What doesn’t kill you…

…makes you stronger in a long, painful, drawn-out way.

No, I haven’t had a near-death experience.

I’m writing a paper for a college composition class. Ugh. I’m not sure which one is worse, the death scare or the writing project.

I’ll spare you the gory details and move on to exercise! A much, much happier subject, in my opinion.

Today I had Weight Training class; and I did Day 4 of the 4-day schedule my professor planned: shoulders and biceps.

• shoulder press
• lat raises
• upright row
• reverse delt machine
• bicep curls with dumbbells
• bicep curls with bar
• ab machine (don’t really know what this is called)
• I was supposed to do preacher curls but the machine was being used the entire class period.

AND I got my body fat composition taken…I’m a little ashamed to admit mine is 23.7! I know that’s really NOTHING to be ashamed of, but I was definitely expecting a lower number…I haven’t been really great with eating throughout the time that I’ve been paying attention to what I eat (too restrictive in some areas–restricting some foods completely simply because they “aren’t good for me”, eating no cake, no ice cream, etc. for a while; too liberal in others–a bowl of oatmeal with peanut butter, bananas, and chocolate protein powder for dessert, right after dinner, MORE than once!) and I almost never care how much fat is in something I eat (if it’s low enough in calories, I’ll eat it), but I didn’t realize it really affected me. I guess that makes sense, though; I’ve been frustrated recently with not seeing results from heavier lifting. So I’ve resolved to at least pay attention to my fat intake (and over-all food intake; I tend to over eat just because I can) and focus on eating a balanced diet (with more protein instead of fat to keep me full).

On a totally different note, I signed up for Disney’s Tower of Terror 13K!! I am SO excited about this! Like I said before, I’ve never run this far in my life! But I cannot wait to tackle eight miles at nighttime in Disney World! I’ve planned out every workout from now until the race, with a 5K and 5-miler the two Saturdays before the big one. I’ll run twice a week, once for distance (using the Galloway run/walk method with which I could run forever and ever on) and once for maintenance (short, tempo runs).

Well, I gotta get back to writing that paper but I’ll be back soon (I hope).

—Gina

 ²⁸Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

 ²⁹He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

 ³⁰Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

 ³¹But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. (Isaiah 40:28-31, King James Version)

Not again!

I’m just taking a minute away from studying to say hello and make sure you don’t think I’ve forgotten about the blog!

I have an exam tomorrow and one on Friday so I’m going a little crazy with the studying. And I’m trying to get as much sleep as possible in between to make sure I’m 100% awake when I take those exams!! Deja vu, right? Every week is looking just like the last one….AAAAAHHHH!

I thought I had a few pictures from my meals over the week, but after looking at the folder they should be in on my computer, I’ve realized I haven’t uploaded them! So I’ll keep talking. Haha. I’m at school now without the camera or I’d put them up.

The highlights of my eats this week have been:

• Rancho La Puerta Granola (made last night after a nice, slow run! This is so so so addicting! And very Fall-like.)
• Couscous with Garbanzos and Tomatoes (no recipe, I just mixed couscous with canned garbanzos and canned diced tomatoes with green chilies)
• and a monster of a breakfast cookie!

Um, there were a lot more, but without the camera to remind me of them, I kinda forgot. I will post tomorrow or Friday with a REAL update!

I’ve made it to the gym Monday and Wednesday (well obviously, I have Weight Training those days) and did chest/cardio and back/triceps, respectively. PLUS! I’ve run EVERY DAY SINCE SUNDAY! My legs are getting tight but after they do their job once more they’ll get several days of rest (I have rugby practice tonight, but I think the running will be lighter than Monday’s…that’s how we did it last week). I’m so proud of my legs for staying strong this week!!

A new blog I’ve started to read is something.beautiful, and Molly has a giveaway going on right now! It’s almost over, so get your entry in by TONIGHT…or don’t so I can win ;)

Later!

—Gina

¹⁰Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. (Isaiah 41:10, King James Version)

The weekend is a beautiful thing.

