30 Day Shred: The timing was all wrong!

I know excuses, excuses! I am so good at excuses. What I am not good at is admitting my excuses and holding myself accountable for my choices. This time, honestly, I really did not get the timing right on starting the 30 Day Shred Challenge I had set for myself. Like I said before I am REALLY good at only getting through a few days and then "life gets in the way" as I call it. HA! Here is why the timing was less than perfect. I started my challenge within the last month of spring semester. With all the final papers and projects to do. All the final tests to study for. The banquets and graduation festivities. I told myself it could wait. I really wanted my degree and I made a pact that I would take care of myself this summer before I start at Weber State University this upcoming fall. It was not as much of an excuse, as it was a reality check. I will put my exercise aside and focus on school and making better food choices. Then once Summer started, exercise would start again as well.

30 Day Shred: Day 3! And an Epiphany!

I did it! I completed day 3 before dinner. I found out the hard way that I can not work out late at night. It was hard to get to sleep because of all the endorphins in my body after Jillian Michaels kicked my butt yet again and I still can't get enough.

Today my body was so sore, especially my thighs. I really did not want to take the stairs on campus at all. I did, except to my communication class on the fourth floor, but I did take the stairs down from the fourth floor. There is something about walking down the stairs that feels nice when my thighs are sore.

After school I had a club meeting. On the way home I stopped to pick up some things for tomorrow night's salad dinner. You can't have salad without lettuce! When I got home from the store I put the groceries away and sat down on the couch. It was maybe 10 minutes and I started thinking that I might as well get my workout in for the day now. If I get it done sooner there is less of a chance that I will be able to "excuse" my way out of a workout. It is was too easy to come up with excuses not to do something than it is to do something. That has always been my problem. Procrastination and excuses.

I was sitting here writing this blog post and my boyfriend made the comment that I make the time to workout and to blog about it so why can I not make the time to clean up the house. He is totally right. I hate cleaning the house so it gets put on the back burner. What does that accomplish? Nothing more than pissing me off because yea I put the dishes off, but then I have to spend more time because there is build up. The same analogy can be given for working out and a healthy lifestyle. If you keep putting it off it just leaves you with so much work that you can become overwhelmed with all the work that lies ahead of you. With that, I am adding an element to my 30 Day Shred journey. I will track everything I eat and drink, regardless of what it is. I will workout, except for my planned rest days. I will make sure the house is clean before I go to bed at night and I will be taking this journey 10 days at a time. I got this! I can and will do this!

30 Day Shred: Day 2

It was so hard to complete my day 2 workout today. I can't give up on day 2! I was just working on a paper from my Political Science class and that became my reason not to work out. I kept thinking, "well, I can just skip to day and do it tomorrow." It was one of the hardest things to overcome. Then I remembered my week at the Biggest Loser Resort at Fitness Ridge. I survived 7 days of working out 6 hours a day. I remembered how sore I was on Wednesday and that I thought I would literally die if I worked out at all that day. That was my self sabotage. Tonight I really wanted to work out in theory, but I did not have the motivation to get up and work out after completing a 3 page essay. I just had to do it though. I told myself that I would complete the 30 days this time around and I can't just skip a day! Why put off for tomorrow what I can complete today? If I put off the work, then I am also putting off the results as well. I hunkered down and completed my day 2 workout at 10:30pm. Better late than never right? Bring it on day 3!

30 Day Shred: Day 1

I have been thinking about starting 30 Day Shred again. I just have to finish it. I have tried to do it before and I made it a few days here and a few days there. Heck, I have never even made it past level 1. This time I am determined to make it happen. I plan on doing level one Monday-Saturday with a rest day on Sunday. That is 6 days. Then Monday-Thursday will complete level one. Friday will be level 2 with Saturday and Sunday being rest days. Level 2 will continue Monday-Sat with Sunday being another rest day. That is 7 days on level 2. Monday-Wednesday will complete level 2. Thursday-Saturday on level 3 with another rest day on Sunday. Monday-Wednesday on level 3 with a rest day on Thursday and Friday. Due to my community college graduation on May 8. That is 6 days on level 3. Saturday-Tuesday will complete my 30 Day Shred. Day one has been completed. Tomorrow I will measure and weigh myself so I know exactly where I am starting from. I got this!

Green Smoothies?!?! Really?!?!

 I never understood this fascination with green smoothies or green juices. I would always think to myself, "I would never want to eat kale so why would I ever want to drink it?" They just look unappetizing and the thought of it made me want to gag. I would just imagine the smell of brussel sprouts or some other vegetable that I don't like or have not tried. This would cause me to have to keep myself from vomiting profusely.

