Do the math

I did the math and it turns out that my 60 day challenge....is almost over.  Yikes!  Jan 2nd was day 1, there are 31 days in January, however I stared on the 2nd, so 30 days.  There are 28 days in February, today being the 28th.   30 + 28 = 58.  2 more days left.

The timing of this actually worked out pretty well.  While my weight loss goals might not  have been fully achieved, I have made progress in several areas which I will report on in 2 days.  Today we are doing the Crossfit Total Challenge at the gym.  Crossfit total is your total combined weight for max deadlift, backsquat and press. 

My deadlift was 245, backsquat was 175 and press was 80.  I am REALLY excited to see what I get tonight.  I took a full rest day yesterday, have been rolling out my back and working on my shoulder (injured it pretty bad on Saturday) in hopes that I will feel great tonight.  Since we first did the Crossfit Total I have increased my deadlift and squat, but I am still comparing against my old numbers for a total gain.  We did the challenge on 1/3, so it will be almost 60 days, perfect!

I have to 'go out of town' this weekend which means I can't go to the gym on Saturday.  My work is doing an off-site Sat-Tues.  We have to stay at the Hilton in downtown Portland (I plan on escaping and going home each night).  I'm annoyed.  I'm annoyed because I'm not technically traveling, yet I'm at the whim of my work, who LOVES to provide unhealthy food.  So once again I have to pack food to take so I can get through the 4 day off-site without losing too much progress.

Also, I have to travel to Minnesota during the week of March 14th.  Yupp, brrr.  I really hope this isn't a trend, as I don't like traveling for work, I like home.

Yupp, today's forecast (these are likely high temps considering it was 0 this weekend

Anyways, I hope everyone has a happy and healthy Monday!

Fostering

Quick update, not feeling my greatest today and plan on going back to bed for a bit (need my strength for a good workout later!).  I talked with the lady in charge of fostering through FDNLS (my favorite shelter).  She is someone I can't wait to meet in person!  She fosters the difficult dogs, the pitty's rescued from horrible neglect cases and abuse cases and that is EXACTLY what I want to do (when I get a bigger house/yard and have room to properly love and support these dogs).  We talked for awhile yesterday about fostering, how to handle the adjustments that I will need to go through, along with Matt and our house dogs and it got me even more excited!  Next step is our house check where someone will come out and make sure I am who I say I am and to ensure our house will be a safe and loving place for foster dogs.


Next piece of info...they have an 8 week old and 6 month old puppy that need foster homes.  Depending on how quickly the house check can happen we might get either of them within the next week.  I know this is moving fast, but all we need to do is commit to 1 dog at a time and ensure that dog is loved, taken care of, shown how to enjoy live and taught a few necessary life skills in order to get adopted.  That's easy enough!

It will be quite the adventure for us and the first foster dog will create a lot of stress and excitement in our house (especially for our dogs) but allows us to finally start on our path to hopefully creating our own foster/rescue organization in the future!
I'll keep everyone updated and might, just might, create a new blog, written from the perspective of my foster dogs!!

Fitness musings

There are a few people in my Facebook world that baffle me.  Well there used to be more but we're no longer 'friends' haha.  Anyways, I love when I find something that pushes me to get off the couch, step away from the wine and dark chocolate and ice cream and pizza and well you get the point, and get moving and get healthy.  I've tried it all, since moving to the metro area I have worked out at Bally's (took a few classes, worked with a personal trainer), worked out at the YMCA (took 1 cycle class...mainly worked out on my own), tried Snap Fitness for awhile then joined 24 Hour Fitness.  At 24 I took a lot of classes, did a bootcamp, worked out with a personal trainer, even taught cycle classes for awhile.  I worked out at the Elite Kettlebell Gym (Spinach) and Team Quest where I did fit classes.  I now am at Crossfit Absolute. 

