Life's a Beach and So is This Workout

Every time I think I'm done with my workout I come across another exercise I want to add.  But I finished it!  And here it is:

  

If you have a hard time reading it you can also see it here.

Try it out and tell me what you thinik.  I'd love you feedback.  I did 3 sets this morning and I'm beat.  3 sets took me about 45 minutes and that was going semi slow.    I have to say my MP3 player helped me get through the last set.  Watch my blog for a post on the correlation between music and exercise.

I finished my workout with 16 minutes of stairs.  I told myself I only had to listen to 4 songs on my MP3 player and then I could quit the stairs.  Somehow I managed to time it so I was listening to 4 long songs.

Well it's off to the pool for the girls swim practice for the 4th of July. 

Prompt:

How do you jump into a new blog post?

Honestly my blog posts are about something that happened during my day so as soon as I "jump" out of bed my blog posts write themselves.  And I write my blog posts down on paper and work on them throughout the day.  In the evening I type them up and post them.

Brazilian Carrot Cake

I wish I could be like one of these great fitness bloggers who's thoughts seem to transition smoothly from one to the next.  Mine seem to jump around.  But, I'm working on it.  I feel like I'm getting better about it.

You want to know what else is getting better?  My beach workout.  If I get to go to the beach tomorrow then I will have it finished and perfected!!!  This is seriously is a big thing for me.  My first workout published on my blog.  It makes me feel like I'm getting somewhere.

You know what you'll be able tyo use my workout for?  Burning off the AWESOME Brazilian Carrot Cake that I'm giving you the recipe for.  I saw this recipe on The Chew when Johnny Iuzzini was on.  You can get the original recipe here. I only made a simple change to make it fat free.  

Brazilian Carrot Cake

1 Lb  4 oz. carrots

1 cup egg substitute

8 oz applesauce

16 oz sugar

9 oz all purpose flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1/4 Teaspoon salt  

  

Chocolate Frosting: 

3.5 oz bittersweet chocolate

1 Cup milk

2 Teaspoon honey

1. Preheat the oven to 325 and spray and flour a 9x13 inch pan
2. Peel and rough chop carrots
3. Place all wet ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.
4. Mix in dry ingredients
5. Pour in pan and bake for 40 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean

For the frosting:

1.  Place all ingredients in a saucepan and boil for 5 minutes.  Pour it on the cake while it's warm

It's really good.  It's not your typical carrot cake though.  For starters, it's BRIGHT ORANGE.  Secondly, it's got a typical cake consistency instead of the typical carrot cake consistency (i.e. no chunks of carrots)  Lastly, it's not as sweet as the typical carrot cake and it has a more distinct carrot taste.  

 

The girls liked it though.  I was going to do a fat free cream cheese frosting but I found out that I didn't have enough space in the fridge so I used the chocolate frosting for it.

What's your favorite dessert to work off?


OH YEAH!!  
Don't forget to friend me on Facebook KT Raymond 
And follow me on Twitter @FatFreeQueen

Wanted: Someone to Take My Spot

Does sky diving burn calories?

I made a deal with a very close lifelong friend that if he hasn't gone skydiving by his 30th birthday that I would go with him.  Sky diving is not my thing.  I am TERRIFIED of heights and the scariest part of a roller coaster is the drop.  So, I'm seriously hoping I get out of this promise.  If I don't get out of it I may no longer be able to blog afterwards due to the fact that I have died from a heart attack.  


So is there anyone who'd like to take my spot in 2 years??

Have you been skydiving?  If not would you ever go?

The Next Chapter in My Life

I think that I have finally perfected my workout!  This is very exciting for me.  I feel like I'm taking a small step in my eventual career.

So the next chapter of my life is starting.  I signed up for my first semester courses at the community college.  Yey!  Chemistry, English, Math and Human Nutrition.  I'm actually nervous about starting school.  I feel bad because all my classes are in the afternoon and Mr. Amazing will be picking up the girls from the bus stop.  This will be the first time in 3 years that I won't be around the hear about their day as soon as they get off the bus.  Hopefully in the spring I'll be able to switch campuses so that all my classes will be in the morning and early afternoon.