I happened on a show called Fat, Sick, and Nearly dead. I was captivated. Although, I would never be able to drink all my meals. I love food way too much. It got me thinking that maybe it would not be so bad until I remembered that it would mean drinking vegetables. Then I came across this recipe for Kale, Blueberry, and Almond Milk Smoothie and a light bulb went off. I thought that this might work because it is not all leafy greens and my boyfriend loves all things vegetable so I figured we would try it. Yuck! It was not that good I did have to modify the recipe and with a few modifications I made it drinkable. Although I did add too much lemon so next time I will have to remember less is more. I call it the Blue-Green Smoothie.

Blue-Green Smoothie

Makes two servings. 205 Calories per serving.

• 1 1/2 c. rough chopped kale
• 1 c. unsweetened almond milk
• 1/2 c. plain Greek yogurt
• 1/2 c. frozen blueberries
• 1/4 c. frozen mango chunks
• 2 TBS. chia seeds
• 1/4 lemon with peel on

Combine ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. 

Chocolate PB&J Protien Shake

This is similar to what it looked like.

The protein shake I whipped up this morning was fantastic. It was a different take on my normal protein shake, but I realized after I started blending my shake that there were no more bananas left in my house. Panic set in and I imagined drinking a chalky mess and that just was not going to fly. I scanned the fridge and came across grapes. A light bulb went off and I thought "I eat grape jelly with peanut butter so it could work." It tasted fantastic.

The picture is similar to the one I whipped up, just imagine small pieces of red grape peel in it as well.  Really I did not take a picture of it because I was in a hurry and wasn't sure if it would really taste that great. I know it sounds super gross and at first the thought of having to chew the peels was unsettling. Fortunately the shake was thick enough you don't even notice the pieces of peel. Without further ado, here is the recipe as promised.

Chocolate PB&J Protein Shake

Makes 1 Serving. Approximately 250 calories

• 1 Scoop of Chocolate Whey Protein Powder
• 1 Tablespoon of PB2 (powdered peanut butter)
• 1 Cup of Blue Diamond Unsweetened Almond Milk Original
• 26 Red Grapes
• Approximately 5 Ice Cubes (more or less depending on desired thickness)

Throw ingredients in blender. Blend until smooth.

Breakfast Regrets Turned Around By Dinner

This morning I opened the fridge to make breakfast and the first thing I see is leftover Papa Johns. Score! I heat up the last two pieces of the large All Meats pizza and think nothing of it. That is until I went to track it on MyFitnessPal. 740 calories!!! Really?!?!?! In two pieces of pizza. I was floored! Instantly regret set in, then I started freaking out about the fact that I just ate HALF of my daily calories in the first meal of the day. I felt like I had to go crazy and watch every single calorie. It was totally overwhelming and this is something that would have thrown me into a downward spiral of regret which would have ended with me throwing everything out the window and just giving up. Not anymore. The more I thought about it the more I realized that there was still silver lining in every dark cloud.

Silver Linings I Found:

• It was the last two pieces of pizza. I can't eat it if I don't have it.
• One misstep is no reason to give up.
• Tomorrow is a new day!

These silver linings that I was able to find shows the growth I have experienced with the mental aspects of changing my lifestyle. I really have Fitness Ridge to thanks for that. The week I spent there was amazing and I learned so much about myself as well as ways to combat my negative self talk. This is totally a non scale victory for me. Not only did I get back on track, but it was accomplished in the same day. That is a total win! I made very healthy choices for dinner. I made sauteed mushrooms with grapeseed oil, and steamed asparagus with 1 tsp of butter. The main course was a baked, panko crusted, stuffed pork chops. The pork chop was so tasty although it was slightly unhealthy that's no big deal. The whole dinner was under 300 calories so it was still a win. I was able to get over my bad food choice from breakfast and had a renewed sense of accomplishment by dinner. 

I Give Up!

APRIL FOOLS!!!! Me give up? Really? It is actually the opposite I am more determined than ever. I found my fitbit one this afternoon and there is something about that device that keeps me accountable to myself. It makes me want to do better and keep doing better. I plan on starting tomorrow since my fitbit will be charged. My short term plan is to just track everything I consume. Everything. My goal is ten days consecutively and I don't plan on watching my calories as much as I plan to track everything. I will also be starting Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred again. This time I really want to complete all 30 Days. I can so do this. I also need to purchase another scale so I can track my progress by weight and I will be taking measurements. I will not fear the scale. It does not control me. I control it and only I can change the number on the scale! I can and will do it!