I can say with 100% confidence that this week was better than last week in a number of ways. The biggest difference is in my stress levels. Everything was moved into the apartment last Saturday and since then the focus is unpacking slowly and making this new place feel like home. The second biggest difference is tied with the amount of sleep I have been able to get and the level of my activity. Last week, towards the end at least, my sleep was lacking because we were up late packing and unpacking, but I was also sticking to my workouts. Which meant even if we were up until 11 at night, I was up at 430 for the gym. I knew if I didn’t stick to the mornings, my workout would never get done. Friday morning, JP actually had to make me go because he knows that it makes me happy. There was also a lot of extra activity in the form of walking and lifting boxes. While I gave it my all in the gym, I know this impacted my gym activity and I could feel it on leg day Sunday morning.
This week I was able to control my bed time and my level of activity. My walking has come way down to a more normal level for myself. I wear a FitBit because last July when I quit my part-time retail job, I noticed that my activity level – even going to the gym, was minimal. Wearing a FitBit let’s me monitor how much movement I’m getting and how that impacts progress – whatever the goal at the moment is. I have a daily goal of 7,250 steps because I sit at a desk. Last week I was hitting well over 10K every day, this week most days were under 10K.
Needless to say, I’m better rest, I’m less stressed and macros were on point since I had no excuse to not meal prep and have my shit together. So here’s how the week went in pictures.
I kicked off Sunday with some posing. A follower messaged me about posing because she’s getting ready for her first bikini competition and she’s nervous about it. Posing can make or break you. She does have a coach that she just started using, but I told her I would post a video of my posing so she can see how fast I move and how I place my feet so I don’t fall. Here’s the screen shot in my suit. Not too shabby.
Sunday was my last full day with JP. He went back to Indiana on Monday, which was heartbreaking and necessary. I had my first wax appointment since my surgery in Cambridge and I usually make a day of it, so we went together and decided to brunch in the city.
Funny enough that while we were talking about brunch, I was looking at Phantom Gourmet’s instagram and found the perfect place: The Breakfast Club in Allston – literally 8 minutes from the salon.
Bomblette with steak + cheese + onions + peppers with homefries and sesame toast
After brunch, we explored Cambridge because we had some time until my appointment. JP really wanted to check out the Curious George store, so we did. It turns out that Curious George and I have a lot in common.
With Monday being a holiday, the gym was open slightly later and I had the opportunity to get a little more sleep. I magically convinced JP that going to bed early on Sunday was a good idea, so I was well rested on Monday and was able to hit the gym appropriately.
Cardio was prescribed so I wore my garment because it’s been helping me during hard cardio. I’ve talked about some of what I can describe as a shock to my middle when I hit the treadmill belt. Monday was a HIIT session and I got it done. That’s really all I can say about that.
Since it was the 4th of July and you know I have a strong passion for sprinkles, I don’t think it came to anyone’s surprise that Pancake Monday consisted of patriotic sprinkles to partially celebrate. Adding berries to the stack just seemed like the stereotypical thing to
In the last apartment JP and I had put up our first Christmas tree as a couple in November 2014. As many remember or most have been told, the first rule was it couldn’t come down until he moved home. The second rule was I could buy whatever ornaments I wanted with JP’s dollar since he created the first rule. The tree had stayed up since that Thanksgiving and obviously its removal was forcable. We didn’t have time to set it up and after some tears and talking about him leaving, we decided to set up just the tree and the tree skirt. I know it sounds silly to be so emotional, but we always thought it would come down when he was moving home, not because of this move. We’re hoping it’s a sign of some kind and if it’s not – I need to at least start looking for a new ornament to put on it.
Post-lunch, pre-airport ride, we cupcaked for the last time of this trip. We found this beauty at Whole Foods and while it’s not the support local kind of thing we usually go for, it was adorable and we thought was a fun way to pretend we were at the beach while many of you actually were.
Since we still didn’t have internet, Bella and I stopped by Wegman’s to do my check in with Alaina and have some excellent sushi as a snack because #carbs. She was well behaved and we got a lot done. There’s also a high chance that we spent 2 hours in the cafe area of Wegman’s working on the blog too… oops #sorrynotsorry.
