Let's Talk About The Food

Hey guys.

It's been a while since I last posted and I'm kicking myself; but, in my defense, it is summer. Between multiple trips home (to Seattle) in one month, working, and being sick, it's been slightly difficult finding the time or motivation to sit down and write without falling asleep.

I want to start out by mentioning that I did in fact work out today (pat on the back for me)! But, despite the long awaited and overdue training session, I want this post to specifically focus on food. The reason I'm making this shift - besides the fact that I mentioned in my first post that I would talk about food - is because yesterday I was threw my guts up.

As I mentioned earlier, I've been traveling a lot. When I travel, it usually involves A LOT of fast food because I am always on the go. For someone who is trying to lose weight and eat healthier, this kind of kills everything I've been working towards. So, after a lot of fast food and probably a bad burger from Monday, I spent all of Tuesday with some kind of stomach bug. I threw up 3 times in about an hour and the fourth time I threw up, it was mostly dry heaving because I literally had nothing left to offer the porcelain bowl that was so graciously catching my insides.

However, despite the awfulness that was yesterday, the unfortunate circumstances led me to a re-awekening. Or, even better put, it reinforced the importance of making sure that my body only receives the best nutrients. So far, me throwing up for an entire day has motivated me today, to eat really well! I'm hoping that this motivation lasts longer than a day like the rest of my fitness/health "epiphanies" haha. But, as proof of my healthy eating today, here are the deliciously healthy meals I've had today:

Breakfast:

......okay so breakfast wasn't perfect. All I dared put in my body yesterday was water and gatorade, so by the time breakfast rolled around, all I wanted was a bowl of Cap'n Crunch. Don't judge me. I am completely justified.

Lunch:

My lunch meal was a lot better than my breakfast meal...nutritionally AND taste wise (even though the sugary goodness of Cap'n Crunch is pretty hard to beat). I was really craving a hearty sandwich when lunchtime rolled around so I got all of the fixings out and prepared to make a beautiful sandwich. But then I realized I had Butter Lettuce. Now let me just tell you how AMAZING Butter Lettuce is. It is the best bread substitute on the planet. And that's what I used for my sandwich...which in all reality ended up as a lettuce wrap. But a delicious one at that. Everything that I would normally put on a sandwich (minus the mayo) went into that wrap and I felt absolutely fantastic. Normally after I eat a sandwich I feel kind of heavy and I get a food coma. But without the bread, it was like magic I felt energized and light. Most importantly, I felt full. Feeling full after a "healthy" meal is something I always worry about because it seems like you have to eat less and just be happy with that because it's "healthy". Well, I learned an important lesson today. Don't focus so much on eating "healthy", focus more and eating clean. If nothing else, this has been my big take away for today.

Dinner:

Dinner. This might be my favorite meal of the day. Especially tonight's dinner. Tonight I was really feeling the veggie vibe so I cut up some zucchini, sweet baby peppers and some acorn squash and threw it all in the oven. In fact, it's still cooking...which is why I'm writing this post now haha (it's really a distraction to keep me from checking the oven every 5 minutes). Squash is one of my favorite vegetables (technically it's a fruit, but I'm sticking with vegetable). Acorn squash in particular has a lot of Vitamin A & C as well as iron and riboflavin. But it also tastes delicious! Zucchini is also a type of squash and has a lot of the same nutritional values as the Acorn squash. Both are easy to cook and need very little seasoning to taste yummy! For my dish, I added a small amount of extra virgin olive oil, pink himalayan rock salt, and a little bit of garlic powder. While the veggies are cooking, I'm going to cut up some chicken and fry it in some of that extra virgin olive oil and lemon pepper seasoning. And to complete the dish, Butter Lettuce. All of this together will taste great with the Butter lettuce as a wrap. I might be slightly obsessed with the butter lettuce, but who cares! It tastes great!

One hour later.....

I'm adding some photos down below of my dinner...because it was pretty freakin bomb.

Acorn squash, zucchini, and peppers ready for the oven!

Cooking the chicken with fresh basil and oregano!

