So, I have the best friends. Seriously. The last couple of mornings Steven (SoF) has been calling me at the ass-crack of dawn to make sure I am up and about for the morning. This is great because even with five alarms set, I don't always get up on time (I am sooo not a morning person). I am super lucky to have an awesome friend like that.
The week is going well. Planning definitely helps big time. How is everyone else's week going. Have you identified some areas of your life where you can get control of things?
Yesterday was fun (and by fun I mean not)... Jeff (BF) is moving into his new condo soon and yesterday we went shopping for bathroom tiles. Well, his mother decided to come with (she is sticking her nose in everything!). I really would have preferred not to go if I had known she would be there, but I didn't know and by then it was to late to back out. Anyway, I think she was upset because Jeff ended up getting the tile that I picked out and she didn't like it.
You know what? To fucking bad, lady! This was sooooo annoying. She has to have her hand in everything and it is really starting to piss me off. I could see that if she was paying for stuff that maybe she would want her opinion to mean more, but she isn't! Jeff is the one buying this stuff and he's the one who is going to be living there (well, and me eventually). So, I just don't understand what her problem is. Oh well... I want his mother to like me but I think that the next month is going to be really headachey.
Wish me sanity.
Well... that's all I have right now. I hope everyone else is doing well and I'll be by to check in on you all tonight.
The thing about control is that once you let go of it - even for a second - it is super hard to get it back again. Don't you think?
I'm not saying I've been out of control the last week or so, I'm just saying that I really relaxed my discipline and I am not happy with the way I've been behaving.
I've had some personal things to deal with the last couple of weeks and it's been sort of a study in human behavior. One of the things that I've come to terms with is that if you can't be completely honest with your friends - and I'm talking 100%, no holds barred, terrifyingly honest - you can't really claim them friends. The other thing is that you can't really be honest with your friends unless you are honest with yourself.
Deep right? I know, I should be on Oprah.
Anyway, thanks to my new found revelations I have spent the entire day doing everything I can to help myself regain control. Alicia (and now Steven) are always telling me:
If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.
I think I finally heard them.
I mean, I heard them before (because they repeated it a billion and one times), but now I've finally heard them. And I'm taking it to heart. No, seriously. I am.
Today I decided to get my life under control. However, it's really hard to keep your eating and exercising under control if the rest of your life is spiraling out of control. As a result I resolved to get the rest of my shit together as well. I cleaned my bathroom, I gutted my room, I made lists of things I've been meaning to do but never got around to. And then I started crossing things off of that list! Crazyness!
I planned my meals and workouts for the week (I even picked out outfits for each day of the week). I finally sat down and wrote in my gratitude journal.
Let's face it, there are things that we can't control. But there are many, many more that we can. So why, in God's name, should I let all of these things slip away from me just because one or two things in my life aren't perfect? There's really no reason for it.
I think we can all benefit from sitting down and determining what in our lives is out of control and which of those things we can fix. You would be amazed at how many things you might think you have no power over, but that you really, truly can have an effect on.
Here are some things I did today so that I could continue to plan and re-order my life:
Put all my supplements into a weekly pill-box for easy organization
Bought a clip-board so I have no excuse not to track my weights at the gym
Listed out a weeks worth of meals and prepared healthy snacks ahead of time
Planned my gym and work clothes out (for the entire week)
Cleaned my room and bathroom
See? There is so much you can do when you feel as if your control is slipping away from you. Don't let one or two bad things throw you off. Just remind yourself that even though you can't control those around you, you can control yourself.
That is how I feel today. I seriously did not want to get out of bed. I just wanted to bunch up under the covers and sleep the day away. I'm not sure why I feel that way. Hopefully it will go away soon.
How is everyone else doing? Yesterday was an okay day, though I slipped up with my food again (raise your hand if you're surprised). Today, though, I am on track. Two meals in and I am good to go for the rest of the day (even though I am still kind of sleepy).
Today is upper body workout and I am going to they gym straight after work. Bag is packed and in the car. I am ready for this.
