Something I saw this weekend was that for me, it’s never enough. No matter how much I work out, no matter how good my diet is, it’s never enough. I have the “perfect” week where my diet is good, and I get to the gym 4 or 5 times, and for a second I feel good about myself. Then the next week I have some ice cream, or go to the gym two times, and I feel like a failure. At some point in my life I decided that I was a failure, and then what happens is I’m just waiting to fail. What I saw is actually how good I’ve been doing with my diet and fitness the last 2 years. I have gone to the gym pretty consistently, at a minimum of twice a week for quite some time now, and it shows. Sure, I’d still like to lose those 10lbs. But I haven’t failed if I don’t. I take whatever actions I can take today. My weight is good. My muscle tone is good. My diet is pretty healthy. I went from smoking 10 cigarettes a day to 2 or 3. I’m willing to give up that I really “need” those 2 or 3 cigarettes. I may crave them, but I certainly don’t need them. And I’m willing to accept that I’m perfect, whole and complete exactly as I am today. I love my body the way it is, and the way it isn’t.

Tweet This Post

7:00 8 oz coffee

8:30 Blueberry Green Smoothie

1 cup blueberries, 1 cup strawberries, 2 cups mixed greens, 1 tbsp ground flax, 1 scoop greens powder;

9:30 Peppermint Tea, yerba mate tea

12:00: Plate of mixed greens with 1 whole beefsteak tomato

Can of trader joe’s organic black bean soup with 1/3 cup barley mixed in (couldn’t finish)

5 large strawberries

Salad: Mixed greens and tomato
Broccoli, Mango, Black Bean Stir-Fry

Bag of M&M’s

Tweet This Post

My leftovers from last night smelled awful when I took them out of the fridge this morning. (To be fair, they really just smelled like broccoli). I don’t like broccoli to begin with, and couldn’t stomach the thought of eating this dish for a second day. I decided to throw it in the Vitamix, dress it up a little, and if it was still unappetizing I would just toss it.

The end result was AMAZING. I will make this again, broccoli and all. In the end, I couldn’t taste the broccoli – just the chile, mango, cilantro, and garlic.

Hot & Sweet Soup

(Broccoli base without the broccoli taste!)

The original stir-fry Recipe:
1 bag frozen broccoli
1/3 cup black bean & salsa puree*
1 cup frozen mango
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup stock
salt to taste

*1 can of black beans and some salsa in a food processor.
Directions:

Throw it all in a pan or pot and cook til it’s hot.

Next day soup:
Leftover stir-fry (there was about 3 cups of food leftover)
Garlic, 1 clove, raw
1/2 lemon, peeled
Cilantro, about 1/4 cup loosely packed
Additional 1/3 cup black bean puree
About 1/2 cup water to loosen it up, maybe more.

Some notes on the original stir-fry dish:
I ate a full plate of it, but had a hard time getting it down. I was super full, felt completely bloated, and had gas pains immediately following.  If you like broccoli, or add the additional ingredients I threw in the soup it probably wouldn’t be terrible.

Tweet This Post

Blueberry Green Smoothie

1 cup blueberries, 3 strawberries, 2 cups mixed greens, 1 tbsp ground flax, 1 scoop greens powder;
1 cantaloupe

Lunch
Salad, heirloom tomatoes
Okra / Tomato / Kidney Bean / Barley stew
strawberry fruit salad

Dinner
Baby Bella mushrooms (1 package) cooked in chicken stock with 1/3 cup barley

Dessert:
2 cups frozen strawberries with 1 scoop Barlean’s chocolate greens (hell ya!)

1 tbsp Barlean’s Berry flavored Flax Oil

Workout: New Rules of Lifting for Women, Stage 1 workout 8b

Tweet This Post

I’ve been doing eDiets with varying rigor and little success. This program sounds promising, and I like that it’s mostly plant based. The quantity of meat and dairy I’m currently consuming is uncomfortable for me, mostly because I know it’s not healthy.

I made a trial Eat to Live meal tonight, and the quantity of food is almost overwhelming. You definitely get a nutritional bang for the buck.

A huge skillet of okra, tomatoes and kidney beans would give me my daily serving of beans and cooked vegetables. This is definitely enough food (by volume) for 2 meals, but calorically, it could really be one. I can see how eating enough becomes a challenge on this diet.

The statistics for this meal are startling and impressive.

About 5 cups of food comes in at 445 calories

23.5 grams protein

31 grams fiber

I find that nothing short of amazing!

My current weight is 133lbs. My BMI is 22 (what does that even mean?). I’ve been trying to get down to 124, which I know is a good weight for me. According to Fuhrman’s height / weight calculations¹, I could go down to 115. He uses a different formula than the one you’ll see everywhere else. According to him, a woman starts at 95lbs for 5 ft, then 4 pounds for every inch over 5 feet. It’s certainly much lighter then the current U.S. height / weight charts, and would be very thin for me, but not out of the realm of possibility.

