TT Contest Week 2: Burning Down The House

Week 2 is complete! Once again I skipped my Monday workout because I was so sore from all the work on the patio over the weekend! :) I did the workout on Tuesday instead. Overall, my nutrition has been kind of a mess this week. Some days good, some days...not as good. But my weight did go down just a bit. I think it must be all the extra work I've been doing on the weekends. lol

I've been using the TT Hot Zone Fat Loss Workout. It's one that I've never used before. One of the reasons I chose it is because on Fridays you do a 20 minute "high intensity" cardio instead of the intervals that you do on Monday and Wednesday. I thought this would help me gear up for all the running I will be doing this summer. I officially kick off my half marathon training on May 31.

The last day to enter the Turbulence Training Transformation contest and still have the full 12 weeks is May 31. Come and join me this summer in the contest! (To my sister-in-law, if you're reading this, This Means You! lol) You can read the all the rules here ==> TT Contest Rules

On Saturday night I made a pizza using the pizza crust recipe from a recent issue of Cooking Light magazine (except I used whole wheat flour). The crust was a lot of work, but on the other hand, not a lot of work. Let me explain. ;)

First, the crust had to be made 24 hours in advance so it could sit in the fridge. However, the only ingredients in the crust were flour, water, yeast and oil so it was easy to throw together.

Second, the recipe made the pizza more of a "Neapolitan" style - cooked at a high temperature (550 degrees F) on a pizza stone. My pizza stone hasn't seen the light of day in a while so it probably should have been cleaned a little better, but I popped it in the oven anyway. Soon thereafter, smoke started pouring out of my oven! With 5 minutes left of a 30 minute preheat, I made a last minute decision to ditch the pizza stone. By now, the smoke was getting pretty thick. So instead, I popped in my perforated pizza pan. Well, that started smoking too! lol

I put the pizza on the perforated pan, threw it in the oven, and lowered the temperature to 440 degrees F. Finally, the smoking stopped! I had to open all the windows and turn on fans to get all the smoke out of the house.

So after all that work, how did the pizza taste? My kids deemed it "super-duper-licious" and we ate the whole thing. I'll make this crust again for sure, but next time I'm going to follow the recipe for Chicago deep dish. Same crust recipe, but you cook it in a baking pan at a lower temperature. :)

Have a great week!




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TT Contest Week 1: Insomnia

TT Contest Week 1 is in the books and for some reason this week I have had trouble sleeping. This is totally unlike me. Usually I am out like a light and I don't wake up at all. A few nights during this past week I was awake every hour. As a consequence, I've been feeling exhausted all week.

Part of the reason may be that last weekend we started building a brick paver patio. It's a lot of work! Lots of heavy lifting. Both last Monday and yesterday I did not workout because my back was really sore. Instead, I did my Monday workout on Tuesday. (That's my plan for today as well. My back still feels tweaky, so I am going to try to take it easy.) Anyway, the patio still isn't finished. We didn't finish it the first weekend - let's just say someone (who shall remain nameless) miscalculated the number of bricks we needed. ;) Then it rained for much of the week so we couldn't work on it. Then this past weekend, we had all the bricks in place and realized it wasn't really level. (Bob Villa would not approve!) So it was back to the store for more paver base! We had to make 2 trips because the guy at the store feared our car would bottom out if we piled it all in. But we ran out of time again so the saga will continue this week. I'll post pictures when we are finally done!

Have a great day! :)

Love, Death And The Bike Anti-Theft

Wow, time flies, doesn't it? This weekend I finished up the Bikini Ready workout I had been using. My weight didn't change all that much, but my bodyfat dropped about 1% according to my Omron.

The workouts were starting to wear on me a little bit because they were big circuits and I always felt like I was hogging equipment at the gym. So I am taking this week off from workouts - except I am running a 5K on Thursday. LOL This particular race is the same race that was my very first 5K a year ago (and I ran it in 40:59). I haven't been training per se for a 5K, but I'm pretty sure I should be able to improve on that time! :)

....BIG ANNOUNCEMENT....

The 8th Turbulence Training Transformation Contest started this week...and I think I am going to join this one! (You can read the rules HERE.) My sister-in-law might join as well, so give it up for T.! [Hurray! :)] I'm going to use this contest to really focus on my training and nutrition as I prepare for the half marathon I am running late this summer. I plan to start Monday, May 10! :) I decided not to join the M&F Hers contest. I checked out the rules online, and just decided it wasn't for me.

...OTHER SILLY RANDOMNESS...

The past couple of weeks my back has been feeling tweaky. (That's a technical term, by the way; my chiropractor used it.) I made an appointment with said chiropractor and decided to ride my bike over after work. When I went to unlock my bike, I discovered that someone had locked up their bike next to mine, and had put their lock through a part of my back tire. It's a little hard to explain, but there's a straight piece that comes down from the "basket holder" and hooks into the pin that holds on the back tire. Luckily, 2 girls walked by and helped me remove my back tire so I could remove the idiot's bike lock. I was not amused.

