Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree

Just thought I would let you know that this post has absolutely nothing to do with working out (unless you count hanging oranaments on a tree as a workout…..)  We have officially finished decorating our house for Christmas!!  I absolutely love decorating for the holidays since it is my favorite time of the year.  I love the weather (even if I feel like my toes will fall off) and everyone just seems happier!  Of course the snow is beautiful and I love being able to wear 4876 different layers of clothes anywhere I go.  Sitting in front of the fire drinking hot chocolate while watching Christmas movies is the way to go during this holiday season.  I adore all Christmas movies, especially Holiday in Handcuffs!  So funny.

This is the Christmas tree in our basement. My sister and I just finished decorating it this evening!

The entry way into our house. Garland on the railings!

This is the main tree which is in our living room. The whole fam decorated this one together earlier this week!

What is your favorite part about the holiday season?  Oh, this also reminds me how I crave Starbucks about 10 times more in the Winter than I do any other time of the year.  I think it’s because of those skinny peppermint mochas.  Yum.

 

 

Zombie on the Treadmill…

Hey everyone!!

So today was just one of those days where I was super tired.  Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve only been getting 4-5 hours of a sleep a night?  Yikes, that’s hardly anything.  I have no idea how I am functioning!  Even though I was in no mood to hit up the gym I forced myself to knowing that I would later regret not going.  I managed to work up a ton of sweat while warming up on the treadmill even though I was half asleep.

Warm Up

Started by walking on treadmill for 5 minutes (5.0 incline, 4.0 mph)

Ran 5 minutes (6.5 mph) then walked 5 minutes (5.0 incline, 4.0 mph) and repeated that twice.

Then I did one round of the incline walking workout which I posted about here!

Overall I would say it was a good warm up.  It was about 3 miles or so and I burned around 350 calories.

Weights

The usual… (Hip Abductor, Hip Adductor, Seated Dip, Pull Ups, Dips)

I just added Seated Triceps (2 sets of 15 at 40 lbs) to my workout.  This exercise strengthens and tones the triceps and related muscle groups.

It was a short workout because I had to get home in time to watch my sister since my mom was going out, but hey it’s better than nothing!

Well, I’m gonna peace out!  I have homework and Sons of Anarchy calling my name at 10pm!

Katelyn

I should be an Iron Chef!

SNOW!!!!!  There is finally snow where I live and it’s sticking!  It’s super pretty and I love it….except the fact that I have to leave 15 minutes earlier for school tomorrow because of it (at 6:15 instead of 6:30ish -___-)

First things first, I watched my recording of Next Iron Chef today and wanted to cry.  SPOILER ALERT.  I can’t believe Chef Burrell went home!!  She was one of my favorites (along with Chef Guarnaschelli)  I think Chef Zakarian is way too overconfident.  He can hit the road any day now please.

OH! And despite it being Monday, today was a great day!  Why you ask?  Because I went to Starbucks before school and got a Skinny Peppermint Mocha!!!!!  Can you say Christmas in a cup?!?!?  It took me awhile to drink and once I got to the end of it I kinda felt like I was drinking toothpaste, but it was worth it!  Coffee and minty breath, what more could a girl ask for?

Workout

Warm Up

Today I was in no mood to run on the treadmill so I did an incline walking workout that I heard of from Julie’s blog (aka Peanut Butter Fingers)  Here’s how it goes….

0-1 Mins          4.3 mph          2 incline

1-2 Mins           4.3 mph          4 incline

2-3 Mins          4.3 mph          6 incline

3-4 Mins          4.3 mph          8 incline

4-5 Mins          4.3 mph          10 incline

6-7 Mins          4 mph             12 incline

7-8 Mins          4 mph              9 incline

8-10 Mins        4 mph             7 incline

I did this workout 3 times plus a 5 minute warm up and cool down going 4.0 mph at 5.0 incline

Weights

Again, not much different from usual except I only did 3 sets of a few things rather than 4.

Hip Abductors 3 sets of 15 at 90 lbs

Hip Adductors 3 sets of 20 at 100 lbs

Seated Dips 3 sets of 15 at 60 lbs

Leg Lifts 2 sets of 20 at Bodyweight

Abbench 3 sets of 40 on each side (back, right, and left)

Calf Raises 2 sets of 10 on each leg at 20 lbs

Food

Today I tried out a recipe from one of my “Healthy and Under 300 Calories” cookbook and it was amazing!  It’s called Tortellini with Garden Vegetables.

This recipe called for 9 oz of cheese tortellini, 4 oz of broccoli (or veggie of your choice), 1/4 cup of green onion, 1.5 tsps of olive oil or vegetable oil, 1 tbsp of grated parmesan, cherry tomatoes (yuck!  I don’t like these so of course they were taken out of the meal!!), and salt&pepper.   It was delicious and easy to make!  All you had to was cook the tortellini as instructed on the package, add the broccoli to the tortellini 2 minutes before the tortellini is finished cooking and drain it.  Then you added the rest of the ingredients to it.  It seriously took like 15 seconds….jk more like 15 minutes, but you get the idea of how fast and easy it was to make! I know for a fact I will be making this sometime soon!!

