Vegan Day 19

Hey everyone - sorry this blog is a little delayed, but Day 19 went great! I got out of work early yesterday and got some errands done which was great! I got some take out from Thai Vegan and it was just as good as the last time we ate there!
YUM!!!


Since we were planning on going to a friend's house that night - I wanted to pick up some yummy snacks to help keep me on track. Thanks to the recommendation of my SparkFriend VEGANINSALEM, I went to Trader Joe's and picked up some Seaweed Snacks! WOW are they yummy! I really enjoyed them and its only 60 calories for the whole package! Woot!!!



So after hanging out at the house for a little bit, the hubby and I drove over to our friends house - I was armed with some Miso Soup and the Seaweed snacks and did great! I ended the day (even after eating ALL that Vegan Chicken Pad Thai) at 1550 calories! Go me!! My sodium was high for the day, so my weight hopped up a little bit this morning, but I'm not stressing too much about it.

We had a blast at Lego build night! I built the Hogwarts Express from Harry Potter and it was fabulous!!
It came with the little blue flying car as well!




This is the motorcycle that my hubby built! Its bad ass! I told him if we ever win the lottery, then he can have this bike custom built for him :-D


All in all it was a good day! Saturday is turning out to be way fun as well! Hope you all are having a great day!

And Now The Workouts Stop...

So I am still fabulously sore from the strength training I did on Wednesday. I love the feeling of knowing that I really pushed my muscles to a new level. But unfortunately, for the best interests of my body & my sanity the strength training workouts need to stop after only one workout *sniff sniff*

Yesterday - in the afternoon, I got an email from a woman in Placitas who wants me to teach Zumba classes out there 2 days a week in the afternoons so I am thrilled to be able to pick those up! ALSO, I got the Saturday classes at my Curves location! Woot! So that means that hopefully within the next 2 weeks, I'll be adding 3 more classes/workouts into my schedule (for hopefully around an extra $300 a month if not more! woot!)

So with that being said - I recently added 3 workouts to my schedule to keep myself in shape (my strength training workouts) - and now I need to add an additional 3 classes to my schedule for work for a total of 6 additional workouts a week on top of the ones I'm already doing. Initially, I only added the 3 as I didn't want to push myself too hard too fast - I don't think I want to see what would happen if I added 3 additional workouts to this new workout schedule. Needless to say, the strength training has to be put on hold until I can get myself adjusted to this new schedule. Plus I don't want to burn myself out. So - with that being said, my strength training workouts are ending after only 1 workout (unfortunately) - but I think the trade off is going to be worth it. The hubby and I can really use the extra money to help us pay off some bills.

So to get my strength training in as well, I will start incorporating the use of weighted gloves & hand weights into my Zumba in the Circuit workouts. I am already getting myself a good bodyweight workout with the choreography I've designed and I've been noticing some nice body changes due to keeping my nutrition in line the past few weeks, but now I just want to add a little bit of resistance training too. Also, Zumba created heavier versions of their current hand weights - I might have to pick those up as a gift to myself to make sure that I am getting the most out of my workouts in my classes. (update - I just bought them and they should be here Wednesday!)

Anyways, if I get scarce for a while and don't update too regularly, its because I'm now teaching 9 fitness classes a week, working 40 hours at my day job, training clients and trying to have a life with my husband!

Adios!

Vegan Day 18 - awesomely awesome!

Hey everyone! How are you all doing? Today is *finally* Friday and vegan day 18 was killer! The work day was a little rough considering I woke up thinking it was Friday (woops!) but once I got in the groove of things it worked out great! I stopped at the store after work to pick up a small amount of groceries for the hubby and I to get through the next few days - and I splurged and got some Miso Soup & Tofu mix and some fabulous looking Gnocchi for dinner.

See!!


Not sure if I'll buy this again, but I'm glad I tried it. I didn't get a lot out of the container (2 servings for almost $4 for the whole box VS pasta which is cheaper and I get more) and the calorie count is higher than pasta is, but it was a yummy little treat! I brought the leftovers for lunch today at work.

The only unfortunate thing about yesterday was my calorie count - it was a little low for my liking. I think I am fighting a really mild cold (the joys of living a healthy lifestyle, the illnesses are REALLY minor!) considering the brain fog I experienced on Wednesday and my lack of hunger yesterday. I just wasn't really hungry yesterday so it was hard to get my calorie count to anything decent. I figure it doesn't happen often (lord knows I love my food!) so I am just trying to ignore the low calorie day and keep myself healthy. I am learning to trust that my body is going to tell me what is right for it - and yesterday it just told me to rest, so I did.