I wish I had more to talk about right now, but I don't. Things are just chugging along in the same ol' manner they always are. I'm hoping I'll have something (anything) interesting to share with you guys soon... but right now I am just blah.
Have a great day, everyone. The weekend is almost here!
Yesterday was lower body and I almost didn't go the gym... but then I told myself to stop being such a whiny brat and to just go to the gym. And I did! It helps that my gym bag was in the car and that the gym is really only 2 miles from my house. Bonus!
I made another note to up the weight on my leg work. I think I'm scared that I am going to hurt myself so I've been doing less then I can. Saturday is the next legs day, so I will go up about 10 pounds and see how that feels.
Food has been tough for me this week. I've been having a hard time getting in all the protein I need. I might have to get a protein powder or some such to sprinkle into my food or to make shakes with. Any suggestions?
I do have a funny story for you guys, though. So I was at the gym yesterday and I came across two fo the wierdest things ever. First, the setting. My gym is small and pretty basic. It's not a Lifetime Fitness or Bally's or anything like that. Just a local gym.
Now, as I'm sitting on the ab machine, grunting away in an extremely lady like fashion, I can't help but notice this woman on the elliptical in front of me. It was especially easy to take note of her because she was on her cell phone. And wearing jeans. And men's gym shoes 3 sizes to big. While on the elliptical machine! Does anyone see anything wrong with this picture? I have to admit that it made me laugh, though.
The second person I noticed was entering the gym just as I was leaving. This big, bulky guy roared up on his motorcycle, pulled of his leather jacket, hung it up, and then proceeded to start lifting weights. While wearing his cowboy boots and jeans! I couldn't help but giggle... though I'm not sure that was the impression he was going for.
Anyway, that is about it for me. Oh, I forgot to mention that I took my before pictures, but I don't want to share them until a few more weeks in - when I have something to compare to.
Happy Hump Day everyone! I'll get to check in on you all tonight! From what I've seen it sounds like a lot of people are having a good week!
Just real quick (before I get to the "meat" of this post, heh), yesterday was pretty good. Due to a perfect storm of events (including a migrane, a broken washing machine, and a hyper dog) I didn't get in my high intensity cardio on the treadmill. I did however, get in a two mile walk (thanks to said hyper dog) so the activity was there. I just want to be fully accountable to you all. Food was pretty much on point, yesterday.
Now... on to the post!
So, since I'm one of a few vegetarians on this here part of the internet, I figured I'd share with you some of my favorite faux-meats (plus, I couldn't think of anything to talk about during this post). Think of me as the taste-tester of all meat-like-but-not-actually-meat type foods.
Here are some of my favorites:
Yves Good Dogs: Delicious! I just tried these last night and was very impressed. This is one of the few fake meats that actually tastes like meat. It definitely tastes just like an Oscar Meyer Hotdog (and is much healthier for you too! Only 70 calories a dog!)
Boca Meatless Crumbles: These are fantastic! I used them in place of ground meat in my stuffed pepper stuffing and it worked great. My dad couldn't even taste the difference - I think it's the texture that makes it work. Very meat-like.
Boca Chik'n Products: I especially like the "spicy" nuggets and the patties. I put these on my salads to bulk them up and to pretend like I'm eating a buffalo chicken salad from Chili's.
Morningstar Farms Breakfast Sausages (links and patties): The links have a bit different taste and texture then the patties and it took me a bit to get used to, but they are really good. These are not one of those meats you can bite into and expect an exact replica taste-wise. They taste a bit different. The patties, however, are my favorite. I love them with pancakes because a little syrup just makes them heavenly. Try them both out and choose your favorite.
Morningstar Farms Gardenburger: Probably my favorite "veggie burger" of any brand. The Boca Burgers are greasier and have a weird texture to me. These, from Morningstar Farms, don't try as much to taste meat like and are much more delicious.
