Suck it up and keep on pushing!

Posted on September 26, 2013 by Malin

How crazy can life be, really…

…so what is going on? Well let me tell you, one of my dearest friends are moving to Switzerland. This is a family that came to the States at the same time as us and our kids are like sibling so it is with a sad heart I see them leave but we will send them off with a party to be remembered . So with this coming up this weekend there is a lot of things that need to be organized and this is at the same weekend as i have my mid-term exam for my NASM PT-Certification. I am not doing this by myself as we (everyone that is coming) all chipping in and I am also asking for help from the professionals. So last night me and Freddie had a wine/sushi tasting with some fabulous wines that my good friend picked for us…I know life is hard, right?!

So while this is happening life is flying by my window, just like it does when having kids as well as keeping up with my own fitness, classes and studying. So this morning I went for my run before teaching my 10am class and yes I am finally back to running after months of a knee issue but l will confess it is not a walk in the park. As I am was coming into my final leg of my 3 mile run this morning everything is hurting and that is when I am thinking of Knut (my son) who got up at 5.20 this morning to go skating before school. I was thinking about the girls I train every day and when they leave the gym you can tell they haven’t participated in a fashion show. So how am I suppose to justify to anyone to keep on going if I would give up? So there I am, at my final leg and I am thinking to myself “suck it up and keep on pushing” and as I am coming up on my driveway I not feeling so great. I have done it before and learned from my mistake and this time I went to the side of the house where I almost barfed….but just almost 🙂

…but all this it’s a “good” crazy and even though it stresses me out I would not want to change a single thing because the people that surrounds me are truly amazing and keep on inspiring me every day.

This is Anna and Ellie who kicked ass earlier on this week…way to go girls!

A stormy Wednesday Night

Posted on September 18, 2013 by Malin

I had no classes today so I decided to kill my arms and shoulders over at Lifetime Fitness this morning and it went really well 🙂 So this evening I decided to cozy up in the mid-September storm with Chicken Gratin with taste of India and a glass of red wine from the Rhone Valley…Thank you Elise 😉

La Ferme Julien, Traders Joe $5.99!!! Together with my favorite candle from Henri Bendel

Chicken Gratin

1 whole “Store grilled” Chicken

1 Red Bell Pepper

1 Head Broccoli

1.2 cups/ 3 dl Cream

0.4/1 dl cup mango Chutney

1 tablespoon curry powder

splash of sambal oelek

1 Garlic Clove

Chop the chicken, vegetable

Quinoa

Chop the chicken, vegetables and put it in an oven proof dish. Mix the cream, Sambal Oelek, Mango Chutney, garlic, and Curry in a bowl. Pour it over the chicken and the vegetables and place it in the oven for 12-20 minutes. Meanwhile cook the quinoa according to the direction on the instructions. Serve the chicken with quinoa and a green salad.

Another low calorie soup…with chèvre!

Posted on September 17, 2013 by Malin

After my cracking spinning class this morning I thought this day would be though but fasting has gone great and now we have just finished a delicious Spinach and Asparagus soup topped off with a splash chèvre creme…all under 500 calories/serving

Soup 2 servings (263 calories/serving)

1/2 teaspoon truffle Oil 30 calories

100 grams Asparagus 29 calories

50 grams Spinach 12 calories

40 gram chopped Shallot 16 calories

1 chopped Garlic Clove 4 calories

Chopped Chili

3-5 dl water

1/2 dl dry white wine 35 calories

1 bay leaf

Thyme

1/4 cup Green Lentils 140 calories

Chicken Bouillon

Salt and Pepper

2 tablespoons Sour Cream 60 calories

Salt and Pepper

Chèvre Creme

2 tablespoon Sour Creme 60 calories

50 gram Chèvre 140 calories

Salt and Pepper

Fry the shallot, garlic, asparagus and spinach together with the truffle oil. Add water, wine, bouillon, bay leaf, thyme, green lentils and bring to a boil for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile mix sour creme and chèvre together and season with pepper.

Mix the soup smooth with a hand mixer and add sour cream and serve with the chèvre cream.

Enjoy!

Super Tuesday

Posted on September 17, 2013 by Malin

I am not a big fan of spinning but I do it anyway because I have to get my cardio in somehow and I am not really sure if my knee is up for getting back to running yet. So the class I do on Tuesday the instructor is amazing as he is very energetic and gets everyone going and it was no difference today.

