Challenge Results and a Reward

Long time no see! Or read. Whichever you prefer.

Challenge Results

Wednesday, September 9th I submitted my challenge results. You'll have to wait to see the photos (since I'm waiting for offical Jack Kunkel snazzy ones), but I can tell you that I weighed in at 186.2, losing 11 pounds of fat in 30 days. I also like to think that I probably gained a pound or two of muscle, but you'll have to wait to see the photos and make your own opinions on that.

Rewarding Myself

What better reward than to have a week at Disney World directly follow the challenge. I will say, I did not overdo it! Although from my weigh in on Monday, you will see that I gained about 4 pounds *yikes*

I could have done this smarter, and probably should have. In the mornings, I was able to get a non-dairy strawberry banana smoothie from the hotel, then bring it back to my room and mix in my Mediclear. This was a great start to the day.

I also had no appetite for potatoes the entire trip, and tried to remember to ask for more vegetables instead, but quite often forgot, so just went without eating the startchy stuff.

Where I could have done better:

• Almost every meal came with a bread basket. Most restaurants I did indulge in a 1/2 piece. A couple I had more than that... I tried to convince Mom to ask them to NOT bring the bread basket at all, but she really wanted it... In the future I think I might take matters into my own hands and just tell them not to bring it at all!!

• Desserts. Man, they were so good! They came with our dining plan so I had no concern over dairy products on this trip. I also had cheese plates for appetizers at times, and milkshakes as my beverage!!

• I had intentions of working out every morning before the parks, but that did not happen. Well, it happened on the first day, but then after I had a full day in the parks, waking up early was no longer an option as my body needed the rest. I did a lot of walking, but could have done with some weights. Then again, if I had eaten better, I probably would have been just fine with solely walking around the parks.

In the end, the reward should have been the trip, and not so much the food. I kind of made it the food because we booked the trip with a Deluxe Dining Package, and that was well before I started my healthy living lifestyle. Luckily, by the following weekend we had switched hotels and our new hotel had a gym. We spent a good 2 hours in the gym on Saturday, working our entire bodies and getting our high interval cardio in. It was a great start back, but I still didn't do all that great throughout the rest of the weekend.


Monday morning I was back in the gym and ready to go. I was VERY sore from the Saturday workout, but persevered anyway. I've also been trying to be good with food this week, but have faltered a bit, with my focus on prepping for the NEXT 30 day challenge starting Monday 9/28! Cheers!


XOXOXO

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

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