Sounds great! It's so much easier when you plan and cook ahead. I should take a page from your book and do a lot more prep than I have been.

I realized I'm not quite ready for the 6 week plan, so I'm doing the food exercises from Eat For Health. 1/2lb of raw fruit in the AM before breakfast (usually protein smoothie with more fruit), and 1/2 lb raw veggies before lunch and dinner. I've been having bean soups for lunch and using up the last of my frozen vegan entrees this week for dinner so I guess I'll have to come up with some dinner ideas soon.

Goals for August:

1 Complete my Strong Curves workouts as scheduled.

2 Get at least 3 servings of fruit and 4 servings of veggies (2 green) daily

3 As health permits, get 7k steps on strength training days and 12k on hike days.

4 Eat a mushroom (we all have to start somewhere, lol)

Morning all. Had a very busy weekend, but, was very productive at least. Saturday we went to a fitness resell store and I got a kettlebell, weight bar and some weights for it along with several things for DD's fall soccer. They had some weight benches there, however, for the price they felt a little flimsy. We checked out a few other places and wound up empty handed on that one. I will likely check out Amazon or Ebay. I just really want the bench, not one with a rack on it primarily due to the limited space which is proving challenging to find. I spent Sunday prepping meals for the week and put together several crock pot "dump" bags for our family and my parents. These are going to be a real life saver when it comes to eating at home. A couple nights a week we will have crock pot meals which will make things super easy. Mom was very appreciative to have some simple meals in her freezer. She is still dealing with a lot of fatigue, but, thankfully some of the other side effects seem to be diminishing slightly.

Saturday one of the sweetest things happened. DH decided he wanted to take the kids for donuts and asked if I would mind. I suggested he allow them to each pick out two that way we don't have dozens sitting around for temptation. While they were gone I had a killer workout on the treadmill for an hour. When they got back apparently my DD and DH had discussed what could they get/do for me for breakfast since I wasn't eating donuts. DD decided to fix me a fruit salad at home. She wrote me the sweetest note about how proud she was of me and how she hoped this helped me stay on track. It made me smile and realize the impact this change has on her as well.

Looking forward to another great week. It will take some tweaking to work soccer practice into the mix, but, I am determined to make it work. I am really looking forward to using the weights this week. It will be a nice thing to help change things up.

August is turning out pretty great so far, it seems. I wonder what it is that got us all motivated at once (and where can we get more of it, lol)

I got stuck away from home yesterday and had to eat out for lunch. I had a Chipotle salad with romaine, tofu, beans, brown rice and salsa, which was fine on macros and would have been ETL if not for all the freaking SODIUM!! 1520 mg of sodium in under 600 calories of food! And of course, my Halowe'en challenge weigh in was this morning. I don't know how much water I was retaining, but even my eyelids were puffy!

Thanks for the crock-pot ideas, Laura. I'm going to add veggies and substitute some vegan proteins, but I think the 7 day plan might be a great start for me. I know I'm just a random internet stranger, but I vote for adding some strength training to your program over more cardio. Right now I am hiking M,W,F, and doing the Strong Curves bodyweight strength training (and butt building, lol) program T,Th,Sat, and it's working really well. I find I don't get the type of worn out exhaustion I used to get from doing Muay Thai 6 days a week, and hike days are a rest from the muscle soreness from SC. Just one person's opinion, though, so take it with a grain of salt-free seasoning

Mihani and Lia, you guys sound like you are doing great! I have yet to have a 100% ETL day, but between following the Eat for Health exercises and staying 100% plant based (which I was doing anyway), I'm probably 70+ percent. Maybe I'll have to creep your food diaries for some ideas

Today's hike was a bit short but really steep; according to my HR monitor, I burned 705 calories in just under 90 minutes! Not sure how much I trust that, but since I don't eat back my exercise calories anymore, it doesn't really affect me if its overstated (except making me feel awesome!) I had my protein shake before the hike, steel cut oats after, and my plan for the rest of the day is homemade soup for lunch and tofu burritos for dinner, plus whatever veggies I end up buying at Pavilions today.

Keep up the great work everybody! I think I might print out that meme and put it on my fridge - see if it helps

Morning all. Well, Tuesday was the big weight day. I think I may have been overly excited for all my new weight equipment and didn’t really test the waters at all – I just dove straight in. The routine I followed started off as a “beginners routine” which then turned into “oh! I remember how we used to do ___at the gym…let me try that!” It quickly turned into a very, very thorough workout which I am still feeling two days later. I vaguely remember feeling this way one time after our trainer (years ago) put us through a “leg day.” I keep reminding myself that this is part of the process and eventually it will get easier…but…right now…geez. I went for a walk yesterday morning hoping it would help, but, thinking maybe I should have gone for a second one or something because I am still pretty sore today. I know it will get better, but, I REALLY want to be back on my treadmill for another run. I haven’t slept real well since and I have no doubt it is due to muscle soreness. I am really looking forward to it easing up and finally getting a solid night sleep. So, if anyone has any “best practices” for helping to ease sore muscles feel free to throw it out there!

