lunch:  Kashi GoLean Triple Berry Crumble; frozen berries; almond milk

Snack:  A handful of pistachios and an apple

Dinner:  Our family went to a friend's house for Games Night.  Always a great time.  I brought 2 appetizers.  The first was the Pear, Pancetta, and Goat Cheese appetizer, and the second was buffalo chicken dip with tortilla chips.  I had 2 of the pear appetizers and probably too much of the chicken dip.  I lowered the calories and fat from the dip.

Frank's Red Hot Buffalo Chicken Dip

8oz. pkg. fat free cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup lite blue cheese dressing

1/2 cup Franks Red Hot Original Buffalo Wing Sauce

1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese

2 cans (12.5 oz. each) Swanson White Premium Chunk Chicken Breast in water, drained

Directions:  Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Place cream cheese into baking dish.  Stir until smooth.  Mix in salad dressing, Red Hot Sauce and cheese.  Stir in chicken.  Bake 20 min. or until mixture is heated through; stir.  Garnish as desired.  Serve with crackers, tortilla chips, or vegetables.

KEEP IN MIND!!! - Be very careful when buying low fat or lower calories foods.  Case in point:  Take a look at peanut butter.  You'll notice that the fat may have decreased, however take a look at the carbohydrates and sugars - take one thing away and see what replaces it.

More Trivia:  True or False - All processed food is bad for you.
The answer is at the end of this blog post.

Dessert and Drinks:  Chocolate cupcake/chocolate frosting with a cherry on top!  My girlfriend makes the most amazing cupcakes and they usually have some type of alcohol in them.  Not for kids!  Anyway, her alcohol of choice this time was Chocolate Covered Cherry Wine.  Speaking of, I had 2 glasses of this wine on ice and a Coors light.  Doesn't sound appetizing mixing the two, but I found out about this delicious wine after I opened my beer.

Sunday, January 20th

Breakfast:  2 pieces of whole wheat french toast; 2 pieces of turkey bacon; coffee; creamer

While I'm on the subject of whole wheat, I thought to share some info I learned about bread.  A couple days ago, I started listening to Jillian Michaels' podcast.  She broke down the bread issue very easily.

Starting from the most nutritious to least nutritious:
Whole-Grain
Whole-Wheat
Multi-Grain - According to Jillian, basically means nothing and stick with the above two instead.
Enriched

Lunch:  Apple Pie Mini LaraBar; apple

Dinner:  Ground Turkey Chili (substituted plain Greek yogurt for sour cream, and added about 1T. cheddar cheese) and French bread with margarine (2 pieces); water

About this sour cream to yogurt substitution...my husband has no idea.  It's been put on his baked potatoes, enchiladas, and tacos.  Not a single complaint.  This is HUGE, because he usually notices EVERYTHING!

Dessert:  Frozen Greek Yogurt Gelato - Blueberry

Monday, January 21st

Breakfast:  Organic Pomegranate Oatmeal

Morning Workout:
I participated in the Circuit Interval class at the studio.  I will share what was taught.

5 minute warm up

Circuits
3 sets:  1 minute; 45 secs; 30 secs
Quickie Burpees - when you come up from the burpee, stay in a squatted position.  Do not stand or jump.
Bicep Curl with Holds - Full range bicep curls, then last 15 secs hold and pulse
Burpees

Tabata - Plank shoulder touches concentrating on not moving the hips back and forth

Circuit
3 sets:  30 seconds each
Double Jump ropes
Spiderman Push ups
Prisoner Squats

Circuit
2 sets: 45 secs each
Crunches with arms going left of legs, center of legs, right of legs; last 15 seconds hold up
Sword Draws - red band
Tuck jumps

Tabata -  skaters/high knees

Circuit
Lunge Pulses - 20 seconds one side
Side Plank - Arm raises for 1 minute
Lunge Pulses - 20 seconds other side
Side Plank - Arm raises for 1 minute

Stretch

Lunch:  Chili with Greek yogurt and cheese

Snack:  1/2 Green Monster (refer to earlier blog titled Green Monsters)

I was talking to my mom about these green monsters, and she just couldn't get past the spinach. So I made one and split it with her.  She liked the taste (kinda), but didn't like the spinach texture in it.  I prefer mine to be made in the food processor over the blender.  The blender definitely can take care of the spinach pieces and puree it better.  However, for some reason I prefer it to be mixed in the processor   Weird because I'm such a texture person...but whatever.

Dinner:  Armand's Pizza (thin crust) - 1 1/2 piece of sausage, black olive, and onion; 1 piece of cheese; and 2 pieces of pepperoni.  These are small, thin pieces.  Not sure the calories consumed, but probably too many.  It was a good day, so I'm not going to complain.

Tuesday, January 22nd

Breakfast:  Special K mixture of Red Berries and Fruit 'n Yogurt; frozen berries; almond milk; coffee; creamer

Lunch:  Egg Harbor - Firecracker Omelette:  Italian Chicken Sausage, mushrooms, red peppers, spinach, egg beaters, mozzarella cheese, dash of oregano; harbor potatoes; buttered English muffin; decaf coffee; water

I finished everything except maybe a quarter of the omelette.  It was just ok, and I'll definitely stick to what I usually order - Joe's Healthy Scrambler or the Roasted Veggie Skillet.

Snack:  Apple

Dinner:  Chicken Pot Pie; spinach salad with Poppy Seed dressing, tomatoes, and croutons.

