turnygirl’s BodyBlog

Anyone have any suggestion for a really good lower ab exercise?  I am thinking of going back to hanging leg raises, but I find I swing too much.  I did leg raises with the exercise ball and matt tonight and they really hurt, I pushed my hips up a little at the top, that seemed to get them.  I have been doing the leg raises where you rest your arms and elbows (can’t remember the proper name) but sometimes I feel it in my hip flexors more so obviously I am not doing them right.

I started taking taurine today, apparently it is good for helping vegetarians gain muscle and it works in a similar way to creatine.  I will give it a try and see how it works.  I had an awesome workout tonight.  I did 2 exercises for biceps, triceps and shoulders and followed that with 45 minutes of RPM.  I worked really hard tonight (Hydroxycut helps).  I am back to the gym tomorrow morning for chest, back and abs and then I will do 45 minutes on the treadmill after work.  I bought a new book called ‘Power Eating’ because I think I am not eating enough for the amount of cardio and weights that I have been doing.  My energy levels still feel good, but when I added some more starchy carbs last week my body seemed to respond better. 

Is it weird that all I think about is the gym?  Saturday is my day off and Sunday is lower body followed by BodyFlow (tai chi, yoga and pilates).  I can’t wait to do some cardio tomorrow!  I got the best compliment when my husband came home after being away for 6 days, he said "wow I can’t believe how much your body has changed in just 6 days!"  Made all of my hard work worth it!! 

Well I had 4 slices of pizza and a slice of raspberry loaf with a coffee and sugar!!  It’s okay though.  I ate really well all week and all day up until dinner so I will just consider this my cheat day and make sure that I eat perfect on Saturday.

 I had a really good leg, bicep, tricep and shoulder workout this morning.  The best part is I can actually see a bicep in my arm when I flex without having to strain it!! LOL  I really feel like I can do make a big change in my physique this time.

I think I am feeling better now that I have added some starchy carbs back to my diet.  I hope it does not work against me, I don’t want eating to bum me out.  I feel like I am overthinking the whole matter and I guess all that really matters is what I see on my body.

I did my lower body routine today followed by Liz’s BodyFlow class so I should be feeling it tomorrow.  Last week it took until Thursday for my legs to stop hurting, hopefully it won’t be the same this week.  I am going to do bis, tris and shoulders tomorrow and then chest, back and abs on Tuesday.  I have been rotating this since last week and I find it is working well for me.  Saturday is still my day off of everything and Sunday I just do BodyFlow so I get two days off of cardio.  I will probably stay with what I am doing for the next 5 weeks and see how much weight I can add to my strength training, I have to remember to take my workout log with me so that I can make sure I am really making progress.

The only thing that is frustrating me right now is not knowing how long it will take me to get to my goals, all I can do is work hard and wait. 

I ate a baked potato today so that I wouldn’t be so grouchy…..over all a pretty good day.  Last night we had a wicked thunder storm with heavy rain so I did not get much sleep, I still made it to my RPM class though and I am really happy I did not miss it.  I did sleep in a little so I missed my biceps, triceps and shoulder routine that I was supposed to do, but I think the break will do me good.  My day off is tomorrow and I am looking forward to a beer (just one)!  Hopefully I will get my laptop next week so that I can get more serious about tracking my workouts and eating, my PC is in the basement now and I feel like I am in the dungeon whenever I am down here.

I ate a baked potato today so that I wouldn’t be so grouchy…..over all a pretty good day.  Last night we had a wicked thunder storm with heavy rain so I did not get much sleep, I still made it to my RPM class though and I am really happy I did not miss it.  I did sleep in a little so I missed my biceps, triceps and shoulder routine that I was supposed to do, but I think the break will do me good.  My day off is tomorrow and I am looking forward to a beer (just one)!  Hopefully I will get my laptop next week so that I can get more serious about tracking my workouts and eating, my PC is in the basement now and I feel like I am in the dungeon whenever I am down here.

I have been trying to eat low carb for the past few weeks but lately I am feeling tired, grouchy and sick to my stomach.  I have to figure out an alternative to protein shakes and bars because I think it my be the sweetners that are making my stomach upset.  I don’t normally eat anything "diet" because I want to avoid sweetners.  Of course being a vegetarian there are only so many quick proteins that I can eat, I do eat eggs and dairy so I might have to switch from shakes back to egg whites and cottage cheese (that I am really sick of eating).  Salad dressing was such a treat today, I have been eating so bland that it tasted like a flavour (yes I am Canadian, hence the U) explosion in my mouth!!

 As far as my workouts are going I am starting to have complete strangers that I have never noticed before commenting on how often I am going to the gym!! LOL  Things like "Do you ever take a day off?" or "Wow you’re pretty serious now aren’t you?"  Good thing I have my choice of 6 gyms within a 15 minute drive from work/home……might have to mix it up so people don’t think I am weird… 

My legs have been really sore since my leg workout on Sunday (this is Thursday) and so I did do mostly light weights for my legs this morning.  I will have to take it easy on my lower body next week.  It is funny how some parts of my body are doing exactly what I want while my legs and stomach are not looking at all like I thought they would for all of the hard work and clean eating that I have been doing.  There have been a couple of BBQs on some weekends, but I don’t think that is enough to hinder my results.  I will have to clean it up a bit more on my cheat day I guess. 

I took some progress pictures tonight to make sure that I am on track and I will post them this weekend if there is time.