My 90 Day Transformation

[from-1-to-90]

Days 7-12 of 90

I've had a friend visiting from out of town over the past few days so I didn't follow my normal workout schedule. However, I still got some good workouts in on a couple of the days!

On days 6-8 I didn't do any workouts, which was fine because it was the weekend and I wanted to give myself a break anyway after working out for 5 days in a row. And on day 9, I ended up hiking for 4 hours straight! It was a relatively mild hike, but still, 4 hours is a lot. My friend and I hadn't intended to hike for that long, but it all worked out. And I'm happy with it - it was a great workout. On day 10, I did a much less strenuous walk in a park for about an hour and a half. And then no workout on day 11.

Today is day 12, and I want to get back into my normal workout routine. Especially since I haven't done any physical therapy exercising for the past 6 days. I'm planning to head back to the gym today to get back into the swing of things.

My friend suggested I purchase some ankle weights to use on my surgical leg, so that I can continue to work on strengthening it even when I'm just walking around the house. I think that's a great idea, so I'll probably be buying some ankle weights soon.

EXERCISE SESSION

Stationary bike, 2 mi, level 4 difficulty, 10 mins (mainly using surgical leg)

Elliptical, 0.5 mi, level4-5 incline, 10 mins

PT block A

Treadmill 0.5 mi, level 4 incline, 10 mins

FOOD

I did buy some healthier snacking options, and I've actually been enjoying a healthy smoothie for breakfast! It's nice because I don't always have a big appetite in the morning, but it's easy to just drink a smoothie while I'm waking up.

My smoothie ingredients:

a small handful of fresh spinach (I'll probably switch to frozen spinach soon, just because it's a little easier)

~1/2 a cup of plain greek yogurt

1 banana

~1/4 cup of frozen strawberries

~1/4 cup of frozen peaches

~1/2 cup of water

It's great because I'm still getting some good protein and nutrients from the greek yogurt and the spinach, but it also still tastes decent because the banana sweetens everything.

On a separate note, as much as I hate calorie counting, I think I'm going to have to do it in a loose way for a little while. NOT for the purposes of restricting, but just to make sure that I'm actually getting enough calories / nutrients into my body. For example, I noticed that the smoothie in the morning is nice and filling, and that means that I haven't been eating anything else in the morning. Which is all fine and good if I'm actually getting enough calories into my body, but if not, then I'm actively working against my ability to gain muscle mass. So that's why I think I'm going to have to calorie count, just for a bit until I have the ability to eyeball foods and approximate their calories so that I can make sure I'm getting enough.

Update: I did track my calories for the day, and after dinner I was at 1,908 calories, which is great. I will note that I ate a full breakfast, lunch, and dinner, which I don't always do. So it seems like as long as I eat three proper meals, I should be fine. I'll likely be over 1,908 by the end of the night because I'll probably have a snack this evening, but that doesn't bother me. I want to build muscle, so keeping my food intake around 2,000ish calories (for the days when I'm working out) seems right.

SELF CARE

By the way, when I was at the grocery store, I ended up picking up a bag of Dr. Teal’s Pink Himalayan Mineral Soak. I’ve been getting more into taking baths lately, and this looked like something good to try. I ended up using it after my 4 hour hike, and it was ✨glorious✨. I just added in a cup and a half of the mineral soak into my running bath water, and the instant I stepped in, it felt like my aches were just getting soothed away. The mineral soak has epsom salt in it, which I assume was what made the difference. And it must have really helped because my legs didn’t even feel particularly sore the next day, despite the fact that I’m really not used to hiking for that long. So, mineral soaks for the win. 

MEASUREMENTS

Chest: 36.5

Waist: 31

Hips: 40

Left bicep: 10.75

Right bicep: 11.25

Left thigh (3 inches down): 22

Right thigh (3 inches down): 23.5

Weight: 150.1

BMI: 24.1

Weight has technically gone down by a couple of pounds since I started weighing myself, but I don't trust it because that kind of weight fluctuation could be due to anything (hormonal weight gain/loss due to cycle fluctuation, water retention, etc.). So I'm not putting any kind of stock into the weight number until it's been several weeks and I can see the overall trend. Also, I had a fairly significant hair cut a few days ago, so that might have also played a small factor into the weight difference. Who knows.

[from-1-to-90]

Day 5 of 90 - Gotta Fuel Up

I ended up rolling out my legs yesterday using a large rolling pin, of all things, because that’s what I had on hand. And I think it helped! This morning my legs definitely felt used, but they didn’t feel nearly as sore as they did yesterday morning. My abs, on the other hand, feel as sore as ever. Is there a way to roll out ab muscles? 😅

FOOD (again)

I realized that I do actually need to come up with a food plan. Apparently, the way I was eating before was fine for the amount of energy I was expending, but now that I’m working out for about an hour every day, I really need to consume more calories in order to keep my energy levels up. But I don’t want to just eat more unhealthy snacks, like chips and cookies (which is what I currently have on hand). So, I’m going to need to do some research to find some healthy, nutritious snacks that I can grab throughout the day that will help keep me energized. Because I’m really more of a snack-er than a 3-full-meals-and-that’s-it kind of person. I usually don’t eat all that much in one sitting, so I like to graze. Which will be fine if I have nutritious foods that are fueling me to graze on.

For example, yesterday we had run out of eggs, and I hadn't made myself the chicken wing dish yet that I was planning to, so for breakfast and lunch I ate a ham and cheese sandwich without the bread (as in... just slices of ham and sliced of cheese). My thought regarding the bread was white bread = empty carbs, so white bread =/= healthy eating. So that's why I omitted it, since I'm trying to be more conscious about what I'm using to fuel my body. But it turns out that if I remove a carb from my diet, then I need to replace it with another carb - even if it is a healthier carb. Because I basically just didn't really eat any carbs for most of the day yesterday, and then felt exhausted in the afternoon. So yeah... I need to come up with a plan.

Healthy, quick foods that I am more likely to eat (getting ideas from this article):

Fruit

Mixed nuts

Eggs

Milk

Oatmeal

Green smoothie (I need to buy some spinach that I can have on hand to blend into my smoothies to get some more nutrients into my diet.)

Plain greek yogurt (to go in the smoothie - will add protein to my food intake)

Apple with peanut butter

Bananas

Chocolate milk (for post-workout recovery)

More ideas here in the Blogilates 90-day meal plan

Yeah... after doing some research, and especially reading this article, I think it's likely that the fatigue I've been experiencing over the past few days has been a result of low blood sugar and not eating / drinking enough. But now I know, and I will work on building up healthier habits in that arena. I don't want to impede my body's progress toward health and wellness by not giving it the proper fuel it needs.

Also, I'm recalling the fact that I didn't have a period for the three months that I did my last 90 day journey, back in 2019. At the time, I remember thinking, "huh, that's weird" and just chalking it up to something I heard about female athletes sometimes not getting a period when they were in an intense training phase. I figured my body was just confused about how much I was working out. But I'm realizing now that I think it was actually more serious than that. This article has more info, but basically, losing your period "can be a sign of exercise-induced anorexia related to energy deprivation from not eating enough, from exercising too much, or from a combination of the two," and has some pretty serious side effects, including loss in bone density and loss in muscle mass. Oof. I guess I really should have paid more attention. Also, it seems like I wasn't eating enough even back then, if my body was reacting this way.

