Tag Archive | health

BeachBody Challenge Day43

Mar19

Saturday was another family day.  Since the boys T-Ball games got cancelled because of the rainy weather, I decided that we would go with my brother to my Aunt’s house to visit with the rest of my family. It’s always nice to see my Aunt, Grandparents, Dad and Sister.  My aunt prepared a great lunch that was really healthy too :-) I would have liked Ben to have been there, but he wasn’t feeling well so he stayed home.  It did give us more time to spend with my family though because we didn’t have to rush back to get Bent to work like we originally planned.  The boys were fairly well behaved and I enjoyed sitting and talking with everyone :-) My aunt, sister and I talked a little bit about our upcoming Big Sur Race. We’re all excited about it and training hard for it. The boys had a great time and I really want to make an effort to have the them spend more time with my grandpa and my dad. I learned a lot from these two and I hope that my boys can learn from them too.

My boys Love their Grandpa Dan

I did get my workouts in.

Bootycall was  Day17 of MadAbs Mach – 35sec side plank, 35 crunches, and 29 pushups – these was the hardest so far. I did these very slowly at the end. Followed it with a 3 mile run. Thought my brother would join me but he was still sleeping when I went out. lol.

Turbo Fire Day41 – I did Fire45 after getting back from visiting with my family.  The boys were a little worn out so they relaxed in my room with a movie while  I worked out.  I really look forward to doing this workout.  I love the music and the moves. It’s 45 minutes of pure fun for me :-)

Meals – I did alright.  Didn’t get all 5 meals in and I didn’t stay as hydrated as I would have liked. I always slack on my water when I wind up traveling somewhere :-/

M1: Chobani champions with almond butter and chia seeds.

M2: Skipped – I was in a bit of a rush trying to get the boys ready and myself ready to head to my aunt’s in time for lunch.

M3: My aunt made Cream of Broccoli soup but with avocado instead of cream.  It was sooo  good. I also had some tortilla chips with a few of her dips she made. She had a clam, bean, and spinach dip.

Cream of Broccoli - made with avocado instead of cream :-)

Tortilla chips w/ small amounts of dips - Clam, White Bean, and Spinach.

M4: My boys took apart their sandwiches and just ate the turkey inside so I took their pieces of bread and topped it with my aunt’s spinach dip (made with greek yogurt) and put 2 bell peppers on top.

Spinach dip on top of whole wheat bread w/ bell peppers

M5: Salmon and quinoa bowl w/ collard greens, peas, corn, bell peppers and carrots.

Salmon and Quinoa Bowl

60 oz. of water and 1 Zico.

BeachBody Challenge Day42

Mar19

This is a few days late because I took a little break from blogging. I needed it.  I’m always on the move – always having to do something.  There is always so much to do and very little time to do it all. Life can easily pass us by without us even knowing it. So as much as I wanted to blog, edit videos, and do more workouts, I put on the breaks.  My brother came for a short visit and seeing as I haven’t seen him since before he was deployed to Afghanistan and that I have no idea when I’ll see him again because he’s moving to Texas, I decided to spend my Friday night hanging out with him :-)

The boys with their Uncle PJ :-)

I don’t see my family much. Not because I don’t want to – it’s just how we are. We’re all very independent from one another. At one time, I did wish we were different and more like families who saw one another regularly. But I’ve come to accept how my family is. It’s not that we don’t love each other.  This is just how we are.  We value the time we do spend together and know that we can count on one another when we need help. Now if only certain people could accept how my family works and stop trying to change that. Lol.

My brother didn’t arrive until dinner time Friday so I got most of workouts done before he arrived.

Bootycall was Day16 of Mad Abs Marc: 34s side plank, 32 crunches, and 27 pushups (all on my feet – and yes it was very hard for me)

ToneItUp’s SandCastle Workout – 20 reps each X3 sets with 5lb. weights.

3 Mile run – only got rained on a little bit on the way back.

After my 3 mile run heading up 4 flights of stairs.

Turbor Fire Day40 – Fire55EZ: I’m liking this one more and more every time I do it :-) Probably because I’m able to do almost every move correctly now. I’m really pushing myself – especially during the fire drills.  Doing all the tuck jumps and star jacks.

Happy Hour Challenge – 1 min plank every hour from 8a – 10p. Missed one at 7p so I did a 2min at 8p to make up for it.

