End of January Reflection

I ended up taking 6 days off from the gym. I still am not sure how I injured my back, but it's definitely a pulled/strained muscle. Getting up after sitting or turning while laying in bed send a painful twinge across the left side of my lower back. I guess the one positive thing I learned about myself by taking time off is that I really DON'T like to be away from the gym. It's nice to realize I do enjoy fitness.

By yesterday afternoon, I was getting really crabby. I felt like I was losing all my progress by missing the gym and was starting to "feel fat" again, which I haven't felt all month. Sorry to my boy, Nels, who had to put up with my crabbiness...

Today, Robin and I went to the gym with the intention of a light workout followed by the HOT TUB! We've been members of LA Fitness for about a year and a half and have never stepped foot in the pool or hot tub area. I did 30 minutes on the Stairmaster starting at Level 6 for 8 minutes and then stayed at Level 8 the whole time; on the "Fat Burner" workout option.

We changed into our swimsuits and eagerly walked to the pool area...only to find...the hot tub is out of service! Are you kidding me?! Of course the first time we decide to use it, we can't! So we went into the pool and did 3 full laps and realized, "Damn...we have a LOT of training to do for this triathlon!" It was fun though and was nice to have a different workout, I look forward to getting better at my swimming!

Overall, looking at January, I am very pleased with my progress. Usually I go into eating better and exercising too hardcore at the beginning - go 6 days a week, hardly eat anything...and I fail halfway through the week.

This time I built myself up slowly and made small changes day by day. I started eating oatmeal mid-day every morning and it has really stabilized my hunger for the workday. I'm no longer starving and shaking by 2 p.m. at work. I eat grilled chicken-something for lunch M-F (chicken tacos or chicken salad). And I worked out 4 times every week, usually Sunday through Wednesday. There hasn't been a huge change in pounds, but definitely in inches, which is a huge plus, and I feel more toned.

I just have to have patience...something I definitely have trouble with ; )

My goal for February is to work up to 10 swimming laps (1 lap is down and back across a swimming pool), which is what I will have to do for the triathlon. My weight last weigh-in was 143.5, I'd like to get to 138 by end of February.

Here's to February!

Standstill.

So this week I've been at a standstill. Thank you very much, lower back.

I ended up taking 3 days off from the gym, and I feel awful and lazy even though I was skipping for a legitimate reason. Since the start of the month, I've gone 4 days every week! I am going to go tonight (I will be careful and do something light! My back feels 98% better at this point) and tomorrow. That means I only got 3 days in this week, but it's better than giving up for the whole week.

I lost half a pound this week. I don't even think that really counts! Still, it was nice to see a "143" on the scale even though it was really a "143.5."

Good news is, despite lack of exercise I've been keeping up with my eating. Had my salad and grilled chicken for lunch every day and small, healthy portions at dinner. I haven't even had any sweet snacks all week! Monday night I went to Max & Erma's with my parents and I was very happy that some nutritional content was available on the menu. I ordered the hula bowl salad, which was mixed greens, grilled chicken, mandarin oranges, and pineapples and if my memory serves me correctly it was like 550 calories and just 9 grams of fat. So I was proud that I ordered that even though I really wanted my favorite thing - a cheeseburger. : )

I can't wait for the weather to warm up so I can start jogging outside again and work on my biking for the triathlon!

Seriously, what the heck did I do to my back?!

Bump in the road. I seem to have strained something in my lower back. It's been aching for about a week now, and I've been ignoring it. Yesterday I had a good workout and spent 30 minutes on the treadmill doing an alternating speed/incline workout. As soon as I stopped, I realized I only aggravated my back more. I now have a huge Bengay patch on my lower back and it seems to be helping. But I will unfortunately have to skip my boot camp class tonight = (

Here is my "Turn up the Burn" treadmill workout that I did yesterday. I got it from Fitness magazine. It's really great and challenging:

MINUTES SPEED INCLINE PLAN

2 4.0 mph 0-2 Warm-up

5 4.5-6.0 0-2 Increase speed by 0.5 mph each minute until you reach

6.0 mph; maintain for 2 minutes.