Even though I was up at the crack of dawn yesterday morning and feel asleep on my way back from my rugby game, I feel so rested after this weekend. I slept in big time this morning, and did all the things I love to do on Sundays: attended church, completed homework, made delicious meals, and RAN OUTSIDE =D

I was saving my run for evening because running is impossible during the day in Florida, but when rain came pouring down this afternoon I was afraid I’d have to skip my run today. At 6PM I went through the motions of making dinner: baked a potato, cooked a pot of pasta, and got out a can of kidney beans. Then the rain stopped. By that time, I was out of the running mood and ready to sit down to eat…but I realized if I always thought that way and didn’t take advantage of the chances I get to run, I’d never get out there and I’d never become the successful runner I want to be. So I went, with both my brother and sister. And we had the most amazing run we’ve had in a looooong time!! I am SO READY to get back into running! I’m extremely excited that I’ve reached that point because I used to run so much that I hated it. Running was a chore, and it was wearing me out. I had to stop for two weeks when I was away from home at camp, and when I came back home I tried to run again but it wasn’t the same; I had broken the habit. And I didn’t realize it then, but my body was just tired. I was running, lifting, biking, doing yoga, and Shredding ALL THE TIME. So when I went to camp and I didn’t do any of those things, my body recovered and decided it was done. Done with letting my brain push my body to its limits every. single. day. I’m not advocating being lazy in any way! I’m definitely dedicated to training hard. I’m just reminding us to calm down and let our bodies have a break sometimes. I didn’t mean for this post to be a long speech on how I over-trained myself; I just started typing and that’s where it ended up! Moving on….

Friday night I baked what I’ve been waiting alllll week for: Montana Whoppers (Whaddya know, that recipe was posted on Aug. 4th, the best day of every year—my birthday)!!!! I’ve seen them all over blogland recently and I knew I needed to know what the hype was all about. I ignored the warnings of impending addiction and baked a big batch. I had no idea of the way they would control my taste buds! I seriously had FOUR right out of the oven, and at least two since then. I’m being tempted this very moment to eat another. Thank goodness they’re being held prisoner in the freezer.

For breakfast yesterday (before the rugby game!) I had an oatmeal smoothie—my first ever. And it was very good. That’s all. It wasn’t spectacular, but it was good. It tasted like all the other smoothies I make, but with chewy oats in there too. It’d be a good way to add some calories to a normal smoothie. Overall, it’s a pretty perfect breakfast, nutritionally. I put in 1/2 c. oats, 1 scoop Gold Standard natural chocolate whey protein powder, 3/4 c. Almond Breeze (I’d use less next time, it was a little watery), cinnamon, vanilla, 5 frozen strawberries, and 1/2 frozen banana. I topped it with a little blob of Target’s PB, but the smoothie made the PB hard and it sank to the bottom =/

During my rugby game I had a pack of Luna moons…they tasted a little plasticky to me, and they really stuck to my teeth. I also think they may have made my stomach feel kind of weird. I was not impressed. My first game went really well! I had been considering quitting the team because practices are so late at night and I wasn’t getting any better at the game, but playing in a real game setting (even though it was only a friendly scrimmage) made me totally fall in love with rugby! I had such a great time! Beside the 100 degree sunshine glaring down on us the entire game.

My sister and Dad came to the game with me, and we stopped at Subway on the way home. I got my usual sub (ham, turkey, and veggies) , and afterward we walked to D’LITES!!! I was really excited about trying out this froyo place after seeing it on Jenna’s blog so many times. It didn’t disappoint! I ordered a small Bavarian chocolate frozen yogurt with cookie dough bites on top. Mmmmm!

^^^ My lovely self all sweaty after 2 1/2 hours of rugby…

And at D’lites I bought some PB2!! I’ve been trying it in everything today because I’m so excited to finally get my hands on it! lol

After lunch we were on the road again to go to a birthday party for a friend. We met the rest of my family at the party and I ate more, even though I was not hungry AT ALL after that lunch. The food looked good, though, so I tried a little of everything and had some veggies from the veggie tray to balance it out ;)

On the way home I ate a PB, honey, and raisin sandwich that I’d packed that morning (it’d been 12 hours since we left home at this point, with the Luna moons, Subway, D’lites, and party snacks to eat since breakfast) and after I got home I had Tilapia with broccoli for dinner before falling into bed…I was tired beyond belief!

