Tone It Up Bikini Series Round 2!

Today was the start of Round 2 of the Tone It Up Bikini Series! 

I'm feeling extra motivated right now for several reasons:

• This is Day 1 of my Erin Condren Life Planner
• Shouldn't make a difference, but it feels like a new beginning!
• My friend's wedding is right around the corner and I'm not thrilled with how I look right now
• My race is coming up and I want to be ready for it!
• I'm ready to fill the kitchen with healthy foods since we're wrapping up our June Food Challenge!

I wasn't able to do as much as I would have liked today, but I was able to get in a 4 mile jog!!  On top of that, I also did a bunch of the Cardio Abs workout from TIU:

Finally, I did the following exercises:

• 30 crunches
• 10 burpees
• 10 squats
• 10 pushups

I'm completely out of shape because now I'm exhausted!  But the workout felt really good and tomorrow I plan to do even more :)

Have you heard of Tone It Up?

Weekly Weigh In - Week #4

Today is a travel day for me!  

It's always a little tougher for me to eat healthy meals on these days, but at least I managed to go a whole week without eating Doritos chips!  (hooray for small victories!)

Diet & Food:

My cheats went down dramatically this week!

• 1 Butter Croissant at Phillz Coffee
• 1 Madeline
• Mini Snickers Bars
• 1/2 Breakfast Burrito

Exercise:

Groupon was promoting a deal for the San Jose Rock and Roll Race in October, so I decided to sign up for the 10k!  My current times are miserable, but I'm hoping to improve in time for the race!

Here's a look at my Fitbit steps for the week. I was bad and missed my goal a couple times.  Today isn't over yet, so I can still get in a few more steps :) 

I started using the app MapMyWalk to track my distance and times.  My goal next week is to complete at least two 3 mile runs.

Starting Weight: 20 lbs from goal weight

Wk #1: Down 3 lbs
Wk #2: Down 4.5 lbs
Wk #3: Down 4.5 lbs 
Wk #4: Down 5 lbs

Tea Cleanse!

For the next 21 days, I'll be drinking A LOT of tea!   I've read that herbs like lemongrass and dandelion can be used as part of a detox cleanse.  While I don't intend to do a full cleanse, I do want to see if there are any noticeable benefits to significantly increasing the amount of tea consumed. 

I'm very lucky that my work provides tea for free, so I essentially have an unlimited supply.   I plan to drink 6 cups of herbal tea each day for the next 21 days!

What is your favorite type of tea?

Weekly Weigh In - Week #3

Diet & Food:

I think I'm able to identify a few weaknesses after week #3.  The bad trends include regular consumption of chips and cookies!  Here were my cheats of the week:

• Happy Hour - Grilled Cheese Sandwiches & Drinks
• McDouble from McDonalds
• Chocolate chip cookie + Madelines + Pocky Chocolate Almond Crush
• Ben and Jerry Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream
• Doritos Chips

This next week, I promise to avoid all chips!  Slowly, I may be able to break some of my bad habits!

Exercise:

• Running, running, running... I'm starting off slow and am only doing about 3 miles every few days.  Next week, I really want to work on increasing my pace and distance. 

Other:

• I've decided to start filling in my new Tone It Up 8 Week Bikini Journal!  This might be a great way for me to spot more trends when it comes to diet and exercise.  Plus, I'm hoping it will keep me motivated!  I'm a little off from the regular TIU program, which is currently in week 7 but that's okay!

Starting Weight: 20 lbs from goal weight

Wk #1: Down 3 lbs
Wk #2: Down 4.5 lbs
Wk #3: Down 4.5 lbs - no change :(

Do you keep a track of your meals and log your workouts?

San Francisco Trip! Sephora VIB Rouge Event + Union Street Festival

This past Sunday I took a trip to San Francisco!!!

I went to meet my friend who was picking up her wedding dress on Union!  She looked absolutely stunning and the dress is gorgeous!  I can't wait for the wedding this Fall!!  

This trip also aligned with the VIB Rouge Event at Sephora.  This was the first time I had been to the Union store and it is AMAZING!  There are so many more products and brands than in my local store.  I was impressed that they closed the store for VIB Rouge members only and served Noah's Bagels, coffee, pastries, yogurt, and juice!

Parking, as predicted, was terrible!!  There was a big festival that caused the closure of the Union Street parking garage at 2001 Union.  I spent about 15 minutes searching for street parking, but at least it was free!

The festival was actually pretty fun!  There was a ton of food vendors, free snacks, and interesting shops to look at.

My friends and I also stopped in a few places along Union.  I had a vanilla latte at illy which was pretty good!  The store was the perfect place to relax and catch up with friends.  The morning in SF was chilly so I picked up a Small Black Nike Half Zip for $65 at the Nike Store... worth every penny.

In the afternoon, it warmed up quite a bit and actually turned into a gorgeous day!

We had such a great time!  I can't wait to go back!

