This or That?

Sob.  I'm sitting here at home right now, grumpy as stink because I've somehow come down with the flu and had to miss both my workouts today.  Nothing makes me crankier than not working out..yes, you guys should feel sorry for Hubs right about now!  Part of it is loving how I feel after exercise (note how I didn't say I love how I feel during exercise, har har), but I also like the social aspect of it.  The folks at BDHQ and PISE are just so great...the trainers I've had are always happy, smiley and occasionally cheeky (being cheeky is a desirable trait in a trainer)  and it's kinda fun to commiserate or moan and groan with others in your group when your heart is about to explode from the airdyne bike, that final hill sprint or the battle ropes.  Ha!   Anyways, I'm bored stiff from too much daytime TV and blogging is the only thing I have the energy to do so I dug up an unfinished post that I started ages ago.  So hold on to your hats, folks...here is another rousing edition of "This or That"...

Pop or juice?
Hmmm, I'm already stumped.  I guess I should be truthful and say...pop, even though I don't drink it often.  My beverage of choice would be Diet Pepsi but we've cut out pretty much all artificial sweeteners out of our diets so buh-bye, Diet Pepsi...twas nice knowing you.  I do still occasionally order it in restaurants, but that's about it.

Orange juice or apple juice?
Mmmm, apple juice for sure.  We don't drink juice that often at home because it's high in sugar and Hubs is supposed to be cutting back his sugar intake, but if we do, we always mix it with soda. 

Caramel apples, cotton candy or mini doughnuts?
Ick...how about none of these?  I guess if someone stuck these in front of me, I'd likely go for the mini doughnuts first...albeit reluctantly.

Snickers or oh henry chocolate bars?
Snickers.all.the.way.  I'm drooling just thinking about the caramel, chocolate and peanuts...my absolute favourite chocolate bar. 

Pudding or jello?
Jello hands down...but I think this may be a carryover from my youth.  When we were kids, we didn't eat a lot of desserts but my mom always made jello with fruit cocktail once a year at Christmas so in our family, jello was a huge deal.  So yeah, jello.

Turkey or chicken?
Love turkey!

Cheddar or havarti cheese?
Ooooh...how to pick...I love both, but I would have to give the slight edge to havarti. 

Crackers or cookies?
Cookies. 

Pretzels or chips?
OK, I have to say...I don't get pretzels.  Almost everyone I know loooooovvvees pretzels...like when they get a bag of that Munchie Mix stuff, they pick the pretzels out first, whereas for me the pretzels would be the very last thing left at the bottom...dry, tasteless, salty tree twigs.  Blah.  Chips for sure on this one.

Mexican or chinese food?
Chinese food, and I don't mean sweet and sour pork and fried rice...even though I like that stuff too, every so often.  Authentic, homestyle chinese food is soooo good.

Ice cream or cake?
Cake.

Pasta or pizza?
I loooove pizza!  Pizza would hit our cheat day rotation more often than not, and is the cheat day food that we would get sick of the least. 

Chocolate bars or chocolate?
Chocolate.  Recently we've been having a tiny bit of dark chocolate every night to keep our sweet tooth at bay and I'm really liking it...I've always been a milk chocolate girl but I'm slowly converting to the dark stuff.

Apples or bananas?
Bananas but I also like a really nice Gala apple too.

Salad or soup?
Salad.

Cauliflower or broccoli?
Broccoli is one of my favourite veggies...we eat cauliflower a lot too but it's more because there's not a lot of winter options for veggies...on that note, anyone out there have a good cauliflower recipe besides roasted?

Onion rings or fries?
Fries!  Hubs like onions rings so we're the perfect match when we go out, hee hee.

Blizzard or milkshake?
Blizzard...a Reeses Pieces Blizzard to be exact. 

Poached or fried or scrambled eggs?
Sunny side up fried is my favourite.

Baked potato or mashed potatoes?
I'm not a big potato person but do love garlic mashed potatoes with lots of gravy. 

Oatmeal or cereal?
Steel cut oatmeal with soy milk, a bit of fruit and some almond or peanut butter...so good.  I've never been much of a cereal person, all the choices are either a bit too sugary and it's so darn expensive! 

Dang it...now I'm hungry. 

