Come to the Dark Side ..... We have Cupcakes

Resist! Resist!  DON'T come to the dark side.  It isn't a pretty site as we all know.

One of my biggest hobbies / side businesses / relaxation techniques is baking and cake decorating.  I've been doing it since I was little and have become, to toot my own horn, pretty darn good at it!  So when a friend of mine included the Martha Stewart Cupcake book in a care package, a mutual friend and I decided to make a couple of different cupcakes out of the book to send back to her when my husband leaves for Edmonton on Sunday morning.

Cupcakes, cupcake batter, cupcake icing are the devil.  We made a coconut cupcake and a salted caramel chocolate cupcake.  OMG, salted caramel with chocolate cake ~ I had to only let myself have a tiny bite or I would have sat down and eaten it all.  It was a fun evening actually making it all.  I also proved how much willpower I can have when I give myself credit.  Not only did I split one of the coconut cupcakes with both my friend and husband, I also did not have a chocolate caramel one.

My trick/method/whatever you want to call it?  My husband's healthy balanced meal beforehand of a salad with avocado, mango, and grilled chicken and a small side of whole wheat pasta and my homemade turkey meatballs.  After that dinner, I was perfectly satiated and didn't have any of the sugar cravings while baking.  I must remember to eat a balanced meal before baking in the future to help me resist licking the spoon and "taste testing" the finished product.  Who would have thunk it?  lol... most likely everyone other than me!!

Other than that, I did another shopping trip to the States with my husband yesterday morning / afternoon.  He needed jeans, t-shirts, and shorts.  I finally got him into some nice fitting jeans.  He likes his jeans big, baggy, saggy, and light blue ~ they look horrible on him!  So this trip was all about getting proper fitting jeans.  He is an odd size with a skinny waist and long legs, so out of all the stores at the outlet mall, only the True Religion, Lucky, and Levi's fit him properly.  He didn't want to spend over $150 on a single pair of jeans since he is working on bulking up his leg muscles and might size out of them, but splurged on 2 pairs of Lucky Jeans for $100 instead.  They make his ass look fantastic!  My husband may be stick thin, but he has a booty.

My good news from the shopping trip was that I tried on a pair of size 18 jeans at The Gap...and.... they fit!!!  Well, fit as in looked good from the belly button down.  However, I'm weird and different in the fact I like my jeans higher waisted.  I have a very long torso, so I can wear my jean above my belly button without looking like they are touching my boobs (in fact, if I don't, most normal length t-shirts look like mid-riff shirts on me!)  Why am I weird?  Because I like my jeans to hold in my stomach instead of having said stomach hang out above my jeans.  I prefer a smooth silhouette when I wear my shirts instead of rolls.  I just don't have the confidence to rock my rolls like so many girls.  So I didn't buy my Gap Jeans That Fit, but instead will wait until my stomach no longer sticks out further than my boobs before rocking that look!!

Oh.. and in healthier fitness news, I went to my third spin class last night as well! Wohoo!  I burned almost 30% more calories than previous classes.  I really didn't want to go, I was tired from the States trip, I was tired thinking about making the cupcakes afterwards and my legs were bothering me from the Wednesday morning workout and which then made them hurt even more with all the walking and standing while shopping.  But I dragged my sorry butt to the class and actually enjoyed it!  It gave me energy and put me in a good mood to come home to make and resist the cupcakes!  One more class to go...

In even healthier fitness news, my husband and I decided to buy bikes for each other as our one year anniversary gift.  We went to a bike shop when we were across the border yesterday to see which we liked and will be checking out the Vancouver Police bike auction on Saturday morning to see if we can get a good deal.

The downside of this?  The auction preview is this afternoon from 12-6.  For me to make it there and still work my full 8 hours, I had to skip morning bootcamp so I can leave work at 3:30.  With our existing plans to meet with friends and family in the evening, it doesn't look like I'll get a workout in.  As well, the auction is Saturday morning, which means I'll once again miss my circuit class on Saturday morning.  I'm praying that the day leaves me an hour to get my own cardio session in!  Even better for me would be to get a great bike at a great price and go riding on Saturday!

