FLP - Day 40 - NEW YEAR'S DAY 2010

HAPPY NEW YEARS, EVERYONE!

Cardio - cleared off 2 inches of snow cone from the driveway, then was able to walk around the icy streets of the neighborhood

Also Salsa Class at The Banana Factory from 8 -10 PM. :-)

Strength Training -

Clean and Jerk - 3 sets of 14 reps - 2 8 lb.hand weights seem right for now
Get-Up (quickly) - 3 sets of 8 reps each arm - I am still not able to get totally off the ground
Burpees, Pushup, Press Combination 3 Sets of 10 reps, this hurts my right wrist as does the get-up
Alternating Lunge & Torso Rotation 3 sets of 11 reps each direction
Ball Pass - 3 sets of 11 reps - this is one of the toughest things, no I'm not at 14
3 Point Toe Tappers - 3 sets of 14 reps each leg
Chin-Down & Crunch - 3 sets of 9 reps

Nutrition -

Breakfast - Smoothie - I find the Smoothies breakfast and the Eggs/Omelet breakfast to be the most satisfying. Oatmeal has me hungry later in the day. This Smoothie finishes the "Vegan proteins +" brand. I am looking forward to trying "Vega Complete ..." which I got from Amazon. I'll have to change the vitamins I take when I use the Vega as it lists everything that's in the multivitamin I take. B vitamins have been a bit of a challenge. I take a supplement as I don't process B vitamins properly.

No Morning Snack - I haven't been having a Morning Snack when having a full portion of smoothie

Lunch - a can drained tuna, a few slices green pepper, a dill pickle, 1/4 c garbanzo beans; 1/2 honeycrisp apple (these are kind of big)

Afternoon snack - 1 cup of carrots & broccoli

Dinner - 6 oz. Baked Halibut with a little salsa; rocket salad with chopped red peppers & grape tomatoes + 1 T oil and lemon juice

Evening Snack - 2 Oz. pecans (leftovers from Christmas cookie baking)

Sunday's fun cardio will most likely be dancing Salsa from 5 - 9 PM at Jimmy Anton's in NYC.

FLP - Day 39 - New Year's Eve 2010

Cardio was again walking & jogging in the neighborhood. Warmup of 5 minutes to break a sweat then intervals of 5 Sets of 3 min. high intensity + 2 min. low intensity.

I'm looking forward to going back to the Air Products Fitness Center starting Monday next week. I've been a Monday, Wednesday, Friday regular for years and had been maintaining my weight, the weight I've dropped back to on the FLP, until I stopped going on a regular basis in June. Now I'd like to lose another 15 to 20 pounds. The reason I stopped going to the Fitness Center is another story. A woman I know from the Fitness Center lost 20 pounds and visibly a lot of inches doing P90X at home with her husband so I decided to give it a try. It did not work for me as it requires you to watch the video while doing the training. For several things, such as using the chin-up bar or bands, I would have to stop the video, run down the hall to do assisted chin-ups, then fast forward the video. What should be 45 minutes would turn into well over 1 hour 15 minutes. The videos do not have scene selection so the first several minutes of each video is just getting to what you are doing. I love the warm ups of P90X. The system also requires exercising six days a week with one day off and most days are different so you have to pay attention to which video to play. It's difficult to exercise on the days that my husband wasn't going to exercise himself. And in the meantime we took an extended motorcycle trip to Newfoundland and another to Yellowstone NP plus I was gone several times to be with my sister during her husband's illness. The bottom line is I tried it for four months and gained ten pounds. :-(

Strength Training -

Clean and Jerk - 3 sets of 13 reps - 2 8 lb.hand weights seem right for now
Get-Up (quickly) - 3 sets of 8 reps each arm - I am still not able to get totally off the ground
Burpees, Pushup, Press Combination 3 Sets of 10 reps, this hurts my right wrist as does the get-up
Alternating Lunge & Torso Rotation 3 sets of 10 reps each direction
Ball Pass - 3 sets of 11 reps - this is one of the toughest things, no I'm not at 13
3 Point Toe Tappers - 3 sets of 13 reps each leg
Chin-Down & Crunch - 3 sets of 9 reps

Nutrition - 1/2 portions again

Breakfast - Omelet with 1 whole egg + 2 egg whites, spinach & mushrooms - don't care for bell peppers with spinach and don't like onions, green or otherwise, in omelets; 1/2 tiny red grapefruit

No Morning Snack as I find Omelets and Eggs to be very satisfying

Lunch - Mexican Salad with 1/2 chicken breast - this is probably the most boring of all lunches, Coach Rylan needs to meet Jacque Pepin or Jamie Oliver. The Goodness-to-Work ratio (GTW
) ratio is very low.

