NROL4W - Stage 1 - Friday - Workout A5

Stage 1A

squat 3x10x80 lbs

60 s rest

atomic push up 3x10

seated row (lying db row) 3x10x27.5 lbs

60 s rest

step up 3x10x22.5 lbs [per leg]

prone jackknife 3x12

60 s rest

2 activity points. I am doing atomic push ups now, since the reps are low. The extra sets for everything added about 10 minutes to the time, but I'm not taking more APs. This workout really wore me out. I loved it.

Food:
omelet w/ onion, green peppers, cheese [2 pts] & salsa
chicken breast w/ romaine lettuce & dijon mustard dressing
apple & cottage cheese
chicken breast & green beans w/ walnuts [2 pts]

80 ounces of water and 3 mugs of coffee. Oh, and lots of ice cream.

Tomorrow's workout - tabata sprints & something else. I haven't decided.

I think my son has a future in fitness.

He's almost 6 and has always done his "workouts" that he makes up. Sometimes I catch him doing bench presses with the 3 pound dumbbells, or dead lifting the EZ Curl bar. He watched me do lots of different programs and knows Jillian, Bob, Tony and Chalene as well as I do. Earlier this week, he wanted to try the Insanity workout, after seeing the infomercial. So I let him. It was only the warm up of the Fit Test but he tried.

Last night, he got the idea into his head that he wanted to design a workout for my husband and me, and Sebastian was getting us up at 5 AM to do it. That's what he said, I swear! Sebastian sat down and wrote out some pages of exercises and put it together in a little booklet (which you can see at the end of the video). He overslept so we didn't get the workout in until after my husband got home from work. But Sebastian was so thrilled with his product, and I must say, I'm pretty proud of my little guy. Here is Sebastian's Turbo Workout.

NROL4W - Stage 1 - Thursday - Tae Bo Amped Jumpstart Cardio

I managed to get the right Tae Bo video in. It wasn't as bad as Amped Live, but it was definitely not a torcher. In 40 minutes, I only burned 165 calories (1 activity point) and I never got my heart rate into the zone. I'm so disappointed. Very few of the Tae Bo videos push me the way I like. There were one or two I did a few years ago that I liked, but I have so many that I can't remember which ones the are.

Food:
omelet w/ onion, green pepper, cheese [2 pts] & salsa
orange
chicken breast w/ romaine lettuce, green peppers & dijon mustard dressing, butternut squash "fries"
whole wheat & flax tortilla [3 pts]

I don't know what it is, but if my son doesn't finish something he's eating, I immediately "get hungry" and want to finish it off. He had a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch and ate about 2/3 of it. Getting it into the garbage without eating it was the most difficult thing I did all day. I probably could have eaten it, and counted it, but that's not how I want to live. I don't want to me an all day snacker. I want to eat my 5-6 mini meals per day and that is it. I could not resist the rest of his wheat & flax tortilla. I counted it, but I am still disappointed. I'm even more disappointed, and angry, that I could not keep my fingers off the Chinese ribs. And then one thing led to another. You know how the story goes. I feel like I'm spiraling out of control and I have no idea how to get back.

80 ounces of water and three mugs of coffee.

Tomorrow's workout - Stage 1A5

NROL4W - Stage 1 - Wednesday - Workout B4

After I blogged last night, I had a banana. I really wanted ice cream and a milk shake.

Stage 1B

deadlift 2x12x90 lbs

60 s rest

dumbbell shoulder press 2x12x20 lbs

wide-grip lat pull down (assisted pull up) 2x12

60 s rest

dumbbell lunge 2x12x20 lbs [per leg]

(weighted) Swiss ball crunch 2x10x20 lbs

60 s rest

Food:

orange, omelet w/ onions, green pepper, cheese [2 pts] & salsa
cereal & yogurt
grilled turkey patty w/ mustard, ketchup & romaine lettuce on extra fiber bread [1 pt], butternut squash "fries"
apple & cottage cheese
homemade chili - It was all Core, but I wasn't able to log it in SparkPeople's tracker because I hadn't planned on having any, so I didn't pay attention to amounts when I made it.

I was at the store today and I wanted to buy chocolate so badly I almost cried. It was so difficult to walk out of there without it. I cursed myself the whole time. :(

80 ounces of water and three mugs of coffee. 24 weekly and 5 activity points remaining.

Tomorrow's workout - Tae Bo Amped Jumpstart Cardio. And I am sure the right dvd will be loaded.

