Missy Maintains » kickboxing

Fit in 5: Total Body Tone DVD Giveaway!

MissyMaintains — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 15:33:54 +0000

Last Tuesday, I knew I had plans after work which would prevent me from going to the gym at night. I had every intention of waking up at 6:00 am to go in the morning. I drank several green tea martinis the night before so of course I hit snooze about 10 times before finally forcing myself out of bed. I still wanted to do some sort of quick workout before heading to work. I’ve been trying to stay away from the “all or nothing” exercise attitude. I browsed through my exercise DVDs and decided on one called Fit in 5: Total Body Tone.

I chose this particular DVD because it offers five 20-minute workouts: Strength, Yoga, Cardio, Pilates, and Abs. I knew that if I did just one of the 20-minute workouts, I would feel much better all day! That morning I did the Strength workout and loved it! I tried the rest of the 20-minute workouts on different mornings when I did have time to go to the gym.

Strength: This section is led by certified fitness instructor, Desi Bartlett and is from 3-in-1 Total Body Fitness. I used 5 pound weights and really worked up a sweat! She combines lunges, squats, and other leg work with several different arm, back, and shoulder exercises. I liked that all of the exercises were challenging but not impossible to do. I always love working my arms so I plan to do this section several times a week!

Yoga: This is led by Shiva Rea and is from the workout Daily Energy-Vinyasa Yoga Flow. I enjoyed the 20 minutes of relaxing yoga and think this would be great to do any time I need a quick stretch.

Cardio: This is from Violet Zaki’s Weight Loss Cardio Kick. This workout is similar to a kickboxing class. The workout begins with jabs, punches, and upper cuts. Next there is leg combinations with front kicks, squats, back kicks, and jacks. The entire routine was exactly like a class I took the week before at Equinox called Powerstrike. I realized that my Powerstrike teacher had a British accent and short hair just like the woman in the video. I checked the Equinox schedule and Violet Zaki really was my teacher! So cool! I love knowing DVD instructors in real life!

Pilates: This is led by Kristin McGee and is from Pilates for Beginners. I’ve only done Pilates maybe twice before so I was happy that this was not too challenging. I liked that she explained each move really well. Her name sounded really familiar to me too. Turns out she also works at my gym! I definitely want to try her Pilates class in the near future! **I actually recognized her name from the Body by Bethenny DVD! Thanks for the reminder Dori! Now I really want to try her class!

Core: This is led by Fred Devito and Elisabeth Halfpapp!! It is from Core Fusion Body Sculpt and Pilates Plus. Of course I know Fred and Lis in real life too so I was excited to see them in this DVD! I have both the Pilates Plus and Body Sculpt DVDs already so I knew what to expect. This was the toughest part of the whole DVD for me. I cannot handle 20 minutes of the curl! I did about 5 minutes of this section and quit (eek). Next time I will try to at least do 10 minutes because it really does get those abs burning!

I really enjoyed this entire DVD. I liked that it was from 5 different DVDs so it never got boring. I always love quick, 20 minute workouts to do at home when I am in a hurry or don’t feel like traveling to the gym. I also love that I can take classes with almost all of the instructors in the future!

Want to win your very own copy? Acacia Fitness is providing one Missy Maintains reader with a copy of the DVD!

How to Enter:

1) Leave me a comment telling me which 20 minute workout you would be most excited to try and why?

2) Tweet this giveaway. “Win a copy of Fit in 5: Total Body Tone from @MissyMaintains! Enter here: http://bit.ly/9jDh0y”

I will choose a winner this Thursday, September 30th!

Late July Animal Cookies and Wedding Week Food Plan!

MissyMaintains — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:00:00 +0000

Hello! I must start off by talking about some amazing cookies I received over the weekend to test out! They are from Late July Organic Snacks, a wonderful company dedicated to making wholesome organic snacks and helping out the community. The cookies they sent me are called Mini Endangered Sandwich Cookies.

Product Description

Late July’s New Organic Mini Endangered Animal White Chocolate Sandwich Cookies take smooth white chocolate and blend it to perfection, pack it with extra calcium and then sandwich it between delicious mini whole grain chocolate cookies. Seven different endangered animals are featured on the cookies and 10% of the profits go to the Jane Goodall Institute to help with their efforts in endangered animal awareness.