I literally looked in my fridge/freezer and found random veggies.  Recipe below.  I will definitely make again!

Chicken Pot Pie - 4 servings at 307 calories each
3 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
1 celery stalk, chopped
1/2 cup asparagus, chopped
1 1/2 cups stir fry veggies (bought at Costco)
1 can 98% fat-free cream of chicken soup

Crust:  1 cup Krusteaz pancake mix (can use Bisquick)
1 egg
1/2 cup skim milk

Mix top 5 ingredients together and put in pie plate.  Mix bottom last 3 ingredients and pour over veggie/chicken mixture.  Bake at 400 for 30 minutes.

Burpee Challenge - Today is Day 14!  To date we have completed 2.08% of the 5,050 burpees we will complete by Day 100.  Keep it up!  We can do it together:)

Not sure how to modify the burpees?  Check out this video.

Trivia Answer:  False - Frozen vegetables are the only processed food that is good to eat.

"BE HAPPY"
Jill

Pro-active Solutions...

Sunday, January 13th

Breakfast: 1/2 Kashi GoLean Triple Berry Crumble: 1/2 Kellogg's Special K Fruit n Yogurt cereal; frozen blueberries; almond milk; coffee; York peppermint patty creamer

Lunch:  Chicken Salad (about a cup I'm guessing)

Snack:  Apple Pie Mini LaraBar and a Granny Smith apple

So my son's hockey team had the opportunity to skate at the Chicago Steel hockey game.  They were on the ice for the national anthem, watched the player introductions from the ice, and played between a couple periods.  It was great.  Now here was my dilemma which had an easy solution.  For a fee, each person got admission to the game, a hockey puck, a HOT DOG and a SOFT DRINK.  Helloooooo...I don't eat hot dogs and I haven't drank pop in almost a year.  OK, well sort of lying...I eat a hot dog maybe once every 4 years when I go to a Chicago Cubs game and it's with the grilled onions. AMAZING!  And last March I had a 1/2 Diet Coke/ 1/2 Cherry Coke at Busch Gardens in Florida because quite honestly, I was so tired of drinking water!  Back to my story...knowing that these games practically offer nothing remotely healthy, I packed the LaraBar and the apple.  Yes, I'm patting myself on the back:)  Think ahead people, because when you do, you'll make better choices.

Dinner:  Pork Chop; quinoa and brown rice; spinach salad with poppy seed dressing (this dressing is not the healthy type, so I use 1/2 a serving)

Evening Snack:  popcorn

Drinks:  I am drinking water throughout the day and with my meals.

Monday, January 14th

Breakfast:  1/2 Kellogg's Red Berries Cereal and 1/2 Kellogg's Special K Fruit n Yogurt cereal; frozen blueberries; almond milk; coffee; York peppermint patty creamer

Morning Snack:  Mini Cherry Pie LaraBar

Lunch: 2 tuna lettuce wraps

My tuna is very simple.  I mix greek yogurt into the tuna with pickle relish, celery, and pepper.  However, I'm going to share a recipe that I ran across this week that I haven't tried, but looks flippin' amazing!

Tuna Salad
Latin Lemonaise - found at whole foods (never go there, but will be now)
Corn, black beans, red onion, cilantro, avocado, cumin, Cayenne, fresh lime juice and some salsa...stuffed in a pita with romaine.  The recipe didn't give amounts, but I'm sure I can swing something.

Afternoon Snack:  1/2 Pita with Supremely Spicy Hummus

Dinner:  2 Stuffed Shells; 2 1/2 pieces of whole wheat bread with margarine (whoops, but oh so good)

Evening Snack:  I opted for an orange, because my dinner was just OK.

Tuesday, January 15th

Breakfast:  1/2 Kellogg's Red Berries Cereal and 1/2 Kellogg's Special K Fruit n Yogurt cereal; frozen blueberries; almond milk; coffee; York peppermint patty creamer

Lunch:  I treated the kids to Egg Harbor.  I had the roasted veggie skillet and 2 butterless English muffins with awesome jam.  My son ate my fruit, and I think I had a piece of cantaloupe.

Dinner:  I've been eating pretty light today, and I knew I was meeting friends for dinner.  I ate 2 small pieces bread with olive oil and fresh Parmesan; fried calamari with cocktail sauce and this other type of mayo type sauce for the appetizers.  So far everything was fantastic.  For dinner I was being good, but I'm kinda dying to know how many calories were in it.  It was an amazing kale salad with Gorgonzola cheese, dried cranberries, walnuts, and roasted pears.  I ate every single bit:)  For dessert, the 3 of us split the caramel gelato.  WOW!  I drank about 2 1/2 glasses of Chianti and a couple glasses of water.

Wednesday, January 16th

Breakfast:  1/2 Kellogg's Red Berries Cereal and 1/2 Kellogg's Special K Fruit n Yogurt cereal; frozen blueberries; almond milk; coffee; York peppermint patty creamer

Lunch:  2 Tuna lettuce wraps; orange; water

Text from Jen

And yet another reason I think food journaling is helpful...friends second guessing their food intake decisions.  Jen, I'm so proud!

Late afternoon snack:  almond butter; apple:  Yes, I dipped way too much into the almond butter!

Dinner:  I stuffed chicken breasts with asparagus and cheese.  I wrapped them up and sprinkled with lime juice and pepper.  I also had a 1/2 cup of the quinoa with brown rice.

