Snoskred Health

parent

Around Here

4 Comments Posted on July 25, 2016July 23, 2016 by Snoskred

It was Saturday morning, and I was sitting in my pyjamas drinking the morning coffee and doing a bit of reading. The Other Half was headed out to the Man Cave, and he said “Shall I let the chooks out?” I said, sure, not even thinking that there were strong wind warnings, because the caffeine had not kicked in yet.

Maybe 20 minutes later, while I was playing Cascade on my phone, I noticed an incoming call from The Other Half on his mobile. Before I could even think what the heck, I answered it. “I need your help out here” he said, out of breath. It sounded like he was fighting spiders, or snakes, or some kind of bad thing was happening, then he was babbling on about the padlock. What padlock, I was thinking? “I don’t understand what is going on” said I.

“Rosie has escaped the yard, she flew over the fence and I am trying to catch her, and if you open the side gate I might be able to shoo her in there, but at the moment I am not even sure where she has gone”.

So I raced to the bedroom to throw clothes on, then ran to the backdoor and put on my new gumboots, then ran to the back gate and tried to open the padlock. No go. It had rusted over. I yelled over the fence that I would swap with the other half because I could not open it, and ran around the side of the house. By the time I got out the front I heard this tremendous squawking and then I saw The Other Half emerge from the bushes, Rosie firmly grasped between his two hands.

He was covered in blackberry thorn scratches. She appeared to be fine, other than being very upset about being caught! She is a small chook, and when she gets separated from the other girls she will run like a bat out of hell to catch up with them, and if that does not seem to be fast enough, she will fly. On this morning, being quite windy, she got a little more lift than she expected and sailed over the fence as a surprise to herself.

It will be a few days before we recover enough from this incident to let them out again. I might have to head out down the side lane with the clippers and remove some of those blackberry bushes for everyone’s safety. One night recently, we heard someone using a chainsaw in the dark, the next day I found someone had been cutting up trees for firewood down there. Not a smart move, methinks!

What else have we been up to here, besides chasing chooks?

Watching – The X Files – we are up to season 8 finally! Plus, Mr Robot is back and it has been amazing thus far. I’m also enjoying season 3 of Murder In The First and The Deadliest Catch.

Freezing – bananas, strawberries, and pineapple for protein smoothies. Namely this Lava Flow recipe with protein added. I am going to try this carrot cake one next..

Ordering – protein in bulk from bulk nutrients, and k/d cat kibble from My Pet Warehouse.

Building – New IKEA furniture – a story for another post. :)

Cleaning – the house like a crazy person as our vet did a home visit for Grumpy. Guess who spent two hours cleaning the bathroom and toilet in case the vet needed to use them, which of course she did not? They are super spotless now though, which is awesome. And that two hours does not include the four or so hours I spent deep cleaning the kitchen/lounge the day before, or the hours we spent vacuuming and mopping the floors the day before that.

Considering – We’ve realised that Grumpy gets very stressed out having to go to the vet, and that was actually making her eye ulcers worse than better. Any progress we would make was wiped out the following visit because she got stressed about the previous visit. On this home visit, we were very glad to find no eye ulcers in the eye, however we are talking with the vet about corrective surgery for her eyelid as it keeps turning inwards.

Planning – Our Gold Coast – Tamworth – Bathurst trip with Sephyroth, this coming October. In the above photo the pink arrows point to the Peninsula Apartments, where we will be staying, and the blue arrows point to the Q1 which they were building on our trip up there in 2003.

Listening – I made two MP3 CDs for my nephew recently, for his new car. The first two burned wrong for his car, something about folders and playlists, but they work ok in mine, and so I have been greatly enjoying them. It is all 80’s music, all kinds of stuff from I’m Too Sexy by Right Said Fred to Gold by Spandau Ballet. We burned them correctly on the second try and loaded them into his car as a surprise. He sent me an SMS after he drove home in the car to say how awesome the first CD was, and he was right!