So, new plan:

Hydrate well before and after working out

Eat a snack or meal with complex carbs and protein pre-workout (either a snack 30 mins before the workout session, or a full meal 2-3 hours before)

Eat three full meals + 3 carb-rich snacks each day

Eat within 30 to 60 minutes post-workout. Post-workout meals should be high in carbs and protein. (examples include sandwich _ fruit, bagel with peanut butter + chocolate milk, energy bar + yogurt with granola, salad and fruit, spaghetti with meatballs, etc.) If I can't eat a full meal right away, then eat a snack immediately and then a full meal later.

Consume enough calcium every day (sources include milk, yogurt, cheese, leafy greens, and calcium-fortified orange juice)

EXERCISE SESSION

Today's session was fairly brief, as I just didn't have the spoons to do a longer session. It was only about 20 minutes, but I'm proud of myself for still working out instead of having an "all-or-nothing" mindset.

20 minutes, abs-focused pilates:

Beautiful abs

10 minute lower ab workout

MEASUREMENTS

I know I said I wasn’t gonna do this, but I was curious, so I weighed myself this morning before I had eaten anything. It came up 152.2 lbs, so I guess my baseline is more like 152. Good to know. NOW I’m putting away the scale for at least another week or so.

Also, my measurements aren't changing day-to-day (as to be expected), so I'm going to stop measuring every day and move to weekly measuring.

[from-1-to-90]

Day 4 of 90 - Oh, My Quad

My quads!! They sore! I woke up this morning and instead of feeling like my legs were back in working order (which is what I was aiming for when I stayed home from the gym and did ab & back focused pilates yesterday), instead now my abs and my quads are sore. Especially my left quad, but that's to be expected due to aforementioned leg muscle atrophy and such.

So now I have a choice to make - ignore the soreness and go back to the gym? Or continue to stay home and do more pilates?

I googled it, and results from my cursory search seemed to indicate that working out while sore is not a bad thing (and can actually be a good thing because it increases blood flow to the affected areas) as long as your soreness is minimal enough that you are able to workout without injuring yourself. So, off to the gym I went.

I forgot to weigh myself before I had consumed anything this morning, so I ended up weighing myself after breakfast (oh well). The number was 152.7 lbs. Given that I'd eaten and drank a good amount of water prior to weighing myself, my guess is that a solid baseline is probably around 150 lbs. Which is about 5 lbs heavier than I was expecting, but it's not a big deal either way. We'll see how that number fluctuates as I continue exercising, but like I said, I'm really trying to not focus on weight this time around, since it's not a great health metric/indicator for me.

HOW I FELT

Surprisingly, not too bad. I actually felt better after I had worked out, soreness-wise, but that may just be because my limbs were all warmed up at that point. We'll see how my muscles are feeling tomorrow.

I got tired again around 1pm. Maybe I'm not eating enough now that I'm expending a lot more energy. Or maybe I just need to drink some tea in the afternoon or something.

EXERCISE SESSION

Elliptical, 10 mins, 0.5 mi, mostly level 4

Block C PT exercises

Treadmill, 15 mins, 0.6 mi, incline 7 - 10

teeny bit of weight-lifting for arms (10 lb weights in each hand, only 1 set)

I might need to get a foam roller. Rolling out my muscles should help with the soreness.

MEASUREMENTS

Chest: 36.5"

Waist: 31"

Hips: 40"

Left bicep: 11"

Right bicep: 11.5"

Left thigh (3 inches down): 21.5"

Right thigh (3 inches down): 23"

Weight: 152.7 lbs

BMI: 24.5

Measurements are the same, as to be expected. Waist is half an inch smaller but that probably has more to do with how much / how little water I drank beforehand than any real change in waist measurement.

[from-1-to-90]

Day 2 & 3 of 90 - We're doing this thing

Let's get down to business, folks!

Day 2 Recap

HOW I FELT

For some reason, I kept tossing and turning the night before and then woke up on my own at 6:30am (1-2 hours before I usually wake up) unable to fall back asleep. I have no idea why. So I didn't get a lot of sleep the night before. But surprisingly, my energy levels weren't terrible, at least not in the first half of the day. I started off the morning with a couple of Pilates arm workouts, in the comfort of my living room, and then went to the gym a little while later to get the rest of my workout in. It wasn't until the mid-afternoon that I felt like my body just crashed. I don't know if it was because my body isn't used to exercising, or because of the lack of sleep the night before, or a combination of the two. But my productivity and energy pretty much vanished at that point. Which is okay, we can be flexible. I ended up taking a nap in the mid-afternoon for about 20 minutes because I was just exhausted.

WORKOUT SESSION

20 minutes of arm-focused Pilates in the early morning:

"7 minute arms" by Blogilates

Bridal Bootcamp arms by Blogilates

50 minute workout session in the gym in the late morning:

Elliptical machine, 10 minutes, 0.6 miles, mostly level 3 with a bit of level 4 (and a teeny bit of level 6)

Block B PT exercises

Treadmill, 10 minutes, 0.5 miles, ~level 5 incline

Stretching afterward - mainly quad stretches.

MEASUREMENTS

I measured with an actual measuring tape instead of a piece of ribbon on this day, so I'm going to use this day as an actual baseline.

Chest: 36.5" Waist: 31.5" Left bicep: 11" Right bicep: 11.5" Left thigh (3 inches down): 21" Right thigh (3 inches down): 22.5"

It's fascinating that my right thigh is a whole 1.5 inches wider around than my left thigh. It really shows how much my left leg atrophied after the injury and surgery. It also explains why my left leg is still so much weaker compared to the right leg - there's a good amount of muscle that needs to be gained back.

Day 3 Recap

HOW I FELT

Definitely felt more energetic today, as I actually slept a proper amount, but also I felt sore. I knew that I needed to switch up my workout because I could tell how much my legs needed it. So I decided to focus on my abs and my back instead of more treadmill/elliptical today.

WORKOUT SESSION

50 minutes of pilates at home:

"Beautiful abs" by Blogilates, 2x. The second time, I did a modified version of the exercises where I had my head on the mat the whole time.

"10 minute lower ab flattener" by Blogilates

"Ultimate Back Workout" by Blogilates

"Quick Burn Standing Back Workout" by Blogilates

Stretching afterward, focusing on arms and back.

My abs / core are not at the same level they were back when I was doing these exercises last time, and I could tell because after just second Blogilates video, my neck was killing me. I knew that that was happening because my core wasn't strong enough to do the moves on its own, so my upper body / neck was straining trying to help me through the moves. Not only is that a literal pain in the neck, it's also not helping me to work out my core properly. So that's why the second time I did the ab video, I modified the moves so that my head was resting on the mat the whole time, to avoid using my upper body to "help" my core get through the moves. Eventually, I won't have to do this anymore, but I know enough now to not push my body to do something that's bad for it just for the sake of "getting through the moves." After all, if I'm not doing them properly, then I'm not actually helping my body.