Evening Snack:  popcorn and water

Thursday, January 17th

Breakfast:  Kashi GoLean Triple Berry Crumble; frozen berries; almond milk; coffee; creamer

Lunch:  I met a friend for lunch at Egg Harbor where I had the roasted veggie skillet again.  PLUS, I JUST realized now that I didn't get any fruit!  I drank a decaf coffee with amaretto creamer.

Dinner:  I made turkey burgers with lettuce, tomato, ketchup, and a whole wheat bun.  I opted for carrots, yellow pepper and hummus as my side.  I made the rest of the family baked french fries.  I had 1 and it tasted yucky.

Evening Drink:  I ordered a Domaine DuPage beer and a couple cracker stick thingys from Cuvee Wine Bar in Elmhurst.

Now I'm going to sit in the recliner and watch a couple episodes of the HBO Series, Girls.  Our babysitter told me about this show shortly after I watched the People's Choice Awards.  I had to check it out, and I gotta say, I'm a bit hooked.

Jessica Simpson, Blow Pops, The Beast, and Mikey!

Finishing up Wednesday, January 9th

Snack:  Granny Smith Apple and a Cashew Cookie mini Larabar

Dinner:  Pork Chop breaded with low fat Ritz crackers; Parmesan cheese; salt; pepper; egg; skim milk; and baked with a bit of butter on the bottom of the baking dish.  Brown rice and quinoa with chopped red and orange peppers mixed into it.

After dinner treat:  Green Apple Blow Pop;  I remember in high school and college, I used to dip my Green Apple Blow Pop in Milwaukee's Best Light Beer.  AKA - The Beast.  Oh, yeah!  Admit it if you were with me on this one!

Evening snack:  Special K Fruit 'n Yogurt cereal

Thursday, January 10th

Breakfast:  Kashi GoLean Triple Berry Crumble; frozen blueberries; almond milk; coffee with creamer

Morning drink:  I had coffee with a friend at Elijah's.  It was a medium non-fat vanilla cafe au lait.  These are 1/2 coffee/1/2 latte which equals less calories.

Lunch:  Aside from my coffee at Elijah's, I worked straight thru the morning until 1:15pm.  I missed lunch and I was starving.  Got home at 1:45 and had chicken salad with a torn apart pita.  I finished about 3/4 of the pita.

Afternoon Snack:  banana; handful of pistachios in the shell.  I guess I need to add that they are in the shell, because a handful of unshelled pistachios is a lot more to consume that if I grab a handful not shelled.

Dinner:  Jen and I treated the FITT-RX team to dinner for a post-holidays celebration.  It was a late dinner and of course I was hungry!  I skipped the bread, olive oil, and Parmesan and opted to wait for the appetizers and meal instead.  During dinner, I enjoyed 3 Blue Moon drafts, a taste of grilled octopus, a bit of roasted red pepper, 3 fried Calamari rings with marinara, a small piece of Italian sausage with a few bites of salad for the appetizer.  At dinner, one of our trainers highly recommended the Tagliatelle Bolognese.  OMG!  So good!  It's homemade pasta, ground sirloin beef-pork, carrots, celery, peas, onions  garlic, and tomato sauce.  After dinner, Wade and I headed over to one of our favorite drinking establishments, Pints.  We had a sitter so what the heck!  I had 1 Coors Light.

Late night meal:  WHOOPS!  I took home 1/2 of my meal and decided to heat up a bowl and eat about half of what I brought home.  This stuff is great!  Not a good choice...in fact...tonight I probably ate a day's worth of calories, but it was a special night.  I am not going to beat myself up over it.  I mean I DID participate in boot camp and taught a TRX Suspension Training 30 minute class:)

Friday, January 11th

Breakfast:  Kashi GoLean Triple Berry Crumble; frozen blueberries; almond milk

Workout:  I took my first Yoga class in years!  Thanks to Candi, our instructor, I realized how much I really need to incorporate this workout into my schedule.  I need to stretch more!  I think I'm an inch taller after taking the class.  Then, I attempted to take Jen's TRX Boot Camp, but it was kinda 1/2 ass since I took a phone call and helped people walking through the doors.  All in all, good workouts for the day.

Drink:  I had my first coffee of the day at the studio.

Lunch:  Subway Seafood 'n Crab Salad; water.  By the way, why is it Seafood 'n Crab?  Crabs are seafood, right?  Just wondering as this just popped into my head.  Remember when Jessica Simpson wondered if Tuna was chicken?  Chicken of the Sea?  HA!  Also, Buffalo Wings were buffalo wings, not chicken wings?  OMG - really, Jessica?  At least, my thoughts are a far cry from hers.  Geez Louise!

Dinner:  An apple with homemade flax seed and honey almond butter.  Plus, I decided to continue dipping into the almond butter because it is to die for!  Someone in town brought us a jar for the holidays, and it is "oh so good!"  I also finished the leftovers from last night's dinner.

Saturday, January 12th

Breakfast:  Kashi GoLean Triple Berry Crumble; frozen blueberries; almond milk; coffee; creamer

Burpees:  Did my 4 burpees in the kitchen.  Where did you do yours???

Lunch:  I treated the kids to Egg Harbor.  I had the Joe's Healthy Scrambler.  This consists of gourmet turkey sausage, mushrooms, fresh leaf spinach and roasted onions scrambled into 3 no-cholesterol eggs and topped with low-fat Mozzarella cheese.  The wheat English muffins come with no butter, but I put the jam on them.  My son ate most of the fresh fruit that came with my meal. Water

Tonight, we have a surprise 50th birthday party.  How many of you have pinned a ton of recipes on Pinterest, but never actually made the recipe?  I'm so guilty of this.  Well tonight I'm taking one of those recipes and making it!  Here's the recipe.  Later, I will let you know how easy it was to make, as well as, how good it was.

