Archive for nutrition

Run, Climb, Recipe!!!

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It’s a beautiful Tuesday here in L.A. I know most people are having less-than-stellar weather this week, so I’m definitely soaking this up and feeling thankful. I’ve been feeling really productive this week and I’m hoping to carry that on through the rest of the week and even month. I’ve got a lot of things to do, so the more motivated I am, the easier it will be to get done!

Fitness

Last night, I got done working around 6:30pm and headed straight to the rock climbing gym. Even though it was later than I’d planned, I wanted to get a run in and wasn’t going to let anything stop me. Since my mud run and 5k races, I’ve basically taken a long hiatus from running. While most of my fitness activities stay pretty constant year-round, running is the exception. I’ll run several times per week for months and then one day I’ll just stop and I won’t run for just as long. I am always curious to see how my stamina stays up when I don’t run for long periods of time. The conditioning and lifting that I do should technically keep my running shape decent, but you never know. 

I arrived at the gym around 7pm and decided to just run outside in the neighborhood around it. I used a new running app (RunKeeper) and have to say I like it much better than MapMyRun. I was noticing towards the end of my last running streak that the timing and distance seemed to be a bit off (i.e. I was running sluggishly and still hitting a good pace). RunTracker seems to be much more accurate, so we’ll see how it goes!

I’m happy to report that I felt REALLY good during my run. While I was just trying to take it easy since it had been so long, my body felt like it could have gone much faster and harder. I don’t feel like I’ve lost much stamina and that makes me a happy chica! Yay for running!(kinda.. ;-)) I ended up with just over 3 miles. 

photo 1

Last night’s run

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Afterwards, I headed into the rock climbing gym for a bouldering session. So much fun and such a great overall body workout. Can’t wait to do it again Thursday!

When I got home, my boyfriend and I made our signature dinner. By signature, I mean we make it like 3-4 times per week. We are a bit obsessed. I promise I will take photos of the process sometime, but here is a recipe for you!

Better Than Chipotle, Chipotle

Ingredients:

2 Organic Chicken Breasts

1 Red Bell Pepper

1 Green Bell Pepper

1/2 White Onion

Brown Rice (as much as you’d like)

Black Beans (as much as you’d like)

Spices: Pepper, Cayenne Pepper (optional), Paprika, Garlic Powder 

Hot Sauce (your preference, we use La Victoria)

Directions: Timing is EVERYTHING

-Preheat Oven to 325 degrees

-Place Chicken on a Cookie Sheet and add desired spices. Then bake for about 15 minutes – 20 minutes (until it’s done of course!)

-While chicken is baking, chop up bell peppers and onion.

-When the chicken has about 10 minutes left, boil water (2:1 ratio) and add brown rice. Cook until the water has evaporated and rice is soft.

-When the chicken has about 5 minutes left, spray a frying pan with the oil of your choice and add veggies and spices to the mix. Cook until they start to slightly brown. (Note: if you cook too long they get soggy, so make sure you watch them!)

-While veggies are cooking, heat up black beans (in microwave or pan)

-Finally: ASSEMBLE. Do this however you want, but we like to do: Brown rice, Black beans, Veggies, Chicken, Cheese, and Hot Sauce!!

This picture is not exactly appetizing, but I promise the meal is delicious!!! (This is also my boyfriend’s serving. It’s enough for at least two people, but he eats it all.) 🙂

Charlie's Ginormo Plate of Food

Charlie’s Ginormo Plate of Food

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let me know if you try it!

Do you run? Do you like running?  

Posted in nutrition, recipes, Workout tagged with , , , , , , , , , , ,

The 6-Week Challenge: WBBC

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Wowza! It’s been a while. I’ve been a busy little bee, working my tail off. But hopefully I’ll be posting a bit more as of now. Hope you’re having a great week! November is truckin’ along….

News:

This past Saturday (November 2nd) marked the 1st day of the WBBC 6 Week Challenge. What is the WBBC you ask?

WBBC Logo

The World’s Best Boot Camp is just as it implies. It was started by a former Desert Storm Vet, John Burch. I met John at my gym in Santa Monica and when he told me about the seroquelinfo challenge, I was all about it.

