Tag Archive | TurboFire

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 Day38

Mar12

Meatless Monday??  I’ve decided to start taking one day a week where I go vegan. Just to help mix things up a bit. I don’t think I could ever go completely vegetarian because I love fish and sea food so much. But one day shouldn’t be too hard to do :-)

It’s that time of the month – again. Ugh! It’s during this week that being a girl really sucks!!! I have no energy or motivation. I’m super cranky and just out right bitchy – and I can’t even help it. lol. And if it wasn’t bad enough that for next few days I feel like this, I usually feel drained the week before too :-/ I tried hard to get up at 6a when m alarm went off, but I was just sooo tired that I went back to sleep. I got up 45 min later in a rush. I didn’t have time to do a bootycall workout but I did Day12 of Mad Abs March Challenge.

I refused to let my period win. I did have to take a nap after Seppe’s speech therapy because I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I got up after 45 min and did my Turbo Fire Workout.

Turbo Fire Day 36

Fire55 EZ is such a long workout. I was kind of dreading it before I started but once the music started, I had a smile on my face :-) The warm up is to “Daisy Dukes” and that just got me ready to go.  It’s amazing how music can really have an effect on you. No wonder it makes working out more fun.  I love the second combo in this one. I went for all the jumps and tucks. I think I’m getting better with my tuck jumps.  Not quite at the level that they are on the DVD, but I can get my knees higher up :-) I remember when I first did tuck jumps, it felt impossible to get get my feet and knees off the floor.  I was in a much better mood after my workout and had a lot more energy.

I had originally planned on going on a run to make up for my missed bootycall but I forgot about Seppe’s doctor’s appointment that took an hour to do.  He got his physical and shots for kindergarten. I still can’t believe that my baby will be starting kindergarten this fall.  Time just go by too fast with kids. He did alright with the shots but I can’t blame him for crying since I hated them as a kid too. At least I didn’t have to have an extra nurse help me restrain him like with Gio. Lol.

It was great that Ben picked Gio up and had most of his homework done by the time we got back home.  It allowed me to do a workout before cooking dinner.  Tone It Up posted DJ LindsayLuv’s new VS Sexy Night Out mix on their blog so I downloaded it and turned it up. I started with a set of M100’s. The only time I took a short break was before the last set of burpees and I was able to beat my last time by about 10 seconds :-) I’m not sure how much faster I can go, but I’ll keep trying. I followed it with Tone It Up’s Best Circuit Printable. I added weights to the cross crunch – 5 lbs. And I used a 6 lb. medicine ball for the Squat with Cross Crunch. I used a 3 lb. weight for the Standing Oblique crunches. I forgot to set my timer so I’m not sure how long it took me to do. I’ll time it when I do it again. Then I did a 30 minute NTC workout – Sweat and Shape. And yes, it made me sweat! I haven’t done a NTC workout that hasn’t had me sweating like crazy.  This is under the beginner level so it doesn’t require weights, but I used 5 lb. weights anyways.

New M100 Time.

Best Circuit Printable. Make Sure to Download it :-)

Made separate meals for me and my boys.  They got Tempura Chicken and egg whites and rice. I stuck with Tofu and green beans mix. I am going to do my best to go meatless on Mondays. There are a lot of great vegan recipes out there that I want to give a try.

To make up for my missed bootycall I worked out after dinner. I did a 2 min plank followed by TIU’s Bikini Strap Workout – 15 reps each exercise X 3 sets. My arms are jello right now. I feel pretty good since I didn’t allow myself to use my period as an excuse to skip working out. No Excuses!!

Meals –

M1: Banana/Chocolate Chunk Soy Protein Muffin from Trader Joes and Half a banana.

M2: Chocolate Shakeology w/ Peanut Butter and half a banana.

M3: Whole Wheat Sandwich Thins with Chunky Olive Hummus, Tomatoes, and Avocado. I usually add a sprinkle of sea salt but I didn’t want to add to my already bloated body.

One of my favorites!

M4: Peanut and Dark Chocolate Kind Bar. I really like this one. I’ll get more so I can switch it up with my all time favorite – almond coconut.

Tried a different Kind Bar today. Almond Coconut is still my favorite but this is pretty good too :-)

M5: Garlic Tofu, Green Beans, Carrots, and Spinach.

First Meatless Monday dinner.

80 oz. of water.

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 Day35

Mar9

It was a Long day for me.  Started at 6:30a with a 3 mile run. I’m debating about having something small to eat before going on my bootycall runs. I don’t Need to eat before a bootycall run. I don’t get sick or anything, but I can tell that I don’t have the energy to go as fast as I’d like to. I still went at a decent pace though and as always, it helped wake me up. The boys were already awake and up by the time I got home so my work started right away.  And trust me getting my boys dressed, fed and ready for school takes a lot of work!

Morning Run

I did Day9 of the Mad Abs March challenge before walking Gio to school. I worked on the boys’ tball games for a little bit before taking Seppe to speech therapy. I started Tone It Up’s Friday Happy Hour Challenge of 30 squat jumps every hour at 8a.  It’s amazing how 30 reps really adds a challenge. It got my heart racing and my legs burning. I did these all day long and did my last one at 8p.

When I got back home, it was lunch time. I kept thinking I’d be able to take a nap before doing my Turbo Fire workout, but no luck.