It is always a challenge to get workouts in when your schedule is in flux.  But to keep the healthy habits up, you make it work.  I'm not going to sacrifice sleep, but am not going to make hobbies, like TV or reading, more of a priority.  Balance is key.

So are you sick of my long winded post?  Apparently I had a busy Thursday!


I now have a question for you:
How do you balance exercise and healthy eating when your schedule gets out of whack?


* Since I gave you Tuesday's calorie round-up on Wednesday, here is Wednesday's and Thursday's.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012 (oh so close!!!):

Totals	1,834	213	54	94	29	1,667
Your Daily Goal	1,785	245	59	66	20	2,500
Remaining	-49	32	5	-28	-9	833
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Fiber	Sodium
	*You've earned 425 extra calories from exercise today

Thursday, May 3, 2012 (barely squeaking by!):

Totals	1,577	209	44	82	23	1,730
Your Daily Goal	1,637	225	54	61	19	2,500
Remaining	60	16	10	-21	-4	770
	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Fiber	Sodium
	*You've earned 277 extra calories from exercise today

For the second spin class....

I survived!

201 calories burned

I'm taking a 30 minute beginner spin class at a local recreation centre about 15 minutes from my house.  4 half hour classes for $12, taxes in.  I can't go wrong.

I figured after my hour long class, that maybe, to prevent my bum from revolting on me, I should ease into this whole spin thing.

I know when people look at me they assume that I never work out, must be in horrible shape etc.  Given that this spin class is at the back of a large, very busy, weight and cardio area, I felt very awkward and unwelcome walking through there to find the spin area.  The class is not separated at all from the rest of the workout area, the benches were about 6 ft from my bike ~ so not knowing this I worse a tight tank top.  BIG mistake.  I felt so self-conscious as we were sprinting because my second wave arm flab was just a-moving.  I caught a glance of myself in the mirror and immediately thought, T-SHIRT next time, big baggy t-shirt.  *sigh*  All these hot young guys do not need to see my arm flab or belly roll.  (hmm... wasn't I just talking about not caring about what people thought last time... apparently I do care)

Anyways, back to the spin class.

There were 8 of us in total.  Four of them were all younger (mid-20s) girls who all knew each other.  One single middle aged lady and then a mother daughter pair.  All were much thinner than I was, other than the mom.  Boy, did I ever feel sorry for the mom.  She reminds me a lot of my mom, shorter, large busted and carrying all her weight around the middle; she was the only person in that gym bigger than me.  About 10 minutes in, the instructor showed us jumps (standing up then sitting down again).  On the last jump, that poor woman slipped, missed her seat and ended up stuck in an incredibly awkward position. Her feet were stuck in the pedals and her knees were on the ground.  Her daughter and the instructor rushed to her side to try to help her up.  Since I was on the bike beside her, I too got up, but there wasn't much I could do.  Her feet were eventually unstuck and the instructor and daughter lifted her up.  She was a trouper.  She got right back on and kept going (however not doing the standing up when we were doing hills) for the rest of the 30 minutes class.  I was so glad that no one stood around and stared at her and I felt nothing but compassion for her.  She was there, she was trying and I really hope they come back for the second class.

I think I will continue with the spin.  I need to definitely work harder on pushing myself.  My average heart rate was only 112bpm.  In boot camps and circuits it ranges anywhere from 130-160bpm.  The class did show me that I do need someone on me to push me in order to get the calorie burn I want when I'm feeling unmotivated.  However, 200 is 200 and it got me moving!  So far, I'm doing well, working out or doing something very active 6 times a week.   I just need to learn to push myself.

Tomorrow morning is our 7 am boot camp class.  Depending on who the trainer is, I'm going to ask them to kill me.  I need my ass kicked after a week of lacklustre workouts on my part.

So I've got the workout thing under control.

