Forget the Past, Live in the Moment.

Good morning!

Last night I hit a pretty big realization which just motivated me to the max. What I most realized was that I had probably one of the best cardio work outs on my own that I’ve had in a loooooong time. And that was mostly due to the fact that my other cardio day this past week was complete crap. I made excuses after excuse that day, “my legs were tired from my leg day Monday”, “It’s snowing really bad out and I shouldn’t stay long”, “Well I did this many sprints, sooo that should do the trick”. GRRR just thinking about it makes me so mad!

I’m not one to not put my whole effort into things anymore. That was the old me, and it made me so mad that I let the old me slip in and make excuse after excuse to make myself feel better about the situation. The main reason why I’m frustrated is because my trainer gave me a goal weight to hit by February 14, which I know I can do! But if I continue to have crappy cardio days like that, then someone might as well hand me a donut because it just won’t happen…(I have donuts on the brain because tonight is my card night 🙂 !)

But thats why last night I knew that I needed to forget about Tuesday, I can’t change what happened, and hey I slipped up it happens. BUT NO MORE! I woke up yesterday on a mission, a mission to kick my own butt harder than I’v ever before!

I focused on my eating, went to work, then on my way from work I was off to the gym. I snacked on some sunflower seeds to get a little energy kick. Mind you, my drive from work to my gym is about 35-40 mins depending on traffic, and usually I can time my eating before workout out right. But anyway, I put my motivation cap on, put my handy dandy Polar Watch on so I could keep track of calories, and off I went!

I first attacked the rowing machine because treadmills were all taken, (I do HIIT [High intensity interval training] on all the machines I use). Then I ran over to a treadmill, when I saw it was freed up! SCORE! Now we can get this party started with some sprints! Whelp, as soon as I started going, I got a major you didn’t digest those stupid sunflower seeds you just ate cramp! I tried to keep sprinting through it, but it was useless. Beyond frustrated I knew I had to switch gears. This was NOT going to stop me, NO excuses here!

I decided to kick my butt in other ways…I did HIIT on the stationary bike and battle ropes. Did some ab work then light arm work. Then went back over and did more battle ropes and decided to finish with some HIIT on the stair master (which by the way, as much as I love that burning feeling, the stair master is the devil).

After an hour and a half I believe I was successful and it felt great! I got in a nice stretch afterwards, went home, had some isopure, ate dinner, and was lights out at 10:00.

Basically, we just have to remember that you can’t change the past, so why dwell on it?? Why waste all that time when you can enjoy the present moment? We never know how many present moments we are going to have (morbid, I know) so make them meaningful!

Oh by the way, I’m off from work today so……I’ll be back. 😉

The Good, the bad, and the ugly.

Welp, I had my first carb night last Friday after 10 days of eating only 30g of carbs a day! This was a struggle, let me tell you! I love my carbs, I love bread and all things that go with it. It was especially tough when I’d come home from work and my mom would be making stuffed shells or some sort of delicious pasta dish…and there I was…making chicken…again.

I had to get creative. I had to start googling and make this more fun for myself, or else I’d never survive! I stuck with the stables of veggies as far as eating spinach on a daily. But I started to change up my proteins. Shrimp, ground turkey, and eggs (not the biggest egg fan but I spiced them enough to where I enjoyed them)! But I did the 10 days, and that glorious day had finally come!

That morning I had work and then a training session for a brutal leg day! I love me some squats and an intense leg workout, but this one was definitely a kick in the butt thanks to my trainer! I probably looked like I had a stick up my butt when I’d try to walk to the next machine, a stick that kept getting bigger and bigger after every exercise.

But after pushing through and working hard during my session, I was beyond excited!

Had some chocolate muscle milk and a banana after my workout and was ready to get this going! My Friend and I had been planning this night since before I even started this diet (sad I know). But what can I say, I love fooooood.

We knew we wanted pizza, along with some other goodies we picked up at the store while our pizza was being made. I literally kept jumping up and down in excitement and played blaring music in my car while dancing to it…again this all sounds so sad now that I am thinking back on this. But no carbs for 10 days and make a girl a little crazy.

Allow me to show you what my night looked like.

So after, 6 slices of pizza, 2 donuts, and a triple decker ice cream sandwich made by yours truly I was a little nervous about what would come in the morning. I went comatose after trying to finish the ice cream sandwich (but couldn’t), and finally went up to bed. I didn’t get the best nights sleep, mainly kept tossing and turning. And in the morning, I didn’t feel as “tight” as I was described as how I should have felt…More so bloated and soft.

I was a little disappointed, but realized that this was my first time, and now I know I have to make adjustments for my next carb nights. I am also making more adjustments during my low carb days. For example, less cheeses, more nuts and seeds for my fats, and a lower fat content in my proteins aka no more fatty bacon and sausages for this gal for right now!

I must say, as excited as I was for carb night, it was definitely a lot. The next day I was definitely looking forward to getting back to the healthy eats and cooking all my meals instead of ordering out. So until next carb night, I shall be enjoying my own delicious dishes…like this one!

Puttin’ my Big Girl Pants on.