Doesn't this look so yummy?!

Snacks:

I have been pleasantly surprised with how well I've done today in regards with snacking. In fact, I really didn't snack that much today and I think it has a lot to do with eating clean. Because I felt full between lunch and dinner (and because I spent an hour of that time at the gym), there wasn't a need to snack. The snacks I did manage to indulge in are kind of boring haha. I ate some grapes earlier with a glass of gatorade and while I was waiting for dinner to cook, I ate some carrots with a little ranch. That's it!

Over all, I'd say today was pretty great! I ate super clean and my body is thanking me for it. Here's to continuing the clean habits and staying healthy!

WerkIt Wednesday

Today was a little disappointing. I'm not really sure what happened, but I'm fairly certain that my trainer forgot to schedule me in today. Sad I know.

I got to the gym half an hour earlier than my appointment so I could warm up the joints on one of the bikes. I saw my trainer working with another client which was normal. Until 2:58 pm hit and they were still going hard at their workout. At 3 pm when my appointment was supposed to start, I slowly walked over to the front desk and waited for 15 minutes (that's half of a regular appointment!) and they were still going. *Side note: Something you should know about me is that I HATE any sort of confrontation. I'm the type of person who would rather eat the wrong meal because the cook got my order wrong rather than try and ask for my correct food.* So I sat down for another 5 minutes and waited and still nothing happened. And then I realized that I was at the gym and could be working out  while I wait instead of sitting. So I ran on the treadmills near the front desk until I saw them finish. I promptly got off the treadmill and started to walk over to the front desk once I saw my trainer making his way to the front of the gym. I looked down at my phone for ONE SECOND and poof. He disappeared. I scanned the gym twice to see if maybe he just went to grab water or something, but no, the man was just gone. So I grabbed my stuff and left. No work out for me. :(

Even though I was disappointed about not having a workout session today, I realized something. I don't need to go to the gym to get a decent workout in. So far, this entire blog has focused on working out at the gym. But there are multiple ways to be active and get those muscles going in other ways. For example, for three days out of the week I nanny two little boys. That in itself is a workout that doesn't feel like one...most days. Running after a 4 and 2 year old keeps me from sitting on my butt all day and not to mention all of the lifting I have to do haha. By lifting, I mean lifting the 2 year old onto his changing table, out of the crib when he wakes up in the morning and from his nap, in and out of the car when we go places, in and out of the bathtub, etc. And that's just the 2 year old haha. Seriously, to all the moms and dads out there...kids are a GREAT workout.

Having kids though isn't the only way to get a workout in outside of the gym. Walking is great, even if it's just around the neighborhood. Whatever works for you, DO IT! For me right now, going to the gym is what works. But I also love to go hiking! In fact, if you want to read a funny story, let me tell you about my "adventure" I had while hiking on Monday.

So on Monday I decided to go for a hike and test out a new trail since I'm still fairly new to the Salt Lake region. I downloaded the All Trails app (which is awesome by the way), and found a trail that was 15 minutes away from my house and only about a mile long. I had to be somewhere in 2 hours so I wanted an easy scenic hike that would only take an hour at most. Well, I ended up at the wrong trail head and instead found myself at this multipurpose bike park that doubled as a "hike". It was super hilly and not really pedestrian friendly. But, since I didn't have a lot of time, I wandered around the bike park anyways. I decided to take an off-the-trail trail which had more shade and lots of bushes. Half way through that trail I pulled my phone out to take a snapchat of the trail and thought I heard something move in the bushes at the same time. I didn't think anything of it because I thought it was just another critter. So I ventured on and when I was ready to go back to my car...my keys were not where I thought I had put them.

If you have ever lost your keys you know it can be frustrating. But do you know how frustrating it can be to lose your keys IN THE BLOODY FOREST??? Your chances of finding them are like....not very high. And I knew this. The stress alone of realizing my keys was enough to burn the calories from my breakfast that morning. Once I realized my keys were missing I immediately thought of when I pulled my phone out at the beginning of the trail and literally sprinted back to that point. I kid you not, I searched those bushes for a good 30 minutes with a twig in my hand so I could look through the bushes without getting any poisonous leaves on me (I wasn't really sure what was poisonous or not). After those 30 minutes - which felt like an eternity, especially in the heat - I walked back to the first area I searched and started looking again. I did this maybe 3 times before I did something I NEVER thought I would have done. Guys....I CALLED THE POLICE.