Pancetta Crisps with Goat Cheese and Pear
12 thin slices pancetta
1 Bartlett Pear (I only found anjou)
1/2 (4oz.) package goat cheese, crumbled
Freshly cracked pepper
Honey

Arrange pancetta slices in a single layer on an aluminum foil lined baking sheet.  Bake at 450 for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.  Transfer to a paper towel-lined wire rack using a spatula.  Let stand 10 minutes or until crisp.

Core pear with an apple corer.  Cut pear crosswise into 12 thin rings.  Arrange on a serving platter.  Top evenly with pancetta and goat cheese; sprinkle with pepper.  Drizzle with honey just before serving.

If you don't plan to serve right away, put the pear slices into a lemon water bath to keep from turning brown.

 Picture on Pinterest

My final product - couldn't find crumbled goat cheese, but just cut-up a block

Excellent taste and super easy to make:)

Snack:  Granny Smith Apple with Almond butter with flax seed and honey - yes, I indulged in a bit more almond butter than I should have.  I'm feeling a bit guilty that I took this home from the studio.  I promise to buy Jen her own jar to take home.

Dinner: I marinated Tilapia in soy sauce, pomegranate red wine vinegar (supposed to be balsamic but had none), garlic, and honey.  After I marinated it for 30 minutes, I baked in the oven.  We accompanied it with stir-fry vegetables and brown rice.  I drank water.  Guess what!  It's like Mikey on the old Life Cereal commercials!  MY SON LIKED IT!  Holy Crap...I made him repeat it like 4 times.  I was a happy mommy!

Here it is.

Surprise 50th Birthday Party:  I did pretty darn well here food-wise:)  I had 3 of my pear appetizers, and also had compliments on them.  I watched a guy give his wife a plate with one on it, and she just stared at it like she was wondering what the heck it was.  Honestly, I don't even know if she ate it, but if she didn't, she was missing out.  Kind of a salty/sweet type of appetizer.  I was given a piece of chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.  My husband was given a corner piece, and he gave me his because he knows I like frosting.  I ate most of it.  I also had one pretzel rod, and a small handful of potato chips.  Drink-wise, I had 4 Coco Breve's and a Leine's Berry Weis.  Yes, upped the calorie count on the drinks, but they were good.

Coco Breve:  It's made by Miller/Coors and they are 130 calories a piece.  Alcohol content is 4.2%.

Burpees, Dessert Comparison, and Water Consumption

Sunday, January 6th (finishing the day)

I left you before my family headed up to my father in-law's birthday dinner.

The dinner was really good, and I exhibited some great self-control.  It can be hard when everything on the table looks fantastic!  It is an Italian family after all.

Dinner:  Medium serving of Lasagna; salad with tomatoes and balsamic vinaigrette dressing.  Garlic bread was on the table, and miraculously I didn't have a slice (or even 2).  My son did not eat his lasagna, and I almost dug into it, but didn't!

Dessert:  A small piece of fantastic blueberry pie with vanilla ice cream.  This was the first piece of blueberry pie that I have had in a VERY long time.  I remember growing up and having it at family events.  It was always my first choice.

Monday, January 7th

Breakfast:  GoLean Triple Berry Crumble Cereal; frozen blueberries; almond milk.  I should measure out how much I'm putting in my bowl, and after using My Fitness Pal, I'm guessing I'm eating just under 300 calories at breakfast.  Remember, breakfast is the most important meal of the day!  Don't skip it - EVER!

Lunch:  3oz. of rotisserie chicken; 1/2 cup of leftover Progresso chicken noodle soup (I ate around the chicken.  I just have a thing with reheated chicken and also processed chicken in a can.  Just can't do it); apple with peanut butter; water

Afternoon Snack:  A couple handfuls of pistachios - unshelled.  I shelled in the car later...nice mess too!

Dinner:  I was starving at dinner time, and fought the urge to eat while making dinner.  It was HARD!  I had a turkey burger on a whole wheat bun; edamame; 7 tortilla chips with 4 small slices of avocado; Greek yogurt gelato

 Purchased at Costco

Nutrition Facts:  I compared to Edy's Show Churned Neapolitan Ice Cream.

The Greek Yogurt Gelato has the same fat, same cholesterol, more sodium (45 grams more), more carbs (10 grams more), more sugar (9 grams more), more dietary fiber (the ice cream had no fiber), and more protein (7 grams more).  A 1 cup serving of the gelato is 150 calories vs. a 1/2 cup of ice cream with 90 calories.  So, in essence, it's better and worse in certain areas.  In my eyes, I choose the Greek Gelato.

Tuesday, January 8th

Breakfast:  GoLean Triple Berry Crumble Cereal; frozen blueberries, raspberries  blackberries; almond milk; coffee with creamer.  I have taken all sugar substitute and sugar out of my coffee.  It's just fine without.

Lunch:  Subway Seafood 'n Crab Salad and an Arnold Palmer drink (1/2 of it since my sick business partner wasn't sure if she accidentally drank out of my drink or not)  My salad had spinach  lettuce, American cheese, seafood 'n crab, tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, black olives, red onions, seasonings, and a splash of oil 'n vinegar.

