Nutrition Change Up

So I was talking to both my trainers about my nutrition because I felt like I needed a change. It feels like in the past month I haven’t been losing any weight. I weigh myself once a week and I’ve been fluctuating around 157-158 lbs. It’s a bit frustrating because I’ve been working out really hard and following my diet plan. So we decided to modify my nutrition plan and change up the amount of macronutrients I’ll be eating each day. Starting today my plan is too eat:

- 60-65g of Fat (30% of calories)

- 190-195g of Protein (44% of calories)

- 115-120g of Carbs (26% of calories)

This brings my total calories per day to 1790. It’s the same number of calories as before but less carbs and more fat. I’m still eating a lot of calories every day because it’s important to fuel your body. If I wasn’t eating enough, I would feel tired and have no energy. I’m also never hungry and I don’t feel deprived of any food. I’m excited to see what will happen with these new changes. Only time will tell!

Fun Filled Friday

For some reason, I really enjoy working out on Fridays. It makes me feel good and it’s a great way to start off my weekend. I also like Fridays because it’s my day off. I didn’t have a super exciting day because it was raining. I just watched movies bundled up under the covers.

Scheduled for today was a full body work out. I started with hang cleans and ski jumps to work on my leg power. It was my first time doing hang cleans and I did pretty good. I got the technique pretty quickly and I was able to do them quite well. There was a small mishap where I accidentally hit under my chin with the bar. Thankfully, it didn’t hurt. I moved onto front squat with a quarter squat and “x-lifts” on the Kinesis machine. The extra quarter squat made it a little more challenging. The kinesis exercise worked on my back and I also had to do an ab exercise with a bar. I moved on to single leg RDLs, inverted row and the “dead bug” core exercise. I had to do some Turkish get-ups for my last exercise. Lastly, for my radio, I sprinted across the gym while I had a resistance band around my waist, being held by my trainer. I had to sprint forwards and backwards. I really happy the sled was being fixed because I didn’t want to do the sled again. It’s so tough! The resistance band makes the sprints more challenging and I really have to work hard to move across the gym.

I took the time to foam roll and stretch after my session. I rested most of the day because my body is feeling pretty sore. I use the soreness as a positive thing as it reminds me of all the hard work I’ve been putting in is totally worth it!

Arms Of Steel

I had an 8 am work out planned with my trainer with morning. We planned to work out my upper body. It was a great work out! I felt strong throughout my exercises and I worked hard during the full hour. We started with a chest pass with a medicine ball and then moved to a row to push press exercise using the barbell. I liked the chest pass but the barbell exercise was a little more difficult. Afterwards, we moved to bench press. I had to do a full rep and then a quarter rep, for a total of 12 reps. I had never done bench with a quarter rep so it added a new challenge. I superset that with an “X” exercise using the Kinesis machine. It really worked my posterior shoulders and back. It was definitely harder than it looked. After 3 sets, we moved on to push press and then I did pull ups with the aid of a resistance band. Pull ups are so hard to do and as you know I’ve been working so hard on trying to do one on my own. The band helps a little bit with getting you back up to the top of the bar. It was tough but I tried to do as many reps as I could. I then had to do 1 arm rows followed by push-ups. My trainer said I could do the push ups from my knees but I wanted to work on my regular push-ups. It was tough after doing the bench press but I still got to 15 during my first set. We ended off the session with the battle ropes but this time I had to do them from my knees. I had to do 4 different styles and sprint across the room twice after each style. I repeated it twice. The sprints are cool because it breaks up the battle ropes and still keeps your heart rate up. 

I treated myself to a delicious smoothie post work out. It was so refreshing and overall it was a great start to my morning! 

Myzone

A tool that I use during every one of my workouts is my Myzone belt. It’s a heart rate monitor and belt that helps track the calories burned, the duration and time of the activity, and my intensity through out my work out. The intensity ranges go from blue, green, yellow and red, from lowest to highest intensity. My effort is also displayed as a percentage. The information is displayed on 2 Tv’s in the gym. Its really helpful for me to know how many calories I burned during my work out and my trainer uses as a guide to track my effort. For example, once my effort level reaches a certain level, he’ll move on to the next exercise. On the screen, I also see my current heart rate and my MEPs, my Myzone Effort Points. MEPs accumulate for every minute of activity that I spend in the 5 intensity zones based on my individual maximum heart rate. The more effort that I put in, the more MYZONE Effort points I earn.

