Day 30 -- 3/29

Well, I'm 1/3 of the way through my 90-day self-challenge and generally I'm feeling good, but jeez did I struggle to get through my workout this morning.  Like I've said before, normally after the first 15 mins I go into a zone and I'm good to go, but this morning was a real mental struggle.  I'm feeling very tired and, frankly, I'm looking forward to taking tomorrow off from the gym.  

I keep a few down-size articles of clothing in the closet that I try on every couple of weeks to see if I can get in them.  No good news on that front, but I'm using them to gauge my ultimate progress since pounds lost does not necessarily define size(s) lost.  Because I didn't take body measurements when I started, I can't tell you how many inches I've lost, or how much fat I've lost vs. how much muscle I've gained (which skews the pounds lost results), but the clothes, however, will let me know whether or I'm on the right track.

So what did I eat today?

• Water: 20 oz
• Multigrain oatmeal with a cup of coffee.  About 300 cals.
• Baked chicken breast stuffed with veggies with pepperjack cheese on top.  About 550 cals.
• Banana-coconut protein smoothie.  About 250 cals.
• Whole grain pasta with spaghetti sauce, no meat.  About 350 cals.

Total of 1450 cals less the 343 cals I burned off (not including weights) = 1107 net cals.

Day 29 -- 3/28

Today was weigh-in day and I'm DOING MY DISCO DANCE!  2 pounds down!   *oooooooo oooooooo*

So, at least for now, whatever I'm doing is working right.  I plan on making an adjustment to my workout come April 1st.  I don't want my body to get too used to doing the same thing all the time - then it just gets easy.  Exactly what that adjustment will be, I'm not sure, but I'm researching my options.  Stay tuned!

I was running a little late this morning and wanted to make sure I got the weights in, so I cut the cardio to 20 minutes.  While I still got a workout, 20 minutes always leaves me feeling like I didn't go hard enough.

So what did I eat today?

• Water: 20oz
• Multigrain oatmeal with a cup of coffee. About 300 cals.
• A piece of brownie.  About 125 cals.
• 1 Girl Scout Samoa cookie.  About 70 cals.
• Garden vegetable lasagne.  About 300 cals.
• 1 medium banana.  About 120 cals.
• Baked chicken breast stuffed with baby spinach, baby bok choy, mushrooms & roasted red peppers, topped with cheddar cheese.  About 550 cals.

Total of 1465 cals less the 241 I worked off (not including weights) = 1224 net cals.

Total pounds lost since going hard =

Days 27 & 28 -- 3/26 & 3/27

Saturday, 3/26 --

No gym today, but that doesn't mean I wasn't working out.  Spent the day running up & down the stairs doing laundry, cleaning up & then driving The Boy to his gig. Relatively uneventful day, but I'm not mad about it. :)

So what did I eat today?

• Coffee.  About 100 cals.
• Golden flax cereal with 1/2 banana in almond milk.  About 350 cals.
• Banana protein smoothie with almond milk.  About 250 cals.
• Two Girl Scout Samoa cookies.  About 140 cals.
• Brown rice with Chinese mixed vegetables in brown sauce.  About 400 cals.

Total of 1240 cals.

Sunday, 3/27 --

I didn't get to bed until around 2:30am, so I slept in until around 10am or so.  After running out to tend to some beauty stuff, I came back and made an absolutely delicious breakfast sandwich of 1 egg & bacon on Tuscan pane.  For the record (and I can't say it enough), everything is better with bacon.  EVERYTHING.

The Man and I hit the gym this afternoon, cardio & weights, but what was cool was that while I was waiting for him to finish his weight training so we could go for a swim, I went back on the elliptical trainer and put in an extra 10 minutes of light work to kill  time.  I'd never have done that before, but I'm trying to really get into this.  If I didn't think it'd be such a decorating faux pas, I'd put an elliptical trainer in my living room.

So what did I eat today?

• Egg & bacon sandwich on pan-seared Tuscan pane.  About 550 cals.
• Coffee.  About 100 cals.
• Banana protein smoothie in Coconut Dream.  About 250 cals.
• Arroz moro, tostones y chicharron de pollo.  No idea, but going to realistically guess about 1200 cals.

Total of 2100 cals. less the 439 cals. I burned off (not including weights or swimming) = 1661 net cals.

