Day 1–Let the Fun Begin

I woke up this morning with a cough.  As frustrated as I was about that, I didn’t let it stop me from exercising.  I may not have pushed myself as hard as I could have, but this is the first day back after a couple of months off.  I was trading services with a personal trainer but the last time we met was early April because our schedules got so out of control.  She is amazing and has taught me a lot.  My hope is that I retained enough in my time with her to be able to work out effectively while I’m out in the desert.

My trainer suggested that I eat small portions every 2-3 hours and keep it around 1,200 calories.  Believe it or not, I usually have to remind myself to eat–I get so caught up in what I’m doing that I forget to eat and don’t even notice how much time has passed.  For that reason, writing it down helps me.  I used to have a real problem with writing a food journal.  I used to either lie about what/when/how much I ate or I would be so intimidated by having to write  it down that I would modify my behavior so I wouldn’t have to lie.  But my trainer insisted on me being honest about it so I wrote everything down–even the “bad” stuff.  The other thing she suggested was that I drink a glass of water prior to every meal or snack and take a sip of water between each bite to cleanse my palate.  I’ve always heard to put the fork down between bites, but doing it for the purpose of cleansing the palate so I can enjoy the next bite as much as the last gave me extra motivation to put down my fork.  I did okay with the two water rules today–sometimes I forget to drink a glass before I eat.

I didn’t want to eat past about 10:00 pm but my schedule didn’t really allow for that today.  My husband works late and it’s hard to discipline myself to go to bed before he gets home.  So I stayed up.

Below I’ve listed my food journal, my workout, and my least favorite item:  measurements & photos.

MENU

BREAKFAST  8:30 am, 402 calories:  1/2 cup Egg Beaters w/ 1 wedge light Laughing Cow cheese and 2 veggie sausages, 1 English Muffin w/ 1/2 cup fat free cottage cheese and 8 raspberries, 1 cup coffee with 1/4 c. skim milk

SNACK  11:30 AM, 83 calories:  1 tangelo & 1 wheel Babybel cheese

LUNCH  2:30 PM, 234 calories:  1/2 Asian Salad Kit with baby shrimp, 1 small gala apple

SNACK  6:40 pm, 120 calories:  1 pkg blueberry Fruit ‘n Yogurt snacks, small G2 drink

DINNER 10:oo pm, 303 calories:  1 1/2 cups Hungry Girl mac-n-cheese

DESSERT 11:00 PM, 12o calories:  vanilla Chobani Greek yogurt

TOTAL CALORIES:  1,262

EXERCISE

I did sort of a mini-workout today but it was my first day and I was nervous about overdoing it with my cough.  Here’s what I did:

1. ran 1/2 mile outside
2. 1 min. squats
3. 1 min. jumping jacks
4. 1 min. crunches
5. 1 min. bridges
6. 1/2 min. plank
7. 1 min. Russian twists
8. 1/2 min. plank
9. 1 min. kneeling leg lifts (right side)
10. 1 min. kneeling leg lifts (left side)

The whole thing only took about 20 minutes but I was sweating and my heart was racing.

WEIGH IN

As promised (ugh…) here are my before shots & my starting weight.

STARTING WEIGHT:  167.2         SIZE:  14

BEFORE SHOTS:

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