Wondering – just who the heck this person is that I seem to have become. I went to Aqua Aerobics last week but the warm indoor pool was closed. My options were – go home or get in the outdoor pool and do some aqua jogging and swimming in there. It was 17C (62.6F) outside, and the pool is heated to 25.2C (77.36) and normally there would be NO WAY IN HELL I would get in an outdoor pool at these low for Australia temperatures, but I was determined to do my exercise, so I GOT IN.

Playing – Cascade and Tiny Tower Vegas on my phone. I do not play a lot of games these days but I LOVE Cascade, it is a bit more difficult than your average gem matching game

I have been playing Tiny Tower Vegas for probably 6 months now, just when I’m going to bed or waking up in the morning. I have 68 levels most at level 7 and 8 – I believe the game runs out of levels just over 100. I also have 1212 chips – and I did not cheat! I just ran out of time to play the poker games and the chips have been stacking up as a surprise to myself.

Chickens, country life, exercise

Goal Met, Part 1

4 Comments Posted on June 1, 2016May 31, 2016 by Snoskred

You might recall me telling you what my goal was for 2016 back at the start of the year. It was pretty simple –

Eat less, move more.

I had also set myself a personal weight loss goal of losing 15kg by June. I achieved my goal on the 27th of May, yay!

Eat Less

I limit myself to 1200-1400 calories a day. Since meeting with the dietitian, the calories I am eating are better than they have ever been. I’m on a high protein diet. I’ve switched out white foods as much as possible – aka I rarely eat bread, pasta or rice, potatoes have been switched for the lower GI sweet potatoes.

I’ve begun to see food as fuel for my body and I am much less likely to eat poor fuel these days. I prefer my protein shake to a hamburger. I gotta tell you, I love that protein shake. I would say irrationally love it, but my love for it is NOT irrational, it is quite sane, because that is great fuel for my body.

What does eating less look like? Don’t worry, I still get my dark chocolate treats in there.. ;) for those wanting to know, here’s a recent day.

You’ll note breakfast is a weird amount of 32 grams – I do actually weigh it out. My stomach is not a morning stomach. It really does not like a lot of breakfast. This particular cereal is quite fluffy and my eyes say whoa, that is enough! When I eat the Weetbix Protein Bites for breakfast, I do get a full serving of 40g. I switch back and forth between these two cereals.

The protein shake is very filling. I used to eat a lunch which was 129 calories but I can no longer fit it in most days, because I have mostly moved my exercise to mornings and I have my protein shake just after exercise. It keeps me full until dinner time.

This particular dinner I like to call savoury beef, it is delicious. If I’m too full after dinner, I might skip the chocolate or the other snacks that day.

The rice cakes mentioned above are amazing and have stopped my craving for potato chips entirely. Oranges are in season at the moment so I am eating one a day and enjoying them, sometimes I might switch that out for an apple and in summer it was mangoes all the time, with some greek yoghurt.

The only thing I don’t log is cooking oil – I don’t use much – and spices – I use plenty but the calorie amount is negligible, and I log my two coffees as one coffee in the morning, just to save some time.

Move More

As you saw here on the blog with my recent 5 week challenge posts, I’ve got move more down to a bit of an art at this time. For 5 weeks, I either walked 5km or burned at least 500 calories each day.

The Next Goal

I would like to lose a further 10kg by the start of October. If I manage it, I will reward myself with fake skydiving! ;)

I also want to add in more yoga and pilates before and after treadmill workouts. I did a pilates class which broke me for a week, so I want to build up slowly before trying another class.

2016 Goal, health

Healthy Chicken Strips

9 Comments Posted on May 25, 2016May 23, 2016 by Snoskred

Traditional crumbed chicken is something my grandmother taught me to cook when I was growing up. It was one of the very first dishes she taught me. It involves love, time, and a lot of effort, plus plenty of eggs and butter. I can never make it without thinking of her.

