Protein Powder

I’ve caved and bought protein powder. I was never into the powder craze, and still kind of am not. It did help that I looked on WHERE the Whey Protein comes from. Honestly that was a big freakout for me, I just didn’t understand it and thought it must be some weird chemical situation. Turns out it comes directly from milk. I don’t know how they do it for mass production because I was fine once I read that. But like for instance, if you buy yogurt and drain it through a coffee filter, the liquid that comes out is the whey.

So anyways, I caved because, when a single 35 minute weight lifting workout makes you as sore as I still am, 2 days later. It’s time to face facts that you’re not getting enough protein. I’m going to start mixing up my breakfasts I think. I have oatmeal with chia seeds and cinnamon prepared at my desk at work, I have frittata sitting frozen in my freezer. And now I have protein to make shakes with. So I’m going to eat all 3 throughout the week. I think I’ll have shakes on Monday since I lift on Mondays and oatmeal on Tuesdays because I run? But I don’t run until the evening so all the carbs would be used by then anyways wouldn’t they? I don’t know. We’ll see how I feel and what I feel I need each day/how lazy I am the night before. Shakes will happen less often because I’ll be too damn lazy to prep them. Plus I don’t want shakes every day because of the sugar associated with them I’m trying to limit that a lot in my daily routine and make fruit a more occasional thing. Plus protein powder has stevia in it so there’s .5g of sugar. Basically nothing to a normal diet but I’d just rather avoid any added sweeteners.

I bought chocolate protein powder since you can do simpler recipes with it, some don’t even have fruit, plus, chocolate. We’ll see how I like it and I’ll get a vanilla if I start enjoying the shakes. One thing I do like is the amount of stuff you can make with protein powder, there’s so many recipes out there that basically treat it like flour, so would be great for a healthy pretend this is a treat sometimes. I’ll be able to use it in the banana pancakes I make sometimes on the weekend too. Think it should help me achieve the perfect consistency without adding anymore oats to it.

So for tomorrow I prepped a chocolate mint shake. It’s:

• 1 scoop protein powder
• 1 tablespoon chia seeds
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 banana
• 1/4 teaspoon of peppermint extract
• Ice
• Milk

I hope it’s good! Not sure how the banana and peppermint flavour will work together but didn’t want to make it without something solid in there so it’d be an actual meal. I’d put spinach or kale in it instead if I had it but didn’t feel like buying any just for this experiment. The 30 dollar protein powder was enough.

Diet Cheating

Summer time happy times, went to my friend’s cottage on the weekend. Started with the best intentions.. ended with…less than that. Friday we had a fire, and I did not have a smore! I did have some graham crackers though because they’re crack. Saturday I went for an ‘easy’ run. Ie not easy because evidently cottage country = hills. Great because it’s a lot of flat around where I live (converted farm land), not great because it was tiring and suppose to be an easy run. Also got attached by black flies like hard core. I did not even know black flies were an issue in the summer. I was wrong. So I killed about half the population on that run so the rest of you can rest easy! I ate decently enough for that day. I did have a smore that night but just one. And then Sunday… Saturday was exhausting on top of the run also canoed and peddle boated and was just out in the sun a lot and my knees were feeling weak. So figured the 10k long run was going to have to wait a week as my body was not up to the challenge. So Sunday, enter all the eating. But don’t care! La la la don’t care! Because it was beautiful and didn’t trigger any set backs for the rest of the week so it was just a great weekend to relax and indulge.

I had ketchup on a hot dog for the first time since March. It was so beautiful. Do you know how much hot dogs such when you can only eat the actual meat part? They are not quality meat fyi, they suck. But Sunday I ate the white bun AND the ketchup, it was amazing.

So I was crazy tired Monday from the weekend and having to get up and go to work, I did nothing Monday and then ate a lot of crackers because coming back down from sugar is the biggest pain around. But by Tuesday I was getting there and now I’m good! So I did my usual yoga and run yesterday and weights and swim today so back on schedule after 2 day workout break.

Sunday me and my friends are having a sleepover and we’re going to make dinner/dessert together. Our dinner will be healthy, not so much dessert, I’m eating it anyways. This means multiple weekends in a row (had ice cream weekend before last) of cheating but WHATEVER I’m being good the rest of the time and I’m burning more calories then ever before! Yeah that’s a horrible excuse but you say no to desserts made with Oreos! Anyways I’ll be good after this weekend I promise!

Least I didn’t drinking this weekend and I won’t next weekend. I gave myself a choice, I could eat sugary foods or I could drink, I’m not big on drinking but am a huge fan of food so obviously I chose the food. One or the other but not both, I figure this is a good settlement?

