Less Talk, More Action Weekly Weigh-In #3

February 27, 2015 by 14 Comments

This week was anything but awesome. Mr. B had the flu starting Saturday night and even though I did all that I could to not get it myself, I failed. I woke up on Tuesday with a fever and spent much of the next 3 days moving from the bed to the couch and back again. My diet consisted of multiple bowls of frosted mini wheats because that was the only thing that sounded good to me, not enough fruits, and hardly any protein. And my only activity were those 20ish steps between the bed and the couch.

Today is actually the first day that I have felt human since Tuesday. I actually made myself coffee and I didn’t have a bowl of cereal for breakfast. Boy does it feel good! I didn’t make it to my meeting this morning though, which is fine, I don’t know if I’m quite ready to tackle the public yet. ;)

So, no meeting, means no weigh-in. But after the last few days of eating all the carbs and no movement, I’m sure the number isn’t that great. And I’m okay with that, I was giving my body what it needed.

It’s a new week and I have a new challenge I’m giving a go starting on Monday!

One of my co-workers is a Beachbody Coach and is doing a 21 Day Fix challenge group. The 21 Day Fix has always intrigued me and I really haven’t met a Beachbody program I didn’t like, so I told her I wanted in.

My stuff arrived earlier this week and what comes in the kit are the workout DVDs and your food containers. Basic gist of the program is you figure out your calorie intake with some fancy math and it assigns you the amount of containers you need to eat each day. Then the workouts are a mixture of 6 different 30 minute workouts for the week.

21dayfix

The eating plan is based on eating less processed things and the colored containers are assigned certain food categories. Like the red container is for protein and the purple is for fruits. They basically just take the guess-work out of measuring for you. Fill your container with the appropriate foods and you’re good to go.

I’m not going to lie, I’m a bit skeptical as it is more structured eating than I am used to and I can sometimes be stubborn with that. BUT, I am willing to give it a try. I was looking over the foods and it is pretty much just following the Simply Filling aspect of Weight Watchers, just that the 21 Day Fix suggests certain portions. It is also going to take a lot more planning on my part. Normally I plan out dinner and just wing breakfast and lunch, that won’t work too well here. So, this weekend I am planning on sitting down and figuring out meals for the week that will meet my container goals.

As for how this will work with Weight Watchers, as I said it is following a lot of the Simply Filling concept, so that is what I’ll be doing. Easy enough!

I plan on sharing some of my meals as well as my results and thoughts on the program throughout the 21 days. And of course will be sharing my final results.

My goals for the week:

- Plan out meals for 21 Day Fix
- Hit my FitBit goal 4 times this week
- Finish a knitting WIP

Have you ever done the 21 Day Fix? Have any tips?
How was your week?

Filed Under: Fitness Tagged With: ,

Less Talk, More Action Weekly Weigh-In #2

February 20, 2015 by 16 Comments

How did this week go? I’ll be honest, it wasn’t as great as last week, but it was still good. It started off a little rough with Valentine’s Day being Saturday. Mr. B and I went out for lunch at a local pizza place and then enjoyed some frozen yogurt along the river where we got engaged. We then met up with friends that evening at Radicle Effect where one of my favorite beers (Southern Tier’s Creme Brulee) was on tap. I went in with the intention of having no beer, but fell down as soon as I saw that. It was delicious and worth it. :)

vday Collage

That was my “worst” day and the rest of the week was pretty decent. I really wasn’t feeling the workouts I typically do, so my MAXTrainer M5 got a lot of attention this week. I am so glad that we have one of these! It is perfect for those days where I don’t feel like popping in another DVD and what I really want to do is sit on my butt watching knitting podcasts. Instead of sitting on my butt to watch, I pull them up on the IPad and watch them while moving! The two podcasts that got me through a couple of my workout were Brownie Knits & Stitch Addiction. There was also a day of taking laps around the house for an hour to work on hitting 10,000 steps. I am SO ready for it to be warmer to walk outside!

workout Collage

Speaking of knitting, I just put in an order over on Knit Picks (yay for my Christmas gift card!) after MUCH contemplation over what to knit and what colors certain projects would look great in. I decided that I really wanted to do the Color Affection by Veera Välimäki , but didn’t know what colors. Then just this week Knit Picks released some super bright fun fingering weight yarn. As soon as I saw some of the colorways, I KNEW I had my perfect combo for the shawl. I ended up with a purple and green in the Stroll Brights and paired them with a sparkly gray. Ahh! I cannot wait to see how it all comes together! :)

CACollage

Sorry for the random knitting tangent. I’m just so excited.

