Thank you all SO much for the support and comments on going after my dreams of personal training certification! Knowing that I have fabulous friends like yourselves behind me will make the process of learning new things and believing I can do this much easier. I’m glad I decided to finally bite the bullet and go for it!

Speaking of biting the bullet, I bit the bullet one more way recently. Last night I took a few hours (good gracious it took longer than expected) to set up a FFF T-Shirt Shop for my lovely friends!

I almost didn’t make the shop because I didn’t want it to come across as some marketing ploy to make money off of you. I’m not into that. Good thing I would be lucky to make enough money off of this to buy Makenzie a new puzzle…so it works with my values. Honoring your requests also works with my values, so here we are.

When I made shirts for myself about a month ago, many of you showed interest and asked how to get some for yourselves. I kept getting requests, so I finally obliged. I created this shop solely in case you wanted to rock a shirt sporting your love of green smoothies, fitness, and a positive body attitude. I added the designs I originally purchased and a few new fun ones, that I’m kind of jealous of and wish I could have for my own. So, check out the Faith Fitness Fun Shop!

Moving on. I was in an incredibly good mood today. I simply woke up on the right side of the bed ready to tackle the day.  And ready to tackle another challenging workout. I would apologize for the plethora of workouts I’ve been sharing this week, but I won’t. They all work so well that it would be selfish of me to keep them to myself.

I headed to the gym this morning for another short, easy two miler. I simply pop in my headphones (tangle free), hop on the treadmill, push the 6mph button, and go for 20 minutes. I like not having to think about it and just go. Anything more than 20 minutes and I would have to mess around with the treadmill to keep the boredom from taking over.

I followed up the run part of my workout with another group of mini-circuits. They worked so effectively on Tuesday for a full-body workout that I concocted another group of exercises to entertain myself with today. Pushing my body is entertaining, no? 😉

Thirty minutes later = a sweaty mess high on endorphins! To round out my hour, I hopped on the elliptical for 20 easy minutes of cardio. Honestly, I just wanted to read some of my SELF magazine.

I have quite a few magazine subscriptions because I scored such a good deal on subscription bundles during the holidays. I love reading my magazines, but only really care to read them while doing low-key cardio. I don’t know why, but I almost crave magazine reading with light cardio. Even though I have 6 subscriptions (which I scored for less than $20 total!), I still could read more. Too bad it’s so hard to run and read. That could certainly help my relationship with the treadmill.

All together, I spent a little over an hour getting my fitness on. I kind of dropped the ball with that though. I had forgotten a play date at the library to get to and still needed to eat a real breakfast! That meant rushing home, shoveling food, and rushing back out for Makenzie to have some fun time and pick up new library books.

I hate rushing my meals because it never satisfies me as much. No surprise I ended up hungry way earlier than normal. I don’t know how I used to hoover all my snacks in under 3 minutes and my lunch in under 10 minutes every day when teaching. No wonder binging was such an issue for me then! I likely never felt satisfied because I could barely remember eating! Moral of the story = take time for your food. Those little scraps deserve some TLC (tender loving care chewing).

• How quickly do you tend to eat your meals?
• What do you enjoy reading and when? Mags w/ cardio? Books in bed? If any answer goes, a book on the beach for me. Too bad that’s not reality!

I have a beast of a workout to share with you all this morning. Hold up. Let me clarify. This workout will not make you look like a beast. It will make you feel stronger than a beast. It will give you a hunger beast (aka that super hunger that sets in after hard training). A strong body to kick butt on my fitness endeavors? Me likey. A strong appetite reflecting a fired metabolism? Me likey that too.

I have only so much time to milk all I can out of my workouts. I like to go big or go home. Balls to the wall. Squeeze out every last drop. Okay, you get the picture.

I began my workout yesterday with my short, steady 2 mile run from my training plan. That run where I sorely missed my revamped workout playlist? Yea, that one. While completing my run, I dreamed up a circuit workout with a new mix of moves I wanted to try. I hopped off after my 20 minutes and got my self all set up in the weights area to bust out the little routine I came up with on my run.

My subconscious apparently had something against me. It had it out for me when dreaming up this circuit. Clearly…

• Speed Skaters – 20 reps per leg
• Kettlebell Swings – 15 reps total with 20 # kettlebell
• Wall Squat with Resistance Band Chest Presses – I grabbed a heavy resistance band and looped it around these wood columns we have in our gym. I did 45 seconds of a wall squat up against the column while simultaneously doing chest presses with the band.
• Planks with Spidermans – I held a straight arm plank for 15 seconds, then completed 10 “spidermans” (pull knee out and up to the chest) on my left side. I held a plank again for 15 seconds and did the final 10 spidermans on my right side.
• Toe Taps on the Step – A drill where I shuffle my feet quickly, tapping my toes up on a step. 45 seconds.
• Kettlebell Cleans – 10 reps per side with 20 # kettlebell
• Wide Stance Squat with Upright Row – 12 reps with 10 # dumbells

The combination of complex moves that work the entire body, plyometric style drills, and new-to-me equipment (kettlebells!) gave me a much tougher workout than I expected. I went through the circuit three times…and still finished in around 20 minutes! Wham, bam, thank – you – ma’am subconscious!

I felt the effects of this workout later in the day when I craved a hearty and filling dinner. I wanted my favorite enchiladas!

Kill the Hunger Beast Enchiladas

• 6 oz lean ground beef (or chicken or turkey)
• 1/2 can refried beans
• 1 cup corn kernels
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1/2 cup grated carrot
• 1 can green enchilada sauce
• 1 can 98% fat-free cream of chicken/mushroom soup
• 1 small can diced green chilies
• 12 corn tortillas
• 1 cup shredded cheese of choice

Preheat oven to 350. Cook your ground beef/chicken/turkey. In a large bowl, mix the filling ingredients (meat through grated carrot). In a separate mixing bowl, stir the enchilada sauce, soup, and diced chilies to create the sauce. Pour 1/3 of the sauce into the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.

Place approximately two large spoonfuls of filling mixture into center of corn tortilla. Roll and place seam-side down in the baking dish on top of the sauce. Repeat until you fill all your tortillas. Pour the remaining sauce over the enchiladas. Sprinkle shredded cheese evenly over the top. Bake for 20 minutes, until cheese begins to bubble.

You can easily make this recipe without the beef and simply use the full can of refried beans. We use the beef on occasion for added texture. You can also use your personal favorite enchilada sauce. I do the soup mix in mine to create a thicker sauce because I’m a freak about thinner sauces making my enchiladas too soggy. Overall, lots of ways to mix this up and I’m sure they will all taste good. Unless you add some chocolate covered grasshoppers or something crazy like that. But I trust you’re smarter than that.

• Do you like enchiladas? Green or red sauce? What fillings?
• Of Possible Interest: Check out my interview as the “Fit Blogger We Love” over on the Fitness Magazine site this week!