3 Ways I Get Motivated in the AM and Feasting

I know it's not always easy to get up early for a workout. When I was working, Saturdays were reserved for those since my weekday workouts were after school.

To help make sure I got myself out the door, I developed a couple tricks to increase my odds of staying motivated.

I pack my gym bag the night before so that no matter how slow I'm moving in the morning, at least that part is ready to go out the door on time.

As soon as I get out of bed, I put on my workout clothes. Even though I might just be enjoying a cup of coffee, I feel ready to go. Eventually.

My favorite way to stay motivated in the morning is to read inspiring blog, Instagram, and Facebook posts. Nothing like seeing what you have been up to all day while I was sleeping in China to get me in the workout mood.

The workout for today was total body strength. The arm exercises are seriously killer for me (except maybe triceps dips) and with a bum knee, I have to modify some of the leg exercises. But I get it done and it feels good.

After breakfast mrC and I rode bikes to do some errands. I got a mani and pedi while he went to the bank. Then we rode to Charlie's, an international grocery here in Shekou, where I scored big. The best find was some granola (you'll see when you check out my lunch), but we got a bunch of goodies there.

What I ate on FEAST day

First, let me say that this was my best food feast day so far. It makes a big difference to feast at home.

Breakfast: banana pancakes, grapes, and coffee

I researched lots of recipes, pulled a little from one and a little from another, and crossed my fingers. They were really, really good. I can't wait until the next feast day to have them again.

Recipe:

1 mashed banana (I did not mind having some lumps)

2 whisked eggs

1/8 tsp baking powder

1/4 vanilla

Combine all ingredients.  The mix is very liquidity. I used approximately 2 tbsp scoops to make smaller pancakes. It was pretty easy to flip them this way. They cooked just like regular pancakes, about 1 minute per side.

The next time I might add some protein powder and see how they taste.

Lunch: leftover quinoa pizza bake and smoothie bowl

I've been thinking about this bowl ever since our weekend in NH with the girls. I just made my regular smoothie then added the toppings. Yum!

Dinner: gluten free spaghetti and meatballs, salad, water
mrC makes really good pasta. I wanted to be hungrier so I could eat more, but by this time I had nearly eaten my daily calories.

Macros: It was the most carbs consumed on feast day and I went over my calories, but not by 50% as is the goal.

It's crazy to think that just a couple of weeks ago, this was my normal day. Everyday. No wonder I wasn't seeing any changes even though I was working out everyday. Learning how to fuel my body has been nothing but positive, except of course, trying to be dairy free :)

How do you get moving for a morning workout?

5 Reasons to Sprint and Low Carbs

Today's workout was to do 15 sprints: 20 seconds 100% effort and 40 seconds recovery. 

My first thoughts were, What?!? 10 were already hard and now I have to do 5 more? Eek!

It's hard to love sprints unless you are literally a sprinter, which I am not. But even the average girl can find reasons to embrace sprints.

Weight loss - During high intensity exercise like sprinting, our bodies use up all the energy stored in our bodies. When that runs out, our bodies go to out fat stores looking for energy. After a session of sprinting, our bodies continue to work to recover from the lack of oxygen. Therefore our bodies  burn more calories long after our speed workout is done.

Break plateaus - just like us, our bodies get comfortable with routine. To break through that feeling of being stuck, try sprinting. If you already sprint, swap your 100s for 200s once a week.

Short and sweet - Sprints don't take long. On the track, sprints range from 80m, 100m, to 200m. Personally I've been doing timed sprints usually for 20 seconds, but you can change that up too.

Sprints are hard - Love a good challenge? Then sprints could be your next big conquest. Good sprints will leave you breathless, burning, and maybe barfing (haha, but seriously...it happens!). Go for the 3 Bs!

Power to the She - During sprints I usually feel like I'm going to pass out, but afterwards? I feel strong and bad-ass. Reaching those 3Bs makes me feel empowered and ready to take on the next challenge.

Even though I thought I might fall off the elliptical during my sprint session, I felt really good after my 30 minute cool down. It felt good to wrap up my workout with the daily plank exercise: full plank rows.

After a good workout, I always have a little pep in my step. Literally. My walk home from the gym is 1000 times better having gutted out a tough workout. 

A sight I love when I get home is mrC whipping up his delicious scrambled eggs. 

