Monday, February 28, 2011

Conflicted....

Hey there everyone, its been a while since I updated this thing and with good reason. The only workouts I'm doing are those in my fitness classes I'm teaching, so it kind of seems unnecessary to update on the status of regular classes. Right now, I am doing classes Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday - so Mondays & Fridays are the only rest days I have. I've been watching my burns for these workouts and I burn at least 400 calories an hour leading all these classes - which puts me at a damn decent deficit throughout the week.

I am also currently doing the Vegan Investigation - which is 4 weeks of a Vegan lifestyle to notice any positive or negative changes (if you wanna follow that go to www.hillygoesvegan.blogspot.com). I purposefully didn't change up my workout plan during this as I want to be able to attribute any changes to the nutritional adaptations, and not due to amping up my workouts. I wanted the only change to be nutritional, but I'm starting to go a little stir crazy.

However, with 2 weeks left of the Vegan Investigation - I am feeling a little restless. I've been catching myself thinking quite regularly about doing another round of Insanity, a P90X or ChaLean Extreme/Insanity Hybrid, purchasing new MMA workouts - basically ANYTHING to kick my ass at the moment. I feel like I have adapted well to teaching 6 fitness classes a week (which might turn to 7 classes a week *finger crossed* - that's an extra $100 a month if I am able to do it!). Now I am ready to challenge myself physically to get myself to the next level. I miss the soreness that comes from a kick ass workout - I haven't felt that in a while, even though I'm dropping inches and weight.

This past week was the first time since last October that I've weighed in at less than 177 pounds! I'm hoping to keep up the downward trend! We are planning a trip in late May/early June that is going to require a bikini and I know that I already look decent in one - but I want to look the best I can

My other issue is time. I work a 40 hr/week job plus training clients & teaching my fitness classes - I don't exactly have the time to devote to a workout. If I workout in the afternoons after work & before classes, I run the risk of not having the strength to dance through my workouts and having sore legs. Plus, the few hours between work and classes are sometimes the only time I get to spend with my hubby in a day - I don't want to cut down that time even lower than it already is. The only other option is getting up before my shift in the morning and working out before work. OY the idea of an alarm clock at 230am just doesn't sound appealing, but right now I'm not seeing many other options.

I really don't know what to do right now. I might add some quick circuit workouts just to get me through the next 2 weeks. Once the Vegan Investigation is over, then I can really make a decision and hit the workouts hard. I'm totally ready to kick my ass into gear and look fabulous - the nutrition is finally in line again and now comes the workouts. Hopefully it will be an awesome combination - and hopefully the circuit workouts will be enough to maintain my sanity for the next 2 weeks. I don't want to do anything to mess up the results of the Vegan trials!

More updates will come soon! Once I figure out a plan then everything will work itself out from there and I will regularly update!

Vegan Day 14 - Sunday Bloody Sunday...UGH!

So yesterday was just one big hot mess of food. I didn't eat my normal volume of food for breakfast, which caused me to trigger and be hungry & munchy for the rest of the day. Also, the weather went from beautiful, warm & sunny to cold, wintery and nasty overnight. When this happens, my body likes to compensate by eating more (even though it has MORE than enough pudge for extra insulation this time of year!) - so I basically turn into a human hamster when it gets chilly - constantly munching all the time!

Normally, I would have had a workout to throw in to help make a decent deficit but Zumba class was canceled and I went shopping with my hubby & a friend instead. I got a decent amount of walking in, but nothing to help make a major deficit in my day. Got a way cute pair of new levi jeans which are awesome - my friend said they made my butt look awesome! haha! I'm just happy that they fit well, its really hard to find jeans that fit right, so I was really happy to find these ones!
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After we went shopping, we went for an awesome lunch at Genghis Grill - where I had a bowl of veggies, tofu & Udon Noodles - YUM!!! And only 450 calories for the whole bowl! I love it!
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My nutrition was overall good up until this point. Once we got back to our side of town after shopping, we stopped in to say hi to my husband's grandma - here's where the downfall began. There's a ton of munchie food in the house and whenever we go there, we just start grazing. Though everything I ate was vegan, I think that I could have done without munching on the dry roasted lightly salted peanuts - all that added salt made me feel yucky.

