Rubdown Jackpot

Nom Nom Nom!  Excuse me while I continually stop typing to keep cramming forkfuls of lunch into my piehole.  This simple meal is sooooo effing good (if I do say so myself…I do!).

Can’t.stop.shoveling.

Beets, carrots and cauliflower tossed with olive oil, fresh cracked sea salt & pepper, and freshly Microplaned garlic…

Roasted in an extra hot oven for 20+ minutes.

Served on top of couscous.  Deeeeeelish!

I was a starvin’ Marvin’ when I got back from massage.  An hour of deep tissue rubdown will do that to ya.  *knocking wood*  I seem to have finally hit the massage therapist jackpot.  I’ll know for sure in the next day or two, but this girl Ashton really worked hard on my crappy shoulders and shook something loose than none of the previous THREE therapists could.  Maybe I finally explained myself correctly, or maybe she is just a better therapist pour moi.  Who knows, but cross your fingers for me that this finally helps!

Before my appointment, there was breakfast…

Switched to regular oats instead of Scottish oats today…

With all kinds of fun stuff in there.  A little water, a little unsweetened Almond Breeze, 1/2 a frozen banana, some cinnamon, some flax meal, some chia seeds, the last of the frozen blueberries tossed in at the end.

Topped with hulled hemp seeds, just cuz.

With coffee…duh…

Oh, and I went to the gym this morning.  Almost forgot!  That’s what happens when I go that damn early.  :)

Treadmill loved me again today.  Probably wanted to make up for my shit run on Tuesday.  It was one of those days where I wish I had all the time in the world cuz I coulda just kept on running.  However, no such luck…

• 2 minute walking warm up
• 20 minutes straight running (no stopping!), 1.76 miles = 2.83km
• 3 minute walking cool down

Followed by lower body strength training…various squats, lunges, etc…and some crunches and planks.

I ate half of this Lemon Larabar before my workout…

Well, busy day.  No wonder I feel like I haven’t accomplished anything!  Must work work work now!!

The One Where I Created a Game

A game called…

“Stump the Chiropractor!”

Today I got to tell him about how the stabbing pain in my shoulder/neck/arm has returned.  Same thing I had last year…except it’s ventured to my left side.  Ya-ya, we know it’s a compressed nerve.  We know it’s from my neck.  We know after $1100 worth of chiro and massage last year it got marginally better…good enough that it didn’t bring tears to my eyes or cause me to gasp at the slightest wrong move.  But it was never fixed.  And now we get to try to figure it out all over again!

He was not excited.  Nor was I.

(…and before anyone offers up advice…yes, I am planning to get an x-ray…yes, I’ve seen a sports med doctor…after I get the x-ray she may refer me for physio…and I want to try accupuncture.  unfortunately all of these things cost money and our extended medical covers very little in the scheme of things…so I have to take things one step at a time…)

When I got home I enjoyed this smoothie in a bottle to hold me over for a late dinner…

Had to do some extra work this evening to make up for taking off for my run and my appointment.

Then enjoyed my leftovers from last night’s Keg dinner.  nom nom nom. 

Chicken Oscar:  butterflied chicken breast, scallops, shrimp and asparagus in bearnaise sauce… with garlic masher taters.

Served up with a small head of steamed broccoli for some veggie love to counteract all that buttery goodness…

Tonight was dedicated to baking off the cookies for Halloween treats I plan to decorate tomorrow and share with friends this weekend. 

They don’t look like much right now, but just you wait and see!

As soon as the last batch cools, I’m off to bed to read.  Early like a good little girl.  :)  A couple of you asked what I’m reading…currently just some fluff…

 

But I have two new Charlaine Harris (non-Sookie) books waiting in the wings!

Waiting for the Sun

*blinks*

Ugh, my eyes are itchy and tired and I have a headache.  And my shoulder hurts.  And my back hurts.  Boooo. 