1. Eat to Live; Joel Fuhrman M.D.; 2003, Little, Brown and Company; page 22

Tweet This Post

It was a real challenge for me to get through this week. I missed our calls almost every day, and my energy levels were way down as I adjusted to the workouts and early mornings.

Day 7 (7/28): Short weight workout – 90 reps
Day 8: 1 hour yoga
Day 9: 25 pushups
day 10: 35 pushups
Day 11: 1 hour yoga
Day 12: 15 minutes yoga
Day 13: 25 pushups
Day 14: 1 hour yoga, weights – 174 reps, ran 3.77 miles

Total:
3:15 hours of yoga
Ran: 3.77 miles
349 reps

Tweet This Post

What an incredible week. That 20 minute weight workout was a real departure from the past for a couple reasons -

1.) I didn’t have the “right” attire. I left my sneakers at home, so I just worked out in my flip-flops. Guess what? I still got a good workout!

2.) It was completely spontaneous. The yoga instructor yesterday was a no-show. It didn’t bug me that I got up for the 7:00am class and they didn’t show up. I would be there anyway. It just threw off my workout. I had a nice breakfast date instead with my SO. By late afternoon it was nagging at me that I hadn’t worked out, and had no plans to. QA needed another build and I had to hang out to verify it, so I decided the time would be best spent at the gym.

Here’s the 20 minute workout:

Dumbbell Squats: 15 x 20lb (2 sets)
Lunges: 12 x 12lb (2 sets)

Glute Machine: 15 x 50lb
Leg Extension: 15 x 50lb

Upright Row on cable machine: 15 at setting 6
Tricep Pressdown: 15 at setting 5

I ended the night having dinner at Zorba’s with 2 dear friends, followed by a phone call catching up with my brother and his wife.

This weekend 2 members of my family are reuniting after not speaking or seeing each for 5 or 6 years. I can’t believe it! I’m so happy to be a part of it.

Tweet This Post

The entire run is 4.4 miles. Last week I did about 3.0. Tonight I get to track the whole thing with the iPhone MapMyRun app.

Daily Weight Watchers Points:

Breakfast: 6 pts
Fruit Salad with Yogurt: 1 Banana, 1 grapefruit, 2 clementines, 1 tbsp Raw Agave Nectar, 1 container 0% Fat Greek Yogurt (5 pts)
Coffee: 2 tsp sugar (1 pt)
Balance: 14 pts

Lunch: 5pts
3 Tofu Summer Rolls: Cucumber, cilantro, rice paper, glass noodles, carrot, apple, red pepper, dipping sauce
Balance: 9pts

Snack: 2pts
1 Banana, Cup O’ Soup
Balance: 7pts

Dinner: 6pts
White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Clif Bar (5pts)
Gingerade GT’s Kombucha (1pt)
Balance: 1pt

Tweet This Post

HAVE -> DO -> BE : This is backwards – but the norm!

The typical pattern – for myself and I believe others – is HAVE something (weight watchers, gym membership, new running shoes) BEFORE we can Do Something (go on a diet, exercise, lose weight), and then we will Be Something (slimmer, fitter, faster). And how does this usually work out? Well, not so good. After all, I have the weight watchers membership, the home gym, and the running club. And where has this gotten me? Honestly, not too much closer to where I want to be. And that is a really honest answer. I’ve been “on” weight watchers for 4 weeks. But that’s a big joke. I’ve tracked my points for about 4 days total. And that is the key to the weight watchers program.

So I’m caught in the trap. But I have the ability to free myself from the trap right now, in this moment. I can declare that I am fit and healthy. But that doesn’t make it so, does it? No, it doesn’t. HOWEVER – and this is very important – it will never happen unless I first declare it.  I will never be fit and healthy unless I declare that I am fit and healthy. And once I declare it, then I can do it, and then I will have it. And then I enroll others in my being fit and healthy.

So how am I enrolling others in my being fit and healthy? By tracking my diet and doing weight watchers. By joining Philly Runners, and doing the running. By waking up early and doing the strength training and sharing that with others. If it’s not shared, it doesn’t matter.

So here lies the answer:

BE: Declare what I AM.

DO: Take the action of what I am.

Have: The results of my actions

Tweet This Post

Training Week: 1
Weeks to Go: 21

Stretching Workout:

The Exercise.tv Morning yoga workout

Strengthen:

Week 1 / Day 1 of Workout #1 – Body Sculpting Bible for Women

Reps: 12-15
Rest: 90 seconds between each exercise

Back:
One-Arm Rows: 15 reps / 20 lbs

Chest:
Push-ups: 10 full

Shoulders:
Dumbell Shoulder Press: 12 reps / 15lbs; 15 reps / 12.5 lbs

Calves:
1 Leg DB Calf Raises: 15 reps / 20 lbs

Biceps:
Bicep Curls: 15 reps / 15 lbs

Triceps:
OH Tri Ext: 12 reps / 15 lbs

Tweet This Post