I can’t believe it’s already the third week of January! It’s not too late to get into the game or if you’ve fallen off to get back on! I almost thought I wasn’t going to make my goals for last week, but somehow I managed to pull through!

Weekly workouts unveiled:

Thursday 01/10/13: HIIT sprint/walk for 30 minutes (had the case of the itchy pants)

Friday 01/11/13: Nothing

Saturday 01/12/13: An hour of Zumba

Sunday 01/13/13: HIIT sprint/run/walk combo for 30 minutes (no case of the itchy pants!!)

Three times a week (week 1) accomplished. Boom!

My run on Sunday was pretty rough because I was so sore from Zumba, but I pushed through and, thankfully, I didn’t start itching like a madwoman, but the jiggles were still present…unfortunately.

This weeks workout plan:

Monday: Yoga class or HIIT (I’m leaning toward HIIT since its 30 minutes – I’m always looking for shortcuts)

Tuesday: Hip Hop Class

Wednesday: Latin Fusion (similar to Zumba)

Thursday: Hatha Yoga if i’m up for it and needing a good stretch

Fri,Sat,Sun, Mon: Off on vacation to Toronto to visit my bestie!!!!

PS: I booked my ticket to Florida for my cousin’s Bachelorette party in April. In three months I will need to be in a swimsuit. Shit just got serious.

PSS: I would talk about last night’s fashion at the Golden globes, but I was incredibly disappointed.  There were only two people that stood out to me…

1. Jessica Alba in Oscar De La Renta – looking better than I have ever seen her before.

Jessica Alba Golden Globes 2013

Perfection!! I absolutely loooooove this dress (silhouette and color). Her ombre hair color compliments her skin tone and her orange lip color was a perfect contrast to her dress! Jewels and accessories were also just perfect! Perfect, perfect, perfect. Way to make Oscar proud.  :)

2. Sofia Vergara – This woman knows how to dress for her body.

She ooooozes elegance and sex appeal all at once – a very hard combo to master. Simply stunning!

Other then them, I didn’t really care for anyone else. Sure, some people looked good, but no one else was noteworthy – in my opinion. We’ll see what the E! Fashion Police have to say!

That’s all for now… try and stay awake at work today

Happy Morning and Good Friday! When I tell you I really gave every single ounce of my being on that treadmill last night, I really mean it! I went to they gym right after a dreadful doctor appointment (I showed up fully dressed in workout gear so that I could go straight from there to minimize any chance to reconsider). Once I made it safely inside the building, there was no chance of escape so I quickly got myself to a treadmill before the demons in my head started talking.

The best way to describe my first running experience of 2013:

The only difference is that I did not stop after two minutes. I forced my ass to finish 30 minutes of HIIT and it.was.miserable. I’m not sure if this has happened to any of you, but once I started my ‘run/sprint’ portion of HIIT my entire body – mostly my legs- started itching uncontrollably and I couldn’t help but scratch myself.  The itching was UNBEARABLE and I probably looked like a lunatic or like a person hallucinating that bugs were all over them because I couldn’t stop scratching! This has happened to me before and it’s gotten so bad that I had to just stop all together, but this time I told myself ‘too bad’ and forced myself to endure being uncomfortable. The itching would come when I started my ‘run/sprint’ part of the intervals and go away when I started to walk. Eventually, after about 10 minutes the itching stopped completely and I was able to finish my workout in peace. Hell to the yes. Take that itchy pants!

Since this has happened to me multiple times, I decided to look it up and find out what this was all about.  Here is a small excerpt from an article on livestrong:

Circulation Problems

In some cases, itchy legs might be a symptom of circulation issues — if you haven’t exercised in a while, your body might not be used to it and have trouble pumping blood to your extremities because the capillaries have collapsed slightly. The process of expanding these capillaries can give the sensation of tingling or itching in your legs. Just a few sessions of regular exercise should put a stop to the itching.

Read more:  http://www.livestrong.com/article/341646-itchy-legs-while-running/#ixzz2HgP7fUbQ

In short: my fat ass is out of shape and needs to start running again.

That is all I have for you today, friends. Enjoy your weekend!