7 4.0-4.5 2-10.0 Increase incline by 2.0 each minute until you reach

10.0; stay there for 3 minutes.

1 6.0 mph 2.0 Descend

4 Varied 2.0 Sprint (your best effort) for 1 min., then jog (4.5 mph);

repeat combo, trying to sprint faster second time.

1 5.0-6.0 4.0 Climb

4 6.0-7.0 4.0

1 4.0-4.5 0 Recover

1 5.0-6.0 0 Jog

2 Sprint 0 Best effort

2 2.o-3.0 0 Cooldown

It's been awhile since I last did this workout, and I made it through the whole thing exactly as written out and felt great (besides my back, of course). It really showed me how much improvement I've made by going to the gym regularly for the last few weeks. Cardio-wise, I'm stronger than before and able to handle more in my workouts.

My body feels more toned and even though the scale isn't showing a huge loss, several people are telling me I look thinner. I feel stronger when doing weight lifting too; I'm now at 25 lbs. for the overhead press - started that one at just 15 lbs.!!!

I will have to make my workouts lighter this week while my back gets better. A friend told me I should rest for a full week, but there is no way I could stand missing the gym for an entire week. Sorry, just not happening!

That's another thing I've noticed - I'm really into a routine now. I read somewhere that it takes 30 days to form a habit. While I'm not quite at 30 days, but I can tell things are already sticking. I generally go to the gym Sunday - Wednesday and then throw in a 5th day somewhere. I feel awful if I don't make it to the gym. I've also noticed that I've stopped thinking about food so much - the first week, it was all I could think about and kept thinking about how I felt hungry or wanted some junk food. After forcing myself to stick with eating healthier overall, it's become a lot easier.

I'm happy with my progress thus far and am sure I'll be where I want to by summer! : )

Finally, a loss!!!

Today was my weigh-in and I'm proud to announce...down 2 pounds! I weighed myself 3 times and even moved the scaled to the kitchen floor for one of the weigh-ins just to make sure! It's a little scary to know I have to keep this up now to see more pounds go, but at least I know it's working!

Been doing a great job with the gym this week. Last night I really didn't feel like going and when my dad asked me to go around 8 p.m. (my dad and brother belong to my gym as well) I said, "I don't know...I have to work at 6:30 in the morning," my dad replied, "I have to work at 6, what's your point?" Haha, fine. I went. I was so glad I did because I felt MUCH better. I did some weights and then the Stair Master for 30 minutes. Heading out to meet Robin at the gym soon and that will make 4 days in a row!

That's really all I have to say for today...I haven't been logging my calories like I meant to, but I have been staying on track! Let's hope I at least don't gain any weight for next week's weigh-in!

$11 lunch for the week and raw chicken phobia

Today seems a bit backwards. I hardly ate and worked out a lot. The fact that I barely ate all day is not really a good thing, I am sure my metabolism slowed down a lot. But I was so busy at work I didn't really have time to think about it.

I had Special K for breakfast, then had 1/2 a packet of plain oatmeal mixed with 1/2 a packet of brown sugar oatmeal with walnuts around 1:30 p.m. Then I had some Select Harvest minestrone soup around 3:30 p.m. Came home and the family had thin crust pizza (my portion is cheese only) so I had about 5 pizza squares and then a cookie...not saying that's a good thing, but do have to be honest.

I went to boot camp class at the gym and either I'm getting stronger or Nicole (the instructor) went light on us today. I didn't feel like passing out at the end like I usually do. So I went and did another 26 minutes on the "Cardio Death Machine" increasing the cross ramp from 10 to 14 and the resistance from 8 to 13 in random intervals.

THEN...even though we did some weight lifting in class...I did a set of:

- 25 lbs chest fly (machine)

- 20 lbs overhead press

- 20 lb dumbbells chest press

- 15 lb dumbbells bicep curls

-15 lb dumbbells tricep extension

After that, I was pretty wiped out.