Speaking of running – I have had a Fitbit Charge since February and have been loving it so far. The only drawback is after 6 months the band is now falling apart. Not so happy about this. I thought about ordering a new one and decided I really wanted to add the HR monitor to the mix. I also wanted to get something that would buzz at me when I had been inactive for too long, would keep track of my steps and had a reliable (and prettier) band. So I decided to order a Polar A300. It comes today. I AM SO FLIPPING EXCITED TO GET IT!! It is like this huge reward for all my efforts lately. I can’t wait to get it set up and start using it.

Lia – I love the new equipment so far! I have been sore for two days due to the most excellent session of strength training. While I know this is part of the process, the soreness is something I could do without. Lol It was awesome to crack out my weight bar and do deadlifts and various different curls. I did kettlebell swings for the first time in forever which was awesome! I like your shift in thinking regarding smaller goals. I tend to get lost in the larger goals and always feel like I am scurrying around not making any progress. I think focusing on the smaller ones helps keep me reigned in and see the actual progress I have made versus how far I feel I need to go.

Peas – I do tend to double the veggies for most of the dishes for a couple of reasons 1) they are just so good for you having extra is never a bad thing and 2) feeding a family of five with three of them being male makes meat/chicken etc very pricey! I took your suggestion to heart about adding more strength training. It really does make more sense. I want to get stronger in all areas and I know the strength training will help with having stronger runs as well. I love Chipotle as well and try so hard to keep it healthy, but, you are right – that sodium is terrible!

Mihani – 5 days already?! Wow! Awesome job! I really like hear what you eat every day. Seriously, it is like this refreshing breeze that blows through my day as a reminder on what to focus on and that it really can be simple. (I hope that doesn’t sound too weird!) You and Peas crack me up over “random internet strangers”

Alrighty. Time to suck down some strong black coffee and get to work! Will check back in later.

MakePeasNotWar wrote: »

I'm strongly considering doing 100% ETL while he's gone.

From this random internet stranger... you should do it.

Oh, I can handle it.... HAH !

Just had to come say hi! I have been on mfp and reading but not posting too much, anywhere. I finished a research class on July 31, and had about six days of work that left me really questioning how much longer I want to do this for. Sigh. I am sure the mother of my patient for the last few days would say I should keep going...and it isn't the patients or the workload or the families or the stress of being with people in their darkest moments (and sometimes, in their best moments of success). It is that our hospital, which has been in place for 125 years and working in a partnership with a large clinic...is being ripped apart by the business choices of said clinic, as well as our other hospital "partners". It is all business, and business model decisions, and it is awful. Also, our chief nursing officer was overheard in our managers office saying some things that really paint her as unsupportive of nursing staff...and when you don't have that, it becomes hard to keep moving positively. I really feel for my manager...he came into this unit when the culture was awful and he built it into the kind of unit every manager wants, with great culture, minimal turnover, a bunch of competitive people actually working together for the betterment of everyone-as a unit rather than competing against each other,...and now it is being destroyed.

Anyway...life keeps moving. Our puppy is now 7 months old, and lately she has taken to eating the very nice bed I recently put in her kennel...although she has toys in there. Busy bee. So I get to do some repairs on that today. It is POURING rain and has been all morning...I need to check the weather to plan the rest of today. I need to pick todays green beans and add them to Wednesday's haul, and deliver them to my mother to can...her canned beans are low sodium and THE BOMB. Everyone loves them, so we make sure to plant plenty. But at this rate, don't know when I will be picking, it is seriously POURING. We needed a good rain like this though, pastures were starting to dry up, lawn was starting to brown.

As a Random Internet Stranger, I agree with Peas on the strength training! I used to be able to cardio a lot off too...now since induced menopause and thyroid failure, I think my key is lying in strength training. I work out at home almost exclusively, and am two weeks into the Beachbody Body Beast program, and feel changed already. And, I can feel it when I ride- I am already stronger, more balanced, and in more control of my body. I do still run a couple of days a week, and walk on others...as I have summer running events scheduled. Saturday I am doing a 5K for the Colon Cancer Alliance called Get Your Rear in Gear, should be fun!!! I get the survivor Tshirt, so am looking forward to that!

Anyway, off to check the weather...I already had a big stock of veggies for breakfast, and am feeling ready to go! ;-)