Week Seven Recap

(Once again, forgot to post it on Wednesday.)

My back is finally getting better! I can barely feel now and haven’t had any issues with it during my workouts. I still avoid using that area as much as possible but when I do a little bit, it hasn’t aggravated it. My SO had to leave for the weekend for work. Friday-Monday which meant I had all three kids at home on Saturday and Sunday during my workouts. This proved to be a challenge. Between the three of them, I ended up pausing my workouts about a 1000x each day. Even Friday with just my youngest was a rough day. But something was better than nothing. Because he was gone, I also wasn’t able to get any recipes posted like I had hoped. 

Monday was the start of a challenge I joined. Bucked Up Fitness was offering a free 8-week challenge. There are prizes to be won if you purchase one of their supplements. I haven’t decided if I’ll be doing that to enter for the prizes but it is nice having pre-planned workouts each day. Monday was legs, Tuesday was upper body and today was an active rest day. I got on the treadmill today and set it to a 10% incline and just walked for about 20 minutes. I plan on going for another walk outdoors with the kids later today. The goal is to reach 10,000. Active rest days are exactly what they sound like. Staying active but also giving your body a rest. 

I was able to mark off a new TVL goal of 20,000 pounds lifted in one session. Today is also weigh in day. I had gained a half pound last week after having to take most of the week off. But I am finally seeing some progress again and can’t wait to crush this next week. I weighed in today at 176 pounds. This puts me at a 12 pound loss with only 33 more pounds to go. I’m still striving to reach the 60’s before my in laws get here. That will hopefully be my drive for the next two weeks but I am happy with any progress! I am currently 2 pounds over my goal for this month and will be shooting for two more this week. 

A little off topic but what are y’all reading? I’ve just got back into reading. I tried over the years and just couldn’t get into the random book I would grab. I finally gave into the Colleen Hoover books and I’ve enjoyed the easy reads. I’ve just started branching out and really enjoyed those as well. I think I’ve read 10 books this month already. Send me your favorites. Bonus points if they are on Kindle Unlimited. There’s been so many recommended on BookTok but the majority of them aren’t on there so until I can make the drive out to the boom store, I’m limited. 

Week Six Recap

(This post was made yesterday. I just can't post it from the app and forgot to get on the computer to publish it.)

What a week it has been. Probably my hardest week since I began this journey. A couple of weeks ago I hurt my lower back during a workout. I’ve been seeing a chiropractor since then and it was doing really well. Not completely gone but just a small inconvenience. I went for my appointment on Thursday and left in with my lower back hurting. By the time I got home it was like it had just happened all over again. The next day I spent the whole day in bed trying to let it heal some. Rotated between ice and heat and prayed the pain would be better the next day. 

It wasn’t as bad on Saturday so I did a small workout. Sunday came and I was just frustrated. Frustrated with not being able to workout on a regular basis because of this injury, frustrated that I couldn’t go as hard as I wanted to and feeling like I could be much further along if I was just able to do everything without the pain. Stubbornness kicked in and I pushed through a good workout. Well, that was a dumb decision. I was really hurting afterwards. Because of where it’s at, it makes it hard to stand up, sit down, roll over in bed, carry the baby around and really anything that uses your lower back. It’s not just inferring with fitness but daily life. I took Monday off even though it wasn’t as bad that day because I had another chiropractor appointment. 

I filled her in on all the pain and she adjusted me but also worked my left glute with the massage gun to loosen it up. Because I’m slightly twisted it’s taking my body some time to adjust and my left side just doesn’t want to losses up. She has me icing after each session, before and after working out. I will admit, I forget to do it before my workout. On a positive note, my little hunchback it almost gone. I stand up straight with ease now and not nearly the tension in my shoulders I’ve had for so long. 

This week our water cooler arrived! I don't know why I am so excited about it but I refuse to drink tap water. We have a filter on our faucet and then fill up a Britta Filter Water Pitcher for the fridge. I like my water cold but the pitcher doesn't hold enough and by the time I need to fill up again, it hasn't had time to get cold. We buy water bottles too but they aren't cold and I go through so many of them. So this new water cooler has been great and the older kids are able to fill up whenever they want and are actually drinking more water. A win all the way around.

The replacement parts for the weight bench have finally come in. The parts got lost in our move. One part was on back order but we are still able to use it again. Once it got built I set a base for what I am bench pressing and made some goals for that. I've also made some goals for my TVL (Total Volume Lifted) during my weight sessions. I've had them in my phone but I will update my Goals tab with what I started at and which ones I've already beat as well as my future goals in those areas.

