Day 97- A day in the life

Before my last post (or posts, it may go full Harry Potter Part 7 on me), I would like to detail a typical day in my weightloss/healthy living life. Hopefully if anyone is following along and trying your own get healthy plan, you can appreciate this post.Today was a little stranger than normal, but you get the idea.

Woke up at 5:30 before my alarm, completely awake. Should have actually gotten up then and got my butt to work early, but I fell back to sleep and woke up at 7:45 instead.

Toasted a pita burger while I got ready, added some PB, and grabbed my lunch and ran out the door. Normally I have a glass of water or small juice of water, with my vitamins. That didn't happen this morning. I ate my pb sandwich in the car on the way to work, yes I do that, I like staying in bed as late as possible.

Got to work, filled up my water bottle, and grabbed a cup of tea with one sweetner. I stopped drinking coffee a few weeks ago, purely because I don't really like the taste of the coffee at work, and I am much too lazy to make my own.

Around 10 I had some almonds that I keep at work. I also didn't cook an egg today which I normally do, and I eat that when I get hungry in the morning. At lunch I realized I grabbed a container of squash and broccoli. No spices, no flavour nothing. Bleh. So I went up to the cafeteria and bought a chicken wrap, and I got a diet coke. I have bought a diet coke twice since I started working, so this was really unusual. The wrap was tasty and full of veggies. Later in the day I had some yogurt and an apple to keep me full and more water of course.

When I got home around 6:30 I had a big spinach salad with other veggies and tuna before getting out the door and going to bodyflow(yoga) for 7:30. I got home around 9:00 pm, made a better lunch for tomorrow (spinach salad with broccoli and squash), ate some cucumber, had a glass of milk, and had about two crackers with salsa, and now I am heading to bed to do it all again tomorrow!

And yes I really just want a million bags of chips all the time. Some days are great and I fully enjoy eating healthy, others (like today) I can't seem to satisfy a craving. But I try to have some will power because if I caved to every craving, I wouldn't be seeing any results!

Now I am off to bed before I want more snacks!

3 days until the 5k run!!

Day 95-Its almost over!!! Plans for the future

After today's post I plan too post 2 more times before switching over full time to the Pink Hard Hat.

I can't believe it is almost over. I like how this time around, unlike last time, I am actually trying to keep going near the end, I haven't given up.

But to be completely totally honest, I am going to fail at this challenge again. Ok fail is a nasty word. Lets just say I won't be getting an A+. I will detail all my final results on my last post but for now I want to talk about my big plan for the next 100 days.

It isn't actually for the next 100 days, it is just for life in general.

Weight wise I want to loose 10 more pounds by Christmas (spoiler alert, this will get me to my totally typical weight loss goal). Fitness wise, I really still want to run a 5 k (or more) at some point. I am going to keep working on it.

Gym wise I want to amp up my exercise regime from 3 times a week to 5 times a week or MORE, every week. I plan on doing this the following way:

Monday-Body Pump then Zumba BACK TO BACK
Tuesday- Body Pump Again!
Wednesday- Quick Run/Cardio
Thursday-Bodyflow
Friday-Day off
Saturday- Body Attack (A crazy high cardio class)
Sunday- Body flow

This a crazy amount of gym-age, but I have learned that I really like to go to the gym, mostly because I feel really good after, not just physically but mentally too! I have enough yoga in there so I don't kill my body, and I have a coveted day off in there too!

Food wise, I think I am doing pretty well. Maybe working on smaller portions, but I have been eating really healthy.

I am going to detail all this once and a while on my other blog.

Normal recap time:
Yesterday I went to Zumba and it was really fun. And today I went to Body Pump and added weight to squats and now I am a little sore in a good way.

For supper on Monday the BF cooked some spaghetti squash and we had one of my favorite healthy meals...
SPAGHETTI SQUASH WITH BEANS!!

Yah it doesn't have a snazzy name, but it is delicious. Also lacking pictures, need to get on that part of blogging.

