Thursday, May 6, 2010

Day #16

Wow - I've been at this for two weeks already? I swear it seems like so much longer! B'Ster made a comment this morning when I got out of the shower about how great I look, and for once instead of shying away from the compliment I said "I know!" My confidence is building more and more every day and it feels awesome.

People assume that just because I'm small means I have no hang ups with how I look and the second I say something about being insecure they get mad, as if I'm intentionally trying to hurt them. Self-consioucness has zero to do with one's size/shape and everything to do with what they think and feel. I'm finally starting to respect myself and my body. It's been a fun journey so far and I'm excited to see the difference in pictures and fat analysis in just a few short weeks ...

Food Log:
  • Breakfast: banana w/peanut butter
  • Snack: nothing
  • Lunch: chicken quesadilla w/cheddar chz, guacamole & rice
  • Snack: trail mix w/cheerioes, pumpkin seeds, almonds & semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • Dinner: 3oz shredded chicken, 1/2 cup green beans, 1/2 cup pasta sauce, garlic bread & skim milk

Carb/Fat/Protein Breakdown:

  • Fat: 45.9% - over my goal
  • Carbs: 35.2% - met goal
  • Protein: 18.8% - met goal

I don't think I've had a day yet where I've met all my goals. I inch closer to it every day but I haven't gotten there ... ugh!

Exercise:

  • Incline Chest Press (15/15/20/20lbs)
  • Incline Fly (12/12/15/15lbs)
  • One Arm Row (20/20/25/25lbs)
  • Cable Row (45/50/55/60lbs)
  • Pull Ups (85/70/55/55lbs)
  • Flat Bench straight leg ups (3x12)
  • Decline Crunches (3x12, 10lbs)
  • 20 minutes Rotating Stairmaster
  • 15 minutes Elliptical

Felt awesome after my work out. Anxious to get back into the gym tonight to do legs ... I just need to keep focused. My upper body is quickly toning and getting bigger (like my trainer wanted) but it's my lower body that is requiring a lot more work!

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Bad Few Days

Monday afternoon & Tuesday were really difficult for me. I got a phone call from my boss informing me that he will not be renewing my contract on June 1. This means that unless our manager can find somewhere else to "deploy" me to, I will be out of a job in 27 days!

Needless to say this has no only effected my emotional state of mind but also my physical state of mind. I barely ate anything Monday afternoon/evening and yesterday I was a wreck all day and didn't eat much then either. I've had that knot in my stomach since Monday afternoon and expect it will remain until I know what my "fate" is going to be.

Regardless, I promised accountability so here it is:

Monday - worked all day and then had class in the evening, which means no work out. Managed to stop crying long enough to do my final presentation in class and got a 98! Felt a little better after that but knew I had the awful task of telling my husband (who from now on we'll call B'Ster) that I was losing my job. He was really supportive and understanding. He said he knew it was coming (my boss is an awful person) and that we'll figure out a way to make it work.

Food Log:
  • Breakfast: banana w/peanut butter; black coffee
  • Snack: nothing
  • Lunch: 4oz shredded chicken with
  • Snack: nothing
  • Dinner: 1 cup pasta salad with 1/2 cup broccoli

Carb/Fat/Protein Breakdown:

  • Fat: 23.1% - under my goal
  • Carbs: 54.5% - under my goal
  • Protein: 22.4% - under my goal

Tuesday - was not a better day. I was scheduled for a conference call between my manager, my boss and myself regarding my boss's "issues". My stomach was again in knots all morning anticipating my call at 12pm, but one of my co-workers insisted that we go out to lunch after the call just to get me out of the office. After work I hit the gym to get out as much frustration as I could and then had dinner and watched Idol with my in-laws.

