Sweet potatoes are yummy and back in my diet thanks to my weight training. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Thanks to my weight lifting workouts, I’m adding sweet potatoes back into my diet. The sweet potato, in moderation, is a good carb — it doesn’t jack up your insulin levels like other potatoes.
Of course, the timing of when I eat them is key. Since my muscle workouts are in the mornings, I only eat sweet potatoes within 60 minutes of that workout. It’s officially a lunch time side dish.
This tasty little recipe showed up in my inbox, complements of Weight Watchers. Perfect to try while watching some football (Go Lions!).
Roasted Sweet Potato Wedges
Net Carbs: 16g
Weight Watchers PointsPlus: 3
Serves: 4
Serving Size: 4 wedges per person
Ingredients
2 large uncooked sweet potato(es), washed and patted dry
Cut each potato into 8 lengthwise wedges and place on a nonstick baking sheet. Drizzle with oil; sprinkle with salt and dried rosemary. Roast for 15 minutes; toss and roast until potatoes are tender, about 15 to 20 minutes more.
Spoon potato wedges onto a serving plate and garnish with fresh rosemary. Yields 4 wedges per serving.
If you like your potatoes well-done, place them under the broiler for a minute of two.
Yes, the class kicked my butt — literally and figuratively!
I arrived at my first spinning class a few minutes early to talk to the instructor (Joyce) and make sure I set my bike up correctly. She was amazing. She did a great job walking me through the set up, showing me where to position my seat and handles so I’d get the best workout.
Joyce assured me I didn’t need to keep up with the pace of the class. In fact, she told me she’d call out different instructions for me. She didn’t want me killing myself in my first spinning class.
As folks started walking into the classroom, they went out of their way to make me feel welcome. All encouraged me, told me how much they love the class and said I’d do just fine. Without a doubt, the nicest people I’ve ever met in a class.
I started out strong with the warm up, going faster as the second song started. Sweat quickly poured down my face, back and arms.
About 10 minutes it was time to increase resistance and start jogging. Wow, I don’t ever remember it being this hard. It felt like I was riding in quicksand.
Thankfully, Joyce yelled out for me to drop my resistance. D’oh, I’d set my resistance to 6 (out of 10) during the jog. I cut it in half to 3 and the jogging got much easier.
As much as I tried, I couldn’t do the full jog. So I sat back down and kept a steady pace. Then it was time to turn the resistance dials all the way down to the lowest setting. Woohoo!
I got really excited, and way too soon. It was time to go all out and race. I pedaled as fast as I could for 4 minutes.
My only thought: Glad I didn’t eat before class.
During the last 30 minutes every new song meant a new exercise – sitting, jogging or hanging over the handles. The switching-up made the class interesting and more fun.
I did stop a few times and even got off the bike to walk around a bit. Not because it was difficult. I needed to stop because of that damn seat!
Who ever designed this thing is an idiot! But a few more classes and I’ll get use to it.
My Spin Class Seat Is the Devil! I’m not prone to violence. But about 3 minutes into the 60-minute class, I so desperately wanted to punch the guy who designed that seat. In the face. With a 2 x 4.
Did someone actually think causing pain to inner thighs and the butt – pain that lasts well after class ends, by the way – was a great idea?
Also, something about it disrupted my rhythm. I had to constantly readjust while sitting down. For about 4 minutes, I actually zoned out the pain and got into the music, and got a brief glimpse of the joy to come in future classes.
My instructor and classmates all told me the same thing: “It takes a couple of classes for the pain to go away.”
Crap!
Preparing For Friday’s Class Sigh…I loved the class. Thanks to the seat, I don’t feel as if I gave it my all. Which is scary considering how tired my legs feel right now.
When class ended, two of my classmates gave me some advice – padded pants! Now how’s that for a slice of fried gold?
Tomorrow, I’m on the hunt for padded bicycle shorts.
Related Video
Never been to a spinning class? This gives you a great idea of what to expect.
Headed to my first spin class today. I expect it to kick my butt and turn my legs into jelly.
I’m a little late in picking my next 30-day fitness challenge. I’ve racked my brains trying to pick a good lower body workout. Walking around my gym, I stumbled upon the new challenge – cycling.
