Days 71-77

Whenever I don’t post at least every three days, my posts get long, so I promise to keep it short and mostly to pictures so you like me. 😀

Highlights of the week: I worked out every day. I tried new classes (Les Mills Step, which is a killer workout, I don’t remember my step class having burpees and weights before) and also Sports Attack was new, which works up a great sweat despite me thinking it’s not that tough. By the end it is. I did not always do what I had planned, mainly because of time restrictions.

Lowlights of the week: No food tracking every day, but that’s why it works for me, because I take it easy and it’s not forced. When I don’t have time, when it’s a hard day (week, which it has been), I just don’t do it.
The most important “lowlight” of the week would be the, for me, inevitable emotional plateau marked by two weeks being left from my hybrid. It doesn’t matter how much in love I am with the current routine, which I absolutely am right now with Combat, I just get bored. Does this happen to you as well??

So here are the pics for the week, as promised (but more detailed posts are to follow in the next couple weeks).

Day 71

Meal Details

Pre-workout snack: banana
Breakfast: scrambled eggs (three egg whites one egg) with 2 slices of multigrain baguette and orange juice
Snack: homemade chocolate zucchini bread
Lunch: Morningstar chick patty on one slice of multigrain bread wit veganaise, tomatoes and cabbage
Snack: coconut milk latte
Snack: buckwheat and hemp cereal with cow’s milk
Dinner: multigrain bread with avocado spread and canned salmon

Days 72 & 73

And that picture above brings such a smile to my face. Sophie did the step class with me (more or less and was pretty distracting but hey, this is exactly why I work out in her presence, so that it becomes such an integral part of her life as well), she even imitated the burpees, that’s you see on top. And the bottom picture is simply not fair. She took my resting spot. Both of us were completely beat.

Days 74 & 75

Days 76 & 77

And one last puppy love picture. Sparky, our beagle, does not do the handshake. If you ask me, the doesn’t do it because our coonhound does it and Sparky feels he doesn’t need to. He’s alpha in his own eyes. He is an extremely smart dog, so he could learn it. He just refuses to. He met his match though, because Sophie is just as stubborn. Sophie loves her dogs. She loves them so much.

So how did I do? Manageable/readable yet still lives up to the accountability expectations?

Days 66-70, Pancakes, Salmon Dinner, and Babies Know it Best (proper form and technique)

Another week is over. And the end is kind of eh. But let’s start with

Day 66

Upper Body Blow Out gets me every time. Though my upper body strength has tremendously improved over the course of the last 10 weeks, and the results are visible (can’t wait to share them with you), this workout never gets easy. I wish my husband joined me in this one. He just “doesn’t do that stuff”. That stuff being my workouts. He does go to the gym though every now and then when his schedule allows for it.

Meal Details

Pre-workout snack: banana
Breakfast: Sophie’s leftover oatmeal with yogurt and apples (gotta say, she’s a trooper for eating it, I’m not the happiest with the consistency the second day. I’ll try and see if she likes overnight oats next week…)
Snack: Vega chocolate coconut protein bar
Snack: Minnie’s Bake Shop cookies (don’t judge…..)
Lunch: Morningstar chick patty with bread and veganaise
Snack: Coconut milk latter
Snack: almond butter jelly sandwich
Dinner: Penne with roasted red pepper and artichoke puree and shrimp
Snack: Greek yogurt with stevia and strawberries

Yeah, I was starving. I ate over 2,000 calories, which is pretty rare. But the body works in mysterious ways and we need to let it talk to us. Fine, not with the Disneyland cookies, but in general. Some days we eat more, some days we eat less. If the body wants food, don’t deny it, just make that food nutrient dense and healthy.

Days 67-68

I planned a Combat routine originally but decided to do Shock HIIT Plyo on Thursday – which was a great idea until the next day when I could really feel my hip. Not in a good way. So on Friday I just did the stretch routine. But oh do I have so many pictures to share with you.