8a Plank

9a Plank

10a plank - had to do it a little early.

11a Plank - running a little late.

12p Plank

1p Plank

2p Plank

3p Plank

4p Plank

5p Plank

6p Plank

2min plank for 7p and 8p

9p Plank

Last Plank for the Happy Hour Challenge

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meals – Did pretty good. I made a special dinner for my brother with Lumpia and pot stickers, but I made a lean dinner for myself.

M1: Chobani Honey with granola and almond butter.

My quick go to Breakfast - Chobani, granola and almond butter.

M2: Luna bar.

M3: I was craving some protein pancakes so I made some :-) These wound up being the best ones I’ve ever made. I wound up using a whole banana because it was a little over ripe but I think that helped it turn out so well.  Topped with a small amount of cocoa almond butter. I just put enough on so that the strawberry slices had something to stick to.

Batter turned blue after adding frozen blueberries.

Made 3 smaller pancakes instead of 1 big one.

They turned out perfect!

I only ate 2 - topped with cocoa almond butter and strawberries.

M4: Almond Nut Thins with olive hummus and olive tapenade.

Nut Thins w/ Hummus and Olive Tapenade

M5: Left over Salmon and asparagus w/ quinoa.  I did enjoy 2 pieces of lumpia with my brother. Keeping myself to 2 was hard because I Love lumpia. Luckily my brother ate a lot of it so there wasn’t much left.

Salmon, asparagus and quinoa.

80 oz. of water and 1 Zico.

BeachBody Challenge Day41

Mar15

Another rainy day. I decided to stay inside today for my workouts.  It took me a long time to warm up after my wet run yesterday. Plus, my knees needed a break.  They didn’t feel as stiff as they use to today, but I don’t want to push them too much because I don’t want to get hurt before my Big Sur race next month. I got up and started with Day 15 of the Mad Abs March Challenge.  I made it through the 25 pushups! That’s the most I’ve done in a Long time – I think I was able to do 30 something in high school but I was super tiny then. Then it was more abs with NTC’s Jenette Jenkin’s Ab Blast workout. This is a killer workout. I am not great at all the moves, but I do my best. I figure the more I try it, the better I’ll get. I modified the Forearm Plank Balances by doing it on my knees. I just collapsed trying to stay in plank. lol. The Scissor Kicks with Extended Arms was the most difficult one for me.

New M100 Best Time

After dropping the boys off at school, it was time to do some grocery shopping. I like to do this when I don’t have the boys so I can go faster. Plus it’s not as busy in the mornings and I can get in and out. I didn’t have much time before picking Seppe up to do what I wanted so I did a set of M100’s and beat my last time by 6 seconds :-) I didn’t take any breaks this time around. My heart felt like it was going to pop out of my chest at the end. I did another NTC workout – Muscle Definer.  I reached 1125 min! I’m looking forward to getting to 1500 minutes and unlocking a 45min Jenette Jenkins workout!

Turbo Fire Day 39

Today was Tone30 and Fire30. I made the resistance harder today. I really wanted to work my arms during the arm exercises. I’m wondering if I can use weights instead of resistance bands…. I don’t mind the band but I like to work with weights for strength training.  I had a lot of fun with Fire30 today – not that I haven’t before but since I’m doing it more often during the cardio month, I’ve really gotten the routine down.  I can focus on getting really intense with the moves. I’ve finally got the High Low Round House move down.  For some reason I would get thrown off with that move. Now instead of figuring out when to kick, I just kick!

Ended my night with a 5 min plank.

1 min hands, 1 min side plank *each side, 1 min hands, 1 min forearms

Meals –

M1: This rainy weather makes me want something warm in the morning  so it was Raisin Spice Oatmeal with Unsweetened Almond Milk, Raw Almond Butter, Banana and Chia seeds.

Warm Breakfast

M2: Chobani Champions Vanilla Chocolate Chunk – decided just to have it plain today.

M3: Left over Panko Rainbow Trout with Spinach, Cucumber and Tomato Salad w/ Balsamic Vinegar for dressing.

Fish and Salad

M4: Chunky Olive Hummus and Baby Carrots.

My Favorite Hummus: Chunky Olive

M5: Salmon with Balsamic/Honey Sauce (from FitFoodJunkie) and Asparagus

Mixing up my Balsamic Vinegar and Honey

Salmon and Asparagus

100 oz. of water.