After lunch video shoot:  I have to share this since it only can make everyone healthier, and I'm all about making people healthy!  So today we are initiating our FITT-RX Fitness Challenge!  I'm unable to load the video onto this blog...TRYING!, but click here to watch the video on our Facebook page.  We're challenging our clients to take on the challenge!  It's doable, and I'm SO IN!  Will you?

Afternoon Snack:  At Costco, I found this Organic Pomegranate Oatmeal.  It's fantastic!

Dinner:  2 Chicken salad wraps in iceberg lettuce; 6 tortilla chips with 4 skinny slices of avocado; Greek Yogurt Gelato

Chicken Salad Recipe
3 cups cut up rotisserie chicken (could use chicken breasts)
1 chopped medium apple
1 cup halved red grapes
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 T. sunflower seeds
1/2 cup Greek Yogurt
1/8 cup yellow mustard
2 T. honey

I combined the first 5 ingredients together.  Then stir together the yogurt, mustard and honey and mix into the chicken mixture.  Refrigerate.  I make lettuce wraps or you could put them in whole wheat wraps or make a sandwich.  I'm sure it'd be good on top of greens as well.

Snack:  It's not really a snack but I drank water and had a peppermint.  I was at my calorie intake for the day, and I didn't get a workout in.

Wednesday, January 8th

Breakfast:   GoLean Triple Berry Crumble Cereal; frozen blueberries; almond milk.

Lunch:  2 Chicken salad wraps in iceberg lettuce; edamame.  The edamame package says it has 2.5 servings.  In my opinion, that makes a large serving, so I'm guessing I had about a 1/4 of a serving...if even that.

Water:  I really want to stress that I am drinking water throughout the day.  I was told the other day that my muscles and skin are deprived of water.  Honestly, I don't know how much more I can drink.  4-5 large Tervis tumblers are plenty in my personal opinion, but they told me to drink half my weight.  That goes for everyone according to what I was told.  So drink up!!!

Workout:  I'll share the workout my clients completed today.  I did it with my second class.

Today's Boot Camp and Circuit Interval Workout

5 minute warm-up

Circuits

2 sets at 30 seconds per exercise
push ups; lateral jumps over an exercise mat; froggers

Core Tabata

Grasshopper Plank/Saw (alternating)

3 sets a 30 seconds per exercise

bicep curls; high knees; split squats

Core Tabata

Side Crunches - lay on your side, bottom arm out in front of you, top arm behind your ears and lift your knees to meet your elbow.

2 sets of 1 minute

Shuffles touches; Plyo Box step ups holding dumbbells; squats with single arm dumbbell swings.  (When you hit 30 seconds switch arms on the swings and switch your lead food on the step ups)

Core Tabata

Reverse Plank/Bicycle Crunches (4 of one, then 4 of the other)

2 sets 1 minute
Mountain Climbers 30 secs, then Burpee Rollovers 30 secs

Stretch

For more info on Tabata training and High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) - click here

Enjoy the rest of your day and get your burpees in!

Go to Costco for 2 things...$240 later!

Back on the wagon, baby!

Wednesday, January 2

Breakfast:  Quaker Instant Oatmeal; 1 T. peanut butter; 1/2 apple - A client of mine told me about putting peanut butter in her oatmeal, and I love apples so I thought to give this a try.  If you look at the cooking instructions, they give you a heart healthy portion size.  This is a huge portion size and I only finished 1/2 of the oatmeal concoction.  It was good, but to be honest, I missed my cereal, blueberries, and almond milk.  Coffee with York Peppermint Patty creamer

Lunch:  1/2 pita with Sabra Supremely Spicy Hummus.  This stuff is spicy HOT!  I also had 4 grape tomatoes with 3 mozzarella balls and fresh basil.

Snack:  banana

Lunch:  On the back of the Minute Rice brown rice box there is a recipe for chicken and rice Florentine.  It was great!  Grabbed a piece of gum afterwards to avoid eating anything else.

Water consumption for the day:  I'm still making my water cocktail of Jewel brand Key Lime Sparkling water and La Croix coconut water.  I like 3/4 coconut water and 1/4 key lime water.  I probably filled my Tervis 4 times today.

Evening snack:  popcorn

My Fitness Pal is a good app that can track your calories pretty well.  It also tracks vitamins, carbs, protein, sugar, sodium, etc..., and I'm learning that I'm eating way too much sodium and sugar.

 

Thursday, January 3

 

Boot Camp:  At 5:40am boot camp this morning, the group did relays the entire time.  I like these because they add variety, burn crazy calories, and are full of shorter bursts of high intensity cardiovascular activities coupled with resistance training.  I rarely work out with the group, but this morning I joined in and was a sweaty mess at the end.  I got a piece of my own medicine, and my shoulders were crying for 2 days afterwards.

 

Breakfast:  Kellogg's Special K with Red Berries; frozen blueberries; almond milk; coffee with creamer

 

Morning Snack:  1/2 apple

 

Lunch:  Hummus; 1/2 pita; 4 tomatoes; 3 mozzarella balls; basil

Snack:  Cashew Cookie mini Larabar.  I really like Larabar's and I'm really sad that our Jewel doesn't carry a fraction of what they used to have on the shelves.  PLUS, they're never on sale.  I bought the 12 pack of mini Larabars, but still no deal to be had here.