Meanwhile…

Get engaged!!! Yup- I’ve heard it before and now I’m confirming it.  Get engaged and the pounds will just melt away! No, I’m kidding they won’t melt away, however if stress cuts your appetite then you might be one of the lucky ones!

Currently I have checked-off the following:

Wedding dress + Veil… love.love.love!!!

Engagement dress… yay!!!

Engagement shoes… biggest yay!!!

Dates/halls/photog/video/band all booked for both parties

Engagement invitations made and mailed out

Currently on my to-do list for the upcoming party:

1. Print out pictures for the picture frames

2. Food tasting

3. Create menu cards

4. Create place cards

5. Show up at the party (just kidding)

I guess when looking at it written down it seems as if I have accomplished a lot, thus far, however it doesn’t make this process any less stressful! On the bright side, I can say that I am in love with my invites – which my bridal elves aka my sister- in-laws, my moh and I put together. They turned out absolutely perfect to match my theme of ‘enchanted forest!’  Since my party is in November and after Thanksgiving, I wanted to stick to a fall theme with lots of rustic colors. Overall, I think – and hope- it will turnout to be very romantic, elegant and charming Pictures of everything will be posted after the party of course…

Okay, back to reality now.  I’m proud to say that I have worked-out a total of five times since last week! My fiance and I joined lifetime fitness so we can motivate each other on the weekends.  I.love.lifetime. On Sunday, I ran my first two miles since maybe March and it felt damn good… until Monday came around and I couldn’t walk.  My pace was terrible, but that’s not what matters. That’s the thing about working out, once you stop you don’t start where you left off, you start back at square one. It’s the price you have to pay for quitting!

Proof:

Monday I took a ‘salsa funk’ class for an hour and yesterday I took a basic yoga class which I absolutely loved!  The room was heated to about 75 degrees, so it wasn’t hot, but it was definitely warm.  Our instructor took us through various basic poses at-your-own pace and by the end of it I was totally relaxed! Yoga isn’t a vigorous workout, but I did feel my muscles burning during some poses. It’s not an easy practice, but it’s totally worth it and you will feel completely rejuvenated afterward. Simply put – I slept like a baby last night

PS: Tone it Up girls have come out with an iPhone app and it’s awesome! They give you daily challenges, recipes, all their blog posts are available and there is also a section for their ‘community’ which is like facebook for TIU peeps.  I highly suggest you download it!

I’ve cited tone it up plenty of times, but I want to point out that I stumbled across these fabulous ladies during last year’s “Bikini Series.” Their ‘Bikini Series” is an 8 week challenge where they post (on their blog) and email you (if you sign up for their newsletter) a new workout challenge daily – and challenging they are!

Here is a short video on this year’s series:

http://toneitup.com/blog.php?It-HERE-Your-2nd-Annual-Bikini-Series-5460

And here’s a good article about how to approach the 8 weeks (what to eat, what to avoid):

http://toneitup.com/blog.php?A-Must-Read-Bikini-Series-5466

It started last week I believe, but I finally got around to their first workout challenge last night. Below is a link to their first challenge, which is their original workout for their collaboration with SELF Magazine’s Drop 10.

http://toneitup.com/blog.php?Wild-On-Wednesday—Your-Drop10Challenge-Toning-Workout-5436

It consists of  8 full body toning moves – 2 to 3 sets of 12-15 reps.  I completed 2 sets of 12 reps with 5lb dumbbells. During the workout I wore my new heart rate monitor watch (Polar FT60) to track my heart rate and calories. Two circuits took me 20 minutes of which I burned 140 calories – not too shabby considering there wasn’t much cardio involved and let me tell you, I’m certainly feeling it today. My heart rate was between zone 2 -3. It even got as high as 170 on some of the moves! I ended my workout with 40 minutes of interval hills on the elliptical. All-in-all I’d say it was a great Monday workout!