Afternoon Snack - 1/2 c edamame beans

Dinner - Grilled Wild Salmon & a Spinach Salad with a hard boiled egg, mushroom & a little olive oil and lemon juice + a glass of Chardonnay (afterall, it is New Year's Eve)

No Evening Snack - Watched Jean Gabin in "Pepe le Moco" (1937). He's good and there's some interesting filming, but overall the film is bad.

Did not stay up to watch the ball drop in Times Square. This was not an exciting New Year's Eve. Many New Years have been spent in Sjusjoen, Norway. One was at The Ice Hotel in Jukkasjarvi, Sweden with it's Absolut Ice Bar. Long distance cross country skiing is a good cure for hangovers.

FLP - Day 38 - December 30, 2009

Cardio was walking & jogging in the neighborhood. Warmup of 5 minutes to break a sweat then intervals of 5 Sets of 3 min. high intensity + 2 min. low intensity

Strength Training -

Clean and Jerk - 3 sets of 12 reps - bumped up the hand weights yesterday to make this harder
Get-Up (quickly) - 3 sets of 8 reps each arm - I am still not able to get totally off the ground
Burpees, Pushup, Press Combination 3 Sets of 10 reps, this hurts my right wrist as does the get-up
Alternating Lunge & Torso Rotation 3 sets of 9 reps each direction
Ball Pass - 3 sets of 10 reps - this is one of the toughest things, still at 10
3 Point Toe Tappers - 3 sets of 12 reps each leg
Chin-Down & Crunch - 3 sets of 9 reps

Nutrition - 1/2 portions again

Breakfast - 1 whole egg + 2 egg whites scrambled & nuked, 2 slices dill pickle

Morning Snack - 1/2 c fresh blueberries (I love Argentina!)

Lunch - 2 c salad greens, a few grape tomatoes & slices carrot; 2 oz. roasted chicken; I'm getting tired of poultry, I never get tired of seafood

Afternoon Snack - 1/2 apple - no pb as a trace of pb would just make me hungry for more

Dinner - Same as lunch except I had 3 oz. of grilled tuna (made tuna for my husband)

No Evening Snack

FLP - Day 37 - December 29, 2009

Cardio was walking & jogging in the neighborhood. Warmup of 5 minutes to break a sweat then intervals of 5 Sets of 3 min. high intensity + 2 min. low intensity

Strength Training -

Clean and Jerk - 3 sets of 11 reps
Get-Up (quickly) - 3 sets of 8 reps each arm - I am still not able to get totally off the ground
Burpees, Pushup, Press Combination 3 Sets of 11 reps
Alternating Lunge & Torso Rotation 3 sets of 8 reps each direction, the easiest of these things
Ball Pass - 3 sets of 10 reps - this is one of the toughest things, 10 reps was it
3 Point Toe Tappers - 3 sets of 11 reps each leg
Chin-Down & Crunch - 3 sets of 9 reps

Nutrition - 1/2 portions today

Breakfast - 1/2 portion of Coach Rylan's hot cereal w/o stevia & it's nasty aftertaste; this is probably the least satisfying breakfast which leaves me hungry a couple hours later

Morning Snack - Quick Shake - I had a tiny glass of smoothie in the frig from a couple days ago

Lunch - Spinach Salad with 2 c spinach, 2 sliced mushrooms, 1 hard boiled egg, & a little olive oil & lemon juice

No Afternoon Snack

Dinner - Stir Fry with 2 cups broccoli, mushroom, bok choy & < 1/2 c shrimp & a handful of spinach

No Evening Snack - We usually finish dinner at about 8 PM and I never eat after that

FLP - Day 36 - December 28, 2009

The required Sunday activity was done by walking around Bethlehem, PA with my family and soaking up the Christmas atmosphere. There are few towns that feel as Christmas-like as Bethlehem.

