I love Sundays. They are (generally) stress-free and easy days to manage. This morning, I let myself sleep in a little longer (!) and drove my sister and I to church in the morning.
Breakfast today was one of my absolute favorites! Nutri-grain low fat waffles from Eggo. These are AMAZING. I don't even feel the need to lather on unhealthy peanut butter or syrup. They have just the amount of sweetness and that rich waffle taste. Each waffle has only 70 calories, so 2 makes a nice breakfast. To go along with my waffles, I had a cup of orange juice. Great start to the day!
Church was great today. I went over with the Sunday school to help out in my old class. We were doing a follow-the-leader game with a twist. Everyone had to hold hands. It was an exercise in unity because you had to do everything together. Each child (and I) got a turn to be the leader. It is a great feeling to keep up with 5 and 6 year olds!
Church was also special today because it is what we call "Guatemala Sunday". Our church is paired with a parish in Guatemala and we take the day to learn more about the community that we support. For lunch, we served traditional Guatemalan food. I had 4 corn tortillas (25 cal/per) with a bit of rice/vegetable mixture on each. Healthy, easy, and filling!
After church, my sister and I went over to a local park that has a really nice walking/jogging track around it. Throughout the track there are various stations for different strength exercises that you can do. The first one was SO hard. I couldn't do it....yet. It looked like a big metal railing. The goal was to stand on one side with both hands on the bar and lift your legs together to the other side. I couldn't do it today, but I will be back and will conquer! All in all, my sister and I walked about 1 mile while doing some of these exercises. Each lap is actually 1.1 miles. 3 laps=5k=new favorite training spot : )
It's getting late, so here is the speedy version of the rest of the day. Dinner was the amazing salad I made yesterday with some modification. Greens, grapes, turkey, light three cheese ranch, hard boiled egg. Delicious! Watched some Biggest Loser. That show is a real motivator. I don't have to work tomorrow so I'm hoping to do a good 2 hours at the gym or so. Dad wants me to start a BL competition at church....we'll see. I'm making dinner tomorrow night for the family: healthy here we come! (Hopefully they like it...) I'm making Chicken Parmesan Bundles....found on Kraftfoods.com. Made with the healthy modifications they are 380 cal. per. Not bad!
Alas, it is now 6 minutes into Monday morning. Today's events: organize room (and find the floor again from all my college stuff....), intense gym session, make dinner, plan the week. Sounds good!
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Back home...and back to the gym!!
Today was actually VERY good. This morning, I got up and finished packing up my room to go home! Breakfast was a Luna bar (170 cal), courtesy of my room-mate. YAY! After getting everything in the car, I finished getting ready for commencement. It is so wonderful (and sad!) to see all of the graduates. A plus for the commencement is that it is a small walk to get there. Nothing extraordinarily long, but about 20 minutes. After commencement, I hurried back to campus to get checked out of my room and go home!! Before leaving town, I stopped at Subway and got a foot long oven roasted chicken breast sandwich. Wheat bread, no cheese, no dressings, lettuce, tomato, and sweet peppers. I had half for lunch before leaving town. 310 calories. Wonderful!
The drive was great home. It has been hard lately to get out of town because a key road has been closed for construction. I found out that it was opened! This made my trip out MUCH easier. It cut my driving time by literally half an hour. I was home in around an hour and ten minutes. After getting home, I got another workout by unloading the car and taking all of my stuff upstairs.
Early dinner was the second half of my sandwich. Another 310 yummy delicious calories. After hanging out for a bit, I went to the gym around 6. I had just found out that the Y closes at 7 and I wanted to make sure I got a good workout in.
With only an hour, I wanted to tackle as many areas as I could. I did 30 minutes of weights. However, after a set of reps, if I felt like I could have done more, I raised the weight instead of only doing more reps at the lower amount. I was trying to push myself and see how hard I could go. I also tried holding positions, not just releasing right away. This gave me a burn that I'd never really felt before. I think it was good (?).
