Day 33 - Wednesday's We Fast

Yes your read that correctly. The church has a fast on Wednesdays, so there's no eating or working out the body. It's all about working out and building spiritual strength through sacrifice of the flesh. And I don't know about you but I definitely need to build up strength with the Lord! Because without him I am nothing. So I am putting just as much effort into building my spirit as I am my body. So today I meditate, study the word, pray and end with the nights Bible study class. So do not confuse this with a rest day, because that's tomorrow. This is a spiritual workout. 

So this will be the last post you'll see on a Wednesday. As I will observe my fast. 

Day 32 - Cardio and Arms

Started my morning workout with a 5K. That was great. Got all the way up to 6.3mph at one point. It felt comfortable too,maybe I should be working on increasing my speed before my distance?? I don't know, trying it all for now. 

So I warm up walk for 5 minutes, then I run to the 2K mark, then walk, this time ran another 3/4 of a mile, then when I had a mile to the finish - I increased my incline to 15% for 1/2 mile, then 10% for 1/4, and then 5% for a little more all the way down to 0, then I stopped it because I also used that as my cool down. So I'm pretty happy with this routine. Now to get faster! Plus - look at those calories!! Inclines work it out!!

Then I moved to the machines to get some arm reps in. I did 4 sets of 15 on each, curl I did 40lbs and extension I did 30lbs. So not too bad! Then it was off to the steam room and a shower to get ready for work. 

I grabbed this lovely thing on my way out - and it was amazing! Pinapple and spinach smoothie - soooo goood! 

And that's all I'm going to share about what I consumed because the rest wasn't that great. I had enough Pho on my lunch break to feed a small army. Eggs and sausage for dinner, then a bowl of vanilla ice cream before bed. And honestly I almost don't care. I have to take before pictures and get weighed in for this 90 day challenge. And I feel like if I do too much clean eating then I won't transform as much. So everything within reason - and the beginning of this challenge will set it off. Like my bestie calls me "food snob" in full effect! 

And here's 1 month results - with no avail. I should've taken one before vacation - probably would've made a difference. So here's the deal folks - wanna look better for the long term? Don't let your taste buds go on a vacation with you. Remain a Food Snob!! 

And I found this on Facebook and just thought use share. Food for thought. 

Day 31 - Vacation is Over!

Well the vacation actually ended a week ago, but my taste buds stayed out for an additional week. And honestly it's because I pretty much gained back everything I lost prior to the trip back. So I was hungerly depressed. Don't get me wrong, it's totally my fault and all, but still. What a set back. So instead of getting back on track I just stayed off course for another few days. The Church's Chicken and Dunkin Donuts were totally worth it too - I mean how can you not order 50 munchkins and not smile. Donuts = happiness. That is until you have to answer to the scale or the personal trainer - then not so much. 

And there it is, my long lasting suvonier from the trip. Starting back at the beginning. Back to working hard again. Florida is behind me but I've got so many other trips to take that I need to be ready for. Especially Hawaii.

So today I did 30 minutes on this lovely machine. I did an interval walk which the high speed was good but the low speed I felt was too low, so maybe next time, kick it up a notch. 

There's my distance on the stair master. Not too bad I must say so myself. It'll get better. I could totally feel the soreness in my butt today though, so that's a good sign.

Then I did 4 reps of 15 on these two machines, both at 20 lbs. I really thought I was doing something too. That is until an older smaller lady did a rep on the machine while I was on the other, once I came back she was presses about 30 more pounds than I. That's when I felt like a wimp. Then I took 15 minutes in the steam room and then I was done. So not a terrible day for workin out I guess. 

On another note - I just signed up for this and I'm so ready!! $10,000!!!! I'm all the way in. I'm so ready. How motivating is this now?? 

Ummmmm.....?

Day 21 - On Vacation

I swear sometimes it's hard to find the time to write. Sometimes it's because there's nothing fabulous and sometimes it's because I have the best intentions but end up falling asleep. I have had some good stuff over the past 10 days too, but I keep falling asleep. But now here I am, on vacation in Florida, waking up from a lovely night of sleep, ready to run, aaaaaaand it's raining outside. I'm contemplating whether or not I should still run because the past few days on this vacation I haven't done much and have been trying my best to eat right but somethings you just can't help in the south.  

So we'll see, it doesn't look that bad, but do people run in the rain? Although there is a gym around the corner. I could just go do that also - probably makes more sense. 

Like I said I've been trying to make good eating choices on vacation, I haven't eaten any fast food for sure, but going out to a restaurant with so much good choices is hard to resist. Only problem is when I don't find something Paleo, my stomach ends up hurting really bad for the next few hours and I end up with a food hangover in the morning. It's terrible!! 