2013 - Week 12 Recap

Men!  Sigh.  So we've just finished up week 2 of the revised eating plan, and so far, things have been going pretty well.  It's interesting because neither of us has had any really big food cravings lately, and Hubs has been an extremely good boy and nothing bad has crossed his lips...I, however, must confess...I was at a work function this week and a few appetizer meatballs found their way to my mouth.  While they were absolutely delicious, they proceeded to sit there all night like little lead weights in my tummy...blargh, lesson learned.  Anyways, Hubs put on a pair of khakis today that fit just exactly right a few weeks ago...and already they're all loose!  What?!  Darn men...they lose weight at the drop of a hat whilst us women have to work like demons for every little ounce.  Ha!  Just kidding, I'm not really mad...happy Hubs is doing well on the new food plan and seeing/feeling results already. 

WORKOUTS:

Sunday:  20 minutes intervals, stationary bike
Because this week was going to be pretty busy with a lot of work type functions, I squeezed in a few extra minutes of exercise.

Monday:  bootcamp a.m./PISE upper body p.m.
Almost finished the second program in the PISE bootcamp!  Josh was talking a bit about the third program in this session and that it was going to be a bit faster moving and sort of cross-fittish in nature which will be awesome.  Not sure if I'm going to continue the double days since doing two hard sessions like that per day might be a bit much, but we'll see how it goes...the cardio mornings/strength evenings worked out well.  There'll still be a weight component on Fridays so I might sneak in occasionally for a class those nights.

Tuesday:  rest
No yoga.  I suck.

Wednesday:  30 mins treadmill a.m.
Sob.  Had to miss both Jason bootcamp and evening PISE class.  We had a reception during the evening for work which meant I needed extra time in the morning to spackle myself with makeup and coiff the rat's nest I call my hair, so I could only fit in a short run on the treadmill.  Better than nothing I guess. 

Thursday:  rest

Friday:  PISE bootcamp p.m.
Because I missed getting my sweat on with Josh and the ladies on Wednesday, I decided to join the Friday class to make sure I got in as much exercise as I could this week.  Aaaaaannnnnndddd...I may have made some unwise food choices at a work function on Thursday that needed some negating.  OK there may have been some unwise beverage choices too, wink wink.  Tee hee.

Ohhh...and I tried battle ropes for the first time on Friday...damn those things are effing hard!  Josh asked if I loved or hated them after trying them and I think I made the mistake of saying I hated them, which usually means he'll use them even more.  Ha!

Saturday:  10K run
Don't know what it was but I was so, so, so tired Saturday morning and half thought about blowing off the run until  Sunday...but Hubs being the good man that he is, wouldn't let me jam so we headed out for a nice leisurely run around the hood.

FOOD:
As I mentioned above, a few meatballs and a couple of other assorted odds and ends made their way past my lips.  However, overall I still did pretty well with the food and this week there won't be any conferences and hotel food to tempt me.  I am super proud of Hubs though, he's been rocking it.  It's funny, the food change hasn't been actually that hard...I thought I'd be all crave-y and chewing my arm off for treats and goodies, but honestly...it's been meh...not that bad.  Super hoping this lasts...watch, next week I'll be craving crap like crazy or something!

RECIPES:
Vegan lasagna from Chloe's Kitchen. 

2013 - Week 11 Recap

Sigh.  Hubs and I had a bit of a bummer day yesterday...his mom had emailed to tell us that his uncle was in the hospital, so we decided to go pay him a quick visit.  As we walked in, we could just tell something wasn't quite right.  I guess things hadn't really gone as planned and his uncle would need to be on a ventilator for the rest of his life so he decided that he wanted them to pull the plug and let him go peacefully.  We arrived a few hours after the doctor had unattached him from all life support and they were just waiting for him to go...so, so awful to see family members go through this, I just can't even tell you.  So far he's hung on a lot longer than they expected (they thought he would pass a few hours after being removed) but we received an update that he's getting weaker.  The whole time we were in ICU, I just kept thinking that stuff like this just makes me even more determined to stay as healthy as I possibly can...I know eating properly and exercising is not a guarantee of good health because sometimes you get dealt a shitty hand in life no matter what you do...but I'm not doing anything to help things along in that regard.  And Hubs...well, recently he had some bloodwork done and his results weren't great...his cholesterol and blood sugars were a bit high, and at first when I heard I was so upset and so pissed off at myself that I hadn't tried harder.  Unfortunately Hubs has drawn the poor genetics card in life...diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer all run in his family...and even though we eat way, way, way healthier than we ever have, it still hasn't been enough to get his numbers in line. 

