Thinking is hard but rethinking..WELL! Let me tell ya!

So in life you think a lot. Don't you think? Haha! No pun intended. But the thing is how much of your thinking is productive? Gosh, for me, I would say somewhere less than 10%. I think this is true for most women. For men...hmmm...I can't say, I'm not a man. I think about all kinds of things. As Dr. Seuss says, "Think and wonder. Wonder and think."  I'll think about something and then wonder it into oblivion. There will be no wondering left. I'll research it up, down, right and left and all over the internet, talk to friends and family about it and I don't think I actually know any more than I did when I started thinking about it. In fact I usually know LESS and have a much higher level of confusion! Anybody else have this problem?

The reason I bring this up is because of my newest confusion of what to eat, when to eat, how much, why, what helps, what doesn't, what keeps your hormones in balance, what kinds of foods are best, worst, do I react better to some and not others...yada yada yada! For example, I've been "thinking" about how often I should be eating for a while now and these are the highlights of what my so-called research has turned up:

* Eating every 2-3 hours increases your metabolism.
* Eating every 2-3 hours doesn't increase your metabolism.
* Fasting for a day will help you burn more calories later.
* Fasting for a day will decrease your metabolism.
* Eat when you're hungry.
* Don't wait till you're hungry to eat.
* Digestion takes 4-5 hours.
* Wait for your food to go through the digestive process before you eat your next meal.
* Eat when you first wake up.
* Don't eat within 3 hours before you go to sleep.
* Eat 30-60 minutes before you go to sleep.

You see where I'm going with this? There's sooooo much information! Too much information! Everyone has something to say, some point to prove, and possibly something to sell! So I really just need to remember to keep me at the forefront of it all. I was trying to eat about 7 in the morning and then again at about 1 in the afternoon. I think that was just too long for me and I was way too hungry. So then I put a snack back in my morning between my breakfast and lunch. Generally speaking I don't feel a need to eat in the afternoon. But that depends on my workout plan - yoga vs. strength training vs. cardio. Sometimes I need to eat mid-afternoon/early evening and other days no, I don't need to eat until after I work out. And sometimes when I do eat before I workout I feel sick during or after so I won't be doing that anymore.

I guess what I'm trying to say is how often you eat and how much you eat is up to you. I find all these variables to be different for pretty much everyone I know:
* Number of meals - 1, 5, 8?
* Length of time between meals
* Time of first meal
* Time of last meal


 What do you do to feel your best where your meals and meal timings are concerned? I'd be curious to know.

Thursday's Food Log & A REST DAY!

Yes! I'm doing an excellent job! Good job me!

1) 3 eggs, 1 egg white with salsa, oatmeal w/ 1/4 cup applesauce & cinnamon
2) 4 slices of  Jamie Eason's Cinnamon Swirl Bread
3) 1 cup spelt flakes cereal dry (because I was starving and had the box in my car!) then Spaghetti Squash with mushroom sauce and shrimp
4) 1/2 cup cottage cheese mixed with 1 cup pineapple and fresh ground black pepper (okay, I know what you're thinking because I thought that once too but all you have to do is try it and you'll understand! It's so tasty!)
5) 1/4 cup oatmeal
6) Ground chicken (4 oz) with Greek seasonings, chicken broth, green beans and 1/4 cup white beans, 1 T macadamia nut oil  - this was such an odd combo but super tasty...SURPRISE!
7) Chocolate peanut butter shake with 1 1/2 T PB - so delish!

Again if you haven't tried macadamia nut oil, go out and "get you summm"! It's so delish and just gives a richness to your foods and as I've mentioned before it has a high smoke point so it doesn't turn to transfat when you cook with it on high heat. Yes, it's kind of pricey but it's nice to have variety in your fats - nut butters, nuts, oils, etc. C'mon! Try it! Hahahaha!

Wednesday's Food Log

Okay, so I didn't have very good time management today and ate way too many shake/protein powder/snack items and not enough real food. I suppose that just leaves room for improvement tomorrow. So, with that said, off to bed I go and on to tomorrow we go! 

1) 3 egg whites, 1 egg with zucchini and cherry tomatoes, 1/4 cup oatmeal
2) Jamie Eason's Cinnamon Swirl Bread
3) Matcha Green Tea Protein Shake, 1 cup spelt flakes cereal
4) Quest Almond Crunch Bar, 1 apple
5) M&M (mushrooms and mozzarella) turkey burger, bowl of steamed veggies (mostly broccoli with cauliflower, carrots)
6) Lemon Almond Butter Protein shake, 1/4 cup oatmeal

Tuesday's Food Log

Another great day of eating right for ME! Yippee! I think I'm getting somewhere now!

