I have a feeling I will spend the whole week not knowing what day it is. It's SO hard to go back to work after a long weekend!
I was pretty excited to start my day with an Isagenix shake Tuesday morning. I needed that feeling of a plan, to know what I'm eating, to be back on track and the shake is a great way to start. So I filled up my water cup, shook up my shake, packed my bags and got out the door.
I could tell a little difference in my energy level because of the easy weekend I'd had. I have a good routine down for shakes/water/snack during my work day and loved getting back to that. It was a little harder to get all my water in, since I was used to limiting my intake in the interest of making it home in a decent time. I noticed I was a little hungrier (presumably after some snacking this weekend my body wasn't used to) but still kept up my regular pace and routine.
I was ITCHING to get back into the gym. Once I start working out, I love it. It's just the starting that's hard, which is why I did this 30 day challenge in the first place. Helping my body remember how I feel when I'm exercising was the hardest and easiest thing to do. Doing workouts I never thought of or exercises I'd never tried has been really fun, but it's more fun to know what I'm doing. It's also fun to compete with MYSELF. I have an app as part of this challenge that I log my workouts in as I'm doing them. So that way I can see how many reps and with what weight I have done each exercise. This is important for me because it's a more realistic way to track my progress than the scale or even measurements. It gives me a baseline for improvement without having to remember, "What did I bench last time? Which dumbbells did I use?" and gives me a challenge to myself to try harder each day than I did the day before.
I still hate the cardio sprints but I worked harder on those this time than I did the previous two weeks; faster and for longer. Not by much, but going from 25 to 30 seconds at a full sprint seems like a lifetime!
Ab day is getting both easier and harder, which makes me see and feel my progress. I have a lot of old baby weight hanging around to get rid of before I "see" the progress and I'm a LONG way (perhaps light years) from visible abdominal muscles. But I'm getting there!
Dinner was a quick, leftover affair which was AWESOME to get all that stuff out of my fridge. It was also awesome to have several options of lean protein, of complex carbs, from which to choose. Our stop at the grocery store yielded a few perishable staples for my family (juice, milk) but also a cart nearly half full of fresh fruits and veggies. THESE are the changes I wanted to be making.
Also, the scale continues to be a liar, worthless, and on its last days in my bathroom!
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Day 14: Monday, also known as, day in the car
So I'm all out of sorts over Monday. I had a plan for two weeks where every day was basically the same. This Monday was a mess. Not a literal mess, it just wasn't the same as the past two Mondays. I could have had a shake for breakfast, but I had eggs (no regrets). I hadn't had a breakfast I could chew in 13 days and eggs are the jam. No toast, no actual jam, just some eggs.
We got on the road and drove a pretty good bit before we stopped for lunch. I had a choice, and really wrestled with food vs. shake. In the end, I chose food. I like this challenge for many reasons, but I also know when it's over, I won't drink my breakfast and lunch every day. Instead, I got a wrap from Chick Fil A (no dressing) and fruit cup (thank you, CFA, for not having a melon in sight in your fruit bowl; berries and apples, a few mandarins and it's perfection. Fibrous fruits that are light on the sugar and in great portions. thank you.) My family doesn't eat fast food very often but when we do, I need to have the presence of mind to choose the stuff that's not awful. The wrap was actually pretty delicious and I didn't feel like I normally do when I go for a fried chicken sandwich and fries.
I had to dial back my water consumption a bit in order to keep from stopping every 30 minutes on a 7-hour drive. I still REALLY want a coffee but I'm not dying yet so I'm holding strong.