Anyway, that's it for now. I'll add more as I find and taste more. I figure it's always better if someone does the work for you, so here you go! If any of you decide to try any of these, let me know.
Right then... I made it. I completed an entire week of Body For Life with only a minor mis-step here and there. That is an accomplishment if I've ever had one.
Yesterday was a fabulous day. I headed out to visit SoF (we live about 45 minutes away from each other - which kind of sucks). We stopped at a Tandoori restaraunt for lunch and it was delicious. I love Indian buffets, and I especially love when Indian buffets are filled with vegetarian goodness. Also, I did not overeat. Major NSV right there!
After that we swung by the health food store near his house where we stocked up on all sorts of yummy treats. The great thing about SoF is that he is the guinea pig and tastes everything and then tells me what is good and what is not. I bought my favorite flax seed "chips" and some different crunchy snacks. Also, I picked up some Yves Notdogs and some Tofu noodles that Stardust was telling us all about.
Lastly, we were going to hit up a Vinyasa Flow class, but we read the time wrong and just decided to skip it. I headed home after that and then went to the regular grocery store with Jeff so that I could get my frozen and refridgerated stuff (veggie sausages for breakfast, some yogurts, produce, etc...). We dropped all that stuff off and then took the dogs for a quick walk.
All in all, it was a fabulous day.
I'm sure today will be just as great. It is a cardio day. I was hoping to do that this morning, but I didn't end up getting up early enough. Instead I will do it after work. No big deal. Oh, and here is my food plan for today:
Meal 1: Oatmeal and veggie sausage Meal 2: Cottage cheese, fruit Meal 3: Soy nuggets, small salad, yogurt Meal 4: Hard boiled egg, orange Meal 5: Not dog, WW bun, broccoli Meal 6: Flax bar (proteins and carbs! Bonus!)
Well... that is it for me. I hope you all have a great day. It's Monday - time to get this week started off right!
Well, week 1 of BFL is at a close and I am happy to say that I got in all 6 of my workouts! For a while things weren't looking great yesterday, but I went anyway (and just barely made it back to my house in time to greet the company!) but it all worked out.
I did great with eating only authorized foods throughout the week, but I had a difficult time yesterday. Still, I know I can keep to this food program and so for that I am happy!
Today is free day which means I can eat whatever I feel like. SoF and I are going out for Indian food, but that will be my big splurge for the day. Everything else is actually on program. Yay me!
Oh, and check this out. I lost three pounds on the first week alone! I went from an all time high (since June of '07) of 148.2 to 145.2. I know I'm not supposed to look at the scale weight on this program, but it was very comforting to see the scale going down, down, down.
I have to run, because I have a few more things to do today before I head about by SoF, but I just wanted to update you all on what was happening in my little corner of the internets. I hope everyone has a great Sunday and that you are feeling as fantastic as me!
So the first week on BFL has been pretty good all in all - I've only eaten one "unauthorized" food and it was last night. I was watching American Idol (yay for DCook being safe, boo for MJ going home!) and The Office ( Jim) when I found myself mindlessly eating some tortilla chips and salsa. Seriously, I didn't even realize I was doing it and it is one of my goals to stop eating mindlessley and actually pay attention to what I'm putting in my mouth ("That's what she said!").
I did legs yesterday and it was good... though I made a note to up the weights next week as I didn't feel the "burn" that I did when I did arms on Tuesday. And I was confused because we don't have a machine that works out your calves at my gym, so I didn't know which exercise to do for my calves. But I did do the hamstring curls and leg extensions and abs! Yay me! I think that I like doing abs on the floor better then on the machine. Alicia or Jess, is it okay to do more abs then they say? Because I have a 12 minute ab video that I love and I was thinking about using that - but I think it is to many exercises. Oh well.
