Another week bites the dust

Whew! Made it through another crazy week. I missed Thursday boot camp class due to the Army physical, which I passed just fine. Yay!! But otherwise got in all my workouts, including my 3 days of running. This week it was 1.75 miles in 23 minutes. Monday I start with 2 miles in about 26 minutes, or slightly under hopefully. 6 more weeks until Shamrock Run! I'm also buying another 16 sessions with my personal trainer, which will give me twice a week until I (hopefully) leave for basic training. Since those dates are still up in the air, I can't be sure how it will all work out. But I'll just keep increasing the intensity level until I get there!

The Army physical was an interesting eye opener. I was in better cardio shape than all of the 17-19-yr-old girls, but because their bodies are younger, things just came easier to them. That just means I need to be doubly ready and doubly prepared to push myself harder and further than ever before. I'm game. Go hard or go home, that's my motto. ;)

New Project! Danielle's Cookbook

I have this amazing kid in my life named Danielle. She is part daughter, part best friend, and all dogsitter. When she's around, my dogs clearly prefer her. She is my lifeline to being able to do the Army Reserves training, since she's going to live in my house and take care of the dogs while I'm gone. She is also a vegetarian, and shall we say, "cooking challenged". She's trying to eat healthier and in an effort to help her, I'm going to start the Danielle's Cookbook project. It will be a notebook of low fat, high protein, quick and easy vegetarian meals and snacks with lots of photos and step by step instructions for a beginner. I'm really excited! Several of the meals I do for myself can be (and have been) modified for a vegetarian, and I've already come up with some new ones in my head that I need to try out on her. Luckily, she's not a picky eater. I also got a new Weight Watchers cookbook which has inspired a few new dishes. I love cookbooks, and tend to collect them like crazy, but I never actually follow the recipes. I always modify them to fit my needs. But it's fun to browse through them for inspiration now and then.

Today I made biscuits, which are amazingly good, but not anywhere near low fat and healthy. Oh well. I had 4 anyway. Hopefully the roommates will eat the rest quick before I'm tempted again. They throw off my entire day of healthy eating! Of course the chocolate cake in the fridge for my roommate's birthday isn't helping matters either. But that should go fast also. Personal trainer and running tomorrow! Looking forward to the running, even though it's gonna hurt, I'm ready for a new challenge.

Fat free cooking secrets

There are lots of ways to cook fat free but flavor FULL. Often the things I add to my chicken or salmon have no calories at all. Here's a brief list of 0 calorie items I use.

0 calorie cooking!
garlic
capers
dry dressing mixes (Ranch, Italian, etc)
lemon juice
liquid spray butter
cooking spray
vinegar
mustard
sauerkraut
tabasco

Also, look for substitutes. I was eating oatmeal every morning as a breakfast/mid morning snack, but it had 2g of fat per serving. I switched to cream of wheat instead, which was lower in calories and fat free. If you switch to the fat free version of something, (yogurt, sour cream, cheese, etc) commit to sticking with it for an entire month. It will take your taste buds time to acclimate, but there's a good chance you will come to like it. I'm sure regular sour cream tastes better, but I like the fat free stuff just fine now!

Cinnamon Baked Sweet Potatoes

Another new favorite. This is what I make when I have a sweet tooth, since I don't keep any type of sweets in the house. You could use a few teaspoons of regular sugar if you don't like the idea of Splenda, but add 15 calories per teaspoon used. As opposed to the baked potatoes that I like crunchy, I like these nice and soft. Sweet potatoes are about the same way as far as grams = calories. Each 200 grams also has .5g fat and 4g protein. If you don't already have a good kitchen scale, get one! Calories below are approximate and will vary based on size of potato. A 200g sweet potato is a good sized, medium potato, plenty for one person.

Cinnamon Baked Sweet Potatoes
1 sweet potato (weighed)
cinnamon
1 tbl liquid spray butter
2 tsps sugar or 4 packets Splenda
fat free cooking spray

Preheat oven to 400. Wash, slice and dice potato into small cubes. Put them in a large bowl and drizzle the butter over the top. Toss to coat. Sprinkle a layer of cinnamon on the potatoes and 1 tsp sugar (or 2 packets Splenda). Toss to coat. Repeat this one more time. Spray a baking dish with fat free cooking spray and arrange the potatoes in a single layer. Cook for 20-40 minutes depending upon thickness and desired consistency. 1 potato = 1 serving with: approx 200 calories/.5g fat/4g protein.

Italian Baked Potatos

This is one of my yummy veggie side dishes. I get the small "White Rose" potatoes. They are about 1 calorie per gram of weight, 0 fat, and 1g of protein per 40 grams of weight. Somehow I always pick out the size that is about 120-130 grams, so they are generally 130 calories/0g fat/3g protein per potato. I like these crunchy, so they take some time to cook. I start them right when I get home and then cook my chicken when these have about 10 minutes left on the timer.

Italian Baked Potatoes
1-2 small potatoes
dry Italian dressing mix

Preheat oven to 400. Wash and dice potatoes into small cubes and put them in a large bowl. Sprinkle about 1/3rd of a packet of dry Italian dressing mix over them and toss to coat. Spray a baking dish with fat free cooking spray and arrange the potatoes in a single layer in the dish. Bake for 20-50 minutes depending on your consistency preference. If you want them soft, 20 minutes will do it. If you want them more like french fries, 40-50 minutes is better. 50 minutes is about the max before they just end up burnt. 1 potato = 1 serving with: 130 calories/0g fat/3g protein.