My point is I've tried a lot of gyms and fitness programs, not to mention playing indoor soccer, running 5ks, 10k's and half marathons.  I really like being active and I've NEVER judged anyone for the activities they choose to keep themselves active and healthy.  Sure I don't have an interest in Zumba, but that's because I've tried it and lets face it, I'm more of a running man type of dancer and less of a shake your hips in a latin way kind of dancer.  But to each their own, I'd rather people find something they enjoy and stick to it than do nothing at all!

So to my point, I've noticed over the past 2 years as I've bounced around from one gym to another that there is a group of fitness professionals out there who love to bash on the activities and fitness programs that others chose to participate in.  Not everyone I've come in contact with, but a smaller sub-group who thinks their way is the best way and are often vocal about it (this is no reflection of the current fitness professional(s) I see at my Crossfit gym, just to clarify).  To me, a fitness professional should encourage people to be active and support everyone in their achievements rather than make fun of certain styles of working out and/or certain gyms. 

Yes I am obsessed with Crossfit, why?  Because I've found something that pushes me to be a better me.  I've found something that fuels my inter competitive side.  I have FINALLY found something that I look forward to doing every single day.  I never skip a CF workout because I don't feel like going.  I wake up early in the morning if my evening is packed and when I travel I find CF gyms that will let me drop in.  Crossfit has given me that extra motivation and dedication I needed to push myself beyond my limits and I really enjoy it.  HOWEVER, I know that Crossfit is not for everyone, just like body building, marathon running, fitness competitions, Olympic lifting, tri's, rock climbing, dancing, swimming, MMA (I could go on but I wont) is not for everyone. 

I fully encourage everyone to find something that makes you feel good about yourself.  Find something you enjoy doing that keeps you fit and feeling fabulous (or helps you get to that place).  I would never make fun of what others choose to do, even it your bought and wear the shape-up shoes and own a shake weight. 

Okay that last part was a lie, I will make fun of you if you admit to owning and seriously using a shake weight, but I think that's fair.  Anyways, at the end of the day, something is better than nothing at all.  So go get active and feel proud doing what makes you happy.  And if your fitness choices don't fulfill you and make you feel like a better you when you're done, if you dread working out each day I challenge you to find something you won't dread.  Find something you will look forward to doing each day, that's the only way you'll stick with it!

A HA Found in a Chicken Salad

**Correction to the below background information.  1 block of protein is 7 grams, not 9 and 1 block of carbs is 9 not 7.  I can't remember last night if I totally miscalculated this or not.  I know for sure that my protein is right because I just based it on the weight of the protein used against the block chart.  However I realize now that my carbs might be off, lower than planned, but that is okay it won't make too much of a difference.  Like I said below, math is not my strong suit!**

Okay so I didn't find anything in my chicken salad, you got me!  What I did find today was a series of videos regarding cooking bulk meals for the week zone block style.  I'll be the first to admit that math is not my strong suit so cooking one large meal that can then be split up between me (who eats 3 blocks) and Matt (who eats 5 blocks) has been a daunting challenge.  Up until now I've just made our meals separately, which takes that much more time and is the reason why I love my corn tortilla mini pizzas so much!  However, I am slowly trying to move back to paleo, one meal at a time and paleo means preparation and cooking.

So some quick background info.  1 block of protein = 9 grams, 1 block of carbs = 7 grams and 1 block of fat = 1.5 grams. So a 3 block meal would have 27 grams of protein, 21 grams of carbs and 4.5 grams of fat.  As you can already see, a lot of number are involved.  1 oz of chicken = 1 block of protein, 1.5 oz of shrimp = 1 block of protein.  There are cheat sheets which can be found online, I like this one.  It helps you 'block' up meals easily.  However, when cooking in bulk the question that always haunted me was how do I take my large meal and divide it back up in to the appropriate blocks. For all you smarty pants out there, don't comment on this as I don't want to hear it.  Today I had a big break through and am excited about it!

