best HIIT routine EVER & a challenge for you!

happy monday! i can actually say that without any sarcasm today! it has turned out to be an excellent day and i just feel happy which feels awesome. how was your day? hopefully not too stressful. no more monday mornings for 6 1/2 more days! :P

thanks for all the congratulatory comments on my new place. i can’t wait to show you all photos of it.. namely the kitchen ;) i have a feeling the blog photos will be getting a lot better come november. now if i could just find my way around those fluorescent lights at work!

i wasn’t so stoked this morning.. after just 5 hours of sleep, my monday was off to a tired start! note to self: don’t stay up on sunday nights to watch iron chef.  (in my defense, it was battle berry and i couldn’t take my eyes off bobby flay’s insanely creative savory berry concoctions!) needless to say i was happy to get my morning java when we went to the original pancake house for our weekly sales meeting :)

meal 1: COFFEE! 2 slices dry wheat toast & 2 eggs over medium @ 8:30 AM

 

no, not my typical monday fare of scrambled egg whites, but i was really craving the runny yolks so i went with it.. mmmm.. totally worth the extra yolkage!

i was uber productive at work today. i was in the zone and i just worked all through the morning without even looking at the time. when i finally did i was shocked to see it was one o’clock! i love it when the day whizzes by like that. i was surprised that my breakfast held me over so long. usually my stomach is screaming “EAAATTT!” but nope, not today! and i had a lighter breakfast too, which is a quandary.

meal 2: yep.. this wrap again :) @ 1:00 PM

i could lie and say i ate this because it is so amazing (which it is) but the real truth is that it was all i had in the work fridge! luckily i love it so i was happy to have this wrap once again. cottage cheese, mushrooms, cucumbers, hummus and a flatout wrap. lunch!

 

since my lunch was so late and i had cardio on the agenda for after work, i didn’t have a snack between lunch and dinner. instead, i went to the gym for what i do believe is my favorite new HIIT routine!

i made this up today, i am going to call it the 20-15-10 HIIT.  why? because it is 45 minutes of High Intensity Interval Training:

• 20 minutes on treadmill
• 15 minutes on elliptical
• 10 minutes on stairmill

this is how it all broke down:

treadmill=20 minutes, 2.09 miles, 170 calories

incline=0

• 2 min @ 6.0

four sets of this interval cycle, increasing the incline by 0.5 each time (starting at 0.5 and ending at 2.0)

• 1 min @ 6.0
• 1 min @ 6.5
• 1 min @ 7.0
• 1 min @ 7.5

high point “level 10”

• 1 min @ 9.0

elliptical=15 minutes, 2.14 miles, 135 calories

i pushed hard for 4 minutes and took it easy for 1 minute, three times through.

• 4 min level 7 @ 9-10mph
• 1 min level 2 @ 7mph
• 4 min level 7 @ 9-10mph
• 1 min level 2 @ 7mph
• 4 min level 7 @ 9-10mph
• 1 min level 2 @ 7mph

stairmill=10 minutes, 118 calories

i did a minute each of fast, medium, slow twice through then finished off with a minute of fast and a minute of slow twice through.

• 1 min @ level 12
• 1 min @ level 8
• 1 min @ level 4
• 1 min @ level 12
• 1 min @ level 8
• 1 min @ level 4
• 1 min @ level 12
• 1 min @ level 4
• 1 min @ level 12
• 1 min @ level 4

total stats: max HR=184, ave HR=161, calories burned=423, duration 48 min (extra time spent cleaning off machines and switching)

WOW! this HIIT routine was the best best best! try it right now! i loved the variation that came from using 3 machines.. i didn’t get bored, my heart rate was up and down and all around, best interval routine ever. and over 400 calories burned? can’t complain there.

i think it goes without saying that i was starvinnnng when i got home. 

enter: kitchen clearing challenge

since i am moving in less than a month, i need to work on using all the food in my fridge, freezer and cupboards.  additionally, i am broke as a joke from all the trips i have been taking and the new purchases (car, more expensive insurance, deposit on new place to live) and i need to save some dollars… so i think this kitchen clearing challenge is just what the doctor ordered! i can use up my supplies and save money while i am at it.  my goal is to not go to the grocery store unless it is absolutely, positively necessary! 

if anyone wants to join in on this kitchen clearing challenge, i invite you to try to make a few meals using only what you have in your fridge, freezer and cupboards.  it will be awesome to put our culinary creativity to the test and see what we can all come up with!

this challenge starts today and will last until the end of october.  now, i know none of you will be as die hard as i am going to try to be since i want to use EVERYTHING up.. but try your best to make a meal using items you have on hand, and if you do.. tell me about it so i can link to your kitchen clearing meal!

i went into the kitchen to see what i could come up with.  to my surprise, i ended up making one of the best dinners i have had in a long time.

meal 3: black bean + ground turkey vegetable soup w/ greek yogurt & 2 slices of toast with sunbutter @ 7:00 PM

 

i made an extra caloric dinner to make up for my lack of a snack this afternoon.

i took 3 ounces of frozen ground turkey and browned it with some seasonings.  i then added this to the saucepan:

 

and added a dollup of fage 0% to the top of my soup~

 

i read a post on rose’s blog today talking about food that is ugly but tastes incredible. this is one of those foods ;)

growing up, i always paired toast & peanut butter with vegetable soup.  i thought the sunbutter would be a nice switchup because of the fact that it has a more savory flavor compared to peanut butter.

i used two slices of this bread:

  

after toasting them to perfection, i slathered 1 TB of sunbutter on the slices~

 

all together it clocked in around 500 calories, 47g protein, 63g carbs & 12g fat.. a protein/carb/fat ratio of 35/45/20. pretty close to perfect :)

of course, i proceeded to eat it by mixing the yogurt into the soup and then spooning heaps of the soup onto the warm, sunbuttery toast. the sunbutter was SUCH a nice complement to the soup! perfecto!

this dinner was honestly remarkable. one that i will go to the store to get the ingredients again (after the challenge, of course) and make over and over. it kills me that i had ALL the ingredients for this delectable dinner at home already.  if i hadn’t implemented this challenge today, i would have gone to the grocery store after the gym and spent around $20 on dinner supplies. cost of tonight’s dinner? $zero$!!!!

after my fantastic meal i attempted to catch up on reader for awhile but in the long run google reader won again and i only knocked it down to about 45.. which means it will be well over 100 in the morning. ah, what can ya do? slowly but surely!

i was feeling like something sweet and autumny so i finished the night off with some more on-hand supplies~

meal 4: pumpkin protein shake @ 9:30 PM

(recycled photo, camera died!)

i swear, this tastes JUST like a pumpkin ice cream shake.. but is 100% healthy :D love it. in case you missed it, you can see my recipe here.

whew. this ended up being a real long post! oh, before i go i did want to give a big gratzie! thank you! gracias! to a couple more fabulous gals who passed along the over the top award to me (i filled out the award survey & passed it on in this post)…thanks lauren and megan!

hope your tuesday is fabulous! it is national yorkshire pudding day so celebrate accordingly! and it is lexi’s birthday! happy birthday girl :)

Qs

1. if you were on “iron chef” what would you want the secret ingredient to be? i would for sure want cheese.

2. what is your favorite soup? i love soup with loads of veggies but i am also really fond of creamy tomato with a grilled cheese.

don’t forget to join me in the kitchen clearing challenge! let me know if you whip something up without having to buy anything new!

xo. janetha b.