We got home and I really thought about a shake for dinner but again, life without shakes exists and I need to make good choices. So I had some leftover salmon (because I had controlled my portion earlier in the week!) and veggies and did not repeat DID NOT have the bowl of cereal I wanted at 8pm. That's the HARDEST DAMN THING y'all. I have had a bowl of cereal post-dinner almost every night since 2008. Weird that I've gained weight, right? I like old people cereal; low sugar, high fiber, tastes like grains. I just do. Sure, an occasional Golden Graham here and there, but I'm a Special K/Raisin Bran/plain Cheerios/corn flakes kinda gal. But it's still unnecessary refined sugar, carbs and not much nutritional value, even the protein ones. I let myself believe it was "better than dessert" for a long time but the truth is, it's kind of the same. So I hope to continue giving it up after this challenge, but I'm also not going to throw myself in the pit of despair if I do it once or twice.
The other hard part of Monday is that there just wasn't time and energy to do my Monday workout, nor the tools I needed because I work out at my gym at work and don't have those things at home. I contemplated switching out my Saturday workout (steady state cardio + tabata finisher) since I *can* do that at home. But I was just plain exhausted from the weekend, driving, light sleep and being in the car with three people for half of the weekend. My challenge now is to fit my 7-day week into 6 without being ridiculous. I hate a cleanse day but I really want to complete the whole challenge. I *can* workout on a cleanse day but I'll have to figure out a good way to do that, or skip the cleanse day, or skip a workout day. Friday is usually an "optional" workout day but I LOVE that workout. Maybe I could add half of that workout to Sunday's rest day (the part I can do at home, bootie blast) and do half a workout on my cleanse day? Or skip the cleanse day altogether? Goodness. This is why I have a coach for this challenge! I'll see what she thinks. It probably shouldn't be all that serious, but I am a planner and hate things out of order!
We got on the road and drove a pretty good bit before we stopped for lunch. I had a choice, and really wrestled with food vs. shake. In the end, I chose food. I like this challenge for many reasons, but I also know when it's over, I won't drink my breakfast and lunch every day. Instead, I got a wrap from Chick Fil A (no dressing) and fruit cup (thank you, CFA, for not having a melon in sight in your fruit bowl; berries and apples, a few mandarins and it's perfection. Fibrous fruits that are light on the sugar and in great portions. thank you.) My family doesn't eat fast food very often but when we do, I need to have the presence of mind to choose the stuff that's not awful. The wrap was actually pretty delicious and I didn't feel like I normally do when I go for a fried chicken sandwich and fries.
I had to dial back my water consumption a bit in order to keep from stopping every 30 minutes on a 7-hour drive. I still REALLY want a coffee but I'm not dying yet so I'm holding strong.
We got home and I really thought about a shake for dinner but again, life without shakes exists and I need to make good choices. So I had some leftover salmon (because I had controlled my portion earlier in the week!) and veggies and did not repeat DID NOT have the bowl of cereal I wanted at 8pm. That's the HARDEST DAMN THING y'all. I have had a bowl of cereal post-dinner almost every night since 2008. Weird that I've gained weight, right? I like old people cereal; low sugar, high fiber, tastes like grains. I just do. Sure, an occasional Golden Graham here and there, but I'm a Special K/Raisin Bran/plain Cheerios/corn flakes kinda gal. But it's still unnecessary refined sugar, carbs and not much nutritional value, even the protein ones. I let myself believe it was "better than dessert" for a long time but the truth is, it's kind of the same. So I hope to continue giving it up after this challenge, but I'm also not going to throw myself in the pit of despair if I do it once or twice.
The other hard part of Monday is that there just wasn't time and energy to do my Monday workout, nor the tools I needed because I work out at my gym at work and don't have those things at home. I contemplated switching out my Saturday workout (steady state cardio + tabata finisher) since I *can* do that at home. But I was just plain exhausted from the weekend, driving, light sleep and being in the car with three people for half of the weekend. My challenge now is to fit my 7-day week into 6 without being ridiculous. I hate a cleanse day but I really want to complete the whole challenge. I *can* workout on a cleanse day but I'll have to figure out a good way to do that, or skip the cleanse day, or skip a workout day. Friday is usually an "optional" workout day but I LOVE that workout. Maybe I could add half of that workout to Sunday's rest day (the part I can do at home, bootie blast) and do half a workout on my cleanse day? Or skip the cleanse day altogether? Goodness. This is why I have a coach for this challenge! I'll see what she thinks. It probably shouldn't be all that serious, but I am a planner and hate things out of order!