Step 1. Cook a ginormous spaghetti squash for 1 hour at 350 C. Poke holes in it so it doesn't splode everywhere.
Step 2. Go do something nearby for 50 minutes. Don't leave the house with an appliance on, that is just common sense.
Step 3. Open can of beans, I like pinto beans or white kidney beans, rinse, have a dance party.
Step 4. Open can of pasta sauce, put in pot, add vegs and spices, and hotness if your into that. My choice is Tabasco, classic but delicious. Mike prefers thai chilies.
Step 5. Add beans to pot, simmer until hot.
Step 6. Remove squash from the oven CAREFULLY! Open it up, remove the guts and seeds.
Step 7. Fork out pieces of squash that are magically noodle shaped, and top with sauce and some low fat cheese.
Step 8. Enjoy!

The best part of this meal is that it is makes awesome leftovers. One normal sized squash fed me and the bf for 3+ meals! 

Today I also made a mini potato salad with one leftover potato, some light sour cream, garlic and dried basil, with canned artichokes left over from my pizza. It was surprisingly delicious!

So only 5 more days till the run. GAHHH!

Day 93-Exercise on the Weekend

This week has been a little strange with the workouts. Monday I was crazy and did Body Pump and Zumba as detailed before, then I didn't do anything until Saturday.

I felt really bad because for the 1st (or maybe 2nd) time this whole process I skipped the gym on Thursday, my normally scheduled bodyflow class, with no good reason. This bummed me out because I felt like I let myself down. There is a total difference to me comparing missing a class because of an event (family visiting, going out with a friend) but to miss for no reason...not cool.

Anyway to get out of my bleh mood I went for a run/gymage on Saturday. I ran for about 2 minutes before I felt like I was dying, so I power walked the rest of the 30 minutes to the gym. Probably not going to be able to run the 5k next weekend, but that is ok (I guess). At the gym I hit the elliptical for 30 minutes to get some extra cardio, and then walked back.

Today I went to Bodyflow, and I must say there is something really nice about going to a class earlish (10:30) on a Sunday, and feeling like I have accomplished something.
So even though I took 4 days off, I still went to the gym for 4 "sessions". Not too bad.

For food this week I didn't really make a meal plan so I was kind of all over the place with food. Last night I did make a delicious homemade pizza topped with the normal pizza stuff (pepperoni, cheese, mushrooms, veggies) with my favorite pizza toppings: artichokes, sundried tomatos, spinach, and olives. Delicious. We ate it all before I could snap a picture. Tonight I am making homemade shake and bake chicken with potatoes and carrots. A real meal as my brother and I used to say when we were little.

Simple yet delicious

I can't believe this 100 day challenge is almost over! Next week I will have to recap the whole thing, compare it to the last one. There may even be a before and after photo, just a warning.

For now though, I want to talk about a gym pet peeve of mine. When I go to the gym (except for body flow) I come out looking like a sweaty lobster. I push myself really hard, especially at Zumba and other cardio classes, because if I drag my butt all the way to the gym, I better make it worth my while.

What drives me nuts are the people who are at the gym for an hour, and don't really do anything! I am not talking about people who are just starting out in their fitness regime and physically can't do much, I am talking about the super pretty/skinny girls who just kind of aimlessly walk around maybe stretch for 5 minutes, go on the eliptical for 15 (at a slow pace) and then stretch some more. Dear girls like that, if your make up is still nice when you leave the gym, you aren't working hard enough.

Guys are just as bad too. My boyfriend just added "they do a few reps, kiss their muscles, then flex some more"

There is one gym location I go too, and it is infamous for having good looking people who go there (that is not why I go there, I found that out after the fact), and that is where it is the worst. I just don't get it. Obviously they had to work at getting into the shape they are at, because they all are pretty fit, so maybe I am just catching them on a off day...but still why waste your time going to the gym to look good?

I am a little bit proud of my sweaty lobster-ness. But not proud enough to ever post a picture on here.

Day 87- Double Time

Whoa...I never have 2 posts in 2 days.

What is the special occasion you may ask??

Well I did something crazy today. 

First of all, I changed my gym routine to allow me to go to an earlier Body Pump class. This meant I was at work at 7:00 this morning. I Finished work by 4:00, and was at the gym at 4:30. Oh yah. I did this plan because I wanted to be home early. 

But....then the craziness happened. I decided to stay after I finished a great Body Pump class, and go to ZUMBA!!! 

I. am. so. tired. now. 

I came home to some delicious leftovers that was very healthy. Mostly reheated veggies, 3 mini potatoes and like 3 oz of fish. It was mostly that healthy because there wasn't very much fish left, but hey it works!

