Excuses or Solutions

Well Old Man Winter recently blasted New England with a blizzard! I think Mother Nature is making up for a mild winter back in 2012. This recent storm brought upwards of 2 feet of snow in many areas, extended power outages, downed trees, and very messy driving conditions. As pretty as the snow can be, I am done with the cold and ready for Spring!

Due to the piles of snow everywhere it has made my weekly runs through town not only difficult but dangerous due to the lack of shoulder area on the road. Not only that but my boot camp class got cancelled one day as well. Ugghh! How was I going to get "my burn on?"  I can be pretty good at improvising; so with just a few pieces of equipment, my good-sized kitchen, and my IPod plugged into it's docking station I was ready to roll.

A floor mat, jump rope (if you've never jumped roped - holy moly can you get some serious calorie burning going on), set of 8 lb & 10 lb weights, interval timer, and notepad w/ exercise sets written down. So here is what I did. I set my top interval for 2 minutes and bottom interval for 1:30 (minute and 30 seconds) I did 9 sets of alternating exercises. The 2 minute interval was always the jump rope - I would then rest for 30 seconds - I then did the alternate exercise for 30 seconds and rested for 30 seconds before beginning the jump rope again. Here is a list of my alternating exercises all done for 30 seconds:

weighted crunch

push-up

plank

mountain climbers

shoulder raises

bicep curls

leg raises (single single double)

mountain climbers (second time)

push up (second time)

This totaled an approximate 35-40 minute work-out where I maintained a heart-rate of 140 - 152 BPM(beats per minute) which resulted in 325 calories burned! Yup I got my burn on and I was a happy girl because I truly believe that:
                                                             

I

I also made a yummy weight watcher recipe that Mi Amiga Jen turned me on to; I docked it up a little bit and I happen to make it on Valentine's day for the hubbie and he gave me the "thumbs up"

Coconut Curry Shrimp 

(Please note: I added the following to the recipe: 1 cup of mixed pineapple & mango and 1/2 cup frozen peas) I also did 1 whole can of light coconut milk instead of 1/2 I mean what the heck right?

Ingredients

	2 spray(s) cooking spray
	2 tsp olive oil
	1 Tbsp curry powder, mild or hot, to taste
	1/2 tsp table salt
	3 medium uncooked scallion(s), thinly sliced, green and white parts separated
	1/2 cup(s) light coconut milk
	1 pound(s) uncooked shrimp, large, shelled and deveined
	3 cup(s) cooked brown rice

Instructions

• Coat a medium to large skillet with cooking spray; add oil and set over medium heat. When heated, add curry powder and salt; cook, stirring constantly, until curry is fragrant, about 1 minute.
  
• Add white parts of scallions; cook, stirring occasionally, about 2 minutes more. Add coconut milk; stir to blend. Add shrimp; cook, stirring occasionally, until shrimp turn pink, about 4 to 5 minutes. Sprinkle with green parts of scallions; serve. Yields about 5 to 6 shrimp, 3/4 cup rice and 1 to 2 tablespoons sauce per serving.