Les Mills 21-Day Challenge Days 2 - 4

OVERALL UPDATE FOR THE DAY

If you would like to do the Les Mills 21-Day Challenge you can find instructions at http://aalthoff.blogspot.com/2013/03/les-mills-21-day-nutritional-challenge.html

For those you don’t know, I attempted the program and on day eleven I got sick and had to stop. Today is day FIVE! 

This second time around has been actually a little more difficult. I think I had my mind set to complete this program in full, and I had the support of other instructors doing it with me. There are others doing it with me (members of Flow Studio), but I am not privy to their experiences all the time like with my fellow instructors.

During my time in between my first attempt and this attempt, I went back to eating all of the bad things that I love and gained a few pounds in the process. It is AMAZING how hard it is to lose and how easy it is to gain. After this program, I do plan on going to the BodPod so that I can determine if any muscle was lost during the process instead of fat. Maintaining my muscle tone is very important to me not only for my health, but to maintain my bone density as I age.

Also, I am having more of an issue with food preparation. It seems I am constantly cooking something, so this coming Sunday I plan on making some advanced meals for Monday and Tuesday. I had one day with a rather large mess up, but I got right back on track the next day. Well, enough chatter…. Let’s get to the nitty gritty details.

DAILY UPDATES

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Exercise: Taught 45 minutes of RPM

Food: Stuck to the program 50% today. YES! It was kind of bad at dinner…

Meal 1: IsaLean French Vanilla Shake, Ionix Supreme, Cleanse for Life, Want More Energy and IsaOmega with IsaCrunch

Meal 2: Two organic cage free hard boiled eggs, a few bites of yogurt, thumb size of avacado, and some raw veggies

Meal 3: Laura’s Lean Beef Ribeye and steamed veggies

Meal 4: Two organic cage free eggs, 1 Isagenix Slimcake, and raw almonds

Meal 5: Parmesan crusted chicken, steamed broccoli, 3 mozzerella sticks, and half a pitcher of Jeremiah Red Beer! L

- Under my calories needed by 189 calories

- Under my carbs needed by 87 g

- Over my fat needed by 40 g (Mozzerella Sticks!!)

- Under my protein needed by 22 g

- Over my fiber needed by 1 g (must have been the beer ha! )

- Over my sugar needed by 15 g

Weight: Same in the morning

Waist Size: Same in the morning

Bad Influences Encountered: Well, I rarely see my husband, Rick, due to work and other obligations. On this evening, he was off work and we decided to go out to dinner at BJ’s Brewhouse

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Exercise: My day off, no exercise

Food: Stuck to the program 85% today. I added some carbs. My body was screaming for them.

Meal 1: Three Private Selection Free Range Organic Eggs, two slices of Brownberry Whole Grain Bread

Meal 2: One Private Selection Free Range Organic Egg, Chicken salad with lots of veggies: cucumber, tomatoes, red leaf lettuce, colored peppers (yellow, red and orange), 3 tsp of Isagenix IsaCrunch

Meal 3: One Private Selection Free Range Organic Egg and veggies

Meal 4: Chicken breast, raw almonds, baby carrots, colored peppers (all colors), broccoli, tomato, and Isagenix IsaCrunch

Meal 5: Canned premium chunk chicken breat (one can) and steamed mixed veggies, Keeble Toasteds crackers (5)

- Under my calories needed by 449 calories

- Under my carbs needed by 63 g

- Over my fat needed by 19 g (Today was freakin EGG Day)

- Over my protein needed by 17 g

- Under my fiber needed by 2 g

- Over my sugar needed by 14 g

Weight: Same in the morning

Waist Size: Same in the morning

Bad Influences Encountered: Had plans to go to dinner with friends, but a freelance project came up. Since I have been having a hard time sticking 100% to the program, it’s probably best that I was not able to go. WHEW! Disaster averted.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Exercise: Taught 1 hour of BodyPump…. WOW! BodyPump 85 is a challenging release. GREAT workout!! My calves were even sweating!