Partly why I love their workouts is because you can do them anywhere (you don’t need to be at the gym) and most of them, even three times through, take no more than 30 minutes. So, in 20-30 minutes you have completed a full body toning workout and if you’re like me – a cardio addict- these are exactly the types of workouts you need! Best of all, they have all of their videos in printable format! Being the type A person that I am, I printed them all out and put them in a small binder – which I have actually taken on vacation with me

Here is today’s challenge if you want to catch up…

http://toneitup.com/blog.php?Tone-It-Up-and-Livestrong-WOMAN-team-up-to-bring-you-this-week-s-Tone-It-Up-Tuesday-5469

Enjoy and Good Luck!!

March is basically over – already! To be honest, I usually hate the month of March. Especially now that I no longer have spring break vacations to look forward to. However, this year March was utterly fantastic! From my calendar that’ s full of bright scratch-and-sniff stickers, to my third degree sunburns, and to an 8 hour road trip.  All I can say is this year just keeps getting better and better

Let’s start with my vivid (and blurry) calendar…

X marks my rest days. Yes, those are strawberry and lollipop scratch-and-sniff stickers! In hindsight, not such a good idea for controlling a massive and uncontrollable sweet tooth, but cute nonetheless My workouts became far less intense toward the end of the month. In fact, this week I decided to take a ‘workout hiatus’ and stuck to basic walking and impeccable eating.

Fortunately, for us Chicagoans, this month’s spectacular weather (I’m talking 80′s and Sunny) allowed for outdoor exercising!  My outdoor running sessions were also providing me with free tanning sessions. God, I love efficiency! Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures to show you my battle wounds and you probably won’t believe me with the pictures I will soon post – I still look like Casper the friendly ghost. Okay, honestly what is it with my unintentional rhyming?!  Whatever, I like it.

Road Trip 2012. Effie and Danny’s Bridal Shower. Destination: Toronto, Canada.

Total miles: 1042 (round trip)

Total hours: 16 (round trip)

Total number of pit stops: 3 ( 2 going and 1 coming. It’s unfortunate that exercise has no effect on bladder control. The captain of my ship had me on a tight leash. Death sentence).

We left right around 4 pm and got there around 1 am on Saturday. My first stop was obviously for coffee at none other than the infamous Tim Hortons!

I got a regular cup of Joe with cream and it was divine! So divine, that on the way back to Chicago I stopped and got a big tin of it and am now thoroughly enjoying a cup of Canada every morning My boyfriend and I did a car tour through the city because the weather was just not permitting anything else. Later that night we enjoyed a ‘big fat Greek wedding’ style dinner at a local Greek restaurant. I had fish and greens with lemon – delicious! We then ventured off into a fun little lounge where we rocked out to jams from 1990-2002. Rocked-my-world!

Now, onto the main event.  Bridal Shower Part 1:

The beautiful couple of the hour…

Followed by the beautiful bridal party/family…

And last, but not least, the very beautiful best friends… for life.

I’m sure you’re sick of hearing the word beautiful, unfortunately, there’s nothing I can do about that.

And of course the… beautiful… and delectable cake and cake pops..

This pretty much sums up their relationship, in case you were wondering..

All-in-all, March began and ended… beautifully

My sincere aplogies for neglecting my blog, however I did not neglect my workouts – I know you all were worried

Alright, starting with Week 3/5-3/11

• Monday 3/5: No more trouble zones + 15 min HIIT sprints
• Tuesday 3/6: Morning 30 min interval run (2.5) miles + Extreme Shed n Shred (PM)
• Wednesday 3/7: I did the interval workout shown on Peanut Butter Finger’s blog – so hard! 2.55 miles
• Thursday 3/8: Morning 30 minutes run/walk + Ripped in 30 Level 2
• Friday 3/9: Morning 25 minute interval walk
• Saturday 3/10: Yoga Melt Down Level 2
• Sunday 3/11: 4 mile walk through the city

Week 3/12-3/18

Monday 3/12: Rest day

Tuesdsay 3/13: 3.5 mile run outside to my cousin Stella’s house. It was pretty brutal, but so amazing at the same time – if that makes sense.

Wednesday 3/14: I met with a trainer who put me through bootcamp hell. An hour of cardio blocking, strength, plyometrics, yoga and boxing. Death.

