Tracking your progress, weighing and measuring.

It can be really hard to track your progress with some kind of diet or exercise plan.

Should you weigh yourself?
So many factors go into your weight. Did you gain muscle, did you drink enough water, are you going to the bathroom regularly? Any weight loss does not always mean fat loss, and weight gain does not mean you've gained fat.

To be completely sure that I'm getting a consistent reading on the scale, I try to make each time I weigh myself exactly the same. I always do it in the morning, after I have used the bathroom and before I drink any water. I also always weigh myself completely naked.  Making sure that everything is the same each time helps me feel like I'm getting a more accurate reading.

Should you measure your body?
Most people will tell you that measuring yourself is the way to go.  You just get a fabric measuring tape and measure your hips, waist, thigh, arm etc. My only problem with using only measurements to track your progress is the length of time it takes for us to lose inches.  In the past when I was trying to lose weight, I would measure every day and things wouldn't change fast enough.  That would discourage me and make me think that everything I was doing wasn't working.  Also, bloating can impact your size and measurements a lot.

I always try to use a combination of both weighing myself and measuring.  I step on the scale every morning, sometimes its up and sometimes its down.  At this point, I know my body pretty well, so i can usually figure out what has made the change.  On top of that, I take my measurements two to three times per week.

Overall, I can easily track my progress without a pretty good level of confidence.  I love being able to see the weight go down and also seeing my body get smaller.

IIFYM: starting a cut.

Deciding to diet down is a commitment.  

"Cutting" or controlling your macros in order to lose fat is a commitment.

Its a total life overhaul. 

I'm not saying it's not worth it, I'm just saying, its hard. 

Weighing, counting, and measuring your foo is a commitment. 

I decided to start a cut about a month and a half ago.  I had been weight lifting for almost 2 years without ever restricting my calories.  I'd gained a lot of muscle and about 10 lbs.  I was never unhappy with my body and actually really enjoyed all my muscle gains and strength.  But I finally decided to lose some fat and let those muscles show.

I figured I needed to lose about 15 lbs and I gave myself a time line of 6 months. 

To start, you have to figure out your TDEE or total daily energy expenditure. 

Its pretty easy, just look up any TDEE calculator online.  That will give you the number of calories that your body naturally burns in a day before exercise.  Mine is about 2100.  I then adjust my calorie goals to facilitate the weight loss and figure out my macros.  (I can write a whole separate post on that).  

I love flexible dieting.  

It gives you the ability to eat lots of different types of foods.  If I know I am 

going to have pasta 

for dinner, I eat less carbs earlier in the day.  

If I want fries, I work it in.  I never have to restrict, just redirect. 

HOWEVER, life does change in a big way.  

Remember those beers you used to go out for with your friends on Saturdays or weekly pizza night. Those all of a sudden become a lot less fun.  Cause now your working with a certain number.  You can blow your carbs on beer and margaritas and pizza, 

but then your working with little else for the rest of the day.  

And when you eat a VEGAN DIET (ahhhh, scary, run away) that means you gotta work even harder to hit everything.  

So here I sit on my couch, writing this blog post and binge watching Gilmore Girls, while my eat whatever he wants and still has a six pack boyfriend goes out to the bar for $2 Tuesday.  

But that's okay, cause I have priorities. I know what its going to feel like when I lean 

down and finally see those abs that I know are in there!

My new yoga routine.

Recently, my body has been feeling really tight.  My muscles and joints have been feeling so stiff that I've been uncomfortable.  I knew I needed to do something more than just light stretching to fix the problem.
My hamstrings are the worst right now.  They have been so tight, I couldn't even touch my toes. I think it was from a very uncomfortable leg curl machine....

Having tight muscles can really interfere with not just exercise, but a lot of everyday movements.  I notice it when I walk my dogs, when I bend down to switch the laundry and when I drive my car.
I've never had to worry about it much before, but now
I've begun to notice it all the time.

I decided to try yoga to loosen things up a bit.  I've done yoga before, a few times, and I really like it.  But this time I decided to really commit. Do it daily, well as daily as possible, and do it with intention.
You can find literally any type of yoga online, beginner to advanced, long and short.
Plus, yoga is something you can do with almost no equipment. I mean, they make tons of different yoga mats and blocks and socks and stuff.  But you don't NEED them.

After a few days of yoga, I can feel my muscles getting back to normal.
I think stretching and yoga is the most overlooked form of physical activity.  They aid in basic motion and mobility. Many people worry about their muscles and doing cardio, but they don't take the time to relax and sooth the muscles.

I am definitely guilty of this, but I hope overtime I can get my body to a better place now.

Running and Abs while on vacation!

I am super excited that I get to be visiting my friends this weekend in Kent Ohio. I went to college here and wanted to get a chance to visit and catch up before the winter.  

When I woke up this morning, I found an amazing little bike trail just next to my friend's apartment.  I got in a solid 3 mile run before breakfast and felt amazing. 

Finding fun new places to run when I'm traveling is a great way to motivate yourself to get out and exercise.  Normally when traveling, the last thing I want to do it workout, even though it is definitely what I need with all this food.

I also got a short ab workout after my run, I like to do a few short ab sessions a few times a week to keep them working all week. When I can I like to use the 10 Minute Fix for abs which is part of the 21 day fix program.  

I like this set of moves for a quick ab workout that really gets a good burn.  Literally everyone can find ten minutes to fit into their schedule.  

