Day 3 and another 28 to go

I'm now on Day 3 of Tommy Europe's 10-Pound Shred book. My muscles aren't as sore as they were yesterday, so that's good, although I had a hard time after the session on the treadmill to get myself to the floor to stretch.

Today was a cardio day (he alternates between cardio days and "resistance" days). I could not do the level of intensity he suggested, so I had to cut it back a bit. It's still so much better than I did last year when I tried to follow the program. Like yesterday, despite getting up earlier, I didn't have the time to complete it exactly as indicated, so I'm going to have to get myself up quicker after my alarm goes off or set my alarm for even earlier. Ugh. I'm going to have to start getting to bed earlier, but that might be hard since my 14yo, husband and I have a routine of watching an episode of X-Files on Netflix every evening, starting at 9:30, when our 11yo is in bed. Maybe the trick will be to be completely ready for bed when it starts, then I will just have to pop myself into bed when it's done. (Although, let's be honest here: how often is one's mind going to be calm and ready to sleep right after watching X-Files??)

Like I've said before, I'm not following his food plan, but I think I still did well yesterday. Here's what I ate (dairy-free as usual and yesterday turned out to be vegetarian:

*1/2 cup of oats with almond milk
*1 whole grain piece of toast with dairy-free margarine (I should probably learn to cut that out) and peanut butter (unfortunately, not the "just peanuts" kind--I should get some more of the just peanuts kind) and honey
*watermelon slices (not sure how many)
*Monkey Minestrone (see yesterday's post!) for lunch--lots of veggies, only some noodles
*a banana
*some hummus and baby carrots (didn't count how many, but it wasn't many)
*Monkey Minestrone for supper with a slice of white (eek) toast with margarine (ach) and garlic on it
*some dairy-free yogurt with some Nature's Path granola

I'm probably still low on the fruit and veggie consumption, but the above has so much fewer grains than what I normally consume, so that's good! And there aren't any chocolate chips, tortilla chips with Daiya cheese, Ritz crackers or anything like that in there. :D

I thought I might go crazy not giving into little junk items, but I didn't even crave them yesterday.

With the workout done, I just have to stay on track with the food! I'd really like to go for a nap though! lol

Day 2 of the 31 Days

It is now the morning of Day 2 of my 31 days on Tommy Europe's 10-Pound Shred book. I have so far done the exercise portion (and thinking I need more stretching than he prescribes, but that's me!) and am trying to be super conscious about what I'm fuelling my body with today. I know I tend to overdo the grains, so I'm really tracking them and focusing on getting fresh fruits and veggies as much as possible. I also bought stuff last night to make a minestrone soup (from Eat, Drink and Be Vegan by Dreena Burton) and I think I just might make that for lunch. A dreary, rainy day here so soup sounds good.

My muscles are a bit sore from Day 1's fitness test. I'm kind of scared how they'll be later on now that I've done even more strength work. Yikes. I guess I'll live. lol. My knees are doing okay, which was my biggest concern, but I did many days of yoga in a row at the end of 2011 and know it helped with my IT band issues a lot.

Lessons learned today:

1) I need to give myself more time to do the full workout. I skimped on rest breaks and did not complete the cool down as indicated (but my heart rate wasn't high at that point, so "whatever" is kind of my attitude) because I was running out of time. I'm going to have to set my alarm even earlier. *sigh*

2) My core strength is abominable. You know what they say: If you don't use it, you lose it. Tommy's making me use it!

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It's not too late to join in some sort of challenge with me! It doesn't have to be Tommy's 10-Pound Shred: it can be any exercise goal. I'd love to have some company!