Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Turkey Burgers with Zucchini



Got this recipe from skinnytaste.com for turkey burgers with grated zucchini incorporated as a replacement for eggs AND adding some more veggies into your diet.

The recipe calls for:
1.25lbs 93% lean ground turkey
1/4 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
1 small grated zucchini
1 Tbsp grated red onion
1 clove grated garlic
salt
pepper
spray oil


This makes five patties. I wanted to double the recipe so I had enough for the week if Bryce wanted some or if I wanted to have one for dinner in addition to having one for lunch. I couldn't find whole wheat bread crumbs, so I settled on brown rice bread crumbs which had only 40kcals versus 100kcals PLUS.  Works for me!



Skinnytaste claims that this patty alone has 156kcals, 6.8g of fat, 18.6g of protein, 5.5g of carbohydrates. *MY* calculations were a bit different, considering the servings size of Jennie O 93/7 Turkey is 170kcals... it just didn't add up right. But, whatever! So my calories ended up coming slightly under 200kcals and with 22g of protein.

Next time I think I'll be adding in more garlic for an extra bit of flavor. But these are pretty delicious! The zucchini helps keep these patties incredibly moist. I'm a fan! I've had a patty for yesterday's lunch, dinner and today's lunch. So far not sick of them. I'm also going to try a spinach version too.

Enjoy!

Xx,
M

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Hypoxi

This may get long... (that's what he said!)

Where to begin? Let's start with the lessons (trying not to sound extremely negative and call them huge, fat regrets!)...(this got so long it just turned into a Hypoxi blog)

Hypoxi Training-  a few weeks ago I went for a consultation session of Hypoxi training after doing a little research (there was very little scientific research available) since a co-worker was seeing results in weight loss. Essentially, the claim is you can target fat loss in certain areas. I wanted to lose stomach fat. You wear a scuba-like suit that uses vacuum technology while you keep your heart rate at what seems like an aerobic level for 30 minutes on a treadmill. You cannot eat 2 hours before your session, nor 2 hours after. After the post-2 hours you can have protein only and then 4 hours after that you can eat as normal. The big kicker, you cannot do any other exercise on the same day (if you really, really want to, you can 6 hours after Hypoxi). Despite logically and intellectually knowing better, I handed over my card and set up my appointments.

Back to my consultation, I voiced my concerns about cutting my workouts back so significantly and still seeing results that others see. Didn't make sense to me. She convinced me that since I had been in a 'plateau' that this would be perfect and to just give her ONE week where I didn't go to the gym on the days I did Hypoxi. You do a minimum of 3 sessions a week. And a maximum of 4 sessions, "because you need to let your body rest." I did scheduled for 4 appointments a week. I wanted maximum results! I was excited to try this out. She kept reassuring me not to worry, and that I'd have results.

My initial thoughts after the workout, the physical workout is nothing. The only reason I sweated was due to the fact that I was vacuum-sucked into that hot suit, in a small room with the weakest fan blowing. The vacuum sensations on the stomach was interesting. But the suit really did irritate my skin around my arm pits, but later I found out that was just due to her not carefully suiting me up. The sensation of being taken out of the suit is really nice. It feels like your body can finally breathe and move freely. I feel like I felt lighter since the suit can be really restrictive. I could only imagine that it has a similar effect on your mental being, too.

My second session, I got my measurements done. Four measurements just from the tummy area. They also weighed. Their scale is off by exactly 1 pound, too! Haha. This session I had a different girl working with me, and she put me in the suit properly so I didn't have the irritation on my upper arms. That was nice.

On my third session, I was downgraded to a smaller suit since she had noticed that the suit seemed to be big on me. That session definitely felt like, "wow, THIS is what it's supposed to feel like?!" the vacuum sensation was a lot stronger, so I was feeling pretty good about this whole Hypoxi thing.

Fourth, whatever. Nothing exciting.

On my days off I am going to the gym and doing my normal work outs. And I seriously looked so forward to my gym days. I looked forward to the feeling of sweat and accomplishment! I also looked forward to not having some ridiculous diet where I can't eat for 4.5 hours!

Weeks 2 begins. Monday the girl wants to weigh me to see my progress. I GAINED 4/10ths of a pound. Nice. Really nice. That could have been attributed to water retention from crawfish. Whatever, not a huge deal to me...

Seventh session, the girl wants to check my measurements. So, I join her in the private room, and pull up my dress and she starts measuring. I'm hearing a lot of, "hmmm... " "umm... I'm getting 'off numbers'" "hmm.. I'm going to have so-and-so measure you since she measured you the first time..." "I can't figure out where she did her measurements" I asked what she meant by, "off numbers" and she admitted the numbers were bigger. I was pissed. My torso is only so long... how can you not figure out where she did the four measurements? She tried to smooth it over with, "don't be like that... think positive... don't worry..." my instant reply was, "this is a very expensive thing to 'not worry' if I'm not getting results." Her: "you will! you'll get one more session in before your measurements tomorrow!" I don't know why she was saying it as if it were a positive thing. I had to bite my tongue to prevent myself from saying how it makes little to no sense as to why I would be excited that I get an extra session in before my measurements, because if this worked then they should be eager to get my measurements with minimal sessions, right? Ugh. I got suited up then did my 30 minutes on the treadmill. This workout was insanely horrible, my heart rate could barely get to where it needed to be and my legs (especially in my right leg) felt so stiff. I really feel my pissed off mood took its toll on me.