NROL4W - Stage 1 - Tuesday - Tae Bo Amped Live

I screwed up and put the wrong dvd in. I wanted Tae Bo Amped Jumpstart Cardio but that's not what I loaded. I figured I'd just stick with Amed Live but after 27 minutes of not getting my heart rate up, I quit. I burned 127 calories (1 activity point) but I'm royally pissed that I wasted half hour and couldn't get in a quality cardio workout. The Tae Bo workouts are hit and miss for me. Most of them do not get my heart rate up. Today, I didn't even get close to my zone.

Food:
banana, omelet w/ onion, green pepper, cheese [2 pts] & salsa
grilled turkey patty w/ mustard & ketchup on romaine lettuce w/ green & red pepper slices.
apple & cottage cheese
chicken tortillas [3 pts for homemade whole wheat & flax wraps] w/ salsa, light sour cream [1 pt] and mozzarella cheese [2 pts]
cereal & yogurt

80 ounces of water and 3 mugs of coffee. Water is hard for me. We had to get a different water filter system after 3 faucet mounts crapped out on us. I went with a Brita pitcher but the water tastes like it came from a garden hose now, even after a few run throughs. 27 weekly and 3 activity points remaining.

Tomorrow's workout - Stage 1B4

NROL4W - Stage 1 - Monday - Workout A4

Stage 1A

squat 2x12x75 lbs

60 s rest

push up 2x12 - all on toes

seated row (lying db row) 2x12x25 lbs

60 s rest

step up 2x12x20 lbs [per leg]

prone jackknife 2x10

60 s rest

I'm always amazed at how tiring this workout is. 2 activity points. Next time I do the "A" work out, it will be 3 sets!

Food:
omelet w/ onion, green pepper, avocado & salsa
apple & cottage cheese
cereal, yogurt w/ cinnamon & splenda
black beans & brown rice w/ roasted vegetables
cantaloupe

And so ends another Meatless Monday.

80 ounces of water and two mugs of coffee. 35 weekly and 2 activity points remaining.

Tomorrow's workout - Tae Bo Amped Jump Start Cardio

NROL4W - Stage 1 - Sunday - Rest Day

Food wasn't that great today. I will be back on track tomorrow, for sure. There was no tennis today because it was raining and by the time it stopped, I was occupies with my shiny new bike!!! I'd been debating for a while, and even picked one out (just a cheap, basic bicycle). I had an idea for accessories, even. I was going to buy the bike, then I wasn't, then I was, and finally I was going to hold off until I got my next paycheck at the end of May. Turns out, my husband already bought it with money he earned from his side job. He got his bike out of storage, so we spent time picking out helmets and bike locks and handy gadgets. I also bought a basket, so I can do small shopping. I love it. It hurts my butt right now so I'm going to buy one of those gel seat covers and I think I need to geek out and buy a mirror. I get nervous not being able to see behind me.

Dinner tonight was marinated flat iron steak with potatoes. I've never had flat iron steak before. It was delicious. We don't use a grill, though. We use a smoker with chunks of hickory.

Tomorrow's workout - Stage 1A4

NROL4W - Stage 1 - Saturday - Tabata Sprints & PiYo

I got my butt up before my husband left for work and hit the road to run sprints again - a 3 minute warm up, then 8 cycles of 20 second sprint/10 second walk, then a 3 minute cool down. It was just as fun and brutal as last week. I burned 82 calories (1 activity point).

After that, I started Volume 1 of Chalene Johnson's PiYo Fan Workout. PiYo is a mix of pilates & yoga. I did the workout without previewing it first, so I didn't know what to expect. Before the warm up was even over, I was getting frustrated. Not because it's difficult. I just wasn't in the right frame of mind for it. So I put it away until I can watch it first.

Food:
omelet w/ onion, green peppers, avocado & salsa, turkey bacon [2 pts]
chicken breast w/ green & red pepper slices & jicama

And this is where things fell apart. I went to a birthday party and ate a piece of pizza. Then another. Then a piece of cake. And after the party, I went to McDonald's and had a McFlurry. Then at Walmart, I bought 3 candy bars and at them on the 10 minute ride home. At home, I ate pretzels out of the bag and 3 dinner rolls. I feel sick. And angry. Very angry.

100 ounces of water and two mugs of coffee.

Tomorrow - tennis, if it's not raining.

