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Posts Tagged ‘body pump’

To Body Pump or Not to Body Pump-that is the question. Maybe someone with far more fitness knowledge than I have can answer it. With the training (running 3 times a week and cross training 2) is it ok to throw Body Pump into that mix two days a week? I certainly don’t want to overdo it but there are some areas where I just feel weak overall. I think some strength training would be ideal. Tuesday and Thursday are shorter training runs (never more than 5 or 6 miles max) and Body Pump only lasts an hour. If this isn’t a good plan then what should I be doing to get in that much needed upper body strength training? I need to figure that out.

I am constantly amazed at how much I don’t know about fitness. When I was in my teens and early twenties I was very active but never learned a lot about exactly what that meant for my body or my health. I didn’t even realize its’ importance until it was too late.  Starting this process essentially means learning a whole new skill set. However, I am dedicated to doing so because I think it’s so incredibly important. A healthy lifestyle is definitely something I want to pass down when some tiny Running In Pink Project fans finally come along. Did you grow up in a health and fitness conscious household?

Today’s training went well. Since this is week one mileage is still very low and I did my 2.5 miles today without complaint. My legs felt strong in spite of yesterday’s bike ride and I am steadily improving in terms of my cardiovascular strength. I also remembered to stretch out really really good before the run and it truly makes a difference. I snapped a photo of this cute butterfly right after leaving the trail today. It kind of captured the mood of the run. It was just a nice, peaceful run.  Next training run is 3 miles Saturday morning.

Today’s “eats” were simple (and did follow my WW good health guidelines) but I did have on of my favorite dinners. We fixed (healthified) BLT’s with center cut bacon (less than 200 calories worth) and whole grain bread along with organic tomato soup. YUM! A little tip-adding some fat free sour cream to tomato soup can really “summer up” the flavor!)

Finally the yummy bread in smaller slices!!

No HFC! Love that!

Simple Summer Dinner


Tonight I am enjoying some much-needed time with the hubs and pups, watching some Vampire Diaries reruns (lame I know!) and shaping up my weekend plans. I do heart a weekend!

Have a Happy and Healthy Thursday!

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Ok so you know that song Supermassive Black Hole by Muse (also known as that cool song that plays during the baseball scene in Twilight) ?

I love that song. It’s great to run to and drive to. It’s not so great when it is the theme of your day. Supermassive black hole issue number one: There is a ginromous hole in our yard. I have never seen it before and it looks big enough for a badger or something to live in. I keep telling myself maybe its a cuddly rabbit living down in there but we all know the truth. Its a snake or something terrible. So now I am obsessed with this hole. The hubs swears it has “always been there” and “nothing is living in it’ but I know better. 🙂 Next supermassive black hole issue: there is a huge black void on my laptop screen.

Yep. Something has gone horribly wrong with my screen. The lap top is one masters degree plus 2 years old (so like going on 5 years)  and worth less than the cost of the repair so it looks like I am in the market for a new laptop. What kind of laptop do you have? Do you love it? I have been coveting the pink laptops by Dell for a while. How nice would it be to write Running In Pink Project on a pink laptop? I think its meant to be!

Now, my last black hole moment is that I finally seem to be over the big black holes ie: ZEROS that have haunted my weight loss for the last 3 weeks. I lost 3.2 lbs today for a total of 33.6.  This is pretty exciting because I am 1.6 lbs away from a 35 pound loss, 4.8 lbs away from making my May mini challenge and 8lbs away from my first major goal point. So YAY! I am sticking with my scale free living this week. Eat Well, Workout Hard, and Stress Less. That is my mantra!

I started my morning with another “to go” breakfast sandwich from the hubs. He is the best breakfast maker ever. I also took a princess cup of coffee.

Lunch was a whole grain bun with turkey, spinach, lettuce, tomato, onion, bell peppers, banana peppers and pickles. Essentially it was a veggie sandwich with a little turkey. I also had a side of tart green apple slices. I did get the sandwich from Subway. Subway was never on my “naughty list” for the fast food challenge but I avoided it anyway just to see if I could (and I did). I don’t love Subway but I was wanting all of those veggies today. Lately I have been craving grains/protein/veggies in combination. Maybe my body is trying to tell me something.