BeachBody Challenge Day40

Mar14

Turbo Fire Rest Day 

This month of Turbo Fire is focused on Cardio so there aren’t any HIIT workouts – besides the ones I do separately from Turbo. Without the HIIT workouts, my Turbo Fire workouts are longer  45 min to an hour so it was nice to have a break from it today. Of course, it didn’t mean I had a day off.

Rain all day long, all week long.

My Longest Run so far.

Today was my Long run day.  I was just going an extra .25 miles every week but I decided to go for 8 miles today instead of 7.75 miles. It’s been raining non stop the last couple days.  I had hoped that there would be a little break from the rain, but I wasn’t lucky this time around.  It was rainy and windy my entire run, but I was surprised that it didn’t slow me down that much. I had a jacket with my hood on over my hat, but at the end you couldn’t tell. I was soaked except for my back. It felt great that I didn’t allow the rain to be an excuse for me. I really am working on Not making excuses and just Doing what I need to in order to reach my goals :-)

After 8 miles in the rain :-)

My jacket was zipped up during my run but my shirt got soaked anyways :-/

I usually take it easy after my run, but today I felt really good afterwards so I decided to do an afternoon workout.  I did get a half hour nap in after doing homework with Gio but I think that was more because of the rainy weather and less because I was tired.  I wanted to get back to doing booty workouts on Wednesdays. I haven’t been able to do what I like to because I switched my running schedule around. I need to find a way to get my Stair Circuit back into my routine. Yes, I miss running stairs. Lol.

I went with two NTC workouts. I really like Lea Michele’s Triple Threat workout. The Single Leg Lift with row is killer on my legs – especially since they were a little worn out from running. I could really feel this in my glutes today. I followed it with the Butt Buster workout.  Lots of lunges!  I was going to do another workout but I remembered that I hadn’t done my Mad Abs for Day 14. The side plank and crunches aren’t too bad for me yet, but the pushups are getting tougher. Today it was 23. I was able to do all of them on my feet :-) I know it’s suppose to be a workout for my abs, but my arms are the ones dying. I ended with a 5 minute plank.

1 min high plank, 1 min side plank (each side), 1 mean high plank, 1 min low plank

Meals:

M1: Cinnamon Apple Raisin with Unsweetened almond milk, Raw Almond Butter, Chia Seeds, and fresh cut apple slices.

Fresh apples made this very tasty :-)

M2: Luna Bar – pre run fuel :-)

M3: Wanted to get rid of some leftovers. Brown Rice, left over tofu mix, peas, and corn.

Brown Rice Tofu Veggie Bowl

M4: Larabar

M5: Turkey Meatballs and Broccoli. Also had the last of the peas and corn.

Lean and Green :-)

Had a Zico during my run and a Chocolate Zico after my run.

80 oz. of water.

BeachBody Challenge Day39

Mar13

The downfall of Day Light Savings is that now it’s dark again at 6a. I know that in a little while it will get light earlier again, but I was enjoying my quiet early morning walks. Not that I could have done it today.  It was pouring rain this morning – and All day long. It’s suppose to rain All Week :-( Pair that with my period and you get one very tired girl.  It’s just something about rainy weather that makes me just want to stay in bed all day. Instead, I got up at 6:30a and worked out. Started with Day13 of Mad Abs March Challenge. I like to to do this first before I wear my arms out. I am still doing regular pushups and today was 21. It was really tough, but I did it. I followed it with Tone It Up and Miya’s Beach workout. I used 5 lb weights and did 20 reps each X 3 sets.

Tuesday is officially my favorite day of the week now.  It is the 1 day I get 4 hours of “Me” time :-) And I LOVE it! I am always thinking about what to do next for Ben, Gio, and Seppe. It’s constant and many times thankless job. I don’t always realize how much it takes out of me to Give so much of myself. It was very nice to have some time where I didn’t have anyone else to worry about, but Me.  I took advantage and relaxed for an hour.