Well, no more!  Now anyone who knows me well knows that I'm a determined little Asian lady, if nothing else...so I bought myself a whack of books and I'm on a mission.  We're on Week Two of a revamped diet...I'm now keeping a really close eye on our fat, cholesterol, fibre, sugar and sodium intake.    It's going to take a bit of getting used to and a lot more creativity in the kitchen but Hubs is worth it...I've become a wee bit fond of him over the past 21 years (wow, crazy seeing that number!) and would like to keep him around as long as possible.  It's actually been kinda cool so far because we've already discovered some new foods (steelhead trout...so delish!) and recipes that we'd never would have tried before.  And eating clean is good for me too...so a win/win all around!

OK, enough of that depressing stuff.  What the heck did I get up to this week?

WORKOUTS:

Sunday:  rest

Monday:  bootcamp a.m./PISE upper body strength p.m.
OMG.  Seriously, whoever the brilliant person is who came up with daylight savings...I curse you and your future progeny.  I could barely get up Monday morning and my legs felt like they were full of lead...I think my body was rebelling and saying to me "hey, WTF lady?!  It's bad enough you get us up at 5am to go exercise but 4am?  Are you crazy?!  I'll fix you..."  Thankfully, by the time evening class rolled around I managed to wake myself up and had a good session.

Tuesday: yoga
Lookit!  I finally managed to make my way to a yoga class!  Go me!

Wednesday:  PISE lower body strength
Waaaaah...I had to miss a Jason class because I had to be at work at an ungodly hour...but it turned out OK because I was able to leave work early.  It was a bit of a tough morning because the time change was still kicking my ass...is it just me, or is it the older you get, the more you feel it?  Anyways, I was sorely tempted to crack open that Red Bull I had in my desk, but ended up having  three coffees, a green tea and two Excedrin to kill a  horrible headache I had.   By the time I left work I think all the caffeine kicked in and I was seriously like the Energizer Bunny.  I had this incredible burst of energy so I raced home, did a frenzied cleaning of the entire house, and then raced to PISE for class.  New deadlift milestone reached...20% over my bodyweight...woohooo!  I'm sure the caffeine fueled craze was a significant factor, hee hee. 

Thursday:  rest

Friday:  bootcamp
Another cross fit style class.  I like it.

Saturday: 60 mins treadmill
Hubs had a bit of a sore knee so he did the exercise bike while I ran on the treadmill.  Now normally we would be bored to tears working out for this long in our exercise room, but lately we've become madly addicted to the TV series Homeland so to tempt us to work out longer, we threw in a couple of episodes and time just flew by.  Whatever it takes, man...whatever it takes.

FOOD:
An awesome food week - super clean eating and nothing bad slipped past these lips.  Success!

RECIPES:
Mahi mahi fish tacos and Asian Udon Noodle soup from Rose Reisman. 

2013 - Week 10 Recap

Woohooo!  Just past the halfway point in the strength training sessions and so far, so good.  So anything new I'm noticing?  I'm no longer constantly ravenous so I think I've got my food where I need it to be, which is awesome.  Now don't get me wrong...I love eating but not sure Hubs was loving me eating at 3am in the morning.  Tee hee...sorry, hon.  I think some things are getting less flabby (hello, looking at you chicken cutlets!) but it's a bit hard to tell because...well, I see myself every day.  The one thing I have noticed is that clothes are starting to feel tight across my upper back and chest...the other day I put on a jacket that I hadn't worn in awhile and it was pulling across the shoulders.  Now I'm kinda excited because I'm hoping that means that I'm building some muscle, but admit I'm a teeny bit worried as I already have broad shoulders for someone of my short and squat stature and find clothes hard enough to fit as it is.  Seriously, I have to get everything tailored to fit and lululemon is the only store I can buy off the rack.   Hey...wait a sec...guess that means that I'll just have to shop there more often, right?!  Muscles, FTW!