Day 26 -- 3/25

*Note:  I completely forgot to go live with this post!

I got my workout in this morning and I'm feeling good, although I am so incredibly glad the weekend is here. I have a lot of grand plans about what I'm going to do this weekend, most of which I'm pretty sure will not get done.  You know how it is -- something always comes up.  What will get done, however, is shuttling around The Boy.  He's a DJ and he's got 2 parties this weekend.  At 15, we're still his primary mode of transportation, so when he has a gig, so do we.  Check him out on on Facebook (CheeseTheGrate). He frequently does live streams, so be sure to tune in.

So what did I eat today?

• Ginger-almond granola in almond milk (thought I was going to say multigrain oatmeal, didntcha?  HA!)  About 300 cals.
• Cup of coffee.  About 100 cals.
• Leftover Thai vegetable gyoza & chicken cilantro wonton.  About 350 cals.
• 1 medium banana.  About 120 cals.
• 2 Girl Scout Samoa cookies.  About 140 cals.
• Turkey & swiss cheese wrap with lettuce, tomato, black olives, oil & vinegar.  About 500 cals.

Total of 1510 cals. less the 342 I burned off this morning (not including weight training) = 1168 net cals.

Day 25 -- 3/24

As always, I was sooooooooo tired this morning.  I don't mind the weight training so much, but ramping myself up to do the cardio is always the trick.  I keep telling myself, "It's only a half an hour . . .".  Once I get started, I'm pretty ok.  It's just the getting started part.

Well, not only did I get it done, but I made a bit of a change.  Remember how I've been changing levels every 3 minutes?  Today, I changed level every minute, like so:  L1 for 3 mins (warm-up), L3, L5, L7, L9, back down to L3, L5, L7, L9, repeated until the workout was over.  First of all, I think only went up to level 9 once this whole time, but hitting it in 1 minute increments was hard, but ultimately manageable.  Best of all, I burned off even more calories than the way I was doing it before. *fist pump*

I altered my weight workout as well.  On each set, I started off with my regular weight for that particular exercise and did 15 reps.  The next set, I upped it to the next weight (10 or 20 pounds depending on the machine) and did 10 reps.  Then I went up one more weight again and did 8 reps.  I'm feeling it today, so it worked :)

So what did I eat today?

• Water:  16.9 oz.
• Multigrain oatmeal with a cup of coffee.  About 300 cals.
• 2 chicken patties on 1 slice of toasted Tuscan pane with lettuce.  About 425 cals.
• 1 medium banana.  About 120 cals.
• 1 tiny piece of a Girl Scout Samoa.  About 25 cals.
• Thai vegetable gyoza and chicken cilantro mini wontons with dipping sauce.  About 450 cals.

Total of 1370 cals. less the 344 cals. I burned off (not including the weight training) = 1026 net cals.

Day 24 -- 3/23

No workout this morning and oddly enough, I don't feel guilty about it.  What I do feel guilty about is forgetting to take my vitamins this morning.  I don't think I've written about this yet.

The Man and I went on a quest to find vitamins and I was adamant that I wanted liquid vitamins.  I'm not a pill fan, but I especially don't like taking oversized horse pills.  Well, I ended up picking up a bottle of Alive! by Nature's Way, which seems to be chock full of good stuff (see below).

I read some reviews and some people complain about the taste, but to me, it tastes like liquified Flintstone vitamins (am I dating myself with the Flintstone reference?). I don't know if vitamins are supposed to make you feel more energized or whatever, but I've been taking it for the last 3 weeks and I can't say that I feel any different.  Then again,  I've taken other vitamins in the past and haven't felt any different with them either.  You're supposed to take a 1oz shot, but I split the dosage in 2: 1/2 in the morning, 1/2 in the early evening.  I could be totally wrong, but I figure my body wastes less if I split it up.

So what did I eat today?

• Water 20 oz.
• Multigrain oatmeal with a cup of coffee.  About 300 cals.
• Garden vegetable lasagne.  About 290 cals.
• 1 medium apple.  About 75 cals.
• 1 piece of milk chocolate.  About 65 cals.
• Brown rice with Chinese mixed vegetables in brown sauce.  About 400 cals.

Total cals for the day:  1130

Ingredients in ALIVE!

