Dear Fitness Diary....

I seem to set daily goals, which often leads to me not meeting them (or at least doing so very inconsistently), because my life isn’t the same everyday. So for May, I am setting Monthly Goals. They are based on what I would like to do every day, but will allow for me to make up for days I miss and get ahead some days, too.

Crunches: 3100 - 100 per day

Push Ups: 310 - 10 per day

Squats: 1550 - 50 per day

Plank: 2335 seconds of planks - 75 seconds per day

Left Side Plank: 1860 seconds - 60 seconds per day

Right Side Plank: 1860 seconds - 60 seconds per day

Water: 248 - 8 cups per day

I’ll be a keeping an excel file going with all my counts each day.

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So the first 3 days of the month were a complete bust - I was out of town on the first, worked a 15 hour day on the 2nd, and my sister was in town on the third, so I hung out with her.

Today I met all of my goals except for the side planks and water!

I also went to the gym and did 30 minutes each on the treadmill - Alpine Pass, Level 10, max speed 5.0, max incline 2.0 and 30 minutes on the elliptical, Alpine Pass Level 10.

I had a pretty meh work out at the gym. I did a 30 minute bike ride and a session of weights circuit. Which goes a little something like this:

3 sets of the following….

15 X 15lbs bicep curl

15 X 35lbs Leg Extension

15 X 30lbs Chest Press

15 X 35lbs Leg Curl

15 X 20lbs Shoulder Press

15 X 60lbs Row

15 X 30lbs Back

15 X 60lbs Leg Press

As for my challenge… I did about half of what I hoped to do. In order to have done a lot better, I would have had to sacrifice social time, and I don’t want to do that. I am proud that I went to the gym four times in a week though - that’s more visits to the gym in one week that I usually manage in three!

Current weight: 146.

Goal for next week: 144.5.

Did I complete my challenges?

Day 4 Report:

I did pretty much no fitness today. After work, I had trivia night at the bar with friends, and we didn’t get home until after 11, so there was no time for the gym. However, food wise, I did alright! I did have dairy and white starches. There was an event at work with Indian food, and I had a few things. Then I had nachos at the bar. But no alcohol! 

Day 5 Report:

Go to the gym for at least 45 minutes: Yep! I did a quick, 5 minute warm up on the elliptical, ran for about 15 minutes (1.6k) and then did my 30 minute Alpine Pass Level 10 Bike ride. Burned 331 calories.

Plank and side plank for as long as I can: Nahhh.

Wall sit for as long as I can: Nope.

Do 10 good, consecutive pushups: Nope.

100 squats: 122

200 crunches: 395

Additionally, I want to drink at least 2L of water each day: About 1.5L.

Refrain from fried foods, pop, added salt and sugary treats for 8 days. Bonus points if I can avoid dairy and white starches: 4/6.  Iced Cap….and an asparagus dish with butter and salt.

Also…this is my 100th post!

Did I complete my challenges?

Go to the gym for at least 45 minutes: yes ma’am. 30 minute bike ride, Alpine Pass level 10 (210 calories); 30 minute run, Alpine Pass, Max speed 5.0, max incline 1.0 (241). After that I did a circuit and a half of my weights plan and then some people came in and threw me off, so I called it a night for me and the gym.

Plank and side plank for as long as I can: 1:24, left side 0:51, right side

Wall sit for as long as I can: 2:03….was feeling quite the burn

Do 10 good, consecutive pushups: yes!

100 squats: 22

200 crunches: 205

Additionally, I want to drink at least 2L of water each day: I think I hit around 2.5 today!

Refrain from fried foods, pop, added salt and sugary treats for 8 days. Bonus points if I can avoid dairy and white starches: Avoided them all!

I almost forgot! Larabar Motivation: Apple Flavour: Ehhh.  I think I would rather just have an apple and a few almonds or walnuts, since that was what I mostly tasted. It definitely didn’t have the same “treat factor” as the chocolate peanut butter one.  
 

Did I complete my challenges?

Go to the gym for at least 45 minutes: HECK YES I DID: 30 minutes each on the elliptical, bike and treadmill. On the treadmill, I tried the Alpine Pass program, maximum speed 5.0, no incline. I ran for about 22 minutes straight! With the warm up and cool down, it was 3.6k. I will definitely try that one again, upping the ante! According to the three machines, I burned 571 calories.

Plank and side plank for as long as I can: 1:29; left side 0:42; right side 0:46

Wall sit for as long as I can: 1:19

Do 10 good, consecutive pushups: Challenging, but I did it!

