Weekly Workout Thread 1st Jan till 7th Jan

[Tybee]

Kimberly: Great news about the bubbly, I can certainly DOWN some la Croix! San Peligrino is great too.

Dee*Jay: I definitely recommend using a neoprine knee brace if your knee is aching. The neoprine (wet suit material) not only gives your knee support, but it warms it. The warming really seems to help in my case. Here I go with "somebody told me once," but I heard that heating an injured area helps with vascilation, and blood flow helps with the healing process... please someone tell me to shut up if I''m wrong!

 

[KimberlyH]

CJ: Your body still breaks down the components to their bases, so if it has salt in it you aren''t detracting from the H20, but you do need to watch your sodium intake overall, so I wouldn''t totally replace water with the drinks you are referring to.

 

[Rod]

Happy Sunday Everyone!!

My Birthday Weekend continued today. I got to go buy a IPOD Nano (2 GB) which holds about 500 songs (more than enough for me!). Now, I''ll either have to figure out how to move the music from Sony MP3 over the IPOD (if possible), or download a boatload of Itunes online, since all our CDs are still in our condo in Tampa. But, I''ll at least have fun figuring it out (Rod just loves new toys!!)

We signed the formal offer and gave a whopping check (they required 3% down to start) and now we''ll have to wait and see if the offer we made (which was not full price, plus there are upgrades we requested) is accepted. I''m pretty sure that if they come back with a counter offer as long as it''s in the reasonable range, we''ll likely go forward. Now, I need all my praying friends on PS to put in a good word with whichever deity they pray to that our condo in Tampa sells soon so we can move our lives fully here to Raleigh.

We worked out for nearly 3 hours this afternoon too. I guess we both felt a bit quilty over not working out yesterday, so we did an extra hard workout as atonement. Tomorrow is Monday, and we have reservations to go to the Art Museum to see a Monet exhibit and have dinner in their supposedly lovely dining room after we see the exhibit. This was all arranged by our company''s CFO, who asked if Charlie and I would accompany him and his wife. We feel honored to be invited.

I''m so sorry to hear that Mara and Tybee are experiencing upset tummies. It is that time of year, so I hope your discomfort is short lived.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes. I sure did have a nice birthday weekend in our new town of Raleigh, NC. On the subject of new town, I realized today that everywhere we wanted to go, I didn''t have to pay as much attention to where we were or wonder how to get someplace. It dawned on me that in the 5 weeks we''ve been here, we''ve done pretty well at navigating around and I finally felt comfortable driving around. Sure has rained a lot though. It''s taking me some time to get used to a full day of cloudy, rainy skies. At least the temperatures have been really moderate. Maybe too moderate. I noticed that many trees are beginning to bud out and it''s way too early for that.

Anyway, I hope you all had a great weekend and are looking forward to a bright and healthy week!

 

[Mara]

congrats on the new digs rod...that's sooo exciting. i remember when we bought our place, i love new places, the idea that no one has put their mark on anything but you...it feels like it's really all yours. i am a new house whore actually...hehee. i never want to deal with anyone else's 'great ideas' from when they lived there...though there are some amazing beautiful places we have seen that are very old...also greg has a mental block about having to do a lot of maintenance on houses..it stems from when he was young and his parents were always remodeling their old place. it turned out really stunning, but the kids were a great source of free assistatnce, lol, so both of them have a block against home maintenance now, kinda funny.

anyhow, i felt kind of weird all day with this stomach thing, and i wasn't as bloated today but still feel a little indigestiony kinda down my esophagous area...really random. we took down the xmas trees and restored the house to normal. i wasn't feeling super great but i was so bored so i decided to see how i felt at the gym. the elliptical was great! i did 50 minutes for about 475 calories (i took it easier today on a lower level) and then went to whole foods and got a few things...i hardly go there anymore since (a) it's really expensive and i was seriously overspending from month to month and (b) i don't work near there anymore so it's more out of my way...but i wanted to get this syrup they sell and also i got my fave stuffed wild rice chicken they have in their meat dept (they take a chicken breast and stuff it with this wild rice and mushroom stuffing and then wrap the whole thing and you just put it in the oven and drizzle some olive oil or chicken stock on it and bake)...it's a super yummy dinner and pretty healthy...and also got my fave cranberry, spiced walnut and blue cheese salad for lunch tomorrow. i LOVE this salad, their dressing is divine but since i don't know how much oil they put in it, i'll sub it for my own balsamic. super excited about the salad though.

then i came home and made a healthy version of martha's mac and cheese. we love the full fat version and i have been dying to try lightening it up. if it turns out great i will post the recipe. it's not a super light version...i have seen some out there that are VERY lean but honestly what fun is having mac and cheese if you can't have a bit of butter and a bit of real cheese going on? hehee. plus our day today eating wise was very light (just breakfast and then 2 bowls of cinammon life) so the mac and cheese serving and a half, even with a salad is barely going to make my min cal for the day, i'll have to be sure to have a jello pudding with whipped cream for dessert.

but i feel great after working out so im really glad i went and did it rather than moped around the house this afternoon. greg also got in a hour long run and burned like 1k calories, oh to be a man with a great metabolism!!! anyhow the mac and cheese is in the oven, time to shower, i'll report back later on how it tastes...hope everyone had a great day!!