Stepping back a bit, I watched a nutrition video on Crossfit Journal.com yesterday.  In it a coach being interviewed mentioned that when she sees someone that has been at the gym for a few months and isn't making the progress they should, she will start talking to them about nutrition and if they aren't willing to work hard in all aspects of being fit, which includes a good diet, she sometimes suggests they find another gym.  Wow, that's harsh!  I'm not suggesting that anyone needs to leave any gym because of their diet, but it got me thinking about my own diet and my own goals and the progress I'm making against them.  Take my 60 day challenge, which is quickly coming to an end.  I am not where I wanted to be and I have my nutrition to thank for that.  Matt also has realized that he is training so hard at the gym and losing so much because his nutrition needs to be dialed in.  I know what I need to do but it just seems like to much work sometimes.   So my hope is that what I learned might help just one person out there who reads my blog.

Alright, are you ready for this?  The big trick to cooking bulk meals (think 4-8 servings at one time) is....all about the protein.  The goal is to have a balanced meal so 3 blocks of protein, 3 blocks of carbs and 3 blocks of fat.  The best way to demonstrate how easy it can be is to explain the dinner I cooked tonight.

I started with frozen shrimp.  Meat should be weighed after it is cooked so I took out all the shrimp I had left in the freezer, cooked it and weighed it:

I then weighed my shrimp and realized I didn't have enough protein for an 8 block meal (remember I eat 3 blocks and Matt eats 5 blocks = 8 blocks total).  My cooked shrimp weighed about 9 ounces (1.5 oz shrimp = 1 block protein) which gave me 6 blocks of protein.  Luckily I had some leftover chicken in the fridge so I added 2 oz of chicken which brought me to 8 blocks of protein.  I set the shrimp and chicken aside and started working on getting enough carbs and fat. 

The fat was easy as I used slivered almonds.  For carbs I used a combination of stir fry veggies and pineapple:

The veggies say exactly how many carbs are in a serving and how many servings are in a bag.  I put in 1 1/2 bags and then added pineapple until I got to 8 blocks of carbs.  1/2 cup of cut pineapple = 1 block of carbs.  I added some pineapple juice, soy sauce and pepper.  So now the tricky part, I have this big pan full of dinner I can't wait to eat, but how do I precisely make sure I get 3 blocks and Matt gets 5?  Well it's actually pretty simple.  First, weigh the entire meal.  Then divide that by the blocks of protein.  So for example (I can't remember what it weighed) say the whole meal weighs 64 oz.  64/8 = 8.  So an 8oz serving of the meal gives me one block.  Which means that I get 24 oz and Matt gets everything left in the pan.  Simple!  I know it probably doesn't seem like it, but it was really simple!  Especially since my iPhone has a handy calculator on it since I don't do mental math!

The finished product, so good and filling!

I also made a chicken salad which ended up giving us about 8 total meals when it was all split up.  Again, I started with chicken.  After the chicken was cooked and cut I had 32 blocks of protein.  I then just started adding veggies and my first ever homemade honey mustard dressing until I had 32 blocks of carbs and then added almonds.  Looks and tastes pretty good, can't wait to eat it tomorrow!  Problem is I'm not sure I could repeat it exactly, but it was fun to make!

Thanks a lot of chicken salad!

So there you have it, hopefully this post helps at least one person figure out the zone diet a little better.  Enjoy!

Snow?

Okay the title really has nothing to do with what I want to write about, but I was trying to come up with a title that represented my feelings today.  It's not a lack of motivation I'm feeling, although maybe towards writing my blog.  I've been pushing myself in the gym, seeing gains on some of my lifts, working on my 'goats' (things I suck at) and am excited to start seeing some progress in areas of weakness.  So what is it that I'm feeling today?  Frustration.  Which snow tends to cause when it sticks around the metro area for too long.  So Snow is my title.