Also, the difference in strength between my two legs is becoming painfully obvious. As I was doing some of the pilates back exercises, I found myself wobbling when trying to balance on my left leg (a problem that I didn't have when doing the other side). But that's why we're doing this! My left leg (and particularly the knee area) has also been feeling a bit sore, but that's a good sign, because it means those muscles are building up again. I have to remember that this is a journey and my leg won't get better overnight. I have to count and celebrate every little bit of progress and growth.

FOOD

I want to talk about food for a minute. I've heard the same thing that I think everyone else has, about how drinking chocolate milk post-workout is a great thing. I've also heard that it's best to eat within 30-60 minutes after you work out, in order to reap the most benefits. My issue is that post-workout, I'm typically wanting to stretch, take a shower, and just come down from the workout without having to worry about eating. I might do a compromise where I drink a protein shake right away post-workout, and then eat a meal after I've done my other post-workout rituals (showering, stretching, etc.). We'll see how it goes. Also, I do not need an excuse to drink chocolate milk (because I love it), so I will gladly do so post-workout, but I also kind of side-eye this recommendation. Chocolate milk is very sugary. At the same time, however, it is purported to be a good source of protein. So for the time being I'll mostly follow this recommendation until I feel like I should be doing something else.

MEASUREMENTS

These probably aren't going to change much, if at all, for the first month at least, and even then, will change extremely gradually. But I'll keep recording these here for posterity (at least for now). I also just realized that I completely neglected to measure my hips for the past couple of days, so I will do that now.

Chest: 36.5" Waist: 31.5" Hip: 40" Left bicep: 11" Right bicep: 11.5" Left thigh (3 inches down): 21.5" Right thigh (3 inches down): 23"

No change in anything besides the thighs, but I have a feeling that the change in that has more to do with human error in my measuring than anything else. I find it interesting that even at my measurement today, my right thigh is still 1.5" wider around than my left, which tells me that difference between my two legs is accurate at the very least.

Also, I now have a scale, so I'll weigh myself tomorrow morning before I've imbibed any liquids so that we have a baseline for the start of this journey. But like I said, I really don't want to get attached to the number on the scale, so I will try not to weigh myself more frequently than once per month or so. My guess is that my weight will be somewhere around 145-150 lbs. I've spent my 20s fluctuating between the 130s and the 150s, so that's my guess.

[from-1-to-90]

New Beginnings - Day 1 of 90

It’s been a few years, but I am starting this up again in mid-2023 because I want to keep track of my fitness again and I also need some motivation. 

I injured my knee a year and a half ago, and so exercise of any kind (aside from physical therapy) has been fairly limited. However, I want to get back to properly exercising again, for mental health purposes if nothing else. I also need to get back to doing physical therapy again, because even though my knee is doing quite well, that leg is still just not as strong as my other leg due to the muscle atrophy post-surgery. 

The place I’m living in now has a gym, which helps a ton. Back when I did my first 90 day journey, I was living in a different apartment with a gym, and the convenience of being able to pop into that space to work out really helped me stay consistent. However, in the intervening years I moved out of that complex and lost my gym access. But now I have that convenience again and I hope to take full advantage of it. 

So here are some things that are different this time around vs first fitness journey back in late 2019:

Weight - I no longer own a scale. I've moved a couple of times in the past few years and my scale didn't make it. I know I tracked my weight quite a bit back in 2019 but I honestly don't know if it's a helpful metric anymore. I've seen posts from other people that showed before-and-after pics from their fitness journeys where they weighed almost the same before-and-after, but looked totally different. This was just due to muscle replacing fat, and muscle weighs a lot. I don't think I'm currently in a place where I need to focus on fat-loss - I'm mainly just wanting to build muscle, tone up, and get my surgical leg back to the same level of strength as my non-surgical leg. Also, even though I know all of the stuff I mentioned above, I am concerned that I might still have an emotional reaction to the number on the scale, if I do start weighing myself frequently. There's just so much emotional baggage attached to weight that I'd rather not deal with it this time around. So this time, I'm not going to set a weight goal. Instead, I'll be focusing on measurements as a means of tracking progress. (Will talk about that more down below.) At the same time, it would be nice to have a general idea of what a "healthy" weight for me is - as in, what weight my body sits around when I'm maintaining healthy habits. So I might still purchase a scale, but just really limit the number of times I weigh myself (like maybe keep it to once a month or something, and purely for the purposes of knowledge). I don't know, I can still see myself potentially getting upset if I weigh in at a certain month and the weight is higher than the month before - it's just a data point that's really difficult not to attach emotional significance to. So we'll see. I'll think about it.

Food - Last time around, I was pretty focused on weight loss, so I was a lot more careful about what I was eating. I kept track of each of my meals, and I think I did calorie-counting for a bit there. I am absolutely not calorie-counting this time around. First of all, I hate it, and second of all, it's not sustainable for me. It also causes me to attach a certain amount of emotional baggage to food (i.e. feeling like I was being "good" or "bad" if I ate clean or not on a given day). I don't think that's a healthy mindset to have. At the same time, I know that food is an important element of health, both mental and physical, and I have a tendency to treat it as an afterthought. So I will try to put more effort into planning healthy meals for myself as a way of addressing my health holistically. If I had a problem with consuming too few calories I might address this differently, but that's not really an issue I have.

Physical Therapy - I really want my surgical leg to get back to the same level of strength as my non-surgical leg. I can walk around just fine, but I tried doing the Blogilates "Shape of Your Thighs" squat challenge video a few weeks back, and I could tell the difference between my legs. I was only able to get about 30-ish seconds into the video before I felt like my surgical leg was about to give out. So staying consistent with my physical therapy regimen is going to be an important part of my new fitness journey.

Alright, so now that I've discussed what's different this time around, let's set some goals.

Goals

Workout for 30-60 mins 5-6x per week - I might end up having to scale back on this to more like 4-6x per week, but I might as well shoot for what I'm really wanting. And I do remember that the last time I did this in 2019, my mental health really improved from working out that frequently. So let's give this a try.

Physical Therapy - I want to do my physical therapy exercises at least 2-3x per week, with the goal of getting my surgical leg up to the same strength as my non-surgical leg. A example metric would be the ability to do the full "Shape of Your Thighs" workout, feeling like my legs are equally capable the entire time.

Healthy meal-planning - I want to be more mindful about what I'm putting into my body and at what frequency. I have a tendency to wait too long to eat meals because I get absorbed in what I'm doing and I don't want to focus on making myself food, so then I just end up eating whatever snacks are around the house hours later. I know this isn't good for my body or my brain, so I want to do a better job of planning out meals for myself and eating them every 4 hours.

Blog at least once every other day - This is a rather lofty goal, so I might need to scale this back. But blogging about my experience helps me stay motivated, so I think it will be beneficial. Also, it's really helpful to have these details recorded so that later on I can see what worked for me / what didn't. I specifically want to record how I felt and what I did for exercise that day. I can throw in some info about food if I feel like it.