Last Thursday, I didn't feel like making dinner and just wanted to get home and relax. I swung by Taco Bell and ordered 2 tacos off their "diet menu." Now, I think the fact that Taco Bell is marketing a diet plan like Subway did is completely ridiculous; but I do appreciate the "healthier" option. This was the first time in my entire life I ordered tacos without cheese. You see, they just substitute salsa for the cheese on your taco. Last week was my 2nd week of salads for lunch and I was growing pretty tired of them. Also rather sick of cleaning the Foreman grill. So this week, it's safe to say Taco Bell inspired me. Scary, isn't it?

There's what I bought. Shredded lettuce, reduced sodium taco seasoning, chicken, salsa (hiding behind the seasoning) and some whole wheat tortillas. Cooked up all the chicken in the seasoning and threw it in a container to bring it all to work for the week!

Now, as many of you may already know, I have a serious problem with raw chicken. It completely grosses me out. I freak out about it touching other things and am always scared I didn't clean anything that touched it enough. And, to top it all off, I have to wear latex gloves while handling it and those are still not enough of a barrier for me. So I think next week I should put up a video of myself cutting chicken up just so you can all have a good laugh. This was my first time having to cut it up (I always cook it in one whole piece or make Nels cut it if he's around) and it was not fun.

Tomorrow I'm going to start writing down my calories for a few days, because I'm not seeing weight loss results and don't have a grasp of how I'm doing in that area. So, hooray for measuring everything I eat...yeah that's sarcasm.

Gonna be sore in the morning! Good night!

Be prepared!

Haven't blogged for a few days, things have been a little bit crazy!

In a couple hours, Nels and I will be meeting my friends Rachel & Carlene for Rachel's birthday dinner, which she is having at P.F. Chang's. I've never eaten here, but I remember this restaurant name popping up quite frequently on the "worst" lists in the "Eat This, Not That!" e-mails I get. So I checked out their website and searched the name.

Thank goodness I am checking out this information first! Nutritionally, this restaurant gets a D+. Eat This, Not That says that with a few exceptions, you will get at least a full day's worth of sodium from any dish or soup at this restaurant. Many of the dishes have over 1,000 calories.

I was eyeing the Ginger Chicken & Broccoli when looking at the menu online and it turns out that nutritionally, this is a pretty good choice. The dish has 660 calories and 22 grams of fat. I plan to eat only half of this dish and take the rest home.

So when it comes to places like this - be prepared!

My first weigh-in was on Wednesday. I am disappointed to report that my weight stayed exactly the same. I thought at least one pound would be gone. But there is a huge difference in how I feel. Last week I went to the gym 4 days out of the week, and the same thing happened this past week. I am doing a good mix of exercises, which is important because it prevents both you and your body from getting bored. I am also already noticing my jeans are already fitting more comfortably. To me, that is more important than the number on the scale. And I am feeling more toned as well!

In addition to the mini-triathlon and 5K's I plan on doing this summer, I'm going to be doing a "Scavenger Dash" in Chicago in May with Robin. (Robin is doing the mini triathlon with me too!) The Scavenger Dash is like an Amazing Race, apparently. You run around Chicago collecting a bunch of items. Sounds fun!

On Wednesday, Robin and I did some weightlifting and then this machine at the gym for an entire HOUR that I like to call the Cardio Death Machine:

I had the ramp set at 10 most of the workout and the resistance alternating between 10 and 12. According to the machine, I burned 600 calories. Awesome! When I got home, the smell of chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven hit me as soon I walked in the door. Not awesome! Thanks, mom. However, I only had ONE cookie so that was good.

Thursday night was my rest night to watch the trashy but addicting show Jersey Shore. I am sad to report that I had two cookies that night...and a (small) brownie.

Friday morning I met Robin at the gym at 5:30 a.m. and we did the Cardio Death Machine for 45 minutes. I did a better job with the workout this time, but it's definitely a tough machine and a good one for building cardio endurance.

All week long, I had my salad with grilled chicken for lunch. Ate dinners at home and had small portions. (By now, I can't even remember what I ate for dinner throughout the week). Friday I had a 6-inch whole wheat sub at Subway with turkey, spinach, tomatoes and pickles.