Love, time, and a lot of effort are not always something I have on hand. So when I discovered Healthy Chicken Nuggets at Skinnytaste, I thought I would give them a try. They turned out awesomely and The Other Half was a big fan.

Me personally, I wanted a strip rather than a nugget, because I was the one crumbing them. And he didn’t mind what format they arrived in, as long as they got in his belly. I now make a big batch of these on Sundays, and he takes some for lunch each weekday.

I have tweaked the original recipe somewhat. Here is how I make them, step by step with pics. This is not a recipe where I use exact amounts, myself. You will get messy making this!

You’ll need –

Chicken to crumb. I use breast chicken cut into strips.
If we are eating it for one meal I will use 250g of chicken for each person.
Extra virgin olive oil to lightly coat the chicken.
Baking trays lined with baking paper to place your crumbed chicken onto.

For the crumbs –

Breadcrumbs of your choice.
Parmesan cheese.
Parsley.
Black pepper.
Any other herbs you like to add.

Mix these items together on a large plate. Don’t use too much cheese. When you’ve made it a few times, you’ll know how much is best.

Set the oven to 200C and get it warming, while you do the crumbing.

Place the chicken into a bowl with some olive oil, and then smoosh it around until all the chicken is lightly coated. Take the chicken out of the bowl and lay it on a plate so any excess oil can drain off.

Add the oiled chicken to your crumbing plate. Turn the chicken over, pushing it down into the crumbs to coat it. Do this to each side of the chicken until all sides are covered.

Lay the crumbed chicken on your baking tray. Once the tray is full of chicken, place in the oven for 15 minutes, then take the tray out and flip them over once. Return to the oven for a further 15-20 minutes. If you like them crispy on the outside, do 20 minutes each side.

These are great to have in the fridge for a snack, they can be eaten hot out of the oven or cold out of the fridge. I recommend making a double batch each time and saving the other half for lunches. ;) Or making a huge batch like I do each Sunday, for weekday work lunches for The Other Half.

health, recipes, Snoskred Faves

Bushwalk Day

8 Comments Posted on May 23, 2016May 11, 2016 by Snoskred

When the weather started to go cloudy and cooler, we started our bushwalking season. These kangaroos above were in the carpark when we arrived.

The Banksias were out, and they were absolutely gorgeous.

We crossed a river and there was a cute wooden bridge where people could sit and watch the water go by.

I have no idea what these native flowers are called but they are so beautiful. Does anyone know?

We ended up at Bristol Beach – it was super windy so no beach walk, we headed back into the bush instead.

Our bushwalk track on the map. You park at the carpark at Green Patch and follow the signs for Telegraph Creek nature trail. We added the loop to Bristol Beach.

exercise, Jervis Bay

The Stairs Challenge.

3 Comments Posted on May 18, 2016May 11, 2016 by Snoskred

I was challenged by The Other Half to include some stairs at the start of our Huskisson walks. These are not your average stairs. They are probably 2-3 floors high, very steep, and in some cases a bit overgrown.

I can now do all 7 sets of steps without having to stop at all. It is a great way to kick off a workout.

exercise

The Five Week Challenge – Week 5

3 Comments Posted on May 18, 2016May 17, 2016 by Snoskred

The final week of the challenge, finally!

Awesomes over the past 5 weeks –

– smashing my goals – sometimes by double
– seeing the dietitian
– seeing the exercise physiologist
– getting lunches back on track
– eating breakfast every day
– trying protein powder for the first time
– trying peanut butter powder for the first time
– adding in a protein smoothie each day
– getting out and walking a lot
– moving exercise up to between 10-midday VS afternoons
– sleeping way better
– getting a bushwalk in
– getting back on the kayak
– walking 2x 10kms
– many sets of beach stairs run down and back up!
– buying water shoes and taking up aqua jogging
– learning to quiet the voice in my head who says “You can’t”
– kept going when I wanted to stop x many times
– bought proper sweatbands
– eating better fuel

Friday May 6th

I walked 10km, followed by an entire hour in a hot tub. Because I deserved it. :)

Saturday May 7th

A 6.5km walk, not including this little worm trail when we went to a store.

