2 weeks of updates

Things have been BUSY!

Luckily, I've stayed on track with my fitness and nutrition goals for the most part.  Since my last post I gave up on watching the balance of carbs, protein, and fat I eat each day. It's still saved in my LoseIt! app, but it doesn't seem to be giving me any useful information. I try to be mindful about eating enough proteins and choosing "good" carbs, but right now trying to strive for a certain balance doesn't seem helpful.

Two weeks ago (May 8th week) was my first week of it, which included my trip to NC - so I had to double up on some workouts before I left and once I got back to fit everything in.  However, when they are only 30 minutes long and some of them are lower impact (e.g. yoga), that's not impossible.

May 9-15

As you can see, I was sticking on track with all my goals until I flew down to NC on Friday morning. 500 calories over budget (and who knows what Saturday) isn't ideal, but to be honest, I wasn't that unhappy about it either. My app aims for me to lose 1.5 pounds a week, so my daily caloric deficit is around 750. Which means if I eat 500 calories over budget once or twice, I'm still not likely to gain weight. Also, Durham food... yum. My MIL took us to one of my favorite restaurants, Harvest 18, for dinner on Saturday after the hooding ceremony, and it was INCREDIBLE. They strive to have at least 80% of their foods locally sourced and have an amazing style of fresh southern food.  We also went to brunch at Rue Cler, home of my favorite beignets and a duck confit crepe that is to die for.

Hooding Ceremony

We flew back Sunday night and had a relatively uneventful week last week, except that my grant was due this week so I was stressing out about that and working all weekend.  Often times, when I get stressed about work I'm likely to decide I don't have time for exercise or time to cook, so I eat take out and don't work out. I think one of the reasons P90X3 is going well so far is that it's only 30 minutes and can be done at home easily, so I have an easier time telling myself I do have the time to workout even if work is insane.  I also keep trying to remind myself that exercise helps me de-stress, which makes it MORE likely that I'll be able to focus on work later.

May 16 -22

Usually food would be a different story and I would have eaten lots of takeout last week/this week before the grant went in. I think having splurged so much in NC curbed that a bit - I was ready for "regular" and healthier food. I also had a pretty good plan of attack. I made two dishes that had leftovers (three-cheese chicken penne primavera and shrimp pad thai) and threw in Taco Tuesday to mix it up. Both dishes were relatively easy - I made them Monday and Wednesday - and that gave me Thursday through the weekend to focus on work and not cooking. I have noticed a decline in the past week of my fiber intake, so I think I'll need to keep an eye on that to ensure that I maintain around 25g per day.

You might have noticed I didn't go to spin at ALL those past two weeks. That's probably the side effect of the stress and getting used to P90X3. I went last night - hooray! and will try to keep going 2x/week best I can. I also think I'm changing my water intake goal from 75oz/day to 100 oz/day, because I sweat a LOT with my workouts, and because it's obviously achievable based on how I've been doing.

This weekend will be another test - going to the lake means having less control over what I eat and needing to really watch portion control. BUT, I have a plan in place to get all my workouts in and there is a lovely 1.5ish mile loop to walk the dog on, so I should be able to get all my exercise in... fingers crossed I might even get to swim if it's nice enough!