After this, I went on the treadmill. With only about 20 minutes left, I really wanted to challenge myself to do the best. Right off the bat I hit with an incline of 7 with a 3.0 speed. I'm still new to the incline, so this really was a challenge for me. After 5 minutes of this, I dropped the incline down to 5 and increased speed to 3.5. After five more minutes, I decided to throw it all out. I left the incline at 5 and increased speed to 5.5. This is the highest speed that I've ever tried to stay consistent at and I was working at it! I held this for 2.5 minutes, and then dropped it down to a cool down. Ended the treadmill and then stretched it out and came home.
Since I had last eaten at 4:30, around 9:30 I was hungry again. So I made the most GORGEOUS salad ever. Romain lettuce, 2 tbs 'Sweet Vidalia Onion dressing', 1 tbs 'Light Ranch', chopped chicken, and grapes. It tasted SO good. A bit later, I loved the taste of grapes so much, that I had a few more : )
And one of the best moments of today!! I was watching the "Biggest Loser" tonight with my sister. She's not the healthiest kid on the planet. After we were done, she asked me if I wanted to go walking with her tomorrow morning! And she said she wants to try and eat healthier : )
And now, church is tomorrow and it is time for bed. Good night!
The drive was great home. It has been hard lately to get out of town because a key road has been closed for construction. I found out that it was opened! This made my trip out MUCH easier. It cut my driving time by literally half an hour. I was home in around an hour and ten minutes. After getting home, I got another workout by unloading the car and taking all of my stuff upstairs.
Early dinner was the second half of my sandwich. Another 310 yummy delicious calories. After hanging out for a bit, I went to the gym around 6. I had just found out that the Y closes at 7 and I wanted to make sure I got a good workout in.
With only an hour, I wanted to tackle as many areas as I could. I did 30 minutes of weights. However, after a set of reps, if I felt like I could have done more, I raised the weight instead of only doing more reps at the lower amount. I was trying to push myself and see how hard I could go. I also tried holding positions, not just releasing right away. This gave me a burn that I'd never really felt before. I think it was good (?).
After this, I went on the treadmill. With only about 20 minutes left, I really wanted to challenge myself to do the best. Right off the bat I hit with an incline of 7 with a 3.0 speed. I'm still new to the incline, so this really was a challenge for me. After 5 minutes of this, I dropped the incline down to 5 and increased speed to 3.5. After five more minutes, I decided to throw it all out. I left the incline at 5 and increased speed to 5.5. This is the highest speed that I've ever tried to stay consistent at and I was working at it! I held this for 2.5 minutes, and then dropped it down to a cool down. Ended the treadmill and then stretched it out and came home.
Since I had last eaten at 4:30, around 9:30 I was hungry again. So I made the most GORGEOUS salad ever. Romain lettuce, 2 tbs 'Sweet Vidalia Onion dressing', 1 tbs 'Light Ranch', chopped chicken, and grapes. It tasted SO good. A bit later, I loved the taste of grapes so much, that I had a few more : )
And one of the best moments of today!! I was watching the "Biggest Loser" tonight with my sister. She's not the healthiest kid on the planet. After we were done, she asked me if I wanted to go walking with her tomorrow morning! And she said she wants to try and eat healthier : )
And now, church is tomorrow and it is time for bed. Good night!
Friday, May 14, 2010
the good, the bad, and NOT the ugly : )
I came back to school for the end of this week, so I was unable to go to the gym. I was definitely afraid of this! Who goes to the gym strong for 3 days, and then takes off for 4 and expects to keep up the intensity? Well, this morning (after giving myself a day of recovery yesterday) I was determined to prove that I am worth every ounce of effort.
So I set the alarm for 7:30....got out of bed at 7:38..... and pulled on sweatpants and a tank top and went out to work out! I went over to the local park that has a nice little running path around the outside. It's not terribly big and has a nice incline to it, which gives me a bit of a challenge.
I was worried at first how I was going to motivate myself, being that my Zune was un-charged. Being without music while running is something that I DO NOT enjoy. The music gives me that little bit of motivation with the beat and the words to keep going. However, I had already made up my mind to go!