Then it was time to get my sweat on! I decided to do TIU’s Lean Abs, Arms, and Legs Pyramids.  I used 5 lb. weights for the curls and also used them for the squats and lunges.  I did 30 lunges each leg. I went straight to the gym to do the Short and Sweet Shredmill. I thought that it would be easier this time around, but no. I was huffing and puffing like last time.  Adding an incline really makes a difference. I think I was able to go faster but it was tough. I was drenched with sweat and breathing heavy when it was all done.  I will be doing this one often to help train for running on hills. It’s pretty flat where I live so this incline HIIT is great for me.

Short and Sweet Shredmill. Warmup was at 6.5mph, Intervals were between 7mph - 8mph and Cool Down was at 6mph

Turbo Fire Day 37

Strength Training with Sculpt30

I was trying to do this before Gio got home, but no luck.  The boys did really well and played in their room while I did my Turbo Fire workout. I started with Sculpt30. After the pushups and Lean Arms Pyramid, my arms were already worn out.  The arm exercises were killer for me today. I did do the pushups on my feet and with the resistance band this time.  I had to go to my knees for the tricep pushup though. I also really felt all the squats and lunges because my legs were so worn out from the Shredmill earlier.

So Much Fun!

Fire30 was a little tougher today too, but I still did pretty well.  I love the second combo in this one. I think the Fire Throw is one of my favorite moves.  I went for the jumps and star jacks in the fire drill. The jump during the high low combo in this one I didn’t do because it just throws me off for some reason. It’s hard to Not have fun doing a TurboFire workout :-) The music is great and Chalene is always so motivating and full of energy.

I wanted to try out Tone It Up’s New Max Burn workout but ran out of time. I’m might give it a try tomorrow after my long run, but we’ll see how I’m feeling. I’m going  for 8 miles tomorrow – rain and all :-) If I don’t get to the new workout tomorrow,  I will definitely do it on Thursday. Ended with a 2 min plank.

Haven't done a straight plank in a while so I decided to do one tonight all on my forearms.

Meals – Ate a little bigger portion sizes and had some more carbs to help fuel up for tomorrow’s long run.

M1: Chobani Champions Vanilla Chocolate Chunk with Almond butter and chia seeds.

M2: TIU sister Kari posted a pic of her fruit salad with strawberries, apples, and oranges and it looked so yummy that I had to make the one too :-) Also added a few almonds on the side.

Fruit and Nuts

M3:  Salad with left over panko chicken, spinach, carrots, cucumbers and an orange. I love adding fruit to salads :-) Also had some Snapea Crisps on the side.

Green and Orange Salad

M4: Almond Coconut Kind Bar.

M5: Broiled Panko Rainbow Trout with Brown Rice and Broccoli.  I usually go for pasta but I haven’t had rice in a while and I missed it.

Fish and Rice :-)

80 oz. water and 1 Zico

BeachBody Challenge Day37

Mar11

How did switching to DayLight Savings Time work for everyone? It didn’t hurt me too badly. No way to stop losing an hour but luckily I didn’t have to be up too early. Tried to get up at 7a but was feeling super tired so I stayed in bed until 8a.  I could have slept for longer but I forced myself to get up so I could go run.  I wanted to beat the crowds on the trail which usually start around 8a. I think the overcast and cool weather kept some people inside because there wasn’t as many people out as there usually is.

My run wasn’t all that great. I felt tired the whole time. I wanted to go faster but my body wasn’t working with me.  It was like I was stuck at just one pace.  I figured it was the lack of sleep and not eating anything, but I think it’s more because it’s that time of the month – again.  It’s a struggle to get my body moving during this time. Oh well, at least I went for a run. I did 3 miles and my knees haven’t bothered me all day.  I’ve run 3 days in a row and I’m hoping that I’ll be able to run up to 5 days in a row without knee problems. Really glad that it’ll be lighter out longer so I can do some later runs.

Spent most of the morning at my boys Hit-a-thon and Picture Day for tball. Then it was laundry and picking up the house a bit. I didn’t have much energy to do my usual cleaning.  Boys played video games with their Grandpa so I had to wait to do my workout.  I was able to rest for a half hour before dinner but for the next few days, I’ll be wanting to sleep All day long.

Turbo Fire Day 35

I finally got to my Turbo Fire workout after putting the boys to bed.  Luckily Core20 and Stretch40 don’t have any jumping or running so I can do this one at night without worrying about our super sensitive neighbors below us.  For Core20, I really tried to keep my feet up during the mat exercises the whole time.  I think that this workout has helped me get a mini six pack :-) Did all the pushups at the end too. After the doing the Mad Abs challenge, doing 8 pushups didn’t seem so bad this time around.

