Personal Training

The Brick Lady

Posted on by Naomi
I have been on quite a cooking streek lately, and I have to say…I am loving it! I go through phases when it comes to cooking, some weeks I will get lazy and just cook everything on Sunday to have for the week so I don’t have to bother and other times, I will get a bit more creative! This Monday night I had a craving for red meat. I love steak, but I don’t have it THAT often.  In the summer I have it a bit more often because its just so delicious on the grill, but in the colder temps, when I don’t want to trek out to the grill, I have it much less. Well on Monday, I wanted some red meat! I decided to make a stirfry!
I purchased some lean sirloin steak, threw on some low sodium soy sauce and cooked it in the Wok.
Once the meat was cooked through, I put it aside and cooked some cauliflower and green beans. I added some water to the wok to add that ‘steam’ effect
Added back the steak, threw on some sesame seeds and let the flavors come together!
It was quite delicious!
——
On Tuesday morning, I got working on some cardio. I decided to go on the treadmill and didn’t really know what I was going to do once I got on there. I had in my head some incline walking, but its hard for me NOT to include just a little running or sprinting when I get on the treadmill so I mixed it up!
Minute
Speed
Incline
0-3
3.8
5% (warm up)
3-4
3.8
8%
4-5
3.8
9%
5-6
3.8
10%
6-7
3.8
11%
7-8
3.8
12%
8-9
3.8
2%
9-10
6.0
0.5%
10-11
6.5
0.5%
11-12
7.0
0.5%
12-13
7.5
0.5%
13-14
8.0
0.5%
14-14:30
3.8
8%
14:30-15
3.8
8.5%
15-15:30
3.8
9%
15:30-16
3.8
9.5%
16-16:30
3.8
10%
16:30-17
3.8
10.5%
17-17:30
3.8
11%
17:30-18
3.8
11.5%
18-18:30
3.8
12%
18:30-19
3.8
0%
19-23
REPEAT MIN 9-13
23-28
REPEAT MIN 3-8
28-30
3.8
11%
30-32
3.8
9%
32-33
6.0
1%
33-34
8.2
1%
34-35
6.0
1%
35-36
8.2
1%
36-37
6.0
1%
37-38
8.2
1%
38-40
3.5
0% (cool down)


It was a great workout! I liked the combination of sprints, uphill walking and jogging! After some breakfast I got to work
And have been using copious amounts of my FAVORITE hand lotion in the entire world. This stuff is amazing. It never leaves my hands feeling greasy, asbsorbs fast and smells so good!
Mid morning I enjoyed some green beans, raw. I love raw beans!
I also had some greek yogurt, oats and some of my favorite almond butter in the whole world! I am not a HUGE fan of almond butter, but I do love this brand!
And a salad! A OneFitFoodie classic. Lots of veggies, grilled chicken and balsamic vinegar
With a sweet potato on the side that I heated up.
After lunch, and after some digestion I went to the gym to lift chest and back. Guys, I am feeling SO much stronger than I have in the past. Today was awesome because I upped my weights in almost everything including incline barbell chest press–which for some reason I could NEVER increase! Those are hard. I also did 20 push ups–FULL ones. I was so happy!!
And because of the 75 degree temps in Boston, I enjoyed my protein shake outside on the deck! It was so nice out!
  • 1 scoop Muscle Gauge Nutrition Cake batter protein
  • lots of pumpkin pie spice
  • 1/4 tsp each xanthan + guar gums
  • 5 ice cubes
  • 4 oz almond milk
  • 4 oz water
  • BULLETIZED (yes I made that word up)

 While out on the deck, I noticed this fun sight in the bushes. No, its not a burgler….that would be…my crazy mom
 Seriously, mom?
She looked up at the deck and realized I was snapping her picture and she started hysterically laughing, realizing she was a bit loco. She explained to me that she was having some people over for dinner and she was cooking “chicken under a brick” Literally. You see, we had some renovations on my parents house about 8 years ago (Our house is half brick) And for some reason there were STILL old bricks scattered in some of the bushes from the renovations. I thought that in itself was bizzare. So my mom decided to go out in the yard and scour for those bricks.
She was quite successful. I told her that this was just TOO good to NOT be documented on my blog.
Meanwhile inside, I had some steel cut oats cooking on the stovetop. I have really been enjoying steel cut oats BUT I don’t like that the portion size is much smaller. Let me clarify. When I make rolled oats on the stove I used about TWICE the amount of water that it calls for beacuse I like my oats more soupy AND it adds more volume so its as if I am eating more in 1 serving. WIth the steel cut oats, they cook down a alot-so where rolled oats serving LOOKS like more, the steel cut oats is just more condensed. I do love the doughiness and creaminess of steel cut though!
I had a serving after my protein shake.
—-
That night my family and I were going out to dinner to celebrate my mom’s birthday which was last week. We went to Reagle Beagle in Brookline, MA. 
(the lighting was terrible) The owner of the restaurant knew my mom and brought some complimentary pumpkin hummus. It was served with grilled pita and garnished with red onion, feta and cucumber. It was creamy and delicious (yes I had some!!)
We ordered some additonal appetizers including this bibb salad. It was served with granny smith apples and glazed cashews. Um, this was basically how it looked. Pretty bland and so-so. I felt like I was eating apples and iceburg lettuce with some ‘fancy’ cashews. It was okay nothing spectacular.
The cashews were good!! They were sweet and crispy from the sugary glaze. 
For my entree I got the roasted half chicken which was served with brussels sprouts and sweet potato stuffing ( I subbed kale for the stuffing) the vegetables were COVERED in butter. Usually, I wouldn’t complain but seriously, it was dripping butter when I held it from my fork, and I just could simply not stomach it. The owner was so extremely nice and apogized, he brought over some plain kale within 2 minutes.  I am not one to complain, but when I am paying for the food I guess its okay to get what you want. Overall I would give Reagle Beagle a 6/10. Not amazing, everything was very rich. True comfort food style cooking, I was glad I went though because we have wanted to try it for a while!
This morning I used this Tahitian vanilla extract in my oatmeal! YUM I found it at TJ Maxx (love that store!!)
I made some french press coffee while the oats were cooking away!
And spotted this. My mom is also infusing basil into some vodka for her dinner party. I acutally really like this idea!!
And she covered up her bricks!!
Oats-DONE
So good. Seriously, so good.
  • Have you been to a restaurant that you had high expectations for but it was so-so?
  • Do you have a ‘go to’ item that you always order at a restaurant? I usually always try to order some appetizer salad and split it with whoever I am with. I love the creativity that some restaurants come up with for the flavors to bring a ‘simple’ salad into something quite complex
  • Do you have breakfast right when you wake up or do you need to ‘wake up’ first before anything else? I usually have it within 30 minutes of waking. If its not a FULL breakfast right away, its something small like eggwhites, then a little while later I will have my full breakfast

HAVE A GREAT DAY!
WORKOUT JAM OF THE DAY!

Naomi
Naomi