WIAW-The Best Ice Cream

Date: February 23, 2016

Author: astottler

Happy WIAW Friends! (As usual, huge thanks to Jenn for starting this link up way back when!).

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This week has been surprisingly low-key. Which is some ways is actually unfortunate because I know I have a lot of craziness coming up that I can’t get ahead on!

Anyways, WIAW. One thing that wasn’t from my full day of eating that I still want to share because it was definitely the best thing I’ve eaten all week was this ice cream.

Tin Pot’s TCHO chocolate. Yes, here in the Bay Area, we have designer chocolate. This is hands down my favorite ice cream in the world. The texture is perfectly smooth, and the (local, SF) TCHO chocolate flavor is dark and rich. Tin Pot also has a lot of other awesome flavors but I can never bring myself to get anything but my favorite! My friends and I decided that gourmet ice cream needs to be a more regular thing, given we’re also extremely close to Smitten (Nitrogen ice cream).

Back to a full day of food, the regularly scheduled programing!

Pre-workout:

I went home for dinner on Monday, which meant that I returned with a delicious set of snacks. This lemon poppyseed bread was a GF version of this recipe. The flavor was on point, but the texture was a little weird. A little dry? Maybe from using GF flour, or maybe because I cut down on the sugar. I think I’m going to try combining the flavor of the lemon poppyseed with the texture of the cranberry orange bread I’ve been making lately.

Workout:

Crossfit was a doozy. Apparently we’ve been killing arms lately. I’m still recovering from pull-ups on Thursday. Strength was sets of 3 hang power snatches. My shoulder is finally feeling strong stabilizing overhead, and I worked up to 75# which I think is the most since my injury!

WOD: 3 5 minute AMRAPS, 1 minute rest of the following:

60 calorie row

50 pull ups

40 burpees

30 push press

20 push ups

I barely made it to the push ups and my arms were done!

Breakfast:

Plain nonfat Greek yogurt, cherry+blueberry fruit blend, sunbutter. Plus an assortment of crackers.

Lunch:

I had leftovers from dinner at home. I’ll share that picture first because it’s much prettier, and then show the reality of tupperware lunches.

This was a fennel and spinach soup with roasted red pepper yogurt sauce that I found on Cooking Light’s top soup recipes. Last night, served with corn tortillas broiled with parmesan and herbs. At lunch, served with GF everything crackers.

Mid-class survival:

Since I have to eat lunch on the early side, I packed a few crackers to eat in my last class so I wouldn’t be crazy hungry when I got home.

Snack:

A bite of quesadilla:

And a honeybell (grapefruit crossed with tangerine)+ one of my custom raaw macaw bars. This one has a date, sunbutter, and oat base, and contains chocolate chips and dried cranberries.

Workout #2: Teach spin. The air system was broken so it was a completes sauna in there. Everyone was sweating buckets—the spin studio was at least 15 degrees warmer than the rest of the gym! I made sure to drink lots of water.

Dinner #1:

Grilled chicken breast (not bone in, which was exciting), salad with caesar dressing, grilled veggies. Plus an AMAZING gluten free brownie. The chef recently started making more desserts gluten free! The brownie had a slight tinge of cinnamon, and it was salty, gooey, and delicious. I would have loved a second one but my caffeine tolerance couldn’t handle it sadly!

Close up:

Dinner #2:

The other part of the quesadilla from earlier, plus half of my other flavor of raaw macaw bar (double workout days=more food!). This one has a cinnamon sunbutter base, and has sea salt, chocolate chips, and tart cherries,

And that’s my day of eating! It’s only 9pm but my bed is looking awfully enticing already…

What is your favorite baked good?

Mine might be muffins (like real muffins, not the healthy kind)—love the blueberry muffins from the box, with fresh blueberries thrown in, and then topped with sugar. Even better in bread form.

WIAW-The Magic Number

Date: February 9, 2016

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

And it’s almost Wednesday again. GUYS. I am halfway through my last year of college. (Well, undergrad. Plenty of schooling left for this girl.) How crazy is that? I’m trying to make each moment count, and I am actively trying to remember to enjoy myself each moment because there’s not much time left here! I’m trying to get away from watching the clock until X or Y is over, because then time is passing that I will never get back.

Well, that wasn’t where I was planning on going with that. Where I was planning on going with that was WIAW with Jenn (and friends).

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Pre-Workout:

Cranberry-Orange bread from the freezer. Currently my favorite pre-workout bread, and also the only one I have in the freezer right now. I have my eye on this recipe though for possibly the next one, although I usually like to keep the pre-workout breads a bit lower sugar.

Workout:

UGH. We’ve been doing these yucky sprint intervals at Crossfit that I’m pretty sure are really good for me but they stink.

We started out with 5×3 power snatches. I did those at 55#, and then a set at 65#. I’m pretty sure that’s the heaviest I’ve gone overhead since my shoulder injury! The weight felt easy, but I’m still weak stabilizing at the top so I’m definitely not going to push the weight anytime soon.

