Homemade Granola

So my niece Genessa had a recipe for some homemade granola on Facebook. I tried it and it was great. Now as most of you probably know granola is not low in calories and is high in calories. So you need to limit eating it to morning time. I did the recipe with brown sugar because it was 20% less in calories than the honey. This recipe is 5 points for a half cup. I only made a half recipe. I used almonds for the nuts and added raisins after it was cool.

Recipe:

• 8C rolled oats
• 1C honey or 1c brown sugar@1/2c water
• pinch-1tsp salt
• 4 tsp vanilla
• 4 tsp cinnamon
• 2 c chopped nuts
• pinch- 1tsp soda

Bring honey or sugar to liquid then add the vanilla and the soda. Combine all dry ingredients, mix with hot liquid mixture in a big bowl. Put on cookie sheet and bake in preheated oven 275 for 45-60 minutes, stirring occasionally. This is great as a cereal or in yogurt. When I very first tasted it I didn't think it was sweet enough but the more you eat it, it tastes really good and doesn't need to be any sweeter. I have been doing 1/4 C (2.5 points) in a low-fat yogurt (2 points)..it makes for a great breakfast!

Intervals & Milk

So I have really been trying to do interval training. My strength training with Tammye are quick circuits and you get an aerobic workout while you are building muscle. I have also been trying to do intervals on the treadmill as that is the way the C25K program works. Well, last night I was reading and found this article which was on the front page of the fitness section.

Here is a short clip from the article: "Experts say interval training, alternating bursts of intensity activity with less intense periods, can burn more calories, boost stamina, and stave off that burning pain that stops any workout dead in its tracks. Interval training reduces training time, and the less time you have to commit to exercising, the more likely you are to stay exercising. It reduces boredom and increases variety and challenge"

It was great to read that what I am doing works! Now I just need to do it more often. I have kind of been slacking on the treadmill lately. Not sure how I was so diligent about it before I went back to work. I really need to be working out 5 days a week, at least 4 on the treadmill. I have been pretty faithful about my strength training. It is brutal too! but I keep coming back for more. So the last time I did "weekend warrior", as I was walking out my trainer told me that I should stop by the gas station on the way home and grab a chocolate milk in order for my muscles to get the much needed protein to replenish. She said it was important for it to be liquid protein as it is absorbed much faster. I was hesitant to do it because of the additional calories but took her advice. Again, last night as I was reading through the fitness section I came across yet another article to support this.

Here is a short clip from this one: "Researchers are giving scientific support to a view that Whitmore vouches for from experience: that milk may be just as good or even better than sports drinks for serious athletes recovering from exercise. The health benefits of milk — which has carbohydrates, electrolytes, calcium and vitamin D — have long been established. But for athletes, milk also contains the two proteins best for rebuilding muscles: casein and whey. Muscles get damaged after an intense bout of aerobic exercise like running, playing football, or cycling. The casein and whey proteins in milk are precisely what the body needs to regenerate muscles fast."

If you have time, I suggest you read both of these articles as they were good information. Especially if you are an athlete or trying to lose weight. I am just gonna keep doing what I am doing! Looks like it should work!

New Beginning

From the mouth of Bob Harper, "Accept that you'll experience ups and downs along the way. If your eating habits slip or you miss a few workouts, don't give up. Get back on track tomorrow"

That is what I am doing! Putting the past behind and starting a new. No holidays or visitors for the next 3 weeks. I have got to give it my all. I am getting on the treadmill today. I am so sore, I can barely move but my quads are actually feeling okay. That is what usually gets sore. Today though it is my upper body, hamstrings and glutes, so no excuse to at least not go for a walk.

Last night I stayed up late watching the Boise State football game. It was so close. A nail biter till the very end. So happy for them. As I was watching I was reading the stats of all the players. On the TV they look huge. They are almost all over 6 ft and weigh 200-300 pounds. I remember watching football when I was younger thinking that those guys were giants. Last night it made me think that for a long time I have weighed as much as one of those football players and we know that I am a little 5'3 and don't have near the muscle mass that they do. This has got to change. I really need to see the 150s. Damn..I need to see the 180s. I have been hovering along 200 for too long. I must break the cycle and stay on track. I must be so strict with my diet.

Well, today is a new day!

Weekend Warrior

So today was Weekend Warrior and I went. By far the hardest work out that I have ever done in the past 10 years. I was tired after the warm up! So here is a very condensed version of how it worked.

We did a warm up of squats, lunges, stretches and then paired up with a partner and did football runs and touched the ground repeatedly. After the warm up there was 6 stations with two exercises each. We did each exercise vigorously for one minute, had 15 seconds to recover, did the next exercise...switched stations and repeated. We did all 6 stations twice. A lot of these exercises are not your typical things you see but I am going to try and give a summary of them the best I can. Mostly, just so I can remember.

