Thanksgiving Recap!

Happy Monday, friends! You survived the post-holiday Monday blues! I had them REALLY bad this morning, but felt much better as the day went by. How was your Thanksgiving? Mine was great, but I definitely ate too much. I did, however, workout HARD in preparation for this, so I am SO happy to say, I did not gain a single pound! WOO!

Here's my weekly recap!

Monday was Turbo, HIIT style, per usual. We had extra fun last week, and hopefully got a new girl hooked on Turbo! :)

Tuesday was just PiYo at Refinery. That extra cardio workout just didn't happen. PiYo was great, though! Since we have been doing the Lesson for several weeks now, I encouraged my regulars (and myself) to really start to push harder-- squat lower, do an extra pushup on our toes, lunge deeper, etc.-- and WOW! What a difference this made! I felt like it was the first time I had done it!

Wednesday morning I got up and did TurboFire HIIT 30 at 5:30. This is hard on my back that early in the morning, so I did the warmup twice through, and took it a little lower impact on the first drill. After that, I pushed!!! I sipped some R&R to help prevent soreness, and to help me get through, since I cannot eat breakfast before a morning workout that early! That stuff is a life saver!

Wednesday night was PiYo again, at the Y. Same thing as Tuesday-- encouraged those of us who have been doing it to really start to focus and push. Two nights in a row... I thought I might die. :)

I wore my Pretty Pink No Limits Tank, and my Zella Live In Capris. :)

Thursday-- THANKSGIVING! In preparation for pie and stuffing, I team taught a special Turbo Kick class at Refinery at 8am. We did a combination of Rounds, and the energy was off the CHAIN! I taught Recovery and Finale (MODULATOR!) and I am pretty sure we burned 234857203948572034 calories. HA! But seriously, crazy good workout, and so much fun! I loved it!

I wore my Indigo Quiet Stripe Speed Shorts, and my black Scoop tank. I was already sweaty in this pic, hehe.

Thursday afternoon, I headed to my mom's for some family time. We cooked, and ate, and ate, and ate some more. :) We had wine, and just chatted and relaxed. It was wonderful!

Friday I rested. More family time, and my BFF joined us for some girl time, some Mexican food, and more relaxing. I stayed up WAY too late (3am!) which hasn't happened for well, maybe years!

Meg and me at El Rancherito. <3 

Saturday morning, we all went to get manis/pedis! I was super sleepy from my ridiculous late night, but it was worth it! I got my nails done with shellac, which HOPEFULLY will cure me of this lifelong nail biting habit I have! 

Rew and me at the Green Door Spa. :)

My adorable nails! Love it!

Saturday afternoon, I had intended to go for a run. However, I napped for 2 hours instead, so I rested another day. 

Sunday I headed back home, feeling SO excited to have a full week off at Christmas, but also super glad to get back to my normal eating habits. I got back in time to head to the gym for R.I.P.P.E.D., which was tough, but not as bad as I had imagined. However, we did do 923485729034875 pushups, so I am SUPER sore today! (You KNOW I love it, though!)

Today was back at it, and my fave workout--TURBO! It was a rough workout tonight, though. I had trouble with my asthma, so I couldn't push as hard as I wanted to, but we still did 4 Turbo's, plus Finale, so I think I still did ok. :)

I wore my Blush Quartz sparkly Speed Shorts, and my black No Limits Tank (new!)

SO, like I said, feeling so glad to be back to normal eating habits! I stayed well below my calorie budget today, drank my Shakeology, and plan to stick with it all week! Here's what I got for this week's dinner plan:

Monday: Pot pies (found some with only 340 cals!), and side salads with homemade ranch.

Tuesday: Tacos with Quorn (TONS of protein, and low cal!)

Wednesday: Breakfast for dinner.

Thursday: Baked chicken with baked potatoes and broccoli.

Friday: date night-- OUT!

Saturday/Sunday: TBA!

WORKOUT PLAN:

Monday (done!): Turbo!

Tuesday: PiYo

Wednesday: TurboFire HIIT 25 in the morning, PiYo in the evening

Thursday:  either run 3 miles in the morning, or possibly spin class after work

Friday: rest

Saturday: PiYox2 (MISSED you guys last week!)

Sunday: Run, or R.I.P.P.E.D., or TurboFire, whatever I feel like!

