Hey friends! How was everyones weekend? Mine was great! I took the day off on Friday which was just lovely because it was a picturesque day in Boston. On Thursday night, I went out with some friends for dinner. Originally we had plans to go to Toro which is located in the South End. Toro is known for their delicious Spanish style tapas. I was veyr much looking forward to trying Toro because I had never been before! Unfourtunately, when we arrived, the wait was over an hour long! Since we were hungry and didn’t feel like waiting the hour, we walked down the street to Parish Cafe; another restaurant I had never tried so I was excited!
Parish is known for their delicious sandwiches, salads and entrees, each of which is named for the chef and the restaurant they are from in the Boston are. Since most of our menu items are created by other chefs, the standards are EXTREMLEY HIGH and that shows through in our enormous following
I went with the Nicoise salad. It was delicious and the perfect size! I love Nicoise salads because they are packed with all sorts of ingredients you wouldn’t normally expect on a salad. This salad was packed with fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, green beans, hardboiled egg, mesclun greens and fresh ahi tuna (medium rare) The dressing was a light olive oil vinegrette as well as a more creamy herb dressing. I mixed both of the dressings on the salad and it was amazing! I finished off my bowl, no problem.
On Friday, I woke up and hit the gym for a shoulder workout. I split up my weights and cardio because later I went with my friend to her gym downtown for my cardio.
I am really working on trying to build the size of my shoulders right now, so I am training them alone (with core mixed in) but no other upper body muscle group. I am trying all sorts of new angles, arms positions, reps and sets to really shock the shoulders at each of my workouts
My Shoulder/Core Workout
Set 1
Heavy seated DB Shoulder press: 3×10
Incline front raise: 3×15 reps (higher rep, and last set was burn out–until failure)
Mtn climbers: 3×15 each side
Bicyle crunches:15 each side
Set 2
Leaning side lateral raises: 3×15 reps
Standing front and back raises: 3×15 reps (start with DB at thighs, raise into a front raise then bring them back, push out and back down to the thighs–thats 1 rep)
Floor jacks: 20 reps
full crunches: feet stay elevated the entire time: 20 reps
Set 3:
Isometric plate hold overhead: 3x45lb plate 1 min or until failure
Walk out, push up: 3×8 reps
Standing full DB circles: 3×20 reps
Russian Twists on bench: 3×15 each side (holding 6lb med ball)
DONE
Remember, people…lift those weights for fat loss!
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Later in the afternoon, while my friend and I were perusing the city downtown, we stopped at Max Brenner which is located on Boylston street in Boston. It was a gorgeous day so we grabbed a table outside. Max Brenner, for those of you who don’t know is a restaurant chain that specializes in all things chocolate. I mean really really high quality, amazing chocolate. The smell as soon as you walk into the restaurant is just as intoxicating as you can imagine. The restaurant serves everything from chocolate liquors to waffles, fondues, cheesecakes, souffles, chocolate pizza and good ole hot chocolate. What I didn’t realize was that there is an entire food menu as well! It was midday and I was not too hungry for a whole meal, so I went with the hummus which was served with homemade spicy dusted pita wedges and roasted red peppers
It was so delicious! The pita chips were a bit greasy for my liking, but everything was just so tasty. The roasted red peppers were served with slices of garlic and worked perfectly with the creamy hummu
My friend the Classic Warm Apple Tart apple tart served warm and topped with a scoop of toffee ice cream and caramel drizzle. I loved how the caramel was served in a small beaker!
The tart was filled with chunks of real apple, warm, cinnamony and obviously was doused in fresh chocolate as well! Oh what a meal. I will be back to Max Brenner. I loved the atmosphere. It felt very “LA” There were fake palm trees and big, brown umbrellas lining the tables. It was a fabulous overall experience.
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I spent Friday night and Saturday in Cape Cod. With only a few weeks of summer left (gasp) I have to take advantage of the beach when I can! Iced coffee in hand…it was the perfect beach day, thats for sure.
I made a friend. He kept coming back, so I eventually allowed him to be featured on OneFitFoodie.
On the food front, things are going well! About to start tighenting up soon because my show is 6 weeks away! I enjoyed a breakfast Sunday morning of eggwhites, topped with fresh berries
Cinnamony oatmeal.
I also enjoyed this delicious snack this weekend which was sweet potato with coconut oil. The sweet potato was hot out of the microwave so the coconut oil melted immediately. This was a great combination! I dusted some cinnamon and unsweetened cocoa powder on top as well.
And of course my all time favorite combination of Greek Yogurt, quinoa, cinnamon and nut butter! Fat burning food staples? Oh check them out to discover all sorts of great ideas for quick snacks like this one!
I had more iced coffee…because well, I can’t live without it. Check out my tips on how to Make your own ice coffee to save some $$!!
Time to get some cardio in!!
If you are looking to save some time in the gym this week, try out this fat blast workout that combines cardio AND weight training to really rev that metabolism!
*Warm up 5-10 minutes on a machine of your choice
FAT BLAST WORKOUT
Set 1-Repeat 3x through
15 push ups
Mountain climbers: 15 each side
DB back row: 15 reps
High knees: 20 seconds
*Rest 30 seconds
Set 2-Repeat 3x throughFull DB squats with bicep curl and shoulder press: 12 reps
Bench jumps: 10-15 reps
Bench Hop overs: 10 each side
Front raise/ Lateral raise combo: 12 reps (12 front, 12 lateral)
*Rest 30 seconds
Set 3–Repeat 3x through
Renegade Row: 12 each side
Low Plank hold: 1 min
Burpees: 12 reps
Tricep dips: till failure
**End with 1 mile on the treadmill If you still have the energy!!!