After that, we headed back home where the munching continued. I ate an ice cream sandwich (130 cals), alternative bagel (110 cals), tomato pasta salad (180 cals) on top of everything that I had eaten already. I plugged everything into Spark and I came to about 1750-1800 cals that I ate yesterday - overall not too bad, but not the best when I'm trying to cut weight. I definitely didn't eat over my maintenance (I burned over 2000 cals on my Bugg), but the salt on the peanuts didn't help so I feel fabulously bloated today.

I also stayed up way too late last night and didn't get my normal amount of sleep - which isn't helping me feel any better either. The hubby and I watched the Oscars and now we have a TON of new movies we want to see, especially "127 hours" and "The King's Speech" - they both look amazing! We've already seen Black Swan and were thrilled when Natalie Portman won! She was so cute! Once I am done reading "I am Number Four" (which is awesome BTW) I want to read "Between a Rock & a Hard Place" which is what "127 hours" is based on - I googled it last night and it looks like an amazing story!

However, I am reigning in my diet today and staying on track. I am planning on getting at least a 1 mile run on the treadmill in during my breaks today at work - even though I forgot my digital display at home (so sad!)

So anyways, I am drinking lots of caffeine to stay awake & hopefully will be back on track with my weight loss within a day or two. Hoping the weekend was great for you all! I'm already looking forward to Friday! haha!

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Vegan Day 13 - Workouts & Restaurants!

So Day 13 is now complete and I am halfway through all this craziness! Yesterday, I had my Zumba class in the morning & kickboxing class in the afternoon - so I burned around 2700 calories by the end of the day (according to my Bugg). I am definitely happy with that!

However, I used all 2700 calories to my advantage when we went out to dinner at an ALL vegan restaurant in town for a friend's birthday! I didn't eat near that much food to cause a surplus of calories, but I was thankful for the 2 workouts to help keep things balanced. Since it was the first time in 2 weeks I've been able to order anything on the menu - I definitely indulged (and am up 3lbs of water weight today because of it!) But overall, it was so much fun! The owner of the restaurant truly loves what he's doing and the food was awesome! I took pictures of everything but dessert (I totally spaced it!) so you can see!

Remember - ALL this food is vegan, so anything that looks like meat or seafood or dairy really isn't! As an appetizer, I got a hot & sour seafood soup in a lemongrass broth:
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My dinner was chicken pad thai with spring rolls & a salad
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The hubby (who wasn't particularly thrilled about eating fake meat, but ate it anyways because he's so amazing) ordered a peppered steak sandwich with cheese
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For dessert, we had Banana Chocolate Chip Spring Rolls drizzled in Dark Chocolate! It was divine! All the food was awesome and sometimes we had to remind ourselves that we weren't eating real meat! The hubby isn't too crazy about soy meat, but I really appreciate him coming with me!

I definitely think that this restaurant will be on my list of awesome places to go, even when I'm not vegan anymore!

So now begins Day 14, I am up 3 pounds from yesterday at 179.2, but its definitely nice to have my "high" & "bloated" weights be in the 170s instead of the 180s - that definitely means I've had some fat loss and not just water weight so far! haha! Today I have Zumba in the morning and then we are meeting a friend for lunch afterwards. After that, I think we are just going to relax before the crazy of the work week starts up again tomorrow morning (ugh! weekends need to be longer! haha!)

I can't wait to see what week 3 brings for me - maybe I'll get closer to the 160s?!?!? Who knows!! Have a great Sunday everyone!

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Weigh In #2!!! Woot!

Alrighty! Since I am going out to eat tonight & don't want to skew any of my progress data - weigh in was this morning! I am basing all my measurement & weight changes off my initial weight of 182lbs (and my corresponding measurements at that weight)

So since its technically only been 12 full days of being vegan (today is day 13) - I am absolutely thrilled with what's happened!!! Okay - so before I get to the good stuff, here's all the other stuff. Over the past 12 days, I have noticed great changes. I've successfully maintained a diet of between 1300-1400 calories a day and averaging burns of between 2300 and 2500 calories on most workout days on my BodyBugg (so nice happy deficit!). Even with eating this amount of food, I am rarely hungry and I allow for indulgences - I've eaten my vegan ice cream every day since I bought it and STILL seen great progress!

I am regularly eating over 200g of carbs a day which really helps keep me full (all of my food has been tracked on Spark for the past 2 weeks - so feel free to check it out!). I've never thrived on low carb, high protein diets - so this one is working out well for me! I am still maintaining the appropriate amounts of protein without overdoing it on the soy products (which can mess up my thyroid) and I'm getting all the healthy fats I need as well. I am naturally getting over 25g of fiber a day and my body is really happy about that! haha! My nutrition has been balanced and healthy and I can tell a difference in the way my body has been functioning overall.

