A Regular Saturday...

Well, that's not really true because I've spent a lot of the day learning how to use this blog!  Normally, I spend Saturday kind of "re-setting" the house for the next week, and relaxing with a good book.  Today was a little out of hand with the whole newness of the blog experience.  I did get some things done today though, and I ate healthy and fit in my workout.

I didn't take a picture of my breakfast because I couldn't find batteries for my camera right away this morning.  I had the breakfast I eat almost everyday:  scrambled eggs (one whole egg, and one egg white), wheat english muffin with about a tablespoon of Smart Balance, a small glass of orange juice, and fruit (today it was grapes).

I realized that I'm going to be using my camera a lot for this blog showing you all pictures of what I eat and do to make it more interesting.  So, now I'm in the market for a new camera because my old one is just not exciting enough for me.  Right now I have a Kodak Easyshare C743, 7 mega-pixels, and 3X optical zoom.  I'm on the lookout for a point and shoot kind of camera like this one that can take great close up pics and has good pic quality in low light situations.  If anyone has any suggestions, let me know.

I did however, find batteries later in the morning and took a picture of my morning snack.  I normally have a snack every morning around 10AM.  One thing I've learned this time around the healthy eating block is that you really need to eat every couple of hours throughout the day.  I usually eat within a day:

Breakfast
10AM Snack
Lunch
3PM Snack
Dinner
Cup of Hot Tea or a glass of orange juice before bed

Usually my snacks are things like yogurt, fruit, or granola.  It's important to keep your body in the process of continually processing food if you're trying to lose/maintain weight.  This will increase your metabolism, and help it grow faster as time moves on.  Don't fool yourself though.  You can have snacks like brownies, or Reeses peanutbutter cups - they must be low in fat and calories, but rich in protein and fiber.

Today I had a Fiber One yogurt cup and a cup of grapes and sliced banana.

When I first started my diet, I spent a long time trying different kinds of yogurt, and checking sodium, calories, carbs, protein and fat on each of them.  Fiber One Nonfat Yogurt is truly the winner.  This serving size has 50 calories, only 55mg of sodium, 0g fat, only 13g carbs, only 4 sugars, 3g of protein, AND 5g of fiber.  And, it's delicious.  I usually buy the vanilla flavor, though the key lime pie flavor is a great one too.

After my morning snack, I got serious about getting the house clean.  I had been lounging around most of the morning reading the newspaper and playing on this blog.  House cleaning really burns calories for those of you who aren't aware.  You are constantly moving around, picking things up, bending over, pushing the vacuum.  It's worth the effort not only for your house, but for your body too.

I did a couple of heaping loads of laundry.

I washed the sheets and re-made the bed.

Took a time out to give my dog Vlad a snack.

Then, I swiffered the floors... ewe, look at that dog hair!

Then, I vacuumed the carpets...a true workout!

I even cleaned the shower!  I don't think I've done this since Christmas.

After all of this hard work, I decided to have some lunch.  I tried a new oatmeal recipe that I wrote down from another blog by a woman named Tina.  She had a picture of it, and it looked great!  So I put all of my ingredients in the pot:

1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup almond milk (so yummy!)
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup frozen blueberries
and a scoop of peanutbutter at the end

I stirred the contents constantly for about 5 minutes over medium heat.

And then, I tried it out.

The first couple of bites were okay, but as I kept eating the taste was a little bland.  I've never had true oatmeal before, and I guess I'm not meant to continue to eat it.  Hmmmm.  Maybe I'll try another one of Tina's oatmeal recipies another time though.  She has quite a few.  But, this one, I just couldn't finish.  I ended up having a small bowl of cheerios instead.

After lunch I hit the treadmill to do my Saturday workout routine.  I'll post my weekly routine at a later time, (probably under the Fitness page on my blog), but here is a run down of today's workout:

Treadmill walk/run
- 5 minutes, 8.0 incline, 4.3 mph
- 10 minutes, 2.0 incline, 6.4 mph
- 5 minutes, 8.0 incline, 4.3 mph
- 15 minutes, 2.0 incline, 6.4 mph
- 5 minutes, 8.0 incline, 4.3 mph
Total walk/run = 40 minutes
Total Calories burned = 450
Total Miles = 3.75

50 jumping jacks
50 counts jump rope
5 different abdominal exercises (each 50 counts)
40 tricep curls
15 overhead presses
30 tricep kickbacks
12 butterfly presses
20 chair dips
25 pushups
4 side planks (hold for 10 counts each)
20 lunges
20 chair squats
stretches

This workout usually takes me about 50 - 55 minutes total.

I usually workout at home.  I'm not a gym nut.  I like being able to just go down to our workout room and get going.  If I would have to drive somewhere to workout, I don't think I would stick to my schedule.  The convenience of having the home gym is awesome.  Also, I really like to watch my favorite TV shows and new movies while I'm running on the treadmill.  I always have a new movie to watch from Netflix on hand!  Today, I continued watching Bleak House (book is by Charles Dickens, who I love) filmed by the BBC.  I also watch TV shows like Charmed, Bones, X-Files, Dexter, and True-Blood - wow, does my interest in these types of shows say anything about me?!  I'm a normal person, I promise!  Being able to look forward to watching one of my favorite shows really gives me motivation to workout on those days that I just feel tired and worn out.  Knowing that I get to see a new episode always works to get me moving.  ;)