Push Ups and Protein Powder!

Week Two, Day Two 100 Push Ups Challenge

Set One: 10
Set Two: 12
Set Three: 9
Set Four: 9
Max Set: 21
Total: 61

Rough morning. I had so many crazy dreams last night and this morning. The last few hours before my alarm went off I was dreaming of being attacked and kept waking up. It was so strange. I was scared, but not absolutely petrified where I was frozen in place. I was trying to protect someone else (who I thought also had my welfare in mind). We kept getting cornered in a bathroom stall and I was trying to keep the attacker(s) out. Interpret that one! There was a ton going on and the rest is less clear now. Sometimes there was a baby to protect. The other person was always a woman. There were also times when older ladies would try to drop off babies and food at my door. Huh? Yeah. Crazy.
So the morning was not very restful. I am so congested and my asthma is ramped up. Maybe the nicer weather kicked up some allergies for me? It is a great morning for a workout. Ha! The quality is lacking a bit, but I'm still doing my best.

I got my delivery from Vitaglo yesterday!! I got my Beverly UMP. (yummmm) I was running low and worried I wouldn't have enough. *whew* I got my Alive vitamins, 4-3-2-1 Detox vials, and Super Cissus Rx. I am hoping the Super Cissus will help with my elbows and joints/tendons over all. The Alive! Vitamins are my favorite. It sounds crazy, but I think they work the best and I don't get hearburn from them.
Not in my Vitaglo order, but I also got some Eggnogg'n tea. I am going to try making it and using it cold mixed with my protein powder. Perhaps that will be a decent substitution to my eggnog? I am avoiding SF anything for awhile. It makes my tummy very angry and I think its the cause of my bloating and weight gain. My diet was clean but I had SF syrup with my protein pancakes 2x and I also drank some diet coke to stay awake during training. I think those two things caused me issues. I know the fake sugar is in lots of products (like my protein powder) but I am reducing as much as possible. I'll do a review of the tea and detox things later. :)

Rest You Say?

So today is a self-imposed rest day. I am wickedly tired. Another fun side effect of woman issues. My head has a dull, nagging pain. I had some bad headaches yesterday. I slept a lot and I am still tired today. Boo! I don't like this. I am going to have to work through this today at work. I'll probably just go straight to bed when I get home. I go in late tomorrow so that will be good. :)

I am really hoping this week my body gets it together. I need some small victories.

Updates, 19 weeks out

Week Two, Day One of the 100 Push Ups Challenge!
Set One: 9
Set Two: 11
Set Three: 8
Set Four: 8
Max Set: 20- OMG!
Total: 56

I went after the max set determined to push hard and not wimp out. I haven't done that many push ups in a row in.... yeah, a long time. :)

The scale and I are at war. I find it to be an a-hole right now. :P But my clothes and measurements are apparently on the scale's side too. This is terribly disappointing considering how hard I worked. My weight went UP and measurements stayed the same. I was 100% in the eating department and workouts. What gives?
Brief history- me & woman time have not gotten along for about 10 years. I always had crazy PMS before any medical intervention. I was borderline not stable. M-O-O-D-Y is barely applicable. So about 10 years ago I discovered birth control when I began getting horrible migraines. A lot of things contributed to the hormonal meltdown- I was way overextended. I was working 60 hours a week, going to school full time and had other outside activities as well. I would sleep every couple of days. I worked 3rd shift so really- I would be so wired up sometimes when I got home in the morning I couldn't sleep. So anyway, without HBC my hormones are completely whacked. I need to get down to a healthy weight before I can considered coming off them again. The way things are supposed to work is that I basically don't have periods. Having them means migraines, crazy PMS and the typical bloating, 5lbs of weight gain, etc. I should have suspected something was up. I thought it was just low carbs, but I was a major B this last week. I started getting a headache Friday and the last two days I have slept a ton and I have a headache fighting its way to take over. NOT cool. I'm hoping this passes soon, but now I'm concerned that the BC isn't working as birth control either! I have PCOS so its not likely I'd get preggers, but still... I'm not willing to risk that! Oh, and I won't get bennies for my new job until January so no fixing the non-working pill til then. *sigh* So I know what happened this week. Really. The increase was minimal and would definitely cover up any loss. 5lbs gain is nothing for PMS for me. I'm a water hog. Is that just a genetic make up thing?