WOD:

Every 3.5 minutes for 5 sets:

200m run

7 push press (I used 55#)

5 over bar burpees

7 push press

I actually really enjoyed the running portion, because I felt fairly fast compared to other people, especially by the end. In general, I’m definitely not the fastest but I’m pretty consistent! Every set was within 3 seconds of the others.

Breakfast:

I’ve been really loving my fruit compote with yogurt again lately. This week’s combo is a real winner: cherries+peaches. On top of full fat yogurt and a side of sun butter. In terms of yogurt, I basically just eat whatever my house/dorm buys. I much prefer Greek plain, but otherwise I could go either way full fat vs. fat free and tend to switch week to week.

Lunch #1:

Leftover sweet potato, pear, leek soup with GF croutons, and a side of roasted veggies, mainly sweet potatoes. I think those were leftover veggies from diner at the house last night, and I was able to snag the last bit!

Lunch #2:

A turkey sandwich on GF bread that was from lunch at the house (which I missed due to class) and a Honeybell. Honeybells are a cross between a tangerine and grapefruit, and I’ve been really enjoying them this past week!

I also had a few bites of other things—some snap pea crisps and granola, and a Ghiradelli raspberry dark chocolate square.

My gastroparesis has been better lately (knock on wood), but even when it’s not flaring, I have to be really careful about how much I eat at once or I’ll get a (moderate comparatively) stomachache. I think I’m finally honing on what this amount actually is, although the content of the food also has a big effect! After lunch #1 today, I actually felt really good. Like, normal. Perfect even. Lunch #2 ended up being a little too big (with the random bites). For the most part, I think the magic number is 400 calories. 400 calories and below for a meal, and I seem to be good (assuming I’m not in a bad flare). 400-500 is usually okay, but I don’t feel as good. Over 500 and I’ll have some problems. 600 or significantly above and I start risking a flare up.

Obviously, that’s not very much in one meal, hence why I have lunch #1 and lunch #2 (and the same for dinner). I honestly think I can get a lot healthier as I start to figure this out more, but it can be really difficult to stick to, especially when the food is especially delicious, or if I’m at restaurants. It’s going to take some practice, as well as remembering that I CAN eat everything, I just need to come back to it in a few hours. It’s also difficult if I get a lot of sugar/carb cravings, but the more I stick to what makes me feel good, the fewer I have (because my blood sugar is much more regular).

Workout:

Teaching spin! Lots of hills today, including a 4 song hill (I normally do 3 song hills). I also wrote tomorrow’s class this afternoon, which includes HIIT in place of a second hill. We’re going to do 5 rounds of 1 min max effort on/1 min recover.

Dinner #1:

BBQ chicken leg, red beans, rice, kale.

I also had some frozen mango and another Ghiradelli raspberry square.

This dinner comes back to the perfect number theory. Unfortunately, I was a little over the magic number and am feeling it a bit. But it’s all a learning process and I do think I’ll get there!

Dinner #2:

A new to me bar. Sesame products can be really hit or miss but this was good!

Do you eat 3 square meals or more snacks/mini meals?

All Spin All the Time (+ A Playlist)

Date: September 2, 2015

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hello! WIAW was fun, wasn’t it?

My day today was full of Spin! I started the morning with a 6am class at Revelry, one of my favorite spin studios.I didn’t have any reason to go that early other than the fact that I like that teacher! It was a tough class-we did repeats that were 8 minutes long, trying to beat your energy output each set.

Breakfast afterwards was a Siggi’s blueberry with sun butter and a side of pineapple.

After breakfast and a shower, I spent some time blogging and catching up on blogs. Then, my mom and I tried out a new coffee shop and had cappuccinos (decaf for me) and split a gluten free lavender lemon cookie.

Not a bad cappuccino! Plus, with the start of September, it suddenly feels like fall in California and I love it. It makes the cappuccino and coffeeshop time feel so cozy. The funny thing about fall in California is I feel like it comes suddenly, and is very noticeable for California natives. Sure, it’s still warm and the leaves haven’t changed, but the air feels different and the sun looks like fall.

Afterwards, we took a trip to Costco to buy nectarines. I fell in love with a ruminant blanket (AKA cow) and plush pillow. It was probably made for a 2 year old, but I couldn’t resist! Plus, my kitty already loves it!

Lunch was at Mimi’s Cafe. If you ever go there, get the bran muffin. The bottom is soaked in honey, and it’s served warm. Perfection.

It came as a side to my Asian Chop salad.

I spent the afternoon napping, picking up my car from service, and tweaking my spin playlist that I taught that night. I taught it at my other gym last week, but I have a different audience for this class. Here’s the playlist I used!

Class went well! This class was a free class on campus for dorm staff, and I think it was added last minute and not that publicized. Even so, I had a pretty good turnout, and we rocked the hills!

After class, my mom and I had a simple dinner. Mashed garlic cauliflower, cottage cheese, and roasted heirloom carrots (how fun are those??).

