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WIAW-First Edition

Yay! I am finally doing What I Ate Wednesday!

Peas and Crayons

Thank you Jenn for hosting! You’re awesome!

I had a whole meal plan for today, but it kind of broke down later in the day. Luckily, I still have some photo-worthy shots!

I began the morning with a 45 minute Spin class, which was fantastic, as always. Then, breakfast!ImageAn obviously super photogenic biscuit from the dining hall. ImageA Harry and David pear and a hard boiled egg. Yes, I did try very hard to make this picture somewhat appealing. ImageMy gummy vitamins and calcium supplements. Yes, I am in college, and I still take gummy vitamins. Every since I had mono a few months ago and was popping 30 pills a day, I have wanted to avoid swallowing pills at all costs. Image

A much needed Cappuccino from Coupa. I attempted to use the coffee machine, but there were no cups, so I walked across the street to the actual cafe. The milk foam is way better from the real place. And let’s be honest, that’s the only reason I drink this. I had to bike with my drink. I felt like one of those cool college kids biking around with their fancy coffee drinks. However, I was very aware of any tiny bump I went over. As much as I love the idea of a scalding cup of coffee exploding onto my hand…

ImageA basic salad with Dijon vinaigrette, which I added 2 hard boiled eggs to. ImageRandom dog in the library. Soo cute. I miss my dog!

After class, I headed to the gym for a workout. I started with 4×5′ on the erg. I did the sets at stroke rate 22, 24, 26, 28, and each set had a faster split than the preceding one. Then, I did 10 minutes of abs. I’m loving this ab workout. 

I followed that with a 15 minute Crossfit style workout. Originally, the workout calls for 20 minutes, AMRAP, with 5 pull ups, 10 push ups, and 15 air squats. I can’t do pull-ups, so I do this on that pull down bar thingy. I wanted to have fewer rounds, but still get a good workout, so I changed it to 15 minutes, with 5 pull downs, 10 T push ups, and 15 goblet squats with a 25 pound dumbbell. I was rather sweaty. 

And then, it was FINALLY time to try my new Spin shoes! Here is the piece I was missing:ImageSo if you are buying Spin shoes, make sure you have this!

The shoes took some getting used to. The weight is on a slightly different place, and it was a little odd at first, especially out of the saddle. I especially loved them for doing sprints though. I felt like I could go much faster. I was on the bike for about 30 minutes. Tip: before you attach yourself to a bike, know how to detach yourself. Yeah. I spent a good 10 minutes looking like and idiot trying to figure out how to get the shoes off the bike. In case you’re wondering, you twist. Oops. ImagePost-wrokout fuel, plus pre-workout this morning. These are just ok, but they’re perfect for before a morning workout.ImageI was blown away by the veggie options at dinner today! I had a garden burger over salad, roasted sweet potatoes, roasted carrots, and cabbage.ImagePlus some extras:ImageImageAnd a studying snack (I have an impossible Chem midterm on Wednesday):ImageFor those of you that don’t know, I’m just coming off of a 3-week no sweets challenge. The last 2 days have been interesting…I haven’t gone crazy with the sweets, but a) they’re not as good as I remember and b) I definitely did not miss how they make me feel….

As a study break snack, I had some dark chocolate, pumpkin seeds, and this creation:ImageYes, I am a college student and I eat everything out of paper cups. This was inspired by my protein cookie creation of the other day. All it is? Sunflower seed milk (yes, it exists. No, I would not recommend it. Almond milk is better), unsweetened coconut, and a mashed up ripe banana, all heated up in the microwave to make a gooey, not too sweet pudding-like thing. I added a small square of dark chocolate, but I enjoyed it more plain or with a touch of sunflower seed butter. Better without chocolate? That’s a sure sign my tastes are changing! I finished off the rest of the banana (I only used half) with some sunflower seed butter. 

