My favorite PWS and FINALLY seeing some results!!

     Haven't posted in a few days, I've been at church every night this week till 9pm for Vacation Bible School and my brain is mushier than normal.....but on the topic of brain mush, I wanted to share with you my all-time favorite PWS (pre workout shake). Many people, especially women, tend to follow the old school notion of "workout on an empty stomach". Research has proven that this is not the best way to go, especially if you are like me and workout in the morning. Your body has already been in a fasting state for at least 8 hours and now you are going to ask it to perform tasks that require strength and endurance with no fuel? That is absolutely absurd. You wouldn't drive your car all week and then be able to get to Wildwood on the same tank of gas, your body is no different. I promise I'm not going to get all sciencey on you, if you want more information on the topic, Google it for yourself. Anyway, back to MY favorite PWS...

     I like to start with a cup of room temperature coffee. I usually save what's leftover from the previous day's pot...I'm an old lady like that (no offense, old ladies, you know I'm right!). I then take one scoop of my favorite protein powder - this morning it happened to be Syntha 6 Banana. Four ice cubes, 30 seconds in my imitation "Magic Bullet" and voila - Liquid Gold!

                                                   You can tell it's old by the lovely ring around the mug...

       
                                          Mmmmmmmm......makes me sad tomorrow is a cardio day!
      It tastes just like a Frappachino (not like I would know).....but it's good enough for me. Finally, coffee is healthy again, and with my lack of sleep, I'll take all the caffeine I can get. You can read more about some of the benefits of using caffeine to fuel your workouts here. Of course it is one-sided...but it's my blog, so there! And on the topic of protein, I have also found that many women I know do not get enough complete protein in their diets. Ladies, if you are lifting weights, your body CANNOT build muscle without protein, and if you are not lifting, YOU NEED TO START! You can read more about that here. And no matter what some "expert" told you, unless you take steroids and male hormones, you will never, ever look like this:

So, knock it off. You are not going to get bulky from lifting. You are going to build lean muscle mass which helps your body to burn more calories while you are at rest. Again, I promised not to go all sciencey on you, but Google it, buy a good weight training book, like this one. Learn for yourself about some of the benefits of weight training, I promise if you choose the right weight and use correct form, you will be pleasantly surprised.
     In other news, today was my weigh-in day and the scale is moving in the right direction. After 4 weeks at 155, I was elated to see 153 when I stepped on that bad boy this morning. I think that the consistency of my workouts and eating habits have been key here. I have come to the grim realization that I am now over 30 and if I want to lose weight, it means absolutely positively NO CHEATING. That means not even one fry off my kid's plate. No slice of pizza on Friday with my salad. I didn't even have cake last week at Rory's birthday party, but to me, it's totally worth it. I don't feel deprived, I feel up for the challenge. I have always been able to maintain with a weekly cheat meal or even day, but I simply can't lose with cheating. You name a diet, and I've probably tried it over the years, but the only thing that really works for me is eating CLEAN WHOLE FOODS, end of story. I'm Italian, I'm genetically inclined for fatness, and that's just the way it is.
I'm not counting calories, as my mind is literally a Rolodex of nutritional information. Having said that, I know that I can eat roughly 1,500 calories on days that I work out if I'm trying to lose and around 1,200 calories on rest days. You can calculate your own macro nutrient needs here. If you are at a plateau, the first place to look is your diet.  I find that many women do not get enough calories when trying to lose weight. The bottom line is, if you are hungry "all the time", you are probably not eating enough.....again....Google it! I have used sites like My Fitness Pal for years. Food journaling is an effective way to really see what you are eating. I like My Fitness Pal because they have a large database with nutrtional information for many foods already loaded in the system, even restaurants. After the eating is under control, the next stop is exercise...

     My goal now that it's summer and I really want to lose a few pounds before our vacation, is to get 6 workouts in each week. 3 cardio days, and 3 weight training days. For my cardio, I am doing HIIT twice a week and one day of hill intervals on the elliptical or an Insanity or other bootcamp workout. For my weight training, I am doing kettlebells twice a week and one day of heavy lifting. Today was a heavy lifting day, and my numbers are slowly improving.  I was able to lift heavy until my 30th week of pregnancy. At 7months pregnant, I was still able to squat around 100lbs for 15 reps. Now, 12 weeks post partum, I am at a measley 65lbs for 15 reps. I am really trying to take the safe road here as the last thing I want to do is injure myself and then not be able to work out. At 31 weeks, I injured my tailbone from lifting too heavy and the effects of Relaxin. I was forced to take it easy for a few weeks, which drove me nuts! While I was able to continue to exercise until 38 weeks, I was pretty much just sticking to cardio.....I HATE CARDIO!!!!! I'm just so happy to be back to a good schedule again. It's scarey when you "fall of the wagon", your not sure how or if you're ever going to get back to "normal".....I am very thankful for prayer. I know that I can't do anything without the grace of God. Every morning when I say my prayers, I ask God to keep me on track and every night I thank Him....there is no way I could make it through the day on my own!

                                            Toby is starting to get the hang of "playing exercise"

Rory doing pushups like Mommy....I know he's under the weight bench...I never said he was smart...thank God he's cute!