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Fitness, Health

Kayla Itsines Round 2 – Week 2

October 5, 2014
Kayla Itsines Round 2 - Week 2

Kayla Itsines Round 2 – Week 2

Week 2 of Kayla Itsines BBG (bikini body guide) is an interesting week. I personally think that it is much harder than week 1 because of all the jumping we have to do in the legs workout circuit (one word: jumping lunges) and the commandos and mountain climber/push up combos destroy me during the arms workout. I found these really, really hard the first time around as well. They are just demon exercises honestly haha, and if you do like them well then kudos to you! Honestly I am surprised I managed to do the full body workout today, because my abs were still incredibly sore from Friday’s arm workout. 

Food wise I didn’t do as well as I would’ve liked, but it was not too bad. I stuck to the HELP guide during the week, but had a bit too much over the weekend. I had a cider on Friday night and on Saturday night, I went out for dinner with some friends. We went to a really nice place in San Francisco called Zerozero SF. Have any of you ever been there before? We shared a delicious roasted cauliflower dish which I recommend whole-heartedly. It tasted so buttery due to the rosemary oil that it was lavishly cooked in. I also got their salad special of the day which was this incredible octopus salad with butter beans with chorizo oil. I have never before had something with chorizo oil, but I would buy it by the gallonful if I could … it was DELICIOUS! Probably not overly healthy though lol. And tonight since I did the total body workout quite late, I was STARVING and got a big chicken pad see ew. I am staying positive however and making sure I am more mindful next week. I.E. do not let myself get too hungry!

Kayla Itsines Round 2 - Week 2

 My octopus salad, yum!

I weighed myself on Friday and I was still 4 pounds less so that makes me really happy. I am hoping that I can maintain this weight-loss and any extra is truly a bonus. My waist looks as if it is tightening up, but again, it is still too early to tell. I am excited to see what results I have when the first and second month pass.

Honestly yours,
Alice

Fitness, Health

Kayla Itsines Round 2 – Week 1

September 28, 2014
Kayla Itsines Round 2 - Week 1

Today marks the end of week 1 of Kayla Itsines bikini body guide! Feels weird to say that considering I already completed the program a few months ago 😛

Kayla Itsines Round 2 – Week 1

It truly blows my mind how the exercises are still SO HARD. In all fairness, I am using an app I downloaded recently called ‘Pacer’ to keep myself accountable and not rest for too long between sets … but still. Week 1 was HARD. I would have to say that the legs workout was the hardest workout for me this week. I will always have a love/hate relationship with burpees. I absolutely love the benefits of burpees (burns a lot of calories and hits a lot of different muscle groups), but they use up an enormous amount of energy.

Kayla Itsines Round 2 - Week 1

 Lol, death by burpees – for more silly photos visit my Instagram

I am surprised at how easy it has been to follow and stick to the H.E.L.P guide. For those of you who do not know what this is, the H.E.L.P guide gives you a 7 day meal plan and a general guide to healthy eating. I did not feel at all deprived and in fact felt full of energy throughout the whole week. You eat something from every food group everyday, and I think that aspect of it helps a lot in making sure you do not feel deprived. I can still have my beloved carbs, cheese, and lattes! Lattes are so necessary as a graduate student. The only time I really deviated (i.e. ate out with a friend) was for dinner tonight, but we went to a tapas place so it was still easy to stick to having foods recommend by the H.E.L.P guide. It is pretty flexible so I can honestly go anywhere provided I can get some lean protein, vegetables and complex carbohydrates.

The BBG gets the ‘job done’

And by this I mean you get an effective and intense workout in less than 30 minutes. This is why it is so important to make sure that you are truly pushing yourself throughout the whole workout and pushing yourself to the edge. My ability to do masses of push ups have decreased but I still did as many as I could, right up until my arms gave way lol.

I am excited at how everything has been going so far and I look forward to the challenge of week 2. I weigh myself every Monday, buuut I sneakily weighed myself this morning … 4 pounds lost, eek! I am so happy but I need to not get my hopes up too much. As long as my body looks better, then that is all that matters; I try not to get too hung up by the number on the scale

How did your exercise routine go this week? Did you make sure to push yourself to the max? If you wanna give the BBG a go, you can click on the photo on my sidebar and buy the guides (affiliate link, fyi).

Honestly yours,
Alice xx

Health

Marinades & Spice Mixes for Protein

September 26, 2014

I am making the assumption here that most of you who frequent my blog are trying to live a healthier and fitter life. For most of us, this means copious amounts of lean protein such as chicken and turkey (and beans and tofu for my vegetarians and vegans out there).

When I first embarked on my journey of living a healthier and fitter life, I really didn’t have a clue about how to prepare the meat that I cooked. Because I had lived in Asia my whole life, I made a lot of stir fry’s, but they would always disappoint in how bland and unflavorful the meat was.

Marinades & Spice Mixes for Protein

It was actually my boyfriend who encouraged me to experiment with a variety of spices and marinades to make my food taste better. There are lots of easy and little things you can do that can make a LOT of difference to the flavor of your food (and the happiness of your belly) without adding lots of unnecessary calories. I am excited to share some of my favorite marinades for protein with you 🙂 

Marinades & Spice Mixes for Protein

 Photo by Bhaksar Dutta via Getty Images

Chicken

  • baking it whole (this keeps it juicy)! Depending on the size of the chicken breast, I like to bake it for 20-25 minutes at a temperature of 450 degrees fahrenheit, liberally sprinkled with Rachel Ray’s poultry seasoning, or salt, pepper, and rosemary
  • dijon mustard tastes fantastic with chicken and also makes for a delicious marinade. I like using this marinade from the Food Network. Get a ziplock bag and place your chicken breast in it along with 1-2tbsp of any vinegar of your choice, 2-3 tsp of either thyme, oregano or rosemary, 1-2tbsp of dijon mustard and a pinch of salt and pepper
  • I use the same methods above for turkey 🙂 Or I buy the roasted turkey slices at Safeway (an American supermarket) if I am lazy hehe)

Beef

  • I love doing a marinade with soy sauce (or low sodium soy sauce if you are watching your sodium intake). I tend to put beef strips in a ziplock bag, and fill it with enough soy sauce to cover the beef with it. I then add the juice of half a lemon, a tablespoon or two of curry powder and 1tsp of salt and pepper. If you are not a fan of spicy food, just omit the curry powder and replace it with 2 cloves of crushed garlic. This makes a great beef stir fry.

Fish

  • as with chicken, I love baking fish! My fave fish to bake are salmon and tilapia
  • I usually sprinkle some high quality salt and pepper on the fish, and squeeze the juice of half a lemon on top of it. I use the remaining half of the lemon and cut it into slices and place it on top of the fish before putting it in the oven. 
  • adding some crushed garlic to the fish really helps enhance the fish as well. Give it a try!

Beans

  • my favorite beans are garbanzo beans (aka chickpeas) hands down! I do also like lentils, black beans and red kidney beans a lot though. I like to prepare beans for roasting or stir frying by coating them in olive or coconut oil (about 2tbsp per 1/2 cup) and then sprinkling them with salt, pepper and some cumin.
  • Again, adding some crushed garlic cloves to the beans will only enhance the flavor! And feel free to put more herbs and spices such as paprika.

Seasonings and marinades make a world of difference!

I hope these tips help create many flavorful and appetizing meals for you. They have certainly helped make healthy eating much easier and more enjoyable for me. Experiment and be creative; food is to be enjoyed after all!

Question: What is your favorite marinade or spice mix??

Honestly yours,
Alice