1) 1 scoop protein, 1/4 cup oats
2) 3 egg whites, 1 whole egg, 1/4 cup oatmeal, salsa!
3) 4 slices of Jamie Eason's Cinnamon Swirl Bread - MAKE THIS NOW!!! So delish!!!!!
4) Salad with 3 Thai Chicken Mini Meatloaves cut up - dressing was 1 t olive oil, 2 t sesame oil, 2 T rice vinegar, 1/2 T chili garlic sauce, splash of low sodium soy sauce, 1-2 t sesame seeds
5) 1/4 cup oatmeal, 1/2 cup Voskos yogurt, 1/2 scoop protein, 1 cup roasted kabocha, cinnamon
6) Spaghetti squash with mushroom sauce (mushrooms, onions, garlic, chicken broth, yogurt, sherry, fresh basil) and broiled shrimp - so so surprisingly tasty!
7) Cinnamon flaxseed cracker

Happy Weekend!

So yesterday was a weird day for me all the way around. I was just lethargic I think. Probably not enough sleep and it was a dreary day. So my eating was off yesterday. Below is what an "off" day looks like for me nowadays. And below that was an off day for me back in the day! You'll see that I've come a LONG way baby!!! LOL!

"Off" day meals:
1) 1/2 scoop protein, 1/4 cup oats
2) Ice blended "mocha" with 1 scoop protein, 3 T DandyBlend tea, almond milk and ice; 1 cup crispy brown rice cereal w/ 8 walnut halves
3) Breakfast burrito followed by 3 pieces of chocolate
4) Tortilla soup with all the fixings followed by my favorite treat (dried cranberries, chocolate chips, almonds) and then even after that 2 more chocolates
5) 3 egg whites, 1/2 chicken jalapeno sausage, zucchini, 1/4 cup oatmeal
6) Roasted veggie soup with rotisserie chicken
7) PB Protein shake with 1 scoop chocolate protein and 2 T peanut butter

Old School "off" day:
Breakfast: 2-3 whole eggs, 2-3 strips bacon or real sausage, 1-2 slices toast with butter
Lunch: Mexican food or some other high fat and calorie meal from a restaurant
Dinner: Thai food
Dessert: Jack In The Box Oreo Shake!!

Hahahaha! I really think I would have done that! Isn't that just crazy?!? Gosh! No wonder I was a little hefty, huh?!? I guess you really can't eat whatever you want in life. You really do only get one body and it really IS your job to take the best possible care of it that you can! Don't you think?

So have a great weekend and worship your body! Treat it well and it will treat you well! But if you feel off, just accept it and know you have the next day and the rest of your life to feel good about the way you take care of yourself and your body!

"Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself." ~ William Faulkner

Yesterday's Workout...Oh, yeah, I'm FEELING that!!

Holy Toledo! Owwwww!!!! I'm hurting today...to stand, to sit, to walk...you know the drill. Got my hams and glutes really well! And OW is all I can say! So congrats to me for targeting that so well. Good job me! Hahahaha!

And how are all of you doing today? Well, I hope. I'm feeling good, noticing some minor changes from keeping my eating super clean for the past couple of weeks. I still need to improve on my bedtime! Seems I'm taking two steps back. So I have 2 mini-goals for next week. Eat MORE veggies...yes, I've really been slacking here! And also get to bed by 10pm at the latest every day next week!! The thing about the early bedtime that I really notice is that I feel kind of flabby around my middle when I don't do my early bedtime. Maybe there IS some truth to that whole cortisol thing!

This morning I started out with 40 minutes of fasted cardio. But okay, let me just say that I was in pain while on the stepmill so I had to slow it down super slow (level 7!) for 20 minutes and then incline treadmill at 4.4 @ 10% incline for 20 minutes! Let me just say that I was happy when it was over. It wasn't so terrible but it was challenging!

Yesterday's meals were pretty good which I was surprised about since I had a HUGE wave of laziness hit me yesterday. I think one might even call it a TSUNAMI of laziness!!! But at least I ate. Hey! Priorities, right?

1) 3 egg whites, 1/2 chicken sausage, 2 T light shredded cheese, salsa, side of 1/4 cup oatmeal with 1/2 orange & 1 T almond butter
2) Ice Blended "Mocha" (2-3 T DandyBlend, 1 scoop chocolate protein powder, 1 cup almond milk, 10 ice cubes), 1/4 cup oatmeal with 1/2 orange, 1 oz cocoa almonds
3) same as Meal 1 minus the orange and almond butter
4) Quest Bar
5) 2.5 oz tilapia, 4 oz tofu w/ soy sauce and fresh grated ginger, big bowl of edamame
6) 3/4 cup cottage cheese w/ 8 walnut halves, mint, scallions, hot pepper, cilantro, black pepper, grated cucumber
7) Orange "Rum" protein shake w/ 1 T almond butter

So there you have it. I will be having ONE of my refuel meals tonight and I CAN'T wait! I would tell all of you what it is but my BF reads my blog and it's a surprise to him. Don't fret though. I will be posting pics and the recipe and you can all drool. And then make it yourself! It's not what I would really call "clean" but sometimes you just have to have food that you enjoy and just marvel at the flavor! That's why I'll be having this tonight. I was craving it and it's an amazing meal! MMMMMMMMMMMMM.....CAN....NOT......WAIT!!!!!!!!!!

