Happy Friday everyone! Huge huge thank you for your support after my last post! It’s funny how some things seem so obvious now, but I think it takes going through the process to learn those lessons and come to the conclusion that may have been clear all along. Well wow, what a difference a little change in attitude & perspective makes! Thursday was about 100x better 
2 exciting posts today.. #1…
FITNESS
In order to keep me focused & on-track with my new found Fitness training perspective, I decided to organize myself and create Fitness Spring Up. Strange name I know, but Clean-up is boring, and Spring is on the way, the season of change and growth! Seems like lots of people have “Challenges,” but this isn’t a specific time frame challenge, but instead a refocus on balanced, healthy living. Basically this is a formalized, written version of what’s worked for me in the past with staying focused on workouts & clean eating in a way I enjoy! Each week I will have check-ins: physical, mental & nutritional.
If you’re interested in joining, shoot me an email at nourishedfitness@gmail.com, and if you like, I’ll send you a workout tracking form. I used MyFoodDiary.com for food & workout tracking, but FitDay is another pretty good service that’s free. I don’t think I’ll post my specific macros each day because I want to avoid the ‘that’s too little, that’s too much’ comments. It’s all about figuring out what works best for you!
Wednesday will be my check-in day because that’s when I workout with my trainer and generally get measured. Even though I am going to be doing weight & measurement check-ins, this is WAY more about keeping the right healthy attitude and enjoying the process. For me, part of the enjoyment is trying new workouts in the gym, pushing myself to new achievements (whether it’s increase weight on a lift, or improving my mile time), keeping up my Yoga practice and balancing it all with clean eating, tasty recipes and new foods.
I think I let myself get in a rut with workouts, so I’ve been going back through my workout journals and reminding myself about some of the fun workouts and cardio sessions I’ve done in the past. Today was about getting back into the swing of things, but I’ll be posting workouts and progress under the new ‘Spring Up’ tab under Fitness.
Day #1:
Weights: Chest & Arms
Triceps: Extensions, Pressdowns (machine), Dips
Biceps: BB Curls, DB Hammer Curls, Preacher Curls
Chest: Incline Chest Press, Incline Flyes, machine Flyes
Cardio: Treadmill HIIT + Elliptical
5 min 4.0mph warm-up
20 min HIIT: Jog at 5.7mph for 1 min., Run at 9.0mph for 30 sec., repeat.. (I did walk at 4.2mph for 2 of the jogging intervals)
10 min Elliptical hills at 8 resistance
680 calories burned in 92 minutes
Not gonna lie, cardio today was rough! Not my strongest, but I pushed through and was drenched at the end. I have a ways to go to get back into the cardio shape I was in last summer, but I’m starting off much better than I was last spring, so I know once I’m consistent with it for a little while, it should come back I also know that even though my weight is up, my lean muscle mass is the highest it’s ever been, so this is all about dropping body fat while keep muscle mass. After all, I do love my curves
NUTRITION
One of my past issues with morning workouts is that I almost always wake up hungry and want a hearty breakfast. So I eat accordingly then have to wait a couple hours until I’m ready to workout. So I need to come up with a couple happy-medium, light breakfasts that will fuel my workouts but not leave me too full. This mornings mix worked perfectly..
1/4 c Kashi Go Lean topped with 1/2 c Cottage Cheese + 2 tbsp plain Greek Yogurt + 1/2 scoop Cake Batter Protein Powder + 1/2 tbsp Chia Seeds.
Accompanied by a cup of Starbucks Via with 1 tbsp Sugar-Free Vanilla Creamer..
It took me about an hour to get an appetite post-workout, and I had something I haven’t had in ages.. real scrambled Eggs. I forgot how much I like them! I had:
2 whole eggs + 1 egg white (All Whites) scrambled with 2.5 oz Chicken Breast, Spinach, Tomatoes, Onion & Mushrooms. So good and just the right amount of filling..
I brought a Pumpkin Protein Pancake with me to snack on while I did work at Borders, but by the time I got home I was reading for sweet snack. Lately I’ve been craving a Coffee-blended drink, but why buy one (even though you can get low-cal versions as I talked about in my travel post), when you can make an even better tasting and healthier version at home! I made HEAB’s Avocado Protein Shake .. the Mocha Version.. 1/2 frozen Avocado + 1 scoop Cappuccino Protein Powder + 1/2 tsp Xantham Gum + 1 c UVAB + 3 big Ice Cubes.. blend blend blend, then sprinkled with Unsweetened Coconut. So satisfying!
For dinner we went to a great restaurant & bar in Phoenix. I ended up getting a fantastic healthy dinner, “Deconstructed Fish Tacos.” It was grilled Mahi Mahi, Black Beans, Guacamole, Pico de Gallo andTomatillo Vinaigrette. To keep it healthy I skipped the Corn Tortillas..
FUN
I’ll have a quick post later today.. and it’s just fun
Any big weekend plans? I’m just enjoying the last couple days of break, then getting ready for a new class starting Monday..
Fun Links
Glad to hear you’re in better spirits today!!! I’d say that was a pretty good calorie burn there even if it wasn’t your best cardio day. At least you got it done right?!
‘that’s too little, that’s too much’ comments. It’s all about figuring out what works best for you!
Amen to that!
I can’t wait to do some HIIT later today
I hate thinking about it but I love how you feel afterwards.
Dang girl that’s an awesome calorie burn! I don’t think I’ve ever burned that much in my life! LOL
And I agree with you on the lean body mass.. today I found out I dropped my body fat another percentage even though my weight is up! Yay for muscle!
Oh, and I”m pretty obsessed with that cottage cheese and protein powder. It’s amazing with cake batter and rocky road!
So glad to hear you’re doing better, is your back ok? I’m trying to employ positive thoughts to cycle up hills without dying lol I’m a huge fan of grilled fish tacos, yum!! Have a good weekend
Keep up the good spirits. It is all about listening to the bod & doing what is right for you! I weigh around 116-117 at 5’1″ & wear a size 4 so it is not always about the scale.
Thanks for posting your exercises. I’ll be borrowing some ideas for my XT days.
And I’m totally having a veggie scramble for breakfast tomorrow. Yummy!
Wow, I’m behind here, catching up with your blogs as I am in the final stages of competition prep (3 weeks to go, yikes). I love your Fitness Spring Up plan. I am pretty much worn through with all the comp prep stuff, not to mention testing the patience of my husband and kids. Often I wonder, after it is all over, what I will do with myself. Likely for the first two weeks I’ll want to slack off a bit, but after that it will be time for re-assessment of everything, make sure the eating stays on track, try some new things, change my fitness routines to keep things interesting and finding some mental balance. I haven’t had any time for yoga and I am thinking by that point that may be just what I need. Gotta mix things up and keep it interesting, change, for me at least, brings renewed spirits!