All of Late July’s products are produced without synthetic pesticides, chemical fertilizers, genetic engineering, antibiotics or added growth hormones. Our Mini Sandwich Cookies contain no trans fat, no hydrogenated oils, no high fructose corn syrup, no artificial flavors, colors or preservatives, and are lacto (dairy) vegetarian.

The cookies are:

Good Source of Whole Grain (8g per Serving)!
Good Source of Calcium (10% RDI)!
Good for the Earth—Organic!
”Good For All” Seal—Dr. Jane Goodall’s seal for ethically produced product

I like that 1 serving is 10 cookies so I can eat a bunch without feeling like I overdid it!

I tried the chocolate ones first since I am a chocolate addict.

They are so cute with the animal faces on them! They were delicious and so fun too eat! They had a yummy cream center like Oreos! They also made a wonderful addition to my Chobani!

I also added the white chocolate cookies to my yogurt. Check out the cute monkeys

They were very good too. They had a fun chocolate filling. I am definitely in love with these cookies. Both boxes might almost be gone! You can purchase them at Whole Foods and most health food stores!

Monday Breakfast

I forgot to bring toppings for my oatmeal so it was kind of boring but still good!

I made Quaker Old-Fashioned Oats with lots of cinnamon and skim milk. I had Tazo Awake tea on the side.

I made my new favorite wrap for lunch!

How good does that look? It was especially delicious yesterday because it was in the fridge overnight so the bananas got all soaked up in the peanut butter! Yum!!!

I also brought some crackers to munch on for the side.

I need that wrap every day! I also had 2 dark chocolate squares but did not take a picture.

Gym!

I decided on kickboxing last night since it’s been a few weeks and I love the teacher.

I did 30 minutes on the elliptical before class since I got there early. My new heart rate monitor strap came and the smaller size made such a difference! It worked the whole time for once! I burned 550 calories between the elliptical and class. I am thinking about going to Core Fusion tonight since Tuesday is usually a strength training night for me anyway! I’ll see how my knee feels by the end of the day!

Dinner

I knew I wanted a big salad since I basically ate carbs all day. I stopped at the store after the gym and picked up some veggies and a few Morningstar Farms products. (They do not sell fresh fish or chicken at the store by the gym).

I made the strips on the stove with some balsamic vinegar to give them flavor.

I tried a piece after a few minutes and was not impressed. It had a very rubbery and soft texture. Kind of gross! I decided to let it cook for 5 minutes longer than the directions said to burn them and make them harder. They were much better after that but I don’t think I would ever buy them again!

I also steamed up some broccoli and mushrooms.

I topped the “chicken” and veggies over a salad with hummus and salsa.

It turned out to be a very good salad despite the rubbery fake chicken!

I haven’t had pudding in a while so I caved and bought a pack!

I might have had a 2nd one since they are so small! I am used to my huge bowls of pudding I used to make every night!

This Week’s Food Plan

My sister’s wedding is this Sunday so I am trying to eat fewer carbs until then. I do not support crazy crash diets in any way. I just know that it will make me less bloated for the big day. The bridesmaids dresses are very pretty but they are not the most flattering thing for the tummy! I also know that trying to eat less carbs this week will prevent me from going crazy with snacks at night (cereal, Holey Donuts, chocolate, popcorn). I did really bad with it last week so I need a set plan to prevent me from going into that kitchen late at night. I also have a no gum rule starting Friday! Gum is the one thing that makes me the most bloated out of everything because of the artificial sweeteners. I have a bad addiction but think I will be able to stay away from it Friday through Sunday!

I am excited about the wedding but have extreme anxiety because I have to give a speech in front of hundreds of people!! If you’ve met me before, you would know that I am shy in person so public speaking is not my thing. Hopefully I will be okay if I have a few drinks in me! I know it means a lot to my sister so I am going to do it but make it short and sweet!

I should probably go try to write the speech now since it is in 5 days! Bye!

Giveaway!

FeedMeImCranky’s Monday Giveaway!

Heatherbakes Give-It-Away!

