Tuesday morning started with my strength workout where I managed to increase all my reps. As next week will see us moving in to March (thank god!) I’ll be changing up my routine again so that I keep challenging my body in new ways – tonight I signed up for Body Pump at my gym, finally I’m getting on the Body Pump wagon!
Breakfast was a fab smoothie in a bowl containing kale, frozen cherries, soy milk, chocolate sun warrior protein powder, maca powder, spirulina, ground flax, matcha green tea powder, xanthan gum and some water. I topped it with cacao nibs, coconut and pistachios:
As I had my check up at the docs at lunch time I worked from home in the afternoon. I had leftover Italian Leek and Bean Stew with rocket:
followed by three plums:
A little later I did an hour of Yogalates followed by one of the new Total Greek yoghurt split pots as a snack:
This was the tropical fruit variety. It was lovely, although I found the fruity bit rather too sweet for me. Still pretty tasty though!
Dinner was 2 baked mushrooms stuffed with one of my Beetroot and Lentil burgers, swede chips, steamed spring greens and red cabbage with shoyu and tomato ketchup:
I truly love swede chips more than regular chips!
Dessert was two chopped apples with raw brazil cacao bliss for dipping:
This morning I had a bowl of 10 grain hot cereal made with chia seeds, water and coconut milk with cranberries, apple and almond butter plus an additional drizzle of coconut milk on top. I also made myself a carrot, beet, cucumber and ginger juice:
Such a pretty bowl of yumminess!
Lunch was some of my veggie chilli with wild rocket and blue corn chips:
I’m in love with those blue corn chips, they are perfect with the chilli! I also had an orange and a kiwi:
Mid afternoon I snacked on an almond and raisin cookie before the gym:
I did my usual 30 minute speed work run on the treadmill followed by 30 minutes of HIITs on the cross trainer, step machine and bike. I also did my abs and core exercises. My workout was a total sweat fest tonight, recently the gym has been really cold and I’ve had to work out wearing my long sleeve top. Tonight it was actually warm for a change so I enjoyed getting my sweat on!
Dinner was some teriyaki baked tofu with stir fried carrot, courgette, red cabbage and spring greens plus some mung bean noodles, ginger, shoyu and gomasio:
This tofu was super tasty. Yesterday I pressed then marinated some plain tofu in a teriyaki sauce and baked in a hot oven then left to cool. Today I just sliced it up and added to the stir fry. I think this would work really well in salads too.
Dessert was a pear and some dark cherry RAW chocolate and some plain dark chocolate from The Raw Chocolate Company:
Honestly, that chocolate from The Raw Chocolate Company is utterly divine!
I was so glad that I was able to have a good sweaty workout earlier, I often don’t feel like I’ve had a good workout unless I work up a good sweat. I know that some women don’t like to get sweaty, my gym has several giant fans to keep people cool – but they just leave me freezing cold! Do you like to get your sweat on?
I’m also so excited for trying out Body Pump! I know a lot of you guys are big fans, got any tips for me ready for my first class? What should I expect?
{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }
AHH so so jealous you get to do Body Pump!! i hope you like it.. ive nver done it before! let us know all about it!!
Body Pump sounds great, I hope you enjoy it :)
This is probably a stupid question but how do you make the swede chips? Do you put on oil or just cook them as they are? Sorry if you’ve posted the recipe before.
Oh, and thanks so much for posting the course you’re doing. They have some really great courses available at decent prices so I might be joining up too!
Those blue corn chips look so yummy.
I used to love corn chips back in my pre-healthy eating days!
I’m the same with working out, I don’t feel like I’ve really tried hard enough unless I’m really sweaty by the end! x
Never tried Body Pump though have been tempted to D/L a workout just to see what all the fuss is about but I suppose it really is something that needs to be done in a class!
I’ve just been waxing lyrical about beet on a post – it’s my new favourite veg right now ;)
read your other posts but didn’t get a chance to comment so I might as well just say it here – think it’s just fantastic that you are doing that course. Your passion for good food and nutrition just shines through in every post so good for you following through on something you feel so passionate about.
BTW re tofu, not sure if you know about this, but if you freeze tofu, then defrost it and press it before marinading it changes the texture a bit. I tend to bake up a batch of tofu every week now, it’s handy for making up lunches and just snacky snacky picky picky! Bit of forward planning required with the freezing etc but it gives a nice result. I tend to squeeze the bejaysus out of the tofu as well to speed up the pressing process but egads the MESS! It’s only me eating it though so no biggie ;P
can i just say i love your blog! im REALLY going to try and attempt some of your fab recipes! ps. body pump: expect to sweat!!!!!! lots!
With those yoghurts I always like to dio my spoon into the fruit then the yoghurt then you don’t hve to use as much fruit if it’s too sweet!
I totally know what you mean about getting sweaty. The air-con is always on full blast at the gym and I always leave looking as if I’ve not worked out when I’ve really been going for it. I like some evidence of my workouts :)
I’d love to try BodyPump, but they don’t do it at my gym :( My gym is good in lots of other ways, so I don’t really want to swap just so I can do it.
Expect to feel the burn! Love that class though it rocks! x x
I’m afraid I’m one of those wusses that hates sweating ~ not for prissy reasons, but because my skin reacts to badly to sweat (eczema=no fun). I do love the super-charged endorphin high of a good, tough workout though. Never mentioned it before but about seven years ago (lordy I feel old now!) I was a member at the gym you’re at now and it never seemed very warm in there either. But then again, I always used to hog the stepmill right next to the fan ;)
So happy you’re taking Body Pump: I’m sure you won’t be disappointed. The classes are pretty standard and I’m sure the instructor will point you in the right direction. The coreography is really simple though so I’m sure you won’t go wrong. The only thing I would say is not to life to your full capacity on squats and lunges because it’s generally too much leg strain for distance runners. I lift a good 5kg lighter than I’m capable of in the squat track because I kept injuring my hamstring when I pushed it to the max. I tend to just beast my arms instead! And careful not to lean back in the clean and press (back track), but that only tends to happen with going too heavy again. Just focus on technique first and then up the weights gradually, and you’ll be fine!
