Workout C, Sweet Potatoes and Unfortunate Looking Vegetables

Workout C

On Sunday, Katie and I got together to conquer Workout C from Tina's Best Body Bootcamp. I really felt the burn on this one and super enjoyed it. I jokingly called this Workout "Let's do Sh*t on One Leg" because that's basically what we did the whole time. These were the two favorite selections from the workout:

This morning I was really feeling this workout in my glutes. I also think my Physical Therapist exercises contributed to the soreness a little bit. Soon I will take some pictures to share the exercises with you all. Yay hip and butt strengtheners. 

Sweet Potatoes

Okay guys, my life is changed. I discovered that I can cook sweet potatoes in the microwave. I know people have been doing this for awhile now but seriously, my life is changed. 

Here is a little sample of my experiments. 

Some other discoveries this weekend:

Frozen basil cubes. If you're like me and kill every basil plant you buy but really like the stuff, they have it frozen! IN CUBES! That you can melt into butter. Seriously. The only caution...there is some salt added so be cautious when adding additional salt. My new favorite way to eat these cubes? I melted it with some Earth Balance and put it on a microwaved sweet potato...awesome.

Okay, I know this isn't the most amazing picture, but you need to know what's happening here. I purchased the frozen brown rice from Trader Joe's. I was very skeptical about how delicious frozen rice would taste...well I'm here to tell you, it's amazing! 3 minutes and you will have perfect, firm brown rice with awesome texture. I added 3 basil cubes with some Earth Balance to this combo and then some roasted veggies. Yum!

Unfortunate Looking Vegetables

Right? It's okay, you can laugh...I did. 

I'm also trying to eat less sugar...this is how it's working out for me:

These are Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread cookies, Marty's favorite. Yum

And today in my office:

I'm a work in progress...

Questions of the Day:

Have you ever microwaved a sweet potato? 

Do you crave sugar in the afternoon? 

Under the Knife, Return to the Gym and Cookies

Under the Knife

Forgive me, I know, I'm kind of dramatic...but I'm getting my wisdom teeth extracted tomorrow and I'm freaking out. 

This is how a typical conversation has gone when I describe my fear of getting my wisdom teeth extracted with others:

Me: "Oh my gosh, I'm so scared"

Other People: "It will be find but... (insert horrific story of wisdom tooth extraction here)"

I fear the dentist...I blame Steve Martin. PS, if you haven't watched Little Shop of Horrors do it...now.

Source

I'm hoping that everything will go fine and I'm sure it will, if not I know Ryan Gosling has got my back. 

Source

While I was listening to people's wisdom teeth horror stories, I enjoyed this delicious salad and a banana.

Today I Returned to the Gym!!!!

It's been a whole week since I've worked out. I got back into action by doing a 45 minute hill interval workout on the elliptical. 

I also did some awesome inverted rows. These are super hard!!!! At least for me. 

PS it's totally okay to ask people to take pictures of you while working out right?

Cookies

I celebrated my return to the gym with cookies. I made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies tonight after dinner. 

I used this recipe because it sounded simple, delicious and I like my oatmeal cookies to have lots of oatmeal. I decided not to make a vegan recipe simply because I had some ingredients I really wanted to use up. I couldn't bring myself to throw away butter. 

I made three changes to this recipe. 1. I added less sugar. I don't think anyone needs 1.5 cups of sugar plus chocolate. 2. I used old fashioned oats rather than quick oats. This will give it a different texture and more delicious oatmeal chew. 3. I used bar chocolate that I cut into chunks vs chocolate chips. I just like chocolate chunks better and I think the chocolate tastes better. 

We enjoyed these delicious cookies with almond milk. Like my Colorado plate? I have a matching cup...it's awesome. 

Questions of the Day:

Have you had your wisdom teeth removed?

What's your favorite cookie?

I love snicker doodle cookies. Marty is in love with Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread cookies.

Flying after Weight Loss

My Morning

Today I am flying to visit my best friend Alex! She lives in Oregon where we both went to college. I am sooo excited to see her!

Throwback to the college days! Oh Yeah!

Well anyway despite my excitement, I should not be allowed to do math when I am tired. My flight left Phoenix at 8:45am and apparently I knew this meant that I needed to be there at 7am. When I set my alarm I told myself we were leaving the apartment at 7am rather than arriving at the airport at 7. Oops! This did not occur to me until I was breezing out of my apartment at 7:17am and thinking about Phoenix traffic....

Needless to say, I turned into a pretty terrible backseat driver and kept telling Marty he should drive "aggressively". I was seriously concerned I wasn't going to make it. 

Fortunately, I not only arrived on time but with enough time to spare to find a healthy and balanced breakfast.

The calories were a little high on this baby but I ate half, drank some water and swore I would get some fruit or a vegetable in San Francisco. The cookie trend has continued:

But I did buy an orange, I promise.

I also managed to spend a few minutes taking pictures of myself in the bathroom without anyone noticing.

Heyyyy!

Flying after Weight loss:

So, as I was sitting on the plane this morning I started to reflect a little bit about the flying experience before and after losing a significant amount of weight.

I used to dread flying. I would do it a couple times a year, but it caused me a lot of anxiety. All I could think about was the person sitting next to me... What were they thinking? Were they judging me? Did they hate sitting next to me because I was fat? Sometimes when I would get to my seat first I would just sit there dreading to see the persons face next to me...just waiting for that grimace of resignation that the flight might be uncomfortable for both of us.

Source

At my heaviest I was wearing a size 24 pants. It was really uncomfortable to fly. I could fit in the seat, but just barely. I would always request the window seat, put the armrest down and spend the majority of the flight concentrating on trying not to touch the other person by pushing myself against the window. Since the armrest couldn't quite go down all the way, it would start to creep up my side and I would push it down. After a flight, I would usually feel stressed, embarrassed, tired and have bruises on my hips.

Even though I am not at my goal weight flying is a lot easier. There is room in the seat, my hips don't even touch the armrests.

There is plenty of extra room in the seat belt. This seems like something really silly to care about, but when I had first started to lose weight and would fly, each added inch of the seat belt felt like I could finally claim I was some kind of normal. 

Flying is less stressful, but I put hearts on my now and then pictures for a very specific reason. I don't hate who I was, I hate how I felt but I don't hate myself. It's so important to love yourself and work on it every day. Try to make yourself feel good no matter what your size. The stress of flying would often overshadow the joy I felt going somewhere. 

Be who you are, love that person and through that love continue to better yourself!

Questions of the Day!

Are you going on the special trip anytime soon?

Do you have a best friend?

Do you feel a significant difference in flying if you have lost or gained weight?

If you could go on a dream trip, where would you go?