Adriana's Journey

[adriana]

i'm feeling GREAT this morning !! thank God. that shot yesterday did the trick.

so..... i'm back in the gym today. life is grand.

Workout:

this is a new 5 week fat loss program. let's see how it works when i work hard (i'll come back later and edit the actual weights i use since a lot of these exericses i haven't done in a while).

AAARRRGGGG !!! - my entire day was thrown off balance by an unexpected server problem (i am the co-founder of a local community web site that is updated daily -- now i'll have to finish solving the server problems instead of being able to workout today !!!


Tuesday Meal Plan

Meal 1 – ½ cup oatmeal + 1/4 cup 1% milk, 250 grams 1.5% cottage cheese, 10 almonds

Meal 2 – 4 egg whites + 1 egg omelet, banana, 2 slices lite whole wheat toast, green tea

workout

Meal 3 – 5 oz grilled turkey breast, baked sweet potato, 2 cups mixed steamed vegetables

Meal 4 – 1/2 cup oatmeal + 1/4 cup 1% milk, 250 grams cottage cheese, apple, green tea

Meal 5 – 240 grams water-packed tuna, garden salad


this is a 43p/37c/20f balance, 1800 calories

onward and upward !

[adriana]

oh what a beautiful day !!! and i get to take a drive to Jerusalem today too

this is a great day to get some things done outside, some errands and some fun. i'll be going at mid-day with one of my little girls. she likes the ride and the view of the Judean Hills. they really are soooooo beautiful this time of year, especially after the snow last week.

no weights today because of my prior committment out of town. i'm a bit time-challenged these days - way too much work because my lack of work this past month oh well..... i'll get caught up then i can bum around again

tomorrow i'm back in the weights room, come hell or high water !!!


Workout:

cardio only today, in the evening: spinning
still huffing and puffing but i feel great !!! oh but i do LOVE to spin


Meal Plan:

Meal 1 – ½ cup oatmeal + 1/4 cup 1% milk, 250 grams 1.5% cottage cheese, 10 almonds, 3 prunes

Meal 2 – 2 slices lite whole wheat bread, 120 grams water-packed tuna, orange, green tea

Meal 3 – 5 oz grilled chicken breast, baked sweet potato

Meal 4 – 1/2 cup oatmeal + 1/4 cup 1% milk, 250 grams cottage cheese, orange, green tea

cardio only

Meal 5 – stir fry with 2-3 cups of various vegetables & 5 oz chicken breast

* ½ tablespoon of olive oil throughout the day

this is a 41p/39c/20f balance, 1900 calories

i can't wait till we start walking in the evenings --- just another week or two till the weather is more stable.

this is going to be a FANTASTIC day !!!

[adriana]

and it's been a great day. i started a new routine, a new-ish meal plan (calories have changed a bit) and life is great

i did some new exercises today, which have left me quite sore indeed. i like that switching around, keeps my body wondering what's coming next.

Work Out for Thursday:

chest

bench press
15 x 26 kilos
8f x 28.5 kilos + 3
8f x 28.5 kilos + 2
f = forced reps - after reaching failure do a few more reps, taking more time w/ each rep

dumbbell incline press
12 x 7 kilos
8 x 8 kilos
8 x 8 kilos

pec-deck flye
12 x 5 kilos
12 x 5 kilos
* a new exercise for me and i REALLY felt it!!

back

bent-over rows
12 x 4 kilos
10 x 5 kilos
8 x 6 kilos
* strange moves, but very efficient for the upper back.

assisted pull-ups
3 sets x 10 reps
* first time doing these. oh my ! i am soooo afraid of heights.... even 1/2 foot off the ground makes me freak out. so i was pretty proud of myself for climbing up on this machine and actually doing all the sets and reps !

sitted cable row
12 x 25 kilos
8 x 30 kilos
8 x 30 kilos

front lat pull-down
8d x 35 kilos +
15 x 22.5 kilos
8d x 30 kilos +
12 x 20 kilos
d = dropset -- working to failure with this weight then dropping 30% of weight and working to failure again

back extensions
2 x 20

abs

* hanging knee raises 2 x 15
* decline twisting crunch 2 x 15
* regular crunch 2 x 20
=== i got a bit of an icky feeling during the crunches and i cut the workout a bit short at the end.

