It’s a Sunshine Day!

“Anything you’re good at contributes to happiness.”- Bertrand Russell

(Click here if you can’t view it above)

Oh yeah, I went there. Come on! Admit it, you love The Brady Bunch.

Good evening! How was your Tuesday? Is anyone as ready for the weekend as I am?

Today was busy (like usual ) but I felt like I got a lot accomplished!

Breakfast:

My alarm went off at 8:30 (woo hoo!) and I saw that I had an e-mail from the professor of my first class stating that class was cancelled! Yay! Instead of rolling over and going back to sleep, I decided to start my day anyway! I was super excited for breakfast because I had something NEW to add to it!

I received this from the lovely people over at Sunbutter. My first experience with Sunbutter was when I received a sample of it in a race bag back in October. (I also did a guest blog post for them in December.) It was an acquired taste, but after my PB issues yesterday I couldn’t WAIT to dig into it!

It paired perfectly with this morning’s yogurt bowl.

In the mix:

• 1 container Chobani Plain Greek Yogurt
• 1/2 apple
• 1/4 c. multi grain oats
• 1 T cinnamon
• 1 T Sunbutter Natural Sunflower Seed Spread (melted a little in the microwave)

Mmmmmm…. delicious!

I have some recipe plans with that jar of perfection so stay tuned.

(Oh, and I wanted to take a picture of my breakfast outside this morning because it was too pretty! So I went outside on my balcony (PJ’s and all) and just as I am about to take a picture, I see my neighbor on the balcony next to me giving me a weird look. I smile and hightailed it back inside and took the pictures in the light box. Needless to say it was pretty embarrassing and now I’m the “crazy neighbor who takes pictures of her food.”

I went to my remaining morning classes and then headed to the gym for a workout. The gym wasn’t as crowded as last night because it was the middle of the day. Originally I was going to spend 30 minutes cycling and 20 minutes or so in the pool. However, I got a little held up and did not have time to go into the pool. But I did get a VERY sweaty spin session in on the spiffy bikes (Part I of my workout for the day).

Excuse the pictures- I took them with my phone.

Ooooooo….

Ahhhhhhh…..

It’s pretty neat actually. And the screen is a touchscreen! Very high tech.

As you can see above I did 11.4 miles in 30:00. I did an interval setting which was 90 seconds of peddling with higher resistance with 60 seconds of lower resistance recovery.

After getting back from the gym, I did not have too much time to shower, eat, and get to class. I wasn’t too hungry anyway, so I opted for a high protein shake!

Lunch:

In the mix:

• 1 handful of spinach
• 5 frozen strawberries
• 9 frozen peach slices
• 1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder
• 1/4 c. oats
• 1/4 c. almond milk
• 1/2 c. water

After my afternoon class (which I had to sit out of because we were dancing), I made my way back to my apartment to do a little homework and then part 2 of my workout for the day- weight training.

I am very happy with the consistency and schedule I have gotten into with it. I know I do the same thing all the time, but right now, I am not supposed to do ANY lower body weight training due to my leg. So, as long as I am getting stronger with the upper body exercises I’m doing, I think I’m ok.

DB Row: 4 sets of 8 each arm (30 lbs), 1 set of 8 each arm (32.5 lbs)

DB Standing Press: 5 sets of 5 (20 lbs each arm)

DB Chest Press (Lying Down): 3 sets of 7 (20 lbs), 2 sets of 8 (20 lbs)

DB Hold: 3 sets of 60 sec (45 lbs each arm)

Planks: 1 sets of 60 sec, 2 sets of 65 sec

Side Planks: 3 sets of 55 sec each side

Push-ups: 3 sets of 12

Bicycle Crunches: 3 sets of 15 each side

I promise to have this in spreadsheet form this weekend. I am actually progressing and getting stronger and I am seeing a difference in my arms.

I also threw in my PT stretching exercises and did an ice cup massage on my shin. I have quite a bit of bruising from my PT session yesterday, but other than that, I’m feeling good. The front of my shin doesn’t hurt as much when you press down on it.

After my second dose of exercise for the day, it was dinner time, and I had NO idea what I wanted. After staring into the pantry for a good 10 minutes, I decided to just throw something together. Usually I am better with planning out meals for the week, but this weekend I did not have time to do it. So I am flying by the seat of my pants this week.

Dinner:

I cooked up a big batch of lentils (I have a ton of leftovers!) and made a spicy black bean “salad”.

In the mix:

• 1 can reduced sodium black beans (rinsed)
• 1 T picante sauce
• 2 T lemon juice
• 1 carrot chopped
• 1/2 zucchini chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic minced
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/4 tsp paprika

Not my best creation, but it wasn’t awful. I’m going to see if it tastes better tomorrow after everything has had time to marinate overnight.

On the side I had a serving of steamed broccoli and zucchini.

I enjoyed this dinner while participating in tonight’s FitBlog Chat.

Whew! I’m exhausted! I’m off to do my PT stretches again, ice my shin, shower, and hit the sack! Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Does your gym have any cool workout equipment? Do you plan your weekly meals or just ‘wing it?’

FTC Disclaimer: Sunbutter sent me a complementary sample of their product for review. All reviews of the product are strictly my own and I was in no way reimbursed by the company to share my opinion.