I walked on over at a slower pace to warm up a bit. I left at 8:00 and got there 10 minutes later. Took a minute to stretch and then went running. I tried to keep at a higher pace than I usually do, which was hard without the music to judge my pace. I ran solid for about 10 minutes, and then I decided to do more. I'm using the gym to focus on weight training, so I decided to do some of my own right there.
I headed over to a bench and did some dips. This really gives your arms a work out! Sit on the edge of the bench with your palms on the bench with finger tips facing straight out. Then walk your feet out until you are suspended beyond the bench with your arms supporting your weight. Use your strong arms to dip your body down and back up. I did some with my knees bent and others with my legs straight out, almost like a backwards push-up. Wow did my arms feel it!
Another way to use this position is to bring your legs in slightly so that your knees are just bent. Then use your leg muscles to support your dips up and down. You will definitely feel this in your thighs!!
After doing these, I decided to do some abs. Plank position is a great way to use your ab muscles. Plank position looks just like a push-up in the "up" position. Hold for an extended period of time and feel those abs working! I also used the bench for this by putting my hands on the edge of the bench to hold myself up. I think the angle of the body also provides a nice challenge!
Then I decided to do some squats. I did a couple of sets of these. At first I kept my legs in semi close together, about shoulder width. Then I moved them out to work on different muscle groups. It felt great : P
After doing this set of exercises, I decided to run back the other direction and stop and do a few more dips at every bench I passed. I only passed 2..but I ran hard until I got to the end of the path. Then I had a nice cool down walk home.
I was only actually in the park working for a bout 25 minutes, but I was definitely sweaty and gross by the end of it. I don't know how many calories I burned, or if I even did that much good, but I know it felt great to know what I was able to accomplish in such a short amount of time!
As far as food goes today, I was pretty good! I went to a bridal shower this morning and despite the chocolaty treats and cupcake goodness that there were, I had a bit of fruit, 3 multi-grain crackers, and a 2 small rectangles of cheese. For lunch, I had a veggie burger with mustard, lettuce, and tomato on whole wheat bread. On the way home from rehearsal I went to a "serve yourself" frozen yogurt place in town. I had only a little amount, which was just enough to settle the craving. I mixed a chocolate yogurt with sugar free vanilla and topped it with fresh strawberries. Dinner was a turkey wrap with tomato, lettuce, and pickles (no cheese or mayo!) and 24 frosted mini wheats for dessert. After dinner, I have had simply fruit fruit roll up, a matzo, and a sesame seed bagel. All in all, I'm pleased with the day. I had frozen yogurt, but I didn't get an obscene amount and didn't top it with candy, cookie dough, or syrup. The only thing I'm not so pleased with is having that bagel! I could have had 2 more matzo's and STILL not reached the calorie count of the bagel. It was convenient. That's why I ate it. There was no reason behind it. My body didn't need that influx of carbs this late at night. No idea.
Well, my fridge should be close to defrosted by now (have you wondered why this post was so long???) and I hope to pack up my car before heading home tomorrow!! Good night!
Back to the gym tomorrow!!
So I set the alarm for 7:30....got out of bed at 7:38..... and pulled on sweatpants and a tank top and went out to work out! I went over to the local park that has a nice little running path around the outside. It's not terribly big and has a nice incline to it, which gives me a bit of a challenge.
I was worried at first how I was going to motivate myself, being that my Zune was un-charged. Being without music while running is something that I DO NOT enjoy. The music gives me that little bit of motivation with the beat and the words to keep going. However, I had already made up my mind to go!
I walked on over at a slower pace to warm up a bit. I left at 8:00 and got there 10 minutes later. Took a minute to stretch and then went running. I tried to keep at a higher pace than I usually do, which was hard without the music to judge my pace. I ran solid for about 10 minutes, and then I decided to do more. I'm using the gym to focus on weight training, so I decided to do some of my own right there.
I headed over to a bench and did some dips. This really gives your arms a work out! Sit on the edge of the bench with your palms on the bench with finger tips facing straight out. Then walk your feet out until you are suspended beyond the bench with your arms supporting your weight. Use your strong arms to dip your body down and back up. I did some with my knees bent and others with my legs straight out, almost like a backwards push-up. Wow did my arms feel it!
