Today's lunch

Tuna Salad stuffed Cucumber and Roasted Chickpeas

While neither of these recipes are my invention, I feel an obligation to share my adaptations of them because it was a delicious lunch!  Luckily two different friends shared these ideas with me.

Roasted Chickpeas

Drain 2 large cans & set aside to dry for a bit

Preheat oven to 350

Toss the chickpeas with a little olive oil, cayenne pepper & oregano.  (You can really use any spices that you like.)  Spread on baking sheet & bake for approximately 45-60 minutes.  They should be slightly crunchy when they are finished.

It's a great simple, healthy snack!

Healthy Tuna Salad

Cut a cucumber in half & scoop out the seeds from the center

In a small bowl mix:

 1 well drained can of tuna 

1 tomato, chopped

pickles or jalapenos, diced to taste

Fill your cucumber boat with the salad & enjoy!

My newest Fitness Friend

I was curious how many calories I burn doing Zumba.  So I bought myself this new gizmo, the Fitbit.  It only set me back $59.99 & I considered it an investment in my fledgling fitness hobby/career.  I thought it would be nice to be able to tell students an approximate number of calories they could expect to burn during class.  While the technology of a pedometer is hardy novel, this new generation is actually pretty cool.  I wear it all day but it's so small that I forget it's even there.   More importantly, I don't have to do anything with it.  The battery is suppose to last almost 6 months.   It shows the cumulative results on the screen all day or you can go to the site at the end of the day to review your final tallies.  It will post how many steps you took, how many miles that equals and the number of calories you burned.  I also like the hourly graph that shows when you tracked those movements and when you were obviously sitting down for a couple hours.  Another feature is the ability to sync with mobile phones, but unfortunately mine is not a supported model.  It has an online feature to track your food & other helpful diet tools.

So today following some household chores, the preparation of one new routine, a brief upper body weight workout, running thru several songs prior to class & then leading a one hour class my report said this:

 22579 steps taken today

226% of goal of 10,000

 10.04 miles traveled today

201% of goal of 5.00

 2463 calories burned

After two days of use it seems I burn about 500 calories in one - 60 minute class.  Hmmm.... that's what I was estimating prior to this purchase....   Oh well...  It's still a fun toy.

The Tape Measure will tell the Truth

I don't know if anyone has noticed, but I started a Fitness Blog and I've yet to post the specific details of my individual workouts.  The reasoning is simple.   While I certainly have more knowledge and expertise than the average couch potato, I hesitate to give any advice unless I'm confident that it will work.  It's certainly a goal to become more of a leader in this industry, but I'm realistic enough to know that I still have a lot to learn.  I'm still in the educational process.  I am proud to have finally passed a little milestone today.  I successfully passed my AFAA (Aerobics and Fitness Association of America) Group Exercise Certification test.  While I had no problems with the initial written half of this test, my nerves kept me from presenting my best form on the practical portion of the test previously.  Big sigh of relief after a more appropriate conclusion for an instructor this afternoon...

Following my webcam test, I thought I'd workout and logged onto a fabulous online fitness tracking program that someone shared with me: www.jefit.com
Their huge database allows me to easily track my workouts & gives me all kinds of ideas of different exercises for all the major muscle groups.  However before I headed downstairs to start the days weight routine, I noticed that exactly a month ago I had entered all my body measurements onto my profile.   So on a whim I went and grabbed this.

It'd only been a month; so, honestly I didn't expect any of the numbers to have changed yet.  I was pleasantly surprised to find:

My hips are 1/2" smaller

My waist is 1/2" smaller

My Thighs are 1" smaller

& My Calves are 1/2" bigger!

 I guess we will have to work a little harder to see some measurable changes on the upper body. 

So it seems what I am doing IS producing some results and I hope to share some of those specifics with you soon!

What a Fitness Fan does for Fun

I don’t think I’ve crossed over into the fanatic category yet.  However, I suspect that it’s just a matter of time.  For an extended getaway weekend, I just attended my very first Fitness Convention with over three thousand other fans from all over the world.  The event was the Zumba Instructor Convention in Los Angeles, CA.  I enjoyed every minute and think it is safe to say that I am hooked.  For three days I attended 3 sessions a day lasting 2 to 3 hours each.  While we did not spend the entire time doing physical work, we did spend the majority of that time on our feet learning new dance moves.  Since the workshops were so active & there was limited time in between them, food choices were limited as well.  I am not one of those people who can do high intensity aerobic work with a full stomach.  So my diet for three days was basically protein bars, smoothies, cheese sticks and almonds.  The most obvious benefit of this enormous exertion and limited intake was the extreme looseness of my jeans as I dressed to leave.  I had only brought one pair & when I had to remove my belt at airport security, I’m pretty sure I gave a few folks a little show.

