JCore Day 25

Can we just talk about my shoes for a second?

I got them at Old Navy last Monday.  They were on clearance for about $5 - it doesn’t really get better than that.  I’ve been pretty much constantly admiring them, as well as demanding that Kevin admire them too (“Kevin, aren’t these great?!  Don’t you think these are the best shoes?!”).  I’ve never owned pointy-toed shoes before, I didn’t think I liked them, but these guys make me feel extra snazzy :).

The Workout

Today was Fire Fit again, so I continued trying to focus on keeping my balance during the single-leg exercises.  Today I tried to pay more attention to the muscles I need to activate to keep myself stabilized.  I’ve also been feeling for a while that my left oblique muscles are weaker than my right side, which probably contributes to my balance issues.  I’ll try to figure out a way to help my left side catch up to my right.  So far, I haven’t been feeling a whole lot of affects from Boot Camp yesterday.  While doing JCore I got a cramp in my right bicep, and my back feels a little sore when I stretch, but other than that it seems to be fine.  Simone had said that we can expect the soreness to be delayed, however, so I guess I’ll see how I feel tomorrow.

 

Breakfast: Almond butter banana protein shake and wheat Chex with a latte.

I grabbed a latte with my breakfast this morning since I had to get up a little earlier than normal today.  I’ve been feeling a little sleepy at work recently even when I get up at the normal time, so I figured I could use the extra jolt of caffeine today.

Lunch:  Leftover African chicken with veggies and lentils.

Based on Simone’s advice from yesterday, I ate this a little earlier than normal.  Since I ate breakfast at around 7am, I started on this at about 10:30.  It felt weird to be eating lunch so early, especially since chicken and lentils and vegetables is not what I would normally consider “morning food,” but it's easier to eat all of the portions and calories I need to when I'm less rigid with my food choices. 

Snack 1: Cucumber slices with Laughing Cow Light Garlic & Herb cheese.

This snack idea ended up being a little better in theory than in reality.  It tasted good, but since the cucumbers had so much moisture it was hard to spread the cheese on.  Also I ended up only having enough cucumber slices for half of the cheese.  So I just ate the second wedge by itself and that was fine.

Snack 2: Granny Smith apple.

Dinner: Apricot-glazed pork chop with broccoli, mixed vegetables, and wild rice.

These pork chops were really good, and pretty easy to make.  I used this recipe, but basically what you do is thin out some apricot preserves with water (I used peach preserves), salt the pork chops and brown on both sides, pour on the apricot mixture and let the pork chops simmer for a bit with the lid on the pan.  In the last few minutes, uncover the pan so the apricot sauce can reduce down into a glaze.  Then, eat!

Looking back over my food log for the day, I noticed that I kind of front-loaded my calories.  I feel like I’ve heard it’s better to have more calories earlier on, since people tend to be less active in the evenings; however, Simone mentioned to us yesterday that it's not really good to pack too many calories into one meal.  The way I understand it, eating too much at one meal and too little at the next causes spikes and drops in your blood sugar, which messes with your metabolism.  Simone recommends eating fairly evenly-sized meals more frequently to keep your blood sugar levels steady, so I'll try to be more aware of my meal sizes in the future.