First off: babies know it best. They do. They instinctively use the right technique. Just observe Sophie on the following picture:
– perfect squat to pick up the weights, not bending from the waist
– shoulders back, straight back
Pure perfection…

Some foodie pics. I love pancakes (I posted the recipe for this one before, search pancake in my blog to find it, it’s the banana coconut pancake). If you make it, you absolutely MUST have the shredded coconut on top. It makes a huge difference. It truly does.

And dinner. So easy, and so yummy. I just put garlic salt on the salmon, maple syrup (it does flow down, but you just gotta keep putting the “marinade” back on – I marinated about 30 minutes before). Bake at 425 for 18 minutes. The asparagus is just 22-25 minutes at 425, simply spray it with olive oil, put garlic, salt, and Parmesan cheese on top (I did not have any…), wrap in aluminum foil and voila. Yumminess.

And my very own warrior stretching workout. Generating my own chi energy (which is difficult with Sophie around, though I would not have it any other way). This was a much needed workout. Sometimes you have to give your body a rest day, especially when it’s screaming for it. And mine was. I used to be scared of taking rest days. It felt like a setback, that I was lazy, or something. It’s not true. Our bodies need rest. Even a week off is not a setback. Unless that week turns into a slide with continuous bad nutrition choices, in which case, you might fall off track. But a conscious rest week, nah-hah. It’s smart to do.

Quick stats for these two days (no meal details – you saw the highlights above, but you’ll see I’m a bit low on calories….)

Days 79 & 80

This post is going to be short. I did a HIIT Power workout Saturday morning and all the good stuff pretty much ends there. We had a BBQ that evening for my brother-in-law’s birthday. I’m not even going to type all we ate (my neat handwriting in my calendar serves as a reminder). The next day I felt terrible. Sluggish and moody. I was not the most pleasant person to be around. Funny how when you watch how you eat (for the most part), sugar can kick you into such a low and nasty gear. And if that wasn’t enough, my husband brought me chocolate…. And (promise, this is the last negative thing 😛 ) Sophie slept until 10:30 am and by that time I was 1) too hungry to work out 2) the day would have been pushed out way too much. But all this was only motivation to be better in the following days. Not in this post though. If you read this far, you are amazing and I thank you.

Days 64 & 65

A life lived in fear is half a life lived

Life is semi-back to normal after the earthquake. It’s windy right now, very windy, and every time the house makes a crackling sound, my heart jumps. It’s an older wood house, so it makes a lot of those sounds. But minor things too, like taking a shower while Sophie is all by herself, or her being in her crib right now, at the other end of the house. Yes. Right now, I’m in fear. I know that once this earthquake will be a little more distant, I’ll be fine again. But for now, it’s in me. A lot. It puts into perspective how trauma victims can’t get rid of those images and emotions, feelings associated with their trauma. It’s haunting.

But onto what my blog is really about, health and fitness. A new week, a final countdown.

Day 64

Lower Body Lean Out is such an awesome routine, with kicks and squats and a whole lot more. My balance was really off, I know it was because of the lack of focus.
Core Attack – my abs are really really strong. Now only if I could do something about those sweet cravings….

You can see my calorie intake was pretty low; that’s because we spent a couple hours at the urgent care after Sophie’s nail had fallen off from slamming the door on it a couple weeks ago. And of course, it got infected. They gave us an ointment for the finger and antibiotics and told us to keep her finger out of her mouth, water and dirt AND keep the bandaid on it. Really??? She’s 19 months old. That bandaid does not stay on her finger, doesn’t matter what I do….. But anyways.

Meal Details

Pre-workout snack: banana
Breakfast: three egg whites one egg scrambled egg with multigrain bread and orange juice with a hint of grapefruit juice
Snack: dark chocolate
Lunch: salmon patty on a slice of Alpine Valley multigrain bread, half an avocado
Snack: coconut milk latte
Snack: Vega chocolate coconut bar
Dinner: pasta with cottage cheese and sour creme

Day 65

I couldn’t resist and did Combat 30 Live again. Burned less calories than right after the earthquake, I guess that’s to be expected. 😛

We ate out so my caloric consumption is just an estimate, probably underestimating it. 😛 OH yeah, I completely forgot to add the bread and corn muffin to dinner in my diary. That explains it. It was white bread too. 😛

Meal Details

Pre-workout snack: banana
Breakfast: oatmeal with brown sugar and two kiwi fruits
Snack: half a pack of Belvita breakfast biscuits (chocolate)
Lunch: Pasta with cottage cheese and sour creme, and shrimp (cooked, tail off, so I usually just warm it up)
Snack: coconut milk latte
Snack: Vega bar
Dinner: bread, corn muffin, one small crab cake with aioli dressing, mixed green salad

How’s your week going so far?