NROL4W - Stage 1 - Friday - Workout B3

Stage 1B

deadlift 2x12x90 lbs

60 s rest

dumbbell shoulder press 2x12x20 lbs

wide-grip lat pull down (assisted pull up) 2x12

60 s rest

dumbbell lunge 2x12x20 lbs [per leg]

(weighted) Swiss ball crunch 2x10x20 lbs

60 s rest

2 activity points. I like 2x12 a lot. Not as much as 3x8 though!

I am a complete freaking failure.

I noticed, since I got home from New York, my pants have been getting tighter and I have been crazy bloated. So I hopped on the scale this morning. 13fucking5! That's up from when I finished Turbulence Training, up from when I finished P90X, and up from my post-P90X low. Obviously, the Simply Filling Technique is not working for me. So this week, I've been tracking at SparkPeople again. I really think I have no choice. This is driving me nuts.

And of course, this has bothered me all day. I work in the school cafeteria and today's breakfast was cinnamon rolls. I love cinnamon rolls. There were quite a few left over and I kept looking at them. I wanted one so badly, I wanted to cry. And I thought, "Hell, I'm obviously never going to lose this freaking weight, I might as well have one or fifty." So I walked over, picked up the entire tray and threw them all in the trash. After that, I felt better. I know one would have turned into 2 or more. I made the right decision. But sometimes, the right decisions suck.

Food:

yogurt w/ cereal & banana

apple & cottage cheese

grilled turkey patty w/ mustard & ketchup on bread [1 pt], green pepper slices & carrot sticks

6" turkey & ham w/ lettuce, onion, red peppers & mustard on 9 grain honey wheat sub from Subway [5 pts] - I debated long and hard about whether I wanted a sub or a salad. I went with the sub. The bread was so good, but I had a nibble of the 9 grain honey oat bread and that stuff is the bomb! I must get the recipe. I think I chose good toppings too. I remember a time when I hated mustard.
Snickers Fudge [6 pts] - I'm still in a pissy mood. I sat with this stupid thing for 2 hours before I decided I'd kill someone if I didn't eat it.

100 ounces of water and two mugs of coffee. 7 weekly and 9 activity points remaining. I'm giving up on the reward thing. As motivating as it was, it's been a total pain in the ass to keep up with it and I felt so pressured to do everything on the list. It sucked all the fun out of doing those things!

Tomorrow's workout: tabata sprints & PiYo (that's Chalene Johnson's Pilates/Yoga program).

NROL4W - Stage 1 - Thursday - Turbo Jam Fat Blaster

I was really looking forward to Fat Blaster. It's always fun, but I wish I could push harder without waking the family up. I only burned 178 calories (2 activity points).

Food:
omelet w/ onion, green pepper & salsa
Oreo truffle [3 pts] - As soon as I walked into work, someone offered one of these to me. I had a very quick internal debate and had one small one. ONE. Yay me. I am guessing on the points. I am a bit disappointed in myself because now I don't get my reward credit for not eating junk :(
apple & cottage cheese
grapes & pretzels [2 pts]
beef stroganoff [2 pts for light sour cream]
cereal & yogurt

100 ounces of water, two cups of iced tea, and two mugs of coffee. 19 weekly and 7 activity points remaining. Reward percentage: 17 out of 22 -  77%.

Tomorrow's workout - Stage 1B3

NROL4W - Stage 1 - Wednesday - Workout A3

Stage 1A

squat 2x12x75 lbs

60 s rest

push up 2x12 - all on toes

seated row (lying db row) 2x12x25 lbs

60 s rest

step up 2x12x20 lbs [per leg]

prone jackknife 2x10

60 s rest

Two activity points. Fewer reps this week, so I had to increase the weight. It still sucked balls.

Food:

banana, yogurt & cereal

apple & cottage cheese

turkey patty on bread [1 pt], carrots & green pepper slices
chicken breast & romaine lettuce w/ avocado, tomatoes, red peppers, turkey bacon [1 pt], salsa, light sour cream [1 pt] & croutons [2 pts] - This was so incredibly satisfying and eaten without any guilt at all!!!

100 ounces of water and 2 mugs of coffee. 26 weekly and 5 activity points remaining. Reward percentage: 17 out of 22 -  77%.

On deck for tomorrow - Turbo Jam Fat Blaster.