Haven’t been able to weigh myself in a couple weeks, wonder if I’ve made any progress after all this. We will see this weekend!

Soreness is my life

Definitely feeling the last couple days… everywhere. And I like the next day stiffness, let’s me know I’m pushing myself. Over the fall I got into such a routine I ended up not getting very sore after awhile. But now I’m pretty much sore all the time because I’m doing so many different things and a lot more of it. Sunday I went for a 31km bike ride, it was lovely, little over 10km of that was on a lake front path we have in my town, so pretty and just tons of people out walking/biking/roller blading the path it was great to be one of them. But yeah that path is not close by so took nearly 10km just to get to it. Loved it though I’m going to do the entire path this weekend if I have the chance. Didn’t Sunday since wasn’t completely sure how many km’s were left on it and I didn’t want to increase my distance tooo much from the week before. In the evening I went for a walk with my dad.

Monday I did weights for about 50 minutes, I was going to do my long run since I didn’t get a chance to on the weekend but it was storming bad so gym it was. Then still wanted to get some cardio in so I ended up doing 20 minutes on the stair master. Enter all the soreness. I’m sure the bike ride didn’t help, my bum did feel weird when I was doing lunges, but Monday definitely did me in. I’ve been working a lot harder lately on really challenging my arms (paying off BIG time! They’re smaller and more defined already after just few weeks of slowly introducing more challenging movements) so they were feeling a bit sore the next day, and then yeah, the legs. But it was a manageable stiffness. Then came yoga, and the most slowed down version of flow we’ve done. It was GREAT but man muscles were working hard. And then I went for a quick 3k run that night. So last night, very sore, today, still sore. Sore enough when I first got up from sitting at my desk for an hour that a girl at worked noticed I was walking weird and asked if I was feeling okay lol. I was like ‘yup just stiff!’ ahaha

Anyways today another walk with my dad and then a swim. I am wiped! I was considering doing weights tomorrow but NOPE no need for that right now. I’m going to go to the mall after work, got a Victoria Secret coupon set the other day wooo free bag! and then I’ll go for a run later.

Also can we just talk about how much it sucks having to buy new bras in the middle of your weight loss? Like I’m pretty sure my last 5 pounds came straight from my boobs because up until now I’ve gotten by with my old bras, some more than others. But now, omg they’re all so horrible I had to buy new ones. and it’s just like man this sucks to buy something so expensive that I want to be to big for me soon. Like a month or so ago, last time I had the coupon set from VS actually, I bought these 2 bras that were a BIT too small. And now suddenly they’re getting too big. Hence why I said the last few pounds came directly from my boobs. I think I might asked to get measured tomorrow because I have no idea what size to try on since what I bought there is getting big. Bought the same size at La Senza on the weekend and they’re fine but I’ve always found them to be bit smaller than VS

I thought the pants issue was the worst but no this new bra issue is way worse. So much more expensive. With the amount of dresses and skirts I wear I can get by with my now 1 pair (but probably should buy a second, I had 2 but the other is too big now) of dress pants and 1 pair of jeans. But bras you gotta wear every day so there’s not a whole lot of bra washing going on at the moment…

2 pounds to go!

Down another pound this week! 172, 2 pounds until my first goal! woo!

I didn’t have any social plans for today, and when I have nothing to do and I’m home, I get the munchies. I ate so many nuts today pretty sure I gained back all the weight. lol But seriously, nuts super good for you, but super easy to over eat. yesh. ahaha it’s not actually that bad, I was able to tell myself to put them away. Plus I biked the the gym, did weights and went for a run. Run was shorter than I’d planned but that’s because it’s crazy hot outside, I can’t function in the heat. I did manage to do 4km though, was just planning on doing 5. Tomorrow I have to do my long run… in horrid humidity, I might cave and go to the gym to do it. I hate the treadmill though. I’m going to do 6.7km, that’s a whole lotta boring time on a treadmill. ugh.

Got 2 days off from work this week for Canada Day, which means all the workouts! ahaha not really, but more time off means might get to do some extra things. We will see!

Training for a Half Marathon

I’ve decided I’m going to start training for a half marathon! I’ve been thinking about it for awhile. Originally my goal was to do a 10k race on November 1st. I got the idea that I was going to take this whole thing slow and work on my speed a lot. Aaand I’m not doing that, I get way more self satisfaction from distance over time. Yeah finishing faster than I did before feels good but really, I don’t want to run any faster than what I do, I find it easier to run an extra 500m than I do to run a distance so many minutes quicker. So yeah, new goal, half marathon on November 2nd I’m going to wait until Sept 30 (the last day to sign up before price increase) and see how it’s going. If I don’t feel good about doing a half at that point, then I’ll sign up for the 10k and make it my goal to finish fast, it’s a flat course so fast times are easier.