Self-care r&r once per week - I hope I'm not taking on too much by adding this, but I think it's important for me to remember to approach this holistically. Clean eating and exercise are absolutely forms of self-care, but I don't want to neglect the rest and relaxation side of self-care. To this end, I will try to do something like taking a nice, relaxing bath, or going on a walk in a beautiful part of nature once per week to keep myself rested and rejuvenated.

So without further ado, here's my tracking for Day 1.

How I felt

Normal? I guess? Today was the first day I worked out in months, so any changes will be more evident in the upcoming days / weeks. I'm very happy that I felt motivated to work out and start this whole process up again. Weirdly, I think the motivation came because I wore a sports bra yesterday (not to work out, I was just wearing one). And somehow my brain made the mental link between wearing exercise clothing and wanting to work out. (Currently making a mental note of this - wearing exercise clothing motivates me to work out. I should take advantage of that. It seems silly, but hey, whatever works, right?)

Also I should mention that it's been a while since I've taken a tolerance break for my ADHD meds. In an ideal world, I'd take a full week off my meds every few months to help reset my brain's tolerance to the medication. However, in practice, it's actually been about 8-ish months since I took my last full tolerance break, and I can definitely tell. It feels like my meds aren't working as well, and that's because they aren't (because my brain has gotten used to them over the past several months). Given that I don't want to increase my dosage any more than I absolutely have to, I really need to take a tolerance break soon to reset. However, I have a lot of things coming up over the next few weeks so I don't think I'll be able to do it soon. I did take off Saturday (a couple of days ago), and it helped a little, because I was definitely a lot more able to focus on Sunday. Even taking off a day or two here or there is better than nothing - I have to remember that. In any case, maybe that one break day was also helpful in getting me motivated to start doing this again.

But this actually brings me to another key reason why I'm starting this up again - exercise helps a TON with medication tolerance. Back when I did this in 2019, I was on the verge of needing to increase my dosage because my dosage at the time just wasn't cutting it anymore, despite taking tolerance breaks. But after exercising so regularly, I ended up not needing to increase my dosage for another year! Exercise helps to reset your neural receptors so that your brain doesn't grow tolerant to the medication as quickly, and so the medication ends up working better for longer.

I also felt so much better mentally when I was exercising regularly. I remember thinking that I couldn't believe the difference it made in my mental and emotional health. So that's the other big reason why I'm doing this. I need all the help I can get with focus and motivation in my daily life, and I know that exercising will give me a significant boost in that arena.

Workout Session

50 minutes (including short breaks between sets)

Elliptical machine - 10 mins, quick pace, going back and forth between level 3 & 4

Block A PT exercises

Treadmill - 10 mins, 0.48 miles

Measurements (in inches)

Chest: 36.5" Waist: 32" inches" Left bicep (unflexed): 11" Left bicep (flexed): 11.75" Right bicep (unflexed): 11.5" Right bicep (flexed): 12.5" Left thigh (3 inches down): 23" Right thigh (3 inches down): 24"

[iddek]

Pay attention, 2014 Mad Men: This little girl is holding a LEGO set. The LEGOs are not pink or “made for girls.” She isn’t even wearing pink. The copy is about “younger children” who “build for fun.” Not just “girls” who build. ALL KIDS.

In an age when little girls and boys are treated as though they are two entirely different species by toy marketers, this 1981 ad for LEGO — one of our favorite images ever — issues an important reminder.

Read More

[gnder101-blog]

This is my favorite advertisement. Also, a short story about sexist parenting with LEGOS. I work at a toy store that sells thousands of dollars of legos and I’ve seen time and time again parents refusing to buy blue box legos for girls and refusing to buy pink box legos for boys even when they ask for them. One girl came in with her parents and she wanted LEGO CITY because it was her birthday and they wanted to buy her gift with her at the store. [LEGO CITY is a LEGO series that lets a child build train stations, firetrucks, passenger ships, space exploration vehicles, drawbridges, garbage disposal trucks, basically anything related to the running of a city and it is not a gender based toy.] I showed them the LEGO CITY, but the mom told the child over and over “No, this is for boys you can’t get that” and eventually, she made the little girl choose a LEGO Disney Cinderella Castle instead because it was “more appropriate”. Even after I pointed out that every box has female and male LEGO people because the toy is meant for both boys and girls, she refused because it looked like a “boy” toy. I’ve had many occasions where a girl will be drawn to the LEGO CITY series only for the parents to come to me and ask  “Where are the GIRLS Legos, you know, princesses and stuff. I’m not buying her this sort of thing” and it makes me so, so, so, so, sad every time because I can already imagine the types of values in education and career choices the parents will be scolding child for wanting in the future when they aren’t even allowed to play with anything blue.  Let girls be kids without all the forced gender stereotyping, dammit. 

[benyw]

You know what little girls could grow up to be? Architects, engineers, builders.

You know what little girls cannot ever be, no matter what they do in life? A princess.

We sell real life careers to little boys, but to girls we sell lies and fantasy. Then we have the gall to say that girls ‘choose’ careers that earn them less, that girls just aren’t interested in STEM fields, that girls are stupid for pursuing frivolous nonsense, etc. etc.  

This is gender in action. Not nature, but socialization.

[cliteralviolence]

That last comment especially 👏🏻👏🏻

[milessperhourr]

As a female architect I approve this message.

[ahallister]

I loved LEGO when I was little, and it was an activity I enjoyed with both my sister and my two brothers. It galls me how the brand was marketed so heavily to boys in the 80s and 90s, because now those kids are adults and remember it as ‘something for boys’ and keep it away from their girls. Marketing can do damage for *generations*, not just in the immediate short term.

[quousque]

GENDER IN ACTION what a great fucking way of putting it

[azriona]

I was just thinking about this post/ad the other day. I’ve reblogged it before, and there’s a version that links to an interview with the little girl in the picture about her memories of the photo shoot. It’s all very girl-positive and how gendering toys is terrible, and for the most part, I agree. There’s no such thing as boys’ toys and girls’ toys. Or there shouldn’t be.

The thing that occurred to me about this ad, though - it’s not really breaking any gender barriers. The little girl in the picture? She’s dressed like a boy. She’s not wearing pink. Her hair’s not in ringlets. She hasn’t built what could obviously be called a princess castle. If you looked fast, you’d probably think she was a boy (until you noticed the braids).

So yeah, maybe this ad is saying, “Hey, girls can play with Lego too!” Except, not really. Because what it’s actually saying is, “Hey, girls who are actually tomboys can play with Lego too!”

I’m just saying - I think it would have been way more powerful if you’d had a girl in pink and ruffles and ringlets building space ships and skyscrapers and King Arthur’s castle. That it’s possible to be both girly - and want to do those things. This ad? Ain’t showing that.

[ghostrepeater]

Okay, so the thing i’m having a problem with here is that this little girl is NOT dressed like a boy, she’s dressed like a little girl at play in 1981.