1) Turn the bosu ball upside down flat side up (A bosu ball is half dome; ball on one side, flat on the other) then in a push up postion do mountain climbers back and forth (these are pretty much alternating lunges)...doesn't sound too bad but did I mention that we had these little gliders on our feet that resemble slippery paper plates.

2) Kneel on the bosu ball with the dome part up. Point your toes and do not allow them to touch the ground. Alternating dumbbell press with 8 Lbs in each arm.

3) With a light barbell lift it straight above your head with your arms straight. Squat down, while bending your torso and let one side of the barbell touch the floor right in front of your foot. Stand back up straight and do it to the other side. Alternate.

4) Put the same barbell on your shoulders behind your neck. Do a lunge back to knee lift, alternating sides.

5) On the floor slide side to side imitating a speed skater. Lunge your leg diagonally behind the other leg, touch the floor and slide to the other side. Repeat side to side.

6) Skiers. With your feet together squat down and jump side to side twisting your torso to imitate a downhill skier. (doesn't sound hard..but try it for one minute with out stopping)

7) Swimmers. Lay on your belly and imitate the breast stroke. Put a glider (the slippery plastic plate) in each hand and lift your shoulders off the ground at the end of each stroke. Make circles moving away from your body 8 times, the rotate directions and make the circles moving toward your body.

8) Frogs. These were impossible for me to do. It was the same as the swimmer but in a plank position with the gliders on your feet. I had to modify and do jack knifes with the gliders instead. Even this was almost impossible for me to do.

9) With cables or the rope pull down, using 35-40 Lbs, do rows by pulling the rope into your body around the belly button region.

10) Same as #9 but do high rows by pulling the row more into your chest region.

11) Using a step platform with two risers underneath, hold plank position for 10 seconds and do a push up, repeat 6 times. For the more advanced girls in my class they walked from corner to corner of the step with their hands while doing the plank and did a push up at each corner. (This again..was impossible for me)

12) Lay on the same step with your back down. Lift your pelvis off the step to be in the bridge position, squeeze your glutes. While doing this, do dumbbell flies with 10 pounds in each arm.

Now...repeat all of these stations again!

Then after all of this, feeling as though I need to barf...she says lets run to the park about a block away. At the park she had us run sprints from cone to cone, the cones were about 15 feet apart. We would run to the first cone and do 10 squats, run back to the beginning, run to second cone and do 10 lunges, back to the beginning, run to the 3rd cone and do alternating mountain climbers, back to the beginning and to the fourth cone. We finished the work out with a 4 minute lap around the park. The first minute was power-walking, second minute was jogging, third minute was running and fourth minute was sprinting. (I must say that my sprint and jog look pretty similar..haha).

Back to the gym, did some good stretching and got to go home. Pheewww. I am tired just writing this post. It was exhausting but I felt good at the end. A big thanks to my friend Olivia for joining me. She did great but I bet she is sore tomorrow!

No weigh in

Well, we had a great weekend. We drove up to Kentucky and visited Mammoth Cave. It is the largest cave in the world; so big that you would have to add the 2nd, 3rd and 4th largest caves together to get one the same size. It is over 350 miles. We only saw a small part of the cave but will look forward to going back when our kids are a little older and can navigate the hiking and stairs better. It was just fun to do something different. We stayed at a hotel and the both kids enjoyed the pool and hottub. Hudson loved staying in a hotel. We also enjoyed the National Corvette Museum. There is only one manufacturer plant in North America and it is in Bowling Green. They have a big museum with about 250 corvettes spanning the years from 1950-present. Hudson was in heaven. He is a typical boy and loves cars. He was running around the museum so excited.

So, about the weigh in. Well, since we were out of town there was no access to a scale. I am not going to weigh in this week, because I know I will be disappointed. Vacations are not good for diets. We snacked on the way there, ran thru fast food on the drive, indulged in Mexican food one night, etc. I know it was bad. So, I am going to be good this week and we will see if it pays off.

I have had a hard time tracking my points. This is my key to success. It is hard for me to find time blog every day so I think I am just going to text my points to my friend Jordan and ask her to hold me accountable daily. I know she wont have a problem doing this. I am not giving up. The past month has been hard but I knew it would be a slow process. I figure falling over hurdles and getting back up and on the plan over and over is better than just throwing in the towel. It really is discouraging though that you can work so hard all week and lose a pound and then indulge for one weekend and it all go down the tubes. I am running out of time though. Race for the Cure is in 8 weeks and my friends Tracy and Liz will be here in 4 weeks. I have got to stay on track.