Week in Review

Yesterday was a tough day. The lack of sleep and my stress really brought me down. I was literally having trouble staying awake the whole day ... you may be thinking, well why not just sleep? Two reasons, I had a ton of things to do, and if I could sleep that easily, I wouldn't have insomnia.

I did, however, manage to take a 12-minute power nap. I know that sounds crazy, but it did help me get through the day.

I've had a lot of stuff on my mind lately and I know a lot of that has been keeping me distracted. I did manage to take the first steps in resolving some of those issues yesterday {I know it's a bit vague, but I'm not ready to share it all just yet}. It must have helped some because I finally managed to get 5 hours of sleep (of which 3 were uninterrupted). Hopefully things will continue to improve.

Despite the exhaustion, I did go to the gym. I decided to keep things 'simple' and just do an RPM class. I haven't been to class since the 29th of Oct -- pre-surgery. I was definitely a bit nervous as to how I would feel ... but it went quite well. My legs actually felt really strong so I didn't find the actual pedaling or intensity to be too difficult. I started to feel a bit of pain towards the end of the workout. Unfortunately I did feel it worsen a bit later in the evening. I'll have to reassess whether this is something that I will continue. It did feel good doing a different form of cardio though.

So -- my week in review. I think I did pretty well. Dropped another kilo this week. Not much, but as long as I see those numbers keep going down I'll be happy.

Weight loss progress:

Feb. 5 - 60 lbs. to target weight

Feb. 12 - 56 lbs. to target weight

Feb. 19 - 54 lbs. to target weight

{When I write those numbers down, the journey feels overwhelmingly endless!}

Exercise:

Sunday: Weights (NROL4W 3A1 - 1 hour)

Monday: Cross-trainer (1 hour); Treadmill (30 min)

Tuesday: Weights (NROL4W 3B1 - 1 hour); Zumba class (1 hr)

Wednesday: Boxing (1/2 hour); Body Balance (1 hr)

Thursday: Cross-trainer (1 hour); Zumba (1 hr)

Friday: Body Pump (1 hr); Zumba (1 hr)

Saturday: RPM (1 hr)

Total: 11 hours

Food:

Breakfast: oatmeal each day/yogurt and granola on one day

Lunch: salmon sandwich (The whole week! It was quick and easy - plus had to use up the fresh salmon!)

Dinner: vegetable soup; spicy salmon (no potatoes); shrimp stir-fry; veggie scramble

Snacks: Protein shake; low-fat organic raspberry yogurt; cottage cheese with cashews; homemade gluten-free banana nut muffins; chocolate pudding (fat free)

Daily averages:

1,450 calories

88 g. protein

172 g. carbohydrates (19 g. fiber)

41 g. fat (10.5 g. saturated fat)

Reflections:

In terms of working out, I think I'm doing quite well. I'd like to add another hour or two of cardio into the mix as well as at least one more yoga/balance/pilates class -- I just don't know if I have the time! I definitely feel like I'm getting stronger - makes such a huge difference to my workouts.

In terms of food, for the amount I'm working out, the calorie allowance is quite a bit higher, but I cannot imagine eating more than I already am. I've really made an effort to track all my calories and diligently focus on nutrition. I'm still not eating enough fruit -- I hope to add that into my diet. I also really, really, really need to eat more protein. I'm struggling with this!

I'd still like to lower my carbs and saturated fat intake. They're not horribly high, but still, I'd like them to be a bit lower. This week I ate quite a bit more bread than I usually eat -- all those salmon sandwiches! I'm sure cutting those out of my diet will help cut the carbs ... maybe I can even add a bit more salmon to increase my protein.

Plan for the week:

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, this week I will definitely focus on staying more hydrated. I'm going to try to drink 4 liters a day.

I didn't take any days off from the gym last week, so I may take a day off to recover this week.

I'm going to try and add some fruit to my daily diet and see what I can do about lowering my carbs and increasing my protein.

Here's hoping this week shows even more progress!