Overall, not a bad week in terms of eating. Had a few shortfalls with sweets at home, but I am hoping they do not make too much of an impact. It was easier to avoid these things when I had my own place because I wouldn't bake or buy such things. Living at home, it's a little harder.

Brownies, frustration, and a triathlon

This entry is going to get right to the point of its title.

I ate 2 brownies today. They were relatively small and thin. Homemade ones. I couldn't resist. Beating myself up about it now.

Frustrated because a girl I know posted on Facebook that she already lost 5 pounds with Weight Watchers. I just don't buy diets like that. I think they are not sustainable long term. Still, annoyed...and jealous...

So, I can't believe the words I'm about to say: I'm going to do a mini-triathlon this year. It's right in my neighborhood in August. My mom's friend did this very race last year, and through just 2 e-mails she's already given me so much helpful information on training. When it gets closer, she will also show me the course and explain the transitions from swimming to biking and biking to running, which I was curious about.

I'm excited and terrified at the same time! I just don't want to fail. It will be interesting to blog about my training for the triathlon once that starts. Robin (a friend of mine from grade school and my current workout buddy) wants to join in on it too. I think that will help a lot to have someone at my fitness level to train with!

Here are the distances:

250 yard swim (10 down and backs of a swimming pool)

6.5 mile bike ride

2.1 mile run

Looking at this now, I think the swim will be the hardest. Swimming laps isn't something I've practiced much. My gym, LA Fitness, has a pool so I need to start practicing. I'm not very concerned about the biking. I think my legs are really strong and I biked a LOT with my dad when I was younger. I was planning on buying a new bike in the spring anyway, so that will be the perfect time to work on building up endurance. Still, it just doesn't sound like a lot...I mean last summer I ran 5 miles a few times. This is just biking it.

Right now, running 2 miles is a piece of cake. But I know that I have to build up my strength, because it's not going to be such a piece of cake after the swimming and bike ride!

I also found a 5K in the area in May, so I'm going to do another one of those and maybe another in June.

Eek! This will be a journey, that's for sure!

Yoga with Mr. Rubber Band

I tried a yoga class tonight. The instructor was made out of a rubber band. I'll get to that in a bit.

Last night I went to the gym and did the free range chest press (25 lbs), shoulder raises (20 lbs), low row (45 lbs) shoulder press (20 lbs). Then I spent 30 minutes on the Stairmaster, starting at level 6 for 5 minute, up to level 7 for another 5, and finished at level 8 the remaining 20 minutes. I ran on the treadmill (5.5 - 5.8 mph) for another 15 minutes.

Today I got some GREAT news at work...I GET TO GO TO SAN DIEGO!!! I'm so excited! We are attending a huge conference out there that I don't really feel like explaining, haha. We fly out Saturday morning on March 13th, and stay until Thursday, March 18th! The conference doesn't start till Monday so I'll get to enjoy it on the weekend! I am hoping my friend Greg who lives in L.A. can meet up with me that Saturday.

So...back to food and exercise. It was easy to eat better today because of the structure of the workday. I had Special K Protein Plus in the morning, oatmeal with walnuts mid-morning, and my salad at lunch. I have to say, halfway through that salad, I was getting rather sick of it...

Then the craziness of my day. I decided to take the long way home from work because I don't want my I-Pass to load another $40 till the next payday. Uhh, the long way took AN HOUR AND 35 MINUTES. I was pissed, frustrated, and hungry. I didn't get home till 6:35, and boot camp class is at 7. I was NOT missing boot camp class. Thank goodness my gym is literally down the street. I ran into the house, changed into gym clothes, and scarfed down some peanut butter and whole wheat toast.

Boot camp class was PACKED. There are usually 12 people in the class, there were about 20 today. Got a great workout as always! During our stretches at the end of class, I was feeling pretty good and stretching felt great. I decided to stay for yoga afterwards.

