Calculators

As an impatient person, one of the many wonderful things about this whole Internet thing is how easily we can get information. I love being able to look up most anything with a couple of clicks!

"Hmmm, I wonder if this restaurant's sandwich bread is vegan friendly?"
"Hmmm, I wonder how far it is to walk from my apartment to Wrigley Field?"
"Hmmm, I wonder what kind of yoga class would be good for me?"
"I have a cough, I wonder how many days I have left to live?" :)

There is a calculator, quiz, app, or web page devoted to everything, but it can be overwhelming.

One of my favorite go-to calculator sites is here at Self.com. It's such a great source for, well, everything health, body, and soul. I try to shy away from calorie counting these days, but when I really needed help to jump start my journey I really enjoyed using http://fitday.com/

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Are you a heavy online calculator user? What are your faves, any awesome ones I need to know about?

Delayed Vegas Recap

So, I am back from Vegas. Food options were tricky and my aversion to throwing away my money and wearing fanny packs and/or tight cheap polyester doesn't mesh well with The Strip (I anticipated as much). I took my smaller, less fancy camera and can't find the cord, so uploading pictures is delayed for now. Frown.

Teaser: I did see a certain show starring a certain former girlfriend of Hugh Hefner!

This week in workouts:
Monday: 500 Calorie workout
Tuesday: Strength Boxing
Thursday: Cardio Soaked

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Makin' It Work During the Busy Times

My new play opens this week. Such a fast and furious process! I definitely haven't been able to hit the gym as much, but have tried to combat the reduction is exercise with reducing my calorie intake a little, avoiding alcohol during the week, and not beating myself up (too much) about not being able to go. This week, I absolutely cannot get to the gym Mon-Fri so I must formulate a plan.

Yesterday after a rehearsal I decided I needed to get moving. Mr. BB30 wouldn't be home for a while (he is busy being famous with the play he wrote and is starring in that is selling out-woo hoo!) so I had some time at home to myself. As we know, I hate jogging with every fiber of my being, so I decided to hit up ExerciseTV.com and download a cardio kickboxing workout. It's only about 23 minutes long, but very effective. $2 well spent. My heart rate was up for sure. (Although, I doubled up on repetitions since they were a little slower than what I am used to). It's going to be a great one to have on hand. I knew I needed to keep going so I went to my reliable go-to, The Shred (Level 2). I ended up breaking a mean sweat and feeling very proud that I chose exercising over my sofa and Drop Dead Diva (but seriously-how cute is this show!) I took a cool down walk around the block with my doggie where he hit on some neighbor girls (he loves the ladies). Then I discovered that I had put toothpaste on a zit to dry it up and didn't take it off. Neighborhood weirdo.

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Thanks for the toning Jillian!

So, while the super ambitious part of me thinks I can attempt to squeeze in a 20 minute workout before I need to leave for rehearsals everyday this week, I have to stay realistic. Some nights I need to ARRIVE at 6:30pm. There just won't be time. But I will do my best to get in a few quick workouts to keep my bod in check. I can do that. I can make that happen. I have to choose to make that happen.



Today in gratitude I am grateful for my lovely fellow actor Tim and how enjoyable this crazy fast process has been all thanks to him. I am so lucky to have had this opportunity to bond with him and have full trust in my fellow actor. Friend love!

Happy Fourth!

Last week's work outs went like this:
Monday: Off
Tuesday: Strength Boxing (I think I may be ready to move up a pound in weights-eep!)
Wednesday: Glee Camp (calisthenics, resistance band and dumbbell work set to Glee music)
Thursday: Off (I got two unexpected print ad look-sees
Friday: Resistance Band Pilates followed by Kwando Kick Boxing

On Wednesday there were only THREE of us in class (the masses were crammed into Turbo Kick-people seem to really love it-although I worry for those people who don't practice proper form.) It was like having a personal trainer for the hour. Kinda cool. At the very end of class, we used a foam roller to massage our muscles. I had been interested in learning how to do it. It was definitely a hurt so good feeling, like getting a rough but awesome Swedish massage. However, I am seriously bruised. I am full our good leafy greens and I take a multi-vitamin with iron in it everyday, but alas, it looks like I've broken my ankle. It's sooo bruised. Don't think I will be partaking again.