A couple weeks ago I was on a Saturday run and I nearly witnessed death. Some poor squirrel was in the middle of the road and a truck was speeding toward him. I started yelling at the squirrel, but I don't think he could hear me. Or understand me. Or know why the heck I was yelling at him. I think the truck actually ran over his tail. Then the squirrel staggered over to the curb. He jumped up once and missed the curb, then jumped up again and made it. He limped over to his tree with kind of a dazed look. There was squirrel tail fluff blowing across the road, but I think the little guy made it.

Finally, on my Saturday runs, without fail, the song "Your Love" by the Outfield comes on. (You know the song - "I just wanna use your love, tonight") The first line of the song is "Josie's on a vacation far away" so we already know he's cheating on her, but I always thought it was with some underage girl. There's a line where he says "You know I like my girls a little bit older" which I always interpreted as him meaning "I usually like my girls older, but you'll do". After listening to the song so many times, however, I've decided that the woman he's talking to is actually "older". So now instead of being a pervert, he's chasing a cougar. Which makes me feel only slightly better. After all, he's still cheating on poor Josie.

Have a great week!!



Please see my Disclaimer/Disclosure Statement.

Talking 'Bout Mo-Motivation

So, my diet of the past couple weeks has been pretty bad. I'll have a couple good days, and then I'll eat a big brownie. I'm not trying to follow any weird or complex plan, just trying to simply eat healthy foods. So I was considering entering the next Turbulence Training contest for motivation, which I think begins in a week or so. That was until....I opened the current issue of Muscle & Fitness Hers magazine and saw that they were having an 8-week transformation contest! I began weighing the pros and cons of this new contest:

Cons
1. Had been looking at joining next TT contest (more workout flexibility)
2. M&F Hers workout is 4 days/week (5 days/week during weeks 5-8)
3. Want to begin half marathon training at end of May
4. Contest ends in mid-July, which leaves a little over a month to complete half marathon training
5. Probably more contestants than the TT contest
6. Last day of contest is during my planned vacation, but....

Pros
1. ...I would look great on vacation! Great Motivation! :)
2. M&F Hers contest is only 8 weeks long
3. No essay ;)
4. Could potential work in my half marathon training as the workouts don't seem too long
5. Prize is a trip to California for a M&F Hers photo shoot

So I am quite torn at what to do. Any thoughts/advice would be appreciated! :) I have a couple weeks to make a final decision.

Have a great day!

TT Contest Voting And Other Random Stuff

TT Contest Voting is up and ready - if you haven't voted yet, check it out here ==> Turbulence Training Contest Voting

Lots of great transformations!

In other news, if you can call it news (haha), I have a funny story. One of my new favorite workout songs is Lady Gaga's "Telephone". I have no idea why. It's about dancing in a club, and I have never been dancing in a club in my life. Wait, there was that one time - it was '80's night! (And I use the term "dancing" loosely. LOL) Anyway, I bought the CD and was listening to it in the car. I guess there's one too many "telephones" at the end of the song because all the sudden from the backseat my daughter asks, "Is this song over yet?" :)

One of my other current favorite songs is 10 Years' "Through the Iris". Why this band isn't huge I will never know. They are fantastic! In addition to the lyrics, I love the rhyming scheme - the way the song flows. One of my favorite lines is, "Please understand me, that now where you're standing, is closer than I'd hoped."

And in book reading news, I finished Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Good book! I recommend it if you are already familiar with the story. The language can be a little tough to read at times and you can get lost if you don't already know what's going on. There were a couple parts that were a little gory, but overall there wasn't nearly as much "zombie mayhem" as I expected.

Then I was shopping last weekend and saw Christopher Pike's Thirst 2: Phantom, Evil Thirst, Creatures of Forever. The first 2 parts were excellent. I liked them better than Thirst 1. But the last part got a little too supernatural at times. And I was devastated by the ending - I did NOT like it at all! I noticed there was a Thirst 3 coming out next fall so I am curious to see what it will be about. :)


Have a great day!


Disclosure: This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase the product, I will receive a small portion. I don't get paid for reviews, and I only review items that I actually own.

Bikini Workout - End of Week One

I have been sore all week. I love new workouts! :)

One particular exercise that made me really sore was in Thursday's workout. I had never done it before so that probably was part of the reason it made me so sore. Basically, you lay on a bench and then hold a stability ball between your feet. You raise your feet until your legs are perpendicular to your body and then you lower until your legs are about parallel with the floor. Not only were my abs really sore, but my legs were sore as well!

I forgot to weigh myself when I started this program on Monday, but I'm down a little over a pound since Wednesday. Of course, that could just be natural fluctuation, so I'm not reading too much into that.

On another note, there is a new Turbulence Training special that begins today. It's a brand new follow-along-at-home DVD set so you can actually "work out with" Craig Ballantyne. You get 12 TT for Abs workouts, plus 9 bonus workouts, and a Nutrition DVD. I used TT for Abs during my third TT contest and thought it worked great! You can check out the details here: TT for Abs DVD

The special price runs until midnight on Wednesday, April 14. I probably will not be buying the DVDs, mostly because I already own the TT for Abs program, and have completed it, so I don't feel that I need to watch the DVDs. But if you are someone that likes to "follow along" to DVDs, you may want to check them out and see if they are right for you.