I called the police. I swear the operator was trying so hard to not laugh at the girl who was hysterically hyperventilating because she lost her keys in the bushes. Bless her heart. At first she recommended that I call some friends who could help me, but this was early in the afternoon and I wasn't about to ask them to leave work to join me in the bushes...to look for my keys. Once I told her that wasn't an option, all she told me to do was stay hydrated and keep looking haha. She then said that if I was really desperate, I could call a tow truck to take care of my car and then call a locksmith to make me a new car key...because apparently that's a thing? She then told me that she couldn't send an officer to help me because they were already completely booked with calls..."not that my needs weren't important". I totally understood, and then it hit me. I called the police to help me find my keys. This was worse than calling the fire department to help get a cat out of a tree haha. So, in my humiliation, I apologized and hung up and continued looking in the bushes...while I ugly cried because I thought for sure I was going to bake in the sun. I'm so pathetic haha.

Well, after crying, and praying, and more looking for those damn keys, I decided that I should try checking by the car just in case  they maybe fell out earlier. Yeah right. So as I made my way back to the car and went to put something in the other pocket of my backpack. And there, with me the whole entire time, were my keys. Tucked snuggly against one of my camera lenses that I was going to use to take pictures with. The whole time. At that exact moment, I experienced a wide range of emotions. I was thrilled at first, but that quickly changed into rage with my idiotic self, which changed into mortification about the whole situation, which then changed into uncontrollable laughter.

What this has to do with working out....I'm not really sure. Maybe just because I worked up THE biggest sweat of my life and I wasn't at the gym? Meh...that's a stretch. But the point I want to get across is that life in general serves as your "Gym". Whatever you do to get active is a great thing. I don't want you to think for a second that because the gym and trainer work for me (well not today they didn't haha), that that's the only thing that works in order to get back into shape. Do what works for you and keep on being active!



P.S. Because I technically missed today and haven't been as diligent about going to the gym this week as I should have been, I have decided to create a mini goal for the rest of the week. Starting tomorrow until Saturday, I will go to the gym and put in a decent hour of work to get that motivation back. And to add to that, I will write a mini post with a title that correlates with that day's workout. As an example, I gave today's post the title "WerkIt Wednesday". So tomorrow could be something like "Tough Thursday" (that actually doesn't seem like a bad title...you can probably expect that one). Either way, this is happening and I'm pumped about it!

Results!

The past week and a half has been extremely busy. I am still sick and unfortunately, I wasn't able to make it to the gym at all last week. Yes I am disappointed in my lack of discipline; however, after talking with my trainer, he highly recommended not coming in if I felt really sick. He also suggested that I try and do some light exercises at home if I could, just to keep my body moving. I did that once haha. 

Despite all of that, this is a new week and I am proud to say that I made it back to the gym this afternoon. This session was similar to my last one: we kept it short and simple. But! There was one key difference in my session today compared to the one I had last time. I pushed myself and powered through. This time I didn't let anything get in my way which allowed me to power through the short session. And I feel great. 

For today's session, we did: 3 sets of pushups (10 reps), barbell lifts (12 reps), and body squats (12 reps); 3 sets of dumbbell overhead lifts (10 reps), step ups (12 reps), and V-ups (12 reps); and 2 sets of in place lunges (10 reps per leg) and 30 second planks. Short and sweet but definitely well worked. I am extremely grateful that my trainer has been understanding but also still pushes me. I don't need to be babied even though my brain sometimes tells me I deserve it (rolling my eyes). 

On another note, today I looked in the mirror and noticed my body has changed! It's not a huge difference, but for me, it's great to see that my semi-hard work is paying off. If anything, these subtle changes are what keep me going. 