I may have been a bit aggressive with the garlic though. Oh well!

As you can see, it’s been all spin, all the time! Teaching Tuesday night, taking a class Wednesday morning, teaching Wednesday night, and then I’ll be teaching again Thursday morning! I’m loving it!

Wiped

Date: July 7, 2015

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hello! I’m finally blogging on a week night. I finished my day, and am now awaiting a visit from my friend’s 2 new kittens! I only met them last week briefly at the vet, so I cannot wait!

So, what are my days looking like? I started my morning with a really hilly 3 mile run. Workouts before work are pretty essential for me because I’m allergic to everything at home (i.e. Charlie, Lilly, and Chloe), and I’m allergic to everything at work (i.e. every animal there), so a little workout and fresh air helps keep things under control. Side note: my hip has really been bothering my lately when I squat for some reason. Not the motion of equating, but being down in a low squat position. I went to a yoga class yesterday, but I also played a softball game yesterday which stiffened it up. Anyways, I’m trying to avoid squats for a little while.

Sidenote: Guess what? I’m going to IDEA World Fitness Conference next week! Is anybody else going to be there? I’m pretty pumped! I’m going as part of the college program, so hopefully I’ll get to meet other students! Additionally, I’m signed up for all kinds of spin workshops!

Anyways, post-run I was running a bit late so I had a super quick breakfast of an Oatmeal Raisin Luna bar and mango. For some reason I have so much trouble finding the oatmeal raisin flavor…

Today, I worked 8-4, which was a fairly ideal schedule in my mind. Evenings are usually pretty slow. At 12:30, I broke for lunch.

Lunch was Trader Joe’s chicken strips, brown rice, and leftover green beans. I haven’t been a fan of TJ’s chicken lately. There have been a lot of tendons or something in it lately and the texture has been kind of gross.

During my lunch break, I stopped in to the nearby froyo place for a small container of chocolate sorbet with blueberries and a couple of raisins.

Tonight was my spin teaching night, so I sprinted out the door at 4 to make the traffic-filled drive across the bay. Maybe it was the holiday weekend, but traffic wasn’t awful. I had a pre-workout granola bar in the car while driving.

I have to get to spin pretty early to avoid even worse traffic, so I’ve gotten in the habit of taking power naps in my car when I arrive. It makes a difference!

The class went pretty well. It was a smaller class than usual, but I think everyone got a solid workout in!

I came home and unleashed the ~~beast~~ puppy. She was a little crazy, but now she’s asleep.

The first week of work, I came home totally wiped, and after dealing with animals all day, I had little patience for my little puppy. Now that I’m getting more into the routine though, it’s getting a lot better! That being said, I’m looking forward to my pillow tonight!

Dinner was a Trader Joe’s salad with leftover cheesy polenta.

On Sunday night, my family made our annual 4th of July cake. Normally, we do a big sheet with a berry flag pattern, but we simplified since the holiday had already passed. This year, we used a gluten free chocolate cake mix.

For dessert tonight, I had a small slice of this. Unfortunately, my stomach doesn’t like something in this cake and I honestly have no idea what it could be, but I had my reoccurring illness issues on Sunday after having this, and I’m feeling kind of off now. My stomach is 99% healed, but there are some random things that are still iffy!

So that was my day! Also-I updated my Races page FINALLY!

What is your favorite granola/protein bar?

Lazy Sunday

Date: May 31, 2015

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hello! I’m currently hanging out outside of Philz Coffee, sipping a mint iced tea.

I went to a spin class this morning and Philz is really close so I figured I’d stop in and get some work done. It would be significantly more pleasant if the people next to me weren’t smoking though…

The spin class was awesome! I tried a new local studio-Uforia. It had super high Yelp reviews, and it lived up to my expectations! The instructor was full of energy and the room was hopping! I will definitely be back! Another plus-they give out blueberries and cold towels after class. I never realized how heavenly a cold towel could be!

In terms of the tea-it’s full of fresh mint! I can’t really do coffee or caffeine very much right now which is why I went with the mint tea. Tastes like summer though!

I’m currently in the final push of the year-luckily my schedule isn’t too bad. I only have 2 finals and a low-key take home final, and no projects, just normal problem sets. Plus, plenty of time to study because my finals are actually spaced out!

I wanted to share some pictures from this past week.

This past Thursday was my last day of Bio lab-we went to a biological reserve to do research, and it was beautiful weather for the last day!

In other life news, I threw an alumni tea party for my sorority yesterday. Throwing an event means I’m in charge of the food-and I went to Costco for the goods! 8 lbs of strawberries!

I got berries, pita chips and hummus, fancy brie, a cheese platter, whole grain crackers, a veggie platter, madelines, and blueberry coffeecake bites. It was quite the success!

In terms of normal food-here’s a breakfast-hard boiled eggs and mango post-Crossfit:

Another lunch salad of chicken+hummus.

Snack-loving the summer fruit right now!

That’s all I have for now! I’m thinking about getting an acai bowl for lunch since I’ve never had one!