Health and Fitness Goals

After setting my new health and fitness goals and losing 2 pounds last week, I'm on a mission to lose 10-12 more pounds in the next 6 weeks, which would put me back to my ideal healthy weight. I read recently that posting my goals online is one good way to keep myself accountable and focused so here we are. :)

A few great sources of fitness information, I've been doing the cardio workouts from the Self Drop 10 Challenge and using Calorie Counter to track the calories of recipes I create. Although, I do read the recipe recommendations of both sites and have tried a few of their recipes with modifications, I tend to cook using my own recipes given I have strict personal dietary requirements/restrictions that their recipes don't always accommodate for. Also, after the last five years of practicing, I've actually become great at creating and making healthy recipes that taste amazing! :)

As part of the process, I created a Health and Fitness page on Pinterest. I've been especially enjoying the workouts labeled Monday - Friday (pictured below) & am pleased with the results so far. I have yet to find/make time each week to do five 1-hour workouts. I am getting in four good 1-hour workouts each week and lengthening the cardio beyond 20 minutes at least twice a week to get more miles in.

Before I started this new routine, I was hiking Runyon Canyon regularly but wasn't weight training and had hit a plateau, not seeing any weight loss results and actually gained a few pounds over the winter. Although I was eating healthy & exercising regularly, I wasn't counting my calorie intake. So as I was discussing this frustration with my lack of results with my good friend (who's in fabulous shape BTW), he suggested added interval running for 20 minutes a day, 5 days per week and weight training to my routine. I agreed to try and see what happened.

When I decided to start incorporating running into my workout routine, I began with interval "jogging" on the treadmill for 20 minutes. I decided to improve and increase my speed each week to build strength without causing self-injury or strain from over-doing it. It has been years since I've been a "runner" and I wasn't sure how my body would react to be honest. I'm now interval jogging/walking between a 20 min mile pace and 11.2 min mile pace for 20 - 30 minutes + doing the weight training routines below and ending with a 10 - 15 minute stretch & yoga session. Last week, I cut my daily calorie intake to 1600 per day and am finally seeing results on the scale. 5.5 weeks to go...

Portabello Mushroom Burger

I haven't eaten beef or chicken in almost 3 weeks. After catching up with my mom on Fat Tuesday and hearing she was eliminating alcohol, sweets AND coffee this year (oh easy, right?), I decided to step it up a notch for lent this year and sacrifice all meat (except fish) and wine. I remember as a child sacrificing things for lent each year that I thought I really cared about (my favorite shoes, soda, desserts). By the time the 40 days of lent passed, I was never interested in them anymore, so I wonder if this will be the case this year as well.  This is truly a lesson in discipline and self-control.

Being that I'm also hoping to see additional positive results in my previously set energy, fitness, skin and overall health goals, practicing 40 days of serious discipline hasn't actually been too much of a chore. I've admittedly missed having a glass of red wine with dinner once in a while. Also, the day we drove by what felt like 10 In-N-Out Burgers heading up from LA to San Luis Obispo, I wanted to stop at each one & grab a animal style protein burger. This is especially bizarre because I don't actually crave In-N-Out often when I CAN HAVE IT ANYTIME I WANT so I don't know why the "YOU CAN'T HAVE IT SO IT'S ALL YOU WANT" gene kicks in NOW.  Other than that, I feel good and am seeing results in my health & fitness goals so it's working!

Since the only meat I've truly craved so far is this In-N-Out burger, last night I made my own version, a portabello mushroom burger. It's true what they say! Portabello mushrooms really are the meat of the vegetable world.

Ingredients:
2 Portabello Mushrooms
Cut Scallions
2 slices Jarlsberg low-fat cheese
spicy mustard
whole-weat buns
3 tbs olive oil
2 cloves frozen garlic (Trader Joe's)
1 frozen basil cube (Trader Joe's)
1 frozen parsley cube (Trader Joe's)

Making the Burger:

• Pre-heated 1.5 tbs olive oil, frozen garlic, basil & parsley from Trader Joe's in grilling pan on medium-high heat.
• Once herbs melted, added 2 chopped scallions & mushrooms to pan.
• Grilled on medium-high for 10 minutes flipping every few minutes.
• Added cheese for last 2 minutes.
• Served on whole-wheat buns with romaine lettuce and spicy mustard.

Makes 2 Servings. Delicious! Enjoy!

The only thing standing between you and your goal

I'm going to post this picture in my bathroom, 
right over the toilet next to the mirror as a "note to self". 

A bit of history on the picture, friends were visiting me while I was living in Ireland in '07 and during our tour of the Ring of Kerry I took this shot right after my car overheated and the engine blew stranding us for several hours. Talk about getting stuck at a crossroads... my car had lost power steering going downhill towards a cliff and this is the spot we safely managed to land. But what started as a mishap ended up being one of the greatest adventures of our trip. The rest of the story can be read on my travel blog.

This image reminds me of a time frame where I continuously pushed and challenged myself and those around me to grow in ways that many questioned as impossible "because it had never been done before". But what kind of excuse is that anyways? So while the naysayers were busy neighing, we gathered the right people (ones that were willing to say yes and just do it), set goals and deadlines, and pushed ahead in leaps and bounds accomplishing things daily that had never been done before. 


What is most great is it's not just true of those experiences but a lesson to be reminded of repeatedly anytime I stop myself from staying on track as it speaks loudly to me, "Nothing is impossible. If I can accomplish "that"-- ie. taking the first step and moving to Ireland alone for 2 years, learning to cross the street by looking right first instead of left and then learning to drive  in the opposite side of the car on the opposite side of the road, eventually stopping that car from driving us off a cliff all while meeting new people, learning a new culture, successfully relocating a company abroad, and most important maintaining a sense of humor and a sense of adventure through all it was & wasn't according to my expectations at step 1 (moving to Ireland) -- I can accomplish anything."