My new home for the next 4 semesters

So, because I won't be home all day I'll be featuring busy mom/crockpot meals from late August to mid December.  They'll be just as healthy and just as yummy but with half the work/time. 


Do you have any healthy slow-cooker meals?

Did you know I can kick my own butt?

It was supposed to rain this morning so I didn't want to get stuck in the rain like I did the other morning on my walk.  I decided to stay close to home (on the beach of course.)  So, I did what I am going to call the Kick My Butt Beach Workout.  


Kick my Butt Beach Workout

5 incline pushups 

Directions:  Use the beach stairs and put your hands up 2 or 3 steps and do pushups.  Then reverse and put your feet up 2 or 3 stairs and do 5 more

5 sprints 

Directions:  Sprint from the stairs to the waves and back (I got lucky unlucky and it was low tide so I had farther to run)

5 box shuffles 

Directions:  Pick 2 points and side shuffle down and back.  Each down and back counts as 1 rep

5 forward backward jumps 

Directions:  Draw a line in the sand.  Jump forward over it then jump backwards over it.  

25 crunches

25 reverse crunches

Directions:  Get in crunch position.  Lift legs at a 90 degree angle.  Lift your butt up and bring your knees towards your nose. 

30 second plank

I did this for about 30 minutes.  I honestly don't know how many sets I did.  I'm guessing around 5 or so.  At the end of my workout I did 25 mountain climbers, a 30 second V-sit and 10 minutes of stairs.  I was dying at the end.  

Do you have a kick butt workout that you love?

Screwed Up Day

Everything I've tried to do this morning has gotten screwed up.


My walk on the beach?  Baye woke up when my alarm went off at 5:30 this morning so I couldn't go.


Trip to the farmers market?  It started to sprinkle on the way there so I decided not to go.


Trip to the pool?  It was freezing!!  So needless to say we only stayed about 15 minutes.


So I'm just going to answer my prompt for the day.


Do you like scary movies that make you jump?


Yes and no.  I enjoy them but I can't watch them by myself.  If an episode of CSI starts out too creepily and I'm alone in the house I have to turn it off.  


My high school boyfriend loved scary movies.  When we were together I watched a TON of them.  Mr. Amazing isn't too fond of them so I don't watch them as much at all anymore.  


Even when I did watch them often I was always picky about the ones I wanted to see.  I don't like the gorey ones.  Blood and guts isn't my style.  I like the thrillers.  I went to see Hostel in theaters.  This movie is about "Three backpackers head to a Slovak city that promises to meet their hedonistic expectations, with no idea of the hell that awaits them." (IMDB)  
My joke about this movie is that I should have only paid half price for my ticket because I covered my eyes for half the movie and didn't watch.  


I like the older scary movies that imply blood and guts and don't actually show them.  Those can be scarier than the actual thing.  




I found this a few months ago and because of the prompt I think it would be a perfect fit here.

http://reasonstobefit.tumblr.com/

What are your feelings on scary movies?  Can you outrun the murder?
  

12 Day Tone Up, Slim Down

I'm cracking down on my diet.  I have 12 days to get back to my goal weight.


That means 12 days until my anniversary!  I love, LOve, LOVE my anniversary.  There's nothing especially special about what we do on our anniversary.  We spend the day at the beach, go out to dinner and watch the fireworks.  


And then you ask; How do you get fireworks on your anniversary?


My anniversary is July 4th.  I get to imagine that the fireworks are just for me and my hunny, in celebration of our love and marriage.  


Anyway, back to my diet.  I'm doing a 90% fruit, 5% vegetable and 5% other stuff diet.  


Breakfast
Cereal w/ fruit mixed in


Lunch
Fruit


Dinner
1/2 cup yogurt
Fruit mixed in
2 servings of vegetables


Dessert
Bowl of fruit
Sugar free maple syrup (for sweetness)
Fat free Cool Whip (just because it's yummy!)


That mixed with my daily workout so help me drop the pesky 8 lbs before my anniversary.




Thursday prompt:   Have you ever jumped out of your skin?