Serving Size: 1 oz Liquid	Amount/Serving	%DV
Calories	45
Total Carbohydrate	12g	4%**
Sugars	6g	*
Vitamin A (50% [5,000 IU] as retinol palmitate and 50% [5,000 IU] as beta carotene)	10,000IU	200%
Vitamin C (as calcium ascorbate)	500mg	833%
Vitamin D (as ergocalciferol)	400IU	100%
Vitamin E (as d-alpha tocopheryl acetate)	200IU	667%
Vitamin K (as phytonadione)	80mcg	100%
Thiamin (as thiamine mononitrate)	25mg	1667%
Riboflavin (Vitamin B2)	25mg	1471%
Niacin (as nicotinic acid/niacinamide)	20mg	100%
Vitamin B6 (as pyridoxine HCl)	50mg	2500%
Folic Acid	400mcg	100%
Vitamin B12 (as cyanocobalamin)	200mcg	3333%
Biotin (as d-biotin)	300mcg	100%
Pantothenic Acid (as d-calcium pantothenate)	125mg	1250%
Calcium (as ascorbate/pantothenate)	100mg	10%
Iron	1mg	5%
Iodine (as potassium iodide)	150mcg	100%
Magnesium (as magnesium gluconate)	40mg	10%
Zinc (as zinc gluconate)	15mg	100%
Selenium (as L-selenomethionine)	70mcg	100%
Copper (from sodium copper chlorophyllin)	2mg	100%
Manganese (as manganese sulfate)	4mg	200%
Chromium (as polynicotinate)	120mcg	100%
Molybdenum (as sodium molybdate)	75mcg	100%
Sodium	15mg	<1%
Potassium (as potassium gluconate)	50mg	1%
Green Food/Spirulina Blend: Spirulina (microalgae): Alfalfa (leaf, stem); Barley Grass (grass); Dandelion (leaf); Wheat Grass (grass); Melissa (leaf); Lemon Grass (grass); Nettle (leaf); Blessed Thistle (stem, leaf, flower); Chlorella (broken-cell microalgae); Plantain (leaf); Blue Green Algae (microalgae); Cilantro (leaf)	500mg	*
Amino Acids: (from Spirulina, Chlorella, Blue Green Algae,) Glutamine, Asparagine, Leucine, Alanine, Arginine, Lysine, Threonine, Valine, Glycine, Isoleucine, Serine, Proline, Phenylalanine, Tyrosine, Histidine, Methionine, Tryptophan, Cysteine	225mg	*
Garden Veggies™ Juice Powder Blend: Parsley; Kale; Spinach; Wheat Grass; Brussels Sprout; Asparagus; Broccoli; Cauliflower; Beet; Carrot; Cabbage; Garlic	100mg	*
Orchard Fruits™ Juice Powder Blend: Plum; Cranberry; Blueberry; Strawberry; Blackberry; Bilberry; Cherry; Apricot; Papaya; Orange; Grape; Pineapple	100mg	*
Organic Mushroom Defense Blend: Contains all growth phases (mycelium, primordium, sclerotium and fruit body) of Cordyceps; Reishi; Shiitake; Hiratake; Maitake; Yamabushitake; Himematsutake; Kawaratake; Chaga; Zhu Ling; Agarikon; Mesima	100mg	*
Omega 3/6/9 Fatty Acid Blend: Flax Seed Powder (dry, cold-pressed); Sunflower Seed Powder (dry, cold-pressed); (providing Alpha-Linolenic Acid [ALA], Oleic Acid [OA] and Linoleic Acid [LA])	100mg	*
Citrus Bioflavonoid Complex (from lemon, orange, and grapefruit)	60mg	*
Siberian Eleuthero (root)	50mg	*
Inositol	50mg	*
Choline (as choline bitartrate)	30mg	*
Hesperidin (from citrus bioflavonoid complex)	30mg	*
Betaine HCl	25mg	*
PABA (para aminobenzoic acid)	25mg	*
Rutin	25mg	*
RNA (from spirulina/chlorella)	14mg	*
DNA (from spirulina/chlorella)	4mg	*
Chlorophyll (from spirulina)	4mg	*
Boron (as sodium borate)	1mg	*
Lutein (from marigold)	200mcg	*

This product does not contain

• artificial coloring
• artificial flavoring
• dairy products
• lactose
• milk
• wheat
• yeast

**Based on 2000 calorie diet.Other Ingredients: Purified water, 100% pure crystalline fructose, Sorbitol, Malic acid, Apple juice concentrate, Natural flavors, Xanthan gum, Silica, Potassium sorbate and Sodium benzoate (to preserve freshness).