Thursday 3/15: The weather was gorgeous so I decided to run to my aunts house (I don’t know what’s up with that lately) I stopped for a nice cold drink of water and ran back home. Covered 3.5 miles.

Friday 3/16: Rest day

Saturday 3/17: I was in the city so I walked to meet my friends Effie and Dina (1 mile) we hung out at the park and then walked back. I also walked again later that night so it was around 3 miles of walking.

Sunday 3/18: Today was the motherload of walking. My cousin is here from Greece so we gave him a little tour of the city and covered 7.5 miles. We were walking for 4 hours straight and I have the sunburns to prove it (no, I didn’t wear spf because I really wanted to soak up as much vitamin D as possible)

All in all, I got a variety of low and high intensity cardio this week, which is fantastic for fat burning and - in my case - skin burning

Rise and shine my little fitness bugs! The sun is shining and ready for you to take on today’s challenges I felt pretty shitty for not getting up to do my morning run yesterday, but I made up for it by completing ‘No more trouble zones’ and 15 min of HIIT sprints – told ya I’d get my run in! I keep my promises

Speaking of promises, I also promised to do a little product review of Jillian’s DVD and that’s exactly what I’m going to do for you today!

Jillian Michaels ‘NO MORE TROUBLE ZONES’:

This workout is approximately 50 minutes, including warm-up and cool-down.  It’s composed of seven 6-minute circuits that I promise will leave you shaking – in a good way! Each circuit has 5 exercises – targeting specific muscle groups- which are repeated twice. You can choose to do the entire 40 minute circuit or pick which circuits (trouble zone areas) you want to work on! It’s pretty fast paced, but not as faced paced as her 30-day shred or Ripped in 30. She uses the same technique of working with more than one muscle group at a time (ex: squats with shoulder raises) to keep your heart rate up in order to maximize your calories burned. The amount of weights are dependent on your comfort level, but since you’re doing many reps it’s best to keep it light. I switch between 3lb – 5lb depending on the moves.

Warmup: Basic marching in place, jumping rope (no rope needed), arm circles, skaters and jumping jacks. Then you repeat the entire sequence for a complete five minutes.

Circuit #1- Shoulder & Legs
- Squat with Shoulder Press
- Backwards Lunge with Side Shoulder Raise (repeat on other leg – shoulders are on fire)
- Chair Squat with Front Shoulder Raise
- Front Shoulder PressOuts

Circuit #2- Chest & Abs
- Chest Press with a Crunch (lay on your back, when you come up for crunch you also do a chest press)
- Chest Fly with Double Leg Raise
- Bicycle Crunches
- Squirms (lying down with knees bent, lift head and shoulder blades off the ground and alternate bending to the side and tapping your heels).
- PushUps

Circuit #3- Biceps & Butt
- Deadlift with Hammer Curl
- Static Squat with Concentration Curl
- Front Lunge with Wide Grip Curl (repeat on other leg)
- Side Lunge with Biceps Curl

Circuit #4- Thighs & Triceps
- Chair Pose with Triceps Kickback
- Sumo Squat with Overhead Triceps Press
- Surrender (step back and down to kneeling position then stand up again)
- Forward Lunge with Triceps Pushback (repeat on other leg)

Circuit #5- Core
- Double Crunches
- Twisting Plank
- Plank with ToeTaps (repeat with other leg)
- Windshield Wipers (lying down lift both legs and move from side-to-side)

Circuit #6- Upper Body & Core
- Plank with Back Rows
- Superman
- Scissor Kicks
- Pelvic Thrusts (repeat on other leg)

Circuit #7- Lower Body & Core (body weight mat exercises – my fave)
- Side Plank w/ oblique raises
- Side Lying Leg Raise
- Inner Thigh Raise
- Donkey Kicks
- Fire Hydrant with Kick

Done! Now cool down.

This is probably my favorite of all her videos – they’re all fantastic! I highly recommend this workout for anyone who doesn’t like to do weights at the gym. The circuit style workout makes it go by fairly quickly, keeps you from getting bored and keeps your heart rate pretty high! It is longer than her other videos, however you don’t have to do them all in one day. If you don’t have the time I suggest doing the first 3 circuits on Mondays and Wednesdays and the last 4 on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Today’s morning interval run:

Increased my mileage by another .10 woo hoo!

