I feel like I live at the gym.
Day 15. It’s week 3 and I’m not loving the layout of these blog posts. They’re boring. I think you get the point of how much activity I’m doing and how I’m eating so I’ll continue sharing my routine (mostly to stay accountable) down at the bottom of the post. I’d rather just write about the things that are going through my mind. A lot. First off, I can’t believe it’s already week 3. I feel like I’ve made progress sure, but I have SO much more progress to make before I’m ready to get in a ring. You know? It’s terrifying. In the best way possible.
Day 16. Yesterday was my rest day and I feel somewhat rejuvenated. However, I haven’t really felt 100% in about a month at this point. My legs (mostly) are pretty bruised up and all of my muscles are tight. I had another therapeutic massage last week, but there’s only so much a person can do in an hour. The verdict is in and I have to stretch more. Like a lot more. The damn foam roller thing is going to have to become my BFF for the rest of training if I want to be able to maneuver myself properly. Before you start getting the wrong impression, I should say I’ve definitely been in worse shape before so it’s nothing I can’t overcome.
Right now I’m working on making sure my boxing form is good (jabs, cross, hooks etc.) and that my footwork is tight. I’m also working on keeping my hands up while sparring… As simple as this may sound it’s not. It’s tough keeping your hands up (while wearing 12 oz gloves) the entire time, mostly I just forget and let them fall. Not good. I have to fix this before the fight. It’s pretty crucial.
With all of this said, I feel stronger than I ever have and it feels incredible. I never grew up playing sports, but most of my girl friends did and I always admired that so much. Even as a kid, I could see how much stronger they felt and how much confidence their sport gave them. I didn’t start getting into fitness until my last year of college. I wanted to get healthy and I did. This endeavor is on a-whole-nother level and I love how athletic I’ve become. The strength and confidence that it gives me. I questioned whether or not I’d like my new physique, but holy shit do I LOVE my muscles.
This is my least favorite stretch… Clearly not very stretchy here.
Day 17. Today didn’t really go as planned. I packed all of my gym stuff the night before. I’ve been feeling like I haven’t been giving my body enough rest so I figured I’d let myself sleep in this morning and skip a morning workout. On my way to the gym after work, I realized I didn’t pack my gym clothes so I had to first go home to make a pit stop. Rookie mistake. The minute I got home and plummeted on my bed, any plans of working out vanished. I knew this would happen.
I convinced myself today was going to have to be another recovery day and threw caution to the wind deciding to continue my eating binge for the day. I went out and grabbed some sushi (2 small containers of tuna avocado & salmon avocado rolls) and seaweed salad. Before diving in, I made sure everything was packed completely for Thursday and then proceeded a night of Gilmore Girls & sushi. It was fucking glorious.
Day 18. OK… I feel guilty. I didn’t want to bother to weigh myself this morning. Nothing good will come of it. If I managed to keep my weight or loose anything yesterday I would get cocky and continue to eat more than I should which will result in a failed weight cut. OR the more probable outcome that I gained a pound or two which will send me in a spiral of guilt. Either way, I know that the next 4 days will make up for the weight and lack of working out.
I woke up with a cough so I decided to keep my morning workout at home just in case and drink lemon water like crazy. I’m already feeling better.
On another note, I still don’t have an opponent for the September 10th date. There’s another fight I’ve signed up for on the 24th so if nothing comes of the 10th, the 24th is it. This means I have a bit more time to prep which is definitely a good thing. I can use it for sure.
Early evening update: I feel like shit. k. bye.
Day 21. So I didn’t make weight this week. I’ve been stressing about it all week and completely failing almost every day. It’s not like I went out and ate a burger (I don’t even like burgers), but I let my willpower go. Instead of eating a handful of nuts, I ate probably more like 10. It’s hard. It’s hard to portion control things you enjoy eating when you’re not working out like a maniac, but it’s much harder when you’re constantly moving.
I have to try harder. That’s the thing with challenges. They’re challenging. Instead of loosing 2 more pounds, I gained 1lb. If my fight does happen on the 10th (more on this below), I’ll have to push really hard and loose that 4 pounds in 2 weeks (doable).
I know some folks are thinking that this is insane and unhealthy. I agree. Sort of. It could be insane and unhealthy, but for the most part I’m doing a pretty good job getting a great deal of nutrients in me with little calorie intake. Loosing weight at my size is tricky, but it can be done without harm. Ok, so the binging habits suck, but I’ve had those for years. I’m an emotional eater. When things get rough or I get stressed out, there’s nothing quite like a pint of ice cream to help me move on with my life onto better & bigger things. I think the eating part of this challenge is helping me (slowly, but surely) overcome that shitty habit. I shouldn’t be eating 10 portions of anything regardless of my size.
About the fight… I still don’t have an opponent for the September 10th date. However, there’s another fight on the 24th so I should definitely (hopefully like times 100) have one for that date. I would hate to do all this and not get to compete.