Dinner:  Chicken; rice; garlic cauliflower; water

Snack:  popcorn

Friday, January 4

Breakfast:  Special K with red berries; frozen blueberries; almond milk; coffee; creamer

Lunch:  Hummus; 1/2 pita; 4 tomatoes; 3 mozzarella balls; basil

Snack:  apple; peanut butter

Dinner:  We went to Pints and I had 2 drafts of Coors Light and a turkey burger (pretzel bun) with sweet potato fries.  I ate everything and it was really good.  Afterwards we headed over to Fitz's Spare Keys to watch a Beatles cover band called American' English.  They were good and I felt really, really young there.  I had a couple more Coors Lights.

Late snack:  I got home and was very conscious about my late night splurge.  I probably would've grabbed something not so healthy, but opted for a Clementine.  Good girl!

Saturday, January 5

Breakfast:  Kashi GoLean Triple Berry Crumble cereal with frozen blueberries and almond milk; coffee and creamer (only drank maybe 3 oz. of it)

Exercise:  I taught 2 TRX Suspension classes today...I did most of one, and a tiny fraction of the other.  The classes were great and we got to use our second bar since we had a nice size class!

Lunch:  Ham, Swiss cheese, mustard on wheat bread; 2 small tomatoes; 2 mozzarella ball; basil

Snack:  My daughter and I went to Costco for paper towels and Kleenex for the studio, and we walked out with over $200 worth of food.  That darn place.  However, our family is stocked up in meat; pork chops, ground turkey, tilapia, rotisserie chicken, Alaskan King Crab, scallops, and tuna.  All good choices in my book.  While there I sampled a tiny serving of a chocolate chip Clif bar.

Dinner:  We heated up the king crab and marinated the scallops in thyme, olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic.  We accompanied the meat with asparagus and white rice.  Would've made brown rice, but my family won't eat it, and I didn't feel like a separate serving of it.  For dessert, I had Greek Yogurt Gelato I found at Costco.  A serving is 150 calories.

Sunday, January 6

Breakfast:  GoLean Triple Berry Crumble; frozen blueberries; almond milk; coffee; creamer

Afternoon Drink:  Starbucks non-fat vanilla misto

Lunch:  Spinach; rotisserie chicken; strawberry vinaigrette dressing; blackberries; raspberries; blueberries; mini-tomato; water; clementine

Afternoon Snack: Mini Larabar and an apple

In an hour we're heading out to the in-laws for dinner.  They're ordering in so we'll see what's in store.








Outback Steakhouse - pre journal and post journal

Monday, December 31st

Dinner:  2 egg white, 1 egg, 2 slices of turkey bacon, and spinach scrambled eggs.

New Year's Eve Party: 3 pieces Imitation Crab with cocktail sauce; 2 pieces of shrimp with cocktail sauce; 1 nacho filled with meat and melted cheddar cheese; 2 Bailey's shots in a cute chocolate cup; 3 cranberry juice and vodkas; 2 soco lime shots (ugh!); 4 gingerbread cookies (I read that 5 cookies equaled 132 calories) dipped in this super awesome pumpkin dip; cream cheese jelly concoction with crackers; chips and salsa; a small amount of guacamole; champagne at midnight.  This was over a 5 hour time frame.  Not that it makes it right...but still.

Tuesday, January 1st

Breakfast:  Donut House Chocolate Glazed Donut Coffee with soy milk; 5 pieces of pineapple; I finished my son's Cherry Kringle that he didn't like; 3/4 of a bagel.  Actually this breakfast spanned out a couple hours since we had a slumber party the night before and had great company during breakfast.  Not to mention that we rehashed the previous night's escapades that were very entertaining.  Imagine my friend talking through an Optimus Prime helmet at 1:00am.  Lots of laughs for sure!

Afternoon snack:  Banana

Dinner:  We went to Outback Steakhouse.  We love this place and think it's a good steak at a very reasonable price.  However, I decided to skip the steak and potato and try something else for a change.  First I will write what I usually order, then I will write what I actually ordered.

What I usually order:
22oz Miller Lite - 176 calories
Side Salad with Tangy Tomato dressing - 217 calories
6 oz. fillet - 254 calories (surprised me)
Baked potato with sour cream and chives - 268 calories
Bread - They say 234 calories with butter, but I'm guessing that is the whole loaf.  I cut it into 6 pieces so I'm saying 30 calories.  I don't put butter on it, because it's great without.

Total: 946 calories

What I actually ordered:
Water
Side Salad with Tangy Tomato dressing on this side (I used half of the dressing) - 183 (had to do some calculating and online research)
French Onion Soup - 466 (I did not finish all of the cheese, so I'm taking 60 off - so 406)
Bread - 30

Total:  619

I use an app called Restaurants.  It has a calorie counter for virtually any chain type of restaurant you can think of, and I highly recommend getting it yourself.  It's FREE so why not.  Let me show you why...

Outback Steakhouse calorie monsters:
Bloomin' Onion - 1959
Alice Springs Chicken Quesadilla (small) - 938
Aged Cheddar Bacon Burger - 1003 (and that's not even with fries!)
Grilled Chicken and Swiss Sandwich - 685 (don't let the words "grilled" and "chicken" fool you
Loaded baked potato - 354
No Rules Parmesan Pasta - Grilled Chicken - 1320
10 oz Ribeye - 544
Steakhouse Salad - 918

Better Choices:
6oz. Victoria's Filet - 218
Baked Potato with sour cream - 267
Steamed Fresh Green Beans - 55
Grilled Asparagus - 52

It's NEVER a good time.