Girls’ clothes in 1981 were not limited to various shades of pink and purple but ran the full spectrum of colors. They were also expected to stand up to the wear and tear of regular play (which in 1981 meant running around outdoors). Ruffles and the like existed but those clothes were fancy, meant for occasions or events like church and holidays, not everyday wear.

For example, here is a photo of my brother and i in 1983 wearing our everyday clothes

I am five years old here. At this time, my room was painted pink, i had what i called my princess dress, and my Barbie was the one that came with an all-pink wardrobe. At that time in my life i was absolutely NOT considered a tomboy; i was a typical little girl.

To your modern eyes, inundated with the sharply gendered clothing of today, the girl in the ad didn’t even read as a girl whereas in 1981, she did. And i’m wondering who is in the more constrictive box, girls then or girls now?

Also i saw these from the same campaign and they are adorable!

[puttingherinhistory]

How terrible is it to know that as a society we’ve probably gotten worse with pushing gender norms on kids instead of better.

 When I was in uni in one of my soc classes we read an excerpt from The Beauty Myth which talked about this, how when women started gaining more political/social/financial power in society the patriarchal started lashing back by buckling down on beauty standards and enforcing femininity. Beauty standards and the expectation for girls and women to be feminine has definitely gotten worse the past few decades as direct retaliation against women and girls for gaining more power, it’s a way to keep women and girls in “their place” in one way while they’re reaching for progress in other areas. If you’re interested in learning more about this phenomenon, I suggest giving The Beauty Myth a read

[from-1-to-90]

Day 72 of 90 - Week 10 Weigh-In

I started listening to two really interesting podcasts recently, both having to do with health. The first is Food We Need To Talk, and the second is The Magic Pill. They are super interesting and have a lot of great information!

Week 2 Weigh-In: 133.8 lbs Change over 1 week: +1.8 lbs Change since beginning: +0.3 lbs

Week 3 Weigh-In: 131.5 lbs Change over 1 week: -2.3 lbs Change since beginning: -2 lbs

Week 4 Weigh-In: 130 lbs Change over 1 week: -1.5 lbs Change since beginning: -3.5 lbs

Week 5 Weigh-In: N/A (away for holiday; didn’t measure)

Week 6 Weigh-In: 131.5 lbs (just returned from holiday) Change over 1 week: N/A Change since beginning: -3.5 lbs

Week 7 Weigh-In: 128 lbs Change over 1 week: -3.5 lbs Change since beginning: -5.5 lbs

Week 8 Weigh-In: 127 lbs Change over 1 week: -1 lb Change since beginning: -6.5 lbs

Week 9 Weigh-In: 128 lbs Change over 1 week: +1 lb Change since beginning: -5.5 lbs

Week 10 Weigh-In: 127.8 lbs Change over 1 week: -0.2 lb Change since beginning: -5.7 lbs

Two and a half more weeks :)

[from-1-to-90]

Day 64 of 90 - Week 9 Weigh-In

Oh my goodness, I’m only 3.5 weeks away from 90 days. That’s terrifying from a goal standpoint, because I’m still 3 pounds away from my weight goal... but really exciting from a milestone standpoint! I’m so proud of myself for completely turning around my eating and exercise habits.

Week 2 Weigh-In: 133.8 lbs Change over 1 week: +1.8 lbs Change since beginning: +0.3 lbs

Week 3 Weigh-In: 131.5 lbs Change over 1 week: -2.3 lbs Change since beginning: -2 lbs

Week 4 Weigh-In: 130 lbs Change over 1 week: -1.5 lbs Change since beginning: -3.5 lbs

Week 5 Weigh-In: N/A (away for holiday; didn’t measure)

Week 6 Weigh-In: 131.5 lbs (just returned from holiday) Change over 1 week: N/A Change since beginning: -3.5 lbs

Week 7 Weigh-In: 128 lbs Change over 1 week: -3.5 lbs Change since beginning: -5.5 lbs

Week 8 Weigh-In: 127 lbs Change over 1 week: -1 lb Change since beginning: -6.5 lbs

Week 9 Weigh-In: 128 lbs Change over 1 week: +1 lb Change since beginning: -5.5 lbs

The numbers are making me think that I’ve been plateauing since the Week 7 Weigh-In (considering that I’m back to where I was, with plenty of ups and downs in-between). It’s frustrating, but I’ve also kind of accepted it. I’m not giving up, but I’m also not going to be mad at my body for not losing weight faster. It’s on its own timetable. My job is to get into the best physical and mental shape I possibly can - the weight will follow where and when it’s supposed to.

By the way, I already have an idea for what I want to do after these 90 days are over. Stay tuned. :)

[from-1-to-90]

Day 59 of 90 - Week 8 Weigh-In

My week 8 weigh in was actually two days ago (and my weight has changed since then) but I’ll give you the breakdown.

Week 2 Weigh-In: 133.8 lbs Change over 1 week: +1.8 lbs Change since beginning: +0.3 lbs

Week 3 Weigh-In: 131.5 lbs Change over 1 week: -2.3 lbs Change since beginning: 2 lbs

Week 4 Weigh-In: 130 lbs Change over 1 week: 1.5 lbs Change since beginning: 3.5 lbs

Week 5 Weigh-In: N/A (away for holiday; didn’t measure)

Week 6 Weigh-In: 131.5 lbs (just returned from holiday) Change over 1 week: N/A Change since beginning: 3.5 lbs

Week 7 Weigh-In: 128 lbs Change over 1 week: 3.5 lbs Change since beginning: 5.8 lbs

Week 8 Weigh-In: 127 lbs Change over 1 week: 1 lb Change since beginning: 6.8 lbs

It’s been a weird week. This may be TMI, but it’s my blog, so whatever. Basically, my last period ended before I started my 90 day journey, and I haven’t gotten it since... until this week, when it finally returned. I’m not sure why. (No, I was not pregnant.) My best guess is that the combination of intense exercise and travel made my body freak out (and I tend to not be the most regular regardless). 

So anyway, ever since my period returned, my weight has fluctuated a lot. Here is the breakdown of the past week:

Day 53: 128.5 Day 54: 129.5 Day 55: 131 Day 56: 129.5 Day 57: 127  Day 58: 127.5 Day 59: 128

Like, how weird is that? Maybe it’s not too weird - I looked it up, and according to Google, your weight can fluctuate up to 5 lbs around your period. It just so happened that it dipped on the day of my Week 8 weigh-in, but it’s climbing back up again. Who knows. I’ll wait until I’ve stopped bleeding to make any kind of final judgement call.

I also haven’t exercised much this week, again because of my period. I’ve just been more physically tired, and it felt like the right thing to do to let my body rest. 

I’m nervous about hitting my goal - I still have 3-ish pounds to lose (considering that I’m at 128 today) and only about 30 days to do it. But you know what? I’m going to work hard, do my best, and even if I don’t make it to 125 lbs by the end of my 90 day journey, it will still be okay. I’m healthier now than I was, and I’ve still made a tremendous amount of progress. 

And I’m not giving up yet!

[from-1-to-90]

Day 50 of 90 - Over Halfway There!

