Last night I was feeling pretty awful from all the heavy eating and I couldn’t sleep for anything. It’s funny because I know if I am good to my body it’s good to me, so maybe this was it’s way of saying it wasn’t happy with all my birthday celebrating :) It really made it easy to start my Caribbean Countdown action plan.
I officially have exactly 95 days before our Caribbean Cruise and a little over a month before our vacation with my family in Lake Tahoe. I want to be in the BEST shape and look my best for both events.
Breakfast was all about getting back to the basics.
1 c Kashi Heart to Heart
1/3 c Trader Joe’s Fiber Worms
1 White Nectarine
1 c fat free milk (poured over after I took the picture)
All together with my Hooray! Coffee Mug at work – LOVE the funky cups we have.
I almost skipped my mid morning snack but my stomach started to grumble about an hour before spin class. I knew if I didn’t eat something I’d be starving and shaky by the time I returned. I grabbed a Peanut Butter Gnu Bar ~ I LOVE this flavor! It’s peanut buttery with a little sweetness, chewiness and crunch.
Spin class totally rocked! I LOVED our substitute instructor. I think what really inspired me was I remember being there the first day she started a year ago. She looked so amazing now ~ so fit and toned. Plus, she is so upbeat and really challenges you to challenge yourself. I LOVED instructors who do that.
I came back to a leftovers lunch. I started off with some Vegan Pasta Salad. I think it gets better each day ~ delish!
Cantaloupe and watermelon ~ I think this is my favorite melon combo ever!
All together with some BBQ chicken, green beans/squash and fizzy water. It was fun to eat around my plate.
I am SO PROUD of me today! My co-workers picked up my TWO favorite cakes today to celebrate two of our co-workers birthdays. I participated by singing happy birthday, chatting it up and having ZERO CAKE! I am proud of me for resisting and sticking to my snack of grapes and low-fat cheese. The red were definitely better than the green. Next time I should eat them in reverse order 🙂
When I got home, I grabbed a fizzy water for me and a “beer” for The Husband. He wanted me to share his beer with you all.
His beer is ROOT BEER by Henry Weinhard. It’s delicious!
The STAR of tonight’s dinner was the Kicked Up Emeril Horseradish Mustard I received from Foodbuzz. I have to admit I was expecting this to be super spicy when I opened it, but, it wasn’t. It was pleasantly tangy like a Dijon mustard with a little bit of a bite.
While I grilled our fast dinner, I snacked on one of the leftover Texas Roadhouse rolls. They are AMAZING even the next day ~ soft, chewy, sweet!
The Husband had leftover ribs & hotlinks, while I grilled up a Trader Joe’s Chile Lime Chicken Burger topped with ketchup, Emeril’s Kicked Up Mustard and cucumber chips. These are my favorite pre-made burgers of all times and they are only 3 Weight Watcher Points each.
Plus the rest of my veggies from last night.
Dinner wasn’t anything fancy, but, I have to admit I LOVED cooking it up in about 10 minutes and having the rest of my night free. I need to find quick meals like this more often!
ADVICE NEEDED:
So, I need to ask you all for some advice. I really want to lose the few extra lbs I’ve gained back this year and whip myself into awesome shape for our upcoming vacations. I have had success going alone with my workouts and when I first started running that is how I lost my 55 lbs. While training for my half marathon originally helped, I pretty much maintained during that time frame. Since my initial loss I have switched to Eating Clean after following the Eat Clean Diet and continue to workout most days of the week (usually cardio 4-5 days and strength 1-2 days with some yoga thrown in there). Side Note ~ this past month I’ve slacked off and done very little.
I could go on and on with the things I’ve tried that have worked. However, I want to find the right combination that will achieve results. I have pondered training for another event, doing Jillian Michael’s Circuits or Making The Cut (have had success with both) to working with a personal trainer or trying something new like Body For Life(both I’ve never done).
What do you think is the most effective method for working out to achieve the results you want in roughly 90 days/3 months? I will most likely pair any workout plan with Clean Eating & Weight Watchers but I can fit any eating plan within Weight Watchers. I am really flexible and open to trying anything ~ I have the motivation, now I NEED the action plan.
I’d love to hear about any experiences you’ve had or things you recommend.
Danica!
First off, if you set your mind to something i know you’ll be able to do it! I’ve been on weight watchers for the longest time and its done wonders. Incorporate your clean eating with that and your going to be amazing. I am currently training for a half marathon in october and i feel that its really helped me maintain and lose a few extra pounds, so maybe get yourself involved in a few races or get a work out routine like the 30 day shred. something to work towards is always great cause you know that in the end you accomplished it! Keep me updated. If you ever need to talk or more advice dont hesitate to ask!
hey dear – you know what’s crazy? in the last 6 months i’ve lost more weight than i did in all the years i was dieting and i haven’t even been trying. i guess sometimes the best way to lose weight is to not try and just be okay with how things are right now?
Eating Clean will definately do it! I personally am an advocate of counting calories, when I don’t count, I gain weight. But when I count I’m more concious of what i’m eating and how much, even if its something clean like nuts or fruit – calories are calories.
Do you have access to weights at the gym. I personally would try to loosely follow Body For Life – from Janetha’s blog (i know you read it :-p) I would do the 3 weight workouts per week and intersperse whatever cardio yo uwould like to do. I personally would just follow the “rules” and do 3 HIIT days mixed with 3 weight lifting days to see max results while you are eating CLEAN – hope this helps! I’m hoping on the bandwagon too – I’ve gotten way to lax with things – need to lay off the chips and crackers and sweets they are not cleaaaaaan! 🙂 you go girl!!!! 95days is PLENTY of time to make serious progress
I would also recommend weighing and measuring every 2 weeks. You don’t necessarily have to follow BFL eating rules since you will be eating clean, but I think yo uwill see mad results doing HIIT 3x weekly and weights 3x weekly. seriously.
you can do it, first of all 🙂
as for specifics, I’m not sure since I haven’t done those things before (besides WW!), but if there was a program/workout schedule you enjoyed and it worked, I would get back on that again.
definitely make it something that you will enjoy!
I think the last few pounds are the hardest…for me it’s been an issue of not wanting to be so restrictive that I can’t just enjoy life. Hey maybe if we are both going at it together I’d stick to it…but boy you cook such great stuff I don’t think I could keep up!!
gosh I don’t have any great advice right now..other than I was surprised to find adding in yoga and pilates really did start to change my body shape
You have some great advice here, Danica! I don’t really have anything profound to add. I agree with Lynn about trying too hard (that has really gotten me into trouble the past few months) and also, agree with RunToFinish about not wanting to be too restrictive.
Sometimes I have the best intentions and strong motivation to start, but then if I don’t follow through entirely with my original plan, I feel like I failed and run into a cycle of self sabotage. I guess I would tell you to really think about what works the best for you and your lifestyle and go with that. It might not get you to exactly where you want to be at the end of three months, but I think that you will definitely have made progress and you can always feel good about that!
hey danica! i love the carribean cruise countdown because i love alliteration. haha. the vegan pasta looks amazing, something i should make for the boys i think. well you know i am all about BFL~and it is exactly 3 months long! haha. i think a good website to look at results from it would be http://bfltracker.com because it has a zillion before and after profiles. you can see what type of results are possible.
wow I am on the same page as you. I just started eating clean, and I”m trying to lose baby weight. I started lifting weights and eating clean and feel like that has helped so far. For me, counting calories usually works but I just can’t be consistnet w/ it right now. Let me k now what you find !