Week 3 Challenge Recap

I feel really good about this past week. In other words, my bounce-back from Disney went well!

I was a mess at the beginning of the week. Nothing was ready, I somehow forgot some groceries, dishes weren't clean and ready for me to prep. I got through Monday by going the "out to eat" route.

Blender was dirty so I ate an apple that morning before my workout.

I did end up having a smoothie for breakfast, from Tropical Smoothie, who I had conversed with on a previous occasion to confirm they were using fresh ingredients and that nothing more was added than what was listed on their menu.

Nuts and raisins for my snack.

Lunch was a strawberry poppyseed salad from Panera, with half the amount of dressing than they give you - chicken on the side and I warm it up and eat it separately (don't ask. I'm just weird when it comes to salad).

So I made it through the day pretty well considering I failed miserably at prep and was completely EXHAUSTED.

Oh yeah, bonus, I drove all the way to the gym that morning, to realize that I forgot my water bottle at home, and instead of using my brain and driving into the gas station next door, I drove all the way back home to get my water bottle.

Yeah, it was one of THOSE weeks.

Regardless of the beginning of my week, I still stuck to my nutrition and workout plans and was happy with my weigh in this morning. I'm still on the right track!

This was also a very stressful week, so that was a win as well - no emotional eating!!!!

Yesterday (Sunday) I went to spin class as usual, and hit my personal best, 186 Energy. Just wanted to bring it up because I was actually only shooting for 175 and obviously meet and went over my goal. Guess I'll have to shoot for 200 next week!

I've met my DietBet goal and am now patiently awaiting official weigh in day and to see how much money I'll get back from it.

Disney is coming up soon again! Mom and I will be going in 13 days. I've been researching the menus of the restaurants we have booked so I can make healthier decisions. The challenge will officially be over, but I still have more fat to lose! So I'll be continuing to follow the program!

Sorry for being so scatterbrained today. Here's to hoping next week I will be better ;)

XOXOXO

Oops. Week 2 Challenge Recap

Well I realized last night that I completely forgot to update this past Monday. Oops.

Reasons for that:

1. I was exhausted from the Disney weekend.
2. I was extremely busy at work.
3. In general, I was not on the ball. I screwed up EVERYTHING on Monday. #fail

Anyway, I'll make this short and sweet since I'm still feeling the effects of 1 &2.

Stuck to my workouts and my nutrition plan last week, except in Disney. Cheated a little bit and paid for it. I'd like to use the excuse that I was on vacation and enjoying myself, but for the challenge, there are #noexcuses.

Also, didn't do my daily yoga routines, and I think it was because of that, I didn't see much of a change on the scale throughout the week.

I am proud of myself that I jumped right back into the gym on Monday morning, even though I was a mess and forgot everything under the sun that day.

I still haven't been doing my yoga routines. By the time I get home, do dishes, prep for the next day, and make and eat my dinner, I am going straight to bed.

After this weekend and catching up on my rest, I should be able to add back in a second workout after work. I'm considering doing my Yoga Booty Ballet DVDs instead. I used to really enjoy them and think they will be a great supplement at the end of the day.

Until next week,
XOXOXO

Transformation Challenge: Week 1 Recap

I'm trying to get this post in amidst a busy Monday at work (which I will [hopefully] get to at the end).

Let's just say that the Challenge came at the perfect time. I was "testing the theory" the week before, which really just mean CHEATING and I definitely needed something to get me back on track. The challenge definitely did it for me.

What's constantly motivating is that there are ongoing goals. I'm really loving them. Just when I finish one, I get another that I need to do and it keeps my focus.

Just a little overview of the things that I have done pertaining to the challenge:

Exercise

I decided to go with the Intermediate workouts through the challenge. I will say this, I WAS SORE ALL WEEK AND STILL AM!

But... I love it!

