Shred Day 4 & 5: Fast Day Diversions and An Upper Body Workout

I spent my entire fast day on Thursday traveling from Montreal to Orlando to visit my dad and stepmom. Traveling can be a good distraction from fasting (at least I was hoping it would be).

Usually when I travel my weakness is snacking on lots of not so great food. At the airport I tried to keep myself away from the food by browsing the duty free loop. I really liked these Ray-Bans.

Before I even got to my gate I started getting messages that my flight was delayed. Delayed flights = massage chair time. Another great distraction from fasting.

My first flight ended up being so delayed that I missed my connection in Chicago creating a very long layover and late arrival in Florida. Seriously delayed flight and a missed connection = adult beverage. 

After waiting over three hours for my rebooked flight, airport chaos led to another hour delay. Too many planes, not enough space or push-back crews. 

I finally arrived in Orlando close to midnight. After sleeping in today and catching up with my dad and stepmom, I finally got in an afternoon workout. 

I was too low energy to go to the fitness center, so I used my dad's at home resistance training system (affiliate link) and I was impressed with how many exercises I could do. One of these might end up in my suitcase when we head back to China.

Today's workout:

• ●  BACK
  
  • ○  Compound row: 2 sets of 8­-10 reps
    
  • ○  Superman on the mats to failure
    
• ●  BICEPS
  
  • ○  Dumbbell curls: 2 sets of 8-­10 reps
    
  • ○  Straight bar curls: 2 sets of 8­-10 reps
    
  • ○  Hammer curls: 2 sets of 8-­10 reps
    
• ●  TRICEPS
  
  • ○  Overhead dumbbell extension: 2 sets of 8-­10 reps
    
  • ○  Dumbbell tricep kick­back: 2 sets of 8­-10 reps
    
  • ○  Cable push down with rope: 2 sets of 8-­10 reps
    
  • ○  Dips: 2 sets of 15

I was able to use the bands to do all of the exercise motions in the workout. A couple of them were repetitive, but I could feel my muscles burning and that's all that matters. 

My dad took me to get a guest pass for the fitness center, so I will be able to go there to do my sprints next week.

What I ate (fast and regular calorie days):

Broke my fast...with the above adult beverage, a chicken quesadilla (forgot picture) and airplane pretzels. Surprisingly, I was good on calories and not far off my macros.

Breakfast: scrambled eggs and ham, pb&j toast, coffee

I enjoyed making this meal for my dad and stepmom after keeping them out so late the night before.

Lunch: turkey breast and ranch rice snacks, mt. dew

Dinner: gluten free italian sausage pasta, salad, mt. dew

My stepmom baked this for us (it's one of my favorites).

After dinner we watched a movie. I do not recommend 10 Cloverfield Lane. It's scary and then the twist in the ending is terrible.

Have you ever missed a connection?

Ever used bands to do an arm workout?

Last movie you watched?

The 'After' Blues, Dragon Boat Festival and a Workout!

I've been suffering from the post event blues. 

You know this feeling (maybe?). The day after...your big race, the wedding, big holiday...you get the idea. After six weeks of following the carb cycling and intermittent fasting program, I was so excited about the results. I rode that high for a couple of days and enjoyed the break. Between the program ending, the rain, and the humidity, I fell into a bit of a funk until this weekend.

Dragon Boat Festival came on Thursday. This Chinese holiday's origin (so I'm told) has something to do with villagers rowing their boats up and down a river and tossing zongzi into the river to prevent fish from eating the corpse of a very popular poet.

The resulting traditions celebrated these days include: watching dragon boat races and eating zongzi. Since we didn't know of any local races (only the preparations we saw at Discovery Bay), we enjoyed having our first taste of zongzi.

Zongzi is a traditional Chinese food, made of glutinous rice stuffed with different fillings (ours were meat only) and wrapped in bamboo, reed, or other large flat leaves. They are cooked by steaming or boiling. Besides being pretty, they were very tasty.

We also enjoyed a full plate sharing meal with friends. This is by far the best way to try new foods in a foreign country. No guilt if you don't like a dish, just move on to the next.

During our meal we were entertained by lots of good music. The band members were very interactive with the customers, even dancing with them at times, and with people who just came in to watch and listen.

After a very rainy weekend, I finally got out for Mountain Monday. It was crazy humid (85 degrees but felt like 106!), but the view and breeze at the top are worth it.

The crazy fierce summer hikers.

I've been enjoying a lot of popsicles and smoothies. 

Today I did a lower body Tabata workout from Fitness Bender. The Tabata workout: 3 minute cardio warmup followed by two 14 minute rounds of 20 on 10 off. Each exercise was repeated 4 times.

There were 7 exercises: pulse lunges on each side (I modify with the stability ball to make pulsing easier on my knee), plank tucks and extensions, side lunges and jumps, flutter kick pulse squats, bridge kicks, and jack squats.

This workout got me nice and sweaty. I'm hoping my legs aren't too sore the next couple of days!

Do you ever get the post (fill in the blank) blues?

A Diet I Don't Recommend and Today's Workout

I mentioned in my last carb cycling and intermittent fasting program update that I wasn't feeling that great. Those tummy troubles kept me up most of that night and in bed for the next two days! Not much eating and no working out took place.

Low Calorie Day - So I spent my low calorie rest day REALLY resting. I couldn't even attempt to make the cauliflower pizza crust recipe like I was hoping. It was extra time for my muscles to recover from Saturday's at home workout though. That's one thing I love about mixing up workouts, you can literally feel the difference.

Regular Calorie Day - mrC was home and went to the pharmacy to get me some Imodium because I think I was never going to leave the apartment again without it. Between the medicine and literally sleeping the day away, I finally started feeling human again.

After a stomach issue, a BRAT (banana, rice, apple sauce, toast) diet is recommended. I went with pb&j sandwiches. Half at a time because the first time I thought I felt better and ate, it didn't turn out so well.

This morning I woke up feeling like the stomach storm had finally passed, so we headed to the fitness center for our low carb day workout: 20 sprints. I was shocked that I was able to get through them. I guess those sandwiches pack some power. I guzzled that bottle of water and more during my cool down walk on the treadmill and still felt a little dehydrated, but other than that I was feeling ok.

I used up most of my energy on the sprints, but still managed to do some of the plank challenges that I'd missed while under the weather. Each one got progressively harder, and I did fewer. 

Since the blue skies of Shekou were calling, we hung out at the pool for a bit. I'm pretty sure I needed that cold water.

Eats for low carb day:

Brunch: 3 tacos for Taco Tuesday (plus some chips and salsa)! 

Dinner: Chicken breast and some veggies. 

Macros: 

Screenshot didn't make the blog post, but I met the low carb goal of less than 50 net grams of carbs.


What's the worst diet you ever tried?
What do you like to eat when you're sick?