Sunday, January 26, 2014

Playing catch up--Days 6,7,8,9

I have been busy....school is crazy right now.  With an iPad distribution happening, I have been out of my classroom more than I have been in it. My free time has been playing catch up and planning for the times when I am out of the room.  Sometimes being gone is harder than being there.

Thursday was an exercise day off for.  I am giving myself one of those a week.  My old body can only take 6 days a week of work.  God rested on the Sabbath.   I did not food cheat this day...jsut no exercise.

Friday, I did not ordered out lunch with my co-workers.  2 of us are "being good" so it helps to not be the only one.
QSA workout at 4:30 and then a 12 minute cardio set to finish off the day.  WooHoo!!!

Saturday workouts at QSA will now be known as "how bad do you want it" workouts.  PJ enjoyed inflicting the torture on us.  Alex, Ryan, DJ, and Jason all keep popping in the room to witness the torture. Secretly they were laughing at us. 
Who starts a workout with 50 burpees, 50 renegade rows ON EACH SIDE, 50 thrusters, and then 50 kettle bell swings?  This wasn't even the first half of the workout.  AND the kicker was...a 35 minute cap.  I finished all but the last 48 superman jacks in the time limit....and then finished the superman jacks. 

Meal planning and shopping were done on Saturday.  It is the little things like BOGO chicken breasts at BiLo that excite me.

Sunday we hit the track as a family.  I got my 45 min training run in, D did an interval workout and bleacher runs, and J played football with some people who already playing on the field. 


As of Friday afternoon, I am down 6 lbs and 3% body fat.  The best stat is the loss of 9 lbs of fat mass.  This is working.  The clean eating and the workouts are making all the difference.  My jeans were loose this morning.  My ultimate goal is to wear this one particular white and black dress again.  I would love to be able to wear it in St John on March 8. 

How bad do I want it?  That is the question...

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Day 5-Dedication Day

Short, sweet and to the point...

I didn't have anything but a bottle of water in my meeting this morning....no Coke, no chips, no candy

I didn't have any snacks at the faculty meeting this afternoon.  Only my water.

I did my training run at 4:45 this afternoon in 30 degree weather with a ton of wind.  (I hate cold almost as much as I hate cottage cheese).

Dedication Day!!

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

NYNY Day 4

 First Tuesday weigh in and I have lost both pounds and body fat %.  Not sharing how much because this is a contest and that $500 is worth eating more cottage cheese (maybe).

Breakfast was my omelet cups.  I posted a picture on my Instagram.  You put your veggies in a muffin tin and pour your eggs over the top.  Any omelet recipe from the book will work. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes (make sure the middle is done).   Simply reheat them in the microwave when you are ready to eat them.   

Lunch was a Cobb Salad.  My coworkers were laughing at my lack of dressing. They know how much I love ranch.  Actually my dressing spilled in my lunch bag and I had about half of the 2 TBSP left.  I resisted the urge to go ask for some dressing at the salad bar in our school cafeteria.  MAJOR WILL POWER (almost as much as it took NOT to eat a Hershey's kiss that my kiddos earned today)

For dinner we had grilled chicken and a spinach salad.  I love the dressing from the book for the Spinach and Strawberry salad.  I only added 1 TBSP of sugar instead of the amount it called for.  Trying to be good....


Amanda is an awesome coach.  She pushed me tonight.  She gave me a 44lb kettle bell and told me to use it.  I had no choice.  And then for 1 and 1/2 sets she was in my face pushing back down on the kettle bell.  This sounds harsh and it was.  But I needed it and she knew that to get the maximum out of me she needed to push...literally.
I often think that I am weaker than I really am.  The coaches at QSA and my fellow 4:30 people give me the encouragement I need. 

I keep reminding myself of the little engine that could....I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.

Of course no one got to be that little engine while sitting on their caboose. 

Monday, January 20, 2014

NYNY Day 3

Day 3 has been great....for the most part.

For breakfast, I stepped WWAAAYYYY out of my comfort zone and attempted to eat some cottage cheese for breakfast.  I cannot begin to explain how much I hate the texture of cottage cheese. I bought small curd this time hoping that would help.   The recipe in the book is called Wonder Bowl.  My was a not so wonder bowl....1/2 cup of cottage cheese, 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt, 2 tsp of flax meal, and 4 strawberries sliced.   I hated it.  I imagine my face looked like a baby when he/she is eating rice cereal for the first time. If I could have spit it out I would have.  I finally figured out that to tolerate it I could eat the berries out...even though they were covered in the wonderful stuff.