Have a great week! :)


Disclosure: This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase the product, I will receive a small portion. I don't get paid for reviews, and I only review items that I actually own.

End of Week 13 And Other Updates

It seems like forever since I have posted a weekly update. Between home and work, it's been so busy. I get home from work and don't even want to look at a computer. And the past few weekends have been packed.

One weekend we painted both kids' bedrooms - I let the kids pick what colors they wanted. My son wanted black, but I talked him into gray. He ended up choosing a color called "Platinum". It actually turned out really nice. It's a gray with a bluish undertone. My daughter, on the other hand, chose a color called "Rosy Cheeks". It really should have been called "Strawberry Milkshake" because that's exactly what it looks like. I don't know if I could sleep in her room, but she really seems to like it. :)

Then another weekend I ran in a St. Patty's Day 5K. I'm a little out of practice, but I came in a fairly respectable 88th out of 327 in my age division. I was hoping to make it under 30 minutes, but there were 3 pretty big hills I had not anticipated, and ended up with a time of 30:43.

I've also been reading like crazy, which cuts down on my computer time. I recently read all 5 of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians books (loved them), then I read Christopher Pikes' Thirst No. 1: The Last Vampire, Black Blood, Red Dice (just OK, will probably read Thirst No. 2 eventually), and I just started Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith (and Jane Austen). So far it seems pretty funny. Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorite books so I am getting a kick out of reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

Today is the last day of Week 13 in the program I am using (the one from the Precision Nutrition forums). I am in Phase 4, which is supposed to be more of a fat burning phase. The problem is, the strength training part of the workouts takes me so long, I don't have time to do the recommended cardio. I recently began to look over my Turbulence Training workouts because I have an event I would like to attend in about 5 weeks and really need to lose a little fat! :)

However, when I went to the grocery store yesterday, I picked up the March/April issue of Muscle and Fitness Hers magazine and there on the cover was "Bikini Ready in Just 4 Weeks!" So I looked it over and it looks like a solid workout. It's circuit training 4 days a week, with other cardio on the remaining days. I plan to complete Week 14 to end Phase 4, and then I think I am going to start the "Bikini Ready" program. I'll let you know how it goes!

If you're still with me here after all my rambling (thanks!), I wanted to let you know I may not be posting very much in the near future. Things have been pretty busy, and will remain that way for the next few months. I hope to pop in when I can! :)

Have a great week!

Tasty Tuesday - French/Catalina Dressing

I really like French/Catalina Dressing, but it's often filled with sugar. This recipe is adapted from Dana Carpender's 500 More Low Carb Recipes. I took out the Splenda, which I don't use so much anymore, and used an organic agave-sweetened ketchup and a few packets of Stevia. This dressing is quite flavorful, thick and rich. I only use about a tablespoon at a time and that's enough for 2-3 cups of salad greens. If you want a thinner dressing, you could add more vinegar or lemon juice.

French/Catalina Dressing

2 Tablespoons minced red onion or shallot
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons ketchup (preferably low sugar)
1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
4-5 packets Stevia
dash sea salt (please don't leave this out)

1. Blend everything in a food processor until mixed. Keep in an airtight container in the fridge.

Sorry for the bad picture. Dressing isn't very photogenic. ;)


This will make about 1 and 1/2 cups (24 Tablespoons). Each Tablespoon will have approximately:

60 calories
0g protein
5.8g fat
2.2g carbs
0.2g fiber

Enjoy! (Sparingly!) :)

Tasty Tuesday - Chocolate Tofu Mousse

This recipe was created when the kids were asking for chocolate pudding and I looked around the kitchen to see what I had on hand. It makes a nice and light chocolate dessert. Plus, it's super easy to make!

Chocolate Tofu Mousse

12 oz package lite silken tofu
1 scoop chocolate protein powder
2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup unsweetened chocolate almond milk
2 packets Stevia
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1. Blend all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor for several minutes until light and fluffy, stopping and scraping the sides of the bowl if necessary. Just when you think it's done, let it blend a little longer. :)

2. Pour into 4 pudding dishes. Each serving will be about 1/2 cup.


Each 1/2 cup serving will have approximately:

66 calories
8.5g protein
1.8g fat
4.0g carbs
2.1g fiber


Enjoy!

Almost Forgot!

I almost forgot to mention that through this Thursday, you can get a free 21 day Easy Veggie Meal Plans Detox Diet when you purchase the Easy Veggie Meal Plans System here ==> Easy Veggie Meal Plans

I am considering giving it a try. I don't normally go for "detox" diets because I like to think I can just eat healthy. But too many of those candy-coated-chocolate-peanut candies have been sneaking their way into my diet. LOL So we'll see. Maybe I'll just try to stop eating the candy. ;)




Disclosure: This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase the product, I will receive a small portion. I don't get paid for reviews, and I only review items that I actually own.