Stretch40 was absolutely wonderful for me today.  My body really needed a good stretch. It felt great :-) I’m really pushing myself in this one because flexibility is something that I want to work on. I can go a little bit lower on the forward bends and triangle poses.  No pain at all in my left knee when I straighten it. I do the tricep pushups on my feet but I do the hover on my knees. Hovering above the ground is hard! When I first tried it on my feet, I just fell to the ground. lol. I shake the whole time on my knees, but I’m working on it.

It’s rest day for Mad Abs March but I did a 2 minute plank to end my night.

On elbows - 30 second left leg raised, 30 second right leg raised, on hands for 30 seconds and tummy tucks for 30 seconds.

M1: Another Starbucks Spinach, Feta, and Egg white wrap.

M2: 4 Strawberries and 1/4 c. of raw almonds. This was so yummy :-)

Very yummy snack :-)

M3: I had a Luna bar at the park while the boys chowed down on hot dogs. Having the Luna bar kept me from eating a hot dog that did smell pretty good. As soon as we got back home I had some left over Panko chicken, snapea crisps and 2 clementines.

The healthy version of Chicken Nuggets and french fries :-)

M4:  5 dark chocolate almonds.

M5: Salmon burger with kidney beans, spinach, mushroom, and tomato mix with a side of broccoli.

This was the second Salmon Burger from a couple nights ago that I didn't finish.

80 0z. of water and 1 Zico.

BeachBody Challenge Day36

Mar10

I just realized that I’ve been doing this challenge for over a month. lol.  It really doesn’t feel like 36 days have passed. Guess I’m having fun? I really am enjoying doing Turbo Fire. I think that I picked the perfect BeachBody program to do for me.  It’s helped me a lot with training for my races. Exercising isn’t just something I do now. It has become a part of my life and I look forward to my workouts – most of time ;-)

It was another long day.  There aren’t too many people I know that get up at 6:30a on a Saturday – by choice! In order to get my morning workout in, I had to get up early.  Usually I ride my bike 10+ miles but Ben’s dad is visiting and the air mattress is right in the middle of my living room. It doesn’t leave room for me to get my back from the patio and out the front door. I decided to go for a run so I could quietly slip out. I had a mini Luna bar and some water before heading out. The boys actually got up while I was getting ready for my run so I didn’t head out until 7:30a.

Saturday Morning Run

My legs felt heavy during my run but my pace wasn’t too bad. I just felt like I was going super slow for some reason.  I planned on going for a 4 mile run but wound up going 5. I don’t think that I should have gone that far because my knees were not happy with me for the rest of day.  I try to keep my miles lower when I run back to back days.

The rest of the morning belonged to my boys tball games.  My legs were not happy about standing around filming the games. I could have used a nap today but there just wasn’t any “free” time for me.  I even considered skipping my TurboFire workout – but I didn’t :-)

TurboFire Day 34

I’m glad I didn’t skip my workout today. Fire45 is my favorite :-) I was dragging my feet getting to it but I immediately got excited once class started and I heard the music.  I couldn’t wait to do the first combo.  I know that one really well and I can really get into it. I decided to go for the star jacks and tuck jumps even though I was tired. I figured I was already tired, why not make the most of the energy I have left?  I was worn out when I was finished but I was in a good mood. I’m always happier after a good workout. Wonder how long it will take Ben to realize this is the best time to ask when he wants something? lol.

I really didn’t want to do much of anything else but I still had my MadAbs March Day10 and plank to do. I decided that if I’m going to stay up to work on videos and blogs, I must have some energy and there was no excuse for me. I took a break from my computer and did my workout.  The MadAbs challenge is getting a little tougher now.  I am still doing regular pushups but boy is it starting to get hard. I’m trying not to think about how many I’m suppose to do at the end of the month and just take it one day at a time. It’s hard to squash the doubt that I’ll be able to do 45 pushups by the end of March :-/  I will just keep doing my best. Ended with a 2 minute plank.

30 seconds on hands, 30 second tummy tucks, (on elbows) 30 seconds left leg lifted, (on elbows) 30 seconds right leg lifted

Meals:

M1: mini Luna bar (prerun) and a Starbucks Spinach, egg white, and feta cheese wrap – Ben’s dad is here and he always gets breakfast before I can decline.  Had a Zico to drink.