Another way to use this position is to bring your legs in slightly so that your knees are just bent. Then use your leg muscles to support your dips up and down. You will definitely feel this in your thighs!!
After doing these, I decided to do some abs. Plank position is a great way to use your ab muscles. Plank position looks just like a push-up in the "up" position. Hold for an extended period of time and feel those abs working! I also used the bench for this by putting my hands on the edge of the bench to hold myself up. I think the angle of the body also provides a nice challenge!
Then I decided to do some squats. I did a couple of sets of these. At first I kept my legs in semi close together, about shoulder width. Then I moved them out to work on different muscle groups. It felt great : P
After doing this set of exercises, I decided to run back the other direction and stop and do a few more dips at every bench I passed. I only passed 2..but I ran hard until I got to the end of the path. Then I had a nice cool down walk home.
I was only actually in the park working for a bout 25 minutes, but I was definitely sweaty and gross by the end of it. I don't know how many calories I burned, or if I even did that much good, but I know it felt great to know what I was able to accomplish in such a short amount of time!
As far as food goes today, I was pretty good! I went to a bridal shower this morning and despite the chocolaty treats and cupcake goodness that there were, I had a bit of fruit, 3 multi-grain crackers, and a 2 small rectangles of cheese. For lunch, I had a veggie burger with mustard, lettuce, and tomato on whole wheat bread. On the way home from rehearsal I went to a "serve yourself" frozen yogurt place in town. I had only a little amount, which was just enough to settle the craving. I mixed a chocolate yogurt with sugar free vanilla and topped it with fresh strawberries. Dinner was a turkey wrap with tomato, lettuce, and pickles (no cheese or mayo!) and 24 frosted mini wheats for dessert. After dinner, I have had simply fruit fruit roll up, a matzo, and a sesame seed bagel. All in all, I'm pleased with the day. I had frozen yogurt, but I didn't get an obscene amount and didn't top it with candy, cookie dough, or syrup. The only thing I'm not so pleased with is having that bagel! I could have had 2 more matzo's and STILL not reached the calorie count of the bagel. It was convenient. That's why I ate it. There was no reason behind it. My body didn't need that influx of carbs this late at night. No idea.
Well, my fridge should be close to defrosted by now (have you wondered why this post was so long???) and I hope to pack up my car before heading home tomorrow!! Good night!
Back to the gym tomorrow!!
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Summer 2.0
Welcome to my second summer as the new me. This time last year I was around 162. Unfortunately, I do not have much to show for a year. I'm around 158-160 or so right now. I was down to 145 at some point, but nevertheless, it fluctuates. I can say that I am proud to not have gained it all back in one year. I am still at a "healthy weight", although it is not the weight I would like to have. Also new is my desire to do weight lifting as well as cardio. I've joined the YMCA in my area and have been orientated to the crazy looking machines that they have. Some of them look like something out of Star Wars! However, I think its going well...in the one week that I've used the machines. I'm also hoping to train to run a half-marathon in November. I'm hoping to run the Philadelphia marathon. Fingers crossed!!!!
My goal for the coming summer is to lose 30 pounds. If I work hard, I think I can do it. With this new Y membership, I have the best tools available and I will not take it for granted. I plan on running, doing more cardio, weights, swimming, and participating in classes. Bring it on!! I'm also working a full-time job. I WILL DO THIS! I have about 17 weeks until the next semester begins. That's a little under 2lbs per week. If I eat right, and am committed to myself, I know that I can do this. BRING IT ON.
My goal for the coming summer is to lose 30 pounds. If I work hard, I think I can do it. With this new Y membership, I have the best tools available and I will not take it for granted. I plan on running, doing more cardio, weights, swimming, and participating in classes. Bring it on!! I'm also working a full-time job. I WILL DO THIS! I have about 17 weeks until the next semester begins. That's a little under 2lbs per week. If I eat right, and am committed to myself, I know that I can do this. BRING IT ON.
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