Have you been to San Francisco?

What is your coffee shop order?

Weekly Weigh In - Week #2

Well, my diet hasn't improved much this week...

Diet & Food:

I've had quite a few "cheats" this week, including:

• Pepperoni Pizza 
• Biscotti + Brownie Brittle + Madeleine
• Doritos Chips
• Fried Rice 
• Godiva Chocolates
• Team Dinner = Fried Onion Ring, Reuben, French Fries, Moscow Mule, Champagne
• Team Lunch = Kinder's BBQ Beef Sandwich with Bacon
• Chocolate Chip Cookie

Exercise:

I've been trying to keep up with my goal of walking 10,000 steps a day, except... can you guess which day I forgot to wear my fitbit?



Starting Weight: 20 lbs from goal weight
Wk #1: Down 3 lbs
Wk #2: Down 4.5 lbs

June Food Challenge

Katie from Runs for Cookies posted this great idea for a June Food Challenge.  Check out her post here.  She decided to focus on cleaning out her pantry by not grocery shopping for a whole month!  There are a few exceptions of course such as: milk, eggs, and fresh produce.  

My husband and I thought we could try this too!  We have a TON of food to get through especially since we are remodeling our kitchen and reducing the storage space we have.  We'll probably go on one last food run to stock up on some protein, but after that no more cookies, crackers, chips, pasta, bread, cereal, etc etc etc!

Thank goodness there are so many seasonal fruits and veggies that we can use to substitute!

($5 bag of cherries from Whole Foods)

What's your favorite Summer fruit or vegetable?

Tone It Up Haul

My Tone It Up order just arrived and I am so excited!! This is my first order from the Toneitup website and I am thrilled with everything I've tried so far.

I've had my current (Gaiam) yoga mat since December 2009, which I purchased for $21.  As much as I love that mat, it is definitely time for a new one.  My new TIU yoga mat is SO much better too! It is a beautiful color (light blue/turquoise on one side and pink on the other) and has a lot of cushion.  Couldn't be happier!!

I also picked up a foam roller so my husband and I can release tightness in our muscles at home.  It's nice to have one just to ourselves because the ones at the gym sort of gross me out if I start thinking about how many countless sweaty individuals have rolled on them. Blech!  

	Limited Edition Perfect Fit Vanilla Latte Quantity: 1 Total: $26.00
	Yoga Mat Quantity: 1 Total: $35.00
	Foam Roller Quantity: 1 Total: $18.00
	Starfish Hug Ring - Silver Quantity: 1 Total: $11.99
	Tone It Up 8 Week Journal Quantity: 1 Total: $14.99
	Tone It Up Socks - 3 Color Quantity: 1 Total: $10.00

I'm actually most excited for the TIU 8 week journal, which will be a great way to track my exercise and diet this Summer!

The starfish ring is for my best friend who LOVES the beach and the ocean.  I may put it in a little mason jar filled with goodies for her next beach camping adventure!  I could put in a little sunblock, lip balm, and sea shells.

I have yet to try the TIU protein powder and to be honest, I'm not quite sure how I feel yet about protein shakes.  I had no idea which flavor to pick, but I'm obsessed with vanilla lattes so hoping this protein powder flavor is pretty good.  

What's your favorite protein powder flavor?

Weekly Weigh In - Week #1

This is my first weekly weigh in!  

My starting weight was about 20 lbs over my goal weight.  My plan was to lose the first 5 lbs by reducing the amount of junk food I eat.  

If I'm totally honest, I've had a "cheat meal" more often than I'd like to admit.  Here is a list of the unhealthy foods I've had:

• Pepperoni Pizza + Soda
• Biscotti + Brownie Brittle
• Red Robin Banzai Burger
• Sweet Potato Fries
• Steak Fries
• Red Robin Cookie Magic Shake
• Starbucks Iced Caramel Macchiato
• Thai Iced Tea Boba + Pearl Milk Tea Boba
• Happy Hour - Strawberry Daiquiri + other drinks 

And that's just what I can remember!!  Despite all this, I am now 17 lbs away from my goal weight!  

I'm attributing the weight loss to the amount of walking I've been doing recently.  I started using fitbit to track my steps and it has really helped motivate me to move more!

Here's my fitbit summary for the week as of this Thursday morning:

This upcoming week is going to be tough with Memorial Day weekend, but I'm going to try to be a bit healthier!  At least I'll try to avoid the free soda in the cafeteria!!

DietBet

This isn't sponsored, it's just something I'm trying out.

I found a site called Dietbet.com a few weeks ago that I have been loving so far.  There are a bunch of games to join and thousands of players all trying to lose weight!

What I did was join a "game" which goes from May 09 - Jun 05.  I bet $30 that I could lose 4% of my body weight during this time.  A bunch of other people make the same wager and the bets are collected in a "pot."  Last time I checked, the pot of the game I'm playing was close to $300,000!