Food: Stuck to the program 90% today. I added some carbs. My body was screaming for them.

Meal 1: IsaOmega Supreme/Cleanse for Life/Ionix Supreme supplements, Isalean french vanilla shake, IsaCrunch

Meal 2: One Private Selection Free Range Organic Egg, tomatoes, chicken breast, baby raw carrots, olive oil

Meal 3: One can of premium chunk chicken breast, IsaLean bar, Jack Link’s teriyaki beef steak, slimcake (no veggies)… I ran out and need to go to the store! AAAHHH

Meal 4: Sirloin steak, broccoli, house salad with bacon

Meal 5: Chicken breast steamed mixed veggies and broccoli, raw almonds and 4 keebler toasted crackers

- Under my calories needed by 819 calories

- Under my carbs needed by  123g

- Over my fat needed by 20 g

- Over my protein needed by 22 g

- Over my fiber needed by 4 g

- Over my sugar needed by 24 g (my supplements)

Weight: Down 2 pounds

Waist Size: Didn’t measure just yet

Bad Influences Encountered: Invited out for beers, but declined to have one and only stayed for 10 minutes. Had dinner with my web designer, but luckily I was very good at dinner. Applebee’s has some really GREAT options!

Make sure you check out the commonly asked questions at: www.lesmills.com/research

If you need specialized nutritional guidance or help contact Flow Studio's Health and Wellness Coach (Teresa Harlow) at teresa.harlow@youcanwellness.com or (740) 972-1116

Visit www.flowwithus.com for more information on Flow Studio's Elite Group Fitness Classes. 

Les Mills 21-Day Challenge Day One!!

OVERALL UPDATE FOR THE DAY

If you would like to do the Les Mills 21-Day Challenge you can find instructions at http://aalthoff.blogspot.com/2013/03/les-mills-21-day-nutritional-challenge.html

For those you don’t know, I attempted the program and on day 11 I got sick and had to stop. Today is day one, and I am so happy to be back on the program. My goal is to go the full 21 days!

I felt so full after my first three meals, but didn’t feel satisfied really. Today, I had a headache and was craving carbs. So, I did have a few crackers with cream cheese and hummus on it. OOPPS. That took care of my carb craving. I didn’t really want to have my last meal, but I did anyway. My stomach was a little angry with me, so I did have a little bit of yogurt, which made me feel so much better. I was quite tired today as well when normally I am not.

Overall today was a good day, and I think my body is going to adjust much better this time around. J

DAILY UPDATES

Monday, April 22, 2013

Exercise: Taught 45 minutes of freestyle cycling, 30 minutes of CXWORX and went for a long walk with my Trixie girl.

Food: Stuck to the program 95% today.

Meal 1: IsaLean French Vanilla Shake, Ionix Supreme, Cleanse for Life, Want More Energy and IsaOmega with IsaCrunch – other than the shake the other items is a mixture I have before teaching any class. I cannot eat anything before an activity but liquids and powders or I will not fare well. Ha!

Meal 2: Baked cod (fish) and a large salad with red leaf lettuce, red/yellow/orange peppers, cucumber, tomatoes, red onion and broccoli

Meal 3: Scrambled organic cage free eggs (two full eggs and two egg whites), salsa, red/yellow/orange peppers, and my crackers with cream cheese and hummus

Meal 4: Hard boiled egg, handful of almonds (10) and tomatoes

Meal 5: Laura’s Lean Ribeye Steak with tomatoes, cucumber and frozen mixed veggies made in my steamer

- Under my calories needed by 1025 calories

- Under my carbs needed by 150 g

- Over my fat needed by 25 g (Steak and eggs did me)

- Under my protein needed by 44 g

- Under my fiber needed by 7 g (nothing a little Isagenix Fiber Pro can’t fix tomorrow)

- Over my sugar needed by 8 g

Weight: gained 3 pounds back

Waist Size: the same as when I stopped the program

Bad Influences Encountered: I was supposed to go out to dinner with some friends, but a freelance project came up that I had to complete. So, I ended up having the cancel. Bummer! I was going to be good, but who really knows. Everyone I was supposed to meet is totally supportive of my being on this program. I think I would have done fine for sure.

