Tamara, Author at The Workout Mama

10 Minute Hill Workout

May 8, 2019 by Tamara Leave a Comment

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous this week in Arizona. Cool breezy mornings with even a few sprinkles is generally unheard of this time in May. The afternoons have been equally fantastic with sunshine and blue skies! I am not sure how long it is going to last but the summer heat is right around the corner so I will enjoy this weather as long as possible.

I have been spending my mornings enjoying a walk outside and today I decided to add a few hill sprints into the mix. Treatments are just wrapping up on my legs for varicose veins and I decided to test out how they are feeling now. Before treatment I could barley run or even stand for long periods of time. My legs felt so heavy and they would ache. Today running was possible and my legs didn’t feel like they weighed 100 pounds each. Yay!

Find an outdoor hill with a moderate incline. Do as many rounds as possible of this workout for 10 minutes:

15-20 second uphill sprint
recovery walk/jog downhill
10 walking lunges
10 squats

Go as fast as you can on the 15-20 second uphill sprint. Walk or jog to the bottom of the hill, perform 10 walking lunges, and 10 squats and repeat it all for 10 minutes. If you are looking to add a cardio blast at the end of a workout this would also make a great finisher.

I did this 10 minute workout in addition to my walk this morning and it was enough for me. If you happen to try this workout let me know how it went. I love hearing your feedback :).

Filed Under: Workouts Tagged With: AMRAP, Finisher, Hill, Running, Varicose Veins

What’s In My Grocery Cart

May 3, 2019 by Tamara Leave a Comment

I am sharing my current five favorite items that are in my grocery cart. We usually go to the grocery 1-2 times a week. And when I say go to the grocery store I mean I order our groceries online at home in my pajamas after the kids go to bed and then pick them up the next day never having to leave my car. It is amazing and saves so me time and money because I am not wandering up and down the aisles looking at all the new products and adding things that weren’t on my list into my cart.

Hope you enjoy seeing a few items that make it into our grocery cart each week!

Larabars

We have been eating these for years and I recently discovered this new to me flavor. And it so so tasty. We usually buy our LARABARS at Costco in bulk because it is so much cheaper but when I see a flavor I have yet to try at the grocery store I buy a few bars and the Mint Chip Brownie did not disappoint. Our grocery store only sells individual bars of this flavor but Amazon sells them in 16 count cases. LARABARS have very few ingredients and are made from real whole foods, they are also kosher, dairy-free, gluten-free, and vegan. Our kids love them too!

Tessemae’s Green Goddess Dressing

This Green Goddess Dressing is so good! I could easily go through a bottle in a week. It is good for salads and marinading chicken or veggies. It is gluten and dairy free.

Baby Romaine Lettuce

I find it is easier and faster for me to make a salad if I have lettuce readily available and already washed. I could wash it myself but at this point in time I am willing to pay for the added convenience. These little boxes only last us about two days so we usually have 2-3 in our fridge at a time.

Frozen Broccoli

While the bag says you can steam it, I enjoy roasting these in the oven so much better. I will take the frozen veggies out of the bag, run them under warm water to start to defrost them, cover with a light coating of avocado oil and salt and pepper, and pop them in the oven. 25-30 minutes at 425 degrees.

Frozen Cauliflower

Just like the broccoli I prefer roasting these in the oven and will often combine the broccoli and cauliflower together. Again I know I could buy cauliflower and broccoli fresh in the produce section but I am willing to spend the extra to ensure that my food doesn’t go to waste and is one step closer to being finished by having all the washing and chopping done for me.

I would love to know of any item that is always in your grocery cart or a product you think I would love. Share below! I love learning about new to me items!

Filed Under: Nutrition Tagged With: Grocery Cart, LARABARS, Tessemae's Green Goddess Dressing

April 2019 Fitness/Wellness Update

May 1, 2019 by Tamara Leave a Comment

Welcome back to another fitness/wellness update! This last month I tried out Intermittent Fasting, walked for 30 minutes each day, and also continued to track my macro’s.

In mid march I actually took my measurements because I was curious to see any results with what I was going to be doing in April. I am happy to report that I lost a total of 5 inches and I am down another 5 pounds. Yay! It is crazy to see how much has changed in a relatively short amount of time. Click HERE to see my first pictures from February.

Eating

For the last several weeks I have been tracking my macros in MyFitnessPal. While I normally don’t track my macros I really wanted to focus more on what I was eating. What I discovered is that I was consistently not getting enough calories + not eating enough carbohydrates.

My macro breakdown looks like this: 50% carbohydrate, 30% fat, and 20% protein protocol. I have also been intermittent fasting, something I NEVER thought I would do. As far as calorie/macro consumption goes I am still consuming the same amount of food I should be eating in a 24 hour period of time. The only difference is I am shortening the window of time I am eating. In April this looked liked me starting to eat at 11am or 12pm and being done eating by 8pm.

I am not sure I will continue to do this but might incorporate intermittent fasting into the days I am not lifting moving forward. Because I am doing all my workouts in the morning before I have eaten it would be better for me to eat within 1-2 hours after my workout. So on days I am strength training I am planning to eat within an hour of my workout unlike in April when I didn’t eat anything until lunch time. I know this will be better for my body.

Workouts

My workouts have been super consistent lately. In April I exercised 6 days a week for around 30-40 minutes and focused on separate muscle groups as opposed to doing a total body workout. For May my plan is to switch to total body workouts to change things up.

I am naturally an early raiser and wake up around 5am to get my workout done. I set any equipment I will need out the night before so I can roll out of bed and get right to it.

Wellness

In April I started my varicose vein treatments again. I actually don’t mind the treatments. I have to walk everyday for 30 minutes which has been a nice way for me to get outdoors. Aside from the bruising my legs are already starting to feel better! My legs had been swelling, achey, and super heavy. I had been putting off this round of treatment since after my third was born over two years ago. So it was definitely time.

After treatment, taped up and stocking on.

Josh and I even made it back to the chiropractor in April. We went once a week for years and got out of the routine of going. It had been a long while since our last visit and I felt so great after an hour massage and adjustment. I felt like I could breathe more deeply and grew an extra inch taller! Adjustments alone are great but adjustments + massage are so much better!

And that is a quick update on how I am doing! This week I decided to take a week off from my early morning workouts and give myself extra time to sleep. I am still walking daily and will continue to do that into May. Hope you are all having a great day and thanks for stopping by the blog to read :),

xo, Tamara

Filed Under: Fitness Tagged With: 2019 Fitness/Wellness Update, Intermittent Fasting, Varicose Veins