Back to Weekly Weigh-Ins

First off I want to celebrate that I have been up TWO mornings in a row to do workouts.  Considering I did not get up early for even one last week I feel very pleased with myself! I did however, wake up to a dull achy calf muscle, I'm wondering if its sore because of my plantar fasciitis night brace,  from being over-worked, or from being over-stretched,.  No matter which one I just hope it fixes itself and fast!

This morning I did Push Circuit 2 in ChaLEAN Extreme.  It felt great to get it done first thing and not have it looming over my head all day.  I'm enjoying lifting weights quite a bit.  I find myself listening to other people and wanting to shout "LIFT SOME WEIGHTS", but I know its just the "newness" of my love for strength-training coming out, and I remember how I HATED hearing (or reading in a lot of cases) people get all preachy about what they are doing diet/fitness-wise.

I do know that what works for me, works because I enjoy it and it is becoming part of my lifestyle.  If other people don't get the same pleasure out of the things I do or eat, then it won't be the plan for them. They key is finding something that can become your lifestyle.  Sometimes that's a long learning curve.

So, weekly weigh-ins.  I'm going back to them.  I like that they help keep you accountable.  Do I think I would have lost more weight last month had I weighed weekly?  No, not really, because I stayed pretty close to plan.  I DO know that I got more anxious closer to weigh-in because I knew other people were going to be watching and expecting big things from me.  Once I turn 30 (in 107 days/or 15 weeks and two days) I may go back to monthly weigh-ins, but that's up in the air. I will keep my progress pics set on the first of the month.

Oh! I have started planking.  Every night before I go to bed for the month of March, or maybe longer, I will do a plank.  So far I'm up to a 1min 15sec!  There isn't a LOT of abs in ChaLEAN so I figured I would add a little something, and it only takes up a few minutes of my day :)

Pumpkin Pie Greek Yogurt Recipe

2/3 cup of pumpkin puree

2/3 cup of Fat Free Greek Yogurt

1 Pkg French Vanilla Splenda (You can sub stevia)

1tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice (I actually used apple pie spice)

2 graham crackers crumbled

Mix the pumpkin and yogurt together with the spices and sweetener. 

Top with graham crumbs!

Weigh-in and Progress Pics for Feb!

Well, after a long month of no-scale and lifting, I am finally here to do my weigh-in and progress pics :)

So I was pretty happy with that number, 9.5lbs down in the last 5 weeks.  Considering I upped my calories and have been building muscle, I can be very proud of that number :)

This was me this morning :)

This one is a comparison to my last progress picture in February.  I don't see a HUGE difference, but I do see a bit in my arms and back fat :)

Here is the most recent "Before" and "Progress comparison!

I'm off to the spa again today!  I'm hoping to do better this time than last food-wise.  I have pre-logged my meal and bevies and planned out the rest of the day, and I also went for a run this morning so I'm feeling pretty good about it!

Weekly & February Recap

Well, its almost here, weigh-in time.  One month without the scale.  One month increasing my calories, and one month of ChaLEAN Extreme!

I'll start with this week.

Exercise

1 10k Run
2 Walks
3 ChaLEAN Lifting workouts

311 minutes of exercise
2686 calories burned through exercise

Nutrition

1914
1950
2480 (Anna's Birthday and too much Pizza)
1818
1709
1826
1820

Challenges

Well this week, actually since last Saturday, I have found my energy has been ridiculously low.  Since my 10k on Sunday I have been taking it easy.  I still did all 3 lifting workouts with ChaLEAN, but my other cardio this week was replaced with walking.  I *may* still do my ChaLEAN Recharge DVD today, but I'm not going to worry too much about counting it or not since its only 150 cals burned, if that.

On Tuesday my daughter turned 1, and before I knew it we had people coming for dinner and nothing really planned so I panicked and ordered pizza.  I originally did pretty good staying in my calories, but around 9:30 I gave in to two slices pizza that were left behind.