Day 23 -- 3/22

Ahhhh . . . another day, another workout.  I was pretty tired this morning, but no worries -- I made it through :)

I suffer from intermittent flare-ups of psoriasis on my face and it's gotten more frequent over the past couple of years, most noticeably in the week before my monthly.  I had it pretty bad during my last pregnancy, so it's triggered by hormones, but it almost never flares up during the summer.  You know what I've noticed?  My skin is looking much better and no flare-ups so far.  Keeping my fingers crossed that it stays this way.

So what did I eat today?

• Water: 20 oz
• Multigrain oatmeal with a cup of coffee.  About 300 cals.
• Spinach lasagne.  About 350 cals.
• Banana-coconut protein shake.  About 240 cals.
• Piece of milk chocolate.  About 75 cals.
• Cornichons.  About 10 cals.
• Broccoli & chicken with a basmati/wild rice mix topped with cheese.  About 600 cals.

Total of 1585 cals. less the 322 cals. I burned off (not including workout with weights) = net 1253 cals.

Day 22 -- 3/21

Doing my disco dance again this week.  Stepped on the scale and another 2 pounds down!

I still have a little ways to go before I think about breaking out a bikini, but I'm feeling good about my progress so far.  I tried on a pair of pants in my closet 1 size down and  . . .

 . . . they fit.  They actually fit: no wiggling to pull them up and no laying down on the bed to get them zipped.  I just pulled them up, button, zip & viola! it was done.

To be completely honest, I think I was straddling 2 sizes when I started (more toward the higher side, though, because those pants were tight & hard to close), so I'm debating if I'm going to take this as a "size down" win.  You know what?  Whatever -- the freakin' pants fit and that's all I really care about.

I asked a friend to be the "Keeper of the Weights" and she accepted.  She's a no-nonsense gal who won't bat for me if she thinks I'm bullsh*tting. Thank you, Lana!

I worked out this morning, same stack on cardio and worked on the weights for my lower body.  I tweaked the lower body workout in the same way that The Man helped me with the upper body workout and I did feel a difference.

So what did I eat today?

• Water  24 oz.
• Multigrain oatmeal with a cup of coffee.  About 300 cals.
• Roasted vegetables & couscous.  About 290 cals.
• Banana coconut protein shake.  About 240 cals.
• Piece of milk chocolate.  About 60 cals.
• Open-faced chopped chicken with baby bella mushrooms, baby spinach & cheddar cheese on a pan-grilled sliced of Tuscan pane. About 550 cals.

Total of 1440 cals. less 327 cals. I burned off (not including weight workout) = 1113

Total pounds down since going hard:  6

Day 21 -- 3/20

After spending a most leisurely morning sleeping in and then having a very late breakfast, The Man and I went to work out together.

Normally, we swim on Sundays, but didn't go last week and didn't go today either.   I was looking forward to going, but I wasn't as prepared as I should have been, so we decided against it, which ultimately worked in my favor.

I went back to 30 minutes of cardio (1, 5, 3, 7, 5, 7, 3, 5, 1, 5, 3, cool down), but I used a different machine than the one I normally use and discovered that the new machine, which doesn't have the swinging arms, DOES allow the foot pedals to incline. So, of course, I experimented with that and now my butt hurts -  the higher incline works out more of your butt.  Who knew?

After that, we both headed over to the weight room.  We don't work out together during the week (he goes in the mid-afternoon; I'm there at 6am), so I'm using our time there on Sundays to have him tweak my workouts.  He felt my workout was too easy, so he upped the weights a notch and it really made a huge difference.  Apparently, Mommy wasn't going hard enough.

So what did I eat today?

• Water: 16.9 oz
• 2 slices of bacon on a slice of toasted Tuscan pane.  About 220 cals.
• Shake: 8 oz of Coconut Dream milk (60 cals), 1 medium banana (120 cals) and 1/2 scoop of whey protein powder (50 cals).  About 230 cals.
• Cornichons (small, garlicky pickles).  About 10 cals.
• Pasta in marinara sauce with cubed chicken breast & baby spinach.  About 550 cals.

