Boxing

Whew! So today I did my first ever boxing class! I went with one of the bartenders I work with at my restaurant job. "She does this class 5-6 times a week," I thought, "so this will be no big deal." 

Boy, was I wrong! 

The gym is Peter Welch's in Southie which is less than 2 miles from my house. So, of course, I ran there. Maybe next time I'll walk there haha. It was an intense hour of jumping jacks, burpees, mountain climbers, sit ups, planks, push ups, punching the bag with boxing gloves on, punching the air with boxing gloves on, jumping rope, high knees, stretches. Punching, punching, punching until you feel like you might pass out and your arms might fall off simultaneously.

I sweat and sweat and sweated some more out of places I didn't know I could sweat from. It was everywhere. Drenched my hair, my back, my legs. Dripped into my eyes! Ahh! A whole new meaning to "feel the burn." 

But I'm glad I did it! Afterward, we got our nails done at a salon in Southie. Because a fresh manicure does some sore muscles good! =P

Despite how sore and tired I am and how much that class kicked my ass, I want more! I'm going back on Saturday. 

As I type this I can already feel how sore my triceps, back, and quads will be tomorrow! But I'm thankful for it. I haven't been sore in a while. Even after running 11 miles on Monday and again on Tuesday I wasn't sore. 

I haven't had a chance yet to read some of the books I bought on clean eating. I have one on my Kindle app on my iPad and two more are coming in the mail today. I hope to share some of that knowledge with you all through this blog.

But so far I've been eating right the best way I know how to. I went grocery shopping earlier this week. That's something I really take my time with. I take the time to read labels and make sure my purchase will serve my body some good in the long run. I try to shop at odd hours so the grocery store isn't jam packed. Ugh, there's nothing worse in Boston than going to Market Basket on Saturday morning. Or Shaw's, or Stop & Shop. It's all the same. 

Just chaos and anxiety-ridden customer's trying to get in and get out as they slam their carts into other people. And why--I ask you--the fuck do they bring their children? It's bad enough having all of these rude adults running around trying to get their groceries for the week rather than having children running around like chickens with their heads cut off on top of it. 

I miss Wegman's. I'm originally from Upstate New York. Best grocery store ever, in my book. 

So anyway, I'll shop at 10pm on any week night. Where was I? Oh yeah, back to eating.

I've been trying to come up with 3 to 5 base meals I can make myself on a weekly basis which are both semi-easy to prepare and ones that I won't get tired of eating constantly. Yesterday, after my long run, I made kale and butternut squash quesadillas. So delicious!

I chop and sautee the butternut squash with a small amount of extra virgin olive oil for about 10-15 minutes. Then I'll sautee the kale on its own just until the leaves fold and turn a nice dark green. 
Throw a vegan tortilla in a frying pan for 5 minutes with a tiny amount of extra virgin olive oil. I put maybe a few pinches of cheese in there. Dairy really messes with my IBS but what's a quesadilla without the queso. Then I'll toss in the kale and the butternut squash and a small layer of cheese again. Cook it for another 3-5 minutes and voila! I always add half an avocado to the quesadilla once I'm done. There's nothing like avocado. I always hear Thug Kitchen's (what I imagine his voice to sound like) voice in my head saying NATURE'S BUTTER, BITCH! as I lather my quesadilla with avocado. 

That fills me up for the night. If I feel hungry enough to snack I'll have some pistachios and some frozen fruit. I love frozen raspberries and frozen blackberries. I've been using my YoNana machine to make home-made frozen fruit yogurt-esque type goodness for dessert. 

I've slowly been trying to eliminate dairy from my diet. I know that probably won't happen anytime soon, but I'm making smarter choices about it. If I have cereal, which I do sometimes. I'll eat Kashi Heart to Heart Oats and Blueberry Clusters (Mmm mmm mmm) with almond milk. Always almond milk. Not a huge fan of soy. A nutrition coach once told me that soy is actually bad for you in the long-run. But then again a lot of shit is bad for you. And most everything causes cancer. Or has some vague correlation to cancer. Anyway, enough cynicism.

After kick boxing today I made a banging salad. I use lemon juice for dressing. Chop up some lettuce, strawberries, an apple, throw in a small amount of goat cheese, and a fuck ton of dried goji berries, dried cranberries, and almonds. I'm set for the afternoon! 

For dinner I'll probably reheat the leftover butternut squash and make that quesadilla again. The avocado in the fridge is moaning my name. That's right, moaning.

So that's two meals. I also make a breakfast wrap before long runs. Vegan tortilla, small amount of peanut butter, gluten free granola with dried raspberries, chopped up strawberries and bananas. And Boom! You have just made yourself a banging breakfast! Now that's three meals! 

I typically post pictures of all of this on my Instagram page. You can check it out, my username is: @chimchiminy


So that's all for now. I'm gonna shower now because I smell of used boxing gloves, gym, and sweat.

Take care of yourselves! xoxo