Day 123

I'm back baby!!!

So vacation was AWESOME!! Super relaxing and so much fun...AND I worked out 3 out of 5 days, so I'm really proud of myself! Right before I left Rob wrote out a workout plan for me...so I did that 2 days, and did a spin class offered at the resort on the 3rd day. I ate whatever I wanted but didn't ever overload myself or feel stuffed. I just made sure I had everything in moderation. I might not have lost any weight but I didn't gain any either and that made me feel great. I didn't exercise for the rest of the week after I returned but made sure to get back to the grind yesterday. I currently am without a gym membership but am still going to Crossfit in the morning for now until I renew. I worked out there yesterday and felt such a spring in my step and went in DETERMINED to work on my form. I think I did great, my squats were the best they've ever been and I felt so awesome afterward! And today, forget it, my whole body is hurting!! Great feeling :-)

I ate well yesterday, did just ok today had some cookies. But I also haven't gone food shopping so the supplies are limited until this weekend! I'm not worried. I haven't felt this good about myself in so long and the good vibes are propelling me forward and urging me to do continuously better. Tomorrow's post will be more detailed, this was just intended as an initial post since returning from the trip!

Days 110 & 111

These last two days were good. With the exception of a little bit of easter chocolate, which I FINALLY passed off to my coworkers, I did well and exercised like a FEIND!! I go away to Punta Cana on Saturday, and when I get back this whole thing is going to be revamped. I feel like as much as I've been exercising, the whole eating part of all this has slowed down a bit, so I want to get back into it. Hopefully a few days away will help renew my determination! I'm a little fuzzy on what I ate yesterday, it included veggie hot-dogs and other healthy foods, but I remember how hard I worked out so I'm going to at least give you all the details on that....

Day 110 (Wednesday)

Workouts:

10:00am:

Crossfit

-400m sprint

-10 burpees
-60 jump-ropes
(5 sets of these two exercises)

-one last 400m sprint

5:30pm

SPIN CLASS

-1 hour long and INTENSE

8:00pm

-hour-long bike ride (not sure how many miles were covered)

I was seriously dead by last night! I also had plans to go to crossfit this morning but when my alarm went off there was NO WAY it was happening. I didn't work out today but my legs have been KILLING me.

Day 111 (Thursday)

Here is what I ate today:

Breakfast:

-1 egg with 1 slice lowfat swiss
-2 slices turkey bacon
-1 TJ's hash brown
-1 tbsp ketchup
-1 cup coffee with 1 tbsp caramel creamer and 1 sweet & low

Lunch:

-BOLT: 6 slices turkey bacon, 2 slices whole grain toast, 1 tbsp fat-free mayo, 10 black olives, 2 tomato slices and lettuce.

Snack:

-Couple bites of a chocolate bunny
*I left it at work after this haha

Dinner:

-Wonton soup
-Assorted sushi slices
-spare ribs
-chicken and broccoli

Drink:

-some OJ straight out of the bottle lol

I'm tired and need to get up at 8 for Crossfit, then one last post before VACATION!!

Day 109

Today was not so good. I ate crap and ended up feeling HUGE by the end of the day. Just totally gross like I  used to all the time. Not good. I know that the rest of this week won't be so good either...But like I've said the other day I would really like to see if I could lose even half a pound or a pound on vacation, just to prove a point because everyone talks about how it's IMPOSSIBLE to lose weight on vacation. I want to prove it is totally doable!!

Here's what I ate today (PS, I debated totally omitting a blog for today but others suggested that I should because I always stress accountability. So here it is)

Breakfast:

-2 kashi whole grain waffles
-1/4c sugar-free syrup

Snack:

-apple

Lunch:

-3 TJ's chicken/veggie dumplings with 1/2c TJ's fried rice

Snack:

-1 sugar-free vanilla pudding

Dinner:

-1/3 portion of Thai veggie, noodles & chicken (comparable to chinese chicken lo-mein)
-4 chicken sate sticks with peanut sauce

Dessert(?)