I am always very focused on what I am doing and don’t really pay much attention of the people around me. I am also a firm believer that it is “your exercise” and you push yourself wherever you want to take it but at some point during the class I looked around and saw this woman riding along almost like the sun was shining down on her and the birds was singing. Now the room we workout in is always very dark and most of the people around her were so breathless and I’ll tell you there was no pretty sounds coming out of them as they were chipping for air. At this point the woman was riding her bike without holding on to the handles, she started to look at her self in the mirror and start fixing her hair! I’m telling you, my hair is the least of my concerns when I am in a dark room trying to kick my own ass…lol

Like I said people can do what every they want in the gym but I don’t get it when you clearly don’t even trying to make an effort. It is almost like they’re thinking “If I am sitting on the bike I’ll lose weight, increase my cardiovascular fitness” or whatever the reason might be. I think it is a waste of time but if it makes them feel good about themselves I guess it’s ok but that is not the way I roll. I rather put a 100% effort into what I do and go home and feel like I did my best and that is what I did today!

I need some sanity in my life!!!

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Malin

Ok, so we have finally had the schedules for the kids and in all honestly I think it is a full-time job just to keep up! So I am very glad that I am back with Rebecca for my Pilates sessions last Wednesday as I think this might bring some sanity to my life 😉

It has been a while since I did Pilates and I could really feel it too because it is so very different compared to what I am doing myself over at the gym. At the moment I am focusing building strength and endurance with a lot of stable strength exercises combined with movements in a more unstable environment. So it is very nice to mix it up with the weights and the spinning as well as I really need to work on my flexibility because I am tight like crazy…

Vegetable Lobster Bisque…less than 500 calories

Posted on September 11, 2013 by Malin

We are now 8 weeks into the 5:2 diet and I’m sitting in my kitchen eating a nice bowl of Kefir filled with Chai, buckwheat and hemp cereal just completed my fist “fast” of the week. I’m looking back at the first few times we had we fasted and how hard we thought it was. Now we don’t really think about the next time we can eat or having anxiety about the one who is coming up and to summaries it, we feel great!

So when I asked Freddie yesterday what he wanted to eat, he picked soup again! How many different soup can you make with a tomato base??? Anyhow I thought I try a “Lobster Bisque” but without the lobster but asparagus instead.

1 Can of Tomato Sauce

1/2 Chopped Yellow Onion

1 Chopped Garlic Clove

1/4 Chopped Red Bell Pepper

10-12 Chopped Asparagus

1/2 cup Green Lentils

Water

1 Tablespoon Hummer Fond or Lobster Sauce

a splash of Worcestershire Sauce

a splash of Balsamic Vinegar

1 tablespoon dried Thyme

2 Bay Leaf

1 tablespoon Paprika Powder

Cayenne Pepper

2 tablespoon Sour Cream (If you want to make it lactose free, leave out)

1 bag zero noodles

Fry the vegetables (I don’t use any oil or butter as I have a pan I don’t need it). Add the tomato sauce and the rest of the ingredients (except the sour cream and the zero noodles) and bring to a boil for 10-15 minutes. Use you mixer to make the soup smooth, add the noodles and sour cream.

A hot Monday Morning

Posted on September 9, 2013 by Malin

After another fun weekend it feels like a need another one just to recover from the one that just ended. Unfortunately this is not the case because today it was just a regular Monday and I have a ton of things that needs to be done this week. I got into the gym unusually late and I really had to hurry because the ladies was coming in at 10 am ready to kick some ass 😉

After a quick warm up on the treadmill I started out with some core strength exercises. I thought I would this week with a mix between upper and lower body just to get it going on this very hot day.

When the core was over and done with we moved on to the upper body. I am trying to focus on strength and endurance so at the moment I am trying to put together exercise that will enhance the outcome. So with a superset that contained Dumbbell Bench Press and Cable Shoulder Press you start with the isolated movement first and then when hitting the cable you need recruit more muscles to perform the “same type of exercise”.