As for my weigh in this week. Last week I weighed in at 177.8 and this weeks weigh in was 178.2. I gained about 1/2 a pound. I definitely didn't expect to lose anything this week and I'm happy with only a half pound gain. I tried to keep my eating on track. I'm just ready to get back to normal and be able to go as hard as I want to while I still have the drive and motivation. I am loving the changes I've seen so far and I think that is my biggest drive at the moment. I noticed a change in my face, not as much double chin.

To end the week, my SO surprised me with an outfit from SHEfit as a celebration of losing 10 pounds. He got me the sports bra I've been interested in for about a year now and a matching pair of workout leggings. If you haven't checked out their sports bras, go check them out!

I am going to have some free time this weekend so I will finally be adding some of the recipes for you guys. Can't wait to share those.

Week Five Recap

Continuing where I left off last week, I seen a chiropractor for my injury. When I called for pricing they had a promo going on. Bring in $25 of school supplies and get your X-ray and exam for $25! I couldn’t pass that up especially when a first time appointment with X-rays are a couple hundred dollars. 

After going over my X-rays, she was pretty concerned with my upper back and shoulders. They’ve been messed up so long, I’m just used to it. She did a small adjustment because there is so much work to be done but needs to be done at a slower speed to give other areas time to adjust. She’d like for me to come in 3x a week for the first month but at $50 a session that would be $600 in one month. I won’t be doing that. For now I’ll start with a few sessions and then just explain that financially I can afford that kind of commitment. 

I’m still having the lower back pain but it isn’t nearly as bad. Manageable as long as I avoid one movement. I see her again today so I’m hoping it’s the last week having to deal with it. I also started this week with my time of the month. I did take a rest day on the start of that and then worked more on cardio the next two days to avoid doing any core movements.

We had family come in on Friday. My brother who has helped me along with this journey, his kid and my stepmom. It was the first time I’ve seen any family since we moved here in mid July. Both of their reactions to seeing me was a huge motivation this week. I don’t think my stepmom knew I had been working out or losing weight and was really surprised I had only lost 8 pounds at that time. She insisted it had to be more or that I was losing a lot of inches. My brother could also tell a difference. Just the boost I needed. 

We had half a day on Friday with them and all of Saturday. They came down to go to the beach. We went out Friday for dinner and I stuck with water and 1 sushi roll. It was a real test on how dedicated I can stay when we have people visit. Which tends to be a monthly thing when we are not close by. Saturday we spent at the beach. The one thing they wanted was fresh seafood. We found a place on the island to try. I tried one piece of the calamari appetizer and all I can say was wow! I’ve had calamari plenty of times but never has it been so fresh and not over cooked. As far as healthy options, there was nothing. I settled for a seafood Mac n cheese. Also just as yummy. 

One of our favorite places to go when traveling, if the area has one, is Mellow Mushroom! My brother had been talking about it since the day I posted it on my Snapchat. We’ll we ended up there for dinner. I had two slices and although it was amazing pizza, tossed the rest so I wasn’t tempted to eat anymore of it. After three cheat meals this weekend, I decided to do a fast. The following day I had my protein shake after my workout and then a healthy lunch. I fasted from lunch until breakfast the next morning. My brother swears by intermittent fasting. I’ve tried before but I need my morning coffee! I refuse to do black coffee.

I believe it did help after my weekend. I tried to keep my portions in check and only had water but I think it ensured I didn’t back track in the progress I had made this week. Sunday came and I got right back to working out as well. I have started to add more weight to my routines, another non scale victory! I started out using 5/10 pound weights. I am now using the 15/20 pound weights. Monday I decided to do a full body workout. Felt like jelly afterwards and Tuesday my body was so sore. Tuesday became my rest day. I don't really plan my rest days. I just take one as needed. Some days I'm good to go and knowing it is a rest day ahead of that just puts me in the mindset that I have to rest. Other days, like Tuesday, I am sore all over and know I need the rest. I just take it day by day and try to listen to my body instead. I'm averaging 1-2 rest days a week. Never in my life did I think I would be that person that says they work out five days a week. Never in my life have I done two workouts in one day. This whole process has been surreal. Starting month two and it has become so easy because I just made it a priority and a habit.

All in all, I ended up with more rest days this week and more cheat meals than I normally take. But I also went hard when I was in the gym, made better choices when I was faced with cheat meals, stayed active on rest days to reach my step goals and am staying dedicated!

