Every day is leg-training day! Woohoo!

Back at it!

Have to be sort of brief since I have injured both of my hands at this point (yep - BOTH. At the same time. I would like to say I've learned a lesson about unrelenting stubborn macho pigheadedness...but it hasn't happened yet.) and typing is pretty time-consuming and somewhat painful. To make a VERY long story short, I have a dislocated left wrist and a sprained right thumb. Trying not to feel sorry for myself and just be patient; I'll be back on top of my game soon...but seriously.

Anyway, getting sick of my own bitching on that tired subject, so let's catch up on something more fun!

The 7WTF project has been placed on the back burner for now because of my gimpy state; I will pick that up again one day when I have full use of my arms/hands...which is too bad, 'cause I really felt like I was getting somewhere! But there is a silverish lining on this black cloud of injuries, which is this: every day is leg day right now, and I am having great fun putting some pretty cool leg workouts together. Want to see my favourite one?

Here it is:

Warm up: 1 mile easy run, lower body foam rolling and dynamic stretching.

Superset 1
Seated Leg Press (as heavy as possible for 15 reps)
High Step-ups (15 each side)
4x through

Superset 2
Bulgarian Split Squats (10/side)
24" box jumps (20 reps)
3x through

Superset 3
Prone Hamstring Curls (20 reps at a weight where the last 5 reps bring tears to your eyes; these should not be easy)
Skater Side-to-side Lunges (20 each direction)
3x though

Superset 4
Hill Sprints with a sand bag, 30 sec x 3
Captain's Chair Bicycles (20 reps)
3x through

That's what I'll be doing tomorrow morning! After which I'm going to tell you about my newest nutrition project. Have a great weekend!

Dessert, anyone?

Let's get right down to it, shall we? I've gotten loads of messages since yesterday from people who are totally down for no sugar in October...except for Thanksgiving, when a slice of pumpkin pie is an absolute necessity. To which I say, hell yes! But, I am committed to doing this project 100%, no exceptions, and for those of you who are open to an alternative, I give you....

Hang on a sec. Before I introduce today's recipe, I have to include a disclaimer: I hate low-cal, low-fat etc. 'cheating' desserts. Hate them. My approach to dessert is this: if you are doing everything right as far as diet and exercise is concerned, and you find yourself jonesing for dessert on a Saturday evening, you should have a dessert that is over-the-top awesome. It should be so good that a small serving is enough. So with that in mind, the following is not a low-cal, guilt-free (whatever that means) dessert. There are no artificial sweeteners (they activate my gag reflex). I have made no effort whatsoever to cut calories or fat. What I do recommend is that you use absolutely the best ingredients possible, and accept nothing less than full-fat, ORGANIC dairy products. They cost a little bit more and are sometimes harder to find, but they are worth every bit of the time and money because of the nutritional benefits, the superior taste, and your ecological footprint. So without further ado, check out my original recipe for....

SUGAR-LESS PUMPKIN PIE

Crust
1/3 cup rolled oats
2/3 cup walnuts
1tsp cinnamon

Turn the oven on to 375C, and grease a 9" springform pan. Chuck all the ingredients into a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles wet sand. When that happens, press the crust into the bottom of the springform pan and stick it in the still-preheating oven.

Custard
3 eggs
1 1/3 cups condensed milk
2 cups canned pumpkin purée
2 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp ginger

Thoroughly mix all ingredients, then take the crust out of the oven and pour the custard layer into the pan. The oven should be hot by now; set a timer for 25min and wash the dishes. Or go relax.

Mousse Topping
2 cups whipping cream (organic if possible)
1/2 cup pumpkin purée
1/2 cup sour cream (again, full-fat organic is really the only way to go!)
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon
Pinch each of nutmeg, cloves, and ginger
(Optional) 3-5 drops of liquid stevia

Whip the whipping cream, then add the other stuff and mix it in. When the bottom part of your pie is cooled all the way (this is important, no joke), spread the mousse layer over the custard layer and sprinkle with cinnamon. Beauty!

So honestly, how does this measure up?

I liked it. I served it to my kids without telling them that it was anything other than regular pumpkin pie, and they both happily gobbled it down. After licking their plates clean they both said, "yeah, it was good...but not as good as your pumpkin pie usually is."

Haven't tried it on the husband yet - that will be the ultimate test! Will check in on that score tomorrow.

Here we go!

Weigh-in Wednesday! Starting weight for this project is 187.2lbs. Eep. Well, it can only get better from here!

So I am putting this sugarlessness challenge out to the online masses. I am going to take it one step further and nix the white flour as well (which shouldn't be too hard since I don't really eat that stuff anyway) but white sugar and white flour are the roots of all evil as far as I'm concerned.

I'm going to post a recipe or alternative each day to make it even more fun! Who's in?

Starting again...and again and again and again

I'm home from work today because I have a kid with a fever. You know, besides a little bit of extra whining, it's been lovely! (And as far as I'm concerned, the whining is justified - poor kid is feeling pretty lousy.) Still, she is absolutely loving being treated like a princess, lying on the couch while I bring her ginger ale and Tylenol and change the DVD when needed...and I am loving the down time, the quiet house, and the bonding time with my nine-year-old.

Nine. NINE?!

Anyone who knows me well is fully aware (and rolling their eyes at my sentimentality, I'm sure) that this whole parenting gig has left me in a state of shock. Peeing on the stick the first time (and then finding out that I was already 16 weeks into the pregnancy) was like jumping onto a moving train, and though the initial disbelief has worn off, the constant feeling of hanging on for dear life has remained. These days the train is hurtling toward Tween Station, where it probably won't even pause to refuel before it rockets on, at ever increasing speeds, toward Teenage City. Anyway, my darling little firstborn and I butt heads on a pretty regular basis, or at least we did until a few months ago when I came to the sudden realization that she is a small version of me. We are so much alike in so many ways that it's no wonder that we have a tendency to drive each other crazy, but that light-bulb moment made me think I should try and be more supportive. And in the last few months she has become one of my favorite people to hang out with! I worry about her though; she is headed straight into all the same trials and tribulations that I went through as a kid, including the weight issues...

Oh, weight issues. How I wish they would go away forever...but I fear we are stuck with each other, for better or for worse, so I choose to make their presence a positive one.

Two things have happened lately that made me think that something needs to change (again) and I have to get on a wagon (again) and stay there (again). One is that the aftermath of the 7-Days diet has really thrown me for a loop and I am hardcore out of control. I'm expanding out of my clothes and it's setting off alarm bells in my ...hips and thighs and ass. Yup.