Sunday May 8th

Monday May 9th

Todays run/walk – first 5km running and walking, then a 3km addon of slow walking while I watched the finale of The Good Wife. Which was SHITE, same as the last two seasons have been.

Tuesday May 10th

Some quite nice personal bests for me on todays run/walk. 7.25 for the first km, 39:36 for the 5k. That is the first time below 40 minutes for me. Thanks to the NBN, for pissing me off so much!

Wednesday May 11th

Today’s workout brought to you by Get Lucky by Daft Punk which played twice! It was a bit.. weird. I did a new personal best for the 1k. After that, I struggled somewhat to keep up with the time I set for yesterday. I ended up at 40:22 for the 5k, and then I did a cool down 1.5km walk.

Thursday May 12th

The final workout for the 5 week challenge. 977 calories burned in the pool today.

exercise, Jervis Bay

Kayak Day

4 Comments Posted on May 16, 2016May 11, 2016 by Snoskred

Here are some pics from our recent kayaking day. First up, River, these are my Sharkskin socks. They are specially designed for water sports. Chill proof, sun proof, windproof, neoprene outside, fleece inside. They are the best things ever!

The view out into Jervis Bay. Just out of the shot, a tourist packed dolphin boat about to leave the wharf. We parked up and watched it. :)

Looking down Currumbene Creek towards Huskisson.

Looking back towards Myola.

As we were heading back to the wharf, the sun came out. I was kinda glad it waited because with so little wind, it got pretty warm out there.

Reminder to myself – when you do 10km on the kayak and it has been a while since you got on there, the sides of your feet where they rest on the pedal might puff up like you were stung by a bee or bitten by something. Just for fun, maybe one side will puff up first, and the other side might take a couple of hours to puff up, just to freak you out.

Overall it was an awesome day out. Kinda wish we’d headed out into Jervis Bay, but it can go from glass to whitecaps in a fairly quick time out there.. :) The creek is super protected – this is why all the boats are moored in there.

exercise, kayak

The Five Week Challenge – Week 4

1 Comment Posted on May 11, 2016May 6, 2016 by Snoskred

Friday April 29th –

Why do 8km when you can do 10km?

Saturday April 30th –

Kayaking day today, rain or shine. We did 10km on the kayak!

Sunday May 1st –

With the weather still being decent but cloudy, we decided on a bushwalk today. 5km.

Monday May 2nd –

Another gorgeous blue skies day forced me out of the house and away from the treadmill. 6km today.

Tuesday May 3rd –

7km today.

Wednesday May 4th –

8km today.

Thursday May 5th –

Aqua today. I set a goal of burning 700 calories however I always like to push past, burned 800 calories in total.

46kms travelled this week, 36 walking, 10 kayaking.

exercise

The Five Week Challenge – Week 3

1 Comment Posted on May 4, 2016May 2, 2016 by Snoskred

This week was absolutely huge for me. From Monday forwards, this is the first week I have felt like everything is exactly right – nutrition, exercise levels, and motivation levels. The weather was stunning and most days I woke up to perfect blue skies, which made me get out and walk.

Friday April 22nd –

6km today, running and walking. I’m feeling more comfortable running now.

Saturday April 23rd –

Today was a struggle from the start. Over two and a half hours we waited for my parents, with whom we were meant to be taking a drive. By the time we got back, my routine was so far out of whack.. and I was in a mood. I did end up doing my 5km but it was just a slow walk today.

