Tag: eating healthy

Catching Up

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It’s been a while since I have posted my workouts. I have either failed to fit them in or had substituted with walks, outdoor building/gardening or a workout I simply never got posted. My sincerest apologies to those who are using them for your own workouts.

I am now nine days from my due date and the contractions are starting to pick up. Nothing crazy but definitely more frequent and occasionally keeping me up at night. Take last night for instance, finally at 1:00am I realized the contractions we fairly close together and quiet frequent. Per my experience the first time around I began to drink water, just to ensure I wasn’t having contractions due to dehydration. By 2:30am I woke my husband up and informed him and we started timing more closely. One glass of water down. By 2:45am I called the doctor who told me to come on in, but take my time. So take my time I did and immediately after calling contractions started to slow down. Needless to say we decided to stay home and wait it out. End result – still pregnant!

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However, on a fitness note yesterday we did take a mini hike and today the little guy and I took a stroll around the neighborhood.  When we got back I incorporated a small amount of strength work:

30 body weight squats
30 dumbbell snatch (each side)
30 dumbbell squats
30 dumbbell tricep presses.

Keeping moving is helping me to stay sane and feel like I am not losing total control of my body! It has also helped to keep the swelling down this time. Comparing pictures from my last pregnancy and talking with friends/family, we have all realized I was a whole lot more swollen last time around. Below are a few of my most embarrassing pictures – enjoy!

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Early Morning Workout

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This morning’s workout came much earlier than usual – 6am! While getting up with my alarm was painful as always, it felt great to have my workout done before 7am.

I have many clients who struggle with getting their workouts in during the day or even at night. By end of day we have a million and one reasons why we shouldn’t go to the gym or even get a quick workout in at home. From being tired, to cooking dinner, to family activities – the excuses just keep adding up. That’s why morning workouts (while sometimes painful to wake up for) tend to be more effective. Other than your alarm, there aren’t as many things standing in your way! Plus, if you workout in the morning you are starting your day off right, boosting your metabolism, and you don’t have to worry about fitting it in later.

Today’s workout…

Warm-Up – 5 minutes walking on treadmill
Foam Rolling – legs/IT bands and Psoas

Squats – 10 (increasing weight each time)
Repeat 4 times

Thrusters – 6 reps
Repeat 4 times

Deadlifts – 5
Bulgarian Split Squats – 10
Jump Rope – 50
Repeat 2 times

 

Kitchen Workout

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Some days there is no way to fit in your traditional workout, but it doesn’t mean it can’t be done! This is where the “Kitchen workout” comes into play. Yesterday I literally was going all day and couldn’t get my desperately needed workout in by it’s self, but here is what I did. There are always a few minutes/seconds in between cooking and prepping dinner so I fit in a couple squats, lunges, tricep dips and stand ups. I didn’t have to leave the kitchen, food was perfectly cooked and I got my workout in! Life is fully of excuses, it’s finding ways around your excuses that end in positive results!

Squats – 20
Reverse lunges – 10 each side
Tricep dips – 10 (with or without doggy kisses!)
Single leg stand ups – 10 each side
Lateral lunges – 10 each side
Repeat 3 times or until dinner is ready!

 

Snow Day Workout

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From 70 degrees yesterday to over a foot of snow today – you have to love the Colorado weather. Since we were stuck inside today we got in a quick workout.

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View of our patio furniture.
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My little ones playset – I think it’s in there!

Warm-Up –

Jumping Jacks – 30
Quick High Knees – 30 each leg
Slow Mt. Climbers – 20 each leg

Workout –

S – Split Squats (20 each leg)
N – Narrow Push-Ups (20)
O – Overhead Press with Alternating Lunge (20)
W – Windmill Abs (20 each side)
D – Dumbbell Deadlifts (20)
A – Arnold’s Dumbbell Press (20)
Y – Yay! for Burpees (10)

Repeat 3 times

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

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My shirt says…”I caught me a wee leprechaun!”

In honor of St. Patrick’s Day I did a “Lucky 7” workout….

70 – Jump Ropes
7 – Deadlifts
7 – Push-Ups
7 – Squats
7 – Overhead Press with Dumbbells
7 – Lunges with Dumbbells
7 – Assisted Pull-Ups
7 – Keg RDLs
Repeat 4 times

Good luck!

Back in the Game

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It has been a week since we had to make a trip to the hospital and a week since my last workout. I have taken the time to let me body recover and to make sure to perfect my eating habits to decrease the chance of going back to the hospital again. Wednesday was the lowest energy I have been in a long time and it felt like my abs had been through one of the toughest workouts ever thanks to all the contractions. By Friday some of my energy had returned and I no longer felt like my blood sugar was tanked.