Post-blogging grocery haul was excellent and included a lot of Halo Top. The previous week, Michelle from Halo Top’s social media outreach team contacted me and sent me a coupon for 4 free pints. Her favorite is mint chip and that was the first I tried. It’s a great flavor and it was my first time trying it. I still need to try Birthday Cake, but when I do, trust me everyone will know. I’m more than excited about sprinkles in my ice cream and we all know if there aren’t enough, I’ll just add my own!
The only exciting thing about Tuesday was dessert. Vanilla protein gelato and mini Nutter Butters. Enough said.
Wednesday’s have been my rest day since recovery started post-surgery. Prior to surgery I asked Alaina what she thought about working out 5 days a week in the summer instead of 6. Aside from recovery, I knew that there would be days I would want to be up later or days I would rather be concerned with summer fun than hitting the gym. She was skeptical, but said we could give it a try. I think 5 days a week for the recovery period has been very helpful. Especially with last week being as crazy as it was. I’ve been able to have a break in the middle of the week to sleep in – if my body lets me and also, I have enough time to get my waffle on.
Wednesday’s waffle adventure was dark chocolate with peanut butter. You can never go wrong with peanut butter.
After breakfast, I adventured to a bakery that I found the other day while driving. It’s 1,000 feet from my front door. Dangerous life I lead.
Their hours are very short and they’re during the work day, so I knew that I would need to go before work to be able to try something during the week. They are open on the weekends, but I’m impatient and I had already decided that I would be day tripping in Boston.
As excited as I was to check out the new bakery, the events that followed that morning brought the excitement way down. The plan was for Verizon to come by and install the wireless so that I could not only be connected on my computer, but use my smart TV. They arrived at 8 am, which was earlier than had anticipated so I decided to stay instead of having my landlord let him in and get the work done. Well he didn’t leave until about 11:30 am and my landlord wouldn’t have been much help anyway. The wireless still didn’t work and resulted in me sitting on the phone with a service member for 45 minutes and not going into the office after all. Thankfully, I was writing a post about a day of eating. I’m not the only one who creates these posts, many YouTubers make videos of a full day of eating. So that kept me focused into between cleaning and unpacking the apartment.
I also had an excellent dinner and dessert planned. I always manage to find a dessert of some kind when I’m shopping, maybe it’s a skill, maybe it’s a downfall. At least I know how to plan it for later. Mini desserts are adorable and are much easier to fit in. I present the perfect blueberry tart that took 4 bites to eat and didn’t disappoint.
Thursday morning was a pretty good morning for a few reasons. the biggest reason was that JP told me during our morning phone call that he was coming home for the weekend. He needed to go to a suit fitting and I would get to see him. He wanted to surprise me, but he also needed a ride from the airport. Of course he did. It would’ve been much smoother had he just surprised me, but at least he was coming home. When I got into the office on it was like Christmas and my new PEScience protein was waiting for me on my office chair. I couldn’t help myself and since my cinnamon swirl Cellucor it made sense to make the purchase. I also had a discount code and shipping was minimal. I saved more buying online than had I tried to find it in person.
Thursday night was a time for cupcakes! At the new bakery, I bought a s’mores cupcake and nothing says summer like toasted marshmallow fluff!
I eat my cupcakes in half and this one was no different. The toasted fluff was fantastic, but I really do like my cupcakes stuffed with frosting or mousse or carby goodness.
This one had something that was soft like mousse; it was rich and smooth. Not too sweet and just enough filling to compliment the cake. It was such a good cupcake and now I’m questioning how easy prep is going to be with a bakery down the block. Not really, but talk about tempting!
While I’m not big on using food as a reward, this cupcake was well deserved. The week was HOT every day, and not just hot, it was muggy too. The heat and muggy combination caused a lot of swelling and not only did I walk around in my underwear most nights after work. I wore my garment almost every day and every night to bed to help minimize the swelling. Thursday night had the worst swelling. Before bed, I weighed myself and the scale read 133.0. I felt that. The swelling last week was painful around my scar and my scar was raised. The fact that I didn’t have a melt down was reason enough to scarf down this cupcake.
Friday in the office was a mix of “wow, where did the morning go” to “oh, I have a ton of errands to run in the afternoon and there’s no time.” After a not so spectacular visit to my new OBGYN, the afternoon picked up and I headed to the airport to pick JP up at night. Surprisingly enough we stayed up until 11 and I felt like grandma. I feel like that shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, and I should stop trying to be a cool kid and just come to terms with my early bedtime.
