New & Old

I  kind of just realized that I haven’t posted about anything fitness in a long time, which is funny because the past few weeks have been all about a change-up in my fitness routine!

My gym has introduced a bunch of new classes, two of which I have gotten to try. One of them is a trampoline class on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Yes, you heard me, a trampoline class!

Cool, right?

The other is a nighttime yoga class, meant to help you relax and unwind before going to bed. I’ve only gotten to take it once so far, but I really enjoy it. I can’t say it helped me to unwind enough to fall asleep easily, but I imagine I’ll get there. The problem is, I’m usually so busy at night with social engagements that it’s hard for me to put nights aside for exercise. That’s what my mornings are for!

I’ve also tried mixing up my regular morning workouts. Once upon a time, it was boot camp Monday/ Wednesday/ Friday and strength training on Tuesdays and Thursdays, sandwiched in a total of 40 minutes on the elliptical. Though I haven’t strayed entirely from this setup, it has changed.

I still do boot camp on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, followed by either the elliptical or the pre-cor (though there’s only one machine and I have to race other people for it!), but Tuesdays and Thursdays have undergone an upheaval. I try to do something different on each of those days – strength classes, spin classes, trampoline classes and cardio machines all end up in rotation, in different combinations. It’s nice to introduce some variety! Finally, Saturdays are usually my favorite one-hour spin class. I just wish I could take spin with that teacher more than once a week.

I’ve also signed up for a few fitness-related Groupons, so I have some barre classes and yoga classes to attend, as well.

Whew! So now you’re caught up.

I’ve tried, for the most part, keeping up the clean out the pantry challenge. I did a small shopping excursion at Trader Joe’s last night, where I just picked up some fresh strawberries, green beans and plain Greek yogurt (I only had flavored varieties in the fridge). Oh, and Mark picked up some more eggs, so those were recently replenished, too.

One thing I like about this challenge is that it makes me really creative with re-purposing foods. For instance, my dinner on Monday night looked like this:

I made a Trader Joe’s frozen veggie mix (which I’d had for months) which was comprised of potatoes, mushrooms and green beans. It’s supposed to make four servings… I found that funny. Definitely no more than two. At least, the way I eat veggies. Anyway, I topped half the mix (maybe slightly less) with two fried eggs.

This was my lunch the next day:

Look familiar? Same base (the frozen potato/ mushroom/ green bean mix), different protein. Instead of eggs, I used 1/3 can (roughly one serving) of cooked white beans. Oh, and I added some grated parmesan & romano, too.

Then, of course, I had two more servings of white beans to work with. What to do?

Well, I also had a bunch of other random ingredients in the kitchen to use up. What I made was super random, but it was good and it gave me solid meals for both dinner last night and lunch today.

Into the mix went:

• ~ 2 servings each of those frozen orange & yellow carrots and frozen yellow and green wax beans that I used in the Tempeh Curry last week
• some random vodka sauce I found in the fridge (though, if I’m being honest, I have no idea how long it’s been there
• grated parmesan & romano
• salt &  pepper

It was kind of like eating a deconstructed veggie pizza, minus the crust.

Have you added anything new into your fitness routine lately?