Now I've tried yoga in a couple high school and college gym classes and have a yoga DVD that I've used a grand total of...3 times. So I have a knowledge of some of the poses and breathing. The class was hard to get through after all the squats we did in boot camp class. The way the instructor was bending...he seriously looked like he had no spine. He was a pile of human limbs on the floor. It was insane. Then he did some crazy balance thing that I can't even begin to explain. He did one like this:

But also did a crazier one that I can't find a picture of.

Yoga once a week seems like a good idea. I felt calm and relaxed. I consider myself fairly flexible, but a lot of the poses were pretty tough. I'm interested to see if my flexibility gets better.

So I spent 2 hours at the gym, an hour in boot camp and an hour with yoga. When I got home I ate a bowl of Special K Protein Plus. I know it's not wise to eat 30 minutes before bed, but I just did 2 hours of activity and didn't even get to eat a "real" dinner today!

Well, that's everything. I'm exhausted. Good night! : )

And then the weekend comes along.

So overall, the week went really well. I ate healthy food and made it to the gym 4 times, Sunday- Wednesday.

And then the weekend comes along.

Friday night was my friend Amy's birthday dinner. We went to Rock Bottom Brewery. There I ordered a cheeseburger and ate about half of my fries. I had one bottle of Miller Lite later. So if I had stopped there for the weekend, that doesn't seem too bad.

Now over the summer when I was planning on meeting some friends at the same restaurant, I couldn't find nutritional information on their website. I contacted them, and they sent it. The only thing missing is the total fat count, for some reason. But compared to most restaurants, the calorie count of my meal wasn't TOO horrible. Keep in mind I only ate half of my fries portion.

Here's a screenshot of the nutrition info for the restaurant.

Saturday started off decent. Special K in the morning, Quizno's for lunch - had a turkey pesto bullet and tomato basil soup.

Then Nels and I had a special night planned: seeing Ralphie May, one of our favorite comedians, at The Improv in Schaumburg.

That's where the bomb hit.

Their dinner menu was limited, so I ordered chicken fingers. I have no way of knowing that nutrition info. After our meal, we ordered a big ol' slice of chocolate cake that we split. We also shared a B-52 coffee which was DELICIOUS. It had Kahlua, amaretto and something else in it.

The comedy show was great! I would love to go to something like that again. It was a great deal too, tickets were only $25 and then our meal was about $8.95, so like most restaurants. And we even got our picture with Ralphie May afterwards:

There's the funny fat man in all his glory! Haha. We rushed out to the meeting area right after the show, and luckily he showed up right where we were standing, so we were like the 3rd people to meet him.

THEN when I came home, my mom had used her Perfect Brownie pan that she got for Christmas. I ate one. And I can tell you right now, those damn brownies are going to tempt me ALL WEEK LONG. It's 9:10 in the morning and I want a brownie right now. Thank, devil baking woman! Haha. The only good thing about the Perfect Brownie pan is it makes the brownies a rather small portion size, so I {guess} that's a plus?

Back to the gym today! Going to do some weightlifting and an hour of cardio. Then have to go grocery shopping for my salad stuff for the week.

So, I don't know what to make of my weekend. I certainly could have pigged out MORE if I truly wanted to. I tried to show some restraint, but enjoy myself at the same time. Did I ruin all my hard work for the week???

What to do for dinner...

I have to make something for dinner tonight, because no one will be home. I don't know what to make, but I do know grabbing a trusty 99-cent Wendy's chicken sandwich with ketchup only sounds like a nice easy way out. I know it's not a wise choice though...

Officially obsessed with oatmeal and walnuts. It's my favorite part of the morning. Had some Special K Red Berries around 7:30 a.m., oatmeal and a banana at 10:30 a.m., and ate lunch at almost 2 p.m.

I had a Lean Cuisine - ginger garlic stir fry with chicken, my favorite. I added some of my own grilled chicken to add more protein. And that's about it for the day thus far...

I'm supposed to take the night off from the gym after going for 4 days straight, but I sort of want to go. I feel like I'm not doing enough cardio...attended 2 hour long classes this week and then did cardio of my own the other 2 days for 30+ minutes. But still feel like I should be doing more. And the fact that I won't be able to go to the gym Friday or Saturday is bugging me a bit.

