Booty Camp Fitness Day 5 + 6 + 7 + 8

I finished my 4 weeks of Booty Camp Fitness and here are the long awaited results:

I did not lose weight but... I can definitely see that my body is visibly more 'toned' - I can see my ab muscles a bit now and my legs seem a little slimmer... I couldn't believe it!

I lost an official 4.5 inches!!! Wow! That's more than an inch per week - that's pretty good isn't it? I lost those inches in my chest, hips, bum and thighs mostly... My clothes are getting a little bit lose actually...

During the last 4 sessions of the camp we did some circuits, with a good mix of cardio, legs/arm strength training and abs. Every session Leigha increased the difficulty by having us do more challenging exerices but also by increasing the amount of time that we would do intense work between the small breaks... basically making our bodies stronger every time, improving our performance every time...

I really appreciated how she showed us to do so many effective moves that require no equipment - lots of ab exercises that I had not seen/done before. I really loved the ab work that she made us do, it was very thorough in the sense that it made us work every single ab muscle in every angle - you were working hard, but you were changing positions enough that you could keep going and push it... It really opened my eyes to that kind of exercise and how important having a strong core is and how it doesn't have to be just 'crunches'...

I liked all the leg exercises that we did too. I find that my legs felt so good the next day, gave me that 'spring' in my step!! :)

And I also got to try new arm exercises - my arms are soooo weak... I remember when we lived in MTL and S and I would walk to the grocery store and bring back bags and bags of stuff... he would carry 10 while I would carry 2 light ones, and I would still manage to have to take a break halfway and put them down... lol Starting from that point, with little to no strength in my arms, it is pretty much impossible for me to do push ups... At the Booty Camp, I learned 'moves' that are easy enough for me to do, and challenging enough to get results, and improve my arms' strength which I had pretty much given up on...

So overall, I really enjoyed the experience of the 4 weeks Booty Camp Fitness. Leigha our instructor was really fun and absolutely into feedback from the class, she was keeping things varied so it was never boring, and whenever someone had a request she would adapt the session to include it... She was very friendly and encouraging but she still kept things challenging - I am pretty competitive and I wouldn't have liked it if it wouldn't have been tough, you know? LOL

You can look them up at www.bootycampfitness.com - they have 95 locations in Canada so most likely there's a location near you! They have classes starting in September so don't wait and sign up soon!! I would definitely recommend it!!

A Sweet Potato Weekend!

This weekend, S and I somehow ended up having the same craving for sweet potatoes - first in the form of these Sweet Potato chips from 'Food Should Taste Good' - I loooove these, ingredients list I can pronounce, taste I am addicted to... a nice treat!











Then we took it to the next level and made a typical Québécois meal - a poutine. Warning! This is not a point friendly meal (well it could be if you used a looooot less cheese... but it wouldn't be very nutritious...)


All you need is some sweet potato fries



Some gravy (my gravy of choice is the St-Hubert brand, of course. It's available for sure in Ontario and in Québec, but I'm not sure about the rest of Canada... probably not available in other countries...)




and some cheese curds - or like they say in Saguenay - some fromage 'skouik skouik'




And voilà! Just like in the Belle Province! :)



hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm......




Not a good way to end a very inactive weekend due to neck injury, but hey, you gotta treat yourself sometimes! :) We used to have poutine all the time when we lived in Québec, and this was our first 'at home poutine' in more than 2 years... so I think it's ok :)

We did go out to a very special event on Friday night though! We went to see Toronto FC play vs Real Madrid!! It was - interesting... Man these Real Madrid guys were so good - so fast! As a soccer player myself - I really admired their tactics and skills... and their speed!
It was so funny how some guys at work requested that I take photos for them!! LOL I am a very lucky girl! It was a very special event, we don't get soccer royalty often over here!!




Here's the final score ;)



I almost felt bad (almost...) for Christiano Ronaldo - every time he had the ball people were boo-ing him... Anyways, it certainly was a spectacular evening - a once in a lifetime opportunity! :)

Booty Camp Fitness Day 2 + 3 + 4

I am still working out with the Booty Camp Fitness peoples on Tuesdays and Thursdays, my instructor Leigha is kicking butts!!

Here's a quick recap of the last Day 2 + 3 + 4 sessions!

Day 2
I was still sore from the previous Tuesday. ouch. But I was there to give it my all and push it! We did some hopping from and to a squat position - OMG my legs were hurting so much :) then we did some circuits, half the group would do abs while the other was going through the circuit, then we would switch and repeat... I was confused at first, I thought we were doing this once and that was it - so I pushed it 110%. But then I realized we were going to do this 3 or 4 more times - phew! Let's just say I slept like a baby that night! LOL That was a great workout!

