Winter Workouts - Keep Active, Keep Motivated

Hi! Are you as happy to see Friday as I am ?!

This first full week back to work has been L-O-N-G!!!!

Luckily, it looks like we're going to have a pretty lowkey weekend. We have tickets to go cheer on the London Knights (GO KNIGHTS GO!) and I'm planning to go to yoga tomorrow morning, but other than that I'm on no kind of schedule until Monday. {Bliss!!}

I am definitely one of those people who tends to go into 'hibernation-mode' in the winter. It's dark when I get up in the morning and it's starting to get dark by the time I get home from work and I find that my energy is totally zapped by the time dinner is done and cleaned up. This can make it very difficult to find the motivation to get anything accomplished in the evenings, especially a good workout. If I go to the gym right after work, I'm good, but if I go home first, I'm totally setting myself up for failure because once I get home, I do not want to leave the house again.

It's not exactly the winter blues, I just hate going back out into the cold after I've come in and decompressed for the day. Instead of beating myself up about missing the gym, I've been pinning different circuit workouts and treadmill or elliptical workouts like crazy on my Workouts/Run board. I've also decided to take a crack at making up some of my own circuit workouts to do at home. As soon as I get home from work, I tie up the sneakers and get to business. By 6:30 p.m., my workout is done, dinner's started and I still have time to obsessively watch Season 1 of Homeland snuggle with Derek and the pups before bed.

I do love the gym and prefer to do most of my workouts there, but on the evenings when I just can't get myself back out the door, these circuits have been doing the trick.

Here is one that I did this week that I really enjoyed. My biceps and triceps were aching from a workout that I did earlier in the week, so I decided to focus on my core and lower body. It took just under 30 minutes and I definitely felt the*burn* (V-Sits kill me). I used 5lb weights when I did the lunges and squats to make it a little more challenging, but you don't need weights to get results.

(Click on workout to get a larger image)

*Before you go trying out a workout that I've put together, I want to note that I am not a certified personal trainer or trained expert in fitness. This is simply a workout that I put together for myself that I enjoyed and thought you might enjoy as well. Please make sure that you check with your family doctor before you start a new exercise or nutrition program, and most importantly, listen to your body.*

Do you have any tips on how to stay motivated through the cold winter months?

Enjoy the day and have a fabulous weekend!

I will see you on Sunday with some pictures from the week.

Andrea

xoxo

Food for Thought:

Source: Pinterest via Kimberly Krauss

November Fitness & Food Goals

Howdy! Happy Friday.

Have you recovered from Halloween?! I've eaten my limit in my candy treats and am back to the healthy train today.

Speaking of trains, I've been a total train wreck when it comes to my workout schedule lately. I'm lucky to make it to the gym twice a week and my yoga class once or twice a month. Gah ~ I can totally feel my lack of exercise in the way my clothes fit and in the way I'm feeling about myself!

But that is all about to change, because I'm setting some new goals that are my birthday gift to myself. That's right, I'm going to be 35 next week and I'm going to give myself the most precious gift: a healthy, lean, fit, energetic, positive, HAPPY self.

Source: Pinterest via Shaylen Harris

I have set some goals for myself effective November 1st.

• Join (DONE!) the Fitnessista's Namaste November challenge by doing at least 10 minutes of yoga per day - I'm planning to do most of this in the comfort of my living room before work
• Sign back up for a Monday Zumba class - DONE!!
• Attend at least 1 - 2 other classes per week at the gym
• Plan 2 sessions per week to do my own weights/cardio session at the gym
• Maintain a workout journal consistently
• Buy Tosca Reno's Eat Clean Diet Vegetarian Cookbook and I'm still deciding what other book I want to kick start myself off on a clean eating menu
• EAT CLEAN!!!
• Do a weekly menu plan every Sunday and do some meal/lunch prep

This is my mantra for November....



Source: Pinterest via Shaylen Harris

Did you manage to sneak a few Halloween treats? How do you stop the candy binge and get back to your normal, healthy eating routine?

Do you have any goals for this month?

Have a great weekend and I'll see you on Monday with an awesome butternut apple soup recipe!

Andrea

xoxo

What I Ate Wednesday: Fun, Food & FITNESS

I am ridiculously excited about this month's WIAW theme! The timing couldn't be more perfect because I just started Jamie Eason's 12-week LiveFit program, so food & fitness (and always a little fun!) is pretty much my main focus obsession right now! 

My current plan focuses on several small meals per day

 and some seriously clean eats.

Here's a peek into my eats this week:

Of course, I'm focusing on the amount of water I'm drinking each day.
My goal is to drink at least 64 oz per day, not counting what I drink while at the gym.

Breakfast

Egg white scramble with veggies (I used sundried tomatoes, mushrooms & red onion) with sugar-free salsa.

<Insert workout here - I like to hit the gym before work>

*more on my workouts below*

Mid-Morning Snack

Non-fat plain Greek Yogourt with stevia, cinnamon and fresh berries.

The addition of cinnamon was AWESOME!

