Refresh and Refocus!

Ok, not much changed this week! Stats are the same as last, I am ready to refresh and refocus~

A few of my friends and blog followers have requested I give out my diet. Unfortunatly, its not quite that simple. I can tell you exactly what I eat but it won't work the same for you because I have designed my diet specifically for my needs based on my body and goals, everyone is different! Is what I WILL do though is share my resources and recipes with you!

Tosca Reno The Eat Clean Diet, a great read! Iron Dolls by Karen Sessions is an ebook but I found it to be very helpful.

Here is my favorite pre cardio +weight workout meal. I eat it in the morning about an hour before I hit the gym for 45 min of weights followed by some type of pretty intense cardio> It has more carbs than most of my meals and it is inspired by one of Tosca Reno's many smoothies

Good Morning Smoothie:
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
2/3C skim milk
1/4 C dry oats
1 C any combination of 2 frozen fresh fruits. My fav is strawberries and bananas
Sprinkle of groud flax
1Tbs any nut butter( Raw Almond Butter is my fav)
A sprinkle of water to help it blend together

BLEND

These are approx nutritional values

250 calories
55 cho
3 fat g
8g protein
28g sugars

Its Thursday ALREADY???

Ok, so this week is almost a BUST! SUCKS but here is the deal... I cannot believe it is already Thursday! Monday, I kept Avery home cause she was sick, I did manage to get in a good chest workout with Tommy and Big Dave, BUT I did NOT teach my Zumba class so I could keep my sniffley child out of the nursery thus no cardio for me on Monday! BOO! I love cardio!!!Tuesday morning, I managed to run 3.25 miles with my awesome running buddy Sarah, we got splashed and sprayed by every passing vehicle on the highway INCLUDING a smelly dump truck..we were STINKY after that! Oh well, good stories! THen I went to support my brand new Zumba Instructor teaching her FIRST Zumba class (you totally rocked it Kristy) and then while I planned on working a muscle group afterwards, was needed to fill in for another instructors sculpt class...So my Bi's and Back workout was toast BUT I did hit them pretty good in sculpt class, along with everything else though, YESTERDAY was Wed, I took Brandon's "Insanity" Class that was basically cardio drills and yes..B, it kicked my butt , then hit the elliptical for 20 min looking for that slow calorie burn. TODAY?? ITS THURSDAY! My plans were to get up early and hit triceps and biceps and some Abs in the mix but I overslept, THEN I was called into teach water aerobics... so here it is, 130pm, ON THURSDAY and I feel like I have piddled away the whole freakin' week! I have NO motivation to work out, plus, I am about to pick up my munchkin so really, if I were going to work out today ,it would need to be happening NOW! Oh well. Im taking today off, tomorrow I am planning on a total body workout with circuits and then Ill also teach Z for my cardio, and Saturday??? Cardio and maybe a push workout. Sunday? Off. Monday? We will start again hopefully with more of a consistent schedule!!!

This is just life you know? You can NEVER completely plan for a workout schedule without expecting to improvise when necessary! Time and time again, I have scheduled the perfect workout week, or diet even down to the very last bicep curl, or oz of protein and inevitably , something will have to change. I may not be able to stomach ONE MORE EGG WHITE and have to adjust that meal, or like I just showed by my week above. I had a perfect week scheduled where I was going hit all muscle groups and then, I was faced with some uncontrollable scheduling issues that forced me to change my plan. Over all, I did pretty good, I give myself a A, how ever the real test here is that I didn't give up. This is a good example for what ever your fitness goals are. You have to be able to adapt to the inconsistencies of live! You may need a break in the middle of your week because your plan was too ambitious for your body to take on..If you don't listen to your body, make changes to you schedule to accommodate work, family or friends. You will never make it! YOu will get injured, loose focus, or burn out. This is a lifestyle change, lifestyles must adapt to not only our own wants or needs, but they have to be flexible and compatible with others. If you do not plan on these schedule conflicts then you will be in for disappointment, and setting yourself up for failure! Don't give up on the big picture just because you ran out of a little blue paint, if you just improvise a little, when you are finished, you won't even notice the small area of sky where you had to blend colors together, and improvise, to make it the right color blue!

Don't lie, you are impressed with my analogy! ;-)LOL

Stats again on Sunday~ K

Clean Diet = Clear Skin?? And much more!

It's true... I have always had trouble with acne!!!!I once said to a fellow group fitness instructor " It is totally unfair that I am plucking stray gray hairs out of my head AND covering up Zits!" UGGGG!!! It has been very gradual but my skin is finally clearing up! It just goes to show that diet really does effect EVERYTHING!!! Skin, teeth, nails, organs you name it!

Now that I really think about it...it is truly amazing how much our body's adapt to crappy lifestyles!! You know? It tries to tell you that it needs something different by showing up as acne, dry hair, dry skin, stomach bulging, thunder thighs , love handles, etc.. I mean think about it this way.. say you give your car crappy oil, or gas... it will run like CRAP! You will notice that at first but we soon adapt to the bumping and grinding and other annoying side effects of poor fuel, and it begins to seem normal to us, even though it is clearly SCREAMING for better quality fuel! More trips to the service station is a pain not to mention expensive, but you feel like you are getting a deal at the cheaper, more convenient, gas/oil station..

