P L A N

When the going get's tough, the tough MAKE A PLAN

I missed another workout yesterday. Tears are now anger and disappointment in myself. I just about threw in the towel last night and ate McDonald's with the kids.

BUT

I am proud of myself because I shouldered my disappointment and stuck to the diet. And then I made a P L A N.

Here's the difference between me a month ago and me today, I made a plan to get caught up on workouts and stuck with the program instead of just giving up!!!!

Bad Day

Have you ever had a bad day?

DUH!!! Of course! We all have bad days right?

Yesterday was a doozie. And to top it all off, I missed my work out! Serious tears!!!

However, I did stick to the diet 100% so that is a big win because I did not give in to emotional eating!

I am sad about missing the work out because I feel so BLAH today and I know that if I would have taken out my aggravations in the gym, I would feel better. 

Best Friends!

I have the best friends!!!

Having a great support system is so important when you are trying to change your lifestyle. I have an amazing support system especially in my girlfriends!

I got this cute little nugget from one of them and it just fits me so it is going on the blog!!!!

To all my cutie friends that have sent me messages, let me vent, and just let me talk non stop about this adventure - THANK YOU!!!!

THANK YOU FRIENDS FOR THE LOVE AND SUPPORT!!!! 



Week 1 Review

Reflect & Reestablish Day

After careful consideration, I decided to make Sunday my weigh in day. But it's more than just weighing in. It's new measurements, new pics, and a day for me to review and reflect on the previous week. This way I can plan and make new goals for the week. I can use this day to keep my goals realistic and my expectations under control.

Here are my Week 1 Reflections and then wait for it, WAIT FOR IT....... my Week 1 results!!!!

Reflections

What I love about this program:

The workouts are awesome!!!! It is very different from what I have done in the past but I did love each workout. Each one pushed me so hard and the very first workout practically crippled me.

I also liked that the nutrition plan was simple and I could pre cook most of it so I could avoid busy day fall outs. The meal plan also includes carbs which I really found enjoyable since many programs reduce and eliminate carbs.

I have also always had a problem keeping my sugar and sodium under my recommended daily value. Every nutrition plan that I have tried, I am still almost always over my daily allotment of sugar and salt. On this plan, I was under EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. Even the days where I slipped off the diet, I was never over sugar or sodium. So many things I read say that if you can cut down the sugar and salt calories, you will see better results and won't retain water. So I have been especially pleased to find that this plan meets both of those criteria!

Wins:

• Accomplished all 6 workouts!! - This one was HUGE for me. I usually can't make it to 6 workouts in a week. Plus, my hubby was out of town so I was extra busy with the kids. I am so proud of myself for sticking to ALL the work outs!
• Did not drink ANY Coke! - Another huge win. I did have ONE Coke Zero, but I am still chalking this up as a huge win for me.
• Avoided cravings - I wasn't completely 100% on the diet. I was close. I had 4 slips and one was so minor that I counted it more as a win than a slip because it helped me squash my cravings and was still a healthy choice.
• Higher energy levels - I felt so good this week. I was so sore, but I was ready to face every work out and all my challenges for the week. My week was stressful to say the least as I am making a big change in my kids' schedule, and it has been nice to not feel overwhelmed but instead more confident and strong.
• Water consumption - This plan requires you to drink 1 gallon of water each day. That is four 32 oz. bottles. I drank five 32 oz. bottles every day except Saturday. This wasn't too much of challenge except I had to pee A LOT.

Challenges:

• I didn't run - Well, I ran Saturday because that was the workout (sprints) and I ran to warm up two days. Other than that, my muscles were too sore to run. I was also given good advice to save my energy and to recover fully. I do hope to run more this week.
• 4 Diet slips: FULL DISCLOSURE here for accountability. I had a frozen Greek yogurt to curb my cravings on Wednesday. Friday I went to lunch with a friend and we had Café Rio. I had Fideo and a Coke Zero but then I stuck to the diet the rest of the day. I had also followed the diet in the morning as well. Saturday was my worst day because we were just never home. I did pack my pre cooked food; but sadly, I just didn't stick to it until the evening. Finally, today we are hosting some friends for dinner and I simply do not know how to not eat what I am serving. I think it would be rude. So dinner today will also not follow the diet, but I am still sticking to it for the rest of today. I need to be better on weekends.
• Hungry - there were days that I was hungry and felt like I wasn't getting enough. I am excited for next week's meal plan as it has a bit more calories per day.
• Sore muscles - I couldn't walk very well for about 3 days. I am still sore even today but it is so much more manageable. It's a good sore where my muscles feel used but I can still go up and down stairs and run. I am hoping my body won't get as sore next week.

Week 1 Results:

Weight: 173 (-7 LB drop)
Waist: 39 (-1/2 inch)
Chest: 42 (same)
Hips: 43.5 (-1/2 inch)
Thigh: 23 (-1 inch)
Upper arm: 12.5 (-1/2 inch)

I think it's obvious that first, the program is working!!! I definitely shed some water weight this week so that is great to see that scale drop. I also lost inches just about everywhere. 1 inch on my thigh!!! Glad those workouts worked my legs. The soreness was for a good cause. Second, I know that these results are staggering because it's my first week and my body is detoxing and flushing everything out. Like I said, I had a lot of water weight loss because I cut out the Coke and I cut out a bunch of sugar and sodium. I do expect to keep dropping but theses first week numbers are AMAzing and I don't think I will keep seeing 7 lb drops. I do hope to keep seeing the drop in inches off my body!

Cravings

 

How do you beat your cravings?

I got the craving monster pretty good yesterday. In my busy schedule, Wednesday is my least busy day. I was so super excited for an easy day to rest my sore muscles and just hang out with the kids. Well, the kids all went to play and I felt drained so I ended up on the couch reading and took a little nap.