To detail how my meals have changed…first and foremost I have increased my eating frequency. Every couple of hours I will have a meal or a snack with both protein and complex carbohydrates. I was sometimes doing this before, but now I am not missing a snack!  I am completely staying away from sugary snacks and drinks to avoid the huge spike in your blood sugar. I will have the occasional soda, natural and sweetened with Stevia, to satisfy my sweet tooth, but nothing else. Stevia is a natural sweetener that will not affect your blood sugar levels like regular sugar, but is a much healthier option than artificial sweeteners.

Yesterday’s meals…

Breakfast: 2 Sausages, Quinoa bake, and protein shake.
Snack: Trail mix with dried fruit, cashews and pecans.
Lunch: Chicken breast, sauteed squash, zucchini and carrots, and gluten free mac’n cheese
Snack: Apples and natural peanut butter
Snack: Chia Seed Bar
Dinner: Sweet potatoes cooked in Natural Bacon grease, bacon, asparagus and grilled pork chops.
Snack: Right before bed I will typically have a small amount of nuts or a protein muffin and a glass of water.

The reason I have been so conscience about my food and eating is due to the fact that my blood sugar seems to be running lower than my normal. This can be expected the baby is taking a good amount of the nutrients away from me to grow. Because my blood sugars tend to be lower I have the tendency to uptake sugars quickly and utilize them even quicker. For those of you who may not be a familiar with how your blood sugar works. When you eat something sugary (cookies, candy, cereal, bread, etc) your body is able to take in those nutrients much quicker than protein or fat, which quickly increases your blood sugar. As seen in the image below protein and fat take longer to be broken down into fuel and do not affect the blood sugar as does carbs.

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Some people may notice that immediately after eating something sugary or made of simply carbohydrates they have energy, but within an hour they are looking for something else to eat or caffeine to bring their energy up.

This doesn’t mean that people do not need carbohydrates, we do! But we need to be smart about when and what types we are consuming. Carbohydrates that are more complex and provide a great amount of nutrients are items such as sweet potatoes, brown rice, quinoa, vegetables and fruits. These will not have as dramatic effect on the blood sugar as items such as white rice, tortillas, sugars, cereals, etc.

Some women’s blood sugars, like mine, may run lower than their “normal” during pregnancy, which can lead to symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, weakness, blured vision, hunger or headaches.  Maintaining a steady diet in protein, fats and complex carbohydrates can ensure blood sugar levels remain steady throughout the day.

Women who have or are at risk for having gestational diabetes will actually have the opposite or high blood sugar levels. Gestational diabetes starts when your body is not able to make and use all the insulin it needs for pregnancy. Without enough insulin, glucose cannot leave the blood and be changed to energy. Glucose builds up in the blood to high levels. This is called hyperglycemia. (See more at: http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/gestational/what-is-gestational-diabetes.html#sthash.nXpsbDst.dpuf)

 

Today’s workout…

1 mile (1600 meter) Row on Rower

Leg Press – 3×10
Walking lunges with barbell – 2x8each leg
Barbell RDLs – 2×10
Lateral box step ups – 2x10each leg (holding Kettlebell in hands)

Post workout feelings – GREAT! Minimal contractions, lots of water consumed and legs were happy to get a short workout in!!!

No good Tuesday!

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Well it seems even trainers make mistakes and end up in the hospital! Luckily this was just a short visit to get my contractions under control, but it was a lesson learned by me.

It must have started Tuesday morning when I was running late getting out the door and only grabbed a protein shake for breakfast and a protein bar for snack later that morning. Lunch was make shift (I hadn’t got the chance to get to the store) I had eggs, chorizo, tomatoes and cheese. Afternoon snack (worst pick of all) a few dark chocolate chips. Finally, dinner was pot roast, carrots and kale chips. Overall this may seem like a good day of food, but when you look a little closer the calories and nutrient content are on the low side.

Thus the problem began, at 7pm I began having contractions, which is typical for me. Normally I just make sure to relax, drink some extra water and they fade away. An hour into contractions, 36 ounces of water down and they were only picking up pace. By 9:00pm I called the doctor, who recommended I take a trip to my labor and delivery ward. Not fun when you have a 21 month old just barely in bed, tired husband and lets be honest no one likes to go to the hospital.