I didn’t get a chance to write in the last couple of days, mostly because if I’m not at the gym I’ve been binge watching Gilmore Girls… I also made an effort to socialize. Woohoo! My amazing friends came to keep me company on Friday night and I even sipped some seltzer water at a bar with friends on Saturday (I’m getting wild, I know).
Monday (Day 15)
AM: n/a
PM: n/a
The food I made happen & subsequently ate:
(breakfast ) plain kefir + blueberries + muesli
(lunch) brocoli & portobello mushroom salad + baked chicken breast & okra
(dessert) watermelon + mango slices (way too many)
(snack 1) trail mix (nuts & raisins)
(dinner) shrimp salad + carrot sticks + walnuts
Tuesday (Day 16)
AM: 3 rounds of 3 min burpees; 30 minutes of footwork drills
PM: 1 hour personal training | 1 hour Muay Thai Class | 40 minutes conditioning/resistance training
The food I made happen & subsequently ate:
(breakfast ) plain kefir + blueberries + muesli
(lunch) brocoli & portobello mushroom salad + baked chicken breast & okra
(dessert) watermelon + apple
(snack 1) sugar snap peas + raw zucchini slices
(dinner) softened beet + apple sauerkraut
Wednesday (Day 17)
AM: slept in
PM: n/a
The food I made happen & subsequently ate:
Cheat day?
(breakfast ) plain kefir + blueberries + muesli
(snack) spicy chickpeas (I soak them overnight so they absorb the moisture and get crunchy and then season them with cayenne pepper, garlic powder & salt)
(lunch) brocoli & portobello mushroom salad + baked chicken breast & okra
(dessert) watermelon + mango + nuts (WAY too many)
(snack) nuts & raisin medley (WAY too many)
(dinner) tuna & avocado sushi rolls + seaweed salad
(dessert) 3/4 pint os strawberry Halo Top ice cream (NOT normal ice cream – less than 280 cal/ 10 g sugar etc— STILL no bueno but I did it)
Thursday (Day 18)
AM: 30 min home workout (see set list below)
PM: 30 minutes conditioning | 45 minutes bag work practicing combos and footwork | 1.0 hour Muay Thai Class | 30 minutes ab workout, stretching, & foam rolling
Morning set list:
repeat until bell (5 minutes straight no rest)
- 10 pushups
- 10 mountain climbers
- 10 squats
Rest 1 minute
3 – 1 minute planks (15 second rest)
Rest 1 minute
Repeat until bell rings (5 minutes no rest)
- 10 sit ups
- 10 Russian twists
- 10 bicycle crunches
- 10 leg lifts
Rest 2 minutes
10 30 second rounds (5 minutes) no rest of ab work (sit ups, bicycles, leg lifts etc.)
50 pushups
50 situps
The food I made happen & subsequently ate:
(breakfast 1) leftover seaweed salad + 1 boiled egg + walnuts
(breakfast 2 ) plain kefir + banana
(lunch) Thursday team lunch:
(dessert) red pear
(snack 1) nuts
(snack 2) pear
(dinner) boiled egg + beet + apple sauerkraut
Friday (Day 19)
AM: accupuncture
PM: 2 hour personal training session with sparring drills
The food I made happen & subsequently ate:
(breakfast) plain kefir + banana
(lunch) brocoli & portobello mushroom salad leftovers + chickpeas & quinoa
(snack 1) raisins & peanuts (this was more of a scavenger off my co-worker who had trail mix so I picked out all raisins & peanuts)
(snack 2) mango slices & watermelon … and granola (too much food was eaten WAY too much)
(dinner) homemade popcorn + watermelon seltzer (by the time dinner rolled around I was not hungry at all… all the fruit I ate before working out really made me feel like shit)
Saturday (Day 20)
AM: light stretching
PM: 1.5 hour Muay Thai Class | 30/40 minutes of bag & footwork drills, pushups/abs 
The food I made happen & subsequently ate:
(breakfast 1) 1 piece of whole wheat bread with a TEENY bit of butter + dill weed + cayenne pepper
(breakfast 2 ) muesli + fresh figs
(lunch) Spinach/brocoli/onion medley + baked chicken breast + half yellow tomato + red apple sauerkraut + 2 boiled eggs
(dessert) watermelon
(snack) homemade trail mix (raw nuts with mulberries & coconut chips)
(dinner) n/a – I probably ate all the calories I could eat in the first part of the day… and honestly I wasn’t hungry
Sunday (Day 21)
AM: n/a
PM: 1.5 Boxing Class | 1 hour Personal Training session | 30 min conditioning
The food I made happen & subsequently ate:
(breakfast) 2 pieces of whole wheat toast + fresh figs
(snack 1) sugar snap peas
(lunch) boiled egg + half yellow tomato + chick peas + quinoa + kale & black bean medley (this was pretty much a mash up of everything I had leftover from this week that needed to get eaten asap plus the new kale & black bean dish I made today)
(dessert) watermelon + frozen green grapes
(snack 2) raw carrots
(snack 3) grapefruit
(dinner) turkey jerky + broccoli sticks + sauerkraut
Funk Meets A Lady 