Day 291: Reading Labels and Being Sore

I've got many, many things on my mind right now, guys. I probably shouldn't be blogging right now, but I had to think of something else to keep myself from going into one of those dark holes we all get stuck in from time to time...

Work Friday was a weird balance of busy and slow. I posted a photo of the bottle of carrot juice I had as an afternoon snack, and it got lots of interesting comments...

700% Vitamin A? Dang.

How closely do you pay attention to your nutrition labels? Most people would probably drink that entire bottle of carrot juice and think they were doing a great thing for themselves, but the serving sizes should be minded.

For example, a few years ago, Nick and I cooked some chicken with some Italian flavored Shake 'n' Bake breading, and little did we know that the serving was supposed to be just 1/8th of the packet! Imagine, 1/8th of a small packet of Shake 'n' Bake Italian coating mix has 280mg of sodium, but people who don't pay attention to that use AN ENTIRE PACKET which means 2240mg OF SODIUM!!! (Feel free to double check my math because I SUCK at it). I know used that entire packet that evening. Keep an eye on your labels and serving sizes, people... It'll make a HUGE difference in what you decide to put into your body. At least I'd hope it would.

I went straight to the gym after work Friday afternoon to run and do some squats. I think my body is still recovering from the super late night I had on Monday because getting through this one was *tough*. At least the cardio part was. I just did not want to run. I only lasted about 10 minutes before I was like...OK, I'll just walk fast at an incline. I might have started too fast. I usually do a 5 minute warm up of brisk walking before I run. I decided to set the treadmill at 5.6 (fastest I've ever gone before on the 'mill), and maybe my body got "scared."

long work week = short endurance?

Since I kinda farted out on my cardio, I decided to take things up a notch on the strength training. Instead of using the 25LB weights on the Smith Machine, I used the 35....holy crap.

I did 3 sets of 12 reps on the Smith Machine:  Squats, and lunge squats (alternating legs). I'm really glad I was in the gym alone because I had to yell a little just to get through 8-12! Walking back up the stairs when I was done was no fun, and I can barely sit today without wincing a little. Call me nuts, but I love it. 

I lost most of today because I had to go to Fannett to help my parents with some stuff, but I managed to do 300 jumping jacks this evening along with some upper body stuff with my little dumbbells. I wish I could reach bar on the the upper lat machine by myself so I could do those more often....

Haha Mel can't reach.

I'm just sore all over. Even my brain is sore from thinking about too many things and not sleeping enough. I could use some prayers and positive thoughts, guys. I feel like it's going to be a rough week, but I know it'll all be OK in the end. I've been blessed with many people and many privileges that make this life seem pretty great, and I'm looking forward to giving Nick his Valentine's Day gift on Thursday. I have a lot to be thankful for, so I hope I'm showing it enough.