What I Ate Wednesday +my week in review of workouts!

This last week I was a horrendous picture taker...I think that is because alot of my stuff was the same this week...and my workouts were off since we were moving and I was a little more tired so I had more rest days. This past weekend we ate out quite and bit and I've been making a point to not be on my phone when we are out so I sort of forgot to take photos! I will be better this week....but I do have a few photos to share:

Starting off with the awesome stuff! ;) These are Stroopwafel's . They are an AMAZING Dutch treat. Our very sweet landlords left us a whole tinful of them and we've been slowly enjoying them. The teenager & I split this one as they are VERY sweet. They are two very thing waffles sandwiched around caramel! Oh yeah, amazing. We still have to make it down to the famous street market to try the fresh ones!

This is an amazing herbal tea we got to try for the mornings. I don't drink a ton of coffee anymore but wanted something to add to my lemon water...this is FANTASTIC!

My tuna salad for lunch this week (I have had it twice so far & probably again on Friday): Two handfuls of spinach, half can of tuna, some cucumbers, tomato, and green onion, a quarter of an apple, a chopped up pickle, and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.

This is the breakfast I've had a couple times this last week too: one egg, two egg whites, a large handful of spinach, tomatoes, green onion, and a spelt bagel with mashed avocado! 

Side note: spelt product are really big over here almost every bakery has stuff made with spelt...anyone know why??? (I'm seriously asking because I don't know lol)

Now this past week my "workouts" seem a bit funny since they weren't formal workouts but I burned a ton of calories I think: 

Last Wednesday: 40 min run and Insanity cardio recovery. This almost didn't happen since I was tired and hot but did it anyway and it was fantastic!

Thursday: Was moving all day carrying heavy bags, no workout

Friday: Just took a day off I was tired and just didn't feel like it. I did do some walking to our new home and did some cleaning and packing and walked around downtown for a solid 5 hours in crazy heels.

Saturday: Cleaning all day, went and bought bikes and took a bike ride. Went to our old place to finish getting stuff...realized we didn't have a key for the apartment so hubby & kiddo hung out together while I ran to the tram, ran a mile to our apartment, got the key ran a half mile to the train station, missed the train, sprinted to the bus that almost left me then ran a quarter mile to where hubby & kiddo were hanging out. Then walked around all evening downtown and ate dinner while people watching before the World Cup game started. We then carried crazy heavy bags (like 50 lbs+) down the stairs together and moved them into our new place.

Sunday: Rest day. Went to a birthday party at a local museum and learned some awesome stuff, walked around for 4 hours+ in crazy heels again and came home and took a few mile bike ride.

Monday: Insanity fit test and tried this "l-stand" and realized I did a plank thing instead of the L-stand...when I did the actual L-stand it was way easier than this: 

Which was crazy hard and really used my inner abs...I'm going to keep doing it. The L-Stand was so much like a hand stand that I didn't find it challenging at all.

Tuesday: 30 minute run and stretching where I found an awesome piece of art I will write about tomorrow.

Yesterday's post run selfie! hehe I loved the reflection happening in the water so couldn't resist taking this one!

So, how was your week? Get your workouts in? Have anything yummy to eat?

Glorious Summer What I Ate Wednesday +week in review of workouts!

I really have to get a better title for my What I Ate Wednesday posts...these are hard though because well, they are what they are! But, I had a *spam* commenter say the titles were "boring" and if a spammer thinks its boring...in my mind there is no doubt it is...so I need to get my creative brain flowing.....so this week I added "Glorious Summer" to the title since we kicked off summer vacation this past week finally....but, I still need to figure out what else to title these...for now though, I will continue to call a spade a spade ;)




I feel like I wasn't a very good journal-er for this week my food photos are really sort of random! ha!

