Hi friends!! It’s Friiiiday! Yay! Could not have come soon enough if you ask me. After three weeks of vacation my brain this week was kind of like: “I have to go to work AGAIN today!? Didn’t we do that yesterday??” The jet lag didn’t help either. I did my best to ward it off but unfortunately when you cross so many time zones your body just has to adjust on its own time. Anywho, enough about that…we are back with Friday’s Food & Fitness: The Jumpstart January edition! I mentioned on Tuesday that I needed to get my healthy eating back on track and I gave it a good effort this week. Workouts have been a bit slow but that’s mainly due to my extreme fatigue from traveling. I’m less worried about that though since I was active every day in Australia. So without further adieu, here we go!
FOOD
My first home-cooked meal of 2014: chicken souvlaki! O.k. I have to admit that this was a partially home cooked meal. I order my groceries online from Freshdirect and they have a wide range of ready to cook meals available. They are really cool because they come with marinated protein, chopped veggies and any sauce you need and all you have to do is follow the directions and cook it up. It usually doesn’t take long at all. This was the first time I tried their chicken souvlaki and I have to say I was very impressed. It was pretty healthy too with lean chicken breast, lots of veggies, steamed spinach and a side of tzatziki. Yum!
When I finally had the energy to cook a full meal, I went straight for the seafood! Australia has some amazing seafood and I realized that I need to make a better effort to eat more fish at home. I tried this salmon with bok choy and black rice recipe I found in Health’s January issue. So delicious. I’m a huge fan of black rice now, which I also used in my A Week’s Worth of Healthy Meals in a Day.
I was going to make this veggie and couscous dish but the week got away from me so I improvised and made some whole wheat pasta with organic tomato sauce (I add my own seasoning, garlic and onions) plus pan fried cauliflower (soooo yum!) and some sauteed brussel sprouts.
FITNESS
I took a few days off when I first got home because my body was under so much stress from flying and changing time zones that it needed rest more than it needed exercise. I then started out slow with a BodyBalance (aka BodyFlow in the U.S.) class. I’ve talked about Les Mills classes on here before, but they are really popular in Australia (probably due to their proximity to New Zealand where Les Mills is based) and I always make it a point to fit in a few classes when I am there. BodyBalance is the perfect blend of tai chi, yoga, pilates, stretching and meditation. I absolutely love this class and it was a great way to ease back into my workouts.
Because I’ve been on a Les Mills kick, I kept with the theme and popped in a BodyCombat DVD that accompanied my Pump DVDs. If you want to know more about Combat, you should head over to my friend Joi’s blog, she is an instructor and loves Mixed Martial Arts (MMA).
I also pumped some iron with my 45 minute Pump DVD. I upped my weights a little and it was really challenging!
I rounded out the week with a combination of BodyAttack and BodyStep (30 minutes each!) again from the Cross Training DVDs. The Step DVD is actually really challenging and my legs are dying by the end! Attack is always fun and incredibly motivating.
Not too bad for my first week back on the wagon!
Readers, how were your workouts this week? Do you have a favorite seafood recipe? Have you tried the Les Mills Cross Training DVDs yet? Which would you most like to try?
The Dose of Reality
January 10, 2014Okay, I’ve never even HEARD of black rice before. Now I feel like I need to seek it out. I absolutely LOVE salmon. I think I am going to look up that recipe. I am determined to find at least one new healthy grain this year and incorporate it into my diet!!! –Lisa
FitBritt
January 10, 2014I meant to link the recipe and I forgot! Here it is: http://www.health.com/health/recipe/0,,50400000133012,00.html (Gingered Salmon Over Black Rice and Bok Choy).
I had not heard of black rice until recently but I really like it! It is supposed to have antioxidants in it or something.
Kimberly (Manifest Yourself)
January 10, 2014I absolutely love salmon… I think I posted a recipe on my site awhile ago too. Question: what does black rice taste like? Is it similar to wild rice?
FitBritt
January 10, 2014No it’s not like wild rice at all! It’s more similar to white rice in that it is not have a strong distinctive taste. It’s not wholemeally like brown rice. I think the brand I got was gluten free or all black rice might be naturally gluten free (not sure) but it didn’t taste starchy at all.
Shawna
January 10, 2014happy Friday! my workouts were consistently good this week — 3 good runs and 2 strength-training/circuit sessions so far. i keep meaning to try some sort of yoga/pilates class, and Body Balance sounds pretty interesting. have a great wknd.