Also feeling a little bit apprehensive tomorrow. Amy is having a birthday dinner at Rock Bottom Brewery, and I'd like a cheeseburger. An old friend of mine from high school, Stephanie, has been awesome and offering me nutrition and workout help - she's a personal trainer now, which I think is so cool! She said you're allowed 3 cheats a week, and I've been damn good this week, so I just hope I can eat the burger without any guilt after!

If I don't make it to the gym tonight, I have plenty of work to do at home to keep my mind off eating. We have a bunch of new clients at work to produce video for and I've got several scripts to write!

Anyone reading this, please share your healthy dinner recipes...I'd love some!!!

----------------

Little food in the house and little money till payday tomorrow, so, I made scrambled eggs with some whole wheat toast. Good and filling and healthy enough, so it worked!

Pain...(the good kind)

My legs and butt are KILLING me from all the squats Monday night and then the treadmill last night. And now my arms are sore too because I did a good amount of weights yesterday. Good pain, but I didn't want to get out of bed this morning!

For the last 2 weeks, today was the last day of the work week thanks to the holidays. It's so hard to shift back into a 5 day workweek. I was so tired this morning I put shampoo on my loofah to use as body wash. Oh well.

Since I keep hitting the snooze button, I haven't had enough time to make eggs in the morning. I had some Special K Protein Plus cereal this morning, which really doesn't taste great, but I ate it anyway. Going to have oatmeal and walnuts around 11 a.m. and then wait till 1 p.m. for lunch.

-----------------

Oatmeal with walnuts AND slivered almonds = dee.lish.ussssss.

---------------

Made the same salad as yesterday - baby spinach & spring mix with cherry tomatoes, walnuts, some dressing, and this time 4 grilled chicken tenderloins. Feeling a bit frustrated because I ate an hour ago and I feel hungry again and dissatisfied. I ate slowly and drank a lot of water - I drink TONS of water all day at work. Not sure what the problem is. Going to have some string cheese and the rest of my cherry tomatoes soon since I have no more salad left for the week.

Going to spinning class tonight with Robin and my dad. Not looking forward to it. It's not that I can't do the cycling part of the class...it's that the bike seats are PAINFUL!!! Haha, really! Robin and I haven't gone to the class for a long time, so we're going to give it another try. I need a padded seat!

-----------------

Alrighty, final update of the day. I'm proud of myself for going to the gym for 4 days straight! Woo hoo! I think I am going to take tomorrow off because I haven't given my legs any time to recover since Boot Camp class on Monday.

So I really hate spinning class. I hate the guy that teaches the class. I hate this Lance Armstrong wannabe in the class. And I hate those damn bike seats. THEY HURT! I have never been a fan of stationary bikes, I would much rather bike outside. It's just really hard to get yourself to put full effort into pedaling when you're not moving. Come summer, I am buying myself a nice new bike.

While in the spinning class, in the mirror I could see the kickbox class going on and it looks AWESOME. You have to bring your own gloves though, and wrist wraps. I'm going to check out how much they are and *hopefully* try the class out soon.

For dinner I had about 6 cheese ravioli with organic Ragu - good energy prior to the hour-long bike class. And then I was going to treat myself to a small cookie (it was sized between a Chips Ahoy and a Subway cookie) but I only ate half of it before I realized I wasn't even enjoying it. This is a new record, people! I haven't had a chocolate dessert since SATURDAY, wow!

Well that's it for the night! Goodnight!

Week One

I'm reluctant to say my diet and new focus on exercise are a New Year's Resolution. This seems so cliche and generally, New Year's Resolutions fail. But after the Christmas cookie binge that takes place for me each December, it's natural that diet and exercise kick back into gear in January. So, here I am!

I'll consider myself a "health wannabe." I admire people who are dedicated to fitness and who try to eat pretty healthy. I feel like I eat fairly healthy, but of course there is room for improvement and I do want to lose some weight.

