Category Archives: YTWL

YTWL and victory meal!

Thanks for all your thoughts on hunger yesterday.  It’s quite interesting how we all deal with it (or not LOL).

Lifting day.  We should make some kind of theme song for lifting day, don’t you think? I drank a protein drink (15 g of protein) and headed out. It was somewhat dark when I left for the gym. Bye-bye daylight  🙁

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Barbell Squat 1 sets of 10 with 50# bar

2 sets of 10 with 60# bar

 Lower body
Seated cable row 3 sets of 10 at 50# Back
Lying Flat Chest Fly 3 sets of 10 with 15# DBs (30# total) Chest
Decline Sit ups 3 sets of 10 Core
Lying Triceps extension 3 sets of 10 with 10# DBs (20# total) Triceps
Hammer Curls 3 sets of 8 with 15# DBs (30# total) Biceps
YTWL 3 sets of 4 with 8# DBs (16# total) Shoulders
Good Morning 3 sets 10 with 55# bar Low back and hammies

This was tiring! I need to work my squat weight back up again. Then I hopped on the treadmill for a bit.

Since I have quite a few new readers and it has been a while since I have posted it, here is the video for the YTWL.  I learned this move while doing the New Rules of Lifting for Women and kept this in my rotation.

Always light weights on this one. Shoulder muscles are delicate!

When I got home, it was time for breakfast. Yesterday John and I both said we would eat eggs for breakfast today for something different.  I made up a little frittata for myself, which I finished up in the toaster oven.  Don’t you love this little cast iron skillet?  6 inches. Perfect for a single frittata.

Mine had some sauteed green and red peppers and was topped with sharp cheddar cheese.

This was good, but I am not sure I liked the peppers with breakfast.

Sharon asked a question yesterday about my plate sizes.  Most of you know I eat off of smaller plates so the volume of food looks like more and also to help with portion control.  The plate above is 7.5 inches.  My eyes like to see a lot of food, so the smaller plates help keep me from heaping food on my plate – because I am a plate cleaner!

I ended up sort of swapping breakfast and lunch.  We have bananas on the edge of over ripe, so I made a coconut flour banana bread pudding for lunch.

Topped with some peanut flour for protein.  It’s a lifting day, so I try to get in extra.

Today went by fast.  Not sure why, but it did.  I had an almond milk latte while Pixie snored on all day.

If she isn’t on my lap, she is always in that spot.  Ah, the life of a cat.

Tonight was the night for John to eat his crow  – or rather buy my football dinner.  I had decided on a small downtown place. The Chocolate Mill.  Then we got there and they stopped serving dinner as of October 1st and just had desserts.  Ooops.  Plan B:

Restaurant 99.  This was at the mall.  I actually like it here because the service is always fast and the food is usually pretty good.  Popcorn appetizer!

We barely got the popcorn and our meals came out.  I don’t even think it was much more than 10 minutes from the time we ordered!

I decided on the Shrimp Bruscetta.  It was grilled shrimp with a warm tomato topping served on rice with a balsamic glaze.  With steamed broccoli!

Closer?

I ate all but a few of the tomatoes.  I can’t believe I even ate the tomatoes because that is a veggie I don’t normally like all that much.  After John paid (hahahaha!!!), we shopped around the mall.  I picked up a workout shirt for $10!  JC Penny has some awesome prices at times.

Plus we went to Target where I stocked up on more pumpkin.  I could have rolled around naked in this aisle:

Look at all of that candy corn!  Yum!  Didn’t buy any, though. And neither did I roll around naked 😀

Now it’s time for Project Runway and a snack tonight.

Pink item of the day: Knockout Rose.

The Breast Cancer Site

Lifting move of the week and lost food.

Good old Wednesday! I was up too early again, but such is life, no? Took a protein hit and then biked to the gym.