Got up early to drive FH to work…only to get almost all the way there (seriously, we could see the dockyard) when we realized that he had worn his uniform home yesterday and hadn’t worn it this morning.  Ooooops.  All the way back home we came…and then back again.

I had been waffling on whether to go to the gym for a run this morning, and losing that half hour made my decision for me.  Instead I just came home to a big mug of much needed/wanted coffee and some couch time with a magazine and the last two episodes of Big Brother.

At 9am I headed on up here to get to work.  My plan has been to bang through as much as I can while I sit here and coax the sun out…it’s trying really hard!  If I can get all of my work done before I head to the chiropractor for 4pm, maybe I’ll get some deck time when I get home. *crosses fingers*

With my second cup of coffee I made breakfast.

PC BM multigrain flax bagel with crunchy organic PB and a drizzle of honey.

A clementine and half a Granny Smith apple on the side.

Around 11am I got up to move around and do some stretching.  My problem shoulder (which hasn’t really truly acted up in months) is killing me today…that shooting pain right down to my elbow again.  NOT GOOD.  Those stupid theatre seats (and unfortunately probably some unknown move at Booty Camp) aren’t good for this particular injury. 

While I was wandering around the house I grabbed a little dish of dried apricots to snack on.

I’m running low on salad fixings but I think I can crank out one more for lunch today.  My goal is to NOT eat at my desk this time!

Cracking is like crack

Oh boy, did I need that chiropractor appointment today.  My neck had this crazy kink in it, and now it’s gone!  I forgot to mention yesterday that while I was at the doctor I asked her to follow up on her referral for me to see a sports medicine doctor because it’s been almost six months and no one has called me!  She was super annoyed to hear that, so hopefully she raises some hell and I can get in soon.  My shoulder pain has never gone away, but it’s at least tolerable now…some days are worse than others. Lately though, I’ve noticed the big knot under my shoulder blade is coming back, and that is a bad sign.  That knot is what eventually led to tear-inducing pain last year…I’d rather not go back there!

On a happy note, I think I finally figured out how to get my massage therapy reimbursed by my insurance company AND I recently discovered that the Massage Addict near my gym is certified and accepted by most insurance cos.  They are half the price of my usual therapist, so that means I can afford to double up and maybe it will actually do some good!

After my workout today (nice, slow 17 minute run on the treadmill…plus warmup and cooldown AND some upper body strength exercises) I came home and made the extra smoothie #7 I owed you for Smoothie Week.

I was basically cleaning up the produce on hand, so in the blender today was: 1/2 banana, 4 strawberries, about 1/4 cup pineapple with the juice, 1/3 cup coconut milk, 1/2 cup light vanilla soy milk, and 2 heaping teaspoons of flax meal.

Yum Yum!  (note: shameless photo of new purse…haha)

Served this with the last croissant (heated in the oven to take the stale edge off) and some organic crunchy PB.  Flakey mess!

I tried to get through on just the one coffee, but alas around 2:00 I decided to drink the other cup.  I’d left it in the pot for FH, but when he didn’t drink it, it taunted me.  Enjoyed it with a packet of vanilla Sezme Snaps (which I just Googled and found out to be 160 freaking calories).  It’s the small things that can getcha!!

Had I known that, I probably wouldn’t have opted for organic gummy bears as my next snack.  These are tasty little buggers, but for the price I probably won’t buy them again.  I enjoy dried fruit just as much for about 1/3 price.  At least I chugged a big bottle of water at the same time.

For dinner, I just did a quickie.  Pan seared some antibiotic-free pork chops (how cool is it that Presidents Choice has introduced this line?), wilted some spinach, steamed some asparagus, and nuked some Lundberg risotto I had in the freezer. 

Not too shabby for a quick and dirty dinner.  :)

Tonight FH and I are off to see Terminator Salvation.  We’ve heard it’s crap, but we love seeing big special effects movies on the theatre screen.  It’s just not as cool at home.  Let’s see if I can get through the treat selections unscathed again…I’m sort of thinking TCBY might be nice…

Breakfast, Lunch, and Gym

Back to the early mornings this week (well, today for sure…FH’s course is having a lot of issues so it’s all one day at a time for now) so back to the gym this morning.

