Eggs Be Damned!

Week 3 stats:            Previous weight: 138            Current weight: 135

Diet as a daily average: Carbs 36%; Protein 37%; Fat 27%; Sodium: 200 mg/day

It’s been an interesting 3^rd week following, as best I can, the recommendations for this diet. This is really quite the project, and I’m learning I have to dedicate myself, and my day, to accomplishing everything.  

Monday: Strength training followed by light cardio in the morning. I didn’t get to the 60 min of cardio I was supposed to do and consistently have trouble getting 100 oz of water in every day; usually I can get 60-70 oz. I didn’t have time to get all the food in me either, as I was juggling too many other things. I missed out on tuna and some egg whites.

  

Tuesday: Every week on Tuesday & Thursday I get up around 4:30 AM to get to the gym for three hours of training the Skinny Jeans Fitness™ groups from 6:00 AM straight through until 9:20 AM. I’m not actually doing the working out here, THEY are! After finishing up training my groups of determined ladies, I was going on about 4.5 hours since the last time I ate, and I was starving, but also in a panic because my meter on the street was expiring. Needless to say, I have had more than my share of parking tickets and certainly didn’t need another one...or, at least I don't need another one that Jason knows about . . . there are those few I paid cash for in person! 

I brought three hardboiled eggs with me and thought I could peel them quickly, because they usually peel really easily, and be on my way! NOT TODAY! The first one took at least two minutes just to get clean and there really was only about half of the white left, which is all I’m eating. Damn. This doesn’t help either of my situations. I’m in a bit of a panic now envisioning the meter enforcer pulling up to my car whipping out his little printer to give me a ticket. The next egg has to go better. NOPE. Worse. Now, I’m actually shaking and swearing at the egg, . . . yes, I’ve run out of swear words and gone completely insane thinking that these eggs most certainly have a personal issue with me which has just cost me $15 in a ticket from my now expired meter. By the time I got to my third egg, I might as well have been eating air considering what was left of any of the egg whites. Once I realize the last one is not going to go any better, I am seriously considering shoving it in my mouth, shell and all, while running down to beg the “Parking Master” to have mercy on me! Surely he wouldn’t give someone spewing egg shells and bleeding from the mouth, due to the combination of “dire starvation” and an egg debacle, a ticket, . . right? EGGS BE DAMNED!

Well, I didn’t get a ticket, much to my relief, and since this incident, no other chicken eggs have given me any other problems, of course. Every egg in my fridge was apparently scared shell-less; I found them all peeled and quivering in the container when I got home.

Wednesday was a busy day with a lot of personal appointments. I snarfed down a little bit of sweet potato before I headed out the door at 5:00 AM to train clients from 6-8 AM. I headed home to get my cardio in before having something to eat, and then headed to a Dr appointment. That would’ve been fine if I had actually remembered to EAT after my run. Since I was behind schedule, no time to eat. I was back to back with appointments until about 3:00 PM!

I know this happens to everyone, and most of us would grab something quick at a convenience store that would be less than nutritious. I was really trying hard to stick to this diet and not blow it, so I decided to pick up some almonds. I checked in with Isaiah and, thankfully, that was a good choice. No blowing the diet today!

Friday could’ve been better; I actually got to the gym at 6:15 AM for strength training, and then worked with a client. This morning I decided to forego the eggs, not knowing what other evil plans they might have in store for me when I’m in a pinch for time, and brought a protein shake with me to sip on while training my client.

I got home around 10:00 and heated up my fish and green beans for that late morning meal. I was thinking I’d had a relatively good week, despite the best efforts of the eggs to derail me early on.

Friday afternoon I was dealing with a major glitch in a big event that I’m planning so the stress level was at an all-time high. So far, I’ve been able to overcome any stress-related cravings, which are usually for all the things that, in my mind, negate an entire week of dedicated efforts.

Now, I’m going to argue that the granola literally attacked me as I walked by the pantry. Yes, I was home all by myself and nearing the peak of stress for the day, so my memory could be a bit hazy here. 2/3^rd of a cup is a serving (a generous serving size when it comes to granola), which equals 250 cals, 40 carbs, and 5 g of protein. Luckily, I always opt for the healthiest stuff I can find, so the sodium per serving was only 40 mg! Oh yes, an entire serving got the best of me and really was like crack at this point. OMG, I swear, it was the best thing I’ve tasted all year; I was in granola heaven. To be fair, I don't even think I ate the whole serving, because I had such an intense food-gasm that I actually passed out mid-serving. 

