Seeing as I had “completed” the tone it up bikini series and looked exactly the same, I had a wake up call. And that wake up call was I wasn’t serious enough to make a change. Comparing week 1 to week 8 and seeing ZERO changes, made me so sad and feel depressed. Ladies, gentleman, people who want to be fit, it’s true- you can’t wish yourself skinny or into your size 4 pants.
After sobbing over this revelation to greg he committed to meal prep with me for the 7 day slim down. The tone it up girls were using it as a way to lose the last 1-3 pounds from the bikini series or a way to slim down before an event and help debloat. I was using as a way to kick-off losing weight, and get over a few fears.
I going into this week I had a few things to worry about:
- Will I have enough energy to do my running schedule- you bet your ass I was sticking to it.
- Will I over- eat because I’m increasing my exercise and eating a mostly veg and lean protein diet?
- Will I go off the rails on day 3 and eat a snickers bar, tacos and a margarita?
- What if I stick to this plan for 7 days, and nothing changes just like it always never changessssz….(temper tantrum voice).
- Greg..Greg! Will he have enough food while I am on this diet? An entire 7 days he needs to eat all healthy prepped foods and no pastas or potatoes?
- Wait…I’m not eating pasta or potatoes?! Wtf??!?!?!
To get Greg on board we doubled his meal size for breakfast/lunch meals and at dinner again extra protein with added pasta or potatoes for him. I honestly love a good meal made of penne or a baked potatoe smothered in butter bacon sour cream chives chili and cheddar cheese, but I have some damn goals- those pants doe- and because of my hypothyroid too much bread/starch makes me bloated and constipated-TMI-but seriously deal with it.
I set out into the tone it up recipe archives. When those fit ladies start a new series or program they send you a meal plan, grocery list and fitness schedule. Katrina and Katrina practically do everything except exercise for you- although they do the excercises your supposed to do, but doesn’t help you any if you don’t do it too! In the 7 day slim down I used 50-ish%of those recipes including:
- Zucchini egg muffins
- Veggie tray meal +a protein
- Hummus recipe
- Smoothie recipe
From their regular meal plan and recipes they post to their site:
- Overnight oats
- Chickpea salad+42 3/4 grain bread(or something else ridic like that I got from wegmans)
- Grapefruit summer salad
And from no ones meal plan:
- Greg’s Hawaiian veg bake and seared tuna
- Wegmans Greek turkey sliders and zucchini noodles
We modified a little, which I can say truley set us up for success. My eyes are always bigger than my stomach and I also bought food to meal prep:
- Tiu(tone it up)mushroom turkey burgers
- Tiu Italian bowl
- Beet hummus
We never made those last 3 meals. #ripgroceries, what a life lived!!!! Finding the balance of buying enough and over buying is something I am still working on. I love food, that’s part of the problem here and as much as greg wants to eat and I have good intentions to eat all the veggies, he eventually goes into a food coma and I get full. I will give myself props on never over-eating, my issue I have discovered is eating the wrong things and not moving after.
Any ways so this week my work out schedule was:
- Rest
- 3.5 miles
- 2.0 miles or cross training
- 3.5 miles
- Rest
- 35 min cardio
- 5 miles
This week was also week 2 of my Microsoft project course in the evening for work, so I really needed to plan my days to fit all this exercising in.
Monday’s are always easy. I either walk to get my steps or if I get halfway (5,000) I’m cool with it.
Tuesday-3.5 miles, they weren’t that bad, dare I say enjoyable!? Enjoyable other than the running club at the track. Let me take this as an opportunity to say- read this rant blog about running etiquette. Any ways, I felt really encouraged by my slight increase in pace and my continued motivation to stick to my plan.
Wednesday-2 miles or 30 minutes of cardio. At work we have community engagement wellness walks. They are a way for employees to get fit, become engaged with the community around our hospital and to make the community feel it’s less of a us vs. them situation. Well, my department is now running these things, and I really appreciate my co-workers, they help me out ALL the time, so I said I would come in just to help with the walk. It’s been hot in Maryland, so I wasn’t getting my work clothes gross, so I wore running shorts a worn appropriate shirt, sneakers and a hat. We walked about 1.5 miles and there was the walk to the start and back to the office. I ended up not having time to do a 2 mile run, but I did get my steps!
Thursday-3.5 miles- I did it again! Easier, didn’t feel that bad, about the same time as Tuesday.
Friday- rest day- I was determined to get a new vacuum. Being a fresh 31 year old woman, I was sick an tired of living in a dusty/linty apartment. Its no ones fault really, just our vacuum was a little older and the suction wasn’t as strong as it probably once was. All I wanted as a gift from my parents was a new vacuum, so from their gift and the gift from my grandmother, I did some research on vacuums. I have a lot of allergies, so I wanted one with a hepa filter, and if it was good for having pets even better. “Nikki, what pets do you have?”-None. But I shed a lot of hair, so would it be so bad to get a little extra help when cleaning??
Mom and I did some independent research and she found a Dyson vacuum on Macy’s web-site *on-sale* from $599.99 down to $299.99. I called and they said if I opened a Macy’s card, I would get the extra 20% off it…SOLD! So I drove to Macy’s picked it up and brought it home.
I opened the box, felt JUST like Christmas…and I was disgusted. Someone had returned this one, there was lint and hair in it and all the beautiful clean plastic packaging had been ripped open. It didn’t feel like a birthday present, it felt like a freakin re-gift. In the back of my head I could hear my mother ( who was totally right)” always open it before you leave the store to make sure its ok and isn’t missing anything.” I mean, I check my bag at chik-fila 90% of the time, sooo why didn’t i check inside of this heavy box. I called them right away, and spoke to a sweet woman with a southern accent who put a new vacuum on hold for me to exchange this used….thing with.
When I got there the sales girl was younger, and hip (GOD I SOUND OLD) with piercings and dyed hair and a really laid back attitude, even she could see no one should have sold this used lint trap to me. I checked the box this time….AHAHA! Perfect, clean, unopened and shiny.
I had never been more excited to vacuum before. Read it again…..ok good. I may never say that again. After assembling the vacuum, which was very easy, I cleaned our living room/kitchen. *Perfection*. I even sent Greg pictures of the vacuum. All that going back and forth to and from my car and Macy’s, I got halfway to my step goal-not too bad for a rest day.
I want to circle back to the 7 day slim down, I followed the plan the entire week, with the exception of a brownie parfait Friday night. I will give my review of the slim down after I post my week 4 post.
Nikki Ginger 