The other is that this past Saturday the aforementioned child and I did a workout with the sparring class at our taekwondo club, and although remaining conscious for the duration of the workout was a step in the right direction (ha! ha!) it was pretty apparent to me throughout that I need - NEED - to be lighter in order to be successful at this sport. My taekwondo uniform is also the only thing that I wear on a regular basis that isn't stretchy, so the expanding-ass problem is doubly apparent in my not-stretchy white pants. Yikes. And while we're at it, being lighter would make everything easier...but now I sound like a broken record so it's time to make an announcement:

It's NEW NUTRITION PROJECT TIME! Yup, that's right...tomorrow is 4 weeks away from Halloween, and so in light of the coming landmark I am giving up sugar for 4 weeks. Added sugar, that is; keeping fruit and sweet veggies on the menu for the moment. From tomorrow until the day after Halloween I'm nixing the sugar. It's gonna be work.

Stay tuned; tomorrow's the weigh in and we'll go from there! Fun!

Week 1! No, week 2! No, wait...

So theoretically I am done 2 weeks' worth of my 7 Weeks to Fitness (hereafter known as 7WTF - hee hee!) projects...but I am only done week 1 of the programs. How is this possible, you ask?

Well, the programs work like this: you do 5 sets of each exercise, with a prescribed number of reps in each set. In the last set, you go to total failure but they give you a minimum number of reps to bang out before you're allowed to fail. For example, yesterday's push up protocol looked like this:

Set 1: 10 reps
Set 2: 12 reps
Set 3: 8 reps
Set 4: 8 reps
Set 5: to failure but minimum of 12
(60 seconds' rest between each set)

Here's the thing: if you max out before you hit the minimum in the last set, you have to repeat that day. And that's why, after two weeks, I finished week one of the program yesterday. I'm not sure if it's because I'm doing three of the programs all at once or if the programs' intensity increases too quickly...but I'm going with the latter because increasing the total load of a workout by 15% every day doesn't jive with what I know about exercise program design! I also like that option better because it makes me feel like less of a pussy. Ha!

And speaking of being a pussy, I think it's important to note here that I've changed the way I'm doing the squat program: instead of doing 135lbs I'm doing 95lbs, but I'm being picky about doing perfect, arse-to-floor squats. It is way freakin' harder than doing 135's with my hips going down to knee-height!

Interesting results so far; I definitely feel stronger and am seeing big changes in my strength on this program. My gimpy-ass right shoulder is stabilizing too, and moving better than it has in a long while. Hell yes!

 The one thing that I don't like about this program? I'm freakin' bored. The problem, of course, is that there's too much cool stuff out there to work on and try out and experiment with! Apparently I have a bad case of ADD when it comes to designing my own exercise programs, and I think that's why I really need to see this program through, at least until the six weeks are up. Should be interesting to see how far into the program I get! Ha, do you think that could be why it's a 6-week program called 7WTF and advertised as 6 to 10 weeks' worth of programming? Hmmm...

Look out, week 2! I've got your number!

And, because next weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving, I'd be terribly remiss in my duties if I didn't show you my....

Pumpkin Mousse Cheesecake!

Here it comes...

That's how I feel these days! It's time to stop messing around with these stupid diet plans and just get back on an even keel here. Did you notice how I used the word stupid? About diet plans?

That's what most of them are.

There are a billion and a half diets out there, and they will ALL work if you follow them to the letter; at least over the short term. The good ones will give you continuing results and be plans that you can follow over the long term, IF you stick to them. And that's one ginormous, hairy IF, 'cause that's hard to do.

I often wonder why it is that I still carry so much extra weight around; I don't generally think of myself as someone who has no discipline. On the contrary; I made it through the freakin' Velocity Diet (and got no results, although my husband did it too and lost 18lbs), and the more recent 7 Days to Bitchy diet...but here's the thing: I am inconsistent with my application of discipline, and if I'm honest I know that that's why I am still 30lbs overweight. True story!

So, to sum up: I am overweight. I know damn well why. I am working on it. And as long as I keep working on it (because, since we're being honest, I will probably have to fight with this one until I die), I will be okay with all of the above.

It's taken me a long time to get to a place where I can say that. Yay me!

And you know what I totally love?
Working out. That's one area where I never have to worry about consistency, because I love everything about it: the digging deep, the hurting afterward, the grunting and straining and burning and feeling like I'm going to puke...I even love the awful feeling of talking myself into getting it done when my body really, really doesn't want to cooperate. Every minute of it is awesome.

All of these factors put together are what make me good at my job. I don't often get into this but I really do believe wholeheartedly in what I do, and I think that the life experiences that brought me to where I am have left me with a unique perspective. I have something to offer that no one else does.

Are you wondering where I'm going with this yet? You may want to get comfy, 'cause there's a big rant coming...

You know who DOESN'T like working out? Like, at all?
You know who only does it to make herself look good?
You know who hasn't dealt with her own issues AT ALL and foists them onto everyone around her?
You know has zero ability to reflect on herself and her behaviour and how she affects other people?

TV's toughest trainer, that's who.

Jillian Michaels claims to be among the best in the world at her job. I call bullshit on that one, for so many reasons that I can't list them all here. But the list above sort of sums up the big issues. And as far as I'm concerned, it's the personal stuff that really makes the difference between a really good trainer and a total fraud. Never mind that she probably knows the nuts and bolts of how to put a workout together ('cause let's face it; that stuff isn't rocket science although it helps to have some basic knowledge of how to swing a kettlebell. Ha! Ha!), and that she knows that eating clean is the best way to go and why; the problem is that the people who run the Jillian Michaels machine picked a bitchy, overgrown, immature mean girl with a boatload of identity problems that she hasn't dealt with (and probably never will because she can't get over herself long enough to step back and reflect). Jillian Michaels is a face: she's a packaged machine that a whole team of experts have put together and marketed to death in order to communicate the message that healthy, balanced living is good for you.

FAIL.


Anyway. I'm done with her stupid app already; the information in it is totally flawed and backwards and wrong and nobody should put any stock in that shit. I followed her plan for me for a couple of days and could not make the way I normally eat fit into any of her pat little profiles. And when I followed the macronutrient breakdown for what she says is my body type, I gained a pile of weight and felt absolutely terrible.