Anyways, back to yesterday - in the afternoon, I got an email from a woman in Placitas who wants me to teach Zumba classes out there 2 days a week in the afternoons so I am thrilled to be able to pick those up! ALSO, I got the Saturday classes at my Curves location! Woot! So that means that hopefully within the next 2 weeks, I'll be adding 3 more classes/workouts into my schedule (for hopefully around an extra $300 a month if not more! woot!)

So with that being said - I recently added 3 workouts to my schedule to keep myself in shape (my strength training) - and now I need to add an additional 3 classes to my schedule for work for a total of 6 additional workouts a week on top of the ones I'm already doing. Initially, I only added the 3 as I didn't want to push myself too hard too fast - I don't think I want to see what would happen if I added 3 additional workouts to this new workout schedule. Needless to say, the strength training has to be put on hold until I can get myself adjusted to this new schedule. Plus I don't want to burn myself out. So - with that being said, my strength training workouts are ending after only 1 workout (unfortunately) - but I think the trade off is going to be worth it. The hubby and I can really use the extra money to help us pay off some bills.

So to get my strength training in as well, I will start incorporating the use of weighted gloves & hand weights into my Zumba in the Circuit workouts. I am already getting myself a good bodyweight workout with the choreography I've designed and I've been noticing some nice body changes due to keeping my nutrition in line the past few weeks, but now I just want to add a little bit of resistance training too. Also, Zumba created heavier versions of their current hand weights - I might have to pick those up as a gift to myself to make sure that I am getting the most out of my workouts in my classes.

So - today is Friday and I am stoked for the weekend! I have long overdue plans to meet up with a friend of mine I haven't seen since June of last year! EEK! I am looking forward to it so much! We also have plans to go over to a friend's house for a Lego build night tonight - which should be awesome! Those nights are always amazingly fabulous but they usually involve a lot of food and sometimes a little booze! I will post pictures of our creations when I update tomorrow! That being said, nutrition might be a little bit off tonight, but I will do the best I can to stay within a decent calorie count.

Just in case my weight hops up tomorrow and Sunday due to excess water weight, I did take measurements & weighed in this morning before work - so if I don't notice any additional progress by the time I weigh in on Sunday (my normal weigh in day) then I can use the information from Friday to track my progress. I stepped on to see a fabulous 174lbs on the scale this morning (WOOT!) and now I'm thinking it really might be possible to drop into the 160s by the end of this thing! I'm already down 8 pounds since I started and its been 3 weeks since I started, I could easily get down to or at least come close to seeing the 160s again by March 14th!

Oh - and just for cuteness, here's a picture of my Kitten Princess snoozing last night


Anyways, I think that's about it from here - its been a long week and I'm looking forward to the weekend! This weekend and next weekend we have some awesome plans coming up, so I am looking forward to it all! Now I just need to get through the next 7 hours of work without losing what sanity I have remaining! haha!

Day 17 - survived! Woot!

Wow, I can't believe I have less than 2 weeks left of this adventure! The past few weeks have really flown by! So after my rant about not working out enough, I started a new workout plan yesterday and it felt awesome. I haven't hit the weights in a while and it was truly needed. My legs & upper back are nice and sore today and I'm really enjoying the feeling like I'm pushing myself again. I blogged about that workout on my Workout Journal (www.fitnesswithhillary.blogspot.com) if you wanted to see what I did to work out.

Yesterday was a little odd in the fact that my brain was just functioning kind of slow - my body had energy but my brain just wasn't 100% working the way it normally does yesterday (which is usually racing - I'm convinced I have undiagnosed Adult ADD). I just felt like I never fully woke up in the morning. I got enough sleep, drank enough caffiene, ate enough calories - yet I still had issues functioning. It just felt like I was on auto-pilot for most of the day. I am not too happy about this as it usually is a precursor for an oncoming illness, however I refuse to get sick right now. I am pushing fluids consistently, forcing myself to sleep and rest and eating healthier than I have in a while - getting sick isn't an option! haha!

Food-wise, I hit a calorie count of 1450ish yesterday which is good considering I had my first weight training workout and a Zumba workout last night. As expected, the soreness caused a little jump in the scale this morning - was at 175.8 up from 175 the morning before. Today is a rest day from lifting and I have Zumba at Curves tonight which is always awesome.

Hopefully the soreness will go away over the next few days and I'll be good for a weigh in on Sunday morning. I might have to weigh in earlier (again) due to plans we have this weekend. My mommy might be coming down and we might be going out to eat, so I don't want my numbers to be messed up from excess water weight if we go out. Either way, a weigh in will happen between tomorrow and Monday.

