workout and diet

So, what have Hanna and I been eating over the past week? I will share a full day’s menu. And I will mention that we eat six times per day, and 2 of those meals don’t change at all (I denote these with an *). It’s the same every day.

Meal 1: Most often it will be oats, berries and seeds.

*Meal 2: Most often it’s plain non-fat Greek yogurt, almonds and a pear. But if it’s a workout day, this meal will be our protein shake.

Meal 3: This is lunch, so it will vary. If we have left over meat from the night before, we will have that in a multi grain pita pocket (one of the nutritious kinds with no added junk) and salad with lots of veggies.

Meal 4: Shake on non-workout days or else same as Meal 2.

Meal 5: This is dinner. We will have a lean meat (sirloin, chicken or fish) with lots of salad and veggies. No starch.

*Meal 6: This is 2 hours before bed. We will have yogurt or cottage cheese.

And that pretty much sums it up. It’s not a wide variety, but it’s easier that way. We are more prepared always knowing what to eat. It’s very hard to fail at this diet when you are prepared. I sit down and write out the whole menu for the week. Every. Meal. Then I shop for what we need. So we are always ready. We eat around the same times each day, and we are used to the schedule…it fits.

As far as our workouts go, Hanna is on a beginner body weight routine. She does a lot of squats, lunges and plyometric movements. Also things like push ups and core exercises. She does them circuit fashion so she is always moving.

I chose to get back into the swing of things on an intermediate level since I had two weeks off. I didn’t want to start “full bore” as my mom would say. I will ease back into it. I am using weights, just lighter than I’m used to, doing 12 reps of each exercise. I go through the whole routine, take a two minute rest, and go through it once more. It takes me about an hour.

What made me so sore was the fact that I had done any training for 2 whole weeks. I had expected to be sore.

I did things like jump squats with a 10lb medicine ball, front BB squats (which I never do, they are harder), squat and presses, sumo squats, narrow squats, split squats (squats, squats, more squats!!! Saggy ass be damned!) Then lunges, step ups, leg lifts and on to the upper body. All the basic moves there. And finish up with core.

These exercises are not hard on their own, but combined and done one after another, you have a cardio element thrown in and that lactic acid burn that makes you FEEL like you are working, even though the weight isn’t heavy. It’s good to change stimulus. I’ve been used to lifting to the max of my potential for a while. It was the perfect time to jump back into lifting with lighter weight.

And there you have it! So far, we haven’t added any cardio in. We get our heart rate up plenty good doing what we’re doing! We are always dripping sweat and panting, so it’s good. I’m so NOT in the mood to do cardio these days anyway. Not even HIIT. I must like pain because I would rather feel the constant burn of weight lifting than an easy run for the same hour. The time just goes so much faster for me. I wonder what most people prefer. What do you prefer? Would you rather run for an hour or weight train for an hour?