Post-Vacation Workouts: How I got back on track

June 29, 2015June 29, 2015Leave a comment

Hi there! I hope you all had a great weekend 🙂 A few weeks ago I wrote about how you can workout while you’re on vacation, which I think is an important thing to remember. But, even though I stayed pretty active during my vacation, it wasn’t a piece of cake getting back into the full swing of things. Although I was excited to get back into the gym and lifting weights since all I had done was quickie bodyweight workouts for nearly 2 weeks by the time I got home, it was hard because nothing felt easy!

I knew to drop down on my weight and start slow (um, hello, I wanted to be able to walk the next day), but the workouts still felt so much harder than normal, and left me way more sore than usual- a very humbling experience, that’s for sure! But, having to take a step back in my fitness progress ended up being a nice change of pace and a nice reminder for how far I’ve come since I first started seriously working out. There were some things I did to help the transition from quickie, bodyweight workouts to more intense, strength training workouts and I wanted to share those with you since I’m sure I’m not the only one who has faced some struggles getting back into the groove after a bit of a workout hiatus.

3 Tips for Getting Back On Track With Your Workouts After A Vacation/Hiatus

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Free Fitness This Summer: Street Sweat {& a sweet giveaway!}

June 25, 2015June 24, 201516 Comments

Disclaimer: I was provided a gift card from The Street in exchange for this blog post. All thoughts and opinions are my own- I would only share events I think you’d enjoy and this is definitely something I want to spread the word about!

What’s better than outdoor workouts in the summer? FREE outdoor workouts in the summer, of course! I don’t know about you, but in the summer months, I just want to be able to workout outside. Living in New England, we are cooped up inside for so many months due to the cold and snowy weather, so once we have nice weather, I really hate being in the gym and look for ways to achieve a great workout while being outside as much as possible.

(Photo provided by The Street)

Which, is why I’m excited to share with you some details on LOTS of free workout events located at The Street in Chestnut Hill throughout the summer. They call this fitness series “Street Sweat”, which I think is a super clever name!

(photo from the Street Sweat page linked throughout this post)

The fitness events range from yoga to bootcamps to cardio resistance and also take place at various times throughout the day and week, which means you’re sure to find a “Street Sweat” workout that fits your schedule and workout preference. In case you don’t believe me, just check out this schedule… pretty impressive, right?! Here’s a sample:
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Wednesday Workout: Quickie 20 minute body weight AMRAP

June 24, 2015June 23, 2015Leave a comment

Hi! I’m popping in this morning to share a quickie workout I did while I was in Maine a few weekends ago. When I got up, I got changed right into my workout clothes but just wasn’t sure I was really feeling a workout. This rarely happens to me, so I decided to just go with it and if I decided to workout later, great. If not, great. I ended up offering to vacuum and mop for my parents, which, in a 3,000 sq. foot house is quite a workout in and of itself! I loveeee those types of active chores so even though I was helping my parents, I was really helping myself get more movement in 😉

However, after I finished cleaning I found myself feeling more motivated to get a little workout in. The sun was shining and I had the privilege of working out outside in private, so I came up with a quickie 20 minute body weight AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible) workout that left me sweaty, newly tanned and sore the next day. Win, win, win in my book!

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I ate a real cheeseburger… white bun and all…

June 23, 2015June 22, 201512 Comments

“I’ll have a ground turkey burger, no cheese and no bun, please”

Umm. No thank you. While that was something I maybe ordered once in my life years ago when I had some food issues, these days I’ll take a real beef burger, with cheese and with a bun, thankyouverymuch. A cheese burger isn’t something I eat on a weekly basis, so when I have the opportunity to eat one, I want it to be good. Real good. And to me, that’s accomplished when you use good, organic, grass fed beef, a nice strong cheese and a simple bun.

Over the weekend, RM and I grilled on my back deck and when I was going to the store to get the necessities, he specifically requested “those white buns, the cheap ones, with sesame seeds on top.” Granted, my first thought was “you’re kidding me, right?!”, because standard, basic, “cheap” white bread is not something we generally eat, but I have to say- it made for a pretty fantastic burger.

The thing is, when you get all fancy with a super big, bulky, non-white roll, it generally ends up taking over the lead role (I initially wrote ‘roll’… subconscious pun intended??) in the dish. No offense to all you bun lovers out there- I want the meat (and cheese!) to be the start of the show. That’s what I’m most looking forward to when I have a burger. And even though that’s the case, it doesn’t mean I am about to order a bunless burger because where is the fun in that?! I often pick off the extra bread/roll for my burger, but there’s something to wonderful about grabbing a bunned burger and taking that first bite. Summer perfection, in my eyes! Served with a side of corn, pasta salad and/or chips and I’m pretty darn happy 🙂

If you’re interested, here’s the “ingredients” list for the burgers we made over the weekend:

1lb. organic, grass fed beef (ours was Angus and delicious)
1/2 small onion, chopped very small
1/2 chopped red pepper, chopped very small
garlic powder, salt & pepper, oregano and/or any other herbs/seasoning you prefer- to your liking (a few shakes for each is what I did)
8 slices of block pepperjack cheese
4 hamburger buns (we used standard Shaw’s brand white sesame seeded buns, but feel free to go a healthier route if you want!)

Chop your pepper and onion and use your hands to mix the beef with the veggies and herbs/seasoning. If you want big burgers, create 4 equal size patties and grill ’em up! I ended up making 6 smaller size ones and we froze 2 so that we could have them on hand for the next time we wanted a spur of the moment burger.

Questions for you: Do you like cheeseburgers? Do you prefer fancy rolls, simple white rolls or no rolls? What’s your favorite thing to grill?

Weekending & Life Lately Catch-Up

June 22, 2015June 22, 20152 Comments

Good morning! I hope you all had a great weekend 🙂 Mine was really pretty great and I actually took pictures so I thought I’d spend today sharing those with you! But, before I get to that, let’s catch up over the past couple of weeks. I can’t believe we’ve been back from Italy for over 3 weeks- seems like just yesterday we were packing up to go there.

I’ve been working out outside a lot- whether in the form of running or bootcamp style workouts. With the nicer weather upon us, I just want to be outside as much as possible!

But, I’m also loving being back in the gym with weights and strength training! Feels so good to leave the gym with jello-feeling everything 🙂

I’m participating in Neghar Fonooni’s Bikini Rebellion challenge this month and am more than obsessed with it. If you follow me on Instagram, then you’ve probably seen some very personal, “leave it all on the table” types of posts, which has been hard, but also really refreshing.
We’ve been loving healthy, light meals. In the heat, it’s awesome to throw something together quickly!

My curly hair is back… BIG and back! I was afraid my curls were going away over the winter, but fear not… it was just the dry weather that made my hair less curly than usual!