Anyway, I'm 19 weeks out as of yesterday and I'm worried I won't make it. I'm adjusting the cardio intensity and doing full body stuff this week. I need to get my muscles burning up the fat. I thought things were good this week. I was starving for meals when it was time. Meal timing was great and I calories were on. I'm blaming woman crap and moving on. If next week is a bust I might cry and then try something different. :P

Progress

Day Three of the 100 Push Ups Challenge !
Set One- 8
Set Two- 10
Set Three- 7
Set Four- 7
Max Set- 14
Total- 46

I've been 100% for 4 straight days. Starting the 5th out right. :) I've been tempted so many times at the end of the day to just eat something I'm not supposed to. I've managed to keep myself on the right path. I know what sugar is and does to me. Today is a carb up day, so YAY! Its been a challenge for sure, but each day gets easier. No skipped workouts. I'm drinking tons of water. I have a body builder guy in my training class. I think we are both doing better having the support system in each other. We can drink gallons of water and its okay. We make lots of trips to the restroom. :P Its nice to have someone else understand what I'm doing and why. Most people just think you're nuts drinking that much water and not eating out of the vending machine. :) Maybe I am, but I feel good.

As far as the scale goes, progress was going well and then today I showed a gain. Grrr. I don't get it. I'm on plan, so... I'm going to keep pushing. If a few more days go by and I don't see a decent drop I might start freaking out. I don't have a lot of time to play these games! With my weight being so high, I should see steady decreases for awhile... One day at a time. I'm doing the right thing.

Off to go work shoulders!

Day 2 Push Up Challenge & Carb Cycling

Day 2 Push Up Challenge
Set 1- 6
Set 2- 8
Set 3- 6
Set 4- 6
Set 5- 12
Total: 38

I am starting to adjust to the ebb and flow of carb cycling. My body responds well. I just get moody at night. I start feeling sad and weird. When I get like that, my immediate thought is- I need carbs! Duh. No I don't. That means my meal plan is working right. :) I actually feel great most of the day on lower carbs. I don't feel as fluffy or as tired. Its the next morning that I feel like crap. This morning cardio was so hard. I was starving when I woke up and pushing through was a little hazy. I'm refueling with some yummy oats and protein powder. The rest of the day will taper the carbs out. This works well for me.

I'm running behind schedule this morning. Too little sleep = no good! Must get ready for work.

Turkey Loaf!

This is pretty much Tosca Reno's recipe. I altered it slightly, but I definitely didn't create it. Great way to get the protein in with convenience. It does take some prep time. The original recipe stated 20 minutes. More like 40 minutes. It won't take me as long next time, but its more than 20 minutes the first time.

Prep Time: 20-40 minutes; Cook Time: 1.5 hrs; Serves: 10

Ingredients:
2 TBSP EVOO
1 Yellow or Purple Onion- finely diced (food processor works wonders)
1/2 cup finely shredded carrots (I threw baby carrots in the food processor)
3/4 cup celery- finely chopped (do I need to mention the food processor?)
1 clove minced garlic
Dash of Salt; fresh ground pepper

6 Cups baby spinach, washed
1/2 cup fresh basil
1/4 cup minced cilantro
1 tsp water

1 egg (including yolk)
2 egg whites
2 TBSP tomato paste w/ 2 TBSP water mixed together
1 C veg or chicken broth
2 1/2 lbs 99% fat free ground turkey
3/4 cup oat bran or ground up oatmeal
1/4 cup ground flax seed

1. Preheat oven to 375*. Be sure to use the center rack.
Heat olive oil in a non-stick pan and cook onions, celery, carrots and minced garlic until onions are translucent but not brown. Season with salt and pepper then move to a small bowl for cooling.

2. Add washed baby spinach to pan and add 1 tsp of water. Cook until spinach is wilted. Remove from heat and let cool. Once cool, add basil and cilantro and mix well.

3. In a large (really large) bowl, mix egg, egg whites, tomato paste mixture, and broth. Add ground oats, ground flax, ground turkey along with cooked celery/onion/carrot mixture. Spray clean hands with cooking spray and mix ingredients together well.

