Day 1 in Review

Hello everyone!

As promised, I will tell you what my days are like, and what I may struggle with.

I have gotten quite a few ideas from different vegans, however, today I decided to go with Freelee’s sample meal plan in a way that I could do it.

For breakfast, I’m having pulpy orange juice. That way I’m still getting in some of the fibre, and filling up on some yummy oranges. She suggests drinking 2L just for breakfast! I would have loved this as a kid, and still enjoy it today! I don’t think this is something I will do everyday, simply because I know it is important to get the full fibre in of a full fruit, but every once in awhile, it’s a nice, healthy “treat”!

For supplements with my breakfast (I’ll quit taking them as soon as I run out though…), I’m taking 2 probiotics (to make sure my digestion doesn’t do anything funny on the switch in diet), biotin (for hair and nail growth), and vitamin D (it just snowed again today!). I am planning on taking vitamin D still on days that I don’t get outside in the sun much, and also planning on taking B12 which apparently is difficult to get enough of on many different diets, not just vegan. Aside from those two, I will not continue the others once I am done with them, unless I need to. I also took two green chews (using to help me adjust until I’m eating a sufficient amount of greens each day), and some multivitamins (which I will also stop taking once they are done).

For a snack, I again took Freelee’s suggestion and drank some more pulpy orange juice. Like I said, it’s amazing! But I don’t think I would do this more than once or twice a week. It’s good to get a variety of fruits and veggies in too!

In total, I drank approximately 2.63L of pulpy orange juice. I did not even feel hungry at lunch! I’m in love.

Now, I was little worried that because I was drinking so much orange juice, and no water, that my urine would show up as dehydrated (darker yellow). After all, as a kid, you grow up thinking this is the case, usually because it’s not pure orange juice you were drinking. But nope! It was really clear. I was very hydrated! That’s the power of real things (no additives).

I got really busy at work (teaching, of course), and did not get a chance to eat anything else throughout the afternoon. I thought I had a deadline for certain files to be in my students’ records. Although I was done getting them to do their part, I wanted to grade them quickly before I sent them to their files. So I was grading like a mad-woman! When I was done with one stack, and about to tackle the next (after school), I took the one stack to our special needs coordinator. She was so excited I was done with them and was the first one. I looked at her and asked her why I was the first one when the deadline was tomorrow. She then proceeded to tell me the deadline was a week from tomorrow. I had the date completely wrong! Ugh… Oh well, I’d rather have things done earlier than later. I didn’t mark the second stack though. I went home.

I was so hungry when I came home, and so excited at the same time. I had just subscribed to a service called The Organic Box. They deliver fresh, organic produce to you once a week. You’re able to customize that you want, and it’s just amazing. So I got my first box today, and was so excited as I brought it in the house and was taking everything out. In fact, it inspired my supper.

For supper, I had a big salad with 50/50 mixed greens from Organic Girl, berries from my Organic Box (blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries), rainbow carrots from my Organic Box, field cucumber from my Organic Box, some sunflower seeds and soya nuts that I had, and topped with a mixture I made of avocado, salsa, lemon and a touch of vegan cream cheese. Oh it was so delicious and fresh tasting. Absolutely loved it!

Unplanned, but when we got to the gym, they have a Booster Juice and my husband wanted one of their smoothies. They have these vegetarian wraps that are super tasty, so I got one of those. I’m not sure this was vegan… That was my mistake. I will have to check another time.

My workout went well. I did a 10 minute warm-up on the treadmill, did some push-ups, some kettebell and 10-lb plate squats (hold the plate straight out in front of you), planks, foam rolling, shoulder rolls, standing alternating toe touches, my chiropractor exercises, and a 20 minute brisk walk on the treadmill.

Usually when I do cardio, I take it as my chance to read. I’ve conquered quite a few books this way because I have so much going on the rest of the time. Right now, I’m reading a book called “Skinny B***h”. I don’t swear, ever, so I will not type it out, sorry. But it is a super good book so far (minus some swearing/harsh language), but the information is awesome. The two ladies that wrote it are actually vegan and they explain why they’ve made this choice and why people should make that choice throughout the first chapters of the book. Love it.

After we came home, I took some mini, organic sweet potatoes that I had and cooked them up. One had gone mouldy in the bag, but didn’t seem to effect the others. I was so deceived. I cooked up about four of them, took them out of the peel and mashed them together, had a couple good bites, then took a bite that was potently terrible. In fact I had to spit it back out, clean my mouth out, gargle and the works. Oh that was so terrible. I didn’t go on eating anything more last night. That had ruined my appetite.

Following this, I went to bed.