You would think I could reel myself in at this point having satisfied my craving. Not a chance. The stress level reached its peak, I was near sweating, irrationally thinking my event was doomed and that I was letting down scores of people who were counting on me! Then suddenly, without warning, a big, family-sized bag of Cadbury eggs, was suddenly sitting on the table next to me as I fired off emails left and right. YES, another variety of egg was conspiring against me this week. I’ll have you know that these were not just any old Cadbury eggs; NO, these were the dark chocolate variety. As you must know, they are much more evil than the milk chocolate. Again, my memory is a little hazy here; I simply can’t recall the exact number that jumped from the bag into my mouth, I was way too busy typing to have reached in with my hand!

Heavy with guilt and high on chocolate, I went to the gym for an hour of cardio therapy, and decided I might as well finish off this diet disaster with a homemade scone in the morning at a planned Skinny Jeans Fitness™ workout and social, which is exactly what I did. WOW, that was the BEST scone (ok, maybe it was one and a half scones, since my husband only ate half of the one I brought home for him...was he saving the other half for later, or for me? He's so selfless, that it had to be for me, right??) in the ENTIRE world, really.

One good thing to come out of my carb frenzy is that I had the fastest sixty-minute run that I can remember in over a year! Yahoo!

Sunday I am back on track. I did text Isaiah and confessed my transgression. Yup, I came clean, and was instructed to flush it out with a gallon of distilled water. Seemed odd to me, but I wasn’t about to question my “Leader of the Lean” considering I just begging to be let back on the island!

Here's some of what the next 4 days looks like. 

Body pictures to follow this week, with a shorter update, so you can see my progress, or lack thereof, right along with me. I will say that things are changing. I have more definition in my arms and even found a vein on my stomach. It’s a little freaky, but sort of cool at the same time.  

  

This trainer's diet EXPOSED!

One of the most difficult things about reaching health and fitness goals is figuring out what to eat on a daily basis. I tell my clients, "YOU CAN'T OUT TRAIN A POOR DIET!" 


I don't necessarily have a "diet" for my clients, I just try to encourage them to eat less CRAP- Carbonated drinks, Refined sugar, Artificial sweeteners, colors, and Processed foods, follow generally-accepted, healthy diet suggestions. The goal is to consistently get in the habit of eating more real food in well balanced quantities throughout the day. I never tell my clients exactly what to eat; how else would they learn to do it on their own?


People always want to know what I eat so my plan is to take you on a journey with me and completely "expose" my own highs and lows of dieting and exercise to reach my personal goal (found below) by the end of May, 2012. I am merely doing this as a way to show that no one is perfect (not even your trainer), and it truly is one of the most challenging things to do; diet and exercise consistently to reach a specific goal, make changes, and stick with it. Many of my clients' goals are different than mine, and I try to help them follow a much more sane regime that they can adapt for their life, not for just 6 or 8 weeks. So here I am, putting myself "out there" to understand just exactly how difficult it can be. 


Since I already followed a healthy diet consistently, it wouldn't be very challenging to maintain it, so I chose a different goal. What follows is my way of going through what the average person (my clients) might go through while adapting to a whole new healthy lifestyle from "square one". 

CAUTION: this is not meant for the average "Jack" or "Jill" to follow at home. 

OK, so I'm not exactly starting from "square one", but I will admit I have fallen prey to the "slacker syndrome" with both diet & exercise a little bit (ok, fine, a lot) in the last year working full-time and dealing with various injuries that slowed me down considerably. 


Where I'm starting from & what's my goal:
When I started, two weeks ago, I weighed in at 140 lbs, I'm 5'7", and going to be 40 this year! Last week I had my body fat measured with calipers and it is about 14% and at the time I weighed 138 lbs (no I will not post my before picture... no one gets to see my girl-boxers and bed head except my hubby). My goal is to achieve 10% body fat by the end of May for a photo shoot. 

DISCLAIMER-This is not a body fat percent anyone should try to achieve, I would not recommend it for my clients, and I don't intend to stay there after achieving it.

I figured since I consider hiring a quality trainer is one of the smartest things a person can do to reach their goals as efficiently and safely as possible, I reached out to a trainer that knows exactly how to help me with this specific goal!  


I decided to consult one of the Pros (literally), Isaiah Southward, to get a customized prescription to lose fat and get lean. You can learn more about Isaiah here: http://www.isaiahsouthward.com/ He's pretty freakin' amazing! I think his bicep is bigger than my thigh. He's made his way through the bodybuilding ranks completely natural! He barely even agreed to let me use a whey protein powder supplement! sheesh! 


So, I called him up, recruited him for my cause, and he responded with a custom diet and workout schedule to reach my goal as efficiently and safely as possible based on where I'm starting from and where I want to be at the end of May.


Here are some of the things that are going to help me along the way, and you also get to see what I'm eating tomorrow (and the next day, and the next day. . .)! Planning is KEY to making this, and any healthy diet, work. It may take a little time upfront, but the investment pays off big time! In general, this is what I'm eating, with only slight variations, every day. 

