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For whatever reason, I had very little motivation to get myself up and doing my workouts this week.. I honestly did not do them, and I have no excuses. I wasn't motivated. I think it's partly sadness from not having my husband with me, and partly stress of work/studying. But, I need to get myself out of the funk and back in to my workouts.. So, 2/20 I'm re-starting 22MHC at week 3, and I will complete the 6 (7 if I count hell week) without failure. Universe, hear that!? Now, as for no sugar. I've been doing SURPRISINGLY well. I won't say I've had absolutely no sugar, but I'm doing very good at cutting it out of my diet. In the first week, I had 1 mini Hershey kiss, and 1 fudge brownie coffee from Dunkin Donuts (it was not worth it in my opinion...). Week 2, I had 1 mini Hershey kiss... Then I went to Princeton with my husband... So, while in Princeton, we went to a Dutch Farmers Market and my husband bought 3 donuts... He knows I love salted caramel, so he got a salted caramel donut to share with me. I had (kid you not) 3 small bites, and it made me sick to my stomach -- don't get me wrong, it was a delicious donut and, normally, I would have eaten the entire thing without hesitation.. MAYBE saving my husband a bite, but this time... Oh, this time.. The donut and the sugar in the donut killed me. To the point that we had cancel our dinner reservations because I was keeled over in pain.. So now, after week three, I've essentially given up sugar. I'm not drinking almond milk because of the sugar content. I'm having a lot more tea with honey (the only sweetener I've allowed myself to have), and fruit than in the past, which has been great. I had another tiny bite of a chocolate chip cookie this weekend, and it again upset my stomach...Guess sugar is *almost* out of my diet. I honestly don't think I can fully give up chocolate... This next week, I'm adding in less carbs. I think that'll truly transform my diet and help me in my weight loss goals. Until next week! xoxox
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First of all - I apologize that this posted initally completely blank. I have absolutely no idea what happened or why!
Now - on to the review of the week. W2D1 is Resistance 2. I'm still using my 8 lb weights. I will start by saying that I've always hated burpees, but I apparently like them a lot when I do burpees with a press. This was by far one of my favorite moves of the whole workout. The first time I didn't keep pace with them, but the second time around I was warm and pushing myself to keep pace. It was one of those fulfilling moment that makes you smile. Then.. we moved on to jump squats, with a weight. My quads were killing me, so I didn't really want to do these. I modified the jumps and just lifted my heels, which helped with me catching my breath from the burpees and my ever-lingering cold. After the jump squats came the chin up l-crunches. I used the modification, only I used my weights instead of resistance bands. The 4th move was the punch pull. This is probably my second favorite move of the workout, only because its a total body move and I love total body moves so much. The last move is the corkscrew lift - I've always hated these, and this time around I definitely did not make it all the way through, but I'm determined to keep on pace with them in the coming weeks. W2D2: Cardio 2 again, and I'm still loving it. I will say, though, that the cool down stretches are not enough to stretch your legs after all of the squats and running that you do. I added on some foam rolling to help with my poor quads, which by this point are so sore it's unbelievable. I was short on time & skipped the core workout.. I don't think I'll have time to get these in until Week 3 or 4. W2D3: Back to Resistance 1, which is a nice change of pace from Monday's work out. I think the resistance workouts are my all time favorites for this program. The time flies by and I honestly don't realize that I'm almost done until it hits the cool down. That, to me, is the sign of a good workout! W2D4: Cardio 1.. I'm definitely keeping up with everything more, and enjoying this workout more than I have in the past. Maybe its the fact that I'm getting more used to burpees, or I'm noticing a difference in my back muscles, but it's great! I like the T-Jacks a lot. I've always been a huge fan of T-Jacks. I'm still learning how to do the bear crawls... It's comical watching me do them. In the last round I usually have to march in place. Lateral shuffles are a pain, but after the bear crawls are a welcome change. From here, we move in to the forward lunge with a twist, which, if I haven't had my coffee, confuses me and I can't get my arms to move to the correct side. Again, I skipped the core.. Bad, I know, but I keep not monitoring my time in the morning and by the time I start my workout I haven't left myselfe enough time to complete core.. and then I tell myself I'll do it when I get home, and I fail at that. W2D5: Back to resistance 2 - I kept my goal of getting all of those corkscrew lifts done, and I'm so proud and accomplished for getting them done. Each workout is getting easier, and I love this feeling! **I added yoga at work in today - it was great! If you have an employer who offers something like this at work, I think you should take full advantage whenever you can!!** W2D6: Cardio 2 again... My legs, at this point, are so insanely sore from the week, that this entire workout just killed me. Running in place, running with straight legs, jump reaches, froggie burpees, gorilla crawls.. they all kill your legs and make you want to cry without proper stretching, so I think I need to add 10 minutes in to my workouts for leg stretches/yoga to keep me moving and flexible! Overall, week 2 was great (minus the leg soreness..) and I can't wait to see how much progress I made as I go in to week 3! xoxoxox Okay! Week 1 is officially in the books. Each day I am recapping my honest opinion of the workouts. Mind you.. I hate cardio.