When I'm sore, I know that it's working!! The workout has 3 strength training days laid out, in which you also have to do either endurance cardio or HIIT cardio on those days as well. I choose HIIT cardio on those days to save on time. On my non strength training days, I do 45 minute spin classes. Spin is my new favorite cardio workout! I'm very intrigued to see just how much my stats improve by the end of the challenge!

I did take one day off in the past 7 days, and that was Saturday. For days I went back and forth about adding a workout that day or not. I ended up not making a decision, and therefore not doing a work out that day. I did however help a friend move, although this did not get me many steps nor much of a sweat. I should have planned for something, and will have to for Saturdays in the future.

I've also been "rewarding" myself after all of my weekday workouts by spending about 10 minutes in the sauna at the gym. It's been very nice to kind of "finish" sweating it out, and take some rest time before I have to get up and start getting ready for work.

Food

Nothing has really changed with my food intake (other than the fact that I've stopped cheating *yay*). I am finding that I get a little hangry in the afternoon sometimes, but have purchased some deluxe mixed nuts (no peanuts) and have a small handful if I need something to tide me over.

I did purchase some frozen dark chocolate covered bananas last week, but decided that once the box was empty that I wouldn't be purchasing them again. While they're terrible for you, I did notice that they have peanut oil in them, and I think that if I'm wishing for something sweet, a blended frozen banana will do fine and come out just like ice cream! I could even put some nuts on it, or drizzle some almond butter. 

Future Planning

I spent all day Sunday prepping food for the week. Today and tomorrow I will most likely be staying late at work; so in addition to my usual prep of lunches, I also prepped all my dinners for the week. I will reassess at the end of the week how much this helps, and consider possibly doing it every week.

This weekend I am going to Disney to meet my best friend and her two boys. I will be leaving Friday after work to drive there, and then will return on Sunday in the early afternoon. I have planned out every meal that I'm going to have, and got extra apples and some raisin/nut mix to have while at the parks. I will also be bringing my coconut oil to put in my coffee. I even prepped an easy "finger food" dinner for Friday that I can munch on while driving (will heat it up before I leave the office).

In order to stick to my workout plan, I have decided that my workouts each day will be walking around the parks. I am also considering waking up extra early to walk/jog around the resort before our park plans. The only reason I have not set these plans in stone is because I have to consider that I will be staying with other people that will most likely want to sleep... I will bring it up to them when I get there on Friday.



That's all for now!
XOXOXO

Testing the Theory and Starting the Challenge

I'm not a very good blogger, and I'm also not very good at handling my emotions.

Stress took over for me this past week, and I cheated on my food. Quite a bit.

Needless to say, this week's weigh in was not good, at all.

But, let's look at it as a testing period. Testing the theory.

I made it two weeks without any mishaps; and I was successful those two weeks in my endeavors. I felt full of energy, and happy to boot.

While I was off-plan this past weekend, I felt lethargic, antsy, and just wanted to sleep away the weekend. I watched too much TV and just wasn't very happy overall.

Could it really be from the food I ate?!

Yes. It definitely is. I know it for a fact. I even went to spin class on Sunday, so you can just add right in there that I kept up with my exercise routine too!

It's all about the food. What they say, is so, absolutely true.

The easy part is the 2 hours spent in the gym. The hard part is the other 22 hours, following the nutrition plan.

Why on earth is was so easy for me those first two weeks? I don't know. Maybe I lost focus. Maybe I need to add in meditation and yoga into my routine.

It takes 21 says to make or break a habit, and I have not mastered this one yet.

Yes, I could be sitting here writing a million excuses as to why I gave into my cravings of cheese and bread, but they're no use. It doesn't matter. What's done is done, and it is time to let it go and move forward.

Transformation Challenge

Today marks #Day1 of the Transformation Challenge. What a wonderful way to let go of the wrongs I have done.

The Prep

Friday the challenge documents were released. I found that what I have been eating (as part of the plan not the crap I ate this weekend!) is what was outlined that I should still be eating. So no changes on that front.