NROL4W - Stage 1 - Tuesday - 30/30 Drills

I was running short on time today so I pulled a cardio interval from Turbulence Training. With a 3 minute warm up and 3 minute cool down, I did 6 minutes of alternating burpees, jogging, and shuffles. My HRM quit during the last set of intervals and came back right at the end - my calorie reading was 74, which is probably about right. I'll take 1 activity point for that.

Food:

omelet w/ onion, green pepper & salsa
apple & cottage cheese
salad (romaine lettuce, green peppers, carrots, jicama & tuna) w/ vidalia onion dressing [2 pts]
venison tenderloin & roasted vegetables

100 ounces of water and two mugs of coffee. 31 weekly and 3 activity points remaining. Reward percentage: 17 out of 22 -  77%.

Tomorrow's workout - Stage 1 Workout A3

NROL4W - Stage 1 - Monday - Workout B2

Stage 1B

deadlift 2x15x80 lbs

60 s rest

dumbbell shoulder press 2x15x17.5 lbs

wide-grip lat pull down (assisted pull up) 2x15

60 s rest

dumbbell lunge 2x15x17.5 lbs [per leg]

(weighted) Swiss ball crunch 2x8x20 lbs

60 s rest

2 activity points for this. I really need to start doing the lunges with a barbell. Meh, I don't know. If I don't work on my grip, it won't improve. Damn it.

I got absolutely NO sleep last night. None. Not a single minute. I could not fall asleep. At all. I was dreading my workout this morning, and I had to work. I thought for sure I would not make it through the day. But here I am. I even had a little energy to play basketball with Sebastian. 

Food (it's Meatless Monday, by the way):

scrambled eggs w/ onion & salsa

brown rice & black beans, grapes
apple & cottage cheese

homemade veggie burger w/ cheese [2 pts] & mustard on romaine lettuce w/ baked squash fries

100 ounces of water, two mugs of coffee & one cup of iced tea. 33 weekly and 2 activity points remaining. Reward percentage: 22 out of 22 - 100%

Tomorrow's workout is...I have no clue. I'm too tired to think straight.

NROL4W - Stage 1 - Sunday - Rest Day

Since I earned at least 70% of my reward points for the week, I enjoyed my first real cup of homemade coffee in over 3 weeks. I loved it. I missed it. I don't want to go without coffee during the week. So, I will allow myself no more than 2 cups (which is actually 4 cups, considering the size of my travel mug - but I'm used to having 4 mugs per days, which is 8 cups of coffee, holy crap!) per day. My weekly reward will be getting extra coffee on Sundays. It helps me get my dairy in, too. If Harris Teeter hadn't had such a good sale on coffee (I love buy 2 get 3 free), I might not have fallen off that wagon. Oh well. I love coffee.

Today's food:
catfish & mixed vegetables
cottage cheese
grilled turkey on romaine lettuce w/ baked potato

100 ounces of water and four cups of coffee. Reward percentage: 15 out of 20 - 75%

Tomorrow's workout - Stage 1 Workout B2.

NROL4W - Stage 1 - Saturday - Tabata Sprints & Yoga

I absolutely did not want to get up and run this morning. I tried to think of any excuse that didn't sound like an excuse. Finally, I just got my ass out of bed and did it. I loved it. I was dying and my chest was rattling, but I loved it and I will most definitely do it again next Saturday. I wish I'd tried running outside a long time ago. It's so much better than the treadmill! It's a great, short workout. Tabatas are 20 seconds of all out work followed by 10 seconds of rest, 8 times. It takes 4 minutes for the actual workout, but I did a 4 minute walking/jogging warm up and a 2 minute cool down. It's not a huge calorie burner (70 calories - 1 activity point) but it has it's advantages. After the run, I did 30 minutes of One-On-One With Tony Horton Fountain of Youth Yoga. I always skip the ab work. I hate the ab work.

My husband and I (along with my son) walked to the park this morning and we played tennis for the first time in probably 15 years or more. It was so much fun! Sam absolutely loved it and said it's something he could see us really getting into. Sebastian liked it, but he'd prefer to play on the playground. It really sucks that there is a huge building in between the tennis court and the playground. It would be nice if he could play in the playground while we play tennis.

After tennis and a good lunch, I came home and fell asleep during my meditations. I slept for over 3 hours! Ugh.