I love making non-dessert desserts. Especially of the microwave friendly variety. In paper cups. No shame. At least this is just slightly more photogenic than my old creation- mashed banana and dark cocoa powder in the microwave (yes, in a cup).ImageI cant wait for the baking/food freedom of summer! I have a banana bread creation in mind- look out for that in a few weeks!

Have a great day, and Happy What I Ate Wednesday!

Bad Blogger

So guys…I’ve been a very bad blogger in that I haven’t been taking pictures of anything. Or eating anything remotely interesting. 

This morning, I had  Harry and David pear. Image(Old picture…cheating but we’ll go with it).

I also wanted some protein, so I whipped up some egg whites in the microwave, and topped them with a lot of avocado. There was probably more avocado than egg, not that I’m complaining!ImageThis was one of those mornings where I throw a ton of stuff together in a hurry in an attempt to not be late for class…

Lunch is unpictured, as it was not really according to plan. After my 9am class, I had planned to go to the library, but I was SUPER sleepy so I headed back to my room for a nap instead. I ended up finishing off my sunflower seed butter jar with yogurt and a banana, and some carrots. Plus a Harry and David Orange! So not very photographable. Also, I made a major life choice today-I’m not going to open a new sunflower seed butter for a while. It’s time for a break!

Dinner was semi-exciting. I went to a different dining hall, and they had a baked potato bar! I loaded mine up with butter, cheese, and scallions, although it is hard to see under the salad. ImageIn the front is some type of veggie with some type of non-meat tofu-like product. In the back is some couscous with roasted mushrooms. I also had a slice of cinnamon bread (so good!).

So as you can see, not a lot of excitement going on in the food front. Or in life. What stinks about having such a great weekend is that the week seriously pales in comparison. I hadn’t really been bored with my weekdays at all until this week. And now, the week. is. dragging. I can’t wait for the weekend! I am going rafting on Sunday with my dorm, and I have a million and two friends from high school who want to stay with me this weekend (but I have a chem midterm next week, so I don’t know if that will be able to happen). I don’t think I’m ready for the year to be over!

On the plus side, my workouts have been quite good lately, if I do say so myself. They’ve been a little more varied than normal, as in they haven’t JUST been weights, or JUST rowing. Yesterday, I lifted in the morning. I was annoyed because I wanted to do cleans, and the rugby team was taking up most of the bars, so I took some time to do a circuit with pistols and pushups, and then some dumbbell snatches. When a bar opened up, I jumped at the opportunity and did this workout:

10-8-6-4-2

Hang clean (95#)

Box jumps

Technically, I was supposed to do the whole circuit twice, but my wrists were DONE after this. And dropping the bar on myself=not good. I followed this up with some work on the rowing machine…I believe I did 2k. Yeah, my shoulders were seriously feeling the cleans!

Here’s an ab workout I have been loving lately! I’ve been doing it most days with my workouts.Image(The wrestler move is lying down with your legs in butterfly, and then pressing yourself into a crunch with your elbows.)

In the afternoon, I went for a 3.7 mile run with a girl from my sorority. She is interested in running together regularly, and wants to do a half this summer as well. Yay for more training buddies!

This morning I went to a Spin class, and then this afternoon I decided to do a rowing workout. I’m getting inspired to get back on the erg more. In some strange way, I miss those marathon workouts. I definitely have trouble motivating myself to go all that fast though. I could never do a 6k on my own. Today, I did a pyramid:

250 m

500m

1000m

2000m

1000m

500m

250m

I took a minute or two of rest in between. I followed that up with that abs workout above, and a few other moves. Back in my room, I saw all the balloons still here from my Big, and was inspired. ImageI did some crunches with a ballon under my lower back, which was super hard! But then the inevitable happened…the ballon popped. Eh, what can you do, right??

One more thing, I have posted about the concept of Healthy Living College Blogger retreat…if you guys are interested, could you publicize the idea on your blogs as well? The more the word is out, the better! I think we could totally do this thing!