I've also noticed that packing my vegan lunches for work is becoming much more automatic than it was the first week - its not as difficult to accept the food I am eating. It just is what it is. Its definitely becoming more routine than it was over the first few weeks - and the foods I pack are easy to transition into my normal diet once this month is over. The only thing I still have regular cravings for is cheese - other than that, I'm really not missing the animal products as much as I had expected to. People have been asking me what the first thing I will eat when I am transitioning back to Omni and my answer has been Nachos! haha! Its hard living in the southwest and not eating cheese :-)

Anyways, Day 17 went well and today is Day 18 - definitely looking forward to the upcoming weekend! My head is feeling clearer today however I woke up this morning thinking that today was Friday - so it was a tough realization when I noticed it was actually Thursday! GIR! haha!

Hope you all have a great day!

AHHHH I love a new plan!!!

Oh man - I've been antsy for a good butt kickin' and I gave it to myself today! I have been needing to start a new plan for a while and the one I finally decided on is amazing. My husband found this workout program last year and I picked it up for him (since he so rarely gets into anything fitness related) and I'm happy I bought it because I enjoy using it too. The workouts are well rounded & allow for a good butt kicking. Due to time limitations, I had to split up the workout into 2 different portions. The first portion was the functional warm up and the Abs routine and the strength training HIIT portion was done during my lunch break at work.

I really pushed and didn't allow myself a lot of rest time between sets, and boy did I feel it! The plan initially calls for higher reps initially, so I was doing 12-14 reps per set which I was definitely feeling after a while. Due to space limitations, the gym at my work only has dumbbells - so the lifting was done with dumbbells and not barbells. I find I can lift heavier with the bars as the weight is distributed more evenly and my wrists aren't pulled so much. A 40lb bar feels really different from a 40lb steel dumbbell.

Anyways, I used this information to figure out my 1RM on some of my lifting stats and I'm happy with it. Sunday is the next time I am doing this workout, so I will have a chance to play around with the bar at home and hopefully get a more accurate readout (since I damn well know I can squat more than 60 pounds, the dumbbells were just awkward for me since I held them up by my shoulders)

So, here's the workout - the times, cals burned, etc are all added up since I split it into 2 sessions.

Functional Warm Up:
Opposite Raise - 5 per side
Chops with 10lb dumbbell - 6 per side
Mountain Jumpers - 10
Breakdancers - 10 per leg

Ab Training:
Lying Leg Thrusts - 3 sets of 8
Reverse Crunches - 3 sets of 8
Bicycles - 1 set of 24
Alternating Crunches - 15 per side
Bench Crunches - 1 set of 15
Bench Plank - held for 60 seconds

Strength Training:
Romanian Deadlifts - Set 1: 14 reps with 80 pounds (two 40lb dumbbells), Set 2: 13 reps with 80 pounds
Front Squats (I hit parallel or lower each time and took these slow & held the bells up near my shoulders which was awkward since they were so bulky) - Set 1: 12 reps with 40 pounds for 2 sets
Wide Grip Pronated Lat Pulldowns: 2 sets of 14 reps with 50 pounds
Walking Lunges: 2 sets of 10 steps with 50 pounds (a 25lb dumbbell in each hand)
Bench Press: 14 reps with 30lbs (a 15 pound dumbbell in each arm) - this I know is higher with a barbell over bells!
Bent Over Rows: Set 1: 12 reps with 50 pounds (two 25 pound bells), Set 2: 12 reps at 40 pounds (two 20 pound bells)
Two Arm Swings: 1 set of 25 reps with a 20lb bell

HIIT:
Treadmill Sprints for 1 min at 7mph followed by 1 min recovery at 3.5 mph for a total of 8 minutes

Total Time: 45 mins
Total Calories Burned According to Bugg: 240 Cals

My legs are going to be toast later and I am loving every minute of it! I am also hoping for some awesome definition up near my shoulders & upper back, since that's where my tattoos are, and I always like them to look fabulous! haha! I am accomodiating for a few extra cals today during the work day, since I usually get munchy after strength training - am at around 800 cals so far for the day, but I don't anticipate going over my 1300-1400 mark for the day. I am just going to go for high volume low cal veggies when I get home :-D

Got my Zumba class tonight which is typically a good 400+ calorie burn so I'm looking forward to that as well! Have a good one everybody!

Day 16 - definitely odd...

