Evening!
Do you know what tonight is??? OFFICE night! Yippee.
I had three taste testers for my new + improved black bean brownies tonight! Here are the brownies that I put together for my brother and sister in law:
My request was simple:
- Tell me if these Black Bean Brownies are Glo Bakery worthy
All three said yes! Ok, ok I did too. I had a couple bites…the cook has to sample! :D I was so excited because they were awesome tasting! I finally got it right. A little adding and a little subtracting and I think these will be one of my Glo Bakery hits.
And guess what? Zero oil or butter! Zilch! I still can’t believe it.
By the way for everyone asking where I got my Brownie pan- It is from AVON! :)
Yoga:
Today I did Part 2 and half of Part 3 of Weight Loss Yoga by Sadie Nardini:
I had my Heart Rate Monitor on to see how hard my heart was working.
Part 2 was somewhat manageable for me, although I do have to modify some of the poses because I am still being wary of my injury and I don’t want to strain it. Also, some of the poses I can’t do correctly because I am not flexible enough yet so they didn’t feel as hard as they probably would have if I was doing it properly!
Then I got to part 3, which starts off with handstands. I almost turned it off! There was no way I could attempt it with my injury just healing. So I just did some of my own poses…some down dogs, planks, cobras, etc. Needless to say this workout could have been much more difficult had I been doing it correctly.
I burned about 35 calories in 15 mins. according to my HRM. Of course that number is going to vary a lot depending on one’s size and fitness level. Generally my heart rate is very low so it takes a lot of effort to get it up high. The feeling I get with yoga is that while you may not burn many calories by doing it, you burn more throughout the day because your muscles are repairing and strengthening themselves similar to weight training. I think I would really tone up if I did one of these videos every day! It was tough stuff.
I am enjoying Sadie’s videos so far, so I am going to keep checking out the new ones on You Tube. I am also going to try my first Yoga Download in the next day or two.
I had another suggestion in my yoga confessional to look up these yoga classes called “Moksha Yoga”.
“Moksha Yoga is a form of hot yoga that is ideal for the yoga beginner as well as the seasoned practitioner. Every Moksha Yoga class takes you through a series of strengthening and toning postures in the detoxifying calm of a heated studio.”
I must say after browsing their website I started to get really interested in taking a class! They even have a studio not too far from me as well. The only thing is they are expensive, but no one says it couldn’t be a couple times a month treat!
Everyone tells me that you have to be in a good class to really get hooked with yoga and I can totally see that. I have had instructors in previous classes (body pump, spinning, pilates) and the instructors were the reason I kept coming back and back.
The only thing I am concerned about is being too hot. I generally don’t take well to heat (my skin flushes) so I am a bit concerned about that aspect of it. I guess it is worth a shot though.
If anyone has taken a hot yoga class, please leave me a comment and let me know how it was!
The Workout:
My workout was late tonight because I didn’t go to the gym until Eric got home from work. I hate going to the gym at the end of the day. I don’t know how people do it. I am such a morning workout person!
By the time I finally mustered up the nerve to leave I had no desire to workout. The hardest part is getting to the gym! But I kept thinking ‘wedding dress shoot, wedding dress shoot’ and that gave me some temporary motivation to leave. Sometimes all you need is some visualization to help with the motivation.
Once I got to the gym, I made a beeline for the Step Mill. It was a hard 15 mins! I climbed about 1.65 vertical miles. :D
The stats:
- 15 mins. Step mill (level 10)
- 25 mins. Elliptical (resistance 10-12, incline 12)
- Max Heart Rate: 170 bpm
- Avg Heart Rate: 152 bpm
- Feel the burn: 354 kcals
I have been meaning to mention when I workout on the elliptical I always do 5 mins. forward, 5 mins. backward intervals. It helps break up the time and make it go by faster.
Once I got going into my workout and had some Britney tunes cranking on my Shuffle, I got into the zone and my workout was great. I had a good sized snack beforehand (apple, pear, and crackers) so that definitely helped carry me through to dinner at 7:30pm.
Well, The Office is on and Eric and I are going to watch! (Ok, watching now: Willy Wonka!?!?!)
Sketchie says, “What happened to your clean office???” Oops. :)
Hopefully I can calm my nerves tonight and sleep better! Maybe I will do a bit of yoga before bed. And ‘Jack Bauer"’ of course. :D
Have a great night everyone! Tomorrow is Friday. :) You should check out a really cool granola mix giveaway on NHerShoes!
“When you have once seen the glow of happiness on the face of a beloved person, you know that a man can have no vocation but to awaken that light on the faces surrounding him; and you are torn by the thought of the unhappiness and night you cast, by the mere fact of living, in the hearts you encounter.” ~Albert Camus
Enjoy the office…and oh those brownies look wonderful. =)
I wish I could have a brownie! =)
I’ve always wanted to try hot yoga, it sounds amazing.
Hi Angela!
