I wish nap time existed for adults.
How awesome would work be if there was a twenty minute time frame set aside for napping - whether in your office or a nap room? I'd like to think the nap room would be a dimly lit room, slightly on the cooler side, with large, leather recliners that were so soft that you just sank into them. Pillows and blankets would be available and maybe there would even be a TV - set to some movie that would just play in the background on low volume.
Maybe it would be the golf channel. I love watching golf on tv and I love napping to golf on tv.
I'm finding that when I get home from work I am utterly exhausted. Painfully would be a better word for it. Painfully exhausted. It's no mystery why - I'm not sleeping at night. Last night I clocked in a solid 2.5 hours. Yikes. Hopefully tonight will be better.
I know I haven't written since July but I'm just going to pretend like August didn't happen ;)
Lets just say that the beast overcame my best defenses and I had an entire month of unhealthiness. In all honesty, it probably was a good thing. I was a little too focused on what I was eating, and when, and how much, and what were the calories, and what were the macro-nutrients, and when was I exercising and all that jazz.
Lets just say I had a full "30 Days to gaining 5 pounds"
So, at the end of August, I allowed myself to have a clean slate - I took ownership of my weight gain and I buckled down and began again. Just a little more relaxed. I'm focusing on working out regularly (I'm not putting a number on it or minute requirement - just to do it regularly), eating the best food choices I can make, and eating a reasonable amount of food.
I also bought a new book. It's called "The New Rules of Lifting for Women: Lift like a Man, Look like a Goddess"
Long title huh? I was scouring bodybuilding boards looking for a couple new strength training exercises to alleviate boredom I'd been having when I noticed people kept mentioning "NROLFW". It took some googling to find out what the acronym meant and then I happened upon the book on amazon and quite a few positive reviews. So I checked out the free preview and then got it.
It was an easy read with a lot of good information. Nothing too new and drastic but rather a lot of good info just contained in one place. I particularly like the workouts. It has a whole 6 month plan and the moves are not "girlie" moves and I like that. You know, squats, deadlifts, push-ups, pull-ups etc. . . and the goal is to get into the heavy weights. I started on August 25th and I can already tell I'm gaining strength which is awesome. My legs needed to gain some muscle for my running and knee health. Also, I feel more capable when I feel stronger.
In any case, I'm following Stage 1 workouts right now - I'm beginning my third week and so far so good. The Stage 1 workouts actually look pretty simple - and mind you, it only takes about 20 - 25 minutes for me to complete them but they're a little rough. I'm definitely sweating when I finish. I also like to push myself so that helps.
On the food frontier I've taken a little break from cooking. The last two weeks I've let myself use Lean Cuisine like foods as my chef for my lunches at work. I think that also has something to do w/ my not sleeping well. I'm strapped for time in the morning because I'm so tired and I'm waking up later and don't have much time to fix my lunch for work.
For example, today's menu:
B: iced coffee w/ whey protein, egg white sandwich
S: cottage cheese and an apple
L: Smart Ones Thai Chicken
S: handful pistachios
D: don't know yet
Since my do-over I've lost about a pound but this time I measure myself and used my calipers so I feel certain that in a week or two I'll see a bigger difference there. In any case, the scale is kind of third on my measurement list and I'm trying to keep it that way.
And that's all that has been going on.
so for right now, I'm aiming for:
"30 days to not be so stressed about my weight"
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Thursday, July 14, 2011
The Letter Experiment
I was reading an article last week about goals. Particularly, how if you write down your specific goal then you will be more likely to attain it.
I won't go into the heady details but basically, when you write something down, the act of using your pen to form the words and have it on paper is more binding than just thinking it.
Interesting.
Then I remembered something. About 10 years ago, I discovered running. I was working at a local news affiliate producing the 5pm, 6pm and 11pm news so I didn't have to be at work until 3pm. Perfect hours for me by the way. Anyway, since I had the mornings to myself I took up running and eventually fell in love with it.