I have energy to spare, especially in my workouts & fitness classes. I feel lighter and move better than I did 12 days ago. I am sleeping well and feel rested even though I might only get 6 hours of sleep a night. I have noticed slight changes in my appearance - but don't know whether to attribute those to vegan or not. My hair seems shinier, but I just bought new shampoo about a week and a half ago - so that might be it.

Anyways, now let's get to the good stuff! What has 12 days on Vegan done to me?!?!?!? Overall, I have lost 5.6lbs (which is almost a pound every 2 days!) which for someone of my size and build is pretty darn impressive! I was really excited so I took a pic to prove it!!
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I have dropped 7.75 inches off my initial measurements from all over my body and all of my clothes are fitting better & looser. The most impressive areas of change are my chest (right along my raven tattoo) I've dropped 1.5 inches, 1 full inch off my waist, 1.5 inches from my belly button and a half inch off my upper thighs on each leg! Definitely stoked!

Here's some pretty graphs to talk about my happy weight & measurement changes (I like graphs, can you tell?? haha!)
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So now here's my progress pics for Day 12 - I think I can see a difference in my tummy, especially on the side pic (are those a *hint* of abs I see?!?!? woot!)
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I am really pleased with the first 12 days so far, and I can't wait to see what happens in the next few weeks!! I might even see the 160s again by the time this is over!! OMG that would be so awesome!! But for now, I'm focusing on today - today is Zumba, Kickboxing & birthday parties! Its going to be a good day indeed!! I hope you all have a great Saturday too!

Song of the Day - just since its a woohoo kind of morning :-)

Friday, February 25, 2011

Vegan Day 12 is DONE!

So today was a much better day than yesterday was. It was a crazy morning (I forgot my breakfast at home, so I ate my rice for breakfast) but I stayed within my calorie count once again which is awesome. Been staying on track and will hopefully have a good weigh in tomorrow morning.

I got bored at work today - so I went and ran on the treadmill on one of my breaks today. I busted out a mile in 11:03 - not too shabby considering I haven't ran on a treadmill since December. I really don't think that's especially a bad thing considering I ran wearing this today and not workout clothes! haha! Go me!
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Went grocery shopping for some more foodz today and will total up all the amounts tomorrow when I get a chance. Other than that, things are kind of quiet here (which isn't necessarily a bad thing) - the hubby and I are catching up on "Supernatural" tonight and looking forward to a relaxing evening at home.

Looking forward to tomorrow! Have a great night everyone!

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Day 11...well, its over at least...

So today (oddly) was the toughest day yet! No matter what they were supposed to be doing, my coworkers did nothing but talk about food....all day....and of course they didn't talk about healthy food either. Most of the time, I can tune this out and just do my own thing, but today was a little harder for some reason. Also, we had a meeting that happened to be right around lunch time, located in the meeting room right next to the cafe - so after hearing about food all morning, I got to smell all the unhealthy grubs being cooked right outside the door for an hour.

So today was rough - I was constantly reminded of all the food that I can't eat right now, and it wasn't easy - but I stayed on track! Woot! I ate all the food I packed and even though I had to resort to my emergency granola bars before the work day was over, I still came in right at 1300 calories for the day! Go me! For dinner, I made some fabulous brown rice with stir fry veggies (baby corn, peas, peppers, water chestnuts, broccoli, etc), bamboo shoots & Sriracha sauce - it was yummy!

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Zumba classes went great today! Ran one class with the old music and the other with the new music - it was nice to have a variety! Oddly enough, my abs were really sore after the workout today - it was a nice little reminder that my abdominal muscles *ARE* still there even if I can't see them yet! haha!

In other news, finished reading a book I started yesterday (yeah I kind of tore through it) called "Beastly" - it was a really unique twist on Beauty and the Beast and I'm intrigued about the movie coming out soon. Next on my reading list is "I am Number Four" - heard good things about it, so hopefully it will be good! This afternoon before class, the hubby and I caught up on "Being Human" and "Face Off" - which are both fabulous new shows on SyFy this year! Now we just need to find time to catch up on Supernatural and we'll be good! Maybe tomorrow afternoon we can watch those ones...