I always try to avoid blasting anyone on my blog because it is public and it wouldn't be fair without confronting the person first.  So without naming names or going in to specifics I'll just say that I am feeling frustrated with an obvious lack of respect that has been directed towards me.  I think I'm a pretty nice person, I don't ask a lot out of people.  I am social, talkative when I feel comfortable and work hard when its time to work(out).  All I ask is that I receive respect back, I think that's fair.  When I don't get that I get angry.  Evidenced by lasts night workout where I kicked it in to a gear I didn't know I had.  That's what happens when I get angry though!  I can joke around with the best of them and am okay being the butt of jokes, assuming I am aware of said jokes.  When these jokes are made behind my back, not cool.  When I am obviously disrespected in front of my face, not cool.  So with that, I can only say I am frustrated and that some changes may be coming soon as I refuse to pay someone for a service who turns around and treats me poorly and I refuse to associate with people who think it's okay to disrespect me.  I deserve better than that.

Alright, I feel better.  Now on to a HAPPY topic.  I have been wanting to foster dogs, specifically pit bulls for awhile now.  Matt and I both want to.  Recently, as in this weekend, the need for foster homes became urgent at one of our favorite shelters, Family Dogs New Life Shelter.  They have 5 puppies, 3 months old, that need foster homes (well needed, they all found homes as of Monday).  I woke Matt up and posed the question while he was still half asleep: Can we PLLEEEAASSEEE foster a puppy?!  I then proceeded to show him the cutest picture and asked him how he could say no?!  He didn't say yes, but he said we could consider it.  Which to me, is a yes!  I submitted our paperwork yesterday and am looking forward to talking with the shelter about foster opportunities!  I can't wait!

Sticking to it - Atlanta

I don't know why but when you travel for work it seems as though you are expected to work much longer hours than when you are home!  Bleh! I would LOVE to go see the city, they have 2 'downtown' areas and I haven't been to either.  HOWEVER, I did make it to Crossfit Atlanta last night and plan on going again tonight.  Trying to explain to my co-workers what Crossfit is was challenging.  Trying to convince them that it was okay to drop me off at this so called gym in an industrial, rough looking area of town, across the street from a Pepsi bottling plant was another challenge.  I won though!

I was very impressed by the gym, not because it's fancy, but because of the people there (coaches and athletes).  I was motivated and pushed to work as hard as I could, coached through proper snatch and clean technique (even though I'm not sure I made any improvements) and had the coach for the evening WOD help me gain confidence in doing a handstand and using bands to help modify my handstand pushups.  While this isn't something I don't get at my gym, what was impressive is that I was new to the gym, from out of town and no one really needed to invest any time in me as I'll be gone come Thursday.  However they all took time to bring me in to the group which was awesome!

CFATL Dogs, both were there last night!

This guy weighs 150lbs and likes to get right up in your business, loved it!

I also got to work out along side Leah Polaski who took first place in the GA Sectionals last year, man was that motivating to watch her!  Her DL is 286 (my goal is 285) and her stats and ability's are pretty impressive.  I'm always looking for people to look up to and push me and she was one of them!  Additionally, CF Atlanta had 3 girls qualify for regionals, pretty BA in my opinion!

As I had stated in an earlier post, traveling makes it difficult to stay on track diet wise.  I think I've made some really good choices while I've been here and packed tons of snacks so I wouldn't have an excuse for straying away from my diet!

All the snacks I brought with me, and yes I even brought a dark chocolate bar (something I need to start giving up here soon!).  You'll notice I brought protein, my after workout recovery mix, dried pears (great snack, no added sugar, just fruit!) some turkey sticks, almond butter etc. 



I definitely got some weird looks but was proud of myself for planning ahead and sticking to a reasonably good diet!

In flight

This will be a quick one as my energy is quickly fading and I'm about to try to sleep through the rest of my flight (2 hours lefts).  As you all know, I am on my way to Atlanta today for work.  I got up early and went to the gym where I got a 9 or 10 lb PR on my deadlift (not sure how much two of the plates weighed because they are weird).  This is a GREAT way to start off the day!  When I first started Crossfit my first ever deadlift max was 205 (I think).  I then gto 225, then 245, then 250 and today 259/260!  It was the slowest deadlift ever in the history of deadlifts, but I stuck to it and got the weight all the way up!

