This week is my birthday week! I’m very determined to stay healthy and stick with my sugar-free, gluten-free, and dairy-free diet this week (as I have been for the past 4 months). My birthday (with birthday desserts) is typically a favorite time of the year except for Christmas, so it will be interesting.
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Week 17: A Healthy Birthday for Me!
Now that I’ve completed TurboFire’s three month program, this week is my recovery week. It’s important to have a recovery week every few months if you’re doing extremely intense workouts and working out 6 days per week. This week will help my body and muscles recover and prepare for even higher intensity starting near the end of next week. Read on below to see how my week went.
Sunday, March 17th :
Insanity arrived in the mail yesterday, and today I’m doing my first INSANITY workout!
I started the day off by tidying and organizing. Then I took pictures and read through the Insanity materials. After that, I completed my first Insanity workout – the Insanity Fit Test. I was shocked by how intense it actually was. From reading about what exercises were being done and the length, today’s workout sounds difficult but like one of the easier workouts. We’ll see as I do more Insanity workouts!
Day 113 complete. I did the Insanity Fit Test!
Monday, March 18th :
I played 18 holes of walking golf at Colina Park today with Tom and his parents! It was a beautiful day out and so relaxing to play in between morning and afternoon work.
Tom’s parents, Tom, and I had lunch at Veg-N-Out and dinner at Basil Thai Bistro. Both delicious meals! We have lots of leftovers in the fridge now. Lol.
Day 114 complete. Fun golf and meals!
Tuesday, March 19th :
I played 18 holes at Carlton Oaks Golf Course with Tom and his parents. This was my recovery workout for today.
In the evening, we all met up to celebrate Will’s birthday at the Corvette Diner! I was happy to find something to eat there that works with my diet. I got their black bean veggie patty without a bun or cheese. Plus, I had a side salad and two fried eggs on the side. Of course, I still had leftovers to take home with me.
Day 115 complete. Happy birthday to my brother, Will!
Wednesday, March 20th:
Tom and I started the day off with an Insanity workout … The Insanity Plyometric Cardio Circuit. Even though this week and part of next week is my recovery week, I wanted to include some intense workouts. Today was one of those days!
Once I arrived home from work at 9:00pm, a healthy and yummy bean, tofu, organic brown rice, and vegetable dish was waiting for me. I feel so blessed!
Day 116 complete. I had a fun & intense Insanity workout!
Thursday, March 21st:
Yay! It’s my birthday today! Tom started a fabulous day off for me with a birthday treasure hunt! So creative and fun. Then we did an Insanity workout. Tom and I did the Insanity Cardio Power & Resistance workout.
One of my presents involved going to Fashion Valley Mall, where I chose a unique bright blue and gold bracelet (bright blue is one of my favorite colors at the moment) and a fun bright pink, light pink, and gold necklace (pink is my all time favorite color)! Tom treated me to lunch at a yummy Thai restaurant near the rink.
After I finished work, I had a lovely birthday dinner at Benihana with Will, Chea, Tom’s parents, and Tom. I had the egg fried veggie rice and shared the Garden Delight with Will. This had an onion soup and a salad to start, tofu, streamed vegetables, and a green tea. A birthday dessert is included, so I gave mine to Tom and Will. I have to say that I did want some of the green tea ice cream they had, but I hardly even thought about the birthday cake that I wasn’t having this year.
I’ve always had birthday cake on my birthday. (My favorite used to be Albertsons chocolate cake with white buttercream frosting). I’m proud of myself for having a very healthy birthday with no desserts and fitting in with my gluten-free and dairy-free diet. Even though this week is my recovery workout week, I wanted to get an intense workout in on my birthday to start this year off well. I definitely did that and felt great doing it!
Day 117 complete. I had a fabulous birthday!
Friday, March 22nd:
Today I had a complete rest day from my workouts. I started work at 6:00am, treated myself to a nap on my break, and finished work at 5:30pm. In the evening, I was treated to a surprise homemade birthday treat that Tom (with some help from mum, Ann) made for me! It was gluten-free, dairy-free, and sugar-free Date and Walnut Cupcakes with a frosting made with almonds and bananas. Very yummy … and I was very happy!
We had a game night and played Rich Dad’s Cashflow 101. A fun night with great company!
Day 118 complete. I love game nights!
Saturday, March 23rd:
I had my normal work day, and then Tom’s parents and I met Tom at Oaks North Golf Course later in the afternoon. We played 9 holes of golf as we walked the course. I treated this as one of my recovery workouts this week. We had a lovely meal at my favorite Thai restaurant at the moment: Basil Thai Bistro!
Day 119 complete. It was a fun 9 holes at Oaks North Golf Course!
I’m so happy to have made it successfully through my favorite holidays while being healthy and working out on plan! I’ve stuck with my sugar-free, gluten-free, and dairy-free nutrition as well as intense workout plan through Christmas, New Years, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, and my birthday … basically, through my favorite times to eat sweets and indulge.
Most of my recovery week is complete and will be fully complete after Wednesday of next week. Remember, recovery week or more than a week doesn’t mean no workouts … it just means lighter workouts or more walking instead of intense workouts. There are often a few extra rest workout days only during the recovery week.
After the recovery week, I will be mostly doing workouts of my own creation, but I will be throwing some Insanity workouts in as well as others. I love trying out different workout programs as research and extra motivation. I’ve missed doing my own workout creations lately, as I’ve mostly been doing TurboFire workouts with some of my own mixed in. I look forward to my next couple months of workouts!
Yay! I’ve completed my 17th week out of 26 weeks!
My own variation of a sugar-free, dairy-free, and gluten-free vegetarian diet:
Sugar-free consists of no sugar, sugar substitutes, honey, or other equivalent except for a small amount of preferably natural sweetener that is already in a product such as bread or whey protein.
Dairy-free includes a few exceptions. I’m including whey protein. I also have times of experimenting with Greek yogurt and regular yogurt to see if they are beneficial to me. In addition, I include eggs in my diet, which is a variation from a vegan diet.
Gluten-free also includes a few exceptions. I include Ezekiel Bread or sprouted bread, which is close to gluten-free in how it’s digested but not actually gluten-free. Some gluten-free plans say oats are fine and some do not. I include oats in my plan.
My fitness plan:
My exercise consists of workouts 6 days per week. The only exception can be if I do an additional workout on a day to count for one of the days or on a recovery week every few months.
Not even sugar on your birthday? Wow, you are hard core! I couldn’t do that. Happy birthday!!
Thanks so much, Mike! On previous birthdays, I never would have imagined I’d have a sugar-free birthday in the future. I’m happy to say it was an awesome day. 🙂
Belated happy birthday, but I just found your blog so you can’t blame me! haha
A belated thank you, Matt! I just found this comment. 🙂
I just can’t believe the way you control yourself from sweet. Anyhow hats off to you and Happy Birthday.