I slept in until 9AM this morning and had a Green Monster (1/2 frozen banana, 1/2 c. Almond Breeze, 1 1/2 c. spinach, and 2 T. PB2!!) and pumpkin oat bran for breakfast. I forgot to snap a pic of the GM because I drank it while I made the oats.

I put PB2!!!, 1/4 c. pumpkin, 1 t. chia seeds, and 2 T. flaxseed in my oatbran today.

After church, I had 5 egg whites + one yolk for lunch, with bell pepper, tomato, and onion. A warmed WW pita with cream cheese was the perfect complement.

I did homework all afternoon and watched most of the Bucs game before starting dinner and running, then showering and eating dinner: veggie pasta, kidney beans, and 1/2 potato cooked with rosemary and EVOO topped with Parmesan. Excuse the glaring white table.

I had 1/2 a mini WW bagel for dessert, and I mixed some PB2 with raspberry jam to put on top. It was delicious! I’m loving this PB2 so much! Wonder what I’ll do with it tomorrow…lol I may have had another Montana Whopper while the bagel toasted.

And there you have it: my wonderful weekend in a thousand words (1112 to be exact. I’m OCD like that sometimes).

Time to sleep! I’ve got a 7:30 class tomorrow morning. Week 5 of school starts in 9 1/2 hours: here we go again!

Have a great Monday!

—Gina

¹⁶For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth… (Romans 1:16, King James Version)

Do Fridays make you smile? =D

Fridays always make me smile now that I’m in college because I only have one class on Friday (excpet for test days, like today) AND I get to leave home an hour and a half later than I do on any other day of the week! The extra sleep feels soooo good. And I’m going to need it tomorrow for my first rugby game! I’m really nervous because I’ve never played in a real game before, and we just went over the plays Wednesday night and I don’t remember any of them. I’m kind of hoping I don’t get too much game time but get to watch a lot so I can get used to gameplay before being thrown into the craziness (rugby is a very aggressive game!). I’ll be sure to let you know how that goes…if I survive ;)

Right now I’m in the library, taking a minute to eat lunch before I begin studying for my Pre-Calc exam that I’m taking this afternoon. Here’s a pic of my lunch, a pita with chicken, Andrea’s cranberry ketchup, and raw goat cheese. I got the idea from a dinner I saw on Meghann’s blog a couple days ago….the chicken and cranberries taste amazing together!

I took the pic this morning before I left for school, so the lighting is kind of off, and it’s on a paper towel, if you’re wondering, haha!

I had extra time to make breakfast today, so I cooked steel cut oats on the stove:

and added flaxseed, raspberries, toasted Brazil nuts,  cinnamon, and vanilla. A few bites in I was really missing my banana-induced sweetness, so I melted half a banana in the microwave and stirred it in. Perfect!

I also threw together some trail mix for some pre-test brain food. I haven’t tried this combo before, but it looks SO good and I can’t wait to dive into it later!

I put in dried apples, raw cashews, pepitas (pumpkin seeds), goji berries, and Kashi Go Lean. I’m actually starting to eat in now because I am STARVING! I only finished lunch a few minutes ago but I’m a bottomless pit today. Maybe it was cardio last night? ;)

Okay, enough procrastinating; I have to get down to business and study for this exam. Later!

—Gina

⁶He only is my rock and my salvation: he is my defence; I shall not be moved.

⁷In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.

⁸Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah. (Psalm 62:6-8, King James Version)

Sleeeeeeeep is calling my name….

I had an awesome workout at the gym after class; I followed my plan exactly except I did not get to do the squats or lunges because I had to stop to go to Ab-Attack class (which was a blast–and harder than I remember! We did a lot of sit-up type moves that trick you into using momentum instead of your abs if you aren’t careful). I had a wonderful, wonderful run! I only did ~2 miles (including 5 min warm-up and 5 min cool-down) because my half hour ran out (I have to sign up for a treadmill at my gym, and half an hour is the limit) but it felt SO good! I alternated running 1/4 mile and walking 5/100 of a mile until I hit 25 mins and I stopped to cool-down.