While I was going through this phase of my life, I wrote myself bi-weekly letters. I don't remember why I started but I remember writing them. In fact, I still have them. I would write what I wanted to accomplish in the 2 weeks. It was everything from water intake, to shaving seconds off my pace to how many times I would actually run that week. And it worked. For about a year, I ran 6 days a week. Yes, 6 days a week. I believe I missed one week due to illness but on average I maintained my 6 days. I also lost weight. But that wasn't the goal of my letters at the time. I wasn't concentrating on my food so much as my overall fitness and how I wanted to improve my running.
I have always wondered why, in that particular phase of my life, I had a such an easy time with my health and fitness. I usually attribute it to my age (yes, I was in my early 20s), my hours at the job being conducive to exercise, and basically just it being "one of those things". After I read the article I thought "What if the letters also had a hand?"
Now, I don't think that my letters were the one and only factor but maybe they did help with my motivation and success. I didn't always meet my goals every two weeks, but I always improved in some way. If I wanted to drink 8 glasses of water a day, maybe I got in at least 6. If I wanted to improve my running, maybe I didn't get faster but I was still running TRYING to get faster.
You get the point.
So last week I decided to try my hand at it. I wrote myself TWO letters. The first one was a 6 week letter with 6-week end goals. And the second was a week letter and in my week letter I wrote 3 simple goals:
1. To eat between 1200-1500 daily or on weekly average
2. To do cardio 5-6 times
3. To do strength training 3 times
I added a line or two about some motivational thoughts but all in all it was simple. At the bottom I left a place to right down the results.
Now, the 6 week letter is a little more detailed but not much. It basically states the same calorie, cardio and strength training goals but I added ONE addendum. I go on vacation next week and I added slightly, slightly more lenient calorie/exercise goals that are only to be followed on the exact days that I am out of town. For instance, my calories increased to 1500-1600/day/average for vacation days only (I'm gone 4 days) and I excused myself from cardio and strength on the same 4 days. I wanted to be realistic about my vacation. I'm meeting family up in San Francisco and am aware that getting my gym time in is probably not going to happen seeing as how I have 4 days with these people that I only get to see once a year. I'm also hoping that sight-seeing/walking will keep me active. At the bottom I left a place for physical results as well as motivational and emotional results. Oh yes, and weight results.
I bundled the two letters together to help me keep sight of the big picture and also to remind me that it's a week by week battle.
That was a week ago.
Today I get to open the letter. It's at home right now but when I do I get to write the following in the results column for my week letter:
1. calories: 1475 average
2. cardio: 5 times
3. strength: 3 times
Did I mention that I also get to add that I lost 3.2 pounds this week! Not too bad right? Granted last week's weigh-in came right at that time where I was carrying some water weight but still I think I would have a put up a good number regardless.
So today another letter gets written. It'll say almost exactly what the previous one said except with different motivational words this time because I figure if it ain't broke don't try to fix it.
Here's to another week of success :)
I won't go into the heady details but basically, when you write something down, the act of using your pen to form the words and have it on paper is more binding than just thinking it.
Interesting.
Then I remembered something. About 10 years ago, I discovered running. I was working at a local news affiliate producing the 5pm, 6pm and 11pm news so I didn't have to be at work until 3pm. Perfect hours for me by the way. Anyway, since I had the mornings to myself I took up running and eventually fell in love with it.
While I was going through this phase of my life, I wrote myself bi-weekly letters. I don't remember why I started but I remember writing them. In fact, I still have them. I would write what I wanted to accomplish in the 2 weeks. It was everything from water intake, to shaving seconds off my pace to how many times I would actually run that week. And it worked. For about a year, I ran 6 days a week. Yes, 6 days a week. I believe I missed one week due to illness but on average I maintained my 6 days. I also lost weight. But that wasn't the goal of my letters at the time. I wasn't concentrating on my food so much as my overall fitness and how I wanted to improve my running.
I have always wondered why, in that particular phase of my life, I had a such an easy time with my health and fitness. I usually attribute it to my age (yes, I was in my early 20s), my hours at the job being conducive to exercise, and basically just it being "one of those things". After I read the article I thought "What if the letters also had a hand?"
