Do I Have To?

After several days of not sleeping well, a busy day at work, a 75-minute commute home, and cleaning up the kitchen from last night, all I could think when faced with today's workout plan was, "Do I have to?"

Yes, I do have to. And I did.

For a video demonstration of star jumps, visit this link.

I also cranked out a whopping ten minutes on the elliptical and called it a day. Luckily, Hal's half marathon training plan had us running only two miles today, so I didn't feel super guilty. For a more intense workout, I would definitely do this strength series again and repeat it, plus more cardio. You can also modify the planks by doing less time but more reps (instead of 1 full minute, do 4 x 15 seconds). I also ran around with the cat, which I won't actually count as cardio but definitely felt like it. 

For dinner, my husband met his brother downtown, so I was on my own. I'm definitely getting used to cooking for one around here! I made enough for each of us to take leftovers for lunch tomorrow, but I resorted to my usual sauteed veggies + marinara sauce + whole wheat pasta.

Sauteing the vegetables

 I combined the following: 1/2 onion, 2/3 red bell pepper, 1 yellow squash, 2 zucchini squash, 2 ounces fresh spinach. Sauteed for about 8 minutes, then added about a cup of marinara sauce, 1/4 cup red wine, and about 3 ounces mozzarella cheese. Served on top of whole wheat rotini, it was delicious!

I normally don't measure my servings, but I did tonight. Exactly 1/2 cup cooked pasta plus 1 1/2 cups vegetables/sauce/cheese. Speaking of which, here's my WIAW!

Certainly an improvement over last week's WIAW. :-) But I think I could use some more protein here. I didn't have eggs or meat or nuts (other than peanut butter), my usual go-tos for protein. Always room for improvement. Especially with bikini season around the corner, right? (Two weeks until our trip to Hawaii!)

Here are the links for the PB & J Squares and Salted Triple Chocolate Cookies, if you're interested. Also, you can check out more WIAWs from other bloggers here!