21 Day Fix, Day 8: Green Eggs and...

If you feel like quitting, think about why you started.

My beachbody coach said that today would be the hardest day. I can see why. I’ve pushed myself beyond my limits over the course of the past week, yet when I look in the mirror, the body that I want still isn’t looking back at me. While it’s easy to be discouraged, I have to remind myself that this is a 3 week program, not a 1 week program. And while the changes my not be completely visible yet, my body is improving. So when I feel like quitting, I have to remind myself of why I started this is the first place.

 DAY 8 WORKOUT: CARDIO FIX

Since I transposed Cardio Fix and Total Cardio Fix last week, I figured I would just continue with those being reversed since I didn’t want to interrupt the cycle of exercises. I totally forgot how hard this workout was. Although I was sweating and fighting to breathe, I did notice an improvement in my stamina, strength, and ability to do more reps of the exercises. And, no getting sick this week afterward!

Also, an aside, I don’t think this particular workout is ever going to be a cakewalk no matter how much I improve (aaahhh why did I have to mention cake?!?). Consider the workout models/fix graduates in the video, who I assume were chosen based on their stellar stamina and program success- they were still grimacing in pain and completely out of breath. So, we can be encouraged by this. Cardio is supposed to get your blood pumping!

DAY 8 FOOD REVIEW

It’s St. Patrick’s Day folks. And since green beer is not Fix-approved, I had to make something celebratory of the day. So I made “green” eggs, well, sort of. Egg whites with spinach and feta and a side of cantaloupe. Yummy breakfast!

I needed my shakeology immediately after that cardio workout. I combined the shakeology with 1 cup of black tea and pumpkin pie spice, in an attempt to create a chocolate chai latte frappucino or something. The flavor wasn’t as pronounced as I anticipated, but I loved the texture the brewed tea added to the shake- it was very smooth and easy to drink.

I was really hungry this afternoon. Maybe it was the fact that I was prepping stuff for dinner or the fact that my net calories to this point was about 100. Thinking I had a red container remaining, Anniston and I shared some nonfat, plain greek yogurt with cinnamon. As most moms can relate, you never really get to eat your own food. Anniston had a solid grip on the spoon so I was lucky to get her to share a bite with me of my own snack. This actually worked out better though because I didn’t realize I had made a double portion of egg whites this morning (3/4 cup) which counts as 2 reds, not one! This is the first time in the program I’ve made a mistake with counting portions. I hope it will be ok- reds are lean proteins and like I said, Anniston ate most of it, so I’m trying to be positive that it won’t adversely affect my progress here.

Nothing says St. Patrick’s Day like fish tacos! But, I had been looking forward to these all day- I marinated tilapia in lime juice, cumin, and garlic, then cooked until flaky and portioned in 1 red container. For the toppings, I made a corn and black bean salsa and cilantro-lime cream. The corn and black bean salsa is a modified Guy Fieri recipe with tomatoes, Serrano pepper, cumin, garlic, red onion, corn, black beans, lime juice, and agave. Because corn and black beans are in the yellow category, I counted this as a yellow portion. The cilantro lime cream is another altered Guy Fieri recipe. His uses salt and sour cream. I made mine more in line with the Fix Dressings and Dips- greek yogurt, cilantro, lime juice, cumin, and garlic in a food processor. This was an orange container. I put it all together on corn tortillas (another yellow). I’ve never had corn tortillas, but according to the book you can have two 6-inch corn tortillas or one 6-inch whole wheat tortilla to count as 1 yellow serving. In my mind 2 is better than 1, so I went with the corn tortillas. I topped it all with Choula Mexican hot sauce (a free food!). Everything was great. Not used to the texture of the corn tortillas, but all of the flavors were phenomenal and the tacos were so stuffed, I had to get a fork to eat what fell out.

OTHER THOUGHTS

Both Josh's dress shirt and coat that he wore to work were TOO BIG on him today! Yay, so proud of him and I know he is encouraged by this!

Also, I'm still working on my Week 1 Recap… Hopefully I can get that up soon!