Hitting the Gym: Day 1 & 2

Today I feel:

Time to kickoff my lifting routine! I gave myself a day off from blogging (you know, because its so hard and stuff) so today's post is a combo-post. 

The routine we are doing is push, pull, legs, rest, repeat. I will try my best to explain, but since I'm pretty much going with what my husband shows me how to do in the gym, I by no means know what I'm talking about.

Day 1 is "push", so we do lifts that require a pushing motion (I guess they wouldn't be "lifts" then..."pushers"?).

I did 3 sets of 8 repetitions (reps) of each exercise. This means you do the exercise 8 times without stopping, and that's one set.  Rest, do it again, rest, do it again. Before you do the 3 sets though you do a light warm-up set. For the warm-up set, choose a weight that you could comfortably complete 12 repetitions with.

When I first started going to the gym with my husband we did a 5x5 routine of compound lifts (squats, dead-lifts, bench press) to build up strength. John recommends doing this if you just started going to the gym because you'll work all your muscle groups and build up a good foundation.

So here's what we did the last 2 days!

Day 1: Push

Flat bench (video)

Overhead press (video)

Incline dumbbell press (video)

Tricep dips (video) (assisted for me!)

Cable flys (video)(I call them stupid faces...I might not like this one too much)

Day 2: Pull

Dead-lifts (video)

Pull-ups (assisted...shut up)(video)

Dumbbell rows (video)

Dumbbell pull-overs (video)

Barbell curls (video)

If you want to start this routine with me don't hesitate to post on the facebook page and I'll answ.... I'll get my husband to answer your questions (lol). I'm gonna be a pro soon I swear!!!

21 Day Fix: Day 21

Today I feel:

It's day 21!!! YES! You know what that means, final PROGRESS pic!!!






Here are my results for WEEK 3!!! I went from 127 lb to 117lb! In the first week I lost 5lb, 2nd week I lost 2 lb, and 3rd week I kicked it up a notch and lost 3lb!

Here's a side view of week 1 through week 3. I lost the most inches in my stomach (3.5) and the rest came off my thighs (although I still have thunder thighs haha) and a bit off my arms and hips. It's AMAZING to me that I could do this in 3 weeks.

Thank you everyone who has been keeping up with the blog, every single "view" kept me accountable and kept me going.

This is only the beginning! I will be training in the gym with my husband starting TOMORROW! Check out tomorrow's post for our routine.

21 Day Fix: Day 20

Today I feel:

This gif is how I feel every time I try to do push-ups, bench press, or attempting a pull up ( I call em "hang outs") I will seriously throw a party the day that I can complete a pull-up...JUST ONE PLZ!

Today was another sunny day! We hit up the dog park and chilled with some dog bros, then after we properly wore out our dog we went out to eat!!!

Time for some honestly....I saved all my containers for this one meal....I just had to. John's week of vaca ends tomorrow and my 21 Day Fix ends on a SUNDAY so it had to go down.

We went to a Brazilian place called Bovinos. It's all you can eat (I KNOW ...I know...) and there is a buffet of little salads and side dishes...and....get this....skewers of MEAT...all kinds of meat. The servers come around with tasty meat skewers and shave some off for you at the table. Did I mention all you can eat!?

I was prepared to leave disappointed and hungry but honestly I didn't even chow down like I thought I would. John and I got a little bit of each side dish and then a couple servings of meat from the skewers and we were pretty full and satisfied. I was pretty proud of myself, because you better believe I would have destroyed that buffet a month ago. So here's where things get hilariously weird. We turn over our "no more meat" card that we got for when we are ready to leave, the meat server (who I think is actually the owner) comes over with a skewer anyway and asks if we want more of the steak....we say no and he goes to the back room....he comes back out and asks my husband "Do you not like pork sir?", seriously sounding offended! We both kind of sit there and look at each other for a second, and John says "Uhh no, we are actually just really full." So the dude says "More steak?"....We decline....He leaves the table, obviously bothered by the fact that we are not still stuffing our faces. THEN our server comes over and asks if we didn't like something or if we WANT MORE MEAT, or if we want something else. At this point this is hilarious and I literally couldn't wait to laugh about it once we got out of there. Lesson learned, if you go to a Brazilian restaurant you better eat until the owner decides you've had enough meat.

p.s. Final RESULT pics tomorrow!!!! WOO!!!

21 Day Fix: Day 19

Today I feel:

After days and days of depressing rain, we had a sunny day today!

John and I really needed to get out of the house so we went for a drive along the coast where the most scenic beaches are. The plan was to go to the zoo but we were dummies and forgot we didn't bring any cash, so we ended up adventuring instead!

There are so many beaches on the island that have no footprints in the sand and seem completely secluded, it's awesome.

I did go into full island mode and didn't really feel like working out, but did end up doing Upper Fix and 10 Minute Abs like...30 minutes ago...Hey, whatever I did 'em right!?

I noticed I had some bell peppers that have been chillin' in my fridge for a while so I decided to throw together a concoction. This is actually a trick I learned from my mom, if it's about to go bad throw it all together in a crock pot.

I got inspired by this recipe for "peperonata" , but here is my take on it!