I had been discussing with my father that my workouts were getting a little too easy for me, and we had talked about increasing my weights. When the documents were released, I noticed that I was ready to start on the Intermediate Workouts. I set forth watching all of the exercise videos to learn what I would need to do at the gym in the upcoming weeks.

Enter Anxiety.

Most of the new moves meant that I would have to move from the exercise machines, to the free-weights part of the gym floor. These kind of things REALLY get my anxiety going (not that I'm saying it's an excuse but it might have contributed to the cheese and bread from the weekend!!!).

I looked at those documents all weekend, going through the exercises in my mind and where I would do each one, how many I really HAD to do on the free-weights floor section, and how many I could get away with in the group fitness room (unused at 5am).

Saturday I got up bright and early for my morning coffee and smoothie, and put together my grocery list. Since none of my plans had changed regarding nutrition, this was very easy for me. I go to two stores: Whole Foods and Trader Joe's. I can get everything I need for one week at a time.

I left the house at 8am (trying to beat the Saturday crowds!) and I'm happy to say that I was back in my driveway by 9:30am. I was in each store for only 10 minutes, and it is a bit of a drive to get to them, so that's where all the other time went.

Total spent on food for the entire week: $80

Then as you know, I was lazy for the rest of the day because I wasn't eating right. I watched a copious amount of Once Upon a Time and read a good portion of the book series I've been reading.

Sunday I was up bright and early again - smoothie and coffee (organic mind you!). I also decided to cook my chicken thighs for the week; I already had some green beans made for my lunches so I was good to go on that. On the weekends I do the dishes in the mornings instead of the evenings, so I handled all of those so that they would be ready for when I made my smoothie that night.

I read my book and sat out on the lanai until I had to leave for spin class around 9am.

Spin class. This was my second one, but I actually really like it! I bought a small package of classes and have scheduled them out according to when I'll be in town to take them (Disney trips are coming soon!).

After spin class, Josh and I did some shopping as I wanted new Go Walks for my Disney trips.

Then we spent the afternoon watching some TV, and I eventually decided that I wanted to get all my things ready for Day 1 of the challenge.

Make smoothie, get snack and lunch ready to grab in the morning. Get together my clothes for work, clothes to workout in, and towels for the gym shower.

I was back in bed, reading my book by 8pm.

Starting the Challenge

I was up dark and early at 4:15am. I had to eat 1/4 of my smoothie at 4:30 in order to start my workout at 5. All went as planned.

I arrived at the gym a couple minutes before 5 and hyped myself up to workout on the free-weights floor section and... I did it! I didn't even go into the group fitness room.

What was awesome was that there was NOBODY on the floor when I started at 5:10 (5 minute elliptical warm-up was first!). This made it MUCH easier for me to get over my fear. Once I was set up, I wasn't worried about being in the way or being weak.

Once I was done with my final cardio session, I decided I had time to sweat out more in the sauna. It was very nice, and I hope that I have time to do it everyday.

I made it to work a couple minutes early, but decided to get in the doors and get working on my smoothie. I was hungry!!

Additional Focuses

Because I don't have anything to change with my food (other than following the plan!), I'm trying to add in a couple more aspects to help with following the plan.

First, I've set silent alarms on my FitBit. When they go off, it is time to drink a bottle of water. This has been working great thus far today, and should help when hunger strikes!

Second, I'm trying to incorporate yoga sessions everyday after work. I believe that this will help with clearing my mind, keeping my emotions in check, and maintaining my focus on my nutrition plan and overall health goals.



Cheers,
XOXOXO

Week 2 Recap and Challenges

I'm terrible at keeping up with writing in this but pretty good at taking care of myself all of a sudden.

Eating healthy and exercising has made me feel very good during the day. I have just enough energy -- not too much, not jittery, not tired or sluggish -- that gets me through the day and gets everything I need to done without feeling like "Ugh. I just don't want to right now" <-- which is what I used to say all the time.