Sunday April 24th –

Today, we did a chore – chook pen clean out. I also took a pitchfork and a hoe, and broke up all the ground. Fitbit recognised this as exercise. Then I got on the treadmill for my 5km. Then I did the food plan for the next 2 weeks, and then the grocery shop, plus cooked an awesome dinner.

Monday April 25th –

7km today. Quite a miracle considering my entire right side is very sore after yesterdays CHOOK HOE event. The plan has been – along with Sephyroth – to ramp up by .5km each week until we get to 10k. Winter is coming, which means bushwalking, so we may not be doing this particular walk as often in coming weeks.

Tuesday April 26th –

As mentioned yesterday, winter is coming and I might not get to do this walk so much in coming weeks. Today the weather was gorgeous so I decided to go back and do it a second time.

One of my favourite things about the TomTom Cardio Spark is that you can set goals and it buzzes you when you get to 50%, 90%, 100%, plus 110% and above. Yesterday I set the distance goal of 7km, and today I figured, why not do that again?

Wednesday April 27th –

Today the weather was gorgeous so I decided to go back and do the walk a third time, starting at the other end.. But, why stop at 7km? Why not just do 8. Plus all the beach stairs I could find.

Thursday April 28th –

Today the weather was still gorgeous so I decided to go back and do the walk a fourth time, Today my goal was 6km. I ended up doing 8. More walking on water, only 2 lots of beach stairs today.

Total = 41km for the week.

Hard work is so pretty! ;)

exercise, Jervis Bay

The Five Week Challenge – Week 2

4 Comments Posted on April 27, 2016April 25, 2016 by Snoskred

Another fitness week! This is more for my own records and to put all of this together in one place, so you can feel free to just skip past this post.

Friday April 15th –

Todays workout was in two parts and was different to the normal. I did 1k treadmill, 10 mins elliptical, 1k treadmill, 10 mins elliptical, then 1k treadmill. There were also some floor exercises for abs. YAY. Above is part 1.

This is my personal best for a 1km since getting back into exercising. 8:06 – sorry my treadmill quite uncooperative, with the photography! Above you see todays first km..

And here is part 2. 552 calories burned total.

Saturday April 16th –

Todays 6.5km walk brought to you by the Volkswagen Polo, plus Psycho Killer by Talking Heads which was the last song that played in the car before we got out, and thus, played in my head the entire 77 or so minutes.

Plus, I took a couple of pics, for you. Cloudy day, warm-ish, excellent for walking. YAY CLOUDS!

Sunday April 17th –

Todays workout brought to you by The Village People, specifically U can’t stop the music – Queen, specifically Don’t stop me now – plus my chicken Rosie who decided this music meant she should make a run for it into an offlimits area! This was a super tough workout involving circuits between the elliptical and the treadmill.

Monday April 18th –

Todays “rest day” slow walk brought to you by episodes 18 and 19 of The Good Wife which I am hate watching now, and Skye from Tinykittens, I am watching and waiting for her kittens to arrive. I got on again for another 16 minutes later, just to get some extra steps in and watch the last of episode 19.

Tuesday April 19th –

I don’t know why my iPhone hates me. Every time I think I will walk a little slower, it plays yet another tune of awesomeness that makes me speed up or even run. And today it made me have a personal best ever time! 7.45 for the first 1k, and then this great time for the 5k.

Wednesday April 20th –

Todays workout brought to you by umpteen annoying boy children at the pool, plus 5 annoying girls. I set a goal of burning 800 calories aqua jogging, and I very nearly did a u-turn in the carpark when I saw this busload of boy children being lectured by one of the adults. But then I thought, piffle, ain’t gonna let no noisy kids stand in the way of my exercise! :) YAY WINNING. There is two tracks – the above one for the jogging and one to follow for the cool down —

Thursday April 21st –

Todays workout brought to you by new water shoes! Yay 713 calories burned total. I’m showing you a different screen today.

Another highly active week. Weigh in at the end of this week was 83.2.

Week 1 is here.

2016 Goal, exercise, Fitbit