Finished product!!

Well, I’m going to get going to sleep now.  Merry December!!

Katelyn

It’s Naturally Delicious!

Let me start this post of by saying how JEALOUS I am of all the runners who got to run in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon today!!  I only dream of being able to do that when I’m older..I’m already training (eh, somewhat….)

I woke up this morning not in the mood to work out.  I tried convincing myself to “take Sunday off” but before I could do that my bff motivated me to go!  I’m glad she did because I felt 3985723 more better after I worked out!  It’s great to have someone to motivate you, you should totes try it!

Workout

Warm up

I started out this workout a tad bit different than one of my usual trips to the gym.  Rather than doing my usual walk/run combo I warmed up walking for 5 minutes (5.0 incline at 4.0 mph) and ran for about 20 minutes (6.5 mph) and then cooled down by walking for 5 more minutes (same as above)  It was quite a workout since I’m not that great of a runner, but it set a good tone for the rest of my workout!

Weights

Kept it basic this morning, just switched it up a tad from usual…

Hip Abductor (4 sets of 15 at 90 lbs)

Hip Adductor (4 sets of 20 at 100 lbs)

Seated Dip (4 sets of 15 at 60 lbs)—Gotta get muscles!!!  Or at least have some toned arms since I’m going to Puerto Rico this Spring!

Back Machine [Don’t know the name of this, machine said low back 313 whatever that means.  But it is where you have your feet up and then you extend your back.  It strengthens and tones lower back muscles.]  (3 sets of 25 at 160 lbs)

Leg Lifts (3 sets of 20 at bodyweight)

Abbench (3 sets of 40 on each [back, right side, and left side])

And that concludes my workout for the day!

Grocery Shopping!

So recently my favorite aisle of the grocery store has been the healthy, natural, organic food aisle.  So today when I went to the store, I naturally found myself pulled to that section.  I picked up some Bear Naked granola, Kashi Whole Grain Blueberry Waffles, Organic Mac and Cheese (obsession of the moment, even though I’ve only had it twice…), Natural Peanut Butter, Fruit Leathers (DELICIOUS!!), vanilla lite yogurt, Stevia, and a few other things that I can’t remember off the top of my head.  Unfortunately, healthy food is kinda sorta expensive…not looking forward to mom seeing the receipt -____- But boy am I excited for breakfast, lunch, and dinner tomorrow!  I’ve never tried the Kashi Waffles but the ranked a B+ on my fooducate app for my phone so they must be good and healthy!

Stack of yogurts we bought!

Well, I’m off to bed.  School tomorrow and a starbucks trip calling my name!

Katelyn

Merry December!

Merry December everyone!! 

I can’t believe it’s already December!  This year has gone by crazy fast, but it’s been an amazing year filled with great memories with my friends and family and believe it or not, at school too.  If I could, I would re-live this year over and over for the rest of my life, that’s for sure, anyone else feel this way?

Nothing really exciting work out-wise has happened to me over the past few days.  Thursday I went to the gym and completed a similar workout to the one I last blogged about (I think it was my first post..?)  The only change I made was doing 3 sets of 20 at 100 lbs on the hib adductor.

On Friday I stayed after school for Zumba Club.  Isn’t that the best club you’ve ever heard of?!  Yeah, that’s what I thought.  And it’s 19453 times more fun when you’re with your friends and two of your favorite teachers are dancing too!  The teacher who runs the club also teaches at a gym so it’s pretty legit.  We warmed up basic Zumba style and then transitioned into a salsa dance.  Lets just say I’m no dancer.

Today I went to the gym for about an hour.  I couldn’t stay as long as I would have liked to, but I’ll make up for that tomorrow.  I started on the treadmill for 25 minutes doing the running/walking combo.  Then I moved on to the Hip Abductor (3 sets of 15 at  90 lbs) and the Hip Adductor (3 sets of 20 at 100 lbs) Afterwards I made my way over to the pull up and dips machine and did 2 sets of 10 for each one.  Then I had to get going, I only had about 20 minutes to shower and get ready before I had to leave to work on a history project at a coffee shop with some friends.

There was a $2 drink special going on today that I sadly missed out on:(  Got to save that money for Puerto Rico! (….or clothes….) On the bright side, my mom went to Starbucks the other day and with her receipt I took a survey so now I get a free tall drink of my choice.  Can you say skinny peppermint mocha?  I know I can.  (They’re my weakness ever since my bff introduced them to me!)

Hope you all are having a great weekend/December!

Katelyn