I am a jumpy person in general.  Mr. Amazing works a lot of nites so it's me and the kids in the house after dark.  Kay loves to come and stand in my doorway.  This is what I see -->


She won't say anything, she won't make any noise, she just stands there.  Makes me jump every single time.  Normally I end up screaming at the top of my lungs she scares me so bad.  There have been times I have almost thrown things at her.  It kills me when she does that!


What makes you jump?

So UN-Stuffed!

I've been bad about keeping a well stocked fridge since we've gotten back from vacation. I also don't have my meal plan done for this week.  So dinner is "whatever we have in the house."  

Tonite's dinner was supposed to be tuna stuffed peppers.  The peppers the girls picked out were very oddly shaped.  So I couldn't use them to put the stuffing into.  So instead I made Tuna UN-Stuffed Peppers.  I adapted this from the Starkist website

Tuna UN-Stuffed Peppers  

3 cans Tuna in Water, drained

1 bell pepper

1 cup chopped onions

1 1/4 cup orzo (you can also use brown rice)

1 cup mozzarella

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Dice the green pepper and onions
3. Spray large skillet with pan spray.  Heat over medium heat.  
4. Add onions and peppers and cook until soft.  If they start to stick then add some water to the pan and let it cook until the water is gone.
5. Mix in orzo and tuna.
6. Spray an 8x8 baking dish.  Put tuna mixture in baking dish.
7. Bake for 15 minutes
8. Add the cheese and bake an extra 5 minutes until the cheese melts

Sauteeing the vegetables

Into the baking dish

Finished!  Ooey, gooey yumminess!!

I only put cheese on half since I didn't have any fat free cheese in the fridge.

Prompt for the day:

How do you cope when nervous?

Honestly?  I bake or I exercise.  If I start nervous baking then we'll have 3-4 different goodies in the house.  The girls honestly love when I'm nervous because they know they'll get a variety of different desserts that we don't normally keep in the house.  

If I start exercising when I'm nervous the sky's the limit for my calorie burning.  I'll swim 90 minutes of laps, walk for 2 hours, run the stairs in my house until my legs are rubber, anything I can do to get my mind off of whatever I'm thinking about.

How do you cope with being nervous?  How well stocked is your fridge?

Mental Fitness

After 2 days of walking on the beach at sunrise by mental clarity has been greatly helped.  My physical fitness has been helped also though.  I walked 3 miles and did 12 minutes of stairs.  On the downside I've been overloading on the desserts.  

Today's dessert was actually quite diet friendly.  It was banana soft serve.  I was inspired by the Yonana machine.  

If you've never heard of the Yonana machine it's an ice cream maker that you put frozen bananas into and it turns them into soft serve.  You can also add other mix-ins so it's not just plain banana soft serve.

Banana Soft Serve

5 bananas

1 T peanut butter (optional)

2 T milk

1. Put all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.
2. Place the banana puree in an ice cream maker and freeze.  (I ran my ice cream maker for about 25 minutes)

No ice cream maker?  No problem!
Use your food processor instead of blender.  Freeze the bananas for a few hours before pureeing and leave out the milk.  Process until smooth.

Sorry I didn't get a picture.  Honestly it's not a very photogenic dessert.  BUT, it is delicious.  Low in calories and loaded with vitamins and minerals.

Kay finished hers in record time.

Would you spend money on the Yonana machine or does the ice cream maker/food processor way work perfectly fine for you?  I know it does for me.

Out and About at 6 A.M.

Frosting + Animal Crackers = Pure Heaven 

Do you agree?

Because of frosting and animal cracker, and cookies, (LOTS AND LOTS of cookies) I've gained weight.  Maybe they should start putting warning labels on sweets:  Warning!  Disastrous to your diet!

I decided to take Mr. Amazing's advice and go for a walk in the morning before the kids wake up.  I was amazed at how calming it was. I'm a morning person, no questions asked but, exercising at 6 a.m. honestly originally wasn't my idea of a fun time.  But after today I can't wait to go back tomorrow morning.  