And speaking of terrible, the workout plan in the app is simply ridiculous!! 5 Circuits of 5 exercises each? Three times through? Really? In HOW long? Did anyone actually try these workouts before they packed them up into a product that is supposed to be used to sell memberships to her website? And her demo's? Ooh, her demo's...honestly, is she trying to spread enthusiasm for exercise or show everyone how shitty and painful working out is? Sheesh...

Seriously.To hell with her 3-hour workouts and her bass-ackwards diet plan; I am done with all of it and I refuse to waste space on my phone with this crap. Want a good workout app? Check out Martin Rooney's Push Up Warrior, or the Nike Training Club. 'Cause Slim Down with Jillian Michaels is probably good masturbation fodder for 16-year-old boys, but that's about it.

On Excessive Ballast and Bullshit

Took my kids and a couple of their friends to check out the Rock Jungle today - it's a brand new rock-climbing gym in Edmonton with a CrossFit gym and yoga studio...and it was awesome. Even though the facility isn't fully operational yet, we had a blast playing on all the smaller bouldering walls. But you know what? I was amazed at how much I sucked at it!

I don't know why I expected to be better at it; it was my first time out so I was starting at square one. I usually consider myself to be fairly strong and in decent shape, but, as with most physical endeavors, I have more enthusiasm than natural ability for climbing...

...and (sigh, here we go again) an over-abundance of ballast in my ass. It occurred to me today that everything I really love to do would be WAY easier if I was lighter. Everything.

So with that in mind, it's time to start a new science project on my poor tortured metabolism! 


How do I say this nicely?

I'm not a member of the Jillian Michaels fan club. For a whole host of reasons; really, I could go on and on and I won't be able to stop...so I won't start. Suffice it to say that when I saw that her lame-ass app: "Slim Down with Jillian Michaels" hit the market yesterday (for FREE), I thought HEY! Here's one I have to check out and use for a little while so that I can DESTROY her on my blog!! Whoohee!

So I downloaded the app, set it up this morning, and started using it. It's not without its problems. First of all, it gives you a weight goal solely based on your height, which for me was 146lbs. Now, if I figure that out based on my lean body mass right now, that would put me at 8% body fat: WELL below the healthy range of 18-26%. Seriously, I think I was 146lbs at birth. Really what I would like to weigh is about 160lbs (which would put me at about 18-20% body fat based on a little bit of a loss of lean tissue with that kind of volume of weight loss), which is at the low end of the healthy body fat range and would make me very, very happy. So I manually re-set my weight goal. No points for Jillian yet.

Next you have to decide whether you are a fast, slow, or balanced oxidizer. This kind of metabolic typing drives me crazy, because it flies in the face of everything I have ever learned, practiced on myself, or applied with my clients. Now, if you look at the profiles of each (you can look at them all here) I am a slow oxidizer. As such, according to that wisdom and according to the app, I require a high percentage of carbohydrates (60% - sixty percent - SIXTY PERCENT) and lower protein, and very, very little fat. Almost to where it's a throwback to the 1980's low-fat fad.

This is bullshit. I know from experience that my body functions much better on higher protein and fat and very few carbohydrates. Actually, most people do. This is another subject that I could rant on and on about so I won't start...not today, anyway.

So I put myself down as a balanced oxidizer. Not really the case but it's closer to the macronutrient breakdown that my body will work best on.

Calories! Next you get to set your "Calorie Level" - basically you choose one of three plans based on your goals and body size. I chose 1400-1600/day; this is described as "appropriate for larger women who want to lose weight or petite-to-average women who want to maintain weight."

So you log all your food in the journal section of the app, which is not unlike MyPlate or FitDay or any of those other food-logging apps out there, except that...wait for it...

It's better. Score a point for Jillian, ladies and gentlemen! The food journal resource is great because it actually has healthy, basic foods in it. The one thing that most of those food logs doesn't have is a good index of clean food - everything has a brand name on it and you can't usually find things like plain oats, or chicken breast. This one has it all.

And the workouts in the app? Oh...the workouts. I actually do have to rant on and on about those, so I'm going to save it for tomorrow. Until then!

Project Update...

Wow, has it ever been a crazy week! Tomorrow is my kids' first PD day; seems odd that it's this close to the beginning of the school year...but our whole family seems ready for a long weekend so it suits me just fine!

Tomorrow marks the end of week one of my 7 Weeks to Fitness project! I'm still feeling pretty enthusiastic about this because it's totally different than the way I usually train, but I'm interested to see how my body responds to it over the long term. Whether I can squat 135lbs 200 times by the time this project is up (or do 100 pushups - or 50 pull ups! Ha ha!) is beside the point, because I don't see how I can NOT get stronger and better on this program.

So in a word, how does my body feel so far?

SORE.

And I just have to say, it feels freakin' GREAT to be sore! Two weeks of dragging my limp carcass through cardio workouts will do that, I guess. You know what else is crazy? These workouts only take about 40 minutes. So far. I know they will get longer, but for now they're a really short little efficient, ass-kicking workout! Such fun.

Basically the workouts look like this: it's 5 sets of each exercise (with a prescribed number of reps for each with the last set going to total failure) and exactly 60 seconds of recovery time in between each one. I am alternating which exercise goes first. Hey, do you want to know what my stats were at the beginning? Maybe I should do a test every 2 weeks or so so we can see what the changes look like...

Stats from Sunday September 16th:
Push Up Test: 20 reps
Pull Up Test: 1 rep
Squat Test (135lbs): 16 reps

Also, and I know I've said this already but I am still enjoying the novelty of it, I love having my energy back and feeling like me again. Food is delicious and nutritious and good for eating on a regular basis! It should also be noted here that I have gained back all the weight I lost and then some (I think; I haven't checked but can certainly feel it). I'm not that concerned about it but I think it's interesting to watch the after-effects that the 7-day diet has had on my metabolism. My digestion hasn't recovered all the way and I still haven't regained all of my strength. We're getting there.

Don't be fooled by all this healthy food - cheesecake armageddon is coming tomorrow so there will be eye candy this weekend! Stay tuned...

7 Weeks to Fitness Project

Happy Monday!

I am retracting the B- I gave to the 7-day Rapid Fat Loss plan on Saturday, because after a mere 24 hours of eating normally I had found 6 of the 8.5lbs I lost on the plan. Sunday I threw all semblance of discipline to the wind and had a totally crazy cheat day...so although I haven't been eager to get back on the scale I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm right back where I started!

Oh well.