Alright... I’m not even going to give myself an excuse for the fact that I haven’t blogged since day 28. I’m just going to say that while I clearly didn’t hit my “blog once a week” goal, I’m doing pretty darned well on my other health goals, so I’m not too mad about it. And with that, let’s move on to the recap of the past 22 days.

Due to being on holiday and away from home from day 33 through day 44, I was not able to track my weight daily for that time span. Additionally, because I knew I was going to be busy with visiting family and such for that time span, I didn’t want to force myself to try to squeeze my normal workout routine in every day, so I gave myself a break there. I also didn’t try too hard to stick to my original calorie / macro count, and instead just tried to eat things in moderation, and only eat something that was “unhealthy” or “bad” for me if I really wanted it, not just because it was there. (It also helped that I didn’t have family members actively pressuring me to eat tons of things, like at the previous holiday). And surprisingly (or maybe not so surprisingly), this really didn’t end up being a bad thing!

Here’s my weight breakdown:

Week 2 Weigh-In: 133.8 lbs Change over 1 week: +1.8 lbs Change since beginning: +0.3 lbs

Week 3 Weigh-In: 131.5 lbs Change over 1 week: -2.3 lbs Change since beginning: 2 lbs

Week 4 Weigh-In: 130 lbs Change over 1 week: 1.5 lbs Change since beginning: 3.5 lbs

Week 5 Weigh-In: N/A (away for holiday; didn’t measure)

Week 6 Weigh-In: 131.5 lbs (just returned from holiday) Change over 1 week: N/A Change since beginning: 3.5 lbs

Week 7 Weigh-In: 128 lbs Change over 1 week: 3.5 lbs Change since beginning: 5.8 lbs

I’m currently at 128 lbs, which means that I broke through the weight plateau that kept me stagnating around 130! I was trying to figure out the reason for the stagnation, and I’m really not sure what it was. I was eating well, and exercising diligently. There are only two potential reasons that I can think of at the moment. One is, maybe after implementing a drastically different eating and exercise plan for a month, my body was just trying to figure out what the heck was going on. Another is that it could have been stress from work affecting me. Week 2 through Week 4 was a stressful time for me at work (a LOT of deadlines) and it’s possible that my cortisol levels rose and caused me to hold onto weight.

We may never know. But I’m not too concerned about it anymore, because clearly the plateau has broken!! Maybe the physical relaxation over Week 5 was just what my body needed in order to reset and (possibly?) get my cortisol levels down.

I’ve got 5 1/2 weeks to go on this 90 day journey. I have 3 pounds left in order to reach my weight goal. I really do think that this is doable - I mean, it’s less than a pound a week, and I’m pretty sure I can smash that! However, I do want to state for the record that I realize my body might just give me a flat-out “no” for whatever reason. I might stagnate, even if I'm doing all the “right” things. And I’m giving myself the grace to say that that is okay. I set my goals based on the knowledge I had at the time, with the understanding that those goals were flexible and could be changed for the good of my body. A good friend reminded me that my body is changing due to these healthy habits - and even if my weight stays the same or possibly even goes up, it could be because I’m building muscle. Weight only tells part of the story. (I’m really wishing that I measured myself (inches-wise) at the start of this journey so that I had another data point, but oh well.)

But putting the weight aside, this journey has been unbelievably healthy for me, both physically and emotionally. Exercising has truly made a world of difference in my mental health. I know everyone always says that, but man - it was like taking a magic pill that suddenly made me happier and more focused. Who wouldn’t want that?? And because my brain is receiving the dopamine it needs from exercise, I’m no longer craving junk food 24/7. Instead, I can have a normal, moderated amount of dessert and less-than-healthy food, and I don’t feel like I’m missing something.

[from-1-to-90]

Day 28 of 90 - Week 4 Weigh-In + Catching Up

Okay, so I’m clearly lagging on my “blog at least once a week” goal, judging by the fact that my last post was the Week 2 Weigh-In. But I am back and I’m ready to update you guys! I’m just gonna lay out the numbers, and then I’m going to try dissecting them a bit.

Week 2 Weigh-In: 133.8 lbs Change over 1 week: +1.8 lbs Change since beginning: +0.3 lbs

Week 3 Weigh-In: 131.5 lbs Change over 1 week: -2.3 lbs Change since beginning: 2 lbs

Week 4 Weigh-In: 130 lbs Change over 1 week: 1.5 lbs Change since beginning: 3.5 lbs

Overall, I’m very pleased with how things are going! I’m losing weight at a super moderate pace, which I know is healthiest and best for sustainability. And I’m also right on track to reach my weight goal over the next eight and a half weeks!!

It’s actually cheering me up to look at the overall numbers, because I was feeling a little frustrated this morning. Here’s why.

My weight over the past week: Day 21 (Week 3 Weigh-In): 131.5 Day 22: 130.5 Day 23: 129.8 Day 24: 130 Day 25: 130 Day 26: 130 Day 27: 129.5 Day 28: 130 (Week 4 Weigh-In)

I’ve been hella stagnating over the majority of the past week. My body dropped quite a bit between Day 21 and Day 22 and then decided to just chill at 130 for the rest of the week. I mean, it’s been seven days with basically no change. I’m not going to freak out about this though, because I know that bodies are weird and don’t really like change - and I can’t expect my body weight to just continuously drop for the entirety of my 90 day journey. There are going to be ups and downs and plateaus. My hope is that this plateau is just my body getting used to the new weight and that it’ll start going down again next week.

This week, I also decided to stop tracking my calories / food intake. My main reason for this was just that I’m tired of it - it’s annoying to have to log my meals every time I eat. And I feel like because I’m on track with my goals, I have the leeway to stop the calorie counting, at least for now. And I have noticed over the past few days that even though I’m not tracking my food anymore, having done so over the past month has trained my brain to understand food proportions / calorie amounts much better. Like, I can now look at a bowl of greek yogurt and mentally calculate how many calories it is, because I’ve logged this stuff so much in the app. So, I’m planning to still eat the same way I was eating before, just without the meticulous tracking. I’ll give it a go, and if in a week or so it seems like I need to bring the calorie tracking back, then I will. 

[from-1-to-90]

Day 15 of 90 - Week 2 Weigh-In

I’m quickly becoming disenchanted with my analog scale... because I can’t actually read exactly what my weight number is! But as far as I can tell, today I came in right under 134 lbs, so I’m going with:

Week 2 Weigh-In: 133.8 lbs

Change over 1 week: +1.8 lbs Change since beginning: +0.3 lbs

There’s a chance that my scale at home is measuring me lighter than I actually am - remember the 3 lb jump when I weighed myself on the digital scale for the first time? But according to this scale, I am currently around 133.8 lbs.

Now, I have thought about this two ways. I could either be disappointed that I am back to almost exactly where I started, OR I could be impressed and happy that my body was able to bounce back to where it was so quickly after the holiday madness. I am going to go with the latter option.

I have 9 pounds to lose in the next 10 weeks. I fully believe that my body can do it, and I am excited to continue my journey of transformation!! I am back, I am focused, and I am revved up.

