It’s Thursday, people! Thursday = nearing the long weekend. Woohoo!!!
We’re having peeps over Saturday for a cookout, and we’re headed to another cookout Sunday…but I’m hopin’ Monday = relaxation for moi. Foods are probably not going to be anywhere near as awesome as they should be. A lot of hamburgers and hot dogs to choose from in my future.
No life-altering events from last night’s workout. It was our first 90-degree/humid day of the season and it was hawt in the gym. Holy crap. I normally struggle to keep my heart rate up while I’m lifting (even with no rest) but yesterday I actually had trouble bringing it down. I ended up with significantly longer rest periods between sets. Oh well. Still got the job done. 🙂
Good Changes
I’ve been in a remarkably good mood this week – despite my monthly female friend being on my doorstep. I’ve changed a few things, and I’m not sure if it can be attributed to one thing, or a combination of all.
A). I’ve significantly increased my consumption of greens. Especially spinach, because I have a ginormous bag of it at home, and have been supplementing with my farmer’s market “Green Drinks” (spinach, orange, apple, ginger, mint, parsley, ice). I’m really loving the market Green Drink…may have to re-create at home, as it’s $5 a pop. Holy crap.
B). I’ve made a conscious and focused effort to incorporate more protein into my life. I am, by nature, a “carbs” girl. When I’m hungry, I reach for cereal, granola, fruit, crackers, and the like. I’ve been tracking and trying to keep my protein level higher. I really feel I wasn’t eating enough of it previously – especially based on my lifting schedule.
C). I’ve decreased my workouts. I’m still working out 4-5 days a week, but I’m not going balls-to-the-wall for 1h15m+ every.single.day. I was working to complete exhaustion previously, but then I’d go home and walk the dog, water the garden, make dinner, make food for the next day, etc – so I was exhausted and never got any down time. Made me pretty damn cranky. 🙂 Instead, I’m working out at more like an hour per day. I’ve cut down my cardio significantly. I’m not sure if that will end up being good for me or not, but on my lifting days I’m only doing enough cardio to get warmed up, and moving on. Non-lift days, I’m doing HIIT for 20 minutes. I don’t know that burning 500 calories-ish (rather than the 700/800 I was doing previously) per workout is going to benefit my waistline….but it’s benefitting my mental health. I guess I just need to find a way to balance my food around that workout goal. That’s the tough part.
Struggles
- Protein. I am having serious problems getting enough protein each day and enjoying it. Dairy tends to do a number to me in mass quantities, so I’m trying to limit my intake from that source. Tuna, salmon, chicken, turkey…they’re great for my lunches or dinners, but those meals were never a problem to begin with. Breakfast and snacks…that’s where I have trouble with protein. Any recommendations? I can do eggs a few times a week, but not daily…I get sick of them. I’ve been doing a cheese stick or protein bar for my snacks, and it’s helped…but you know what protein bars are like. It’s hard to find a good one with decent stats and a lack of unpronounceable words. I don’t do tofu, nuts only in moderation….and I’m still struggling to find a protein powder I don’t think tastes (or smells…GOD, what makes whey protein powder SMELL LIKE THAT?) like ass.
Apparently my phone decided to eat my pictures today. Oh well!
Citrucel on the way to work – 7:45 a.m.
Breakfast – 8:30 a.m.
My breakfast is straight out of the blog-o-sphere today.
- 2 c. spinach
- 1 c. milk
- 1 scoop vanilla protein powder (EAS brand. GOD its gross.)
- 1 frozen banana
- Handful of ice cubes (4?)
Tina’s 3-Minute Oatmeal Raisin Date Cookie
I wanted one of these, but realized we were out of raisins. But we had dates! Good enough!
- ¼ c. oats
- 1/8 c. egg white (Tina recommends liquid egg whites, but I just took ½ an egg white from a real egg)
- 2 tsp. Brown sugar
- 2 tsp. all-purpose flour
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp raisins (or two dates, chopped, in my case)
- Cinnamon to taste
Mix the ingredients together in a bowl and flatten down into a cookie shape. Microwave for 45 seconds, let cool slightly, and remove from bowl. Eat!
It was pretty good! My co-worker seemed to think it was gross looking. But you’ll have that. 🙂
I only ate half of it..I was full.
That breakfast took me 2 hours to eat. Geeze!
Lunch – 12:15 p.m.
Two slices whole grain with ham-off-the-bone slices (delicious) and mozzarella cheese. With an apple. 🙂
Snack – 3:30 p.m.
Unpictured string cheese
½ a crunchy peanut butter clif bar (it was okay but not life-altering like the clif mojo I had yesterday)
Exercise
Hotter than Hades in the gym again today! Not good on interval day! LOL
HIIT for 20 minutes + 10 minutes steady state stop-my-heart-from-jumping-out-of-my-throat J
I did rounds on the stationary bike today. I tend to not use it much because it never feels like it ‘fits’ me. No matter of adjustment changes that for some reason.
Abs work:
- Jackknife (again!!) 3×10
- Lying Leg Raise (side to side) 3×12
- Planks 3×60 sec (30 sec rest between)
50m @ the gym = 384 calories burned
Headed home, ate the other half of my clif bar and walked my little Holly Doggle for a bit. I think we only walked 20 minutes…it was way hot today, even for my little bundle of energy
Watered my garden (growwwwwwww….) and then made dinner
Dinner
Spaghetti (Smart Taste….DH will eat it, versus the whole wheat), meat sauce, and salad (leaf lettuce, cucumber, tomato, two kinds of peppers, carrots with red wine vinegar dressing)
Evening
Hoping to sit down before 10pm (which was last night!!) I’ve already failed at this 🙂