Day 3
That Tuesday, we were split into 6 groups and did 6 groups of 'circuits' then we repeated. It was a little easier for me than the previous week, but still enjoyable!

Day 4
Leigha, our instructor, changed the music as per someone's request - that was a nice touch, even though I didn't mind the music so much. She is really good at changing things up and motivating you, she really listens to the feedback she gets from the 'recruits' and makes sure she asks for feedback when people are too quiet (which I tend to be hee hee) That's nice. When she asked us about the kind of exercise we do and if we preferred one type over the others, we all said we preferred just mixing things up... And she has not repeated a single exercise even once! I certainly appreciate the variety... it's never boring! :)
That day we did some hops over each other - some people fell, it was not pretty, lol... but very nice and very challenging. Then we did some 2 by 2 exercises, and did some arms exercise - I was just about to make that request if we were not going to work out the arms on day 4 (my arms are soooo weak :) but I didn't even have to! I was feeling muscles I didn't know I had for the following few days lol



I have no complaints so far - Leigha is great at keeping us interested and listening to people's feedback. I sometimes have a hard time getting the instructions quick enough (you know, with my being a frenchy and all) but as soon as we start I just look at what other people are doing for confirmation and all is good - I honestly prefer it if we keep going - I would hate it myself if we spent a long time just getting instructions on how to do things, and less time working out... During the poses she keeps giving instructions on proper form, to help people adjust and know what to focus on...

It's good and bad that there won't be any camps this august, I would have liked to keep going, but at the same time, I want to go back to training for my running. And I do like the flexibility of exercising at home whenever works for me (even though it's more challenging to get the motivation to work out at home)... Going out and having a commitment to exercising at the Booty Camp ensures that I do it... no excuses! I don't go through my usual big ''pre-work out negotiation'' between my brain and my body:)

I signed up for it, I gotta do it... end of story. And it's fun, so I look forward to it too!

Registration is open for September Booty Camps - go sign up quick before they all fill up! There are locations all over Canada, so don't hesitate! It's super fun and it brings great results!! :)

Desi Chef - New frozen meals...

Yesterday I had the chance to try a new line of frozen meals - Desi Chef. (Available at some Sobey's grocery stores in the GTA)

S and I were so excited to try their butter chicken and get to review it - we couldn't wait- we loooove indian food :)



The chicken was nice and tender, good sized pieces (it was not 'plastic-y' or 'chewy' like what you find in typical frozen meals) it looked, tasted and felt closer to real chicken you would cook at home. It was dead easy to prepare too - 11 minutes in the microwave, stirring once after 7 minutes.



The sauce was nice and thick, the taste was heavenly. The right combination of spices... very yummy! It was a good amount of food - good portion size...

Had it with some quick basmati rice from Uncle Ben's.

I would definitely recommend it and will definitely buy it again (and again, and again... :)

Here's the nutritional info:




It's 2 points per serving (there's 3.5 servings per container - I had a full container which adds up to 8,5 points.) It's a bit on the high side of the amount of points I like to have for a meal - but it was well worth it - and, I mean: we're talking about butter chicken here, that's as points friendly as butter chicken will get without losing yummy-ness!! :)

I hope they become available in more stores and in more cities soon! Looking forward to see what other meals they offer...

My first 5k = My second 5k!!!!

Yay!!! I HAVE COMPLETED A 5K!!!!! WOOOO HOOO:)

A real one... not like at the Pride Run where I got confused on the course and only ended up running 3,5 km... I ran a full 5 k race!!! I am so proud of myself!! I don't know the official result yet (the timing chip people have not posted it yet...) But I think it's somewhere around 33m, which is so much better than I ever imagined I could do!!!


*******
UPDATE! Here's the official info: 33:57 minutes :)

361/444 overall 5k runners
189/253 overall women
45/56 in my category
pace: 7:31

*******


I was so not prepared though - I put together my shorts, shirt (the one I got from the Pride Run :) my bra and my iPod in a bag before I went to bed. Set my alarm to wake up at 6h30am which would give me about 30 minutes to prep before I had to leave... I heard the alarm, but I didn't get up right away... I didn't wake up until 7h03!!!

Panic!!!

