My long weekend has begun!

Okay, I think I survived this week!!  I got out of work a bit late tonight because I had to make sure everything was taken care of before taking tomorrow off.  At that point, when I got to the gym, it was raining, so I just figured I would skip swimming and do some cardio inside.

Workout #1

Exercise	Weight	Reps/Sets
Bench Press	65lbs	6/6
Military Shoulder Press	30lb b.b	6/6
Bicep Curls	30lb b.b	6/6
Skull Crushers	20lb b.b	6/6
Pushups on bosu		10/3
Side lat raises	2 10lb d.b.	6/6
Front lat raises	2 10lb d.b	6/6
Upright rows	2 17.5lb d.b.	6/6

This took right at 40 minutes.

So I have been doing this high weights, low reps, high sets workout for at least a month now.  I told you guys I would report back on this change in lifting style. 100% without a doubt I will keep lifting this way.  I see definition and toning like I have never seen before.  Nothing has bulked, it just is getting more defined.  I am very happy with the results I am seeing!!

Workout #2
All this was done on the elliptical with the incline set to 3.0

Interval	Time	Level
Warm-up	5 minutes	7
Hard	30 minutes	16
Easy	2 minutes	8
Repeat for 20 minutes
Steady Tempo	10 minutes	12
Cool-down	6 minutes	6

Total: 41 minutes

On the way home from the gym, I snacked on about 3/4 of an Odwalla Trail Mix bar.  This thing was fabulous.  This is now my favorite bar!

It had peanuts, raisins, cherries, cashews, seeds and coconut.  We know how I have been feeling about coconut lately and this bar totally hit the spot.  The coconut didn’t taste fake or overbearing, just a nice sweetness added by the coconut. 

I got home, did a few things around the house and then ran out to the grocery store to get things for this weekend.  We need to take 2 things for the tailgate and then 2 dishes for a BBQ that my brother is having on Saturday night.  I made a southwestern breakfast casserole and put it in the freezer.  I bought ingredients to make a big muffaletta for the tailgate.  Then I got the ingredients for my summer trifle as a dessert and some goat cheese & taboule to be served on crackers.  This ended up costing MUCH more than I expected.  UGH!  But at least I know it will be tasty!:)

After I got food prepared and got some packing done, I decided to eat dinner.  I wanted to just use some of the food that we had in the fridge, so I thought an omelet would be a good idea.  I used 1 of the chicken/turkey sausages that was not used in the southwestern breakfast casserole with 1/2 cup of egg beaters, 1/4 of a carrot, some grape tomatoes, fresh cilantro and basil and lastly one laughing cow cheese wedge.

And what is missing from that photo of the dinner cooking…..yes, the sausage!  I forgot to mix it in after I had sauteed it first.  So I simply put it on top.

This dinner was perfect.  Look at that creamy goodness!

And because Justin was out with the guys at a bar doing a fantasy football draft, I decided I needed a beer too to help kick off my weekend

Beer and eggs…not classy, but still a very tasty dinner!

I am all packed up now.  My stuff is sitting by the door ready to go.  I am aiming to go to bed in a minute and then wake up early and attempt to go jogging.  We will see how the knee handles this.  While I have been typing this, I had a dessert:

Sorry about the bad photo!  All that is is 2/3 a cup of all natural yogurt, 1T of raisins, about 2t of chocolate sauce, 1/4 cup of all bran and 1T of whipped cream.  It tasted so clean and good, yet sweet and indulgent.

Tomorrow is my weigh-in day.  It has been the totm so I am not too obsessed with seeing a loss.  Here is what the numbers say I should see though.

At a BMR of 1438.6 X 1.725=2481.59 to maintain because I worked out 6 days this week.
2481.59 X 7=17371.13 calories this week to maintain 138.0

I ate a total of 13659 calories this week.

17371.13-13659=3712.13 less calories consumed this week.
3712.13/3500=1.06

So this means I should weigh 136.94 on the scale after this week.

I’ll let you know what I see tomorrow.

It is definitely one of ‘those’ weeks!

I need to keep this short and sweet but I also have so much I want to write on here.  Ahhh, if only there were 36 hours to the day this week!!  My required 8 hours of sleep has definitely been pushed aside this week.  I am lucky if I am above 6:30 hours!

Sorry about no post last night.  I had a meeting after physical therapy that ran until a little after 9. Then I had to some how write up a proposal, eat dinner, attempt to pack and get in bed.  Unfortunately something had to get pushed to the back burner, and it was the blog. 