100 squats: 110

200 crunches: 271

Additionally, I want to drink at least 2L of water each day: Yep! Thank goodness for Crystal Light.

Refrain from fried foods, pop, added salt and sugary treats for 8 days. Bonus points if I can avoid dairy and white starches: 4/6. I had to work an event this morning at 6:30am and I didn’t think to bring lunch. They were serving Tim Horton’s coffee and timbits for breakfast, which I managed to resist! But I needed food by lunch time, and it was either pizza or a hot dog. I had pizza, so I lost on dairy and white bread today.

Saturday morning I woke up, spent two hour shopping with my roomies…and then spent the rest of the day on the couch feeling all sorts of awful. Everything hurt, including my brain. I was FREEZING and couldn’t get warm, and I had no appetite. So my entire exercise for the whole day was walking around IKEA. Arg.

Food goals…

Additionally, I want to drink at least 2L of water each day: Maybe one cup?

Refrain from fried foods, pop, added salt and sugary treats for 8 days. Bonus points if I can avoid dairy and white starches: 6/6. I barely ate anything today, so meeting these goals wasn’t hard.

Did I complete my challenges?

Go to the gym for at least 45 minutes: Check! I went for just over an hour and spent 30 minutes on the bike and did 3 sets of 15 reps on all the machines at the gym.

Plank and side plank for as long as I can: Yes. Only about 45 seconds each though…

Wall sit for as long as I can: about 50 seconds…

Do 10 good, consecutive pushups: After my weights session at the gym…I actually couldn’t even do one!

100 squats: 40. OW. I’ll have to make these up on anther day.

200 crunches: 80. Also, OW. Also, to be made up on another day.

Additionally, I want to drink at least 2L of water each day: Yep! 

Refrain from fried foods, pop, added salt and sugary treats for 8 days. Bonus points if I can avoid dairy and white starches: 4/6. I got invited out for a sushi lunch, and had both tempura and white rice. However, I did decline my regular ice cream dessert after sushi, so I had a dairy free day!

Normally, I walk just about everywhere; to and from work, at lunch, to the grocery store, wherever. I really like walking and I figure I generally burn about 200 calories or more each weekday, just from walking.

However…I happen to have a car for the next 8 days. I know I will drive it to and from work every day and use it to run a lot of errands in the evening. I could easily miss all my workouts for the week.

I am challenging myself HERE, to my friends and the Fitblr community, to do the following EVERY DAY that I have this car:

- go to the gym for at least 45 minutes

- plank and side plank for as long as I can

- wall sit for as long as I can

- do 10 good, consecutive pushups

- 100 squats

- 200 crunches

Additionally, I want to drink at least 2L of water each day, and refrain from fried foods, pop, added salt and sugary treats for 8 days. Bonus points if I can avoid dairy and white starches.

Wish me luck!

I had planned to go to the gym tonight for an hour or so, but I got an (free!) invite to a charity dinner from one of my besties. The only exercise I got today was my walk to and from work, and my lunchtime stroll. 

Let’s see if I can haul myself out of bed tomorrow in time to go to the gym before work.

Did I mention there was free beer? And cheesecake?

Lots of working out today!

Walked to and from work, plus a walk at lunch.

Went to the gym in the evening and did my standard 30 mins each of Alpine Pass, Level 10 on the bike and elliptical. Then a 10 minute walk on the treadmill, and a measly 1km run. I should have run first.

I came home, did some stretching and did…

- a 1 minute wall sit

- a 2:30 plank - ummm where did that come from??

- 10 good, strong push ups

- side planks

According to myfitnesspal.com, I burned 769 calories today. I had a big cupcake for my manager’s birthday celebration. Balance, right?

This morning I dragged my butt out of bed at 6am to go to the gym…only to get there and realize my gym shoes weren’t in my bag! Ugh. I walked back home to get them, so in total I had about a 1.5km walking warm up for my workout…which I suppose was good, but also annoying at 6:30am!

At the gym I did…

- 30 minute Bike Ride, Alpine Pass, Level 10

- 30 minute Elliptical, Alpine Pass, Level 10

Then I walked home and did a 1 minute plank and both side planks, 10 GOOD push ups, and a 1 minute wall sit. 

And my Larabar reward: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip! 

I would say it was a pretty good substitute for the real thing.

jillianmichaelswannabe:

Today marks 150 days since I’ve eaten fast food. The last time was on Halloween night before going out with friends. I even remember what I ordered: a small pumpkin pie milkshake, small fries and a 6 piece chicken McNugget. Three hours later I was puking my brains out and was sick the next FOUR…

What an awesome challenge - and accomplishment!