At-Home Upper Body

Yesterday, before taking a little walk around the neighborhood, I completed a short upper body workout in our living room. All you need is a set of dumbbells and a chair or other support for bench dips. I made a few modifications to accommodate the pregnancy, including:

• Using very light weights (only 5 pounds--but actually it was still challenging!)
• Completing the push ups on my knees (again, still tough)

So obviously this workout is perfect for any fitness level. For beginners (or pregnant ladies), you can modify as I did. For more of a challenge:

• Complete bench dips with straight legs or with one foot off the ground.
• Complete the push ups on the toes, and play with the arm width (closer together works the triceps more; farther apart works the chest), or try a decline push up (feet elevated). 
• Increase the weights (but not too much; remember, 20 reps is high, so this is an endurance workout and you need to keep good form throughout!).
• Complete an extra round or two to really fatigue those muscles.
• Minimize rest between exercises.

Honestly, if you implement a few of those challenges, you've got a completely different workout on your hands! Play with it; you'll find something that challenges and motivates you.

Hope you like it!

Today's workout looked quite different because I was eager to get outside in the gorgeous sunshine (hey, if it's not going to rain, I guess I may as well be positive about the sun, right?). Terry came with me to complete three rounds of the following (we broke it up with a long walk, so we did one round, half the walk, another round, the rest of the walk, and then the final round):

• 50 walking lunges
• 50 squats
• 50 plie squats
• 50 calf raises

We'll be feeling that one tomorrow! 

For dinner, I made another batch of broccoli cheese soup, a new favorite around here. I'm going to freeze some of this soup to make sure I like how it defrosts; if I do like it, then it'll go on the list for meals I can make ahead of time to freeze and reheat when baby's here! But I would LOVE some suggestions for other freezer-friendly meals that don't take up a lot of space in the freezer. Normally, Terry and I don't mind leftovers (not that we usually have a lot), so we eat everything fresh. Therefore, my experience with freezer meals is unfortunately limited.  

I'm sure we'll also rely on some quick and easy meals that we already know and love (and therefore are able to make without too much time or fuss), including:

• Sandwiches! Come on, how much easier does it get? Grilled cheese, BLTs, PB&J...
• Pasta with pre-made (frozen) marinara
• Pizzas 
• Breakfast, especially egg burritos, pancakes, and egg sandwiches
• Stir-frys
• Crock pot meals (though usually we only have a main dish in the crock pot, so we'd need to come up with easy side dish options, too)

Meals and snacks I'm planning to make (and freeze, if necessary) ahead of time:

• 1 or 2 kinds of soup
• Pasta sauce
• Some sort of casserole?
• Muffins/breads
• Brownies or cookies (come on, you know I need my sweets!)

And I have no doubt we'll rely on a few super easy favorites:

• cheese, crackers, and salami with fruit (luckily one of our favorite meals anyway!)
• wrap with cheese, store-bought hummus, and peppers
• cereal and/or granola
• delivery and take out! (Fresh Brothers, Wahoo's, Fresh Corn Grill...yes, those will be happening)

All this food talk is making me hungry (shocker, right?), so I'm off to enjoy some pudding before calling it a night. Hope your Monday was a good one!

Any suggestions for make-ahead, freezer-friendly meals?