Have a fantastic day today! Enjoy!

“The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.” ~Vince Lombardi

Dance, Glutes and Hams!!!

So last night I didn't go back to the gym for cardio. I wasn't in the mood for that so I actually did a Nia Dance video that I have. It was so enjoyable and I LOVE to be able to just move and be silly and not be "trapped" on a cardio machine. You know? That's the dancer in me. I grew up dancing and it seems it has never really left me. I just found myself smiling and having a great time. LOVED it!

This morning it was off to the gym to do hams and glutes! Let me just say that I KICKED my own BOOTAY!!! Holy smokes! I was going to do some HIIT after but at the end of my workout that just sounded like a cruel joke. I even headed downstairs to stretch and got the thickest, most comfy mat and put it on the floor. Then I proceeded to put my full body on the mat and I just thought that might be all the stretching I might do. I was BEAT! It was a really amazing workout!

HAMS and GLUTES WORKOUT:
Smith Machine Squats - 3x8 70#
Seated Hamstring Curl - 3x12 75#
Butt Blaster - 3x12 60#
DB Deadlifts - 3x12 60#
Side Lying Leg Press - 3x10 20#
Weighted Jumps with Low Squat with 25# plate - 3x12 (OW!)
Single Leg Bench Squat with toes on plate - 3x10 bodyweight
Raised Shoulders Hip Thrusts with 35# plate - 3x12

I know the weight I'm pushing is not that much but I've been really concentrating on my form as much as I can. I feel I get much more out of it. Today I really slowed everything down and MAN OH MAN, did I feel it? LOVED my workout today! Really!

Meals from yesterday:
1) 1/2 scoop protein, 1/4 cup instant oats
2) Protein shake with 1 scoop protein, 1 orange
3) 5 egg whites, 1/2 cup oatmeal
4)  5 egg whites, 1/2 cup oatmeal
5) Asian Seafood Veggie Mix with 1/2 cup brown rice
6) Chocolate PB Protein Bar
7) Cottage Cheese Pancakes (1 scoop protein, 4 egg whites, 1/4 t baking soda, LOTS of cinnamon) with 2 T NuttZo!!

Today's meals have been:
1) 3 egg whites, 1/2 chicken sausage, 2 T light shredded cheese, salsa, side of 1/4 cup oatmeal with 1/2 orange & 1 T almond butter
2) Ice Blended "Mocha" (2-3 T DandyBlend, 1 scoop chocolate protein powder, 1 cup almond milk, 10 ice cubes), 1/4 cup oatmeal with 1/2 orange, 1 oz cocoa almonds - this was the BEST meal I've had in a long time!!!!
3) same as Meal 1 minus the orange and almond butter
4-7) we'll see...no idea!

So here it is the middle of the week. Hope your week is going well. Mine is going along quite nicely. Looking forward to my 3-day weekend this weekend. Woohoo! Time to just relax and chill. May go back to the gym later for some cardio and maybe not. We'll see how I feel. I have a lot to do today too so I may not have time.

It's off to get some stuff done! Stay safe, warm, dry, and most importantly...HAPPY! After all, happiness is the stuff of life!

“The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be” ~Marcel Pagnol

Maybe I should bring the "accountability" back?!?

So my evening workout? Yeah, not so much. I just wasn't really in the mood. I don't know where any of you live but do people really celebrate Valentine's Day? It's crazy the traffic that it created here in L.A.! Wow! It's just nuts. I forget about that every year until I have to drive in it at the end of the day. Then it's just really too crazy for me.

So no workout for me today. There's always tomorrow. I feel okay about that. I did eat well today though. So here's that:

1) 3 egg whites, 1/2 spicy jalapeno chicken sausage, 1/4 cup oatmeal w/ salsa & 1 T light cheese
2) 3 egg whites, 1/2 spicy jalapeno chicken sausage, 1/4 cup oatmeal w/ salsa & 1 T light cheese
3) 1 cereal bar, 1/2 cup Voskos
4) 1 cup cottage cheese w/ jicama,  1/2 cup brown rice, 1 package toasted seaweed
5) Chocolate PB bar (still perfecting recipe) but prepare yourself for the deliciousness!
6) Asian veggie mix with seafood mix (shrimp, calamari, bay scallops) & 1/2 cup brown rice
7) Protein shake of some sort with nut butter or coconut oil? hmmmm....

So tomorrow I'm back on it. I will just be doing weights 4 days this week and cardio just 5 days. I think I'm okay with that. Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do! It's life! I've gotta roll with it! Here's to a happy and healthy week! Do something for YOU this week and don't let anyone ruin that!

Saturday's Eval and Sunday's Plan!