Exercise Set/rep/weight Muscle worked
Stiff-leg Deadlift 3 sets of 8 with 65# bar Lower body
Seated Lat Row 3 sets of 12 at 45# Back
Chin ups 2 sets of 2, 3 sets of 1 Upper body
Horizontal Wood Chop 3 sets of 10 (each side) Abs
YTWL 3 sets of 4 (each letter) with 8# DBs Shoulders
Standing leg press 3 sets of 6 at 50# Quads
Dumbbell chest press 3 sets of 12 with 20# DBs (40# total) Chest
Overhead Triceps Ext 3 sets of 15 with 20# DB Triceps
Standing calf raise 3 sets of 15 at 50# Calves

Little extra leg work today.

The lifting move of the week: The YTWL! Named for the shape your arms make when doing the exercise. Kind of like YMCA, but without the catchy tune (although you can hum it if you want). This is a great shoulder exercise because it hits all the different muscles of the shoulder. Start with a very light weight, as it is pretty difficult (and the shoulder is easy to injure).

You can do 4 repetitions of each letter.  I think a lot of women neglect their shoulders, but they really can make the difference in how your top half looks.  Nice rounded shoulder caps help with body symmetry.

John met me at the gym and we biked to our usual addiction bagel.  Nice morning to eat outside!

I was sitting too close to a barberry bush and got poked with a thorn, but it was so pretty I leaned over and took a picture:

It was kind of humid, can you tell? Such a nice morning to bike.  One thing I love about my workday starting at 10 is that I can do all this stuff in the morning like work out and bike to breakfast.

Fairly uneventful at work.  Before I knew it, time for lunch!  I actually found a can of tuna in the pantry.  I thought I had gotten rid of it all, but I guess I didn’t.  So, that was on the menu today.  Maybe it isn’t so bad after all.

Also found 1/2 a sweet potato in the fridge, which I microwaved and topped with laughing cow. Yum!

Somebody wanted some attention while I worked today, and I just cannot resist this face:

I was hungry, though – so she did have to get up after a while.  Made some cashew butter last night.  Dang I forgot how good that stuff is.  I had some on a date for a snack:

It was so good I had another with the latte:

I think the food processor might be on its last legs.  Like a lot of things in our house LOL!  Who needs to win the lottery? – raise your hand!!

John and I rounded up more leftovers to eat.  Funny how sometimes it just seems like there are a lot in the fridge at one time.  I defrosted some of the lentil/rice dish we made with the pan roasted broccoli!

Good stuff.

Going to spend some time in the garden weeding tonight.  My goal to keep the garden weed free is going well this year (of course, it is only early June).  If anyone wants black-eyed susans, please let me know.  I have a 100 volunteers growing that are in the wrong spot 😀

Happy running day to all!  Look at that, I didn’t even run today.  John ran this evening, but I already had done enough for the day.    I ate strawberries instead……

Question:  Do you ‘lose’ food in the fridge or pantry?

Hair cuts and omelets!

Hey there!  Waving *hi* to all the new readers, there’s a lot!  Please say hi in the comments or send me an email 😀  Hope you stay for a spell.

The start of the weekend for me.  I actually slept until 7am this morning.  I decided to have a nice long workout today with an exercise buffet:

  • 20 minutes on the stationary bike (see, Debby??)

Lifting workout:

  • Chin ups:  1 set of 3, 1 set of 2, 1 set of 2
  • Barbell split squats:  3 sets of 8 at 65
  • Incline dumbbell chest press:  3 sets of 8 with 25# dumbbells
  • YTWL:  3 sets of 8 with 10# dumbbells
  • Lunges:  3 sets of 8 with 35# bar
  • Lat pull down:  3 sets of 10 at 60 pounds

Then I hit the treadmill for 2 miles of walking and 1 mile of running with speedwork.  It was nice knowing I didn’t have to hurry to get back to go to work!  John met me at the gym and he took me out for my football meal.  We went to Maude’s and we couldn’t have gotten there soon enough.  My arm was looking pretty tempting by this point.  I wanted a good protein hit, so I had a 3 egg cheese omelet.  I ate everything on this plate!

