Return of the Blogger

Sorry for being gone so long. I've been trying to finish up work on my part-time job before we leave for the cruise. Can you believe it's only 3 days away! We leave for New Orleans on Friday, the cruise goes S-TR, then we return from New Orleans on Saturday the 26th!

So...what have I been up to?

A little of this...1/2 can of Amy's black bean soup with 1/2 packet of Uncle Ben's Vegetable Harvest microwaveable rice.

And this...a huge salad with romaine, spring mix, black beans, chick peas, broccoli, carrots, ham, egg whites, and ranch dressing.

And of course some of this...a trip to the park.

I had personal training yesterday evening and this morning. Yesterday morning I did week 5, day 3 of the couch to 5k program. This one consisted of 5 minutes of walking, 20 minutes jogging, 5 minute walking cool-down. I am very proud to say that I only stopped twice. Once at the 10 minute mark for 1 minute and once at the 4 minute mark for 30 seconds. Using MapMyRun I figured out that I did a total of 2.55 mi.!!! Woohoo!!

Before personal training yesterday I did 30 minute on the upright bike. Yesterday's training session was going to be circuits with running interspersed. But, since I mentioned I ran that morning, here's what we did:

1. narrow squats with ball on wall
2. wide squats with ball on wall
3. bicep curls with the body bar (1 set of 12)
4. upright rows with the body bar (1 set of 12)
5. push ups (1 set of 5 modified)
6. shoulder press with the body bar (1 set of 12)
7. 20 crunches on the ball (1 set of 12)
8. Lay on mat and hold body bar straight above chest. Keep arms straight and lower them over head. (1 set of 12)
9. Jackknife on ball (1 set of 10)
10. Repeat steps 1-7
11. hold medicine ball b/w legs w/ heels touching floor. Crunch whole body together and take ball with hands. Reach arms straight back with ball and touch heels to floor. Repeat (12 times)
12. flutter kicks (1 set of 12 each side)
13. Legs straight in air. Hold medicine ball and crunch to touch feel w/ball (1 set of 12)
14. hold medicine ball b/w knees w/ legs @ 90 degree angle. Let knees fall to one side (1 set of 12 ea.)
15. wrap arms around knees and lift shoulder off ground. Extend arms to ea. side while at the same time extending legs straight out w/o touching the floor (1 set of 8)
16. lie on back with legs in air. Reach above head to hold something stable (a person's ankles). Lower legs half-way and bring back up. (1 set of 10)
17. Get in push-up position and then bring knee to chest and back. (1 set of 10 ea. side)

Wow! That was a long one!

For breakfast TODAY I had a strawberry smoothie: FF milk, vanilla 0% Greek yogurt, ice, 1/2 frozen banana, 1 c. strawberries, and a bunch of fresh baby spinach.

I had personal training at 7:30 AM. Here's what we did:

1. wall sits (6 sets of 10 seconds)
2. bridge lifts on ball (3 sets of 12 holding for 2 seconds
3. one leg bent and the other leg straight up. Lower extended leg down to side. (3 sets of 12 ea. side)
4. triceps on machine (2 sets of 12)
5. Pull-ups on the machine (2 sets of 8, 1 set of 10)
6. use ball like roman chair to do oblique lifts (2 sets of 12 ea. side)
7. Chest press (3 sets of 12)

I know I've got to be missing something with the one above, but we got a late start and finished a couple minutes early, so who knows. Afterwards, I did 15 minutes on the elliptical and 15 minutes on the treadmill.

The smooothie held me over until lunchtime when I had a grocery store version of Shrimp Tempura Sushi. I don't know why I waste my money on these. It never tastes like the real thing. :( I also had an orange mango Honest Tea and a packet of peanut M&Ms (I ate half at lunch and the other half around 4PM).

Dinner was baked spaghetti. Whole wheat pasta covered in lean ground beef with tomato sauce, garlic, italian seasoning, mushrooms and 2% cheese. I had 2 pieces of garlic bread with it.

Dessert was a serving of Edy's Light Slow Churned Vanilla with Peanut Butter Cups.

