I said “no”

October 4, 201315 Comments

Yup. I said “no”. As someone who always says yes (or tries to always say yes), this was a big accomplishment. Let me explain:

On Wednesday, I got an email from the instructor who teaches the 5:30 Cardio Conditioning saying she was really sick and asking if I could sub. Normally, I am more than willing to help and am really lucky that my job has the flexibility that allows me to leave early when I need/want to, but for some reason on Wednesday, it was the LAST thing I wanted to do. I was having a rough couple of days and was really looking forward to going for a run before teaching so I could clear my head. Plus, I was REALLY sore from my workout on Tuesday and didn’t want to do any lifting, which I would have done had I subbed.

I literally hemmed and hawed for a long time before finally saying “no”. And even after I said no, I was second guessing my response and feeling awful that I said no because technically I could have subbed. I just didn’t want to teach a double on Wednesday and a double on Thursday. I didn’t want to.

And you know what? It all worked out OK. I’m not doomed with automatic bad karma or getting a bad name at the gym because I said no. I doubt anyone is even thinking about it anymore. Big thanks to Athena for confirming that I did the right thing and even saying she was proud of me for saying no 🙂

So the point of this post is: it’s ok to say no, it’s ok to put yourself and your needs/wants in front of others, it’s ok to not do things because you feel like you have to, it’s ok to not do everything and to try to make everyone happy. It’s ok. (if I keep telling myself this, I’m hoping it will be easier to do these things!)

Questions for you: When’s the last time you said “no”? Are you someone who always tries to make everyone happy and put others’ needs in front of yours?

On a side note… I said no 2 times on Wednesday; apparently I was on a roll! It was 7:10 and my class was 20 minutes from being over and a girl walks in, puts her stuff down and starts to get her weights, without so much of blinking an eye to the fact everyone was sweaty and looking like they were quite far into the workout. Here’s how the conversation went:

Me: “oh, I’m sorry, Zumba starts at 7:30.”

Her: “I know, it’s ok I’ll just join this class”.

Me: “Well the workout is more than half done and you’re not warmed up so it would not be very safe for you to join now”.

Her: “I ran here. I’m 9 minutes late, I can’t believe you won’t let me join.”

Me (as nicely as I could): “Actually the class started at 6:30 so you’re almost 40 minutes late and we are on the last bit of class, so it’s really not safe for you to join. I’m sorry.”

Girl storms out. Fitness instructors, what would you have done? I just wouldn’t feel comfortable having her join the class 40 minutes late! Not to mention it was an incredibly distracting 3 minutes for the class and for me.

Broccoli, Tomato & Cheese Quiche and Sweet Potato Hash

October 3, 2013October 2, 20138 Comments

A few weeks ago, I decided I was in the mood for breakfast for dinner. My sister is an avid quiche maker and I’ve realized that quiche is not only easy to make and delicious to eat, but it is also a dish that reheats really well (and we all know how much I love leftovers!). I did a little research and came across this delicious looking crustless quiche from Cooking Light. Going crustless with quiche is a great way to cut down on calories, and I promise, you won’t miss the crust if you make your quiche tasty enough 😉

To accompany my quiche, I made a sweet potato “hash” recipe that I got from this blog. Super easy, but super tasty!

This meal absolutely hit the spot and was a great, balanced meal to have around for the week!

Broccoli & Tomato Crustless Quiche (from Cooking Light)

Ingredients

2 tsp EVOO
1/2 cup onion, chopped,
1 garlic clove, minced
5 cups broccoli florets
cooking spray
1 1/4 cup skim milk
1 cup shredded reduced- fat Swiss cheese (I used a blended cheese because that’s what I had)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard (I skipped this because I didn’t have any)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
4 large egg whites, lightly beaten
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon grated fresh Parmesan cheese
6 (1-ounce) slices whole wheat bread, toasted (I skipped this all together. Wasn’t necessary!)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350*.

2. Chop onion, broccoli and tomato. Sauté until the onions are translucent. Add the broccoli in and cook until the broccoli is mostly cooked. Remove from heat, add in the tomatos and place the veggie mixture to the bottom of a pie pan.

3. Combine the milk through eggs in a large bowl. Once it’s combined, pour the mixture over the veggies. Bake for 40 minutes or until the eggs have fully cooked.

Sweet Potato Hash (from fit sugar)

Ingredients

1 large sweet potato, wash and dice into small cubes (1/4” square)
2 tbsp. canola or coconut oil
2 cups sweet onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1 whole fresh jalapeno pepper, minced (I didn’t add this)
2 cloves of roasted garlic (I just minced my garlic)
1/3 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 tsp Italian seasoning.

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Chop the sweet potato and add to the boiling water. Cook until the sweet potato is soft. Remove from the water and let cool.

