The Better Body Blog Project: Day 19: An Autumn Breakfast

Today it actually started looking like fall outside. Grey skies, drizzling rain, chilly morning temperatures, and the smells and flavors of the season! I love fall! It is my favorite of the seasons, and with the leaves starting to turn, I felt a breakfast befitting the cozy, comfort foods, with a healthy take was in order.

I made easy, peasy, delicious apple-cinnamon oatmeal!

In the past, I have purchased oatmeal in pre-portioned packets, and although they aren't horribly expensive, I can burn through them pretty quick, and I am pretty frugal, so I figured I'd make my own, and save a little money. Here's how -

First, gather your supplies. All you need is quick-cooking oats, cinnamon and sweetener. You can use brown sugar, splenda or truvia (that's what I used and I like the taste of it better). Then grab some some storage containers like these, with air-tight fitting lids and some measuring cups and spoons. I used a 1/2 cup, a tsp and a 1/2 tsp.

Measure out 1/2 cup scoops of plain, dry oats into the containers; next, measure out 1 tsp truvia (to 1 TBS

brown sugar) of sweetener into the containers; last, measure 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon into the containers. Then, seal and store. That's it! Easy peasy!

For my apple-cinnamon oatmeal, I chopped 1 small apple into small chunks, and added them to the oatmeal while it is still hot (so that the apple will cook slightly). The apple will still be crunchy, but I like it that way! If you want the apples cooked down more, you can nuke it for 30 seconds to 1 min. OR if you don't like chunks in your oatmeal, you can add a couple of TBS of applesauce.

Also, if you like oatmeal, and autumn, try making pumpkin spice oatmeal! Try adding in 2 TBS of pureed pumpkin to the pre-made mix instead of apple. Yummy!!

Today's Workout

2-3 sets, as much weight as you can, as many as you can until muscle failure

with 30-60 second rests in between

Dumbbell Tricep Kickbacks

Dumbbell Tricep Extensions

Neutral Dumbbell Bicep Curls

Preacher Dumbbell Bicep Curls

Bent Over Dumbbell Row

Dumbbell Pullover

Regular-grip Pull Up

Dumbbell Bench Press

Overhead Dumbbell Bench Press

Weighted Dumbbell Shrug

Stretches

Hold each stretch for 30 seconds, relax your neck and breathe through

Back stretch - Clasp you hands out in front of you, relax your neck, and let your back curve forward

Chest stretch - Clasp your hands behind you, and raise them up to shoulder level or as high as you can

Chest stretch - Doorway stretch

Bicep, front forearm stretch - extend your arm out in front of you, palm facing up, and with the other hand, bend your fingers down toward the floor

Tricep stretch - raise your arm straight up over your head, bend your elbow and with the other arm, graps your elbow and pull until you feel the stretch

Shoulder stretch - cross your arm across your body, grabbing above the elbow, pull in toward your chest, keeping your shoulder relaxed and down, away from your ear

So, this is my gym. I have this workout bench, my weights, and my pull up bar! Grrrr. Pull ups are hard!! I also have my motivation board, with my calendar so I can check-off when I complete my workouts, and my food menu and workout schedule.

This week hasn't been great. I've missed two workout days. I mark them on the calendar as "Rest" days. I only allow 4 days of rest for the month, so if I want to have any more rest days this month, I'll have to make up the days, and do the workouts, probably doubling up on workouts. If I don't that's 11 days straight I'll have to workout without a break.