I've got slow-cooking oatmeal with a Tbs of natural peanut butter and a couple egg whites for the morning. Baked talapia (measured by the ounce) with no sodium seasoning & lemon juice, and a cup of steamed green beans for late morning. Lunch will be chicken (not pictured because it was still cooking) measured to the ounce, and a cup of sweet potatoes. I'll sip on some green tea in the early afternoon, and then dig into plain tuna and a couple of egg whites in the late afternoon. (mmmm, yummy!) For dinner, I'll either have fish again, or 3-4 oz of lean red meat depending on my workout that day. The goal is 1,700-1,800 calories a day eating every 3 hours or so. 

60-120 oz of water is NOT an easy task!! Sometimes I get there, sometimes I don't, but I give it my best every day! I use a scale to actually measure my food so I know I'm eating exactly the right amounts of lean proteins. Everyone should have a scale and USE IT!

My tools to assist me along the way: running shoes, the new app STRAVA to track my runs on my iPhone, headphones & iPod loaded with audiobooks, and my Garmin watch to give me all sorts of important data!! 

I hope you decide to follow along on this journey with me, good, bad and ugly. Considering I could happily snarf down a bucket of cookie dough on a daily basis (although I never actually have), this will be no easy task for me. 


Sorry for the long post. 


AB

Give Me Your Best Excuse!

Have you been away from the gym for a while? Are you waiting until AFTER the holidays to get started? We’ve all heard excuses from people why they don't exercise. Today is the day you can stop making excuses for yourself. It's time to wake up and take a reality check. Research shows 60% of adults don't get the recommended amount of physical activity and 25% don't get any at all! With the rising cost of health care, and the abundance of affordable options available for physical activity, this is simply unacceptable. Don’t let yourself become one of these statistics. If you are still making excuses, then today is the day to celebrate your first day of freedom from excuses!

"I’m in no shape to exercise!" Need I say any more than that? How ridiculous does that actually sound? Let's turn that around and say, "I exercise to get/be in shape." Now it's an excuse to exercise!

"I don't have time." Puhhleeese! Really? Do you have time to watch an hour of TV? Or surf the Internet? We all have a way of making time for the things that are important to us. When you take a little time to improve yourself, those around you will benefit as well. You'll be a happier and healthier you. You will have more energy and more time in your life WITH exercise than without it!  

“I’m a beginner and I don’t know what to do” Everyone starts somewhere. Hire a trainer, or attend a group fitness class with a friend. Spent all your money on the holidays? Get a pedometer and walk 10,000 steps a day. There is your beginning. Get on Netflix, or go to the video store, and find a video to follow.  It’s cheap and easy. Just START MOVING and don’t stop!

“I’m too old to exercise.” Shame on you for even thinking that! NEVER. And don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. NO matter your age or ability, it’s NEVER too late to start.


“I’m waiting until after the holidays” Unacceptable! On average, people gain 2-6lbs over the holidays? How about you lose 2-5 lbs over the holiday this year. It could be the best present EVER!


"Exercise hurts!” If it were comfortable, we’d be skipping to work and doing cartwheels to the gym like it were 6 flags. You may experience discomfort, and muscle soreness at first, but that will lessen after the first weeks. It only "hurts" when you do too much too soon. Give yourself a week to build up some tolerance. Start with every other day. Before you know it, you will be welcoming that discomfort as a sign that you’re gaining body awareness and engaging muscles like nobody’s business. You will feel your progress towards the change in your health, fitness, and ultimately your life!


“I work really hard and don’t see any results.” You didn’t get to this place overnight, and you won’t change anything overnight either. Make up your mind right now that you WILL NOT quit. Find a friend, or a group to join to help keep you motivated and accountable. Rely on them when you are having a motivational crisis, and don’t allow yourself to make any more excuses. Choose diet or exercise first, not both together right away. Doing too much at once is overwhelming and may cause you to feel defeated.


Changing your life & body takes time. Don’t try to tackle everything at once.  Remember, everyone has a bad day here and there, that is not a reason to quit. Did you give up riding a bike the first time you fell off, or the second? NO. Now get back on that bike and keep pedaling till you’ve got it for good. Once you give yourself the option to quit, you will. Tell yourself that quitting is NOT an option. Everyday you continue to put effort forth to making a change; it will get easier to continue.


“I just don’t want to.” Duh! Most people, no matter how fit, say and think those very words. Do you want to go to work? Do you want to scrub the toilet? NO. Doesn’t matter if you WANT to or not. We do it anyway because we know that the reward MUCH outweighs the dislike. The endorphins that are released, and the endless rewards that we reap from moderate, consistent exercise FAR outweigh any of “don’t want to” excuses. Now suck it up and do it.

Lastly, remember that there are an abundance of resources to help you learn, get started, stay motivated, and be fit for your entire life. Don’t let another day pass by that you don’t take steps toward a healthier life.

Now what are you waiting for? Give me your best excuse!