Okay, back to my week!

My eating was decent and I tracked all the things with the exception of Saturday. I’m seriously obsessed with making oatmeal pancakes using the Blueberry Vanilla Oatmeal from Weight Watchers. It is a packet of oatmeal, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, and 3 egg whites (1/3 cup). I’ve been throwing in blueberries in mine and topping it with a banana and some cool whip. It is like dessert for breakfast and super filling! Yummmm. PS: you can do this with all instant oatmeal packets.

Mr. B and I also did a fun thing with our waffle maker this week too. We made up a small batch of mashed potatoes and then put them in the waffle maker. It made them crispy on the outside with the fluffy mashed potato goodness on the inside. Another yummm.

As for the goals I set for the week, they were okay. I did workout 4 days this week, I may do something later today in between work calls. We did try a new recipe, which was pretty much just random things thrown into a crock pot. 10,000 steps happened once and Simply Filling sort of happened 3 days this week, I did pay too much attention to making it exclusively SF, I just made sure I was eating more power foods than not.

So, what did this do to this week’s weigh-in?

unnamed-4

Down 2.4 pounds! Woohoo! MUCH better than the slight gain from last week.

I think the fact that I did more cardio based exercise played a part in this week’s loss. But who knows, bodies sometimes have a mind of their own and do what they want. Amirite?

I’m going to keep trucking along and doing what I’m doing, because it is working and makes me feel good!

This week’s goals:

- Hit my 7,000 step goal 4 times this week
- Do Jillian’s One Week Shred Cardio portion 2 times this week
- Set up some goals and rewards like my girl, Kelly over at NTTC did

Onward to a new week!

How was your week?

What are some of your favorite rewards? (I need some idea!)

Filed Under: Health

How to Fall Asleep Faster (no medication required!)

February 18, 2015 by 5 Comments

I wish that I could be one of those people who falls asleep instantly. Mr. B is one of those and it amazes me. Like, how can he just shut off his brain, close his eyes, and be off in dream land before I even finish checking ALL the social media one last time?

Me, I take for-ev-er to fall asleep.

My brain doesn’t shut up about what I need to do the next day, what happened days/years ago, and is constantly coming up with great ideas. Combine that with going through bouts of being freezing cold to overheated, dreamland is a far off destination.

Until very recently anyways….

How to: Fall Asleep Faster (No medication required) from Brooke: Not On a Diet

A fellow FitBlogger was talking about how she was having issues falling asleep when someone mentioned the 4-7-8 Technique. Intrigued I did some reading and thought it sounded simple enough to give it a try.

Here is a very basic look at how it works:

- Inhale through your nose to the count of 4
- Hold your breath to the count of 7
- Exhale through your mouth to the count of 8

Dr. Weil goes into much more detail here on his site. There’s even a video to watch how it is done!

See, super simple. I did it and the results were pretty awesome. I have fallen asleep just a quickly as Mr. B now and my brain is much more quiet. I focus on my breath and before I know it, I’m waking up to Mr. B hitting the snooze for the third time in a row. ;)

The 4-7-8 breathing technique is a great one to do even if you aren’t wanting to fall asleep. It can help when you’re feeling stressed or anxious. When we feel those things, we tend to shorten our breath and our bodies react in not the best of ways. By slowing down your breathing and focusing on the 4-7-8 technique you can help relieve your stress.

Again…all by breathing. Hopefully you are doing that already. (If not, hello ghost readers!) ;) This technique is just a more structured way to breathe than what we normally do without thinking.

Now, if doing this type of breathing seems like it is too much for you, just give it a try for a night or two. I did the whole 4-7-8 count for about a week and now I have shortened it. I’m still doing focused breathing, just not as focused. Usually I breathe in, hold it for a few seconds, and breathe out. I also do it all through my nose, breathing through my mouth doesn’t feel natural to me.

It really does work for me and hope that if you’re having issues with sleep, that it will work for you too!

Give it a shot, what do you have to lose….sleep? ;)

Do you have any tricks to help you fall asleep?
Have you tried 4-7-8 breathing before?

Filed Under: Life