cardio

30 min elliptical at 70% intensity


Meal Plan:

Meal 1 – ½ cup oatmeal + 1/4 cup 1% milk, 125 grams 1.5% cottage cheese, 10 almonds

workout

Meal 2 – 4 egg white + 1 egg omelet 2 slices lite whole wheat toast, 20 grams humus, large tangerine, herbal tea

Meal 3 – 4 oz grilled turkey breast, baked sweet potato, 1 cup steamed cauliflower and carrots

Meal 4 – 1/2 cup oatmeal + 1/4 cup 1% milk, 125 grams cottage cheese, apple, green tea

Meal 5 – 5 oz water-packed tuna, garden salad, 2 slices lite whole wheat bread

* approx. ½ tablespoon of olive oil throughout the day

37p/42c/21f balance, 1700 calories PERFECT !!!


i'm super happy with my day. after taking so many days off i thought i would be back to square 1 with loss of strength, but that just didn't happen, and i'm happy

cardio only tomorrow.

[adriana]

phew. thank God nothing lasts forever. another day in tel aviv and i would have had to be carried away.

we went friday afternoon and came back just a bit ago (it's saturday evening now).

we did walk quite a lot, but still........

one small confession........ i ate like a nut. it wasn't so much the amounts of food, but the choices of foods !!

we bought fresh fruits in the open air market, along with some baked goods and nuts. that was okay, for starters. then i was really really hungry at midnight so i ordered a chicken-breast sandwich, which i only ate 1/2 of with a bit of fries. okay so far.

but then saturday morning came along and those baked goods looked really good. a piece of this, and a piece of that...... then we went for a nice 3 hour walk all over tel aviv, about 7 miles in all.

then it was back to some more eating (remember that other 1/2 of the sandwich?) and lazying around all afternoon when they (husband and daughters) went to the park to have some fun. i slept and made up for those lost hours in the middle of the night . my husband just moved into his new little apartment and isn't really set up yet for any cooking!!

i have no regrets. we had a BLAST !! tomorrow starts a new week and i'll be going right back to eating clean and working out hard !!

all in all not bad for the first pig fest in about 5 months !!!next time we go stay at my husband's place i'm taking some of my own food, just in case i feel tempted again -- i'm feeling a bit bloated right now !

[adriana]

oh man it feels good to be eating clean again .

i worked on a 3 week workout schedule that will be fairly intense, and fun. it's easier for me to look at that short-term big picture. more than 3 weeks it starts to look and sound overwhelming.

i included a whole lot of fat burning cardio because i still have to agressively target my high body fat issues (approx. 39% now, down from 46%).

Sunday Workout:

cardio only with a spin class tonight, maybe even a double class. we'll see.



Meal Plan:

Meal 1 – ½ cup oatmeal, 125 grams 1.5% cottage cheese, 10 almonds

Meal 2 – 120 grams water-packed tuna, 1 small baked sweet potato

Meal 3 – 3 oz grilled chicken breast, 1 cup each steamed broccoli and cauliflower, ½ cup baked sweet potato

Meal 4 – ½ cup oatmeal, 125 grams 1.5% cottage cheese, 1/4 cup 1% milk, large tangerine

spinning

Meal 5 – 4 egg white + 1 egg omelet, garden salad

* ½ tablespoon olive oil through out the day

this is a 36p/42c/22f balance, 1400 calories keeping it fairly low today as a counter-balance to yesterdays high calories (a la` Draper )

i decided that the zig-zag method is the best for me. i'll be going up and down during the week with the calories, the range being 1500-1800 calories, or a 1650 daily average .

i'm also going a bit lower with the calories to shock my body back into fat-loss mode..... i've stayed in the same place for about 5 weeks now and it's time to get some serious amounts of fat off this body again

now, if only we could not have that war a few hundred miles from here and EVERYTHING will be just fine. there just has to be a better solution than war and scuds falling upon us again !!!

peace, everyone

[adriana]

it's like the rest of the world comes alive on monday, a whole day after we're already back to business.

i weighed myself yesterday and it was as i thought.... a bit of a gain (now 97 kilos, up one). not a surprise whatsoever since i really haven't done much in the past two weeks. but that has now changed and i'm back in full form !!