Just goes to show that there's no easy way to shed fat; you just have to put the work in. And can I just  say that it feels really good to have some energy back? Still, it'll be good to get back to some kind of maintainable structure. I am returning to the basic rules that I mercilessly foist on my nutrition clients:

1. Eat every 2 - 4 hours.
2. Eat veggies every time you eat.
3. Eat protein every time you eat.
4. Save starchy carbs for after your workout.
5. Include a healthy fat every time you eat EXCEPT for your post-workout meal.

...and if you do just that and eliminate the 'extras' you will get lean and ripped, guaranteed....but it won't happen in a week.

Let's move on, shall we? Enough talk about food for now.

For my next silly trick, I am putting the 7 Weeks to Fitness programs to the test! This is a project I'm pretty excited about; the very basic nature of it really appeals to me. The premise for these programs is that most people have real trouble managing their own body weight, so it's aimed at getting regular people functional, strong, and resilient. Each of the four exercises has a 6-10 week program that is supposed to get you to where you can do an almost ridiculous number of reps in one set:

1. 100 Push Ups
2. 50 Pull Ups
3. 200 Squats
4. 300 Sit Ups

Check it out here.

Is it perfect? Hell no. But I'm going to try it and see what happens, and as a person who couldn't do one proper push up less than 10 years ago, the idea of ripping off 100 in one shot makes me sort of giddy! Hey, some people like to sit and watch terrible shit like Here Comes Honey Boo Boo for fun; it's not that crazy. Ha.

Of course, I can't resist making a couple of changes...the 100 push up regime I'll do as is, as well as the 50 pull up program. I just don't see the point of doing 300 sit ups so I'm leaving that one for someone else, and the 200 squats....that I can already do, easily. So, I'm going to follow the 200 squat program with 135lbs (standard Olympic bar with a big plate on either end) on my back.

Today was day one, which entailed 5 sets of each exercise. It was challenging but not murderous: a good place to start considering that I STILL don't feel as strong as I did before the 7 days of misery diet. But I remained conscious all the way through so it's a step in the right direction!

Lessons Learned and the Verdict

Today's Weight: no idea 'cause I didn't get on the scale this morning! Whee!

Part of me wants to say hooray, no more of this weighing in and accountability shit first thing in the morning! But the type 'A' control freak in me was starting to like it. And, it certainly kept me on top of my game. Maybe I'll make it a twice-weekly ritual or something...but moving on, 'cause there's important stuff to say today.

Remember how yesterday I was looking forward to a good hard workout today? Daughter #1 and I joined the sparring class at taekwondo this morning - this is something I've been looking forward to for MONTHS. All week I've been counting down the days to today, and you know what happened?

An hour into the class I started to see spots. Didn't think it was a big deal; if I'm honest this has been happening to me for the last week; a) because of fasting, and b) very few calories on non-fasting days. But I had eaten a good breakfast this morning and figured I was done with that nastiness...

Anyway, when we took a quick break to get water, I started to feel very, very bad - like, gonna either vomit or pass out or both, kind of bad. So I went and sat down in the locker room and put my head between my knees, and wondered what in hell my problem was. Seriously - I usually think I'm in pretty good shape, although clearly I need to do more high-intensity cardio. But this? This is what happens to other people, not me. "Come on, Gray," I thought to myself. "Man up and get back out there." I stood up to go back out to class - bad idea - and everything went black. 

So lessons learned this week?

1. Fasting for weight loss is effective but does not translate to improved athletic performance. If you want your body to perform optimally, slow and steady is a better strategy. There's a shocker!

2. (really just an extension of #1) If you don't fuel your body properly, don't be surprised if it says "nope - screw you" right when you need it to step up its game.

3. Stress is bad. A diet that causes you a lot of extra mental stress, especially if you have some extra stuff going on, is not going to be that effective. Not if you're me, anyway.

4. For the love of goats, stay hydrated! In fact, stop reading right now and go drink some water. 

I am finishing this week humbled and depleted and not too happy about week 2. I certainly don't recommend that anyone do this plan for more than 7 days. The second round gets a big, fat, fail. Even the first round is iffy; although I'm happy to have dropped a few and I have welcomed the appearance of my abdominal muscles, I'm not sure I lost much actual FAT the first week either. Still, it was a good kick in the ass and I was in a place where I really needed one to get back on track. 

Grade for this project: B-

Tomorrow I am testing my maximum pushups in one set, and that will mark the beginning of 6 weeks to 100 pushups! 

Day 13: Surprise...

Weight: 176.8lbs
Overall Change: -9.2lbs
Change in the last 4 days of fasting and restricting and torturing myself and my family: +0.2lbs

You know where this is going...

So here's what happened today. No wait, I have to start yesterday, at about 4pm when I was starting to feel really, really hungry and had to make dinner for my family. The usual Thursday routine is that I make supper, one kid or the other turns up her nose at it, then we have a big fight about eating supper, getting appropriate clothes on for taekwondo class/gymnastics, hair tied back, water bottles in place, shoes and socks on, and then it's out the door for the evening's activities. You see, this can't possibly all happen without me getting angry at the best of times. Put this routine at the end of a fast day and you've got a recipe for disaster.

Suffice it to say that I was crankier and snarlier than usual but too tired to pose much of a threat to anyone. I dragged myself through the evening's activities, served ice cream to my children after our evening workouts, and put them to bed. Then I went to bed feeling bad about being so grumpy and snarling at my family because of something I was inflicting on myself....but at least I was going to get on the scale in the morning and see a drop of a good three or four lbs. Right? Especially since I had yet to see any real results in week 2.

Imagine my reaction, then, when I dragged my butt out of bed at 4:45am, got on the scale, and saw a drop of...1.2lbs. 1.2lbs? Not even enough to shed the rebound water weight from carb day? 36+ hours of eating nothing and feeling weak and tired and bitchy for 1.2lbs?

Okay, I thought, fluid balance can be a funky thing. Just keep trucking - two more days. And today is carb day. BUT, I thought,  enough of this no coffee nonsense. I set aside 6g of carbs for milk in my coffee, made coffee, and got out the peaches and cream oatmeal I had prepared the day before. Drank my greens, took my supplements, and sat down for oatmeal and the best cup of coffee ever. Halfway through I was feeling HAPPY for the first time in days...

I went to work, trained one client, then had a break and went home. I was home in time to cuddle with my kids as they rolled out of bed. Made them breakfast (feeling warm and fuzzy and happy), and sent them off to school. As my husband left for work, he said "I love you when you're happy. No more fasting diets, okay?"

