14 Day Challenge: Day 4

Went a little off course with my food today, but nothing too horrible and my calories and all that are still in check.

Pre-workout:

1/2 double fiber honey wheat English muffin

1 tbsp Jif reduce fat peanut butter

Breakfast:

1/2 double fiber honey wheat English muffin

1/2 cup Egg Beaters

1 slice Colby Jack cheese

Morning snack:

Gala apple

Lunch:

Butterball turkey burger

1 slice Colby Jack

Spinach

Kaiser Roll

Dinner:

1 Sloppy Joe (took all my willpower to just have ONE!!!)

Baked red potatoes - ate a little more of these than I should have

Treat:

1 cup FF milk

1 chocolate chip cookie (small)

I realized today that I've only had 3 cookies this whole week. Considering my sugar addiction, that's a huge reduction in sugary treats!!!

I'm going to bed early tonight because I'm really tired. Woke up this morning and did:

2 sets 20 squats

2 sets 40 bicycles

2 sets 20 crunches

2 sets 20 step ups

30 minutes on the Arc Trainer

When I went back this evening with Robin, we tried something new she read about - a staggered workout. I don't know how I feel about it, because I like to sweat it out for a solid session and see my time at the end. But this was still a good mix-it-up workout:

Glute machine, 55 lbs, 2 sets of 12

10 minutes rowing machine

Side crunches with a 10 lb weight, 2 sets of 20

10 minutes arc trainer, Incline 10, Level 10

Tricep press, 2 sets of 12

10 minutes StairMaster, Level 8

Tomorrow is my last early wake up, woo hoo! I made it every morning except Wednesday. I think I'm going to swim tomorrow because I've been doing a lot of heavy leg cardio all week, and the machines are getting a bit boring as the week comes to an end.

I'm going to the Quad Cities to see Nels this weekend, so I won't be able to do a Friday night workout or a double Saturday workout. But we're definitely going jogging around his neighborhood on Saturday!

14 Day Challenge: Day 3

Couldn't wake up this morning. Just couldn't do it! I'm glad I slept in the extra hour though. My body really needed some more rest and recovery from my 2-a-days workouts. The only thing I missed out on was 30 minute cardio this morning, I wanted to squeeze in an hour tonight to make up but since it was getting late, ended around 45 minutes.

At the gym tonight I did:

2 sets chest press with 20 lb dumbbells

2 sets of 20 bicep curls with 10 lb dumbbells

2 sets 15 tricep kickbacks with 5 lb dumbbels

2 sets 15 side & front shoulder raises (5 lbs)

2 sets 15 rear deltoid lifts (5 lbs)

10 minute jog on treadmill, 5.7 speed

35 minutes on Arc Trainer, HR average 156. Incline 10, Resistance 10.

Food today:

Breakfast - 1/2 cup Egg Beaters with pinch of shredded cheddar on 1/2 a Thomas' Double Fiber Honey Wheat English muffin

Morning snack - Quaker high fiber instant oatmeal - maple & brown sugar

Strawberries

Lunch - Lean Cuisine Sesame Stir Fry with Chicken - didn't have any other food on hand and this seemed to be ok - whole wheat vermicelli, chicken, broccoli and edamame.

Dinner - Butterball turkey burger on a Kaiser roll with one (thin!) slice Colby Jack cheese. I was disappointed by these burgers. Usually I buy Jennie-O, but I only had time to swing by Jewel on the way home and the Butterball ones were best price. Stuck with the remaining 3 of them now...

Daily Plate Totals:

1,232 calories

34 grams fat

140 grams carbs

23 grams fiber

77 grams protein

Net carbs after workout: 798

14 Day Challenge: Day 2

Whew, I'm spent!!!!! The hardest part of this challenge is getting up early in the morning to work out. Not sure how I'm going to feel when that alarm goes off tomorrow morning...

My body wasn't feeling too hot this morning after boot camp last night, so I took it easy and just did 30 minutes on the elliptical, level 8, heart rate around 150.

I really want to go to sleep so my food information won't be as detailed as yesterday. I pretty much ate the same stuff today except for dinner I had some whole wheat spaghetti with plain Ragu, and post-workout I had a bowl of Kashi Heart to Heart Cinnamon cereal. Once again, I logged all of my food at The Daily Plate. I wish there was a way to import/share my daily logs from the site!