Let me rewind and attempt to backtrack and go through the last 24 hours.  Yesterday morning, I was still hungry after I ate my nectarine (which was fabulous!) so I ate some veggie/hummus that I had thrown into my lunch box.

I think I was still hungry because I didn’t have as much extra all bran added to my oats yesterday and my body was missing that fiber. 

Workout
I went to the gym over lunch and simply did the elliptical for 40 minutes at level 8.0.  I thought about this great post I was going to do (along with the AMAZING playlist that got me through the workout), but obviously I ran out of time.  Another thing that is resting on that back burner.

After work I headed to Physical therapy.  I had the other half of my Odwalla Sweet and Salty Peanuts bar from Monday.  PT was good.  I had the other doctor that I like (the older one) and he really pushed me.  It was a lot less balancing and a lot more strengthening.  Without a doubt my knee was sore and shaking terribly by the time I left there.  And I was a sweaty beast.:)

After that, I headed to my meeting.  During my meeting, I happened to snack on some (absolutely incredible/amazing/there aren’t words to describe) cheese and some meats.  One of the cheese I believe was a brie (so creamy.  My mouth literally watered for minutes after having a bite—just begging for more.) and then 2 bites of what I believe what a blue cheese (gorgonzola?). 

Finally I got home and the husband was nice enough to have made dinner for me.  I bet he was starving, seeing I made him wait until after 9PM to eat. 

Dinner
For dinner we had tuna steaks, marinated in low sodium soy sauce with sesame seeds on top, then seared in about 2t of sesame oil.  They were cooked just so a crust formed on the outside and the inside was simply warm. 

On the side I had a little bit of fresh green beans and half of a sweet potato.  I put some meringues and honey on top of the sweet potato.  (Oh yes, and I may have snacked on some meringues while waiting for dinner to be ready.)  I dipped my tuna in this mango coconut sauce.

It was a simple and very tasty late night dinner.

So I stayed up for awhile doing work.  I decided I needed a dessert.  And look at this creation I came up with!

This is 4 fresh figs that I heated in the microwave for about 25 seconds (would have loved to grill/broil them but that would have taken WAY too much effort)  I topped it with a small scoop of cheesecake diva ice cream and some whipped cream. 

I could have eaten about 3 more bowls like this but I forced myself to stop. 

Breakfast
After being so hungry yesterday morning before my gym workout, I decided I would go back to extra all bran in my oats this morning.  I am not sure that I adore this combination but it definitely keeps me full longer.  1/4 cup of oats, 1/3 cup of water, 1/2 a banana, 1/2 cup of all bran, 1/4 cup of all natural plain yogurt, 1T of flax seed, and 1t honey.

It looks so good pre-stir!

Not quite sure how great it looks post stir, but one thing is for sure—This mixture keeps me very satisfied!

AM Snack
I grabbed one of the last two peaches.  It felt perfectly squishy, so I am sure this will live up to my fresh summer time peach expectations!

Lunch
This was my last attempt at use everything in the fridge up before we leave for the weekend.  Spinach, Romaine lettuce, grape tomatoes, carrots, celery, 1 hard boiled egg white, nuts, a bit of broccoli, edamame and 1T of light yogurt dressing to be added.

Just chocked full of veggies!

The reason I made another big salad is that I grabbed my sandwich bread to make a sandwich this morning and I only had 1 slice left.  I guess I ate the other half at some point…oops.  So I grabbed it to eat on the side with the salad.

I thought I may need a bit more fiber/protein, so I put 1/2 cup of all natural plain yogurt into a container and threw in 1/4 cup of all bran on the side.

I also have a jell-o fruit passion in the freezer.

PM Snack
I can’t get enough of those meringues!  I maybe should lock them up!  I filled a container with 50 cals worth of almonds, 25 cals worth of meringues and 35 cals worth of raisins as a little sweet and salty afternoon snack.

Today will be another busy busy day, especially because I won’t be at work tomorrow.

To-do list
(I didn’t complete yesterdays….)
–End of month things at work
–Lift over lunch, cardio after work
–Get money from the bank for the weekend
–Get home as closely to 6 to be there for the owners to show the house
–Run to grocery store
–Make food to take to the tailgate
–Pack
–Have everything by the door when I go to sleep tonight so that I am able to get up early in the morning and go for a jog before needing to leave the house by 7:45.

And today is off with a bang.  Happy Thursday!  (And hopefully next week will be more normal!)