Well, it's good to write up your plan even if it's at 4 something in the afternoon, right?!? I just was lazy today so I didn't get this posted earlier. Yesterday I was right on target with everything except all were a little delayed so I actually only ate 5 meals and not 6. No big deal. Still almost ate everything anyway since I had TWO of my cereal bars at meal 3 instead of ONE. And who do I think I'm kidding about the 30-40 minutes of inline skating? I know I almost always go for an hour. I think I just get carried away because I love it so! And guess what? My legs and glute-ham tie-in are feeling it today for sure!!!

It was a really beautiful day here yesterday and I got to reap the benefits by being out in that gorgeous sun and just soaking it all up. Even bladed down to the beach, well I mean Ocean Avenue overlooking the beach. It was GORGEOUS!!!!! Then guess what? My BF surprised me last night and took me out since he knew I had a refuel meal. We went to Shamshiri (Persian restaurant). It was sooooo delish! So flavorful and yummy. We had some eggplant dish that wasn't babaganoush. It was something else with caramelized onions and kashk (yogurt whey). I think it was called Kashk-e Bademjan. Then we also had some chicken koobideh, beef koobideh, and beef kabob. Delicious! And their saffron rice is amazing served with the grilled onions, peppers, and tomatoes. Yum! Okay, on to today!

MEALS:
1) 1/2 cup yogurt, 2 Erin's Cranberry Orange Cereal Bar
2) Blueberry protein shake, 1 Ezekiel English muffin with 1 T NuttZo PF and 1 t butter!
3) 1/4 cup brown rice with 1 serving Traci's Thai Crockpot Chicken
4) Quest bar
5) Crunch a Munch salad, 4 oz tilapia
6) 3 egg whites, 1/4 cup oatmeal, 1 spicy jalapeno chicken sausage


WEIGHTS:
REST!!

CARDIO:
REST!!

That about sums it up. Great weekend. Nice day for relaxing and just doing not a lot of anything. Yep, it was a nice weekend! Hope you all had the same!

Friday's Eval and Saturday's Plan!

Wow! I just looked at my plan for yesterday and MAN! Was I spot on or what?!? I ate everything just as planned! Woohoo!!! Look at me go! I rock! LOL! I also got in bed super early because for some reason I was BEAT last night. I just sat on my couch and did NOTHING at all! And even THAT was almost too hard for me. So I finally called it quits about 8:40 or so and got ready for bed. I'm pretty sure I was asleep by NINE!! NO joke! Awesome!

So today is the first weekend day of my new plan. Does that scare me? Oh, just a little since this is where I usually seem to derail a little! But I'm going to head off that fear with some serious planning so here goes!

MEALS:
1) 1 scoop protein, 1/4 cup oats
2) 4 egg whites + 1 whole egg, 1/2 cup oatmeal, topped with 2 T light shredded cheese mix and salsa
3) 1/2 cup yogurt, 1 Erin's Cranberry Orange Cereal Bar
4) Crunch a Munch salad, 5 oz tilapia, 1 Ezekiel English muffin (maybe 1 T nut butter!)
5) same as Meal 3
6) REFUEL MEAL!!!! WAHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! I have NO idea what to have - Korean food, Greek food, Hawaiian BBQ...hmmmmmm

WEIGHTS:
Legs
Leg Extensions 4x10
Lying ham curl 3x10
SM Squats 3x12
Side Lying Leg Press (Dexter/Charles Glass Style! at the 15:52 mark) 3x10 - these are NO joke!
Stationery Bodyweight Lunges (super deep) 3x20
Lunge/Shoulder Press Combo 3x10
Cable Deadlift 3x12
Kickbacks w/ Resistance Band 3x20

CARDIO:
30-40 minutes inline skating!!!

So I have my plan and I'm gonna use it!!! With Meals 1 and 2 done already and my weights are done, just 4 more meals to go and my skating!!! Enjoy your weekend!!!

Thursday's Eval & Friday's Plan

Thursday was fantastic! I even got home from work and made Crunch A Munch and my Cranberry Orange Cereal Bars. Yummmmmmmm! I ate almost everything according to plan but I had tilapia with Meal 6 and I had macadamia oil instead of NuttZo at Meal 7. I had some down time last night and caught up with an old friend. It was great! I feel ready for my weekend. I'm prepared with my Crunch A Munch and Cereal Bars! Oh yes! It's going to be a great weekend. And I have a refuel tomorrow night should I decide to use that! YES!! All this sticking-to-it really pays off in refuel rewards!!!!!!!!!!