I also had a Kashi granola bar later in the afternoon. These TLC bars are awesome. Pretty low calorie for a bar and you know me and dried cranberries. I love this!

Dinner tonight was chicken mug soup ala Rachael Ray. I love this because its healthy and comforting. My major substitution is using fat free 1/2 and 1/2 instead of cream. The calories I save in this case are worth the unnaturalness that comes from fat free cream.  Ivery much prefer organic whole foods but sometimes you have to make a sacrifice. This was the perfect meal for a rainy evening in. (That is paprika on the reduced fat crescent rolls).

Tonight I am packing my gym bag (running and body pump tomorrow), catching up on TIVO (2 episodes of Chuck to watch), and sending another card to my papaw ala caring in pink project. Plus I miss him terribly. My heart breaks not getting to see him. I am sending him a card a week until I can get “home”. I think it will help us both feel happier.

What is your favorite rainy day meal?

Be Thankful Each Day in the Month of May: Today I am thankful for my hair stylist Caleb. He is the bees knees and puts up with all of my crazy ideas. ❤

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I woke up this morning ridiculously sore from yesterday’s Body Pump class. I will say it was good healthy sore and not you hurt yourself sore so that was a plus. My arms, back, chest, booty, abs and legs were all killing me so I am thinking this Body Pump class might be the best idea ever. Do you take Body Pump? What do you think of it?


Work was long as I was our team’s on call clinician and I had to be in the office ALL DAY. All day on a Friday in our office is torture since most of the staff is finished up by lunch. I can say the quiet workplace made for a productive afternoon.  I even squeezed in a couple of minutes of fun talking with my office mate about last night’s episode of Private Practice. I wont spoil it for all of you fellow TIVO-ers and DVR-ers out there but you might want to bust out
the tissues!

Breakfast and Lunch were some regulars. I will spare you the English muffin and Banana photo as well as the spinach salad. I really need to mix things up next week! For my sake as much as yours!

I have been thinking for a while about expanding the blog with recipes, a “faves” list, and a couple of other fun things. Is there anything you would really like to see on the blog?

I am also hoping to steal borrow the idea of other fab bloggers and get some fun mismatched plates so you don’t have to look at my breakfast on foil every morning. I want to keep the pictures as exciting and fun as possible. Finally, I purchased the domain www.runninginpinkproject.com . If you go there now you will just be redirected to my blog but look for some fun changes over the next few weeks!

Tonight’s dinner was a little last minute decision. I had some organic mushroom ravioli in a spinach and cheese sauce.  I am normally a make it from scratch kind of girl but I needed a quick wholesome meal that did not involve a lot of effort. This is exactly why I keep options like this on hand. 🙂


I wanted to workout this evening but I am terribly sore so I am listening to my body and resting tonight. Regular workouts pick up on Sunday with a short run and disc golf with the hubs (weather permitting). I suck at disc golf so you won’t want to miss that recap! 😉

Tomorrow morning I am headed to fabulous Richmond, VA for some much needed BFF bonding time. I love a good celebration and a good Birthday celebration is even better. Stop by and see how the weekend turns out!

Have a Happy and Healthy Weekend.

Be Thankful Each Day in The Month of May: Today I am thankful for GPS. (Hey they cant ALL be deep. May is a long month!). GPS allows people like me to actually leave their homes and go actual real places. I have the worst sense of direction maybe ever but GPS tells me just where to go. She can even find nearby shopping and food. GPS – you
rock my socks

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Princess cup of coffee in hand I headed in to work this morning. I had super great intentions of getting up early and fixing some eggs this morning. I have REALLY been craving sunny-side-up eggs (I see some of you cringing right now). But, you know what they say about good intentions. Instead I had a Cranbran Vita-top, turkey sausage, and a super-fruit “honest ade”.

Have you ever wondered exactly what is a super fruit? I have. According to www.wisegeek.com “the definition of a super fruit is somewhat arbitrary and has never been set. In most cases, it refers to fruits that have exceptional nutritional quality and taste. In some cases, many fruits may fit under this label.”  My super fruit drink even had a cool little message for me inside-

“If you aren’t going to go all the way, why go at all?” I think that is pretty right on in terms of my fitness and weight loss journey. I liked that my beverage was giving me a pep-talk. It made me smile.