My totals for the day are:

1,354 calories

32 grams fat

190 grams carbs (I know this sounds like a ton but my RDA is 197 grams)

37 grams fiber

94 grams protein

I was definitely feeling the energy from my whole wheat pasta for my work out. First I did the recommended strength training for today, 2 sets of:

20 squats (piece of cake thanks to boot camp!!!)

20 step ups (did these on an adjustable platform the gym has with 25 lbs resistance)

15 calf raises (did on machine with 65 pounds. Didn't really feel it with the machine the way you do with dumbbells...)

40 bicycle crunches

20 lifting crunches - did a variation of these to incorporate the lower abs.

Then I did cardio like a crazy person. 25 minutes on the Stairmill, Fat Burner program setting, Level 8. I was sweating like a mo fo. Haha, seriously, I don't know how else to put that! There was a layer of water all over me and I was dripping from head to toe. I finally couldn't take it anymore and finished up by running 1 mile on the treadmill (10:20 minutes), because at least with running, the fast pace keeps my mind off the sweating! Post-workout shower felt so darn good tonight.

Well, I really have to get some sleep, I'm exhausted and so is my body! I think I'm going to just do a swim tomorrow morning, if I even wake up...hope so!

14 Day Challenge: Day 1

Did well with the challenge today, but that's to be expected - first day is easiest! It's keeping it up after today that is the tough part.

I decided to do this challenge for a few reasons. First of all, it's very exercise focused. I'll exercise all day long - it's the "diet" part of being healthy that I have trouble with. I did make it to the gym 5 times last week, but my eating was terrible. I want to use this challenge to force me to get back on the right track. The foods encouraged with this challenge are mostly ones I like, so I feel like I can stick to it for the 14 days. Nothing like "Eat only grapefruit" or something crazy.

Second of all, I really want to get back into waking up early so that I can start working on swimming and running in the morning for the mini-triathlon in August. Since this plan emphasizes both morning and evening workouts, it's a good way to do that!

Morning Workout

I set my alarm for 5:45 this morning and got to the gym a little after 6. I decided to get the strength training part over with because it's easy for me to lose my focus on it. Outside of a class setting, I give up way too easily on it.

Today's agenda was 2 sets of:

15 push ups. I'm TERRIBLE with push ups. I was watching myself from the side in the mirror as I tried to do them, and why does the lower half of my body reach the ground before I'm even halfway down?! For the first set, I only did 10. I did the second set the "girl way" on my knees and was able to complete all 15. Ugh, I hate push ups, I don't get why they're so hard!!!

20 bicep curls with 5-pound weights. I used 10 pound weights because I've been doing 12 reps with 15 pound ones for awhile now and the 5's would be way too light. These higher reps are for endurance conditioning, so you want a bit lower weight with more reps.

20 tricep kick-backs with 5-pound weights. Definitely used the 5's this time. My triceps are WEAK.

20 front and side shoulder raises with 3-pound weights. I used 5's again, these get pretty tough half way through!

20 rear deltoid lifts with 3-pound weights. Again, used 5's. These were killer to do after the shoulder raises.

Then I did the Crossramp machine for 30 minutes, alternating an incline of 10-12 with a resistance of 8-10. My heart rate was in the range of 154-165 throughout the workout and I burned a bit over 300 calories.

Meals

Pre-workout (6 AM): 1/2 of a Thomas' Double Fiber Honey Wheat English muffin with 1 tbsp of Jif reduced fat peanut butter.

Breakfast (8 AM): 1/2 cup Egg Beaters, 1/2 cup Kashi Go Lean and 1/2 cup Fat Free Milk

Morning meal (11 AM): Quaker high fiber maple and brown sugar oatmeal with a few walnuts and 3/4 cup strawberries

Lunch (2 PM): I grilled some chicken tender strips last night on the Foreman and these were DISGUSTING...on the edge of overcooked and then microwaving them today to warm them definitely made them overcooked...I slathered them with ketchup, which makes everything better =) Then had a 100 calorie pack of Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese.

Snack (4 PM): Chobani Greek yogurt, peach flavor (This stuff still looks so disgusting when you first peel back the lid, but give it a good stir and it gets nice and thick and delicious!)

Dinner (5:45 PM): Gorton's grilled tilapia fillet with broccoli. My mom brought home fried chicken from Jewel and you have NO idea how hard it was to turn that down! I did sneak ONE Hawaiian roll (the small ones that are in the 4 pack, they're 110 calories a piece nonetheless though...) but that was it.

Post workout (8 PM): 1 cup fat free milk with 2 tbsp chocolate syrup (Hey, I've read it's a good post workout food! Shut it.)