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I wish I could find an image of the exercise that killed my ankle.It felt like a really intense massage in my calves but man oh man. I look like I've been beaten.

I'm wishing you all a SAFE and happy holiday today. On holiday weekends we have to remind ourselves that moderation is key and having some bites or sips of deliciousness isn't a crime! In honor of all the get-togethers going on across the country I present a test drive of The Kind Diet's Artichoke Dip that I did a few months ago.

Artichoke Dip
from The Kind Diet by (my pretend friend) Alicia Silverstone

Ingredients
• 2 8 1/2-oz. cans of quartered artichokes
• 1 cup vegan mayonnaise
• 1 cup soy Parmesan "cheese"
• 1 tsp. paprika
• Garlic powder to taste
The only vegan Parmesan they had at my Whole Foods was a chipotle one which would have probably been tasty but I wanted to stick as close to the recipe as possible, and well, it cost almost $6. No thanks. So, I substituted nutritional yeast flakes. Stop. Don’t freak out. When I first started reading about vegan cooking, I thought that nutritional yeast flakes sounded bizarre. They’re not scary. They are yeast flakes, exactly what they sound like. They have lots of protein in them and look and taste like Parmesan. You can find them in the bulk bins at Whole Foods. One cup of nutritional yeast flakes from the bulk bin costs about $1.40. CHEAP.

Directions
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Drain the liquid from the artichokes, mash, and combine with the other ingredients. Scoop into a casserole dish and bake for 1/2 hour. Sprinkle paprika on top before serving. Serve with chips, toasted and cut pita bread, or sliced fresh vegetables.
Makes 10 servings.
The paprika adds great color. I went light on it because the type I had on hand was really hot.
It took a mere 15 minutes to put the ingredients together and pop this in the oven. Major points for simplicity! I snuck a taste of the concoction before putting it in the oven, cheesy and yummy already. After I let it bake up a while I took a peak. It looked so bubbly and happy as it browned! Soon it was the moment of truth.

The verdict:
Me: “Ooh, tangy! It’s so creamy!”
Mr. BB30: “I hope you made enough for yourself.” (walks away carrying the whole pan)

This dip was so easy and delicious. It’s perfect for party. In the 30 minutes it takes for it to bake you have the perfect amount of time to clean up, arrange crackers on a tray, apply lipstick, sprinkle the dip with paprika and greet your guests at the door with a creamy steamy appetizer.

Next time (and I foresee several next times) I think I will add in some minced onions and maybe sprinkle the top with a little bit of Daiya cheese.
Now bust out your finest sparklers!

My Exercise Journey

I had a request to give some more details about my exercise journey.

First, I hate exercising. I really hoped that by this time I would be hopelessly addicted. Alas, even when I know I will feel great afterwards, even though it’s exciting to conquer things I haven’t been able to do before, even though it tones me up and makes my squish disappear, I do not enjoy it. I truly wish I did. I enjoy the results of traditional exercise, but not the act itself. What I enjoy is the kind of exercise that doesn’t feel formal. I enjoy moving. If weather, money, and time permitted I would do the following all of the time: take dance classes, hike, and kick box.

I think some of this stems from being such an overweight child. If you recall, by kindergarten I weighed 75lbs. By the time I was in 4th grade (about ten years old) I weighed 148lbs. I know this because I distinctly recall going to the doctor toward the end of my fourth grade year. I even remember what I was wearing-a white t-shirt and crazy orange elastic waistband shorts (because when you are as chubby as I was and under five feet tall, this is all that fits you). I remember hearing how much I weighed and knowing it was bad and being humiliated inside. Shudder. I wasn’t athletic at all. I couldn’t run with any kind of speed, I attempted two unsuccessful summers of trying to play softball, I tried going to a little basketball camp, and I couldn’t ride a bike until I was eight. Now that I think about it, more than anything I was just embarrassed to be seen. I jiggled, I flopped, I was bigger than some adults, I felt like I looked ridiculous and I didn’t want other kids to laugh at me. Thus, I think I developed this self imposed limitation that I couldn’t do athletic things simply because I would be laughed at and I would embarrassed. Does that make sense? Somehow I found dance and I really loved it. I had fun, the other girls were accepting, and I was good at it. This was the kind of exercise I enjoyed. I think this is why I have a love for Richard Simmons. Sweatin’ To The Oldies 2 was fun. I enjoyed it. I can still remember some of the moves to this day. I didn’t feel judged. There was Jane Fonda in her signature striped leotard making me feel horrible because she was an adult who under weighed me by pounds and pounds and then there was Richard Simmons who speaks so sweetly and jubilantly encouraged me to dance and “shake off those fat cells.” (A phrase I still think of every time I am going through a tough exercise routine)