Here are my before pictures from when I started my FIRST training session about a month ago. 

Here are my pictures from today. Again, the changes are subtle, but for me, they are a huge deal! And honestly, what I think of my body is all that should really matter. 

Half of the struggle about trying to lose weight is that we don't see results immediately, and trust me, it can be extremely frustrating. But be patient because the results are definitely worth it. These tiny changes in my body are giving me all time highs for the day!

Keep on lifting, running, yogaing, or whatever it is you are doing to get yourself in shape. You've got this!

Too Sick to Quit

Being sick sucks.

Following my bomb session last week, my allergies hit HARD. At least at the time I thought they were allergies. As the weekend progressed, my allergies turned into a relentlessly hideous cold. However, despite all of that I still played sand volleyball on Saturday, which may not have been the smartest thing. Long story short, by Sunday I was completely gone: I couldn't breathe like a normal living being, my body ached (mostly likely from volleyball, but also from the cold), and I was so drugged up that there was no use in trying to go anywhere or do anything. So obviously I didn't get any work outs in between my last session on Wednesday and Monday when I had my next session (I had to move my session to Monday this week because I got asked to work on Wednesday, and like an idiot I agreed -_-).

Anyways, despite being super sick, on Memorial Day I geared up and hit the gym with my trainer. BIG MISTAKE. I was so weak from being sick that I could only do one set of pushups, squats and barbell lifts. I felt so pathetic and I wanted to quit because I felt like I was being judged by all the buff guys around me who could basically do my workout with their eyes closed. However, my trainer was super supportive and pushed me just enough to get through that one set. He then suggested that we learn how to deadlift with a super light weight so we could rest a little and focus on form. We did this for about 10 minutes and then moved on to HIIT training. Again. BIG MISTAKE.

My trainer said that the HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) training would go a lot faster which would be nice since I was sick. Did it go a lot faster? Yes. Did it nearly kill me? Yes. But I did it anyway. The HIIT training was extremely fast paced, but it allowed me to get through multiple exercises really fast without thinking of my current state of weakness. Yeah sure I was basically dead by the end of it, but I felt like a champion because I didn't quit. My mental state had been boosted to the point where I didn't want to finish the workout right then, but I also knew that I was physically in no condition to continue without doing myself more harm than good. So I walked out feeling pretty alright.

I want to point out that despite being sick, I still went to the gym. That in itself is a huge step. A month ago, my lazy "athletic" butt would have used the sickness as an excuse to cancel my session and just stay home. I may not be perfect at working out consistently...yet. But at least my state of mind is slowly changing. And for right now, that's a win.

Hurts So Good

Week 2!

I'm currently eating blueberries because apparently berries are a good carbohydrate to eat after a workout.

Today I had my second training session and I may need to go buy a Jacuzzi to sooth my aching body. The workout we did today were simple - not easy, but simple - and extremely satisfying. I came in about 20 minutes early so that I could get a decent warm up before powering through the next 30 minutes. (Not to mention that I was feeling extra motivated to get up and move, so I walked around the man-made lake near my house about an hour before my workout) I started on the bike for about 10 minutes and then spent the last 10 stretching out my muscles.

Once we started the actual workout, my trainer Matt went through the plan he created for me. For the first 4 weeks of training we'll be doing a full body workout, alternating between legs, core, back, and arms. I like this because whenever I would create my own workout plan, I wouldn't ever change it, and I would get bored super fast and just give up all hopes of becoming fit and ripped (I don't really care about being "ripped" though...).

Basically, for the next month, my workout is broken into 5 different sets/circuits which I will do 3 times a week. The first set is a nonstop rotation (meaning no breaks in between sets) of pushups, bended barbell lifts, and squats. For the first week I have to do at least 3 sets of 10. From there, if I feel like I can do more next week, then we'll bump the repetitions up to 15. Right now, as of today, I'm feeling like 10 is fine. I didn't mind the squats and lifts, but for some reason - that reason being that my arms are weeeeeaakkk - I couldn't do more than one and a half sets of pushups. That's right. I was that girl who had to use her knees haha.