Now, I don't think that my letters were the one and only factor but maybe they did help with my motivation and success. I didn't always meet my goals every two weeks, but I always improved in some way. If I wanted to drink 8 glasses of water a day, maybe I got in at least 6. If I wanted to improve my running, maybe I didn't get faster but I was still running TRYING to get faster.
You get the point.
So last week I decided to try my hand at it. I wrote myself TWO letters. The first one was a 6 week letter with 6-week end goals. And the second was a week letter and in my week letter I wrote 3 simple goals:
1. To eat between 1200-1500 daily or on weekly average
2. To do cardio 5-6 times
3. To do strength training 3 times
I added a line or two about some motivational thoughts but all in all it was simple. At the bottom I left a place to right down the results.
Now, the 6 week letter is a little more detailed but not much. It basically states the same calorie, cardio and strength training goals but I added ONE addendum. I go on vacation next week and I added slightly, slightly more lenient calorie/exercise goals that are only to be followed on the exact days that I am out of town. For instance, my calories increased to 1500-1600/day/average for vacation days only (I'm gone 4 days) and I excused myself from cardio and strength on the same 4 days. I wanted to be realistic about my vacation. I'm meeting family up in San Francisco and am aware that getting my gym time in is probably not going to happen seeing as how I have 4 days with these people that I only get to see once a year. I'm also hoping that sight-seeing/walking will keep me active. At the bottom I left a place for physical results as well as motivational and emotional results. Oh yes, and weight results.
I bundled the two letters together to help me keep sight of the big picture and also to remind me that it's a week by week battle.
That was a week ago.
Today I get to open the letter. It's at home right now but when I do I get to write the following in the results column for my week letter:
1. calories: 1475 average
2. cardio: 5 times
3. strength: 3 times
Did I mention that I also get to add that I lost 3.2 pounds this week! Not too bad right? Granted last week's weigh-in came right at that time where I was carrying some water weight but still I think I would have a put up a good number regardless.
So today another letter gets written. It'll say almost exactly what the previous one said except with different motivational words this time because I figure if it ain't broke don't try to fix it.
Here's to another week of success :)
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Dance Dance Revolution
I couldn't muster up the strength to go to the gym yesterday. Opportunity after opportunity passed me by as I lazily chose to sit on my tush. When lunch time hit and my scheduled workout at the gym stared me in the face, I was desperate for a plan of action. I did NOT want to go to the gym. I just didn't have it in me.
So I made alternate plans. I called home and had my boyfriend hook up my old Playstation 2 so that when I got home I could get out my old Dance Dance Revolution games. Yes, I am a thiry-something who used to LOVE to play DDR. Some 5 years ago when I first got it, I used to play that thing for HOURS. Sweating it up in my tiny, studio apartment. Dancing on that flimsy mat til my feet were sore. It used to be so much fun.
I'll admit, I got home, ate some dinner then went into our workout room to have a look at it. I honestly haven't played or looked at in YEARS. The graphics were ancient looking and I laughed at how primitive the whole system is compared to the new PS3. I toggled through the menu then went to go sit on the couch with my boyfriend and let my food settle a little. Honestly, I wasn't feeling it. But I sat there and committed myself to at least 20 minutes. I told myself if at the end of 20 minutes it wasn't doing anything for me, I was free to walk away.
So I put on some "play clothes", strapped on my heart rate monitor and went to work. I was a bit rusty. I used to play on the difficult settings but when I tried it out, I was having a hard time keeping up. Not to mention my heart rate was SOARING! That's a good thing though :) Long story short, I ended up playing for an hour. I had to go back to the beginner settings to unlock songs that I wanted and so I wasn't working out as hard as I wanted but I did burn a little over 300 calories.