WORKOUTS:

Sunday: 30 minute treadmill run
No long run this weekend due to our stellar weekend in Van, but as soon as we got back home we dutifully trudged our butts downstairs and did a half hour workout.  I was feeling particularly frisky for some reason so ran the majority of this on an incline.  I must have still been riding the high of Canuck's victory over LA (yessssssssss).

Monday:  40 mins Spartacus a.m./PISE upper body strength
D unfortunately fell during her soccer game on Sunday, so she wasn't able to make bootcamp.  I decided to just work out at home and did four rounds of the Spartacus workout and was a sweating mess by the end.  Not sure if maybe this affected me but man, I was not feeling it that night during the strength class.  And yes, the DOMS I predicted arrived with a vengeance.

Tuesday:  rest
Yep, jammed on yoga again.  For a totally good reason though...post to come on this later.

Wednesday:  PISE lower body strength
No Jason bootcamp this morning, sob!  I had to get to work early, but truth be told I was OK with doing one less cardio day this week.  I've been having some tightness in my right glute and hamstring, and now I'm having some calf soreness and getting that stupid foot pain that I had when I was marathon training.  It's been getting progressively a little bit worse each week even with lots of stretching and rollering this past while so I've got an appointment booked with my physio this week.  Girding my loins now because she is a big proponent of IMS and frack, it hurts...whine, whimper.  But a good kinda hurt.

Thursday:  rest

Friday:  bootcamp
Great workout that morning!  Our trainer tried something new... she took five exercises (box jumps/step ups, rotating side planks, tricep dips, pushups and stinkbugs) and we had to do as many as we could in a minute with six sets of stairs in between.  We did three rounds and our goal was to keep the same number of reps as the first round or more.  I really enjoyed it because it gave me a target to work towards and it was kinda fun.  Well, as fun as stairs and pushups can be.  Ha!

Saturday:  10K run
Beautiful day out!  I didn't feel super energetic and my right leg was bugging me, but it was a really nice leisurely jog.  Even on the days that I don't really feel like running, it's always nice to head out and spend some time with Hubs.

FOOD:
Not stellar but not bad.  I'm going to be really mixing things up over the next while, but more to come on that later.

RECIPES:
Lots of new recipes this week!  Pasta with Roasted Cauliflower and Lemon Zest from Meatless from Martha Stewart Living, the Classic Yammy Culver City Salad (saw this one on TV and it looked delish!), Grilled Fish Tacos and Spinach Chickpea Spread from Power Foods from Whole Living and Steelhead Trout with Rosemary, Lemon and Garlic from Food.com. 

2013 - Week 9 Recap

ZOMG...I have no idea how I'm managing to type this right now so last week's recap is going to be short and sweet.  Not sure what the difference was but for some reason I found tonight's upper body workout super duper crazy insanely hard even though for the most part I used the same weight as last week.  I did go up in the bench press again (yay!) but not by a crazy amount so not sure what's up...guess some days you just have way less energy than others.  Seriously, my arms are still shaking and I could barely make dinner...I had to toss some pasta and I had to stop halfway through because my arms are so tired...ha!  I feel some serious DOMS in my near future.

WORKOUTS:

Sunday:  10K run

Monday:  treadmill 45 mins a.m./PISE upper body strength
I jammed on bootcamp in the morning because it was sideways raining with a crazy windstorm out and bootcamp was scheduled to be at a beach by the ocean...I may be dedicated but I'm not insane.

Tuesday:  rest 
Bah...missed yoga again as I had a strata council meeting...going this week for sure.

Wednesday:  bootcamp a.m./PISE lower body strength

Thursday:  rest 

Friday:  bootcamp

Saturday:  rest
Off to Vancouver to do my favourite things...eat, shop, watch hockey and hang with Hubs.

FOOD:
Fabulous...not because it was super healthy, but because I went to the Black Hat with coworkers for Dine Around and had a really awesome dinner at Chambar on Saturday night with Hubs.  I'm all about healthy eating, but sometimes you just have to feed your soul, right?

OK, off to bed as I can barely keep my eyes open...nighty night, kids!