Took it a little easier on the treadmill…my back is still bugging me, my shoulder is acting up, and for some reason my hip joints are sore.  I feel like an old woman!  And the worst is that I haven’t done anything strenuous to make all of these things hurt at the same time.  Bah.

So I lowered my pace to 4.5mph on the treadmill and just took it slow.  3 minute warmup, 17 minute jog, 3 minute cooldown.

I wasn’t thrilled with my distance or calorie burn, so decided to add 12 minutes of high incline walking on the elliptical for a total of 45 minutes of cardio (2.45 miles, approx 250 cals burned).

Today is lower body strength day but in keeping with the theme of switching things up and taking it easy on myself, I decided to skip the squats and lunges today.  Instead I did 3 sets of 15 hamstring curls on the ball and 2 full sets of Eurydice’s bum exercises.

As always I threw in a bit of core work.  30 crunches, 30 reverse crunches, 30 side-to-side twists.

On the way home I HAD to stop at Starbucks (to pick up some loot for the fast approaching Blog Girls GTG) so grabbed my morning coffee while I was there.  Today’s choice: grande non-fat coffee misto (translation: coffee with lots of hot milk).  This kept me to one cup instead of two today, so I foresee a bit of a lag in my step this afternoon.

 

Breakfast consisted of my Green Monster, my very milky coffee, and one of my banana coconut muffins.  Lots of protein and fibre in all of that so it kept me going for about 2.5 hours.

For lunch I did some digging in the fridge.  We seem to have a lot of bread-type products open (pitas, 2 kinds of bread, a roll, hot dog buns) so I decided a sammich was the way to go.  Turkey, light cheddar, tomatoes, lettuce, honey dijon and light mayo on a multigrain seeded bun.  Yum Yum!

 

Served with some veggies sticks and an oatmeal chocolate chip bar for dessert.  I’m so full!

Shake My Bon Bon

First, let me say that I already did my Shred for the day! Yaaieeeee! Two days down...a hundred and twenty seven million to go..... :)

Second, my shoulder/arm pain thing is back with a vengeance. It never went away but it got a lot better and I think I just got used to always having pain in my arm. The massage therapy felt good but never helped the issue so I stopped going...mainly due to the cost. I spent over $1000 between chiro and massage since August and I'm still basically in the same place I was before. I do finally have a new doctor though so I'll mention all of this when I meet her on Tuesday (thanks Farm Girl for hooking me up!).

Third, I was supposed to hit up the Optimyz Health Expo with Angie and Farm Girl today but our schedules were having trouble meeting in the middle so we are going to try to do it tomorrow instead....then hopefully hit up another "warm" yoga class at Breathing Spaces. I'm excited cuz I missed out on their drippy hot yoga adventure at Moksha last week.

Fourth, I have to say that I like vanilla Almond Breeze better than vanilla soy milk for my oatmeal.

And Finally, last night I went dancing with my girlfriends and had a great time. I had 4 vodka sodas (yaaaiee for sticking with the lowest cal drink!) and one shot of Baja Rosa (what's a girls night without a shot?). But we danced quite a bit so I think the calorie intake was washed away by the booty shaking. And I did say no to the pizza I was offered even though the smell was divine! Instead I made a piece of whole grain toast with a smear of Olivina margarine when I got home.

So I had a nice little sleep in til about 10:15 this morning then got up and made myself a bowl of oats to start my day off right. I let that settle while I read the paper, then did my Shred. Now since my plans have changed I'm going to enjoy some coffee, watch a little TV, then do some errands (I still need weights for the Shredding!). Tonight I will either join some friends for dinner or maybe pick up some sushi for myself after hitting the gym...it's about time I go back and make use of my membership fee!