I am glad we went in as my contractions began to be almost two minutes apart, not painful, but uncomfortable for the bladder by all means. After running several test I received the lovely terbutaline shot (Nurse warned me it burned and holy crap did it!). Contractions slowed and we were set to be released. The end results determined that I was well hydrated, but I had ketones in my urine. This means that my body was utilizing fat stores rather than carbohydrates and that I was in a calorie deficit. You can compare this to a body builder right before they have a show. This could have been the reason my body was contracting when it wasn’t needing to. Turns out my glucose test also determined my blood sugar levels are low, meaning my body readily utilizes carbohydrates! Typically, a fasting glucose level should be between 86-120, but mine was well below at 68.

This isn’t a terrible thing, but it does mean I need to consume a higher number of calories to keep my body happy and that I need to ensure I am balancing my meals efficiently with protein and complex carbohydrates. Several weeks ago I noticed that I was having trouble with spinning and nausea, which I also attributed to food intake. At that point I found eating simple carbs (sugars, breads, etc.) would cause me to drop in blood sugar and become dizzy. Now I have also come to realize I need more calories during the day. This may seem like a no brainer, but the struggle is most times I don’t feel hungry in between meals. Therefore, I have started eating meals/snacks (regardless of being hungry) every 2-3 hours to ensure my blood sugar will remain stable and not drop too quickly. It has taken two days to feel like my blood sugar is at a sustainable level and to get my energy back. Obviously, no workouts for the time being, but I am hoping to get back to it this weekend.

Moral of this story is – life can take over and especially as mom’s we forget to take care of ourselves (ex: not eat enough), but when you are pregnant you need to ensure you are taking care of yourself for your babies shake. Luckily everything looked great with our little girl, but now it is time I focus on food!

 

When life takes over stay true to your nutrition

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Our schedule has been next to impossible to fit in my workouts, so I have been focusing on my food! When in doubt make sure you are eating as healthy as possible. I am sure many of your have heard the saying “Getting fit is 80 percent nutrition” or that “Abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym” – both having a great deal of truth. To explain why we need to consider our daily schedules. Typically a person spends thirty to ninety minutes working out per day, leaving between 22-23 hours left to make great decisions. With the fact that you are eating at least 3 times per day, plus 2-3 snacks, you have many more opportunities to make bad nutrition decisions than working out. Plus, if you aren’t fueling your body properly and are unable to optimize your metabolism you may not see changes you desire.

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Therefore, today I made the meals for he remaining part of our week. Lunches for this week included Naked Chicken Fajitas, in a skillet I sauteed one onion and 5 garlic cloves in grape seed oil. Then added chicken breasts chopped into pieces and cooked fully. When they were fully cooked I added my spices chili powder, cayenne pepper, garlic salt, and cumin. Mixed thoroughly, add peppers and cover to cook. In the containers I added black beans, peppers and chicken mixture, tomato slices, shredded cheese and a dash of cilantro. For the side I had half an avocado for some healthy fat.  This is an easy and delicious meal!

Deadlifts, Rows and High Pulls

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Workout of the day…

10 – Deadlifts
12 – Bent over Barbell Rows
10- Barbell High Pulls

5 Rounds with heavy weight

Beautiful Colorado Outdoor Workout

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One thing I love about Colorado is that one day we are freezing and playing in snow and the next it is 60 degrees and sunny! I took advantage of a beautiful day and got a workout in outside while my little one was napping. My energy has been extremely low the past week and a half and workouts have been a struggle – not today. Between a good night sleep and great food for the day I had plenty of energy and took full advantage of it.

I have a lot of people asking me have I eat so here is a run down of what I ate today to keep my energy going…

Breakfast: Protein Shake (20 ounces Coconut Milk, 2 Scoops Chocolate Protein Powder, 1/4 cup frozen cherries- tastes just like chocolate covered cherries), Chorizo and a Chocolate Gluten Free Protein Muffin

Lunch: Chicken Breast with Bacon and Brussel Sprouts

Snack: Protein shake following my workout (20 ounces Coconut Milk, 2 Scoops Chocolate Protein Powder and 1 tsp powdered Peanut butter)

2nd Snack: UCAN bar

Dinner: Pork Chop with Green Chili, Sweet Peppers, Tomatoes and Onions made in the Crockpot. Blueberries for dessert!

Today’s workout…

100 Jump Ropes
10 – Step Ups/Bicep Curls to Overhead press each side
10 – Walking lunges each side with dumbbells
20 – Wall Balls
10 – Push Ups

Repeated 4 times