Think of your body like a bunch of little machines...BILLIONS to be more specific with millions of networks telling each cell or "machine" what to do and when! We have to fill it with the proper fuel so it can complete these complicated tasks with in our body's. These tasks include, making our heart beat, pumping blood nutrients to our organs, taking the trash out, and much more.. if we feed our bodies crap, our body STILL gets the job done to the best of its ability even if it has to pull nutrients from stored locations and our own tissue, its even smart enough to store nutrients away when you consistently deprive it of what it needs so it can tap into it later if necessary! The problem here is when we start building more trash than our body can take out, it starts building up... in our veins, artery's, colan and liver causing all sorts of sicknesses that we put on our selves caused by one specific reason.... we don't feed our bodies properly.

We begin to feed our body's crap for many reason's but the #1 reason?... it's "convenient" , Here is the thing... we are looking at LAZY, unhealthy, and uneducated (on the issue), NATION here! 2/3 Americans are overweight! 2/3 Americans are overweight! 2/3 Americans are overweight! Wake up! It seems to me that some of the other issues we spend so much time worrying about PALE in comparison! This percentage is based on stats from 2006! It's higher now AND to make it even worse, we are passing it down to our children..All because we, educated or not, upper class, middle class, and lower class, are too LAZY to change, too LAZY to learn, too LAZY to be good to that body of ours that is working tirelessly to keep you alive! All of this because fast food and processed food is more convenient!! That is messed up!

Don't get me wrong...You do not have to shop at whole foods for your all food, spend a ridicules amount of money, you don't even have to give up all of your convinces! Just be aware, learn about basic nutrition, read labels, if you can't, catch it, or pick it, or peel it..think twice before you eat it!

So, not only will clean eating clear your skin, but now, as I think I have shown above, it can quite possibly... give you a much better quality of life, or even save your life!

I'm signing off of my soap box for now, I will follow up with a recipe..Good Morning Smoothie... Yummo! Thanks for reading!! ~K

Stat Time!

Wt: 115..Holding Strong
BF% Using the Omron Bioimpendence method...20% Down like... .2 pts! LOL!

I am still seeing changes...so I feel good about it~ Not as frustrated this week..REady for my cheat day! Ill keep you informed!

So many BF% meathods

I have been frustrated because of my bodyfat % not budging from 20%. I had a trainer that works for us at the Y do a skin fold on me, just to see the difference from that and the omeron bf hand held analyzer( that is the method I have been using) and it came out 15.6 %, then I had another trainer do it on the same system, same sites, and viola! 17.8%...This goes to show that unless you have a bodpod, or a underwater system to analysize you BF% it is all a rough estimate and the important thing is to use the SAME method each time to see your gains and losses... that also means using the SAME TRAINER if you are using skinfold method!

This week is going well, I am feeling good, had a great chest workout with my buddy Tommy, and hit Bi's and Tris on Tuesday, yesterday i did a cardio class, and today I am hitting shoulders. I am planning on getting legs in on Friday, and working back on saturday( I hate working back) So I usually save it for last!LOL!

Bottom line, I continue to see results on my body! I am learning more and more that "abs are made in the kitchen"

Stats/10/04/09

Wt: 115
BF%: 20.2%


Well, what can I say? I'm about ready to through the scale out the window along with my body fat analysis! I didn't want to loose weight really in the beginning, I wanted to build muscle but for some reason, that number NOT BUDGING bothers me....

I am seeing muscle gains in the mirror, and my clothes are fitting differently in a good way! I shouldn't worry about those #'s BUT I am human and I do, at least I would like to see my BF% go down. I am 3weeks in and my body is definitely changing so that is good! Consistency is key here, I am NOT giving up by any means!! I am going to start running again in 3 weeks but until then, I am going to continue to build build build!!

The diet is getting easier! That is nice! Last week I was dreaming about chocolate and biscuits and bad food that I didn't overindulge in before this endeavor, I was looking forward to my cheat day so much that I couldn't even stand it~ This week, I am much more adjusted to the diet and I have not had the dreams or as many cravings, I am mainly glad to have a day where I don't have to constantly think about what and how much to eat!

Oh, and BTW, I added a few more carbs in the mornings with my oatmeal like fruit, and it has made a WORLD of difference! I am feeling much better!

I am off to enjoy my day off, it was tempting to go for a jog this morning with Hillman but I am staying on the plan, that includes a LIMITED amount of cardio and rest on my rest days, and rest does NOT include a morning jog! LOL!!

Until next time, keep checking! ~K

A small step back

Well, this week is not starting out so hot..Avery has been keeping us awake this week so it threw the beginning of week off. The diet was fine until today. I changed it this week to no carbs my last two meals and oatmeal an hour before my workout and today, I really learned that this may need a change. I just didn't have the energy this morning in my step class. My glycogen stores were totally depleted to the point tha my legs felt like led in class and I was getting dizzy spells, I struggled through that and I couldn't even TALK to my husband when I got home! I felt terrible and I was not in any mood to talk or smile! LOL! I ate a half of a power bar and some fruit and I was back to semi normal, then... my head was still sort of fuzzy and I backed the car into the Jeep that I had parked earlier! I am not blaming that serious brain fart totally on the lack of carbs in my body but I was definitly suffering from some serious glycogen depletion or better known in my household as "bonking" I went to starbucks and got a skinny vanilla latte and that brought me back up to speed.

SO, I still ate clean, however, not every three hours as usual and I ate a few more carbs than i have been! I feel a million times better now! I will not eat again tonight, but tomorrow I plan to get back on my schedule. I think I will try to add some fruit in with my oatmeal before my cardio and see if that helps. I told you I would be changing things as I see fit.... I refuse to stick to anything that makes me feel that badly! I want to be healthy, that is the whole point of this right?? I am not doing something right if I am left feeling that badly! More to come....