M2: Strawberries with cocoa almond butter.

M3: I know that Gene (Ben’s dad) means well when he takes us out to eat. I just get tired of it. I am just as happy to cook for everyone. It really isn’t an inconvenience. We went to Red Robin because that’s what the boys wanted. I got the Brushetta Chicken sandwich with no cheese and lettuce wrapped.  It turned out just being put on top of lettuce. Not to mention that it took over a half hour to get our food. It was barely warm. I just ate the chicken, tomatoes and a small amount of the lettuce. Ordered sweet potato fries which were also cold. This was the worse experience we’ve had at our local Red Robin :-(

Brushetta Chicken Sandwich on top of lettuce - no cheese.

M4: Larabar

Snacked on a few Snapea Crisps while making dinner – maybe 10 at the most.

M5: Panko Chicken and Green Beans. I made a double batch because it’s so popular with my boys. It will only last a few days.

Double batch of Panko Chicken - my healthier version of chicken nuggets/chicken tenders.

Lots of green beans with my chicken.

80 oz. of water and 1 Zico.

BeachBody Challenge Day 34

Mar8

I really need to get to bed earlier. I finished one of the boys’ videos last night. Finding and adding music takes me the longest. Despite how tired I was, I got up and got dressed.  I love that the sun is out bright and early now :-) Now, even though I am tired, I can get up and at least go for a nice 30 minute walk.  If I hadn’t been so tired, I probably could have gone for a run. My knees were still pretty stiff from my long run yesterday. I think that it will just get worse as my runs get longer so I wanted to get into the habit of going low impact the day after.

Sunrise Walk on the peninsula

The sun was just coming up when I went out.  It was a really nice morning and I could tell that it was going to be a beautiful day.  It was nice that the wind had died down a bit too. It was cool but I warmed up as I walked. I don’t take an easy stroll when I walk. I walk as fast as I can without going into a run :-) Low impact but lots of intensity!

I meant to do a workout right after dropping the boys off at school, but I got started on Seppe’s tball game :-/ I got a lot done by the time Ben got up. Finally got Ben to go to the gym with me :-) Well – I went with him.  He is really trying to get back into working out and I thought that if I went with him, it would help. I’ve stayed away from the gym – except for speed training – now that the weather has been so nice because I love running outside. And today was a big reason why I don’t hit the gym often.

Rockin my Tone It Up tank to the gym. Forgive the crazy lady appearance :-)

When we got there, a lady was on the bike talking on her phone. It is my biggest pet peeve! Why even sit on the machine when you’re obviously not getting a workout while you’re sitting there casually pedaling and talking up a storm – and talking loudly.  Ben got on an elliptical. An older lady was on the one working treadmill, so I decided to warm up on the other elliptical.  I decided to do Tone It Up’s Max Burn workout (minus the Itty Bitty workout at the end).  I figured the lady on the bike would be getting off her phone soon since I had no idea how long she was there before us. I finished my warmup, went through the first set of of exercises and lucked out! The older lady finished on the treadmill so I was able to hop on for the 5 min jog interval. I kept my pace easy for my knees. Lady on the bike was talking even louder. Second set of exercises and she was still talking. 2nd 5 min jog, she moved next to me and now I could hear her even over my headphones which I had up pretty loud. ugh! Thankfully Ben told her to quiet down because he was super annoyed. She just plugged in her headset and continued to talk. SMH. I finished up and did Day 8 of the MadAbs March challenge while I waited for Ben to finish. We were going to lift some weights but the lady was still on her phone talking so we left.  Our gym is small so there wasn’t any place we could really go to get far away enough to Not hear her.  Ok enough about that annoying bitch. lol.

Turbo Fire Day 32

I decided to be nice and let Ben have the tv for his video game. I used my laptop to do my workout. I started with Tone30. This one is killer on my arms.  I’m still getting use to the resistance band.  I kind of want to use weights instead, but I’ll stick with the band. Fire30 was also on the schedule for today.  Definitely did better on it today.  I kept it low impact so no jumps or tucks. I did do the sumo burpee  though. My favorite is the second combo. I can really get into that one.

Ended with a 5 min plank.