When this two movements was done we went straight into Shoulder Presses, Shoulder Raises and T- push ups. The girls did really well but I have some trouble in my upper back and after seeing the Chiropractor today he told me to stay off these exercises as I have a pinched nerve… 😦

After finishing the three sets we moved on to the legs and they could still feel the aftermath from Fridays workout when they did really heavy lifting/pushing but this was a bit different. With only two exercises on the TRX we combined this with a fast run around the cul-de-sac (approx. 2-3 min) in the scorching sunshine but it was a nice build up to what it yet to come later on this week because I will ensure that Wednesday will be much more intense…

Pizza Date Night

Posted on September 7, 2013 by Malin

Earlier this week I went to Costco and could not believe my eyes when I saw they already brought out the Christmas decoration and what I thought was even more weird was that there were people putting the stuff in their carts!

Anyhow at my house the summer is far from over so last night me and Freddie had a “Pizza Date Night” on the patio before Laura and her crew came to join us for a glass of wine.

Low-Carb Pizza Dough

4 eggs

100 grams Parmesan Cheese

2 tablespoons Phyllium Husk

0.75 Deciliter Water

Tomato sauce

1 can Tomato Sauce

Fresh Chopped Tarragon

Garlic Powder

Salt and Pepper

Topping

Mushrooms, olives, marinated garlic, ham, cheese

Whisk all the ingredients together and let it “rest” for 5 minutes. Spread it put on parchment paper and bake in the oven for 5-10 minutes or until it as a nice surface to it.

Add the topping and bake it again until the cheese has melted.

I served this with home made coleslaw and a nice glass of Cabernet Sauvignon…

Homemade Coleslaw

Cabbage

Red onion

Garlic

Mayonnaise (recipe https://mrsmalin.com/2013/04/29/alabama-drumsticks-so-easy-and-fool-proof/ )

Dijon mustard

Vinegar

Salt and pepper

Put another shrimp in the soup!

Posted on September 5, 2013 by Malin

I knew last night when I went to bed that my second day fast this week was going to be a tough one. I’m not sure if it is mentally because I already had that mind-set that way, well what I do know was that it has been a challenge today!

I started out this morning with a rocking spinning class and even though my legs were very sore and tired from yesterdays workout I killed it today. I was really focusing on the strokes, the power, the time and calories burned, that way I can really give it all!

After class it has just been one thing after another and I think when we finally sat down to have dinner it was 7pm and I made another version of the famous “tomato soup”. I’m thinking about becoming a professional Tomato Soup Maker…lol

Anyhow, the soup turned out to be another perfect recipe that goes hand in hand with the 5:2 diet and has less than 500 calories!

This makes 2 servings (approx. 325 calories)

1 Can of diced tomatoes

4 tablespoons Salsa

2 dl water (I used more to make it less thick)

Bouillon

1 Chopped Garlic clove

1/2 chopped yellow onion

1/4 cup Green Lentils

1 bag Zero Noodles (I use scissors to chop them in smaller pieces)

200 grams Shrimps

2 tablespoons Sour cream

10 grams of Mexican cheese

Fry the garlic and onion together (no oil or butter) and mix water, tomatoes, bouillon, salsa, lentils and bring to a boil for 5 minutes. Use a mixer to make the soup smooth add the sour cream and the noodles and re heart. Add the shrimps and the cheese, sprinkle on some Chili Flakes and enjoy!

Fifteen is the magic number!

Posted on September 4, 2013 by Malin

Now a days when I am on a tight schedule I really have to manage my time more efficiently so with no time to spare I shot straight over to the gym as soon as I dropped the kids at the bus so I could get my workout in before Laura and Lynne came in for their 10 a clock workout. And what a leg session I managed to get in, I was completely drenched by the end of it and as I have been walking up and down the stairs in the house this evening I slowly start feeling it’s paying off 😉

I started out with some “heavyish” weights to get my legs working, the plan is to shape them or tone them if you will. I was working with a heavier load aiming for 15 reps with not a lot of rest between the exercises, I’m hoping my legs will look good for our next vacation (you can’t start 2 weeks prior to the trip, right!)

I mixed both stable and more of an unstable environment to execute the exercises so hopefully this will pay off in the end. I finished off with high intensity for the last 5-10 minutes. I did squat jumps, sumo squat jump, jumping lunges and speed skaters

I will admit I do feel a little stupid timing the intervals as I am jumping away all alone! It sort of feels better doing it with other people but I guess I just have to get over it as my “people” came in when my hour was over and cranked out one h**l of a workout of their own and I had the pleasure of hanging with them every single minute….nicely done girls!