spinning class was *interesting* last night. they forgot to tell us that the specific 7pm class is now a *RESULTS* group - a 12 week weight loss program with about 15 women in the group. so the class turned into a super beginners session, which is okay with me since it's really easy to work on my own in spinning. a group of us stayed and just did our own thing, ignoring the instructor and the new group. it was nice though seeing myself in them - 4 MONTHS AGO, and being able to recognize my progress of theses months!! i really am proud of myself.

also, i'm finally getting a bit done around the house. not enough yet, but at least not as pathetic as the past couple of weeks. today i'm working on my beleagured work area..... i have a table that's HUGE and i'm down to about three inches of work space, right around my mouse !! i'm going to clear this mess up today and make some order out of my messy life.

Workout for Monday:

thighs

leg press
15 x 80 kilos
12 x 82.5 kilos
10 x 85 kilos
6 x 90 kilos

lunges (walking with dumbbells)
15 x
12 x
10 x
oh yeah, right !! this was one of the hardest things i've ever done in the gym !! needless to say, no weights until i get my form down good. my legs turned to jello with these

leg extenstions
15 x 17.5 kilos
12D x 17.5 kilos + 4 x 12.5 kilos
10D x 17.5 kilos + 4 x 12.5 kilos

leg curls
15 x 30 kilos
12P x 30 kilos + 3 x 30 kilos
10P x 30 kilos + 5 x 30 kilos

adductors
15 x 40 kilos
12 x 40 kilos
by this point i was thinking of starting to cry !!

abductors
15 x 40 kilos
12 x 45 kilos

calves (first time i start working on these)

raises
15 x 30 kilos
15P x 40 kilos + 10 x 40 kilos
15P x 40 kilos + 10 x 40 kilos

abs

* hanging leg raises 2 x 10
* crossover crunch 2 x 15
* straight leg crunch 2 x 15

no cardio whatsoever today. maybe a nice walk in the afternoon.
i worked out at 6pm so there was no more time, or energy, or strength for anything else -- this was one TOUGH workout!!!

Meal Plan:

Meal 1 – ½ cup oatmeal + 1/4 cup 1% milk, 125 grams 1.5% cottage cheese, 10 almonds, green tea

workout

Meal 2 – 4 egg whites + 1 egg omelet, sautéed onions, banana, green tea

Meal 3 – 4 oz grilled chicken breast, baked sweet potato, 1 cup mixed steamed vegetables

Meal 4 – ½ cup oatmeal + 1/4 cup 1% milk, 250 grams 1.5% cottage cheese, large tangerine

Meal 5 – 5 oz water-packed tuna, apple, 2 cups garden salad, 2 slices lite whole wheat bread

* ½ tablespoon olive oil throughout the day

this is a 36p/42c/21f balance, 1700 calories


oh am i pumped, OR WHAT !!!


this is my second day sticking with the food plan 100% --- i feel real good about this since it's the lower calorie days

[adriana]

a bit tired today, even though i slept about 8.5 hours. i think that legs workout took a whole lot more out of me than what i thought it had. but i'm feeling good and right now i'm downing a good strong turkish coffee which should help me to wake up.

this is going to be a looonnnngggg day. lots to do and there are never enough hours in the day for everything. i'll just do whatever i can: do my best.

Tuesday Workout:

shoulders

seated shoulder presses
15 x 6 kilos
10 x 7 kilos
8 x 8 kilos

lateral raises
10D x 5 kilos + 5 x 4 kilos
10D x 5 kilos + 4 x 4 kilos

front raises
12 x 5 kilos
10 x 6 kilos
8 x 7 kilos

traps
bent-over lateral raises
2 10 x 5 kilos

shrugs with dumbbells
12 x 5 kilos
10 x 6 kilos
8 x 7 kilos

arms

close-grip bench press
12 x bar
10 x bar
8 x bar
aarrgghhh ! these were tough!!

rope pressdown
2 10 x 10 kilos

barbell curl
12 x bar
10 x bar
10 x bar
i wanted to die! is there anything lighter than the bar?!?!?