MEALS:
1) 1/2 scoop protein, 1/4 cup oats
2) 1/2 scoop protein, 1 cup brown rice crispy cereal, 1 oz almonds, 1/4 cup cranberries
3) 3 egg whites, 1/2 chicken spicy jalapeno sausage, 1/4 cup oatmeal, 1/4 avocado, salsa
4) 3 egg whites, 1/2 chicken spicy jalapeno sausage, 1/4 cup oatmeal, salsa
5) REFUEL MEAL!!!! WAHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! I think it's going to be Pho!!! Yummy!
6) 1/2 cup yogurt, 1 Erin's Cranberry Orange Cereal Bar
7) Crunch a Munch salad, 5 oz tilapia, dessert of 1-2 T NuttZoPop (LOL! Just made that up...it is a spoon full of NuttZo that you would eat much like a lollipop!)

WEIGHTS:
Shoulders, tris, core
Drop sets:
DB Shoulder Press 8 reps, 25/20/15/10 then 15 pulses w/ 5#
Single Side Lat Raise 8 reps, 20/15/10
Front Delt Raise with Rope 8 reps, 35/30/25
DB Rear Delt Raise, 8 reps, 15/12/10
Machine Shoulder Press 5 reps, 60/50/40/30/20 then 15 pulses w/ 10#
Triceps pressdowns with rope 8 reps, 27.5/22.5/17.5
DB Skullcrushers 3x12, 15#
Crunches on the ball 3x15
Hyperextensions on the ball 3x15

CARDIO:
20 minutes HIIT post-training on stepmill (speed training workout low-level 10, high-level 14)

All right, last weekday so let's make it count! How did your week go? Did you knock it out? I really did! I'm BURSTING with pride! LOL!

“A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success.” ~Elbert Hubbard

Wednesday's Eval and Thursday's Plan

Still sticking very well to my plan. No refuels so far this week. As for yesterday, let's see how I did. Meals 1-4 were on but here's what happened for 5-7.
5) 1 Erin's Cranberry Orange Cereal Bar, 1/2 cup yogurt + 1/2 scoop protein, 1/4 cup oatmeal
6) Spaghetti squash with tomatoes and broccoli and/or artichokes and tilapia - Quinoa tortilla (yummy), 4 egg whites, salsa, 1/4 avocado
7) Protein smoothie & 10 pecans Pumpkin Souffle w/ 1 t coconut oil & 1 T almond butter

Still on track and eating clean just varied from what I  had planned, that's all. No big deal. And another day begins so here's yet another plan for my day!

MEALS:
1) 1 scoop protein, 1 cup brown rice crispy cereal, 1 oz almonds, 1/4 cup cranberries
2) 3 egg whites, 1/2 chicken spicy jalapeno sausage, 1/4 cup oatmeal, 1/4 avocado, salsa
3) 3 egg whites, 1/2 chicken spicy jalapeno sausage, 1/4 cup oatmeal, salsa
4) Tilapia, spaghetti squash w/ tomato, 1 T olive oil, parmesan
5) 1/2 cup yogurt, 1/2 scoop protein powder, 1/4 cup oatmeal w/ 1 T coconut oil
6) Crunch a Munch salad, 4 oz shrimp or maybe scallops or seafood mix...hmmmm
7) Protein Tea and 1 T NuttZo

WEIGHTS:
REST

CARDIO:
30 minutes steady state incline treadmill

 So here we go. Another day is upon us! Make it a great day!

Tuesday's Eval and Wednesday's Plan! (and my back workout)

Yesterday I was spot on! Meals were exactly as planned except I had walnuts in stead of PB at Meal 5, added 1 T olive oil to Meal 6 along with a tomato and some fresh grated parmesan - YUMMY! I also did my steady state cardio on the elliptical since there were NO available treadmills! Oh well!

My BACK/BIS/ABS ended up being this:
Assisted pull-ups 3x12 70#
Seated Lat pulldown with V-bar 3x12 70#
Hammer Strength Single Arm Lat Pulldown underhand grip 3x12 35# each side
Seated cable row with V-bar 3x12 70#
SS with Hip thrusts (rockets) for abs 3x20
Straight arm lat pulldown w/ rope
SS with V-ups 3x15
DB bicep curls - 21's
SS with decline ab cruch w/ 10# plate 3x15
Cable bicep curls 3x12
Hanging leg raises - 10 front and 5 each side - 3x

WEDNESDAY'S PLAN

MEALS:
1) 1 scoop protein, 1/4 cup oats
2) Zucchini brownies, 1 oz cocoa almonds - yummy!
3) Brown rice, 4 oz tilapia, veggie medley
4) 4 egg whites, 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1/4 avocado & salsa
5) 1 Erin's Cranberry Orange Cereal Bar, 1/2 cup yogurt
6) Spaghetti squash with tomatoes and broccoli and/or artichokes and tilapia
7) Protein smoothie & 10 pecans

WEIGHTS:
Hams and Glutes
Lying Ham Curls (glute focus) 4x10 60#
Butt blaster 3x10 60#
Smith machine squats 2x15 - 20# super low staying low
Cable deadlift 85# 3x12 superset with Bulgarian split squat 10# 3x10 each leg

Lying ham curls (ham focus) 3x10 60#
One-leg bench squat (super deep) 3x10 - new exercise to me and I LOVE LOVE LOVE this exercise - some serious glute activation!
Hip Thrusts with 25# plate - 3x15

CARDIO:
20 minutes HIIT post-training - 15 minutes jump rope (1 minute jump 3060second rest) and 5 minutes spin bike sprints (30 second sprint & 30 second active recovery)

So I'm done with weights and cardio and already knocked off 2 meals! Woohoo!! I am on a roll this week! Yahoo!!! Really enjoying setting my goal and sticking with it. It feels REALLY GREAT!