How about you?? What's your get-back-on-track plan? Do you have one? You need to WRITE IT DOWN and stick with it! No holiday weight gain for us. :)

Cheers to a great week, friends!

xoxo,

Julie

Homemade Lasagna + Workout Schedule

What a beautiful weekend we had this week! I love these cool temps at night and warm during the day! It was 57 today-- perfect running temp! I felt super motivated to run today, considering all the comfort food I ate the last few days! The nutrition and diet plan went well until Friday. Friday we had an office potluck, and while I did fill up on plenty of veggies, I also couldn't resist potato chips, taco dip, and a piece of pumpkin pie! (Can you say, "food coma"?! ha!) Despite SWEARING I would never eat again... I had Mexican food Friday night. I do pretty well with that-- tilapia tacos with no cheese, and not TOO many chips, but I did splurge on cheese dip and had a margarita. YIPES!

Saturday was better, though I did make homemade lasagna for dinner. It's not a horrible nightmare, but it is def not low-cal. UPDATE! This is not as bad as I thought! Only 600 calories for 1/10 of the dish. That's a HUGE serving. To control the calories, eat with a salad, and have a smaller portion! 1/8 of the dish has 483 calories. Not bad at all! It was a lot of work but absolutely DELISH! I even made the sauce from scratch! :) Here are some shots of the yumminess.

Fresh from the oven!

A huge slice! 

Yeah... maybe should have halfed the recipe... :)

ANYWAY, workouts for the week went great! Here's what I did:

Monday was Turbo, per usual! Once again did it HIIT-style with Turbo's after each section. LOVE it! 

Tuesday I got up at 5:15 to go for a run! I ran just under 3 miles, and it was amazing! It was cold-- about 27 degrees, but I warmed up after about 3/4 mile. I had forgotten how much I prefer cool-weather running as opposed to summer running! 

I wore my Lululemon Groove pants, my Flash long-sleeve Swiftly with a Flash Power Y underneath, and ear warmers.

Tuesday night was PiYo at Refinery. They are such hard-workers, I love it! Great class, kicked my booty! 

Wednesday I taught PiYo at the Y! I love this class because I have such a wide range of people, from beginners, to advanced. Lots of options and super fun! :)

I wore some pinstripe Clam Diggers, and my white Scoop Me Up tank. :)

Thursday I rested.

Friday morning (in preparation for the office potluck), I got up and did TurboFire HIIT 30. This workout is AMAZING! It was my first time doing it, and it kicked my booty! I love that it's SO intense, but short! 

Saturday was double PiYo day! I felt really exhausted during these classes, for some reason. It was probably because I forgot to eat breakfast (OOPS!) until after my first class. But I made it through and finished with some R&R b/c I knew I'd be super sore if I didn't. 

I wore my black Clam Diggers and Pow Pink Scoop Me Up tank. :)

Sundays are my "whatever I want" days, so I took advantage of the weather, and went for a long, slow run. I did four miles at an easy pace, and allowed myself a couple of short walking breaks. It felt good. :) 

I wore my Lululemon run skirt (dunno what it's called), and my Flash Swiftly again. Perfect for this temp!

Next week is Thanksgiving, so I expect the diet plan will not be the best, but here is the workout plan!

Monday: TurboKick at Evolve

Tuesday: Run 3 miles, PiYo at Refinery

Wednesday: TurboFire HIIT 20 (maybe), PiYo at Refinery (added an extra cardio workout here, depends on how my legs feel)

Thursday: Special TurboKick class at Refinery at 8am. Team teaching with Colleen, Secily, and Danielle-- can't wait!! :)

Friday: Rest

Saturday and Sunday: TBA. Probably TurboFire, and possibly a run since I'll be at my mom's out in the country.

What are you plans for Thanksgiving? Are you working out Thursday? Do you try to "be good" for Thanksgiving dinner or just go all out? Share!! 

Happy Thanksgiving to you, friends! :)

xoxo

Listening to My Body

Happy Sunday again, friends! Wow, this week flew by, and the weekend even faster! An interesting week for me, as I had to cut down my workouts (more on that later), but I did pretty darn good on the calorie/nutrition front! I had Shakeology Mon-Fri, for breakfast, even though it's soooo hard for me to drink it when it's cold outside! I just turned on my seat heaters and sucked it down. :)

Last week I posted a pretty ambitious workout schedule for the week, but things started to change after Monday... I have been having some trouble sleeping, and the past week or two, it got much worse. I was waking up in the night and not able to fall back to sleep. My legs and arms were constantly aching, and I was feeling pretty irritable. I started doing a little research and am wondering now if I haven't been overtraining. I decided to back off, take a step back, and stop beating up my poor body. :)  Here's what I did:

Monday was Turbo Kick, per usual. We still pushed to the max, with Turbo's after every section, making for one heck of a HIIT workout! It was really hard today, so we really had to push!We are a small class (usually 3-6 of us), but we sure do have fun working out together! :)

Tuesday is when I decided I have to stop doing so much. I had planned to do INSANITY Pure Cardio in the morning, but I was up for hours in the night, so I did not get up, and also decided to eliminate INSANITY from my routine for now. So, I did PiYo only at Refinery on Tuesday evening. It felt good!