alternate dumbbell curl
2 10 x 6 kilos

cardio

morning - 25 min. stair stepper at 65-70%
evening - spinning


Meal Plan: pretty much same as yesterday

Meal 1 – ½ cup oatmeal + 1/4 cup 1% milk, 250 grams 1.5% cottage cheese, 10 almonds, strong turkish coffee

Meal 2 – 4 egg whites + 1 egg omelet, sautéed onions, banana, green tea

workout

Meal 3 – 4 oz grilled chicken breast, baked sweet potato, 1 cup mixed steamed vegetables

Meal 4 – ½ cup oatmeal + 1/4 cup 1% milk, 125 grams 1.5% cottage cheese, large tangerine

spinning

Meal 5 – 5 oz water-packed tuna, apple, 2 cups garden salad, 2 slices lite whole wheat bread

* ½ tablespoon olive oil throughout the day

this is a 36p/42c/21f balance, 1700 calories

onward and at least staying parallel, if not upward, all the way !!

i was 100% today ! it feels real good to string a few days together like this !!

[adriana]

again a bit tired, but this time from lack of sleep. gotta stop these ups and downs!

finally, a bit higher in calories today. not much, but a bit. i'll have some extra good fat & carbs today to get rid of some of hunger that i felt yesterday.

Wednesday Workout:

cardio only

morning: 40 m. stationary bike @65%
30 laps in pool

evening: 5-7k power walk around town if not raining, at gym if raining


Meal Plan:

Meal 1 – ½ cup oatmeal + 1/4 cup 1% milk, 125 grams 1.5% cottage cheese, 10 almonds

cardio

Meal 2 – banana, 2 slices lite whole wheat bread, 30 grams humus, 2 whole eggs

Meal 3 – 5 oz baked salmon, 3 cups steamed mixed vegetables, small potato

Meal 4 – 1/2 cup oatmeal + 1/4 cup 1% milk, 250 grams cottage cheese, apple, green tea

walk

Meal 5 – 4 oz grilled turkey breast, garden salad

37p/38c/24f balance, 1800 calories


now it's time to go to the gym

[adriana]

i woke up with a KILLER migraine today, all PMS related. guys, this is NOT any fun

no exercise today and eating will be just some fruit and lots of herbal teas. i want to die .

i'll post later on what i do eat today. in the meantime i'm going back to my bed, which is in a cool, dark room.

[peenut]

adriana, i'm a newbie to this site, but i'm reading your daily posts with great interest.. you are doing awesome, and i think you are an inspiration. i'm looking to lose some bodyfat, i gained about 13 lbs. since quitting cigarettes some months ago. i am familiar with training and cardio, but a bit lost when it comes to dieting for fat loss.. i'm 5'1", wt = 123lbs. i looked much more lean and fit at about 110lbs. so how do you come up with how many calories to plan and what percent ratio of carbs, fat, and protein?? i know you mentioned fitday. com... and......... i hope you feel better soon..... get some rest......... peenut

[adriana]

thank you so much for your kind words !!

i'm glad that you decided to join us here on these great boards.

let's see....... my calories, huh? well, it's taken me months and months to come up with what i'm doing now.

i started out with Body for Life , which is a great program for *beginners*, like i was. that's where i learned the macronutrient balance of 40% protein / 40% carbs / 20% fat. i tried a few other combinations, but this is the one that my body likes the most. i feel full with the protein and i also know that i'm getting in more than enough good carbs and fat with this combination.

as for calories, well that's been another story.

at the beginning, back in september - december of last year, i was doing basically weight watchers *points*, which is just calorie zig zagging. i didn't follow the WW eating plan, just the points system, going from 23 points to 40 points throughout the week - again, calories zig-zagging.

i did wonderfully on that type of eating plan. i lost a good amount of fat in 4 months and i was real happy with everything. i consistenly lost between 0.5 and 1 kilo per week doing that.

