Improvements

I had the day off from work yesterday because Travis had an appointment with his orthopedic specialist. My plan was to take him to his appointment, come home and relax, grab a bite to eat  and then hit the 5 mile trail. But due to circumstances beyond my control,  I never made it back out of the house. This is why I prefer to run or workout on my lunch breaks. Once I get home, finding time to workout becomes increasingly difficult. So Level 2 Day 5 of Ripped In 30 was my only exercise yesterday.

And you know, I’ve been so preoccupied with not being able to do the plank jacks and mountain climbers the way that I want to do them, that I almost didn’t notice the things that have gotten easier. When I started with day 1 of this level, I couldn’t do the side lunges with a leg raise without getting a cramp. But now, I can do them with no trouble at all. Also, my balance has gotten so much better. I don’t wobble nearly as much. I’m making improvements. I still may not be able to do all of the moves, but I’m better and stronger now than I was when I started Level 2. That’s encouraging.

I tend to always eat more when I am at home. Maybe because there are more stress triggers there. I didn’t bother tracking my food. I think I ate relatively healthy food, it’s just that there was a lot a whole lot of it. 

I ate lots of fruit, a whole wheat English muffin with a little Smart Balance Light spread, veggie bacon, rice cakes with almond butter, a protein shake, an ear of corn, and for dinner I had ½ cup of yellow rice and some sautéed mushrooms.

These mushrooms were so flavorful if I do say so myself. I sautéed them in a little EVOO, garlic, salt, pepper and a little Emeril's Essence spice. I know that a lot of people are not big fans of mushrooms but I highly recommend them. They are great meat substitute because of their texture and they actually have a lot of health benefits.

I remember being a kid growing up on what I joking call a BAD diet (Black American Diet).

I remember eating lots of fried chicken, maybe some pork chops, white rice, canned vegetables, lots of white bread, noodles, and tons of Kool-Aid. Don’t get me wrong, my mother, like many others, did the best she could when it came to putting food on the table. But I don’t think in those days much that was given to nutrition. So a lot of adults my age are just use to eating things that we grew up on. But now, we have so many luxuries that our parents didn’t have. Healthy and affordable recipes are at our disposal via the internet. We don’t have to have a degree in Nutrition to know whether or not the food we eat is healthy.

As a matter of fact, I am setting a mini-goal for myself:

For the next three days I am not eating any processed food no matter how healthy I think it is. Nothing out of a box, not even rice cakes or peanut butter or almond butter. Wait…that means no protein bars or Morningstar Farms products…YIKES!

But my eating habits have been out of order lately so from now through Sunday, if I can’t eat it in the form that it grew, it’s not going in my mouth.

Do you have any diet or fitness goals? Tell me about them.

Thanks for reading.

Always,

Blaque