Sunday was the completion of my 3/8 Weeks to Wellness!

Here’s Week 3 in Review:

• 3 cardio workouts: Tue, Sat, Sun
• Additional kickball pick-up game on Wed and a double-header on Sun
• 2 strength training sessions with trainer: Wed, Fri
• 2 chiropractic sessions; 1 water-bed therapy sessions; 1 60-min deep-tissue massage
• 20 protein/low-moderate GI veggie/some carbs/fat (see note below) balanced meals consumed
• 14 Ultrameal shakes consumed
• 780 oz water consumed
• 2 fish oil pills taken daily
• 120 minutes of meditation
• Other: 2 beers, 1 glass of wine, 1 bloody mary, 1 iced tea, 800 mg ibuprofen
• 7.75 lbs down from starting weight

Exercise:  Not easy to get my “on my own” cardio sessions in this week.  I’ve been feeling the on-set of shin splints, so I’m doing all that I can to calm them.   Mainly, I’ve decided to stop doing sprints (except in the case of kickball!) and to really pay attention to my footwork.  Samantha (trainer) & Dr. Parker (chiropractor) have introduced me to Kinesio Tape, which I’m loving.  But I may be investing in some compression sleeves for my shins, since they’ll be a lot more economical than the tape in the (not-so) long run.

The training sessions are continuing to be awesome.  I cannot express how much I love Samantha and how much she pushes me to work as hard as I can.  Plus, she thinks for me and counts for me and gets the weights and the benches and the yoga mats…  Basically, I feel like a queen during my training sessions!  We’ve been alternating between upper body and lower body with some core work every time.  Today, I moved up to 15 lb weights on some of my arm exercises, which is HUGE for me since my upper body started off soooooooooooo weak!  And my muscles are really feeling less squishy.  Pretty awesome.

Oh, and I got a new toy tool from my awesome locally-owned running store, which encouraged me to get my final two cardio sessions in over the weekend so that I could play with it.  And, despite putting it on the wrong day in my calendar, I was only slightly late to a meeting for a local running club that a Facebook Friend (& an awesome woman I’ve volunteered with off and on over the past few years) invited me to.  The folks at the meeting inspired me and now I’ve signed up for a half-marathon training program and joined the running club.  So YAY for folks to run with (or behind)!

Food & Drink:  I just discovered that I have been consuming at least twice as much fat as the 8WW folks want me to in some of my meals since a serving of Wild-Caught Salmon has 13g and flank steak has 28g.  (GAH.)  Well, now I know know and now I’ll do better with my meal planning.  But, even with that extra fat and building up muscle mass, I still didn’t gain weight this week!

Breakfasts:

• Greek Yogurt with Fruit (Strawberries and/or Blueberries) and Granola or Nuts (Walnuts or Almonds)
• Nature Valley Protein Chewy Bar & Unsweetened Iced Tea with Lime
• Multi Grain English Muffin, Omelette with Spinach & Tomatoes, Avocado
• Did Not Splurge (Too Much) at Pre-Tailgaiting Brunch: Small Slice of Ham, only ONE!!! Sausage Ball, Fresh Fruit (Strawberries, Blueberries, Grapes, Pineapple, Cantaloupe), Bloody Mary

Lunches:

• Last of the Leftover Chili (got the recipe!) with Crackers
• Free Meal:  Two slices Pepperoni Pizza, One slice Dave’s Favorite Pizza, 2 Beers @ US Pizza
• Black Bean Wrap
• Sonic (snack-size) Popcorn Chicken (UGH, was locked out of apt!), Spinach Salad
• Surprise Last-minute Joining Friends @ US Pizza: Large Salad Supreme (chicken; no onions/mushrooms; double bell peppers/olives, light dressing)
• Almond Butter Sandwich, Carrot Sticks
• Left-over Chicken Breast, Roasted Cauliflower Soup (with Leeks, Carrots & Squash)

Dinners:

• Pan-seared Wild-caught Salmon, Beet Ravioli
• Roasted Chicken Breast, Roasted Veg, Beet Ravioli
• Left-over Chicken Breast, Roasted Sweet Potato, Spinach Salad
• Turkey Breast, Celery Sticks, Mozzarella
• Pan-seared Wild-caught Salmon, Roasted Sweet Potato, Steamed Broccoli
• Steamed & Seared Pork Chop, Roasted Sweet Potato, Caramelized Brussels Sprouts, Half-glass wine

Chiropractic, Therapy & Massage:  Thanks to talented doctors & therapists, the chiropractic, muscle therapy and massage all is going really well.  Leg muscles are still pretty sore, but waaaay less than they would be without all the massage.  I did get a pretty nasty knot in my shoulder over the weekend, but with my awesome husband mashing on it for me and Dr. Parker getting the deep-down pops out today, it’s feeling much better.

Meditation:  I’ve finally discovered that the best time for me to get my meditation in is if I take a post-run or -workout bath.  This is also very soothing for my trying-desperately-to-keep-them-from-coming-in-full-force shinsplints.  While I run the bath with a little something special in it, I choose the a guided meditation from my Meditation Oasis Podcast App and grab my little towel to roll up behind my neck.  Then, it’s just me, my bubbles, and Mary Maddux’s voice for the next 10-15 minutes.

Also, do you remember last week when I mentioned Scarlett Johanssen’s yoga voice? Well, I stumbled right into the movie while channel  surfing on Sunday, and, since I was just thinking about it, I had to watch it.

So that’s week 3 in review.  I’m still loving the program, but I’m pretty annoyed at myself for not checking the nutritional values of the meat I’ve been eating (especially since the manual specifically tells you to.)  But, I’ll get over that.  Especially with all the running with new friends I’m about to be doing!  I’ll be posting some more recipes once I check out the nutritional values a bit more thoroughly, but it might take me a while since I’ve significantly upped my volunteer roles over the past few weeks.  More on that later, though.

Until next time, I’d love to hear from you!  Let me know if you have any reviews for specific compression sleeves, know a better site than the ones I’ve been linking to get nutritional values, have any experiences with meditation (do you like it? hate it?), and/or did you watch He’s Just Not That Into You on TBS this weekend, too?

- ampc