THEN i started reading too much information on the subject of nutrition and like an idiot i got caught up in the silly theory of "eat more, burn more fat". it just doesn't work for someone like me who has a basically slow metabolism. even with lots of weight training and cardio my metabolism isn't going to go into any kind of high gear. it's gotten better, but it still is slow. i upped my calories to about 1900 per day and i COMPLETELY stalled !! for three months now!! ACK !!

so, now i'm back to the lower calories and zig-zagging them throughout the week. i'm SUPER happy with this. i can feel the difference in this short week. i don't know if i've lost any scale weight yet this week, but i just feel soooo much better and that's what's really important to me.

what i did to figure out the actual calories was i figured out my BMR. then i multiplied that daily average by 7 to come out with a weekly average, and then i just play with that weekly average to get the 1500-1800 range.

my BMR, according to the Harris-Benedict forumla, is 1663. for this first week i've kept my calories at my BMR just to shake things up a bit. next week i'll be adding a few more hundred calories to the daily average so i don't start to *starve* my body and loose lots of muscle.

i track the calories and macronutrients at Fit Day because it's pretty convenient.

here's an explanation of the Harris-Benedict forumla (taken Tom Venuto's Site ):

The Harris-Benedict formula (BMR based on total body weight)

The Harris Benedict equation is a calorie formula using the factors of height, weight, age, and sex to determine basal metabolic rate (BMR). This makes it more accurate than determining calorie needs based on total bodyweight alone. The only variable it does not take into consideration is lean body mass. Therefore, this equation will be very accurate in all but the extremely muscular (will underestimate caloric needs) and the extremely overfat (will overestimate caloric needs).

Men: BMR = 66 + (13.7 X wt in kg) + (5 X ht in cm) - (6.8 X age in years)

Women: BMR = 655 + (9.6 X wt in kg) + (1.8 X ht in cm) - (4.7 X age in years)

Note: 1 inch = 2.54 cm.
1 kilogram = 2.2 lbs.

Example:
You are female
You are 30 yrs old
You are 5' 6 " tall (167.6 cm)
You weigh 120 lbs. (54.5 kilos)
Your BMR = 655 + 523 + 302 - 141 = 1339 calories/day

------------

i hope that this makes sense to you. i really hope i haven't confused you too much !!

good luck,

adriana

[adriana]

i'm feeling somewhat better today, just a bit wiped out. my head still hurts, but not like yesterday. i just wanted to DIE yesterday thank God for strong drugs and dark, cool rooms. oh, and a whole butt load of sleep

so, today i'm back to my good eating, but no exercise. because of the lack of exercise i'm keeping it a low calorie day.....

Friday Meal Plan:

Meal 1 – ½ cup oatmeal, 125 grams 1.5% cottage cheese, 10 almonds

Meal 2 – 120 grams water-packed tuna, 1 small baked sweet potato

Meal 3 – 3 oz grilled chicken breast, 1 cup each steamed broccoli and cauliflower, ½ cup baked sweet potato

Meal 4 – ½ cup oatmeal, 125 grams 1.5% cottage cheese, ½ cu 1% milk, large tangerine

Meal 5 – 4 egg white + 1 egg omelet, garden salad

* ½ tablespoon olive oil through out the day

this is a 36p/42c/22f balance, 1400 calories

-------------------

funny how all this has turned into *comfort food* for me.

if i still feel a bit nauseous in the evening i'll skip the eggs altogether and sick with the salad only, maybe adding a bit of 5% fetta cheese to it...... we'll see.

i hope to God i NEVER have another migraine in my entire life !!!!!!! ACK !!!

[adriana]

wow !! it's a PERFECT day out there !! incredible. we had torrential rains just two days ago, and another storm on it's way on monday..... strange :confused:

but, today is THE day to enjoy outdoors. we'll get going in a few hours.

i woke up looking like a puffer-fish today. it must be the inactivity of the last few days. my fingers are sooooo swollen i can barely close my hands........... strange :confused:

nothing strange about the plans for today though.

Saturday Meal Plan:

Meal 1 – ½ cup oatmeal, 125 grams 1.5% cottage cheese, 10 almonds

Meal 2 – banana, large tangerines, 2 hard boiled eggs, herbal tea

Meal 3 – 3 oz baked chicken breast, 1 cup rice, 2 cups garden salad

Meal 4 – ½ cup oatmeal, 125 grams 1.5% cottage cheese, ½ cu 1% milk

Meal 5 – 4-5 oz. water-packed tuna made into salad with 20 grams sour cream, green onions & chopped apple, 2 cups steamed vegetables

i'm going to go into fitday.com and figure this one out right now.

okay it's: 34p/45c/21f and 1600 calories -- PERFECT !!

since i got up so late it'll be meal 1 at home, meals 2 & 3 packed and taken with me in the small cooler, meals 4 & 5 at home. gotta plan to make this work, right??