Ate my second carb meal: egg whites, steam-fried potatoes, and veggies - yum. Seriously too much food though; WAY more starch than I'd normally eat. Headed back to work feeling too full, my husband's request and the number on the scale rattling around in my head, and feeling bitchier by the minute.

Fast forward a few hours, and I was scooting home from work in an attempt to get home before my kids got home from school. I had been feeling mildly ill all day from all the starch earlier on and hadn't been able to look at the protein/fat meal that I brought to work, so I was feeling pretty hungry. Kids walked in the back door at the same time that I walked in the front door; fresh, warm bags of popcorn clutched in their little hands.

Shit - it was popcorn sale day at school today.

At that moment I thought, "Enough already - I'm done with feeling weak and tired and shaky and growly. It's gotten me nowhere this week. I'm done." And the kids and I snacked on popcorn while we caught up on the details of our day.

So I fell, no, I gleefully leaped off the wagon on Day 13 of the 14-day challenge. There were a lot of instances today where I was doubting myself and wondering if it was worth finishing, and I kept thinking that I MUST finish or I'd be super disappointed in myself. But you know what? I don't feel the least bit bad about it. In fact, I feel better than I have in days. I'm looking forward to a good hard workout tomorrow. And Sunday marks the beginning of my next project, which I'm excited to start! Stay tuned!

Day 12: Last Fast!!

Today's weight: 178.0lbs
Change since yesterday: +1.4
Overall change: -8.0

Okay, I didn't want this to be another grumpy post, but seriously: a day of no results and then today I go up?? Really? This means that my week 2 results are a net GAIN of 0.4lbs so far and that, frankly, is unacceptable. This program is waaaaay too much work for this to be happening!

Fast day is almost done. It's been okay, except that I have this nasty whiny toddler voice inside me that keeps saying "but why do you keep doing this to yourself? It's not doing any good anymore! Just have some chocolate!"

But I will not. I will zombie my way through the rest of today, and hope that tomorrow the number on the scale is a little more favorable. Two more days. Deep breath - I can do this.

3 more days! And the next project is...

Well, here we are at the end of Carb Day, which means that tomorrow is my last Fast Day on this program! I wish I could say I was looking forward to it...but you know what?

Fasting sucks big dirty donkey schlongs.

I'm getting pretty tired (no pun intended) of having low energy on this plan, I miss coffee, and I'm growing weary of meticulously counting macronutrient grams. Still, this has been a great learning experience, it's EFFECTIVE, and it's given me the kickstart that I wanted...so I am not knocking it! I'm just bitching because it's hard work.

And speaking of hard work, take a moment to check out this article.

I struggle with being kind to myself on a pretty regular basis; things really came to a head a couple of months ago and I had to find a way to be okay with myself the way I am, or lose my mind. What I took away from that experience was that there is ALWAYS a choice; even if it means that you choose to reach out for help...anyway, we spend a lot of time tying our self-worth and our self-compassion to the number on the scale. Breaking that bond is the first step to taking back the power to make a change.

Had a great workout today; it's unlikely that I'll be able to lift my arms tomorrow during Fast Day. Still, it was more fun than I've had working out in just about two weeks; almost felt like I had my regular mojo back! Amazing what having some extra carbs in your body can do. But then, I bet I will pay the price tomorrow morning when I get on the scale...

Once these next three days are up it'll be time for the next experiment!

Day 11 - Carb Day

Weight: 176.6lbs
Overall Change: -9.4lbs
Change since yesterday: 0??

Hmm. Now I am stuck wondering what happened yesterday that made me stay at the same weight in spite of drinking only protein shakes with very meticulously measured amounts of carbs and fat...and I have a few theories on this.

1. Maybe I'm being a brat and my expectations are too high. Can I really expect to continue to lose a pound a day?

2. Maybe it's because I was bummed out yesterday and lifted heavy stuff, which isn't part of the boss's program.

And now I must take a moment here to point out that lifting weights was decidedly disappointing. I felt so weak and tired that I was using what I normally consider to be warm-up weights and failing halfway through my sets.  Still, it felt better than just doing cardio. And if I'm going to fall off the wagon that's how I want to do it! (Incidentally I got my cardio in yesterday too.)

3. This is the public service announcement: yesterday I was STRESSED. Stress is bad for you. Stress is the enemy when you want to get your body to do something like shed fat or put on muscle or look better.  Does it negate a day of meticulous dieting? I don't know...but maybe it was a factor. Just saying.

Anyway, on to the next! Today is carb day, which means a big-ass bowl of oatmeal for breakfast - woohoo!

Day 8 - Fast Day, and Day 9 - Shake Day

Yesterday's post Cheat Day weight: 180.0lbs
Change: -6.0lbs

Yesterday I woke up all optimistic. I was ready for fast day; I had eaten all the treats and junk that I wanted the day before, AND I had done this once already and knew I could do it - hell, I was a pro at this fasting thing!

But I tell ya, by 5pm I was pretty low. I had no energy left and just didn't want to play this game anymore. I got it done but it wasn't fun. Enough said about THAT!

Today's Weight: 176.6lbs
Change: -9.4lbs

So today feels a whole bunch better. Mind you, I always feel better in the morning so that's neither here nor there and I very well may be in the same place I was yesterday by the end of the day. Here's what is surprising about this week: what I THOUGHT would happen is that this week would be a cakewalk (mmm, cake). I've done it once with lots of success, the math is done, the planning is done, all I have to do is do it.

What is ACTUALLY happening is this: I did it once when it was new and cool and fun. I learned some stuff, saw some great results, and had some highs and some lows. It also took a surprising amount of iron willpower to get through pot lucks, birthdays, family gatherings, etc. and I'm feeling a shocking amount of mental as well as physical fatigue. This is not the approach to weight loss I'd recommend to anyone in my care! Still, it's gonna get done. This is me acknowledging all the doubts and nasty feelings and doing it anyway.

Today I am going to make myself feel better by lifting some heavy stuff - I had put most of the heavy strength training on hold for this program but I need a lift (tee hee, no pun intended!) and that's the best thing I can think of to do.

Best part of today? No BCAA's!

Day 8 - Cheat Day

Oog, I am pretty full...