YES!!!!! HEAVEN!

But wait! Without all my running around and craziness, I had too much time to sit and think about all the food I wanted and couldn't have. I am also on day 3 of clean eating which includes kicking a pretty nasty Coke addiction. So my body is detoxing and I felt it! I do have some strategies for upping my energy levels and avoiding crashes. Zipfizz is my favorite, so I downed a bottle of that.

TV was torture because adds for Ghirardelli chocolate and Reese's kept coming on!!By the end of the night, I needed something! ANYTHING!

So I indulged in a tiny and still rather healthy 100 calorie Healthy Choice frozen Greek yogurt. It was relatively low in sugar and carbs and had protein with the Greek yogurt. It totally did the trick! I felt so much better and didn't throw away the entire week's effort. Instead, I had a tiny variation and I didn't even feel guilty!

Early vs. Late work outs

BATTLE OF THE HEAVYWEIGHTS

What time do YOU work out?

I love sleep! More specific, I love sleeping in. In a former life, I was a dancer and then a dance coach. I did 5:30 or 6 am practices for about 15 years of my life. I still can't explain how I did it because nowadays, good luck trying to get me out of bed!

Yesterday and today I got to try out both worlds of late night vs. early morning work outs. I am single parenting it this week as my hubby is out of town on business. So, my workouts are around my crazy car pool schedule and when my parents can help me out.

Yesterday, I couldn't do an early work out because no one was home to watch the sleeping children. Instead, I decided to sleepover at my parents' house so I could work out after the kids went to bed last night and then get up early this morning and work out before work and school. Brilliant!

One great thing about my parents' house is they have a work out room. It has some weights, a bike, yoga supplies, some medicine balls and a foam roller. It was great for my workout last night which was HIIT cardio. Bike sprints, burpees, etc. We got to bed later than I planned so I ended up working out from 10-11 pm. It wasn't ideal but it helped my sore legs to get moving. And I was able to stretch and foam roll.

Late night Pros: kids were in bed, no babysitter required, food already digested for the day, got to sleep in, gym was empty, didn't have to rush my work out to get back home. Cons: energy level was a little low, muscles got so sore sitting around all day, took some time to unwind after working out.

This morning, my alarm went off at 5:30 am and I wanted to cry!! I had slept with my littlest and got 3 or 4 lovely kicks to my aching quads which woke me right up with some groans (ok, maybe slight screams) of pain. When that alarm went off, I immediately said I was going back to sleep and would do my work out this afternoon and figure out something with the kids. This is my #1 downfall with early morning work outs. I can easily talk myself out of getting up. Luckily, my dad got up 10 minutes later and I convinced my body out of bed. Let's face it, when else was I going to work out? How would I find something to do with the kids after school? What about car pool? Once I got to the gym, I was glad I had opted for getting up. I still can barley walk from super sore legs. Instead of running for my warm up, I set the steepest incline and walked. It did the trick. Today was upper body. I did push until muscle failure but upper body never seems to work me as hard as lower body. Any suggestions?

Early morning Pros: IT"S FINISHED, feel awake and ready when the kids wake up, I am ready to eat breakfast, my entire day is free, better energy level. Cons: getting out of bed, I talk myself out of working out, the gym was more crowded and I had to wait for machines and weights, had to cut my work out short to get back home.

There it is; the battle of the heavy weights!!! Early morning or late night work outs. In a perfect world, I would prefer going at about 9 am but that doesn't work with my life. The most important thing is to GET IT DONE!

When do you work out? What would be your favorite work out time?

Meal Prep and Muscle Failure

I Love Food!

Who loves food??? ME!!!!

I have always found that the key to a new nutrition plan is planning and preparation! I get so extremely busy running kids around and working and cleaning that at the end of the day - or whenever it's time to eat - that I just want something quick. I don't want to take 20-30 minutes for meal prep. So, I meal prep everything for the week on one day so I can grab and go!

Monday

Prep Day!!!

Monday is my day off so it leaves me time to meal prep for the week. I shop on Saturday and cook on Monday and it makes my week so much more manageable.

This nutrition plan is really simple. It's the same 6 meals every day for a week and then it changes. The protein is chicken, steak, salmon and egg whites. The carbs are oatmeal, sweet potatoes, spinach, broccoli and asparagus. And you only cook with coconut oil. What I did was grill my salmon fillets and then cut them into 4 oz. portions and bagged them up. I cut up and cooked the chicken in a skillet with rosemary and onion and garlic powder and pepper. Then I separated the chicken into 4 oz. portions and bagged up those. I did the same for the steak except I left out the rosemary and divided it into 3 oz. portions. I did steam enough broccoli for 5 servings. The rest I will cook as I go because I like them freshly cooked. But I feel I have made this simple and easy for myself and I can eat quickly.

I have never cooked or used coconut oil so it was new for me. It is a solid oil a little like Crisco in that it melts over heat. It does not change the flavor and cooks just like regular oil. I did some research on the benefits of using coconut oil so I was better informed. There seems to be mixed reviews. Some say it is the best oil to use for loosing weight. Some say it is not as good as olive oil. I will keep reading and see what I think of using the oil.

Muscle Failure

Day 1 workout kicked my bootie! Literally! It has been a long time since I did strictly weights. It was a leg workout and I used weight slightly out of my comfort zone so I could do drop sets. MUSCLE FAILURE - which is the point! I could barely walk down the stairs at the end of the workout and the soreness just gets worse!! Sitting, standing, walking, stairs; it's all painful!! But it's a good sore. I love working muscles and knowing that my body is already transforming and getting stronger.

I am looking forward to some cardio today to get these muscles loose and get the lactic acid out!!!