I worked out at home again all week. I'm looking forward to going back to the fitness center now that I no longer have to drive my husband to his physical therapy sessions.

Cardio was walking & jogging in the neighborhood. Warmup of 5 minutes to break a sweat then intervals of 5 Sets of 3 min. high intensity + 2 min. low intensity

Strength Training -

Clean and Jerk - 3 sets of 10 reps - this is easy, probably needed heavier hand weights
Get-Up (quickly) - 3 sets of 7 reps each arm - I am still not able to get totally off the ground
Burpees, Pushup, Press Combination 3 Sets of 10 reps
Alternating Lunge & Torso Rotation 3 sets of 7 reps each direction
Ball Pass - 3 sets of 10 reps - this is one of the toughest things
3 Point Toe Tappers - 3 sets of 10 reps each leg
Chin-Down & Crunch - 3 sets of 8 reps

Nutrition -

Breakfast - 1/2 c Greek Yogurt with 1 c fresh blackberries + 1 scoop vanilla protein powder, skip the stevia

Morning Snack - Ants on a log with peanut butter and raisins (never heard it called this before)

Lunch - 1 cup or so of broccoli & peppers with 1/4 c natural (homemade) hummus plus 1 Gala apple

Missed the afternoon snack as I was busy

Dinner - Baked Cod with sauteed spinach, mixed green salad with a couple grape tomatoes & slices of green peppers

No evening snack as I don't like to eat too close to dinner & bedtime

FLP - Day 33 - Christmas Day 2009

Santa brought me a book "Eating A Memoir" by Jason Epstein. Alice Waters describes it as "What a storyteller! He brings food into the cultural experience in a beautiful way."

No Real Cardio just a short walk through the neighborhood with my sister, a widow of less than two months. She's visiting with us for about a week.

Strength Training - I felt the need to do something as I'm still getting cramping in my legs several times during the night

Chin-downs 2 sets - 10 reps, this is still pretty much dropping straight to the floor, I keep one foot on the edge of chair and carefully lower myself to the floor.
Lunge, curl, Press - 2 sets 16 reps
Squat, Curl, Press 2 sets 12 reps
Front Dual dumbbell Raise 2 sets 12 reps

Nutrition -

Breakfast - Cooked Oatmeal with 1/2 chopped apple, 1 T sliced almonds, 1/2 T flax seed, no stevia as that has a foul aftertaste

No Morning Snack as I was really busy making Christmas dinner

Lunch & Dinner (one meal) - Turducken which I created myself (turkey, duck, & chicken with dirty rice stuffing); spinach & artichoke heart stuffing; sweet potatoes, roasted brussel sprouts, baked cranberry sauce, & a glass of Malbec

Snack - 1 Thomas Haas Sparkle Cookie & 1 Mexican Wedding Cookie

FLP - Day 32 - Christmas Eve Day !!!

Cardio was walking/jogging through the neighborhood.

Strength Training

Jackknife & Pushup 1 set - 12 reps, 2 sets 9 reps; I still have problems balancing on the ball, I maybe need a smaller ball and a less slippery floor :-)
Chin-downs 3 sets - 10 reps, this is still pretty much dropping straight to the floor, I keep one foot on the edge of chair and carefully lower myself to the floor. Everyday I do a couple without the chair, but at 170 lbs, I don't seem to make much progress at this but I keep at it.
Lunge, curl, Press - 3 sets 18 reps
Toe Tappers - 3 sets 16 taps each leg
Squat, Curl, Press 3 sets 13 reps
Front Dual dumbbell Raise 3 sets 13 reps

Nutrition -

Breakfast - Smoothie - It tasted rather bitter and vile this morning. I thought it was because I used fresh, not frozen strawberries. Part way through the smoothie I realized I forgot to add a banana. That made all the difference. :-)

No Morning Snack

Lunch - Canned tuna, some pepper strips, a dill pickle spear, some garbanzos, & a half of a Honeycrisp apple

Afternoon Snack - A couple carrot & celery sticks while I was preparing the base for dinner

Dinner - Cioppino & a green salad

No Evening Snack