RachelBringIt’s BodyBlog

Last Friday I was stupid and didn’t stretch well before lifting. Well while doing a couple shoulder exercises I decided to lift a bit too heavy and strained my shoulder. Saturday I swam on it and it seemed fine, well Tuesday I thought "well ive been off of it for a couple days so I tried some dips and it was fine, then I started my chest workout and it was getting irritated. GRAH! So Ive been sticking to leg workouts and cardio this week. Swimming again tomorrow although im sorta bummed that I wasn’t able to do much upper body this week. I suppose ill just let it rest till next week and go light to see how its feeling. I had a good 3 mile run yesterday and a nice 20mile bike ride but im sore like crazy today. I decided to take today off since I can’t do upper body and my legs are shot and did a nice 30 min yoga/stretch session. Feels good to get all those sore muscles stretched out. I was going to do it for an hour but i got bored. Well time for me to eat!!

Yay!! Im so excited!! I had my 3 week eval by our trainer at the gym. I knew I had dropped a little body fat, but I was super stoked when he told me I dropped 2%!! So ive lost almost 3lbs in body fat! He told me to keep doing what Im doing and go for it! Im upping my cardio to 5-6x a week due to his recommendation about our adventure race training. Doing Plyometric cardio 2-3x a week and long endurance cardio 2-3x a week. I will eat the calories I burn to prevent too big of a caloric deficit to prevent muscle loss.

Shitty news is Im getting mad shin splints from running. Today was supposed to be a 3 mile run but instead im going to replace it with a 1.5 mile swim to give my shins a break, they were hurting really bad when I did my last 2 mile on Wednesday. But Im making progress, my numbers are going up in the gym, and my weight is going down !! Hope everyone is having a great friday!!!

I took the majority of my pictures down while I apply for law school.

Diet: Im slowly taking out flour/dairy and replacing with fruit. I meant in my last post to replace whey with egg protein powder. Ive actually decided as I said to not include all wheat but just flour. So no breads or pasta. Just things made from sprouted or whole grains. I just cannot give up my oats especially on heavy cardio days (swimming 2 miles, running, etc) which ive been doing 4x a week thus far. I am happy to report that my clothes are fitting a lot looser and im finally starting to see some fat loss after 3 weeks . Hope everyone is having a great week so far!

Ive decided to give up wheat and dairy. Im going to be weaning off of these through this next week. I just think this will help me in my goals to eat whole, natural foods. I will still eat oats from sprouted grains, just no processed wheat. Ive decided only to have oats on cardio days (running or swimming). Otherwise I will get carbs from fruits and veggies. Here is a sketchy idea of my new meal plan:

B: 1 banana, 1 scoop whey, 1 tbsp PB, 1/2 cup soy milk (or hemp milk), water (Replace with oats on cardio heavy days)

PWO: 2 whole eggs, 3 egg whites, 1/2 sweet potato (or reg. potato)

L: 4 oz chicken, baby spinach salad with roma tomato, walnuts, lime juice, 1/2 tbsp EVOO, 1 tsp honey. Hot Rooibos tea

D: 4oz beef, hoison sauce, mixed veggies.

Before bed: 1 scoop whey, 1 tbsp PB

If i get hungry ill much on some fruit in between so my macros arent solid, neither are my calories, if i feel hungry ill eat, ill need it with my intense workouts

After 10 days in the gym I feel awesome! I feel so much tighter, and even though the scale hasn’t moved much (I know some is water weight so I dont even count it as weight loss) my clothes are fitting better and I feel less bloaty. I am feeling harder and Its awesome. I’ve been eating on-point and the workout program is really working for me. Here is what I have been doing:

Training:

Monday: Swimming 60 mins - 1k- working on form and doing intervals

Tuesday: Legs/Back- HIIT- 15 mins+10 warmup/cool down

Wednesday: Day off

Thursday: Chest/Arms- HIIT- 15 mins + 10 warmup/cool down

Friday: Swimming or Biking 60 mins

Saturday: Legs/Back- HIIT 15 mins + 10 warmup/cool down

Sunday: Yoga 60 mins- light swimming, stretch day.

Diet: 1800 cals

B: 1/4 cup uncooked oats,2 egg whites, 1 tbsp PB, sprinkle of cinnamon and raisins.

S: 3oz chicken, onion, veggies, pita pocket

L: 2 whole eggs, 3 egg whites, green pepper, tomato, onion

S: 1 scoop whey, frozen fruit, 1 cup milk (PWO)

D: 3oz chicken, veggies

S (if still hungry) 1 cup cottage cheese

Its been working for me lately

After just a week of hitting the gym hard I already feel better. I know its just water weight but I think just knowing that Im doing everything possible to reach my goals is a good feeling. My diet has been right on point since Dec 30. I can tell a difference already. I feel like im eating a bit too much but I guess thats because im going from 3 meals back to 5-6  a day. Im not eating more, just more often. I went to see my parents yesterday and they said "wow you look buff!" it really made me smile because ive been working on my upper body really hard. They said they could tell I was dropping fat, but they were a bit concerned. I dont blame them, my sister is a recovering anorexic so whenever I take any interest in loosing weight they automatically react in that way. They should know Im doing it right though. I love my food!!! This is what my diet looks like, its a little higher in carbs than a normal cut diet because im doing more than avg cardio to get ready for adventure racing:

M1: 1/4 cup oats (uncooked), 1 Tbsp PB, 2 egg whites, 30 cals of dark chocolate, sprinkle of raisins.

M2 (usually Post workout if I workout in the morning): 1 scoop ON whey, 1 frozen banana, 1 cup milk, 1/2 cup water

M3: 4oz chicken chopped with veggies and stuffed inside pita pocket.

M4: 2 whole eggs, 3 egg whites, salsa and chopped veggies

M5: 1 cup cottage cheese, 2 tbsp of pickled cabbage (i know sounds gross but its awesome) a few WW crackers to dip.

Hope you all are havin a great 2009 so far! Ill post progress pics soon!

This year will be a life changing year for me! I plan on getting married this year, going to law school in the fall, which means a big move out of state, and also the beginning of my adventure racing career!

I had a disappointing appointment at the gym yesterday. We just joined a gym nearby and part of the new membership is getting your bodyfat tested (with calipers) and apparently I was 25%! Now, i thought i was 19-20%! So im not sure if the trainer was being truthful or wanted to get some money for training sessions. Has anyone had that happen at a gym? Im a little suspicious …but anyway it really brought me down with how much work I have been doing. I feel the strongest/most muscular I ever have in my life! Well, my goal is to drop 10% body fat in the next couple months, which means dropping around 6-10lbs. I need to do it to be a faster runner, which means I might loose a little muscle, which sucks with how hard I have been working for it. Im just now seeing some big gains in my shoulders and back (my weak spot). On the upside I had a great leg workout, and now im drinking a yummy whey/frozen banana smoothie.

Hope everyone had a fun holiday, at least all the yummy temptations are gone (except for some lingering christmas candy which i made the Bo hide for my cheat day   )