Update

Hi all!

Happy Friday! How are you all doing today? I am doing alright today, ready to get back in the swing of things. I will be honest, the past two days my nutrition was off, especially Wednesday. Yesterday I tried to get back on track and was doing well until the evening, I did not eat enough throughout the day and I paid for it in the evening. Today is a new day though and I am thankful for the new beginning that today offers. From now on, I am upping the intensity of my strength training sessions because I have been slacking with it and if I want to see results, I do need to work harder.

Let me tell you, my workout was intense today! I did my 30 minutes of cardio and 40 minutes of strength training. 4 sets of legwork and 3 sets of ab work, I would have done more but I was so shaky because I needed to eat something. So, I stopped because I thought that was better than passing out. On Wednesday, I missed my workout, which is why I did both legs and abs today. I am probably going to be hurting tomorrow, especially my legs, but I love the burn.

I have a weigh-in tomorrow for my challenge, not sure, how it is going to go because of my two off days this week. Oh well, it is just one weigh-in, it does not define who I am as a person. Even though I had two off days nutritionally this week, I am still calling this a decent week. I have 293 fitness minutes and before Wednesday, I was spot on nutritionally. Two off days are not going to derail  me completely, not this time.  

Time to get back to my schoolwork, this week I am trying to get through most of the information for my final paper and presentation. It is definitely time consuming but necessary. Hopefully I’ll be able to update by Monday at the latest. I hope that you all are having a great day. Until next time!

~Sara~

Discouraged and Motivation

Hi all!

Happy Friday! How are you all doing today? I cannot believe it's already Friday, this week has flown by, which is both a positive and negative. This week I have not accomplished as much as I had hoped, but thankfully I'm ahead on my homework. I just need to push through and continue moving forward.

I'm going to be honest, this week I have been feeling really down for some reason. I have been feeling so fatigued, tired and lacking motivation. The reason why is unknown, but I haven't give up. I'm working really hard to overcome whatever is going on with me. I'm still working out and eating within my calorie goal, so that is positive. The effort I gave may not have been 100%, but working out at 50% is better than not working out at all.

Part of me is feeling discouraged because I have such a long way to go to reach my health goals.
Last night one of my online friends posted something on instagram that really spoke to me. It said that even if you can't see results physically, every effort is changing your body from the inside.
This is completely true. Even though I haven't lost a bunch of clothing sizes, still have stomach rolls, still have a great deal of excess fat all over my body, does not mean that I haven't made changes.
I calculated the calories of a typical day before I changed my eating habits and the results were staggering. Yesterday, I ate 2171 calories (21 calories under my goal). Before I changed my eating habits, I would eat between 2000 and 2200 calories at lunch alone!?! Then add in another 1300 - 1500 calories for dinner and an evening snack. I would skip breakfast most days, eat a huge lunch, bigger dinner and evening snack. On a daily basis, I was eating between 3400 and 3600, if not more! It's no wonder why I was continually gaining weight before. From 3400 (at the least) to 2200 calories a day. I'm not hungry, I can eat all throughout the day, if I pick my food carefully. Plus, I'm losing weight, so what's not to love?!?

Today was abs day, feeling great after my ab routine! I probably could have done more sets but I will work on that next week. Hopefully next week I'll have a bit more motivation as well. I'll be getting my cardio in this evening, while dinner is cooking. Well, I'm off to hopefully get a bunch of school work accomplished. I hope that you all have an amazing day. Until next time!

~Sara~

New Experiences and Enduring

Hi all!

Happy Friday! How are you all doing today? It's a beautiful yet cold day here in Wisconsin. Beginning tomorrow, it is suppose to be warming up. We'll be in double digits before windchill and that's a very happy thought. It was my nephew's birthday 2 days ago and tomorrow afternoon we're celebrating. Hopefully my sister-in-law will have some healthier options available, doubtful but I still have hope. If not, I'll make the best choices that I can or simply eat at home instead.

My legs are still killing from leg day on Wednesday but I'm pushing through the sore muscles. As much as it hurts, I love sore muscles. Today my workout was abs and cardio. My abs are definitely the part of me that I want to see transform the most, sadly, I cannot spot reduce. So, I'm continuing my cardio to burn fat and doing exercises that will help to tone my muscles. As long as I continue this, I will see results, slowly but surely.

This morning, I was doing some research about kettlebell workouts. I got a kettlebell for Christmas and I wanted to learn proper form for different exercises that I found. After learning the proper form for kettlebell swings, I decided to use that as part of my cardio for the day. Let me tell you, the kettlebell definitely gives you a phenomenal workout. My calorie burn in 20 minutes with the kettlebell would have taken at least an hour, if not more, through walking alone. Not to mention that the kettlebell offers toning benefits.

Weigh-in is in a few days, I'm excited to see the results. I've been at or under my calorie goal every day this week and have worked out 4 days thus far. Overall, it has been a great week in regards to nutrition and fitness. :) Well, now I am off to go continue working ahead on my school work. I hope you all have a wonderful afternoon and evening. Until next time!

~Sara~