Shred Day 6: 25% Fewer Calories and Two Words

It's been such a great rest day that I don't want to spoil it with a bunch of superfluous words. So today's post is inspired by low calorie day: 25 percent fewer calories and two words per picture.

Florida room

Wish list

Best dog

Fast Kate

My eats:

Breakfast ingredients

Lunch smoothie

Summer grilling

Brownie fix

Good carbs

My macros

Until tomorrow...

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?

Shred Day 3: Leg Workout, Probiotics + Fitspo from Female Olympic Athletes

Workout Wednesday was all about the lower body and leg machines.

After a quick 10 minute warm up on the treadmill, I was working on my quads, hamstrings, and glutes. I hardly ever use the leg machines at the fitness center (mostly because I don't really know how), but I was excited to try something new today.

I was a little worried about how my knee would feel doing all the leg exercises, but so far so good. No problems during the 10 minute cool down on the elliptical either.

This afternoon I joined a Just Thrive Probiotics webinar to learn more about how probiotics help with weight maintenance and a having a happy gut. mrC and I are going to order a one month supply to try and I will let you know what we think. Here's a two minute video from the Just Thrive website.

My feast day meals (it's not easy to hit my goals!):

Breakfast: scrambled eggs, hash browns, veggie crumble (which I think was just a cut up veggie burger), coffee and two pieces of pb&j toast in the room.
The entire hotel world came to breakfast today. Not fun, but the veggie crumble was really good.

Lunch: cheeseburger, salad, diet dew (forgot to take photo!)

Snack: pb&j apple cinnamon rice cakes

Dinner: spaghetti bolognaise, water 

Another photo fail, but on a side note, mrC and I enjoyed the walk to the restaurant and dining outside.

Dessert: ice cream sandwich

I saw these in the hotel market and have been waiting for feast day to have one.

Macros: Under, under, under, over. Yikes! I might have to give up peanut butter to get control of my fats :( I was hoping to consume some serious fruit at breakfast but the buffet was lacking. At lest I feel like I ate a lot heading into my first fast.

How about some FITSPO (fitness inspiration) before I sign off?

NEVER GIVE UP! There are so many amazing examples of this in the Summer Olympics. Have you been watching?

She competed without a shoe!

She dove across the finish line! 

True Sportsmanship! 

She outsmarted the Rule 40 Blackout

Five stories of courage.

Calling out sexism point of view of female athletes

First 1500m medal for USA


Do you use machines for strength workouts? Have a favorite?
Have you ever taken probiotics? What do you think?
Favorite Olympics moment?

Shred Day 2: Sprints, a Nail Salon Adventure and Free Food

Low carb days always make me feel really good.

But today I'm feeling amazing! Not because of low carbing, but because I ran my sprints outside. It was the same workout as yesterday: 20 sprints at 20 seconds on and 20 seconds off. I used a run/walk combination.

Our hotel is located in the Saint-Laurent neighborhood of Montreal, very near the airport and about 15 minutes from downtown. It is a thriving little area with shopping, restaurants, and entertainment just a block away. This morning it was a perfect place for me to run.

After showering and some breakfast, I went on a nail salon adventure. I walked back to the shopping area where I ran my sprints to get my nails done. That salon was closed, so I returned to the hotel to grab the car keys and drove to another location about a mile away. The street was lined with shops and the parking signage was in French, so I continued back to the hotel. I finally found a salon in a shopping mall on another block near where we are staying. At the end of the adventure, I'm loving my new nail colors. 

What I ate on low carb day 2:

Breakfast: scrambled eggs and ham, pb&j plain rice cake, coffee

Lunch: veggie burger, salad, diet dew

Snack: celery, hummus, diet dew

Dinner: salmon, salad, diet dew

Before dinner mrC and I walked to the attached hotel to check out the restaurant. On the way we found some FREE FOOD! The hotel set out fresh cookies for the guests, so we grabbed some for dessert!

Macros: I did really well on my carbs again today: 34 net, but I was under in calories again. I really don't know how to hit them on low carb days. 

Tomorrow is feast day and I've already decided that I will be going to the hotel buffet for breakfast. I saw some waffles there the other day and they just sound really good!

What is your favorite breakfast item?

30 Day Shred Begins

We're going to be hanging out in Montreal for a few weeks for mrC's work, but we have some pretty nice digs at the hotel. Since I'm starting 30 Day Shred, another carb cycling and intermittent fasting program, I was excited to see that the room had a little kitchen area.

What is 30 Day Shred?

After watching the introduction video from Amanda, here is what I learned:

• Takes the best parts of Carb Cycling Level 1 & 2 
• Uses a CUSTOMIZED IIFYM (if it fits your macros) plan
• Puts less emphasis on being GF and DF (no more guilt over cheese and yogurt!)
• Uses an optional shortened feeding window to get in your daily calories
• The workouts: speed, strength training with focus on lower body, and running (this should be interesting for me and my knee) 

During the program we will be using two APPS:
OTR (On The Regimen) - to set custom macros and use with MFP
MFP (My Fitness Pal) - to log food/workouts and track macros

My OTR custom macros look like this (training = regular calorie day and rest day = low cal day):

Then using the customized macros, I input into MFP. I also upgraded to Pro and created goals for each carb cycling day, although I think my low carb day needs tweaking.

I started day 1 bright and early in the fitness center doing an elliptical sprint workout. We jumped right into intense with 20 intervals of 20 seconds on and 20 seconds off. I was secretly hoping my knee would give me another sign that it was up for an outdoor run. Maybe tomorrow.

We missed the shopping window when we arrived yesterday (stores close early here on Sunday), so after mrC went to work I found my way to both Walmart and a local grocery to stock up on some breakfast and lunch items.

Best find of the shopping trip was sweetener for my coffee and tea. Liquid stevia is the best!

I saw this postal box on our after dinner walk and think Canada has way better taste in mail than the USA. What do you think?

I want to stay on track during the 30 Day Shred, so I'm back to blogging every day. My first round of carb cycling was a huge success and I attribute a lot of it to the fact that I blogged EVERY day about my workouts and what I ate.

What I ate on low carb day:

Breakfast: scrambled eggs and Canadian bacon (what else, right?), coffee
I'm out of practice and almost forgot the plate photo ;)

Lunch: veggie burger, salad with parmesan cheese, ranch dressing, celery and hummus, diet dew
Can you believe all that food is only 370 calories? It's crazy how full I feel when I eat well.

Dinner: another salad, tuna, some green beans, and diet dew
I completely forgot the meal pic, so I compensated with a shot of the unprepared items ;)

Snack: Around 3:00 I satisfied a little sweet tooth and hunger with an low carb bar. These things are seriously sooooo good!

MACROS: Low carb days on MFP always confuse me because the app doesn't calculate net carbs (carbs minus fiber). My net carbs were 34 (yay), but my calories were 523 short (not good). The crazy part is that I feel satisfied and had plenty to eat.

Ever been to Montreal?
What tricks do you use to stay on track with your nutrition?
What Apps do you use to track your fitness/nutrition?