Also, a friend of mine is celebrating her birthday at an ALL VEGAN restaurant on Saturday night!!! OMG - just the idea of being able to order ANYTHING on a menu just sounds incredible!!! So because I might indulge a little bit, I will do my weigh in on Saturday morning instead of Sunday morning. I don't want any excess water weight causing my weigh in to be messed up - so my 2 week weigh in will come in just a few days! Hope it goes well!

Anyways, I think that's enough for me for today. I am SO happy tomorrow is Friday! It always seems that 4 day work weeks are longer than the normal 5 day ones! haha!

In honor of the fabulous "Beastly" book I finished - Here's the song of the day!


Avenged Sevenfold - Beast And The Harlot
Uploaded by WBRNewMedia. - See the latest featured music videos.

Vegan Day 10 - Woot!

Hey there - sorry I didn't post this yesterday, but it was late when I got home from Zumba and I needed to go to bed if I was going to get any decent amount of sleep! Yesterday was awesome - I still feel great, got energy to spare, my size 6 pants are starting to fit looser and this might be TMI - but my digestive system is awesome! Any tummy issues that I had have virtually disappeared since starting this program. I've been consistently staying between 1300-1400 calories on the program, while feeling full almost ALL the time, and getting fabulous burns on my BodyBugg on a daily basis (my goals are 2150 cals a day, 10,000 steps and at least 30 mins of activity - which I easily hit all 3 of those on workouts days - so 5 days a week - on non-workout days I usually average around 1900 cals, 5000 steps and still 30 mins of general activity, so not too shabby)

I was feeling nice and lean yesterday and was really happy to snap this pic in the gym! I think I am noticing some awesomeness and definitely feeling less squishy, so that's a perk (especially since I'm eating over 200g of carbs a day! Woot!)

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I sneaked a peek at the scale this morning and all I can say is that if this keeps up, my weigh in this weekend is going to be epic! Woot! Zumba classes continue to go well! I have my workout tonight at Curves and am looking forward to that as always! Today is Day 11 - its hard to believe that this thing is already almost halfway over! WOW time has totally flown so far!

OH - also, I went shopping on Monday for a few things, but realized I didn't write it down on here. My Vegan stuff I got totaled $24.20 for that shopping trip and it should definitely last me the rest of the week and through the weekend (with the exception of fresh fruit, I think I might run out of cantaloupe and grapes tomorrow).

ALSO - some of you mentioned that you are having issues leaving comments - I think you need to log in with a gmail account to be able to leave a comment, to prevent SPAM and stuff. Hope this helps!!!

I will try to update later tonight on how things are going, but today is awesome already! SOO happy its Thursday - Tomorrow is Friday, and payday and Vegan Day 12 - looking forward to it!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Day 9 - Noise Complaints = Success!

Hey everyone! So Day 9 went great - ended the day around 1300 cals and had a fabulous Zumba class at Curves! Debuted a whole new selection of music and my ladies loved it!!! In the middle of my second class, the neighbor next door (at an eyeglass store) called to complain about the music! It was too loud!! Somehow, I really don't see this as a bad thing - it was after 6pm at night, and my ladies were having a blast - so I am really kind of proud of my noise complaint! haha!

Before class - the hubby and I spent almost an hour at the MVD Express since his license expired, which was a nightmare as always, but at least its done now.

Food was great today! I woke up to a nice 180.2 pounds this morning and hopefully will be even lighter tomorrow!

OH and as promised - here's a pic of my new Zumba shoes! They are Reebok Zigs and they are AMAZING!! They are uber comfy and totally supportive - plus, I love the color of the shoes!!

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That's about it for me! Have a great night everyone! Time for sleep before my 5am shift tomorrow!

Vegan Days 7 & 8!

Hey there everyone!! Days 7 and 8 were awesome! I stepped on the scale this morning to a nice 180.2 - which is down almost a pound from my weigh in 2 days ago - can't really complain about that! Hopefully the downward trend will continue!

I enjoyed a relaxing, yet productive day off yesterday for the holiday. Made an entirely new circuit mix for my Zumba class tonight and I'm excited about it! Picked up some cute new workout clothes for an awesome price too! I got new Zumba shoes which make an AMAZING difference on my feet. I ran through a workout yesterday and didn't feel any pain or discomfort in my knees like I usually do - its astounding what changing shoes can do for stability! haha! I'll take a picture of them tonight and upload it! They are fabulous!