FitBritt
January 12, 2014Sounds like you had a really great week Shawna! Nice work! 🙂
Davida @ The Healthy Maven
January 10, 2014Had a great yoga sesh this morning! My legs were crying after a kettlebell workout yesterday so it was SO necessary! I love these posts. I get so many food and fitness ideas. First up, find a DVD player!
FitBritt
January 12, 2014I am making an effort to do more yoga this year. Love it so much! I would not survive without my DVD player. I rely on my at-home workouts to maintain my hectic schedule!
Sarah @ Making Thyme for Health
January 10, 2014Looks like you are back on track with your food & fitness! I love Body Flow but they don’t offer it by me. The Flow DVD that came with Pump is pretty good though. Now I am kicking myself for getting the package without the cross training DVDs because I want to have Attack at home! I’m so obsessed with that class. The new release comes out this weekend! Eek!!
FitBritt
January 12, 2014I love attack too! The DVD is only 30 minutes so it is not a full class but I still enjoy it and it’s pretty intense. Have fun with the new release!
Nicole
January 10, 2014BodyBalance sounds like a nice low-key workout! Haven’t tried it yet.
Take it easy this weekend, get some rest, and you’ll be back on track with your sleep schedule in no time! 😉
FitBritt
January 12, 2014Thanks Nicole! Hope you have a great weekend!
Kim
January 10, 2014I love both Les Mills Pump and Les Mills Combat (one of my very favorite workout programs!)!!! I hope that they come out with a DVD series for the GRIT program!!!
FitBritt
January 12, 2014I’ve never tried GRIT. Do you like it?
Holly
January 10, 2014Hi!
The pan fried cauliflower sounds scrumptious. It appears that you are lifting heavy weights. What size weights do you use with you Pump DVD or any other weight routine?
FitBritt
January 12, 2014The pan fried cauliflower tasted amazing! I use two 5 lbs plates and two 10 lb plates (one on each side of the bar). It depends what moves I am doing on whether I will use just the 5lbs, just the 10lbs or both to make 15lbs.
Carla
January 11, 2014Sounds like a great week to me, Brittany! Your food looks good and I’m really going to have to find a way to take a Les Mills class. It’s killing me not to know what I’m missing out on. I’m also headed over to check out FreshDirect.
FitBritt
January 12, 2014You can find Les Mills classes near you through their website. I’m a big fan! Unfortunately FreshDirect is only available in the northeast. 🙁
Joi @ Rx Fitness Lady
January 11, 2014What a great first week back! I don’t have those DVDs at home but I’d like to have step and attack. My routine used to consist of a weekly step & attack class and then I started teaching on those days at a different gym. I miss them so much. Thanks for the shout out!
FitBritt
January 12, 2014The step DVD is actually incredibly challenging. I am always dying by the end of it. The attack DVD is pretty good too but nothing beats a real class!
Melanie @ HappyBeingHealthy
January 12, 2014All of your food looks so yummy especially that chicken souvlaki and the pan friend cauliflower. YUM! I’ve never heard of black rice before, but it looks good too. All of your workouts look like fun too!
FitBritt
January 12, 2014Thanks Melanie! You should give black rice a try. Apparently it has a lot of antioxidants and I think it tastes pretty yummy! The pan fried cauliflower was something I made on a whim and it turned out to be really delicious!
Melissa Burton
January 12, 2014I’d say that was a successful week back. I’ll lyk that I miss FreshDirect terribly! They have great stuff.
I have to ask – what kind of barbells do you have? I’m impressed that you have a set in your apartment.
I had a nice mix of WundaBar Pilates and running this week (hard to get to yoga when you’re on solo parenting duty) but I did try a Jillian Michaels video to get some cardio and strength in!
FitBritt
January 12, 2014The barbells actually came with my Pump DVD set. This is the review I did of it with more photos of the barbell set (http://www.myownbalance.com/2013/03/22/les-mills-pump/). The set came with two 5lb plates and two 10 lb plates plus the bar that you can actually break down in half for storage. I really like the barbell set but I wish that I had another smaller weight (like a 2-3 lb plate) because it would allow me to add on more weight in increments instead of immediately going up by 5lbs each side.
Which Jillian DVD did you do? I really like her stuff and I have a lot of her DVDS!