Breakfast one morning: Oatmeal with almond milk, coconut oil, blueberries, chia seeds, blueberries, banana slices, cinnamon, and a tiny bit of vanilla sugar (I made, recipe coming soon it is amazing)

This was a quinoa scramble minus the eggs. We've been using up food because I am too lazy to transport it from one house to the other lol So this has a little bit of everything in it: peppers, onions, mushrooms, quinoa patties I made and had frozen topped with a bit of cheese. It was perfect after a nice 40 minute run & some insanity cardio recovery.

I confess: this is canned pineapple lol It was still delicious & I used the pineapple juice it was packed in to make a delicious drink with pineapple juice, pear juice, and some lemon...it was very yellow. :P

This is probably my most favorite salad ever! I will be posting the recipe soon...but it is so delish!

Hubby worked late one night and the kiddo and I didn't have to be creative so veggie nuggets and sweet potato pieces and onions it was. Easy, fast, and we had leftovers ;)

Finally...we had a great little treat day this past week on Friday. School let out Thursday so we partied hearty on Friday with a day at the beach & some delicious treats!

For me: Mojito...so tasty! For teenager: Coke

We split this tasty little concoction....nachos with salsa and guac and some chicken satay. Satay was a bit much for me I only had one skewer...the teenager devoured them though! 

Finally...some ice cream! No better way to kick off summer than some awesome ice cream and a walk on a bright sunny day along the canals of Amsterdam!

It was a great week and I really stuck to eating clean and healthy a majority of the time! This is good for me because I have been caught in a "cheating rut" for a while now...(btw, a "cheating rut" is where every meal is a cheat meal lol)

Now for my week in workouts! This has been a fantastic week for me. My legs are super sore, but I am more energized and feeling accomplished after my workouts even on days when I wasn't particularly looking forward to the workouts...

Last Wednesday: Ran 30 minutes and stretched...I did my C25K...it truly was an awful run. I was still lethargic after our Paris trip but, I got out there and did it and had a great time! 

Thursday: Insanity Cardio Power & Resistance

Friday: we were at the beach all day and our train coming home was late! We at dinner and I ALMOST didn't work out....but, I started getting mad at myself for not working out so I got up & did it! This is the end result of Insanity Pure Cardio! 

Sweaty & gross but feeling amazing!

Saturday: P90X Stretch and date night since it was raining all day I wasn't up for a run in the freezing rain ;)

Sunday: Got up at 7am and went for a run before everyone got up...did a 40 minute run then came home and did Insanity Cardio Recovery. 

Monday: 20 minute run with the teenager that included two sets of 20 second sprints, then some Insanity Cardio Abs...my abs still ache ;)

Tuesday: Insanity Plyometric Cardio Circuit

Starting today I may have to change my schedule around since it looks like it is supposed to be really rainy the rest of this week and I am not a fan of running in the rain in this colder European climate....but, hopefully it will be nice enough for me to get up and do my 40 minute scheduled run with my cardio recovery...but we will see...may wind up being pure cardio ;)

How about you...if you run do you run in the rain? If you don't run what is your favorite thing to do for exercise?

What I Ate Wednesday: European Edition +my week in workouts of course!

Woohoo! Finally back to What I Ate Wednesday! These last few weeks were so hectic I haven't been able to even think about blogging! But, I am finally back in full force! So, over the last week & a half here is a selection of what I've been eating...be warned there are a ton of pictures.

Discovered these cookies on our flight from London to Amsterdam...then found them at the grocery store. My word are they addictive. I have to tell myself I can just have one with my afternoon coffee that is all no more. Except today, when I sort of gave in after dinner and wanted a second lol They are chocolate chip (white dark & milk) then lined on the bottom with chocolate!

Found this granola to go in my yoghurt. It is super, super tasty! Has 8 grams a protein per serving and the dates are what give it a sweet taste.

Brioche. I'd never had this before. Simply amazing. Light, sweet bread...mmmm

Found fresh squeezed juices at our supermarket! They are amazing. This one in particular. Think I may do a juice cleanse with them!

