New Year, New You

Hah. Forget the resolutions, it's time to get real.

I went home for Christmas and it was awesome!! I somehow lost weight while I was home too -- at one point I weighed in at 180. But it wasn't a Monday so it wasn't "official" in my mind. I still lost a little bit of weight over the holidays -- and I have no idea how! But I am grateful!!

With the start of the first full week of January, I am back in the groove, although not doing perfect, I am still trying.

Exercise - 20%

I was going to change up my gym routine, but when it came down to time crunch this past weekend and throughout my Christmas vaca home, I just didn't have the mindset to figure out something new. So, Monday morning I resorted to my Intermediate Day 1 routine, which was probably perfect because I needed to decrease my weights because I had taken so much time off anyway :/ #oops

Tuesday/Thursday are cardio only days - no weight training. My brother got me awesome swim gear for Christmas, so bright and early, 5am, I decided to go swimming! I only went for 15 minutes but that was enough to start. Then I rinsed and dried and attended spin class! It all felt really good. I'm going to continue with this routine for a while.

Unfortunately, I don't think I will be able to afford any further classes at Time Trial for the weekends, but I did find out that my Tuesday/Thursday instructor is now doing a Sunday morning class at 9:15. How I wish it was on Saturdays though because then I could go to yoga on Sundays instead... Note: Need to research what LA Fitness clubs have a spin class on Saturdays!!

Nutrition - 80%

I healthy shopped, and I did plan out all of my meals, but yesterday I did cheat by the end of the day. I don't know why I do this because it's pretty much ruining ALL of the hard work I've put in all day. Last night while I was making dinner I was hungry and wanted to snack, so I had some of Josh's fried cheese curds. Then after dinner I didn't have anything to eat for dessert so I made some random cheese and sour cream roll ups in tortillas. Unnecessary after the steak and mushrooms I had just eaten! Next time I'll guzzle water and go to bed!!!

So far so good today with nutrition, although I do need to get in more water - I'm still working on my coffee from this morning and it's after noon! Need to hydrate!

So that pretty much sums up what's going on. Just need to stick with it as usual!

XOXOXO

It's All Good...

It's all good in the hood.

I had a fantastic week.

Let me elaborate... Was I perfect? No. Absolutely not. But was I successful and happy? Absolutely.

The Breakdown

As usual, I was on point with my exercise. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I did my weights/cardio training; Tuesday and Thursday I did my cycle classes at LA Fitness.

What I did NOT do, that I normally do, was go on my lunch walks. My lunches were filled with things to do last week: Go shopping for Mom's birthday gifts. Ship said gifts to Dom. Go grab nuts for snacking at work. Go grab lunch because I didn't prep any food last weekend. 

I also changed up my weekends a bit. We've decided to change our spin day to Saturday. This works FANTASTIC for me!!! Because we went to spin on Saturday, I then was able to do my grocery shopping that day (which I like doing), and then prep my food that day as well. Sundays, Joshua does not work. Therefore, it's best for me to get all my personal things done on Saturday while he IS at work.

While Joshua does not work on Sundays, he does still sleep in. This leaves the perfect opportunity for me to go to my favorite yoga class at LA on Sunday mornings now!! I did this yesterday, and while I hadn't taken a yoga class in a few months, I could still tell where I was stronger than I was before. I also was sweating like a pig by the end of class!! That's never happened before, but I'm glad it happened because it means I'm working hard!!


So onto nutrition. For a week I didn't prep any food, I have to say I did extremely well. I mean, my bank account didn't like me much but hey, sometimes you have to make sacrifices. I started every morning with an apple before the gym, a Detox Island Green smoothie with Probiotic and Fat Burner for Breakfast, and then snacked on nuts all day everyday whenever I got hungry.

Lunches were different all week. On Monday, I realized that I could order a smoothie AND a salad first thing in the morning, then save the salad for lunch. It saved me a bit of money because it was then considered a meal and "discounted". So Thai Chicken Salad from Tropical Smoothie for lunch on Monday.

I ran into a great deal on Monday night; Stir Crazy had 2 Fresh Market Bar Bowls for $22. I took advantage of this as they have all-natural chicken and local grown veggies to make these with. Of course, I chose brown rice for my starch. I had it for dinner on Monday, then lunch on both Tuesday and Wednesday.

I was running out of apples by Tuesday evening, so I went to the grocery store. I also needed something for dinner. While this wasn't the best option, I ended up getting a fully cooked rotisserie chicken, and a frozen gluten free dairy free single serving of macaroni and cheese. I ate half the mac and cheese and some of the chicken. I was then able to have the same meal for dinner on Wednesday night.

By Thursday I was running out of ideas. Money was getting low and I needed to get through one more day before payday. I sucked it up and purchased another Thai Chicken Salad for lunch that morning, and dinner was solely whatever I had left on the rotisserie chicken.

Friday was payday, so lunch was sashimi from Komoon, where I realized I actually like tuna MORE than salmon! Big surprise for me because I was totally on a salmon kick for a few years there... Only salmon. Only raw. Nothing else. What a surprise there!

Since it was payday I went back to the grocery store to make a nice dinner for Joshua and I. I picked up grass-fed strip steaks which I made with sauteed zucchini. It was absolutely delicious and delightful!

There were times during the week when I was eating my dinner and took a few of Joshua's french fries or cheese curds. So there's why I wasn't perfect. And I didn't regulate how much nuts I was eating. I just ate them when I was hungry. They're actually a pretty good stress food...

So I made it through the week without prep, but I wouldn't want to have to do it again anytime soon. My savings account took a hit for all that, and it needs to be growing, not diminishing!



Here's to a new week, one that I've actually prepared for.
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