-1 cheese & berry danish (legit 500 calories...ugh) 

Alright so maybe on paper it doesn't seem so bad but the way I FELT made it seem MUCH worse...I was bloated, felt sluggish, gross, tummy hurt, etc. But then again I just think back to the fact that this is how I  used to feel EVERY DAY. I can't believe I used to eat my face off day in and day out and be OK with it! This is NOT OK! Everything in moderation. No huge ass meals loaded with crap! Can't wait to work out tomorrow. 2x as usual. Crossfit in the a.m. and spin at night. This is probably my last spin for a few weeks (or all summer) since my gym membership runs out on the 30th, AND I've heard that they are changing the dates of summer spin class to the 2 days a week that I actually work nights. If this is the case I'm gonna be FURIOUS you can't even FATHOM how angry I'll be haha. But I'll take it as it comes and won't jump to any assumptions just yet! I just wanna get to vacation first THEN I'll worry about the gym :-) Countdown to Punta Cana: 4 days!!!

Days 105, 106, 107 & 108

This is going to be a general post for Easter weekend and also for tonight.

This weekend was full of sweet stuff. Chocolate, soda, jelly beans, etc and other easter goodies! I had a fantastic time and the food we ate for dinner was fresh and homemade. It consisted of filet mignon, lasagna, salad and fresh veggies. I really enjoyed myself and it was great!

Today I worked out twice, Crossfit in the morning and Spin class at night! At crossfit I did deadlifts, wall balls, knee-lifts and some kettle bell work. It was intense and almost a full-hour this time. I was dead afterwards but of course it felt awesome. And spin class, as much as I'm not into the Monday class, was really hard and I made sure to give my all so that I would sweat a lot!!

Food went well, I did have assorted chocolate but whatever. It's in the house and with everyone I live with it will be gone soon enough. Here is what I ate today:

Breakfast:

-(1) 2-pack TJ's granola bar
*1 before workout, 1 after!

Snack:

-cadbury creme egg
*My FAVORITE easter candy. Needed my fix.
-decaf coffee with 1 tbsp amaretto coffee creamer and 1 sweet & low
*Love coffee. I really do.

Lunch:

-1 piece filet mignon
-1 tbsp bbq sauce
-1 cup of carrots/string beans
*Alright so putting BBQ sauce on the meat was probably insulting but I don't care it was delicious.

Snack:

-1 banana

Dinner:

-BOLT: Bacon, olives, lettuce, tomato, pepper mayo on 2 slices whole grain bread
*SO GOOD!!

Snack:

-a few pieces of godiva chocolate
-1 cup almond milk

Overall a good day. I guess I could have skipped the chocolate but no biggie. It's easter haha. Also I lost another pound! Yay! Grand total is 15 lost. Can't be sad about that! :-) Now the rest of the week should be good, but I am on vacation saturday to wednesday. I'm going to try to prove that you can go on vacation and LOSE weight! Hell even if it's a pound I'll be happy! I  plan on working out a lot and eating light. We shall see :-)

Days 103 & 104

For someone who doesn't have a fulltime job I seem to always be running ALL over the place. That's why sometimes I do the "two-posts-a-day" thing, since by the time I get home I just want to pass out and can't even fathom making my brain work hard enough to write something worthwhile. I would obviously like to try and make them more regular, and on the days I'm not exhausted or when I at least get home at a normal time I will post...yesterday was a "running on empty" kind of day so I'm posting tonight while I still have my faculties.

Day 103 (Wednesday)

I was ALL over the place yesterday. Belmar, Cherry Hill, Lawrenceville, Hamilton, Philly and back home. The good part about this was that I knew I would be keeping busy which meant meal spacing would be prime. The annoying part was everything I made for myself had to be portable and easy to eat. I also am trying NOT to go food shopping for another 2 weeks since I'm going on vacay soon and food would just rot while I'm gone. I need to make what I have last until May 4th. I CAN DO IT! haha. I'm trying NOT to use my frozen foods and instead eat all the perishables before I go away. I ended up eating really well and also worked out twice. It was a super productive day on all accounts. I ate a LOT of small meals. It's funny because in the beginning of this whole endeavor I made a big deal about not counting calories. Then the counting started to creep up and I started to kind of tally what I was eating during the day although I didn't want to be doing it. Then I had an epiphany yesterday. I started eating at 8:30am and essentially ate (like clockwork) every 3 hours until I went to bed at 2:30am.  I ate 6 or 7 times...I'm sure I went beyond 1500 calories (which is where I've been trying to keep myself). And for sedentary days that is fine...but I was running around and had worked out like a fiend. And interestingly enough I promised myself to only eat when my stomach growled. It growled, on cue, every 3 hours. I felt that I was actually eating productively and felt like I was truly using my food as fuel for my body and kept hydrating.

