2014 TypeC Health and Exercise Challenge

[miss_hap]

On the menu the next couple of days: pumpkin paleo pancakes with coconut whipped cream, oatmeal with dates and bananas, watermelon and pineapple salad, power greens salad (thats what it says on the package anyways ) with garden fresh tomatoes and cucumbers, refrigerator pickles, chicken enchiladas, potato leek soup, charro beans, and homemade corn dogs with baked french fries. I'm very excite!

PLEASE share your recipes!! I honestly struggle so much with diet and it is because I eat the same stuff over and over Then get bored and cheat. If you know of any good sites or whatnot, share the wisdom haha. And way to go

 

[kyuuei]

PLEASE share your recipes!! I honestly struggle so much with diet and it is because I eat the same stuff over and over Then get bored and cheat. If you know of any good sites or whatnot, share the wisdom haha. And way to go

So, there are two things I really like to do lately that have made me feel really awesome. I don't count calories really. I do substitute cooking (the very basics of that is baking vs frying for example) and eating fresh, high quality foods without additives and extra stuff in them. I'm leaning towards paleo-style cooking, and raw/vegan style servings, because those things just give more protein and more clean foods in general.

These are sites I really love:
- Raw/Vegan: Raw, vegan, not gross.. And raw Kristina. And rawsome vegan life.
https://www.youtube.com/user/FullyRawKristina
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBei08plIao
http://www.thisrawsomeveganlife.com/

- Paleo stuff: Stupid Easy paleo
http://stupideasypaleo.com/
http://nomnompaleo.com/

- Clean, anti-inflammatory eating: Betty rocker, oh she glows
http://ohsheglows.com/2012/08/30/coconut-whipped-cream-a-step-by-step-photo-tutorial/
http://thebettyrocker.com/betty-rockers-recipes/

- Substitution diet: Skinnytaste. I get a majority of my recipes from here, using clean foods instead sometimes. You can literally find almost anything on this site. And chocolate covered katie.
http://www.skinnytaste.com/?m=1
http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/

Oh, and for whenever I want to be fancy:
http://www.innatthecrossroads.com/


Basically, I decide what I want (Mexican, sandwiches, breakfast food, savory, soup, etc.) and I pick out a recipe. To make things easier on me right now since I am in school, I generally eat the same exact things for breakfast and lunch, and change it up with dinner (and I can make something out of the leftovers for lunch the next day sometimes.) Usually it's: overnight oatmeal for breakfast, fruit for a snack, a sandwich and/or some soup or leftovers from dinner last night, some kind of sweet dessert for a snack, then whatever I feel like/whatever we have ingredients for for dinner.

 

[Redbone]

Nothing this week. Between having a mini-breakdown, appointments, and school work...zero. No exercises except some walking. I don't remember what I ate this week...something.

But on the positive side, I found another medicine I can take to help me sleep. I can actually get some decent sleep with it and have a decrease of pain. This is really important because pain and fatigue is the first cycle that has to be broken with EDS. I think I will be ready to start exercising/going back to PT again next week.

 

[kyuuei]

Day 2 kicked my butt all over again. I have always been terrible at mountain climbers

 

[INTJMom]

I did an abbreviated program this morning, but better than not at all!
So... met my goals for this week.

 

[Udog]

Good week. I got all 7 out 7 P90X3 workouts in, and I was stronger during week 2 than I was during week 1.

When it comes to my diet, I'm still stuck at 80% healthy choices, and 20% unhealthy choices. The latter of which is still slowing down my progress. Having said that, I am losing some weight.

 

[Ivy]

I don't know man, 80/20 sounds pretty good to me!

 

[Randomnity]

Update for last week (17?) - my first total, utter failure. Ending up working way more hours than expected to get a big project done, really short on sleep all week. Two of the days I skipped I was up past 4am working, and the last bodyweight day was also the day I submitted the project, so I got home at midnight and was just so done. Oh yeah, and I went to physio twice that week because I didn't think ahead when I was booking it, and it made my ankle hurt WAY worse (and not in a healing way) and cost me 150$ for the privilege. So failure all around.

