'U' is for Udon

 (source)

... as in curry udon!

HOLY!!! Do you even remember this ABC's of Food thing I was trying to do... umm... back in 2009?!?!  Three years later and it's still not completed.  Well, I plan to change that.  My goal is to finish up this list THIS YEAR!  (I really want to finish this by summer, but since the list has taken 3 years so far, I think trying to finish by summer is a long shot.)

Ingredients (makes 4 servings):

• 5 oz. thinly sliced pork
• 1/2 onion, thinly sliced
• 1/4 c carrots, julienned
• 4 mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 2 tsp. curry powder
• 5 cups water
• 1/3 c soy sauce
• 1/4 c mirin
• 2.5 tbs corn starch
• 2 green onion stalks, thinly sliced
• 4 cups udon noodles, cooked
• 1 piece konbu

1.) Pour 5 cups of water into a large pot and add konbu piece.  Bring water to boil remove konbu; set konbu piece aside.

2.) Heat oil on medium heat in a saute pan and cook pork.  Add onion and carrots and saute until softened.  Add mushroom and curry powder and cook until fragrant.

3.)  Add water from pot to pork and vegetable mixture (to loosen any "goodies" stuck to the bottom of the pan) and pour into pot of water.  Add soy sauce and mirin and stir.

4.)  Simmer on medium heat for about 10 - 15 minutes.  Mix cornstarch in a cup of water and add to pot to thicken.

5.)  Add green onions and serve over cooked udon noodles.

Mini-Review
This was good... but not as good as all the ramen shops found everywhere in Hawaii.  It was good enough that Anthony and I ate it all before we realized we didn't take pictures.  Next time.

Weigh-in Wednesday: WOW

Starting weight: 176.4 lbs.

Last week weight:  128.2 

Current weight:  130.2

Current loss: +2
TOTAL LOSS:  -46.2

Yup, I blame it on Spring Break last week.  And yummy food this Saturday... garlic fries, bbq meat, fried pork chops, fried rice, Korean chicken, ice cream, chocolate covered pretzels.  Not the best choices for weight-loss BUT I expected it from last week so got in extra workouts.  This week will be WAY better!

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PR hit in back squats:  160 lbs. x 8 reps

PR hit in military press:  70 lbs. x 7 reps

 

PR hit in barbell row:  85 lbs. x 8 reps (could have gone heavier but I was on my 6th set.  Next week?)

 

April Goals

Love the Spring/Eastery colors?

1. Weight-train 5-6x/week
• Continue LiveFit (which I LOVE by the way).  6-day splits are getting tough to schedule because of personal training sessions so one week of LiveFit actually takes me about 10 days to complete.  No big deal.
2.  Short-duration (20 - 30 minutes) cardio 5-6x/week
• Phase II of LiveFit adds in cardio to the routine and it's weird how much I've missed it!  Don't get me wrong, I'm a weights girl all the way, but there's nothing like getting your sweat on doing sprints!
3. Keep food calories between 1300 - 1500 on average/week
• Last month I averaged 1600 cals a day with no weight-loss so bringing the cals down a little bit to 1500.  The 1300 - 1500 calorie range does NOT count my supplements (multi-vit, BCAA's, creatine, fish oil, etc.) so with those added in, I'm looking at an extra 150 - 200 calories, bringing my true daily cals up to 1500 - 1700.
4. In bed by 11:30 on weeknights
• Ahh, bed time.  Brings back memories from elementary school days but I'm bringing it back because sleep is just as important as exercise and nutrition.  It's one of those areas I never focused on and lack of sleep could be causing  delayed progress... along with other health issues.  My normal bed time is around 1:00am with a wake-up time of 6:15am.  Gonna try and change that this month.
5. Plan my meals for the week on Sunday
• If you fail to plan, you're planning to fail!  'Nuff said!  Nutrition is the hardest part of the weight-loss journey for me, so I gotta make it as simple as possible to keep on track.  Making a weekly meal plan helps with that.

