Mock Cheesecake!

So easy and yummy...

1/2c fat free cottage cheese
1/8t vanilla
1T splenda

Mix in blender or food processor until smooth. Eat by itself or with graham crackers and fruit.

Chocolate Peanutbutter Mouse

1/2 c fat free cottage cheese
1t cocoa powder
1/2T peanut butter
1T splenda

Blend in a food processor or blender. Makes nasty fat-free cottage cheese tasty!

A new program

Since my anniversary trip, I've pretty much been a complete workout slacker. But, to my credit, my DH and I did join a rock climbing gym and have been going for about an hour 3 or more times per week. So that counts, right? Haha. Mixed in with the rock climbing have been a few sessions on the cardio machines at work and one weight session. But today, I've decided to stop making excuses. So what if I'm supposed to be moving and have packed up my entire house? My weights and shoes are still accessible, and now there's more space to workout that before I packed everything up. So basically, there's no reason to be such a slacker.

I've decided to follow the plan from The Body Sculpting Bible for Women. It's basically 3 total body workouts per week and 3 cardio/abs sessions per week. Every 2 weeks, the program changes a bit, progressing from traditional reps and sets to super and then giant sets in the last 2 weeks. I'm going to do it for at least the 6 week timeframe, and may do it twice, depending on how it's working at the end of the 6 weeks. (Probably, Cathe's new releases, will affect the 2nd round as well). Plus, we're going to climb 3 days a week, too. But that won't count as my actual workout for the day.

Eatingwise, I've also been a slacker, though lunches and snacks have been pretty good. I've just been taking a lot of cheat days, going out for dinner more than my alloted 2 times per week. I'm going to focus on getting back on track with eating, but I'm not stressing out about it until we've actually gotten moved into the new place and have all the appliances hooked up and kitchen unpacked. But within the next two weeks, eating should be easy to be back 100% on track. :)

Chocolate Protein Cereal

I've been eating this for breakfast a lot. It's a lot yummier than it seems. It looks funny, though, so no pic.

Chocolate Almond Protein Cereal
301Cal, 8g fat, 30g carbs (4g fiber), 29g protein

1/3c dry old fashioned oatmeal
1 scoop chocolate protein powder
1 T almond meal
1/2t cocoa powder (not hot chocolate mix!)
1t splenda
1/2c milk

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a cereal bowl. Add the milk, stir well, and gobble it up. There are obviously a lot of variations that could be done with this. Changing the flavor of protein powder, using other nuts or ground flax seeds, adding dried or fresh fruit....

Before and After

This is my before/after comparison for p90x. It's subtle, but I know there's a difference. You can see tons more ripple in my upper back, and my hips are a lot narrower. And my face us more chiseled. Plus, I know you can't see in the pic, but with more side lighting, I really do have a baby six pack :)

So far, after 8 days of August, I've lost 2 points in my challenge. One for only doing half my planned workout, and one for eating an extra cheat meal. But that extra Diddy Reise ice cream sandwich was totally worth it :D

I'm going on vacation for 4 days over the weekend to celebrate my anniversary. I'm sure I'll lose a bunch of points for that, but I'm ok with it. My goal for this challenge is to earn an A- or better, and I think I can still do this, even if I'm bad on the vacation days. Hmmm...maybe that means it's not really much of a challenge then? :)

I'm really liking Slim Series still. It's completely different from p90x in that it's totally coreographed and there is little room for personalization. You do the same number of reps as Debbie (if you can!) and really only choose between 3 and 5 lb dumbbells. It's kind of surprising to me that after doing something like p90x, I can still be challenged with little 3lb dumbbells. But Debbie has you to like 50 reps with those tiny things and by the end, my shoulders want to die. I'm really curious to see what kind of results all this extremely low weight/ high rep stuff will give my body, since I am one of those women who put on muscle mass relatively easily.

Just checking in

Today's workout: Firm it Up + 20 minute mall walk

Foods: 1636 Cals, 42/35/23
b- Special K Low Carb Lifestyle + milk
l- leftover turkey meatloaf + 3 everyday chocolate muffins w/ 1tsp pb
s2- 1/4c cottage cheese, 3/4c vanilla yogurt, 2T lowfat ganola, 1/2c raspberries
s2- 3 more choc muffinsw/ 2/3tsp pb
d- TJ's Mahi Mahi, 1 grilled zucchini, 2 small ww rolls, salad w/ Just 2 good honey dijon
s3- 1/2 Dreyer's light choc brownie


100 Challenge
Deductions: -0
Score: 100

Day 1 of the 100 Challenge

I joined Pink Dumbbells, a fitness community for women who lift weights today. I signed up for the August Challenge/check in to keep me honest. There's something about having to tell other people about what I'm doing that makes me stay more honest.

Today was a great day of new recipes. I've been lurking on some Nutrisystem forums and have found some interesting recipes that fit into my eating plan. I tried this bread pudding recipe this morning with my protein pumpkin bread. Yummy!!

And for dessert, I made up a batch of vanilla protein ice cream. It came out a bit lumpy, but I think more mixing before the freezing step would help. Here's the info:

Protein Vanilla Ice Cream
4c skim milk
3 scoops vanilla protein powder
1/2 packet of unflavored gelatine (that's 0.125oz)
1 egg white
1t vanilla extract
3/4 c splenda

Heat 1 c of the milk in a sauce pan until just boiling. Add the gelatine and mix until it dissolves. Mix in (well!) the protein powder. (This is the step that needs work: I'm going to use the immersion blender next time) Add the egg white and mix again. Add this to the remaining 3 cups of milk, vanilla, and splenda. Chill until very cold. Pour into your ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer's instructions. This makes 4 VERY generous servings. 175 Cal, 2g fat, 15g carbs (og fiber), 24g protein.

August 100 Challenge
Deductions: -0
Score: 100

Workout: Shape it up!

Foods: 1512Cal, 44/38/18
b- protein pumpkin bread pudding
s1- 1c yogurt, 1/2c raspberries, 2T TJs low fat granola
l- sbd frozen pizza
s2- protein frappachino shake + 1oz pita chips
d- pork tenderloin, 1/2 sweet potato, 1c broccoli
s3-protein vanilla ice cream