I am supposed to go out with a girlfriend on Friday AND Saturday this weekend. She has already expressed that she wants me to have drinks with her. But, I am thinking after she has a few without me she will not even notice I’m not drinking. I am very scared about Friday and Saturday…. She’s so influential! YIKES I need some supportive comments from all of you to keep me in line please. xoxo

Make sure you check out the commonly asked questions at: www.lesmills.com/research

If you need specialized nutritional guidance or help contact Flow Studio's Health and Wellness Coach (Teresa Harlow) at teresa.harlow@youcanwellness.com or (740) 972-1116

Visit www.flowwithus.com for more information on Flow Studio's Elite Group Fitness Classes. 

Les Mills 21-Day Challenge - A New Start - YIKES & WOO HOO

OVERALL UPDATE

Be sure to read what the program entails and days 1-14 below this post.

I finally introduced some vegetables into my diet today. It was okay, but obviously my body needs some time to introduce any foods that require a lot of digestion at this point. Since my “little ailment setback” my body is enjoying highly absorbable foods that don’t include a lot of roughage and meat.

SO, I am making the difficult decision to…. YES!!! AS MUCH AS I DON’T WANT TO SINCE I GOT SO FAR INITIALLY…. But I will be starting the program over completely on Monday, April 22^nd!! WHO IS WITH ME?? If you have been thinking about it, now is the perfect time. It’s obtainable, and the results (for myself at least) have been very pleasing.

Overall, this program seems to give fantastic results. I have heard back from Yvette and Jen, and they have reported much success! Yvette claims she has lost no weight, but she looks like she has most certainly LOST that little fibber! I heard that Jen has lost 10 pounds, and 2 inches in her waist at the half way point, which is phenomenal since she is so tiny and lean as it is…. Jealous! J 

DAILY UPDATES

Thursday

Exercise: Taught one hour of BodyPump and practiced a full RPM (new release 58 by the way) for 45 minutes

Food: Stuck to the program 90%…decided to have some wine while cooking dinner. WOW! That's a kick. ha!

- Under my calories needed by 432 calories

- Under my carbs needed by 152 g

- Under my fat needed by 16 g

- Under my protein needed by 54 g

- Under Fiber needed by 19 g

- Over my sugar needed by 20 g (drank two shakes today as opposed to one, which includes fructose from fruit)

Weight: Down 5.5 pounds total

Waist Size: Still down 1/2 inch!!

Other Body Parts: Chest down 1 inch, diaphragm down 3/4 inch, abdomen down 3/4 inch, both arms down 1/2 inch, hips down 1 inch. YEAH, I think I am happy!

Bad Influences Encountered: 

My mother and aunt came up for the Fleetwood Mac concert. They wanted to go out to dinner and have fun Friday, BUT I was sick. So sorry! Dodged that one.

A former co-worker dropped off Sugar Daddy BROWNIES at Flow Studio. Yeah, I have been eating them here and there, but not to excess.... wink wink!

My ailment caused me to need easily digestible carbs… what can I do. Boo!

Okay, who is with me to start FULL THROTTLE on Monday, April 22^nd for 21 days… just before summer??? Who Who??…. J

Les Mills 21-Day Challenge Day 11 - 14

OVERALL UPDATE

Be sure to read what the program entails and days 1-10 below this post.Overall felt pretty weak in my workout on Thursday morning. I know that another instructor is feeling the same way, but one more is feeling just fine (Jen and Yvette respectively). Thursday, my diet was on track, but something was very off later in the afternoon on this day. Not only was I feeling weak, it didn’t seem like I was digesting anything very well, even water!