WBBC Day 1 StretchHere’s a photo of me doing a dynamic stretch on Day 1

So what does the 6 week challenge entail? Well, as you can imagine, I will be attending a boot camp 2-3 times per week that focuses on a lot of the basic movements mixed with CrossFit movements: squats, push-ups, sit-ups, burpees, kettlebells, and more! The other part of the challenge includes cleaning up my diet (which is pretty clean already, but tightening up a bit), and doing my personal best to accomplish my goals.

To give a little insight, on Day 1, we did a baseline workout and took measurements. I will be doing some video diaries each week to update my progress (I’ll post the links as soon as they’re posted each week) and I’m hoping to come out with successfuly results at the end! By December 14th, I will be re-testing my baseline workout from Day 1 and taking measurements again. I’m IN IT TO WIN IT and hoping that I will have some GREAT results to share!

There is no better time than now as the holidays approach, so I’m pretty excited. While I’m pretty comfortable in my body and like the way I look now, I am excited to lean out a bit more and as the slogan says, “have the most fun proving myself!” Love that.

Goals: 

I want to be 100% compliant. What does this mean for me?

-I will attend bootcamp 2-3 times per week

-I will stick to my diet 6 days per week with one day to splurge (within reason of course)

-I will get enough rest and WATER

-I will continue running, rock climbing, weight lifting, and all of the other activities that I do in between boot camp days.

For the first time since I competed in 2009, I feel ready for this. I’ve actually felt ready for a while, but I needed something like this to come along to spark my fire and get me going again. In good fashion, I dragged my boyfriend into the competition as well. On a weekly basis, he tells me he needs to lose 10 lbs, so I’ve enlisted him in the challenge with me! While he won’t do all of the workouts that I do, he will be following the diet with me.

I would love for you all to follow me along on this journey! I will be posting pictures, videos, thoughts, challenges, and more!

Have you ever done a challenge?

What motivates you the most?

Posted in holidays, motivation, nutrition, Workout tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

Have Your Pasta and Eat It Too!!!

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….errr something like that.

A few weeks ago, I got a random craving for pasta with italian sausage and red sauce. Such a delicious combo, but it can be very calorie dense and carb heavy. I don’t know about you, but itty bitty portions of pasta just isn’t cool, people.

I decided to put my own healthy hand at the dish, and to my surprise, it was AMAZING.

I know what you’re thinking…amazing as in it’s edible AND healthy….but fo’ realz…this was good!!

Here’s my dirty little secret recipe. I encourage you to try it! It makes a HUGE portion of food for around 350 calories. It’s balanced, delicious, and leaves you feeling happy (as all meals should!).

 

 

I promise this is a dish that your entire family will love. If you’re not keen on soy(the shirataki noodles are made with it) you could also use Miracle Noodles which are made with glucomanin instead of soy.

 

1. What is your favorite dish?

 

2. Do you have a comfort food that you’ve healthified?

Posted in nutrition, recipes tagged with , , , , ,

Winner, Workout, & Food…

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Winner

Wooo! What a weekend it was…..which means I never got to announce the winner of the Polaroid Sunglasses Giveaway!!!

Congratulations Katie L.!!! Please e-mail me at fitlizzio(at)gmail(dot)com with your full address so I can send your brand new sunglasses to you!!!

For the non-winners, until next time folks…and there will be a next time!

Website

On to a shameless plug….

My brand new website is LAUNCHED!!! I’d be delighted for you all to check it out! It was a long time in the making and I am so excited to finally be “on-line!” My Part Time Manager is OFFICIAL! 🙂

Lizzy Slider

Eats

While I’ll likely never be the type of blogger that documents everything I eat, here are a few tidbits from today!

My never fail Summer Breakfast Smoothie (made with kale, strawberries, blueberries, 1/2 banana, greek yogurt, protein powder, and stevia). It is SO delicious and the perfect pre-workout breakfast that doesn’t make me too full and doesn’t send me to the gym on an empty stomach!!!

breakfast smoothie

After my cardio session (just a 30 minute sesh on the treadmill today) I grabbed a NuGo Protein Bar so I could shower and get ready without chewing my arm off. Real sea salt crystals on the bar. Pretzels inside. Chocolate. Yum.

nugo protein bar

On my way to job #2, I grabbed my favorite $10 salad from Beverliz Cafe in Beverly Hills. It is so fresh, summery, and delicious. The Strawberry Chicken Salad comes with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, chicken, strawberries (durr), and feta cheese. The balsamic vinaigrette is to die for. I didn’t snap a picture today because I think I had eaten it all before I even thought of it.