I went in to crazy planning mode last night and packed tons of protein, a sack lunch, paleo kits for snacks and set off on my way to the airport this morning feeling in control as much as possible!  So far so good, the timezone thing is always a challenge, however I am feeling good about coming back down rather than up, which ALWAYS happens when I travel for work.

A recap to this weekend, we had the Polar Plunge on Saturday and let me tell you, that water was way colder than I anticipated it being.  I swam all the way to the ropes with my coach but honestly was fearful that I might drown and have to be rescued by the very dive team I wasn't supposed to swim past, but did.  Needless to say I survived, barely!  Since I have to fly to Atlanta on VDay, Matt and I went out for frozen yogurt for lunch yesterday.  Not sure what I love more, him or froyo, haha just kidding, obviously him!

Anyways, I am excited and nervous to check out Crossfit Atlanta tomorrow, hopefully I represent CFA well and don't get my ass handed to me, although I probably will and am kind of excited about that!

I hope everyone has a happy and healthy Monday!

Friday's are always good!

I'm not sure what day I'm on for my challenge, I'll figure that out on another post.  I have not lost any weight this week (actually up about 1 lb), I'm holding steady and I'm freaking out a little bit but its because I haven't been as strict as I normally am on my diet and couldn't really push myself like I wanted to at the gym.  That is all in the past now, today is a new day and I am determined to see those numbers go down tomorrow morning when I wake up :)

Oh and about tomorrow morning, our WOD is at 7:00am and then we're taking a party bus to the POLAR PLUNGE!  Yes, the event I bugged everyone about is finally here.  Tomorrow around 11:00am I will be plunging in to freezing cold water with my fellow CFAers!  I'm cold just thinking about it, but its for such a good cause!

Looks like they are having fun!

I also just found out that I have President's day off from work which gives me a three day weekend next weekend, which just happens to be the weekend by BFF Ryne is coming in to town, AWESOME!!  Also, I am planning a trip to go visit her and her fur baby in May, YAY!!

Something else I'm happy about, which may seem odd to some people...I am sore today!  Yupp, yesterday's workout killed my legs and I am sore and it makes me happy!  I did eat the sugar cookie that was debated on Facebook and did do an extra workout to make up for said cookie.  The cookie was delicious and worth it so overall it was a winning situation!

A picture of the only cookie left.  They are all pink, mine had sprinkles as well.  It was good.

Alright, that's all I have today.  I hope everyone has a happy and healthy Friday! 

STEVIA

I am a hug fan of no calorie sweeteners.  In my coffee, on my applesauce/cottage cheese snacks.  It always seems that no matter what I choose, it's still  bad for me.  About 6-7 months ago I switched to TruVia which is made from Stevia.  Here is a link to an article about Stevia and how...wait for it....it might just be good for you (in a I don’t consume it for the calories or as literal fuel for our bodies kind of way, but for flavor, variety, and, possibly, the health benefits).  Its being compared to cinnamon and turmeric which add flavor and are known for their healthy benefits.  So check out this article, maybe it's time to switch up that no calorie sweetener!

Is Stevia Healthy?

Odds and ends

I have been slacking on my blog and I'm going to start off with a confession.  A co-worker brought in homemade sugar cookies, my all time FAVORITE cookie and my weakness (aside from frozen yogurt).  He brought them in and I stared at them and said no thanks, win!  However I kept thinking about them, and thinking about them (yes it's only 10:30 and he brought them in at 8:30 but who's counting).  I went and filled up my water bottle and started chugging but alas, the sugar cookies won.  I only ate one and it was amazing, so totally worth it.  However now I think I need to go climb the stairs a few times to help myself feel better about it.

Other odds and not really ends.  I recently let it slip that I follow 4, count them 4, blogs written from the perspective of a dog.  All of them are BADRAP rescue pit bulls and I often laugh out loud to them.  Judge me, I don't care!