Well! It’s been a few days because my family household caught somewhat of an illness, and we are still not over it. L DARN it! We have nothing contagious per Urgent Care. So, on Friday – today, my diet has been fairly bland with lots of liquids. When I say bland, I mean I am consuming nothing approved by the 21 day nutritional challenge. So, it looks like once I get better, I will extend the program out so that I can accomplish the full 21-days. I would like nothing more than to do more days of this let me tell you! LOL

I am going to see if Yvette or Jen will pick up on day 12 once they reach it and provide their information to me to report. I will ask them to see if they will. Then you can see some variety. 

DAILY UPDATES

Thursday

Exercise: Taught one hour of BodyPump.

Food: Stuck to the program 100%…

- Under my calories needed by 781 calories

- Under my carbs needed by 120 g

- Over my fat needed by 7 g

- Under my protein needed by 7 g

- Over Fiber needed by 4 g (I am telling you I sure don’t need fiber now! HA!)

- Over my sugar needed by 29 g (Took my traditional pre-workout drink that I use before BodyPump on this day. Ionix Supreme has sugar/black strap molasses) 

Weight: Still holding at 2 pounds total lost

Waist Size: Still down 1/2 inch!!

Bad Influences Encountered: Stopped by the Crown for the SWOOP. Friends offered me free beer, but I said no. And as soon as the pizza came out…I said bye and bolted back to the studio quicker than anything. It would not have been pretty on this evening had I eaten pizza, let’s just leave it at THAT! LOL

Friday:

Exercise: None

Food:  N/A

Weight: N/A

Waist Size: N/A

** Hopefully to be continued by Jen or Yvette (wink wink)

Saturday

Exercise: None

Food:  N/A

Weight: N/A

Waist Size: N/A

** Hopefully to be continued by Jen or Yvette (wink wink)

Sunday

Exercise: None

Food:  N/A

Weight: N/A

Waist Size: N/A

** Hopefully to be continued by Jen or Yvette (wink wink)

Les Mills 21-Day Challenge Day 10

OVERALL UPDATE

Be sure to read what the program entails and days 1-9 below this post.

Felt great today. I had lots of energy and did some much-needed spring-cleaning. I was not starving or famished. I had my 5 meals during the day and was not grabbing for any sugar like my INNER FAT KID was making the do the past few days. I am going to stick to the no sugar or sugar bunny from here on out. So, this might be a “sort of” boring update BECAUSE I WAS GOOD. WOOT!

I can say that I feel leaner, and there are certain aspects of my body (other than my waist) that have tightened up from what I can measure. Typically, I lose inches in my hips, legs, bust and face BEFORE my arms and waist. 

I do plan on getting a BodPod assessment after this program to determine exactly what fat and muscle I have lost and/or gained. The BodPod is the true test! (If you want to know more about the BodPod, let me know)

DAILY UPDATES

Wednesday

Exercise: Cleaned like a mad woman and took Trixie for a 20 minute walk. Wednesdays are my no exercise/light workout days.

Food: Stuck to the program 100%…

- Under my calories needed by 922 calories (still not sure if being under so much is a good thing, but I am following the program so..... time will tell, and the truth will be in the BodPod)

- Under my carbs needed by 112 g

- Over my fat needed by 10 g (Had three eggs with the yolk, oh well)

- Under my protein needed by 13 g

- Over Fiber needed by 15 g (This should take care of the cheese I loaded myself up with before the program. LOL)

- Over my sugar needed by 9 g (Not bad considering keeping sugar intake at bay is very difficult) 

Weight: Still holding at 1.5 pounds total lost

Waist Size: Down 1/2 inch!!

Bad Influences Encountered: No bad influences to report today…. But if I hear “no body likes a quitter” one more time for turning down alcohol or bad food I am going to let my crazy out. Enough warning?? LOL I’m a pretty girl who would never bite anyone…. hee hee