So I picked a plan, it’s on the RunKeeper app, I’m doing the 13.1 under 2:30 hours plan, possibly not smartest to pick since there is an easier plan, but this one had intervals for the midweek runs and the other didn’t, and I like intervals so I went with that one, I might just do the long run distance from the other plan because this one has you do 14 mile runs and couple times.

It’s 16 weeks I think, the plan. So it doesn’t start until July 15 but for the next 2 weeks I’m going to follow the first week of the plan, just with shorter long runs to build up to where this plan starts off.

So starting Saturday my new workout plan is:

• Saturdays – bike to gym, do weights, bike home and run
• Sundays – long run
• Mondays – weights and bike ride (or swim instead)
• Tuesdays – yoga and run
• Wednesdays – weights and swim (or bike if swam Monday)
• Thursdays – run
• Friday – rest

That’s an intense schedule, I know this, so I will skip things as needed. Especially weights, I’ve planned it so I have 3 sessions in there, 3 is ideal but 2 is still great so I’m even fine with dropping down to 1 if I need to. And I think really it makes more sense to swim Mondays to give my legs a rest, I just prefer swimming Wednesdays right now as far as my week is concerned. But I’ll definitely switch it up if I’m constantly sore on Tuesdays.

Ideally I’ll reach my end goal during all this in which case I’ll ease up on the workouts, especially since I’ll be packing on the miles in the runs I’ll probably have to after awhile.

First 5K Race!

On Saturday I completed my first 5k race! It felt great! Well actually it felt brutal, that was no easy course, but in the end, it felt great. I was disappointed with my time at first, but then I got real. The course had 3 hills, the beginning of the course sucked, it’s a immediate downhill, so you don’t even have your stride and suddenly you’re going down, for a long while I might add, and then you haven’t even straightened out and you’re going uphill. So the first km was awful and I couldn’t catch my breath which does not happen for me. The rest of the race was better but a poor start still sets you back. And then there was 2 more hills which I was fine with, but still, slow you down. But in the end I came in under 35 minutes which is what I wanted anyways. So go me!

I’m going to go for a 10km race in September!

Next up I have a 5k obstacle race in a few weeks, SO EXCITED for it! I’ve always wanted to do an obstacle race. This was originally going to be my first race but then I found out about the other race 2 weeks ago, basically the day I’d done 5k for the first time and signed up for it since it was so cheap, only 15 bucks! The 10k I’m going to do is part of the same series so only 15 bucks again 🙂

And I inspired my dad to start walking! So proud of him! 61 year old man has pretty much done nothing but lay of the couch and sit at a desk for the past 15 years and yesterday when he saw me dressed in my workout gear he asked if I was going for a run. I said no (I was headed to the gym) and he said oh I was going to come with you, he says this kind of thing a lot so I didn’t think he was serious but I said okay, let’s go. And then he did! So we walked nearly 3km at a pace he said was fast for him. Said he was tired after but he’s fine today so we’re going to go out for another walk tomorrow! So will be a busy day for me, I go to yoga right after work, and then I’ll go for a walk with him and after that will do a quick jog.

Oh I also biked 16km on Saturday! Felt great, minus my bum. Hopefully it will get use to the bike seat soon! Damn annoying! Then I can ride longer 🙂

And I’m up to 6km on my long runs now! So exciting and proud of myself! Who knew I’d be doing this?

Also down to 173! I’m not going to cheat my diet this week (hopefully, so far so good) and maybe, maybe, I can finally be at 170 by the weekend! My workouts have been going great! I mean not last week since I was gearing down for the race, but I HATED it, because I had to do so much less than I did the week before, and I kind of love that I hated it. Like Thursday I couldn’t do anything and I was not impressed lol I was like maybe I’ll go for a walk, I’d had such a huge lunch, and my friend was like NO! Rest! So I grudgingly obliged. But I’m really just loving it! And mostly I feel great, sometimes I’m still down on myself because I want my tummy gone and my inner thighs are flabby, but I’ve come such a long way and I look and the mirror and I can tell I’m smaller. It’s so mind boggling I’m half convinced I’m seeing things but 25+ pounds gone doesn’t lie.

