Day 39 Clean...Day 11 LFT~~Legs/Calves Day!

Not much to share today...or maybe I'm just not in much of a sharing mood :( I'm a little frustrated because the scale is going up...and not down! Ugh.....!!! I'm trying my best not to get irritated, frustrated, pissed off, or mad...but it's kinda hard when I've been working so hard to stay clean and lift weights and follow the LFT plan and not divert from it! Anyway, other than the scale not budging right now, I'm ok! Today was a good leg day and I could've pushed myself a bit harder on the wide stance squats and leg curls, but I'm sure my legs will still be sore a bit tomorrow. 

I was looking at myself in the mirror at the gym today, and again, i don't see any progress....shoot, I don't even see it in my regular clothes ~X( And I know everyone will say "give it time" or "you're gaining muscle" or whatever...I don't wanna hear it :D I wanna see the results and I'm so ready to see some inches starting to come off of my body! 

I know it's all a mind thing for me for now! I know it didn't take 2 weeks to gain this weight and it won't take 2 weeks to take it off!! Patience!!!! That's what I need and I don't seem to have it...not anymore! ;) I'm almost finished with phase 1. I've got 2 weeks left and it'll be time for me to roll into phase 2 of LFT. So, no more scales for me. I took a pic of a sundress that's pretty snug on me now. That's my motivation so that by the end of the 12 weeks it'll fit...nicely! It'll be spring by the time I'm done with LFT so I'm gonna put that dress on again on April 6, 2014!! See, now I"m starting to get excited and I'm starting to feel I can do this!!! So let's git 'r DONE!!!!

I'm out!!

Day 38 Clean...Day 10 LivingFit

:x:x

Just me making the best of my day at work!! :D I've been frustrated at work since the beginning of the New Year, but I just grin and bear it for the most part. Shoot, I'm not doing anything illegal, so I gotta do what I gotta do to keep my job...and my sanity!!

Today there were these teenage boys in the gym...omg!!! They would do a machine, then sit and talk or text, then they'd do another round of machines, then do the same thing again!! Good grief!!! I had to ask one of 'em "Are you finished with the lat machine?!?!" LOL!! Well, he got his butt off and I was able to finish up my workout. It took a bit longer than expected, but boy oh boy were my arms feelin' SWOLE!!! :-D I'm planning to do a week 2 wrap up on Sunday and I'll post it under the LiveFit Challenge tab...so watch out...cause here I come!!! :-)

Thursday Wrapup

Today, overall, was a good day!! One thing I've gotta keep in mind is that stress is gonna make it so much harder to get the weight off! So, regardless of what's going on at work, my "stress relievin'" workout sessions are gonna be just that...stress reliever!!! I started taking a multivitamin, bcaa, and fish oil today, so I'm hoping that'll be an added benefit to my (clears my throat) "inch"loss (instead of weightloss). I'm so sick and tired of the scale...Ugh!! And knowing that weightlifting can add weight before the pounds start coming off, I got get more focused on clothes fitting rather than scale decreasing!! 

So that's all...yep, I'm still getting caught up on SOA (sons of anarchy). I'm gonna try to hit the gym in the morning to avoid those boys hoggin' up the machines tomorrow :D...but knowing me, I won't get my butt up early enough ;)

Good night!!

Day 37-Gettin' my butt in gear!!!

I bought some vitamins from www.bodybuilding.com to help me out with Jamie Eason's LiveFit 12 week trainer workout. The BCAA (branch chain amino acids) help maintain muscle mass while crating a calorie deficit. They also reduce the rate of protein breakdown by decreasing activity components. In other words, the help keep muscle instead of losing it. The Opti-Women vitamin is a multivitamin with a whole lotta good things in it; vitamin A, B12, C, D, E, K, biotin, and other healthy vitamins like dong quai and chasteberry. I bought it because it has allllllllll the things I'm looking for in a vitamin without me having to buy a lotta different types of vitamins. So I have high expectations. I'll post later to see how I'm liking it or not liking it!!

I finally did my food prep for the rest of the week. There's only 3 days left so I only prepped 3 containers...chicken breasts, sweet potatoes, and mixed veggies. 

For dinner tonight was leftover turkey 'loaf and a sweet potato. I didn't wanna eat what I cooked for meal prep, so I decided to just eat leftovers and call it a day!! Looks good huh? Yeah, I think so too!! ;)

A Good Day!!

Overall, today was a good eating day. I didn't cheat and I didn't do any over the top snacking. I wasn't hungry, but of course, I had that "empty" feeling in my tummy. But I drank a ton of water and it seemed to help with that feeling. I'm not sure how to keep that feeling from happening, but I gotta do something YIKES!!