Also odd, I was recently caught by a gas attendant smelling the engine of the truck.  Background, the truck started acting up again and when I pulled up to the gym last week the engine smelled really bad, like something was burning.  We took it in but they couldn't figure out what was wrong.  It hasn't been acting up and I was on my way down to Salem on Sunday.  I stopped in Wilsonville to get gas and went inside to get something to drink.  As I walked out I thought to myself, I should check to make sure the truck is okay before getting on I5.  While I realize that simply smelling the engine really isn't going to tell me much, it seemed like a good idea.  So I walk to the front of the truck and lean in to get a good smell.  Just as I am doing this the gas attendant walks around to give me my receipt.  He just stared and said "Um...here's your receipt".  I could have explained but instead gave an awkward silent pause, grabbed the receipt and said thanks.  It was such an amazingly awkward story and I can't believe I forgot to share it until now.

On the workout/diet front I've been holding steady this week.  Which doesn't surprise me since I started off Monday on a bad note and have been nursing sore elbows for the past two days.  I took yesterday off and am planning on hitting the gym hard today.  Honestly my elbows are still bothering me a little bit but I am going to try my best to suck it up and push through it today since I will be traveling next week.

Matt made a statement last night that if I can come back from Atlanta without having gained anything he would have a surprise for me.  I immediately got sensitive to this when I shouldn't have.  He was acknowledging how hard it is to travel for work and maintain a good diet and exercise.  So that's my goal.  I will weigh myself Monday morning before I leave and my goal is to come back at the same weight when I weigh in Friday morning.  It is so difficult for a person like me, who craves control, to travel for work and be at the whim of people who don't really care what the eat and don't make time for exercise each day. 

My survival strategy is going to be to rely on food I can bring that doesn't need to be cooked/refrigerated so I have back up food in case the only lunch provided is pizza, which happens more often than I like!  I am going to make my own paleo kits with beef jerky, dried fruit and nuts.  I plan to go to Trader Joes and Whole Foods this weekend to find no-sugar added dried fruit, grass fed beef etc.  Then I am going to weigh, and label both 1 block snack packs and 3 block meal packs.  I'm also going to bring protein which can be mixed with water and a few other staples to help me get through this.  If I could come back and be down I will have a dance party! 

This idea is a stolen one, at least the term paleo kit.  Here is the store bought version, which would be nice to have on hand for days when I can't plan ahead:

I'm also going to try to go here and get in a Crossfit workout while I'm gone.  I don't really know the Atlanta area very well, so I'm not sure if is is close enough, but I'm hoping it works out and I can get a workout in while I'm away.  I can certainly workout on my own, but its so much better to work out with others around!

That's all for today.  Have a happy and healthy Thursday!

One week you're on top...the next you're not

Last week I had an amazing week at the gym.  I pushed myself hard every day, went heavier than prescribed if I could and generally felt REALLY good about myself.  My weight was down and my strength was up, what more could I ask for!?  Oh wait, a 6:30 mile that's what!  My fastest mile since highschool and possible my fastest timed mile ever!

Today I walked in to the gym and everything felt difficult, or at least more difficult than normal.  A weird pinch in my hard, a pain in my elbow.  Compared to last week I felt so physically low, I even had to stop the workout because my elbow was causing me so much pain.  I know its because I pushed myself so hard last week and I know that I need to be okay with it and realize that sometimes you're on top and sometimes you're not, but it's annoying.

I know this isn't a very motivating post but I'm exhausted and it's only Monday!  Work has been super hard and the gym is supposed to be my outlet, but today it wasn't.  So I am letting all of that go and am headed out to a Blazer game with the hubbs which should be a lot of fun!  Tomorrow is a new day AND a day where I won't be working out at 5:30 AM!

I hope everyone has a happy and healthy Monday!

Day 34 - 7 things

I have hit that magical mark that means I have lost more weight than what I lost prior to the holidays (if you are an avid blog reader then this will mean something to you).  I have lost 7.4 lbs WHOOP WHOOP!  So I leave you with 7 things that keep me motivated and make me happy:

1.) My husband.  He pushes me to be a better me, even if I don't like it and sometimes am a little too sensitive to take his advice.  I am always amazed by his strength and determination in the gym, in his professional life and in his personal life as well!  He also makes me happy, duh!  That's why I married him!

