Daily Dose

1. Meal 1 - Cinnamon Roll BetterOats + 1 egg {6PP}
2. Meal 2 - Ezekiel Bread + Justin's Natural Peanut Butter {4PP}
3. Meal 3 - Super Salad, with Baby Cukes & Balsamic Vinegar {0PP}
4. Meal 3 - Chicken Breasts, Sweet Potato, Zucchini & Squash {4PP}
5. Meal 4 - 2 Cuties {0PP}
6. Meal 5 - Carrots & Hummus {1PP}
7. Meal 6 - Ginger Tilapia, Whole Wheat Couscous and Sweet Potato {11PP}
8. Workout - 5000m row ~ NO REST BREAKS, WOOHOO!!!
9. Meal 7 - Post work-out protein shake with Milk & PB2 {5PP}
10. Meal 8 - Baby Cukes with Tuna & Laughing Cow {3PP}
11. Night cap - Bedtime Tea {0PP}

Total Points Consumed: 34 Points Remaining: -1 Activity Points Earned: 5

Daily Dose

1. Meal 1 - Turkey Bacon, Egg Substitute & Buttermilk Pancakes with Sugar Free Syrup. Thanks to the hubby for brunch at IHOP. :P (At least I got the Simple & Fit 2x2x2) {9PP}
2. Meal 2 - Protein Bar, on the go! {5PP}
3. Meal 3 - Carrots, Hummus & String Cheese, then I had left over hummus so I finished it with a couple Pretzel Thins {4PP}
4. Meal 4 - Chicken, Bell Peppers & Whole Wheat Organic Couscous {6PP}
5. Workout - 5000m and my fastest time! Under 28 minutes and a max 39 strokes per minute. Phew!
6. Meal 5 - Post-workout Protein Shake with Milk {4PP}
7. Meal 6 - Tuna Cucumber Cups (I took step by step pics so I'll post the "recipe" soon) {3PP}
8. Night Cap - Yogi Bedtime Tea {0PP}

Total Points Consumed: 31 Points Remaining: 3 Activity Points Earned: 5

Daily Dose

1. Meal 1 - OatFit Cinnamon Roll Oatmeal, and 2 slices turkey bacon {5PP}
2. Meal 2 - 2 Cuties, Spinach Lasagna Roll, Super Side Salad with Balsamic {6PP}
3. Mid-day Tea - Yogi Comforting Chamomile, not as sweet as my bedtime tea, but just floral-y enough. {0PP}
4. Meal 3 - 2.5oz Tuna and Buffalo Style Pretzel Thins {5PP}
5. Meal 4 - Carrots, Cucumber & Fage Total 0% with Spin Dip mix {1PP}
6. Meal 5 - Crock Pot Night! Fiesta Citrus Pulled Chicken with Brown Rice, Peas and Broiled Sweet Potatoes {10PP}
7. Work Out - Another 5000m on the erg. Really wanted to run today, but between groceries, the kids and dance I just couldn't make it out there. But I also didn't use it as an excuse. I made it happen!
8. Meal 6 - Post-work out Protein Shake with Milk {4PP}
9. Night Cap - Yogi Bedtime Tea {0PP}

Total Points Consumed: 31 Points Remaining: 3 Activity Points Earned: 7

This is the fastest I've rowed and the longest stretches. In the past I did 5x4's; essentially 5 minutes of rowing followed by 4 minutes of rest and repeat four times. So tonight I just rowed as long as I could without stopping. I set it to count down the 5000m and I only stopped for a 30-45 second break at 2500m. I pushed myself as hard as I could I felt great about it! I'm sure my rowing "coach" will be proud to see my numbers. :)

Keeping the Routine

It's sometimes difficult to keep with a routine. I get that. I've been through the slumps. But my mind has made so many changes over the past year that for whatever reason I am determined to make my goal this year.

I can't promise I can keep up with posting every day on the blog, after all I am a Mom/Wife first, athlete second and blogger last. So I hope you'll forgive me as I stumble my way through this. :)

For now to help keep myself in order I've downloaded the JEFit app. I love it so far. It's helped me with my workouts this last week. I plug in the workout as planned by my friend and then it basically walks me through each set and shows me how to do the workouts if I'm not familiar with them. I can't say enough great things about it.

And... here's more of my routine for the week...

January 5th - Legs & Biceps

January 6th - Cardio 5000m on the Erg

I've become a pro at pounding back no less than a gallon of water a day. :)

January 7th - Back/Shoulders, Calves & Core

I've taken up the art of food prep. Makes snacking and meal time a lot easier. Don't get me wrong I still cook dinner often, but I make enough to have a few extras for a couple of days ahead. Love it!

