activity review: lady gaga - take 2

In March I posted a review of the Lady Gaga workout from Glamour magazine.  It was a great workout, and like I mentioned, I was done in 22 minutes.  

Well I liked it so much that I did it again, this time my body was being cranky so I added an extra song and an extra circuit.  Sometimes, when my body is bloated or feels icky, adding an extra workout perks me up.  If you think I'm nuts, your probably right.  

(Please don't read that incorrectly, I don't make myself workout when I'm in pain or sore.  I listen to my body.)

Songs #1-#4 stayed the same from my previous workout.  

Song #5

Won't Back Down (featuring Pink) by Eminem (4:26)

I dare you not to feel tough when you listen to this song.  Come on, Pink is freaking awesome.  

I started with 30 tricep kick backs.

Then I went into 30 glute extensions per side.

And finally I did two 30 second planks with a 15 second break in the middle.  I'm lame, I know.  

I still ended with The Last Song by The All American Rejects and kept it to about three minutes of cardio and two minutes of cool down and stretching.  

The whole thing took about 29 minutes for me to complete, and my Polar told me that I burned over 300 calories.  I plugged this into the activity calculator for a total of 6 activity points, but I know that if you're doing the math conversion (80 calories burned = 1 activity point) then I would have only gotten about 4 activity points.  

It's totally up to you, but as for me, I'm putting it in as 6.  Last week I ate every single activity point that I earned.  It was a bad week, I doubt I'll do that again.  

I hope I don't do that again.

Once again, this is a great way to do some circuit training in your own living room.  All I use is my iTunes, a towel, water bottle, and a set of hand weights.  This. Is. Simple.

I like simple.  

recipe review: cherry cheesecakes

I made these a few weekends ago for a potluck and they were a hit!  No one realized they had come from Weight Watchers, and they gobbled them up.  The only thing that was a bigger hit was my Chocolate Chip Cookies, but they're 3 Points Plus per cookie, and simply not as filling or satisfying as these mini cheesecakes.  

I highly recommend that you make these for your next family gathering, office party, or just for you and your friends!  

Cherry Cheesecakes

3 Points Plus

makes 12 servings

3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (this is about 1/2 of a sleeve of graham crackers)

2 tbsp of light butter

2/3 cup low fat cream cheese

6 tbsp fat free cream cheese

3 tbsp lemon juice

2 large egg whites

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup lite pie filling, cherry

Place 12 cupcake liners in a cupcake pan. Preheat oven to 375°F.

In a small bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs and butter; mix well. Spoon 1 tablespoon of crumb mixture into bottom of each liner and press down gently; refrigerate until ready to use.

In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat both types of cream cheese until fluffy. Add lemon juice, egg whites, vanilla extract and sugar; beat until smooth.

Spoon cream cheese mixture evenly into muffin liners; bake until set, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Top each cheesecake with 1 tablespoon cherry pie filling. Yields 1 cheesecake per serving.

You will have extra pie filling, so I put it into a plastic bag, removed the excess air and threw it in the freezer for the next time that I make this.  

I couldn't find light butter or fat free cream cheese, so I had to make due with "full fat" butter and all low fat cream cheese.  This added one Points Plus, bringing the total treat to four Points Plus but to be honest, it was still worth it!  I felt like I was eating something I definitely shouldn't have been, and the egg whites make the treat sort of light and fluffy!  

points bomb: the patty melt incident

How many of us have ever gone into a restaurant, taken a look around the menu, ordered we something we thought was a good idea and then discovered later it was the complete opposite? 

Well, I have. 

In fact, I'll give you an example.  I went to a restaurant a while ago with my boyfriend and decided to try something new.  You see, I usually get the exact same fifteen Points Plus meal every time.  This time, I ordered a patty melt, hold the cheese, hold the 1000 island dressing, please. 

Bread, meat, onions, fries.  How bad could I have been? 

I'll tell you how bad, thirty four Points Plus bad. That's right, 34.  

It was what I like to call a "points bomb" or something that after you've consumed it, has completely demolished all of your points for the day, week, or even year! 

I only consume twenty eight points per day, and at the time of consuming this patty melt, I had about ten of those left.  I was out of my activity points for the week, and I hadn't dipped into my weekly points (thankfully!). 

But in reality, I don't use those forty nine extra points.  They aren't usually nice to me because when I used to use them they all went to beer, wine, and junk.  So now, I stick to the mantra that you can only eat what you've earned.  That's right, I only eat my twenty eight daily points and whatever weekly activity points that I can earn.  I'm crazy like that. 

So there you have it, lesson learned.  Plan ahead, or stick to the things you know won't hurt you. 

restaurant review: red robin

The boyfriend and I like to go out to eat together, quite often unfortunately.  It has been a big past time with us, almost as big as our expanding waist lines.  

The bigger problem is that he tends to be more picky then I am, and that dictates where we go to eat.  He enjoys Mexican food, burgers, diners, and things of the like.  This can be a diet disaster!  That is, unless you plan ahead.  

I like to keep three or four dinner ideas for each week, and this allows me one night a week to have dinner with my mother, and another two evenings out with the boyfriend or other friends.  Also, once I find something that I consider to be a Points Plus bargain at a restaurant, I usually save it in my online tracker and order it quite often.  It's a good way to prevent a meltdown while I'm out and about.  

One of my favorite things are chains that put their nutrition information online, and even better than that is a chain that has its own recipe builder!  Enter: Red Robin Gourmet Burgers!  

At the bottom of the page is a handy little tool where you can build your meal!  

After plugging in what I ate (I ordered a "Keep It Simple" burger) and adding in my side of steak fries, I was able to very confidently track my fifteen points plus!  They even have an iPhone app, but unfortunately I have an EVO.

All you do is select your burger and customize whatever you added or took off of the burger!

And then hit the button at the bottom-right hand side of the page that says "Calculate Nutrition."

And then take that and plug it into your online points calculator.

It's awesome and easy!  You can pre-track or wait until after you've eaten to discover the damage you may have done.  I recommend the former.