No Rest for the Wicked

Week 3 – Burn Circuit 2 and Cardio

Wicked — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:22:48 +0000

I did Burn it Off today. I was scheduled for Recharge but I ended up shoveling snow instead. I burned almost 600 calories total. That was good. I did Burn Circuit 2 yesterday too. Nothing really to report.

I’m contemplating making this my Week 4. I had done a Pre-Week in which I started on a Monday. I wanted to start on Saturday though so I turned my Week 1 into a Pre-week. Now, I’m getting bored and am ready to move onto the next phase so I’m thinking I might switch to the next circuit. I only missed Burn Circuit 3 really so I’ll just be short one BC# workout. I’ll decide on Saturday when my week starts over.

I went to Trader Joe’s today to get some new foods. I wanted to try an eggplant dish my WW leader recommended so I bought that and a couple other things including some whole wheat tortilla wraps. I ended up making a HUGE tuna, lettuce and tomato wrap for supper tonight and it was delicious. I made the can of tuna with 2 tbsp of Smart Balance Light Mayo. I used 1/3 of that on the tortilla with a tomato sliced up and several leaves of romaine lettuce. It was really good. I also made some Mexican Chicken Tortilla soup (minus the Chicken and tortilla!) today that will hopefully last me for a week. I really like the idea of subing my salads for soups. Still getting my veggies but less chance to get bored.

Week 3

Wicked — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:24:08 +0000

Saturday I did Turbo Jam and the Elliptical for cardio. I had to switch up my schedule for the week.
Sunday was Burn Circuit 1. I made it up to 17 push ups. I took two breaks but I got there! Well past my 12 goal. I even pumped out a couple half push-ups on my toes. 4 or 5 I think. Woot! I’m so thrilled about that.

Today was Burn Intervals and Ab Burner. I really feel my legs getting stronger from all the lunges. I didn’t do as well on Ab Burner. I think I prefer to do that first, before working out. I pushed myself today too. I actually did jumping jacks and other jumping moves which I never do!

I’m incredibly proud of myself for some choices I made over the last two days. We went to Carrabbas yesterday. I ate one piece of bread with oil. I can’t believe that I was able to restrain myself so well. While I was tempted, it wasn’t an overwhelming urge. I also chewed my food slowly and really tried to savor it. While I was full when I left, I wasn’t overly stuffed which would be the norm.

The best thing is that I had leftovers which I was going to have today for lunch. But as I started to make it, I decided to mix in some spaghetti squash and tomatoes which made the meal much more filling. I really love making the good choices. I still have more Carrabbas left over so I’ll have the same lunch tomorrow. Yum!

Week 2 – Burn Circuit 3

Wicked — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 00:27:39 +0000

Last weeks goals – I didn’t really meet them. I still haven’t found my pedometer and I haven’t started the stairs. I think perhaps the stairs were a little wishful since I’m really busy at work right now and just don’t have the time to take a break. I will keep it on the list until I can start it. I did however do really well tracking! I want to keep that up this week. In addition to tracking, the WW challenge this week is to make 10 meals completely filling food meals with the exception of a healthy oil. We’re allowed to use that even though it’s not a filling food. Normally I eat a totally filling foods breakfast so this should be easy but I just found out that the Light Chocolate Soy milk I bought for my shakes are not core so I’m going to have to work around that.

I did Burn Circuit 3 tonight to finish up Week 2. I sort of screwed up the schedule since tomorrow is Burn Circuit 1 again. I shouldn’t be doing those back-to-back. By the end of BC3 today my legs were shaking but I did have to stop doing the squats and lunges towards the end. I’m pretty sure I pulled a muscle in my left leg. I did pretty good with the weights. I did my three extreme pushups on my knees. I think I need to do toes next time.

Week 2 – Weigh In

Wicked — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 02:39:44 +0000

I met my activity point challenge.

Updated activity points
Friday – 3
Saturday – 2
Sunday – 7
Monday – 2
Tuesday - 6
Wednesday – 4
Thursday – 0
Total – 24 activity points!