4. Spray a 10" loaf pan with cooking spray and add half of mixture with hands. Spread wilted greens mixture evenly on top of turkey mixture. Add remaining ground turkey mixture on top of greens. Smooth top evenly with hands. This will be just over the top of the pan.

5. Bake loaf for 1.5 hrs or until a meat thermometer shows 160*F/71*C. Remove from oven and let cool 15 minutes to set. Once cool, remove loaf from pan and cut into one-inch thick slices.
Serve or refrigerate for future meals.

Nutrition Info:

Cals: 222
Protein: 33g
Carbs: 11g
Fat: 5g
Fiber: 3g



Turkey Loaf before cooking

November 1st- New Day, New Week, New Month

Day One of 100 Push Ups Challenge !
Following the prescribed sets + last set max
Set One- 6
Set Two- 6
Set Three-5
Set Four- 5
Set Five- max at 12
Total of 34 push ups.

I feel good about that. We'll see how the program progresses. I may be saying something different later. Haha! I may be switching to a knuckle style. My wrists are not happy, but they will get stronger. I'll play it by ear.

Last night was great. It was so much fun and I got to hang out with my co-workers (former?) one last time. I'm sure we'll get together now and then, but for a goodbye party it was nice. :) I cannot even begin to imagine the calories in the margaritas. Oy! They tasted fabulous. They were worth whatever calories were in them. (I can say that now. A few weeks closer to comp- not so much!) I did limit my total daily cals earlier in the day, so hopefully the damage wasn't too bad. Extra cardio all week should get me back on track. This will certainly not be a habit, but I have no regrets about my choices last night. I was completely relaxed and had so much fun. That doesn't happen with me too often. I laughed so much my abs are sore today. It was perfect. :)

I bought some candy at the last minute to pass out. I love Halloween and felt kinda scrooge-like for not buying any. I did pass some out, but not enough! Now I have to find some place to offload this ridiculous amount of sugar. Next year I will plan more and come up with something healthier. This year we were the "cool house" because we had Fun Dip. :) And awesome jack o' lanterns. :)

I'm on track this morning. No sugar for me. I had my fill with the Mexican last night. :) So tasty and I'm mentally full. I'm ready for oats, eggwhites, protein shakes, grapefruits, broccoli, asparagus, chicken, chicken, turkey.... I am making a Turkey Meatloaf this afternoon. I will share the recipe and macros along with a photo. Its based off of Tosca Reno's Clean Eating recipe with a few small modifications. I thought this would give me lots of quick and easy meals to take to training this week.

I have so much to say today! Sorry this is all over the place!

I posted this over on the Diva board... some quotes and thoughts.

"You've got to get up every morning with determination if you're going to go to bed with satisfaction."
--George Lorimer

"Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it's always your choice."
--Wayne Dyer

"You have a very powerful mind that can make anything happen as long as you keep yourself centered."
--Wayne Dyer

“Our thoughts create our reality -- where we put our focus is the direction we tend to go.”
--Peter McWilliams

You must have a vision. Each day's actions should reflect your goals and dreams. Are you determined? Determined to reach the goals you set? Are you dissatisfied- wishing you would have done more?
Can you motivate yourself? You can keep pushing, even when you don't feel like it? Can your mind and will power come together and overcome the tiredness that your body is whining about? Each day you make that choice. Each moment. Each piece of food. Its all a choice.
Are you focused on your goals? Can you see clearly in your mind where you want to be? Can you feel it? The mind is SO powerful. Don't focus on tripping in your heels or not making it to the stage the way you want. You MUST see yourself in your suit, in the spotlight, smiling and having fun! You must see yourself as you want to be seen. Whatever your specific goals are, focus your vision on that. Don't get sidetracked by all the negatives, they are of no use in this.

So yeah... :) Today the fire is lit and burning bright! We train the physical so hard that sometimes we neglect the mental stuff. Mentally we grow as we train and overcome obstacles. Sometimes some mental release (de-stressing and lots of laughter) is important. Also keeping a focus and doing vision work are important too. Seeing is believing, isn't it? *smile*