yummy salad for lunch

I made a really yummy salad for lunch today, Mashallah! I baked a smoked salmon fillet and then let it cool. then I cooked some whole wheat cous cous and then let that cool. to the cous cous I added some of the smoked salmon (flaking it first), then some chopped tomatoes, bell peppers (capsicum),black olives, and cilantro (also called fresh coriander). then I drizzled on some lemon -extra virgin olive oil I got at the store and mixed it up. I made this last night to eat for lunch today and it was so yummy Mashallah!!

my knees are kind of sore today and it is a rest day so I have to be really really careful doing any squats tomorrow. I might skip squats for the time-being until they are no longer sore… we will see inshallah.

4 weeks ChaLEAN Extreme completed and week 5 began!

as-salaam aleikum,

well, Alhamdulillah I got through phase 1, or 4 weeks of ChaLEAN Extreme!!  I started with workout 1 of the 5th week and it was tough, but Alhamdulillah I got through it!!

after 4 weeks of ChaLEAN Extreme, I have lost 4.4 kg, or 9.7 lbs!!  but I did start with eating healthy before the workouts and since I have been eating healthy and then with the 4 weeks of working out, I have lost a total of 9kg, or 19.8lbs!!!  Alhamdulillah!!

so now I have 5.2lbs to go to make my first 25lbs weight-loss goal.  inshallah I make it!  while reading around blogs and forums about people doing the ChaLEAN Extreme, I have read that some people do plateau during phase 2, or the 2nd month of the program so I am hoping I don’t plateau and keep losing this month inshallah. I still have a whoooooooole lot of weigh to lose and don’t want to plateau so soon!  small goals at a time inshallah!

in the 2nd phase of the workout it is required to use even heavier weights that will make me fail at between 6-8 reps so for the first squat workout I chose 18kg, or 40lbs and my knees were hurting.  if my knees didn’t hurt I actually could have gone even heavier.  there were 2 other squat workouts in different positions and those did not hurt my knees so I am going to have to do a squat style in place of that first one from now on, inshallah.

anyhow, my eating is still going healthy and delicious, Mashallah!!

here are a couple of things I have photos of…

the first is a grilled chicken breast (using a George Forman grill) in a whole-wheat pita stuffed with alfalfa sprouts, cucumbers, tomatoes, and a little bit of Athenos Roasted Eggplant Hummus. 

ha ha ha its not the prettiest as I tore a bit of the top off instead of cutting it with a knife to be able to open up the pita… 

 

tonight I had some more calories I needed to get in so I used those crisp breads like the Wasa wholegrain ones and I spread a very light layer of the Athenos Roasted Eggplant Hummus (I am a big fan of it LOL) and then topped with alfalfa sprouts, tomato slices, avocado, and sliced black olives.  then I just sprinkled on some cracked black pepper.

I remembered to take a picture right when I was going to eat the last one (I made 5 of them)so there ya go, a nice healthy and delicious crispy sandwich!!

I need to start photo-reporting my foods again!

inshallah I will start making photo-reports again regularly. It seems like when I am really working out, I spend less time online so I get lazy to update. I mean, its a good thing to spend less time online but I need to keep updating my blog regularly because it is a record of my journey that I can look back on and I would love to help motivate someone as well inshallah.

so here is the latest thing I have made:

Soba Noodle Salad:

soba noodles are Japanese buckwheat noodles and are yummy eaten cold in a salad like this Mashallah. I basically made the tofu and the peanut sauce from this meal I made previously from:

Sesame Tofu with Peanut Sauce

(its the last thing I mention in that blog post)—so I made the tofu, and the peanut sauce (with the changes like I mentioned on that blog post), then diluted about 1/2 of the sauce with water and poured on and mixed with the soba noodles (I made enough noodles for 3 generous servings—boiled, drained, and dunked in ice-cold water to make them springy and chilled) and sliced cucumbers, carrots and thinly sliced spring onions. I also added Japanese Shichimi seasoning (chili powder blend) and crushed sesame seeds. then I had the tofu on the side (I took this photo before adding the tofu)

yumm yumm yumm!!

ChaLEAN Extreme Week 3 complete!

