A personal training & food journal. Read about our weight loss progress at Train With Ron in Chicago, our nutritional habits and the life changes we're making to get in shape and stay healthy!
March 14thI learned a few things this week and one of those is that I am sorely in need of some new workout shoes. But, we’ll come back to that later. I want to update you on my progress this week.
My last entry was on Wednesday and I’ve had 2 workouts since then. Thursday was rockin’, I was feeling good and able to push myself. Saturday my calves were really sore. They tightened up Friday afternoon and I spent most of Friday afternoon massaging them and stretching them. They were a little better by Saturday’s workout but still sore. My personal trainer Saturday was DB and he showed me a few ways to ease the pain and he also adjusted my workout so that it would help loosen my calves up. The rest of my body was in good shape, I felt. Upper body went well and in general I felt good throughout the entire workout and felt that I had good energy the whole time.
Again I have to emphasize that going into each workout, as well as this whole process, with a positive attitude makes the night and day difference that lets me push myself to my max. I could spin this into a whole other topic but having all of this extra weight on me for the past few years has really put a toll on my emotional self. I don’t even think I noticed how bad it was until I began to change it. As of late I’ve been feeling like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly who’s just cracked its shell. I know I have such a ways to go in this process but I am certainly very happy that my emotional self has caught up with me and will now help me take it to the finish with a great attitude. If your brain works similar to how mine did, and you are constantly being negative to yourself about yourself, you can turn it around. You have the power to say anything you want to yourself. Choose to be positive and encouraging rather than self deprecating. It’s really as simple as that to start and by overcoming the hurdle of discouraging yourself, you will begin to do great things because you KNOW you deserve it!
After my workout Saturday I was feeling good, happy that I made it through my 4th workout of the week and accomplished that part of my goal. I still had enough energy in me to play a little Shaun White Snowboarding followed by a little Wii Fit Yoga. Both of those help me with my balance which I struggled with a little bit yesterday. I think that it was because of not enough sleep though because usually, I’m not that bad. I was leaning all over the place.
Now the nutrition: My diet this week consisted of a small portion of oatmeal, fruits or egg whites with tea for breakfast, for lunch I had either a salad or some plain chicken broth. Fruit and nuts sprinkled throughout the day for snacks, plenty of water and then steamed veggies and chicken, a salad or light whole wheat pasta for dinner. I only had a couple of cravings and I thought about what I would stand to lose if I indulged it and it quickly went away. If only everything were this easy. I also got busy with something else to take my mind off of it.
I lost 2.5lbs this week which is 1 lb more than my average weekly weight loss for the past 5 months. I’ll take that! I would like it to have been a little more but I’m happy about it and I do not want it to be out of control. (I think we have a long way to go before it gets ‘out of control’ 
) I will just have to see how I can push myself harder next week.
I have today off and it feels so good to relax the muscles!
Going back to the state of my sad little workout shoes, I have to just go out and get another pair. Now, I will say something pretty shocking here and that is…. I do not like to shop for shoes…. I know!!! What kind of woman am I? Well, the type that doesn’t like to buy a shoe to match each and every one of her emotions. (If you sense a little aggravation there then you are very perceptive.) Regardless, I have to go and buy some new ones and I think the sooner the better. The ones I’ve been wearing now are more for running only. I don’t know how they decide that but that’s what it says on the shoe and I need some more cushioning, support and balance. And I want them to be cute. Hey, I’m still a girl! So I’ll walk in, take a look around the ‘wall o’ shoes’ and let the battle of sensible vs. cute and supportive vs. sexy begin.
I think we all know who wins this game, right? Look for pictures this week to find out how I did with the shoes and my March Madness!!
March 9thSo, tomorrow morning at 7am I report to the gym for my first extra day. I’m excited, feeling good and strong. I have been doing a lot of stairs lately so my back side is a bit more sore than usual but that’s just a sign that it’s working, right? I’ll let you know how it goes. I usually don’t get up too early in the morning so the 6:30am wakeup call will be a task by itself.
Second thing I had today was a new quick lunch idea. I love to get creative with food and maybe one day I’ll list some of my silly concoctions. For now, you’ll have to be satisfied by the following.
I call it Romaine Chicken & Tomato Taco. It’s a romaine leaf of lettuce with a little bit of chicken (substitute turkey or salmon) plenty of tomatoes. I love tomatoes! Add other veggies like cucumbers and mushrooms if you wish and top it off with either a little lemon or a good dressing. Lately I’ve been trying a lot of Annie’s Naturals and Goddness one is my favorite right now.
I realize people have been putting things into lettuce leaves for a while now but I though this taco shape was a little different. Boston lettuce is great for more ground meats and smaller ingredients. That allows you to cup it in your hand where as the taco is more sturdy for holding in one hand. Try either, or both. Just try to put good stuff in ‘em.
Stay tuned …
February 19thOnce in a while I take the leap and grill salmon for dinner knowing full well that Dan will most likely have a sarcastic comment, turn his nose or flat out refuse to eat it. He just refuses to eat fish at home. I realize I am no Julia Child but COME ON I cook well (you’ve told me this) and it’s good for you! Argh… whatever …. All of this means more nutrition for me, right? Yes, I eventually cave and make him something else and put the salmon in the fridge for me to eat later. continue reading under the picture ….
Salmon Citrus Salad : Boston Lettuce, Grilled Salmon (when your husband just won't eat it), a couple of sqeezes of lemon and a tiny bit of olive oil. I threw on some tomatoes as well for sweetness.
Today I decided to make a quick salad with it. I’ve never done that before. I’ve made it with chicken and other various fowl but not with Salmon. I put the ingredients above, under the picture, so you’ll see it’s not a big ordeal. Even making the salmon is not that painful.
FACTS: Salmon is an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin D, and selenium. It is also a very good source of protein, niacin and vitamin B12 and a good source of phosphorus, magnesium and vitamin B6.
So that’s one way I get creative eating at my home office. While some of the temptations are not within reach working from home, some of the old habits are still around and they still have to be battled. For the pros, I would say I can eat smaller portions more frequently and I can have a variety of healthy foods available in the fridge to choose from. The con for that is that it’s easy to over eat if not careful. I work on the computer all day and it would be easy to sit and munch. Too much is too much, bad or good. Another pro is that I don’t get peer pressure from coworkers or extra cravings from going out to lunches everyday. The times when I do go to a business lunch I make it a point to choose a place that will offer something healthy to eat. Luckly, most of the time the company I’m with is flexible.
Yes, everyday I make all of the meals for Dan and myself. Yes, it take some planning and effort but well worth it in the end. When we go to our personal trainers having eaten healthy all week we have a much better workout.
November 3rdI’d like to think that I always did well with lunches. For the most part, lunches were light. yes, there were times when I skipped them or delayed until I cracked and ate something because I was starving. Then there were the times when I had Jimmy Johns sandwiches with chips. Lately though I’ve been paying more attention to my body and feed it when it’s time and not when I am starving. I’ve also made different types of lunches. More salads and whole foods.
Recipe:: Boston lettuce, snow peas, green onions, bean sprouts,
mushrooms, tomatoes and carrots with a light Asian sesame garlic dressing.
More healthy recipes coming soon.