Other random eats throughout the day: Plain strawberries (have I mentioned I love strawberries?), an apple, crystallized ginger (my weird obsession), and an Ezekiel, egg white, chicken sausage sandwich (yum in my tum).

And now for a doozy of a workout….I did this last night and I am feeling it today for sure….

Workout

1 minute rest between supersets…adjust weight to what you’re comfortable with! As always, always ask a doctor before starting any new exercise program.

Superset #1: 4 sets

Snatch(45lb BB) – 10 reps

Push-Up Plank (10lb DB’s) – 8 reps

Superset #2: 3 sets

DB Bench Press(25lb DB’s) – 12 reps

Step-Up Hops(bodyweight) – 12 reps per leg

Superset #3: 3 sets

Pull-Ups with a Resistance Band(green band) – 10 reps

Squat Jumps(bodyweight) – 15 reps

Superset #4: 3 sets

Windmills(15lb DB) – 8 reps per side

Good Mornings(45lb BB) – 15 reps

What is your favorite exercise? 

I love Snatches (gosh that sounds awful but seriously there is no other way to say that…). They are really tough, you have to really work for them, your form has to be spot on, your entire body is involved, and you feel so strong doing them!!! Kapow!!! Your turn!

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Survey and Goals

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I always forget how much I love writing/blogging until I start doing it again. I decided today is as good a day as any!

It’s a lazy Sunday, and I’ve put in a tough week of workouts including, but not limited to: hiking, tabata, strength training, running, plyometrics, hip hop, and kettle bells. Now that I write that out, I really hit a rainbow of workouts this week! It’s always fun to mix things up and do different things. I actually didn’t do any steady-state cardio on a machine this week, and still feel like I kicked.my.booty.

Goals of This Blog

–Healthy Eating: I’ll document some of the healthy foods I incorporate in my life. It’s taken me a long time to find my health-shui if you will and now that I’ve got it, I think it’d be nice to share it with the world. My quick outlook: Make the healthiest choices you can that still make you happy. That is, if you just want to have the fries, but don’t really care to have cheese or a bun on your burger, then by all means do it. Make the changes that you don’t notice as much, and keep the foods you enjoy in your life in moderation. And sometimes? You just go get frozen yogurt because your boyfriend wants it. 🙂

–Exercise and Fitness: I’ll document my workouts, give some workout suggestions, and share my thoughts on exercise. I am a certified personal trainer and a 6 year test dummy with fitness. I’ve tried it all from bodybuilding to power lifting, to crossfit, etc. In addition, while, yes, I work at Iron Gym in Santa Monica, I’ve also really enjoyed the new group fitness program we’ve implemented called Momentum. I’m going to start highlighting the different classes we offer there because having these classes available to me have helped me to try new things that I never would have otherwise. Maybe you will find some inspiration as well!

Since it’s been a while, and my life is constantly changing, I thought a little “about me” survey would be in order. As I type this, I’m enjoying TJ’s Spicy Ranchero Egg White Salad and baby carrots dipped in TJ’s Spinach and Kale Greek Yogurt Dip. Holy yum.

Spinach and Kale dip front tjseggwhite

Here we go….