Workout:

outside most of the day. walking, hiking, having fun

after fitday, it's time to get ready and go, go, go

[adriana]

oh how i LOVE starting a new week !!

last week was not super great because of my illness on thursday and friday. yesterday was a great family day walking for hours and hours around Old Yafo in southern tel aviv. to say that i feel 100% on plan right now would be an exaggeration. but i DO feel that i did my best under the circumstances. i'm still really bloated and i'm hoping that it's all a combination of my period and no exercise. it's better today than yesterday though, so there's hope

i'm upping my calories a bit this week, as per plan. i stayed low last week just to shock my body. this week will be in the range of 1700-2000, for a daily average of 1850. hope this doesn't set me back at all

Sunday Work Out:
now moved to Monday, 17.3.03 --- oops !!

shoulders

seated shoulder presses
15 x 6 kilos
10 x 7 kilos
8 x 8 kilos

lateral raises
10D x 5 kilos + 5 x 4 kilos
10D x 5 kilos + 4 x 4 kilos

front raises
12 x 5 kilos
10 x 6 kilos
8 x 7 kilos

traps

bent-over lateral raises
2 10 x 5 kilos

shrugs with dumbbells
12 x 5 kilos
10 x 6 kilos
8 x 7 kilos

arms

close-grip bench press
12 x bar
10 x bar
8 x bar

rope pressdown
2 10 x 10 kilos

barbell curl
12 x bar
10 x bar

alternate dumbbell curl
2 10 x 6 kilos

abs

* reverse crunch 2 x 15
* machine crunch 2 x 15

cardio

morning - 25 min. stair stepper at 65-70%
evening - spinning (i think, today is a holiday so this might be cancelled)


Meal Plan:

Meal 1 – ½ cup oatmeal + 1/4 cup 1% milk, 250 grams 1.5% cottage cheese, 10 almonds, green tea

Meal 2 – 4 egg whites + 1 egg omelet, sautéed onions, banana, green tea

workout

Meal 3 – 4 oz grilled chicken breast, baked sweet potato, 2 cups mixed steamed vegetables

Meal 4 – ½ cup oatmeal + 1/4 cup 1% milk, 125 grams 1.5% cottage cheese, large tangerine

spinning - maybe

Meal 5 – 5 oz water-packed tuna, apple, 2 cups garden salad, 2 slices lite whole wheat bread

* ½ tablespoon olive oil throughout the day

this is a 36p/42c/21f balance, 1700 calories


MAJOR EDIT TODAY: i COMPLETELY forgot that this is a holiday for the kids, that means they have 1/2 off with tons of activities spread out all afternoon and evening!! i'm soooo off the above plans right now. i'm now cancelling everything that i wrote above and taking a completely free day. tomorrow will start week 2 !! sorry about that folks

[adriana]

i feel like i'm in a vacuum-packed room with no idea what's going on around me. the days are just flying by and i'm not getting anywhere with work !!

soooo..... maybe it's good that a new storm is on it's way and i'll be able to slow down a bit. the girls on vacation is really time-consuming and the prospect of having them home for another week because of the war is a bit scary right now


Tuesday Workout:

morning cardio: 5k on treadmill, intervals for 20 minutes of the time, the rest at 3.5 mph, 7% incline.

evening cardio: spinning


Meal Plan: (sticking with the same today)

Meal 1 – ½ cup oatmeal + 1/4 cup 1% milk, 250 grams 1.5% cottage cheese, 10 almonds, green tea

Meal 2 – 4 egg whites + 1 egg omelet, banana, green tea

cardio only

Meal 3 – 4 oz grilled chicken breast, baked sweet potato, 2 cups mixed steamed vegetables

Meal 4 – ½ cup oatmeal + 1/4 cup 1% milk, 125 grams 1.5% cottage cheese, large tangerine

spinning

Meal 5 – 5 oz water-packed tuna, apple, 2 cups garden salad, 2 slices lite whole wheat bread

* ½ tablespoon olive oil throughout the day

this is a 36p/42c/21f balance, 1700 calories


why has the food all of a sudden become easier and the workouts more difficult????

strange..........