Shred Day 1

Today is the first day of my new effort in my weight loss journey.  That means I’m back to weekly weigh-ins.  So, I stepped on the scale this morning and I saw the true damage I’ve done to myself over the last few months since the fitness challenge ended August 1^st.  9 lbs exactly gained for a 181.2 total weight.  Ugh.  Now I know where I stand.  I have a minimum of 9 pounds to lose before the end of 2013.  That’s 4.5 lbs a month.  If I focus myself and keep myself on point, there’s no reason I shouldn’t be able to do this.

So, here’s the plan.  Today is day #1 of the Shred Diet.  Every day I will chronicle out what I ate that day.  If it’s a day that I am able to, I will take pictures of all the food I eat.  I laid out the eating schedule for day #1 (HERE).

Today also marks the renewal of my workouts.  I have my first (hopefully of many) session with Samy.  I’m hoping he thoroughly kicks my ass.  I hope I don’t once use the phrase “I can’t” because it will be a lie.  But, to be completely honest, I’m not really looking forward to it…not because I think it will be hard or whatever, but because it requires effort and I haven’t put forth ANY effort in the last 3 weeks.

Here’s the breakdown of my food today:

Meal 1:

1 cup sugar free cereal: shredded wheat, with unsweetened vanilla almond milk and 1 stevia packet

1 piece of fruit: a pear

1 cup of not from concentrate juice: mango

 

 

I also had a cup of coffee with stevia, even though it doesn’t say I’m “allowed” to per the diet parameters. 

Snack 1 (100 cals):

10 baby carrots w/2 tbsp hummus

Meal 2:

1 bowl of soup: Progresso Heart Healthy Homestyle Veggie Beef

1 piece of fruit: apple

1 cup of juice: papaya

Snack 2 (150 cals):          

Turkey wrap

Meal 3:

A small salad w/2 tbsp fat free dressing (cranberry balsamic vinaigrette)

4.5 oz baked tilapia

1 slice cheese

1 serving veggies: sweet peas no salt added

Meal 4:

3 servings of veggies: steamable bag of mixed veggies

1 cup beans: canned black beans

Snack 3 (100 cals):

1 cup blueberries w/2tbsp Cool Whip

My take on today’s food?  I liked it.  I liked it a lot.  This is definitely something I could keep up long term.  It’s REAL food.  There’s no “fancy” hard to find health foods to be found in the shopping lists…unless you opt to put them on them.  In fact, here’s the shopping list of what I bought to start myself off with this diet:

Fruit (grapefruit, apples, pears)

Sugar free cereal

Not from concentrate juice

Veggie juice

Yoplait smoothies

Veggies

Pinto beans (dry)

Whole grain bread

Chicken or turkey deli meat (low sodium)

Lettuce

Tomato

Cheese slices

Salmon

Tilapia

Chicken breast

Salad mix

Brown rice

Pancake mix

Bacon

Progresso soup (no potato, no cream, low sodium)

Sweet potato (small)

Blueberries

Cool Whip Light

Frozen steamable veggie (asparagus, Brussels sprouts)

Reduced fat Wheat Thins

Triscuits

Low calorie flatbread

Natural pumpkin seeds

Laughing Cow cheese

Whole wheat Goldfish

White grapes

Canned no salt added veggies

I *had* planned on eating pinto beans made from dry beans for Meal 4.  However, I didn’t realize that you have to presoak the beans for like 2 hours and then you rinse them and have to cook them for another 1.5 to 2.5 hours.  Geez.  I’m probably only going to get the presoaking done today.  The actual cooking will have to wait until Wednesday morning.  I could do it tonight, but I have to wake up at 4am for some overtime on the morning shift tomorrow…immediately followed by my usual evening shift.  Luckily, I have some low sodium canned black beans that I could eat instead.  I also paired Meal 4 with Snack 3.  Since I chose blueberries with Cool Whip for my last snack of the day, I ate it as a dessert.  Plus, I ran out of time for the day since I slept so late this morning.

The tilapia I baked.  I spritzed it with some I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter spray, then sprinkled some lemon juice on the filets, then I freshly ground pepper over them, and then gave them a final spray down with some olive oil (in a pump sprayer, so no chemical propellants)…cooked them at 400° for 25 minutes. 

The workout with Samy was AWESOME.  That’s really the only way to describe it.  Everything he had me do was super simple (jump rope, the heavy ropes, kettlebell swings, kettlebell squat & press, and then boxing drills and some ab work), but wow they really took it out of me.  Thank goodness I wore my heartrate monitor!  It was a great tool for when I took a breather so I knew when it was good to get back at it.  He said he usually has people go through all the exercises 4 times but because it was my first time, he said I only had to do 3…haha.  During the session, he asked me if he was scaring me off, to which I replied an emphatic “NO!”  I told him this is what I need.  I need someone to kick my ass and give me a great workout like he was doing.  I easily took 4 or 5 breather breaks during the 50 minute workout and I STILL burned 550-ish calories!!!  He said that was pretty good, but that if I was able to keep up the entire time and not need breaks, that I would easily burn another 250-300 calories in that same time frame.  WOW!  I believe it.  At the end, he asked if I wanted him to train me…of course I said yes.  He said he would do 3 sessions for $99.  And when I told him I wouldn’t have the money until after the 15^th, he said it was okay and that I didn’t have to pay him up front.  WHAT?!?!?!  A trusting person?  Of course, I was recommended to him by one of his clients and he knows where I work.  So, I have my next ass kicking session next Monday at 4pm.  YAY!

At the end of the session, when we were discussing me coming back for more sessions, he suggested 2 times a week and, really, I can only commit to once a week since sometimes I pull overtime at the last minute and wouldn’t be able to make my session appointment with him.  So, he said to make sure I get a good jump rope like the one I was using there at the gym.  I already have a kettlebell, but I only have one, so I’d have to modify the squat & press one to press one side at a time…unless I buy a second kettlebell, of course.  And then I can shadow box with my gloves on.  If I do this on my own time, that will make up for not being able to make twice weekly sessions work.  I think that, maybe, when I go on my birthday vacation next month that I’ll spring for twice weekly sessions with him while I’m off for that week or 2.  I think that will be a great way to help myself meet my “lose 9 lbs by the end of 2013” goal.

Oh!  I suppose I can't take on a new effort within my now almost 3 year weight loss/get fit journey without posting new "before" pics...so here they are: