two-a-days.

and i am not talking about workouts.

i woke up bright and early with a smile on my face dreading the day ahead of me.  a short 4.5 hours of sleep will do that to a girl.  i really need to learn to NOT stay up on sunday nights.  maybe i will learn my lesson by next monday?  we shall see.

meal 1: eggbeaters + oatmeal @ 8:00 AM

as most of you know, i have to eat at the original pancake house every monday morning.  i have been eating eggbeaters and oats for the whole month of january and the oatmeal has always been a tad on the bland side because their only mix-ins are brown sugar, skim milk and raisins.. eh, no thanks. this girl HATES raisins! SO~ today i was a genius and asked if they had any cinnamon…

voila!  a hugh jass bottle of cinnamon just for my oatmeal.  life just got so much better.

i also had my two beverages of choice: black coffee + ice water

this kept me full for a really long time, i think it is because their oatmeal portion is bigger than the portion i eat when i make it myself.  pretty sure it is 1/2 cup dry oats they use and that makes a lot more compared to the 1/3 cup dry oats i use.

speaking of 1/3 cup dry oats.. that is what was for lunch.  and also the reason for my title… two-(bowls)-a-(oatmeal)-days.

meal 2: 1 cup oikos + 1/3 cup oats + 1/2 scoop chocolate EAS protein powder + chocolate PB2 @ 12 noon

you GUYS.. i am officially addicted to greek yogurt messes made with hot, cooked oats!

i love the way the oats make the yogurt a little bit warm and the texture is a creamy, chewy, lovely mess in my mouth.

i will spare you showing you the meal in my mouth, but here it is all mixed up.

see? delish. and this packed 341 calories, 35g carbs, 41g protein & 4g fat. that is a carb/protein/fat ratio of 40/47/13~ not bad!

this kept me full for a real long time~ i didn’t have my snack until almost 5 o’clock!

meal 3: kind plus protein bar @ 4:45 PM

i usually don’t buy these because they don’t have a lot of bang for your buck, but they were on sale so i snagged one.  they are higher in fat but balanced in protein/carbs and that is what i aim for.  plus, the fat is good fat because it comes from the nut trifecta in the ingredients!

plus.. these bars are DELICIOUS, so it was a nice light snack before my workout.

today was a cardio+abs day and i had no motivation and also no plan which equals a horrible combo.  i literally forced myself to go to the gym today.  i was SO tired. but i knew it wasn’t my body that was tired because i had a rest day yesterday.. it was my mind. and it is all about mind over matter so i just did the damn thing.

i decided to make it up as i went.  usually i have some sort of plan before working out, but not today.  that brings up a good question jenn asked me the other day:

Q: “you may have explained this, but do you plan out your weight training exercises on a weekly basis? or daily? or do you just decide while you’re there? You just do so many interesting moves, I was curious where you get them all from! thanks!”

A: i plan the type of workout i am going to do weekly.  i work out six days a week.  three of those days i do 45 minutes of cardio + 15 minutes of abs (monday, wednesday & friday) and the other three days i do weight training with short bursts of cardio (sometimes).  i do one upper body day, one lower body day and one total body day.  as far as what the actual workout is going to be specifically, i don’t plan this out until right before i go to the gym.  if i see a cool new move i like, i will jot it down and remember to incorporate it into my workout. for my cardio routines, i will daydream about certain things that i think will keep me entertained for the boring 45 minutes (i hate cardio!!)~ SO, in short, no i don’t plan out my workouts in advance, i usually think them up right before the gym and then hope for the best! i also don’t write anything down.. luckily i have a good memory!

so~ with that said.. i totally went into the gym with NO game plan.  here is what i ended up doing:

• 15 minutes on stationary bike @ level 10 (3.59 miles)
• 30 minutes on treadmill:

total distance: 3.0 miles

• 16 minutes on stairmill:

• 15 minutes of abs:
  • 1 minute hanging reverse crunches with twist
  • 1 minute reverse decline crunches
  • 1 minute standing side crunches w/ 35# plate
  • 1 minute floor crunches
  • 1 minute left side plank
  • 1 minute right side plank
  • 1 minute ball pull ins
  • 1 minute plank
  • 1 minute legs-against-wall-reach to ceiling crunches
  • 1 minute oblique ball crunches (right)
  • 1 minute oblique ball crunches (left)
  • 1 minute toe touch crunches
  • 1 minute ball pass
  • 1 minute plate twists
  • 1 minute tuck crunches

the end! i burned around 460 calories. i can’t believe the energy i ended up mustering up. when i was driving to the gym i literally couldn’t even fathom working out.. and then by the end of my workout i was a hot mess and had TONS of energy. i love what a good workout can do for the body and the mind!

i came home and although oats with yogurt sounded good, my body was desperately craving some veggies!

meal 4: chicken fingers + cheetahs + roasted broccoli @ 7:30 PM

served with love.

for the coating on the chicken, i mixed these three key ingredients:

who needs bread crumbs when you have wheat germ and flax?  they seriously make a great tasting breading and they also have great stats!

here are the wheat germ stats:

4gs of protein for 2 TB? hell yes! way better than empty, nutrition-less bread crumbs!

and the flax stats:

nice way to sneak some healthy omega 3’s into my meal :)

i added some hidden valley ranch seasoning to the mixture for some pizzazz :)

i coated the chicken breast tenders in egg whites and then in the wheat germ/flax/ranch seasoning~

for the cheetahs.. i sliced them and salted them and baked them on the same pan as the chicken~

baked this at 450 degrees [f] for about a half hour, give or take.

mmmm.. delicious AND healthy! i dipped these in organic BBQ sauce.

chu chu cheetahs.. never let me down! served with annie’s ketchup!

for the broccoli, i sprayed it with cooking spray and sprinkled the remains of the ranch seasoning on the raw broccoli and then baked it alongside the potatoes and chicken. it was all ready at the same time. perfecto!

this was seriously one of the best dinners i have had in a long time.  i mean, the fact that it was served on a sparkly heart shaped plate may have had something to do with it.. but the flavor was pretty epic as well. i would take this meal over restaurant chicken fingers and fries ANY day of the week!

right now i am drinking this dude:

if you are a longtime meals & moves reader, you will remember the time i tried kombucha back in may.  i hated it. so bad.  i thought it was disgusting! BUT~ it is really good for you so lately i have been trying to give it another shot.  i have been sipping on my roomie’s kombuchas here and there and finally decided to buy my own today.  i think this flavor has grown on me.  the ingredient list probably had something to do with my ever-growing fondness for the beverage:

see that last ingredient? stellar.

WELL kids.. it is 9:17 and i am probably going to try my hand at a baking experiment. i will let you know how it goes in tomorrow’s post.

i will also probably have a hot chocolate protein smoothie before bed.. because they are amazing.. and if you haven’t made one~ GO, NOW, MAKE ONE!

speaking of smoothies.. check out amanda’s (from two boos who eat) smoothie ‘stache!

love it!!

and holly the healthy everythingtarian send me a sequence of ‘stache shots!

classic! oh and you should head over to her blog to win a blender! and then win the blender, make a smoothie, get a ‘stache, take a photo, send it to me!

everyone send me your smoothie ‘stache photos and i will throw them up :D so fun.

mmmk~ that’s all i’ve got in me tonight. tomorrow is a big day because i have a hair appointment after work which means i am going to attempt to work out in the morning. no promises, but we will see how i do. wish me luck.

i am really excited to eat oats and yogurt tomorrow.. i wonder if i will have oatmeal twice again?  hey, i didn’t start eating oatmeal until august of 2008. i have some catching up to do!!

Qs~

1. what popular restaurant entree would you rather make for yourself at home than ordering at a restaurant? chicken fingers and fries cheetahs. also, i would rather make french toast, spaghetti and tacos at home! there are some things that i just can’t do at home though, like sushi and authentic indian. yum!

2. what do you think of kombucha? love it? hate it? it is growing on me. i think it is like booze.. an acquired taste!

xo. janetha b.

Tagged as: abs, cardio, cheetahs, chicken fingers, kind bar, kombucha, oats, smoothie stache, yogurt