Core Work and A Carb Cycling Update

After a late night of travel back to Shenzhen and a little extra sleep, I got right to the core work today. I was a little behind on the plank challenge I'm doing because of my trip to Bali, but by putting together all of the days I had a tough core workout. But I did workout in Bali too.

Before I get to today, I have some catching up to do. It was not easy to be on a getaway while doing the carb cycling program, but I switched around some of the days and made it work as much as I could. 

Sunday: Low calorie day = rest

This made traveling easier. I had breakfast with mrC before being picked up for my ride to the airport, lunch was a protein bar and dinner from the room service kid's menu (on a Winnie the Pooh plate!).

Monday: Low carb day (originally feast day) = sprints on the elliptical 

Super easy at the hotel and restaurants in Bali. Eggs made to order at the hotel, chicken satay by the pool and dinner at Tony Roma's.

Tuesday: Feast day (originally fast day) = full body workout (or climb a volcano!)

We were served breakfast on our hiking trip (one at the bottom and one at the top): banana pancake and banana sandwich. Another order of chicken satay at the pool and dinner at Fish Co. Dessert from room service was a strange yogurt and granola bowl (but not in the same bowl?).

Wednesday: Fast day (originally regular calorie day) = REST

Breaking fast on an airplane is not my first choice! A little bit of chicken and rice, some fruit, and pb& j rice cake when I got back to apartment.

Macros: I'm pretty excited by these. I kept my carbs up except on low carb day and ate more on feast day again which made my fast go smoothly.

Today: Low calorie day (to get back on track with the group, I skipped regular calorie day)

Breakfast: our easy go-to: scrambled eggs with ham and pb&j rice cake

Lunch: quinoa pizza bake, salad, and grapes

Thank goodness my favorite pizzeria sauce is gluten free and mrC brought some back from the states with him.

Dinner: Italian crockpot chicken, green beans, salad and watermelon 

Macros: not at all happy about these. Unless MFP is wrong, most of my fats today came from my eggs. Who knew?!? On the bright side, my calories were right at 25% less than a regular day though.

Here's to staying on track and getting things done on schedule!

Ultimate Plank Challenge and Feast Day

I was awake extra, extra early today. After failing to fall back asleep, I decided to knock out my workout so that feast day could commence.

Last night I came across the #Ultimateplankchallenge and you know how I love a daily challenge. So this morning I jumped in and completed days 1-3: timed plank, 3x30 second forearm planks, and 3x15 crunches. 

The feast day workout had to be modified so I could give my knee a rest. I was able to complete the arm circuit using lower reps (I can't do 100 push-ups!!), but I opted for a leg workout without any squats or lunges. How? I used this routine from Amanda Miller and added mountain climbers at the end. Then I took my cool down outside. They're working on the boardwalk, so I walked in the courtyard of our apartment complex.

I worked on the active trigger points again and brought out my secret weapon. The tennis ball is small, but it can find knots in places that the foam roller and stick can't get to. Warning: if you've never used a tennis ball to roll out knots, it hurts. Just a heads up. 

My knee is better, but still not a happy camper. It's as if my knee cap is not tracking properly. This happened in the past and it turned out to be my IT band, so that's where I went with the tennis ball. There was definitely some knotting/tender spots in there, so I'm hoping this will be the answer.

What I ate on feast day #2

Breakfast: protein pancakes, watermelon, and coffee

These pancakes are awesome, but actually have twice as much protein as carbs. I think that defeats the purpose of carb loading on feast day. They were really good though.

Lunch: quinoa and tuna, grapes, pb banana protein bar, water

Left out the dairy from my regular recipe (see it here) and it wasn't bad. I was stuffed!

Snacks: (not pictured) more watermelon, some Baked Lays chips

Dinner: leftover quinoa and tuna, water, pb banana protein bar

I was 100% NOT HUNGRY, but knowing how bad I felt on the last fast day, I made myself eat.

Macros: 

Admittedly proud of my eating work today. I was still 500 calories under the goal of eating 50% more than regular calorie days, but my carbs were better than last feast day.

Let the fasting begin!!