Days 60-63, Seven Course Dinner Tasting Menu and Earthquakes

Where do I begin… Probably with the worst: the earthquake.
If you live in the U.S., you might have heard that there was a 5.1 earthquake on Friday night shortly after 9pm. This is considered moderate, according to the USGS. If you had one guess to take where we live, and you said “Uhm, I don’t know, maybe … the epicenter?” You’d be right. We live right at the epicenter of that 5.1 earthquake, which lasted about 10 seconds.
I’ve never been so scared in my life. Sophie (our 19 month old) was already asleep in our bedroom, and my husband and I were in the living room, about a good 20-25 feet away from her room. I panicked, my husband ran to get her. He later told me he couldn’t open the door at first as it was stuck. He ran to get her, ran back, we got under the doorway, and it was still shaking. Glasses fell off the selves in the kitchen, our medicine cabinet almost completely emptied into the sink and the floor. Donny, our coonhound was freaked out, barking the whole night, and was restless for the next two days. Sparky, our beagle, is alpha, not scared of anything. He was fine.
We had several aftershocks since, three today within a minute of each other. 2.5, 2.5, and 3.0. I felt all three.
The problem with earthquakes, other than that you never know when they hit is that you don’t know if it’s an isolated earthquake, a before shock and a bigger one is coming; you don’t know how long it’s gonna last; you don’t know the damage. You just don’t know.
It’s windy today, and every time there is a creaking sound, or the water starts flowing into the washer (it’s quite loud in our house), my heart stops.

On to happier topics: seven course dinner tasting
Whaaaat?
Oh yeah. Yumm. Here’s the menu and the pictures of the meals (the menu was modified for me cause I don’t eat meat, definitely not a bunny, haha).

Before you ask, I did eat most of it. I know, that’s it for being good til the end of my hybrid (coming up in less than a month!!!) But while heath and fitness are VERY important to me, so are my friends. Even more so, obviously. And every once in a while, it’s okay to splurge, even this much. I did not let this take away from my workouts though.

So let’s focus on that:

Day 60
Combat 60 Live, Ultimate Warrior’s Workout, burned 418 calories. I love this workout. All the Combat routines are fun, but this puts them all together, and is more of a warrior’s deal, with combined punches and kicks. It’s no longer that educational here’s how you punch and kick, but it feels like the real deal. This might be my favorite routine in Les Mills Combat.
No food tracking, don’t remember why. It was probably a really busy day.

Day 61
Day of the earthquake. But the morning was fine, and I did Les Mills Pump – Pump Extreme, burning 207 calories. I track calories burned though they are completely irrelevant with weight training. Had lunch with a friend, and that made my calorie tracking non-existent for this day as well. But I can tell you I was good. Did not have sweets, had an ahi roll with my friend.

Day 62
Day after the earthquake. Les Mills Combat, Combat 30 Live. I punched and kicked the **** out of this workout. I was angry, I was on edge, it felt good to imagine an opponent there. No, it wasn’t mother nature. She just does what she has to. It’s part of the deal. It did serve though as a great reminder that we are very insignificant when it comes to her.
Earlier on Friday, I killed a fly. It was on the wall, it didn’t even see me coming. I thought about how lucky we were to have no one like that, so much bigger and stronger than us that could take us out in an instant without warning…. Just appreciate every moment. And don’t let that moment of gratitude and humility leave you. Ever.

Day 63
Tired. Exhausted. Still feeling a bunch of aftershocks. No workout, only walking the dogs. They very much needed the love and releasing pressure. Our dogs are amazing and are family. And family stick together in good and even more so in bad.

