Day 280

I'm just trying to eat better and get exercise that burns calories but it can be a pain.  It's working but I've got to work at it to keep it going.  Today was one of those days.  The plan is to get up in the morning and do a little bit of a workout to set up the day ahead.  Well today started somewhat slower due to not believing the alarm when it went off and so got up later that normal.  I picked up a new short workout from my Men's Health connection and wanted to try it out.  Wow was it tough.  It consists of two exercises, a kettle bell swing and a squat thrust.  The recommended number of reps is 15 each progressing backwards to 1.  So you do 15 kettle bell swings and then 15 squat thrusts and then 14 swings and 14 thrusts and so on until you get to 1.  They recommend you start out at 8 each and work your way up.  This is good advice as I could barely do 8 of the thrusts.  The swings were a piece of cake but those thrusts were killers.  I'm going to keep working on this one in the coming weeks.  My new goal in the mornings is a short but actual workout mixed with core mornings.  It was "Eat Less" day and a belt loop #5 day:

Breakfast: Egg and turkey sandwich on a skinny bun with tomato, cheese, and guacamole.  Banana and 20oz of cold water.

1st snack: 1/2 of a Peanut Butter Larabar

2nd snack: Greek yogurt w/almonds

Lunch: Quinoa with broccoli and cauliflower with chicken and spinach.

3rd snack: 1/2 of a Peanut Butter Larabar

Dinner: Quinoa with broccoli and cauliflower with chicken with salsa.  Also had 5 mini candy bars left over from the night before.  Then a bit later had a handful of the sesame chips.

Went to the gym after work and did cardio.  I'm using the 5lb hand weights at the 10 minute mark on the treadmill.  I'm trying to ease into this using dumbbells during the treadmill portion of the workout.  I think this is a good way to kick up the intensity without spending more time overall.  As I really don't have any more time to add.  My day is pushing it as it is with getting home and not actually eating until almost 8pm.  I'm trying to get in bed by 10:30pm for sure and it's hard.  Did I mention that I wore new skinny pants and was at belt loop #5?