I Did It!

My 4-day diet is up as of yesterday and now I can go back to the gym. I did not lose the 7lbs I wanted since I went out over the weekend with my girls and broke the plan, but I did get an extra 3lbs off which still felt great since it normally takes about a week to lose that kind of weight.

Over the weekend my girls and I went downtown and stopped at Quarterdeck. This is what I ordered:



Grilled Portabella Mushroom w/ soft mozzarella cheese, tomato, and onion

I ate well when I went out, where I messed up was drinking 2 Mango Mojitos, lol.

As planned I went back to the gym today. It was a real struggle because I started a new job which has completely changed my schedule. I only slept 4 hours last night and the fatigue really set in after work today.
When I got home I ate a small snack, drank some water, and hurried out the door before I talked myself into staying home. I wanted to do cardio today so I challenged myself and did the 1 hour hill climb on the elliptical. Normally I can handle about 35 minutes and I was so proud of myself when I was able to complete the 1 hour performance program. I burned 603 calories which is the most I've done on cardio equipment. It was a huge accomplishment for me because it meant that my endurance and strength has increased. I even had a little pep in my step when I walked to the car. Yay, I did it! I can't wait to see what I do tomorrow!

Fudgsicle Pops - Only 60 calories!

It is always nice to sneak a little treat. Sometimes it can be hard to find the proper balance between diet and exercise and low fat - low calorie snack options definitely help to bring that balance. I was out with the kids and decided to treat them to some ice cream after our day at the park. Instead of our usual Dairy Queen I popped into a Family Dollar store and told my son to pick what he wants. Right away his eye caught the Fudgsicle Pops, he loves chocolate but he was excited when he saw it is low fat and only 60 calories per bar. He was so happy because it is something we both can eat. Since I am currently on a jump start diet, I did not taste; however my son and his friends absolutely loved it and went for seconds. When I get back to my regular diet I will definitely keep this in mind the next time we are looking for a snack.

The 4-Day Diet!

 For the next 4 days my focus will be losing an additional 7-10lbs on my jump start diet. Since I will be on a low calorie diet I will not be in the gym or working out hard to conserve energy. The diet is very strict allowing no snacks, oils, salt, or carbs. It is very do-able and if used properly it will help to give me a head start. Once the diet is over I'm going back to the gym hard. I have a book I've been reading to give me the specific routine I need to get the results I am looking for. I can't wait till Tuesday to check my final weight and get back to the gym.

This is what I had today (Friday March 11):

Breakfast:
* Green Tea and 1/2 Grapefruit

Lunch:
* 2 hard boiled eggs
* 1/2 cup each of string beans and squash

Dinner:
* Beef hamburger patty, grilled
* String beans
* Apple


The diet I am following is called 18in4.

Make it Burn!

I had a great work out today. I changed up my routine a bit and stepped it up. When I came home yesterday my man asked if it burned after I finished lifting weights and when I thought about it, I did a lot of reps but maybe I could have done more. Today was all about going till it burned!

To change things up today I started by doing 15 minutes on the elliptical to get warmed up! Then I used the weight machines.

I did:
Tricep pull downs 3 sets of 10 @ 40lbs
Leg press 4 sets of 15 @ 100lbs, last set was 15 @ 120lbs
Chest press 3 sets of 10 @ 45bs
Free weights working biceps and triceps

Then to close out I got back on the elliptical for about 18 minutes. At the end of my hour in the gym I was exhausted but felt great. I went early in the morning so it was a great way to start the day.

Getting right for the All White Party!

I am still working to get to my goal weight which is 125 lbs with that said I have 7 more pounds to go before I start to feel comfortable.

 I have an all white party I am going to at the end of the month. It is a very exclusive party hosted  at the mansion of someone who is somebody so I need to work extra hard to shed the extra pounds. Flab in all white for me is not the look! Not sure what I will be wearing yet but I do not want my weight to limit my options.

I went to the gym today and got it in. I started with cardio as usual and got on the elliptical for 30 minutes. The additional 30 minutes was spent toning.

For my thighs:
Abductor machine - 5 sets of 10 @ 40lbs 2 sets of 10 @ 60lbs (works outer hip and thighs)
Leg Press - 4 sets of 10 @ 80lbs then 6 sets of 10 @ 100lbs (works quads, hamstrings and gluts)

For my arms:
I used 7.5lb weights to work my biceps and triceps. Through out the routine I switched to 12lb weights for more resistance.

For my abs:
I did over a 100 crunches and worked my obliques doing the bicycle (floor exercise)

Tomorrow I have to start to change things up and break my usual routines in the gym so my body doesn't get comfortable doing the same exercises. I also have to place more restrictions on my diet.

White party here I come!

Wendy's - Meals under 500 calories!

 

I was out yesterday running errands with the kids and decided to stop and get them a quick snack since it would be a couple of hours before we got home. I normally stop at Wendy's because of the variety on their $1 menu plus the food is good. This trip I noticed they had up a new sign that advertised 500 calorie food options. One of them happened to be my normal selection which is the spicy chicken nuggets with value fries. Z always gets a chicken sandwich and/or nuggets. If he is feeling grown he may have a cheeseburger and the baby likes the fries.

