Eating As Usual

One of the things I've been working on in my life, for years, is undoing the bad eating habits I learned in my childhood and early adulthood. I really had no concept of portion, calories, good or "bad" food. It has taken *years* of education, trial and error (still in progress) to educate myself about food, why and how I should eat a certain way, and learn how to implement that into my daily life.

I have said before, here and elsewhere, that I don't like food labels, as far as vegetarian, pescatarian, vegan, omnivore, raw foodie, or whatever else there is out there because I think it sets us up for challenges by others if we don't do it good enough. Meaning: if I claim to be vegan (I'm not) and I eat honey then some other non-honey eating vegan might come out of the woodwork to attack me as not being vegan enough. (I've seen this happen on other blogs). I don't like the divisiveness created by labeling.

Here is what I do like: eating food. Yup. Food. Real food. 80-90% of the time.

This past weekend when my girlfriends were here fell in to the remaining 10% of the time. We ate quite a few different things (pizza, rice, cupcakes, other sweets) that are NOT a part of my daily diet. The food was delicious, the company was magnificent and I enjoyed both fully. But, this is not how I eat on a daily basis and if I want to continue my journey to health and living my life fully it is important to keep those items confined to a 10% ratio of what I eat.

This is not a diet. It's life. If you want to be healthy and fit (which I do) then you have to eat healthy and act fit (exercise) most of the time. It is a difficult lesson to learn and, like I said, one that I still work on daily. I'm not perfect. But I never give up.

So, today I mentally and physically recommitted to my "eating as usual." This meant that I didn't have any coffee this morning, I had an apple and some cheese for an early lite breakfast. I exercised. I spent time prepping food for the week including some steamed broccoli, hard boiled eggs, turkey breakfast sausage and turkey Italian sausage, and a cucumber salad. I have lots of other fresh veggies and fruits ready to eat as well. Now lunches and dinners are one or two steps closer to being ready. I've said before and will say again: prep work is so important for my success. So, take an hour and cook a handful of things to have ready to grab and eat. It can save you!

I also made myself a big salad for lunch with fresh greens from my garden, tomato, peas from the garden, one of those cooked Italian sausages cut up and a couple cut up hard boiled eggs. Simple and delicious! Filling, too. I topped it with a tablespoon or two of a mustard dressing (grainy mustard mixed with a bit of plain yogurt). I'm drinking my water and plan to limit my wine intake to only a few days a week over the next few weeks.

This is what my eating as usual plan is like. This is how I need to eat and behave 80-90% of the time to succeed in my goals and to live the life I want to live.

I also have a plan for the next few weeks. I am once again following the FIRM Express workout plan and am utilizing (some) of their menu. I am kicking this off with the 4-Day Kick Start Plan.

This morning started out with the first 20 minute workout: Ignite Cardio followed by 10 minutes of Pump It Up from the Kickstart Your Metabolism disc. This afternoon I will do the Turbocharge Sculpt 20 minute workout and then 10 minutes of Shortcut to Flat Abs from the Kickstart Your Metabolism Disc. I got good and sweaty during my first 30 minutes this morning!

I'll look pretty much the same after my workout this evening!

After the 4-Day Kick Start plan I will move on to following their month long FIRM Express rotation which is 20 minutes every other day from each of the four, progressively harder, disc groups. Ignite, Accelerate, Turbocharge and Overdrive. Each workout is 20 minutes with 4 segments of "bursts" (otherwise known at High Intensity Interval Training or HIIT). The bursts last for 8 seconds with a 12 second recovery. There are three discs in each group, one is cardio focused, one is weights focused and the third is a blend of cardio and weights. I will follow the prescribed rotation in the FIRM Express booklet.

I hope to supplement this plan with walks, and other cardio as time permits. I have a very busy summer school schedule, but I need to make my fitness a priority. High intensity, short exercise will be just what I need to help me get my exercise in while not taking up too much of my daily schedule.

So that is the current plan! Back to eating as usual (fruits, vegs, proteins, minimal carbs/grains) and adding at least 20 minutes of exercise in on a regular basis.

Do you have a summer workout plan or goal??