Weekly Meal & Fitness Plans: Back on Track

Oh Monday, how you always sneak up so quickly. It was so nice to have the last 5 days off of work and to be home with the families. But coming back to a full 5 days of work is sometimes a struggle. What's keeping me going? It's getting closer and closer to the wedding and I can't wait!

Last Week Recap

Last week I did really good with my fitness regimen. I got work outs in Sunday - Friday, running two races and completing all the strength days in Best Body Bootcamp. I took Saturday and Sunday off because my body needed it. My legs were extremely sore from running two races at a pace of under 8 min/miles.

I did not however do as good as I thought I would with eating 7-9 servings of veggies a day. Monday-Weds, I did great. But the rest of the week I really struggled to fit them into my meals when I didn't have as many options or have my meals planned out. It's not an excuse, but it was eye opening to see how I need to do better when traveling... even if it's just to my parent's house.

I am really loving the HBBC for keeping me accountable but also challenging me to set new goals and stick with them. I am looking forward to doing even better this week.

It's a New Week

When we got home I planned out our meals for this week and made sure it included lots of veggies.

• Monday: Chicken Sausage, peppers, onions and spinach "stir fry"
• Tuesday: Crock pot shredded chicken fajita bowl. Tortilla for the FH.
• Wednesday: Fish (TBD) + Asparagus 
• Thursday: Asian Stir Fry
• Friday: Wing It
• Saturday: Wing It

I also took some time (2 hours to be exact) to prep for my breakfasts and lunches this week:

Oven roasted chicken for salads

Salads (4)

Steamed broccoli for salads

Pumpkin Protein Pancakes

Quinoa for dinner sides

Chopped pepper, celery, carrots for afternoon snack w/hummus

I also plan to add spinach to my post workout smoothies and eat a pear for my lunch "dessert"

Workouts for the week are courtesy of Week 6's Best Body Bootcamp. Only 2 more weeks to go :( I don't want it to end!

I think I'm ready to get back on track :)

Just Checking In

Happy Thanksgiving Eve! Going to make this post short and sweet since I know a lot of people are probably trying to wrap up their work and get out of work for the extra long weekend. I know I am, but wanted to check in!

So far, this week has been incredibly motivating. The HBBC and BBB communities that I am a part of are so motivating. You already know I am a fan of the Best Body Bootcamp, but Holiday Bootie Buster challenge is proving to be pretty awesome too.

Workouts
So far this week's workouts have been going pretty good! I'm still feeling the DOMS from Sunday's 5K, so my legs have been really feeling the burpees and leg work in this week's BBB. I completed workout A on Monday and B today. Today I kept count of the burpees I did in between each round, and completed 130 burpees! I can't say they were the most glamorous (are burpees ever glamorous? probably not), but I pushed through each 60 second set and don't regret it now!

Last night I had every intention of going to a spin class at my favorite spin and yoga studio, Sweat & Soul Yoga. But traffic was so bad (early Thanksgiving commuters?) and by the time I got to the studio it was 7pm and there were no parking spots in sight.

I was pretty frustrated and knew that the FH wouldn't appreciate my bad attitude if I showed up at home, so I headed to the gym since I had the printouts from BBB with me and completed some hard intervals on the elliptical  followed by some ab exercise.

It looked a little bit like this:

• Warm up: 5 minutes at 8
• Increase resistance by 3 and hold for 5 minutes 
• Decrease resistance by 2 and hold for 2 minutes
• Repeat 3x

I couldn't even flip the pages of a magazine or read twitter because I was afraid if I let go of the handles, I wouldn't be able to start up again.

Working out last night after work really solidified for me why I like working out in the morning so much and why it's worth it to roll out of bed at 5:45am. There aren't things like traffic and a hungry stomach in my way.

Food
I've been really loving all the healthy Thanksgiving ideas this week, and was inspired to contribute to my Aunt's Thanksgiving menu with some healthy options:

• Sarah Fit's Ultimate Pumpkin Pie
• Healthier Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes - I'll be interested to see if anyone notices the difference!

Here are some great lists that I used for ideas this week:

• Iowa Girl Eats 30+ Thanksgiving Recipes
• Fitensissta Thanksgiving Recipe Round-Up
• Skinnytaste Thanksgiving Recipes

And a no-excuses workout that will take you a couple minutes in between prepping the food:

• Thanksgiving Week Workout - love this workout from Eating Bird Food. Exercise moves to get your heart rate up but a little strength as well! I might do this on Friday as my Cardio blasts as part of BBB's workout C.

Also, something food related I have been loving? Salads with hummus as my dressing. So much flavor! I can't get enough!

Alright, that was longer than you probably wanted! Off to finish some work and hopefully head out early for the long weekend! Tomorrow I have a 5 mile race on deck and then some cooking to do before relaxing and enjoying the day with family!

Have a great day!

What I Ate Food & Fitness Wednesday

I've seen What I Ate Wednesday around decided I wanted to join in on the fun. I thought it might be interesting to show you what I eat throughout the day. For the past two months or so, I've been going to the gym in the morning and then eating every 2-3 hours throughout the day to make sure I don't do a face plant and fall asleep on my keyboard.

Here we go!






First, fitness! I got up at the sleepy hour of 5:45am and went to the gym. There was a new morning class added that I wanted to try... 30 minutes of Tabata! What's Tabata? Well it was actually my first time doing it, but I had seen it over on the Fitenissta in the Summer Shape Up Series. The Tabata days didn't fit into my routine, so I didn't end up doing them. Anyways, Tabata is a form of high intesitivy interval training. Any exercise can be incorporated into the training, but it follows this basic format:

• 4 minutes long
• 20 seconds of intense training (pushups, burpees, jumping jacks, squats, etc.)
• 10 seconds of rest
• Total of 8 rounds

We ended up doing a bunch of rounds. Two different 4 minute ones, Two 2 minute ones, and a couple more 1 minute ones. We had two minute rests between each round. It was not easy, but it felt great after. It's also a good sign when the whole class was telling the instructor how much they liked it.

I also did some shoulder work outs before the class started. 7 month wedding countdown!

Speaking of wedding countdown, I also got my wedding shoes in tonight! And I can't contain my excitement.

Anyways, time for the food!

Breakfast: Coffee & Protein Pancakes with fresh berries

Do you like my coffee mug? My parents used to take these out when guests visited. When the fiance and I moved in together, they passed them down to us. Now they are my favorite mugs to give guests when they stay with us. I love their reactions :).

Morning Snack: Honey Greek Yogurt & Fresh Berries

Lunch: A Quinoa and Grilled Veggie Salad I forgot to take a picture of & Watermelon

Afternoon Snack: Apple & String Cheese

Dinner: Chicken Sausage Italian Stir Fry

I love this dish, it's so quick and easy! I cut up 1 onion and 1 pepper (I had yellow on hand) and placed it in the pan with some EVOO. Once softened I added in the broccoli and covered the pan with a lid. I stirred it a couple times in-between washing some dishes. Once the broccoli was cooked I added in some chopped Chicken Sausage from Trader Joe's. Then I stirred in a can of Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes & Green Chili's until it was warmed through and started to boil. I let it simmer for a couple minutes. I typically serve it with some roasted sweet potatoes (and regular for the man), but tonight I put it over some brown rice and sprinkled some Parm Cheese on top. Delish!

Dessert: Consisted of a couple pieces of Mamba Fruit Chews. Have you ever had these? They taste like Starburst, so good.

So that covers my first WIAW! Hope you enjoyed it!

Xox. Kaylin

PS. You can read more about Tabata Training here!