Sweat is the Cologne of Accomplishment

Since I discovered that my body can not handle two work outs a day, I still make myself get up at the same time, otherwise before I know it, I’ll be getting out of bed at 8:16 to get to my desk at 8:45.

So I had time to make breakfast nachos.  I thought I would use some low carb tortillas – each one is only 50 calories and 6 grams of fiber.  Um, it doesn’t work.  They didn’t crisp up until they got burnt!  I took them out of the oven and just set them on top of the stove to cool before I threw them away.  I forgot to throw them away, so when I was at work, Tony sent me an email saying thanks for leaving him burnt chips! 😀

Now this is better – although I used store bought chips, so the points total is 7 PointsPlus.

I am happy to report that day three of soup week at my office was another success, and actually I think our favorite soup of the week.  I found a similar recipe on Eating Well, a verde chili, but took just the ground sirloin and store bought green salsa as my base.  This is such a quick soup (or stoup as Rachael Ray would say!) that it could easily be  week night dinner.

Beef and Bean Chile Verde (printer friendly version here)

Course: main meals
PointsPlus™ Value:    7
Servings:  5 (1 3/4 cup)

Preparation Time:  5 min
Cooking Time:  20 min
Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Ingredients
1 medium green pepper(s), diced
1 Tbsp chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
16 oz store bought green salsa
3 cup(s) canned chicken broth  (I guess you could use beef broth too)
1 cup(s) cooked brown rice
2 cup(s) Bush’s Light Red Kidney Beans  (1 14 oz. can – rinsed)
3/4 pound(s) uncooked lean ground beef (with 7% fat)

Instructions

Heat stock pot over medium heat. Add ground sirloin and diced green pepper and cook until sauces is starting to brown and cook – 8 to 10 minutes.
You won’t need to use any oil because you will use the fat from the meat, which is very lean.
Add chili powder, cumin and cayenne, and cook until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Stir in salsa and chicken broth (could also use beef broth I guess) and simmer over medium low for about 10 to 15 minutes.
Stir in beans and cook until heated through, about 1 minute.

The store bought green salsa I bought is made fresh – they sell it in 8 ounce containers for .99 cents.  They have both a mild and a hot.  I bought two mild, tasted the first one, it was mild, but did not taste the second one.  After it cooked down it was REALLY spicy – and you know how I like my spicy!  But the dollop of plain Greek yogurt on the top made this perfect.  With a side of Food Should Be Good multi-grain chips, lunch comes in at 11 points.

I ended up not getting the workout done I wanted at lunch because I had to cover someone’s lunch shift.  So I only got in 35 minutes on the elliptical.  Hannah and I were talking in the afternoon, and we decided to check out one of the workout classes.  I’ve heard about BodyPump from Erica before she teaches it.  But for some reason I was under the impression that it was half cardio/half strength training.

Um, no – its all strength training!!  But to be on the safe side, I decided not to take any insulin with dinner so I’d have enough to work out hard – it worked out perfectly – after the workout my blood sugar was 118!

I made sloppy Joe’s for dinner on Arnold Thins and had a side of veggie chips.  While Hannah and I loved this recipe because it wasn’t too sweet, Tony wished it would have been sweeter, so maybe next time I’ll add a touch more brown sugar to his. 😀

Sloppy Joe’s Ala Biz (printer friendly version)

Course: main meals
PointsPlus™ Value:    6
Servings:  4 (4 oz. of meat per sammie)

Preparation Time:  5 min
Cooking Time:  10 min
Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Ingredients
1 pound(s) ground sirloin, raw
1 tsp unpacked brown sugar
2 Tbsp Montreal Steak Seasoning
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp Contadina Tomato Paste, with 100% Tomatoes
1 cup(s) canned tomato sauce
Instructions

Heat a large skillet over medium heat.
Add meat to pan, and spread the meat around to break up. Combine the brown sugar and steak seasoning. Add this mixture to the skillet and combine with meat.
Once meat us cooked, reduce heat to medium and add red wine vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, tomato sauce and paste to pan. Stir to combine. Reduce and simmer for 5 minutes longer.
Serve over choice of bun.

So Hannah and I get to the gym – there is limited space but we got numbers.  We get in the room and its packed – with equipment!  We needed a mat, a stair step, a barbell with your choice of weights and hand weights.  We scrambled to get everything together (note to self, maybe arrive 15 minutes before class next time!).

I decide to grab 2kg weights for each end of my bar bell.  I thought it was probably about the equivalent of 2 or 3 points – nope – its 5 pounds, so with both weights and the bar, it was probably 12 pounds, which doesn’t seem like a lot until you do 5 minutes straight of bicep curls!

I’ll tell you this, I’ve never worked that hard doing an exercise video.  I am competitive by nature, and by God I was going to do every rep the instructor did, no matter how difficult.  We did get breaks in between some sets, but I’d say it was definitely 50 minutes of continuous strength – biceps, triceps, lunges, squats, push-ups AND abs.  I can really feel it in my upper back and biceps today.

My plan is to do 3 group classes a week – next on my list is spin class over the weekend 😀

I have to say its nice having Hannah as my work out buddy.  When we got home she was entering her dinner in her food journal and was Googling online inspirational sayings.  As I was walking by her room she said to me: “Mom, sweat is the cologne of your accomplishment!” We laughed so hard over that quote!

Stats for Wednesday:

• 31 points used
• 10 Flex Points Remain
• 23 Activity points not used
• 35 minutes elliptical
• 50 minutes Body Pump strength training
• average blood sugar 105

Alright – off the gym to swim and I am definitely sitting in the hot tub when I am done! 😀

Make it a great day!