So I got up this morning, giddy with excitement like a kid on Christmas morning, turned on the coffee pot (yeah! Oh coffee, how I missed you), and opened up the fridge for cheesecake.  No, I thought, not yet. After the coffee's done. Had my multivitamin, big thing of water with greens, poured some coffee (yum), then ate a nectarine. Then thought about cheesecake. Not ready yet...

Wait a second, what? Not ready yet? I've waited all week long for cheat day, and now it's here and I'm not ready yet? What's wrong with me?

So I ate some carrots. I've had these beautiful fresh garden carrots all week long, and haven't eaten any because they're too carby for my plan. They were crunchy and fresh and delicious, and it was wonderful to just eat them without figuring out how many grams of carbs were in each one.  Once the rest of my family woke up, I made eggs and bacon and a big plate of stir-fried veggies for breakfast. Eventually, of course, I had some cheesecake (and can I just say, I am the cheesecake freakin' master?), and frozen yogurt at Pinkberry, and pizza for dinner...so it's not as though I didn't get some pretty hard core cheating in, but I have to say that I am shocked at my reduced capacity for junk food!

And now, I feel...well, not awesome. Kinda too full, but just junked out! I'm curious to see what kind of Cheat Day weight gain shows up on the scale tomorrow. And tomorrow, we're back to fasting day - I'm even looking forward to it because I was starting to like that running-on-empty feeling; felt like I was really getting somewhere!

Day 8 - Week 1 Results!

Weight: 177.6lbs  Change: -8.4lbs (in seven days?? I'd say this is working!)
Shoulders: 41.5"   Change: -0.5"
Chest: 36.5"         Change: -0.5"
Waist: 30.5"         Change: -2"
Hips: 42"              Change: -2"
Left Thigh: 23.5"   Change: -1"

Days 6 and 7 - Halfway There!

Weight yesterday, after Fast Day: 178.8lbs
Weight today, after Carb Day: 178.8lbs
Overall Change: - 7.2 lbs

8am
Interesting that after both carb days my weight stayed exactly the same.

So after today I will be exactly halfway through this challenge - hooray! I have to confess that in the second half of yesterday, I felt pretty low and all I wanted to do was bail. But I didn't; I couldn't justify throwing in the towel after coming this far. I knew I'd feel better about it in the morning, and hey, here we are!

It feels weird to not have any math to go through...but yesterday was carb day again; same formulas as the first carb day, and today is shake day which is the same as Day 3. In fact, from here on in things stay pretty much the same. And tomorrow is cheat day! Hooray! But before any cheating can take place, I will post my measurements and results from week 1. Should be interesting...

And today is race day! I'm doing the Gorilla Run, a 5k race that you run in a big, hot, hairy, black gorilla suit. How cool is that? I almost wish I wasn't doing it so that I could go watch, 'cause it's going to look hilarious. Gonna sign off now and go put on my gorilla suit but I will post pics and more later on!
 ********************************************************************************
4pm
One more shake until cheat day, one more shake until cheat day, one more shake until cheat day...
I have spent most of today fantasizing about what I'm going to eat tomorrow. Isn't that silly? I mean, honestly, it's been SIX days of discipline. Pretty tough discipline, but still - six days! At the beginning of this program I thought fourteen would be pretty doable, but I am ready for a mental break. Doesn't help that I have spent multiple hours this weekend making and decorating cheesecakes!



 Caramel Apple Cheesecake


New York Cheesecake

 
Mocha Bean Cheesecake

The Gorilla Run was a great time! There were 260+ gorillas dressed in goofy costumes: Village People, zombies, surfers, businessmen, wrestlers, Hanson brothers, you name it. I fully intend to drag my whole family out for this one next year! As for the run itself, it was HOT. I had to periodically take off my black latex gorilla hands and pour the sweat out of them...but the route was nice; it was a moderately challenging loop around the river valley. If I was really picky I'd point out that my gps thought it was closer to 6k...but who's counting?
 
*********************************************************************************

9pm
Alrighty then, sliding into some serious grumpiness. Apparently. See, I don't actually feel irritated or angry but everyone around me seems to think I'm ready to spit nails. Here's the thing: tonight we went over to some friends' for dessert and board games and we brought two of the cheesecakes that I made this weekend...and everyone ate cheesecake (to rave reviews) and drank wine and I hung out and drank water. Joel says he thinks that's what put me over the edge...anyway, 12 more hours. I can do it. Every conversation with my husband seems to deteriorate into an argument in about 30 seconds so maybe it's time for me to remove myself from human company and go to bed. Grrr.

Measurements in the morning!

Day 5 - Fast Day, Again

Weight: 180.2lbs
Change: still 5.8lbs

Hmm, I expected to see some rebound gain today, but there wasn't any! I suppose that's a good thing; staying the same is better than going up. Still, it seems kinda boring...

But today is fast day again, so there's no way that number will stay the same again tomorrow! I'm kind of excited to see what happens; if I'm under 180 tomorrow I'll be pretty happy.

I had an epiphany yesterday. I really spend a lot of time and energy trying to listen to my body, eat the right things, eat when I'm physically hungry and not when I'm bored, tired, frustrated, etc., etc. But you know what the big problem with listening to my gut is? My guts have shit for brains.  My body doesn't know how to communicate what it needs anymore, because I have NEVER listened to it. I've done all the goofy diet plans out there (and I mean ALL of them), and I have always gained weight back afterwards. What I really need to do is not pay any attention to my body, do the math to figure out what I need, remove all emotional attachment to fueling my body, and follow the plan as meticulously and with as much discipline as I have had with my approach to this diet.

What has surprised me the most over the last five days is that I CAN do this. I didn't really think I could. Now I think that maybe it IS possible for me to get to my goals as far as fat loss and athletic performance are concerned...which is a little scary. I've spent the last year reconciling myself with NOT accomplishing those goals and accepting that they are out of reach for me, and over the last month or so I have finally gotten to where, if I never lost another ounce, that would be okay. Maybe that's WHY I have found the will, or the detachment, to get this done...

Anyway. This post is in danger of getting too deep and personal and self-indulgent which is not where I wanted to go today. Also I am getting too brain-dead to think or type!

Today's scheduled workout was HIIT in the morning, moderate cardio in the evening. As one thing I am absolutely not prepared to give up for any reason is strength training, I put together an intense little explosive training circuit with box jumps, burpees, push ups, and clean and presses, and did it 10 times through with a minute between each round. Tonight I was thinking I'd pull my bike out and hit the highway, but given my present level of hypoglycemic retardation I think it's best for everyone if I stay on my own two feet. Gonna have to run, then!