Yesterday, I did not eat dinner before going home (it was just way too early), but I did eat dinner directly after working out instead of showing first. I wanted to make sure I ate all of my dinner before 8:00pm. I succeeded in that, and I think I finished eating everything for the night by 8:30pm (except for a tiny piece of chocolate that I had around 9:30pm). I have a feeling eating my dinner earlier like this is going to help! I don’t know if this is related to my earlier dinner last night, but I actually felt hungry for breakfast this morning - I usually have to force myself to eat breakfast before work. 

Here’s to the next 10 weeks!

[from-1-to-90]

Day 14 of 90 - The Holiday Slump

I realize that I haven’t blogged since Day 5, so I’m going to give you the deets on what exactly went down during the past eight days.

THE HOLIDAYS. WENT DOWN.

My gosh. I knew that the holidays were going to be a bit of a struggle, but I had no idea how much. My partner’s family makes food that not only tastes incredible, but is also exactly on the opposite end of the “clean eating” spectrum. They are also the kind of people who will continue putting food in front of your face until you are literally too full to walk around. (A great problem to have, but a problem nonetheless when you’ve just started a clean eating journey!) Combine that with two full travel days where I got zero exercise in, and there you have it - my weight is now higher than where I started two weeks ago. If I’m being perfectly honest, I’m pretty upset about it. I had made some great progress, and now, in just a matter of a few days, I feel like I undid all of that progress. 

This is my weight breakdown over the past two weeks, keeping in mind that partway through I switched scales partway through, because I was staying at someone else’s house and using their scale. (My scale at home is manual/analog, so I have to look at the little dial to figure out what my weight is. It’s not terribly exact, but I can figure out approximately which pound I’m at.) 

- starting at Day 4 because that’s when I finally got my scale - Day 4: 133.5 Day 5: 133.5 Day 6: 131.5 Day 7: 132 Day 8: 132 (Week 1 Weigh-In) - this is when I switched to a digital scale - Day 9: 135.3 (I didn’t eat too much more than usual, so I wasn’t sure why the number here jumped up by ~2 pounds. Maybe either my scale at home or the digital scale is inaccurate?) Day 10: 136.6 (after I ate a lot more food than usual) Day 11: 136.7 (again, ate a LOT more food) Day 12: 136.8 (actually ate a reasonable amount, but my weight still went up) - and back to my scale at home - this is why the numbers aren’t as precise - Day 13: 136  Day 14: 135

Again, if I’m being completely honest, my inclination is to do something drastic to bring myself back to where I was - like go on a three day juice cleanse or something. But, I am writing right here and right now, that being healthy is the purpose of this whole journey. And if I have to be unhealthy to reach my goals, then those goals need to be adjusted. However, that remains to be seen. So for now, I’m focusing even harder than I was before the holiday fiasco! These next 10 weeks are going to be lit!

Side note - I just started using whey protein powder. I have high hopes for it - my plan is to use it once a day right after my workouts, and with any luck, it’ll help me see results! 

Also, I noticed that I’ve been eating dinner really late ever since I started this journey. It’s mainly because by the time I get home from work, workout, and take a shower, it’s usually pretty late before I have time to eat dinner. I’m wondering if eating late is affecting my body’s readiness to burn those calories. I know there are mixed opinions on the subject, but it might be worth experimenting with, especially since each body is different. Maybe the solution would be for me to eat dinner right before I go home, so that my post-workout protein shake is the last thing I consume before bed? I’ll keep you posted on my findings!

[from-1-to-90]

Day 5 of 90! - The First Craving

I had my first craving today (for unhealthy food, that is) since I started this journey! I was actually really surprised that for the past four days, I haven’t craved all of the unhealthy food I was eating before. But today, I was at an event with free donuts and it was all I could do to not grab one. And when I got home, even after I’d eaten a full meal, I still wanted to make cookies and devour the whole batch! Not sure where the sudden craving for junk food came from, but it wasn’t fun. However, I should just be grateful that I haven’t had those cravings this entire time! Hopefully they won’t stick around.

H O W  I  F E L T

I felt pretty decent today! My body is pretty sore, though - which is unsurprising, considering that I went from literally never exercising to working out for an hour everyday. In order to try to give my most used muscles a break, I decided to do only blogilates workout videos today (instead of more cardio, which is the bulk of what I’ve been doing).

E X E R C I S E

I honestly didn’t have much of a strategy going into this today. The only thing I wanted to make sure I focused on was my arms, since my cardio workouts haven’t hit them much. Here are the videos I did (all blogilates):

Fun yoga

Pumped up cardio warmup

Brutal booty - I only did the first three-ish minutes of this because my legs were already so sore from all the elliptical / treadmill work I’ve been doing!

7 minute arms

Bridal bootcamp arms

Quick burn arms

Shape of your thighs

I was a little less excited to work out today - probably because my body feels pretty worn out at this point. I mean - I’ve never worked out like this before! But I’m traveling in a few days and won’t be able to exercise while I’m on the road, and I want to make the most of my time at home. So no rest days for me for another few days.

[from-1-to-90]

Day 4 of 90! - First Weigh-In

I finally have a scale, thank goodness. I know that for the most consistent, accurate results, you’re supposed to weigh yourself in the morning before you’ve eaten anything (as that generally eliminates added water/food weight), but I was so curious that I just went ahead and weighed myself in the afternoon when the scale arrived.

The results were surprising.. in a great way! As I mentioned in an earlier post, the last time I weighed myself (over a year ago), I was 145 pounds. I was expecting to still be around that same weight when I weighed myself today (maybe a bit lower, since I’ve been working out and eating clean for the past couple of weeks - before I even officially started this 90 day thing). And it turned out that I was...

133.5 pounds.

WHAT?!

The last time I weighed that little was about three and a half years ago! So that was a surprise. I wish I knew how much I weighed before and after the two week work trip so that I would have a better sense of my weight progression. But oh well. 

One of the things that I am trying really hard to be conscious of is to not let the scale control my mental and emotional life. I’ve been there before, and it is not a fun place to be. I’m still trying to figure out if it’s even okay for me to put a weight goal on myself, but if I’m being perfectly honest, I do have one. So for now, here are all of my goals for this 90 day journey (including the weight goal, now that I have a baseline):

work out 30-60 mins 5-6 days per week

eat clean foods - cut way down on processed sugar and empty carbs (must stay above 1200 calories per day)

blog about my experience at least once per week

get down to 125 pounds at the end of these 90 days

I honestly am unsure how realistic my 125 pound goal is. It means I’ll need to lose 8.5 pounds over the next 12 weeks. However, from the little I know about weight loss, I think that it’s doable. Hard, but doable. I’m also going to give myself the flexibility to alter the goal if it seems like a different goal would be healthier for my body. My plan is to listen to what my body is telling me every step of the way in this process - because my overarching, far more important goal is to be healthy!

H OW  I  F E L T

I was felt really worn out again, practically from the moment I woke up - similar to how I felt on Day 2. Maybe my body is just getting used to exercising everyday.