But I am back at it this week (day 1=sunday). I felt a lot weaker already. On the plus side, my shoulder feels better after the "rest", and my ankle is back to normal-ish finally, a week after physio.

 

[Udog]

I don't know man, 80/20 sounds pretty good to me!

80% is pretty good, true, but that 20% is slowing down my progress. I suspect it cancels it out completely at times. I'd prefer to hit a 90/10 ratio.

Of course, I can continue dreaming the dream of being able to actually quit eating refined sugar!

 

[kyuuei]

Tonight is the last work out for week 1 of the challenge! Whoo! P90X has been supplementing it all very well too Luckily for me all of this is portable so I can work out on my vacation! Can't be lazy now!!

My body feels far, far better too. It helps that finals have somehow given me more time for food (aka being actively at home vs away at school) while giving me less time in my life overall. Vegan is NOT my forte.

So far, sprouted breads are awesome. I tried the paleo breads, and those SUCK, don't try them unless you want fluff-less bricks. Seriously, they're just terrible.. they don't taste THAT bad, but they don't feel at all like bread. Instead, I've been eating Ezekiel 4:9 products. I'm going to try the hot-dog buns tomorrow, and I tried the tortillas today, and this is my second style of bread from them. They need the fridge, but they taste like bread, and they're super great really. A little more.. dense.. than normal bread. But you can only REALLY tell that when you're trying to have regular toast with jam or something. Sandwich tastes like a sandwich with them. I'm just trying to go down the line and modify one thing at a time--condiments, drinks, and breads are at the top of the list because, frankly, I use those the most. So, I'm switching out those things as I use them up for better, more sustainable stuff. It'll take me a while to adjust to that anyways. I loooove toppings and condiments.

Also, coconut butter is a really cool thing to try. Very coconut-like smell, and a sliiight coconut taste, but it really does give you the texture and flavor-category as butter. Really, really cool. I can't wait to try it on some paleo pancakes.
http://www.paleoperfectly.com/2012/02/light-and-fluffy-paleo-pancake.html

 

[Ivy]

Food: Really good. I am so enjoying food these days- and not anxious about it at all. And keeping to my calorie goals is not feeling like a lot of white-knuckling like diets always have- looks like a small deficit and veeerrryyy sllloooowww weight loss goals are working okay so far. 7/7.

Speaking of weight loss- I'm at about 20lbs down now (since I started this in January- I think I had lost a little before that but I wasn't weighing in so I don't know). I had stalled out for most of March and April, but this time instead of looking at it as failure I looked at it as my body catching its breath and refocusing before it lost any more. I've been reading some science that suggests that plateaus/stalls may actually be healthy and help people achieve and maintain long-term weight loss success. Reframing them as "diet breaks" really helps my mindset.

Activity: big fat MEH. That temp project really interrupted my momentum. I mean, I'm done with it, but I'm really having trouble getting my activity back to previous levels. I need to watch out for that if I take on any more temp projects. I did finally upload the copy of T25 my brother gave me to my computer and plan to start it... right now. Hopefully that will get me kick started again. 0/7.

Sleep/stress- Not so hot. Not awful, but I'm slipping back into that night owl pattern a few days a week. Need to get that under control. Sleep has been a HUGE part of the picture for me- I honestly don't think my dietary changes would be going so well if I weren't also making the sleep changes. Stress-wise this week was fine- nothing big really happened, and we took it easy this weekend since last weekend was emotionally and physically draining (being with my brother and his kids, while I love them desperately, is exhausting- they're much higher energy than we are, and they're still struggling through the first year after my SIL died, so there's some sadness and heart-tugging there too). But this week was a good recovery from that. 4/7 for sleep/stress.

 

[Coriolis]

Week 17 update:

A decent week overall.

1. Improve eating habits, specifically eating between meals.
Had a few really good days with this, largely due to spending much of the day outside, and keeping myself busy. One not so good day earlier in the week, but on balance OK. Still a bit of two steps forward, one step back.

