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.

uh oh….

well… I didn’t feel it until just now…its about oh... 14 hours after the last workout of cardio/thighs and yoga stretching-- but I just stood up from the couch to go outside and I think I may have over-stretched my hamstrings during the yoga workout…. this is not good!!! its a bit painful and inshallah it doesnt’ get any more painful tomorrow morning… I mean its my off-day but if I did over-do it I may be in pain for longer than just one day!! inshallah not!!

ChaLEAN Extreme kicks my butt!

as-salaam aleikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,

well, during my long absence from the blog, I finally got the ChaLEAN Extreme set…  just this morning I completed the first week of the 3 month program.  WOW!! it really kicked my butt! I was getting angry at the screen as I was doing some of the exercises LOL –but I got through all of the workouts with some having to make the moves easier for me but I did them Alhamdulillah!  For the 3 heavy weight-lifting days I did some cardio on the treadmill for around 20-25 minutes. I will slowly up it to over a half an hour for next week inshallah.

today’s workout in particular was soooo challenging on my thighs!!  it was a looooooooooooooot of thigh work and my thighs were burning for hours after the workout LOL.    the second part of the workout is yoga moves to stretch the body but yoga is a workout in itself but it felt good to stretch the muscles out!!

I looked at the calender schedule of workouts for the next 3 months and decided to start the first workout of the week on Fridays because the 2nd day is a rest day.  there is another rest day on the 7th day so by starting Friday, I have Saturdays and Thursdays as my rest days.  for now, because I am just starting out, I will completely let my body rest for those days, but eventually inshallah I will at least do some treadmill walking on those days for extra cardio. 

I have been eating good Alhamdulillah!  I’m still eating Amy’s frozen vegetarian meals when I am lazy and if I go out to eat lunch with a friend, for instance, I always choose a 6” whole wheat turkey sandwich from Subways.  tomorrow though, a friend and I are going to a restaurant named “Wagamama” so we will see what they have to offer that I can have.  it is a Japanese restaurant specializing in noodle dishes so I am hoping they have soba noodles (which are made with buckwheat) inshallah!

I haven’t really been taking pictures because I have been extra lazy but I did get some pictures from yesterday.

for lunch, I first had a bowl of brown rice with some broiled smokes salmon, and then a green tea packet called “Chazuke” which is a green tea broth powder you sprinkle on rice, and then add hot water.  so its like a green tea soup with rice.  too bad I didnt’ take a picture but it was delicious!!

  then I later had Philadelphia sushi rolls which I made with brown rice and the filling for the roll is smoked salmon, light cream cheese (they didn’t have fat free at the store-next time inshallah!), and cucumbers. I bought a small packet of a portion of smoked Kind Salmon fillet and the day before I made the same Philly roll by leaving the smoked salmon raw, but because I opened the package and it was the next day, I broiled the rest of the fillet.  it was just as delicious with cooked smoked salmon, Alhamdulillah!

 

ha ha ha this is so embarrassing to show the picture of my roll because my father is a sushi chef in the US…   and yet I cannot roll sushi very well LOL

 

for dinner my husband wanted to get food from a place called Sumo Sushi and we really wanted to try a roll that had shrimp tempura and then topped with sweet chili sauce and then teriyaki sauce.  so because this roll is not exactly a dieter’s friend, I did extra good with my meal and ordered a sashimi platter without rice.  I was going to eat it with leftover brown rice from lunch, but it was gone so I went rice-less. 

I had two pieces of the shrimp tempura roll and my husbad at 4 so I didn’t do too bad.  oh yeah.. I did eat a few bites of my husband’s teriyaki chicken dinner too…   just to get a taste.

YUMMMMM!!  but next time if I decide to bring home sashimi I will make brown rice inshallah!  its just best to eat with a bowl of rice.