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But I digress. Cut to my journey from the past eleven months. Having been on a yo-yo up and down weight battle all of my life struggling with same 25-30lbs and feeling unathletic, I wasn’t sure what the best way to begin was. Months prior I had taken some dance classes and worked out on my home elliptical machine to work off some medicinal weight gain and that got me to a decent starting point. I hadn’t been a good exerciser for about four months and I felt like I was back at square one with fitness. So…. I just moved. I made a vow that I would just start slowly by moving every day. I would take a walk after work for a few miles and/or spend 15 minutes on my elliptical. That’s how it began.

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Once I had gently reintroduced exercise I started testing the waters by trying a two week magazine fitness jump start that involved a lot of walking/jogging intervals, then committing to exercising at least three times a week (typically 20-30 minutes on my elliptical), followed by an overly ambitious attempt to burn way to many calories in one week. The first few months were spent mainly on my elliptical machine. While this is always good cardio, I was bored and knew that I should be giving some attention to my abs and belly so around August I started incorporating some pilates into the mix (and the occasional date with Jillian Michaels).

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Some days were better than others but on the whole I was at a steady 30 minutes three times a week situation. By mid September I was getting overwhelmed, had reinjured my bum arm and went a whole week without exercising. I was getting busy with rehearsals for a show, so I went back to basics and vowed to move every day. In my opinion this is the best place to go back to when you’ve fallen off the exercise wagon. After getting back on track I was soon deep in the heart of rehearsals and didn’t want to lose steam so I made sure to do leg lifts and arms circles every day since I could do those at rehearsal. You have to squeeze toning in when you when you have two jobs folks! Around November and the time of my opening, I’d had a light few weeks exercise wise, but I still did whatever I could with the very limited time I had. I think this is key. DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF SMALL WORKOUTS. Every little bit adds up!

By December I had upped my number of workouts and started doing longer sessions and vowing to make at least two workouts each week one hour long. At this point I was doing mostly cardio/strength combo workouts from Exercise TV. (In December I also embarked on clean, animal free eating which really helped my bod and stamina.)

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In January I knew I had only a month and half or so before I would be consumer by long rehearsals, so I began working out four + days a week and for one hour each time. I did mixes of strength training workouts (like the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Boot Camp, Jackie Warners interval training and pilates).

In March and April I hung on for dear life as I worked full time at my day job during the week and had four hour long rehearsals each night. My main exercise those weeks was walking to and from rehearsal. If all else fails, walk to your destination instead of drive-it keeps you moving and healthy! Now, I am just squeezing in whatever I can with the three days a week I do not have a show. I’ve jogged a couple of times with my husband, done some time on my elliptical (although my new elliptical is no bueno), and continued to walk as much as I can.

So really that was much more of a recap, but the basics are: I did what I could when I could and kept going no matter what and kept chnaging up what I did.

Hello Week Two

Have you ever wondered if those magazine workouts really work? It seems like there is one in every magazine I flip through. Well say hello to my Weeks Two and Three Goal:
Magazine Fitness Plan Lab.

I didn’t spend oodles of time looking for a plan I just went for the first one that caught my eye and it actually seems really great: Prevention Magazine’s Two Week Turn Around. It combines cardio walking and strength training, alternating activities so you are working all of your muscles groups. This is a kick start kind of plan, and this is exactly what I need! The workouts are an hour total, so not completely time consuming which is good. I do have a long class after work tomorrow and the following Tuesday which will present me with the challenge to fit this in. I may have to (gulp) set my alarm early and do the work out tomorrow before work!

I know there will be some things I will have to modify due to my problematic arm/neck, but I can still give it a galant effort.

They have the plan posted online as well if you would like to take a gander at it (or join me…wink wink nudge nudge): http://www.prevention.com/twoweekturnaround