Thennnn I went to Wal-mart and bought this:

plus some unsalted butter, plain yogurt, whole-wheat pitas, raspberries and CHOCOLATE for the treats I’m baking over the weekend =D

And here are my eats for the rest of the day–you’ll have to imagine the Subway and a mini Clif bar I had—the Clif bars were a free sample at the gym!:

Toasted Brazil nuts that topped my overnight oats:
I’ve recently discovered that Brazil nuts taste amazing when they’re toasted. Try it sometime. 375 for four minutes should do the trick. Here are the glorious overnight oats themselves:

I mixed 1/2 c. oats, 1/3 c. vanilla Chobani, 1/3 c. pumpkin, ~1/4 c. Almond Breeze, 1 t. cacao nibs, 1/2 banana, some cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardemon and put them in the fridge overnight. The cacao nibs and cardemon tasted really “off” but I ignored it because 1) the rest of the bowl tasted great, and 2) I had not time to make something else.

In the morning  I added 2 T. toasted Brazil nuts and 1/2 c. Kashi Go Lean cereal. I should have topped it with flaxseed, but I didn’t think of that until afterward =/

And the snacks I took to school (PB and J on a Sandwich Thin, a whey protein shake [I pack the powder in a little plastic container and mix it in my shaker when I want to eat it], about 30 almonds, a banana, and a chicken breast:

This is the Fitnessista’s Spinach and White Beans (my current favorite dinner! It’s SO easy to make and so delicious that it caused me to make peace with cooked spinach), which my sister cooked for our dinner…that’s her bowl, I didn’t have pasta with mine because of the Subway I ate earlier and a pita I had on the way home from Wal-mart.

Okay, that’s all for now; my eyelids are soooo heavy…I get to sleep in tomorrow morning, though! I have an exam in the afternoon, so I will probably not post until after I’m done cuz I’ll be busy studying.

See ya!

—Gina

⁵Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us… (Titus 3:5, King James Version)

Calm…for now.

Hello, hello! I’m having a great day so far. My English project is done and turned in and I have one class left for today—although it’s going to be 3 hours long….it does have a break time during which I plan to grab some Subway! Lunch was pretty small and I’m going to be at the gym for a while tonight so I’m thinking it’s okay to have a sub in the middle of the afternoon =] It feels SO nice to finally have a quiet day where I don’t have to study every single moment.

Here’s what the plan is for my workout today:

• Leg extensions
• Leg curls
• Ab/adductor
• Leg press
• Squats
• Lunges (only with body weight, as a finisher)

Then…

• Ab-attack class (I’ve gone once before to this half hour class and my abs didn’t suffer too badly, but I felt as if they got a good work out)
• Treadmill (I hope to run/walk for 30 minutes…we did sprints at rugby practice yesterday and was slower than molasses not as fast as I’d like to be. For some reason I forget that just because I used to run a lot in the past does not mean I can take two months off and pick up where I stopped. So I’m running today to help myself get back into the groove…I can’t wait to run!!!!)

That’s it for now, I’m off to class and I’ll post pics of my eats tonight (I finally got some this morning) when I get home from the gym and a trip to Wal-mart for some food…I’m gonna be doing some baking this weekend!

—Gina

I listened to this song on my way to class this morning and because I hadn’t heard it in a long time, the lyrics really hit me:

We need to hear Your voice

Whatever You might say

We just need to hear Your voice

Show us the way, won’t You show us…

–Todd Agnew, Shepherd

It’s only Tuesday? =/

Another late night for me…boy, I can’t wait for the weekend. You know it’s bad when I’m thinking like that on a Tuesday night. I’ve been studying all day long–but you don’t want to hear about that!

Overall, today has been a good, productive day. I had pancakes again this morning…three days in a row??? And used this Fluffy Oat Bran Pancake recipe (mmmm!) minus the sugar and with whole wheat flour. I’m not in the habit of taking pictures in the morning! I’ll need to remember that for tomorrow so you can see my breakfast and college snacks.

Snack 1 was a cup of Kashi Go Lean cereal…that took me about an hour to eat as I did homework in the library and tried to crunch quietly…hehe! It did not fill me up at all (but when does cereal fill one up?), so I broke down and bought a snack pouch of trail mix from the vending machine between classes. That’s embarrassing.