Last night, we had friends over for dinner and the hubby made a roast for dinner. It smelled SOOO yummy - but I was good!! Instead of focusing on the distraction of yummy roasting meat, I put NCIS on the TV and layed down for a nap on the couch. It really helped! haha!

Today is Day 9 and I'm back at work (UGH!) it was really hard to get up this morning!! I'm halfway through the day though and I hope that it goes well. Get to go to the MVD with the hubby this afternoon since his license expired and then off to Zumba tonight! Busy day!

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Weigh In #1 - So How Did I do?

Hey there, today is weigh in day! So based on my *actual* starting numbers, I am doing great. Considering I was around 184-185lbs because of all the food I ate last weekend - I weighed in at 181 this morning, which is even 1lb less than the morning I took my progress photos.

Overall I am happy. I have lost an inch off my belly button which is definitely not a bad thing, but all my other measurements are the same so not much change occurring there. I'm hoping that I'll see some more progress over the next few weeks. I ate a little carb heavy the last few days so I'm thinking that might be why the scale isn't lower - considering its been flirting around 179 for other days this week.

Today makes Day 7 of my Vegan Investigation and other than the lack of physical changes, I am feeling better. Any tummy issues that I had prior all but disappeared within a few days of eating Vegan. I've been sticking around 1400 calories a day and I think its working well. I have large amounts of energy and I'm feeling really good. I did eat a few things (like the Vegan Meatloaf) but I had to guess about the nutrition content in it - so it might have been full of excess sodium which could have caused the lack of scale movement too.

Anyways - on to the progress pics - pardon the camera tilt...I couldn't get the tripod set up perfectly straight this morning. I don't see a lot of changes, but who knows...hopefully on Day 30 the changes will be there

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Now off to make some breakfast and get ready for Sunday Zumba class! Woot! Update on today's food will come later today or tomorrow

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Zumba, Kickboxing, Vegan Meatloaf & TOFU!!!

So today was Day 6! Woot! Yet another fabulous day in the world of the Vegan. I was a little concerned about having enough energy to get through my workouts, but I made it through them with flying colors!!

I ate some yummy (yet interesting) food today! First of all, I made myself a Vegetable Udon Noodle soup which was divine!!!
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After class, I needed a snack, so I heated up my Vegan meatloaf and it was different - it looked like meat....tasted like meat....yet it wasn't meat....it was kind of a mind trip!

SEE!!!!
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The hubby and I are planning a date night tonight - so this blog will be brief. But I wanted to explain that I've been looking for something that would always remind me of my Vegan Investigation....yet I didn't know what to buy. So for our date night, we rented a bunch of movies and are looking forward to relaxing at the house. When we were at Hastings renting movies, the hubby noticed the following awesomeness and he is just perfect!

I would like you to meet TOFU - the Vegan Zombie!!! He is amazing!!!
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I totally love it! Workouts went well today, food was still around 1400 cals, I can officially say I have had meatless meatloaf and I found my TOFU!!! It was a good day!

Now - time for movies! Night all!

Day 5 - the Rundown....

Whew - so yesterday was just one of *those* days. Nothing in particular went wrong, just wasn't feeling very good - as my hubby would describe it, I was having a "girlie" day. Bleah! Whenever I have days like that, I find that I crave Ice Cream like CrAzY!!! Well this posed a predicament, so I found a solution!

Bring on the Vegan Ice Cream Sandwich! Cookies & Cream flavor, only $2.60 for a box of 8 and 130 calories a piece!!! I really couldn't complain as they tasted AMAZING!!!! As you can see, this poor example of Vegan Yumminess didn't even make it home! It was devoured en route :-)

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So after my ice cream addiction was fed, I felt better and had a good rest of the day. At the grocery store, I also picked up a fabulous and intriguing looking vegan meatloaf (that really looks like meat) - so I will probably eat that for lunch today in between my fitness classes - oh and I will be sure to take a pic! I also got a piece of Grilled Sweet Chili Tofu that was really yummy. I am trying to stay away from soy products because of my thyroid, but eating them occasionally isn't bad, so I figured I'd try it out!

We had friends over for dinner & everyone ate Chicken Tacos...except me. I ate a yummy dinner of Udon Noodles with fresh veggies. I found the Udon Noodles didn't stick uncomfortably in my stomach like the Saifun noodles did the other day. Though the Saifun noodles are lower in calories than the Udon, I'd rather feel better and manage the calories elsewhere than make myself feel yucky again. Overall this dinner was really yummy and prepared in less than 10 mins! Woot!