Not bad for playing a video game :)
So I made alternate plans. I called home and had my boyfriend hook up my old Playstation 2 so that when I got home I could get out my old Dance Dance Revolution games. Yes, I am a thiry-something who used to LOVE to play DDR. Some 5 years ago when I first got it, I used to play that thing for HOURS. Sweating it up in my tiny, studio apartment. Dancing on that flimsy mat til my feet were sore. It used to be so much fun.
I'll admit, I got home, ate some dinner then went into our workout room to have a look at it. I honestly haven't played or looked at in YEARS. The graphics were ancient looking and I laughed at how primitive the whole system is compared to the new PS3. I toggled through the menu then went to go sit on the couch with my boyfriend and let my food settle a little. Honestly, I wasn't feeling it. But I sat there and committed myself to at least 20 minutes. I told myself if at the end of 20 minutes it wasn't doing anything for me, I was free to walk away.
So I put on some "play clothes", strapped on my heart rate monitor and went to work. I was a bit rusty. I used to play on the difficult settings but when I tried it out, I was having a hard time keeping up. Not to mention my heart rate was SOARING! That's a good thing though :) Long story short, I ended up playing for an hour. I had to go back to the beginner settings to unlock songs that I wanted and so I wasn't working out as hard as I wanted but I did burn a little over 300 calories.
Not bad for playing a video game :)
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
My Health
So, it has been a fun and exciting week. Just after I wrote that last post I had a visit with my doctor. I know in a previous post I mentioned issues with my gallbladder. Well, I finally went to see a specialist to make sure everything was fine because it runs rampant in my family. Last week I had an ultrasound and my doctor gave me an 80% likelihood that I had gallstones and would probably need to speak to a surgeon.
Well, he called last Friday and he was surprised but I did NOT have any stones and seemed to be ok. We're doing a follow up in a month because like I said, it's very common in my family.
He concluded that my way of eating is what was causing me pain. As weird as it sounds, the ultra clean eating and lower carb diet was wreaking havoc on my digestive system. He hypothesized that my body just couldn't handle it.
So I did some fiddling with my diet and found he was right. As odd as it sounds, following the SBD made me feel sick! It doesn't make sense because I, for one, think that the principles it's based on are very healthy and should, in theory, make you feel healthy. But, for me, it just doesn't work. Actually, some days I find that when I feel super bad, if I eat something higher in fat and carbs I immediately feel better. Strange right? My doctor is as baffled as I am.
And so I begin again. I'll be honest, I'm sick of having a plan. Apparently, plans and I just don't mix. I was looking over my journals from this time last year. It pains me to say that I was eating more overall calories and I weighed about 10 pounds less. Oh yes, and I was probably in the best shape I've been in in about 5 years. AND ... I was on no sort of plan whatsoever. It just ... worked. Like magic.
I've tried to wrap my head around why it worked and why the weight just kept coming off but that's the beauty of the human body. There is no rhyme or reason to it.
So, it's been back to the drawing board for me and my journey. And what have I decided to do?
I'm going to follow the simplest non-plan I can manage.
I'm going to try to eat good, healthy food that doesn't cause me pain that stays within a 1500 to 1600 cal range and I'm going to workout consistently.
And that's it.
Today's menu:
B: coffee w/ creamer, 1egg+1egg white, peppers, onions, laughing cow wedge, salsa, taco sauce all wrapped in a warm low carb tortilla.
S: fresh strawberries and a mini babybel light
L: taco-less tacos at my awesome work desk (ie: seasoned ground turkey, kidney beans, onions, tomatoes and green chilies wrapped in romaine leaves w/ cheese and salsa!)
I have a tentative plan to go spinning after work. Truth be told, today is a substitute rest day for me but a co-worker wanted to go spinning so I said I'd go with him. I desperately don't want to go because not only is today a rest day for me but this particular class that we're going to is beyond brutal. And that is NOT an exaggeration.
Well, in case we do go spinning, I have a Cliff bar packed in my bag to eat beforehand as my pre-workout snack.
And if I make it to spinning, at this point in my eating day I'll be at 1085 calories.
That's plenty of room for a decent dinner!
Now if only I could think of something inspired to make .....