I’ve also decided I want to share recipes with you guys. I have a bunch of great, healthy meals and am constantly trying new ones. I’ll be making a new tab at the top so they are easy to find and posting them in individual posts so that they are easy to link in that tab. I’ll try to add in all the nutritional information as well as pictures of when I make them. I’ll add mine and possibly some family thoughts on the taste of the meals. I won’t be wasting time posting any of the ones we decide we won’t make again. I think this will also help me along the way. Having all of them in one place will make life so much easier when meal planning every two weeks. 

If you’re new here, I started in August with a weight of 188.0. My last weigh in was also my last for August at 181.0 pounds. Today I am weighing in at 177.8…. My goal is five pounds a month. I have officially hit ten pounds lost and reached my September goal within the first week. With a five pound goal for each month, I was ahead from last month and only needed 3 to reach this months. Because I hit that goal so early, I am making an off the record goal of 3 more pounds this month. I want to still strive for something but if I don't reach it, I at least have reached the monthly goal of hitting 178. My in-laws are coming to visit in the middle of next month and I'd love to reach my 60's by that point just to see how much they notice a change.

Week 4 Recap | Monthly Review

My last week of August. I can’t believe it’s been a full month already! I am actually very proud of myself for committing for an entire month and pushing myself a little more each week. 

I started off this week having just worked out everyday for seven days, trying to accomplish a “perfect week” on my Apple Watch. On the last day of Week 3, I realized it wasn’t seven days in a row but instead a Monday through Sunday challenge. At this point I had a decision to make. Don’t take a rest day for a few days or try again on a Monday. 

I made the decision to just keep going. Mostly because you can challenge other Apple Watch users to a week long competition. During Week 3, I asked my SO to join me so that we could figure out how the competitions worked. It’s based off the three rings you close daily but you max out at 600 points a day, for a total of 4,200 max points for the week. Because we had started this, I figured I would be trying to win that anyways so why not just continue towards the "perfect week" as well. 

Then comes Thursday. The Apple Fitness app on my phone, that shows my progress towards my rings, also has workouts. It popped up with a free month and I’m all about branching out, especially when it’s free. I had tried a couple at this point but this one in particular, I was struggling to keep up with one of the moves. 

The move required you to stand center, jump forward and to the right and squat down. Stand back up, jump back to center and repeat on the left side. We did this for roughly 30 seconds. After all three exercises were performed you went back through them again. I probably did this move 4 or 5 different times. Because I was focusing on keeping up, I wasn’t keeping my form and hurt my lower back. It is now a week later and I’m still in pain from it. It feels almost like a pinched nerve but I’ll be seeing a chiropractor today. 

I pushed through the next couple of days to finish my competition and my "perfect week". On the last day of my competition, I did a ton! I was only 300 points behind at the start of the day. We’ll, I was close to catching him when he went for his workout, adding roughly 300 more points. I went on 2, hour long walks, I did weights and cardio. Burned over 1,000 calories and was at 18,000 steps for the day. This is about double what I’m used to. I was 16 points from taking the lead when I maxed out my daily 600 points. I had totally forgot about the max and was a little annoyed I'd worked so hard that day when I wouldn’t have been able to win regardless. Mostly because I had injured my back and was pushing through that pain. 

I did have fun doing it and it was a great motivation. As soon as I feel back to normal, we will definitely be doing another one. I finished my "perfect week" on Sunday and have taken several rest days to try and not exasperate my lower back. This week I found a protein powder I wanted to try. I researched the benefits and when was best to have it and even found a recipe for it. I am using 1 scoop of it with 1 tsp of unsweetend cocoa powder, 1/2 cup of almond milk and 1/2 cup of ice. Because it is coffee flavored and blended with ice, it feels like I am getting to enjoy an iced coffee. I normally don't like protein powder but I am loving this one. I have also switched to an almond creamer in a caramel flavor that is also not bad at all! Just a few small changes at a time really add up after a while.

The end of the August just happened to be on a Wednesday. I love when that happens. Makes my weigh ins easier. I started this month at 188 pounds. My goal for the month was a five pound loss. My final weigh in was at 181.0 for a total of seven pounds lost this month. I’ve also taken my measurements. My starting measurements are posted in my Goals tab at the top and I will be updating that next with this months results.

 

Again, I am sorry about the huge pictures. I've tried every way it suggests to make them smaller and they just don't change. This is a huge reason I haven't added my pictures from the start of August because they would simply take up a whole page. Maybe I can try making a collage on my phone so the file isn't so large. Anyways, go check out all my progress as I update my goals tab.