Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Wendy's - Meals under 500 calories!

 

I was out yesterday running errands with the kids and decided to stop and get them a quick snack since it would be a couple of hours before we got home. I normally stop at Wendy's because of the variety on their $1 menu plus the food is good. This trip I noticed they had up a new sign that advertised 500 calorie food options. One of them happened to be my normal selection which is the spicy chicken nuggets with value fries. Z always gets a chicken sandwich and/or nuggets. If he is feeling grown he may have a cheeseburger and the baby likes the fries.

When I got home I decided to research this a little further on Wendy's site by reviewing the nutritional facts. Their site is pretty user friendly it allows you to select the menu items you would like to eat and gives you a break down of each product plus a total sum. The combination that I normally get, spicy chicken nuggets with value fries, was 460 calories surprisingly. It made me feel better about my choice although the sodium being a total of 960 MG was alarming. It is good to keep up with calorie counts but other nutritional facts are important like fat and sodium intake. Eating fast food is not the way to go if you can help it, but it is good to know what the alternatives are when it is the most convenient option on the go or while having fun with the family. Next time I will do with out the fires and opt for a small salad instead. So as I was typing this I thought about the difference this would actually make. I just checked Wendy's site and if I go with the salad I only save 10 calories but I add 130 MG of sodium, CRAZY! Salads can be very deceiving. Just because it is a salad does not mean it is always a better choice because of all the extra items that are added to make the salad what it is.

Which one do you eat?

5 piece spicy nuggets w/ value fries
= 460 calories / 960 mg sodium / 5g  saturated fat / 0g trans fat / 43 g carbs

5 piece spicy nuggets w/ garden salad
= 450 calories / 1090 mg sodium / 5g  saturated fat / 0g trans fat / 33g carbs


Moral of the story is, check the nutritional facts when you can to make sure you are making the best choice for your dietary needs when eating out.

Check out  Calorie Counter App for Blackberry, iPhone and Android devices. This is a great way to keep track of calories on the go. Click HERE to access Blackberry App World.

I Can Work Out Again!



After working out with the boys on Tuesday (March 1) I had to take 2 days off to recover. I woke up in immense pain the next day. I couldn't walk. Thank goodness I have wood floors so I just slid around the house. I literally split my behind. Every part of me hurt. Now the boyfriend says that's the sign of a great work out, I say he's insane! It really was a great work out but damn it was a little much.

I got back in the gym on Friday morning (March 4) and did 40 minutes of cardio on the elliptical. Friday night I went out to a party and danced for a few hours straight into Saturday morning so I felt like that took care of Saturday's work out, LOL. I took Sunday off to rest up and went back hard today (Mon, Mar 7).


I am really starting to get obsessed with my arms. They are getting smaller but it seems no matter what my triceps are not getting the definition I want. I know part of my issue is hereditary but I want to push past that. Today I did 30 minutes on the elliptical. Then went into arm exercises for 20 minutes. I used the tri-cep and bi-cep machines doing multiple reps/sets using 25lb weights. Then I picked up free weights to work the same areas. I have to research this a little more and figure out a good plan of attack for my arms.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

They worked me out today! Mar 1, 2011



This week does not seem like it will pan out to be a gym week but I am still getting it in! When my oldest came home from school today I had an epiphany and thought I should go running with him. What was I thinking? Are you faster than a 3rd grader? Well I'm not! We started out with a light jog then out of no where here comes Speedy Gonzales a.k.a. "Z." He started egging me on "let's race mommy, let's race." Me being my competitive self I took the challenge (plus the boyfriend was talking smack before we left). Z took off and flew like the wind down the street. If you could only see me huffing and puffing along the way! LOL It was fun yet exhausting at the same time. It is great to get the kids involved.

Then I had another thought, why not turn this into interval training. So instead of just randomly running with all our might I organized it a bit. We ran for our dear life like we were being chased by the mob for a 30 second count then walked briskly for 60 seconds then ran hard again and back to the brisk walk. This really got our hearts pumping and my body warmed up. We lapped the block 4 times.