On December 26th, I made the decision to food journal for the next 10 weeks.  Was it good timing...absolutely NOT!  However, when is a good time?  I still had my mom's amazing Christmas feast, a funeral dinner, and food out and about galore for a good part of my long weekend home in Iowa.

I could've waited until New Year's Day to make this decision and tell all of you about it, but then I guess you'll all see how human I really am.  Trust me...my family in Iowa has amazing food.  My husband quite frequently says (insert farmer voice), "YYYYep, I married myself a good Iowa corn fed girl for sure."  Whatev...

Wednesday, December 26th

Breakfast:  Kellog's Special K with Red Berries, frozen blueberries (serves double duty for keeping the milk cold and super healthy too); almond milk (double the calcium and more than 1/2 the calories of skim milk); coffee with York peppermint patty creamer

Lunch:  Seafood 'n Crab Salad from Subway; I mix iced tea and lemonade at Subway to make an Arnold Palmer, and I dove into the rest of my daughter's Harvest Cheddar Sun Chips.  That was a "crap, I forgot I was journaling" moment.  Gotta love it!

Dinner:  I made Sweet 'n Sour Chicken that was amazing, and so easy.  I didn't have any Sweet 'n Sour sauce in the fridge, but I just happened to have all of the ingredients in the house.  I also had a piece of banana bread and skim milk.

Sweet 'n Sour Chicken
1 T. olive oil
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces(I used 3 chicken breasts from Costco)
1 bag (16 oz.) frozen stir-fry vegetables
1 can (8 oz.) pineapple chunks in juice, undrained (I had a fresh pineapple that I cubed)
1 can (10 1/2 oz.) low sodium Chicken Broth
2 cups Minute White Rice, uncooked (I would've used brown, but accidentally opened the white)
1/2 cup sweet 'n sour sauce

Homemade sweet 'n sour sauce (makes too much so you can reduce accordingly)
      3/4 cup white sugar
      1/3 cup white vinegar
      2/3 cup water
      1/4 cup soy sauce
      1 T. ketchup
      2 T. cornstarch

Place the sugar, vinegar, water, soy sauce, ketchup and cornstarch in a medium saucepan, and bring to a boil.  Stir continuously until the mixture has thickened.  You will only use a half cup in the meal.
      
1.  Heat oil in large skillet on medium-high heat.  Add chicken; cook and stir 5 min. or until cooked through.
2.  Add vegetables and pineapple with juice; mix well.  Stir in chicken broth.  Bring to boil.
3.  Stir in Rice; cover.  Remove from heat.  Let stand 5 minutes or until almost all of the liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.  Stir in sweet 'n sour sauce.
4.  Makes 4 servings.  Enjoy!

Evening snack:  I had a piece of gum after dinner and made some microwave popcorn later in the evening with water.

Thursday, December 27th

Breakfast:  Kellog's Special K with Red Berries; frozen blueberries; almond milk

Lunch:  Leftover sweet 'n sour chicken (I ate cold because reheated chicken is disgusting)

Afternoon Snack:  Apple with peanut butter; Sabra Supremely Spicy Hummus (they are not kidding, this is super spicy hot) and 1/2 of a pita.

Dinner:  We drove back to Iowa this evening and we stopped at Wendy's along the way.  I had a Wendy's spicy chicken sandwich.  I love these...a lot.  Since I was journaling, I refrained from fries and I'm very proud of myself:)

Evening Drinks and Treat:  We are at my mom's house and this is the beginning of the end.  I say this is the nicest way possible, because it was so worth it.  On our way home, we bought this Egg Nog liquor.  When we arrived my parents and I had 2 drinks.  All you do is put the liquor over ice and it's so divine.  No kidding.  AND, yes, my mom makes the most awesome sugar cookies.  BUT, not only are they delish, they are decorated beautifully.  I ONLY had one.

Cookies we came home with.  There were a few more, but they were not eaten by me!



Friday, December 28th

Breakfast:  Frosted Mini Wheats, fresh blueberries; skim milk; coffee; sweet cream creamer.  My mom makes this amazing coffee cake, but I opted to stick with the cereal instead.

Lunch: BBQ Pork (I skipped the bun); jello salad that I can't describe, but I do know it's green and has cottage cheese in it; raw carrots; a handful of Bugles (I don't buy these, because if I did, I'd turn into a bugle); Chocolate cookie (look at picture above); pinwheel cookie; water

I do need to stop here and discuss self-control.  This is VERY important.  I don't need to go into detail, however our family did have a death in the family last week.  With the wake and funeral comes a lot of food.  During the wake, food was brought in and I didn't have any.  I know if I wasn't journaling, I would've totally ate sweets and probably a sandwich too.

Dinner:  Anyone from Iowa knows Happy Joe's pizza.  Especially the taco pizza.  All those who live far away, come home, and get there fix whenever possible.  Seriously, I love this stuff.  SOOOOO...I had 3 1/2 pieces.  I washed every single bite down with water.

After dinner, we attempted to go to a Dubuque Fighting Saints hockey game.  Holy crap, these games sell out!  As we got closer to the rink, we saw a long string of cars heading that way.  I called to see if tickets were available, and the only 7 together available were along the glass for $21 a piece.  Otherwise, it was standing room only for $11.  With 2 kids and 5 adults, we just couldn't spend $147 to sit, or $77 to stand for a game.  If we go to a Steel game in Bensenville, the tickets are general admission, and they cost $8 a pop.  OH, and by the way, the Fighting Saints lost to the Chicago Steel in overtime the very next evening!  Go Steel!