1 min on hands, 1 min side plank (30 second side dips) each side, 1 min hands (30 sec tummy tucks), 1 min elbows (30 second hip dips)

Meals:

M1: Chobani Champions with raw almond butter and chia seeds.

I try to get every last bit of yogurt :-)

M2: Chocolate Peanut Butter Shakeology. I usually use almond butter but I decided to change it up and use peanut butter.

M3: I bought some collard greens on yesterday so I could try out collard wraps like the one in Tone It Up Nutrition Plan :-) I’ve never had collard greens before and I was a little worried about the taste. I told myself that I’ll never know unless I try it so I bought it. I took my left over quinoa mix and wrapped it in a leaf. I made two because even though the leave were big, I didn’t a lot of filling in so it would wrap. I really like collard greens and I want to try cooking it :-)

Collard Greens

Left over quinoa, chicken, mushrooms, spinach, zucchini, and squash mix.

Quinoa mix Collar Wrap

M4: Lara bar.

M5: I made burritos for the boys. Kept it simple for the kids – a little refried beans, ground turkey and cheese. For Ben, I added guacamole and plain Chobani yogurt. I was hoping that it would be a good enough substitute for sour cream for Ben. He can be quite picky so I was glad that he liked it with the greek yogurt. I used whole wheat tortillas. For me, I made salad using the ground turkey I made for boys, red kidney beans, and tomato avocado salsa on top of spinach. I added a bit of plain greek yogurt on top.

My No Taco Salad :-)

Topped with Plain Chobani Greek Yogurt - just as good as sour cream :-)

I wanted to something sweet so I decided to have 5 strawberries.

90 oz. of water. 1 Zico.

BeachBody Challenge Day31

Mar6

I meant to do have this up last night but I decided to catch up on some episodes of Spartacus. It’s my guilty pleasure ;-) And about the only thing I watch on TV.

I was up late again the night before trying to recover some old videos of my boys that I had lost. I still got up at 6a yesterday  to do my bootycall workout. It was tough though. I had actually woken up at 5:30a because I thought one of the boys were trying to climb into my bed but it turned out to be an earthquake. I just went back to sleep. lol. I found after getting up about the earthquake.

Before doing my workout, I weighed, measured, and took pictures to track my progress. The numbers aren’t that impressive, but I go by how I look and feel. I’m feeling great and I think I’ve toned up a little. I know that I have to really watch my diet in order to tighten and tone up my middle section more.

Weight – 106.4

Chest – 30

Waist – 25.25

Hips – 33

Right Leg – 19

Left Leg – 19

Right Calf – 13.5

Left Calf – 13.5

Right Arm – 9.5

Left Arm – 9.5

On Left - Day1 of the Beach Body Challenge On Right - Day 31 of Beach Body Challenge

Like I’ve said before – I’m not going for weight loss. If anything, I’d like to put on some muscle :-) I’m really focusing on getting a stronger upper body.

My Bootycall workout – Itty Bitty X3 and Mad Abs March Day 5. I did 13 regular pushups and I think that I’m going to keep trying to do regular pushups for the Mad Abs challenge :-) After dropping Gio off to school I came home and did NTC Razor Sharp Workout – reached 1000 minutes and unlocked Lea Michele’s exclusive workout :-) I can’t to try this one out.

Turbo Fire Day 29

When I logged into Team BeachBody’s Super Gym, it had Fire45EZ as my scheduled workout but my calendar said Fire55EZ. I double checked with the Class Schedule that came with the DVD’s and it was Fire55EZ. I guess the auto schedule messed up. Oh well. I did great with Fire55. I’m getting better at the moves so I’m really able to get into it.  Dripped sweat the whole time.  Did all the tuck jumps and star jacks for the fire drills. This is a long class and it wears me out but it’s so much fun.  I ended with a 2 min plank.

All on elbows with a stand up comedy act on tv that made me laugh which actually made it really tough to do :-)

Meals:

M1: Chobani Champions Vanilla Chocolate Chunk with 1/2 tbsp of raw almond butter and chia seeds

I could eat this All the time :-) Adding Chia seeds gives it texture without adding any extra fat or calories.

M2:Choc Shakeology w/ avocado, mango, pineapple and spinach. Small bowl of frozen grapes.

