Let’s Talk About Last Week

Date: June 13, 2017

Author: astottler

So, as you probably noticed around here, I did a full week of eating last week! There were a couple of reasons I wanted to do this. This post will talk a little bit more about that. But I figured, why not recap my full week of eating with another full day of eating? Especially since summer is here, all the vibrant, colorful foods are in season!

For breakfast, I pulled out some buzzfeed lemon poppyseed bread from the freezer and was reminded of how delicious it is! On the side, I had the last of our cherries and an apricot.

Yesterday ended up being a really active day for me. I went to a short interval based spin class in the morning, and then came home and immediately took Chloe for a walk (I’m the only one who can do it right now, and she really needs the exercise.)

We got back right around lunchtime, and I made my current favorite sandwich: GF bread, garlic and herb laughing cow, lettuce, turkey, avocado, and garlic powder. Garlic powder is key. On the side, I had some watermelon.

For dessert, I tried a new protein bar that my mom found at costco. It’s salted caramel chocolate.

This was actually really good. Great taste, and it comes in a half bar size which is kind of fun, and sometimes exactly what I want.

My afternoon snack was a Nugo mint chocolate bar. Again, these taste like a chocolate bar.

Yesterday, I found that today I have a slow-pitch softball game. Cue slight panic. I realized I hadn’t touched a softball in 2 years. How is that even possible? The past year totally flew by. I missed last season thanks to a broken foot, but I thought I’d have a little more time to prepare! I spent some time yesterday afternoon throwing the ball around with my sister, and taking a few swings. Thankfully, it seems like muscle memory is strong. I guess when you do a motion few million times, it tends to stick with you! Today will be the true test though! It was interesting through; I’m definitely fitter than I was 2 years ago, which translated into my game a little different than I was expecting. I felt quicker and more agile, but I also felt less like I was going to pull something. I kind of expected the first throws to feel like my arms was ripping out of the socket, but throwing felt really good!

That evening, I went to Crossfit. I really need to take a better look at the workouts beforehand to know what to expect, because this one was a doozy. I guess I sort of glance at the movements without actually looking at the rep scheme and how long it will actually take. We did heavy back squats first, and then this joy of a WOD:

3 rounds

50 calorie row

150 double unders

50 walking lunges

My double unders are in the twilight zone; they’re good enough that I really shouldn’t scale to singles in a workout, but they’re bad enough that they can take for.ever. if they’re not on that day. I decided if I wasn’t averaging sets of 10 at least, I would switch to singles. I did all doubles….and this workout took me just over 30 minutes. It was LOTS of cardio, and I was tired, sweaty, and super thirsty when I got home! While I waited for dinner, I chugged water and pulled out the watermelon.

For dinner, we had Brazilian cheese bread and one of our all time favorite soups: leftover roast chicken with roasted vegetables.

After dinner, I had a few bites of ice cream while I threw together another batch of my maple blueberry bread.

Of course, I had to have a slice of that when it came out.

For my nighttime snack, I had a rice cake with chive whipped cream cheese. And then half a glass of champagne when the Warriors won!

Ok. Now, let’s talk about the full week of eating a little bit. The goal for the week was to dial in my nutrition, be consistent, make some progress, but also enjoy life. If you look back at the posts from this past week, every day is different. There’s plenty of protein and veggie rich meals, but I was still easily able to fit in ice cream sundaes, doughnuts, and beer into my diet. It really is all about balance. It’s about choices. For example, on Sunday, I went to a baseball game so I enjoyed beer and an ice cream sundae, but for lunch I split a flatbread and a salad, and then had a lighter dinner. You can make the choice to be healthy sometimes, and not so healthy others, and this balance is in itself healthy. I actually ate the same amount of calories each day this week, and what I filled those calories with each day varied a ton! By setting a calorie number each day, I forced myself to be more creative and to fuel my body with better things. Right around Thursday or Friday last year, I felt like a rockstar! It’s amazing what protein and produce do for your body. I wasn’t nearly as energized after beer and ice cream sundaes, but that was a sacrifice I was happy to make. This week was a fun way to experiment with what works for me, but it was also to show you that you can still make progress with fun foods in there as well. I went out to eat some, I cooked myself some. But I made it all work. And I’m pretty sure I ate ice cream every single day.