What I ate for low carb day

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

Lunch: turkey slices, salad, water

(not dairy free, but I did majorly reduce the amount of cheese on my salad)

Dinner: meatballs, green beans, sweet potato fries

In hindsight, meatballs and sweet potato fries probably weren't the best choice on low carb day, but I still came in under 50 net carbs for the day. 

How do you sprint?

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!

Two Days in Kuta, Bali, Indonesia

Lots of pictures in this post!

When I looked up a little information on Kuta, Bali, here's what I found:

"Kuta Beach is located on the western side of the island's narrow isthmus and is considered Bali's most famous beach resort destination."

"Kuta is the best known tourist resort area on the island of Bali in Indonesia..."

"Kuta boasts the best beaches in Bali, a five-mile stretch of clean sand that is a magnet for surfers and sunbathers."

"One of Bali's first tourist developments, it's best known for its Indian Ocean surfing and party-centric atmosphere."

Sounds perfect right?

We were only there for two full days, but that was enough time to learn that I probably won't be back to this part of Bali anytime soon. Having said that, I'm really glad that I went.

Kuta, Bali is a fast paced, crazy busy place.  Our hotel was situated right in the heart of a maze of narrow streets clogged with shops, tourists, motorbikes, and cars. It wasn't so different from any back street here in Shenzhen or Nha Trang, Vietnam. I expected the village-side of Kuta to look tired, shabby, even dilapidated and massive amounts of motorbikes to take up the roads based on my experiences in Asia.

I didn't expect the beach to be lined with souvenir stands and frippery. Since Kuta Beach was only a 15 minute walk from the hotel, it was where we planned to spend some quality time. It was a big let down to see the state of things. Half of the beach was lined with vendors (all those umbrellas in the picture below) willing to sell you time on the chair, beverages, food, massages, gaudy souvenirs. What remained of the beach and that wasn't pounded by the surf, was debris filled sand. 

The best part of Kuta Beach was watching the surfers and the sunset over the Indian Ocean. Two parts of the descriptions that were actually accurate about this place.

Since the beach was less than we were expecting, we retreated to the hotel roof top pool. It was a refreshing shallow pool and we enjoyed lunch pool-side both days.

The main highlight of the trip was our Mt. Batur Sunrise Trek with Pineh Bali Private Tours. Mt. Batur is an active volcano (last erupted in 2000). Our hike began with a 1:30am hotel pickup. At 3:00 we were at the Pineh Colada Bali, Bali coffee plantation and organic farm, having banana pancakes for breakfast. We climbed 1717m (2.73 miles) in 1:52:29 in the dark to watch the sunrise! Our second breakfast was a banana sandwich and boiled egg at the top. On the climb down we got to see all of the things we passed in the dark including the monkeys! We were all finished by 9am! 

The Pineh website describes this experience as a once in a lifetime and it was! Our guide, Rapi, gave us GREAT support getting up and down the mountain. It was challenging and got even more challenging the higher we went. Without him literally holding my hand, I would have fallen many more times than just once on the way down.  

It was short and sweet, but as usual we tried to get as much out of an opportune trip as we could. 

Have you ever hiked at night?

Getaway Essentials and Low Calorie Day

My Saturday started with the hardest plank ever. Have you tried this? I did 3 sets on each arm holding for 20(ish) seconds each time. This really is the #ultimateplankchallenge!!

I hit up the chiropractor for another adjustment. Whatever he's doing has helped my knee. Obviously it's an alignment issue. 

The rest of the day I focused on PACKING FOR BALI!!

mrC has a trip there and since the flights are so affordable from here, I'm meeting him for a couple of days. I love being able to experience new places. 

From my previous trips to Vietnam and Maldives, I've learned to pack the essentials for a quick getaway like this. 

Swimwear: I love doing mix and match options.

Fitness wear: again mix and match goes a long way. mrC packs my running shoes for me (super lucky)!

Everyday wear: light and simple options, but variety too. Tanks, short sleeves, and one long sleeve.

Dress: of course one dress is needed!

What I ate on low calorie day

Breakfast: eggs and pb&j rice cake

Lunch: turkey slices, pb&j rice cake, pb banana protein bar

Dinner: bbq chicken breast, green beans, sweet potato fries

Snack: watermelon (my favorite) and then I had an apple

Macros: still trying to figure out the carbs, but I was also dealing was limited supply since I'm headed out of town. 

Have you ever been to Bali??