Lunch was a chicken breast again (I’m not doing that three days in a row! Tomorrow will have a different lunch, I promise!) and I had a protein shake on my way home in my new shaker cup thing…I think those are the coolest! I’ll get a pic tomorrow or the next day, whenever I bring it to school again.
I hit the treadmill as soon as I got home; I had planned to run outside but it was about to rain and there was lightning in the sky so I decided to stay indoors. I was kind of bummed though because I had really wanted to run outside–but when I started running on the treadmill my left ankle started acting up. Not just “That feels weird” acting up but pain. I’m assuming that’s from the shoes I wore yesterday. So I stuck to walking today (at an incline of about 6%) and I’m hoping it feels better tomorrow because I have rugby practice to be at! (Can’t wait!!!)
After half an hour I did chest and back work:

• bench press (40lb)
• one-armed row (15lb)
• chest flyes (10lb/each side)
• seated row (like with the cable machine; only I used my resistence band and dumbbells because I was at home)
• incline bench press (20lb)

I missed my lat pulldowns and T-bar that I can only get at the gym =’(

I had a quick smoothie (or a sludge, like the Fitnessista calls it!) after my shower:

• 1/2 avocado
• 1/2 frozen banana
• 4 frozen strawberries
• 3/4 c Almond Breeze
• 1 T hemp protein
• cinnamon
• stevia
• vanilla

Then I started on some schoolwork while my sister made dinner (again! I’m so glad she’s here or I’d be starving every night at dinnertime. Actually, it’s more likely that I’d be failing classes because I’d stop to cook for hours and never get back to the homework! lol) which was Annie’s mac-n-cheese with diced bell pepper and white beans…so easy and SO delicious! I always add a form of protein to Annie’s mac: tuna, chicken, or beans (they all taste great, but I think tuna is my favorite).

Dessert was half a Sandwich Thin with cream cheese and peanut butter chips (we’re all out of dark choc. chips; can you believe it?!), and I had some oats mixed with Kashi cereal and Almond Breeze and 1/2 a banana later. And a handful of raisins. (I keep remembering more things as I type! But I think that’s it for now, haha)

I promise tomorrow will have pictures! I hate reading blogs without pictures; I can’t live with myself if I don’t put some up soon. LOL

G’night.

–Gina

¹⁹We love him, because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19, King James Version)

A long Monday with no end in sight…

***I apologize ahead of time for not having pictures today; this post was very rushed, like the rest of my day, and even if I did have time to put up pictures there would be very few to put up!***

Today has been go-go-go since I woke up this morning! Even now I’m taking a quick break from my endless homework to post this. Early this morning my sister and I had the Fitnessista’s protein pancakes. I made two changes: I used 2T. + 2t. oat bran instead of oats and cookies n cream protein powder instead of chocolate. The difference was subtle, but I loved the little change! The pancakes were lighter and sweeter (always a good thing!).

I had packed a bowl of dry oats mixed with protein powder, cinnamon, and chia seeds for my morning snack (can you tell I enjoy oats and protein powder VERY much? I could eat it for every meal!), but I forgot to pack a spoon! I was bummed. Very bummed. And I got very annoyed when I realized my back up snack was a Triple Threat bar. Don’t get me wrong, I love Triple Threat bars, but while they’re definitely delicious, they’re not exactly nutritious. Although I was disappointed in myself for not having something else to eat, somehow I forced it down ;)

My sister just came into my room to ask me what I was planning to make for breakfast, and while we were talking I realized that my diet is being controlled by oxymorons. Example: I told her I wanted to have something that was full of protein but without dairy (because dairy makes my face break out–yikes!) and sweet without sugar. Sigh. I don’t have a problem with eating the way do; I really enjoy it. But sometimes it can be difficult.

After Chemistry class I headed to the gym to workout on my own before Weight Training class started. I warmed up and cooled down on the stationary bike of boredom today (I wanted to run SO badly, but the bike was an attempt to take it easy for rugby practice tonight), and in between I worked my shoulders:

• reverse delt machine (35lb)
• military press (12lb dumbells)
• upright row (10lb dumbells)
• lateral raises (8lb dumbells…I felt wimpy using these but I did the last three exercises without rest between sets so my arms were really starting to feel it!)
• front delt press (35lb)

I’m really not used to using machines–I only recently switched from always working out at home with my dumbells to working out at the university’s gym–so I’m still using light(ish) weights on the machines. I’m seeing progress though, so I’m excited!