Let's see, here is food for today:
Meal 1: NONE (I wasn't hungry and forgot)
Meal 2: Cottage Cheese, Fruit
Meal 3: Stuffed Pepper (Green Pepper, Onion, Brown Rice, Veggie Crumbles)
Meal 4: Hardboiled Egg, Yogurt
Meal 5: Amy's Country Dinner
Meal 6: Protein Bar
Training is 20 minute cardio solution which is no big deal. I am starting to enjoy cardio and it definitely helps that I don't have to spend 50 minutes on the elliptical every day.
I don't know what the plan is for tonight, though. BF hasn't been feeling well, so it sounds like we might just spend the night in. No big deal for me, though, I'm just happy to spend time with him.
Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful Friday! I seriously cannot wait for today to be over and I will chat with you all soon!
Oh and make sure you check out this post by gettinfit as I think it is a very important thing to think about!
Edited To Add:
OMG - do you guys want to hear the funniest thing?! So all week I've been tracking my food and exercises in my BFL journal and I have been writing down the date (4/14, 4/15/, 4/16). It is only today that I realized that I am totally a week off in my date and that I really started on 4/7!!! Wow - can you all tell that I am seriously delusional? I hope I didn't accidentally post date some checks.
Oh my gosh, you guys! If Alicia's transformation wasn't enough to get me started on BFL, check out Jessica's! She is looking amazing and is only half way through the program! I can't wait until I start seeing the same results!
Yesterday was day 3 and it went very well. Food was a-ok and I got in my awesome cardio solution! I really rocked my 20 minute workout and was dripping in sweat afterwards. Love it! Especially love that it is only 20 minutes!
After the treadmill I had to take the doggies for a walk (went about a mile) because they were just begging to head out into the sunshine. I'm glad I did because today is all rainy and gloomy! Boo! After the walk I curled up on my couch with a heating pad (TOM is in the house - I've been having terrible hot flashes the last two days!) and spent some time relaxing.
Today is legs and abs and I'm not nearly as nervous about the weights as I was on Tuesday. Plus, I love ab work so I'm actually happy about that. Crazy-ness, huh?
Food is pretty much the same as yesterday, except that my dad ate my last hardboiled egg so I have cheese for protein in the PM. I hope that is allowed.
Well that is about it for me today. I am going to head to the gym after work and get my workout in. Then, hopefully I will get to spend some time with my man after dinner. I hope everyone is having a great Thursday. Just think! The work-week is almost over!
Yes, at times I am filled with an uncontrollable rage. Why do you ask? I was just getting frustrated with EP not letting me post. Sorry 'bout the banner at the top of this post.
Here is my food from yesterday. It is hard to get all that food in. Oh my gosh! I never thought that I wouldn't want to eat something.
Tuesday
Meal 1: NONE (woke up late!)
Meal 2: Cottage Cheese, Fruit
Meal 3: Veggie Burger, 1/2 Whole Wheat Bun, Small Salad
Meal 4: Yogurt, Hardboiled Egg
Meal 5: Tofu, Brown Rice, Broccoli
Meal 6: NONE (was in bed super early!) Training: Upper Body - Chest/Shoulders/Triceps/Back/Biceps (did one workout of each, but not full sets - very hard!)
Here is my food plan for today. So far I'm right on track (was even up early enough to eat breakfast at home, sitting down, like a normal person) and I'm looking forward to my workout after work.
I'll post again tonight or tomorrow with a real update. Right now I'm at work, but I just wanted to be held accountable. Oh and for the record, my arms still hurt. But not bad - just slightly sore. I'm still riding a high from this, you guys. I'm so proud of myself. And Saturday SoF will be coming with me to the gym to show me how to use all the machines. And Jeff said that he would come with me one day and help me with my form! I have the best friends and boyfriend ever.
Happy Hump Day, everyone! I'll be popping on occassionaly throughout the day to check your blogs. Thanks for all the encouragement and support! It means the world to me!
Also, I did not overeat. Major NSV right there! 
Jim) when I found myself mindlessly eating some tortilla chips and salsa. Seriously, I didn't even realize I was doing it and it is one of my goals to stop eating mindlessley and actually pay attention to what I'm putting in my mouth ("That's what she said!").
