Make It Happen

FITNESS

Today’s Sweatiness

What can I say, I’m loving life right now Todays workouts included:

Flow Yoga – 60 min

Arms & Hamstring Workout: Biceps (BB curls, hammer curls, single curls), Triceps (dips, tricep extensions, tricep pressdowns), Hamstrings (laying curls, seated curls, SB curls)

Flow Yoga – 80 min

I’m still getting use to the movements, and my upper arms & shoulders are a bit sore from moving so many times through the upward-facing and downward-facing dog postures. I’m already feeling the ache from the 2 classes today in combination with my arm workout.. but it’s such a good pain. Does anybody else get the John Mellencamp lyric “hurt so good” in their head when this happens? no? just me? :p

Tomorrow’s Shoulders & Glutes, Spin then Yoga Flow. Already looking forward to it!

How I Fit it In

It’s funny that my schedule really went from one extreme to the other over the last 3 weeks. A month ago I was a full-time student, worked a part-time internship 20 hrs/week, and was doing two-a-day workouts. I received a wonderful comment yesterday on how I fit workouts in. Well, right now, it’s clearly no problem, but last spring and September – November was a completely different story. So although you’ve probably heard these before, I thought I’d share my strategies for getting it in..

• Plan, plan, plan your workouts – Like I mentioned the other day, I’m a crazy planner. But when your schedule gets busy, I think you have to be if you want to make sure everything that needs to get done actually does. But it does no good to put it on your calendar then ignore it. My approach was simple. I made it clear to the amazingly supportive people in my life that if a workout was scheduled on my calendar, it was a non-negotiable, and just as important as any other appointment or meeting. With that said, I also scheduled specific blocks where I could meet for school team meeting, etc.
• Get your gym bag(s) ready the night before – Sometimes I would have a 6am workout, come home get cleaned up, go to class, then straight to work, then back to the gym. So the night before I would lay out all my morning workout gear and pack up my afternoon workout bag. If you’re like me, you might not be all with it in the morning, and simplifying the get-ready process is essential.
• There are no excuses – Most of the time I love  working out, but there are always those days where you are completely exhausted and simply functioning is a struggle, let alone running sprints. On days like that I took the attitude that there was no ‘maybe’ about it. That I was going to the gym and getting my workout done no matter what, so I might as well not dwell on the possibility of not going. I also remind myself 1) how guilty I would feel if I didn’t go, and 2) how much better, and energized, I would feel afterwards.
• Plan, plan, plan your meals – I think meal planning and prepping is the most time-consuming and tedious aspect of maintaining health eating, especially during competition prep. But even if you’re not prepping for a competition, having your meals planned and ready to go is the make or break of being successful. You might have the intentions of mixing up a fabulous healthy meal to take to work in the morning, but then you sleep in 15 extra minutes and suddenly you’re eating a sugar-laden drink with a side of empty carbs & grease. I generally eat pretty similar items throughout the week and just mix and match eat day. So on the weekend I always cook up a bunch of my staples, so the night before all I have to do is choose the combination I want and package it to grab the next morning. But what does this have to do with getting a workout in? I can’t tell you how many times in my past life I missed the gym because my stomach growling one out. Have a meal planning and eating balanced throughout the day will prepare you to have the best workout you can. Not to mention that if you eat crummy, you feel crummy, and who wants to go put on tight clothing or jump up and down when you feel like that?!

But please don’t get me wrong. I don’t beat myself up if I miss a workout and of course I enjoy a frappuccino here and there. One of the amazing things about maintaining a workout regime and healthy diet is that if you make a mistake here and there it really isn’t going to make a difference. If I miss a workout one day, I make it up the next, either adding an extra 30 min of cardio or moving around my schedule to fit in an extra lift earlier in the day. Once you’re in the rhythm of rarely missing workouts and always being prepared with your healthy meals, the slip-ups slowly become fewer and farther between.

NUTRITION

Monster Pancake

.. that I monsterly (ah what, so not even close to a word, but gets my point across) loved! Today’s breakfast came in the form of I accidentally gigantic Pumpkin Oat Protein Pancake..

1.5 scoop Cake Batter Protein Powder

3 tbsp Egg Whites

1/4 c Oats

1/4 c Pumpkin

2 tbsp Sugar-Free Pumpkin Spice Syrup

H20 to desired consistency

Topped with: 1 tbsp Naturally More PB, WF Maple Syrup

Snack after class came in aluminum.. This has been in my refrigerator since August.. good thing they don’t go bad. But I was only reminded as to why i’s been in there for so long, mine are SO much better!