Wednesday in Weight Training we’re each going to get our own programs and begin working out “on our own” for the rest of the semester (we’ve been working out as a class while the professor shows different exercises for different muscles). I can’t wait to find out what I’ll be doing! Although I already knew most of the exercises we’ve gone over, it’s been a really good refresher course for me and I’ve learned so much about the different machines at the gym (which I had absolutely no experience with before, as I mentioned above).

After class and a quick shower (I’m also still getting used to showering at a gym…ew.), I ate lunch, which was one of the chicken breasts I grilled last night and a peanut butter Sandwich Thin sandwich. I didn’t really eat these ‘together’, in case you’re wondering why I would combine peanut butter and chicken. I ate the chicken on my way to my next class and the sandwich in class during the few minutes I had before class started.

I stopped at Target on my way home (the only food I got was spinach, Kashi waffles [sale!], and milk [for the family, because like I said, I don't eat dairy]) and finally got to eat those oats and protein powder, along with a spinach smoothie, for my afternoon snack. That was more like dinner, though, because I ended up eating it around 4:30PM. I had rugby practice tonight so I ate a little early, but at the last minute I decided I needed to skip practice and do some homework :’( I was not happy about that, but I’m glad I’m getting some work done. I hate having there in the back of my mind so I gotta get it out of there asap! Let’s just say I’m on my way, but there’s still a looooong way to go (notice the title of my post??). I have to read a whole chapter in American History before class tomorrow…and I’m talking about those chapters that take several hours to read.

One last thing before I go: I’ve decided to run the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror race at Disney World in October, but I don’t know if I want to register for the 13K or the 5K. I’ve never run more than four or five miles at once–and I haven’t even run consistently for months (my sister and I run together once a week). But I want to really challenge myself and seriously train for something, plus I’ve done five 5Ks in the past seven months, so I want to do something new. I could always train to PR in the 5K, but I don’t know if I want to do that…I’m not exactly fast. My best 5K was 30:41 so there’s an idea of where I am (or where I was–that was months ago).

If anyone has a vote one way or the other, feel free to post a comment! I’m not sure why I even brought this up because as of right now, I have zero readers, but just in case a few come along I’ll leave it open for you to throw your opinion in ;)

Proverbs 23:12 “Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.” <– That would be the verse I ran into today while I was trying to decide whether to go to rugby practice or stay home and study…I was like, You’re kidding, right? lol

Well, it’s back to the books for me. Later!

Hello again…for good this time.

Wow, it’s been ages since I’ve posted on a blog. What can I say? Life got busy, I had to keep up my grades; I subconsciously decided to kick the unnecessary, time consuming hobbies to the curb. Unfortunately, the blog was one of those.

I do so enjoy blogging, though, so I couldn’t just forget about it completely. That’s why I’m back. I have a laptop now, so when I’ve got dead space between classes at college or a few minutes after breakfast or before bed I can just pop in for a few minutes and add a blog post.

I’m not guaranteeing I’ll post every meal, every workout, every stray thought that comes into my head…I’m not that attached to my computer! I do have a life; my time with God, schoolwork, exercise, and social life are more important than blogging. But as long as blogging doesn’t cut into those things, the blog will be updated frequently.

So, let’s start with today. I woke up with a sore throat, which caused me to skip church and spend the morning at home. I really don’t enjoy skipping church, but sometimes it can’t be avoided. As a result, I got my room clean (finally. Long days away at college make this extremely organized person so tired that she drops books, backpack, shoes, everything all over the floor when she gets home at night.), finished my chemistry reading and online homework, made considerable progress on my first English composition project of the semester, and got this blog post started—in between popping Zicam pills and downing glass after glass of water in a frantic attempt not to wake up sick tomorrow morning. I have class at 7:30AM so I’m praying my cold will be better and not worse when I get up tomorrow.

