Aux Vivres

Something that I’ve struggled with so far during this journey is going out with friends during the weekend. I don’t mean party and drink all night but just going out for dinner. I’ve realized that planning activities usually involves eating, whether it’s going out for lunch or supper or even going to grab a drink on a terrace. It’s something that I’ve become more aware of because I can’t just go eat anywhere, anymore. Tonight, for example, my friend and I had been wanting to go out to an all-you-can eat sushi restaurant for a while. I’ve realized that I can’t do that anymore because it conflicts with my diet. We had to find something healthy that we would both enjoy.

We went to to a restaurant called Aux Vivres on St-Laurent near Mont Royal metro. It’s a vegan restaurant that serves healthy, hearty delicious food. And boy, was it delicious! They have salads, chili, wraps, burgers, smoothies and juices. I tried the dragon wrap which is made with tofu, shredded beet, carrot, red cabbage, lettuce, sprouts and dragon sauce. It was so good! It was really filling and it felt great to be eating freshly made food. It made me feel good and healthy.

I definitely recommend this restaurant to everyone. Don’t be turned off by the fact it’s vegan. All their meals are packed with so much flavour that’s good for you. I can’t wait to go back and try something new!

Scheduling Your Work Out In

Our days can quickly get taken up with other activities. We can become really busy but it’s always important to take the time to schedule your work out, to actually plan when in the day you’ll be going to the gym. By doing so, it becomes a priority in your day and you’ll make sure to get it done. My plan today was to work out at 4 and I did as planned after I finished running errands in the morning. I also knew exactly what I wanted to do so I got in and out and my work out was over before I knew it.

I planned to work out my legs today. I did 20 sets of various leg exercises and by the end, my legs felt like jello. It’s such a bittersweet feeling. It feels great because you know you worked out your muscles but it also means that you’ll be sore the next day. I completed my 30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical. It felt like I was on the elliptical for a long time but I pushed through and focused on all the calories I was burning. I foam rolled after my work out to loosen up my legs. I was happy I got my work out done efficiently and it meant I still had the whole evening free to do whatever I want!

Chili

I’ve been looking around at a lot of different recipes lately to try to change up my meals. I’m not very picky with food so I don’t get tired of eating the same thing on a regular basis. It’s important to change things up every once in a while so I decided to make myself some chili. I love chilli! It’s so good and it really fills you up. You can change it up by adding so many vegetables and spices.
A healthy recipe I like to follow is “Chili con Carne” on the website SOScuisine.com. It’s very simple to make. There’s only a few vegetables to cut up and then everything gets thrown into the frying pan. It’s quick, simple and now I have all my dinners made for the week. I divided it into 4 portions with 266 cal, 7.1g fat, 24.7g carbs, and 26.7g of protein per serving. My nutritional information is different than the one on the website because I calculated it myself with the specific ingredients and brands I used. I definitely recommend this meal to anyone who loves a good ol’ fashioned home cooked meal. It’s also a great meal to use for leftovers.
To see the full step by step recipe, just click on the photo and you’ll be directed to the website. Enjoy!

Treat Yo' Self

I was so excited about my results yesterday that I decided to treat myself. I bought a pair of new lululemon pants. They’re cropped compression leggings and I’ve been wanting to get them for a while now. I used a gift card so they were half the price. I can’t wait to wear them. I absolutely love them!

I think it’s really important to celebrate the little milestones. I’ve been working so hard that I need to take the time to reward myself for all the effort I’ve been putting in. It just adds extra excitement to the process. I can look forward to exercising as I have new pants to work out in!

I had a great session with my trainer today. We did a full body workout that involved more strength training exercises. Thankfully there was no sled involved today! I felt really motived and ended up having a great workout. I’m so happy we’re I’m at now and I can’t wait for what else has to come!

Lost 2.2% Body Fat

I did my second Biotonix today and the results are great! I lost 2.2% body fat and I lost 4.2 pounds! I’m so proud of myself! All my hard work has finally been paying off. 4.2 pounds might not seem like a big number but it’s a great start. I’m going to focus more on the body fat percentage because that means I lost fat and maintained or put on muscle at the same time. I lost 2.5cm around my waist and my overall hip to weight ratio decreased.

I improved in all of the other areas of the evaluation. My overall physiological age went down from 22 to 17 (i’m 21). My cardio got better. I increased the number of push ups and sit ups I could do. My vertical jump also increased. Two of my weaker areas improved: my grip strength and my flexibility. My grip strength went up by 1 kg and flexibility increased by 6.5 cm. I’m so happy I improved in every area!

This just goes to show that hard work and dedication will give you the results you want. I’ve been training really hard this past month. I’ve managed to lose weight and also get stronger. I’m eating more than ever but I’m tracking everything I eat. I’ve been fuelling my body and it shows! This has given me so much motivation to keep going. I know I’m being guided in the right direction and I know that I’m just going to continue to get better!

Rope Machine - The Arm Killer

I woke up in such a good mood today. I don’t know why but I was full of energy. It was a surprising feeling for a Monday morning. My work out with my trainer was scheduled for 3pm, after I finished work. It was a great work out today. We worked on my upper body. I had the chance to do a lot of exercises and really work each muscle group. Some of the exercises were incline bench press, cable pulldown, wide grip assisted pull-up, dumbbell flys, and some ab exercises to work on my core. We did a lot of exercises on the new rope machines at the gym. I had to do a lot of sprints with the rope at various angles. I had to pull the rope with one hand at a time and I even had to hold myself in a V position to work my abs and pull on the rope. That exercise was a challenge. It was so tough to hold that position. My abs were burning. The session ended with full body slams with the real ropes. They were superset with 1-arm dumbbell shoulder press. 

All the rope exercises today really killed my arms. Doing 3 sets of sprints and other rope exercises tires your arms out so fast. One second I’m pulling as hard as I can and the next second, I don’t have strength anymore. My arms became jello.

It was cool to see how many different things you can do with the new rope machines. Different angles work different muscles and you can play around with the hand positioning. It’s also fun to challenge yourself to go as fast as you can. 

I also completed my 20 minutes of cardio on the elliptical while watching the movie Shooter. The cinema cardio room is a great way to get through cardio. I became so interested in the movie, I didn’t want to leave. I didn’t realize how quickly time flew by. In all, I had a great work out today and I can’t wait to do it all over again tomorrow!