On another note! I received my sample of Kashi cereal today. The website was a little misleading about the size (though perhaps I wasn't paying attention). I placed it next to the Ibuprofen bottle (large bottle) to help demonstrate the size. I'll give it a try tomorrow and let you know how I like it.

I remembered!

I remembered to take a picture! Yay!


At lunch I went to the gym and did Wk5, Day 2 of C25K (for the 3rd time) and then did 10 minutes of elliptical. (+3 points) I wanted to do 20, but I still had to grab lunch and get back to the office for a workshop.



My lunch consisted of a salad with romaine lettuce, cucumber, mushrooms, carrots, egg whites, broccoli, and a little ranch dressing. They didn't have a single light dressing available! I also got some pineapple and cantaloupe on the side. (salad = 3 pts., fruit = 1 pt)

I had a chocolate chip cookie provided at the workshop, too. (guesstimate is -5 pts.)

I took a pictures of my snack, but for some reason it didn't save. It was an apple with a little almond butter (total = 2.5)

For the day, I now have 9 pts left.

Assessment Day

Morning!

Today was my the assessment to evaluate my progress over the past 6 wks or so of personal training.

My body fat percentage went down 1 percent, the circumference of my waist and thigh stayed the same. My hips went down 1/4 inch. I did 3 push ups instead of 1, and 8 sit ups instead of 4. My weight went down 1/4 lb.

I can't say I'm particularly pleased by the results. :( But, I have no one to blame but myself. As you've read here, I've started WW a couple of times only to not follow through. It's high time, I stop making excuses and get it together. It's an unfortunate time to decided to re-commit with the cruise coming up next week. But...it's important to eat right all the time, not just when you're at home, so it will be a good challenge for me. :)

I also plan to ramp up the cardio to more 45-60 minutes sessions rather than 30 minutes.

Now, here's today's workout.

• narrow wall squats with ball (2 sets of 12)
• wide wall squats with ball (2 sets of 12)
• lunges (2 sets of 5 each leg)
• leg press (2 sets of 12)
• bicep curls (2 sets of 12)
• tricep kickbacks (2 sets of 12)
• shoulder press with free weights (3 sets of 8)
• jackknife on ball: feet on ball and arms in push-up position on floor, bring knees to chest (1 set of 8)
• crunches on ball (1 set of 20)
• chest press (3 sets of 12)
• plank (hold for 20 seconds)
• side plank lifts (1 set of 10 each side)

I'll do my best to remember to take pictures of my food today!

For breakfast I had two pieces of toast (2 points), B&B butter (.5 pt), and some tea (2 pts.).

Finding your niche

Here's last night's workout. I first did 27 minutes of cardio on the elliptical and upright bike. I get bored easily so I like to switch it up. Sometimes I'll do three different machines in a 30 or 45 minute period.

• lat pull down (3 sets of 12)
• 1 arm row (3 sets of 12 each side)
• back raises on ball (3 sets of 12)
• crunches on ball (1 set of 20)
• upright rows (3 sets of 12)
• jackknife on ball (1 set of 10)
• straight leg lifts w/ reverse crunch (1 set of 12)
• bicycle (1 set of 20)
• flutter kicks (1 set of 10)

Today would be my day to finish week 5 of the C25K program, but my legs are KILLING me still from Wednesday's workout. I thinking I'll do the cardio machines for 30 minutes along with a 1 hr. yoga stretch class.

Tomorrow I'll jog outside before going to my massage (OMG, I can't wait!). There's a massage school in Virginia Beach so I'm getting one hour for $40 and it's a graduate, not a student.

Now, on to what prompted the title of this post...

As you have probably noticed in the blog roll on the right, I subscribe to a lot of health eating blogs. I enjoy reading them and learning about different people's habits. Some eat mostly raw and don't eat white anything, some are vegetarians, some try to eat healthy most of the time and indulge for special occasions.

I have to say that my favorite blogs are Carrots N' Cake and Roni's Weigh. These are just regular women who do their best to eat healthy, but occasionally veer off and make mistakes. They recognize this when it happens and get back on the right track.

