Feast Day: New Ab Exercise and Eating All the Fruit!

Today I rode my bike to the fitness center prepared to do the killer full body feast day workout. It was shorter than the previous feast days, but it still challenged me. Today I was able to do ALL of the push-ups. Upper body strength is my weak area.

Day 25 of the plank challenge and I'm getting better at challenging myself. Really focusing on keeping my body still makes the planks harder and I'm feeling the work. Which is the point right? 

Ab vacuum exercises. I first heard of this when I attended the Shenzhen Health and Wellness Fair 

last year and took part in a Body Flex session. The instructor mentioned this type of breathing being good for weightloss and I thought she was crazy. Now I'm thinking, why not? It's only 1 minute of my day.

Why are these abdominal vacuum exercises so hard for me tonight?!?! Maybe it's because I'm 2200 calories and a gallon of water deep for the day? Or maybe I just need to do them more often!! 😩 What are vacuum exercises? When done properly they can help SCULPT and SHRINK the size of your waistline in just weeks. How? By engaging some of the most neglected muscles in the body: the transversus abdominus and the lumbar motifidus. These are the muscles BENEATH the rectus abdominus and the obliques (the muscles we tend to work!), and I will venture to say they are THE most important group of ab muscles to work! The how-to is actually simple and can be done nearly anywhere. Simply inhale deeply, and exhale COMPLETELY. When all air is deflated from your lungs, draw your belly in as far as possible. Try thinking about pulling your belly button in towards your spine. Then HOLD. I will vacuum in front of the mirror with @realchrispowell, in the car while stuck in traffic, in bed at night, standing at the counter paying bills...you name it, I've vacuumed doing it. Try 3 sets of 20 seconds to start with, and build up to set of 40 and even 60 seconds. Your waistline will thank you!! #MyKindOfVacuuming #CouplesThatVacuumTogether #AbdominalMuscles #Abs #swolemates

A photo posted by Heidi Powell (@realheidipowell) on Mar 29, 2016 at 10:14pm PDT

What I ate: it was all about the fruit today!

Breakfast: 

We totally took advantage of the buffet at the Hilton again. No cooking, no clean up, the view, the fruit.

Snack: 

I love loading up on carbs with sweet potato chips!

Lunch:

Left overs and more fruit. 

Dinner:

Went out with friends to a new place in Sea World, Baia Burger. It was so good and I love sweet potato fries.

Dessert: 

Chocolate almond protein shake. Recipe --> 1 scoop chocolate protein, 1 tbsp almond butter, 1/2 cup almond milk, and ice. Oh, wow. This hit the spot.

Macros: I splurged a little today on gluten and dairy. It is a lifestyle choice for me, so when a GF/DF option is not available I'm not always going to pass on the food. I did a pretty good job consuming the carbs, but feel short of the goal mark by about 40g along with fewer calories than I'd like for feast day.  

Ever tried abdominal vacuum exercise?
Favorite fruits?

Workout Wednesday: Mixing Things Up & Low Carb Day

It is good to mix things up every once in awhile.

It gives you a new perspective 

Prevents boredom

Keeps you on your toes

These were all of things I was trying to convince myself as we headed to the fitness center for low carb day #2 workout: sprints again...but in a different form from yesterday. Coach wanted us to mix it up. Why? It's good to change up your fitness routine for several reasons:

1) to continue to challenge your body

2) improve strength and conditioning

3) to keep exercises effective

Since I always do my sprints on the elliptical and I'm not running, that left me with the bike. Then I had to decide which bike: recumbent or upright? I chose the upright because it imitates an outdoor bike and I thought would provide a harder workout.

I definitely got a good cardio workout doing 20 sets of 20:20 sprints, but my legs did not "feel the burn" the same way they do on the elliptical. It was my first time, so I probably need to play around with the incline choices more (I ended up on level 8) and figure out the whole standing up thing.

Side note: after doing some reading for this blog post, it seems as if both types of bikes can produce a good caloric burn (although some argue that you work harder on the upright so you burn more calories than the same workout on the recumbent), but the recumbent provides more protection for the lower back during the workout. Both bikes require quads, hamstrings, and glutes to do the work.

I posted a video to my Instagram, but here are some of the faces I make when doing bike sprints. Pretty funny!

After a 30 minute cool down walk on the treadmill, it was plank time. For my plank challenge I really tried to keep my body stationary while doing the full plank with arm reach. It's a lot harder than when you let yourself rock back and forth.

Since we were already there, we hit the pool again for a little post workout chill time.

We thought we'd mix things up at dinner a little too and ate out on our balcony. It was still near 90 degrees, but in the shade and with the breeze, it was very nice.

What I ate on low card day (repeat)

Brunch: scrambled eggs with ham, pb&j rice cakes and gf sausage patty 

Snack: celery and humus 

Dinner: crockpot chicken, greens beans, salad

I still crave something cold after dinner on low carb days (usually I would have fruit or yogurt), so I've been using pb&j rice cakes as a substitute. It's not the same. At all.

Macros: another good low carb day, but I'm ready to eat all the fruit!

How do you mix things up lately?

Which bike do you prefer?

What is your favorite dessert?

Perfect Match: Sprints and Low Carbs

Somethings just go together perfectly. Monica and Chandler, cheese and crackers, manis and pedis, me and mrC (😍), sprints and low carbs.

All the years I was running, I never really embraced speed work. Oh, occasionally I would join running friends for Track Party Tuesday, but not often enough to have any impact on my running or my body. Now that I am learning a new fitness lifestyle, I am becoming a believer is sprint workouts on low carb days.