Food today:
"fried" egg, cream of wheat pancake w/ light syrup [1 pt]
lunch at a buffet [all the rest of my points] - I did not eat horribly. I ate small portions, but I sampled many things.
grilled pork
cereal w/ skim milk

I am really proud of myself for not letting indulgence at lunch turn into an all day fuster cluck!!! Normally I would have been eating ice cream and junk for the rest of the day.

100 ounces of water. Reward percentage: 14 out of 20 - 70%

Tomorrow I rest! And drink coffee for my weekly reward!

NROL4W - Stage 1 - Friday - Workout A2

Stage 1A

squat 2x15x70 lbs

60 s rest

push up 2x15 - all on toes

seated row (lying db row) 2x15x20 lbs

60 s rest

step up 2x15x17.5 lbs [per leg]

prone jackknife 2x8

60 s rest

2 activity points for this workout. It's very cardio vascular. I did not do my punishment push ups for the reason I mentioned yesterday - it was a daily percentage that I did not meet, so I should only be penalized the following day.

Today's meals:
omelet w/ onion, red pepper, avocado & salsa, toast [1 pt] w/ reduced sugar jelly
quinoa bean salad w/ dijon mustard dressing [1 pt because I poured a little bit more than my 2 tsp of healthy oils], banana
red pepper slices, carrot sticks, apple & cottage cheese - I was ravenous when I go home from work, even though I took my lunch with me
pork w/ brown rice & mixed vegetables
red pepper slices - I'm not quite sure whether I was hungry or not. I felt hungry and I certainly wanted something a little naughtier than raw red peppers but I figured anything else would get me into a lot of trouble.
air-popped popcorn

100 ounces of water. 12 weekly and 8.5 activity points remaining. Reward percentage: 15 out of 20 - 75%

On deck for tomorrow, tabata sprint and yoga!

NROL4W - Stage 1 - Thursday - WATP Walk & Kick

I know I said I was going to do some Tae Bo, but I was running short on time AND my allergies were freaking killing me! Mornings really suck. I hope this passes quickly. I can't breathe without rattling. So I did Walk Away The Pounds Walk & Kick. It's very low intensity and Leslie is incredibly annoying (her voice reminds me of Sarah Palin). Still, it was better than not exercising. I only burned 110 calories (1 activity point).

I did my 30 punishment push ups as well. I'm going to have to rethink my daily punishment thing. If I don't meet 50% of my reward percentage for the day, I can't use my computer the next day. But if I don't hit 60%, I have to do 30 push ups per day for the rest of the week. I think, since it's a daily thing, I should only have to do the push ups the next day. Either that, or lose my computer for the rest of the week for not hitting 50%. I don't know what I was thinking when I designed my motivation strategy. But I will say, it is helping me focus.

Today's food:
scrambled eggs w/ onion, peppers, avocado & salsa, toast [1 pt] w/ reduced-sugar jelly, banana
quinoa bean salad w/ dijion mustard dressing, grapes
apple & cottage cheese
shredded barbecue beef [1 pt for sauce] on whole wheat bun [1 pt] w/ roasted vegetables
grapes
apple & cottage cheese

100 ounces of water. 14 weekly and 6.5 activity points remaining. Today's reward percentage: 15 out of 20 - 75%

Tomorrow's workout is Stage 1 Workout A2. Looking forward to it!

NROL4W - Stage 1 - Wednesday - Workout B1

Stage 1B

deadlift 2x15x80 lbs

60 s rest

dumbbell shoulder press 2x15x17.5 lbs

wide-grip lat pull down (assisted pull up) 2x15

60 s rest

dumbbell lunge 2x15x17.5 lbs [per leg]

(weighted) Swiss ball crunch 2x8x20 lbs

60 s rest

Good work out today. I fixed my dead lift problem. Since I use standard weights and not Olympic weights, my weights are too short to do a dead lift from the standard height. So my husband took time out of his birthday to build me a stand for the bar. Now it's perfect height for deads. I still hate conventional dead lifts but it's not as sucky. The range of motion is better for me. The old way I was doing it is closer to doing deads off a box, so when that particular beast appears in the routine, I will just be doing them from the floor. Unless, of course, I get an Olympic set before then.

The lunges sucked. I could have gone a lot heavier but my damn grip sucks. I don't know if it's the new dumbbells or what. Next week, I may try with my old dumbbells.

I also did my 30 push up penalty for missing my 60% goal yesterday.

