Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Day 37 -- Tuesday

Exercise
Roller derby practice (2 hrs)

Food
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: Chili, potato salad
Dinner: falafel sandwich, corn chips

Day 36 -- Monday

Exercise
Rode bike to and from work (14 mi total)
Lifted weights
- front squat
- stiff-legged deadlift
- bench press
- overhead press
- bent-over row
- lat pulldowns
- plank and other core exercise

Food
Breakfast: crepes with cinnamon and whipped "cream"
Lunch: bibimbap
Snack: brownie
Dinner: whole wheat noodles, soy sauce, 'chicken'-style strips

Days 29 - 35

I have been worse than ever at keeping up with this blog and now probably can't remember the details of all the days I have missed. I have no hope of remembering what I have eaten, but I'll put what I can remember of my exercise all in one post.

Day 29, Monday: lifted some weights, but did some power cleans and jerks rather than my usual routine
Day 30, Tuesday: no exercise
Day 31, Wednesday: rode bike to and from work (14 mi total)
Day 32, Thursday: roller derby practice (1.5 hrs)
Day 33, Friday: no exercise
Day 34, Saturday: no exercise
Day 35, Sunday: no exercise

I have been working late in the evenings and on the weekends. I hope it settles down soon.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Day 28 -- Sunday

Exercise
None

Food
Breakfast: cereal with soy milk
Snack: toast with margarine and jam, coffee
Lunch:
Snack:
Dinner:

Day 27 -- Saturday

Went to look at some flats. Once again, an appointment was cancelled, but we did get to look at one.

Exercise
None

Food
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: full breakfast at pogo
Dinner: chickpea dal, brown rice
Snack: toast with margarine and jam

Day 26 -- Friday

Exercise
Rode bike to and from work (14 mi total)
Lifted weights
- deadlift
- good morning
- db bench press
- db military press
- one arm row
- lat pulldown
plank and other core exercises

Food
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: veggie burger and fries
Dinner: dumplings, spring rolls, mystery dish with rice, apple pie with ice cream

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Day 23 -- Tuesday

Bah--when trying to delete a double posting I accidentally deleted the wrong one, so now Day 23 is in the wrong order!

Exercise
Roller derby practice (2 hrs)

Food
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: pizza (no cheese), small mixed salad
Dinner: chickpea dal, brown rice

Day 25 -- Thursday

I worked at home today, so didn't ride my bike in. And we were supposed to look at flats (though we found out both appointments were canceled as we were on our way) so we didn't go to practice.

Exercise
None

Food
Breakfast: smoothie
Snack: coffee
Lunch: gnocchi, garlic bread
Snack: white chocolate
Dinner: spicy dal, coconut rice

Day 24 -- Wednesday

Exercise
Rode bike to and from work (14 mi total)

Food
Breakfast: cereal with soy milk, crumpets with margarine and jam
Lunch: bean soup, brown rice, roasties
Snack: brownie
Dinner: smoothie, wholemeal noodles with "chicken"-style strips

Day 22 -- Monday

Exercise
None

Food
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: ?
Dinner: ?

Day 21 -- Sunday

I have been really bad and haven't been posting every day, which means I am forgetting what I have eaten. I can remember the exercise part, but not all of my food. I'll try to remember what I can, but there will be lots of missing bits.

Exercise
Roller derby practice (3 hrs)

Food
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: ?
Dinner: ?

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Day 20 -- Saturday

I have a lot of derby this weekend, which is one reason I was not so worried about not exercising Thurs and Fri. I also lifted weights today.

Exercise
Lifted weights
- front squat
- stiff-legged deadlift
- bench press
- overhead press
- bent-over row
- lat pulldown
Plank and other core exercise
Roller derby practice (2 hrs)

Food
Breakfast: cereal with soy milk, crumpet with margarine and jam
Lunch: spicy dal, garlic bread
Snack: ?
Dinner: ?

Day 19 -- Friday

I did go in to work, but I didn't ride my bike.

Exercise
None

Food
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: veggie burger
Dinner: veggie stew with brown rice

Day 18 -- Thursday

Worked at home and didn't go to practice.

Exercise
None

Food
Breakfast: smoothie
Snack: coffee
Lunch: wholemeal spaghetti with veggie mince
Dinner: gnocchi and garlic bread

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Day 17 -- Wednesday

Exercise
Rode bike to and from work (14 mi total)

Food
Breakfast: smoothie
Snack: half a Naked raw bar
Lunch: falafel burger and chips, latte
Dinner:?

