7 Day Challenge - Abs (Day 6)

Day 6 is the same as Day 2. Just as challenging.

The difference about this day was that Mommy A was doing it with me! She was awesome. I didn't do any other type of exercise since having a kid, you can't go to the gym together -- you have to take turns. So I stayed at home while Mommy A worked out. We will have to try out some system or days where she can work out and then I can work out.

No food to comment today because we went out for sushi. I heart sushi! It was great because usually at this new place, we order their 3 item bento box and an extra roll. So with our meal we are getting the following:

Edamame
Miso Soup
Salad
Rice
(1) 8 pc California Roll
(1) Mixed Tempura
(1) Teriyaki Chicken
Extra 8 pc roll.

If we didn't have our daughter with us, we probably would not get the chicken, but they come in little strips and they are great for her little hands and for her to chew.

Well this time, we decided to NOT get the extra 8 pc roll. The other times we have been there, we have stuffed our face and felt pretty awful leaving. This time was different. We ate our food, and we were totally satisfied. Even with those items, we were feeling pretty stuffed. It saves money and keeps the calories down. Now only if we didn't like mixed tempura so much...haha.

I'm excited to wrap this challenge up tomorrow. I can't wait to do a final review of this challenge.

7 Day Challenge - Abs (Day 3)

So Day 3 was whew... Haha

Routine #1
Mountain Climbers – 20 seconds
Rest – 10 seconds
Scissors – 20 seconds
Rest – 10 seconds
Knees In and Out – 20 seconds
Rest – 10 seconds
V-Ups – 20 seconds
Rest – 1 minute

Routine #2Toe Touch – 20 seconds
Rest – 10 seconds
Air Bike – 20 seconds
Rest – 10 seconds
4 Time Abs – 20 seconds
Rest – 10 seconds
Prone Plank – 20 seconds
Rest – 10 seconds

Do each routine 2 times. 

Time: 10 min

I was exhausted by the end of this round. This was coupled with before this routine, I had ran 30 minutes on the treadmill doing the same speed routine that I did yesterday (which btw I felt better at doing). My legs were spent and all of these exercises require your legs to work out your abs. Haha. I made it through though. 

There won't be any additional posts about food from last night because we went out. Mommy A is a secret diner for restaurants and we rate them mainly on their service -- how fast do they greet and how fast does the food come out. After the meal is done, you fill out paperwork rating the service and food, send it to the rep with the receipt, and they will send you a check in the mail reimbursing you the meal. Free meal essentially. We have been doing this for the past 2 years, and we haven't ran into any issues. 

It was a learning sign last night. My pasta meal was bad. It was the special too: Pesto sauce with Pine nuts sauteed in your choice of pasta. I order the Pesto w/ fettuccine and for an additional $2, I get the grilled chicken. Totally excited about this dish. Pasta is over cooked and tough, and the chicken is dry, even sitting in the pesto. I took a couple of bites, and then tried Mommy A's meal since she, too, had fettuccine, and I just wanted to make sure I wasn't crazy. Nope. Not crazy. Her pasta was cooked to perfection, and my pasta was a total fail. I sat it at the end of the table and didn't take another bite. 

This was a HUGE kudos to me. In the past, I would have sucked it up and ate it because I would have been hungry. We bought an appetizer (which was stupid good), and our meal came with salads. Before the pasta was even there, I was already saying I was way too full. My old self would have ate that bad pasta because I would be hungry and wouldn't have said anything. The transformed me knew that if I was going to eat badly, the food needed to be good. Also, I was feeling really full, and I did not want to force myself to eat it. The manager was kind of enough to come over and ask if there was something that I wanted the kitchen to make, but I declined. It was very sweet, but I did not need ton and ton of pasta to come home to me. 

Cheating is Healthy

Okay...so this might sound like a way to excuse my "bad behavior" today, but I believe when it comes to food, cheating is healthy.

If you have been very regime with your diet plan, having a cookie or an all fat item - like macaroni and cheese - is not going to break you.

I will come clean and share that I had a Starbucks Tall Mocha Cookie Crumble w/ the Chocolate Whip. I know, all those words in that title just scream WRONG! But I really wanted it. I had it in my mind that I wanted one. I really wanted to get it when Starbucks was doing their Frap Happy Hour last week, but I missed that. I just looked it up on MFP and this is the damage:

May 17, 2013

FOODS	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Cholest	Sodium	Sugars	Fiber
Morning Snack
Strawberries - Raw, 4 medium (1-1/4" dia)	15	4g	0g	0g	0mg	0mg	2g	1g
Costco - White Hard Boiled Egg, 1 egg	70	0g	5g	7g	210mg	80mg	0g	0g
Sargento Snacks - String Cheese Part Skim Mozzarella Cheese Sticks, 1 stick	80	1g	6g	8g	15mg	210mg	0g	0g
Lunch
In General Salmon Sushi - 1 oz. Farmed Fish on A Bed of White Rice, 1 piece	56	8g	2g	3g	0mg	0mg	0g	0g
Sushi - 1 Stick Immitation Crab, 1 Stick	15	2g	0g	0g	0mg	0mg	0g	0g
Sushi - California Roll, 8 piece	150	8g	2g	2g	1mg	100mg	2g	0g
Sushi - Nigiri - Tuna - Plain, 1 piece	37	4g	1g	1g	0mg	1mg	0g	0g
Moshi Sushi - Nigiri Salmon, 1 piece	64	9g	1g	5g	8mg	29mg	1g	0g
Generic - Sushi - Nigiri Shrimp, 1 piece - 1.25 oz	68	11g	1g	8g	0mg	30mg	0g	1g
Afternoon Snack
Starbucks - Tall Mocha Cookie Crumble Frappuccino Whole Milk With Whip, 1 Tall Size 12oz.	340	52g	14g	5g	40mg	180mg	48g	1g
TOTAL:	895	99g	32g	39g	274mg	630mg	53g	3g

And with a 1200 calorie a day allowance, yeah, it looks like I have ruined my whole day.

Not necessarily...

Let us look at the positives. And when I talk about the positives, it is thinking and remembering back to what I would have ordered before pre-healthy living.

• I visit Starbucks about once a season, so I do not go to Starbucks every day. (No offense if you do.)
• My normal order at Starbucks is the Grande Mocha Light Frap (130 calories)
• I got a Tall - not a Grande. Back in the day, if I thought I was really hungry and deserved a good treat, I would have easily polished off a Venti and had an additional afternoon snack. 
• I did not finish my drink, but I left the full amount of calories on MFP. 

Looking at my day so far, this choice might not have been soooo bad if I hadn't had such a big lunch. (I heart sushi.) It's looking at something that was so bad and turning it into something good, so I don't become my worst critic of how I should not bought that item, and that I am going to gain weight, and I am a failure, and blah blah blah. One full calorie frap is not going to ruin all my successes up to this point. 

One note that I do want to make that - AND I AM NOT AN EXPERT - but from experience, I would not cheat in the first month of starting a healthy lifestyle. Within that month, your body is adjusting to the healthier food and eating schedule and introducing the old food only make the adjustment to a healthier lifestyle even harder. It might even stop you from continuing. 

Oh...and by the way, the drink was okay. I was expecting it to be thicker, almost more like a milkshake with cookie crumble, and it just left me kind of eh.