A summary of my work out is also e-mailed to me every day. It breaks down how long I was in each intensity level, my maximum and average heart rate, the calories I burned and the MEPs I earned. I can also access it all on-line through my account. Overall, it’s a great tool that helps me track my work out. My effort level tells me when I need to push harder or when I need a break. I like being able to see the calories I burn through out my work out. I never realized how much you burn in an hour. It’s definitely motivating! I definitely recommend it. It’s a great investment and they bring a whole other level of intensity to your work out.

Starting Off On The Right Foot

I had an 8am work out scheduled this morning. It’s early but at least I got it out of the way. Scott planned a lower body work out. I really enjoyed today’s work out. It incorporated a lot of different exercises and I felt strong doing them. We started with jump squats with a barbell and then moved to depth jumps with broad jumps. I really want to improve on my box jumps so my trainer has been incorporating a lot of leg power exercises to improve the power generated in my legs while jumping. I really enjoyed the jumps and I could push myself to go farther every time. The next superset involved bulgarian split squats with 15 lbs in each hand, followed by hip thrusts. I really had to fight through these exercises because I could feel the burn in my legs. My third group of exercises was 12 Romanian dead lifts followed by the dead bug exercise. This last exercise was used to help me work on my core.

The last superset was brutal. I had to do 50 goblet squats.. 50 goblet squats!! Followed by a dynamic plank where I had discs under my feet to make the exercise more difficult. I had to rock forward and back  with my full body while staying on my feet. The plank was a challenge but the worst was the squats. Doing that many reps in a row just becomes boring and really tiring. On top of it, I had to repeat both exercises 3 times. That’s 150 squats within that super set! So tough! My trainer knew I was not a happy camper by the end of it!

We finished off with sprints across the gym. I had to run forward and backwards with a resistance band around my waist. It made me power through my run and I really had to push hard to move myself while my trainer was holding me back. I thought it was a lot of fun and I did a lot better than I thought I would. It was a great way to end the session! Overall it was tough but I powered through and now I feel great!

Toss It Up

My go to for lunch is usually salads. They’re so easy and quick to make and it’s so easy to change it up every day. I usually use spinach as my base. Sometimes I’ll change it up with a spring mix that you can buy at the grocery store. I’ll most often use a chicken breast for my protein but sometimes I’ll switch up with tuna or salmon. I like to add a lot of fresh veggies for added flavour. I add tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, and avocado. I love adding avocado because it tastes so good!! My favourite dressing is Raspberry Merlot by Bolthouse Farms. It adds a little sweetness to the salad which I love. I’ll change it up and use a balsamic vinaigrette too.

I changed my usual salad on Sunday for a broccoli slaw with asian dressing. It was really good. The slaw was a great change and I added my chicken to get some more protein. I want to take the time to start making more quinoa and other grain salads. You can add so many veggies to it and they pack so many great nutrients. I need to just take the time to find a recipe and make it or I can just be creative and mix a whole bunch of great ingredients. I want to start mixing up my meals so I don’t get bored of always eating the same things.

I’m off to train my arms and do some interval sprints on the treadmill. Happy monday everyone!

A little More About Me

I wanted to take the opportunity to let you guys know a little more about me. I’m 21 years old. Turning 22 in July. I’m studying Athletic Therapy at Concordia University. I just completed my third year of university and I will be starting my final year in September. I’m hoping to get certified as an Athletic Therapist in June next year. I decided to go into Athletic Therapy because it combined my love for sports and my interest in anatomy and the human body. I’ve learned so much with regards to anatomy and physiology, as well as emergency care, assessments and the rehabilitation of injuries. The program has offered me a lot of hands on experience in the field as well. I completed 2 full year internships at John Abbott College where I got to work with all the sports teams. It was a great experience and I got to work with so many great therapists and athletes. I’m currently working with the Beaconsfield Rugby Club and I’ll be working with them all summer.

I’ve been working at Gold’s Gym in Beaconsfield since November 2012. I started off working at the front desk but now I have moved into sales. I’m in charge of membership renewals and I also take care of selling memberships to new members. I love working at Gold’s Gym because of the amazing staff I get to work with every day. I’ve developed so many amazing friendships and seeing them every day makes work so much more exciting.

Gold’s Gym is supporting me through my transformation. They are the ones guiding me on my weight loss journey by providing me with personal training and nutritional guidance. Their support has helped me so much thus far and I know they’ll always be there for me. I’ve been feeling really excited these last few days of everything that’s yet to come. I have so much energy and new found happiness. It’s been just a little over a month and I’m feeling great!