Hey, collegiettes! We’re entering a new year, a new semester, and, for many of us, that also means new attitudes about fitness, eating habits, and overall health. To fulfill my passion for nutrition and fitness, and help propel your motivation to get in shape further than the first few weeks of January, I will be providing a little blurb each week (that’s the plan, anyway) of some recent healthy eats and workouts I’ve been cooking and doing. In addition, I’ll try to provide some links to recipes and workouts I discover around the web and hope to try out sometime myself, too! Hopefully these articles will inspire some creativity in the kitchen and motivate you to keep those daily sweat sessions at the gym! (I am also hoping this will provide me with the same creativity and motivation, so I have something to report back to you all each week.)
Some eats this week:
Cereal Bowl:
This classic standby is by no means that original, but can be tweaked easily to suit different preferences and cravings–and definitely does a great job of keeping me full:
- 1 container or 6 oz. greek yogurt (I prefer non-fat plain)
- 1 medium-large banana, sliced
- 2 tbsp nut butter or pb2 (powdered peanut butter)
- 1 cup whole grain cereal (I prefer the varieties Kashi offers)
Mediterranean Quinoa Salad:
- 1 cup (cooked) Quinoa – about ¼ cup uncooked
- ½ cup chickpeas
- Assorted steamed vegetables – I usually use zucchini, yellow squash, carrots, brussel sprouts (feel free to adjust to your vegetable preference!)
- 1 cup spinach
- ¼ cup fat-free or low-fat feta cheese
- Lemon juice – add to your liking
o To assemble my quinoa salad, I typically steam my vegetables in the microwave first and let them cool a little while I heat up my quinoa (I make a large batch at the beginning of each week to make meal time a little quicker) and chickpeas. I, then, line a bowl with about a cup of spinach and top it with the rest of the heated ingredients. I sprinkle my feta on and nuke it for another minute and then douse the bowl with some calorie-free lemon juice!
New recipe of the week – Quinoa and Vegetable Soup:
- Recipe and directions here:
o http://greatist.com/health/recipe-quinoa-and-vegetable-soup
o **P.S. – this rocks because you can get a few meals out of a super simple recipe!
Some workouts this week:
I’ll just share a few of my favorite ways that I moved this week and will try to provide you guys with some fresh workouts each week!
Sunday: 30 minute exercise-bike workout & full-body circuit
- This bike workout is great because it incorporates sprinting intervals to boost your heart rate and torch some calories. You can find it here: http://www.fitsugar.com/30-Minute-Exercise-Bike-Workout-2396773#read-more
- The full-body circuit was great after a weekend of not so clean eating and a little bit of binge Netflix watching. Follow this link and start toning those muscles: http://itzlinz.com/2012/12/27/15-full-body-circuit-workout/15-full-body-circuit/
Tuesday: 30-minute elliptical workout & legs and abs circuit:
- This workout will give you a great burn in a short half hour: http://www.fitsugar.com/30-Minute-Elliptical-Workout-Intervals-5462832
- Legs and Abs Circuit (run through each circuit a total of 3x):
o Circuit 1:
- Squats with weight — 15x
- Walking lunges — 15x each leg
- Crunches — 25x
- Russian Twists with medicine ball — 25x each side
o Circuit 2:
- Side lunges — 15x each leg
- Glute kickbacks — 10x each leg
- Glute kickback pulses — 10x each leg
- Leg lifts — 20x
- Side plank — 30sec each side
o Circuit 3:
- Plie squat — 15x
- Wall sit — 1:00
- Plank — 1:00
Wednesday: Power Yoga
- After a few days of some intense cardio and strength training. I was more than ready for a little stretching. I took this class at the RPAC and was pretty satisfied. I was even more impressed when the instructor admitted this was her first semester teaching Power Yoga–kudos to you, girlfriend!
That’s all I’ve got for you ladies this week, but I promise I will try my best to keep things as interesting as I can, even as the semester starts to get crazier and crazier. Best of luck in keeping those resolutions or just continuing to kick butt in your journeys through practicing a healthy lifestyle!
*P.S. –> I promise to include many more pictures of meals (and maybe even some post-workout selfies, if you’re lucky) next time!