Interval Run:

Warm-up 2 minutes @ 3.5

Repeat this interval below 7x for 28 minutes:

• Jog 2 minutes @ 5.5
• Run 1 minute @ 7.0
• Walk 1 minute @ 3.5

Cool-down 2 minutes @ 3.0

Here’s another awesome looking shredmill workout posted on PBF’s blog:

I love switching up my interval runs because it keeps things from getting boring on the shredmill! I like that you can make this a short run or a long run, too!

Moving on to my favorite subject, food!! I have a few product reviews in this area too

First: Please forgive the poor quality photo, it was taken in a fast moving vehicle.

Nutrition Facts:

This is super easy to make. It literally takes 15-18 minutes tops! You boil 1.5 cups of water, pour in the quinoa, bring down to a simmer and cover for 15-18 minutes. Bam! The nutrition facts are pretty awesome, too. A whopping 6 grams of protein per serving (1/4C dry yields approximately 3/4C cooked) which is enough to fill you up! However, if you’re not a fan of bold flavors I suggest either sticking to plain quinoa and spicing it yourself or using half of this packet and half of plain quinoa to balance it out.

My lunch for the week: Quinoa w/roasted veggies and a lean protein of choice (not pictured)

And my new love:

My life has forever changed. Okay, I’m off to make my mid-morning snack because I’m hungry looking at this picture.  Two slices Ezekiel toast w/ almond butter and 2 egg whites coming right up Ciao!

Happy motivation Monday, peeps! In the workout department I did pretty good again last week, however not so much in the food department from Friday – Sunday.  That’s why we call this a work in progress

Workout Recap Week 2/27- 3/4:

Monday 2/27: Woke up for my morning wake-up call and did 30 minutes HIIT run on the treadmill (2.18 miles) After work I completed Jillian’s Ripped in 30 level 2!

Tuesday 2/28: Morning HIIT run for 2.19 miles.  Afternoon workout was Jillian’s Yoga Melt Down level 1.

Wednesday 2/29: Morning HIIT run for 2.25 miles. Afternoon workout was Ripped in 30 level 2

Thursday 3/1: Morning HIIT run for 2.35 miles. Afternoon workout was Yoga melt down level 2.

Friday 3/2: Morning workout was a power walk for 25 min interval inclines – no afternoon workout.

Saturday 3/3: Jillian’s No More Trouble Zones

Sunday 3/4: Off day

Last week I had pretty much close to two off days, but I thoroughly enjoyed the rest My eating could have been much better, but when surrounded with yummy treats with the will power of zero, it’s nearly impossible for me to not cheat!!! Anyway, it’s Monday and a fresh new week – also, the first full week of March! So, let’s make this month #theperfectmarch I didn’t get up for my morning cardio so I’ll have to add 20 minutes after my Jillian workout. I promise I will!!!

You want these???

Then start doing some of this..

And this…

…

Just kidding. You can’t have pie later, sorry Happy First week of #theperfectmarch!!!

Good Morning!!!!!! Incredible how a little bit of warmth and sunshine can immensely improve your mood and energy! I purposely didn’t wear any spf today so I could soak up as much vitamin D as possible. My car said it was 58° – and I believe her! I came to work in leggings, a tee, a cardigan, a scarf and flats.  Oh, and lets not forget celebrity size sunglasses and a delectable cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee – black. How can you not be in a great mood after a combination platter of awesome?!

I wasn’t feeling this way at 7 am when I woke up, though. In fact, I thought I would only do a light walk to wake me up, but I busted out a 20 minute interval workout with 5 minutes warm-up and cool down instead. I’m just full of surprises aren’t I?