There's only one thing that I hate about walking in the morning when the sun is barely up.  There are a bunch of random creepy crawlies out that aren't out when the sun is fully up.  I nearly stepped on 3 or 4 crabs.  I don't know why but crabs make me nervous.  I think it's the pinch possibility.  I've been pinched by a crab before at the beach and it's not any fun so, I  stay far away from them now.  

Crab hiding, waiting to attack me

I only walked 2 miles and I did 11 minutes on the stairs at the beach.  I've read some various blogs stating that real stairs are harder than the stairmaster at the gym.  I personally agree.  (When I find the websites again I'll post them, I promise!)  11 minutes on the stair climber would be no big deal but 11 minutes of real stairs wore me out!  

I came home tonite and ate about 1/4 of a carton of ice cream.  It was low-fat frozen yogurt but, I know it killed my calorie burn for the day.  After I started feeling guilty I tossed the rest of the carton away.  Don't worry there was only about 1/4 left in the carton.  

I know I wasted money but I couldn't have it in my house tempting me anymore.  It was ng me, laughing at me.  I did the same thing with a couple cans of frosting.  

How do you deal with things that are tempting you in the house?  Do you toss them or keep them?

Well, good nite!  I'm going to get some rest so I can wake up at see this in the morning:

Daddy's Day and Barefoot Running

First off,

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Mr. Amazing and Sirr on my wedding day.  Don't they look handsome??  

As a side note I'd like to say that Mr. Amazing has lost about 70 pounds since this photo was taken in 2009

I've gained almost 3 pounds since we got home from vacation on Tuesday.  Every time I need to lose weight and want to lose it quick I get this dumb idea to try running.  After one running session I remember how dumb I am and how much running hurts me.  

Bad knees, hips, and ankles + running = NO FUN!!

This morning I did 1 mile.  1 tiny mile.  It took me 10 minutes.  I ran for 30 seconds and walked for 30 seconds.  This is what happened besides immense pain.

I don't know how well you can see them but I have blisters on both big toes.  I go barefoot running, did I mention that?  I hate shoes so much that I prefer barefoot running.  Honestly I would be barefoot all the time if I was allowed to be.  

Supposedly barefoot running is better for you.  

Here are some links about barefoot running:

Harvard Study on Barefoot running

Barefoot Running

Oh this is what I made Mr. Amazing for his Father's Day dinner.  Paula Deen Pot Roast

Do you run?  What are your views on barefoot running?

Frozen Yogurt is the Devil!

Farmers Market Friday is back!

Here's a list of all the things I bought today.

Eggplant
Creamer potatoes
Brussel sprouts
Kiwi
Bananas
Apples
Peaches
Carrots
Green onions
Tomatoes
Green peppers
Jalepenos

Frozen yogurt has been my downfall the past few days.  

It's just so darn good!  Espresso Chip low-fat frozen yogurt from Publix is AMAZING!  I've been meaning to try some fat free fro-yo recipes and wanting to cut calories is a perfect reason to try them out.  

Today I got back on my health wagon.  I took the girls to the pool and I took the dogs for a walk on the beach.  It only lasted 20 minutes due to a nice oncoming rainstorm.

After I got home I recieved a call from the detective handling my ring case.  Looks like I need to take both of my dogs in for x-rays to make sure that they didn't eat my ring.  After losing a very expensive, very sentimental item like an engagement ring some people would look at the "glass" half empty but, honestly I can't.  I can't look at it half full or half empty.  My glass is just half.  Not empty, not full, just half.

Tonite was taco night.  Vegetarian taco night.  The girls love having tacos.  Taco night is only second to sushi night in favorites.  This is a great quick meal.  I served it with shredded lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, sour cream and cheese.

Vegetarian bean taco filling
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can corn
1 can mexicorn
1 large onion, diced

1. Sautee onion until soft
2. Add corn with juice and mexicorn
3. After a few minutes add black beans and heat through

Simple right?

What is your favorite simple meal?

The food I live for

The dinner theme for the month (and possibly all summer) is quick and simple.  The challenge is that dinner should take no longer than 45 minutes to make but still be healthy.  Don't think that every meal is going to be salads and processed foods.  97% of all the meals will be made from scratch just like always.  