More sedentary people might consider this trip a form of torture.  I was on the west coast yet never had time to hit the beach or see any local attractions.  On the last day even some other attendees were sitting in the chairs provided at the sides of the room prior to the conclusion of class just watching.  Not me, I was doing push-ups and planks in a fitness battle exercise.  As further proof that I might be morphing into the fanatic group, I’m already eager to do it again in August at the Zumba Convention in Florida or any other fitness convention I find.  Why? 

-I love to learn, but I find it difficult to sit still.  

Where else can you further your education AND move at the same time?

-It must be the mutual interest because people you’ve never met before are so approachable and friendly.

-The energy is amazing & it’s not just the music.  There’s a palatable passion in the air.  The room is full of people dripping with sweat from exertion, yet they are wearing huge smiles on their faces.

-The participants will inspire you.  Most notable was the woman in a wheelchair with no legs.  She currently teaches two classes a week & said she was adding three more following the convention.  She walked on stage via her two hands, lifted herself back into her wheelchair & led several hundred of us in a Zumba routine we’d never previously done.  You know what?  We had no problem whatsoever following her routine.  

I learned a lot, pushed my body to its limits and had fun doing it.  As I continue my fitness journey, I hope it will inspire YOU!

A peek into my Pantry

This was NOT what I planned to do today.  It all started with this:

Maybe you don't see it at first.  

My pantry is always overflowing with food.  It's a quality I inherited from my father but I practice greater restraint.  Not shopping at Costco for a family of two is a great help in this matter.  This pictured shelf is completely devoted to chips, crackers & snacks.  Yes, I've given this department an entire shelf that is 12" deep & 40" long.  So what you'll see if you look again is empty SPACE!  Since I have stopped buying chips and crackers suddenly there is valuable new room in what I would consider prime retail space.  You see this shelf is right at waist height for easy viewing and grabbing.

So I had the brilliant idea to make this my new protein shelf.  The cans of beans on the opposite side were stacked pretty high.   Then it kind of snowballed.  Every item in there got removed, shelves were wiped and expired items were pitched.   I'm not sure why, but I can't seem to complete this sort of project without some crazy obsessive need to roughly alphabetize my beans and all the other canned vegetables.   Somehow after getting rid of stuff, I still had trouble getting everything back into the original space.

  However quite awhile later when I finished, I had this:

The chips are now located in the hardest area to reach - at the top shelf in the back corner. 

 If you're going to snack with a less than ideal choice....from now on at least you'll also get a good stretch.

A Successful Day

Good news followers.  If I actually adhere to my own self-given guidelines, this might just work!

First off I'll share with you that I weigh myself almost every morning, always sans clothing & before eating.  Yes, it is just a number & I care more about how I look and how my clothes fit than what this says.  The reason I do this is simply to monitor the situation.  Am I trending down, riding a wave up or maintaining the status quo?  I've been doing it long enough that I almost don't need this numerical statistic.  For entertainment I guess the number I think it will be before I step onto the scale.  Fun huh?  Following a particularly big consumption day and a corresponding lack of exercise, I sometimes skip this ritual for the lack of fun factor that will follow.  I liked the number I got today; so, I thought I'd share what I did yesterday to help get me there.

Diet for the Day:
2 cups coffee with Hazelnut creamer  (This is the first entry everyday & I have no current plans to change it.  I know breakfast is suppose to be the most important meal of the day.  However, for me it is imperative to begin with coffee.)

Smoothie - made with 1 banana, 2 tble Peanutbutter, 1 cup non-fat yougurt, generous handful of frozen spinach, 3 Tble orange juice & 1 scoop of whey protein

Nature Valley Protein Bar

Roasted Almonds with Dark Chocolate flavoring for snacking between meals

1 large trout filet
1 bunch Swiss Chard sauteed in a little butter
small serving of noodles

lots of water

Exercise:
Aprox. 45 min. of weights focusing on Shoulders, Traps & Triceps
1 Hour Zumba with Ab work following

So how was your day?  Feel free to share your successes with me!

What's Your Excuse?

I'm certainly not immune to excuses.

Here is my most recent reason one:

Obviously I had a valid excuse to be more conservative with lower body work.  Hoping to promote faster healing by not over doing it, I also omitted my beloved Zumba workouts for two weeks.  I plan to try it tomorrow.  I still classify this as an excuse because in the last ten days I have
Rested - 7
Done Weights - 3
Seems I really fell off the six day a week workout plan huh?  There was also a Birthday to celebrate and a very structured business trip that left virtually no free time.  However my scale did not go on holiday and it reminded me this morning that I am certainly not on track.

So here's the improved knee today.

I think the rest really did help the healing, but it's time to get serious about my resolution again.  There's no sense dwelling on all the different Upper bodywork I could have done during this little lay-off.  Counting today I have 9 days before I attend the annual Zumba Instructor Convention in Los Angeles.  You'll be glad to know I DID workout today.  This afternoon's focus was A, B, C, D, E, F & G  (Abs, Biceps, Calves anD Everyone's Favorite the Glutes).

So the moral of today's story is this.  It doesn't matter what YOUR excuse is.  Acknowledge it, maybe learn from it & then........Get back to work!