Day 1 - Cardio 1 & Core 1(optional) Due to timing and me freaking out about my pending exam, I opted to skip the core workout so I could do some reviewing before work. For as much as I absolutely hate cardio, I didn't mind this.. it is hard - especially mastering bear crawls and a-skips. There are a lot of reps of some moved, and each round the reps change. I did over 50 burpees in this workout, and I was not on pace with the video.. so I am certain that next time around I will do more. I still have a lingering cough, which had me stopping more often than I would like, but at the end of the 22 minutes, I burned 131 calories and took over 650 steps. I am a swesty mess, but I'm glad its done and out of the way! Day 2 - Resistance 1 Okay.. let me start off with the fact that pull ups are one of the things I am working on mastering... but, the only place we can put our bar in the house is above the stairs. I am a clutz.. without my husband here, I will not be using the pull up bar, because I dont want to end up on the cement floor at the bottom of the stairs.. that being said, I did lat pulldowns with weights instead of pull ups. There are quite a few pushups, so near the end I had to modify. I also did not get in all of the sit up punches, mainky because they go faster than I am currently able to, but I did not give up! All of the weighted exercises I used 8 lbs for. Maybe next week Ill increase! Overall, it was challenging and I know that my legs will be shaking tomorrow! Day 3 - Cardio 1 & Core 1 FYI! My husband did get me sick, so Tuesday was my rest dat instead of the recommended Sunday.. I needed sleep! Since I am in the beginning of my busy season at work, I needed to find a workout that would be quick and within a half hour or less every day. After going through all of the workouts on Beachbody On Demand, I decided to go with 22 Minute Hard Corps by Tony Horton, because all of the workouts are 22 minutes.. if I add in the core workouts, 3 of the days are 32 minutes, which is perfect for me! As much as I am in love with Core De Force and I will miss it, I needed to find something that had shorter workouts but was still challenging. So.. today starts day 1 of this 8 week program! I am determined to complete this, beginning to end, REGARDLESS OF SICKNESS! I will be doing my workouts in the mornings before work. I have realized that doing this helps me stay focused - one of my goals! By the end of February, I know I will be fully adjusted to my schedule and I canNOT wait for that! Now.. for the fun! Here are my starting measurements: Chest - 36" Right & Left Arm - 11.5" Waist - 33" Hips - 43" Right & Left Thigh - 25.25" Weight - 154.4 lbs (sharing this number takes so much more effort and courage than you know!) and.. my before pics! Now! My intentions are out there in the universe, and I will complete this workout series.. and I will kick ass. Have a great week!
xoxoxox Okay.. so, let me be honest. I'm struggling... a lot. Back in October, my husband moved to MD for work. I encouraged him to take the job, thinking his office in NYC would be considerate of the fact that we live in Upstate NY and would be living apart.. I was clesrly wrong because they sent him 300 miles away. So, since he moved, I have been trying to think positively.. its really difficult to stay positive when your best friend moves 6 hours away. So, my plan for staying positive is focusing on my three key areas of improvement.
1) Studying for my exams 2) Working out daily and eating healthy 3) Focusing at work and finishing things timely Now... I created a timeframe and schedule for these items, and I am focusing my energy on completing these items. As determined as I am, sickness has gotten in the way and knocked me down.. again. and I've let it. I need to stop letting it get in the way, and stop feeling sorry for myself. Since he moved, January has been the most difficult month. My busy season started. There are no holidays that we had to have extended time together. I was sick. He was sick. It was just a whirlwind of things that made it just...Crappy. So, starting now, I am recommitting to my goals. I am sticking to my studying goals. My workouts will be completed in the mornings, and in February I am giving up sugars and carbs.. For the entire month. I have realized that I turn to chocolate and pasta and sweet things when I feel down on myself, and its just counter-intuitive for my fitness goals to have a cup of Ben and Jerry's. So, I am going to give it up.. cold turkey! Now, aside from recommitting to my goals above, I am going to stay positive and forward focused. Its the only way I am going to get through the rest of the months apart. I will keep you all posted on my goals Okay - so I normally wouldn't subscribe to Blue Apron, mainly because of the price. I like to make dinners that leave me leftovers for lunches, mainly to keep our grocery bill down. The normal cost of the subscription is $59.94 for the 2 person meal plan, which comes with 3 meals.. Thats more than half of our grocery list, so its a bit hard to pull that trigger. BUT! We have a $30 off your first order, so I decided to go for it. My husband is also away for work, so I decided that $29.94 is doable for 3 dinners and 3 lunches, so I'm much happier with that price point! That brings the price per meal from $9.99 to $4.99. What's ironic is that I wouldn't bat an eyelash to eat some of these meals at a nice restaurant without thinking about the price, but those nice restaurants are few and far between. So! All of that said, its rather nice to have everything delivered right to my door! Everything was packagee neatly and labelled by meal, which I loved, but I wasn't overly thrilled with the quality of some of it.. for example, a bunch of the spinach was bad and turning.. so it made it easy for me to pick which recipe I was going to make first. The oregano for the same recipe was also turning brown, so I wasn't exactly thrilled. Aside from my disappointment in the freshness quality, I really enjoyed the meal! The first thing I made was a Spinach & Ricotta Pizza with a sauteed Cauliflower & Clementine Salad. I won't lie - I was a bit weary of the salad, but it was delicious!! The recipe suggests that the prep would take 15 minutes with cook time being 35-45 minutes. This was fairly accurate. I had about 10 more minutes for the recipe, and I don't know why. Maybe I took longer to cut my produce up? No idea. Either way, it took me about an hour. The pizza was super delicious and gooey. A perfect combination of spices and cheeses. Its definitely a recipe I'll work in to my homemade pizza rotation, which is definitely expanding lately! Since I do make a lot of pizzas at home, I will say th Please don't mind my plastic fork - I was too lazy to wash the dishes! OopS!