I also love how colorful my meals were this past week. Again, that summer produce!

I hope you enjoyed this past week of posts. It was a lot of fun to write, but I don’t think I’m going to continue to do full days of eating, every day. Especially on work days, I’m often just ready to SLEEP at the end of the day. I will try to incorporate more full days of eating because I think it gives a more complete picture, and I personally love reading them!

What are your food philosophies?

17.4 on St. Patrick’s Day

Date: March 18, 2017

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

I hope everyone had a fantastic St. Patrick’s Day, wore plenty of green, and ate plenty of Irish food!

I began my day with a greenish smoothie. I added spinach to my typical smoothie with banana, salted caramel protein, milk, and just a touch of cocoa powder (so as not to ruin the green too much).

On the side, I had half a packet of maple brown sugar oatmeal with some extra plain oats thrown in to cut the sugar.

For lunch, I made a wrap that I’ve been loving lately. I’m planning on doing a full post on it for my quick and easy series, but basically it’s a tortilla stuffed with white cheddar laughing cow cheese, turkey, spinach, and red pepper.

PicMonkey Collage

I actually rarely like red pepper, but I do in this context! I had that with a very simple salad: just high quality blueberry balsamic vinegar!

For a little lunch dessert, I had the remaining bite of a leftover Rule Breaker brownie. I think the brownies taste better than the blondies, but they would be improved with chocolate chips.

Friday was all about preparing for the death that was 17.4. I made sure to carefully fuel myself. In the afternoon, I had some tea (the house was cold!) with a Luna bar and a ginger chew.

Cat nap:

And then about an hour before leaving, I had a few crackers and another ginger chew.

Then, it was time to get pumped up to go!

17.4 was 16.4.

13 minute AMRAP:

55 deadlifts (155# women’s RX)

55 wallballs (14#)

55 calorie row

55 handstand push ups

First of all, I remember last year being awful well enough, but I also have blog documentation. I was super happy and proud of how I did last year. I finished the row in 12:59, which was perfect since I don’t have handstand push ups. The problem with that is that I felt like I needed to improve upon last year, and I was happy with last year, so anything less than last year’s performance would be disappointing. On the other hand, I knew this workout played to my strengths a lot more than some of the other ones.

I actually looked to last year’s post for how to do my deadlifts. I started with 2 sets of 10, then moved to sets of 5, and smaller at the end. (In retrospect, one method I heard was good was going 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1). I was actually in theory far better trained in deadlifts this year, because we did weekly 20 rep sets at a fairly heavy weight. I definitely regretted 1. not going as heavy as I probably could have during those workouts and 2. missing so many due to travel!

I think the deadlifts crushed me roughly equally this year vs. last year, but maybe I was a little stronger. It’s really amazing how much you just lose all core strength! After the deadlifts, I did the all too familiar 16.4 waddle from the bar to the wall. Last year, the wall balls absolutely destroyed me. This year, interestingly, not so much. I feel like with the workouts that have been repeated, it always surprises me what has been improved. Last year in 16.5 which was a redo of 14.5, I was shocked by how much “easier” (it’s all relative) the burpees felt. This year, the wall balls were shockingly fine. I did my first set as 15, and then did sets of 10 the rest of the way. Last year, I was getting no repped (or coming very close to it) and couldn’t do more than sets of 5 or less. I only got no repped once this time. Maybe all the long, heavy sets of squats and presses helped this? I got off the wall maybe 45 seconds earlier than last time?

The row was not fun. I don’t think I had as much grit in me here as I did last time, because I was pretty sure at that point I could make the time cap. It was not fun. I wanted to die. I didn’t actually die though, so that’s good. I finished my 55 calories on the row at 12:43, sliding in 16 seconds faster than last year. Hey, I’ll take it!

Last year, I was immobile for probably a week after, so I immediately refueled with chocolate milk to try and ward off some of the impending soreness.

I repped South City Crossfit (St. Louis) green for the workout!