The second set I liked a little more. We  walked over to the dual handled pulley machine and did some resistance training for my core and back muscles. The first exercise in this set is kind of like a butterfly stretch for the arms/back. After setting the weight, I had to bring the pulleys to my chest, walk forward a bit, and the extend my arms forward with the weighted pulley. From there, I had to outwardly extend my arms until my shoulder blades pinched and then bring them back to the front. We did this 15 times and then moved on to the next exercise. For the next exercise in the set, we did standing lunges. Basically the standing lunges are regular lunges without the walking - which I honestly like these better. These were really good to do with a trainer because I was able to have an outside professional tell me how to improve my form. (Because of my knee surgery, I am always worried that my form is not what it should be, so it's really nice to get that extra coaching and a watchful eye). Again, we did the lunges about 15 times per leg and moved on to the last exercise for that set. The last exercise was a core/arm combination on the pulley machine. I had to stand next to the pulley machine (so instead of having my back or front facing the machine, my shoulders were perpendicular to the machine) and use both arms to pull the pulley out in front of me. I then had to hold weighted pulley and slowly bring it in towards my chest. Again, we repeated this 15 times and then switched to the other side. This exercise was a little too easy at first because my stance was too wide, which allowed my arms to do most of the work rather than my abs. After shortening my stance, I was able to feel the buuuuuurn in my non-existant abs. We did this set 3 times for a total of 60 reps for each exercise.

By the time we were finished with this set, our session was over and I was sweating buckets. I was a little disappointed that we were done because I felt like  I was really getting into things, so my trainer encouraged me to continue the rest of the exercises we didn't have time to do. The next set of exercises consisted of assisted pull-ups, kettle bell swings, and supermans. I got through that set and quickly lost my motivation to finish the last set which included stair steps and the row machine. I was a little disappointed that I quit so close to the finish, but considering that I could hardly walk after my workout, I later felt like it was justified. Whether or not it was...well I don't feel like discussing it so we'll leave it at that haha.

The bottom line from today's workout is that I pushed myself to old extremes. I say this because this isn't anything I haven't done before, it's just been a really reeeeeeaaalllly long time since I've done this. But at the end of the day, I'm proud of myself for sticking it out to the almost end ;) Am I sore as hell? Oh yeah. But it was worth it, and I'm excited to see where this all goes.

I Will Survive

Today I had my first Training session....



Before I get into the nitty gritty details, I want to go through a quick run through of my day before the training session. I think that in order for the next 6 months to be successful, it will be important to not just chronicle my training sessions and nutrition, but to also be honest about motivation (or lack of motivation) before, in-between, and after sessions.

So before my first training session I was really nervous. At first I wasn't really sure why I was nervous about working out - it's not like I haven't done this before. But somehow this was different. And then it occurred to me that all of my "laziness" when it comes to working out was about to reveal itself. I also realized that because I am taking this step, I would no longer have any excuses to be lazy. Here I was allowing myself to be vulnerable to another human being besides my husband, and I seemed to be okay with that. Ludicrous right?

3:00 pm rolled around and I found myself checking into my first training session. I had a very vague idea of what we would do during this session but I knew that in the end it would all be worth it. As I checked in I noticed that the gym was nearly empty, and this seemed to comfort me a little. In my mind, having an empty gym meant less people around to judge the lazy athlete haha. But it calmed me down enough to get through the entire session without thinking of the people around me. At that moment, I realized that everyone in that gym - at some point in time - was in there for the same reason: to get healthy/healthier.

The training session for today started out with some paperwork (it almost felt like a trick). My trainer asked me what my goals were and what I expected out of my training sessions. I told him that I really wasn't worried about numbers on a scale, but that I wanted to focus on tightening and toning my body back up. I wanted to feel comfortable in my own skin again and be proud of my body. He seemed to be impressed with my answer because he said "Awesome answer" and then moved onto a very vague nutrition break down (which I'm not going to discuss yet because, frankly, we didn't really talk about it either).

