Road to Strength: April 10-30, 2017
Remember last June when I did a daily update during my first round of the 21 Day Fix? That was so much fun! I was so motivated to keep people updated and I was into doing my workouts. Which was huge for me because I don't necessarily enjoy making myself workout, generally I'm fine to workout, but I've found that actually getting me to the gym can be very difficult. So I've decided to keep my readers updated because it was incredibly motivating. I've had some hardships lately and I really need a kick in the pants to move my body again. My back is aching, my knees hurt, and I've noticed that my hips are in pain again. Not cool! Especially when I put so much effort into my health. Now, I am still eating really well. I mostly follow the containers and during the week, I am very regimented, however, during the weekend I slack off; again, not cool! Now it's not like I've completely given up workouts, but I have however significantly decreased them and gasp, I kind of miss working out every day. I just want to make sure I keep my body active because it feels amazing. I don't care about the scale, I don't care if I lose inches, but I do want to feel healthy and I don't right now.
So I am going to update you all here on this post. It will be very long, so I understand if you all stop reading, but I need to keep myself motivated and my blog is the perfect place to do it. I have a few rules to follow, that are my own: 1) No alcohol; 2) I must workout once, every day; 3) I must not buy treats from Monday to Friday; 4) I am totally allow to change the scheduled workout for something else; and 5) I must share everything.
On Sundays I will share my meal plan for the week. Then throughout the week, I'll share my workouts with you and I'll let you know how I am making out. At the beginning, I'll share my workout schedule which will most likely change, but these are my goals.
I know what you're thinking "Sam, your body will fatigue, you shouldn't do this", but I beg to differ. Here I have a great balance of strength training, cardio, and length training. Let me break it down by day so you understand.
On Sundays, I visit my family, mom likes to walk, so were gonna walk.
On Mondays, a woman at work runs these lunchtime workouts and they vary every time, so I figured I add a core workout too because I don't work that out enough. The core workout I enjoy is from PIYO.
On Tuesday, another woman at work does yoga, but sometimes that get's cancelled. So I will substitute that with the gym and do arms. In the afternoon on Tuesdays, I go home for supper, so it would be easy to get a walk in if I went to the gym. If I didn't go to the gym and I did yoga, I will do Upper Fix from the 21 Day Fix.
On Wednesday, I will go to the gym for cardio at lunch and do Lower Fix from the 21 Day Fix. My version of cardio is pretty slack and it's just to get my heart pumping. Nothing intense, nothing to really fatigue me.
On Thursday, it's the same lunchtime workout, but instead of core, I will do Pilates from 21 Day Fix.
On Fridays, I like to do yoga at work, but if it get's cancelled, I'll go to the gym for a light core workout and a good stretch. Then on the evenings, there is $5 hot yoga, which is amazing.
On Saturdays, there's nothing better than doing the Dirty 30 from 21 Day Fix.
They say you should do 30 minutes of physical activity a day, but sometimes, that isn't enough. I sit at work and I need to move more. I In total, I'll be doing approximately 470 minutes of physical activity a week for three weeks. Will I reduce that after three weeks? Yes, but for now, let's see how I do the first week, I think it will be quite manageable.
April 10:
I woke up quite tired this morning, I finally got into the shower and then I had breakfast. I thought I was doing well with my time and then I wasn't, so I took my bike, which I was planning on doing, but the first bike ride of the season was quite difficult.
Anyways, after fearing for my life on the roads of Fredericton on a bike, I made it to work. At lunch, we did a warm up where we ran for 10 minutes outside and then did kettle ball swings, flutter kicks, and overhead lunges. I couldn't feel my legs, I was dragging them, I couldn't walk down staircases; it's all good. I had all my snacks and lunch one right after the other, I was rather hungry.
My bike ride home was better, I took a few more back roads and it wasn't as hard. Yay! Once I got home, I got changed, and did PIYO Core, this went well, but my focus was a lot more lax, which I anticipated. I then had my supper. Overall, it was a great workout day. I'm going to have a tea a little later and I hope that this continues.
April 11:
My legs were so sore! I could barely walk and I for some reason wasn't expecting this much pain. Alas, I still took my bike to and from work, I worked out at lunch, and I went for a walk with my mom. The gym was nice because I worked out my triceps and shoulders. I had to take a bath though, to alleviate some pain.
I did really well with food today. I deviated from my no sugar rule though, but that's okay, it's not the end of the world. It was just so nice out! Here is a picture from my walk.
April 12:
Today was the anniversary of my dogs death, I was sad this morning. The bike ride was easier though! I worked out my biceps at lunch and I did a little cardio, I actually ran on the treadmill and it wasn't completely awful. I did workout though when I got home :( Honestly, my knee hurt a lot and I am still so sore. My body needed a little break, which was fine by me. The whole point of this, is that I am working out.
