Heyo!!! How are you guys?! I hope you week is going well. Mine is trucking along, lots of work and lots of exciting stuff happening. I actually interviewed last week for a guidance position for the fall that I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want. It is pretty much my dream job and I am on pins waiting to hear back. Please send me good vibes.

Yesterday morning I work up and thought, “Waffles, waffles, waffles!!!”. So that is exactly what I had. The issue is that my Kashi blueberry waffles got about one step beyond mangled in my freezer. I have a bottom freezer and I slammed that thing shut and thought, “I wonder why that was so hard?!” Um…girlie, because your waffles were in the way! When I took the box out it looked like an accordion. The waffles were pretty much rolled into a ball. There was no way I would get them in the toaster. So I heated up the over to about 450 degrees and I heated them for 5 minutes or so while drooling over watching an interview with Ryan Lochte. They came out perfect, sort of like the oven just ironed them. Or put them through the permanent press setting in the dryer, which is my version of ironing. I blame Adam for that. He taught me that the permanent press setting in our dryer works almost as well as the iron. I am lazy, so “almost as well” is good enough for me.

Feast your eyes (and get ready for your stomach to rumble). Whole wheat blueberry waffles, natural maple syrup, fresh picked blueberries (picked my this writer), crushed walnuts with coffee and organic half and half.

Lunch was eaten on the campus of a local community college. We took the students I work with on a college visit. I packed the perfect portable lunch. Turkey and greek olive hummus sandwich topped with spinach on sprouted whole wheat bread. On the side I had cherries, which are amazing this time of year, and some kale chips.

I typically eat homemade kale chips but the ones I had yesterday were not homemade (maybe that is why they tasted really awesome?).

The folks at Rhythm Superfoods sent me these kale chips to review. I got two difference flavors and decided to go with the Mango Habanero first. These were really awesome the combination of the spicy habanero and the cool mango was pretty great. They are on the spicy side, which I love. If you don’t like spicy foods, I am guessing you will not be a fan. If you do, these are so good. They had a much better crunch than my homemade ones. They actually reminded me of “chips”. They did get a little crushed probably because they were mailed to my house then sat in the bottom of my hugely disorganized bag all afternoon. I had an afternoon snack of a nectarine and a reduced fat string cheese.

After work I met the handsome Mr. Food, Fitness, Fashion at the gym to take him through his first Tabata workout. Since I had to give my Crossfit for the past few months because it just isn’t in my budget. I have been trying to take my favorite Crossfit workouts and elements to the less expensive gym I have been working out at. While watching the Olympics and drinking red wine on Sunday night with Kristen, she mentioned that she downloaded a Tabata Timer on her iPhone. Tabata workouts are one of my favorites, but I was always worried about doing them on my own because of the timing. I downloaded the FREE app and was so excited to use it I got to planning a Tabata workout immediately.

If you are unfamiliar with the Tabata method. Here is some brief (I’ll try to be brief at least) info.

Tabata was created in the 70′s by Dr. Izumi Tabata, of Japan. It is a high intensity interval training technique that causes a steady increase in heart rate resulting in an inceased metabolic rate, fat breakdown and caloric usage. Translation: it is fast, hard and torches calories! The plus side is (aside from being fast and burning a shitload of calories of course!) is that it is easy to follow and you can change up the exercises get really creative with it.

Okay so here is how you do it! Pick eight exercises. Each exercise is performed at MAXIMAL intensity for 20 seconds (as fast and you can, as many reps as you can), followed by a 10 second rest. Each exercise is done for 8 rounds and then you move on to the next. This is a total of 32 minutes and it produces BUCKETS of sweat! Tabata is a huge challenge. If you are trying it out for the first time, I recommend not doing 8 exercises. Try 3 or 4 Tabata rounds to ease yourself into it.

The time was awesome and totally came in handy. It beeps at you to get moving, stop, and then get moving again. It also keeps track of the number of sets you did so you don’t have to think about it, you just have to work.

When you finish one round it even celebrates for you!

YAY!!!! Adam and I did these 8 exercises.

Some fool ::pointing to Adam:: decided to run 3 miles BEFORE the Tabata. He didn’t believe me when I said it was super hardcore. By the time we got to pull-ups I think he was throughly ready to kill me for making him do this workout with me. Sorry, babe! We were both sweat factories the whole workout and during mountain climbers I was thinking, “Why do I do this to myself!” Kicking your own ass at the gym? There’s an App for that!!!! We did feel amazing after though. I really love Tabatas because it is structured, fast, tough and you always feel like a superhero after! I recommend getting this free app if you love Tabata or are looking for something new to try.

After the gym we showered and headed over to my sister-in-law’s house for a family cookout. I hadn’t seen my in-laws in about a month since I have been so busy. It was great to catch up and see all the kiddos! I had a small piece of grilled chicken, potato salad, and two different pasta salads. I was so hungry after that workout!

When we got home I got in bed and watched more of the Olympics before drifting off to dream land. I am seriously obsessed with these Olympic games!

What new apps have you found that you love? 

Tags: Tabata, Tabata Timer App, Tabata workout sample