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.