Day 76 - Wine Tasting on a Monday night

My back and body is so sore today, likely from all the activity of the weekend.  Pain is (sort of) good.

Today's Workout: Cardio 3

How many more times will I be doing this workout?  That's right, just four.  Two more weeks!  I am thrilled that you are enjoying reading my blog.  If what you need is a reminder of the ups and downs that daily life throws our way, then I suppose that is what my blog does.  I am not able to follow the suggested meal plan that Jillian provides.  In fact, I often go way off of what she recommends.  I am doing what feels right for my body, day by day.  I love her recipes, but they are not always quick.

I had to use my shirt to dry off my neck and face a few times during todays workout.  I did not use extra weights at the beginning as I did last time, and the reason was because my back is sore and I couldn't imagine doing weighted windmills at the very beginning.  The good news is that even after three weeks of doing cardio 3 I am still working up a sweat, it is still intense.


For those contemplating this program or who are already in it, recall that it is broken into three phases.  The first two phases are 4 weeks long (or 28 days), which means the last phase is 5 weeks long (or 35 days).  This means that workouts 11, 12 and cardio 3 are done for 3 weeks instead of just the normal two.

After the binge-fest that was my mothers day weekend, it felt good to get back on to healthy eats.  I had a Denver Omelet for breakfast (from JMs meal plan), whereby I substituted green pepper instead of red, and I added a mushroom to the mix.  Also, instead of ham, I used turkey breast. If I had thought of it, I would have used turkey bacon or chicken bacon, or any other low-cal bacon.

 

After working out and showering, I made myself a protein shake by mixing a scoop of my light chocolate whey powder with a cup of almond milk.  Smooth and very satisfying.

I really wanted to get lots of veggies today at lunch to offset all the carbs on the weekend, so I prepared a mixed plate of celery, carrots, cucumber, a hard-boiled egg, a can of tuna, a light babybel cheese, and up to 2 tbsp of low fat ranch dressing.  Not high in cals, but very filling given the variety.

I had some bananas that needed to be eaten up, so I made another batch of muffins.  To keep cals low, I made Jillians Blueberry Banana Muffins.  These are great and very tasty.  I used greek yogurt today instead of plain regular yogurt.  And while I usually like to add chocolate chips instead of blueberries, I wanted to reduce my sugar a bit.  I made a dozen and froze them since they take just 30 seconds in the microwave to thaw.  For my afternoon snack I had one Blueberry Banana Muffin with a nonfat latte.

 

A couple hours later, I was a bit peckish in advance of our wine tasting tonight, so I had a serving of mango acai trail mix.  I found these at my local CostCo and I love the textures and perfect balance of sweetness.  It has tiny yogurt chips which are sweet, along with dried fruits and salty almonds.  This is a nice way to go instead of reaching for 2 (or 14) cookies!  Serving size is also good at 1/4 cup.

My husband and I are part of a wine-tasting group, introduced to us by my husbands parents. This group has been meeting for many many years, and we are the third generation to join in.  We meet seasonally, about four times each year at rotating houses.  There is usually a theme to go along with 6 presented wines.  The benefit of these meetings is that it provides an opportunity to try wines we may not have tried otherwise, and to perhaps develop clues as to what wines we prefer over others and why.  Tonight's theme was Australasian (wines of Australia and New Zealand).  The three red wines were served alongside a dinner of roasted lamb, potatoes cooked with a hint of lime, and a garden salad perfectly dressed.  The white wines were presented with dessert - a strawberry meringue pie (no crust, just meringue) and very tasty!  I had a sampling of all the wines, perhaps a total of 5oz red and 5oz white.  One plate of the main course and two pieces of the dessert...  Just terrific!  I unfortunately do not have any pics of the dinner, but it was certainly enjoyed, as was the company.

Rest day tomorrow.  I am likely going to the park with a good friend to sip on a latte while W plays and we chat.  It's going to be another hot one!

Even though it is a rest day, I will try to do one active thing tomorrow.  It's all about choices, right?!  What will you do tomorrow?

Nighty night,
Peach