Well, he called last Friday and he was surprised but I did NOT have any stones and seemed to be ok. We're doing a follow up in a month because like I said, it's very common in my family.
He concluded that my way of eating is what was causing me pain. As weird as it sounds, the ultra clean eating and lower carb diet was wreaking havoc on my digestive system. He hypothesized that my body just couldn't handle it.
So I did some fiddling with my diet and found he was right. As odd as it sounds, following the SBD made me feel sick! It doesn't make sense because I, for one, think that the principles it's based on are very healthy and should, in theory, make you feel healthy. But, for me, it just doesn't work. Actually, some days I find that when I feel super bad, if I eat something higher in fat and carbs I immediately feel better. Strange right? My doctor is as baffled as I am.
And so I begin again. I'll be honest, I'm sick of having a plan. Apparently, plans and I just don't mix. I was looking over my journals from this time last year. It pains me to say that I was eating more overall calories and I weighed about 10 pounds less. Oh yes, and I was probably in the best shape I've been in in about 5 years. AND ... I was on no sort of plan whatsoever. It just ... worked. Like magic.
I've tried to wrap my head around why it worked and why the weight just kept coming off but that's the beauty of the human body. There is no rhyme or reason to it.
So, it's been back to the drawing board for me and my journey. And what have I decided to do?
I'm going to follow the simplest non-plan I can manage.
I'm going to try to eat good, healthy food that doesn't cause me pain that stays within a 1500 to 1600 cal range and I'm going to workout consistently.
And that's it.
Today's menu:
B: coffee w/ creamer, 1egg+1egg white, peppers, onions, laughing cow wedge, salsa, taco sauce all wrapped in a warm low carb tortilla.
S: fresh strawberries and a mini babybel light
L: taco-less tacos at my awesome work desk (ie: seasoned ground turkey, kidney beans, onions, tomatoes and green chilies wrapped in romaine leaves w/ cheese and salsa!)
I have a tentative plan to go spinning after work. Truth be told, today is a substitute rest day for me but a co-worker wanted to go spinning so I said I'd go with him. I desperately don't want to go because not only is today a rest day for me but this particular class that we're going to is beyond brutal. And that is NOT an exaggeration.
Well, in case we do go spinning, I have a Cliff bar packed in my bag to eat beforehand as my pre-workout snack.
And if I make it to spinning, at this point in my eating day I'll be at 1085 calories.
That's plenty of room for a decent dinner!
Now if only I could think of something inspired to make .....
Monday, June 20, 2011
Food Gone Wild
So it looks like I'm winning half of the battle.
On the workout front, I can honestly say I'm kicking serious butt. Since last I wrote, I have completed every workout I have scheduled for myself. Getting back into the swing of things wasn't nearly as hard as I had originally thought it would be. Don't get me wrong, there were some days where it was sheer will that propelled me to finish, but I think I always imagined it to be much, much worse. Or perhaps it's that I can feel my body firming up that allows me to ignore some of the struggle :)
Wed: 35 minute cardio/strength combo
Thur: 60 minute spinning
Fri: rest
Sat: 35 minute strength/40 minute cardio
Sun: 45 minute cardio
On the eating front. How can I say this delicately? Well, lets just say thank goodness I have been working out so much to counteract what I've allowed myself to eat.
Don't get me wrong, it wasn't all bad.
Thursday was a great day:
B breakfast casserole
L chicken sandwich on whole wheat w/ lettuce and avocado
S whole wheat toast with peanut butter
D chicken and vegetable soup
Friday:
B tall skinny vanilla latte, pita, chicken, hummus and raw veggies (aka Starbucks breakfast)
S ww toast with Peanut Butter
L sushi: salmon sushi, yellowtail sushi, miso soup, 2 pieces Godzilla roll
**This particular restaurant does not offer brown rice as an option. However, I've found that sushi with brown rice is something that I just don't like. I figure it's a trade off. I choose more of the sushi items and less of the rolls and that helps keep the calories/white rice in check. I ate salmon and yellowtail sushi and just ate 2 pieces of the roll**
D ww pasta with tomato sauce and crab meat
And then we hit the weekend.