Week 13 Day 1: Extended

So I did just what I said. I woke up bright and early, and got ready for the gym. I completed a harsh leg workout, but I ended up splitting the workout. I had only finished squats, hack squats and one-leg jumps before my husband woke up and wanted to come to the gym. So I finished up this round with 12 minutes of HIIT and went to get him.

We came back to the gym and I finished the remainder of my workout. For the first time ever, I enjoyed doing deadlifts. I felt strong and in control and I loved it! I almost cried doing 20 and 2s between prone leg curls and leg extensions. It really, really hurt. I also pushed super hard with leg press, using heavier weights again than usual. And as crazy as it was, I finished with my final and last 12 minute HIIT session. I’m completely done the challenge. All workouts and the equivalent for 4 cardio sessions a week completed. What a feeling!

I had taken some pictures two days ago of some ab outlines that I saw! I was ecstatic! And yet when I finished everything today, my pictures did not turn out the same way. I don’t know what I did! I was so depressed and almost ready to call the competition quits when I noticed someone had asked when the pictures were due, and our coach has given us an extra week to get pictures in! This was the hope I needed!

I’m going to monitor my diet very closely this week and try and get a picture to show the hard work I’ve done. I know my pictures won’t reflect the same fat loss I’ve seen from others, but I do want to be able to show what I’ve accomplished, and for whatever reason, my body does not reflect that today. So I’m going to take advantage of this week, and be watching for the opportune moment. It’s going to happen!

For the rest of the day, we didn’t get to the mall to shop for Christmas like we wanted, but we did go to a Mexican restaurant that we haven’t been to in a long time (I didn’t eat very much) and then we spent some time at Chapters. We absolutely love books and I was able to purchase my new agenda (what I used to write down my workouts) for the new year. It was a good night, and a day filled with hope. My husband is more or less in charge of my food and workouts this week, so let’s see how these pictures will turn out! The best part is, I don’t care if I win. It would be nice, but it’s ok if I don’t. I just want to see that hard work show!

Week 5 Day 7

Today, I’m not hungry again. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Someday my appetite has to come back… I already went to bed without fulfilling all of my macros yesterday, I’m not going to do that today!

This was my rest day, but we had a morning full of drama with family issues. And yet, somehow, we still managed to get ready and make it to church on time. I’m really not sure how we pulled this off, but I was so happy we did. It was a great service about opening our spiritual eyes. Excellent sermon!

We then came home and basically did nothing for a few hours. We did take a nap, so that was nice.

Later, we decided to go out after sunset (when Sabbath ends). We got ready, made sure our animals were taken care of, and left. We stopped at Mac’s for my husband to get energy drinks (to get out of his sleepy slump), and I made a stop at Tim Horton’s for a quick pumpkin spiced ice coffee. I love pumpkin everything!

We then went to Bulk Barn where my husband picked up some candy and treats. Oh how I used to love picking stuff up at Bulk Barn too, but I fought the desire better knowing I had a snack in my purse that I had packed to fill me later. Planning ahead is a great idea!

We then went to Chapters. Oh how we both love books! We actually had to stop going to bookstores for awhile because we were spending way too much money on books. It was honestly like an addiction. Obviously it’s not a bad addiction other than it was taking our finances, so tonight was a real treat. We allowed ourselves to go through the entire store and pick a couple books. We probably won’t be back at the book store for at least another month or more so this was budgeted and allowed.

After some time at the bookstore, we sat in the car while I ate my snack (picture of it later). It really helped when we went to the theatre, and my husband got popcorn and chocolate for the movie. I wanted some of that stuff so badly. But I kept telling myself that one piece would break me so I needed to stand strong against even the smallest piece. And I did it! Yahoo!

When we came home, we basically had enough time to eat and go to bed. I wasn’t hungry, but the food was good and I managed to shove it in. So here was my food for the day:

Meal 1

I didn’t take a picture because we were in a rush to church. But this was the protein muffin I had several days ago, just chocolate flavoured instead of oatmeal. They are really good!

Meal 2

Tuna Salad Snack with celery, tomatoes and rice crackers.

Tuna Salad Snack with celery, tomatoes and rice crackers.

Meal 3

Spaghetti Bolognese using lean ground beef.

Spaghetti Bolognese using lean ground beef.

Meal 4

Oatmeal Bake with Strawberries.

Oatmeal Bake with Strawberries.

Meal 5

Cinnamon Cottage Cheese with finely chopped honeydew and cantaloupe. Took this with me and ate it before the movie.

Cinnamon Cottage Cheese with finely chopped honeydew and cantaloupe. Took this with me and ate it before the movie.

Meal 6

(I normally don’t eat 6, but I had to make-up for the previous day and it all fit my macros.)

Sirloin Steak (I finished cooking to well done), potato mash and veggies. This was really delicious.

Sirloin Steak (I finished cooking to well done), potato mash and veggies. This was really delicious.