Livin’ La Vida Healthy

(Sorry – sometimes it’s hard to come up with clever, not-previously-used titles!) How is your Wednesday treating you today? I’ve enjoyed the day a ton with a few high intensity early morning workouts as the rain fell hard from the sky and we finished moving our furniture/goods out of storage and downstairs. Hooray for productivity! Seeing as it’s Wednesday and I’ve made some particularly tasty dishes this week, I thought I’d jump on the bandwagon and participate in “WIAW,” or “What I Ate Wednesday.” I discovered “WIAW” after reading about it weekly on Lindsay’s blog and decided to check out the source: Jen from Peas and Crayons!

It’s not a time to compare meals or judge others, but to simply get a sneak peek into each other’s lives; what we eat, how we workout, what we wear (well, I pretty much live in workout clothes; this is not the blog to visit if you’re looking for fashion tips!). At any rate, here’s a recap of some of my eats from this week so far:

Jenna’s Black Bean Burgers…the perfect summer dinner (and definitely approved by Mikey)!

 

A combo of meals here for last night’s dinner: mashed-by-hand-chickpeas for DOTR’s Falafels + Angela’s Protein Power Goddess Bowls!

One cup of black coffee in the mornings + a new-to-me granola recipe:

I made a few substitutions by cutting the honey down by half and adding half a cup of maple syrup, took out some of the oil, and added a few spoonful’s of PB for good measure (and as I didn’t have any peanuts). I also skipped the wheat germ simply because I didn’t have any. This is a recipe from my old professor at TWU Paul (who just married my sister-in-law!) who absolutely rocks! Thanks Paul! It could be healthified a bit (substituting mashed bananas or applesauce for the oil, for example), but it turned out SO good. I paired a bit of this with some Greek vanilla yogurt, chia seeds, ground flax and a small banana for my breakfast today – delish!

Add in a black iced coffee thanks to my Starbucks card and a few handfuls of carob chips with some almonds as a snack and you’re pretty much caught up to date!

Yesterday I squeezed in a run before the rainstorms came (and come they did!) and enjoyed a great almost-7-mile run in some hot, humid air. Just under an hour later, I was done, showered and in the car for the appointment!

I took my phone with me as I was essentially running home to then go to an appointment downtown and knew I might have questions and need to use my phone. Whenever I bother to bring the beast with me (it bounces WAY too much in my running skirt pocket so I have to carry it) I make it count by taking photos as I run. Much harder than I might make it look, I should add (that’s for you, Christine!).

In other workout news, last night before bed as I was perusing twitter, I found the hash tag “#twitterfitcommit” and thought it was a great way to keep yourself accountable to a workout online. Because running has been much easier for me to commit to lately and knowing the importance of strength training for your body and for looks (nothing beats weights!), I decided to try it out. I tweeted a note of commitment:

…and then got my workout done in the a.m! Here’s what I worked:

Booty Shaping Workout:

• Commando Push Up: 10 sec rest, 30 sec movement
• Sandbag Squat & Kick Up: 10 sec rest, 30 sec movement
• Single Knee Tuck: 10 sec rest, 30 sec movement

Repeat circuit 6 times

followed by:

High Knees with Sandbag Squat Workout:

• Jump Rope with High Knees: 10 sec rest, 30 sec movement
• Sandbag Squat (hold something heavy and squat!): 10 sec rest, 30 sec movement

Repeat circuit 9 times

It felt great to finally hit the weights again and make my body my machine. Mainly though, it was awesome to work up a sweat in a different way – gotta love jumping rope and working up a burn in your muscles! I tweaked the second circuit by not holding a weight since I’d already done similar squats in the workout before and changed the type of squat I was doing while also substituting reptile planks for some core work and variation. So important to keep the entire body strong and not just your heart! They are both BodyRock workouts; let me know if you try one of them!

Well, time to get ready to go out to eat with the in-laws and sister/brother-in-laws (wahoo for gift cards and generous friends!). Have a great rest of your day and I’ll catch up with you later!

• What’s easier for you: cardio or strength training? Used to be strength training for me; now it’s running!
• Any fun recent eats to share?!

Live well & be well,

Bonnie