Weekly Workout Schedule & Eating Healthy Confessions

I feel like if I put this out there I will be forced to stick to it.... :)

Monday: Ballet class at DanceFX

Tuesday: Blast 900 in Mt. P
If you live in Charleston, you MUST try this new workout out - it's 5 min treadmill intervals and 5 min weights/strength training back and forth for an hour... it's the hardest workout I've ever done, but the most bang for your buck. You can burn up to 900 calories in a class...I haven't made it through a class yet without having to stop once or twice... it's so intense, but I love the challenge! Before this class I never ran faster than 6.5 on the treadmill -- now I run up to 9 in the class and I find myself running at 7 or higher on my own in the gym....ok, this might not be that high for some of you fit bloggers, but for me that's super fast! :) The Blast class is different each time, so you won't get bored with it, and your first class is FREE -- so go try it out!! Tell them Christy Season (well now Christy Punch, but...I think I'm registered with my maiden name) sent you... I think I get a free class if you do!

Wednesday: 30 min. training session w/ my ESAC trainer; 20-30 min cardio session
The personal training experience has been painful on my wallet, but the best investment I've made in the past couple of months. I started with a trainer to lose weight/firm up before my wedding and I love how it's made me stronger and changed my body. It's worth the cost to me. I know I can do most of the stuff on my own, but each session is different and she pushes/challenges me when I know I wouldn't otherwise. I'm so clueless when it comes to weight training too and knowing how heavy to lift, etc., so it's nice not having to figure all of that out. She is petite with ballet background, so she knows just how to work me out..she's awesome. I can't believe how much of an intense workout you can have in just 30 minutes. If you are active and love to exercise, but find yourself in a rut, consider a personal trainer - trial sessions are typically free. I actually have some free passes to do a trial 30 min workout and consultation with my trainer - and you don't have to be a member of ESAC. Message me if you're interested!

After training, I'm going to try out this interval treadmill exercise I found on Pinterest. I love intervals on the treadmill -- I hate running the same speed for a long time, I get bored, tired, blah... so changing it up every few minutes keeps me going and makes the workout go much faster (I'm not a fan of running... it's a necessary evil.)

Source: ittybitsofbalance.com via Christy on Pinterest

Thursday: Self imposed workout at gym or at home - probably some sort of cardio/stretching

Friday: 30 min. training session w/ my ESAC trainer; 20-30 min cardio session

Saturday: Day of rest/finally trying out my Just Dance 3 game on the Kinect

Sunday: Blast 900 or Contemporary Ballet at DanceFX (game time decision, will see how I feel)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eating Healthy (sort of)
Before my wedding, I realized that after having weighed the same amount for the past 3 years even after being a very active person, the only way I would lose weight is by changing my diet. So I actively changed my diet and made a conscious effort to eat healthier.

I tried tracking my calories with My Fitness Pal -- and it helped at first. But once I got on an eating regimen, I didn't need it as much. And really with my busy schedule (especially before the wedding) it was more of a nuisance to log on and log food.

I met with a nutritionist for a few sessions - she was super helpful.  She analyzed my eating habits and gave me a wealth of info. We also did a 'shopping lesson' at Whole Foods where we shopped for groceries and she taught me how to read labels, what to buy, etc. This was not as expensive as I expected, and I really learned a lot from her -- there is soooo much information on the internet about what to eat, etc. But I really appreciated having someone teach me nutrition targeted towards my body type, my schedule, my lifestyle, foods I like/don't like, etc.

My biggest change was adding more green/veges to my diet. I wasn't eating horrible, but I wasn't getting enough of the good foods to help my exercising do its job. So I made small changes...