 

as-salaam aleikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,

  well, I have been keeping myself really busy and its all because of the ChaLEAN Extreme workouts.  I finished week 3 this morning Alhamdulillah!!  while I don’t see the changes in the mirror yet, I definitely am getting stronger because in the first two weeks, there is a cardio exercise on the last day of the week that I couldn’t complete all of the modified (meaning easier) moves.  but today I was able to complete them all Alhamdulillah!!

   I wrote to the people at Beachbody.com (the ones who sell the ChaLEAN Extreme program) to first make sure at my weight if they thought I was ok doing this program.  there are two cardio/muscle endurance workouts to do during the week and they told me to repeat those on my off days to facilitate weight-loss.  the problem is if I have to repeat a workout too many times I will get bored of it real quick so I have instead been doing treadmill walking after the 3 weight-lifting days instead. 

   during week 1 I only walked for around 25 minutes each time but during the last two weeks I have been doing an audio program called “Cardio Coach”(I will say CC from now).  here is their website:

Cardio Coach

  they are having a super sale right now too!! woo!!  I paid $14.95 for the mp3 downloads back then so the sale price is AWESOME Mashallah!  I am going to order the rest of the workouts now because I don’t want to miss these prices and I just love the motivation CC gives me.    

  for any of you doing cardio workouts, I highly recommend you try CC.  it doesn’t matter if you simply walk/jog, use an elliptical, or a stepper, or a treadmill—you change the settings yourself for each challenge given that will get you into the different “zones” the coach wants you in.  so it doesn’t matter if you are a beginner or advanced because you simply use the settings that are for your level of fitness. 

   there is a free download from another blog if you want to check it out… the audio is lower quality and it is a longer and harder workout since it is volume 6.  so for any of you interested, I will post the link and you can check it out inshallah.  and then you can purchase the others if you wish! lets see…. lemme get that link for you:

Cardio Coach 6 Free Download

   it is the zip file (the 2nd link she posted) as the first link is the one to the original download site that is no longer available. 

…OMG I just saw the comment section of that and I commented on it!!  on March 11th of 2007!! I purchased volume 1 after I listened to this free download and then later bought volumes 2-4.   I was doing the CC workouts (not #6 though as it was too hard still) using an elliptical machine in 2007.  I was doing really good too for a couple of months…but as usual, I stopped after whatever I was losing weight for was over.  so I am back starting with CC #1 again.  this time it is with a treadmill though since my elliptical machine broke.

  this time I am workout out and eating healthier and I have no pressure to lose weight for a specific event…and I feel like this time I will really be successful inshallah!! 

The Hunger!!

as-salaam aleikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,

I have noticed an increase in hunger over the last few days and I am pretty sure it is due to the weight-lifting.   I wasn’t this hungry all the time before I was doing the ChaLEAN Extreme.  I suppose part of it is due to how healthy I have been eating, but I literally feel hungry around 2-3 hours after I eat.  before changing to this healthier lifestyle, I was pigging out so much all the time I was often eating my meals when I wasn’t even hungry.  I am going to bed now and I ate a good portion of  whole-wheat spaghetti with tomato sauce a couple of hours ago but I am already hungry again.  I am tempted to go eat something but I will just instead wake up a bit early and eat before my workout tomorrow inshallah.

I have been wanting to make vegetarian dumplings with whole-wheat wonton skins but they do not have whole-wheat wontons here in Dubai (or at least I can’t find any)—I have made them home-made before, but it is a PAIN trying to roll the dough out really thin and then cutting out all of the wonton circles.  So I have been on the search for a pasta roller and I just couldn’t find one.  I was contemplating buying one from the US but they are not light so the shipping would be expensive. 

Well, I was out with my friend Saimah on Thursday and we were at this one store and we were looking for plastic pitchers for her and on one shelf…she spotted a pasta roller!!  I was really happy because it is made in Italy (as opposed  to China) and so I purchased it right away.  it cost about $41.50.  the brand is named Marcato. I had never heard of that brand before and was really hoping I would be able to find one made by Atlas.

Well, lo and behold I looked up the Mercato 150 model of the one I got and it turns out it is the Atlas 150…they are the same company!! woo!!  the same one I got here in Dubai is selling on Amazon.com  for $77.99 so I got a really good deal Alhamdulillah! 

So sometime this week I will be making the dumplings and I will post the recipe link and pics.