After watching a few other heats (I went first. Always.), I returned home to an Irish feast and my dad’s green pants.

I of course had to have a taster glass of Guiness. I actually didn’t really like it. The flavor is good but it needs some fizz!

And the meal: cabbage, roasted carrots and potatoes, rotisserie chicken, ketchup (necessary for chicken and potatoes), and Irish Soda Bread. For the soda bread, we basically just added dried cranberries and raisins to biscuit mix.

For a little something green for dessert, I made a single serve sugar cookie with green sprinkles.

That evening, I went out with a high school friend. We went to a British-style brewery, which was definitely a first for me! The beer I got wasn’t very fizzy, but it was full of (non-bitter) flavor. Interesting!

How was your St. Paddy’s Day? Anyone do 17.4?

California Sunshine|17.3

Date: March 13, 2017

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Daylight Saving Time…am I right? I spent Saturday night out with my high school friends for a birthday, and had the lovely experience of watching my bedtime shift from 2 to 3 am…would not recommend.

My St. Louis friend was snap chatting me snow in St. Louis the other day…meanwhile, spring has arrived here in CA. The weather has been absurdly nice. I’ve been trying to take advantage as much as possible!

Friday morning, I took Chloe for a walk after my own 3 mile run while listening to a podcast.

For lunch, I made a ridiculously simple yet delicious salad. Garlic hummus, herb goat cheese, and an egg over easy. With a side of sweet potatoes.

For snack, I tried the Vanilla Flapjacked Smoothie mix, but I blended it up with half milk and half ice for a frosty treat. It was a little bit watery in flavor (too much liquid), but I liked it at that texture!

Afterwards, my mom and I went with my sister for her wedding dress fitting! The big day is coming, and the dress is nearly finished! She looks amazing in it! After the fitting, we still had some wedding details to discuss so we headed to Pete’s for some honey macchiatos.

We stayed pretty late, but thankfully dinner came together in a jiffy! We made hummus sandwiches with cheese, tomato, spinach, and avocado. Simple, but delicious. On the side was a simple herb salad with mint, basil, and dill, and a dressing of aged white balsamic vinegar and lemon olive oil.

Saturday morning, I did 17.3!

It. Was. Epic.

I currently live about 30 minute away from my college Crossfit, the place I called home for 3 years. I haven’t really been back there since I left for Tennessee in June, so I decided the Open would be a fun time to see everyone. I have to say, a lot has changed. Apparently they moved (to a super nice new facility!), which I figured out 10 minutes before I left to drive there!

17.3:

Prior to 8:00, complete:
3 rounds of:
6 chest-to-bar pull-ups
6 squat snatches, 95 lb.
Then, 3 rounds of:
7 chest-to-bar pull-ups
5 squat snatches, 135 lb.
*Prior to 12:00, complete 3 rounds of:
8 chest-to-bar pull-ups
4 squat snatches, 185 lb.
*Prior to 16:00, complete 3 rounds of:
9 chest-to-bar pull-ups
3 squat snatches, 225 lb.
*Prior to 20:00, complete 3 rounds of:
10 chest-to-bar pull-ups
2 squat snatches, 245 lb.
Prior to 24:00, complete 3 rounds of:
11 chest-to-bar pull-ups
1 squat snatch 265 lb.

*If all reps are completed, time cap extends by 4 minutes. (These weights are for men.)

Going in, I had no idea if I could do a chest to bar pull up. I felt like I SHOULD be able to, and I knew it would be close.

Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen. I was a few inches away, but knew that even if I got ONE, I’d never get a full round’s worth! I decided to do scaled, which was jumping pull ups.

For the scaled, the weight progression was 35, 55, 65, 75, 95. I knew I was good up to 75. My PR on the snatch is `108, but it wasn’t from the ground (I’m worse from the ground because I have trouble getting into the proper position), and it was right before my senior year of college where I was working hard on my olympic lifts and was super strong, and right before I dislocated my shoulder. The heaviest I’d gotten since my injury has been 75#!

In my warm up, I loaded up to 85, and didn’t even try it because it felt so heavy off the ground.