Well, I'm gonna get back to watching Sons of Anarchy on Netflix! 

Until tomorrow....

Day 36- Martin Luther King Jr Day

We had the day off today in observance of MLK Day! I wish there were more things in my area to participate in for this day, but it's limited. I spent some time with my cousin, Fuzz, hanging out for lunch and for a movie (Ride Along...very hilarious!)

I had 2 slices of whole wheat toast with a drizzle of honey, applesauce cup and a green smoothie...yeah, it looks brown, but that's because I put whey protein in it :D It was pretty good but it didn't really fill me up for breakfast. So I drank about 3 cups of water to help fill me up before I hung out with my cousin for the day.

Lunch was Dragonfire chicken (I think that's what it was called) from TGIFridays. Yes, it was unclean, but it was about 600cals. Chicken breast, jasmin rice, mandarin oranges, and a side of broccoli. I didn't intend to eat the whole thing, but the conversation with my cousin was so interesting that I didn't realize I ate it all until it was gone!!! :D :D :D After lunch we went to the movies and then we chatted for a while. Then I came home to meal prep for the rest of the week, but I decided to wait until tomorrow. 

So, overall, today was an AWESOME day!!!

Day 35

Ok, I went grocery shopping today to prepare for my meal prep for the week. Actually I'm gonna do my meal preppin' tomorrow since I have the day off due to the MLK holiday. But tonight's dinner was turkey meatloaf with mixed veggies. I used chopped spinach, bead crumbs, applesauce, and some spices in the 'loaf. the veggies were the Normandy blend which has broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, squash and carrots. Again, I just used some seasoning to spice it up! I was gonna steam some sweet potatoes,  but I decided to do them when I do my meal prep tomorrow. I've gotta go to the grocery store to get a bag because where I went today only had the big ones and I'd rather have small ones to spread out throughout the week. 

I bought a bag of frozen chicken which had about 10 pieces. I'm going to bake a couple and cut some into strips so I can add some variety in my meals. When I bake some of the chicken I think I'll use the stock to boil my brown rice...that is, if I decide to do brown rice this week. I think the think I don't like about brown rice is the texture...ugh!!! I've been tryin' to find a way to make it better tastin', but I haven't found anything yet. So for me to get a starchy veggie, I opt to eat beans or corn...even though everyone says corn is not the best decision as a veggie...but corn is soooo doggone good!!!

Well, that's it fo today....there isn't too much to post. I'm gonna try my best to get better about taking pics of my meals and posting 'em!!

Shoot, 35 days is a huge accomplishment...so I'm gonna keep it going and going and going and make this a lifestyle change!

Until tomorow...

Day 34 Clean Eating

I'm still doing pretty good but I know I can do much better. One thing I've gotta do is revamp my bread. I'v been eating Nature's Own 100% whole wheat. It's got stone ground wheat as the first ingredient, but it has other stuff in there too. I've gotta take a trip to Whole Foods or Trader Joe's tomorrow to do my shopping. My coworker let me taste some sesame seed Ezekial bread...it was actually pretty good, but I've gotta toast it though...so no peanut butter sandwiches :D

There are some work and school related issues that have been stressing me out a little bit. The workouts kinda help, but shoot, I think I need more than a 30min wight lifting session to relieve this stress :D But I'm cool...it's all good!! I'm pushing forward and trying my best not to let outside hindrances interfere with me getting this fat off of my body and continuing to eat clean! I had a coworker ask me today how was the clean eating going...I told her today was day 32 and that's HUGE for me! I told her there's no turning back now because I've vested an entire 30+ days to clean eating...granted I'm only clean about 90-95% of the time!!

Dinner tonight....Baked chicken breast topped with sun-dried tomatoes and a side of Normandy veggies!! Mmmm Mmmm good!!

Day 28 of Clean Eating

 

This is just a silhouette of me on my 3mile walk today. I kno that starting Jamie Eason's 12 Week trainier again tomorrow, I won't be able to do cardio for at least 4 weeks. But, I'll probably still do some cardio on my rest days.  

 

This was my breakfast for today....scrambled eggs and sausage along with 100% whole wheat toast..sugar free. I dabbed some butter on there to make it "not so dry" : D Y'all know whole wheat bread has the tendency to be extremely dry...or maybe it's just me ;)

 

 

I'm making Jamie Eason's Chocolate Protein Bars, but with my own twist to it of course :D Oh, by the way, the oats are there because I made my own oat flour (what the recipe calls for). Luckily I have a Nutribullet with a "miller" attachment. I used it and made only enough oat flour for this recipe. I'm gonna search the 'net to see if I can find some biscuit and pancake recipes using oat flour (I hope I can because I'm craving some biscuits and pancakes right about now!)