 I wore my charcoal gray Groove pants from Lululemon, and my Pretty Pink No Limits Tank. This is one of my fave outfits. So cute, and so functional! 

Wednesday I just did PiYo again. I didn't sleep well on Tuesday night (again), so I didn't do any cardio. I found I was able to push myself even harder since I gave my body a break Tuesday!

Thursday morning I felt soooo much better. I slept on Wednesday night, so I got up at 5:15 on Thursday and did TurboFire HIIT 20. I loooove these workouts, and always look forward to them. I am going to incorporate more of TurboFire into my routine. I also love having it done early, as I then had my Thursday night free to spend with Rowan! :)

Friday was a rest day. :)

Saturday I taught PiYo 2 times. My core was SUPER sore today b/c of this, as well as my hamstrings and booty! LOVE IT! Both classes were well-attended and both classes worked their butts off! I can't tell you how much I love sharing this amazing workout with others. It makes me feel so strong and lean, and I love for my members to have that feeling. :)

I also got my hair done Saturday!

I always get the same thing-- highlights and trim, but she got it extra-blonde this time. LOVE!


Today I was feeling LAZY, and had lots of errands to run this afternoon, but I decided last minute to MAKE myself workout. I dragged myself kicking and screaming to the gym and did a R.I.P.P.E.D. class. So glad i did! It is a treat for me to take a class once in awhile and focus just on ME and my workout! Loved it!

 I wore my Blush Quartz Run:Speed Shorts, and my black and white striped racerback from Gap. (I know, I totally cheated on Lululemon! Don't tell!)

My new workout plan is to be more flexible. I am not going to do INSANITY for awhile, but instead will teach my classes, adding in some TurboFire, and some running when I can. I love INSANITY, but my body is trying to tell me I need a break from the intensity. Part of my issue, was that I was considering PiYo to be a "recovery" workout, and while it is low impact, it is not low intensity, so I'm going to "count" it as a workout.

Here's my plan for next week!

Monday: TurboKick at Evolve. Lots of Turbo's, lots of jumping. (Will need to leave room in my calorie budget for some Results and Recovery Formula after this.)
Tuesday: PiYo at Refinery.
Wednesday: Run 3 miles, and PiYo at the Y. Again, gonna need R&R.
Thursday: TurboFire HIIT 30.
Friday: Rest.
Saturday: PiYo x2! (My fave workout day) :)
Sunday: TBD. I will either run, go to R.I.P.P.E.D., go to BodyPump, do some TurboFire, or some combination of these things. :)

I know I made the right decision to mix up my routine because I am actually looking FORWARD to next week's workouts! I didn't realize it, but I had started to dread my INSANITY workouts! In my book, that means time to mix it up! I need to feel good about my workouts to really work hard and feel my best as the holidays approach!

Here are our dinner plans for this week:

~ Baked herb free-range chicken with baked sweet potatoes and steamed broccoli
~ Chinese-style stir-fry with Quorn "chik'n," cabbage, broccoli and plain Ramen noodles
~ Breakfast for dinner (scrambled eggs with chives and reduced-fat Monterrey cheese, baked hashbrowns, and toast)
~ Either Mexican or Thai delivery
~ Fridays we always go out, and weekends are always TBD. :)

 On that note, my advice to you for the coming week is to look at your routine, listen to your body, and make adjustments if need be! Do you look forward to your workouts, or do you dread them? We all have "I don't wanna" days, but it shouldn't be every day, every workout. If you're doing a workout you enjoy, you'll work harder, you'll work safer, and you'll see better results. Period.

Thanks again for reading! Have a wonderful week, friends!

Cheers!
Julie

Holidays Are Coming!

Helloooo! Happy End of Daylight Savings Time! I love love love this time. Although I don't particularly like how early it gets dark, I DO love having more light in the mornings. SO much easier to get up! Plus, now it really feels like the holidays are coming!

Speaking of approaching holidays, I have found myself more tempted by chocolate the last couple of weeks than I normally am. I think that staying on track this holiday season is going to be tougher than I expected. I'm in the midst of a second round of INSANITY, so I'm going to try to remember that I do NOT want to undo all my hard work whenever I feel tempted by sweets and snacks! I'm setting my calorie budget, and sticking to it with some extra planning this week!

Here's my weekly workout recap!

