Day 17 & 18 - POWERFUL WORKOUTS

Day 17 - Stuck to my cardio routine and boy did I sweat. Eating was fantastic, despite the urge to eat everything in the house. Had some chamomile tea, had a piece of a protein bar and all seemed right with the world :) Of course taking a dosage of my supplement chroium did not hurt either. I love my supplements :)

Day 18- Today was back, chest and abs day and dd I just kill this workout!! mean I killed it. I feel so strong and lifted more weight than EVER. I increased the weight for bent over BB and for Underhand grip pulldown, my back is still tingling even after stretching. 35 minutes of HIIT on the treadmill and my whole body was just done! I mean done :) I slept in last this morning so I my workout did not happen til just after 10am but boy was it a good switch. I may have to do this every now and again. Later workouts -- maybe they will work for me. Who knew? :)

Day 16 - Importance of Eating Clean

In the first week of tracking my foods and being consistent with my clean eating despite a cheat meal of ice cream I lost almost 5 lbs and a full inch of the small of my waist and 1/2 inch around my navel. Coincidence? NOPE!! Smart eating, is the key. I looked at my macros, my quality of food and eating intervals. Eating every 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 hours help maintain my energy and keep my blood sugar levels stable. I did feel more energized and the variety and colours of my food was great. I did not feel deprived in any way although the first couple of days was tough. I was craving something sweet. So I stuck to the occasional sugar free jello and chewed sugar free gum. Just my body going through some withdrawal.

Now I can put that all behind me and keep going forward with the powerful workouts. Today was shoulder, biceps and triceps. I biked my way through 30 minutes of vigorous pedalling in my bike and worked up a good sweat.

The rest of the week plan is as follows:
Wednesday: Cardio 2 20 minutes HIIT OR 2 45 min steady cardio or a combination of the two
Thursday: Chest, Back, Abs
Friday: Shoulders
Saturday: Recovery
Sunday: Light Cardio

Thankfully we do not have anything planned for the weekend, although I do plan to visit my mom on Friday, but getting up early for that shoulder workout first :) I am enjoying this routine and more importantly I have the energy for it. Never under estimate the importance of a great diet. You can not exercise a BAD DIET!!

Days 13, 14, 15 - CATCH UP!!

So first weekend DH home and unfortuantely it went by so fast!!! He was home just after 10:30 Friday night and left Sunday around 6ish pm. We had a great weekend with family on Sunday for Easter Sunday, but the whole Saturday we were B-U-S-Y.

After loading a load of his work laundry for the week and having breakfast we went our for coffee. I stayed true to my tall black americano and enjoyed every sip. Do not drink much coffee and generally just limit it to one day on the weekend. Sometimes I enjoy a broscotti but I knew I had some chocolate chip cookies to bake so I had to save my calories for that. So I enjoyed 3 late Saturday night with a nice hot cup of tea. Very good and worth the wait. And of course Madison loves baking so it was an extra treat doing that with her. Clean eating all day even though we were out and about. I did not get in a traditional workout but we walked the trail with the dog for an hour at a local dog park, so that was nice. Very light walking, nothing streneous but it was great to enjoy the weather and time with the family.

Sunday morning I got up early for some intense cardio of 40 minutes on the elipitical and bike. Than it was off to my mom's for a visit and lunch at 1pm. I stuck to the safe grilled chicken, brown rice and salad and as for dessert I share my mom's piece of triamsu and had a coffee. I did not over due and quite honestly the rest of the day was clean eating. Even with the chocolate that my daughter got. I had a small piece of some sem-sweet chocolate and that was that. Just did not want it. I was full from lunch, especially with the rice. I generally do not have that large portion of rice in one sitting.

This morning, Day 15 I had an awesome leg workout and I felt pumped!!! Did a great 30 minutes run on the treadmill and felt like I could keep going. But I was hitting 75 minutes of working out and though I should just get in a great cooldown and stretching and get some much needed food in me. So workout is compltely out of the way for today. Awesome way to start of my Monday. The rest of the day is free to enjoy our outing with the dog is the rain holds off and a walk to the library.

Day 12 -- Burn baby burn

Who would have thought that a shoulders workout would take so much out of me. I also did biceps and started doing tricep kickbacks with very light weight. As I completed one workout I stretched them out and boy was it so hard to cradle my elbow. Than I moved on to set 2 and did the same stretch. I looked at what was planned and I figured I was just heading to a bad injury. So I went into my cardio workout and finished off strong on the elliptical. I have had a great week and my body is changing - I can see it.

Incredible how my cleaning has been. And I am seeing the difference in my abs region and I am loving it. I wish my mid-section could lean out quicker, but I have to have patience and continue to focus on my strength and how focused I am in. For now that will have to be enough, until I start seeing more of a 6 pack :)

Day 11 - Change of Plans

So after warming up and mentally preparing myself for shoulders, triceps and biceps -- I changed my mind. My triceps were sore, so so so sore. So I thought instead of isolating theses tiny muscle groups I would just do back, chest and abs with getting in shoulder work tomorrow. Even stretching my triceps in between chest sets were tough. just really stiff and I had to be sure to slowly ease into a triceps stretch. Not pretty. Well they kind of are :) I am really liking the shape of my arms. And my lower body is coming along nicely as well. not as quickly, but rather nicely :)

Eating has been great -- never better :)

Day 10 - Cardio

Today is day 10 and I woke up feeling broken. Like I slept with 100 lbs of concrete blocks on me. I felt stiffer than stiff, and stiffer than i ever felt before. So I hit the snooze button only to have my 4 year old daughter tell me it was time to get up an hour later. So my planned AM cardio did not happen right away -- but it did happen :) 45 minutes on the treadmill of at a steady pace and really cranked the inclines. Felt great and my glutes -- well they are sore. But tomorrow I will listen to my body. Tomorrow is my biceps, tricep, shoulder workout :) I think the triceps can handle it now. I hope. I will push through it but will not comprimse my form to lift heavy. I may lift sem-heavy and play around with the weights as I have a planned chest and back workout on Friday. Got to get those big muscle workouts in.

Eating is going well and tracking it all. Proud of myself. Very proud and even with Easter around the corner I am feeling completely in control :)

Day 8 and Day 9 - Powerful workouts - Good Clean Eating

Yesterday plan to work biceps, triceps and shoulders had to altered. WHY? Because my triceps were sore. Let me rephrase that, they were SO OH SO SORE. They still are. Taking of my shirt or even putting a hair tie in my hair HURTS!! So I decided I would do shoulders and abs along with 35 minutes of cardio. Awesome workout. Eating was clean, although I ate more than planned. But all good eats, mainly carbs that I did not plan because I was so hungry. Let me rephrase that I was SO OH SO HUNGRY. I started feeling the guilt kick in - the oh my why can't I just follow what was planned. But I pushed it as side and instead recognized that my body needed it. And my response to feed it was a good one. My lifestyle is not about restricting calories, it is about choosing the right ones. And I did.

So nothing to feel defeated about.

This morning was Legs and powerful, powerful workout. My hamstring were still slightly sore from Thursday workout but I was able to push through it with ease and did not have to adjust the weight at all. So today I have my meals planned and if I have to adjust to accommodate this machine body of mine, I will. Guilt free!!!