Thursday, September 22, 2011

Yesterday's Workout...

I recently renewed my gym membership at the NYSC. I love the NYSC for various reasons, the main reason being there are so many locations to choose from.  I also love the array of different classes they have to offer.  Lately, I'm really loving the Total Body Conditioning Class.  This class is an hour long and you give your whole body a workout with the use of a body bar, free weights and stepper.  Yesterday I was bummed that I missed the class, so I decided to do my own mini Total Body Conditioning workout.  Here's what my work out looked like:


  • 20 minutes of cardio on the treadmill
  • 50 bicep curls, with 10lb weights
  • 50 squats, with 12lb body bar
  • 30 lunges, with 10lb weights
  • 50 crunches
  • 50 ab lifts, with 12lb body bar
  • 50 leg ups, each side
  • 35 side crunches, with 10lb weights, each side
  • 25 chest presses with 20lb bar
  • 25 leg ups
This workout took me about an hour to complete. I do think I need to modify this because when I come out of my body conditioning class, I can usually feel the soreness.  Yesterday....not too much :-p

Are you guys getting your workouts in?

Last Night's Prep...This Morning's Breakfast


Pumpkin Pie Overnight Oats
Good Morning Everyone,

For a while now, I've been meaning to try "Overnight Oats".  Yes, overnight oats are a no cook, quick prep of your oats.  With some left over pumpkin puree, I decided to make some pumpkin pie overnight oats.  First, let's go over the base of overnight oats:
1 part liquid
1 part oats
Any fill ins
A jar

Place your liquid (I used water), oats and fill in in the jar.  Store in the fridge overnight.  THAT'S IT!!

So, last night I made the following:
In a empty peanut butter jar (I save ALL my glass jars) I added 1/2c of oats, 1/2c of water, 1/2c of pumpkin puree and pumpkin spice powder. I stirred it all up to combine and put it in the fridge.  This morning I had a thick batch of creamy oats. I added about a 1/4c of almond milk, to break up the thickness. This was delicious!!

First of all, the addition of pumpkin puree is amazing.  For an extra 40 calories I added flavor and 5 grams of fiber!  This is definitely a hearty breakfast.  In 200 calories I got a jar full of oats, with an amazing flavor and got in 9 grams of fiber!

Be on the look out for more overnight oats recipes.  The flavor combinations are endless!

Pumpkin Pie Overnight Oats
Ingredients:
1/2c of oats (not instant)
1/2c of water
1/2c of pumpkin puree
1TB of pumpkin spice
1/4c of milk of your choice (I used almond)
Optional: pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, nut butters

Preparation:
Combine all ingredients, except for milk, in a jar and place in the fridge for at least 6 hours. After 6 hours, add milk and optional ingredients and stir to combine.

Enjoy!!!

Calories: 200
Weight Watchers Points: 4

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Caffeine Overload?!?!?!

Last night, as I was prepping my coffee pot for my morning coffee, I started getting really excited.  I love coffee and I like it black and strong, but am I going in for caffeine overload?  Well, I started getting really excited for my coffee because I had a sample of Godiva's Creme Brulee coffee.  Hello.....CREME BRULEE!!! How can you not get excited for coffee flavored so deliciously?!?! Anywhoo, I filled up my pot with the amount of water my coffee tumbler can hold...about 12 ounces.  I then added 4 tablespoons of coffee to the pot.  Yes, 4 tablespoons! I always add 1 TB per cup, then an additional 2 for that strong coffee taste.  As I added the coffee, I looked at the back of the package.  The package said the whole sample makes 10-12 cups of coffee.  WHAT?!?!?!? I just used half the package on TWO cups of coffee!!!

Am I going overboard on the caffeine?  My morning coffee is the only cup of coffee I have all day. I don't feel jittery after having the coffee.  According to the mayo clinic, an average cup of 8oz. coffee has 100mg of caffeine. According to the coffee grinds I had from Godiva, I had about 5 cups worth of caffeine in my 2 cup coffee.  That's about 500mg of caffeine.  The mayo clinic suggests cutting back on caffeine if you are having more than 500-600mg of caffeine/day.

So, here's what I'm going to do.  Instead of putting in an extra 2 scoops at the end, I think I will put in just one scoop.  Hopefully this won't make a big difference in taste.  We'll find out tomorrow!

How much coffee do you guys drink?

PS: The creme brulee coffee this morning, was DELICIOUS!

Hearty Breakfast

This mornings breakfast was a hot bowl of thick, hearty, stick to your ribs oatmeal!  I recently picked up a box of Nature's Path Flax Plus Hot Oatmeal.  So far so good.  The oatmeal is not to sweet (10g of sugar) and you can see actual flax seeds in the oats.  Not to mention, one serving gives you 5grams of fiber.  Let's be real...we can all use more fiber :-p

Here are the rest of nutritional deets:

What did you guys have for breakfast?

Monday, September 19, 2011

BluePrint Cleanse...

Last week I decided to follow the BluePrint Cleanse for three days.  Read my article on The Ajnabee to see  how this went for me... http://theajnabee.com/?p=8176