So. good.  We had some strange salt and pepper shakers at our table.

Not sure what’s going on at Prince Edward Island, but it can’t be good …..

This was a pretty late breakfast (1o am), so I never ended up eating lunch!  You know I don’t skip meals, but I also don’t want to eat just because. So, I got other errands done.

One of my New Year goals was to do something with my hair.  I haven’t had it cut in about 11 months, since I was trying to grow it out.  Well, not sure I was liking it, so I went and had it trimmed up and shaped.

This way I can decided to keep growing it, or cut it back to short again.  She took off probably 3 inches!  That’s a bit more than a trim.  I have to say that I love it 😀  When I got back, it was snack time!

Plus this:

Okay, 2 of those…..  This has not really been a stellar eating day.  I took some time catching up on emails and my google reader!  Whew.

I mentioned the word ‘pizza’ near dinner time, and John was all over that.  We walked to get a slice.  This place down the road has a deal for a drink and 2 slices for $4.50.  We each eat 1 slice because they are pretty big. Talk about a cheap date!  I usually bring my own bottle of water since I don’t drink fountain drinks.  I got in the requisite broccoli on my slice :mrgreen:

Mmmmmm…….

I am actually getting the protein powder post ready to go.  It will be up some time tomorrow.  Sorry for the delay!

Doing some R&R tonight.  I think Pixie has the right idea:

Giveaway for the Lose The Diet book ends on Sunday!

FYI: This was the charity I donated to for Haiti victims: Medical Teams International

Question:  Any fun plans for the weekend?

NROLW: YTWL video and no bagel??

Hello to my new visitors!  I was honored to be asked for an interview by Sahar for FatFighterTV and it was posted today.  I was given a Weight Loss WooHoo, which you can read about here. That was fun!

September challengers, don’t forget to do the final check in here!

Today was the last NROWL stage 5 workout:

  • Deadlift/bent over row:  4 x 4  at 75 pounds
  • Single leg partial squats:  4  x 4
  • Wide grip lat pulldown:   4 x 4 at 70 pounds
  • Back extension:  4 x 4 at 100 pounds
  • YTWL:  4 x 4 at 10 pounds
  • Crunches, reverse crunches, lateral flexion:  3 x 10
  • Prone cobra:  3 x 2 minute holds

Then it was breakfast time.  Long-time readers probably expect the usual Wednesday bagel, but not today!  Today is my mom’s birthday (Happy Bday MOM!!) and we took her and my father out to breakfast at the Silo Restaurant.

P9300009

There is plenty of opportunity to eat a lot of food there, but I decided to eat healthy instead with a bowl of oatmeal!

silooats

There was a choice of strawberries or blueberries, and you can see what I chose.  I also sprinkled with a bit of brown sugar.  It was quite good and filling.  Actually more oats than I normally eat.  I was hungry after my workout today.

Chilly day today, mid 40s.  We turned the furnace on today for the first time.  Pixie is just a heat magnet now. It’s very hard to work when she does this:
pixie
Yes, that is my current work spot.  How lucky am I that I can work in a rocking chair??

Here is my next video! Please forgive the set up and ending. I still need to figure out how to crop those off. I did it before with my triathlon videos, but forgot how I did it!  I’m no Stephen Spielberg.

Anyway – this is a move called YTWL.  Named that way because of the moves your arms make. You can feel free to sing YMCA when you do this if you want. 😀 If you try this, please start with no weights and build up. It is much harder than it looks. I am using 10 pound dumbbells and you can see how I struggle on the L part at the end. Also, some people point the weights horizontal on the T part. I do them parallel to the floor because I think it is easier on the rotator cuff (that’s just me).

We are off to my folk’s house tonight for cake, ice cream, and fruit – so wish me luck. My plan is just to have fruit and I have enlisted John’s help with that.

Question: Is there another NROLW move you would like to see me video?