This weeks Weight Watchers challenge is to eat 10 meals made entirely of filling foods. I’ve got this in the bag. My entire breakfast is made of FF. That’s 7 right there!

Pre Week 1 – up 4.2
Week 1 – down 3.6
Week 2 - down 2.8

Total* = -2.2 lbs
*since starting ChaLean

Total from 2005= 68lbs

Week 2 – Burn it Off and Recharge

Wicked — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 18:31:00 +0000

I did Burn it off and Recharge today. I’m not feeling the love with Recharge. I love to stretch but I don’t really care for this. Probably because I can’t get a great stretch since my muscles are screaming because she has me in some position where I need to use my already spent legs. But I gave myself 4 activity points. I burned 391 calories so I just took the 4th point. High HR of 192 and avg of 138. The avg is low since I during recharge, your heart rate doesn’t go up at all. I’m counting it anyway.

I made Baked Scallops for lunch. First time ever. They were very good. I’m going to make them this way tomorrow too.

2 tsp of extra virgin olive oil in a small casserole baking dish
I washed the scallops(1/2 pound) and then dipped them, covering all sides in a mixture of the following:

1 TBSP bread crumb
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon paprika – Not even a quarter. Maybe 1/8
1 TBSP grated Parm
black pepper to taste

Baked at 350 for about 20 minutes. I thought the top seemed a bit dry. I think next time I’ll drizzle 1 tsp of Olive Oil over the top and leave the other on the bottom. I only counted points for the scallops (4 pts) and the olive oil (2.5) since most of the mixture was left and only the parm and bread crumbs have points. There wasn’t even a point worth on the scallops. I suppose if I wanted to be a stickler, I might call it a half a point. but I’m not going to bother. I served with some asparagus I stir fried in a pan. Yum!

Week 2 – Burn Intervals/Ab Burner

Wicked — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 18:08:08 +0000

This morning I did intervals and Ab Burner. I can’t believe I’m going to say this but I think I like Ab Burner!! It’s not too long and I can do most of the exercises. Shocked me too, I know.

I pushed Intervals pretty hard. I was aiming to burn 500 calories (5pts) to make my 20 for the week. I was at about 550 so I did some time on the elliptical until I hit 600 (6pts).

Updated activity points
Friday – 3
Saturday – 2
Sunday – 7
Monday – 2 expected – completed 2
Tuesday - 4 expected – completed 6!
Wednesday – 2 (expected)
Thursday – 3 (expected)
Total – 23 expected! All the ice cream plus 3!

I think I’ve found the optimum time of day for me to exercise. From doing it before work, after work, middle of the day and naptime, I’ve found that I have the most intensity when I do it around 10am. Unfortunately I can usually only do that on the weekends but sometimes when I work from home, if I get started working early, I can fit it in at that time.

Lastly, I think I’m going to flip my workouts for Wed and Thur this week. I will need to do Thursday’s workout at 5am so I think the shorter, Burn Circuit 3 would be better done then. And tomorrow I’ll have to do Burn it off and Recharge. Either that or I’ll break up BIO and Recharge and try to do one before work and the other before or after WW. I’ll let you know what I decide.

Week 2 – Burn Circuit 2

Wicked — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 13:12:38 +0000

Woke up at 4:45am this morning to get in my workout. It wasn’t too bad this morning. I did a few minutes on the elliptical to warm and wake up before starting the video.

I did ok. Again, I’ll say that I prefer doing the legs and arms separately. I feel that I’d be able to do heavier weights for my arms because I’d be able to maintain better form and concentrate better. A few times I did separate them out. I’m not going to up my weights at all at least for another week. Maybe two. I’m not secure with my form yet.

However, I advanced with my push ups. Yeah! I did four tri push ups but I did not go as deep as I go with the others. four regular push ups and four spider for a total of 12. I might start on my toes for the next round of regular push ups.

2 pts for activity today. My plan for food today should be good. Having another taco salad for lunch. Yummy! I planned out everything except dinner which I have 5. 5pts left for. But I still have 19 weekly allowance points to dip into and 14 activity points.