Now, in my opinion, the first thing you have to do when changing your diet is to be realistic. Am I ever going to swap regular milk for soy milk? No. Will I ever like cottage cheese? No. (Trust me, I've tried many different types of cottage cheese, plain, with pineapple, with peaches...it's just not for me!) Can I cut back on sweets? Yes. Can I plan healthier meals? Yes. See, those things sound much more positive and realistic than, "I'll never eat sugar again!"

I also feel like if I keep a blog of this, it will help me identify where I can do better. The thought that friends may be reading up on it also makes me feel accountable for keeping on this. We'll see how it all goes.

A little scary to put this out there for the world - but everyone around me knows what I look like so what do the numbers matter?

This morning I weighed 146 pounds. I'm 5'2". At the end of high school I weighed 134 pounds. If I can get back to that, I'll be happy. If I go beyond that - hey, even better. Now I know weight isn't everything, so what I'll be judging the most is clothes. There are several jeans hiding in my dresser that I haven't put on in some time.

First goal: fitting into those jeans!

Here's a breakdown of the week so far:

Sunday

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with a bit of shredded colby jack cheese on top of hash browns with bell peppers and onion

Snack: Special K Red Berries and milk

Lunch: Burger King original chicken sandwich, ketchup only. Hey, fast food is gonna happen now and again. My choice here weighs in at: 420 calories, 16 grams of fat, 3.5 grams saturated fat, and 24 grams of protein. 1,210 mg of sodium...YIKES...thankfully, I rarely eat at BK.

Pre-workout: Jif natural peanut butter on Brownberry 100% whole grain wheat toast

Gym: Shoulder press @ 25 lbs, oblique twists using 10 lbs

30 minutes on the Stairmaster, alternating between levels 8 and 10.

15 minutes on the treadmill, ran for a mile, walked the rest on an 8% incline

Post-workout: Carnation Instant Breakfast chocolate drink mix

Monday

Breakfast: Scrambled Egg Beaters with a bit of shredded Cheddar on whole grain wheat toast

11 a.m. snack: Quaker high fiber oatmeal, maple and brown sugar flavor

1 p.m. lunch: Spring mix salad with Tyson precooked grilled chicken breast strips

*Now, I was completely unprepared for lunch, I'll admit. The Tyson chicken was disgusting, and I didn't have enough in the salad. I learned my lesson and went grocery shopping that night for better salad items!

Snack: Sargento reduced fat string cheese and a pink lady apple

Dinner: Baked mostaccoli (ground beef, spaghetti sauce and mozzarella)

Gym: 7 p.m., boot camp class. I love this class!!! It's an hour long and combines calisthenics, lots of squats, lunges, lifting, push ups, and crunches. The instructor is fun and she helps you with your form if you're off. I've been going to it for almost 2 months now.

Post-workout: Carnation Instant Breakfast chocolate drink mix

Tuesday

Breakfast: Special K Protein Plus cereal with fat free milk

Lunch: Great salad! Spring mix greens, cherry tomatoes, walnuts, and FRESH grilled chicken that I grilled last night - with a bit of an olive oil-based light House Italian dressing.

The salad was very good and filling at the time...but it's 2:30 p.m. and I feel hungry again. =/ I feel like I ate lunch too early today, and didn't have my oatmeal mid-morning to help with that.

Snack: Sargento reduced fat string cheese

4 p.m.: Double fiber oatmeal with some walnuts mixed in

Meant to have more of my grilled chicken for dinner, but forgot it in the fridge at work. So I went straight to my volunteering at the cat shelter and was happy to find lots of the babies got adopted! My favorite little Brogan is back from his foster home and I want to take him home!

Came home, had some PB&J on whole wheat, then went to the gym.

Gym: Low rowing machine, 45 lbs, 3 sets of 12

Chest fly free motion machine, 25 lbs, 2 sets of 12

Oblique crunches, 10 lbs, 2 sets of 12

Bicep curls, 15 lbs dumbells, 2 sets of 12

Lower ab lifts, 2 sets of 12

*Treadmill, 30 minutes: alternated between walk/run to each song on my iPod. Walk at 8% incline, 4.0 mph; jogged at 2.5% incline, 5.6 mph.

Alright, all caught up! Other blogs won't be this long!!!