Today’s morning workout went like this:

5 minute warm-up light jog @4.5

Intervals: (5 reps to total 20 minutes)

• 1 minute walk @ 3.2
• 2 minute jog @ 5.0
• 1 minute run @ 6.0-7.0 (increased at each rep)

Cool-down walk @3.7 Incline @5.0

Disregard the calories – machines always overestimate. Liars. Yay, I covered 2.25 miles today! Last night I completed Jillian’s Yoga Melt Down – level 1. PS: I found out her birthday was February 18th.  Some amazing people are born in February – I didn’t lie to you Anyway, I’m pretty much in LOVE with this workout! I absolutely love that it’s all body strength and that she adds repetitions to the poses and holds the pose for 15 seconds after for that extra burn. I crave the burn! Correction for artistic flow recognition purposes: I yearn for the burn! Another plus to this workout is that you’re toning up and gaining flexibility at the same time. I can’t wait to try level 2 and let you know how that one goes! Oh, and if you don’t believe you can get a workout through yoga you’re wrong. The number of plank variations in this video is tremendous. My arms, back, chest and hidden abs are sore. The end.

Okay so for a little bit of this and a little bit of that, I have a few food pics of my recent eats for you.

Shrimp sauteed in EVOO, garlic, onion, salt, pepper and oregano with roasted asparagus. Nom nom!

Below we have a plate with lots of mixed veggie salad (Italian mix dressing) some pork tenderloin and that blob you see is pine nut hummus (with a drizzle of hot sauce). Even more nom! 

Breakfast today was same as yesterday: Eggs and oats w/ blueberries.

February Finale:

See that right there?! (Ignore the xmas stickers) Yup, that’s a pretty dam good looking calendar if you ask me! 23 days of workouts. Only 6 rest days!!! Way to go fabs February!

I am positive that March will be even better! If you didn’t do so hot in February remember this:

Quote of the Day:

Happy Humps!

As promised, I will provide you with my full review of Jillian Michaels Ripped in 30 (week 2) review.  Two words: Holy shit.  She really raised the bar in this level.  I thought I was flying high and super fit doing week 1 – the joke was on me!!! I probably cursed at her 10 times. Like, “is she f’n serious right now?!” and keep in mind I performed the ‘modified easy version’. This workout left me with three gifts; sweat, pulled hamstring and pulled adductor.  Awesome. Anyway, besides coming close to the true feeling of torture, I must say that this is a worthwhile challenging workout. In fact, I’m motivated to kick it’s ass, just not exactly in 5 days.

Here is the format of week 2: 

Circuit 1:

Crescent pose with rows
Pendulum lunges with serving biceps
Chest press with pelvic thrust (great move for the booty, ladies)

Cardio – Plank Jacks (love these, just not for 30 seconds straight!)
Mountain Climbers (can’t stand these. 30 seconds of this and then back to plank jacks = hr through the roof)
Abs – Crunch up arm to opp. leg (30 sec. each leg)

Circuit 2:

Side lunge with leg lift (this was just awkward)
Straight leg ab hold into table (I can’t even remember this move, sorry)
Crow Push ups (these were also awkward- round two I ended up doing regular push-ups)

Cardio – Jump Rope
Squat Thrusts (can’t stand these so I substituted with plank jacks)
Abs – Ab hold with extension (hard as hell)
Extend leg, crawl up leg

Circuit 3:

Sumo squats with tricep extensions (here is where I pulled my adductor, but awesome move and repeated in NMTZ!)
Stork stance with slow row (burning hamstrings)
Renegade rows (killer – these hurt my hands which annoys me)

Cardio – Jab Cross
High Knees
Abs – Sit ups with leg extensions
Crunches with leg raise

There you have it, folks. Torture brought to you in only 35 minutes! Luckily, my legs are feeling better after I ‘pushed through the pain’ this morning and busted out 25 minutes of HIIT sprints plus warm-up. I was really worried I wouldn’t be able to move today, but surprise surprise you always can do more than you think!

I woke up and did Jillian’s yoga melt down warm up for a good stretch. Then walked 5 minutes and from 5-30 I did intervals of sprints and walking! As expected, I was ravenous…

Breakfast: 2 eggs scrambled with 1/4C of oats, 1 tbs flax meal, cinnamon and 1/4C frozen blueberries 

Perfectly balanced breakfast! ( Protein: 30% Carbs: 30% Fats: 40%)

Push through!!!