I went in the second heat, and had a pretty solid pace going through the first 8 minutes, easily making the time cap. By easily, I mean in terms of time, not effort! This felt harder than expected; jumping pull ups actually start to get hard with that many, plus with snatches!

A lot of people around me didn’t scale, so they finished much earlier than I did because they didn’t make the time cap. I was just kind of in the corner, doing my thing. I’m not sure a lot of people realized I was still going, and I was worried they would stop the clock before I finished, until my coach (who knows me) stole the clicker so that couldn’t happen!

Finally, I found myself staring down a 95# bar with 30 people looking on. I honestly didn’t think I would be able to make the lift. I just wanted one, so I took some time to rest and catch my breath, and my coach definitely helped talk to me. I missed the first attempt, but after another minute or so of rest, with 30 people cheering me on, I hit 95#! I knew once it was overhead, I could overhead squat 95#, so catching it up there was the best feeling! I’m so proud of how I did, and was definitely not expecting to get that!

I helped judge other heats, and helped my coach change weights during his attempt at the workout. He was pretty amazing to watch. He hit 1 rep at 245# with no time to spare, and it was epic.

It was so nice to return, and I’m glad I did. Things are changing, my coach is actually about to move away! It left me with both a warm and a weird feeling.

The new location is in downtown Palo Alto, so I walked around a little bit to grab food. I got a delicious iced latte from Zombie Runner (interestingly, Zombie Runner is both a running store and an amazing coffeeshop).

I also picked up a Subway salad to go and took it to campus to hang out with my sister while she watched her fiancé play quidditch.

Plus a chocolate chip cookie!

After a little time in the sun, I drove home and was greeted with a delivery!

These blondies are chickpea based! I haven’t had any chickpea based baked goods before, and I must say, based on how they looked in pictures, they weren’t exactly what I was expecting! They’re really moist and kind of spongy, definitely bean based, but still tasty!

For dinner, we ordered take out from The Counter. I whipped up a side salad and split a custom chicken burger with my mom: gruyere, avocado, garlic aioli, tomato, greens, scallions.

And later that night, I was back to Palo Alto to celebrate a birthday (see above).

I woke up Sunday morning SO tired. Go figure. We drove down to Palo Alto again so I could run and my parents could walk the pup.

We grabbed lunch outside on campus, and on the way, Chloe met another dog and went fountain hopping!

For lunch, my mom and I shared an iced latte, a breakfast arepa (with scrambled eggs), and a salad with goat cheese, dried cranberries, and honey vinaigrette.

Then, we went to Tin Pot for ice cream. The TCHO chocolate is my favorite ice cream ever. But look how tiny the scoop was!

On the drive home:

Thanks to the beautiful weather, we had happy hour before making a summery dinner.

On the menu was grilled pineapple and grilled chicken, roasted cauliflower with parmesan, and a side salad with blueberry balsamic and blueberries.

We didn’t have any teriyaki sauce to marinate the chicken, so I made a marinade blend of liquid aminos, honey, garlic, rice vinegar, ginger salad dressing, and sesame seeds.

It truly feels like spring in CA now!

Getting Better+Cranberry Everything

Date: November 30, 2016

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Guys! Blogmas will begin shortly! In fact, this is probably the last normal post before it starts. I haven’t decided how I want to handle day to day things during Blogmas. I might include them in my Blogmas posts, or I may be double posting in a day. We shall see.

I wanted to recap a little food and a little fitness before I take a little trip tomorrow. Blogmas Day 1 and 2 posts are all typed up, scheduled, and ready to go!