Real cream. Before we left Canada I was sometimes using whipping cream in my coffee...that stuff doesn't even come close to this. I mean seriously. It is so thick I hardly need but a drop in my coffee. Amazing, amazing stuff. 

These are so fun. When we'd left a "selling" point to the teenager was a typical dutch breakfast was bread with some sort of spread (butter, peanut butter, etc) and sprinkles. I had my bread with the shavings & she has had the rainbow sprinkles so far & we really really like it. It is a nice treat. Something fun to start the morning off.

Our first dinneri n our new apartment. Roasted chicken from the market, corn, leftover lasagna, and fruit salad.

This is the other juice I got. It is pear, mango, mint. I was sort of afraid of it, but I am currently craving it & am going to have it with some egg for breakfast!

Sweet bread, gouda, and grapes. Need I say more?!

Breakfast our second day here: eggs, salad, bread. No I didn't eat all of that bread. All the salad yes, all the egg yes, but only half of that deliciously crusty baguette!

This was heaven in a bowl. I am still trying to get my digestive tract to recover from it, but it was well worth it. This is a giant bowl of the cheesiest best lasagna from a local Italian place. I could only eat a third, then the three of us split it during our first dinner in our new apartment. I decided the next time I can have this is my birthday lol

Also, this last week I put together an insane burpee & squat challenge.

It went really well. Was super sore, especially Monday after doing all the workouts on Sunday. 

Monday I did this apartment friendly workout:

I was sweating a ton during this. I didn't think I'd be too sore though. Boy was I wrong! I was working incredibly hard during this routine and today my arms & booty are definitely feeling it!

Tuesday: 20 minute yoga for digestion. I told you I am still recovering from that lasagna lol 

Today: I will do Blogilates Ultimate Hot Body Workout along with a nice long walk around our neighborhood

I'm working on scheduling my workouts for the rest of this week and next week. Trying to mix it up and work my body in different ways.

Menu Plan Monday #29 + a small weekend recap

Good Monday Morning! I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend! Ours wasn't too busy for once we mostly just hung out at home. The husband caught up on some gaming, I got quite a few projects completed, we decorated the house for Christmas and did the laundry! Here is what it looked like in pictures...

For New Restaurant Friday we went to a place called Abode. It is close to our house located in the Blue Horizon Hotel. Those chicken wings were amazing (the sauce they come with was bleh, don't eat that), the steak and frites was good (especially the frites), the buger and salad I had were amazing as well. Although that took some squishing and cutting to get one bite in my mouth! ha! Don't know if we will go back any time soon, but it was enjoyable if you are in the area.

This was the rest of our weekend Saturday my daughter's gym had their showcase. First competition is next weekend, we are so excited! Then I worked on her advent calendar, I made some yarn covered "sticks"  (tutorial to come), I worked on a wreath, and did some yoga! It was a fabulous weekend all-in-all and can't wait to do it in 4 more days!

Now though it's time to get down to business for the week...

Go check out all the other menu's linked up at Org Junkie!

Breakfast Options:

Hard boiled eggs, overnight oats, muffins, pancakes, sweet potato/potato hash

Lunch Options:

Leftovers, egg muffins, salad, philly roll ups

Dinner:

Monday: Pizza Burgers with salad

Tuesday: Beef stew with rolls or cornbread

Wednesday: Leftovers/Breakfast for dinner

Thursday: Pork chops with carrots, squash, corn

Friday: New Restaurant Friday

Saturday: Sausage and peppers with roast potato & sweet potato pieces

Sunday: Chicken breasts with corn, sauteed pears or pear sauce, and squash

So, that is it for me today! What are you doing to get ready for the holidays? 

What I Ate Wednesday/WOD's #16

Well, well, well back around to....

Hard to believe it is that time again from last week...here's a peek:

Mmmmm....Via Pumpkin Flavour! So yummy and easy to make! Basically a hair under a cup of milk mixed with the packet! I use almond milk so it's a nice 100 calorie snack!