Hey there everyone - I made it through day 16 fabulously, but it was an odd day indeed. When we got home from work, the hubby and I prepped some more food to get us through the rest of the week. He was helping me cut some cantaloupe and he accidentally sliced the hell out of one of his fingers! I felt so bad I almost cried! It wasn't enough to go to the hospital, but it took a really long time to stop bleeding! Poor guy! I still feel bad about it and joked that that's the last time he helps me prep food in the kitchen (even though he is a significantly better cook than I am)!

After I made sure he wasn't going to bleed out in the kitchen, I prepped all our grapes, made some new whole wheat pasta with Classico sauce for my lunches and made pinto beans in the crock pot for tacos & stuff. I'm set for yummy food over the next few days! We did run out of diet sodas today though and I need to pick up more of those - I need my caffiene in the mornings or I am one cranky woman!

Thankfully all of my excess water weight from all the indulgent food this weekend was gone when I woke up yesterday morning. So even though I woke up to a nice 177.6lbs in the morning, by the end of the afternoon I felt bloated, fat & squishy - which was not a good feeling to go to class on. I hopped on the scale and it read 178 before my class, so I wasn't bloated on food or anything. I made it through my Zumba class last night and felt a little better afterwards, but still felt squishy...UGH...not a happy feeling!

This morning when I woke up, I realized why. When you are dropping fat and the fat cells loose their nutrients, they fill with water before releasing the fluids and shrinking to their new size - which can cause a yucky squishy water bloated feeling. I experienced the joy of this yesterday and woke up to a fabulous 175lbs this morning (the lowest I've been in a long time!) and an unusual craving for cereal. I'm definitely happy about that...the weight loss, not the cereal - however I did eat some cinnamon fiber plus with almond milk for breakfast this morning to shut that craving up!

I am going to start a new strength training workout today that will be 3X a week. I am going to split up the workouts so hopefully I can get them all done on my breaks & lunch at work (since we have a gym here) so that I don't interfere with the little free time I have. Right now, I am planning on having these workouts be on Wednesday, Friday & Sunday with all my other workouts during the week. Monday will be my full rest day. I will blog in my workout journal (www.fitnesswithhillary.blogspot.com) all the fun details about the workout today. I am excited to get started! I am sure my weight loss might stall for a few days while my body adapts to heavier lifting again - but hopefully it won't be too bad! I'm going to keep moving & stretching and pushing fluids, so hopefully the excess glycogen & water stores won't add up to much!

Anyways, I'm out to enjoy Day 17 - Happy Wednesday everyone! Have a great day!

Day 15 - Monday Again..and some ramblings...

Hey there everyone! Monday was MUCH better than Sunday was. I got back on track and am feeling good again. Scale was back down to 177.6lbs this morning, so I'm hopefully on the losing streak.

In other news, I've been growing restless over the past few days and need an outlet for all my stored up energy. I feel like I am getting comfortable with my workout schedule of fitness classes and now am ready to add my own workouts & fitness goals back into my schedule. The hubby and I talked about this last night and he's worried about me falling back into old habits such as over training & under eating. I had to assure him that this time around, I am consistently eating & taking care of myself and that even though I am training others, I shouldn't have to put my fitness goals on hold to do it. I truly miss the feeling of a good butt kicking in a workout and I am itching for a killer workout right now.

The other thing is that I am in the middle of the Vegan Investigation - which initially started out as only a nutritional adaptation. I wanted to keep everything else the same so that any changes I go through can be attributed to the changes in nutrition, and not because I added a crazy workout schedule (I vented thoroughly about this on my other blog yesterday - www.fitnesswithhillary.blogspot.com).

I am conflicted because I wanted to keep this a nutritional change only & not change my workouts - but I feel like I am SOO ready to intensify my workouts again and I want to use all this extra energy to my advantage. Anyways, I looked through my workout programs last night and I think I have a good one that I can start soon. I might start that up this week and just say "eff it" because it will only help to amplify any changes that are occurring with going Vegan. I think I have seen good enough results over the first half of this adventure to prove that the nutritional changes are working.

So with that being said, I'm updating my workout plan and hopefully going to start today or tomorrow. It will be a 4 day workout split so I won't be working out excessively and I will be doing a great split of cardio & strength training. I am tempted to bring clothes to work out in so that I can get the workouts done on my lunch breaks at work - but I don't know if that will happen. I have all the equipment I need at home, it just seems that afternoon workouts don't always pan out the way I want them to. Something always seems to come up. If I can just consolidate the workouts and get them done on my downtime at work - this will only work out in my favor. Plus, I'll have more recovery time between my workouts and when I teach my fitness classes after work.

Anyways - enough rambling - fitness plan changes will be coming soon, because I fear for my sanity if they don't. Other than that, vegan is going great and hopefully getting back on the losing streak & see some progress again!