All I’ve done fitness-wise this week is Crossfit. I was really excited for Monday’s workout. We are preparing for the open. It’s always interesting to see how different boxes prepare in terms of their programming. At my box last year, we did a ton of longer workouts, like 3 10 minute AMRAPS with a few minutes of rest in between. Where I am now, we’re working on endurance in the form of disgustingly long sets. We’re doing a set of 20 back squats, and a set of 20 presses. This week I did 120 lbs for the squat. It’s crazy how I can be sore from just one set. I was not excited for that. The thing I WAS excited for? We redid 16.2. I was really happy with my performance when I did it the first time. I had just gotten my toes to bar literally the week before, and was so proud of myself for getting through them. 16.2 was 25 toes to bar, 50 double unders, 15 cleans at 95 lbs. If you finish that in 4 minutes, you move on to do that again in 4 minutes, with the weight on the cleans increasing and the reps decreasing. Last time I got majorly tripped up on my doubles (LOL pun sort of intended), and finished with 46 doubles in the first round. My doubles are MILES better than in March, so I was really excited to tackle this again. Not a lot of people Rxed this so they definitely did more rounds than I did, but I really wanted to see what I could do. The doubles were cake. I finished the toes to bar and doubles in 3 minutes, and got through 5 of the cleans before running out of time. That’s 9 reps better than last time, but it’s a big 9 reps because the cleans are time consuming. I was panting and shaky at the 4 minute mark, and not entirely sad to be done with the workout.

This morning I went to 6am Crossfit because I woke up at 4am and could not fall back asleep. When it was 5:15 and I wasn’t even tired, I figured I should just get up and get it done, especially since I had plans to have a more interesting and large lunch than normal. We worked on snatches, and then the WOD was 3 rounds of 15 wall balls, 15 pull ups, and 15 deadlifts (I used 135#). I knew the pull ups would be a little challenging, but I’m not going to baby myself anymore with pull ups in workouts. Unless it’s a crazy number of reps, I just have to suck it up and do it. I’m at a place now with Crossfit where I feel like I’ve made a ton of progress over the past year, and I’ve started to finally get a lot of the movements, so to progress I need to suck it up and Rx the workouts, as slow as it may be, because the speed will come. Honestly, it’s a little bit of a pride issue. At my box, a lot of people don’t Rx the workouts, which is totally cool with me. But it means when I do Rx them, I’m often one of the last people working. But I need to get over that, because it’s the only way I’ll get better.

In terms of food…

Breakfasts:

Flapjacked muffin with blueberries.

Going strong with cranberry here. Yogurt with cocoa powder and maple syrup stirred in, topped with cranberry sauce. Eaten in about 5 minutes between Crossfit and taking my dog for a walk with a friend.

We got talked into signing up for a CSA box while picking up my bib at the turkey trot. It’s cool in that it’s delivered to your door, and you get to pick what you get in your box. I don’t always like Gala apples, but this was delicious. I had it with my typical breakfast (at least for the past 3 months) of yogurt, sunbutter, and cinnamon KIND granola.

Lunches:

Leftover Whole Foods Chicken Lemon Artichoke soup with avocado toast.

Chinese food! I think everyone has that one Chinese restaurant that they’ve been going to forever. My sister just got back from 3 months in Europe, 2 of which were spent in Florence, Italy, and she was craving Chinese food like crazy. I haven’t had it in quite some time as well because I was worried soy sauce (it has a little gluten) would cause me to flare. Now, I feel pretty safe that it won’t, so I was excited as well! I started with egg drop soup, and then got chicken and vegetables with fried rice. And always extra sweet and sour sauce. To put on rice, to put on veggies, to put on chicken. Why not?

Dinners:

My mom and I have been on our own for dinner this week, and we both are fans of simple. We made open faced turkey and havarti sandwiches. Normally we do these with apples on top, but I wanted to try them with cranberry sauce. The verdict? Delicious. We also happened to buy some turkey that was more like carved turkey than deli turkey on accident, so it was perfect with the cranberry sauce! On the side, we sautéed up some zucchini noodles, one day with garlic, and another with smokey salt seasoning blend.

Etc.

After 16.2, I was sort of shaky and light headed, so I needed sugar and protein ASAP. I tried this flavor for the first time while cooking dinner. I saw it in St. Louis but never made the leap. It’s good! Who can complain with chocolate though, right? The cinnamon chocolate works with yogurt.

