Exercise Apps!

Okay, seriously.  This weather has got to get better.  Storms, rain and high of 40 yesterday.  Right now its raining, dreary and dark.  I suppose I could handle the cold weather if it was just sunny outside.

Yesterday’s breakfast was delicious – I made an egg white, habanero cheese, spinach wrap with a Pear Chobani on the side.  Normally I douse my food with hot sauce, but um, this cheese??  No hot sauce required!  And check out the price!

I love the Chobani spoon I got in the last package they sent me.

You’d think Chobani paid me for how much I talk about them, but other than getting some free yogurt every now and then, I really do think it’s the best Greek yogurt out there.  I used to use Fage back when Greek yogurt was all the rage, but it was expensive.  Now I can score Chobani on sale for 10/$10 about every three weeks.

You will all be so proud of me!  I was able to put my iTunes on my iPhone!  Yes, I know I’ve had this phone for two months now, but just never got around to it.  Turns out I have $43 dollars in gift cards too!  I remember at one point my stepson didn’t use iTunes anymore, and I traded him cash for the cards.

What never dawned on me was that I could use that money to download exercise apps!  I kept thinking I could only use if for music.  Duh!

My gym has spin classes, but they aren’t at convenient times for me.  Since the gym is by my office, I’d have to drive 30 minutes to go to a spin class on Saturday and Sunday.  Not gonna happen.

So I googled spin apps, and found this one called Cycle Coach.  You get to pick your trainer, level of intensity, etc.  They had a 10 minute trial, but for .99 cents you could download additional workouts.

I chose Sarah as my coach.  You can choose to use her music or your own, I just used her music.  It was 41:31 minutes long, and it actually was if I had a spin instructor right in front of me.  We did a warm-up, seated climb, passing, jog/run, accent/decent hill, jumps and a standing climb.

Um, let me just tell you about the jumps.  If you don’t know what that is, it’s going from a sitting position to a standing jogging position and you keep going up and down.  The first set was 8 seconds seated, 8 seconds standing, for two minutes.  Then it got to 4 seconds standing and 4 seconds sitting.  The last minute??  2 seconds sitting and 2 seconds standing!

It was really a great workout – and I plan on spinning at least 3 times a week.   Sorry this is blurry, but I had the spin room all to myself.

The one thing that’s different from the last time I took an actual spin class, is that the bikes are digital now, so you know exactly what gear you are in – and there is no knob to turn right or left, just a lever up and down.  Weird thing though about these bikes?  No water bottle holder – weird!

I told you I was going to morph my leftover pasta dish from the night before into lunch for me and my boss today.  I ended up taking the pasta, adding an 8 ounce jar of tomato sauce with Italian seasoning and crushed red pepper, then adding 1 cup of fat free cottage cheese and more spinach.

I divided the mixture into two containers.  I heated each container in the microwave for 2 minutes, then put it in an oven safe bowl, topped it with 1/4 cup extra fine shredded Italian cheese and put it under the broiler in the toaster oven. (fyi, that is a salad plate, not a dinner plate)

Then had an orange and an apple on the side.

I defrosted a steak that I froze a couple weeks ago.  While this seems pricey, this was two dinners and a breakfast for me, so about $2.20 per serving.  Last time I checked I don’t ever remember seeing steak on a restaurant menu for $2.20.

Since it was crappy outside, I had to use my indoor grill.  My rule of thumb for rare/medium rare steak is 2x2x2x2 – meaning cooking each side for two minutes, flipping it to get the grill marks, and cooking each side another two minutes each.

Since my indoor grill doesn’t get nearly as hot as my outdoor grill, my rule of thumb is 3x3x3x3.  I also let the meat rest about 6 minutes after I take it off the grill.  I do take pride in my grill marks!

We had the first corn of the season, which was from Georgia, and it tasted like ass.  Oh well, we tried!  With green beans on the side and a tablespoon of my leftover chimichurri sauce.  If you haven’t already tried it, put hot sauce on your corn – you will thank me later.

So I downloaded another exercise program that I am going to do today.  It’s called Workout Trainer. 

The part I love about it is that it has tons of videos and pictures, so that you actually know what exercise you are doing.  Since my legs are a bit sore today from the spin yesterday, today I am doing a workout called “Absolute Arms.”  It’s described as “This ain’t your grandma’s workout!”  It’s 20 minutes long, then I plan on swimming for 20 minutes.

Stats for the Day:

• 45 minute spin bike (included cool down)
• 1481 calories, 54 fat, 146 carbs, 20 fiber, 108 protein, 2061 sodium
• 40% from carbs, 33% from fat and 27% from protein

Alright, off to make breakfast wontons and put together lunch.  Do you use any exercise apps?   Would love to try out more!  Make it a great day!