A – Age: 25..a quarter of a century! (gulp)
B – Bed size: Queen
C – Chore you hate: i know this is weird, but dying my hair. I get gray hair because I’m 25 going on 92, and paying to get it done every 3 weeks is just insanity, so I do it myself. It sucks, but it’s cheap 🙂
D – Dog’s name: My dog in AZ is Knuckles. Here in LA, I don’t have one yet…..but I’m working on convincing the boyfriend that we NEED one now. A boxer would be just dandy 🙂
E – Essential start your day item: Workout and caffeine. In any order.
F – Favorite color: black and gray. I’m dark 🙂
G – Gold or Silver: Silver
H – Height: 5’7.5…that .5 counts ok!
I – I am: very strange, a hard worker, and somewhat frustrating. But I’m funny, so that cancels everything else out. 😀
J – Job: You mean jobS. I’m a manager at a gym, a part time office manager for a celebrity, a sound engineer, a personal assistant/office manager for an executive, and the owner of MyPartTimeManager. I work a lot 🙂
K – Kids: Just my boyfriend.
L – Living arrangements: I live in a 2 bedroom apartment with a roommate and my boyfriend.
M – Mom’s name: Caryle
N – Nicknames: Lizard, Lizzio, Gizmo, Giz, Zeedee, Lizzandra
O – Overnight hospital stay other than birth: Thankfully, never.
P – Pet Peeve: I have so many. People tend to annoy me in general. I definitely hate when people leave you waiting, rather than just giving you an answer. I also can’t stand stupid people and incompetence. Oddly enough though, I get along with pretty much everyone.
Q – Quote from a movie:? I have always said if you could have a career in quoting movies, I’d do that. But alas, I am asked this question with nothing coming to mind.
R – Right or left handed: Both!
S – Siblings: Sister (32), Brother (30), Brother (21)… although looking at that there is no way my baby brother is that old!!!!!! He is still 10 in my head. 😀
T – Time you wake up: 8 or 9ish usually.
U- Underwear: I wear it, yes.
V – Vegetable you dislike: I LOVE vegetables. But peas? No thank you.
W – Ways you run late: Left, right, center.
X – X-rays you’ve had: dental, elbow, shoulder, etc. I’m an athlete. While I’ve had no major injuries, I’ve definitely had minor ones.
Y – Yummy food you make: I make weird things. I get on a kick and that is what I eat for weeks straight. Right now an egg white sandwich with ezekiel bread (toasted), egg whites and TJ’s Spicy Jalapeno Sausage cooked together and topped with a little bit of colby jack cheese. Yummmmmm.
Z – Zoo favorite: I went to the San Diego Zoo last year for the first time since being a kid. It was the most depressing thing ever and I’ll never go back.

Your turn!

Posted in about me, nutrition, random, Workout tagged with , , , ,

Healthy Snacks

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There are two types of people in this world. Those who eat 2 or 3 solid meals per day, and those who graze. I am a total grazer. I like to snack and would rather eat 5-6 small meals a day than only a few big meals. Basically I’m like a cow with less spots. And no utters. I hope.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Snacking can be really dangerous if you’re not careful because many snacks don’t really fill you up, leading you to just keep, well, snacking on them! I’ve compiled a list of my favorite healthy snacks that both allow me to munch on them throughout the day and give me some great health benefits.

Scandinavian Crisp Bread w/ Whipped Cream Cheese
-Fiber city meets Fat town. It tastes good and is good for the gut too. I find the crisp bread in the kosher aisle at Ralph’s (or Kroger, or Fry’s depending on where you live)

(I’m likely going to get a lot of flack for this one because cream cheese is dairy and has fat in it, oh no!!! But I’m not afraid of fats and full fat cream cheese is delicious. Depending on how much criticism I get for this, I may dedicate an entire post to why I include it in my diet as a HEALTHY food.)

Baby carrots w/ Guacamole
–Trader Joe’s chunky guacamole is by far my favorite, but Wholly Guacamole is a close second. Their portion control packs are awesome. 100 calories of delicious avocado goodness.

Strawberries and Greek Yogurt
-It’s like dessert. Oh, so delicious and filling. Perfect blend of protein and carbs too! You can use 0% fat greek yogurt, or get crazy, sexy, cool and buy full fat. Whatever you’d like!

Almonds w/ stevia and cinnamon
-Like candied almonds without all of the sugar!

Coconut Oil + Cocoa Powder + Stevia
–Emily Zaler taught me this one. Mix equal parts coconut oil and cocoa powder with stevia to taste. Mix it up and freeze it for 10 minutes. When it melts in your mouth, you can come thank me (or Emily). 🙂

What are some of YOUR favorite healthy snacks? Add to this list!

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