Food... *sigh*  How about we don't talk about the 1/2 box girl guide cookies I ate on Monday?  Or the 1/2 bag of mini peanut butter cups I ate till I felt ill yesterday?  My curse is having no healthy snack food in the house and boredom.  I started eating stale pretzels when I got home since I knew I needed something.  I should start my knitting again to keep my hands busy, but I can't motivate myself to go searching for all my needles and cast something on.  I desperately need to go grocery shopping and organise my crafts so I'm not sitting around home doing nothing.

I have a children's birthday cake to do this weekend, so I know I'm going to indulge in a icing and cake batter, so I really shouldn't make cookie dough tonight or eat any of the chocolate in this place.  I don't even have milk to have a bowl of cereal.  I think peanut butter on crackers is what it will be.  I REALLY want to make myself some cookie dough but I am going to be good and resist. I want that number on the scale to be down at least 1 lb on Monday morning.

So to everyone out there: stay strong on your food and don't be afraid to try new workouts; if you fall, get back up!

Aie-Yie-Yie. My poor bum!!

photo courtesy of janeyeseeyou

I did a new exercise yesterday - I attended a free spin class held by my trainer's gym last night.  The trainers are attempting to get a regular spin class going and held a few free classes to see if their clients interested. 

To be honest, I was dreading it.  I spent the afternoon at work alternately telling myself to take it easy, you've had the stomach flu, you can skip the class and trying to convince myself that it won't be so bad and that I need to push myself past my comfort zone to continue and that I needed the cardio.

Well, as you know, the angel on my right shoulder prevailed and I dragged my sorry butt down to the gym for 4:00 pm (yah, stupid freaking time and now i need to make up an hour of work today.)  The trainer holding the class was one I haven't worked with before, but she seemed super friendly and all up for it although there was only 3 of us attending, one of them being the trainer's best friend.  The other thing I really liked about this trainer is that she isn't super thin ~ to be perfectly candid, she has some meat on her bones and doesn't come off as a fanatic or super intense person which is what I imagined most spin instructors to be like.

So... the class... was FUN!  The music was upbeat and positive and the trainer wanted all of us to go at our own pace.  I expected my quads to burn baby burn.  However, they survived just fine.  I even expected my bum to be unbearably sore during and after the class, but during the class, there was enough up and down that it didn't bother me. 

What I did struggle with was 3 things:

    My feet!  Who would have thought that!  The bottom of my feet from where the pedal ended was on fire from about the 25 minute mark all the way to the end.  Luckily, my feet recovered quite quickly from it and seem to be ok doing the walking / shuffling in this morning's bootcamp.

    My arms!  With all the standing up and leaning over, they got quite the workout.  My triceps and shoulders were sore from my workout on Monday and the "hovers" and such moves really tired them out.  I also must have put too much pressure on one of my forearms during the hill climbs and bruised a small part of my forearm.  I don't bruise easy so ouchie!! And this morning, my chest is killing me!  The push-ups in bootcamp this morning suffered from seriously poor form.

    Movement from sitting to standing!  I really struggled with the "jumps" where you quickly transitioned from sitting to standing.  I found my knees wanted to buckle and it just wasn't smooth for me.  When we started doing those, my arms and feet were already done so I generally just stayed in a seated position.


So I mentioned above my bum didn't bother me during the workout ~ heck it was only a little tender while driving out to pick up my dog.  But holy mother of hell, was it sore this morning when I woke up.  Just sitting I wanted to cry.  Coming up from a full situp, when you roll across your tailbone onto your butt cheeks, nearly made me cry in bootcamp this morning.   Even sitting now during lunch at work I'm uncomfortable.


So, will I do one again?  I think so.  It was a fantastic cardio workout ~ 550 calories in 50 minutes and the pain afterwards is similar to the pain after bootcamps, just in different places.   As well, it is something different from the bootcamps and circuit.  I know exactly what to expect and I can completely lose myself in the blasting music.  The local rec centre is holding a 30-minute beginner spin course starting in a week or 2.  I'm thinking that might be a better start for me so my butt and body can transition slower.  Plus, it is significantly cheaper than the $20 per session that my trainers want to charge.  I just hope they don't mind me singing along to the songs!

Do any experienced spinners have any advice?