My workout at Crossfit was INTENSE. I did a total of 5 exercises. For each exercise, I worked for 20 seconds and rested for 10 seconds, for a total of 4 minutes an exercise. I had a minute rest in between each exercise. I did kettlebell swings, sit-ups, push-ups, ring rows and squats. For the sit-ups, I started out using a weighted ball. Rob thought this actually made the workout easier so he made me put it down...NOT having the ball was so much harder! The ball had been giving me momentum! And for the squats, during my 10-second "rest" period, he had me hold a low squat for 10 seconds. This was much harder than the squat itself haha and I was DYING!! I left the gym a total wreck haha. I then spent the day in cherry hill doing errands with a friend so I just kept my lunchbox in the car and was able to eat consistently. I'm glad I got over the embarrassment of carrying a lunchbox around. After all that I went to spin class, which was super intense (the wednesday classes always are!) and felt frieken fantastic afterwards!! What a great workout day. I wish every workout day was like this!

Here is what I ate yesterday:

Pre-workout: 

-1 of 2 TJ's granola bars

Post-workout:

-The 2nd granola bar 

Snack:

-Banana

Snack:

-Cadbury egg
*my favorite easter candy. ever.
-1 small hard-shell chocolate cadbury egg
*you know which ones.

Lunch:

-TJ's organic mac 'n cheese
*Always so damn good

Dinner:

-1/2 can tuna (in water), 1tbsp fat-free mayo on a TJ's whole wheat bun
*Really good!

Snack:

-TJ's granola bar

Snack:

-2 tbs reduced-sugar peanut butter
-1/2c almond milk
*Was home really late and STARVING and wanted to badly to cave and eat a full meal but I convinced myself to just get something in my stomach that would keep me satisfied. This totally did the trick for my tummy AND my tastebuds.

It was the first time that it didn't feel WRONG to eat so much! I just listened to my body for once and ate when my body signalled me that it needed food. It felt RIGHT!!

Day 104 (Thursday)

Thursday is not a workout day, which is fine. It's a work day but I managed to keep my food spacing in check. I attempted the same strategy as yesterday and only ate when my stomach growled. But my stomach didn't growl as often, I suppose because I didn't workout? It is actually interesting to start analyzing my body as a machine, telling me when it needs fuel and needing fuel when it works harder. I was able to space my meals out well today too. Here's what I ate:

Breakfast:

-1 packet plain oatmeal with 1/2 banana and a sprinkling of semi-sweet chocolate chips
-1 cup coffee with 1/4c amaretto creamer
*Oh man that oatmeal was phenomenal.

Lunch:

-TJ's chicken enchiladas

Snack:

-1 TJ's greek yogurt

Snack:

-1 swiss miss sugar-free chocolate pudding

Dinner:

-BoLT: Turkey bacon, olives, lettuce and tomato on whole wheat toast with 1 tbsp fat free mayo (with some cayenne pepper sprinkled in)
*This was so good! The olives were a last-minute decision and I don't regret it!

Snack:

-1 gluten-free chocolate chip cookie (homemade) 
*My sister made these and they were delicious! I only had 1.

Now:

-Brewed pomegranate white tea (iced) with 1 sweet & low
*Yum.

Proud of myself today! Now tomorrow I'm going out for dinner AND lunch so I want to be smart. And I'm not just saying it this time! I really mean it!

Day 102

Today was just ok. Still having a little bit of a tough time, especially when I'm bored at work (and no, cleaning doesn't help keep me occupied). I did prepare all my food today but ended up sidetracking a little bit.