Saturday
B ww toast with peanut butter, skim milk
S milk chocolate candy!!
L whey protein, raspberries, skim milk
S 3 triscuits, babybel lite
D 4 slices of pizza (2 w/ bacon and pineapple - 2 w/ tomato and basil - medium)
Sunday
B 2 slices of pizza
L 2 slices of pizza (did I happen to mention we had leftovers!?)
D taco bell (mexican pizza no meat/extra tomatoes, volcano taco, 1/2 crunchwrap supreme)
and finally
a slice of chocolate cake
Whew!
Trust me, it was a lot of food. Needless to say, I got way way off course. And now it's Monday and I'm sitting pretty at work with my lunch bag filled with my good, healthy food and I'm back on track. Cause that's all that matters. Getting back on track.
Monday's plan:
B egg sandwich (1 egg, 1 egg white, sandwich thin, laughing cow wedge)
S chicken and vegetable soup
L roasted chicken breast 3oz, green beans, roasted potatoes/peppers/onions
D i'm supposed to be making a mushroom risotto from Rocco DeSpirito's Now Eat This! cookbook - Hopefully I'll get to it - it's his version of risotto that uses Textured Vegetable Protein instead of the traditional Arborio Rice. It'll be my first time cooking with TVP so I'm curious to see how it turns out.
Hopefully it'll be great. So far I've been extremely pleased with the recipes I've tried from that cookbook!
On the workout front, I can honestly say I'm kicking serious butt. Since last I wrote, I have completed every workout I have scheduled for myself. Getting back into the swing of things wasn't nearly as hard as I had originally thought it would be. Don't get me wrong, there were some days where it was sheer will that propelled me to finish, but I think I always imagined it to be much, much worse. Or perhaps it's that I can feel my body firming up that allows me to ignore some of the struggle :)
Wed: 35 minute cardio/strength combo
Thur: 60 minute spinning
Fri: rest
Sat: 35 minute strength/40 minute cardio
Sun: 45 minute cardio
On the eating front. How can I say this delicately? Well, lets just say thank goodness I have been working out so much to counteract what I've allowed myself to eat.
Don't get me wrong, it wasn't all bad.
Thursday was a great day:
B breakfast casserole
L chicken sandwich on whole wheat w/ lettuce and avocado
S whole wheat toast with peanut butter
D chicken and vegetable soup
Friday:
B tall skinny vanilla latte, pita, chicken, hummus and raw veggies (aka Starbucks breakfast)
S ww toast with Peanut Butter
L sushi: salmon sushi, yellowtail sushi, miso soup, 2 pieces Godzilla roll
**This particular restaurant does not offer brown rice as an option. However, I've found that sushi with brown rice is something that I just don't like. I figure it's a trade off. I choose more of the sushi items and less of the rolls and that helps keep the calories/white rice in check. I ate salmon and yellowtail sushi and just ate 2 pieces of the roll**
D ww pasta with tomato sauce and crab meat
And then we hit the weekend.
Saturday
B ww toast with peanut butter, skim milk
S milk chocolate candy!!
L whey protein, raspberries, skim milk
S 3 triscuits, babybel lite
D 4 slices of pizza (2 w/ bacon and pineapple - 2 w/ tomato and basil - medium)
Sunday
B 2 slices of pizza
L 2 slices of pizza (did I happen to mention we had leftovers!?)
D taco bell (mexican pizza no meat/extra tomatoes, volcano taco, 1/2 crunchwrap supreme)
and finally
a slice of chocolate cake
Whew!
Trust me, it was a lot of food. Needless to say, I got way way off course. And now it's Monday and I'm sitting pretty at work with my lunch bag filled with my good, healthy food and I'm back on track. Cause that's all that matters. Getting back on track.