I am pretty pumped that it is only Monday and I already have 2 hours of intense exercise done!

 

Day 86- Gym Love

Recap dance party time:

Day 82- Yoga and a walk to and from yoga. Normally I go to the Thursday body flow class but I had a conflict on Thursday, so I went to this one. It was real yoga. I prefer body flow because you get the calm relaxing stretch part of yoga plus a great workout from Pilates. Yoga was ok though. I had the taco pasta for lunch, and a veggie lentil curry for supper. 

Day 83- I had the leftover lentil veggie thing for lunch, and went out to dinner with my book club. I could have got a salad or something healthy, but I got a smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel. I have been craving one of those for about a month now, so I figured I would splurge. After coming back from that Mike and I went for a run/walk to train for the Run for the Cure in 20 days. I can run about 2.2 out of 5 km. Not perfect, but at least I am trying. 

Day 84- I had the day off, so Mike and I went out for lunch to celebrate. We got amazing pad thai, that was totally not diet worthy. I was planning on going to Body Attack (a super high intensity cardio class) but I was so sore from the gym, my body needed a day off. 

Day 85- Since I skipped Friday, I went to the gym yesterday afternoon with Mike and did some running and some weights with the machines. Not as fun as body pump, but at least I got a work out in. I also went out to dinner last night and had more pasta. 

If you add all that up it means that this week I went to the gym 5 TIMES!!!! Since I started this fitness journey back in January that was my goal, and I have done it twice. Once back in March with 5 days of Zumba and now this!! Zumba, Body Pump, Yoga, Run/Walk, and Run/Weights. Not too shabby. 

The bad thing is that for the past week I have had carbs and pasta and restaurant food way too much. It sucks because I know I am still doing really well with this challenge, but my diet has been slipping. I am definitely not as careful as before. I still don't eat a lot of junk food or anything, just little stuff, like fatty cheese, and too many carbs. Since day 50 my weight has been consistent. I think I am loosing, because my clothes still feel looser than before, but the scale isn't reflecting that. My ideal weight would be about 10 pounds lighter. I know I am not going to reach that goal by the 2nd. But I am going to keep trying until I do. 

I am just not sure what I can do to get down to that level, because my diet and my exercise levels are pretty good. Perhaps if I go to the gym 5 days a week every week, then I will see the results I want! 

In other news, I have officially signed up for the 5k Run for the Cure. If anyone would like to make a donation to this great cause...check out my page here.

Also Mike has decided to do the run with me. I asked him to help me out because I need motivation to keep running. I hope to run 3 times this week and next to prepare for the run. Maybe I will be able to run 5k non stop by then!

Day 81- Food Time

Recap!
Day 79- I did absolutely nothing. Was totally planning on hitting up bodyflow, but it just didn't happen.
Day 80- Zumba! I went to Zumba right after work and the girl was good, but it was a little to dancey for me. She was amazing dancer, and sometimes I felt like she was using the class as a chance to show off slightly. I may go back, but I may also change my entire workout schedule around. So Mondays might become Body Pump days not Zumba days. This is the excitement in my life haha.
Day 81- Body Pump, we had a sub today (same as last week) and she was good, but a sub just isn't the same as the normal instructor. Still an amazing work out, and I may have over exerted on back and chest. Oops.

Ok now for the food time. I wanted to take a break from the blah blah blah zumba, blah blah blah body pump blogs to do one about what I ate in the past few days.

On Saturday, Mike and I hit up the market/Metro/Loblaws for groceries, we were deal hunting! It took us like 2 hours to get them all, but it was worth it. So with freshness in hand, I came back and created this:


Fresh salmon with a maple syrup/soy sauce, blueberry salsa mentioned in the last post, and couscous (from a box), and market fresh green beans!

The AMAZING salsa was just some blueberries, one diced jalapeno, juice and zest (zest is a strange word to type) of one lime and some cilantro from our garden (Mike laughs when I tell him to get stuff from "our garden", in reality is a herb garden in a small pot on our 8'x4' balcony, but it is legit.) Note our fancy smancy dinner on the 8'x4' patio!