Breakfast:

-1 egg, 1 TJ's hash brown and 2 slices turkey bacon with 1 tbsp ketchup
-1/2c almond milk
*This is a standby of course

Snack:

-Coffee with 1 tbsp powdered coffee creamer
-1 lindzer tart
*Now this F'ed me up! I made coffee at work instead of buying it so as not to waste $$, then found out AFTER I made it that we were out of any kind of creamer, even milk! So i scooped that powdery crap into my coffee and guess what: it added calories but not taste :-( but at least the cookie was good.

Lunch:

-2 slices deli ham, 1 slice lowfat swiss, 1 tbsp miracle whip on 2 slices whole wheat bread
*This was good, I had gotten the miracle whip as a free sample so i just used it. If it isn't mayo though, what IS it?

Snack:

-1 chocolate-covered oreo
-1 piece of a chocolate bar
*Shouldn't have but it was so worth it.

Dinner:

-3 chicken & veggie dumplings
-1c TJ's veggie fried rice
-1tbsp soy sauce
-1/2c stir-fry veggies
*Delicious and at this point my timing and spacing was good on meals.

Snack:

-1 pomegranate greek yogurt
*yum of course

2nd Dinner?? (Panera)

-1/2 turkey sandwich and 1c broccoli cheddar soup
-1 small bag of chips
-water
*This was only because I was supposed to meet a friend and I had a half  hour to kill. I was sitting in my car in a shopping center and just walked over to panera to kill time.

Could have been better but then again it could have been way worse I suppose. I really want the next 10 or so days to be really good though so that I can be in my best shape for vacation and beach time!! :-)

Day 101

Finally a healthy day again! Feels good to detox a bit. I started off my day by working out at crossfit, and it was horribly tough. Like, really really bad. Like, I thought I was going to vomit on more than one occasion. I felt my body just giving out with each exercise. Today's task was to do 30 reps of 10 exercises. I did various exercises like sit ups with a weighted ball, push ups, walking lunges, ring rows, kettlebell swings, step ups, presses, slam ball, burpees (kind of like mountain climbers) and...i know there must be one more I just can't think of what it is! Anyway it was extremely tough. Missing a week or so is a big mistake with these kind of workouts. I felt so weak :-(

I also ate very well today. Phew! What a relief to go back to the normal routine! I need to try and keep the "bad" days down to a minimum the way I was doing it when I first started all this! I would at least like the next 2 weeks to be clean as far as eating is concerned, I am going on a 5-day vacation on the 30th and would like to maybe drop another pound or two so I can look nice in my bathing suit! I also plan on going to the fitness center at the hotel each morning. It's a big goal and something I have never ever done on vacation so it would be nice to step out of my comfort zone for once.

Here is what I ate today:

Breakfast:

-2 egg whites, 2 slices white toast, 2 slices canadian bacon
-coffee with fat-free french vanilla coffee creamer and 1 splenda
*I was at my aunt's house so breakfast was whatever she decided to make. luckily she knew I was eating healthy so she made a good breakfast for me!

Lunch:

-TJ's frozen shepherd's pie
*Actually good! Never eaten it before...

Snack:

-1 TJ's strawberry granola bar

Snack:

-1 sugar free jello pudding, 1 banana, 5 strawberries
*Was at a friend's house, she is on weight watchers so she had some healthy food in the fridge

Dinner:

-Bowl of homemade veggie soup
-1 tuna sandwich (2 slices whole wheat bread, lettuce, tuna with mayo)
*Was still at my friend's house, instead of ordering out fattening food she made a delicious veggie soup and sandwich for us!

Snack/Dessert:

-1 small vanilla ice cream cup (100cal) with 2 strawberries sliced in
*Nostalgic! Remember those little ice cream cups that our parents bought in bulk when we were kids and we only got to eat at parties??

Snack:

-18 (serving size) blue corn tortilla chips
-1/4c salsa
*Came home with a hankering for lots of food. This was the lesser of many evils.

All in all a successful day. Definitely need to up the water intake and i forgot to take my usual vitamins this morning, but all will be made right tomorrow I'm just glad I'm back on my game! :-)