Diet Dr. Pepper

After drinking 20 ounces of Diet Dr. Pepper, I am still thirsty.  I'll be drinking water the rest of the day since I'll be strength training tonight.

Milestones

I reached a milestone weight today:  160.0!  I've been wanting to weigh 160 for a very long time.  My goal weight is 158.2, so I am nearly there.

My First Practical

I had my first practical exam in my class today.  We were given a list of 8 exercises, then our instructor would choose one from the list for each of us to teach him.  I went last in the group and he asked me to teach him how to do a barbell squat.  Barbell squats are not my favorite exercise, but I'm getting better at them.  Barbell squats are my instructor's favorite exercise (he can squat at least 440 pounds), but I was able to focus on how I would teach the exercise to a beginner.

I taught him how to do the movement without the bar first.  He intentionally made a mistake, rounding his back which is very bad in a squat.  Then he made another common mistake which was taking the bar off the rack too high on his neck (the bar should be on the traps or upper shoulders), which I corrected immediately.

I got 100 on the practical.  Wahoo!   

End Of a Short Hiatus From Workouts

I took a short hiatus from my usual 5 workouts a week while I was out of class and off work and my trainer was on vacation.  I accomplished the things that I planned:  got my haircut and used my gift certificate for a free massage.  I also accomplished a few things that were completely unplanned such as my spur of the moment trip to the mountains when I lost power during a thunderstorm, and clearing out my fridge and freezer after everything went bad due to the power outage during the thunderstorm.

One thing I didn't accomplish:  going to the farmers market on Saturday morning.  Didn't see much point since the power was out and the area wasn't in great shape.  Better luck next time.

I went back to work today, and tomorrow morning I will go back to the gym.  I rarely have time any more to just workout on my own, so it will be fun.  Side planks and compound rows will be part of the workout tomorrow.  I've been thinking about side planks since Sunday which was day 3 of my no workouts week. 

Starting next week, I'll be back to a more normal workout schedule.  I'll have workouts Monday through Wednesday, workout on my own Friday morning, and workout on Saturday.

It's July which means my classes are half way over.  :)

Hello, Internet

It has been a while since I posted anything.  My schedule is just a little on the crazy side.  Last week I had workouts Monday through Saturday.  It has been nice to have today off.  And I don't remember the last time I was so excited to be off work and school at the same time.  I'm taking a few days off work for the 4th of July, and I also don't have school those days.  2 things I'm going to do during my time off:  get a haircut and use my gift card for a free massage.

In other news, I had a project for school where we had to analyze our food intake for three days.  My nutrition has been lacking any kind of structure lately, so I was not surprised to see that I was getting too many calories.  But I was surprised to see that my intake of carbs, fats, and proteins was kind of all over the place.  The only thing that was consistent was that the carbs were too high and the proteins were too low.  Maybe that's what happens when I don't get a chance to make my hard-boiled eggs at the beginning of the week?  Will need to ponder that further.

So today I prepared my lunches for the week, and now I'm going to go pack my dinner to take to school tomorrow.  Getting the nutrition back on track.

Deadlifts and Callouses

Deadlifts are a regular part of my workout routine when I go to the gym with my class.  They are my favorite of the 4 Power Lifts (Power Lifts:  Deadlifts, Bench Press, Overhead Press, Squats).  On Saturday I was deadlifting 110 lbs., at about 8 reps, and I'll probably be able to go up in weight tomorrow. 

The deadlifts have left some crazy callouses on my hands.  Check it out:

Both of my hands have callouses across the palm of various sizes and degrees of callousiness.  Those callouses aren't going to go anywhere.  I've had them for over a year.  They give me a sense of accomplishment.

2 Challenges, and Rainy Days

Of course it started pouring down rain at 4:50 p.m. on Friday afternoon in Washington, DC.  Then by the time I got off the metro on northern VA, the rain was even worse.  The roads are starting to flood, so I think I'll be staying in tonight, getting some studying done for school, and getting some household things done.  Which is probably a good thing.

My comfort food of choice this evening is Sweet Potato Rounds from the Engine 2 Diet, except I cut mine into strips.  And I'll think of something else to have with the sweet potatoes.  The sweet potatoes are in the oven right now, and they're really good with BBQ sauce.

I came across 2 challenges for the month of June.  One is a Salad-A-Day Challenge, and the other is The June Yoga Challenge.  I thought about the Salad-A-Day Challenge and decided that would be more effort than I wanted to put into grocery shopping even though I think it's a good idea.  Maybe I'll try that challenge some time when I'm not in school.  I think I will participate in the yoga challenge.  I've already planned which days I'll be in the yoga studio this month, and I'll add a few yoga sessions at home so I'm practicing yoga a few days a week.

Good luck with your fitness and nutrition goals this month.  I'm hoping to get to my goal weight by the end of this month.  I have exactly 5 pounds to lose.  I know...I had 2.8 pounds to lose, and now I have 5 pounds to lose.  Some weeks are like that.