Where are my shoes, what am I going to have for breakfast, we don't have time to go park at S's work and walk to the event anymore, so where do I leave all my stuff?! ..... I did get ready clikety quick, grabbed a few granola bars to eat in the car on the way, then S dropped me off to get my race kit and he met me later at the start line, where he offered to hold on to my 'stuff' (I had the race kit and my wallet, etc.) PHEW! :)

I was still pumped and excited to get a chance to finish 'a real 5k' this time, and I was happy to get started... S thought of bringing his camera - I had forgotten mine - he's so smart :)

That's me smiling at S just after the start ;)


And there I am on my way, headed to Lakeshore... (I'm on the far right, with the white letters on my bum :)



And that's me after the finish line - sticking out my tongue :)



Wait a minute, I didn't stop my iPod!


Anyways, I think I did pretty good considering I have not been running in over a week (I did exercise though - 2 days of soccer tournament, then one night of soccer, then 2 nights of Booty Camp Fitness!) So I'm quite happy...

I know a few of the Toronto blog ladies were doing the same race (which is also a 10-miler) I hope they did well and had fun on the course! Can't wait to read the updates over at Mouse's :)

I have lots of post subjects lined up next - I'm behind on blogging because of all the exercise I am doing nowadays - not a bad thing ;) Some of the stuff I want to write about soon:

Booty Camp Fitness
Angela's On the Glo Bars (Oh She Glows)
I was tagged by Julie for a Q&A
Desi Chef Frozen meals
Wedding stuff (I have a dress!!!:)

ok that's about it for now - I hope you all have a wonderfull Sunday :)

Amazing Giveaway on Oh She Glows!

Angela over at Oh She Glows is giving away some amazing grass products - man I want to try these after seeing them all over the blogosphere!!
You can still enter here !
Good Luck :)

Booty Camp Day 1

Ayoye! (this is a Québécois ''expression'' used when 'ouch' doesn't quite cut it... :)

Ok. First of all, I have to mention that I spend my Sunday evening (8-11pm) playing soccer (1 hour non stop, 1 hour break, 1 other hour non-stop) and I was feeling it big time on Monday morning, and feeling it even more today... Then, I attended my first day of

AYOYE!!! :)

It was awesome! Nice park by the water with a nice breeze... The instructor, Leigha, was great with lots of energy, she was fun :)

We started with a quick fitness assessment and weigh in - apparently I have tiny arms :) (well not sure if it's a good or bad thing? :) It was the end of the day, with all my clothes on and my shoes... I weighed in at 154.5 - not too bad I think! I also got a DVD with at home workout sessions and a booklet, which I will explore more tomorrow... Lots of english reading for the frenchie ;)

We did series of jog/strength training/abs exercises, lots of variety, which I liked... I did ok on my running around, but I need to work on the strength some more - oh la la, my legs are shake-y :) And I pretty much have zero arm strength... ha ha ha But that's why I'm there isn't it? :)

I liked that you don't have to think of anything you just let go and follow your leader... I like not having to count and time everything... It was like a class really, but outdoors.

The only negative I would say was that I definitely didn't pick the right spot to place my yoga mat, I seemed to be on an angle and had a bit of trouble keeping proper form... I'll pick my spot better next time :)

One of the ladies who was starting her second half of the 8 weeks program said that she had already lost a total of 10 inches -wow! I think that what's great about this is I'm committed to it, all I have to do is go to the 'appointments' and do the exercise, push it, and come back home - It would be pretty difficult for me to screw this up, hee hee I think if I just stick to it, I can get similar results! And it's fun, so what else could I ask for? :)

I came back home and had a wrap with eggs, spinach and tomatoes with a lil cheese. Yummy. I had my last WW cookie from the box I bought as a treat, and that's it! It reminded me of something that Roni often says on her blog that stuck in my head recently: one good decision leads to another, so start your day right... something like that - go read her post, she writes it much better than I do :) Anyways, when I had my dinner tonight, after a nice workout, I felt I didn't need to snack as much, that's why I'm thinking of that right now...

It's been a pretty tough day at work today, and I am very upset about it... I think I need to do some serious thinking, but I just feel like distracting myself away from the problem... ugh...

but I don't want to bore you with any more work talk... I'm exhausted and don't have access to my own computer right now, so I'm going to skip the food photos for today... Glad you enjoy my 'one photo per meal' idea Fatinah :) I'll continue doing that... it's just so much faster for me too anyway...

ok, am I getting rambly or what? hee hee I'm out... good night!

Glo Bakery...

I forgot to mention, I am super excited to have ordered some of Angela's famous Glo Bars today. I just can't wait to try them out!!!!!!! :)