This week’s WW meeting was about the importance, and power, of tracking. I know tracking works so I decided in that meeting that I was going to track all week. Then I resisted for the next 3 days. Huh? I know it works. I resolved to do it. And yet I held off. What’s that about?
Not sure but I think part of it is that I didn’t have a great day on Saturday from a program standpoint. My “dinner” Saturday night was three glasses of wine and half a flatbread appetizer (think small thin crust mushroom, onion, and feta pizza). Oy. I also didn’t plan very well so I was sure it wouldn’t look good.
But tonight I decided to do what I would tell any member who asked me to do - track it anyway. If I want the pants I was wearing today to fit right again, I need to do it. So I bit the bullet.
I’ll be honest that I don’t recall 100% of what I ate since Saturday but I’ve got 95% of it. Things weren’t great but thanks to my 15 AP spin class on Sunday and a switch to using my APs on a weekly basis instead of daily I had the final damage report. I’ve used all the APs I’ve earned so far this week and used 11 of my WPAs. Not great, but not terrible. And at least now I know. I’m hoping that knowledge will give me the motivaiton to plan and track better for the rest of the week.
It’s also inspiring me to work out and earn some more APs. I had planned/hoped to do it tonight but couldn’t quite motivate myself. So I’m going to get up tomorrow morning and use my awesome new playlist before an early meeting.
All in all a good day because I treated today like a fresh start for good behavior instead of writing off the whole week. Here’s hoping it pays off the next time I go to put those pants on!
I was talking to one of my favorite instructors at the gym this weekend to get tips on how to shake up my workout routine and get out of the rut that has been leading to me skipping the gym. One of his suggestions was to get some music that really pumps me up, and I liked that because I could put together a new playlist with very little effort and have something to be excited to get to the gym and use.
I went through my existing song library and spent some time looking for new stuff online and put together a mix that I’m really pumped about. It’s high energy all the way through with a big push at the end. Here are the songs:
- DJ Got Us Fallin In Love – Usher
- Firework – Katy Perry
- We R Who We R – Ke$ha
- We Got It Goin’ On – Bon Jovi with Big & Rich
- Paralyzer – Finger Eleven
- Hot n Cold – Katy Perry
- Don’t Cha – Pussycat Dolls
- How Far We’ve Come – Matchbox 20
Those who know me in real life will know this isn’t reflective of my typical taste in music (I’m more of a rock girl – hence the rock interlude in the middle!) but I find that pop music has a better tempo for a cardio workout and keeps me more pumped up over the course of the workout. This song list has the added benefit of being 30.3 minutes long, exactly the right time for a short but intense cardio blast.
I may work on a strength training playlist next to mimic my BodyPump class next. Those songs would be slower but vary in tempo more to work the muscles with both fast and slow movements. So stay tuned (pun totally intended!) for that soon.
Suggestions are welcome for cardio, strength, and any others since I’ll probably get sick of these songs in a month or so. What are your favorite songs to work out to?
I was traveling for work last week and really trying not to use energy bars as a crutch in place of real food. The seemingly best shelf-stable option was trail mix but for some reason it comes in gigantic bags with anywhere from 3 to 8 servings. At 130 – 170 calories per serving that’s a half-day’s worth of calories!! Rather than be at the mercy of the airport news-stand I took a cue from the new Whole Foods trail mix bar and decided to make my own. I added the following into a single-serve tupperware container:
- One single-serve packs of almonds I had lying around
- Half a (single-serve) box of organic raisins
- 10 g of organic dried cranberries
(I looked everywhere for dried cranberries that didn’t have added sugar but haven’t found any yet so I had to settle for a small amount of the sugared ones.)
The whole thing works out to 5 points which seems a bit high, but it’s the same as an energy bar, has the same sweet/crunch combo, and is made from real food instead of the typical “soy protein isolate” (whatever the heck that is!).
I’m going to throw one of these DIY trail mix packs into my bag on my next business trip and see how well it tides me over. If it works I’ll invest in some reuseable single-serve baggies and make this a regular part of my travel ritual.
What’s your favorite on-the-go snack made from real food?