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So even though I usually weigh in on Fridays, I have decided to change them to Sundays for the purpose of this investigation. I was thinking that 4 days on an eating plan isn't enough to show any changes in any bodily areas. 4 days is only enough time to allow the body to begin to adapt to any changes and I want to be able to show genuine & legitimate changes. So for now, weigh ins will be on Sunday mornings to allow for a full week in between weigh in days for the remainder of this month.

However, that didn't stop me from snapping a progress pic in the gym yesterday. I'm overall pleased about the way I'm looking. Even if I haven't lost anything this week, I'm feeling lighter and my body is functioning better - which is never a bad thing!

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Anyways, now I'm heading back to bed to relax for a little while longer before we get ready for Zumba and Kickboxing today! Weigh in, measurements & progress pics will come tomorrow! Woot!

OH - and just to keep track, I spent about an additional $45 on food to supplement what I had. the hubby and I ate through the fruit & veggies quickly, so I spent $25 at Smiths and $20 on food at Whole Foods this week. Still overall not too bad to spend on food for a week!

Here be the Song of the Day - it was a metal kind of morning...

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Vegan Day 4 - I kick ass!

So today was another fabulous day! Work was a little bit of a struggle due to the food bonanza (mentioned in the blog I posted earlier today) - but I did great! I limited myself to a salad with Italian dressing and some watermelon slices!

The woman who was running the cafe offered to make me something other than salad, so I told her that I am not eating meat or dairy - and she offered to make me a grilled cheese. It took a lot of self restraint to ask if cheese was no longer considered a dairy product in my most smart ass tone of voice :-)

When I got home, I made myself an amazing dinner of Stir Fry veggies & Saifun Noodles with Sriracha sauce - it was killer!

Prepare for some food porn!
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It was a fabulous dinner!! The only downside is that it was a little heavier than my usual dinners before a workout - so it sat like a brick in my tummy through my first Zumba class tonight...but I felt better after getting some movement in!

Been doing great on my calorie counts all week (between 1300-1400 cals a day) and tracking everything. I'm going to hop on the scale tomorrow and see if there's any changes and depending on how I'm feeling I'll either do measurements tomorrow morning or on Saturday when I take my next progress pictures.

For now, here's the Song of the Day and now I'm off to bed! Happy Thursday everyone! I hope that you all have an awesome Friday tomorrow!

Going Vegan - Day 3!

So Day 3 was awesome, but interesting. I am the kind of person that needs a larger breakfast within the first few hours of waking up but then will eat lighter over the rest of the day. Yesterday however, I wasn't hungry in the morning and I ended up eating most of my food around my lunch time (which was around 9-10am for all you "normal" hour human beings!). The other funky thing was I ate my lunch food for breakfast and my breakfast food for lunch - that's just what sounded good at the time. Hmm....definitely odd, not bad, just odd from my normal eating patterns :-)

I am debating about whether tomorrow or Saturday should be my weigh in day. As of tomorrow, I'll have only done Vegan for 5 days and I don't know if that will be an effective time to track any positive changes. I sneaked a peak at the scale this morning because I was feeling less squishy than I have been and I've dropped all the water weight from my sushi indulgence this past weekend (which was about 5 pounds!) so that's definitely awesome.

I guess I'll have to see about the weigh in - Saturday might be better because then I'll have time to take progress photos. Trying to do all that before work on a Friday morning at 330am might be too rough.

Anyways - back to the blog - day 3 was awesome! I have a crazy amount of energy during most of the days and I've been averaging burns over 2000 cals a day on my BodyBugg (sometimes more on days when I have Zumba classes to teach). By tracking my food intake, I'm eating between 1300-1400 calories a day and not feeling deprived at all. So needless to say I'm maintaining a decent deficit without depriving myself of the energy I need to get through my classes. I've cut on 1400 cals in the past before (while training for my 5K) and it worked really well, so I'm happy to see that this number is working well again.

Also, word is still getting around that I went Vegan, so the reactions from people have been totally classic. Its nice to see the surprise from others that morphs into support when I explain why I am doing this.

Day 4 is going well so far. We are having a food celebration at work today and I'm trying to decide what to do about it. The menu isn't exactly vegan friendly - so I'm trying to figure out if I should just go for the vegetarian lasagna & pick off the cheese, or go for a plain baked potato & salad (even though I hate baked potatoes) or if I should just say F it and stick with the remainder of the food I packed for lunch today (which currently consists of cantaloupe and oatmeal). Hmmmm.....I guess we'll just have to see what happens!