2. Get more exercise: at least three times each week, in addition to martial arts practice.
Got in three of the usual workouts (to videos), plus two good afternoons of yard work, again. My main objective here has been to establish the habit of exercising 3-5 times per week. On the whole, I am doing it, but it keeps feeling like work; meaning, it still after all these weeks has not settled into a stable routine. Each week I have to figure out when/how I am going to fit exercise in - except for the yard work on days off. This might just be how it goes, since my schedule changes enough that I can't just say: mon/wed/fri at X time I will exercise. I also realize I don't like workout videos that much, but it's the only kind of exercise I can do any time I want, so have control over the schedule. Will try to come up with something better, at least for the warmer months.

3. Weight loss.
Last pound lost was probably real, so I'd say I'm down 3 lbs since starting. Slow is fine, as long as it stays off, especially since I don't need to lose that much.

 

[Udog]

Speaking of weight loss- I'm at about 20lbs down now (since I started this in January- I think I had lost a little before that but I wasn't weighing in so I don't know). I had stalled out for most of March and April, but this time instead of looking at it as failure I looked at it as my body catching its breath and refocusing before it lost any more. I've been reading some science that suggests that plateaus/stalls may actually be healthy and help people achieve and maintain long-term weight loss success. Reframing them as "diet breaks" really helps my mindset.

Wow, congrats on the weight loss! That's a really good way to look at plateaus, as well. Often times, there are things going underneath the surface when we hit them that we simply don't see, but they pave the road for future improvement.

These days, as long as I maintain the weight, rather than gaining it back, I consider it a huge positive.

 

[kyuuei]

I might be getting an ingrown toe nail :c I took some precautions so I hope itll grow out right.

Week 1 of my challenge was really cool actually! I think I'll try going swimming three times next week on top of the mild hiking and work-outs.

Everyone should make some cookie dough bites that are full of healthy stuff to reward themselves for being awesome!

- a little shy of 1 cup of rolled oats, milled into a powder
- a little shy of 1 cup of nuts (can kind, I used almonds) milled into a powder
- Tiny pinch of salt
- 3 1/2 tbsp of maple syrup or honey
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract (I use 2 though)
- a sprinkle of cinnamon
- 1/4th cup of dark chocolate or carob chips

Mix it together into a dough, and roll them into bite sized balls and put them in the fridge to set for an hour and they taste Juuuuuust like cookies with good grains and fats in them.

 

[Ivy]

Crossposted from my blog (not my Fitness Challenge one, I've pretty much abandoned that one):

Day 2 of T25. (I did one workout a week or so ago, but didn't really start in earnest until yesterday.) So far, I don't think I'd advise paying money for it, but if you can get a hand-me-down copy or otherwise get your hands on it for free, go for it. It's exercise. And Shaun T is cute. But there are Youtube channels that are just as good IMO. Or just good old fashioned walking/running. Or, if you're willing to be in a decent amount of discomfort for a short time, the NY Times 7-minute Workout is free (there's even a free app for iPhone/iPod/Android to tell you when to switch if you don't feel like timing yourself).


[MENTION=4722]Udog[/MENTION], since you asked. (Sorry about the double-mention but I realized after I posted it in my blog that I should put it here, too.)

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Joined the Yacht Club's mens tennis team today (like I've been meaning to for a while).

I got a good ass workout today. Pushed myself hard enough to puke (which means I'm doing it right).

As long as I keep up with it, the weight (about 20lbs) should come off very fast.

 

[Udog]

[MENTION=2]Ivy[/MENTION].

I've heard mixed things about T25 as well, so your input is appreciated. Thank you. Are you going to continue doing it, or have you decided to move on? Insanity was a great program, but it appears it doesn't translate as well to a 25 minute workout.

P90X3, which also hails from the family of ultra-intense 30 minute workouts, has been challenging to me, and I mostly enjoy it. However, I may switch to a different program in a couple of weeks. I'm waiting to see what Phase II is like. My main issue with P90X3 is that it focuses on a lot of complex, full body movements. This isn't a bad thing. It's great for weight loss, core strength and balance, all of which are really important. My chest and back are getting some of the best workouts in my life, thanks to the sheer number of push-ups and pull-ups (with the pull-up assist band). However, these full body workouts aren't really working out my shoulders or arms, which I would like to beef up. Also, my lower back has been really sore lately, likely due to a bed that need to be replaced. Many of the leg workouts in P90X3 require extensive lower back use, which limits my range of motion and what I get out of them.

