Hey! Hope you all have had a wonderful Tuesday! Mine has been so much fun, and filled with goodies, but busy as usual 
I woke up stoked for a long run, and grabbed my b-fast cookie I set in the fridge last night.
-1/3 cup oats
-1/4 cup pumpkin
-1 tbs AB
-cinnamon and Stevia
-1/2 pack of vanilla brown rice protein
-1 hefty tbs of carob chips
It was so fluffy and delicious, and I was about to get dressed for my run when I looked outside to see that it was pouring!! Weather totally got in the way of my workout plans and instead of running, I picked the couch, a blanket and a sliver of VeggieGirls’ (absolutely breathtakingly delicious) Pumpkin-Caramel-Carob Loaf
In the duration of today, I had two more slivers of this loaf/cake (‘’tis the season, eh??)
At the suggestion of the always lovely and sweet Erin of Care to Eat, I made some raw vegan fudge using this recipe
Here’s the batter before I put it in the freezer:
Looks just like a pan of glorious brownies!
For snack, I had a small banana with 1/2 tbs AB and a cucaracha
And for lonchi, I had 1/2 pita snobby joe, and some leftover roasted ratatouille veggies
I finally made it to the gym this afternoon. Truth be told, it was a little rough today! I love working out (so much), but I haven’t had a day off since last Tuesday, so technically today should be my recovery day. Honestly, I really want Christmas to be my off-day, so I figured I could truck through two more days and straight up chill on Christmas. So even though I took it MUCH easier today than I usually would have, I still went.
I did: 30 minutes on the elliptical at level 5, 20 minutes on the Stairmaster at level 5, and 15 more minutes on the elliptical while I waited for the madre to pick me up.
After I finished up at the gym, I came home to get ready for dinner at Zona 78 with some friends
My friend Emily and I shared a bottle of Syrah (and I repeat: “’tis the season, eh?”)
And for dinner, I ordered the individual Mediterranean pizza with wheat crust, no feta and no pesto:
(I ate a little more than half of it)
It was my first time trying this restaurant –it opened since I moved to Georgia—and I loved it. And of course, the food and company were wonderful
When I got home, I put my baking pants back on and started on the always incredible Heather from Hangrypants recipe for Egg Nog Oaties. The thing is, when I was shopping for egg nog mix last night, I couldn’t find it anywhere, so I bought Chai mix instead.
Here are some of the resulting Chai Oaties:
The look so voluminous and smell divine, so hopefully they’ll be good!!
So, I just want to thank all of you for your fabulous advice on the direction of my blog. After reading through your valuable and very helpful comments, I decided to add the following components to Fitnessista.com:
-Something to do: Here I’ll insert a sample cardio workout (I’ll make them up for treadmill, elliptical and Stairmaster since those are my favorites), weight routine, exercise move of the day, or an easy and healthy recipe
-Something to think: pure motivation, baby Sometimes reading one phrase or about someone else’s outlook can push me to my max.. and hopefully it will be helpful to others too
Tip of the day: Here I’ll insert weight training tips, nutrition advice or cardio help
Two more things: 1)I will (finally!) do a weight loss tab on my page which will document my weight loss/fitness journey—including pictures since I’m at the madre’s and can scrounge some up while I’m here and 2) I will update my workout page when I get back to V-town and can grab a friend to take pics for me, since the pilot is gone
What do you guys think?? I tried to add a mix of the feedback I received and even though I won’t add ALL of the components each day, at least one of them will be there. (Hopefully!) it will give you something to look forward to at the end of each post
I hope you all have a wonderful night!!!
See ya tomorrow,
G
Something to do:
A sweet cardio workout on the elliptical with a combination of sprints and hills to get your ticker going, blast fat and torch calories.. in a mere 30 minutes
Elliptical workout #1
| Time | Crossramp | Resistance |
| 0:00-5:00 | 5 | 5 |
| 5:00-7:00 Slow your pace (not too much) | 7 | 10 |
| 7:00-8:00 SPRINT (as fast as you can go with the heavy resistance) | 7 | 10 |
| 8:00-9:00 | 5 | 5 |
| 9:00-10:00 SPRINT (as fast as you can) | 5 | 7 |
| 10:00-12:00 (slow your pace) | 8 | 11 |
| 12:00-15:00 (increase speed) | 5 | 7 |
| *repeat minutes 5-15 1 more time |
| 25:00-27:00 (slower speed) | 7 | 10 |
| 27:00-30:00 (faster speed, bringing heart rate back down | 5 | 5 |
Hi, I'm Gina. Welcome to The Fitnessista! I love blogging about my adventures as a new mom, military wife and fitness instructor, as well as sharing new workouts and recipes. Check out the About page for more info - thanks for stopping by!
this sounds great, queen fitness diva!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Sounds great!!