When we got back to the house I wanted to start some strength exercises since today is my strength day. I asked for some guidance from my man but what I got instead was a tag team performance from Z and his dad.

These are the strength exercises they had me do:
  • Squats - 3 sets of 15 while holding a 20lb hand weight
  • "The Chair" - 3 sets of 10 on the left and right leg while holding a 20lb hand weight (I had to stand on a chair one foot at a time alternating the starting leg while holding the weight)
  • 6-Inches - 3 sets of 10 (This is a football drill - if I messed up they kept adding more)
  • Sit ups - 50 total
  • "Oblique Twist" - 50 total (I sat up as if doing a sit up and then started to twist left to right)
By the end of this session I was sweating like crazy. You would not believe how my 8 year old was yelling at me and attacking me like he was my drill sergeant. His dad was just as bad. He was a little league football coach on Z's football team so they are both coming at me like I'm the player they are trying to get in line. As much as I couldn't stand them during the workout because it was hard as hell, I appreciated it at the end because I could feel that they really worked me out today.

Gym Day: Mon 2/28 turned into Comcast On Demand Day!



I so wanted to go to the gym today but I just could not find the time. Now that my trial membership at 24hr Fitness is up I can no longer rely on having 24x7 access to the gym. My membership happens to be with the YMCA since they are more cost effective and convenient for the family. I can take the kids for the same rate since they are included with my membership which works out great for me, only disadvantage is they are not open 24x7.

I wanted to have this weekend off and did not want to start the week off wrong so I opted for Comcast On Demand to get in my cardio work out for the day. I did a 30 minute cardio routine called "Less is More Cardio Workout" by Cindy Whitmarsh. OMG she worked my ass out! I turned and spun so much I nearly passed out! Thank goodness I had my oldest there to be my cheerleader and emergency dispatch just in case I needed it, LOL. I found her work out engaging and it really made me sweat. I actually started another program first and when I did not feel the burn I looked for something more challenging and her workout session fit the bill. If it's too easy then chances are you are just wasting your time, so I had to find a program that would be worth my while. Not sure how many calories I burned but I felt accomplished and that's what matters most to me. Goodnight!

Comcast On Demand


Navigate to: Sports & Fitness > Excercise TV > Cardio > Less is More Cardio Workout

They have a lot of great work outs for FREE!

Monday, February 28, 2011

80's Theme Party - Sat 2/26/11




I'm a 80's baby! So my friends have organized a social group called The Social Club. They organize events through out the month to bring together friends new and old in an atmosphere filled with good vibes, fun, entertainment, food, maturity and lasting memories. Tonight's event was an 80's theme party.

Getting Ready:
Jodie and I started planning our outfits for the event since we got the invite. We love putting our creative minds to work. We research everything so this was no different. I put together a collage of pictures that represented 80's fashion to pick up on trends from the era, it's not like I remembered what was hot at the time- I was just a baby! LOL
We went shopping separately sending each other pictures and making phone calls along the way as we found hot items of interest. The picture below shows everything that I bought or may have already had in my closet.



Jodie came to my house with her items and from there we started to get dressed. (FYI - Just to make it known Jodie had a yellow tutu she pulled from her closet as a back up option - Who has yellow tutu's in their closet? LOL, I'm just saying!) We must have went through 5 outfits before finding the right combination. It was worth it because the end result was nice. We had a great time playing Taboo, talking smack, being social, and dancing to music.

The end result!


This was a celebration night in a way for Jodie and I since we were able to push our outfits to a new limit thanks to all the effort we have put into our diet and exercise.


Shouts out to:
The Social Club (like them on Facebook if you haven't already)
Chicovision.com (check out this site for entertainment, music, video, news and more) Chicovision
DJ Supa Blaze (Gucci Shades mix featured on chicovision)

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Gym Day's - Getting Caught Up 2/24-2/26

Wow what a week!

I have gotten so caught up in an exciting opportunity to become a distributor of HCG that I have not posted in a few days. It has been great being able to share my story with other women and men.

Now to get caught up on what I have been doing in the gym.