I have been encouraged to take my activity points for my strength training workouts. The reason I wasn't going to is because I feel like activity points give me an excuse to eat not-so-good things. If I don't have any APs, I will be more likely to stick to the Filling Foods list. If I have APs, I will want to use them on crap. There are even some things that aren't necessarily crap that I shouldn't eat so much of. Bread, for example. And cheese. I would use all my weekly and activity points on bread and cheese! I love bread and cheese. Bread is a trigger food for me, though.  Heck, anything not on the Filling Foods list is a trigger for me, along with half the fruits on the list. And as I mentioned in a previous post, doing Simply Filling, I don't "run out of points" because I can always eat from the list if I am really hungry. So points sort of lose their significance for me. My problem is not what I eat or knowing what a portion is. My problem is stopping when I'm satisfied. I eat fairly well most of the time (when I'm not in screw it mode) and I portion out my food. I weigh and measure anything that's not a fruit or vegetable. I know exactly how much I should be eating. The problem is training my body to be happy with that amount.

So what am I rambling on about? I guess I'll still track my activity points, but I don't want to use them on crap. Two points for today and two for Monday.

Today's food:
grapes, omelet w/ onion, red pepper & salsa, toast [1 pt] w/ reduced-sugar jelly
tuna w/ romaine lettuce, jicama, red pepper slices & vidalia onion dressing [2 pts]
apple & cottage cheese, red pepper slices - I was SO hungry because I had some unexpected errands come up and I didn't get to eat on schedule.
pork fried brown rice w/ stir fry vegetables
mozzarella cheese [2 pts]

100 ounces of water and several cups of tea. 17 weekly and 5.5 activity points remaining. Reward percentage for today: 15 out of 20 - 75%.

Tomorrow's workout will be Tae Bo Amped Jump Start Cardio.

NROL4W - Stage 1 - Tuesday - Biggest Loser Cardio

Today I did the high intensity cardio segment from the first Biggest Loser Workout dvd. It's just 20 minutes (plus warm up and cool down) of skaters, football drills, high knees (tires), punches, and kicks. I love workout out with Bob, though in real life, I would probably prefer to work with Jillian. Anyway, I didn't get a huge burn from this workout (174 calories, 1.5 activity points) but I am going to try not to go all out on my my non-lifting days. I'll be doing interval cardio and bodyweight matrices soon enough. I'm going to slack off while I can.

Meals for today:

apple & cottage cheese
omelet w/ onion, green pepper, avocado & salsa
chicken & avocado salad w/ salsa & light sour cream [1 pt]
crumb-coated chicken thighs [1 pt for coating] w/ roasted vegetables
banana
diet soda cake [8 pts] for my husband's birthday

100 ounces of water. 22 weekly and 1.5 activity points remaining. Reward percentage for today: 9 out of 17 - 53%. I guess I owe myself 30 push ups each day for the rest of the week.

Tomorrow's workout is Stage 1 Workout B1 and I'm looking forward to it!

Diet Soda Cake with Pudding Frosting - Recipe

Today is my husband's birthday and our son insisted that Daddy has cupcakes for his birthday. He wanted me to go to the store and buy pre-made cupcakes and I just was not having any of that! Then I remembered the diet soda cake that has been around forever. It's super simple.

1 box cake mix
12 oz diet soda
2 c skim milk
1 box (1 oz) sugar free fat free instant pudding

Decide what kind of cake you're doing (rectangular, rounds, cupcakes) and read the baking instructions on the box of cake mix. Don't worry about all the other ingredients and prep - you don't need them. All you do is empty your mix into a large bowl and fluff out the lumps. Slowly pour in your soda and mix well. Pour the mix into your pan(s) and bake according to the directions.

While the cake is in the oven, mix your pudding and milk and refrigerate. When the cake is done, let it cool. When it's completely cooled, spread the pudding over it. You'll need to refrigerate the cake.

I used a white cake mix with orange soda. I got 12 good sized cupcakes out of this, but if you're doing a larger cake, like a 9x13, you can probably get more servings. It's about 45 points for the whole thing. If you do 12 cupcakes with the pudding frosting, it's 3.8 points apiece.

NROL4W - Stage 1 - Monday - Workout A1

Today was my first NROL4W workout. It's a lot like the Break In workout from the original NROL. It's a fairly quick, designed to prepare the body for subsequent workouts. People who have been lifting for a while often ask if the break in period is really necessary, and I think most people will agree that it certainly doesn't hurt to go ahead and do it.

