I am feeling great today! I woke up at 5:30, went to the gym, had a great workout and have cleaned my house and played with the boys. Now the big boys are at school, the baby is asleep and I get to spend a couple of hours writing.

I see a huge difference when I eat right. I love that it only takes a day to process the M&M's and Snelgrove's out of my system. You think I'd learn a lesson and not eat the treats. Maybe next decade.

I've had a lot of people asking me lately what I eat. I thought today I'd share a typical day. Now please understand that I am not a nutrition expert. I took three nutrition classes in college and have read numerous books and magazine articles because I enjoy learning about nutrition, but I am not a dietitian and some of the things I do are not healthy, but overall it works well for me. I'm a firm believer in either the 80-20 plan (if you eat excellent 80% of the time you can eat the stuff you really want 20% of the time) or letting yourself have a free day. The free day works best for me because I have little to no self-control. I can eat good for a while, but then I must have chocolate. It's a sanity issue as well.

Okay. Here's a typical day for me.

6 a.m. - 1/2 banana or Relive drink (Relive is liquid vitamins, the drink is about 70 calories, full of good stuff for you and absolutely disgusting, crazily enough I've become addicted to it.)

9 a.m. - Whole wheat pancakes or waffles with peanut butter and fruit preserves and a glass of skim milk.

11 a.m. - Apple, pear, or plum

1 p.m. - Tuna or turkey sandwich with high fiber bread, lettuce and mayo - carrots

3:30 p.m. - 94% fat free popcorn and chocolate milk or yogurt parfait (low-fat yogurt, fat free cottage cheese and berries)

6:30 p.m. - Stir-fry chicken with veggies, soup, salad with chicken, or pasta primevera (something full of veggies) and a variety of fruit.

I drink at least ten - twelve-ounce glasses of water a day.

This is what I eat on weekdays. Sundays I still eat healthy meals, but I relax a little bit and let myself eat chocolate, cheese and sometimes even mashed potatoes and gravy or a dinner roll. Like I said, I'm not perfect, but I do try to eat a lot of veggies and fruit and make sure my carbs are whole wheat/high fiber.

I hope this helps and doesn't make you feel guilty. What I recommend is do the six small meals a day, lots of water and watch the fat intake. Find what you like to eat and there are usually ways to tweak it and make it more healthy. For example, - eliminate or reduce the cheese, use fat free instead of full-fat cream of chicken, change to whole wheat instead of refined white.

It takes a while to tweak your diet to a healthy lifestyle. I still eat peanut butter, mayo, and chocolate milk most days of the week, so I'm still working on being more healthy all the time. But then I can justify the peanut butter (it's full of protein) and the chocolate milk (Runner's World recommends it for recovery after working out). I guess it's just the mayo I need to trade to low-fat on.

Please post if you have other ideas to help us all be more healthy in our eating.

Tomorrow is our interval workout. Begin with a ten minute warm-up, then do one minute of intense cardio followed by three minutes of moderate intensity, repeat the cycle four to seven times, then cool down for five to ten minutes.

Okay. I didn't eat good all weekend and this morning I ran and could hardly rotate my legs. It was pathetic. Now, I'm being so lazy. I got my vacuum out - I've tripped over the hose several times, but haven't turned it on. I filled the sink to scrub the floor - the water's now cold. I did start a load of laundry, but the machine does all the work there. Maybe I need a nap - like that ever happens.
I'm eating good today, so hopefully I can have a better workout and more productive day tomorrow. What is it with us Moms? Why do we always have to be productive? Maybe what I really need is a vacation - oh, I forgot I had a three-day weekend with my friend's last week. Maybe I just need an attitude adjustment.

Okay, tomorrow's workout -
Warm-up and cardo - 20-30 minutes.
Bent-over Row - 3 sets of 12
Lat Pulldown - 3 sets of 12
Assisted pull-up machine - 3 sets of 10 (If you don't have one of these at your gym or you workout at home try to do a few pullups, even halfway or hanging there will make you stronger. I like to do them at the park with the monkey bars.
Upright Row - 3 sets of 10
Reclined Bicep - 3 sets of 12 - If you don't have a bench to recline on you can lean your shoulders against the wall and keep your hips out, the angle makes it harder.
Hammer Curl - 3 sets of 10
Tricep Dip - 3 sets of 12
Tricep Overhead Extension - 3 sets of 12
Cardio and cool down - 5 to 20 minutes.