January 8th - Rest

Yesterday was supposed to be cardio day. Things did not go as planned. It was a crappy day from the minute I woke up. My daughter was in my room umpteen times through out the night and I ended up getting up around 6am for the day which does not make me happy on weigh in day. It seemed like nothing could go my way. So I ended my day with a nice mug of calm. I really enjoy this tea and it truly does help relax me and put me to bed a lot easier.

And now, to help keep my honest I will *try* to take a pic of EVERYTHING I eat (the good, the bad and the ugly) and post compilation pics like these. Again, don't hold me to it every day but we will see how this goes. LOL.

1. Breakfast - Skinny Potato Cakes with Black Beans & Rotel and Strawberries {4PP}
2. 3.16 mile run in 43 minutes, and Part II of my Virtual Half Marathon for this month.
3. Post Workout Snack - Protein Shake, Made with Milk {4PP}
4. Lunch - Super Salad (Romaine, Spinach, Green Onion, Cherry Tomatoes) with Grilled Chicken and 2 Cuties {4PP}
5. My favorite "dressing" these days. Straight up Balsamic.
6. Snack - 1c Raw Broccoli & 1c Raw Cauliflower with French Onion Laughing Cow {2PP}
7. Snack - Special K Protein Meal Bar. This is the last one I had and will not be purchasing more. I'm trying to get away from so much processed food. {5PP}
8. Dinner - Spicy Black Bean Turkey Burger, Broiled Spicy Sweet Potato and Brown Rice {8PP}
9. Snack - Chocolate PB Sludge Don't worry, it's a LOT of protein to help get me through the night.{5PP}
10. Night Cap - A relaxing cup of Yogi Bedtime tea. {0PP}

Total Points consumed: 32PP Points Remaining: 2PP Activity Points Earned: 9PP

And now I bid you goodnight.

I tell you what

Things just haven't been going good for me lately. I don't know what the problem is, why it started, but I wish it'd leave. I took some time...no reason really, just because. So tonight the hubby and I tried to get out. I ran w/ the kids and the stroller and he rode his bike, in circles around us.

I barely got through the first mile and my freakin' muscle started hurting in my shin again. >:|

So I called it a night as I was gimping trying to get home safely. But I managed a mile and a half in 22 minutes...14 minute avg pace. New record for me. So once we got home my hubby blew the dust of the rower and I attempted 4 sets of 5 minutes. I barely made it through 3 sets. I averaged 2:45 splits, which is okay just not where I've been in the past. I still have a long road ahead of me, but the silver lining is that I've lost a lot of my "gut" and it was very very apparent when I rowed. I didn't have to spread my knees as far apart when breaking...it was very nice. So I know my hard work in the past has paid off, I just need to find my motivation again. I also need to work on my tendons/muscles so that when I jog I don't get those fabulous pains. I know it all comes with time, I just wish I could go for a nice run and come home feeling great and not limp the next day.

Food wise, I'm terribly off track. I haven't logged my food for 3 days now and yesterday I only ate twice. TERRIBLE. I know better, I just don't know what got into me. So I'm moving on, going to be logging my food again, and watching what I'm eating, instead of just putting what ever is in front of me in my mouth. I can do this, I know I can...I just have to.

First Work Out of The Year

I feel amazing right now! I was SITTING on the couch watching The Biggest Loser I recorded when I realized that I am heavier than the majority of the females on the show...how the hell is that possible? Oh yeah, I'm sitting on my butt watching t.v. So it motivated me to get my sorry butt down stairs and row WHILE I watched The Biggest Loser. I feel so much better now.

Now that I have a little fire under me going, I've just gotta keep building that flame. Tonight I did a 5x4 which equates to 20 minutes of work. I think I'm going to try to do some rowing in the morning, just for fun or maybe I'll try out one of the games on the erg. Then I plan on doing another 5x4 tomorrow evening after the kids are down. I'm trying to make up for lost time here and I have a weigh in on Monday to do. Crossing my fingers for at least one pound to drop. 

As for nutrition you can see I went over my 2,000 budget, but I earned 293 for exercising. I still however want to get my calories down. I'm tempted to drop to 1,800 but I'm not sure if that's advisable considering I'm still nursing? Either way I'm going to focus on eating more healthy and sticking to working out at least 3 days a week. I really hope to get more than that in, but I'm aiming low for now. I also need to work on that sodium content...ouch.