For dessert I made a Peach Crisp. I hate baking. I am not bad at it, I just don't get any joy out of it like I do cooking. I think it is because I need to cook to survive, so I might as well have fun with it. Baking is not a necessity. That all being said the peach crisp was delicious.

On Sunday I took a whole chicken, and cut it into 8 serving pieces. I have done this twice before and every time I do it I feel strangely proud of myself. If raw meat/meat on bones freaks you out avoid ever doing this. It has a kind of Dexter feel to it at points. I made a chicken basque recipe from Canadian Living, that was really easy.
Chicken pieces+Can of tomato+ bunch of garlic (cloves)+ spices+ roasted peppers+ sausages all roasted into goodness for 45 minutes.

Love that it looked exactly like the photo, minus a few pieces of chicken because I already served out our food. That was also Monday's dinner. Yay leftovers. I also ate every clove of roasted garlic on Sunday because I am cool like that.

So tonight, we were planning to make taco's but I realized I forgot to buy the seasoning, the tacos or tortillas and the salsa. Planning fail. So Mike created a Mexican Taco dish!

Whole wheat pasta, ground turkey with spicy spices, salsa made of tomatoes, green peppers and a jalapeno, guacamole made from the most perfect avocados (and lime and another jalapeno) ever and some light sour cream. Oh and lowfat cheese. It was really tasty and the best part was that it was made when I came home! Thanks Mike! Worst part was that I sneezed after eating and had jalapeno juices go into my nose. Not fun at all.

Even though these meals were healthy, they were cheap (all the ingredients were on sale), most of these meals took 30 minutes to make (chicken took 45 to cook but about 10 minutes to throw together) so they are all quick and easy. And most importantly they were delicious!!

Day 78- Goals..smhmoals

Wow day 78 already. I have had an interesting little bit the past couple of days with the TTWLC.
It seems that when I write a "preachy" blog post about being all healthy...a week like this happens.

Day 67-I went out to dinner (Indian food) with a friend from Halifax/Toronto who is MOVING TO AFRICA!! This was way more important than going to body pump.
Day 66-73 I went on vacation back to Halifax/Bathurst to move out of my Halifax apartment I had been subletting for the summer, and to visit the beach. I indulged slightly with the food, and didn't exercise enough, booo. But I did go for a really nice walk on Saturday with my family on the beach (5km in 1hr). I know I have mentioned that family is pretty healthy..but to be more specific, my Mom has gone for a walk and or cross country ski (pretty much) every day since December 26th, 2000 rain, shine, or blizzard. That is commitment.

When I came back on Tuesday (74) I went to Body Pump and it was good, not awesome, but good. No food cheats! Someone commented on my healthy lunch (carrot sticks, tuna, lettuce..it was super not thrilling) and I briefly explained that I try to eat really really healthy during the week so I can splurge a little on the weekend.

Wednesday(75) I went for a run/walk which I will discuss later (no food cheats). Thursday (76) I went to Body Flow, and yoga was awesome to get out some stress from a super busy day at work!  Friday I didn't do anything, and today I went for a stroll around town, made an amazing supper featuring a blueberry salsa from Whit's Amuse Bouche. Yes I said blueberry salsa, and yes it was delicious.

So back to my attempt at a run on Wednesday. It was a cool cloudy September that reminded me of playing soccer back in HS. Perfect for a run. Also I am trying to run a 5k in 30 minutes on October 2nd for the Run for the Cure, so I really needed to get training (like 3 months ago). So off I went, feeling good for about 1 km, before my calves started killing me, so I walked/ran for the next little bit. In total I ran 2 km and walked the rest. All in 45 minutes, so that wasn't too bad.

But here is the thing. I hated every minute of it. I love my zumba/body pump/body flow classes, but running for 45 minutes was painful and annoying. I think I am just not a jogger. I think sprinting is fun, but jogging just isn't for me. And the great thing that I have learned, is that it is completely ok. I don't need to be a jogger to be healthy. I don't need to run marathons to live a healthy life. Maybe one day I will actually be able to run a 5 k or more, but for now I am happy with my walk/run 5k.

I am still going to run the 5k on October 2nd, and I am probably not  going to meet my goal, but that is ok! I guess it is mostly about the attempt, not so much about the end result, which is kind of a good thing, because if I could immediatly run a 5k, or completed the TTWLC the first time around, I wouldn't be having all this fun :).