Eighth session. The girl who did my measurements suited me up and had me do my workout, shower and THEN I did my measurements. So, I'll do the math for you, I got 8 sessions before I got my progress measurements taken, when people normally get them after 6 sessions. So, the measurements are done in centimeters and the girl is making comments like, "ahhh..." "good..." "looks good..." so I'm elated. Once she's finished, she breaks down what the average results are for progress, two sessions ago. I essentially only lost HALF of what they normally see. I am pissed again. She tells me she's going to downgrade me to a different machine that targets legs, butt and stomach. So you see lesser results, but she wants to "jump-start my metabolism"................. I, by then, am getting a bit defensive, but trying to be as nice as possible. I mentioned that originally I was told that the fact that I was extremely active before and lessening that would NOT mean that I would run into a problem with seeing results. She says, "we don't mean to stop your outside workouts completely, only on days of Hypoxi" I told her I was continuing to workout on the non-Hypoxi days... Then she asked me what exactly I do at the gym. I told her the things I do. She suggests what I should do for the next 2 weeks, in conjunction with Hypoxi. She didn't want me to build muscle "because it reflects differently on the scale." First, my biggest concern isn't the scale. Hypoxi claims inches lost, not necessarily big weight loss. Second, you need muscle to burn fat. Increase of muscle results in increase of fat loss. Whatever, I didn't argue with her. But then she proceeds to tell me how I've been OVERDOING it in the gym. I call BULLSHIT. I'm not down 47lbs by doing the wrong thing. So, before I leave, I ask her what my actual measurement loss is... 1.8inches. After two weeks.. Not even 2 inches. Again, that's FOUR measurements on the stomach. She mentions "in the second month..." second month? Hell no! I told her there was no way I was going to do a second month. She replied with, "well I guess if you can't afford it... but if you can, you need to" EFF THAT. One positive, I was down 1lb. Haha. One pound in two weeks. What a joke, but hey it's a loss.

So the weekend came, and I was just so angry at myself for falling for such a bullshit thing. I kept thinking about all the reviews I had read, all the people I had seen in the Hypoxi studio (obese and old people)... The reviews were a lot of "just had a baby" women or women who were just starting to work out. Of course they saw results. Now I know why they originally started the Hypoxi studio in Sugarland. Anyway, with my fuck all attitude, I did not track my food at all. I drank beer. I literally rode my ass to the gym the last hour that it was open, since I didn't want to work out with my crappy mood. I gained and retained, massively. 4 pounds gained from Friday to Monday.

Monday morning, I cancelled my Hypoxi appointment. I was still so pissed, I wanted to have a real workout. That evening, I had a major motivational 6 mile walk with my friend Sara, where I felt like I made this horrible decision and flushed my money down the drain, but I can be the only one to pull myself back up... Six miles of walking at Memorial, she really helped me gather my sanity back, haha. I had perspective again.

Tuesday, I got advice from co-workers as to what I should do about my last two weeks of Hypoxi. I decided I'm going to work out no matter what. So, it was a matter of will I do a warm up at Hypoxi then go to the gym? Why waste my time? One co-worker suggested I should just go and express all my feelings about it and see what they have to offer, if anything. I went, neither the owner/manager or the other girl was there... It was the owner's mother filling in. Ha. So, I told her I wanted to cancel my appointments since I felt it wasn't working. She said she'd have the owner/manager call me. It's Sunday evening, still haven't heard from her.

I think Hypoxi works for those who don't have a consistent exercise regimen nor eat well. I also think Hypoxi's results are closely related to water loss.

Since Monday night, I am down a solid 6lbs. Not bad! I definitely used this big, expensive lesson this week. I ate great. I spent as much time working out as my body and mental spirit felt like! I saw the results. One HUGE thing I saw this past week though, my endurance has easily been cut in half! I noticed I didn't have the strength or maybe even muscle memory (just a guess) just after two weeks of cutting my normal work outs so drastically. SO! Going to get back to where I was and keep trudging on...

Xx,
M

See by Chloe


See by Chloe ($78 at Sephora)is my new favorite perfume! I'm not normally big into perfumes since I typically get headaches from strong perfumes, but I'm big into this perfume! It's number one at Sephora right now, too. It's extremely light, fruity, sweet and girly. For perfumes I tend to lean toward sweet, vanilla scents. This particular scent just lifts my spirits. I was initially surprised that I was gaga over a perfume that's main note seems to be apple.  Back on the light factor, I honestly feel like you cannot overdo this. Spray 20 spritzes and you won't smell like a street-walker.

I think the biggest setback for me is that it doesn't have the lasting power I wish it did. I don't like to reapply during the day. Since I like the scent so much I may consider buying a smaller size to carry in my purse, IF/when they come out with a roller ball or something.

Xx,
M