Monday's plan:
B egg sandwich (1 egg, 1 egg white, sandwich thin, laughing cow wedge)
S chicken and vegetable soup
L roasted chicken breast 3oz, green beans, roasted potatoes/peppers/onions
D i'm supposed to be making a mushroom risotto from Rocco DeSpirito's Now Eat This! cookbook - Hopefully I'll get to it - it's his version of risotto that uses Textured Vegetable Protein instead of the traditional Arborio Rice. It'll be my first time cooking with TVP so I'm curious to see how it turns out.
Hopefully it'll be great. So far I've been extremely pleased with the recipes I've tried from that cookbook!
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Working Out Is Fun!
Yesterday's double workout was a smashing success.
Somehow I managed to get up in the morning and do some strength training. Trust me, it was sheer will that got me out of the bed. I am just NOT a morning person. But an added bonus of the double workout: I had good energy throughout the whole day. My lunch break workout completely revived me for the rest of the day.
In other awesome news, I also got up early TODAY to get in my cardio workout. I'm meeting up w/ an old friend after work today and so I wanted to get my workout out of the way, otherwise, I might have used meeting her as an excuse to not do it. In all honesty, it wasn't the greatest workout but I figure something is better than nothing.
This is what I have planned each week for working out:
MON: OFF
TUES: Cardio/Strength Training
WED: Cardio
THUR: Cardio/Strength Training
FRI: Cardio
SAT: Cardio/Strength Training
SUN: Cardio
I do a minimum of 30 minutes continuous cardio and right now I'm doing a full body strength training program that also takes around 30 minutes. As I increase strength I will probably move to a split routine but we'll cross that bridge when I get to it.
Today's schedule:
workout: AM/done (250 cal burned)
B: Whey, Rasp, Skim milk smoothie (263 cal)
S: Breakfast Casserole (230 cal)
L: Chicken and Vegetable Soup (165 cal)
D: Dining out
That's all I have planned so far. Oh, I think I might be heading to GNC to pick up some more whey protein. Exciting right?
Somehow I managed to get up in the morning and do some strength training. Trust me, it was sheer will that got me out of the bed. I am just NOT a morning person. But an added bonus of the double workout: I had good energy throughout the whole day. My lunch break workout completely revived me for the rest of the day.
In other awesome news, I also got up early TODAY to get in my cardio workout. I'm meeting up w/ an old friend after work today and so I wanted to get my workout out of the way, otherwise, I might have used meeting her as an excuse to not do it. In all honesty, it wasn't the greatest workout but I figure something is better than nothing.
This is what I have planned each week for working out:
MON: OFF
TUES: Cardio/Strength Training
WED: Cardio
THUR: Cardio/Strength Training
FRI: Cardio
SAT: Cardio/Strength Training
SUN: Cardio
I do a minimum of 30 minutes continuous cardio and right now I'm doing a full body strength training program that also takes around 30 minutes. As I increase strength I will probably move to a split routine but we'll cross that bridge when I get to it.
Today's schedule:
workout: AM/done (250 cal burned)
B: Whey, Rasp, Skim milk smoothie (263 cal)
S: Breakfast Casserole (230 cal)
L: Chicken and Vegetable Soup (165 cal)
D: Dining out
That's all I have planned so far. Oh, I think I might be heading to GNC to pick up some more whey protein. Exciting right?
Monday, June 13, 2011
It's Been Awhile ...
I've been off the grid the past 3 weeks. Lots of life events that had to take priority over my wonderful blog.
I got injured, then my boyfriend got injured and then my dog got injured. The dog is still being nursed back to health. She hurt her back last week and we've been treading lightly ever since. I'm hoping that she's getting better but I can't honestly tell. We have a follow up visit to the vet on Friday and I'm hoping for good news.
On the health and wellness front, life still continues on. I was debating trying to make a "catch-up" blog post about the last 3 weeks but decided against it because honestly, nothing has really changed.
On the weighing in front, I am up +.6 lbs from my last post. It's been up and down since I last posted with nothing major in either direction. So basically I have been maintaining.
And since I haven't really seen any gains in my weight loss last week I started incorporating a few things.