Lunch

I had a kale & shredded brussel sprout salad with chickpeas. The dressing was a combo of extra virgin olive oil, dijon mustard and fresh lemon juice. I made this up the night before and layered it in a mason jar. Around 10 a.m., I gave the jar a shake so that the kale leaves could marinate before I dug in.

This was SOOOO good!

I'm thinking a recipe post might be in order ;)

Afternoon Snack

One thing about this program is that the majority of protein options allowed are animal proteins. I plan to use egg whites, tofu, tempeh and protein shakes to supplement some of that and I also made a batch of Jamie Eason's lemon protein bars.

They're really easy to whip up and I was happy to find that they're quite tasty too! One batch made 16 squares and I froze the majority so I could snack on them all week!

Dinner

One slice of sprouted 16 grain bread with mashed avocado, tempeh 'bacon' & sliced tomato with a side of stirfried kale & crimini mushrooms.

Hello plate of awesomeness <3

Delicious, filling & satisfying.

Fitness

I am doing something that I NEVER do.....I ventured into the free weights area of my gym. I was shaking like a freakin' leaf because for some reason I am so self conscious over in that area, but I rocked the workouts for Week 1, Day 1 and Week 1, Day 2 and I feel awesome for getting over my insecurities!!

Oh, and I.AM.REALLY.SORE.

(a 'hurts to lift my arms to type this' kinda pain)

Wanna see what other bloggers are eating and doing to keep active?!
Check out Jenn's WIAW page for all kinds of motivation.

 

Do you have any insecurities when at the gym?

What is your favourite post-workout snack?

Have a great day!

(...and Happy Independence Day to all my American family & friends!)

Andrea

xoxo

Staying Active at Home

Hey there! Happy Thursday!

Luckily for us Canadians, we only have one more day 'til the May 2-4 long weekend. Can I get a {woot! woot!} :D I'm actually double dipping because we're heading to my parents for a couple of days over Memorial Day as well, so we get 2 long weekends in a row. I can't wait!!! Work has been extremely busy and I am in need of a break.

Derek's still working 2 jobs and now his baseball schedule has started up as well. That means he's pretty much gone from early morning to late evening every single day. I miss him. The dogs miss him. We are happy that his bartending gig is done this Saturday (thank freakin' goodness)!! His busy schedule has made it really difficult for me to get to the gym. I live about a 45 minute drive from work, so I leave home at 7:50 a.m. and get home around 5:30 p.m. Our dogs are crated during the day, so unless I get up and go to the gym before work, it's been hard to find time to go afterwards because I don't like to crate the dogs in the evening if we've been gone all day.

source

...so, I've had to get creative to ensure I get some exercise in each day! Here are some of the ways that I sneak it in on days when I can't get to the gym:  

• Get up 30 minutes early, throw my running shoes on and go for a power walk or light jog. This gets my mojo flowing for the day and I'm finding that I don't mind getting up that little bit early. Hank likes to get up with me and Dora likes to sleep in with Derek, which works out perfectly because Hank's our little maniac, so an extra walk a day does him some good!
• Bring my runners to work and take a walk during the lunch hour. My friend, Lisa, and I usually meet once a week for lunch. We used to go for a cheap-o pizza lunch, but now we meet at a park that's located between our offices and go for a 20 - 30 minute walk. This makes such a huge difference in my afternoons! Instead of feeling sleepy and lethargic, I'm wide awake and productive.
• Get out and do some yard work. Last night after work I spent over an hour raking and lugging grass clippings out of the yard. We have a fairly big yard and it was quite a tedious task. By the time I was done, I had a good sweat going and my arms were starting to ache. I'd already power-walked for 50 minutes earlier in the day, so I figured I'd gotten in my activity for the day!
• Search online for some at-home workouts. I'm not great at coming up with my own workouts, so I've done some searching around online and found tons of great ideas that I've been using regularly. Here are some of my fave finds for at-home workouts.
• Tone It Up - these girls are so motivating! They have lots of online workouts, printouts and meal suggestions! I've signed up and get a newsletter from them several times a week.
• MyYogaOnline - tons and tons of yoga workouts! I was lucky to get a free 2 week membership.
• Fitnessista - she is an all round awesome blogger - I check out her posts every single day. She also gives tons of workout ideas. I've been loving her 10 ways to crunch post.
• I love this printable 5-4-3-2-1 Workout from Fit Fab Cities.
• Pinterest is another awesome source for at home circuit workouts.

Now please keep in mind that I am not an expert in this area.

I'm simply sharing the things that work for me personally :)

Even though life is going to get back to normal once Derek goes back to only working one job, my plan is to keep up with my early morning walk/jog and my lunchtime walk most days. It's unbelievable how much of a boost they give me both in energy and in my mood! I do plan to get back to the gym a little more in the evenings because I've been missing the 'class' atmosphere and it helps to keep my cardio workouts interesting, but just knowing that I have the option to workout in the comfort of home is awesome!

How do you fit in exercise on days when you can't make it to the gym?
Do you have any online sites that you use for at home workouts? If you do, please share!

Have a fabulous Thursday,

Andrea
xoxo