Day 5

Sorry for the crappy pic, but I felt awesome after my workout! Oh and you get to see what I currently look like, sorta. ;)

Back on the horse again. Tonight was a later workout than what I wanted, but I was torn between rowing and finishing my football game. Love me some Huskers. So I decided to just do it. Besides I'll be up half the night w/ Evan and trying to get him to sleep for more than two hours at a time. Back to rowing. After my blisters I decided that I would whip out my old riding gloves, you know from back in the day when I could sit on my bike and do a 14 mile ride with my hubby. They sooooooo helped. So I guess I need to see if they make actual gloves for rowing, note to self.

Amber suggested that if I felt up to it, since my splits were under 3:00, that I could aim for 2:40. Well, I must say I shocked the crap out of myself when my first interval split was 2:30. It wained a little after that because of course you wear down after a while, but the whole point of rowing is endurance and that's something that will come with time. I am however very happy that all four interval splits were under 2:45. SCORE! I really am digging rowing, have I mentioned that? So I'll be back tomorrow with more updates! Oh and only 3 more days till weigh in. :o)

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Day 2

Another day is in the books. And I must say I'm very proud of myself. I have three war wounds now, one on my left heel, and one under each ring finger. Lord I hate blisters. So I learned that I'm griping the handles too tight. Guess I need to work on that. Other than those things I WAS AWESOME. Being that it was only my second go round I improved my splits and did better with managing my strokes per minute.



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So the low down is this: I had a 2:45.0/500m and an average 22 s/m. This is an awesome improvement over last night and what I will strive to continue to reach, until I'm in better shape that is. ;) I also dove into the information/wires that came with our rower and am using the log card that came with it to track my progress (hence the new pic). It also ranks me against other online rowers, not that I'm concerned with that right now. I just like being able to see the number all in one place. I'm totally psyched to see my progress! The other upside is that it saved my work out so I don't have to program it for my intervals each time now. I'm such a smartie some times. LOL.

As for the calorie aspect, today wasn't too bad. Although I know I didn't take in enough calories and the ones I did eat/drink were empty calories. NOT GOOD. By the next go round for grocery shopping I am hoping to replace "usual suspects" with healthy alternatives. I'm almost leaning towards seeing if our insurance covers the cost of seeing a dietitian. I don't know, something to think about I suppose.

I will say I feel better about myself right now. The fact that I am digging these work outs and wanting to continue to do it amazes myself. I'm praying that I will keep up this energy, this want to accomplish something great in my life...a healthier me.

In picture news I've decided to have Adam take some "before" pictures for me, you know like the ones you see in commercials. But seriously, when I had a gym membership it was something my trainer highly recommended. You can use it not only for nostalgic purposes, but as a means to never return to that unhappy place in your life. I'm not a huge fan of photographs of myself, but for the sake of showing the progress to myself, I think I need these photographs. Although, it may be a while before I share them with the public.

 

Goal Number One - Accomplished!

I did it! I feel like I should start doing the Dora "we did it" dance right now, but I'll save it for later.

It feels so amazing to workout. Oh how I've missed this energizing feeling my body has. I'm a far cry from meeting my goal weight, but taking the first step is one of the most important. My weapon of choice is the rowing machine. Adam & I purchased it back in the early spring because it was a good fit for our home and lifestyles. Problem is, I just let it sit there. Adam however has been a healthy kick for a while now and is working out at work and home. He is trying to drop below 200 pounds before the first of the year. Right now he's doing an amazing job and I'm proud of him for what he's accomplished.

As for tonight I did a 4x5, four 5 minute intervals with 4 minutes of rest in between each set. I'm relying on my friend, Amber, to tell me if I got my intervals wrong. I'm also relying on her rowing expertice to help me improve my times and tell me if I'm slacking. It's been a while since we've discussed rowing, so my memory is a little fuzzy.

So, here's the good, the bad and the ugly for tonight:

22 s/m | 3:03 ave/500 m

 

22 s/m | 3:05 ave/500 m



24 s/m | 3:11 ave/500 m



27 s/m | 2:57 ave/500 m

*s/m =  strokes per minute

Now, I don't think this is too shabby considering I haven't been on this machine since May? I'll have to see what my friend Amber says. But bottom line is I FEEL GOOD!!! I had a rough day, due to seeing the dentist, barely ate any food (which I know is a no-no), but on the plus side I only had one Coke. None of that matters because I feel good about what I accomplished just by getting on the machine and working out.

Next goal: Work out at least 5 out of 7 days.