Turbo Fire Day 33

It was Fire55EZ for me today.  The last couple times I did this, it seemed super long to me.  Yes, it is an hour long workout, but I think because I wasn’t very good at it, it seemed longer. Today, I felt like the hour went by quickly. I’ve gotten pretty good with most of the combos so I was able to really focus on my intensity and less on whether I was doing the moves right or not. Love the combo with all the kicks. I’m able to kick a little higher now too :-) I went for all the tuck jumps and star jacks today. I also did the turns – which I usually avoid because turning around throws me off. I even jumped when transitioning to the high low punches. It always impresses me to watch the people who jump and click their heels together during the jumps – gives me something to work towards :-)

I tried to get Seppe to lay down for a nap before his tball practice but it was just too noisy for him. We went to his practice, had some trouble with Gio and then dinner time.  I kept up with doing the squat jacks and ended with a 2 min plank.

30 second tummy tucks, 30 second plank jacks, 1min on elbows

Meals:

M1: Maple Nut Oatmeal with Cocoa Almond Butter, chia seeds, and fresh strawberries.

M2: Frozen Grapes and Almonds. I packed extra because I knew Seppe would eat some and he did.

M3: Left over quinoa black bean mix and left over salmon

M4: Larabar

M5: Salmon burgers on top of spinach and topped with sautéed mushrooms and tomatoes with kidney beans. I only ate 1 of the salmon burgers though. Boys had Round Table pizza since Grandpa was visiting and that’s what he got for them :-/ Ben kept trying to get to me to have some saying that I’d just work it off tomorrow. But I know that if I did, I would have felt badly about stuffing my face with pizza and bread sticks. I wouldn’t have minded if it were lunch time, but I’ve been really making an effort to keep my dinners Lean, Clean and Green :-) Every time I stick with it, I feel like I have a mini victory and I know that it will help make it easier for me to continue making healthier choices in group situations.

80 oz. of water and 1 Zico. I am going to try and have 1 Zico a day :-)

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 Day33

Mar7

TurboFire Rest Day :-)

Today didn’t start off all that well. Yep, I was up late again last night working on the boys’ tball games. Since I was doing a long run, I skip my bootycall workout to help give me more energy.  But I still had to be up early to get Gio to school.  I was running a little late because I had fallen back asleep after my alarm went off :-/  It was a rough morning where I was rushed and very tired at the same time.

After getting Gio to school, I had to get some grocery shopping done.  I was hoping to take a nap just so I could have energy to do my run. At this point, I didn’t feel like doing my run at all. I got a frustrated that there was always something that I had to do – feed Seppe breakfast (since he hadn’t eaten anything since getting up at 7a), help Ben do dishes that have been sitting there for 2 days that he now felt needed to be done, and get Seppe showered and dressed.  I was relieved when Ben took Seppe with him to run his errands and said he would pick Gio up from school. I was starting to think that I wasn’t going to have time to do my run at all.

I felt much better after my hour nap.  It was just what I needed to shake that exhausted feeling. Got dressed, filled my water bottle with some Zico, set my Nike+ app to do 7.5 miles and headed out.  It was a windy day but it felt good once I warmed up. I felt really good my whole run. I felt my knees a little bit after the 5.5 miles but they didn’t hurt.  I do like to do my runs earlier because at the time I went today there tends to be more people to weave through – like middle school kids getting out :-/ Then there were the people who decided to feed birds in the middle of trail and take pictures of them without moving at all.

Getting closer to 9 miles. Big Sur race coming up in April :-)

Got home and Gio was pretty much done with homework :-) Did some stretching and made myself a protein shake. Then I hit the shower and wished I could stay there.  Gio had practice to get to so I didn’t have time to relax after my shower.  I decided to take pictures today so instead of sitting down and watching, I walked around. My legs were pretty tired once practice ended.

I don’t usually do much more on my long run days. Over an hour of running really wears me out. Even though I had a nap today, I could fall asleep right now. I did Day7 of the MadAbs March Challenge. Up to 15 regular pushups :-) Then I did a 5 min plank to end my day.

1 min hands, 1 min side plank each side, 1 min hands, and 1 min elbows.

Meals: I have been really making an effort to stick to 5 meals a day and not eating more than one serving.

M1: Flax Plus Oatmeal with chia seeds, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, and just a tad bit of cocoa almond butter.

Fueling up for my long run.

M2: Choclate Shakeology with unsweetened almond milk, spinach and half a banana. I ate the other half of it while I blended my shake.

I also had a mini Luna bar after my nap before heading out for my run. I didn’t want to eat a full lunch but I needed a little something.

M3: Post run Protein shake. This is from the Tone It Up Slim Down and it is my absolute favorite. I usually use almond butter but I used some natural peanut butter that Ben doesn’t like so I’m the only one who uses it.

M4: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Larabar.

M5: Quinoa, Black beans, chicken, spianch, zucchini, squash, onions, and mushroom mix – seasoned with sea salt. I could have easily had another bowl but I made myself stick to one :-) This is a big deal for me since lately I’ve been going back for seconds ;-) I also passed on pot stickers, rice, and chow mein that Ben and the boys had. I count these moments as small victories that my willpower won.

Protein packed dinner.

60 oz. of water 1 Zicos, and 1 Chocolate Zico. I had the chocolate Zico after dinner so it was like dessert.

The Best!

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.