Day 13: Sunday
Sunday wasn't a whole lot different. We stayed up late but not all night. Shake for breakfast and lunch, snack, and the other half of my Saturday work out (Tabata finisher). This is the one Lila likes to do with me but she gave up halfway in and continued to watch Big Hero 6. I don't blame her. But I was glad to be getting SOME exercise in even if it wasn't in order. Sunday is technically a rest day but I didn't do this on Saturday so I figured I could do a 30 minute workout even on vacation.
This is what I'm realizing about my life. I CAN get in a 30 minute workout on vacation, on a busy day. I just have to make time for it and excuse myself from 30 minutes of laziness swapped for 30 minutes of using my muscles.
We had a birthday party to go to so we got ready and headed to see The Millers! Man it has been a minute since I've been on a military post, and I've never lived on post (stateside, OCONUS or otherwise) so I had to remind myself of a lot of things. The kids had a BLAST with their old friends and some new ones and we had a great time catching up with our old friends. I opted out of the sweets and snacks, so again didn't feel terrible about eating a burger (no bun) and some beans and macaroni for dinner. Salad isn't always an option, but it's also not always what I want to eat. I don't feel like I "failed" my challenge for eating a burger on Memorial Day weekend. Instead I feel like I put my good habits into play when I could have chosen otherwise.
And Sam, I'm probably the reason you ran out of bottled water! I think I had 8 while I was there (the little 8 oz ones). But it was hot! Sam makes delicious baked goods and next time I'll enjoy them! Hayden had my share this time, with cake & ice cream, a cupcake and one MORE cupcake before we left. It's vacation, right?
This is what I'm realizing about my life. I CAN get in a 30 minute workout on vacation, on a busy day. I just have to make time for it and excuse myself from 30 minutes of laziness swapped for 30 minutes of using my muscles.
We had a birthday party to go to so we got ready and headed to see The Millers! Man it has been a minute since I've been on a military post, and I've never lived on post (stateside, OCONUS or otherwise) so I had to remind myself of a lot of things. The kids had a BLAST with their old friends and some new ones and we had a great time catching up with our old friends. I opted out of the sweets and snacks, so again didn't feel terrible about eating a burger (no bun) and some beans and macaroni for dinner. Salad isn't always an option, but it's also not always what I want to eat. I don't feel like I "failed" my challenge for eating a burger on Memorial Day weekend. Instead I feel like I put my good habits into play when I could have chosen otherwise.
And Sam, I'm probably the reason you ran out of bottled water! I think I had 8 while I was there (the little 8 oz ones). But it was hot! Sam makes delicious baked goods and next time I'll enjoy them! Hayden had my share this time, with cake & ice cream, a cupcake and one MORE cupcake before we left. It's vacation, right?
Day 12: Saturday
Our trip took FAR longer than expected due to some (avoidable) setbacks so we got in around 2am. Yikes! That meant not as much sleep as I would have liked for sure. But I stuck to my usual routine: breakfast shake, water, midmorning snack of apples and almonds, lunch shake. Dinner I knew would be a little tricky since it's a weekend for BBQing! But I did half of my Saturday workout, which is 30 minutes of steady-state cardio. This is usually a walk for me, but since I had a pool handy I used that to my advantage. Swimming is great exercise and I wish I had access to a pool all the time!
Dinner wasn't the worst choices- grilled chicken was my protein but "BBQ foods" were mainly my choices for sides. So I enjoyed a little macaroni salad, a deviled egg and some corn on the cob. Not my usual greens and complex carbs, but I enjoyed myself in moderation so I didn't feel too badly about it. I still avoided alcohol, caffeine and sugar so I don't think I really "fell off the wagon".