Day 59

Oh boy oh boy – I was completely beat. By the end of the day I was ready to crash. So tired. And I know it had to do with my workouts. It’s a good thing though, on one hand, on the other, it’s a signal that can’t skip so many days without doing at least something. Lesson learned.

Shock HIIT Plyo is a tough workout. Really really tough. I love the music though. Sadly, most of it isn’t up on the Internet as they were specifically written for Les Mills Combat. But here’s the message:

Nobody’s gonna love you better … than you, says Rach

And she’s right. You have to take care of yourself for your own and your loved one’s sake.

With that said, I did undereat on my total calories and overate on carbs. But the bottomline is that looking at daily caloric consumption is fun, but may not be too balanced. Looking at it on a weekly basis makes more sense, IF you choose to count calories.

But here are my meal details

pre-workout snack: banana
breakfast: oatmeal with brown sugar and kiwi fruit
snack: Vega coconut bar
snack: Belvita breakfast biscuit, chocolate (1 piece, quarter of the packet)
lunch: salmon patty with salad leaf
snack: sushi roll
dinner: wild mushroom and asparagus risotto
snack: dark chocolate
snack: bit of whole wheat roll with laughing cow cheese

I’m excited though. Can’t wait to take my after photos in a month!!! 😀 This hybrid rocks.

Day 58 & Weigh-In (Fun Graphic – It’s a Lifstlye Change)

Ah, it’s good to be back with no break in sight before I finish my Les Mills Pump & Les Mills Combat Hybrid. This officially marks the beginning of the last four (and a half) weeks.

The last two weeks have taken their toll on me. I weighed myself and I gained four pounds, putting me at 131.6 lbs and 22.5% body fat. But as I like to say and I do hold myself to it, there is no point looking back (only to see how far I’ve come) so I won’t. I’m just focusing on the upcoming weeks, and I mean to take back a notch on my sweets intake. We do have a few events coming up where I will have a bit of cake, but keeping it real is what makes it a lifestyle, I don’t diet. I make permanent changes I can keep up with. See? 😛

So I kicked myself into high gear, and did Les Mills Pump – Pump Revolution and Hard Core Abs. It felt amazing. I love it. So here are my stats for the day:

Meal Details

Pre-workout snack: banana
Breakfast: Easy scrambled eggs (three egg whites one whole egg) with multigrain baguette
Snack: Coconut Vega bar
Lunch: Canned salmon salad
Snack: Chocolate vegan Shakeology prepared with almond milk, coconut water, almonds and honey
Dinner: Multigrain baguette with fresh mozzarella cheese, tomatoes and red radishes
Snack: Chocolate Belvita breakfast biscuits

What have you been up to?

Days 38-41 and Working Out with a Broken Toe

Maybe, just maybe, committing to posting every day is setting myself up for failure. I was going to post about Wednesday on Thursday, but Sophie did not want to go to sleep, so I’m pretty sure I fell asleep before she did. Friday my husband finally came home after being gone the whole week on a business trip and then on weekends I try to focus on family. But regardless, I don’t neglect my workouts. Ever.

Day 38

Workout: Combat 60 Live – Ultimate Warrior’s Workout
My favorite. It’s such a perfect workout. Perfect combination of kicks and punches in an MMA world of fun.

Meal Details:

Pre-workout snack: bananaBreakfast: Sophie’s leftover oatmeal blended with Greek yogurt and apples
Snack: chocolate Belvita breakfast biscuit
Lunch: Salmon patty with brown rice
Snack: two fried eggs on a multgrain bread
Snack: coconut milk latte
Dinner: Broccoli pasta with a bit of cottage cheese and Parmesan cheese 

I for sure ate under my caloric needs. But then again, I usually have one more meal after Sophie is sleeping while I’m working / studying, so that’s something I did miss out on.