For the next month, I’m hitting the road…actually my local spinning class. I plan on attending a 60-minute cycling class twice a week.
Today is my first cycling class. My goal isn’t to keep up with the class — I won’t. I just want to finish the class, as I’m expecting it to completely kick me in the butt.
Why Cycling?
I have a few reasons:
1. While I’ve lost weight everywhere, my legs are the slowest to give up the fat. I know you can’t target where the fat comes off, but I can give my calf, hamstring and glutes a great workout without a lot of stress on my joints.
2. I needed a new challenge. I love lifting weights, yoga in the mornings and interval training for the 5K, but that can get old. Sometimes you need to add in a new exercise to shake things up.
3. The last time I rode a bike ride around my neighborhood was 30 years ago. That’s too long. In 2010 my husband and I purchased bikes. I rode it for 2 minutes. I felt unsteady and uncomfortable. I weighed over 300 lbs. and had no confidence in myself. It was easy to think, “I’m too fat to ride a bike.” So into the shed it went.
That bike’s coming out of the shed. I’m going to relearn how to ride and take my bike for a spin in my neighborhood before year’s end. The spinning class is a way for me to regain my confidence.
Hey, How Come You’re Not Cycling Everyday?
Yes, the 30-day fitness challenge is a daily challenge. Since I’m interval training to run a 5K, I don’t want to tire out my legs. I’m taking the spinning classes on my days off from training. Trust me. Two spinning classes a week is a challenge.
I do plan to ride a real bike before the end of the year. But that is a separate challenge all on its own.
Easy to make, meat crust pizza is the perfect meal after a tough muscle workout.
After a particularly challenging muscle workout, this dough-less pizza recipe hit the spot. Easy to make, meat crust pizza provides a whopping 57g of protein with only 12g of net carbs. And like regular pizza, it’s great the next day. The husband loved it and declared it his new favorite meal.
Also, for all my gluten-free pals, this recipe is perfect for you – no dough!
The recipe calls for a round pizza pan. If you don’t have one, don’t fret. I ended up dividing the recipe between two 10″ pie pans. Heck, even a rectangular pan (1-inch deep) will do the trick.
While you can slice the meat crust pizza like a regular pizza, you can’t eat it like one. Try picking it up with your hands and it falls apart. I write this from experience. Use a fork.
Place meat in a bowl and mix in 1 cup of the shredded mozzarella
Spread the meat and cheese mix into a round pizza pan for baking. Top with pizza sauce and spread so sauce covers the top of mixture.
Not including the tomatoes, begin topping pizza evenly with your veggies. Top the pizza with the rest of the shredded mozzarella. Place your tomatoes on top and then add the turkey pepperoni and the fresh mozzarella, if using.
Place in oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or until cheese is melted and browned.
About 5 minutes before it is ready to take out of oven, place whole basil leaves on top.
If you want to get your PointsPlus value lower, you can reduce your portion size or if you have the 14 points for dinner, I suggest loading up on the veggies. I’m limiting my veggies to get a lower carb recipe.
Except for the shuttle runs I did in high school, it’s the first time I’ve done these workouts. I did 3 rounds, doing each for 30 seconds with a 20 second break in between.
Of the 6 exercises, it’s a toss-up between the battle ropes and tire push for most exhausting. The battle ropes turned my arms into wet noodles, especially my left arm. The tire push kills your arms quickly, but later you feel the double whammy of your back and leg muscles aching.
In a couple of weeks, my trainer says I’ll start flipping the tire. I CAN’T WAIT. Another chance to be sore from head to toe. Awesome!
This is the third set of metabolic workouts I now have in my rotation. On Monday my trainer shows me a new set of exercises and for the next few weeks we will rotate between the 4 different sets, steadily increase the weights.
I sincerely hope the next set of exercises looks something like this — complete with Elvis glasses and blue sequined jumpsuit!
Dropped 1 pound this week. Need to lose 16.7 lbs. by Dec. 31 to hit my 30% weight loss goal. Fingers crossed!
I’m down a pound this week! That brings my total weight loss to 81 lbs. And with this week’s loss, I now need to lose 16.7 lbs. to hit my 30% weight loss goal by December 31st.
