Fall Smoothie, perfect for 94 degree weather + A Countdown Workout

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         New Orleans may be more humid than Houston, but Houston is HOT. Most of July and August reached 98-100 degrees every day. I went for a run the other day and my hair was drenched all the way through within 10 minutes of starting.
         Last week while Sarah was in town, we had a brief break from the heat, as it was a crisp 91 degrees! We were going for a walk in the middle of the day and I kept saying "It's so nice!" In the 90s! On Sunday, the low will be 75 before it rises to 91 later in the day. It's like Fall!

    Yeah, okay, the heat has clearly gone to my head. But in New Orleans and Houston, Fall doesn't exist. At all. The cities are well supplied with evergreen trees that never change color, and the trees that are supposed to change colors just don't change. Fall doesn't exist.
     But what the weather can't deliver, pumpkin can! Yesterday I had a pumpkin spice latte (I asked for a half-pump of syrup to keep the sugar count low--you won't notice the difference!) and sweated as I drank it on the way back to my car. Today I felt myself craving more pumpkin-flavored Fall recipes! So I changed up my Almond-Avocado Green Smoothie recipe and made it a perfect recipe for our warm Fall seasons in the south.

       Keep in mind, these smoothies are MEAL-sized. Smoothies are probably never a good snack choice. If you get hungry just an hour or so after a smoothie, it probably has too much sugar and not enough fat or protein! This one has enough fat, protein, and fiber to keep you full for hours. With that said, here's lunch:

 It was so good that I grabbed a spatula to get every last bit out of the cup!

          Now what made me hungry enough for this monster-sized smoothie? A countdown workout! Here's how it works: I completed 10 reps (except for planks, which were always 30s) of each exercise, followed by 9 reps of each, then 8 reps of each, all the way down to one rep of each! I followed up the workout with 20 minutes of gym cardio for a total of about 45-50 (I forgot to time the countdown!) minutes. For the jumping jacks and punches, I used 5lb dumbbells. I also used an 8lb medicine ball for Raise&Twists (explained below) and Russian twists.

  Raise&Twist with medicine ball: Stand up straight and hold a medicine ball out in front of you at arm's length. Slowly raise the ball above your head, and then lower back to the middle of your body. Then, keeping your arms straight, rotate 90 degrees to the right, then back to the middle, then rotate 90 degrees to the left, then once more back to the middle. Repeat. All of those moves count as one rep!

   When you get down to the lower sets, like 4 reps and lower of each exercise, it's important to move fast! Keep your form, but move fast. The higher reps are more challenging for your muscles, and the lower reps will keep your heart rate up.

Have fun!

Question: What are some of your favorite Fall recipes? Scroll down to comment!