At the beginning of the game, I took a picture of myself on a scale and submitted it to Dietbet.  After it was verified, I had an official starting weight.  Now all I have to do is weigh in June 5th and be down 4%!!  I love a good challenge so this site is right up my alley.  Along the way, you encourage others to reach their goal to lose 4% too.  In the end, those who are able to hit their target weight will split the pot!  So you can actually make money by losing weight!

(Dress: Express; Shoes: Tory Burch; Scarf: Daily Look)

I now have about 2 weeks left before the final weigh in!  I'm already down about 3 lbs despite my diet (pizza at work, happy hour food and drinks, team lunch at Red Robin... burger, fries, & oreo milkshake!).  Imagine where I could be if I were eating healthy!

Love With Food - May 2016

Around Black Friday 2015, I saw an ad for Love with Food and decided to sign up!  Love with Food is a subscription box that delivers organic and all-natural snacks each month. 

I was browsing the web for a unique Christmas gift for my mom (who can't have gluten because she has celiac disease).  Love with Food offers a snack box that is completely gluten free!  After signing my mom up, I decided to purchase the regular snack box for myself.  I absolutely love the charitable aspect of the company too.  For each box sold, Love with Food gives a meal to help fight hunger in America.  Over a million meals have been donated already!

I paid $81.50 for December 2015-November 2016 for the "tasting box," which so far I have really enjoyed! 

Here's what I received in my May 2016 Box:

• I was surprised the Smarty Pants gummy vitamins tasted as good as they did, but the package said you should eat 6 of them a day!  Seems like a lot of candy to eat each day vs. taking a single vitamin tablet.
• I nice surprise was the GLEE gum pop.  I didn't think I would care for it, but I actually really enjoyed the Green Apple flavor that was in this month's box.  Unfortunately, there is a bit of terrible gum in the middle of the sucker.  If it hadn't been for the gum, the candy would have been perfect. 
• I didn't care for the bag of Skinny Pop popcorn dusted with dark chocolate.  While I appreciate that there were only 70 calories in this snack, I think I prefer my popcorn to be chocolate free (just a personal preferences). 
• I also wasn't a big fan of the Chickpea Snack in Rockin Ranch.  They reminded me of Ranch flavor Corn Nuts so if you like those, you'll probably like these chickpea snacks.

• I took the Surf Sweets Jelly Beans to work for someone else to have since I've never really liked Jelly Beans. I may do the same with the Smooze Coconut and Pint Guava Fruit Ice.  It looks like it might be a nice Summer treat for a child, but I don't think I'll enjoy it very much.  The Emily's Trail Mix also looks like a good afternoon snack for one of my co-workers.
• The Kutoa Peanut Butter and Jelly looks dense & similar to a clif bar.  It's the perfect size to put in my purse and eat when I'm on the go.  I like that it has chia seed, flax seed, and 6g of protein!  Also, the company has partnered with the World Food Program USA so that every bar purchased helps feed a child in need.
• My favorite snack was the Chocolate Chip Brownie Brittle.  These are small, crunchy chocolate cookies that definitely satisfied my sweet tooth.  Each bag only has 120 calories so I didn't feel too bad about munching on the sweet treats.  There was a coupon in the box for 20% off their website, which I may just use.  If you're interested, the code was LOVE4BB.

• The box also came with numerous coupons and even a sample of the Simple Micellar water.  I've actually heard a lot of good things about this product so I'm excited to try it out!

I also saw Love with Food was featured on Groupon, if you'd like to try it out at a discounted price!

*This is not a sponsored post.

Weight Loss Goals

110 = The magical number I hope to one day see on my scale!  I'm very goal-oriented.  There's just something ridiculously gratifying about checking off a task and saying, "I DID IT!" 

To achieve this goal, I'm breaking it into several stages (in increments of 5 lbs each):

1. The Beginning
2. Step It Up
3. The Tough Part
4. Those Last Five Pounds

The Beginning (Lose 5 lbs):

I imagine this part will be the easiest.  It'll involve eating slightly less pizza than I do today & having more fruits and vegetables.

Step It Up (Lose 5 lbs more):

This will probably mean a few trips to the gym and some HIIT!

The Tough Part (Another 5lbs!):
Not sure yet... P90X? A half marathon training schedule?

Those Last Five Pounds (Last 5lbs):
In the past, this has usually meant cutting something out of my diet... like dairy or meat.  Something I'm not quite willing to do today.  Thankfully, there is quite a bit of time until I reach this stage.

Fitbit Goal Day - May 21st

In an attempt to get serious about fitness, I purchased a fitbit!  Too bad purchase alone doesn't result in a beach body. 

I bought mine from Best Buy almost entirely with gift cards, so at least I didn't shell out a bunch of money... in case it ends up in a drawer in a couple of months.

This Saturday, fitbit is challenging their users to join in "Goal Day" where we'll all be competing with our friends to complete as many steps as possible in a single day!  I think I'll join!