And about that broken toe: Sophie dropped my glass drinking bottle on it, full of water. I was pretty sure it broke, but it’s healing really well. A friend of my recommended to put aloe on it (excuse my pedicure, not a mommy perk I’ve enjoyed lately 😛 ) So maybe that really helps this much. Oh you’re asking if I work out with it? Read on. 😛Day 39

I had to take too many breaks already and our trip to Hungary is coming up, where I intend to impress (I know, shallow huh, but I really want everyone to know that if you’re willing to work for it and sacrifice a few things, you can have your body back and even better after baby).

Workout: HIIT Power & Hard Core Abs. There were some modifications required because of my toe, but all in all, other than fatiguing a bit before I normally would, I was able to complete the workout even with a broken toe. And I gotta say. Having a toe hurt so badly, definitely helps keeping the weight in the heels during squats. 😛

I also have a confession to make though. I had lunch with a friend of mine who is really into working out and desserts. My kinda gal. So I did buy some sweets – more on that under day 40. For lunch though, I had THE BEST Ahi burger, seared to perfection and Baily’s coffee (I did not like the pasta salad on that picture so I didn’t finish it). 

Day 40

This day is best described by the following picture, which is pretty much my mantra. As a fitness instructor friend of mine said: I don’t work out to be skinny, I work out to be able to eat more. And everything is fine in moderation, you just have to pick your weak spot at the time. But more on that in another future post.

So I did do my workout: Upper Body Blow Out and Core Attack. I won’t “complain” again about the Upper Body Blow Out workout, cause there’s no point. It will never get easier – not in the I will never be able to do it sense, but in the sweat and energy it takes to complete. I love it.

Before you ask, I shared with my husband over the course of two nights:
– a lemon tart with marshmallow puff on top (top row, middle cake that looks like three boobs 😛 )
– a chocolate bomb (second row, fourth cake and yes, it was the bomb)
– a macaroon

I’d lie if I said this was normal even for me. This was a lot of indulging, a little too much of it, in fact. Because this is the point where I start working against myself and the results I’m shooting for. So I am getting my act together and for the next two weeks (well, certainly until the next weekend when we go to Florida) I am skipping on dessert. I will still have my coconut milk latte and dark chocolate, but in very limited amounts.

Day 41

Was an amazing family day at the beach. We had a Starbucks breakfast, I tried this raw smoothie bar that was not at all impressive, especially considering they did not fully put the lid on Sophie’s “banana berry burst” smoothie so it ended up on my white shorts, in the front. You can imagine the looks I got… It was funny and not funny at the same time. Sushi lunch followed by multigrain bread, piece of cheese and red radish.

And if you read all the way here, this last image is for you. Thank you!

Day 37

Still sore!!! Definitely a sign of too much too soon. Not the good sore, but the limiting soreness, and at the 48 hours onset, that’s not a good sign. Too much muscle tear. I did better though with my workout, which was Les Mills Combat Power HIIT. I like this workout a lot, as it incorporates weights, as well as cardio, all in 30 minutes. And I was pleasantly surprised that the weights I used in this workout a few weeks ago were too light.
I did not get to my ab routine, because the dog groomer was early. Arrgh. On the flip side, my dogs are now clean, smell amazing, and are soft to the touch. I love hugging them when they’re this clean (they are outside dogs, so it’s a fairly rare occurrence). Here are a few pics of them:

Sophie petting our beagle, Sparky

Sophie giving a kiss to Sparky

Donny loves Sophie

Sometimes he loves her a little too much…

So yes. Those are my dogs. 😛 Although, if you asked Sophie, she probably would say they are hers. And that’s perfectly fine. I couldn’t be happier, being a mom to such an amazing girl and two of the best dogs out there.

