100 pushups!

I decided to jump on the bandwagon and add in the 100 push up challenge into my training program. I did the initial test, and surprised myself with 35 consecutive, on-my-toes push ups. But that started my conundrum: should I start on week one of the challenge, which starts out with sets of only 10-15 push ups, or should I skip ahead and challenge myself a little more??

Well, I was debating where to start with my husband, I thought I should start on week 3, column 3, and he said that would be too hard. So, out came my competitive streak, and I said, "Ok, I'll do it right now." So he timed my rests and I did it! Woo woo woo! 25, 17, 17, 15, 26. But I'm not going to lie, I wasn't sure I'd be able to make it through the last set. It was really freakin' hard! But I did! And coincidentally, that turns out to be exactly 100 (non-consecutive) push ups that I did tonight. So, week 3 it is for me. :)

Green Smoothie

I was surprised at how delicious this smoothie I made up was, so I had to write the recipe down. It's actually purple when you make it, but it has spinach in it so....green.

1/2c water or green tea (I used water + packet of green tea to go mix)
1 scoop strawberry protein powder
1/2c cottage cheese
1/2c frozen blueberries
1c baby spinach leaves (next time, I'll probably use more, you can't taste ANY spinachy flavor at all in this!)
1t flax meal
4-5 ice cubes

Blend it. mmmmmm.

Iced Coffee Recipe

My hubby got me hooked on McDonald's Iced Coffees, which are delicious! ....well, usually delicious, but totally depends on who makes it because I don't think I've ever had two that tasted the same. So, that's annoying. Plus also, if you're trying not to eat lots of crap, then a creamer- and sugar- laden mystery beverage isn't going to work out. So, I decided to make my own. I've tried a few different combinations recently, but tonight I finally hit upon the perfect recipe. Seriously, it's so delicious I never need to get a McDonald's one again.

Put 1/4c fat free half and half in the bottom of your glass, then add 1 rounded teaspoon of instant coffee and 2 rounded teaspoons of splenda. Mix it up. Fill the glass up to about 3/4 with ice, and add water to fill it up. Swirl and drink up. Yummy yummy yummy!

Gourmet Nutrition!

I've been waiting very impatiently for my copy of
Gourmet Nutrition
to arrive in the mail (why is the mail so sloooooooow when you really really really want something??) and today it finally arrived! Even though I'd seen the sample recipes, and knew that every recipe had its own photo, I was still really excited by just how nice it looks. Of course I immediately sat down and read through the whole thing, and picked out some yummy recipes to try. I already made a chocolate mint shake (verdict: yummy, but not something I really needed a recipe for) and the banana nut bars (verdict: yummy, and worth the recipe. I like that they don't have that rubbery egg white texture so many protein recipes have). So obviously, I need to make many more recipes to tell how good it really is, but I can say that I am not sad I spent $30 on it (used), but I agree with those people that say $50 (w/ shipping) is too much for a paperback cookbook. It reminds me of Eating for Life, in that it has full meals, but is more like a real cookbook in that you actually cook everything. No instant pudding mix or salad dressings here, it's all real food recipes. Eating for Life is more aimed at guys who need to cook and have no experience, Gourmet Nutrition is aimed at a more traditional cookbook audience. Not to imply that one is better than the other, they just have a different tone.
This book is a nice complement to healthy eating books like the Eat Clean Diet Cookbook, Eating for Life, and The South Beach Diet Cookbook, all of which are keeping it company on my cookbook shelf. More recipe reviews are coming soon!

Today's workout:

SloMo Warm up +Chest (3 sets of 8 reps for each, 4-0-4 or 2-2-4 cadence for most)
Around the Worlds DB - 2x6
Decline Bench Press BB - 45
Incline Chest Flyes with Internal Rotation DB - 2x9
Staggered Hand Push-Ups - toes

Power Hour Abs - crunches, reverse crunches, planks

Cardio Kicks: first 35 min

Eats:
I'm sad I had to use one of my 4 10% days today on lunch. I had plans to see a family friend, and I thought we would go out to lunch and i could order a nice grilled chicken salad, but instead, she offered to cook for us - grilled cheese! :O at least it was PWO! But it was with yummy yummy bread and Tillamook cheddar, so it ended up being worth it. Everything else was on track. I made my chocolate peanut butter protein shake into ice cream with my KitchenAid Ice cream attactment, and it was awesome. Protein ice cream is somehow waaaaaay more exciting than protein shake. Especially when it's so hot hot hot. I'll definitely be making more of these.

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Plan details

Here is my workout schedule for this month. I just got Amy Bento's SloMo 3-day split of heavy weights, and I wanted to use it, but I've also just discovered how great the rotations that Cathe designs are, so I wanted both! I took a rotation that Cathe designed using her Slow and Heavy Series, and replaced those workouts with Amy's SloMo, but kept all the cardio and ab work Cathe. And thus, my Amy/Cathe hybrid rotation. I started this last week, so today was actually the first rest day. Tomorrow I do chest, abs, and kickboxing. Woo.

Bento lunch!

I recently learned that there are a bunch of rare and exciting
Japanese dollar stores in the LA area, and, of course, I should take
advantage of them while I live here. Well, one thing they are well-
known for is their fun/cute bento supplies. So, naturally, I had to
stock up, because you never know when Kylen will need me to pack her a
tiny lunch with lots of cute accessories. At least that's the cover
story...

So here is my first official bento lunch with my new supplies. It's
packed in my Leaflet Tight (It is so wonderful to be able to maintain
your dreams.) box.