One last victory to note today: I made four cheesecakes this afternoon (more to come this weekend) and didn't sample ANYTHING. It was absolutely the worst kind of torture but I did it! By the end of this weekend I should have some good cheesecake pics to post.

Dreaming of oatmeal until tomorrow...

Day 4 - Carb Day

Weight: 180.2lbs
Change: -5.8lbs

Oh, my...this going to bed hungry thing isn't that fun. And the fact that I stared at the ceiling nearly all night just because I was hungry clearly indicates that there isn't enough hardship in my life and I'm a big whiner. Actually, I had a bad case of what is known in our house as "monkey mind", a condition where your mind just won't stop going a hundred miles an hour, but it may well have been caused by very little food in the previous 48 hours. Which leads me to the real point of this opening paragraph, which is that I thought it might be good to mention what supplements I have added to this plan to make it work just a little better (for me - I am not necessarily recommending them to anyone else). They are:

1. A multivitamin and 2 scoops of powdered greens in 1l of water, first thing in the morning (I do this every morning without fail and see no reason to stop on this plan)
2. A thermogenic (fat burner) first thing in the morning and right after lunch (this is just proper addictions management; the active ingredient in most thermogenics is caffeine and as I have given up coffee for the duration of this experiment some replacement caffeine is absolutely necessary - if you don't believe me you can ask my husband! Ha ha.)
3. A ZMA supplement right before bed (zinc, magnesium, vitamin B6) mainly to help with sleep quality (although was somewhat ineffectual last night) but also helps with tissue repair and formation.

So today was carb-loading day! I'd been looking forward to today since the weekend, since today I got to eat (wait for it) SOLID FOOD. I even got to have oatmeal, and a lot of it, for breakfast which is something I never, ever do. I actually measured out my CUP of mixed steel-cut oats, farro, barley, and brown rice (which, mixed together, passes for oatmeal in our house - shh, don't tell my children) and thought "ew - I can't eat all that!"
But eat it I did, and damn, it was good.

The structure for carb day (for me) looks like this:
Caloric intake: 11 x LBM = 1527kCal
Macronutrient breakdown: 40% Carbs (153g), 30% Protein (115g), 30% Fat (51g)

The protein gets divided by 5 since you need that at each meal, the carbs are divided in 2 and eaten in the first 2 meals, and the fat gets divided by 3 and eaten in the last 3 meals. The boss suggests that you stay away from crappy carb sources such as processed grain products and other refined sugars and get your carbs from whole grains, legumes, colored starchy veggies such as sweet potato, pumpkin, beets, etc., and fruit. Solid advice under any circumstances!

The workout today was 30 minutes of moderate cardio. I figured that based on breakfast, I'd be carbed up and raring to go for a good hard run...but, surprisingly, that many carbs made me feel pretty sluggish. Add to that a pretty crappy nights' sleep and a stupid cold that won't go away and I really, REALLY didn't want to train at all. So I did the penultimate wussbag thing to do: I did my cardio on the elliptical trainer. And actually, it wasn't that bad...better than bailing entirely, anyway.

But let it be known that I still hate elliptical trainers.

Tomorrow I'm expecting to see some water-weight gain, but it won't have a chance to stick around because tomorrow is.....

FAST DAY #2 (cue the scary music, it ain't gonna be pretty!)

Day 3 - Shake Day

Weight: 180.8lbs
Change: -5.2lbs

Down 5.2 already?? Sweet! The boss says to not get on the scale every day because there will be wonky fluctuations due to water balance, but I'm curious about those - this treating myself as a science experiment has been an oddly freeing experience so far. I don't feel personally attached to the number anymore; as though it's no longer a measure of what I'm worth as a person...and it's very weird to get on the scale without all the emotional interference that I'm used to. Weird, but awesome!

Two things happened today that I'm pretty happy about, so they must be noted here. Number one is that I put a pair of pants on that I haven't been able to fit into in a good long while. That was pretty cool. Number two (and I'm sure this is an effect of 10 000 kettlebell swings) is that I did my very first dead-hang pull ups today. Fuck yes!! I didn't really even think about it; it's just a habit that whenever I bring my kids to the park I give it a shot. Usually I hang from the bar and look like I'm attempting to fill my pants, but remain motionless. Not today though! I was so shocked that I fell right off the bar and landed on my butt in the sand. Then I thought hey, if I can do one, maybe I can do 2!! So I tried again and did one...and a half. Okay then, why not try kipping pull ups? Tried it once, failed, then I got booted off the monkey bars by my daughters and their friends. Anyway, good enough!

So to shake day...I figured that today would be the hardest yet but it wasn't too terrible, mostly because I had work to distract me for most of the day. It was also the first day of school for my children, so even when I wasn't at work the gong show at home was enough to keep me occupied.
The math of shake day looks like this (and these calculations are for me, so if you'd like to figure out numbers for your body please send me an email):

Caloric intake = lean body mass (LBM) x 10 which for me is 1388kCal
Macronutrient breakdown is 40% protein (139g), 35% fat (54g), and 25% carbs (87g)

So my shakes looked like this:
AM (Protein and Carbs): whey protein, 1 cup blueberries, 1 cup almond milk, 2 scoops greens, water
Mid-morning (P&C): whey protein, 1/2 cup mango, water
Lunch (P&C): whey protein, 1 cup cherries, water
Afternoon (Protein and Fat): whey/casein protein, 3 tbsp peanut butter, water
Evening (P&F): whey/casein, water, 2 tbsp fish oil (taken separately)

Workout today was HIIT again; I did hill sprints on the treadmill (I know, I know - YOU try doing man-makers after fasting for 36 hours...just wasn't gonna happen) 15 x 20sec on, 40sec off. It felt freakin' terrible; after about 10 intervals it took the full rest interval for the spots to disappear. Afterwards I sat in the locker room for 20 minutes and stared at the wall, trying to figure out which way was up. But I survived, and tomorrow is carb day!! Whooee!

Day 2 - Fast Day

Weight: 185.0
Change: -1.0

Hmm, maybe I should lie around like a walrus and mindlessly eat whatever I want more often!! Ha ha. Or not. I have no explanation for why I'm down today; I certainly don't feel any lighter. But, since today is fasting day, I fully expect to be feeling lighter by tonight!