Evening workout

I love my boot camp class so I had to go. It's an hour long, so I already did 30 minutes more than what "the challenge" called for today : ) sweet! The class was really rough though since we did similar exercises to what I did this morning - push ups, tricep kick backs. We didn't do as much abs work as I would've liked, but did a good amount of back work and of course, squats.

Are you familiar with the website The Daily Plate? It's an awesome online food and exercise diary through Livestrong. Pretty much every food and product on the planet is loaded into this database. I've been using it on and off for a year now, but for this challenge want to use it every day. Today I logged every morsel of food and my totals are:

1,280 calories

29 g fat

156 g carbs (this sounds like a lot, but I came in under my RDA so guess I'm OK)

28 g fiber

101 g protein (yay!)

According to my fitness log, I burned 575 calories through exercise today too.

Good first day! Sorry this is so long with no pictures.

14 Day Challenge

A big thank you to everyone who has been writing me kind words on here or on Facebook. regarding my dad's situation. He had 2 successful interviews this week and has another on Monday, so we are on the right track it seems. We also realized that many kids are on their Spring Break this week, meaning many families are on their vacations - so who knows, he might get more calls once everyone gets back to work.

Since things seem to be leveling out some, I am ready to try to start focusing on some other things! I've decided I'm going to try this 14 day diet and fitness challenge, since my Florida trip is coming up soon. I've lost 6-7 pounds so far this year - it's slow, but then again I am not really "dieting" much, just exercising a good amount.

According to the Challenge, here's "The Meal Plan":

The Meal Plan
Do morning exercises on an empty stomach. Eat your first meal of the day an hour later, then have a meal every three hours after that. Each meal should consist of one serving of protein (about the size of your palm), a starchy carbohydrate, and a fibrous carbohydrate (each the size of your fist). See food choices below. Down 10 eight-ounce glasses of water a day and take a daily multivitamin.

FOOD CHOICES
Protein: Turkey (white meat) or ground turkey, chicken (white meat), any fish, egg whites, tofu, beans, low-fat cottage cheese or any low-fat hard cheese (a portion of which equals three pairs of dice), yogurt.

Starchy carbohydrates: Yams, potatoes, oatmeal, couscous, brown rice, barley, bulgur, high-fiber cereal, corn, peas.

Fibrous carbohydrates: Broccoli, zucchini, tomatoes, bell peppers, spinach, romaine lettuce, apples, strawberries, oranges, peaches, pears.

ON SUNDAY
Rest! And eat reasonable portions of whatever you want.

This seems very doable for a short period of time, thus the 14 day challenge : )

I'll share my grocery purchases on Sunday and I will be starting this on Monday the 5th. You can all follow along and see if I make this the 2 weeks or not ; )

Something personal

My dad lost his job last Wednesday, and I haven't been able to care about much else lately. It was for a b.s., unfair reason, but as my dad has always taught me, life isn't fair and you have to get back up.

I've been spending all my spare time helping my dad apply for jobs, use all the online tools and sites I know of, and connect with recruiters. I don't mind helping him at all, because he's the best dad and has done so much for me. He has 30 years experience as a restaurant manager. The good news is he has gotten a phone call every day, even the very same day he was fired. He got a call last Wednesday, Thursday, 2 on Friday, and another today. He has an interview on Wednesday and another on Thursday. I think that with his industry and experience, he will get something pretty soon, but it's still really hard to not get worried.

The stress had me standing in my kitchen tonight shoving 4 chocolate chip cookies in my mouth. I am definitely an emotional eater. I had an amazing workout tonight too, but I know I totally wrecked it at this point. Our regular boot camp instructor is on vacation, so we had a guest instructor today and MAN this guy was tough! I'm glad I went to the class because it made me feel a lot better.

I want to run in the morning this week, we'll see if I get there...with all that's been going on, it's hard to care about much else.

The next time you say you can't do something...

I was just watching Celebrity Fit Club on VH1, which I'll tune into once in awhile. The episode I just watched featured a challenge led by Ironman triathlete Sarah Reinertsen. She totally blew me away. In case you're not familiar with the Ironman Triathlon, it includes:

1. 2.4 mile swim

2. 112 mile bike

then after all that...

3. run a FULL MARATHON, which is 26.2 miles!

Do people actually do this and finish this? YES.

Those who participate in this event are certainly amazing, but Sarah even more so - she completed the triathlon with a prosthetic leg.

The next time you think you can't do something...think again!!!!!