Stage 1 is fairly long. There are two workouts, A & B, and they are each done 8 times with certain reps & sets, then each is done one more time using your starting weights and max reps. Confused? Stick around for the next month and it will become clear.

squat 2x15x65 lbs

60 s rest

push up 2x15 - all on the toes

seated row (lying db row) 2x15x20 lbs

60 s rest 

step up 1x15x20 lbs, 1x15x15 lbs [per leg]

prone jackknife 1x15, 1x8

60 s rest

I am modifying some of the exercises in the book. I put my changes in parentheses. I don't have access to a cable system for seated rows, so I'm doing my dumbbell rows lying on my stomach on the weight bench. I could do bent over rows or one-arm dumbbell rows as an alternative, but I like chest supported rows. I didn't do them today, but sometimes I will do atomic push ups. I screwed up the prone jackknife and did 15 reps the first time through, when I was only supposed to do 8. For the step ups, holy crap, my arms were exhausted from holding the weight.

I have decided that I am not going to take activity points for the weight lifting workouts. It is impossible for me to determine how many points I'm really earning. I will, of course, wear my HRM for the intervals and my other cardio workouts, and take those activity points. This will help me limit the non-Filling Foods I eat, and hopefully keep me eating more cleanly. Since I can always eat off the Filling Foods list if I'm hungry, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me to have the extras anyway. There's always something I can eat if I'm hungry! That is the good thing about the Simply Filling Technique. Of course, that can bite me in the ass, too, as it's very easy to overeat if I'm not paying attention.

Meals for today (Meatless Monday, by the way!):

cream of wheat pancakes w/ reduced-sugar jelly

quinoa bean salad w/ dijon mustard dressing
apple & yogurt, carrot sticks

salad w/ jicama, red peppers, avocado & vidalia onion dressing [1 pt for dressing]
grapes, a trigger food for me, so I measured out 2 ounces
vanilla berry protein shake [2 pts for protein powder]

I found the recipe for the shake in the Insanity nutrition guide: 1 c skim milk, 1 scoop protein powder (I used vanilla), 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 c fresh or frozen berries (I used 1/2 c strawberries), 1/2 banana, ice. Half of this is very filling. I did add about 1/8 teaspoon of xanthan gum to thicken it up, and I left out the ice. My son loved this, as well. 

100 ounces of water. 32 weekly points remaining. Reward percentage for today: 14 out of 17 - 82%

Tomorrow is a light to moderate cardio day. I'm not sure if I will Turbo or not. I do have to do something though! Tomorrow is not a rest day.

Reward Points for Motivation

I developed a point system to earn rewards as I go. I am not going to share exactly what they are because some are quite personal, but all are related to my health, both mental and physical. I can earn points for positive behaviors and lose points for negative ones. Every day, I will post the percentage of points earned (based on how many I could have earned). There are penalties and rewards based on those percentages.


Daily penalties:
below 50% - no computer except for posting my fitness blog update
below 60% - 30 extra push ups

Weekly penalties:
below 50% - yard work
below 60% - extra cardio on rest day

Weekly rewards:
above 70% - extra coffee on Sunday
above 80% - a few hours to myself to read a book & listen to music

I want to have a different reward for each month, if I reach 70% or better.

April - $20 gift card at Kitchen Collection
May - buy new dress for step-daughter's graduation
June - pair of 25 pound weight plates
July - something related to my trip to see  my friend Jenn
August - go see Eclipse
September - Richmond Science Museum
October - My Chemical Romance album

If I get 70% or better for the whole shebang, I can buy my Turbo Fire program.

New Rules of Lifting For Women (NROL4W)

I know I've been blogging a lot about doing Insanity, but the decision to hold off and do New Rules of Lifting For Women just feels right. As ready as I felt I was for Insanity, I wasn't ready to give up weight lifting. Even with one day a week of upper body work with Insanity, that wouldn't have felt like enough. There's just something about barbell squats that make me feel strong, like I'm really working hard. So I'm going to continue to focus on weight training, and do NROL4W as written, complete with the cardio included in the book. That doesn't start for a few weeks, though.

That does not mean I won't be doing cardio. Of course, I will Turbo, probably on Tuesdays. Saturdays, I will run tabata sprints and do yoga. I'm not sure what to do on Thursdays. Sundays will be rest days, as usual. Maybe I will just take Thursdays off and walk or play on the Wii.