   Hiya guys! Today is NOT going to be another lazy day for me! I’m puttin my big girl pants on and keeping myself busy today. No I don’t have work today, but my throwers that I coach do have a novice track meet this evening that I am VERY excited for! Its been a while since I’v been to a track meet, and I definitely miss going to them. To get out of the house before that, my friend and I are going to an early movie! I love love movies…who doesn’t?! My friend and I used to have what we call “special lady days” all the time over the summer when we had more time. Now with us both being super busy, it’s hard to find times for when we are both free, but when we do, it now makes “special lady days” EXTRA special and exciting!! 

 

 

      After all is said and done, I have my 2nd training session with Rob and I am super pumped!! I’m making sure I get enough protein and fats today to prepare for it. That being said, I had a BIG GIRL breakfast. A little bacon and egg action, and a couple slices of cheddar cheese on top of the eggs for some extra pazaze! 

 

 

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention….TWO DAYS PEOPLE! TWO DAYS TILL I CAN HAVE A MOUTH FULL OF CARBS INSTEAD! 

Lazy Snow Day

  This will be my last post of today…I promise. It has been a long lazy day full of snow, christmas movies, and relaxing. Now don’t get me wrong it was not a bad day! I definitely enjoy those unexpected days where I’m off from all of my jobs and get to lounge around in my comfy sweats. Especially since this isn’t something that happens too often for me anymore. But these kinds of days often throw me off track. I get into a serious lazy mode and start an argument in my head of “should I just go to the gym today, or should I do (what I know will be) a half assed kettle bell workout at home?” I then continue to answer both sides with a “Just go to the gym and do your workout, get out of this house full of carbs!” Which the devil on my shoulder answers back with…”I never have real days off anymore and you deserve to keep resting! Besides look at how snowy out it is! You don’t want to drive in that, do you??” Ok I’ll stop it with the corniness now, you get the point.

 So in the end of all that arguing, I got my butt off of the couch, put some real clothes on, and went to the gym. And damn did it feel good. It was just a cardio and abs day today, but it snapped me out of my laziness mode and made me a real functioning person. Just because I had a day off from work, doesn’t mean I suddenly get to plan a day off from my workout as well (especially when I already had the weekend off from workouts).

 

With my new mindset I now kick that devil in the shins and now win every argument, resulting in me feeling ten times better after leaving a successful workout! AND I got to use the gym’s foam roller, that I was introduced to by Rob yesterday. And let me tell you, that thing is one of the greatest inventions EVER. Check out the video on my instagram—> here

 

So my advice to everyone on the snow day…SNAP OUT OF THE LAZINESS AT THE END OF THE DAY AND GO! You’ll feel like a million bucks!

New Chapter

   This week I start a new chapter in my life. After have been regularly lifting for the past 14 weeks and feeling stronger by the day, I now take a turn and start working out towards something. Before, I was lifting to change my body into a body that I would love. Now I’m lifting to gain strength and to bring my competitive side back! I’v have truly missed being a part of something athletic wise. Growing up I always played some sort of sport. And in college I played rugby and threw for track and field. Throwing was always a passion of mine since my freshmen year in high school, and that was originally one of my goals at the beginning of my lifting plan. Get strong so I can throw farther and compete at a higher level. But things change, life changes, and my passion is included in that. Now I will always and forever love and be passionate about throwing. But these days, lifting is my new passion.

 

         I take all my stress, all my emotions, anger, frustrations, anything I’m feeling that day, I take it out on lifting. I leave it all in the gym and walk away feeling cleansed. These days I’m pushing myself to new heights to start competing in Strongwoman competitions. To take what I’ve accomplished so far, keep working, and then put it all to the test! I’m beyond excited to start training for this!! With the help from my new trainer Rob, who has competed in Strongman competitions, I know when the time comes I will be prepared and stronger than ever!

 

        Of course I know this isn’t going to be easy at all, most definitely will it be full of hard work and dedication, which I am totally prepared for. Currently I am already in the process of changing my diet to carb backloading.  This way I can get leaner, maintain my strength, and keep building muscle. Basically you go through a 10 day recalibration phase of eating 30 or less grams of carbs a day, which means you end up eating mainly proteins and fats. Then on the 10th day after your have a resistance workout (try to workout between 5 and 6pm) have your protien and then have whatever carbs you want until bedtime. Pizza, ice-cream, and all that yummy stuff you couldn’t eat during those 10 days! And with this diet you want to keep it so that the carbs you inhale on your carb nights are the greasy bad carbs you usually try to stay away from on other diets. No brown rice or sweet potatoes here! Check out the link and see why!

 

     For me I am on day 7 of my recalibration phase, and I CAN’T WAIT TO EAT CARBS ON CARBS ON CARBS ON FRIDAY!! I have been dreaming of cheesecake and pizza! With so many temptations everywhere this has definitely been a challenge! I have done a lot of different kinds of diets before, including a low carb diet, but I have never been this strict about it before. I’m on a mission and no carb is going to get in the way of that! But I’ll go into that more later, including pictures of some of my meals that I have been eating while on my no/low carb diet! And some progress pictures, even though I am always nervous to show whoever looks at this those things. But I figure, this blog is for myself and pictures help me see that all my hard work pays off!

 

    If you are following along with my journey and have any questions or comments, I always love feedback!