So, Fast Day! This is the first of 4 fast days in the 14-day cycle. The Boss says to take .15g per lb of bodyweight of branched-chain amino acids (BCAA's) divided into six doses today. This is supposed to preserve lean muscle mass and keep the body burning fat as its prime fuel source. For me that means I need 29g (185 x 0.15) which I'll round up to 30, divided into six 5g servings throughout the day. Otherwise, I'm limited to water (and lots of it), tea, and black coffee.

 I love coffee. It is my very best friend first thing in the morning. But...have you ever gotten together with your best friend and had the feeling that they're kind of pissed at you? And you ask them if everything's okay and they say "oh yeah, fine" in such a way that you KNOW that everything is not fine but they won't tell you what's up? And you go home afterward kind of irritated yourself?

That's what drinking black coffee is like, as far as I'm concerned. I've tried to like it, really I have, but it's just not the same. Coffee needs cream (or milk, or whatever). Therefore, I think while I'm on this plan I will have to part ways with my favorite morning vice. Argh.

Workout plan for today is high-intensity interval training in the morning (10 rounds of a1:1 work to rest ratio) then 30 minutes of moderate cardio in the evening. I had originally planned to take my kids out to the park and do some hill sprints, but my dear sweet little contrarians would have none of that...and I really didn't feel compelled to argue with them since it IS the last day of summer vacation.  So I did what any normal, balanced woman would do: I took a pair of 15lb dumbells out to the back yard and did man-makers! 5 as fast as I could, then one minute off for ten rounds. By the 10th round I looked like someone dumped a bucket of water on me so I'd say it was effective! More effective, even, than sprinting - to the point where I think that's going to be my HIIT modality for the duration of the program. If you've never done them, check out the link:

Man Makers

This afternoon I took my kids to Symphony Under the Sky at Hawrelak Park, where my resolution met it's first big challenge...and seriously, I was doing great up until then; wasn't even hungry or really thinking about food...until we found a place to sit. 10 feet from the mini-donut and elephant ear tent. Next to that tent was the concession where they were making kettle corn. I did a lot of arguing with myself in my head, but iron will prevailed! Yes!

After we got home, I put supper in the oven and headed out for workout 2; a 30-minute run at 80% of my maximum capacity.

I tell ya, 80% of my maximum wasn't much after fasting for 24 hours. I dragged my sorry carcass along for a paltry 4.5km before the nice robotic voice in my Runtastic app told me it was time to quit.

All in all today hasn't been too bad. I've done some experimenting with intermittent fasting before, so I knew I could get through this first day. Tomorrow will be a bigger challenge. Bring it, I say!

Day One - Cheat Day

Joel Marion (hereafter known as The Boss in order to avoid confusion with my husband Joel)'s words pertaining to Cheat Day are, "eat liberally throughout the day without stuffing yourself." The other instructions are to eat anything you want, no skipping meals to save up for a single feast, and no alcohol. No workout, either. Survey says?

Easiest. First. Day. Ever.

I'm sucking this up and enjoying every minute though, cause I know that tomorrow's going to suck a little bit, and the next day is going to suck a lot. That's what I signed up for, so bring it on! Whee!

Almost forgot, I have to post some numbers. This morning I did some weighing and measuring (before I got out the Ben and Jerry's, ha ha), so here are my baseline measurements...argh. And for the record, I am using the word HATE here, about the scale. I find getting on it shocking and horrifying and whatever discomfort is in store for me over the next 14 days pales in comparison to posting my weight on the Internet...just so you all know! Here we go:

Weight: 186.0lbs
Shoulders: 42"
Chest: 37.5"
Waist: 32.5"
Hips: 44"
Left thigh: 24.5"

Deep breath...I survived! I won't post measurements every day, just once per week, but I'll weigh in every day. Ha ha, maybe I'll be numb to the horrors of the scale by the end of this! Even if nothing happens at all on this plan, that will be one major success.

So how did I approach cheat day? Pretty much the same way I approach every day, with the notable exception of a bowl of ice cream before breakfast. And after lunch. And some cheesecake ingredients while I made this weekend's cheesecakes. And a can of regular coke after supper. Seriously, why does anyone drink that shit? It doesn't even taste good. Anyway, I am totally ready for Fast Day; I think if I kept going like this I'd be pushing my gut around in a wheelbarrow before too long.

Project!

So I have a conundrum. I'm on the heels of completing 10,000 kettlebell swings in 10 days and I need a new project.

10 000 Swings to Fat Loss

My bizarre fitness and cooking experiments have prompted many of my friends, family and colleagues to urge me to start a blog with the blow-by-blow results of said projects. I only wish I started it sooner; that way I could have provided the online world with my daily insights gleaned from 1000 kettlebell swings/day for 10 days...but as that opportunity is lost, all I can do is post the end results of the KB project and move on to the next. So what's next?

Ha, I'm just going to leave you hanging on that one, because first I have to talk about cheesecake!

I love making cheesecake. A few months ago I decided that I'd start a charity fundraising effort for a destination race I was going to go do, and it became so successful that even though I won't go do the race (life got in the way this year) I'm keeping this fundraising thing going. The charity that I am raising $ for is KidSport Canada, and I'll keep that going until the end of 2012 and then I'll pick something new for 2013 (if you have ideas, contact me!). 

KidSport Canada

So for my next silly trick, I have two ideas and I can't decide between them. It would be possible to do both at the same time; one's a diet and one's a workout program, but that might skew the results.

One thing at a time.

Today, then, marks Day One of the 7-Day Rapid Fat Loss Diet designed by Joel Marion. I've been following this guy's career for a good while and he knows his stuff. This plan is designed to work with your metabolism so that you don't end up with great results only to gain all the weight back when you go back to 'normal' eating. Joel advises that if you have more than 10lbs of fat that you'd like to lose, you should do the 7 days twice. Hey, you can do anything for 14 days, right? So this is me steeling myself for 14 days of hard work and iron willpower!

The plan looks like this:

Day 1 (Sunday) - Cheat Day/No workout
Day 2 (Monday) - Fast Day/AM High-intensity interval training (HIIT), PM moderate cardio
Day 3 (Tuesday) - Shake Day/AM HIIT
Day 4 (Wednesday) - Carb-loading Day/AM moderate cardio
Day 5 (Thursday) - Fast Day/AM HIIT
Day 6 (Friday) - Carb-loading Day/AM moderate cardio
Day 7 (Saturday) - Shake Day/AM HIIT, PM moderate cardio

Of course, there are many more details but you get the gist of it. I'll post regularly about the details of each day and how I'm feeling. It's gonna be fun to watch I think!