Crock-pot-a Pepero-not-a 

3 bell peppers (3 different colors!), seeded sliced lengthwise

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 medium tomatoes, chopped

dried oregano (3 pinches)

garlic flakes (I put a bunch....so this one's "to taste")

salt and pepper to taste

2 tbsp olive oil

(If you are doing the 21 Day Fix, I would put the mixture into 1 green and count it as 1 green and 1/2 teaspoon)

Directions: Drizzle the olive oil into the crock pot, throw in the onions, tomatoes, garlic, and peppers on top. Sprinkle all the seasoning on top and put a lid on it! Mine is on High and it's been stewing for about an hour and a half....I'm getting a lot of good smells so I'm thinking it'll be nice and soft and "saucy" in a couple more hours....lets say 4 hours cooking time? Lemme know if you disagree!

21 Day Fix: Day 18

Today I feel:

For 18 days now I have not had any sweets, no sugar in my coffee, and only 2 servings of fruit a day.

Yesterday my husband ate a blueberry muffin and I WASN'T EVEN JELLY! (maybe a little jelly)

It is very weird for me not to crave sugar, but I really don't! If there was cake right in front of me right now I would pass (unless it was Oreo ice cream cake...there are exceptions people).

There is definitely a detox process that happens when you give up sugar. At first you get mad about it, feel a little weak, after a few days your energy skyrockets and STAYS there. I still get sugar btw, just from fruit. If for nothing else, try eating clean for 2 weeks just to see how much sugar affects (its affects right? effects didn't sound right...I always get those two mixed up) your system.

I did another 2 workouts today, Pilates Fix and Dirty 30. My husband got his workout in with puppy-curls and tricep-tugs. If you have a small dog I recommend adding weight (maybe make it wear a sandbag vest), and if you have cats I would use them as dumbbells instead (please post pics).

Here's what we had for dinner!

Baked Chicken Tenders w/ Whole Grain Rotini and Broccoli Mushroom Sautee

It is very easy to make, just bake up a couple chicken tenders, boil some whole grain rotini, and sautee (with pam) a half cup of mushrooms with a half cup of broccoli. Season to taste and enjoy! The 2 tenders are 1 red , veggies 1 green, pasta 1 yellow, and I used 1 tsp just because I sprayed a lot of pam (lol).

Hope you are inspired to eat something healthy and delicious today! 

21 Day Fix: Day 17

Today I feel:

I did 2 challenging workout videos today, Plyo Fix and Total Body Cardio Fix, and feel pretty unstoppable!

I also skipped one of my yellow containers (carbs) and still don't feel hungry.

What is this sorcery!?!?

I only have a few days left and I REALLY want to lose a few more pounds before I take my "after" pictures.

"What are you going to do next?" you might be wondering (I might be wondering). Well, the answer is....I'm going to go straight to the beach and strutt around in a bikini....then I'm going to have some pizza/beer/double cheeseburger....and then I'm going to get by butt right back in gear and do some heavy lifting!

I reeeally want to start building some strength and muscle (especially my booty and arms!) and there's just no way to do that at home so I'm going to be hitting the gym! As far as what program I'm going to use, I'm still researching, but most likely I will just work out with my husband who knows what he's doing.

Most of all, I'm so excited that I'm excited about what I'm going to do NEXT not "omg when will this be over!?!". The truth is, its NEVER over. You can't just do a quick fix and then get back on the couch, you have to KEEP working to maintain the sexy. Does that mean no more pizza? Heck to the no! It means pizza is a treat not a part of your every day meal plan.

Now if you guys wanna kick your workouts up a notch and be "strong like Russian farmer", you should give kettlebell workouts a try! Kettlebell swings are my favorite because I can do a couple sets and work up a sweat in a short period of time. Here are some other ideas.

The stuff they tell you about endorphins and being happy-go-lucky if you work out is so true BTW...I feel like rainbows and sunshine these days.

Now go get you some kettlebells!

21 Day Fix: Day 16

Today I feel:

I threw together a beef stew this morning and the apartment has been smelling delicious all day!

I'm pretty proud of myself because I didn't open the lid obsessively like I usually do when I cook something in the crock pot. Apparently that's why most of what I cook takes such a long time since I keep letting the steam out. Oh well!

It isn't a 100% clean recipe because I used a can of tomatoes, but there is no flour or butter in it and I even skipped beef broth and potatoes (I'm starting to miss potatoes, but they're really only good when buttered up, mashed up, or fried). I did google "clean eating canned tomatoes" (because that's how I roll) and a lot of scary stuff about how I'm poisoning my body...so...I'll let you know tomorrow if we made it.

Low-carb Beef Stew

I used this recipe for the stew but omitted flour, potatoes, and beef broth. Instead of the broth I added a can of stewed tomatoes and a cup of water. I also added mushrooms. Because I didn't add flour it didn't come out as stew-y and more soup-y but it was still very delicious. For those of you who are not on the 21 Day Fix feel free to make it according to the recipe!

My husband is on leave for a week and I wanted to have a drink with him tonight but failed miserably in the taste department. I really didn't want to cheat (at least not too badly) so I just added a shot of vodka to my strawberry shakeology smoothie....Guys....if you ever think it's a good idea to experiment with protein shakes and booze...just...don't. That teaches me to try to get my drank on while on a diet program.