2. While the sweet potato is cooking, chop your onion and pepper and sauté them until fully cooked.

3. Add the sweet potato to the veggies and let everything simmer on the stove for about 20 minutes on low heat.

All together now:

Mmmm. The quiche was absolutely delicious! Cheesy and veggie-filled and the sweet potato hash was a great substitution for the crust on the quiche. I think I caught myself “mmm”ing while I ate. Good thing I was alone because that would have been weird 😉

Questions for you: Do you like quiche? Have you ever made sweet potato hash? What’s your favorite “breakfast for dinner” meal?

Wednesday Workout: Upper Body Tabata Workout

October 2, 2013September 30, 20138 Comments

As I’ve mentioned in a few posts lately, on days that I don’t have to teach, I’ve been focusing on upper body strength training- and really enjoying it! Up until the past 6 months or so (or, I guess once I started getting into teaching strength classes), I definitely categorized myself as a cardio junkie. Cardio, cardio, cardio. Machine cardio, running, kickboxing, Zumba- I literally couldn’t get enough of it. Now that I am focusing more on incorporating strength workouts into my schedule, I’m realizing how important it is to train evenly- meaning incorporate strength days, cardio days, HIIT days, lighter days, etc. throughout the week to avoid overuse and injury. I like the way my body looks so much more now that I have been lifting fairly regularly- strong is the new sexy, right?!

Anyway! I threw together this upper body Tabata workout to do at the gym after work one day a few weeks ago and it literally left me sore for a few days. I think it’s because I really focused on lifting heavy for the 20 second “work” periods, which is the whole point of Tabata training, right? Balls to the wall for 20 seconds (for a lack of better words), because you know you have 10 seconds of rest coming up. I really urged people in my classes to go heavy and kept giving them hints and reminders like “if you’re not feeling tired yet, you should increase your weight.” and “If your muscles aren’t feeling the burn at this point- go heavier! Make this worth your time.” to ensure that they were getting the most out of the workout. When I taught this in class, I added in lower body Tabata sets and cardio and abs, but I thought for the purposes of the blog, I thought I’d share just the upper body part in case anyone else is like me and craving upper body training.

Quick note about Tabata training: the “real” or traditional Tabata workout is doing just 1 exercise for the entire 8 sets (or 4 minutes), but there are many different variations of Tabata workouts, which is what this is. I chose 2 exercises per Tabata set, but I kept them within the same muscle group for the most part to make it a little more like a traditional Tabata set, while still keeping it more interesting for my members.

My members always cringe at crab walks, but I swear they are one of the best tricep workouts you can do!

If you have any questions about any of these moves, just shoot me a comment or email and I can link you to helpful videos. Remember- go heavy (while still being safe and lifting with proper form- never sacrifice form to lift a heavier weight. Work your way up to it!) and challenge your muscles here- make them tired!

Questions for you: Do you prefer to train your upper or lower body? Are you a cardio junkie or do you prefer strength training?

Ps for all of you who are participating in Athena’s Fall into Fitness Challenge, don’t forget to do your “move of the day”! I think this is such a fun challenge because for me, I like being reminded of exercises that I may have forgotten 😉

My Apartment is Officially Warm

October 1, 2013September 30, 201315 Comments

I had my housewarming party this past weekend and boy was it fun! There was a great crowd (I think about 20+ people throughout the afternoon), tasty food, lots of wine and festive decorations. Although it’s always a little stressful planning and hosting a party, I really do love it. I wish I could do it more often, but that would be a very costly habit.

After work on Friday I headed to Market Basket to get things for the party. While I was there, I did my weekly grocery shopping so I didn’t have to do it on Sunday. Since MB was not busy at all (shocker- it’s always busy), it was a great choice. I also went to Kappy’s to get some wine and beer. Even though people were bringing their own, I wanted to have some at the start of the party.

I decided I wanted to make Turkey Chili, so I based my recipe loosely off of this recipe, but I added ground turkey into the mix, too. It came out delicious and was a big hit!

I also made some Pumpkin Pecan bars on Friday night and a mini pizza for myself. It was a very busy night!

Saturday was a little crazy in that I had to head to Brighton to teach from 10-11. It was ok, though- I love starting my day with a good sweat and after that I was amped and ready to get my apartment into party mode.

I also went with a country/cowgirl theme, per my friends’ request!

So fun! Not long after everything was ready, people started to show up. Everyone was so sweet and brought me awesome gifts, which I wasn’t expecting at all!

Beautiful candle and decorative napkins (that match my color theme!), awesome knives and the best cutting board everrrrr (seriously, how often do you drop half of the veggies you’ve cut up when you’re trying to transfer them from the board to the pan. this will eliminate that!), 50 Shades of Grey game (so fun!), lots of wine, a gift card, a beautiful Orchid and the fantastic veggies and bread from my dad. I felt so spoiled! Thank you to everyone for bringing me such nice things!

I’ll let my pictures do the rest of the talking, but I will say that it was a great party. I had home friends and family, school friends, gym friends, neighbors (other people living in my building)… a great mix of people! The weather was perfect and we were able to hang out on the patio for a good portion of the day.