Baked Parmesan Chicken

This is my new favorite chicken recipe! It's seriously yummy and very quick and simple. I use the olive oil mayo that has 50 calories/5g fat/0g protein per tablespoon, so if you use something else, be sure to adjust your calories.

Baked Parmesan Chicken
4oz chicken breast
1oz parmesan cheese, shredded
1 tbl low fat mayo of your choice

Preheat oven to 400. Mix the shredded cheese and mayo in a small bowl. "Paint" it on to the chicken breast using a spoon and spread it evenly to cover. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Makes 1 serving with: 370 calories/16g fat/52.5g protein.

Shamrock Run, here I come!

But I still need tall green and white socks to wear. And maybe a green shirt? Hmmm... clearly I need a Shamrock outfit. I finished week 1 of my 8-week training program and feel great about it. Even on the days when I'm battling a lot of muscle soreness, once I get running, it always feels amazing. The muscle soreness fades (mostly) and I just get into the rhythm of running. I'm learning to push through the soreness. As long as it's not joint pain, I can keep going. Which is good, because at the rate I'm working out right now, I have a lot of muscle soreness going on. I tweeked my schedule again and it feels like it's working awesome, so for the most part, I think this is what it will be until I go to basic training.

Monday - am personal training/pm run
Tuesday - strength class
Wednesday - am abs class/pm run
Thursday - boot camp class!
Friday - am personal training/pm run
Weekends - Rest!

What I love about the personal training and the classes is that it's never the same thing each week. So it's a really good variety to keep my body surprised and in motion. And the running only stays the same for 1 week, then I increase distance and speed each week. I'm being super careful with the speed increases, just 1/10th of a mph each week. At this rate I will be running 5.5 mph when I get to basic training, which is perfect for the running PT test. I increase 1/4 mile in distance each week, with the goal being 3 miles for the 5k, and 3.5 miles for basic training. When I get back from basic training I'll do the Warrior Dash, which is a little less than 3.5 miles, and then I'll start training for an 8k, or a 15k, depending where I'm at by then. I'm still holding steady at 160, when I'd like to still be moving down 1 lb per week, but I'm still happy with the cardio progress I'm making.

Happy birthday to me!

So much to post and not enough time tonight! I have a couple new recipes to share, and lots of fitness updates. The biggest news is I finally announced my big goal of joining the Army Reserves, so I can talk about that freely now. It looks like I will leave for Basic Combat Training around the first of April. I'm also training for the Shamrock Run 5k in March and LOVING it!! I had the most amazing run yet last night and I finally hit that place where I can say with confidence, I'm ready for this! I'm ready for the run and I'm ready for BCT. I've lost 10 lbs since Thanksgiving, which puts me at 40 lbs total lost since Labor Day weekend, 2007. I need to re-evaluate my body fat also, as I think I'm making leaps and bounds in that department as well. I rearranged my workout schedule again, to make room for all the running, and the 2 personal trainer sessions a week, and the 3 classes with Marie each week. I kick my own ass all week long and then take the weekends to recover and it feels awesome.

Today I am 38 years old and I have never felt more complete and whole in my entire life. This is by far going to be my best year yet. :)

Army Strong! :)

Today was an amazing day. I finally announced I was joining the Reserves and everyone took it really well. I did my distance running today; the 2.6 mile waterfront loop. My first goal is to run the whole thing in 30 minutes. Right now I'm doing about 70/30 running/walking and it takes 38 minutes, so I feel like 30 minutes is a doable goal. But I only have 12 weeks left before basic training and it doesn't seem like enough time!! I think with the jog/sprint intervals 3x a week and boot camp class, I should be able to improve on my time/distance run pretty fast. Next week I'll start meeting with my personal trainer twice a week. My schedule is jam packed with exercise and I feel great about it. Today my knees were sore and one calf muscle was sore, but I did my run anyway and had no knee pain during the run at all. The calf muscle was still sore but I can push through that type of pain. I ended the day with 1120 calories/22g fat/108g of protein so my diet is right on track. Today I weighed 161.5!! That's 7.5 lbs down since Thanksgiving. When I get to 160 I'll check on my body fat again.

Protein Snacks and Fitness update

I'm working hard to build strength, so I focus a lot on protein intake. My daily goal is over 100g of protein and it's taken some time to get there. I always eat some form of protein an hour before I workout, and within the hour after I've worked out. My 3 basic protein snacks are a fat free yogurt with vanilla protein powder added, a serving of eda mame (soybeans) or a hard boiled egg. Since I work out at lunch, my lunch itself is my after workout protein serving.

I've had a bit of a slow week. New Years Eve I came down with something that sidelined me, so I took the weekend off. Started slow on Monday with the personal trainer and that actually helped me feel better, but my knees were really sore so I skipped running that evening. Did a strength training class Tuesday at lunch, but then skipped my upper body workout that evening. And took the day off today. I still take Sunday as a dedicated day off, but I'm mostly working out 6 days a week at this point. I'm listening to my body more though, and if it needs a break, I'll take a floating day off during the week. But if everything is in working order, I won't take an extra day off. My schedule looks like this right now:

Monday - personal trainer at lunch, running intervals after work
Tuesday - strength training class at lunch, upper body workout after work
Wednesday - abs/back class at lunch, running intervals after work
Thursday - boot camp class!
Friday - distance running at lunch, abs workout after work
Saturday - running intervals and heavy upper/lower body work out
Sunday - off!