On to the food…I started off my morning with a “pancake”: 3 egg whites with 1/2 scoop of whey protein powder whisked in. I don’t know if should really call it a pancake, because could lead you to believe it tastes like those fluffy, buttery, Bisquick-type pancakes; and what I ate this morning tasted nothing like that! I’m not a picky eater though, as you’ll soon learn, and my goal is eat as much protein and a little sugar and fat as I can; so I was perfectly content with this baby for breakfast:

There’s a circle of Target’s natural peanut butter hiding under the homemade granola (I just found this blog the other day and decided to try the granola—it is delicious! I added 1/2 t. cardemon, used 1/2 the sugar, used Brazil nuts instead of walnuts, and used agave nectar instead of maple syrup. I also used about 1/2 c. raisins and 1/4 c. dried apples for the fruit ), and that’s half a peach chopped on top. It was sooo good! I felt a little guilty about eating the peach, though. Before you call me crazy for feeling guilty about eating fruit, you should know that I ate way too much sugar yesterday, and sugar’s not exactly someone who’s trying to build muscle and add definition needs to be eating. I did a better in the afternoon.

I paused my homework marathon to reheat leftovers from yesterday’s dinner (which just so happened to be the most labor intensive dinner meal on my rotation. It takes me about two hours to make, even though I shock and freeze the broccoli rabe way beforehand.), which was Broccoli Rabe, Squash, and Tofu Pasta—it was even better today!

I had an unpictured spinach smoothie (1/2 c. almond milk, 2 c. spinach, 1/2 frozen banana, 1 scoop whey protein powder) about two hours later, and for dinner my lovely sister made CHANNAH MASALA!!!! I love this spicy, Indian dish! And it was super kind of her to make it because I was worn out from studying all day (isn’t that ironic? Exercise creates crazy amounts of energy but studying—which involves very little movement—is so draining of energy.). I had about 1/2 of that?! I was really hungry. This batch was half garbanzo beans and half great northern beans because we only had one can of garbanzos (oops). It was awesome, though!

And after dinner I grilled 5lb. of chicken on the George Foreman for my lunches this week on campus. I end up eating at least one meal and two snacks each day while I’m at college so I have to plan ahead!  Speaking of college, I have to get up around 5:00AM (at the latest!) to do my devotions, eat breakfast, pack my backpack/gym bag/laptop/cleats (RUGBY PRACTICE tomorrow! If I’m not feeling sick anymore) and get to school at 7:00AM tomorrow. I still can’t believe I haven’t missed class yet with it being that early!

Talk to you all tomorrow—g’night!

Weekend update

Well, the 4th has come and gone & I don’t regret a moment of it! (the weekend is a different story, but we’ll get to that in a few) I got in my usual hour of exercise that morning, and my “big holiday meal” consisted of Grilled Flatbread, some ribs, and my first ever grilled peach (it was yummy, but I prefer sticking them in the microwave. Something about fruit and that “just grilled” taste doesn’t go together).

Saturday was my “lazy day” (as always!). I don’t know what it is about Saturdays, but I get up in the morning and I just don’t want to work out! My mom and sister and I took a leisurely 45-minute walk through the neighborhood, then I did about 10 mins of ab work.

On Sunday I took the day off from exercise completely because after church my fam decided to go to the mall. And I tried my first ever soy burger at Evo’s in the food court! I must say–it was delicious! I had a couple of their Airfries and an Organic Cappuccino milkshake, too.

Today I didn’t feel like exercising, either, but I knew I’d better before I took too much time off, cuz the longer you wait, the harder it gets! I did a 45-min treadmill workout and 10-15 mins of arm work.

I realize I haven’t mentioned a lot of what I’ve been eating, but that’s cuz I don’t really write it all down over the weekend, and therefore I don’t know exactly what I’ve eaten. Over those three days (Fri, Sat, Sun) I’ve averaged around 1800 cals a day.

Now, on to today! I got up on time (yay! Always difficult to do on Monday, but I got to bed a little early last night) and had 1/3-1/2 c. oat bran w/blueberries and a Van’s waffle with cherry sauce for breakfast. I had a homemade iced coffee mid-morning, before working out, and after working out I drank a glass of skim milk and had 1/3 c. Total cereal.

I’m not sure what I’ll have for lunch today (something w/eggs, probably) but I’ll be sure to let you know =]