And, voila!!! I call them brownies instead of protein bards :D I put some pecans and chocolate chips in my recipe.  I think I'm gonna double up the recipe next time because I want to make enough for the whole week..especially if I'm gonna , eat one a day as a snack. Trust me, they're not the bomb, but they'll do the trick!

It begins tomorrow!!

So, tomorrow begins the Transformation Challenge sponsored by www.bodybuilding.com. I probably won't be the grand prize winner of $100,00, but who knows!! As long as I change some of this fat to muscle, it's all good! I've already lost 6lbs in 28 days. Since I started clean eating I don't feel that I need sugar or fast food anymore. Last night I planned to get a big fat Whopper with fries and a soda to watch some football, but I opted for a meatball marinara sub from Subway. Unfortunately I had to use honey oat bread instead of the normal whole wheat bread that I used to always get from there. But you hafta make due, right? Well I surely did! Anyway, I couldn't eat it!! I mean, I ate most of it, but shoot, I was full just after a few bites. So that's a good thing, right? I say it is! Even today I haven't been eating much. I walked this morning, came home and ate, but I didn't even finish my breakfast. Now it's technically dinner time ad I still don't want anything to eat. I know that's not good, but I don't wanna force myself to eat and waste food. I've been drinking my water and I ate a protein bar, which seems like it took me forever to eat it. I think it's a mind thing or maybe stress...who knows!!

I'm on track and I'm focused!

Until tomorrow....

Day 24

Well, the day is almost here....it's almost time to start Transformation Challenge at www.bodybuilding.com!! I'm excited to get started!! I don't plan to do all the supplements Jamie Eason suggests, but I will do whey protein isolate shakes, a multivitamin, and Super HD, which is a thermogenic. Thermogenics pretty much help ignite the heat in your body to help burn more calories. But I use it simply for the energy. I take one in the morning on an empty stomach and another one about an hour before I workout in the afternoons which is 5pm...for now!

As far as clean eating, I'm still holding strong and staying focused. But the funny thing is, I'm not hungry!! Ugh!!! I'm definitely not eating enough calories. However, I've read you don't have to calorie track when clean eating. Basically for the day I had a slice of whole wheat toast with a tbsp of natural peanut butter for breakfast....a peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat for lunch....about a cup of fresh pineapple chunks for snack...then 2 small pieces of tilapia....and that's it!! Yikes!! :"> I'm gonna try my best to do better...especially once I start the workouts on Monday!

So that's it for today! Not much at all! Shoot, I probably won't be posting too much until I officially start the challenge on Monday!! =D>

Well, until tomorrow :)

Day 23 Today was a good day!!

My weight at the gym today! Without clothes on (at home, of course :D), my scale reads 193.5;bs! Yeah, just guess which scale I'm going by ;) !

I think this is a pretty nice gym...especially because it's FREE :) My friend is "lending" me her access card to her apartment complex's gym (because she's not using it :D) and I've been really enjoying the "no crowds" atmosphere ;)

Another picture of the gym!

Oooo weee...what a burn?!?! Again, the treadmill's calorie counter is so jacked up! When I actually walk otuside, I do a little bit less mileage in 30mins. But, when I put my weight, age, height, and activity in an online calculator, the calculator's burn was a little bit less...so I use the lessor of ;)

Clean eating has become 2nd nature to me now! I'm finding myself passing up some of my favorite foods in order to stay clean. We had pizza delivered to work today for my department. I brought my lunch and I ate my lunch 0:-) It's almost like I don't miss those foods and I'm so glad my coworkers didn't tempt me to eat! But I still gotta get some more foods and recipes to make this journey a hecuva lot easier!

Well, until tomorrow...

Day 22

Hey y'all!! This is actually from yesterday, but I've been a little bit overwhelmed lately and I didn't get the chance to post. Like I said in previous posts, I'm holding off on Jamie Eason's LiveFit Trainer until Jan 13. So in the meantime, I'm just doing cardio (as much as possible!). I know the treadmill I used yesterday was off because I actually walked the other day and I did 3 miles in 68mins...this treadmill was way off :(
Anyway, I completed that walk then I cooled down, then I headed back.
My friend, Joyce, has actually let me borrow her access key to her apartment's gym. The gym has most of the equipment I'll need to start back up on LiveFit trainer. It's a small gym, but at the times when I go, there aren't that many people...plus mostly everyone is using the treadmill, elliptical, or bike. I'm excited about getting started again because I don't have to pay for a gym membership (for now) That's gonna save me $54/mth (chaching)

