So after a crazy weekend of long work days and mindful hangover recovery, I was feeling super motivated this morning. I got up early, prepped myself for the gym, answered my work e-mails and went off to the gym. I really look forward to taking the bus to the gym now because the bus driver that takes me to the first station continues on to take me the gym so we have become friends. It makes it really easy to start my day.

So I get to the gym and do a really good squat workout. I basically did a broken-up german volume-training-style workout. 5 sets of 10 back squats, 5 sets of 10 front squats - supersetting the back with the front. My accessory work was glute heavy as I am nursing a bit of an injured knee. I finished it all off with some treadmill HIIT and went on my way. 

When I got home I had a shower, made some keto-coffee (coffee with butter and coconut oil), got dressed and ready for work, took a new insta pic and walked to work. I arrived early, feeling enthusiastic about the big day ahead. About 10 minutes before my first client arrived I got a wave of nausea. I told my manager, but assured her it would pass once I started working. 

I was very, very wrong. 

But let's quickly rewind to yesterday.

Sleep
So I had a pretty amazing sleep between Saturday and Sunday. Close to 10 hours of beautiful, undisturbed sleep. I woke up feeling ready to take on the day! And take on the day I did!

Workout
There was no formal workout yesterday, but there certainly was a lot of walking. We went over to the local farmer's market, toured around there, and then went home. Afterward my family picked me up from my apartment and we went down to the local rowing club to help my Dad move his shell from storage onto the racks for the rowing season. The family continued home and had a delicious meal.

Nutrition
Speaking of delicious meals - I had a pretty balanced day yesterday. Started my day by finishing the amazing pizza from Saturday, had a couple egg-white cups for lunch, and then went home for a little protein pudding, keto style jamaican patties, blueberries, and a protein chocolate mug cake (yum!).

Steps
Last but not least, my steps. I had my phone on me all day so this is a fairly accurate representation of the number of steps I get on a more relaxed day. 

As I was saying before, today started off great! But swiftly took a turn for the worst. While training my first client I was basically having an internal battle with myself feeling shitty, and then trying to tell myself it will pass. 

Well it wouldn't pass and I had to tell my client mid-session that I was feeling really gross and that I apologize for being a bit off my game. We finished the session, I rushed to the bathroom, had a quick hot-cold-sweat moment, a quick little dry-heave over the toilet and went back upstairs. 

Thankfully my manager wasn't training anyone so she could train my next client that had already arrived. I spent the next hour and a half wrestling with nausea and fluctuating temperatures. 

This was a really difficult thing for me to deal with. I knew that under normal circumstances I would have been on my way home after the first symptom arrived, but that is not so easy in my line of work. Every client I see is the only way I get paid. Beyond the payment aspect, I have been counting on a workout with me that day. For many of my clients these workouts are the only ones they are able to do. I took away people's easiest opportunity to do something good for their body today... and it was brutal. 

Nevertheless, I made the tough decision to go home. As I write this I am still not feeling 100%, but I am hopeful that by resting today and drinking lots of fluids, I will be in better shape tomorrow. 

To keep with the Birthday Countdown blogs, here is my breakdown of sleep, workout, nutrition, and steps. 

Listen to your bodies! You can start the day with the best of intentions, but if your body is telling you to rest and take care of yourself, then the best thing you can do is just that. 

I am feeling super anxious about not having moved much today, but I know it was the right choice. Be kind to yourselves, friends, and do something good for your body today. 

​x. Riley

I have not forgotten about this project of mine to track and share all of my healthy-lifestyle choices. The weekend just happened, that's the best way I can put it. Full disclosure, it hasn't been a "perfect" weekend, but that is just life. I don't like to look at typically unhealthy choices as a failure. As soon as I attach a negative emotion to food then it takes food out of the realm of fuel, and into the realm of indulgence, or guilty pleasure. 

So here's is a quick breakdown of my Friday and Saturday shenanigans. There was no formal exercise because of a lack of time on Friday and Saturday I was very hungover.

Sleep: I had a pretty great sleep between Thursday and Friday night. I try to be respectful of the fact that Friday is a very long day for me, and the best way to set myself up for success is with a good night's sleep. 

Workout: Not applicable here. I show a few exercises here and there at work, but it isn't an actual workout. 

Nutrition: Some of you who have been following my blogs for a while may know that on Friday's I like to fast a bit longer than the usual. This Friday was sort of an exception to that. I broke my fast at around 10am with a bran muffin and a tea. Then I went until about 1:30pm and had a vegan donut with a friend of mine and then my next meal wasn't until 7:30pm. So there was 3-5 hours of fasting between each meal, and each meal was really just a snack. 

Friday was also an evening out with friends. For whatever reason I decided to revert back to my college ways and bought a 6 pack of Strawberry Rhubarb Growers... and drank most of them. They are basically booze-y juice and have SO MUCH SUGAR. It was a fun night and I had a great time with friends. Okay here is the MyfitnessPal info for Friday.