Lunch was another cobb salad...awesomeness.

For dinner I made the fiesta chicken from the book.  It was delicious.  This will be a staple meal for us.  So simple yet so good.  And I am full.


QSA WOD was tough.... "Bear" with 3 rounds at 55lbs and 2 rounds at 65lbs.   I remember when the 45lb bar was a challenge for me.  I am feeling a sense of accomplishment today.
Next came the 10 min AMRAP....with hurdle hops.  Feeling so proud of myself after the weights, I chose on the "taller" green hurdles.  Hurdle hop number 4, I kicked the hurdle, it flipped and popped me in the leg, and I fell.  My parents should have named me Grace.

I switched to the baby green hurdle for the rest of the reps. Ain't no shame in my game :)


First weigh in is tomorrow....

Sunday, January 19, 2014

NYNY Day 2

Breakfast was an IsaLean shake with a TBSP of natural peanut butter this morning.  I hadn't been to the grocery store yet....

My total at Publix was $120 and some change.  I first I thought OMG this is going to be more expensive than I thought.   Then I remembered that I usually spend an average of $75 a week at the grocery store, plus eating out 2 times a week, plus lunch out on Friday, and a Coke here and there thought out the week.  So in the end, I am actually saving money this week :)

For lunch, D and I had the Cobb Salad from the new recipe book.  I bought chicken at the Public deli...this will make my life easier this week.   Salads are harder for D than me....he doesn't eat tomatoes, cucumbers, or avocados.  
I must admit that I was worried about this salad.  I LOVE RANCH DRESSING!!  This salad's dressing was 1 Tbsp of olive oil and 1 Tbsp of sherry vinegar.   It was REALLY GOOD...I was wrong about this being too dry.  I did miss my ranch, though.

For dinner we had the steak and green beans from the book...minus all the garlic.  We are not fans of garlic and I am feeding a picky 9 year old.  It was more than we could eat.  And delicious.

The first 2 meals were a success and I am not hungry.  That probably has to do with the gallon of water I have had today.  I think I might float before the end of this.  (On the plus side,  the more hydrated you are, the less body fat you have when you step on that evil scale at QSA)



My only complaint for the day is that I can't get my Nike app to sync with my half marathon training app.  I have no idea the distance I ran today. 
The training app I am using is from Zen Labs...the couch to 5k people.  I chose this trainer because it is based on the principal of run 4 mins walk 1 min.  I am realistic...it has been 10 years since I ran a half marathon and I know that I can't run the entire way.  
The downside to this app is you aren't training based on distance.  You are running times.  Today it was a 35 min run. 

The longest run is a 4/1 pace (5 mins) for 27 segments.  This is 2 hours and 25 mins...which should be how long it takes to run the half.
All the reviews online said you could sync it with the Nike App. I guess I need to figure this out.

Happy Day 2 to my fellow challengers.  GO TEAM AMANDA!!!

Saturday, January 18, 2014

New Year New You---Transformation Challenge

QSA....the place where 35 3/4 year old mommies like me Train Like An Athlete!!


Today began the New Year New You Transformation Challenge.    A 4 week contest to see who can lose the most Relative Body Fat.   With a $500 prize for the winner.  (I could get some pretty awesome new shoes with that cash)

And my next challenge.....

3 BeastFit workouts a week (at least),  at least 1 prescribed cardio workout (shouldn't be hard since I am training for a half marathon...I know most of you who are reading this are in shock right now), and a nutrition plan that is SER-I-OUS

I seriously need to get my nutrition in check.   No cheating for 4 weeks.  I am grateful for the meal suggestions and plan that I was given today.   I might be floating by the end of this with all the water I have to drink...

I plan on blogging daily through this journey.  Sharing  my thoughts  regarding  this journey I am on for the next 4 weeks.  On the workouts, my running, and the food/recipes/meals that D and I liked. (and possibly didn't like....I must get over being such a picky eater)

This is another accountability portion for me.  I have my teammates....GO TEAM AMANDA.... and the challenge checklist on the wall at the gym. 

My hope is that at the end of 30 days I will have results that will encourage someone else to step out  of their comfort zone and make themselves better in 2014.  (QSA is a great place to train and I would love to have some non-QSA peeps join me in the gym)

Off to plan my meals for the week....