First, I'm tracking actual calories again.
I happened across the blog of a woman who was doing South Beach and saw good strides in the beginning (Phase 1) but who did nothing but maintain while following Phase 2 - so she started tracking calories in addition to applying the Phase 2 rules and for her she needed that discipline to get the scale moving. I mean, tracking calories has worked for me in the past very well so I'm going to start trying to keep my calories in the 1400-1500 range.
Second, I've gone back to the gym. Who was I kidding? I have always done extremely well on an exercise heavy program and to leave it out of the equation just doesn't make sense. I'm on a 6 days of cardio/3 days of strength training schedule right now. I know that sounds like a lot but that's pretty much par for the course for me. I'm aware that my body needs a consistent workout schedule in order for change to occur. And more importantly, I feel much better when I am on a moderately heavy workout schedule - I think for me it's a great stress reliever.
Today looks like this
AM: strength training / 30m
B: whey protein, milk, org. raspberry shake with flax seed oil
S: breakfast casserole (eggs, egg whites, red pepper, mushroom, sweet potato, cheese)
L: Roasted chicken, green beans, twice baked sweet potato
PM: cardio / 30m
S: 1.25 c. chicken and vegetable soup (homemade)
D: ??
Also, I'm going to start tracking my body fat %. I bought calipers and am now practicing with them. I find that right now I'm extremely inconsistent with my readings so I'm going to keep practicing until I get the hang of it. No need to track measurements when I'm not very good at it. I've read that it takes quite some time before you start getting consistent readings so that's what I do in the morning. I stand in my bathroom and practice w/ my calipers :)
I'm thinking in another week I should get the hang of it and when I do I'll start tracking that too.
I got injured, then my boyfriend got injured and then my dog got injured. The dog is still being nursed back to health. She hurt her back last week and we've been treading lightly ever since. I'm hoping that she's getting better but I can't honestly tell. We have a follow up visit to the vet on Friday and I'm hoping for good news.
On the health and wellness front, life still continues on. I was debating trying to make a "catch-up" blog post about the last 3 weeks but decided against it because honestly, nothing has really changed.
On the weighing in front, I am up +.6 lbs from my last post. It's been up and down since I last posted with nothing major in either direction. So basically I have been maintaining.
And since I haven't really seen any gains in my weight loss last week I started incorporating a few things.
First, I'm tracking actual calories again.
I happened across the blog of a woman who was doing South Beach and saw good strides in the beginning (Phase 1) but who did nothing but maintain while following Phase 2 - so she started tracking calories in addition to applying the Phase 2 rules and for her she needed that discipline to get the scale moving. I mean, tracking calories has worked for me in the past very well so I'm going to start trying to keep my calories in the 1400-1500 range.
Second, I've gone back to the gym. Who was I kidding? I have always done extremely well on an exercise heavy program and to leave it out of the equation just doesn't make sense. I'm on a 6 days of cardio/3 days of strength training schedule right now. I know that sounds like a lot but that's pretty much par for the course for me. I'm aware that my body needs a consistent workout schedule in order for change to occur. And more importantly, I feel much better when I am on a moderately heavy workout schedule - I think for me it's a great stress reliever.
Today looks like this
AM: strength training / 30m
B: whey protein, milk, org. raspberry shake with flax seed oil
S: breakfast casserole (eggs, egg whites, red pepper, mushroom, sweet potato, cheese)
L: Roasted chicken, green beans, twice baked sweet potato
PM: cardio / 30m
S: 1.25 c. chicken and vegetable soup (homemade)
D: ??
Also, I'm going to start tracking my body fat %. I bought calipers and am now practicing with them. I find that right now I'm extremely inconsistent with my readings so I'm going to keep practicing until I get the hang of it. No need to track measurements when I'm not very good at it. I've read that it takes quite some time before you start getting consistent readings so that's what I do in the morning. I stand in my bathroom and practice w/ my calipers :)
I'm thinking in another week I should get the hang of it and when I do I'll start tracking that too.
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