I had last night’s leftovers for lunch and an insanely busy day at the office. It was nice though to have a busy day that felt productive rather than a busy day that just felt busy. I have a love/hate relationship with the 9-5 type lifestyle. Today was a love day.

I was really hungry in the afternoon. I heard once in a weight watchers meeting that a great way to assess hunger is to say, “If you are hungry and looking to snack always have an apple on hand (or other veggie/fruit of some kind). If the apple (or other veggie/fruit) is appealing then eat it; most likely you are hungry. If no veggies or fruits appeal to you but rather you want crackers, cheese, nuts etc you should probably hold off to make sure you are hungry and not just wanting to snack.” This is not fool proof of course but it is a helpful little rule. Turns out I was really hungry and had some deliciously tart apple slices. Mmmm.

I finished work then grabbed more water and a Luna bar before my workout. If you ignore the protein-ish taste (which really is not terrible in Luna Bars) this flavor tastes almost like a “thin mint” cookie or at least to me it does.


I wanted to go running but it was raining (still) and while Ireally love that running in the rain business I did not want to show up to my first Body Pump class soaked to the core. I decided to run 3 miles on the elliptical instead. I love that I can do 3 miles in under 30 minutes on there. If only I could do that on the trail.  I then biked 4 miles and headed in to body pump.  For anyone who might be new to the workout scene body pump ” is the original barbell class that strengthens your entire body. This 60-minute workout challenges all your major muscle groups by using the best weight-room exercises like squats, presses, lifts and curls. Great music, awesome instructors and your choice of weight inspire you to get the results you came for – and fast! Like all the LES MILLS™ programs, a new BODYPUMP™ class is released every three months with new music and choreography.”

If you are anything like me starting a new class like this can feel intimidating. I still feel insecure about my weight, I don’t love to workout in front of other people since I am sometimes scared I cant “hang” with the more fit girls, and I am terribly weak in the arms (hence the need for a class like this!). I lucked out and happened to pick the same class time as my boss from work. She is also an aerobics instructor, former trainer, and all around fitness guru of sorts so I knew she would help me out if I got intimidated. She helped me get all of my equipment for class in order and we got started. Thankfully the class was pretty empty which I hear is rare. I always promised honesty so here it goes. This was hard. There were a couple of moves I just couldnt do. Like push ups. The instructor was nice and I guess she could see the look of sheer panic on my face so she gave me some alternatives to do. My boss was also helping me with that since she used to teach it back in the day as well. Most of the routines I was able to do with very low weights. It worked me out like I probably have not worked out since college and as intimidated as I felt-I loved it. For now, I won’t go without my workout buddy but I am really looking forward to doing it again Tuesday. It’s fast paced, works everything, and is not hard on the joints. Im pretty excited about it.

I for sure earned my dinner and decided to make made a Spinach and Ham Hash. This is actually the first Rachael Ray meal I made successfully way back when. We won’t discuss the tuna putenesca fiasco I had prior to this. Of course I modify this recipe and leave off the cheese. You could also add spices or veggies but essentially you heat a skillet to medium/high heat, add a healthy drizzle of olive oil, dump in sliced organic potatoes adding salt, pepper, and thyme and allow them to start browning up. Then add 1 large sliced onion and allow that to cook up as well. Fold in 1 bag of organic baby spinach and allow it to wilt. Finally, add in some diced or cubed ham (a lean cut). You can also fry an egg and smoosh on top of your serving which is really good. It also took care of my egg craving (or did it make it worse. Im
not sure). The fabulous Rachel Ray would have approved for sure because it was really good. She always says that cooking is a method and you can make any dish a number of ways. I like that.

Tonight I am watching The Office (my favorite) and getting my bag packed for the weekend. I am heading up to Richmond, VA to celebrate my best friend’s 30th Birthday. I have a most fabulous girl’s day planned for her and can’t wait to tell you all about it!

Have a Happy and Healthy Thursday!

Be Thankful Each Day in The Month of May: Today I am thankful for creativity. I love art, music, fashion, and movies. I also love having this blog as my creative outlet. The art of creating (weather though cooking, gardening, decorating etc) can work wonders for a person. We should strive to be creative in our own lives and encourage those
around us to do the same.

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