Day 16 -- Tuesday

Exercise
Roller derby practice (2 hrs)

Food
Breakfast: smoothie
Snack: latte
Lunch: stroganoff with wholemeal linguine
Snack: brownie
Dinner: hummus wrap
Snack (post-practice): small amount of leftover spaghetti

Monday, March 2, 2009

Day 15 -- Monday

Worked at home, so didn't ride my bike, but did lift weights at least.

Exercise
Warm up (skating style exercises)
Lifted weights (deadlift, db bench, db military press, one-arm row, lat pulldown, plank and other core exercises)

Food
Breakfast: cereal with soy milk
Snack: crumpets with margarine and jam
Lunch: stroganoff with wholemeal linguine (homemade)
Snack: smoothie
Dinner: schnitzel burger

Day 14 -- Sunday

I really need to do this more often as I obviously cannot remember what I have eaten for very long.

I think my exercise went pretty well this past week (though I didn't really exercise this weekend, I am OK with that as I need rest now and then to progress), but now I really need to improve my diet.

Exercise
None

Food
Breakfast: cereal with soy milk
Snack: crumpets with margarine and jam
Lunch: tofu ravioli with veggie mince and garlic bread
Dinner: Mushroom stroganoff with whole wheat linguine (homemade)

Day 13 -- Saturday

I didn't do any proper form of exercise but did walk around quite a lot as we went to check out a neighbourhood we are considering moving to.

Exercise
None

Food
Breakfast: cereal with soy milk
Lunch: ?
Dinner: ?

Day 12 -- Friday

I can't really remember what I ate, so my food list is definitely not complete.

Exercise
Rode bike to and from work (14 mi total)

Food
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: veggie burger and onion rings
Dinner: ?

Day 11 -- Thursday

I worked at home, so I didn't get to ride my bike to work. I did, however, have another meeting near my office, so I was able to ride to that.

Exercise

Rode bike to and from meeting (14 mi total)

Food
Unfortunately can't remember, though I know I had a smoothie for breakfast!

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Day 10

Exercise
Rode bike to and from work (14 mi)

Food
Breakfast: cereal with soy milk
Snack: Trek raw bar
Lunch: Indian food from Govinda's
Snack: Lara raw bar
Dinner: whole wheat spaghetti with tomato sauce and veggie mince


Day 9

Exercise
Roller derby practice (2 hrs)

Food
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: Dal, roasties
Snack: blueberry cake
Dinner: lentil/bean soup with quinoa

I entered my smoothie into FitDay to get its nutritional breakdown. It is 276 calories, of which 67% (46g) is carbohydrate, 20% (14g) is protein, and 13% (4g) is fat. The fat is primarily EFAs from flax and hemp. It has 13g fiber and has high levels of lots of vitamins and minerals.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Day 8

OK, back to it! I had today off of work, but did have a meeting right near my office in the evening, so still got to ride my bike.

Exercise
Lifted weights (deadlift, db bench press, db military press, lat pulldown, plank. As I wrote this I realized I totally forgot to do one-arm rows!)
Rode bike to and from meeting (14mi total)

Food
Breakfast: cereal with soy milk
Snack: 2 crumpets with jam
Lunch: curried split pea soup
Dinner: a variety of snacky items at meeting--hummus, bread, chips, carrot sticks

Days 6 and 7

We left for Glasgow at 11:45pm on Friday and arrived at 7:45am Saturday. I didn't get any exercise other than a fair amount of walking around the city during the 4 hours we had to kill until lunchtime and then the bout. I ate two big meals, both at a vegan restaurant called Stereo.

We left Glasgow at 11pm and got back to London at 7am. We took it easy all day, recovering from the lack of sleep due to spending two nights in a row on coaches. No exercise.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Day 5

I am only halfway through this day, but thought I would post now as I am off to Glasgow tonight. I'm taking an overnight coach there tonight and an overnight coach back on Sat/Sun. This trip will mean no exercise and poor eating for a couple of days.

Exercise
None

Food
Breakfast: smoothie
Snack: half a brownie
Lunch: veggie burger and fries
Snack: latte
Dinner: don't have plans yet

Day 4

Once again, my exercise plans were thwarted. I had to work late and didn't make it to practice.