Halloween came early in my latte at breakfast Saturday morning.

Went to Dunn's Smoked Meats for our New Restaurant Friday. Got a grilled cheese, I took off most of the meat lol 

Breakfast Tuesday morning. Two hard boiled eggs, crackers with jelly, berries, and milk

I have been forgetting to take pictures of my food this week. I have been keeping on track and keeping it pretty healthy. Will be doing more cooking in the coming week so will have a lot more to post ;)

 Just finished up week one of the Focus T25 Beta Cycle!

This is what my week looked like:

Wednesday: Core cardio, awesome. Probably my favourite video.

Thursday: Speed 2.0

I believe this is from Speed 2.0. In this video there are different rounds that have two levels. Then at the end your work your way continuously through all the exercises. I am going to do a full on write up of it like I did for Alpha.

Friday: Rip't circuit. Finally got some weights in, thought my arms would fall off! ;) 

Saturday: Rest day, was tired and didn't want to do anything! I did manage to stretch though! :D

Sunday: Dynamic core. Standing core and horizontal core...tough stuff.

Monday: Doubles; upper focus and core cardio.

Made for a great workout! Loved these two together!

Tuesday: Rest day. Did some walking.

Coming up for this week: 

I want to get back on a Monday through Friday workout schedule so for week two of Beta I will be doing doubles Wednesday, Thursday, and of course Friday. I then will take Saturday and Sunday as "rest" days. Then pick up the following Monday with Week 3. I say "rest" because on Saturday the teen & I are running...

We are so excited and can't WAIT! Should be a blast. I will also stretch Saturday. Sunday, if I wake up on time I will go to Yoga at Lulu lemon, but we'll see...I'm not putting any real pressure on making that happen! 

So, what are your goals for the upcoming week? Anything special?

What I Ate Wednesday's/WOD's #15

Whew! This has been one busy week in my world! Between having company in town, getting ready for back to school, and doing a blogging challenge I've really been hopping!

But, for the good stuff...I'm super proud of what I accomplished this week in fitness. We had family come into town, but I didn't let that get me off track...I kept on truckin'! It was my last week of Alpha Round of T25 so this is what it looked like....

Wednesday: Total Body Circuit
Thursday: Ab intervals
Friday: Total body circuit, lower focus; lots of walking in the evening with the hubby to find a new restaurant to try
Saturday: Active rest; walked, and walked, and walked with family that came into town. I'm pretty confident we walked at least 9 miles.
Sunday: Cardio; again lots of walking.
Monday: Active rest again, quite a bit of walking
Tuesday: Was supposed to be total body, but since I injured myself during that one once I don't really enjoy it so I did Speed 1.0
Wednesday: Start T25 Beta-Core Cardio

Goals for the upcoming week: Use my pear heart rate monitor when doing all workouts; participate each day in a fitness challenge, and remember to drink my protein shake and get in one salad a day!

Now for the other fun stuff....

I should mention...these are in no particular order lol....

Monday's Breakfast at the Elbow Room

Sunday's breakfast at Urban Fare..just egg whites and a delicious multi-grain bagel

Last Saturday's Dinner...Korean BBQ 

Tuesday's Lunch...Pho...I'd never had it before so stepped out of my comfort zone. I loved it with this delicious sweet almost teriyaki type sauce and a little siracha. This was at Lemongrass Cafe in Richmond, BC. 

Lunch at Cora's in Richomond, BC last Friday when taking the kiddo to a sleepover. It was potatoes, all kinds of veggies, two over easy eggs, and fresh fruit!

The Stanley Park salad, from this little bistro in Stanley Park. It was delicious. It had raw hazlenuts and dried blueberries along with goat cheese and a maple vinegarette!

So, that is the highlights of my week in food in fitness....how was your week?

What I Ate Wednesday/WOD's #14

Hello! Welcome back to another edition of....

