Because my husband and I requested a split tax refund earlier this year, we didn’t receive our paper economic stimulus check from Uncle Sam until today, but I know that most of you have already gotten your money and distributed it either to savings, debt repayment, or, in a few cases, out into the economy as GDub had intended. Chris and I are sticking with our original plan to use the money to pay off the last of his student loan this month.

So here are my questions for you:

What did you originally plan to do with your stimulus payment?

Did you actually use the money as you had planned, or did something else come up?

Chris and I are back from what is hopefully our last out of town flight of the year. We flew up to Pittsburgh this past Friday for a wedding (#3 this year) and got back last night in time to drive directly to my Dad’s favorite Chinese buffet restaurant and celebrate Father’s Day with my parents.

The bride was beautiful, the groom was relieved it all went off without any disasters, the mother of the bride was a basket case, and a jolly time was had by all.

And naturally, too much food was consumed.

I was so full last night after a weekend of big group breakfast buffets and barbecues, not to mention Dad’s buffet dinner, that I felt like I couldn’t breathe. When I hooked up the karaoke machine in the living room last night to practice a few songs, I found that I wasn’t imagining the sensation. I literally could not move my diaphragm enough to take a deep enough breath to sing some notes!

Can we say, “Blargh?”

Today, I amtrying our best to get back to a normal schedule with work, exercise, and meals. I was so tired of dealing with food last night that I didn’t do any bulk cooking when we finally got home, but we luckily had a boxed steak and potatoes meal we ordered at the Pittsburgh Airport in the fridge, so we are good through lunch with each of us taking half. I added a quick protein and soy milk shake and some fruit to my lunch bag, and off I went this morning. The only exercise I got in this weekend was a BFL-style HIIT run yesterday morning and some walking Saturday night. I’m feeling distinctly sluggish, tired, and overfed at the moment.

Egads!

I am experiencing what it is like to be a Normal American.

:-O

This really will not do. Someone hand me my Mizuno Wave Precisions and Powerblocks.

Miss Maggie is back on the workout wagon TONIGHT.

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WORKOUT
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- YF Core (15 min)
- NROL Break-In Workout A (30 min)
- Shapeshift Bodyweight interval circuit (4 rounds)

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NUTRITION
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1) 2 Chocolate soy protein brownies (Recipe to follow when I figure out how to make them a bit fluffier), 3 egg whites, 1 whole egg
2) 1/2 c. light soy milk, 3/4 scoop banana whey protein isolate, 1/2 T. cocoa powder
3) 4 oz. potato wedges, 3 oz. steak, 1 c. mixed veggies
4) 1 steamed Chinese roll, 1 medium orange
5) 4 oz. sauteed grouper, 1/2 c. spinach, 1/2 c. eggplant in garlic sauce, 1/2 c. rice and 7-grain pilaf
6) TBD

I have a confession to make.

After getting through stages 1 and 2 of the New Rules of Lifting for Women and even posting a spreadsheet for the program last month, I have officially jumped ship and am doing the original New Rules of Lifting workouts as part of a 12-week workout group I organized at work.

After the January-April competitive fat loss challenge that my team won earlier this year, I felt like most of the participants had fallen into a slump. While some people maintained their results and their new healthy lifestyles, a lot of others reverted back to their old ways and gained back most of the weight. In my opinion, the ones who gave up even before the challenge was over largely did so because they didn’t have a real plan of attack for their workouts and meals. And due to the competitive “Us versus Them” nature of the challenge, teams weren’t really going out of their way to share workout programs and dieting tips, you know?

I was left with a feeling of internal conflict at the end because, while I liked winning my share of the prize pot with my team because we legitimately worked harder as a group than any of the other teams, as a fitness blogger whose main purpose in writing is to provide effective exercise and nutrition information and resources to others I really felt awful that so many of my co-workers didn’t reach their goals due to a lack of knowledge.

That’s why I’m putting the NROLFW on hold and organizing a “workout-a-long” group at the office. The new group challenge is non-competitive, and it pretty much consists of one basic idea: every participant will use either the New Rules of Lifting (original book) or the free bodyweight Turbulence Training workout manual as their exercise program for the next 12 weeks. That’s just 3 required workouts per week for 12 weeks. Dieting is optional, but resources (recipes, basic healthy meal plan tutorials, etc.) will be provided to anyone who wants it. The guys and gals who want to lose more fat can throw in more interval cardio sessions if they like. The ones who want to put on mass can skip them. Everyone using the NROL will do 3 weeks of the Break-In workout, then individuals can split off and perform the level 1 or level 2 workouts best suited to their goals: Fat Loss, Hypertrophy, or Strength. The home workout group will be using the TT 12-week bodyweight manual exclusively.

My own plan is to complete the 3 weeks of the break-in program, then follow up with Fat Loss II and Fat Loss III.

We are already on the final week of the break-in workouts, so the fun stuff should start next week.