Wow. Kind of a lot tomorrow. If you're short on time, don't do the cardio and/or you can choose only one exercise for each muscle group.

Have a great workout.

Okay. Back from BYU Women's Conference. It was amazing. I'm ready to love everyone and be a great Mom. The only problem is my boys didn't get the message and they're still fighting and testing my patience. Aren't they supposed to be perfect when you come home and not rip you off your spiritual high?
Actually I missed them so bad I've been nice. I hope it lasts a few days!

Sunday is your rest day.

Monday we will do a little bit of lower body and a lot of cardio.

Start with 5-10 minutes warm-up.
Squats - 2 sets of 20
Lunges - Three minutes of walking lunges
Plies - 3 sets of 14 - on the last set add a heel raise or a jump in the center
Dead Lifts - 3 sets of 10
Cardio - 20-40 minutes

Don't forget to stretch your quads and hamstrings after.

Have a great weekend!

I'm heading to the BYU Women's Conference with several of my good friends. Woo-hoo. I'm excited. I don't know if I'll have internet access or time to post so I'm going to post the workouts for the next few days.

Thursday - Lower Body Interval
Warm-up - five minutes
Squats - Three minutes - to make it more challenging, step to the side and squat then straighten to center, repeat to other side.
Cardio - five minutes
Plies - Three minutes - to up the intensity you can do a calf raise as you come up or jump for two softly in the center.
Cardio - five minutes
Lunges - Three minutes - if you want you can do walking lunges
Cardio - five minutes
Dead Lift - three sets of ten
Cardio - five minutes
Step-up - twenty on each leg
Hamstring Curl - twenty-four on each leg
Cool-down - five minutes

Friday - Upper Body - Plyometrics
Warm-up - five minutes
Seated Row - 3 sets of 10
Lat Pull-down - 3 sets of 12
Jumping Jacks - 30 reps
Pushups- 20 reps
Lateral Raise - 3 sets of 10
Jump Squats - 20 reps
Outward Curl - 3 sets of 10
Hammer Curl - 20 reps
Ski Jump side to side - 30 seconds
Tricep Dip - 3 sets of 10
Cable Pulldown or tricep kickback if you don't have a cable - 14 reps
Speed Lunge - 30 seconds (From the top of a step or bench, alternate legs off the bench, jumping in between)

If you have any joint/health problems don't do the plyometrics (jumps)

Saturday - Fun Cardio
Do something you enjoy or if you're worn out. Take the day off!

I have to remind you one more time to please go slow when you're lifting weights. I lift with several women every morning and sometimes I have to remind them four or five times to slow it down. know I'm a nag (ask my husband I've got nagging down to an art form), but the slower you go the more you will improve and the stronger you'll get. Please try and count up for two and down for two. You'll be amazed how much more difficult it is, but it's worth it.

Have a great weekend. I'll post Monday's workout Saturday night.

Hope you're all gearing up for the interval workout tomorrow. Remember how fun it was last week? Uh-huh. Maybe we should forget how bad it hurts and focus on the positive.
Intervals burn more calories than steady cardio in less amount of time, plus they rev up your metabolism and you keep burning glycogen and fat after you're done working out. Sounds good, eh?

If you're new to intervals they are pretty simple. Do one minute of intense cardio, followed by three minutes of easier intensity so you can catch your breath and then repeat. You can do this for as little as fifteen minutes or as long as you have energy. I usually warm-up for ten minutes before I start into the sprints. When I run outside I don't get too technical about the times. I just sprint until I'm tired or until I pass a certain spot then I jog until I can push myself again.

You can do an interval workout with any kind of cardio. If you're stuck at home with no equipment and babies crawling on you, the interval works great. Just run a few flights of steps or do forty jumping jacks, then you can walk around or dance with your babies for a few minutes, then go again.

If you have joint problems you should do intervals on a bike, elliptical or stairmaster, then you can up the intensity without hurting your joints.

If you have heart, lung or other health problems you shouldn't do the intervals, just do a long, steady cardio workout and you'll still reap a lot of benefits.

Have a great workout.