Make your day AWESOME!

My plan - oh yes, I have a plan!!

So I had a goal for February to eat right at 6-7 meals a day with 2 refuel meals a week. I did really well last week until the end of the week and then I derailed! Not really badly but I probably ended up eating 4 refuel meals and definitely didn't eat all the meals I should have been eating. So my plan is as follows:

1) Write my plan on my blog each day - including meals, training, and cardio
2) Follow up the next day with how well I stuck to my plan the day before
3) Eat 7 meals a day on weekdays and at least 6 on weekends
4) Out of those 47 meals, 2 can be refuels!! WOOHOO!!
5) Plan my weekend meals just like I do during the week - hard for me to do
6) Increase my veggie intake - yeah, I've been slacking!!

I think that about sums it up so on to the plan for today!

MEALS:
1) 1/2 scoop protein, 1/4 cup oats
2) 4 egg whites, 1/4 cup oatmeal, 15 almonds
3) Quest Bar, 1 apple
4) Spicy Kamut Salad with 4 oz pork chops
5) 1/2 cup yogurt, 1/2 scoop protein powder, 1/4 cup oatmeal
6) Chicken sausage with peppers & onions, and a veggie medley
7) Pumpkin souffle (1 scoop protein, 2-4 packets stevia, 1/4 t baking soda, 2 egg whites, pumpkin pie seasoning or cinnamon) with 1 T NuttZo

WEIGHTS:
Shoulders
1) DB Shoulder Press (negatives)3x12
2) Single Arnold Press 3x8
3) Single Side Lat Raise 3x12
4) Machine Shoulder Press Dropset then 10 pulses at end
5) Overhead Shoulder Press with Bar - dropset 2 times and superset with side lat raises 10reps
6) 10 burpies
7) 10 inchworms

CARDIO:
20 minutes HIIT on elliptical

So meals 1 - 3 are checked already, weights are DONE! Woohoo! I just have my HIIT tonight and 4 more meals to get right. I can DO THIS!! Who's with me here?

Do you all have your February goal? Care to share? Let's do it! This is OUR month!

“Reduce your plan to writing. The moment you complete this, you will have definitely given concrete form to the intangible desire.” ~Napolean Hill

Oh boy...here comes February!

So, the question is, are you ready for it? How are you doing in 2011? Well I, for one, have had a rough start this year. Not terrible but definitely not on track. I made a plan last week to finish out January on the right foot and start February off right. If you're off to a slow start this year, just accept where you are and make a plan to make progress in February. Join me, won't you? Let's knock it out in this new month!! If you're already rip roaring and raring to go then let's keep it going through February.

I got my place completely straightened out and clean over the past weekend. Clean, clean, clean and organized too. I still have a lot of culling and organizing to do. But I'm going to do that over the next couple of weeks so I don't get too overwhelmed. I also made quite a bit of food yesterday. Let's see...what did I make? Ummm...broiled tilapia, Traci's Thai crockpot chicken, Thai Shrimp Bugers (well, balls actually) with Slaw, and I cooked some kamut so I could make my Kamut Salad with a Kick, which I just finished making. Oh my, I don't think I remembered how tasty that is. Oh boy! I'm going to have to have that with some of my broiled tilapia tomorrow. I CAN'T WAIT!!!!

So I changed my workout plan this week. As you may recall last week  I was doing fasted cardio and weights at night. This didn't work out very well for me because I find it frustrating to do weights when it's really crowded at the gym which would be after work. So today, for example, I did a great shoulder workout and then tonight I did 32 minutes cardio. I'll write out my workout tomorrow but for cardio I did 3 minutes warm-up walk on the treadmill. And then I did...are you ready...17 minutes of running!!!! I don't know if you remember but just a couple of weeks ago I started running and did 7 minutes. The next time I ran I did 10 minutes, then 12 and today SEVENTEEN!!!! WOOHOO!!! Quite proud of myself since I am, indeed, NOT really a runner. It really is nice for a change and I'm enjoying it.

My meals were right on today too!

1) 1/2 scoop protein and 1/4 cup oats shake
2) 4 egg whites, 1/4 cup oatmeal, 4 walnut halves
3) Same as 2 with salsa on my egg whites (Thanks Iris!!!)
4) Traci's Thai Crockpot Chicken with 1/2 cup brown rice
5) 1/4 cup oatmeal with 1/2 cup Voskos and 1/2 scoop protein powder
6) 7 Thai shrimp balls with slaw
7) Will be Chocolate Mint Protein Tea and pecans...yummy!

