Pretty low key Saturday. We had a lazy morning - something about getting to stay in jammies for a bit while drinking coffee and watching some TV is always a treat. Then we ran some errands and did some work around the house. We tend to have pretty packed weekends, so this was a nice change of pace.
Breakfast - slice of frittata, half an avocado, half a grapefruit (my last one for 2 weeks) and black coffee.
Lunch - arugula and spinach salad with smoked salmon, cucumbers, dates, half an avocado, hard boiled egg, slivered almonds and pomegranate seeds. Boy am I going to miss the added sweetness of the pomegranate seeds and dates during the last half of this challenge.
Snack - one last bowl of apples and pears only this time I accidentally sprinkled cumin on them instead of cinnamon - blech.
Dinner - Shepard's pie - we used the recipe from "Well Fed" and incorporated some of our leftover lamb chili. It was a great use of leftovers. We also added some mashed sweet potatoes to the mashed cauliflower mixture. It was so good and perfect for a winter night.
Workout - I did 6 Tabata workouts. Round 1 I did wood chopper lunges - rotating sides each minute. Round 2 I did pliet squats with overhead tricep presses & jump rope. Round 3 I did plank & downward dog push ups. Round 4 I did sit ups with weights & bicycle crunches. Round 5 I did leg raises with weights - rotating sides each minute. Round 6 I did chest flies w/ legs extended and off the ground & chest press w/ legs extended and off the ground. It was a great workout - lots of core work. Also got in a good walk with my dog.
16 more to go...
Another work week in the books and all is still going well with the challenge. Still had a bit of a desire to crack open a bottle of wine and pick up a pizza for dinner, but only a small desire that was easily avoided and of course nothing beats the feeling of waking up the next day knowing you made really smart choices the day before. So, on to the weekend!
Breakfast - slice of frittata, half an avocado, half a grapefruit and black coffee. Will this ever get old? :)
Lunch - arugula and spinach salad with leftover chicken from the night before, cucumbers, hard boiled egg, half an avocado, dates, slivered almonds and pomegranate seeds. Those pomegranate seeds will be missed next week (the dates too) not only because they taste so good, but they had such a pretty color to the salad - seriously, how could you not want to eat this for lunch everyday?
Dessert - cashed in one more time on my ability to have fruit with some chopped pears, apples, some more pomegranate seeds, coconut, lemon juice and cinnamon/nutmeg sprinkle. So satisfying.
Appetizer - had a handful of pistachios and some plantain chips dipped in some sunshine sauce - wow, so good. Those plantain chips will be good for the Super Bowl (even if I have to sacrifice some "no fruit" points to enjoy them).
Dinner - lamb chili served over spaghetti squash. This chili was so good and surprising with the lamb instead of typical ground beef. So sweet and flavorful. We simply cooked the meat in water, then added in onions and carrots galore (even more sweetness) and a big can of diced tomatoes. After a couple hours on the stove it was nice and thick and the spaghetti squash was the perfect addition - especially considering we couldn't have rice, cheese or tortilla chips as options. Didn't even miss those things! A great Friday night meal.
Workout - I'm officially on the Tabata bandwagon. I love the intervals - 20 seconds is just long enough to make you start to cringe, but not so long that you can't push even harder towards those last seconds. Plus the ability to vary up the exercises keeps it interesting. Today I did a set of leg extensions with "W" arm presses - each minute I would switch the leg so my arms/shoulders were on fire by the end of the 4 minutes. Then I did a set of kettlebell swings and jump rope. Then I did a set of sit ups and bicycle crunches. I ended with a set of jump rope and jumping jacks.
17 more to go...