I did really well with my meals today and I even got myself a designated to go cup with a straw for my work smoothies... no more waiting for it to melt a little to drink! yay :)
Tonight, I just did my nails and watched 13 Reasons Why, have you seen it? I feel like I'm behind on this.
April 13:
Yesterday, I had a great workout! We did abs at lunch... it was hard, after, I felt so relaxed. I felt so great. Then I went home, and my sister called to go to the gym, so I tagged along and that's when it happened. I weighed myself, then I body shamed myself and then the entire time I was at the gym, I had to talk myself down from it. So the gym was just not fun. Then I told myself to never do it again because it causes too much negative energy and that's not what I want. I want to continue to be positive towards myself so I need to keep celebrating my victories, like how amazing I felt after my lunchtime workout. I've also worked out four days in a row, which every time it happens, I am always amazed with myself. All this to say, that I am very proud of myself. Then I went to the SuperStore and got groceries for Easter Weekend and rice was on sale... Score! Here's a picture of my walk to the store last night.
April 14:
Today, I finished watching 13 Reasons Why, then me and my roommate cleaned the entire house. We deep cleaned and it was amazing, everything is in its place and we even figured out the amount of dishes we can put in the dish washer so that everything get's cleaned.
Then I went for a walk, it was nice, but the wind was kind of cold. I was super surprised to not see more people outside. I should have done a double yoga day, but it's Good Friday and everything is closed. Oh well, I got to clean my house and go for a walk, it was nice.
In other news, I also buffed my nails and they are soft!
April 15:
Woke up that morning quite early, not tired at all and I knew I was going to have a very busy Saturday, so I did my workout at 7:30 am. It was awesome. I love the Dirty30 from 21 Day Fix, it makes me feel so good afterward and I was pretty sore on Sunday. I was supposed to go for breakfast with my roommate, but all our breakfast options either had a long line or it was closed, so we went back home for waffles instead. Which ended up being better because I didn't over eat, it wasn't healthy, but I didn't feel stuffed like a turkey. I had leftover roasted veggies for lunch.
There was also a dinner party/ crash at my house party... there was a lot of food, my carb intake was too high; being totally honest here, I made a mac and cheese and it was really good! I also broke my wine/beer rule, but I limited myself for that because I want to see results. It was super fun, but at 11 pm, I got tired and went to bed. Nobody else did. I didn't sleep well to say the least.
April 16:
I woke up super early, probably since I slept for four hours and said "why not get up then". I knew there were a bunch of people in my house, so I only went downstairs after 8:30, but until then, I have been discovering Spotify and found all these wonderful Broadway musicals on it, so that's what I was playing with for an hour.
I decided to go home early with my sister because it was Easter and I hadn't seen my parents in a few days. So she packed up and I made us smoothies and we left before everyone was up.
It was a great day, I didn't exercise, I know I am supposed to go for a walk, but it was raining, and I was beyond exhausted. I came home after dinner and vegged in front of the TV for a while, then I went to bed super early. I also had a really bad stomach ache all day/evening, so I really wasn't up to do much.
Thoughts for my first week: I think for my first week and considering my entire Friday was canceled, I think it went really well. I didn't do two of my afternoon workouts, but thats okay. I worked out at least once every day, except for Sunday. Meal wise, I had treats on the weekend, and now no more treats until Friday after work. On the upside, my cravings for sugar have diminished by a lot. Probably because I am drinking more teas at night and I am trying to have fruit to cut the craving. Which does really work.
This week will be better because there aren't any holidays to ruin my workout plans. As finding backup plans for my workouts is difficult.
Side note: The mac and cheese will be served in a small container and the salad a big one, I just have so much left and I hate to see waste. Also the Tex Mex Casserole is vegetarian and served in a medium/small container. I don't have hefty portions of this because it can be quite carby/filling. Just wanted you guys to know so you're not shocked by my meal plan this week.
April 17:
On Monday I had a very slack day, I went to Yin Yoga and it's an amazing stretch, but quite sleepy. Honestly, this day was great, I found more things for my trip, I relaxed and I took care of myself.
I ate really well, but to give you a better idea, it was almost exactly like Monday, but not snacks. I don't snack all that much when I am at home because I'm not using up as much energy as I do during the week. Oh! I did make brussel sprouts and they are delicious.
April 18:
I went to the gym on Tuesday and I was taught to bench press. Which was interesting, but I felt so proud of myself afterward. I worked on my shoulders and triceps like last week.
For my meals, I followed the meal plan to a T, but again, I didn't have the protein shake. I don't know why, but I keep forgetting to drink it. Oh well. Also, I got my name plate today, which was so exciting!
April 19:
I didn't workout yesterday :( not because I didn't want too, but because I was really busy and I just didn't have the time. I could have worked out after work, but I was really tired. I really can't beat myself up though. I've been doing so well and I ate really well all day! Also, I learnt I really like brussel sprouts.