Then there is the dreaded diet. I have had a rough year so far. I make the worst food decisions. I know I need to eat less and make better choices. I'm not going to commit to anything specific here, other than sticking with Weight Watchers Simply Filling Technique. For my sanity, I cannot go back to counting points or calories. I still measure my food, to keep my portions down. But shoot, I don't know how it will all turn out. I know I'm not losing weight because of my diet. I wish eating right were as easy as working out. Hell, I had an easier time quitting smoking cold turkey. I don't know what I have to do to get into the right place with my nutrition. I work too damn hard to keep sabotaging myself, and yet that is exactly what I do. I deserve better. I'm half wondering if I should take pictures of everything I eat. Not to post online, but just to give me a visual. And, like tracking calories (weighing food, entering it all in), when something is a pain in the butt, I tend to not eat things just so I don't have to do all the work related to it. But I probably won't do that. Probably the best thing to do is plan my meals head of time, so I already know how many calories and all that jazz I'm getting. I still have all the meal plan stuff that goes with Insanity. There's no reason not to follow it - it can all fit very easily into SFT.

As far as weight goes, I have decided not to use the scale any longer. I am going to use a tape measure and my Accu-Measure body fat calipers ONLY on my abdomen. That is the only area I care about. I will take measurements there every Monday morning, and enter my numbers on my NROL4W spreadsheet, on the schedule page. I'm tired of being a slave to the scale, even once a week. I don't care how much I weigh, as long as I get smaller.

Vacation Update

On Saturday, I did my workout on the suspension trainer.

Warm Up – squat, row, curl, raise

Metabolic Workout A – 4 circuits - 30 second segments, 40 seconds to transition between exercises, 90 second rests between circuits

single leg squat

atomic push up

low row

balance lunge

side plank

Not much to say about those. I enjoy them and they are perfect for travel. For cardio, I ran intervals outside. I really, really enjoyed it. Don't tell anyone I admitted to liking running. I did a 3 minute warm up, then ran 6 30 second run, 30 second walk cycles.

Sunday, I did Turbo Jam Cardio Party 3 (359 calories) and Monday I did Turbo Jam Fat Blaster (184 calories). The other days, I did a fair amount of walking but didn't wear my HRM.

As for food, the best thing I can say is that I managed to do Meatless Monday. I'm going to be very glad to get home.

The best part of vacation though, was my bargain find. I got a pair of 50 pound adjustable Weider dumbbells with a stand for $250+tax. They were on clearance at Sears, and the associate working and I have, uh, history, so I got the employee discount. I had called my husband when I saw them (before I even knew I'd get the additional discount) and he wanted them even at the clearance price. He was jumping all over that deal, and I knew he'd be disappointed if I didn't get them. He swears he will use them. He claims the reason he hated working out with our other dumbbells is because it always took too much time to change the weights and put them back to my preferred weight when he was done. I was kind of bummed that I wouldn't even be using the new weights for a few months because of Insanity, but in a last minute turn of events, I am postponing Insanity until fall. My friend talked me into starting New Rules of Lifting for Women when I get back from New York. So come Monday, that's what I will be doing. I told my husband he's doing it, too. However, I did not mention the "for women" part. He doesn't have to know!

Pork Stir Fry with Brown Rice - Recipe

I'm at my inlaws' for the week and it's my night to cook for them. I'm a bit nervous, as they've never had brown rice, but too bad. That's what I'm cooking with.

1 1/2 c uncooked brown rice
2 1/4 c chicken broth (or vegetable broth, or water)
1 oz onion, chopped fine
1 tbs sesame oil (or canola/olive oil)
1 lb lean pork, cut into small pieces (maybe a bit smaller than bite size)
1 onion, sliced
1 bell pepper, sliced (any color - I used yellow)
1 bag frozen stir fry vegetables (or you can make your own mix)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Mix rice, broth and onion in a casserole dish. Cover and bake for 1 hour. When time is up, remove the cover, fluff rice with fork, and cover with a clean dish towel for 5 minutes.

2. In a large skillet, heat the oil and brown the pork pieces. Remove from pan and set aside. Stir the onion & pepper slices into the pan and cook until almost tender.

3. Cook your stir fry vegetables. If using frozen, follow the directions on the package. If using fresh, cook them with the peppers & onions in the skillet.

4. When the vegetables are cooked, stir the pork back into the pan. Heat for 5 minutes and serve over rice.

No numbers for this. I'm in a rush. This will make 6-8 servings.