Day 22

Lunch: Tom made a delicious scrambled egg, sausage dish with peppers and tomatoes :)

It was Lynsey's birthday, so we went to Applebee's for dinner. This was a Weight Watcher's
meal: Lemon Parmesan Shrimp, and under 550 calories. I'm sure the amount of sodium is less than ideal, but it was pretty good! 

Ok so I've been trying to avoid alcohol because it's pretty much empty calories and tons of carbs. But... it was my sister's birthday and I decided to get a wildberry mojito. I love the fresh taste of mint with fruit. So good, but so bad :/ 

Weekend: Day 20/21

Seriously my new favorite thing to eat. Like ever. Soooooo freaking yummy! I love black currant. And then add dark chocolate? Oh goodness! It also had almonds! So in moderation, this is probably a fairly decent sweet fix! (Dark chocolate is high in antioxidants and is healthier than milk chocolate. I'm sold!)

Tropical coconut Vi shake
1 cup coconut milk
1/4 chopped mango
2 chopped strawberries
2 scoops Body by Vi

I had to pick up my new computer in Rapid City today and since I had a lot of errands to run, I didn't have time to make a shake. For a "healthy" alternative to fast food, I got a Spinach Feta wrap from Starbucks. 240 cals, 10g fat, 29g carbs, 13g protein. Pretty delicious :)

Day 19: Body By Vi Challenge

Lift: Resistance band warm-up

Bench (hit 95% of my max! Not too shabby for taking a month off from lifting)

Inverted Rows

Shoulder pulls

Push-up rows

Pull ups

Abs

Today I decided that I'm going to get my life back. I've made a conscious effort to change my diet and nutrition, and I've started lifting seriously again. After almost 3 weeks, I'm starting to notice small changes. This made me realize that I do in fact have it within me to change. Although I've started eating healthier, I still find it difficult to eat the right balance of protein and carbs. I have both Shakeology and ViSalus along with whey protein. I decided today that I'm going to replace 2 of my main meals a day with protein shakes (high protein, low carbs) and intensify my workouts. Hopefully this will be enough to propel me in the right direction.

The picture doesn't do this justice (and it makes it look huge!!) but this is asparagus soup from Green Bean with an almond-raspberry iced latte. I should have gotten a cup of soup instead of a bowl because it was way too much, but it was delicious! 

Day 18: motivation

Passion fruit tea with blueberries! 

Day 17

This basically sums up my entire day:
I spilled my breakfast shake all over the counter and had to re-make the entire thing.
I got a poor grade on an assignment for Biometry.
I found out that in the next 4 class periods, we have 2 assignments and 2 tests for Biometry (seriously, puke).
I ate pizza for lunch and felt sick the whole rest of the day.
My computer crashed and I lost documents, pictures, and my assignment that is due for tomorrow, worth 40% of my grade.
I got an email from my online course prof that I submitted my homework an hour late (in different time zones) Fail.
My poor puppy got sick from her rabies/dystemper shots and threw up in the middle of the night.

A bad day really is motivation to SFW!

Get it girl

Tanning is my way of relaxing after an intense workout, and it's my 5 minutes every few days that I get to myself. Using this as a progress pic - hopefully in a month, I'll be able to see slight changes for the better :)

Lift: 
Warm-up: stirrup exercises, foam roll
Squat 7x5x3 (3 sets)
Lunges with kettlebell weights (x3)
Leg press calf raises (20x15x10)
100x ham-glute raises
abs

Had a great lift tonight! (It won't let me rotate this silly picture, but I burned 417 calories! I love my heart-rate monitor. It's nice to know what my heart-rate is during different exercises.) 

Post workout drink: creatine and amino acids

Day 16

Small meal: "Fried rice" made with quinoa, 1 egg (scrambled), red/yellow peppers, edamame, and mushrooms then for taste, I added a little bit of sea salt, pepper, and garlic. 

Bananas, mango, watermelon, and a hiding sweet potato: I love having healthy food around :)

Coconut fudge: I don't know how healthy this is. I wanted to make Hawaiian Haupia, but all of the recipes I found used a large amount of cornstarch. I found this recipe on Pinterest, and decided to try it out.

1/4 cup coconut oil
 1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
Pinch of salt
3 tbsp honey
1 tsp coconut sugar

Melt coconut oil over low heat and mix in remaining ingredients. Use plastic wrap to line a freezer-safe dish. Pour mixture into dish and freeze (~1 hour depending on thickness). I cut up strawberries to eat with it as well.*

*This was absolutely delicious, but it was very sweet. I didn't think the small amount of honey and coconut sugar would make that much of a difference, but if I were to make this again, I'd lower the amount. Also, make sure it is consumed straight from the freezer or that it is kept below a temperature of 76 degrees. Since coconut oil has a low melting point, it literally melts in your mouth (but will also melt long before it reaches your mouth if left out.)

Breakfast: Apple-cinnamon Oatmeal pancakes!
I kind of made this recipe up as I went along, and it was pretty good!

Pancakes: 1/2 c oatmeal
1/4 cup liq. egg whites
3 tbsp milk
1 tbsp whole wheat flour (for thickness)
1 tsp cinnamon

I mixed the oatmeal with a little bit of water and cooked it first before adding the remaining ingredients.  Once mixed well, I cooked them like pancakes on a skillet.

Apple topping: 1 honeycrisp apple, sliced and cubed
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp water

I placed the apples and the cinnamon in a microwave-safe bowl and cooked for 1 minute, and then mixed with the remaining ingredients in a blender until I had a thick consistency topping.