Trader Joe’s has really delicious peppermint bark. It’s SUPER thick and really hard to break up though! My sister also hadn’t been to Trader Joe’s in 3 months, so she was just a bit excited to go. I was really excited to see GF peppermint jo-jos. I got them, took a bite out of one, and then thought to check the label. They have coconut oil :/ I decided “screw it” and finished the cookie, but thanks to a coconut allergy I can’t eat them since I’m going to react. Darn. Why is coconut oil in everything these days?? At least I have peppermint bark to ease the pain though, right?

My first coffee back in CA! This was good. Search for the best coffee round 2?

Also, note: I am wearing jeans. It’s been at least 10 months since I wore jeans. Mark your calendars.

This dessert right here is part of why I firmly believe there is space for a dessert every day. That bowl is only 140 calories. 120 without whipped cream. A serving of Halo Top, a spoonful of delicious gourmet salted rum caramel sauce from St. Helena (in Napa Valley), what could be better?

And with that, I’m signing off. Check back in tomorrow for Blogmas Day 1!

First Day in California

Date: November 21, 2016

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey guys! Today was my first day back in California so I thought I’d share my meals.

Breakfast:

I woke up 6am after 6 hours of sleep, thanks to a touch of jet lag. My stomach is still on central time!

I ordered a whole bunch of Flapjacked muffins and they actually beat me home! They arrived within like 3 days of shipping. Double chocolate is my favorite. I swear it’s like lava cake if you uncool it a little (and there are no eggs so no worries about that!)

I spent the morning running errands with my mom (which included a trip 2 Old Navy and 2 groceries). My grandma is coming into town today so there was lots to prepare!

Lunch:

My mom made crockpot lemon chicken rice soup a little while ago and thawed some out. I ate that with added spinach and feta. Avocado toast on the side, with Trader Joe’s Everyday seasoning blend.

Snack:

I saw someone on Instagram post about this company’s new sunbutter, so I checked them out. When I saw they had GF nut free bars, of course I had to try them out. The base of these bars is a seed blend of pumpkin, sunflower, and flax seeds. I ordered 2 flavors: chocolate and sea salt and apple ginger. It’s a smaller company, and I actually got a handwritten note which I thought was a really nice touch.

This was really, really good. It was chewy and had the perfect amount of salty. I will definitely order these again. It’s always nice finding new bar options other than just Luna bars!

I also had a couple of pieces of crystallized ginger.

Workout:

I went to my home Crossfit, the one where I first started Crossfit. I haven’t been too much lately, but this time I’m here for the long haul! For strength, apparently we’re doing endurance in preparation for the Crossfit Open, so we did one set of 20 back squats at 60%. Yuck. Yuck yuck yuck. I hate long sets. I used to think 10 was long…I was panting by the end of the set. We then did strict press for a set of 20.

I’m really proud of how I did during the WOD. I Rxed it, and it’s not one I could have Rxed a few months ago.

50 double unders

30 pull ups

30 wall balls

50 double unders

I knew right away that the pull ups would be my slow point here. I started doing sets of 5 kipping but ended up breaking it up even smaller as I went through. The pull up bars here were sort of hard to hold on to, so that made things more difficult.

One of my biggest downfalls for double unders is having tired arms. When my arms are tired, my double unders go. So coming off pull ups and wall balls wasn’t fun. I finished in 7:28. I was the last one to finish, but not by a lot, which I’m proud of!

Dinner:

My mom and I were on our own tonight, so we made one of our favorites, an open faced turkey and havarti sandwich.

This sandwich was from a cookbook that we first made years ago. It’s mayo+dijon, grated Havarti cheese, red onion, arugula (we used spinach though), turkey, apple, and ground pepper. The whole thing is put in to broil until the cheese is bubbly. We got the Havarti from Trader Joe’s and it was actually pretty different. It was softer and creamier. It was good! On the side, we roasted shaved brussels sprouts with a touch of oil, garlic, and pepper, and then added truffle salt when it came out of the oven. SO good.

For dessert, I had a piece of gluten free orange cranberry bread. It’s not “healthy” bread, but it’s delicious and that’s good enough for me, especially for dessert!

Here’s the recipe.

Plus a few milk chocolate chips.

I hope everyone is having a great short week leading up to the big holiday!