Saturday morning check-in was so much better than I could have hoped for. Like I mentioned, I had been having issues with swelling all week so even though macros and water were amazing every day, I wasn’t confident that the scale and my measurements were going to leave me satisfied. Also, since I had some issues with swelling and I am leaner, I texted Alaina earlier in the week to ask about other methods of progress tracking. Going into prep in August, I don’t foresee much weightloss reflecting on the scale really at all, but I do think I will see a change in appearance and inches.
So starting at my Saturday check-in, I gave her the scale and my measurements. So here they are. After 4 weeks of reversing my macros for maintenance purposes:
- Weight: 127.4
- Hips: 35″
- Waist: 25.25″
- L thigh: 21″
- R thigh: 21″
The real fun for the week came just after breakfast. On Tuesday I had made the executive decision that while I was sad that JP left after being here for so long, I needed to adventure and keep myself busy doing things I enjoy and that I can do alone. This was before I knew JP was coming home, but it worked out since he had plans for suit shopping.
Boston is a city that I have explored much more often in the past few months, than ever before in the 4 years I have lived in New England. I discovered the Public Market just before my surgery and fell in love with the idea of wandering around the city in the morning, picking up produce inexpensively for the week ahead and finding something new to try.
This trip’s plan was to get produce and donuts. That was really all that had been planned.
As always, Bella joined me for a day of adventuring and sight seeing. Practicing how to not be such a tourist in a city that you’re still learning.
First we experienced the Boston location of Kane’s Donuts. We were introduced to them at the Cutler Classic when they graciously gave every competitor a free honey dip. JP and I have been to their flagship location in Saugus, but this is 3ish blocks away from where I park for my day of exploring – it made perfect sense to check it in.
The goal is to try every donut at least once. So far (before this trip) we had tried the honey dip creme brulee and the snickers. Bella helped me choose the s’mores donut (seen below).
I did make the mistake of texting JP to show off what I was seeing. It resulted in taking two donuts home and us splitting them for dessert. I didn’t actually mind because then I got to try two flavors instead of one.
With a coffee in hand, we made our way towards the very touristy Fanueil Hall, which is EMPTY at 10 am on a Saturday. You can walk through the marketplace and the eating area with no one around. It’s beautiful to say the least.
She wasn’t happy about it. She never is. Someone tried to pet her. By the running tally – from airports to day trips – someone has tried to pet her at least 37 times since we got her almost 2 years ago. Not really a bad number when you think of how long that is, but still. 37 times.
While discussing Sam (@baconbarbellsandbikinis) pizza decisions for later that night, it was appropriate to send her this photo and remind her I support all her carb heavy decisions.
We found random things to take photos in front of at the marketplace.
Lunch was eaten sitting at the bar, but the food was much more than bar food. Chicken fajitas never disappoint and I thoroughly enjoyed the chips and salsa I decided to try since I had never been to Zuma before. A chips don’t hurt progress.
We made the second stop back to Kane’s to pick up the second donut to bring home to share with JP. The employee was surprised to see me back so quickly. If only he knew that if I could, I would be there every morning eating a different donut.
With the asparagus in the oven, the final grocery haul, parking, tolls and lunch was just under $60 for the day. We tried a new restaurant for lunch, picked up produce to prep for the week and killed over 13K steps on a rest day.
Donuts for dessert anyone?
I can’t wait until next weekend to explore something else and try something new. Lifting started out as a way to get healthy, it became a hobby and a passion. Sometimes it’s a distraction from everything else going on. It helps me goal set and keep a certain amount of structure without feeling like I’m too structured to have any other fun. Exploring keeps me learning. New experiences feed my soul in ways that lifting doesn’t.
I haven’t received my feedback from Alaina yet about last week, but this morning’s leg day was great and with JP gone I’m already getting my meal prep on and determining what I’m doing for the week. I have a good feel it’s going to be another successful one. The weather is cool today and I have no swelling. A few more boxes to unpack and hopefully this place will truly start feeling like home.
I hope everyone else has a great Sunday and feel confident as the week kicks off.
<3 Cristina
