Happy St. Patty's Day!

Hope you got a workout in before any green beer was consumed!  OR, maybe you made a healthy Saint Patty's Day meal?

I ended my back workout with a green PWO shake in honor of the day!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1 cup ice
• 1 scoop Vitol egg protein
• 2 handfuls of spinach
• 1 tsp of chocolate PB2
• 1/2 tsp creatine

And, just for fun here is an updated back pic:) 

Food Prep

This week I'm chowing down on chicken sweet potato meatloaf (same as the turkey sweet potato meatloaf sans the eggs and only a little bbq sauce and ketchup), scrambled eggs/egg whites, tuna with greek yogurt, baked chicken with a little PB2, brown rice, roasted asparagus, roasted brussel sprouts, homemade salsa....

I've been logging everything in MyFitnessPal and keeping my calories to 1800 a day.  The more veggies I eat, the fuller I am and less I need to eat during the day.  I got home from the gym last night and still had 600 allowable calories!  Don't you worry, I made light work of most of the calories and still woke up in the middle of the night hungry and STARVING this morning.  I can not wait to see the results in a couple of weeks....  BRING IT:)  

YUMMM....two meals in one:)

And just for fun, look at that swelling in my damn wrist.  What the heck is going on?!  It felt a little funny when I was lifting last night, but it wasn't until I took my gloves off that I noticed a freaking grape under my skin.  Pretty sure this is the start of another cyst.  Fantastic. 

Measurements

Here's to gaining weight, gaining some size in the arms, chest, legs, but still dropping body fat.  WOOT:)  

March 4, 2013

• Weight: 116      (+5 lbs)
• Overall Bodyfat:  16.4 % (-3.1)   
• Shoulders: 38.25 in. (same) widest: 39.75 in.
• Chest: 32.5 in.        (+1.0)
• Waist: 27.5 in.        (+2.0); smallest 25.5 (+1.5)  UGH...bloated??? YES indeed. 
• Hips: 34.75 in.       (-.75)
• Thighs: 16 / 19.25 / 21   (+.5)
• Calves: 13.25 
• Arms: 10.5 in.      (+1.0)

Changing it up...

Alright, today begins the first day of my official contest prep....going to attempt to do a show in 7 weeks.  That is not much time, but two other ladies from the gym are doing it and I just want to see what happens.

Soooo, I planned my meals for the day, cut back my calories slightly, and I changed up my lifting routine.

TRAINING PLAN: 

Monday (am): HIIT (incline sprints), abs, hamstrings and calves
Monday (pm): Chest/Triceps

Tuesday: Back/Biceps

Wednesday (am): HIIT, abs
Wednesday (pm): legs

Thursday: rest

Friday (am): HIIT, abs, quads, glutes
Friday (pm): shoulders

Saturday:  rest/ make up day

Sunday: soccer game

Shoulders, Not Quite Boulders

My shoulders have come a long way in the last couple of months, but they still need some work.  This week I decided to work shoulders one day, chest one day, and then follow up with a higher intensity shoulder/chest/triceps workout later in the week.  I really enjoyed the higher intensity workout that I did this morning.  It included flat bench (only up to 85 lbs), push press with barbell (40 lbs), dumbbell push press (25 lb), plyo push-ups, triceps extensions, and triceps push down.  

Hard to see with this crappy camera, but there are veins there. 

Bad news bears as far as the May 11th show goes.  We got news yesterday that the show has been cancelled due to an injury suffered by the promoter.  UGH.  Now I have to figure out what to do....wait until the fall for a show?  diet with Regina who has decided to go for a show only 7 weeks out and see what happens just for fun?  I guess I'll make a decision this weekend, but I am thoroughly disappointed...:(

yay, for some roundness.

I Don't Diet

Hallelujah.  It is very frustrating to be questioned about healthy eating.  No I'm not on a diet, I just like to eat food that fuels my body and is not overly processed.  It doesn't make me crazy or obsessed...just means that I care enough about my body to feed it what it needs.  Certainly there will be changes to come as I prepare for a contest, but again it is not a diet but a way to achieve my goals.  I eat a TON of food, but prefer it to be healthy!  I just recently started tracking my meals on MyFitnessPal and it reinforces the fact that I eat to keep my body running efficiently.  I can not believe people "diet" on 1200 calories a day.  I would starve!  I like the fact that I can create goals using this site and adjust even minor details and see how they affect me.  Yay, for having something useful that is EASY to use!

EAT REAL FOOD!

Cardio and Abs

I'd really prefer not to do cardio, but I feel like I need to get some in with the soccer season just getting started and I'd like to lean out a bit.  I've been doing sprints for the last few weeks to get myself ready, which paid off on Sunday when we played a young team of college students.  They were super fast and agile compared to us!  We got crushed 7-1, but I have faith that next time we play them we'll be working together as a team.  Most of us met for the first time just 30 minutes before the game.

Back to cardio...this morning I did 10 minutes of incline walking (15.0 incline, 3.0 speed) and 10 minutes of running (1.0 incline, 7.5 speed).

This was followed up with a HIIT type of ab workout.

• 1 minute of burpees, 30 russian twists with 25 lb plate X 2
• 10 sprints, 90 second plank X 2
• 1 minute bike sprint, 100 crunches X 2
• 30 sec jumping jacks, 25 hanging leg raises X 2

It was good to get the ole heart rate up there and keep it going.  I know I burned plenty of calories because within an hour of eating 3 eggs and two blueberry paleo pancakes I was starving again.

So far I've eaten:

• 1/3 cup oatmeal, flax, chia, protein powder, unsweetened almond milk
• 3 eggs, two pancakes
• 1/2 can leftover tuna with greek yogurt mixed in
• 2 eggs, 1/2 sweet potato, spinach salad with greek yogurt dressing
• Still have 1/2 sweet potato and can of tuna for later on this afternoon.