Green tropical Chocolate Shakeology

Frozen grapes are like candy to me :-)

M3: Left over quinoa chk stir fry

M4: Originally going to have a Larabar but my 5yr old decided he wanted it so I had an Almond coconut Kind Bar

M5: Salmon and green beans. Used my girl Sharisse’s  (FitFoodJunkie) balsamic/honey sauce on the salmon and the green beans. It was soooooo yummy. It’s my new favorite :-)

Using the balsamic/honey sauce to season my green beans.

Clean, Lean, and Green :-)

Dessert – 4 dark chocolate almonds.

100 oz. of water.

BeachBody Challenge Day30

Mar4

Last night I didn’t set my alarm so I could sleep in today :-) It was absolutely wonderful not to hear the sound of my phone. I was awake at around 8a but stayed in bed until 9a.  I tried to go back to sleep but it was no use – that was as late as my body would allow me to be asleep today. It was still nice though. You wouldn’t think an extra couple hours would make such a difference – but it does :-)

I got up and had a mini Luna bar just so that there would be something in my stomach before heading out for a run. I decided to go a different way than my usual. I took the streets and realized why I don’t go this way that often.  The traffic lights annoyed me. I don’t like stopping and waiting. I jog in place but I feel like it messes with my flow. That and it slows my time down.

Sunday Runday :-)

The rest of the day was for laundry, house cleaning, and importing photos and videos.

———————- Turbo Fire Day 28 ———————

Of course I made time for my Turbo Fire workout. I wouldn’t miss doing Fire45 :-) Have I mentioned it’s my favorite? Lol. The first and last combos are the most fun.  I know those two the best so I really have fun with them. The second combo I’m still working on. I did the Star Jacks for the fire drills and the tuck jumps.  The only time I don’t jump is during the high low moves. I get mixed up when I throw the jump in there so for now, I stick to the low intensity version. Stretch10 felt Amazing today.  I think I was also tight from last night’s workouts and from the run this morning. It felt really great to stretch out my arms.

I’d love to do more tonight, but I have a mountain of clothes to fold so I can have a place to sleep. I will be doing a 5 minute plank and calling it a night.

PlankADay - 1min elbows, 1 min hands, 1 min side plank (each side), 1 min hands

I’ve made it through the first 4 weeks! I will do measurements and weigh myself tomorrow morning. I’m not expecting drastic results – especially with my weight. I was never doing this challenge to lose weight. I was looking for something fun and challenging for me to focus on.  I like to do challenges – big and small.  They help me from getting bored and give me something to work towards. I think that it’s what has really helped me stay on track with exercising regularly.

So has there been any changes? Well, I’m not sure what the numbers will say tomorrow morning. I know I could have done a lot better with eating. I don’t think I ate too badly but I can always do better :-) I can say that I feel a lot stronger. I’ve gotten faster in my runs. I’ve gone further on my runs too.  I can do more regular pushups and I can do more reps with heavier weights. I’ve improved in my Turbo Fire workouts. My biggest win is getting my left knee back.  I was really worried that starting this challenge would make my knee worse or that because of my knee, I wouldn’t be able to give it everything.  But it turns out that as I did the Turbo Fire workouts and my other exercises, my knee got better and I was still able to run :-) I am ready to head into the next 30 days with even more intensity!

Meals –

M1: Mini Luna bar and water.

M2: I was going for an omelette but I can never get it right when I have the veggies and eggs in the pan at the same time.  I was really hopeful since it looked like it would be the perfect omelette but when I went to flip it, it just fell apart and became a scramble. It tasted great though.

Looked Like it was going to turn out to be the perfect omelette.

Turned into a scramble - 2 egg whites, spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms, and 1 piece of Havarti Natural Cheese

M3: Brown Rice tortilla with the last of my chunky olive hummus, spinach, chicken, left over roasted zucchini and squash, and carrots. I only ate half of it.

Brown Rice Tortilla Wrap: chunky olive hummus, chicken, roated squash and zucchini, and carrot.

M4: Trailmix and a Larabar.

M5: Made a Quinoa stir fry – with a red and white quinoa mix, spinach, zucchini, squash, peas, corn, chicken and tomatoes. All I did was season with sea salt and it was actually very tasty. All the flavors worked well with each other.

Quinoa stir fry - red and white quinoa, zucchini, squash, peas, carrots and chicken.

80 oz. of water.