Day 17 -- 3/16

Ahhhhhh . . . nothing like a day off from working out to make you feel like a lazy girl :(

Seriously, I should have enjoyed the time away, but I felt guilty.  Truth be told, while I don't hate working out, I don't exactly enjoy it either, so you'd think I'd take some pleasure in a day off.  Nope -- just made me feel guilty.

I'll get over it. :)

I'm still up at the same time whether or not I got to the gym, so I got a couple of things done around the house: I straightened up the kitchen a bit and cooked some chicken.  Let me explain the chicken part:  Shoprite (yes, I do shop at places other than Trader Joe's - LOL) had chicken breast on sale for $1.69/lb.  That's the BONELESS and SKINLESS chicken breast.  I know!  So I went nuts and bought 6 packs, which is roughly 20 pounds.  3 packs went into the freezer, but I figured I'd cook the other 3.  2 of the packs I cubed, seasoned & baked for use during the week; you know, in salad, in marinara sauce ... whatever.    The other pack I sliced in half and pounded out until it was really thin then stuffed with sliced red peppers, baby bella mushrooms, shredded cabbage and baby spinach, nicely topped with a little bit of jalapeno jack cheese.

Delish!  Best of all, just under 500 cals for the whole dish.

So what did I eat today?

• Water:  20 oz.
• Multigrain oatmeal with a cup of coffee.  About 300 cals.
• Thai chicken with rice.  About 390 cals.
• 1 medium banana.  About 120 cals.
• 2 oz of Cocount Dream milke (unsweetened).  About 20 cals.
• Baked chicken breast stuffed with veggies & topped with jalapeno jack cheese.  About 500 cals.

Total of 1330 cals.

Day 16 -- 3/15

I did the 20-minute workout this morning (1F, 3B, 5F, 7B, 7F, 5B, 3F, 1F, 3B, 5F, cool down) and went off to the weight room to do the leg workout, as follows:

• Leg press - 60 lbs, 3 sets of 10
• Leg extension - 20 lbs, 3 sets of 10
• Leg curls - 30 lbs, 3 sets of 10
• Adductor - 30 lbs, 3 sets of 10
• Inductor - 30 lbs, 3 sets of 10

I'm pretty sure I'll never have Tina Turner's gams, but I would like thighs that can crush a bowling ball. (How would THAT look on my resume? Experience with corporate bankruptcy filings and submission procedures, demonstrated proficiency at downsizing bowling balls with thighs . . .)

I have to say, as much as I'm not necessarily devastated at cutting down the cardio time, I don't think I feel the 20 minutes is quite enough.  I'm going to stick with the 20 minutes for the rest of the week, but next week I'm going back to 30 minutes and I'm going to really try to streamline the entire workout so I can get everything done in an hour.

On a related note, I feel my semi-annual change-of-seasons cold coming on which will only serve to add to the struggle of trying to going hard.  Ugh.

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.
• 1 medium apple.  About 70 cals.
• 5 small baked chicken wings with seasoned mixed vegetables.  About 550 cals.
• 1 large mint tea.  About 65 cals.

Around 1395 cals less the 226 I worked off this morning (not including weight training) = 1169 cals.

Day 15 -- 3/14

I weighed in this morning and despite some *ahem* interesting food choices this past weekend, I am down 1.5 lbs from last week.  


Oo-oo oo-oo *doing my disco dance*


Now that I'm incorporating weight training into my work out, given the time constraints I wrote about previously, I cut my cardio down to 20 minutes with a 3-minute cool down.  I did something a little different with that this morning.  Instead of doing a forward stride for 2 minutes, then backwards for 1 minute, then changing resistance levels, I alternated every 2 minutes AND changed levels.  So, it was level 1-forward (2 mins), level 5-forward (2mins), L3-B, L7-F, L7-B, L3-F, L5-B, L1-F, L3-B, L5-F, cooldown).


After that, I did weight training for the upper body.  Tomorrow, I'll do lower body.  I'm not ready to go hard with free weights yet, so all my work be on the machines for now.  


Chest press:  20lbs, 3 sets of 10
Shoulder press:  10lbs, 3 sets of 8
Lat pull down, 30lbs, 3 sets of 10
Chest flyes, 20lbs, 3 sets of 10
Arm curls, 20lbs, 3 sets of 8


So what did I eat today?

• Water:  33.8 ozs
• Multigrain oatmeal with a cup of coffee.  About 300 cals.
• Chicken burgers:  2 pre-cooked chicken patties (280 cals) on a small split pita (160 cals.) with roasted pepper & artichoke tapenade (30 cals), & lettuce (30 cals).  About 470 cals.
• 1 medium banana.  About 120 cals.
• Baked chicken in a coconut-thai curry sauce with black olives, red & green peppers, and bamboo shoots over rice.  About 500 cals.
• Mint tea.  About 50 cals.

Total of 1540 cals less the 228 cals I burned off (not including weight training) = 1312 cals.

Total pounds down since going hard:  4

Days 13 & 14 -- 3/12 & 3/13

Saturday, 3/12
So . . . completely went overboard Friday night, but you know what?  I'm not sweating it.  It was what it was, I had a good time, and I'm not going to let that phase me.