Evening Drinks and Treats:
We saved some cash and skipped the game to go home for some free beers.  I had 3 Leine's Lemon Berry Shandys (I have a friend who'd be proud I stick with Miller/Coors products).  As far as treats, and there were plenty to choose from, I had homemade chocolates....a mini almond joy, peanut butter cup, and a Butterfinger.  All smaller, and so good!  Lastly, I had a few pieces of cheddar cheese with triscuit crackers.

Saturday, December 29th

Breakfast:  Frosted Mini Wheats; fresh blueberries; skim milk; coffee; York Peppermint Patty creamer

Lunch:  The funeral was in the morning and after the burial it is customary to go to the local hall for lunch.  The community gets together and makes food for family and friends to enjoy and celebrate the life of the person who's passed.  These ladies make a mean lunch, and I say this like it's very good.  I had roast beef, mashed potatoes (I took a much smaller portion that I'd usually take), and green beans.  The dessert table was to die for.  I stared at red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting, blueberry dessert; pumpkin pie, chocolate cake, white cake, pecan pie, and the list goes on and on.  I did not, I repeat, did not take any dessert, because I knew the our families Christmas celebration was just a few hours away.  Now, I did get to watch my Grandpa partake in 2 desserts, but he's 90 and he's totally allowed:)

Grandpa Charlie and the family



Snacks:  Snacks is an understatement.  Before dinner, I had almonds, cashews, mm's, a couple slices of cheddar cheese, 2 crackers, graham cracker pretzels that went with this fantastic Tastefully Simple Key Lime ball, a couple Bloody Mary's, and 2 Leine's Lemon Berry Shandys.  I'm full...

Dinner:  But there's still dinner!  Pork loin (a piece the size of a deck of cards), mashed potatoes (1/2 the amount I normally would take), green bean casserole, and a salad that consisted of spinach, blueberries, blue cheese crumbles and raspberry walnut vinaigrette.  Mom made 2 desserts and usually I love all desserts so it just makes sense to have a small piece of each.  Am I wrong????  The first dessert was an Eu Claire dessert and the second was a pumpkin dessert.  YUMMY!

After dinner snacks and drink:  I had a chocolate cookie (see above picture) and 4 dark chocolate crisps.  The crisps look like pringles and they are awesome.  I did enjoy one last Egg Nog Liquor on ice.

Sunday, December 30th

Breakfast:  1/4 of a bagel with cream cheese; strawberries with fruit dip; a piece of sausage breakfast pizza

Late Morning Snack:  Almonds and Cashews; My mom makes this fantastic chex mix.  It's mixed with dried apricots, walnuts, brown sugar, butter, and whatever other yummy ingredients are in there.  I had 2 small bowls of it...probably the worst thing thus far not including all of the pizza from Friday night.

Lunch:  A small piece of pork loin, the green jello I described above, cranberry jello, and good 'ol Iowa corn.

Afternoon Snack:  More of the chex mix (ugh!), a piece of homemade chocolate, and a couple bites of BBQ pork as I was packing leftovers to take back to Iowa.  My mom asked me to take back cookies, but I immediately said no, because I have NO self control.  However, I do have a family who likes the cookies too, so yes I took about a dozen cookies.  I will not eat one of them as they are for my kids and husband if they'd like one.  NOT FOR ME!

Dinner:  I literally felt like I ate all day and was not even a tinge hungry at dinner time.  We stopped in Rockford to feed the family, but I couldn't even think about food.  When we got home, I had an apple.  Drank water throughout the night.

Monday, December 31 - Happy New Year's Eve!

Breakfast:  Today at FITT-RX, we had 3 Holiday $5 classes.  I organized 5:40am boot camp, and when I got home I had Kellogg's Special K with Red Berries; frozen blueberries; almond milk.  After breakfast, I hopped in the shower - wait I lied - I played that stupid CANDY CRUSH game that I'm so addicted to first (I'm on level 41, take that fellow candy crushers!), and then I hopped in the shower.

I headed to the studio where we had 8am Total Core, then 9am Boot Camp Poker.  All in all, a fantastic morning!  Thanks to Jen for her 2 minute plank, her 2 sets of 90 second Burpee Jacks, the 20 second push up hold, and the dreaded 45 seconds of split squats while holding dumbbells overhead.  I worked off most of the chex mix from yesterday!  I loved it and sweated nicely:)  OH, had a coffee when I got there at 8am.

Lunch:  1/2 Pita with the super spicy hummus; an apple; mozzarella ball; and a grape tomato.  I think I'm still full from the weekend! 

We have a New Year's Eve Party tonight and I consciously chose to make healthy appetizers to share.  The first is a skewer with 2 grape tomatoes, 2 basil leaves, and a ball of mozzarella.  The second is crab meat that can be dipped in a red cocktail sauce.  PLUS, we're making it a slumber party because I don't want my entire family on the road after midnight.  Not to mention, that if someone doesn't drink, it'd be me, so I say we STAY OVER!  For the morning, I'm bringing bagels, cream cheese, pineapple, and a cherry Kringle.  Not super healthy, but not super terrible:)

Have a safe New Year's Eve.  I promise to be sure to develop a better eating schedule like I did the last time I blogged my food journal.  Like I said, this was probably not the best time to start, but you gotta do whatcha gotta do.  I welcome anyone to join me, and ask questions whenever you have one.

Jill

PS - Can't get this picture below to delete.  It's a subliminal message and I don't like it one iota!