Sweaty Saturday Workout and New Feast Day Treats

The gym is a good place to be on a rainy day. I started my workout by catching up on my #ultimateplankchallenge. The full plank heel lifts are tough.

My main workout can be broken into three parts: arms with body weight only, arms with weights, and legs with cardio.

The first part, arms with body weight only, is actually the hardest for me. There are three exercises to do 10 sets of 10: push-ups, forearm plank push-ups, and tricep dips. I've been doing these one at a time to completion, but today I did a circuit hoping it would make it go faster and be easier. Nope. Still hard.

What I ate on Feast day

Breakfast: fruit, French toast, and hash browns 

As a treat, we decided to have the breakfast buffet at the Hilton after our workout. With our membership, we get a 10% discount and well, I was too tired to think about cooking when we got back to the apartment.

Snack: GF "cheetos"

A new gluten free snack created by Luke, who has Celiac's disease, that I found in Hong Kong yesterday. 

Lunch: smoothie bowl and turkey slices

This will always be a treat!

Snack: crackers and cheese

More treats from my Hong Kong shopping spree. Mary's Gone Crackers are gluten free (so happy to have found them) and the port wine cheese is a favorite from time spent with my grandparents. 

Dinner: quinoa pizza bake and green beans

Sadly that was the last of my favorite pasta sauce brough here from Cincinnati.

Dessert: strawberries 

Macros: today was a good day. A couple hundred calories short, but I did very well on my carbs. 

This carb cycling plan encourages participants to do a gluten free and dairy free diet for six weeks. I admit that I think I'm seeing positive effects from staying away from dairy, but I'm weak. I love my cheese! 

Do you prefer circuits or completing each exercise one at a time?

What is your food weakness?

Intense Sprints, Locker Room Lowdown, and Low Carb Eats

Off to Hong Kong to take care of passport renewals and squeezed in a bit of shopping. I'm so excited about some awesomely good gluten free products I found. More on that tomorrow.

I made it to gym for an afternoon workout session: sprints with a new twist. 20 seconds on and 20 seconds rest. 15 times! I finally remembered to take my handy Gymboss with me so I didn't have to stare at the time.

The sprints were intense. I ended up on the bike for my cool down.

So many unbelievable things happen in the fitness center locker room that today I am starting a new trend called:

Locker Room Lowdown 

It is not unusual to see tiny Asian women walking around naked or blow drying their feet, but today was a new one. There is only one small bench in the beautiful locker room. Today another woman (who was actually showering and dressing her swim lesson child) and I were sharing the bench. She had one end, I had the other end. There wasn't much space in between. It was kind of nice since sharing is uncommon. 

Here's the low down: a third woman dressed only in a hotel robe squeezed herself onto the bench landing on our things to drink a cup of water. She must have been exhausted holding that cup. 

Unbelievable.

What I ate on low carb day

Breakfast: 2.5 scrambled eggs with ham

Lunch: Cajun chicken Caesar salad and shared crabmeat nuggets with mrC

Snack: Flourless chocolate cake 

mrC picked this up at the grocery for us to eat on the ferry back to Shekou and it was seriously so good. Made only with eggs and chocolate! We are already planning to get it again the next time we are in Hong Kong.

Dinner: Crockpot Italian chicken, green beans, and a salad (with a little cheese & Ranch)

Not dairy free. Sorry. Not sorry. I'm doing my best.

Macros: I'm getting good at these low carb days. 23 net carbs for the day.

PS - I had to share this non-scale victory with you. The black pants I'm wearing in the first photo...I couldn't wear a month ago. I bought them in the US and a week later mrC accidentally shrunk them in the dryer. Today, they were baggy! I'm thrilled and can't wait to see my numbers in two weeks.

Have you ever tried flourless cake?

My Very Low Key Fast Day

Between the feast day workout and my island exploring, my leg muscles were a little sore this morning.

My hip flexors needed a little extra attention. I think it was all from the mountain climber sprints I did. 