Clean Eating!!
The clean eating is going very well! This is day 22 and I really feel like I don't want anything with sugar in it! Woohoo!! :) I'm so proud of myself...even thought I've been about 90-95% clean, that's still a huge difference from before I started. When I think about cooking my meals and being in complete control of what goes into my body, that's a big deal for me! I haven't been this dedicated to changing my eating before and this is a big deal! =D> Now the challenge is getting back into working out, drinking my water, and finding foods that will keep me from being bored! Evidently I can get bored pretty easily :-$

Well that's all for now! Oh yeah...did I mention I'm back in school...again?!?! I'm working on my bachelor's degree online and today was the first day of classes. All I know is I gotta get my reading game back in full effect :D

Until tomorrow....

Day 17 of Clean Eating

Even though I'm waiting to continue LiveFit Trainer, I'm still clean eating :) It's getting better day by day, but I'm still needing to find varieties of foods, especially desserts :D This is the longest I've stuck with clean eating. I bought the book The Eat-Clean Diet by Tosca Reno in 2011, but I'm just now putting it to good use smh!! I've found a blog that has some pretty simple looking recipes that I could make and I would more than likely enjoy. There's another blog I like for clean eating recipes but the site is so unorganized it's very difficult to find dinners or desserts on that website. So for now, I'm gonna make different recipes but use clean ingredients...grass fed meats, farm range eggs, whole wheat pasta, and on and on and on!! I want to make the best of this because this isn't only about losing weight, but also about getting healthy

I still keep forgetting to take pics of my food throughout the day and upload here. Please forgive me ;)

So, here's my dinner for tonight.....whole wheat penne pasta with marinara sauce, lean beef, with chopped onions, green peppers, and mushrooms. There's just something about lean beef, 96% lean, that I just don't like X( It's just too dry, bland, or something like that! So I'm gonna stick with the farm raised beef but I need some fat on that cow!!! But other than that, this is the first red meat I've had since starting clean eating and that's pretty darn good for me. I usually eat red meat once or twice a week, but since clean eating, I've only had it once. I've been sticking mainly to chicken, turkey, fish, and more fish!!

Anyway, that's all for tonight! I'll be back in full effect mode soon!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Well, well, well...it's 2014!!! WOOHOO!!! <:-P
I didn't make any resolutions because I knew good and doggone well that I wouldn't keep any of 'em. Every year previously has been the same thing...lose weight, budget, be friendly...yada, yada, yada :D

Instead of making resolutions, I'm just doing things...going back to school, being more physically active, clean eating, going back to church, and building better relationships...but wait, Honda....aren't those resolutions :-/ Heck no!!! Not in my dictionary :D Most of those things I started doing in December, so there...in your face ;)

Anyhoo...I'm having LiveFit Trainer withdrawals :(  But of course it was my choice to wait until Jan. 13 and restart the entire program. You wanna know why?!!? Well, $50,000 of course!! ;) I've signed up for the Transformation Challenge from www.bodybuilding.com. Check out the link and you might just be interested in joining the challenge too...but you won't beat me >:/ :D

However, for now instead of finishing up the last 2 weeks of LiveFit trainer, I'm just gonna do cardio every day, or at least 6 days a week, prior to Jan. 13. At that time, I'll decide if I want to restart LiveFit trainer or do I want to try one of the other free workout plans Bodybuilding.com has to offer. But I actually have to make my decision before Jan 13 so I can take my before pictures!! So excited and I can't wait!!!

WALKING...FAST!!!
I started walking some miles as a part of the daily cardio I plan to do before Transformation Challenge begins. Today I walked 3.9miles for about an hour! So I figure if I walk that far (or farther) everyday, it'll give me the cardio I need before starting LiveFit trainer. Phase 1 of LiveFit trainer doesn't allow cardio and it's just weights for the first 4 weeks. Because I have PCOS, I know that more than 30mins of activity is what my body needs. I'm not sure if 30mins or so of weight training only is gonna be enough for me to gt my PCOS under control and to lose pounds. But as long as I"m losing inches I should be ok...that's the most important thing, right? Shoot, I think it is because my weight fluctuates so much...because I'm a woman and because I have PCOS and because I don't drink enough water throughout the day :"> Yeah yeah yeah...I know...I've gotta do better because if I don't, I'm gonna be stuck like Chuck still at 196lbs for the rest of my life. But I'd rather the scale to go down than go up...but if it stays at 196lbs for now, I'm good with that :|

Ok, I'm done for today :) By the way, have I said how much I love using the emoticons?!?!? Well, if I haven't I do....I love the emoticons!!!!! :x

Alrighty...until tomorrow....