• I started eating MORE for breakfast. I was eating a breakfast bar and a small fiber one yogurt every morning for breakfast which come to find out is a big no no (sugars galore!). Now I make a killer smoothie (1 cup frozen mixed berries, half a banana, 1 to 1.5 cup Unsweetened Silk Almond Milk, half a scoop of Organic Whey Vanilla Protein Powder, and a handful of spinach - blend until smooth...you can substitute protein power with plain greek yogurt). If I have time I'll have an Ezekial english muffin with egg white, spinach and a tablespoon of oragnic salsa (so good and very filling!).
• Snacks -- I never snacked at work before, but you're supposed to keep eating to keep your metabolism up of course...so I started bringing fruit to snack on mid morning (grapefruit kicks up your metabolism) OR a Publix mozzarella string cheese stick. For afternoon, broccoli or celery dipped in a Sabra hummus single OR salted, shelled pistachios. If you get the shelled, you eat less because you spend time opening them. Another snack my nutritionist approved of was cheerios - the basic, unsweetened, plain kind. It was sometimes easy for me to put a cup of cheerios in a ziplock bag heading out the door to work than preparing something else.
• For lunch I try to eat grilled chicken sandwiches on Arnold's whole grain w/ flax sandwich thins with spinach, tomatoes and pickles (and no cheese)... or... having a big green salad with broccoli and fat free vinaigrette dressing....or vegetable soup with a vegetable side of some sort. 
• Dinners were (and still are) my biggest challenge... but I made an effort to eat more chicken/fish and vegetables (like asparagus, yum!). I like finding healthy recipes on Pinterest and giving them a try... but I don't always have a lot of time at night to cook, so dinners weren't always that healthy...



Recipe I tried that was delicious!

Source: fitmindandbody.tumblr.com via Christy on Pinterest

I've lost about four pounds since I started all of this back in September -- this isn't a big number to most people, but to me it's BIG. I've weighed the same for three years, so to actually lose weight is a great feeling. But really, I've got lots of muscle, so the big results for me was losing inches. What was supposed to be my last dress fitting before my wedding turned into scheduling another appointment because they had to take my dress in at the top.

Plus it's encouraging because I haven't been super strict about my diet... I still enjoy going out to dinner now and then (Italian!) or  having a glass of wine (or three) when I want. If I was super strict and stuck to a consistent uber healthy diet, I think I'd see more pounds drop...but I don't think I'd stick with it as well if I did that drastic of a change in my eating habits.

I want to keep at it now that the wedding is over, and some of my diet changes have stayed because it's now just routine. But there have been several new challenges since the wedding that are threatening my new healthiness...

• The Holidays -- it was so nice to just not think about what to eat/what not to eat and just INDULGE over the holidays...I definitely noticed a difference after taking about a two week break from eating well and exercising after the wedding and through Christmas.
• Budget -- Spending a lot of money on healthy foods, trainer, etc. made sense for wedding preparation, but now with a new house and new bills, it's hard to justify a lot of this stuff. I'm reevaluating and trying to figure out what I love most vs. what is having the greatest impacts vs. costs, etc.
• New house - having put off unpacking and house projects until after the wedding, we are in full swing now...and sometimes when you've been stuck in the laundry room painting all day, your husband's "Should I just pick up Canes chicken finger meals on the way home from Lowes for dinner?" is hard to turn down...
• And speaking of husband, I'm living with a human garbage disposal - now that I am not the only one who's eating dinner at my house, I'm having to shop and cook for two. Bradley can eat and eat and eat and never gain a pound. We cook dinners and eat healthy, but we eat too much...he eats such large portions of everything, so I'm trying to learn how to still eat small portions while he's eating everything in sight.
• And in addition to his and I's portion distortions, we both have a major sweet tooth -- which can be controlled when we aren't together...but now under the same roof... it's bad. "Let's just make some cookies tonight..." or "Wanna go get ice cream?" happens a lot more frequently than before. 
• And lately I have two major snack weaknesses.... Pretzel Chips and Welch's Fruit Snacks...which somehow made their way into our cart (guilty!) during our last Costco trip... and as you know, Costco = large portions. Why are fruit snacks so deceptively 'healthy' when in fact they are horrible for you....but oh so good! :(

So, my healthy eating has fallen to the wayside some post wedding, but some changes have 'stuck' and I think it's made (and still is?) a difference. I just need to be aware of my current potential challenges and try to overcome them... especially since bathing suit season is right around the corner.

Any suggestions on how to overcome portion distortion as a newlywed? 

Are fruit snacks really that awful for you? On second thought...don't answer that one. :)

How do you stay motivated to eating healthy? Any easy, healthy recipes you've found on Pinterest you'd like to share??