2.)  My family and friends!  I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family, both the one I was born in to and the one I married in to!  I love my family so much and am always happy when I'm around them!  My friends are also amazing and are the family I get to choose.  This past year has brought many new friends in to my life, it's amazing!

3.) My dogs (I'll  be honest, I almost put them first but realized how much trouble that would get me in).  My dogs make me happy most of the time (except when things get eaten and then returned via the same eating mechanism), but they also motivate me to get outside and go running even when I don't want to.  During the 100 mile running challenge I took them with me as much as possible and at first they hated running as much as I did.  Now they beg to go on a run each day and I just can't say no to them!  Okay, I can and do say no, but its gets me running more than I would if they weren't asking me to go!

4.) The people at my gym!  I love seeing new people come in and start making huge progress towards their health and fitness goals.  It is constant motivation to keep working hard and pushing myself.  Just recently one of the girls got a 40lb PR on her deadlift and has moved all the way to basically not needing a band to do pull-ups.  I am so proud of her and love watching her grow at the gym!

5.) Frozen yogurt!  Random right?  But not only does it make me happy, the ability to cheat and eat things (and drink) that might be bad for me is motivation to work even harder in the gym so I can earn those cheats.  So it's not only frozen yogurt but it's the things I have cut out of my diet that I love so much.  In moderation and after working really hard at the gym, I can still have some of these things and still lose weight, that's great motivation if you ask me!

6.) SUMMER!  It never fails, I do great at getting in to shape AFTER summer has come and gone.  I so badly want to go in to this summer and not be actively trying to lose weight.  I want to look good and feel great and maintain my weight rather than feel self conscious of how I look.  I was close last summer but let some pounds creep back on.  This summer I will be fitter than any summer in my most recent memory and I can't wait!

7.) Clothes.  It is WAY more fun to get dressed up when your skinny jeans are now your regular jeans and you begin to feel not only comfortable but confident in leggings and jeggings and when people comment on how good you look.  It is a great feeling to need to take your jeans in to have them altered because they are too big and when you go to the Rack and find a pair of designer jeans that are 1/2 off and you can actually buy them because you now are a smaller size which they always seem to have a lot of. 

So there you have it, 7 things that make me happy and motivate me!  I hope everyone has a happy and healthy Friday and weekend!

Food makes me happy

I just got off the phone with Frontier...the cable provider I got rid of in NOVEMBER!!  Just got a bill for $135, for what?!  Nothing gets me fired up like having to deal with a company that has HORRIBLE customer service.  So I decided to write about food today because I love food!  If fat was the new skinny I would eat my way on to the cover of every fashion magazine out there! 

I wrote about my routine and habits and thought I'd share some of my staple foods that get me through each day.  However, before the healthy stuff I'd like to note that I am obsessed with frozen yogurt!  It's so good and I have solid plans on Saturday to go get frozen yogurt and then go see Black Swan and I can't wait!  I'm WAY more excited about the frozen yogurt than the movie, just being honest!

Okay, so I'm back on the weight loss train and it feels good.  Zone is good to me and my staple foods help keep me on track!

Breakfast - Egg sandwich with 1/2 an apple
My egg sandwich consists of 2 eggs, 1 oz of cheese which depending on the cheese is either 1 slice or 1 and 1/2 slices.  For bread I use the Sara Lee 45 calorie bread which allows me to have two pieces, which creates a proper sandwich.  I put light mayo on the bread and cut up 1/2 of an apple to enjoy with it.  The meal itself lacks a bit on healthy fats but I take my vitamins and supplements in the morning which includes an Omega 3 blend which helps me get some extra healthy fats.

Lets also not forget the coffee, very important!  However, I make sure to measure out my creamer (which also adds the extra healthy fats I need).