Tonite was hot dog nite.  I couldn't find the fat free vegetarian hot dogs in the Publix so I decided to experiment with the things I already had in the house.  I made myself a hot dog using mushrooms, onions, some bread to bind it and egg substitute.  I'm not going to give you the recipe because it still needs to be seriously tweaked.  

Don't think that since I made a mushroom dog that I don't enjoy hot dogs.  I love hot dogs.  They used to be one of my favorite foods.  Before I became a pescatarian I loved anything grilled.  Hot dogs were one of my favorites.  Mr. Amazing and I still joke that we really don't need a stove.  As long as we have a working grill we're okay.  Before I got sick one of my favorite foods was a nice big porterhouse.  Until I found out that my 16 oz porterhouse that I loved to occasionally indulge in had these numbers associated with it.

Doesn't that look yummy?

Calories		707.6
Total Fat		32.5 g
	Saturated Fat	11.6 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	1.4 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	15.2 g
	Trans Fat	0.0 g
Cholesterol		254.0 mg
Sodium		263.1 mg
Potassium		1,329.0 mg
Total Carbohydrate		0.0 g
	Dietary Fiber	0.0 g
	Sugars	0.0 g
Protein		96.5 g

Crazy right?  But now I'm happy with a big bucket of seafood.  I'd rather eat a pound of shrimp.  

Calories		480.5
Total Fat		7.8 g
	Saturated Fat	1.5 g
	Polyunsaturated Fat	3.0 g
	Monounsaturated Fat	1.1 g
	Trans Fat	0.0 g
Cholesterol		689.1 mg
Sodium		670.9 mg
Potassium		838.7 mg
Total Carbohydrate		4.1 g
	Dietary Fiber	0.0 g
	Sugars	0.0 g
Protein		92.1 g

You save 220 calories and almost 30 grams of fat!!  Plus there's a bunch of vitamins and minerals that you get from the shrimp.

What food can't you live without?

Vacation Picture Post

I was going to start doing "What I Ate Wednesday" today but I forgot to take photos after breakfast.  It still bothers me that I can't find my ring.  

Since nothing worth talking about happened today besides getting a wicked sunburn on my shoulders at the beach I'll leave you with a photo post from the trip.

Before I leave you with the photos, the prompt today is "What makes your heart leap?"  And honestly it's my family.  The people in these photos.  They "make my heart happy" (as Kai-Lan would say)

Our fridge before we left.  I used up everything that could go bad. 

Mr. Amazing and the girls in the hotel room

Mr. Amazing, Kay, Baye and me.  Mo wanted to take the picture

Pile up on daddy!

Kay and Mo being silly

 Mr. Amazing kills spiders.  He's the best spider killer I know.

 The girls under the manta in front of the aquarium

Big fish 

Glad that croc's behind glass.  It stared Baye right in the eye.

Bird

We kept joking that there would be a mermaid and low and behold there was!

Seahorse

 Baye and the manta

 Looks like a face doesn't it?

I want to hold my vow renewal ceremony here.  In front of this big window 

A SHARK!

Sea dragon

Jelly fish

Isn't this beautiful?

Kay at dinner

Mo at dinner

Baye 

Excellent place.  If you're ever in Clearwater, FL I highly recommend it.

Mr. Amazing with his oysters and beer.

My super grouper sandwich. I had them cook it with cajun spices and grill it.

Mr. Amazing also got wings.

Kay's burger and fruit

Baye had chicken tenders and fries

Mo's fried shrimp and fries 

We played on the playground by the Pier after dinner

She loves to climb

 Being a good big sister

The Acromaniacs 

Gorgeous sunset.  This was one of the things on my bucket list.  To see the sunset over the water.

The clouds were amazing

Sunset.

Me and Mr. Amazing with the sun setting behind us. 

My whole world.   

Mr. Amazing relaxing by the pool

Mo pretending to be a shark.

The breakfast at the hotel

The waterslide on the cruise ship at the Port of Tampa

Mr. Amazing and Baye playing shop

Me and Baye playing shop

I used the swings as workout equipment.  

Driving to the beach makes me go crazy!