Sheesh

It is already after 10AM.  Where have the last 2.5 hours of my life gone????!  I hope this isn’t a sign of how the entire day will go.  If it is, I need more coffee!!

To-do List for today
-Gym over lunch (cardio)
-PT after work
-Grocery store to get food to take to Charlotte
-House for the owner’s to show
-Pack boxes

Not too bad.  I can handle that.  The other (unexpected) stress is this weekend.  Justin and I kind of are the ‘point’ people for the weekend because it is a combination of my family and his family.  His little sister is a freshman at VT and his brother is a sophomore at ECU.  The game is VT vs. ECU but in Charlotte.  So both of them are going and his parents are traveling down also.  My family lives in Blacksburg (where VT is) and are HUGE fans.  I also have 2 siblings who live in Charlotte.  Also, the majority of our friends are big VT football fans, so they are going too.  We started being the point people because we were the only ones with connections to all sides of this web.  We didn’t even know how many people would want to come tailgate with us.  Well it is looking like we have roughly 50 people coming now.  That is a lot of food, beer, plates, tables, etc. that we are trying to organize.  Hopefully we can pull this off!  It definitely feels like a lot of juggling going on.

Okay.  the eats.

Oh yes–and last night I had a small cup of soy milk before I went to bed.  No photo though.

Breakfast
I think this is my favorite breakfast combination–oats + shredded coconut.  I simply love it.  1/2 cup of dried oats, 3/4 cup of water, 1/4 cup of egg beaters, 1/2T of cinnamon.  Microwaved for 2:30 minutes.  Added 1T of flax seed, 1T of coconut, 1/4 cup of all bran and 1tsp of honey.  It was perfection!

Look at all the goodness!

AM Snack
The peach was perfection yesterday (and unfortunately I had to throw 2 out this morning that had already gone bad.  It is amazing how quickly they go from unripe to spoiled!  I forgot to move them into the fridge after they had gotten ripe.) so I am hoping this nectarine is equally as good!

Lunch
Trying to start work through all the things in the fridge to clear it out before we leave Friday morning.  So I threw together a spinach salad.  Spinach, 1/3 of an apple, 1 hard boiled egg white, some celery, 8 grape tomatoes and a little bit more than 2T of wheat berries (will have to make more next week.) and I have some salad dressing for the side.

Those wheat berries are going to be fabulous!

I grabbed a sandwich thin (I only have 1 more left after these, so that works perfectly to finish before we leave friday!) and I also took the remaining 1/2 ounce of goat cheese.  Mmmm, how I love you goat cheese!  I’ll just heat the bread up and enjoy with the salad and the cheese.

(sorry about the gross saran wrap!)

And here is finally a jell-o picture!

I really do enjoy these things frozen!

PM Snack
I have had that massive container of meringues sitting in the house for a week and I think I have been pretty good with the self restraint!  I figured I would make some trail mix with them.  25 meringues, 1/4 cup of all bran, 1T edamame, 1/2T nuts, and some raisins.

Okay, work work work.  At least it means the day goes quickly!!

And how I wish I could swim in this pool.  That ceiling is STUNNING!

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/08/21/sports/olympics/20080821_10M_DIVING.html

Well-done on the to-do list

I have been quite productive tonight.  Work was just as hectic as it has been all week.  Which is actually a good thing because it makes the day fly by.  I have to FORCE myself to take a lunch.

Workout #1
Over lunch I did head to the gym and lifted.

Exercise	Weight	Reps/Interval
Pec Flies	2 17.5 lb d.bs	6/6
Military Shoulder Press	30 lb b.b	6/6
Bicep Burls	30 lb b.b.	6/6
Skull crushers	20 lb b.b.	10/6
Pushups	1 hand on ball	10/3
Front Raises	2 10lb d.bs	6/6
Side Lat Raises	2 10lb d.bs	6/6
Upright rows	2 17.5lb d.bs	6/6

This took a little over 40 minutes.

I went back to the gym after work and went swimming.

Workout #2

Drill	Time
Warm-up–2 X 100m free	rest 0:20
1 X 100m kick (no board)	rest 0:30
1 X 100m Pull drill	rest 0:30
6 X 50m freestyle	Aim for 0:50.  Rest 0:20
4 X 50m freestyle	Aim for 0:50. Rest 0:10
6 X 50m freestyle	Aim for 0:50. Rest 0:20
4 X 50m freestyle	Aim for 0:50. Rest 0:10
Cool down–200m Easy
Total: 1600m
Time: 41 minutes

On the way home from the gym I stopped at CVS to pick up an rx and a few other things. I was starving at this point (forgot to pack a post-workout snack.), so I grabbed a Soyjoy.  It was pretty good.  I got the strawberry flavor and it tasted like strawberry and not overbearing.  The texture was the only thing that threw me off a bit.