March Recap
As you can see, I had a tough last week of March... I blame it on Spring break (don't you love how I always blame it on something else... Super Bowl, Valentine's Day, Spring Break... and never me?).  Being free from work for a week meant being free from my normal routine and daily planned meals, too.  At least the month ended with a 1.4 pound loss.  =)

RFSC: Week 2 goals

Week 2 Goals

Exercise Goal 

• Keep on going.  Continue my current 12-week exercise program, which will take me into the middle of May. 

• Sun:  lower body weight training
• Mon:  arms and abs weight training + HIIT
• Tues:  plyo + full-body weight training
• Wed: shoulders weight trainig + cardio
• Thur: chest and abs weight training + HIIT
• Fri:  cardio
• Sat:  plyo + full-body weight training

Nutrition Goal

• Clean, clean, clean!  My #1 priority for the next 10 weeks is to really focus on and dial in my nutrition.  Clean, whole foods to support my body and intense workouts.   Meals planned for the week, done.
• Increase healthy fats.  Definitely need to add more "smart fats" to my diet: salmon, avocado, nuts, olive oil, flaxseeds, coconut oil, etc.  Avocados, almonds, walnuts, fish oil, flaxseed oil, and/or olive oil in every meal!
• New eats = happy tummy.  Making it a goal to try one new recipe a week.  Nutrition can get pretty boring if you eat the same things over and over, so finding 10 new (hopefully yummy) recipes to add to my rotation will do me good.  Have another recipe planned for the middle of the week.  I'm feeling something soupy since the weather has been kinda wet and rainy here.

Mini-challenge

• Do a workout that you don't normally do, mix it up!  I plan to jump on the spin bike to do one of my cardio sessions.  I've only been on a spin bike once so the change will be good.

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Week 1 recap and mini-challenge

Overall week one was good... killed the exercise goals but could have done better with my nutrition.  I  wasn't on my normal schedule and had last week off from work so being home/always out made it tough.  No excuses next week...

Exercise Goal

• Keep on going.  Continue my current 12-week exercise program, which will take me into the middle of May.  Breaking down this goal by writing out exactly what I need to do each day.
• Sun:  back, biceps, and hamstrings weight training + 5-mile hike
• Mon:  hiking
• Tues:  plyo + full-body weight training
• Wed:  shoulders and abs weight training
• Thur:  back weight training + 20 min HIIT
• Fri:OFF DAY  =)
• Sat:  plyo + full body weight training

Nutrition Goal

• Clean, clean, clean!  Planned out my meals for the week and stuck to it for all my meals but a couple.  Not too bad.
• Increase healthy fats.  Stocked up on avocados, salmon, a new to me cooking oil (macadamia nut oil), almond butter, flaxseed oil and coconut oil. 
• New eats = happy tummy.  Tried this recipe (loved it) and also got around to making another new recipe:  salsa chicken.  2 cups salsa + one chopped onion + 3 lbs. chicken, into the slow cooker and set on low for 8 hours.  That's it! 

Week 1 mini-challenge:  try a new fruit or veggie
DONE!

I give you the chayote squash. Sauteed it up with some coconut oil, apples, cinnamon and stevia... yummy!!!

Tasty Thursdays: Paleo Banana Bread

Original recipe found here.

My recipe was tweaked a little bit, only with the amount of butter and walnuts used.  Everything else stayed the same.  Oh, and I turned them into muffins instead of a loaf.

Nutrition facts:
Makes 12 muffins
1 muffin = 176 calories (recipe can easily be tweaked to lessen the calories, ie. egg whites instead of whole eggs, no walnuts, etc.)

Ingredients:
2 eggs
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 over ripe bananas
2 cups almond flour
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of sea salt
1/2 cup crushed walnuts

Directions:
1.) Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a muffin tin with paper wrappers.
2.) In a medium bowl, combine first four ingredients, mixing well.
3.) In a large bowl, combine last four ingredients and mix well.  Pour wet ingredients into dry and fold to combine.
4.) Pour mixture into muffin tin and bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick pierced into a muffin comes out clean.