Week 2 – Cardio

Wicked — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 18:51:04 +0000

I worked the schedule this way so a rest/cardio day fell on Friday since it’s often hard for me to get a workout in on Friday. Subsequently that gave me a rest/cardio day that fell on Sunday which is good because I won’t blow that off. I’ll almost always do cardio, which I really need.

To set the scene, I had a half a pint of ice cream last night. Java mashup. Yum! I had a couple points left over from the day and I still had my 35 allowance so I indulged. But after I ate it, (10 points) I started to think that I could try to earn that many activity points through the week. I’m going to finish the ice cream tonight so it’s a total of 20 points. Even though I have the weekly allowance points for it, I’ve given myself this challenge.

So this morning, I did Burn Fat Boost Metabolism (Jillian Michaels) and then part of her Cardio Kickboxing. I ended up hopping on the elliptical for the last hundred calories, jacked up the resistance and the incline and worked my ass off. I felt great and I still do! I burned 727 calories. More than what I ate in ice cream yesterday. That’s 7 activity points for today.

Friday – 3
Saturday – 2
Sunday – 7
Monday – 2 (expected)
Tuesday - 4 (expected)
Wednesday – 2 (expected)
Thursday – 3 (expected)
Total – 23 expected! All the ice cream plus 3!

Week 2 – Burn Circuit 1

Wicked — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 15:41:07 +0000

This is my third time around for the Burn Circuit 1 even though I am not counting the first week. I’m not pushing to up the weights on the exercises just yet. I’m just looking to get it down. I am finding it difficult to have good form with my arms since my legs are dying. There were a few exercises where I broke up the legs and arms. I just feel better knowing that I’m doing them correctly. I pushed myself to 11 push ups (on my knees)! I really tried for that 12th but did make it. I also did 1 on my toes during the Extreme pushups but I didn’t do it extremely. I just managed to squeak it out going at regular speed. No way I could do it super slow. Someday I’m going to do 100 pushups on my toes and then I’m going to tell the world! I’ll introduce myself to people and then state that I can do 100 pushups.

I did a couple pilates exercises after but nothing big. Just a few. I’ll work up to a mini-routine to be done daily to really strengthen my core.

Week 1 – Recharge and Burn it off

Wicked — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 12:27:57 +0000

Today I did Burn it off and Recharge. I liked it! I thought the BIO was good. I like when it’s short and I can see how much time is left. It keeps me going through each exercise where I might have stopped if I didn’t know it was almost over. I did get out of breath a few times and have to stop but that’s ok. I didn’t necessarily think that I was pushing as hard as possible but it seemed like I was over my HR target almost the whole time.

299 Calories burned (had I realized this, I would have pushed for 300)
Avg HR 159 (Becky, what do you think about this? Should I aim for higher avg?)
Max HR 199

Recharge wasn’t bad. I don’t think this program does enough stretching so I was happy to see a whole workout devoted to it. But still, it’s lacking. I did write down my stats for this even though it was stretching but now I can’t find them. I’ll update if I do.

Food was decent
Protein smoothie w/ Silk Light Chocolate Soy Milk and a cup of frozen fruit — 4 pts
Coffee w/ SF Hazelnut creamer – 1 pt
Progresso Soup for lunch – 3pts I can’t believe how much sodium in this!!! I ate the whole can which was 60% of my DRA
2 servings of Stacy’s Naked Pita Chips – 5.5 pts
Asparagus - .5 pts
1/2 pd of Scallops – 4 pts
1 cup Broccoli – 0 pts

I didn’t get enough veggies in and I didn’t eat all my points but that was because my day was messed up. I was craving something after supper while watching a movie but I really thought about it and realized I wasn’t hungry at all. In fact, I was a little full from supper. But the act of snuggling on the couch with a movie made me think i needed to eat. So I didn’t get anything but I did have a somewhat hard time not thinking about the food I had in the house.

I drank well over my 64 oz of water but forgot to take my vitamin. Must remember today!