On to my nutrition – yay. I feel sooooo much better than about the day before. You know, with the whipped cream and all. Check below the image to see what I decided to have instead of it. 😛

Meal Details

Pre-workout snack: banana
Breakfast: chocolate oatmeal
Snack: peanut butter P90X bar
Lunch: Vegan burger with brown rice on a butter lettuce bed with Greek yogurt dressing
Snack: dark chocolate
Dinner: Cauliflower and sweet potato soup with two sliced of multigrain bread and two laughing cow wedges (light)
Snack: chocolate Belvita
Snack: canned salmon mixed with tomatoes and a bit of light mayo, wrapped in butter lettuce (see??? so much better than the whipped cream 😛 )

And honesty time. If you’re reading this. Is this picture terrible? My childhood best friend, who rarely comments on my pics said this when she saw it: “I hope it tastes better than it looks” (by the way, it didn’t…. but that’s another story). So, honestly. Please 😛

Day 36

Ah, a brand new week, a brand new opportunity to push my limits. More towards the second half of the week. Upping my weights on Sunday felt like a great idea at the time, I felt ready, but the 24 hour onset of soreness hit me really really hard. When you moan sitting down, moan getting up, taking your sweet time because you have no other options…. Combat 45 was great for working out some of that soreness, and though I couldn’t push as hard as I normally would, I did my best. (I miss my polar to see my caloric burn, I love my numbers. Turns out, there are different sizes of that small round battery, who knew?)

I was starving though. I ate a lot. You’ll see below. And the problem was that I had a really light dinner (vegetable soup made with almond milk – huge success with Sophie, which was extremely surprising but completely made my day) – so after the light dinner, I was hungry. So I did something…. something … terrible 😛 I went to the fridge, opened it, took the cap off the whipped cream can and poured some directly in my mouth. I know. I know. I shouldn’t have done that, it’s a simple carb, mostly sugar. No looking back though. No looking back. Surprisingly, it didn’t really change my macros for the day. Still. … Anyways. Make sure to read the red caption on the calendar page too – it’s very very true.

Meal Details

Pre-workout snack: banana
Breakfast: three egg whites one egg scrambled with steamed zucchini and yellow squash, two slices of whole wheat bread, home squeezed orange juice
Snack: high fiber breakfast muffin
Lunch: whole wheat pasta with Simply Balanced vodka sauce
Snack: coconut milk latte
Snack: chocolate vegan Shakeology prepared with almond milk, coconut water, almonds, and honey
Dinner: cauliflower and sweet potato soup
Snack: dark chocolate
Snack: chocolate Belvita breakfast bar
Snack: you know it, whipped cream

While I absolutely love working out at home – it gives me freedom, there are certain dangers involved. Disclaimer: nobody got hurt during this routine. I have great reflexes 😛

Until tomorrow, keep doing your best! That is all that matters!

Days 29 – 35

These kids are lucky they’re so cute

Said my friend with whom I had a play date with but had to cancel because Sophie again caught something. I know this is the age when their immune system is getting stronger and catching everything is normal, but seriously, it’s tiresome. And the joys of bed sharing, I get whatever she has. Thankfully though, because of my lifestyle, I recover pretty fast.

With that said, I had to take last week easier. No meal tracking – mostly because I just did not have the energy for it. Dealing with a sick child is tough, especially when you’re low on energy too. But I did some of my workouts, here’s the list:

Monday: Forced Rest Day
Tuesday: Les Mills Combat Lower Body Lean Out
Wednesday: Forced Rest Day
Thursday: Combat 30 – VERY low impact
Friday: Forced Rest Day
Saturday: Combat 60 Live – I felt much better and this workout is AMAZING. Seriously. I think it might be my favorite.
Sunday: Pump & Shred – I upped my weights and I cannot walk today. Seriously. Here’s the photo collage from this workout:

This workout attacks all the major muscle groups: legs with squats, lunges and deadlifts (my all time favorite exercise for the hamstrings), chest, back, shoulders, arms, abs. Ah, it’s great. But yes. Tough too at the same time. It wouldn’t work otherwise though, right?

I also am doing a challenge on Instagram – Idea Fitness has a 30 day picture challenge with different themes for each day. Yesterday was day 2, with the theme “shoes”. So I figured I’d share my post here as well, because, well… Because I think I nailed it. I’m not a great photographer (fine, I suck at it), but I love the message I’m sending here. What do you think?

Until tomorrow, because I’m back and ready to post daily again, thank you, for reading my blog and being part of my journey. Share yours with me too, I’d love it.