Total of 1010 cals for the day less the 321 I burned off (not including the weights) = 689 cals (WAY to low!)

Days 19 & 20 -- 3/18 & 3/19

Friday, 3/18 -- So I did the 20-minute workout this morning (1F, 3B, 5F, 7B, 7F, 5B, 3F, 1F, 3B, 5F, cool down) and, just like with the upper body workout, I made some adjustments:

• Leg press - was 60 lbs, 3 sets of 10; now 3 set of 15
• Leg extension - was 20 lbs, 3 sets of 10; now 3 sets of 15
• Leg curls - was 30 lbs, 3 sets of 10; now 3 sets of 15
• Adductor - was 30 lbs, 3 sets of 10; now 40 lbs, sets of 15
• Inductor - was 30 lbs, 3 sets of 10; now 3 sets of 15

Although it went really well, I'm definitely going to go back to doing the 30 minutes of cardio.

So what did I eat today?

• Water: 20oz.
• Multigrain oatmeal with a cup of coffee.  About 300 cals.
• 1 medium banana.  About 120 cals.
• Garden vegetable lasagne from TJ's.  About 290 cals.
• 4oz of unsweetened almond milk -- about 40 cals.
• Thai vegetable gyoza and chicken cilantro wonton (steamed) -- about 450 cals.

Around 1200 cals less the 227 I worked off this morning (not including weight training) = 973 cals. (too low!)

Saturday, 3/19 -- No workout today.  We ran around the Bronx all day spending time with various people in the family.  I couldn't think of a better way to spend the day and  I can't wait until the summer rolls in and we can go up to Bear Mountain to cook out.  Summers hanging with my family & friends = the best times.

So what did I eat today?  (So what DIDN'T I eat today?  I was a VERY naughty girl.)

• 2 cups of coffee.  About 200 cals.
• Tossed salad with ranch dressing and sauteed vegetables.  About 450 cals.
• Rice & peas, mac & cheese, fried chicken, potato salad & some rum punch. About 2000 cals.

Total of about 2750 cals. Eeek!  Can't do that every day, but it was sooooooooo good!

Don't worry, I'll be back on my grind come Sunday morning.  I promise.

Day 18 -- 3/17

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The weather here was absolutely beautiful today.  It's a nice change from the rain & cold.  Spring is almost here!  I hate cold weather.  True story.

I got my work in this morning.  1,5, 3, 7, 7, 3, 5, 1, 5, 3 stack on the elliptical and then upper body weights.  I made a few changes with the weights since I didn't really feel like it was hard enough:

Chest press:  

     was 20lbs, 3 sets of 10

     now 3 sets of 15

Shoulder press:  

     was 10lbs, 3 sets of 8

     now 3 sets of 12

Lat pull down: 

     was 30lbs, 3 sets of 10

     now 40lbs, 3 sets of 15

Chest flyes: 

     was 20lbs, 3 sets of 10

     now 3 sets of 15

Arm curls: 

     was 20lbs, 3 sets of 8

     now 3 sets of 15

I felt much better about the intensity of the changes.  To some of you, this is baby weight, but I'm just getting back in the game, so I'm taking baby steps.  Don't worry, I'll be deadlifting 480lbs before you know it.  *wink*

It usually takes a couple of days after working with weights for my muscles to tighten up and I just never really got that feeling, so I knew the initial workout was too light.  I'm going to adjust my leg workout tomorrow also.

Teddy Stampoulos of Martini's Restaurant in Millburn, NJ (and also the new Martini 494 that just opened up in Newark), sent over some St. Patrick's Day sliders to our office which were absolutely delicious!  What's a St. Patrick's Day slider?  Corned beef on grilled rye bread topped with sauerkraut, a special sauce and cheese.  Who knew they'd be that good? Best of all, they were sized perfectly for my needs.  Now if I could only convince Teddy to create a veggie slider . . .  If you have the opportunity, get thee and thine companion over to one of these restaurants.  You'll thank me later.

So what did I eat today?

• Water: 16.9 oz (slack!)
• Multigrain oatmeal with a cup of coffee.  About 300 cals.
• 2 sliders.  About 550 cals.
• 1 medium apple.  About 70 cals.
• Large salad with grilled chicken, baby spinach & Tuscan creamy basalmic.  About 400 cals.

Total of 1320 less the 226 cals I burned off (not including weight training) = 1094