Dinner wasn't the worst choices- grilled chicken was my protein but "BBQ foods" were mainly my choices for sides. So I enjoyed a little macaroni salad, a deviled egg and some corn on the cob. Not my usual greens and complex carbs, but I enjoyed myself in moderation so I didn't feel too badly about it. I still avoided alcohol, caffeine and sugar so I don't think I really "fell off the wagon".
Monday, May 25, 2015
Day 11
Friday. Big day. Busy day. Perfect day to challenge myself!
It's an optional workout day but since we are outta town this weekend I figured I betta WORK.
It's a complex day, with different sets of muscles being worked all together. I found that with even a slightly stronger core, I had better balance and form. I upped some weights in places and reps in others.
After that I did try the optional Bootie Blast I hadn't done before. WOW. Bootie burn is more like it. So. Sore! But worth it.
I ran errands, picked up a kid, met everyone at home, packed the car and hit the road for our GA trip. I am def nervous about maintaining my challenge expectations and goals while away. Fingers crossed!
Thursday, May 21, 2015
Day 10
1/3 of the way through! I noticed a significant difference in my gym workout today, after our challenge call. I wanted to push myself more, I wanted to work harder.
Initially I wondered, "Why don't we have a FB group?" or something like that to keep us accountable, to check in on, etc. On day two I realized how disastrous that might be! Because the second someone had different results than me, different progress, despite a different starting point, I would likely be discouraged. I love that NO ONE I know is doing this challenge along with me, because I'm not spending time comparing myself to anyone but me. I am in competition with myself.
I tried out my hummus kale deviled eggs as my post-workout snack yesterday and I think I enjoyed them as much as one can enjoy a deviled egg without mayo and with kale. I like mixing it up though and this was a good way to do that.
Some nights I haven't been as hungry at dinner as others, but I knew Cleanse Day was coming up so I didn't skimp on my (appropriately-sized) portions of protein, veggies and brown rice (my fave) at dinner. I did find that I was better at recognizing when I was full and not trying to make myself eat everything on my plate.
My legs and butt were still sore from Day 9 when I went to bed on Day 10, so hopefully that means progress!
Initially I wondered, "Why don't we have a FB group?" or something like that to keep us accountable, to check in on, etc. On day two I realized how disastrous that might be! Because the second someone had different results than me, different progress, despite a different starting point, I would likely be discouraged. I love that NO ONE I know is doing this challenge along with me, because I'm not spending time comparing myself to anyone but me. I am in competition with myself.
I tried out my hummus kale deviled eggs as my post-workout snack yesterday and I think I enjoyed them as much as one can enjoy a deviled egg without mayo and with kale. I like mixing it up though and this was a good way to do that.
Some nights I haven't been as hungry at dinner as others, but I knew Cleanse Day was coming up so I didn't skimp on my (appropriately-sized) portions of protein, veggies and brown rice (my fave) at dinner. I did find that I was better at recognizing when I was full and not trying to make myself eat everything on my plate.
My legs and butt were still sore from Day 9 when I went to bed on Day 10, so hopefully that means progress!
Day 9: ROCK your life
Today was a good day in the gym and in my eating habits! The water is going down, the weights are going up, the sweat is running down and the heart rate is going up. I continue to be excited for "after"...for the habits I hope to keep after June 11, the progress I can make after I'm not mentally and financially committed to a 30-day challenge.
Tonight I rushed home right after work (gym was at 4) and made some delicious turkey burgers for dinner. I usually skip the bun and cheese anyway so this isn't a big meal adjustment for me. I was DYING for a good turkey burger with tzatziki sauce (the only thing I've ever actually used plain nonfat Greek yogurt for) so I whipped some up. My garlic salt comes FLYING out of this new container so it was a little grainy and more salty than I wanted. But I'll try again! I also tried out Perrier Sparkling Water with grapefruit. Ironic, since I enjoy neither sparkling water nor grapefruit, but I was fighting a juice craving. It's not bad! It's not my favorite, but a good alternative to juice and soda.