I wanted a quick dinner (especially because I was only cooking for one.) and I was hungry.

Dinner
I cooked a Morning Star Chik’n patty and put it on a sandwich thin with some mayo, lettuce and tomato.

On the side I had half a sweet potato that I microwaved.  I put some honey and hot sauce on top.

 

It was good and hit the spot.  After I ate dinner I started packing.  I got a lot of our china and crystal packed up.  After all the packing, I needed a dessert.  Half a cup of Cheesecake Diva with fiber one and whipped cream on top.

Yes, there is ice cream hiding under there.  It was perfect.  Cold, sweet, crunchy, smooth….A very nice end to the day.

I completed my entire to-do list!!

Lift & Swim

CVS

Dye hair

Packed

And on that note, time for me to go to bed.  It is LATE for me!

Typical Tuesday

Nothing too exciting, except that today is actually my hump day…sort of, because I am taking Friday off.  Also, I am not nearly as sore as I expected to be.  I took some advil before bed and slept with ice on my knee, and I woke up feeling okay.  I probably won’t take any extra sets of stairs today and I will probably avoid lifting for my lower body at the gym today, but otherwise, the knee is doing much better than I expected!

I have so much to do this week before heading to Charlotte for the weekend.  Hope you guys don’t mind that I put my to-do list up here.  It does keep me accountable!

Tuesday
-Lifting over lunch, swimming after work
-Go by CVS (BCP, hair dye, and two other things that I now cannot remember)
-Dye hair
-Pack as many boxes as possible

Wednesday
-Cardio over lunch
-PT after work (hopefully)
-Hair cut after work (hopefully)
-Pack as many boxes as possible
-Go grocery shopping for things for the weekend (trifle dish & breakfast casserole)
-Be there when owners are showing house

Thursday
-Lifting over lunch, swimming after work
-Be there when owners are showing house
-Create all the foods to take with us this weekend
-Pack for Charlotte (Take thesis!!)
-Pack as many boxes as possible

I hope and pray that is all of it…I still feel like I am forgetting something.  Okay, now on to the important things–FOOD!

Breakfast
Cinnamon Raisin Brany Oats

I tried to improve upon yesterday’s breakfast.  1/4 cup of oats with 1/2 cup of water, 2T of raisins and 1/2T of cinnamon.  Microwaved for 1 minute.  Then I added 1/2 cup of all bran, 1T of flax seed, 1/4 cup of natural plain yogurt and 1tsp of honey.  I definitely thought this was an improvement on yesterday’s.  I think I liked the raisins better than the banana.  Added a different sweetness and a different texture.

(Sorry about the bad picture, I had a much better one but the camera liked it so much, it decided to eat it.)

Look at all that yummy gooeyness!

AM Snack
Trying out that peach today–hopefully it has ripened.

With a piece of wasa

Lunch
I did something very unlike me….I brought deli meat!  I used to eat deli meat a lot more often, but the sodium aspect just really grosses me out.  But these only had 350mg per slice, which I think is semi-acceptable.

I had a sandwich thin, 1 piece of white turkey breast, tomato, lettuce and some mustard.

The close up

Then I chopped up some carrots and broccoli and brought them.  I also brought about 1T of hummus to dip them in.

On the side, I am having my jell-o fruit thing.  It was REALLY good frozen yesterday.  I took it out early enough that it defrosted enough that the outsides had the texture of jell-o again.  I really like the flavor, texture and the fact it was frozen really slowed down my eating.  I like to try and take as long as possible to eat, so this helped!

(I also had a picture of the jell-o, but the camera ate that also.  Note to self–start researching new cameras!!)

PM Snack
The frozen yogurt was so good yesterday.  I loved the real cocoa that I found at the bottom.  It was so good–almost bitter.  yum!  So I figured why mess with perfection, so I brought another one to freeze and enjoy this afternoon.  This time I went for plain chocolate instead of mocha.

Okay, another busy day ahead of me.  The workout plan today is to go to the gym over lunch and lift and then head back after work and get in a swimming workout.  

I found this picture yesterday while looking for pictures of the fitter and other PT equipment (not sure why this came through on my google search) but it made me laugh out-loud, so I figured I had to share.