Pairing sprints with low carb days sets the body up to tap into the fat storage for energy. Sprinting depletes glycogen stores quickly. By eating a diet low in carbs the rest of day, the body must find energy somewhere else. Fat.

Based on how my clothes are fitting right now, it works.

Todays sprint workout was KILLER: 20 seconds on, 20 seconds recover, 20 TIMES! I bring my Gymboss to my sprints so I can close my eyes until I hear the magic BEEP.

I never ran a 5K faster than 26+ minutes, but sprints on the elliptical make me feel seriously speedy! This includes the 5 minute warm-up too.

Everyday planking and now mrC wants in on the fun. I did my daily challenge (did you see it on Instagram?) and then 3 sets of 20 second holds in basic forearm plank for him.

It was supposed to be a rainy afternoon, so we spent some time pool side before heading home for brunch. 

What I ate on low carb day

Brunch: 3 scrambled eggs with ham, pb&j rice cake, and one sausage patty.

Snacks: celery and hummus, a little popcorn

Dinner: baked flounder (seasoned with coconut oil, garlic, paprika, and cajun seasoning), green beans and salad

Macros: Under 50 net carbs for the day, so my body should have been tapping into the fat stores (preferably right around my hips). 

What do you like to pair together?

Much To Do Monday and Regular Calorie Eats

Mondays.

In my old life, aka when I was teaching, Mondays were not my favorite day of the week. I (mostly) loved my job, but I hated to see my weekend come to an end. Here in Shenzhen, I LOVE Mondays because it's when I meet up with the hiking group to climb Nanshan. 

This week my Monday was busier than normal. Here's what my schedule looked like today.

7:00 planking on the balcony. 

I love when the weather is cool and comfy so I can step outside and do this.

8:30-10:00 hike (see above)

10:15-11:30 pool time

My favorite way to cool off after hiking the mountain. Often I'm the only one there.

1:00-3:00 Essential Oils Happy in Your Skin Workshop

I'm new to the whole essential oils world. Today I learned how to make dry shampoo, facial wipes, and a facial scrub. The main ingredient we used was tea tree (melaleuca) which is commonly used for acne, cuts, infections, sunburn and a whole lot of other things. It was interesting and fun. 

Speaking of essential oils...an update: After slacking a bit, I've been doing my peppermint oil and icing routine on my achiles and it does feel better.

4:00-5:00 full body workout

Afternoon workouts always feel harder and today was no exception. 

7:00-7:30 after dinner walk with mrC

What I ate: Regular Calorie Day

Breakfast: scrambled eggs and pb&j apple rice cakes

Lunch: leftover quinoa pizza bake, grapes, celery and humus 

Post workout snack: Acai Mulberry Coconut Santo Pop

I found this grassroots company on Instagram. The owner makes these using local in season fruits and a tiny bit of cane sugar. And she delivers! Look her up on WeChat (santopop) if you're in Shekou. 

Dinner: salmon patty and green beans

Macros: as I mentioned yesterday, today was a new day. A better day. My carbs were kind of low, but my calories were nearly perfect.

What's your favorite day of the week?

Do you use essential oils?

Mobility Exercise, Plank Stretching and Chocolate Almond Banana Protein Shake

My plan to sleep late on fast day did not work. I'd rather sleep through as many hours of fasting as I can, but my body has a mind of its own.

Since I was up, I had some time to read back issues of Women's Running magazine. There's a great article in the June edition about issues with mobility and stability that can lead to injuries. Even though I'm not running right now, I think I still have issues affecting my stride even when I'm just walking.

I took the four part test and failed the outer hips portion. Honestly this didn't surprise me since Dr. Steve has been adjusting my hips and knees once a week for the past month. The mobility exercise is to get into the glute muscle with a ball. Just one of my favorite past times lately.

After working on the ball and foam roller, I did my planking challenge of the day: a nice easy yoga plank stretch variation. Walk out to upward facing dog 8 times. Nice and easy for fast day. I liked that.

Sundays can be kind of quiet around here, so I made plans for mrC and I to visit OCT-LOFT (Overseas China Town; LOFT is an area of galleries, shops, and restaurants converted from old factories) on our way to church to pass some clicks of the clock. We went to see some photographs of old Shenzhen during the reform era that were on display at a little art gallery. The photos were of migrant workers/ farmers life from 1960-1980s. Shenzhen has changed so much in a short amount of time.

Before breaking fast, the only thing I had all day was water and coffee.

We stopped into a little health store near church and finally found some chocolate protein powder. And score for us, is was BOGO day.

Dinner: Chocolate Almond Banana Protein Shake and pb&j mini rice cakes

I've been dying to make a protein shake to break my fast. So many carb cycling group members seem to have great success with it. 

Recipe:

1 medium banana

2 tbsp Greek yogurt

1 tbsp almond butter

1/2 cup almond milk

1 scoop chocolate protein powder

Ice

It was delicious but much higher in calories than I expected. I can probably eliminate the yogurt (which would also make it dairy free) and add more ice to keep it a little on the thicker side the way I like. 

Snacks: some cheetos, cheese and crackers, and strawberries 

I don't know what happened tonight, but I suspect that I didn't drink enough water today. Plus, when I know there are strawberries in the fridge...

Macros: 

I can't beat myself up for over-eating. It's a setback, not a failure.

Tomorrow is a new day.