You what what is going to phase me?  Earbuds.  I HATE earbuds.  All this time, I thought my ears were normal, but apparently, they aren't.  I haven't met an earbud yet that will stay where it's supposed to for more than 3 minutes at a time.  One of my little tricks when I work out is to get lost in the music so I don't focus on how much time I left or how tired I am.  But you can't zone out when you have to adjust the earbuds every few minutes.  I know they make elongated earbuds that fit in the ear canal, but seriously, I don't want to go around sticking speakers deep in my ears.

%$^&!!!  I need some official headphones.  And don't even suggest Beats by Dre.  They're a step under Bose and for the record, for the amount of money you spend, Bose isn't that great.

I did my cardio workout today, and I stepped it up just a little bit (maybe a little too much - 1, 5, 3, 7, 5, 9, 5, 7, 3, 5, cool down).  I was breathing a little too hard and I could feel my pulse, so I have to wait a little while until I'm ready for that level.  I'll try it again in a couple of weeks to see.

The Man was at the gym with me and helped me craft a weight-training routine.  I'm excited about this!

So what did I eat today?

• Water:  33.8 ozs
• Multigrain oatmeal with a cup of coffee.  About 300 cals.
• Medium banana.  About 120 cals.
• Protein bar.  About 300 cals.
• Turkey burger with crispy onions & cheese on a bun with about 10 fries.  About 800 cals.

About 1520 cals less the 348 cals I burned off = 1172 net cals.

Sunday, 3/13

The Man's shoulder has been bothering him, so we didn't go swimming today.  I could have gone by myself, but it's no fun without him there, so I went over to the gym and did a short (22 mins)  cardio workout (1, 3, 5, 7, 5, 3, 5, cool down), and then some grocery shopping with Ameme.  A pretty low-key day, that was alright with me.

So what did I eat today?

• Water: 20 ozs
• 2 scrambled eggs on a small pita.  About 280 cals.
• 2  cups of coffee.  About 200 cals.
• Picked at some chicken wings.  About 300 cals.
• 8 oz of pan-seared steak with basmati/wild rice mix & broccoli. About 1000 cals.

About 1780 cals less the 247 I burned off = 1533 net cals.

Day 12 -- 3/11

As previously warned, no workout today.

The wedding was beautiful (but I expect nothing less from the Collado family).  It was great to see them all again.  They are one of the most close-knit, loving and warm families you'd ever want to have the pleasure of being around.

I completely OD'd on the food.  Eh -- I enjoyed it, but I'll work hard tomorrow and be back on my grind.

So what did I eat today?

• Water: 33.8 ozs
• Multigrain oatmeal with a cup of coffee.  About 300 cals.
• Can of tuna with 1tbsp of mayo & roasted pepper tapenade & 4 Magic Pops.  About 350 cals.
• A ridiculous amount of food & desserts. About 2000 cals.

Total for the day:  2650 cals.  Easily.

Day 11 -- 3/10

Although I had a nice day off yesterday, I had to get back to my grind this morning and I did.  I upped the resistance just a little on my pyramid stack on the trainer this morning (1, 6, 4, 8, 6, 8, 4, 6, 2, 4, cool down).  I only went up a level and according to the machine, I only burned an extra 10-15 cals or so, but I could really feel a difference in the workout.

Fair warning:  there will be no workout tomorrow.  I have a wedding to go to tomorrow night, which means I'm going to see Chachi (my hairdresser) this evening.  Freshly done hair = no sweat = no gym.  I will, however, work out on Saturday.

I knew I'd have to give up certain things when I began doing this and going to the salon on a regular basis was one of them, simply because there's no point in paying good $$$ to get my hair done only to sweat or swim shortly after.  I don't like it, but I resigned myself to getting it done for special occasions and this wedding is obviously one of them.  While I love the texture and strength of my natural hair, it is a PITA to deal with daily.

So what did I eat today?

• Water: 33.8 ozs
• Multigrain oatmeal with a cup of coffee.  About 300 cals.
• Can of tuna in water with 1 tbsp of mayo & roasted red pepper tempenade on 5 Magic Pops.  About 355 cals.
• Medium banana. About 105 cals.
• Channa Masala (Indian-spiced chick peas) with rice.  About 500 cals.

Total:  1270 cals less the 342 I burned off = 928 cals.

Day 10 -- 3/9

No workout yesterday morning -- got to rest the body now and again, but it's a weird mind-split to both feel guilty and glad.

I have a small dilemma.

I have blocks of time within which I can accommodate my workouts.  I have to take The Boy to school by 8am, I work full-time (9-5) and I also have a part-time gig in the evenings (usually 1-2 days out of the week).  For the most part, I can work out in the morning from 6-7am, and after work in the evenings.

Except that I don't like going there in the evenings.  Everyone goes there after work, it's crowded and I don't want to have to navigate around a bunch of people to get my workout done.  I mean, if I'm going to really stick with this, I have to be comfortable in my surroundings.  So unless I have no alternative, evening workouts are out.

FINALLY . . . the real challenge.  I need to get my cardio AND weight training done between 6-7am.  I'm pretty sure this is possible, but I don't want either segment to suffer because of the time constraint.

Tune in for more on this as it begins to happen.

So what did I eat today?

• Water: 10 oz (terrible!)
• Black currant tea.  About 50 cals.
• Multigrain oatmeal with cup of coffee.  About 300 cals.
• Same chicken burgers I had yesterday, plus 1 oz of cheese, but without the mayo.  About 605 cals.
• Medium banana.  About 105 cals.
• Baked chicken wing pieces with steamed green beans.  About 550 cals.

Total cals. for the day:  Around 1610.