April 20:
Well, I worked out today, but I only did 2/3's of the workout because I had a jam packed afternoon and I had to eat lunch at some point. It was good, we did a lower belly/squats workout and it was great. I had to give up on the salad though, it went bad and I totally expected that and I didn't prepare for it. So I ate brussel sprouts and I've eaten them twice now.
Tonight, I decided that in preparation for Hawaii, next week I'll be cutting my carbs down to two portions and upping my veggies. So lots and lots of salads, 6 kinds to be exact. Otherwise, I will get bored if I eat the same one over and over again. Plus, now I can finally buy Costco lettuce and have a reason for it.
I was still really tired today, but I think its because the weather has been cold, and I finally have relaxed a bit and my body is showing its exhaustion... good thing I'll be headed to the beach in 11 sleeps.
April 21:
I didn't workout at lunch! And that's okay. I had a prior engagement and you know what? I went to hot yoga and it was really nice and I biked there and that was awesome. Then I meal prepped my meals for next week. I ate really well, there was a baby shower and I had cheesecake (so good) and I don't feel bad. I am also set to not waste any food for the week! Bonus.
April 22:
I decided to do the Dirty30Extreme this afternoon. It was great, but I still like the original more. It was not a health conscious day, I won't even lie. Pizza for lunch, mac and cheese for supper, wine, dessert, snacks. All the good stuff we love eating, but isn't good for us. Although, I did have a raspberry juice/smoothie and it was amazing! Also, my ankle has been hurting like crazy and I'm considering going to physiotherapy.
Salad detox week! Yay! I also have a veggie soup for when I need a little extra. For those of you who follow the Beachbody containers, just know I'll be doing like one and a half blue and half an orange for the dressing.
How to make the salads:
BTL Salad with hardboiled egg and poppy seed dressing.
- Large handful of baby romaine lettuce
- Tomatoes
- Red onion sliced
- Chicken slices
- Boiled egg
- Turkey bacon
- Feta
- Cucumber
- Poppyseed dressing
Cranberry Apple Walnut Salad
- Large handful of spinach
- Chicken
- Sliced apple (may not use the whole apple)
- Dried Cranberries
- Walnuts
- Little goat cheese
- Balsamic dressing
Greek Salad
- Large handful of romaine
- Tomatoes
- Cucumbers
- Red onion slices
- Chicken
- Feta
- Greek dressing
Strawberry Bacon
- Large handful of romaine
- Strawberries
- Goat cheese
- Walnuts
- Chicken
- Turkey bacon
- Balsamic dressing
April 23:
I didn't workout today, I ate pretty well though. It was my off day. Should have gone walking, but oh well! I took two naps and made some soup. Now I am meal prepping for the week.
April 24:
What a great bike ride! Wow. For the first time in almost three years, it doesn't hurt to ride my bike. I'm 95% sure it was the tube tires that were causing so much leg pain. So we (my dad) replaced them and now its really easy to ride my bike. My ankle was in a lot of pain today, so we modified my workout to squats, instead of lunges. I also did high knees instead of running, those are hard.
The salads were amazing! So many veggies so much goodness.
April 25th:
I've been working on a special project, so I did a very quick arm workout in the boardroom with a co-worker. It was great, my back actually hurt the next day. Then that evening, I went to Clay Café and I met this adorable cat in my driveway.
My eating was good, salads are pretty yummy, but I wasn't in love with the greek salad I made since the feta just was too salty.
April 26th:
I went to the gym and I just wasn't feeling, I did abs, but to be honest, I wasn't in love with working out and I felt discouraged. Luckily, I have a lot of wonderful people who talked me out of discouragement.
That night, I made a really great salad. It was so good!
April 27th:
Today I almost fainted. Don't avoid water all morning and then do an intense workout and not fuel yourself properly afterward. I had intended to eat well and drink my water, but I got busy and I just forgot. So when I almost fainted, I was like "maybe you need a break" . So that's what I did.
April 28th:
I didn't workout today. I got ready for my trip.
April 29th:
I spent the whole day cleaning and packing and I was feeling completely restless by 8. So I went for a run/walk. I was great, I did a few blocks and it was nice to move and get my heart pumping. I ate relatively well too, I am trying to finish up the food I have in the fridge.
April 30th:
Today I thought instead of telling you how I ate or worked out I would tell you how I feel. Truth is, exercising almost every day for the past three weeks has been great. I've finally established something I can manage and I want to do. There are muscles I've never felt, but I have now. I'm going on vacation, but that doesn't mean my exercising stops. I feel great and energized and although my meals have been relatively the same forever, I appreciated them a whole lot more because I wasn't treating myself for the weeks. Was I great at every workout? No, and that's okay. I left this experience ready to keep working out.
Thanks for reading,
Samantha