M E A L S

Breakfast: 2 egg omelet with Mexican blend cheese

Snack: smoothie (1/2 cup frozen strawberries, 1/2 cup frozen mango, 1 banana)

Lunch: 4/5 banana, 1/4 cup cocoa almond granola, 1 apple slice, 1 tbsp peanut butter (this was a weird snack hodgepodge because I hadn’t cooked yet)

Snack: 5 baby dill pickles

Dinner: 1 large chicken drumstick, 1/3 cup of baked sweet potato (plain), 1/2 cup of avocado, 1 cup of milk w/ 1 tbsp chocolate sauce

Snack: a couple of squares of Starbucks chocolate peppermint bark

Calories: 1381 (128g carbs, 67g fat, 56g protein)

E X E R C I S E

blogilates “relaxing stretches”

blogilates “beautiful abs”

30-minute cardio dance workout

30-minute cardio dance workout (I did 15 mins of it)

I’m think I’m going to stop meticulously writing down in this blog everything I eat, only because it’s rather time consuming. I’m still tracking it all on my phone (I’m sure that data will come in handy soon). But unless I get any objections, I’m going to stop tracking in in my blog for now, and use that time instead to blog about my thoughts and feelings on this journey!

[from-1-to-90]

Day 3 of 90!

H O W  I  F E L T

It was a really good day. I woke up feeling motivated, energized - all the good things! I don’t know if it had to do with me having such a great cardio day on Day 2, but I was flying high. My focus was great too.

M E A L S

Breakfast: boiled egg; 1 banana; 1/4 cup of cocoa almond granola

I ate the egg before I remembered to take a pic, but here’s the banana and granola combo.

Snack: 1 cup decaf mocha

Lunch: chicken fried rice from Costco

Pre-workout snack: 10 unsalted almonds; 1/2 fuji apple; 5 baby dill pickles

Post-workout snack: 1 cup 2% milk; 3/4 tbsp chocolate syrup (to create a quick chocolate milk)

Dinner: 1 boiled egg; 30 unsalted almonds; 1 tbsp pine nuts; 1.5 tbsp peanut butter; 1/3 banana; 1/2 fuji apple; 1/3 cup of cocoa almond granola

Calories: 1823 (Carbs: 190g; Fat: 81g; Protein: 57g)

E X E R C I S E

Blogilates “quick burn back exercises”

Blogilates “ultimate back workout”

Treadmill - 30 mins (mostly power walking with some jogging; usually at difficulty level 4)

Elliptical - 15 mins

The blogilates ab workout from Day 2 KILLED ME, but I was actually able to do two blogilates back workouts on Day 3 and feel pretty decent. I also am truly terrible at planking, so I’m starting to wonder if I just have really weak abs. If that is the case, then it’s something to work on!

[from-1-to-90]

Day 2 of 90! - The Game Plan

It may sound silly, but I really love having date stamps on this journey to mark the passage of time. It keeps me from feeling like I’m working but not going anywhere. I’m starting the realize that one of the biggest things holding me back from embarking on journeys like this is a perceived lack of progress - which is why tracking metrics like this is so great for me! I need that concrete motivation.

My plan is to loosely follow the Blogilates 90 day challenge meal plan. I’m not going to follow it religiously, because honestly, I need more variety in the foods in my life. Plus, even Cassey didn’t stick to just those foods when she was doing her challenge - you can see a complete log of what she ate each day in her daily blog posts from that time. However, I am going to use the meal plan as a guide for calorie count and macro balance - basically as a baseline standard of “clean eating” for me to work from. I’m also going to allow myself some sweets now and then (I love chocolate, like everyone else on the planet), but a very limited/controlled amount. No more binging chocolate chip cookie dough while I mindlessly watch Netflix.

I’m not sure how the meal plan is going to work with the holidays coming up… but I guess all I can do is eat in moderation. I’m planning to cut myself a little slack by eating a bit more processed sugar and carbs than I normally would otherwise. Because let’s be real - I am not about to deny myself delicious food that I only have access to once a year. And I absolutely refuse to be the high maintenance person that presents their relatives with a laundry list of things they won’t eat by choice, since I don’t have any actual health concerns related to food. But I am going to do my best to keep everything in moderation and mostly stick to my clean eating plan.

Additionally, I’ve never been the kind of person who wakes up early to go on a morning jog when I’m traveling. But, I guess I’m going to need to become that person if I want to meet my exercise goals over the holidays. If you all have any ideas about how to maintain your exercise regimen when you’re busy visiting with family and staying at another person’s house, I’m all ears.

H O W  I  F E L T  T O D A Y

I felt really worn out this morning through the afternoon. I’m not sure if it’s from my exercise yesterday and/or the unfortunately small breakfast, or perhaps something else entirely. It’s a little strange, because I exercised four times last week and felt great mentally! In any case, I’m not going to let a little weariness stop me, so you best believe that I worked out today as well. Will keep you posted on my energy levels.

M E A L S

Breakfast: boiled egg

I know, that’s really not enough food. I promise I’m not trying to not eat - I just haven’t had a chance to go grocery shopping and buy healthy food yet. To compensate, I ate a packet of apple cinnamon instant oatmeal around 11am.

Snack: 1 packet apple cinnamon instant oatmeal

As convenient as it is, I’m fairly certain instant oatmeal is not nearly as healthy for you as regular. And I’d hate for something as small as instant vs. regular to set me back in my health journey, so I’m planning to buy old fashioned, plain oats to eat with fruit and nuts instead.

Lunch: 7/8ths of a packet of Japanese-style chicken fried rice from Costco; 1 fun-size mini krackel chocolate piece

Again, I know the frozen fried rice is not the healthiest option, but it’s the only thing I have to eat for lunch right now. Once the grocery run is complete and I get cooking, I’ll have some healthier lunch options.

Pre-workout snack: 3 baby dill pickles (LOVE pickles!!); 1/4 cup of cocoa almond granola; 1/4 cup peanut butter; 1/2 fuji apple

This was mainly a “I just got home and I’m ravenous, what can I eat in the house that’ll tide me over but won’t fill up my stomach right before I go work out” thing.

Dinner: 1/4 cup of Simply Orange orange juice; 1/4 baked sweet potato; 1 boiled egg; 10 almonds 

I always crave juice right after I workout. I didn’t want to go nuts with it because I know orange juice is hella sugary, but I also didn’t want to completely deprive myself, so that’s why I went with a 1/4 cup.

The potato / boiled egg / almond mix happened because my partner ate the leftovers that I was planning to have for dinner. 

But surprisingly, it tasted pretty darn good! So my weird dinner concoction turned out to be a win.

Calories for the day: 1326 (Carbs: 143g, Fat: 53g, Protein: 40g)

E X E R C I S E

Blogilates “beautiful abs” 1x (8 mins)

Treadmill - jogging / power walking combo (30 mins)

Elliptical - 110-120 mph at power 3 (30 mins)

By the way, it turns out that my gym does NOT have a scale... So that means I have to dig my old one out of my storage unit. It’s an analog scale - back when I bought it, I stayed away from digital due to multiple experiences with inaccurate digital scales. Fingers crossed that it still works, especially after it’s been sitting sideways in my crammed storage unit for years!