Like this lovely meal! Not to mention there was a piece of birthday cake, that some offered us, right before this either. Beans were great! Coleslaw was great! I think those alone would've been good choices to just stick with, but do you see that wonderful chicken? Crunchy greasy all over goodness chicken. You can't come to the south and not eat fried chicken. Well you probably can, and should, but I can't not. And that my friends was not a good idea because my stomach hurt soooooo bad! And as bad as it hurt, I'll probably do it again because I'm on vacation in the south. And no lie, I will stop at Churches Chicken also because that my friends is a tradition. And also the reason I'll get up out this bed and run over to the gym. 

On another note, yesterday morning I climbed a mountain in Georgia to see this sunrise! It was a beautiful sight. 

It was like 30 degrees and windy at the top. And although I had been training on the treadmill with a steep incline, and I'm glad I started doing that, I need to do it more. Or the stair master. Because it hasn't been enough. I keep trucking though, because I knew if I stopped it would be over! But man I was tired! Not sore today though, thank God! But it was a wonderful experience and honestly something I wanted to do on this trip - I love climbing mountains! Literally, physically and spiritually. 

On another positive note, I did this magical thing again before I left - and will have to do again when I get back. But I lost 6 lbs already!! Although I don't know how my fat content went down so much but my weight only a little sooooo. But I'll take it! Movin in the right direction regardless!

So with that - I'm off to start my day - stay tuned! 

Day 11/12 - Feeling Pretty Good

ToYesterday I didn't get up in time to have the bulletproof coffee, and I could tell the difference from when I had it the day before. I didn't have as much energy in the morning. Which stinks because as I mentioned we are fasting until 4pm. But it is what it is, and I fasted until 4pm. I started to really get hungry at 3, but I pressed on. And then I pressed home. Where I got to work on making some more Chicken Broccoli Alfredo for the family, but not before I took out some chicken to make the Avacado Chicken Wraps again. This time I added in 1/4 chopped cucumber - and wow - that was great!! And I was full off that. Later I had a grapefruit, but I don't know why because I wasn't even hungry. I didn't end up going to the gym, which I kind of regret but not really. Not really trying to burn myself out either.

On another positive note, and for men who don't like to hear this kind of stuff, skip to next paragraph now. Ever since I got my tubes tied, I get terrible cramping and a horrible heavy flow every month. Pain so bad I want to just lay in bed, the fall over kind of cramps, bad. And now I have my lady time, and although the flow is pretty much the same - I didn't have any cramping! Day 1 of my period I think I had a slight bit but other than that - nothing!! So this is good news! I hope that's attributed to the healthy eating and exercise, because that would give this whole plan a big thumbs up!! We'll see next month I guess. 

Today was another story. Woke up at 3:20am, and I laid there for a bit after praying and didnt know if I should go back to sleep or not. I felt ok and I didn't want to feel worse after sleeping another hour. But before I knew it I was waking up at 6! Well then. I guess no bulletproof coffee again today. And another day hungry but thankful. 

A vendor had stopped by and dropped off food samples at work. Although there wasn't much I could technically eat, I snagged me a soup to have after 4. 

The soup was good but I had to remove all the corn. I don't eat corn. Ever since my very first Whole30, where I learned it was a grain. Now all I think about when I think of eating corn is how farmers give it to cows so they get fat. Nummy -syke! So after removing all this corn, the container was about 1/2 full. So I ate that with some water and coffee. 

This water to be exact, and technically something I shouldn't be drinking either given the ingredients, but I wanted to try anyways. It wasn't good and it wasn't bad. It's like a flat sparkling flavored water. I didn't even finish it. Figured baby might want to try it. 

So after letting that little snack settle, I am off to the gym. There wasn't any classes I was interested in,  so I decided to just run. Gotta get my running in, build endurance. While I was on the treadmill I thought of an idea. I could start with January being 5k and then increase the distance as the month go by, 10k Feb, 15 in March. 

Eww, double chin, gross.  But I made it? But at least I got some exercise today. I feel so wonderful after I work out. And now it's time feed my spritiual mind and body with bible study, then home, eat and apple and get some rest! Another long day tomorrow. And no fasting! Yay! 

Day 10 - A Little Cooking

I started the day waking up at 5am and making bullet proof coffee, while I studied the Word. Because we are fasting with the church from 6am-4pm for three days I week I want to maximize and optimize it. Intermittent fasting is actually proven to increase weight loss and be healthier for your body. So I figured bulletproof coffe is a great way to start the day!

And I definitely recommend blending it. I honestly thought it was going to taste better than it did, but I see room for some improvement. At first I thought, why blend? I mean this kinda stuff just melts anyways, so I tried just stirring it in, and that was probably the most oily drink of coffee I've ever had. So I blended it and it's way better. 

And then I fasted until 4. We are not allowed to eat, drink, or exercise. We fast and pray. 