I’ve been reading your blog the past couple of days and am so inspired by your healthy living! I am an avid runner and read that you are injured. First off, hang in there and stay positive (as it seems you are). Also, I don’t know if you have access to a pool or not, but if you do, have you ever tried aqua jogging? Its a great workout and works your body exactly like running, except greater resistance and no impact. I’ve aqua jogged quite a bit during injury and for cross training and I think its the most beneficial cross training you can do as a runner. I generally do intervals to really get my heartrate up (I have a really low hr like you). You can use a belt or not (I don’t). Here’s a website to check out if you’re interested: http://www.aquajogger.com/index.php
Okay, I just wanted to get that out there. Check out my new blog sometime if you like!
Have a great night!
Allison
I took bikram the other week and it was v. intense and strenuous! My main recommendation is bring DOUBLE water of whatever you normal amount is :D TWO big bottles for me! Love those brownies i would looove to be a taste tester! Also, i’m so scared of the stair master- it is hard stuff! I do the little baby stair stepper 80’s machine, haha stil hard but kinda silly! Can’t wait for the ooofffiice :D
MUST. ORDER. BROWNIES.
i want. now. :)
Umm I seriously want a brownie. Like now! :) Haha
YESSSSS SO happy to hear about the brownies!
I have done hot yoga before – my water polo coach used to make us. I’ll be honest: I’m not a yoga fan as it is, and I don’t normally sweat very much no matter what I’m doing (I think my body lost its ability to sweat because I was a competitive swimmer for so long), so I found it weird and uncomfortable. The whole time I felt claustrophobic and I just wanted to get outside and run around.
That said, I could tell that the stretches were much better on my muscles. I could hold the poses for longer without straining.
My advice? Do yoga poses in a hot tub. And then pour yourself a glass of wine and drink it while you’re in there. You’ll feel GREAT. TRUST me. :)
Oh my goodness… your cat is adorable.
Yummmmy brownies! Good for you for making it through your work out…I love it when I make it past the “I don’t wanna” phase.
I’ve taken Bikram classes several times and kind of have a love-hate relationship with it. I sometimes get antsy because it is slow and very stuffy…but once you accept it and get in a zone, it is SO awesome to feel yourself doing things that you may never be able to do in a normal temperature. I think you should definitely give it a shot! :)
Kaneil, balanceisbest
I take two different kinds of hot yoga (birkram and hot power yoga). I like them both for different reasons. I sweat buckets during bikram but it is more of a slow pace with no vinyasas. Hot power is tons and tons of vinyasas, very strenuous, but the room is not quite as hot as bikram. You burn a ton of calories in hot power because your hr is up pretty much the whole time. It is my fave of the two. Good luck! I am addicted!
I took Bikram yoga for a few months. Initially, I loved it. It’s REALLY hot (I’ve never sweated that much in my life) and you feel amazing afterwards. But after a few months I eventually gave it up because it is really slow and once I got to know each of the poses and the order (it’s the same every time, not sure if it’s that way in every type of yoga), I found myself just counting down the poses until it was over (which is a long time in a 90-minute class). But there were people there who swore by it and have been going religiously for years. You should try it and see what you think, but it might not be for you if you’re more of an active workout kind of person.
I may have missed your first yoga post about finding a right class but have you tried looking up Vinyasa classes? I feel in love with them because of the simple fact that they move fast but stretch you in the poses at the same time. It’s about the flow of motion and the continuity of stretching. Maybe look up a Vinyasa class on Yoga Download!!
P.S. Knock Knock….Who’s there? Buddha.. Buddah who?
LOVE the signature at the end of your entries now :-D
wow how do you make those brownies? i have to try them!
Is Moksha Yoga the same as Bikram Yoga? That’s the only hot yoga I’ve ever heard of. I know some people at work who do it and love it, but it’s so expensive to go to classes, which is why I don’t go. I only pay about $24/month for my gym membership, so it’s hard to justify $20/session for Bikram yoga. I’m like you, I don’t do well in heat either.
My boyfriend and I also love The Office. It was a really good episode tonight. I couldn’t believe Michael Scott. He made me angry today.
The brownies look FAB!
I’ll be a taste tester in a few weeks if you want! ;)
Does your gym offer any classes, like BodyFlow for example? You might enjoy it!
I’m not a fan of hot yoga – too sweaty, haha ;-)
Would you ever be interested in a bake swap, dear Angela??
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I have tried hot yoga and I have to say…during the class, it was hard to concentrate because you are so hot! So I think it takes away from the actual yoga practice. I would’ve rather just sat in a sauna!
But afterwards, when we left, I did feel pretty good. Like I had really sweated out some toxins, it was refreshing. But while you are in that room, especially with a lot of other people, it is intense. I drank 48 ounces of water in an hour and still felt dehydrated afterwards. So if you do it, take a TON of water with you and a couple of towels.
I know some people who swear by it. :)