 

[katebar]

Have any of the exercise experts ever used High intensity interval training (HIIT)? Its very big on another forum I visit and it seem to be a very economical way to get maximum calorie burning in. I have been doing it 3 times a week for the last 2 weeks + 2 30 minute sessions.
For those of you who don't know what it is you basicly do Sprint" periods of 85-100% of your maximum heart rate for a short period of time of 30 sec-60 sec then followed by "recovery" periods of usually 30-60secs at a slow pace
It Should only be done 2-3 times a week for a max of 20mins per session and you really feel like you have worked out. The big plus is that because you have really 'worked' you keep 'burning' calories for hours after.

 

[Mara]

yeah kate i have heard of that...you can also do it on machines...aka jack up the treadmill or the elliptical to do a high level then a low level for rest etc. it's supposed to be great. i do it sometimes when i want a really great workout. i don't know that it works any better or worse than anything else, i saw great results from just being consistent with working out...and eating well.

so the mac and cheese was great!! next time i'll add a bit more salt and truffle oil and spices, but other than that, it was really yummy. pronounced better than the original martha recipe which we have been eating for years. also you don't feel as weighed down after eating this and i didn't even need as much of a portion as i thought i would to feel full. super yummy!! we ate it with green salads with black olives and some feta with light girard's champagne dressing.

Lighter Mac n'Cheese: (adapted from the Martha Stewart mac n'cheese)
2 dry cups macaroni or elbow type pasta (~2.5 servings): 540 cals
1 cup 1% milk: 120
1 tablespoon flour: 35
1/2 tablespoons butter: 50
1 tsp cayenne pepper: 5
1 tsp nutmeg: 10
1 tsp paprika: 5
1 bay leaf: 0
1 tsp pepper: 10
1 tsp salt: 5
3/4 cup shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese: 240 cals
1/4 cup shredded gruyere: 120 cals
1/4+ cup shredded parm: 120 cals
1.5 slices of 50ish cal bread: 75
1 tsp truffle oil: 50 cals
1395 calories total.

now for the servings. i ate about a 1/4 but a slightly larger 1/4. greg ate about 1/2, but a slightly larger 1/2. there's a slice left that is a little less than 1/4. so i guess it's about 3-4 servings depending on how you cut. i made it in a 4x6 rectangular baker dish. also, i typically slightly overestimate my calories a bit when i am cooking so it might be a little less here or there. you can adapt as you need to..aka add more cheese, or a bit more butter or whatever.

directions:
heat up water in a medium size pot to boiling. add the pasta and let it cook for 8-10 minutes. in the meantime, melt the butter in a medium size pot. mix in the flour and whisk together to make a roux. slowly add the milk, whisking the whole time. when it's all combined, keep whisking for about a minute. the milk, butter, and flour should be fairly thick at this point. throw in the bay leaf and the cayenne pepper, paprika, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. mix in. slowly add in the cheddar, gruyere and parmesan cheese, whisking to combine. cheese should melt fairly quickly and thicken the sauce. drain and rinse the cooked pasta. slowly add the pasta into the cheese sauce, mix to combine. put the 1.5 slices of bread into a mini food processor and pulse a few times. pour the macaroni and cheese mixture into the baking dish and shake out the bread crumbs to cover the top. spray the top of the bread crumbs with either evoo or a butter spray to coat slightly. bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes, broil to get top crispy for 5 minutes. let sit for 5 minutes, then cut and serve.

 

[Mannequin]

(Hi, KimH! I''m here like you suggested.

) On Friday I stocked my cupboards with mostly good choices and I am starting two exercise classes this week, cardio/weights on Mondays and a "boot camp" styled class on Tuesdays. A good friend from my school is likely to show up most days for these classes, too, so that will be good motivation. I am looking forward to it because I have a feeling that the food fest stemming from my recent breakup is not likely to be good for my waist. It''s light Haagen Daaz, but seriously...

 

[KimberlyH]

Date: 1/7/2007 11:47:24 PM
Author: equestrienne
(Hi, KimH! I''m here like you suggested.

) On Friday I stocked my cupboards with mostly good choices and I am starting two exercise classes this week, cardio/weights on Mondays and a ''boot camp'' styled class on Tuesdays. A good friend from my school is likely to show up most days for these classes, too, so that will be good motivation. I am looking forward to it because I have a feeling that the food fest stemming from my recent breakup is not likely to be good for my waist. It''s light Haagen Daaz, but seriously...

I know this is last week''s thread, just wanted to bump to tell equ I am so happy to see you here. It will be a good source of energy outlet for you to focus on doing good/healthy things for you now (and permanently!).