Moves: 

Crunches - 20x

Table Top Crunches - 20x

Crunches with right leg up - 20x

Crunches with left leg up - 20x

Cross Crunches - 20x

Tap Crunches - 20x

Twist Crunches - 20x each side

Oblique Crunches - 20x each side

Bicycles - 20x

Repeat whole cycle twice.

Bonus 

Flutter kicks - 20x

Ankle Crosses - 20x

After this, my abs are crying.  

Another reason why I love to make time for exercise during travel is to prevent feeling horrible when I get home.  We all tend to go a bit harder on the restaurant food and booze when we travel, which of course leaves you feeling like a bloated whale after. When I know I've gotten a good workout in or two, I don't feel nearly as guilty when I get home.  

I hope you all have an amazing weekend.  Happy almost Halloween!

Graze snackbox!

I've tried subscription boxes before.  Ipsy and Scentbird were okay, neither seemed to be worth the money after a few months.  My boyfriend and I do use Dollar Shave Club, which we like a lot.  

But then I got a coupon for a free taster box with Graze and decided to give it a try.  

How Graze works is, you create a quick account (with a credit card) and then you are presented with all of the snack options.  You then go through them and either opt in or out of each snack.  You have the ability to check the nutrition and ingredients before opting into each snack.  If you do choose to opt out of any snack, they ensure you that your boxes will never contain those snacks.

Graze first put together my tasting box which contained 4 snacks and was of course free.  I was scheduled to receive that box the week of Oct 12th.  It ended up being a week late and showing up today along with the 8 snack box.  That actually annoyed me, but oh well. 

They put you automatically on a weekly box subscription for their regular size box.  The regular box contains 8 snacks and is $11.99 per box.  

One nice option is the ability to make them bi weekly, so you don't feel like your spending too much each month on snacks.  

Graze had a ton of different options for snacks.  I received:

Snack Box:

Kettle Kern Pops (weird popcorn like stuff)

Active Nutrient Blend (yummy nuts)

Cocoa Cookie Dippers with Cherry Compote

Garden of England (dried fruit)

Regular Box:

Peachy Orchard (dried fruit)

Hot Pepper Jam with Multi Grain Crackers

Everything Bagel Sticks

Zesty Chili Lime Cashews

Three Seed Protein Flapjacks (crunchy bars)

Honey Drizzled Cashews

Herby Bread Basket (mini breadsticks, oregano crackers and garlic crostini)

Honeycomb Crunch (nuts, raisins and chocolate covered honeycombs) 

They definitely aren't very large snacks, they are meant to be about 150-200 calories.  But the convenience factor is undeniable.  

Overall, I really like the idea and all the snacks I received.  Maybe a bit more expensive than making the snacks myself, but its fun!

Lentils, sneaky protein heroes!

I want to venture a guess that most of you, haven't tried lentils before. They are weird 

little earthy colored beans and they look like a lot of work.  

Plus, what exactly are legumes?

First I want to assure you, lentils CAN taste amazing.  Eat them plain, with no seasoning, 

and you might as well have cardboard.  

They are pretty easy to make, no soaking or hours of waiting.  

Basically, you rinse them in a colander for like 30 seconds, then you add 6-8 cups of water or broth and your one pound of lentils (most packages come in that size unless you buy in bulk) to a large pot and simmer about 20 minutes. 

You can make it anyway. Italian, with tomato paste and Italian spices.  Indian spices pair 

amazingly and so traditional salt pepper and garlic.  My personal fav is a combo chili powder, cayenne pepper, and taco seasoning.  Its spicy and delicious.  

Lentils are part of the legume family, and are small circular shaped seeds.  They are small and firm until cooked, when they slightly expand and can become very soft and tender.  

And for the best part, a serving (about 1 cup) of these bad boys is 10 grams 

of protein, zero fat and 11 grams of fiber.  

The macros on these guys makes it super easy to fit as much as you want into your diet.  

I try to keep these on hand in my house most weeks for a quick snack.  I heat up some and have 

it with some wheat crackers and veggies.  

Arbonne Phytosport After Workout. BCAAs to help recovery.

After workout BCAA supplements, do you really need them? 

I didn't think so, for a really long time.  

During heavy exercise, muscles get small tears where growth happens.  These tears give us 

the pain and soreness following our workouts. 

BCAA (Branched chain amino acids) supplements are designed to support muscle 

repair, help build lean muscle tissue and support recovery. They are formulated to absorb 

into the muscle tissue and metabolize quickly.  

If you've ever done a "leg day" workout, then you know the ridicules pain that incurs afterward. I

have been having a particularly hard time with soreness and muscle pain following heavy squats and dead lifts recently. So I bit the bullet and got a BCAA suppliment.  

Arbonne International is a line of all natural vegan and gluten free products.  They recently 

launched their line called Phytosport which carries a pre-workout, electrolyte replacement 

and post workout supplements. 

Arbonne After Workout claims makes all of the typical claims of similar products (recovery and repair, less pain).  However I see one big difference.

No harmful chemicals. 

Honestly, I expected to not notice much of a difference.  I waited until a day I knew was going to kill me, a day that would leave my boyfriend carrying me up the stairs. 

And, I only took 1/2 of a serving, 

I felt a fraction of the pain I normally do and felt loads better the next day at the gym.  Also flavor wise, Triple Berry, tasted just like a mild fruit flavor, and I mixed it right in with my protein shake with no texture change.  

This will be a staple in my workout routine from now on and I definitely will be able to get much more out of my workouts with less pain.  

Instagram: jenn_g_fit

Facebook