Over the last week or so I have really wanted to start focusing on nutrition again. When I lived in Santa Monica it just sort of came easy for me. Not quite sure why, maybe it was because I was constantly surrounded by fitness, it was warm all the time, and we had a lot of "fast food" places that served good, whole foods. Plus I had an objective in mind to be super healthy. Once we moved to the land of the rain I just sort of fell off the healthy eating bandwagon and wanted to know how many dark chocolate hot cocoa's I could drink in a day ;) They sure were good, but my thighs don't agree! But, I've taken my time to plan and prep this week. I've also really slowed down when it comes to meals and have been enjoying cooking really healthy foods again. I forgot how much I love to prepare and gently cook all those yummy fruits and veggies! So, anyway...here is the deliciousness I've consumed this week....

Beet Lemonade: Two small beets, one lemon, one apple put through the juicer. Very tasty! Plus, who can resist this guy's hot pink fabulousness?!

Last Thursday hubby & I had an impromptu date night and this bad boy was Flambéd right at our table. Totally worth the splurge!

Shrimp I had right along with the cheese. So yummy!

So, this was dinner the other night. Vegan pate, homemade vegan spaghetti o's , watermelon, grapes, and zucchini. The kiddo loved the spaghtetti o's! She's had several more servings since! haha

This is from an all local food truck. It was basically a salad in a pita (I just at the middle lol). It was super tasty, had 3 different types of fish in there!

This was my entree from our New Restaurant Day. It's a salad with some sort of maple dressing, and a veggie burger with all the fixin's. Very, very tasty, especially with that fried pickle! ;) Almost felt like I was back home....

Appetizer from our new restaurant Friday (which was really Saturday lol). Pretzel with mustard dip, the other was a bacon peanut butter dip, it was ok....

And one of my favorite things from the last week....Skinny Strawberry Margarita!

Those were my food choices. Some great, some eh, but getting to the better choices as the week goes on. ;)

My workouts have been going much better! Thank goodness I didn't injure myself too badly a few weeks ago when I fell during a workout  so I've been able to resume my workouts 100% with no issues and I've been going at them well! Here's what it's looked like for me:

Wednesday: T25 Cardio, Nooner Yoga at Canada Place, plus morning and afternoon stretching

Thursday: T25 Total Body Circuit, a little foam rolling (just learning, played with it a bit)

Friday: T25 Ab intervals and Speed 1.0 (by far my favorite workout from the series!)

Saturday: Lower Focus, lots of walking with the hubby and the kiddo around town

Sunday: Total Body Circuit, lots of walking around town with the kiddo stretching in the am & pm

Monday: Was supposed to be a rest day but I did a squat challenge in one of my fitness groups, 20 deadlifts on each leg from this silly exercise "game" where you share an exercise on your page & have to do 5 of the exercise for every like, then I found a new app called 7 that gives you a 7 minute workout everyday, then I did my T25 Stretching. It wound up being quite the "rest" day....Tuesday was super sore!

Tuesday: Super sore, but knew I had to get moving. We did a 3 mile walk to the aquarium, then I did my 7 minute app, then did T25 stretching. 

 Starting today I am in Week 5 of the Alpha Cycle of T25. I have a write up coming of what I think of the program thus far...a part of my honest account that got side tracked while on vacation. I'll start the week off with total body. This is my least favorite & I have it 3 times this week...as Shaun T says I'll have to dig deep ;)
I am also sad because this is the last week for Nooner Yoga at Canada Place. I am not sure it will happen because the weather is supposed to be fairly icky. But, I am glad for the bit of time I did get to join in. There is still yoga in the evenings at the same place on Tuesday & Thursday until Sept 12th, but it was canceled yesterday due to weather, I am not sure if it will resume :-/ I guess we'll see what Mother Nature has in store for us!

Fitness Goals for the week: Stick to my T25 schedule, work on my splits each day, and only put good, whole foods in my body!!! What are your goals for the week?