And I don't mean things like going to the laundromat to do laundry, which I complained about on Facebook last week. THAT is a task on a Sunday evening. I mean simple things like doing dishes, cooking dinner and doing the laundry AT HOME. I used to DREAD doing those things and procrastinate them for days and days. Not anymore.

Turning all 3 of these things into habits are really helping to keep my mind focused and clear.

Everyday when I get home from work, I do all the dishes. Clean dishes mean that I have everything ready to prep any food or cook dinner.

I then start to work on dinner, which is something that usually needs to go into the oven for at least 20 minutes.

While it's in the oven, I'll start my prep for the next day's food. I make my smoothie (and rinse the Ninja afterwards for easier cleaning tomorrow), cut my apple to have with my almond butter, and portion out my chicken thigh and green beans for my lunch (both pre-cooked over the previous weekend). Now that all my food is ready for the next day, I go back to make my sides for that day's dinner (usually a vegetable that needs to be thrown in boiling water quick!) and voila. Food for the next 24 hours is done within 30 minutes.

Also, I always make my dinner foods in two servings. One for today, and one for the next day. Eating the same dinner two days in a row is very do-able (as opposed to eating the same dinner 5 days in a row or something; gets way too boring). Now my food prep for the next day is even shorter because I don't have to make dinner.

Every other day allows a little extra time in the evenings, which is enough to keep me going.

I always do laundry on the weekends, but then also always do it on Wednesdays (mid-week!). This makes sure that I always have clean WORKOUT CLOTHES. Yes, those are the most important because they are what I have the LEAST of out of my clothing attire. I always have enough clothes for work or lounging around the house, but I definitely need to make sure my workout capris and tops are clean so I don't have any excuses for not going to the gym.

Now, at this point, I have all of my food ready for the next day, and all my clothes for the next day clean. I then go through my short list of what I need for the gym.

Workout clothes - sports bra, tank top, capris, socks and undies

Work clothes - tank top, shirt, pants, and undies

Shower items - Full towel and hair towel (all other shower items are already in the bag and never leave it)

Once I get everything together, now I'm done for the night. Completely. Are there dishes in the sink? Yes. But I know I will be doing them the next day after work (this also works better because I live with a guy that dirties dishes after I go to bed). Is there laundry to be done? Probably, but I have everything I need for the next 24 so I'm not worried or doing anything last minute because of that.

Total prep for each and everyday; complete.

Some people think routines are boring. I think getting into a routine is more efficient. Because of it, I have more time to watch TV, read my book, or even get in another workout if I want to.

So a little recap of last week energy-wise -- for some reason I was very tired. I can't think of what caused this, as my sleep routines were the same and my nutrition was on point, but by Wednesday of last week I was dragging, so I had a cup of coffee after my smoothie that morning. Needless to say, it worked, because I was no longer tired or dragging the rest of the week. I was trying to only drink coffee on the weekends but one up each day during the week really isn't that bad, so I'm going to try for that now.

I've also been religiously ONLY drinking water other than the occasional coffee. It has definitely made me feel fantastic and every sip is refreshing (lots of ice please!).

I can already tell that my body is getting stronger, as the weights that I'm using on the machines are getting easier. Next week might call for an increase in weight, which I will discuss with the pros.

I tried my first spin class on Sunday and I didn't hate it, but not sure if I loved it? I liked it, that's for sure. Kind of like the elliptical, I don't love it, but I like it. It's do-able. Ironically enough, my gym added cycle zone classes at 5:45am on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which are my non-weight machine days. I'll start incorporating those classes tomorrow.

Challenges

Jack started a challenge group which will begin this coming Monday, August 10th. While I have not participated in one of his challenges before, my mom has and had great results. I've signed up and can't wait for it to start. I also believe it is a great way to get a taste of what the Jack Kunkel Revolutionary Nutrition program is all about. Check out the challenge website here, or the event on Facebook here.

In addition to this, I've also joined a DietBet group, just for some extra motivation and fun... and hopefully I'll win some money... yeah that was my only motivation for that. LOL