Foxy Boxing and a new gym!

Last night I took a boxing class with a good friend of mine, and loved it. No it's not called Foxy Boxing... I just called it that because it sounds funny. Haha. This class was at a DIFFERENT gym than the one I go to, and I think I've been converted. I may have to break up with my current gym. 

You see, I had recently gone to a boxing class at my current gym and wasn't all too thrilled with it. The instructor was lethargic and her enthusiasm was extremely forced and I wasn't convinced she even wanted to be there. Needless to say after the class ended, I left unmotivated and not all that sweaty. It felt more like a social hour for her and the other women who weren't there to break a sweat.

Yesterday I got an invite by my good friend Hayley to join her in a boxing class at HER gym. Life changing I tell you! It was intense!!! The instructor almost raps the moves to you to an amazing music mix that is motivating and sweat-inducing. Every inch of my body was drenched in sweat and my muscles were burning. I loved it.

Not only did I love the class itself, but the rest of the gym was exactly what I'd been looking for. I've only been at my current gym for a month, but haven't yet felt comfortable there and even though it's a very large gym, it is always PACKED, and the classes are only so-so. I haven't felt happy there, and when I saw this awesome gym it was love at first sight:

(I only got one photo, but it shows enough to get my point across.... haha)

See what I mean? There is ROOM to do things!!! AND all of the equipment here is stuff I recognize and use.... It's open for you to make your own free-weight workouts, not filled with unnecessary machines. I will have a boxing buddy because my friend goes here. I won't have to fight off giant gorilla meatheads for the weights or mirrors. Plus, because this is a gym owned by a single person, rather than a giant corporation, that also makes me extremely happy. I'm supporting someone's business, rather than being just another one of thousands feeding a corporate bank account. 

I'm gonna do it. 

I'm going to break up with my gym and start going to this one!!!

Pumpkin Red Curry - PALEO Recipe #1

Sooooo I should start off by saying that I am embarking on a new little adventure: PALEO. I've been eating clean for some time now, and unfortunately I've reached that dreaded plateau. I know there is plenty more weight to lost, and I am cutting calories like a mad woman (but staying healthy), so why aren't the pounds falling off? My only logical answer: Carbs.

So, here I go, jumping on the Paleo bandwagon. Last night marked the first attempt at a PALEO recipe I found in a book - but I made my own special tweaks, and it was absolutely amazing!!!! It was probably the best "healthy" meal I've made since I started this lifestyle change.

So, because it was THAT good, I thought I'd share.

PUMPKIN RED CURRY – Paleo style

Ingredients:

1  14 oz can of Organic coconut milk (Thai Kitchen was the brand I used. Get the full fat one…. Don't bother with the light. Remember, fat is good for you)

2 tbsp Red Curry Paste (Thai Kitchen Brand)

2 large chicken breasts, cut into small cubes or strips

1/2 Red and 1/2 green bell pepper, sliced length ways

1 white onion – chopped

1 kabocha squash (optional) peeled, seeded and cut into 1 inch cubes.

2 tsp coriander

2 tsp cumin

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tsp garlic powder (or you can use fresh garlic)

1 tbsp grated fresh ginger (or powder)

In a large wok or saucepan, sauté the onions until translucent. Add the garlic and chicken and stir until all outer edges are white/cooked. Add the coconut milk and red curry paste and stir together. Add the spices, squash and bell pepper and bring to a boil over medium heat. Then let simmer for about 20 – 30 minutes – or until chicken's internal temperature reaches 160˚. Serve over over Cauliflower rice if staying full "Paleo" or even have it by itself like a soup (which is what I did), otherwise you can try it over brown rice. 

what the egg!!!

it seems as though there is a love-hate relationship with dieting and the egg. they are full of protein, and keep me full longer than any fibrous brick of chocolate covered whatever, or any cardboard tasting cereal, but whenever i enter in my little "calorie tracker" that i've eaten an egg or two... i get all these red flags. saturated fat. cholesterol. and so on....

{photo via pinterest.com}

is an egg really that bad for you? my mother {who has a degree in nutrition, so she's pretty legit}  seems to think a breakfast with eggs every day is probably not so good for you, but eggs are much better than these little diet apps make it seem. an egg is not like eating a mcDonalds cheeseburger. but it does contain a lot more saturated fat and cholesterol than ... let's say... special K cereal.

but they're so so so good.

maybe now is the time to switch to egg whites.

making the Switch - Part 2

So a few other 'issues' of mine are LUNCH and DINNER. Breakfast is always a must, and any nutritionist will say so, but it packs on about 400 calories to my day.

Then comes lunchtime. I usually make pretty decent choices for lunch - most of the time it being a Subway 6 inch with baked lays. (Big issue is the chips, I know they're baked but they add 130 calories to my day, but I need something to munch on until my lunch break arrives. BOO) By lunchtime, without a workout in, I'm up to 800 or 900 calories, leaving me with only 300 calories left for dinner.

In reality, dinner is the biggest meal I make and has the highest calories, and 300 calories is just plain unrealistic. By the end of the day, if I've had a workout, my hunger has become a wild ravenous beast, and it needs the comfort of food... not a little 300 calorie snack. There's just no way I could eat 300 calories and be satisfied. Dinner is my favorite part of the evening, so something needed to change to allow this to still happen...

SWITCH #2 - Lunch

I will be attempting to go from eating a BIG lunch...

... to eating a bowl of cereal. {Kinda like the Special K diet}

Hopefully this low-calorie, mid-day switch will allow me more calories in the evening, which will keep me from going over my daily limit. This could be ESPECIALLY effective on days I am NOT working out. Those days are so hard to avoid eating over 1200 calories... are ya kidding me??

I'll let you guys know how this goes.

Making the Switch - Part 1

So throughout this blog, I will be posting about changes in my eating habits.
I have alot of daily eating rituals that I want to document and eventually change or eliminate. Documenting them on this blog will be a daily reminder of all the things I used to do that kept me from being the healthy person I wanted to be.

Switch #1: afternoon pick-me-up

OLD: Starbucks Iced Caramel Macchiato {nonfat}

270 calories

NEW: Starbucks Iced Passion tea, 1/2 the sweetner

80 calories

calories saved: 190

{that's equivalent to 17 minutes on the elliptical, in ONE drink!}