The reason I rushed home was because we had a check-in call at 7 and I wanted to be done with dinner and ready for it. So I was. And then I discovered I read it wrong and it was in fact at 8. So that gave me time to shower and get settled in before our call at 8.
Our call is like a webinar, where we can see and hear Erica (our Sisters in Shape coach) and we can chat with her and each other via text box. So it was a good check-in and place to ask questions, but also a great motivator! We were through week one so we had a good handle on the meal plan, the exercises, the routine. So this call was a challenge, to ROCK our workouts this week. Erica used the work "rock" as a verb, but also an acronym. For the Reason we're doing it (do you know why you're doing this challenge? Have you told someone about it to help keep you accountable?); the Opportunity we have (both physically and mentally but also financially if we're interested in joining her team); Change (look at the changes we've already made and how we can make them lasting habits); and KILL the voice. This was my favorite! Kill the voices that tell you "you don't have time for this", "you'll never be able to do this", "you're not strong enough". Erica shared some of her story with us and it was so nice to hear things coming from a REAL person; not a sales and marketing standpoint, not a "buy my book and products" person, not someone who was single, independently wealthy, without kids, etc. She's so real and honest and that is a big part of why I feel like I can do this challenge. She's not judgmental, she's compassionate and she knows where many of us are coming from as we began this challenge.
I'm not into motivational speakers. It's not my thing. But there was something about our call that was super uplifting and made me want to be successful. Something about women supporting each other, even when we have different goals and are in completely different places. And really, something about perfect strangers lifting each other up instead of so much of the tearing down you see these days. I'm pumped for the rest of this week and this challenge!
Tonight I rushed home right after work (gym was at 4) and made some delicious turkey burgers for dinner. I usually skip the bun and cheese anyway so this isn't a big meal adjustment for me. I was DYING for a good turkey burger with tzatziki sauce (the only thing I've ever actually used plain nonfat Greek yogurt for) so I whipped some up. My garlic salt comes FLYING out of this new container so it was a little grainy and more salty than I wanted. But I'll try again! I also tried out Perrier Sparkling Water with grapefruit. Ironic, since I enjoy neither sparkling water nor grapefruit, but I was fighting a juice craving. It's not bad! It's not my favorite, but a good alternative to juice and soda.
The reason I rushed home was because we had a check-in call at 7 and I wanted to be done with dinner and ready for it. So I was. And then I discovered I read it wrong and it was in fact at 8. So that gave me time to shower and get settled in before our call at 8.
Our call is like a webinar, where we can see and hear Erica (our Sisters in Shape coach) and we can chat with her and each other via text box. So it was a good check-in and place to ask questions, but also a great motivator! We were through week one so we had a good handle on the meal plan, the exercises, the routine. So this call was a challenge, to ROCK our workouts this week. Erica used the work "rock" as a verb, but also an acronym. For the Reason we're doing it (do you know why you're doing this challenge? Have you told someone about it to help keep you accountable?); the Opportunity we have (both physically and mentally but also financially if we're interested in joining her team); Change (look at the changes we've already made and how we can make them lasting habits); and KILL the voice. This was my favorite! Kill the voices that tell you "you don't have time for this", "you'll never be able to do this", "you're not strong enough". Erica shared some of her story with us and it was so nice to hear things coming from a REAL person; not a sales and marketing standpoint, not a "buy my book and products" person, not someone who was single, independently wealthy, without kids, etc. She's so real and honest and that is a big part of why I feel like I can do this challenge. She's not judgmental, she's compassionate and she knows where many of us are coming from as we began this challenge.
I'm not into motivational speakers. It's not my thing. But there was something about our call that was super uplifting and made me want to be successful. Something about women supporting each other, even when we have different goals and are in completely different places. And really, something about perfect strangers lifting each other up instead of so much of the tearing down you see these days. I'm pumped for the rest of this week and this challenge!
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