So I'm feeling good coming into February. I'm going to carry this motivation, positivity and enthusiasm through the month!!! Hope you feel it too. WOOHOO!!!

So how is YOUR Clean Eating Week going?

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January 17th - 23rd

NATIONAL CLEAN EATING WEEK
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I put myself to a challenge and so far pretty good. Last night's meal isn't one that would be considered clean really. It was more of a refuel but I don't think it affected me adversely. I made a conscious choice to eat there and enjoyed the food and the company. To me that's worth so much more than the food sometimes. Sometimes it's just nice to take the time to be with someone or "someones" and share in good food. In America I find we do this too infrequently. Everywhere you go there are distractions from the food. I'm quite food focused and love to talk about it. You know the saying, don't just talk about it...be about it. Well, that's me and food! I am ALL about it! LOL!

Today was a good day. I started out with 40 minutes of fasted cardio. 25 minutes treadmill walking 4.6-4.7 @ 12.5-15% incline and then 15 minutes stepmill level 10. I came home and had a Matcha Green Tea Protein Shake with 1/2 cup oats. DELISH! Then it was off to work. Work went fast today but I felt a little scattered. Sometimes that happens, huh?

Tonight I just rested and created my newest recipe that I LOVE! Very tasty. Asian Kamut Protein Snack Mix. I realized after that I needed to make sure the edamame was dry when I started. I also put in too much salt. I mean, I like salty crunchy things but it was a tad salty for me.

I'm just sitting down to my final meal here and then it's off to bed for some early sleep. Trying to make that goal happen if nothing else!

Today's meals:
1) Matcha Green Tea Protein Shake with 1/2 cup oats
2) Zucchini Loaf w/ walnuts
3) 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 1/2 cup homemade applesauce, 4 slices dried sweet potato (I'll post a picture...something I found at the Asian market that I love because it's CHEWY!)
4) Crunch A Munch Salad with 4 oz tilapia
5) 3 Jamie Eason Chicken Meatloaf Muffins and sugar snap peas
6) 2 thin pork chops (about 4 oz) in Chili Verde - so yummy!
7) Chocolate Mint Protein Tea w/ 1 T NuttZo PF - makes it creamy and adds some fat..yummy again!

Goodnight my dear sweet blog readers. Here's to Thursday. See you soon Friday!!

Tuesday and Wednesday's meals

Tuesday's Meals
1) 1 scoop protein 1/2 cup oatmeal 1/4 cup blueberries 1 T NuttZo
2) 4 egg whites 1/4 cup oatmeal 4 walnut halves
3) 1/2 cup cottage cheese 1/2 cup homemade applesauce
4) 4 oz pork in chili verde sauce...OH MY! YUMMY!! 1 Ezekiel tortilla
5) 1/2 cup yogurt, 1/2 scoop protein powder, 4 oz yam
6) Crunch A Munch Salad with 4 oz tilapia
7) Pumpkin Souffle with 1 T almond butter

Wednesday's Meals
1) 4 egg whites, 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1/2 cup blueberries
2) 4 egg whites, 1/2 cup oatmeal
3) Thai basil chicken mini meatloaves
4) Quest Bar - Almond Crunch, 1/4 cup dried cranberries
5) Chinese dumplings - pork dumplings, spicy shrimp wontons, shrimp wonton soup - not necessarily "clean" but handmade right in the restaurant so not necessarily "dirty" either ;-)
6) Protein shake

Monday's Meals - Count 'Em...EIGHT!!

As promised here are all my meals for yesterday:

1) 1/2 protein shake, 1/4 cup oats

2) 1/4 cup oatmeal, 1/4 cup blueberries, 20 almonds, 4 egg whites
3) Zucchini loaf w/ walnuts
4) 1 piece Julian bread w/ 1 T peanut butter
5) Halibut w/ yogurt sauce and 1/2 cup brown rice, side of Crunch a Munch Salad
6) 3 Chicken Meatloaf muffins and Sugar snap peas
7) Caesar Salad w/ 4 oz shrimp! YUMMY!
8) Pumpkin souffle w/ 1 T NuttZo

Gotta love accountability. Yes, I ate 8 meals but as you can see some of them were smaller than usual so it basically ended up about the same. Hope your day is going well! Mine is!

5 BY 2:00!

Yep, that's right...5 meals by 2:00pm. Impressed? I think I am!! I was hungry up until that point too. But after than my hunger waned which is just fine by me. So it looks like I'll be finishing out my day with 7 meals...PERFECT! What a way to start off my new year. Good job me! LOL!