Food Log:

  • Breakfast: banana w/peanut butter
  • Snack: nothing
  • Lunch: Salad w/grilled chicken & feta
  • Snack: Apple
  • Dinner: Chicken Caesar Wrap

Carb/Fat/Protein Breakdown:

  • Fat: 14.3% - under my goal
  • Carbs: 47.4% - under my goal
  • Protein: 38.3% - met my goal

Exercise Log:

  • 15 minutes rotating StairMaster
  • 25 minutes Elliptical machine
  • Bicep Curls (15/15/15/20lbs)
  • Concentration Curls (15/15/15/20lbs)
  • Hammer Curls (10/10/10/12lbs)
  • Tricep Extension (12/12/12/15lbs)
  • Lying Extension (30/30/30/30lbs)
  • Kick-backs (10/10/10/12lbs)
  • Push downs (45/50/55/60lbs)
  • Bosu Knee Ups
  • Bosu Lever w/6 pound ball
  • Bosu Obliques

Monday, May 3, 2010

Measurements

Seriously if I actually blogged over the weekends I would overload myself on Mondays! :)

I promised an update on my measurements so here they are:

Weight:
  • Starting: 124
  • New: 126
  • Difference: + 2 pounds

Waist:

  • Starting: 26.5
  • New: 25.5
  • Difference: - 1 inch

Thigh:

  • Starting: 20
  • New: 20.5
  • Difference: + 1/2 inch

Hips:

  • Starting: 35
  • New: 34.5
  • Difference: - 1/2 inch

Chest:

  • Starting: 32.5
  • New: 32
  • Difference: - 1/2 inch (figures)

Arm:

  • Starting: 11
  • New: 10
  • Difference: - 1 inch

Overall:

  • Weight: +2 pounds
  • Inches: - 2.5 inches

As much as it stinks to see the needle on the scale go up I know it's because I'm building muscle mass... but it FANTASTIC to see my inches going down! That means I am reducing fat all over!

Great boost to my motivation to start the week! No exercise today because I have class tonight so that kind of stinks, but it's my last Monday class for a few weeks so next week I won't have to worry about having too many days off!

Stay Strong!
xoxox Raich

Nutrient Goals

After my first meeting with my trainer, we'll start calling her T, she suggested that I track not just my calories but also my fat, carbs and proteins. She said I need a 40/30/30 breakdown - having never tracked anything but calories in my life I didn't exactly know what that meant. But instead of asking her (which would meant admitting I didn't know something) I just nodded.

Luckily my fabulous friend Jami knew exactly what she was talking about and pointed me in the direction of Sparkpeople.com! Since then I have become almost addicted to inputting my food. I will input the littlest thing, and have gone so far as to Google almost all my food so I make sure the nutrition amounts are correct!

According to Sparkpeople.com my breakdown ranges are the following:

Calories: 1,480 - 1,830 (this isn't taking into account any exercise that I'm doing)
Fat: 33 - 71 grams
Carbs: 166 - 297 grams
Protein: 60 - 160 grams

It's really not that easy to do off the bat. I'm still looking at labels questioning myself when I eat something.

I bought a new food scale over the weekend so hopefully that will keep me within my limits in terms of protein weights! We'll see!

Stay Strong!
xoxox Raich

Day #11 - 13

Here it again, Monday and I didn't blog a single time over the weekend. Let's see what (if anything I can remember)

Friday was another long work day. I'm really reaching my complete breaking point here. But I have to keep reminding myself of all my amazing benefits, and the fact that the pay really rocks! I didn't go to the gym on Friday because my hubby and I were supposed to have a date night. Turns out I could have since he didn't get home until almost 7:30pm - ugh! Last time I alter my plan for him! We had dinner at home - because I'm determined to eat out less (saving money and my waistline) and then we hit Bed Bath and Beyond for some goodies for the house.