Steps: I was walking between my various jobs on Friday and then in between errands. As always, keep in mind that I do not carry my phone on me at work so there's probably another 200-400 steps in there. 

At the end of my night out I did stop by the local convenience store on my way home and grabbed a few snacks. Then I walked home along the canal and proceeded to throw out the snacks that I bought because I knew I did not need those sweets. I did, however, keep my smartfood cheddar popcorn. 

Sleep: All things considered, I got a pretty decent sleep. I went to bed at probably 2:30am but then slept in, as best I could. I took a few naps throughout the day as well. 

Workout: I went for a walk with the dogs we are pet-sitting, and then walked to-and-from the pizza place my roommate and I went for dinner, but it was a pretty sedentary day. 

Nutrition: Anyone who has had a hangover before knows that there is a tendency to eat greasy foods to help manage some of the hangover symptoms. I, trying to be conscious of this, did my best to not let my hangover get me completely off track. I finished my bag of Smartfood popcorn, had a nap, woke up and had 2 egg white cups and some peanut butter. My roommate is an absolute gem and brought home coconut water and jujubes (best hangover cure out there), and then we went for some fancy pizza for dinner. 

All in all, I think I could have been way worse. I also drank electrolyte water and BCAA's to help with my rehydration. 

Steps: These are pretty crazy, but that is only because I walked home from the bar. So I got around 6000 steps in before I had gone to bed. 

If you were to compare my weekend to a super healthy weekend there would be a few differences. What I would like to emphasize and share with you all is that having a social weekend with a few treats here and there is okay. We have to be able to live our lives and enjoy socializing without feeling bad about it. 

I was able to make a few good choices here and there and when I did indulge in pizza, I only had a few slices, instead of the whole thing. I tried to mix in some good protein every day, and I made sure get moving every day. 

Looking ahead to this week I am keeping my plans the same. Get my workouts in, eat well, get sunshine, and drink lots of water. Nothing extreme or crazy to "make up for" this weekend. That kind of extremism only leads to extreme pressure and extreme disappointment. 

I hope all of you have been enjoying this lovely weekend. If you haven't already, do something good for you today!

​x. Riley

Hi friends.

So I mentioned on my instagram that my birthday is in less than a month (June 23rd). In my field of work I talk to a lot of people. We talk about all kinds of things and something that comes up often is birthdays. Maybe it is just the demographic of the people I train, but no one seems to like birthdays. Many of my clients have even stopped paying attention to their age. Yes - age is just a number, but come on people! Your birthday is the one day of the year where you get to celebrate yourself to the max. I like to think of it as the day where you can finally say "hello world! You're welcome" out loud - #amirite?

So to flip the birthday blues on its head I am going to make the days leading up to my birthday AND my birthday super freaking awesome. 'How?' you might ask, well I am going to log and blog everything I do to get myself in tip top form for my birthday. That means my sleep, my steps, my food choices, my workouts, and anything else I find important.

The inspiration is something else that I hear a lot of in the gym. "Well what do you do?". Clients always want to know what exactly it takes to "be like me". I know I have just finished joking about how I celebrate myself, but when clients want to know how to be like me, it always makes me feel a bit uncomfortable. Moving past my slight discomfort, it got me thinking - I need to find a way to give access to what it takes to be in the shape that I am in. So here you go! I am going to be as good as possible, track everything, and then have a written record of what it takes to get in shape (hopefully... haha).

Sleep: Okay so I don't know how long I slept for, but I did get up at 5:30am this morning to head to the gym! I think I went to bed close to midnight last night though. So around 5.5hours of sleep

Workout:
Thursday is deadlift day and I am going for some real-deal volume these days. Here is a screenshot of my workout!

Nutrition:
So for supplements today I had 2.5 scoops of PEScience's alphamine in cotton candy flavour. I also took 10,000mcg of biotin. Lastly, I drank 1 scoop of Division Nutrition BCAA's in fruit punch at around 6pm tonight. 

Breakfast was an egg white breakfast cup. Lunch was a turkey salad, I ate an entire bag of teriyaki flavoured beef jerky, then picked up an Iron Vegan chocolate brownie protein bar and a white monster. To finish the day, I met my family for drinks at Feast and Revel and drank a Tulip Julep... it has jim bean... Jim Beam? I don't even know what liquor that is but it was festive and went with the tulip festival here so that was my reasoning behind it. Last, but certaily not least, I enjoyed some of my homemade peanut butter. Probably about 3-4 spoonfuls, All relevant images pertaining to my nutrition can be found below.

Steps: I walk to work (most days) so it is pretty easy to get a decent amount of steps. I don't keep my phone on me at work so this number of steps is inaccurate but work always feels like an imaginary, alternative universe where I am the motivation for people to change their lives so the steps don't count anyways.

Alright, friends, so that is day 1! Tomorrow I have a super long day. There will be drinking... I am also meeting a friend for cupcakes... potentially. Off to a great start! 

Do something good for your body's today and have a great night!

​x. Riley