I couldn’t get to grips with swede fries myself: they seemed a bit ‘peppery’ for me…but then again, rocket is about the only vegetable I don’t like so that could explain it.
I love your colourful breakfast today! Gorgeous sunset shades :) And if you did feel like sharing some photos of your art, I would love to see it.
*hugs*
xxx
Ooh you will have to tell us what BodyPump is like..they do it at my gym but I’m too scared to try it! I actually hate getting sweaty at the gym although I know it means a good workout but I just feel disgusting! I always take a little flannel and I’m constantly trying to wipe off the sweat lol!
I agree with Jess about swede – they’re too peppery for me and it’s probably because rocket is the only vegetable I don’t like either! What a coincidence!
I think I may have to have your italian leek and bean stew tomorrow, it looks so good!
I’ve never done bodypump, so I can’t comment from personal experience, but from everything I’ve read you’ll definitely get a sweat on with that! And I totally agree with you about that btw — I don’t know whether it’s psychological, but I definitely feel like I’m getting the crap out of my system when I have a really good sweaty workout!
I’m looking to try body pump at some point. It looks like so much fun and an intense workout. so far the classes have been on at strange times, but I’m prepared to rearrange my schedule to give it a try. I can’t wait to see what you make of it!
Body pump is really good but you will ache the next day. Hopefully as you are a lot fitter than I was when I first went you won’t hate stairs for the next 3 days!
My tip for it though is to go with what you feel you can manage for the weights not what everyone else does. If there were enough I used to get 2 sets of hand weights so I could switch if one was too much or not enough weight for what we were doing.
I just took my second Body Pump class on Monday :) I actually enjoyed it! I usually hate lifting weights, but it’s a really good way to stay motivated. Have fun!
Yay for body pump!
All I would say is- get there early as you have to get out a lot of equipment (eg step, bar, weights, mat etc) and also- go light on the weights. You need to get your form right and get the hang of the movements before you add weight on. There was a newbie the other week and every track she loaded up, me and a few others said (gently) to her that she might like to select a lighter weight, but she did not, and would stop about a minute in. This was repeated through the whole class. The bar might feel light at the start of a track, but by the time you have been doing it for 5 minutes it will feel very heavy indeed! The instructor will tell you which weights to have for each track, so don’t stress about it.
And enjoy it :)
The not sweating thing bugs me too – somehow I just don’t feel truely accomplished unless I leave the gym red, hot and sweaty! Attractive, it is not! I’ve actually found that the fitter I’ve become, the harder it is to work up a sweat. Back in the day I’d be dripping with sweat after 10mins but it takes a lot more than that these days.
Oh and delicious, drool-enducing food pics as always. Your foody pics/recipes are my favourite :)
I *love* to get my sweat on! I’m in Germany, where people seem to just go through the motions at the gym, rather than pushing themselves. I get plenty of looks when I step off the treadmill or x-trainer dripping in sweat. Of course, I make sure to spray down my machine after use ;)
As for PUMP – you will love it. Back home in Aus it was my FAVOURITE class, and I really miss it now. It’s such a great, total body work-out. And as others have said, prepare to sweat.
Enjoy!
Carrie – I certainly will!
Scarlett – to make the swede chips I just peel and chop the swede into chip shapes, pop them in a roasting tray and spray some oil on them and perhaps some salt or herbamare seasoning then roast them in a hot oven – they don’t go really crispy but will brown round the edges and soften up. I love them!
Lily – I like the blue corn chips as they are organic and have a very simple ingredients list so not too unhealthy in my book! They do have a few calories so I don’t tuck into too much but they are very tasty!
Deise girl – I have some frozen tofu at the moment! Going to try it next week I heard it goes almost bread like!
Adele – so glad you like the blog! I think I’m gonna love BP!
Laura – good idea, I may try that :-)
Sarah – me too, I hate not being able to feel worked out!
Tam – thats just what I want, sounds like I’m going to enjoy it!
Jess – I think its think its that building, not the best for retaining any heat! Thanks for the tips on the class I’ll watch the legs. Its strange but I’ve never thought of swede as peppery! I do love it and rocket tho!
Nicky – so interesting that you don’t like rocket either, I would never have linked swede and rocket taste wise but now I can see it. I do hope you like the stew, the olives are what make it and adding basil really ups the flavour too.
Alison – I thought you might agree about the sweat fest!
Jemma – yes, I can only make this class now that I’m not doing the yoga and it fits in with my schedule nicely – I can’t wait!
Angela – thanks for those great tips – will report back on how it goes!
Kate – thanks, it sounds great!
Maria – thanks for those great tips!
Bronagh – I completely agree, and so glad you enjoy the foodie pics!
Fifi – Yes, thats a good point! I do spray the machine down afterwards, nothing worse than someone elses sweat! So glad you think I’ll like the BP!
I don’t mind getting sweaty but I HATE overheating when I workout! It just makes me exhausted and draggy.
So many super foods going on here! Love it! I need to try those beetroot/lentil burgers!
wow! swede chips that’s original Laura, I might try that soon(thanks Laura:)!
Your swede chips look amazing, I’m glad someone else asked for how to do it because I was just about to. And yet again, another delicious looking SIAB! So jealous!!
Hope your KT Tunstell was good last night, I’m so jealous you got to see her!