I got in the gym early today. I'm going to try to hit the gym in the mornings and free up my nights for some down time and getting to bed earlier. We'll see how that works. Sometimes I like working out at night but mostly I prefer the early morning since there are far fewer people. I didn't even feel the flux of the New Years Resolutioners this morning. Yeah, people may make resolutions but they're not going to overdo it and think they can commit to a resolution at 5 in the morning. If they did, we would see a lot more of the resolutioners sticking with it. The ones that make the resolution to make it to the gym AND to make it there at 5 in the morning are serious and committed. Yep, NOT a lot of those this morning. In fact, I don't think I saw any new faces! Interesting...

This was my workout this morning:
Barbell Rows 4x6 50# (can definitely go heavier)
Assisted Chin Ups (5 sec negative) 3x6 50#
Incline DB Press 4x6 30#
Standing DB Shoulder Press 3x10 25#
Triceps Pushdown 3x10
SS w/ EZ bar bicep curl 3x10

It was a good workout and fairly quick. I really want to lift heavier but since it was a new workout to me I kind of had to gauge where I am right now and figure out how much to push without injuring myself. So it was a good workout and when I do the same workout next Monday it will be a GREAT workout!

I'm also trying to do a little less cardio. I'm just seeing how my body does with that. I was so used to being in contest prep mode that it's taken me a little while to figure out what's necessary and what I can do without. Basically I don't think I need to do as much cardio as I was doing. I would like to build a little muscle and lose a little fat so I'm switching up my meal plans a little, doing a different training routine and lightening up my cardio. I'll see what happens. It's great to know that if it doesn't work the way you want you can always switch things up again. No harm, no foul, ya know?

My meals were pretty doggone good today:
1) 1/3 cup oatmeal, 1 scoop protein
2) 1 egg and 3 egg whites, 1/4 cup oatmeal, 1/4 cup blueberries, 6 walnut halves
3) 1 egg and 3 egg whites, 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1/2 cup homemade applesauce, 4 walnut halves
4) 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds, 1 Think Thin bar
5) Traci's Thai Crockpot Chicken, 1/2 cup brown rice medley
6) 2 cups spaghetti squash, 1 - 1 1/2 cups Zesty Tomato Meat Sauce, sprinkling of freshly grated parmesan
7) 7 prunes, 2 pieces of chocolate, 4 TLC multigrain crackers - OOPS!!! Slight derailment!! No problem. There's always tomorrow...
8) Will be pumpkin souffle or 1-minute chocolate protein cake

So, yes, it was only going to be 7 but then 7 happened and trouble began!!! LOL! No problem. It's all fixable and redoable and I can't panic about something as silly as that now, can I?

Still working on my goals for the year and solidifying my action plan as well. But Wednesday is my date to be completed with goals and action plan so expect big things for me Wednesday. I'll be working on it all in the meantime. But I'll list several of my "big ticket items" on my blog just to make myself more accountable. Feel free to let me know some of yours as well. GOALS ROCK!

Hope your first Monday of 2011 was indeed MOST EXCELLENT!!! Keep smiling, eating clean, working out and breaking through! It's your year! What are YOU going to do about it?

A whole lot of fruit day!

So as you saw earlier my first two meals were with applesauce. But I didn't stop there. I also had half an Asian pear at Meal 4 and then dried cranberries at Meal 6. Hmmm...interesting. I think tomorrow I have to take it down a notch with the fruit. So my meals for today weren't really on but I suppose they weren't really off either.

As I wrote in my earlier post:
1) 5 egg whites with Bac 'Uns and Garlic Gold Parmesan Nuggets, 1/2 cup oatmeal with 1/2 cup homemade applesauce
2) 5 egg whites with Bac 'Uns, 1/2 cup oatmeal with 1/4 cup applesauce, 2 tablespoons walnut pieces
Then later:
3) 1/2 cup Voskos Greek yogurt, 1/2 scoop protein powder, 2 T pumpkin, 1 T cacao nibs
4) Mighty green mint smoothie, 1/2 cup cottage cheese + 1/2 scoop unflavored protein powder with some Mediterranean Greek Seasoning, 1/2 Asian pear - NO! I didn't combine all these things...all were eaten separately!
5) 4 oz tilapia, 1/3 cup brown rice, 1 rice cake with 1 T peanut butter
6) My fine mix of dried cranberries, chocolate chips, and almonds...oh, yes, and I added some Sacha Inchi too! Then later a pork chop. I know. I'm so weird with my food sometimes! And, yes, I think I may have overdone my fine mix a little!!
7) Will be vegetable soup with some egg whites and chili garlic sauce

My plan this week was to be 100% until Friday or Saturday and then have a refuel. Hmm..not so much! Oh well. As you all have figured out by now I don't beat myself up much about things like that. I just have to make better choices tomorrow and the next day and the next day...and so on...and so on...LOL!!!

I'm off to do some more cooking that I didn't finish last night! Have a great evening. It's almost Wednesday. Not sure yet what my morning workout is going to be but I'll be sure to let you know. Enjoy your shuteye tonight!!