Fitness Friday: A Day In The Life of Fitness Friday Girl
“Woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head…” The Beatles, A Day in the Life
How does a fit and healthy lifestyle look in real life? When I’m trying to incorporate a new habit into my day, it helps me to see how other people do it. It’s one thing to tell me to eat this or do that. It’s a totally different thing to show me how to integrate those things in the day-to-day, with kids, work, responsibilities and rest.
So just for fun, I thought I’d give you a glimpse into one of my days, reminding you that I’m trying to crawl back on the wagon. I didn’t fall completely off the wagon of health and nutrition, but I did get a bit lazy this summer—to the tune of a five pound weight gain (that’s real weight…not just normal daily fluctuations.) That’s a lot for me, considering I still worked out at least 3 times a week the entire time.
Check out these real numbers: If each pound=3500 calories, then I ate or failed to work off…
17,500 excess calories over about 8 weeks
or
2187.5 calories a week
or
312.5 calories a DAY!
Whoa…even as I write that, I’m motivated to get those pounds back off. When I’m at the top of my game, I’m working out around the same time every day—usually mid morning, six days a week—and have all my meals pretty much planned out ahead of time. Right now, I’m struggling to find the perfect time to work out each day, mainly because we are in our first full week of school and I’m still not in the groove. I thought maybe since I’m in the midst of trying to break some bad habits and re-establish some better ones, it would be a good time to let you into my brain. It’s scary in there, so if this is a trip you’d rather not take, you have my permission to stop reading.
Run! Run, I tell you and don’t look back.
However, If you are in the same boat as me, or if you are just curious what I do on a random Wednesday, then I cordially invite you to join me for
A Day in the Life of Fitness Friday Girl: Getting Back on the Wagon Edition
5:50 am Alarm goes off and I press the snooze. I didn’t go to bed until 11:30 last night and I’m whipped. See you in 10.
6:00 am Get out of bed and get immediately into work-out clothes. This is one of my tactics to help me get motivated to work out, even when I can’t work out first thing. Today is one of those days, because I have to get my kiddos up and ready for school. But at least I’m dressed for it. I also drink a large glass of water that I keep on my sink for the morning.
6:15 am Make hot tea with some honey and skim milk. I sometimes still drink coffee in the morning. I hate being dependant on the caffeine, but I love the taste and smell of coffee. Today I choose tea because I forgot to buy coffee at the grocery store.
8:15 am Return from taking the two older kids to school and I haven’t eaten breakfast yet. I always eat breakfast. Always, always. Today, I choose two scrambled eggs with two slices of Ezekiel bread, butter and raspberry jam and a glass of water. All organic, except the water. I specifically choose the eggs because they make me feel fuller longer, and I’m trying to eat less than I have been all summer. Plus, I find I skimp on protein a lot because I’m not a big meat fan. I also want to eat something that isn’t super heavy on the carbs because I’m going to spend the morning writing (a rare treat!!) Need to get my 2-year-old ready for the sitter, so I can’t work out yet!
9:30 am Having a friend with whom to swap babysitting is such a blessing. The down side is that I stand there and talk to my friend when I drop off Elliana. Well, I guess that’s a good side, too. Having friends is integral to good health. Plus, that may be the only adult conversation I have today. But now I’m feeling a little rushed to get started writing, because I only have a few hours. No workout yet. I grab a big glass of water to sip while I write.
11:30 am I’m starving. Time for lunch. I choose left over taco ingredients from dinner Tuesday night. I have ground turkey, vegetarian refried beans, tomatoes, salsa and a dollop of sour cream all over a giant bed of lettuce. I add some Hint of Lime tortilla chips and drizzle of ranch dressing. I totally forget to add cheese, which is weird for me because I LOVE me some cheese. But I’m glad I do—high in calories. Those chips were delish. I grab another handful. I regret it as soon as I’m finished eating them. Not worthy.
1:00 pm My brain is starting to fog, but I want to write for one more hour. I really need some coffee. I check the pantry and find *GASP* a can of General Foods International Coffee French Vanilla Cafe. I bought this last year during one of our extended power outages (we had two that lasted several days) and all I had was warm tap water, but no way to make real coffee. Oh, this goes against everything I stand for nutrition-wise (can you say Partially Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil?), but I’m desperate. I make a cup of poison. It does the trick and I finish my writing.
2:30 pm Normally, I grab a snack for the car when I pick up the kids from school, some popcorn or a protein bar, but I’m surprisingly NOT hungry. Must be all that trans fat clogging my digestive system. I take advantage of the non-hungry state and grab some water instead.
3:30 pm I return home with all kiddos in tow. I’m literally EXHAUSTED (the slump after the caffeine jolt). There is no way I can work out right now. Getting only six hours of sleep several nights in a row has finally caught up with me. I take advantage of the kids watching Sponge Bob and grab an hour-long nap on the couch.
5:00 pm Now I ‘m hungry. Since Jon is working late, I decide to feed the kids an early dinner (we normally eat at 6:30). I give a quick look at my weekly menu and see I had planned to cook chicken and rice in the crock pot today. Oops. I forgot to put the food in the crock pot this morning. Plan B: Pasta and salad. We’ll have the chicken tomorrow. That is, if I don’t forget again. (I’m seeing a trend of forgetfulness here.)