I was definitely ready for lunch after Flow Yoga, so I heated up the last of the Squash roast from this weekend.

Snackin

Pre- & post-workout snacks included a Protein Pancake and one of these wafers.. (apologies for the google pic!)

I’d tried a sample of the Peanut Butter flavor before, which was amazing, but I was disappointed in this.  It was try, and with my love for all things chocolate peppermint, perhaps my expectations were too high. This was also an example of me not following my own rules, and getting caught unprepared. I was pretty hungry after weights but was heading straight to yoga and ended up buying this at the gym snack bar.

Acorn Gets a Turn

For dinner I made Acorn Squash stuffed with Wild Copper River Salmon, Cottage Cheese and Portabella Mushroom. This was the first time I’ve had the Acorn variety and I really liked it. But Kabocha is still of course my #1.

1 Acorn Squash roasted at 400 F for 40 min

3 oz Wild Salmon

1/2 c Lactaid Cottage Cheese

2/3 grilled Portabella

2 tbsp Artichoke Hummus (for the extra kick).

This turned out really good! At first I thought the acorn was pretty small, but with the stuffing, one half proved to be a perfect portion.

Dessert Confession

I confess.. I had a real pancake.. a Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Pancake w/ 1 tbsp Naturally More mixed in, to be precise. There’s no photo evidence, but I promised to be honest to keep me on track! Although it was pretty good for a pancake mix, I realized something fantastic, I prefer Protein Pancakes! I feel a little guilty for my sweet, empty-carb treat, but my guilt has been lessened somewhat by knowing that I had great workouts today and burned a ton of calories. And by the fact that I eating that actually put me closer to hitting my macros today.

Although I was good on my macros, I’m not particularly happy with the amount of package food I ate today. I prefer to make my own protein shakes and bars over consuming the one’s above. But like I said in the Fitness section, it’s ok because I know what I’ll improve upon for tomorrow!

On a happy note, I did meet my H20 goal after failing yesterday.. woot woot. The multiple workouts helped that because although I never drink H20 while working out, I pretty much chug a bottle right after.

Fun Links

7 Favorite Healthy Baked Goods – these all look fantastic, a couple definitely were  bookmarked

Humpity, hump, hump day tomorrow.. strike that, it’s now ‘today’ (clock reads exactly 12:01am)! I can’t believe a week from now I’ll be chillin in Seattle. Are you pretty much all set for the holidays, or are you like me and haven’t even started shopping?

7 Responses to “Make It Happen”

1. Lesley Lifting Life says:

   December 16, 2009 at 4:31 am

   I loved your tips … I totally agree!! It’s amazing how much a difference it makes if you simply take time to get stuff all ready to go and plan what to do. (Getting a sufficient amount of sleep is also essential for me :s!)

   Reply
2. April says:

   December 16, 2009 at 5:30 am

   Mmm….when in a pinch I LOVE Oh Yeah bars! The mint flavored

   I feel like I need some yoga to help me stretch today now.

   Reply
3. Heather (Where's the Beach) says:

   December 16, 2009 at 6:33 am

   I think you are so spot on about planning and making your workout part of your schedule. Everyone in my family has finally figured out to stop calling me between 4:30 and 6pm because that is when I am working out. Yes, off work, but not free thank you kindly. I see it as just part of the day just like going to my job. I too get my bag ready, or if working out at my house, pull out my workout sheets and get everything set up and ready to go. It makes it harder to back out when you are all ready!

   Reply
4. Therese says:

   December 16, 2009 at 11:42 am

   I wish I could get into yoga…it’s so intimidating to start though when you’ve never done it.

   Girl one real pancake isn’t going to make you fat. Right now you are trying to bulk (I think?) so at the end of the day your body needs the extra fuel. Especially when you worked out for as long as you did!

   Reply
5. brandi says:

   December 16, 2009 at 11:47 am

   I agree about planning, especially with food! Even with the best intentions, if I don’t plan meals or at least have some sort of outline for the week, my eating can get off track super fast.

   that cake batter powder sounds awesome!

   and real pancakes are just needed sometimes. No biggie!

   Reply
6. Vee says:

   December 16, 2009 at 11:48 am

   Thanks for your tips. Planning and being organized can save heaps of time, I need to stict to it!
   I’m pretty much set for holidays, can’t wait. I’ve started crossing off the days now (how sad is that? )

   Reply
7. Angelalovesfood says:

   December 16, 2009 at 6:52 pm

   Yum, I need to get rid of my eggs so I better remember to make protein pancakes this week. PLUS, reading your post makes me realize I need to invest in different flavors of protein powder, instead of chocolate and vanilla.

   Reply