Successes

On my daughter's birthday, even though I ended up going over with some pizza, I was able to have just one small piece of cake.  For me this was HUGE!  Cake is a giant weakness for me, usually when I make it, it's gone within 24 hours and I am usually the one to make sure I get almost half. Achem.

Even though I lacked energy, I still did all my lifting workouts, and a total of 6 workouts for the week. So although I usually exercise longer, at higher intensity, I can't be too upset with that.

February in review

Sorry I'm a bit of a numbers geek so I crunched my numbers for February.

Nurtrition wise 57636 calories for the month, which averages out to 1987 calories per day.  I guess that's what happens when you have 7 days where you are over on your calories.

Exercise-wise I burned 16650 calories this month which averages out to 574 calories per day.  Considering I have decreased my workout these last week or so, I'm pretty impressed with that.

ChaLEAN Extreme

I had wanted to do the schedule as written in addition to my running, but towards the end of the month I found I wasn't doing a great job keeping up with it and found it a bit too much.  To improvise I just replace the ChaLEAN cardio with my running when I don't have the time/energy/motivation to do both.  Overall I am really happy with the program.  My form is improving and I find I am able to lift heavier weights.  Also I am noticing my muscles more, and I feel like I am in general getting more firm.

I have mixed feelings about Push Phase (The second 4 week phase in ChaLEAN Extreme). On one hand I am very excited and looking forward to the challenge. In my head I know building muscle is key for me on my journey. I really like the way muscle makes me feel as well.  On the other hand, I have seen lots of reviews where people didn't lose a lot of weight in that month due to muscle-growth and water retention.  Actually Chalene even says many people see gains the first few weeks of each month.  So I'm hoping I can keep mind over matter and go with it.

In the end the goal of the program is to build muscle and burn fat, which doesn't always translate to a whole lot of lost lbs on the scale.

Eating more

Well its been a month of upping my calories, and I have to say that I LOVE it!  I feel less deprived than I did before and find it easier to fit in more indulgent foods when I want them.  I have also found I am doing a really great job at increasing my fruit and veggie intake.  My cravings are changing from cake/donuts/sugar to other healthier options like fat-free greek yogurt and bananas, peanut butter in my oatmeal, avocado in my salad, and sweet potatoes!  That's not to say I didn't enjoy any cake/donuts/sugar this month, but I believe that I ate less of it that I have before.

TGIF!

The last week I do not know what has gotten into me.  I just feel run down.  Last night I had a tickle in my throat so its possible that I could be coming down with something.  I suppose its possible I could be a little run-down, but I have been exercising less (although more intense with my weights).  Regardless of why, I'm taking it easy this week. It's the opposite of what I would have liked to do since weigh-in and progress pics are just around the corner.  

Other than Tuesday my eating has been on track.  I guess I can celebrate that.  Usually when I'm tired, my willpower weakens and those are the times I end up in the most trouble.  Last night I found myself having a conversation with ME in my head.  "Why do I feel anxious right now? Could it be weigh-in?  Mmmm I want something delicious.  NO, I just had something delicious (bananas, greek yogurt and graham cracker crumbs), I'm not hungry and I don't need anything".

Why do negative things always seem more prominent that the positives?  It's not like I've been sedentary and binge eating. I still walked Monday and Thursday, and did my ChaLEAN lifting workouts, and oh yeah RAN 10k on Sunday.  **

I this is where I usually run into problems with my "extremist" side.  I end up feeling like a failure if I'm only giving 80% instead of 110%. How do I plan on overcoming that now, and in the future.  Well, first thing is recognizing it.  Done.  Next is to write about it. Doing.  Then I need to recognize that I am still miles away from where I started and moving in the right direction.  I may not be going at the same pace as I like to, but regardless I will get there. 

I'm going to give my body a few more days of easy, and then I want to hit next week HARD!  I start ChaLEAN Push phase on Monday, and I'm really excited to build some more muscle!

**I love writing these blogs.  Sometimes, half-way through a post, I'll have a realization that helps me see something I was not able to see before.  Where the astrisks are is right where this happened for me today :)