Exercise
None

Food
Breakfast: cereal with soy milk
Lunch: leftover pasta from yesterday
Snack: soy yogurt
Dinner: curried split pea soup with quinoa
Snack: half a brownie

Day 3

Things already starting to go wrong! I was not feeling well--I have been having an upset stomach in the mornings for a few days--so I didn't go to work and therefore didn't ride my bike. I did run a teeny, tiny bit but it was pretty much a negligible amount of exercise.

Exercise
A tiny bit of running and some jumping onto a low wall (plyometrics-style)
Plank

Food
Breakfast: cereal with soy milk
Lunch: whole wheat pasta with a creamy sauce that I made up as I went along
Dinner: I think it was a veg schnitzel

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Day 2

Exercise
Roller derby practice, 2 hrs, but teaching newbies so not strenuous
Plank at home after practice

Food
Breakfast: cereal with soy milk
Snack: latte
Lunch: dal, rice, roasties
Snack: brownie
Dinner: salad with marinated tofu

OK, so it wasn't a super food day overall, but at least I ended with a salad!

Monday, February 16, 2009

Day 1

Today went well--I did everything I was supposed to do!

Exercise
Rode my bike to work (7mi)
Rode my bike home (7mi)
Lifted weights (front squat, stiff legged deadlift, bench press, overhead press, bent-over row, lat pulldown, ending with a bit of plank)

Weights were pretty light, as it has been a while since I last lifted. I hope I stick with this long enough to get to some heavy weights.

The ride in felt OK, but the ride home was great. It's getting warmer, and for some reason I felt strong and fast.

Food
Breakfast: smoothie
Lunch: from Alara (health food store) buffet: quinoa and veg, mixed veg curry, green beans, and some roasties
Snack: brownie
Dinner: Salad with marinated tofu, garlic bread

Another goal of mine is to fix my schedule and start getting up earlier, getting to work earlier, getting home earlier, and going to sleep earlier. That's not going so well yet--it's midnight now, but I only just finished cooking food for lunch. It's hard to fit in lifting weights, going shopping, eating dinner, doing laundry, and cooking when you get home after 7:30.

But I am off to bed now...

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Day 0 Part II

It's somewhat traditional to post some beginning stats when embarking on this kind of thing, but I'm not going to. I'm not out to lose weight or anything like that, although I have some weight to spare. My goal is just to stick to plan as closely as I can to increase my fitness and health and support my roller derby-ing. Whatever happens with my body during the time happens.

Day 0

I am starting this blog to keep track of my attempts to stick closely to a fitness plan for the next 90 days, starting tomorrow.

Some basic information about me: I am female, currently 36 years old, and a vegan. My primary physical activity is roller derby, but I also ride my bike to work a few days a week (the days I don't have derby practice) and am planning to get back to lifting weights regularly during this time.

Here is my basic plan for the week.

Monday:
Ride bike to work*
Lift weights**

Tuesday:
Roller derby practice (2 hrs)

Wednesday:
Ride bike to work

Thursday:
Roller derby practice (1.5 hrs)

Friday:
Ride bike to work
Lift weights

Saturday:
Rest
or
Roller derby practice (2 hrs)

Sunday:
Roller derby practice (3 hrs)

*My ride to work is 7 mi/11 km each way, so a total of 14 mi/22 km each day I cycle in. It takes about 45 min each way, which is a pretty slow average pace, but it's in the city and I stop and wait at red lights, so that makes it slower than a normal bike ride. I do try to push myself when I am moving.

**I have two different weight routines I'll alternate between. Day one is front squat (I'd love to do regular back squat but have no rack), stiff-legged deadlift, barbell bench press, barbell overhead, barbell bent-over row, lat pulldowns. Day two is deadlift, dumbbell bench press, dumbbell military press, one-arm dumbbell row, and lat pulldown. For now I will do a single set of each exercise, aiming for 12 reps and increasing the weight each time I am able to do 12 reps.

It is unlikely that I will attend every single derby practice, but I will try to attend as many as I can.

I also have the problem that if I don't go to work on a Mon/Wed/Fri, then I miss out on the bike ride.

I am also planning to try to clean up my diet. I am going to start most days with a smoothie (water, Vega powder, spinach, pear, apple, banana, and sometimes oats if I want a bit more bulk to it). I will eat more salads (at least a few a week) with a protein source like tofu or beans. And my lunches should be somewhat healthful dishes based on legumes, veg, and whole grain.

I am going to blog every single day about my exercise and food, even if I haven't done so well at it.