But 4pm finally came after a long day and I didn't have any food but my almond crackers. So I polished off the box from Friday, had a cup of water and tea and then it was off to the gym at 5. Attended another TCX class, there was a guy instructor this time. He was pretty cool, but I swear I was gonna die if he made me jump one more time. I hate jumping, probably because I feel stupid doing it, but seriously though. Squats and jumping, arms and jumping, oh yeah, and more squats. Quads were on fire!! Good thing I had my bestie there to make it fun!! All I kept thinking was Floridaaaa, Floriiiiddaaaa, Florida!

Then I came and made paleo mayo. It's great to make deviled eggs, egg or tuna salad, anything needing mayo. Also thinking about jelepeno bacon deviled eggs - oh man they are so good!

And then I finally got to make this little number for dinner. Chicken Avacado lettuce wrap. It was soooo good. I highly recommend it. I will make this again for sure!! 

Also ended up making some German bread for my boss tonight. It's a sourdough that's been in the making since Saturday. I really hope it works because it was a lot of work. I probably didn't need to attend that class with all the bread kneading I had to do. I was honestly out of breath. So I probably will at least try a slice. We'll see. 

 

Day 8/9 - The Weekend

Started my Saturday off pretty well. Waking up before the alarm again, got ready and headed to the gym. I'm liking this TCX class. I got there early enough too so I got some good weights this time. She really works it in the class. I hope to keep going with it. 

And look what I found at Target!! This is great! It was on sale for $6 and some change. When I got home I put a tablespoon of it into my pineapple, mango, coconut milk smoothie. And because it's so small and then ground up some more I couldn't taste anything different. 

And I also made this delicious waffles!! They were made from sweet potato and plantain mainly and I was kinda nervous because the banana egg pancakes never turned out, but these waffles - oh man were they good! Only had 1 with some real maple syrup- saved the other for later. Probably also had more syrup than I needed but I can't help but douse my pancakes and waffles in syrup. It's just gotta be that way. 

Did some chores around the house, nothing special. And then laid on the couch and watched TV. I made the family Alfredo, broccoli and chicken pasta for dinner and I wanted some soooooo bad. I make it from scratch so you know it's good. It looked so good. But I didn't partake, I did eat some of the chicken though, before I added the sauce to it, because I cooked it in ghee and spices so I was able to have some. Had that with some water and one of my dessert bars that I made and that was a wrap for the night. 

I ended up waking up at 430am today! Wow - with no alarm and not feeling like I want to kill someone. I got up, made coffee and heated up one of my waffles in the oven. Microwaves just make stuff soggy and that's nasty. Ended up falling back asleep and then waking up to get ready for church. Church lasted until 3 and after I got home and ate some tuna scrambled eggs, I laid out the couch to watch a movie. At that point going to the gym was mute. I didn't want to go, but after the movie my daughter, Dakota, convinced me to go. So I went. 

I got on the treadmill and did a 5K. No lie, after a mile I almost convinced myself that I was good. But then I turned it around because I figured what was the use in that. Since I'm here I might as well keep going. I did two miles of walking and running intervals, and the last mile and some I did incline intervals.

So all in all I'm glad I went because I needed it! I need the cardio training for my resting heart rate, because it's. high. 

Day 7 - Nothing Special

So my day 7 actually started the night before. It's New Year's Eve and I was gonna make tons of money Ubering. 

It started off with a cafe mocha made with coconut milk, extra shot, no whip, from Starbucks. Officially now my favorite place since they have coconut milk. I tried Dunn Brothers mocha with an almond milk and it's definitely something I will need to get used to. It's not the most tasteful thing to drink. So Starbucks it is. 

I drove from 630pm to 4am, with a little break in the middle to stop at church and ring in the new year. Uber had a special deal with Bobby & Steves gas stations to give uber drivers free Redbull!! But unfortunately they didn't have sugar free, so I took a regular but never drank it. The only snack I have was a handful of walnuts, and wintergreen life savor mints. And even though those aren't sugar free, they helped me stay awake. 

So I got home and slept for a few hours and then went to my regular job for some OT. I got there at 10am and I was draggin, I was soooooo tired. Then I started to get hungry! I really had my mind made up to reward myself with Chipotle, yes I can eat that, I'll show you later because they were closed for the new year. Then Cub Foods was open but only til 2. I looked in the company store, and there was nothing I could eat there. Even their Chili had high fructose corn syrup. So Cub Foods it is. I got an Apple, grapefruit, almond nut crackers, and salad bar, with a coconut water. And I ate that throughout my workday and I was feeling much better. But I saw the almond but crackers have rice flour, so I won't be buying/eating those after this boxe. No rice! Sad I know, but I got goals!

Work ended at 6 and I went home to eat some more. Had a couple chicken legs, some fried sweet potatoes and a bar of my dessert. And then a nap and back to Uber for the night. I don't need to just look good for Florida I need to pay for stuff too, I might be tired, but I gotta get this money while I can! So no I didn't work out, but don't worry, I'm not giving up.