I think that's the niche where I'm the most comfortable. If I make eating healthy too hard, it will end up backfiring on me. I want try to eat healthy most of the time without beating myself up every time I crave fast food or sweets. That's not to say I don't want to stop trying to improve my habits, because I will.

What about you, where are you at in your journey?

hungry, hungry hippo

Good afternoon! First things first I'll try to remember yesterday's workout. It was mostly legs and I am hurting today.

• lunges on the Bosu ball (3 sets of 12 each leg)
• squats w/ a body bar (3 sets of 12)
• calf raises (3 sets of 12)
• calf raises w/ toes pointed out (3 sets of 12)
• calf raises w/toes pointed in (3 sets of 12)
• Wall sits while holding out medicine ball (3 sets of 10 seconds)
• bridges on the ball (3 sets of 12)
• hold ball b/w feet and squeeze legs together (2 sets of 10)
• flutter kicks (1 set of 12)

As usual I feel like I'm forgetting something. If it comes to me I'll update the post.

For breakfast this morning I had raising bran w/ granola clusters and FF milk.

Lunch consisted of one of these...
...with a salad (romaine, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, and ranch dressing).

I had a handful (7?) peanut M&Ms also.

Around 2:30 I was starving so I had Oikos greek yogurt with a nectarine, blueberries, and some Bear Naked cereal. I've got to make it through personal training again tonight and some cardio!


QOTD: I'd love to hear if any of you have tried some of the workouts I've posted! How'd you like it!?

Free Stuff!!

Good Afternoon!

I had the exact same breakfast this morning as I did yesterday. 0% plain Oikos Greek yogurt with blueberries and BearNaked cereal.


Around 11:30 I went to the gym and did week 5, Day 2 of the couch to 5K program. Only a couple more weeks until I'm up to jogging for 25 minutes straight.

After the gym I cam back to the office to have lunch which consisted of V8 tomato soup and a salad with romaine, cucumbers, shredded carrots, tomatoes, grilled chicken and one boiled egg. I had ranch dressing with it.

Of course, this is me, so I forgot to take a picture, but here's what it looked like afterward...


I've got personal training at 5Pm and Ill let you know tonight or tomorrow what the workout consisted of.

And now what you've all been waiting for.

Free Samples:

• BearNaked is giving away free samples of their cereal.
• Kashi is giving away a free BOX of their cereal.
• Quaker Oats is giving away samples of their chewy granola bars.
• Nature Valley is giving a nut cluster sample, trail mix bar sample, and coupons if you sign up for their Eat Better American newsletter.

Have fun!

Good afternoon

First things first, I'm going to try to remember yesterday's PT workout:

• shoulder press w/ body bar (3 sets...12, 10, 8)
• front lifts w/ body bar (3 sets of 12)
• bicep curls w/ body bar (3 sets...12, 10, 8)
• lying down, body bar straight up (hands facing front), drop arms (straight) above head (3 sets of 12)
• narrow hands on body bar, hold straight up, touch forehead with bar (3 sets of 12)
• oblique leg drops with medicine ball b/w knees (2 sets of 12 each side)
• flutter kicks (2 sets of 10)
• oblique medicine ball touches (2 sets of 12 each side)

Today I had to unexpectedly teach a workshop so I had to rush through breakfast. I had a single serving of plain oikos (can you believe I found it at Wal-Mart) with blueberries and cereal.


After the workshop I had a leftover half of a burrito from last night's dinner. I got it from a locals place called Machismo. Here's what was in it:

• Roasted Chicken
• Wheat Tortilla
• Black Beans
• Brown Rice
• Enchilada Sauce
• Pinto Beans
• Baby Spinach
• Lime Squeeze
• Medium Salsa
• Romaine Lettuce
• Yellow Corn

Here's what it looked like:


Right now I REALLY want to go get some frozen yogurt b/c I feel like I'm coming down with something. You know a little chilled, scratchy throat, etc. But classes have started back up and I'm scared I won't get my parking spot back. :(