Thanks for posting about the vegan fudge – I will definitely have to try it
The additions to the blog sound wonderful! Also thank you for answering my question with such detail! I aspire to be as active as you! Oh and I too use rice protein powder but I can only find unflavored kinds, what brand is that vanilla you used??
I LOVE the new additions to the blog – they’re a good idea!
That fudge and the pizza looks delish, girl!
Hope you and your family have a fantastic holiday!!
love the new ideas for your blog
how was the fudge??
merry christmas!!!
o0o such good ideas! i love a little medley of everything!
how have I never seen that raw fudge!? I must make it, it looks so perrrrfect.
I loved your blog how it was, but I’m sure I’m going to love the new additions as well. Basically, it’s YOU and your sweet personality that makes me read this blog!
)
I love the Chocolate studded Breakfast cookie! Yummy!
Merry Christmas!
great ideas for the new additions! can’t wait to read everything
Hooray for the loaf, raw vegan fudge, the oatie cookies…. DELICIOUSNESS!!!
Lovin’ the new blog changes/additions, girl!!
Your pizza looks fab. I would have gotten the pesto on it though!
The chai oaties look fabulous! I am sure they will taste great.
Can’t wait to see all the new things on your blog.
Merry Christmas to you, the pilot and your family!
Plans for the blog sound great!
Have a great holiday!
Awwh, you make me blush.
Thanks for throwin’ down for yo girl. I can’t wait to hear how that fudge turns out – the recipe looks so healthy!
Such an awesome person. Merry Christmas Eve!
I hear you on the workout. Sometimes it just isn’t that fun!
Your changes to the blog sound incredible! I appreciate you really listening to your readers! It sounds like a lot of work and I love that you’re so committed
Everything looks wonderful!
I’m looking forward to reading the new blog additions!
Merry Christmas!
everything sounds great!!!
have a great Christmas!!!
The additions sound great! I’m about to embark on implementing some structure and discipline into my eating and exercise habits — yay New Year’s Resolutions! — so I think your blog will be a great guide!
Re: THe Excalibur dehydrator — would you also recommend the smaller economy model? I’ve been thinking about getting one and quality is most important to me, but size and cost are also deciding factors for me.
Hey Gina! Ha – I made Heather’s Eggnog Oaties this past weekend. They were a huge hit. Love Hangry Pants’s kitchen creativity!
I am excited about the additions to your blog. I love getting new workout ideas.
Merry Christmas!
Here’s to “straight up chillin” on Christmas! Me too!! Woohoo!
Your baking results look fun and delicious!
And I love the new ideas for the blog…it’s so great as is, can’t imagine when it’s even better! Go you!
Merry Christmas!
cant wait for the new changes
have an amazing merry christmas eve AND christmas day!
Cookies and a VeggieGirl baked good! MMM!
Have a Merry Christmas!
delicous looking food!
merry christmas eve!
Merry Christmas, gorgeous!
Check my blog for why you should come back to Orlando soon for a meet-up!!
Thanks so much for the sample elliptical workout! I get SO bored on the elliptical since I do it every day, so it will be nice to try this out for variety!
ooooh i’m so excited about all of hte new additions to the blog! Yay! Also – that pizza looked SO good… and thanks for the eliptical workout – i’m def going to try it!! Happy Holidays!
Yum! All of the baking looks delicious
) And I think the additions to your blog are perfect! I love the titles for them, too!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
I did the elliptical workout today! It was great. The time went quickly since I had to keep changing the settings every few minutes and I was sweating so much more after 30 min than I usually am after 45! Thanks so much – I can’t wait for more!
dang Gina! that pumpkin carob loaf you made looks amazinggg! and that med. pizza sounds so good! i love your healthy variations!!
oh and i totally had indian food today at whole foods and thought of you!!
merry christmas!!!
thank you so much to everyone for your wonderful feedback regarding my new plan for the blog
let me know what you decide!
amy- i would recommend getting the larger model. this way, you can make multiple things at once and also some items are “taller” than others (like the macaroons), so you can only use every other tray. if you only have 4 trays, you’re forced to make much smaller batches. the larger one is significant more expensive, but if you think you’ll be using it a lot, i think it would be a good investment
dori- that’s AWESOME! i’m so very glad you liked it!! i’ll keep those workouts comin
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Hi Gina! I also tried this elliptical workout and you’re right…kept the boredom away and had me sweatin’ big time. Loved it! Do you think this is something one could do several times a week, or would your body “adjust” and it wouldn’t be as effective?
i wouldn’t do it on consecutive days but you could definitely challenge yourself each time!
Great, thanks!