When I got home I decided to research this a little further on Wendy's site by reviewing the nutritional facts. Their site is pretty user friendly it allows you to select the menu items you would like to eat and gives you a break down of each product plus a total sum. The combination that I normally get, spicy chicken nuggets with value fries, was 460 calories surprisingly. It made me feel better about my choice although the sodium being a total of 960 MG was alarming. It is good to keep up with calorie counts but other nutritional facts are important like fat and sodium intake. Eating fast food is not the way to go if you can help it, but it is good to know what the alternatives are when it is the most convenient option on the go or while having fun with the family. Next time I will do with out the fires and opt for a small salad instead. So as I was typing this I thought about the difference this would actually make. I just checked Wendy's site and if I go with the salad I only save 10 calories but I add 130 MG of sodium, CRAZY! Salads can be very deceiving. Just because it is a salad does not mean it is always a better choice because of all the extra items that are added to make the salad what it is.

Which one do you eat?

5 piece spicy nuggets w/ value fries
= 460 calories / 960 mg sodium / 5g  saturated fat / 0g trans fat / 43 g carbs

5 piece spicy nuggets w/ garden salad
= 450 calories / 1090 mg sodium / 5g  saturated fat / 0g trans fat / 33g carbs


Moral of the story is, check the nutritional facts when you can to make sure you are making the best choice for your dietary needs when eating out.

Check out  Calorie Counter App for Blackberry, iPhone and Android devices. This is a great way to keep track of calories on the go. Click HERE to access Blackberry App World.

I Can Work Out Again!

After working out with the boys on Tuesday (March 1) I had to take 2 days off to recover. I woke up in immense pain the next day. I couldn't walk. Thank goodness I have wood floors so I just slid around the house. I literally split my behind. Every part of me hurt. Now the boyfriend says that's the sign of a great work out, I say he's insane! It really was a great work out but damn it was a little much.

I got back in the gym on Friday morning (March 4) and did 40 minutes of cardio on the elliptical. Friday night I went out to a party and danced for a few hours straight into Saturday morning so I felt like that took care of Saturday's work out, LOL. I took Sunday off to rest up and went back hard today (Mon, Mar 7).


I am really starting to get obsessed with my arms. They are getting smaller but it seems no matter what my triceps are not getting the definition I want. I know part of my issue is hereditary but I want to push past that. Today I did 30 minutes on the elliptical. Then went into arm exercises for 20 minutes. I used the tri-cep and bi-cep machines doing multiple reps/sets using 25lb weights. Then I picked up free weights to work the same areas. I have to research this a little more and figure out a good plan of attack for my arms.

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They worked me out today! Mar 1, 2011

This week does not seem like it will pan out to be a gym week but I am still getting it in! When my oldest came home from school today I had an epiphany and thought I should go running with him. What was I thinking? Are you faster than a 3rd grader? Well I'm not! We started out with a light jog then out of no where here comes Speedy Gonzales a.k.a. "Z." He started egging me on "let's race mommy, let's race." Me being my competitive self I took the challenge (plus the boyfriend was talking smack before we left). Z took off and flew like the wind down the street. If you could only see me huffing and puffing along the way! LOL It was fun yet exhausting at the same time. It is great to get the kids involved.

Then I had another thought, why not turn this into interval training. So instead of just randomly running with all our might I organized it a bit. We ran for our dear life like we were being chased by the mob for a 30 second count then walked briskly for 60 seconds then ran hard again and back to the brisk walk. This really got our hearts pumping and my body warmed up. We lapped the block 4 times.



When we got back to the house I wanted to start some strength exercises since today is my strength day. I asked for some guidance from my man but what I got instead was a tag team performance from Z and his dad.

These are the strength exercises they had me do:

• Squats - 3 sets of 15 while holding a 20lb hand weight
• "The Chair" - 3 sets of 10 on the left and right leg while holding a 20lb hand weight (I had to stand on a chair one foot at a time alternating the starting leg while holding the weight)
• 6-Inches - 3 sets of 10 (This is a football drill - if I messed up they kept adding more)
• Sit ups - 50 total
• "Oblique Twist" - 50 total (I sat up as if doing a sit up and then started to twist left to right)

By the end of this session I was sweating like crazy. You would not believe how my 8 year old was yelling at me and attacking me like he was my drill sergeant. His dad was just as bad. He was a little league football coach on Z's football team so they are both coming at me like I'm the player they are trying to get in line. As much as I couldn't stand them during the workout because it was hard as hell, I appreciated it at the end because I could feel that they really worked me out today.

Gym Day: Mon 2/28 turned into Comcast On Demand Day!

I so wanted to go to the gym today but I just could not find the time. Now that my trial membership at 24hr Fitness is up I can no longer rely on having 24x7 access to the gym. My membership happens to be with the YMCA since they are more cost effective and convenient for the family. I can take the kids for the same rate since they are included with my membership which works out great for me, only disadvantage is they are not open 24x7.

I wanted to have this weekend off and did not want to start the week off wrong so I opted for Comcast On Demand to get in my cardio work out for the day. I did a 30 minute cardio routine called "Less is More Cardio Workout" by Cindy Whitmarsh. OMG she worked my ass out! I turned and spun so much I nearly passed out! Thank goodness I had my oldest there to be my cheerleader and emergency dispatch just in case I needed it, LOL. I found her work out engaging and it really made me sweat. I actually started another program first and when I did not feel the burn I looked for something more challenging and her workout session fit the bill. If it's too easy then chances are you are just wasting your time, so I had to find a program that would be worth my while. Not sure how many calories I burned but I felt accomplished and that's what matters most to me. Goodnight!

Comcast On Demand


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