Monday was Glow in the Dark TurboKick! This was SO.MUCH.FUN.!! I cannot believe I didn't get any pics, but we wore glow bracelets and necklaces, and did Turbo's after each section, for a total of 4, plus Modulator Finale (my fave Finale EVER!) I was a hot mess after!! I am sure that our calorie burn was through the roof!

I wore my Pretty Pink No Limits Tank, and my black and Pig Pink Turbo shorts. Comfy and cute. :)

Tuesday morning I dragged my booty up at 5:15 and did Cardio Power and Resistance. This is my least favorite INSANITY workout, but I took some Energy and Endurance Formula first, and that helped me power through! Also, I sipped some Results and Recovery Formula during my workout, since I cannot eat in the morning before I do INSANITY. It wasn't horrible. :)

Tuesday evening was glow-in-the-dark PiYo at Refinery! This was also a blast! We had a large class (15, I think?) and everyone was glowing and having fun! We spent a few minutes getting the glow sticks on, so that took up part of our workout, but we pushed hard, and powered through and still got our booties kicked!

For PiYo, I wore my new Polar Cream/Glen Check Wunder Unders and my black Scoop tank. I'm still undecided on these pants on me, but they are so comfy, I think I love them. I'll give them a couple more tries to be sure. What do you think?!

Wednesday I just did glow-in-the-dark PiYo again, this time at the Y! The room wasn't * quite * dark enough, but it was still fun. Not many people, since it was Halloween, and trick-or-treat night but we had a room full of energy, just the same. :)

Wednesday was my favorite outfit. :) I wore my black Zella capris from Nordstrom, and my Flash Power Y. I have never loved a color as much as Flash. :)  Also, I love how toned my arms look in this pic! :)

Thursday I got up at 5 (again!!) and did INSANITY Pure Cardio. This workout is hard b/c there are no breaks, but it was NOT as hard as I had remembered. Love seeing improvement! Thursday night is my "off" night so we went out to dinner, and I *may* have had too much wine. :)

Friday is normally my rest day, but since I was heading to my mom's for the weekend on Saturday, I knew I wouldn't want to workout on Sunday. I did Plyometric Cardio Circuit after work. Not going to lie, I did NOT want to do it. I had to FORCE myself, and even once I pushed play, it was tough to push like I normally do. However, I did it, I sweated, I got through it. And I was glad I did. :)

Saturday was double PiYo day! My favorite! Big classes at both the Y and at Evolve! I had a warm fuzzy moment or two on Saturday, as I realized how much I truly love being able to share this amazing workout with others. It's such an empowering and strengthening class.

Saturday I wore my other new Wunder Unders in heathered black and my white and gray Scoop Me Up Tank. These pants are amazing. So comfortable, and so flattering! Love them! I plan to also wear them with tunic sweaters and Ugg boots. :)

Today I rested.  And bought this:

I'll let you know how it is! I am super excited to have it with my coffee in the morning. :)

Here's my workout plan for next week. I am trying to follow the INSANITY calendar, but I want to finish it in 60 days this time, so I am substituting PiYo for Cardio Recovery, skipping whatever workouts are on the calendar for Saturday, and subbing in TurboKick for Monday's workout. * whew*

Monday: TurboKick Round 32
Tuesday: Pure Cardio in the morning, PiYo after work
Wednesday: PiYo (in place of Cardio Recovery)
Thursday: Cardio Power and Resistance
Friday: Rest, or Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs (depends how I feel)

Saturday: PiYo x2
Sunday: Rest, or Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs (depends on Friday)

We have lots of healthy food stocked in the cabinets, so staying on track with my calorie plan should be a little easier too. :) For dinners, I have planned:

~ Tacos with Quorn meatless grounds (only 90 calories for a HUGE serving!)
~ Breakfast for dinner (delish, and easy to control cals!)
~ Chinese-style stir-fry with Quorn meatless chicken substitute (also only 90 cals for a huge serving!)
~ Turkey wraps and homemade broccoli cheddar soup

Lunches are simple, turkey sandwiches, and a couple frozen organic burritos, plus taco leftovers one day!

I'm still struggling with reevaluating what my goals are for my fitness at this point. I am loving just getting more fit, and seeing improvement with INSANITY, and while I'd like to spot-reduce some fat on my tummy and arms, considering that isn't possible, I don't really want to lose a ton of weight. I like my size for the most part... Still pondering on this, as I have never NOT had a weight-loss goal before-- hopefully will have some definable goals by next week! :)

Looking forward to a bright morning tomorrow!! Do you prefer Daylight Savings Time, or normal time change?

Cheers to a new week, my friends! <3
~Julie xoxo