5:30 pm Pasta and salad doesn’t sound good to me at all. No protein. I spot some raspberry yogurt and cashews which sound REALLY good to me. Why not? Yogurt and cashews it is. OK, and one small cup of pasta with some marinara…and more water.
6:30 pm After we finish with dinner and homework, the kids ask for ice cream. I’m in a generous mood, so I dish it out. BUT, I choose not to partake. This is a hard one for me. I *heart* ice cream more than coffee(see previous statement about additional five pounds added this summer).
7:15 pm While the older kids are starting to take their showers, I finally seize an hour where I can get in a good work out. I would LOVE to go for a walk right now. The weather is perfect and I haven’t been out much today. But Jon won’t be home for another hour or so. To the basement I go.
I start out with 10 minutes on the elliptical, and then work my lower body with our gym equipment, lunges, squats and crunches. I don’t really keep track of how many reps, because I’m watching a Seinfeld rerun and I’m laughing my head off (Low Talker/Puffy Shirt episode). In the middle of my workout, Jon comes home and sits on the couch to chat while I finish up (two adult conversations in one day? Hot DOG!!). Now I’m really not counting reps. I just keep lunging and crunching until I can’t do anymore. The whole workout is about 45 minutes, if I take out the breaks where Elliana keeps trying to feed me pretend food while she sits on my stomach. It was a good workout, but I don’t think I pushed myself as far as I should have.
9:15 pm All the kids are in bed and Jon is watching TV . *Long Sigh…* I’m starving. No surprise, I hardly ate today. And I’m a big advocate of eating something healthy whenever you’re hungry. And I also advocate eating several small meals a day, even at night. But I’m trying to break a bad habit of mindless eating. And I’m really trying to break a bad habit of eating right before bed (usually a bowl of cereal). So I say “no” to the snack and decide instead to take a relaxing shower and crawl into bed with my new Health magazine and a glass of water. I haven’t read in bed in weeks. It really helps me sleep.
10:15 pm Turn off light. Guess what! I didn’t starve by denying my body that last snack. And I feel really good about it. A good day like this makes me motivated that I can have another good day tomorrow.
Analysis: Over all, I’m pleased with that day. It is so much better than I had done most of the summer. I did NOT eat enough fruits and vegetables, however. I had that huge salad at lunch and some marinara on my pasta, and that was about it. When I’m fully on the wagon–driving that stinkin’ wagon–I eat a fruit or veggie with every meal and every snack. I should have added a serving of water melon to my breakfast, grabbed an apple or carrot sticks with a a piece of string cheese for the car at 2:30, and ate another small salad at dinner. It would have only added maybe 250-350 calories for the whole day, but packed in a ton of nutrition.
In a few weeks when I’m doing really well, I’ll do this again and we’ll see how it compares.
So, how about you? How did YOU do today? Let me into your brain. And while I’m there, please remind me to buy some coffee.
And after you leave a comment, go check out Debbie at Heart Choices. She’s on a journey she wants to tell you about!
And Sarah at All Pain No Gain gives us her version of “A Day in the Life.” She’s so on the wagon with her P90X! She’s my hero.
My day? You've got to be kidding! It started off great: sleep in, go to mass, AND THEN find out that you have to find out your bank account will be $1500 overdrawn in one day because of an accidental overpayment to the IRS! After which, you learn that your savings account has been raided and totally depleted by your husband, whom you trusted with this money. Now, the thought of murder enters your head. And things went downhill from there. I blogged about it today, so will skip the details here. Time for time out! Do some listening. Let God talk…
Wow, what a day.
I enjoyed reading about your day Sandy. It's so different than mine but we both still struggle to really walk our talk and live a healthy lifestyle.
When I was working as a nurse, I was always walking up and down stairs and not sitting for very long. Nowadays, I sit at my computer for hours all day and that's part of my dilemma to keep the weight off.
I still do my exercise and try to eat healthy but I need to take breaks from the computer and walk around a bit.
Maybe you should go to bed earlier but if the hubby gets home late you want to spend time with him too.
Getting healthy isn't easy. I am on my second quest in my life to loose that 65 pounds. I am two pounds from what "everyone" wants me to weigh. I say about 10 to go. Eat well, love your family, and pray. That keeps us healthy. Blessings.
Try Maxwell House (I think) 1/2 & 1/2 coffee. It's good and helps to make our morning guilty pleasure less guilty!
I too try to workout in midmorning. Or 2pm. By both those times, my food has settled but I'm not bottoming out with hunger. I too put on 5 pounds this summer. Bleck! I'm trying to lose it, plus the 5lbs I'm eternally trying to lose by my 15 year reunion in October! Thanks for your day in the life!
This was a great idea. I hadn't had time to do a research post for today, so when I saw your post I typed up my yesterday routine. And it's now up. This was a great idea!
Thank you for sharing….I am new to this blogging thing and I have to admit…sometimes I don't have time nor do I want to read the new updates…but today something told me to read this one! Boy did I need it. The first week of a full week back to school and I feel as if times just flies by. My day starts at 5:30am and ends at about 11pm. All the way from getting ready for work and school..to soccer practices…to home…to homework….dinner…baths….and bed again. Oh and let's not forget the wonderful fights between all three kidos that happen..oh…about every five minutes. I have really felt overloaded with no time. Listening to your day…ahhh…I am normal!!!! Thank you so much!!! I really needed to know that I am not alone!!!