Lunch

Lunch is usually a turkey sandwich but this week it has been my healthy chili (check out my post earlier in Jan which has the recipe).  I forgot to add oil to the chili this time so I cut up some avocado to add to it.  Its finished off with a Coke Zero (my attempt at only having 1 pop a day).  The chili is much more filling than my sandwich, but the sandwich is so easy to put together that it has become my go to lunch

Snacks
I have two go to snacks that I eat each day.  The first is 1/4 cup cottage cheese with 1/2 applesauce (add a little stevia and cinnamon) with a few almonds...YUM!  The second is 1/2 an apple with 1 1/2 slices of cheese and some almonds.  Yes you figured it out, I eat a lot of apples and almonds and cheese.  Guilty as charged.  My diet is not 100% balanced but I feel great and love what I'm eating so who cares. PLUS my chili has TONS of veggies and V8 juice in it so get off my back :)

Dinner
I'm trying to cook a decent meal once or twice a week but I'll be honest my go to dinner after a workout is my corn tortilla mini pizzas.  So yummy and quick to make and makes me feel like I'm eating something that might not be good for me, but is!

To stay within zone I use 2 corn tortillas, cover each with pizza sauce then put 1 oz shredded cheese on and 7 pieces of turkey pepperoni on each.  I then cook them in the oven at 420 until slightly crispy (about 10-12 min).  So good!

Sorry, started eating before I remembered to take a picture!

If you are a zone enthusiast then you probably figured out my dinner doesn't have quite as many carbs as it should.  Well don't worry, that's where my late night snack of either dark chocolate or sugar free chocolate with whip cream comes in.  I can't go to bed without something sweet.

So there you have it, my meals from yesterday.  Best part, I'm down 6.6 lbs now and feeling great!

Day 31 - Reasonable Progress

So I didn't make as much progress as I had hoped I would, scale wise.  However I am feeling fit and fab which is always more important than the number on the scale.  After 30 days my total weight loss has been 6.2 lbs.  I feel good about this.  I feel even better about the strength I've gained over the past month and am even more excited to see how much strength I can gain over the next month.

I know today is going to be a difficult day at the gym, but mentally I am ready to go in and push myself as hard as I can!  Today I will not look at the board before the workout.  I will push myself just for myself to see what I can do!  The workout is 80 walking lunges (ouch but not horrible), 70 situps (not bad), 60 burpees (this is bad!), 50 squat cleans (this is also bad!), 40 toes to bar (this is a new one and will be  very tough to do), 30 pistols (after completing the above, this will suck big time), 20 handstand pushups and 10 ring dips!  This will be one of those workouts that pushes me to the point where I either mentally suck it up and push through it, or I give myself a few breaks and go easy on myself.  I do not want to go easy on myself, not today!  I have 30 days to lose a little over 6 lbs more in order to reach my goal, that 30 days will go by fast!  Here are some illustrations of today's hellish workout:

Toes to bar

Pistols - 1 leg squats (I can't do them without assistance!)

This is a modified handstand pushup, I have to modify mine right now

This is Josh from CFA working on his handstand pushups!

Alright, so enough about today's workout.  I am also proud of myself for doing 2 workouts yesterday.  Matt and I both went in during the morning for the group WOD and then went in during the evening to work on strength work and our weaknesses.  Ironically enough I worked on ring dips and handstand pushups!  For the new 4 weeks I plan on going in twice a day on Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays to work on strength work as well as focus on my weaknesses so I can get better all around. 

On a more personal note, I went in for my first laser hair removal session yesterday.  Um,  OOWWWWEEEE!  I have a few tattoos and I figured it couldn't hurt as bad as that, but I was wrong!  I put them in the same bucket pain wise!  It only lasted 3-5 minutes but holy hell, that hurt!!  Only 5 more sessions to go!

Thats all for today, I have a TON of work to do for work itself, Turtle Ridge Wildlife Center and a class I'm taking...for work!  Have a happy and healthy day!