Considering the average weekly weight loss is up to 2 lbs., 16 lbs. is tall order since I’d need to drop the max weight each week for the next 8 weeks...hmmmmm.
I’m game!
Too Busy To Weigh-In? Poppycock!
The last time I officially weighed in was Oct. 12. Yikes! Between the 5Ks and family trips, this is the first weekend in weeks with no plans.
I can’t believe I let two weeks slide without going to Weight Watchers. I really hate missing my weekly meetings. It’s always good to check in and see how I’m doing. The accountability keeps me motivated. Plus, the energy from the meetings give me the kick-start I need for the week.
Although my weekend dance card fills up quickly, I need to work harder to keep my Saturday morning date with the scale.
Perfect for any Halloween! I plan to enjoy my treat so the little ghosts and goblins can have their treats!
I’m putting in motion my action plan to make sure I don’t indulge in any Halloween treats in my home. I just purchased the candy to give away tonight, as well as my treat — red wine!
I know what you’re thinking: “Wine’s just as bad as candy!” Actually, our bodies use red wine’s resveratrol compound to help prevent the growth of fat cells! Try doing that with Halloween candy!
“Dot2Trot, are there more health benefits to moderately drinking red wine?” Glad you asked.
Fermented foods, like wine, help with digestion. It has to do with the probiotic it contains.
Lancomb’s Blush Classique turned out to be my go to color. Oh so pretty!
Yesterday I continued my weight loss makeover. I visited my nearby Macy’s cosmetics department to find my cornerstone lipstick color to build my collection.
This lucky lipstick will serve as my go to color. It has to look good on me if I’m wearing no makeup.
With just a few cosmetic lines to choose from (my Macy’s is tiny!), I found what I was looking for at the Lancôme counter.
Lancôme’s L’absolu Rouge lipstick brand includes a moisturizer to prevent chapping, a big plus for me with winter fast approaching. When sampling the different lipsticks, I found that it went on easily and evenly. And the colors…oh so pretty.
Coloring my lips with Lancomb’s Natural Mauve lip liner.
Speaking of color, I picked Blush Classique. A shade deeper than my natural lip color, it looked the most flattering on me.
I also picked up a lip liner at the Lancôme counter – Natural Mauve. It’s a perfect compliment to the Classique and great for pairing with future pink, brown or nude lipsticks.
Putting It Together
Once I got home I started applying my goodies. First I applied the liner and made sure to not just line my lips, but color them in too. As my Glam Squad taught me, coloring my lips with the liner locks in the lipstick color to prevent fading.
Phase 1 of my weight loss makeover is complete with my new lipstick and lip liner!
After I applied the lipstick I used the brush at the end of my lip liner to smooth out the color.
Easy peasy!
Buying the moisturizing lipstick was a smart move on my part as my lips felt smooth and moist all day. Hooray!
My first official health challenge – eating fish. I kick it off with a garlic-pepper lime cod recipe.
In my every expanding quest to lose weight by eating healthy, I’ve designated November as Fish Month. That’s right, I’m actually going to eat more fish fish once a week.
A silly challenge you say? Not to someone who hates fish.
The smell…the fishy taste…the texture…Yuck! Anything that smelly when cooked is something I avoid, like Chitlins.
But now am older and wiser. I realize I haven’t given our aquatic friends a fair shake. Plus I’m missing out on a great source of omega 3 and protein.
So in November, once a week, I’m preparing a fish dinner. My husband, a seafood lover, is super excited. Since I do 99% of the cooking, he rarely eats fish.
Starting With White Fish
Our local fishmonger recommends I start with mild tasting white fish like mahi-mahi or tilapia before trying a fish with a stronger flavor like salmon.
Since I don’t know how to cook fish, this challenge is more than just an eating adventure. So this weekend I’ll spend some time researching recipes. My goal is to keep it simple yet flavorful.
Last night I got a jump-start on the challenge. I picked up a pound of cod and whipped up a simple garlic-pepper lime fish dish. I think I added too much garlic – mostly out of fear of that fishy taste, which didn’t exist.
Overall, I loved it. Sure there was too much garlic, but the lime and jalapeño added a nice touch. As for texture, the fish was firm not mushy, another bonus. Chalk this dish up as a win. Now just 4 more fish meals to go.