OH - and just for my Zumba ladies, here's the Song of the Day (I still want that damn top hat!!!)


Adam Lambert - If I Had You (Official Video)
Uploaded by Musickoliq. - See the latest featured music videos.

Talk to all of ya tomorrow!!!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Day Two DONE!!!!

Today was awesome! I felt fabulous ALL day! I was expecting to feel like crap for the first week or so due to my body detoxing, but I feel really good today! TONS of energy even though I didn't get a lot of sleep last night (meaning I got my usual 6 hours or so of sleep!)

Once again, I ate freely and came in well below my calorie count - and I'm FULL almost ALL the time!! The hubby wanted to go out to eat after work today and we went to Subway. I got a Veggie Delight Salad, Baked Lays & Apple Slices - it was yummy! And even on a decent calorie deficit, I still had enough energy to lead two fabulous Zumba classes with my ladies at Curves! Woot! I love eating enough carbs to function (I don't do well on low carb diets, can you tell?? haha!)

Anyways, here's a breakdown of how I did today with my foodz:

Breakfast:
Apple & Maple Sugar Free Oatmeal
1 large banana & 1 cup grapes

Lunch:
Vegan Pasta Salad & Sugar Snap Pea Stir Fry Veggies

Snack:
Nature Valley Oats & Dark Chocolate Granola Bars

Dinner:
Veggie Delight Salad, Baked Lays & Apple Slices

Pre-Workout:
Vegan Pasta Salad

Post Workout:
Cinnamon Swirl Alternative Bagel

I am loving all this energy I've got so far and I had a great day two of Vegan life!

OH - and just cause I'm feelin' awesome, here's the song of the day!

Going Vegan - Day One!

Hey there! Sorry I didn't get this posted last night, but it was already late by the time things winded down and I needed to get to sleep! 5am shifts are never fun if I don't sleep enough!

So anyways - how did Day One go?? I think it went great!!! I ate a ton of food, but kept within a fabulous calorie count! I was planning on getting a workout in after work, but ended up having to call FedEx because they lost a package of mine (GIR!) but that's all resolved now. Needless to say, my workout time was allotted to other things - but that's okay.

I documented how I was feeling over the day, and overall it was awesome! I was a little bloated, but I think that's left over from eating freely this weekend and not a result of eating Vegan. Today I feel awesome as well and I am having happy outlooks for the remainder of this week!

I forgot to take pictures of everything I ate (and honestly its kind of a pain to upload that many photos) so I figure I'm just going to list what I eat and then post pics of the special or extra yummy foods!

So here's what I ate yesterday:

Breakfast:
Apple & Maple Sugar Free Oatmeal
1 cup Cantaloupe and 1 cup Grapes

Lunch:
Vegan Pasta Salad & Alternative Bagel

Snack:
Black Bean Tacos on Corn Shells

Dinner:
Eggplant "Burgers" on Whole Wheat Earthgrains buns with Sugar Snap Pea stir fry veggie mix
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I got my new Zumba wear (after fighting with FedEx for a while) so I am excited about that! I am going to wear my new tank top at my Curves class tonight and I now have my "goal" halter top! Hopefully I'll be able to wear it by the summer! Woot!

Hoping today continues to go well and I'll keep posting all the awesomeness!

Sunday, February 13, 2011

I'm as ready as I'm going to get!!!

So the Vegan Investigation begins tomorrow. This weekend, I have been pretty lax on nutrition and indulged in some of the foods I might be missing over the next few weeks - like sushi & chile cheese fries :-)

However, I am fully prepared to get started tomorrow. Lunch is packed, food for the week is prepped and ready (to make things as convenient & easy as possible!). I made myself a honey mustard pasta salad to munch on for lunches that looks fabulously yummy!
See - and its only 191 calories a serving!
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So instead of using the progress photos that I had taken a few weeks ago, I took some new ones yesterday. So here's my before photos for the Vegan Investigation. I also have taken my measurements and will track changes on a weekly basis
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Can't wait to get started tomorrow!! Going to stay away from the scale until Friday so everything will be a complete mystery until weigh in. Tonight, the hubby and I are watching "Prince of Persia" on Netflix - surprisingly its not a bad movie! Its pretty to watch, the sword fights are awesome and the plot really isn't bad. The effects mimic the game really well, which the hubby and I both enjoy since we were fans of the game.