Food Log:
  • Breakfast: 1 piece egg white frittata; banana
  • Snack: nothing - lost track of time
  • Lunch: 1/2 Meditteranean Veggie sandwich, 1/2 cafe salad & a lemonade from Panera
  • Snack: Apple w/peanut butter
  • Dinner: 6oz Ancho-rubbed flank steak with fingerling potatoes & green beans
  • Water: 60 oz

Carb/Fat/Protein Breakdown:

  • Fats: 34.3% - met my goal
  • Carbs: 40.8% - under my goal
  • Proteins: 24.9% - met my goal


Saturday was a great day! I had a training session at 10:30am and we spent our hour working on my abs and my shoulders - she killed me to the point where it was difficult to drive my car! It was fantastic! After my work out I ran around like crazy running a million errands for my grandmother's birthday dinner! I picked up her present, fish from the market, flowers from my in-laws - I was beat by the time I got home at 5pm. I had literally just enough time to cook dinner and get the house ready for them at 6:30pm. Thank goodness my husband was able to get home earlier than expected to help out!

Food Log:

  • Breakfast: Banana w/peanut butter
  • Snack: none
  • Lunch: 4oz shredded chicken on whole wheat wrap with ranch dressing
  • Snakc: none
  • Dinner: 6oz almond crusted tilapia w/green beans & mashed potatoes
  • Dessert: Miniature Turtle Cheesecake

Carb/Fat/Protein Breakdown:

  • Fats: 40.7% - went over my goal
  • Carbs: 39.5% - met my goal
  • Protein: 19.7% - met my goal

Sunday was another busy day of running around. We got up early and went to Jordan's Furniture to buy new bedroom furniture, and then of course because the furniture was new I had to also have new bedding and a new chandelier. While my spirit is happy (because I love new things) the wallet wasn't too thrilled. Luckily we were able to finance the furniture over 24 months with 0% interest and the bedding was on HUGE sale! So I don't feel too badly about it, and truthfully we really did need it! We stopped at the grocery store on the way home because my in-law's were coming over for a BBQ and we had no food! I know I didn't do well eating because my husband made his famous bacon cheeseburgers .... oops! Will I ever be able to have any willpower?

Food Log:

  • Breakfast: 3/4 cup cheerios with 1/2 cup skim milk, banana w/peanut butter
  • Snack: none
  • Lunch: 4oz shredded chicken, 1/2 avacado, 10 grape tomatoes, lettuce, low fat spicy ranch
  • Snack: none
  • Dinner: 5oz beef burger w/bacon, provolone cheese & roll, 1/2 cup pasta salad, 1 cup broccoli, BBQ potato chips & 1 cup salad
  • Dessert: Miniature turtle cheesecake

Carb/Fat/Protein Breakdown:

  • Fat: 37.3% - went over my goal
  • Carbs: 44.4% - met my goal
  • Protein: 18.4% - met my goal

I'd say over all I ate pretty well, although I could stand to cut out the excess fat and sugar that I notice I have been eating ...

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Oops!

Apparently my goal of blogging over the weekend didn't work out! We have had a crazy busy weekend, date night Friday, dinner with my grandmother on Saturday and then today was spent running errands, buying new furniture, cleaning the windows and then BBQing with the in-laws. With all we had going on I'm proud to say that I stuck to my food goals the whole weekend! Will update you all tomorrow with my first new set of measurements (eek!) since this journey began two weeks ago ... it feels like so much longer!

Until then.....
Stay Strong!
xoxox Raich

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Craft USA

Craft is one of my most favorite clothing brands for my work-out gear. I own everything from a casual sweatshirt to socks to shorts and even a tri-suit! I highly recommend them to anyone looking for incredible quality items. The Craft brand goes hand-in-hand with Karhu and if anyone was watching the Winter Olympics you would have seen the Sweds donning the brand!

Just a few of the many Craft items I own!
I wear this in the hot weather if I'm running outside
These are the most comfortable underwear I have ever worn for my work outs. They never ride up!



My favorite sweatshirt. I wear it to the gym, I wear it around the house, I wear it running errands - it's so comfortable!

The tri-suit I wore when I raced in my very first triathlon. I felt like a pro and got lots of compliments on it.
Stay Strong!
xoxox Raich