(full) week one.

I'm still ridiculously sore from Friday's gym class. Arms, Abs and Hamstrings are certainly feeling the burn. I'm excited to put a full week in and see the results!

I did take a few "before" photos yesterday (of myself in shorts and a bra top). I am not brave enough to post them. They make me sad, honestly. I'm thinking maybe I'll post before and after photos when I hit my first goal of 20 pounds. That way I can do a 'before' and 'after' and hopefully feel proud... not sad.

Workout plan for this week, March 8-12 (I have no real plans to do weekend workouts).

• Monday - Yoga (description: Designed to enhance vitality and a sense of well being, this workout will help participants gain improved flexibility, balance, strength and posture. The class will borrow from each instructor’s experience with Yoga and may incorporate basic poses from various Yoga styles.)
• Tuesday - Power Sculpt (description: Class designed to utilize a variety of equipment for resistance training. Hand weights and barbells may be used to sculpt and define.)
• Wednesday - Day off
• Thursday - Pilates (description: A workout designed to develop core strength and coordination, the focus of this class will be on traditional Pilates movement patterns, the use of breath and correct alignment. Participants will enjoy improvement in posture and overall toning.)
• Friday - Power Sculpt (see description from Tuesday)

I've put my schedule out there... and there is no getting around it. I will go to the gym four times this week. I also want to peek in on a cycling class to see if it's something I'd be interested attending.

Meal Plan for the week: This week we will eat in 6 of the 7 nights, which is pretty much unheard of around our house. Bonus to my goal of cooking more: saving money. Our eating out budget is silly when we could be eating meals at home that are healthier and just as satisfying.

• Salmon, Green beans, Rice
• Crab Cake Burgers on whole wheat buns, Broccoli
• Angel Hair Wheat pasta and shrimp
• Tacos
• Spaghetti and Salad
• Tilapia, Broccoli, Cauliflower

As the week goes on I will post recipes, photos and reviews. But I'll use this post to share tonight’s success! Tonight was Salmon again. We used this recipe: http://lowfatcooking.about.com/od/fishdishes/r/roastsalmon.htm. Again, it was very easy and tasty. I also made whole grain rice (surprise!) and heated up soem canned green beans. Overall - a very good dinner and a great new way to cook Salmon. We eat a lot of it - so it's nice to have a low fat alternative. I'll do another post soon on choices in regards to food.

...but then I ate a s'more. It was delish. I only feel a smidge bad about it... can how bad could one graham cracker, a marshmallow, and a tiny square of chocolate be??? And, I'm not like I'm 'cheating' because I've given myself not assigned diet. So there.

Overall, I think I'm doing pretty well with portion control and I re-stocked my fridge with some (off brand) Slim Fast drinks for lunch. This should be a good week and I am dedicating myself to some of the major changes I listed in my orginial post. I've already drastically increased the amount of fluids I consume each day (Specifically water!). I normally drank very little each day, but the more I drink over the last few days I'm actually noticing when I'm thirsty which is different. When I wasn't drinking much, I was never thirsty. I'm pretty sure that's an obvious sign of dehydration that I've been ignoring.

Today I also bought some vitamins. I've never taken them as an adult. From some advice of my doctor, I decided to go with a Calcium supplement, and I added in the Women's One a Day vitamin. I don't expect any "results" from this... but it kind of goes hand in hand with my health goals.

All in all. Excited to get this week rolling.
And I'm even more excited that next week is Spring Break and I have a whole week off!