Back on the Bike

When I was younger I rode my bike all the time, in the summer I was usually on it daily. Then my bike broke, pretty much, I could still ride it but there was something messed up with the chain so I stopped riding. A Few years later I got a new one, rode it pretty frequently for a short time, until I messed up the gear. Then it was always this thing I needed to do with my bike before I could ride it. Last year or the year before I did fix it, but never really road it. This year I’ve been wanting to get out on my bike more often, I’ve been toying with the idea of doing a triathlon next year, I swim, I run now, and I have always like riding my bike. Plus one of my friends does triathlons and it’s pretty inspiring when she talks about it all.

So today I finally got my bike all cleaned up and ready and took it for a ride. So. FUN. I forgot how much I loved it, and I road over 11km and I didn’t want to stop, but my bum was hurting like nothing else and I didn’t want to over due it on the first ride. But I was just riding a long and having a blast. So fun, I can’t believe I forgot how fun it is! Can’t wait to get back on it!

No change this week in weight but I’ve been working out a lot and feeling great!

OH! And I made it to 5k earlier this week! AND I’m going to do my first 5k race next Saturday! So excited!!

First Bikini(s)!

I did it! I bought a bikini! and actually I bought 2 since the second set was half off. I told myself I would try one on when I could fit into size 8 jeans, and I don’t yet, American Eagle size chart says I still half an inch to loose on my hips before that is happening. But, I’ve been mentally working hard to try to convince myself that I could do it, buy a bikini. And I saw a couple bloggers here posting how they got their first bikini recently and today since I was going to the mall anyways I thought, alright, I’m going to do it! I’m going to try one on! And I did! And then I bought them!!

I’m too lazy to get up and take a picture but they are little! as in the bottoms are as low as they can be, not as in bits of me are falling out all over, I assure you nothing is falling out, I like my support. I’ll do a progress picture soon and I’ll wear one of them to show.

I forget when I last blogged, but I think I’ve changed my breakfast since then, I’m just eating frittata now. No fruit and yogurt, partially because I wanted to lower sugar intake more but more partially because I’m too damn lazy to prepare it everyday lol.

This week has been good, after a couple weeks easing up on running because I was feeling some pain in my achilles I’m back at it full force now and did my longest run yet (by 100m) of 4.5 km! Sooo I will be doing 5k for my next long run in a couple days! I started going to a yoga class at my gym, I love yoga and have been meaning to go for ages but I have to go right from work and I never put enough thought into it until last week. And it was great so every Tuesday I’m going to ‘beginner yoga’ as it is labelled but turns out is yoga flow. Thursday has a yoga class too, this one labelled yoga flow so I wonder if it might be a bit harder? Anyways after a few weeks and I’m back into yoga more I might start going to that one as well. Then I went for a run later in the evening that day.

Wednesday I went to the gym to do weights right after work and later on in the evening went for a quick swim. Today I shopped for like an hour and a half and then did a 30 minutes interval run. And tomorrow is rest! Which is super well deserved I must say. I am stiff all over. Stretching has never felt as good as it did after my run this evening.

Weight is still around the same, 178 when I weighed myself on the weekend. Really hoping to see a drop this weekend! Especially after 2 days of double work outs. I really just want to see the number 175 on the scale, just so bad. Then I’ll feel like I’m on ‘the last 5lbs’ except not since I need to loose at least another 10 after that. According to those ideal body weight charts for my height I should be 156 I think. But we’ll see, I know I weigh more than typical due to my bone structure and that I’m naturally more muscular but who knows! Maybe I’ll be 156 one day and still have a belly and body that could comfortably loose another 10! That is soooo not in my sights though 146? No.

Month 4: Day 19

Breakfast I had apple cinnamon overnight oatmeal with half a banana, strawberries and blueberries, usual tea, and usual veggies a chicken cutlet instead of beans for lunch.

Dinner I had 2 breaded chicken cutlets, few fries, and broccoli

Gym today, Im still sore everywhere I only stayed for 45 minutes. And then went home and did Day 5 of the challenge, 70 squats, 8 push-ups, and 45 leg raises.

Month 4: Day 17

Usual breakfast, 1 cup of tea, usual lunch minus cucumber.

Dinner was breaded sole, broccoli and french fries.

Back to gym, realised I haven’t been in over a week since I was sick Tuesday and Thursday and working Sunday. I think I only worked out for 45 minutes. I was just like, I still need to do day 3 of the challenge.. I’m done. My legs are sore and so I was doing more arm stuff but they got sore too quickly, probably from swimming. So yeah I was like, whatever, I’m going home lol

And then I did Day 3 of the challenge, 60 squats, 7 push ups, 35 leg raises. I’m dead.