Will update tomorrow on how Day One goes!!! Have a good night everyone!

Friday, February 11, 2011

Getting Ready To Go Vegan!!!

So today I went to the store and stocked up on all my foodz for the week! I am totally excited!! I found some amazing fruit, 110 calorie vegan bagels (with 8g of fiber!), whole wheat pasta and lots of other fabulous looking food. Tomorrow or Sunday, I will cook up my lunches for the work week so that I am prepared for everything starting on Monday.

Part of this Investigation is proving that one can go vegan on a budget. Today I bought a whole cart full of goodies and at least a weeks worth of food for $75.88. Granted, the hubby will probably also eat lots of the fruit & veggies that I bought, but I figure that $75 for a week or two worth of food isn't bad! If one were eating for only one person and didn't have multiple people to feed, I can easily see the food lasting for almost 2 weeks.

See!!!
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I also did an official weigh-in this morning and was still at 179.5 and all measurements were the same as 2 weeks ago. Its nice to know that I haven't gained weight and I've maintained over the past few weeks craziness. I am going to use these numbers (and prior progress photos I took at around 182lbs) as my beginning stats and weigh in every Friday over the course of the Vegan Investigation. This weekend I have plans both Saturday and Sunday to splurge a little bit on food and so I am thoroughly planning on up a few pounds in water weight come Monday, but I should definitely be able to take it off for the next week's weigh in on Friday.

OH - I also realized that I hadn't mentioned my workout plans. I am going to continue teaching my fitness classes 5 days a week and was thinking about incorporating in quick 30 min strength training circuits 4 days a week to help tone up a smidge. However, I wanted to keep things as similar as possible to my Omni diet - so that most of the changes can be attributed to the change in nutrition and not a change in fitness routine.

I also bought my "goal" outfit this week and it should be here on Monday. Zumba makes these fabulous halter sports bra tops that their instructors can wear and its been my goal for a while to get in shape enough to wear one of them to my classes. I'm still a little too squishy to have a bare midriff during my Zumba classes - so that is now my goal! So I finally broke down and bought one from Zumba to have something to work towards! Do I think that 30 days on a vegan diet will give me the abs I seek? No - but I am hoping to cut a lot of unnecessary body fat and hopefully get myself closer to my goals.

Okay, now it is time to head off to bed, I've been up since 330am and I am totally wiped out. Have a good night everyone!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

The Plan So Far....

Alrighty, so as some of you know - next week, beginning on Monday, I am going Vegan for 30 days! This is going to be an amazing experience and I look forward to learning new things about food & plant-based nutrition from this first hand experience!

I've learned over the past few days that "Vegan" can mean lots of different things. There are "hardcore" Vegans that cut out all processed foods and live primarily on whole grains, veggies & fruits. Some are so involved, they cut out all forms of sugars, natural & artificial, including honey! Then there are the more "lax" Vegans that allow themselves to eat processed grains (like tortilla wraps and pasta) but still keep their meals free of animal products. I've been toying with the idea of which degree of Vegan I will be doing, and honestly I'm still thinking about it.

Initially, I wanted to go hardcore Vegan and then back down to regular vegan if hardcore is too intense. However, upon thinking seriously about this, I realized that my issues with food (mentioned in prior blogs) might cause a monumental freak out if I go hardcore too quickly. I don't want to drop everything out of my diet, change it too drastically and then trigger a binge of epic proportions.

So I believe I have decided to reverse this plan. I am going to start out as regular Vegan - lots of fruits, veggies & whole grain (yet perhaps processed) grains. If it had a pulse (or came from something that had a pulse) it won't go into my mouth at all beginning next Monday. If after the first week, I determine that I am ready for a more intensive challenge, then perhaps I shall slowly progress into hardcore Vegan territory.

I will do my absolute best to keep everything 100% Vegan the entire month. However, if the hubby and I go out to eat at a restaurant and the only option is keeping vegetarian (but not Vegan) - I am not going to freak out about this. I understand that this is a lifestyle adaptation for a lot of people, and that is the mindset I aim to have throughout this process.

I really look forward to sharing all of my experiences with you! Until then, I am going to keep nutrition healthy, but I'm not looking to drop weight this week - I'm maintaining my weight and that's okay with me for now. Hopefully weight loss will be a perk of the Vegan Investigation!