But! Overall!! I give this recipe an 8/10. It was unique, flavorful, and fun. I would have given it a 9 or a 10 if the ingredients were a little more fresh, but thats okay. We'll see how tomorrows recipe pans out! So begins my first month of my shakes. I've started with IdealShape. I decided to try IdealShape because I'm doing the ShapeUp Challenge along with my normal workouts, and read a lot of reviews from people who were drinking the shakes. I ordered 1 month work of the shakes (i.e., 1 canister), as well as two weeks of the snack bars. My order also came with 3 additional meal shake samples, a shaker bottle, and two eBooks with recipes - all for $74.99. I had a code for 10% off, so my total order plus shipping was $74.48. So, for under $75, I have 30 meals and 14 snacks.
Day 1 I decided to have the base shake as my breakfast. To determine how the base shake is - I simply had the one scoop of chocolate mixed with 8 oz of water for breakfast around 8 AM. I was SLIGHTLY scared it wouldn't keep me full until my 10 AM snack, but it did. I was a bit more fatigued than usual, but I think that's because I only had 100 calories for breakfast, as opposed to my usual 300. This tells me that the other 2 base flavors I have to taste will need to be either a snack, or I will need to have fruit and other items eaten with it. Overall, though, the taste was pleasantly surprising. I felt like I was a child again drinking chocolate milk. You know, the Hershey's powdered milk chocolate mix or the Nestle drink mix we all loved as wee ones? It was rather surprising to have those flashbacks, but it was great. My mid-morning snack was the Cinnamon Caramel Crunch bar, which was delicious -- again, not my usual caloric intake for snacks (100 vs 150/200ish), so by lunch time I was at a calorie deficit to my typical day of around 250-300 calories. But, I didn't actually eat my lunch until around 1:30, which tells me that those hunger blocking statements are true. Due to those awesome headaches I had like every day last week, I was unable to work out because moving simply hurt, but, I ended the day below my 1,350 calories limit, and was not hungry at all. I call Day 1 a successful day. Okay - So I'm embarking on my meal replacement shakes experiment. I've used three different shakes in the past, but not consistently. I've decided to go through and have them 6 days a week for breakfast, and one day a week for lunch, for a month. I'm going to report my starting and ending weight on each, as well as my daily meals and workouts. The three shakes I'm going to try are IdealShape, Shakeology, and Advocare. The ONLY one that doesn't boost weightloss alone is Advocare, which is due to the fact that it's part of a larger regimen for a month long detox, but many people who have tried the Advocare detox have continued purchasing and having the meal replacement shake separately due to how useful they are.
Now, I am NOT a nutritionist, so I will do research on each of the products and post an overall nutrition description on each one. My own determinations will be based on the following: 1) Taste (chalky, aftertaste, smooth, creamy, etc) 2) Cost 3) Flavor variations 4) Baking options 5) Portability (do I HAVE to mix things in?) At the end, I will put a chart up with my findings, but you will get a weekly post with my thoughts for the week. I do understand that there are comparison charts out there for similar things, but they are all on the individual retailer websites, which makes it a little bit bias, in my opinion, but that's just me. Yes, I am an independent Beachbody Coach, but I'm not on the Shakeology band wagon and I won't *yet* tell you it's the best shake out there. I'm trying to find out, for myself, if it truly is. If you have any questions, or think I should add to this determination matrix, please let me know! It's such an easy thing to get caught up in - judging others. Earlier this week I was on the beach, happy as can be, and then I saw three teenage girls who were about 3 times my size. Each one of them. And I sat there watching them, thinking, "how on earth could they let themselves get so big?" And then I realized I was being a bitch. These girls were out, having fun and enjoying themselves. They were not bothering me or anyone around them, so why was I judging them from afar?
I can't even begin to tell you how true that sentiment is. I've had a few personal trainers since 2012, some good and some bad, but I truly believe in them. I'm going to go through my time with two of them - one good, and one bad, and try to show you what I think makes a personal trainer a good one.
So, let's start with the bad one first. I moved to upstate NY, joined a gym, and that month they had a special to workout with a trainer. The trainers at this gym work set hours, and truly are not very flexible with their time. (Issue 1). |
Beth MetzgarI'm a 28 year old accountant trying to make it in the crazy world of accounting, while staying accountable to myself for my fitness goals. You'll find my thoughts on various programs I've tried and what's worked for me and what hasn't. Archives
December 2016
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