Once all of the paperwork was completed we got down to the actual workouts. We did a quick run through of some warm ups to do before I met with him, which in themselves, felt like a workout all on their own. They were brutal, but they hurt so good! (Tomorrow I'll post the details on the warm up exercises in case you need a good stretch)After our warm ups, my trainer proceeded to kick my butt...in the nicest way possible. With a smile on his face he made me do one legged squats for a minute on each leg. Once those were completed, we moved onto push-ups, more squats, balance exercises, and finished off with a 6 lap sprint.

Before I left, we briefly discussed what the next 6 months would look like. I would train with my trainer once a week for an hour and the other times that I came in to the gym on my own (I committed to coming in at least 3 times a week, so once with my trainer and at least twice on my own). He also asked me to use a Calorie Counting app until we met again so that I could show him exactly what I'm intoxicating my body with. He wants to use that information to build a nutrition plan for me based around things I like and already eat.

By the end of the workout and discussion, I was seeing black spots and breathing incredibly hard. But the most important thing I recognized was that I was proud of myself for pushing through every exercise. Today I felt motivated to not let myself be seen as the lazy athlete, but as the hard working athlete. My hope now that I've gone through the first day is that I will keep the motivation and maintain the hard working athlete image in my mind. I WILL SURVIVE!

Don't Let the Title Fool You

My name is Rebekah and I am a lazy athlete.


I am nowhere near as fit as I used to be in high school. I've gained weight, stopped working out as much, and honestly have simply let life get in the way. In high school, I competed in Track & Field as a Sprinter and Pole Vaulter as well as in Swimming. However, now that I am in college, without the frequency of competing in some sort of sport, my body feels like it has hit a wall and has simply plateaued. And if that wasn't enough, because I don't have sports to motivate me to be in shape, I just don't workout. Or when I do, my workout consists of a 10 minute treadmill run/walk (30 on a good day), and maybe some weights - and even then, my lifting is pretty pathetic.

During my first semester at school, I tore my ACL, MCL and fractured my shin bone during a track meet. The first few months following my surgery were easy when it came to working out. For the first month I had Physical Therapy, which meant that even if I didn't want to workout, I had to. The next two or three months after that, I needed to rebuild muscle that I had lost due to my injury, which was motivation enough to go to the gym. But then school started again and I couldn't find the time to workout, so I just didn't go.

Since then, working out has come in spurts. Some months or weeks I feel really motivated and ready to get back into shape. But the motivation only lasts until I run out of breath running on the treadmill (sad I know). That, or when I do go to the gym I don't know what to do and I lose motivation and become bored fairly quickly. So today I finally took a step that I probably should have taken at least a year ago: I got a Personal Trainer.

The whole purpose of this blog is mainly for me to keep myself accountable by chronicling my 6 month journey with a Personal Trainer. However, if anyone decides to read my blog, I hope that my health/fitness journey inspires other people to take whatever step is necessary for them to become more active and healthy. I am hoping that this new step will finally help me take control of my health again and be healthy.

Now I should explain something. Yes I am doing this because I want to lose weight. But I am not trying to lose the weight because I think I look fat. Sure, I have a muffin top and some belly fat. But these are not my main goals for working out. Lately I've noticed that because of my weight gain, I don't have as much energy to do what used to be easy. I have cravings that are out of control because I have let them get that way. And worst of all, I feel like I'm settling because its a whole lot easier to binge watch on Netflix than to get out and be active. I want to feel comfortable in my body again, not for other people but for me.

For the next 6 months I will be blogging at least twice a week about my training sessions, nutrition, and things that I am improving on or need to continue improving on. This blog is going to be brutally honest. I want people to read my blog and understand that going through this isn't easy or fun all the time. I also want people to see how it works - or maybe doesn't work, but for my own sake I'm really hoping that it does haha. I'm going to get real about the struggles as well as the triumphs.

So don't let the title fool you. Yes I am a lazy athlete. But this will be a guide for any other lazy athlete or  just people in general who need a guide into the uncomfortable world of health comeback. So join me or cheer me on. Either way, it's going to be an adventurous 6 months!