 

[Ivy]

Oh, I'll probably keep doing it. Like I said, Shaun T. is pretty cute. It's not that I don't think it's good, it's just.. exercise. I don't know, I guess I feel like whatever, as long as you keep moving. So with that said, whatever keeps you motivated is fine, as long as it's not teaching bad form. I've had a few trainers tell me that the form was pretty bad in Insanity and a lot of people have injured themselves by doing so much without using good form. (These same trainers have said that P90X and T25 are better about that.)

Beyond all that, I actually have kind of a beef with Beachbody as a whole (why is it necessary for these programs to cost so much?? and why do they insist on pushing Shakeology on folks too?) but since my brother gave it to me for free I decided to give it a try in part so I wouldn't be ragging on something without having firsthand knowledge of it.

 

[Udog]

Oh, I hadn't heard about Insanity getting lazy with form. Thanks for the heads up! It doesn't really surprise me, though. They focus so much on maximum quantity of reps that it's somewhat inevitable people sacrifice form in order to keep up.

You are right about BeachBody. The reason they push those Shakeology things is because they cost something like $130 bucks for 1 month's supply. And it really would be nice if they priced their workouts to be more affordable. You definitely pay a premium for the brand, and not all of their stuff is worth it.

The program I bought was Supreme90. It's only $40 plus shipping on Amazon. (http://www.amazon.com/Get-Ripped-In...UTF8&qid=1399475087&sr=8-2&keywords=supreme90) The workouts are simpler but still extremely intense. Sadly, I doubt you'll find the coach of Supreme90 to be as cute as Shaun T.

 

[kyuuei]

However, these full body workouts aren't really working out my shoulders or arms, which I would like to beef up. Also, my lower back has been really sore lately, likely due to a bed that need to be replaced. Many of the leg workouts in P90X3 require extensive lower back use, which limits my range of motion and what I get out of them.

I'm hoping my 30 day challenge picks up on the arms too--it was heavy legs last time. I think most 20-30 minute work outs (with the exception of Jillian Michaels) that I've tried have been less heavy on upper body strength in general. Though to be fair I never have used the guided systems they make for those things. I do the work outs as my body mandates them--if my hips are hurting me, I do upper body, if they're on a good day, even if I did legs yesterday, I'll do cardio or jump training because I can't do those when my hips flare up.

Maybe you should supplement it with the upper body work out once a week? I remember the upper body video for the original p90x wasn't physically tiring as far as cardio and exertion goes, it was a lot of just weight training gym-style. I liked that video a lot.

Like I said, Shaun T. is pretty cute.

We tried to do the hip hop abs video. Never again. @_@ I have a song I sing now about how cheesy and self absorbed Shaun T was in those videos.
/7 I'm Shaun T! Look at me! You can't have! Abs like these! Look at my! Great ab lines! I'm Shaun T! /7

Oh, I hadn't heard about Insanity getting lazy with form. Thanks for the heads up! It doesn't really surprise me, though. They focus so much on maximum quantity of reps that it's somewhat inevitable people sacrifice form in order to keep up.

Anytime you're doing dynamic moves, or faster moves, you won't have great form. That's why the p90x guy in the original DVD series kept stressing the importance of cat-landings. EVERY single workout. "Land like a cat! Look at that cat! Cat man! Spider woman!" it was always something to remind you of the most important part because he knew you were gonna screw it up with everything else.

They always say that you should go for form over speed, which is true, but sometimes there are moves where if you go for form entirely you just won't get the work out out of it you're suppose to..

You are right about BeachBody. The reason they push those Shakeology things is because they cost something like $130 bucks for 1 month's supply. And it really would be nice if they priced their workouts to be more affordable. You definitely pay a premium for the brand, and not all of their stuff is worth it.

Yeah, I also feel like the trainers pretty much HAVE to push that stuff. Like, that's sort of the exchange.. "We'll make you famous and a household name, in return you help us sell our shit." It's pretty standard business stuff. I don't fault the trainers for it necessarily.