Kashi Review, Pancakes, Packages!

MissyMaintains — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 01:42:00 +0000

With all this fun giveaway business, I never got to post about my wonderful Sunday brunch! I decided to make the boy and I omelets and pancakes!

My omelet is on the left and his ginormous omelet is on the right!

I always try to make mine with mostly egg whites with 1 egg so he always ends up getting my extra yolks in his. I added Weight Watchers Cheddar Cheese to both.

I also made tons of chocolate chip pancakes!

My first plate:

I stole some of his omelet because it loooked more fun than mine. I also added Smart Balance butter and sugar-free syrup to my pancakes.

I had 2 or 3 more pancakes after that and a Synergy Kombucha.

We pretty much did nothing all day! I was so sore from Core Fusion and sleepy from partying the night before. Breakfast held us over till around 8 at night! Finally we made some dinner.

Kashi Review

The boy picked up some stuffed shells for himself so I decided to try out my Kashi Tuscan Veggie Bake.

I made a nice huge salad to start!

The Kashi meal had yellow squash, roasted eggplant, red onion and sweet potato. It also had zesty basil tomato sauce with sun dried tomatoes served inside Kashi seven whole grain noodles.

It looked and sounded like it would be delicious. Check out all the vegetables in the middle!

Never judge a book by its cover. It was not nearly as good as I thought it would be! I did not taste any kind of tomato sauce in there. Whatever sauce it was had a very bland and funny flavor. It was really pretty boring to eat. I finished it only because I was hungry. I am a huge fan of other Kashi meals but would not buy this one again!

At least the salad was delicious

I had a Skinny Cow sandwich and whipped cream for dessert!

Monday

Breakfast yesterday was a nice big bowl of oats with cinnamon, bananas, and raisins.

I had a physical last week and have low iron levels so you will be seeing more raisins, spinach, prunes, etc in the future! My doctor said I could take a supplement but it can cause stomach issues so he’d rather me try to get more iron from my diet first.

I had some Tazo Awake Tea with the oats. I’ve been so exhausted every single morning. Probably from the antibiotics but I finished them yesterday so we’ll see if this gets any better!

Lunch was a tuna sandwich. Have you noticed no turkey wraps in a while? I think I ate one too many! The thought of them does not sound too appetizing lately. I always eat food too many days in a row and then get sick of it! I’m sure I’ll get over this one soon!

The sandwich contained mustard, garlic hummus, Laughing Cow, tuna, cucumbers, and lettuce on an Arnold’s Sandwich Thin.

With Miguel’s Tortilla Chips on the side!

After I ate my sandwich, I walked around outside for a while. It was very hot and I passed by The Lite Choice. I needed it.

I got 1/2 Dark Chocolate Truffle and 1/2 French Vanilla. Yum!

After work, I went to the gym for some Cardio Kickboxing. I did 30 minutes on the elliptical before the class since I got there early. The class was wonderful as usual. It was nonstop kicks, punches, push ups, squats, and lunges! Great workout!

Packages

I came home to 2 exciting packages! The first was from a company called Verseo. It was detox foot patches!

The package says to put these on every night before bed to enhance vitality and health, promote natural detoxification, stimulate reflex zones, and sooth tired feet.

I don’t know how much I believe all of this but I am more than happy to give it a try! I will start wearing them this week and let you know if I feel any different when I wake up!

The next package was from my girl Sherri at SingleEdition.com.

The package included:

Sweet Spot Labs feminine hygiene body spray
The Single Girl’s Manifesta by Jerusha Stewart
Jessie Steele Aprons!

The aprons are adorable!! I did some modeling in the kirchen to show you!

They even have cherries on them in suppport of Missy Maintains!

Thanks Sherri! Looks like I have some baking to do so I can use my cute aprons

For dinner I made Fiber Gourmet Macaroni & Cheese! This stuff is great!

I made some brocoli to go with it.

Delicious.

I had another Skinny Cow for dessert!

These are perfect since I crave ice cream after every meal but always tend to overdo it with the cartons.

Well I am off to go sit inside and eat some lunch since the rain is awful today!

Don’t forget to enter my Musselman’s Applesauce Giveaway!