Exercise on fasting days is very low key. Definitely don't want to do anything that will make me hungrier than I already am.

My only "workout" of the day was some planks. 3 sets of 10 knee to elbows. 

My chiropractor is heading to the US for two weeks, so I stopped in for a final adjustment. He has been doing wonders for my knee. Today he showed mrC how to work on my calf muscle. We think the tightness is causing my achiles pain.

Since mrC did not have to work, we rode our bikes to the pool to distract ourselves from fasting. That's right. mrC has been eating the same way as me for the past 4 weeks. It's definitely easier this way. I don't have to watch him eat when I can't! This view certainly helped too!

Breaking fast: chips & salsa, chicken quesadilla, strawberries 

We went to our favorite Mexican restaurant (probably not the best idea).

Full disclosure: I'm pretty sure I'm eating too much after fasting. My goal is to get my hands on a protein shake mixture. It seems to be working for a lot of the members of my group. 

What is your favorite protein shake brand and flavor?

Feast Day and Peng Chau Island

My morning workout today focused on lower body strength with some mountain climber sprinting (my modification) at the end.

I followed up with my plank challenge: 5 sets of 20 second holds in reverse table top. Oh my hamstrings could really feel this. 

After a quick shower and some breakfast, I headed to Hong Kong with some girlfriends. 

Peng Chau Island: after getting to Hong Kong, we took the ferry from central pier number 6. It was about a 30 minute ride to the island.

We arrived smack dab in the middle of the island, which is home to only 6000 residents and measures less than one square meter.

There are walkways along the outer edge of the island. The Heritage Trail will lead to several historical sites.

The main drag, Wing On Street, located though the center of island is lined with shops and fresh markets, teahouses and seafood restaurants serving up seafood.

We visited Tin Hau Temple in the center of the island.

We made our way to the main beach, Tung Wan, and discovered that Hong Kong's effort to clean it up is lagging (although we did see three women raking the garbage debris into piles). This spot has so much potential, but I definitely wouldn't recommend taking a swim here.

Off one end of the beach was a great little rest area. We found it to be perfect for having our lunch.

Then, to work off our meal, we made our way over to climb Finger Hill. Known for its panoramic views of the Hong Kong islands and island vistas, the highest point on the island is also in need of some TLC. Most of the view is currently blocked by overgrown trees and shrubs.

What I ate on feast day

Breakfast: scrambled eggs with ham and pb&j rice cake

Lunch: turkey slices, sweet potato chips, apple

Dinner: banana pancakes. yes, all the goodness again!

Dessert: strawberries 

Macros: not a very good feast day. I did not eat all my calories or hit the carbs goal. Hopefully I won't pay for it tomorrow while fasting.

Happy Hump Day!!

Sprinting Works and I Don't Need No Stinkin' Carbs

Sometimes I still do get all fancy pants.

Today I attended the SWIC (Shenzhen Women's International Club) Farewell Lunch. This was the first big event I attended a year ago when we had just arrived in China. Since then I've made some really good friends from this group. Today we said farewell to many members, enjoyed a terrific lunch, listened to an amazing performance by Akia Knowles, and received beautiful parting gifts. I also received a very thoughtful thank you gift for helping organize the run group.

The lunch pushed my workout to the afternoon. So I took my 15 sprints to the fitness center and ate them up. I honestly think they're getting easier...or am I getting stronger? Either way, they are working on my body. I feel AMAZING and my clothes are feeling more comfy again.

Oh, and the plank challenge move of the day: sliding knee tucks. Looking for a new variation that you can REALLY feel? Do this. My abs, my quads. Oh my.

Today's eats for LOW CARB DAY

Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs with ham, coffee

Lunch: baked salmon and steamed veggies, water

Dinner: leftover bbq chicken, green beans, salad, and Coke Zero 

Macros: I don't need no stinkin' carbs! 25 net carbs today and I feel more fulfilled than I did yesterday. There's seriously something to this carb cycling program.

When was the last time you got dressed up (not for work)?

What was the last thing that made you feel STRONG?